She wanted to tear away. She wanted to break free from his grip, but she didn't even struggle. She just let herself get dragged off, running blindly to wherever he was taking her. The look on his face when he'd killed that soldier was one she'd never seen before. It was fear mixed with anger which burned intensely in his eyes. At first she hadn't recognized him since his clothing was different and his hair had grown and was now worn differently, but she recognized the scar, perhaps the one thing on him that would never change.
Zuko knew they needed to hide. If he had been seen saving her, God alone knew what his father... or even Azula, would do. He was very certain that they had gotten out without being spotted, but he still felt they'd be safer the further away they got.
----
Azula had been rushed away from the palace and on one of the war ships before any of the earthbenders could hurt or kill her. The surviving firebenders boarded with her and they fled, cursing the second time Ba Sing Se had beaten them. The Dai Li would no doubt be killed or imprisoned, but they didn't care. What mattered to them now was to save their own skins.
"Princess Azula," said one of the generals, and the angered princess turned to look at him.
"What do you want?"
"We took a quick count... twenty Fire Nation soldiers are missing still, probably dead." Azula waved it off, turning around.
"I care not how many men we've lost at the moment, general," she said coldly.
"Your brother, Prince Zuko, is among the missing."
Azula froze and turned around. "Zuko is missing?"
"We have more news. We apprehended someone we've been hunting for a while..." He signalled two guards over, dragging a struggling prisoner in chains. Azula smiled when she recognized him and walked over to him, giving him a mocking glance.
"Well well, look what the cat dragged in..." she said. "Uncle, it's been too long."
"Not nearly," spat Iroh.
"Don't worry. Our time together will be fairly short. My father has placed a price on your head so high nearly every bounty hunter was looking for you. Once he sees his own daughter caught you and he doesn't need to pay a thing, I think he'll feel gracious enough to simply fry you rather then slowly roast you on a stake." She signalled for him to be locked away behind metal bars, much stronger than the Earth Kingdom bars so there was no way he could break out.
"We also hunted for the girl," said the general. "There was no sign of her, and we think she fled like a coward." Azula's eyes narrowed.
Her brother was missing... and so was that girl. She immediatly put 2 and 2 together and turned to the general. "We'll find my brother," she said. "Send out word that my uncle has been captured at last. Make sure everyone in Ba Sing Se hears it. Then keep the ship just outside of Ba Sing Se's boarders. We'll give Zuzu a week, and if he doesn't show up, he is one of the dead and we leave him here."
"Yes, ma'am," said the general as he hurried off to carry out her orders. Azula smiled and looked out at the horizon. Once Zuko heard his uncle was captured he'd come running to the resque. And then, he'd be captured, chained, and brought before their father as the cowardly traitor he was. And then... he'd be killed, as punishment for the crime, along with that girl of his,
and she would become the rightful heir to the throne.
----
Zuko stopped after nearly an hour of running. They had gone past the city's borders and were in the middle of nowhere it seemed. Jin was greatful she had spent all that time exercising or else this trip would have taken a toll on her. Still, her senses had started to come back and when he stopped she jerked her hand away and drew her blades, panting angrily.
"Why did you bring me here?!" she shouted. All her anger she had felt towards him had come back, and she wasn't going to let him off the hook. Zuko was too busy catching his breath to respond, but he did look up at her. "How dare you! Why can't you just leave me alone?!" She turned around and shook her head. "You're such a bad person, Zuko! They told me you were dead. And then I learn you're... you! And now..." she looked for the words. "And now I wish you really had been dead." Her words burned and he stood up fully, giving her a dark look.
"Really?" he hissed, a hint of anger entering his voice.
"Yes really!" she shouted. "Because being dead is better then being who you are!"
"YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT?!" he shouted, and she jumped back, surprised at his sudden outburst. He stood there panting, giving her a deadly look and she stared at him, finding her voice again.
"You're pathetic!" she spat. "And a coward!"
"You forgot cursed," he said, turning from her. "I saved your life, Jin."
"And I'm supposed to be greatful?!" she snapped.
"Yes! Most people would be!"
"Well thank you then!" she half screamed. "Thank you for leaving me here, lying to me, and then coming back at the last minute to save my skin while killing my people in the process! How ever can I repay you oh wonderful one?!"
"You don't know what you're talking about!" he growled.
"Do you even know what I'm talking about?! Do you have any idea what you put me through?!" He stared at her, knowing he deserved all that she already was, and was about to spew on him. "I liked you... a lot! I may have even started to feel a little more than that... and then I find out you're not Lee, the nice boy who lives with his uncle near a tea shop, but Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation!" Tears formed in her eyes. "Everything... all of it was a lie! Everything I felt, everything you said, it was all a lie and I fell for it!"
"And that's what you think then?" he asked, giving her a dangerous look. "Because I don't have the name you think I had, everything from then on was a lie? You're even going to deny your own feelings?!"
"I didn't fall for you!" she screamed. "I fell for Lee! And as far as I'm concerned he really is dead! Dead and rotting beneath the ground!"
"Then God save him!" roared Zuko.
Jin gritted her teeth and took a fighting stance. "You can die too for all I care!" and with that she leapt at him, swinging at him. Zuko turned around in time to dodge her attack, and without thinking he hurled fire at her. She dodged and attacked again. The firebender she had run into earlier had been beyond her, but her anger with Zuko was strong enough that she didn't care.
She just wanted to make him suffer the way she had.
"Are those my blades?" he called before she could attack again, but she didn't answer him. When she leapt over his head he got a good glimpse at them and sneered. "They are, you little theif!"
"Come and take them back then!" she hissed, and sprung at him again. He blasted at her and she tripped as she avoided it, falling to the ground and rolling away. Jin felt a burning sensation on her leg and she looked down at it, seeing she had in fact been burnt. She didn't care though. Her anger was blinding and she leapt to her feet, charging at Zuko. He made to fire at her again, but the was more careful to dodge, and then, rather than going strait at him as she had before, she landed on the side, twisting around behind him, and she kicked the backs of his knees, making him fall to his knees.
Not waisting time, she grabbed on to his topknot and yanked his head back, holding the blade against his throat. Zuko closed his eyes, and rather than fighting back he simply waited. Jin tightened her grip on the handle, ready to drag the blade across but she stopped when she saw the peace on his face. He knew he was going to die, there was no doubt about it, but there was almost the appearence of wanting it to happen, like he was counting on her to end his life right there and make it all end.
"My nephew is not the villain you think he is. He's a very complicated, confused, and, to be honest, hurting individual..."
Jin closed her eyes, remembering Iroh's words and how he'd pleaded with her. "Anger is a powerful emotion. Don't let it control you, young Jin." Her tears fell and she pulled the blade away from him, sheathing both of them and stepping away. She walked a good ten feet away from him and sank to the ground, burrying her face in her knees and weeping. Above her the sky was grey, and it came as no surprise to Zuko when it began to rain.
He got to his feet and stared at the broken girl who was sobbing miserably not too far away. He lowered his eyes and felt a stab of guilt, acknowledging again that he had done that. Every word she had fired at him had been true, and as he looked at her leg he'd burned, he realized it didn't matter whether or not he was near her or away from her. He was always hurting her, and he always would it seemed. It was a curse.
The rain picked up rather quickly and there was a blast of lightning. He walked over to Jin and picked her up, knowing her leg was probably too sore to walk on now that her anger wasn't distracting her from it. He just scooped her up and carried her away to a nearby cave, and slipped in with her, out of the rain and away from the storm.
She was still sobbing and now shivering from cold, and he started up a fire to warm them both up. Then he looked at her leg, knowing it would get infected if they didn't at least wrap it in something. He ripped off one of his sleeves, and wrapped it carefully around the injury, Jin sitting there quietly the entire time. "The storm shouldn't last long," he said to her when he was done. "As soon as it's over you'll have to go home and make sure a doctor looks at this."
"What about you?" she asked, sniffling. "Where will you go?"
"I don't know," he answered. Then it dawned on him that he had nowhere to go. He'd killed a Fire Nation soldier... one of his own men! And he'd help save the enemy. What had he been thinking? He could not return home, he couldn't stay here now that everyone knew his face... there was nowhere left to hide. "Oh God..." he muttered falling back so he was sitting on the floor. "I can't go anywhere! Not home... I can't stay here..." He felt like he was going to be sick.
"I'm sure you'll find someplace to go," said Jin, no sympathy in her voice. "You'll find some place to disappear to and we'll both go on pretending the other doesn't exist." She folded her arms and leaned back against the wall. "Just pretend nothing ever happened."
"Nothing did happen, Jin," he said, looking up at her while tending the fire. "We went out once, and after that we just hung out... as friends."
"You told me once you liked me," she said softly.
"I did then," he answered, looking down at the fire again.
"Then..." she mimicked, rolling her eyes. "What changed, Zuko?"
He didn't know how to answer her. "It's..."
"Complicated?" she finished for him. "That's convenient."
"Well what about you?!" he snapped. He moved over to where she was and grabbed on to her wrists, looking her in the eye dangerously. She could feel his breath on her neck, and it sent a chill down her spine. "You had feelings too then," he hissed. "And now, not too long ago you say you hate me... and you want me dead." His stare was so intense she had to look away and he let her go, moving back to his original spot by the fire.
"I don't want you dead," she confessed after a moment. "I shouldn't have said that. I was just angry."
"But you hate me?" She didn't answer him. "I stopped liking you, but you went beyond that to hating me!"
"Well what did you expect me to do? You went from the boy I liked, to dead, to my biggest enemy I've ever known in a matter of days! How was I supposed to react?" He lowered his head and sighed.
"In a way, you were always my enemy," he said softly. "But I never hated you."
Jin closed her eyes as tears fell and she looked to the ground. "I wish things could go back to the way they were," she whispered. "When I was just the shy girl who hung out at your tea shop and you were the odd newcomer who couldn't juggle to save his life." He chuckled weakly at that, greatful he was finally able to look back on that memory and smile rather than feel embarassed.
She smiled through tears and looked away. Zuko glanced outside. "The rain's letting up," he said softly. "You'll need to leave soon." She nodded and stood up, standing at the mouth of the cave, waiting for it to stop. Her leg was still hurting badly, but there wasn't much more she could do about it now. When the rain finally stopped she turned to say goodbye, but when she looked at him she realized having to say it again was going to be too painful, despite how angry she may have felt before. She really didn't want to have to say it again.
So she just left, and Zuko let her go, not saying a word of goodbye to her either.
----