Disclaimer: I do not, have never, and probably never will own Avatar, no matter how much I wish I did. I wish I owned Zuko, and more importantly, I wish he were real. We'd get along great. Also, I don't own Martina McBride's song This One's For The Girls. I know it doesn't fit well with the chapter, but y'all will get over it.
A/N: I am SO sorry it took me so long to update. I would've updated sooner, but for the past two days, I've been battling this computer. It wouldn't let me download my chapter. I was pissed, needless to say. Also, if anyone has any fanart y'all wanna draw, just let me know. I'm trying to figure out how to get my own fanart up here without putting it on someone's website. That may not happen, of course. Also, I've found some super cool websites dedicated to Avatar. Check out my profile under the Avatar section and you'll find 'em there. AVATAR FANVIDS ROCK! Woo and hoo. Oh, yeah, I finally named chapter 5! It is now officially called 'Katara's Kidnapping'. Do ya approve?
Time to get down to business, so here ya go! Read on my friends!
Chapter XII: The Last Few Hours Together Must Be Cherished
Meiya grabbed her daughter by the wrists and threw her into the table.
"I've seen mad! You think I don't know mad!"
Shaiya got up quickly from the table, which cracked in two when she hit it.
"I know that you know mad! YOU ARE MAD! Insane is more like it! All you care about is yourself!"
Shaiya's mother began to turn a delicate shade of red she was so angry. She shot a stream of fire at her daughter, narrowly missing Zuko. All had risen quickly and backed into one wall.
"You just wait! We leave tomorrow, and there's nothing you can do about it! Not even song will work on me now I'm so pissed off at you Shaiya!"
"YEAH! I can't blame you for being pissed off! Bitch!"
Iroh had enough. He spoke up, attempting to break up the fight.
"Why don't you ladies finish this argument with an Agni Kai!" Mother and daughter looked at each other, panting, and nodded in agreement. "We will hold it tomorrow morning. Until then, neither of you two are allowed to say a single word to one another. Clear?" Again, both ladies nodded.
Shaiya mouthed 'See you tomorrow mother' and stormed off to Zuko's room, Zuko himself at her heels. Iroh stepped up to Meiya to attempt to calm her.
"Hey, Shaiya." Zuko spoke quietly as he entered. Shaiya was sitting on his bed, her head bowed, eyes closed, breathing hard.
"Hey." she muttered. Zuko stepped up to her and sat beside her.
"Where did that come from?" he asked genially.
"Where do I start?" she replied jokingly with a question of her own.
"How's about why you got so… pissed, I guess, when your mother asked why you didn't want to leave."
"I'm not too good at expressing my emotions. I'm like you, better at expressing anger and frustration rather that friendship and care. I guess I'm like a rock. Tough and brittle yet soft and malleable." Zuko pulled Shaiya into a hug.
"Zuko, there's something you should know about me. Two things really." Shaiya didn't know how to tell him about her deepest, darkest secrets. So she decided to demonstrate one of the two-the easier to reveal.
She thrust her arms around his neck, jerked both herself and him down onto the bed, and pulled him into a deep and very emotional kiss. Her hair played out behind her head like a crown of reddish orange while his ponytail graced the crown of his head perfectly.
His lips sealed around hers and he licked her lips, requesting permission to enter. Quickly and obediently, she opened her mouth. Their tongues began to play as Zuko's hands worked their way through her hair. Shaiya found herself working at Zuko's armor to make it more comfortable for both. She pulled off his wrist guards, then his chest and shoulder plates. He kicked off his boots.
So he could remove the rest of his armor, he pulled away from Shaiya. He looked at her and began to say something, only to get cut off.
"Shaiya, I never-"
"Shut up and keep kissing me." Zuko grinned, pulled his hip guards off and allowed her to pull him back to her, much slower than she previously did. They broke apart moments later.
"What were you going to say again?" she asked him, his face hovering inches above her own.
"I was going to say that I never thought you had it in you to be that bold, that… forward." he whispered.
"You'd be amazed at what I can do, especially when I want to." she whispered back as she looked at him with a look mixed with longing and playfulness. Zuko just couldn't say no. Little did they know, they weren't the only ones on the ship that evening kissing.
After the outburst between Meiya and Shaiya, and after being reminded that tomorrow they were leaving, Onya brought it upon herself to make sure Sokka didn't forget who she was.
After Zuko and Shaiya left for his room, and after Iroh and Meiya left for the deck to calm down, Onya seized the opportunity.
"Sokka, do you like me?" she asked suddenly.
"What? Oh, uh…I'm not sure." he stammered.
"Well, we should figure out whether you like me or not, now shouldn't we?" she asked in her most seductive manner. Sokka's cheeks began to redden and his eyes widened.
"What do you mean?" Onya began edging closer to Sokka.
"I mean, how much do you like me?" she asked, edging so close to him that their faces were inches apart.
"I…whu…uh…um." Sokka stammered again. Onya gently grasped his hands in hers and pulled him so close that their noses were a millimeter apart.
"Don't tell me you don't know what I mean." It dawned on Sokka that she was just as attracted to him as he was to her. In one swift movement, Sokka flung Onya to the side, held her by the mid back, and kissed her. Onya threw her arms around Sokka's neck and pulled him closer. Iroh just had to pick that moment to walk in.
"I knew it!" he yelled triumphantly. "I knew my nephew wasn't the only love-sick one on this ship!"
Both were scared out of their wits, and Sokka dropped Onya when Iroh said 'love-sick'.
"Now, what did you drop me for?" Onya yelled, slightly pissed at both men.
"Seriously Sokka, you of all people should know never to drop a woman. It is not only rude, but also demeaning for the man."
"But general, I…you surprised me."
"Well, maybe you two should try kissing in a more private place. Music Night starts in approximately two hours. Be ready." Iroh said as he left. Onya got up and looked at Sokka. She smiled. Sokka knew what that smile meant. He took her hand in his and led her to his room.
The two hours passed rather quickly. After kissing for about another thirty minutes, Zuko and Shaiya finally decided to go practice for an hour. That would leave them just a little bit of time to change into some cleaner clothes. Onya and Sokka weren't too keen on spending the entire night kissing, either, so they did the same.
"'Send a flame kick at me next time' he says. Yeah, right. You knew you could block it. Lying, evil, cheating jerk!" Shaiya yelled, smiling.
"Oh yeah? Is that all you can say? Cause if it is, then can we get back to practicing?" Zuko replied.
"Sure." With that, Shaiya sent up a wall of flames around her to absorb Zuko's blows. Breaking the barrier between herself and the prince, she shot a wave of fire forward toward him. Zuko held the tips of his fingers together in front of him, causing the fire to break around him. As soon as that attack was blocked, Zuko slammed his foot against the steel deck, letting go a wave of fire not even Shaiya's wall could block. To avoid Zuko's attack, Shaiya performed a flawless round-off back hand spring, landing in her original spot.
Zuko, furious that she had avoided his fire, jump-somersaulted to gain some ground. He got close enough that the two engaged in physical close-range combat, tossing in a flaming fist every now and then. Just a couple minutes after they go close enough to fist fight, Sokka and Onya came above deck.
"What the hell are you doing?" Onya yelled from the door. She knew her friend and the fire prince had…fiery tempers, but she never saw them fight before.
"Just for fun, OK! No worries!" Shaiya yelled from where she was, pinned against the rail by Zuko's uber-muscular arms.
"Well, good thing to know that you guys aren't fighting for real. Training, I presume?" Onya called across deck.
"Yup!" Zuko answered. Shaiya threw him across deck with a fiery kick that hit him in the gut. As quick as physically possible, Zuko jumped up in barely enough time to dodge a jet of fire. At that time, Iroh and the rest of the crew walked above deck to be greeted by a beautiful sunset, two teens standing together, and two other teens…fighting? Training? What?
"May I ask what the HECK you two are up to?" Iroh yelled from the other side of the ship. When he walked out, Zuko had Shaiya pinned to the deck, and he was sprawled on top of her. As he yelled his intrusive comment, Shaiya thrust Zuko off of her and went for his shoulders in an attempt to pin him down. Zuko wasn't ready for her attack because he was beet red. Mostly because he had just been found on top of his girlfriend, although he still hadn't admitted to it, and they were fighting.
"Oh, um…Evening Iroh!" Shaiya yelled as she noticed the entire crew, Sokka, Onya, Katara, Aang, and Iroh staring at them.
"Are you willing to answer my question, kids?" he called from his position next to Onya.
"Um, we're just practicing. Is that okay, or does everyone have to object?"
"Oh, no, Shaiya, it's just that we were kinda expecting to begin Music Night. Your mother is sitting this one out, just to let you know."
Shaiya heaved a great sigh. Zuko stood and offered her his hand. She took it genially and he led her to where everyone else was gathered and setting up for that night's songs. Zuko pulled Shaiya's ear toward him and whispered something to her.
"I'm gonna skip out. I've gotta take a shower, if you don't mind."
"Yeah, okay." she whispered back. She headed to take a seat next to her best friend while Zuko headed below deck. Little did Zuko know, someone was waiting for him in the hallway that led to his room.
"I'll begin the night with a favorite song of mine called This One's For The Girls." Shaiya cleared her throat and began to sing.
This for all you girls about thirteen
High school can be so rough, can be so mean
Hold on to onto your innocence
Stand your ground when everybody's giving in
This One's For The Girls
This for all your girls about twenty-five
In a little apartment just trying to get by
Living on , on dreams and spaghetti o's
Wondering when your life is gonna go
This Ones For The Girls
Whose ever had a broken heart
Whose wished upon a shooting star
You're beautiful the way you are
This Ones For The Girls
Who love without holding back
Who'd dream with everything they had
All around the world
This Ones For The Girls
This for all you girls about forty-two
Tossing pennies into the fountain of youth
Every laugh, laugh line on your face
Made you who you are today
This Ones For The Girls
Whose ever had a broken heart
Whose wished upon a shooting star
Your beautiful the way you are
This Ones For The Girls
Who love without holding back
Who'd dream with everything they had
All around the world
This Ones For The Girls
Yeah, we're all the same inside (same inside)
From 1 to 99
This One's For The Girls
Whose ever had a broken heart
Whose wished upon a shooting star
You're beautiful the way you are
This Ones For The Girls
Who love without holding back
Who dream with everything they had
All around the world
This Ones For The Girls
Yeah this ones for the girls
Just as Shaiya finished her song, someone screamed. Shaiya had a clue as to what may've happened. Quickly, she darted up from her seat between Onya and Iroh and ran to Zuko's room where she found him lying on the floor, a pool of blood collecting from a wound in his shoulder. Meiya was standing just above him, hunched over, her lip bleeding, a bloody paring knife in one hand. Zuko's eyes were fluttering open and then they'd close again.
"MOTHER! WHAT'D YOU DO TO HIM?" Shaiya screamed at her mother.
"I just eliminated the problem." Meiya replied.
"No you didn't! You ARE the problem!" she screamed again, her eyes beginning to overflow, tears streaming down her face.
"Now, honey, you and I both know that Zuko is gonna stop the war. You and I both know that he'd just use you as a human brood mare. He's not worth your time. Now, if he were more like his father, then there'd be no problem, and yet, he is too nice. He's weak."
"YOU BIITCH! YOU EVIL, CRUEL, MURDERING BIITCH! You killed my baby!" Shaiya's eyes grew large at her own words. She had just admitted that she liked, no, loved the man lying at her mother's feet, bleeding steadily. Shaiya lunged at her mother.
She threw a steady jet of flames at her mother, causing her to fly back against the ship. Too weak to fight back, Meiya decided to act as if her daughter had knocked her out.
Shaiya, thinking she had knocked her mother out cold, ran up to Zuko and pressed two fingers against his neck. His pulse was fading, slowly but surely. Quickly, Shaiya slid her hands beneath Zuko's back and knees, picked him up, and she ran to the infirmary.
Shaiya reached the infirmary, set Zuko down on a bed as carefully and quickly as she could, and ran full speed up to the deck, the entire right side of her shirt covered in blood. Her baby's blood.
Shaiya burst through the doorway and ran smack into Sokka.
Iroh took one look at her and nearly died of shock. "What happened?" he yelled.
"My mother…paring knife…Zuko…bleeding…infirmary." was all Shaiya managed to get out before she erupted in a fit of coughing. Sokka and Onya took Shaiya by the arms while the doctor ran to the infirmary to treat his patient.
A/N: Hey, y'all! So, what'd you think? Do I still got that spunk as a writer that I had in my other eleven chapters? Hope I do. Don't forget, I still need someone who knows German! I'm also starting a new story soon that will be posted later this week, I hope. It will be called Star Fire, and everything you need to know about it as of now is under my Stories section on my profile. Hope y'all like it! TTYL!
Sincerely, your loyal fanfic writer,
Raaon Teisha (a.k.a. Rhinestone Cowgirl)