The Crazy, Dainty, Master

Under normal circumstances, she would have ran straight to Iwao, check over all his injuries, heal them, and then help Eita.

Aeka was younger and much more feeble, a strike to the head required immediate attention.

Izumi knelt at her side, pressing two fingers to Aeka's neck, she knew it would be very farfetched for her to be dead, but something about the pulse calmed her.

She reached into her bag, pulling out a cloth, she cleaned the blood that had trickled to her nose, a gash in her forehead; it wasn't too deep.

A bit more than she would have preferred; she was already guessing a concussion.

"Is she ok?" Huyu didn't really need an answer for that.

Had she been in any real danger, Izumi would be working much quicker in frantic movements.

Still, Izumi felt the need to nod.

A bit of water on her hands, she placed them with care on Aeka's head.

Emi let out a sigh of relief as she joined in; Izumi was an expert healer right?

The airbender's basic first aid knowledge always made her worry she'd panic when a real emergency came through.

Would this fall under an emergency?

Izumi opened her mouth, for a minute the two held their breath, thinking she'd actually speak.

Instead, she mouthed the words, "Just a bump".

'Seriously?' Did this girl have a disability or something?

Huyu would have asked, but his lip reading abilities were probably too little to follow whatever excuse she had.

Benjiro heard very mixed things on battle.

They were fun, exciting, and the adrenaline kept you on your toes.

They were unneeded, dangerous, frightening, traumatizing.

For the most part, his only involvement had been practice battles. Hotaka took over when he was against Shin'ichi; for the most part he was just freaked out about that. Kaimu was always on Huyu, he sent Emi after him, which involved more running away than attacking. There was so little he had in experience.

He never really knew what to think of them, only that they happened frequently and he had always been distracted when they occurred.

There was something about seeing Aeka though. It was bad enough to see Huyu as practically a corpse for those days, but her. It was heartbreaking.

She was so young, innocent, to see her so still, it wasn't right.

What was she thinking?

"Wait." It wasn't like him to be observant, but it caught his attention, "how did she get over here?"

The last time he remembered, she was sitting a good distance away.

Eita made her way back, her hand pressing her bad arm, had she not looked like a mess before, she certainly did now.

"Next time don't be so reckless." Huyu glanced at her for only a moment.

"Don't lecture me on being reckless." She snapped back.

'And I'm ignored.'

"I'm not lecturing. I'm just sayin to watch your surroundings in a battle. One of the most basic rules. I'd thought you'd have known that." He narrowed his eyes.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" She took a step closer.

Moving her arm wrong, it sent a shock through her nerves, she flinched.

He took a calming breath.

"Nothing."

'What's with the tension between those two?'

"They hate each other."

'NO REALLY? Come on give me some credit even I can see that!'

"Yet you haven't figured it out."

'Figure what out?' Huyu had something like that before right?

"Hey you can heal too right?" Emi had an idea.

"Uh...not as good as her." Huyu was pretty sure he couldn't out do Izumi.

She seemed to be a dozen classes above him.

"No, but can't you transfer your energy? That speeds up recovery right?"

Huyu shook his head.

"She wouldn't be able to handle it."

"Why not?" Emi had right?

Benjiro didn't really see the difference.

It's not like she needed a new leg or anything. Well...ok she did. But a simple head injury; surely there wouldn't need to be too much energy to fix that right?

'Since it's probably out in the next few seconds anyways; would it really hurt if I told?' He promised he wouldn't, which normally means nothing to him, but still, he respected her more.

'Wouldn't be able to handle it?' The words suddenly clicked in her mind.

"She's the real master isn't she?" Emi wasn't sure what part of this scenario made her think it, though she had put it in as a theory since their meeting.

Eita pursed her lips.

'WHAT?'

"You're joking right?" Benjiro didn't really care which one answer him.

"I thought the master had to be like thirteen?" Iwao was balancing on the tree, limping into ear shot.

"She's twelve. Her birthday's late December so she still fits the requirements. She just has a very high spirited and tries to make herself seem younger with her appearance." Huyu clarified.

'SHE'S TWELVE?' Ok, what reality were they living in?

"B-but I thought..." Iwao pointed to Eita, completely lost.

"I'm fifteen idiots." She grumbled.

'That's what I thought.' Emi at least was right with that.

"What's with the whole staging thing though?" She could have saved them A LOT of trouble.

"That's the game." Huyu glanced at him.

The game

Benjiro mouthed the words.

That's right.

She had asked them to play with her.

But, never told them the game.

The whole point was to figure out that they were in the game to begin with?

"WHAT THE HELL KIND OF GAME IS THAT?"

"How did you figure it out?" Emi was beginning to down herself, it taking her so long to catch on.

'Am I invisible or something?'

"They just don't care what you have to say."

"I know what to look for. Eita being a master doesn't fit."

"Well EXCUSE me. My apologies if I'm not as perfect as you people." Eita did the best eye roll Benjiro had ever seen.

She knew she wasn't as gorgeous as all masters seemed to be with their flawless beauty.

He didn't need to rub it her face.

"It's not that!" Huyu exhaled, "You have scrapes on your knees that were scabbing over and will probably become a scar. Master can't get that. We heal too fast. Besides you already have one on your eyebrow."

'That's right.' Benjiro remembered Huyu getting cut a while back. Emi had tried to clean it, but he had explained he healed too fast. And the next day it was gone.

When Eita had been yelling at them the other day; her eyebrows were furrowed.

Lowered where you could see them, Huyu must have been looking for those flaws.

As if to prove it, Eita removed her goggles, Benjiro saw it. A thin scar, running at the beginning, it almost made her look angry.

"Besides, even if I can't sense as well as before, I made it a point to draw a bit of each of your energies." Huyu seemed much more prepared for this than the other two.

Another mistake they made.

Huyu's flirting was to ensure he got physical contact. Then he patted Aeka's head. Hadn't he been forced to flee right after that?

"Draw energy? What the hell?" Iwao was lost.

"Wait, if a master can't get scars, how is she handicapped?" Nobody cared enough to fill Iwao in.

"Is she faking it? I mean, that'd explain how she ran in the middle of the battle." Emi pointed out.

Eita shook her head.

"I'm not sure how she got hurt, but I'm pretty sure it used to be a lot worse than it is now. She's not sealed so her energy doesn't work on her healing as well."

"And she's too close to master's state for me to give her any energy. It'd be dangerous adding to her own supply." Huyu explained.

'I don't believe that will be needed.' Izumi referred to her patient.

Aeka's head turned, her large eyes opened, she nearly jumped seeing all the faces leaning over her.

"So...did everyone win the game?" She smiled.

Iwao slapped his head.

"Ok, you guys were serious? She's the master!"

"YAY YOU DID WIN! I wish there was a prize I could give you but I don't have enough money to buy everyone something." She tapped her finger to her chin.

Her wound completely healed, Izumi inspected the rest of her body, a few scratches on her arm; she stopped at her legs.

Her right was perfectly healthy.

Her left.

She immediately began to pull up the cloth to get a better reading, Aeka's hand snatched hers.

"Please don't touch my leg!" She requested a little too jumpily.

Izumi retracted her arm with haste, respecting her wishes.

Emi and Benjiro exchanged a look.

Iwao still injured, Izumi pushed him to sit down, immediately working on his ankle.

"She won't hurt you. She's been training in healing longer than she knew she was a waterbender." He hardly watched her work.

Aeka pushed the covering as far as it went, only her ankle being exposed.

"This is beyond healing." She whispered, this subject was too close.

Too close to the subject she couldn't speak.

"What were you thinking? Running in the middle of that!" Eita immediately questioned.

"That if I got hurt you'd stop fighting."

'Huh?'

Did he just hear her right?

"Wait, you did that on purpose?" Huyu gaped.

"Yup! Worked out pretty well huh?"

"ARE YOU CRAZY!" Eita, Benjiro and Iwao screamed in unison.

'Wow that was kinda cool.' Three way yelling.

Awesome.

"I think my mental stability is fine for the most part." She smiled, "But I was just thinking, that anytime a fight needs to be stopped, usually a person with very little common sense will run in mix of the battle. Then in some way there's always a cloud that covers the battle which later reveals the person lying unconscious and both side forget their problems and rush to assist the fallen person. It works twice as well if that person is an adorable little girl such as myself and I knew I could counter each attack just enough so I'd only get hit with light attacks and once in the head! See! Everything worked perfectly!" She clapped her hands, feeling accomplished.

Eita lifted a shaking hand, like she wanted to strangle her for being so stupid.

'Is it considered stupid if it worked?' Benjiro wondered.

No, that was just stupid.

"Are you crazy?" Iwao repeated.

Surely she wasn't ok if she was willing to hurt herself just to get them to stop.

"I told you I'd make sure I didn't get injured too badly. I know how to figure that stuff out." She puffed her cheeks in a pouting expression.

"No more suicidal attempts for now on though." Huyu shook his head, "deal?"

"No more fighting then." She folded her arms.

"I can't promise that."

"Then I can't promise either."

Benjiro slapped his head.

"Well then, since everyone is caught up;" Aeka put aside her cute side, lifting her head higher; she used her gentler, stronger voice, her mouth forming a perfect line, neither smiling nor frowning. Benjiro could tell she wasn't playing around anymore, the glitter from her eyes seemed to have dimmed for business, "may I now hear what is the current situation regarding our world?"

~Flashback~

Huyu forced some water from the tree, splashing it on his face, his heart beat was slowing, calming.

Good.

'I have to get used to this.' He reminded himself.

Traveling with the masters and prodigies. The strongest benders in this world. Of course their energy was going to be powerful.

He'd adjust.

'I just don't get why it's been so much harder lately.' He slid against a tree, shrinking to the floor; he stretched his legs, 'What the hell did Kaimu do?'

If he knew would it make a difference?

No.

Most likely not.

His healing knowledge wasn't enough that he'd be willing to start screwing around with his brain.

He normally relied on his master's energy to fix him up; so why was it taking so long now?

Was this something that could be fixed?

Depriving a sense, it was like going blind.

Had people ever recovered from that?

But it wasn't that extreme. Technically he could still use it; it was just a pain in the ass to do so.

He tilted his head, wondering how he was supposed to go back in there now.

Eita was already ticked at him for simply being a master. He just ran out in the middle of the whole thing. That wasn't exactly going to score him any point with her.

"I'm sorry." Aeka was stealthy with her wheelchair.

Huyu wasn't sure if he was more surprised she had followed him or that he hadn't noticed.

"Huh? It's not your fault. I've just been having a little trouble with my gift." He smiled to ease her worry.

It had no effect.

Her eyes were worried, but her voice had changed.

Well, it was still her voice, but she seemed… solemn.

Truly serious, when he focused, looking as hard as he could to every detail, from the straightness of her mouth to the stillness she sat. Yes, maybe a little, she did look older.

Too mature to be seven.

"I'll be thirteen in December." She announced.

He gave her a confused look.

"You were studying me. Looking me over, denying that I was really seven and guessing what age I did fit." Was she a mind reader?

"No but I'm an expert in reading a person based on facial expressions, gestures, heart beats, breathing, and vocal use. I've also been trained to be aware of everyone within screaming distance of me, not just small descriptions either. I could tell you the age, height, weight, eye color, bending ability, speech performance and clothing down to the hidden buttons of every person I passed in the market earlier. Including some names I picked up and what they were discussing." Her eyes stared straight into his

It wasn't something he was used to.

For the past year, everyone cowered, looked away, a hidden fear of him.

She held her gaze; the liveliness in her eyes had disappeared, replaced with control and confidence. He found he was the one having trouble.

Had she even blinked?

"You're observant."

Was that dumb thing all he could say?

Considering she basically just told him she would make the perfect assassin, surely there was something smarter he could have mentioned.

She gave him a break, diverting her gaze to the floor; he knew she could have gone longer if she wanted.

"I've had practice."

'Ok…' Such a change from sweet little Aeka.

"You had practice in acting as well?" Might as well give this girl a golden globe for the deceiving she's done.

She shrugged.

"I suppose so. But I don't act like a little girl."

"Uh…care to elaborate?"

Wasn't she just yelling at her "Onee-san" like a five year old?

A gentler smile.

"I'm actually as juvenile I seem. I don't act when I'm screaming or laughing or smiling. Those are still my real actions. I have a young heart and do very little to hide it. But I'm also smarter than a lot of people guess. I have both a photographic and audiographic memory, as well as perfected observation skills and know how to predict person's proceedings based on previous knowledge of that individual. I do admit my annotations of a person occasionally, to give them a clue of my abilities, but I'm always taken lightly. Still, I know when to be serious and I always respect those moments."

'So, in short, she's really just a little girl with a smart mind and acts her age when she thinks it's necessary.' Huyu always preferred to shorten extended explanations like that.

Either way, it sounded way too complicated.

"Does Eita know?"

"Know what?"

"That you're a master?"

Excitedly she clapped in rapid motions, laughing.

"YOU WON! YOU WON! YOU WON! First one to ever get it!" She was practically bouncing in her seat.

Huyu stared at her.

"The whole game is to figure out I'm the master and you're the first to get it!" Aeka beamed, seeming pretty eager.

...

'Young at heart indeed.'

Her eyes sparkled.

"So I'm guess I can't tell anyone right?" He questioned.

'Oh am I going to hear an ear full when they hear I didn't help.' Just picturing Benjiro's spasm gave him a headache.

"Well...it'd be cheating otherwise."

Did it really make a difference if he told? They'd just target Aeka for persuasion or be extra nice to her.

No.

He wouldn't talk. She's a master.

Like him.

Despite her appearance, he still owes her his respect.

Even if it was as simple as playing along in a game, he wouldn't betray her. There were so few of the masters. They needed to stick together.

"Alright."

She smiled, appreciating it.

"But why are you hiding. Both you and Eita are like keeping so secretive."

The smile faded.

'Serious Aeka again.' Could these be considered mood swings?

"Eita knew of the masters and prodigies before I met her. It wasn't like she was searching them out, but she was traveling a lot. I think to avoid them, but then she found me. It was complicated at first, but we made an arrangement. I don't know her reason, something that happened to her previous home, but she said she wanted to stay under the radar. I don't want to be detected by anyone in the Earth Kingdom so I was ok with it." She explained.

"Why do you need to hide from the Earthkingdom?"

Aeka glanced at her leg.

Gingerly touching her left, she turned back to him.

"I got myself involved in something."

There was something in the air.

Awkwardness.

This wasn't particularly welcoming anymore.

"I can't walk." Her voice was hushed, "Well, I suppose I could. My leg was destroyed, in fact I shouldn't have survived," she held her head so low, her bangs covered her eyes, "...it's still healing, quicker than any other person would. But pressure hurts. Even a little of my weight hurts. If I have to, I will suck it up though. I won't even limp. I know how to hide pain. How to deal with it, "never let even the worse of injuries slow you down"."

Huyu wasn't sure what there was to say.

"I'll get better. Give me about three months. I'll be as good as I used to be." She lifted her head up.

Huyu saw something.

Determination.

"I'll be better. I'll be able to pull my weight. I won't just be an extra. I-I'll be strong again." Was she convincing herself or him? "And, when I can, will you fight me?"

She rolled closer, pleading eyes.

"Uh...what?" Ok, was he missing something?

How did it go from winning a game, to her being wanted in the Earth Kingdom, to her wanting to fight him?

"You're a sealed master. I-I'm not sure where I am. My situation is well...complicated. But I'm close to Masters State. And I want to see how much stronger I can be." She didn't look at him.

That's right.

With everything happening, it distracted him.

"How did you get into benders state?" The question blurted out.

Entering Bender's state meant you were supposed to enter Master's state. But she wasn't. There was no master's trait. But, months ago, before they even met Shin'ichi…he had felt it.

Her.

In Bender's state. How was that possible?

Even now…her energy was…off.

"I forced myself." She glared at him, "I had to do something. And I strained enough energy out of me to get into the benders state."

Was it such a sin for asking?

Yes, to her it was.

She looked hostile for asking.

But where did that put her? Between the beginning and actual master's state? What did that mean? How much of her power did she have then?

He could ask.
No, he couldn't.

She disliked this subject.

Besides, he could already guess the general idea.

"I'll fight you." He stood up, "But it all depends on your choice."

"Whether I join your group?"

"Yes. You can join ours or Shin'ichi's."

"There are two?"

"Yeah. There's a problem with the worlds and...I don't think I should be the one to explain it to you. I have a biased view, and you should be able to decide for yourself."

Aeka watched him with solid eyes.

She nodded.

~End of Flashback~