Okay, I'm updating! I had this chapter done three days ago already, but since alert is down again, I thought not to send it in. But now it seemed better to update anyway. I know my updates take me a while, but my future story is taking most of my time. And your fanart-requests too. Everyone who gave me a request, go to my profile and search your name between the others, on top of the page. After reading this chapter that is!
Chapter 51
Honor
A few minutes later, Zuko, Katara and their baby were sitting on the bed in an other room. Katara held Haru on her lap and let him play with her braid a bit, as Zuko had both his arms locked around her waist. He pulled her tighter against him and nuzzled his face in her neck, his warm breath relaxing her a bit.
'Did it hurt?' he asked, thinking about what happened in the other room. Katara shrugged and stroke her hand over her cheek. 'I feel fine, I guess he was just upset.'
Zuko growled in anger and glared at the door, as if Hakoda stood there. 'Upset?' he repeated after her. 'He slapped his own daughter in the face! What gave him the right to do something like that to you?!' His anger usually concerned her, but this time Katara found it rather nice. Nice because he was so worried about her.
He pushed her away a bit and took Haru in his arm, rocking the baby from one side to another. He shushed him a bit as the kid squealed a bit. 'Your father is cruel.' he said, giving his son a tight hug. 'I mean, this is his grandson! He should be happy!' Katara shrugged again and released a deep, held up sigh.
'I'm glad we kept Haru after all. I nearly decided to get rid of him, can you imagine what our life would have been like without him?' Zuko nodded and bit on his lip, putting his hand on hers.
'Thanks again for not doing that.' he said, smiling a bit. Katara was used to his smiles by now, even though he used to be mister grumpy on the ship. Her pregnancy and the birth of Haru had changed him a lot. It had turned him into a better man, into a… father.
Katara smiled as well and cuddled closer to him. 'You're cute when you're worried.' she said, poking him against his nose a bit. Zuko wiped something invisible off his nose and laughed a bit, giving Haru back to his fiancé.
Katara sighed again and stroke her hand over Haru's head and his tiny spikes of black hair. They had been together over a year by now, they had gone through so much pain and joy, they even had a child of their own, and still Zuko hadn't even THOUGHT about getting married. Not that this was the right moment to talk about something like that, right now was the moment to just… remain silence. A moment of silence always helped.
Zuko didn't care about the silence, and slid closer to Katara. He pressed a soft kiss in her neck and nuzzled her a bit, inhaling the scent of her hair. 'You know...' he started. 'It's been three months since the birth, so that means you're fertile again.' Katara looked up at him and lifted an eyebrow, pointing at Haru.
'You're thinking about more children already?' Zuko shrugged and stroke his hand over Haru's head, looking down on Katara. 'Not REALLY thinking about it.' he said. 'I just think we should... You know, decide whether we want more or not.'
Katara bit on her lip. Of course, she absolutely loved Haru, but Haru had been unexpected. And the past few months had been hard. Haru cried all night, demanded all their attention and worried her day after day. She listened to every breath he took, and alarmed Zuko almost immediately when she thought something was wrong. Even the way her baby yawned concerned her.
Then she noticed: Zuko talked about more children already, but they weren't even married yet! This was starting to annoy her.
Two moments after that, two more people entered the room. Aang pulled Toph with him and ran in their room, freaking out and yelling things which made no sense at all. After a while he calmed down and managed to exclaim a full, English sentence.
'We heard about Hakoda, is it true? Did he REALLY hit Katara?'
Zuko frowned and nodded, holding Katara close. 'He sure did. Damn, that asshole!' Katara wanted to react to the "asshole" part, but swallowed that back in. For now her father really was an asshole, she couldn't deny that. Zuko continued. 'He even rejected Haru, like my son wasn't good enough for him. MY son! Believe me, I'll KILL him the next time he even thinks about saying anything bad about my family!' Aang cheered and gave him an applause.
'Go Zuko!' he said. Zuko rolled his eyes and wanted to say something more, but an extra voice interrupted him. Hakoda came in and caused Katara to gasp, Haru to squeal, Zuko to growl, Aang to bite his lip and Toph to lift an eyebrow. 'What? What's wrong?' she asked. Aang put his hand over her mouth and pulled her with him out of the room, giving the family some privacy.
Hakoda's gaze followed the Avatar for a moment, but eventually he looked back to the others in the room. Zuko got up and took a fighting pose, glaring at him with the most dangerous glare he had. 'Buzz off, you! Don't you dare to touch Katara again!'
Hakoda sighed and came a step closer, making Katara crawl away in a corner of the room, holding Haru tight. She seemed afraid of her father, as Zuko roughly pushed Hakoda out. The man was smacked against the metal of the walls and glared back at his son-in-law. 'Hey! I'm here to see my grandson!'
Zuko rolled his eyes and spit on the floor in front of him. 'Yeah right, like I'd believe you! Just leave them alone, or I'll have to force you!'
Hakoda stepped back in and hung over, looking Zuko straight in the eyes and squeezing his eyes to small lines. 'And what army do you bring?' Zuko growled in anger and turned his hand to fists, hitting Hakoda in the face with one of them. He smirked triumphantly and crossed his arms as he saw Hakoda laying on the floor, rubbing his hands over his nose, which seemed to be bleeding by now.
He was absolutely furious. His son-in-law had hit him! 'You filthy dog!' he snarled. 'I'll show you what a REAL punch can do to your face!'
He hit Zuko in the face as well, smacking him on the floor. Zuko growled and crawled back up, giving Hakoda a kick in his midriff. The man barely noticed and hit Zuko again. Zuko was hit on his nose, in his stomach and between his legs, causing him to groan in pain - especially after the last hit. He fell down on his knees and leaned over, hoping that that would stop the pain a bit, but Hakoda took advantage of this. He kicked the boy under his chin, so he'd fall back and hit the metal with the back of his head. It hurt a lot, since Zuko cried out almost hysterically.
A drip of blood dripped out of his mouth and over his chin, while Hakoda wiped the blood on his nose away. After that he pulled Zuko up by his collar and used his knee to kick him in the stomach again. Zuko gasped for air as the man kept kicking and kicking, causing him to rock up and down kick after kick. Katara screeched his name out several times, but he barely heard. Everything around him slowly turned black, the sound of his own gasps disappeared and the desperate cries of his girl were swallowed by the darkness.
But when he heard Haru crying, he seemed to wake up again. No, he couldn't give up, he couldn't just let that old man beat him! If only he would have had his swords, then he could have defended himself much better. All he could do now was…
Firebending!
He growled again and took a deep, trembling breath, pulling his legs up and using his feet to shoot fire at the man. Hakoda cried out in surprise and let go of him, startled by the flames. Zuko fell down on the floor and gasped for air, his gaze looking over to Katara. Thank god, she was alright! And Haru seemed to be fine as well, just a bit upset.
He crawled back up and glared at Hakoda, who was still shocked by the flames. This time Zuko was the one to pull him up by his collar, holding a flame by his face as he glared at him. 'Like I said: leave them alone!'
Hakoda didn't react, answer or even breath, he just stared at the flame, terrified. He looked over to his daughter and shook his head, trying not to touch the flame. This couldn't be happening, this couldn't be true! What had she done? She had bared the child of a firebender, a murderer, a monster from the deepest pits of the spiritworld! His grandson was cursed for life!
'How could you DO this to your own child?!' he screeched, nodding at the baby she held. Katara tried to sooth Haru a bit and looked up to her dad, before averting her eyes. 'D… Dad, you have to understand, I-'
'You have been dumb, stupid and irresponsible! Do you realize what you've done? Your baby can be a firebender! Your mother was murdered by one, and YOU gave birth to another one!' He still tried to avoid the flame, as he pointed at the boy holding him up. 'This man has ruined everything you used to stand for! You used to be the sweet, wonderful watertribemaiden, but now you're this firebender's whore!'
The "whore" part caused Zuko to gasp. He hit Hakoda on the floor and put his foot on his chest, pressing him down against the metal. 'Mind your language, old man! She's my fiancé, NOT my whore!'
Katara got up and this time SHE was the one to growl in anger. She opened her mouth and yelled at the men.
'SHUT UP!' she screamed. 'I've heard ENOUGH of your fighting, and especially YOU, dad! I'm happy, I'm a mother and I'm engaged, but instead of congratulating me, you're beating up my fiancé and snarling at my baby! What kind of father are you?'
Hakoda pulled his daughter over to him and caused her to gasp, while she tried her very best not to let go fo Haru. He walked over to the door with her, but Zuko blocked his way out.
'And where do you think YOU'RE going?!' he snapped. Hakoda ignored him and tried to push him aside, his nails boring through the skin of Katara's arms and causing her to cry out in pain. 'I'm taking my daughter and grandson back to the south pole, where she can learn how to behave and the boy to turn into a decent waterbender. And when he turns out to be a firebender, I'll sacrifice him in honor of my wife and drown him in the ocean!'
Katara gasped and screeched a sharp "no", while she pressed her baby against her chest. 'No, dad, please no! You don't have to be this cruel, he's my first and only child!'
Hakoda glared back at her and gave her arm a firm tug. 'Don't you think you've been through enough sins by now? I want you to be happy, so I gave you the right to choose your own husband. You did, and at first this guy seemed alright. But once I found out about him fucking you up every single night, getting you pregnant on your fourteenth and being a filthy firebender, I ran out of patience!' His anger seemed to raise with every sentence he spoke, pulling her with him out of the room. But of course Zuko wouldn't let him do this.
He bit the man in his arm and held Katara close as he let go of her. Tears were about to stream over her cheeks, while Zuko stroke his hand over his son's head. 'You wouldn't dare to do this and you know that!' Zuko snapped at him. Katara shook her head and nuzzled her face in Zuko's chest.
'Zuko, don't make things worse than they are…' she whispered, voice cleary making it hard for her to talk. 'Firebenders are forbidden in our tribe. And women are supposed to obey. When a woman gives birth to an unwanted child, the child will be sacrificed in honor of lost spirits. When a woman is licentious - that is when she sleeps with other men - she will be punished. And when a woman does both with a firebender, she will be forced to watch her child's death, given to an other man and forever seen as the scandal of the tribe.' She exclaimed her words with a trembling voice, and eventually the tears came. Zuko glared to Hakoda and took his fighting position again.
'I won't let you do this to my family, you monster!' he yelled. 'This is your daughter, how can you even think about doing this to her?! Get off my ship, right now!'
Hakoda rolled his eyes and took his water bag, bending water out of it and taking a fightingposition as well. 'Suit yourselves. Her honor depends on this, the honor of our entire tribe depends on this. But I suppose you don't know a lot about honor.' Zuko felt like a spear stabbed through his heart. HE didn't know a lot about honor? The banished prince form the firenation, not knowing a thing about honor? This old man was working on his nerves more and more as the minutes passed.
He shot fire at him, but the fire was simply put out with the water. One hard slap with a waterwhip smacked Zuko against the wall, before sinking down to the floor. Damn, that whip hurt MUCH more than Katara's. Hakoda used more water and bended it all to him, everything slamming against him and knocking him down, unconscious. The little water in his bag was more than enough for him to get his son-in-law down.
The last thing Zuko could see was Hakoda pulling Katara with him, who was struggling against him and trying to protect her baby. Her desperate screams for help and Hakoda's final words kept repeating themselves in his mind again and again. As the darkness surrounded him again, his eyes slowly closed themselves and the last thing he could hear Hakoda say before leaving made him shiver.
'It's all about honor, Zuko, all about honor...'
…I think I've just changed the entire plot… Ah well, I like this one better anyway. This part will be kinda short, since we're heading for the end already. I want to start part 5!XD This time I implied enough Zuko-Hakoda-stuff, right?
Oh yeah, I still take requests for fanart, and everyone who already requested me something can check my profile. Some of your requests are done by now.
BUT those who will request now, do it in a review. I can't get PM's anymore, nobody can I think. Site's down again.
Anyway, please review! Why? 'Cause there certainly is something to review about in this chapter!
Oh yeah, next chapter will include more actual-story-plot-stuff, I just felt like adding more action between Zuko and Hakoda now. Plus, can anyone tell me when book 3 airs? EEEEK you guys are so lucky, here in Belgium/the Netherlands we've just seen episode 4, 4!!!
