So today I realized that I have not updated in forever! So, with the impending holidays, I have decided to update with an extra special long chapter filled with all different viewpoints! Have fun reading!
I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. Only Koori, who is starting to become more of a crybaby than I ever anticipated...
Koori slammed the window to her room closed and she threw herself onto her bed. The force caused two of the windowpanes to crack. The sound woke Zhao up instantly. While she sobbed, Zhao watched intently. Something had gone wrong, horribly, utterly wrong. He stood from his hunched-over position and walked over to the dusty bed. He sat down beside his geisha. He went to put his hand on her back but he paused mere centimeters above her exposed skin when he realized that he could not touch her. His hand returned to his lap and he pushed himself further onto the bed so his back rested against the wall behind him.
"I think that I have been too soft on you," he whispered.
Koori stopped her mindless sniffling and looked at the transparent figure. She rubbed her nose with the back of her hand and dabbed at her eyes with the edges of her kimono. She looked directly into Zhao's eyes when she had cleaned herself up. Something in those transparent brown pupils had changed and it frightened her. "Master?" she whimpered.
He looked away from her and stood off of the bed. He put his hands behind his back and seemed to stand straight up, like his old Admiral self. Koori rolled herself over to watch him. He looked intimidating. He looked over himself and cringed at his peasant outfit. He pulled at his clothes until they were tight against his invisible skin and wrinkle free. Koori sat upright on the bed, intently watching him, hoping that the master she needed would reemerge. Zhao cleared his throat and then returned to his Admiral-like position. Koori's tears disappeared when his face regained the wrinkles that stress in life gave him.
"I have been too soft on you these past couple of weeks. I knew that I should have regained my firmness on you from the beginning," Zhao stated.
Koori rubbed her eyes one last time. "Then why didn't you?" she questioned. Her eyes were searching his own. She watched him kneel on the floor and cup her knee delicately. For a second, she could feel warmth from his touch, but it disappeared quickly.
"I was told to wait until you needed me. I cannot wait any longer. We need to come up with a plan."
Zhao stood quickly and motioned for Koori to follow him. He walked to the window and jumped through the glass. Koori stared behind the cracked window panes and watched him saunter toward the rising tide. She jumped out after him and ran to catch up to his invisible form. They walked across the wet sand, toward a mansion without firelight in its windows. The mansion looked eerie and familiar. Strangely, it looked like a grander version of the mansion that the concubines were occupying, but the young healer knew that it was a much more interesting building. It had to be the summer home for a very important family.
Zhao seemed to hear her thoughts. "It belongs to the royal family," he whispered. "Nobody will hear us or see us from up there."
They walked silently into the night, toward the royal family's deserted mansion. Zhao stopped when he reached the stairs. He looked up and hissed. "Why in Agni is he there?" he asked.
Koori looked up and found Zuko. He was staring intently at an old piece of pottery. He looked lost, scorned, and helpless. For a fleeting moment, Koori felt sorry for him. She took in a deep breath and remembered that he kissed her and anger refilled her heart.
"Somebody's coming," Zhao screamed. He looked to Koori frantically and pointed to a large patch of wild panda lilies growing on a hill. If Koori laid down in them, their beautiful buds were sure to hide her frail figure. She jumped into the flower patch and stopped moving. When she opened her eyes, she saw the Princess scaling the stairs. Koori stopped breathing when the Fire Princess stopped to look at the flowers. She hissed, said something to herself and then continued up the stairs. When the princess was out of earshot, Koori looked at Zhao.
"Oh yes, Master, nobody will see us up at the Royal Family's mansion."
Zhao smirked at her sarcasm and watched the prince and princess walk down the stairs and into the sandy pathways that littered the beach. Zhao stood from the flowers and Koori followed him. She sprinted up the stairs and walked through the kicked-in door. She shuddered once she saw a picture of the Fire Lord and his family.
Zhao rushed through the hallways. He seemed to know exactly where he was going. Koori followed him diligently until he stopped short and the she walked straight through him. Koori winced and shuddered as her skin passed through his translucent body. "We're here."
Koori turned to face him. "Where are we?" she asked, squinting into the darkness. Zhao seemed to smile at her inability to see what was directly in front of her.
"Why don't you use what Agni has blessed you with?"
It took Koori and moment to realize what he meant. She lit up her hand with a small fire and stared at the beautiful stone courtyard. She looked to the sides of the stone pillars and found a torch. She lit the wadded up cloth and Zhao looked as if her were about to murder her. "Are you crazy? Put it out! We don't want to be seen. Useless fire will do us no good! It will only bring somebody up here to check up on us!" Koori reacted quickly and put out the torch. Zhao calmed down, but only a little.
"Why are we here?" Koori asked hesitantly as she walked blindly toward the giant stone sculpture in the middle of the courtyard.
Zhao followed her in the darkness. He lit up the stones with the light that he gave off. Koori found herself getting closer to the cold form. She needed the light that he gave off. Zhao narrowed the gap between their faces. He breathed, but no air escaped his mouth. Koori's painted lips lingered centimeters away from his own tough lips and she felt the sudden urge to close the gap entirely. She wanted to feel his coarse fingers around her body, holding her tight. She wanted the deep, lust-filled kisses and the steamy moments of pure passion that they sometimes shared. Most of all, she wanted to feel his warm breath on her skin while she slept silently next to him. The feelings disappeared quickly when Zhao's eyes pierced her own.
"We needed a place where we could talk freely. That whorehouse," Koori flinched, "holds no friends for you. If somebody were to overhear us, it could bring you a one-way boat ride to meet Agni."
"What are we going to talk about?"
"Everything," Zhao smirked. "It's about time that I get you caught up on a couple of things."
!
Aang wandered around the streets of the Fire Nation. He had attended school, met most of the miserable Fire Nation inhabitants and thought of so many things. He saw a poster of Jeong Jeong and closed his eyes. The school uniform that he wore started to gather a rusty colored dust on the shoulder pads and he continued to walk around the pillar that held various posters. He smiled when he came across a poster of himself, but upon further inspection, he noticed that a red sticker covered his description. The symbols on the sticker angered him. "Dead," he read aloud. He looked over a few more faces and one stuck out to him. He pulled the poster off of the wall and inspected it closely. A sticker covered the description on this poster as well. "Captured," he whispered.
He stared desperately at the picture of the Fire Nation girl. He had met her a few times but barely held a conversation with her. Her name popped into her head. Koori. He folded up the paper and stuck it into his breast pocket. He would meet her again someday; he would make sure of it.
!
"I want to know why Zuko hired that man," Koori whispered. Zhao had sat down on a rock that overlooked the beach. There was a small fire burning below them. The Fire Prince, Princess, and their friends were around the fire, bickering.
Zhao closed his eyes. "I followed Zuko into the throne room. Fire Lord Ozai was told that Zuko had killed the Avatar. I can only assume that he wants to make sure that the Avatar is dead. That waterbending wench had that water from the spirit oasis, remember?"
Koori nodded and puzzle pieces in her head started to click together. "Azula's planning the whole thing. She knows that Aang is alive. She wants to make sure that it doesn't fall back on her." Koori's face paled as this information soared into her head. Zuko was trying to tie up any loose ends.
Flames roared up in front of them and Koori's eyes lit up. "The Avatar is still alive," Zhao spat out.
Koori smiled. "Then there is still hope."
"What about the day of black sun? The Fire Nation knows all about it."
Koori thought. "The palace must have a messenger hawk tower. We could send them a message," Koori whispered.
"Yes, but the hunter that Zuko hired would probably intercept any message that we would send them."
Koori frowned. "Then we will just have to send a lot of messages in hopes that one will get to them."
"And Akira?"
Koori shivered. "I do not know what to do with him. He cannot touch me while Prince Zuko is around."
"You have destroyed that, haven't you?"
Koori remembered Zuko's kiss. His warm lips had smashed against her own. She remembered the passion that had floored itself through her body and she blushed. "I have to go back to him. I must beg for his forgiveness. He is all that I have."
Zhao snorted. "I guess that I am just a piece of spoiled fish, then."
Koori rolled her eyes and pushed herself closer to Zhao. "Master, I meant that he is the only tangible person that I have left." Koori looked down to the dead fire below them. Prince Zuko and his company had disappeared. Koori sighed. There was passion in the kiss that Zuko and Koori had shared, but what she had said after the kiss and the tears that she shed left a horrifying mark on her soul. It was true, a little part of her despised the prince because of his choices. She wished that Zuko could go back to the way that he was in Ba Sing Se. What had happened to the beautiful young man who had started to know the difference between good and evil? She thought that she had started to feel something for him, but the man that he became had hurt her.
"Koori?" a small voice asked.
Koori froze at the sound of the prince's voice. She turned her head slightly to look at him. He looked miserable and confused. Koori stood and faced him fully. She felt the need to reach out and touch him. She wanted to feel somebody's warm skin against her own.
"We will continue our talk later, then," Zhao whispered.
"Prince Zuko," she whispered. Zuko could barely hear her voice and he forced a frail smile. Koori stepped closer to the prince and all thoughts of Zhao disappeared. He watched from the stone he was sitting at. He viewed Koori sprint over to Zuko and throw herself into his arms. Zhao smiled, he knew what she was doing. He had raised his slave properly. She would attach herself as much as she could to the Fire Prince because Zuko was her hope of survival in the Fire Nation.
"I'm sorry," Koori cried into Zuko's shirt. "I'm sorry."
Zuko's hands wound around her waist and he smelled her skin. Koori's tears started to seep through his silk shirt. "I'm sorry too," he whispered.
Koori pulled her face out of Zuko's chest and pulled his face down. She kissed him deeply and they stood still while electricity surged through them both.
Zhao watched with a cruel smile spread across his lips. This would be an interesting few weeks, he mused.
Koori broke the kiss and Zuko stared, confused. "I'm sorry for saying those awful things, Prince Zuko. Please forgive me."
Zuko held her away from himself at arm's length. He needed some time to think about everything that had just happened. He lit up his hand and gestured for Koori to follow him. Koori wrapped her arm around his own and he travelled the hallways expertly, searching for his old apartments. He found the door and jiggled the lock until the door screeched open. Koori let Zuko's arm go as he moved around his old room quickly. He was pulling out old clothes, blankets, pillows and anything that he could find. Koori watched him curiously.
Zuko looked up at her. "We are going to sleep here tonight, if that is okay with you."
Koori nodded vigorously and she lit a small candle that had been forgotten on the bedside table. Zuko threw sheets across the large queen-sized bed and Koori helped to make his bed. After the sheets were secured on the mattress, Zuko threw various pillows onto the crimson sheets. He climbed into the bed and Koori hesitantly followed.
The young concubine could see Zhao's hard eyes watching them. Koori glared at him and he disappeared, but he didn't go far.
Zuko pulled Koori as close to him as he could. He wanted her ebony hair in his face and to feel her cold skin against his own. Koori turned her body to face him. She kissed him lightly on his warm neck. Zuko smiled.
The Fire Prince closed his eyes and a warm, steamy breath escaped his pale lips. Koori looked up at him. "You and Mai—"
"We are back together."
Koori pulled herself away from him. "What I said…" Koori bit her lip. She was about to lie and she had never been too good at lying. "I didn't mean it. I don't hate you, Prince Zuko."
Zuko nodded. "I have a couple of questions, Koori," Zuko sighed. He was remembering her rant. The words had stained his pride. Koori looked at him; her face had turned a deadly color of white. "Concubine," he whispered. Koori dropped her head to stare at the crimson sheets below her. She shuddered and Zuko noticed. "Is that what you were?"
Koori nodded. Zuko watched her slow movements. "He made me start when I was thirteen." Her voice was barely audible, but Zuko was listening carefully. "It was only with Zhao. He kept me for himself." Koori stood from the bed and walked toward the pile of clothes, pillows and blankets that Zuko had left piled on the ground. She stared at the mess and was reminded of the Fire Lord's closet where they had made an intricate nest. "After he died and when the Water Tribe dropped me off in the Earth Kingdom, I met the slave traders." Zuko sat upright.
"You don't have to continue," he whispered. "I'm sorry for all that has happened to you."
Koori wiped away the tears that never left her eyes. "You didn't do anything. You helped me, for the most part. Until—"
"Let's not talk about that."
Koori looked at him. He had left the bed and crossed the room in a couple of quick strides. He picked Koori up easily; she was so light. He placed her onto the bed and sat beside her. His hand cupped the side of her face and he kissed her. The spark reemerged. Koori's heartbeat quickened when his hand slid up her forearm. Electricity surged through their skin. Koori broke the kiss and looked at him. She was breathless.
"Prince Zuko, I can't do this," she whimpered. She wanted to; she had never felt such a divine passion before. "You and Mai; you are a couple. It would not feel right."
Zuko moved until his body overlapped Koori's. "Mai and I aren't meant to last," he whispered. "I will have to leave her eventually."
Suddenly, Koori's brain stopped working. She opened her mouth but no words came out. She built up the courage to ask, "Why?"
Zuko put one hand behind his head to hold his head above her neck. The other hand was tracing the outline of the gold lining on Koori's silk kimono. Zuko's bad eye was facing her and she touched the scar. His eyes closed slowly. "When I was a boy, I had a dream that I would obtain the throne. This dream is not so unusual, I have had many like these," Zuko felt Koori's timid hand grasp the black locks of hair that hung loosely around his ears. "I was always sitting on the throne, staring at the flames around me. When I would look past the flames, I would never see my family, my sister's friends, or any slaves. I was always alone. When I saw you that day, as the Blue Spirit, those dreams started to contain you. You would be sitting behind the flames beside me, where my wife was supposed to be."
Koori had stopped breathing. She had had a dream similar to that a long time ago, but she had been Zuko's concubine, not his wife. She shook her head. "No, Zuko, that cannot be right. I can't be your spouse. I'm a slave. You have to marry a woman of significance." She placed her hands on both sides of his face. "You must stay with Mai. She is the one you have to marry."
Zuko kissed her. Koori opened her mouth and rubbed her tongue against his lips. She wanted him; she needed him. He opened his lips and accepted her tongue. Zuko moaned and heat pulsated through him. Koori's hands slowly found Zuko's sash and she untied it. His sleeveless silk shirt quickly slid off of his muscled back and he untied her kimono. Koori pulled off her kimono and threw it off of the bed. Zuko paused to examine the tube top that covered her breasts. He stopped and rolled off of her.
"You're right. We can't do this," he muttered. "Not here, not now."
Koori crawled over to him. Zuko could see her cleavage and he struggled to control his thoughts. She wrapped her arms around Zuko's shoulders. "Perhaps we could just sleep?"
Zuko turned his head and nodded. He pushed himself back down onto the bed and Koori wiggled her barely-clothed body around him. She nuzzled her head into the void between his arm and chest. Zuko wrapped his arm around her. He looked into the empty ceiling as Koori put out the candle that she had lit earlier. Zuko closed his eyes as he pulled a sheet over the both of them. Koori placed her hand on his chest and closed her eyes. She could smell the salt from the ocean and for a moment, she could feel the sway of the ocean, like when she was on a ship.
Koori and Zuko fell asleep peacefully as Zhao watched. Anger boiled inside of himself. He wanted to kill something. Koori was his slave, his woman. Zhao grumbled as he paced the room. As a spirit, sleep never came easy. He would sleep for minutes at a time and think that it was hours. Death would last an eternity, he thought.
Slowly, Koori moved in her sleep and Zhao's eyes averted themselves to watch her. He went to kick a nearby couch, but his foot went through the black cherry wood. He grumbled and walked to the window. He walked through it and out onto a balcony. He stared at the moon. What was her name?
"Yue," he whispered.
The moon grew bright and a light found Zhao. He watched as the woman that replaced the Moon Spirit descended upon him. Zhao stumbled backward and landed stiffly on his backside. He hissed as Yue dangled inches above the ground. Her beautiful white gown cascaded around her spiritual form with her long, white hair. Bangles from the Ocean Spirit clinked loudly as the wind moved. Zhao was in awe.
"You are not helping as we thought you would," Yue said. Her voice held no emotion and she was staring at Zhao coldly in the eyes. She hated the man before her. He had murdered the Moon Spirit and she had to give her life for the spiritual balance of the earth. "You need to come with us."
Zhao was yanked skyward with the Moon Spirit. The force of the sudden movement caused him to stop breathing, close his eyes, and become momentarily unconscious. When Zhao opened his eyes unhappy spirits were staring at him.
The Ocean Spirit was the first to speak. "You are not doing your job. I did not send you to her aid for my own amusement!"
Zhao quivered and his chains grew heavier as the spirits grew angrier. "I'm doing the best that I can to make her look sane and to keep her alive."
The Wind Spirit scoffed. "Well, you certainly weren't protecting her sanity or her body when she was attacked in the Earth Kingdom or when she was raped on her way to the Fire Nation."
Zhao winced. "She couldn't see me then. Maybe if somebody had told her that I was following her, she would have paid a little more attention."
"We are not here to play the blame game!" the Ocean Spirit screamed. His eyes softened when he found Yue's worried figure. "She needs to get out of the Fire Nation. Iroh ordered the White Lotus to convene on the outskirts of Ba Sing Se. She needs to go there. That has to be our top priority. Do you understand, Zhao?"
Zhao nodded. "How is she to get there?" he asked.
The Earth Spirit looked hesitantly to his comrades. "The inevitable will happen shortly."
With that, Zhao was thrust back to the earth. He landed in the exact same position that he left in. He grumbled something to himself and looked back through the window, where Koori was watching.
Tell me what you think with a nice review. I will be updating within the next couple of days if you do! My new goal is to finish this story by the start of next semester!
Have a great day!
