this is going to be the last chapter for a while, insted of spring cleaning around here we do agust cleaning.

Fire that helps Chapter 12

Shang crawled across the ground, so many new sights, so many new sounds, and so many new smells. He freaked. So much new at one time was scaring him. He smelt something, orange blossoms and pine. Dada! He cried in his mind and crawled toward the scent.

Xoxo

Zuko stayed crouched behind the crate. Hurry up Mia. He thought, he heard a noise coming toward him. He looked over at it; Shang he thought happily and scooped up his son. But where's… he heard a start of their whistle code, which didn't finish. "Stay here Shang, dada will be right back, stay here." He told his son and began to creep toward where he had heard the whistle come from. At least I blend in, the rebel color is black.

Xoxo, flashback

Mia fingered the pendant on her necklace. Her pendant was on a chain, and came down low. It was the royal pendant, the one those 3 years ago she had been engaged to Prince Zuko with. Only six more months, then they would be wed. She sighed. He was 14 today, technically a year older than she was, and she had to have dinner with him tonight. She liked Zuko, but not in that way. She liked him as a brother, or how you would like a brother if he didn't burn you. "Class dismissed." The instructor called, she gathered up her scrolls into her red over the shoulder bag to leave, she hated it here, everyone treated her different because she was to marry the future Fire Lord, and they didn't even learn anything interesting. They learned how to tend to gardens, cook, sew, and other boring things like that. They learned to fight too, but that was only because the Fire Lord believed that if a woman fought well, she would bear more sons. All the more soldiers for the army. She was good at things like the arts and politics; Zuko secretly tutored her in what he learned, it gave him practice and give her an opportunity to learn. She sighed and sat down in the lobby. Zuko had to come pick her up everyday and walk her home. It was the way that they get to know each other. After all, the royal Fire Nation academy was right across from the royal Fire Nation academy for girls. He just would walk over there, pick her up and walk her home. Then they would go and appear at some stupid function that the Fire Lord had decided that he couldn't go to, but could send his son and his fiancée to. She saw Zuko come in.

"Mia." He said and offered his hand to her. She took it and he pulled her up and placed an arm around her waist. This was their put on act, the act that they put on in public that they liked each other that way, when they didn't. "I hope we don't run into Azula." He told her. She nodded. Azula had caught Zuko teaching her about the things he learned about, and unless they did what she said she would tell the Fire Lord and Mia would be arrested. Women were only good for having children, giving a man pleasure and looking pretty in the Fire Lord's opinion. A woman who learns about the same things men do is forbidden. Unfortunately, Azula had a sick obsession of likeing to watch them make out, so she would order them to make out and they would have to stand there and make out. She liked it, he was a really good kisser, but she just couldn't bring herself to enjoy it as much as she should. She could sense that Zuko did too, they both thought of each other like siblings.

"Hey guys." Azula came out from behind a tree with Ty Lee and Mai in tow. "You know what I would like? For the two lovers to kiss." Zuko rolled his eyes and leaned forward and planted his lips on Mia's. "Don't forget the tongue, I didn't see any last time." She reminded them and stuck his tongue into her mouth. She slid her hands up to around his neck, and he placed both hands around her waist, pulling her closer to him. Azula spoke again. "Why don't you try grabbing her butt, you know you want to. Plus I'd like to see her reaction." Azula called to them. She could fell Zuko resist clenching his teeth, seeing how her tongue was in his mouth. He slid his hands down and grabbed her butt. She flinched, but held her ground. Azula put a satisfied look on her face and walked off. The two separated their heads. Mia looked at him for a second, the closed her eyes and shook her head.

"You're not mad at me are you?" he asked her she shook her head, "Because you know I'd never violate you like that, grabbing your butt I mean. I only did it so that I could."

"I know," she interrupted him. He removed one of his arms from around her waist and she pulled one of his arms from around his neck and they walked toward her house. The Fire Nation was beautiful this time of year, autumn. The leaves on the trees were perfect golden, red, orange, and yellow colors, with some of them scrunching beneath their feet. The grass was green as ever and the weather was perfect. They approached her house. Today he was staying over, and everyone expected them to spend their time after school making out instead of him teaching her. So when they hear someone coming, they get into a making out position, and pretend that's what they'd been doing. They walked up the stairs and into her room, he pulled off his armor and his scrolls and began to teach her. But something was wrong, and he seemed distracted.

"Now the pythagrum theorem states that aa+bbcc" he was talking

"Hey." She poked him and he looked up from talking at her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"I know you, there is something wrong."

"It's my dad."

"What'd he do?"

"He sent two concubines to my room last night."

"No way."

"Yeah, to 'show me the ropes'. They asked questions and showed me… things."

"Oh," she blinked, "What'd they ask?"

"Basically about you."

"I said what not who."

"They asked things like when we made out, did I touch you and stuff." He looked at the floor.

"Well of course you touch me, I mean our moths touch and you hold me and stuff."

"Not like that…"

"Then what about?"

"I don't like to talk about it…"

"Come on Zuko, its me."

"Well umm…" he squirmed in his spot a little, "They asked me if when I made out with you if I, uh put my hands up your shirt."

"Huh?"

"They asked if when I made out with you if I put my hands up your shirt."

"Why would you do that?"

"To, uh feel your uh…"

"Oh, OH" she got it. They sat there in silence. "What'd you say?"

"I said no, and they told me to try it with them, then on you. I was all, but won't she feel violated? And they were all no she'll like it."

"Did you try it?"

"On them?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah. I didn't want to, but I figured that if I just let them do what they wanted, they'd leave."

"Did you like it?"

"I kind of, well, uh."

"You can say yes."

"But, well, uh I don't know. I'd think that I'd been dishonorable to you."

"Don't you think that your father kept a few in his room when your mother was alive?"

"Well yeah, but I'm not like him. I want him to like me, but you know that he doesn't. He thinks I'm a failure. Just because I believe in things like the balance of the elements."

"You're not a failure Zuko." They say in silence for a second

"Thanks, but I'd never, ever even think about doing some of the things they did to me to you."

"What else did they do."

"Believe me when I say, you do not want to know."

"Aww, come on. If we are going to be married, I should at least get to know."

"Well you'll have to wait." He smirked as he looked at her. He cared for her deeply, but the way he used to love his sister, before she became a cold-hearted bitch.

"Zhao's coming." She said, he reacted by putting a hand behind her head and another around her waist and covering her lips with his. She moved both her hands up to around his neck. "Stick your hands under my shirt." She said into his mouth

"But, why. Wouldn't that dishonor you?" he said back

"No, it will get Zhao to leave faster if he thinks were getting to know each other that way, you know he suspects that this is not what we're doing while we're up here." Zuko sighed and slid the hand that around her waist under her dress and up to her breasts. "Dumb ass, he'll know that we're faking and demand to know what we're really doing if you just sit there." He said into her mouth.

"Promise me that you won't hate me afterwards." You're the only friend I got he added silently in his head

"Okay I promise" he began moving his fingers the way the concubines had taught him last night and he instinctively pulled her closer to him. One of her hands moved down and along his chest muscles. The door to her room swung open and Zhao was standing there. Zuko withdrew his hand as two broke apart and blushed. Zhao smiled.

"Good to see you two getting to know each other." He said, "Just remember that below the waist is off limits till marriage." Zhao closed the door and Mia listened to him walk back down the stairs. She let out a sigh.

"Thank Agni we alluded him again." She flopped backwards on her bed so that she could stare at the ceiling. He turned his head to look outside.

"It's nearing time to go, you want me to leave so you can change?" he asked her. She shook her head no,

"Just stay turned around. It'll only take me a minute." He continued to stare outside at the sun, seeing as its position told him it was 5 hours after midday, and that sunset would be in 2 and half-hours. Mia to up off her bed and pulled off her dress and pulled on a clean one.

"You decent?"

"Yeah, you can turn around." He turned around to look at her as she pulled half of her medium length brown hair up and tied it with a ribbon in place. Then she grabbed another ribbon and put it in a bun there, creating the hairstyle that was her family's signature. She turned around to look at him she was quite beautiful. She had tanned skin giving her a darker look that she actually had. He noticed that her hair was getting lighter, and brighter each day. She grabbed her waistband and tied it on. "How do I look?" he was speechless. "That bad?" she asked and put on a hurt expression.

"No, no you look great." He reassured her. "Come on, we need to be at the palace dinning room soon." She nodded and he put his arm around her waist to lead her back down the steps. They walked outside into the crisp, autumn air as they headed for the palace.

Once there they sat down to eat. No one usually ever spoke during these formal affairs. The menu was exquisite, ranging from a rich salad with an odd dressing to a small sundae, complete with many delicacies such as chocolate and butterscotch sauce on top. After dinner Mia and Zuko went to sit in the garden, to be alone. Azula went off somewhere to study, seeing as how she was not the best student (unlike Zuko) but her father did not care about that, he only cared about the fighting skills (something that Zuko had never excelled as far as Azula in). They talked about school, and how their day had gone. Mia confessed as well, Zhao had sent her someone too to 'show her the ropes'. She confessed that she didn't like it, at all. Zuko's eyes drifted from Mia, to the window on the 2nd story behind her. He saw the outline of his father in the window, with him yelling at Zhao for something behind him. He knew what it was about, Mia talking too much. Zhao would surely beat her that night for it, so he did the only thing he thought he could do to stop it, he leaned forward and kissed her.

"Zuko, what are you doing." She whispered into his mouth, startled.

"My dad's in the window behind us, yelling at Zhao. I don't want him to beat you." Zuko whispered quickly, Mia understood. She let Zuko slip his tongue into her mouth and do as he wished. She slipped both her arms around his neck, and he place one hand behind her head and the other on her waist. He glanced up at the window again through half closed eyes while keeping Mia occupied with his tongue. He saw his father nodding in approval, with Zhao behind him grinning. He pulled her into his lap.

Mia tensed a little when she felt him get hard. She felt his hand run up and down her body. She slid her own hand through his hair. She had always loved his hair, so thick and black unlike her own, which was thick, but an odd shade of brown.

He wasn't going to tell her that he had peeked when she got changed. He had seen her. She had had a smooth tanned flat stomach accompanied by her breasts, which were quite big for her only being 13. They were about the same size as the concubines that his father had sent to his room the previous night, even if her breast band covered them he could still tell. The sight gave him two thoughts, the first was eye widening, the second was hold up that's Mia, which over powered the thought of other things. But now, those first thoughts came back, no matter how hard he tried to get rid of them. He could feel his body taking control of what it wanted, not what he wanted, so he broke the kiss and leaned his forehead on hers

"Is he gone?" she asked him. Her breath was heavy, but not because she couldn't breath like after you do a marathon, but it was heavy with… passion. For Zuko, she couldn't believe it. In her sensible mind it felt disgusting, but in her emotional mind, she had loved it. She had never had a real boyfriend or kissed like that.

"No, he's still watching us. He's frowning now."

"Why?"

"Cause we stopped."

"Zhao, I picked your sister because she has the physical attributes that even I desire. I don't like all this talking she does." They heard Fire Lord Ozai from behind them. Zuko watched as Mia's eyes widened in fear. "I mean, seriously. She has the build of a 14-year-old woman and she's only 13. I picked her because I figure my son would be, pleased by the view. Now you must cure her of this talking thing, so that she only speaks when spoken to."

"Yes my lord, I will take care of that tonight."

Xoxo

Zuko hurried toward where the whistle had started to come from, but not so fast that it looked like he was waiting. He saw the shadows of Zhao and Mia, he was holding her by her hair. Then he felt a blast, it threw him back onto the floor. When he sat up, the tent was in flames and people were running. He hurried toward the tent and stepped in. He saw Zhao's burning corpse, and Mia unconscious on the floor. Her long hair was covering her face and she was covered in ash and dirt. He slung her over his shoulder and ran to where Shang was. He scooped him up and got out of there as fast as he could. The smell still lingered through his mind as he hurried through the streets, keeping to the shadows and being careful not to be seen, the smell of a burning corpse. One that had not been treated so you didn't have to smell it. He knew what she had done, she had done it before. She can send fire out of her in all directions, creating a wave of force that will knock down anyone standing within 300 meters. He glanced down at Shang. He was filthy, Katara was going to have a fit. He had been lucky that Shang happened to be 500 meters away, therefore he was not hit by the impact, but some soot and ash from the air had fallen on him. Shang had fallen asleep before Zuko had gotten to him. He came to Mia and Sokka's house. The window was large and open, and he could see Sokka asleep on the bed. Sokka was lucky, Zuko knew that Mia was a good kisser from experience. Of course he knew that she hadn't told him because he hadn't shown up to kill him, he hadn't told Katara either. It was information they didn't need to know. Instead of saying that they had met because they had been ordered to dance together, they said that they had met at a school presentation and that Zuko had come to congratulate her on kicking some ass. This wasn't a lie, that had happened but it wasn't how they met. He climbed through the window and placed her next to Sokka on the bed. Sokka sat up awake immediately. "What are you doing here?" he demanded.

"I went along to get Shang." Zuko told him, "She passed out so I decided to bring her back."

"Oh, thanks." Sokka reached over and brushed some of her hair out of her face. Sokka looked down at her and smiled. "I guess I should clean her off some?"

"That'd be a good idea." Zuko said and hoped back out the window to wander home.

Xoxo

Mia'd always been a fast healer. She had gone into a half conscious state when Zuko had placed her on her bed. She heard Zuko leave, and then she felt Sokka pick her up. She couldn't move, or talk, but she could hear and feel. She felt him carry her into another room and close the door. Mia felt him as he pulled off her cloths, and then lowered her into a tub of water carefully. She felt him wash the dirt, soot and ash off her face. She felt him lift her out of the water and dry her off, then pull her cloths onto her. He lifted her up and placed her back on the bed. She felt the weight shift as he got in on the other side.

"Night Mia." He whispered in her ear and he slid his hands around her waist to put her arms around her. Her mind fell into a well-deserved sleep.

Xoxo

Katara rolled over to stare at the ceiling. She couldn't cry anymore, she had cried herself dry. She hoped that Zuko would return soon with Shang. She looked around the room, in the five years that they had been married she hadn't really looked around the room, she was always too with her husband or taking care of something. The floor was a sealed cherry, which was also flame resistant. Beautiful rugs covered the floor for walking. On the walls, more tapestries hung, hiding the wooden walls that matched the floors. The room was beautiful and elegant. If only I hadn't left him alone. Then I could have saved him. She heard the shutter of the catacomb door open and Zuko step through with a very dirty Shang in his arms. Katara jumped up and ran to him and grabbed the baby, holding him as close to her as humanly possible. She brushed a strand of the baby's hair out of his face. Katara hurried into the washroom and pulled his filthy little clothes off of him, dipping him in to the water. She bent the water around him, washing him off in his sleep. The water soon went from clean, to black. She lifted him up and toweled him off. She grabbed a new set of clothing for him and dressed him. She placed him in his cradle, which she had placed in the bedroom with her and Zuko. She smiled and pushed some of Shang's hair out of his face and stared down at her baby. An exact copy of his father, with a topknot coming through he looked like Zuko probably would without his scar. His scar, I wonder what he would look like… her thoughts trailed off as she turned around to look at Zuko, he was not there. She heard the water start in the bathroom and got a sly look on her face. The door was open widely, and it almost inviting her in. Zuko was stripping off his clothing. He had his shirt halfway over his head when she entered. She smiled and leaned against the doorframe. He pulled the shirt off of his head completely and smiled at her. "Hey." He said to her. Her gaze fell and she stared at him. "What?" he asked.

"You scar…" she started. He lifted his hand to his face. The skin was smooth.

"But, what, huh?" he started. The he remembered. This stuff will cover your scar, make it seem like it was never there. It'll help cover us if we get caught. "My scar must still be gone…" he thought, That's why she is in such a shock. "Oh yeah, Mia used something on it to hide it so that we would have less of a chance to be recognized. I think I'll go wash it off now." He reached for the washcloth in the sink, but Katara grabbed his wrist.

"Can I have some fun before you do that?"

Xoxo

In the dark of night, outside the Fire Lord's window was a figure. He watched in disgust as the two began to make out passionately and as their clothes began to find their ways to the floor. The sight of Lady Katara naked made him hard, as the thought always had. He stroked his erection. "Fools think that they're safe. Well I've got another trick up my sleeve. And like the first, this one will go just as I planned."

betch can't guess who it is. rember that zhao and azula re both dead now.