The number of people who asked for an update was a tad surprising. Anyway, I managed to get a chapter together for you all. This is a Zutara heavy chapter. But doesn't mean there aren't other things that happens in this chapter. You see more of Utakata and you meet someone else too. And you learn some more of Zuko's past. And that cliffhanger…

Trigger Warning: Jet

Chapter 23

Araph had a headache. The blazing sun of Earth Kingdom was making her nauseated. She took a swig of water from her water skin, grimacing at the luke-warm liquid. She wiped the sweat off her forehead with her sleeve and looked at the piece of paper in her hand. Just a little more.

She flicked the reins of the ostrich horse and sighed. She wanted nothing more than just to flop on a bed and pass out. But that was not an option. Not until she had finished her job. She licked her lips and grimaced at the taste of dust on her tongue. She pulled out a strip of cured meat from her bag and began chewing on it, more to take her mind off the building ache in her head than to satiate her hunger.

After what seemed like a lifetime, Araph spotted a battered wooden board that declared that her destination was right round the corner. She let out a sigh of relief and patted the neck of the ostrich horse. With a burst of energy, she covered the final stretch of the journey. At the entrance of the tavern, Araph hopped off her ostrich horse and tied her ride to a post. She walked into the building, sighing with relief at the shade. The noise and the stench did make her head throb, but it was better than being out in the blistering heat.

Araph waited for her eyes to adjust to the change of light. She spotted the one she was looking for almost instantly. The hunter named June was lounged on a chair, with one arm slung on the back of the chair, a pint of frothy beer held in the other. A man was hovering around her, perhaps hoping to catch her eye but June ignored him. Araph cut through the tables and reached the hunter. Without a word, she placed the lotus tile in front of the hunter. June looked from the tile to Araph and back to the tile again.

"Sit," she said.

Araph settled on the chair across June and handed her the scroll that General Iroh had given her. She read through the letter and nodded. "Got any scent sample?"

"I do," Araph said and pulled out a belt from her bag. "This belongs to him."

"And my payment?"

Araph brought out a pouch, another scroll, and handed it to her, "This is half the payment. You will get the remaining payment once the work is done. Give him the scroll when you see him."

"It's late now and I am drunk," June said. "I start early tomorrow morning. You can have a drink on me."

Utakata waved to his brother and sister-in-law, then turned to his niece. "I'm off. Please, for my sake, behave, okay? Don't throw a tantrum again, okay?"

"You just go," Toph replied. "Don't fret yourself with the things that you abandon."

"Toph –"

The blind girl paid no attention to him as she marched up the steps of her mansion. As he watched his niece stomp away, he had to wonder why Poppy and Lao never seem to marvel at the way their 'blind' daughter moved with such assurance. Why did they never question how she knew where to go? He did feel for her. There was nothing worse than being a talented bender and yet being forced to hide it just to avoid her parents' hysterics. It was nothing short of a tragedy. Yet, he had to think about the bigger picture. Once his plan was executed, he would probably do something for Toph. But till the, she would just have to wait.

He climbed on his carriage and started on his way. Once out of the Beifong mansion ground, he let his thoughts wander to the two captives. Specifically, the Waterbender. She had the gall to threaten Jet in front of him. But the backwater peasant needed to be pulled down several pegs to remind her of her place. He knew Jet would teach her an appropriate lesson, while satiating his own desires. Utakata's lips twitched into a smile, as he imagined the ways Jet might be enjoying himself. Utakata had specifically instructed him to escalate gradually, making sure she reached the level of desperation that would make her do exactly what Jet wanted.

He was just outside Gaoling when something caught his eye. On a board outside of Gaoling, a flyer with the portrait of the Fire Prince Zuko. He pulled his carriage to a halt and jumped off the carriage. He yanked the flier from the board and read it, feeling rage building within him, feeling his best laid plans falling apart. The notice from Fire Nation was dated two days after Toph had abducted him. While they were still in the tunnels, the Dai Li had attacked the Fire Nation war camp and decimated it. For abandoning his camp and fleeing the war, Fire Lord Ozai had banished his son.

"Your father?"

Zuko kept his eyes away from her and fixed on his hands. "Yes."

"Wh…why? How…"

"Can we not talk about this, please?" he said in a pained voice. "I can't…"

She settled in front of him and grabbed his hands, "You don't have to say another word. I won't ask."

A sob lodged itself in its throat and he let out a small choking sound. Katara reached over and took his face into her hands, cold and calloused as they were, they provided a comfort that he had been yearning all his life. "Okay, I won't ask you why it happened," Katara said. "I understand. Sometimes, somethings cut you down to the bone, don't they?"

He nodded, unable to look away from her captivating eyes. Her thumbs were drawing small circles on his cheeks.

"Those wounds, the ones we carry in our hearts, are the toughest to deal with. Can't live with them, can't cast them away."

"You too?"

She nodded, "I was five when I saw my mother's dead body. She was gang-raped and mutilated."

Zuko gasped, unable to wrap his head around the horror. "Five?"

"Yes," she said, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. "But… I was fortunate. What happened to me, was done by strangers. Enemies. As much as I hate it, I can understand. Also, I had my father who loved me unconditionally. A brother who had experienced the same pain and helped me bear the burden. I had a friend who stood by me. But… how does a child live when it's their own parent who has done the worst?"

Zuko raised his hand and wiped the tears from her eyes, "That doesn't make it easy for a five-year-old to have witnessed what you did."

"I'm not saying it was easy," she said moving slightly closer. "It was horrible. But having people to help through pain helps. But you had no one, did you?"

He ran his hand through her hair, and asked softly, "How did you know that?"

"From what you've told me, your sister isn't exactly friendly. Your mother had passed away a while back. Besides, while talking about your injury, the only person who you have mentioned is Matsu, your healer. You were all alone, weren't you?"

Tears that he had buried deep within him, pooled in his eyes. Slowly, Katara leaned forward and kissed his tears off his cheeks. The action had seemed so natural that he did not even question why she had done it or why he did what he did next. He pulled her into his arms and lay his head on her shoulder, allowing himself to breakdown. Somehow, he knew she would never think any less of him for crying. In fact, at that moment, it felt as though he had been burning under a scorching heat for so long and suddenly, unexpectedly, life had given him shade. A refuge. So, he let go. Without worrying about anything, he let the pain in his heart pour from his eyes.

When Katara woke up next morning, her body was sore. It hurt everywhere, but she had a smile on her face. Yesterday, after Zuko had cried on her shoulder, the two of them sat talking for hours. They talked about everything and nothing. He spoke about some of the ridiculous rules that they were meant to follow as Fire Nation royalty. Was it really possible to insult a noble by putting on too many pleats on their stole? And did they really sit for dining with three glasses? Every meal? Why?

While Katara spoke about some of the weirder things of her own country. He could not understand why a woman was not allowed to own property. They got into a long and rather heated debate about women's rights and what it entailed. Lost in their debate, they barely paid any attention to Haru who had walked in with their meals. He had wanted to talk to Katara, but she waved him off, barely breaking her sentence. It was only much later that she realized that he had come in.

From there, they had moved on to their exes. Zuko explained that his ex-girlfriend had been an apathetic person. Once, that's exactly what he had needed. His emotions had been all over then place and her stoic presence had helped him be grounded. But then, when he needed her to be there with him, she continued to be apathetic. He admitted that he wasn't proud of what he had done after that. In fact, it was the thing he felt most guilty about. It had taken some prodding from her, but he admitted to sleeping with his girlfriend's best friend, a girl named Ty Lee, knowing that it would ruin their relationship. All he had wanted was to evoke some reaction from her. At least he had been successful in that endeavor.

Oddly, Katara understood. Even if she didn't approve of his method to get a rise out of his girlfriend, she definitely could see how something like that must have come about. She admitted to sleeping with the first guy just because she wanted to sate her curiosity. Haru had just happened. He had come to the South Pole as a part of a trade delegation and they hooked up. The affair, while fun, quickly turned boring. He was a nice person, but a little too nice for her tastes.

Zuko had given her a strange look and asked if she preferred the bad boys. She didn't know how to answer that. She was crazily attracted to one of the biggest 'bad boy' she had met. But then, he wasn't really that bad, was he? Given his family and his background, he should have been worse. But she had seen evil, was getting sexually assaulted by one of them. Zuko, flawed and terrifying as he was, was not evil. Of that, Katara was certain. He had good in him. Deep down, he was a scared and lonely child craving love. But life and circumstances had made him adopt a ruthless persona. He had put this mask on to save himself and now, it had become a part of him. Katara didn't know when they had fallen asleep.

She sat up and stretched, unsurprised to see Zuko sitting on the other side of the prison. He was meditating, with twin flames burning in his palms. Sometime while she was sleeping, he had discarded his shirt. Katara leaned back and let her eyes feast on the exquisite male specimen that was Zuko. Muscular, yet not overly so, he possessed a body that spoke of hours of diligent hard work. Unlike what he believed his scar did not make him ugly. Not in the least. In fact, it prevented his face from being too delicate.

Just then , the wall dropped and Vamik stepped in. "Prince Zuko, come. It's time."

Katara frowned, just as Zuko extinguished his flames and stood up. "Isn't this too early?" she asked.

Vamik kept his eyes turned away, "Jet's orders."

Zuko did not say anything as he draped his shirt and buttoned up. He looked at Katara and nodded, silently telling her that he would be back soon. The wall closed behind them and Katara prepared herself for the coming moments of agony when the wall on the other side dropped and Jet walked in. The Earthbender standing outside the prison was grinning widely as he pulled the wall back.

Asshole. Katara thought as Jet crossed the prison.

"I was thinking," he said coming up to her, "let's change things up a bit, what say?"

Katara started at him, unblinking. He grinned, "So in exchange for today's work, I would let your boyfriend come to you unharmed."

Katara raised her brows, "Unharmed?"

"Unharmed."

She snorted, "Like your men aren't taking out all their frustrations on him."

"They're not. See for yourself."

Not believing a word of what he said, Katara stood up and peered out of the window. Indeed, someone had Earthbended a chair for him and Zuko was sitting on it, even though he was held in place with stone cuffs and blindfolded. But he was unharmed. Katara had to fight down the sob of relief. While her eyes were fixed on him, Jet had moved closed to her.

"No one will attack him, unless I tell them to. He would continue to remain unharmed, if you wish," Jet whispered, his hand rubbing up and down her back.

"What do you want?" Katara asked, feeling bile in her mouth.

Jet grinned, stepped back, and pulled down his pants to reveal himself. "Suck me."

Disgust made her gag and she shook her head. "No!"

"Fine then, I will give the orders."

Katara looked over her shoulder to where Zuko was sitting, struggling against his bonds. "Fine, I'll do it," she said, tearing her eyes from Zuko and looked at Jet.

"I'm waiting," he said.

Taking a deep breath, Katara got down on her knees. She lifted her hand and grabbed his penis. Shutting her eyes tight shut, she forced herself to think about anything else but what she was doing at that moment. She thought about happy moments of her childhood. Of her father, her mother, her grandmother, her brother. But then, the next thought in her mind was Zuko. Just thinking about him brought the overwhelming feelings of disgust, guilt and shame to a halt. Behind her closed lids, she could see him smiling at her, wiping her tears. His name was her prayer, his image her salvation. Just then, something hot, salty, slightly bitter, and sticky filled her mouth, making her gag. She was about to spit it out but Jet grabbed her hair in a painful grasp, forcing her to swallow.

He pulled out and sighed while Katara retched. "Wonderful," he said, "Your boyfriend will be back now, unharmed."

Katara didn't say anything, keeping her eyes fixed on the floor. She heard the stone wall drop and Jet walked out. After what seemed like an eon, the stone wall dropped again. Katara looked up to find Zuko stepping in. Completely unscathed. To her, it was as though her life had started anew. With a shuddering sob, she flew into his arms and gripped him into a tight hug. He was alright. He was unharmed. To keep him safe, she would do anything. Anything for the man she was in love with.