Spark [Prince Zuko - Book One]

❃Chapter Two❃

"Again." 

Prince Zuko shot two simultaneous blasts of fire toward the two guards that stood in front of him. His form was sloppy because he wasn't holding himself correctly on his feet. She knew a thing or two about fighting because she trained with a sword for the three years on this ship. She had gotten really got at it, too. The two blasts of fire sailed right over her head, not even close to the mark. She ducked as he dodged a blast from one of the guards, backflipping behind them. Iroh sighed and stood up, stepping beside her.

"No! Power in firebending comes from the breath. Not the muscles. The breath becomes energy in the body. The energy extends past your limbs and becomes fire." Iroh released a controlled plume of flame that burst in front of Zuko but did not hit him. Prince Zuko didn't even flinch as the fire nearly touched his face. The blast from the fire blew back a few wisps of Asake's dark hair. "Get it right this time."

"Enough. I've been drilling this sequence all day," Zuko said angrily. His hands clenched into fists again. He looked like a little boy who wasn't getting his way with anything. Asake coughed to cover up her laughter. "Teach me the next set. I'm more than ready."

"No, you are impatient. You have yet to master your basics. Drill it again!"

Zuko didn't say anything. He growled at the two guards before blasting one of the men backward with a quick burst of fire. He faced Iroh and Asake with anger written all over his face. The smell of singed hair floated over to Asake through the cool breeze. She glanced up at the peaceful blue sky and stifled a sigh. Prince Zuko had a habit of injuring his crew when he was angry, and that was generally all the time.

"The sages tell us that the Avatar is the last airbender. He must be over a hundred years old by now. He's had a century to master the four elements." Prince Zuko turned his glare to Asake when she rolled her eyes. He must have seen her do that. She didn't care, though. He was acting like a privileged little princeling, which he was, but that didn't mean that he had to act like he was so much better than everyone else. "I'll need more than basic firebending to defeat him. You will teach me the advanced set!"

Iroh sighed. He pressed a hand to his forehead for a split second before forcing a smile on his face. "Very well. But first I must finish my roast duck." Asake hid a giggle behind her hand as Iroh sat back down and started chowing down on his roast duck.

Zuko growled in impatience. He looked like he was about to blast Iroh's table out from under him, so Asake said, "Why don't you try practicing on me while Iroh eats his roast duck?"

"You can't firebend," Zuko said, shaking his head. Her mouth twitched, but she ignored what she really wanted to say. She wouldn't ever tell anyone about it because it was the thing she hated most about herself. "It won't work."

"Come on," Asake said, frowning. Something tugged at her heart, but she brushed it away. "I'm the co-general of this ship. I think I know how to fight. Or are you scared?"

His lips jumped into a thin smile. She knew she got him there. He was one of the most competitive people she knew. "You're on," Zuko said, stepping into his firebending stance. 

He shot a quick blast at Asake, and she jumped out of the way, feeling the heat blow past her left arm. She shivered when she flashed back to when his father burned her. Shaking her head, she quickly pulled out the sword that was situated on her hip in a sheath and grinned. This was what she was good at. She had trained day and night to get as good as people who trained their whole lives.

Asake swiped at Zuko with her sword, but he ducked out of the way before she could slice his ear off. "What are you, a coward?" she asked. 

Zuko's lip curled back into a growl. She moved forward, slicing at Zuko with her sword. Since they were too close together for him to firebend, he knocked Asake's sword out of her hand. It clattered to a stop a couple feet away from them. She gasped slightly but narrowed her eyes at him. He threw a punch at her, but she crouched, launching herself at him. The two of them went tumbling down to the deck of the ship, and she landed on top of him. She pinned him on the deck of the ship, climbing up onto his stomach and straddling him. He stared up at her, his chest heaving against her legs. There was something in his eyes that startled her. He almost looked happy.

"Good job, Miss Asake," Iroh said from the side. He had a proud look on his face.

"Thank you, Iroh," Asake said, a small grin on her face. She wasn't even out of breath from that little battle. It felt invigorating to fight someone real. She usually trained with a training dummy, but fighting with this dummy was so much better. "That was fun, Prince Zuko. Let's do it again sometime."

"You're on," he replied, a frown on his face.

 Asake stood up slowly, dusting her hands off. She bent down to pick up her sword, and suddenly she was sprawled out on the deck. Her sword lay close to her. She was lucky to not have fallen onto it. Anger bubbled in her stomach like a furnace as she stood up. She whirled around, her eyes blazing. Zuko stood behind her, a smirk on his pale face. His eyes flicked down toward her sword, but they didn't show any remorse.

"What was that for?" Asake asked, standing back up.

"You're not supposed to turn your back on someone you're fighting just in case they aren't really knocked down," Zuko said triumphantly.

"This was just practice!" Asake said, anger boiling in her stomach. She clenched her fists before she did anything that she would regret. "You shouldn't have done that. Next time, I won't go as easy on you."

"Prince Zuko, let's work on your advanced set," Iroh said before the two bickering teens would get at it again. He stepped in between them; he must have known that Asake was about to attack Prince Zuko. "Asake, you may stay and watch or you may go do something else. It is your choice."

"I think I'll go," Asake said, taking a deep breath. The air that entered her lungs only fueled the fire in her stomach, so she quickly said, "Goodbye, Iroh." 

Asake walked off without saying anything to Zuko, afraid she would say something she would regret. There was something about that boy that made her blood boil. Maybe it was his cynical ways or the way he mistreated the crew members. Actually, there were a lot of things that Zuko did that made Asake's blood boil. He got on her nerves all the time because he acted like he was the only one who had been banished. He acted like he was the only one who had been burned. He wasn't the only one who had been through that.

That was one of the differences between Asake and Zuko. Everyday, Asake would always visit the crew, not matter what she was feeling. She wanted them to feel less lonely and make the days less dreary. She started her rounds, stopping at the kitchen first. The cook, an elderly lady, gave her a warm smile. She had her graying hair tucked underneath a bright yellow scarf today. "Hello, Miss Asake."

"Hi, Miss Zi," Asake said, waving. She smiled at the older woman. Already she was feeling much calmer than when she was with Prince Zuko. "How are you doing?"

"I'm great," she said with an easy smile. "How are you doing?"

"I'm kind of tired today," Asake admitted. She sighed. "I haven't been sleeping real well lately. Maybe my body knows we are close to getting the Avatar."

"Can I give you some advice?" Zi said, and Asake nodded. Apparently every old person on this ship was a wise person. Iroh had given her advice yesterday; today it was Zi's turn. "No matter what, follow your heart. I've learned from the past that if you don't follow your heart, you are unhappy. If your heart leads you some place, follow it. If it leads you to someone, follow it. I made the mistake of not listening to my heart, and I was not happy with my life. Don't make the mistake I did, Asake."

"Okay," Asake said, frowning. She had no idea what Zi was talking about, but she wasn't going to be rude by telling her that she didn't really need the advice. She was already following her heart as best as she could. "Thank you, Zi. I'll see you later."

"Goodbye. Don't forget my advice!" Zi called out as Asake left the kitchen. 

What kind of advice was that? Asake wasn't looking for any advice, anyway. And she couldn't just use her heart when making decisions. She needed logic. That came from the brain, not the heart. After making her rounds, Asake reached toward the door to her room and was about to open the door when someone grabbed her arm. She spun around and saw Daza, one of the crew members Zuko practiced with earlier.

"You have to come with me." he said. His eyes were bright in the dim area where they were standing. They reminded her about something, but she couldn't place it. "Prince Zuko might have found something."

Asake followed his tall form to the foredeck. Prince Zuko had his good eye pressed against the telescope, a thin smile on his face. "The last airbender," he breathed out. Asake's heart sped up excitedly. This could be their chance to go home! "Quite agile for his old age. Wake my uncle! Tell him I found the Avatar . . . as well as his hiding place."