Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar.
A/N: I have some serious concentration issues. I seriuosly need to have someone stand over me and whack me on the head with an incredibly heavy book everytime I go off to play solitaire instead of typing. Saucebender this chapter is once again in your honor for that magnificently long review. It seriously made my day.
On another note, I have an idea for another fic stuck in my head. The only problem is I don't even know how to start it all I know is that is wants to be written and that it is inspired by a song I listen to every five minutes. Stupid brain that won't stay focused!
On with the story!
Katara did not remember Zuko mentioning ostrich-horses once during all of their stupid meetings, but then again she spent most of those meetings either asleep or staring at him. This particular ostrich-horse was giving her the evil eye.
She looked up at Zuko, "Why are we taking these? Don't you have a Royal Navy ship or something we could take? I'm fine with walking the rest of the time."
"Don't tell me you're scared of a little ostrich-horse. Did you pay attention to the plans at all?" Zuko asked exasperatedly, taking Katara's bag and situating it on the evil looking ostrich-horse.
Katara huffed, "I am not scared of it….and it's definitely not little," she reached for her bag, "You're starting to sound like my brother."
Zuko put his hand on top of Katara's bag to prevent her from picking it up, "Get on the ostrich-horse Katara. And I sound nothing like your brother."
Katara put her hands on her hips, "Don't talk to me like that. I most certainly am not getting on that thing. I don't even know how to ride it. You do so sound like my brother. Going on and on about 'the plan'."
"Well why didn't you say you couldn't ride one when we were going over the plans? Oh that's right. You were daydreaming! You're brother can be quite smart sometimes."
Katara crossed her arms over her chest, "I'm not getting on that thing and you can't…." She trailed off as Zuko placed his hands on her hips and lifted her off the ground and onto the ostrich-horse.
"You were saying?" He asked a smirk on his face.
Katara glowered at him, "I hope you know this means I don't like you very much at the moment. Even though I'm on this crazy beast it doesn't mean I know how to ride it." She squirmed uncomfortably on the back of the ostrich-horse, looking slightly scared.
Zuko had the nerve to chuckle at her discomfort, "I really don't understand how you can possibly be frightened by an ostrich-horse. I mean you rode on a ten-ton flying bison."
Katara eyes narrowed into slits, "Well… Appa has six legs… and this thing only has two very, very skinny legs."
Zuko looked at her with a blank look, "Katara… That has to be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard… and I've spent time with your brother."
Katara stuck out her lower lip, "I still don't want to ride this thing."
"Well," Zuko said placed a hand on her knee and gently guided her leg to the other side of the ostrich-horse, "I'm the Fire Lord. You have no say in the matter."
Katara flushed a little at the feel of Zuko's warm hand on her knee. He, of course, didn't seem to notice a bit and went about adjusting her legs. "We have enough time to run through a quick riding lesson," He grabbed the reins and handed them to her, "You know that these are used to guide the animal, just like Appa. Now to get him to go you squeeze your knees together. The harder you squeeze the faster you'll go." He emphasized this by gently pushing her knee.
Katara realized at that moment how proud she was to be a Water Tribe girl. The blush staining her cheeks was not nearly as dark as it would have been if she had Zuko's complexion. Once she finally got up the nerve to speak she murmured, "Like this?" She gently pressed her knees into the beasts' side and it began to trot. She looked up and grinned, "Well I guess this isn't so bad."
.............0.0
What the hell had she been thinking? This was the worst possible thing ever. Her eyelids were heavy and her bottom was starting to go numb. Really numb. So numb she couldn't even feel it anymore. She had a feeling once they finally stopped her legs would just fall off. She was miserable. And to top it off they had been stuck in the blasted forest all afternoon. The shade of the trees and the warm air was going to seriously put her to sleep at any moment.
She looked up tiredly, Zuko was a good ten feet ahead of her and he didn't seem to be tired in the least. Katara did not think that it was fair. He should at least be as tired as her. He hadn't gotten any sleep the night before either.
On top of being miserably tired and incredibly behind her stupid ostrich-horse wasn't listening to her at all. He kept trying to stop and eat the stupid flowers dotting the forest path (Who knew the Fire Nation had such a sizeable forest?). Finally fed up she squeezed her knees tighter than normal and the stupid beast shot off like a rocket.
.............
Zuko was trotting at a good pace; at the rate that they were going they would reach the port city they were headed to by tomorrow afternoon. They just needed to keep the stops short and to a minimum. He was lost in thought, gently guiding his mount; when out of the corner of his eye a bright blue flash breezed by.
He sat there on his ostrich-horse for a full minute before he realized what it was and then he proceeded to curse under his breath. He kicked his mount into a faster pace, chasing down the shrieking Katara.
He was now moving at a breakneck speed, steadily catching up on Katara. "Pull on the reins Katara! Pull on the reins!"
"Don't you think I tried that?" She cried over her shoulder, frantically pulling at the reins.
Zuko cursed, he had finally caught up to Katara, "Let go of the reins Katara!" He yelled reaching for her.
"What?!" She shrieked, not noticing him reaching for her, "I can't do that!"
Zuko let out a frustrated grunt, "Let go! I'm going to pull you off and onto my ostrich-horse."
Katara finally took her eyes of the dirt road, "Are you sure you can do that?"
"Just let go dammit!" Katara instantly let go of the reins and Zuko managed pluck her right off the speeding ostrich-horse. He pulled her tightly against him, "Are you okay?"
Katara nodded mutely as Zuko pulled his ostrich-horse to a stop and continued to hold her tightly. After a few moments of awkward silence Katara finally said, "My stuff is gone…"
Zuko bit his lip, "Well that could be an issue."
"Oh… and you can let go of me now," Katara whispered, hoping that she wasn't blushing too furiously.
Zuko quickly let go of her and helped her get off the ostrich-horse, before getting off himself. He then led the beast to a tree and tethered it there. He proceeded to plop down on the ground. This really wasn't going as planned. Hopefully this little incident would be the last of its kind.
Katara came and sat down next to him, "I'm really sorry. I was just so tired…. And you were so far ahead…."
Zuko smiled weakly, "Its okay. From now on we'll just have to share Taiyou," he stated pointing to his ostrich-horse, "I'm pretty sure he can support both of or weight…" He trailed off noticing Katara's head had drifted onto his shoulder and she was fast asleep.
Maybe a nap wasn't such a bad idea, he thought, leaning against the tree and closing his eyes. Not a bad idea at all.
A/N: So I guess we won't find out what Toph packed after all. Poor Katara losing all of her stuff. Erm... What else to say? Oh yes. Review please!