Katara didn't know what she was getting herself into, that much she knew.

But the man - Iroh was his name - he had seemed desperate. He had come out of nowhere, and had pleaded, clearly recognizing her, to help him. Her heartstrings had been pulled because of the poor man, who had never really attacked them.

The only problem was that he was pleading not for her to help him, but to help his nephew.

And Zuko was not someone Katara wanted to help. He had done nothing but attacked them, followed them, stolen her mother's necklace, and tried to capture Aang.

He didn't deserve her help.

But, Katara thought as she dressed in a black hood, Iroh didn't deserve to go through the pain of losing his nephew just because said nephew was a jerk.

She didn't tell Aang, Sokka, or Toph. They were all worried enough without her adding that she was going to help one of their worst enemies.

Iroh smiled when he saw her, closing the door quickly after she came in.

"Kara, right? Thank you for coming," he said, with a bow of his head.

She bowed her head in return. "Katara. And it's no problem, really."

Oh, who was she kidding - certainly not him. It was a big problem. What would Sokka say if he found out? What would Aang say?

And what would Zuko say?

That was the biggest question, wasn't it? Katara kneeled down to the sleeping boy, noting that his hair had grown quite a bit. Zuko's reaction could be to attack her. She needed to keep her guard up, no matter how nice his uncle was.

Zuko shivered when the cold water touched his forehead, but his tensed shoulders relaxed a little, and his sweating stopped.

"I can bring down his fever so that it won't get too bad every night, but the fever itself will go away on it's own."

"If I hadn't called you -" Iroh began, a troubled look on his face.

Katara hastened to interrupt. "I'm sure it still wouldn't have gotten too bad."

She was lying. Zuko's fever was quite bad. She felt a little guilty about how she had taken her sweet time walking there. Katara hated fevers, feeling so hopeless, having an unquenchable thirst, and not being able to get up.

She rested her hand on Zuko's for a few seconds before she got up. His hand almost burned her own, a firebender with a fever, what did she expect? But the sudden warmth wasn't all that bad, to be honest.

She wasn't used to warmth.

"You know that I can tell when you're lying."

Katara's fingers froze as she was clasping her cloak closed. She turned and saw Toph casually leaning against the doorway.

"Where have you been going, Katara? I won't tell the boys, I promise."

She may not have been amazingly fond of Toph, but there was something in the girl's tone that suggested her promises were like the rocks she threw at her opponents - unbreakable.

She told Toph everything. Which included all the times Zuko had attacked them, hurt them. Toph had only met him once.

"I think you're doing the right thing," she mumbled when Katara was about to leave, "Zuko seems like someone who could be a good ally."

The more Katara thought about it, the more clearly she could see that Toph was right.

Zuko would be a great ally. He was a powerful firebender, he was the Firelord's son, and he could be a teacher to Aang.

Maybe Iroh was getting to her.

He would always talk about Zuko with such love in his voice. It was touching, really, her own feelings about Zuko aside.

It was when she found out about the scar that Katara's views really began to change.

Thirteen. The boy had been burned at thirteen, by his own father, and then banished. No wonder he was so determined! It made sense now.

One night, Iroh said that he had extra work to do at the tea shop he worked at, and left them alone.

Katara took the alone time to observe Zuko. He was always asleep when she came - she doubted Iroh had told him about her nightly visits.

Despite his burned eye (which made her heart clench now that she knew the story behind it), Zuko was a very attractive boy. His chest was firm, he had concealed muscles, so he was probably physically strong.

And he looked peaceful when he slept, now that he was no longer suffering from a fever that could kill him.

Katara turned, meaning to cool the water in the bucket before putting it on his chest, but a cough alerted her and she spun around quickly.

Zuko's eyes were open.

They both sprung back immediately, the blanket sliding off him and exposing his bare chest and stomach. Katara didn't attack, but she had water flowing in front of her just in case as he stared at her in astonishment.

"It wasn't a dream," he mumbled.

"What?"

Zuko backed up even more, not even bothering to make a flame - perhaps he still felt too weak to. "I had dreams where I heard you talking to my uncle. But they weren't dreams, were they?"

"No," Katara said quietly, "I've been coming every night to keep your fever down."

After a few seconds of silence, she let the water fall back into the bowl.

He had definitely changed. He wasn't attacking. Or maybe he felt too weak to attack, Katara thought, as he laid back down with a groaned, not taking his eyes off her.

"Why are you helping me?"

"Your uncle - he was upset," she said quietly, "I couldn't let you die, could I?"

"You could've," was his response.

"Well -" Katara was about to snap but stopped. It had been on the tip of her tongue to say that unlike him, she didn't want to see people die. But that was false - if he was okay with people dying, he would be in the Fire Nation palace, not in Ba Sing Se as a refugee.

"Well what?" He glared, then coughed.

"Nothing."

It was then Iroh came back, surprised to see his nephew awake, but overjoyed nonetheless. He thanked Katara, and before the two teens could exchange any more words, she found herself leaving despite Iroh's request for her to stay.

Now there were never any times Zuko wasn't awake, which was rather awkward.

Because she would be healing him, getting him water without him asking, and if Iroh wasn't there, it was even worse.

"How do you like to the Avatar everyday?"

It was a question that came out of nowhere, and not one that she particularly wanted to answer.

"I don't lie everyday," she responded, making the soup in the pot swirl, "only once or twice. Usually, the others don't see me leave or come back."

Zuko's eyes were closed as he continued to speak. "But still - you're keeping a secret from your brother and your boyfriend. Doesn't that bother you?"

Katara's cheeks heated up. "Aang is not my boyfriend! And I'll have you know that I'm not his or Sokka's to control."

"Right." The conversation ended there, and the awkward silence returned, and stayed even as they drank the soup together.

"Do you still want to go back to the Fire Nation?" Katara blurted one day, and she saw Zuko's eyes widen.

He had been practicing walking around without stumbling anymore, but at this he sat down again, crossed his arms, and glared at her.

"What do you care?"

"It's just a question!" she shot back, clenching her fists. Maybe Zuko had been sweet when he was a kid like his uncle said, but that didn't change the fact that he was horribly aggravating now.

"Of course I want to go back!" he shouted, but Katara could see - there was something in his eyes. It seemed like hesitancy, but then she realized, it was fear. Fear of never going back? Or fear of doing exactly what he wanted? "It's my home! My father and - and Mai -"

"Mai?"

"Girlfriend," he mumbled, and then it was him who had dark red cheeks. "You've probably seen her, I think she's been with Azula."

"The one who can…" Katara swallowed, thinking of the girl who could, so easily, make her stop bending. "The acrobat?"

She was pretty sure she had heard her name once, but it wasn't coming to mind now. Nor could she see her with Zuko of all people.

"The knife thrower."

Yeah, now that made sense. Katara could easily see why Zuko would be attracted to such a gloom of a girl. Maybe they hated the world together.

Katara's breath was heavy as Azula pointed one finger at her, and the other at Aang. If need be, she was ready to take the shot for him. The world needed him, not her.

And then, out of nowhere, a blast of fire entered the catacombs, making all three of them step back. Without even looking, she knew it must have been Zuko. It had to be.

Who had he blasted at?

His eyes seemed to shift between Aang and Azula, as though he was lost. Confused. Katara knew he was.

And then his eyes rested on her. Throughout the times Katara had been to heal him, she never pleaded for him to change sides, or to help them. But now her face turned into one of desperation - because she was scared even her and Aang might be beat if they were fighting both Zuko and Azula. Her eyes pleaded with his.

And then Zuko turned, and blasted a stream of fire towards his sister.

The fever Zuko has is the one he comes down with after he frees Appa, but I'm changing canon in the sense that the Gaang didn't leave right away. And, of course, the end.

I don't know if this has been done before, I haven't had the chance to really cruise through the Zutara fics, of which there are plenty. This is not meant to be a romantic fic, though? It's friendship, but it can be taken either way, to be honest.