A/N: Hey guys! Here is the upgraded and edited version of 'A Start.' Enjoy!

"Ugh! You're a lying, back-stabbing, cheating, worthless scrap of scum!! How dare you come here and say that you've changed!"

Katara was angrier than anyone in the group had ever seen her. Even Sokka and Aang, who had been the two to witness the squalls between the waterbender and Toph, were now exchanging mildly horrified glances at the confrontation her outburst had just provoked. Waving her fist furiously in the direction of her friends, Katara hissed from between clenched teeth, rage radiating from every seam of darkened skin between her knitted eyebrows. Her blue eyes seemed the very source of this disgust. They radiated utter hatred, more of it than most of those present believed her generous heart even had the capacity for. "They might believe you," she spat, "but there is one thing that you can count on as long as you draw breath in this world! I won't."

Zuko blinked in shock. He briefly considered shooting back some tart remark, but reconsidered his choice upon realizing that he was likely to get slapped on the face for it…or worse. Waterbending wasn't always pretty…and the Fire Nation prince was more than a little acquainted than he'd like to be with its dark side. In fact, it seemed to him that, the extent of her kind side was reserved for everyone and anyone but him. The only emotion she cared to show when around him was hate. Her entire frame would stiffen, her warm expression harden, and her fists clench and unclench repeatedly as soon as he came within sight of her. If he approached one of the others, even when he was teaching Aang, she would never be far away, glowering at him from the shadows, monitoring his every movement like a predator eyeing its prey. After the first few days, he simply gave up trying to go out of his way to be nice to her. It was impossible to elicit a positive reaction from the girl. More often than not, she would simply glare at him until he was forced to abandon the attempt, and when she grew tired of doing that, everything he said or did became a perpetual source of ridicule.

That cold fury always flashing in her eyes, the bitter air she carried around with her was like a Zuko-repellent whenever he was near…all of it was very disconcerting for him. Could she possibly stay like this forever? Her stiff, strained stride and set jaw…all clear signs that rang warning bells through his skull, 'CAUTION! STAY AWAY! DANGER!'

Then why was it he could never heed those warnings? It was not as if he were trying to get in her way…it was almost as if she was purposely getting into his, and then flipping the blame onto him with a slash of her water whip.

He would have very much preferred the cold shoulder.

The sleet-like comments, piercing and painful, which she rained upon him daily were more than unsettling…they were unavoidable. The best he could do was hold on in the furious rushing tide, stay submissive, and hope fervently that the river would yield to his cries for mercy.

And still, he held that hope.

The firebender glanced around at the people sitting in a wide semi-circle before him, completely and utterly bewildered at what was taking place. Katara was chewing him out, and he and the others were forced to take it in with defenseless shock.

Upon finishing her tirade, the waterbender stalked off in the direction of the fountain, likely a place and an activity in which to vent her steaming rage. The rest of the group exchanged several helpless glances, reading the concern mirrored in each others faces.

Aang, nearest to the prince, shot Zuko a sympathetic glance. The prince blinked back at him, as if to say, what was that all about? Shrugging in silent reply, the airbender stood to his feet in a breath of wind, and with one quick scan over each of his bewildered friends, moved off after the angry waterbender, fully intending to appease and calm her.

When the young Avatar was out of sight, Zuko turned to Toph, sitting a few feet to his left and sipping her stew calmly. He opened his mouth, but nothing but a shallow exhale came forth.

Unfazed, the earthbender used her wrist cuffs to wipe her mouth. Setting down her bowl, she remarked, "Since you're going to ask anyway, Princey, I'll give you the answer now. No. She's not always like this. At least, not usually. She was around me in the beginning. For quite a while, but for very different reasons. If this stage with you is anything like the feuds we've had, rest assured they'll simmer down eventually. Once she finds something else that makes her madder than you do."

Zuko shook his head, discouraged, but finally finding his voice. Weak, and slightly hoarse, but a voice nonetheless, "That's not very comforting."

Toph shrugged, feigned disinterest, and went back to supping from her wooden bowl, content to drop the conversation then and there.

Sokka, across from Zuko, finished chugging his stew and let the bowl clatter to the stone, empty. He didn't even try to contain an overly exaggerated belch.

The Fire Prince refrained from scowling in response to the water tribe warrior's atrocious table manners and apparent unconcern, and instead, he turn aside, glancing in the direction both the young Avatar and the angry waterbender disappeared. He sighed, dropping his gaze down to the dusty ground beneath his crossed legs, and his head into his hands. Massaging his temples, he squashed a budding groan. What could he possibly do?

Aang stood behind one of the Western Air Temple's massive stone pillars. His palms were pressed to the stone, and instead of peering around the pillar's enormous berth, he breathed deeply and closed his gray eyes.

Focusing on the earth, he 'watched' as Katara, several yards away, swirled the water in intricate waves and patterns, concentrating with all her might. The fountain she bent from was shattered in hundreds of tiny pebbles, scattered across the clearing haphazardly, the battlefield after the struggle had been fought and won. She seemed to be taking no interest in the shambles around her, however, and simply focused on her bending, ignoring the world around her as the late afternoon sun gave the area a red, hazy hue, illuminating and radiating the waterbender's own emotions as the water sizzled back and forth.

There was a definite stiffness to her steps that Aang was able to pick out as he read the vibrations caused by her movement. Usually fluid and calm as she moved the glittering orb of fountain water; Aang could easily tell the difference without even observing her with his eyes. She wasn't relaxing as she practiced, in fact, it was quite the contrary. He silently thanked Toph's marvelous instruction and persistence in teaching him her specialized form of earthbending.

The muffled sound of her growl of frustration reached his ears, and the airbender decided the time for contemplating his strategy was over. He inched around the pillar until Katara was in view. Her back was to him, so he leaned back calmly against the stone, crossing his arms over his chest, and resigned himself to observation for a few moments as the water slashed and hissed through the air with a ferocity that was unprecedented to anything Aang had ever seen. Watching with awe, the airbender suppressed a soft gasp when the water finally splattered to the ground, steaming as it made contact with the stone. Katara stood there, her fists clenched and her breathing quick and shallow.

"You're too stiff."

Whirling around with a hiss, Katara took up a defensive posture, lifting more of the fountain water to her will. Seeing Aang, though, she let her stance fall, arms hanging limply down at her sides. Turning, she faced away from him and stared off into the distance, shame overwhelming her features. Hot mist brimmed in her eyes.

"What are you doing here?"

Her voiced was strained, demanding. Aang knew she was choking back a flood of boiling tears, and he took a few steps toward her, concern in his cloudy gaze. He kept his voice carefully measured to make sure he was not coming across as overbearing.

"You would have done the same thing had I come here to sulk."

The waterbender twisted around and opened her mouth to utter a sharp-tongued retort, but Aang cut her off, his eyes narrowing by the slightest degree.

"Don't deny it, Katara. If I was angry and hurt, you would have been here whether or not I wanted you to. And so am I."

Katara lowered her head and released a rattling sigh. "I know."

The airbender smiled compassionately, and, glancing downward, he said solemnly, "Zuko is sorry."

The waterbender's eyes flashed when she heard the name, and she sat down on the edge of the fountain. The combined adrenaline it took to fuel her outburst, and now her heated bending performance, had abandoned her body, and all that was left was a weariness that ate away at her anger. The water gurgled in consolidating rhythm behind her, and she drew her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms them, resting her chin on her knees. Her brown hair cascaded over her shoulders, and a breeze from the ground high above lifted it and curled it lovingly over her face. Her blue kimono and billowing navy-colored water-tribe pants tapered down to her simple blue boots. Her v-neck top was tucked into the thick blue sash at her waist.

The Avatar couldn't help but admire her. But when her voice, soft and pained, reached his ears, he shook the distracting thoughts out of his mind and focused on the task at hand.

"Aang…I just can't...I just can't trust him. What he did…the others don't understand. They didn't see it. They didn't see you falling to the ground. They…they didn't feel it as the world's only hope died in their arms. They didn't…but he saw it. He saw all of it. And he still went with Azula. And then he comes groveling and begging to be let into our group, oh-so-conveniently, to teach you firebending, just when we're at our most vulnerable. And everyone trusts him! I don't understand it. I'm not buying his lies. Not for one second…"

During her emotional speech, Aang had pulled himself onto the fountain's crumbling wall beside her, crossing his legs in a meditative position, his head cocked and his eyes distant, listening. When she trailed off, burning red tear-stains streaming down her tan face from her sparkling ice-blue eyes, he took the moment to speak.

"Katara," the airbender began slowly, punctuating each word with the utmost of sincerity, "I'm not going to try to convince you to trust him. I'm only going to ask that you try one thing," he paused when she reached up to rub the tears from her eyes, still refusing to meet his gaze. Going on, Aang's voice condensed all knowledge of countless past Avatars…all into one boy's words. It had more meaning than even he was aware of. "Examine him…and examine yourself. There may be more similarities than you see."

That said, Aang stood up and started toward camp. After a few steps, however, he stopped and looked back. Katara was still seated, blinking slowly, staring at him wide-eyed. Her hands rested palm-down on the stone, her lower legs hung over the lip of the wall, and she had crossed her ankles.

"Thanks," she whispered.

The airbender smiled, inclining his head.

Then he left.

The sun was setting when Katara finally returned to camp. She had washed her face and straightened her clothing, so she wouldn't appear as ruffled as she really was.

Aang, Haru, Teo, and Sokka lounged around the crackling campfire, studying several maps of the Fire Nation and tossing ideas around. Occasionally, the Duke, who sat with them, stoked the fire with a log and fed with dry brush to keep it burning.

Toph leaned against a pillar a little ways away, picking at the dirt between her slightly singed toes. She acknowledged Katara with a tip of her head when the waterbender approached. The waterbender nodded back, observing with a healer's eye that the earthbender's feet had been healing nicely.

Glancing around, Katara stopped. She tried to ignore the happy, laughing group of boys several yards away, and concentrated on willing herself to refrain from joining them. She had to find someone first. She ducked down a corridor that led away from the campsite. Suddenly, the hallway opened up into a large chamber. Half of the chamber was open to the deep abyss, the cliffs, and the sky, and there were several Appa-sized square ledges connected to the wall and many double doors at ground level. Katara guessed it was some sort of traveler's gathering area. Creepers and vines completely covered most sections of the wall.

Zuko sat on one of these large, square ledges several feet above her, his legs crossed and his eyes closed. Sitting rigidly upright, he seemed to be meditating.

Once she spotted him, Katara held back a moan of exasperation when she studied his surroundings. He had to be in a place where it would take clever thinking to reach. Typical. She was not looking forward to this.

The thick, woven vines that curled around the ledge rustled.

At first, Zuko ignored it, assuming it was a squirrel-chick bird scaling the wall—he had seen them earlier. But this time, the noise became unbearably distracting, and with an annoyed sigh, he opened his eyes and turned toward the sound. The vines were shaking with strain, though there was no visible cause.

The Fire Nation prince scooted a few inches to his left and glanced over the edge, which dropped several yards to the ground. His breath caught in his throat when he saw what was causing the vines to shake.

"Uh…"

Katara looked up at the firebender from her place on the wall. She clung to the foliage, braced against the wall. Inside, she was terrified. If she fell from this height she could break a bone. But she kept her face carefully neutral, and focused her energy on keeping hold of the wall.

She gritted her teeth determinedly. If that worthless slime can do it, so can I. Then she reprimanded herself. Come on, Katara, you can be a little nicer. How about…'not completely worthless slime?'…eh, that's a start.

These kinds of upbeat thoughts kept her going, and after only a few more minutes, she had reached a height that she could pull herself easily onto the ledge. Letting go of a vine tentatively with her left hand, she stretched out and grabbed the cool, smooth stone.

Zuko, who watched from above, scooted back a bit to give her room to get her other arm up. At this point, thoughts were raging through his mind. What is she doing here? Why is she bothering to come near me…unless she's just coming to insult me, in which case I should probably leave…

Katara, after a slight hesitation, let go of the plants with her right hand and swung her arm over, pushing herself upward with her feet, still supported by the vines.

Suddenly, weaker vines beneath her left foot snapped, and with a gasp of terror she slipped, both of her arms scrabbling on the stone, frantically trying to get a hold on something…anything. But gravity, ever dutiful, peeled her off the ledge in less than an instant, and she was falling.

The waterbender cried out as she felt her fingertips lose their grip, and she closed her eyes, fully expecting the worst.

But a sudden jerk of pain in her shoulder snapped her back to reality, and there was Zuko.

He had a hold on her arm…but her weight was making him slide forward as he struggled to keep hold both of the ledge and her. Loose dust and pebbles showered down on the waterbender.

"Other hand!" he grunted, fright fueled by fear layering his voice, "Give me your other hand!"

Getting over the initial shock, she flailed with her other arm, trying desperately to grab onto him. Her feet still dangled over ten feet from the ground. Somewhere in the back of her mind, irony pricked into her thoughts, but instinct pushed it away as he caught her right wrist and braced himself, the tip of both his boots slipping over the edge precariously.

He pulled her up with nothing but pure, shuddering effort, and when he knew she was in no danger of sliding off again, he released her and staggered back.

Katara sat panting on the stone for only a moment before she brushed herself off and straightened, only briefly noticing the raw scrapes on her forearms before putting up an unfazed and dignified mask, glaring at the prince.

He backed off, turned away, and said nothing, not willing to fight yet another pointless battle. He studied the ground between his feet intently as she brushed the dust out of her hair with her fingers.

Her icy glare abruptly softened when the waterbender suddenly realized what he had actually risked in saving…no, not saving, helping…her. She hadn't needed to be saved…she still had a foot on the wall…she could have still caught herself…

"Oh, who am I kidding?"

Zuko glanced over his shoulder at the girl sitting slumped a few feet away. She looked dejected. When she glanced up at him, he was surprised to see a look not of anger, but of shame there.

"I've been a jerk," she said simply.

He blinked in bewilderment.

She continued, with a short, forced laugh. "Of course, admitting that doesn't change what you did. And you can be sure I still will never trust or like you. But I've been a jerk, and I'm sorry."

He blinked.

She looked at him expectantly.

He blinked.

"Aren't you going to say anything? Or are you going to continue staring at me like a googly-eyed rabbiroo?"

He blinked…yet again. "I—I never…I'm sorry. I just…"

"Cool it. I know what you're aiming for. Just stop now before you hurt yourself."

The prince crossed his arms. "You're beginning to sound like Toph."

Katara glared back. "How would you know what Toph is like?"

Zuko stared.

"Oh, right."

The firebender shook his head. "Look, I'm sorry I irk you, okay? I…I wasn't thinking clearly in Ba Sing Se. I was…blinded…by my sister."

"Yeah, she sure pulled a sack over your head. After you almost got me to play into your little scheme! Well, that's never going to happen again!"

"I know."

"Good! Because it's not!"

"I don't expect it to."

"Good!"

Zuko's eyebrow rose the slightest bit.

"Stop looking at me like that!"

The prince shifted his gaze quickly.

"I don't know what makes you think you're so…deserving!"

"I don't think I'm deserving of anything."

"Like I can believe that!"

"I'm really sorry…"

"Yeah, yeah, enough of that. As of now I owe you one, okay? Now, is there a less life-threatening way to get down from here? You got up, and as far as anyone knows, you aren't an airbender." Katara stood up.

Zuko, completely at a loss for words, simply pointed toward a ladder carved into the wall on the opposite side of the ledge. It was thoroughly covered in vines and almost invisible to a casual observer, but clearly much safer than attempting to scale the wall without it.

Katara stared. "You've got to be joking."

Zuko shook his head dumbly.

Facepalming, the waterbender rubbed her temples briefly before pushing herself only slightly shakily to her feet. She brushed past him, swinging easily onto the ladder and starting down, not even bothering to offer a goodbye.

When the waterbender had disappeared down the corridor, Zuko blinked once more, turning to glance out over the huge empty courtyard. Raising his eyebrows and shaking his head in a bemused fashion, Zuko sat again, deciding to abandon his meditation to stare far beyond the temple, where the sky was bleeding the sun's colors in a beautiful impressionist painting as the great golden orb sank to its bed below the horizon.

A soft breeze ruffled through his raven-colored hair, and the prince leaned against the vine-covered wall. Thoughtfully, he allowed a tiny, flickering flame to flare up in his hand, and he studied intently as it danced daringly over his fingers, flashing a soft, candle-light yellow.

Aang stifled his laughter at one of Sokka's comments and glanced up as Katara appeared from a corridor, heading toward them. He smiled at her. "Hey, where've you been?"

The waterbender smiled in return and gestured vaguely. "Places."

The airbender cocked his head in wonderment, then, noticing the red scratches on her arms, blinked with concern. "What happened to your hands? Are you all right?"

Forcing a half-genuine grin, Katara replied light-heartedly, "Remind me never try to earthbend again."

His curiosity level shot skyward, but, controlling himself, Aang decided wisely that it was best not to press the matter. He smiled. "Oh. What else have you been doing?"

"Oh, you know, just the usual."

"'The usual' being…?"

Katara smirked. "You are nosy today, aren't you?"

Aang nodded with a devious grin. "Of course I am!"

The waterbender grinned. "Okay, you asked for it. I climbed a wall and almost fell, and Zuko saved me and we had a lovely talk."

The airbender laughed, patting the space beside him in a gesture for her to join him and the others. "No, seriously, what did you do?"