Uncle makes us some tea as I sit at the table, staring out the window into the gathering darkness. "Uncle?"

         "Yes?"

         "Why- why is Zuko going after the Avatar now? Why hasn't he been chasing him all this time?"

         Iroh sighs as he sets my tea in front of me. The scent of jasmine and spice fills my nose, and I breathe deep.

         "We searched all over the world for mentions of the Avatar, but found nothing. Until, a little under a year ago, we were traveling near the South Pole and a bright light shot into the sky. It was the Avatar. Zuko acted like a man obsessed. We chased the Avatar and his friends all over the world. I feared that my nephew would stop at nothing to capture the Avatar. But you see, Kara, the Avatar was the only thing that gave Zuko hope. Without him, Zuko could never return home.

         "You are lucky. You do not remember. But Zuko does, yet he is as trapped as you. He can never go home without the Avatar. We chased the Avatar to the North Pole, but something... something happened there that changed my nephew. He fought a waterbender, one of the Avatar's close friends. They had some complicated history... there were times when I believed we were chasing the flying bison not for the Avatar, but for her. She gave her life to save his.

         "Zuko was never the same. He was angry and confused all the time. He rarely spoke to anyone- he tried to get himself killed many times. He blamed himself for Katara's death. When he got himself thrown into an Earth Kingdom prison, I told him that he needed to find out who he was. What he wanted. He left after that, and I did not see him for a long time.

         "Until he showed up in Pau's tea shop a few weeks ago. With you. You have changed him, Kara. But he is afraid. He was so focused on his destiny for so long, that now he doesn't know what to do with himself. I thought he was changing for the better, but now that the Avatar is here, so close... I do not know what my nephew will do. He feels that he has lost his honor, and he doesn't know how to find it again."

         We are quiet for a long time. I am realizing that there is a whole side to Zuko that I have never seen, never known. What was he like before, what kind of person was he, that he would speak out against warmongers and kings to save lowly soldiers? I have known for awhile now that Zuko is kind, but this is something else entirely.

         This is honor. He has saved my life so many times. How can he think that he has lost his honor when it is in everything he does? I look up at Iroh.

         "He is going after the bison, isn't he?"

         Uncle sighs. "I am afraid so."

         I lean back in my chair and stare into my tea. If I were a powerful, secret police force, and I wanted to hide a flying bison, where would I keep it? I raise my eyes to Uncle's. He's been here longer than me. He would know.

         "Uncle Iroh... where is the Di Lee base?"

________

         I slip through the dark tunnels, trying to keep the map I memorized in my head. I have to turn left up here, then right at the next intersection, and- I hear voices from a tunnel to my right, and I duck and hide. But I duck into the wrong tunnel- sound is confusing in here.

         I run smack into a man, and we both tumble to the ground. I jump up, prepared to run. The man- boy, actually- looks up at me, shock in his dark blue eyes. He's dressed in Water Tribe clothes- I guess he's a captive or something. It doesn't matter. I have to find Zuko.

         I spin around, but the boy's voice stops me. “Katara? Is that- is that you?” There's something in his voice, something that sounds like pain. I glance over my shoulder. Why is he calling me Katara? And why is that name familiar?

         It doesn't matter. I have to find Zuko.

         “Sorry. Wrong girl.”

         I run, trying to get the haunting picture of his eyes out of my mind. Why were his eyes so familiar? I don't understand.

         It doesn't matter. I have to find Zuko.

         I turn left, then right. I run full tilt down the tunnel, then take a sharp left. There's a gaping cavern in front of me. I take a deep breath and walk towards it, trying to calm my heartbeat. This is the moment of truth.

         I step into the dark interior of the cavern, catching my breath at the sight that greets me. A huge buffalo-like thing is chained to the floor, roaring at a figure in dark clothes. The figure turns to me, spinning twin Dao swords in flashing arcs.

         The blue mask grins at me, and I hold my breath as he sees me, then lowers the swords, pushing back his mask.

         "Kara? What are you doing here?"

         I don't tell him that Uncle Iroh told me where to find him. He doesn't need to know about that or the argument Iroh and I had about my coming alone.

         "I was just about to ask you the same thing, Koko. What are you going to do with him?" I point at the flying bison, trying to keep my voice level. "Where are you going to keep him? Did you even think this through?"

         "I'll figure it out! I know my destiny!"

         "Is it your destiny, Zuko? Or is it the destiny that someone else has tried to force on you?"

         "Stop it, Kara! I have to do this!"

         "No! No, you don't! Destiny and honor aren't things that can be given to you, Zuko! They are things you make for yourself! You let your father rule your life, but this isn't who you are!"

         "You don't know anything about me!"

         "Yes I do! I love you!" I stop, needing to catch my breath. Needing to control my anger. My fear. Zuko turns away from me, back to the Avatar's bison. He says nothing.

         "I love you, Zuko. I know exactly who you are. You are the only one who's confused!"

         "Then who am I?" His voice is quiet, defeated. His head is bowed and his shoulders are slumped. I know he's confused- his whole life he's been told things that are contrary to the truth. But he has to understand.

         "There is good in you, Zuko. I've seen it! You are brave, and smart! You're better than this! You are my husband, and I love you! Do you think I'm stupid? Do you think I'd love you so much if you were anything like your father? Because you're not, Zuko! You're not your father, so stop trying to be him! This-" I gesture again, taking in the cavern and the bison and him with his blue spirit mask.

         "This isn't who you are, Koko."

         My voice echoes in the silence, and he's quiet for so long that I think I've failed, that I think he's going to take the Avatar's pet anyway.

         Then suddenly he gives a shout- of what I can't tell. Hopelessness? Confusion? He hurls his Dao swords and mask to the ground, and the sound they make echoes louder than anything I've ever heard.

         I reach out to him as he sinks to the ground. I lay my hands on his shoulders, but I say nothing. I don't know what I could say.

         After several minutes he stands, pulling away from me, and picks up his swords. He severs each of the ropes holding the flying bison down, and it lunges forward, past him. I cry out, taking a step back- what does it want?!

         Then its bumpy, drool-covered tongue rakes over me, leaving me soaked. I bat at it, shouting, "Yeah, okay, you're welcome! Whatever! Get off! Get it off!"

         Zuko tugs on its fur, and it turns to him, giving him the same treatment. Then it's gone, flying up through the air vent above it and disappearing. I glare at the muck covering me.

         "That was disgusting."

         Zuko smiles at me- the lopsided, almost-grin that I love so much. "Yeah."

         We don't say anything else. We just clean ourselves off and make our way out of the hidden headquarters of the Di Lee.

         When we reach the tunnel entrance Zuko pulls me up after him, but he doesn't leave. He just stares down into the tunnel, and I put my hand to the scar on his face. He looks at me, a miserable, aching confusion in his beautiful amber eyes.

         I smile at him. "You did the right thing, Koko."

         He turns away from me, saying nothing, and lifts his blue spirit mask, staring down into its dark eyes. I can practically taste the sadness rolling off of him. I put a hand on his shoulder.

         "Leave it behind, Zuko."

         He eyes it for a moment more, then frowns and steps toward the water, letting it drop from his grasp. It hits the water with a splash and sinks quickly. Zuko and I stand watching the space where it was for a long moment.

         Then he turns his face to me, his quiet, rasping voice sending a shiver down my spine. "Did you mean what you said in there?"

         I pull his face to mine, pressing my lips softly against his. I can't say what makes me do it, but I do. I pull away a second later, but not far.

         "Every word."

         Slowly, that smile that I love lights up his face again, and his pale fingers twine into my hair.

         When he kisses me, I kiss him back.

         We walk away, hand in hand. And in the back of my mind, the Water Tribe boy's eyes haunt me.

         Why were they so familiar?

____________

Soooooooooo..... :D How do you like how I've changed this up?  I like it.... lolz COMMENTZ and Votez, my friends!

Ooh and don't forget, this is a tenth chappie so the first three commentz get FOLLOWS, DEDICATIONS, READS, AND RECOMENDATIONS from me! :D

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-Tess