I struggled up from the floor and looked at the Avatar. He was 12, if not younger. And he was fast. Zuko shot blast after blast at him but his orange cape was barely singed. I would have helped but I knew my limit, Agni I was barely standing, no way could I fight. Zuko was weary from their previous fight, he was watching him intently.
The Avatar jumped in front of me in an attempt to dodge an attack from Zuko, he landed for a second before he took off again. He was about 3 inches shorter than me, his height added to his speed. I was so transfixed that I had forgot what he was dodging. My eyes widened and my hands went out instantly, my chi reaching around me to still the fire, extinguish it. I only managed to slow it and it hit me on the hip, the top of my scar. I winced as my hands flew to the wound, ok it hadn't actually wounded me but it still hurt. My knees bucked and I saw the shocked expression Zuko pulled for a second, that was until the avatar noticed it as well. My mouth started to form a warning but it was too late, a gust of wind slammed him into a house. The Avatar ran off as I struggled up and sent a fire blast after him, it fizzled out after a few meters. I cursed and half walked half stumbled over to Zuko who was sitting up. He cast a glance at me, a concerned glance I noticed, as he stood up.
"I'm fine." He raised his eyebrow at me but didn't say anything on it.
"We have to follow him, or we'll lose him...again." I put my hand on his shoulder as my knee buckled slightly. I had mean it as a comfort instead of me holding myself up, either way it didn't work. He turned slightly and pulled my arm over his shoulder, a small blush colouring his face.
"Sorry, for hitting yo-"
"Not your fault. I should've been paying attention." He nodded and I felt marginally hurt then realised that we were nearing the rest of our group.
"Back to the ship, we'll pursue them from there-" His sentence died on his tongue as the Avatar jumped off the bison and landed in the water. I, having read up on earth kingdom animals and customs after living in one of the colonies, had an idea as to what was coming. I made a small noise and shrank back, attempting to put Zuko in front of me. He turned to face me as the sea beast appeared with the Avatar clinging on to it. I gulped and Zuko followed my line of sight, gold eyes widening when he saw what was looking at. He let go of my arm and subtly stood in front of me, I thanked him with all my heart for remembering my fear of water. I shivered as the Avatar gained his footing and directed the beast towards the village, I should have known its name but the thing spouted water it terrified me. It reminded me of the time I drowned my- No don't go there.
Its mouth opened wide and water started gushing out of it, I whimpered and cursed myself for it. I was a proud member of the fire nation, I will not let a little shower scare me. I screamed at myself, but it still terrified me. My muscles froze and I could do nothing but watch as the water put out the flames the fight had created and heavily doused our troops. I watched as the Avatar jumped and was caught by his sky bison, I watched as they started to fly away.
"Kila. Are. You. Okay?" Zuko's voice brought me out of my fear induced trance. I nodded but my shaking hands and legs gave away the lie. He frowned at me but didn't point out the lie, then-quickly so as no one would notice- he hugged me. It was comforting, to know he understood why I was lying. "Come on." he said as he started to walk back to the ship. "We have an Avatar to catch."
I nodded and trudged after him in heavy armour. My hands went to my hair and started the laborious process of wringing it dry. I groaned as my hands grew ever damper from the process.
"Lieutenant Kila!" Zuko snapped. I reached down to grab my helmet an jogged up the gang plank into the ship. I was sorely tempted to throw it at the back of his head but decided otherwise, so far he hadn't told anyone about my fear of water and so far he hadn't been to mean to me. I was just overacting. I needed a shower to calm down, yes that sounded nice.
I walked down the corridor that lead to my room, ducking into the lavishly though somewhat sparsely decorated room. I flung my helmet at my newly acquired bed and stripped off my armour, leaving me in a light tunic that barely covered my scar. I hated it, but at least it was better than being naked. I grabbed a towel that I had thrown over a the chair after I had had a quick wash before I put the armour on, and grabbed my ointment for the, now sore, hideous scar on my leg.
I left the room, locking it and putting the key back around my neck, and started towards he showers. I pointedly ignored the stares and wolf whistles that I got as I passed a group of crewmen. I heard them say something to their friends before 3 sets of footsteps followed me. I hope that they would realise where I was going and leave me alone. I reached the showers and turned to glance at them subtly, I could see the hatred in their eyes. I didn't understand it so I pushed the shower room door open and quickly made my way into a cubicle.
I took the key chain off from around my neck but left my other necklace on, I never took it off. It was my sisters and it had somehow fallen into the hands of an earth kingdom peasant. I got it back. I shook my head to rid myself of the memory and pulled my tunic trousers off, my scar would need attending to before I had my shower. I grabbed my ointment from the small pile I had made in the corner of the cubicle and poured a small amount into my palm, I had only just started to rub it in when I heard the door creak open.
"Lieutenant Kila." Their voice was practically a hiss as the 3 men from earlier hovered outside the cubicle. I would have done something but I was frozen with fear, images of my uncle hovering above me, ready to 'punish' me. I put the small vial down and slammed my back against the wall as the door opened.
The first one in was a taller member of the crew, probably 6'1" maybe more. His dark hair was messy and his smile was as malicious as my uncles had been every time he'd given me this type of punishment.
"Looks like you were right Yuri. She does have something horrible." Another man snickered from just outside the cubicle and pushed his way in. This one I recognised, he'd been eyeing me up since I had boarded the ship. His eyes travelled up and down me till his eyes landed on the scar, it was hard to miss. He winced and reached a hand up to ouch me and pulled my top open. I was glad that I still had my bandages wrapped around my chest from the near drowning almost 5 days ago, they had been soaked in a lotion that eased my breathing.
"That's one disgusting scar." He grinned and I flinched away from him, my hand lighting on fire as I brought it up to slap him. He caught it and smiled, extinguishing the flame. I pulled my hand back and drew my knee up towards my chest, if my flames couldn't hurt them then I would make sure that they would never try it with me again. I kicked Yuri in the balls and as he doubled over I kneed him in the head. The other man reacted the exact opposite way I thought they would.
The tall one grabbed my arms and pulled me in front of him and the other slapped me hard across the face. Yuri got up and rubbed his head, a sickening smile curling up his cheeks. I froze, memories to much.
"If she screams, burn her. Give her a reason to scream."
