Rated M: derived from Atla. Zutara smut. Chapter 2;

I woke up to the sound of heavy rocks hitting the ground. If I was guessing, toph was having Aang practice his earth bending. Aang is the avatar, and although he's still just a kid, he has to master all of the elements before we can defeat fire lord ozai. Aang's natural element is air bending, which suited him well. He is always putting others needs before his own and even if doing the right thing is that absolute hardest, he will still choose it. I admired that about him. After mastering air bending his next element to learn was water. Some how I got lucky enough to run into him while I was arguing with Sokka at the southern water tribe. Aang was chosen to be the avatar, a destiny he did not want to own up to. I mean, could you blame him? What kid wants to find out they are responsible for the fate of the world. So instead of facing his new challenge, he ran away. He was frozen in ice when we found him and although he's been alive thousands of years he is still a child. I taught him water bending. Along the way we picked up toph the most amazing earth bender you will ever meet. I wouldn't tell her that to her face because her head is already big enough but it is the truth. Although aang has mastered all three elements he still has a lot of work to do before he can defeat the fire lord, and honestly has nothing else to do since he has yet to find a suitable fire bending teacher. Often for the avatar learning the element that was opposite of your natural element is the hardest to learn. Aang and zuko are complete opposites. Although they are against each other now, I feel that if things were different aang and zuko might have been friends. Then the thought of zuko sparked my memory and suddenly I realized that it was long past time since he should have attacked us already. I rush out of my sleeping mat. I pat my dark hair down and tighten my loops of hair that wrap around either side of my face. Just breath katara. If zuko does not come after us today I have no idea what it is he wants any longer. I could not imagine that he might stop chasing the avatar for me. That's impossible. Retrieving his honor back is the most important thing in the world to him, I am sure that he is laughing about our sex right now. I can't let my feelings distract me if he does attack, he will use it against me. I put my clothes on over my wrappings and head outside to see what the plan was for today. Clearly no one was in a hurry because Sokka was still sleeping harder than the rocks being thrown by aang and no one cared to look up as I walked outside. I walk closer to aang as he crumbles a rock the size of me against another rock.

"You call that earth bending twinkle toes?" Toph yelled from the abandoned houses' steps. Aang makes a face but ignores the comment and turns to me...

"Hey katara I heard you couldn't sleep and we didn't really make an agenda for the day so toph and I decided to let you sleep in"

"Oh thanks I guess I was more tired than I thought."

It was nice I must admit getting to sleep in for once. I am usually the first one to awaken and get everything started for the day. It almost felt like we were a small happy family and there was no war to worry about, but the moment faded fast. We don't usually get to sleep in houses. Most of the time we are sleeping in caves and such, thank god for appa, Aang's flying bison because he is seriously the most comfortable to sleep on!

"Well", I say "we have no time to waste, Sozin's commit will be here before we know it and we still need to find you a fire bending teacher!"

"There's this fire bender I have heard of that is supposed to be the best, he taught some of the generals for the fire nation."

"Well I guess it's worth a try"

"It will take us two days on appa to get to him though, so what should we do for today?"

"You guys are so loud! Can't you see I'm trying to sleep here!" Sokka rambles from inside the house.

"Shut up you big baby"toph remarks

"Well were running low on supplies so I can head into town and stock up" I say trying to get them to stay.

"We can all go"toph says

"Well okay, I guess everyone can get a little something they need but just be careful"

I really didn't want any one coming. I think part of me hoped I would run into zuko and the other half was terrified of what would happen if I saw him.

"We need meat" Sokka comes out of no where to announce.

"Good that can be your job. Now let's get going so we can head that way, we have no time to waste"

I wish we could just hop on appa and take off and put some distance between us and zuko because let's be honest, I do not want to face him. I do not want to own up to the fact that even with the connection we had, he still needs his precious honor and will kill me if I get between him and aang. And that is exactly what i will do because no matter what connection me and zuko have it is my destiny to help aang defeat the fire nation.

When we reach the market we all kind of spread out like ants who haven't found a scent to follow yet. Sokka marches straight for the food, we all know where he is going. That kid only ever had one thing on his mind, meat. He thinks he is pretty funny too. Aang just floats from place to place, not looking for anything to particular, to young to care about what supplies we might need or to much on his mind, like how he is going to save the world, to think about it. He smilies at me as he catches me staring and his cheeks flush with blood. He kept staring until momo, his flying lemur, lands on his head. Apparently momo knew exactly what he wanted but needed aang to get it for him. Toph gets caught up in a game of gambling, something she is good at. People mistake her for being weak because of her blindness but really it just plays into one of her many strengths. I go shopping for all of our essentials, fruit for us to snack on, hay for appa, berries especially for momo. Once I had what I thought we needed I decided to head back to the house to feed appa and get things packed so that we could be ready to go.

I arrive at the abandoned house. I couldn't decide if I wanted some one to be waiting for me when I got back or not, but either way it didn't matter he wasn't there. It didn't make much sense to me now, if he isnt going to hunt the avatar because he has feelings for me then he should want to see me or talk to me, right? If he did still want the avatar dead then he should be attacking us. Or maybe he is just embarrassed that we had sex and doesn't want to admit it either. I was greeted by appa who was obviously ready for some food. I threw a bale of hay to him. Momo flew in knowing it was his turn for berries. I threw a bunch on the ground for him to eat. It didn't take long for the piles to disappear. I went to my room that I had slept in to pack all of my belongings for the trip. I was about to stuff a pair of wrappings into my satchel when I saw zukkos robe. I almost forgot I kept it. Butterflies hit my stomach at the excitement that I had a little part of him with me. I took the robe out grabbing it and pulling it to my nose to take in the scent of jasmine. It relaxed me, until I felt a piece of paper that I know wasn't there before. My heart skipped a beat as I looked around the room to make sure no one else had made it back yet. It was a letter from zuko. It read;

[dear katara,

I am not sure what exactly is going on between us, but I do know that we must talk about it. As you know I can not return to be by my father's side and retain my rightful place as king with out the avatar. This does not mean that I didn't enjoy our night. I am not sure how yet but I will see you and talk to you. I will find a way. Be looking for me.

P.s. That's a nice robe you have there, I wonder where you got it.

- prince zuko]

Was he making fun of me? Well at least all my questions are answered now, I can guarantee that he thinks because I have feelings for him that I will turn on aang and help him. I can feel a fire of hate fueling for him in my chest. I can not believe that I gave up my virginity to a man that wants to watch the world burn. What is the point of him talking to me? so that he can tell me that we had great sex but he has to kill me now. Great so now I have to watch for him in my sleep. This man that I hate so much but all I want to do is kiss him. I rip up the letter and hide the pieces under a piece of wood flooring the poked up. The heat of anger fueled me as I shoved everything into my satchel. I make myself more mad when I choose to keep his robe with me.

"Hey katara" the words frightened me and I turned around quick with water at my side .

"Woah sorry I didn't mean to scare you"

"I'm sorry aang I just have a bad feeling"

"Well I guess we should get going then! Ill tell the rest of the gaang to pack up"

"Okay I'll be out in a few minutes"

He smiles at me and walks away mumbling to the others.

I took a deep breath and tried to calm down. I look down at my satchel glad zukkos robe had made it to the bottom.

We all load up on appa.

Aang sits in the front guiding the flight. Sokka sleeps next to toph with his head on his satchel and drool seeping from his mouth. Toph lies on her back with one foot on her adjacent knee, whistling. I lay my head over the side of the saddle fighting back tears, hoping that I never see zuko again it would make this whole situation easier. Aang looks back and smiles at me, and I can't help but smile back. he almost always carries happiness with him and I wish I could tell him. he would know what the right thing to do is.

When the sunset, and appa seemed like he couldn't go any longer, we land on a small hill covered with trees. I was happy with spot because it at least had cover, and maybe some how zukko wouldn't find us.

Sokka goes to find fire wood, toph makes her rock tent, and aang and I unload the supplies.

"Are you okay katara?"

"Yes why why would you ask?"

"You just seem distracted lately"

I didn't respond I just grab more supplies to unload

"You know you can tell me anything right?"

The guilt pains my stomach.

"Of course it's just, have you ever wish you could undo something?"

Aang laughs "of course if I didn't runaway I could have saved my entire village, I could have saved the air benders, and prevented this entire war" he looks down as if the thought was stabing him. "But you know I believe everything happens for a reason, even if it seems like there not one eventually you will look back and realize why it had to be the way it was"

"Thanks aang you always no what to say."

How could I even feel bad for myself when aang ran away one day and woke up a thousand years later rather same age believing it was the same day. His village and his people gone.

While everyone lied by the fire getting ready to sleep I snuck off to do some bending in a near by creek, with the moon out, not quite as full as it was the night before, but it still drove me to the water. I picked up the water with both hands pushing and pulling until I could toss the water over forming waves. I repeated the motion until I had calmed myself, matching my breaths to the slow even movements. I notice I small fire up the hill ahead, which reminds me that in zukkos letter he told me to keep an eye out for him. I wonder if he has been watching me all day. I bite my lip and decide to head up that way, but first I had to wait for everyone else to fall asleep.