Kuroda hadn't known his parents. They were taken away by Fire Nation soldiers before he had turned two. His dad was from the Fire Nation and his mom from the Earth Kingdom. He had been told that a soldier had seen his mother earth bending and that is why they were taken away. So he was taken in by Piandao the sword master, who was a good friend of his fathers.
Even at a young age Kuroda was proficient with a sword. It came almost naturally to him. By the age of ten he had mastered the sword. By age eleven, he could defeat almost anyone, including his master Piandao.
When Kuroda turned twelve he decided he would travel abroad. He had always wanted to see the world, and now that he was a master swordsman, he would easily be able to defend himself.
Kuroda traveled throughout the earth kingdom and had all kinds of adventures. He visited places like Ba Sing Se, Omashu, and even walked through the cave of two lovers. He visited the air temples, where he had found upside down buildings, flying people, and other amazing things.
His last journey was to the North Pole. He was allowed to enter the great city only because he had not revealed his connection to the fire nation by wearing earth kingdom clothing, and saying he was born in Omashu.
On his fifteenth birthday, Kuroda decided to return home to see his adopted father. On the way back he stopped at a fork in the road and read a sign that said there was a circus nearby. The sign said that it would be hosting exotic animals from all over the world. This got him interested so he decided to attend.
He bought his ticket from a man in a tiny red ticket booth. The man had a white moustache, beard, long white hair, and looked middle aged. He looked really excited for some reason. Kuroda went into the big tent right behind the booth and looked around. There was nobody there.
"Um… excuse me, did I arrive early or something? Where is everyone?" Kuroda said to the ticket master.
"You arrived right on time" he said.
"Then where are all the people?"
"Not many people come on the weekends, but during the week it's packed!" Kuroda doubted this and was thinking maybe it was the quality of the circus that was keeping people away when the ticket master ushered him back into the tent. "Hurry, the shows about to start!"
Kuroda seated himself in a front row seat as he was the only audience member there. The ticket master also happened to be the master of the circus. The show passed quickly with dancing dragons, and clowns, and dangerous animals; all of which were quite entertaining.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen…" Kuroda laughed at this, "the last attraction of the night… the Amazing Sun Goddess!"
Kuroda almost fell over backwards. The most beautiful girl he had ever seen walked out onto the stage. She had a tiny little body and had big round eyes. She was wearing a pink dress with an orange skirt and had on a tiny sun headdress. Her brown hair was worn down in a long braid. He watched as she climbed the ladder to the top of one of the two posts that were attached to a thin wire.
When she reached the top of the post she gently stepped out onto the thin wire. Kuroda jumped out of his seat. The girl then started doing cartwheels across the entire wire all the way to the other post like it was nothing.
How is that possible? he thought. "What if she falls?"
The master of the circus was clearly delighted at Kuroda's bedazzlement. "There are nets of course."
"Oh, right…" Kuroda said quite embarrassed that he did not notice the net that were right in front of him.
His wonder grew as she continued to do increasing difficult tricks on the tight rope. Her last move was the most amazing stunt he had ever seen. She was balancing on one hand on a poll attached to a table on a barrel on the tight wire!
She switched hands every once in a while and preceded to jump off, land on the wire, and push all of her props back onto one of the posts. She climbed down the ladder and bowed to the audience… which was Kuroda. She gave him a wink and then went back stage.
Kuroda stood up and realized he was all wet. "How in the world did I get so wet?" he asked to himself. Then he realized he must have been sweating like a hippocow while that girl was performing.
As he walked out he decided to come to tomorrow's show so he could see that girl again. He walked to a nearby town and decided to stay at the local inn. He found a nice affordable room and slept there that night.
Ten days later, after attending every single one of the girl's performances, he decided to ask her out. The whole day he was a nervous wreck. "This is stupid! What if she says no, or already has a boyfriend, or… no, don't think like that! Be positive!" he kept saying to himself.
That night, after the performance, Kuroda asked the ticket master if he could go back to the performers' tents.
"Of course you can! I wouldn't want to upset my best customer!"
"Thanks… um, you wouldn't happen to know which tent is the sun goddess' would you?" Kuroda asked hoping the man didn't guess his purpose for visiting her.
"Ohhhhh, so that's what you want hmmm? Hahaha ok, hers is the one behind the big tent to the left that is colored pink. Good luck!" he said smiling and walked away laughing to himself leaving Kuroda blushing and more nervous than ever.
Kuroda followed the man's directions and found himself face to face with small pink tent with a red tarp over it. There was a bell near the tent's entrance with a string attached meant to act as a warning to the person inside the tent that there was someone outside the tent.
Kuroda reached for the string and rang the bell three times.
"Come in!" a voice inside the tent said.
A little voice in the back of his head told him to run away screaming, but he kept this little voice in check and stepped through the flap. There was the girl doing the most bizarre stretch. She was lying on her stomach with her torso bent so that her feet were touching her head.
"Hi!" she said as she got up closing the distance between them very quickly. She leant in so that her face was extremely close to his. This made him even more uncomfortable than he already was which Kuroda had thought to have been impossible.
"Um, hi" he said uneasily. This, he decided, had been a very bad idea.
"My name's Ty Lee. What's yours?" she said with a grin.
After a slight pause, he stated "Kuroda, my name's Kuroda."
"Well Kuroda, it's nice to meet you. So, can I help you with something?" She had a smile on her face and a flirtatious look about her.
"Um, yes, well… you see… would you like to go out sometime?"
"I'd love to! I've been waiting for you to ask me out. How about tomorrow after the show?"
"Great!" he blurted out. Then he thought about how she had said she had been waiting for him to ask her out. "Wait a minute, how did you know I was going to ask you out?"
"You had come to everyone of my performances for the past week silly. It wasn't that hard to deduce. So I'll see you tomorrow night?"
"Absolutely!" he answered and left the tent. After he was on the road to the inn he was staying out he jumped in the air and screamed, "YES!! Hahaha!!" This was definitely the best day of his life.
After he regained his composure he was too busy thinking about what a ladies man he was to notice the moving shadows in the trees all around him.