Chapter 1
She loved him. There was no way around that fact. Katara truly loved him. It wasn't that he was romantic or the fact that he was a prince, but their love had stemmed off of being able to relate to the others pain. She wasn't sure if that was the best of reasons for their love, but it was true. Their love was neither the fantasy romance girls dream about with princes, nor was it the racy passionate one with antiheros. It was more like, dare she think something proverbial, ice storms outside of a warm igloo. In their own little world they were free to express their own type of love for one another but all the while knowing, it could end as quickly as you could say avalanche.
Even though their love was amidst trouble, she still cared. Somewhere during her capture till now she had began to sympathize with the anguished prince. Zuko after all had seen the same hurts as she had. They both knew loss, abandonment, and possessed a dislike for the Fire Nation. Granted, Zuko still loved his people, just not the war. They had spent many nights up talking, and he would tell her what he would do when he came to power and she would sit beside him, listening intently.
Slowly through their more than frequent talks, his wounds began to heal. He still had a temper and would lash out from time to time, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. Katara smiled as she reflected on their various arguments of usually inconsequential things. One particular moment stood out. It had been a scorching day and the two of them were lounging out on deck along with the majority of the crew since it was too hot to be inside. They hadn't been on land or even seen it in at least two weeks and that was enough to make anyone antsy.
As she thought about it, Katara couldn't figure out for the life of her why she made a comment about his ponytail. Zuko was so angry that he was smoking, literally. He had defended it saying that it was an honorable style and that many Fire Nation men wore their hair in either ponytails or buns. At his comment on "buns" Katara had broke into a laughing fit. She could understand the ponytail being manly since it was custom in her tribe, but buns? Never.
"What's so funny?" said an all too familiar voice.
Katara glanced over to look at Zuko who stood next to her leaning on the railing of the ship. She smiled at him and shrugged returning her vision to the approaching land mass.
"Just thinking about ponytails." She answered, trying desperately to fight the smile on her face, and failing miserably.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Zuko turn his head fully in her direction letting her know that he was all ears. "And what of them?"
She turned to look at him and reached over his shoulder to finger through the tips of his hair. "I was thinking of how manly they are." She said smirking.
Zuko's eyes narrowed a fraction and he took a step forward so that her back was to the railing and his body centimeters from hers. "You should watch that mouth of yours peasant." He warned while lifting her chin with a finger.
"And if I don't?" she challenged for the sake of challenge. Katara already knew where this was heading because it was not the first conversation to walk this road. Her stomach was already in butterflies by his close proximity and the threat of kiss only caused her bodily functions to either shut down in some cases or run into overdrive.
Zuko's voice darkened with desire and came out raspy, which caused Katara's insides to flip-flop. "Then I'll just have to do something about that…" he whispered. His eyes were hooded and no longer looked at her own but were focused on her lips. A chill of excitement shot up her spine as he leaned forward at a painstakingly slow speed.
"My! My! Children! Such open displays of romance will cause the rest of the crew to become envious!" Iroh boomed.
Katara sighed dismally and dropped her head onto Zuko's chest. Zuko mimicked her and rested his cheek on her hair.
"Sometimes I want to throw him overboard." Zuko growled in a low tone near her ear.
Katara chuckled softly. "I know where you're coming from."
She felt him smile gently in her hair and shivered as his lips gently brushed the outer shell of her ear. Zuko took a step back from Katara to stand by her side. Katara glanced briefly at him and then turned to his uncle who stood only a few feet away.
"Ahh young love, as precious as the first flower of spring." Iroh reflected.
Zuko groaned at the comparison while Katara only blushed. For comfort, she slipped her hand into his larger one and gave it a supporting squeeze. His eye opened and he glanced in her direction to give her a wistful smile.
"Uncle, what did you want?" Zuko asked.
The old man scratched his beard and looked upwards as if he were looking at his mind. His grip on her hand tightened and Katara knew he was losing patience. After a moment of praying that Zuko wouldn't fly off his rocker, Iroh remembered what he was there for.
"Ah yes, we will be coming ashore to the Fire Nation in an hour." The elder man announced. "Are all the 'preparations' made?"
"Yes uncle, we have discussed them countless times." Zuko glanced at her and Katara felt captivated by his intense yet loving gaze. He lifted her hand to his lips to leave a gentle kiss on her palm before continuing. "We know the risks and are willing to accept them."
Katara nodded in agreement and smiled. She leaned her head onto his shoulder and in response he removed his hand from hers to drape it around her waist.
"Then you already know that I fully support you, as does the crew, but your father and the country is an entirely different thing." Iroh cautioned. Katara knew that the old general wasn't trying to talk them out of going through with this, but was merely restating the dangers. "If either of you have second thoughts you'd better work them out now, because when we arrive, there will be no time and the path you two have chosen will be harder to turn from."
"Sir, Zuko and I love each other. I am firm in my decision and I am the one with the most to loose." Katara returned.
"Very well then." Iroh said with smile. "I am truly happy for the both of you. Katara, you are truly an amazing girl if my nephew can tolerate you."
Katara giggled as Zuko audibly groaned. "Uncle are you finished?"
"Yes nephew, I am. You make sure you wrap up any romance now because as we approach you cannot afford to be seen."
Zuko nodded and tightened his grip around her waist. Katara watched Iroh go before snuggling herself in Zuko chest. The prince responded by wrapping his arms tightly around her for support which she was grateful for.
"Zuko, to be honest, I'm scared." Katara admitted quietly. "This isn't like running off with Aang on some adventure to save the world where at the first sign of danger we can run. I won't be able to run here. At the first sign of trouble I'm going to have to stand firm even if it costs me my life, and I'm scared of that."
Katara wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in the fabric of his clothes. A few light sobs wracked her body but she couldn't help it. She was going into enemy territory, an enemy who had no problem killing thousands to win a war. An enemy who could burn his own son, steal the right of the throne from his own brother and chase off his wife and more importantly, an enemy who indirectly killed her mother.
"Katara, Katara look at me." Zuko whispered. Slowly Katara lifted her head from his chest to look in his eyes. "Do you still want to go through with this? I love you enough that I can let you go if necessary. I don't want to have to put you through anymore hurt. If you don't want this then-"
"Zuko shut up." Katara growled. "I love you and I am willing to go through whatever is necessary to be with you. It's just I'm afraid but can you blame me? Think of it from my position, I'm going into my sworn enemy's home to eventually marry his son where I will most likely be killed if the plans are discovered to soon. How am I supposed to feel? Yes I'm brave and yes I want to go through with this. I'm not having second thoughts its just…I'm scared." The latter part of her speech turned into tears.
She felt him tighten his grip around her and he buried his head in the crook of her neck. "Katara, I will always be here for you. Please, don't be afraid. If anything happens come to me and I will protect you, even if it costs me my life."
Katara could have criticized his comment, but chose not to. What he offered was the best he could do. It was better than no protection at all and she truly felt safe in his arms. "Alright Zuko, alright."
Katara's heart still was saddened even if it wasn't anything new. They had discussed this hundreds of times and Katara was firm in her decision to be with him. It would be unfair and selfish of her to ask him to abandon his title of prince for her and it would be irresponsible of the both of them if they ran off together to ignore the war. If they were going to be together, eventually she would have to live in the Fire Nation.
She loved Zuko, but to follow him to the nation to which she previously had held great hatred was still a great change. The fact that the Fire Nation had killed her mother was still fresh, and the fact that her father was away at war was even more so. There was also Aang and Sokka out there, somewhere. She hadn't seen them in about two months time. The still didn't know a thing about her new romance with their sworn enemy.
Many a night Katara would toss and turn as sleep was replaced by troubling thoughts and worries of her relationship with Zuko. On those nights Katara would seek him out on the upper balcony where he often was during the night. He would offer her support and in his own way, love. She supposed that was why she was going through with the idiotic plan to follow him back to the Fire Nation, because she just had to face the facts.
She loved him.