Kiss THIS!

zutara drabbles. (Plot, what plot? Have you ever heard of this strange thing they call plot?) A series of drabbles concerning a certain fire prince and water peasant and an authoress' many ways to get them to kiss.

Taken from the sixteen zutara prompts on lj. This is the ninth one. Expect at least seven more. (I plan to finish) I don't know for sure if all of them will have a kiss, but I'm going to try.

WARNING: THIS CHAPTER IS RATED M FOR BLOOD, PSYCHOLOGICAL TORTURE, MENTIONS OF SEX AND NUDITY. I'M NOT GOING TO UP THE RATING, BECAUSE MOST OF THESE DRABBLES ARE LIGHT-HEARTED AND G RATED, BUT THIS ONE IS NOT. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Why is this one M rated? Because Zula is a psycho, that's why.

Also, really, really long drabble. So sorry.

XXX

"Some people change when they see the light; others when they feel the heat." –Caroline Schroeder

"Why do you hate your brother so much?" The question had been simple; a clever attempt to create a distraction from her enemy in front of her. "From what I can tell," she lied through her teeth. "You aren't much different."

Zula saw right through her act, but decided to humor her anyway.

"My brother and I are nothing alike." She answered forcibly, fiddling with the knife in her hand. "We are very different, in almost every way." The Fire Princess walked over to where the waterbender was tied to against the wall.

"Take you, for example." The Princess noted, circling the waterbender as best she could. "If you were in my brother's care, not a single hair on your pretty little head would be hurt." Zula patted Katara's head pleasantly before grabbing her knife and slicing her throat just lightly enough to cut her necklace off and cause her to bleed.

Katara gasped, trying to move her hands to reach her throat, but failed.

"With me, you aren't so lucky." Zula commented, stepping on the necklace as she walked.

She smirked. "Pretty necklace, but I like it better this way." She picked up the blood-covered necklace and put it on herself. "Red is such a pretty color." She commented, not bothering to wash the blood off of the necklace.

"As I was saying, my brother and I are very different. In his care, not a single hair on your pretty little head would be hurt." She repeated herself for emphasis. "You would be idolized, treated like a Queen—a Godess, even." She wiped the blood off of her hands onto Katara's hair. "He treat you gently, like a porcelain doll. He would love you softly, purely, like all good lovers should."

Katara shivered; Zula noticed.

"Did my brother love you, Katara? Did he make you moan with pleasure, whispering sweet nothings in your ear?" Using her knife, Zula cut a thin line in Katara's rags, causing them to open and destroy what little modesty she had left. "Did you love him in return? Give your innocence to him, perhaps?"

With Katara's shirt wide open, Zula took her knife and began cutting at the girl's breast. Just lightly, barely scaving the skin, but it was enough to cause blood to run down her stomach and drip to floor, drip drip drip.

"Did you love my brother, Katara?" Katara nodded, silent teardrops falling.

Zula smiled. "And did he tell you he loved you, too?" Again, she nodded, tears falling fast and hurting more.

"Poor girl." She whispered, patting Katara's head again. "For you see, what's different about me and my brother is simple—me, I'll kill you." She held the knife close to Katara's throat. "I'll make you scream, cry, beg for a mercy that you'll never receive. I'll make you hurt, bleed. I'll cut you, tear you apart piece by piece until you aren't you anymore." She used her knife to trace along Katara cheek, leaving small impressions in her skin. "I'll kill people in front of you, I'll make you bleed to death…I will make your death the slowest and most painful thing you could ever feel."

"But my brother," She whispered, mere inches away from Katara's ears. "Will break your heart."

"He will lie to you, decieve you, use you, then break you. Oh, for a while it will good—He'll really have you fooled. He'll make you think he loves you more than he's ever loved anyone else before. The love the two of you make will be worthwhile and heartbreakingly beautiful."

"And then, in a heartbeat, faster than you can blink, he'll be gone and you'll be left heartbroken and miserable." Zula noted the sweat mixing with the blood left on Katara's face, the raw hatred, yet fragile belief that what the Princess was saying was true. "More effective, perhaps, and he probably doesn't have to deal with the bloodstains I do, but I'm not as paitient as him." She smiled. "I'll kill you outright."

"I—don't—believe—you!" She cried out before Zula began to burn small places on her stomach.

"Tsk, poor girl. So delusional. Oh well, I tried." She thrusted her dagger into the ground in front of Katara, turning to her before she left. "Here, I'll leave this with you. Just in case my brother comes to 'rescue' you, you can defend yourself."

The knife still had Katara's blood on it even in the ground.

XXX

Twelve hours later, Zuko arrived, beaten, sore, but still there to rescue her. During this time, Katara had been by herself, bleeding, dying, with nothing but Zula's dagger to keep her company, and the drip drip drip sound of her own blood hitting the ground. In the shadows of the dark, even your own mind is the enemy.

"Katara!" He screamed, running over to her. He undid the chains around her wrists, caught her and held her tightly, kissing her passionately before setting her down on the ground. "Are you alright? Of course you aren't, look at you!" He wrapped his arms protectively around her, feeling her heartbeat match his in perfect motion.

He never saw the dagger coming.

XXX

On her balcony overlooking the prison cell, Zula laughed. It was amazing what a little lies, blood, sweat, tears, and time could accomplish! There was a reason Zula left the dagger--The girl would no doubt kill Zula's brother, having enough time to let Zula's cruel words repeat in her mind until the point where they seemed true. It would only be after Zuko laid dead before her before her sanity would return, and in anguish, she would kill herself.

It was one way to kill two birds with one stone.

XXX
END

IT STARTED OFF AS SUCH A SWEET AND INNOCENT DRABBLE, TOO:sobs: Anyway, hope you liked it, no matter how…twisted…it is. See why I should never own Avatar? Everyone would die.

And then there would be some comic relief thrown in there somewhere, but for the most part, angst. Next drabble I promise won't be this way, I just had to get it out of my system. So sorry!

...Ironically, ten minutes after I posted last night's drabble, I came up with a perfect title—Shattered Fates---but thank you for your suggestions. I'll probably use them as chapter titles.

Also, I'm over 200 reviews! Craziness! But thank you!

Jak