Author's Note: Sorry it's a little late! I slept all day yesterday, lol. I hope you guys like this one, and PLEASE read and review! Give me some ideas! :D
"There is a storm coming...a very big one," said Iroh, sniffing the air around him curiously. We were all standing on the deck of the ship, drinking cool glasses of mixed tangerine and pearfruit juice. Zuko was searching the clear blue sky with his telescope, and Iroh and I were walking around aimlessly, trying to pass the time. Zuko put down his telescope, clearly annoyed at what his Uncle had just stated.
"Storm? There's not even one cloud in the sky," he spat, shaking his head in disbelief.
"It is coming from the north. We need to change our course, Prince Zuko," Iroh continued, despite Zuko's obvious disbelief that so much as bird shit would fall out of the sky. Zuko turned, his shiny black ponytail fluttering in the breeze. To me, everything about that boy was perfect. I liked him more than I liked baby turtleducks, and that was a lot.
"Uncle, we know that the Avatar is traveling north, and we're going to do the same," he said angrily, turning his attention back to the clear, cloudless sky.
"Consider the safety of the crew, Zuko. Consider our safety," argued Iroh, gesturing to me and himself, his gray eyebrows narrowed in aggravation. Zuko ignored him, grabbed his telescope, and huffily started to gaze into the sky again. Iroh sighed in defeat and walked down the narrow stairs, below the deck.
I walked up next to Zuko and leaned against the side of the ship, twirling my long hair in my fingers. He didn't move at first, but then sighed and put down the telescope, facing me. About two weeks had passed since the night that we spent in the woods together, and after a talk from Iroh about safe sex, everything was smooth sailing. We hadn't spotted Aang, Katara, or Sokka since the encounter with the pirates, but when we had stopped to re-stock our supplies, we heard that they had been through there recently, and were planning to head to the North Pole. Zuko clung onto this news of course, and he rushed the crew back onto the ship with the supplies, eager to get started.
"Do you really think a storm's coming?" asked Zuko, as though he already knew my answer.
"No, not really," I admitted, checking behind me to make sure that Iroh wasn't listening in. Zuko laughed slightly at my paranoia and leaned in toward my face, kissing my cheek.
Sure enough, black clouds were gathering in the sky ahead of us. When Zuko saw this, he groaned angrily, but Iroh was looking pleased with himself. Zuko and a Lieutenant were arguing about changing course of the ship. I knew that it would be a good idea as I heard thunder in the distance; I wasn't a big fan of storms. The wind started to pick up, and it blew my wavy auburn hair into my face.
"Lieutenant, you better learn some respect," hissed Zuko, his face full of anger.
"What do you know about respect? The way you talk to everyone around here, from your crew to your Uncle shows that you don't know a thing about respect. The only person here that even gets half of your respect is that skinny little whore!" the Lieutenant yelled, pointing in my direction. I narrowed my eyebrows and the guard and I spit on the deck, showing my dislike for him. Zuko looked angrier than ever, and took a step toward the Lieutenant, his fists in tight balls.
"Take it back," he snarled, his face only inches from the man in front of him.
"Go to hell, Prince Zuko," the Lieutenant spat, his nostrils flared in rage. And then they were both in different firebending stances, ready to battle. I looked at Iroh, and the both of us ran over to separate the two angry men. I stood in front of Zuko, pushing him slowly backward. His breathing was heavy, and there was a vein that was popping out in his forehead.
"Enough," ordered Iroh, looking annoyed, "We have all been at sea for too long, and we're starting to get restless. It's nothing that a good meal won't fix. Let us all have lunch now." he said sternly, as if he were talking to misbehaving children. The Lieutenant lurched out of Iroh's grip and stormed off in the opposite direction. Zuko glared after him, not breaking his gaze until the Lieutenant disappeared below deck. I sighed and patted Zuko's muscular chest with one hand, backing away to let Iroh speak with him.
"I want him off my ship," spat Zuko as soon as Iroh reached his side.
"Prince Zuko, he is a very hard-working man. I'm sure that you two will-" Iroh began, but Zuko cut him off immediately.
"No, Uncle. He not only disrespected me, but he disrespected Kiyah, who had nothing to do with the argument. I want him off my ship," Zuko repeated the last sentence with more force than the first time, and Iroh hung his head.
"As you wish, Prince Zuko." he said, defeated.
As the storm raged overhead, Zuko and I took refuge in his bedroom. It was larger than mine, but not by much. There were velvet hangings of the Fire Nation symbol on the walls, a bamboo dresser in the left corner, a writing desk in the right, and in the middle of the room was a large bed. We sat down, stumbling slightly as the ship rocked from the violent waves in the ocean. He took my hand in his, and stroked the top of it with his thumb, looking down. I shifted my position and scooted closer to him, lifting his head up.
"What's bothering you?" I asked gently, looking straight into his amber eyes. He moved his head down again.
"I don't want to talk about it," he whispered, looking at our hands.
"Zuko," I started softly, pulling his face back up to stare into mine, "You and I have been through so much already. You can tell me anything," I smiled, squeezing his hand. He sighed deeply, squeezing my hand back.
"This storm just brings back a bad memory," he stated after a while, "A memory of the day I got my scar," he breathed, looking down again. I bit my lip, curious to know how he had acquired the deep burn scar on his left eye.
"What happened?" I asked after a while, not wanting to offend him. He looked into my concerned face and took a deep breath, ready to tell his story. He told me of going into a meeting with his father and many other powerful men in the Fire Nation's army. One of them said something terrible, and Zuko interrupted him with an outburst of what he would be doing wrong. All of them looked at him, aghast, and Zuko knew he was in trouble. He was then to face the man that he interrupted in Agni Kai. Zuko wasn't afraid until he saw that the man wasn't anyone else but his own father. Zuko refused to fight him, and in turn, he received his scar. Zuko was then banished from the Fire Nation, and would only be accepted back into it when he had caught the Avatar.
I reached out and slowly touched Zuko's scarred flesh: it was soft, like the rest of his skin, but it had an unusual texture to it. The tips of my fingers brushed against the scar, and Zuko reached up, gently taking my hand and bringing back down into my lap. He looked upset, so I leaned into his chest, my head resting just under his chin. He stroked my hair with one hand, and the other rested on the small of my back. I didn't know what to say to comfort him, but I knew that this was enough when he kissed my hair and leaned back against me.
We sat like that for a while, holding each other while the rain beat on the window and thunder roared overhead. This is where I wanted to stay: in Zuko's arms. Wherever he was, I wanted to be there too. I didn't want anything to happen to him, and I would fight for him until the end. Did I love him? No, I couldn't love him. I just felt very strongly about him, that's all. Right?
"Kiyah?" he breathed in my ear, his warm breath tickling my neck.
"Yeah, Zuko?" I asked, snuggling up against him some more, making myself comfortable.
"We're...together aren't we?" he asked this nervously, as though he was afraid of what my answer might be. I smiled and tilted my head back, looking up at him.
"Yes," And then I kissed him. He seemed to be taken by surprise at first, but then he kissed back, pulling my body into his and slowly running his hands up and down my back. Then suddenly, there was an urgent knock at the door, and we broke apart, surprised. Zuko called for whoever it was to come in: it was Iroh; drenched to the skin and panting.
"We need your help! The storm is terrible!" he cried. Zuko and I immediately jumped up and headed out the door and up onto the deck.
It was absolute pandemonium; there were waves splashing violently over the deck, drenching everyone in their path. It was pouring the rain, and the thunder and lightning seemed endless. After only five minutes of being out there, I had been knocked down twice by the waves. We all heard a scream from above, and looked up to see one of the crew hanging off of some of the rigging. Immediately, Zuko and the Lieutenant he argued with earlier jumped into action. They both climbed up to where the crewmen was, and pulled him back up onto the ship, together. They then shook hands, and right as soon as Zuko was about to climb back down onto the deck, a massive wave hit me. It knocked Iroh and I both off balance, but since I'm much lighter than Iroh, I went tumbling into the sea.
I screamed right before I was taken under by a violent wave. After what seemed like an eternity, I broke to the surface again, panting and coughing. Sea water didn't taste any better than rotten fish. I heard much yelling from the ship's deck as I was swept away by an undertow. I screamed at the top of my lungs; I was scared to death. I could swim, but I didn't like being in deep water...and that's exactly where I was. I fought to keep my head above water, coughing and retching as the water splashed into my mouth, strangling me.
A boat, a small fishing boat. I swam as fast as I could toward it, I wanted out of the water more than anything. And then I saw him: Sokka! He was struggling in the small boat with an old man at his side. I called out his name and thankfully he looked over toward me. I waved my arms and he did his best to paddle the ship over to me. We kind of met in the middle, and Sokka pulled me aboard. I coughed and retched some more, and a lot of water came out of my mouth.
"What are you doing here!" he called over the roar of the sea.
"Fell overboard!" I called back, holding onto him for support. Then Aang was there in the boat out of nowhere. Sokka hurriedly hands Aang a rope, which he motions for all three of us to hold on to. He airbended back up onto Appa, who was hovering (with some difficulty) about 30 feet above the boat. I hung onto the rope for dear life: if I fell back into the sea, I wouldn't survive, my body was too tired from fighting the waves. Aang pulled us up, but there was a wave. Appa tried his best to dodge it, but he was too slow; the wave took us under and I swallowed water. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't see. I was drowning, and that's all that there was to it.
