Category: Avatar: Last Airbender
Author: RedNovember
Title: The Hunter and the Prey
Pairing: Zuko/Katara
Genre: Romance/Action
Rating: T (PG-13) for now, but if I have to up it to M (or R) I will.
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of this series. However, the fanfiction written, the plot contained and any original characters I might write (planning on a couple) I do own.

A/N: Anyways the last chapter (chapter 3) uploaded kind of funny so that it cut off my first paragraph and inserted weird letters in some places. I might upload it again soon, because I also caught a bunch of mistakes I made (grammar/spelling). I'm debating whether or not I should get a Beta…

A/N 2: Also I did a little research at some fan sites earlier to find out some more information about the show that I previously didn't know. A couple things I did have problems with: Apparently Zuko only travels with one crew of Fire Nation soldiers and that means he has only one ship under his command, not a gigantic fleet like I put in the last chapter. Well. That's one mistake we can ALL overlook for the sake of the story, yes?

A/N 3: This is irrelevant but... Who else here is excited for Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith? YESSSS geek power! It comes out May 19th, and I really want to see it!

Chapter 4: An Uncomfortable Situation

After Zuko's abrupt departure, Katara had been unable to do anything but haul herself up onto an armchair. Her hands were still bound behind her back, and her left hand still smarting from where she'd smashed it when Zuko had thrown her to the floor.

A servant had soon arrived, the same one, Katara suspected, who had served her on the previous ship.

"About time." She muttered. The servant gave no answer, just redid her bandages for her, and brought her a set of dry clothes. They were exactly the same as her previous set, and she had a sneaking suspicion that they were Zuko's clothes, for he wore the same style of shirt and pants underneath his armor. They were also made of a much finer material than any of the sailors and soldiers on the ship could afford.

She also suspected it was Zuko's room she was staying in. It was lavishly furnished with all sorts of fine upholstered armchairs, couches, and settees. A handsome mahogany desk with an ornate crystal lamp stood in one corner. The furniture wasn't nailed to the floor in this room, probably because the soft maroon rug under her feet was much too expensive and valuable to drill holes in.

However, the gigantic bed was nailed to the wall. Katara had never imagined a bed could ever be that comfortable-looking and so large. It was hung with red velvet canopies and golden tassels to shut them for privacy. Though privacy from what, Katara wondered sourly. The door had four freaking locks on it anyways.

Countless pillows covered the sheets and comforter on the bed. Katara was sure they were made of velvet, satin, silk, and any other number of expensive cloths. She ran a hand down one side of the gold-edged satin sheet, and, unable to resist the temptation, leaped on top and snuggled into heaven. Seeing as her last couple of beds had consisted of A) A flying bison's back and B) The hard earth in a thin sleeping bag and C) a dirty little cot on a scouting ship, you couldn't really blame her.


It was extremely uncomfortable striding around on deck wearing a suit of wet armor and squelching sea water in his boots with every step he took. Zuko stomped angrily to the main bridge where the Captain of the ship and several more important officers were waiting for him. He couldn't very well arrive at a meeting with top members of his crew while he was dripping water everywhere, but he absolutely REFUSED to go back to his room, in which Katara was currently kept against her will. It'd be like admitting to defeat or apologizing if he went back so soon after a fight with the girl.

So he continued doggedly on, until a hand tapped his arm.

"Uncle!" Zuko was a bit surprised to see his father's brother. He'd known Uncle Iroh was on the flagship of course, but hadn't expected to see him until after the meeting.

"Need some help getting out of that armor, Zuko?" His uncle helped him unstrap the metal guards on his arms. "I heard about what happened."

"Then you probably know about the girl as well." Zuko replied dispassionately, wriggling his arm out.

"Yup."

Zuko waited five more seconds for a longer-winded reply from his uncle before snapping, "Well? You usually have an opinion on every single thing I do, whether it's losing the Avatar's trail or taking a breath."

His uncle looked at him calmly. "Where is she now?"

"In my cabin." Zuko replied tersely. "Take this back too, will ya?" He shoved the wet metal armor at his uncle. "I'm late for a meeting." He stomped off, not bothering to change out of his wet shirt and pants. They would air dry soon enough on this sunny day.

His uncle turned and headed for Zuko's cabin.


A rattling of the locks on the door woke Katara up. An old man stepped into the room, carrying what looked like Zuko's armor. he hunt it up on a stand in a corner, then sat down in the armchair next to Katara's side of the bed.

"Who are you?" She asked suspiciously. The old geezer was dressed in Fire Bender armor. Probably not somebody friendly.

"I'm Zuko's Uncle Iroh." He said, continuing to study her. Now Katara remember him. "And you must be the lovely prisoner of Zuko's I've been hearing so much about."

"Oh yeah? From who?" Katara sniffed. If he had been hearing things from Zuko, he probably wouldn't have called her lovely. She had another frightening thought. "Are you an... an interrogator?" Torturer was the real word hanging in her mind.

He laughed. Katara didn't think it was very funny. "No, girl, no."

"Well then." Katara relaxed and settled back into the pillows. "I have some questions for you."

"I'll see what I can answer." Iroh settled back into his armchair as well.

"What ship are we on?"

"The flagship of Zuko's fleet, the Golden Flame."

"Where are we going?"

Iroh looked away carefully. "I'm going to have to ask Zuko if I can tell you that."

Katara was flabbergasted. "What! You have to ask HIM if you can do certain things? You're the elder one!" In her Southern Water Tribe, the elders had always had the last word in everything. Why Uncle Iroh had to bend over to ask his nephew's permission to do something shocked Katara.

"He's the Prince." Iroh stated simply. A mischievous smile popped onto his face. "How old do you think Zuko is, girl?"

"My name's Katara." She said automatically. "How old Zuko is?" She frowned, not having given much thought to the matter before. How old was that insane man?

Uncle Iroh leaned forward and rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "Your answer, dear Katara, could definitely be the highlight of my day."

She decided to take a shot at it. "Um... twenty? Twenty-one?" Seeing the expression on Iroh's face, she hurried to make an adjustment. "Late twenties?" She finally squeaked out.

Iroh burst into laughter so loud that the guards outside (not Thin Moustache and his nervous companion- they had been removed awhile ago by Zuko) looked at each other in confusion.

Iroh laughed for a full minute before quieting down and attempting to force some words through his mouth. Katara was frozen stiff. Had she guessed too young? Too old?

"Katara. Your captor, his Majesty the great Prince Zuko, is exactly 17 years of age!" Iroh waited for her reaction with a silly grin on his face winkle-lined face.

Katara was silent. That meant he was only two years older than herself, and the same age as her older brother Sokka! How could things be so different between the two of them? Him, driven and determined to achieve his goals, acting like an aged commander, ordering around men twice his age on his own Fire Navy Fleet that had the power to completely demolish a large city on land. Her, still running around the world with her protective older brother and a 12-year-old Avatar-in-training.

"Well," She started abruptly. "That was a bit of a surprise."

Iroh studied her carefully. "I guess I shouldn't have laughed myself." Standing up slowly from his armchair, the retired General placed his hands on his hips and surveyed the room. "I understand why you're surprised. Zuko's got a lot on his shoulders, girl. He does act like he's twice his age, and he takes on a lot of responsibility. Sometimes he acts like more of an adult than I do." He chuckled, a bit sadly. "He didn't have much of a childhood, what with his mother dead, his father waging a war, and his exile at fourteen." Iroh looked at her from the side of his eyes. "Don't tell him I told you any of that."

Katara nodded silently at this new information.There was an explanation behind all of his odd behavior. He'd always seemed so intense, and now that she'd learned his age, a bit too intense sometimes.

"I'm going to have to leave you to your lonely and lovely self now." He winked at her. She couldn't tell if he was serious or not. "People will start to wonder why an old geezer like me is spending so much time in a room alone with a beautiful young lady such as yourself." He winked again, and Katara sincerely hoped he was joking this time. Otherwise, he was one very perverted old man.

"Thanks." She said, waving as he left. Whatever his intentions might be, he'd provided her with some conversation and company enough to keep her thinking for the rest of the day.


Iroh caught up to Zuko as he was leaving the Captain's cabin.

"So what's the plan, my dear nephew?" The older man said, walking alongside the Prince of the Fire Nation. "Where to next?"

Prince Zuko sighed and massaged his temples with one hand, the other hand holding a pack of long tubes containing several important sea maps. "Well, I want to get back to the Fire Nation as fast as possible, but Captain Raku says that there's an average-sized town on the coast of Earth Kingdom not far from here. Five days sailing, maybe less."

"Is it one we've conquered?" His uncle asked.

"Yes, we have several legions stationed there to keep them under control, but they're still not exactly the friendliest of towns. Two of our cargo shops have run low on food supplies, and you know how paranoid Raku is about having enough food for his crew." Zuko sighed again as they reached the officer's dining room, and spread out one map on an empty table.

"Well if they refuse to give us what we want, we can always use force."

"That's no problem." Zuko swatted a fly away before bending to peer at the map with his Uncle. "I just want to get back to the Fire Nation Capital as soon as possible."

"Why?" His uncle inquired curiously.

"There's reports of pirates in these waters, and now that I have the girl with me, the Avatar will probably catch up in a few days and attempt a rescue of some sort." Zuko said. "Neither the pirates nor the Avatar will get what they want, if I have anything to do with it. It just might delay us awhile."

"Eager to get home?" His uncle said softly.

Zuko's eyes hardened. "No. But the sooner I get back to the Capital, the closer the Avatar is to our strongholds and the less of an advantage he has. I can spring my trap on him sooner."

"Well," Iroh said, clapping a hand on his nephew's shoulder. "I trust you to make the right decision. I, myself, must leave you to your great pondering. I'll see you at dinner?" He started out the door into the sunlight.

"Yeah, maybe." Mumbled Zuko as his Uncle left. The Prince spent the rest of the afternoon rethinking decisions and arguing with his Captain and Officers on the best course to take the fleet. Tiring work for a great Prince, certainly.


Zuko unlocked his door and went into his cabin before locking it again and depositing all his maps on the desk. Lighting several lamps for light around the room, he quickly undressed and redressed in a clean shirt and trousers. His wardrobe was essentially all the same. One didn't really need variety on a warfleet at sea. Rubbing his eyes tiredly, he swept aside the canopies on one side of the bed and realized belatedly that Katara was still in his room.Or, more accurately, in his bed.

Blearily opening her eyes, Katara awoke to find Zuko staring her straight in the face. "What?" She mumbled, her brain still in the fog of sleep. As she realized what was happening and who it was standing at the side of the bed, her eyes sharpened. "What do you want?" Come too annoy me again? she thought silently.

"You're in my bed." Prince Zuko stated, for lack of anything better to say.

"Well," Katara said, shifting so her back was turned to him. "It's my bed now. You can sleep on the couch."

Zuko began to get just a trifle annoyed. He had spent a tiring day rescuing unappreciative girls, arguing with his crew members on where to get more supplies, and he just wanted his goddamn bed to goddamn sleep in. The fact that Katara and pointedly turned her back on him only served to piss him off more.

"Well," He started icily, striding around to the empty side of the bed, "As of this moment, it's my bed." He sat down and shifted the sheets and pillows around with more energy than needed. "You can go sleep on the couch."

Katara raised her head from her pillow to gape at him. Slowly she glared at him, as he turned to face her, lying down fully next to her in the bed now. "A true gentleman you aren't." She said, in the same icy tone he had used earlier. "I'm not moving." She flopped back down, facing him. They glared at each other.

Zuko realized he was acting like a surly teenager. It didn't occur to him that at 17, this was the way most boys of his age acted. Things had always been different for him. He turned away from Katara so he was lying on his back. "Well. I'm not moving. And neither are you." He looked at her from the side of his eyes. "This bed is certainly big enough for the two of us."

Katara's eyes widened. He couldn't be suggesting that they spend the night together, in the same bed! Her resolve hardened. She wouldn't be the first to back down. "Fine." She said, thin-lipped. "But you better not snore."

"And you better not kick me." He shot back.

"You better not touch me."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

She made a disbelieving hmph noise. "I know all about teenage boys. You're all the same testosterone-driven hormone freaks." Her brother usually made a fine example.

He looked at her for a moment before turning away. "I'm different."

And that ended the conversation for the night.


A/N: If anybody is wondering about the ages I gave Katara and Zuko, they are valid to a certain extent. The Nickelodeon website stated on it's character guide for the show that Zuko is currently 16, Katara 14, and Aang 12 (They don't give Sokka's age). I made Zuko and Katara each a year older for the purposes of my story. Sokka I guessed to be around the same age as Zuko.

A/N 2: Hopefully there was enough Z/K action in this chapter to tide you over. I haven't abandoned Aang and Sokka yet, I'm just more concerned with the interaction between Z/K right now. I'll get to the boys later, don't worry. So, in this chapter, we've dealt with a responsible Zuko and a stubborn Zuko. We've met the angry version in previous chapters. I'm not sure about the entire length of this story yet, although I've made a brief outline. I'm thinking 8-10 chapters, maybe more.Again, please Read and Review!