Prince Zuko, standing outside of his prisoner's room, was awaiting the results of the doctor's examination on Mikomi. The doctor had been in there for quite a while. Zuko heard the occasional groan, but nothing else.
Finally, the door creaked open and the doctor stepped out.
"How is she?" Zuko asked.
"Well, she has severe bruising on her abdomen, which I wrapped up, with some…difficulty," he said frowning.
"What difficulty?" Prince Zuko said to the doctor.
"That girl is a little stubborn. She didn't like it when I told her I had to lift her shirt up a little. The room got really hot. Is she a firebender?" he asked.
"Yes," Prince Zuko said, smirking at the girl's bad temper.
"Yeah, she had the temperament of a firebender. Well, I managed to bandage up her abs. I gave her a salve for that bruise on her face, which should make it wear off within days. She'll use the same salve when the bandages on her abs come off. She also had a nasty burn on her right shoulder," he said, recounting Mikomi's condition to Zuko.
Prince Zuko frowned at the mentioning of that particular injury, since it was he who gave it to her.
The doctor noticed this and lifted an eyebrow in suspicion, but continued with his report.
"It was infected, so I fixed it up and bandaged that up. That girl has been through a lot," he said with pity in his voice.
"How do you know?" Prince Zuko said.
"You should see all of the scars she has. Just terrible. Most of them look like burns, most likely if she was ever captured by other firebenders before. She has a lot of cuts on her forearms, which is why she always wears those black coverings, I assume. On her back, there's a lot of whipping scars too. Poor girl," the doctor said shaking his head.
"Thank you, doctor. That will be all," Prince Zuko said.
The doctor made a low bow and walked away. Prince Zuko opened the door and saw Mikomi sitting up in her bed, rewrapping the black strips of cloth around her arms. Her eyes jerked up and connected with Zuko's golden eyes. Zuko could see the weariness in her eyes. She probably had not had a decent sleep for awhile.
Mikomi's left forearm was bare, revealing multiple, red scars and burns that took the shape of handprints completely covering it. The right forearm, which she was in the process of wrapping, resembled the other.
Zuko walked over to the bed and grabbed her left forearm, causing Mikomi to grunt. He examined it, wondering how this girl could have survived it.
"Who did this to you?" Zuko asked, with a business-like tone.
"When I was in other Fire Nation prisons, they did this to me often," she said pulling her arm away to continue wrapping it.
"Why?" Zuko asked.
Mikomi sat in silence for a moment and then said, "I don't know. For fun I guess, because they had no other reason to do it."
Prince Zuko was disgusted by the brutality of his own nation. How people could do this to a woman was beyond him. He never did believe in hurting women.
Mikomi had finished wrapping her left forearm, when a loud growling sound caused her to stop. She clutched her stomach and grimaced.
Prince Zuko had just realized that she hadn't probably eaten in two days. Mentally kicking himself for forgetting, he looked down at Mikomi.
"Why didn't you say you were hungry?" he asked.
Mikomi glared for a second and said, "At the other prisons they beat me even more if I asked about food."
Prince Zuko was astonished by how cruel they were toward her. No wonder she was so thin.
"Well, rest assured that you will not suffer any beatings here. If you do you are to inform me," he said with his hands clasped behind his back.
Mikomi just stared at him, wondering why he would care. Prince Zuko didn't feel comfortable with her remaining silent and staring at him so he turned and walked toward the door. He put his hand on the handle to the door, but stopped.
"I will return with some food," he said, opening the door.
He walked out and with that Mikomi lay down in the bed, weary from lack of sleep. She fought a losing battle against the weight of her eyelids. Wanting to be awake for the food, Mikomi tried to stay awake. Five minutes later she realized that it was futile to force herself to stay awake, so she let her eyes close and her weariness sweep over.
Prince Zuko carried a tray with some simple foods. Bread, soup, water. The same thing he had given her before, but this time he decided to hold off on the drugs. Opening the door, he saw the girl lying down, with her back facing the door.
He walked into the room, making as much noise as he could to wake the girl before he had to resort to physically waking her. Stomping over to her bed, the girl stirred a little in her sleep, mumbling something, and then fell silent again. Sighing, Prince Zuko would have to wake her himself.
He jabbed her in the shoulder with his finger, waking the girl so quickly that she jumped into a sitting position and put her arms into a fighting position. Realizing who it was that woke her, she stopped herself from attacking.
Her eyes were wide with shock, from waking so suddenly. She obviously was attacked often in her sleep, because it looked like a normal reaction. Then, with ravenous eyes, she noticed the tray of food.
Mikomi grabbed the tray so quickly; Zuko didn't even have time to react. She devoured the food, because she couldn't stand it any longer.
Prince Zuko was a little taken aback by her lack of manners. So he walked out of the room as the girl thoroughly enjoyed her meal.
Mikomi was now sitting in the mess hall next to Prince Zuko, who had said that he doesn't wish to act like a servant bringing food to her everyday, so she had to eat in the mess hall with all of the other sailors and soldiers. Mikomi had a wonderful sleeps the previous three nights, because she had slept in an actual bed the first time in two and a half years. Her appearance was rough with bags under her tired eyes. After she had eaten, she bathed, which made her feel so much better. Her injuries were healing well. The bruises on her face and stomach were gone, but her stomach still pained her.
The ship had set sail two days ago after Aang flew over them on Appa.
The food was very good to her, but any food right now was good. Even though she had a meal the previous days, her hunger was not satisfied. She bore through her food at a disturbingly quick speed. Now she sat, staring at a wall, while Zuko and Iroh ate.
"So where are you from, Mikomi?" Iroh said, getting uncomfortable with the silence.
"Earth Kingdom," she said, breaking her stare at the wall to look at Iroh, who had finished eating.
"But you are a firebender aren't you? How were you raised in the Earth Kingdom?"
"I'm not exactly sure, my guardian didn't know. He just found me," Mikomi said folding her arms over her chest and staring down into her lap.
"Who was your guardian?"
"I never learned his true name. I was more of a martial arts student to him than a daughter. He never acted like a father," Mikomi said.
"So you are skilled in the martial arts, eh?"
"Yes," Mikomi said, coldly.
"Maybe if Prince Zuko taught you firebending you could teach him martial arts," Iroh said smiling.
At that moment Prince Zuko snorted as he was drinking. He looked up quickly and said, "Uncle, I will not teach a prisoner to firebend!"
"It would be a fair trade wouldn't it Prince Zuko, both of you would become much better fighters. A skilled martial artist could easily defeat the most skilled firebender," Iroh said, smiling knowingly.
"How?" Zuko asked impatiently.
"Martial artists are much faster than firebenders," he looked at Mikomi for a second and said, "Particularly female martial artists, because women are more agile."
Mikomi smirked tauntingly at Zuko.
"I could defeat her easily," he said, poking his thumb in her direction.
"Oh, could you little prince? Why don't we just see if you are correct? How about we spar?" Mikomi said.
Prince Zuko stood up, making his chair fall back, his fists now flaming.
"Fine! Meet me on the deck in half an hour!"
Zuko strode away, still fuming. Mikomi smirked after him.
"You know, old man, you're exactly right. Firebenders are easy for me to defeat. They're much too slow."
After saying this Mikomi stood up and exited the mess hall.
"This should be a good fight," Iroh said to a soldier next to him.
It was around noon and the sun was blotted out by an overcast of gray clouds over the deck. Mikomi sat on the railing of the ship watching Prince Zuko, who stood on the opposite side of the deck staring out at the sea.
Some soldiers stood on the sidelines of the battle arena, because word had gotten around about the fight. Everyone knew it would be a good fight, because this girl had avoided multiple firebenders for the past 3 years and would be fighting the firebending Prince.
Iroh strode out to the middle of the battle area. Once Mikomi had seen him do this she got off the railing and walked toward him. Zuko turned as soon as he heard her footsteps on the metal surface of the deck.
She looked at him and stared into his eyes. They looked like molten gold. She knew he was trying to figure out how she felt, but with all of her years of training, her emotions never showed.
Zuko was staring deep into her eyes. He had once been told that the eyes were the windows to the soul. But, Zuko saw nothing. Her eyes were emotionless, except for one emotion that seemed never to leave her eyes: pain. The girl always looked sad. He had not once seen her smile out of joy. He guessed that joy was an emotion she rarely felt.
The two met Iroh at the same time, both never breaking their gaze from each other. Zuko was shirtless and wore his black, baggy training pants. Mikomi wore her normal outfit. The tight, black, sleeveless shirt and her baggy black pants. Her arms were adorned with the normal black wrapping and leather gloves.
Mikomi had to look up to still be able to continue staring into Zuko's eyes, while Zuko looked down at her.
"This is a mere spar, no killing each other. Got it?" Iroh asked the two teens.
Zuko nodded, never breaking his gaze on Mikomi.
"I won't try to, at least," Mikomi said, tauntingly.
Zuko was now glaring at her, his rage coming out.
He angers so easily. A weakness that can easily be exploited.
Iroh sighed and said, "Shake hands."
Zuko put his hand out first, smirking down upon Mikomi. He obviously was either going to burn her hand or crush it.
Mikomi took it, and once her hand was within his, Zuko strengthened his grip, in hopes of crushing her hand. He smirked at her, but the smirk was wiped off of his face once he saw that she didn't even flinch and her facial expression hadn't even changed.
He let go, disappointed, as Iroh continued his directions.
"Go to your positions," he said looking at Prince Zuko, scoldingly.
Once the two were in position, Iroh lifted his arm.
"Are you two ready?"
Both nodded quickly and Iroh dropped his arm.
"Begin!"
The soldiers on the deck now all looked at the two fighters. Many were making bets; most of them that Prince Zuko would win.
Zuko began with his typical fury of fireballs. Mikomi just looked bored and sidestepped all of them. Prince Zuko charged Mikomi, who stood there watching. Prince Zuko created a fire sword and slashed upwards, sending an arc of flame at Mikomi, who jumped over top of it. She had jumped incredibly high, heading in Zuko's direction. She landed one foot on his shoulder and pushed off, sending Zuko in the opposite direction. Zuko spun around and saw Mikomi, standing there smirking.
He growled under his breath and said, "Are you too afraid to attack!"
Mikomi, still smirking, said, "No, it's just fun to let you tire yourself out. But if you really want me to attack that badly, I guess I will."
Mikomi bent low and ran toward Prince Zuko, who awaited her attack. She was running incredibly fast, almost too fast to see. As Mikomi neared him, she clenched her hands into fists. Pulling her fists back as though to punch Zuko, quickly bent onto one knee and kicked Zuko's feet out from under him.
Zuko was not even expecting this; he was expecting her to punch at him. Mikomi stood back up and jumped into the air and spun around and upside down, heading down upon Zuko. Quickly, Zuko rolled to the side as her feet came down, with a loud, resonating bang, on the spot where his stomach just was.
Zuko's back was now to the railing, as he was getting up Mikomi ran up to him and fired her fists at him. Caught entirely off guard, Zuko backed up as Mikomi's fists landed in his stomach rapidly. She stopped suddenly and dashed toward him. She dove out landing on her hands, springing herself toward Zuko. Her feet landed on his chest, knocking him backward and taking his breath away. His back hit the railing hard. He let his head hang down as he clenched his chest, trying to regain his breath.
Mikomi walked up to him and held a hand down toward him. He looked up, confused.
"I don't attack someone while they're down, so get up," she said forcefully. Instead of grabbing her hand, he kicked her feet out from under her, standing up. Before she could even hit the deck, Zuko grabbed her wrist, holding her off the ground and thrusted his knee into her stomach, making her gasp for breath. Zuko smirked at the girl he still held off the ground.
Before he could even move, Mikomi had her legs pulled together on his neck, stopping him from breathing. He let go of her hand. Once she was free she let go of his neck and landed on her hands in front of Zuko. In her handstand, she pulled her knees to her chest and pushed off the ground, extending her legs and kicking him in the chin. Zuko, stumbled back, as his vision blurred a bit, but then focused again.
Mikomi landed gracefully awaiting Zuko's next attack. After becoming tired of waiting, she charged this time. But Zuko made fire explode from his feet and it headed right towards her feet, making her jump up in the air, now flying toward Zuko. Instead of waiting for her to land, Zuko punched her in the stomach right before she landed.
Mikomi gasped loudly and cringed. Stumbling backward, as she held her stomach, quivering with pain. Zuko took advantage of the moment and pressed attack on her, punching and kicking her all over her body. Mikomi fell to the ground, her eyes closed. Iroh noticed this and was preparing to walk out to end the fight, but Mikomi's eyes opened suddenly. Her face was contorted with extreme rage.
When she opened her eyes, Zuko noticed something different right away. Her eyes were golden, just like his. But they had changed from blue to gold so quickly; what happened to her?
Mikomi stood up shaking with rage. She let out a scream of anger as flame jumped to life around her body. Now her eyes almost looked like they were glowing. Unexpectedly she disappeared. Zuko looked all around him, but saw no trace of her. Then she reappeared quickly right in front of him, with the flame still engulfing her body. She spun and kicked him in the stomach, the flames burning him as well. The force of the kick seemed increased by the flame, because it send him back flying much more than her previous attacks.
He landed with his heading banging slightly on the metal, but enough to make his vision blur again. Mikomi was now standing over him, the flame still dancing around her body.
Iroh saw what was occurring. Afraid that his nephew might be murdered, he ran out as fast as he could and stood between the fire-engulfed girl and Zuko.
"The battle is over, you have won!" Iroh shouted at the girl, who was breathing heavily from her rage.
It was as though she had come out of a trance, her eyes widened and shock, but the flames did not die. She fell to her knees, her hands clasping each side of her head.
"Control it. Control it. Control it!" she repeated, trying to stop the flame.
The flames slowly diminished in size. Mikomi stood again and looked at Zuko who was staring at her with a shocked expression. She turned and ran inside, ashamed for losing her grip.