Hi everyone!

This chapter is a bit shorter than usual, but I had to end it there, because the rest had to be in another chapter, as I will change the rating to M with the next chapter.

So, if some of you don't follow this story already, and just look if I updated, please apply the filters to 'rating: all' in the future so that you will find the next updates to story in the future.

I hope you will enjoy this chapter.

I do not own Avatar The Last Airbender, nor its characters.


Chapter Twenty-Three

Katara and Zuko had just finished straightening their clothes and running hands through their hair, trying to untangle it, as they heard a voice pronounce through a loudspeaker that the dinner would be served now.

"Is my hair okay?" Katara asked in a stressed tone.

Zuko looked up from his suit coat to look over her hair. The braids looked a little… Well, not as good as before. But it would be weirder if she appeared with an entirely different hair style to dinner. "Yes," he said.

She nodded, bit her lip and kept glancing at the door.

"Ready?" he asked her.

She nodded again, and they left the corridor to go back into the entrance hall.

Because the large crowd tried to get into the small passage, Zuko kept Katara's hand in his, not wanting to lose her in the crowd. He kept walking forwards, automatically looking for his family, but he just felt so shocked. Happy. But somehow shocked.

Katara had kissed him. Just like that, without anyone to convince that they were a couple. She had wanted to kiss him! And she'd done quite a lot more that made him wish to be able to teleport them away from here.

His heart beat had calmed, but his thoughts were still racing. Did that mean she liked him? And would they be able to be a real couple? Or shouldn't he want that?

Well, he had definitely enjoyed this snogging session, and he knew he liked being in her presence, and he definitely liked her as a person, and always sought to be alone with her, and it felt like someone was poking his heart whenever she smiled at him, and her body and lips had been quite recently on his mind, but… He shouldn't want to be Katara's real boyfriend.

He had to end this relationship after his father won the election anyway.

Just then, he spotted his sister sitting at their table, and next to her sat… Ruon Jian.

Zuko couldn't believe it. Azula had invited that idiot?

What was Ruon Jian even doing here? He was supposed to live a lazy alcohol, women, and parties life at the French Riviera.

Sighing inwardly, he made a beeline for them.

Their table was, like all the others, round and with a white tablecloth. It looked stylish, but neutral. Several chandeliers were hanging from the ceiling, but this hall didn't have any columns like the last one.

After they greeted each other, Zuko ignored Ruon Jian to ask Azula: "Where are Mum and Father?"

"Probably still in the entrance hall, because someone's not done talking to them yet." She shrugged, but her eyes were on Katara. On her dress, to be precise.

"That's a nice dress, Katara. But you really should have ironed it before. It looks a little wrinkled."

Zuko blushed unwillingly. Oh no. Azula had always been way too observant.

He had wanted to keep ignoring Ruon Jian, but before Katara could reply to Azula, he changed the topic. "So, Ruon Jian, what are you doing here?"

Ruon Jian sat up. "You remember me? It's been almost ten years."

Zuko raised his eyebrows. "It's hard to forget you, when I saw you growing up through the social media, magazines, or Azula's phone."

Ruon Jian grinned. "Really?" He looked back at Azula.

She rolled her eyes. "You know I followed you on social media," she said dismissively.

"So why are you back?" Zuko asked again.

"Oh," Ruon Jian nodded. "Yeah, that. Well, I live with my grandparents now, because Dad said it is good for a young mind to live in different places on Earth." He lowered his voice to imitate his father.

"He caused a scandal," Azula interrupted.

Ruon Jian pouted at her.

She shrugged. "They could find out through the news anyway. Well, Ruon Jian threw a secret party that for once didn't stay secret. The neighbours had enough of it, and called the police."

Ruon Jian rolled his eyes. "Yeah, my Dad was super annoyed. I used to tell the neighbours when I threw a party and asked them what they wanted in return, so that we could be loud. Getting them the latest fashion from my mother's label had worked before, but this time they wanted more. I thought they just bluffed, though."

Katara raised an eyebrow. "Which fashion label belongs to your mother?" she asked, just as Ozai and Ursa came to their table.

The question was postponed for later.

Zuko's parents were fortunately completely oblivious to the ruffled state of Katara's and Zuko's clothes and hair, and didn't notice anything unlike Azula.

Ruon Jian was an idiot, but at least, he behaved decently towards Katara. He even seemed impressed with her studies and complimented her on…

Wait.

Zuko narrowed his eyes.

Ruon Jian was smiling crookedly, his eyes a bit cast down, while Katara told him about a lecture she'd had last term. He asked her questions that sounded as if he were interested, and said often "Wow" or "You're so smart". Hi body leaned forward, and his eyes kept a steady eye contact with her. He nodded along, and his hands lied in the middle of the table. Too close to Katara's!

Zuko leaned towards Azula. "Why is your date flirting with my girlfriend?" Zuko hissed.

"Is he now?" Azula asked in mocked surprise.

Why would Azula…?

"What are you trying to do?" he asked her lowly.

Azula shrugged. "Well, Ruon Jian is way better company than you, he's charming, and although he hasn't got as much money as our family does, they're showing off theirs way more. I want to know if Katara is a gold digger," she answered.

Aghast, Zuko leaned back, and stared in shock and disgust at his sister. Katara? A gold digger? Never.

If he wouldn't pay her, she wouldn't even want to be here. She had made it pretty clear that she didn't like this kind of society. And about the money he paid her… It wasn't like she was using him. For what would she use him? She didn't even like this job. She just told him she did it because she thought his father would be a good president. And she'd said she didn't want to be here, didn't want to belong here. If Katara would have a job, she wouldn't be here.

And it was his fault that she didn't have one. He had made sure of that by paying Supaki Nensho.

Guilt suddenly grasped his heart, and Zuko swallowed. He had practically forced Katara into this fake relationship. And now he had taken advantage of her affection, and even though he did like her, it wasn't like they actually ever could be together.

His hand found Katara's thigh, and she turned her head to him in a surprised manner, her eyebrows raised questioningly.

He shook his head. "Everything's fine. Sorry."

She nodded slowly, before she kept continuing her conversation with Ruon Jian. But Zuko kept his hand on her thigh. And he observed them well.

Out of Chan and Ruon Jian, the cousins Azula and he had been forced to play with when they had went on holiday to Ember Island at first and then the French Riviera, he had disliked Ruon Jian the most. He had always been so interested in his looks, even as a child. And he had never played fair, had always sought any occasion to brag about anything or to show off.

Ozai wrapped Zuko in a conversation about the business partners who were here, and asked him who he had spoken to. Zuko thought carefully and chose his words carefully, too, as he answered his father. He knew he'd done everything right, but right could change in a matter of seconds to wrong, where his father was involved.

When dinner was served, Zuko was a little nervous, but everything went right, and no one acted in a despicable way towards Katara. For some reason, he had the urge to punch someone who would do so. Although, he also wanted to punch this Ruon Jian. Who was he to think he could flirt with Katara? She was Zuko's girlfriend!

He blinked.

Well, not really, but everyone thought that. And he didn't like how Ruon Jian kept staring onto Katara's décolleté. It wasn't even that impressive. Well, it was quite nice and pretty, but the swell of her breasts was practically only implied. It was not too much, there wasn't even a slit visible, and shit, was he staring now?

Zuko tore his eyes off Katara's breasts quickly and hoped no one had seen it.

After the main course, there was an endless, boring, on droning presentation about PaiLaBluSp's accomplishments of the last year, what had been the most successful, who they'd liked to thank, and finally, who the donator of the year would be.

The content of the presentation wasn't really the bad thing, the bad thing was this monotone voice of this old Eastern man.

Ozai became the donator of the year, and Zuko could see that his father looked immensely pleased. Ursa, Azula, Ruon Jian, Katara, and he clapped for him, all in an absolute delighted way.

Zuko's father held a short speech, and was asked what he would like to support in the future. More sick children, orphans, or puppies?

Ozai hesitated. "The socially weak. The minorities. In the past, I have never really thought about them, I must admit, because I've never come into contact with them. They live in their part of town, and I in another. Or they live on the other side of Elementia. I would like to support the Northern, Southern, and Mountain Provinces and help to build them up to the level of our infrastructure. I wouldn't have thought about this if my son's girlfriend Katara Qinu wouldn't have opened my eyes for them. And of course, it will be easier to act on these wishes, if I'll be elected this December." He chuckled. "Not that I'm here for advertisement. I'm simply glad I could do so many good things. And I will do more good things to more and other kinds of minorities." He bowed. "Thank you."

The hall exploded with applause, which surprised Zuko quite much. He hadn't thought here would be much people who would like the North, South, and Mountains helped.

He looked over to Katara. She looked stunned, while she clapped with the others.

Ozai left the small stage, and the head of PaiLaBluSp appeared again. "You heard it. Kasaishi, the friend of the minorities." He pointed at their table. "A family man. A man concerned about our country. He might not be here for advertisement, but I say screw it. Vote for Kasaishi!"

The hall cheered.

Ozai smiled in a humble way, as he sat down on his chair. Ursa grabbed his hand and squeezed it affectionately.

When the noise subsided, Ozai leaned over the table towards Katara. "I hope this was okay for you. I should have asked you, if you're comfortable with me saying this."

Katara shook her head. "No, it was okay. I was just surprised. And did you really mean that? You want to industrialise the North, South, and the Mountains?"

Ozai nodded. "Of course. Economically weak provinces are a cause for the imbalance of the government. I do not seek to destroy your way of life, if that's what you're concerned about, Katara," he reassured her softly. "But I don't want anyone to live in poverty. And even if herding yacks makes them happy, they should have at least warm water. I also think it could help in creating more diversity in the country. As I noticed that there are barely any other Southerners or Northerners living in the capital. "

Katara nodded slowly. "Yes. You're right."

Zuko felt like Katara wasn't quite that happy about the announcement, but maybe she also simply felt uncomfortable because Ozai had said her name. He stroked her thigh in a reassuring way.

Or what he hoped was a reassuring way.

It probably had an effect, however, since Katara's answers to Ruon Jian weren't so friendly anymore, and she replied in a way more stilted manner. Azula frowned at that, while Zuko grinned back at her. He felt like he had won.

After dessert, the space from the tables to the stage was cleared, and a band appeared on stage.

Zuko leaned close to Katara to whisper in her ear. "I have to dance with Mum and Azula, too. So we can leave after three dances, if you like."

She nodded, but didn't quite look at him. He wondered if she was somehow mad at him.

They danced firstly with each other, though, which seemed to be a cause for Katara's unrest and anger. "You didn't tell me we'd have to dance," she hissed.

"Sorry?"

"I can't dance!"

"But you told me you liked dancing," he objected, feeling confused. He took her hands and laid one on his shoulder.

Katara stared at his throat. "That doesn't mean I know how to waltz! Why are we even dancing this Western dance? What about Western province dances? Isn't there a fly of the dragon or jumping phoenix or something?"

Zuko chuckled. "Those dances are for less formal occasions, Katara. And only old people still dance that. A waltz is perfect for the high society. It's slow, elegant, fits classic music, and the couples don't have to stand too close to each other. Just move your feet back, when I move mine forward, and the other way around. I act, and you react, okay?"

She nodded, but still looked nervous and looked down at his feet. "Will you step on my dress?"

"This shouldn't happen," he reassured her, as he began to lead them across the dance floor, without bumping into other couples.

His concern that Katara would stumble vanished quickly. She followed his lead almost as easily as if she had practised for this. He didn't feel like he was shoving her around the dance floor and although she didn't try to lead, sometimes it felt like she was pulling him with her. She reacted so fast, that it felt like they moved simultaneously.

He felt his chest widen, and looked down into her eyes.

She smiled at him. "It's not so bad," she admitted.

There was the poking again. The flutter, and then the desire to press her close to him and kiss her again.

Her lips parted, as the sucked in a breath.

The song ended, and Azula was already there to pull him away, and then Ozai danced with Katara, and Ursa with Ruon Jian.

Zuko scowled at his sister. "You don't even like Ruon Jian!"

Azula shrugged. "I thought Katara might like him."

Zuko snorted. "She doesn't. And she would never do that. Believe me, money doesn't impress her in the slightest."

"Why? Did you try to win her over with expensive gifts before you noticed she cares more about personality than wealth?" Azula asked snidely.

Zuko stopped himself from stepping onto her foot. "No," he growled. That was true, at least. But he couldn't really well say that what was going on between him and Katara didn't have anything to do with money. Maybe the real thing hadn't anything to do with money, but Zuko didn't even know what the real thing was. What was his real relationship to Katara?

"Well, then be happy. Your girlfriend obviously likes you," Azula snorted.

"You're acting like you can't actually believe it," he grumbled.

"I know from Mai that you were horrible as a boyfriend. But maybe you learned from your mistakes."

He scowled at the mentioning of Mai's and his relationship. It had been a weird disaster of affection, boredom, hatred, desire, and hurting each other to get a reaction from each other. Their communication had been crappy, and instead of talking about each other to each other, they had both had stupid plans to make the other one do what they wanted them to do. In the end, they had only hurt each other.

"Honestly, Azula, my relationship with Katara is none of your business, and I would welcome it if you would keep out of it. I don't need your opinion," Zuko declared.

Azula rolled her eyes. "Fine. Sorry that I'm looking out for you."

He pinched her in the side, knowing that it would tickle her. Azula let out a quiet shriek and glared at him.

He grinned, and she huffed, no talking to him for the rest of the song.

When he danced with his mother, she told him again how happy she was for him that he had found Katara, and that they looked so good together, and how much she liked Katara.

Zuko almost got a bad conscience, knowing whatever his mother hoped for them would never happen.

"Well, our relationship is still new," he said evasively.

"But you love her, right?" Ursa probed.

Zuko tensed. He had to lie to his mother now. Normally, he would simply hiss "Mum! Stop it!" and be done with it, but that didn't come to his mind now. He had thought about his real feelings for Katara all evening long, and being asked if he loved her so directly made him think.

"Er, I think it's still too early to say that."

Ursa looked a little angry. "It certainly is not. I see how you look at her. It's more than what was between you and that friend of Azula's."

"Mai," Zuko sighed.

Ursa nodded. "Yes. And just because you think it's too early, doesn't mean it has to be. I'm pretty sure she loves you, too." Her smile was meant to be encouraging, but all Zuko felt was panic.

What if he was in love with Katara? Or if he was about to fall for her? And if she returned his feelings? Or what if she didn't? What would all that mean? It would complicate everything and destroy everything!

His stomach felt like it was making somersaults, and Zuko didn't know if it was the panic or the feelings for Katara.

His eyes searched for her, and saw how she leaned away from Roan Jian, who whispered something in her ear. His hand on her back was a little too low, and he was generally a little too close to Katara.

Zuko kept throwing them harsh glances, while dancing with his mother, and when the song was over, he quickly kissed her on her cheek and said: "Bye, Mum. We're leaving."

Katara had taken a few steps back from Ruon Jian, but he was still holding one of her hands and attempting to kiss it!

With a few long strides, he was at Katara's side, and pulled her hand out of Ruon Jian's.

"Sorry, but we're leaving." He didn't even try to hide his contempt for Ruon Jian, as he glared at him. Then he looked at Katara. "Did you leave anything at our table?"

She shook her head.

He nodded and shoved her a bit behind him, before he took a step to Ruon Jian. When they had been kids, Ruon Jian had been taller than Zuko, but now he was smaller, and that gave Zuko some weird, male satisfaction. "Hands. Off. My. Girlfriend," he growled and stared the other man down with a hard glare.

Ruon Jian's eyes widened, as he shook his head. "Man, I didn't do anything!"

"I know what was going on here, and I'm warning you to not do it again." With that, he turned around, and pulled Katara with him to the entrance hall.

"Oh, wow, you let me walk by myself," she said sarcastically. "I thought you would haul me over your shoulder the way you just behaved."

"I'll explain in the car," he murmured, as all he wanted to do was getting away from here.

When they stepped out of the temple, there were still a lot of reporters, and Katara immediately grasped his arm. He slowed his pace, and tried to cool his features. He didn't want this to look as if he were mad at her.

Which he wasn't.

He was still fuming, though, while they waited for his car at the entrance to the temple grounds. Katara moved around rather nervously.

Zuko's anger felt a little unjustified, but it just didn't go away, and he felt pent up with raw energy, and even when his car was finally there and he sped up to 120 km/h on the highway, he still didn't feel much better.

"So?" Katara asked from the passenger seat. "You wanted to explain something?"

"Azula had Ruon Jian set on you. She wanted to know if you're only interested in me because of my family's money."

"But he didn't ask me anything about us!" Katara objected.

"No. But Azula wanted to know if you were attracted to money. If you would flirt with Ruon Jian," he gritted out between his teeth.

"Ooohhh," Katara said as if only now the whole evening made sense. "I thought he was just an asshole who couldn't even be faithful to his date for one evening!"

Zuko snorted. "So, er, what exactly did he say? He didn't… I mean… Did he come too close to you? I couldn't really see you through the entire last dance."

"No." Katara shook her head. "I mean, he was annoyingly close all the time, but I didn't want to cause a scene. I understood this event was important for your family, and I didn't want to ruin it by slapping him."

Zuko felt how the muscles in his neck tensed. "What did he say?"

Katara grimaced. "Some really disgusting comments about how I look, and that he found me desirable, and then he asked if I'd like to ditch you to come with him to his hotel suite. He talked quite a lot about how expensive that suite was, but if the money was meant to attract me, it does make sense now." She shrugged. "I told him I was flattered, but that you were my boyfriend, and I only wanted you, so no."

The words felt like concrete in Zuko's stomach. It felt suddenly incredibly heavy, while his chest became light, as if someone was filling it with air like an air balloon. It felt like he wished her words were true. How would it feel like to be the only one Katara wanted?

He bit his lip, because the thought immediately turned him on.

"Okay." Zuko nodded.

He liked the casual way she had talked about Ruon Jian. As if she was talking about the weather, about something completely unimportant. It even sounded as if she had found him a little ridiculous. It made Zuko feel immensely better.

Zuko drove in a very determined way, and Katara searched for good music on the radio. But the hour was full, so only news was coming.

"The latest survey shows that Kasaishi Ozai has more than 30 % of the votes, followed by Kuei Guówáng with 27 %. It looks like the final decision will happen between these two candidates. PKP and EKP are once again the country's parties with the most votes."

Zuko looked over at Katara, who smiled at him.

When he reached the parking place for visitors to the dormitories, and turned off the engine, he had a weird feeling in his stomach again. Somehow, he felt nervous.

"So, the evening was…" Katara started. "I wanted to say not that bad, but it was pretty awful. Though not all of it," she added in a thoughtful voice that sounded a little deeper than normal.

Curiously, he turned towards her. "Like what?"

Katara tapped her chin, thinking. "Hm, the dancing wasn't so bad."

He leaned his head against the rest and raised an eyebrow. "I thought Ruon Jian tried to grab your ass."

Katara chuckled and leaned a bit forward. "I meant dancing with you. Dancing with your father also wasn't that nice."

Zuko frowned. "Why?"

"Small talk. I can't stand it." She shrugged and then tapped her chin again. "But I think the dancing was the only good part of the evening."

Zuko blinked. Er… So, er, did she mean she hadn't liked kissing him at all?

She leaned even closer to him and grabbed his thigh. The lights went out in his car, and he felt as if all of his other senses heightened. He took deep breaths. Maybe she was just teasing him. Maybe she would lean forward, kiss him, and say that this was the best part, or something similar.

Instead, she kissed his cheek. "Good night, Zuko."

He felt how his mouth opened in shock and surprise, and he probably looked like an idiot, but then she suddenly grabbed his lapels and pulled him closer.

"Or maybe you can think about a better part of the evening," she whispered and then leaned into him.

Zuko didn't fight her and found her lips on his. He closed his eyes and immediately opened his mouth, as he wanted to taste her tongue again. His left hand found her waist and pulled her closer.

Her hands wandered over his chest onto his shoulders and on his neck, her fingers digging in his hair. Oh, that felt good.

Zuko intensified their kiss and could feel his arousal flare, when she suddenly pulled away again. He panted.

"What if we…," Katara closed her eyes, "go upstairs to continue this?"

Zuko swallowed.

Oh hell, yeah. Yes, definitely, said his body.

But his mind hadn't said goodbye yet. "U-upstairs?" T-to continue this?" he asked like an idiot.

Katara nodded, her teeth biting on her lower lip. Oh, he liked it when she did that.

Maybe his mind had said goodbye after all, as he wasn't moving, only staring at her lips, and then she suddenly jerked back. "I-I mean, just… Or not. This… The car is good, too. Or I can also just go, if you prefer this. I just thought you…"

"What?"

She pressed her lips together and wouldn't look at him. "Well, maybe I misinterpreted your signals."

"Signals?" He was confused. When had he said he wanted to go to her flat?

Katara huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "You grabbed my thigh and kept stroking it!"

Yes, he had done that. He felt how blood rushed into his cheeks. "Yes, but… I didn't mean it like that. You just…" He shrugged. "It was meant to be comforting and reassuring."

"When your hand was almost right between my thighs?" Katara snapped.

He felt himself flush even more. "I-I didn't mean… It wasn't… I just thought it was your thigh, okay? I didn't think about how high up my hand was going!"

"And then why did you want to leave as soon as possible?" she snarled.

"Because I thought you didn't like it there! You said you found the people horrible, and I thought you would be happier if we left early!" he shouted, now getting a little angry. There, he had only thought about her wellbeing, and cared about how she felt, and she just thought he wanted to get her home for what? Snogging? Sleeping with each other?

Her mouth opened to say something else, but she clapped it shut again and started to gather her dress in her hands and opened the door.

"Wait! What are you… Katara!"

"Good. Night. ZUKO!" She slammed the door shut and began to walk to her building.

Zuko sat there for two seconds, staring after her like an idiot, before he quickly opened his door and got out of the car. "Katara!" he shouted, closed the door and the car, before he jogged after her.

He had stopped thinking about what this could mean, and about what his father wanted him to do. He just knew that Katara was mad at him, and he didn't like that. She was also mad at him for something stupid, because however she might have misinterpreted his signals, the intention behind them was still the same. Right now, he just wanted to follow her, make up, and just spend the rest of the night with her. Talking, watching a film, kissing, snogging, washing dishes, he didn't care.

She ignored him and opened the door. He ran fast enough to slip in before the door closed again. Katara was already on the stairs.

"Go away!" she growled and had trouble to walk up the stairs with her skirt in her hands.

He jumped two steps at a time, and then grabbed her elbow on the first floor. "Katara."

She turned around, her mouth twisted to tell him something that was not nice, he was sure of that, but he took a step towards her, kept holding her elbow and pressed his lips onto hers. He held her head with his other hand, hoping she wouldn't move away, as he slanted his lips against hers. She didn't respond, but she also didn't draw back.

"I'd love to go upstairs with you," he whispered. "I was just surprised you'd even ask me this," he tried to explain himself. His lips moved over her cheek. "But I'd love to continue this."

He heard her breath hitch, and then felt how she grabbed his arms to push him away.

Oh shit. He had ruined it all. Everything!

Katara stared at him with hard, determined eyes, as she took deep breaths. "Okay," she said. "Come." Then she turned around and walked up the stairs.

Again, he felt pretty dumbfounded, but hurried to follow her.

Oh, he had her behind directly in his face and it swung from one side to the other. Zuko blinked. He should really stop staring. This was undignified, as he acted like a dog who saw a bone.

And this was a particularly curvy bone.

But then Katara stopped at the fourth storey and opened her door. Zuko swallowed. He would… Well, he didn't know where this would lead, and he didn't know what exactly Katara wanted, but he would take what he was given and enjoy it immensely.


Thanks for reading, and please review!:D I hope you liked this chapter!

In the first version of this chapter, I had Chan (from "The Beach", the guy who kisses Azula at his house party) as Azula's date, but I thought Azula would want Chan's attention for herself and wouldn't tell him to flirt with her brother's girlfriend. Zuko also can't stand Ruon Jian (the guy who flirted with Mai in "The Beach"), and I think he didn't care much about Chan.

There was a little Ozai for president in here, because the next chapters will mainly focus on Katara's and Zuko's relationship, and I wanted to boost the political part of this story a bit. I'm not very into politics, though, and my mother language is not English, so whatever I'll write about politics might have mistakes in it, e.g. I might use the wrong vocabulary. I think I will keep sprinkling moments about politics into the chapters which should mainly be about Katara and Zuko.

Er, well, about Zuko's feelings. It might seem like he doesn't like Katara as much as she likes him, but his father is still a problem, and Zuko isn't yet on the side of screw you, Ozai. In my opinion, he is in love with Katara, or is just falling for her, but doesn't think about it, and doesn't want it to be true. He knows in the end it would have to be Katara or his father, because Ozai already told him he wouldn't want Zuko to really be with Katara. So Zuko might fear to get disinherited or outcast by his family. And he was already outcast once. He got his frigging back whipped by disrespecting his father at the age of thirteen, so he's unconsciously afraid of a similarly grave punishment. But Zuko is still not really ready to think about what his father had done to him. That's why he's more reluctant to really think about his feelings for Katara. But I know Zuko is reckless, and passionate, and brave. However, when he will notice he's in love, he will still feel very conflicted, so he might seem more like a coward than he actually is. But that's still a long way off.

Answers to reviews: (since no one told me they would like a direct answer, I'm answering here again. I hope that's okay with you.)

To Smckoy929: Thanks for your review!:D Yeah, it made me kind of aggressive, while I was writing this. But the problem is that when a person acted in an unfriendly way towards Katara, she just thought it was because of her origin, but maybe the person also had a bad day. The problem is that racism is always a possible option as a reason for unfriendliness. Thanks, I hope I kept it relatively realistic. I hope you liked this chapter, although it wasn't that long.

To uchihaNaruto247: You thought the snogging scene was spicy? Wow. Thanks, because when I wrote it, I was literally like: 'Err, and what can they do now? I need another expression for kissing with tongue! What are their hands doing? Shit, I forgot their hands!'. So I'm glad the scene turned out not to be completely awkward. Yeah, I liked having Piandao there, too. I was thinking about putting Zhao in there, too, but I didn't want to think about a family name for him. And I thought the General who wanted to sacrifice the 41st division was bad enough. Thanks for reviewing!:D

To audaciarose: Thank you!:D I hope you liked the gala dinner, although the scene was rather short.

To IDidn'tSignUp4This: Wow, thanks. Well, I just think about how strange I find rich people, to be honest. I know you shouldn't condemn rich people, and of course I don't say no to small luxuries, and I know people can be nice and good, too, even if they're rich, but some of the sums they're paying for stuff makes me sick. And Katara is a very judgmental character, so I think she would react that way. Thanks for your review!:D

To Darklady: Thanks a lot! I was worried the snogging scene was too awkward. Well, nope, I do not want to keep it rated T, as I'll change the rating for the next chapter. I assume you do not have an account, so think about changing the rating in the filters to 'all' so that you can read the next chapter, when I'll update. I kept thinking about the next chapter quite a lot, so you should expect it to be published by the weekend. Thanks for reviewing!:D