Alright Kanasha, here it is, your very own Rinash one-shot.
I read it a number of times for grammatical errors...but that is my blind spot so please accept a few. I hope you like it, I'm really proud of it so I may post it in the fanfic section in a bit, enjoy! ;D
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NOTE: The following story occurs between "Zuko Alone" and "The Chase"
Rinash of the Water Tribe
The sun smiled upon the dense forest of the Earth Kingdom, and glinted off two watchful blue eyes. The blue eyes shone from the center of a thick tree, and a sharpened arrow point sparkled a few inches in front of the eyes. Rinash was out hunting.
The bright blue eyes spotted a raccoon deer not far from the tree, and the arrow was quickly pointed towards the prey.
“I dislike killing”, thought Rinash, “but I am hungry and I’ve had just about enough fruit for one lifetime…”
Life had been tough since Rinash had left her home in the South. Then again, it was hardly home by the time she left. The Fire Nation had melted every little house she knew so well in an instant and her whole tribe had been scattered, broken up under the mighty Fire Navy ships. She had no choice but to flee, as did the rest of her tribe, and she had seen none of them since that sad fateful day. But now was not the time to think of that.
Rinash pointed her arrow at the heart of the raccoon deer and pulled back the string. That was when she heard the soft cracking noise. It made her think of the bonfires back home. The calm crackling of burning wood…so many fond memories…
SNAP!
The branch holding Rinash suddenly splintered. Unfortunately, it splintered at the moment she was about to fire her bow. Her aim dipped forward as she fell, and the arrow fired somewhere into the dark recesses of the Earth Kingdom forest. Rinash herself landed unceremoniously on the rough dirt below the tree.
“Drat!”, she thought as she hit the ground, “That was my best arrow! It looks like more prickly Earth pears for dinner tonight…” Her stomach growled angrily in protest. It was about that time she heard a loud and clearly pained scream.
“Oops.”
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Several feet away from the dirty and crumpled heap that was Rinash, a young man’s mind was racing. Immediately following the realization that he had been hurt, the young man concluded that he had been found and was under attack. While most young men in similar circumstances would have been rolling on the ground moaning in pain, this particular boy had leapt from his mount and made a dash. Seconds later he was concealed behind a tree, swords already drawn. For this particular young man was no ordinary boy, this young man was the banished outcast Prince Zuko.
Zuko knew he had many enemies, many men and women who wouldn’t mind seeing him dead. But who could it be? Had Azula tracked him down? Was it the Yu Yan? Perhaps someone was after the bounty on his head. No matter, he would know soon enough.
Zuko gripped his two broadswords tightly as a figure emerged from the bushes nearby. At first he thought it was that Water Tribe girl Katara and his pulse quickened even further. For some reason he would be disgraced if she saw him in his current state. But…no, the hair was wrong, and a projectile, not water, had struck him in the back. Still it was a Water Tribe girl and Zuko noted that she was carrying a bow. It was a Northern Tribe assassin then, if he was going to survive this he would need to strike quickly and decisively.
The girl walked forward and looked around. When she turned her back, Zuko struck. She turned and saw him charging at her too late, oddly she immediately protected her bow, but stood no chance. Zuko slammed his shoulder into her and she flew into a nearby tree. Before she could recover, Zuko pointed his left sword inches from her face.
“Tell me who you are.”
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Rinash was not happy about being ambushed and beat down so quickly. She seemed to be doing a lot of falling today. Her assailant was a young boy, not much older than her. Was he a robber? Somehow his manner seemed different, almost hurt, but its hard to sympathize with a person who’s pointing a sword at your throat.
Then she saw the arrow protruding from the young man’s lower back. It bore the distinctive blue tip of a Water Tribe arrow.
“My arrow!” she exclaimed, “I’m so sorry! I was hunting, and I…lost my balance…so my arrow went a bit off course…”
The boy pushed his sword closer and Rinash, still sitting right in front of a tree, tried to inch away. “Do you take me for a fool? Tell me who sent you and I may let you live.”
“Whoa! Hey I said I was sorry!” Rinash took note of the scar on the boy’s face covering his left eye; he didn’t get that penguin sledding.
“Stop playing games, I know you are an assassin.”
“Me? An assassin? You’re crazy!” Rinash almost chuckled. She felt guilty even killing a rodent, how could she make a living killing people?
“Why should I believe you?”
Rinash considered this for a moment. Only two things came to mind. One, this boy was the craziest paranoid freak she had even met. Two, if he killed her she wouldn’t have to eat any more prickly pears.
“I’m waiting little girl.”
He shouldn’t have said that. “Little girl? What about you little tough guy, how old are you?!” taking note of the fact that he was still holding a sword at her throat she added, “Listen, if I was a highly paid assassin why would I only have one arrow?”
The boy took note of her empty quiver.
“And further”, Rinash added, “How many assassins shoot people in the lower back? If I wanted you dead you would be.”
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The last remark bothered Zuko, but he couldn’t deny the logic of it. At any rate, this girl was still a child for the most part, and she hardly seemed the assassin type. Her mouth would have gotten her killed already.
“Fine.” Zuko lowered his sword and sheathed both of them. “Let me just remove this arrow…” He felt the arrow sticking out from his back. He reached back and grabbed…nothing. He couldn’t manage to reach it with either of his hands. Once again, Zuko realized, he was powerless to help himself.
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Rinash breathed a quick sigh of relief when the young man sheathed his swords. She got off and quickly brushed off her dress. “I really am sorry, my name is Rinash and I come from…” She stopped when she saw him struggling the remove the arrow.
“Oh no I almost forgot! It appears to be a shallow wound, I can just get my spear and…”
“You shot me with an arrow and you expect me to let you get near me with a sharp object?” Said the young boy through gritted teeth.
Rinash realized he had a point. She shrugged, “Fine, suit yourself, I can wait.”
“For what? Me to let my guard down?”
“Actually I just really want my arrow back.”
The young man grunted angrily in reply.
“Well”, thought Rinash, “this should be amusing…”
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Zuko struggled, but there was nothing he could do to reach the arrow. The arrow reminded him of that infuriating Avatar, and just like the Avatar, he couldn’t get it. Yet it was more than that, this arrow was like his missing honor. It was a constant thorn in his side, a painful reminder of his failure. It had followed him everywhere, all the way from the South Pole to the North Pole, and nothing he could do would ever rid him of it.
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Rinash watched the young man’s failed arrow-removing attempts with a mixture of disgust, pity, and a slight amount of enjoyment. Once he got hold of the shaft with one hand, but the back broke off and the point stayed in. Rinash sighed when she saw that happen; now she would have to make a new arrow. But what mattered was the point; her father had made that for her.
Eventually Rinash sat down and began carving a block of wood with her skinning knife. It was getting dark and she would need to build a fire soon. She was angry at the waste of a day, but since she currently had not idea where she was heading, she thought it mattered little. She stopped her carving after awhile and looked at it. Short wolf tail…smug expression…it was her brother. She sighed, her little water bender. He was barely ten back then, but when the Fire Nation invaded, he had run to fight. Last she saw of him he had frozen the feet of a fire bender and chucked a snowball at his face. Rinash had run into her igloo for her weapons…but when she ran out the fire benders had split the ice and she was separated…
Rinash shivered, the memory was still too painful, the village, her friends, family…she knew nothing about any of them. Rinash decided to build a fire and take her mind off things. The young man was still struggling, this time he was trying to use two rocks to remove the splintered arrow shaft. Well at least he was persistent, she admired that. Too bad he was a psycho.
Once she had got a small fire going she turned around to check the boy’s progress. She saw him attempting to cut out the arrow with one of his swords. He was going to kill himself!
“What are you doing?” Rinash yelled as she grabbed the boy’s swords out of his hands, “You have a better chance of killing yourself that way!” Before the boy could reply, Rinash grabbed the shaft of the arrow, gave it a good clockwise turn and pulled it out.
“Ow!” The boy screamed.
“See these barbs?” Said Rinash as she held up the arrow point, “You have to turn the arrow to remove them! I would have told you, but you were so darn stubborn I thought I would let you figure it out. The only reason I did that is because I am not going to sit here and listen to you hack at yourself all night!”
Rinash threw up her arms in disgust and stomped back towards her little fire.
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Zuko felt great to be free of the arrow, but he was not happy about how it had happened.
“It was my problem”, he said to Rinash, “I should have fixed it myself.”
Rinash sighed, “You cannot fix everything on your own. Just like that arrow, there are going to be things in life that you just cannot handle alone. Finding help for those is not weakness, its intelligence.”
Zuko walked up to the fire and stared into it, “And all it took was that one trick. Just one trick and everything is back to normal.”
Rinash whacked him on the head with the broken shaft, “Stop being a moping idiot, you still have an arrow wound in your back. No trick is going to solve all your problems, or are you really that stupid?”
Zuko said nothing.
“Listen”, said Rinash, “I am sorry. It was an accident and I was not trying to hurt you. You should at least stay here for now, I can give you some food to make it up too you.”
Zuko’s stomach answered for him. “Fine.”
Rinash nodded, “What’s your name anyway?”
Zuko took a good look at Rinash. The scraggly afro of hair, the dirty clothes, she didn’t appear to be one who got out much, he could gain nothing from pretending.
“My name is Zuko.”
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Zuko ran off to tie up his ostrich horse and collect his belongings. Rinash did the same and then sat by the fire.
“He’s not such a bad guy”, she thought, “Just misguided, I wonder why he is all alone.”
Zuko joined her soon and she threw him a prickly Earth pear.
“So”, she began, “Why are you out here anyway?”
Zuko stared into the fire, “It’s a long story.”
Rinash shrugged, “Fine tough guy, be mysterious. As for me, I’m looking for my family. The Fire Nation attacked our village and separated us three years ago. I was forced to flee and since then I’ve searched all over the Earth Kingdom for them.”
“You really miss your family?” said Zuko, his tone betraying interest.
Rinash nodded vigorously, “I may not know much about you Earth Kingdom folk, but family is everything to the Water Tribe. My dad taught me everything I know about hunting and fighting and my brother gave me all the practice I wanted!” She chuckled and she thought she saw Zuko betray a smile, but it may have been a shadow. “As for my mother…well I love her but she was not really the brightest. She taught me how to do my hair.” Rinash shook her crazy afro hair for emphasis, and this time she was sure she saw Zuko smile.
“It must be nice having a family that cares so much about you”, said Zuko.
“Well I am lucky, what about your family Zuko?”
Zuko didn’t twitch a muscle, “My family is complicated.”
Rinash missed the hint, “Do you have any siblings?”
“One, a little sister.”
“Ah! A younger one! See if they get to full of themselves you might just have to rough her up a bit, especially if she’s the stubborn type like you. I remember when my brother learned he was a water bender. He suddenly thought he was too important to do chores and guess who had to pick up the slack? Well once I had enough of that, I taught him real quick that the spear is mightier than the ice, if you catch my drift. That’s equal rights Rinash style!” Rinash chuckled as she thought of the memory.
Zuko had other less enjoyable memories. His sick sadistic sister, last they met she had every intention of killing him. If there was anyone who could use a little ‘roughing up’…
Rinash broke into Zuko’s reminiscence, “Well you can’t pick family, but surely one relative must care about you…”
Suddenly Zuko remembered his uncle, how he had left him so suddenly, “Yes…I guess I am…blessed in some ways.”
Rinash yawned, “Well that’s more than enough talking for me, I think I’ll curl up and sleep. Normally I would be afraid you would rob me in my sleep, but I know I have nothing worth taking anyway haha, night”
Five minutes later Zuko learned something astonishing. Someone could snore as loud as his uncle.
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Sleep came easily to Rinash, but rest did not. Suddenly she was twelve again, back at the North Pole…that awful day.
“Jun! Jun!!” she called desperately for her brother from her severed piece of ice. “Jun where are you?”
“Rinash! Run Rinash! There’s too many of them, oh god my legs…”
“I won’t leave you Jun! Where are you?” Mist enveloped her and obscured her vision. She could see nothing.
“There’s no time Rinash! Run to the Earth Kingdom! I’ll find Mom and Dad and get out of here, but you have to leave now!”
Tears flowed to her eyes, then she heard the ship coming towards her, it was going to crash right through her little island. She ran, she did not know for how long, every turn brought another ship’s shadow, and all the time she screamed… “Jun! Where are you Jun?”
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Zuko had already packed when Rinash stirred. He took a quick look at her and saw her red puffy eyes.
She turned away, “Today was his birthday. I always used to wake up early and bake him a cake. I always burned it, but he still ate it. He told me if I could never beat an opponent with my fighting, I could drive them away with my cooking.”
Zuko had nothing to say. He thought of his mother, of her last words to him…
“Three years ago I lost them. I only keep up this stupid vigil out of practice. I haven’t seen a town or city in months. I’ll probably fall off a cliff before I ever see them again. I should give up hope.”
Zuko felt his mouth move without thinking, “Never give into despair. Allow yourself to slip down that road and you surrender to your lowest instincts. In the darkest of times, hope is something you give yourself. That is the meaning of inner strength.” Suddenly Zuko realized he had a strange craving for jasmine tea…
Rinash smiled and stood up straight. “You’re right, what kinda big sister would I be if I gave up now? But I have nowhere to go…”
Zuko thought quickly, “There’s a village to the west of here. You can ask for help there, find a boy named Li. Tell him…tell him his older brother sent you.”
“But I thought you said you had a little sis..”
“Like I said, my family is complicated.”
Rinash nodded, she had direction now. She would find her family. “What about you Zuko?”
Zuko mounted his ostrich horse, “Let’s say I know someone who needs a little roughing up.”
