*Disclaimer- I own nothing of Avatar: The Last Airbender*

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Chapter 4

"You know, I've been thinking about some things lately, and I was wondering if I could ask for your input on them," Mai lazily trailed her finger on her husband's desk then sitting on it once she saw that her finger was clean of dust.

"What is it that's bothering you?" Zuko asked, continuing to write something down in his scrolls, not even bothering to look up to the woman he called his wife.

She sighed out of boredom. "Are you going to be finished with that anytime soon? I really want to have your full attention."

Zuko smiled, but placed his utensil down and looked up at her. "Better?"

"Much," she moved the scrolls out of his reach and scooted closer to him. "I want you tell me something," she placed her hand on his cheek and rubbed her nail over his scar. "And I want you to tell me the truth."

"You know I hate that." He grabbed at her hand and placed it back on her lap. "Now what is it, Mai?"

"I want you to tell me a story..."

Zuko, holding in his glare and his opinionated words, reached for his scroll once more. "Mai, I really don't have time for games right now. The generals and the elders want me to finish up—" she smacked at his hand. "Mai!" She scooted closer to him and sat down in his lap, straddling his legs. "Don't do this, Mai, not here."

"Why not? I'm sure you've done this plenty of times with your other girlfriends."

Zuko placed his hands on her waist, picked her up and placed her back onto his desk. He stood up, "Is that what's bothering you? My other girlfriends, seriously?" Once she didn't acknowledge him, he had found his answer. "I thought we talked about this. My other girlfriends don't matter to me, Mai, you are my wife and I'm your husband. Are you jealous of—?"

"I'm not jealous!" she exclaimed louder than she has ever talked before.

The firelord hid his surprise and continued to talk. "Ok, well then if you're not jealous, why does it matter?"

"Forget it, you don't understand," she turned to leave.

Zuko stood up and grasped at her wrist. "Make me understand, Mai. What do you want from me? I'm your husband, what more do you want. If anyone, my past girlfriends should be jealous of you, not the other way around."

"It's not the girlfriends I'm worried about."

"Then what are you worried about."

She turned around to meet his eyes. "…you going back to them."

"Are you serious!" he questioned loudly. "After everything I just said about me being your husband and you being me wife, you think I'm gonna go back to them?" He let go of her wrist and squeezed at the bridge of his nose.

"Well I can't help it, ok! Every time we go out somewhere, you're always getting looks from the girls. They're lusting after you, Zuko, and I hate that."

"Of course they are going to be lusting after me, Mai," he laughed bitterly. "I'm the freaking firelord, and look at me; I'm a good looking guy, what girl wouldn't? Apparently, you fell for me, and look at this, I fell for you right back."

She sighed dramatically. "I just wish you'd treat me like how you treated your past girlfriends."

"No you don't," he mumbled incoherently. "I treat you like my wife, not like any of my past girlfriends. If I treated you like my past girlfriend's, it wouldn't be the same."

"And why wouldn't it?"

"It just wouldn't, ok!"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "This seems to be a very touchy subject, Zuzu? Is it not?" He turned around, waving her off, and going to sit back in his chair. "It is. And may I ask why this is a touchy subject?"

"I don't understand you, Mai," Zuko had placed his scrolls back in front of him and continued to work again. "Why are you questioning me about my past life? Is there something I'm hiding from you?"

"You tell me."

"There isn't." he seethed. She rolled her eyes at this. Zuko did not know whether to think she did that gesture because she was annoyed of him or just annoyed of him talking, thought he was slightly surprised that he was unaffected by it.

"Then tell me about Katara," she questioned impassively.

He paused in his work and he was sure she had seen the hesitation. Looking up at her, he could slowly start to see why Mai had come into his office. It wasn't to learn about his past girlfriends, it was to learn more about him and Katara. He sighed and rubbed at his temples as he felt a pulsating headache start to form. "Katara and I were just great friends, there's nothing more to say."

"That's bull shit, and don't try to tell me it isn't." she slammed her fist on the desk, knocking over the bowl of black ink which splattered all on the documents and scrolls Zuko had been working on previously.

Zuko looked down at his papers and down at himself which also been splattered black ink on. "Leave."

"Zuko I—"

He raised up his hand, "don't...just leave. Please don't say another word." He put his head in his hands and grumbled something silently underneath his breath. "Leave, Mai."

Mai frowned slightly, but quickly recovered back to her emotionless expression as she gave a small nod and walked out the door.

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"Have you seen, Katara? I really need to talk to her about something," the firelord asked his Kyoshi warrior friend. She crossed her arms over her chest and frowned at him. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"You told Sokka to go visit your sister in the Fire Nation asylum?" she tapped her foot impatiently. "What the hell were you thinking?"

Zuko placed his hand on his forehead and rubbed at his eyes. "I don't know. I thought he would be a good person to console my sister. Now if you'll excuse me..." he tried to walk past her, but she caught him at the arm and pulled him back. He breathed out a sigh, trying to hold in his irritation, "Suki, I really gotta find Katara."

"And I really need for you to tell Sokka to quit going to see your sister," she shouted. "No offense, but I rather Aang or even you to go see her; at least if she tries something, you guys would be able to protect yourselves." She let go of his arm.

"Sokka's a skilled swordsman, I'm sure he'll be fine, Suki. Besides, Azula's bending is gone, she can't firebend."

"She's a good fighter even without her bending."

"So is Sokka, I'm sure it'll be a good match up," he turned around to leave.

She started to walk with him. "Are you high? Azula will kill him."

Zuko continued to walk forward, keeping his eyes on the hallway. "You have no trust in your boyfriend?"

She hesitated in her walk but quickly regained back into step with him. "I do...I just don't trust your sister. And don't try to turn this on me, Zuko. You know how your sister is!" she lightly hit him in the shoulder.

He stopped at a certain waterbenders door. "I know, Suki. But I'm not changing who I picked. Sokka's been doing fine with her lately. If you don't trust him, maybe you should tag along with him the next time he goes."

"What are you doing at Katara's door?" she asked suddenly, completely changing the subject.

"I have something...I need to talk with, 'Tara—Katara...Look, I need to talk with Katara, ok?!"

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Why?"

"Does it matter?" he bluntly stated. "Just something I need to confirm with her, that's all." He placed his knuckled onto the door and knocked softly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I really hope you'd leave—"

"What?! A manly voice answered from inside of Katara's room.

Zuko looked over at Suki who quickly looked the other direction. "Katara...?"

"She's in here, what do you want?" the voice asked again. "Toph, if that's you again, I'm definitely gonna tear—"

"It's Zuko." Pure silence overtook the room and the hallway. Zuko glanced down at Suki who held a small smirk on her face. Shaking his head slowly, he said, "Who is this guy? Is this Katara's new boyfriend or something?"

Suki laughed, completely forgetting the argument she and firelord were just having. "No, well, I don't know actually. It's Kang. He and Katara are kinda seeing each other..." she continued to laugh louder once the expression on Zuko's face showed pure discomfort.

"When did this happen? Why didn't she tell me this?"

"About a week ago and why would she tell you?" she continued to stare at his amusing face, suddenly grimacing. "Besides, it's kind of something I just found out too. Toph told me, actually. And I'm sure us three are the only people that know," she said pointing between the two of them.

Before the firelord could speak another word, the door opened, revealing Kang in nothing but a pair of pants and his boots. He rubbed at his chin nervously. "Zuko...hey."

"Hi," he said, resisting the urge to grasp the boy by his neck and choke him. "Is Katara in there? I really need to speak with her about something."

"Yeah," Kang said slowly. "But we're kind of busy right now..." he winked suggestively at him.

"Oh, don't worry it'll just be for a quick second," he placed his hand on Kang's shoulder and roughly pulled him out of the doorway. "Suki will keep you company. This will only take a quick second," he repeated.

Kang turned to look at Suki. "What's with him?"

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"So, Kang, huh?" Zuko crossed his arms over his chest and blushed, looking everywhere except at the waterbender in the bed.

"You shouldn't be in here," Katara straightened out Kang's shirt that fixed loosely over her petite figure.

He rolled his eyes. "It's not like I haven't seen you before, Katara." She frowned deeply at him. "But, Kang, seriously?" He shook his head in a disgusted manner. "Wow, that's different."

"What do you mean by different?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him. "You mean, not you?"

He laughed. "Well, of course, he's not me. No one is." She stayed silent, and he realized he was making this awkward. "Look, I came here because I just got into another argument with Mai over you."

"And?"

"She's completely on to us."

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"Have you guys seen Zuko," a bored voice said behind Kang and the Kyoshi warrior. "I can't seem to find him anywhere."

Kang glanced at Suki who discreetly shook her head at him. Suki spoke up. "Have you checked his office? He's usually in there all the time." Mai nodded her head slowly, holding a small frown on her face. "Well then maybe he's in the kitchen?"

"Why do you have your shirt off?" Mai asked.

Kang, oblivious that he still was shirtless, shrugged his shoulders and grunted. "Oh, I was—"

"I don't see what the point of talking to her is! You already told her that there was nothing going on between us!" Katara yelled from inside of the room. "And don't come back in here unless you have an actual reason to talk with me!" Zuko angrily opened the door and walked out. "You could at least close the door behind you!"

"Yeah, and you could—" Zuko realized who was standing in front of him. He swallowed. "Mai..."

"Who were you talking to in there?" Mai asked, trying to see who was in the room.

As if on cue, Katara stood up in front of the door. "I thought I told you to close the d—Mai!"

"So this is what you're doing? Sneaking behind my back and having sleepovers with Katara when we have an argument!" Mai slowly turned her attention to Zuko then back at Katara. "I knew there was something going on with the two of you!"

"We were just talking, Mai," Zuko said, reassuring her, and trying to quiet her down. "Nothing happened."

"Then why is she only wearing one of your shirts."

"It's actually my shirt," Kang spoke up.

"I don't care!" Mai threw up her hands in frustration. "What were you doing in there, Zuko, with her?!" she gave the waterbender a disgusted look. "Is there something going on between the two of you that I should know about?"

"They were just talking, Mai," Kang spoke up, trying to help out his friends. "Besides, me and Katara are kinda together."

Mai shook her head. "So now the sluts got two boyfriends. Oh how wonderful, the day just keeps getting better and better!" She turned around to leave.

Zuko looked over at his ex-lover and gave her an apologetic look before chasing after his wife. "There's nothing going on between me and Katara."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Prove it."

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"How'd you get that scar," Sokka asked, scooting closer to the cell. He stared at the jagged scar just below her neck that traveled down to God knows where, and another puckered line of pink that marked her cheek. She shrugged at him, picking at the dirt that had caked up in her finger nails. "You don't know?"

"It's not that I don't know, it's more like I don't really want to tell you," she calmly stated. "You probably wouldn't like it anyway." Her golden eyes flickered up to his as she smirked villainously.

He raised his eyebrow at her. "Why wouldn't I like it?"

She frowned immediately. "You did it. You gave this to me with that pathetic utensil you call your sword."

"Really?" he gave her a proud smirk. "I gave Princess Azula a scar that she'll forever have. I bet every time you look at it, my face appears doesn't it?" She let out a small bitter chuckle.

"Yes, actually. Every time I look at it, I remember your sword grazing my skin," she kept her eyes on the water tribe boy as she placed her hand on the scar, "the look of triumph on your face as you drew blood from your enemy. And the strong urge of wanting to kill you," she said in a chilling, dark, low voice.

"That's understandable," He responded simply, slightly catching her off guard. She expected him to pick up his belongings and run out of the cell room, screaming like a baby chip-monkey.

"It is?" She was dumbfounded.

He started laughing. "I probably would have a strong urge to kill you, too, if you did something like that to me."

"Except, you already had the strong urge to kill me," she stood up and walked towards him, placing her hands around the cell bars, gripping them tightly. "What I did to that Kyoshi warrior should make you angry. I threatened and tortured her, leaving her and her other warriors almost dead."

He nodded his head slowly. "She actually told me about that before I came up here."

"Really?"

"She said I shouldn't be helping you."

"You're kidding," the ex-princess said in almost a bored tone. "Anything else?"

He shrugged. "Nothing that's not already degrading you, but um, she actually said that you'd kill me if you had the chance..." She grunted questioningly. "Then she got into some other stuff...some words were said...hurtful words."

"She said all that?" Azula cocked her head to the side and sighed dramatically. "I'm so happy your girlfriend has me on her mind. At least someone still cares to remember me," she rolled her eyes.

"I'm here aren't I?"

"Yes. You're locked up in here with me completely alone, because Zuzu thinks you can transform me into this new woman that he thinks I should be." She gave him a small shrug. "When clearly he is the fool, a person cannot turn themselves into something unless they themselves are willing to turn in to it. It must drive you mad every time you come here. Every day is unchanging, unsuccessful," she hissed.

He stood up and shook his head at her. "I wouldn't call it unsuccessful. I actually think we've got a little connection. I've been seeing you for a couple of days now and I must admit, I really enjoy coming here," Azula snorted in reply. "I'm serious. Don't ask me why, but I guess I get a sort of relaxed feeling when I come here. Besides, once you get over the whole crazy 'I tried to kill you' exterior, you're quite an interesting girl."

"Interesting, huh?"

He nodded his head at her. "Yeah." He looked her dead in the eye, staring her down.

"Stop that?" She narrowed her eyes at him

"What?"

"Staring."

"What? I can't stare at an interesting girl," he countered, holding a small smirk on his lips.

She frowned at him. "Oh, you're making me blush," her sardonic tone made him laugh. "Seriously, Sokka, I'm sure your Kyoshi girl wouldn't appreciate you flirting with the ex-fire princess."

"Look, I'm just trying to brighten up the mood, that's all, and I'm not flirting," he pointed out.

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Well don't. You've already brightened it up enough. If you brighten up the mood too much, we'll both be going crazy." He laughed louder. "I don't see what's funny."

"You're pretty funny for a crazy girl...that's also quite amazing," He sighed internally for his quick thinking, but Azula had caught him.

"Oh, please, save it," she rose her hand and walked back to her bed.

"Shit," he mentally berated himself for his stupidity. She had actually begun to open up to him and he destroyed all the progress with a single sentence. "You know," he tried changing the subject, "you never told me how you got the other scar...the one on your cheek."

She stood in front of her bed with her back faced towards him. There was a long pause before she spoke. "I had gotten into a fight at the academy. Some inferior girl thought it would be amusing if she made a comment about my mother who had decided to leave our family a couple days before." She hesitated. "I almost killed that girl," She breathed the words out so quietly, Sokka was tempted to ask her to repeat what she said.

"You truly did love your mother, didn't you?" She stayed still, showing no sign of an answer. Sokka sighed and stared at the young girl saddened at the mention of her possibly dead mother. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the key that he had secretly snagged from the guards keychain. Taking a deep breath, he slid the key into the lock and unlocked the cell. Stepping inside of the cell, he walked over towards the girl, turned her around and hugged her.

"What are you doing?" she asked, fascinated that he had enough courage to come into the cell with her and touch her. "If the guards see you, they'll..."

"Will you just relax and accept some help for once? Don't worry about them. Just...hug me, Azula." the words were sour in his mouth. Never in a million years did he think he'd be doing this to Princess Azula of the firenation.

Azula was stunned, but slowly wrapped her arms around him. He kept her attention on the open cell door that the watribeman had forgotten to close. There was something about Sokka of the Southern Watertribe that allured her. He challenged her and wasn't afraid. Whoever mistook him for a foolish goofball was gravely mistaken, well, at times she could agree with them. But he was quite a captivating person, with some dark places she couldn't even imagine that hid under that idiotic smile.

She shook her head slowly, deciding that this…excitement for this boy was insane. She was a princess, heir to the throne; she had no time for a silly peasant her brother thought would fix her. She sighed deeply. What if this whole set up was a joke, a hoodwinked antic that her brother and Sokka had set up. Was he just playing her?

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"I haven't felt this way in a long time," Mai breathed. Zuko slid off of her and started putting his clothes back on. "What do you think?" She smiled at him while he was getting dressed. "It's been a while."

"It was okay," He simply stated.

She frowned, "ok?" He nodded his head at her. "Just ok?"

"Are you going to reference something towards one of my past girlfriends?" he asked unusually calm.

"I wasn't."

"Good," he slid on his boots and grabbed his duel dao swords and headed out the door. "I'm going to train."

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"I hope you're not mad about me and Katara," Kang said, shooting a fireball into the air.

"Why would I be mad?" Zuko asked, slicing through air as he finished a kata with his swords. "You're with her, there's nothing for me to be angry at. It's perfectly fine that you're with her." He bit the inside of his jaw, "In fact...you two look...good together."

Kang smiled, wiping a bead a sweat off of his forehead. "Really? Thanks, man. You're the first person who's said that."

"Well, I'm kind of the one of the first people to know as well," he stated, breathing heavily. "Why didn't you just tell me you and Katara were...together?" He grabbed at a cup of cold water that the servants had set out.

Kang shot out another ball of fire before talking. "Katara specifically told me not to tell you."

"Really?" Zuko sipped at his water, trying not to sound too interested. "Why is that?"

"I don't know," he shrugged, grabbing at one of the cups and quickly gulping down the cool liquid. "Maybe she just didn't want you to know, I guess. She wouldn't tell me why when I asked her, so I have no idea."

Zuko grunted. "But apparently she told Toph and Suki."

"They're her best friends."

"Well, I am too."

He laughed. "You're a guy. We usually don't get that privilege of knowing girls secrets unless they really want to tell you." Zuko grunted again, but this time it was more so at his friend. "What?"

"You like her?"

A small smile appeared on Kang's face. He nodded his head, "Yeah, I really do." As if right on cue, Katara and Toph came out of the training room door and headed right for them. "Right on time."

"Kang," Katara smiled at him and kissed at his lips. Kang greedily returned the gesture. Zuko rolled his eyes and cleared his throat, breaking the couple apart. Katara frowned, "Zuko."

"Katara," Zuko grunted out, then turning his attention onto the earthbender. "Toph, I haven't—ow! What was that for?!" The young earthbender had punched him in the arm.

"I haven't seen ya in a while, Sparky," she said loudly. "You're always hanging out with Goth girl or Mr. Flirts a lot here."

Zuko smiled, but continued to rub at his sore shoulder. "Sorry, Toph, we can go have lunch some time and catch up."

"Better believe we will, because we need to talk!" she roughly grabbed at his arm. "Eww! You're all wet, what did you do, jump in a lake?!" She rubbed her hand up his arm, grazing his bare chest. "Are you shirtless, too? You're gonna give Sugar Queen a heart attack, put a shirt on!" The firelord raised his eyebrow at the waterbender who was giving the blind earthbender a disgusted frown. Grabbing at his shirt that had fallen on the floor, he slid it on. "That's better, now c'mon!" She grabbed at his hand and pulled him back inside.

"What was that all about?" Kang asked, still confused by the interruption.

Katara shrugged. "I don't know."

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"So what's been going on with you and Sweetness?" she took a big bite out of her komodo chicken. "She's been saying all type of shit about you," she said through chews. "What's up with that?"

Zuko simply shrugged and cut at his food and placed the meat into his mouth properly. "There's nothing going on. What are you talking about? And what is Katara saying about me?"

Toph scoffed, pointing her fork at him. "There is too something going on! I can feel it, and when I feel something I am never wrong!" She took another bite of her chicken, gulped down her tea and belched loudly.

Zuko, undisturbed by her un-lady like manners, continued to eat. "What has she been saying about me?"

"Well, she always talks about how you're such a hot headed jerk that won't seem to leave her alone," she started. "And she always tells me that she's tired of you asking her about telling Mai about you guys' little relationship."

"Really?" Zuko took a sip of his tea.

Toph nodded her head and placed her feet up on the dining table. "If you want my opinion, I think she still has some feelings for little Zuzu." The firelord choked on his drink and spit it out quickly. Toph laughed, "If I knew you were going to act like this, I wouldn't have told you!"

He coughed. "You're kidding, right?"

The earthbender laughed even harder, wiping an imaginary tear out of her eye. "You're hilarious! And no, I'm not kidding. Go ask her sometime, I sure she'll lie to you."

"Lie to me? Why the hell would she have to lie to me for? She doesn't like me anymore!" he exclaimed, clearly surprised by what his earthbender friend had told him. "Besides, she has Kang!"

She scoffed. "Like that'll stop her. Do you know what she told me?"

Zuko wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and stared at her, almost afraid to answer. "What?"

Toph smirked. Too easy. "She wants you to take her on one of the palace beds."

"And do what?"

Toph frowned. "What else would you do on a bed besides sleep, stupid?"

Zuko froze. His body was unmoving; his mouth was slightly open, the color drained from his face as he stared wide-eyed at her. "She said that?"

Toph shrugged. "I mean, not necessarily."

"Did she say that?" he repeated.

She rolled her eyes. "No. But I'm sure she thinks it all the time. Just think about it, Zuko, you and her back together, that would be amazing wouldn't it?" Zuko didn't answer her. She laughed to herself, she had caught him.

"No," Zuko said. "I'm sure Katara's not even thinking about me, and I'm not thinking about her. What we had back then was something, but now I'm married, she has Kang and I have Mai. I'm happy."

Toph narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you, Zuko? Are you truly happy?"

"Yeah." He said quickly, too quickly.

"You don't seem so sure..."

He shrugged. He had to admit. His relationship with Mai hadn't been going as smoothly as he expected it would be. There was no excitement in his relationship anymore, only distrust and continuous skepticism on Mai's part, however. Though, he wouldn't say he was unhappy. Honestly, he wouldn't know what to say about his relationship with Mai.

Now that things have stirred up with Katara again, he feels more of a contentment towards her, even if she is sleeping with one of his best friends. Yet he won't admit it, Zuko's attraction for the waterbender had never left him, it was always there. But now as a married man he was supposed to get rid of all those feelings, to forget everything that happened between them. But the truth was he didn't want to. He cherished those moments he had with her. Her smile, her laugh, everything about her was…alluring.

"Hey, Sparky!" Toph loudly snapped her fingers, bringing the firelord out of his thoughts. "Look, you need to get some things straight with your wife before your marriage ends in a divorce." Zuko grunted at the idea. "You need to realize where your relationship stands with Katara, too."

Zuko sighed and rolled his eyes at the blind bandit. "There is nothing I need to sort out with Katara, Toph."

Toph seemed to grow irritated by his statement and she looked at him with a growing frown. "Whatever, just don't come crying to me when your heart gets broken, lover boy." She crossed her arms over her chest.

Zuko raised an eyebrow, clearly confused. "What are you asking me to do, Toph? I'm a married man. I can't just go off with other women. Mai would be—"

"Mai would be what?" she asked. "Mad? As if she isn't like that every day, Zuko."

"Are you asking me to cheat on my wife? No, I can't do that." Zuko pushed his plate forward, losing his appetite of the food he was just eating. "Katara's off limits for me, she's Kang's. If I were to—…no, I'm not doing it, Toph."

Toph shrugged and stood up from her chair. "Fine, suit yourself, Sparky." She grabbed at Zuko's uneaten piece of Komodo chicken and bit into it, "but if you change your mind. You know where to find me."

"I won't be changing my mind, Toph," the firelord muttered.

"Okay," she said slowly, starting to walk away from the table. "Have a great rest of the evening, Zuko."

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*Read and Review. Yeah, I know pretty late update. But this was a long one here. I'm trying to finish up the other chapters so I won't have to keep anyone waiting. But there you go chapter 4. And gimme some time on the next chapter cuz I've been having a little writers block, just a little though. Give me any comments or questions or concerns, and I WILL get back to answering you. Review Please! Oh, and Ive been getting a lot of guest reviews, login people, lemme know who you really are! But a review is a review so…lol Thanks a lot!*