Chapter 1: Fire And Fear

Katana watched in despair as the beautiful valley she and her friends had chosen for their campsite three nights before, was engulfed in angry flame... Much to her friends dislike, Katara made her brother, Sokka, her friend, Toph Beifong, and the avatar, Aang flee from the valley the minute the first fire blast struck... Hopefully they were long gone by now... Katara felt a chill crawl up her spine as a dark male chuckle sounded behind her and only one person came to mind...

" Only you could be so horrible Zuko!" Katara screamed angrily and turned to face her enemy...

Katara stopped, frozen in fear... The man before her was not Prince Zuko, but an older, more fierce looking man... His hair was a cross between brown and steely grey and he wore a terrifying smile on his face...

"Ah... What a beautiful young water sprite... Now I see why Prince Zuko didn't want to capture the Avatar right away..." The man said smoothly, " I'd rather see a rare flower like you then go home any day..."

" Who are you?!" Katara demanded in a frightened voice.

"Oh my... I've been very rude, haven't I? Forgive me dear, I am Admiral Zhou... I need to find the avatar..." Admiral Zhou stated in a silken tone...

" I would never help you find him!" Katara screamed angrily.

" You have no choice... Your my prisoner now..." Admiral Zhou stated smugly...

Suddenly, an oily snake like grin appeared on his lips as visions of what he wanted to do with the water bender began invading his mind... Katara instantly began backing away as the fire Nation Admiral closed the distance between them...

"What's wrong with you?! Why are you looking at me that way?!" Katara whispered frantically...

Not too far away, Prince Zuko was trying to find traces of the avatars whereabouts, his uncle Iroh at his side as always... As he searched for the avatar, Prince Zuko soon found himself thinking of the beautiful young water bender that also traveled with the avatar. He often found himself cruelly taunting her each time he find himself battling her alone. Calling her a worthless water tribe peasant was one taunt he used quite often... But the most recent battle he had with her, something strange happened... As he began taunting her once again and calling her name's, she suddenly burst into tears! Prince Zuko was startled, he enjoyed picking on her, more teasing and playing then really truly meaning it... Never having dealt with a girl in tears before, he silently walked over to her and shocked her to her very soul when she felt a pair of strong powerful arms lift her off the ground... Against his better judgement, Prince Zuko carried her to where he and his uncle had set up camp and gently set her down on a very large soft cushion... Katara had never seen Prince Zuko act like this before, but said nothing. She watched in surprise as he then filled a plate full of spiced meat, fruits and cheeses of various kinds and gently offered it to her without a word. An adorable pink blush heated her cheeks, making her looking even more exotic and beautiful... Forgetting he was the enemy, Katara reached out and took the plate from Zuko slowly as if not to break the strange spell that seemed to be cast over them. Iroh noticed this and watched the two with a mischievous glint in his eye. Zuko blushed just the slightest bit as Katara smiled shyly at him... She really shocked him when she spoke up finally...

" Why did you bring me to your campsite Prince Zuko?" Katara asked innocently.

" I guess I was... Um... Concerned? When you started crying... I figured it's probably been a while since you and your group have been able to get any supplies..." Prince Zuko said nervously, " I figured you might feel better if you ate something..."

Katara had never thought Zuko could be so sweet... Here she was, supposedly his enemy, yet he carried her to his camp and fed her?! It was the sweetest thing any one had ever done for her...

"Thank you... Our supplies have gone down quite a bit... I've been in charge of the rations..." Katara said looking away.

Hearing this, Prince Zuko was suddenly over taken by anger and grabbed Katara without thinking.

"Have you not been eating too?!" Prince Zuko yelled furiously.

"It was more important for my brother and my friends to get what they needed!" Katara said, her voice shaking at the Prince's strange behaviour.

Perhaps the Prince's feelings towards her were not what she thought after all... His rage settling down a bit, Prince Zuko once again acted strangely... Slowly he sat down behind the girl and gently encircled his arms around her... Leaning towards her, he quietly whispered in her ear words that had the power to take her breath away and stop her heart...

"Forgive me... I don't even know your name... I don't have any right telling you what to do... I just... Couldn't bare the thought of someone so beautiful becoming Ill, whether for good reasons or not..." Prince Zuko said, locking eyes with her...

Suddenly, Zuko was brought out of his memories by an ear piercing scream, the voice of the girl he began to know all too well... Without a word to his uncle, Prince Zuko quickly grabbed his mask and disguise and leapt up into a tree to change... Once he was dressed all in black and the grotesque blue and white demon mask was in place, he raced toward the sound of feminine screams until he broke through the trees, he saw the most ghastly thing he had ever seen... It was the water tribe girl, the brilliant blue of her mother's necklace standing out against her beautiful dark skin... Her blue eyes bloodshot from crying, angry bloody welts all over her naked body, bruises marring her delicate flesh... What was worse, was realizing who the man was who had done such cruelty to her... Admiral Zhou... He was completely naked as well, but covered in deep bloody scratches from where she'd obviously tried to fight him off...

Katara looked at her saviour as he pulled out a pair of broadswords... Then the battle began...