Chapter II

Zuko yawns and stretches, his catnap over with. He arcs his back and reaches his arms out in front of him, his tail curling above his spine. A chill runs over him, the hairs on his arms standing up on end. It is here that he looks over himself, realizing that he is naked, and semi-human again. The moon shines above him, and he nearly falls off of the dingy mattress in the alley when he figures this out: his fur is like his clothing, but still is merely part of his cat-body, which means that, as a human… he will wake up naked every time.

He blushes. Now, that can be a problem. He best come up with a way to get clothing each night, or else he might be caught like this by somebody.

Thinking quickly, Zuko wraps the mangy blanket around his body and races through the early morning light, the moon on its last leg. It will be dawn soon, and the moon will vanish. He hasn't much time on his long, human legs before he is reduced to running back to his apartment as a cat. And he needs his human thumbs in order to pack his bag and secure it to his body before he transforms back. He only hopes that, upon shrinking, the bag remains tight enough to not fall off. Maybe, if he puts it around his neck, it will be the right size to shimmy onto his back when he becomes a cat again…

Great, I'm already getting used to this, he thinks in a mental grumble as he slows his pace. He is in front of the Jasmine Dragon, his new apartment located just above it. He sneaks around back, hiding his feline ears beneath the blanket as he lightly treads up the stairs to his room. The door is locked, but he's able to pry it open with a bit of force. Hopefully no one heard him.

He quickly gathers up his things as early-morning blue-grey light pours in through the windows. For safety, he ties his twin swords to the bag and tightens the belt until it nearly chokes him. And then he waits.

The sun rises, filling him temporarily with the familiar fiery feeling of firebending power before it rises completely and the moon disappears in its blinding orange light. He feels himself shudder all over, his limbs and torso aching with such ferocity that he doubles over, gasping for breath. His body contorts, and then, in one ripple, his shortened form becomes furry, and as the numbing pain recedes into nothing, Zuko knows that he is a cat once more.

'She could have made it less painful,' he says, but it comes out as meows. Shrugging the pack onto his back and pulling it tighter with his teeth, Zuko twitches his whiskers. Then, praying to the gods that cats truly do land on their feet, he flees out the window.

It is time to meet his revamped destiny.

xXxXx

It takes a little under a couple weeks to find the soldiers, wait out in the haul of the ship as they go about their daily routine, and finally, until the Avatar's gang resumes command over the ship and casts out the soldiers, stealing their uniforms.

It is the following day of this capture that Zuko wanders out from the depths of the storage bunker and dares to catch glimpses of the young group members. These are people he's known for over half a year now, and yet… Because they were his enemies, one of them his target, and since he has only ever seen them angrily fighting back against him, he doesn't know what to think.

Like a frightened animal (which he essentially is), Zuko slips down a hallway towards the sound of voices. Some men step out of a room and their shoes clang against the steel floor of the ship as they walk past him. They don't notice the teeny black figure; it blends with the shadows, save for its golden eyes.

There are more voices up ahead, one seemingly female. He follows its sound, and finds himself in front of a cracked metal door. He wriggles in through the hole, his heart racing. Does he dare keep going? He's in the room now, and he can see the waterbender girl on a cot, talking to another girl; an earthbender, judging by her green clothing beneath her Fire Nation cloak.

He studies them for a moment. They look so harmless, suddenly; and he himself feels harmless. Zuko pads over a thin carpet towards them, feeling oddly curious. The two girls' voices reach his perked ears, and he pays attention to what they are saying.

"He's so pale, Toph. Sometimes, when I don't concentrate on his breathing, I forget that he's alive. I'm worried sick over him. When do you think he'll wake up?"

The earthbender – Toph, Zuko thinks he heard her name as – shrugs her shoulders as she brings her knees up to her chest and hugs them. Her eyes are a milky jade green. She's blind. "Please don't talk about it, Katara. There's no way of knowing, y'know? We just have to hope that Aang will come out of this coma-thingy eventually, or at least before the eclipse. We need him around. And not just because he's the Avatar."

Katara nods solemnly, her blue eyes watering. "I get what you mean. I just… get so scared sometimes. I feel like I did something wrong, but I used the water from the Spirit Oasis, so he should be fine, right? And yet he won't wake up. Do you think something else is making him remain unconscious?"

"Well, he did go see that guru guy," Toph remarks as she releases her knees and picks at the nubs on the blanket beneath her. "Maybe some kind of spiritual thingy happened and royally fudged him up. Who knows? All I know is, I want Aang back. I… miss him, Katara," she utters softly, as if she is ashamed of missing someone. She promptly punches the other girl in the arm. "Don't tell anyone I said that, either!" she barks, her ears flushing pink with embarrassment.

Katara rubs her arm. "I got it, I got it." She shakes her head, the loops of hair in front of her face swaying. She is kind of pretty, Zuko thinks randomly. Is she supposed to be the person I fall for?

Just then, Toph hops off the bed, sending vibrations through the floor. "Hey, wait a minute," she says. Zuko stiffens. "Katara, are my feet playing tricks on me, or is there a cat-shaped figure in the corner of the room by the door?" she inquires with a point of her finger. Zuko stiffens further, his tail sticking up in the air. How could she see him? She's blind!

"What? There can't be cats on a ship in the middle of the ocean –" She cuts herself off as her eyes are drawn in the direction of Toph's pointing finger. Her eyes quint as her gaze settles on the shadows and makes out Zuko's figure. "There is a cat there! – Hey, Kitty; how did you get on the ship? Were you a pet of one of the soldiers?" she coos, and slides off of the cot to slowly walk over to him.

Zuko backs up slightly, and with a nervous gulp, he releases a low hiss, teeth bared. He paws at the air, claws out, to warn them that they shouldn't come any closer or else he'll attack. They are his enemies, after all!

"Uh-oh," Toph says with a low whistle, "Somebody's pissy. I wonder why it's so ticked at us?"

Zuko steadily becomes less tense. Her words remind him of his reason for being here: he has to get close to these people. He has to allow them to warm his heart, or else he will be stuck like this for Agni knows how long; maybe forever, until he dies! And for a cat, death isn't too far away. They don't live very long in human years.

"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty," Katara coaxes as she bends over, one hand on her knee, the other extended out towards Zuko with her thumb rubbing in a circle over her index and middle fingers. Zuko forces himself to step closer. "That's it, nice and slow. I won't hurt you." As he comes into the light, she gasps. "Oh, you poor thing! Toph, it has a burn over its left eye. Its owner must have abused it."

"Poor kitty," Toph sympathizes and she, too, crouches down near him. She holds out a hand limply. "Are you scared of people? You don't have to be, you know. I might look tough, and Sugar Queen over there might look like a bitch, but I swear she's just as sweet as her nickname to animals."

Katara frowns in the younger girl's direction, her tone taking on an offended attitude. "Are you saying that I'm not sweet to people, then? I'm plenty sweet!"

Toph snorts in laughter. "I'm only joking, Katara. I'm just trying to make the cat feel safer, since he started off pretty hostile."

"As if it can understand you," Katara sighs. "I wish it could, though. Then maybe it would be friendlier."

Actually, I can understand you, Zuko thinks to himself. Friendly, though? I don't think I can be friendly... I haven't been since I was a kid.

Nonetheless, he makes the effort by stepping closer and makin g a move to sniff Toph's hand. She smells like fresh dirt after a rain, and the grease on metal hinges, and bamboo, and vaguely like spicy ginger. He likes her smell, and without being abe to control himself, he nudges her hand with his nose until she starts stroking his head.

Damn, that feels good. Why does it feel so good to be pet? He thinks fuzzily as Toph grins and says to Katara, "Look, he likes me!"

"How do you know it's a boy?" Katara wonders as she kneels down beside the earthbender and starts stroking the length of Zuko's back, stopping at the base of his tail to give it a scratching session.

"Because I can see outlines of figures from vibration, Katara, and let me tell you, he isn't female."

The ex-prince would blush if he were human. Zuko shakes off this embarrassing remark in place of the pleasant feeling of being pet and scratched.

Unable to help himself, he arches his back and lifts his rear into the air, leaning into the scratch. That feels amazing, too! What is with cats, anyway? They have it made, being touched like this. And oh, now Toph is rubbing unde rhis chin, and it tickles! He leans his head up, feeling her small fingers scratch lightly with bitten nails and pet down his fluffy chest. He isn't a long-haired cat, but he isn't a snort-haired one, either; he's somewhere in between, a mutt.

"I take it back," the waterbender giggles, "He is friendly, once you give him time to warm up."

"He's so soft," Toph says fondly. "Like Momo."

"Not to mention utterly adorable, his scar aside," Katara coos, and as Toph stops petting, she does as well, only to scoop him up. He releases a startled mewl, and makes the older girl giggle again. "Sorry, Kitty." She considers him for a moment. "Hmm. We kicked off all of the previous passengers of this ship, so you have nobody to take care of you, huh? And you must be hungry, too, since it's been a while since the soldiers left! How 'bout Toph and I take care of you? Would you like that?"

Zuko isn't sure what he woud like, since this situation is still highly awkward – he's stolen this girl's necklace and used it for ransom, for crying out loud – but he doesn't have much choice, especially since he ran out of food in his pack three days ago, and is starving. He meows once to show his consent, his voice raspy like it is as a human.

"Okay! Then let's get you fed," Katara says brightly. Her mood is lifted from talking about Aang, he can tell.

Hmm. Aang. So that is the airbender's name, huh? He will have to keep that in mind, in case he ever has the chance to talk to one of these people. He doesn't want to sound rude by calling the boy 'Avatar' like he used to. Not if he has to win the heart of one of the people on this ship, and be as polite as possible to do so.

After all, he has a good side to him; Zuko is sure that he does, because not everybody can be completely evil, right? And he used to be a sweet kid, hadn't he?

So perhaps there is hope for me yet, he thinks to himself as he traipses behind Katara to the scullery.