"You fell asleep on Appa."

"I know." I drawled for the hundredth time as Zuko and I walked together to the council meeting.

"How could you be so stupid? You could have fallen off, you hadn't even put the saddle on him!"

"Appa would never have let Katara and me fall, and we didn't bother with the saddle because we just wanted to go flying for a while. We ended up talking then fell asleep. Big deal. I used to sleep on Appa all the time whilst flying. I even fell asleep on his head and he never dropped me." Turning around I tugged at Zuko's robes in order to dust them down and straighten them out, making sure he was presentable before we entered. "Now forget about it. You worry way too much."

"And you don't worry at all." He countered which technically, I couldn't refute so I just grinned.

"See? And that's why we work so well together. Now get your royal butt in there and let's get this over with." Giving him a push I made him go inside so that he couldn't berate me anymore, heading over to the meeting table where another long day followed. It took several days, but eventually we came to an agreement for a long term extraction process which would be put into effect immediately. I wasn't all too sure that it would work out like Aang wanted, seeing as you couldn't guarantee everyone would be as willing to participate as he hoped, but I wasn't going to crush his hopes and merely decided to give it my all to help and we'll deal with a problem when it arose.

The process took us a year, gradually moving people back to the Fire Nation, though some resisted more than others. Certain towns and villagers had integrated so much that it was impossible to tell exactly who were strictly Fire Nation and who was not. There were kids running around who had great grandparents who were from the Fire Nation, but had married people from the Earth Kingdom and now they were completely interwoven with each other. I heard all about it from Zuko after his return from inspecting some of the colonies and their process in evacuating, and it seemed to put him into an even greater slump.

It was starting to get to him, the pressure. He'd get all wrapped up in his head and sometimes not even I could reason with him. I started to get worried, seeing his mind beginning to slip and I feared he would break like Azula. One night he was in such a state of despair that the only way I could actually bring him out of it was to kiss him and hold him where we ended up sleeping together, Zuko turning me to comfort and I was unable to refuse him. I didn't want to either. I knew now that my feelings were sincere and enduring, so when our kiss began to deepen and he didn't pull away, I allowed it to continue all the way with no hesitation.

I'd snuck away in the early hours of the morning, knowing full well that if I stayed and Zuko saw me, he'd grow all sullen and regretful, telling me that it had been a mistake and that we shouldn't have done it, and I didn't want to hear it. Not when I had loved every minute of being together, so I stole away and just carried on as normal, and when Zuko tried to bring it up I'd cut across him with some state business or simply say that he didn't need to tell me anything. This seemed to work better for Zuko, as it didn't make him worry that I'd be hurt or upset, and actually we sometimes slept together just because we wanted to. We were tender and affectionate with each other, and when Zuko held me in his arms I felt like I could at least pretend that we were really together as a couple, separating myself from the outside world in order to enjoy living in that one moment before I'd awake the next morning and have to return to reality.

Nothing changed between us after we crossed that boundary. In fact, Zuko seemed to trust and listen to me all the more, sometimes even letting me handle minor things that didn't require his direct attention as I took a more active role in helping him take care of the palace, whilst he dealt with the rest of the Fire Nation. Everyone seemed to just accept that Zuko and I came as a team, and more often than not, came to me with questions or seeking advice for something such as the palace budget and meeting schedules.

How did I get to this point? I have no idea, it just sort of happened. Story of my life really, I couldn't help but be so go with the flow, but it had worked out so far. In fact, being able to spend more time with Zuko proved to be beneficial, and even lifesaving. With the dissenters still causing problems, an assassination attempt was made on Zuko's life. He had been sleeping in the afternoon after taking some medication to help him sleep as he'd been struggling to get enough rest during the night when the assassin came in.

He thought Zuko was alone, seeing him lying on the couch and had gone for him with a knife but I was sat curled up on the opposite couch, where the back of the lounger hid me from view from the assassin. They were so focused on Zuko that they didn't even see me, and when I saw the knife in their hand I had reacted in less than a heartbeat. Pulling water from the air I slammed it against them, making them grunt as they fell backwards and fell over a table, buckling the legs and making the fruit bowl go flying with a clatter, waking Zuko up with a jolt. The knife fell from their hand so they quickly dove for it but I covered the weapon with after and froze it, making it inaccessible.

Leaping to his feet Zuko struck with a fire blast, forcing the assassin to retreat back and attempt to fire bend at Zuko as a means to finish him. I doused the fire with all the water I could gather, standing on the couch with a ring of water being drawn around me then launched ice projectiles with deadly accuracy, making the yell in fear and turn his face away. The icicles had pierced his clothes and nailed him to the wall, holding him down as Zuko called for the guards.

"Kayo, are you alright?"

"Oh I'm fine. A little pissed this guy disturbed my rest, but I guess I'll let it slide this time." I answered nonchalantly, keeping a ball of water circulating over my hand ready to use it in case the assassin tried anything. Zuko interrogated the man after he was thrown in prison, wanting to know who he worked for but the assassin only said that others would continue his work, and he was right. That wasn't the first assassination, and it wasn't the last either. Zuko was attacked numerous times in many different ways, and it was usually because of his fire bending skills or his elite guards that he always came through safe. I helped save him a few times when I happened to be nearby, though I was almost killed when one of the assassins targeted me instead which I hadn't expected.

They were Ozai devotees, that much we could tell, so we knew they wouldn't stop until Zuko was dead or dethroned and Ozai restored. When the most recent assassin came, this time targeting me probably as a means to weaken Zuko, I'd felt rather terrified. This guy was better than all the previous attempts, using lightning to try and hit me as I'd been walking by myself in the gardens. I'd had to kill a great deal of grass and plants in order to supply myself with enough water to block the blast, but it was only by the skin of my teeth that I'd heard the crackle of lightning and having heard it before, knew what it meant. The aftershock from the blast had knocked me off my feet and I'd slammed against a tree, injuring my shoulder and I broke my arm in the process, meaning I could only bend with the other which wasn't as strong as using both.

I'd had to run, shouting for help as the assassin took one more shot, using fireballs to corner me and take out my feet where I'd hit the ground. My head hit the paving stones and drew blood, making me dizzy and disorientated so that when I turned around, I could see the men dressed in black robes prepare a final lightning strike, me now completely defenceless. Before he could shoot, Zuko had appeared and fire bended a huge column of flames at the assassin, throwing him off balance and the lightning went wild, firing off in all directions and backfiring against the assassin who screamed before falling to the ground.

"Kayo! Kayo talk to me, where are you hurt?" I couldn't even answer him, the blow to my head giving me a nasty concussion so Zuko had yelled for the physician then picked me up to carry me inside. I was fine after a while, except for the broken arm but Zuko had sat at my bedside like he was grieving.

"I'm not dead yet flame brain. Stop looking so mopey." It was the first thing I said to him after waking up, making Zuko's head jerk up and he rushed toward me. "Easy! I'm all broken so be careful."

"Sorry, I'm just so glad you're okay." He'd been crying. I could see it in his face and from the red tint around his eyes but I didn't make a comment about it, merely softened towards him. "Does it hurt? Can I get you anything?"

"Yeah, a pay rise would be nice." Blinking at me in disbelief, Zuko then laughed, shoulders relaxing as I brushed at his hair with my good hand.

"At least your humour is still intact. I was worried for a while."

"It was a little too fast to properly fight back. Sorry about your garden by the way, I wasn't near the pond so I had to improvise. I'll help grow new grass and flowers to replace the ones I dehydrated." Assuring me that it was fine and that I could dehydrate the entire palace if I wanted to, Zuko sat next to me and brushed his fingers through my hair as I closed my eyes to relax. "Shouldn't you be in a meeting or something?"

"You think I'm going to go and leave you here alone before you woke up? There's no way I'd be able to concentrate whilst worrying about you."

"Zuko…you can't delay things just because I got injured. Put some imperial guards on a protection detail and I would have been fine without you hovering over me like a mother hen."

"But I wouldn't know that." Clicking my tongue at him I shook my head, unable to believe this guy.

"You're so stubborn. People already say that you pander to me too much."

"Let them say what they want, I don't care." Leaning over me Zuko brought his mouth to mine in order to kiss me, making me feel immediately better so I savoured the sensation fully until he drew back and smiled. "Besides, that's only a rumour because you insisted that you wanted peach tartlets during a council meeting and not strawberry ones and I made the kitchens make them for you."

"Hm…they were good tarts." Licking my lips we then grinned at one another, nuzzling foreheads affectionately before I started to sit up. Zuko helped prop me upright as I looked at my arm in a sling, frowning at it before I pulled water from the pitcher on the night stand and began to heal it. It would take some time, but a lot less with me using my water healing. "It's not too bad, barely more than a sprain." I lied so that Zuko wouldn't worry as I then worked on the head injury. "And this will heal soon too. You should go Zuko, you can't avoid your responsibilities forever."

"But…" I gave him a look telling him not to argue with me. "Fine. I'll come back soon. I'm leaving the the elite fire benders as your personal guard whilst I'm gone." Leaving the most skilled guards to babysit me when they should be protecting Zuko. Oh I bet the ministers are going to love that. "Be careful whilst I'm gone, don't move around too much, make sure you get plenty of rest and don't bother trying to do anything yourself, just ring for help and…"

"Damn it Zuko I'm not an idiot. I know how to take care of myself." Feeling more than a little smothered, I flicked him on the forehead before tugging at his cheek. "You're the one who's going off to deal with real problems whilst I get to use this injury as an excuse to be pampered and be as lazy as I want. I'll be fine." He still looked reluctant to go, even whilst I was pulling on his cheek which usually he hates. Guess this time really messed with his head. "You're that worried about me?"

"I thought I was going to lose you." Pulling my hand back from surprise, I looked at Zuko and gaped slightly, unsure how to answer that. "I can't do this without you Kayo. I need you."

"Sure you can Zuko, because if I wasn't here, you'd have to." Being realistic with him, I pressed my hand against his chest in order to make him back up slightly. "You don't need me half as much as you think you do. In fact, I could probably leave tomorrow and things would just go on as usual for you. Someone else would take my place, someone less annoying and more acceptable to others, and you wouldn't even have time to miss me. You don't need me there holding your hand, you never did. You just got used to me being close to you, and that's why you can't let go." I turned my head away, feeling upset and painfully aware that this was all true. "Maybe even the feelings you think you feel are just because you're used to me, and you're mistaking them for something else."

"What are you talking about Kayo? That's not true at all, you know I…"

"Do I? Because all I remember you saying is that we can't, or you won't, or it's not the right time. Face it Zuko, you only care about me because I stuck with you through the worst times of your life, and now you feel obligated to feel something and make me happy. Admit it. You don't even know how you feel anymore." To this he couldn't answer, because it was true. I need to get out of here, and soon. I need some time away to think, to be somewhere I can be alone for a while and get my head straight. "I think it'll be best for both of us if we separate for a while. I'll rest and recover but once my arm is healed, I'm taking a vacation."

"Kayo…"

"You need to go now, the ministers are probably waiting." Not wanting to talk to him any further, I pointedly turned my back to him and lay down again so that my broken arm was facing upwards. Seeing that I didn't want to talk anymore, Zuko got up and hesitatingly left, pausing at the door where I heard him stop before he then left. Damn it. I feel rotten. Why does it have to be like this?