I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender, or any of the names or characters of the show. I merely control them for my own twisted pleasure from this point in the story on.

Chapter 21: Treasure

They traveled until nightfall, making their way through the deep forest. Iroh had said that it was the direction they needed to be going, and since Lee didn't disagree, neither did Katara.

Lee had put the Blue Spirit mask back on some time ago, and she hadn't seen him do it. She wondered if she'd ever see his face and was sad and distressed that he continued to hide it from her. What was so bad about his face that he couldn't let her see?

Lee walked further and further ahead of them, keeping his distance from her it seemed, so she used the semi-private moment to fall into step beside Iroh.

"So, he can talk, right?" she asked as soon as the older man acknowledged her.

Iroh nodded reluctantly, and she wondered if Lee had instructed him not to talk to her. But the moment she thought it, she wondered when she'd be become so distrusting.

So she changed the subject. "So does he have a horrible scar on his face or something?" she asked. When he tripped slightly on the underbrush and straightened with a cough, she looked at him in confusion.

"He wears a mask, my dear, for his own reasons." The general stopped walking, but didn't turn toward her. "What those reasons are, however, are beyond this old man's comprehension," he answered and continued walking.

"Do you think he feels the same way about me as I do him?" she asked quietly, and the old man sighed. He turned toward her with a sad smile on his face.

He opened his mouth as if to say something but closed it again before doing so. He shook his head, and said, "I heard you win first prize. Do you mind if I ask what the reward was?"

Her thoughts immediately switched to her winnings, and she reached into her bag for the box Lee had given her on stage. She held it up and Iroh took it from her after asking permission with a motion.

"So what's in it?" he asked, and she laughed nervously.

"I haven't exactly opened it yet…"

"And why not?"

She sighed, "I wanted to open it with Lee, but he's ignoring me," she said sadly, and Iroh sighed before handing the box back to her.

"Well," he said with vigor, "this is where I intervene. I'll go give my nephew a short but to the point lecture about leaving women to hang and hope that gets the point across."

Katara giggled and nodded her head, before smiling at him. "Thank you," she said and bowed slightly.

He bowed in return and walked a little faster to catch up with Lee.

"I see your manners haven't improved while I was gone," his uncle said as soon as he caught up. Zuko sighed and kept walking. He didn't like leaving Katara behind but he was uncomfortable around her and his uncle at the same time. He couldn't quite explain it, but whenever Uncle was around, he always felt like the old was laughing at him.

Zuko had watched them talking behind him but hadn't bothered to join in. He couldn't talk anyway, and it would have only made him feel worse about his discomfort. After a few more seconds his uncle grabbed him on the shoulder, causing Zuko to turn around.

"Why are you doing this to the poor girl?" his uncle demanded, and Zuko pulled away.

Why? Because the moment she found out who he really was, it would all be over. Because even after all they'd been through, he was still Zuko; if he ever took the mask off, all she would ever see was his face.

He knew deep inside that he was hurting her more by keeping his identity a secret. It was selfish, and at the end of every day he found he still didn't have the courage to tell her the truth.

So many people had left, so many people had turned him away, and he knew why. It was because he was Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, and that's all they every saw.

And he couldn't dare hope that she'd be any different.

"She still hasn't opened the prize box," his uncle said and the change of subject took Zuko by surprise. He turned to the old man and saw the sad smile on his uncle's face. "She told me she was waiting for you to open it with her."

Zuko looked back at the following Katara, and smiled slightly. So that's what they had been talking about, he thought, and nodded his head before walking back towards her.

She smiled as he approached and he held out his hand to her. She looked down at it and then looked up at him in confusion. He pointed at the bag and she titled her head. "What?"

"I think he wants the box," his uncle called form ahead of them. Zuko growled at his interruption; he managed to get across what he wanted for three days alone with her, and he didn't need any help now.

"Oh!" She exclaimed and reached back in the bag for it. She held the box out to him and he took it. After he had it in his hands, he turned it around so that the front was facing her and held it back out for her to open. She lifted the box and reached inside.

The thing she pulled out was strange even to him, and she held it up for him to get a better look. It was a doll. Kind of. He took it from her to inspect and found that it was actually two dolls, one male and one female that were held in an embrace by a silk ribbon.

"Do you know what this is?" she asked, and he shook his head. "Do you know what this is?" She called over his shoulder, holding up the dolls to show his uncle.

He rushed over and took the doll from her hands. "I didn't know they still made these!" he said a huge grin flying across his lips. "This is a very old tradition in the Fire Nation," he said as he held the doll gently in his hands. "They were called Eternity Dolls. Legend says that if two lovers write their names on the dolls, the women on the female and the man on the male, and bury it, they will be together forever."

His uncle gave Katara the dolls and smiled at her. "It is a very old legend, but I will admit that my future wife and I buried one of these with both our names on them when we were not much older then my nephew here." He put a hand on Zuko's arm, and Katara smiled at him. "We lived happily together for many years before she was gone." He said with sadness.

"That is so romantic," Katara said, and blushed lightly as she glanced at Zuko before putting them back in the box.

He had assumed she'd taken the hint, but when she put the box away Zuko worried that she hadn't even thought to ask him to sign one. For in that moment, he wanted to do that more than anything else.

Again, Katara waited for Lee to fall asleep before even trying to heal his neck. He'd actually slept on the ground on his back this time, and she was thankful for that. At least she could reach his neck with little trouble, unlike if he'd slept against the tree behind him with his chin to chest like before.

She heard the old man's quiet snores and had been watching Lee for over and hour, making sure he wasn't just staring at the sky. She crawled over to him, trying very not to giggle in her own amusement, and finally reached his side after a few minutes.

She sat on her knees beside him and gently reached out to move his mask out of the way. She removed the fabric that covered his neck and winced when she saw how bad the bruise really was. It would have taken weeks to heal on its own, and she quickly coated her hands in healing water from her hip flask.

She reached down and gently put the water to his throat, and hoped that if he woke up, he'd trust her enough to let her continue. Something told her that he would wake up because her luck was like that. And when he jolted, she knew he was awake.

"Hold still, I'm going to heal your neck," she said calmly, and willing him to trust her, "I know it's uncomfortable, but I'll be done in just a second."

She felt him take a deep breathe and watched as he placed a hand around her wrist while she worked. Slowly the bruise disappeared and her face broke into a smile.

"There. With your neck healed you can talk to me," she said excitedly.

But when he shook his head, her spirits fell. "Why not?" Heartbroken, her hand fell into her lap. "Your uncle said you can talk and-"she huffed angrily. "I heard you talking to Aang in the prison cell! So, you'll talk to him and not to me!" she backed up when he reached to her, and then scooted out of his reach. "Fine, I won't speak to you either!"

More angry than she could remember being before, she ran off into the trees and didn't look behind her.

Zuko reached for her but she was gone before he could get up. Standing, he watched as she disappeared into the forest and ripped the mask off his face, throwing it against a tree across the clearing.

"So," came his uncle's voice from somewhere behind him, and he turned a hard glare on the man. "Do you want me to tell you what you did wrong, or what you want to hear?"

"Stay-"Zuko began, and grabbed his throat. It really had been healed, and he began again just and angrily as before. "Stay out of this uncle; you don't understand!" He hated the emotion that clouded his voice, and decide to blame it on Katara's healing job.

"I understand more than you think I do, Prince Zuko," the old man said, standing from his place on the ground.

"Don't call me that!" Zuko yelled, slamming the side of his fist into the tree behind him. It took the completely surprised look on the old man's face to make him realized what he'd just said.

Since his exile, he'd always latched on to the fact that he was Prince Zuko. That fact that kept him going and he'd just rejected the title out of nowhere. Amazed at himself, Zuko lowered his fists to his side.

"Zuko," Iroh said, his voice offering more comfort than Zuko wanted to accept.

"I'm sorry," Zuko whispered and sank to the ground. "I just don't know what to do anymore or where to go from here."

"You could try talking to her-"

"NO!" Zuko exclaimed, "Then she'll know who I am."

"And what is wrong with that?" his uncle replied sharply.

"Everything! If she knew then it would all be over." All this feeling would have gone to waste.

"That may have been true in the beginning," his uncle agreed, "but now there is a chance that it would not turn out that way. She trusted you with her life more than once, and a trust like that is not easily broken."

"She trusted the Blue Spirit. She doesn't trust Prince Zuko."

"Is that why you rejected your title?"

Zuko had no reply. He hadn't even thought about it, but now he knew it was true. Had that little waterbending peasant chanced him that much? Little peasant... he'd called her that at the North Pole not so long ago. Back when she was an obstacle; back when he hated her.

But now that she was important to him, as important as Uncle, the insult didn't fit at all.

"Why do you think that talking to her will ruin everything?" His uncle asked, taking a step toward him.

"She knows my voice; she'd recognize it f I used it."

"You two have come this far without words," his uncle said sensibly. "What makes you think that by using words now that you have them will make anything worse?" When Zuko didn't replied his uncle went on. "Tell me nephew, do you know the story of Oma and Shu?"

"Yes uncle," Zuko said irritably, "I know the story."

"Tell it to me."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Zuko said at a half yell.

"Tell me the story of Oma and Shu" his uncle said firmly.

"They were two lovers from different tribes," he began, and then remembered the rest and sighed. "That has nothing to do with us! They didn't even end up together in the end."

"That is not the point," his uncle said softly.

"Then what is the point!?"

"Love is blind, Zuko." Iroh stated bluntly, taking Zuko aback. "It has been proven blind time and again. And seeing what has transpired between you and Katara, I have come to believe that it is also deaf."

Zuko sighed and closed his eyes. "How do you know that things will work out anyway?"

"Katara asked to borrow a brush and ink from me earlier this evening," this uncle said softly, and Zuko stared at him. "See for yourself."

When his uncle gestured at the bag, Zuko stood very slowly and made his way to it. Reaching inside, he pulled out the prize box and opened it. There inside was the Eternity doll, Katara written on the girl. The man, however, was still blank.

"When she asked, I told her you each had to sign your own name."

He stared down at it for a long time before looking up at Iroh. "Uncle, can I borrow a brush and ink?"

She ran because she didn't know what else to do.

He was so confusing! He had been acting like she was the center of this world for the last three days. Even though he could talk now, he was ignoring her!

Tears fell down her face as she ran. She was being a baby, and didn't know how to fix it. What was he hiding from her? What was so important to keep from her that he'd outright refused to speak for no obvious reason?

Maybe there was something else, something she hadn't picked up on yet. His uncle would know…. But, no, he'd already said there was no reason he could think of.

After running for a long time, she stopped to catch her breath. That had been stupid; it was in the middle of the night and she wasn't too sure she knew the way back. But looking behind her, she knew that finding camp would be easy for, even at night, she could see the smoke coming up from their fire.

She sighed and suppressed the want to cry. She would be strong; she'd been strong from the beginning, and she wasn't going to stop now.

But why wouldn't he talk to her!

She started walking because her side hurt and wandered unto a trail. She followed it without question, knowing it would be that much easier to find her way back.

After a while, she came across a sign board that told her there was another city nearby. She wandered past it, but stopped when she saw a Blue Mask among the wanted posters. There was also of course one of Aang, and as she looked at the others, her eyes landed on one that took her breathe away.

There was Iroh, with his name and crime, and directly above it on the same poster was the face of Prince Zuko.

Last know traveling together.

This is where my Author Notes go...Enjoy.

Rai: So… what's in the box?

Chii: You haven't figured that out yet?

Rai: Um…(moans) I don't know what to put in it!

Chii: (thinking) well, it can't be necklace because Katara already has one and Zuko can't be wearing one.

Rai: How about a cookie-

Chii: (Firmly) NO

Rai: Wait, hear me out; a cookie in the shape of a yin-yang that they can share.

Chii: NO. No cookies.

Rai: Fine then. What should it be?

Chii: …. Wait. I have an idea…

And so, the Eternity Doll was born.

And you guys are funny! It's like "Midori is hot… but he's rude!"

Yes. Midori is hot and he's rude.

Chii: Very much like the person he's based of off…

Rai: HEY!

Anyway, I just wanted to say that he was supposed to be that way, because like requim17 said, things were a little too much on the happy side, and a good story needs some bad news.

… Not that this chapter didn't do that……

-evil giggle-

Reviews with your threats of death and destruction are as welcome as happiness, as long as I understand you're joking…. Cause otherwise it's just freaky.