So I'm not gonna lie. Part 3 of smoke and shadow was okay, but it's only opened up more questions and kinda let me down in some areas, mainly regarding Azula. This is an aftermath and it will be followed by a sequel, but this fanfic is focusing on the Kemurikage. Enjoy!

Here are the names I've given to the kemurikage (other than Zirin) shown on the image cover:

Top left- Shiki

Middle left- Fenang

Bottom left- Tanni

Top right- Pashi

Middle right- Vonna

Bottom right- Zirin

It's around late at night in the fire nation with only half of the moon out in the sky and in the garden of tranquil souls, 7 kemurikage masqueraders were finally leaving their former base of operations. They ran across the earth carrying the bones of deceased royals deep inside it in the shape of a V; their leader at the front with 1 short kemurikage at her left and right and 2 tall kemurikage behind them. They all had their arms behind them to speeden their pace and once in the town where they had raided homes of their children, they sprang quietly on to the rooftops with one destination in mind; the docks in Harbor City. Once they arrived, they halted in front of a small ship. The leader turned to face the group and once certain no guards or civilians were present, she motioned her followers to sneak on board the ship. She led them below the deck and into a master bedroom where the leader then took of her mask and hood, revealing the sharp, gold eyes, flawless, white skin and symbolic front bangs of Princess Azula. The other kemurikage followed her lead and removed their masks and hoods. On Azula's left were Shiki, Fenang and Tanni. On her right were Pashi, Vonna and Zirin. Tanni came forward to Azula and said "We held up our end of the deal; are you going to hold yours up?"

"Why else would we be here Tanni?" Azula asked, wondering how Tanni could ask a question full of distrust to her leader. Then again, the the 2 of them and the other 5 sisters of fear, anger and revenge knew that trust was for fools and it was terrible when you couldn't trust the people closest to you; Azula especially knew that more than any of them, so she answered Tanni's question how she and the others would want to hear it "But to clarify for you all, yes I will; you helped me with my problem here, so now I'll help you with your problem." The six sisters all huddled closer together in the fire lit room as the former princess gave them instructions "This ship is vacant and assuming one of you knows how to work a ship, it can take you to a place where you can start over without anyone knowing about you or taking you back to those dreadful asylums."

"Guess it's a good thing I'm here or we'd be doomed and stranded." said the glum voice of Pashi.

"Indeed Pashi." Azula agreed with her. Without Pashi's elite intelligence on how ships work, the princess could never have made this escape plan for her sisters possible.

"Where exactly is this place that sounds completely perfect?" came the quiet yet demanding voice of Shiki, who thought that this escape plan Azula came up with sounded too perfect and wanted to be certain that she was right about it being flawless like most of her past plans had been.

"A small town on the outskirts of the fire nation called Hira'a. When you get there, ask where the director of the Hira'a acting troupe lives and you could probably stay in his house as long as you remain invisible."

"How do know he's not in his home right now darling?" asked the rather arrogant and posh-sounding Vonna that was already annoying to Azula even when she didn't call her "Darling", but she put up with it and answered her question too "Because he's been here for the past month in the royal palace."

Vonna's eyes seemed to bulge; as did the eyes of the other spirit impersonators after Azula finished her sentence. But no one pryed further into that as they were certain that there was no way even Azula would make up something like that. Instead, the conversation went back to the original topic when Fenang asked in her cold, dark tone "How come we're going to Hira'a specifically? I mean, we could go anywhere; even outside the fire nation where no one would recognise us. What's so special about Hira'a?"

This was the first question that Azula actually didn't mind answering; she admired Fenang's ability to think ahead "Because if something goes wrong, there's an alternative. Near the director's house is a shortcut into a forest called Forgetful Valley. Inside it is a wolf spirit that will drink at 1 of 4 pools in the forest and when it does, a spirit with the ability to give a person a new face appears."

"How in Agni's name do you know that?" came Vonna's annoying accent again, but Azula once again put up with it and hesitantly said while looking down "Because I've been to Hira'a, I've seen the spirit and what it did to... someone I knew." Zirin, the only one who had remained more silent than the usually silent Shiki, knew who Azula was talking about and prayed that Vonna's curiosity had ended as Azula wouldn't want to talk about this someone. Azula then told them to wait for another hour before setting off or else a ship setting off in the dead of night could attract some unwanted attention. As the six sisters laid down to get some rest before setting off, Zirin finally spoke "Can I talk to you Azula?"

Azula nodded and followed Zirin into another bedroom. Zirin then asked "How come you're not coming with us?"

"I told you all before Zirin; I need to stay in the capital to fulfil my destiny by making my brother into the Firelord I tried to be." Azula said with full certainty. Zirin believed that, but still thought Azula was holding something back. But then she figured Azula wouldn't open up about it and decided to not pry considering that they were on a schedule, so she said "Okay then" and began to walk away, only to be stopped by Azula's voice "Zirin wait."

"Huh, maybe she is holding something back after all." Zirin thought. She turned around and asked "What is it?"

"There is actually something I feel I need to confess to you."

Also, I know they're called the fire warriors, but they'll come with that title later in the story. Anyway, hope you liked Chapter 1.