Betrayed

"Good, Aang." Yumi complemented the young monk as she dodged a wave of fire. "You are getting better." Aang smiled as he landed on the ground but his smile was knocked off when a blast of fire knocked him back onto the ground. "I never said we were done." Yumi smirked as she pulled her fist back to her side while punching out with the other and taking a step forward while doing so. Aang rolled out of the way and flipped onto his feet. He leaned back and avoided a blast of fire that came from one of Yumi's kicks. Aang flipped up into the air, over another fiery blast. Aang let out fire as he tucked himself in a ball and flipped behind Yumi. When he landed behind the mysterious woman, the Avatar slammed his fist into the ground and fire spread out. However, Yumi had turned and brought up a shield of fire, blocking the young Avatar's flames. "That's enough." Aang stood up, breathing heavy but held a smile on his face. Yumi stared at him blankly.

"How did I do?" He asked her eagerly. Yumi turned and began to walk away.

"Soon enough, you'll be an advance student." She threw over her shoulder as she left.


"Today is the day." Katara frowned as she looked up from the Pai Sho game she and Iroh were playing.

"What are you talking about?" Zuko glanced at her as he walked over to Lieutenant Ji.

"Today I'll capture the Avatar." Katara looked down at the game. How foolish she was. A simple kiss between the two was not enough to change his side. It wasn't enough to change anything.

"Well then," Iroh beamed at Katara. "perhaps you would like to change into something more lady like to meet with your friends?" Katara looked down at her clothes. Yes . . . perhaps she would change into a dress. Something similar to what she wore when she traveled with them. At that thought she felt something inside of her cringe with pain. She was betraying her friends. She had kissed the man who hunted Aang like an animal for no reason. She had basically handed Aang over to Zuko. She glanced back up at Zuko and saw him advert his eyes from her.

"I think you're right." Katara replied to Iroh as she stood. "If you'll excuse me, I'll go find something nice to wear." With that she was gone. Walking down the hallway, Katara let her head drop and stared at the ground. She sighed and hurried her pace so that she would reach her room quickly. When she did reach her room, she locked the door behind her.

". . . . . how can I betray them? I can't fall for Zuko, I can't!" She muttered to herself as she when she went through the clothes. Katara pulled off the clothes she had been wearing and decided to wear some of the nicer clothes Iroh had gotten her. She hadn't wanted to seem stuck up so she had stuck with the simple clothes. But now she wanted to look pretty. For Sokka and Aang. Not for Prince Zuko. No, Katara could not want to look pretty for him.

A smile reached Katara face as she realized that Iroh had gotten her mostly blue, but also an array of colors had she decided to wear something else. Katara pulled on the black silk pants and light blue long sleeved shirt. Over the blue shirt she pulled on a silk midnight blue Chinese styled sleeveless shirt. On the silk Chinese shirt there were golden vines sewn in all over with tiny green leaves sprouting off of them. The waterbender slipped her feet into another pair of black silk shoes. Undoing her hair from the braid and bun, Katara began to brush it. Her thoughts wondered to a certain prince she had a crush on. The same prince she shared her first kiss with.

A knocking on her door brought her out of her thoughts. Katara put the brush down and walked over to the door. Unlocking it, Katara pulled it open to see Zuko.

"May I come in?" She nodded dumbly as she opened the door more and moved out of the way. Zuko stepped in and Katara closed the door after him, not saying a word. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know what to say. No . . . that wasn't true. She wanted to yell at him. Curse him! Hit him! She wanted to be mad at him for going after Aang. But she couldn't. Because she cared about Zuko. "Are you alright?" Katara shrugged before she reached back behind her head and began to put her hair in its usual style. "Do you need help?" She paused in twisting her hair into a bun and stared up at Zuko in surprise.

"You know how to braid hair?" Zuko nodded.

". . . . Hellfire had long hair. Sometimes, when I was bored and there was nothing else, she'd let me put her hair up."

"Oh. Well, I guess you could help." Zuko guided her to the chair at the vanity and began to braid her hair from the bun. After a minute he was done and she looked at him through the mirror in the vanity.

"I think I like you in this outfit better than the one before. You should wear the nicer clothing."

"Really?" Zuko nodded as he let his hand rest on her shoulder.

"Yes." Silence hung thick in the air. Finally, Zuko spoke again. "You're sad." She squinted her eyes in confusion. "I can tell by your eyes."

"Oh." Zuko sighed and pondered what he should do. He kissed her twice and he did like her. And she liked him. Even though he was from the Fire Nation. What did that make them? "You're not going to stop going after Aang, are you?" He blinked in surprise and realized that he had drifted off in thought for a moment.

"I have no choice." Katara stood up and turned around, facing him with fire in her eyes.

"Bullshit! You're a prince! Of course you have a choice." Zuko glared at her.

"What would you know?" He snapped and she moved around the chair and poked chest.

"I know that it is wrong to hunt a person! I know that you don't like this war! I know that Hellfire would want you home, where your family is!"

"You know nothing!" Zuko yelled and bits of fire came out when he had thrown his arms down in his rage. "I would love to go home but I can't! Not until I have the Avatar. That is my father's word and his word is law!" Katara calmed down and stared at Zuko, trying to figure it out. But all she saw was anger and pain.

"Why would your father banish you?" She asked calmly and it upset the young prince.

". . . that is none of your concern." Zuko snapped and her stormed over to the door but Katara moved quickly and stood in his way. "Get out of the way."

"Please tell me, Zuko." Zuko looked away, ashamed and angry.

". . . I cannot." Katara reached up and caught his head in her hands and gently moved his head so he would look at her.

"Why not?" Zuko adverted his eyes from hers. He couldn't tell her. The young firebending master glanced at her and felt his heart melt.

"Please, what I did had no honor and-" Katara cut him off. The waterbender's curiosity and need to know were too great.

"Zuko." She smiled up at him. "I promise I won't be mad or disappointed or anything like that. I just want to understand." Zuko sighed and looked down into her deep blue eyes, getting lost in them. And it came out. All of it. How the guards would not let him into the war chamber. How he pleaded with his uncle to go into the war chamber. How he spoke out of term. How he was forced to duel and father. And how he begged for mercy and was scarred.

"I can't go back home until I have the Avatar. It's been two years Katara. I'm tired and I want to go home." The waterbending master smiled at Zuko and pulled him down into a hug with his head resting on her shoulder. "Katara-"

"He was wrong, Zuko." She whispered in his ear. "He was wrong." Zuko pulled out of Katara's grasp and looked down at him.

"Katara?"

"Yes?" He leaned close to her. He stopped only when he was an inch away from her.

"I'm going to kiss you now. Is that alright?" She closed her eyes and laughed softly.

"You don't have to ask to kiss me, Zuko."

"Oh. Thank you." She chuckled softly but was silenced as Zuko's lips crushed hers. This kiss was not like the first two, which could be considered pecks. This kiss held fire and passion in it. Zuko held the back of Katara's head and her waist as he kissed her and pulled her closer to him, as close as she could get to him. The young woman wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed back with as much passion as she could. Finally, the need for air broke them apart. Zuko rested his forehead against hers and smiled softly at her.

"You are strange, Zuko. But I like that."

"I also find you strange. And I also like that about you, Katara."


Yumi stared in her mirror. The skin was torn again. She bit her lip and pressed her fingers over the torn skin and made the patch of cream color disappear. A knock on the door brought her attention up, away from the mirror. The dark eyed woman silently cursed and checked herself over in the mirror to make sure there were no more tears. Another knock.

"I'm coming." She called as she scanned over her face. With a nod to herself in approval, Yumi pushed open the door. Aang was fidgeting in front of her. "Aang? What are you doing? Shouldn't you be practicing with Bumi?"

"No. Prince Zuko has caught up with us. He'll be here within the hour." Yumi nodded and stepped out of her room, hurrying after the Avatar.

'Well, it appears I did not put too much faith in them.' She came to a halt as she and Aang entered the throne room.

"Aang! Yumi!" Sokka yelled when the two entered. "Prince Zuko is coming."

"I know." Aang turned his attention to Bumi. "What do you want me to do? I can fly Appa away so that he'll follow us away from the city."

"No." Bumi stood and shook his head. "We will fight the Fire Nation. You still need to work on your Earthbending skills. Besides, I'm sure that with your new Firebending and Earthbending skills you will prove that you are more than a match for him." Bumi smiled wryly at the female fire master. "And of course, you have a new ally. But . . ." Bumi sighed warily as he sat down again. "It appears that Prince Zuko has a new ally as well. Katara is with him." Aang felt his eyes widen in surprise.

"That's a lie!" Sokka shouted.

"Impudent fool! Do not call the king a liar!" A guard yelled at Sokka. The young water tribe boy glared at the soldier.

"It's a lie. My sister would never side with Prince Zuko! If she's with him, then she's got to be a captive."

"Then she's a very well dress captive with her own rhino and no bindings." Bumi snapped, quieting the young warrior.

"But . . . . why would Katara betray us like that?" Aang whispered. Yumi stepped forward and questioned to the king.

"How can you be sure it's Prince Zuko and Katara?" Bumi stared down at her with a stern gaze but she did not back down.

"We have scouts saying that the girl with Aang from when he was last here was coming with a scarred young man and a small troop of soldiers along with the famed General Iroh, Dragon of the West." Aang looked down as sorrow consumed him.

"But why? Why would she leave us for him?"

"He must have tricked her!" Sokka muttered.

"It does not mater. What matters now is stopping them." Yumi looked at Aang. "Do not allow yourself to lose yourself to emotions. You are not to give into your emotions, Aang. If you do, you are no better than the weak firebenders who are fueled by nothing but hate and anger."

"Like Prince Zuko." Sokka snapped. "He's always losing his temper and blowing up." Yumi raised an eyebrow.

"Then that will be his downfall."


Wow, I got this chapter up fast, didn't I? Well, please tell me how I'm doing. It helps me. If there are any major mess ups, telling me so I can fix it. And tell me your ideas. Sometimes you guys are right. Like in my last story, I was blown away but how right you guys can be.