I apologize for holding this story ransom for reviews, guys. I was just really frustrated, and sort of insecure about this story because it's not something I've really done before. Please continue to review, thank you so much. Hopefully this chapter addresses some of your concerns. Enjoy!

Chapter Four
The Demon Guardian

An eternity passed between them before the moment broke. He silently pointed one of his swords at the little girl, and then at her. But words were unnecessary, because the child got up and ran to her, skirting around the groaning men and then hiding behind Katara. The Blue Sprit turned back to them, and she knew what was going to happen.

She took the girl's hand and dragged her out of the alley, running as fast as she could and telling her to do the same, but they still weren't far enough when the clang of metal sounded, when the screams of horror began.

Still they ran, and Katara glanced down at the little girl. Her cheek was already swelling, and she had scrapes on her hands, but looked fine otherwise. She wore a simple shift of grey linen, something Katara had seen other orphans wear as they toured the city. Her hair was dark brown and shaggy, short enough to just barely graze her shoulders, and her eyes were a soft brown.

"Are you alright?" she asked, slowing her pace and looking around, then pulling her down a side street on the way to her apartment. The girl nodded. "What's your name?" she asked, and then added gently, "You don't have to be afraid right now. You're safe with me, okay?"

"My name is Lani," she said, and then turned to look at Katara with wide eyes. "Who was that man who saved us?"

She bit her lip, wondering how to answer. The Blue Spirit had been like a shadow to her since she began living in the slums. When she left the huge house in the burg of Caldera, she'd left behind all contact with everyone she'd known- one last letter to Sokka, saying she needed to hide for a while, but that she was safe. Another note to Aang, saying that they would meet again sometime. And a last one to Toph, thanking her for everything during the funeral, and telling her that Toph of all people should be able to understand why she was disappearing.

But the Blue Spirit seemed so familiar to her when he'd begun protecting her. He never spoke, never did anything to harm her, and never asked anything in return. It was as if he was a guardian spirit, but no- she'd gone to a library once and tried to research the original Blue Spirit, and had ripped the page out of the book in case she'd need the information again.

What she had read hadn't been very comforting.

"The Blue Spirit is a minor demon, born of a thorn in Agni's finger that was thrown into the ocean. The demon is the bringer of death and destruction to those who have already seen him, and often follows mourning women to reconnect them with their loves.

The demon is a tracker. Once he chooses a victim, this monster of the shadows will not rest until this victim is dead."

But her spirit had never led her astray- he had even saved her on too many occasions to count. She had been in Fool's City, waiting for a man to meet her and give her witch hazel, and a guard had tried to drag her into a bar, already drunk.

Needless to say, she'd refused- violently. She'd been on the run from him and his companions, not yet knowing the layout of that part of the city, scrambling to find somewhere to hide- and she'd run into the Blue Spirit, staring into the motionless mask and being hypnotized by the sudden feeling that she'd met him before.

She'd trusted him when he pulled her up and pointed into an alley, and she'd run down the street and found a covered shelter to dip into, her heart beating in her throat as the guards walked right next to her, searching for her.

But they hadn't found her.

There was also a time when she'd been on her way on a house call to a man who sent his friend to tell her he was afraid of losing his leg, and didn't know who else to turn to. She'd gotten her medicines together and was almost to his house when the Blue Spirit dropped down in front of her, not letting her pass. They'd fought, her eventually having to use her waterbending, but he'd just cut through the ice darts and dodged her attacks as if he'd seen them all before.

She hadn't known that there was a reason he wouldn't let her pass, but the next morning she'd heard a story about a man who lured girls into his house, raped them, and then murdered them. And the day after that, she'd heard from a customer that the man had been found with his head by his feet, killed by a man wearing a blue mask.

She'd thought of him as a protector, a demon saving her from self-righteous angels, and the feeling was supported by the nagging voice in the back of her head that told her she'd known him before, in a previous life. She trusted him, but she still couldn't answer Lani, not knowing what exactly he was.

Instead, she asked another question. "What were you doing out so late, and not in the orphanage?"

Lani blushed. "I was practicing, because they don't let people bend in the orphanage. I'm a firebender, except I've never had lessons or anything… I'm not strong, or even very good at it. But I don't like being in the orphanage. Bad things happen there."

Katara didn't press the issue, and just nodded as they silently made their way up the stairs to her apartment. It was only then that she recalled the boy and his mother in her home, and rifled through her pockets. The licorice root wasn't there- it must have fallen out when she was taken to the ground by the kidnapper.

But nailed to her door was a small black bag, the drawstring hung over the nail, swinging slightly in the breeze. She felt her stomach plummet, then snatched it and opened it, finding the root in the bag, along with a few coins. She silently thanked the Blue Spirit, knowing it couldn't have been anyone else, then opened her door, sending Lani to her bedroom to wait.

The boy was still burning up, but his mother waited at his bed, her hands folded and tears streaking down her hollow cheeks. Katara pulled her hood up and immediately began crushing the root, mixing it with thyme and some other herbs. The mother watched her blankly.

Suddenly the young man gasped, his eyes flashed open and he arched off the couch, and she leapt towards him, trying to hold him down.

"You're okay, shhh…" Her comforting words seemed to have an effect on him, and she supported the back of his head, trying to get him more comfortable. His eyes opened again, and a strong sense of déjà vu struck her- this was strangely like the time she'd discovered Aang in the iceberg. She fleetingly wondered if he was alright, if he still thought about her- maybe even worried about her. Then, the moment passed, and she had to get back to the present.

Katara worked until the boy was stable, and handed the woman the rest of her fever paste and the coins she'd found on her door. "Take him to a doctor, and pay with these. Keep his fever down by feeding him this, follow it with honey if you have it to help it go down easier. If the doctor can't see him, bring him back… but stay outside."

The woman reached forward and touched her cloaked shoulder, tears brimming once more in her eyes. "You are an angel sent down to help us," she said quietly, then bowed to her and pulled her son's arm over her shoulders, helping him down the stairs.

She closed the door and checked in on Lani, who was sleeping soundly on the floor next to her bed, like an innocent little puppy. A wave of nurturing swept through her, and she leaned against the door. Maybe she could send the child to Iroh in Ba Sing Se- then, she could have a job at the tea shop, and get lessons from the Dragon of the West himself. Maybe she'd even become a master, as Zuko had been.

Katara gasped at the shiver which ran down her spine- it had been such a long time since she'd let herself think about him. His face blossomed in her mind, and she felt tears clogging her eyes, clouding her vision. She tried to push the sorrow down, but this time, it was accompanied by a rush of anger.

No one had ever explained how he died- no one even seemed to know, not even the crew he'd taken to Ba Sing Se. And even though it was two years later, she hadn't moved on. They hadn't let her, it was like no one even cared that she'd been hurting until it was too late for them to find her.

But she knew that wasn't true- they'd been so far away, and maybe she hadn't given them the chance to help her. She'd done that with Zuko all those years ago- hadn't trusted him enough to know that he was a good man, and then hadn't trusted herself enough to let the feelings reveal themselves.

Katara sighed and sat down, letting the hurt come out and greeting it like a stranger, even though it was more familiar to her than her own face. It sat beside her and wrapped its cold arms around her, consuming every light inside and dripping ice from its breath.

"I can't do this anymore," she said quietly, and felt the feeling withdraw slightly as an idea formed in her mind. The hole from Zuko's death had never closed- maybe because she'd never been able to let go of the hope that she could change what had happened.

She knew she'd never move on unless she found out exactly what happened. The idea scared her, but she felt a certain adrenaline push through her, making her fingertips tingle. She was tired of hiding, tired of suppressing her bending and living in the shadows, haunted by darkness and demons.

It was high time she moved into the light.

Suddenly, the walls around her didn't feel safe, they felt constricting. She checked on Lani again and locked the door behind her as she left her home, flying across the rooftops as she had earlier that same night, but with a new fervor. The sun was just beginning to lighten the sky to the east, and the darkness began to disappear as she moved into the busy streets of a city just beginning to wake. She knew she must be crazy, since she should be home in bed, but the night was thriving as she longed to do and she needed to find the person she was when all of this started.

There was soon a crowd in the marketplace, sturdy women eying her suspiciously as she moved from booth to booth, smelling the wares and wishing she'd brought money. She wandered around as the sun peeked over the horizon, then went into a small shop and selected a few cloths for bandages and burns, promising the woman she'd pay later as she always did.

It happened when she was walking out of the shop. One second, she was smiling and happy, and the next, her eyes were fixated on a man who stood facing away from her. His short black hair was messy and he stood tall, with regal posture. He turned, and she gasped.

It was Zuko, except with one monumental difference- both his eyes were fine, his skin unmarred by the scar she'd memorized. She walked towards him like she was in a daze, not able to feel her legs, just knowing she had to get to him. But he turned, began walking away.

"Zuko!" she cried, beginning to run as he was lost in the crowd. She shoved people out of her way, ignoring their surprised cries, needing to find him- he was alive, everyone was wrong. Everything was all better, she could feel it in her chest like a supernova exploding and shattering all the doubts she'd kept.

But he didn't turn around to look at her. He didn't react at all, and she searched for him, trying to keep the man in sight as people came between them. "No," she murmured, not willing to believe she'd lost him. He had to be close still; even Zuko wasn't that fast.

She ran onto another street, seeing virtually no one. He might have gone the other way. She stalked down the side street, turning right, then left, listening hard and thinking she heard something, doubling back as doubt once again plagued her thoughts.

She was crazy. She was looking for ghosts, and wasn't going to find anything- her head had been so full of memories about Zuko that she'd pinned his features to some random person. Disappointment left a bitter taste in her mouth, but she continued to walk, trying to outrun the sadness, wondering just what was wrong with her. Everyone had moved on- Mai had just married some nobleman, Azula was busy running a country, and last thing she knew from Aang was that he was happily rebuilding his home. Everyone was- Sokka and Suki, whose child had to be around a year and a half old by now, her father, returning to a skeleton of a village he'd left thriving.

It wasn't fair.

Her sleepless night began to catch up with her, and she finally sat on a curbside, her head between her knees and her shoulders hunched over. The despair clawed at her throat, but she swallowed it down, feeling it rot in her stomach instead.

A slight clinking sound made her head shoot up, and she once again stared into the black eyes of the Blue Spirit.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, her voice hoarse. There wasn't an answer (there never was) and she suddenly felt angry for no good reason. She stood, turning away from him. "Just leave me alone, okay? I know it's your personal missions to make sure I'm never hurt until you do it yourself, but I need a break today. I just… I don't understand."

She turned back and saw the figure walking away from her steadily, and the rage spiked. "So you just show up to taunt me and leave? You never even say anything! Why are you doing this?" The demon kept walking. She followed, raging at his retreating back, wishing she was strong enough to pull water from a twisted old tree and knock him down.

She noticed the swords strapped to his back, and suddenly got an idea. Without any warning, she ran forward, grabbed the handles and flipped over the man, running with the heavy weapons firmly tucked under her arm. "Come and get them!" she yelled back, then dived down a side aisle and turned around with the Dao swords drawn. She'd never been trained, but how hard could it be?

The Blue Spirit darted towards her, and she slashed at him, watching him fall back. "Why don't you tell me to give them back?" she taunted him, stepping out of his reach again. "Come on, talk!" Her burst of adrenaline had given her an idea, and with an insane effort she pulled tainted water from a drain and held it above her, somewhat precariously with the swords still in hand.

"I'll slice these swords unless you talk," she announced, and watched as the Blue Spirit froze, seemingly gazing at her. Her breaths were coming shorter now as exhaustion filtered through her system, but she couldn't relent- not until she won.

So it came as no surprise when she wasn't fast enough to stop him as he vaulted over her head, through the water she'd summoned, and wrapped his arms around her from behind, immobilizing her own arms and the swords she held. She could feel the heat coming off him in waves, and felt the pull of his breath as his chest rose and fell against her back.

It had been so long since anyone had been this close to her- she stopped moving, giving herself over to the shock, feeling the iron muscles flex beneath his clothes as he walked them backwards into the shadows. She wasn't afraid- far from it. She was intrigued, wishing she knew what lay under the mask.

His gloves hands slid over her forearms, making her shiver, and then grasped her wrists firmly. She could feel the cool surface of the mask against the back of her head and her neck, and the sensations drove her insane. She didn't resist when he turned her wrists, making her drop his weapons.

He spun them around and pushed her forward into the wall, and by the time she turned around, he was crouching on the ground with his swords one again in their sheath on his back. She knew the mask hadn't changed, but suddenly felt as if he was smirking at her.

"Fine," she said nonchalantly, "you win tonight. I'm going home now… shit." She hadn't been paying attention to where she'd been running, and she knew it would take energy she didn't have to find her way back. She looked around, but the buildings were too tall for her to easily get onto a roof.

But the Blue Spirit shook his head and stood up, jumping on top of a box and climbing the stack until he could reach up and grasp the rim of the roof. He pulled himself up steadily, something she knew was difficult without a lot of muscle, then peeked over the edge. She followed him up onto the boxes, allowing him to pull her onto the roof as well. For just a moment she lay next to him on the red shingles, with his arm wrapped underneath her body to help her over the edge- but it was enough to make her blush when he slowly rolled away and knelt, looking away from her. They stood at the same time, as if something inside them tied their motions together.

He pointed somewhere in the distance, and she squinted, just barely making out the familiar banner of the bath house down the road from her apartment. The sun was a round disk above the ocean now, two elements combining without destroying each other.

The two people stood in silence for just a moment more, and she turned to her savior. "Thanks," she said grudgingly, and watched as he turned and ran, leapt through the air and landed on the rooftop opposite of her. She went her own way over the houses, sliding down the arches and occasionally falling with a curse or two.

Still, she made it home faster than she would have, climbing up the steps numbly and dragging herself through sheer willpower down the hallway to her home.

Nailed to her door was a note in an unfamiliar hand- "That's twice tonight. Be more careful." She growled and snatched it off her door, unlocking it and making her way into her bedroom. She leaned under the bed and felt for her mother's necklace, pulling it out and gazing at it. The ribbon had fallen apart a while ago, and she'd bought a silver chain for it instead. The blue waves shimmered as she pulled the chain over her head, looking in the small mirror at the woman she didn't recognize anymore- except for her eyes and her necklace, Katara was a stranger. She sighed, and tucked the necklace inside her collar, collapsing on the bed and instantly falling into a deep sleep.

With every breath, the Blue Spirit's face leered at her, but instead of feeling terrified, Katara shifted in her sleep and smiled.

There were no nightmares when her demon was guarding her dreams.

Guardian Demon, because a guardian angel is so last year :P Hope you enjoyed this. When it comes to the people she left behind, Katara feels like it's just better for them to know that she's safe, but not be able to find her. She's sort of a trouble maker, and doesn't want her family and friends involved.

Please review :)