Please read and make me happy.
Prince Zuko was walking down one of the warm metal halls (despite the iron that lined every room and the hull of the ship). The girl he had captured – the waterbender and friend of the Avatar, the one he had captured with those pirates, who had stolen a waterbending scroll – was kicking and fighting at the top of her lungs. If fighting was even possible at the top of one's lungs.
Tired of hearing the girl's futile attempts to get away, Prince Zuko whipped around, his hand emblazing in a glove of fire.
"Want to know how much I want to hear your annoying struggles anymore, little girl?" he growled.
"Want to know how much I care?" the girl countered.
Prince Zuko growled in his throat but before he could even move his hand to-
"Prince Zuko!" Uncle Iroh was standing at the end of the hall, his hands tucked in his sleeves and his eyes downcast.
Prince Zuko growled his frustration and Katara thought he was beginning to sound like a tiger or bear of some sort. It was really annoying.
"What is it that you want, Uncle?" He was still barely inches from Katara's face. He had his eyes closed and his voice was even but Katara could see that his teeth were clenched. It seemed as though "Prince Zuko" had a little problem controlling his anger, even around his uncle.
"Who is this, Prince Zuko?" Before, the Uncle had sounded slightly scandalized and a little warning, whereas now he seemed completely calm. He asked the question as if Katara was just a girl his darling nephew had brought over for tea without informing him.
"This is my prisoner, Uncle."
Katara snorted. It was funny to see this trussed up boy have to explain himself to his uncle – even if he did make it sound like he was talking to a simpleton. She wondered if he called him "Uncle" as often as he did to remind himself not to lash out. She wondered if his uncle called him "Prince Zuko" a lot to show respect even while he was criticizing his nephew.
"Oh," said Uncle Iroh. "That's too bad."
Prince Zuko spun around.
"Why is that too bad, Uncle?" he demanded. His voice was losing its control.
His uncle shrugged. "Because where will she stay?"
Prince Zuko's shoulders shuddered. "In the brig, of course. Why do you say that?"
"There is no space in the brig, Prince Zuko," Uncle Iroh walked forward.
"Why isn't there any space in the brig?" Prince Zuko lost his control.
"I'm using it as storage for my things. I'm an old man. I have many things. I like to collect stuff." Uncle Iroh turned to Katara. "I like to collect buttons. Are you fond of buttons, dear?"
Katara raised an eyebrow but nodded politely.
"That's nice. I am particularly fond of the purple ones I got in Beirun-"
"Uncle!" Prince Zuko's knuckles were turning white as he clenched his fists. "What are we supposed to do if I catch a prisoner?"
"You should have told me you were going to catch a prisoner," Uncle Iroh chided him. "I would have cleaned up the guest cabin."
"I didn't plan on catching the prisoner! It just happened!"
"This does not sound very well thought through, Prince Zuko," Uncle Iroh shook his head. "What are you going to do with her? The brig is full."
Prince Zuko growled and slammed a flaming fist into a wall.
"You must learn more control than that, Prince Zuko," Uncle Iroh noted. "You could have hurt somebody. Or my ship."
Prince Zuko straightened. "I will take her to the guest cabin. It will be locked. I will not have her roaming around the ship. Is that clear, Uncle?"
Uncle Iroh nodded. "That sounds most wise, Nephew."
"I'll take her," Prince Zuko muttered to the guards. They bowed as he wrenched Katara's arm from their grips.
"Ow!" Katara grabbed at Prince Zuko's fingers, trying to loosen them. "You're hurting me!"
"Good," he said, looking straight ahead. "You should get used to pain."
"Stop it!" Katara yelled.
Prince Zuko reached a door, opened it with his free hand and threw Katara in. Katara whipped around before he got the chance to close the door and blurted:
"Why isn't this your ship?"
Prince Zuko stopped, a brow raised. "Excuse me?"
"Well, aren't you the prince?" Katara asked. The question had just popped to her mind as a way to stall time, but now she felt curious. "Why isn't this your ship and not your uncle's?"
"Because I don't have a ship."
Prince Zuko slammed the door shut. Agni, but this girl was annoying. First she wouldn't bend to his threatening tactics with the pirates and now she was asking difficult questions about ships.
He shoved the bolt into place and tested the handle. She wouldn't be able to open it, but a stronger man would. He would have to find a chain and a lock to keep it from being opened under stronger influences.
Prince Zuko walked to the helms room where a man was waiting to start the ship at the Prince's discretion. Uncle Iroh was nowhere to be found, so Zuko ordered the man to set sail. They'd keep to the coast, in a general direction towards the Fire Nation, but there was no need to hurry.
After all, flying bison couldn't outrace a Fire Nation ship.
Katara looked around the room. It was pretty nice. Much nicer than the ground, anyways, which was where she had been sleeping for quite some time now. There was a bed, at least. And pillows.
When was the last time Katara had gotten to sleep with a pillow?
She sat down into the bed. It was soft, but springy too. She wouldn't bounce every time she turned over, but she wouldn't not be able to get out of it. And the pillows! Oh dear, but the pillows were magnificent! There were four, with two very soft ones and two stiffer ones. It was perfect.
Katara pulled down the slightly thin cover and sheet and lay down. Oh. It smelled a bit musty but at least it didn't smell like Appa. Katara took one of the softer pillows and hugged it to her.
There wasn't anything to do in this room but sleep. There weren't even any windows or decorations except a red dragon cut from paper and lined with gold and green. There were five toes on each foot – something Katara had never seen before.
It was pretty, but dreaming would be more interesting.
Prince Zuko was leaning against the railing at the bow of the ship. The wind was whipping his hair all about his face and his linen clothes were trying to tug themselves away from his leather armor.
"Prince Zuko."
Prince Zuko did not turn around. He did not need to see that it was his uncle – he knew his voice.
"What is it that you want, Uncle?"
Uncle Iroh stepped up beside Prince Zuko. "I was wondering, nephew, why you captured a young girl and not the Avatar."
"Don't you recognize her, Uncle? From the river bend? She is the waterbender who travels with the Avatar; she is his friend. He will come searching for her and I will then capture him."
"Ahh, so she is important." Uncle Iroh adjusted his hands in his sleeves. "Will you invite her to your birthday party, Prince Zuko?"
"We are not celebrating my birthday, Uncle." Prince Zuko turned away from the breeze and looked to Uncle Iroh. "As far as I am concerned, I wasn't even born. Not until I finally capture the Avatar, at least."
With that, he walked away, presumably back to his room to meditate or maybe change into training clothes.
Uncle Iroh let him. It may have been years since his nephew was a child, but he still needed to enjoy himself every once in a while. It was one of the things that truly made his banishment a punishment.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The cold metallic knocks startled Katara from her sleep. Jumping up from where she had been sprawled across the bed, Katara gave a yelp of surprise and tumbled over the side away from the door, the sheets and a pillow deciding to accompany her.
The door opened and that annoying, grating, stupid voice of that annoying, arrogant, ugly-
"Are you- where are you, girl?" Prince Zuko demanded. Katara gripped the pillow angrily. His footsteps vibrated through the floor as he entered the room. "You better have not tried to escape…"
As Zuko rounded the corner of the bed, Katara leapt up and smacked in the face with the pillow.
"Arrgh!"
Katara bolted from the room, her feet thumping against the iron floor. She raced along, until she reached some stairs, which she furiously climbed.
When she got to the top of them, she found herself on another floor and one hallway going in either direction. Taking a deep breath and a wild guess, Katara ran left and down the hall. Fortunately, there was another staircase at the end of the hall that led up onto the deck – she could see the light!
She burst through the hatchway and onto the deck and over to the rail and…
Stopped.
The entire ocean was spread around her. Glassy green-blue waves gently lapping along as far as the eye could see. Clear blue skies that showed no sign of a flying bison rested contentedly above her.
"Oh no," she breathed.
"Oh yes."
Katara spun around. Zuko stood behind her, his stance strong and ready to stop her. The only sign that he had given chase was a slight increase in the timing of his breaths.
"There's no where to run, little girl. It's all ocean, and I don't think you'd like to try and swim it." Zuko gave a twisted smile and Katara felt her heart leap. Looking behind her, she realized something.
"I'm a waterbender, you idiot. The ocean's my friend."
And with that, she bent up a ribbon of water and cracked a whip at Zuko.
Zuko leapt to the side and sent a flaming ball towards her with a strong punch. Katara raised the water into a sort of shield in front of her, but the fire made it all go up in steam. He sent another punch at her and Katara had to dodge to the side.
She turned to the ocean again and tried to bend another ribbon out to help her, but Zuko kicked and she dropped the water as she rolled to escape the flame.
Each time Katara tried to reach the water, Zuko attacked, sending her dodging and dropping to avoid being burnt to a crisp.
Frustrated, Katara growled at Zuko. She raised her hands while facing him, her fingers like claws as she swiftly pulled droplets of water and flung them at Zuko like so many daggers.
Zuko, caught off guard, lost his step and fell back, trying to regain his balance.
Luckily, a large blast of fire came from the side and the water daggers hissed as they became nothing but steam. A large man with a round belly walked over to the fighting benders, his face calm and almost smiling.
"Prince Zuko, is this how you treat your guests?" he admonished. He bowed to Katara who looked like she wasn't sure whether this man was an enemy or a friend. "I am General Iroh, but you can just call me Iroh." He winked, and Katara felt more unsure than ever.
"Just because she'd staying in our guest room does not make her our guest. Don't get the two facts confused, Uncle," Zuko growled. He was glaring at Katara. "Don't think you can escape just because my uncle wants to delude himself. You're a means to a way, and I won't let you go so easily."
Katara was about to retort with something along the lines of, "Yeah, well you're ugly and stupid!", when Iroh spoke instead.
"Prince Zuko! That is no way to talk to a lady, even if she is your prisoner!" Iroh turned to Katara and bowed. "I am sure my nephew did not mean what he said. I am sure you are much more than a means."
Katara opened her mouth but Iroh spoke.
"Would you like to come to the helmsroom and have some nice ginseng tea? It is very calming and I am afraid to say it, but you look as though you need to be calmed." Iroh looked like he was genuinely concerned.
"She's going back to her room, Uncle," Zuko told him in a warning voice. "And she's not going to be let out until we get the Avatar."
Yeah right, like she was going back to her room with no fight at all.
Which meant that the easiest way of avoiding that was to go with Iroh to the helmsroom and drink some tea. Maybe she'd even learn something about how to get off this boat. Like, maybe there was a map of the boat, or maybe someone would mention where life-crafts were kept.
Not to mention her stomach was feeling just a little growling.
Smiling haughtily at Zuko, Katara bowed to Iroh and said, "I'd love to have some tea with you, Mr. Iroh."
Iroh held out his arm and laughed. "Just call me Iroh, miss. And is your name Katara? Lovely. Just lovely." As they were walking past the fuming prince, Katara gave one last smirk over her shoulder in triumph. "Perhaps I can even teach you how to play Pai Sho. It is my favorite game."
Zuko raised his face to the sun and let out a breath of fire.
Katara had to admit: she was confused. Iroh was a nice guy. She could sense it. It was something about the way he behaved, the way he offered her tea and poured it himself, asked after her every wish whenever he could, that she was sure his kindness was genuine. A truly cruel or calculating person just couldn't behave that nice.
So what was he trying to pull? Why was he making this effort? If he were really this nice, why didn't he let her go? Shouldn't he be saying, "Yes, of course, Katara. The Avatar is very important to the world, so I will help you escape, here's a map, some food, and the crown jewels of the Fire Nation."
And Zuko! Just sitting there, glaring at her while she tried to learn Pai Sho! What a jerk. He didn't have to laugh caustically when Iroh won that game.
Okay. All those games.
Such a bitter boy. He really needed to get a life. Why was he taking so much enjoyment out of her pain?
Look at him, practicing his firebending in his stupid sleeve-less shirt like he was so great. It was annoying, really, how she was let out of her cell, but only to come onto the deck and watch Iroh teach him firebending.
Oh yeah, and she had about five guards surrounding her.
Katara sighed and shifted on the pillow next to the short table Iroh had set up for her on the deck.
What was it? Two days now? Three? Three days of being on this stupid boat. Where was Aang and Sokka and Elsie, her rescue team from the sky? Even Momo would be nice.
"Breathing, Prince Zuko!" Iroh instructed. "Your power comes from your breath, not your muscles!"
"I am trying, Uncle!" Zuko shouted back. His nerves were really feeling frayed. It was even more humiliating to not get things right, when that stupid Water Tribe peasant was sitting right there. He betted she was making fun of him in her head, laughing at all of his inadequacies.
"You are so off, today, nephew," Iroh stroked his beard thoughtfully. He lowered his voice and gazed at the roused prince. "Perhaps it is because a certain girl is watching…" Iroh waggled his eyebrows.
Zuko sliced the air with a hand. "It is not that!" he shouted. Katara jumped in her seat. The sudden noise from a conversation she couldn't even hear surprised her.
"I'm not affected by any water peasant, uncle," he said in a lower voice. "I am a prince of the Fire Nation. A warrior and a leader."
"I know you are, Prince Zuko," Iroh gave a small bow. "But perhaps we should return her to her room, anyway. I am sure she is tired and would like a rest."
Zuko wanted to argue for the sake of arguing before he realized that he preferred the girl's absence. Growling, he spun around and stalked over to Katara whose arm he grabbed. Pulling her up, he dragged her over to the doorway that led down to the guest room.
"Don't follow!" he shouted at them. "I don't need any help!"
Katara struggled to catch her feet as Zuko dragged her along, but it was difficult. She tripped and fell to the ground, only to have the prince pull her arm up and reach down to scoop her up. He flung her over his shoulder and walked down the second flight of stairs. Katara hit his back with her fists and tried to kick him, but he held her legs tightly by the calf and ignored her thumping.
Angry, Katara reached over and yanked on his ponytail.
Snarling, Zuko swung her up (where Katara just missed the ceiling of the hallway) and slammed her against the wall. Katara winced as he put his face only inches from hers.
"You are my prisoner," he growled at her. "Don't act like I can't have you killed at any moment."
"You wouldn't do that," Katara practically spat out the words. "Because then you wouldn't have any bait for the Avatar."
Zuko smiled evilly. "He wouldn't know that."
Katara's breath hitched in her throat as she realized the truth in that. Because, how would Aang ever know? He'd just swoop down on Appa and try to find her. And he wouldn't be able to because she wouldn't be there and he'd get stuck, and then Zuko would capture him, and then the Fire Nation would win, and her home would be destroyed…
"You're horrible!" Katara couldn't believe it but it sounded like she was almost crying. "You don't even care that capturing the Avatar would mean the end of the world, do you? Your people already destroyed Aang's people and now you want to destroy two more!"
"I don't care about destroying other peoples or nations," Zuko said in a low, threatening voice. "I just want the Avatar so I can go home."
Katara blinked. "What do you mean?"
Zuko pulled back. "It's none of your business," he said gruffly.
"Why do you need the Avatar to go home?" Katara insisted.
Zuko whirled around and struck the wall next to Katara's head with his palm. "I said, it's none of your business!" he roared.
"Fine, then!" Katara shouted back. "See if I care! Why I was even asking after a selfish, greedy, stupid brat like you-"
"I am not stupid," Zuko growled in her face.
Katara raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so you're selfish, greedy and brat, but not stupid?"
With a howl of fury, Zuko grabbed her and started pulling her back down the hallway towards her room. Katara beat the fist that held her by her upper arm.
"Stop it! Stop it, let me go!"
Zuko whirled her around again, prepared to fully put her in her place as a Water Tribe peasant and his prisoner, but something about the proportions of weight and force, plus the amount of work used and all sorts of crap that only my physics professor would understand, made Katara swing into Zuko really close.
Thankfully (or perhaps, unthankfully) Katara managed to stop before she got too close.
But that didn't mean that the ending position for the movement wasn't Katara pressed up against Zuko's chest, his hand gripping painfully into her arm, their faces so close that their lips were only a scant inch or so apart, and Katara could feel her eyes crossing when she tried to look at him.
Which would probably be why she closed them.
Which would probably be why she lost her balance a little and leaned in a little.
Which was probably why she could feel the heat from his lips so well on her own, and that was probably why she wanted to get closer, to feel the heat so much better…
Because she definitely didn't want to kiss him. Not at all. He was stupid and selfish and he wanted to capture her best friend. The first two were reasons enough for a girl not to kiss a boy like that, but the third was really bad.
But a good reason to do it was because it felt really, really nice.
They still kiss in this chapter, but I feel like the build-up to it is more reasonable, and Zuko's approach in the last version was definitely crappy romance material more than it was Avatar-like at all. Not that this story is at all like Avatar. But I sometimes like to pretend it is and then I'm happy.