AN: We're probably within five to ten chapters of being finished with the first part of this story and it will be picked up in a second part with an M rating, just for those who were inquiring about those specifics. Trying to spitball that the best I can as this story is progressing pretty fluidly, but hopefully that gives you some idea of where we're headed, at least logistically. And as always, love to hear from you guys and thanks so much to all you lovely people sending me reviews and PM's, nothing kills writers block like that kind of support. Much love to everybody!

Chapter 20: Dawn

Katara awoke with a start, her heart pounding in her chest as she had just enough wherewithal to keep herself from crying out. It must have been quite the nightmare she was having, but she couldn't remember a single piece of it, other than that it had been enough to shake her from what had been fitful sleep indeed. All she could remember were feelings, feelings of fear, panic, and all-consuming anger. But without memories to place them against, they were as useless as any emotion could be and she let them pass as best she could, taking deep breaths to calm herself.

After a few moments, she took stock of her present situation. She seemed to be lying underneath a crag of some kind, a short cave ingrown into the earth that started at about ten feet up at the entrance and shortened as one might have drawn deeper, about twenty feet in where the ceiling met the ground. Katara was nearer to the back, draped in what appeared to be a Fire Nation banner, which she almost wanted to push off herself immediately for being saddled with a symbol of the enemy, before she realized two things: first, that it was keeping her quite warm and second, that beneath it, she was naked.

Swallowing as she sat up slowly, clutching the cloth to her chest, she saw a figure sitting at the entrance to the cave, leaning against the side of it with his eyes closed. Recognizing in an instant who it was, Katara was surprised when the first thoughts that entered her mind were not of indignation or anger.

"Sasuke?"

Her voice echoed slightly against the walls of the small cave and Sasuke opened his eyes and moved them to her as his only response. He looked away then, gazing out towards what Katara realized was a sky just barely still black.

"I had to take your clothes off and dry them," he said, gesturing to a fire that was burning just beside him and which above hung her garments. "The ocean was very cold and I knew you might fall ill if I kept you in them. I snatched that banner from a small encampment near the shore, hopefully it's doing the trick."

Not at all pleased that she was in such a revealing way in front of Sasuke of all people but also able to recognize the care he had taken in aiding her, Katara very slowly inclined her chin.

"Thank you," she said, hoping that would suffice. Part of her wanted to snap at him for daring to strip her, but nothing good would come of such hurled anger.

"It's been about six hours since the Azulon exploded, and you've been out all the while. I moved us up to this cave about two kilometers down the cliff from where we first arrived. Aang and the others should all have gotten away safely and I gave them means to find us."

Slowly putting a hand to her head, Katara realized as she touched what was a significant bump that she didn't remember much of what had happened just before she must have been knocked unconscious.

"What happened?" she asked bluntly, trusting Sasuke not to mince words.

He didn't. "When the Fire Nation turned the rest of its ships on the Azulon, the ship must have taken enough hits to its lower hull to start to split apart. It started to open up on the inside while we were running out and you fell into its belly in the process. I ordered everyone else to leave while I got you, but I wasn't able to get out the same way when I found you down there; water was already coming in quickly and I wasn't sure how well I would be able to climb you out after how far down you'd fallen. I cut a hole in the hull with Amaterasu and swam us out and managed to get us relatively far away before the ship blew. From there, I got you on the beach."

Sasuke looked a little uncomfortable then as he scratched the back of his head, "I had to resuscitate you as well."

The fact that this detail had given him pause caused Katara to almost involuntarily bring a hand up to her lips.

Did he…?

Sasuke didn't seem willing to dwell on it or elaborate and continued briskly, "When I was sure you were breathing, I ran us as deep inland as I could until I found a good place where we wouldn't be spotted by their landfall camps. And we've been here since, waiting."

He looked up at the sky. "I activated the sign pretty recently, it shouldn't take them long to find us."

Katara didn't know exactly what Sasuke meant when he indicated that the others would be finding them soon, and she didn't care to badly to know just how this would be achieved. It was a relief enough to know that they were all likely safe and making to regroup. The hit to her head must have been from some of the ship's interior as she had fallen and would explain her lapses in memory, though as she thought to it, she realized she remembered just about everything that had happened in Ozai's chamber.

"Lucky we got there when we did. Ozai looked just about ready to remove Aang from his perfect picture of the world once and for all." She kept her voice as level as she could, but she made every effort to let just enough accusatory annunciation guide what she said.

The corner of Sasuke's mouth turned upward without a hint of humor. "You ready for your speech? May as well air it out now, while we have the time."

His dismissal of her veiled suggestion sent a plume of frustration spouting upwards from Katara's insides and she felt her mouth pull in a snarl.

"Even after what happened, you're still going to act like this was some kind of good idea? Because it wasn't just us who were in a great deal of danger, you were just as at risk for nearly getting taken down and you know what I think? I think you know that."

Sasuke made a noise that sounded as though it had every intention to downplay her words. "None of you ever had to come along. I'm not going to sit here and listen to you tell me its my fault that you jumped up little heroes threw yourselves into harm's way just because of some stupid prophecy, or whatever."

Katara didn't want to shout, but here he was, finding everyway to get under her skin again. Still, she kept her voice no higher than slightly raised.

"That's not what this is about, Sasuke."

He raised an eyebrow and flicked a glance back at her. "Oh? Enlighten me."

Doing her best to ignore his deeply frustrating attitude, Katara said, "You're self-destructive. You've replaced the memories you don't have with a drive to rush forward into danger, no matter what the potential consequences might be. You don't care about getting hurt, it's like… it's like you're rushing to die."

Within the well of emotions that were boiling inside her, Katara realized that there was a lot more than just anger there.

"No one wants to see that. You can find what you're looking for, but you don't have to kill yourself to do it. We care about you, you know."

Sasuke slowly turned then and stared her down. When he spoke, his voice was in a low octave that stung of malice, but also of a great degree of desolation. His voice echoed of that same hurt, though Katara could tell he was trying to hide it.

"Last night, you tried kill me. You tried to kill me, Katara. How the hell am I supposed to believe you give the smallest shit what happens to me?"

At his words, Katara realized just how confused her own were.

Do I care about him?

Yes, she realized. She did. Looking down, she tried her best to put her feelings to words.

"I tried to kill you because I was afraid of what you might do. The danger you posed and the consequences you could bring to our whole world. I tried to kill you because I was scared. But… but you proved me wrong. I guess you've been proving me wrong all this time."

Watching her for a moment, Sasuke looked away from her, asking quietly, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Katara bundled herself deeper in the cloth of the banner, feeling more naked just talking than she would have if she had stood up and thrown it off her body.

"You had every reason to kill me after what I did. You had every right to snuff me out for trying to… well, assassinate you. But you didn't. You didn't even really get angry. I didn't know what to think after that. It went against everything I thought about you, all the resentment and hate I harbored was matched by the one action you took in not killing me in turn for trying to kill you."

She rubbed her arm and closed her eyes, thinking back to the night that now felt like years in the past. It had been so unnerving to feel so… lost. Katara hadn't known what to do after her and Zuko had failed spectacularly in taking down Sasuke, and he had barely so much as had anything to say after the fact. It would have been so easy for him to take her out then and there, but she hadn't died. She was still here.

Then, Mai had come to talk to her when she had been contemplating just how twisted these events had become. Mai had told her to go look at Sasuke and Toph and she had done so. They had both been lying there, so peacefully, so truly serene that she had wound up falling to her knees in the sand and had then shaken with silent sobs. It hurt her to know what she did and to feel how she did. To be wrong and know it was a damnable thing indeed.

But there had been even more to come.

She had denied her feelings from that point onward, all the way through the next day and night as they swarmed down to Ozai's fleet. Even when she had fallen into the ship's depths and blacked out, the pure rejection of what she had been shown was still strong.

But here Katara was now, and only because Sasuke had saved her.

She had tried to kill him and he had saved her.

There was so much she wanted to say, but her emotions couldn't be wrapped into words. It still all hurt much too greatly to really rationalize what she was feeling into a medium as hopelessly underwhelming as words.

Katara instead decided to move their conversation onto something else as Sasuke resolutely said nothing in reply to her.

"Your brother."

It was all she could think to say as the sheer ramifications of just those two words lay heavy on the air. She watched Sasuke carefully for his reaction, but his stoic and calm expression was unfazed when she spoke. Seconds ticked by before she followed on with a question.

"Did you know he was pretending to be Sokka?"

He seemed to grow suddenly very hostile and looked at her with fierce eyes and a matching snarl, "What kind of question is that?"

At his aggression, Katara felt her own anger rising up and she furrowed her brow at him. "I'm just asking if you knew that he was among us."

Sasuke seemed to catch himself then and his angry expression faded so quickly that it might nearly have been something she imagined. He looked back out into the night, his face lit gently by the orange glow of the fire burning near his feet.

"No, I didn't. Sokka was acting strangely the past couple days, I supposed I noticed that. He wasn't being his usual loud self, he wasn't paying much attention to Suki, or anyone else for that matter. But there is… I never would have guessed…"

His hands tightened into fists and Katara realized she had never felt quite level of distress emanating from him. It wasn't as though he was emoting like Azula might, or shaking and growling like Zuko had done in the past, but Katara's senses all told her that Sasuke was in a deep amount of pain. He had taken her from the bowls of the ship, saved her life, and pulled her a great distance before likely being stuck with nothing but his own thoughts for hours upon hours, surely tearing himself to pieces with confusion and heartache.

It was only then that Katara realized she hadn't once thought to hate him since she had awoken.

"We were all preoccupied," she said finally. "Us with Ozai and Aang's training, and you, with your…"

She found herself trailing off as she wasn't sure just what to say. But she saw the corners of Sasuke's mouth pulling in what was surely irritation at an implication she hadn't meant to air; she shook her head.

"I didn't mean to say… Sasuke, that's not what I—"

"What do you want, Katara?" he asked in a low flat tone then, cutting her neatly off. "What do you want to hear from me? That I was wrong?"

She could only continue to shake her head as he stood up and leaned his shoulder against the side of the cave, staring out into the night.

"I know how badly you wanted to hear this. To know that you were right, and that I was nothing more than a hotheaded screwup who put all of you in danger."

Katara knew she would have been lying to herself if she was to say that knowing she had beaten Sasuke on a level such as that would have indeed given her some level of satisfaction. There was still a deep resentment for the strain and danger he had imposed on all of them, purely by consequence of—

"Well, fine! You were right!" he suddenly shouted and Katara jumped, nearly dropping her makeshift cover. Sasuke glared at her with fierce eyes before looking back out into the dark, his voice still raised.

"I chased something that I thought would give me clarity, because I didn't know what else to do! All I wanted was answers, and I never even thought of what might happen if I got them! You all were hurt, because of me! You were put in danger because of me, you could have died because of me!"

He cooled down again swiftly and then waved his hand at her expectantly as he turned away. "So, go on. Rag on me, get mad, curse me for a fool, whatever."

As Katara watched him stew, she wanted to. She wanted to be angry with him and feel some satisfaction at just how distraught Sasuke was. It should have been tremendously gratifying to finally see him humbled, no longer so bullheaded in how confident he had been. He was hurting, and it should have made her very happy.

But as she wrapped her arms around herself, she realized that all she felt was turmoil.

Minutes passed as she had nothing to say to him. Katara tried, desperately, to pull up some remaining hate and anger that should have been deep in its residual with the ire that had been so rooted in her gut since their first encounter. She thought about mocking him, insulting him or snapping at him. It would have been so easy, there was so much to say in that regard. But no sentences would form in her head and there was nothing she could do to try and summon one.

Eventually, she slowly stood, clinging the banner tightly to her body. Her bare feet cold on the moist, wet floor of the cave, she walked gently to stand just behind Sasuke's slumped form. Even with his hunched stance, he was still a little taller than she was, his black hair blending with the dark of the night outside, save for the bit of it under the light of his fire. Despite her state, she didn't find herself remotely perturbed or worried about it and before she even knew what she was doing, she put a hand on his shoulder, feeling him tense at her touch.

Immediately, she felt a knee-jerk reaction as she felt that this was him and not one of his water clones; the moisture within the cave and in the air would prove more than enough to drive a spike of water into his throat just then. She could finish what she had been unable to do back on the beach, and snuff out this threat once and for all. It could finally be over and then it would just be as it should have been, Aang and everyone against the odds, no more erroneous factors amongst their number to throw a wrench into things. Katara could finally make things right.

But she didn't make any move against him. She barely even considered it.

Because the words were finally there.

"I'm sorry."

The words didn't even quite register as hers until Sasuke turned his head ever so slightly and she could see the perplexity written on his face.

"Why?" he grunted finally.

Katara swallowed, "I'm sorry for treating like less because you were more. I'm sorry for not even trying to understand you and treating you like nothing because of it."

There was a long moment where she waited for him to laugh off what must have sounded like an impossible apology, and Katara was having difficulty she had even just said it herself. But he seemed to have nothing to say, and she decided to add something in an attempt at levity.

"And I'm sorry that you've had to deal with the brunt of what may very well be Azula's first crush."

He nodded slowly at that and let a short laugh out through his nose. Katara dared a small smile at his slight relaxing.

"Yeah, not sure what I did to deserve that," he remarked. There was another pause before he gave his head the slightest shake.

"You don't need to apologize to me, Katara. Not ever. Not after what I've done."

Katara closed her eyes as she felt the furious heat of all her qualms with Sasuke rise up within her. Part of her wanted to acknowledge what he said as true; here it was, him condoning her hatred for him, but she just couldn't accept that awful, corrosive feeling anymore. She could let her fury guide her, or she could let it go.

When she thought to how badly it hurt to hate with such a passion, the decision became easy.

"Maybe I don't need to. But I think I want to."

Sasuke didn't seem to know how reply to this for a moment, before he remarked, "I think of everything that's happened tonight, that might be the single most unbelievable one."

Just hearing him even so much as make an attempt at humor was enough for Katara's smile to widen slightly, but as another matter entered her mind, she decided to air it out given the fact that they were alone together. Perhaps it wasn't the best time, but as long as they were going to have this moment to share, she could think of no better moment.

"I was wrong to judge you so harshly, Sasuke, but for all the things I was wrong about, you have to be careful with Toph."

She felt a wave of exasperation as he asked, "What about?"

"Don't give me that," she said sternly, pulling her hand from him and moving to stand alongside him. "Most of us have picked up on the fact that next to Azula, she's been the other one pining for you to notice her. She's usually so blunt, but admitting your attraction to someone you like… even for her, that has to be hard."

"Azula hasn't seemed to have had that kind of trouble," Sasuke remarked and Katara shook her head.

"That's because that girl is as emotionally stunted as… well, as the daughter of a homicidal tyrant. But Toph is a very different story."

"I know," Sasuke murmured and she looked at him carefully.

"I don't want to see her heart broken," Katara said with a sigh after a moment of watching closely, "She's still young, and she's more emotional than she lets on. If I asked her about it, or any of us did, she'd push us away in an instant, because she's prideful too. Just… be careful with her when you have to say no."

Sasuke lifted his head and looked skyward. "Who says I'm saying no?"

The very possibility of what he said shook Katara to her core for several reasons. Firstly, she realized that if Sasuke were to accept Toph's advances, she really didn't know if that would be in either of their best interests. She also didn't even want to think about how Azula might react and she hadn't even mentioned the tension she had noticed between him and Mai.

The most unsettling point was that Katara realized there was another person in the mix she wasn't willing to even consider. She didn't want to consider it and the very idea was enough to raise the hairs on her arms.

It could never work.

All of this flashed through her mind in a matter of seconds and she managed to offer a defusing remark in response to Sasuke's perhaps taunting ambiguity, "I suppose we'll just let time tell."

She could still sense something akin to discontent regarding the matter on his face and after a long minute, he muttered, "Katara, there's something I need to tell you…"

Just then, there came a great rush overhead and a massive black shape passed above them; Katara jumped back before her common sense and memory overpowered her instinct and told her that this was only Appa, arriving quite suddenly. Sasuke watched the form of the flying bison slide neatly through the air and settle down on the expansive desert that stretched out before them a few dozen yards away. Katara waited with bated breath, waiting to hear what he had been about to say.

She found herself hoping that what she thought was on the tip of his tongue was about to be said.

But with a sigh, he simply kicked out the fire and let the light of the stars illuminate them.

"You should probably get dressed. I don't need Aang punching me too."

Azula massaged the mark that Sasuke had left on her skin not for the first time. Knowing it was there, knowing it was leading her to him was one thing, but being able to touch it and know that he had touched her there… it was something else entirely.

They had been hiding out near the cliffside for several hours before Azula had felt a burning come from the mark and informed the rest. The group, who had been very nearly silent since escaping, boarded Appa with a desperate speed, all likely for different reasons as they flew off inland. Azula guided them as best she was able based on the intensity of the burning coming from the symbol on her and at last, as they flew just over a small fire that had been glowing as just a dot from high above, Azula felt her heart skip a beat.

He's alive.

She had known that he had been of course, Sasuke would not have been taken from her with such ease. He had surely gone to save Katara as a show of courage and guts, something she could respect, and she only found herself more attracted to him for it. Sasuke had seen how she had been able to defeat her father and he had no doubt felt that he needed to make an example of his own dedication the their cause. It surely had been easy for him to save Katara, but it was the devotion he showed that made Azula's heart swell; if he had been willing to do that for a person who so despised him, what might he do for her if given the chance?

As they had been flying, Azula had not been oblivious to the looks that Mai and Toph had been throwing her. It had done her heart much joy to imagine the envy that they were surely feeling. Sasuke had chosen her, not either of them to bear the mark that would lead them to reuniting. Just that mere fact was enough to make Azula's stomach almost sick with passion and the mere thought of Toph or Mai fuming over the fact that she had one upped them in this instance was just the icing on top. Perhaps this would convince them to not so much as go near him, perhaps this would be what could make them realize their own defeat.

They touched down and not a moment after the flying beast had settled on the sand below did Azula leap from its back and come out of her fall into a roll, looking up for Sasuke eagerly. The fire had been doused and now under the stars, she could see his frame clearly, his stern expression and infallible poise. Azula wanted nothing more than to rush to him and leap into his arms; he would surely be bothered by such a show of affection and maybe he would grab her by the throat again. Maybe he would throw her against the wall of the cave he was situated in front of, or perhaps he would even—

As Azula caught sight of Katara and more importantly, what Katara was doing, her mental processes froze up and she stopped moving forward, and simply stared. She blinked to make sure she wasn't imagining it and then stared some more. But what she had seen hadn't been some kind of trick of the light or of the eye.

Katara had been putting her clothes back on. Clothes that would first had to have been removed before they could be used to redress.

Azula felt a very turbulent heat blistering its way out of her heart and through the rest of her body as she stood and stared, still as a rod.

Sokka brushed by her, racing up to his sister who ran out to greet him and they embraced tightly.

"Of all the people I would have thought I needed to tell to watch their step, you were the last one, sis," he said, his voice joyous at this reunion.

Katara massasged the back of her head sheepishly, "One of the few times having such a hard head saved my life, you would have been proud, Sokka."

"Heeeeey, what's that supposed to—"

He didn't get to finish his playfully indignant remark before the Avatar joined in the moment, running up and wrapping Katara in a hug of his own.

Kiss him, Azula thought with a savage desperation, but when they broke apart, there was no such luck to be had.

"I thought you were a goner for sure," Aang said, his voice deep with emotion. Katara reached out and rubbed the top of his head in an act that seemed more motherly than anything, further exacerbating the knot in Azula's stomach.

The next person to pass her was Toph who, to the even greater dissatisfaction of Azula, walked up to Sasuke instead of Katara, leaving him no longer alone standing behind the others. He looked down at her as she stood quietly in front of him for a couple seconds before she drew back and hit him just above the waist. He grimaced but made no indication that it had been that hard a hit and Azula barely was able to keep herself from disintegrating that rotten little earthbender on the spot.

"I wish you'd stop doing stuff like that," Toph muttered then and stepped forward to rest her head against him and wrap him in a hug.

It was all Azula could do to keep herself breathing regularly as Suki walked past her to stand by Sokka's side and Zuko, Ty Lee and Mai walked up beside her, but not far enough to join the reunion. The lines that were still drawn in the dirt were apparent as none of the Fire Nation individuals felt comfortable joining in this moment of relief and happiness. But after a moment, Mai called out towards Sasuke.

"You going to tell us how you managed to not get killed by a warship exploding?"

In the semi-darkness, it was hard to tell exact facial expressions, but Azula was almost completely sure that she saw a smile briefly settle over Sasuke's face.

"Where would be the fun in that?" he replied and Mai cracked a smile back at him.

Stop it, Azula thought. Stop looking at each other like that.

She wanted very badly then to group Mai, Katara and Toph together in one huddled mass of interfering obstacles as they were and scorch them from the face of the earth. It would no doubt help return some clarity to her world without all these other women trying to thieve Sasuke away from her. It was starting to wear on her, just how much they were trying to interfere and inject their despicable selves into what was entirely her domain. Couldn't they see that he belonged to her?

Azula tuned back in as Zuko's words regarding their current state of affairs broke up the reunion. "We really need to get moving. I don't know just when, but when Sozin's Comet arrives, we need to be ready for him to bring the fight to us. He'll make straight for Ba Sing Se, and if he manages to take the city again, nothing will keep him from taking the continent."

"Then we'd better get moving," Sokka said with an air of obnoxious bravado as was a return to form. He walked over to Appa and put a hand on the great beast's head as the flying lemur buzzed by his head to land on Katara's shoulder where she affectionately scratched behind its ears.

"How about it buddy?" Sokka asked. "Ready for one last big trip?"

Appa made a loud grunting noise that caused Azula to scrunch up her face, but supposedly, the rest had somehow understood the sound to be an affirmative and they worked their way back to board the saddle once again. Azula avoided Katara's eyes as she walked by with Aang and Suki in tow; the princess couldn't help but notice the awkward greeting Katara was given by Zuko which she returned with a one-armed hug. Mai's expression was both angry and pained at once, and Azula watched her friend continuing to flick glances at Sasuke who was giving the cave one last look over, surely to make sure nothing was amiss. It was then that Azula realized the opportunity before her and she snatched it without a second's hesitation.

When she neared him, she knew they were far enough away that she could talk without being overheard. Still, it was Sasuke who spoke first, his back still to her as he bent low, leaning into the cave with a ball of fire in his hand acting as a light.

"I can take that off of you now, if you'd like."

Azula's heart suddenly drove its pounding to near painful levels as her eyes widened. She felt a shiver run down her spine and felt her whole body grow numb at his words. Sasuke turned to look at her then and, seeing her face, nodding towards her shoulder.

"The mark, I mean."

This having been clarified, Azula's heart sank then as what had briefly flashed through her mind faded away. Of course, he hadn't been talking about that, he was too preoccupied on other matters. The time would come when she would be able to claim him in that way too, but for now, she would have to be patient.

Still, she moved a hand to massage the area just above her breast and shook her head. "What happens if I… just want to keep it there?"

He seemed perturbed but answered her, "I suppose it would stay there forever. Since I activated the seal and we found each other as a result, it can't and won't really do much. Might get a little hot in certain cases, maybe if you're stressed or if I'm gone for a long time and then get near you again, it might act up. Easier to just remove it, no side effects that way."

Azula shook her head again. "No, I'd like to keep it."

She waited for him to argue the point, but he just watched her a moment longer through distantly concerned eyes before shrugging, "Suit yourself."

Sasuke walked past her and as he did, she grabbed his wrist. This was her last chance to talk to him before they would all be forced back into close proximity with the others again, slaves to the constricting chains that were the company of others.

"What?" Sasuke asked, and Azula looked into his black eyes, feeling a rush of emotion.

Part of her just wanted to take him away with her, to leave these fools behind and let them and the Earth and Water Nations destroy themselves against her father's forces. Perhaps they would all destroy one another and the world would be left to her and Sasuke. But he would never agree to that; he had to be there in the thick of it, making the decisions that weaker men would turn away from.

Azula moved her hand from his wrist down to his hand, running her palm against the edges of his fingers. She remembered how he had grabbed her at the camp, how his hand had taken her by the neck and how excited it had made her. She thought of just what she could do to make him force her like that again.

"I just want to know if you're alright."

Words of concern were a difficult and foreign territory to her, but for Sasuke, they came as easily as anything could. Azula knew that Sasuke had been forced into an encounter with a brother she, as well as he, had believed dead. She had even mocked him for it during the most confusing point in her relationship with him. There was surely no small amount of distress emanating from him, but he would never show it. But he had to know that she was here for him. If there was pain he needed to let out, she would hear it. If there was anger to be flung, she would face it. If he needed violence as a way to cope with his own pain, she would take it. And if he needed the touch of something more intimate to help his stress abate, Azula would surrender it.

Oh, how badly she wanted to surrender it.

Sasuke looked at her carefully for a good few seconds, long enough for her to get lost in his eyes. Then, he grunted, "I'm fine, thanks."

Azula should have known. In a moment as exposed as this, he wouldn't dare open up with everyone just a ways behind him. She would have to wait until the time was right, when they could truly be alone. It was a moment she was desperate for, but she found she could be patient.

For Sasuke, she could be anything.

As they walked back towards Appa, she came up close against his side and slipped her fingers to intertwine with his.

Her heart soared when he did not pull away.

The trip to Ba Sing Se was relatively uneventful. Despite Aang's urging, Appa hadn't been particularly inclined to move much faster than he had before and with time nearly up and dawn fast approaching, knowledge of the fact that Ozai was surely moving his forces in their direction some distance behind them was eating at everyone's nerves. Azula and Sokka had nearly gotten into a full blown shouting match about it with insults like "spoiled royalty" and "stupid animal" flung about before Sasuke had stood up and walked to the rear of the saddle.

"I don't know if this will work," he had said, but within seconds of him making several hand signs, Appa gave a great grunt of surprise as they rocketed forward, knocking nearly everyone over onto their sides at the sudden acceleration. As Sasuke had sat back down, he had explained he had created a self-recycling current of air just behind and beneath their transport. It would help him move faster and keep him from wearing himself out.

It had been hours since then and Mai could see the palest hints of a lighter blue hugging the crest of the horizon. Dawn was coming, then day, then Sozin's Comet. It had been unanimously agreed to travel to the city, but Mai knew she wasn't the only person who realized that Sasuke, always the person to want to do things his way for his reasons, had only offered a nod as they had taken to the skies. Everyone other than him knew that meeting the Fire Lord at the Earth Nation's greatest city was the only true way forward, but why was Sasuke so content with coming?

Mai supposed she had a pretty good hunch. Back in Ozai's chambers aboard the Azulon, something had happened. There had been a moment where the world had seemed to skip, just for a moment, almost as though it was pulling back time for some reason or another. Within it, there had been a moment, just a split second where she thought she had seen Sasuke and his brother embracing and talking. But it was almost as though it was a piece of a dream it was such a distant thought. For then, the world had continued and the man known as Obito had taken Ozai and somehow managed to escape.

Something had happened between the three of them or at the very least, between Sasuke and his brother. It brought a chill to Mai's spine as she considered the fact that there were more of them than just Sasuke. They had multiplied into three of these intensely powerful beings and she feared for her world.

But as they cruised swiftly through the sky, growing closer and closer to their destination, she couldn't help but feel hope. Because if anything had been proven to her in recent days, it was that Sasuke, while unpredictable and deadly, had a heart. He would roll his eyes at such a thought no doubt, but Mai had seen it, showing itself in ways small and large. From saving the life of a person who had attempted to kill him just a day ago to allowing a lovestruck girl to hold him while she slept. There was a good soul in him, even if for whatever reason, he just wanted to hide it.

Mai knew though as sky's black began to fade into a deep indigo that she was surely not the only one flicking glances at Sasuke and trying to muster up the courage to ask about the startling revelation that was his brother. For whatever the discovery was doing to him mentally, he was doing his usual Sasuke stint of maintaining a calm and indifferent expression, even though Mai was certain his mind was going wild with who knew just what.

She glanced around at her fellow passengers, rather hoping someone would take the leap and broach the subject that wasn't her, but if anyone was as interested as she was, they were just as unwilling. Azula was sitting on Sasuke's right, looking terribly smug as though she were privy to a secret no one else was, but the expressions of the other passengers ranged from focused to sullen. Mai was about to try and come to terms with the fact that she was going to have no such luck in prying when Toph spoke quietly over the wind whistling around them.

"I didn't know you had a brother," she murmured from where she sat cross legged, holding her feet and rocking nervously. With how quickly the majority of them turned their attention to Sasuke then, it was clear to Mai that she had accurately predicted how much this topic of conversation had interested the group.

Sasuke was looking skyward and didn't reply immediately which prompted Toph to turn her head down, looking sheepish.

"Sorry," she said quickly and Sasuke slowly looked down to her before smiling gently and reaching out. Toph jumped as he pressed his pointer and middle finger against her forehead. It was a strange gesture but one that clearly was meant in affection, as was apparent from the flush of Toph's cheeks and the smug look being wiped from Azula's face.

"Don't be. Fair a question as any," he said.

And without any further prompting, Sasuke told the story of himself and his brother. Itachi, who seemed to be the catalyst for Sasuke being the way he was and who was somehow alive and worlds apart from where he belonged. A half hour later, Mai was doing her best to keep tears from her eyes and she saw Ty Lee and, humorously enough, Sokka having less success than her.

"…but even after all that, Itachi is alive, by means of a jutsu I don't quite understand. After we spoke on the Azulon, he went to try and probe after Obito and told me to meet him at Ba Sing Se."

Aang nodded, his face reverent. "So that's why you're completely on board with going to the city."

Sasuke matched his nod, his eyes glazed over.

"But my brother is alive. After everything that I thought was lost, I still have a chance to make things right. I will make things right."

His voice dipped down then into a lower register as Mai heard the telltale tone that accompanied his more aggressive and darker shift in personality. But his expression was one of nothing more than focus and Mai could tell that whatever the circumstances, he was happy that there was another goal for him to strive for. He looked more alive than she had ever seen him, and she was surprised to find her heart swelling at just the sight.

He's more than just rage.

Sasuke looked at his hands, rubbing one thumb against the other. He was quiet for a time before he said, "So… this comet that's coming."

He looked up to Zuko who looked startled at being addressed. Mai wanted to take his hand, but knew that he would pull away; they still hadn't had a chance to talk, and he was still likely deeply hurt and probably jealous. Mai tried to tell herself that was all there was to this, not that there was some deeply conflicting emotions in her own heart that had kept her from trying too badly to try and reconcile.

"What exactly is it going to allow for?" Sasuke was asking him. Zuko sighed.

"Firebenders have always been more powerful in the day. Not just exclusively benders, but people from our nation… something about the sun heightens our abilities, and our powers. It's not just our powers though, we… we feel stronger in the sun. At night, it's a different story."

He gestured to Katara. "You saw how powerful she was able to become under a full moon. Under a bright sun on a hot day, that's the sort of boost we get."

Zuko clearly wasn't trying to instigate anything with Katara, but Mai still saw the streak of shame and anger that passed over the waterbender's face at his remark.

"Sozin's Comet, supposedly, is going to take things to another level with our powers. Amplification of firebending like nothing that's been seen in near a hundred years. With this power available to him, my father will be able to fry everything within Ba Sing Se, like me shooting fire into a bowl."

He finished with that, the visual he presented being more than sufficient in highlighting just what this could mean for the war between nations. Mai was surprised when Ty Lee spoke up then, her eyes wide and sad, looking at Sasuke with restrained curiosity.

"Sasuke… I know you want to search the city for whatever might return your memory, or what might get you home. But…"

She struggled then and looked down, gritting her teeth.

"I'm not going to worry about it until Ozai's finished," Sasuke said simply. Ty Lee looked up, her eyes ripe with shock at that remark and Mai had to admit to herself that she was surprised herself. That Sasuke would openly be committed to seeing them through this upcoming day was more than a little stunning considering just how separately he had aligned himself from the war that was underway.

"Why?" Azula snapped then and attention turned to her. Mai saw the similarly surprised expressions of everyone else and realized they were all just as taken aback by Sasuke's response as she was.

"I'm sorry?" Sasuke asked and she glared at him intently.

"You have no cause to deal with my father. You should follow your own path, pursue your own goals. Not be pawns of some war you have nothing to do with," Azula said sharply.

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Toph yelled and made to stand up in the saddle before a hand from Ty Lee sat her back down. Not to be forced into silence however, Toph continued, "This war affects him now just as much as any of us! There's someone from his world fighting for your dad, and you're going to say that it's none of his business?!"

"He's not a slave to factions and sides like you," Azula snarled. Toph made a sound that was somewhere between a shout of disbelief and a roar of laugher.

"Oh, you mean like you, princess?!" the earthbender barked back. "You're going to pretend you have some unbiased high ground here?!"

"In case you haven't noticed, mudworm, I haven't told him to fight for the Fire Nation, nor will you hear me say that," Azula growled coldly. "I want him to do what's right by him, not something that was forced on him by others, like how me and my brother were enslaved for our entire lives!"

"Oh, like you didn't enjoy it," Suki snapped, crossing her arms. Azula turned to her, firing up and Zuko scooted back, clearly not looking to become involved.

"Of course there were pieces of it that I knew were essential and that I still believe were for the greater good," Azula said arrogantly, "But if I'm about to be told off about my enjoyment of that imposed servitude by a woman who exists to mirror another in a sad game of charades, you have another thing coming."

This understandably seemed to get under Suki's skin and she swelled just as much as Azula had. Mai could tell this was about to start getting out of hand, but as she opened her mouth alongside Katara and Aang, likely to be making a similar attempt alongside them to defuse the situation, Sasuke cut through the bickering as only his cold, narrow voice could.

"It would appear to me that garbage like this is exactly why this war is happening in the first place."

This was enough to cow the three angry women into silence; Mai watched Azula's face take on a contrite look, surely in the mindset that she had insulted him while Suki's mouth became a thin line. Toph merely looked on, ever the one to not back down from a fight.

Sasuke was leaning back, his eyes up towards the stars that were fading away above them as dawn approached. "You're not going to win this war by tearing each other to pieces because you don't agree about certain things."

He gave Azula a look and it was impossible to tell if his next words were laced with sarcasm, though Mai could certainly see that they might be.

"I appreciate that you're of the mind that I need to follow whatever path is best suited to my own liking, but I'll be frank with you."

Sasuke looked around at all of them at that point and Mai felt something stir deep within her as his dark eyes passed over hers.

"Ozai threatened people I care about. That's well enough for me to make sure his supposed rise to world domination is stifled."

Sokka cracked a comedic smile. "Aw, you do care."

"Don't give me that," Sasuke snapped at him and Sokka's smile only widened and he exchanged grins with Aang. Azula scooted nearer to Sasuke, looking at him inquiringly.

"And that Obito? What happens when he comes for us along with my father?"

Sasuke clenched and unclenched both his fists, several of the knuckles popping as he did so.

"All the worse for him," was all he said.

There was a lull in the conversation then before Momo came from where he had been sitting on Appa's head to come land on Aang's shoulder, chittering as he did so. At the noise, Aang climbed over to the front of the saddle and looked out before turning back to everyone.

"City's just ahead!"

As Appa made to sweep around it, Mai joined the rest of them in peering over the side of their flying transport to glimpse their destination.

She had been there once before under the guise of a Kyoshi warrior, but the sheer size of the city was still enough to make Mai's head spin even on a second viewing. Perhaps when it was viewed from the air it made it appear more impressive but she still found herself remarking, "No wonder it's the pride of the Earth Nation."

Mai saw Azula's face twist in annoyance and could tell that, despite what the princess might have said in disdain for the two factions at war, the taking and loss of Ba Sing Se was still something of a sore spot with her. Mai found herself nearly shoulder to shoulder with Sasuke as they passed a several hundred meters above the surrounding wall of the city; he turned to her slightly as they did, asking, "Based on what we learned from the Fire Nation presence and orders, the city is back under Earth Nation control, is it?"

She nodded. "Hopefully that'll aid with making sure they give us a safe landing."

Aang looked over at this, his face looking as though he had just realized something critical. "I hadn't thought about that. We're going to need to make sure that we emphasize that you're all on our side, otherwise, I don't think the Earth Nation will be too thrilled to see Ozai's kids and some Fire Nation royalty sticking their nose into the city."

Appa slowly banked around as they began to descend through the sky, his saddle becoming angled with the ground so far beneath them. Mai felt herself slip briefly and as her heart jumped at the feeling, Sasuke caught her by the wrist, keeping her from sliding too far. As she looked into his face, she needed only a moment to remember that they were far from alone aboard the flying bison and she pulled her hand from his grasp quickly, hoping the still relative darkness around them would be enough to hide her reddening cheeks. Putting her elbows back against the saddle and relishing the feeling of the wind through her hair, she remarked of him jokingly, "You've got to have better ways of picking up girls than just saving them from certain danger."

As she heard her own joke echo through her ears, she winced; the looks of indignation that appeared on the faces of Zuko, Azula and Toph were to be expected, but Mai was surprised to see that Katara too seemed to perk up at the words, looking very briefly worried. It struck Mai just how quiet Katara had been since they had regrouped. She pondered just what might have transpired between her and Sasuke during their time alone.

Sasuke seemed oblivious to the reactions of their companions and gave her a smirk.

"Best way to get their attention."

She found herself smiling back and for a moment, the world stood still and Mai found herself perfectly content to just look into his eyes, not caring what anyone else thought. It was the first time in a good while that she had been given a moment to just feel perfectly content with the world, just looked into Sasuke's face.

The moment was cut short then as Appa banked further to the left, and Mai felt that if he tilted just a little further, she would drop out of the saddle into space.

Good thing he'd catch me, she thought, and felt her heart swell involuntarily.

Then, however, there was a strange whistling sound that sliced into the silent morning air. It increased in pitch and intensity with every passing moment and Mai furrowed her brow, looking around for the cause. She saw equally confused looks being passed around until Aang's eyes suddenly flew open wide in a panic and he screamed, "Watch out!"

Mai had no idea what he was talking about or what to watch out for, but Sasuke's eyes briefly glowed a fierce red and he launched himself in her direction. His hands took her by the shoulders and tossed her back towards the center of the saddle and as she hit the floor of it, she had just time to look back to see Sasuke a moment before Appa's left side exploded in a cloud of earth and dust, Sasuke disappearing within the burst. Their ride bucked and roared in pain and Aang leapt for the reins as everyone reeled at the sudden movement. The Avatar jerked the reins and Appa pulled hard to the right just as two more whistles sounded and were accompanied by two earthen missiles blowing past the and soaring into the sky.

As Aang took Appa into a series of controlled twists and turns to avoid being hit again, Sokka yelled out, "What the hell is happening?!"

"Whoever's in charge doesn't know we're not the enemy!" Aang cried back.

With a fluidity that was relatively impressive, Zuko and Toph positioned themselves on either side of Appa, the prince blasting at whatever projectiles he could see and Ty Lee calling out to Toph where missiles were incoming from as they descended rapidly through the sky. Mai simply found herself sitting on the floor of the saddle as shouts and explosions sounded around her, realizing just how close she had been to having been completely blown to pieces.

It took both that realization and Azula frantically scrambling around, peering over various sides of Appa and screaming, for Mai to also notice that Sasuke was no longer on board.

They had been quite high up, Sasuke thought hazily as he fell a great ways down with the wind whistling a howling pitch in his ears. The initial hit had blacked him out for just a moment, but he seemed to be mostly returned to conscious at this point; he hadn't been remotely ready for the strike, his Sharingan being his only saving grace in that moment. As he tried to think of what had caused him to fall so woefully short of being alert, he realized that there was only one factor that had so paralyzed him, for just long enough to be relatively useless.

Damn you, Mai.

He would have been lying to himself if he hadn't found the moment the two of them had just shared extremely pleasant, but it had clearly been a detriment to them all as a whole. Sasuke tried to twist in midair to see the rest of his company and saw a far off smudge of black against the indigo of the sky, streaking in a frantic pattern while bolts of fire flashed from it. He supposed he could only hope that the casualty of him had been enough to snap everyone to attention and would allow them to get down safely. Sasuke made a mental note to seek out whoever was in charge of the ground forces in the city and have a word.

That is, if he was able to first survive this little snag.

Thinking to when he and Toph had more or less been in a similar predicament, he knew that this was a little more precarious of a situation. Firstly, he had been at full strength when that had taken place and while he had granted plenty of time to recover from his scrum with Obito and the ensuing escape with Katara, that missile he had leapt in front of just now had most definitely injured him. He wasn't sure how much of it had struck Appa and how much of it had struck him, but he was distantly aware that there some broken bones involved and perhaps some ruptured internals. His chakra flow would be able to automatically get to work on those injuries, but then there came the second issue that was before him.

Dropping a fair few kilometers into a city, namely.

As the sprawl of buildings, roads and lights came more and more quickly into view, Sasuke blinked aside his pain as his body raced downwards. There was a part of him that felt that it would be much more amenable to his current state to make this descent as inconspicuously as he could, but he also knew that this wasn't going to allow for much of that. Generating a wind technique to cushion his fall or redirect was risky as it could direct him away from the ground and perhaps smack into a building, or if he did it too soon, he might risk coming into the path of another fired missile. The same issue would come of using a technique to mess with his personal gravity field or using a technique to let him take to the air.

Reaching into his chakra reserves and feeling his Sharingan burst to life, Sasuke saw the telltale purple glow swirl around him as the ribs of his Susanoo appeared in a cagelike fashion to ensnare his body, completely encircling it. A massive skeletal arm extended from the giant, ghostly ribs and wrapped around the form, tightening for further protection and ensuring that the descent was now straight in coming. Sasuke supposed anyone looking upwards from the city below right about then would see a glowing purple meteor and he hoped they would have the wherewithal to not stand directly in its path.

Sasuke grimaced as the pain in his torso grew worse and the ground drew ever closer. He would have to throw caution to the wind on this one and just hope that he could pick a spot beneath which there were no passing civilians. He imagined he was about to make quite the impact.