Rhea: Yes, I know... another one... I can't help it. But don't worry! I get more and more inspired EVERY DAY meaning new chapters every week! And more than one! Aren't I amazing? XD Just kidding.
Freddy: You amaze me sometimes...
Rhea: Be happy, Freddy, be very happy...
Freddy: -whispers- she's even writting a novel...
Rhea: -glares- yes... I'm writing a novel. About two theives...
Kaira: DISCLAIMER: Rhea only owns Kaori and the plot so don't sue. And a little note: this was all thought up at the end of the second season, before the third started (AKA yesterday), and everyone else thinks Aang is dead but we don't care because we aren't dealing with everyone else yet; just the people in my lovely story at this point and time.
Rhea: o.O I really need to end my multiple personalities...
"Hello!" An old, tattered voice rang through the night wind. It was pouring down rain, near midnight. Iroh shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he stood in the rain carrying… something. He found himself at the door of what looked like a well light, welcoming home in the middle of a forest, far from any cities deep in the fire nation. "Some one! Please! Answer this door!" He knocked on the door loudly once again. The door had a red dragon drawn upon it with inscriptions above it. The house wasn't too big nor too small but kept the elegance of a mansion or well kept castle.
Foot steps were heard running inside the house as a door inside the house was opened. "I'm coming! Take a breath!" A young, feminine voice called, irritated and sleepy. The door slid open to reveal a young, tall, and fit woman with deep red hair pulled tight into a bun with loose, long bangs hanging in her face. She had cold, grey eyes and very pale skin. She wore thick black eyeliner on her top and bottom eyes and deep red lipstick with no cover up or any of that crap. She was wearing a big, loose black skirt that dragged behind her feet and a shirt that tied like a karate shirt only black with embroidered designs. The sleeves reached just past her elbows.
Iroh gave a sigh of relief and a huge grin to the young woman. "Kaori!" The old man breathed out.
The girl's eyes widened as she looked from the creepily happy old man to what he was carrying over his shoulder. She gasped, "Zuko!" After another split second she opened the door fully to let them both in.
"Thank you, child." Iroh said as he and his nephew fell to the floor. Zuko was unconscious.
Kaori closed the door behind them quickly and ran into a nearby room and brought back some towels. They were a soft maroon with embroidered ends. She handed one to Iroh and folded the other and placed it under Zuko's head. "What happened, Iroh?" she asked after a minute of watching the old man dry himself off.
"We snuck back into the fire nation last night." Iroh simply answered as he took off a huge brown over coat and hung it up next to the door. "But that's not important at the moment. You're a skilled healer of the fire nation still, correct?"
"Yes, Iroh. But I'm loyal to the fire nation. Have you and prince Zuko not been banished from the fire nation?" Kaori stood up slowly.
"Surely you wouldn't put your country before your dearest friends, Kaori. Zuko needs your help; can you really befriend him?" Iroh gave Kaori a nice warm smile.
Kaori sighed and looked down and the slightly peaceful looking Zuko. "Iroh… My freedom is of utmost importance to me, as was Zuko's reputation and position in this kingdom not too long ago." She looked away from him.
"Kaori… I know what the Avatar and his friends are up too. You have nothing to worry about." Iroh patted her back and offered her to invite him into a living room.
"Helping you could cost me everything, Iroh." she refused to invite him any further into the house.
"You've already taken us out of the rain, Kaori." The old man looked at Zuko, "the poor boy doesn't know whom to be loyal to; his own destiny or the one that had been planned for him since his birth. He needs someone's opinion and advice he'll listen to. I've tried but he just won't listen."
"Iroh… you've been a kind and caring friend but I can't let you stay here. If Azula's following you like I've heard; she'll come here and I'll be treated to an even worse punishment than death. I know her hate for me." Kaori sighed.
"Don't worry about her. I know you can flip her on her back in a second." Iroh encouraged Kaori then he sighed. "What if I left… and you help Zuko. I won't return and you won't have to worry about anything."
"Zuko was banished as well. I can't hide him, Iroh." She sat on a step that was in front of a door that connected the first room to the rest of the house, the door was closed.
"If someone comes, Zuko will put them in their place. He's become a great fire bender and an excellent strategist. Besides, I know you can bend lighting; I've seen it. That's enough for you and Zuko to work together to fend off even Azula." Iroh gave himself a mental pat on the back, proud of what he's taught his nephew.
Kaori sighed again, "Iroh…"
"Alright, alright. You won't have to ask us to leave again. I'll just gather up Zuko and we'll be on our way." Iroh put on a depressed face and slid open the door to the outside world. It was pouring even harder than before. A large crack of thunder rolled over the house causing it's every wooden plank to quake with the assistance of lightning brightening the sky to daylight for a split second.
It was as dark as midnight again and Iroh was putting on his over coat. He started humming a lonely tune in G minor, "The night will be lovely once the storm passes." Iroh looked at Kaori before threatening his back with the weight of Zuko. "Do you still stay up all night gazing at the distant moon, Kaori?"
"What?" Kaori asked, thinking that was the most random, unimportant question ever.
"When you and Zuko were little, you'd meet up on a hill in the dead of night and gaze up at the moon. You'd talk and giggle till early morning then run back to where you both belonged. Remember?" Iroh grinned as he attempted to pick up the unconscious boy but his back gave in as he moaned in pain, he put his hand on his hip.
"What's the point of this question?" Kaori asked sternly.
"I caught Zuko staring up at the moon the other night. That's when he made a very conscious decision to come back to the fire nation. Something tells me he wanted to see you." Iroh cracked his back.
"Me?" Kaori blinked. -
"Oh, it was just a guess. He never says anything he wants to say. Or thinks of saying for that matter. He doesn't talk to me about anything." Iroh bent down to pick up his nephew again. "Just don't hold it against him; I was guessing on one fact alone."
Kaori closed her eyes and bent her head down. -
"Well… I'll be getting plenty of exercise tonight, won't I Kaori?" The old man laughed as he stood under the doorway, letting some of the droplets of rain hit his face. "It was nice to see you again. I'll be sure to tell Zuko what a fine, beautiful, young woman you've become. Thanks for the slight resting place, by the way." He turned his head back to the girl whom was still sitting on the step, her head bent and eyes closed. "Later Kaori." He stepped out into the rain.
"Wait!…"
"Hmm?" Iroh turned back, letting water drool over his head and face, looking back into the warm and dry home.
Kaori sighed and stood up, "Just stay till the rain stops."
"Aha!" Iroh danced back into the little room, "I knew you'd come through with your real rebel self, Kaori! I'm so glad your on our side."
"I'm not." Kaori said coldly as she closed the door again. "Iroh… you'll leave when the rain stops. I hope that's alright with you. I'll help Zuko and send him away when I think he's ready."
"Kaori…" Iroh shifted his weight under Zuko again.
"Please… It's the only way to keep this at minimum. I wouldn't forgive myself if you showed back up here in a couple of days, or Zuko, and told me the other had died."
"Why would you say something like that?"
"I know this forest; it's quite vast and without the proper needs fulfilled, you'll die. It's even more harsh on every living thing under the conditions of a storm." she sighed and took off the sandals she was wearing. "Well, come in. We can place Zuko on a bed and you'll tell me what happened while the storm leaves us."
Iroh smiled warmly at Kaori.
Zuko blinked awake. -Where am I?- He sat up to find himself in a warm room with sliding glass doors as windows opening to a scene of a well grown and natured garden with many purples, reds, and greens. Water was also seen in the quick uptake of the scenery. He looked around the room. He found his clothing folded up, next to a single sliding wooden door opposite of the glass ones. He was in a Japanese style bed with a white under sheet. The top was a deep crimson. He heard natural running water outside the sliding windows. He saw two yellow butterflies dance around some purple flowers near a tiny waterfall causing the sound. -This place… it's peaceful.-
Kaori was in her peaceful kitchen. She was cooking something over a stove. The smell of sugar and cinnamon came into the room Zuko was in. He stood up silently and looked around again. -Sugar and cinnamon… that's familiar…- Kaori and stripped him to just his pants to keep him from getting cold. He slid open the wooden doors that opened up to more of the inside of the house. He saw another bedding folded up and placed in a corner. He looked around more to find a grey stone fireplace on the left wall. The wood was recently burned but out now. He stepped into the room to find a coffee table closer to the right side of the room with a tray with tea ornaments on it. They had been used not too long ago as well. There were more sliding glass windows that led out onto a grey stoned porch with two chairs and a side table under a roof that went about six feet from the house. The stone stopped where the roof stopped. Beyond that was the same scene Zuko saw from the windows in the room he was previously in.
Zuko looked to the opposite wall form the windows to see a doorway minus the door into what looked like a kitchen. He heard footsteps from the kitchen. He assumed it was his Uncle Iroh and walked less than cautiously into the kitchen. He nearly jumped when he saw a woman cooking instead of his uncle. "Who are you?" He asked, looking at the back of Kaori. She had been wearing the same thing as the night before, her hair in a loose pony tail, the hair beyond the ponytail falling in front of her left shoulder. It reached a few good inches below her chest.
Kaori nearly jumped to the sound of Zuko's voice but turned around calmly with almost a smile on her face. "Good morning."
Zuko's eyes widened when he recognized the girl, "K-Kaori!"
"Charming, you remember my name." She said in a sarcastic tone. She went back washing a pot she had been using to cook.
"What… How… Where's my Uncle?" Zuko decided to ask first.
"Try not to talk too loud." Kaori replied a she put the cleaned and dried pot into a cabinet. She turned back to him, "He left after it stopped raining. It was his idea in the first place, I just agreed."
Zuko looked at the breakfast Kaori had made. "Why did you let me stay?"
Kaori handed him a plate with red and black dragons painted along the boarder, "You were poisoned, Zuko. Either through food or through an open cut or wound on your body. Try not to get too hot tempered or all my hard work will have been for nothing. It's a stubborn poison that takes lots of medicine, time, and patience to get rid of. If you jump about and react the way I assume you still do, you'll never be cured."
Zuko looked from the plate to the food, then to her, "That's a very cheerful way of saying 'I'm glad you're alive, Zuko'."
"You need to eat something. I made this for you, so eat 'till you're stomach is satisfied." Kaori sat down on a bright red pillow seat.
Zuko sighed and sat down on another bright red pillow . He put the plate on the table and picked up chopsticks. He took two pancakes, three slices of fried bacon, a slice of buttered and cinnamon toast, and three sausages. He began eating but after about five minutes of silence he stopped, sipped half a cup of milk and looked over at Kaori whom had found a paint brush and parchment to write on. "Why are you doing this?"
"Doing what?" Kaori asked as she dipped her brush into a cup of ink and continued writing without looking up at him.
"Helping me. You know what will happen if you're caught." Zuko ate a piece of bacon.
Kaori took a while to reply. "Zuko… I-" There was a knock on the door. "Great." She said with sarcasm.
Zuko jumped up but Kaori placed her hand on his shoulder and whispered, "Go into the bathroom, people can't see though the windows in there." Kaori walked into the hall and opened a door and made a movement telling Zuko to hurry up and get inside.
"What about you?" He whispered as he followed her.
"Don't worry about it, just don't make any noise, sit on the floor and meditate or something." She whispered back and closed the door behind him. The knock sounded again. "I'm coming!" She yelled as she went into the first room and closed the door shutting the rest of the house away from the tiny room. She put on her sandals quickly and cracked the door open.
"What took you so long?" An irritated, young girl's voice asked.
I LOVE TOPH... and SOKKA... and ZUKO... and many mooooooooooooore... Please Review!!
