Hey guys, thanks to everybody who reviewed last chapter. : ) Same rule for this chapter – give me three (3) reviews, or I won't update. I love you all, you know that :D

Now, read, review and enjoy ^_^

6. Please, Don't Leave Me

Hakoda walked Katara to the door, "Get your things packed, we'll leave as soon as you're ready."

Katara nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes. Then, without another word to her father, or her grandmother, Katara let Sokka and Suki lead her back to the palace. They could all sneak away. They didn't have to tell anyone they were going. They'd just leave a note, pack their things and go. Back to the Southern Water Tribe, and Sokka and Suki might go back to Kyoshi Island once things settle down a bit more. The other Water Tribe warriors didn't need to know what had happened. If Hakoda made it clear that it was none of their business, they wouldn't dare question him, or anyone around him.

This is it, I'm leaving again, and I'm leaving with a broken heart. Just like last time. What is it? Does he just like watching me suffer or something? Does he just love to be the one to inflict the pain on me? What will he do after I leave? Will he chase me back to the south again, claiming he loves me and coming up with some crazy way of explaining the situation he was caught in with Mai?

Katara cringed at that thought. She remembered how naïve she had been. At first, she had been stubborn, but he had somehow managed to break down the walls she'd put around her heart to keep it safe. Then she had let him take her over, and she had practically given herself to him, a servant on a silver plate. She had let him convince her that he loved her and that they were meant to be, and it had all gone terribly wrong.

"Suki, I want you to go up to the room with Katara, and if Zuko's in there, kick him out and keep him out. I don't want him anywhere near her. Got it?" Sokka asked, grabbing the Kyoshi Warrior's shoulders firmly.

Suki looked him in the eyes and nodded, but the fact that she was biting her lip told Sokka she had something to say. He raised an eyebrow, "Suki, what's wrong?"

"It's just… I just think…" She looked between the two Water Tribe siblings and sighed. "I just think we should get the story from all sides before we do something so drastic as leave and never return… what if there is something behind all of this, something that neither Zuko nor Mai know about? Maybe there's a perfectly good explanation, and we're too angry and confused to stop and consider the possibilities. Maybe –"

"Suki! What are you talking about?!" Sokka shot her a cold look of annoyance. "Are you telling us that you're siding with that-that-that…" Sokka pressed his lips into a thin line to stop himself from cussing in front of his sister and wife. "What's gotten into you?!" he burst out after a moment.

"Nothing!" Suki quickly put her hands up in front of her – she should have known better than to speak out like that. "I was just saying… we shouldn't jump to conclusions… I'm not siding with Zuko, I'm just saying that we should find out the whole story from all sides before we determine for ourselves exactly what happened…" Sokka was practically glaring at her, and it was making her feel uneasy. Suki had to bite her lip to stop it from trembling, but it was almost no use. "F-forget I said anything! It was stupid of me… c'mon Katara!" Suki grabbed the waterbender's arm and started leading her up to her room. "Let's go pack…"

Katara followed silently, slightly irked by Suki's words. Was she really on Katara's side, or was she just playing it so that she could help Zuko get to her? Was she in on Zuko's plans to hurt her too?! Great, first Zuko himself, then Mai then Toph. Ty Lee seemed to be in on it too, and Iroh had been sitting with them earlier… had he changed sides too? Was he siding with Zuko on this one?

Angry tears formed in her eyes as she marched down a corridor with Suki. She wasn't paying any attention at all, and she would have missed the crinkled piece of paper lying on the ground if she hadn't have almost slipped on it. Suki caught her arm at the last minute and steadied her.

"What's this…?" Suki and Katara bent down together and accidentally knocked heads. They laughed a bit at their clumsiness, and then Suki beat her to picking it up.

The Kyoshi Warrior flattened out the piece of paper as best she could. It was a musty brown colour and it had something written on it, in black, smudging letters.

Suki read it to herself:

The Avatar has been kidnapped. Do not try and follow the kidnapper or rescue your friend or he will be killed.

Admiral Shang.

"Katara…" Suki started slowly. "We have a problem."

Katara looked at her with fear in her eyes. This couldn't be good. Hesitantly, she took the note from Suki and read it to herself, over once, twice and three times just to be sure. Blinking in shock, she let it sink in, and then came that first wave of panic.

"Suki!" she gasped. "We need to find him!"

She ran back the way they had came, the note still in her hands.

"Katara, wait! They said they'd kill him if we go after them!"

"Maybe he hasn't been kidnapped yet!" Katara called back over her shoulder.

Suki sprinted after her and they both almost ran head-long into Sokka as they rounded the corner.

"Hey, aren't you two supposed to be packing?!" he asked, slightly agitated. Obviously, he just wanted out of the Fire Nation. He just wanted to get as far away from that – he thought something of Zuko that would make all faint – as he possibly could.

"Sokka!" Katara thrust the piece of paper at him. "Help us find Aang! He might still be around. They probably just left the note lying around so they could get out of here as soon as they caught him!"

Sokka was immediately alarmed by the panic running through her voice.

"Katara, what are you…" He slowly looked at the semi-scrunched up piece of paper in his hand and read the messy writing. "…Oh…"

After a moment, Sokka's head shot up so suddenly, the girls could have sworn it was attached to a rocket that had just been launched. "We have to find him!"

"Aang!" Katara called. "I'll go check up in his room!" She ran from the others to find him. "Aang!" She didn't stop calling his name. If she could just hear his voice, that would be enough to assure her he was safe. But she needed to find him, fast. If she had really lost him… "Aang…" She pushed the door of his room open, but it was empty. He was nowhere to be found in there and there was no other note saying, 'Gone for a walk, be back soon,' left on the bed. "Aang…"

"Sokka, I'll go and check back at the units to see if anyone who came for the wedding has seen him!" Suki called over her shoulder as she headed for the exit of the palace.

"Ok, be careful, I'm gonna go check the gardens!" Sokka nodded, running for the outdoors.

He and Katara almost collided as they entered the same corridor at the same time.

"Aang's not in his room!" she cried, tears in her eyes.

"What?! Uh! Come and check outside with me!" he grabbed her arms.

It was scary, to know that someone you loved was in so much danger, but not know if that danger had actually occurred yet or not. But instead of them finding Aang or his claimed kidnapper in the garden, next to the turtle-duck pond, Toph and Zuko were talking casually. As soon as Sokka and Katara stopped near the pond, Toph raised her head and faced them.

"What do you want?" she asked, rather coldly.

"Toph! Do you know where Aang is?!" Katara asked urgently.

Sensing her heartbeat, Toph raised an eyebrow, "Katara…?"

"Toph, Suki and I found this letter just a moment ago." She snatched the piece of paper from Sokka. "It says that Aang's been kidnapped! And if we try to rescue him, they guys who took him will kill him!"

"Is there any signature on the note?" Zuko asked.

It was the first time Katara had actually registered it was him the whole time she had been standing there. She fell silent and glared at him. He frowned in disappointment and had to suppress a sigh.

"C'mon Katara, Aang isn't out here. Maybe we should just leave now," Sokka put a hand on her shoulder, keeping his eyes narrowed on Zuko. The boy pretended not to notice Sokka's icy glare, but he couldn't quite shake it off as hard as he tried to focus on Katara. Her eyes were red and her face tear-stained. Her hair was a mess and she looked like she was wearing her old outfit of traditional blue and Water-Tribe design. It was starting to get small on her and it was pulling tight around her womanly figure. Zuko felt a lump in his throat as he took in the fact that she was supposed to be his, but for some mistaken reason, she hated him and wouldn't let him near her.

"Guys, he has a point! If you tell us who's signed it, we might have more of a chance of finding him!" Toph shouted, before Sokka could lead her away.

Katara looked back down at the letter and read it over again. When she looked back up again, she glared something icy at Zuko, and then turned back to Toph and spoke only to her.

"It's signed by some guy… Admiral Shang." The name seemed familiar to her, but she couldn't quite put her finger on where she'd heard it before. Although… it reminded her of Azula for some reason…

"Alright, we need to find out who has someone in their army called Admiral Shang!" Toph declared.

Sokka and Katara nodded, but it was Zuko who spoke.

"Shang?! You are not serious!" he almost shouted, standing up.

Sokka set his gaze back on him, "What's it to you, Jerk Lord?"

Zuko tried not to pay attention to his new title, and it was a lot easier than before now that he was onto something. Shang… Admiral Shang… he was the one who had dishonoured Azula. He was the one she almost had to marry. He was that coward who ran off as soon as he realized that Zuko had joined the fight and knew about what had happened to the Princess.

"How do you know this Admiral Shang?" Katara asked, looking him in the eyes, untrusting and suspicious.

"He was in my father's army and he was one of his close… well, I guess they were what you could have called 'friends'," Zuko explained, thinking about the man. "I am hoping that letter isn't really from him, mainly because he's the guy who –"

"So, you're in league with him!" Katara shot at him, not registering what he had been saying after he had paused to think. Zuko knows this man! Zuko must be part of the reason Aang got kidnapped!

"What? No! Katara, I –"

"You're the one who told him where Aang was! This was your doing!" She pointed an accusing finger at him. "You haven't really tried to end the war; you're just taking a different approach to it than your father was!"

"Katara!" both Toph and Zuko gasped. It had nothing to do with Zuko!

"You should be locked up! You don't deserve to be Fire Lord!" She was in tears, and they rushed down her cheeks and fell to the ground as she yelled at him. She needed to let all of her anger out on him, because it had been all bottled up inside her since the night before and it was killing her. Tears just weren't enough; she needed to hurt him bad for what he had done.

"Katara! I'm not with him! I hate him! He does terrible things to people, things I don't even want to think about! He –"

"So, you thought he was the perfect one to get rid of Aang, didn't you?!"

"Katara –"

"Didn't you?!"

"Katara!"

"Well guess what, Zuko! Maybe I'll just be leaving now, before you can hurt me any more and before you can take anything else away from me!" she shouted, losing control.

Zuko stood, his mouth open, as Katara yelled at him.

"Katara…" Toph's misty eyes were wide open with shock.

"You heard," she dropped her voice and took a step backwards, grabbing Sokka's forearm so she could lead him away. "I'm leaving. I'm going back to the Water Tribe and I'm going to save Aang from whatever mess this is that you've gotten him into." She had her eyes firmly set on Zuko and they were unmoving and unblinking. "I don't give a damn what you say, Zuko, because I'm not listening to you anymore."

"But… Katara… please no, I need you, I need –"

"YOU NEED ME MY ASS! You know what you really need?!" she shouted, walking right up to him. Before he could do anything from answer to step back from her, she struck him hard across the face. The slap almost knocked him over and he stumbled backwards a few paced, clutching his right cheek. "There! Now I'm leaving. Goodbye Zuko!"

With that, she turned and strutted back inside the palace, to pack her things and leave.

The Fire Lord had to remind himself to breathe after a moment of stunned silence. He had known that Katara was angry and upset, and he had known that she was strong and a good fighter, but never in his life did he think that she would be the type to actually hit someone.

"Zuko… are you ok?" Toph asked quietly from where she stood. Zuko didn't even realize himself falling to his knees and sinking into the grass that grew under the apple tree. The blind girl knelt down beside him and put a hand to the cheek Katara had slapped. "Zuko? Listen, don't worry, everything will turn out fine in the end. Everything always does turn out right in the end, right?" she smiled.

Zuko didn't move or speak for a moment. He just looked at the spot Katara had been standing and wished she was still there. He wished that she wasn't about to leave him again and he wished that she didn't hate him. He wished none of this had ever happened.

Slowly, the Fire Lord turned his head to Toph and his eyes stared rather hopelessly into hers. She didn't need to see him to tell his eyes were unfocused.

"No Toph…" he whispered, barely able to hear himself. "Things don't always turn out ok… if things did always turn out ok then Azula would be alive and my mother would be here. If things always turned out ok, Aang wouldn't be the last of his people. If things always turned out alright, then Aang wouldn't be gone and Katara wouldn't have yet another reason to hate me…"

"Zuko, maybe this isn't the end and that's why things aren't going well yet. Aang only just got kidnapped. We can still find him! And we're not giving up on somehow proving that you and Mai didn't do anything on purpose and that it was never supposed to happen," Toph tried to comfort him. But he only shook his head, slowly regretting the fact that he was alive. If he didn't exist, Katara wouldn't be put through so much pain. If he had just never forced himself into her life, she wouldn't be so torn apart at that moment.

"Zuko?" she asked hesitantly when he said nothing.

Quite suddenly, so that it startled Toph, Zuko stood up and walked quietly from the garden, back inside and up to his room.

Sokka wasn't with Katara when he went in, and when she noticed him in the doorway, she stood bolt upright and her cheeks flushed red. Whether with anger or embarrassment, Zuko was unaware, but it didn't matter to him.

"I don't want you to go," he said simply, after a moment of silence.

The waterbender rolled her eyes and turned back to her bag. She wasn't packing anything that was Fire Nation or particularly fancy. He guessed that she was planning to try and forget all of this completely; to forget that she was in love; to forget that she was pregnant and he was the father; to forget that she had been married; to forget what she had found that night after the party; to forget the pain he had caused her; to forget that she was Fire Lady; to forget that she had lived here; to forget about him; to forget her new life altogether; maybe even to forget herself.

"Katara, please just listen to me," he pleaded, only daring to take one timid step into the room. "I don't have anything to do with what that letter says has happened to Aang." He caught sight of the crumpled piece of paper on her dresser and carefully edged his way over to it, keeping his eyes on her to make sure she knew what he was doing. He picked it up and read it to himself. When he put it down again, he looked back to the girl in front of him.

Katara had her lips pursed tightly, and he was sure it was to stop them from trembling. There was a crease in her brow, as she tried to concentrate on packing and ignore him. But it wasn't working, because every time he spoke, she would flinch, as if each work was cutting her deeper and deeper, leaving a permanent mark there as a reminder.

She zipped up her bag, making sure he knew it, and she was about to throw it over her shoulder when Zuko stepped closer to her.

"NO! Get away from me!" she shouted as he grabbed her wrists. Katara struggled hard and beat several times at his chest as he tried to keep her still, but he did not let go of her, no matter how hard she beat him. Desperately, Zuko pushed his lips firmly against hers and his grip on her wrists tightened. She pulled away, he moved back in. She turned her head, he let go of one of her wrists and used his hand to turn her back. Zuko pressed his lips to hers again, and he could taste her salty tears as well. He could feel them running down her cheek with each second that passed. Her sobs made her whole body shake. She put her free hand to his throat and pressed down on his Adam's apple with her thumb. Unable to breathe, Zuko pulled away, but he did not let go of her wrist, and she did not stop choking him. "I said no," she breathed.

"Don't leave me!" he begged, catching her hand and pulling it away from his throat. "Don't leave me, Katara! I need you, and I'm not kidding. You're my world and I love you, Katara, I love –"

"SHUP UP!" she screamed. "Don't say that! You don't mean it! Shut up, I never want to hear you say that to me again, I never –"

He pushed his lips so tightly to hers that he accidentally bit his own lip. But he didn't care about the taste of blood in his mouth – he just wanted to show her that he wasn't lying, and when words weren't enough, this was the only way that would work.

Guess who's back... back again... Shang is back... warn your friends... guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back... lol.

Cliffie! Kinda… lol, I made this one short – I actually cut it in half from the way I originally wrote it and the other half will be the next chapter – and I'm gonna try and keep them not-too-long from now on. : ) So, what did you all think of it? And didn't you all love that bit of Zutara right there at the very end? :D Of course you did. And you're gonna tell me that in a review, aren't you? Yes you are! ^_^

Remember, three reviews or no update. You guys are awesome. I love you very muchly.

Oh… and don't forget to SPREAD THE WORD and JOIN TEAM ZUTARA!!!