Authors note:
This is about a girl who travels with Prince Zuko, sometimes...Its mainly about what happens to her. She's really close to Zuko, like a best friend.
mahem: Alright!The story is about to begin! Disclaimer, take it away!
Disclamer: mahem does not own Avatar The Last Airbender or any of its characters.
Prologue:
I remember that day…Ty Lee, Mai, Zuko, Azula and I were messing around in the palace yard. Azula had placed an apple on Mai's head and set it on fire to tease Zuko, and of course, he went and tackled her into the fountain pool to try and put it out. After that incident he stalked off yelling 'girls are crazy!' I laughed so hard. We had a lot of fun days after that, and then one fateful day happened. Things were never the same. Zuko pretty much blocked me out. I couldn't blame him. His scar was a constant reminder of that day. The start of his search for the Avatar started in a week. I left him to mope and shut the door to my room. That was when I learned something. I was the Avatar. It wasn't possible. I didn't believe it. The REAL Avatar had to be out there somewhere, it has been 100 years. It didn't make sense. It was all messed up. The Avatar was supposed to be an airbender. I'm not.
I remember that moment; Zuko's back to me as he walked up that gangplank. I took a breathe, and placed my hand on his shoulder. "I'm coming with you." His expression was one I would never forget.
o.o.o.o.o.o.
I sighed and ate another fire flake. Memories have been haunting me lately. I ran my fingers through my dark brown hair and moved a piece forward on the Pi-Sho game board. The clicks of the pieces mixed with the blows of the great old engine of the Fire Nation war ship. I sighed again, this time because I just lost. My opponent chuckled.
"You're getting better! Perhaps you will win if we play again!"
I chuckled.
"Sorry General Iroh, I'm not in the mood for another game." I said. The retired general squinted at me. "You seem to be off in your own world. Want to tell me what's going on?"
I smiled sadly at him.
"I'm just remembering the old times, General," I said sadly.
"How many times must I remind you to call me Uncle?"
"Sorry, Uncle." I sighed and rested my head on the board. Gene-Uncle Iroh patted my head. "Sometimes I like to look back to the old times too, but over a cup of Jasmine tea of course." He chuckled and hurried off to the kitchen. I watched as Zuko came onto the deck and looked around him at the horizon, in his normal pose, of course. His hands clenched at his side, his stocky figure buffed out, his eyes narrowed. It hasn't changed in a while. I stood up and walked over to his side. He didn't say anything. I put my hands in my pockets, rocked back and forth on my heels and looked at the twilight horizon. I looked at Zuko through the corner of my eye, a mischievous thought occurring to me. As soon as I saw his face though, it quickly disappeared. It was obvious he wasn't in a good mood. I sighed. Sometimes he gives me strange feelings, strange, inappropriate feelings. Like now, for instance. Those feelings lead to thoughts, and those thoughts usually lead to actions, but only if the other person was thinking those thoughts as well.
Shut up Salo.
No, I like these thoughts.
Your an orphan, he's a prince. It's not going to work out.
I LIKE THESE THOUGHTS!
Salo...
Grrrrr.
I sighed and bit my lip, titling my head back to look up at the sky. After a few minutes I turned to Zuko.
"You're obviously not very happy today," I said, giving him an innocent little look when he glared at me out of the corner of his eyes.
"I'm fine." He walked to the prow of the boat, his pose not changing. I skipped after him. Annoying Zuko when he's in his 'silent, evil, and angry' mood is one of the many joys of the world. I rocked back and forth on my feet again. Nothing. I started dancing in circles around him. Just an evil glare. Finally, I started poking him in the back.
He whirled around to glare at me. I grinned at him and turned tail and ran when he started running toward me. I laughed and turned around to look at him. He was still glaring at me. Finally he lunged forward and grabbed my ankle and sent me sprawling. I laughed for a moment and swore the corners of his mouth were turned up the slightest bit, and then Zuko resumed his 'don't touch meh' attitude. He glared at me and muttered some words that sounded like: Bitch, stupid, busy, shitty.
"Why do you always do that? Don't you know I'm busy?" he yelled. I shrugged from my spot on the floor. "You sure didn't seem like it." He clenched his fists tighter until I swore to myself they were about to bleed. He looked as if he was about to hit me, but closed his eyes, took a breathe, let out a small stream of fire, then turned away. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight Salo."
I saluted.
"G'night Prince Zuko." He disappeared into the 'tower' and I stood up and brushed myself off, heading towards the hallway. I passed General Iroh, said goodnight, and closed the door to my bunker.
_-_-_- ^ a few hours later ^-_-_-_
I was awoken by a guard, saying Prince Zuko wanted me on deck immediately. Too tired to argue, I put on my robe, and walked out on deck rubbing my eyes. General Iroh was already out here, and he turned to me, his face expressionless. Zuko was looking at something through his telescope. He didn't turn to me, or anyone for that matter. All he said was: "I found the Avatar."
I froze. Had he found out I was the Avatar? Would he take me to his father or…ugh how stupid of me. Of course he would. But he's raised a false alarm before. Wait, I might not even be the Avatar...chill out. Why do I always get so excited? He turned around and shouted orders to his guards. Apparently he thinks there's another Avatar…phew. I'm safe, for now. While he was standing a few feet away, I snuck a look through his telescope. It was pointed at a Southern Water Tribe village. I took in a breathe. It was the smallest I've ever seen. He wasn't thinking of invading it, was he? I looked at him. Of course he was. He wouldn't be yelling orders if he wasn't. I sighed. I took one last look at the village, and turned around right into Zuko. He looked hard at me.
"I suggest you go get your armor on Salo, were paying the water tribe a visit," he said, his breathe making small clouds in the cold early morning air. I nodded, shivering at how close we were, almost touching. I mentally slapped myself over and over again for thinking like that, wrapped my arms around my chest, and went back into my bunker. I pulled the armor out of the closet, and slid into it. I hurried to tie the straps, but the ones under my armpit are kind of hard to do with one hand. Someone knocked softly on my door and Uncle Iroh walked in.
"Let me help you with that," he said, and I smiled my thanks. When he was finished I grabbed a helmet and we walked out to the deck. I slid the Fire Nation Helmet on, after tying my hair on the top of my head. It might be stupid, but I'm not sure I want the Water Tribe to know I'm a girl. It could make Zuko look desperate and weak for taking a girl into his mission, though I am perfectly capable of taking five men at a time. The ship came closer and closer to the small settlement. After a few minutes I could see the frightened faces of the women and children, and one strange guy with a gray painted face standing on the wall. I raised an eyebrow under my helmet. One guy? Strange…all of the other men are probably away in the war, he had to stay behind. The black ash sprinkled down everywhere. The drawbridge thing was lowered from the ship, and Zuko walked out first, with me and a few other men in a triangle formation. I swallowed a lump in my throat. Usually I enjoy striking fear into people, but this just felt wrong. There were no men to protect the elderly and children if Zuko decided to do something crazy. Oh, I hope Zuko doesn't do anything crazy.
Everything was silent except for the cry of a child. I knew Zuko was glaring at everything; I've been through this enough times. This whole thing was a waste of time. He doesn't know the Avatar's been with him through all of his sixteen years. He's eventually going to find that out.
"I am Prince Zuko, son of Firelord Ozai and heir to the throne. I know you are keeping the avatar here," His voice pierced through my thoughts. I bit my lip as he grabbed the arm of an old lady. "Probably looks around this age." He let her go. I sighed my relief. When the gangplank was lowered, it had smashed into their wall, knocking the grey faced guy off. Now, that guy was running towards Zuko, holding some shiny thing behind his head. Zuko easily avoided his attack, and with a swift kick sent him flying across the small clearing and into a pile of snow. Grey Guy threw his shiny thing at Zuko, who dodged it. Zuko glared at Grey Guy for a few moments, and then he was suddenly knocked over onto his face. The shiny thing. A boomerang. He got up and shot a long stream of fire at Grey Guy, narrowly missing his painted nose. Then everyone got a surprise. A short kid, about 12, jumped out from behind Grey Guy with some sort of staff. I squinted to get a better look at him. He had weird blue arrows tattooed on his head.
"Stop!" he yelled. "I am the Avatar!" That last thing totally threw me off balance, but then I figured he was lying. Just trying to protect his friends. But those tattoos…
Suddenly it occurred to me, he's an Airbender. But the fire nation wiped out both the air temples over a hundred years ago. He must be lying, unless he somehow found a way to evade the fire nation until now. Or, I could have been lied to. I might not be the Avatar after all! I haven't bended anything besides fire yet, but that was partly because it's so hard to find proper teachers with this economy. I could see Zuko stiffen.
"I am the Avatar!" the kid repeated. "If I go with you, you must promise to leave this place and not hurt anyone!" Zuko nodded and motioned to us. 3 other men and I walked forward to the kid. I grabbed his staff, took both his arms and tied them. Another man prodded his back. "Get moving," he ordered. As the kid started walking forward, a girl cried out behind me. "No! Aang! Don't do this!" the boy named 'Aang' turned to her. "I'll be alright Katara. Don't worry. Take care of Appa for me." He shut up, and continued walking up the gangplank to the ship. The opening closed, and as I brought the kid to his new cell, we set off from shore. I got a better look at his tattoos. They looked genuine, and he was absolutely bald like a monk from an air temple…he might be the Avatar…but I'M the Avatar. I shook my head behind his back. It was all too confusing. He turned around to look at me. I stared right back.
"Hey, have you guys ever fought an airbender?" he asked. We didn't respond, just kept walking. A few moments later…
"I bet I could take you both, with my hands tied behind my back!" Silence. He took in a breathe, and all I remember next was shooting backwards with amazing speed, with this kid on top of me. I hit the wall with a thud, and he took off up the stairs. Since the other guard was knocked out, I took off after him. As I ran I yelled: "The Avatar has escaped! The Avatar has escaped!" by the time he got on deck everyone was out, even Zuko and his Uncle. I lunged for the boy, tackling him and knocking him over. He pushed me off, and I tried to do it again, but he leaped over me and somehow got his bonds cut. I whirled around to face him, and I tripped him, I tried to pin him, but man this kid was strong. He kicked his foot out and landed a blow on my cheek, which I found out is now bleeding. I gritted my teeth and reached out to grab his foot. I was greeted with blasts of air and I was flung backwards. This kid WAS an airbender. Well fine. I can give as well as I can get. I grit my teeth again and shot fire at him. He dodged it, and sent more blasts of air in my direction. I glared at him. I shot as much fire as I could, but then he started to glow…well, at least his tattoos did. He whirled the water up around him into a tornado type thing, and shot water at us. I dodged it, but then I heard a roar, and looked up. Some white flying thing with two people on it was directly above the ship. It landed on the deck, amid the chaos and water puddles. It was Grey Guy and the girl named Katara. I glared at her, my anger writhing up. I shouted evil words to the sky. I had to work on my anger issues. I shot fire at her, and she shot water at me and two other men. I squeezed my eyes shut, only to open them and find myself frozen in a block of ice. The girl squealed and grinned, and a long colorful stream of curse words came from under my breathe. "Stupid bitch and her water." Grrr. The Avatar and Grey Guy and Katara jumped onto the shaggy thing, and flew off. Zuko was standing right where the thing previously was, glaring after them.
"Set a course after the Avatar, IMMEDIATLEY!" he roared. Silence. I looked around me. All the men were either over board, passed out, or frozen with me. I may be frozen in a block of ice, but my head wasn't.
"In case you haven't noticed, Prince Zuko, we are under no circumstances to be traveling very far until we get repairs," Uncle Iroh said. Dang. He beat me to the punch, though my punch would have stung a lot worse…
I heard Zuko sigh.
"Fine. Set course after the Avatar, after repairs." He trudged off to his cabin, passed me, studied my condition, raised an eyebrow, and continued on his way. I made a face after he was gone. A now conscious guard was working on thawing me out. Very. Slowly. I looked up and glared at the small black speck that was the Avatar in the distance.