A/N: MISS ME GUYS?! I'm woking almost daily and I feel like crap, as to that effect. But nevertheless, despite this pesky little hiccup-I wanted to get word out any way I could, and since for some strange reason the site is being buggy, I wasnt able to work on this anywhere near as much as I would've liked. Still...so many reviews!
I love you guys so much! *Cries*
Now, this chapter might be a bit confusing consider I haven't updated in awhile. With good reason! My job has been beating the living hell out of my as of late! This was REALLY had to write with being tired from work; exhausting, actually. But I'm proud of it, and I hope you enjoy it as I finally get some rest...
Well...here ya go! =D Sorry if its short! But hey, at least I'm back! And again, I remind you that some changes have been made to this story pertaining to the age of some characters, remember! I also decided to follow the traditional episode format here, not plotwise of course, but in terms of scene order. Hope you enjoy it! I wanted to get back to basics here, reminding everyone that for all of his violence, Naruto is still the same loveable old sod in this story. Humour and action abound in the following pages, starting with the quote and journal entry!
Hope you like the chapter! Prepare to laugh! Lots of loose ends get wrapped up in this chappy...and the pairing its decided! After much considertion, I've decided to stick with my original decision and leave this stroy as a harem. All bloody hell will break loose when everyone meets of course, but this is a multi pairing story. And NO, the title is not mispelled. 'Tis deliberate! And someone asked how Toph was able to write. Well, Naruto taught her the ancient art of brail...hope that answers your questions, SonofNeji and Lordchi!
And once more, I own nothing! The rights for Avatar: the Last Airbender, its characters, setting, and elements belong to Michael Dante Dimartino and co. Lord knows I wish I owned them. One last warning, there is a fair bit of bloodshed in this chapter...and Naruto goes over the edge! YE HAVE BEEN WARNED! One last thing...
...TY LEE AND MAI FINALLY ARRIVE IN THIS CHAPTER!
"I am fire. I am DEATH."
~Smaug.
We Are Conqueror
When June awoke she was blindfolded and shackled to a wall.
'Aw, fuck.' was her first, seething realization. 'They really did capture me...
She felt uncomfortably warm, which made even less sense when she realized she was naked. Her side ached terribly from where the dagger had sank into her back, but the wound must've been bound, for she no longer felt the warmth of her lifeblood on her skin. As the rest of her senses came back into focus, she heard the popping and crackling of a fire. That explained the sweat that covered her body. But where was she? She took a finger to her shackles, just a touch, and felt the rust there. Probably from blood. Old, then. Meaning they'd seen plenty of use...
"Wake her up," she heard a voice say. Hoping to hear anything she could use, she kept her body still and pretended to be asleep. To her left she heard rustling, and then something sharp like the tip of a needle pricked-stabbed!-the tip of her finger. She cried out. The sound was just barely coming from her mouth before a fist struck her. Blood dribbled down her lips. Her tongue ached from where she'd bit it.
Someone yanked the blindfold off her face.
With blurred vision she looked at her captor. She saw the dull green/black of his robe, the hideous hat, earthen gloves he wore, and knew at once she'd been taken by the Dai Li. But that didn't make sense. Naruto had purged their order of the loyalist. They were loyal to him now. Or so she had thought. Clearly there were some holdouts. Such as this one. The way he stood before her, as if she were a peasant in the prescence of a man who owned the world, told her this was their leader.
"Welcome, your highness." He bowed in greeting, his voice dripping with false kindness. "My name is Shu, and you are my honored guest."
"Thanks ever so much." she tried to turn her head and spit in his face but the shackles around her head and neck prevented it. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" Feeling horribly sick at his smile, she spat the blood from her mouth. Her stomach curled as it dribbled down her neck and between her breasts.
"How is your wound, my lady?" he asked, deflecting her inquiry with a pleasant smile. "I hope it does not trouble you overmuch." A large, muscular man stood beside him, his dark skin identifying him as a member of the Water Tribe. She looked past him. Past both of them. Focus, she willed her sluggish mind. Think..! They were underground, of that much she was certain, judging by the strange crystal growths sprouting from the ceiling and wall...the wall she was helplessly strapped to by buckles and shackles.
"Clean her off." Shu said to the giant man. He obliged, cleaning the blood from her chest and neck with a clean rag. She half-expected him to fondle her breasts or let his fingers linger on her neck, but the man did no such thing. As he did, she felt her head clear a little. Two torches were stuck in the ground on either side of her, and their light disrupted her eyes' attempt to adjust to the dark. Despite that, she thought she saw the Firebender from before standing beside Shu. It made no sense, though. Why would the Fire Nation be working with a rogue faction of the Dai Li? Unless...
Oh no.
Shu was still speaking when another blow rocked her head sharply to the side, both the pain and the words that came with it drawing her back to reality, away from the horrifying realization.
-you can see, you're quite trapped." he finished, fastidiously scrubbing a bit of blood from his his hand. "No one knows where you are. No one will come for you until we make our demands. Concede to them, and you will be released." He named them, and June felt the pit in her stomach grow into a yawning abyss wtih each article. "If not... well," he let his eyes roam across her naked form with undisguised lust. "I'm sure we have ways of persuading you."
June dared a sneer. "You won't get away with this."
Shu smiled then, a cold, cruel smile that made her heart shrivel even as she beheld the damned thing. "My dear, I already have. Surprised?" At her puzzled expression, the grin only grew. "Once your precious Avatar realizes you are missing, he will do one of three things. First," he held up a finger, "He may assume the Earth King had a hand in it, and will slay him for it. This benefits me. Second," Another digit rose to join that of its brother, "He might assume that you were, in fact, taken by the Fire Nation and seek you out there, which gets him out of my hair altogether. Or third, and personally, I hope he does this, he will realize that we took you and bring his wrath down upon our heads.
"What?" that actually got a blink out of her. "Are you insane?"
"Ha!" Shu chuckled. "I am not. Your precious Avatar isn't the only one master bender here. For example, did you know that metal is merely another form of earth? That ther is iron-metal-in the body? That, let us say, your blood, is yet a red water?" When he refused to elaborate, she cursed him. "No, if he does come here, and he just might, he will find that we are quite ready for him and this unique brand of...theatrics." He visibly preened at the mention of his genius; a deluded man lost in his delusions of grandeur. "After all we-EEEEEEEOW!"
His words trailed into a planitive whine as June's heel arced up and landed between his legs. The dull crunch was the sweetest sound she'd ever heard, the sight of him dropping like a sack of potatoes. Against all of the odds she'd managed to wriggle the bloody limb loose enough to strike at the man, and Shu cursed himself for coming so close.
"Damn you!" he snarled, his face purpling at her smug expression. "I see there is no point in persuading you, peasant bitch!"
"Knock her out, Artok." He grunted to the musclebound man before she could continue. "I'll begin her "re-education" when she wakes. Personally!" Bound as she was, June could only leer at the man as his arm reared back, fist clenched. She thought she detected a hint of sympathy in those bright blue eyes. Empathy or not, it probably wasn't enough to stay his blow. Then, he did something very strange. His hands moved, and she convlused, her body spasming, contorting, as though the waterbender were controlling it. As though he were bending her very... June hissed, biting her lip. Oh. Monkey. Feathers. That was supposed to be a myth!
Everything burst in a firework of white noise, then, mercifully, dampened into numbness.
June gasped softly as her world faded to black. Her last thought before sleep took her was thus:
'Don't...Naruto...don't come here!'
No time to write in this.
June has been taken; when, I don't know. Where; I don't know. For what purpose; I don't know. But I do know why. And I have a suspect.
There will be blood for this.
BLOOD.
Lucky for me, I know just where to start...
The full moon hung over the palace like a white eye, seeing and knowing all. There was no glimmer of dissaproval to be found in those pale depths, only an empty complacency. It cared not for the quarrels of mortal-no it could be said, that it cared very little for them indeed.
It said-did-nothing as the Avatar of the Gods walked briskly up the steps to the the grand hall; hung there unflinching as he crosscut the lone guard who dared to challenge him. Blood spattered the steps, casting white light into red. And then he was gone, into the palace, and the moon saw no more. It did, however, hear the subsquent shriek.
"What is the meaning of this?!"
"Your time is up, majesty." Naruto said, stalking up the steps towards Kuei, almost calm in his stide. Almost, but not quite. "I gave you what you needed to think this over, and you betrayed me with treachery. Now... bow." Those hooded eyes leered down at him just as he cleared the final step, regarded him as though here no more than a dust mote in the eyes of a god. "Bow," he continued, "Beg for mercy, tell me where June is, and you might live. If you don't, you die."
"Bow?!" Kuei rose, pushing himself up with a look of consternation. "My Lord Avatar, I understand that you're angry, but you can't expect me to-EEP!"
The Earth King squealed like a struck and startled pig as Naruto overturned his throne, casting him out of it as though he were but a naughty child playing pretend. No sooner had he toppled to the floor than the furious shinobi was upon him, pushing past his guards to reach out and grab him by the throat. Strong fingers latched around his neck-crushing his larynx-stifling his reply. Hauled him to his feet with ease. A snarling rasengan circled in the opposite hand, ready to pulp his face at the slightest provocation. Kuei struggled to find some semblance of mercy in those icey blue eyes, but he found nothing. Nothing but a frigid rage.
"You have until the count of three." he said. "Then," he raisd the rasengan in his hand, "I am going to shove this, into your face. It won't be a pleasant death."
Kuei croaked wordlessly. "I...I don't know...
"One."
"Please, I have no idea what you're...
"Two." it was a growl as he frog-marched the king backwards, ignoring his feeble attempts to push the arm away from his tearful visage. "Do try to remember, majesty. It'd be a shame if I had to splatter your brains all over the floor."
Those words, thrown out by the Avatar like a gauntlet, shocked and scandalized some of the Dai Li and infuriated the rest. The king's guards-those precious insufferable few still loyal to the current crown-rallied to him, the handful of guards supporting him, the Dai Li all but forming a protective circle. Two men and were in front: one glowering and the other serenely confident. Shu and Wu, if he recallled correctly, twin brothers. They were in charge of the day-to-day minutia for the Dai Li while he directed the army. Did they have a part in this? Were they complicit? He didn't know. Didn't care. They were in his way.
Naruto scoffed and blasted all involved parties backwards with a single thought, flattening them against the wall-knocking them out-with a judicious application of Shinra Tensei. An ominous crack followed, reaching his ears as if from a great height. Some of them had just died. He didn't care.
Instead, he brought the rasengan toward Kuei's face.
Across the room Bosco yowled in distress at his master's peril; until a roar from the Avatar sent the bear cowering in a corner. Toph chuckled quietly behind him, but it was an anxious laugh. Part of him expected to see June there, to hear her snide remark, but no, she wasn't there. That was why he was about to commit regicide. Only a scarce few hours had passed since she'd been taken, and already, he felt the abscence of her most keenly. The rammifications of their actions had been felt immediately. She was gone. Taken, witnesses said, by the King's men.
And the King dared to deny his involvement? HE DARED?!
"N-NO!" Kuei was openly blubbering now, his words nearly lost in the keening shriek of the spiraling sphere, growling larger by the second, devouring the distance between him and death. "June-the mercenary woman-I only met her once! I...had...no part...in her dissapearance...please! You must believe me!" For a moment, just a moment, he thought the Avatar actually did. He saw those frigid blue eyes melt somewhat-thawed by the vehemence of his please. Then they snap froze all over again and he knew he was going to die.
"Three."
Naruto growled-
"Stop! GODAMNIT, STOP!" Toph cried, her furious voice finally piercing the angry fog that consumed him. "He's not lying!"
-and froze.
Belatedly, he became aware of her hands on his arm, struggling in vain to pull him away. He shook free with a growl.
Toph still couldn't yet see, but somehow, she felt those eyes lock onto her. As though the abyss itself were looking at her, daring her to question. An ocean of killing intent pressed down around her head, threatening to stifle her words, smother her entirely, but she resisted. With every fiber of her being, she willed herself not to wilt, not to cower before the man who-knowingly or not-held her heart in his hands. The keening cry of that deadly jutsu slowly faded from her ears, replaced by an ominous silence. She didn't need her sight to know that Naruto was scowling.
"You're certain?" His voice was little more than a raw whisper; the naked edge of a blade promising pain if she spoke untrue. Toph nodded without hesitation. She didn't want to tell him there was a possibility that Kuei might be lying, not when the poor sod was blubbering on like that.
"Yes," she said.
Naruto's grip loosened. Just a fraction of an inch, but it was enough for Kuei to scramble away. Or he would have, had he not fainted from sheer terror. A wave of the hand summoned up a pair of clones, each of which stood straight and at attention, awaiting their orders. "Get him out of my sight." he snapped. "His reign is over." As one, the dopplegangers took hold hold of the now dispossessed monarch by the arms and hauled him bodily from the throne room. Naruto watched them go.
Then, he did something very odd.
Instead of storming out of the palace as she'd expected him to, Toph "saw" him move towards the seat of the kingdom. Barking orders, he bade those he had struck to rise; and they did so, albeit grudgingly. The very same Dai Li he'd just bowled over now formed ranks on either side of him, framing the furious blond as he strode up the shattered steps toward the now vacant seat.
When he sat upon the throne, she felt a knot of dread coil in her stomach.
"I am assuming control of the Earth Kingdom for the time being," when he spoke his voice was magnified, pitched to carry across the chamber. "Until Lady June can be found. Let any who object say so now, or forever hold their peace." Toph thought she felt a stirring of unease from one of the Dai Li agents, but, they were grouped too tightly for her to properly determine to whom it belonged. One of them, however, seemed to think he was honourbound-foolish sod!-to uphold the king's honor. He stepped forward, fingers white-knuckled in the sleeves of his robes.
"My name is Chang." he said. "And I would challenge your claim."
There was a hushed murmurr from his robed brothers. Toph felt the temperature in the room drop noticeably; tasted the sudden frost on her breath. When Naruto spoke, the very air seemed to crackle with the angry bite of winter.
"Speak." And Chang did.
"Avatar or not, you have no right to rule." Though there was hesitation and fear in them, those brown eyes still dared to meet his. "You can't just waltz in here and depose our king."
The Avatar seemed to contemplate this for a moment. "Can I not?" a hand rose, his chin leaning against it. "In the span of seven days, I have done more for this city than your king could ever hope to accomplish in a lifetime. I have purged your corrupt seneschal, gathered an army, pushed out the occupying force in Omashu, and readied you to march against the Fire Lord come winter. Without me, you'd be sitting ducks."
"Still, that doesn't make this," he gestured to the throne, "Your right!"
There was a silence. Now it was Naruto who sounded like an old man, worn beyond his years.
"Yes, it does." a note of resigned sorrow entered his voice. "Sometimes, one needs to live by example. To make an example. Like...this."
Chang must've realized something was wrong, because he tried to earthbend-
Naruto didn't even deign to step down from the throne. He merely raised a hand and made a gripping motion with his hand, fingers crooked into a claw. The effect was as immediate as it was horrifying. The challenger bodily convulsed, dropping to his knees with arms splayed, his face twisted in agony. Naruto waved his hand again and the lieutentant cried out-shrieking as his body moved against his will. The Dai Li shrank back with murmurs of horror and dissent, unable to believe what they were witnessing. Toph caught snippets of their words over Chang's agonized cries.
-he doing to him?!'
"What is that?!"
Shu inwardly grimaced, shrinking back from the sight. 'No! Not him, too! He shouldn't be able to do that! Fool! Why did he challenge him?!'
Naruto's visage remanined placcidly serene throughout, reflecting not so much as a sliver of emotion. A silken beam of moonlight danced in the dark, the lone shard of luminance stabbing through the cracked ceiling to illuminate his whiskered face. Had Toph been able to see, she would've cringed; because there was not so much as a hint of emotion in those blank blue eyes.
Chang gasped, writhing in agony, his limbs refusing to obey.
"You...what're...what're you doing to me?!"
"Painful, isn't it?" came the bland reply. "The sensation of having the water within your body bent against you? Every fluid, every cell betraying you, obeying me. I call it...bloodbending." Toph felt a ghastly shiver travel down up spine, its icey fingers latching around her throat. Chang sobbed in agony as his neck began to twist.
"Monster!"
"I am only a monster because I must be." he answered. "Its painfully clear to me that you holdouts respond to nothing more than force. So I will use force then; I will wield all of the tools at my disposal. Even the most unsavory, disgusting, deplorable techniques. If that ensures peace, then so be it."
"Demon!"
"Please, I find your lack of faith disturbing." Naruto scoffed at this insult, rising from the throne, a hand still extended. "You challenge me when I seek to unite, oppose me, when I have no wish to rule." His boots clicked quietly against the pavement, the steady thud-thud-thud drawing ever closer to Toph's ears." And all the while, Chang continud to spasm. "I have tried to be kind, tried to be merciful and yet, I am taken for a fool, used and deceived, misled at every turn. And now, someone goes so far as to take someone precious from me. No more. No. More."
A hand descended, laying itself on the man's forehead, the other, gripping his neck. Chang quivered, gibbering senseless, unintelligible gibberish. Toph tried to speak, to stop him, but no words would come, her tongue refusing to rise to the occasion. This...this wasn't Naruto. This was a man driven past his breaking point, made mad by anger. Any attempt of hers to stop him would only result in harm befalling herself. If Naruto was a good man, he'd stop this now, let Chang go, and go about this the right way. The good way.
He did not let Chang go.
"You make it neccessary." he said, tightening his grip. "You and your kind are obstacles to my goal. Leeches. Parasites. So, like the parasite, I will remove you. Beg that I succeed, for if I fail, this will seem like a gentle touch compared to what the Fire Nation has planned for you! Now then, I think I'll have a look at you my good man! Starting with a bit of this!" With a snarl he shore his hand away, pulling, at something. Toph couldn't see what, only that it had the Dai Li screaming like little girls. Naruto's satisfied sigh sounded moment later.
Chang's body struck the ground. Mercifully, it did not rise.
"Anyone else?" he asked amicably.
When no one else dared to challenge Naruto's sudden and savage coup, he waved his hand in dismissal.
"Out with you, then." he said, the fierce, hot bite of his words leaving no room for further questions. "The lot of you. No, not you, Toph. You stay." One by one the Dai Li marched out, followed by the less certain guards, some carrying the corpse of poor, foolish Chang with them as they went. Naruto watched them go, then reclaimed his place on the throne once more. Fingers steepled, he awaited Toph's outburst. For he knew that she would have something to say after all he'd just done. How could she not?
He didn't have long to wait.
"So...
"IDIOT!"
With a furious shout she leapt into his lap-surprising-skirts, flying, and headbutted him. Hard. Very, very, very hard. So hard in fact, that she broke the throne, sending them tumbling backward. A normal man would've been laid out flat by such a savage attack; Naruto merely blinked the spots and stars away from his vision and calmly weathered the storms of insults. And what a storm it was.
"What the hell's gotten into you, huh, blondie?! Monkey feathers, you can't just go around killing people to make an example our of them! You...its just...gah, you don't do that!" her voice pitched furiously as she leaned forward, her words beating down on his ears, unconcsiously grinding her hips against him. It was...rather difficult to ignore the way she was stradling him for it felt very pleasant indeed; Toph had been so caught up in berating him that she hadn't realized she was bouncing and with that much friction, anger or not, one's body was bound to respond. "Why I oughta-
"Erm, Toph?"
"What?!"
"Not that I particularly mind this position, but, ah...they're showing."Naruto managed a weak cough and pointed gracelessly at her undergarments, the lower of which was clearly visible from where she sat atop him. A beat of silence past between them, broken only by a muted chuckle. Toph was reluctant to let it past. Here was the old Naruto-blondie!-back in this brief, unexpected moment of intimacy. She could still feel the tension in his shoulders, sense the angry flames of sorrow and concern nigh but dancing in his eyes. Yet they were no longer the raging inferno they'd once been.
"We're going to find her, alright?" she said, hastily fidgeting to keep him from looking up the foul dress she'd been forced to wear. "You don't have to worry. Just...
"Just?" he blinked, scowling up at her.
...just don't go over the edge like that again, okay? That...that wasn't you."
Naruto paused, considering her words. Was it him? He supposed it wasn't. The old him wouldn't have bloodbent a hapless guard and then ripped his soul out with the Rinnegan. Then again, he wasn't that same churlish, childish boy he'd been back in the Elemental Nations. Before her. Before this vicious, endless cycle of reincarnation. Before his soul was so hardened to loss of life that he no longer hesitated to cut a man down for even thinking to speak out of turn, to challenge him. He was better than that. He knew it, Toph knew it, and everyone else knew it, too. What would Katara think of such a thing; actually, witnessing him bloodbending? Gods, what would Suki? Naruto shuddered at the thought.
"No," he said at last, the words spoken more for Toph's benefit than his own. He knew at once that she was bitterly, bitterly angry with him for what he'd done and rightfully so; first he'd made a fool of her with that old pie incident, and no sooner had he apologized for that and kissed it better than he started flouting his authority once again. He had to remind himself that Toph wasn't like Katara or Suki or even Azula. They'd witnessed firsthand he was a good person, that, despite all his shortcomings and flaws and faults he was trying to do the right thing. But Toph...ah, Toph! She was a cynic by nature.
The heir to the Bei Fong family did not trust quite so easily, nor could her suspicions be dismissed with a single word. Or even a kiss, for that matter. Toph was tough. She was hard. Gentle when she wanted to be-and a tough nut to crack when she thought otherwise.
"Please tell me that's not something you can use on a regular basis." her hands pressed down on his chest when he tried to rise, forcing him back to the floor. Naruto hesitated briefly before answering.
"No." the lie tasted like ash in his mouth. "I've...experimented before. It can only be done during a full moon." Lies, lies, and more lies. He'd discovered bloodbending nearly an age ago, shortly before his "death" back in the Southern Water Tribe. With enough practice, one could wield it effectively without a full moon. If he'd deigned to teach others like Hama before their capture, well, things might have been different. The past was the past, after all...
But his explosion of ire was not completely for naught. Chang had some interesting memories, sifting through them now. There was a place called Lake Laogai, of considerable import. A missing holdout, perhaps? Worth looking into at the least.
"You're lying." she sighed. Crap. He'd almost forgotten she could do that. "You can use it whenever you want, can't you?"
Naruto fidgeted beneath her. Was this...shame, he felt? Oddly enough, it was. No one had called him to task for his actions in the longest time. "Only if I have to. Look, I'm sorry, alright?" When he rose this time, Toph didn't deign to fight him but she did struggle, squirming when he pulled her back into his lap. "Really, I am. I'm trying to keep everything together here but everyone just keeps fighting me and its hard, its so hard and now they've taken June and I just don't know what to do, and I care about her...
Traitorous tears plucked at his eyes. Not just June, he couldn't bear the thought of anything happening to his girls. His. Hmm. Odd how he thought of them like that. He'd tried to forswear emotional attachments, but it just didn't work; first came Katara, watching over her and her brother over the years, looking on quietly as she came of age. Then Suki on Kiyoshi, followed by Azula, then June, now Toph...gah, it seemed the more he tried to tread water, the deeper he sank!
"June...you care about her?" Toph asked.
"Yeah."
Toph was suddenly very still against him. When she raised her gaze, her eyes, sightless though they were, remained deceptively blank.
"You love her, don't you?"
"Yes." There was no hesitation. "Yes, I do."
Toph bristled. "Oh. Well, thanks eversomuch."
Naruto suddenly realized he'd trod upon a verbal landmine. Frantically, he tried to backpedal.
"No, wait, let me explain-
She didnt say anything to that, but her hard expression spoke volumes. When she tried to get off him, he grabbed at her-and received a boulder to the head for his trouble. Shit. She really was angry, wasn't she? When the next rock struck him he was better prepared, but only just. Naruto coughed wetly, cringing as his skull cracked and healed in the same instant. He tasted a gob of blood in hs mouth and swallowed-refusing to let her escape, stoically accepting the rocks pelting against him.
"Let me go, you womanizing prick!" she cried! "I should've know better than to trust you!"
"No." his forehead pressed against hers. "Never. I made that mistake with June and now I can't find her. Well, no more. I'm never letting anyone I care for out of my sight. Never again." She bit him. Perhaps she hoped that would make him jerk away. Instead, he only clutched at her tighter. Toph railed and fought and scrabbled, smashing against him, but like a metal wall, he refused to yield. A stupid, insufferable, arrogant, wall! She hated him! Loathed him! Damn him! Damn him for making her think that they were...for making her feel...
"Will you just listen?!"
"Shut up!" she slapped at him. "You love her! Not me!"
"No! I love you too, godamnit!" his voice cracked like a whip, silencing her with the lash of its intensity. "Just as I love Katara and Suki and Azula! Each in their own way!" Toph didn't know those three, but the mention of their names threatened to take her already broken heart and disintegrate the pieces completely and utterly. So it wasn't just June? There were others?! An anguished sob forced itself from her lips.
"I hate you!" she wailed! "I hate, hate, hate, HATE you!"
"Toph, I know you can't see my face but-oh, sod it. Let me show you."
"What?" She stiffened in his arms. "No." A very real note of fear entered her voice. "N-No, don't! Don't you dare-
Too late.
Before she could jerk away from him he touched a hand to the side of her face. At first, she didn't understand what he was doing. How was that going to-? Ah. Then she felt his hand glow, a gentle, judicious application of chakra flowing from his palm into her visage. Then she saw the small smile playing on his whiskered cheeks-wait a minute. See? That wasn't possible. She was blind. And yet, she could...
See.
It was as if she'd lived her life in darkness, and Naruto had flicked on a light. Everything stood in crystal contrast, no blurred edges, no shadows. She could see. She could see! Poor Toph, her jaw nearly hung agape as she finally laid eyes on her friend and fellow bender. Spirits, he was...well he was rather ruggedly handsome now that she had a face to put to the voice, wasn't he? Wow. She could feel her anger running away despite her best attempts to reign it in. Damn.
Her heart slammed against her chest.
The moonlight licked at his face and his arms, exposing him to her. He looked...younger, than she'd thought. That rough, gravelly voice sounded as though it had belonged to an older man than the young visage pinned beneath her. Strange. Though Naruto had professed to have lived more than several lifetimes over, it was still difficult to reconcile the fact. And damn...
...he was...handsome!
Leaning over him, her pale eyes shone like stars reflected in deep water. Her long fingers stroked his whiskered cheeks in quiet wonderment, pinching. She touched him delicately with just the tips of her fingers now. He ground his teeth, wanting desperately to know what she was up to, what she was thinking. She, however, was resolved on torture. There were so many colors! Not just the muted green and cyan of the palace, but their bright upholstery, Naruto's blazing blue eyes and flaming yellow hair, coupled with the rich red/black robes was so fond of...it was all a bit of a culture shock.
"Well," he muttered. "Say something. Anything!"
Say something? Oh, no. Toph was enjoying this too much. It was all a little overwhelming, actually. Closing her eyes helped, and everything was as it should be. She could "see" through vibrations once more. But when she opened her eyes again, Maker, there was just so much to look at! She secretly suspected that if she were taken outside the palace, she might faint from th shock of being able to see so much. If if came to a fight, she'd have to keep her eyes closed...
"Toph?" he tried again. "C'mon, ya know I don't like being left in the dark."
Those pale eyes could be unnerving, fixed on him as they were, certainly now that she could see. "I'm still mad at you," she insisted. "And I'd be lying if I said I understood how you can love more than one person. But, you know," she added tactfully, "...I guess you deserve a reward for this...and maybe having my sight back isn't so bad...
"Meaning?"
"Meaning you're off the hook." she purred. "For now."
Then her body bent, and her lips captured his. In that same moment his hands rose, pulling her flush against him. Something hard poked her in the leg.
Toph gasped softly.
Alas, it was then that they realized they weren't alone. Naruto swore virulent. Toph must've realized that too; because she was just as quick to cease her silent swearing and scamper off him. Her cheeks were a terrible shade of pink. Wisely, he kept his mouth shut lest she shut it herself with a bit of earthbending. Of all things, he'd expected a guard or another of the Dai Li to approach.
He wasn't expecting a massenger.
Thankfully the harried-looking man standing in the chamber had the wherewithall not to comment on what he'd seen. In his hands, he clutched a scroll.
"Letter for you, m'lord." he said, crisply. "There's also ah, company waiting for you outside the palace. Couple of fire nation girls. The guards tried to detain them, they did, but they," He risked a nervous glance over the back of his shoulder, still hesitant. "Well, they're right outside. Wouldn't wait, y'see."
"Let me see that." he snatched it away. Almost as an afterthought, he added, "And show them in, man! Don't leave them standing out in the cold!"
"Begging yer pardon sire, but they might be assassins-
Naruto scoffed, touching a hand to the scar near his neck. ""Trust me, I can handle a few would-be-killers."
The man turned a dull red, and bowed deeply. "Your Majesty." With that, he scurried away, leaving him to read in peace.
Unfurling it, he felt a slow, wondering smile dawn on his lips; moreso as he deciphered the contents within:
Dear dumb-dumb,
Sorry for the nickname, you'll just have to get used to it.
Well, congratulations. The Fire Nation has offically attacked the Northern Water Tribe. 'Tis absolutely frigid up here, and I'm certain I've caught cold. Anyhow, I've sent a few letters out, though from your lack of replies, I take it few, if any, made if past the armada. But other letters have come through. I've been writing to a few friends, and, until recently, I didn't think anything would come of them. Seems I was wrong. A week ago, I received word from someone that you took Omashu back from the Fire Nation.
While it galls me to think you'd go off on a campaign without me, I accept it for what it is. Which is why-assuming those letters went through-I'm sending you some help. Not that you need any; I'd just feel better in my heart knowing you weren't out there on your own. Their names are Ty Lee and Mai. They've probably received my letters asking them to aid you.
Trust me, you'll know them when you see them. Do try to be nice.
They are...very dear to me, so please, don't ask them to do anything too perilous. And if you tell them I said that, by Agni, I will BURN the flesh from your bones! P.S. please for the love of fire, burn this once you'd had your fill of it. Don't want people thinking I've gone soft...
All my love,
~Azula.
Chuckling quietly at her yandere behavior, Naruto rolled the scroll back into his palm and burned it to ash. As he watched the grey cinders flutter away in his hand, the guards ushered a pair of young ladies in. Much to his odd bemusement, he recognized one of them. That dark-haired, miserable girl he'd plucked from Omashu after its liberation. Her family-fire nation nobility really-was currently captives of the Earth Kingdom. So this, then, must be Mai. Great. This was going to be just great.
"Well," he said. They really did look very nice. "You've done something with your hair…"
One of them reddened, and looked away. Was it too embarrassing to appear the lady she was by royal appointment? He wished he knew a way to put her at her ease. In the end, he took a half-hearted stab at it.
"Don't blush like that...its odd."
"Oh, great." she groaned, "Still a charmer, I see."
"So nice to see you too, my lady." he smiled with limpid sweetness. Behind him, Toph cackled.
"Well if it isn't princess stabbity!"
The glower Mai sent them could've melted bone. Scary, scary...
"You know him, Mai? Don't be shy! Introduce me!" The other girl struck Naruto as a a bit odd what with her bright brown eyes, and the way in which she dressed. So much...pink. Enthusiasm seemed to radiate from her like a physical force-he didn't need his sage mode to read her like a book. She like, Mai, held a scroll tightly in her hand. So these were Azula's friends. Fascinating. But what to do with them? He couldn't very well bring himself to trust two perfect strangers right off the bat, even with Azula's reccomendation at their backs.
"Wait a minute," he began slowly, "Just so we're clear, the two of you have no problem betraying your nation?"
Mai muttered something beneath her breath, but it was her partner who spoke first.
"None!" the brunette chirped. "Azula asked us so nicely in her letters...how could we say no?"
Naruto sweatdropped.
"Ty Lee, I take it?"
"Yup!" God, was it even possible to be that happy? "So...
"So?"
She stared at him with half-lidded eyes. "You're the hunk Azula's been writing about, huh? Yummy."
The back of his neck burned scarlet. "Erm...I suppose so, yes."
Mai and Toph made gagging sounds and mercifully, that snapped him out of his funk.
He peered down at the girls.
"I assume you've been briefed?"
"Not much." Mai finally deigned to speak up. "Azula just told us to place ourselves at your disposal."
"Well then, make yourselves useful." he said, making a shooing gesture. "I'm placing you under Toph's command until I return." Without further prompt or adeu he tugged upon his collar, obscuring the lower half of his viage in a black shift. A swift tug drew up his hood, hiding his visage in shadow once more. It must've been quite the sight, because Toph and the girls shivered. He didn't consider it a good shiver; seeing as he was still decked out with both knives and blades, looking every bit the shinobi he was meant to be.
"And what're you going to do?" Mai drawled, trying to keep a tremulous note of fear from her voice.
"I," he announced, "Am going to visit a lake."
Before anyone could ask just what he'd meant, he vanished in a plume of smoke.
"Okay," Ty Lee murmurred, "I have to learn that."
"Good luck." Toph said waspishly, too amused to laugh at the poor girl outright. "You're gonna need it."
Commander Wu was furious.
Damn Shu! Damn that tomfool of a brother!
Every step clicked harshly against the floor as he paced, threatening to create localized quakes and sweep his subourdinates from their feet. Each breath was like the precursor to an avalance, promising swift and save doom to any who dared to get in his way.
Lake Laogai was their last place of refuge but this; this smacked of desperation. Capturing the queen incumbent? Madness! Allying with the Fire Nation? Insanity! He half-expected them to take her to the Boling Rock at that, but the arrogant fools had taken shelter here instead. They thought they were safe; that they could use the soon-to-be queen as their hostage, brainwash her to meet their means. Wu, knew that they were wrong, terribly, horribly wrong. Just as he knew he had only a few hours-perharps even less than that-to convince these men to lay down their arms and surrender.
Else, they were all going to die.
The Avatar of the Gods was not a merciful man; certainly not when they'd taken his consort. Or was she his bride? The rumors were never terribly clear about that. What they were clear on however, was that the Avatar did not brook threats against him, or his loved ones. He'd made that abundantly clear this evening.
Now, he was trying-in vain!-to convince his brother to surrender.
"Relax, brother." Shu soothed at him. "Everything is in place. Even if-
-when!" Wu snapped!
-when," Shu corrected, "He does find his way down here, I assure you, we'll be quite ready.
-and
"That man is the Avatar, you dolt!" His face purpled with indignation. "The Earth King in all but name! Are you insane?!"
Shu's only response was so smile.
"Are you?"
Liang missed his wife and child.
He wasn't terribly sure about this whole revolt business, even less so after Commander Wu had stormed in here like the hounds of hell were at his back. Something had gone wrong; even he knew it, but such rank and privilege of knowledge was above his pay grade. He wasn't in this for the power or the prestige like most, he simply wanted to keep his family safe. Avatar Naruto was a good commander, all things considered, but the way he ruled was just a bit too harsh for Liang's liking. So he'd joined this little revolt within a revolt, a bunch of loyalists who still wanted things to be they way they'd once been. Simple. Safe.
Liang liked safe. Safe meant a steady rate of income, food on the table for his family. Predictable meant safe.
Or did it?
Liang shook his head again, and gave the thought the coup de grace with one final sigh. Yet still the fear persisted, worming its way into his heart. Much to his disgust.
The earth suddenly shook and the men about him shouted and leaped and swerved. For a moment, it seemed like someone else was in the room with them, but that was brief. In the confusion, he felt a brief sting, and then realized that he had received a slight cut on his neck from a stray bit of stone or a flying bit of metal. It was nothing. Probably just his own inattentiveness. Damn. Quakes. They seemed to be happening more and more lately.
But they were nearly their now! This grand rebellion, so close, yet still, it might die a stillbirth! All they had to do was outlast the Avatar, use the girl to bargain with him-distasteful though that might be-and then things would be back to normal. Liang nodded to himself, suddenly feeling groggy. Yes, it would all work out. He shouted at one of his men when they began to complain of feeling lightheaded. Where was he? Ah, right. There was the matter of his daughter's birthday; he really out to get her something nice, a stuffed animal perhaps or...or...cold? Cold.
Cold.
"You're lucky," a black voice whispered in his ear. "You get to live."
His feet were cold. That was odd. His feet, his ankles, his legs. Why was he so cold? The golden doors of the complex hung ajar and he thought he saw a man standing amidst his fallen bretheren, but they shivered into rainbows as his vision faded.
"Wha... What's happening to me?" he gasped out, his tongue thick and reluctant. "Poison..."
Someone threw a vial at his feet, the tiny flask clattering hollowly just within reach.
"Drink." the voice commanded. "You'll survive."
With the last of his strength, Liang reached out and grabbed the vial, hastily down its contents. An approving grunt echoed above him.
"June?"
Lian directed a fumbling finger forward.
"Good on you." Then he struck down.
The rainbows dissipated, and there was only darkness.
Shu remained blissfully unaware of the reaper headed their way.
Wu was not.
He argued with his brother for what felt like hours; when in reality, it was only a few minutes. They bickered bitterly back and forth and back yet again, the more conservative Wu insisted they surrendur now and fling themselves at the Avatar's mercy, the radical Shu determined to fight until the bitter end. Insane, incompetent bigot! Shu thought much the same of his wea, cowardly brother. He glanced at Artok, reminding him yet again that the master bender was in the same room. Good. So long as he was, they had a chance. A slim one, mind you, but still a chance.
"You are insane, brother!" he cried.
"And you," here Wu jerked a hand toward the battered woman locked away beside them, "did the one thing we swore never to do! This is madness! We must end it!
"It will end when she yields to the teaching!"
"You've broken her, you fool! Don't you understand?! This isn't the Avatar you think it is! This man...is not a man at all! He is a demon! For an entire week we have tried to kill him, and what does he do? He sends them back to us in pieces! Our finest agents, massacred to a man! And now you ally with the Fire Nation, just to spite him!" A hand rose imploringly. "When will it end, I ask you? We will use our own children against him? Be no more than barbarians, just to achieve our goal?"
"Whateve is neccessary-
Wu struck him. Hard.
"You are a fool! This is not the Avatar of the Elements. This is the Avatar of the Gods!
There was an ominous silence, followed by a slight tremor through the floor. Wu was shrieking now, practically gibbering.
"And you took his fucking queen!"
"Yes," a quiet, bloody voice whispered. "You did. Very foolish, that."
Shu started, alarmed to find that the very man they dreaded was now, somehow, in the same room with them. Every inch of him was spattered in blood, his eyes like hard, scarlet rubies. When he raised a hand, they saw the knives, coated in the blood of their so-called rebellion. Behind the mask, his mouth tilted in a wry smile.
"Now, die, would you kindly?"
And then everything went pearshaped.
A/N: WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT?! Aaand there you have it! The focus was on almost everyone this chapter, although June stole more of the spotlight than most. She's such a tragic character; I can't help but enjoy writing her character out sometimes. I just really get into it. She's evolving not only as a person but as a potential queen as well.
Anywho, I worked extremely hard on this one, so I hope to hear what you think! Pairing is now OFFICIALLY HAREM And on a final note, thank you to everyone offering emotional support in regard to my health woes. Its greatly appreciated! An awful lot is going to change in this story soon! Look forward to an epic prank next chapter...provided my health holds out.
So...in accordance to the prophecy...
...Review, Would You, Dear Reader? No preview this time, sadly! It'll be a surprise! EPIC FOUR-WAY FIGHT NEXT CHAPTER!
Hope you enjoyed! R&R! =D
