Hi FanFic readers! In my past chapters it's been kind of hard to write because of school but now I am on VACATION! As a writer I like it when you give my story a chance and read it but it kills me not getting reviews. Enough of my problems, chapter 9!
Katara's POV
I was scared, terrified. She found us, the one and only princess of evil and misery, Azula. I could almost see that evil smirk and those cold golden eyes practically seeing through our skin. I bet she is probably thinking about how to torture us on the spot. I tried to go faster be I stopped. Zuko looked at me as if I were crazy.
"Why did you stop? Are you trying to get us killed?"
"Even if I used all my energy to escape, it won't work. Even with the full moon, I lack of training and experience so I don't think I'll be able to out run a ship."
"So we just… give up?"
"Of course we're not going to give up! We'll just…" I put a hand on my cheek and started to think hard. We won't be able to out run the ship and we don't stand a chance against the whole crew and Azula.
"There is no worth fighting against a whole crew and Azula. But, we could get on the ship and when they stop to their next destination we could escape."
"Really, you expect us to escape… from Azula?"
"Well if you have a better idea I would love to hear it oh and make it quick because the ship would be here in about T-5 minutes." He thought for a moment then he sighed.
"Fine, but what if we don't escape. What if Azula catches us and it's pretty obvious that she will take us to Azula."
"It's the only chance we got. When we get capture try to pull up a fight but don't waste major energy, just make it look like a fight so they would think we want to go on the ship."
Zuko looked like he was about to hesitate again but before we knew it a net from the Fire Nation ship came down and capture us. When we were almost there I gave Zuko a nod meaning if he understood, he nodded back in agreement. When we were finally there, Azula was waiting for us with that evil smirk. She had two girls behind her; one had brown hair in a tight braid and dressed in a lot of pinks, she looked like she had a bubbly personality. The other girl looked pretty much the opposite. Black sleek hair, dark clothing and no emotion in her face what so ever. She was also giving Zuko the evil eye.
"Well if it isn't my dear brother Zuzu! What brings you here?"
"Can it Azula. You know perfectly why I am here."
"Of course I do. Actually, everyone in the Fire Nation knows. Looks like you be known as a big traitor even worse than uncle. Of course I have expected that from you, you are a disgrace after all."
Zuko was tightening his fists and his face was getting red.
"Am I making wittle Zuzu mad?" She said in a babyish voice. Zuko was fuming. But he didn't say anything.
"Take them to the brig." She leaned forward to Zuko. "I'll catch up to you later."
The guard took off the next and we began to attack. I and Zuko were sending blasts but we let ourselves get hit frequently and in about 10 minutes we let them take us to the big struggling. They locked us up in the same cell. Great! I am back in a cell. I looked around and saw a few more cells but they held no one.
"So, what is next in your oh so brilliant plan?"
"When take go to land for supplies and stuff we should escape there."
"But what about Azula? She would know we would be gone with just pure instinct."
He's right; Azula would probably already know that we would escape. What are we going to do? I heard the door open and Azula entered.
"Hello Zuzu and… worthless companion. I would expect you to bow before royalty."
"Why would we bow for a royal pain in the butt?" Zuko yelled. Azula just rolled her eyes.
"Is that the best you could do?" She raised an eyebrow and put her hand on her hip. "You are pathetic."
"Well, he is doing better than you!" I didn't care if she was the person on the other side of the bars. She gave me a frown but quickly replaced it with a smirk and turned to Zuko.
"I see your girlfriend is defending you."
"What do you want Azula." She leaned forward to Zuko with a death glare.
"What I have always wanted! To be Fire Lord! And when I present father with his traitor prince he would make me officially next in line for the throne and I shall rule with an iron fist, and nobody is going to get in my way."
"Well, keep on dreaming."
"This isn't a dream Zuzu this is reality. Where I see you bowing down to me and you rot in a cell where you will be the rest of your life."
"You will never be Fire Lord; I won't let you rule the Fire Nation with fear."
"Ruling the people by fear is the only way to rule!" It looked like she was starting to lose it. "Why should I be the only one to suffer!?" Her hand was on fire and she was starting to freak me out. The fire in her hand was gone; she closed her eyes and let out a huff. She gave us a look and left.
"That was frightening yet… sad. W-what did she mean by being the only one suffering?"
Zuko's POV
"I don't know." I looked at the place Azula was and started to think. I really don't know, to me her life was perfect. She had a father who favored her, she was better than me in lots of thing, she was a princess who gets whatever she wants whenever she want it because she wants it. Maybe I had to look in deeper. I mean, she could have just been acting as a happy person but really be suffering on the inside. I shook my head. Azula is very complicated. When she entered she had confidence but when she left there was anger and sadness. What kind a brother am I, I don't even know how my little sister is feeling! I must have taken a while because Katara was waving her hand.
"Zuko… zuko are you okay?" I shook a little.
"Ye-yeah I was just… thinking." She had a concerned face.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Nah, I'm good." She didn't look convinced but ignored it anyway.
…
About 4 weeks passed and I was surprised that we didn't get beaten up till we bled to death. Sure they gave me a few bruises but it wasn't that serious although they didn't give us enough food to stop the hunger. They replaced our clothes with plain red shirts and pants that stop right under the knee. Azula would often visit only to criticize us. She and Katara got in a few fights but the only thing stopping them from ripping each other's heads off were the cell bars. Who knows what would happen if they got into a physical fight. Azula claims the only reason Katara and I aren't on the floor begging for mercy is that my father ordered her not to harm us. She says we are on paradise compared to what's going to happen in the palace.
I could tell that we were going to the dock to gather supplies soon so we should continue with the plan.
"We will be at the dock soon, what is your plan?"
"We should try to create as much sweat as possible so I can gather it. I suspect that we are above sea level so I can cut the metal and we escape. I estimate that Azula will find out we escaped in about 10 minutes to flee away." It wasn't complicated but knows who it will work.
Katara's POV
We started to do as much exercise as we can until we heard that the ship stop and it was time for a break out and I will be freeee! I shook my head at that 'freeee!' thought. I guess that's what jail does to a person. I wonder how Sokka would react when I tell him my experience outside the law. It's got to give me at least some street cred.
I gathered all the water and sliced through the metal as fast as I can. I finally break out and we jumped in the water. I used all my energy as I swam us under the water so we can't be seen. We left to the opposite direction of the ship. Azula must have some distracted people in the crew of the ship because we escaped with ease. We went on land and hurried into the woods running for our lived. We slowed down a bit and took a breath. Then, from where we came there was a HUGE blast of blue fire that exploded. We heard a loud scream that belonged to Azula.
"Search everywhere for them! I don't care if you take days or weeks! I won't end up like my failure of a brother, I won't! Burn everything in your way!"
We headed deeper into the forest that the trees started to cover up the sky. I've never been so scared in my life. Smoke? I sniffed and it smelled as if something was burning. As we were walking I could see that an orange light casted behind us. I turned and saw that they were burning the woods. The fire was catching up on us. Zuko seemed to notice and ran faster. I was having trouble keeping up with Zuko. The trees were getting burned faster than I thought. I heard a crunching sound when a flaming tree branch almost crushed me. All around me there was fire except where I was running to. Within three feet behind me I could feel the fire. There was a pond up ahead, if we go in it we could save ourselves. Zuko looks like he could make it but I doubt I would. Out of all the possibilities, I tripped on a tree root. The fire was coming straight at me with the speed of light. I closed my eyes waiting for my horrid yet fast death, but it never came. I could feel as I someone was hugging me with one arm as if he were protecting me. I opened my eyes and saw Zuko protecting me from the flames. All I could see was fire, fire all around except a small spot of ground in which we were on. It was as if an airbender was in a room of poisonous gas and just airbended the air around him only, in this case, it was fire. But I didn't really think about it that much. What I was really thinking about was how small of space we had and how pleasantly close we were. We were practically hugging. Zuko began to speak.
"They are going to burn the woods till there is nothing left, probably even the whole town. We need to trick them into thinking we are dead."
"But how?"
"We must leave some sort of possession or something." He looked down at my necklace. Why is he looking at my necklace! If he thinks that I will give up my necklace then fuck him!
"No! I will not leave my necklace to burn and then to be in Azula's hands just to prove that we died! It's the only thing I have!"
"Katara, I know how much that necklace means to you but if we don't do this we including all the innocent people in that town will parish. I know how it feels to lose a mother but think about how the survivor of that town will feel when they see their family die."
That was true, very true but why should I only leave this valuable possession behind. And where is Zuko's important object. And what did he mean by also know how it feels to lose a mother? No time for that now, I could hear the footsteps of the Fire Nation soldiers.
"But won't they notice that there is no evidence of your death?"
Knowing that I was right, Zuko dug into his shirt and pulled out a knife or dagger with words engraved on it. It must have been important because it looked like he was going to cry without tears.
"This was a gift from Uncle, probably the closest and most important person to me, aside from my mother; he was more of a father to me than my father. If I give this up, would you give up your necklace?" Since time was running I quickly nodded and we put them on the floor carefully we walked into the pond. I created a bubble so we could breathe under water. (A/N I am not sure how that "bubble" works but let's hope you somehow have an idea of how it is.) We stayed there until the orange color of flames disappeared and the unclear sounds of voices vanish. We took a deep breath and I stopped making the bubble so we can swim to surface. I blushed at the sight of Zuko underwater. He moves so gracefully. We made as less sound as possible in case the soldiers were close. Surly, they were. I could see that one of them had my necklace and Zuko's knife. The objects were burned bet they stayed in their exact form. I wanted to reach them take my necklace and use icicles to stab them 100 times over and over again. Tears dropped but I made no sounds. Zuko's plan worked perfectly, the soldiers burned at most one quarter of the forest saving the town and most of the animal life of the woods. Unfortunately, the other parts of the forest was much damaged, smoke everywhere, trees all black and shriveled up with no sign of green leaves. In a measly 10 minutes the Fire Nation was capable of taking so much life away.
We went into the forest and set a small fire. When Azula captured up the fish we caught was left behind so once again we were stuck without food. We knew sooner or later we would have to go in the town so we best look for clothes. We don't want to be caught in prisoner's clothes and be yet again in Azula's hands. Nearby there was a small house that had gazers which dried cloths. The owner seemed to be asleep so this was the perfect opportunity. Before I could think, Zuko was already leaping away and grabbed whatever was his size. I grabbed my size type of clothes and we ran the heck out of there. We found a cave in which we took turns changing into. Zuko had similar clothes that he had before Aula caught us but instead of gold outlining it was a pale red. He also had some pointy knee-length boots and a pale red sash. I wore some brown pants covered with a long red skirt, a darker red sash with golden colored out linings, sandals, a shirt just above my belly button but instead of one strap it had two that crossed over my neck. I wore a traditional top knot while Zuko used a cloak to cover himself.
Entering the town we were looking for a way to earn some money. I saw a couple of street performers who were dancing for money but it looks like they weren't doing a great job.
"What about that?" I said not looking at Zuko.
"What? Dancing?"
"Yeah, we could dance and entertain these people."
"Ehh… I don't know."
"Do you want to starve to death?"
"…"
"I thought so, now get you but over here." Before Zuko could react I practically dragged him over.
"Um excuse me uh sir." I asked and elderly man who looked like the guy in charge.
"Do you mind if we do a dance number? We really need the money and we hope-"
The man lifted his hand up and gave up a warm smile.
"I'm Han Tsu and say no more, business isn't really booming so I guess we could let you and your partner dance. Anything in particular?"
I whispered in his ear telling him with song to play and he told the musicians, which were probably his family.
"Katara I don't really know how to dance."
"Don't worry I'm sure you have heard of the Bagua and Northern Shaolin dancing style, right? It's practically acrobatics."
"Well, most in the Fire Nation don't but when I was young my mother would always dance that with me but that was a long time ago."
"Do you know the steps?"
"Uhh… yeah but I don't feel comfortable dancing in front of all these people."
"Zuko we already talked about this! Come on the music is starting."
"Whoa wait up, you talked about it and I think-"
I didn't hear what else he said because I practically dragged him over. Seriously, I mean it was like I was his mother taking him to the doctors. We were in position and just by being there people came closer to watch what we are doing. Zuko was stiff and tensed. I'll try to relax him. (A/N: The dance that they will perform is the same dance Katara and Aang did in the Fire Nation. I am not sure of the name but I investigated and found out that it was some sort of a Bagua and Northern Shaolin dancing style.)
"Just relax and try not to stay behind." I said while we were doing the first moves. I saw that he relaxed a bit. He put on a smirked and raised his eyebrow. I had a tint of blush on my cheeks.
"That's what you think." This time I raised an eyebrow.
"Let's see about that." Next thing I know we were dancing and were receiving loads of 'oohhs' and 'ahhs'. I can't believe I am saying this but Zuko is quite the dancer even though we are doing a bunch of acrobatic movements. I feel his firm and warm hands on my exposed stomach. He tosses me up and for a moment I forget everything. It was all in slow motion. I realize I needed to focus or I might trip over. What really made me nervous was when we leaned our heads and our noses almost touched. I cast a smile at him and he returned it. I could feel his warm hands all over me all throughout the dance. We ended the dance with me in his arms but our faces were closer than necessary. There were probably claps and cheering but I couldn't hear it. I couldn't hear anything except for our hearts beating at a fast pace. He was blushing, I was blushing, he was leaning in, I as leaning in, he tilted his head one side, I tilted my head to the other. I couldn't control myself as much as I want to hate him but… I can't. Our lips were about to touch when-.
"Wow guys! You sure earned a lot of money! The can is filled with it." Fuck! If he would have come a few seconds earlier me and Zuko would have… would have. I blushed at the thought. Han Tse left and left us alone. I turned to him slowly. He wanted to say something.
"I um… am sorry about… uh… y-you know-?"
"It's okay." I didn't want to say anything else so I left with Han Tse who handed me the can full of money.
"What's this?"
"It's the money you two earned. You and your boyfriend have quite a talent." I ignored that 'boyfriend' part.
"Thank you but we can't take all of this. What about your family's needs."
"What? These people aren't my family. I don't know how they are but I bet they will want cash since they played music. Tell you what I'll give you a third which would be like 20 gold pieces and I will throw in this soup I made." I couldn't just reject him so I accepted but when the cost was clear I threw the soup away because eating it would be crazy. It looked like he hadn't showered in days and who knew what he put in that soup.
"Looks like we earned 20 gold pieces." Thing were awkward around us but we tried to ignore it, we tried. We went in the woods since we should save the money on food for future trips. We won't know when or where we will get more money. It was so hot; my hair was not helping what so ever. I used Zuko's spare dagger and cut my hair just above the middle of my spine. I looked at Zuko and notice his hair was very long. His head must be an oven or something although he isn't sweating but I don't care/
"You need a haircut."
"What why?"
"Your hair is getting long and it would make you look like a girl in my tribe. Besides I don't care if you are a fire bender and you can control your heat."
"Okay mom." I just frowned but then chuckled. I cut it just above his ear but it didn't look really different just sorter. I think that in about a few months it would look like how it use to. We were telling scary stories since it was almost a full moon (A/N: They were on Azula's ship for 4 weeks.) I was telling him the story about Nini, a friend of my mom who disappeared in a storm and never returned. I was ending the story when out of nowhere an old lady appeared. We took fighting stances when the old lady lifted her hand in surrender.
"Now now there is no need to fight a helpless old woman."
I looked at Zuko confuse wondering why a helpless old lady is doing in the woods late at night. She told us her name is Hama and that she asked us if we wanted some shelter while we are here. We refused but she kept on insisting, I'm a sucker for old people especially for Gran Gran. We entered her house and we went right to bed. I tried to sleep but I couldn't. It wasn't the fact that it was SO HOT! It was the fact that I kept thinking about what happened with Zuko and I earlier. I thought about how close we were and how we kept leaning in. Part of me was disgusted that I had those feelings toward the enemy but, the other part of me the other bigger part, really wanted to see what would have happened if the space between our lips would have close. After that thought, I slept like a baby.
Zuko's POV
I don't want to sound paranoid or anything but I still don't like the idea of sleeping in an old ladies house. She is super creepy and I don't want to judge anyone but when I excused myself to use the bathroom I saw a wooden hand coming out of small doors from a wall. I tried to put it back in but then the doors opened and a bunch of wooden puppets fell on me. I almost tripped and the puppets where going to crash down on the floor loudly. Luckily, I am a skilled master of the fine arts and managed to regain my balance and I caught the weird wooden puppets. I quickly shoved them in the closet and left for the bathroom. I entered the old hags guest room. I know she is acting nice and all but I've lived with Azula, AZULA! Like uncle once told me, "every rose has thorns" in Azula's case, many thorns have a rose. I took a bath with my pants on, the old hag could be watching. I used my firebending to dry myself. I went to bed without my shirt knowing it has use in the heat.
I couldn't sleep because my mind was focus on one thing, one person, Katara. The dance we were doing made me feel so… I don't know how to describe it. I tried to ignore that thought but all that came to my mind was an image of me and Katara leaning in. I kept thinking about it until I fell to sleep with the image of my lips on hers.
Well, that had much more Zutara don't you think. Did you hate or like this chapter? Do you want more Zutara? Please review, last chapter I didn't get ANY reviews. I was so depressed. I know this also happened to many but I must know, is my story that bad? Did you like it? I won't be all like 'they said my story is terrible so I won't continue'. I will want your opinion and if you don't like it, PLEASE tell me how I could improve. It would mean the world to me. Bye
