Chapter Five:

-Katara-

It felt like forever until I was brave enough to open my eyes to see that the man named Iroh and his nephew had fallen asleep. I knew one of them had fallen asleep as soon as I heard the obnoxiously loud snoring. Turning slightly I saw that it was Iroh. Well at least I know he is out cold until the morning. Hopefully I'll be long gone by then. I mean, he seems like a nice man, but how am I supposed to know if I can trust him? Or his nephew?

I quickly looked over at him just to make sure he was still asleep. Lucky for me he still is. How he can sleep through all of that snoring is beyond me.

As I continue to stare at him through the slowly dying fire I begin to notice certain things about him. Like how his scar seems less fierce, but still mysterious while he sleeps. His jaw is more relaxed unlike earlier when it would become tense and hard when he was frustrated. However, despite his frustrations, while he slept he looked almost…calm. Like he could care less about what is going on around him. Too bad I can't fall asleep as easily as them.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts and so I would stop looking at the man's nephew. C'mon, focus…whoever I am! The men are asleep so it's time to get out of here!

I stood up as quietly as I could and began to make my way across to the entrance of the cave. Just less than a meter away, I tell myself. But I stop cold when I hear the man's nephew groan groggily.

Panicking I look behind me to see the young man roll over onto his back and sigh once before he falls back to sleep. I breathe out a sigh of relief and walk out of the cave.

Breathing in the fresh evening air I begin to walk away so I can find the nearest town and try to forget everything that has happened. Nothing can stop me now; I'm finally free.

Or so I thought.

"What are you doing?" a rough voice calls out from behind me.

I gasp as I turn slowly to the voice. Only to realize it is the nephew standing by the entrance of the cave…what did he say his name was again? Z…uko? He just keeps staring at me; makes no move to approach me, nothing. Someone else may find him and his simple question harmless enough to answer, but not me.

I'm not falling for any tricks again.

Quick as I could I grab a twig by my foot and throw it at him. He catches it with one hand as I turn and run for my life.

As I run I hear him calling out to me shouting "Wait! Stop running!" and "Would you stop already?!" I pretend not to hear him; only focused on getting out of these woods and reaching a town. He keeps running after me and is keeping up an easy pace just a couple of steps behind me. Oh man he really is fast!

Suddenly my foot catches on an ingrown root and I stumble to the ground. I know I cannot get up fast enough before he catches me. I turn around quickly onto my back and as soon as he is right in front of me I bring both of my arms up as my only way of defending myself, expecting something to happen.

He does nothing.

I lower my arms ever so slightly to see him towering in front of me with a bemused expression on his face at first, but then it softens as he whispers one sentence that I'm not even sure I heard correctly.

"I'm not here to hurt you."

-Zuko-

I knew I should have been watching her! Not even asleep for half an hour and she decides to make a run for it?! In all honesty I may not have even heard her if I had not rolled over onto my back and heard her sigh quietly. I soon as I heard that my eyes flew open to see her sleeping spot vacant and her heading out of the cave.

She stood there for a second breathing in the night air so I thought I may have just overreacted; that she just needed some fresh air. To be on the safe side I asked, "What are you doing?"

She gasped before she turned to me, watching me briefly, before she grabbed a twig and threw it at my head. I caught it just as quickly and realized she had run off into the woods. I growled in frustration and ran after her trying countless times to call her back just so she would stop and stay still. She wouldn't even turn around. She wouldn't even water bend at me!

Out of nowhere Katara let out a small cry as she fell to the ground; must have tripped. Just as I reach her she brings her arms up to her face as if she is trying to defend herself.

Then it truly sinks in to my thick skull that she really doesn't remember anything about me or anyone for that matter. Practically all that is left of the strong water bender I fought against at the North Pole is her barely intact body; seeing how she's pretty much starving is enough to justify my thoughts.

I need her to calm down and trust me, but how do I do that?

Maybe…if I just get her to talk with me we can work something out? Worth a shot.

"I'm not here to hurt you" I tell her in the gentlest voice I can manage, but not even close because it still comes out rough.

Katara looks at me bewildered. She lowers her arms more until they finally come to rest at her side. Okay, so far so good. Now what? I ever so slowly lower myself down to the ground, never breaking eye contact with her, so she can hear me more clearly. Katara continues to watch me warily. "I'm not here to hurt you" I repeat to her as I hesitantly reach out a hand to her without even thinking.

Katara flinches and I drop my hand back down to my side. "Sorry" I mutter. She looks away from me to the ground. "Why are you running?" I finally ask her. Katara won't answer me; she just plays with her torn dress. "Please answer me."

Finally she looks back up at me with hard eyes. "Why do you care?" she shot back.

"Because my Uncle and I are taking you to a doctor tomorrow so we can get you help."

"So what?"

"What do you mean 'so what?!'" I was starting to get angry with this girl. "Have you even looked at yourself lately?! You're not exactly strong enough to take care of yourself right now! Plus you can't even remember a single thing about yourself so how do you even expect to be able to know what you are going to do and where you need to go?!"

"I can figure something out on my own!"

"No you can't!"

"Look I appreciate you saving my life, but that's it! Now leave me alone!" She pushed herself off the ground and started to walk away again. Argh! Are all girls this stubborn?!

Wait – stubborn! Katara's still as stubborn as ever! Maybe I can do something!

"Katara!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

Katara stopped, rooted in place. She turned around slowly with her wide blue eyes. "What?" she breathed.

"I said Katara…that's your name" I stated.

"It…it is?" Katara just continued to stare at my wide eyed.

I nodded briefly. "Does it sound familiar to you at all?" Katara closed her eyes, deep in thought. Her brows furrowed together and when she opened her eyes again she pouted. "Oh. Well…at least now you can go by that instead of no name."

"It is pretty" she murmured to herself. "Can I ask you something?" I nodded once. "How do you even know my name—if that's really what it is?"

Ok, how do I answer her without scaring her or having her attack me? "Um, well, you and I had met a couple of times before this so I ended up learning it during one of our…meetings." I should probably keep out that part that I had attacked her couple of different times. "You just don't remember."

Katara remained quiet as she thought this over. "I still don't know if I can trust you though."

For some reason I don't understand I actually felt a little hurt by her statement. "Then answer me this" I requested. "If you don't trust me then why did you let me save you, not counting the fact that you wanted to live because that was written all over your face."

Katara opened her mouth and closed it quickly before she replied. "I don't know. I'm so confused."

I walked over to her with my hands held up showing that I meant no harm until I was standing in front of her. I had to lower my head just a little since she was only an inch or two shorter than me. "Look Katara," I began, "I know you're scared and I know you're confused. It's going to be a while before you can take care of yourself on your own. I also know you have every right to not to want to trust people considering what I saw near the cliff, but I want you to trust me. And my Uncle" I added as an afterthought. "Please, let us help you." Katara opened her mouth to protest, but I held my hand up. "Let me finish. Give us a chance. Give me the chance to show you that you can trust me. When you get to the point where you can take care of yourself and if you don't want to be around us then you can leave. I won't stop you."

Katara gasped softly. "Do you really mean that?"

"Yes" I stated firmly. "So, will you let me—I mean us—help you?"

Katara thought it over and met my gaze before she nodded her head yes.

"Good" was the best I could come up with. "Now why don't we head back so you can sleep. You've had a long enough day."

"Ok" Katara replied quietly. I held out my hand for her without thinking, offering her to take it. She just looked at it and held her hands behind her back. "Sorry" she mumbled.

"You don't need to be sorry" I stated calmly as I dropped my hand. I turned around to walk back and had not even taken a step when I felt a light pressure on my shirt sleeve. I turned my head slightly to see Katara staring up at me apologetically as she held onto my shirt with her fingers. I nodded down at her to let her know it was okay. She nodded back and we slowly made our way to the cave. Once inside she let go of me and went back to her original sleeping spot, pulling the blanket over her, while I lay back down on my sleeping mat. My eyes roamed back to her one more time to see her staring at me with her confused eyes.

"We'll talk more in the morning" I called out quietly even though Uncle was still snoring loudly. She must have heard me though because she gave a slight nod before she closed her eyes and she was out instantly.

I breathed deeply knowing she wasn't going to try to run away again. She didn't fully trust me, but considering all things that's understandable. But at least she trusts us enough to stay with us a little longer in order to help her. Better than nothing, I thought tiredly as I closed my eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep.