Note: I wanted to tell all of you that I appreciate all of you who read this fic, and thanks to all for the kind reviews and follows. Anyway, here's a new chapter that I hope you'll love.

Noatak sat in his bathtub watching the steam from the hot water rise. He reclined on the tub and submerged himself into the water. Noatak preferred the water to be borderline scalding. He liked how his skin turned red under the water and how his skin would start to tingle- the blood in his body coursing faster. Sometimes he would bend the water over his head and let it drip down his body. Noatak reached for the bar of soap and started to lather the bar over his body. He could hear Korra in the living room yelling about him taking too much time. He laughed and yelled back at her. He was careful not to let his thoughts wander to Korra this evening with the way she was dressed in that blue gown. He vigorously scrubbed his hair like he could just wash the thoughts out his head. He didn't want lecher to be added to the list of descriptors already full of words like bloodbender, terrorist, and hypocrite. Noatak stuck his head in the water hoping maybe he could drown instead of facing the idea of his growing attraction to the young woman. Too bad you can't drown this waterbender, he thought.

Noatak toweled himself dry and put on a loose pair of pants that hung too low for Noatak's taste even though he tried tying it higher. He looked down at the blue tiled floor looking for his shirt and realized it was missing. Shit, he thought, I forgot my damn shirt. He sighed at his absentmindedness and looked at the fogged up mirror. Noatak took his forearm and wiped the mirror clean. He grabbed his shaving kit and started to lather his face. When he took his straight razor, he looked at his wrists- a habit he picked up as a teenager. As a teenager living in poverty in the Northern Water Tribe capital, he took to cutting his arms up and quickly letting the blood seep back into his veins- a practice he stopped when he moved to Republic City. He sometimes swore that his wrists itched every time he looked at them with that razor in hand.

"Ugh. I thought you were never going to get out," Korra said.

Noatak walked into the small living space where Korra sprawled out onto the settee that sat under the lone window in the room. Korra straightened up when she saw Noatak. She blushed at the sight of him. He only wore loose pants that were low enough for her to notice his hipbones and that trail of hair that drove Korra crazy. She wondered if Noatak knew that he did this. She wanted to know if he knew that his body looked perfect.

When Noatak turned around, to go into his bedroom, Korra saw the scars on his back. They were large and pink and etched onto most of his back. She knew where they were from but seeing them seemed jarring. They weren't like the scars on his face and arms that were small and barely visible anymore. No, they were the kinds of scars that spoke to anger, betrayal, and nightmares.

"Korra?"

"Huh?"

Korra looked back to see Noatak sitting behind her in one of his standard cotton shirts. They were usually white and had a placket that ran halfway to his chest. Korra noticed that Noatak always let the top two buttons go unbuttoned. He never wore the shirts with the sleeves down either. Normally, he rolled them up to his elbows or halfway past his forearms. Tonight, he rolled the sleeves to his elbows. Noatak leaned against the arm of the settee. A side of his mouth curled up in the grin Korra had become used to. It was a sly kind of grin with varying degrees of playfulness- not the mocking one his old mask wore.

"So you need help with taking this dress off. Why didn't you ask one of your uncle's servants to remove it," Noatak said.

"I didn't want them to know where I was going," Korra said.

"How would they deduce that from you changing?"

"I dunno. I wasn't thinking."

"Korra…"

"Just please… Take the dress off."

Korra turned back and stared at the stars glowing brightly that night. Noatak leaned forward and placed a finger on Korra's back. He dragged it along the center seam in the back. His finger caught one of the hooks and then proceeded to undo it.

"You're taking your time," Korra said.

"I've never really seen a dress like this before," Noatak said.

He undid another hook.

"Have you never taken off a woman's dress before?"

"I've undressed my fair share of women before. Just not one with a dress like this."

Two more hooks came undone. The cold air in the room started to hit Korra's bare back.

"Like Miki?"

"I was very stupid to let that happen."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I was a very lonely man."

"And you're not any more?"

Noatak was almost finished with undoing the dress. Temptation staring right at him. He paused before he undid another hook. What he wanted to do was to stop everything and just take in the closeness he felt with Korra- the only person he thought could understand the emptiness he constantly felt.

"Only in certain ways."

"I am too."

Noatak slumped his head against the back of Korra's neck and sighed loudly. He unhooked the last part of Korra's dress and let his hand linger on her back.

"…You should change in my room."

"Yeah."

Korra clutched her dress and walked into Noatak's room. She closed the door and looked at Noatak's little personal oasis. He had a futon in the center of the room with carefully folded blankets on top. The room seemed more Republic City than Northern Water Tribe. There was a wooden wardrobe in one corner of the room and a dresser beside it. Korra looked into the wardrobe where most Noatak's shirts and pants hung. The dresser had nothing inside so Korra assumed the previous tenant left it there. On the wall opposite was a bookcase- the only thing in the room that could be truly identified as Noatak's. He kept all sorts of books- histories, plays, books on bending, novels, poetry, etc. She saw a copy of Fundamentals of Chi and Healing and opened it to the title page. She smiled at the words "Second Edition" and thumbed through Noatak's notes written on the margins. She stopped on one page with handwriting she couldn't recognize as Noatak's. She studied the message and folded the corner of the page.

"I'm ready," Korra said.

Korra peeked her head out of Noatak's bedroom with a goofy smile. She held out the old book and waved it around.

"Someone likes to read," Korra said.

Noatak got up and took the book from Korra's hand.

"Please don't play around with my books," Noatak said.

"You have a second edition," Korra said.

"Yes. I do."

"But this is the second time you've owned this particular copy."

"Yes. I don't exactly have the fortunate circumstances that would allow me to just get the books I had in Republic City. Dead men usually don't read."

"I should have worded that differently. I meant this is the second time you've owned this exact copy."

Noatak stood in front of his bookcase staring at the slot he kept the book in. He smiled to himself.

"The owner of the bookstore that I bought this in recognized me. He apparently held onto this book for a good twenty years or so in hopes I would return to pick it up," Noatak said.

"That sounds stupid," Korra said.

"Well… I used to work there, and the owner was a good friend of mine. I left that book by accident at his home the night before I ran off to Republic City," Noatak said.

"So that 'To my Equalist lover' note was written by who then? You didn't happen to know your lieutenant before you got to Republic City?" Korra said.

Noatak laughed and placed the book back in its place. He turned back to Korra and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Remind me to make fun of you for that firebender," Noatak said.

"What does Mako have to do with this?" Korra said.

"I just want to play fair. Besides, I didn't know the lieutenant until five years after I moved to Republic City. A woman I knew here wrote that message, which is private by the way."

"It didn't say it was private. You're a lot more romantic than I imagined you were."

"I guess so. Probably more so when that message was written. I was a self-loathing but very smitten boy in love with a beautiful but radically political woman. A non-bender."

"Sounds like you two were meant for each other. What happened to her?"

"…She died at the hand of some bloodbenders from the Black Squalls, and then I ran to Republic City. And you know the rest of that story."

Korra nodded. Noatak turned back to the book and reached back for it. Noatak's hand lingered on the book longer than Korra expected. He seemed trapped by the memories held within the book.

"So… chi blocking…" Korra said.

"Yes… let's go," Noatak said.

They walked in silence. Korra looked at Noatak in his jacket and how he looked a little lost thinking about whatever he was thinking. Korra knew that he probably was thinking about that woman or about their conversation before that. Somehow, the idea of Noatak thinking about being lonely and a woman that he cared for and died a long time ago bothered Korra. Maybe she'd chalk it up to her naïveté, but she wanted to believe that Noatak felt some sort of inkling of care for her. Korra tried to shake the idea off, but she didn't know how to change how she felt. Every conversation, every smile, every laugh, and every touch seemed so confusing. She didn't want to feel confused anymore.

Korra stopped. Noatak hadn't even noticed until he felt the strangeness that Korra's absence made. He glanced back to see her standing there, looking at the street. She bit her lips and peered at Noatak.

"I changed my mind. I don't want to chi block," Korra said.

"What? I thought you were looking forward to this. Do you want to go back?" Noatak said.

"No. I… I… I meant I don't want to learn chi blocking at all. No more lessons," Korra said.

Noatak went to Korra and took her chin in his hand. He pointed her face towards his. Korra kept blinking. Her long eyelashes fluttered like a heartbeat. She was crying. Slowly, he wiped the tears from her face. He reveled in the feel of her soft skin. Noatak stared into her eyes, those magnificent turquoise eyes. Suddenly, he felt her lips pressed against his. Her soft lips tasted sweet. Noatak pulled away just as quickly as the kiss had happened.

"I'm sorry, Korra," Noatak said.

Korra could feel more tears well up into her eyes. It was like they were stuck in her body and ready to burst like a dam. Even when she kissed Mako, she never felt more embarrassed as she did now. She just grabbed the mask from on top of her head and secured it over her face. She didn't want him to see any more of the tears or feel sorry for her. Korra slowly backed away from Noatak. She took one look at Noatak who was walking towards her and saying things. She could only see his lips moving. Her ears pounded so hard she couldn't hear what exactly he was saying. The only thing she could hear was her feet pounding on the pavement- her feet just carrying her away in flight.