authors note: Shen and all of her weapons as well as other pictures needed in the series will be posted on my site: www. aeonsoul234 . webs . com
CHAPTER ONE:
The Assassin
"Please, I need both of you. I can't take him down on my own." the man said, getting down on his knees in front of Jun. We were both at the bar we usually were in, sitting down at the table that had been claimed as ours. Even though I was only 17, my tolerance for alcohol was quite high since drinking was inevitable in a bar... Especially when everyone is scared of your older, pressuring sister. Jun could get just about anything from anyone in the bar, including drinks for an underaged girl. One more year and I'd be legal, though.
"Sorry, you don't got enough money for both of us. You need me to track this guy down and you need her to kill him for you. We need four times the amount your asking for at minimum." Jun answered. In our little business, Jun was the bounty hunter and I was the assassin. Our father was a bounty hunter before, so he taught both of us our skills. Our mother passed away after giving birth to me. I remembered that randomly he'd get into bad moods with me and was quite hostile... As if he blamed me for my mother's death or something else, maybe. That's enough about that though... We were supposed to share Nyla when he gave her to us, but Jun ended up just taking her for herself... She was the older and the stronger one, plus she was a spoiled brat when she was younger. That attitude still stays with her today when it comes to prices. She always gets what she wants. Thank god she was appreciative of other things, otherwise she would've been a pain to work with. Then again, most of the time we didn't even work together. A bounty and an assassination are two completely different things. I watched the man as he walked out of the bar.
"I'm gonna take a breather." I said after five minutes.
"Sure, whatever. I'll be here... Like always." Jun said with a roll of her eyes. I walked outside of the bar to see that the man was sitting down against the outer wall of the bar.
I walked up to him, but he didn't look at me. "Why do you want to have a Fire Nation General hunted down anyway?"
The man looked up at me in tears. "He destroyed my village! Burned everything! The houses... The farms... Even the people... My entire family is dead because of the Fire Nation! I can't rest until I know that he's paid for what he's done."
I stayed silent for a minute. "Do you have any idea where he is now?"
"What?" the man asked.
"If you give me a general location, I can track him down from there without the Shirshu." I said.
"B-But, y-your sister-"
I interrupted the man before he finished. "My sister doesn't speak for both of us all the time. Now, tell me something about this man before I lose my interest in helping you..."
"T-The last I heard of them, h-he burned down another village east of mine, Tao Shai Village. H-He shouldn't be far from there." the man answered. I got on top of my giant puma, a pet that I found myself four years ago as a kitten and now used as a steed.
"Come back here in two days. I'll be here." I said. And with that I rode off towards Tao Shai. I got to the village in about a day. Kala's(my giant puma) speed was one that rivaled that of the Giant Eel Hound. Sadly, Tao Shai was already burned down... Not a pretty sight. Some of the buildings were still in the process of burning down, which meant that the battalion wasn't far ahead of here. I rode through the village quickly. If I saw anyone who needed me, I would've been there forever helping them. It was my personality. I was the complete opposite of my sister; I'd help anyone who came to me that was suffering no matter what they paid me. I charged extra for the people who wanted me to kill people for spite. My sister and I had no real allegiances to any nation. We just worked for the higest bidder. We wouldn't turn away anyone who was willing to pay our prices. They were ridiculously high, but not for no reason. Both of us did our jobs fast and well. I located the batallion's camp about thirty miles away from the burned down village. I waited until it was nighttime and everyone in the camp was asleep including the lookouts. I couldn't take all of them if they were trying to attack me all at once... I got off of Kala in the middle of the forest.
"Shh... Stay here until I come back." I said as I got my ring blade and shirasaya from his saddle. I attached the ring blade to the belt that went across my shoulders and held the shirasaya in my hand. My ring blade was my main weapon when it came to fighting, but my shirasaya was special to me for stealthy assassinations. Unlike most swords, it was sharpened on both sides. I reached into the bag on Kala's side and tied it over my nose and mouth. I reached into it again and pulled out a small bag that I attached the the belt that hung loosely around my waist. It held small things like several types of bombs(smoke, regular explosive, poison, etc.), shuriken, two kunai, poison darts and a blow gun, some distractions(like small balls, a toy duck)and a large supply of flying blowfish poison... Well, I only had a small vial of it, but it didn't take a large dose to kill people. One drop from the vial could kill a dozen full grown men. Flying Blowfish were crosses between flying fish and blowfish. They're extremely dangerous because they are aggresive and attack anything that comes within five feet of them in any direction... Thank god they're solitary creatures... Kala sat down and whimpered a little bit as I started to walk away. I walked back to him, shushed him a little and then pet him as he nuzzled his face up against mine. I climbed up a tree next to Kala, making sure to stay hidden in its shadows. When I got to a comfortable spot, I observed the camp layout; One look out in front of the entire camp, three rows of three tents that looked like they could house two soldiers, and one larger tent in the back of the others. The larger tent was obviously the place where my target slept; General Wei. Killing the General wouldn't be a problem, it was getting rid of the other men. I had to somehow wipe out the entire batallion... I examine the tents from the tree top. Each one of them had a fire with a cooking pot over it and barrel next to it. I guess that was their water supply. Since there were pots over the fires, they definately used the water to make soup in the pots. I could definately go around and poison that. Food was alway a first concern of batallions and I don't think anyone would be wanting to wake the general up. I suspected that in camps like these, the general usually woke up by himself and went out in the morning at his own leisure. I took a deep breath and then pulled out my small blow gun and a single dart. I loaded the dart into the gun and brought it to my lips, aiming for the lookout's neck. I took another deep breath and let out a strong puff of air. A mere second and a half later, the soldier awoke from his slumber and clutched his neck. He got up, bad move... Within five seconds, he fell to the floor. He wasn't dead, merely paralyzed. Since he got up the poison spread throughout his body. I got out of the tree and walked towards the camp. I stopped at the guard and picked him up over my shoulder quietly. I tossed him in a bush so he was hidden and let the poison carry out its task. Completely paralyzed, he would die within ten minutes. He was even blind right now. I walked over to the nearest tent from behind it, being careful not to have shadows casted by the fire, and peered at the barrel next to it. I was right, it was a water supply. I reached into my pouch on my right side and took out the vial of flying blowfish poison and then carefully removed the lid of the barrel before dropping the poison in it. Then I crept up to the General's tent, slipping into it as the wind blew. He stirred a little in his bed and I hid in the shadows in the corner of the tent. I snaked up to him slowly and unsheathed my shirasaya. With one swing, I chopped off his head. I swung my shirasaya again, cleaning the blood off of it and resheathed it. Then I bent down next to General Wei's decapitated body and pulled the bloody gold dog tag that was on his neck off of him. On one side, there was a fire nation emblem. On the other it said "General Sho Wei of the 5th Batallion". It was good enough proof. After examining it, I put it into my pouch and walked out of the tent, back to Kala unnoticed. I tapped his side twice and he followed me quietly as we both walked away from the camp. When we were about 50 feet away from it, I got on top of him and we rode back towards Changsha, my home town where the bar was. I got to my house with Kala the next morning at about 4AM. I sleepily walked Kala over to his stable, which he shared with Nyla. Nyla peeked her head up when we walked in, sniffing around a little, but went back to sleep when she knew it was only us. I fed Kala and gave him water. Then I opened up the gate to the blanket covered hay where Nyla slept. Kala brushed up against me, knocking me over. I chuckled and slapped his rear.
"Get in there, ya big fur ball!" I whispered. He obliged and stepped beyond the gate with a yawn. I closed the gate behind Kala and then walked into the house. I sighed in relief as I walked quietly through the dark house into my room. I reached for the oil lamp on my dresser and turned it on, putting my bag down on my dresser and the rest of my weapons down on the floor.
"Some breather you took..." I heard a voice behind me say.
I jumped a little... Jun was the only person who could sneak up on me... "I was doing a job."
Jun sighed. "I said 'no' to him for a reason, Shen. That guy doesn't have enough money to pay us for the repercussions of killing a Fire Nation General."
I turned around and her grey eyes met mine. Our eyes would be exactly the same if not for the golden flakes that flared in mine. "I have my reasons for helping him. Turns out he didn't need you after all..."
Jun groaned and turned around. "I really don't get you sometimes..."
"That's why you love me!" I called out of my door as she walked away.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." Jun answered. As she continued to walk, she didn't turn around. She simply waved her hand back at me as if she were swatting a fly away.
That night when we went to the bar, I spotted the man and walked up to him. Then I gestured for him to follow me outside.
"Were you able to do it?" he asked.
I reached into my pocket and took out the General's dog tag, which still had his blood stain on it. I tossed it on the floor by the feet of the man.
"Is that enough proof or would you rather me have brought his head?" I asked as he bent down on the floor and picked it up out of the dust. He reached into his own pocket and pulled out a sack of money that was mostly empty. He put it in my hand and closed my finger around it.
"T-This is all I have. I'm sorry I couldn't pay you any more... T-Thank y-you s-so much..." The man started to break down into tears.
I looked away for a second, but then flipped my hand over so that mine was on top of his with the sack inbetween us. "Keep it."
I took my hand away from his as he grabbed the sack and began to walk away.
"W-Wait! You don't want-"
I interrupted the man. "You've already lost your village. I don't want you losing the only money that you have left..."
The man stayed silent. I turned around.
"Now get out of here before I change my mind..." I said with an emotionless face. The man looked at me, smiled once and then left. I walked back into the bar and up to Jun, who was arm wrestling. I pulled up a chair and sat down next to her, leaning on the other side of the table.
She looked at me. "So, how much did he give you?"
"I let him keep what he had." I answered, not looking at her.
She slammed the man's hand down on the table at the same time as she said "WHAT?"
The crowd roared and coins were tossed on the table. My gaze still remained away from her. Jun got up and pulled me away from the table after collecting her money.
She slammed me up against a wall and made me look at her. She was furious. "What do you mean 'I let him keep what he had'? The fuck is the matter with you? We're not a charity! We charge for our work, no donations here! Especially since the Fire Nation's gonna be on our ass if they find out!"
"It was my job not ours. I can charge whatever I want for jobs that are mine." I answered, glaring at her.
"I told you, the reason I said no yesterday was to protect us. Do you have any fucking clue how mad the Fire Nation would be if they knew we killed one of their generals?"
"I thought we were neutral?" I spat out.
"We are neutral. That doesn't mean that we can't refuse work when it's gonna come and bite us in the ass! I am not moving from here just for you, Shen. You got that?"
I rolled my eyes. "Fine, if they come after me. I'll leave."
Jun laughed a little and then walked away. "I'm only lookin' out for you. I'm still the older one. You should listen to what I say."
"As if!" I yelled. I loved Jun with all my heart, but she could such a pain in the ass sometimes... She was probably thinking the same exact thing in her own mind though. Then again, I did see her point... And I was serious about leaving if the Fire Nation ever found out it was me and pursued me somehow... I'd do anything to keep her out of danger.