o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

The beautiful morning light shone down on me as I cut up this morning's fruit. When Aang helped the town a couple days ago, they had given us plenty of food as a gift, and they let us grab any supplies we needed.

Aang, who had stayed up half the night training with Toph, was still sound asleep and snuggled into Appa's warm fur. Toph was still deeply asleep despite the fact that both Sokka and I were up and about.

Sokka was moping over his sword, which had been bent on the tip, although he refused to tell me how it had gotten that way. I knew it wasn't from fighting the earthbenders because it had been fine when he was going through his stances yesterday. But he assured me he could fix it, which was all that mattered.

Maybe he knocked it against a rock.

"Sokka, breakfast is ready." I whispered, confident he would at least hear the word breakfast.

He was up and over within seconds. "Thank you!"

I shushed him and glanced over at Toph, who rolled over restlessly in her sleep. "Eat up, were traveling a lot today, and I'm not preparing a lunch."

Sokka grunted and continued eating his moon peaches.

"And remember our deal…" I picked up an apple and took a big bite. When I glanced up, he was staring at me.

"Right…our deal." Sokka took the pocket knife out and started staring at it as if wondering whether it was a good deal or not, and then apparently satisfied, he pocketed the knife. "I still don't think it's a good idea."

I sighed and took another bite out of my apple. "Why? Just tell me why."

Sokka put down his breakfast, a feat that surely was difficult for him. "I don't want you to be alone with him."

"Alone with him?" I wiped the juice off my chin and sat up straight,

"Yeah…" Sokka suddenly looked very awkward. "I see the way he looks at you."

"The way he looks at me?" I hissed, glancing back towards Toph to make sure she was still asleep.

"Yes." Sokka refused to meet my eyes.

"Zuko doesn't look at me; he never looks at me for anything other than to stare down his perfectly straight nose at me." I took an angry bite out of the apple and grabbed a fruit that resembled a pear.

"Uh huh, he does!" he pointed at me. "Ever since you saved him, he's been…been…ogling you!"

"You think Zuko, Prince of the Fire Nation, is 'ogling' me?" I questioned, laughter saturating my voice.

Sokka's mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping for air. "What?"

"Are you saying that he likes me or something?" I couldn't hold back anymore and barked out my laughter.

"I don't know, but-"

"Sokka, you know there's a difference between looking at me, and looking at me, right?" I asked.

"I know, but-"

I sighed and decided to end the conversation. "Listen, crazy person, I have to wake up Aang and Toph. Go find Zuko, we have to get going."

Sokka was still staring at me in disbelief.

"Do you need help finding Zuko?" I asked with a smile.

He glared at me and grumbled. "I know where he's at."

"Sure you do." I called over my shoulder and started waking up the crew.

Within a few minutes, Sokka was back with Zuko and we were ready to head out.

o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

Momo snuggled into my lap arched against my hand as it rubbed his back. I made little baby noises at him and smiled. Momo had practically been attacked to me all day, he even had ignored Aang when he'd called for him. I didn't mind one bit though, with the cool night air, it was nice to have some kind of lap warmer.

Speaking of night…

I elbowed Sokka in the ribs. "Hey Sokka, don't you think it's about time we land?"

Sokka glared at me, but crawled onto Appa's head to talk to aang. When he crawled back, he did a mock bow. "We will be descending shortly, madam."

"Ha, ha." I turned to Toph and shook my head at him.

"He's not that bad." Toph said and burst into laughter immediately afterward.

"I'm just glad that I get to have my first lesson with Mr. Sulky over there."

"I'm not sulking." Zuko objected.

"Yeah, that explains why your face looks like this." I furrowed my brows and pulled my face into an exaggerated frown.

His frown grew to match mine exactly. "I don't look like that."

"Of course you don't." I smiled at him and elbowed Toph. "Right?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Toph asked, humor lacing her voice.

I smiled to myself and gave Toph a pat on her back. "You're the best Toph."

She shrugged. "I know."

I reached for the food bag and began to dig through it. "They sure gave us a lot, didn't they?"

"They were very grateful." Sokka explained. "Those soldiers had been there for months."

I settled on an apple again and began to snack on it. "It's crazy to think that people who are there to protect, could do something like burning crops."

"Just because they're there for good, doesn't mean they are good." Zuko mumbled quietly, but I was able to hear it.

I nodded to Zuko. "That is true; it's unfortunate that those people exist in our world."

Zuko, whose eyes had been closed in rest, looked up at me. "You said our world."

"Uh… So?" I questioned.

"Our world. Not your world. Ours." He elaborated.

I blushed. "Oh… I guess I did."

He smirked. "So you like it here now?"

"I never said I hated it." I answered, avoiding his question.

"Yes, but you never said you liked it either." Zuko pointed out.

I sighed. "I like it here; don't get me wrong, it's amazing! Controlling the elements is cool, but this isn't my home."

"Is it really?"

Anger began to build up inside of me. "Yes, of course. This isn't my home!"

"You said that already."

I glared at him and turned away, ending the conversation.

He had no right to question me like that. No right at all. Nothing could ever replace my old life. Nothing.

Right?

My world, with its cars, computers, and phone could never be replaced by this technologically-challenged land.

Could it?

And even if I did like it, I couldn't stay anyway. I had to leave eventually; I'm not supposed to be here. I was born in my world, not here. This isn't my land.

Isn't it?

I pushed at my head to try and squash the doubting thoughts. I couldn't start this now; I can't get attached to this world. It was bad enough that I had made friends.

I couldn't become attached to this place. I couldn't.

I dropped my half eaten apple and watched it roll until Momo pounced on it, consuming the entire thing in one bite.

o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

"Why did Aang have to land in the middle of nowhere?" I grumbled and hiked my way through a forest of dense trees. "This is horrible; I can't sense a water source at all."

"We were lucky he was able to find water in the past… With the comet coming, the temperature has been rising and finding water has become harder and harder.

"Well the trees don't seem to have any problems finding water, just look at this thing!" I yelled and kicked at the trunk of the biggest oak tree I could recall seeing. "It's huge!"

"We should just do this tomorrow."

"No… I'll find water." I grumbled.

"We've been walking for three miles…" he complained, a very un-Zuko-like mannerism.

"How would you know?" I snapped.

"The stars."

"Do you hear that?" I stopped and held my hand to me ear. "The stars are telling you to shut up."

Zuko said nothing, but the temperature rose substantially behind me.

"Ah!" I cried in annoyance. "This is stupid; I wish I could just use the water in the damn tree."

"The tree… Right." Zuko mumbled.

"No, really. I learned it in school that there's water in these things."

"School… Right."

"Stop saying that." I spun around and crossed my arms over my chest. "It's all basic biology."

"Sure, you could use the trees to fight me." He taunted.

"I bet I could!" I yelled back.

"Prove it."

"You're such a child."

"I said prove it."

"Ok, I will." I went over to the tree and put my hands flat on the trunk.

"Come on with it." Zuko said impatiently.

"Shut up!" I yelled at him. "I'm trying to concentrate!"

I heard Zuko sigh impatiently and sit down. "Just hurry."

I bit back my retort and closed my eyes, concentrating on feeling and exploring the tree. Through my waterbending, I was able to see into the tree, see that it was a living thing, pulsing with life and water. I couldn't hold back my gasp of amazement, there was so much activity going on inside the tree that I felt inferior to the complexity of the tree.

It felt strange that I would soon be sucking the life out of such a being, but I knew that for the sake of shutting Zuko up, it had to be done.

I took a step back and pulled the water from the tree, leaving only a rain of acorns and a shriveled stump behind.

I smiled widely and spun around to show Zuko, but my concentration was lost and the water crashed to the ground.

Zuko was sitting, his back leisurely resting against another oak tree, eyes closed and not paying one lick of attention to me.

"Zuko!" I yelled in anger. "You weren't even watching!"

His eye peaked open. "What!"

My eyes narrowed dangerously. Without warning, I pulled the water out of the tree behind him and watched him loose balance. He fell backwards and broke what was left of the tree. Before he had time to react, I threw all of the water at him, soaking him to the bone. "That."

Zuko slowly stood up and looked at me. That was it… just looked at me.

I smirked and waited for him to make his move.

Instead of attacking me, like I thought he would, he shook the water out of his hair like a dog and began laughing,

Seconds later, I was laughing too. "I told you I could do it." I said through tears.

"Yes." He smirked. "You did."

"Ready to fight?" I asked, and as an after thought, I added- "Don't go easy on me."

"Okay." He nodded and did something I didn't expect him to do; he pulled off his wet shirt.

I averted my eyes like a little school girl and blushed. I peeked back at him and my blush deepened.

Aang often practiced without his shirt, but this was different, Zuko wasn't a twelve year old boy. No, he definitely wasn't.

Okay, so I'll admit, he was pretty damn hot. I blame it on the water… Who wouldn't look good wet? With water dripping down his muscles? And yes, there was muscle, lots of muscle. Lots. From what I saw, he didn't have an inch of fat on him. I guess that was due to the fact that he's been living in the wilderness for who knows how long. Even I've lost weight since I've been here. I've done nothing but eat healthy and exercise.

And so I'll also admit I wanted to reach out and touch his abs. Which I would never do…never. Never, never, ever.

Oh, but those shoulder muscles. I had half a mint to request he do a little turn for me. His back muscles would probably look amazing.

Just as I thought it couldn't get worse, he took his shirt and began wringing it out, causing his abundant arm muscles to bulge.

I looked away, furious at him and myself. How dare he do that? What's he trying to do? Did he really need to take his shirt off? No, he didn't. I've seen him steam water off himself before so I know he could have dried himself as easily as I could.

A growl was let loose in my throat from frustration, and in my anger I did the only thing I could think to do… I started attacking him.

I was able to get one water whip in before he realized what was happening. Before I could hit him again, he dove to the side and rolled to his feet, successfully evading my attack.

I waited for him to attack. I really wanted to see him bend.

His face was serene as he drew his hands up, flame trailing elegantly in their wake. With one powerful thrust, he sent a wave of fire directly at me.

I was so amazed by the flames that came seemingly out of nowhere, that I didn't even counter his attack until the last minute. I pulled water from the muddy ground and threw it at his fire. Before I had time to attack, another volley of fire was coming at me. My eyes widened in surprise and I threw up a wall, but it wasn't strong enough to block his sudden attack. The ice shattered and I was sent flying backwards, rolling ungracefully in the dirt.

I sputtered to a stop and pushed my face out of the dirt so I could stare at him.

He was fast. Very fast.

"Wow." Was all I could think of to say.

"Again?" he asked simply.

I struggled to pull a stick out of my hair, and once I got it out, I stood up. "Definitely."

He smirked and got into a firebending stance.

I made the first move. I pulled water from the forest life around me and froze it, sending razor sharp icicles at him. He swept his arm out and a streak of fire had them melting midair.

Zuko punched out, sending balls of fire at me. I let the fire sizzle and evaporate in my shield of water, then sent a tentacle out and wrapped it around his leg. Just as I was about to pull, he swept at the water, breaking its hold effortlessly.

I grunted in annoyance and began sending attack after attack at him. Nothing seemed to faze him, and I wanted to scream. I had gotten so used to Aang's unique fighting style that it felt like I had to learn all over again.

I glared at Zuko and sucked air into my lungs. I had to at least get one more hit in him before I stopped.

I steeled myself and sent icicles at him. He ducked to dodge and I sent another wave at him hoping that he wouldn't be able to notice them in time. Amazingly, he twisted his torso and spun out of the way just in time.

Zuko sent a firewhip at me, hitting my arm and burning the skin.

I howled in pain and grabbed my arm out of instinct. Yeah Sokka, sure… There were the actions of someone who was attracted to me. Whatever you say.

"Katara!" he yelled and rushed over to my side. "Are you okay?"

As soon as Zuko was in arms reach, I punched him in the arm. "What was that for?"

"You told me not to go easy on you!" he yelled, his face red with embarrassment and frustration.

"Yeah! But I didn't tell you to burn me!" I complained.

"I thought you'd block it!" he yelled back stubbornly.

Another difference between Aang and Zuko. Aang would have completely freaked out and shown more concern instead of yelling at me like Zuko.

I bit back my response and began healing my stinging arm. "Go over there and wait." I pointed to where he was before the burn.

I pulled myself up and waited for Zuko to move.

He stomped on the ground, sending a wave of fire at me. The wave was traveling so fast I barely had enough time to dodge the attack.

I grunted and prayed to whoever was listening that this fight would at least last longer than my other tries.

Zuko punched out again and again, sending ball after ball of fire at me. I could only throw up wall after wall of water to block it, watch it turn my water to steam, and then repeat the whole process. Within seconds, the air was thick with suffocating steam.

His attacks stopped, and I held my breath. I couldn't see anything, it was as if a thick fog had settled over us. Where was he? I became hyper sensitive. Every crunch of a leaf and snap of twig had me throwing out blind attacks, hoping it was him, thinking I had him, but then I'd hear another sound that just seemed meters away from me.

I didn't want to clear the air; I felt that if I couldn't see him, he couldn't see me. I was counting on that.

Suddenly, a brilliant thought entered my mind. Fog is just water, and if I could use my waterbending to explore the tree, then couldn't I do the same here? I might actually stand a chance of beating him if I could use the fog to "see".

I pulled more water out from the froes around me and turned that into even more fog, expanding the field, making certain that Zuko would not get past me.

There, I felt a disturbance in the force, a shape in the mass of thick watery air.

I lashed out at him and heard the attack hit. I heard the grunt of pain and suddenly, the temperature of the air all around me increased, lifting the heave fog off of us immediately, leaving us both exposed.

I held back and let him attack, hoping that I could at least find a pattern, a weakness. If not that, then maybe I could get to know his style better. The way I saw it was that he was a firebender, and I will be fighting a lot more of them in the future, so I needed to get used to this unique fighting style.

He performed intricate movements that ended with a stream of fire coming directly at me.

I dove out of the way. I tried to tuck and roll out of it, but at the last moment, my clothes caught on a stray branch, stopping me suddenly. I grunted in surprise and looked down at my shirt. I gasped in shock and anger.

"Stop!" I yelled.

He stopped just short of attacking again. "What?"

I gestured down at the huge rip in my shirt, me eyes wide. "Look."

He took a few steps forward and squinted. "Oh, that's it?"

"That's it?" I quoted. "It's huge!" I shouted and shoved my hand through the hole to prove it.

Zuko rolled his eyes at me.

"I'm done." I said bitterly.

"That's it?" he asked again, this time for a different reason. "…We're done...?"

"Only today, tomorrow… You're mine."

"Well… That was fast." He mumbled. If I wasn't mistaken, he sounded disappointed.

I blushed. "That was my first time ever fighting a firebender! How were you the first time you fought Aang?"

His face turned just as red as mine. "You're right."

I smiled in triumph. "Can I watch you bend for a while?"

"Uh…" he rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I guess."

I crawled backwards and settled myself at the base of a tree.

Zuko began right away with a punch. A flame flew out of his fist and joined a fellow scorch mark. The blast of light illuminated his face and threw shadows throughout the clearing.

I smiled. Bending, whether it was water, fire, earth, or air, was all just so cool and unique. When I got home, this would be the one thing I would miss the most. Sure, I absolutely love Sokka and everyone, but I would miss the control over water I have. It seemed like so much a part of me now. There is such a feeling of power that comes with bending. Here I know that I could protect myself from danger with bending, but I won't be able to do the same at home. It would be like losing a limb.

I leaned back and watched Zuko.

His chest was slick with sweat, causing every flash of fire to make him look damn right ethereal.

Damn it.

I clenched my fist and pushed it against my head, hoping that I could force those thoughts away.

It's all Sokka's fault.

All of it.

If Sokka hadn't mentioned his thoughts on how Zuko was "looking at me", then I never would have these thoughts about his strong arms, his chiseled chest…

None of these thoughts.

None.

And when was he going to put his damn shirt on?!

A cloud obscured the moon, casting us both in near darkness. Zuko stilled and lit a small ball of flames in his palm. "We should probably head back, it's getting late."

It wasn't as if I had been paying one lick of attention to him anyways, so I didn't consider stopping now to be a loss.

o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

I woke up early in the morning, very early. So early, in fact, that I rolled over and prayed that I could just fall back to sleep. But it was in vain, and I knew it. I really, really, had to go to the bathroom. If I didn't have to pee, I would have burrowed into my cozy warm sleeping bag and dozed back into a peaceful slumber.

But right now, that was impossible. I had to go bad.

Despite the chilly morning air, I jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom - I mean, bushes.

When I got back to camp, I could tell that I wouldn't be able to fall back to sleep anytime soon. However unfortunate it was, it was too late to fall back to sleep.

I looked up into the sky and sighed at the beauty of the blue sky. I've been in the wilderness long enough to tell that the sun was about an hour away from rising.

I wandered around camp and started picking up after the others. Sokka's possessions were strewn, yet again, all around camp. A sock (which I dared not touch) draped over his pack. His tunic was balled up and thrown into a pile at the foot of his sleeping bag. Aang's staff was lying flat on the ground, and I just knew that someone was going to trip over it. Toph was the only now I didn't ever have to clean up after; she just didn't have many possessions with her.

Oh, her and Zuko.

Speaking of Zuko, where the hell was he?

I glanced around camp. Usually, he slept on a blanket or two since he didn't need anything to keep him warm, but he was nowhere to be found.

Was he already doing whatever it is he does in the morning? He was always gone when I got up, but did he really get up this early?

And what does he do?

I shook my head and made my way to Sokka's rolled up tunic. Sine I was awake, I might as well wash some clothes.

I picked up his shirt and-

Wait…

Was Sokka's sleeping bag empty?

I dropped his shirt and squinted through the darkness and lifted up his sleeping bag. It was empty.

My mind slowly began putting two and two together. Zuko…and Sokka… Both were gone… At the same time.

Crap.

Was there going to be a replay of the fight they had last week?

I just hoped Zuko doesn't kill Sokka.

Over the sound of the wind in the trees, I was able to hear one single clank that I knew instantly to be the sound of a sword hitting another sword. I spun towards the sound and began following it out of camp.

It was about a half a mile out that I saw them.

Sokka was charging Zuko, sword pointing at him with deadly accuracy.

I knew right away that they weren't really fighting… Just practicing together. This fight held none of the hate and animosity the last one held. The look of pure loathing that graced Sokka's face last time was replaced with a look of fierce concentration. He wasn't just blindly attacking; he was actually trying to outsmart Zuko. Is this the reason Sokka was always up so early? Had they been doing this the whole time?

Is this why Sokka's sword got bent?

I slunk further into the trees and continued watching.

As Sokka's attack neared Zuko, he seemed to dance out of the way. Sokka reared back and used the momentum of his sword to swing around and go at him again.

Zuko raised one sword and met Sokka's blow. The power of the strike caused Sokka's sword to slide down Zuko's curved one and strike the hilt, jerking Zuko's arm down. Zuko took his other sword and sandwiched Sokka's, twisting it around and forcing both boys side by side. With one flick of his wrist, Zuko sent Sokka's sword flying.

Sokka made a sound of frustration. "Not again!"

Zuko shook his head and watched Sokka retrieve his sword. "You keep doing the same thing; mix it up and maybe you'll succeed."

"I'm not doing the same attack!" Sokka argued, throwing his hands into the air.

"Then why do you keep charging me like you'll get a different outcome? Start thinking!"

"I was thinking!" Sokka yelled defensively.

For a second, I thought Sokka was going to attack him, but then I realized that Zuko was now his teacher and that Sokka would never attack his teacher… At least not during a lesson.

Zuko groaned in annoyance and glared at Sokka. "Fine, come at me again."

Sokka ran at him again, ignoring his advice completely. He lifted his sword, aiming it foe Zuko's head. Zuko dodged easily and rolled away from Sokka, putting space between them.

Sokka swung at him again, looking more like a baseball player than a swordsman.

"It's not all about strength, Sokka!" Zuko yelled and swung at his partner, surprising him enough that he barely had time to defend himself against the blow.

Sokka grunted and swung at him again, increasing his power by using both hands. Sokka brought his weapon down on Zuko, who twisted out of the way, letting Sokka's sword clamor to the ground.

Before Sokka had time to move, Zuko swiped at Sokka's stomach, a hairsbreadth away from slicing him open. "One."

He pushed out at Sokka, spinning him around and sliced at the back of his knees, never touching his skin. "Two."

Zuko kicked out at his knees, causing Sokka to fall to them. With one slash, both Zuko's swords were at Sokka's neck. "Three."

Sokka groaned. "That's not fair!" He reached up and pushed Zuko's swords away from his jugular.

"I could have killed you in a thousand different ways just then!" Zuko's composure was slipping, giving way to frustration.

"I would have stopped you!" he yelled back.

Zuko ran his fingers through his long hair. "Yeah, that's why-"

I tuned them out and began trekking my way back to camp. The sun's rays began spilling over the horizon, and I knew it was time to leave before they realized I was here.

o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o