Zutara Week 2021/ Zutara Smut Week 2021

Day Two: Disguised

Zuko pulled his blue and white bandana over his nose. He adjusted the brim of his hat so that it hid his bad eye, the one with the tattle-tale scar. Cocking his rifle, Zuko tossed his head, signaling to his posse that their prey was approaching.
The Painted Lady was sometimes said to stop to water her horse at an acequia ten miles west of Silver City, between the Rha and Aquado ranches. Don Hakoda Aquado and Yon Rha fought over this particular irrigation ditch like two dogs over a bone. Yon Rha claimed that it was on his land and, therefore, the water belonged to him, while Don Hakoda followed the old Spanish custom that an acequia belonged to everyone. But, to Zuko, this acequia's chief asset was the thick clumps of shrubbery that grew along its banks that made good hiding spots for an ambush.
They had a rustler's moon that night. It allowed Zuko and his posse to move around in the dark unseen but extended the same courtesy to the Painted Lady. Zuko could make out a slight female figure leading a horse to the water. However, he heard the Painted Lady before he saw her. She was whistling a tune that he recognized as O Susanna as she pulled a blue and white woven blanket from her saddlebag and wrapped it around her shoulders.
"There she is," one of Zuko's posse members said.
Another posse member joined in with, "And that's the blanket she stole from us."
Zuko's posse consisted of fellow bandits who made a living by robbing unsuspecting travelers and selling back the stolen goods at double the price. He heard that these "high risk traders" got a taste of their own medicine when a girl with her face painted up like an Indian relieved them of a Pueblo blanket and knew that they shared a common enemy. Why they were so worked up over a blanket, Zuko neither knew nor cared.
"Take it back if you want," Zuko said. "But the girl is mine."
The Painted Lady shrieked when the bandits fell in upon her. She turned to flee but ran into Zuko instead.
Zuko tipped his hat to her. "Buenas noches, Senorita."
"Chinga tu madre," she spat back at him, clawing with her nails like a wild cat.
It took two bandits to subdue her. One bound her wrists while the other took the pistol and knife she wore at her belt. Her maidenly gasps as they did this hinted that she wasn't used to being man-handled.
"If you're going to play with the boys." Zuko held the barrel of his rifle to her chin. "You're gonna have to get used to being roughed up a bit."  He didn't want to kill her or even hurt her that much. However, the little hussy deserved to be put in her place.
Zuko got a better look at her as two bandits tied her to a tree. Her riding bonnet, the only concession she'd made to feminine attire, featured a gauzy white veil that obscured her face. The only feature Zuko could make out was a pair of large blue eyes. Eyes like that, you saw once and never forgot.