I was blind
But oh, how you could see
You saw the beauty in everything, everything and me
I would cry
And you would smile
You'd stay with me a little while
Sweet misery you cause me
That's what you called me
Sweet misery you cause me
And in my heart I see, oh
What you're doing to me
And in my heart I see, oh
Just how you wanted it to be
Sweet misery

--Michelle Branch--

Chapter 20: Sweet Misery

Burning eyes of hatred watched out into the horizon. Sounds of working men and occasional fire blasts traveled through his ears, when he heard the approaching steps of a soldier. Sneering, he turned around to face the younger aged soldier to see him sticking out rolled up piece of parchment.

"Admiral Zhao, we've just received another letter from Princess Zula," stated the soldier as he stuck out the rolled up piece of paper. It was a light brown color and was tied in the middle with a thin piece of red ribbon.

Zhao raised an eyebrow and walked forward in such a superior way that the soldier stepped back. The soldier nervously jerked out his hand, and watched as Zhao snatched the parchment right out of his hands.

Admiral Zhao,

I've been having my messenger bird fly around these waters and land to search for my brother. At alas he has found him. Just like I expected after snatching his map, he's located at Xiao-Lin. He's been there for a couple of days and I'm unsure of what he's doing there, but what ever it is, it will soon be interrupted. Upon my first visit with him, he seemed to have these feelings towards that water tribe girl, and even though he denied these feelings, I feel that there is so much more than what he's telling. He's hiding; for my plan to work out I'll need precision, and that's where you'll come in. I know that if anything were to happen to that girl, he would do anything to protect her, even if that means staying in Xiao-Lin for a few more days. Right now, I'm only a few days away from Xiao-Lin while you on the other hand, and days away, which is why you need to command your crew to make course for Xiao-Lin immediately. Just in a matter of time, we'll be playing my brother's emotions and capture the Avatar. This will be a great victory for both you and me.

-Zula-

"Sir, what does the letter say?" asked the soldier.

"Tell my men to plan a course to Xiao-Lin. There is a certain banished Prince there, and telling from this, the Avatar will be there as well," responded Zhao.

"But sir, we haven't been able to track down the Avatar for a week, how do you know that he'll be there?" the soldier asked again.

"Don't question my demands! I feel that Zula has something great planned, and she will not be taken for granted. Now go and set a course, and while you're doing that, send out the YuuYan archers," demanded Zhao.

"Yes sir, right away," said the soldier, while bowing before Zhao.

Katara looked over at the prince and saw that he was looking out into the ocean. She could tell that he was caught up in the rhythms of the ocean waves hitting against the soft sand. He looked relaxed but seemed to be concentrating at the same time. She let out a small sigh and crossed her legs in front of her. Scooping her hand across the surface of the sand, she picked up a small amount and watched it as it drifted out of her palm by the light gusts of the morning wind.

"You're so much different than what I expected," Katara started to say.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" he asked, while caught off guard by her words.

"It depends how you look at it. I guess in my perspective and everyone else's, it's a good thing. But your nation may think otherwise."

"Why do you put so much trust into me? I'm from the Fire Nation, I've chased you and your friends for months, and my Nation killed your family," he said, "it doesn't make any sense."

"But who said the world has to make sense? Before my mother died, she would tell me everyday to respect others no matter what they've done or what their status may be. Ever since then, I've learned to respect others…even if they are my enemy. You shouldn't treat people differently just because they're not the same as you."

"But how am I different than the people of my Nation?" Zuko asked sounding confused.

"You just are. Even when you first captured me, you didn't treat me like Zhao did. I know that's part of your customs as well, but still, most Fire Nation people don't follow what they're supposed to. If you think about it, we're a lot alike," she responded while rubbing her toes between the sand.

"What will our nation's think when the find out…you know," he tried saying.

"About us being friends?" she asked.

"Yeah, friends…" he said with a decreasing tone. He was hoping she meant more, but he knew that was too good to be true.

"I'm not sure. Usually the other nations and the Fire Nation don't really mix, if you know what I mean."

She gave him a weak smile and saw sudden disappointment crawling across his face. He was acting so different compared to her first night on his ship. She watched as he turned his attention to the cerulean colored water once again. Beads of sweat trickled down his back which showed great dominance. Never in her life had she seen something so powerful looking as his body, and just being a teenager with a body like that, made her wonder even more. Sure it was quite intimidating but that didn't mean it was hard to look at. His muscles showed supremacy along with hidden beauty. She knew there was more to him than meets the eye, even if he was from the Fire Nation.

"Why did you save him?" she asked.

"You mean the Avatar?" he questioned.

"Yes. I know you saved him because Zhao had captured him and you wanted to restore your honor…but there has to be more to it than just that. Aang told me about how The Blue Spirit rescued him and how well you two worked together. He also told me that he rescued you when you were knocked out, and that for some reason you didn't attack him right away when you woke up," she said while looking at him.

"When I first woke up, he was telling me about his old friend Kouzan and how he was from the Fire Nation. Apparently they were best friends 100 years ago even, and he wondered if we could have ever been friends even though we're enemies right now," Zuko explained.

"Could you?" she asked.

"Be friends with the Avatar? It's hard to tell. Do I dislike the kid because he's the Avatar and that my whole Nation hates him so I should too, or is it because I really do dislike him?"

"I think it's a little bit of both. You grew up believing that the Avatar is the only thing standing in the way of your Nation obtaining complete power, but at the same time you really do dislike him, because he's the only way that you'll regain your honor."

"My honor…I don't even know what that is anymore," said Zuko while leaning back onto the sand. He supported himself by his elbows while his arms were lying in the sand on both sides of him. "Do you really think my father wanted me to come back?"

"Do you want me to an optimist or a realist?" she asked, sounding rather sad.

"A realist," he responded.

"Then no," she began saying, "after hearing what your sister had to say and then seeing your past, it's hard to believe that your father wanted you to return. He sent you out on the most impossible task and it wasn't until recently that your mission looked physically possible. When your father first told you that you needed to find the Avatar you were almost into unconsciousness. Moments later you blacked out. He knew that during that time, it was impossible to find the Avatar which is why he sent you to do his dirty work."

"This whole time I've been denying the inevitable. Now he has sent out my sister to capture the Avatar and to eliminate me from his life. No matter what I do, it'll never please my father. Things will never change between us. Ever since I was little I always looked up to him, especially after my mother died. Without her, my family felt incomplete. Everyday my father would train me in my firebending and my studies. But when my sister excelled beyond me in just a matter of weeks, he developed great disappointment about me. That determined me to practice night and day so that I would be better than her. But no, it was not meant to happen. I was below my sister and my father was embarrassed by my weakness. No matter how much I trained and no matter whom I trained with, my sister continued to out do me. I wouldn't exactly call it a childhood that's worth going back too."

"But you're not weak. You're one of the strongest Firebenders that I've ever seen. Trust me, you're way better than that Admiral Zhao," Katara complimented as she got up from the ground, wiping of the small bits of sand that clanged to her dress.

Katara turned around to see him sulking into deep thoughts. Hearing him talk about his past was much different than seeing it. For some reason, it seemed more painful to hear him speak about it, as the words pierced right through her like hard cold icicles. He looked depressed; she knew he needed some sort of fun in his life. Well, if he even knew what that was. She walked slowly towards the water and watched as the waves washed up onto her feet. The chilliness, sent thousands of goose bumps up her body but that didn't stop her. Placing one hand out in front of her, she pulled up a small stream of water and directed it towards Zuko. The instant sensation of the cold water awoke Zuko immediately as he looked up to see Katara standing in the ocean.

"Hey, don't look so serious, you need to have a little fun once and awhile," she yelled to him.

"What about your burn? I thought you couldn't --"

"Hey, stop avoiding the subject. My arm will heal, don't worry," she assured. She grinned as she watched the prince slowly arise from the ground. He began walking slowly towards her, but for Katara, that was just too slow. She withdrew another stream of water and hurled it towards Zuko. With puzzlement, he watched as the stream of water wrapped around his waist while Katara pulled him closer to her. On her last attempt to pull him closer, she tripped slightly, breaking her concentration on the stream of water. Moments later, she fell back onto the sand, with Zuko as well, whose hands were straddled on both sides of her head.

Her blue eyes met his golden ones, and his mesmerizing stare entranced her. Her heart began to beat faster as she let out small intervals of cold breaths towards him. He could feel her gentle breath brushing across his chest and across his neck, while she could feel his warmth spreading all around her.

Looking into her cerulean eyes, he watched them sparkle in the morning sun. It seemed like every day she was growing more and more beautiful in his eyes, and yearned so much for her affection. But looking at her, only made it feel worse. There she was; someone that he truly wanted in his life but she was untouchable. The tides of war and social class prevented him from ever having any real contact with her. Not only that, but he was unsure if she felt the same way since she had said that they were only friends.

The thoughts of war and a caste system didn't stop him. He lifted up his left hand and laid it upon the right side of her face. Watching her close her eyes, he ran his fingers through her silky locks that were now out of a braid formation. Her hair was so soft to the touch.

Katara opened her eyes and brought up her right hand and placed it on his. She closed her eyes again, and all the memories of her and the Blue Spirit raced back to her. Even after finding out that he was the Blue Spirit, his touch was the same. It was gentle and something she wanted more of. She watched again, as she realized that their faces were becoming closer and closer with each passing second. Their noses soon touched one another as their cold and warm breaths mixed together, forming an intense force between them. Katara's heart began to beat even faster.

"Wait," she suddenly said, "Zuko, I'm sorry but…" she started to say again, "I can't do this," she finished, pushing him away slightly and getting up from the ground. "We're just friends."

"Right, just friends…" he hesitantly said.

"Well I have to go and…do some stuff. I'll see you later," she said in a tone of confusion.

Zuko lifted himself up from the ground, as he watched Katara walk away into the village. Frustration began to build up inside of him. He knew that it wouldn't work, but his feelings towards her just couldn't hold him back from showing what he really felt. Now she knew what he felt for her, and it was embarrassing yet at the same time relieving. She was so confusing to him. One moment she acted as if she liked him too, and then the next she was denying the fact.

"How can I prove myself to her?"

Oathkeeper: Finally a new chapter, and I'm sorry that it's so short, but as most of you know by now, my inspiration has just fallen in the toilet. Literally. I hope the ZFM enjoyed the little bit of fluff between Katara and Zuko since it was pretty interesting to write. And yes, most of this chapter was dialogue but that's only because I LOVE to write conversations between Katara and Zuko and there really haven't been a lot of them in this fic so far, so I figured this was a good time to have some. Please Review.

Oh, and my email is up and running again, and I would also like to thank all of those who've sent me such nice comments regarding to my situation with my friend, the mean the world to me. Things are going pretty well except for the heavy amounts of Chemo, which is why I'm by her side 24-7. But with a week of vaction coming up for me, this will hopefully mean that I'll be able to write more chapters, but I can't guarantee anything.