Zuko stood stone-faced, watching his sister's body burn. Haru had lit the funeral pyre for him. As much as he knew he had no choice, he couldn't make himself burn her body after he killed her. Katara was holding his hand tightly. He loved that it was how they did everything now —side by side.

He noticed Mai and Ty Lee were crying. He felt oddly relieved that his sister had someone to mourn for her. It seemed like such a shame otherwise. It was bad enough in his mind that she lived her whole life for her father's approval, and in the end, she got nothing out of her efforts.

While Katara was holding his right hand, Uncle was standing to Zuko's left. He was deeply grateful to the man who kept him off his sister's path. It was tragic enough that her life ended with hate and duplicity. He was saved from that by a man he loved like a father.

The heat and the smell from the Pyre wafted over the group. Everyone was there, including Avatar Szeto. He frowned. Most of the people there were only in attendance to support him. Mai, Ty Lee, and Zuko were the only ones who were there to honor Azula. He was grateful for the people around him.

They stood vigil as her body burned down to ashes. And once the fire died, Katara ensured the flames were completely out.

Zuko turned to Mai and Ty Lee, "make your decision. You have free access to the ship Azula is using. I won't stop you. But, if you want to fight at our side, that decision needs to be made now."

"Our?" Ty Lee asked, confused. "I thought they were all fighting for you to become Fire Lord."

"Our. They are fighting for me to become Fire Lord, yes. But even Szeto is fighting to make Katara the Fire Lady."

Mai's face hardened. "Why? And don't tell me it's love. I mean, why would they want her?"

Aya spoke, "We could explain it to you, but you wouldn't understand. Not when you tolerated Azula. You aren't capable of understanding true friendship and support."

Avatar Szeto said, "prophecy. Fire Nation prophecy says she will sit on the throne."

Zuko shook his head. "It is love. She loves people. Not just me. She is a protector and is wicked smart. She's made each one of our lives better."

Tohru giggled as Kyo pulled her into an empty room in the palace. He then shut and locked the door. Once he did, his hands were on her breasts. "I'm such a boob guy," he muttered. "And damn, even before I got to know you, I loved looking at these."

He pulled off her shirt and bra. "And I love your tits." He nipped at them and then grabbed her breasts. "I'm so glad you kept coming to my bed. You're such a good fuck."

He pulled her back to his chest and grabbed her breasts. "They're way too big for my hands. They're so sexy!" He ground his cock against her ass. "I'm in need of you desperately." One hand went down under her clothes, and he played with her clit.

She arched her back and moaned. "You're horny," she teased.

"Seeing you stand up and fight for people, watching you pick your path, gets my dick hard. I really like watching you come out of your shell relationally. You're becoming an amazing woman more and more. It's so much more beyond you being a great fuck." He nibbled her ear and whispered. "Don't get me wrong. I love fucking you, and I would enjoy it even if you were a raging bitch. Your body would be worth tolerating a lot for."

She laughed. As odd as his words were, it made her feel good. He didn't lie to her; she knew from Ozai she was good at sex. He didn't care about her, which made his compliments to her even more believable. "Fuck, that's amazing," coming from his lips meant he was telling the truth. He didn't care to flatter or lie to a woman. He probably didn't even mean to say it, but it was always in the heat of the moment. If Kyo had said it wasn't about the sex at all, she would have written off all his words as empty flattery.

What really touched her was how felt about who she was on the inside too. He talked about her becoming a woman worth something. She wanted to become more, and he encouraged her and that she was heading on the right path. On top of it all, he saw great potential in her but already liked who she was.

Still, there were hard things about her past she wanted to share with him. Hurts that didn't feel like scars. They felt like open wounds. And somehow, she trusted him with them, he would be the first she told. She wanted intimacy with him, the kind of being fully known.

He didn't open up to her, but she suspected it was because he didn't want her to feel like she had to reciprocate. Yet even if he didn't share himself with her in the end, she wanted him to truly know her. Even if he left her, she needed to be known by a good man who could accept everything. Even her secret dark hurts.

"Where did you go?" He asked, and she flushed with embarrassment as he let go of her breasts.

"No. Go back. Sorry. So sorry!" The words tumbled out of her. "I didn't mean to-"

He turned her around to face him. "Stop. Relax and breathe. Your head was a million miles away. What happened? Don't apologize. I'm not even the slightest bit mad."

"Sor-" she cut herself off. "I was…" she darted her eyes to the floor. "I was thinking about how amazing you are and how I want to give you my secrets. There's so much…. There are things maybe one person in the whole world knows, and in some cases, they don't even know my name. I want you… if you're willing, I want to tell you about my life."

Kyo looked around and discovered he pulled her into some sort of sitting room. He led her to a couch and sat her down. He didn't feel remotely bad that he didn't bring her shirt and bra with them. He enjoyed looking at her tits. He sat next to her and said, "anything you want to share, I would love to hear."

She nodded and tucked her chin. "I can't have a child." She closed in on herself.

"I assumed that. Ozai-"

She scoffed, "he shoots blanks. His wife had to sneak him special water from a fertility well for months before he could impregnate her. Zuko is safe, there aren't any bastards of his fathers. And he killed off all of his father's bastards."

Kyo blinked. "Oh."

A tear slipped down her cheek. He pulled her back to him and had her lean against him. He didn't want her to feel stared at. She whipped it away and said, "my father…" she shook her head. "My mother died giving birth to my brother. I was seven at the time. My father called it 'comfort." He made me comfort him. It hurt."

Every muscle in Kyo was tense. He tried to get the anger out of his voice. There was a hard edge when he asked, "comfort?"

"It's what you think. Less than three months after I started to… bleed, I grew pregnant."

Kyo was glad she wasn't looking at him. He had tears in his eyes threatening to spill over.

She shifted in his arms and said, "my brother was six when he found out. He was tiny, but he was already a good man. He had older friends, and he told them what happened. I don't know who it was, but two days later, my father was dead, and his dick was cut off and shoved down his throat. The authorities believe the dismemberment happened first." Kyo smiled at that.

Still, he knew something horrid was coming. She said, "I delivered early. It… the baby died, and I was left unable ever to have children. If you're going to want… I can't give you that."

He grabbed her breasts. "Dammit, Tohru. I don't need a child from my seed. I need you—only you. I want you. I'm some bastard child from the harem. My parents couldn't have a child of their own and adopted me." He kissed her bare shoulder. Despite his sorrow for her, he was pleased to. She more than hinted at being with him long-term.

He held her in his arms and said, "I'm glad your father was dismembered and then killed."

She replied, "It's weird for some reason, I'm calm about telling you. I trust you, and it feels so good. Trust was hard to come by in my life. Katara was the first person I trusted. Not because of a bond, but because I was sure of what kind of person she was. It's so wonderful to have you too."

He couldn't help himself; as he looked at her, his eyes were on her big breasts. He didn't feel bad about it at all. He replied, "anything you want to tell me, I'll listen. And I'm glad you trust me. I won't betray that."

"I… there is more… would it be too much?"

"No."

She nodded, "okay. With both parents dead, I was thirteen, and my brother was six, we were struggling. I worked so hard, and the neighbors were helpful. It went like that for years. We didn't have enough food, but we never went starving. Then I came of age."

She closed her eyes and leaned on his shoulder. "Help began having strings. Sex. A lot of it. Wives stopped helping me out of anger. I don't blame them. I fucked all their husbands multiple times. They should have hated me."

She frowned and sighed. "I took the virginity of many of their sons too. Their fathers would come to me and have me go to their sons. I was a birthday gift for many of them. I like sex, and I was having a lot of it. But still, I wasn't fooled, I wouldn't matter to anyone, and no man would marry the town whore.

"Then there was a drought, and food got scarce for everyone. It hit the surrounding areas hard too. I couldn't fuck enough to keep us full. So I made my brother sell me. He was pissed, but I told him I would starve myself to death otherwise."

Kyo caressed her flat naked stomach. "You went through so much."

** Talks about miscarriage in a little detail **

"The worst was the child. My brother didn't realize I was pregnant, and I hid it from everyone. I wasn't far enough along to where it couldn't be disguised. I delivered a dead child, and as I was bleeding still, I snuck to the next town over and found a doctor there. It almost killed me. I gave him a fake name, and he managed to save my life."

"Boy or girl?" He asked.

"Boy."

"Did you name him?"

She shook her head. "No, I couldn't at the time. He was my father's child and… I didn't know how to feel. It hurt to lose a baby, but… the trauma of the birth brought up the trauma of my father again."

** End of that part **

He kissed her neck tenderly and left his lips against her skin. "Marry me."

"What?" She asked, shocked, and turned to look at him. Her eyes were wide in surprise.

"Marry me."

"How did that come up?"

He smiled at her. "I would have killed your father if he wasn't dead already. I have this deep need to be there for you, and I've never felt this way before with any woman. I realized I love you. You're a strong woman, kind, woman. And after the life you had and what you went through, it didn't destroy you."

She shook her head. "I can't marry you. Don't be ridiculous."

"I never asked," he replied easily. "I told you to marry me, and you will."

"No, I won't."

He grabbed her breasts and played with them. "So when's the date?"

"I said no!"

He nibbled her neck and pinched her tits. "I'll pick one then. I'm thinking about tomorrow."

"Are you insane?!" She stood up abruptly. "I'm not marrying you!"

He pulled her down on top of him by her waist and grabbed her ass. "The rest of your clothes need to come off. You look amazing naked."

"I'm not-"

"Shut up." He commanded. "This is all some bullshit about me being a good man and you being… gosh, I don't even know. I think you believe you're awful. And I'm tired of it already. I'm going to fuck you hard in this private sitting room, it's going be amazing. You're going to have a breathtaking orgasm, and then I'm going to tell Zuko we're marrying. Gosh, maybe even today, if you're going to keep being obstinate about it."

He swatted her ass, "now, get naked. I want my cock in you."

He let her get up, and while they both undressed, she said, "I'm not marrying you."

He thrust two fingers in her mouth, "suck. And I told you to shut up already. You don't have a choice. I can have Zuko make it an order."

She seductively sucked his fingers, and she grabbed her breasts and played with them. She knew he loved watching her touch herself. She loved how hard he was getting. His enormous cock was fully erect.

With his other hand, he began slowly circling her clit with his fingers. "You're such a sexy woman. I love how wet you get for me."

He pulled his fingers from her mouth. "That was so erotic." He then pushed her to her knees. "Suck my cock. That will keep you from talking." He then thrust his cock past her pink lips.

He fisted her hair and, without pulling, held her to keep sucking his dick. "Now that you really can't talk, I'm…. Fuck!" He roared out. "That's so good! Yes! Take me so deep. Suck that cock." He was panting for breath. "You're going to marry me and fuck me all the time. Surely you can admit I'd get epic sex for the rest of my life. Do you really want to deprive me of this? You're so good at giving head!"

He couldn't talk anymore after that. She worked his cock and made him half insane with pleasure. He almost forgot himself and fucked her mouth. He didn't want to choke her, though. He came and shot down her throat, and she swallowed it all.

She stood and placed her hand on his chest. "You would regret marrying me. I won't tie you down and make your life hell. You can have sex with me as much as you want without marrying me —obviously. If you find a good woman to marry who doesn't mind you having a side fuck, I'm in as long as you want me."

He smirked, "really. I could marry, and you'd come to my bed, still?"

"Yes. Absolutely."

"Any time I want?"

"Any time," she confirmed.

He pinched her tit, "I could fuck you next to my sleeping wife or even get her involved in our fun time."

"Yes."

"You'd give me anything I want when and how I want it? You promise? Promise me!"

She nodded. "I promise."

"Good. Then if you're a woman of your word, marry me today."

"What?!"

"You promised I could have what I wanted when I wanted it from you. And since I only want to marry you…." He thrust two fingers into her pussy. "Give it to me."

He hardened and sat on the couch. "Ride me, fuck me hard, and say you'll marry me."

She straddled him and slid onto his cock. "It's your life you're wrecking. I'll marry you."

He swatted her ass again. "Good girl. Now, get moving. I want to cum in your cunt this time."