Well, hello, again! I'm sorry that in my last story I didn't give you a detailed enough warning, but I'll be sure to make this one more sufficient. Any who, yes, this is another rape, but most definitely not as intense, I'll assure you. It's an alternate universe, but it's not really that bad. We'll just say it takes place during the first season, with just a few tweaks. Zuko has his long hair, like when he's hiding with h Iroh in Ba Sing Se, because let's face it, he's just much sexier that way. He's also nineteen, and Katara is eighteen. Also, thanks for all the nice comments on You're Mine. I think this story will be cut into two parts. I've had this half just sitting on my desktop for a few months, and I feel that if I put it up, I may be motivated to finish it. Any who, enjoy!

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

The steady, tone deaf drops of water that where free falling from some unknown pipe on the unfamiliar ship were going to drive Katara mad. She cringed with every plunk and splash that joined in the symphony of noises that would surely make the girl's ears bleed if she were to remain in that dank cell for any longer than ten more minutes. But alas, the ten minutes ended, and she remained alive and healthy with no signs of blood pouring from any of her orifices. It seemed the more she thought about it, the more painful the noises were, but suddenly, in danced a new instrument: the pounding of heavy boots against metal.

Katara raised her head, followed by her torso, until she was standing shakily. Her eyes narrowed into slits as the man came into view. Of course, she couldn't trust anyone on the ship, seeing as they had all, in some way, aided in her abduction, so who could blame her for wanting to lash out at the first moving thing she laid her eyes on? Now, the water bender didn't have much of an internal clock, but she had a feeling that she couldn't have been on the ship for more than a few hours, at least not counting the time she'd spent conscious. The last thing she remembered was falling asleep at camp with the rest of the gaang, then being ambushed by Zuko and his crew. You'd think after so many attempts, they'd simply fail again, but it's kind of hard to water bend when you lack water. They'd decided that night it'd be best to simply set up camp in a place more hidden, rather than by the river. That'd be the last time they'd ever try that again. She'd known they'd lose, but had used her last bit of water in her pouch to fend of Zuko's men the best she could so Aang could get away. Apparently it had worked.

Even when she'd discovered what had happened, Katara had been so absolutely furious that she'd gone crazy punching the metal bars and walls that she hadn't bothered to check for any wounds. Now that she took the moment to stand up, she realized that her hands were bleeding from the beating she'd given them, and her left leg had a large bruise covering her shin a long with a few minor cuts and scrapes. It seemed that the sudden dawning that she'd been hurt during the surprise attack had renewed her rage, because the water bender attempted to charge the guard through the bars, which only proved to inflict more pain upon her wounds than scare off the man before her. He didn't seem familiar, but then again, the armor made every man look the same.

"Are you finished?" he grunted, standing impatiently just outside of her grasp as her arms flailed violently through the bars. She wanted so badly to rip that damn helmet off of his skull and beat him repeatedly over the head with it, but instead, her body would only allow her to collapse where she stood and glare out of the cell. The smirk on his face made her blood boil, but what was she expected to do about it? Any way, he wasn't the one she wanted revenge on.

"Good."

The man opened the door to the cell, and Katara attempted to fling herself onto him, which only earned her a sharp kick in the gut. She keeled over in pain, moaning as her arms wrapped themselves tightly around her stomach as the identity-less man knelt down and used the chain in his hand to individually handcuff each of her wrists onto the silver line. She felt like a dog as a brisk tug yanked her onto her feet, forcing her forward. The pain in her stomach began to slowly ooze away as her eyes scanned every inch of the boat that they could before her tour ended in front of a large pair of double doors that had handles in the shape of the fire nation emblem. Who in the world could be behind that door?

Not surprisingly, after the guard knocked three times, the door flung open to reveal Zuko, the Prince of Evil. Katara felt pathetic as he took the chain from the guard, and dismissed him, leaving the two alone in front of his room. She wanted to say something. Something that was so well put, that he'd either die right there on the spot, or see the error of his ways and join the Gaang to help take down his father. However, she simply remained quite, her eyes full of malice as the boy remained speechless as well. He wrapped the chain around his fingers a few times to get a good grip, and then gave it a few good tugs, urging the girl into his room. Katara's feet shuffled slowly onto the thickly carpeted floor of Zuko's room. She heard the door close behind her, but kept her eyes focused only straight ahead. The prince took a few steps towards the girl, but froze as he heard her spit out three words through her gritted teeth.

"I hate you."

"And why is that?" he smiled disgustingly as their eyes locked. He moved his hand outward, caressing her cheek softly with the back of his hand. Of course, that action was most definitely not tolerable. Her grip tightened on the chain around her wrists, and her body spun violently, ripping it from his grasps. Her leg kicked out and hit Zuok right in the gut which sent him flying back into one of the bed posts that were built into the ceiling to prevent any sliding on the bumpy ocean. He groaned as he took a step away from the wood and cracked his back, using his right arm to reach back and rub the point of impact. His eyes shot open, and landed not so kindly on Katara who was crawling towards the bathroom. The chain was dragging behind her, and Zuko quickly dashed forward and slammed his foot down on the end of it, pulling Katara to a halt. Her head whipped around, and she knew that had been a bad decision. Zuko bent down and picked up the chain, his hands firm on the rings of metal as he slowly dragged his prey in like a fisherman reeling in his line. The girl got to her feet and attempted to dig her heels into the ground to prevent the inevitable, but it was useless. Her eyes went wide when she was in arms reach of her captor.

Zuko's left arm lashed out, grasping the girl's upper arm violently. She flinched and choked out a pained, undefinable noise. Her head turned away from him, but his right arm dropped the end up the chain, and forced her face towards him. Before her eye lids opened, she could feel the heat of his eyes burning her face into an unrecognizable state. Finally, after his grasp on her arm tightened forcefully, her eyes opened. They were damp, and looked as though they were made of liquid that was going to pour down her cheeks, rendering her sightless. They caused Zuko to hesitate ever so slightly, but hadn't hit home hard enough to prevent him from changing his mind about what he was going to undoubtably be doing.

"Now, was that really necessary? You and I both know that there's no way out of this. Even if you did manage to get past me, do you really think you could take down every man on this ship, even with your water bending skills?" He was not finished, but he paused to smirk down at her as Katara's head bowed in defeat. It was all true. "Now, why don't you just tell me all those plans that you have for the Avatar, and all of this can be put behind us." His smile quickly vanished as he watched the girl's head swing back and forth in disobedience. Was she really going to play that game? "Look here. You can either save yourself a lot of pain, and just tell me where the Avatar is heading and why, or I can force the information out of you."

"Nothing you can do to me will ever get me to spill. I'm one person, but Aang is going to save millions," she spat. He knew, though, that however brave her cause was, she wouldn't be able to remain quiet forever. Zuko sighed and shook his head lightly from side to side. It appeared they were going to have to do things the hard way. The prince shuffled his feet backwards, dragging his prey with him towards the bed. In one swift motion, he grasped Katara's free arm and tossed her rag doll body onto the bed. She shuffled backwards, huddling by the center of the head board.

"You're a pretty girl, Katara. I think we both know that. I've always found you quite attractive, and it's really a shame that we're batting on different teams," Zuko stated as he took a seat on the edge of the bed. His arm reached out and with two fingers, he made his hand walk up her leg, starting at her ankle and stopping at her knee at which pointed she swatted it away. His eyes jumped up and caught hers. Smiling, his rejected hand snatched up the chain, and tugged Katara forward until their faces were mere inches apart. "If you're not going to talk, we might as well have a little fun."

I hope you like it so far. It's going to be a bit more gentle than the last, seeing as some people didn't like it as brutal. Let me know what you like best, so I know what kind of story I should make my next one! Hopefully I'll be able to get the second half of this out soon!