Heart of Fire

Book One: Chapter Seven

I awoke to Zuko lying next to me in his bed. I turned my head slowly, my neck feeling stiff. How long had I been asleep?

He caught my movement out of the corner of his eye and looked at me. He looked extremely concerned, yet somehow relieved at the same time.

"How do you feel?" He asked.

"Better, I think," I said quietly. My mouth was so dry. "Can I have some water?"

"Of course," he said, getting up and walking out of the room.

As I say in the bed I began to realize that I smelled awful, and I was pretty sure that I was naked. Why was I naked?

I lifted up the blanket to see and my entire torso was wrapped in bandages. Pain shot through my whole body. I winced, taking a deep breath and returning to my original position. What the hell happened?

Zuko returned shortly with a glass of water. He held it to my mouth as I slowly sipped it. My breathing was heavy and my mind was racing. Did he do this to me? I looked up at him cautiously.

"Why are you looking at me like?"

"What happened to me?" I asked.

"Zhao found the ship and wanted to take you back... I wanted to protect you so badly, I wanted to keep you safe. I never meant for this to happen, but there were too many, and I got overwhelmed. You were... hurt badly," he said softly, brushing my hair out of my eyes and cupping my cheek in his hand.

I lifted my hand and put it over top of his. I started to remember the initial conversation between Zuko and Zhao, but I didn't want to think too hard. I was still tired.

"How long have I been asleep?" I asked.

"4 days," he replied.

I nodded, not really surprised. I've been weak and my body takes so long to recover now. I'm emaciated and badly malnourished. The years of abuse had taken their toll on me. The thought disappeared as got a good whiff of myself and crinkled my nose.

"I'm really smelly," I said, my cheeks turning red. There was no way he didn't smell it too.

"Do you want me to give you a bath?" He asked.

I thought about it for a moment, then nodded. I was a bit opposed to him seeing me naked, then I realized he most likely already had when I was wounded. He picked me up, careful not to hurt me, and carried me into the bathroom.

For the first time in a long time, a man was seeing me naked and I didn't feel like I was being violated. He was gentle as he unwrapped my bandages and placed me into the bathtub. The bathtub was promptly filled with hot water and Zuko had gotten a sponge to bathe me with. I sat quietly as he softly cleaned my body, being careful not to touch me anywhere I wouldn't like. I was amazed at how careful he was about that. How could someone who seems so angry be so kind? Why does he want to do these things for me?

The sponge went over the area I was burned and I let out a hiss.

"I'm so sorry," he immediately apologized.

"No, no, don't be. I'm alright. It just hurts is all," I said.

After that, he steered clear of washing my wound. He let me clean myself the rest of the way before draining the bathtub. Once I was dried off, he carried me back to his bed.

"We've got the redress the wound," he said as he set me down. I nodded, sitting naked on the bed and watching as he grabbed a large roll of bandages.

"If this hurts I'm so sorry, but we can't risk it getting infected. You're too weak and it's too large of a wound not to be properly dealt with," he said.

"I know, Zuko. It's okay. I'll be fine... I've dealt with worse," I reassured him as he began to wrap my body. I winced a few times but it didn't hurt to where I couldn't stand it. He cut off the bandage and tied it so that it would stay in place and took a seat next to me on the bed.

"Misaki, what exactly did he do to you?" He asked quietly.

I looked him in the eyes. "He chained me up and raped me. Over and over. It started because I stopped wanting to have sex with him. He cheated on me all the time. He would go out and get drunk with his friends, fuck some girl, and come home and try to have sex with me.

"For a while I would just tell him no, then eventually he started hitting me. And then he'd hold me down and do whatever he wanted to me - eventually, he started inviting his friends to join in. I wanted to get away from him so badly, and I tried to so many times. But, it's kind of difficult when you're stuck on a ship and surrounded by soldiers under his command. One night I tried to kill him in his sleep, I put a pillow over his face and almost smothered him, but he pushed me off at the last moment. That's when he locked me up," I said solemnly. I held back the tears, but I was choked up.

Zuko took my hand. "I'll kill him if it's the last thing I do. I promise you, he will never hurt you again."

As much as I wanted to believe him, I think Zhao would probably kill him if he got another chance. It was only a matter of time until he got his hands on me again. I rested my head on Zuko's shoulder. He wrapped his arm around me and held me close. I sighed as I savored this moment with him.