disclaimer: I own nothing!

Katara clutched the stems of the fire lilies residing in her pocket tightly. Today they were facing Terra Club again, the second toughest dragon the teens would have to face in the arena. And this time Katara was ready to face it.

Bato unlocked its door and just like last time the Terra Club burst out of its cage, roaring in anger. It pawed at the ground like a komodo rhino before running towards Hahn. Hahn swung his cub at the dragon but missed it completely. The terra club collided with him, throwing him against the arena wall. He crumpled on the floor and Katara could swear she could see a little smirk on the corner of the terra club's mouth. It thumped its tail hard against the ground, shaking the arena like a little earthquake; the kids fell down from the intense shaking. The dragon went to The Duke, the nearest child, but before it could clamp its sharp fangs around the small boy, a water whip hit its eye. It closed its eyes tightly, roaring in pain. It turned its attention to Katara and ran to her at full speed, smoke spiraling out of its mouth and nostrils. When it was close enough Katara raised her hand but she wasn't clutching a weapon.

"KATARA!" Sokka grabbed his club and ran over to the dragon with a war cry but then suddenly stopped.

In front of Katara on its back with what looked like a goofy grin on its face and its tongue hanging out was the terra club. Katara was still standing, unscathed, but her hand was lowered. Though he couldn't see it, in her tightly clutched hand were the leaves and petals of a fire lily she had picked from the cove.

"How did you do that?" Jet asked. He, just like the other boys (even Bato), had a look of shock on his face.

Katara slipped the remains of the fire lily in her pocket and shrugged. There was an innocent smile on her face. "Well you know..." She looked to Bato. "So I'm guessing we're done today right?" Without waiting for an answer, she grabbed her bag and hurried out of the arena. "See you all tomorrow!"

"Drrrrrrr-rrrrraaaaaaaa"

"No no, an 'ah' sound. 'Aaaaaah.' "

After a few days of convincing (and nagging), Zuko agreed to let Katara teach him how to read. They had already gone over the alphabet several times and were now going to try the books. Unfortunately, Zuko insisted on learning to read the book of dragons first so that he can learn about the dragons he's never met or heard of. The reason this is unfortunate is because the ending sentence for each dragon description is the same one...

"Drrraaaaah-gh...on...oh 'dragon'."

Katara gave Zuko an encouraging smile. "That's right."

Zuko rolled his eyes. "Oh this is useless...I sound like I'm high on lilies trying to say this stuff..."

"Reading isn't useless." Katara said calmly. This phrase has been repeated her whole life when there was someone scoffing at her interest in books. "It's actually one of the most useful things for humans that's used everyday. You just need to keep trying."

"Well I'm not human, I'm a dragon. We spend most of our time hunting."

"Would you rather we stop and you stay here bored out of your mind while I'm in training? Because I doubt there's much to hunt in this giant ditch."

Zuko gave her a smirk. She gave him a confused look in return.

"What?"

"There is one thing I can hunt down here. Walks on two legs, wears blue, and smells like seaweed."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh very funny...I really smell like seaweed?" She said self-conscionably sniffing her arm.

"To a dragon you do." The half-dragon said tapping his nose with the same smirk. "Even as a human I still have my sense of smell."

"Oh that's neat." She said with great interest and a smile.

He chuckled "Well I'm interested in this little phrase that seems pop up at the end of every page." He held up the book and pointed at the dreaded sentence; Kill on sight.

Katara blushed when she saw those words and felt very uncomfortable. How was she going to explain this to Zuko?

Zuko looked at the sentence again and tried to read it. "K-eeeeeeeeeeell. 'Kill.' 'Kill on...' What does this 'g-h' sound like?"

"That is silent." Katara said timidly.

"Kill on...sit? what does THAT mean?" Zuko noticed her discomfort. "What?..."

Katara tried to tug the book out of Zuko's hands. "Look let's not worry about that one-"

He pulled the book away from her, eyeing her suspiciously. "Spill."

Katara knew that there was no easy way to change the subject so she decided to just tell him and hope he doesn't freak out.

"That last word is 'sight'."

Zuko looked at her for a moment and then looked at the sentence. She could see his lips mouth "kill on..." He then flipped through the pages of the book and saw that same sentence over and over again. He reached the last page and slowly closed the book. Without looking at her he spoke in a sarcastic tone. "Maybe we should just put bull-eyes on our backs and make it easier for you humans..."

"Well maybe if you guys didn't attack us first then we wouldn't have to 'kill on sight'. It's either kill or be killed for us."

"Well I'll give you that. But you humans train your whole lives to fight us. We just do it on instinct, not as a 'goal'" Zuko tossed the book on the ground. He reached into Katara's bag and pulled out some seal jerky she brought him. She could hear him mumble in between bites. "It's getting really hard to like you..."

"...What did you say?"

Zuko looked at Katara, his eye slightly wide. "What?"

"What you just said, what was that?"

"I said, you humans train you're whole lives to fight us-"

"After that..."

After some thought, his eyes widened when he realized what she was talking about. He cleared his throat and looked away. "No, nothing after that."

A smirk formed on Katara's face. "No...You said you like me!"

"No I didn't." A faint blush appeared on the pale firebender's cheeks. This was the first time Katara had ever seen Zuko blush.

"If you didn't then why are you blushing?"

"Okay, fine! I said that. But I don't like you. I just hate you a lot less than other humans."

"You know, I think I feel the same way about you..."

"Oh, haha..."

Katara and Zuko sighed together. She took the book back from him. "Wanna keep going?"

"Whatever..."

Zukofan: Yay! I finally put up the new chapt!

Zstar: Yay! sorry I took forever to betaread it

Zukofan: And I'm sorry I took forever to write it

Zstar: R&R!