Prologue

Am I insane?

I often wonder...what this island would look like painted red. It was a thought that would enter my head everyday once a day, a thought that crept into my mind and never left once I started thinking about it.

It was hot and humid, like fish swimming in boiling water. This heat never went away, it stayed...always on the island named after that one avatar, I walked through the town. I think I dressed myself rather well that morning, this town didn't have a wide collection of colors. However I think that brown and green fit me well.

I look at my hand. They are normal, human hands, though a ring was placed on one of my ten fingers. I simply looked at the ring, it's always been attached to my finger since a young age. I need that ring, I need it to keep my head from bursting, though there are exceptions for keeping my ring on. A certain thing I can only do with it off, certain things I can feel even when it's on.

"I should **** it off..." did I say cut or take, did I mean my finger or the ring. I probably shouldn't think too hard about it...

I look at the people passing by, they are smiling happily mingling like they always do. On this island filled with people that know one another, a place that was always hot and had a pond right in the middle. Children smiling as they pulled their mother's dresses asking them to buy their favorite treat. Old man chatting in the corner talking about their work or wives. This was Kyoshi island, a island that had remained neutral in the war.

"All these people...how funny would it be to see them impaled?" I held my mouth, something hot was rising in my throat. An imaged entered my head, a ******* image. My thoughts flashed before me, I wanted to vomit as I swallowed harshly.

"Am I insane?" it was a question I often asked myself. Sometimes I would get these thoughts, but they were never this bad. Today they were awful terrible even, sickening to the point that it should have driven me insane. This ring on my finger keeping it at bay, I could remove it in short spurts. But I doubted my sanity could take more than a few hours without it on.

"...No, I'm not insane, not yet," I reassured myself of this fact. I was a well trained girl after all, I could probably run up or across a wall without much hassle and disarm someone in less than five seconds. Though that was more my mother's interference then anything...though I think that was the wrong order... that shouldn't have been placed there.

"Jiao?" my body stiffened, I heard a familiar voice behind me. I turned to face them.

Make up, the make up of the island's creator as well as her uniform. One would only need to reference the giant statue in the middle of the city to see what they were based on. The girl in front of me was a Kyoshi warrior no doubt, and from the sound of her voice it was easy to tell which one.

"Oh...hi Suki!" I smiled as I raised my hand, it was nice to speak to someone every once in a while. However I couldn't help wonder why she spoke to me, my mom was pushing me to join the Kyoshi warriors and I easily had the skills to do so...but, that really wasn't my goal. Fans wasn't my weapon of choice and I doubt I would mesh well with a lot of them.

It wasn't them...it was me.

Which brought me to my next question, why was she talking to me? Suki was a nice person, a really nice person, if a little stern at times. But that didn't change the fact that she just started a conversation with me. It would be like seeing someone you worked with out in the open, you wouldn't casually say high to them...well you would, but not in this situation.

Suki and I, we are two people that happen to know each other names and my mother expressed interest in me joining the Kyoshi warriors. Past that we do not know one another.

Suki simply looked at me, it was odd to see her in uniform. She was probably preparing to check around the island for any intruders. Her gaze slowly turned into a look of confusion and concern however before she spoke.

"You were just standing here, staring off into space..."

My eye twitched, that's right. I was just thinking about something without taking into consideration where I was or when. I cover my face for a moment before I chuckled, I parted my black hair slightly. Thinking about it, it was pretty embarrassing.

"Sorry, sorry, that is pretty weird!" I winced slightly, I at least want to appear somewhat normal. Even if that couldn't be further from the truth as Suki looked at me and sighed.

"Well just be careful, someone could walk into you if you just stand there,"

She made a good point as I scanned her. I was tempted to ask her why she was dressed up even if I had a pretty good hunch as to why she was.

"We're going patrolling...you can come with us," it was a random invitation as my eyes widen for a moment.

She was nice, yes...there was no doubt about it. Suki really was a good person, but...

"I was planning on taking a walk by myself actually. Just something to clear my head," it wasn't a lie. I wasn't just standing in town for no reason just looking around, I was planning on going into the forest and looking around.

Suki paused for a moment before nodding. It seemed that she wasn't going to try to convince me otherwise as she waved before going her own way. I scratched the back of my head as I tapped the knife in my pocket, it was the perfect weapon for an assassination. The style of fighting my mother taught me, a style where you could decapitate someone with a single hand or cut someone int 13 pieces in less than 3 seconds...

Of course, I was nowhere near such a level yet. I probably won't ever be, not here...not where I don't have to worry about killing anyone. However I often wonder to myself.

"Why do I have a knife with me?"

That question was better left unanswered, I knew the reason...I knew the reason why I would want to keep a knife on me when there was no danger. I push those thoughts in the back of my head as I head into the forest.

The trees covered the sun, the shade was relaxing. The leaves fell carelessly off the trees as a breeze blew through. I took a deep breath, it was as if I was breathing the cleanest air in the world. I scanned the area, I was alone, like a speck in the darkness...though that was wrong since the sun was still shining. However, I seem to be having trouble coming up with similes.

Either way, I scanned the area as I looked at a thick tree trunk. I took off my ring, I felt heavy, like chains were wrapping around my lungs. My vision blurred as my stomach twisted, I did not take my eyes off of the trunk I simply continued to look at it, my gaze fixated on killing it. My heart wanted to jump out of my chest. My eyes widen for a moment, at that moment a hole appeared in a tree. No, less then appeared and more like was burned into it, a pile of ash was on the grass.

Thus was my curse, ten years ago... after a certain event I gained the ability to burn through things simply by looking at them. Burn holes though them like they were paper, not just wood, even stone and metal would be punctured easily. The flames were always red, but there was no limit on what I could burn through...of course that wasn't healthy for my mind.

Imagine, living everyday with the ability to just look at someones head and make it vanish. To be able to kill someone on a whim with so little effort on your part. The floor isn't there anymore, the walls are nothing but a big pile of dark ash, to have such a thing in their head...it would drive anyone insane. Because human's aren't supposed to be able to do that. Human's aren't supposed to just burn things like that with ease.

I know for a fact if it wasn't for this ring I would be insane. I know for a fact that I would be a killer if it wasn't for this ring. Though I wonder...at times I wonder something to myself.

"If I did, I wonder what kind of person I would be,"