Here's the chapter! Heehee…I hope you like it! Sorry it took so long to update. My computer was being a butt.

I have a $1.13! woohoo! Avatar: The Last Airbender, here I come…in about thirty more years…sigh…if only I did own it.

Chapter Twelve

Zuko woke just as the sun started to peek out from behind the clouds. Opening his eyes, he looked at Katara. Her color had returned and she was breathing normally, though there was a nasty bruise just below her hairline on the left side of her forehead. Despite the discoloration, Zuko thought she looked lovely, especially with the sun pouring into the cave, lighting her beautiful features.

"Beautiful?" He jumped up and moved across the cave in case she woke up. He didn't want her to start yelling at him first thing in the morning.

But she didn't wake up, not for a long while. Figuring she was probably exhausted from her flight in the storm, Zuko began to meditate, not willing to leave her by herself. She could wake up and then decide to run off again.

Still, when noon came and went, Zuko began to worry. Even if she was tired, she shouldn't sleep so long. Frowning, he crossed the cave and knelt beside her. For a moment, he simply stared at her and then reached down to shake her shoulder. Only his hand didn't make it to her shoulder. Instead, he began brushing back her dark hair.

"Katara."

She stirred and a smile crossed Zuko's face. "Katara, wake up."

Her eyes fluttered open and Zuko's heart contracted. He hastily looked away from those deep, sapphire pools as heat rose to his face.

-------

"Katara."

Katara woke to the sound of his voice.

"Katara, wake up."

She opened her eyes and found Zuko staring worriedly down at her. Katara smiled but after a moment, Zuko turned away. Disgusted, Katara decided to ignore him. Happy with her decision, she tried to sit up, using her arms to push herself up. But then her head began to pound furiously and her stomach began to roll. She groaned and collapsed back to the cave floor. And then her stomach began to growl.

"Great."

"Why don't you make yourself useful and get some breakfast?" Katara asked peevishly. She hated that he was just standing there, his golden eyes not even looking at her.

Zuko bit back a nasty retort and hurriedly left the cave. The faster the better. Katara was distracting him with her sapphire eyes and vulnerable state. Plus they were all alone, and Zuko was nervous about what might happen without his uncle popping up every few minutes (A/N: oooh…we know what that means, don't we?).

He stepped out and walked a ways, trying not to think about how beautiful Katara looked when she first woke up. But it was almost like telling him not to breath. Even if he were blind, he'd still feel her, hear her.

Huffing out a breath, Zuko searched for some food—not that he knew what to look for—but he couldn't really find anything. The forest was wet and leaves and branches were everywhere, littering the ground. He didn't see any fruit, and there was an odd roaring sound. It sounded almost like a fast-moving river, but that wasn't right. The closest water was the small stream Zuko had crossed while following Katara.

At that thought, his blood ran cold. It had rained hard nearly all night. Could it be possible? Zuko ran towards the sound and when he got to the creek, he nearly cried. Instead of a creek, he faced a large channel, separating him and Katara from the other part of the island. And it wasn't as if he could simply swim across. Oh, no. It seemed that the ocean had invaded, making the now river swirl dangerously.

"Oh no." He sat down. This was horrible.

"Well, at least you're trapped with Katara…"

Zuko stilled. "What? Where did that come from?"

"Oh come on," said the voice in his head, "you know you like her. And you know that you like her just enough to not mind if the two of you were trapped here forever."

"Shut up."

Though his inner voice had a lot more to say, Zuko shut it out, trying not to think about the fact that he was actually talking to himself.

He stood and went back to the cave, empty handed and gloomy. He would have to tell Katara the bad news. But, when he returned to the cave, she had fallen asleep again.

"Wonderful," he mumbled, sitting on the cave floor. "Just wonderful."

It wasn't too hard to find the Avatar and his flying bison. And it wasn't exactly hard to follow them, either. The challenge was figuring out a way to "bump" into them and join their group.

Ty Lee watched the Avatar and his two friends from some low brush. "Right," she whispered. "Now how should I do this?"

She sighed. The easiest way was to get caught. And she had a feeling that the earthbender already knew she was there.

Sure enough, The Water Tribe boy ran over to the bushes, boomerang in his hand. Ty Lee smiled as he reached to pull her out of the bushes. Like he would have time to do anything.

-------

"What are you doing here?" Sokka growled when Ty Lee jumped out of the bushes.

The girl smiled and did a couple of flips. "I'm tired of following Azula everywhere; you won't believe how boring she can get. Always talking about capturing the Avatar and betraying her brother and what have you." She stopped and glanced back at him over her shoulder. "I must admit; you guys seem so much more interesting."

Though he officially considered Ty Lee an enemy, Sokka puffed up at her compliment.

Meanwhile, Aang sent her a tired but warm smile and walked over to her. "You can join us if you want," he said quietly.

Sokka's jaw dropped. "First you suggest Zuko's a nice guy and now you want to give out invitations to someone who's been hunting us? Are you nuts? Did your injury damage your head or something?"

Toph stomped over to him and tapped the ground with her foot. Sokka went flying. "If Aang trusts her then we should give her a chance."

The warrior stood, rubbing his backside. "Since when did you get to be so nice?"

Toph knocked him back to the ground. "Since Sugar Queen isn't here."

"Toph…"

Ty Lee grinned at Aang. "Don't worry; I already knew. Azula wanted me to spy on you guys and I said I would, but it's not that fun. I mean, you guys always seem to have such a great time and I'm stuck just watching you. It's not fair."

"Well…" Aang glanced towards Sokka who seemed surprisingly calm. "We're looking for Katara right now. We think Zuko's got her."

Ty Lee nodded sympathetically and then jumped into a tree. "Apparently, he's decided to switch sides again, else he would be dangling her in front of your face."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sokka yelled up at her.

She shrugged and then began doing flips on the branch. "I don't know. I'm not his royal babysitter."

For a long moment, Sokka tried to hold back his laughter but it came out anyway. The mere thought of Zuko being bossed around by a babysitter brought him to tears. But then he remembered how Katara always took care of everyone and he sobered up. "We have to find her soon, guys."

"I saw an island a little while ago that had a bunch of stuff piled up on the beach," Ty Lee told him. "Maybe they stopped there."

Aang looked off into the distance. "Maybe…"

Sokka, however, appeared completely enthusiastic. "Let's go!"

"Wait a minute," Toph said. She was leaning up against a tree, keeping a "watch," so to speak, on the area. "Isn't this where you get all suspicious and go crazy?"

"What do you mean?" he asked. "I am perfectly capable of being a rational human being."

The earthbender gave a cough that sounded suspiciously like "Yeah right."

"I do!"

"Let's just go," Aang said, heading back to Appa. "We can't give Zuko time to change his mind again."

Another short one, I know, but I've been sick…and swamped with homework. But, hopefully, the next couple of chapters will prove to be really exciting. We'll see definite Zutara here, with a little bit of Taang and maybe some Tykka.