A.N. I got a review from a guest that showed up in my email, not on my profile. Not sure why…but the reader asked why Kaya inspired flashbacks in Katara but Zuko didn't. In my mind, Zuko has always been separate from Ozai to Katara, because she had never feared him, but she always feared Ozai. Kaya, on the other hand, is a direct result of her interactions with Ozai, and the only reason she exists is because of him and what he did to her. I think Zuko's scar also helps him from looking too much like Ozai. Haven't gotten many more questions that wouldn't be spoilers if answered, but if there are any more, I'll do my best!

***Line break***Line break***Line break***Line break***Line break***

He must have really hurt you
To make you say the things that you do
He must have really hurt you
To make those pretty eyes look so blue

-George Michael, 'Heal the Pain'

"Again!" Zuko barked.

His command was met with hushed groans and the sound of swishing bokkens. Zuko walked among his students, correcting a stance, adjusting an elbow, nudging a foot. They were improving, his students. He noticed them practicing outside of their training sessions and felt a glow of pride. They wanted to get better, to be able to fight.

Almost twenty of them stood in the small clearing near the outside of the village. They ranged in age from sixteen to upwards of thirty. The camp rotated trainees between weapons trainings amid their normal chores: one day swords, the next day archery, the next day axes, then swords again. It aggravated Zuko, though he knew that's how he himself had learned. For him the dao swords had called to him and he had learned them quickly, using them as extensions of his own body. He could see the same fervor on the faces of the men and women who came to him daily instead of experimenting with the other weapons. Either with one sword or the twin blades, they practiced under his tutelage as often as their tasks allowed them, regarding their blades as Zuko did: as an extension of themselves.

"Again!"

Zuko turned, sensing Katara's approach. She slid into the space beside him, twining their fingers together. Zuko felt the usual electric spark as she touched him; the familiar feeling of contact growing into a sense of completion. He wasn't whole without her beside him. Two blades fitting together to form one even more powerful sword. "They're doing well, your turtleducklings." She teased.

Zuko groaned, shaking off his thoughts. The nickname had sprung up at the habit his students had of following him around camp at mealtimes. "They're not turtleducks." He said to her, his voice raspy as only she could make it. "They're dragons."

"Well, your dragonlings are doing well then." She squeezed his hand in reply. He looked down at her with a frown. "What's wrong?"

She didn't have to ask how he knew. "They're doing the bending training by the healer's tent." She looked away. "It was too noisy to concentrate."

He looked over his head to see his students watching, their forms slacking.

"I didn't say stop!" He roared. They jumped and fixed their eyes forward, bokkens swishing back into form. He looked down at her again, seeing her eyes cast downwards. He knew she needed distraction, not comfort. "You're really short."

Her eyes flashed up at him. "I am not!"

"Like a little cavehopper." His smile cracked as she released his hand to slap his chest, advancing on him.

"Cavehopper? I'll show you cavehopper, you, you sea slug!" She rained soft blows on his chest, fighting back a smile of her own.

The student warriors watched as their stern commander allowed himself to be bludgeoned by the thin woman in blue and struggled to keep their eyes forward and stances steady. Several of them couldn't help their smiles as she pushed him backwards and strode off in a huff. They saw his eyes follow her, though he turned back to them.

"Again!"

He found her by the river after he had sent his soldiers off for the day. Several had stayed to talk with him and he had shrugged them off quickly, feeling a nagging tug towards Katara. He had given them drills and tips enough to keep them busy and they hadn't followed him.

The river was over a mile from the village, due East. Bao had said she had taken several women and a guard with her to fill water skins for the camp. Zuko had followed the subtley marked trail through the woods, comforted by the weight of his swords on his back. Just because no one had spotted a Fire Nation soldier or a tigerdillo didn't mean they weren't around.

The guard had nodded him in Katara's direction from where he stood on the bank near where the rest of the women were crouched by the water, his long spear in his hand, eyes roving constantly at every small flick of movement. Katara stood a little ways upstream from them by herself, staring at the water swirling past her legs, over her feet, through her toes. Zuko could feel the chill from the icy mountain water from three feet away, how could she not be freezing?

"Water tribe people are crazy."

She turned at his voice with a shallow smile. "I grew up in a world of ice and snow." She turned back to the water. The river was wide and slow, dragging with reeds and smooth stones on its bottom. Foliage completely covered its banks, tree roots dug into its sandy shores and creeping ferns trailed their fronds along its surface. It was an alive river; a far cry from the icy wasteland of the South Pole. "It reminds me of home."

"You waded into the ocean in the middle of blizzards, too?" Zuko grimaced, crouching down to lean his back against a gnarled tree trunk. "Definitely crazy."

She glared daggers at him. He shrugged and closed his eyes, reclining his head. Fat drops of frosty water splattered across his front and he sat up with a snarl. Katara giggled, flicking another handful of water at him. As he stood up he wondered absently when the last time she tried to bend was. He dropped his swords by the tree and waded in after her, hissing at the water's touch. Katara splashed away from him still giggling.

"Stay away from me!"

He advanced on her, ready to dunk her under the water so he could warm her back up. Before he could, she tripped on a rock and landed on her rear end in the water, her mouth an 'O' of surprise. He laughed, pushing through the slow current to help her up. He caught her elbows and tugged, but she slipped limply through his grasp so sink into the water again. He looked down to make sure she was alright and not injured and was met with her wide smile and dancing eyes. He growled, hauling on her hands and stopped at her small noise. She grimaced and wiggled her hands; he dropped his grip to her forearms and lifted her up.

"They're sore today." She murmured, opening and closing her fingers.

"Can't you heal yourself?" The words slipped unthinkingly from his lips and her face darkened.

"Don't you think I've tried that?" She hissed, trying to jerk out of his grip. Zuko didn't let her. He ran his own fingers over hers, feeling the raised burn scars. "What are you doing?"

"My Uncle told me that water is life." He wound his fingers with hers, bringing their joined fists up before their eyes. He watched her around them; she eyed him warily. "All of us would die without it." He tightened his grip, keeping his good eye on her face. "But I also believe that if water is life, fire sustains life. Our lives. We all have water and fire within us: one flows in our blood, the other keeps us warm." He called to his own inner fire, drawing it up to his fingers. A steady heat pumped from him into her. "Firebenders have a hotter body temperature than other nations because our fire burns hotter." He looked her in the eye. "I want you to try again."

"What?" She eyed him incredulously. "Zuko, I've tried so many times, nothing-"

"Please." He could feel the muscles in her fingers relaxing from the heat in his hands. Felt the blood beating in her veins. He knew this was right. He knew the life from his fire would help. "Please, Katara."

She eyed him suspiciously, but crouched down with him into the icy water. His heat kept her fingers warm in the cold, even under the water. Zuko gritted his teeth against the chill, but Katara's face was serene as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Nothing happened. She cracked an eyelid to glare at him, and he nodded at her to try again. He marginally increased the heat, holding both her graceful hands between his larger ones, encasing them in a warm pocket. Heat hurt her; heat would save her. Katara sighed and scrunched her face in concentration.

It began slowly. A faint blue tinge to the water. A transparent glow. But it grew. Stronger and stronger. The blue light encompassed both their hands; Zuko felt his calluses melt away as he pulled back. Katara cracked an eyelid and gasped, almost pulling her hands from the water. Zuko plunged them back down and the blue crept up her arms to fix the creeping scars. They faded away to almost nothing, then were nothing. The light crept back inside her, fading until it might never have been there but for the new flesh on Katara's hands. She pulled them dripping from the water, turning them over and marveling at them.

"Zuko…"

"I worked hard for those calluses, you know." He frowned at her, but it was ruined by his smile. She threw her arms around him, knocking them both back into the water. Zuko cried out and she let him up, babbling apologies.

"Try it."

She glanced down river but none of their companions seemed to notice their antics. Zuko sloshed to the bank as Katara sat in the water behind him, still staring at her hands. He leaned back against the tree again, raising the heat around him to steam his clothes dry.

Hesitantly, as if trying not to get her hopes up but desperately wanting to, Katara made a basic waterbending gesture, pulling a thin, shimmering snake into the air and swirling it around in front of her. She let it go back into the water and Zuko smiled at the grin spreading across her face. With a whoop, she raised her arms in a dramatic flourish and sent a tidal wave of river water and reeds splashing over the bank. Zuko managed a strangled yelp before he was drenched. He spat out river water and glared at her. She beamed back at him.

"I just finished drying off."

Katara laughed, a beautiful, clear, chiming sound. She flopped down in the water and started floating down the river. Zuko chuckled to himself as he heard shouts from downstream, and began drying his clothes again.

***Line break***Line break***Line break***

The fire was massive that night. News of Chizu's returned bending abilities had spread through the camp and everyone wanted to celebrate. They had a waterbender. They had a healer. Chizu was happy.

From his seat, Zuko watched shadowy figures skip around the fire. Someone (he suspected Iroh) had produced a tsungi horn and was playing it across camp. Romjak had broken out the good firewhiskey and bellowed that he had never been happier.

Zuko sat apart. He watched as Katara was approached and congratulated, as she smiled and nodded thanks. Kaya, with much grumbling, had been sent to bed hours ago. He was content on his log, in the shadows, with his mug of firewhiskey. Several of his students sat not too far off, observing him. He had noticed several couples wander off into the woods and wondered when his observers would give in to similar proclivities and go away. He smiled into his mug as the first stood and walked back to the fire. The rest followed soon after, passing Katara on their way. She waved to them and sat down beside him on the log, so close that their legs touched. He set down his mug of firewhiskey and pulled her onto his lap, cradling her body against his.

"Won't you be missed?" He asked, nuzzling his lips against her hair, inhaling the smell of her.

"No more than you will." She sighed, wrapping her arms around him. His hand sought hers and brought it into the firelight. Not even a scrape was left. She twisted from his grasp to turn his cheek to hers, kissing him long and slow. She pulled back and Zuko's fuzzy brain protested. "Thank you."

In response he gripped the back of her head and brought her back to him. She turned, straddling his hips with hers. His hands roamed across her back, brushing against her rear, making her gasp. His lips found her throat and laid hard, ravishing kisses along her jugular. She moaned quietly in his ear, her hands gripping claw-like along his back. Zuko reveled in the feel of her fingers moving against him, knowing what they meant. The fierce waterbender that had challenged and fought him so much seven years ago was back. And she was rising, laughing, tugging him along after her.

They collapsed into his bedroll, the firewhiskey pumping through both of them greasing over any romantic hesitation. Her shirt, then his was hastily discarded. Katara's hands were in his hair, on his shoulders, on his hips and moving lower. He murmured in her ear between kisses, ready and waiting for her.

Dimly, the noise of a commotion broke through the walls of the tent. Zuko frowned but Katara's kisses were too sweet, her hands too soft. He groaned as her pants and leggings were tossed past his ear. He rolled on top of her as the shouting outside grew louder and closer. Finally he sat up with a growl, ready to blister whoever was interrupting them when the tent flap flew open. He caught a glimpse of Romjak's red face and Bao's surprised one around the intruding brown face that was glaring down in horror at them. Zuko threw a blanket over Katara and stood with a lighted fist, aware that the only clothing he had on was his pants. And they were uncomfortably tight in a certain area.

"Katara?"

"Sokka?"

"Zuko?"

"Katara?"

"Suki?"

Zuko let his fist go dark, staring at the blue eyed brother of the woman he had been planning on bedding for the whole night and maybe again in the morning depending on his headache. Katara sat frozen, clutching the blanket to her. The woman beside Sokka murmured an apology and backed out, leaving the two men to size each other up. After many moments of awkward silence, Katara cleared her throat, motioning for the men to get out. They stepped outside the tent, stiff with tension.

"So…" Sokka averted his eyes to Zuko, a crooked smile spreading across his face. "How have your last seven years been?"

***Line break***Line break***Line break***

A.N. Muahahaha! Sucks for Zuko! xD sorry for the short chapter…couldn't resist leaving it like this!