Chapter 6

Katara shuddered, she wanted to run, but something held her there, something made her look. After 5 minutes of this torture, she broke free and ran crying down the hall and up the stairs.

She burst into her room and jumped on her bed. She crawled under the covers and sat there for awhile. She sat there shivering, contemplating the new direction that her life suddenly now took on. If genes are the way she thought they were, Zuko would have inherited traits from his father, both good and bad. I am sure that wasn't abuse on those walls, it could be a fight against one of the crew. She tried to comfort herself, tried to make it seem better.

She went out onto her private deck and sat on the edge of the bars. She bended the water up to herself through the bars, and in a few minutes managed to calm down a little bit. She finally got to a state where she could think everything over. So far, I haven't seen that side of him yet, so I can't be sure he could be that way.

She tried to get past old prejudices, the ones that had blocked her mindset about him since the moment they met. But, it seemed impossible. He had tried so many times to apologize, but she never listened. She tried to forgive, but he would always go and do something that put up the defensive walls again. They had both made it harder for understanding to make headway. To let logic lead.

I'll give him a chance, we'll see what happens.

Zuko walked down the hallway thinking about that morning. It had been awkward. But, he loved being so near to her. Her smell, something about being near her made him feel so good. Must be pheromones or something. He thought about her as he walked along, tried to figure out how he could make the walls she had set up fall. Wondered how he could make her feel about him what he felt about her. He walked up to the main deck and looked out to the ocean. It helped him think, helped him focus and handle the task at hand, what with a new wife, and a new country, he would have to try and find a way to merge them, develop both of them, make them the way he had always imagined.

As he was looking, he noticed something in the corner of his eye, a splash. He knocked the thought out of his mind for a second and then realized in what direction it came. Katara. All sorts of thoughts ran through his mind, almost like a paranoid parent. He stood up and ran down to her deck, burst into her room, and ran out to the private deck.

"Katara! Katara!"

No answer. He was starting to seriously panic. He didn't seem to notice her robe-dress neatly folded on a chair. Including her mother's necklace.

He had no time to take off anything so he just jumped, unaware of the fact he was wearing armor. He looked around underwater for her, and saw her floating in an air bubble. Oh good.

He started slowly floating down though, and began to notice this. He tried to swim up, but couldn't catch the water well enough. He looked over at Katara's air bubble and wildly screamed.

Katara sat there in her comfy bubble, surrounded by her element. She was comfy now, so calm and relaxed.

For some reason though, she could sense something was wrong, and as soon as she looked out of her bubble, her hunch was correct. She saw Zuko in the water, armor and all, wildly trying to her attention. She immediately popped her bubble, and used the current to swim towards him. She grabbed him and tried to swim up, but the compounded weight of him and his armor, was to much, she was loosing air. She let go of his hand and bended bubbles towards her. She compounded them and made a giant air bubble. With that, she swam down, to an unconscious Zuko, and grabbed him into the air bubble, and made a water jet to catapult both her and him up.

When they crashed onto the deck, she sat there in shock for a few seconds, just trying to get the stars out of her eyes. She tried to stand up, but her ankles were hurt. She saw him laying on his side, unmoving. She scrounged over to check his pulse. Oh, please still be breathing, please, I can't loose you like I did my mom, not when I was right there!

She checked his pulse, and it beat faintly. She bended a little water out of his lungs, but not before the water choked him. She bended more out quickly, and found his breathing more steady. She took his armor off so he could breathe. Yes, yes, your fine now. She tried to slap him awake. She pat his cheek and found him unresponsive. He also must have had trauma from the crash landing. Yea, great job genius. She used water and healed his brain a little. It didn't occur to her she had the ability to heal herself, she had to make sure he was alive and good, had to make sure she didn't loose another person when she could have stopped them from dying or helped.

She bent the rest of the water out of his lungs, she thought he would have come-to by now. His body must be trying to rearrange. As she was assessing what to do, she noticed he was shivering, and his face was in a grimace. What..? She turned him on his side to find something in his back, it looked like a piece of glass. She bended it out and healed it. What broke? She looked over to find the water had shattered her side window. She took a towel nearby and put it under his head, to keep his head away from the glass.

His grimace was gone now, but he was shivering still, and violently so. The water! It must be to cold for a firebender! She bended over another towel and dried him off. Then she got a blanket and put it over him. He's not getting warm fast enough! She realized that there was no candles, nothing to start a fire with. Great, his consideration for not giving me a fireplace turns out to be something I need. She looked around and found glass all over the deck, she carefully, without touching him with the water, cleaned up the deck. She noticed the fact her mother's dress and necklace were still there, and safe, but didn't fully take it in. She turned her attention back to Zuko and found him to be a bit clammy, he looked to have a light case of hypothermia. She herself, couldn't realize that she was crying, her eyes were watering up. She couldn't stand to loose someone. Even though his condition was mild, her consciousness over blew it. It over blew it because the last time she didn't take a matter of danger seriously, it ended up being the death of her mother. A death she could have stopped. She could never get over how close she was, how she could have helped.

In this moment of desperation, she forgot her feelings for him, and thought about what was best for him. She took down her hair and got close to him under the blanket, her body heat would warm him.

Under the blanket, except for the pain in her ankles, she was comfy and warm. She hadn't eaten at all this morning, breakfast hadn't been served yet. Compounded with the fact she hadn't eaten, and her strength was gone, with the fact that the emotional addends of the situation, she was weak. She soon fell asleep.

In Zuko's mind, he was dreaming, He dreamed about her screaming, and he couldn't find what door it was coming from. He searched but couldn't find her. The screaming stopped, and he saw her fall out of a door far ahead. He ran up to her to save her, but it was too late. "No! Katara, no!"

He didn't realize it, but he was in a coma from the hit, Katara had helped the swelling, but his brain still slightly ballooned. His mind was in a haze, trying to get out of the tunnel and into the yellow light of day, and not the white light of death. Katara helped by getting the water out of his lungs, and lowering the swelling. On a good route to recovery, it would still take a few hours. Until then, he was stuck in a human cocoon.

Katara woke up an hour and a half later, her stomach screamed in urgent protest. She looked up and found Zuko still asleep, his face peaceful. I need to get our breakfast, it should help him heal. I need food too. She got out from under the blanket and put ice braces around her ankles, to help with her swelling. She stood up shakily, but found the ice braces helped a lot, and she could walk mostly regular speed, but a little slower. She put her hair up and a red dress on. She pinched her cheeks for color, and looked in the mirror and smiled. She didn't notice her lip was ripped. She walked briskly up to the cafeteria, and walked into the kitchen. She found the chef was just serving breakfast.

"Chef?"

"Lady Katara, what a pleasant surprise! Why have you come, you and your husband should be sitting in the dining room."

"I am sorry chef, but I am going to take the food down to my room, me and Zuko have decided to have a private breakfast, you know how newly weds are." She winked for extra touch, to try and convince him.

He smiled widely, and took the trays, "Ah, yes, you newly weds, well, that's no problem Lady Katara, shall I carry the trays for you?"

"That would be lovely, thank you."

When they got to the room, he almost reached to open the door, she stopped his hand swiftly, but just slow enough to make it seem like it wasn't too secretive.

"I don't think you want to see him…you know" she giggled and winked. "I'll take it from here chef, thank you for your help and your wonderful cooking."

He smiled and nodded. "Your welcome Lady Katara, you two have a nice breakfast." He walked back to the cafeteria down the hall. She balanced the two small trays between her hands and managed to open the door. She walked in and set the trays down on her dresser. I can't cart him back to his room, they'll see, I'll have to keep him here.

She used the water to pick him up off the deck and barely made him to the bed before her strength gave out. Now, she bended the water out of his clothes and hair and put him under her blankets. She propped him up using the many pillows she had.

She carried the tray over to the bed and used water to combine the cinnamon sticks, fire cakes, bacon, and juice, into a smooth sauce that could flow down a throat easily. She bent it down his throat using the juice as a bending force. Luckily, she seemed to get it down without him choking. But before she could eat, she had to bind his head and abdomen. She actually hadn't seen it yet, so it could be damaged. She pulled out some healing herbs from her pack from the closet that she always took with her, and also took out some medical tape from the bathroom first aid kit.

With that, she pulled up his shirt and looked at the damage. It wasn't too extensive, but he did have a few broken ribs. His armor, it must have impacted his chest. She used water to heal about ¾ of the damage, and then put healing herbs down with the tape around them. She also bound his head to help the swelling. After that was done, she ate her breakfast slowly, and regained most of her strength. She felt a lot better.

She pulled up a chair to his side of the bed, and sat there taking his pulse to make sure it didn't slow. After a long while of silence, and a full stomach, she fell asleep again, despite her efforts to stay awake.

Zuko awoke and hour later with a large headache. For a second, he didn't move, for some reason, he felt warm and comfy. What the..? He had remembered what happened, how she let go of his hand, he almost thought she actually was just going to let him sink, but before he blacked out, he saw her float down with a bubble around her. So, at least she doesn't hate me so much she'd let me die. He cautiously opened his eyes, and found things strewn all over. He was in Katara's room, in her bed. He saw the windows shattered, her mother's dress and necklace still on the lawn chair out on the deck, a spot of blood and a piece of glass, and one of his favorite blankets in blue on the deck.

He looked down and felt the bandages on his abdomen and felt his head. Lastly, he looked down and saw Katara, laying beside him holding his hand. She was mildly pale, her lip torn. He looked down and saw water on the floor by her feet, and saw the red swollen flesh around them. Wait, what? He didn't understand, and then it finally hit him, she had done all this, saved him, healed him, all not taking into consideration her own wounds. For me, she sacrificed her time and self for me. He was shocked and touched at what she had done.

She suddenly woke up and looked dazed. She looked up at him and smiled weakly.

"Hey, your awake, your okay."

"Yea, I am fine, what about you?"

"Fine"

"No offense, but you look really bad."

"I do?"

"Yea, your ankles are all swollen, your lip is torn and your pale."

"Really?"
He watched as she bended the water around her ankles and walked over to the mirror.

"Wow, I had no idea, I didn't realize..."

"How could you not?"

"I don't know." She laughed quietly.

He sat up a little, and looked around more.

"What happened?"

"I had to shoot us up to the surface using a water jet, when we hit the deck, you got a mild concussion."

"Yea, I can feel it"

"Here, let me see how things are going here."

She walked over and carefully took off the bandages. His wounds had pretty much healed, but there would be scars there for awhile.

"Whoah, how'd they heal so fast?"

"It's a special herb in the south pole, we use it on almost everything and found it works extremely well."

"That, it does."

She stood there for a second, silent. Then she leaned over to him and hugged him tight.

"I am just glad you didn't die, I couldn't have handled it."

"Wait, what? I thought you didn't like me at all."

She pulled away.

"That doesn't mean I don't care for your well being."

He looked at her.

"That's nice to know at least."

"What do you mean?"

"I thought you hated me with all your might, when you let go of my hand, I thought you were going to let me die."

"No, I can't do that."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't kill someone."

"Why?"

"Its just not in my nature, I can't murder."

"What if it was for your own life?"

"Still, no. You know what? Can we just get off the subject."

"Why?"

"Because, I can't talk about death right after you almost died."

"I, almost died?"

"Yea."

He was now extremely surprised, she didn't just heal and save him, she made sure he didn't die.

"Wow, thanks."

"Your Welcome."

He pulled back the covers and put his feet down and tested his legs.

"You shouldn't be up, your still injured."

"It doesn't matter."

His legs still felt a bit shaky, but he was pretty sure he could walk well on them. He looked over at Katara who had a concerned look on her face.

"Relax, its nothing."

Her face was still painted with worry. He wanted to assure her somehow, make her feel okay. He patted her shoulder and went out and got his clothes. He put them carefully over the bandages, and let his hair down so that the crew wouldn't notice his head one.

The glass has to be fixed, but how? Then he remembered anything heated with fire can be bent by a firebender. He gathered all the glass into a pile first, and then super heated it until he could bend it. After it was all red, he bent it into place, and took the heat away from it. Then he did the same thing with the other window.

Katara looked astonished. He smiled and laughed.

"What?"

"You…just bent glass."

"Yes, and?"

"I didn't know you could do that."

"Well, now you know."

She nodded and then walked his way and turned and grabbed her mother's necklace and her dress.

"Ugh, these are gonna have to be washed. I'll wash them later."

"Katara, we have servants you know."

"I know, but I don't want to overrun them with too much work, I know what its like."

"Ah."

He looked up at the sun, it was lunch time.

"Katara, its lunch time."

She had gone in to put her things on in the bathroom.

"Coming."

She came out of the bathroom with her normal dress and stuff on. She put some makeup on her face to hide the bruises and the ripped lip.

"Okay, come on."

He noticed she wasn't wearing her ring, but he didn't say anything. It just hurt him a lot to see her do that, but she just saved his ass, that made up for it.

He walked up and took her arm, he started walking but she held him back.

"What are you doing?"

"Escorting you to lunch."

"I can go without you holding my arm."

"Yea, but it won't look right. We've been in here all morning, the crew thinks we have been having sex. We have to make it look like we're happy and drunk with love."

He could see Katara was a bit wary of doing this, but couldn't think of anything else that would work.

"I am sorry, but we can't let them know about the accident. It would hurt your reputation as a peacemaker wife."

Katara grimaced. She knew all to well the truth of the sentence.

"Fine." She took his arm and put on a happy face, and for some reason, it looked really convincing.

"Wow, nice face." He laughed a little.

"Well, come on, where's yours?"

He put on his and it looked fine from his point of view, but she laughed.

"Nice."

"Come on."

He opened the door and let her out. She followed him with her face all cheery. She even managed a good love drunk giggle every now and then. Wow, she's good at this!

Katara looked up at Zuko who's face softened from the weird one in the room, she could see a twinkle in his eye and a spring in his step. Wow. You know for a fire bender, he's pretty happy. Now, she just laughed out loud.

He turned.

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing, just keep walking."

As she walked, his warmth sunk into her. Suddenly, she felt really close to Zuko, and as hard as she tried, she couldn't seem to shake it off. Stop it Katara! No! You can't be attracted to him! She felt like crying.

She suddenly started sweating, his inner body heat was suffocating. His inner store of fire must be acting up, but why? He's not angry, and I don't think he's sad, so..?

She suddenly became aware of the crew around them, and she still had her happy face on but she wasn't laughing. She giggled now, with a convincing high pitchy-ness.

It finally hit her, and the reality was beyond her mind. He...likes me. She looked up in awe and saw his eyes wild with passion. Oh, shit! His body every second was giving off pheromones, and every second was like an eternity. She felt her own body heat spike, and she knew it wasn't a fever.

When they got to the kitchen, she sat down. She took out her fan given to her by one of the old fire nation women and started waving it in her face wildly. She eventually cooled down.

The lunch for that day was chicken soup flavored with paprika. The side dish was rice with pineapple. The drink was a wine of some sort.

She leaned over and sniffed it, it smelled like nothing she'd ever smelled. It was a sweet grape raspberry wine, with the sour of a green apple.

She sipped it and was intrigued.

"Zuko, what's this?" She said in a very squeaky girly voice.

"It's a special fire nation wine, reserved only for the royal family and royal guests. Its for special occasions."

She suddenly remembered drinking a little of it at her wedding.

"Its really well made, its delicious."

"Thank the chef, he's a master at it."

For the rest of the meal, they ate in silence, except for some fake laughs and loving looks.

When they were done, they walked up and strolled around the deck for a bit and then went back down to her room, once the door was closed, she let go of the act.

She was even sweatier this time.

Once the door closed, he looked at Katara, who was profusely sweating.

"Katara, are you alright?"

She gave him one look and he could see what was wrong.

"You have a fever?"

"No, no, I am fine." She laughed.

I am glad he's not a doctor.

"What's wrong then?"

"Nothing, nothing really."

Her female instinct was suddenly over powering her, her lust for him made her mind go crazy but her instinct stronger.

"Are you really okay?"

"Yea."

It suddenly faded, and she felt fine. But she could see Zuko heating up, and it was worse this time than when she was close and walking around with him.

"Are you okay?"

"Yea, yea."

Then, it came back again, the heat, both of them, together, it became too much.

Her mind could see that her eyes and his were exploding like fireworks.

She ran up to him and jumped on him and started kissing, he kissed back wildly. He felt his way backwards until they made it to the bed, she got bellow him and they just kept on kissing. In her mind, she was screaming No, but she just kept on kissing, it felt good.

Then, it got serious.

They both took off their clothes and started doing what honeymooner's do best. She felt her heart beat fast and his body heat was burning her it seemed. It felt slightly uncomfortable to her, but after a little bit, it felt amazing. She didn't even realize he had known beforehand how to do it.

His mind was wild right now, and he was almost blind. He couldn't think straight at all, and couldn't even manage one word. He could see Katara laughing a little and he was smiling. They were both pink from the heat. Then, the fire in both of them died off. She got out from on top of him.

They were both laughing a little and then it stopped, the reality of his and her actions suddenly hit her.

"Did we just…?"

"Yea."

She looked down and almost wined, she knew that she just did what everyone was expecting her to do. The fact was, it was a mixture of emotions. She didn't want to share that kind of love with him, yet, what they just did was amazing, he was good at it. Her passion died down. His hadn't though.

A/N:

You like, yes? :

It took me awhile to combat writers block for this chapter, but I somehow finished it.

Comments, Questions?

COMMENT PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE I want to know what ya'll think.

Byes.