Inutenshi: And so the second chapter begins! I apologize to those who reviewed my last chapter. I had a few mistakes to fix and in doing so I lost your reviews. Please forgive me. I feel horrible about it.

Zuko: Idiot...

Katara: Hey! Be nice!

Zuko: Hmph...

Inutenshi: Anywho...Today our rude, cold hearted, inconsiderate prince makes a choice! On to the story!

Chapter Two: Help Me

Sokka paced angrily back and forth. The scowl had not lifted from his face since Katara had left. It hadonly been halfan hour, but it felt like an enternity to him.

"Where the hell is she!" He shouted.

Aang watched the warrior pace.

"Chill out Sokka. It hasn't been an hour yet."

Sokka paused and glared at the young Avatar.

"Chill out?"

"Yeah."

"Chill out!"

"Um...yeah. That's what I said."

"CHILL OUT?"

"Geez, Sokka not so loud."

A wide smile spread across Sokka's face.

"Okay then, Aang. I'll 'chill out'. Yeah...I'll 'chill out' reeeaaaallly good."

"Um..." Aang slowly backed away.

"Yeah! And you know what? I'll be able to 'chill out' even better once I know WHERE MY SISTER IS!"

Aang put a finger to his lips.

"Sokka. Shhhhh!"

But he just continued circling around yelling every bit of profanity he knew.

"Sokka!" Aang yelled, clamping his hand over the offending mouth that could give them away.

"You have to be quiet..." He whispered, releasing his mouth.

"Why? What now?"

Aang crept over to the mouth of the cave and peeked out through the waterfall. In the distance, he heard loud stomps and the quiet chatter of soldiers.

"What is it Aang?" Sokka asked, creeping beside the younger Avatar.

His eyes narrowed as the sounds grew closer.

"Fire Nation."

Zuko shifted in his seat atop his rhino. Both the men and the rhinos were exhausted. Even he was feeling a little fatigued, but he wasn't going to stop until he found some sort of lead to where his prize lay. His rhino gradually slowed in its step until it came to a complete stop and laid down.

Cussing loudly at the beast, he dismounted and stomped into the woods, leaving his troop behind.

"Stupid animals..." He muttered, anger coming off him in waves.

The Avatar was floating just above his palm, and the beast gives out on him before he could get a chance to close his fist. He ran ideas over in his head repeatedly, trying to think of where they hadn't checked yet. They'd already passed through all the caves, borrows, dens, and trees they could find.

"What am I overlooking!" He thought angrily.

"Errrrgh! It's too difficult to think with all that laughing!"

He paused.

Laughing?

There were people on this island?

Zuko considered the possibilities that who ever was out there might have seen the Avatar.

Well...It's worth a shot.

The closer he got to the laughter, the more noising he began picking up that fit along with it. He heard grunting, weak moans, and crying. Something in his blood told him there was something wrong. And the more he walked, the more it urged him, and soon he'd broken out into a sprint.

He stopped in the bushes right before he reached his target.

One of the voices was familiar. From that voice he heard broken sobs and moans. His nose picked up the thick scent of blood. He toyed with the idea of turning back, but the nagging feeling in his chest wouldn't give way and let him leave.

Shaking his head clear, he opened a part in the bushes to see what the hell was happening.

His eyes widened in shock, fear, and disgust.

The Avatar's little waterbending girlfriend, sat up nearly bare and limp amidst four men. Her dress was torn and bloodied, stuck on her arms that were bound tightly behind her back. The pants she usually wore under the dress were torn off except for the scraps still tight around her shins. Her tanned skin was literally bathed in blood and dirt. Her eyes were screwed shut, as if she was trying to hide.

Katara's whimpers were muffled. Even if she could speak, no one wouldn't listen. More fresh, hot tears rolled down her face.

Zuko Was throughly disgusted. He barely knew the girl and sure she was in league with his enemy, but no one, even an enemy, deserved this type of torture. Besides, the girl had done nothing to receive such punishment.

Nothing that he knew of, of course.

Deciding he was only doing it out of curiosity and in attempt to capture her for questioning, he sprang in to action. The first man went down with a sickening snap of his neck. The next man looked up just in to see a metal boot connect with his face, forcing the bone in his nose into his brain. Zuko grinned at his handiwork. Behind him, the last two men had thrown the girl aside and had taken up their swords. The two charged him in a blind fury. He avoided the blades, punches, and kicks with ease. There was one man on each side of him, both circling him.

He watched them with his amber, hawk-like eyes, keeping note of their every move. His gaze wandered towards the girl. She hadn't moved. He couldn't tell if that was good or bad. Seeing his moment to strike, the man to his left charged and raised his sword, preparing to bring it down on a slant and sever Zuko's head.

Zuko moved just in time for the attack to nick his neck, but his slow reaction to the man earned him a nice stab wound from the other in the uncovered right side of his armor. Zuko grab the man that had missed and used him as leverage to escape from the sword. The man stumbled forward into his partner and was run through with his sword. The last man stared wide eyed as the other's body slipped from the sword and fell into a puddle of his own blood. The man's hands shook unnervingly. Looking up at the young prince, he gulped deeply before taking off into the forest.

Zuko watched the man run until he was nearly out of sight. Chuckling, he raised a flaming hand.

"Wouldn't want to keep your friends waiting in Hell now would we?"

A blast of fire escaped his fist and he waited and waited until the man's agonized screams reached his ears, then died down.

Blood was oozing from his wounded side onto the ground.

"Nothing serious..." He told himself.

As he began to walk back towards his troop, the girl coughed and whimpered in pain. He stared at her beaten, once innocent, body. She was a sad sight. Crouching beside her, he assessed the damage she'd been dealt with. He severed the ropes with a discarded dagger. She was drawing in slow, ragged breaths. Both her shoulders were dislocated and her wrists were broken and bleeding from the rope that bit into her flesh.

The bastards had tugged her long dark hair from its braid and bun, leaving it dirty and matted with blood. There were multiple cuts on her skin. Her eyes remained tightly closed and he could see where they'd bitten at her neck, ears, shoulders and breasts. Her hips were badly bruised and when he tried to see the damage on the inside, she yelped and curled herself in a ball.

She looked absolutely pathetic. Like child beaten by their own parent. He pitied the girl. She shouldn't have been raped so brutally. The poor waterbender was probably younger than him, he'd thought. Knowing he'd hate himself for leaving her, he closed the remains of her dress around her tightly, scooped her up, and held her close to his armored chest. In all the excitement he'd forgotten which way he'd come.

Sighing heavily he realized that the search would have to be put on hold.

Two soldiers were nearing the cave. Aang and Sokka pulled Appa towards the back, preparing to ambush them from the dark if they needed to.

"Do you really think she'll be waiting for me when we get home?" The young soldier asked.

"We've been through this seven times! Of course she'll be waiting." The other soldier replied.

"But...but what if she's given up and found someone else!"

"Shut up, will you! If we don't find the Avatar, the prince will kill us, we'll never get to go home, and you'll never see your girlfriend again!"

The other soldier sighed.

"Now, come on. This is the only place we haven't looked so let's get this over with."

The boys stiffened and their breathing stopped as the sound of metal armor against rock grew louder.

"Hey...Hey wait!"

"What now!"

"Over there!" The soldier pointed west, towards the black smoke rising from the forest.

"Help signal. Maybe they've found the Avatar."

The older soldier began to leave.

"But...but..but.." The other stuttered pointing towards the waterfall.

"We can come back later! Now get your ass over here!"

The young soldier yelped and scurried after his partner to mount their rhinos.

Sokka and Aang release their breath and relaxed against Appa.

"We've gotta leave now." Sokka said.

"B-but what about Katara!" Aang cried.

Sokka stood and dusted off his pants.

"She's a tough girl, Aang. She can handle herself. We'll come back tonight, once the Fire Nation soldiers have turned in."

Aang sighed heavily, but agreed just the same.

"Sir! What happened?" The captain called as he and rest of Zuko's troops found the source of the Help signal.

Zuko coughed slightly as a little spark of flame escaped his lips. Katara lay limply in his lap.

"I'm fine. It's just a small stab wound. But the girl-" He looked at her sleeping face.

"I found her with a group of thieves. She's been brutally beaten and raped. I recognized her as the Avatar's friend, which means he is or was on this island."

The captain looked at the girl sleeping in the prince's lap.

"Do you want us to keep looking Sir?" He asked.

Zuko shook his head.

"I saw their bison pass about 5 minutes ago. They're probably going to find a safer place to hide, and then come back for the girl."

"And what shall we do with her Sir?"

"She'll have to be treated. These wounds are quite severe." Zuko said, standing.

"After she is well, would you like her to be put into a cell?"

There was a long silence.

"No. We'll need her to find the Avatar and to make sure she stays put, I'll keep her with me." He said stepping passed them.

The troops stood confused and watched as their leader walked away.

"Hurry up and gather the rest of our men!" He shouted. "I want us all on the ship before night fall!"

Taking hold of the saddle on a vacant rhino, he pulled Katara and himself up with one hand, over, and on top of it. The beast roared in obedience and trotted towards the shore. Katara moaned weakly, her brows furrowing in discomfort. Slowly, her eyelids lifted. Zuko stared into the blue, pain filled ocean of her soul. Something inside him broke. What was causing him to hurt so much every time he looked at her abused form? He killed ten of thousands ofmen and felt not one flake of regret.

But out of all thesoldiers and warriorshe'd fought and killed over the years, he'd yet to see enough pain and fear to rival them all in just one young woman. Maybe that's what was nagging at him.

"Or maybe you're just getting soft over a girl." His little voice told him.

He chuckled in his head and shook away the thought.

The komodo rhino took a heavy step into small ditch, causing his passengers to jerk to the side. Katara cried out in discomfort at the sudden shift. The cry made what ever was ailing Zuko throb even more. The hand that held the reigns reached to stroke her face. The tension was expelled from her in one heavy sigh.

"We're almost there. Just try to cope for a little bit longer, um..." He paused in thought.

"Damn! What was her name?"

"...Katara."

He jumped at the sound of her cracked voice.

"W-what did you say?" He asked.

"...Katara...My name is Katara..."

Zuko mentally hit himself. How could he have forgotten the name of such a beautiful girl?

He hit himself again.

"You're...Prince Zuko..." She stated softly.

"Yes, I am."

Katara tried to move, but the gentle arm placed around her shoulders held her fast to him.

"Where...is Aang...and Sokka?...Where are you taking me?" She said, her voice full of distress.

He avoided her frightened, questioning stare.

"We haven't found him yet."

His hand flexed gently on her shoulder, but there was no pain.

"You, on the other hand, are coming with me. You need medical attention."

Katara tried to wiggle her fingers, lift her arm, anything that would make her more comfortable about her current state.

"Why can't I move my arms?" She asked fearfully.

He took the arm that rested in her lap and showed her how limp it was.

"You're shoulders are dislocated from being pulled back too far and held too long."

Her eyes were fixed on her injured wrist. Zuko followed her gaze. The ropes had cut into her wrists leaving the tissue underneath exposed and bleeding. Fresh tears welled in the corners of her tired eyes.

"Hey now." He said in a tone more aggressive than he'd meant. "No tears. What's happened can't be changed, so suck it up."

The waterbender wanted to slap the arrogant prince for his rudeness, but realized that he was indeed correct. Her body had been defiled. No one would take her as a wife. One of the things she'd dreamt of accomplishing ever since she was a child had been ripped from her, just as her parents had.

Katara fought back the tears, not wanting to hear other snide remark from her savoir…captor…whatever he was! Her fight was all for not, when moisture gathered rapidly in the corners of her eyes and spilt like a broken dam. She turned her head into the material of the arm her head was resting on and wept.

Zuko hissed painfully. Katara stopped her sobbing and looked up into his face. It was twisted in a scowl of agony. That was when she spotted the trail of blood sliding down the rhino's saddle.

"You're injured." She stated plainly.

"Heh! It'll need a stitch or two. Nothing to worry about." He huffed stubbornly.

Her brows knit together as she took in his expression. His eyes were clouding over with pain, his mouth was slightly slack, and his breathing had increased to gentle gasps.

"You're losing too much blood." She said.

Zuko winced. The pain was becoming unbearable and his vision was blurring. The waterbender was right. His blood was flowing profusely. Soon he fell unconscious and slid off the saddle, taking Katara with him.

She cried out as her wounded body crashed to the ground. Prince Zuko lay a mere foot from her. Soldiers came rushing over, their faces stricken with worry as they hefted their prince back onto the rhino and led it away. Katara thought they were going to leave her behind, but another soldier had picked her up set her atop his own ride. She whispered her thanks before the newly awakened pain overtook her and forced her back into sleep.

Inutenshi: Yay! This chappies done. Reviews please! I luv you all!

Katara: Zuko saved the day!...Sort of...Thank you Zuko!

Zuko: No problem. Those morons didn't stand a chance. No one does! Blah blah. I'm great. Blah. And you all know it. Blibbidy blah blah blah...

Inutenshi: Well done, Katara...You stuck an air pump in his ego and pushed the lever. Good job.

Katara: Sorry. Wanna go for ice cream? He'll be going on like that for a while.

Inutenshi: True true...

Next Chapter: You Owe Me