Midsummer Madness Chapter 5: The Ozai Supporters, an avatar: last airbender fanfic

Title: Midsummer Madness

Author: BurningIce

Rating: R

Summary: Katara learns that there are both advantages and drawbacks to being a female water bending master, and pays back a favor to an old friend.

Pairing: Zutara

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Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar. If I did it would have been considerably less awesome, but Katara and Zuko would have totally gotten together, so I guess it's a toss up.

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Chapter 5

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Katara opened her saddlebags, hoping against hope that everything she owned was not completely soaked through. Her emu horse turned and nuzzled her, begging for a treat, and she dug out a carrot and fed it to her. Zuko's stallion took a step forward and butted its wet head against her back, begging as well. Katara's mare fluffed out its wings and bit him before Katara could give him a treat too.

Katara leaned against her mare, the ride had jogged her muscles, and her uterus was sore. She could feel her cycle coming, and it was making her testy. Zuko's Emu horse nuzzled up to her again, and she affectionately pet its nose.

"Katara, stop playing with him," Zuko pulled on the reigns, and continued to unpack his bags, "and see if you can get yours to stop biting everything that gets in range!"

"You know, YOU wanted to take the Emu Horses." Katara snapped, irritated.

Zuko leaned the saddle against the cave wall, "I didn't WANT to take the Emu Horses, they were the fastest thing that the Earth King had in this storm! Why are you so cranky?!"

"I'm not cranky!!" Katara yelled, and her Emu Horse spooked, tossing it's head and backing away from her.

"Stop yelling! You're spooking you're mare!"

Katara dropped her things next to her wet sleeping bag, "Just start a fire, will you?! I'm freezing!!"

Zuko glared at her, "Fine!"

Katara sulked by the fire for about a quarter hour, before her conscience kicked in, and she started feeling bad about snapping at the Fire Lord. She had to admit that she was having an exciting time with him, she missed being able to travel across the world, and the wanderlust had been setting in.

"This is for you." Zuko held out a cup of tea, Katara, lost in thought hadn't noticed him brew it.

Katara smiled, trying to communicate with her expression that she was sorry and she wasn't angry anymore, "What? Oh . . . thanks Zuko."

He looked surprised, as though he had expected her to reject his peace offering.

Katara widened her smile, and clasped her hands around his and the mug, waiting for him to release it.

He didn't.

"I think it's just what I need, that was so sweet of you."

"Oh . . ." Zuko let go, pulling his hands back, and looked off to the side, suddenly becoming very interested in the cave wall to her right.

Katara wondered briefly how many times he had tried to give Mai something and been rejected. Then she dismissed it and curled up around the warm cup, carefully pressing it into her lower stomach.

"Are you okay?" Zuko sipped his tea, looking concerned.

"I . . ." Katara realized she might as well come clean, she would be traveling with him for a while, "I have cramps . . ."

"Oh . . ." Zuko blushed and his tea sloshed out of his cup and he quickly put it down, "Can't you . . . you know . . . water bend them away?"

"No." Katara sighed, blushing as well, "No, water bending doesn't work on things like this because it's I don't know, natural, how were born, like, same reasons I can't water bend away Toph's blindness."

Zuko got onto his knees and crawled over, "Lay back." He leaned over her.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Katara put her hands on his chest, "What? No! What are you going to do? You can't just say something like that and not give me an explanation!"

Zuko reached up and clasped her wrists, removing her hands from him, "I saw Azula do this for Ty Lee once, just trust me?"

Katara sighed, annoyed that he had played the trust card, but lay back, scowling at the ceiling.

Zuko leaned over her and took a few deep breaths, then pressed the heel of his hands into her lower abdomen, fire bending so they heated up.

"ow Ow OW . . ." Katara flinched, "Not helping . . . Not Helpi- Oh my goddess!!"

Zuko had shifted, and all of a sudden the pain relaxed away.

"Better?" Zuko sat back on his heels, looking proud of himself, the smallest smile tugging at his mouth.

Katara propped herself up on her elbows, "I didn't say you could stop!"

Zuko raised his eyebrow and then bent back over her, returning to work.

…

"You're here!! You're HERE!!" Ty Lee bounced up and down and waved, the rain smearing her makeup.

Sokka and Suki rushed off the boat, their coats over their head, and made for the umbrellas held by the Kyoshi.

"Finally!!" Suki hugged her Warrior friends.

"We better hug too." Ty Lee said, throwing her arms around Sokka, who tried to shy away.

After a few short greetings, everyone rushed for the shelter of the houses, and before long, Sokka found himself in the dojo with the other Warriors, sitting on Suki's bed, watching her unpacking her belongings.

"You're really leaving us?!" One of them was asking, "We had hoped that you would stay! You're our leader."

"I'm only going to the south pole for a few months," Suki smiled, "After that, we'll see, me and Sokka are playing it by ear, He has an obligation to his tribe to be their chief, and I have an obligation to the Kyoshi."

Ty Lee put her arms around two of the girls, and smiled, "How will we ever fill the void left by our leader?" She sighed, "I know I'll need a lot of . . . comforting." She flirted, and the two girls giggled, one of them pawing at the acrobat's chest.

"Later, Ty!"

Suki straightened, "When the weather clears a bit, we'll have a few tournaments, and I'll talk with each of you, and decide who would be the best to take over my position while I am gone."

Sokka raised one of his eyebrows, "Well, You all seem good at holding positions." He joked, laughing, while a few of the Kyoshi Warriors laughed, but most rolled their eyes.

"Sokka, why don't you go get the rest of our luggage?" Suki asked, looking a little embarrassed.

Sokka muttered something about girls having no sense of humor, but complied to her request, trotting out of the room.

…

Zuko lay next to Katara, both of them on their backs, staring up at the ceiling. Zuko had his brow furrowed, deep in thought.

"Okay, Azula, Haru, Zhao, and Long Feng.

"Ugh," Katara made a face, "I would kill Zhao, cook Long Feng, marry Haru, and do Azula."

"Really?" Zuko looked at her like she was crazy.

"I don't have to explain myself," Katara adopted her most aloof tone.

"You only say that because you have never seen the men coming out of Azula's room, she breaks them."

After a few moments of silence, Zuko reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a bracelet, it was gold and studded with red jewels. "I have to apologize to Mai, I got her this in Ba Sing Se, do you think she'll like it? Do you think she'll forgive me?"

Reaching up, Katara held it at a better angle, "It's beautiful, I'm sure she'll love it, In fact, I bet she's already forgiven you and is waiting eagerly for you to return home." Katara lied, a pang of jealousy running through her chest.

Zuko smiled, reassured.

Katara looked over to where the two emu horses were grooming each other lovingly and propped herself up on one of her elbows.

"Did you mean what you said?"

"You'll have to be more specific." Zuko put the bracelet back in his pocket and looked over at her, and she couldn't help but admire his gold eyes, tinted orange in the firelight.

"Yesterday, when you said that nobody likes to look at your face."

Zuko unconsciously brushed his hair over his scar, "Yes."

Katara reached out and deliberately pushed it back, out of his face, then ran the back of her fingers across his rough cheek.

"Well, for the record, I like looking at your face."

Zuko froze like a deer in the headlights, his whole body going tense, and then he stood up, retreating to the other side of the hearth, "I . . . I'm tired . . . we should get to sleep."

Katara nodded and wrapped herself in her sleeping bag, feeling a little hurt.

…

Zuko woke up at sunrise as usual. He sat up and was surprised to see the water bender's bedroll empty, usually she was impossible to wake before seven.

He stretched, his chest twinging sharply in protest, and he rubbed the complaining muscles, then washed his face, splashing water from his water skin on his face, and drying it with his sleeve.

Katara walked in as he had started to saddle his emu horse, washed and dressed, her eyes had dark circles under them and she looked as grumpy as ever, and he quickly looked at the ground, not wanting to say or do anything to incur her wrath.

She had not slept well, her cycle paining her terribly, but she had not had the courage to wake up Zuko and ask him for help again. When five rolled around and the false dawn lit the overcast sky, she gave up, found her towel and her soaps and walked to a nearby spring, and washed her hair, and then relaxed in the cool water. As she washed, she found her bleeding had started, and she groaned inwardly, searching for the necessary cloths in her pack, before redressing, and heading back to the cave.

The ride passed slowly, the rain starting and stopping as they rode, getting steadily worse as the day wore on. They had played 'Fuck, Kill, Marry, Eat' until they had run out of mutual acquaintances, and then started singing songs to pass the time. Katara was surprised to find out that Zuko actually had a very beautiful singing voice once she had coaxed him into singing a song.

She spent the next few hours teaching him the words and melodies to her favorite songs, and then asking him to sing them for her. He had been bashful at first, but seemed to enjoy the attention, and after a protest, that Katara suspected was mostly for show, would happily launch into the song. Katara was starting to suspect that he showed affection by doing favors and giving gifts more than actually using words or motions, so she kept thinking of new things for him to do to keep them amused.

"Do you know the one called 'The Mystic's Dream'? I want to hear that one."

The Fire Lord gone bard nodded and they started singing, actually getting into a contest with her over who could sing the lyrics the loudest. It was a draw, they had both done their fair share of yelling in their lives.

Zuko in turn taught her his favorite lullabies growing up, two ballads about fire nation soldier falling in love with a princess and then dying in battle, and (after some more coaxing) one rather raunchy fire nation drinking song about a prostitute, a priest, and a ginger root.

The sun started setting, though it was impossible to tell through the cloud cover, and they had crossed over into one of the burned out regions of the kingdom, and Katara instantly got a bad feeling in her stomach that had nothing to do with her moon time. She decided to voice her opinion, loudly.

"Zuko," She reached across the gap between their mount and tugged on his sleeve, "I have a bad feeling, were in danger."

"You do? You sure its not just-" He got cut off as an arrow flew through the air and lodged itself in the throat of his emu horse, and it fell to it's knees taking Zuko with it, gurgling grotesquely as it died.

Katara stifled a scream behind her hand as another arrow flew through the air where Zuko's head had been a moment before. Then the reality set in, they were under attack, and her instincts took over, she jumped off her emu horse, and rushed over to haul Zuko out from under the dead weight of his own Emu stallion.

"Fuck!" She heard him swear under his breath as she helped him wrench his leg free and another two arrows buried themselves in the ground inches from vital body parts.

As soon as he was on his feet Zuko scanned the area and sent a fireball in the direction that the arrows were coming from. Two Fire Kingdom men materialized from the rocks, dropping their bows, one drew his sword, and the other deflected Zuko's fireball and shot one of his own back. They were dressed scruffily with barely any armor, their hair pulled back into ponytails. They both however, had blue war paint smeared down their face in the shape of a lightening bolt.

"Ozai supporters!" Zuko groweled.

Zuko drew his swords, separated them, and charged. Katara uncorked her skin and bent it out, or tried to, the water poured from her skin onto the ground dripping through her fingers. Katara panicked, trying to bend it again, but it felt as though the moon spirit was dead, the water was unresponsive to her will.

Suddenly the swordsman was right in front of her and she threw herself to the side, losing a few strands of hair, but thankfully no limbs as he slashed. She scrambled up to her feet, getting into stance, and glanced over at Zuko, who was bending hard, but was out of practice, and his face was contorted in pain.

"What's wrong Katara?!" He yelled, as he countered a fire whip "Bring the rain!!"

"I . . ." Katara grabbed a charred stick up off the ground and barely managed to parry with it, "I can't!! It's not working!"

The swordsman lunged at her again, and Katara sidestepped, and swung her wood like a bat, thanking the spirits that she and Suki had done some fighting practice together. It caught him right across the face, and he staggered, clutching his temple. Katara grimaced, she had been aiming for his nose.

Over the swordsman's shoulder she saw Zuko take a hard blow to his chest and a scream tore from his throat, and he doubled over onto all fours, and the bender kicked him hard in the ribs, and he collapsed onto his side, where he took two more kicks.

"Drop the Fucking stick and get down, or I'll Fucking kill him!!" The bender yelled at her, a fireball forming in his hand.

Zuko looked up at her and spat out a mouthful of blood, "No! Katara Run!"

The bender kicked him again and he grunted, but kept his eyes locked on her.

"Last chance peasant girl!!" the bender yelled, drawing his arm back to strike.

Katara felt the wood slip from her fingers, and she dropped to her knees, holding out her hands to be tied up. The Swordsman seemed to have found his balance again, though there was blood dripping from his forehead, and grabbed her wrists, tying them together as the bender did the same to Zuko.

"Why didn't you run?!" Zuko hissed, fresh blood still dripping from his mouth, as he stumbled forward, his arms chained together, "Why didn't you BEND?!"

Katara felt tears welling up in her eyes, "I can't!! Its not working, I can't bend!!"

Zuko's eyes widened, but he didn't say anything else.

…

Mai had taken to sitting listlessly by the window and gazing out at the fire nation landscape. She was feeling awfully bored, and she was still mad at Zuko for running off to the Earth Kingdom and leaving her all alone. From where she sat, she could see the storm clouds beginning to drizzle again, and she was pleased that soon everyone in the Fire Nation would be as wet and miserable as she felt inside without her boyfriend.

"My Lady, wont you please eat some lunch?" her attendant asked, proffering a plate, "I asked the chef to fix your favorite, please, your mother will be cross with me if she comes back and sees that you have been wasting away."

"I'm fine." Mai said, "I'm not hungry." Her stomach growled loudly.

"Please my lady?" the older woman had taken to begging her the previous night, "Please? You'll get us all in trouble!"

Mai stood up and stalked out of the room, "I'm going to go sit in the garden."

"No!! No My lady!! You'll catch a cold!! There is a storm rolling in!!"

Mai sighed, torturing servants wasn't as any fun without Zuko around. It was barely fun when he was there. She crossed her arms, her anger still simmering.

"Enough is enough." She turned to her attendant, "Send word to the harbor master that The Fire Lord's girlfriend is taking the next airship to Ba Sing Se. I am bored here."

"But my-" Her attendant started.

"I don't care if there is a storm and it's dangerous, I don't care!!" Mai's voice cracked slightly.

"It's not just you though lady!" Her attendant fussed, "You'll be putting the fire benders, the Capitan, and the crew in danger as well."

"Tell them anyone who flies it will be promoted."

"Do you . . . do you have that authority?!"

Mai sat back down on her window seat and refused to respond. Her attendant, quite the miracle worker, somehow managed to convince a crew to fly in the storm, and in a matter of hours the noblewoman was a few hundred feet in the air, heading east for Ba Sing Se.

…

After a short walk, and considerable yanking around, Katara and Zuko found themselves chained back to back, their hands cuffed together. Zuko kept shifting back and forth, trying to wiggle the chains loose.

The two guerillas had brought them to another cave, smaller than the previous, and lit a fire and were busily munching on rice and meat, laughing about something or other.

Zuko had been gagged with a rag drenched in alcohol so he would not get any ideas about using his fire breath, and Katara was thinking hard, trying to come up with a plan. She missed Sokka more than ever.

"Zuko," She whispered, "can you hear me?"

He nodded.

"Are your ribs broken?"

He shook his head.

"You have any good ideas to get out of here?"

He shook his head.

"Okay, just try to stay calm . . ."

He nodded.

She leaned her head back, resting it on his shoulder, her mind racing. Then she had an idea.

She turned her head and hissed, "Zuko! Strain your head back, I might be able to reach your gag with my mouth."

He slumped down in the chains, then leaned his head back. Katara dug her heels into the ground and stretched, finally managing to snag the cloth in her mouth. She tugged and it rotated, and she pulled until she could get her mouth on the knot. She heard Zuko gag as she pulled on it, but ignored him, trying to tug the knot loose with her teeth and tongue. Her neck screamed in protest, all her muscles aching, but after a few moments, the knot gave, and the rag loosened. Katara turned back to face towards the fire, rotating her head as she heard Zuko wiggle a bit, and spit out the rag.

"Oi, looks like the little girl is starting to get fidgety." The swordsman said to his companion, laughing, "You better get used to being a prisoner, you're goin' to be one for a while."

His bender partner laughed, taking a swig of the alcohol they had saturated Zuko's gag with. "Why don't you teach her a lesson or two, Jheb?"

"Yes, I still need to pay you back for giving me a black eye!" He knelt down in front of her and grinned.

Katara spat in his face.

He wiped it away with the back of his hand, "Kittens got claws." He informed his friend.

"She has got teeth too, so don't stick anything in her mouth." Said the bender, pointing to one of his now bandaged arms where Katara had bit him as they were being shackled.

Realization of what kind of trouble dawned in Katara's mind, and apparently, in Zuko's too, He surged to his feet, somehow, dragging her with him, and whirled.

"Don't you fucking touch her you lowlifes!!" he inhaled, ready to blast a lungful of fire directly into Jheb's face, but the swordsman punched him hard before he could finish, knocking him off his feet.

Katara was yanked backwards and pulled down to the floor by a hundred and seventy pounds of stunned fire bender. Zuko grunted as she landed on top of him, sandwiching him between her and the floor.

Jheb dropped to his knees and dodged a kick to his head. He caught both Katara's legs and wrenched them apart.

"FUCKING KEEP YOUR SLIMY HANDS OFF HER!!" Zuko breathed a mouthful of fire out, but it just harmlessly hit the wall, he couldn't get a good enough lungful of air with the chains, the chest wound, and the terrified, struggling water bender on top of him, "I'LL BURN YOU TO DUST IF YOU SO MUCH AS-"

Jheb leaned all his weight onto Katara and started kissing her neck. The extra weight on the Fire Lord made him dissolve into coughs. Katara hissed, his stubbly beard scratching her neck unpleasantly. She groped with her hands and found Zuko's, and laced her finger's with his, squeezing hard in terror.

"You're not even going to unchain her?" The bender looked amused, still nursing his bottle.

"I always wanted to be in a threesome." Jheb joked, rocking his hips into Katara's, making sure she was painfully aware of his erection, and making sure that each thrust slammed Zuko hard into the ground.

Zuko growled loudly, but gave Katara's hand a squeeze. Jheb had started groping around under her top for the waistband of her pants, and Katara took the opportunity to knee him hard in the stomach. He grunted, but managed to yank the cloth off, and tossed it to the side, then went to work on her bindings.

"Ugh, she's got her cycle." Jheb said, throwing the bindings back onto her lap, "I don't know if I am THAT horny."

The bender laughed from across the room as though it was the funniest thing ever, flopping onto his back.

"Well then slut," He leaned in close, leering at her, nose to nose, "Maybe we'll continue this-"

Katara didn't hear him, her mind flicked back to something Suki had said to her, months before.

"The Kyoshi Warriors always fight unarmed." She had said, as Sokka offered her a sword to take into battle, "A man will always underestimate an unarmed woman, and we use that to our advantage."

"But they're probably stronger than you, how do you get around that?" Katara had asked.

"Oh, come with me, I'll teach you some moves."

Aiming carefully, she head butted his nose, the bone snapped, and then rammed upwards into his brain.

Jheb collapsed on top of her, blood oozing from his noze. She could hear Zuko struggling to breathe underneath her, and tried to roll the swordsman off her.

"Oi, Jheb! You can't pass out yet! We have to wait up for the messenger hawk to return with instructions." His partner yelled, standing up and walking over.

Katara tripled her efforts, and somehow managed to roll them both onto their side. Zuko immediately breathed a blast of fire at the bender, who disbursed it, but forgot he had a bottle in his hand, which burst into flames.

The Bender shrieked and dropped to the floor, rolling to put the fire out. While he was distracted, the two prisoners struggled to their feet.

"You fucking spoiled brat!!" The Bender yelled, still drunk, smoldering, and carrying the shattered end of his bottle. He charged at them, and Katara leaned forward hard, and Zuko used the momentum to kick the man hard in the chin. He went up and back, then landed on his head with a sickening thunk on the rock floor.

Katara felt the tears well up in her eyes, her body coming off it's adrenaline rush, she felt humiliated, covered with blood (Both her's and Jheb's) and half naked, still chained to the Fire Lord. Zuko must have felt her torso start to shake because he laced one hand into hers and squeezed.

"We have to find the key to the chain before any more men show up." He tried to sound matter of fact, but his voice broke as he talked, "I think its in the bender's front pocket. Kneel down."

Katara complied, and let him feel around for it, she closed her eyes, counting to ten, trying to compose herself, then felt Zuko move his hand up to the lock, dragging her's with it, and after a moment, the chain's loosened and fell away. Zuko twisted and pivoted, and Katara felt the cuffs twist, and she realized he was facing her back, and flipping through the key ring.

Once her hands were free, Katara made a dash for her cloths and bindings cleaning herself up as best she could before putting herself back together.

Zuko was standing at the mouth of the cave, keeping watch, and Katara followed him out of the cave.

"We should find your Emu Horse, I doubt it's gone far."

Katara nodded.

The walk was short back to the path, and Katara's mare had not, in fact, gone anywhere, it was laying down, curling it's neck across the carcass of Zuko's lowing mournfully.

"Maybe you should have been nicer to him while he lived." Zuko informed her, taking the reigns and pulling her up. In a few minutes, he and Katara had transferred his things to her saddlebags, and mounted up.

Katara wrapped her arm's around the fire lord's torso, not feeling up to arguing that it was her mare, so she should be the one steering.

"She can't carry both of us far, so let's try to get as much distance between us and the guerrillas."

"Zuko?"

"Mhm?"

"Why didn't we take a company of guards if there are Azula supporters after you?"

Zuko sounded sheepish, "I figured with a water bender strong enough to take down Azula herself, we wouldn't need any bodyguards. How did you lose your bending?!"

Katara frowned, "I'm not sure, but I think I might know some people who might. We're making a quick detour, head for the swamp land, South of Omashu."

…

Alright, hope you enjoyed it!

Anyone else think it's weird that Suki would show up at the battle of the century without a weapon? Talk about underdressed.

Anyways, R&R, questions, comment's suggestions.