Chapter Five

BANG! BANG! BANG! Katara gasped and sat up in surprise as a loud thudding sound came from somewhere across the room. Where am I? she thought sleepily. She glanced around and suddenly was wide awake as memory flooded back to her.

BANG! BANG! She realized, with a start, that someone was pounding on her door. She sat up quickly then gasped in pain. She felt like tiny needles were sticking her hands and face. Confused she looked down at her hands to see nasty red welts. They're burn marks. She realized and her thoughts went back to the fight the day before, when she was captured. I bet my face looks even worse.

She got out of bed and felt a stab of pain in her leg where the first fireball had grazed her. She limped to the door just as there was a click and it flew open.

Prince Zuko was standing there looking impatient. He started to say something but saw Katara's face and did a double take. "Wow, what happened to you?"

She felt herself flush, "It's your fault! You burnt me yesterday remember!"

"You look like you got in a fight with a mad cat. There are red places all over."

"Thank you! That's exactly the kind of thing I need to start my day with! Are you going to tell me why you're here or not?" Katara crossed her arms and glared at him.

He felt himself turning red. "I was coming to tell you my Uncle wants to see you on deck."

Katara looked at him in surprise, "Why?"

"How should I know? It's my Uncle, with him there's no telling." With that Zuko turned and led the way up the corridor to the stairs.

Katara rolled her eyes and followed him slowly. When they reached the stairs he turned and motioned for her to go up first.

"I don't want you getting any ideas."

"What am I going to do? Push you up the stairs?" she retorted but walked ahead of him and started to climb. But before she reached the top a sudden pain seared through her bad leg, causing her to cry out and jerk backwards. She tried to catch herself but her balance was thrown off and she closed her eyes as she began to fall, expecting to feel the jolt of the hard floor at any moment. But to her surprise she didn't. Whether he did it out of instinct or something else Prince Zuko wasn't sure. All he knew was that one second they were climbing the stairs and the next Katara was in his arms.

For a second both simply stared at each other, to surprised to do anything else. Finally Prince Zuko slowly pushed her up again until she had her balance and was standing on the step above him.

"Thanks." Katara said softly after a few minutes.

"I…." For once in his life Prince Zuko couldn't think of anything to say. "My Uncle's probably wondering where we are." He finally answered.

She nodded slightly and turned and limped up the rest of the stairs with him following behind.

"Ah, there you." Uncle Iroh appeared at the top of the stairs, "I was just about to send a search party. I thought maybe you had attacked my dear nephew here and I didn't want you to hurt him too badly."

Prince Zuko began shouting angrily. His Uncle simply waved his words away with his hand and motioned for Katara to follow him. She limped behind him towards the far end of the deck. Prince Zuko walked away muttering.

"You're talking to yourself again." His Uncle called cheerfully after him.

"I am not!"

Katara and Uncle Iroh reached the railing of the deck and stopped. He turned around to look at her. She stared silently at him with cold, emotionless expression on her face. He glanced over the rail at the rolling sea.

"It's very beautiful, isn't it? The way it's always rolling in and out. Some people think the sea is the most peaceful place to be on earth."

Katara remained silent. He turned back to look at her.

"I know that the circumstances are not the best. In fact, for you, they're not good at all, but I do not want you to think of us as cold, unfeeling, uncaring people. Please ignore my stubborn nephew. Do not let him deceive you. He may appear cold and heartless but on the inside he is actually quite different. He just has had some….rough….times in his life."

Katara continued to stand there silently but it was not such a hostile silence as before. She gazed out over the water. Despite her unwillingness to, she was beginning to like this Uncle Iroh. But she still wasn't sure that she could trust him, he was still a firebender after all.

"But if you need anything you can ask me. Since you are to be staying with us for some time, I wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable."

"I'm your prisoner though." Katara said, speaking for the first time since the beginning of the conversation.

"I suppose so, if that is how you wish to look at it, but I think to think of you as more of a guest, as I said last night."

"Why?" Katara looked at him. "Why do you care?"

Uncle Iroh thought for a minute, then looked back at her. "Because I do not like to see harm come to innocent people, no matter whose side they're on. And between you and me, I think that having someone like you around will be good for Prince Zuko. He's used to having everything his way. He's never really been around someone with a bit more," he paused, trying to think of the right word, "free will."

"You realize that there's no way I could trust you don't you?"

"Of course. Whatever you think is best. Now, I think I am going to go fix myself a nice lunch." With that he turned and went below deck. Katara looked after him for a few minutes, thinking. She turned back around and leaned against the railing. She was unaware of the fact that Zuko was watching her from the far corner of the deck.

I just don't get her. He thought to himself. I had better be careful, she could be trouble. Yet as he watched her lean against the rail, he couldn't help but think how beautiful she looked. Stop it! If your father could hear you thinking like that he would be ashamed! He stalked across the deck to where she was standing.

Katara turned around and gasped in surprise when she saw that Prince Zuko was standing right in front of her. She hadn't heard him coming.

"Come on. I can't let you just roam around by yourself up here. I don't want to take any chances." He started to turn around to lead her back down to the cabin.

"What! There is no way I'm going back down there now! I am not spending this entire trip locked up in a teeny tiny room!" She crossed her arms.

He gaped at her. "Wh-! Yes you are! You will do as I tell you! And I say you're going back down there right now!"

Uncle Iroh, hearing the commotion, turned around, "Oooh! This ought to be good!" he promptly sat down to watch the two bickering teenagers.

"Should we do something Sir?" the head guard asked from behind him.

"No, let them be. They can't do that much damage. But you could bring me some popcorn."

"Yes Sir!" the guard marched off.

"NO I'M NOT!" Katara shouted, her face flushed with anger.

"Either go yourself or I will make you!" Zuko yelled back, his fists flaming.

"Oh, you think you're so scary with your fire bending powers! Well I'm not listening to you!" She waved her arms as she spoke and large waves began to splash against the deck.

"That's it! I'm sick of your stubbornness!" Prince Zuko suddenly shot forward, throwing a fireball at her head. Katara dodged and brought her arms out in a quick slashing motion, splashing him with a giant wave of water.

The guards, who had returned with the popcorn, sat down beside Uncle Iroh and began taking bets on who would win the match.

Zuko sent five fireballs whizzing at her which she blasted with another spray of water and in a moment they were hitting each other with everything thing they had. A fireball grazed Katara's arm as a wave of water knocked Zuko off his feet. Soon the air was filled with shouts, fire balls, and water.

Finally Uncle Iroh stood up and motioned to the guards to separate the two. They nodded and jumped up. They ran in and quickly separated the two fighting teenagers. Two guards grabbed Prince Zuko by the arms and another grabbed Katara around the waist and lifted her off the ground where she began to claw and kick, still trying to get at Zuko. He, likewise, was fighting the guards with all his might.

"Let me go! I am going to teach that good for nothing wretch a lesson!" He shouted, trying to wrench his arms free as the guards drug him backwards.

"I'll show you the meaning of pain!" Katara screamed.

After a few minutes of this, as Katara and Zuko realized that they weren't going to get lose any time soon, they grudgingly stopped fighting the guards and let themselves be led away. They were both soaked and the smell of burning wood was in the air. Katara had a long gash across her face where Zuko's fist had made contact on one well aimed blow and he had a black eye where he had hit the deck when a wave sent him flying.

"You'll pay for that." he muttered under his breath at Katara, his eyes filled with hatred.

"We'll see about that." she hissed back. The guard took her back to her room and locked the door behind her. The other two let Prince Zuko go after she was safely below deck.

"I'll make sure she pays for that. This isn't the end of it." He felt his face burning with anger.

"Talking to yourself again." His Uncle commented as he walked by on the way to the ship's kitchen.

"I AM NOT!" Prince Zuko yelled and stormed below deck to rant and rave in peace.

A/N: Ok I hope you guys are liking it so far. I have a question for you though, do you think the story is moving to slowly?