A/N: Thanks for being so patient everyone! Sorry! I've been so busy lately! Well, I hope this chapter was worth the wait!
Prince Zuko woke with a start, finding himself entangled in his thin sheets tightly. He pulled himself up and wiggled out of the grip of the fabric. Thunder echoed in the dark, making the room seem more haunted than it did when he had first walked in. The wind and rain were still beating against the sides of the house loudly as he made his way across the cold floor to the hallway.
Poking his head out the doorway in an unconscious reflex, Zuko tried to clear his mind of the childish thoughts of ghosts, and a not so childish thought of an unwanted guest. I his head, he could imagine Zhao lurking in a corner just waiting for him to pass by. That man hated him more then it humanly seemed possible. He had to make sure to skip that topic and keep his thoughts to himself on that matter.
The prince shivered in his deep red outfit, one he normally reserved for training but decided to wear to bed anyways, too tired to change. Crossing his arms as he walked, Zuko began to let his eyes adjust to the dark. He bumped into the walls once or twice before anything came into view.
Uncle Iroh's deep snore echoed lightly through the hall, heard above the thunder at times. Prince Zuko was glad he was moving away from Iroh's room, because even at his distance, the snoring was as irritating as it was to look at Zhao's face.
Zuko continued to walk through the dark, as if using it to wear away the nightmare he just faced. Shivering again, Zuko blinked several times as his eyes played cruel tricks on him in the dark. He past by a half open door, stopped, and peeked in noticing someone familiar.
Kaida was lying on her back with the black cat he saw earlier curled up next to her, its paws resting on her chest. It looked up with orange, lamp-like eyes and hissed at him. Even as Zuko backed up, the cat continued to yowl at him dangerously. The thunder did little to calm his nerves.
Prince Zuko continued to pace through the halls until he was too cold and tired to walk anymore. The effects of the nightmare had utterly worn off, and he had almost forgotten it by now. He sighed and headed back to his room, wincing as his uncle let out a rather loud snort. He was glad his uncle's room was a bit of a distance away form his on the ship. Curling up under the sheets, Zuko faced the wall and stared at it, thinking, until his eyes shut and he fell asleep again.
A loud purring was nestled right next to Zuko's ear. He subconsciously tried turning his head away from the noise, but felt something light touch his nose. It brushed against his skin so lightly it made his nose itch, badly. He twitched his nose and turned over a little, still feeling the annoying thing hit his face.
The quiet, other than purring, was broken by a scolding whisper of "Akemi! Come over here!" Zuko's eyes opened slightly, the room around him was blurry but bright. There was a strange black blob next to him, it was furry and still purred.
"Akemi, here kitty kitty…" The girl's voice called again, apparently talking to the blob. Prince Zuko's eye came into focus and noticed Kaida inching closer to the blob, and him unintentionally. He jumped, feeling the sheets wrapped around him like rope, and felt his shoulder collide with the floor. He had been dangling upside-down over the side of his bed, where the cat decided to curl up.
The cat turned its head, flicked its tail in his face, and gave a sly grin as though it was laughing at his feat.
"Prince Zuko? Are you alright? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up, I was looking for Akemi there," Kaida said quickly, straitening up, temporarily giving up on calling the cat.
The black cat hissed and glared with its orange eyes when Zuko struggled to get up. The kitty made its way over to Kaida, silently padding on soft paws. She picked it up, scratched its chin, and turned her attention back to the prince awkwardly sprawled out on the floor.
"Um, your uncle sent me up to inform you breakfast is ready, sir," Kaida said softly still patting the purring cat.
"Pah, you have an evil cat, you know that?" Zuko glared at the orange eyed creature. The prince sat up, feeling his cheeks burn from an awkward form of embarrassment. It was different from the times his uncle had done so, which was actually quite often.
"Akemi isn't evil, Prince Zuko." Kaida gave a small pout before turning out of the room, "See you downstairs."
Zuko scrambled to pull new clothes on and make his way out to the hallway, glad to see it well lit despite the clouds covering the sky outside. He walked calmly along the dark floor and made his way downstairs noticing a large raven perched on the landing. He watched it, forgetting to look where he was going, and tripped over a black lump on the third to last stair.
The lump gave a shrill hiss as Zuko tumbled ungracefully down the last couple stairs and landed on the floor with a dull thud. The cat arched its back, raised its claws, and tried to intimidate the prince who had rudely forced it from its morning nap.
"Stupid, evil cat," He grumpily whispered before looking up at the person standing in front of him.
Kaida was staring down at him with a look of surprise and a bit of confusion. Her frown was twined with concern. "Are you alright?"
Zuko's face grew visibly red as he got up fast again, resisting the urge to kick the darned cat. "Fine," he snapped.
Kaida was taken aback by his tone, but shook it off knowing this was an everyday attitude. She shooed the cat into the other room and made her way to the kitchen where Iroh sat gulping down his food.
"Why do you have a bird in here?" Prince Zuko asked as they walked.
"Akashi watches over the place since I don't live here much anymore. He and Akemi make sure no one breaks in or anything. He's really sweet otherwise, and gets along with the cat well." Kaida replied without turning to look at him.
Uncle Iroh leaned over Zuko's shoulder after many minutes of him not touching his breakfast. He was more so poking at it blindly, staring off into space holding up his head with the hand that wasn't prodding the food. Iroh looked in the direction Zuko was staring in and gave a sly grin.
"Prince Zuko," he whispered, "Why have you been staring at our hostess for the last ten minutes?"
"Wha?" The prince jumped and was snapped back to reality with a slightly flustered expression. "Oh uh, I'm not." He quickly shoved a large bite of food in his mouth to keep from answering any more of his uncle's questions.
Uncle Iroh led the way to the camp, greeting soldiers as he passed by. Zuko and Kaida followed behind him, the prince much father behind than Kaida was.
"General Iroh!" Lieutenant Gi stated while saluting quickly, starting a conversation with him that didn't interest the teenagers in any way. Just plain boring topics they tuned out.
"Looks like it might rain again sir," Gi said glumly.
"It does storm here often, during the evenings that is," Kaida interrupted politely, joining the conversation.
Zuko let his gaze wander around, hearing instead of talking, just an annoying buzz of chatter. He watched people open shops and do chores all around the town as it woke up in the grey morning. Zuko was only snapped out of his reverie by Iroh's voice.
"What do you think Prince Zuko?" He asked suddenly to the zoning out prince.
"Hm? Yeah, whatever…" He continued surveying the area without paying any attention to the others whatsoever.
"Splendid. Who will you be taking in your scouting group then?" Iroh questioned his nephew again.
"What scouting group?"
"The one you just said you'd lead. You volunteered. Don't tell me you've already forgotten!" Uncle Iroh chuckled at Zuko's sour look. "I suggest you get started before it starts to rain again."
"I am NOT leading a scouting party," Prince Zuko stated firmly.
"I can't believe I'm leading a scouting party," Zuko mumbled as he smacked a tree branch out of his way. The small group was making their way through the Anlin Forest watching for Earthbender camps, or Zhao. "Agni, I am sick of these weeds…"
The men behind him grumbled their complaints among themselves, knowing better than to complain to their prince. Kaida brought up the rear, getting hit by almost every twig or branch the people ahead of her pulled back. She jumped as one particularly large stick smacked her nose rather hard. She quickly covered her nose and mouth with her hands to keep from yelling at the mean branch. Kaida sniffed, hoping her nose wasn't bleeding.
Zuko felt his stomach protest for food again, they had been walking for some time now. The only results he had come up with were bug bites itched, twigs are sharp, and spiders like to get in your face. He growled to himself, hating his uncle's volunteering system. Asking when he wasn't paying attention. He stopped where a river sliced though their current path, and today, he didn't feel like swimming. Zuko looked down at the river bank when Kaida walked up.
"This river is rather deep, I know from experience," she said sheepishly, "Lieutenant Gi wanted me to ask if we were to head back to town."
He looked over and snapped back, "Tell him that's the best idea I've heard all day…Why is your nose all red?"
Her hands flew to her face again, "No reason. Um, let's continue back then shall we, sir?" She hurried through the ranks of men to the lieutenant to tell him Zuko's answer. Gi looked just as pleased to be going back as Zuko felt.
Rain was barely falling by the time the group wove their way through the thinning woods and caught sight of town. The grey sky gave the dark buildings a bleak look, despite the population bustling in the streets unnoticing the rain. Most of the men had one thing on their mind: food.
Upon returning, Zuko promptly glared at his uncle as he wandered into the kitchen for lunch.
"Prince Zuko, anything interesting on your trip?" Iroh's grin peeked over the side of his teacup.
It was a long afternoon of drizzling rain, dark clouds, and glaring contests. To the soldiers, the sky was becoming to be so commonly grey, it was as if that were its true color. But, lives and the day went on, some soldiers went into town in and out of their duties. At dinnertime, the clouds were so thick it seemed more like late evening than the normally bright time of day it was supposed to be.
Uncle Iroh was situated by a table playing his tile game after dinner was over. There were several lanterns lit in the room to light it up from the dimness of the outside sky. The silence and calm was a usual comforting feeling to have around, but for some reason, the quiet now was almost suspenseful. He tensed and looked out the window to the dark sky and thickening rain as though he knew something bad was going to occur.
Prince Zuko sighed out of boredom and continued messing with the piece of paper in his fingers. His uncle encouraged origami, claiming it calmed one down. Zuko prefers to think of his messed up creations as things to burn up when he got bored enough. Right now, he was nearing the point to singe the paper crane he fiddled with. Instead of lighting it, he tossed it up as he stood, it floated gently down to the wood floor. He started walking down the hallway to do something other than sit when he heard a soft noise.
Looking up, he had just enough time to react as Kaida ran up almost silently down the hall at full speed, but she had turned to the other direction the moment she approached Zuko. She turned around just in time to crash into him, but he was lucky enough to seize her by the arms and keep her from sending him flying. She looked alarmed, and not just from running into her commanding officer.
"We have to leave or, I don't know! There are Earth Kingdom troops making their way into town!" Kaida stared wildly at him, her eyes were a hazy grey, like the sky. Zuko didn't bother letting go when he yelled back for his uncle to follow. He started off pulling Kaida along by the wrist.
Outside, the growing chaos became more apparent when people sprinted past, unable to find a place to hide. The rain was falling hard now, putting out the city's evening lights making the scene darker and much more intense. Prince Zuko let his eyes wander to the harbor where a familiar ship outline made its appearance. His grimace deepened as red uniformed soldiers marched from the docks, keeping their gaze on the green clad warriors already in town.
The trees and rain went by like a blur as Kaida followed Zuko through the Anlin Forest, dodging sharp braches and tree stumps. They were both thoroughly soaked by now and were followed not only by their enemy, but by scared, fleeting soldiers of their own regiment. Still in their uniforms form the hike before, they were dead giveaways to the opposing army, but a little less conspicuous to Zhao's troops. Only Kaida's long, braided blonde hair was a bit out of the ordinary, which made her a prime target aside from being a wanted person in her own country now.
Prince Zuko quickly grabbed her wrist again and pulled her down a different path they had walked along earlier that day. "I know somewhere we can hide, I spotted it on the patrol."
She followed him wordlessly, trying to keep up without tripping or falling behind. He paused at the river bank staring down blankly at it. The prince slid down through an unnoticeable crack in the rock right next to the water, tugging Kaida down with him into the severely tight hiding place.
Their bulky armor did little to help with the breathing room, Kaida wished all the more she wasn't wearing it as she slipped down into the crevasse with a small yelp. She felt her cheek rest against metal, noticing Zuko was staring up at the entrance with a hard look holding her close tightly. Kaida blinked a couple times, partly from shock and held still.
Zuko reassured himself in his mind several times he was merely doing this for protection. He shifted his attention to the rain falling through the opening to the hiding spot, making sure no soldier could find them. He glanced down at Kaida after a few minutes, noticing how red her face was even in the dark. He rolled his eyes and tried to rise from sitting down, "I'm going to see if Uncle is still ok. Don't leave until I get back, understand?"
She nodded, remembering how his uncle had told them to run ahead. Kaida watched him climb up and out of the crevasse and disappear into the rain. The blonde pulled her knees to her chest and waited in silence for what seemed like a very long time…or at least until the noise outside had died off.
Kaida couldn't help but stand up and peek out to see if the coast was clear. She looked around with clearing pale blue eyes seeing nothing but green trees and rocks. Until she felt a violent tug on the collar of her armor and felt herself get hoisted up out of the hideout. She prayed desperately it was only Zuko, but the dark voice that followed the gesture said otherwise.
"Hello there, little Avatar."