After the incident with the pirates, things were pretty uneventful, at least for Kouji.  Partly sidelined by his injury, he waited impatiently to heal while trying to indicate somehow to the Prince that it wasn't his fault.  A storm came and passed, though Kouji spent the duration of it vomiting below-decks and thus was unaware of the drama that unfolded above.

Not long after that, Zuko slipped away alone, skipping music night, returning after dawn and locking himself in his room again. He didn't re-emerge for days.  Kouji tried, but one encounter with the prince's explosive temper sent the boy scurrying for cover; he took to spending his time out in the open, begging combat lessons from off-duty soldiers.

They were willing to teach the kid ways to defend himself, particularly after he'd gotten injured, and he was happy to learn.  One enterprising young soldier, named Li Yan, took to teaching the boy to use a wakizashi.

The relatively quiet interlude was interrupted when a too-gorgeous woman on a long-tongued riding beast arrived and tore up the deck.  Startled by the woman, Kouji turned bright red and hid from her behind Yan.

She and Zuko argued for a moment, then she and her beast — a shirshu, apparently — retrieved a stowaway from the hold and left.

The colour in Kouji's face did not fade for an hour.

By that time, the two princes had left the ship to find the woman, after Zuko retrieved the necklace he'd recovered from his quarters.

With Yan, Kouji went onto the shore, but remained near the ship.  He had no desire to be anywhere near a woman he wasn't related to — and it turned out to be fortunate he hadn't been there, for she might have caught on to the reason he suddenly doubled over, pressing his hands to a place where men were not supposed to ache.

Concerned, Yan took the boy to the ship's doctor, who could find no reason for Kouji's sudden pain.

Zuko and Iroh returned the next day, Zuko looking more than a little irritated, and without the necklace. He locked himself in his room, once again not emerging for days.

Kouji, however, remained in the infirmary, still a victim to the mysterious pain that seemed to have no cause, until it stopped two days later.  Iroh asked him about it, though he recalled something the boy had told him weeks before and had a suspicion of what it might be.

"I don't know," the boy replied, looking frustrated.  "I've never felt anything like it before."

"…May I ask you a personal question?"

Kouji's breath hitched, but he nodded.  No, it couldn't be about his secret bending.

"How close is your connection to your sister?" the old man asked.

The boy shifted.  "We're close," he said warily.  "We're twins, after all."

"Do you feel the things she feels?"

"…yes," he admitted after a moment.  "Usually when she's happy or hurt—"  His eyes went wide as he immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion.

"Don't worry," Iroh assured him. "My guess is what you were feeling was part of something that happens to all women. Ten is a little young for it to start, but far from unheard of. Some women have very painful cramps along with it. Some do not. My guess is your sister is one of the unlucky ones."

Kouji gave him a blank look.  "…cramps?"

"Yes. Cramps."

"…so, that's it, then?  She's fine?"

"Yes. She's fine." Iroh smiled. Clearly, the boy didn't quite grasp the situation, but it wasn't the old man's place to explain. Time enough for that when he went home.  "Although I do have to warn you that this will probably happen every few weeks.  Roughly once a month, to be more precise."

The look on Kouji's face was laughable as he realised he was going to be knocked out for three days every month by phantom pain picked up from his twin sister.

"And, unfortunately," Iroh said, "as it's phantom pain, there's very little that can be done on this end for you."

The boy groaned.  "Suddenly I wish were weren't so close."

The old man laughed. "I don't blame you."

Suddenly his eyes widened.  "Oh, no — she must have felt it when that arrow—"

"We can send her a letter, if you like."

"I'll do it," he says quickly.  The siblings had developed a code when Kouji's bending ability had turned up, and it would be the best way to explain everything.  Maybe Ichiro would have advice for him.

"All right, then," the old man said, smiling again.

Kouji bowed and slipped away to write his letter.

 

*                      *                      *

 

The night after Kouji sent his letter to his siblings was Music Night.  Kouji had been surprised that some of the men danced — after all, it was an activity expressly forbidden to himself and the other children of the colony — and shamelessly weaselled his way into some lessons so he could teach Ichiro when he got back home.

However, everything came to a halt when Admiral Zhao unexpectedly boarded the ship.  "Hello," he said, smirking at Kouji, who was nearest to him.

Zuko, thankfully, had declined to join them that night, otherwise this might have led to a violent confrontation.

"Admiral," Iroh greeted him. "To what do we owe this honour?"

Kouji fled to the former general's reassuring bulk, wanting to get away from Zhao's penetrating gaze.

"I need to talk to Prince Zuko," said the admiral.

Iroh sighed. "I'll go find him."

"I'll go with you," Kouji said quickly.

"As will I," drawled Zhao.

"Very well," the old man said, and led them to the part of the ship he assumed Zuko was most likely to be in.

"For the last time, I'm not playing the tsungi-horn." Apparently, he was right.

"No, it's about our plans. There's a bit of a problem."

Admiral Zhao walked into the room and put a hand on Kouji's shoulder, making the boy freeze.  "I'm taking your crew."

"What?"

"I've recruited them for a little expedition to the North Pole," the tall bender explained, pulling Kouji behind him as he walked to the prince.

"Uncle, is that true?" Zuko looked almost pleadingly at Iroh.

"I'm afraid so. He's taking everyone. Even the cook."

"I'm sorry you won't be there to watch me capture the Avatar," Zhao said.  "Perhaps your little shadow can write you and tell you of it."

"…You're not taking him," Zuko said flatly. "He's not military, he's not under your jurisdiction, you can't recruit him."

Kouji's eyes went wide as Zhao turned to face Zuko.  "I need someone to run my errands, too," he said, calling what he thought was Zuko's bluff.  "Ever hear of cabin boys?"

"Apparently you've forgotten the other reason Kouji is here with us," Iroh said from behind him. "As my nephew told you weeks ago, Kouji's parents placed him in my care. I do not relinquish him to yours."

"…very well," said the admiral, annoyed, turning away from the furious prince.  Then he saw the crossed broadswords on the wall and stiffened.  Slowly, he walked to them, taking one down.

Next to Kouji, Zuko stiffened slightly, but said nothing.

"I didn't know you were skilled with broadswords, Prince Zuko," Zhao commented, his tone making it something of a question as he swung it around, testing the weight.

"I'm not," the prince replied, doing a good impression of being confused by the question. "They're antiques. Just decorative."

"Have you heard of the Blue Spirit, General Iroh?" Zhao asked the older man.

"Just rumours," he replied. "I don't think he is real."

"He's real, all right," Zhao said, carrying the sword he'd been playing with before as he came closer.  "And he's a criminal.  An enemy of the Fire Nation.  But I have a feeling justice will catch up with him soon enough."  He handed the weapon to Iroh, ruffled Kouji's hair (the boy ducked away), and turned to leave the room.  "General Iroh, the offer for you to join my mission still stands, if you change your mind.  You may bring your ward if you like."  He shut the door behind him.

Zuko swore and punched the wall.

"That won't help anything," Iroh said, quietly.

"Calms me down," the prince snapped back.

Kouji was pawing at his hair, looking annoyed.

"…Leave me alone," Zuko said, staring at the broadsword left on his wall. "I need to be alone right now."

The boy looked up at him and opened his mouth, then closed it quickly.

"…Come on, Kouji," Iroh said, laying the other sword — the one Zhao had handed him — on the bed in the corner, and leading the boy out.

"Why is Zhao so interested in getting me aboard?" Kouji asked the general softly once the prince had been left alone.

"There could be any number of reasons," Iroh replied, just as softly. "The likeliest, I think, is that he wants to break my nephew."

Kouji's shoulders slumped.  "I just don't get why he hates him so much."

"I think that the only person who understands that is the Admiral himself."

The boy scowled and kicked a wall of the ship.

"Things are going to change very much from here on in," the old man said softly. "Whether or not Zhao succeeds at the North Pole."

"What do you mean?"

"Because there are very few choices open to my nephew right now, and the one he's likeliest to choose will probably kill him."

Kouji's silver eyes widened in dismay.  "No…"

"Hopefully," Iroh assured him, "when he starts trying to think through how to go about doing it, he'll not the flaws in the scheme and figure out a better path to take. I'm going to give him an hour, then offer to be a sounding-board."

"All right," murmured the young bender.  "What should I do?"

"Come with us. Be a reminder of what he has to lose if he takes the likely-fatal path."

Kouji hesitated, then nodded.  "Yes, sir."

An hour later, as planned, Iroh tapped on his nephew's door. "The crew wanted me to wish you safe travels."

"Good riddance to those traitors," Zuko snapped, bitterly.

"It's a lovely night for a walk," Iroh replied. "Why don't you join me and Kouji? It would clear your head."

No response.

Iroh sighed. Apparently, his nephew needed a little more time to work through his bitter rage before he was ready to move on to planning his next step. "Or just stay in your room and sit in the dark. Whatever makes you happy." He shut the door behind him.

Kouji fidgeted in the hallway. "General?"

"Yes?" Iroh asked, leading him off of the ship, despite the fact that Zuko wasn't coming.

"Do you think he'll ever… well, recover?  I mean, calling the men traitors is a bit harsh.  I know Yan didn't want to go…"

"He'll regret that when the bitterness fades a bit," Iroh promised. "He's just…upset. Because he's lost what he feels is his only chance to go home, and the crew leaving is a large part of why he lost it."

Kouji sighed.  "I wish he could go home," he said fervently.

Iroh didn't answer.

Man and boy travelled in silence for awhile — and then an explosion rent the night air in two.  Startled, Kouji and Iroh whirled to see Zuko's ship up in flames.  "ZUKO!" screamed the boy, taking off.

Iroh echoed his cry and ran after him.

Kouji abandoned all thoughts of secrecy, using his earthbending wildly to shove the metal lying about the docks out of the way, looking desperately for the prince.

"Stop, stop, he's in the water, look!"

Obediently Kouji looked; then he'd kicked off his shoes and was diving into the freezing water.  He came up gasping, but swam directly for the prince.  Zuko followed the younger boy back to shore and crawled up onto the beach. He was covered in bruises and bleeding in a couple places, but otherwise unharmed.

In a near panic, Kouji tried to dress the prince's wounds, but was pulled aside by the general, who actually knew how to do that.

While Iroh was cleaning him up, Zuko told the others what had happened, and that the pirates they'd dabbled with earlier were the ones who'd blown up his ship. "I'm stowing away on one of Zhao's," he finished.

Startled, Kouji stared at him.  "Zuko, can you… I mean…"

Iroh, however, nodded. "I'll have to accept Zhao's offer, then. I'm sorry, Kouji."

Kouji looked horrified at the notion, but he swallowed his distaste and nodded.  There was no possible way he could sneak aboard with the prince.

"We'll try and salvage a uniform from the wreckage," Iroh said. "If we can't, I'll get one to you from Zhao's fleet."

Kouji bit his lip.  "General?  I'm not a very good liar.  What if he pulls me aside?"  He was already getting to his feet to shift through the wreckage.

"I'll do my best to prevent that," the older man promised. "If I convince him that this attempt was successful, he will have no reason to pull you aside."

Kouji nodded, then turned to the prince once more.  "Prince Zuko…"

"Yeah?" He looked up from doing a self-examination to make sure he hadn't broken any ribs when he hit the water.

Kouji hesitated, then abruptly — but gently — hugged the prince.  "Take care," he whispered roughly as his tears finally spilled over.

The older boy froze, startled by the unexpected affection. "You, too," he managed to say.

The boy withdrew, wiping his tears away quickly as he nodded.

"We'll go talk to Zhao," Iroh said, when their search through the wreckage proved futile. "Hide here, I'll get a uniform to you as soon as I can."

Kouji shivered, from more than just his fear of Zhao.

"Come on, Kouji," the old man said, after Zuko nodded and slipped off to find a hidey-hole.

"R-right," the boy whispered, getting to his feet.

Iroh led him to where Zhao's ships were docked.  Kouji shivered behind the old man, feeling the night air cut through his sodden clothes and wondering if they would begin to freeze if he didn't get somewhere warm soon.

The old man announced himself to the soldiers on watch, and they were brought in to see the Admiral.

Zhao completely ignored Kouji, which made the boy believe he'd only shown interest in him before as another form of baiting the prince.  "General," the admiral said, sounding surprised.  "What brings me the honour of your visit?  I don't suppose you've changed your mind?"

"Prince Zuko has been assassinated," Iroh said, with a sort of inexpressible grief and weariness that couldn't be entirely an act.

The admiral poured the general a cup of tea and threw a glance at Kouji now, but the boy was keeping his head to the ground and trembling slightly.  "I'm devastated to hear about Prince Zuko," Zhao said at last.  "Just… devastated." 

"The Firelord will not be pleased when he learns who was responsible," the old man said, softly.

Zhao froze, just slightly.  "You know who's… behind the attack?" he asked.

"Yes," Iroh replied, and angrily slammed his fist down onto the table. "Pirates. We had a run-in with them awhile back. They wanted revenge."

Zhao lifted his cup to his lips and sipped softly.  Kouji knew he couldn't be the only one in the room to realise such a move could obscure one's expression.

"So," the admiral said, setting down his tea.  "Have you reconsidered my offer?"

A flare of anger pushed through Kouji, but he tamped it down.  He could at least pretend he cared about something other than getting the General on his mission.

"Yes," Iroh said. "I accept. It will be an honour to serve as your general." He raised his cup in a toast. "To the Fire Nation."

"To victory!" agreed Zhao, raising his own cup.