Chapter 4

The stream that led down to the fountain was a short distance from the steps, And Zuko's pace was not nearly as brisk as Katara's, so Zuko had anticipated find her in full training by the time he got to her, he even expected to be the brunt of a water whip. He might even have expected finding her taking her rage out on the nearby trees. What he found however, was not in any of his calculations.

Katara sat to the river bank, her knees hugged close to her chest and her head buried to them, she heard someone drawing closer, and in retaliation she only drew herself into a tighter ball and shouted a choked "go away", the footsteps hesitated, and she gave a shudder, trying to stop her tears, she hated this feeling in her, she truly hated it.

"Katara?"

She stiffened, the last person she had expected to come after her was Zuko, and she didn't want him anywhere near her. It was his fault she was feeling like this! His fault they were all turning against her! He was coming closer to her again and she squeezed her eyes shut to it, blanking out the world, him included.

Zuko sat next to the girl and looked out to the stream, the water sparkled under the evening sun, the ripples making it look as though precious stones were trapped to its surface, he sat in silence with her, just jetting her calm down and speak her mind when she was ready

Katara gritted her teeth, she knew he was beside her, and she knew why he was not saying anything, and it annoyed her further, he was doing that thing again, the understanding thing, and it was really pissing her off, why was he like this? Why did he feel the need to make everyone like him! She turned her head and glared at him, his unmarked profile was facing her, he did not turn to look at her, only kept looking out to the water, she furrowed her brow and followed his gaze, looking to the stream.

It was only after a few more minutes silence did she speak up.

"What do you want Zuko?"

The Once Fire prince let out a soft sigh.

"A lot of things. But right now, I want to sit here with you, and listen to you as you explain to me, why you are so angry"

"And why would I do that?"

Another sigh issued from the boy

"Because maybe, if I can understand what I am doing to upset you, perhaps I can do something to prevent it"

Katara whirled on him sitting upright with arms straight to the soil below her; it was infuriating how he thought he could just fix things! A little gesture would wipe away the past! It didn't work that way!

"No! There is Nothing you can do Zuko! You know why I am angry! It's because No one can see you for what you are! They weren't there when you betrayed me in that cave! They did not see the trust I had placed in you shatter! And now they side with you in a discussion! You want to help me! Then just go back to being the angry jerk from before! At least he I could understand! I knew where I stood with him!"

"But now?!" She flailed her hands in his direction causing the stream to slosh high on the back. "This new you! I don't know what to think, I can't trust myself to like you! But I can't tell people not to! Even after reading your Dairy"

"Journal"

"DAIRY" she spat the word at him and he put his hands up defensively "All I found myself thinking after that was, 'what if he gets offered more next time, what if he betrays us again!' I wont let myself be hurt like I was that time, and I wont let you put the others in danger"

Zuko looked at her and then back out to the unsettled water. He wasn't entirely sure how to respond to her outburst, in fact he was not sure if she wanted him to respond, but he made an attempt anyway.

"Katara, I know you don't trust me, and, I know that I have done nothing for you to earn any form of trust, but Aang trusts me because he gave me a chance to prove to myself. I am not asking you to like me, I just… well, maybe we can have a truce. I said some terrible things to you this morning, I did not mean to belittle your journey with Aang, I was just angry, and words came out before I could think on them. And for that I am sorry"

Once again she felt the rage she had been harboring ebb away, and it killed her to think of how easily Zuko could calm her down like this, she wanted to be angry at him, she wanted to hate him, but with him being so submissive, she was finding it near impossible

"I said some things I should not have as well…"

The silence between them drew out once more, the pair just looking out to the water, saying nothing. On Katara's part, she was thinking on how awkward she felt. Zuko? Well he was just content to sit there. After what could have been close to a quarter of an hour, Katara spoke up again.

"I don't like the person I become when I am angry; it was like this when Toph first joined the group. She was selfish, and never helped us out with anything really. We fought a lot. In the end, we found a compromise. But I don't see how I can do that with you… how can I compromise trust?"

She looked over to Zuko, who in turn frowned, she really wanted him to answer her, and he could not. At least not with an answer that benefited him.

"You can't Katara. I betrayed your trust, and I can not ask you to forget about that hurt, just to keep the peace in camp."

Again silence fell between the pair. It was growing heavier by the second. Once more Zuko tried to speak, though his words where barely audible above the bubbling water in the stream

"I never meant to hurt you like that Katara. If it helps… I will try to keep out of everyone's way. And during the attack… I won't go, that way; you won't have to worry about me possibly turning against you again…"

Katara left out a sigh of her own and frowned as well.

"That won't help anyone, as loath as I am to admit it Zuko, we are going to need your help when we invade the palace, you know the place better then any of us… but it scares me to think that we will ultimately be relying on you"

"Katara…"

Zuko stood up and looked down on her. There was a sad smile to his face, and his voice was as soft as before

"I think it is a good thing, that you don't trust me so much. It shows you are intelligent enough to learn from your mistakes. But sometimes, the past can blind us to our future. I can not erase what I have done; I can only atone for my crimes on you and your friends. But you, you are better then I am, you have committed no crime, yet you seem to be the one being punished. I won't ask you to forgive me, but I would ask that you don't let your hate for me make you bitter. You're too good for that. I promise you, that I will try not to infuriate you. But on the condition, that you tell me what I am doing that makes you angry… Please."

He reached a hand out to her, and she looked to it, slowly taking in his words, a truce, no fighting, it sounded easy, but she knew it wasn't. But, he was really trying to meet her halfway here, and she was being petty and she knew it. It was a struggle, but she raised her hand to take his. It felt warm around hers, and she felt just how strong he was as he pulled her to a stand.

"Thank you"

"This doesn't mean a thing Zuko, if you step out of line, I swear I… well… you better not step out of line"

He just nodded and turned back to the direction of the camp.

"I am hading back, I think it would be a good idea if you came with me, I think your right Katara, there is a lot that we need to do, and not a lot of time to do it in, I want to suggest something, but I want you to be there when I say it"

Katara was fuming, Zuko had agreed with her, and been down right civil, why was he making it so hard for her to hate him. There he was standing there, looking nervous, why did he have to look nervous, he was once the prince of the fire nation, he spoke out to armies, commanded servants everyday, yet here he was standing in front of them, looking nervous! Did he think it made him look cute?! Cause she didn't!

"Um hullo…everyone" Zuko was uneasy and shifted his weight from side to side "I um… the reason I asked everyone here is, well, I think that, even though I am training the avat… I mean Aang, I don't think it will be enough, I think…"

"Wait, why don't you think it will be enough? Do you know some secret plans from the Firenation? Have you been holding out on us?" This came from Sokka

"What? No, that's not what I meant, I"

"Cause if you have! I personally don't think I would be to happy about having you in our gang anymore"

"Sokka will you shut up for a second!" This from Katara

Zuko looked at her dumbfounded for a second

"Well are you going to continue Sparky? Or you just going to look at Sweetness for the rest of the night" Two guesses to who that was from

"Right well, what I mean is… Aang is strong. But, if he is worrying about the rest of us, he could get hurt…"

"Are you saying were not strong? Cause I distinctly remember beating you three times Zuko"

"Twice Katara and no that's not what I mean really it's just"

"Oh it was three times, or did you forget I had you pinned"

Zuko was back to staring at her and in fact turned to face her more then the others

"That didn't count! We were really fighting! I could have thrown you off anytime I wanted to"

"Oh really? So I guess you saying 'get off' repeatedly was my imagination" Katara smirked as Zuko looked totally bamboozled.

"Hang on, when did this happen?" Sokka again and now he was jabbing his boomerang to the air to accentuate his words, his eyes were locked onto Katara's

"Oh it was, just the other night, when I was reading Zuko's Dairy"

"It's a JOURNAL!"

"Wait, you were poking through Zuko's stuff Sweetness?" Toph looked up from picking her toes, her sightless eyes boring into Katara's head

"Well it wasn't really like that…"

"Admit it, you were Snooping" Toph was grinning and Katara stood up

"I was only thinking that if I could find something to prove Zuko was working for Azula, then you guys would believe me"

"Katara… you think Zuko was working for Azula?" this was coming from Aang.

"No not anymore, but I did, that's why…"

Zuko put a hand on Katara's shoulder, this made her go quiet, it was getting out of hand, and away from the reason Zuko had called them together in the first place

"Listen, it doesn't matter, Katara, you beat me three times, okay, you win, Sokka I was trying to get my journal back of your sister when she pinned me, nothing more, Aang, Katara mistook my journal for a secret mission, that's why she thought I was working for Azula, And Toph… your right she was snooping"

Katara let out a huff but sat back down, Zuko turned back to the group in general and cleared his throat

"I am not saying we are weak, all I am saying is, we are not ready for what we are going to face. Take Toph for instance? I burned her feet, by accident, what might have happened if I was really trying to hurt her?"

"I can take care of myself" Toph near growled

"No Toph, you're missing the point here, sure you can fight well, but, wouldn't it be better to train with what you will be going up against? From what I gather, you see with your feet, and you have really sharp hearing, but you don't seem to be sensitive to changes in heat. If I train with you, you will get used to the heat from my flames, and be able to judge Firebending attacks better from it"

The group was silent; they all stared at Zuko like he had ten heads, and just as he was getting to the point of wanting to break the silence, Sokka spoke up for him

"You know, I think you might be right Jerk face, but that's only Toph, the rest of us are fine"

Zuko glared at him and then shook his head

"No your not, the only one here capable of holding there own against a powerful firebender is Katara"

"What!?" This from Katara herself

"Back in Ba Sing Se, you fought against Azula, and you would have won if it weren't for me breaking your attack. I was fighting against Aang, and I was winning, even with all his advantage, I was coming out on top. Everyone here needs to work hard to get to the point you are already at Katara. Even I am not good enough to truly face my Father"

"What are you talking about Zuko" Katara did not know how to take his standing up for her like this "You said you faced your father already"

"I did, he shot lightening at me, and I redirected it back at him, I can not create my own lightening, and I still have a lot of things to improve, I think we should all start training together, and come up with a good plan for defending and attacking with each other… maybe even form a buddy system"

"Buddy system?" Aang was confused about the direction the conversation had taken, and was trying hard to keep up

"Yes, two people with fight as a team, using there skills to benefit each other, that way when one person is attacking the other can be watching their back, and vice versa."

"That's a really good idea" Sokka was standing up his hand resting to his chin as he walked up to Zuko, the Prince found the warriors arm slung of his shoulder, and Sokka then leaned into him in an almost conspiratory way

"We will have to pick the teams that work best together… So I will watch yah as your training, and then I will designate partners"

Zuko looked at him incredulously. Suddenly his idea was now Sokka's new project. He smiled wearily and then nodded

"Whatever you think works best Sokka"

Bamboozled best word EVAH!