Judgement

Chapter Fourteen- Freedom

No one is free when others are oppressed.
-Author Unknown

Katara ran through the trees and bushes just trying to get to her friends. Nothing ran through her mind as she ran. She didn't want to think, didn't really want to know what was going on.

She broke through the last bush to see everyone with their backs turned but Toph, who was smirking at her. Aang and Sokka were packing everything onto Appa. They didn't notice her until Appa and Momo started making noise, making them turn around.

"Katara!" They yelled in unison, running towards her. She welcomed their embrace and smiled at them. "We're so sorry!"

"We were going to come and rescue you," Aang started to explain in haste.

"But then Appa got hurt." Sokka finished with just as much haste as Aang.

"And we couldn't find anyone to heal him."

"So we had to walk."

"And we were just about to go and save you now."

"Hey hold on!" She stopped them almost laughing. "I'm fine, don't worry."

"Are you sure?" Sokka questioned checking her for any wounds or scars.

"Yes!" She swatted his hand away from her. "I'm fine."

"So how'd you escape?" Toph asked from Appa, still smirking.

"He, well…" She looked around as if the answer was hidden on one of the trees. "He let me go." She said softly.

"No, really. How'd you escape?" Sokka laughed.

"He let me go you guys." She looked at Toph for help.

"She's telling the truth." She stated plainly.

"Man you must have kicked his butt then, huh?" Sokka said proudly. "He didn't hurt you right?" He switched back into big brother mode.

"Of course not!" She shouted forgetting that they only knew Zuko as the 'must capture The Avatar' maniac. "No. He didn't hurt me at all."

"Why don't you idiots go get some fire wood while I talk to Sugar Queen here." Toph suggested finally approaching them.

"Alright." Aang sighed. "Good to have you back Katara." He hugged her one more time before dragging Sokka along with him.

"When we get back I want to know everything that happened though!" Sokka shouted before he left.

"So how crazy did they make you?" Katara smiled at Toph. She had a strange look on her face. "What?"

"There's something different about you. I can't figure out what exactly though." She crossed her arms.

"What do you mean?" Katara started to look a little nervous.

"You know what I mean. What happened while you were gone?"

"Nothing." Katara wasn't sure what to say.

"Liar. Something happened." Toph circled her like she could see and was checking her for any little mark or change. "What did Zuko do?"

"He didn't do anything." Katara knew it was pointless to lie but she didn't want to admit anything either.

"Your heart beat changes just slightly when I say Zuko's name," Toph stopped in front of Katara. "Kind of like when I say Suki's name around Sokka." Katara was sure her heart stopped a few moments. "This is interesting."

"You can't tell anyone!" Katara nearly pleaded.

"How in the world did he go from enemy who captured you to little schoolgirl crush?"

"He's not just a crush!" Katara hit her head with her hand when she realized what she'd just said.

"My mistake." Toph chuckled. "Don't worry Sugar Queen, I won't tell. This will be too interesting." She turned back to Appa as the guys came back, empty handed.

"Where's the fire wood?" Katara laughed.

"You were serious?" Sokka asked.

"I just figured you were talking girl stuff." Aang shrugged.

"I'll go get some." She rolled her eyes.

"I don't think so." Sokka stopped her. "You're not going anywhere."

"I'm not helpless." She groaned.

"You said that last time and you ended up captured." Sokka shot back only to get a glare from his sister.

"He's not going to come after me again." She tried to tell him. "Trust me." She mumbled half to herself.

"I'll go with her." Toph said walking into the forest motioning for Katara to follow. She sighed angrily before complying.

"I would be fine by myself." Katara told Toph catching up to her.

"Something tells me your boyfriend wouldn't capture you again but they don't know that."

"He's not my boyfriend." Katara told her sternly. "Besides, they need to learn to trust me."

"Sokka's your brother. It's an unwritten rule that he can't trust you and Aang…" She paused trying to think of how to word it right. "Aang's protective."

"They still need to trust me." She leaned down to get fire wood while Toph used her bending to kick it up.

Their conversation seemed to end while they continued to gather wood. Katara wandered off onto her own path. She stopped walking when she could see the top of Zuko's ship barely though the tree tops. She stood there and though, Zuko trusted me.

She knew Aang and Sokka trusted her but it was different. Although she didn't know why, she did know it was a different kind of trust.

"You thinking about going back?" Toph came up behind her, making her jump in surprise.

"What? No!" Katara shouted a little defensive. "At least, I don't think so." She almost whispered.

"Well, they're not leaving until morning so you have time to make up your mind."

"How do you know they're not leaving yet?" Katara asked thinking she was lying.

"Lame dock rules. I doubt Princey was happy when he heard that." She laughed a little. "You have time to go back."

"Why would I go back?" Katara sighed. "I'm free now." She slowly started walking back to camp.

-----

Katara lay on her back in her sleeping roll pretending to listen to Sokka talk. Her mind traveled and seemed to stay steady on Zuko. She felt guilty and couldn't understand why.

She remembered the day he had captured her about a week ago. He had come up behind her in the market and taken her hostage. She remembered his hands on her hips and now it made her tingle a little. At the time it made her angry and she fought him.

"Give up peasant."

"Never." She growled staring up at him.

Now if Zuko came to her and fought her, she wasn't sure how she'd react. She wasn't sure how he would react either. They couldn't fight like they used to. It just wouldn't happen no matter how hard they tried. They knew so much about each other now that they were connected.

"You're uncle said something that interests me."

"What would that be?"

"He said I should get to know you."

"There's nothing to know."

"There's a lot to know."

There had been a lot to know really. She understood him now. She knew him and wasn't sure if that was good or bad right now. There were still a few things she wasn't sure about. The one morning they ate breakfast was a perfect example.

She smiled slightly remembering how she had accidentally hit Zuko's foot and he had pushed back a little playfully. She couldn't stop blushing and just remembering it now made her blush. That couldn't be a good thing.

Another thing she wasn't sure of was the nickname he had given her; Tara. The first time he'd done it was during training. She had had both of her fists in his hand and he just had to chuckle at her.

"You've gotta do better than that Tara."

His voice filled her ears and she sighed. She'd grown to kind of like it when he called her that, even though he had only done it twice. She was still smiling and now she was confusing herself. She didn't really know what she wanted. She wanted to go back to him but she didn't. She really didn't know what he wanted. He was hard to read sometimes.

"He'll do anything to save you, though I don't get why. You're just a sorry, helpless, useless, ugly, water bending peasant."

Even though he had apologized for it and she was pretty sure he hadn't meant it, it still hurt a little. It wasn't fair that she liked someone like him. He was rude and nice at the same time and it didn't make sense.

"Do you know how worried I was when I saw you weren't there?"

"You were worried about me?"

She sighed and looked up at the sky trying to erase all memories of the past week from her mine. She found she could see the stars and that just brought up more memories that made her think of him.

"The stars. My mother and I used to look at them all the time."

She smiled and couldn't help but wonder if he was thinking about her like she was about him. Probably not.

Katara laid there wondering why she couldn't stop thinking about him. She didn't think it would be this hard. It shouldn't have been that hard. She had told Toph he was more than a crush but she wasn't sure how much more.

She knew she had wanted to kiss him. She still did. She wanted him laying beside her like he did while she stayed with him. She even missed him holding her arm while they walked.

She loved him.

"Katara?" She heard Sokka call to her from across the fire.

"What?" She snapped back into reality.

"You okay?"

"No." She half laughed like she thought she was stupid. "I'll be back before dawn." She stood up.

"What?" Where are you going?" Aang asked only to get no answer before Katara took off running.

"Katara!" Sokka called, ready to follow her. Toph moved the ground up beneath him, throwing him backwards.

"Stay." She commanded.

"But she…Something's wrong!" He shouted.

"Trust me and trust her." As soon as Sokka started to move, she put up rock walls around him. "She's alright you idiot!"

-----

Katara wasn't sure what she was doing. She knew she was an idiot but she couldn't just let Zuko leave without talking to him first.

She came to a sudden stop at the ship. She looked back asking herself if she wanted to go back to camp or continue onto Zuko's ship.

"Who's there?" She heard a guard call. She had no idea how to get passed them. She took a nervous step forward onto the plank.

"I'm Prince Zuko's prisoner." Technically that was a lie now.

"Why aren't you on board?" One questioned.

"Is that supposed to be your concern?" She crossed her arms trying to act like she knew what she was talking about.

"Come here." The other man commanded. She walked towards them to see one of them was the man who guarded the door while she showered. "Yep, this is Prince Zuko's prisoner."

"Alright." The other sighed. "Take her to him."

"C'mon." The guard she recognized grabbed her arm and lead her onto the ship. "I heard you were released." He said suspiciously.

"You must have heard wrong." She lied.

"It's unusual for a captive to come back to a cell." He told her approaching Zuko's door. "Have a good night." He said before walking away, obviously trusting her enough to let her go in on her own.

Katara looked at the door. She wasn't sure she knew what she was doing. She wasn't sure of anything anymore actually. She took a deep breath and reached for the door handle.

Okay two things. First I know this seems like it's set in the first season which would mean Toph would not be here but it doesn't really have a time zone so I guess it can be called AU. Bottom line is Toph's in the story, don't tell me it's off. I already know. Second...I forgot what the second was... Oh well.

Sorry about the wait but hey, at least I got it up before Monday which is when I actually planned to have it up. I feel very iffy with this chptr though. I don't really like it and to me it doesn't seem believable but... I hope you guys like it anyways.

So we have one more chptr which is currently half written and then an epilogue... then it's the end. Well I'll see you guys next update!