Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Author: RedNovember
Title: The Hunter and The Prey
Pairing: Zuko/Katara
Genre: Romance/Action
Rating: PG-13 (or T) for now (mild swearing) but if I have to up it to R (or M) I will.
Chapter 2: The Tables Have Turned
Upon arriving back at his ship, Zuko deposited Katara in an empty, sparsely furbished room on a small cot. He was about to drape the thin woolen blanket over her before noticing her wet robe. An uncomfortable question arose in his mind, but no facial expression betrayed his inner turmoil A prince could never allow his true emotions to show, even in the privacy of an empty room (Aside from an unconscious, captured Water Bender girl).
There were no women on board, apart from Katara now. Zuko didn't wholly trust his own guards not to try anything. That left himself. He moved towards the girl on the bed before drawing back and shifting from foot to foot. It was completely and utterly improper!
His eyes narrowed at himself. Where had this cowardly side of him come from? He was in the midst of a war, in the middle of a chase for the fabled Avatar, who could either help his nation conquer the world or destroy everything he, his father, and the people of the Fire Nation had built over a long period of warfare.
Nothing, he repeated to himself, Nothing would stop him from achieving his goal. Definitely not a weak unconscious girl shivering on a cot and his own stupid ideas of "improperness".
He needed to find the avatar, and he would use this girl to find the last Airbender. He couldn't very well use the girl if she was dead or extremely sick from hypothermia and unable to give him any information.
Quickly, before he changed his mind, Zuko moved and untied the blue robe from her with a little shifting and pulling (thankfully she didn't wake up). To his relief, Katara was wearing a white shift between her outer blue robe and her underthings. However, this smaller white dress was also wet and turned slightly transparent. He quickly averted his eyes and decided she'd survive. He'd seen many things worse than a half-naked girl (for instance, dead people on the battlefield of war) but for God's sake he was a Prince! He wasn't meant to be undressing young women left and right.
Pulling the blanket over her, he took her blue robe and quickly exited the room and instructed the two guards outside to guard the room at all costs and not let anyone in except himself and the servant who would be sent to feed her and take care of other things. This girl was the key to finding the avatar and completing all of his future plans. He would make sure nothing would happen to her.
The Prince left, and if the guards noticed the girl's blue robe curled tightly in his right fist, they kept their ideas to themselves and said nothing.
Stepping off his ship and back onto the island, he noticed the original troop of soldiers he'd sent out to find the Avatar had returned empty-handed. They were panting and extremely tired. Before that annoying Captain who'd contradicted him the first time could use any sort of pitiful excuse, Prince Zuko held up a hand. He was only slightly disappointed. He hadn't really expected the small group of soldiers to find the Avatar and the girl's brother on this island. It was much to large for a small search party to comb completely. He instructed them to get back on the ship and rest. However, he had one more bit of business to complete.
Climbing up the sand dunes to the edge of the forest where the sand met the green undergrowth of the trees, he picked a stout tree and drew a fancy, but extremely sharp knife out from his belt sheath. Flipping it over and over in his left hand, he pondered the idea before deciding on the best course of action.
Throwing Katara's blue robe into the air, he drew his knife hand back and skillfully hurled the knife hilt-deep it into the tree trunk, effectively pinning the girl's clothes into the wood. He inspected his work, and knew the Avatar would understand his message. Turning, he went back to his ship and ordered his Captain to immediately set sail.
When Katara finally awoke, she was cold, slightly damp, and she definitely needed to pee again. The temperature she could do nothing about. The damp she could. She noticed all she had left on were her underclothes and shift. Uncomfortable, she tried not to think about who had taken her outer robe, but hoped sincerely hoped it had been a woman.
A brown-red tunic and black trousers hung over the back of a plain wooden chair nailed to the floor of the room she was in. Obviously she was on a ship, where heavy furniture was generally attached to the floor to prevent things from moving and crushing people in the midst of a storm or battle.
Escape was definitely foremost in her mind, but she couldn't go running about half-naked and not expect to draw attention to herself, now could she? She picked up the tunic and inspected it. There were no mysterious stains on it, and it smelled like it had been recently washed. It was a bit large in the shoulders and the waist, but the she rolled up her sleeves to free her hands. The bottom of the shirt hung to her mid-thighs, but she could do nothing about that. No belt was provided. The trousers were a bit long as well, and only slightly tighter at her hips (Nothing to show, eh, Sokka? She thought wryly in her mind). She rolled the pants up to her knees so she wouldn't trip.
Now about her bodily needs. She searched the room for a chamber pot of any kind. Not that there was much to search for in the first place. A cot, chair, pillow, and blanket were the only items in the room other than the clothing she was wearing. There wasn't even a window of any type, although she could sense the water lapping at one of the walls on one side. There were moving through the ocean, which meant they had left the island. She refused to think about the implications of this information, at least for now. The small room was beginning to make her feel claustrophobic, and she really needed to focus on other things before panicking..
She crossed to the door and started pounding on it. "Hello? Hey, is anybody out there?" She jiggled the knob, but of course it was locked.
Unbeknownst to Katara, the guards outside eyed each other uneasily. The Prince hadn't told them what to do in a situation if the girl woke up.
Katara was beginning to get annoyed, and, though she would never admit it, slightly panicked. They couldn't have just left her here on a ship by herself, could they? She pounded harder. "Hey! HEY! Somebody let me out of here!"
One guard eyed his partner, who had a queer thin moustache. "Maybe you should go get the prince?"
Thin Moustache nodded and left, eyeing the door uneasily. The girl's struggling had gotten even more frenzied.
"Hey! HEY YOU MORONS! I can hear you!" The presence of people reassured Katara, but also served to make her angry. Why wouldn't anybody answer her?
"Quiet down!" the remaining guard hissed, then regretted it. Hopefully he wouldn't get in trouble for talking to the prisoner. Prince Zuko had been very adamant about this girl's safety, and the punishments that would follow if anything should happen to her.
Thin Moustache was hurrying back down the narrow hallway with rope in his hands. "The Prince will be along in a minute. He wants us to tie her up with this first."
The two unlocked the door to see a young woman hurriedly backing away from them. "Who are you?" She'd expected Prince Zuko to come barging in.
Without a sword, they began to bind her hands together and tied her to the chair. She struggled at first, kicking and twisting, but knew it was helpless. There were two of them, full-grown men, bigger and stronger, against one of her, a teenager, smaller and weaker.
Their task finished, the soldiers backed away from her last kick just as Prince Zuko entered the room. The guards left at a signal from him, shutting the door quickly behind them.
The two left in the room eyed each other carefully, Katara from her bound position in her chair and Zoku looking down at her from his full height of 6'2". Their eyes locked again for the 2nd time before Katara looked away from those hatefully burning yellow eyes.
"Where is the Avatar?" He spoke simply.
"Don't ask stupid questions!" She shot back.
"Stupid questions, girl?" His eyes narrowed.
"You know I'd never tell you where my friends are," She said spitefully, turning her face arrogantly away from the Prince with a false show of bravado. Inside she was trembling. "Don't bother trying. You've probably already searched the island and not found him." If Zuko didn't know where Aang was, then she didn't know either, Katara realized with a sinking feeling. If they weren't on the island…were they looking for her? Or had they abandoned her? She pushed the thought from her mind. She had more pressing matters to deal with right now. For instance, the Prince.
In a flash he was right in front of her, fingers digging into her chin, forcing her to look him in the face. He studied her eyes carefully. She looked away. "You don't know where they are either." He said calmly, and released her. A sarcastic, mean-spirited smirk crossed his face. "Not that it matters anymore."
Katara refused to look at him. She focused instead on the wood of the floor. She couldn't help wondering if Zuko had given up his search for Aang, now that he had her. Wasn't that what he was implying, with this whole "not that it matters anymore" nonsense? He didn't think she could be the Avatar, could he? Why wouldn't the Prince want to know where Avatar was? Wasn't that the whole point of his little chase around the world?
Zuko stood up straight, his arms crossed in front of his chest. "I'm not going to be wasting my time chasing that puny excuse for an Avatar anymore."
Katara glanced up at him, keeping a glare on her own face, but desperately curious as to why he was saying these crazy, so un-Prince Zuko things!
His smirk widened, and he continue. "Oh no. For the first time in a long while, the Avatar will be the one chasing me."
Katara's eyes widened as the it dawned on her.
"And all because of the woman I now possess, who happens to be on my boat." Still with that cruel smirk on his face, he turned around and strode out of the room, locking it behind him with what sounded to him like a very satisfying click.
Behind him, stilled tied in her chair, Katara understood what the evil bastard had been talking about. Somehow Aang knew she was with the Fire Benders now. And in hopes of rescuing her, he and her brother would follow Zuko's boat anywhere, all the way to the Fire Nation if necessary, which was probably what Zuko intended.
She let out a piercing scream of frustration.
In addition to her newfound predicament, she still hadn't been able to take a bathroom break.
Back on shore, Aang and Sokka slowly woke up and realized the young woman who usually traveled with them was no longer there. After two hours of crashing through the forests, they came upon what Zuko had left behind on a tree.
Fluttering slightly in the wind, Katara's blue, still-wet, grimy, dirt-covered and tattered robe was nailed securely to a tree. The sigil on the knife was that of a brilliant red flame curling around the hilt and up the wickedly shining blade.
"Fire Benders." Aang whispered.
A/N: This chapter came out a bit sooner than expected. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! I really do appreciate it. My plan with this story is to take things pretty slowly, actually. I don't really like OOC stories where Zuko turns out to be a big softie at heart. I think the two of them really need to fight and argue and figure somethings out before any kind of real relationship can began. But don't worry it won't take too long here. Haha I'm anxious to get to the good parts as well, but they still have a bit of shit to get through. However, I won't be writing any sort of lemon. Maybe something bordering on a bit of a lime, but I want to keep this T (or PG-13) as long as possible. Again, thanks for the reviews and keep them coming!
