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He still couldn't believe it was her. He couldn't believe that she was the master, she was only a child compared to the other masters he'd watched train their pupils. And yet she was so confident, so sure that she could defeat him.

Not today Tara.

He narrowed his eyes at the sudden nickname; but relaxed them again, deciding that it suited her.

He was amused by her arrogance; she'd simply seen him defend himself, not even that. He had simply been avoiding getting wet. And she felt confident enough to overcome him in sparring?

"I'm sure I can handle myself," He watched as she tilted her chin upward, as if laying a challenge before him. She was baiting him into attacking her, she wanted him to break his probation, she wanted him to fall.

"I'm sure you can, Master." He said giving her a dark look, and getting in his fighting stance. She glared back at him and prepared her fighting stance as well.

He watched her, and she watched him. Their eyes stared into the others, searching for something hidden so deep their hearts, the key.

She made the first move, jumping up with her right knee leading forward and bringing her arms out like wings, drawing two large streams of water from the jars. As she landed, kneeling, she crossed her arms in front of her with her fingers forming claws; the water separated and froze and Zuko found himself with a hundred shards of razor sharp ice racing toward him.

He responded quickly, crouching and crossing his arms tightly to his chest. Then he stood and slashed his arms outward, releasing a wave of fire at his opponent; evaporating every icy blade in its path. The master quickly drew water in front of her to quench the flames and swiftly jumped to the side of the sudden steam and began barraging him with blasts of water and ice. He met every blast with a burst of blazing flames, and when she shot two streams at him he flipped in between them and brought his heel down in front of him; when he landed forming an arc of heat that raced toward the narrow-eyed water bender.

She glared at the arc of flame blazing its way toward her and ducked rolling out of of the way. Katara then jumped up and freezing a path of water under her feet, she glided smoothly, gracefully, and very swiftly around her opponent. She watched him spin, shooting flames from his fist and evaporate her path just behind her; she distracted him by freezing the steam around his feet and while he breathed it back into steam she sent three tentacles toward him. It forced him to roll sloppily out of the way but he managed to get back to his feet.

At this point, the whole room had been freed of its icy coating and Katara stood on a three foot tall pedestal of solid ice in front of the, now defenseless, mirrored wall. She stood with her arms in front of her, waiting for his attack.

Your turn, Sparky.

He pushed his fists downward, propelling him to flip toward her, and she dove and rolled out of the way. She landed crouching and watched his foot make contact with the glass, the deafening cracking shattered something deep within her.

"No!" She screamed, as the man dropped to the ground. He didn't continue to attack her, but stood staring at the huge web-like crack that he left in the middle of the mirror. Katara felt a rage she'd never known boil in her heart. "Do you have any idea?!" She screamed advancing on him, "Do you have any idea what I suffered through to get that?!"

"I'm sorry," He replied barley whispering.

"That's not good enough!" She yelled reaching an arm out, and flexing every muscle in her hand she felt herself grip the cells in his veins. Katara watched as his eyes widened as he felt her grip. She closed her eyes, she felt every muscle and moved around mentally inside his body until she found the one she was looking for. She turned her palm upward and opened her eyes to see him watching her, not in fear, but awe.

It made her furious.

He should fear me.

She began slowly curling her fingers in toward her palm, and she felt the pressure begin to build around his most vital organ. She would crush his heart.

"Katara no!" The wood floor beneath her feet was destroyed and she found herself encased in a stone sphere, cut off from her captive.

She couldn't help it, Katara began beating her fists against the rock and screaming at Toph to let her out. Tears began streaming down her face as she kept screaming. She nearly died getting that mirror, she lost the only man she'd ever loved getting that mirror, she'd lost her trust getting that mirror. She'd lost everything. But now it was all in vain.

Zuko stared at the rock sphere and clutched his chest, just over his heart. The force of being released from her grip so suddenly had knocked him over so he was now laying on his side and the blind girl was on her knees next to him, yelling something at him that he couldn't hear. He had been trained to not know fear; he had never been scared of anything since then. Until now.

The fact that his life was literally in her hand did it. It scared him. If Toph hadn't intervened she would have killed him.

"Thank you," He said suddenly to the girl next to him, never taking his eyes from the rock, "Thank you." He was completely sincere; something he hadn't been in a long time. But she'd saved his life, and for that he couldn't thank her enough.

She was silent a moment before huffing and standing to her feet, offering him a hand. He took it and stood next to her.

"Your welcome, Zuko," She said seriously, "Now get back to the apartment, don't let anyone see you. Just get there and stay in your room, I won't let her near you until I know she won't do it again." She said it without a hint of humor in her voice, and Zuko realized that that was the first time she'd actually called him by name.

"Ok, but Toph,"He waited for her to turn away from the sphere to look at him, "What is it?" Her face darkened and she closed her eyes.

"Something, that hopefully, you won't ever witness again," She sighed before her eyes snapped open, "Now go!" He nodded and jogged down the steps, back down the trail, and toward the apartment.

I hope I wont.

Zuko didn't know why she'd gotten so upset. Even if she did get hurt to get it, she shouldn't have reacted so strongly. But then Zuko realized it must be deeper then that. Something that affected her heart.

There you go guys! I had to work really hard to figure out exactly how I wanted this to correspond with the next few events. But I think I finally got it right.

Review! Please!

Love you guys!

Kmsitterley