A/N: This chapter is a little hectic. So sorry about the ….uneasiness. you're gonna get confused. Oh…by the way, JESSICA C! Naneska is in this one. You know, the air bender.

Chapter 6

Drowning, Fighting, and betraying!

Tsukiaye woke up slowly, filled with the sensation that she was floating. Then a sharp pain filled her, then her body felt like it was being repeatedly stabbed. Suddenly her eyes shot open, only to feel a strict sharp pain, making them close tightly again. She moved her arms and felt the water around her slowly dragging her under. Then she felt a sudden yank and she was being lifted up then she hit the surface of the boat with a crash, leaving her in pain and in a coughing fit. She opened her eyes to see Zuko going through the same heaving that she was. Yumi stood in front of them with her arm cross, "You feel asleep by the railing?"

Tsukiaye nodded and then heaved more of the water up, "Yeah, I…Zuko and I were talking and we fell asleep."

Yumi smiled, "Well next time let's not fall in the water so quickly. You're lucky that I came out when I did." Yumi made it very clear to the two that she had pulled them out of the water and let them back onto the ship. Advanced bending was the only thing that saved their lives.

Tsukiaye had a towel on her head, but she was now back into her normal war uniform. She looked up at the sky to see a black bird with a ribbon tied to it's tail flying over head. She quickly realized that it was a messenger for the fire nation and she whistled it down. Zuko looked over at her with interest. "What does it say?"

Tsukiaye smiled, "Something for Zhao."

Zuko walked over and took the note from her hand, "…blah…blah blah… AVATAR!"

Tsukiaye rolled her eyes and followed Zuko as he stomped toward the captain's room. "Zuko, why don't you just let me tell them to shift coarse, then if they think that you are following them they will think, oh, it's just the way that the princess is going! And then you can follow the avatar without a problem."

Zuko looked at her slightly puzzled, "you really think that I'm going to listen to you?"

Tsukiaye nodded, "Why not."

Zuko sighed and let his shoulders heave, "Alright then. Tell your captain."

Only a few minutes later they were headed in the direction of the water temple, now following Zhao. When they came upon a blockade Tsukiaye headed off to talk to them, "Yes?"

"Ships aren't being allowed to pass through here your highness."

Tsukiaye paused and then tilted her head ever so slightly, "What harm will I do?"

"It's nothing personal princess, it's just that Zhao doesn't want anyone to endanger the mission."

Tsukiaye crossed her arms, "You mean that vanity project?"

The guard slightly looked to the left then the right and waved the ships to move, "Alright princess, but if anyone asks you have a higher permission and please, stay out of the way."

Tsukiaye bowed to him with a light smile and then they were off. Kasa stood by Tsukiaye and smiled to her, "You're going to get in trouble one of these days."

Zuko stood at the other side of Tsukiaye; "She's already ahead of you."

"How so?" He asked.

Zuko moved closer to Tsukiaye and Kasa slightly stepped away from her getting the hint that Zuko's 'personal space' had been invaded. "Well, the fact that she's practically stolen a mission from Zhao is a basic crime.

Tsukiaye crossed her arms and frowned, "But you know that I have a higher authority than he does, even if you don't get back in the country, I will be crowned Queen and that means who ever I marry will have a hell of a lot to deal with."

Kasa smirked at Zuko, "Yeeeah, I would hate to be that guy."

Zuko stepped in front of Tsukiaye and forced his way in front of Kasa letting fire shoot toward the ground out of his hands, "SHUT UP!"

Kasa put his hands up, "Hey, man! I was kidding, don't worry I know she's yours. You know if you really want her that bad you should stop treating her like a servant."

Zuko paused and looked back at Tsukiaye and then back to Kasa, "…wait… WHAT! NO! She isn't mine, I mean she is but I don't want her!"

Kasa rolled his eyes and started walking away toward two fire bender boys about his age, "Tisk tisk prince. You should take pride in her. There are others on this ship that want her more than you."

Zuko looked to where Kasa was walking to see a blonde fire bender with shoulder length hair, and a black haired fire bender with hair that went down to the middle of his back, and eyebrows that had a certain arrogance to them. The one with the blonde hair smiled at Kasa and shook his head, but the one with the black hair tucked a strand of hair behind his ear then glared at Zuko before the three walked off.

Zuko turned back around and grabbed Tsukiaye's hand, "Come with me. We need to talk."

Tsukiaye followed him over to the captain's room which was unoccupied at the moment, "What's wrong with you?"

Zuko closed the door and looked out the bay windows, "Who were the other two?"

Tsukiaye took her hand back from Zuko and sighed, "The blonde one is one of Yumi's followers, and the one with the black hair is my body guard."

"Get rid of him."

"What?"

Zuko grabbed her wrist and pulled her over to where he was standing, "I don't like him. Get rid of him."

Tsukiaye tried to pull her wrist away from him, "Oh, so you can go and protect me? You haven't done me any good so far!"

Zuko pulled her wrist more just to attempt to gain control of her, "Tell me his name! Both of them!" Tsukiaye looked away and Zuko let his hand flare up causing her to scream and fall over tugging away, "Tell me!"

"Tesko and Higa!"

Zuko let go of her wrist and smiled, "I'll see to it that they are dealt with."

Tsukiaye sat on the floor rubbing her burnt wrist with her face shadowed.

"So, you understand not to defy me anymore?" Zuko stood in front of her looking down at the mark he had left. "…Answer me." Tsukiaye looked up at him with eyes full of tears making Zuko step back uneasily, "…wait, don't cry!"

Tsukiaye clawed at the mark that he left making no noise, just bowing her head away from him to hide her face. Zuko looked around to see that nobody was in the surrounding area and then he knelt down by her, "It should heal fast." Tsukiaye turned away from him and sniffled as she did. Zuko sighed and sat down beside her and tried to put a hand on her shoulder only to get burnt by the flames that suddenly appeared in the air. He pulled his hand back and crossed his arms, "I'm sorry. Is that what you want to hear?" Tsukiaye shook her head and huddled up into a ball, "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!" Zuko stood up and shouted, "You've always been so defiant! Stop being such a brat!" Zuko felt his feet give out from under him and he landed on the floor with a quick 'thud'. Zuko looked up to see a blue eyed, happy faced, blonde, air bender looking down at him from the counter.

"Wow, you're not to bright are yah Zuko?" It was Naneska, the air bender. She had on a cocky smirk and there was a lemur sitting on her shoulder, "You hurt her didn't you?"

"It wasn't that bad." Zuko sat up with a smug face trying to ignore the pain that Tsukiaye was in.

"…you're weird!" Naneska stood up and walked on the top of the table, "you really should change the way that your hair is." She jumped off the table and walked over to Tsukiaye patting her on the head, "it's alright hon!" Tsukiaye looked up at her and smiled sadly, "Not much is going right for you is it Tsu?" Tsukiaye sighed and looked down at the floor. Naneska took her hand and walked Tsukiaye out of the captain's room. "TESKO!" The black haired boy looked over at her and walked to Tsukiaye when he saw that she was in a moment of despair. Tesko put his hand on Tsukiaye's back and walked her to her ship. Naneska heard Zuko growl slightly, but she smiled when he did so. She closed the door and locked it. Her happy friendly face turned bitter and hateful, "you listen here Zuko." She spoke in a deep and intolerable murmur, "Your country and family destroyed everyone that I ever had, as far as I'm concerned, all of you fire benders can go to the pits whence you came from. But Tsukiaye doesn't deserve what you just did. If you ever lay another finger on her ever again I swear by Roku's name, I will suck every last bit of air from your lungs and leave you hanging from my bison's horns."

Zuko stood wide eyed and slightly nervous, "….o….ok….I…."

Naneska shoved him, "I swear it!" She turned around and opened the door with a smile, "Thanks for your time Prince!" She closed the door leaving Zuko with his jaw dropped.

Naneska walked out across the top deck to see Kasa talking to another earth bender. The only difference was that the new one wasn't wearing a fire bender outfit, he was wearing the normal earth bender outfit. Naneska put on her 'curious face' and walked toward the two. "KASA!" She jumped up behind the earth bender making him jump.

He rubbed the back of his head and smiled, "Aw you're mean." Naneska looked at the other earth bender who looked to be in his twenties, "Oh...this is Mana! ...He's an earth bender."

"No duh." Naneska smiled at him, "I'm Naneska!" she put her hand out and Mana shook it. She noticed the piece of cloth that was wrapped around his left eye and gave him a curious look, "Waz' dat'?"

Mana smiled and patted her cloth, "That would be the thing I am using to cover my eye."

"DUH! But why are you covering it?"

"Oh…" Mana paused then sighed deeply, "There's just something wrong with my eye… that's all."

Naneska stood still for a few minutes then dove at him in attempt to get the cloth off and see what he was hiding. Luckily Kasa grabbed her while she was in the middle of her jump and stopped her, "I WANNA SEE!"

Mana was slightly taken back but was amused by her, "I'll show you later when we get to be friends, aright?"

Kasa sat her down when she smacked him on the head. "Hey Mana you want to go get-"

"So, what ship do you work on?" Mana asked her.

Kasa groaned a little and bit his lip, "Bro, you wanna-"

"I'm from the other ship! The one with the royal flag! Tsukiaye owns that one!"

"Hellloooo!" Kasa waved his hands in the air and jumped around the two. Mana grabbed the top of Kasa's head and made him stop jumping, "Cut it out bro, I was trying to talk to her." Kasa frowned and walked away, "I'm gonna go and find Higa, at lest he listens." Naneska drilled Mana continuously with questions while Kasa walked off.

Tsukiaye sat on her bed rubbing her eyes while Tesko held an ice to her wound. She looked at Tesko in fault while he looked around the room, "What happened?"

Tsukiaye shook her head and hissed, "Zuko wanted to know your name so he could fire you." She looked over at Tesko who had a soft smile on his face.

"Princess, my job is to protect you, even if it means Zuko giving me a bad report. Besides, do you really think that his father is going to fire me without actual cause? And to top it off, Zuko doesn't even legitimately belong to the fire nation."

Tsukiaye looked at the black armor that Tesko was wearing and tried to change the subject, "Why is your armor black when everyone else's is red?"

Tesko looked down at his armor and then back at Tsukiaye, "Because, I'm a body guard, I'm supposed to show that I am here to safeguard you."

Tsukiaye looked away from him and took her arm back, "You aren't my nurse maid, and you don't have to help me."

Tesko put his arm around her, "I know, but I still have to take care of you."

Tsukiaye hugged him and smiled, "I know."

A/N: GASP::dramatic music in the background: is Mana really Kasa's brother? If so, why wernt their parents more creative with the names? Is Naneska in love with him? What really is under the cloth that covers his eye? Is Naneska schizophrenic? What is Higa really like? What's Zuko gonna do about Tesko? What's going on between Tesko and Tsukiaye? And when will they make it to the water nation and start the damn adventure already? …when I get to writing the next chapter! That's when! Enjoy loyal readers!