Title: The Hunter and The Prey
Category: Avatar: Last Airbender
Author: RedNovember
Chapter: 10
Genre: Romance/Action
Pairing: Zuko/Katara
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
write I do own.
NOTICE: PLEASE READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTES AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER! THEY ARE IMPORTANT, AND ARE THERE FOR A REASON, BELIEVE IT OR NOT! Thanks.
If you can believe it, I am sincerely sorry that this chapter is over a week late. But explanations are forthcoming... so read the author's notes at the end! Enjoy!
Chapter 11: Life Was Good
After Zuko's queer conversation with the Royal Guard, he'd been decidedly changed for the rest of the night.
"What happened?" Katara had insisted on knowing.
"Oh, nothing that would trouble you, Katara." Zuko replied easily.
She'd merely shrugged. It probably didn't concern her after all.
But as they got ready for bed, she could constantly feel his eyes on her, studying her intently. He followed her every movement with an almost calculating air.
"What?" She finally snapped in annoyance.
"Nothing, Katara, nothing." He gave her that strange predatory-satisfaction smile again. "I'm just watching you."
"Why?"
"Just… remembering things."
She blushed. They both knew what he was thinking about. He gave her another confident smile.
She tried to smile back, really, she did. But since their… kiss… he'd seemed strangely self-assured. Or was it after his talk with the Royal Guard that things had changed? She really couldn't tell.
But whatever it was, Zuko was moving with a confidence. Every word he said now, every movement he made was done with a nonchalant air that told everyone around him that yes, this was a man who knew what he was doing.
And Katara was just a bit intimidated.
She was still feeling awkward and shy after their… incident.
Zuko, however, was the complete opposite.
When they settled into bed, they didn't stay on their respective sides as they usually did at the beginning of the night. At least, Katara stayed on her side, not really expecting anything different from previous nights.
But she felt him wrap his arms around her waist and he pulled her close until her back was flush against his chest.
Her mouth suddenly felt dry. "Zuko…?" She began uncertainly.
"Yes?" She felt him mumble against her neck.
Her mouth felt very, very dry. "What are you doing?"
"The usual."
"Huh?" Not the most intelligent answer she'd ever come up with.
He raised his head and she peered over her shoulder to look at him. "We end up like this anyways."
"Oh." Was her meek answer.
"And I did this last night."
"Okay."
Katara slowly relaxed as warmth infused her from Zuko's body heat. It really was quite comfortable. Not like the way they usually went to bed, all stiff and uncertain with each other. Well, she was still uncertain. But Zuko was a different matter. He seemed very certain now in everything he did.
She tried another approach. "What's going to happen now?"
"Well we're sailing back to the Fire Nation tomorrow."
That wasn't what Katara had meant. She'd meant what would happen to them, meaning the situation between the two of them. Not where they were traveling next, in a freaking geographical sense.
Men. Always so dense.
Then her mind processed the information he had just given her.
"Tomorrow? I thought we were going to stay in Menthat a couple more days."
His warm breath blew against her hair. "Yeah… we finished repairs early and… stuff has come up." He sounded just a bit… hesitant for a moment. How strange.
"Like what stuff?"
"You're really talkative tonight, Katara." He said humorously.
Katara huffed a bit in indignation. "Well I'm sorry if I just want to know what's going to happen to me!"
"Don't worry about it. You'll be fine. I'll make sure you're fine. Just don't worry about it, Katara."
She just answered by sighing. Trouble was, she did worry. About Sokka, about Aang, about her own situation. But there really wasn't anything she could do now, she tried to reassure herself. Really, all she could do for now was sleep. Things would work out.
The next morning, Zuko woke up cheerfully and nudged Katara out of her sleep. She came back from the land of the sleeping and groaned when she realized he'd only woken her up because he was leaving. She wasn't allowed to go outside yet, but she quickly stopped whining when he bent over and kissed her thoroughly again before leaving.
She almost felt like shouting at him after he left. Just because he'd kissed her yesterday didn't mean he could take the liberty to do it whenever he wanted. Of course, he'd have to have her permission first. She wasn't just going to let him jump her whenever he felt like it.
But, in truth, she didn't want him to stop.
"And therein lies the problem." Katara muttered to herself, still blushing, and rolled over, trying to get in a bit more sleep before Kaz came in with her breakfast.
Iroh watched his nephew come literally bounding up on to the deck. How utterly curious. This was two days in a row that Zuko had been in such a good mood. Iroh had heard more shouting last night from Zuko's room, but that ended quite abruptly, he remembered. And this morning, Zuko was cheerful again.
It all added up to make one very worried Iroh.
"Zuko!" He waved his arm over his head.
"Uncle!" Zuko quickly strode over, a sincere smile on his face. "Good morning!"
"Good morning to you too." Iroh said cautiously, then decided not to beat around the bush. "What's got you in such high spirits today?"
Zuko laughed. Iroh was a bit shocked. It had been awhile since his nephew had last laughed. "I received some very, very good news last night, Uncle."
Iroh gave him a look. "What, pray tell, was this good news?"
Zuko gave him a satisfied, superior look. "The Avatar himself is on my ship this very moment."
Iroh's mouth dropped openly. "What?"
Zuko raised one eyebrow, then laughed again. "Aren't you proud of me, Uncle?"
"What?" Iroh couldn't believe it. "When did this happen?"
"I told you, last night."
Iroh was silent for a moment, absorbing all the implications this new information brought to everything. Zuko's exile was basically over. He had achieved his goal. With the Avatar, the Fire Nation would rule the world. And…
"Does Katara know?"
Iroh had never seen his nephew's expression change so fast. The previously laughing eyes and happy expression immediately shuttered closed into the cool, guarded mask that was Zuko's trademark look. Iroh cursed in his head. Wrong thing to say.
"No." Zuko bit out. "She doesn't need to."
"She deserves to know, Zuko."
"Don't get started with a lecture, dear Uncle!" Zuko's face turned spitefully angry. "I can handle this by myself! My plan for the Avatar's capture has worked. Nothing else matters. Nothing!"
"Not even the girl?"
Zuko's eyes burned yellow. He spat out a final "NO! She's just a means to an end, Uncle! You should know that by now! I won't let anything get in the way of my goals!" But inside, Zuko was secretly relieved that Katara couldn't hear him. I'm so sorry I don't mean it.
Iroh regarded him calmly, then started in again. "I heard you last night, Zuko."
"What?" Zuko's eyes widened. Oh no he doesn't mean…
"I heard you shouting at her. You do it every night."
Zuko felt slightly relieved. At least Iroh hadn't found out about the other things that had also happened last night. "So?"
"I hear her shout back at you. And then, everything is silent." Iroh stared at him. "What happens when it's silent?"
"What are you accusing me of?" Zuko hissed. This was quickly spinning out of control. What was his uncle getting at? What was he suspecting Zuko of?
"Does she bleed when you hit her?"
Zuko couldn't believe it. His uncle thought he was… abusing Katara? Zuko could have laughed, if the situation hadn't been so serious. He couldn't have been further from the truth. No he's right you did hurt her before you did. And his uncle knew it. That's why he was suspicious now. But Zuko couldn't very well tell his uncle what the two of them had really been doing.
Iroh took a deep breath, taking Zuko's silence as a sign that he was right. "I know your father…" He stopped for a second, as if speaking pained him. Zuko continued to gape disbelievingly. "You were so young, Zuko, when your father got into his rages and your mother tried to stop him. But you saw everything, didn't you-"
All of a sudden, images flashed before Zuko's eyes as his uncle continued speaking. Red-hot flames burned themselves onto his eyelids, the memory of a woman's scream (STOP OZAI PLEASE NO!) and his own tears, his own screams, sitting in his own filth when he shit himself from fear oh no please father don't hit her don't hit her don't hit her not again NO NOT ME NOT MOTHER and everything descended into the burning hell of his father's anger.
Iroh saw the color drain from his nephew's face and barely avoided it when Zuko's fist swung around, smashing into railing behind Iroh.
He couldn't speak. Zuko stood there, panting, bent over.
"Shut up, uncle. Just shut up."
"Zuko-"
"SHUT UP!" Zuko raised his face, his eyes burning frightfully. So like his father's eyes… Iroh couldn't help himself from thinking. "JUST SHUT UP! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! YOU DON'T HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT'S GOING ON WITH KATARA! YOU JUST SHUT UP!"
Iroh couldn't help backing away. The metal of the ship's railing under Zuko's hand was slowly sizzling, melting into gray drops that rained down from his fingers and hit the deck with a gentle plop plop noise. He turned to leave. There was no helping Zuko, not when he remembered things, not when he remembered why he was banished.
Not when Zuko remembered why he had chosen the exile, rather than stay with his father.
"It's not like that." Zuko murmured behind him. "Uncle it's not like that. I'm not hurting her."
Iroh desperately wanted to believe him. He desperately wanted to trust his nephew again. But he kept walking away. And Iroh couldn't help but hear that one old saying repeated over and over again in his head.
Like father, like son.
The fleet left the harbor of Menthat early that morning, the last half-repaired warship limping along behind the fleet. It would be slow going for awhile, but circumstances had changed and Zuko felt they had to get back to the Fire Nation as fast as possible.
His happier mood from earlier that morning had completely disappeared. His chest felt tight with heat, all his bottled up memories and emotions stored there. He quickly pushed them away, locked them up, where he wouldn't have to pay attention to anything remotely important for awhile.
But soon he felt the need to prove the truth to his Uncle. He'd show Iroh that he wasn't anything like Ozai. Nothing like his father.
#()#()#()# border border border #()#()#()(#)
"You're going to let me out?"
Zuko was only a bit annoyed at Katara's incredulousness. He wasn't a big, bad jailer. He only kept her in there because he didn't want her to run off in Menthat. "Yes. We left Menthat several hours ago. Do you want the fresh air or not?"
"Of course I do!" And she charged out of the room and up the stairs before him. He quickly followed behind. He didn't want her leaping off the side of the ship in excitement or anything.
Reaching the top, Katara breathed in deeply and looked at the blue, blue ocean surrounding her. A bit of Menthat was still visible on the horizon, a small dot of land that was slowly disappearing as they sailed away from the city. Finally she was out of the room!
Most of the sailors were below decks or sleeping while it wasn't their shift. Having just left Menthat, majority of the hard work had been done, and it was smooth sailing until the Fire Nation. Unless something else came up.
Turning around, Katara spotted Iroh walking quickly towards them. "Iroh!" She said happily, waving her arm above her head. "Iroh! I'm over here!"
Zuko narrowed his eyes, stopping behind Katara. Now what would his uncle say? A bit of dread lodged itself in his stomach. Would Iroh tell Katara about the Avatar? Zuko tried not to break out in a nervous sweat. Would his uncle reveal everything to the girl?
"Hello Katara." Iroh smiled gently as he reached them. He didn't greet Zuko. Katara didn't notice. "How are you doing?"
"Good! Good enough, now that I can finally get out of Zuko's room." She rolled her eyes playfully. All this fresh air must be making her giddy, Zuko thought wryly. "You?"
Zuko's stomach clenched. But all his uncle said was "I'm good too. I'm glad to see you are feeling better."
All three of them were silent for an awkward moment. Why did you have to bring that up? Zuko thought angrily. Why? She didn't need to be reminded of it, and neither did I! He noticed that the bruises on Katara's neck and face were almost completely faded. No new injuries had appeared on her. Good. Iroh would see he had been wrong.
Katara's face softened. "Oh, you don't need to worry about me, Iroh. I'm perfectly happy." She really didn't want Iroh worrying about her. The poor old man probably had enough on his shoulders already.
Perfectly happy? Wondered Zuko silently. She's just telling my uncle that to stop him worrying. She is not happy.
Iroh nodded slowly, then his eyes met with Zuko's over Katara's head. "Good." He repeated. "That's good." And Zuko could see his uncle was sorry.
A few minutes later, Iroh left, and Zuko and Katara were left standing on the deck, staring out to sea.
Slowly, Katara extended her arms out over the railing, pushing and pulling at the water below her. Soon, she bent a small wave upwards, and formed it into a wobbly ball of water. It felt so good to finally be able to do this again. Flattening her palms out, she had the ball hover over her hands before she stretched out her arms and subsequently stretched the water into a long, whip-thin shape curling through the air.
Zuko watched her silently. She really had gotten better since they'd first met. He watched her face. Now she did look happy.
She saw him watching her. "It's a good thing you didn't keep me in a cage on land." Katara made the whip move above their heads like a snake. "I would have gone crazy a long time ago. At least I'm on a ship, close to the water at all times."
Zuko kept his eyes on her hands, moving through the air and controlling the water. "How do you do that?" He finally asked. "How do you control the water so… so peacefully? Without any effort at all?"
Katara looked at him, surprised. "It took me lots of practice to get where I am. There is effort involved." She gave him a confused look. "Asking me to explain Water Bending to you is like asking you to explain Fire Bending to me. The two are completely different things."
"They are." He agreed. Katara gestured, and the very edge of the water slid past his scarred cheek, brushing him ever so gracefully. "Water Bending seems so calm… so restful. Not like fire at all."
"No." Katara said, and she let her water whip slip quietly back into the ocean again. "I don't think I would ever want to learn Fire."
"What?" Zuko frowned. "Why? It's not a bad element, no worse than any of the other three. It's just… more dangerous."
"Fire is a thing that cannot exist without destroying something else." Katara turned back to look him squarely in the face. "Right?"
"Yes." He nodded slowly.
"Fire can't exist without burning something. It eats other things to keep itself alive. Wood or air, whichever one is available. It burns and burns and burns, until there is nothing left but cold, dead ashes." Katara leaned over the edge of the water, creating a tiny whirlpool with her finger. "I'm not trying to lecture you on your own element, it's just that I've thought of this before. Water, on the other hand, is the giver of all life, not the destroyer." She seemed convinced in her opinions.
Zuko countered her argument. "Fire gives us heat, helps us survive and cook our food. How can you say that is a bad thing?"
"I didn't say fire was bad-"
"I didn't say you said that. But think about it Katara." He paused and opened up his palm right next to her ear. She flinched back from the globe of fire hovering in his hand and glared at him. He smiled caustically. "Humans are more like fire than any other element in the world."
"How?" She crossed her arms defiantly.
"Humans survive by killing other things. You said that fire eats other things to keep itself alive. People do that too. We eat animals and plants to survive, essentially killing our food. When we are threatened, or something stands in our way, we destroy it in order to protect ourselves. Fire is the basis of human nature. Really," He shrugged. "It's all the same."
Katara just looked at him. She didn't have a counter argument.
"But you're right." He said sighing, closing his hand and dissipating the flames. "Fire is dangerous. And sometimes it is just so easy to lose control. And when you do, people are killed, things are destroyed." Zuko looked at her again. "But it's not bad. It's not the bad element."
"But you have made it seem like the bad element." She said, an edge of anger in her voice. "Using your fire to conquer the world and destroy the peace. You've made it the bad element, all because of your stupid ambitions."
"I never said that just because it wasn't the bad element, it wasn't the strongest element." He grinned, a superior smirk on his face. "It's your own fault that you aren't strong enough to beat back the Fire Nation. Survival of the fittest. Only the strongest get to rule."
"That's a stupid prejudice that all Fire Nation children are probably taught the moment they're born." Katara narrowed her eyes. "Just because Water Benders prefer peace doesn't mean we are weak."
"Peace-lovers are weak."
"We are stronger because we are peaceful."
"Then why are you losing the war?"
"You, a stupid Fire Bender, would never understand the concept of peace." She said, coming forward and poking a finger into his chest. "Never!"
He caught the hand she poked at him, and used it to pull her forward. Zuko leaned close, enjoying their proximity, and bent down to whisper in her ear. "Then why don't you explain it to me?"
Katara scowled, but before she could open her mouth to protest that this wasn't some funny joke, he had darted in, pulling her close quick and fast, and kissed her again. In public! On the deck of the ship, where everybody could see them!
Oh yes. She sighed a bit and reached up to rest her hands on his shoulders. Then all of a sudden she pulled away from him. She really did enjoy it, but Katara really didn't think they were ready to begin Public Displays of Affection yet.
She quickly yanked away, a frown on her face. "It's not funny, Zuko!"
He looked confused and shocked that she had rejected him. For about a second. Then he laughed at her. "You seemed to like it well enough."
"I don't mean the kiss!" She hissed.
"Well, now I know how to shut you up easily." He wouldn't stop his incessant smiling.
She stamped her foot angrily. A childish display, she knew, but she couldn't help herself. Then, determined to leave him in the proverbial dust, she whirled around and stomped towards their room, back down below decks. She desperately tried to ignore the looks she was getting from the crew. Damn it. She didn't need any more complications right now.
My priorities. She thought to herself. What are my priorities? Escape? Was escape even on her list anymore? Was it possible… could it be… that she might not even want to escape anymore?
Katara felt like slapping herself. If she didn't want to escape from Zuko, that meant she was a traitor. She would be betraying Aang and Sokka. She was fraternizing with the enemy! She was kissing him!
If anyone had told her a year ago, when she'd still been with Aang and Sokka, that one day she would end up kissing the Prince of the Fire Nation and liking it, she would have first laughed at them and then chopped their head off.
The very idea was absurd. But here she was, committing the act. Or, more accurately, acts plural. She'd done it multiple times.
Well, she thought, the first time didn't count, since I was asleep. And the second time didn't count either, since he did it so unexpectedly and by force too, might I add. And third time was a surprise too. I never initiated any of it. Therefore, I'm not accountable for any of it.
Theoretically, her argument should have worked. But even she wasn't convinced.
Reaching the room, she threw herself down on the bed and sighed loudly. With all her being, she wanted to know desperately where Aang and Sokka were. Was her brother alright? Was Appa alright? Were they still looking for her?
The next few days passed, and Katara couldn't help but notice that Zuko was still strangely confident. He smiled more, laughed sometimes, and generally didn't have a single bad moment at all. Katara was much too modest to think that Zuko's good mood was only attributed to their recent developing closeness (relationship?), which had slowly gotten more and more frequent. There was something else going on.
And truthfully, it creeped her out. She tried asking Zuko about it, but soon gave up. Every time she did pose the question, he'd answer with a mere "Nothing that would trouble you, Katara." And gave her his little smile.
But it wasn't his good mood that scared her the most. It was the knowledge that at any moment, the temperamental Prince could become violently angry again. She'd seen it happen before. He accused her of being the one with mood swings, but he was the one who needed to see a psychologist. He could be tenderly caring one moment and raging mad the next. Some days, Katara felt like tiptoeing around him because she was scared to set him off on another violent rage.
But he hadn't had one of his "moments" for a week, maybe more. That was what made it freaky. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore.
She'd spent the whole day in their room, planning and strategizing on how she would pose the question to him.
When he came back in the evening, she walked straight up to him and declared, "What is going on, Zuko? You haven't been yourself lately!" She wasn't going to beat around the bush.
For a brief second, she caught the glimpse of some strange emotion in his face (Was it guilt?) before he gave her a confident smile and said, "What, you'd prefer it if I were depressed or angry? You don't like it when I'm happy?" He gave her a teasing grin.
"No! I like it when we're both happy, but sometimes it seems like you're a completely different person now-"
He moved languidly towards her, and she backed away, determined to keep the conversation on topic. "Zuko! I mean it!"
"Mean what?" He murmured, and he slipped his arms around her waist, drawing closer. She pushed at his shoulders ineffectively.
"I want to know things! You can't just keep me in here and not expect me to complain or wonder! What's going on with you?"
"Nothing much." He grinned, one hand coming up to stroke her cheek.
She turned her face away even though she wanted to give in to temptation and let him continued touching her. "Do you know where Aang and Sokka are?" She said desperately, as a last-ditch effort to deter him and make him stop. She dearly hoped she hadn't upset him now. She just wanted to know the truth.
But all he did was lift her up until she was sitting on the dresser, almost eye level with him, and said "Shut up" before bending down and kissing her. He was gentle and warm this time, not like the first time when he'd been violent.
And, curse her, Katara gave in. She slid her hands up on his shoulders and pulled him in closer. He complied easily, and she sat on the dresser, one leg on each side of him. Zuko was the first person she'd ever done this with before, and it just felt so right to her. She just wanted to lose herself in all the sensations and she pressed even closer.
She prayed to all the gods above that she wasn't falling in love with him.
Katara never gave much thought to anything when he was kissing her. Obviously, she knew what happened between a man and a woman when they were in love. She knew how women got pregnant. She wasn't exactly a doe-eyed, innocent teenage girl. She also know what rape was. War and disaster weren't strangers to her either, after her village had been attacked years earlier. But the fact that she was in any danger never occurred to her. Zuko always stopped when she asked him to stop. Always. Everything was under control. Under her control.
Until she felt his hand move from her waist, up, up and up-
"Stop." She murmured, turning her face away from him so that his lips grazed her cheek. She pushed his arm down. "Stop."
He replaced his hand on her waist, pulled her face back to him, and didn't stop kissing her. He pulled her in closer until they pressed against each other, and he was standing between her thighs. He wasn't listening.
She started feeling the edge of panic touch her mind. Katara pushed at his chest, trying to wiggle out of his grasp, but he just held on tighter. She gasped, turning her face away. "Stop, Zuko!" She said, panting. But he didn't. She placed one hand on his throat, pushing back as hard as she could. "Stop it!"
And finally he broke away, but still kept his arms around her. He was panting too. "Okay," He said tiredly, as if he was fighting a battle with himself. "Okay." He lay his head on her shoulder, still breathing heavily.
Katara sat there for awhile, her chin resting on his shoulder, trying to calm down.
"If we-" Zuko started, trying to breathe regularly again. "-If we go on like this, I'm not going to be able to stop next time."
She kept still on the dresser, finally realizing what he meant. And what it meant for her. "Me neither."
Zuko carried a lamp, jogging down narrow flights of stairs towards the deepest cells in the hold of the ship. The light threw flickering shadows on the wall, showing only glimpses of the metal-barred cells he was passing by. They were all empty, except for the one at the end.
He dismissed the two Royal Guards standing stiffly beside the occupied cell. He wasn't taking any chances with his two prisoners.
Taking
the key from the thin chain around his neck, Zuko quickly unlocked
the door, stepped in, and locked it behind him.
The lamplight
threw shadows on the haggard faces of two boys in the cell for a
brief second before Zuko extinguished the light, leaving them all in
total darkness.
"Hello, Avatar." He said smoothly, leaning confidently against the wall. "Enjoying your stay on my ship?"
Aang didn't answer. He could see Zuko's yellow eyes through the darkness, and it scared him, much as he hated to admit it.
Sokka spoke up angrily instead. "Where's my sister, Zuko?" He spat out the Fire Prince's name as if it were a curse word.
Aang was worried, and more concerned about the health of Katara than his hatred of Zuko. "Is she alright?"
"She's perfectly fine, dear Avatar." Zuko laughed just a little, as if he knew something the boys didn't. "She's in my room right now."
Sokka bristled in the darkness. He hated Zuko's confident attitude, and he hated the fact that Zuko was withholding information about Katara from him. "If you've touched her in any way, bastard, I'll make sure you pay for it."
Zuko laughed again. "You're not in a position to make any threats right now, Sokka." He stood up from the wall, striding closer to the boys chained up on the ground. "But I must say, I've gotten to know your little sister very, very well in the past few days." He gave another low laugh, knowing that this would serve to anger Sokka all the more. He knew how the other teenage boy would interpret that statement.
The clinking of chains was what they all heard as Sokka struggled to get up and face Zuko. "Fucking bastard." He hissed at the yellow eyes in the darkness. "I'll get you for this."
Zuko waved a dismissive hand at Sokka, although none of them could see it. "Whatever you want." He smirked, acting as though Sokka were not at all important. "My concern is the Avatar. I have a deal to make with him."
Aang kept silent. He wasn't perfectly sure of the intentions and forces at work here, and he wasn't about to get caught in a deal that he wasn't 100 positive about. He may have been the youngest of all the people involved in the conflict, but that didn't mean he was the stupidest.
"Are you listening, Avatar?"
Aang nodded before he realized Zuko couldn't see him. "Yes." He whispered.
"Do you care for your friends?" Zuko asked casually.
What an obvious question. What was the Prince playing at? "Yes." He said again.
"Then this is the deal. You stay, and Sokka goes. Understand?" Zuko continued. "It means that if you give your word that you won't attempt to escape, and that you will follow my every command, then your friend Sokka here gets free leave."
"What about Katara?" Sokka spoke up.
"I'm going to need someone to help me keep the Avatar in line. If I let both of you go, who knows what the Avatar will do without a threat hanging over his head?"
"Katara has to go too." Aang said quietly.
"No." Zuko said without any emotion. "It is a lose-lose situation for you, Avatar. You can pick. You have the ability to let Sokka go, or keep both of your friends under my control. Either way, Katara and you are both staying with me."
"Keep me instead." Sokka said hurriedly. "Let Katara go."
"No." Was the simple answer from Zuko.
"Why not?" Sokka countered.
"I said no." Zuko's voice was emotionless.
"And I asked you, why not?" Sokka pressed. He knew he was venturing onto dangerous ground, but he wanted to know why Zuko wouldn't answer his question.
"Shut up." A flame burst into light right in front of Sokka's face. Sokka let out a yelp, scrambling backward.
"Shut up before I burn that annoying mouth of yours right off your face." Zuko's voice was neutral and low.
Aang quickly spoke up, trying to prevent an all out fight between the older boys from happening. Seeing as how Sokka was completely tied up, a physical conflict would only leave Zuko the victor, and Sokka beaten and bleeding. "I'll need time to think about it." He said hurriedly.
Zuko hesitated, then said "Fine. I'm in no hurry."
And then he left.
Sokka and Aang sat in the darkness, contemplating the Prince's words. The rustle outside told them their guards had returned again.
"Katara should have come and tried to rescue us by now." Sokka sounded extremely frustrated. "She wouldn't just leave us here."
"Maybe she can't." Aang said thoughtfully.
"No! I know my sister. If there were any way in the world, she'd try to help us." Sokka countered. "She would, I know it."
"Maybe she doesn't know we're here."
Sokka thought for a moment, then shook his head. "I bet you anything that Zuko would have told her just to torture her with the idea that he's got us all in his grasp. He probably wants her to feel helpless. That's the kind of thing that spiteful Prince would do." Sokka finished bitterly. "I'll bet he told her and then tied her up somewhere so she couldn't help us."
"I don't know, Sokka-"
"I bet you anything she's trying to help us now." Sokka said determinedly, placing all his trust in his sister. "I bet you my life that she's thinking up an escape plan for us right this minute. She'll help us. Katara's smart. She wouldn't abandon us willingly."
At that moment, Katara was trying to figure out how she was going to deal with Zuko. They definitely couldn't sleep in the same bed together anymore. She wasn't even going to give herself the chance to give in to temptation. Nope. Not at all.
Pulling sheets and several pillows onto the floor, she arranged her sleeping place as comfortably as she could. Finally she decided that it just wasn't going to get any better than one sheet, two pillows, and one blanket for herself on the hard floor.
Zuko still wasn't back. He'd left after their last heated moment, and Katara didn't know where he had gone. To clear his head? To take a cold shower? To deal with other business? They hadn't said anything after they admitted to themselves that they had to stop. He'd just left her sitting there alone on the dresser, wondering what she'd done to come to this point in her life.
Katara had met girls and knew girls who had gotten married at sixteen and had kids by eighteen. Especially in her own home tribe, everybody married young. It wasn't unusual, and it helped to keep their population up. They'd really needed it, especially after majority of their warriors and men had gone off to fight against the Fire Nation, and the last attack had left their Southern Water Tribe less of a tribe and more like a dilapidated gene pool. Disease and sickness also killed off a fourth of the babies born in the many small villages dotting the world.
But Katara had never wanted that for herself. She'd known friends and relatives who were happy with their future of a home and a family. But for Sokka and herself… things had been different for them.
Whatever she was going to do now, getting pregnant wasn't a priority.
After his little discussion with Sokka and Aang, Zuko had done a bit of thinking. And this was his realization:
Life was good.
He was in control now. Everything he wanted, he had. His life was set. Nothing could threaten him now. He possessed the Avatar, and he possessed the two things that the Avatar treasured most in the world: Katara and Sokka.
Nothing could go wrong now. The Avatar would do anything Zuko said, as long as Zuko kept threatening his friends.
Zuko had finally achieved his goals, and he could have all the world at his feet now. There were only one obstacle left: his father.
He entered his room, wondering what Katara had done after he'd left. Hopefully she wasn't feeling rejected. Well, why should she? She was the one who had wanted to stop. She always wanted to stop, just when things were getting good. But he guessed that she'd panic if she thought things were getting serious. And he did always stop. Always. He wasn't going to force her to do anything. He wasn't that violent type of guy.
Or are you? That annoying, griping voice that Zuko knew as his guilty conscience whispered in his head. As if you've never hurt her before?
Zuko shoved it away, and finally noticed that still mound on the floor. Was that Katara? Why was she sleeping on the ground? Walking over, he crouched down next to her head. He knew she wasn't asleep, and he was proved true when her eyes slowly opened, blinking at him.
"What are you doing on the ground?" He asked.
"Sleeping." She stated obviously.
"Why?"
"Because I'm scared to sleep next to you." Speaking bluntly was something Katara was good at, Zuko noticed.
"Why?"
"Because I'm scared I might get pregnant." Ouch.
"I'm not going to rape you." He said, a bit hurt that she didn't trust him. And why should she? That stupid voice again. But all he did was roll his eyes and grasp her by the arm, lifting her up. She stood without a struggle. "Get on the bed."
Katara complied, and Zuko threw the remaining pillows and sheets from the ground back on the bed too.
When he finally settled in next to her again, she was staring straight up at the ceiling. He pulled her in close like always. She didn't struggle, but she remained stiff as a board, and didn't hug him back or relax. She was acting really strange tonight.
"What's wrong?" He finally asked, a bit annoyed.
"You know what's wrong, Zuko." She turned to look at him with what seemed like a great deal of effort.
Zuko remembered back to their last conversation. "Oh." He looked at her. "Then I guess I… I just won't kiss you again." He said, very reluctantly.
"But I want you to." Yes! He cheered internally, and turned her face towards his with his hand.
She stopped him. "But, I also don't want you to. Because if we can't stop this time, I don't know what I'm going to do."
They gazed at each other for a moment.
"Then we won't have to stop." He said gently.
She had a shocked expression on her face. "But we have to!"
"Why?"
"Because I'm… I'm not going to do…do that with you, Zuko!" She choked out in a bit of a rage. "I'm not going to!" Her face softened a bit. "You're my enemy, you know that?"
Now he was angry. "Then do you know that you've been kissing your enemy for the past few days? That you've been sleeping with him, wearing his clothes, talking to him, laughing with him, and touching him as well?"
"That doesn't change the fact that you are-"
"Yes it does!" He shouted. "Yes it does! What have these past weeks meant to you?"
She looked at him calmly, but inside she wondered as well. What have these past weeks mean to you, Zuko? Tell me. But all she said was "What are we if we aren't enemies?" Katara waited for him to answer her. She waited for Zuko to tell her something that she knew they could never be. Maybe if they'd been born in a different time, at a different place, as different people. But not now, not here, and not as the people they were.
And he knew it too. Zuko stared at Katara. "They're not coming to get you. The Avatar and your brother. They're not coming."
She felt like slapping him. "Yes they are." She knew she sounded like she was trying to reassure herself.
"They aren't. They've forgotten about you."
"They wouldn't leave me. They're still searching. They love me." She said with as much confidence as she could muster. "Sokka and Aang love me." The way you don't, were the unspoken words.
Zuko stared at her, emotions roiling across his scarred face. Then he grabbed her violently and kissed her again, much like the first time he'd done it. It was hard and angry and desperate, and it said everything they couldn't say in words.
Katara kissed him back hungrily, pulling him down over her. She forgot everything. She forgot about Aang, Sokka, rescue, enemies, promises, Fire Nation, war, Water Bending, prisoners, peace, and love.
All she thought of that night was Zuko.
A/N: No. This authoress is not going to give anything away. Every single one of you readers can interpret this chapter however you want. Many things discussed and mentioned in this chapter will play big parts in later chapters, so heads up.
Also, some of you will notice the part about Zuko and his father. I am assuming (and it's never safe to assume, but I'm doing so anyways) in the show that Zuko was banished against his wishes. I think that's how most people see it. BUT, the show doesn't give me much to build Zuko's exile on aside from the simple facts which are much like this:
Ozai: You piss me off for no apparent reason, son. Therefore, I'm banishing you and making you do my dirty work by finding that one semi-famous kid called the Avatar. Then you can come home and I'll love you forever.
Zuko: Aw shucks, Dad, really?
Ozai: Get out of my castle. If I catch you back here before you have the Avatar, I'm grounding you for a billion trillion million years. And make sure to change your underwear every night.
Zuko: Okay Dad! Love you too! See you in a decade or so!
Soo… I'm sort of making up my own history behind his exile. Kapeesh? This is how it's going to work. I don't think that shallow interpretation that I just wrote out is anything like how Zuko's banishment was reall played out, so I'm going to write my own idea of what happened. This is just getting more and more AU with every chapter. Argh.
READER'S VOTE: At this point in the story, I'm pretty divided about the ending. I've got most everything else planned out but that part. Here's the deal. I can write a sad ending, but there will be a sequel! Or, I can go with a happy ending, and no sequel. Vote please. I'd like to know everyone's opinion on this.
Why this was late: I left on a school trip the morning of Sunday (May 22, 2005) and came back today which is Friday (May 27, 2005) to WASHINGTON D.C. it was mucho fun thanks. But, that also meant I had no time to update. Plus, tomorrow, I leave on a camping trip with my family until AFTER MEMORIAL DAY (May 30, 2005) so there will be NO UPDATES until, I'm guessing, June (which isn't so far away). I will be busily writing in my notebook the entire time, so I'll just type everything up when I get home. I'm sorry about this, but I do have a life other than Z/K (however shocking that might sound). However, KEEP THOSE REVIEWS COMING!
THANKS SO MUCH FOR 300+ REVIEWS!
