A/N: Captain Zuko? Did I just read that right? Yes dear viewer, yes you did. Our supermegafoxyawesomehot leading man finally appears in his debute chapter! (five stars for StarKid Potter, anyone?) Sorry for it being a little short, Zuko's appearance should make up for that. And the next chapter should be the best one of all, so get ready people! I don't know about you guys, but I'm so excited. This should be fun.
Disclaimer: The ever so gorgeous Zuko is not mine. Sorry. But whoever does own him is welcome to give him to me for Christmas!
"Ozai and his firebenders have struck here, here, and here," General Iroh said, pointing to spots on the large map of the Earth Kingdom. "We will corner him in Serpent's Pass and defeat his troops."
The general stood up and looked at his nephew proudly. "You will stay and train the troops," he said. "You know how your father works and you will be able to teach them how to fight against his army."
Zuko stood up along with his uncle and looked at him happily. "You mean- ?"
"Yes Zuko," Iroh said, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You are a captain now. When you are ready, you and the others here will join us at Serpent's Pass. Congratulations."
"But, but- ." Zhao stuttered in the corner. "Prince Zuko is not ready to command an army. He is just a boy. He's- ."
"No younger than you were when you began serving the emperor, Zhao," General Iroh said. He turned back to his nephew and got out a twin set of broadswords. "These are for you Zuko. They were mine when I was your age. Use them well."
"I will Uncle," said the young prince, nodding his head in respect. "Captain Zuko," he said under his breath.
The three men left the war tent to see the entire camp in a large fight. Everyone was punching, hitting, or kicking someone else. Zuko flinched in alarm. No one could train these men, especially not him. His uncle looked at him almost sadly.
"Good luck captain," he said, mounting his ostrich horse and moving on with the rest of the prepared troops.
"Good luck Uncle," Zuko called after him. Zhao looked over at Zuko and smiled.
"Day one," he said.
Katara dodged in and out of the punches, holding her breath and cringing. All of the men around her were going crazy. With this much testosterone in one place, she doubted that she could make it through one day, let alone this whole war.
"Soldiers!" a voice shouted, causing all the men to stop.
Jet pointed to Katara. "Hey, it was his fault." The captain strode over to where Katara stood and bore down on her.
Katara looked up and gasped. The man had a large, red scar that covered half of his face. It was in the shape of a flame and went from his left eye to his ear. At first, Katara was a little afraid of the man, but then she looked harder. He was unbearable handsome, even with the intimidating scar. His eyes were pure liquid gold and they shone like stars. He had shaggy black hair that fell to his face. His arms looked rather muscular. She tried not to blush.
"I don't want any trouble in my camp," he said to her, growling. His golden eyes flamed.
"Uh, sorry," she said. Behind her, Toph coughed and she realized her mistake. Deepening her voice, she went on. "But you know what it's like," she said gruffly. "Sometimes you just gotta kill something."
He looked at her apprehensively. "What's your name?" he asked.
"My name?" she stuttered, again forgetting the male voice. "Uh…"
"What about Jet?" Toph suggested.
"His name is Jet," Katara countered.
The captain narrowed his glare. "What was that?" he asked her.
"Um, nothing," Katara said gruffly. "My name is, um…"
"Li," Toph hissed at her. "Try Li. There are hundreds of them."
Katara coughed and straightened up, looking at the man in front of her. "My name is Li," she said firmly, almost trying to convince herself.
"Li?" he asked skeptically. "Let me see your papers."
Katara fumbled for her scroll and handed in to him, squinting her eyes shut a little. He took it and skimmed over the lettering keenly. "Hakoda is your father?" he asked her, stunned. "Hakoda of the Water Tribe?"
"Yes," she mumbled, looking at the ground. Her father must be so worried right now.
"I didn't know Hakoda had a son," said a man who seemed vaguely familiar. Katara looked up to see Zhao, the man who had handed out the scrolls in her village. She had a quick intake of breath and tried not to look at him, hoping that he wouldn't recognize her. Zhao's eyes became hungry suddenly. "Though he did have this daughter- ."
"Enough," the man said, holding his hand out to Zhao. He turned back to Katara. "So you're a waterbender?" he asked, sounding the slightest bit impressed.
She nodded eagerly. "Yes."
"And you did all this?" he asked, motioning to the soup and water soaked campsite.
"Um, yeah," she said nervously, worried now.
He smiled. "Then you and the rest of the men here will all spend tonight cleaning up camp. And tomorrow, we start training."
The men all stood around and glared at Katara, rolling up their sleeves and making threatening faces. Katara winced and backed away from them. Zhao stood there, looking at her interestedly.
"You all heard Captain Zuko!" he barked. "Now get to work."
Katara sighed and propped the giant bowl up again. Everyone was still looking at her like they wanted to kill her, but she ignored them. Instead, she got into a fighting stance and bent the water and soup on the ground back into the bowl. Everyone stood and stared at her, completely surprised.
She turned back around, seeing that with the water cleared up, the place hardly looked like it needed cleaning. Some things needed to be put back in their place and one tent seemed a little askew, but other than that it was fine. She dusted her hands off and walked away.
"You're welcome," she said to the troops who still stared at her in awe.
When she got back to Appa, she took him and Momo to a spot far off from the others. She didn't want to be anywhere near these men. After setting up her tent, Toph climbed up on Katara's shoulder and sighed.
"So," she said conversationally. "He must be pretty cute."
"Who?" Katara asked, trying to hide her furious blush, despite the fact that Toph couldn't see it.
"Your captain," she said simply. "That Zuko guy. He must be cute."
"Um…how do you- ?"
"I can feel your heart rate, remember?" she replied, smirking. "It sped up like a cheetah lion when he was talking to you. So, I'll ask again, is the boy cute?"
Katara grinned a little. "Yeah, a bit. He's got this terrible scar on his face, but his eyes are like the sun." She looked up at the night sky and saw the stars twinkling above her. "Or stars."
"Well don't start getting any ideas sweetness," Toph said, hopping from Katara's shoulder and onto Momo's tail. The lemur shrieked and jumped in the air.
"Oh shut it!" Toph shouted at the poor creature. She turned back to her friend. "Katara, just try not to crush on your own captain. You're all guys here, remember?"
"Right," Katara grimaced, thoughts of her charade coming back to her.
"So kick the pretty boy out of your head and try to focus on manly things." When the little girl heard the giggle and sensed Katara's heart speeding up, she groaned and tried again. "No Katara, not manly things, but you know. Think of things that men think about. And what did I say about giggling?"
So what's next for Katara? Let's just say, Zuko's gonna make a man out of her! *squee* ;D
Please review!
p.s. "You know how it is, sometimes you've just gotta kill something!" Best line ever? I think so.
