Chapter Twenty – three:

-Katara-

Last night was the best day of my life; that I can remember anyway. I woke up remembering everything that happened that day. I was about to close my eyes again, perfectly content to just stay there and replay last night in my head, when I felt something warm against my cheek. Turning my head I was surprised to find Zuko asleep with his head resting on the mattress. The warmth I had felt was his breathing. Once again his shaggy black hair had fallen across his face covering his eyes. And I had the urge to run my hand through his hair so I could get it out of his eyes.

His hair was much softer than it was the last time I ran my fingers through his hair while he was asleep. There was maybe one snarl, but I managed to get it out without waking him. He looked so calm now that I couldn't help but smile. Absentmindedly I started stroking his cheek with the knuckle of my index finger. He sighed heavily and I seriously thought he was going to wake up so I froze. All he did was shift and continued sleeping. But I could have sworn I saw the hint of a smile flash across his face. What was even stranger was that I felt a blush spread along my cheeks.

I didn't want to wake him up, but I knew eventually he would have to wake up so we could get to work. After being with Zuko and his Uncle for only a month I could tell that he didn't like it when Iroh woke him. So I decided I would try to wake him up. But not without possibly playing a little trick on him.

My curiosity got the better of me since I have been practicing my water bending. Taking a small stream of water out of a bowl nearby I slowly brought it up close to me. Then I gently trailed it across Zuko's cheek, hoping that would startle him. He shivered slightly but all that did was make him burrow his face further into the mattress. I giggled and that was a big mistake. Losing my concentration on the water I lost my 'grip' on it and it splashed all over Zuko's head.

Zuko sat up spluttering and trying to wipe the water off of his face. He was scowling. "What was that for?!"

"Sorry, sorry!" I apologized quickly. "I didn't mean for that to happen. I was only trying to wake you up before your Uncle did. I lost my focus on the water and that's why the water splashed you. Hmm, maybe" I stopped myself and went through some hand motions and I was able to get all of the water off Zuko so he was completely dry. "At least I can do that now."

Zuko's scowl disappeared to be replaced with a smirk. "I forgive you. Of course if you ever did do something like that again on purpose you may be in a little bit of trouble."

The smirk never left as he spoke so I knew he was messing with me. I played along. "Understandable, but the same could be said if you ever try to pull a prank on me."

Zuko just continued to smirk, his anger completely gone. Before he could say anything more Iroh walked in to find us awake and to remind us to get ready for work. I decided today to wear my new water tribe outfit from Zuko with the gloves. The entire morning went by well. Iroh was his usual happy self serving and making tea. I was doing fine, not nervous around the customers at all. Zuko was being his usual self; he was tolerable around the customers while he was serving and would only save the eye – rolling and the grumbling for when he would walk by me. Around two – thirty in the afternoon the manager said I was done for the day and then Iroh asked me if I could possibly go buy some more groceries since we were running low again. I told him I would and he offered to have Zuko go with me since he was about to go on break.

But I shocked all three of us when I said I wanted to go alone.

Iroh said it was alright with him and he handed me the basket that we always used to carry the groceries with. Zuko on the other hand was a completely opposite story. He was scowling the whole time. First he argued with Iroh quietly so the customers would not hear them. When that didn't go anywhere Zuko turned his attention to me, though he didn't scowl quite as much.

"Katara are you sure you want to go alone? You don't have to" Zuko asked for the tenth time as we stood outside the entrance.

"I'll be fine. It's only going to take me a half hour to get what we need. Then I'll be right back. I promise. You don't need to worry. I can take care of myself" I assured him.

"I know you can take care of yourself by now. But…" he ran his hand through his hair, "I just don't want you to get hurt. It would put my mind at ease knowing I was with you."

I smiled. "I really appreciate that, but like I said, I'll be fine. Plus I – I want to be able to prove to myself that I can do this. That I can go out on my own, so I don't have to feel scared anymore" I whispered the last part.

Zuko still heard me. He sighed deeply. Finally he nodded his head. "Alright, if you want to do this alone then I won't stop you." I smiled widely. "But I'll stay here to wait for you. Fair enough?"

"Definitely! Thank you!" Then before I even realized what I was doing I stood up on my toes and gave him a quick kiss on his scarred cheek. Zuko's eyes went wide and I immediately retreated a few steps back. My own eyes wide and feeling a blush spread along my cheek bones I said, "Um, see you in a half hour." And with that I hurried away, clutching the basket close to my chest.

It took me all of fifteen minutes to find everything on the list that Iroh gave me. I was doing perfectly fine and I didn't want to go back to the tea shop just yet so I decided to walk around for a little while longer. My mind was racing to begin with after I kissed Zuko's cheek earlier. I needed time to think without any interruptions.

After that little kiss my mind retraced to what had happened when Zuko and I were dancing last night. More specifically, our last dance of the night. Everything just seemed so…perfect. Like it was something you find in a fairy tale. Dancing with him was so much fun. And seeing him smile like that was really nice to see. But then of course there was that moment when I tripped over a rock I had not seen there the whole time we were on that hill.

When Zuko caught me he had wrapped his arms around my waist. I never like it when that happens because of that reminder of the other fire bender who held me captive and he would tie the rope around my waist. But I never retreated from Zuko when that happened. Instead I kept my arms wrapped around his neck as he slowly brought me upright. Then it looked like Zuko wanted to kiss me. And I had felt like I wanted to kiss him too. We both leaned towards each other, but then I pulled away the same time he did. Then I took his hand so we could continue our dance as if nothing had ever happened.

None of it made sense to me. I really like Zuko, maybe a lot more than as a friend. I think I wanted to kiss him, but I'm not sure. None of my memories have returned even after spending a month with him and his Uncle. Yes there have been rare flashbacks, but they never make sense. Not once. Then there is the fact that I still don't know Zuko all that well since I have absolutely no memory of even meeting him. I trust him, and I like him, but what good can come of this when I can't even remember anything? Zuko even said I could leave once I could take care of myself and I have pretty much reached that point, but do I want to leave? Would it be so bad if I wanted to stay with him?

I growled in frustration and set the basket down at my feet; I was alone by now and had found my way close to a stone water well. I rubbed my gloved hands over my eyes and massaged my temples so I could think. There was no way I could come up with any concrete answers so I decided to just leave my thoughts alone for a while and decided to head back to the tea shop so Zuko wouldn't be worried.

But I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw a poster with my face on it pasted to a stone pillar – like structure that appeared to be attached to the well.

Setting my basket down again I read over what it said. 'Have you seen me? Name: Katara, Age: 14, Nationality: Southern Water Tribe. The list seemed to go on. The picture of me was pretty accurate, only in the picture my hair was braided the way I used to have it and two strands of hair were falling into my eyes but were also pulled back. Then I found out by reading that my birthday was approaching next month. So I will be 15 soon which means Zuko and I really are just two years apart in age. I would have read on to see who it was looking for me but I never got the chance.

"Katara!" I heard a high pitch voice shout. No way that was Zuko. I turned around just in time to see a young boy run right into me and wrap his arms around my waist. He brought his head up – he is shorter than me – and I remembered Zuko showing me a poster of him. Then the flash back of him burning my hands came rushing back. With that came another image of this same boy, but this time his eyes and tattoos were glowing. He looked angry and seemed to be attacking someone. After that the image faded away. I started trembling. He didn't seem to notice. He just kept talking. "Katara I can't believe we finally found you! We've been worried sick! What happened to you?!" I couldn't answer, I was too frightened. "Katara it's ok you're safe now. Oh wait, I know what's wrong! Sokka! Sokka!" he calls over his shoulder, "Get over here! I found her!"

"You what?!" I heard another voice shout out. Looking over the younger boy's head – he still wouldn't let go of me – I saw a boy around Zuko's age with my skin tone run around the corner with a young girl walking along behind him. He gawked at me wide eyed and his jaw dropping to the floor. My attention was focused on the young girl.

She appeared to look the same age and height as the boy holding me. Her skin was just about as pale as Zuko's and her black hair was pulled up into a bun except for her bangs that fell in front of her face, concealing her eyes. She makes no move to approach me. She just cocks her head to the side like she is trying to understand what has happened.

The younger boy still wouldn't let go. I was to the point that I was hyperventilating that he finally let go of me and stepped back. "Katara are you ok?"

I couldn't answer; I just wanted to get away from them. The older boy approached me. He reached out his hand as if to hold me or rest his hand against my cheek. "Katara?" he asked in a medium pitched voice that sounded like it could go either way at any time volume wise.

That was it for me. I just needed to get away and back to Zuko. Oh please work! I thought to myself as I quickly brought a wave of water up and pushed it towards the two boys. It crashed and pushed them away with them yelping. The water never reached the other girl as she earth bended a wall up to protect her. I didn't care. I just ran, forgetting about the basket with the groceries. I only ran.

I ran for my life.

The Gaang is back...how will Zuko react? Please review and you will find out next week at the same time. Until then, see you later.