Be True To Your Heart

Chapter One

(Zuko and Katara Love Story)

It's been five years since the Prince Zuko took the throne, Katara was at her tribe teaching young water benders about water-bending when Appa arrived and she received a letter from Aang, her ex-boyfriend. Her eyes widened as she read it. Zuko's father has escaped and captured him and Mai tried to rescue him but was killed doing so. Katara quickly got her stuff together and jumped on Appa. They both flew towards the fire nation.


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As Katara landed in the fire kingdom, she hid Appa in a cave and used water-bending to lift herself over the wall surrounding the city. "How did Zuko's dad escape?" she thought as she ran towards the palace. "Halt!" Fire nation soldiers yelled when they saw her. She looked around and saw a bucket of water. She quickly focused and the water came out of the bucket, slammed them against a wall and then froze. Then she kept on running towards the palace. She searched through the area surrounding the palace walls for any water and found some grass. She focused and the water in the grass came out and she cut the red stone in the wall and then thrust her hands forward causing the water to push the stone to the other side. She crawled through to the other side and snuck up to a window. She looked in to make sure no one was around and then opened the window. She crawled through and quietly shut it back. She snuck through the halls, peeking around every corner to make sure no one was coming. Then she heard people talking and snuck up and listened from behind a statue of Zuko, "Now where did they put the traitor, Zuko?" one of them asked softly. Katara could tell that they were two women and listened closely to what the other said. "They have him in the fire prison, just outside the palace." the other said.

So Katara snuck outside the palace and ran to the prison. Soldiers' ran in front of her and started shooting fire from their fingers. Katara focused and drew water from the air. Then she thrust her hands forward and the water tossed the soldiers off the sides of the walkway. Then she ran in and froze every soldier she ran into except for one, "Where are they keeping Zuko?!" she asked as she froze him against a wall, "Which cell?!" she added harshly. "T-there." he said pointing at a door far down the hall. Katara ran towards it and opened it. Her eyes widened as she saw Zuko laying unconscious on his side on the cell floor. "Zuko?" she said as she quickly approached him and opened the cage door. She knelt down beside him and gently flipped him over. He groaned a little bit with his eyes closed. "Don't worry, Zuko, I'll get you out of here." she told him as she draped his arm over her shoulders. He groaned as she stood up with him. She wrapped her arm around his waist to help hold him up. She quickly ran outside the prison holding him tight and took out Appa's whistle. She blew hard on it as she kept running. In a few minutes she heard Appa moan as he landed in front of them. Katara quickly ran up to him and pulled Zuko into the saddle. Then she got on Appa's head and shouted, "Yip-Yip!". Appa quickly flew upwards as soldiers started running after them, shooting fire at them. Soon they were out of firing range and Appa slowed down.

After a while the sun began to set. Katara searched for a safe place to land and saw a small house and barn. She landed in front of it, got off, walked up to the door, and knocked on it. No answer so she opened it and looked inside. It looked like the place was abandoned. She went in and looked around. She opened the door to the store room and her eyes widened when she saw a lot of food on the shelves and big jars full of water on the floor. She shut the door to the room and went to the bedroom and opened it. There was a bed against the wall. She went to the closet and opened the doors to find blankets and fire nation clothes. She left the door to the bedroom open and walked outside to Appa. She took his reigns and led him to the barn. She led him inside and into a stall. She then got her stuff down, pulled Zuko down from the saddle, and carried him on her back to the house. Her back started to ache as she was halfway to it but, she ignored it and kept going. Soon she reached the door and went inside.

She carried him to the bedroom and laid him down on the bed, turned around and looked at him as he groaned again. Her eyes widened as she saw his top was torn across his chest. She bent over, untied his sash and opened his top. She gasped as she saw a big gash across his chest. She quickly ran and got water out of the storage room. She put the water in a bowl and ran back to the bedroom. She placed the bowl beside the bed, dipped her hand into the bowl, and placed it on the gash. Zuko groaned loudly from the pain. She placed her other hand on his chest and focused. The water glowed a blue light and soon the gash shrunk and vanished. She blushed as she stared at his bare chest and abs. She got up, went to the closet, and pulled out some new pants, and a shirt. She walked over to the bed and laid them next to the bed. She sat Zuko up and pulled off his ripped shirt. She let it land on the floor and then untied the sash around his waist and blushed as she removed them and let them fall on the floor. Leaving Zuko in nothing but his under garments, Katara got up blushing fiercely and went back to the closet. She took down a blanket and walked back over to the bed. She covered him up with the blanket, removed his gold hair band, and blushed when she realized that there were no more bedrooms for her to sleep in. She gulped, and crawled into bed with him, her back turned to him. She laid her head down on the spare pillow and immediately closed her eyes.

The next morning Katara woke up and sat up. She stretched a good bit and then got up. She turned around and gazed at Zuko, who was still sleeping peacefully. She bent over and traced his face gently with her fingers. She sat down and gently rubbed her hand over the scar on his face. She started thinking about how much more powerful she got with her healing and knew that if Zuko walked anywhere outside, he would easily be recognized because of the scar. "Maybe I coul heal it now and I do have more of that spirit water in my bag." she thought as she bent down to take a closer look at the scar. She got up, walked over to her bag, and rummaged through it until she found the container of spirit water. She got back up and walked back to the bed. "I'll wait until he wakes up and then tell him about it." she thought as she put it gently beside of the bed. She walked out of the bedroom and into the store room. She got some food and then walked over to the fire place with a metal bowl over it. She got out a flint and started striking it over the fire place. Soon she got a fire going and she prepared the food to be cooked. Soon the food was cooking over the fire and she went back to the store room and filled a bowl with water and walked back out. She placed the bowl on the floor in front of her. She stood up, closed her eyes, and focused. The water lifted up in the air and started to twirl in circles in the air. She waved her arms around and the water followed her motions.

Then she heard footsteps come into the room and opened her eyes. She looked towards the bedroom door and saw Zuko leaning against the door post watching her. She smiled at him as she put the water back in the bowl. "How are you feeling?" she asked as she looked at him. He had pants on but no shirt, his chest gleaming in the sunshine coming through the windows. "I'm fine." he said as he approached her and stopped just in front of her. Katara blushed as she stared into his eyes and then looked down, "I-I'm sorry to hear about what happened to Mai." she said as she frowned and placed a hand on his chest, still looking down. "So am I. It's all my fault, she's dead." he said. Katara looked up and saw tears running down his face. She raised her hand up and gently wiped away the tears, "It will be alright. I know how you feel, Zuko." she said as she lowered her hand and tears ran down her face as she thought about her mom. Her eyes widened and she tensed as he suddenly wrapped his arms around her and held her close. She blushed as the side of her face hit his bare chest. Then she relaxed and slowly wrapped her arms around him.

A feeling started swelling up inside her chest that felt like a spark was lit in her heart as he continued to hold her. "I doubt he feels the same way about me." she thought as she finally pulled out of his grip and looked up at him. "Um, Zuko, I need to tell you about something." she said as she looked into his eyes. "What?" he asked looking into her eyes. "Um, well since your father is in charge again and we are still in the fire nation. I think it's best if I heal that scar on your eye." she said as she gently touched the scar. His eyes widened, "How can you? You don't have any spirit water." he said. "I do have spirit water. I got some after the war was over." she said smiling weakly, "And it would make our way around here a lot less dangerous." she added. He nodded, "Very well. You can heal it." he said. She smiled and nodded. Then she walked back into the bedroom and got the container of spirit water.

She went back out and smiled as she saw Zuko sitting down with a shirt on, waiting patiently on her. She walked up to him and knelt down beside him on the side with the burn. She opened the container and focused. The water came out and covered her hand. She gently placed it on his eye and she focused hard. The water glowed brightly and started to sink into the skin. Soon she was done and she removed her hand. Her eyes widened and she smiled when she saw the scar had vanished. "Is it gone?" Zuko asked seeing the look on her face. She smiled, took his hand, and placed it on his now unscarred eye. He gasped as he felt soft, smooth skin around his eye and on his eye lid. He smiled as tears ran down his face. She smiled at how happy he seemed. "I-I thought that it could never be healed. But now..." he started. Then suddenly he wrapped his arms around Katara, who blushed and wrapped her arms around him. Then he pulled away and she blushed at how handsome his face is now as he stared into her eyes.

Then she sniffed the air and smiled as she smelled the food cooking. "Oh, it smells like the food is ready." she said as she turned away and looked at the metal bowl on the fire. She knelt down and used a cloth to pull the bowl off the fire. She took off the lid and looked at the stew she made. She stood back up and walked over to a kitchen closet. She opened it and got out two bowls and spoons. Then she walked back to the fire and knelt down. She took one of the spoons and scooped some of the stew into one of the bowls. She stood up and turned back to Zuko. "Here." she said as she handed the bowl and spoon to him. He took it and smiled, "Thank you." he said. She smiled and waited for him to take a bite. He scooped some stew into his spoon and lifted it to his mouth. She blushed as he put it into his mouth and sat down. He sat down next to her and smiled, "It's good." he said before he took another bite.

She smiled back still blushing, "Thank you." she said. "You are extremely handsome, Zuko." she said as absent-mindedly kissed him on the cheek. Then realizing what she said and she blushed fiercely as she looked back at Zuko only to see him stare at her wide eyed. She blushed more, "I'm sorry, Zuko." she said as she got up and walked outside. He followed her outside and leaned against the door post as she started talking to herself. "You are so stupid, Katara. You know, you need to get rid of these feelings in your chest. He just lost Mai and it is insensitive to just move in like that." she said as she growled and grabbed the bridge of her nose between her eyes. Then he made a look of confusion as she started sobbing, "Besides, it's not like he feels the same way about you. To him your just a friend." she said as tears ran down her cheeks and she crouched down and laid on the ground.

Then she saw the sunset and sat up as tears continued running down her face. "I better get back inside before Zuko gets worried." she said as she started to stand up. She looked over at the door and blushed when she saw Zuko leaning against the door post watching her. She wiped away her tears, "Hey, Zuko, I'm coming." she said as she approached the door and started to walk pass him. She yelped as he suddenly grabbed her around the waist and blushed fiercely, "W-what is it, Zuko?" she asked still blushing. "I heard every word you said, Katara." he told her as he stared into her eyes. Her eyes widened and she looked down and blushed fiercely, "I'm sorry, Zuko. I know you don't feel the same way about me. I'll leave if you want me to." she said as tears ran down her cheeks again. She tried to struggle out of his grip but he held her tight against him, "Please, Zuko, let me go. I'm sorry." she said as she closed her eyes and more tears ran down her cheeks, keeping her head down.

Then suddenly she felt him lift her face up and felt his hot breath on her face. "Katara, do you really feel that way about me?" he asked. She sniffed and nodded as she looked back down. He lifted her face again, "Open your eyes, Katara." he said. She slowly opened her eyes and looked into his gold eyes. She started trembling on not knowing what he was planning on doing. "I shouldn't of done that to you. Especially since you just lost your true love." she said as they continued looking into each other's eyes, "I know you probably hate me right now so I'll do you a favor and sleep in the sitting room. Then I'll leave in the morning." she said with a weak smile as she struggled to get out of his grasp. But he held her tight in his arms as he continued looking into her eyes. "Stop teasing me, Zuko." she said as she finally got out of his grip and ran into the bed room to get new clothes on for her to sleep in.

Then suddenly she felt a hand grab her wrist and pull her to the bed. Zuko slammed her onto the soft bed and held her hands in place, "Zuko?" she said her eyes wide. He was breathing hard, Katara could feel his breath on her face as he looked into her eyes, "I just found new love, Katara." he told her. Her eyes widened and she tensed as he leaned forward and fiercely kissed her on the lips. Then she relaxed and closed her eyes as she kissed him back. He released her hands and wrapped his strong arms around her, still kissing her. She wrapped her arms around his neck tight as she let out a soft whimper as she felt the spark in her chest blaze into a fire. He tightened his arms around her as she started breathing hard like him. Then he kissed her cheek, then her jaw, and then moved down to her neck. She arched her neck as he started kissing and nibbling her neck, "....Zuko..." she said as she felt his lips against her skin. She closed her eyes as he continued to kiss and nibble her neck. He caressed her neck gently in his hand as he did this. She gasped as she felt her arms melt at his touch. "I love you so much, Zuko." she told him. He looked up at her, "I love you too, Katara." he said and then he continued.