(A/N: I'm sorry about the cliffy last chapter guys ^^" please forgive me! Thanks to everyone who reviewed and faved and followed this. You people are lovely :') This chapter is really huge. Please let me know if you like it or not and also tell me if you have any suggestions. Now, enjoy ^_^)

Danger was an addictive thing.

The rush of blood, the heightening of senses, the frantic beating of heart and the tingling of anticipation running towards fingertips- yeah. Katara was addicted to it. She was pretty sure the others were too. Avatar and his best buddies, they grew up in a time when death threats were about as regular as a meal and assassination attempts on their lives as frequent as once a week. They soon grew bored and tired of it. But when it all ended and the nations seemingly settled into a peaceful lifestyle, Katara became restless. Danger was her drug. Her euphoria. The lack of danger bored her now. And even four years after Zuko became firelord, she wasn't completely over the addiction.

So when the mysterious attacker wrapped his (yes, it was definitely a he) arm around her waist and bodily pulled her back, a part of her mind was screaming in alarm and calling her bending to start acting already, another part was dumbstruck at the prospect of being attacked in the dead centre of firelord's palace, and the last -and slightly insane- part of her brain was loving every microsecond of it, was heady with the prospect of a real fight.

When she was pulled close enough the the attacker, he wrapped another arm around her shoulders and held her back flush to his chest. Katara's breathing hitched in anticipation and she needed just another second to solidify the ice daggers in air-

A rich, throaty chuckle resonated against her hair, stopping her dead on track. The semi solidified ice daggers fell to the ground and shattered.
"Scared, little waterbender?"

Almost against her will, her body relaxed against his, leaning her head on his shoulder.
"For La's sake, don't freak me out like that. Stupid firebender." she murmured quietly.
Katara vaguely remembered being angry on him about something but promptly lost her concentration when he started dropping feather light kisses on her exposed shoulder. She blinked a few times before melting into his embrace completely.

Her mind scrambled and paused to pull itself together as he sighed behind her ear, raising goosebumps all the way to her toes. Something tugged on her memories as he ran his knuckles up from the fingertips of her left arm. . . But. . . Nope. No luck. Her brain was still MIA.

"So. . .", he started with inhaling the scent of her hair. "how come you left without kissing me good morning?" he continued with a subtle pout on his voice. Katara found that she could think now that his lips were talking and not kissing.

Why had she left again? Usually she stayed until he woke up to sneak back. Hmm. . . She remembered feeling cold in her sleeveless dress. . . Looking for a cloak in his closet. . . Oh!
Oh!
OOH!
She'd forgotten all about the bloody ring!

Katara shot out of his lap as fast as her body would allow. She then whirled around to face him, pointing a finger accusingly .
"YOU-!"
Her words died in her throat as she realised what she was looking at. Apparently he'd also just returned from bending practice, if the bare torso and gleaming, sweaty skin was any indication. She gulped once. Focus Katara! She chided herself. Zuko was already looking confused at her erratic mannerism. She shook her head and continued with the angry accusation speech.

After ten solid minutes of being lectured by his lady love, Zuko's eyebrow's had gotten lost somewhere at the back of his head and his jaw was threatening to be permanently locked in the open position. He felt the urge to laugh and cry and kiss her senseless at the same time. And he was heavily impressed by the ability of her brain to come up with such creative ideas. He noticed her stop the rant to gulp down some air and he took the chance to stop her.

"No, Katara," he shook his head firmly.
"No, what?"
"No, I am not two timing with Mai. No, I didn't make the ring by myself because I'm oh-so-romantic and no, I am not planning to give that ring to her and ask her to marry me. Agni. How can you even think I would. . . ?" he trailed off. Katara wanted to cry at the brief look of hurt that flashed in his eyes.

"So then. . . " she shifted uneasily. "What's the ring for? It's definitely a betrothal ring, right?"
"That's right. But I can't tell you any more about it. It's a secret." he said solemnly.
Katara felt exasperated. Why was he keeping secrets from her? She was about to launch into another rant when Zuko held out a hand.
"Meet me at the balcony of my bedchambers tonight, at 11. I'll explain everything."
Katara still looked somewhat uncertain. He bit on his lower lip in agitation. "Katara. . Please. . . Trust me. . ."
This time, there was no mistaking the blatant hurt on his voice. Katara winced. Trust was a touchy issue between them.

"I'll see you, then." Katara said in a small voice and walked past him without a second glance. She wasn't ready to deal with this right now.

"Agni!" he closed his eyes and murmured helplessly. "please let me do this right."