Hello everyone! Here's the next chapter (:

I would really appreciate some feedback guys! Review review review! Y'all are the greatest xo

~nightfall26

"La, Zuko, I missed you." She slipped down to place her feet on the ground now, her arms tightening, our lips meeting, fingers scrabbling to find the lock on the door.

We found something in each other that night beyond definition. Peace, perhaps. I found myself in every curve of her body, in every tendril of loose hair that tangled between us. I found comfort and solace in her eyes, and love in the way her hands clasped mine.

There was an assurance that we had finally found the other half of ourselves that we had been searching for. It was hours before we slept, hours of talking and soft, loving kisses. It was something neither of us had felt before in our lives.

We were home.

katara. one year prior.

"Katara, do you like dresses?" Zuko called from the bathroom, as I sat on his bed reading one of my new bending scrolls.

"They're alright, I guess." Dresses weren't the most practical, but I supposed they were good enough when one wanted to look pretty.

"Did Aang ever buy you a dress?" His voice sounded odd. I curled my fingers around the edge of the scroll, thinking for a moment. No, Aang hadn't ever bought me a dress. He hadn't bought me anything really, to be specific.

"No, never." I replied stiffly. I sometimes found it strange that the boy I was supposed to be in a relationship with never wanted to do anything that resembled couple behavior. We never went to see shows at the theater, like so many others did. He never much liked doing things for me other than the occasional odd job. The kitchen was his least favorite place, he had an aversion to meat that stumped many people of the Fire Nation court.

I shook myself. I had to stop thinking of all the bad things about Aang and focus more on the positives.

"Well could you do me a favor?" Zuko's voice was muffled a little.

"Mhmm." My lips were pressed together in a thin line as I rolled my scroll back up and tied it closed. I'd been sitting in his bedroom with him for most of the morning, and we'd been studying together until he decided he needed to shower and look presentable for the rest of the world.

"Head back to your room for me? I've got to change and stuff, but I'll see you for lunch, okay?" I frowned somewhat and swung my legs over the side of his bed. The question about dresses had been so random and unrelated, I had almost expected him to say that Uncle or someone had ordered me a dress.

I didn't want to admit to myself that I'd hoped he had gotten me one. It was selfish, and beyond what I should rightfully hope for. Aang would realize how to treat a girlfriend at some point, whether I had to instruct him or not. It's not as if things were altogether bad with us.

Just not what I wanted.

I padded back to my room in bare feet, moving through the dark halls with heavy steps that resonated with my inner confusion. My blue shift dusted the center of my thighs as I walked and I couldn't help but feel a little matronly when other women passed me. They all looked so feminine in their delicate, floor length gowns, embroidered so painstakingly and their hair done up in such elaborate twists.

I sighed a little and shook myself. It wasn't as if I had any reason to look as they did, I wasn't a part of their culture. I didn't have anyone from the Fire Nation to impress. Aang would be perfectly happy if I was wearing a potato sack, wouldn't he? He'd still think I was beautiful no matter what, right?

Well, not that he'd ever said anything like that to me.

When I swung open the door to my bedroom, a little gasp fluttered from my lips. There were three dresses hanging from my bedpost, each more beautiful than the last. The first was azure, detailed with white thread, the second cerulean, with gold thread, and the third a midnight blue, with silver thread.

A note rested on my bed. I lifted the parchment into view, my hand hovering by my mouth in surprise at the beauty of these exquisite things.

"You'll make them beautiful. Zuko." I murmured the words from the paper out loud, hardly believing that they existed at all. I sat heavily on my bed for a moment and let my hands wander over the silky hemlines. Tears smarted in my eyes.

It was so abhorrently wrong to want to be with him in the way that I did. I folded the piece of paper in half, getting to my feet and opening my desk drawer to drop it in. I paused for a moment, looking over my shoulder at the new clothes.

Before I could stop myself, I pressed a kiss to Zuko's note and locked it away.

katara.

I felt the sunlight on my bare skin before I realized it was morning. I was warm all over, tingling with an unmistakable buzz of joy from the night before. A smile curved my lips lazily as I stretched between the stiff sheets. It was as if I'd been missing a part of me my whole life and Zuko had made me whole.

Zuko. His name sounded so glorious now, so free from pain, so free from guilt. I grinned a little to myself and snuggled into the sheets further. I couldn't hear him moving; he was probably still asleep.

I didn't turn over, instead I allowed my hands to roam the other side of the bed. When my hands met nothing but an empty pillow, my heart came to a wet, lurching halt, and I sat up with a jolt. The sheets slipped down my bare skin and in my horror, my modesty was forgotten. The other side of the bed was empty. There was a clear outline of where there had been another person, of where they had held me and whispered promises and truths and secrets to me. My throat was closing on a low whine of pain as I realized his clothes weren't among the scattered pieces of fabric on the floor.

Paralyzed, I sat in bed for another moment. He was gone. Had he regretted it? Had he just been using me to get what he needed? My hands fisted in my messy hair, pulling at it, remembering the way he had carefully ran his fingers through it to soothe me. I choked on a small sob at the memory.

I felt cheap. Was it really that easy for a man to make his way into my bed? Was it truly that simple? I'd hardly even let Aang kiss me, let alone anything else. But then again, Zuko was older than I, more experienced, and he certainly had known what he was doing. My face flushed awkwardly. Was I just another woman he bedded? Just another face in the crowd?

I cast a look down at myself in shame. I could remember every touch, every brush of his lips, every murmured word. The questions were burning in my mind, tearing at my frail sanity and bringing tears of hurt bubbling down my cheeks.

All of a sudden, there came a soft rapping at my door. I squeaked in fright at the sudden noise. It took me a moment to push myself to my feet and wrap a robe about myself, and yet another moment to slide the dead bolt back and open the door.

"I went to get breakfast."

Zuko was standing there, his face eased into a gentle, familiar smile and in his hands was a brown paper bag and two drinks in paper cups. My eyes flitted from between him to the food in his hands several times, before I released a ragged sob and dove into his already full arms.

I was really very proud of him for not spilling the two cups of tea in his hand. But I was more proud of him for being more than I'd ever dreamed possible.

"Katara, what's the matter?" He said lightly, wrapping his arms around me as much as he could manage.

"I- I thought you were gone, you weren't there- and- and- I was just so scared-" I stumbled over my words, trying so hard to get them out between the big, fat tears that rolled from my eyes. Zuko's arm wrapped partially around my waist, guiding me inside. The door shut behind us lightly and he placed the food and cups on the counter. I was still sniffling.

He stood before me, broad shouldered and tall and powerful, and took my hands in his. The golden eyes I knew so well were burning intensely into my own.

"I'll never leave you. No matter what. Do you hear me?" His voice was gruff. I nodded slowly, worrying my bottom lip between my teeth.

"You're the single most important person in my life, Katara. You and Uncle are all I have. I'll stop at nothing to protect you." There was an edge to his words that I recognized, a fierceness that made my heart swell with pride. I smiled a little through the wetness of my sorrow, the pads of my fingers moving over the ridges in his scar softly. One side of his mouth twitched up in a crooked smile that made my heart twinge. A laugh burst from me and I pushed myself back into his arms. A chuckle stirred in him, and he pulled me close, his warmth reminding me that he was real.

"Let's have breakfast, okay? And then you can get dressed and we'll figure out what to do now." The deep timbre of his voice rumbled in his chest, his hands brushing from my shoulder blades down my back. I'd forgotten how nice it was to have his steadiness around. He was still so much my best friend, still the man I could tell anything to. He was my Zuko. The ache I'd lived with for months was finally fading, only to be replaced with an easy feeling of grace and confidence.

This was right.

zuko.

She was humming to herself in the bathroom, a song I didn't recognize. She'd really liked the pastries I'd gotten for us to eat this morning. Her eyes had lit up like the sunrise when she'd taken the first bite, smiling at me with that expression that let me know I'd done something right. Her smile had been so welcome. When she'd first opened the door, the desolation in her eyes had been so surprising. Her hair had been tousled, tears trickling over her quivering lips.

It was almost as if she expected the worst from people sometimes so that she didn't get hurt so often. I wondered if that had been her mentality with Aang. Had she set herself up for disappointment so that she was never let down?

I cast a glance around her room, smiling to myself as I took in the rumpled bedsheets and the remnants of the dress she'd worn yesterday in a puddle of fabric on the floor. It all felt so normal, as if I'd been here with her for years and we'd been lost in each other since the day we'd met. I wanted to bring her breakfast every day. I wanted to wake up and see her face every morning, and feel her weight in my arms at night.

This all felt so right, so intimately perfect. I picked her dress up off the floor, draping it over a chair, and did my best to straighten the covers on the bed. I washed the plates we'd eaten off of earlier.

I wanted to be good at this.

"Zuko, you don't have to do the dishes." Katara's voice was so close to me. I hadn't even heard the bathroom door open. When I turned around, a blush rose to my cheeks and I felt like I'd just run a marathon. She was wearing one of the dresses I'd gotten her all that time ago, the deep midnight blue one with the silver thread.

The dark blue fabric embraced the curves of her body and laid flush against her mocha skin. The scooped neckline was edged in silver, bringing my eyes straight to her collarbone and the way the gentle tendrils of hair skimmed her exposed shoulders. I remembered skimming my hands over those shoulders, pressing my mouth to them and murmuring how much I loved her.

Her eyes, bigger than the ocean, regarded me with a quiet patience as I gawked.

"Agni, you look beautiful." Those four words were all I could manage. She blushed a little and curtsied to me.

"Thank you, my lord." Katara's words were flirtatious, and as her endlessly long eyelashes dusted her cheeks, I thought my heart was going to stop. When she moved to my side, our hands entwined automatically and we stared at each other a moment. She dropped her smile then, standing straight and allowing her expression to turn somber.

"Zuko, what are we going to do?" The question was one I'd been asking myself all morning. The seriousness of the matter was great. Katara had been appointed the ambassador between our two nations, but the Fire Nation still didn't accept her presence among the court. It didn't matter if she wore red or not; the rift between our cultures was too great to allow someone as dark skinned and different as her among the ranks.

I couldn't even begin to imagine what they would say if I announced our relationship publicly.

Then there was the matter of Aang. Heartbroken as he was, he'd likely try to kill me if he found out about us. Sokka would definitely side with the Avatar on that matter, and honestly, I didn't want to face down an angry Avatar and an angry Water Tribe man with a boomerang.

Mai would definitely try and kill Katara. Definitely. And her knives were not to be trifled with. Part of me was toying with the idea of locking her away with her parents on house arrest for aiding Azula. At least then I'd be free of her- to a degree, anyways.

My people were already so frightened of the changes I was making, they couldn't handle any other massive alterations in their lives. They were scared of what had happened with my father. They were starving, still, and fighting for work.

I glanced down at Katara. She'd been my hope when I'd been without a light in the darkness. She'd been there to guide me- to guide all of us. If anyone could help pull my Nation out of its squalor, it was Katara.

Uncle would support us, that I knew, and a few of my loyal servants and friends in the court would stand by any decision I made. I massaged my free hand through my scalp, pondering for a moment before opening my mouth to answer her.

"Katara, let me take you back to the Fire Nation."

iroh.

Today had been dark. Azula had broken free from the prison Zuko had condemned her to somehow, bursting forth from that endless pit of darkness in a great plume of fire and destruction. Bombs had gone off all over the city, and an eerie silence had fallen over us now. I'd gathered the Avatar inside to speak to him, and had one of the serving girls bring us all some sake to settle our nerves.

"Send for everyone." He said quietly, cupping his drink in his palms. I nodded, beginning to take down names as he called them out.

"Tell Sokka to prepare the Water Nation for battle. He and Chief Hakoda should have no problems readying the warriors there. Explain the situation to Toph and ask for her to help in any way she can. Send a message to Suki and have her begin battle planning." He paused a moment, his grey eyes staring down into the liquid with a hesitance that broke my heart.

"I just hope that Zuko is out looking for Katara. We could use their help about now, and I hope beyond all hopes that they are safe." Aang sounded aged as he spoke the words, and he put down his cup to massage his hands together.

"What do you think, General Iroh?"

I put my pen down for a moment.

"I trust my nephew more than anyone, and I know he's out looking for Master Katara. Don't worry about them. They're safe with each other, and they'll be back as soon as they find each other." I sipped at my sake and readied the messages for the carrier pigeons. My words, while cryptic, were laced with dread. I had no way of knowing if Zuko was alright, or if he'd even found Katara at all. Aang must have sensed my insecurity. His eyes were darkening with pain as he stared out the window, taking in the pillars of smoke rising from the city.

All of a sudden, a messenger burst through the doors, stumbling and bleeding all over the floor.

"Iroh- Sir- Azula has amassed an army and they're firing on anyone who gets close to them. They're stationed out in the harbor."

The Avatar and I shared a glance before he leapt up to help the man.

Nephew, please return to your people soon. We need you.

Please review & let me know how you liked this chapter! I really appreciate all feedback and would love to hear from you guys (:

thank you for reading!

~nightfall26