Okies, so this is where story, or at least some of the lines in the show, are going to be modified, but be aware, content is going to change heavily in the next few chapters to better suit the characters development. Feel free to review and I will reply to you in the next chapter!

Having her dad back was wonderful, but at the same time, terrible, her dad, much like Sokka, was very clever, but unlike Sokka, he was more astute, and he was beginning to notice some things that she would have much preferred that he hadn't. For instance, the second day when they were cooking, Zuko had been helping her, and she had thought nothing on the system they had set up, or how quickly everything was being done, until her dad said 'you two work really well together' that had made her drop the vegetable she was peeling, and look at him in a fluster, Zuko on the other hand was not phased, but ended up just picking up the fallen food, washing it, handing it back to her, and saying a simple thanks to her dad.

But her dad was looking at her, and she knew he knew! Or at least she thought he knew, and the blush on her cheeks spread so quickly, she had to turn away from both of them for fear of them seeing. A day or two later, once again while with Zuko, she heard her dad commenting to Sokka about how relaxed Katara was with him, Sokka had just laughed it off and said that he should have seen her at the start, he explained how angry she was, and how she was not willing to give Zuko the time of day, and that was when Zuko himself had laughed a bit, and said to her softly "Do you think they don't realise we can hear everything they are talking about?" Katara rolled her eyes to him and just shrugged "Well… My dad is being a bit nosey, that's all, he is protective"

"And rightly so!"

Hadoka had come over to them without either noticing, and once more Katara felt heat rising on her features, but it did not stop there, as Hadoka had turned to Zuko "If you expect that I would simply allow someone from the fire nation near my daughter without thoroughly judging their intentions"-"DAD!" Katara felt her heart jump into her mouth, but to her relief, Zuko was clueless "I… I am not like I used to be anymore, I have changed! I am trying to prove it, I swear to you sir, I will, I will figure out a way to gain your trust, and show I deserve to be on this team, I have no intention of hurting Katara or anyone again!" Hadoka frown, but just muttered "Team… do you mean to tell me you"-"OKAY that's plenty of talk done! I think Zuko needs to go finish cleaning the fountain"

"I do?"

"Yes! And I will show my father where we catch the fish"

Hadoka gave her a confused look, but then realised what was going on "Ah, yes, the fish, where to catch them, I had asked about that; hadn't I" Katara was nodding to him, and pushing him away from Zuko; who just looked a bit bamboozled by the whole thing, but he wandered off leaving the two to go… fishing. When Katara got down to the river she just glared at her dad, began pacing, and then glared at him some more, it was only after she paced back and forth at least ten times, that she began speaking "Zuko is… is a friend, okay, he… he is, he treats me like a sister, so… so don't do that, don't make him think weird things"

Hadoka was frowning, but he just nodded "I was just worried, I thought he was leading you on" Katara paused in her pacing to look at him "What do you mean… leading me on?" Hadoka went on to explain about the rescue that Sokka and Zukko had made, and the girl Mai that had sacrificed herself to save them, he explained that Sokka told him that Mai was Zuko's girlfriend, so it made sense, but Hadoka had been worried that Zuko was just playing around with her, but he was relieved that it was not the case, yet, it was clear now, seeing how Katara's face had fallen, that the news was not a relief to his daughter.

When Katara returned to camp that evening, everyone noticed she was a bit cold to Zuko, but no one questioned it, but for Katara, her mind was a maelstrom, Mai had to be the most disagreeable person she had ever met! And she had that weird hair! And and! Her voice was off and her chin too pointed, how could he still be dating her?! He said they were dating before, but she thought they had broken up! Was that why he was treating her like a sister? Was that why he went off with Sokka? So he could see his girlfriend again! It was so infuriating! How could she have been so stupid as to think that he might actually have started liking her, when clearly he only liked evil brother selling weirdos!

"Katara?" –"WHAT!" Aang jumped back a good ten feet when she snapped at him, and he just looked over to the group before looking back to her "Erm… we were just wondering if you are okay?" She frowned and folded her arms "Of Course I am! Why would I not be! It's late, we should all get some rest!" Aangs brows looked as thought they might hop right of his forehead with how high they had risen, but instead of pressin on it, he just retreated while shrugging his shoulders.

It was the next morning though when the attack happened, it all came so suddenly that they didn't have much room to counter attack, and as Aang slammed the shutters closed, Katara began to prepare herself to fight, that was when Zuko slammed into her side, rolling out of the way of some falling rocks, and though she should have been grateful, and perhaps might have been happy for this a few days ago, right now she felt annoyed at him, and shouted 'what are you doing?'- "Saving you from being crushed by rocks" Only then did she register the collapsed ceiling, but her pride woud not allow her to b grateful, and even as they began to make their escape, and Zuko opted to stay behind, she felt herself thinking bitterly 'he probably hopes he will see his girlfriend'

She pulled Appa back with the rest of them, but she could hear how bad it was out there, and with Appa struggling at every turn, she felt herself grow more and more frustrated, and it was all just getting worse! Aang suggested they split up, and Katara felt the pang of pain rush past her heart again, she was going to loose her dad again, and she only just got him back! But despite how she wanted to argue, everything was moving too fast for her to protest, even after they escaped, she could just barely make out what was going on, and it took everything in her just to deflect the fire being shot at them, and she felt more then a bit frustrated that Aang was not letting Sokka drive and helping her instead.

They were almost clear when the explosion happened; to the right of them they could see Zuko falling, and without realising it, she had already shouted at Aang, as they dove beneath the falling prince, she reached out and gripped his hand, swinging him back into the saddle, but he was focused on his sister, watching her fall, and Katara heard the twing of sadness in his voice as he commented on her not making it, but at the same time, he was not exactly relieved when she did.

She watched him for a while, and then looked at his sister, her brow furrowing as she did so, it was always the same with the firenation, they could not leave well enough alone, and any time she thought she had a bit of happiness, they always seemed to ruin it! They travelled for a while, and they rest of the gang discussed about how they thought Azula had found them, Zuko had mentioned that the air temple is one of the few places that a ship like that could be hidden, so perhaps that was why she came. That only made her feel more resentful towards Zuko though, after all, it was his idea to steal the ship, so he had lead his sister right too them, could he not have mentioned something about it when he got back? They could have left days ago, and none of that would have happened!

And what was worse! As they all sat around the camp, he actually joked about capturing Aang again, and they all called him a hero! It was all to much for her! She got up and left the group, she just couldn't take it! Standing alone, looking out over the cliff edge, she tired t calm her mind, but then someone came behind her, and for a heartbeat, she felt almost happy he had followed her there, but then she remember she was angry… but then he began speaking.

"This isn't fair, I am trying Katara! But you have me so confused, one minute you seem to trust me, the next you are treating me like I am the villain again, everyone else seems to trust me now, what is it with you?"

She closed her eyes tight as thoughts ran through her head 'not telling me you were still with Mai! Not warning us about Azula! Doing stupid things like running out after your sister and nearly getting killed! But not caring about how I would feel if you did! Not realising that I lost so much because of the fire nation, that I don't need to loose anymore! Not seeing how I much I care for you!' This seemed to bubble over into her words as she snapped at him

"Oh, so everyone seems to trust you now! I was the first one to trust you! remember! Back in Ba Sing Se! and you turned around and betrayed me! Betrayed all of us!"

She glared at him as he asked how he could make it up to her, but by now she was feeling way to emotional to even think straight, and she challenged him to re-concur Ba Sing Se in the name of the earth king, and then she lashed out telling him to bring back her mother!

Zuko just stood there on the cliff alone for a while after Katara left, trying to figure things out in his mind, things had seemed to be alright with them after he got Hadoka back, but then after Hadoka had spoken to him, and they left for a while, she began acting coldly towards him again, Hadoka had said he was not going to let anyone from the fire nation near her without knowing their real intentions, so Maybe he spoke to Katara about trusting him, reminded her of all they lost as a result of the firenations attacks… and he knew that even though he personally did not kill Katara's mother… he was the only one from the firenation in the group, and now becase of his sister, she had lost her Father again.

He let out a soft sigh as this settle with him, perhaps he would never earn her trust, perhaps he should accept that… but as he thought about Katara hating him, he felt a strange ache run over him, and he gripped to his chest as he tried to focus on it, despite what might be for the best,, he knew, deep down, that he cared about how she felt for him, the last thing he wanted was for her to hate him. Still, despite knowing this, it still left him with very little choice, it was not like he could defeat a kingdom alone, and he could not bring her mother back either… He lowered his head and set back to camp, perhaps if he talked to Sokka about it?

On the way back he bumped into Suki, this in itself was odd, but her behaviour made him frown, though when he opened the flap to Sokka's tent, he knew exactly what he had just walked in on, and though every part of him was saying he should just leave, he ended up sitting, this after all, was important.

"Your sister! She hates me! And I don't know why! But I do care what she thinks of me."

Zuko of course could not see the look of shock on Sokka's face, nor the realisation that dawned on the water tribe boy, but as he said Katara didn't hate him, he could not deny the relief that spread through him, though Sokka was making short work of ruining it as he babbled, and in short order, Zuko felt himself snap slightly

"Sokka! I get it! I was bad, and the Fire Nation hurt a lot of people, listen, I know this may seem out of no where, but I want you to tell me what happened to your mother"

Sokka's surprise and demand for an explanation did not take him b shock, and perhaps he had realised this himself already as he knew exactly how to reply

"Katara has said to me she misses her mother a lot recently, and we even went to Save Hadoka because of it…"

Sokka began to protest, but Zuko just kept going

"it's nothing to be ashamed of, but… well, Katara mentioned how hurt she was by loosing her when we were in prison together in Ba Sing Se, and just now she mentioned it again… I am not sure why, but I think she has connected her anger towards that, at me…"

Sokka frowned and seemed to give in, and Zuko just listened to the details, it was hard to listen to, hearing another war story, another tale of how his people had mistreated others… knowing that all the while, they thought it was for the best… it was hard, but he knew better now, and he wanted to prove it, so after pressing sokka for more information, he made up his mind, he was going to try and give Katara closure!

Even she was not sure where that had come from, but perhaps the thought of her had been lingering, not wanting to think on it anymore, she just left him, moving back to her tent, hoping that no one would disturb her, and though she got her wish, the last thing she expected was to see Zuko first thing the next morning.

He looked tired, but instead she just said he looked awful, oh she knew, somewhere inside that she was being childish now, it was not his fault really, but, she could not explain it, she just felt so angry, and he was the only place she could turn that anger right now… but then he spoke and she found her heart growing so tight, she was afraid it might stop

"I spoke to Sokka last night, he told me about your mother"

Katara turned to look at him, her eyes wide, Zuko had gone to Sokka! Once again she felt the guilt rising in her, she had just blurted it out last night, she was angry, but, but she never though Zuko would have taken it to heart, and just as she was about to tell him to forget it, the next set of words came out.

"I know who killed your mother, and I'm going to help you find him"

Review replies!

GoodmorningFlower: As always I love getting feedback from you, and lets face it, you are the reason this is back on it's feet, I hope though, that the leap in progression was not too quick, I had worried about it, but I was also worried about drawing it on too much. Let me know what you think, loves as always! GGB