Well here it it! Finally chapter 9 is here! Chapter 10 isn't far behind!

If you are reading this then thank you. Keep reading and tell me if you would be ok with another lemon in chapter 11. Some people have smuttier taste so let me know if that is too much.

Zuko, Aang and Kunai stood In the courtyard, in their firebending stance. Kunai took a deep breath, focusing on keeping her firebending at par with Aang. She had mastered the art with Zuko yet Aang still had problems with it and if she were to go full on, it would be obvious something was up. Zuko began the combination and the two followed, shooting a ball of fire of average size in front of them.

"Ok. I guess we're done with exercises now." Said Zuko glumly.

"I'm going exploring!" said Kunai happily. Everyone stared at her blankly.

"What? I just wanna check the place out." She smiled and wandered off. She walked quietly through every corridor of the house until she found a small room. She walked in slowly, sensing something different about the room .She came to a small dresser with an ornate mirror. On the dresser was a red hair clip, set in gold. She awed it and gingerly and held it in front of her, watching it sparkles in the sunlight filtering in from the closed window. She slowly raised the clip to her head, softly placing it on the top of her head, smiling at the sight of herself wearing such a beautiful clip.

"That belonged to my mother." Zuko's voice echoed through the room as he appeared in the mirror. Kunai flinched, making a mental note to stop wearing shoes so people couldn't sneak up on her. She turned around.

"I'm sorry Zuko. I… I just found it." She put it back on the dresser.

"It's fine." He walked over to her slowly and picked up the clip, turning Kunai towards the mirror. He put the clip in her hair and watched her eyes glow.

"It's fitting." He said quietly. Kunai looked up at his face, he seemed troubled.

"You don't talk about your mother a lot Zuko." She said quietly, turning towards him. She knew parts of the story. She had left when he was just a boy. Zuko stayed silent, slowly placing the clip back on the dresser.

"What was she like?" she asked, wandering the room. She picked up a scroll and began to open it when he grabbed it from her hands.

"She was amazing and I'd rather you not touch the scrolls." He placed the scrolls on the table relinquishing his grip slowly. He looked at Kunai and he could see that she wanted more.

"She always babied me. I was her youngest anyway. She always used to tell me I was like her little turtle duck. She loved turtle ducks." He smiled nostalgically.

"Azula always hated turtle ducks. She thought they were weak and useless. She and my mother never got along."

"I bet your mother was beautiful." Said Kunai happily. Zuko let his stoic features soften a bit.

"Come one. Let's go for a walk." He held her hand and started towards the door.

"Um Zuko. Can I just ask you one thing?" she asked.

"Sure Kunai."

"When we tell them, the others about…us… are we going to tell them everything. About me being a firebender." She looked so fragile thinking about that day, like she was genuinely scared. He pulled her close to him, kissing her softly.

"That is up to you, Love." With that they walked off, hand In hand only releasing their grip when they could hear their unknowing friends.

"It's great to finally be out!" said Kunai twirling. They had decided to go into town since they were low on food anyway. Kunai was excited to finally get an excuse to wear her firenation reds. She loved red.

"You got a point. We finally get to have human contact with other people. You guys get real boring real fast." Said Toph unsurprisingly.

"At least you guys don't have to wear stupid hats. This thing itches!" whined Aang, scratching at his cap.

"This cloak isn't that pleasant either." Said Zuko referring to the cloak he had pulled over the the left side of his face. Kunai giggled.

"You know we can't forget to get-" suddenly she stopped, staring ahead.

"Agni. It can't be." She whispered excitedly. Suddenly she started walking forward.

"Hikari! Hikari!" she called out. A woman of about 20 turned to her.

"Kunai? Oh Agni! Kunai!" The woman, Hikari, ran towards Kunai, embracing her while squealing and laughing.

"Oh Kunai let me look at you! Oh you've grown up so much! Has it really only been 6 months?" she said, awing Kunai. The others walked up, quite confused. Kunai was quick to introduce everyone.

"This is Hikari everyone. She was like a sister to me when I lived with the militia. Hikari this is Katara, Aang, Sokka, Toph, Sukki and…" she paused when she looked at Zuko.

"…Haru. So is the rest of the militia here?" she asked, quickly changing the subject.

"Yes actually. Me and Aki are the reason we even stopped to come into town. We had to find a real physician."

"Wait. You and Aki?" she asked excitedly.

"Yep. We were married not long after you left and now…" She patted her stomach lovingly.

"…we've got out first little one on the way." Kunai squealed happily, showering Hikari in congratulations, and hugging her tight. Just then a tall lanky man came up to the group.

"Well if it isn't little Kunai."

"Aki!" she hugged the man and he laughed, swinging her around.

"So what are you doing in the firenation?" he asked.

"We're waiting here until the comet." She whispered.

"You're attacking on the day of the comet? Well it seems that you could use some help with that. I'm leading the militia now and I bet everyone would be more than happy to fight."
Kunai turned to the group.

"This is exactly what we need! More fighters!" she squealed.

"Let's talk about this somewhere else. Follow us." Hikari said. She started off towards an area of wood and they followed not far behind. Kunai and Zuko fell behind the group.

"They're going to find out who I am soon enough." He said. She simply shrugged and smiled at him.

"So that's it then!" said Sokka happily. The group had just spent the whole day talking with the militia. Kunai had spent most of the day hugging and meeting up with friends and playing with babies who she had missed grow up. It was long past sunset.

They had decided the militia's sword fighters would take to Ba-Sing-Se taking out individual soldiers while the benders would go with Kunai on an aerial attack on the firenation palace. Zuko had been revealed very early on and surprisingly everyone took the news quite well except for a few young boys who bent rocks at him.

"It's time we left. It's getting late." Said Aang rising to his feet. Kunai stood with the others, turning to everyone.

"It's been so great to see you all again. And it's an honor to fight with you all." She smiled. Hikari rose to her feet and embraced Kunai. The girls stared at each other, exchanging girlish giggles. Kunai bent some water out of the air and put the small ball of water in her friend's hand. The group watched as the girls did and intricate hand shake ending with the water being bent into a frozen flower. They giggled and let the water drop to the ground.

"I never thought I'd see you again Hikari." Said Kunai, her eyes glazed over with nostalgic tears.

"I never thought I'd see you again, lil sis. I love you!" she said, taking Kunai in a deep hug one more time.

"Well. I'll see you on the battlefield." Said Kunai. Hikari smiled and Kunai followed her friends, letting a tear slide down her face.

"Zuko stop. You're overexerting." said Kunai, watching Zuko wince as he went through some exercises.

" Nothing a little workout can't fix. Aaah!" he held his arm on his back, falling to the ground, much to the amusement of the others.

"Ok. You're done. Come with me and I'll work the knot out for you."

"I thought Katara was supposed to be the one playing mom." Toph laughed, blushing when Aang laughed too. Kunai just rolled her eyes and led Zuko off to his room.

"Sit." She demanded, pointing to the bed. He obliged. She got on her knees behind him and placed a hand on his neck. It was hot but he couldn't feel any fire. Kunai giggled her young uplifting giggle.

"I've been practicing. All it takes is a little focus. I'll show you sometime. Take your shirt off."

"Hmm. And why would that be?" he asked coyly, taking off his shirt.

"So I can get to the huge knot in your back, idiot." She teased. She began massaging his back with her boiling hands. The deep radiating heat quickly got to work on his tight and strained muscles. When he felt he was as healed as he needed to be, he scooted back on the bed, drawing Kunai into his lap.

"You know we never really got another chance to-"

"…make hot, passionate love?" she finished, tracing her finger down the ripples in his chest. He just smiled and brought his lips to hers, slipping his tongue into her mouth. He pulled her tunic top over her head, breaking the kiss for only a moment before capturing her mouth again. He moved to her neck, lightly nipping on her skin. She moaned softly, releasing wordless praises. Kunai rolled her hips against his lap making his already rock hard length grow even harder with anticipation. He tangled his fingers in her hair as he layed her down against the bed. That was the moment that made everything change. Forever .

Outside, the gang was relaxing with melon juice when they heard a scream from inside the house. They all stood, unaware of the cause. Then they heard the scream lud and clear, word for word.

"Zuko! Stop! Get off!" They all turned to each other, looking for confirmation of what they'd just heard. Sokka was the first to talk.

"Let's go! Who knows what he could be doing?" he said angrily. Toph followed behind them, silently. She knew there was a slim possibility of Zuko hurting Kunai but there was also a host of other reasons for her to be screaming those words. The true reason being that Zuko fingers were stuck in Kunai's thick black hair. When he laid her down he pulled her hair hard from her head. Try as they must they couldn't figure out how to fix the problem .As they struggled in bed the team suddenly burst in. The two sat up shocked, somehow finding a way to untangle themselves. For a moment in time they all just stared at each other as Kunai clutched the blanket to her chest and everyone looked bewildered. Toph and Kunai's eyes met and Toph wished she could take that pain away from Kunai.

When reality had sunk into them both Kunai and Zuko started searching for their clothes and the words to eplain themselves. Sokka jumped at Zuko only to be held back by Aang. He was screaming something about rape and Kunai rolled her eyes, trying hard to keep her composure.

"Sokka. Zuko wasn't trying to rape me." She said quietly.

"How long has this been going on?" asked Katara. Kunai's eyes grew wide and she looked to Zuko, then to the window in the room. Unsatisfied with the silence, Katara spoke again.

"When did this all start?" her question just got worse and worse. Kunai felt trapped. She backed away from the group feeling a painful amount of gravity about the situation. Tears started forming I n her eyes when suddenly she headed towards the window. Just as she was about to jump out to find sanctuary,
Zuko grabbed her amr, looking lovingly at her. She turned fiercely at him.

"When this all blows up… I don't want to be here." She nearly whispered. And with that she lept. Zuko sighed and puffed up his chest t turn back to the group.

"I suppose it's up to me to explain." And that he did. He told them all about her fever. He told them about how kissed him in the woods. He told them about their night at the hot spring, sparing as many details as possible. He told them everything. When the story was gone they all sat there in silence.

"So… so Kunai was a firebender?" asked Aang finally. Zuko could sense where this was going and quickly went on the defensive.

"Yes but she-"

"She could have taught me firebending."

"No. She wasn't a master. She couldn't-"

"She lied to us. She betrayed us!" Aang stood up from his tantrum and began storming away. Before he could make it out of the hallway Zuko spun him around.

"Listen. Kunai may have lied to you but that was only to protect you. I trained her because I knew what it was like to be an outsider. So don't you every call her a betrayer again. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go find her." He said it in a low tone so drenched with anger and hostility that Zuko couldn't scream. He struggled to make it outside. The anger of hearing them berate Kunai and the realization that it maybe was them against the world was almost too much to bear.

Everyone followed close behind him, trying to keep quiet as to not make Zuko angrier than he already was. They heard screaming coming from the distance accompanied by the roar of fire. They all shrunk at the sound but Zuko kept on determined to find her. Eventually they found the her. She was laying on a patch of singed grass, crying and screaming as steam rose from her body, her dragons extended almost to her fingertips. She felt them coming but did nothing. There was nothing to do. Everyone paused, not sure how to handle the situation. They watched as Zuko walked up to her, placing a hand on her sunken shoulder. She looked up at him and met his golden eyes. She glanced back at the group.

"I'm scared." she mouthed. He just looked at her. His eyes said enough. They said I'm here for you. I will protect you. It will be ok. She whipped her face and stood, turning to everyone.

"Why didn't you tell us you were a firebender?" said Katara more awe struck then angry.

"Firebending was my only secret growing up .Not only was I nowhere near a master but had anyone known they would have hated me." She stared challengingly at them. Everyone was speechless but Kunai quickly broke that silence.

"Zuko and I are in love. We didn't tell you because we knew this would happen and we didn't want to mess everything up before the comet. We have a lot to prepare for so remember what we're here for." They all looked at her with nothing to say. She had a way of being unquestionably right. Slowly they all headed back to the home in silence. Zuko draped his arm across Kunai's shoulder and Kunai wrapped her arms around Zuko's waist .Suddenly Toph spoke up when they were halfway there.

"Ok I can't take this anymore! Sparky I gotta tell you something!"

"Toph don't!" Kunai squeaked.

"It's for your own good Sweet Cheeks. I knew the whole time!" Everyone was silent. Zuko stared at Kunai, his expression unreadable.

"If I knew and didn't freak out then you guys should too. Your all so uptight." And off she went. Toph could do that. Drop a bomb and leave as if nothing had happened with this crazy confidence. Kunai turned to Zuko. He shook his head and stormed off.

"Zuko!" she called after him. As much as she wanted to run after him she knew it would be best to let him cool off.

Kunai dropped her hands to her sides and let tears drip down her cheeks. Everything she never wanted to happen… happened.

Review and get a cookie!

Review and tell me if a lemon in chapter 11 would be too much