Chapter 2: A Worthy Opponent
Edited and Updated on 11/13/2014
"So me, Calila, Vawn and Sheo, we're all sitting in this tree watching the battle go on and the army is way undertrained but they've got numbers on their side. Then we see the admiral, the general and his advisor finally come out their tent from hiding like cowards and the three of us jump. Now Sheo's a big guy and he grabs the general, tiny little guy. Vawn and I grab the advisor and get him pinned down. Now Calila, she's maybe five foot two or something. She drops down onto the biggest guy, knocks his ass to the ground and puts a knife to his throat. Before we could say anything, he starts yelling 'Fall back! We surrender!' They never touched that village again," Kunai said with a laugh.
"Very nice!" Iroh praised, clapping lightly.
Zuko shrugged, pretending he was unimpressed. In reality she wasn't a half bad story teller.
"You got a better one?" Kunai scoffed playfully, an actual invitation underneath the teasing.
"I've got plenty stories, I just don't care to tell them."
Kunai shrugged and stood up, turning to go to the kitchen when she saw the calendar on the wall. Suddenly a scowl crossed her face. "Hey guys, what day is it?"
"April 27th, why?" Iroh answered.
"Damn," Kunai breathed to herself. She exhaled slowly and turned to the two of them. "It's nothing. I gotta go out for a while." She grabbed her bag and scurried out the door before anyone could protest. Zuko watched her leave curiously, standing when she disappeared from view.
"I'm going to follow her." He said. "Something's up."
Iroh sighed. "Nephew must you be so paranoid?"
Zuko snorted. "I'm not paranoid." He grumbled, walking out the door. She had just left too quickly. Something was going on and he was determined to know what. He saw her figure flash for a second before disappearing in the mass of bodies. Zuko followed after her, wading through the thick crowds and searching the horizon. He saw her again a few minutes later, leaving a bakery with a small bag in hand. She looked around, not noticing the Firebender and nodded to herself before sneaking into the woods. Zuko frowned suspiciously and followed after her, careful to stay far enough behind her. Suddenly she disappeared, melting into the mass of trees. Zuko grumbled quietly to himself and continued on the path. Before he knew it he was in a wide green clearing. He heard the faint sound of singing in the distance and followed the gentle notes to where Kunai was knelt before a tree, a trail of smoke dancing around her.
"My little Dragon, rest in your dreams. I will watch over you, though it does seem. That one day you'll grow up and find your own way. My little Dragon in my heart please stay. My little dragon..." her voice broke.
"In my heart… please stay." He voice tapered to a mere whisper as tears began to stream down her face. "I wish I had you around right now. Maybe I shouldn't have left but I couldn't… I just wish you could tell me the right thing to do. I love you."
"Kunai…" Zuko started softly, quickly regretting it.
She turned sharply and Zuko could see a single cupcake with a candle in it.
"Did you really fucking follow me?" she demanded, wiping her face and standing putting her tough façade on. Zuko scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, her deeply irritated and angry gaze making him feel incredibly small.
"I…uh… I wanted to know where you were going?"
"Well now you know so you can leave."
Zuko cringed at the cold tone of her voice. "What are you doing here anyway?" he asked, ignoring her pleas.
For a few moment, she just stared at him, annoyed and in no mood to deal with false sympathy. Finally she sighed and pressed her fingers to her temples. "My older brother. He got cut down three years ago." She knelt back down. "He used to get me a cupcake with a candle on my birthday when I was little… and he'd sing to me. I'm returning a favor," she said, her voice painfully softening. Zuko stiffened. A girl was crying right in front of him! What was he supposed to do? The only girl he'd ever really seen cry was Ty Lee, Azula being stone cold and Mai being... Mai. He brought his hand up, contemplating placing it on her shoulder before dropping it with a weak sigh.
"I'm sorry. I know what it's like to lose someone you love," he whispered.
Kunai breathed a humorless chuckle. "Sibling?"
"My mother."
"You loved her and she loved you?" Kunai asked, glancing over her shoulder. Zuko nodded and Kunai smiled, wiping the tears from her cheeks. "Then I can't relate. My mom didn't give a damn about me but my brother… he raised me." She sighed and closed her eyes. "I'm sorry for snapping at you."
Zuko shook his head. "You don't have to apologize for that. I shouldn't have followed you."
Kunai shrugged and turned back to her cupcake. "My little dragon in my heart please stay." She sang in a sweet and gentle alto and blew out the candle. Kunai stood up slowly, picking up the cupcake and tipping it towards him.
"Walk back with me and we can split it?" she proposed sweetly. Zuko smiled at her, and Kunai felt a shiver shoot through her along with a general notion that he should do that more often.
"Sure."
Kunai smiled and started to stroll to the edge of the clearing. "You know…" she started mischievously, setting the cupcake down. "This place is totally isolated. How about a rematch?" she challenged, cocking her hips.
Zuko looked her over; the cock of her hips, the muscle on the bit of midriff uncovered by her top and finally the fierce grin on her lips.
"You really wanna test me?"
"It would be my pleasure." She smirked took a step towards him. She needed a good fight, an opportunity to burn off her emotion, feel her muscles strain to their limits again.
"You're on," he growled. They both stepped back, readying themselves for battle, encircling each other, waiting for the first move. Zuko took it, lunging at her with a fire ball. Kunai kicked it in half and bent the water from the grass, holding the wall of liquid in front of her, wielding the weapon with a smile. For the slightest moment, Zuko gaped at the ability. While he was distracted, Kunai wound the water around his legs, flicking her arms back with all intention of knocking him back. Zuko melted through it and jumped to his feet, steam rising around him.
"Thought you had me," he snarled as they began to circle each other once more.
"Oh, now don't get cocky just yet," Kunai jeered and shot a fireball at him which he easily evaded. He jumped towards her, stepping around her left leg and striking her side and sweeping her legs out from under her. Kunai fell onto her back, staring up at Zuko who stood over her, fist clenched and pulled back.
Kunai clutched her side, waving her hand up at him. "I'm dead, I'm dead!"
"Are you ok?" Zuko asked, dropping his arm.
Kunai grimaced and pulled her hand from her side, a small first degree burn underneath. To Zuko's surprise, she chuckled. "You got me good! How'd you get me?" she asked as she stood.
"Your left side," Zuko said, staring uneasily at the burn. "You're right side is dominant. You favor it. Are you sure you're-"
"Zuko," Kunai said, grasping him by his shoulders and staring into his eyes. "I'm a warrior. It's a little burn and I'm a big girl." Zuko nodded awkwardly and Kunai clapped him on the back, brushing past him and picking up the cupcake.
"Come on, let's head back," she said, pulling a piece off of the cupcake and popping it into her mouth as they walked side by side from the woods.
As they walked off they were unaware of the silent snickering in the trees, unaware of the deep brown eyes watching them in victory. Taking down the firebender scum was payment enough to Jet but the girl? The gold he'd get for turning in the Great Dragon would provide him, Smellerbee and Longshot the new opportunity they had yet to find in Ba Sin Se and new life to the freedom fighter cause.
Later the night, Zuko entered their shared room to find Kunai sitting on her bed, sharpening a blade and singing to herself. Completely unaware of his presence, she sang louder and louder and Zuko recognized the tune.
"…no colony girls, he said. I like em pretty and I like em fed. Last colony girl who warmed by bed," Kunai sang and Zuko filled in the next line.
"Had just one tooth and a bald head," he chuckled and looked over at Kunai.
Kunai's jaw fell open and she dropped her head back on the pillow, laughing breathlessly. "Wh-what!" she finally chocked, rolling onto her side. "Is that what you think it says?"
Zuko frowned. "It's not?"
Kunai shook her head. "No!" she tried to collect herself and sang the line through her laughter. "Had a dick like an ostrich horse between her legs."
Zuko blushed. Though he did find it funny he was unused to such unabashed crudeness especially from girls. His embarrassment was only exacerbated by her inability to stop laughing. However, when she finally contained herself, she looked over at himself with a bright smile and continued singing.
"Earth kingdom ladies are my joy. Omashu girls are my toys. But I won't fuck no colony girls!" she sang the ending dramatically flinging her arms and falling back on the bed.
"I've heard the song from soldiers before but it was less… lewd," Zuko said shyly, awaiting her judgement.
"Fire Nation Soldiers? Yeah, they're like that. They're pretty rigid and clean cut. I was in a Fire Nation prison once and these new soldiers were going on about their dicks or something, they were kids, and their commander comes in and completely chews them out for being "unprofessional" or something and looking bad in front of the prisoners." She pillowed her head in her hands and looked at him expectantly.
"Well… Fire Nation soldiers strive for absolute self-control-"
"Unlike Earth Kingdom brutes."
"Exactly."
The conversation went deep into the intricacy of Fire Nation training and Earth Kingdom training, the weaponry of non-benders and battle tactics to a complete analysis of the bloodiest battle between the Dragon and a group of elite Fire Nation soldiers.
"If you had better ration kits-"
"You're right, you're totally right! But we'd spent all the money on we had at the time on new ostrich horses we'd lost. Something would have had to give."
"We're the ostrich horses necessary?"
"To get from Tang-Sen to the Shi-Yun Dessert? Maybe, I mean we took the entire group and…" her voice trailed off as she focused on a beam of light on the floor and looked up towards its source, the window.
Zuko followed her gaze, his mouth drooping open.
"Please tell me the sun isn't actually up right now?" Kunai said blankly and looked at him. They held each other's gaze for a few seconds. Then their lips twitched at the edges.
The wave of laughter filled the room as they collapsed onto the bed, cackling into the early morning air. As Zuko's laughter ebbed, he realized he couldn't remember laughing like this at all and while he wanted to blame the odd behavior on his part on sleepiness, the laughter picked up again when Kunai snorted like a cow pig, threw her head back, hit the wall and started laughing as she held the back of her head. And it continued like this with her continuing to laugh and him stopping and then laughing at her for minutes until Iroh opened the door, staring in pleased confusion at his nephew sprawled on his bed, red faced and laughing and Kunai writhing around having knocked all her blankets off the bed.
"Oh hi Iroh!" Kunai squeaked, trying to contain herself.
Zuko looked up, his eyes widening. He sat up stiffly. "U-Uncle!"
A smile spread wide across Iroh's face. "I was unsure of what exactly it was I was hearing at this hour. But I guess there are worse way to be woken up. I suggest you both try and get some rest," Iroh said and stepped back, sliding the door closed.
Kunai snickered and yawned. "I am gonna take Iroh's advice. Good luck getting some sleep, firebender." She rolled over, yanking a blanket over herself and sighing as her body relaxed into the bed. Zuko looked up at the window and the encroaching sun that stirred in his veins. The tiredness hit him hard but he had no hope of falling back to sleep with the sun's energy as alive in him as it was. He should've been frustrated but he was far from.
The days turned to weeks and before anyone realized it, Kunai had been there for a full month and a half. The days were spent sparring until their muscles ached, each battle getting longer and longer as they mastered each other as opponents. The nights they spent reevaluating battles, exchanging hypotheticals, songs, stories and strategies until one of them demanded they save the conversation for the morning as they were already deep into the night.
Zuko awoke one morning with the sun as usual. He opened his eyes and immediately noticed a vacancy in the bed across from his. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and yawned. He roamed until he heard a quiet hiccup and a sniff. He followed the sound out to the porch to see Kunai leaned over the balcony, wiping her eyes.
"You're up early," Zuko yawned and walked over to her.
"Couldn't sleep," she said flatly.
Zuko sighed, not caring to pry. He started back towards the door, eyes still locked on her. She simply nodded and stared back into the budding sunset, the pink and orange tendrils that usually made her smile now did nothing for her bleak outlook. As Zuko left Kunai sighed and wiped her eyes, bloodshot from held back tears. When she was sure he was gone she slipped back into their room, sitting down at the small table. She sighed and laid out an empty scroll, swirling the quill around in a bit of ink absent mindedly.
"Uncle. Wake up," Zuko said, poking the old man with his foot.
"Wha… oh. Good morning, nephew," He yawned and Zuko winced at the pungent waif of morning breath.
"Nephew I think you should check on Kunai," Iroh slowly stood to his feet, cracking his back.
"Why's that?"
"I heard her crying outside this morning. I went to check on her but she denied being upset. I think she'd open up more to you."
Zuko ran his fingers through his hair. "Why would she talk to me?" he asked uneasily.
Iroh simply chuckled cryptically and waked past Zuko with a pat on the back.
Meanwhile, Kunai sat at the table, slowly writing out a letter. She paid extra attention to each mark, each stroke, making sure it was perfect. She told herself that maybe if the calligraphy was impeccable that the words she wrote wouldn't seem so bad. She sniffed and pawed away a tear as she continued. Zuko walked into the room silently to see her with her back to him, focused intently. Cautiously he walked up behind her, reading over her shoulder.
Dear Akiri,
You must have been expecting this. I'm sorry I haven't written in such a long time. Thing have been crazy. I know that I promised to come back and believe me I will. It's my responsibility. It's just too hard now. I'm not stable and it wouldn't be good for any of us. How is she doing? I've been meaning to ask if she knows that she-
Zuko coughed against his will and Kunai immediately threw her arm over the letter, whipping her head around to glare at him.
"Do you fucking mind?" she growled.
Zuko blinked and cleared his throat. "I'm sorry. Look, Uncle wanted me to check on you." He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, cursing his lack of grace with words. Kunai bit her lip.
"I'm fine. I don't have to be fucking cheery all the damn time." She sat back in the chair and scrubbed her face with her hands. "I'm writing a private letter to an old friend." Her voice wavered and Zuko couldn't help but not believe her. He rolled his eyes inside deciding he had no reason to care about some letter she was writing to a friend. "Now can you let me finish this letter in peace?"
Zuko bit his lip and nodded, turning on his heel and walking slowly out of the room. He paused to take one last look at her and he winced inside as he saw a tear trail down the apple of her cheek that she quickly pawed away. With a troubled sigh she turned back to her letter, slowly writing out each horrible sentence of her letter and hoping with all she had they weren't as painful to Ekiri as they were to her.