Katara smiled as she quietly slipped into the dark house. She felt sympathy when she heard soft coughing coming from a back bedroom. When she walked towards the room she saw the sick little girl laying in bed while her mother at her bedside with her head on the bed. She looked exhausted. Floating over to the bed she pulled a blanket over the mother and blew out the candle at the girl's bedside. Gently lifting the girl up at a better angle she poured the medicine down her throat and placed the bottle on the bedside table with a note before quietly slipping out of the house. Stop one for the night; complete.
Zuko smirked as he slipped inside the buzzing Opera house. Pushing back a curtain leading to a balcony he saw a fairly rich man with a young woman on his arm sitting gazing down at the show. Glancing at their feet he gave a chuckle; their bags were just sitting at their feet waiting to be grabbed. Like a breath of wind he quietly slid through the curtain barely making movement noticed. He crouched behind their chairs and reached under to snatch their bags before swiftly slipping out again. Stop one for the night: complete.
Scanning the area Katara sought out her next stop. Her eyes landed on a building with some suspicious lights coming from outside of it and going around the back. She leapt to a rooftop and quietly made her way towards the building. Narrowing her ocean blue eyes she read that it was a children's shelter and the people walking around it; were gang members. There should not be gang members walking around a children's shelter in the dead of night. They were up to something. Landing gracefully on the roof of the building she slipped into an open wind. Her heart warmed at the sight of the sleeping children. She giggled at the sound of their cute soft snores. Carefully gliding through the room she made her way down the hallway and was halted when she felt a tug on her dress. Carefully tipping her hair she turned and saw a little boy with messy dark hair sleepily rubbing his eyes clutching a stuffed hog-bear to his chest.
"Are you the Painted Lady?" he asked softly.
"Why yes I am, and who are you?" Katara asked him with a smile.
"I'm Kutan and this is Bogo." He gestured to his hog-bear.
Lifting him up Katara carried into another bedroom with children. She tucked him into bed and lifted her veil to give his forehead a small kiss.
"Sleep well Kutan, I will return." She told him.
Kutan nodded and closed his eyes falling quickly back to sleep. Slipping out if the room she narrowed her eyes as she heard a noise downstairs. Quickly and quietly she made her way down the stairs and glared when she saw the gang members sifting through the private office up front.
"Stop right there." She shouted only loud enough for the gang to hear and not the children.
The gang turned around to look at her and smirked. Katara wrapped her hand around a canteen of water under her dress. She brought it in case she ever needed to fight. The leader stepped towards her and with ever step he took Katara's body tensed.
"If it isn't the legendary Painted Lady," he scoffed. "You don't look that tough."
He reached out to grab her arm but was stopped by a blade pressing against his throat. Katara looked to her left and gasped; could it be? There shinning in the moonlight stood the Blue Spirit.
"It isn't polite to touch a legendary lady with your filthy paws." He spoke.
The Blue Spirit's voice sounded familiar but Katara didn't have time to figure out where she'd heard because the rest of the gang came charging at her. She uncorked her canteen and threw them to the ground with her water-whip. A few others leapt at her from behind but they were cut down by the Blue Spirit. Katara gritted her teeth.
"I don't need your help!" she shouted glaring at him from under her veil.
"I don't need your help!" the Painted Lady shouted.
Zuko rolled his eyes behind his mask. He tries to help and this is his thank you; and ironically he'd always heard how nice and wonderful the Painted Lady was. Though he couldn't see her face very well due to the veil on her straw hat he had to admit she was beautiful. He shook his head when he remembered the girl he'd met at the marketplace this morning; Katara her name was. She was beautiful too. He blinked back to awareness when the gang leader was whipped away from him by the Painted Lady.
"If you're going to help stop standing there daydreaming!" she ordered.
Nodding he swung his dao blades at a few more gang members. He spotted a pile of ropes in the private office. Leaping over the gang leader and landed in the private office. He snatched up the ropes and ran back out of the office.
"Painted Lady!" Zuko called.
The Painted Lady looked towards him as he tossed some rope to her. She nodded in understand and tied a couple of unconscious gang members before going to work with knocking out more. As Zuko finished tying up a couple of the larger gang members he neglected to notice the gang leader towering behind him. Apparently the Painted Lady did.
"Blue Spirit!" she yelled.
Zuko looked up just in time to see the gang leader slice a blade along his stomach sending him flying against the nearby wall. He winced as he felt the large wound oozing blood.
Katara felt her blood run cold; sure she didn't like the Blue Spirit but to see him so injured…She shook her head and her eyes seemed to darkened. She formed a large orb of water and shot it at the gang leader sending him slamming into the wall. Upstairs she could hear the owner of the shelter stomping around in their room. She tied the gang leader and the last of his gang up before leaving a quick note. She rushed to the injured Blue Spirit and rushed from the shelter just as the owner came down the stairs.
A sigh of relief passed her lips as she watched the owner calling out for the Dai Li to take the men away. Katara glanced at the Blue Spirit and reluctantly knew she couldn't leave him injured no matter how much she detested him. It wasn't far to Upper Ring from where they were and decided to heal him at her home before sending him on his way.
"Are you okay to jump?" she asked him.
"I should be." The Blue Spirit replied gruffly.
He pulled himself from her hold and followed behind her as they leapt from rooftop to rooftop. It seemed like hours that they were jumping till they finally landed outside Katara's home which was barely visible in the dark. Helping him through the door she led the Blue Spirit down the hall to her bathroom and seated him on a small stool.
"You will need to remove your shirt." She told him.
Zuko tensed, if he took off his shirt he would have to remove his mask and he couldn't show her his face. Though he knew virtually nothing about the Painted Lady except that she cared deeply for other he wasn't comfortable of her knowing his identity. Because if he ran into her on the streets she might expose him. He pushed her gently out of the bathroom explaining he wanted to do it without an audience. Pulling off his mask and slowly removed his shirt before putting the mask back in its place. He called for her to come back in and gaped. She was no longer wearing her tattered dress but instead a pair of loose blue training pants and a darker blue shirt but still wore her hat and veil. He watched as she dipped her hands in a bowl of water and held them over his wound. It helped to lower must of the grotesque wound's deepness. Using medical cream and some bandages she cleaned it the rest of the way and wrapped it.
Katara wiped some sweat from her brow as she completed wrapping the Blue Spirit's wound. She stepped out for the room again to let him slip his shirt back on in privacy. A strange feeling of familiarity stirred in her stomach. She could have sworn she'd heard his voice somewhere but couldn't place it. The bathroom door opened starling her as the Blue Spirit stepped out. He headed towards her front room to leave she guessed. She stopped him as he opened the front door.
"Wait, your wound is still pretty bad. Too much movement could make it worse." Katara scolded herself for feeling sorry for the thief.
The Blue Spirit turned to her as if trying to see her face. Tipping her hat slightly she kept her face hidden.
"I'll be fine; I don't live far from here." With that he leapt off into the night leaving Katara standing in the moonlight.
Katara closed the door and headed back towards the bathroom. As she washed off the tribal symbols she couldn't help but feel her thoughts wander back to the Blue Spirit. She had to admit he had quite a presence. Shaking her head she put her hat and veil back with her dress before heading off to bed.
