AN: Yahhh Chapter 4! So it seems like I've been updating every 2 days… Next week I might update once daily (or more!) because I'm not doing anything that week, versus this week I've been going to an all day camp.

The chapters also seem to have been getting longer. And sorry for any mistakes; I don't have time to edit these myself and I don't have a beta, so I just write em and put them up as is.

Sassyprincess: Really? xD I tried not to make it TOTALLY obvious. I know but it's like… ZUKO! You have to love him!

And I think most of everyone else's questions can be answered in this chap. ; ) Thank you all for your wonderful reviews and support! I love y'all!

Disclaimer: A legal owner of Avatar writing a fanfiction for the show. Yeah, that makes total sense.

Shock expressed itself in different ways on the two benders faces. Even if he hadn't been rendered immobile by exhaustion Zuko probably still would have widened his one good eye in surprise and shift back ever so slightly. Katara was a little more drastic. She started and her blue eyes went wide with emotion.

"Zuko!" She cried, an expression on her face that seemed to say she was caught between wanting to run, fight, or drag answers out of him. The prince assumed her confusion was brought on by the combined fact that they had only recently joined forces and that he wasn't supposed to be here. His golden eyes caught her gaze and he simply watched her for a few moments. She didn't appear to be harmed, and from the way that prison guard had treated her it seemed like she was here of her own free will. And yet, Zuko didn't understand why she would leave the Avatar. She was fiercely loyal to him. Why would she give him up for this?

"What are you doing here?" Katara asked. She hadn't moved any closer to him… but she also hadn't left. That was good.

"I was kidnapped," he said softly, his voice raspy from the lack of water. Before he could ask his next question Katara moved to another part of her tent and the exiled prince heard the sound of water. Relief washed over him. He had forgotten how sweet the sound of water was. His throat burned, and he mentally willed the girl to bring some over to him.

"You and me both, then," he heard her say, and felt a moment of confusion as he had forgotten what the topic was when the presence of water had appeared.

"But you don't seem anything like a prisoner," Zuko replied, the obvious reply to her statement.

"They treat me kindly because I can heal," she said as she waterbended a small orb of the liquid in Zuko's direction. She lowered it slowly to his mouth, but apparently that wasn't slowly enough for the Prince and he tried to push himself up to get to it faster. His muscles shook violently with the strain. "Careful!" Katara exclaimed like a disapproving mother. "You don't want to hurt yourself even more. Stop pushing so hard," he glared at her coldly but did as told. Once he was laying down she carefully eased the water into his mouth, allowing him only to take small sips before he swallowed.

He hated it. He felt helpless and weak and childish, and it was even worse that he had to be like this in front of the waterbending girl. He needed to prove himself to her! He needed to seem strong, reliable and trustworthy! Instead he had managed to get himself kidnapped. What a fool he was. She probably had even less respect for him now than before. Zuko was ashamed.

"Good," she said gently as he finished the last of the water. His throat felt immensely better, but Zuko's pride had been shot to the ground. When she turned away from him to grab something from her tent the firebender looked away. "They give me my own tent, supplies, three square meals, time to rest, clothing, and all of those luxuries, but I'm still their prisoner. As I said, they want me to heal for them. They treat me with respect, but if I try and escape, if I make any mention of going back, they throw me in with your lot. And being the only female in a tent full of fire nation men is not a good place to be." As ashamed as Zuko was he found the emotion was giving way to another.

Anger.

"You haven't fought back," he stated softly, "you haven't… even tried?" Maybe her logic was sound, but in this state, maybe even in a full-rested and nourished state, Zuko couldn't believe she wouldn't fight. He'd barely been awake five minutes and all he'd done was fight.

"No, I just said—"

"That doesn't matter!" He barked, his voice still weak although it held more power than before. He moved his burning gaze to her. "We've been searching for you! For days and days, and you don't even have the decency to try and escape? Do you know how stressed we are because of you? Do you know what the Avatar is like when you're not around?" He saw her stop moving and look down; her eyes became dark. Zuko felt no regret. "You should have fought back," he said more quietly. "You should have been as loyal to him as he is to you."

"I am loyal!" Katara snapped and took Zuko aback. "I'm more loyal than you are! All you do is switch sides! Everything I do is for Aang! Even what I'm doing now is for him!"

"How is allowing yourself to be a prisoner helping him?"

"I'm trying to explain!" That shut Zuko up. Katara closed her eyes and took a deep breath, clearly trying to relax. "Say I do escape. What would I do then? Wander around the desert and wait for you to find me? I could die of dehydration in that time, or starve? What help would I have been to you then?" She asked, although all of her questions were rhetorical. "I can't fight all of those sandbenders. I would just wear myself out, and then they would treat me poorly, and my stay here would just be miserable. I'd have no hope for escape. This way I can help people, and when the opportunity presents itself I'll be strong and prepared. Did you ever consider that, Zuko?" She asked, crossing her arms and looking down at his weak body.

He said nothing in response. She was right. He had just been too hotheaded and shortsighted to see it. After several moments Katara realized that Zuko was going to say nothing. She exhaled heavily before she turned around and worked to gather up the supplies from earlier. When the waterbender turned around again Zuko saw that she had a roll of bandages, a bowl of water, and a jar filled with a strange mud colored paste. He felt some skepticism when he saw all of it, but decided not to complain. He knew from previous occasions that Katara's healing could be very powerful. Just because he wasn't used to being healed by bending didn't mean that it didn't work.

"Where are you hurt the worst?" she asked, although her words were clipped and emotionless. She was still mad at him, then.

"Everywhere," he replied. His own anger had flared when he realized she wasn't over their fight. Katara did not reply. At least not vocally. She instead reached forward and roughly grabbed Zuko's injured thigh. He hissed sharply in pain and instinctively tried to withdraw his leg from her.

"Oh suck it up, you big baby," She told him with an exasperated tone.

Although she'd never admit it out loud, Katara was stunned that Zuko wasn't complaining more. He had been starved, weakened, had the shit beaten out of him, stripped, chained, and still managed to leap up and attack a man three times his size and actually injure him. She had had to heal the prison guard's throat when he'd come to her. Of course that was nothing compared to what the exiled prince's injuries, but the prison guard hadn't faced the same circumstances that the firebender had.

Zuko had endured far more than the normal man possibly could have. She was impressed. But she'd never tell him. Especially not since she was mad at him for chewing her out over not trying to escape. What did he know? He didn't know the meaning of family. He was dirty rotten traitor. She still didn't trust him. She wouldn't tell him how incredible the strength he had displayed was. No. Never.

Needless to say it was a little awkward when the waterbender began to roll up his right pant leg.

"What are you doing?" He asked and jerked in alarm.

"I can't see that cut with cloth in the way," she replied, all business. "And don't tell me it's not there. I can see the blood staining the material." Zuko lay his head back down and felt shame wash up in him again. He didn't see the blush that colored Katara's cheeks as she touched his muscular leg so she could get a better look at the injury.

"How did you get caught?" She asked after the silence became too much. Katara had finished cleaning and sealing the cut on Zuko's thigh so that it was covered with fresh bandages. Now she worked to rub the brown paste on the many purple bruises that covered the prince's body. He wouldn't admit it in a thousand years, but he loved the way her soft, cool hands felt against hot, dry, pained skin. It was a luxury beyond luxuries. It was better than almost anything he'd been served on Ember Island or even as a Prince in general when he had been accepted back by his father. It felt so nice… he could feel himself about to fall asleep… then she asked a question.

"Hm?"

"Caught. How'd they get you?" He didn't exactly like discussing past failures; they forced him to relive the experience and feel weak. But he had to tell Katara. She had been the reason he was out there.

"We scoured the desert for you," he told her, his voice soft. "I was on foot, Aang on his glider and Toph with Sokka on Appa. After a few days they had to go back to get food. I stayed behind in hopes that I might find some trace of you." He paused for a moment, drowsiness dulling his mind. He should have realized that pause allowed Katara to misinterpret what 'for her' meant. He didn't realize that she was touched by the fact that he was genuinely concerned for her. All of what he had gone through had been for her. Or so she thought. Until he set her straight. "The Avatar wouldn't have been able to go on without you, and since my destiny is to help him I knew I couldn't give up—"

"Your back is done," she said abruptly and stood up. "Do your chest yourself." She pushed – more like tossed—the jar barely within reaching distance for him. Zuko was strong enough now to roll himself over, and when he did he gave her a confused look. From her position at the entrance to the tent she could more clearly see the injuries on his face and his overall gaunt, malnourished look. Her heart and expression softened slightly. "I'm going to get you something to eat. I'll be back in a moment," she told him, and as she walked out Katara told herself she wasn't missing out on anything by refusing to rub the paste onto his toned chest.