A/N: Hey guys! First off let me apologize for not keeping up with my stories, but I'm determined to finish this one! So please continue to read and comment it really encourages me to write more! I hope you guys like it, thank you! :) (don't forget to R&R)

Chapter 3

Zuko woke up to the sight of Katara, all curled up close to him. Her hair was frizzy and tangled and still gracefully covered her face. With each soft breath a strand of hair would fly up and down from her nose, resulting with her bunching up her nose in response. Zuko smiled at the sight of how innocent and small she was in this moment, but in actuality she was the strongest girl he had ever met in every way possible. He slowly and carefully brought a hand up and brushed the hair away from her face, and she twitched her nose one last time before snuggling even more into his chest. He laid there for a while and studied her features and listened to the sounds of the outdoors. The morning air was crisp and cool. A soft breeze would roll in and stir up every living thing in that shed. Zuko soaked in this serene feeling, before a noise outside the shed caught his attention.

Zuko turned his head to the window and saw that the sun had barely begun to rise outside and whatever the noise was, it couldn't have been Moe, because It was way too early for a man his age to be up. He tossed aside the thought of the noise as any danger, and tried to go back to sleep, but then there was another noise that sounded like a branch snapping right outside the shed door. He quickly rose up, making sure not to disturb Katara of course, and stealthily moved over towards the shed door.

He pressed himself up against the wall by the door and hid beneath the shadow that casted from it. He listened carefully to someone's breaths outside the door and stood there tensely, waiting for the moment to attack. The hairs on his neck stood up straight, and even for a moment his breathing stopped as the shed door slowly opened. Before the person could even walk in Zuko had already pinned them against the outside wall and placed a hand over their mouth.

It was this small brown eyed girl that had on this head scarf that black hair tresses spilled from. Zuko looked at her inquisitively, confused as to who she was.

"Who are you?" He whispered.

The girl mumbled into his hand angrily with furrowed eyebrows.

"What?"

She looked up at him with such an icy glare as if to say "really?" and glanced back down at his hand that covered her mouth.

"Oh, sorry." The girl rolled her eyes as Zuko removed his hand and proceeded to ask again who she was.

"I should be asking who are you! After all you attacked me just walking into my family's shed!" She yelled grouchily.

"Shhhhhh you're gonna wake up Ka— Never mind... So you're Moe and Nori's daughter."

The girl pushed Zuko off of her. "Granddaughter." She replied as she patted out the wrinkles in her clothes, that looked like some sort of combat training outfit. "The name is Sora."

She held out a hand for him to shake. Zuko was still really questionable about the girl in front of him and looked at her hand like it was a foreign object.

"Look I don't know you and you don't know me, but obviously we aren't bad people if my own simpleminded grandparents know us." She had a point. Zuko still shook his head in confusion. Sora drew back her hand and picked up her bag and shrugged and proceeded to walk into the shed.

She stopped her steps when she noticed Katara sleeping on top of the hay, but then waved her thoughts away as if it weren't surprising, and continued to place her things down. She then began to undo the belt on her tunic and began to strip out if her outer layer. Zuko's cheeks flushed and he shut his eyes as he threw up his hands in the air to signal the girl to stop.

"What are you doing?" He whispers.

She turned to face him and scoff at his reaction. "I'm changing, and if you don't wanna look you don't have to."

"And why are you changing…?" Zuko spoke with hands covering his eyes

She sighed as she slipped on her other pair of clothes. "I have to change because if my grandparents even had the slightest knowledge of what I do during the week I'd end up in some tall tower with no windows or doors locked away from the world... I'm done by the way."

Zuko put down his hands and opened his eyes and saw her packing up her combat clothes into a backpack. She had on a school girls uniform, a knee length black skirt, a button up white top along with a black and white vest, with knee high socks and black shoes. She still wore her head scarf, and adjusted it to where her hair tucked into it.

"What's with the uniform?" He asks

"It's a long story but to keep it short, I'm supposed to be attending the Fire Nation's boarding school for 'special kids', but I stopped going about a year ago to learn how to fight and defend my own, but my grandparents refuse to let me do that sense I'm sick."

"Oh… I'm Sorry—"

"—Please don't… I've heard that all my life. I don't need people to pity me. I don't need anyone to think I'm weak." She stops and stares at the ground for a moment and then shook off her deep thoughts, and sighed again. "But, that's why I'm going to combat classes." She flashes a smile that quickly turns into a daring look. "And you better not tell my grandparents."

"Or what else?" He raised an eyebrow.

She simply smiled at him and blatantly says, "Or else I'll tell them who you guys really are."

Zuko's heart stopped and his mind raced with so many questions and worries. "W-w-what do you mean?" He gulped out.

Sora just chuckled in response and walked over to him and patted him on the shoulder. "Oh come on, don't act like you don't know... Zuko and Katara! It's obviously you two, the 'dynamic duo' who defeated the Fire Nation's princess, and have the Phoenix King's underwear all in a twist. Oh yeah, you guys are all over the papers. I didn't realize it was you two until I saw her over there sleeping, and made the connection… Hm what are the odds, the Fire Nation's most wanted here at my house." She last says as she finally exits the shed.

Zuko, standing there dumbfounded, took a second to process it all in before reaching back towards her.

"Wait!... What else do you know?"

"Look I'll tell you more later, and I'll help you too, just as long as you help me as well though…"

"What do you mean…?"

"You'll see… Bye Zuko." She turned around and headed towards the house.

Zuko stood there for a minute again scratching his head before walking back to the hay and laying down again to get an extra minute of sleep.

When Katara woke up, Zuko was already up and sitting on the floor in the meditation position. Katara rose up and tip toed over to Zuko and sat in front of him.

Zuko peeked through one eye and then closed it again shaking his head at the sight on Katara mimicking his position.

"Am I doing it right?" She giggled.

"Not even." Zuko said with no altering facial expressions.

Katara stood up and sneakily stood behind him and waited for the right moment to bend over and scare him. She wasn't sneaky enough because she wasn't expecting him to roll out of his position and manage to trip her with his foot and catch her all at the same time.

Katara frowned, "No fair."

"You gotta be quicker than that. I'm supposed to be the disabled one here. We should start sparring more to better your fighting techniques." Zuko spoke to her in a stern tone before dropping her on the ground.

Katara grumbled, "Look here Your Highness, I don't need to listen to you. I'm perfectly capable of holding my own."

Zuko rolled his eyes as he stretched his arms before turning around to face her. "Oh is that so?" He smirks. "I doubt it. I doubt a water tribe peasant like you can hold anything but babies and laundry."

Katara lunged at him with such ferocity. Zuko dodged her attack with ease. She then ran into the wall, before retaliating back at him but this time with water covering her arms.

"That's more like it," Zuko mutters to himself.

"I'll. Show. You. Peasant. You. Arrogant. Ass!" Katara yelled through clenched teeth. Each word spoken with each swing of water that Zuko easily dodges.

"Fight less with aggression and more with—," before he could even finish sentence Katara had changed her violent swings to a more strategic challenge he wasn't expecting. She she shot a whip of water past his head, which he dodged, but she wasn't aiming for his head she was aiming for a piece of wood that was breaking of the shed's ceiling and smacked him in the back of the head with it. Reflexively Zuko's hand reaches to the forming lump on the back of his head and Katara uses her other hand to whip water around his hand's wrist and pull him toward her, all while she slams his body to the ground and freezes his hand on his back.

Smoked poured out of Zuko's nostrils and he grumps in defeat. Katara leaned over towards his ear and whispers, "Gotta be faster than that," and clicks her tongue before standing up.

"How's that for a water tribe peasant." She smirks.

Zuko melts away his icy bondages and just stands up and walks out of the shed.

"Now wait just a minute, how are you gonna attack me and then get all moody, when I kick your ass back?" Katara asked as she stomps out of the shed, and follows Zuko.

Zuko stops and turns towards her and stares at the ground.

"Zuko… What is it?" She asked knowing something was wrong.

"I talked to Sora, Moe and Nora's granddaughter, and she told me… She told me that our faces and names are everywhere and they're looking for us…"

Katara stops and stares at him and for a moment everything was silent. Until Zuko looked up and his eyes met hers.

"Listen Katara… I need… I really need you to be strong, because I don't know if next time I'll be there to…" Zuko's face turned back to the ground and his hand laid over his chest, where his scar remained.

"Zuko…" Katara softly spoke as she approached him with a hand out to touch his face and tilt his head back up but her hand drew back as she saw Moe and Sora approaching them.

"Just the two I was looking for!" Moe said with a chipper attitude.

In his hands were buckets along with rags and other grooming items, along with a few apples. When he approached them he gestured the items toward the two.

"Here you two go!" He said as he placed the buckets in their hands.

Katara looked up at him as if the old man had gone insane.

"This is your payment. I need someone to help take care of the ostrich-horses, usually Sora helps me, but… But I just need you two to do it and this will be all you have to do in order to receive my help. Just wash them and clean out their stables, there's shovels that you can use for that, and if you wanna give them apples as treats you can. Ok?"

Zuko and Katara both nodded and understood.

"Alright! Oh, by the way this is my granddaughter Sora, she will help you guys in any way that she can. Thank you so much!" Moe looked at Sora and nodded as if he asked for her approval to leave, and she smiled in return.

Once Moe made his way back over to the house both Zuko and Katara stood there looking at Sora looking back at them.

"Well…? Let's get to it!"

Sora marched past them toward the shed leaving them to stand there and dwell in their thoughts and so many questions. Eventually they proceed to follow her into the shed and help gather the horses.

They truly were a beautiful sight to see. Each horse was well kept and well fed and well trained as well. It wasn't any troubling getting them out and tying them to a tree, they respectfully accomplished every task that they commanded them to do. Sora went to the water pump and got water in the buckets and began to bring it over. The pails sloshed back and forth with water spilling out, and Katara went over to help the girl with her hands filled.

Zuko and Katara began washing two separate horses while Sora stood by and added in any tips that she could. Katara was almost done with her horse as she grazed her fingers across its soft feathers and fur. One feather floated to the ground after the stokes of her fingers, and she bent down to picked it up and rubbed the pad of her thumb across the barbs of it. Soon the wind picked it up and snatched it out of her hand. Katara watched as the feather floated away into the horizon, and had hopes to go where it's going one day.

Katara turned towards Sora who was sitting underneath a tree slowly drifting into sleep. She then looked back over towards Zuko who was drying off his horse and sweat began to form on his brow, and then looked down at the pail and saw her face staring back at her.

"Hey Sora!" She called.

Sora jumps up and rubs her eyes. "What is it?"

"You know about me and Zuko right?"

Sora wiggled her hand back in forth and shrugged as if to say yeah a little bit.

"Well I need to ask you a favor…"

"Yeah? What is it?"

Katara sighed and played with her hair between her fingers and chewed her bottom lip. Zuko stopped drying the horse and flipped the towel across his back and listened in.

Katara took another deep breath in before speaking. "I need you to cut my hair…"