Disclaimer: Standard Disclaimers apply! Naturally any character that is not associated with the show belongs either to someone I have permission to use or to me. Please ask permission to use any character that I own should you desire to do so. Thank you. If there are any similarities between my work and another author's then I apologize. I suppose great minds DO think alike.

Series: Avatar: The Last Airbender

Title: Anchor

Author: Tiasha

Type: One-shot/Drabble

Word Count: 1,060

"Well, if it isn't my visibly-challenged elder brother. Fancy seeing you here. I thought you'd still be futilely pursuing the Avatar with that dinky boat of yours."

His heartbeat quickened at the sound of her voice. He hadn't heard her speak in over three years, and looking back on it now, it was a shame she even had to speak at all. Her taunting, conniving, snide words always brought back painful memories, memories filled with confusion, distrust, rejection, betrayal…

Yup; he wished she hadn't opened that hole she called a mouth at all.

"Sister," he said, grudgingly acknowledging her as he turned around to face her. A smug smile was on her lips as her amber gaze met his and they flashed with arrogance and ambition. "Still out to steal the throne?" he jeered, knowing that she hated it when he rubbed the fact that he was—or had been—in line for the throne before her. Even now, it would be a while before she'd get her hands on it; Zuko knew his father would make sure of that. His father loved power too much to just give it to her.

Her pretty face contorted into a sneer, eyes hard and dancing with a promise of pain. Well, that wasn't new. She had always gained a sadistic pleasure from the pain and torture of others. He was no exception and knew from experience.

Her sneer vanished fairly quickly though, returning to that smug look of satisfaction. "Naturally, but I can wait. I know how to bide my time. Unlike certain traitors that I know."

His jaw clenched at the derogatory word. How could she? How could she stomach calling their uncle a traitor! Flames licked around his fists that were clenched at his sides, the only testament to how upset he was. He amazingly kept his face neutral.

"I see. So are you going to arrest me? Or are you simply going to lie to father and make up some story of how I got away?"

"You I could care less about. It's the Avatar and Iroh I'm more interested in. They are the ones who have a hefty bounty on their heads."

He felt as if his entire body was on fire due to the anger coursing through him. She was seriously going to turn in their uncle, all because he had tried to keep Zhao from throwing the entire world into chaos, a chaos that the Fire Nation could not control or rule over. She was sick, and now was the first time it was ever so blatantly clear.

"So…where are they? Oh come now, you can tell me. Wouldn't want to seem like an even bigger traitor, now would we? Besides, I could always put in a good word to father about how you helped."

He felt as if he was suffocating from the heat surrounding him. She was seriously starting to piss him off.

A gentle touch to his arm and he glanced down to his right for a moment, his fiery amber gaze meeting cool, tranquil blue. Her hand continued to linger on his arm even after he swept his gaze back to his sister, noting the slightly intrigued look on her face at seeing the Water Tribe girl next to him and committing such an intimate gesture to the exiled prince. But there was also confusion underlying her intrigue.

Zuko suppressed the urge to smirk at his younger sister's confusion. She didn't understand, and he wasn't about to explain it to her. His sister would never know the feelings that he and Katara shared, would never experience them; for Zula was driven by greed and ambition, hatred and rage, lust and desire. Shame really, she wouldn't know of the adoration, contentment, security, acceptance, warmth and happiness that stemmed from a loving relationship. Not that he and Katara were a perfect couple per say, they did have their arguments (quite a few in fact but he'd rather drop dead than admit that to anyone who hadn't been in the hearing vicinity of their arguments), but they worked on it. They didn't just give up.

"We haven't seen them," Katara said from her position at his side, a slight frown of concern on her face. "We haven't seen or heard of their whereabouts for almost two months, right? If we had, I doubt I'd be under his thumb still." She inclined her head towards the exiled prince to show that it was his thumb she was referring to. Zuko simply nodded, not trusting his mouth around his sister right now. No matter what he said, Zula could always turn his words into a reason to start a physical fight.

The Fire Nation Princess looked as if she were going to argue when a soldier approached her and whispered something in her ear. A look of displeasure affixed itself on her face and as she looked them both over once more, her eyes seemed to hold disgust for Katara. Zuko's blood heated in self-defense of the Water Tribe girl…his Water Tribe girl.

"Very well. You may do as you please, brother dear," she said, the emphasis on "brother dear" being snide and hateful. "But rest assured, we will cross paths again. And if I receive word that you were lying… I'll throw you both into prison…indefinitely."

With one last dark, hateful look at him and a contemptuous one at Katara, she was gone, walking away from the market they were standing in towards the docks where her navy fleet was waiting for her.

Katara's hand still laid on his arm even as his sister vanished from their sight completely, reassurance and support emanating from her cool demeanor.

No… Zula would never understand his feelings for Katara. He would never explain them to the firebending girl, not now nor in the future. After all, the idea of fire and water together would be absurd in the Fire Nation Princess's mind. The two could never mix. And they couldn't; not for her at least.

But for him…he'd been at sea for just over three years. He had grown quite accustomed to the sea…to water. For Zuko, Katara was his anchor and harbor. And her gentle waves would always call him back to the ocean, to where the sun and sea met on the horizon and were in harmony.