One hundred years is a long time to fight and kill one another. It causes divisions, leaves scars, and creates hatred. The effect on people can be irreversible, causing them to hate each other because of something as simple as where they were born, whether they pledged allegiance to the flame, or the earth and whether their sympathies still lie with those nations. But enough about that, this story ain't about world changing people and events, its about a small group of individuals trying to protect what they know and love, each other...
The sun crested the hill to shine down upon a small group of men and women, they slept around a small campfire wrapped in their blankets, it was chilly enough to put frost on the ground and create white puffs out of men's breaths. A thin man sat in a tree not far from the camp, his eyes roamed the countryside looking for danger, his jet black hair was spiked and a mask covered the bottom portion of his face, his large spear sat at the foot of the tree and a dagger was stabbed into the tree within easy reach. He rubbed his fingerless gloved hand together to stir warmth into them. Though it was frozen, he moved as little as possible, even his breath came shallow to keep his movement slight. One of the blankets stirred and a man popped his sleepy-eyed gaze out into the cold morning, he blew out a breath to watch it dissipate and smiled as he spotted his sentry sitting in the tree. The masked man kept his eyes roaming, not turning to look at his companion though feeling his gaze on his back. The waking man mumbled to himself and got his things together, the noise of his wakefulness stirred several others in the camp to life, they too started to pack up. The man turned back to his treed companion.
"Oui, Tetsuya! We're movin' out in a couple of hours, get some grub." Tetsuya looked towards the booming voice of his best friend, the only one he still called his brother. Tetsuya nodded, pulled out his dagger and dropped to the ground, all of this was done in a single seamless motion. Tetsuya turned to watch his friend approach.
"Have you ever heard of stealth Kuma? The damn Fire Lord probably heard your big mouth." Kuma smiled down at Tetsuya, it wasn't that Tetsuya was short, in fact he was a hair taller than most men, it was just that Kuma was as big as his name sake. Tetsuya was nearly head and shoulders shorter than Kuma. He picked up his spear and and made a motion as if to attack Kuma, Kuma didn't flinch. He smiled, though it was hard to see below the mask.
"You're getting better." Tetsuya said, watching Kuma smile wide.
"Yer eyes said you weren't gonna commit, sides, I had a good teacher, Master Testuya." Kuma did a mock formal bow and laughed slightly. Tetsuya got serious again.
"Nothing to report. When Hana was keeping watch i did some scouting, we seemed to have lost them for now, but we wont get this lucky for long, we need a plan." Kuma nodded, he had something brewing, but he didn't say anything just yet.
"What we need is some more fire power, so to speak." The speaker was a tall woman, she was almost as tall as Tetsuya, her black hair was pulled above her head into a braid that between her breasts. Even in the frigid morning her feet were bare, she was on the other hand covered from neck to ankle in heavy winter clothing. The only reason her teeth didn't chatter was force of will.
"You know its a lot warmer with shoes on." Tetsuya shook his head with a slight smile on his face as Kuma finished talking. The woman punched Kuma's arm as she grinned from ear to ear.
"I bet its a bit warmer if you weren't the size of battleship." Kuma chuckled. Tetsuya moved around the two of them and headed to the camp for some food.
"You need me to keep watch? I see a lot better than the rest of you." The woman said. Kuma scratched his head.
"Naw, we move soon. Akira and Uke can scout about, see if they can scare anythin' up, you." He put his index finger on her forehead. She swatted it away.
"Make sure ya got yer strength up, if we run inta Phoenix Warriors we're royally screwed." He walked past her towards the camp yelling for everyone to either wake up or get to work. She smiled at his back, she let her mind drift back to the beginning, when she first met Kuma and Tetsuya...