A.N. 4-27-07 - This is the re-written version of the story, I hope it's better developed, please review!.

Chapter 3: Spiteful Words Reward Good Deeds

For the next few mornings Kat was up just before sunrise, and on deck just as the first rays of sun began to come over the horizon. Most of the time Zuko won, occasionally though, Kat did. Each evening, Kat snuck out onto the ship's deck and relaxed with her waterbending, and unbeknownst to her, Zuko watched.

Kat fell into a schedule of sparring, breakfast, exploring the ship, and practicing her bending. It certainly wasn't a bad life, and she didn't feel like a prisoner, though technically she still was. Her explorations were centered on finding a way to escape. The few escape boats on the sides of the deck in the back of the ship were too well secured, and too exposed, to be a viable route of escape. Below deck, the few port windows were far too small, and besides they were sealed shut. Kat was forced to accept her position: until they docked, she wouldn't be getting away from Zuko.

The ship limped northwards, damaged from both attacks at the South Pole. Occasionally Kat saw the distant shapes of islands on the horizon. As best she could guess, they were the old Air Nomad lands, tall towering mountain peaks that rose sharply up from the sea floor. Her bending wasn't strong enough to make it across the sea to them. And even if it was, she wouldn't be able to climb their heights, and chances are they were abandoned. The last Kat had heard the air nomads were all dead. It would be suicide to leave the ship and try to make it to them.

The ship closed in on medium sized island. Kat anticipated their arrival, making an escape plan in her mind.

The soldiers said they would be docking by mid afternoon, so Kat spent the morning on the deck. She watched the horizon anxiously.

In the distance, large ships loomed. They were twice as big as theirs, and more. Lazy clouds of smoke belched from their smokestacks and clouded the sky.

Kat's spirits fell. It's a Fire Nation Naval Base, she realized, I can't try and escape here.

Zuko ordered Kat to stay below deck and although she rolled her eyes at him, she didn't need to be told to do it. The piers were crawling with Fire Nation soldiers, and she had enough trouble dealing with just this one fire bender. As much as she wanted to take the opportunity to flee – she was after all left alone, unchained, on the ship – the place was nothing but a Fire Nation outpost, she had no where to go. At least here she had a deal with Zuko, who so far was a man of his word.

Kat began to wonder when they would actually stop at a real town; it had been just over two weeks already.

From a port window, she watched Iroh and Zuko until they disappeared from view, following some Fire Nation soldier. Or maybe he was a general, or something, it wasn't as though Kat knew the difference.

Bang! Something crashed in the ship, echoing and reverberating through the ships hull. Kat jumped, and dashed into the hallway.

Down the stairs came three Fire nation soldiers that were definitely not part of the ship's crew.

"You there! Stop!"

Kat turned and spring down the other end of the hallway. She still wasn't that familiar with the ship, despite having been on board for about two weeks. She got lost after a few more turns, and hoped the soldiers had too. Why are they here? What's going on?

Kat skidded to a halt in a dead end. She took a few steps back, to her right, was a door. She reached for the handle, only to be blocked by a blast of fire. She jerked her hand back. Another blast at her feet made her jump backwards.

Two soldiers came towards her. I should start carrying a water pouch all the time, Kat thought to herself, wishing she wasn't defenseless. Despite her sparring with Zuko, she had yet to learn a weapon.

The soldiers finally dared to grab her, realizing she had no weapons. They spun her around and clasp her hands behind her back. "You're coming with us."

"Commander Zhao, we interrogated the crew as you instructed. They confirmed Prince Zuko had the Avatar in custody, but let him escape." The guard stood in the doorway to the small room. In front of him, Zuko and Iroh were blocked by guards with crossed spears.

"Now remind me…. How exactly was your ship damaged?" Zhao smirked as he turned to Zuko.

Outside in the hallway, behind the first guard, Kat fidgeted with the metal cuffs that bound her wrists. If I had some water I could cut through these damn things. Kat hissed angrily to herself. What kind of idiot gets caught so off guard? Her wrist cuffs clinked with her movements. Behind her, a second guard glared at her. She wasn't listening to the conversation going on inside the room, not until she heard a thud as Zuko kicked over a table.

The first guard stepped back as Zhao exited the room. He stopped in the doorway, staring at Kat.

"We found her on board Prince Zuko's ship, Sir. We think she's water tribe, despite her clothing."

The way Zhao looked her over made Kat want to hurl. His eyes lingered far too long on her chest and then her waist, before returning to her face. When he did, Kat spat at him.

Zhao growled, stepping forwards rapidly and grabbing Kat's long hair, which had fallen free of its braid. He yanked her head backwards, forcing her to stare up at him. Her spit dripped down his craggy cheek. "Definitely a water brat, she has their attitude problem." He straightened, but didn't let go of her hair. Something in her fierce hazel gaze reminded him of the Prince behind him: defiant to the end.

"I never would have thought you'd be keeping a girl on board Zuko. Finally get lonely out there at sea?" Zhao grinned wolfishly.

Kat wanted nothing more than to punch him in the face. She struggled against her restraints.

"Let her go!" Kat couldn't see him, but she could hear Zuko's angry growl.

"I think she may have knowledge about the Avatar, I'll have to…personally interrogate her." Zhao hissed, turning back to the guards. "Take her to my tent."

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Kat had been left alone for a few hours. She was shackled to the tent pole, with nothing in arm or legs length to even try to use to get free. The guards had stripped her to her plain white under wear before securing her around the tent pole.

Try as she might, Kat could find no water in the tent to bend to herself either.

The tent was sparse: a cot, a rug on the floor, and a table covered in maps. A lantern hung from a hook at the top of the tent pool, but it was too high for Kat to reach. As far as she could tell from the gap between the tent flaps, it was early evening. Soon it would be dark.

Kat felt sick to her stomach. The way Zhao had looked at her infuriated and disgusted her. And although she had already suspected what "personally interrogate" really meant, the soldier's crude remarks and laughter as they stripped her of her clothes had confirmed her worst fears.

I have to get out of here! She shuddered with fear and loathing and drew her legs to her chest, wrapping her arms around them.

The darker it got outside, the darker it got inside the tent, because the lantern wasn't lit. And it's not like fire benders have any need for matches or flint. Kat sighed as she found herself alone, cold, and in the dark.

The rustle of foot steps outside made her tense. He'll have to unlock these shackles, and when he tries to touch me I'll, I'll,... Kat tried to mentally prepare herself despite the tremble in her hands.

The tent flaps flew open.

The man was clothed in black, with broadswords on his back. He was as tall as Zhao, but slimmer. His face was obscured by a blue and white festival mask.

He didn't speak as he stepped towards her, drawing one of his swords. It whistled as it cut through the air; Kat winced. With a metallic twang, Kat found her hands free. She was on her feet in an instant.

He gestured with a tilt of his head towards the back of the tent. Moving quickly, he cut through the canvas with his sword, stepped through, and held it open for her. Kat stepped through it and he immediately dropped it and began to job. She didn't have much of a choice except to follow him.

The two dashed quickly past tents, keeping as close to the shadows as possible. The sun having just set helped them, but Kat's white under garments still stood out.

She had no idea where they were, or how to get to Zuko's ship, so she was forced to race after her masked savior.

He gestured with hand motions as they kept their backs against walls and peered around. The closer they got to the piers, the harder it was to stay hidden. Lanterns lit the walkways and soldiers meandered about, most of them in various states of drunkenness.

They slid into an alley way, and right into three soldiers sitting on the ground, playing some sort of betting game. The Blue Spirit was fast, two of the men were down almost instantly, bashed in the back of the head with the hilts of his broadswords. The third soldier tried to run away, down the alleyway.

Kat saw the leather drinking flasks, and tried to bend what was left in them out. Much to her pleasant surprise, one of the flasks was almost full. With a glob of wine, Kat lashed out at the fleeing soldier, grabbing his legs and pulling him down with her whip. Her masked friend was on him as he went down, slamming his head into the ground.

The Blue Spirit started stripping the unconscious soldier below him. Kat quickly did the same, and in a matter of minutes both of them were wearing Fire Nation armor. It was large and a bit droopy on Kat, but she knotted it and made it as presentable as possible. Her masked friend had rapidly swapped his blue mask for a Fire Nation helm, which had the same effect of hiding his face.

They emerged from the alley way, and walked swiftly towards Zuko's small ship. None of the soldiers wandering the piers took any notice of them.

Once hidden by the shadow of the small ship, Kat bended the water, forming a flat ice shelf and stepping onto it. Her rescuer stepped onto it beside her and Kat bended them up onto the ship's deck.

Kat exhaled in a great big sigh. She hadn't even realized she'd been holding her breath since they had exited in the alleyway in Fire Nation armor.

"Thank you," Kat paused, staring at her companion, who had his back to her. "…Zuko."

He whipped around towards her, surprised and somewhat angrily.

Kat shrugged a little. It wasn't hard to figure out; only about 5 people knew where she was and 3 of them were Zhao and his two soldier minions. Obviously, it wasn't Iroh that had come to rescue her.

Zuko hadn't really though this far ahead. There was no good way to leave her and escape with his mask and identity in tact. Of course, when she spoke he realized it was worthless to try anyways, she already knew. It couldn't have been that hard to figure out; she's not stupid. He chided himself mentally and tried to control his anger at being found out.

"Thank you, really. I can't imagine what Zhao…." Kat just let her sentence die, and shuddered. "I guess I owe you."

Zuko said nothing. He didn't even remove his helmet, but turned and headed straight for the ship's control room. Only once he was a few paces away did he remove the helmet.

Kat stared at the door as it closed, and Zuko was gone from sight. Within a few minutes the ship shuddered as the engines turned on, and a few crewmen scurried across the deck, untying the lead ropes and throwing them back down to the pier as the ship began to pull away from the harbor.

Down at the pier there was a sudden flurry of activity. A half a dozen soldiers, led by Zhao, came running from the tents and buildings, yelling at the retreating ship.

They threw a few fire balls at the ship, but they only sizzled and dissipated against the metal hull.

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The ceiling of Kat's small room was black, smooth, and perfect. It had no flaws, no marks; it was just perfect black metal. It wasn't like the Earth Kingdom ships Kat had seen as a very small child. Those had been hand made, from wood and straw. Those ships had, well, character. This ship was just cold and purposeful; like the Fire Nation itself.

I wonder how Kai and the others are doing, I wonder if they made there alright. Kat sighed as she stared at the ceiling. I wonder if the South Pole is everything we thought it would be.

In another couple of days, it would be three weeks since Kat had seen her friends; since she had become a prisoner. Her run in with Zhao had shaken her deeply and rekindled her hatred for the Fire Nation and all its citizens. Her desire to escape was renewed, fueled by the fear and disgust Zhao's actions had instilled in her.

Worse yet, she owed her life to her own captor. There has to be a motive, Kat thought angrily, he didn't just help me from the goodness of his heart.

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"Is something troubling you Miss Kat?" The old general appeared a few paces away, hands folded in his sleeves.

Kat was leaning over the rail of the ship, watching the water below. She bit her lower lip while she considered talking to him or not. She didn't look up from the water. "What are you going to do with me?" Kat opted to be point blank.

"Prince Zuko is unsure." Iroh paused to study Kat's profile. "I have suggested to him that he let you go at the next port."

Kat nodded faintly, her gold flecked brown eyes focused on the ocean still. "I know he wants me gone, and I want off this damn ship."

The old general frowned. He honestly didn't want to her leave; he still believed she could be a good influence on Zuko. However, it would take time and neither teenager had any patience. "I think he will agree with me. He does not wish to lose the Avatar's trail, but surely we will stop at a port soon, and you will be free to go."

"Why do you stay with him?" Kat twisted around, resting her hip and elbow against the cold metal railing as she leaned on it. Zuko always seemed to speak to his uncle the same way he did to everyone else: rudely. It didn't strike her as a nice way to treat your relatives, especially one that chose to accompany you when you were banished.

Iroh did not respond at first. His forehead wrinkled a bit as his brows furrowed in thought. "He is my Nephew." He finally stated.

"But that isn't a reason to take his abuse. He doesn't seem to appreciate you being here." Kat's hazel eyes studied Iroh closely, trying to read what he wasn't saying.

"My Nephew is rough around the edges, but inside, he has a good heart. With some time, and the support of others, he will become a good man."

Kat chewed her lower lip for a moment, considering what he said. A good heart? She thought, he's Ozai's son, how can that be?.

"Zuko does not like to accept help, but in time, he will learn to. Accepting help from others does not mean that we are weak. It means that we know our own limits." Iroh sighed. "My brother is a harsh man, Prince Zuko has much to unlearn from him."

Kat nodded slightly, realizing he wasn't only talking about Zuko.

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It had been a few days since they left the Fire Nation naval base. As far as Kat could tell, they didn't have a real course they were following, but changed direction every time a new messenger hawk arrived with the latest information on the Avatar's whereabouts.

Kat stepped onto the dark deck. The moon was almost gone, reduced to a bare sliver that was paler than even the stars around it. She certainly didn't need the moon out to bend, but it made her feel stronger.

Movement on the deck made her pause. The shadowed figure paced a few steps back and forth, before stopping and staring out at the dark sea.

You know damn well it's her time, she'll be here soon, what are you doing? Zuko's inner monologue accosted him. He paced, paused, and paced again. He couldn't sleep, and had come to the deck, only to find he had beat Kat here. Instead of hanging back and waiting, Zuko had decided to stare at the inky darkness of the ocean and think. The waterbender annoyed him, she could push his buttons without batting an eye. Yet when Zhao took her, Zuko hadn't hesitated in deciding to find her and bring her back. Why did I rescue her?

She's going to start yelling if she finds you here when she wants to practice. Zuko scoffed softly at himself, and why should I care if she yells? Kat was brash and crude; if she had a problem, she said it. Sometimes Zuko noticed that she spoke before even knew what she was saying. Kat had a tendency to slap her own hand over her mouth if words rushed out that even she wasn't expecting.

Unlike the soldiers, the ships crew, and well, just about everyone he had ever known, Kat wasn't afraid. She wasn't afraid of him, or anything he could do to her. Or if she is she doesn't show it, he thought. Zuko was used to being appeased; people didn't tell Fire Nation royalty the truth if it was bad, they lied. They bowed and scraped the ground and hoped they wouldn't take the blame for carrying bad news.

Kat, on the other hand, told the truth with her head held high, regardless of whether it pissed Zuko off or not. It was infuriating. It was also sort of refreshing. It was new. She really doesn't give a damn that I'm a Prince. He wasn't sure what to make of it.

"Hey, what are you doing out here?" Kat finally spoke up, heading straight towards Zuko.

"It's my ship." He retorted simply. His obvious response made her lip curl with annoyance. It made him snicker to himself.

"Yes, but why you out here right now." Kat stopped a few feet away from him, near the railing.

"I need a reason?" Zuko evaded her question. He wasn't about to admit that he couldn't sleep, nor that he had come to watch her practice her bending, only to find that she wasn't doing so yet.

"Grr!" Kat furrowed her brows with annoyance. "Yes, you do. It's late, everyone else is sleeping, you should be too, so why are you here?"

"You're not sleeping." It was another obvious statement from Zuko that earned another growl of annoyance from Kat.

"I'm water tribe, I like night time, and being out when the moon is." Kat retorted quickly.

Zuko didn't respond for a minute. She sort of had a point. He knew she wasn't going to stop asking why he was out on deck at this hour until she either got an answer from him, or picked a fight.

Kat waited for his response. When it didn't come after a minute, she sighed loudly. "Why did you save me?" She decided to take the conversation in a different direction.

Her sudden pointed question threw Zuko off guard. He straightened up a bit, and looked back out at the dark sea. He had wondered that himself. Zuko wasn't about to let her know that though, so he made up a response. "Because Zhao doesn't take something from me and get away with it." It wasn't entirely a lie, but it wasn't all there was to it.

Hah! I was right, there is a motive! Kat narrowed her gaze at him, and realized that he was avoiding eye contact with her. Or maybe not...maybe he's lying.

Zuko had added a touch of defiant anger to his words, but not much. He still wasn't looking at her. The way Kat would match his gaze was unnerving and he was a bad liar to begin with.

"That's the only reason? Because you have some sort of competition with that…scumbag?" Kat wasn't sure if she believed him; her tone said it for her: you're lying aren't you? She folded her arms over her chest and shifted her weight to one leg.

"Yes that's the only reason." Zuko stated as simply, and with as much annoyance, as possible.

"Figures." Kat muttered under her breath and turned away, leaning over the railing and staring down at the shimmering water below.

"If you have something to say, peasant, say it." Zuko snapped at her reflectively.

Kat's lips parted, as if to say something, but she paused. She arched an eyebrow, and stared at him. He just WANTS to piss me off! He's asking for it. "I said, that figures. I didn't really think you'd actually care about someone other than yourself or your own pride. You should have left me there; I would have gotten free myself." She huffed.

"Of course you would have. You had no weapons, no water in reach, and no clothes. You were just about to get free." His sarcasm was dripping. He knew what to say to get her even angrier and to continue to avoid having a real conversation. As he spoke though, Zuko remembered seeing her in that tent.

'All of these damn tents look the same' Zuko thought angrily. 'How the hell am I supposed to find Zhao's?' He moved silently and swiftly, among the shadows, looking for a tent that stood out. He knew Zhao's would stand out from the rest of his men's; he was too prideful not to have something special. His heart raced, he had to be fast, Zhao was sure to be returning soon. Sure enough, after making his way a few blocks into the tent-town, Zuko saw one in the back, twice as large as any other, and proudly marked with two Fire Nation flags.

His body still ached from the fight with Zhao. Zuko's adrenaline was still running high; he had beaten that pompous prick fairly and it felt good. Iroh's words felt even better though. "Even in exile, my Nephew is more honorable than you." It still echoed in his head, even as Zuko dashed between tents, hiding and waiting for soldiers to pass by.

Throwing open the tent flaps he had seen Katsumi, curled against the tent pole, wrists firmly shackled and stripped to her underwear. His gut twisted with rage. He should have burned Zhao at the end of their duel, instead of letting him go. What kind of sick evil man – especially one of Zhao's age! – ties up a teenaged girl?

The second thing Zuko noticed though, was the red marks on Kat's back and abdomen and felt a pang of guilt.

"Or ignore me; that's alright too." Kat was rolling her eyes at him. "I'm sure I'm too lowly for you to even respond to right?"

Zuko had no idea what she'd said, and he needed to cover for it, fast. "I'll ignore you if I so desire, I am the Prince of the Fire Nation after all." He scoffed.

"Banished Prince you mean." Kat snapped before she even had a chance to think about it. Oh that one's going to start a fight, she thought.

"I'm still better than you are." Zuko spat back at her.

"Oh? Why? Because your father is a power hungry monster who praises cruelty and violence? Because you happened to born to a family with money and power but devoid of morals or honor?" Kat sneered. "You and your family are the reason I don't have my parents anymore. You take lives without remorse and leave nothing but destruction and pain in your wake. I didn't really think you'd rescued me because you cared, your kind don't under what's right, only what gets you ahead. You're not better than me, you're pathetic."

She was shaking from head to toe, her hands clenched into fists so tight her nails bit into her own skin and drew blood. She turned and started to walk away.

Zuko's hands were also clenched into fists, except they were wreathed in flames. "Why you! Don't walk away from me!"

Kat didn't even turn around, but rather broke into a sprint. The slamming of her room door reverberated through the entire ship.

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