A/N: People, I am so sorry for not being able to post this sooner. I have been SUPER busy with my school schedule and after hours band practice, that my entire body feels like it had been stomped on by several Komodo Rhinos, then sat upon by General Iroh. Geez, I'm sorry again and I promise to try and get chapters in ASAP and FASTER! Hope you enjoy!
"I'm not little! Put me down!" Kaida shouted trying to squirm free. She glared furiously as she was turned around to face a most pleased Admiral Zhao. The cold metal of her armor scraped uncomfortably against her skin as he still held her in the air.
"Give me one reason I should." Zhao gave a mocking grin in her face, "Little girl."
"Okay, I will." She pulled back her hand and smacked him across the face, shocking herself more than him. She had never intentionally hit someone. But it at least got her back on the ground. Standing up, she pulled her arms back and used water from the fast-moving stream to trip the soldiers before taking off towards the town.
Kaida ran through the brush noticing bright lights dancing up ahead, in the same direction of Heilong. She burst through the entrance to the forest staring right into the center of a clash between the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation soldiers, so violently attacking, it was impossible to tell who was on what side.
She ducked out from the crossfire only to turn and feel someone sharply grab her wrist and pull her aside. She half screamed, thinking the worst of the person.
"What are you doing here?" A voice hissed, "I told you to stay in there!"
Kaida looked up to see Prince Zuko standing there, his outline was illuminated by the fire behind him. He didn't look happy.
"Admiral Zhao found me, Prince Zuko, I'm sorry I left without your consent." She apologized quickly. Kaida opened her mouth to continue her apology, but was cut off when Zuko pulled her away from another clash of soldiers that has slunk their way.
"That's okay," he shouted over the noise, half ignoring her, "My uncle said to go on ahead to the closest city, and he'd meet us there with the rest of the crew. Some of them have already gone ahead as well."
"The closest city is Haibeisu, it's along the coast here too. There are only a handful of Fire Nation people living there though, and they are too afraid to let it show too much. Most of the town is Earth Kingdom and-" Kaida was cut off when he tugged her arm to look her in the face sternly.
"How do you get there?" He asked with a hard expression.
"Uh…through the Anlin Forest, southeast…" The girl replied, a little shaken. Her eyes were rapidly changing to a strange grey greenish color.
Prince Zuko pulled her along towards the trees, "Then hurry up!" He charged through the bushes, seeing a couple familiar men from his ship doing the same. He was lucky to have such dark hair, to blend in, despite his pale complexion. Kaida stuck out with her fair colored hair in the darkening woods. The unpleasant sound of twigs scraping against their armor was heard repetitively throughout their run. Kaida was happy when they finally slowed nearing a thinning area in the forest. She looked around noticing the others that had been trailing along had diminished in number.
"What happened to-" She stared to ask, but was yet again interrupted by the prince.
"Who cares, where do we go now, Kaida?" Zuko still had the dark, serious glare that sent chills to anyone in his view. But a rustle from the trees above them distracted his gaze. Looking up, a rope coiled its way through the branches and wrapped around Kaida's arms and waist and pulled her into the trees. At the same time, another crew member nearby was pulled up into the treetops just as quick.
Confused, Zuko stared a moment before snapping back to his serious attitude right when he too was tugged into the green canopy. There was a flurry of embers and tree branches and several distraught voices calling out before quiet. Prince Zuko madly lifted his head and looked around at the boys surrounding him and several others, some of whom he recognized instantly, all up inside the trees.
"What do you brats want?" He snapped, clearly catching their attention from several whining soldiers elsewhere.
"Watch your mouth, Fire Nation scum. You happen to be in our territory now," said an outspoken and thin boy. He turned to a taller messy haired teen, "Good idea helping out with the Earth Kingdom army, Jet. We get to kick more Fire butt!"
"Well, I gotta admit it was a pretty good idea." The teenager smirked, chewing on a weed of some kind. In Zuko opinion, it was rather disgusting to be chewing on grass. Who knew where that grass had been?
A positively huge boy was perched nearby, whom the prince wondered how someone so large could rest on a branch without it snapping in seconds." Jet! There's a girl here!"
Rainwater dripped in Kaida's eyes as she looked up into the brown eyes of the tall teen boy by the name of Jet. He half glared, half smirked in one twisted expression at her retreated figure. The rope was still bound tightly around her, keeping any physical use of her hands useless. She couldn't force a mean look back, she was too distraught between Zhao, the Earth Kingdom troops, and now this. What else could go so wrong?
She remained quiet as Jet watched her light blue eyes drain in a whirlpool effect to a pale yellow before him. His face was ridden with a perplexed and concentrated frown. For once, this vengeful leader couldn't decide weather this girl was a victim or threat. He flicked his wrist for the motion to drop the prisoners from the tree perch at the arrival of a ranking officer on their side.
Prince Zuko looked up to the green clad warrior before him, recognizing the man to be the same from the prison hold in Ba Sing Se. The man grinned at the sight of a familiar face, "Long time no see, my boy. We were wondering where you went."
"Spare me. I could care less how you feel." Zuko retorted with an arrogant grimace.
Kaida exchanged worried looked to fellow crewmen around her, who seemed just as shaken by the situation as she was. She knew this wasn't going to end well by the way the officer Zuko was harassing was changing in temper. The blonde watched a single leaf float down from the canopy above and land ever so lightly on her nose. She blew up, trying to get it off, to no avail. The stubborn leaf continued to perch upon her nose, itching like crazy. Kaida frowned deeply and childishly blew as hard as she could. A little too hard.
Kaida had unintentionally used Airbending to rid her face of the leaf, with so much force it did not just blow away the poor piece of foliage, but knocked over the Earth Kingdom captain, still toying with Zuko. Her face was frozen with wide eyes as she watched the soldier's reaction, which was somewhere between shock, extreme anger, and utter annoyance. The man stood and began walking over, only to be cut off by a quick, short blast of fire.
Zhao stepped over half smirking from the fact he didn't have to get his hands dirty keeping the girl from escaping, for now. "I'll take over from here."
"Actually, I think we were here first." The green-covered soldier retaliated.
"Well, that's just too bad now isn't it?" Admiral Zhao crossed the line as he let out a string of insults to match his argument opponent. While fighting, however, he unintentionally sent another small fireball in Kaida's direction. She yelped and tried getting out of the way, Firebending free and scrambling off hissing from an unseen injury.
Prince Zuko followed suit, helping as many others as he could stand, who were unlucky enough to be without the ability. Dodging a nasty looking barrage of stones, he pointed to a new direction, signaling to head that way. The men did as told, Kaida trailing alongside them, glad to be free of the rambling idiots behind them.
"Prince Zuko! How will we get into the city? We can't just stroll around looking like this!" A sloppily dressed sailor addressed to an already irritated Zuko. Pointing out the obvious when the prince was aggravated, was not a very intelligent move, even for this slow-in-the-head guy.
Zuko's eye twitched as he surveyed the men surrounding him in the damp woods. "Privet Liang, you look less Fire Nation than any of us," Zuko stated, motioning to his brown and tan attire, "You will go and get us some clothes to change into so we can 'blend in'."
The small deckhand saluted, very unprofessionally Zuko added, and scampered off towards the town visible through the trees and bushes. Though the task was simple, it took forever until the short man did return, an armful of clothes piled in his arms.
"This isn't enough yet," he squeaked, "But it's quite a lot already."
"You will continue doing this until everyone looks," he sighed, "normal. Understood?"
"Yes sir!" The branches and weeds objected his trip, having been thrown around in all directions as the man passed though them. The group there was left in the quiet of the rain and night birds' songs.
Passing out the clothes, they did notice the shortage, so those who were missed had to stay behind until they looked appropriate. Kaida looked down at her new attire, frowning.
'They have to be kidding me! This is like a six year old's dress!' She thought furiously.
"Well? Are you changing or do you wanna stay in this forest with those soldiers and Zhao back there?" Zuko asked bluntly, noticing her hesitation.
She glared, blushing slightly, and slunk behind a tree to change. She didn't feel like changing in front of them, or watching them do so, which they were beginning to do without the slightest hint of decency. She untied her armor and dropped it onto the dirt and grass below her. It took a while to get off her shirt and vest, getting lost inside the fabric hoping no one was watching. Picking up the green and brown dress, she gave it a disappointed pout and slipped it on, followed by the small brown sandals.
"Wha!" came a shout behind the trees. The men exchanged confused and curious looks. "I can't go around like this! I look like a child!"
Zuko sighed, growing more impatient by the minute, and with his own new outfit complete with a rice harvester's hat. If his father could see him now…
"Get a grip, it can't be THAT bad. We have to get going." The prince groaned, flicking the edge of his hat out of his face. That hat needed some getting used to.
"Yes, in fact, it IS that bad." Kaida gingerly stepped out from the showdown of the trees wearing a dress that was cut so small, it did in fact show more of her feminine features than any of the crew, including Zuko had ever seen and/or noticed. Some of the crewmen didn't really notice how girly she ever was, but then again, they weren't the brightest bunch either. Kaida frantically made sure the dress covered her up as much as she could get it to. "It's freezing," she shivered with her wet hair dripping over the once dry dress, "Is it possible to go into town NOW? There is a small inn that I know of. Why are you wearing that hat, Prince Zuko?" She had the faintest hint of a grin as the men behind the prince chuckled. The teenager blushed and frowned in embarrassment and hatred for the vile hat that rested upon his head. Boy, would he be happy just to burn that hat to cinders…
Kaida desperately hoped this charade wouldn't last long, fearing she'd be stuck in short dresses forever. Trudging along behind the troop, she became lost in her own thoughts, barely listening to whatever Zuko had begun to yell about. She didn't realize how far away her mind was until she found herself staring at many more people dressed similarly watching the group go by in town. Some smiled and greeted them, others remained passive, mostly ignoring the "travelers". Kaida began to assume it would be a lot easier than they had planned it to be in their heads. They would only have to stay until Hailong City was rid of Earth Kingdom soldiers and Zhao's own battalion had cleared out.
Looking to the sign marking the inn, Kaida began to have second thoughts sleeping and staying in a foreign and enemy town. Earth Kingdom had never been registered SAFE in Fire Nation minds for a hundred years, and most likely never fully will be for a long time. But following the orders Prince Zuko gave out discreetly, they were to act as "peasant-like" as possible, giving them no reason for suspicion. Easier said than done.
Thanks to all my reviewers! Boy you guys help me out sometimes! Check out the review page to see all the wonderful people there! Too tired to type the list, so there's still room for more names on the next thanks note! Keep reviewing and THANKS A BUNCH!