Kazuki knew the moment Akiko died, felt it at his very core.
Their courtship, unusual as it had been between a spirit of mischief and mayhem like himself, and the no-nonsense airbender Akiko had been, had nevertheless brimmed with love and deep affection.
He held the swaddled baby in his arms, feeling numb. She was the only reason he hadn't flown back to the Spirit World by now. Shock and rage swirled in his subconscious like a tornado and he struggled with the harsh reality of his situation. Akiko, his beloved, had perished at the hands of the firebenders who had slaughtered everyone else in the western air temple.
All of his old friends, his home, his people...all gone.
Even the Avatar had ceased, though he was not in fact dead. Kazuki could feel that. Why he knew this, he wasn't sure. He couldn't exactly pinpoint it but the Avatar had sealed away his spirit.
The entire world was going to be thrown into more chaos.
To distract himself from his grief and morbid thoughts of the future, he stared down at the tiny face of his daughter.
She was so like her mother in appearance-and spirit, he could detect that already. Malu would be beautiful and brown haired, like her mother, he was sure. Whether she would inherit his sense of mischief, or the effects of her spiritual heritage from him would be determined as she grew older.
Kazuki was snapped out of his internal reverie by a low, urgent groan from Daichi. The firebenders were on their way, scouring the forest of the mountainous terrain of the Western Air Temple for those who had escaped. As much as he burned to wreak havoc upon Afiko and the firebenders who had murdered his wife and attempted to abduct their innocent child, Kazuki had to act fast and find a safe route to escape and keep Malu hidden from those who sought to harm her.
Grabbing the reins of the sky bison tightly with the lemur, Ume, snuggled protectively around the still slumbering child, Kazuki inhaled deeply, struggled for inner calm, and opened all his chakras to his surroundings, physical and spiritual.
He would keep his promise to Akiko; he would do all in his power to keep Malu, their daughter, safe from those who would harm her.
The man of the Spirit World flew on the back of one of the last living flying bison in the world into the violet sunset without a glance back at his old life, until the time when the Avatar would need him, once again