I don't own Avatar or the characters. GG I think i hafta right that. Anyways.. enjoy!

Katara has finally come to the conclusion that there is a human being residing in the woods of her backyard.

Originally she had suspected that it may have been some cute little deer trotting about, or some itty bitty adorable little raccoon.

Due to a brutal snowstorm ravaging her town, she was able to make out that it was in fact a human squatter living it up back there due to the human footprints she had spotted.

A squatter who is making a butt-load of noise, Katara bitterly thinks to herself.

Whoever this mystery person is, they have been causing quite the disturbance in Katara's customary 8-hour sleep schedule.

Night after night, the perp has been traveling back and forth from the area surrounding Katara's house and the woods, crunching and cracking leaves at the inopportune time of twelve am.

Katara plans to confront the individual who's been the bane of her existence for the past week. She is not getting her well-needed eight hours she usually gets a night, and if she doesn't sleep soundly her grades may start to slip up. And she couldn't afford that, literally.

At first Katara had planned to confront the culprit guns a blazing, letting her wrath and fury be unleashed on this pour soul, but the rational side of her that evens out her tempestuous side made her rethink the situation at hand.

It's clearly not suitable camping weather. Maybe this person is not out camping willingly? Either that or they're same sort of masochist, or some earthly person who lives and breathes nature?

Hm… Whoever this is… maybe we can come up with some amicable agreement. She ponders inwardly.

She plans to confront the mystery person at midnight. She will follow the footprints into the woods and hopefully convince this mystery person to either migrate somewhere further west, or to ease up on the elephant-like stomping.

"COOKIES!" Sokka barks from the doorstep of the house, he suddenly sprints to the kitchen.

He moves to take a handful, when all of a sudden Katara utilizes a spatula to swat Sokka's hand away like one would a fly.

"They're not for you to pig out on, Sokka! I made these especially for somebody!"

"If that's the case, can I at least have seven?"

"Seven!? Try three!" Katara barks back while sliding a plate filled with three cookies his way. One of the cookies slides off the plate and onto the kitchen floor, which Sokka pounces on the second it hits the floor.

Better yet, he eats the cookie off the floor!

"Ugh gross! All boys are so unrefined!" Katara exclaims aloud whilst taking a bite of one of her cookies.

It's about five minutes to midnight when Katara starts making her descent into the cold dark woods. She's never been outside her house past midnight before, due to her not having had the most active social life. Two of her closest friends are still in middle school, which means her social excursions are pretty tame in comparison to normal fifteen-year olds.

Still, she can't help but feel a bit thrilled. She's never snuck out of her house before! It wasn't too hard, since her dad's out working at sea, Gran-Gran is in desperate need of new hearing aids, and Sokka sleeps like a log.

She's not too familiar with navigating herself through the woods. She's only been out there during the day while accompanying her father and Sokka on a few hunting trips, always following their lead. She definitely has never made her way around the woods at night.

In order to keep herself safe while venturing into the eerie woods she came equipped with a flashlight and Sokka's pocket knife, which she found lying carelessly on the floor.

She's also brought her batch of freshly baked cookies, so maybe if she were to run into a bear she could toss it one of the cookies, and the desire to maul her alive would fade!

Katara tries to push the thoughts of something going haywire out of her head, and she trudges along the path, following the footprints in the snow. She notices the footprints she's following are a great deal larger than her own, so she thinks maybe the person living out here is a boy.

"Welp," she thinks to herself. No better way to make amends with a boy than to sate his hunger with some fresh cookies!

When she makes it to the tent the first thing she notices is how horribly put together it is. She thinks this tent is bigger than your average tent, as well as more fashionable.

The tent looks fairly new and shiny. It has red and gold flaps that are barely hanging on to the tent poles, due to the poles being terribly situated.

Katara can't help but feel pity for whoever is living in this tent, thinking about how much they must freeze throughout the night.

Her altruism starts to show when she takes it upon herself to help adjust the tent, despite the cruddy weather.

She places her batch of cookies and flashlight onto the snowy floor, and moves to adjust the poles when a sudden gust of wind hits her and the tent. As a result, the flaps end up flying upward; giving Katara a clear view of what lies within the tent.

She sees a heap of garbage laid out in one pile, and the putrid stink hits her so hard that she nearly gags.

"Agh, definitely a boy!" Katara says aloud, completely gobsmacked by this sight and smell. She thinks of the sheer lack of self-respect this guy must possess to live in these revolting conditions

She scooches into the tent to observe more of this monstrosity. She knows she's being nosy, but she can't help herself.

She's starting to wonder what this guy's deal is? Why is he living in a poorly constructed tent in the middle of nowhere, letting trash and filth linger all around?

She lets her eyes continue to wander, when she notices something that is really out of the ordinary, which is saying a lot considering the nature of this tent.

She notices two black scabbards, lying in the corner of the "tent." She inches closer to check out this unusual sight. The scabbards are too long to be your traditional self-defense daggers, and curiosity gets the better of her so she decides to unsheathe the mysterious object to see what lies beneath.

She sees a silvery metal as she removes the scabbard slowly but surely. It's a sword, a sword with a curved edge, and my god is that blood!?

Katara yelps and throws the sword back to the floor, half unsheathed.

"Blood, that's dried up blood," she panics to herself. "Who the heck uses swords in this day and age, and why is there dried up blood splattered all around the blade!?"

It's all coming together for her now. Living in the middle of nowhere? A move someone who wants to stay off anybody's radar would make for sure.

The smell of death permeating through the air of the tent? Probably some left over dead body residue of someone who was murdered in this very spot.

The dual swords? Traditional murder weapons, only a sick bastard would possess!

Katara is sitting in the makeshift home of a murderer, assassin, serial killer, or whatever they call them these days!

Her fight or flight responses are kicking up right now, and her body has chosen flight.

She sprints to the opening of the tent, running head first into another head.

"GAH!"

"AHH!" Katara screams bloody murder, covering her face with her hand while cowering in fear. Oh my god, he's here!

No.. she refuses to cower in fear! She is Katara, daughter of Hakoda and Kya, two of the strongest people you'd ever meet. Suddenly flight takes a backseat and she lets fight overtake her.

"Youuuu!" Katara growls as she full on tackles the ruffian before he can get himself together.

She straddles him, not taking note of the fact that this is the closest contact she's had with a boy. She pulls her fist back to strike her first punch. When targeting her fist to his face she immediately notices something red and blotchy, making her stifle her punch. That scar… it can't be.

"Y-you, wait.. YOU!? Katara bellows out. She knows this face. Everyone at her school knows this face. She's seen this face all over the place, but it's the last face she expected to see here.

Bright gold eyes are staring back into hers. His face showing the strangest mix of every emotion you'd think possible. His raised eyebrows say shocked, his wide eyes say angry, and his thinned out mouth says… embarrassment?

He's looking at her like he feels violated. Like she'd just caught him in the most embarrassing act known to man. He's trying to come off as the victim in all of this? He's the one who just scared her half to death, though she did kind of break in and enter. But, the entrance was practically open before she got there.

"What're you doing here!?" she says in an accusatory tone, not really sure herself what authority she has in this situation.

He blinks up at her twice, looking completely puzzled.

He speaks, low and guttural, surprisingly calm. "Get off me."

Katara begins to notice that intimate location her bodies positioned directly above. His groin area…

"WAHHHH!" She practically flies off of him,

Embarrassed, but still not being one to back out without a fight, she takes Sokka's pocket knife out of her pocket and points it at the body in front of her.

"What are you doing all the way out in the middle of nowhere, Zuko?" She says his name with a sneer. "Scouting the area so your dad can destroy it in the future?"

Any look of embarrassment on his face dissipates. He is full on angry now.

"None of your business!" he yells at her, surprising himself with the rage in his voice.

Katara blinks back in fear at first, but the fear quickly quells into her own notorious rage.

"Who the hell do you think you're talking to? Do you know how much you've been disturbing my sleep!? Hearing you trudge about like an elephant night after night has not been pleasant for me, I got a C on my last chemistry quiz because of you! You know, I shouldn't even be surprised. Leave it to the al mighty Zuko to not care about anyone but himself. Plus, what's with the Dao swords!? That is super creepy, and I might just have to go to the authorities. Has your dad gotten you involved in blood money? Is this what this is all about!? WELL IT STOPS TODAY!"

She points her knife closer to Zuko, as a means to look imposing.

She fails, as they both look down at the knife and look back at each other. He doesn't seem frazzled at all by her tangent. Weird how he does that, going from angry to completely composed.

He moves his eyes to the floor of the tent and awkwardly asks, "What's with the cookies?"

Typical, he's evading the subject again.

"They were meant to be a peace offering, for you to move your squatting area somewhere else, but now that I think about it, I'll just go call the police." She moves to exit out of one of the lopsided flaps, when he quickly grabs her arm.

"Wait… I'll explain... just please don't go to the police." Zuko winces while he speaks. He doesn't look like he wants to unveil the truth.

Katara takes note of the earnest look on his face. It makes her feel a bit guilty. She thinks maybe she did jump to conclusions. But that still doesn't explain the murder weapons covered in blood.

"What's with the bloodied up swords?" She spits out in a matter of fatly.

"They're a means to get food, I hunt with them." He closes his eyes while he answers, like it pains him to say it.

Katara looks back at him in astonishment, his answer made this weird situation even weirder.

"You're using swords to hunt!? What decade do you think we're living in?"

"I've been trained in the art of swordsmanship since I was a kid, one of the few highlights of my childhood." He answers very bitterly.

Katara frowns and bites her lip. Something about his answers are not settling with her the right way.

"Yeah I mean I guess if you're rich and have time and money to spare." She responds bitterly as well.

He opens his eyes for a second, glaring at her. Katara once again is hit with a pang of guilt. What is it about this guy that makes her feel guilty? She shouldn't be feeling guilty; she knows what his family's about.

"Why do you have to hunt? What are you doing here camping out in the woods?" She finally asks the question that's been weighing on her mind for a week.

He opens his eyes again, taking in the sight of Katara, like he's evaluating whether he should confide in her or not. The act makes Katara's heart speed up. She doesn't know if she likes him ogling her, but she doesn't think he's being perverse about it.

"My father banished me from my home." He says this weirdly resolute, like he has accepted his fate.

Katara is at a loss for words. There he goes again using archaic language like he's a prince of a kingdom from long ago. She's stunned and kind of angry for him. What kind of parent would do something like that to their own child?

She opens her mouth to answer, about to say something foul about his parents when he cuts her off.

"It was my fault, I disrespected the family business." Zuko answers solemnly.

"It wasn't your fault, you're a teenage boy. Your dad sounds like a mega jerk! I'm pretty sure what your dad's doing to you is illegal. We should go to the police!" Katara yet again moves to exit the tent.

"I am not going to the police; I would bring dishonor to my entire family!" The desperation in Zuko's voice makes her stop in her tracks.

"Dishonor!? I swear, you're living in the wrong century. And your mental and physical wellbeing is more important than whatever "honor" you speak of!"

"You wouldn't get it. Your family isn't like mine." Zuko says in an icy tone.

"Well I'm sorry I was actually hugged as a child. "Katara spits back. "You know, just because we might be less well-off doesn't mean we don't work hard, or that we are lesser than you!"

"I didn't mean it like…"

"My family's not the type to kick one another out when we're at our lowest point. We support each other, and we don't need to destroy forests to make ends meet!" Katara is straight up yelling in his face.

Zuko stares at her very placidly. He just sighs and says.

"You're very lucky to have a family like that, Katara."

His comment both makes Katara's heart flutter a bit at the sincerity in his voice and expression, and anger her cause no matter how many questions he answers, she still cannot figure out his deal.

She had always seen Zuko as somebody to steer clear of. They had never spoken a word to one another, and that was just fine with Katara. They came from two separate worlds. His family was rich, hers was… well lower middle class. His family had complete disregard for everyone except themselves. His father owned an electrical company that uses coal to fuel the generation of electricity, resulting in very heavy pollution and the destruction of local forest. Katara has a good friend who informed her about all of the environmental detriment the company has caused the environment.

But aside from his family's business, she pretty much knew nothing about him. She knew he had an evil little sister, who reminded her of one of the evil step sisters from Cinderella. She knew he has/had a girlfriend, some very moody and quiet girl whose name escaped her mind. She seemed to be one of his sister's lackey's, along with another bright and bubbly girl.

Katara couldn't understand why anyone would want to hang around Zuko's sister, Azula. She seemed mean, bitter, cunning, manipulative, basically every bad trait you can find in a human being all rolled into one person.

Zuko never seemed to have many friends, Katara would usually hang around his sisters click, making out with the goth looking girl at whatever chance they got. Katara thought it was very obnoxious to do that in front of people, especially in a school a place where they're supposed to learn!

Everything seemed to change though when he came back to school in the summer. The left side of his face was marred by a huge scar. Something horrific must have happened to him. He was even more moody than usual, he seemed to keep his distance from his sister's usual clique, as well as his "girlfriend" or make out buddy. He took his lunches alone, looking unapproachable as can be. Katara always found her eyes gravitating to Zuko whenever he was sitting alone in the lunchroom, or even if he was just simply walking in the halls.

Ok… Katara would be lying to herself if she wasn't always a little bit curious about Zuko. She's observed him from afar for years, whether it was to scrutinize him in her head for being a careless jerk, or to check him out once or maybe a couple of dozen times. She had to admit to herself, he was quite striking.

But ever since he came back from the summer, Katara's scrutiny changed to empathy, though the checking out part remained unchanged.

But this little adventure made her realize that Zuko is more than his family's legacy. He's his own person. And right now, he's in desperate need of help.

"You can come stay with my family." Katara blurts out without thinking.

They both look a bit puzzled after she says that.

"I mean, the weathers only going to get worse, and I'm assuming you don't have any family or friends to take you in?" She asks while biting her lip... hard.

He looks a bit sheepish, "Well I know my uncle would take me in in a heartbeat if he knew what was going on. We haven't had much contact since he had a falling out with my father a few months ago. "

Katara frowns. "Did you ever think of calling him up?"

"No. He's not the biggest fan of me right now, since I agreed to work for the family business after I graduate from college. Uncle always wanted me to follow my own path."

"Well, if your uncles any better than your dad, I'm sure he'd take in his teenage nephew in need."

Zuko shakes his head no very quickly. "I have to return to my father's home. I just need to take care of a few things first."

Katara does her umpteenth eye roll of the night. "And what exactly do you need to take care of?"

"I have to debate a 12-year-old kid about wildlife and nature preservation, and win." Zuko answers again while keeping his eyes closed.

"I see, fighting the good fight. Would this kid happened to be named Aang?" Katara asks accusatory.

His eyes snap open, confused.

"How do you know him?"
"He's a good friend of mine."

"…I see."

They both stand there awkwardly silent, there seems to be an infinite amount of awkward moments and misunderstandings taking place tonight.

"Aren't you gonna try to get deets from me about how to beat him?" Katara asks expectantly.

Zuko looks very offended.

"Are you kidding me!? That would be dishonorable!"

Katara finds herself only slightly impressed.

"Ok, and debating a kid about whether its ok to destroy the environment, killing a bunch of innocent animals, and polluting the bee-jebus out of the ozone layer is honorable?"

Zuko says nothing.

"Besides, your dads not exactly father of the year. Wanting you to stoop so low as to try to outwit a middle schooler, over a subject said middle schooler is clearly right about? Don't you think you deserve better?"

His face is pained, and yet he doesn't look surprised. Like he's ruminated this topic over and over again in his mind, but still chose to go down the incorrect path.

Feeling both sad and guilty. Katara thinks maybe she's gone too far.

"Ok, I'm really sorry. I know you must be going through a very tough time right now. The offer still stands to stay at my place. Though I do suggest you call your uncle first thing in the morning." She waves her hands in placating way, trying to salvage the situation.

Zuko seems to snap out of whatever reverie he was in when she makes the offer for him to stay at her place again.

"I can't accept; I don't want to impose. Plus, wouldn't your family be uncomfortable with that?"

"Dads out on work, and Gran-Gran would love to have one more stomach to cook for."

"What about your brother?

A beat. He knows she has a brother.

"Umm, I'm sure he'd get really over protective and brotherly like at first, but Sokka can be reasonable once he calms down."

"Sokka." He says taking the information in. "And you're Katara, right?"

"Umm, yeah." A little bit of red comes to her cheeks. "How did you know my name?"

"We're in music together."

"There's like 50 other students in the class, plus we sit on completely different sides of the room… not that I was looking for you or anything." She stammers.

His face suddenly turns beet red in turn.

"Well… I um!"

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

His stomach suddenly grumbles very loudly. Causing the conversation to come to a halt.

"Oh I almost forgot, here!" Katara bends down and picks her batch of cookies off of the ground.

The red still hasn't dissipated from his face. He stares down at the cookies both longingly and panicky.

"I made these for a peace offering for whoever was back here. It seems like you haven't had a real meal in a week. These will have to do for now. Here take one!" She holds out one of the cookies towards his face.

He gulps. "Um, are they good?"

"Um duh, I made them. Wait have you never had a cookie before!?"

"Father didn't allow us to eat junk food when we were kids, and I never picked up the habit of snacking when I got older."

"Well, now's a good a time as any!" She still keeps the cookie held out in front of him.

He takes another look at the cookie. He swallows deeply. His Adams apple bobbing all around.

"Sure... why not. This has been the weirdest day of my life. What's one cookie?"

Katara smiles deeply, staring right at his handsome face. He offers her a tender smile back.

He takes the cookie and takes a bit of it. His eyes widen in amazement.

"This is really good!" He says in a way that is difficult to decipher, because his mouth is full of cookie mush.

Katara smiles back at him.

"I'm glad I could take your cookie virginity."

They both wince when she says the word virginity. Both choosing to ignore what she said.

"What did you make these with?"

"I put a little bit of everything in it, some oatmeal, butter, sugar, and some peanut butter."

He stops chewing at the last word.

"Did you just say peanut butter?" Zuko asks slowly.

"Yeah, what about it? Never had peanut butter either. I swear to god, Zuko!" Katara laughs to herself heartily, but Zuko does not join in.

Instead he starts coughing up a storm, he starts gasping for air.

Katara is terrified.

"Oh my god, Zuko. Oh my god! You're allergic to peanuts!? I'm so sorry I didn't know. Hang in there!" Katara says patting his back rapidly, while trying to decide whether she should sprint to call an ambulance, or just stay here and reassurance.

She chooses the former.

"I'll be right back, we're gonna get you help."

She sprints out of the tent and to her home in order to call an ambulance. Brushing away the unfallen tears from her eyes as she makes her way to her home.

I'm coming Zuko

Its 1:48 in the morning, and Katara is waiting in the waiting room of a hospital with her Gran-Gran. Turns out Gran-Gran can move quit swiftly for her age. She heard Katara burst in at 12:30 am, assessed the situation, and sped her way to the nearest emergency room with Katara and Zuko in the back seat.

They immediately started to treat Zuko once they got him to the ER, which left for a very awkward conversation between Katara and her Gran-Gran.

Gran-Gran asked Katara if she was sneaking out to see boys. Katara vehemently denied all the accusations her Gran-Gran threw her way.

When the hospital asked Katara for someone to call from Zuko's immediate family her mind drew a blank. His father was an important and popular person, so trying to get a hold of him shouldn't be too hard. But Katara didn't think that child-abusing jerk would be much of help.

She then thought maybe this would be the perfect time to contact Zuko's uncle. He needed family, and she had this blind faith that his uncle would be there for Zuko if he were called. She wasn't sure how she knew she just had hope.

With a quick google search of Zuko's illustrious family, she was able to locate Zuko's uncles name and number.

She gave the number to the hospital and the rest was history.

Zuko's uncle reminded her of Santa. That was Katara's initial first impression of the man. He was chipper and jolly, while still being a bit stern, and maintaining a sort of aura that made you want to keep yourself in line.

He was more worried than angry at Zuko for not contacting him about what was going on. He quickly surmised that he would be taking Zuko in for the time being, not giving any reaction to Zuko's protestations.

"My dear nephew, you will be much happier living with me. I have a special tea recipe I've been brewing for ages that quells a person's rage. I think it'd do you some good. Some folks even say that it works as an aphrodisiac, which I'm sure would you be beneficial to you and your girlfriend." He shoots a Katara a suggestive look.

They both gasp, blush, and regain their composure at the same time.

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"She's not my girlfriend!"

They say in measured unison.

Iroh gives a hearty chuckle, and excuses himself, saying he needs to catch up with the nurse at the reception desk. Apparently everyone is his friend.

Which leaves Zuko and Katara alone… again.

Katara, who feels immensely guilty for what happened breaks the silence. "I am so sooooo sorry, Zuko! I had no idea!" "I-."

"Katara." Zuko says trying to interject.

"I'm sorry for everything I said that was rude, I obviously don't know you well, and I prejudged you, and I feel awful for it.

"Katara."

"And your uncle is a sweetheart, albeit a bit creepy and presumptuous. See, I knew your family couldn't be ALL bad. I bet you take after your uncle."

"Ka…"

"You're actually a decent guy, and if you ever need support, just remember that I'm there for you. We don't have to ignore each other at school, maybe we could eat lunch together once in a while. I could bring you something from home, but you need to give me a list of all your allergies first, so something like this never happens again!"

Katara stops, she finally takes a breath after rambling all of that out.

Zuko laying in his hospital bed looks up at her warmly. He seems a bit inquisitive too, as if he's not used to this type of kindness.

"I would love that." He says very softly, causing Katara to both squeak and turn around covering her face.

Her reaction makes red rise to Zuko's cheeks. Was he being too forward? Did he make her uncomfortable? He's never been the best at talking to girls.

He coughs awkwardly. "Uh… I mean… Sure, I guess that'd be cool." He tries to sound casual but fails.

She turns back around, the heat fading away from her face. She gives him another smile.

"My Gran-Grans pretty old and getting kind of tired, I uh, since your uncles here, I guess I should go. "

"Of course, thank you for everything, Katara… see you on Monday?" he says sheepishly.

"Monday? Oh... Monday. Yes! I'll save you a seat at lunch, I sit near the emergency exit on the left."

"Sounds good." He says smiling inwardly to himself.

"Great, it's a date!" She quickly retracts her statement. "A friend date, I mean. Ummm. Here's to a beautiful new friendship… bye!"

She storms out awkwardly, and hears a faint goodbye on her way out.

Her heart is hammering. She thinks it's silly. She's developing a huge crush on someone who would never reciprocate her feelings.

She sighs to herself solemnly, but then she hears a heart monitor beeping rapidly in the distance.

"It's Room 7, his heartrate has suddenly gone unstable. We need to check him out now!" One of the nurses says while running to the patient's aid.

Room 7, that's… Zuko's room.

Katara does a quick pivot to run to Zuko's aid, when a theory as to why his heart rate sped up races in her head.

She hears the nurses clarifying that he's fine, and that it was a false alarm. Hormones, one of the nurse's mutters to themselves.

She slyly grins to herself, her suspicions are confirmed. Suddenly, she can't wait for Monday.