Okay, finally, the mission, the big trip. For all the marbles! And we're getting just close enough that next chapter important and relevant things happen! Yay!
Chapter 11: Better Off Alone, Or So You'd Think.
Zuko looked twitchy. As far as Kaido knew, there had been some sort of argument and then his brother had disappeared and hadn't been seen since late the night before last.
Irresponsible cad.
Kaido felt like approaching him but Keiichi quickly swooped in and snared his attention.
"I wouldn't bother him, he seems a bit miffed. Let him stew for a bit." Keiichi stated with friendly advice, and Kaido crossed his arms.
"That ridiculous man has too much impact on him."
"Indeed. I'd attempted to get him to let the relationship go but you know how our little leader is once he gets something into his head." Keiichi smiled fondly, arms crossed. "This little adventure is the perfect example."
"yeah, he's stubborn, but smart about it. Usually." Kaido answered and Keiichi smiled a little, arms crossing.
"You love him." he stated more than asked but Kaido crossed his own arms, feeling jut a bit defensive.
"I'm beginning to doubt that. All I've ever done is compete with Katsuo. It's entirely possible that it was my competitive nature blinding me." Kaido stated, contemplative and just a tad brooding on the subject. Keiichi shook his head, a small smile in place.
"I was talking about Katsuo, you love him. He's your brother, isn't he?" the advisor asked, Kaido sighing a little. At this rate everyone in the Fire Nation was going to know about this…
"Too many people seem to be guessing that recently." he muttered and Keiichi nodded at the confirmation the statement implied.
"Hmm, I'm an observant man." Keiichi answered and Kaido glared at him.
"So I see." he grumbled and Keiichi shook his head.
"I also see that you care about your brother's happiness. And despite my personal feelings on the matter, you should probably let him win this one, for Zuko's sake." Keiichi stated and Kaido scowled.
"just one among thousands of things Katsuo's won from me." he stated, mostly just to be contrary, he knew that Keiichi was right and had given up on his own a while ago, but he didn't exactly like being told what to do, something he and Katsuo still shared in common.
"I'm starting to think you have a bit of an inferiority complex, General Kaido." Keiichi smiled and Kaido glared at him.
"And I'm starting to think you're a gibbering twit, Advisor Keiichi." Kaido stated with a bit more malice than he'd originally intended. Keiichi simply laughed a little.
"touché." he stated and Kaido lifted an eyebrow at him.
"that's a step up from the cringing coward I had considered you before." Kaido grunted and shouldered the man a little, a traditional gesture of respect among his troops, the advisor laughing weakly.
"Completely stressed out and easily flustered, yes, coward, no." Keiichi stated with a small smile. "I've got to go see if the captain is ready for take off."
"Hn." Kaido grunted and Keiichi turned and went his way to talk to Juyoi about preparations.
Kaido watched the man go, frowning a little at his duplicity, he seemed decent once you saw he wasn't all quivering nerves and cowardice.
Interesting.
--
Katsuo was lazing about in one of the engine rooms. Admittedly, he kept getting angry glares from the engineers and it was hotter than hell, but he felt soothed by the steady stream of flame keeping them aloft.
And he kind of needed to feel soothed right about now.
He stretched and sighed heavily, kneading at his forehead and trying to organize his thoughts while at the same time wanting to thoroughly bury them in the back of his mind.
There were certain memories he wanted to keep buried and thinking about things like this would only bring them up and he didn't have a good supply of hard liquor right now. At least not enough to successfully numb those bad memories into submission.
Sometimes Katsuo just wished things were simpler…
"Hey! If you're gonna be down here blowing off your job, help out with ours." came a gruff, acceptably upset, demand and Katsuo looked up at the man, eyes hard.
"Listen, I've had a very bad few days, I need some time and a place to think." he stated, voice level but shadowed with that practiced threat. "If you and your men continue to bother me I'll make sure all those rumors about me cease to be rumor, get it?"
The engineer had gone completely white, despite the climate, and was shaking noticeably.
"I understand. Carry on sir." he stated, saluting and turning to rush back to work in an area as far away from Katsuo as possible.
Katsuo sighed again and looked back up at the metal framework ceiling.
"I might have been a little harsh on him…" he mused then shook his head, looking over at the other engineers who simply turned away, ignoring him, and rushed about their work.
Katsuo mentally groaned.
"I'm so not a people person…" he grumbled and went back to contemplating his past and whether or not he should talk to Zuko about it or not.
And also whether that dingy captain man would really notice if four bottles of dark rum went missing from the stores…
--
Zuko was twitchy. And angry.
In fact, he was downright irritable.
Juyoi cast a glance at the young noble then sighed.
"kids." he grumbled and Zuko glared over at him, bouncing his knee and making an annoying racket of it.
"What are you muttering about?" Zuko growled and Juyoi scoffed.
"I wasn't muttering, I was grumbling, there's a difference. And I was grumbling about your utter immaturity." the pilot grunted and nodded once, sharply and with a finality that Zuko, in his easily irritated state, found utterly infuriating.
"And what exactly about me is immature?" Zuko glared and Juyoi ignored him, not even caring that they were causing a scene. This was his ship, his men; in all honesty, if he didn't want to do this the damn boy could get a new pilot.
"The fact that as soon as your playmate goes missing you sulk around like a four-year-old." Juyoi stated, to the winces of everybody else on the bridge. Zuko glared for a second then turned away, propping his chin in his hand and glaring steadily at the wall.
"I'm not sulking." he grumbled and Juyoi scoffed again.
"Could've fooled me." he stated and Zuko whipped around again, once again irritability getting the best of him.
"Well, what would you suggest?" he demanded and Juyoi turned to him, hands on his hips and his face the definition of frank.
"Not sulking. Geez, he's been down in the engines for two days, go yell at the idiot if it makes you feel better just stop that infernal jiggling, that noise is going to drive me nuts." Juyoi complained, the entire room stiff as if the second their captain stopped talking Zuko would order an 'off with his head!' and they'd have to appoint a new captain.
Irritable or not, Zuko took a gift when he was offered one.
"Fine then, the engines? I suppose I'll have to go beat him senseless for wandering away from his duties." Zuko stated, nearly jumping from his seat and striding confidently to the hatch leading down to the bowels of the ship. Juyoi grunted with confirmation then froze.
"Hey! Tell Lu Ten he needs to do a double run of reds while you're down there!" he barked out the order and Zuko looked back at him and smirked.
"Don't push it." he stated and slid easily down the ladder.
Juyoi shrugged.
"Was worth a try." he grunted and his men sighed in unison the second Zuko was out of sight.
"Oh god, we thought you were toast." La Tsu gasped out, clutching his chest like he might keel over at any time.
"You shouldn't yell at him, he could totally kill you! Or even worse, demote you!" Another of Juyoi's men, Buma, stated with utter seriousness, Nitao laughed.
"When did death become better than demotion?" she asked, elbowing the man who now looked sheepish at the statement.
"Che, this is why I was never allowed to run the Fire Lord's personal envoy before! I don't back down men, and neither should you!" Juyoi declared proudly and they nodded reverently, saluting.
"Yes sir!" they stated and he glared at them.
"What the hell do you all think you're doin' standing around!? Get back to work!" he barked and they quickly scurried back to position, each with a smile on their face.
--
"Chi, cha, so me tito ha…" Katsuo muttered in sing-song to himself, doing the quick hand motions he and his brother had perfected as kids. He sighed and pulled his glove off, looking at the scars there and sighing. "Bet he doesn't have these. And he thinks I got off easy? Ignorant…"
Katsuo grumbled a little at the idea and then sunk deeper into the pile of rough burlap sacks he'd made into a sort of lounging area.
Honestly, all this dwelling in the past was making him tired; this stiffness was just wearing him out.
God, he just needed to sleep, how long had it been since he actually slept? Not just dozed but let his guard down and actually slept?
He relaxed and somewhere in the back of his mind he realized this probably broke at least five rules his mother had drilled into his head but he didn't care.
He barely followed them anymore anyway; he might as well just sleep.
And Katsuo drifted off.
--
Kaido reached out and grabbed an apple off the table off to the side in the kitchens. He's missed lunch due to training and was literally starving.
"Want a peach?" came a smooth voice behind him, Kaido glaring back at his brother holding the whole basket under one arm. Honestly, not only had the boy gotten a head start in climbing rank, his voice was changing sooner too?
Not fair.
"Yes." Kaido answered, trying to force his voice lower and Katsuo laughed a little.
"Then follow me." he declared and quickly ran out of the kitchen, Kaido growling a little and rushing out after him. They were like wraiths, even though Katsuo was doing his best to get Kaido caught by his instructors.
Katsuo was a ghost, Kaido stuck out a bit. But he wasn't about to let Katsuo escape with his peaches damn it! He was hungry!!!
Kaido sped it up a little and surged forwards only to have to skid to a stop when Katsuo slipped around a corner to avoid running straight into the Fire Sages. Kaido called a quick apology behind him as he rushed to catch up to his brother again.
Their game took them outside to the courtyards and eventually Katsuo stopped at the edge of a pond and waited for Kaido to catch up. Kaido glared at the boy and snatched a peach from the basket Katsuo had managed to not spill during their run.
Katsuo slumped down to the grass and Kaido glared down at him.
"You're so immature." Kaido stated.
"And you're too mature." Katsuo smirked up at him, barely even looking tired despite the fact that Kaido was panting hard.
"Don't you have anything you're supposed to be doing right now?" Kaido scowled, rolling his eyes a little at Katsuo's lazy demeanor.
"No. I'm leaving for an out of country mission tomorrow." Katsuo answered and Kaido felt a deep sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Once again Katsuo was passing him by. It was getting to be too regular a thing and it was really starting to piss Kaido off.
"I see. And what about Zuko?" Kaido asked, frowning a little at his twin.
"Mother's assigned someone else to watch him and Princess Azula during my field training." Katsuo answered, sounding the smallest bit bitter at the statement.
"Who are you going to be trained by?" Kaido asked, frowning at his brother's shift in attitude.
"Some lieutenant named Zhao. A real nobody, like he's gonna be able to teach me anything." Katsuo scoffed and shook his head. "I'm going to do their stupid training then be back here before you know it."
"Then I'm going to be a general before you get back!" Kaido declared, arms crossed confidently as Katsuo shot forward.
"I doubt it!" he stated and Kaido smirked.
"I will! And you'll be nothing more than a field operative." Kaido smirked and Katsuo rolled his eyes. "And you'll have to call me sir."
"I'm never calling anyone sir." Katsuo stated adamantly then smiled up at his brother and laughed. "though imagining you in the general's uniform is hilarious. Is a moustache part of the uniform? All the other generals have one."
Kaido growled and dove for his brother who easily dodged out of the way and jumped to his feet. Kaido struck at him and Katsuo weaved out of the way, flipping backwards and waving.
"See ya brother, I'll be back soon!" Katsuo declared and Kaido glared after him.
"Like I care." he grumbled and turned away to make his way back to the barracks, sniffling back an involuntary tear.
Katsuo didn't bother stifling his; he let them fall and sprinted over the rooftops to the secret office of the Army.
He'd miss that stubborn brother of his.
--
"He was messing around the engines earlier but now that lazy bum is over there in the storeroom wasting time." one of the engineers stated plainly when Zuko asked him, another scoffing from behind him.
"he was singing children's songs earlier." he interjected, shoveling coal into the furnace as another blew fire in to heat the coals up. "what kind of man sings kid's songs all by himself? He's messed up."
"he's a regular crazy! Honestly, what kind of guy threatens to…" the first man shuddered and Zuko sighed.
"sounds like he's been trouble. I'll take him off your hands." Zuko stated and stomped his way over to the sectioned off area, more an alcove than a room and spotted his black clothed nuisance. "Katsuo, you…"
Zuko frowned when he didn't stir and stepped closer and saw he was sleeping. Zuko smiled a little and sat on the pile of burlap beside him.
"You worried me. I really thought you'd jumped ship again." Zuko sighed and kneaded at his eyes. "I don't know why but it drives me crazy that you run circles around me. Just on and on and it never stops! How am I supposed to figure out how I feel when you're constantly making me feel something different?"
Zuko looked over his shoulder at Katsuo and scowled.
"And even now you're still sleeping. What happened to that famous "oops! Haha, I wasn't really asleep" play, huh? I thought you were a light sleeper." Zuko grumbled and reached down, gently touching Katsuo's shoulder. Katsuo curled in on himself reflexively and Zuko frowned.
"Katsuo? Are you awake?" Zuko asked and Katsuo shook his head.
"Don't touch me." he stated quickly and Zuko leaned over him, getting increasingly worried.
"Katsuo? Are you--" Zuko asked and Katsuo met his eyes, begging him with his expression.
"Please, just don't." Katsuo stated and Zuko pulled his hand back.
"okay." he said softly and turned around, letting Katsuo lay back down behind him.
"I'm sorry I've been so bipolar." Katsuo muttered and Zuko nodded, looking down at his hands, clasped between his knees.
"it's not your fault." Zuko answered and Katsuo groaned.
"It is. I've been a regular bitch to you. I'm sorry." he apologized again and Zuko shook his head looking back at him.
"I don't blame you." he stated, Katsuo not looking up at him.
"I just feel so… fucked up. I thought I'd put it all behind me then… Augh! It's just so stupid…" Katsuo grumbled at himself then sighed heavily. "I just feel so fucking tired. Of all this crap."
Zuko frowned and then smiled a little bit.
"you know what's weird?" he asked and Katsuo smiled a little himself.
"What Kaido would look like with a moustache." he answered and Zuko's eyes went wide at the mental image.
"What? No!" he declared and Katsuo laughed a little, turning to face him.
"It would be weird." he stated adamantly and Zuko made a face, debating it with himself.
"eh, yeah but that's not what I'm talking about!" he growled and Katsuo sat up, setting his chin on Zuko's shoulder.
"What then?" he asked and Zuko swallowed a little. He felt warm, which was a feat as it was so hot around them to begin with.
"I think it's weird that even when you're all depressed and brooding like this that I like that you trust me enough to tell me how you feel." Zuko said softly and Katsuo smiled against Zuko's neck.
"Should I brood more often?" he asked, the smile so obvious in his voice, and Zuko sighed.
"Please don't, it drives me insane." he answered honestly and Katsuo smiled to himself a little.
"I'm going to have to find a new hiding place, you keep finding all of them." he stated and Zuko groaned.
"God, I just said don't!" he declared, looking back at Katsuo who was looking at least somewhat normal. Katsuo leaned forwards and set a hand on Zuko's shoulder.
"thanks." he stated sincerely. Zuko frowned at him and half expected the man to steal a kiss.
So far he hadn't expressed thanks without one…
"Why?" Zuko asked, carefully watching Katsuo just shrug and shake his head.
"No reason." he answered and stood, offering him a hand. "C'mon, I'm sure they need you up there."
Zuko took the hand offered; feeling somewhat off balance and a bit like Katsuo wasn't quite back to normal but nodded in agreement.
They walked from the alcove, the engineers giving them a wide berth (Zuko wanted to attribute it to him being the Fire Lord but the way they looked at Katsuo said otherwise.) as they walked to the ladders that led all through the balloon.
Katsuo sighed a bit and pushed his hair back then stretched.
"I'm going to go sleep. I'll be in one of the other rooms, I might be gone a few days." he stated and Zuko turned to him, incredulous.
"A few days?!" he nearly yelled and Katsuo chuckled.
"I have to catch up on nearly a month's worth of missed sleep, I'm dead tired. That's probably why I've been feeling so stressed." Katsuo stated and waved. "Don't worry, I'll stay on the ship, I'm not leaving town this time, promise."
Katsuo quickly climbed the ladder as Zuko's face went red and he gripped his fists at his sides.
"He heard every word… that faking asshole…" Zuko growled lowly and quickly turned, heading back to the ladders that would lead him towards the bridge.
--
Kaido watched Zuko, looking angrier but at least a bit more sedate, climbed from the engines and he smiled softly to himself. He could almost understand why Katsuo constantly exasperated him.
Zuko was just cute exasperated.
"Oh, you're here." Keiichi said, walking up beside him and startling him. Honestly, when he wanted to he could be just as stealthy as Katsuo…
"Keiichi." Kaido nodded to him, the man nodding and looking over Zuko who looked generally pissed off. That was at least a little better than the constant irritability that had plagued him previously.
"Hmm, he seems better off." Keiichi stated and Kaido nodded.
"Apparently the good captain gave our boy a tongue-lashing and sent him on his way. I'm guessing him and Katsuo talked." Kaido stated and Keiichi hummed thoughtfully.
"Good, I was getting tired of him pouting." Keiichi eventually said and Kaido glanced at him then crossed his arms and directed his eyes straight out at the horizon.
He felt sick. Stupid airship.
"Hn." Kaido grunted and Keiichi sighed.
"If you don't agree say so, we're equals in this, you might as well speak your mind as to how you feel about the situation." Keiichi stated, misinterpreting Kaido's lack of communication as stubbornness and Kaido swallowed hard.
"No I was tired of seeing him unhappy as well, I just don't feel so good." Kaido grumbled, hand rising to his stomach. Keiichi looked inquiringly at him then nodded sagely.
"Oh, sea sick?" he asked and Kaido turned to go to the door to the deck.
"And then some." he answered, quickening his pace a little.
"Make sure you throw up towards the back of the ship!" Keiichi called after him and Juyoi cast the advisor a glance.
"Pssh, landlubbers…" he grumbled to himself, the rest of the crew snickering a little.
And even Zuko smiled.
End.
I love that Kaido has such a dorky quality to him. He's all macho and ass kicking then he gets seasick, classic. Either way, while Katsuo's on hiatus, Kaido gets a little more spotlight. And Keiichi, because he's funny as hell, and even Juyoi's been getting some extra attention this chapter.
I love Juyoi… I don't know why but so far he's my favorite character… He's exactly the type of guy I'd fall for, gruff and in your face but secretly he really cares. But he can't say so, cause he's macho.
God, I'm such a twink… going off to slam my face into the table again…
