Chapter Ten

Skepticism vs. the Truth

Azula found herself amused by Dr. Kiko's response. A sixth sense? She almost laughed. "Really? Are you sure? That doesn't sound quite so bad…at least, not so bad enough to get worked over," she added upon seeing Dr. Kiko's shocked face, staring at her with a strange worry in his dark eyes.

"Not if you were, I'd say, seven years old," Dr. Kiko responded, breaking the shock away from his expression rather quickly. "And it's not the usual 'people seeing ghosts' scenario. Some children just say they see people who are supposed to be dead walking like normal people. But Lya-she sees very dark things; I never thought I'd hear a child speaking of severed limbs and blood and organs out of one's body. And some things she say-and the way she says them-can be very haunting from such a young face." He paused for a slight shiver. Azula did not react like he did; only waited. "Sometimes, I'm sure she just makes it up for attention, but…" His sentence was cut off more and more, only silence by the end.

"So do you believe her at all?" Azula asked, hands on her hips. In fact, she was skeptical herself.

Dr. Kiko nodded. "Yes. She's said some things that make me certain of it. And…she's become really worried about something."

Azula tried to catch something in his voice, his eyes, to give away a masked sensation of lying, that all of this was a mere trick. But Azula detected nothing. "And you don't know what that is," Azula said. It was not a question.

"Yes. She won't tell any of us doctors. She hardly mutters a word to us anymore since she became older and wiser…and more aware of these doctors. But we were guessing you could help us. She's the only one she's actually talked to for even a little bit-better than nothing," Dr. Kiko told her. "We're thinking you could get this something out of her."

This hardly made any sense. Somehow this girl idolized Azula in a way, and because of so, Azula had a ticket to leaving. Azula saw it all as manipulation, an idea that made her almost smirk. It was like so long ago, when she ruled over everyone else. She nodded and turned back. Without another word spoken, she heard Dr. Kiko disappear into another hallway.

She went up the stairs; after what just happened, time in her room was what she had on her mind, to clear her mind.

She was trying just to accept this fact. But she could not get it entirely straightened. She had her skeptical moments, and this was one of them. She never believed any ghost stories, not even the ones her mother told her when Azula requested a "scary story just for the fun of it;" those weren't scary at all, not even fun.

So ghost stories were nothing more than stories to her. That was it. Ghosts could not exist, and ghosts couldn't visit people who had a sixth sense. People did not have a sixth sense-impossible. The idea was insane enough.

But would she really let her skepticism get in the way of Dr. Kiko's promise?

She was still fighting with this internal conflict as she headed up the stairs. As she went up, someone bumped into her, and they didn't do anything in response. She saw his face through the corner of her eyes, and an idea struck. But wait…

What was strong: her craving for vengeance, no matter what the cause for it, no matter how little, or her obsession for freedom?

Azula rushed over to Takeo's side, taking his sleeve in a forceful grip. Takeo twisted around with his fists out to strike. She almost grinned; if he really wanted a fight, she would not hesitate this time. She would attack. She thought about how a while back, he tried to attack her while she was distracted and unknowing of his attacking, not to mention how close he came to fighting her at the beach. And she did not even have the chance to attack him too harshly; one swing would not be too bad, right? It would certainly be a good laugh for her.

"Oh, what do you want?" Takeo asked, putting his fists at his sides and relaxing his muscles.

She exhaled loudly and asked, remaining grinning, "I have a few questions, and perhaps you could answer them for me."

"Why should I?" he said with a humorless smirk.

Azula expected nothing less. And of course, she had a plan. "It would sure be nice of you," she said with feigned kindness. There was a pause. "And I do tend to get my way in the end, so I'd like to just…get to that part without so much fuss. Don't you?"

Takeo's mouth formed a straight line, his face contorted slightly, a familiar face she remembered from her brother whenever it was clear she won whatever game they were playing as kids. It was a face she liked to see on those she despised. "Fine. Shoot," he said curtly.

Azula nodded victoriously. "Great. So what do you know about Lya?" She remembered what Lya said about Takeo, but doubted it once she really pondered it. Had Lya really known Takeo?

Takeo shrugged, not questioning her reasons for asking. "I met her when I first came here. Strangely enough, she was the kindest person in this place. Like, she wanted a friend with the new guy. She seemed to want to, anyway, so I decided to just…hang with her.

"She was always…weird, though. She was always fidgety and freaked out at random times. I didn't have any idea until, say, four months ago, about what was really up with her. I pretty much forced her to tell me that…well…" His voice disappeared into the air, and he rubbed the back of his neck. "What you said."

"So you believe her when she tells you she sees dead people?" Azula asked, again dubious.

He nodded, though giving her a puzzled look. "I highly doubt she'd lie about somethin' like that. Something about her just says she wouldn't do that," he replied, only to give her disappointment. He paused, then gave her a knowing look. "So she told you, too?"

"No, actually, my doctor told me-and if I help, he'll consider letting me go," she added in just to hear the words come from her mouth; it tasted so sweet as if it gingerly kissed her mouth. Especially if she got to rub it in Takeo's face. She pushed aside her anti-belief, in fear it would just cause fun for Takeo to poke at her for.

The boy's eyebrows rose to his forehead. "That's stupid."

"Not for me." She smirked.

He would have countered more, but gave up. "Man, if only it was that easy-and why you? What makes you special?" he asked.

"He says I could help," she said simply.

"Maybe I could help her, too," Takeo said quickly, much to Azula's surprise. She glared up at him as a gesture for an answer. "Maybe I could help her and get out…and get it before you. It'll be easy; I don't try to scare or intimidate people for fun."

"You're making...a challenge?" Azula asked, though already aware of the answer. And her smirk was her reply to his request. She appreciated challenges in life; even if they were easy.

Takeo smirked back. "I'm not making lunch," he commented.

Azula laughed hoarsely and lifelessly, with no humor in her tone. "Okay, you got me to laugh. So let's see who can find out with Dr. Kiko wants-see if you can get something out of her like you did to me," she said with sarcasm dripping from her tone.

Somehow, unknowingly, they found themselves in the hallway of their bedrooms. Azula thought about slamming the door before any more words exchanged. But then something clicked into her head. She turned around and look at Takeo, who caught her glance and flashed her a questioning look. Why not? Just once for fun; I haven't done it in quite a while.

With no huge reason whatsoever, she raised her hand, curling into a fist. He was too slow to understand what was occurring. Flames were not necessary, and she landed her knuckles into Takeo's face. He recoiled and was taken aback, sulking into the wall a few feet away. It was such a shame that he had not tried to fight back, and had taken such a harsh reaction at it.

She chuckled at his easy defeat. "Remember that time I stopped beating you up? Well, I'm over that, so I wanted to get it over with."

She was in her room, holding a grasp for a few moments in case he'd try to burst into her room. But it was all absolutely quiet, a sure sign that he was not trying to come back. Maybe he knew he deserved it-if he kept grudges as much as she did. Words kept on chanting in her mind: It is on!

A note: I shall be gone for a week, for I'll be vacationing in Florida. I'll be going on Sunday right in the morning. But with the boring plane ride, I might be able to keep writing, though no updates will be made at least until that Sunday obviously since I will have left. But I will post the next chapter just before I leave so I feel that I'll keep you all updated somehow.