SORRY I didn't update in a while, but here's the next chapter.
Disclaimer : hey, guess what? It looks like I've forgotten the disclaimer in the last three chapters… I think. Anyways… its not like I own anything so who cares?
CHAPTER FOUR – CAPTURED
For the next two days, neither Zuko nor Katara saw or spoke to each other. He was locked up in his room meditating and she spent her time giving Iroh company. The old general and the young water bender had become good friends.
At night, while she lay in her warm bed on the fire nation ship, Katara did a lot of thinking. She constantly thought of Aang and her brother. Where were they? Were they safe? Were they looking for her? At times, she thought of the people sharing a ship with her. The crew members treated her like royalty and always enjoyed her presence. Iroh love talking with her and telling her stories. The only person who didn't seem too happy was Zuko.
But Katara quickly dismissed the idea. She figured the prince was just weird and she didn't care for his presence. She did feel bad for him at times, but his attitude annoyed her and she eventually convinced herself that he deserved to suffer. In the end, Katara decided she didn't really care. Zuko was someone she could tolerate, and that was that. She wouldn't give it another thought.
On the other hand, Zuko had become infatuated with the waterbender. She intrigued him in a way no one else had ever done. There was just something about her that attracted him, though he couldn't think of what it was.
During his meditating hours, Zuko found himself often distracted by thoughts of Katara. He thought this annoying, but couldn't help admitting that he enjoyed it. He would sit around with a blank expression while he daydreamed, and then feel disgusted afterwards.
Three full days passed before Zuko and Katara came into contact again. She was walking to her room after a quick shower and he had just returned from training. Not yet seeing the prince, Katara hummed quietly to herself while drying off her hair with waterbending. She left drops of water on the floor and Zuko saw this as an excuse to talk to her.
"You're dripping water all over my floor", he announced, startling her. Katara decided she didn't feel like arguing so she apologized and bended away the water. Zuko wanted to say something else; anything to make conversation, but his mind had gone blank.
Katara ignored him and walked into her room, closing the door politely behind her. Her room, the same one she'd started out in, was now in a much better condition. During her spare time, Katara had fixed up the walls and put everything back in place. She figured she had nothing better to do and she knew she would be here for a while.
What confused her was that instead of panicking and tying to escape like she imagined she would, Katara found herself enjoying life on the ship. She now knew that not all firebenders were ruthless; just the fire lord. Still, she missed her brother and Aang greatly and hoped to see them very soon.
Where was the ship headed anyways? Normally, Zuko and his crew caught up with the avatar every few days (or once during each episode XD) before losing track of him again. Katara found it strange that she hadn't seen Aang for a while. Did Zuko give up after finding out his sister had taken up the job? Katara made a mental note to ask Iroh about it later. Or maybe now.
A knock sounded at the door and moments later, Iroh and Katara were sitting at a table drinking tea.
"I was wondering if you'd join us for music night", Iroh said.
"That sounds fun. When is it?" Katara asked politely.
"Tonight, of course!" Iroh replied with a smile.
"I'll do my best to attend", Katara agreed.
"It's a lot of fun, you know? No one seems to appreciate my old traditions anymore", Iroh seemed to be talking to himself, for he had a dreamy expression on his face.
"Um, I was wondering… where is this ship headed?" Katara asked.
"Huh? Oh. To be honest, I'm not really sure. Prince Zuko hasn't given any orders lately. But, I've checked the map and I believe it's safe to say we are heading in the direction of the Earth Kingdom. I think we are stopping along a port today to gather some supplies. I love shopping, you know?It's too bad music night will take placebefore we get there, or we could get you something nice to wear! Maybea nice dress or something!I bet -"
"Earth Kingdom? That's where Sokka and Aang should be heading! Maybe I'll run into – wait… Why the Earth Kingdom?" Katara suddenly asked. She felt worried that Zuko would bring danger to the innocent people.
"It is common knowledge that the next element the Avatar must master is Earth. Thus, Zuko found it logical to go to the Earth Kingdom. I do remember him mentioning Earthbending a while ago…" Iroh trailed off thoughtfully.
"So, we're going to the Earth Kingdom", Katara confirmed. A part of her felt eager to return to Aang and Sokka, but a part of her felt reluctant to leave the ship. She'd definitely gotten attached and knew that she'd miss the new friends she'd made.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Zula tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and rolled up her sleeves. Time to get to work. She was bent over a large map lying on a wooden table. Surrounding her were advisors, guards, servants, and crew members.
"Let's see… there's a port on the Southern end of the Earth Kingdom. A fire nation ship won't be welcome, so we dock at this island and take smaller boats to the mainland", she instructed. The men around her nodded and murmured in agreement.
"Princess, what about the avatar?" an advisor asked.
"The next element he has to master is earth, so we're pretty close. There are several islands between the northern water tribe and the earth kingdom. He could be on any of them, or he may already be in the earth kingdom. We start with the nearest island and check all of them on the way to the mainland", Zula decided.
"We can't stop at each island. Our supplies are running low, a second advisor spoke up.
"Fine. We get the supplies and then check the island. Watch the skies; he could be traveling by air", Zula rolled up the map and dismissed herself, leaving the men to talk amongst themselves.
She walked down a long corridor that led to a hatch door which opened to the deck. As Zula climbed the stairs, she allowed her mind to wander. Although she loved her task of capturing the avatar, she couldn't stand the people on her ship. Not only were they all men who rarely took baths and loved to drink, but they were also airheads.
Most of them were recruited for strength. There were three advisors who were somewhat intelligent, but they were also stubborn and annoying. Zula longed to have a companion on the ship. Not just a companion, but a friend.
She realized she couldn't truly call anyone her "friend" anymore. Not even anyone at home. When she was younger, Zula had many friends. But, that was before her prodigal fire bending skills were discovered. Since then, her father forced her to train day and night. He wanted her to be the best, and even then, he wanted her to be better.
Zula pushed these bitter thoughts out of her mind as she opened the small door. She hoisted herself onto the deck and took a deep breath of fresh air. It was clean and comforting and cleared her thoughts.
The princess pulled off her outer layer of armor and walked to a large empty space outside on the deck. She began doing different stances, shooting fire out of her palms. Occasionally, she's kick her leg out, allowing a long stream of fire to blow into the sky.
While concentrating on her training, she still managed to catch sight of a large bison flying towards the ship. Zula immediately recognized the avatar since she'd seen many wanted posters hanging in the palace. But who was the other guy?
The bison landed and both males jumped off. They stood on either side of Zula, eyeing her cautiously. Without hesitation, she lunged towards Aang and tackled him to the ground. Sokka flung his boomerang across the open space and it rushed towards Zula's head. She lifted a hand and shot out fire, defending herself from the sharp blade.
This momentary distraction allowed Aang to jump to his feet. He brought his hands together and created a sudden rush of wind, knocking Zula off her feet. She slipped back and hit the side of the ship with a dull thud.
Aang hurried forward with Sokka's boomerang, placing it against the firebender's neck. He watched her hands carefully, making sure to note any sudden movements.
"I told you this wasn't Zuko's ship", Aang murmured to Sokka as he walked closer.
"Zuko?" Zula's eyes widened at the sound of her brother's name
"If you ask me, it looks like Zuko turned into a girl", Sokka scoffed. It was true, this girl resembled the fire prince greatly.
"Where's Katara?" Aang asked, ignoring Sokka's comment.
"What?" Zula looked confused.
"Katara! Teenage girl, brown hair, tan skin, blue clothes… no?" Sokka asked, sounding disappointed.
"She wasn't here", Aang said softly. He was saddened by this news and loosened his grip on the boomerang. Zula noticed this with a smirk and kicked him out of the way. Sokka backed away as Zula and Aang became engaged in a battle. His fierce winds mixed with her flaming fires caused smoke to fill the sky.
Sokka could see little of what was going on, but he was aware of a door flying open behind him. He hurried to Appa and ordered the bison to fly away. "C'mon, you can rescue us later! If you get captured too, there's no hope left!"
Appa managed to fly away safely as the crew filed out of the door. Several guards grabbed Sokka and tied him together, but no one interfered with Aang and Zula's battle. They watched silently as the two benders battled each other, neither gaining the advantage.
"This is taking too long! She's obviously unable to captured the avatar by herself!" A voice yelled out. It belonged to one of the advisors who used to be a general. He was very proud of himself and thought most people to be unworthy. The advisor joined the battle and caught Aang from behind. He quicklygrabbed the avatar's hands and dragged him away.
Zula, shocked for a moment that anyone would dare interfere, tore after them, yelling angrily. She yanked Aang away from the advisor and pulled the boy onto the lower deck where he was tossed into a small room. He landed in a heap on the floor and started at Zula, not making a sound. She looked back at him and spoke softly, "That's it, then? A little kid with a few airbending tricks? How did you manage to escape Zuko so many times? But then again, he was never capable of doing much".
"It wasn't a fair fight! You had someone else capture me when I was distracted!" Aang protested.
"Do you really think I wanted someone else to help me?" Zula scoffed.
"What?" Aang was confused. Didn't this girl want to capture him? Well, she did. So why was she still mad?
"It doesn't matter anyways. I've got you locked up", Zula shrugged. She stared at Aang a little longer before walking away.
A/N: hmmm… what will they do? Anyways, I'll really really really try to update faster. Hey, does anyone know when there will be new avatar shows?
