She observed him from a distance, glancing at his form every now and then through the corner of her eye while she swung fresh laundry over the clothesline to dry. He was gaining his muscle back; she hadn't seen him this thick in a long time, if ever. His arms seemed to get fuller every day and he just appeared to walk around with more strength than he had before. She prided herself on the fact that his new strength was all thanks to her, even though he never bothered to acknowledge it. He finished his 50th one-armed push up before taking a short break. Yes, she'd been counting.

Zuko attempted to wipe his forehead dry with his sweat rag, but it itself was so drenched that it only seemed to moisten his skin even more. He pushed his bangs back as far as he could, the sweat making it stay in place. He remembered the last time he was this drenched in his own sweat; it wasn't too long ago. He watched Katara hang laundry not too far away. Ever since he got better he liked keeping her in a close proximity while he trained- it made him feel like they were a team of some sort, even if they didn't speak to each other. Sometimes it amazed him that she was so strong and yet, here she was doing laundry. Before he had joined them at the Western Air Temple he had always assumed that she must have trained constantly to be as strong and talented as she was. Part of him knew he should go over to her and thank her for what she did for him, but he didn't want to upset her; it was so easy for her to get mad at him.

He was supposed to switch arms and finish his push-ups, but something glum came over him and he felt it best to end early for the day. He cupped his hands and splashed some water from the fountain onto his face before walking back to his room to lie down. He didn't make eye contact as he passed Katara.

He started rubbing little circles into the tough muscles of his feet as he sat down on the edge of his bed. She'll never start speaking to me again. Even if I told her everything she'd never believe me. She'd never believe that I'd rather die than hurt her again. He tried desperately not to think back to last month, but the images all came running back as soon as his head smashed into his pillow.

"Aaugghh."

Zuko's teeth felt like they were about to break from clamping them so hard together in attempt to try and mask the pain radiating from his body. He wasn't even sure what had happened to him, but the cramps that had begun in his stomach had gradually grown and intensified in attempt to contort his entire being into a single mass of pure pain. It overwhelmed everything; he could just barely remember the others carrying him into his room and holding him down against his bed while he thrived in agony before it finally caused him to pass out.

He was blessed with little spurts of awareness from time to time, but he never knew how much time had passed between them and the others seemed to be oblivious to his semi-consciousness. The pain was still present, but its volume had lowered significantly over time, and eventually he had come to realize that Katara had been holding healing sessions with him despite her defiance in wanting to give him any sort of help. He was grateful none the less.

She always made sure to keep him hydrated, using her bending to make his body absorb water where he couldn't drink or eat substantially and she replaced any liquid that he might have sweated out in his fervor. She might have even kept him healthier than he was when he was actually functional. But his favorite sessions were when she'd flip his body over so that he lied on his stomach and she'd bend water across his back, kneading it into his muscles to untie the knots where the cramps had left him crippled. He suspected that she even got rid of the kinks that had resided there since his childhood, but she never said a word throughout. All her work was done in contempt.

Katara folded the last of the laundry after it had dried and separated it into separate piles by owner. Sokka's clothes were thick and were always the most difficult to carry. Toph's were smaller, but she held resentment towards them since she never seemed to be able to remove the dirt stains and smell that she always coated them in. Aang's clothes were always perfect- never a large load and easy to fold- but Zuko's pile was always the smallest. He hadn't brought a lot of clothes with him and seemed to be able to make it work between only a couple of outfits. And even though he gave her the smallest amount to carry, his were always the most difficult for her to deliver.

She stopped outside his door, not hearing any kind of sound on the other side and she presumed that he was doing something elsewhere. She backed into the door, using her butt to open it while her hands were full and set his folded clothes onto his little side table. She hated coming into his room. It was bare; it reminded her of how empty he was as well. But she'd been wrong upon entering; he had been inside, but his light snoring revealed that he was deep asleep. Good. He needed rest; she knew that his recovery still wasn't fully over, yet he continued to build his body back up every day in training. She didn't give a shit really; she just didn't want to see all the time she spent healing him go to waste. He was a selfish bastard, not even considering that he'd be making more work for her.

Part of her wanted to scare him awake. It'd put a smile on her face, that was for sure. But the way he lay collapsed on his bed reminded her of when he'd been ill. He was so defenseless then- she didn't have to worry about him double-crossing them or trying to hurt Aang, or her for that matter. Of course she had agreed to help heal him. Aang's firebending training wasn't over and they still needed him as a teacher, besides, she wasn't a monster like he was.

Still, whether she was willing to admit it or not, she had enjoyed healing him. It presented her with a challenge. There were so many little nicks that had buried themselves deep in his body, not only by the illness, but from years of punishment and being unattended to as well. It was rare that she got to heal in such a way. And now he was stronger because of it. His growing musculature was developing so fast only because she had cleared away the spots that were preventing it. And he didn't even bother to give her so much as a nod in thanks. What an ass.

She turned away from him and left to make her way back to the temple's courtyard, hoping that she didn't run into him again for the remainder of the day.

Zuko awoke as the sun casted a glowing yellow light over his room through the window, though he couldn't distinguish whether it was turning into morning or night. He hadn't dreamt. He felt sluggish and a little dizzy.

"Zuko, you're asleep?" Aang's face peeked in through the doorway. That's what must have woken him.

"Not anymore." He groaned back. He pinched the bridge of his nose in attempt to sit up. "What do you want?"

"Well it's almost dusk. You usually give me a lesson right now…but if you don't feel"

"-meet me in the courtyard in five minutes." He wasn't about to let the Avatar skip a lesson, even if he wasn't totally up to it himself.

Training felt surprisingly good. Zuko's firebending seemed to come easier than usual as he and Aang sparred outside. Perhaps a nap was all he really needed.

He could tell he had Aang on the ropes. Every blast that the Avatar shot his way were sporadic and uncontained, while Zuko's kept a good stream between graceful and powerful. He tried to bark out orders to Aang in order to fix the mistakes he was making, but he didn't seem to be listening, he was too focused on winning the match. Katara must have been somewhere close by- he only tried that hard to win when he thought she was watching.

Gradually, they ended up moving out of the courtyard's sparring area and around the temple grounds. It was good; it'd give them an unfamiliar playing field, Zuko figured. But Aang's shots were getting wilder, and instead of aiming directly for Zuko, he seemed to be throwing at anything and everything in his general direction. And Zuko almost missed the look of horror on Aang's face as he realized he'd bended a series of flames at Katara as she stepped out from one of the corridors. Zuko desperately tried to block it in time, but it was far too late and she was clearly on her own. Thankfully, she reacted fast and managed to whip out a shield from her water pouch, but she lacked enough liquid to be able to fend off the entire barrage and the flames wrapped themselves around her leg.

She didn't scream, instead she gave out a cry that seemed to be more from surprise than from anything else, and Zuko was so familiar with it. He didn't waste time gaping at what just happened like Aang was, he lifted her up as she fell to the ground, clutching her leg in pain. He had to get her to water fast; the burn was so large it covered her entire left leg and he couldn't let it scar. He ran with her slightly bouncing in his arms while she buried her face into his shoulder and chomped down on her lip in attempt to keep herself from revealing pain to him, but it was too late for that, he could already feel her tears soaking through the hem of his shirt.

He sprinted into the nearest fountain, emerging in completely with her as he sat down in the water with her in his lap and her vice-like grip around his neck refusing to falter. She continued to pant and huff against his throat, the pain seeming to make her more infuriated than scared. Soon though he saw the familiar glow of her bending encase her leg underneath the water and her head began to droop down onto his shoulder; it must have been taking a lot of energy out of her and he knew the burn itself was probably making her delirious. He smoothed the palm of his hand up and down her back, coaxing her to relax the best he could.

"I know." He whispered against her cheek. "I know."

It was almost strange how he wasn't afraid to talk to her now that she was hurt. It made him wonder whether or not she had really wanted to say something while she was healing him. Probably not. In the background, he could hear Aang yelling for her, but Toph seemed to be holding him back. Good. If he came any closer, Zuko might have strangled the kid for being so reckless.

He felt her grip around his neck slacken as the glowing around her leg disappeared. Her heavy breaths had reduced down to small whimpers and he sat with her a few more minutes for her to try and compose herself before he lifted her out of the water and carried her to his room. He set her down on his bed and propped her leg up with an extra pillow. He would have taken her to her own bedroom, but his was much closer and something told him that he wouldn't be very welcome in hers anyway.

Her pants were now completely burned off, leaving just her burn-stained under-wrappings and her wet robe that had now become more like a very short, clingy dress. Using his firebending, he tried to quickly dry his own pants as he grabbed some soothing gel from his side table drawer and squirted a glop of it into his palm. She was awake enough to be able to tell what he was doing and attempted to push him away as he moved to spread the gel across what was leftover of her burns, but she was still weak and he didn't have to fight too hard to get his way.

He knew what she was going through. The adrenaline caused by the incident and the burn itself had drained her, and her body was naturally trying to sleep it off. She fought against it desperately, trying to stay awake and glare him into leaving her alone. Her distrust was so clear; she didn't want to be left alone with him in her condition, even though they were practically trading places from when he'd been injured not too long ago. What did he have to do? At first he thought he could deal with them just ignoring each other, but it wasn't enough. Even when he stayed far away from her, she still hated every fiber in his being. But had she not just clung to him for dear life only moments ago?

"Please rest Katara. I know you're sleepy." He tried to speak softly while he gently glided the gel on his hand across the back of her calf muscle. She attempted to weakly kick him away with her good leg.

He sighed. Fine. I'll leave. I can just come back later when she's already asleep. He set the gel down on the table and walked out of his room, only to run into the others who were desperate to know her condition.

"She's fine. If we keep an eye on it, it won't scar. Don't bother her though; let her rest."

Toph turned to Aang. "What the hell happened?" He dropped his head in shame.

"Aang needs more practice." Zuko answered for him. It was all that needed to be said before the three dispersed.

When he reentered his bedroom later Katara had finally fallen asleep. The way her arms and torso were pointed towards the edge of the bed, it seemed as though she had tried to sit up, but couldn't manage it. He gently straightened her out and grabbed the bottle of soothing gel, intending to finish the task before she could wake up. It squirted clean and cool against his palm and he rubbed it quickly between his hands.

He began with her ankle, rubbing little circles into the more heavily burnt parts and using the tip of his finger to get in the little indents at the joint. Then he moved up to her shins and calves, finishing what he'd tried to start before. The higher up her leg he moved, the worse the burns looked. Her skin radiated warmth as he grazed his palm up her thigh and he felt a familiar twinge in between his own legs. He sucked in a breath. Maybe this was why she didn't want him being alone with her. He should have stopped there, but his hands seemed to take on a mind of their own as they moved sideways towards her inner thigh, making sure to spread the gel across every inch of skin cells. He cursed his lack of self-control as he even went so far as to rub the area where her leg and pelvis connected, even though the burn there was barely visible if it existed there at all.

He almost did it; he managed to just barely stop himself from moving aside the part of her wrappings where she hid her womanhood from him. He had been in a trance with the thought of licking away any excess gel that might have found its way to the area, but when Katara shifted a little in her sleep, she caused her thigh to bounce lightly in his hand. Oh dear gods. He had to stop. His erection was begging for too much attention for him to be able to focus. He forced himself away from her and clumsily made his way to the nearest bathroom so he could relieve himself in private.

He placed one hand against the wall for support and began rocking his hips steadily into his other hand, the gel residue posing as an excellent lubricant. It almost shocked him that he was already fully erect, nothing had ever aroused him that quickly before. He had only touched her for a short while and he was already aching for release. Maybe it was the thought that she'd never willingly let him do something like that- his touching her leg was so forbidden that it might have seemed more erogenous than it actually was. Still, he couldn't stop the images of thrusting forcefully into Katara while she thrived beneath him from flooding his mind. Honestly, he couldn't really blame her for hating him as he imagined himself fucking her senseless.

There was a bit of precum sliding down his hand as he continued to pump his grip up and down his shaft. A low moan escaped the back of his throat and it felt like he was nearing the end. He slowed down a bit, trying his best to hold it in longer so he could draw out a greater sensation. Panting, he traced a vein up to the tip and played with the skin there to let a little more precum spill out, compulsorily picturing Katara's tongue performing the actions instead of his own fingers.

With his penis now pressed firmly up against his stomach, he began groping and thrusting again. He hadn't realized he'd been rhythmically grunting and prayed that no one heard, even as he couldn't make himself stop. Sweat formed at the top of his brow and his eyes began to water from the tingling feeling assaulting his groin. His toes curled up involuntarily and his ass began to clench as he felt his seed move like an electric current through his throbbing member and spill out, his hand and body coated over with the sticky fluid.

"Uhh, fuck…" he tried to calm down from his high and regain composure before cleaning up and returning to his room. He looked in the mirror and splashed some cold water on his face. His eyes still appeared glazed over, but that would go away eventually. He dried his hands against his pant legs and paced back to his room, where he found Katara awake and reapplying the gel to her legs. Thank the gods he'd just ejaculated, or else he would've been in deep shit.

She didn't acknowledge him, though it was clear she knew he was there standing in the doorway.

"How are you feeling?" His voice came out dry and exhausted.

She looked up at him, an unreadable expression on her face, but she didn't say anything. He saw her flinch as she accidently rubbed the skin of her thigh too hard.

He took a step toward her. "Let me help you."

"Back off."

At least they were words. "I'm not going to hurt you." He took another step closer, but she put a hand up to stop him. She then swung her legs out over the edge of the bed and attempted to stand up, only to have to use the nightstand for support before almost crashing to the floor. He rushed over to her side.

"I don't need your help!"

"Stop being stubborn, of course you do."

She tried pushing him away again, but it only caused her to fall harder against the ground. He sighed in frustration; enough was enough. She squirmed in his grasp as he forcefully scooped her up and rolled her back onto the bed, grabbing her wrists with one hand and holding her stomach down with the other. She began to panic as he nearly straddled her and she bucked as hard as she could, despite the blinding pain it was causing in her leg.

He couldn't believe she was putting herself through this when she clearly didn't need to. "Why can't you just trust me?" He yelled at her. "I don't want to cause you any pain!"

"I don't believe you!" she cried out in her agony.

He let go of her and she managed to smack him harshly across the jaw, almost knocking him off the bed. She was starting to cry hysterically, whether it was because of him or the pain Zuko didn't know. She lifted her arm up and tried to shield her teary eyes with her hand.

"I need water." She hiccupped.

He nodded, rubbing the spot where she'd hit him. "I'll get it for you."

He returned a minute later with a basin full of warm water from the bathroom and set it down next to the bed. She immediately bent it to spread over her throbbing leg. He observed how red her eyes got when she cried.

"We're never going to be friends are we?" He asked solemnly, taking a seat on the bed corner furthest away from her.

"Why do you want to be?" her voice was low and rigid, but sounded more sad than angry.

"Because I care about you. I know you think I don't, but I do."

She shivered slightly, never taking her eyes off her work. "Why? I treat you like shit…"

"Not always."

"Yes always."

"Not when I was sick."

"That….that's irrelevant. I had to do that."

"No you didn't." He stated matter-of-factly. "You didn't have to help me and you certainly didn't need to heal me to the extent that you did. I've grown stronger because of it."

"I didn't think you noticed."

"I did."

"But you never said anything…"

"Because I was afraid you'd bite my head off if I did." He took a chance and shifted closer to her. "I want to talk to you, but you make it feel like I'm not allowed…" she looked like she was going to start crying again, "like you hate me."

Her voice bubbled up in a sobbing whisper. "I don't hate you," she finally looked up to make eye contact with him. "I'm afraid of you."

He stared at her disbelievingly. "Wh…what?"

She gulped, but it didn't dislodge the rock-like bubble from her throat. "You…hurt me. Hurt me greater than a lot of people who have tried could manage. I thought…I thought I was stronger than ever before, but then you knocked me down so hard and it scared me so much that I couldn't get back up."

He moved to sit directly next to her and placed a palm against the side of her neck. "I'm sorry. You know I can't take back what happened, but if I could, I would in a heartbeat. I never once wanted to hurt you Katara, I swear."

She rubbed the wetness from her eyes. "I still don't trust you though."

"That's okay; you don't need to trust me right now, but you certainly don't need to fear me." He removed a stand of hair that had gotten plastered to her cheek and tucked it behind her ear. "Watch." He slowly moved his hand to rest on top of hers where she was still bending water into her skin and moved them around together, acting as if he was teaching her how to heal herself. In time, he slid his palm off of her hand to touch the still very tender skin of her thigh and he could feel the goose bumps forming beneath. He moved his thumb back and forth, trying to coax the bumps away when he felt her own hand slide up to rest against the red mark she'd left when she smacked him. He closed his eyes and leaned into her touch. Her palm was so smooth and he didn't bother to stop himself from pressing his lips softly against the inside of her wrist. "Let me help you too." He murmured against her soft flesh before pulling away.

He couldn't take it any farther than that; he couldn't push his boundaries. If he wanted his relationship with Katara to grow, then he had to move slow and careful. He refused to scare her away again.

"I'm sorry I hit you." She mumbled and her hand moved down to lie against his chest. She was almost afraid he could feel her heartbeat throbbing through her palm. "And thank you for helping me in the fountain."

"It's all my fault really. I should have had more control over the situation."

"We both know that's not true."

He nodded and tilted her back a little so that she'd lie back down and rest for the night. She turned her head to nestle into his pillow and he took the opportunity to plant a kiss on the corner of her mouth before leaving to give her some privacy, never looking back to see her reaction. Perhaps he wasn't moving as slow as he told himself he should, but if it made Katara more comfortable around him, then he had no problem continuing. And at this point he'd do anything to make sure she never feared him again. Trust him or not, he promised to always be there whenever she looked like she might fall.

AN: This was originally going to be rated T, but I couldn't resist throwing a masturbation scene in there… classic me :D Anyway, hope you liked. Feel free to fav or review or whatever.