Me: (stretches) Well here's chapter eleven. Not really a lot of Zutara in this one but I can't rush this you know.

Zuko: She's just lazy.

Me: Yeah right! You try writing when you have Trig homework every night and at least two major tests every week!!!

Zuko & others: (cringe in fear)

Me: Anyway, this has some Zutara in it for all of ya'll who were bothering me about it. Not that I really care. I wanted to add some Zutara in this chapter so I took out a lot of things that were supposed to happen.

DISCLAIMER: I really shouldn't have to put this up…

Katara brushed some hair from her face and smiled at Aang. He grinned back and Katara could see the light had returned to his eyes. His old demeanor was back and he was almost dancing with joy. Her arm started to throb and she clutched it to her side and sluggishly went inside, dragging her feet down the hallway. For some odd reason, her feet led her to Zuko's door; she stood outside it and started at the wood, wondering if she should go in or not. Finally, she decided to go in and turned the knob then pushed open the door with her shoulder. A large hole smoldering, black hole was in the wall. She stared at it in surprise and movement averted her eyes. Iroh was walking from the bathroom holding a wet rag and looking very frustrated, he was mumbling to himself under his breath. When he saw Katara, he jumped in surprise and his face immediately lit up.

"Oh, Katara, you frightened me." He started to whistle happily.

"You're in an awfully good mood." She commented. " What happened there? You get a little angry?" She giggled.

Iroh stopped whistling. "No, Zuko woke up again." He said placidly. "He attacked you r brother."

Katara was floored. "WHAT?!" She threw her good arm up in the air. "Why didn't anybody tell me this?"

Iroh chuckled. "Calm down. Sokka was going to tell you as soon as you felt better."

Katara marched out the door. "SOKKA!"

"Miss Katara! Wait!" Iroh reached out after her but then let her go, chuckling to himself.

Sokka poked his head around the corner, down the steps. "Whatcha yellin' bout?"

Katara walked up to him and stuck a finger in his face. "Why didn't you tell me about Zuko waking up?"

Sokka looked cross-eyed at her finger. "Because, mother, I didn't think it mattered that much."

Katara folded her arms across her chest; carefully making sure the broken one had no pressure on it. "Well….it does."

"Okay. Sorry I didn't tell you." He heard Aang yell his name. "Hold on!"

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Well, tell me what Zuko said." She stated as if he should have known.

Sokka sighed. "He sat up and thought I was trying to kill him then he tried to sit up and thought I had hurt him. Then he fired a fireball at me and I ducked, then he passed out on the floor when he tried to stand up. There are you happy?"

Katara nodded

"I don't see why you care about him so much." He added as an after thought.

She started to blush. "I...uh…it's just that…I healed him and I want to know how everything goes."

Sokka shrugged. "What ever you say." And he jogged back out side to help Aang get Appa settled into a stall. Katara went back up the stairs and nudged open the door into Iroh and Zuko's room. Iroh had left, Zuko was breathing differently as he lay there. His breaths were deeper and less ragged, like he was asleep. She touched his arm and his fingers twitched. Katara gasped and looked around outside the room for Iroh but didn't see him. She went back in and ran a hand over his forehead. The muscle in his forearm moved and his fingers curled up.

"Zuko?" She whispered. Again, he moved slightly. "Zuko?" A little more movement this time. She shook his shoulder to see if he would wake up.

"No Uncle. I'm tired." He mumbled.

"Oh my gosh!" She gasped. "Zuko, can you hear me?"

"Uncle, go away. You sound sick. Go before I catch it, let me sleep." He waved his hand.

"I'm not Iroh." Katara said.

Zuko's eyes snapped open and her was staring at the face of a gorgeous water bender. He jerked backwards, slightly surprised. "Wha?" He tried to push himself up.

"No! Don't!" She rushed to push him back down.

"Get off!" He struggled. "Filthy water peasant!" He pushed himself up off the bed too fast and his head started to throb and he became dizzy. He clapped a hand to his forehead and staggered on the spot.

"See? You'll only make it worse." She forced him back down with her good arm.

Zuko scowled. "Get your filthy hands off me! What did you do to me? Where's my uncle!" He spat, still clutching his head and now his chest.

Katara tried to calm him down, "Your uncle is fine. He went to cook for the hotel like he does everyday."

"Liar!" He pointed an accusing finger at her but the strain screaming was putting on his bruised chest was getting to him.

"Sh! Stop yelling! You'll only hurt yourself more."

"Stop yelling? I don't think-" He gasped, a sharp pain ran through his chest he squeezed his eyes shut in pain. "Get my Uncle…" He wheezed.

"Iroh is working down in the kitchen. If he comes up here his customers might want to know why they aren't getting their dinner." Katara reasoned.

"So?"

"So, they will ask questions. You do realize you are wanted by the Fire Nation, don't you?"

Zuko shot her a look that shot daggers. A kind of 'Duh.' Look.

"You still haven't tied it together?" Zuko just looked at her. "If the people want to know what's going on, they'll find a way to get their information. One of htem is bound to recognize you, that scar is hard to miss."

Zuko looked away. "Why are you here anyway?"

"Aang lost Appa to the sandbenders so we came here in search of him. We finally got him back by tricking the guards and sneaking into the palace then we-"

"I don't care." He interrupted. "You talk too much." He stared out the window then sat up and looked at his bare, purple chest. "What happened to me?" He demanded.

"Zuko, I really don-"

He wheeled on her. "It's Prince Zuko to you water peasant!"

"You really want me calling you Prince Zuko out loud? When you're wanted by the Fire Nation?" Katara pointed out.

Zuko huffed and stared at her, openly showing his dislike of her. "Just tell me what happened." He mumbled.

"Well…" Katara sat down beside Zuko who at once scooted away from her and gave her a look of disgust. Katara folded her legs up beside her and propped herself up on one arm to tell what had happened. She couldn't go into great detail about when he was hurt because she wasn't there, so she just explained what Iroh had told her. She told about how she and Aang saved his life and his eyes widened in shock.

"Y-you saved me?" He asked. "Again?"

Katara nodded. "Yeah, I guess…"

He was suspicious "Why?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. You were in need of help and I felt obligated to do so." A pain shot through her arm and she clutched it with a small squeak. "Plus, you were dying." She added as an after thought, acting like her arm wasn't hurting.

Zuko caught the sudden grab at her arm and realized it was in a sling. He hadn't taken the time to really even look at her properly and he hadn't been this close to her for this long, ever. Her eyes were full of pain, her dazzling blue eyes. He was good at reading peoples faces, there was a hint of something else surfacing in her eyes but she seemed to push it back down. He shook his head and then immediately regretted it; throbbing pain pulsed through his head and he tried hiding it.

"I don't nee the help of a tiny waterbending child." He grumbled.

"Uh-huh. And what exactly did you plan to do when you had that severe reaction to the herbs while you were unconscious and your body temperature was so high we could have fried an egg on your skin? What exactly did you plan to do with yourself?"

Zuko frowned and his trademark scowl covered his face. "Get out. I don't need to take this from a peasant."

"I think you should stop calling me a peasant, Zuko. What do you think you are now? Royalty? Nu-uh not anymore. Now you are a peasant just like me. You can't go back to your home, you have nowhere to go, and you're just like me Zuko. Your mother was killed and you never see your father, don't try and deny it. I know the pain you're going through, there's no use keeping it in, trust me I know."

"You know nothing of my pain! Stop acting like you understand because you don't! There is nothing that will equal the pain of knowing your mother was murdered because of you, or knowing your father hates you." Why was he telling her this? She was nothing but a peasant; she had no clue what he was feeling!

Now she does. He just screamed it to her.

"I know what it feels like, because my mother was murdered protecting me, just as yours was." She said somberly.

Zuko stared at her. His chest was pulsing with pain and so was his head. "You can't tell me you know what it's like to be banished by your own father." He had been holding all this up inside and now he was screaming it to a girl he barely knew, and she was his enemy to make it worse. For some odd reason he couldn't stop telling her his past, he wanted to stop but something inside urged him to tell her more.

"Your uncle told me everything. I'm really sorry."

"Sorry for what?" He snapped.

"Sorry that you have to go through all this alone and you don't want anybody to help you." She told him.

"I don't need anybody's help!" He defended.

"I never said you did."

He frowned and felt annoyed at her for telling him this. "Just get out! You are the most aggravating person I have ever met! Leave me alone!" He shouted then clutched his chest because of the pain.

"Is that anyway to thank the person that saved your life?" Katara half-teased.

"Go away!" He backhanded her right on her broken arm. She screamed in pain and fell to the ground clutching her painful arm. She tried to hold back the tears but it was unbearable and they slipped down her cheeks. She looked up at Zuko with teary, hurt eyes and he suddenly felt sadness at her pain and he wanted to make it stop. He felt the urge to kneel beside her and comfort her and for a second his mind flashed back to when she tried to comfort him after Iroh had gotten hurt. He remembered the caring touch on his shoulder and her soft words. His conscience was screaming at him to say sorry or make some effort to comfort her but he just sat on the bed and stared at her, horrified at what he had just done.

He watched her howl in pain and he felt himself kneel beside her and touch her shoulder. Why he was doing it, he had no clue. She looked up at him with those deep blue eyes and he didn't care why he was feeling bad. Their eyes locked and she stopped crying but would sniffle every couple of seconds. The usually steely gold eyes had turned soft and comforting, he looked down at her hurt arm then let his eyes travel up her figure to lock on her deep, almost purple blue eyes. His mouth opened and just as he was going to apologize, Sokka burst into the room looking frantic. He saw Zuko and immediately pulled Katara away from him.

"Get away you monster!" He pushed Katara behind him. "Are you alright?" He asked, not taking his eyes off Zuko.

"I'm fine but-"

"What did he do to you?" He asked, giving Zuko a death glare.

"He hit my arm b-" again, she was cut off. She looked over Sokka's shoulder at Zuko who had pushed himself up and was swaying to stand up. He raised his hands to a fighting stance and she immediately put herself between them. "STOP!"

"Move Katara! I don't want him to hurt you again." Sokka tried to push his sister out of the way. She bent some water from the bathroom and froze his feet to the ground.

"Listen! Zuko didn't hurt me. I…uh…fell when I was getting ready to leave." She stole a quick glance at Zuko who had surprise written all over his face. It was immediately replaced with a frown. Sokka looked from Katara to Zuko and back again.

"Fine! Now let me go!"

"You won't kill Zuko? Or hurt him?"

"No." He mumbled and Katara unfroze the water to be drug out by her brother. Zuko mouthed 'thank you' as she was hauled out the door. He fell back onto his bed and laid spread eagle, thinking about reasons for her to protect him. He had chased them unrelentingly for months and months, almost killing them and she still would help him? His nation had killed her mother, he didn't know about her father but she said she didn't get to see him anymore so he must be fighting in the war. The war with his nation. She has every right in the world to hate him and every right have let him die that night but she didn't. It was weird, nobody had ever cared that mush after he had been so mean to them, except Iroh of course. He didn't know why she would help him but he liked it. He liked that she would try and save him and that she cared.

OOOOOO

"I don't see why you always insist on protecting him. He is the enemy after all."

"I already told you. He is in need although he is too stubborn to admit it." Katara replied, cradling her broken arm as they walked down the steps to the stables. She had insisted on going to see Appa against Sokka wanting her to go lay in bed.

"You say that every time. I don't see why all the sudden you can forgive him for trying to kill us."

"He was hurt and-"

"You feel the need to help, yeah, yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah. I know, I know." He finished for her.

"I was going to say that he has changed and now that he is wanted by the Fire Nation too, he is beginning to realize that we are people too." Katara retorted.

"And how do you know that for sure?"

"You are so thick!" She punched his shoulder and stormed off into the stables where a happy Appa was groaning with happiness. Aang was sitting on the edge of the stall and Genia was tapping her foot and frowning.

"You're bison is going to eat all my hay!" She whined, stomping her foot. "These are your 'hooligans' take care of them! I can't afford to feed that thing!"

"I know, I know." Katara tried to calm her down. "Aang, how much have you given Appa already?"

"Four bales." He replied. "He's munching on his fifth right now."

"I think he's had enough for today." Katara told him.

He frowned. "I guess you're right." He looked sadly over at Appa.

"C'mon. Let's go eat. Dinner should be ready here soon." Sokka said from beside Genia.

Katara and Aang chuckled as they all headed to the kitchen to find Iroh cooking up a storm. He was banging pots and pans around, frantically working to get his meal finished. He saw the group and pointed at three meals prepared on the table for them. The group sat down to eat when they heard a yell from upstairs.

"That sounded like-" The scream came again.

Iroh stopped in his tracks. "Zuko?" He whispered.

Me: OMG!! The new Avatar that was on last night ROCKED! I squealed and squeezed my dog so hard she whined, when Sokka and Suki kissed. I was SOOOO happy! That's one of my favorite pairings too!!!! EEE!!! So happy!!!!! In your face Ty Lee x Sokka fans!!! NAH!!!(sticks out tongue)

Review please guys! I've got a bad head cold believe it or not so reviews would make me feel much better. My chest is all tight and painful because I've been hacking up my guts from coughing and to make matters worse, I have to sneeze constantly!! It's so annoying! Because I'll have to sneeze, then I think I'm gonna sneeze and it goes away!!! My head is all stuffed up and it hurts really badly so please review guys!! It'll mean a lot!!

Oh by the way, I wrote this chapter a looong time ago I just never got around to putting it up sorry…heh..