AN: Just wanted to quickly mention that I am tentatively planning on making this story two parts, purely because I feel I'm going to need to change the rating. I'm not sure exactly when this will happen, but I will be sure to let everyone know ahead of time and I just want to make sure you guys are all in the loop.

Hope you're all enjoying your Labor Day weekend and thanks so much for stopping by: hope you enjoy!

Chapter 16: Tension

Obito wasn't sure what to think as he was ushered along a massive open deck aboard a ship that could have been the size of a town. He looked at the dozens upon dozens of Fire Nation soldiers and found himself more than a little perplexed; he had awoken just moments before the airship he had been loaded on had touched down next to this gigantic warship and been asked, rather politely, if he wouldn't mind stepping aboard. He didn't know where he was in relation to Ba Sing Se, nor had he seen any sign of Iroh. Since boarding the ship, he had been treated quite respectfully, but the soldiers escorting him towards the ship's interior hardly seemed chatty and it was clear very quickly to him that his questions weren't about to be answered by any one of them.

The ship's interior seemed even bigger than it had on the outside and Obito found himself wondering how the beast of metal was even able to stay afloat. Inside were even more soldiers, weapons, cannons and all sorts of pieces of the Fire Nation war machine. It struck Obito that it was very possible, in fact it was very likely, that he was being led to a torture or perhaps execution chamber where he would choke out his last moments at the hands of a Fire Nation interrogator, but he allowed himself to be led along anyway for two distinct reasons.

He was relatively confident that if extracting information or killing him had been the primary goal, there would have been no reason to haul him all this way just to dump him on board what was likely one of the most impressive ships in the Fire Nation fleet.

But secondly, and much more significantly, Obito was remembering. He was remembering a great deal. His life story was still a vague mess to him, with names like Rin and Kakashi now floating about, but the word jutsu had rekindled inside him and with it, a whole host of methods and actions he could use to easily extradite himself from any potentially bad situation. His eyes, his Sharingan and Rinnegan housed a great deal of power as well; as he remembered their names, so too did he remember the wealth of advantages they provided him. They were hidden now, but were ready to come to life at a moment's notice and aid him.

And so, Obito let himself be led through the ship. For, even though his combative assets had been returned to him, he still was very lost in this world. And if he could be granted some level of clarity wherever he was being taken, this detour could prove to be entirely worthwhile.

That, and he was deeply hoping he would be able to find Iroh in once piece.

Eventually, he was led to a massive pair of doors that loomed the height of four men above him and his escorts halted.

"The Fire Lord will see you now," the chief officer in charge said and pushed the door with effort and it gently swung open.

Fire Lord?

This was all Obito had time to think before he was pushed through and the door boomed shut behind him, leaving him alone with the room's only occupant.

It was a study or an office of some kind; a long table covered in scrolls and maps was spread out in its center with vast, ornate windows looking out over the ocean and land mass the ship was anchored off of. A throne sat furthest from the door, unoccupied and beside it was a much smaller table upon which a tall, imposing man was scribbling something down. He turned as the door closed and smiled.

"Thank you for taking the time to see me," said the man. His voice was silky and smooth, but slightly unsettling to Obito's ears.

"I wasn't aware I had a choice," Obito replied. He was aware that the person must be the Fire Lord, but he had no intention of being totally submissive to any authority figure, regardless of whether or not he sounded rude in the process. The man before him seemed to take no offense and moved away from the table towards him.

"I apologize for the nature of your arrival, but I'm afraid it was more or less necessary given the state of things."

He extended a hand as he came within distance of Obito.

"I am Fire Lord Ozai."

Obito took his hand and shook it firmly. He was immediately impressed by Ozai's appearance; tall and broad shouldered with straight black hair and a pointed beard that angled down from his chin. His robes were certainly those of a person of high stature and Obito supposed that he couldn't have been talking to a higher power in the whole of the Four Nations he had come to be aware of.

"It's an honor… your highness."

He added the last bit he supposed a moment too late, but Ozai again took no offense and offered another warm smile.

"Again, I must apologize for how you came to be here... my men say your name is Obito?"

"What, you don't send your soldiers to kill travelers for fun on the daily?" Obito asked, ignoring the bit regarding his name. He was proceeding in as measured a provoking way as he could; he needed to see if he could make the Fire Lord tick.

Ozai's face became regretful. "You'll please forgive my men's actions. At the time they encountered you, we believe there was a coup underway to take over the city of Ba Sing Se from my regency."

"To retake the city you mean."

Shaking his head, Ozai turned towards the grand table in the center of the room. "I'm afraid you may have been misinformed. Ba Sing Se is, and always has been, Fire Nation territory. When they declared war a hundred or so years ago, it became a city frequently fought for contention, and I believe that it actually be once again under Earth Nation control again as we speak."

Frowning, Obito walked over to join him and looked down to see a large map that spanned out over what must have been all four nation. The city of Ba Sing Se was deep in the center of Earth Nation territory, a territory that looked much larger than any other.

"I saw your men forcing thousands of people into internment camps outside the city. And you're telling me that Ba Sing Se is your city?"

Ozai gave a long exhale through his nose. "During wartime, difficult decisions need to be made. Controlling that city would have been key in taking back so much land that rightfully belongs to others."

Turning to regard the Fire Lord, Obito decided to give the Fire Lord a chance to explain. "I don't understand. Everywhere I've traveled, it's as though the Earth and Fire Nations are nothing more than a group of self-righteous barbarians, battling for control. I've seen both sides commit what are surely war crimes and often purely for the sport of it."

Gazing down at the map as though he could see his entire life stretched across it, Ozai replied, "I regret that not all my soldiers are good men at heart. But I fear that decades of war will force even good men to turn to despicable actions as their morality is worn down by the reality of this conflict."

He gestured to the lettering that spelled out "Earth Nation."

"A hundred or so years ago, the Fire Nation invaded the Air Nation in an attempt to secure the Avatar."

Obito nodded slowly. "I've heard that title."

The Fire Lord gave him another look of deep-seeded regret. "That title is unfortunately the cause of this entire conflict. The Air Nation refused to share the Avatar, a person who collectively is destined to serve all four nations, with the rest of us. Fearing for our safety, my grandfather attempted to secure this person and thus began a horrible conflict that has followed us to this day."

"I don't deny my nation was the cause of the conflict's origin, but it was the Earth Nation who took advantage of the fighting. Blaming our people, they invaded the Air Nation temples across all corners of the known world and wiped their entire people out. From there, they forced the Fire Nation back east and pushed the Water Nation to the north and south. Through sheer manpower and numbers, they have spent decades forcing us away until they've even absorbed the Water Nation, adding their power to their own, and installing proxy leaders to feign the idea that the Water Nation is still free. In truth, they are enslaved, and the Fire Nation will be next, unless, soon, I can make a move that will break their tyrannical grip on the world."

The words that Ozai spoke were rich with emotion and passion, that much Obito could tell. As the Fire Lord finished talking, he waited a moment and then said, "It looks an awful lot like you're invading to me, rather than protecting yourselves."

A strained look passed over Ozai's face. "I no longer have a choice. For years, I attempted to simply keep the Earth Nation at bay, but they have pushed further and further until they attempted an invasion on the Fire Nation capital, my home, in an attempt to silence me and take over the last free Nation for good. Only weeks ago, an attempt was made on my life, one that I barely survived and then another was made barely a week later. If I do not move forward now, I fear I will not be so lucky to survive a third time."

Obito studied the map and saw that there were markers that must have indicated these supposed invasions and assassination attempts.

"These invaders, the Earth Nation?"

There was a long pause before Ozai replied, his words thick with pain. "I'm afraid not entirely. Allied with the Earth Nation is the Avatar whom they have coerced into doing their bidding. The Avatar, barely a young man, has assembled a team of other younger benders and allies that have been wreaking havoc on my soldiers for nearly a year now. They were the ones who attempted to kill me, both times."

At this, Obito could only stare. "How young are we talking?"

Ozai shrugged. "Hard to say, but I would imagine his group ranges from twelve to sixteen years of age across all their members."

Grunting, Obito looked back at the map. "Children."

"Scoff if you must, but these are no ordinary children. They are battle-hardened, exceptionally strong in their own right, and have seen more violence than most people will see in a lifetime. They have been forced to mature under extreme circumstances, and though I cannot condone the path they have chosen, I pity them still."

"Why?" Obito asked.

It was clear then that what came next was not only a sore subject for Ozai, but he also seemed to very much be still dealing with the issue that he posed.

"Because among them are my children."

This was certainly unexpected. Obito watched as Ozai shifted uncomfortably, pain and humiliation etched on his face. "While I spent my life fighting a war for the sake of my nation, the Avatar and his cohorts stole my children away from me, with promises of glory and riches and power, and turning them against me. As a leader, I must brush aside this loss, but I fear that if it comes down to my children… this might break me, truly."

He looked rather alone then and Obito, in an attempt to stay objective, did his best to not feel pity just then. Instead, he asked with a sigh, "I don't suppose you'd be willing to tell me why I was brought here. Why you're granting me an audience and telling me what is very clearly some deeply personal information."

Ozai looked to him slowly and sighed in return.

"I suppose there are a couple reasons. Firstly, you traveled the length of Ba Sing Se in the company of none other than my brother."

This was perhaps even more unexpected. Shaking his head, Obito asked, "I'm sorry?"

Smiling in faint amusement at his reaction, Ozai continued. "My brother, Iroh. He seemed to be on the same path to the city as you and I suppose you joined up for the length of the journey, My brother always made for good traveling company."

Obito fixed the Fire Lord with a suspicious look. "In all our talks, he never mentioned that he was your brother. And he didn't exactly seem to have a very pleasant outlook on the Fire Nation."

Yet again, regret passed over Ozai's face.

"I'm afraid that would have to be my fault. Did he mention a nephew at all?"

As he thought back, Obito could indeed remember talks of a nephew.

"He did."

Ozai nodded, "That would be my son. Years ago, he committed a treasonous act that my brother was blamed for as well. I was greatly pained when I was forced to banish them both, but it only came to light long after that my brother was innocent of those crimes, only quite recently in fact."

The Fire Lord pressed his long fingers against the table.

"He left my son's company and has been wandering the lands as an exile since the day he left the nation, but I have been trying desperately to relocate him and bring him home; he still believes himself to be wanted under charges of treason, charges that now only are beholden to my son and daughter."

He gestured to the outskirts of Ba Sing Se on the map. "The soldiers you encountered believed you were a criminal who was taking him to the city for a ransom. Hence their aggression towards you."

It was all a bit to take in, but it made sense as to why Iroh had never mentioned the truth of his past; why would he go saying all that to Obito someone he barely knew?

"Where is Iroh?" he practically blurted out then. If this was truly all the case, then this was no doubt at least something of a happy family reunion, and Obito wanted very much to know that his older traveling companion was safe.

This was when perhaps the most pained look of all crossed Ozai's face.

"I'm afraid… just after my men were able to apprehend you, a massive Earth Nation fighting force arrived, one of many, to besiege the city. Many of the soldiers you had been facing were killed and the few that survived made to take you to me, as per my orders."

He paused for a moment. "And in this chaos, my brother was taken prisoner."

It was a struggle for Obito to not look as distressed as he felt, as he distantly chided himself.

You're getting all worked up over an old man you only knew for a few days?

But Iroh had been a lot more than just a travel companion, and he knew that.

"That's better than them just killing him outright, I suppose," he managed to say, but Ozai didn't look like those words gave him any comfort.

"You might think so… but the Earth Nation army made up of many depraved and brutal people, with their leadership being no exception. My wife… years ago, she was on a diplomatic mission to the city of Omashu when she was taken captive by the Earth Nation's army. Without so much as offering a chance for me to negotiate her release, they beheaded her and hung her head from the wall of Ba Sing Se, in an act of defiance."

The Fire Lord clenched his fists and the edges of his mouth pulled in disgust.

"Years later, they attempted to convince my children that her death had been my fault. And I daresay that it worked, considering the battle line they have chosen to stand on."

If this was all true, then Obito had to admit himself impressed. Ozai seemed to have suffered nothing but loss, but still was doing his all to maintain leadership and focus on balancing the world's power, despite all his grieving that was no doubt a constant piece of each day for him. Nevertheless, he attempted to remain objective.

"So, that's reason one, I was traveling with your brother. The other?"

Now, Ozai's face briefly dipped into something that might have been… excitement? No, that couldn't have been right. The emotion was gone in the blink of an eye though and Obito wasn't sure what it was he had seen as Ozai continued again in his usual, controlled tone.

"I don't suppose you would happen to be familiar with all parts of your memory, would you?"

No small amount of suspicion passed through Obito then and he narrowed his eyes, "How could you possibly know that?"

Ozai didn't seem remotely perturbed by his guest's sudden potential hostility.

"My men who survived both you and the Earth Nation reported that your eyes had glowed in the strangest way when you had been engaged. That you had fought with speed and ability unlike anything they had ever seen."

"What does that have to do with my memory?" Obito nearly snapped. This sudden revelation that Ozai might know more about him than even he did was more than a little unsettling and he had lost most of his will to be patient.

The Fire Lord hardly seemed put off by this aggressiveness though and nodded as though Obito had all but answered his question.

"Among the Avatar's team of young assassins is a boy rather like you. Black fair, odd dress, and with a certain penchant for being a warrior unlike anything reported in all the four nations, with eyes of his own that seem to glow during battle."

Another like me?

Obito tried to contain his bewilderment as Ozai continued, "He arrived within the last week in an attempt to kill me, and I was barely able to survive the encounter. He was powerful indeed and I frankly have no doubt he and his group will make another pass at me, perhaps as early as tonight."

Though he heard the rest of what Ozai said, Obito was still transfixed on the possibility of what was being suggested.

"And this person," he asked slowly. "He also had no access to his memory?"

Ozai raised and lowered his shoulders, "Perhaps bits and pieces, but he made to interrogate me over what he didn't know, so I imagine that the majority of it remained unknown."

The Fire Lord spread his hands in a gesture of good will. "The final truth is this: I had you brought here in the hopes that you might aid me in restoring peace to this land, and saving my brother before what I believe will certainly be execution. In turn, I will offer my wealth of resources to aid you in recovering your memory, no matter what that might entail."

It took Obito near a minute to process this as the Fire Lord allowed him to do so without speaking another word. He truly wasn't sure he knew how to react to any of it and he could only think to ask a hollow question, "And I suppose if I refuse, I'm a prisoner?"

Ozai shook his head.

"If you believe this to be a path best pursued on your own, I will not stand in your way. Despite the numerous attempts by propaganda to paint me as some tyrant, I have no desire to force my fellow man to abide by my bidding. If you wish to leave, now, then I will not stop you."

As he finished his reply, Ozai readopted his calm and sad expression that he had been wearing for most of the encounter. It had exceptionally easy to take Obito down a rabbit hole of lies once he had gotten going and he was actually finding it difficult not to crack a smile as he tried to think of a single truth that he had mentioned. He had lied about his children, about his wife, about the Earth Nation, about his brother, about his very own nature and had done it all, he thought, with a genuine lack of supposed fraudulence.

But what he thought of his performance wasn't anything close to important in that moment. All that mattered was what Obito thought of it.

He was taking the most sizeable risk in offering Obito freedom in that moment; it would have likely been more effective to rather forcibly request for the young man's aid, but if this paid off, Ozai would have been able to manage it with the purest lie imaginable. If he believed it, it would be a belief in Ozai as much as the false truth, a trust in a person who had offered him every chance to go. If Obito's skills were anything even remotely on par with what Sasuke had displayed, it made his coming plan all the more feasible.

But in that singular moment, all Ozai could do was watch, and wait.

Sasuke put a foot just on the edge of the cliffside, dangerously close to the edge as he ignored Suki and Toph both interject warnings that he was too close to tumbling into the ocean over a kilometer beneath them.

"That's them, huh?" he instead asked and Azula came up beside him, nodding in the twilight.

They had seen the countless lights beneath them as they had flown over the coast to alight on the cliff where they were currently standing, Appa entirely exhausted and sleeping a couple dozen meters behind them. Now that he could eye them properly, Sasuke could see that the metal ships that dotted along the coast numbered well over a hundred, each of them sporting orange glowing lamps that indicated their presence. They ranged in size, from vessels only a couple times larger than Appa, to massive ships that could have passed for small islands.

"My father isn't holding anything back," Zuko murmured behind him and Azula turned to fix him with a disdainful look that Sasuke had come to expect whenever she addressed her brother.

"Why would he? The comet will give him every opportunity to wipe out the pathetic Earth Nation forces once and for all; the more forces he takes with him, the easier it will be."

"Don't be so sure, your highness, you Fire Nation nobles are a lot better at overestimating yourselves than you think," Toph muttered and Azula, of course, flared up immediately.

"Nobles? I'm sorry, who lived a sheltered and privileged life, being pampered for years? You're no better than us, tunnel rat."

Knowing that this full well could break out into yet another angry confrontation, Sasuke spoke up before Toph could fire off a retort.

"Which ship is the flagship?"

This fortunately took Azula's attention away from arguing, and she pointed to one of the larger ships, perhaps the largest one, floating pretty much dead center in the fleet. "The Azulon, a gift from his father. Any time he's taken to the seas, it's been aboard that ship."

Sasuke stared at the vessel. From a distance, it didn't appear that large whatsoever, but that was just perspective playing tricks on him. Based on what he could tell, the vessel could have been as large as the royal palace itself were it stood up straight.

"Perfect."

He turned and moved away from the cliffside, and knelt next to his pack, pulling free some kunai and running down his supplies and what he thought would be necessary to take with him. Sasuke was at this for a good several seconds before he realized just how quiet it had grown behind him. It had come to his understanding that this was a group of people who always had at least two people talking about something whether it be important or not. For them to be utterly silent in that moment told him all he needed to know and he slowly straightened and turned deliberately to face them all.

Every set of eyes was angled his way expectantly; they all appeared ready for him to launch into… well, something.

"What?" he asked, sliding his extra kunai out of sight under his garments. As though they weren't sure what he was confused about, the group exchanged glances before Katara inclined her chin at him.

"What's the plan?" she asked and this question seemed to satisfy everyone else and they returned to watching him intently. Sasuke looked them all over a moment, gazing from the worried expressions of Ty Lee and Aang, to the almost challenging expressions of Katara and Azula.

"I'm going down there and I'm going to find Ozai."

He said this as matter-of-factly as he could, before realizing what a mistake he had just made. Immediately, Katara turned to look at Aang, her hands on her hips.

"See?! This was just a ploy to get here, he doesn't actually want any of us along!"

Of course I don't, Sasuke almost snapped, but knew this was a situation he was going to have to try and recover from quickly. Had he been paying attention, he would have made up some lie about them moving down the cliffside to the water below and using Katara and Aang's abilities to approach the ship, or some such nonsense, after of course they took a quick rest before embarking with this plan. With everyone getting some surely needed sleep, slipping away would have been all too easy.

He held up his hands in an effort to retract any implications he had just made, "No, I didn't mean like that, I just—"

"Sure you didn't!" Katara snapped, pointing at him accusatorily. "We're just tools for you to use until you don't need us any more, is that it?"

Sasuke was surprised to find Mai coming to his defense, her voice a low, shaming tone that cut across Katara's furious articulations.

"Lay off him, Katara, even if he's not telling the truth, you're hardly one to get on him about keeping secrets."

As Katara's glare slowly turned to regard Mai, Sasuke sighed through his nose and pinched the bridge of it. Of course, this had to get ugly.

"And I don't think you're any more granted to lecture anyone than me, Mai" Katara seethed. "After all, for all I've done, I don't think I went and shared a hotspring with him, did I?"

Oh, damn it all, Sasuke thought gloomily as the overall attitude of the group shifted drastically. Suki and Ty Lee's eyes doubled in size as Mai's face went bright red. Zuko's expression became both shocked and crestfallen at the same time and Azula's nostrils flared angrily as she shouted, "What?!"

Katara's expression, while still vehemently angry, seemed to become regretful as she surely realized the consequences of what she had just said and Aang, who was wearing a deeply troubled expression, was shouldered aside by Toph, who stomped up to Sasuke and looked up at him with an enflamed expression.

"Is this true?!"

Sasuke, unsure of how to handle this, turned his eyes towards Mai who gazed back at him with a pair of terrified eyes, a proper contrast to her usual sulky and reserved expression. Sasuke then heard himself say perhaps the worse possible response he could give to such a question.

"So?"

There was a rush of movement then and he had time to watch Zuko bearing down on him with an incensed expression. Sasuke's Sharingan flashed for a moment, allowing himself to allow the most acceptable angle to take the hit. His head still snapped to the left as Zuko's fist crashed into his face just below the eye and he allowed himself to grunt, though more so in annoyance than pain.

Zuko retreated immediately after the hit without a follow up and Sasuke had a pretty good idea as to why. His face still pointed in the direction that Zuko's punch had forced it, but he slowly popped his neck and looked calmly back forward.

The expression on Zuko's face was still one of intense anger, but the look in his eyes was nothing short of frightened, as though he had just considered what Sasuke might do after being hit. Just ahead of him, Toph had clenched a fist and appeared ready to hit him as well, but Zuko clearly had beaten her to the punch and her expression was just as startled as the rest of the group. Katara and Mai both had their hands over their mouths, with Ty Lee, Suki and Sokka all having adopted a somewhat combat readied stance, their expressions also shocked. Aang was looking between everyone fearfully as though trying to find the best way to prevent a fight from breaking out and Azula… there was that damn expression again.

It was the look he had seen before when he had fought the natives, it was the same look that he had seen on her face when she was being whipped at the pillory, it was the same look he had seen when they had fought in the Agni Kai. Something about violence, the mere prospect of violence, was enough to put a look on her face that was nothing short of exhilarated. He realized that she wanted him to fight her brother, she wanted to see blows exchanged and blood spilled.

And Sasuke had let her kiss him.

Pushing this aside, he spoke in a very deliberate tone as to try and not further exacerbate what were clearly a string of intense emotions shared amongst his companions.

"Before anyone gets hurt, let me say this: there was nothing to it like I'm sure you're thinking. I snuck away when we made second camp and found the springs and quietly dipped in. Mai came along a few minutes later and entered too, but I was behind some shrubs and she had no idea I was there."

Zuko gave an audible swallow and said, "But you were still in there. Together."

"Yeah, I guess we were." Sasuke said.

"Naked," Azula made to confirm, earning her a vicious glare from Mai. Sasuke rubbed his temples and grumbled a reply.

"Yes."

Though none of this seemed to remotely resolve anything with Zuko, he said nothing more and slowly retreated, making no further attempt to strike again. Sasuke turned his eyes down to Toph then and watched as she clearly struggled on whether or not to follow up on Zuko's lead. Finally, she made a noise of frustration and dropped her hand to her side and walked back to rejoin the group. Mai made to walk over to Zuko, but he sidestepped, putting an uncomfortable looking Ty Lee between the both of them.

In that moment, Sasuke remembered just how far the gap between him and these people spread. Every single one of them had been labored with reasons not to trust him, reasons to stay on their toes. But as he thought about it, he remembered how warranted those reasons had been; he had displayed abilities hitherto unknown by anyone living in this world, he had shown a strong amount of indifference towards the majority of them and had very nearly killed Azula in one on one combat, and he had slaughtered dozens of people without blinking. Now, here he stood in front of them again, once again being judged silently, though this time… this time it was because he had taken a bath with Mai.

He repeated the thought to himself: all he had done this time was take a bath with Mai.

And as he looked at the expressions gazing towards him ranging from stunned, to angry, to worried, he realized just how completely absurd this notion was. Fire Lord Ozai was just kilometers away aboard his vessel, Sasuke was about to end this war singlehandedly for them and here they were, ready to string him and up for…

He paused again and closed his eyes.

For taking a bath with Mai.

Suddenly, it was rather too much for him to handle. A chuckle rippled from his throat and he bent forward, putting his hands on his knees as the sheer ridiculousness of the situation resonated with him. He expected that to be all he would need, but for whatever reason, the laughter kept coming, bubbling up from his stomach like a volcano in its prime. The chuckles were no more then as Sasuke straightened and threw his head back; he was laughing now, veritably cackling at how everything he had gone through with these people had come down to this, to this single, silly, inconsequential scandal of all things. Turning away, he continued to chortle loudly into the coming night, allowing every eye roll, every grunt of annoyance, every flat stare, every piece of every frustrating thing these people had forced on him to spill out in a rush of laughable pleasure.

After perhaps a couple dozen seconds, the languidity of such humor finally caught up with him and he trailed off, wiping his cheeks of the tears that had sprung to them in his moment of comicality that had hit him so suddenly. Turning back to look at his companions, their expressions might have sent him into a fresh fit of hysterics had he not well worn out any desire to keep laughing; unblinking, wide-eyed looks of shock and fear were now all he saw, save for Sokka, who was looking like he was almost trying to hide a smile of his own, and Toph, whose face had taken such a serious tone, she might have been carved from stone.

This relieving moment now behind him, Sasuke let the smile that had come into play slide from his face as he finally spoke again, paying no mind to the previous conversation regarding his and Mai's visit to the hotsprings; time for worrying over such petty matters was long gone.

"Let's get this straight: when I go down there, it's not going to be fun and games. There's not going to be time for whimsy comments or any hesitation whatsoever. The amount of manpower and firepower that is going to be directed my way when I get down there is going to be extremely substantial."

Katara was the first to shake free of her shocked state at his laughing fit as she pointedly interjected, "When we get down there."

Sasuke flicked his gaze to meets hers, gazing darkly at her fiercely imposing gaze. "I was getting to that. When I get down there, I'm going straight for Ozai and I will be cutting down anyone who stands between him and I. I can't spend time worrying about the rest of you, and I'm not going to be responsible for anyone who follows me down and gets obliterated."

He crossed his arms and looked at each of them as genuinely as he could. It was important for them to know that, in his mind, Katara's utter obsession with forcing their participation wasn't something he was going to condone. If they wanted out of this conflict, that was all the better for him; it would ensure that they would be out of his way when the fighting began, and… he supposed he had grown at least grudgingly fond of the group. But whatever feelings of camaraderie or affection he might have felt bubbling beneath the surface, they were drowned entirely by his notion to push forward.

"I'm not asking any of you to follow me down there. If you'll let me, I'll end this war for you myself."

He waited a moment, but it wasn't Katara who spoke up as he would have expected her to, but Aang. The Avatar took a step forward, looking still distantly worried that Sasuke might launch into another fit and kill them all then and there, but there was steel in his eyes.

"Sasuke… we've been working towards this day for a long time. We've seen a lot and we've been through a lot."

He looked around at the people surrounding him, making no small effort to make sure that the Fire Nation members of the group were included.

"All of us. This war has damaged the lives of everyone across the Four Nations whether they know it or not. We owe it to them, and ourselves to be there and play our part when Ozai falls."

Sasuke stared at him for a long moment, feeling a very significant urge then to say something. "Aang, you're a kid. This war isn't on you."

Predicatably, Katara stepped forward, opening her mouth, but he blazed on over what would have surely been a heated interruption. "I don't care what you were born as, or what people tell you that you have to be."

He sighed through his nose and pinched the bridge of it; this emotional jargon didn't come well to him, but he supposed if it could save the kid's life, he owed it to Aang to at least try.

"You once told me that you're going to fight the Fire Lord because it's expected of you. To hell with that. You've done nothing to warrant having to risk your life to fight someone like him. And I'm more than capable of doing it myself. This isn't on you."

Aang's face flashed with a very deep pain then and he winced, closing his eyes and looking down in something that might have been shame.

"It is on me, Sasuke…"

This was curious to him then and Sasuke cocked his head in interest as to what Aang meant, but Katara seemed to have had it with this line of talk.

"Enough!" she shouted. "It's just as much our duty to face down Ozai and his troops as you feel it is yours. We will be heading down this cliff with you when the time comes and we will play our part, and that's the end of it!"

This was fire from her that Sasuke hadn't seen since the night previous when she had done everything in her power to kill him. And as he stared at her as calmly as he could and watched her intense expression, her chest heaving angrily and the vibrant colors of her eyes in the twilight, he couldn't help but wonder something. He had done his best to avoid this sort of thing, but there was something that was pushing him, that was telling him that if he didn't get an answer to this, he might regret it later. And if his hunch was right, it would explain a lot of things.

"Alright," he said, backing down. "Bed out, if you'd like, I'll be heading out in three or four hours depending what we get out of that cloud front that's moving in."

With that, he turned away and knelt beside his equipment, pretending to inspect his kunai while flicking glances at the group as he did and watched as they slowly broke up to heed this information.

Suki and Sokka lay down almost immediately, followed by Ty Lee and Zuko. The latter had utterly ignored Mai trying to approach him and had lain down with his back facing her. Sasuke felt a pang of pity for her that he hadn't made more of an effort to absolve them both of having committed any crime, but it truly was a stupid thing to get so worked up about. If Zuko really thought that much of Mai, he would have known that the potential of her cheating on him was nil. This being said, he had a difficult time reading the expression Mai gave him before she moved away to sit by the cliffside and look out over the ocean, clearly content to avoid resting for the moment. He would have expected her expression to be angry and resentful, but all it had showed was hurt and something like… confusion? No, that couldn't have been it.

Aang, Toph, and Azula seemed content to mill about and go through their own things before lying down and, as he looked, Sasuke saw Katara walk towards a rock formation near where Appa and Momo were resting. As she disappeared behind it, Sasuke grimly to himself.

Now or never.

Aang was still looking deeply pained as he moved around the camp, and Azula and Toph both had deep grudging looks on their face, but none of the three seemed to be paying him much mind, perhaps intentionally. Making a few quick hand signs and casting a jutsu that would make him less noticeable, Sasuke quickly stood and moved towards the rock formation, noting that no one seemed to be giving him a second thought.

He rather had hoped someone would, despite his efforts; being deterred from this might have been in his best interests.

Katara looked up at the starry sky, and let the gentle breeze do its best to calm her. The coolness of it almost brought a shiver to her body which had become so acclimated to the warmer temperatures of the Earth and Fire Nation territories, her attire that left her legs, arms and midsection exposed to the breeze not aiding in keeping her warmer. She closed her eyes and took deep calming breaths, letting her fists unclench at her side.

How was he so good at getting her worked up? She had spent so much time last night doing her very best to push all negative thoughts towards him aside in a genuine effort to work through this for the sake of Aang and everyone else, but every time she thought of who she was doing it for, thoughts of Sasuke would simply return, undesired.

It was infuriating, nothing short of it, everything about his persona. The way he talked, the way he composed himself, the way he acted as though nothing in the world could hurt him, the way he thought he knew best about everything, the way he…

Katara had to stop as she realized that just as many of these grievances were strikingly similar to her own character.

She nearly laughed out loud at that one: her, similar to Sasuke? Hardly. This was nothing more than him being able to get under her skin just based on the coincidence that he just so happened to have those few traits that did nothing more than drive her crazy. And besides, it didn't matter. Soon enough, this would all be over and they would be free to go their separate ways, she didn't have to worry about him anymore, and she wouldn't have to think about him anymore. He would be just a memory, one that she could do everything in her power to—

"I can tell you've still got an axe to grind with me."

Katara sucked in a breath of air and turned to face him. She hadn't counted on him seeking her out; considering how she had chosen to treat him, Sasuke staying away from her had been her most certain expectation. But here he was, just behind her now, arms crossed and that perpetual stoic expression on his face.

She nearly sneered back at him, "Well, since you seem to find us so amusing, I thought it only appropriate that I remind you just how much this means to all of us. And that it isn't, and has never, been your decision to make."

Sasuke glanced around as if to make sure that no one else was nearby to listen in on this.

"I wasn't talking about that."

He took a step forward and Katara felt a frown pull at the corners of her mouth even as she resisted taking a step back to counter his movement. "Oh? Enlighten me?"

Sasuke seemed to ponder his words for a while, tilting his head back and looking thoughtful before saying, "You know, Mai and Ty Lee have approached me a couple times since this whole business began with us traveling together. They wanted to warn me about Azula and how her actions were so indicative of someone very… shall we say 'interested' in me."

Unsure of what to make of an equally caustic feeling spilling into her gut, Katara crossed her arms and looked away. "So? Anyone can tell that she has eyes for you, and yet all you seem to do is ignore her."

Her response generated a curious look in Sasuke's eyes and Katara tried to act like she didn't notice.

"Does that bother you?" he asked.

Katara sniffed. "I couldn't care less. The two of you sociopaths belong together. Just as long as you stay away from Toph."

And there it was. One of her biggest fears, perhaps not the biggest, but substantial nonetheless. Wincing as she heard the words echo, she looked back to see Sasuke nodding understandingly.

"Ah. That's what this is about. You're scared of me hurting her feelings, is that it?"

The way he said this in such a casual and uncaring way was enough to fire Katara up yet again, "You are so damn blind! Maybe you think she's all mature because of how she talks and acts and conducts herself, but she's still a kid! She has feelings for you and they're tearing her apart, but you don't care, not about that! Why would you?!"

She could have kept on at it, but she was able to restrain herself, pulling herself back from blowing into a full blown rant. Sasuke's expression remained flat and unchanged as he regarded her with those pitiless black eyes.

"Are you such a spitting image of a caring other, Katara?"

His words bit into her heart with icy fangs and she glared at him. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Giving a pretend shrug as though he was only guessing, Sasuke said, "It's pretty clear that Aang has feelings for you. I'd hazard that you do for him as well. But everything you've done in recent days has been on your own, without even asking what he thinks. You ignore him, you sideline him and act like this is all for his own good."

"This is for his own good!" Katara shouted, but even as she said it, the words felt halfhearted. Sasuke paid her interjection no mind.

"You might think I'm blind to just how interested Azula and Toph are, and maybe you're right. I don't have time to spend worrying about things like that, not when I'm so damn close to what I'm here for. But there's more going on with you than I think I gave you credit for, and it's not just being abusive to Aang that's the issue."

The mere insinuation, the mere idea that he would suggest something like that nearly brought tears of pure ire to Katara's eyes as she whispered, "How… dare you…"

He still ignored her. "I've got a feeling that, while maybe you do have feelings for him too, you've never once in your life been able to have an attraction for someone that you couldn't directly equate against your own abilities. Dominance, leadership, authority, all that nonsense that you hold so dear. So when someone like me shows up… and you don't know how to handle it, this is the result."

Suddenly, he was walking towards her and Katara found herself paralyzed, only able to watch as he drew nearer until he was nearly nose to nose.

"But call it a hunch. And I'd sure like to know if I'm right."

Before she could say anything, if her now breathless lungs would even have allowed it, Katara watched as he took her under the chin and pressed his lips against hers. For a thunderously long second, the world seemed to shudder to a halt as Katara felt him against her before she was able to regain control of her faculties. She screamed against his lips and pushed him away with a shove.

"Get off of me!"

Sasuke stumbled back, and when he came to a halt he had a deeply pondering look on his face as though he wasn't sure what to make of what had just happened. Katara's heart was slamming against her chest as though desperate to break free; her fists her clenched as she prepared for him to make another try, fully ready to pull the very moisture from the air and whip up a tempest to throw him into the ocean below. But he made no other movement, merely looked down towards his feet.

"Sorry," was all he said as he turned to leave.

Katara was on top of him in an instant, tackling him to the ground. She imagined that had he been expecting it, this would not have gone that way but now on the grass-covered ground, she found herself on top of him, her hands pinning his wrists to the ground beside his head. He looked up at her in faint surprise before she closed her eyes and kissed him back.

It was a feeling impossible to describe; it was as though she had just been released from some arduous burden that had been pressing her down ever since Sasuke had come into her life, but it also generated the most terrible, awful feeling in the pit of her stomach. As she ground her body against his, breathing heavily and absorbing the taste of his lips, she realized she was crying. This crying turned into sobs and in breaks between kissing him, she murmured a desperate reality against the action she was taking.

"I hate you… I hate you… I hate you…"

Because she did. She hated Sasuke more than anything. And even as this wore on, she knew that would never change because it was entirely possible that she hated herself just as much.

Sasuke stood a half dozen meters away from Katara, who was on the ground, eyes closed and kissing a person who wasn't there. Tears streamed down her face as she sobbed and muttered towards the ground. He let it continue a while longer to see if there was to be any significant change in her actions, but as she continued to kiss at nothing, he cancelled his genjtusu and allowed Katara's consciousness to drift away with another quick jutsu. She rolled onto her side, now fast asleep, the moonlight above reflecting the shining tracks that her tears had left on her face. Sasuke stared down at her for a moment longer before reaching down to pick up the sleeping bag that he had carried over and gently easing her unconscious form into it. When she woke, this would be nothing more to her than a dream, if she even remembered it at all.

When Katara had been taken care of, Sasuke stood and straightened, before blowing out a frustrated sigh.

This had certainly been quite revealing, but as to what, he had no idea.

Had it been real, might she have continued to press against him sensually until she finally got ahold of herself and tried to jam another ice dagger into his heart? In her head, had it all been a self-defense response that she would hide behind before attacking? Why would she have been so passionate about kissing him if she truly hated him so much?

Sasuke pressed a hand to his forehead and closed his eyes in a moment of silent frustration.

I don't understand these people.

Whatever the reason for what he had just seen, it told him that keeping his distance from Katara was certainly his best bet. Her thoughts and feelings were far too complicated for him to try and decipher, though if he only had a better idea as to what—

He paused as he had a sudden thought. If anyone had a decent handle on emotions and whom Sasuke could probably trust this information to, it was Mai. Thinking for a moment, he decided that it was certainly worth a shot to try and see if she could shed any light on his bizarre occurrence and he turned to walk around the other side of the rock formation where the rest of the group was camped out.

He made it around only half of the obelisk of stone before nearly running smack into Azula at the brisk pace he was striding at. Her eyebrows were furrowed, her arms crossed and her mouth a displeased, flat line. Sasuke was distantly reminded of how a mother might regard a child who had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Sasuke didn't know he wanted to think about what Azula might do to a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry?" she demanded and Sasuke replied without thinking.

"I was going to talk with Mai."

Azula's expression darkened significantly at that, her eyes coming alive with a furious, almost manic light. "Why?! So you can finish what you two started in the hotsprings?! Going behind my back again?!"

God damn it, no.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "If any of you had been willing to listen, you would have known that nothing happened between us and—"

He realized that Azula wasn't listening to him in the slightest. She had begun to slowly pace back and forth, her eyes glossing over with a seething fire as she growled both to herself and him.

"Of course, she was just waiting for a chance like this, anything to stand in my way. She forced herself onto you, didn't she? Yes, that must have been it, she knew you were both naked and it would be so much easier to try and sway you in such an instance… what she won't do to try and betray me, I should have known. Did you both do more than kiss? Or were you able to keep her from doing more? That slut, I should have never—"

Sasuke had heard well enough and he reacted to in what might have been the only way Azula might have reciprocated; he grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her against the rock formation, not enough to be done as an attempt to hurt her, but enough so for her to cut off and look at him.

"I don't know why you need to hear this so bad," he said quietly, trying to keep his frustration from turning his voice into a hiss. "But nothing happened between Mai and I. We spoke, briefly. But our being in that place together at that time was nothing but a coincidence and you burning brain cells trying to rationalize it is a waste of time."

But even as he spoke, Azula's expression had altered vastly. She now was gazing at him with an almost hungry look, with eyes that burned at him with something that might have been desire. Sasuke wasn't sure then that he had listened to a single word he had said as she slowly reached up and brushed her fingers against his cheek. He was unable to keep a chill from running up his spine as her nails gently scraped at his skin.

"I know you'd never look at her like that, Sasuke, I wasn't blaming you," she said quietly.

What?

Sasuke nearly shouted this question in disbelief; Azula was very much only seeming to hear what she wanted to, and ignoring the pieces that she didn't care to listen to. As he held her there, she reached out with a leg very slowly and wrapped it around his midsection, pulling him to her, that fire in her eyes deepening.

"What were you doing talking to Katara?" she asked, her voice once again sounding mockingly like she was trying to coerce a child into admitting a bad deed. Sasuke tried to remain focused as her hand slid down from his face to slowly stroke down his chest.

"I was just trying to smooth over any more… animosity she still was bearing towards me. Anything like that could be pretty detrimental going forward."

Lying about this was the easiest thing in the world to do. If Azula knew really why he had went to see Katara in private, having the princess run her hands over him was the least of his problems.

And Azula's response to this was anything but reassuring to that end.

"Sasuke, all you need to do is ask and I'll make sure she never bothers you again, she'll never so much as cross your mind."

He looked down as she slowly moved her head forward and pressed her lips against his chest, her hair brushing against his chin. When she pulled away, there was a smile that was now crossing her face.

"You know I'd do it for you, if you'd only ask. I'll kill any one of them if it's—

Enough.

"Enough!" Sasuke snarled; this was going too far. Mai had been right, attraction nothing, this obsession was showing all the signs of quickly becoming a serious issue if it wasn't already. To shut her up, Sasuke reached out with the hand that hadn't been pushing her against the stone and seized her by the throat. With a strangled noise, Azula stopped talking and Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief for that grace.

But as he looked at Azula's face, that relief backed off in a hurry.

As he gripped her around the throat, she smiled even more strongly at him and he watched her run her tongue against the front of her teeth. She didn't say anything more, but she didn't have to.

Releasing her as if he had just been electrocuted, Sasuke stepped back and turned away without so much as a glance back at her, marching back to the camp. As he came around the side of the rock face, he saw that everyone save for Mai had lain down and seemed to be trying to rest, save for Ty Lee and Toph who, while laid out, were exchanging words quietly. Sasuke looked back quickly and saw that Azula hadn't followed him which was the most distantly assuring thought; as he turned back, he saw Mai turning where she stood to look at him. They exchanged a silent look and Sasuke had to fight down his desire to go talk to her as he strode briskly over to where Toph and Ty Lee were stretched out.

They both stopped talking as he approached, but he made no effort to address them. Rather, he lowered himself to the ground only a foot from Toph and lay down, closing his eyes the moment his head touched down.

Considering that he was about to attack Ozai's fleet in only a few hours time, he felt he hardly had time to be worrying about these damn women. Nonetheless, it took him what felt like those few hours to so much as doze off as images of Katara and Azula forcing themselves on him kept wisping into his mind. Their actions had been so different, yet so similar, just as their feelings seemed to be so different, yet so similar. He felt Azula's lips pressing against his skin, just as he felt Katara pin him to the ground, her hands holding him down.

Eventually, Sasuke did feel a hand on him, though one that was much calmer and much less hostile. He opened his eyes to see Aang shaking him gently, with a deeply anxious expression on his face.

"Sasuke," the kid whispered. "It's time."