Zuko stared at her, a flurry of lust, anger and jealousy blowing through him in a storm. It was only after she'd pulled back the hood to her robe that he'd truly gotten a good look at her, and what he saw was enough to send him over the edge into a deep gorge filled with emotional spikes.

Her hair was tousled and tangled, her face was flushed and her collarbone was now home to a blatantly visible hickey that infuriated him every time he looked at it. She, however, looked concerned by none of these facts. She was simply tapping her foot and glaring daggers at him from a safe distance with her arms crossed angrily across her chest.

He wanted nothing more than to close the space between them and draw her into him. To erase any other man who occupied her thoughts and fill her mind with only him, the way she had done to him. While he was trapped in unwanted lust and jealousy towards her, she held no feelings other than hatred towards him, and he desperately wanted to even the odds that seemed so out of his favor.

"I want him out of here." Katara spat, clearly directing her words towards Haru yet never taking her narrowed eyes off of Zuko.

Zuko smirked and clicked his tongue in response, rolling his eyes at her over the top reaction, though in all honesty it had been exactly what he'd expected from her.

"Scratch that. I want him roped, gagged, and locked up until we're done here. Whose to say he wont run to his father the first chance he gets." She amended, seething from his actions towards her.

"I've known who you were since the moment I saw you," Zuko chuckled, rolling his eyes once more at her naiveté. "If I wanted you caught, you'd be caught."

Katara eyed him skeptically, not entirely sure what to make of his declaration. His smirk changed from one of amusement to one of desire and he quickly closed the gap between them before she had time to react.

"And for the record, you don't need to make excuses to tie me up." His raspy voice whispered so only she could hear, his breath tickling her ear and sending a wave of warmth across her skin.

Across the room Haru cleared his throat angrily, drawing Katara back from whatever spell Zuko had managed to cast on her and renewing her rage. Zuko took a step back from her, noticing her flushed skin, balled fists and clear blue eyes that could now see only him. Even if those entrancing eyes were seeing him through a shroud of anger, she only had eyes for him and this made his grin spread wider on his face in a way it hadn't in a very long time.


Katara was absolutely fuming. The shivers running up and down her back seemed endless and, though they felt oddly pleasing, she desperately wanted to smack the haughty prince who had caused them. He was now standing before her, grinning so wide she could see his teeth, clearly pleased with himself for riling her feathers to such an extent.

"We still need a plan, Katara. We can't stay here forever." Haru's voice cut in, drawing her gaze away from Zuko, a fact that Zuko clearly did not like as his grin quickly fell to a scowl.

"First, I have a plan." Katara ground out, furious that Haru would even consider bringing it up in front of Zuko. "Second, are you crazy? He shouldn't be hearing this!"

"Katara." Haru stated flatly, as if she were a misbehaving child. "He's kept our secret this long and, though I don't like it, its better if he's around to keep an eye on anyways."

"Have you ever bothered to ask why he's kept our secret?" Katara responded, just as flatly as Haru had addressed her.

Haru paused, then continued without acknowledging her question.

"Without him I wouldn't have gotten into the Fire Lord's chambers to help you." Haru grumbled, as if unimpressed he had to share the glory with anyone.

"Oh! Well in that case I hate him even more!" she screeched, throwing her hands up in exasperated disbelief. "You almost got us both killed back there!"

She spun to face Zuko once more, roughly grabbing the collar of his shirt and drawing him towards her face, now contorted with the force of her wrath.

"Any more bright ideas to share? You know, any deadly situations of your making I should be aware of?" she hissed, pushing him backwards and watching as he stumbled before catching his balance.

"All I did was get him in, anything beyond that was his fault." Zuko replied, straightening the now wrinkled collar of his shirt. "And whether you like it or not, you need me."

"Oh really?" she frowned, refusing to surrender to any such notion.

"You wont be able to get to Aang without me." He stated calmly, locking eyes with hers.

"I already know where he is from your father." She spat back, once again clenching her hands into fists. "And since when do you care about Aang? In case you've forgotten, you helped imprison him."

Zuko merely shrugged and drew his eyes across her body, back up to her face.

"I have my reasons." His raspy voice purred, making the blush resurface across her skin.


"You might know where he is, but it's going to be difficult to get to him without the key." Zuko calmly explained.

The fact that she had managed to syphon even the Avatar's location from his father had him thunderstruck. He couldn't help but wonder what she had done to get said information, and the scenarios were flying through his mind a million miles a minute making him queasy in the pit of his stomach. She was definitely stronger than he'd thought, or perhaps she purposefully hid her strength to gain the upper hand. Whatever the case he was impressed, and more than a little jealous though he hated to admit it.

Her eyes locked with his and he knew he had her. As much as she might hate to admit it she needed the key, and by extension she needed him. The words etched into his thoughts, the almost musical sound permanently engrained in his mind – she needed him – and he loved it.

"You have this key?" she ground out, obviously not pleased with having to surrender to the truth.

"Yes." Zuko replied, feeling the corners of his mouth pulling into the grin that was becoming a permanent fixture on his face when she was around.

She sighed, reluctantly giving in to him. "Fine, you can help."

He arched his eyebrow and chuckled, deciding not to push for anything more than her rude tolerance for fear of her changing her mind.

"Now that we have the location," she began. "And the key." She shot him a look warning him not to do anything stupid. "We can get this done tonight."

"Actually," Zuko cut in, drawing everyone's attention to him. "That's probably not the best idea."

"Why is that?" she demanded flatly, not impressed by his interruption.

"The Avatar is protected by a large number of guards and, since you want to break the other people out at the same time, you wont have enough people to get past them." Zuko explained, taking a seat on a couch. "The best time to do this would be two nights from now. There's a mandatory security check for all guards, meaning the numbers around his cell will be severely reduced since they have to attend it in shifts."

"Smart." Katara gaped at him "Two nights from now it is. But if this is a double cross I swear I –"

"Relax, it's the truth." Zuko sighed, wondering just how long it would take her to drop her distrust of him.

She nodded, and then continued on as if he'd never spoken.

"We have a lot of planning to do." She announced firmly. "Also, two more nights means two more dances."

"The dance on the night of the escape should be hypnotizing enough to ensure no one notices the break outs. Especially not my father." Zuko specified, stressing the last sentence to ensure they knew the stakes of their plot.

"Leave that to us." An unfamiliar voice cut through the group of men, drawing Zuko's attention towards it.

Through the crowd pushed a muscular man, at least a head taller than Katara. He walked up behind her and placed his hand on her shoulder. She smiled up at him and he grinned back, as if sharing some inside joke no one else was privy to.

Zuko examined them both, not liking where this was going, and especially not liking the man's sudden familiarity with Katara. He couldn't help but have a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach that whatever they were leaving to this man, Zuko wouldn't like in the least.


AN: okay so I know this chapter is a little short, but the real fun will be in the next few chapters which I can't wait for everyone to read! Also I'm loving everyone's reviews so please keep them up! The more I hear what people think the more I want to write the next chapter! So please R&R :D