Okaaay. this chapter is going to seem a lot like RedNovember's fic and I'm very very sorry, but it's different and yet similar. I didn't realize as I was writing. Go read RedNovember's fics, I have them faved.

In fact, go check out my favorites if you're looking for something good to read. I hold them up to a better standard than my own writing. So they're all good.

The ship was running low on supplies and it was still two more days until they could reach the Fire Nation capital. As much as Zuko hated to stop for anything, they would have to pause at Port Lei in the Earth Kingdom for supplies.

The prince had not spent the night in his room with Katara but had, instead, spent the night awake on the ship's deck. It had been very cold, but Zuko resisted it. He was a warrior and did not need to worry about such things as chills.

The next morning as they reached Port Lei, Zuko had walked down to his room and asked Katara if she would like to go into town. His uncle had invited her and while she would be surrounded by guards and soldiers, it would at least be a little fresh air.

Katara had agreed and so that was how she found herself walking down the ship's plank with Uncle Iroh.

"Ah," said Uncle Iroh, taking in a deep breath. "Don't you just love that smell?"

Katara squinted her eye as the rancid smell of fish, livestock and too many un-bathed bodies hit her nose.

Uncle Iroh couched. "Well, maybe it will get better once we get away from the docks."

Katara smiled and followed him. Their entourage of about six guards was frightening enough to cause the shoppers in the marketplace to hurry aside to let them pass. Something about the yellow and green buildings seemed familiar to Katara. Though she couldn't quite place it, she felt she'd been here before…

"Here we are," Katara snapped her head back to Uncle Iroh who had stopped in front of a store. "Let's go in here, shall we?"

Katara followed him in, expecting a food store of some sort. She was surprised to find herself walking among bolts of cloth, many of them fine.

"What are we doing in here?" she asked. She was too shocked to remember that Iroh might not necessarily enjoy her chatter.

Iroh smiled at her. "We are buying you clothes, dear! We are going to the Fire Nation's capital, and you must be properly attired. The nobles there are so fussy about such things." He waved his hand as he turned to look over the cloths. "We will also teach you some of the manners that are found to be necessary when staying in the Royal Palace."

"Manners?" Katara asked. "Why would I need to know these things? Why do I need clothes? Won't I just be staying in some dungeon or prison?"

"No, of course not!" Iroh picked up a bolt of cloth and held it up next to Katara's face. Katara made a face. "No, too pink…"

"Um, Mr. Iroh…"

"Oh, just call me Iroh!" he invited her.

"Er, Iroh," Katara began again. "Why are you dong this?"

"We've decided to introduce you as an honored guest under Prince Zuko's protection, and not a prisoner. It will just make things easier that way." Iroh held up another bolt.

Katara ignored it. "And Aang is a prisoner?"

"The Avatar will be presented to Fire Lord Ozai and he will become my brother's responsibility."

Katara shook her head. "I don't know if I like this. How can I let Aang be thrown to some unknown force while I sit in the lap of luxury?"

"Oh, it will not be all fun and games for you, my dear Katara," Iroh warned. "You will be in a veritable dragons' den, surrounded by people who will want their daughters married to the Prince, who will fear your influence over him, who will do anything to see you out of the way."

"But I don't have any influence over him!" Katara protested. "He hates me!"

"Even if that were true, it would not matter," Iroh said. "They will still see you as a threat no matter the circumstance. In fact, unless there was some more permanent way you could be connected to the prince – some way that would be more difficult to break and less people would wish to interfere with – you might be safer." Iroh shrugged. "Though I am at a lost to say what that could be."

His smile tells me he's lying, Katara thought to herself. He knows what that connection would be and he doesn't want to say, though the thought amuses him.

What will happen to me there? In this "Dragons' Den"? Do they try to hurt people? Do they try to poison people? Could anyone really be that mean?

Katara was lost in thought for the rest of the hour as Iroh outfitted her in enough clothing to make any lady of the Fire Court jealous.

Katara was walking along the line of shops, not really looking at the things Iroh was pointing out to her. He was buying her fans and scarves and slippers – things he all insisted were important to any outfit she wore.

The guards were relaxing a bit, allowing her more space as she walked idly along. They began looking around in interest themselves, and one even bought a pair of earrings for his sweetheart. He seemed very excited about seeing her again because he was talking near constantly about her with his buddies.

And this was why, when no one was really paying attention, Katara was grabbed by two strong hands and dragged into a store front without anybody raising the alarm.

Zuko decided (after nearly two hours of not seeing the returning figures of Uncle Iroh and Katara) that he would go into town and look for them.

He was walking down a line of shops when he finally found the red uniforms of his soldiers. There was a group of five of them, talking by an open stall, and another carrying Uncle Iroh's packages and pointing to jewelry on a table. However, nowhere was there to be seen a certain blue-dressed Water Tribe girl among the figures in green and red.

"Where is she?" Zuko thundered when he reached the men. Flames shot out the sides of his clenched fists.

The men, including Uncle Iroh, all looked up at him blankly.

"Who, Prince Zuko?" Uncle Iroh asked calmly. "Where is who?"

"Katara!" Zuko said. "The girl you all were supposed to be guarding. So she wouldn't escape!"

The men all looked around, some of them looking edgy. One man hid something behind his back but Zuko didn't really care.

Uncle Iroh looked back at his nephew and shrugged. "I guess she must have seen something that caught her interest and gone to look for her while we weren't looking. She'll be back."

"Search for her!" Zuko ordered his men. "Search every stall, every shop, every alley and every corner until you find her! She will not get away."

"And why," asked Uncle Iroh, sidling up to his nephew and speaking in a low voice. "Are you so obsessed with finding this girl?"

"Because if she leaves and the Avatar finds out, he will try to escape." Zuko stared straight ahead. "While she is with me, he won't leave without trying to free her as well, and that will only slow him down. She's the key to our keeping him here."

"Are you sure, Prince Zuko?" Uncle Iroh asked knowledgably. "That it is that, and not something else that makes you seek her out?"

"I am sure, Uncle" Zuko growled. But as he walked away, checking behind stalls and in shops, he only knew that when he'd found Katara missing, he had been filled with a panic, and that his first thought had not been of the Avatar.

"Wha-"

"Katara!"

Katara gasped. "Haru!" She flung her arms around his neck and hugged him tight.

"Katara," Haru repeated.

She moved her arms to his shoulders and stepped back. He looked taller than she remembered. He was smiling down at her, his green eyes filled with a familiarity that she missed.

"I knew this town looked familiar!" Katara exclaimed. "This is where we met you!"

"And saved my father," he agreed. "And all the other earthbenders. From the Fire Nation." Katara blushed. "And that's why we're saving you."

"Excuse me?" Katara asked. "Save me from what?"

Haru looked confused. "From the Fire Nation soldiers you were surrounded by. A man recognized you from the Warden's prison and told my father and me that you were under a constant guard. So we decided to rescue you." He smiled. "It's the least we could do after you helped us."

Katara smiled. "Thanks, Haru, but… I can't."

"You can't?" Haru's brows furrowed. "Why not? What's keeping you?"

"They have Aang, Haru," she said. "I can't just leave him with them. I need to be there for him."

"But, the Avatar could escape if he wanted to, Katara. He could use his powers and get out – you can't. You're a great waterbender, I'm sure, but the Avatar has resources you don't. I'm sure Aang will be fine."

"But what if they don't tell him I've left?" Katara asked. "What if they tell him I'm on board still, but that he can't see me? He'll believe them and he won't leave without me."

"Then we'll get a message to him, somehow," Haru insisted. "We'll bribe a soldier or… or get a bird on the ship."

Katara smiled. "That's great, Haru, but I don't think-"

The door burst open and Haru pushed Katara behind him. Katara couldn't see, but Haru lifted a boulder from the packed dirt floor of his mother's shop and flung it at the intruder. A flame engulfed it.

Katara swallowed.

"Hand her over, Earthbender, and I promise you won't get hurt," said a familiar voice. "Much."

"Never!" Haru shouted, stamping a foot to the ground and kicking the boulder if lifted in the air towards his opponent. "She's too good to be left to the likes of you!"

"Haru!" Katara screamed as the boulder was crushed to pebbles in lieu of Zuko's block. "Stop! Zuko, stop!"

Haru paused and it was just enough time for Zuko to send a flame at him. Katara pulled on Haru's shoulders and knocked him to the ground. She tripped and fell nearly on top of him.

He grabbed her shoulders to steady her. Her hands were on either side of his chest and her knee was between his legs. Haru glared up at the figure above them as Katara blushed at her awkward circumstance.

"We'll protect her until death!" he shouted.

"That's fine with me," Zuko growled. He leaned down and grabbed Katara by the waist and set her on the ground behind him. "I'll deal with you later," he whispered in her ear. Katara shivered.

Guards from Katara's shopping expedition burst into the shop.

"Arrest him!" Zuko ordered them.

"No, Zuko!" she pleaded, grabbing his arm. "Please, no!"

"Why are you protecting him, Katara?" he asked. "Who is he?"

"He's just trying to help me," Katara felt like any minute she was going to lose it. She wanted to help Haru but there was no water nearby and she wasn't very strong. "He misunderstood. I was trying to talk to him, to explain, but then you burst in and-"

Zuko grabbed both her shoulders. "Who is he, Katara?"

"My name is Haru," Haru spoke bravely from where he stood, both his arms contained by guards.

Zuko snapped his attention to the man under arrest and back to the girl clinging to his arms. Her eyes were pleading with him to spare the boy.

"What were you doing, sneaking away from Uncle to meet with Haru?" he asked.

"Nothing, Zuko, I swear. He just misunderstood and pulled me in here. It was an accident!"

"It wasn't an accident!" Haru spoke up.

"Haru!" Katara exclaimed. "Be quiet! I'm trying to help you." She turned back to Zuko. "Please, Zuko," she asked quietly. "Let him go. He didn't know. I wasn't trying to escape. I wouldn't."

Because of the Avatar. Zuko turned from Katara, taking a hand off one of her shoulders. "Release him." Haru stumbled forward and began to walk past Zuko. But Zuko grabbed him and threatened, "If you ever come near her again, I will make your life a misery."

Haru glared angrily into Zuko's eyes but turned away and looked past him to Katara. "Good bye, Katara," he said.

"Good bye, Haru," she said miserably.

Haru shouldered his way past the guard and was gone.

Zuko turned to his uncle who was standing near the doorway and asked, "Do you still need Katara for fittings, Uncle?"

"No, but she still needs to pick out jewelry," he began.

"You will just have to do it to the best of your ability, Uncle. She's leaving with me now." With that, he turned around, bent over, and picked Katara up, flinging her over his shoulder.

Katara grabbed onto the back of his shirt with her fists and scrambled to straighten herself. She bounced with every step he took and she was terrified of being dropped. His arm against the backs of her legs wasn't as comforting as she was sure it was meant to be, either.

"Zuko," she gasped. It was hard to breath with her stomach against his armored shoulder. "Put me down! Please, put me down. I'll walk. I promise I'll go wherever you want me to!"

He ignored her though, and walked through the town, acting as though he were only carrying a sack of turnips. They reached the ship and he walked up the plank.

Zuko didn't stop until they had reached his room and he had thrown her onto the mattress. Before Katara could get her bearings, Zuko had landed on top of her and was pinning her hands down with his, her body down with his weight.

"What, Katara," he growled. "Were you really doing with Haru?" He spoke the name like it was something disgusting he wanted to get off of his tongue.

"Nothing," Katara said, struggling to get up. She was sunken into the mattress and it was hard for her to breathe with his weight on her chest. "Please…"

"Why don't I believe that?"

"Zuko…"

"Answer me!"

"I can't – breathe!"

Zuko rolled his eyes and shifted his weight. Katara took a deep breath and another. At least she wasn't lying about that.

"Answer me, Katara," he spoke once she had caught her breath. His breath was warm against her neck and tickled her skin as she looked up at the ceiling. "Why were you with him?"

"I told you," she said, more calmly than her heart was betraying. "He was trying to rescue me but I refused him."

"Why did you refuse him?"

"For Aang." The ceiling was very grey. "Because I couldn't leave him."

"Are you sure it was the Avatar you couldn't leave?" he asked.

But before Katara could ask just what he meant by that, he was kissing her. His lips were rubbing hers gently. Her chest and stomach tightened, and her eyes closed. When he paused, she leaned back and bit her lip. When he moved to kiss her again, she reached up with her mouth to meet him.

It was better than the other times they'd kissed. There was something urgent in the way Zuko's lips kept closing over hers, quicker and quicker. It was beginning to excite her, to make her squirm underneath him.

Zuko moved a hand to her waist to steady her. Her hips were moving beneath his and it was causing his forehead to break out in sweat. When he ran his tongue along her bottom lip, she moaned and it drove him crazy.

"Zuko," she breathed when he came up for air.

"Yes, Katara?" he asked, kissing along her neck.

"I- I…"

Zuko interrupted her. He leaned his head back and looked her in the eyes. They were unfocused at first, but soon they caught onto his and it felt like a fishing hook had just caught his heart and tugged.

"I love you, Katara," he said simply.

"I love you, too, Zuko," she said in wonder.

That night, when Katara woke up, she felt so much more at peace than she had in a long while. The night was shining in dark velvet through the window of Zuko's room and warm arms were wrapped around her (still clothed) body.

After Katara and Zuko had admitted (and realized, in Katara's case) that they loved each other, a knocking had come at the door. Zuko had gotten off the bed to open the door to a worried Iroh. He had felt, quite righteously, that Katara was perhaps not in the best hands after her disappearance that afternoon. He had insisted she leave with him to go over what they had purchased and how etiquette at the Fire palace worked.

Zuko could not disagree with him so Katara left.

While Katara went over the proper uses for a fan and what sort of necklace she was allowed to wear with what type of dress, Zuko changed his armor to his training clothes and spent the afternoon working off the energy that swept through him while he had been with Katara.

It hadn't really worked, he discovered, when he returned to his room hours later and found a sleeping Katara in his bed. Exhausted from hours of training, the fight with Haru and a sleepless night before, Zuko climbed into bed and wrapped his arms around Katara, drawing her closer. She mumbled in her sleep and spoke his name.

Zuko waited for her to wake up, but when she never did, he sighed and tried to sleep. It should have been harder with Katara sleeping flush with him and his energy driven like it was, but eventually he did fall asleep.

Katara, on the other hand, didn't know that Zuko had decided to join her that night (instead, assuming he would be sleeping wherever he had the night before) and was surprised to find her in his embrace.

I suppose he meant it, she thought. About what he said earlier. I can't believe I said I loved him. I can't believe he said he loved me.

But it feels right this way. If I said I liked him, it just wouldn't be the same. I really care about him – like the way I care about Sokka and Aang, and I guess Elsie now. Except I don't want to kiss and sleep like this with any of them. That would be weird.

But this is right, she thought, snuggling down deeper next to Zuko. His arm tightened around her waist and she smiled. Oh yes. This is much better.

God, i hate this chapter. I just... I'm a little frustrated with the way I protray Katara. I feel like when I wrote this stuff, I didn't really have a good grasp on my characters' personalities, just those of other fanfic authors. so my characters don't have the canon personalities, just this weird hodgepodge thing going on... ugh...

review anyway, damn you!