Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar. However, its creators are sending me exclusive bits of information in hopes that I won't send the Zuko Fan Mob after them. So far, so good, guys! (I'm kidding, by the way...)

AN: Okay, for all of you who actually read the Author's Notes, there is a really big, important one on my Profile page. So please, for the love of Avatar, take a look at it.

As for the quality of this chapter, I'm not really too pleased with it, and I'm still having it edited for content and stuff, but my betas are having a hard time getting in touch with me. So this one is another self edited work, and when my editors send it back in all its corrected glory, I'll repost it and tell everyone. I appreciate all the reviews you've given me, and I ask that if you have any questions, comments,or suggestions, please tell me. I do listen, and it helps me out with a ton of stuff (I've got writer's block right now, and a few good provocations from you wonderful reviewers would do mewonders.)

Chapter 11

"What in the world is going on?" Sokka demanded.

"Zuko, who was that?" Aang asked. Zuko unsheathed one of his swords restlessly, fingering the blade as he scanned the trees around the camp. His eyes fell on Katara, and he felt an immediate pang of guilt. She didn't look angry or suspicious, like her brother. Just confused, and somewhat frightened. He had no right to make her feel that way.

"Her name is Sen, and she's a bounty hunter," he explained. "That's most of what I know about her. She came to the palace once a few years ago, and that's the only time I've seen her before today. I didn't even remember her until she started fighting just now."

"Is there anything else?" Aang pressed.

"I'm not certain about anything," Zuko insisted. "Even rumors about her were rare."

"Which means that you have heard some," Sokka concluded. The older boy shrugged uneasily.

"Usually people said that she was insane. Nobody ever explained how or why. That's all, really."

"What do you mean by insane?" Katara asked quietly. Zuko found himself growing uncomfortable.

"She's obsessed with something, but nobody knows what it is. The way she fights...she's supposed to have some kind of secret tactic, but that's another mystery. And she's got a fetish... with heads."

"Heads," Sokka repeated. Zuko nodded gravely.

"Severed heads. That's how she proves that she's caught somebody. And if what I heard is true, then she's never brought in a live bounty." Aang looked ill. Katara put a comforting hand on the Avatar's shoulder, though she had to swallow back the bitter taste that was forming in her mouth.

"What happens now?" she asked.

"We avoid her, if we can," Zuko said.

"And if we can't?"

"Then you'll just have to deal with me," the cold voice cut through the air. Four startled faces turned to see the source of the sound. The bounty hunter was leaning idly against a nearby tree, carelessly examining one of Jet's swords. Baggy clothes and swift motions no longer distorted her figure; she was now covered by a closely fitting garment, revealing an almost grotesquely thin body.

"How long have you been standing there?" Sokka demanded.

"Long enough," Sen said cryptically.

"Quit messing with us!" Sokka snapped at her. The bounty hunter looked amused.

"Really?" she asked innocently. "Why would I do that? This is so much more fun."

"For crying out loud, if you want to fight, then start fighting already! Enough of your stupid mind games!"

"Don't be in such a hurry to die," Sen drawled smugly. "Your time will come swiftly enough." Aang looked up, some confusion etched into his expression.

"He's right," he said quietly. "You said you're going to kill us. Why didn't you do it when you had a chance?"

"Which chance?" Sen mused, laughing again as she flipped Jet's sword through the air. She was playing with the weapon while she threatened their lives. "Do you mean the one just now, when a half dozen vultures had you distracted? Or maybe you mean a couple of days ago, when I talked Jet into making your lives a little bit more interesting? Or maybe two months before that, when I saw the two of you," she gestured idly at Zuko and Katara, "Were busy in your little liplock?" Katara felt herself growing numb.

How long has she been watching us? But she needed to stay focused.

"You sent him after us?" she breathed.

"He was more than happy to comply," Sen assured her carelessly. "It seems that he felt a little jealous about your dear new lover." She nearly sang the last few words, straightening as she sheathed the sword. She began walking towards them in a threatening arc, swinging her skeletal hips playfully. "He was so sure you'd been seduced by his terrible enemy that he rushed in like a fool. Quite reckless." She laughed coolly.

"So all of that..." Katara managed to say through her growing fury. "That was you?"

"Not at all," the bounty hunter mused. "He did everything on his own. I just told him that you were coming, and gave him a few minor details." She laughed again, a sound like a phantom's cackle. "Where you were camped, the best way to kill you, a few easy methods to render you completely helpless..."

"So that's it, then," Sokka said, his voice ringing with disgust. "You let other people fight your battles? You're nothing but a coward."

"Really?" Sen asked, her tone completely calm. As quickly as a viper, she darted out, grabbing Sokka's ponytail with one hand and drawing a short knife with another.

"Sokka!" Katara cried, starting towards her brother. The bounty hunter yanked cruelly at Sokka's head, pressing her weapon into his throat. Katara stopped short.

That's exactly what Jet did...

Sen's shot her a satisfied grin.

"What did I tell you? Completely helpless." The knife left Sokka's throat for a moment. She leveled her face with his and muttered into his ear. "What were you saying, then?"

"You are a stinking coward!" Sokka snarled defiantly. The bounty hunter's eyes sparkled with glee.

"That's what I thought you said," she crooned, driving the knife across his face. Sokka hissed as the cold steel cut into his cheek before she released him.

Katara and Aang raced to his side as the bounty hunter rushed away; Zuko took one glance back to make sure that Sokka wasn't gravely hurt before taking off after her.

Night had come quickly, and the thick trees allowed no meager trace of sunlight to penetrate their branches. Sen had disappeared into the deeper territory of the forest, cloaked by the darkness.

But this was no hindrance to Zuko. He raised his free hand, willing an orb of flame into existence a few inches above his palm, illuminating the trees around him with eerie light and shadow.

"Careful, Zuko," he heard Sen laugh through the boughs of the trees. Zuko spun to face her, but he could sift no human figure from the darkness. "Do any more Firebending and something might ignite. You wouldn't want to start another forest fire, would you now? Your precious Katara could get hurt again." Zuko gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on his sword. As much as he hated to admit it, the bounty hunter was telling the truth.

"Come out and fight," he demanded. Another laugh sounded.

"But then you would try to kill me. And that would just ruin my plans."

"What plans?" he heard a faint rustling in the darkness. Sen was circling him, trying to confuse him.

"It's a secret. But don't worry, you'll find out soon enough." Without warning, Zuko extinguished the fire, plunging himself into darkness, and he raced toward the sound of her voice. He heard the sound of the steel leaving a sheath, and rustling in the leaves around him. Only empty trees met his sword.

"My, aren't we reckless now?" Sen taunted him, several dozen yards away. "Quite bold, I think. Just make sure dear Katara doesn't get jealous, watching you chase after another woman like that."

"Shut up," Zuko snapped.

"But then, I'm sure you won't be bothered by a little jealousy from her. Not as long as she keeps kissing you, right? Not as long as she doesn't leave you alone. Not as long as she keeps having nightmares for you to chase away so you can feel proud of yourself." Zuko snarled and charged at the voice again, barely avoiding several trees when she repositioned herself. "Because who else will? Your father? I doubt that."

"Silence!" a plume of flame snaked through the trees, illuminating a skeletal figure before she retreated into further shadows.

"I'm not sure whether to call that daring or just stupid," Sen jeered. "You'll burn this forest to the ground if you aren't careful, along with everyone in it." For an instant she stood right behind him, her unladen hands resting on his cheeks. He snarled and turned to strike her, but she had already disappeared into the trees. "But then, why delay the inevitable? I'm sure she would rather die at your hands than mine."

"Leave Katara alone!"

"I don't think I will. Tell me, Zuko, what do you intend to do when she dies? Cry about it?"

"I'll tear your filthy heart out!" He swung madly at the air before him, managing only to slice into the trunk of a nearby tree.

"That would be a decent plan," Sen observed. "But you forget: I have no heart. You'll have to find something else to occupy your time."

"I told you to leave her out of this!" he swung again at her voice, hitting nothing. The air was quickly beginning to boil around him as his frustration became rage.

"Don't try to order me around, Zuko. You might have been born into the royal family, but you've lost all your authority. Not that it mattered in the first place. Nobody controls a rogue."

"I don't need to control you to make you pay."

"Is that a fact?" Sen taunted. The hilt of one of Jet's hooked swords swung out of the darkness, striking him in the stomach. "Let me be the first to tell you that it helps." A second strike caught him in the back, aggravating his old wounds. Katara's water healing had restored him immensely, but his barely healed skin was still tender.

And those blows hurt.

He twisted around, sending a shower of sparks into the night. Again his attacker was illuminated, a few yards away. Her swords were hooked around one another, doubling their length, allowing her to strike him from a safe distance. But not safe enough.

Zuko threw his sword at her just as the last spark died. He heard a sharp cry, hurried scuffling through the foliage around him. He tried to follow Sen, but he quickly lost track of her in the darkness.

What do you intend to do when she dies?

Those haunting, arrogant, poisonous words echoed through his mind as he searched for his sword by firelight.

He finally found it, carelessly discarded at at the base of a tree. Only the edge was darkened with blood, meaning he had only managed to graze Sen...it was no great victory, but it seemed to have chased her away for the moment.

Why delay the inevitable? I'm sure she would rather die at your hands than mine.

Zuko didn't bother cleaning the blood from the blade before he rushed back, navigating through the trees by the glow of a fiery orb.

Sen wasn't dead yet.

And she was after Katara.

Zuko felt his blood pump through his veins as he sprinted, his pace quickening as his apprehension mounted. He tried to calculate how much time he had, how long it would take Sen to reach Katara, what kind of chance Sokka and Aang would stand against the bounty hunter, how severely she could have been wounded to spill so little blood, if that would have any effect on her ability to fight...

No matter how many times he ran the figures through his head, the answer was bleak. He could only guess the worst.

Please, he found himself begging to the empty night. Let her be safe.

He broke through the line of trees with heavy breath but ready to fight.

And he nearly collapsed.

There was Katara, applying a bandage to her brother's cheek while the Avatar stood nearby, his gray eyes wide with concern and wariness. Sen was nowhere in sight.

"Zuko?" Katara asked, looking up from her task. "Are you all right?"

It took a moment for the words to penetrate the warm haze that was clouding his mind.

She's safe.

Dear Agni, she's safe.

He was tempted to kiss her then and there, though his few remaining faculties managed to restrain him.

"Yes," he breathed. "I'm fine."

"Did you catch her?" Aang asked quietly, gesturing to Zuko's still drawn sword. Even in the shifting glow of his fire, it glistened red with Sen's blood. Zuko hastily cleaned it off before joining the rest of the group. He didn't sit down, though.

Leave Katara alone!

I don't think I will.

"She escaped," he said, shaking his head heavily.

"Will she be back?"

"Yes." And she's after you, Katara. Yet he couldn't make himself say those words. He couldn't tell her, and he didn't even know why.

A cold silence filled the small clearing, as though the others sensed his unsaid words. Even the creatures of the night seemed to hold their breath, goading him, accusing him, interrogating him.

"Did she hurt you badly?" he asked Sokka instead, shattering the stillness. Sokka looked up, mildly surprised by Zuko's concern.

"Not really," he said. "It was a shallow cut, and their magic tricks fixed it up pretty fast."

"Waterbending," Katara corrected automatically.

"Whatever," Sokka said, rolling his eyes affectionately. "Thanks." A faint smile brushed Zuko's lips as he watched Katara finish applying the bandage to her brother's face. This was right. This was the way things should be. And yet...he couldn't shake the chill of foreboding.

Sen knew what she had been doing; that cut on Sokka's face had been no attack.

It hadn't even been a warning.

It was her idle game, just like her attack on him in the darkness of the trees.

"Can't sleep?" Katara whispered groggily into the night. She could only vaguely see his shadow against the dim light of the campfire. He was sitting at attention despite the late hour, his swords sheathed across his back.

"That's one way of putting it," he said. Katara pushed herself onto her elbows, trying to get a better view of him.

"Do you really think she'll come back tonight?" she asked quietly.

"...I don't know," Zuko admitted after a thoughtful pause. Even in the darkness, she could sense that he was weary. But he was too stubborn to let himself sleep.

"Zuko," she said softly, wriggling from her sleeping bag.

"You don't have to get up," he protested.

"I know," she said, crawling to his side. "But I want to." She reached up, gently cupping his face in her hand. "It's all right, Zuko. We'll get through this." He looped an arm around her waist, pulling her closer. For several minutes, they just sat there, sharing in a gentle silence as the fire faded and died.

A cold wind disturbed the trees, and Katara felt Zuko shudder against her side.

"Zuko?" She gently turned his face toward hers, her eyes widening as she saw his expression by the silver moonlight. He was pale, staring at her with wide, lonely eyes. She had never seen him look so sad, or so frightened. "Zuko? What is it?" Her voice was higher than she had intended it to be, her fear ignited by his. In place of a reply, Zuko pulled her into his chest, holding her desperately tight as he buried his face in her hair. Katara felt chills race up and down her spine, felt her mouth go dry.

"I don't want to lose you, Katara," he whispered into her hair. "Please..."

"You won't," she promised him, managing at last to croak the words from her parched mouth. "You won't."

Sen descended from the trees just before dawn, staring at the Prince and his Princess with utter disgust. They had fallen asleep during the hug, and even now they remained in each others arms. Even in thier 'rule breaking' proximity, they remained innocent and chaste, like the cute little sweethearts that they were. That much could be tolerated, if only for a little while. It was their position in that blissfully ignorant slumber that infuriated her. Zuko's arm was nestled across Katara's neck, while his shoulder conveniently covered her heart. His own vital spots were just as cleverly obscured.

Apart from being annoying, it completely ruined her plans—it would be absolutely impossible to kill one without waking the other. And when one woke, they would surely rouse the rest of the group.

And though she was confident enough in her abilities, another direct confrontation was not something she looked forward to.

She dug irritably into the long dead coals of the fire, hoping that they would shift at some point, yet as the hours passed, they didn't move.

Sorely disappointed, she disappeared once more into the trees.