Starting right off the bat! Here we go!

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Zuko took an involuntary step backwards. No... It couldn't be true. It couldn't. He wouldn't believe this. There was just no way in hell that his own daughter, his flesh and blood, could have killed his lover. Otaki stared up at him and held the blade in her hand. She lifted it up towards him with a sick smile on her face. Tears rolled down the sides of her face.

"I did wrong. I accept this," she cried. Her smile never wavered though. "Please, punish me!" She pushed the blade at him, her eyes begging him to take it.

"Otaki-"

"You have to punish me! You have to hurt me! It's not that hard...watch-" She took the blade and scraped it into her arm; a thin line of blood appeared. "-I can do it,"

Zuko grabbed the blade of out her hand quickly. The rain poured down on them and Otaki sat there in shock. "Aren't you proud of me?" she asked. She pointed to her shoulder, showing him all the marks. "Each one is for someone I killed! Aren't you proud of that? Aren't you proud of all I accomplished?"

Zuko held her by the shoulders. "Otaki, what you did was wrong. Zhao forced you to,"

Otaki shook her head. "No...no, no, no, no. You don't know what you're talking about,"

"Yes, I do,"

Her eyes filled with tears again and she buried her face in his chest, sobbing. Zuko wrapped his arms around his daughter and held her tight, swaying back and forth while she cried. His little girl... He was holding his little girl...just like he used to.

A bit later, Zuko had taken Otaki inside. The servants had cleaned her up and she sat on the balcony. She stared across at everyone. She had confined herself to her room. It felt odd...not to be punished when doing wrong. All her life, that's how she had been taught. You did wrong; you got hurt. The best bet was to not do anything wrong. She turned around to see Heero standing at the door frame.

"Heero.." she said softly in a manner of greeting.

He stared at her, fire and anger in his eyes. Otaki frowned, and was taken back by his look. It looked like her.

"Heero..what's wrong?" she asked quietly.

"You're what's wrong," Heero said solemly.

Otaki blinked. What was he saying...

"What..do you mean?"

"You are ruining everything. We were perfectly fine here until you had to come along,"

"Heero, I'm sorry. You don't understand though-"

"Everyone says that! Everyone says 'Heero, you don't understand'. I do understand! I understand perfectly damn well that you killed my mother,"

Otaki let out a small gasp. Heero grinned. "Yeah, that's right. Everyone was so worried about where precious Otaki had run off to. Even me. I looked for you but found you in the graveyard. I heard every single word you said." He paused to take a breath then spoke again. "You ruined my life. I haven't been able to close my eyes without seeing her face. Seeing her in father's arms, dead, cold, and lifeless. She was never lifeless, but you, you made her that way. You took away the one thing that made me happy. My mother. My mother who was amazing. She didn't deserve to die. You do."

He turned on his heel before Otaki could speak. She strained for words though, trying to speak. Nothing came out though. She was the reason for his discontent. He was always so unhappy... Death can do that to a person.

When Otaki turned to the balcony again, she saw Jin playing in a tree. She was swinging back and forth, from branch to branch. Heero had come outside to. He and Zuko were resuming their sparring lesson. She watched them sparr, and when Heero would hit Zuko down to the ground, Zuko would look so proud. Her eyes burned with tears. Heero was right, she was ruining their lives. She was just a constant downfall, just someone in the way. On a nightstand was a lamp. She broke the glass and brought a piece to her wrist. She was just in the way...

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"That was good, just keep your feet apart. The closer your feet, the easier you are to knock down," Zuko said.

Heero nodded and spread his feet apart. Zuko took on his own stance. They stood there a second, then Zuko took a step forward and sprayed fire, aiming for Heero's legs. Heero jumped up and landed behind Zuko. He was great when it came to physical strength. There was a sudden noise of breaking glass and Zuko looked up.

"Hold on," he said to Heero. "I'm going to go check on Otaki,"

He pulled on his shirt and climbed the stairs of the palace. He knocked on Otaki's door. No answer. Panic hit him. He knocked again. Still no answer. He opened the door and peered inside. Otaki was standing by the balcony. She turned around and looked at him, her face pale. Blood was running from her wrist and onto the floor.

"I'm sorry..." she muttered.

Zuko caught her just as she fell.