Things get pretty dark in this chapter. Fair warning.

It didn't take nearly as long to reach my village as it had to get to the Fire Nation. It was the same route, but circumstances were very different. Then again, maybe it was the same amount of time. My first journey was filled with fear and I'd jumped at every shadow, fearing Fire Nation patrols or Kenshin. Now, I had my papers and my bending… and I was hoping to see Kenshin. There was something very close to serenity inside me as I walked along paths that started to turn familiar. I didn't think about Zuko nearly as much as I feared I would. As I dragged my hand down a passing branch and caught the leaves in my grip, I let my thoughts drift over him. I didn't feel any guilt, I had done only what I had to. Well, I suppose I did regret letting the relationship go on for as long as it had. I hadn't meant for there to be love.

Still, none of it mattered now. I was maybe a day's journey from the village and Kenshin. My body had started to hum with anticipation when the boat struck Earth Kingdom land and now it was almost crackling with it. I felt like the fire inside me was about to explode, taking everything around me with it. The wind rustled through the trees and the fire was inflamed with it. I kicked the heel of my boot through the dirt of the path and a flame licked out under it, scorching the pebbles. I smiled and kicked my other heel, burning my progress down the empty road.

It was vital that I wasn't recognized, so as I neared my village, I brought my hood up to cover my face and tightened the string around my neck, checking to make sure that my scar was completely covered. Enough time had passed that I was sure Kenshin wouldn't be wary of my coming back, but I couldn't take any chances. Once familiar huts started to take form, I stepped off the main road into town. I knew these woods so well that I could easily walk them in the dark, so that's exactly what I planned to do. I glanced up at the sun and saw that it was only an hour or so from nightfall. I knew exactly where the soldiers would be. Once I reached the village's edge, I slowly circled around until I spotted red uniforms lurking outside the tavern. Even after all these months, Kenshin was so predictable. His chores done for the day, he and his thugs would be getting drunk in the town's only bar. I settled back to wait them out. It would be hours before they emerged, but I wasn't impatient. Tonight, it would all be over. I went over the plan I'd concocted over my weeks of travel and felt my fire flare inside me. I let it grow, but held it beneath my skin. Steam rose from my arm in the cool, night air.

An hour or two after midnight, soldiers began to stumble from the tavern. The fire flared as I glimpsed Kenshin's form in the darkness, thicker than his companions'. He had his arm around a girl who seemed to be supporting most of his weight. I smiled as I realized how drunk he must be. Good, it would make this all so much easier. His voice drifted over to my spot in the bushes.

"How would you like to spend the night with a future major in the Fire Nation army, sweetheart! Hell, I am a major. Fucking born one." His soldiers cheered and laughed, slapping his back. I heard shouts of "Two weeks, and the Nation'll have the best damn major anyone's seen!" and "Couldn't have happened to a better man!" I almost gagged. As they made their way toward the soldier's houses, I rocked onto the balls of my feet and followed them silently through the woods. Kenshin and the girl left the soldiers and went into the captain's hut. It was only a few minutes before I heard exactly how the captain planned to celebrate. I took a breath, removed my cloak and cut off most of my skirt's length before I quickly stepped to his front door. I knocked and the disgusting noises within stopped. Kenshin's deceptively handsome face and body filled the doorway. I glanced behind him and saw the girl, half undressed, peering around him. Spirits, she couldn't be more than fifteen and an Earth Kingdom girl. I fought back a grimace.

"Help you?" Kenshin grunted, his face twisted in a drunken sneer.

I let my eyes slide to his and lowered my voice to a sensual purr. "Saw you in the bar. How'd you like to spend the night with a woman who knows how to congratulate a major?" My heart was pounding with fear of discovery, but shadow and drunkenness were on my side and Kenshin just grinned.

"Already got entertainment, wench."

"Not like me," I challenged. I snapped my fingers and brought a ball of flame before his eyes, turning my head enough so that I looked at him sideways and the fire threw my features into a shadowy jumble. "How about a little taste of home?" His eyes began to heat and I knew I had him. "Come with me, let's not burn the place down." I turned and walked into the woods and I heard him follow, the girl protesting behind him. I couldn't contain my smile of anticipation, though it might have been less a smile and more a bearing of teeth. The earth crunched beneath my feet as I led Kenshin home, his idiotic steps reeking of excitement behind me. The man was so arrogant. I was determined that that arrogance would kill him.

"""'

Dawn was starting to peek through the trees and I could finally see the extent of the damage I'd inflicted on Kenshin. He was broken and it made me feel whole. My hand was around his neck, the fire licking his skin. He wasn't even screaming, he didn't have the strength anymore. His pain escaped in little whimpers and it brought a smile to my face. His breath whistled from what had to be a broken rib. I knew what that felt like. It was almost disappointing how easy it had been to break him. He followed me to the site of my home without question, like a puppy. It was only when he glanced around to see me standing in the ruins of my old hut that he started to understand, and that's when I attacked. He'd barely fought back.

"You can't imagine how weak you look right now," I chuckled.

"P-please… please," he choked out. His eyes squeezed shut and a couple tears leaked from the corners. It was just too sweet.

"Just days from promotion, too. If the Fire Lord could see you now…" I balled my free hand into a fist and slammed it into his face. His nose broke beneath my knuckles and blood began to pour into his open mouth, choking him further. His eyes closed and his body slumped. I loosened my hand around his neck and he gasped. "Not yet, soldier." Without me supporting him, Kenshin fell forward and I had to jump back to avoid his blood-soaked body falling onto my feet. He lay in the dirt, gasping for breath but otherwise still. I sighed and crouched at his side. "It'll be over soon." I bunched fistfuls of his uniform into my hands and yanked him up and over so that he lay on his back.

It seemed he had enough energy in him for a scream, because a sharp keening gurgled out of him when he landed back on the dirt, the sunlight glistening off the blood on his face. Then his eyes fluttered closed and I was quick to grab my water skin. "Kenshin! No sleeping yet. I promise, you'll have plenty of sleep later." I splashed the water in his face and he jerked away. "It'll be over soon," I said again, almost gently.

Kenshin took a rattling breath and latched his eyes to mine. "Rei… why are you… I don't deserve this."

My eyes hardened. "Of course you do. You damn soldiers think you can take anything you want, any way you want. You don't know what you did that night. You might as well have killed me."

"I wish… I had."

"Not yet, you don't." I placed a finger against his heaving chest and let a flame burst out of the tip. His shirt caught fire, but I was careful to keep it away from his skin as I drew a line from his neck all the way down to his belt. His chest bare, I let my eyes wander up to his face, like a lover. His eyes were full of fear and my smile returned. "What do you think I'll do, soldier?" I murmured. He didn't answer, just stared at me. I held his gaze and moved to straddle his waist, letting my full weight rest on his belly and my knees grip his injured rib cage. The fear in his eyes twitched with pain. "Don't be shy, you know what comes next." I pulled down the neckline of my shirt enough to show him my scar. I paused long enough to see his eyes widen and I slammed my flaming finger down to his chest. His scream split the silence of the forest and I was surprised he had it in him.

"Not my best work, but it'll do," I told him. I rose from his waist and stood over him, staring down at the Earth Kingdom symbol carved into his chest. He'd tried to pass out a couple times during the carving, but my water skin was close and the human spirit is stronger than you would think. All in all, he was with me almost the whole time. His breathing was so weak that I had to put my fingers in front of his mouth to make sure he was still breathing.

"Kill me…" he whispered, his eyes swollen shut by now.

I bent at the waist. "What was that?"

"Kill me… bitch."

"Good to know you're still in there, Kenshin." I straightened. "I won't kill you unless you stand up."

He winced and another whimper escaped. "I can't."

"Sure you can! I could after you left me bloody and burning in the dirt." He dragged in a couple of deep, wheezing breaths and rolled over onto his side. After a few seconds he gripped his fingers into the earth and pushed his body up, only to fall back to the ground with a whine. "That was pathetic. Do you want me to kill you on your back?"

He was trying to lift himself up again when a sudden shout behind me turned my fiery blood to ice.

"Rei!"

I stopped breathing as I turned my torso to see him. Zuko stood just a few paces behind me, his mouth open in horror. Behind him, a huge bison was panting, its head bent between its front legs. My eyes widened at the Avatar's huge animal, but Zuko's voice brought my stare back to him. "Rei," he whispered, "what are you doing?" The shock of seeing him was holding me prisoner. I couldn't answer him, I couldn't even think. Zuko's eyes moved from my face and down to Kenshin's. His eyes flicked along the captain's broken body and back to me. "Spirits, what have you done?"

"What I said I would do," I finally answered. "How… why are you here?"

His jaw clenched and I saw him swallow hard before he held up his hands as if to surrender. "Rei, please. Let him go." Now my mouth fell open as his slow steps brought him closer. "You don't have to do this. It won't help, please don't do this."

I took a quick step back, away from Zuko. "Don't say that to me! You're the one who made it possible. You helped me do this, Zuko."

"I know I did, and I'll regret it until the day I die." He kept creeping closer, and I kept moving back. "But you can still walk away. You can still save all of us."

"Why are you here!" I shouted.

"Because I love you, and I can't let you do this to yourself!" he shouted back.

A fat tear fell from my eye. "I already told you—"

"I don't care, it doesn't change what I feel. Rei, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry that I set you down this path, it was wrong. I was wrong. This isn't the answer. Trust me, this won't help you, it'll only make everything worse. Your bending shouldn't be used like this, so angry. Listen, I've learned so much and I can help you see what I see now…"

I turned my back and walked around Kenshin so that I could crouch behind him. My fingers tangled in his hair, wet with blood and sweat, and I jerked his head upward so that his neck was exposed. He didn't fight me and I looked back to Zuko. "How can you stand there and lecture me? You know exactly why I'm doing this."

Zuko scrunched up his face with the effort of what he was trying to say. "No, I don't! Rei, he doesn't deserve this, nobody does. I know that he hurt you, that he destroyed your home, but, Spirits, look what you're doing!" His arm gestured sharply to Kenshin. "Do you really think this is right?"

My blood cooled and I was calm when I said, "He didn't just hurt me. He made me feel weak, helpless, and worthless. Just like the Fire Nation did to this entire kingdom. Fucking soldiers. They think everything they do is right because it's approved by some overlord, but it's not. There's no humanity left in this one," I shook Kenshin's head and a hiss escaped his lips, "he should be punished and he doesn't understand anything but this."

Tears were rolling down Zuko's face now. "It'll destroy you, Rei."

"I don't care. It already has." Zuko was one of them after all; of course he wouldn't stick to his word. It shocked me that I was still surprised. Every single one of those damn Fire Nation bastards was so selfish, down to their very cores. He would change his mind to satisfy his own sense of superiority, he'd certainly done it before. He thought he was better than me, now? Why, because he was too weak to do what he'd promised his nation and family he would? Because he'd switched sides in a war just because he got squeamish? He didn't realize that it wasn't the Fire Nation I hated. It was the weak, selfish soldiers they churned out. Just like Kenshin, just like Zuko, just like my father. Too stupid to realize they're wrong, too weak to stick to their commitments, too self-centered to know he would destroy his family in his desire for happiness. My father's face flashed before my eyes and my eyes blurred with angry tears. I saw my mother wasting away with grief, her daughter going to bed hungry until she learned to feed herself. I brought my free hand up behind my head and slammed it down, the flames engulfing the edge of my hand, acting as a blade.

"No!" Zuko screamed, but it was already too late. The blood ran down my palm and I never knew relief so consuming as I stared down at Kenshin's head lying two feet from the rest of his body.

A/N: I am so sorry this took so long to get out, but know that I didn't ignore it. This was a tough chapter to write and it basically had to be written backwards, so it took a while.

If any of you are confused about the timeline, the events of the show were continuing while Rei was travelling to her village, so Zuko has joined Team Avatar and met the dragons by the time she finally confronts Kenshin.

Thank you for reading, I'll get the next chapter out as soon as I can!

P.S. Reviews are a giant motivation :)