Wow, no one even tried to guess…….. hurm, well last chance now. And please review! I really would like to know if you think there is anything I need to work on so I can make this a better story for you guys!

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The group had remained silent since Zuko had left; it was a heavy silence weighing on their shoulders, each member of the group was trying to find things to do to take there mind off what just happened. Katara went about getting dinner ready, Aang played with Momo, if only halfheartedly, Toph didn't do much at all, she was staring at the wall, and if she could see, you would swear she was counting the cracks in it, but then again, perhaps she was?

Sokka was the only one who seemed to want to say anything in fact, he first went to Katara, hovering near her for a moment, he made a few funny shapes with his mouth in an attempt to form words, but he failed to find something to say, thoughts running in his head on how she had blushed, and he wasn't sure he wanted to hear how his sister was worried about the ex-prince, even if he was growing to like Zuko, he did not want to think of his sister liking him, well not that he liked him that way, but he liked him in a friendship way, but his sister liked him in a more then friendship way, or at least that's what he thought, and now he wanted to avoid finding out.

Katara was staring at him as he seemed to be doing a funny dance near her, he seemed as though he was about to say something before he crossed his arms and glared at the ground near her, when he brought his eyes back to her and found her looking at him his face fell to a blank, he then pointed to the stew said it needed more meat and then walked away.

Aang was the next to have the fidgeting boy sit next to him, Sokka sat next to him with a heavy thud, he resolutely stared to the ground not really sure what to do with himself, the young monk raised his head to look at Sokka but nothing came out, the words seemed to fail them both, after all, how could they discus what had just happened? Aang put Momo down and took a deep breath. The silence was killing him, and it had been his outburst that deadened the mood to begin with, so he had to make an effort to fix it.

"I suppose… I should think more before I open my mouth"

The words seemed deafening and all eyes focused on Aang, well all except Toph who merely flicked at a rock at Aang's head and spat out "ya think?" Sokka laughed slightly as Aang rubbed his arrow and Katara merely worried the bottom of her lip.

"Besides" Toph continued " I don't think Sparky would have said anything if he didn't want us to know, he must trust us or something. So us all moping here is pointless really"

"I agree"

The group jumped in unison, as though they had been caught doing something bad, The voice that came from behind the group was soft but confident enough; Zuko found everyone looking at him with guilty faces, all except Katara who did not look at him at all for the moment, Zuko just shook his head and limped towards the fire. He eased himself down beside Katara and sniffed at the concoction that she was making.

Katara raised her eyes enough to see him, but did not raise her head. Why did he have to sit beside her, she felt all eyes staring at her, but she did not dare to look away from Zuko. Zuko himself was now peering around the group once more, they seemed uncomfortable and he sighed slightly.

"Look, its not that bad okay. I mean, sure I was angry about it before, and I know it looks awful, but I have lived with this for three years now, I hardly even remember its there half the time, so don't worry about it, I am okay with this, so you should be to"

"You're not okay with it." Amber eyes widened slightly as a soft voice whispered close to him, Katara was looking at the pot now, focusing hard on it as her words continued "I know your not okay with it, you said as much under Ba Sing Se, That Scar is what kept you from being… well it made you bitter, and- and it-"

Katara looked up and frowned when she saw him smiling, Aang was frowning also, he did not understand what was going on, why was Katara so well informed on this, and why was she now defending Zuko? Sokka caught the look on the airbender's face, and he knew that Aang was beginning to understand something that would possibly not sit well with him at all. Just how would the avatar react if Katara loved someone other then him? Sokka mentally slapped himself. Liked not loved, he was jumping to conclusions that was all. But the fact remained, that Katara seemed to know personal things about the prince, and Aang was not happy about that.

Zuko on the other hand seemed content with it, his smile just grew a bit wider when her words faltered, and he took that as an opportunity to break into her small speech

"Your right" He began which had her inhale sharply "I was bitter back then, I saw this as my mark of shame, every day I would see it and be reminded of my quest, my hunt for the Avatar, my banishment. My failure. Each day I was reminded of that by simply looking at my own reflection, but when I was accepted home, I began to see things differently. This mark and my banishment opened the world to me, and it opened a new life to me, because of this, I began to see things through other peoples eyes, it was not until I returned home and I was freed from my so called shame, that the veil was lifted from my eyes and I could see clearly. In choosing to defend my people that day, I was saved, after all looking like a monster, is better then being a real one like my Father"

Katara looked appalled by his choice of words, Clearly he was not happy with his scar! How could he put himself down like that! She was about to say as much but Toph beat her too it.

"What's it look like Sparky?"

"Urm" He looked to Toph and frowned slightly How do describe something to a girl that wont known any visual comparisons… "Well… you know how mud feels when it is thick and messy, and all piled in clods on top of each other?" Toph nodded liking the way Zuko chose to describe it "well that's how my skin looks, only is redder.. erm, a different color to the rest of my face, it covers my left eye and my left ear"

Toph nodded and then smiled brightly "I don't know what you're blabbing about looking like a monster, I think you look perfect!" Zuko laughed a bit and then Shrugged slightly, he knew better then to contest her words so instead he smiled to Katara who seemed a bit lost in what was going on.

"Well Peasant, What does this snob have to do for you?"

Katara went beat red, What did he mean by that, her eyes went a bit to wide, and her mind went a bit numb, just what was she expected to say to that? I mean, sure she was being nice to him and all, but this was a bit- that was when her brain caught up with her hormones, he was turning away, looking to the stew she was making, and the conversation from earlier on came back to her, he said he was going to help her with the dinner.

"Your hurt Zu- er Snob, so you should toddle off and rest and let this peasant do the peasant work"

"Hey"

Sokka's shrill cry fell on deaf ears as Zuko turned to look Katara in the eye once more, still smiling as before " Oh no, I made a promise and I intend to keep it, Now peasant (he still said it like a pet name and that irked Katara) what should I do"

Katara frowned hard, Sokka was making his way over to Zuko now with a mad look in his eyes, Katara raised a hand out to waylay her brothers assault while holding out a knife to Zuko.

"Peel the Camots Snob, Sokka Don't interfere"

The blue eyed boy openly let his jaw fall, pointedly staring between the two before throwing his arms up in the air grunting loudly. Katara turned then to another grunt, though this one was not in frustration.

The action of peeling vegetables is not an easy thing to do when your wrist is sprained, but Zuko was not about to back out of what he had said he would do, after all he meant what he said about it being unfair to Katara, once more he tired to peel back the flesh and once again the pain shooting through his wrist brought an involuntary sound from his lips. It was after the third attempt that he had the knife taken away from him and handed to Sokka who was told to peel it instead.

Now Zuko was given the job of stirring the pot while Katara went to get more water. This was when Aang came over to sit beside him. Zuko smiled to the boy and found a luke warm reply, Aang seemed a bit nervous he looked away a bit and then sighed slightly, Zuko frowned a bit and jabbed at the boys side (instantly regretting it as this also hurt his wrist) "Okay spit it out"

Aang turned his large gray eyes back to Zuko something was bothering him that was clear to see, but words were halted even before they began as Katara returned.

"Aang, I need to sit that side of Zuko if you don't mind, Zuko, I need you to keep Stirring that pot while I start working on your wrist, Sokka hurry up with that, how long does it take to peel a vegetable?"

Zuko frowned and shook his head "Hey if your not going to keep up your side of the bargain, nor am I Katara, besides, I don't need to be healed, I am not here to be a burden to you, you do enough already without having to worry about healing me, so just-"

"Hush!" Katara cut him off before he could go into another rant "If I leave you unchecked, you will end up a burden to us, besides, think of this as helping me with my training, so it is beneficial to us, Stir the pot. And fine use my name, not like you were calling me peasant right anyway"

Zuko did as he was told, He stirred the pot with his un injured hand and held out his now bandaged wrist, Katara unraveled the gauze letting it fall into a small heap beside her, and then dipped her hands into the bowl beside her, she raised them out to reveal them to be covered by her element and once more Zuko found himself being soothed by her touch.

After his wrist Katara moved up his arm, easing the pain around his torn muscles, next was his ankle, she order Zuko to remove his boot so that she could work on the area, and once more he obeyed her with no fight at all, the ankle was easy enough to repair, as it was only a twist nothing major, but then she came to a stop, there was one other area left to be seen to, and Zuko seemed to realize this also, without being asked he undid his tie and striped down the upper half of his clothing.

The bruising was already blossoming on his skin, and Katara was sure that he must have broken his ribs they were so dark. She reached out and left her hands ease over the marred areas, and found heat creeping over her cheeks, She was only healing him, that was all, nothing wrong here. But she felt wrong, unlike when she healed Aang, Zuko was… well he was… built, that was the right word for it, and even though she knew she had to do this to heal him, she still felt that she should have been doing this somewhere more, private or something.

Aang sat silently on the other side of Zuko, watching the interaction carefully, Katara seemed focused and Zuko seemed obedient to a fault, it was only when Zuko striped down to give Katara access to his ribs, that Aang saw the blush break out on his friends face. The Monk then looked to the Firebender, and his eyes widened a touch. Zuko was clueless, he had no idea what was going on, and Aang was not sure whether he should have been relieved at this, or angry that Zuko did not see Katara as the wonderful person that he saw her as.

Zuko was just silent through the lot of it, Doing as he was told, and then taking the prompt he removed his shirt, he of course noted that Katara went red, but he reasoned it differently in his mind then what was really happening. To Zuko Katara's reddening was a result of his injury, the bruising was bad, and she had poked him earlier, she must have been thinking of that and became embarrassed, no other thought even crossed his mind. So he returned his attention to the stew he was determined not to let burn.

When cool mitts moved from his skin, he took that as a sign to redress. He then turned to her with a smile

"Thank you Katara, you know if you like, I could call you Sweetness like Toph does"

Aang choked beside him and Toph laughed, Katara went puce and glared at him "If you do, I will give you back all the injuries I just worked to take away! Now go lie down I will call you when dinner is ready" He was about to protest but the look she gave him was enough.

--

Back in his room Zuko ran a hand over his mothers portrait, he traced the curve of her face before picking it up and laying it upon his chest as he stretched out upon his bed. He lay silent for a long time but then words began to flow out of his mouth.

" It's been a strange day today Mother, I don't think I have ever felt this way before, it was strained at first, but now, now I think I can remember what it felt like, I remember what you said to me today, when I was training with Aang, can you believe it mom, Me training the Avatar, it feels all a little unreal! And I felt so happy all day today, even when Sokka annoyed me, though I don't think I should interfere, but I am going to try and help Katara more. I think you would like her mom, she's like you in a lot of ways, I have never met someone as caring as her, she insisted on healing me after my spar with Toph, Oh I won also! I know it wasn't a true test, but there are no other firebenders around, and it would not be fair to fight Aang yet, though next year maybe he will agree to it."

Zuko rolled to the side and placed the framed picture back on the desk, it was only then that he saw the pair of blue eyes looking at him, How long Katara had been staring at him, he didn't know, but a slight flush hit his cheeks to have been caught talking like that, and he instantly sat up

"I was talking to my… well it's a habit, I know she's not about to hear me or anything but…"

Katara just shook her head and plopped herself onto the end of his bed, and a sudden rush of familiarity swam over her, Zuko swung his legs around so he could sit beside her and let out a small chuckle

"What's so funny?" the waterbender asked in a slightly suspicious tone, but the would be prince just shook his head softly and shrugged

" I just think its funny, I stopped writing in my journal because I was afraid you might read it, so instead I talked to my mother's picture, but you ended up hearing it anyway. Maybe it is the spirits telling me that I am not meant to have secrets from you"

Katara laughed slightly herself, and a small smile remained on her lips after, she tilted her head a bit and played with her hands…

"Well, if that's true… then why don't you tell me what is so special about today? Why are you going around with a smile on your face all morning? And why was it important for you to have that fight?"