I'm really sorry but they're will be different lines for this chapter because my computer is messed up! Also, I'm just really sorry for those who hate this chapter, I promise that I'll apologize as much as you need me to, that's all. Enjoy!

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Chapter 25 An Old Friend and A New Hate

"Haru, you don't understand. I'm in love with Zuko!" Katara pleaded as she dropped the box with her dress and struggled with Haru's grasp. Haru stopped dragging her but tightened his hold.

"The rumors are true then, you love him." Haru turned around to face her. He pulled her closer to him and grabbed onto her other wrist. "How could you love him, Katara? He's from the Fire Nation? The Fire Nation doesn't feel love they only know the pain and misery that they cause the world. They killed your mother, you told me that yourself!"

"Zuko didn't have anything to do with my mother's death and he's human just like you and me, he feels! You're starting to sound just like Jet!" Katara screamed.

Haru laughed. "I guess when you hang out with a guy for a couple of months you start to act like them."

"You've been hanging around Jet?" Katara gasped. "Haru, you can't listen to Jet, his actions are too extreme! He'll kill 10 innocent people if it means being able to kill 5 Firebenders."

"Jet is a brilliant man Katara. Maybe he is a bit extreme but isn't the Fire Nation extreme for wanting to rule the world? Sometimes you have to act like your enemy to be able to defeat your enemy." Haru started dragging her again. "Let's head back to the hideout. Jet will be happy to see you again." he smirked.

"No, Haru! Let me go!" Katara screamed as she kicked her heels into the dirt and tugged on her arm. She grunted and cursed under her breath as she used all of her strength in trying to free herself.

"Alright Katara," Haru let go of her wrist. "If you really want to go back to him go ahead, I'm not going to force you into freedom."

"You don't know what you're talking about Haru," Katara rubbed her wrist, he had gripped it too tight for her. "I'm not Zuko's prisoner, I might have been at a time, but not anymore. I'm here of my own free will because he's a good person. When he becomes the Fire Lord, he'll end this war once and for all. You'll see."

"But he's been lying to you Katara." Haru sighed and walked away from her a bit. "I'm really sorry for you."

"Wait," she ran behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "What do you mean he's been lying to me?"

"You really think you're not his prisoner still? He might tell you that he loves you and maybe he really does, but he's still using you to hunt Aang." Haru sighed. "You still are bait to him, but now bait with benefits." he smirked.

"What!" Katara was appalled. "He doesn't think that way of me! He wanted to marry me--"

"And why didn't you get married then? Because you ran away, I have my connections Katara, I know everything you've been doing since you were captured by Zuko. You ran away from him because you wanted Aang and Sokka to be free. He chased after you because he knew that if he caught you again he could get Aang again too."

"No, you're...But he said..." thoughts whirled through Katara's mind as Haru reached his hand towards her.

"Come with me, Katara. Zuko will only end up hurting you and I don't want to see that happen. His kind are all murderers and I won't let them get you too. He won't be able to use you anymore Katara." Haru smiled that warm, gentle smile he had. Katara remembered when she first saw Haru give her that smile, it had melted her heart completely. Now it barely fazed her.

Haru may be right though, she thought. Zuko never did say that he liked my idea or that he would go along with it. Could that be because he has an idea for his own already? Is he still thinking of me as just bait?

"Alright Haru, I'll go with you but I'm not going to stay there. I want to hear what you have to say though." she grabbed his hand. He grinned and started to lead her away.

"Hey!" a voice boomed off of the alley walls. "You're not going anywhere with her." Zuko stepped forward, a guard and Lt. Jee by his side.

"Let her go, rebel! She's of no importance to you." Zuko fired up his hand and kept advancing slowly toward them.

"Stay back!" Haru warned. He grabbed Katara and held her against himself, using her as a human shield. "Take one step closer and she dies!" Katara felt numb and she froze.

"Hurt her and I promise your death will be slow and painful!" Zuko stood still but kept his flame at hand. "You have no weapon, how do you plan on killing her?"

"I'm an Earthbender." Haru informed. "I'll have the Earth swallow us." Haru took a step back and pulled Katara with him."If you don't believe me," Haru bended three stones off of the ground.

"I believe you," Zuko clenched his teeth. "Why kill yourself over her? She's innocent in all of this! She hasn't done anything wrong in fact she's been helping the Avatar. She's just my prisoner, why do you want her?"

Haru chuckled as he dropped the stones to the ground. "Don't try pulling that on me. I know that Katara means the world to you, everyone knows about Prince Zuko and how he feel in love with a Waterbender. So listen up, here's how it's going to be. Either Katara and I both leave here quietly and unharmed together, or we both die. It's up to you Zuko, will you watch as Katara leaves with another man? Or would you rather watch as she gets swallowed by the Earth with me? We'll be crushed or run out of oxygen, either way we'll die together and become part of the Earth." Haru took another step back. "What's your choice?"

"Why won't you let her go? I'll let you leave here without a scratch and I won't try looking for you. In fact, I'd leave this port now and never come back as long as you just hand Katara over to me." Zuko put out his hand fire and extended his arm toward them as a gesture to allow Katara to come towards him.

"It's not going to happen. I gave you you're options, now choose!" Katara tensed under Haru's arms that wrapped around her body like ivy on a wall. He wasn't going to watch her leave with Zuko, he didn't want to see her die either but he was willing to die with her if must be. "I'm not going to let you take Katara away from me, you already killed my parents!" Katara gasped.

"That's right Katara," Haru continued. "The Fire Nation killed my parents when we were trying to free a town from their grasp. The Fire Nation killed them, they killed Jet's parents, they killed yours, they'll kill everyone's parents. The Fire Nation will stop at nothing, they'll kill everything! They'll even kill you if they have the chance. So I won't give them that chance, I'm going to take you with me."

Zuko's arm feel limp at his side as he stood frozen in place. "You," he cleared his throat. "You love her also, don't you?"

"Yes," Haru nodded his head. "She the most daring and perfect girl in the world. How you tricked her into liking you I'll never know but I'm not going to let her leave me again. Last time was a mistake, but she had a duty to do. Now she's abandoned her duty and I'm not going to let her abandon me! We'll either leave together or die together, you would do the same if you really loved her."

"I know what you mean." Zuko nodded as he fooled around with his mood ring. It was black as night, so was Katara's, he knew it would be for he had never been so scared in his life. He was scared for Katara's life.

"When Katara left you, you weren't able to stop thinking about her and once you got her back you knew you would never say goodbye to her again, you'd make sure of it. That's exactly how I thought when Katara left me. I do love her, I've never loved anyone as much as I love her, my life seems incomplete without her." Zuko nodded slowly as he continued. "That's why I would rather die also then see Katara with another man. Because you feel the same way, that's why you must die."

Katara froze as she felt Haru's grip tighten on her, then suddenly his arms weren't around her anymore. She heard Haru choke as a warm liquid feel on her bare shoulder and rolled down her arm. She looked at her shoulder as the blood continued to roll off of her skin. She spun around and met Haru's pain struck eyes. Blood leaked out of the side of his mouth and his hands feel limply to his side. He didn't blink, he just kept staring at her until his knees grew weak and toppled over.

Katara screamed as he hit the dirt face forward. A knife was stuck in Haru's back, his shirt around the gash was stained red and the blood was draining onto the ground. One of Zuko's guards, the one that had snuck around the buildings and had stabbed Haru in the back, retrieved his sword out of Haru's back and wiped the blood off using his shirt.

Katara's eyes grew wide and her mouth hung open. She took a step back from Haru's lifeless husk of a body. Her world was growing black until she felt a pair of strong hands hold her. "It's okay Katara, I got you." she heard Zuko whisper in her ears. The blackness quickly left her as she pulled out of his arms.

"No, don't touch me! I might be able to save him! I just need to get some water, then I can save him." tears were streaming down her cheeks as she frantically headed out of the alley.

"Katara, no!" Zuko grabbed her and embraced her lovingly. "He's already dead, it's useless."

"No, don't touch me!" she pulled out of his grasp and stumbled against the wall. She leaned against it to help support herself. "You're a murderer! You had him killed, you ordered it, didn't you? Didn't you!" she yelled hysterically.

"He was going to kill you, it was the only way that I could make sure that you were safe. I wasn't about to let him hurt you, Katara." Zuko and Lt. Jee stepped towards her.

"No! Get away from me! You're all a bunch of murderers!" she sobbed as she slumped down the wall until she was in a fetal position. She held her face in her hands as she continued to bawl for her old friend. "Haru was right, he was right about all of you!"

Zuko gestured to Jee to get the rest of his guards. Jee bowed and quickly obeyed. He stood in the alley watching Katara cry until his guards came. "Katara, we have to go back to the ship now." he kneeled next to her as her sobs began to even out with her breathing. "Do you need help standing up?"

"He was my friend and you killed him." she said through her muffled mouth. She kept her hands over her face as Zuko spoke to her, he was the last person she wanted to see right now.

"Do you want me to get Uncle and have him escort you back to the ship?" Zuko offered as his heart began to ache in his chest. Katara shook her head.

"He's just like all of you, he's killed and ordered to kill before." she continued to weep. Zuko sighed and stood up. He looked at his guards and nodded his head.

"Escort Katara back to my room on the ship." Two guards bowed and grabbed onto Katara's arm, helping her up.

"Let me go!" she yelled as they ignored her wishes. Zuko's guards surrounded Katara and walked her back to the ship as she yelled for her freedom.

Zuko placed a hand over his heart and sighed. She doesn't even want to look at me, he felt as though he could die. He looked over at the guard who still stood beside the dead rebel. "Burn the body," Zuko ordered as he felt like he shouldn't leave the port leaving a boy's corpse in his own pool of blood. He was still from the Fire Nation and he didn't like to leave evidence of bad deeds committed by him. The guard obeyed and quickly lit the body on fire. The smell of burning flesh, Zuko concluded as the scent flew from the flames and met his nose. I've smelled that once before only that time, it was my flesh that was burning.

Zuko nodded to the guard as he finished his job and noticed a small wooden box left in the alley. Zuko walked over to the small box and picked it up. Zuko walked out of the alley, leaving behind only the blood stained ground as any proof that a boy named Haru was once there.

Lt. Jee and some of the guards that weren't needed for escorting Katara followed behind their silent Prince they all headed solemnly back to the ship.

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Zuko slowly opened the door to his room. No surprise to him was that he found Katara looking out the window from the chair in the room. He walked in and closed the door behind him. He opened the small box that he had been holding and looked at the dress inside it. "I'm guessing you bought this dress?" he asked as he attempted to make small talk. He knew Katara probably didn't want to talk about what had happened earlier that day. He would ask her a couple questions about who exactly that guy was and how she knew him later.

"No," she answered. "Haru bought it for me while he was acting like my husband in the shop." Zuko closed the box and placed it on the table in front of the mirror.

"Why didn't you use the money I gave you?" he asked as he silently cringed at the mention of the rebel. He was trying to not bring him up and ended up doing it.

"Haru handed the lady the money before I had time to while he was acting as my husband. He just did it then dragged me into the alley. We talked, he started to say some stuff, then you showed up. You know the rest." she sighed as she hugged her knees in the chair.

"Right," Zuko rubbed his neck. Might as well just talk about it now and get it over with. "So how did you feel about this guy Katara?" he moved the other chair in the room next to Katara and sat down.

"How did I feel about him?" she repeated. "He was my friend Zuko, nothing more, nothing less. He was a good person who cared a lot about the good of his people. He just wanted freedom and to live with his family in peace. But he never got a chance to."

"Katara, he was going to kill you. I did the only thing I could to keep you out of harm's way." he ran his fingers lightly through her hair.

She jerked her head away from him. "There were other options, you could have had your guard just knock him out. Or you could have just let him take me to the rebel's hideout. I could have escaped and I would have come back to you. I can take care of myself." Haru was right about them, they're all murderers. Why didn't I believe him earlier? If I did, he'd still be alive. Her thoughts raced through her head.

"The guards that were supposed to be watching you, when they noticed you had left they said you had been gone for a good five minutes at least. What were you two talking about?" Zuko asked, he hated to have to do this, but he needed to get any information about the rebels out of Katara that she might know.

"We just talked." her voice revealed that she was getting angry.

"About?" Zuko pressed on. He knew he was starting to annoy her but if there were more rebels then he needed to stop them before a similar situation happens.

"Why do you want to know?" Katara yelled. She was angry now, Zuko knew it.

"I just need to know if you heard anything about any of the rebels' plans. I thought he might have mentioned something to you." Zuko finally just came out with it. He figured she would have gotten the truth out of him one way or another.

She collected all of her thoughts before she spoke again. "You're interrogating me, aren't you? You're just trying to get information out of me. You're using me." she glared. He didn't see the glare as her back was still to him, but it made her feel a little bit better when she glared. "Well, you should know we only talked about you."

"About me?" Zuko had never suspected that.

"Yes and now I see what Haru was saying and how he was right about you. You're just using me!" Katara stood up and stormed toward the door.

"Katara, where do you think you're going?" Zuko stood up and went after her. Katara was still in the same outfit but she was barefoot now and as soon as she stepped onto the cold metal of the dock she shivered. "Katara!" she heard Zuko, he was behind her now and had wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Don't touch me," she ran out of his arms and to the railing. She looked over at the cold, moving water below.

"We left the port over 2 hours ago, you wouldn't be able to swim or even use you Waterbending to get back there. So where are you going to go Katara?" he spun her around and she closed her eyes. "You can't run away from what happened today, just accept that I did what I had to to save you."

"You weren't saving me," she slowly opened her eyes. "I had agreed to go with him."

"What?" Zuko's eyes narrowed. "You promised that you were done running."

"And you promised you'd stop hunting Aang but I know you're still following after him!" Katara accused.

"Because when I find him and your brother I'd tell them that I'm not holding you prisoner, that you've decided to stay with me." Zuko crossed his arms.

"You told me that you would find them and tell them my idea. Remember my idea? You don't care about it, do you? You're just going to go ahead with your own idea! You're going to use me as bait and lure Aang into a false security around you and then capture him, you did it to me a few days ago why wouldn't you do it to him when you saw him again? I'm still just bait to you, I bet even the marriage was just a hoax to you. You never truly loved me, you probably planned to have me killed right after the marriage!" Katara ranted as she matched the glare that Zuko was sending her.

"How could you think I don't love you? If I didn't love you I would have just let that bastard rebel take you away and fake that I still had you with me to capture the Avatar. Explain why I didn't do that if I don't love you?" Zuko yelled as his glare intensified.

"Maybe because that thought just occurred to you now and so you're kicking yourself for not doing that now. I wish you did just let me go with Haru, he was going to tell me the truth about you because I obviously have been lied to about who you really are!" Katara stopped glaring and looked over Zuko's shoulder. A crowd had grew behind them. Her expression grew sad as she saw Iroh and Jee sighing from the crowd.

Zuko turned around and grabbed Katara's wrist. "What are you all staring at?" he yelled at the group, no one moved or said a word. "Get back to work!" he started to drag Katara back to his room. He made sure to slam all of the doors he came by.

"Katara I hope you know what you said out there was unforgivable. How could you trust this Haru guy more then me? How could you think that I don't love you?" Zuko acted furious but truthfully he was just hurt. Really hurt. A raging fire was kindling inside of himself and he knew he was going to explode if he didn't get rid of his anger.

"Haru told me things about you, things that I didn't believe at first. Didn't want to believe." she paused and sat back in her chair. "He told me that you had been lying to me, that you've hurt people, and that you were a murderer."

"I'm telling you that I'm not." Zuko started to calm himself down and sat next to her. "Who do you believe? Do you still think I don't love you?" Katara looked at her hands and remained silent. "What if I told you that I'm willing to prove that I love you?" Katara looked at him and smiled. "Tell me what you want me to do, I'll do it."

Katara thought about what it would take for Zuko to prove that he loved her, that he wasn't using her. "Promise me that when you're Fire Lord, you'll end the war."

Zuko nodded. "I'll promise if you promise to never try to leave me again." Katara nodded.

"I promise." she smiled as Zuko placed his hand on hers.

"So do I." he kissed her on her forehead.