A/N:
WARNING!
THIS CHAPTER IS RATED "M"
Language and sexual situations.
Zuko leaned back against the wall when he felt the waterbender begin to twist and turn in his arms. He loosened his grip on her and watched her face scrunch up before her eyes popped open. Katara quickly closed her eyes again and rubbed them, turning, resting her back against his chest. She let out a sigh after hearing her stomach grumble. She was starving, but there was still no bowl of rice in the middle of the room.
"Katara," The sudden sound of his voice sent shudders down her spine and gave her goose bumps. She hummed as she turned to look at him. "Did you mean what you said last night?" He asked softly, gazing into her eyes, searching for any hints of a lie.
"Of course, Zuko," She paused and scanned his face, his right eye was still surrounded by a nasty looking bruise and his lip was still puffy. "I'm your enemy, you should be trying to get rid of me. You've had so many chances to do so many horrible, dishonorable things, but you haven't."
Zuko huffed and leaned down, placing his forehead on her shoulder. He tensed up and pulled her closer to him before saying, "You're not my enemy, Katara." He paused and rested his chin on her shoulder, holding her even tighter. "We have to get through this. We have to get out of here. We have to do this together." Katara leaned forward, pulling away from him. She turned and stared, stunned by the sudden amount of determination in his voice. She sighed, letting a smile form upon her lips only to let it fade as quickly as it came.
"What happens afterwards?"
He paused and looked away from her. "I'm not sure," He admitted.
"Are you going to try to take Aang to the Fire Lord? Your uncle promised to teach him fire bending." Katara watched as he leaned back, completely loosening his grip on her. He rested his head on the wall and looked up, away from her. She watched his face flow through various emotions and she wondered what was going on inside his head.
Zuko huffed and pressed his lips together. He had been so bent on capturing the Avatar to return home, to restore his honor he had lost. The honor he had lost by trying to save a bunch of men's lives? Zuko furrowed his brow and looked to the side, scowling. That's not dishonorable, trying to save multiple lives. It's not weak to not want to fight your own father in a fire duel. How is trying to save the lives of Fire Nation troops disrespectful to the Fire Lord?
Katara watched as his face went from showing an emotion of confusion, worry, surprise, confusion again, a scowl, then back to confusion. She looked at him with worry in her eye and gently placed her hand on his shoulder, giving it a small squeeze. His eyes flicked over to her and focused.
With the squeeze of her hand, the realization hit him. He didn't have to present the avatar to his father to restore his rights to the throne, he could easily join the avatar. Help him defeat Ozai, help him bring an end to the war. With Ozai out of the way and the war ended, the throne would rightfully belong to him.
He shouldn't have to fight for his fathers love, acceptance, or approval. He had spent so many years trying to earn something that should have been given to him without hesitation or second thought, and he was tired. Ozai had tricked him into thinking it was his fault for his mothers disappearance. Ozai constantly brought Zuko down, gave him the cold shoulder, belittled him. It wasn't his fault, and he wasn't weak. Zuko had been done so wrong by his own father and he was only just now realizing it.
"Zuko," Katara called softly, tilting her head to the side. She watched as his face contorted with anger, but she also picked up hints of pain.
He strangled the air, fire erupting from his hands as he struggled to speak. "I...Agni!" He slammed the side of his fists into the floor before raking his hands through his hair, pulling it as he did. He buried his face into hand and leaned forwards.
Katara bit her lip with worry before doing as her instincts told her. She quickly wrapped her arms around his torso let him lean into her. She rested her chin on his shoulder and held him tighter when she felt him shake. She wasn't sure if he was crying, or if he was having a hard time keeping his anger under control.
"I'm so tired," He struggled out in a raspy voice. "I'm so tired." Katara slammed her eyes shut, trying not to cry. She held him tighter and pressed onto him, holding him up against the wall. She knew he was speaking about a kind of exhaustion no amount of sleep could remedy and she felt terrible not knowing how to help him. The only thing she figured she could do was be there for him.
!
Katara let out a growl when she felt herself being pried away from Zuko, someone pulling her away from him by the back of her shirt. She was in no mood for this today. She opened her eyes to see Zuko glaring up at the pirate. He stood though, without even having to be told. She huffed in annoyance when the man who pried her from Zuko pushed her out of the cell and up the stairs.
Once they reached the room, he pushed her down onto the bed and in reflex, she swung her arm back, back-handing him across the cheek.
"Why you little-!" He growled, snatching her up by her wrist. She immediately regretted her actions, instantly knowing she was in trouble just by the look in the pirates face.
Not wanting to get a beating, or worse, she blurted out an apology and trembled, avoiding eye contact. He ordered her to strip down nothing. She hesitated, but obeyed. She was ordered to touch Zuko, and she did, rubbing him to his full length. The pirate sat behind Katara, snaking his arms around her waist and upwards to cup her small, undeveloped breasts in his hands. He pressed her down onto Zuko before bucking his hips into her lower back, forcing her to grind on Zuko's hips. The marauder continued to thrust up against the girl in front of him, setting a pace for her and the boy below her.
Katara could feel the pirates member hardening against her and she hissed, arching her back away from him. He growled out and crossed his right arm over her stomach to take hold of her left hip. He tightened his grip on her and pulled her backwards, close to him. He latched onto her neck with his mouth and sucked hard. She put her cheek against her shoulder and tried not to gag. It was okay when Zuko had done it, but this man left her feeling absolutely disgusting and filthy. She took in a sharp breath and glared at the wall, trying not to cry. She bit her lip and held her head down as tears began to trail down her cheeks, causing the pirate behind her to burst into a fit of laughter.
She pressed her back against him, giving her a chance to slip her arms underneath his. She pushed his arms away from her as she tried to wiggle out of his grasp. This angered him and he roughly tightened his arms around her as he slammed his hips into her lower back. This sudden jolt of rough, off rhythm movement made Zuko hit her insides in the wrong way, causing a cry of pain to escape from her lips. Of course, the pirate this cry of pain the wrong way, and repeated his previous movements once more. Katara slapped her hand over her mouth, muffling her cry as tears poured from her eyes.
Zuko had covered his face with his arms and he growled into them as the muscles in his legs and lower abdomen began to twitch. The situation wasn't mentally pleasing or comfortable, but Katara was so tight around him and the physical pleasure over-powered him in his young age with his hormones raging. He let out a low, animal like growl as his muscles contracted for the final times, spilling his seed into the waterbender's core.
Zuko heard the pirate laugh as he stood. "You know where to go." He said as he left the room, closing the door behind him. Zuko slowly removed his hands from his face and the for first time looked around the room, realizing it was empty besides him and Katara. He sighed and looked over to her. Her sobs were calming, but she was still crying. He pressed his lips together and lightly ran the back of his fingers over the length of her arm. Her hand remained clasped over her mouth and eyes slammed shut. He sat up and grabbed her shirt, balling it up in his hand, holding it out in front of her, keeping his eyes averted away from her exposed chest. She sniffled, and slowly opened her eyes. She took her shirt and carefully slipped it on.
"Let's go." Zuko could barely make out what she had said, but figured it out when she lifted herself off of him. He pulled his pants up as he stood and made his way toward the door while she put her own pair of pants back on. Zuko placed his hand on the door and turned, waiting for her. She huffed and pressed pass him, opening the door and making her way down the hall to the bathroom with him trailing not far behind.
Katara let a small smile appear on her face when she noticed the water was already running. She sat under it and scrubbed at her neck when the pirated had kissed her.
"Katara," Zuko gently grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand away from her neck, noticing her skin was already turning red with irritation from her scrubbing. She sighed and let him pull her close. She hummed as she pressed her cheek against his shoulder. Zuko wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly, giving her a bear hug. He nuzzled the crook of her neck before leaving a trail of small, light kisses up her neck before stopping, latching onto the skin just below her ear. She closed her eyes and relaxed as he gently ran his hands over her body, randomly giving small squeezes, but never anywhere too intimate. He took his lips from the skin on her neck only to plant kisses on her shoulder, to her cheek, chin, nose, forehead, temple, but never her lips.
She opened her eyes and tugged on a stray string that had frayed from the bottom hem of his sleeve. Zuko was smart, doing what he was doing. He didn't dare touch her anymore than he was told to when they were in the room with the pirates, he only ever hugged her when they were in the cell, but when they were here in the shower, surrounded by water, by her element, he did everything he could to comfort her and to make her feel wanted, needed, and even loved instead of used.
"Clever," She said aloud, tilting her head to the side when she realized what he was doing.
"Hm?" He asked, pulling away to face her. She smiled and cupped his face with her hands before pulling him down to her, kissing him fully on the lips. She wrapped her arms loosely around his neck, letting them dangle over his shoulders.
She pulled away from him and gazed into his eyes. "You're clever." She repeated before kissing him again.
This time, he pulled away to speak. "I wouldn't use you." She nodded and rested her head on his shoulder.
They were both startled by the sudden cut of the water. This time, the pirates didn't allow the water to run cold, or for hours on end before they turned it off. The door opened and a new pair of clothes were thrown into the room before the door was shut.
Katara sighed and brushed her hair out of her face, it was still long enough to be pulled up, but she didn't have anything to tie it up with. It was annoying, having it constantly fall in front of her face. Her hair was so thick that during the day, if it was hot and humid, it felt as if she was wearing a fur hat and scarf.
Zuko led the way down to the cell and glided into the room before plopping down onto the steel floor, watching as Katara came in after him with two men trailing behind her to close and lock the door. Just as the two were leaving, another came in a small of bowl of rice. He handed it two Katara through the cell bars. She took and it turned, holding it out in front of Zuko.
He shook his head and motioned for her to take it.
"No," She breathed out, extending her arm out farther towards him.
"I heard your stomach this morning, Katara, you take it."
"You need it too, Zuko." She said, shoving the bowl into his chest and dropping it. He caught it before any could fall out.
"I'm not taking all of it!" He growled, glaring at her as he scooped some rice from the bowl with his hand before holding the bowl back out to her, boldly giving her the bigger half. She huffed and rolled her eyes at him, but ate it anyways. She didn't want him doing the starving himself thing again. She had also turned away from food when she had lost her mother, but not like he had. She had focused on the other members in her tribe and made sure they always ate before she did, she often had to skip meals and sometimes went a day or two without having an actual meal, causing her to lose some weight, but she never got terribly skinny.
She sighed and sat next to him.
"Zuko," She started softly, turning to look at him. "What is your relationship with you sister like?"
Zuko sighed as he pulled his knees up to chest, hugging them close to him. "Not so great. That one night was the only time she ever showed any compassion towards me, or spoke about our mother in such a manor. After that night, my relationship with my sister and father declined dramatically."
"What do you mean?" She asked, tilting her head to the side. Zuko folded his arms over his knees and looked away from her.
"I don't know... Azula had always been favored by my father, but my mother always favored me over Azula, but once she left I didn't have anyone for a while and it just seemed like my father blamed me for my mother's disappearance, and Azula showed me up at any chance she could get. The tension between us just grew and grew. I was so alone until my uncle came back from his military leave at Ba Sing Se."
"So, once you were banished, you and her never spoke? No letters?" Zuko let out a small laugh at the thought of Azula sitting down and carefully writing him a letter.
"No," He laughed. "The only letters I ever got were from Mai." He immediately bit his lip and wondered if that was something he should have said. Technically, he was currently cheating on Mai with the waterbender next to him.
"Mai?" She asked. Zuko listened closely for any hints of anger, but she had only asked him curiously.
He pressed his lips together and tried to hold back the smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth. "Yeah," He sighed out before realizing that his and Mai's relationship had also faded. His smile and shoulders dropped once he realized this. "She was my girlfriend, but we had a falling out a while back."
"Really?" Katara asked, leaning towards him as she crossed her arms. She felt a sudden pang of anger. Why hadn't he told her about this girl?
"Yeah. We used to write each other all the time, but then the letters slowly came to a stop about a year ago." She raised her brow and leaned back against the wall. They sat in silence for a few minutes before she finally turned back to him and boldly asked,
"Have you done anything with her?" Zuko scoffed and looked over to Katara with a smirk on his face.
"No, Katara. I was banished when I was thirteen, c'mon." She sat back against the wall and wondered what his exact age was. He had been banished at the age of thirteen, but lost contact with this girl Mai about a year ago, but Katara knew he was older than fourteen, he had to be. For some reason she was too embarrassed to directly ask how old he was, so she asked a different question that would give her the answer.
"How long were you out looking for Aang before now?"
"Just about three years." So he was either fifteen or sixteen, depending on how early his birthday was in the year.
They continued to sit in silence for awhile before Katara stated that she was sorry that Zuko didn't have a great relationship with his father or sister, and that's when she began to tell him stories about her own father and brother. She told him about how Sokka would make a fool of himself by trying to train with the older men, or by dressing up in full warrior gear, paint face and all. She told him about how they'd get their father to go penguin sledding with him, and how he'd managed to once get his mother-in-law to join before he left for the war. She also told him of the trouble Sokka would get himself into.
"Two fish hooks?" Zuko asked, astonished, wondering how someone could possibly manage to get two fish hooks in their thumb at one time.
"He tried to get the first fish hook out with the second one." This sent them both in a small, short fit of laughter.
"Wow." Zuko said, shaking his head at Sokka's stupidity. In return, he then told Katara about the time Azula had once managed to get herself caught in a tree, hanging upside down by her ankle. He told her that she had been trying to show their friend Ty Lee up in acrobatics, and ran up a tree, only to lose her footing and fall between two branches. Ty Lee of course helped her out immediately after realizing the princess had gotten stuck, but Zuko and Mai had literally fallen to ground in laughter. As a result, Azula caught their clothes on fire and pushed them into a fountain as punishment for laughing at her.
Zuko didn't have as many fun or happy memories with his sibling as Katara had, but the few he had were honestly pretty funny to him when he looked back on them now. He honestly wished that things had turned out differently. He wished their mother hadn't left, and that her and their father hadn't played favorites so obviously. Azula obviously lacked the love she needed from her mother, and she suffered from it even if she would never admit it. Perhaps if Ursa had spent more time with her daughter and Ozai with his son, they would all still be in the palace as a closer, happier family. But no.
Zuko sighed and wondered what went wrong. Was it some how his fault? Had he done something? Katara could feel the sudden change of emotion and placed her hand gently on his shoulder. "Zuko," She called softly. "Are you okay?" He nodded his head, but she knew he was lying. This made her angry, she had promised him that she would listen to him, and she felt that she had built up a good bit of trust with him, so why would he lie to her so obviously? Why would he lie to her at all? Why wouldn't he speak with her? Katara sighed and looked away from him. She shouldn't be taking it so personal or seriously, but for some reason his refusal to speak with her hurt her feelings. She'd wait it out and ask again later, but for now she'd make it known she was upset.
She lay down onto her side, sure that it would be night time soon. She watched silently as he laid down in front of her, and stretched his arms out to pull her close to him. Katara shook her head and pressed her hands onto his chest, pushing him away from her. Zuko furrowed his brow and asked her 'why not'. She shook her head and closed her eyes, waiting for sleep to come over her.
!
Katara stirred and woke from her sleep, opening her eyes only to see Zuko staring at her. He used his pointer finger to tap on the floor, silently telling her to come to him. She shook her head. Zuko huffed and wrinkled his nose, tapping the floor again. Katara covered her smile with hand and shook her head again. She honestly found his actions kind of cute, and pretty adorable. He wanted her close to him, but she protested. Katara let her hand fall from her mouth as she let out a long sigh. She wanted his arms around her, she did, but something held her back. She still felt a bit resentment towards him. She just couldn't get rid of that grudge. Even though she now understood why he was so hell-bent on catching the avatar, she still wished he hadn't gone after them the way he did. 'But what other way could have he of done it?' She asked herself in his defense. He had honestly thought that he had lost his honor when his father banished him. He honestly thought that bringing the avatar to his father would be the only way he could get it back. Zuko hadn't realized that he hadn't lost an ounce of honor, or that he didn't have to bring the avatar to his father to regain his place on the throne.
Now, instead of feeling angry towards Zuko, she felt angry towards herself. She shouldn't be living in the past, and she certainly shouldn't be using it against him. She needed him to be able to get out of this horrible situation they were in, and she wanted him with her afterwards. She let out a small sigh and admitted to herself that she liked him. She cared for him, and she only felt comfortable or safe when he had his arms around her.
She figured, if she went to Zuko now, it'd start a habit and she'd continue to go to him if he was around and they were together. But, if she stayed still, away from him, something told her that she wouldn't be able to fall into him as she had done before. So, this was it, she figured. Either admit and commit to her feelings towards him, or ignore them and keep them to herself the best she could. She bit her lip and looked at him. He was still looking at her, watching her. Again, he tapped the floor in front of him. She smiled and wiggled over towards him, snuggling against his chest.
"Sorry," She breathed out before planting a small kiss on the corner of his mouth. He smiled and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer to him. Her smile stayed as she allowed herself to fall asleep, wrapped in his arms.
Sokka shook from his sleep and sat up, rubbing his eyes. He was immediately confused at the site of a vast ocean before him. He stood and turned, noticing a silhouetted figure standing at the shore line. He took a couple steps forwards before realizing this person was female, with long, brown hair and a blue dress.
"Katara!" He shouted, now running towards her. "Katara!" He repeated, reaching out to her. Just as his hand fell onto her shoulder, she disintegrated into the sand. Sokka gasped and looked down, noticing a small, round compass half way buried into the sand. He picked it up and saw it pointing North, as all compasses do, but something else caught his eye. He tilted the compass in his hand and noticed a refection in the glass. He looked up and saw the large, full moon the night sky. He stood and stared for what seemed to years before he head a voice call out his name.
"Sokka!" It twisted into a mixture of familiar voices before finally Sokka matched it to it's owners face. "Sokka!" Aang called out, trying to shake him from his sleep.
"Huh? What, Aang? What's wrong?" Sokka asked, shielding his eyes from the bright sun light.
"You were yelling for Katara in your sleep. Were you dreaming about her?"
"Yeah..I think so," He started slowly, looking down at a small rock he had been squeezing. He must have picked up while he sleeping. "Aang, you're gunna think I'm crazy, but," He paused, looking up at the young avatar sitting beside him. "I think we should start heading towards the North Pole." Aang furrowed his brow and tilted his head.
"What?" He breathed out, bewildered at what Sokka was saying. "Shouldn't we stay here? Why do you suddenly think we should go to the North Pole? Was it your dream? Do you think Katara is there?"
"Slow down, Aang." Sokka said, sitting up. "Something is just telling me that we should start making our way there."
"Was it your dream?" Aang repeated.
"In my dream, I was at a beach and I think I saw Katara, I'm not sure. But just as a went to grab her, she disappeared. There was a compass and it.." He trailed off, looking to the smooth stone in his hand.
"Pointed North." Aang finished Sokka's sentence for him, nodding as he leaned back a bit, wondering if they should take the hint or stay put. He sighed and looked over his shoulder, hearing Iroh's foots steps walking towards them. "What do you think we should do, Iroh?" He asked, looking up at the retired General.
"We haven't gotten any leads here, and we'll only cause trouble by trying to stop every cargo boat that passes through. I think we should start heading towards the North Pole, if you're comfortable with it." He said, extending his hand out into the direction of the Northern Water Tribe. "In all honestly, I feel it, too. The sudden restlessness pulling at you."
"Yeah!" Sokka exclaimed, standing up. "That's exactly it!" Aang pouted and stood, using his airbending to lift him up.
"Wait, how come you two are getting all these spiritual feelings?" He asked, holding his arms out at his sides. "I'm the avatar! I should be getting these messages!" He jabbed himself in the chest with his thumb. Iroh let out a laugh and patted Aang on his shoulder, letting him know that it was something he shouldn't worry about. Sokka rolled up his sleeping back and tossed it up into Appa's saddle before gathering up the rest of his belongings. Aang and Iroh shortly followed suit before Aang stopped suddenly and looked over his shoulder to the river. "Do you guys think we should check up the river before we go?" He asked, turning to look in their direction. Sokka had already began making his way into Appa's saddle.
"The sooner we get to the North Pole, the sooner we figure out if my dream meant anything." Sokka pointed out, taking the reins into his hands. Aang hesitated, but followed Iroh into the sky bison's saddle.
"Actually," Aang started, "We should head up the river anyways. We're going to have to fly over some land and a lot of water to get to the North Pole, there should be a small village at the split in the river. Maybe we'll see the stolen cargo boat, we'll take turns keeping watch." Iroh and Sokka nodded and agreed that Sokka would take the first watch, Iroh the second, and Aang the last. The village wasn't too far, and they were sure that they'd be there in the morning.
A/N: Please leave a review and tell me what you think! Next chapter should be easier to write, and longer than this one :]