AN: Hey all hope you enjoyed the first part of my story. Please R I really enjoy reading what my fellow writhers have to say about my story, please no flames.

DISCLAMER: I do not own the Avatar, because if I did a new episode would be out. There are OC's in this story so don't steal them, I also own the plot, so don't steal that either.

Chapter eight

Zuko's Ship

Zuko dragged Kaori to his chamber and threw her on the bed.

"You will learn to respect me. I'll be back." Zuko said as he left the room locking the door behind him.

Kaori ran towards the door and desperately started pounding on it hoping someone would be there to hear her. Sadly, no one was there and she was left alone in the coldness of Zuko's room.

Zuko went looking for Ryu, since he was on guard when Sokka escaped. Zuko found him on the deck being trained by Iroh while fighting another soldier. Zuko grabbed Ryu's arm and started to drag him off.

"Where is Sokka?" Zuko asked as soon as they were out of the other soldier's hearing range.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Ryu said innocently.

"Bull shit! You were on guard when he escaped. Where is he!"

"Why do you need him so bad?"

"None of your business…" Zuko looked at Ryu and remembered he was the person who hit him with the rock a couple of years ago. "The day I saved you, you swore on your life you would do anything I told you to do, right?" A grin spread across his face.

"……………………." Ryu nodded his head and didn't like the way Zuko was looking at him.

"Well now I have a favor to ask of you. In my room you will find Kaori."

Ryu's eyes widened with surprise, but tried not to let Zuko notice.

"I want her to be exhausted when I go to bed tonight. I don't care how you do it. Well, yes I do. I want it to require pain on her part, maybe with a knife."

"I can't hurt Kaori!"

"What? You still love her?"

"……………………"

"Well, in that case, I consider it a command. I want to see at least fifteen cuts on her when I go to bed. They better be deep. Oh, and you can't tell her anything, why you are doing this, or who told you to do this, you shouldn't even talk to her. I also want her awake for every cut you make, so don't even think about hitting her on the head to knock he unconscious." Zuko said placing a dagger in Ryu's hand as he walked away.

Zuko left Ryu standing alone with a dagger in his hand and one thought on his mind.

…I can't hurt her! We have been through more in our seventeen years then most people have in thirty… But I have no choice…

Ryu slowly walked towards Zuko's chamber holding the dagger out in front of him and was still in shock at what he was going to do. As he opened the door he saw Kaori dressed in same of Zuko's old clothes that she found stuffed in a box under the desk. Kaori let out a breath; she didn't know she was holding, when she saw it was Ryu.

"Ryu! How is Sokka? Did he get off the ship ok?" Kaori said walking towards Ryu.

"Kaori, I'm sorry." Ryu said clenching the dagger behind his back.

"For what?"

"…………….." Ryu's eyes started to water.

Kaori Knew something was wrong, Ryu never cried. Every step he took towards her she took one step backwards, until she tripped over on of the pillows around the table. She fell to the ground as Ryu took out the dagger.

"Can't we talk about this! I don't want to hurt you and I know you don't want to me! So please…" Kaori said as she scrambled away from him. Blinded by Ryu's sudden violence, Kaori hit her head on the table knocking her out

When Kaori woke, she was on Zuko's bed with a gag in her mouth, hands tied behind her back and feet tied together at the ankle. Ryu was sitting at the table watching her, once he realized she was awake, he grabbed the dagger off the table and slowly walked towards her. The closer Ryu got to Kaori the bigger her eyes got, it was hard for Kaori to breath while gagged and impossible for her to scream as Ryu made his first cut down her arm, cutting through Zuko's shirt. He did the same to her other arm, one beep cut down her thigh, one down both sides of Kaori's calves on both legs, a cross on her stomach, made up of four cuts, and a cut down her right jaw.

Kaori looked Ryu in the eyes as he stepped back afraid to continue. He also glanced into her eyes and her eyes. He could see the fear, confusion, and sadness in her eyes. At that moment Zuko walked into the room.

"Ryu, can I see you outside for a minute."

Ryu dropped the dagger and slowly backed away. He followed Zuko and went into the hallway.

"You have done well. Although it's not quite fifteen, you can go back to your regular duties." Zuko said before walking back into the room leaving Ryu in the hall.

"What did he do to you? We need to clean out those cuts." Zuko said acting like he had no clue what Ryu was doing in his room.

Kaori just turned her head. Zuko noticed the cut along her jaw.

"I'll be right back." Zuko said as he left the room.

When he came back he had a bowl of water and a sponge. He walked over to the bed and untied the gag, then her feet and finally her wrists.

"Let's start cleaning these cuts." Zuko said as he started to clean out cut on her jaw.

Kaori vigorously rubbed her bleeding rope burned wrists. Looking into Zuko's eyes, unsure of letting Zuko even touch her. How could she even let him clean her?

"You know you can trust me, unlike Ryu. I know he was the one with you that hit me with the rock." Zuko said finally making eye contact.

Kaori didn't respond she just looked away.

"Don't worry about him doing this again at our next stop, which will be in the Fire Nation, he will leave the ship and become part of my father's crew." Zuko said ripping the pant legs off, a little above her thigh, so he could clean out the cuts on her legs.

"Zuko," Kaori said turning to Zuko, "he did this against his will. It was like someone else was controlling him. Almost like if he didn't put me through physical pain then I would have to relive his death and be in pain for the rest of my life."

"Oh, and how do you know this?" Zuko asked as he stopped cleaning her cuts to look her in the eyes.

"I have known Ryu his whole life, there isn't much he can hide from me. I can tell what he wants to say, just by looking into his eyes."

"So, you don't want him to leave the ship?"

"No, I just want to know who told him to do this."

Zuko didn't say, just kept cleaning Kaori's wounds, trying not to make eye contact. Zuko had never felt this way about anyone before; he wanted to tell her everything, except that it was him who told Ryu to cut her. Zuko didn't know what to do she was so unpredictable, he was drawn to her like a moth to fire, Kaori was the fire and Zuko was the moth. They didn't trust each other, and that is what made their relationship so enjoyable for Zuko, he wanted to do things with her he never even imagined were possible, for the first time in his life Zuko was in love.