Chapter 2 Being the chosen one sucks.

Katara yawned. Morning finally had seemed to come but at a slow pace. She finally got the courage to open her eyes and look around her. She tried to move but found the blue spirit's arm wrapped around her waist. She looked over at Sokka and found his arm wrapped around not Suki's but the Red Spirit's waist. She smiled and wondered who was the girl that captured her brother's heart so easily.

"Morning Katara." Aang said rolling up his sleeping bag. "I think we should get an early start."

Suki opened the flap to the tent allowing the cold to get in a bit. "Prince Zuko's ship is coming closer. And to make it worse it's still raining." She sighed. "It's only a light drizzle so we should be alright."

Katara nodded. "Wake Sokka and the Red Spirit." She looked down at the boy next to her. "I'll see if I can wake this guy up."

Suki and Aang nodded before crawling over to the two. The both nudged Sokka who muttered something about Zuko getting away from his apple, before opening his eyes. He looked to see who was next him. He gave out a short scream before backing up into the wall of the tent.

Katara let out a short giggle at his reaction. It caused the both the Blue and Red Spirit to wake up. Both backed away from the person they were nearest by causing the tent to collapse on them. Panic hit all six of them as they tried to escape their containment.

"Aang why did you have to wake me up!" Sokka yelled pushing his way through the tent to find the exit.

"Ouch Sokka that was my foot." Katara yelled.

"Katara, told me to." Aang replied.

"What's your foot doing there?"

"Would you guys shut up while I figure a way out of here?" Suki asked.

Zuko was getting tired of this pandemonium. He felt around for Katara's braid. When he finally felt it he pulled her into his arms.

"Relax guys, I'll get us out of here." Aang said using his air bending to send the tent flying off of the six of them.

Katara pushed away from Zuko and stood up brushing herself off. "Thanks Aang." She nodded before walking off towards the sound of a waterfall.

"She's going to take a shower. She'll be back in about fifteen minutes." Sokka confirmed. Suki walked off after Katara. "Hurry girls we don't have all day."

Red Spirit looked at the three boys that she was around. She grabbed her bow and walked off. Aang figured that she was going to go train. That left the three boys alone until someone came back.

Zuko took off his mask and looked at Sokka. "You wouldn't happen to have some sort of bandage?"

Sokka shook his head. "No why?"

Zuko took off his gloves and pushed up his sleeves. His wrists were bandaged up to his elbows. "I had to perform a ritual. Okay I didn't have to but I wanted to."

"What's a ritual?" Aang asked.

"It's hard to explain." Zuko said.

"Please just try to explain it." Sokka begged.

Zuko sighed. "Okay it's a simple kind of. The ritual is supposed to effect the rest of your life after it's cast."

"Okay that's a lot of help." Aang rolled his eyes. "Could you define it a little better?"

"I'd love to but…" He paused. "When it is cast it affects the person both mentally and physically. I was told that my father had cast it once."

"You're not sure what it does do?" Sokka asked.

"I do… okay I don't." Zuko looked down in disgrace. Sokka started to laugh holding himself up by leaning on his leg. "What's so funny?"

"That you don't know what it is. Yet you decided to do it." Sokka gasped.

Zuko raised an eyebrow at the boy. "Avatar, tell your friend to shut the hell up."

"Sokka would you explain yourself a little more?" Aang asked.

Sokka stopped laughing long enough to explain what he meant. "Look you don't know what this ritual is right? Well for all you know is that it could kill you." Sokka smirked in triumph.

Zuko glared at the warrior. "Yeah whatever. Then my own father should be dead because I know that his ritual failed horribly."

Aang smiled and fell to the ground. "I'm so bored!" He exclaimed.

Sokka shook his head. "Well Mr. Avatar what's your point?"

Zuko smiled and threw a rock at Sokka's head. He laughed slightly before saying. "There I feel better."

"Why you dirty little fire bender…" Sokka picked up a rock of his own and threw it at the prince.

With Katara

Katara allowed the water of the falls to wash away the dirt and slime that had come from the previous month. She couldn't help but sigh and wonder what Zuko was doing at this point in time.

"Hey Suki."

"Yea doll?" The Kyoshi warrior replied.

"Why is it that when our favorite Prince isn't around I just want to see him more?" Katara asked drying her body off with her water bending.

"I hate to say this but it's a sign that you like him." Suki laughed.

Katara turned around. She didn't like this answer. It was one that she wasn't expecting. She finished putting on her clothes before she held up her hands and the water around her raised as well. Suki knew what was going to happen but she was still laughing at the water bender's reaction.

"Hey I'm only telling the truth." Suki laughed trying to block as much water as possible.

"Okay fine whatever." Katara laughed. "You know what I really want to find out?" Suki tilted her head in questioning the girl. "I want to find what's under the Blue Spirit's mask."

Suki smiled as she helped Katara brush her hair. "After that I bet you want to find out what's under his…"

Katara splashed the female warrior again. "Okay that's enough of that conversation."

"What it's normal for a girl to want to." Katara rolled her eyes and waved the girl off. "You should do something different with your hair."

"I was planning to leave it down today." Katara smiled and splashed Suki for a third time.

"That's not fair you're a water bender!" Suki shrieked as she tried to splash Katara. But only got a face full of water instead.

"It's not my fault blame my parents." Katara laughed. "We should probably head back towards the boys. Who knows what they could be doing at a time like this."

"Yeah I know what you mean." Suki laughed.

With Red Spirit

The red spirit let out a yawn. She had found out that the Blue Spirit was really Prince Zuko, the boy that she envied and hated at the same time. Though whether or not he knew this she could care less.

She was with the Avatar and his groupies less than a day and she already regretted traveling with them. It wasn't really her decision to travel with him; no she wanted to some how end this war by giving the boy to the Fire Lord.

She thought about the ritual that Zuko was talking about. She knew of it due to the fact that her own father had accomplished it. Of course Red Spirit actually knew what was going to happen what the consequences are.

The ritual dealt with the flame and how you wield it. During that time, your blood was used to draw out the power of the ancient Fire Nation people. Though most of the nobles and peasants of the Fire Nation were not direct descendents of the ancients the blood ran thick in the royals. And Zuko of course was a direct descendent of the ancient ones.

Most of the ancient ones were priest and priestess though there were a few royal members in it as well. They believed in many different gods and one of them required a ritual of endurance. It dealt with different things from endurance to love and the person had to go through each test one at a time.

It first dealt with the endurance part of the ritual. That took a few days to actually accomplish, after you pass that section. Of course this was the easiest of the test. After all Prince Zuko had already gone through much of the endurance portion when versing Fear.

The second part of the test dealt with fear. The boy must over come his greatest fears. Yeah it was more or less versing Shadow all over again. But this time, the Red Spirit knew, that Shadow will be in the most least expected form. If he beat his fear he would have two more tests to face.

The last test, other than the two tests that have yet to be mentioned, was the test of love. It would take trust, determination, and of course commitment to pass this test. Only a few handfuls had made it this far without dying and/or giving up.

The Red Spirit watched Zuko put back on his mask. After all he was trying to hide himself from Katara. But one of these days he was going to have to deal with he walking in on him or something of the sort. Red Spirit decided it was best if she returned to the team as well before they started to get suspicious.

"Okay you guys I think we should start packing up camp and heading off to Omashu to have Aang master earth bending." Katara suggested.

"Yeah, if you remember you've only got until the summer solstice to master all four elements." Sokka reminded the young avatar.

Aang nodded and turned towards the tent that was full of holes and such. "I think we're going to need a new tent guys." Aang said sadly.

"Don't worry about it Aang." Katara reassured him. "I'm sure we've got enough money to get more supplies and a new tent." She turned to Sokka and Suki. "How much more money do we have?"

"Two copper pieces." Suki replied.

"Actually one copper piece." Sokka corrected her. "Remember what I bought?"

Suki blushed. "Oh yeah."

Katara raised an eyebrow at the two. "Sokka what did you buy?"

"Underwear." He replied proudly. "Mine ripped while I was training with Suki."

"Oh right." Katara rolled her eyes. "I don't want to know."

The Red Spirit landed behind Sokka causing the boy to scream and run around to the other side of Suki. (K15: Did I mention it was a girly scream?) "I have a gold coin, seven silver pieces, and ten copper coins." Her voice was soft.

Zuko couldn't help but raise his eyebrow. He was pretty sure that she was masking her voice. After all if she did blow her cover then it would just make his suspicion correct. And she was a spy for the Fire Nation.

"Right, so we have money." Sokka said turning to his sister. "Katara's right you guys. We should leave. Prince Zuko might show up and try to capture the Avatar."

"Hey who said that would be a bad thing?" Aang asked.

Suki and Katara looked at each other. "Okay I think our dear old friends have lost their minds." Katara said.

"Did they ever have them though?" Suki giggled.

"Good point."

Some time later

Walking along the beach Katara sighed. They were visiting Haru currently. Just being with the young earth bender reminded her of home for some reason. She missed her grandmother and also her father. But most of all she missed her mother. It just wasn't quite the same traveling with Aang, Suki, and Sokka.

"Katara, are you alright?" Sokka asked walking up to the water bender.

The girl sighed and fell to the ground. She brought her knees up to her chest and let out another long sigh. "I really miss Mom. And I need a boyfriend."

Sokka laughed at his sister's last statement. "You know the blue spirit's single."

"Very funny." Katara said using her water bending to splash him.

Sokka bent down and gave his sister a hug. "Well maybe this will brighten up your day." He placed a red box in her lap. "Prince Zuko dropped this off last night and requested that it was given to you. Strange how the boy can know where you are." He turned around and left leaving Katara to her thoughts.

Katara stared at the box for a little while. She didn't know whether or not she wanted to open it. After all she wasn't on the best terms with Prince Zuko. After about a minute or so she opened it.

She let out a small gasp and read the note.

Dear Katara,

I'm extremely sorry what happen three months ago. And if you don't remember or won't forgive me that's fine too. After all I wouldn't forgive myself either. I only care for you my little water peasant. And hopefully you care about me still. Because all I've been doing since you've left is thinking about you.

In this box is my mother's necklace. It's not only valuable to the Fire Nation but also valuable to me. I hate to say this but my uncle stole your necklace and hid it from me until I got you back on this ship. Well it looks like that's not going to happen for a while. Anyway, I want you to have this.

I hope to see you really soon my water peasant. Until then remember that I will always be there for you.

Love

Prince Zuko

Katara smiled. "Zuko," she muttered.

It was a ruby stone, the stone of the Fire Nation, and it was held on a golden chain. In the middle of the ruby was a black Fire Nation symbol. Katara knew that this was just like her mother's necklace but only different.

After slipping it around her neck she tore off the one that Aang had made for her. After all she choose to forget those memories about her and Prince Zuko. This necklace was different from the one Aang had given her. This one was because of true love and Aang's was given to her because they were friends. Though she knew that the Avatar wanted to be a whole lot more than just friends.

She placed the young air bender's necklace in her pocket and turned around to head back into town. "Oh sorry. I didn't see you there." She muttered almost incoherently.

Katara had come face to face with the Blue Spirit. Well at close as face to face comes with him.

Zuko couldn't help but grab the water bender's wrists. It was almost like a bad habit that he couldn't break. He looked at Katara's neck and saw that she was wearing the necklace that he had given her. After a while he let go of her wrists.

Katara was lost for words. She didn't really know what to say. She muttered a quick, "right," before turning away from Zuko and continuing her tread back into town.

For a second time the Prince grabbed her wrist. He took note on how nervous Katara became every time he did this.

Katara on the other hand took note on how warm his hands were against her skin. Which she was surprised by the fact of it. Katara could of thought that the Blue Spirit was from the Earth Kingdom.

"Can you please let go?"

Zuko leaned down and whispered in her ear, "He really does love you." Zuko tried his hardest to mask his voice. After all he didn't want to give away to the water peasant who he was quite yet. He straightened and walked away from her down the beach.

Katara stared at the Blue Spirit. That boy was full of surprises, and each one of them seemed to be more and more mysterious. She felt something whiz by her left ear. It took her a while to figure out what it was, but when she finally saw it was going straight for Zuko's head.

The prince knew of the arrow. After all he had seen the YuYan archer while talking to his water peasant. He quickly turned around and grabbed the arrow right before it hit his mask.

Katara was impressed. She couldn't believe how good he was. And again she felt drawn towards him.

Zuko took a fighting stance after throwing the arrow down to the ground. He knew that the ritual was beginning. He also figured out that he was not going to go in order because this was definitely not the endurance portion of the test.

"Bring it on." Zuko hissed.

For a normal person the first test would have been endurance. (K15: As already stated) On the other hand there would occasionally be a person who would go in a different direction of the original order. Unfortunately it symbolized that the person would make a difference in the Fire Nation. Zuko knew right away that it was talking about the chosen one.

Katara watched the YuYan archer run past her without a second glance. The Blue Spirit quickly swung his right foot around hitting the archer in the jaw. Katara couldn't help but flinch at the impact.

Zuko tried his hardest to think of what part of the ritual this was. After all it didn't deal with fear or endurance. He shrugged it off after about a minute knowing that the test would reveal itself after the task at hand was completed.

"I hate being the Chosen One." Zuko muttered blocking a pathetic attempted by the archer.

K15: Sorry this took me so long to update… first I had to see the new Avatar! Which I did. Then I had to wait for some free time. And surprisingly enough it's on a Tuesday, which usually are my busiest days. Anyway. So here's chapter two. I'm hoping to update both Kidnapped, Waiting for the Right Moment, and Making a Difference some time this week. Though I highly doubt. I have a football game Friday so yeah. Anyway enough babbling right? So I hope you guys liked this chapter. I know you're wondering when Zuko and Katara are going to get back together. Hopefully it will be in the next few chapters. Oh and Red Spirit plays an important part in this story.

Zuko: Don't mind Kayko she's waiting for the next episode.

K15: Yeah Zuko's right. Anyway. You're welcome to take guesses at who Red Spirit is. Oh and just to let you all know she does get together with Sokka later on. (Hopefully) I won't tell you who she is until closer towards the end… okay maybe chapter five. So yeah. Look for an updation soon. Later. K15