Akemi's past is revealed in this chapter! Finally~

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The last airbender.

Chapter 24

Akemi woke to someone shaking her shoulder followed by a gentle voice urging her to wake up. Trying to open her eyes was the hardest part for her, considering she was pulled into a rather restless sleep while dreaming of things that were once forgotten as they sunk back into her subconscious and were stored away. She didn't feel like getting up, but when the person continued shaking her shoulder, she knew that she couldn't ignore them for long.

As she swatted the hand away groggily while muttering incoherent words, she knew exactly who had been trying to wake her without even needing to look.

Zuko was gone, anyway…

Eyes peeling open and letting out a yawn she readied herself to start to the day, rather not to a great start considering they were now missing a person in their group.

"It is almost in the middle of the day, I expected you to be up by now!" Iroh joked light-heartedly, which managed to crack a small hint of a smile from her when relieved that he was still with her; not that she expected him to be gone, but after Zuko left she was paranoid about being alone. As her blurred vision cleared she noted the rather downtrodden look that was etched in his features, and she couldn't help but look downcast.

'Iroh's trying hard to remain positive,' she thought as she watched Iroh give her a cup of tea from the teapot that rested over a burning fire. Seems that he's been up for hours if he already had some tea brewed and ready for her. How long he's been up, however, eludes her mind as she sat up and blew on her tea to cool it down. "Thanks..." She murmured to Iroh and sipped at her tea once she felt confident the heat wouldn't scald her tongue.

Iroh sat across from her as the fire divided them, watching as she slowly sipped her tea. Afterwards the older of the two sat across from where she lounged quietly, observing the surroundings and finding comfort in the tranquil environment that they now resided in. For a while they've been traveling on foot since the time Zuko had departed over a day ago, and they frequently stopped along their path to rest since Akemi could only walk for so long at this point.

Not that either of them minded stopping to smell the roses every once in a while, but they were trying to at least not be too far behind from Zuko; they've been trailing behind him at a distance just in case he happened to get in trouble. While consuming her drink, Iroh continued to observe her from his spot. He knew that Akemi was relatively hurt over the fact that Zuko left them to push onwards without them, leaving them behind, and the fact that the girl had been awake the entire time to hear him leave probably was weighing down on her.

"How are you faring?" Iroh gently asked.

Akemi shrugged weakly, and Iroh clasped his hands together over his lap as he continued to send a concerned stare at her without her even realizing it. Eventually she noticed a pair of eyes on her and looked up from the drink she had been staring at for an abnormally long time.

"I'll be fine, Ir—uncle…" Akemi responded quietly, though she wasn't sure if she was trying to convince him or herself at the current time being. As a lingering thought she still realized how weird it was for her to address Iroh as 'uncle' given that he wasn't a blood relative, but she didn't dwell too much on that speculation. So many thoughts ran rampant through her mind as they all happened to relate to what she could've done to of stopped Zuko and berated herself for not even at least saying goodbye to him before he left.

She missed him.

Iroh glanced up at the trees and found himself smiling when seeing a few birds tweeting and flying in pairs onto different branches from high up. Despite the stillness and abrupt silence between them, they both seemed to find comfort in the nature that enclosed them, and it helped alleviate some of the sadness that seemed to have grown after the departure of a certain young man.

"I'm sure he is missing us as much as we are," Iroh suddenly commented nonchalantly to try and ease the dreary mood that encompassed them, or at least from Akemi for the most part. His words seemed to have tugged her out of her trance, but she still didn't seem any better. The best he could do for her was be there for her while she was in this depressed state, but he wondered how long it would last for.

Iroh's lips turned upward at Akemi's unresponsiveness; his growing concern for her now knew no ends, and he was utilizing anything that might bring her spirits up. "Talking is certainly good medicine if you are feeling downtrodden. After all, it is good to have someone to talk to about your troubles if you have any."

Akemi caught him off guard when she uttered, "I'm sorry, but...I really don't want to talk right now."

Seeing at how she was starting to curl into herself, he gave a respectful nod at her wish to remain untalkative and looked around at the items they had managed to carry with them, most of them being only the bare necessities that Zuko had conveniently managed to get for them before he left. Iroh looked up back at the sky and noticed the shadow of the day had shifted direction when caught up with their small exchange of words. "Whenever you feel ready, we must continue to move forward soon if we don't want to lose sight of Zuko."

The girl let out a small, humored chuckle to herself as a thought crossed her mind. "Maybe he isn't too far. I'm sure he's already fallen off that ostrich horse a couple of times to even cover a large distance," she joked, which seemed to lift Iroh's spirits as he noticed her mood starting to shift from her depressed state. She quickly drank the rest of her tea swiftly and placed it down before she slowly stood up, mindful of her impaired leg, and limped over to help Iroh wrap up their small campsite of their belongings before they would move on.

Some memories flashed without warning through her mind as she placed some food in her bag.

A small Akemi perked up by the windowsill she stared out again without her mother's knowledge when she noted a man approaching the house from a small distance away on the dirt pathway. The outskirts were rather wide and not that many people were housed around the area where they lived, considering how far out they were. It was perfect for anyone to sneak into this house and potentially harm any of the dwellers, and the person who was approaching would elicit some suspicion from others.

"Father!" she, however, cried happily which dissipated any possible concerns the people in the house would've had with any other person. She hopped off the small stool that she was standing on and ran towards the door in another room in anticipation of her father that would be walking in.

She ran past her mom who was rather surprised by the ruckus that the girl was making, but visibly relaxed when the girl was shouting who it was that was approaching the premises and gave a small smile of her own. The front door creaked open as Akemi hopped excitedly in front of it to welcome her father, a middle-aged balding man with a small goatee on his chin who had rough features, but otherwise had a gentle look in his eyes at seeing his daughter before him once he stepped in.

"Ah, there she is!" he praised and quickly swept his daughter up in his arms whole-heartedly. A fit of giggles elicited from the small girl as the man hugged her tightly, still clad in his soldier uniform and therefore gentle in how tightly he hugged her to him. "My brave little girl! Have you been good to your mother?"

Akemi pouted and crossed her arms. "She got mad at me when I wanted to look outside the window the other day," she complained, and the man let out a small chuckle.

"Well, I've told you before you shouldn't do that. There are lots of strange people that could be out there," he chided, evoking a haughty glower from the small child who wasn't satisfied with the answer. He rubbed the top of her head, messing up her head as he leaned in, "Who knows what I'd do if someone were to—"

"Let's not give our child any worries, dear," the mother cut in sternly, though she had her own grateful smile from seeing her husband return home safely. Akemi looked at her mother with contempt, but remained silent as her mother walked up and received a kiss on the cheek from her father. "Welcome home."

"It's good to be home," the father sighed and glanced at his moping daughter. "Why the long face, my little panda lily?"

"Father, I told you not to call me that!" Akemi whined and struggled to break free when the man let out a hearty guffaw in response to his daughter's childish protests.

"Hold on, Akemi," He suddenly used his finger to tilt the girl's head upwards. "Open your mouth wide for me!" Akemi opened her mouth followed by the sound of an 'ah' accompanying it as she stretched it wide. As her father observed the inside of her mouth for something. "Oh, my daughter's lost a tooth, hasn't she?" He faked gasped and smiled, pinching her cheek. Akemi giggled and slapped his hand away. "Every time I leave you seem to get bigger and older!" He marveled.

The girl puffed out her chest in pride.

"Alright, I think your father's held onto you long enough, Akemi," her mother broke in, which garnered disappointment from the girl. "I'm sure he's tired after traveling from inside the city and back. Let's have him rest for a bit!"

Akemi pouted once again as her father set her down before ruffling her hair again. "Akemi, listen to your mother and go to your room. It's time for you to sleep," the father told Akemi and she reluctantly nodded and started to trod off into the other room. Seeing as her parents looked like they wanted to talk about something, Akemi left to leave them alone. However, seeing as the two were eerily silent as she was leaving, curiosity got to her and Akemi decided to eavesdrop on whatever conversation they were about to have. As she rounded the corner she sidled up against the wall so that it seemed like she left them alone as she waited for them to talk.

"Something is troubling you," the mother suddenly spoke concernedly.

"Yes. I just got orders from the general," the father responded, and Akemi furrowed her brows at how morose he sounded. "The general had requested an audience with the firelord briefly, and he just announced to my unit that there were disturbances going on outside of these walls and we need to scout to apprehend them. They suspect earth nation soldiers may be around the area outside."

Akemi's eyes widened and she nearly wanted to burst in the room and plead her father not to go and do that task. But seeing as he swore his allegiance to the firelord, she knew that this decision was ultimate. Her eyes trailed to her feet as her mother spoke again,

"…When are you to depart?"

"A few days. The general promised we wouldn't be patrolling for more than a week, three days at most." Akemi's shoulders slumped in relief at the small amount of time her father said he would be gone. Compared to the fact he was gone for over two weeks before he walked in today, at least he would only be gone for such a short time. In any case, she would be around him as much as she could before he left.

She slowly backed away from the doorway when her parents continued to discuss other matters at hand before she tiptoed quietly to her room.

Akemi seemed to have stopped packing, because the next thing she knew she was being roused from her roused when Iroh's voice broke through her flashback,

"Akemi!"

Shaking her head and finally out of her brief stupor, she glanced at Iroh who was staring at her curiously. "Oh, sorry…"

"You seemed to have stopped gathering your belongings and were unmoving for such a long time. Is there something troubling you, Akemi?" Iroh asked, placing a hand on her shoulder with worriment. It seemed that any small thing she did was concerning him nowadays, she noted as she shook her head in response.

"Nothing's bothering me, I promise!" she replied, giving a laugh of uncertainty to try and reassure Iroh that she wasn't deep in her emotions at the moment. She waved a hand in front of her to try and convince him further. Though usually she would be more open in talking about her feelings, this was something she felt as though he shouldn't have any involvement in; after all, he and Zuko virtually knew next to nothing about her past other than their parents were dead. In fact, she realized the only person who really knew that she had walked in on her mother's dead body that dreaded night was Katara, of all people.

Speaking of which, Akemi suddenly wondered how she and everyone else in her group were faring right now.

Noticing that she and Iroh were flung into silence once more, she realized that's been happening a lot, lately. Perhaps it would be time for them to have a more upbeat atmosphere around them as they went after Zuko, she thought determinedly and suddenly stood, flinging the bag with her provisions and clothing over her shoulder as Iroh did the same.

"Let's keep moving!" Akemi declared with a positive attitude and slowly stumbled away with Iroh in tow, who walked close to her side in case she accidentally tripped over her leg and fell over.

"DON'T DO SUCH A THING!" a shriek of a woman was heard in the outskirts.

A distinct sound of a hand hitting contact with skin echoed around the area, scattering some animals that were residing about into their holes or away from the small cottage down the dirt pathway. Had anyone been around they would've turned their heads in the direction of the strange noise permeating from the housing unit, but seeing as it was isolated for the most part isolated from other families about half a mile away, it would remain to be unknown.

Inside the relatively-large housing unit, Akemi's mother let out huffs of anger. Beads of sweat trailed down her temple, a flickering of something fierce flashing through her emerald eyes as she glared down on the person responsible for her distressed attitude. Her hand remained outstretched and to the side, evidence of her having her hand make contact with something.

Akemi was bent over to her side parallel to where her mother's hand was, a red mark suddenly decorating her cheek from where she apparently was struck. The girl's eyes remained wide, her expression dropping from her previous excitement that she had given to her mother merely minutes ago when she had approached her. Slowly the little girl angled her head towards her mother who was flushed with anger with a timid, stunned look. Another emotion rose to the surface when the mother lowered her hand but did not break the furious expression that she had on her face.

"M-Mother?" Akemi whimpered as she shrunk away from the woman who seemed to be trying to regain her composure, to no avail. Moments passed, but over time the woman refused to calm herself.

Just a while ago, Akemi had been excited because she had discovered that she could firebend for the first time, evidence being when she sneezed and fire spurted from her nose. And with that, she had been trying to emit fire from her hands to try and test her newly discovered skill and was able to emit flames from her palms successfully. A great sense of pride rushed over her the moment she was able to do that and wanted to show her father first; however, seeing as he was out in town collecting food for the family, she thought that maybe her mother would react positively to her accomplishment.

But in a single instant after showing her mother the small bit of fire that emitted from her hands, all that hope of receiving praise was shattered in an instant when her mother reacted the opposite of what she expected.

"AKEMI, DO YOU HEAR ME!" The woman shrieked, now looming over the cowering form of her daughter who was shocked by her mother's demeanor. This was the first time in Akemi's life did her mother ever slap her or even blow up like this, and it terrified her. "DON'T EVER FIREBEND EVER AGAIN!" Akemi trembled as the level of her mother's tone of voice progressed. Eyes watering with tears threatening to fall, she could do nothing else but shakily nod her head in response to her mother's command. Seeing her mother swiftly turn her attention from her, Akemi quickly scampered from the room but managed to hear some words that happened to linger from her mother under her breath,

"She will not be one of them. I refuse to let my only daughter inhibit something from such a heinous culture," the mother muttered to herself. Akemi didn't understand what she meant, but would never even try to inquire about it for as long as she were to live out the rest of her life.

Akemi never told her father what had happened that day.

For the rest of her childhood she avoided firebending, even if the presence of her parents weren't around out of fear of her mother's words. As a result, her father never found out that she could firebend, despite wanting to desperately show him what she had accomplished. Whether it was out of fear of her mother or fear of her father acting out the same way she wasn't sure to this day, but all she knew was that from there on out, she had been ashamed about even have the ability to firebend.

That shame would turn into pride for her capability to have such power during the time she had first been brought in by Ursa into her family and met Zuko and Iroh. Seeing them train and firebend freely without fear of rejection inspired her until she gained enough confidence to learn how to utilize her "gift", as Iroh once put it, and has been getting better over the years. Despite not being as apt as Zuko when it came to power in all the attacks, she took pride in the fact to this day that she had more control over her form and firebending in general than Zuko usually did. But even then, her also acquiring her sword had also opened up new opportunities to improve herself and boost her confidence.

Akemi eyed her katana strapped to her side. Before they had left the cave a while ago, she'd noticed that the sword was placed next to her sleeping bag, and she wondered if Zuko may have put it there when she wasn't even aware of it.

She let out an exhale as she glanced up at the sun that had set halfway down in the west. While caught up in her memories, time had passed by her faster than she was used to it being. She looked over at Iroh who made an effort to walk next to her slowly to keep with her pace and not rush her; she suddenly requested, "May we please stop for a few minutes? I can feel my leg starting to cramp on me."

"Of course," Iroh replied and searched for a place to take a break on before he placed his belongings down next to a small stump of a tree and sitting on it, observing as Akemi slumped down against a tree next to him with a long exhale of relief. "Are you sure you don't want to stop for the night, Akemi?" Iroh asked, surprised when Akemi shook her head in response. "I know the sun is still out, but there's no need to try and hurt yourself so we can keep up with Zuko. He'll be waiting for us!"

"We both know that Zuko's got his mind on other things to even know that we're behind, uncle," Akemi surmised and placed the back of her hand against her temple as she felt herself overheating and breathing oddly.

Iroh had noticed her change in breathing pattern and immediately went for his bag calmly. "Well, it seems that we'll be here for a while, considering how exhausted you're seeming to be."

"Uncle, I—"

"Akemi…rest," Iroh chided gently, which surprisingly was effective in getting her to stop from moving to stand up in protest.

For what she thought was for the tenth time today, she sighed and stared at the sky as it started to near dusk and wondered if Zuko was thinking about them at this very second.

"Akemi." Her mother called from the other room.

Stiffening, Akemi remained rooted in the small stool she sat in as she continued gazing out the window around sunset, expecting someone to come down the dirt path that led to their house. Her mother's voice seemed to pass one ear out the other as she continued to ignore her mother's call for her to come in the other room to join her.

"Akemi, please come here," the mother's voice called quieter, and Akemi wondered what was suddenly up as she realized that she was calling from the room where the front door to their house was. The girl blinked a few times and let her gaze linger on the windowsill as she got out of her chair before she darted to the room where her mother was waiting in.

As she found herself staring up at her mother near the front door, she noticed her holding a piece of parchment in her hands. "It's your father," her mother addressed, and Akemi's face lit up with excitement. They hadn't heard from her father in nearly three days, and they had told her he would just be out running some minor military work during this time, though she knew the real reason why. Regardless, she assumed whatever her mother was going to tell her was news of him being on his way back from his patrolling that he said he was going to go on, them still unaware that she had eavesdropped on their conversation.

Her face beamed as she asked, "Did he write us a letter? Is he finally coming home?!"

Akemi's mother didn't respond. The girl's smile lowered when the piece of parchment in her mother hands started to crumple slightly as her hands started to tremble.

"M…mother?"

"Your father...was lost in an ambush yesterday when patrolling outside the walls," Her mother responded, revealing her apparent lie that Akemi knew about anyway, and dropped the note, the parchment falling from her hands to the ground, opening up.

Akemi looked at the writings on the paper, feeling her body go cold and the air dropping a few degrees while desperately hoping whatever her mother was an absolute lie.

"He isn't coming home, Akemi. He's gone."

Akemi shook her head in denial, a few whimpers escaping her throat. She placed her hands over her ears as if shielding herself from whatever her mother was telling her about her father. "You're lying, you're lying, you're lying," the girl murmured continuously in a mantra and tried to forget about what her mother had just told her, convincing herself that her father would walk through the door at any second.

But when she glanced up at the door, her father still wasn't there. The only things in the room with her was just her mother and that accursed note!

She sobbed in her hands and suddenly for the first time in her life bolted out the door of her house and into the outside world, even though it was the dead of the night and she knew next to nothing about the world beyond her horizon she was able to see when sitting on her stool watching outside the window when waiting for her father to return home. Akemi didn't know how long she ran screaming and crying, but eventually she found herself collapsing on the ground from a distance away from where the inner part of the fire nation capital was able to be seen from where she was slumped on the ground.

Some houses were around and people in them who noticed the disturbances glanced outside their window to see what it was about before they closed their blinds at the strange girl hyperventilating in the middle of the dirt-paved road.

Long hours had passed before Akemi had the strength to even get up from where she had broken down and cried her heart out at the loss of her father. Body now numb, face frozen and unable to switch her melancholic expression, she realized that she was now alone out here in the world and realized that this was a new experience for her. However, she knew that she shouldn't be out here. She knew nothing about this area, it was now night, and her mother was probably waiting for her at home…the only parental figure she had left in her life, who probably needed her now more than ever. Finding the will to stand, she quietly staggered down the road that would trail to her house a distance away eventually.

Now that her father was gone, she wondered how she and her mother would live out the rest of their lives. She knew next to nothing about the nation she's been residing in, and being the small child she was, she was scared. She didn't think she would be able to handle whatever would be thrown at her next.

Eventually she saw her house in the distance. The door of the house was ajar, and Akemi nearly wanted to collapse into tears again when realizing her father would never walk through that door again. Sniffling, she wiped away more of her tears that were falling down. She made her way slowly to the house.

'I wonder if she's asleep,' she wondered as she slowly opened the door to her house and stepped inside quietly. The air seemed to freeze around her at the eerie silence that passed through her from the dark interior of the house. She wanted to call out to her mother to affirm she was home, but when she took another step inside, the sound of movement froze her in her tracks. Her instincts grew haywire as she realized something was out of place; something wasn't right. She felt her body tremble as she tried to peer through the darkness around her.

When she took one more step inside, the sound of heavy footsteps nearly made her have a heart attack. She shrieked when she turned in the direction of the sound and saw someone, a stranger, in the house!

Two things were then apparent to her:

One, there was a stranger in the house, having a bloody sword in his hands.

Two, the lifeless body of her mother lied behind the stranger who had turned to see her enter the house, blood now everywhere from hidden wound(s) that were more likely to be present.

Akemi stood frozen, staring at the body. Her vision became fuzzy at the sight of the blood, also becoming aware that the looming form of the stranger was suddenly approaching her dangerously.

'Nonononononono..." she thought to herself in denial.

Both her parents were dead. Murdered. And now she was possibly going to be next, she thought in despair as she saw the stranger raise the sword of his head as he come into her view with the intent of sending the finishing blow to her. She felt herself shakily gaze at the murderer before her, and the moment she saw the bloodthirsty look in his eyes, she was suddenly roused from her frozen state when realizing the situation before her.

Something tugged within her very being; something was telling her to act. NOW.

Akemi let out the loudest scream she could muster in fear.

The man launched forward, the bloody sword ready to silence her permanently. Whether by luck or just pure nimbleness, Akemi ducked under the sword, around the murderer before she bolted past him and over the body of her mother without even looking back. She was alone, and now she had to fight for her life; neither of her parents would be there to save her. Akemi's eyes watered as she bolted around the house when realizing her exit to the outside was blocked off by the murderer who barricaded it with the stool and some furniture he had managed to get ahold of.

Akemi, now trapped, felt truly like a caged animal who was also happening to be hunted down by a bloodthirsty predator.

Suddenly, she stumbled and felt herself plummet to the floor, and she then wondered if this was how she was going to die: clumsy and helpless. A glimmer of hope suddenly flashed through Akemi's eyes when she saw a small apparent hole in the wall of the house she was just small enough to squeeze under, probably from an accident or whatnot in the past she didn't remember. At the sound of footsteps catching up, she wasted no time and launched herself at the small opening and crawled through it.

Frustrated shouting erupted from behind where she assumed the man was, who probably now realized that she had crawled through this small hole. This shout startled her, and she suddenly found herself letting out a loud sneeze:

A sneeze in which a small burst of fire emitted from Akemi's nose as a result.

Fire latching onto the wooden interior of the walls, she then realized the flames were then starting to quickly spread in the small crevice she was crawling through. Now knowing the situation was now from bad to worse, she knew she had to do whatever she could in her current state and move forward. She scurried as quickly as she could out the hole, nearly wanting to pass out from the overwhelming amount of smoke that started to build up in the hole and invade her lungs that she knew was particularly dangerous to her health. Akemi hoped that if she made it out of this alive she wouldn't die from all the smoke inhalation afterwards. Realizing her path was blocked by dirt, she quickly scraped at it above her to try and dig herself out.

Hearing the distressed shouts of the murderer satisfied her, and she heard him retreat, but he suddenly shouted out something that perturbed her,

"The brat better not of escaped! Who knows what he'll do if he finds out?!" All that was heard was his groans of distress before she heard him open the door to the front of her house. She wasn't sure where this hole was leading to, but eventually she found herself staring out into the light as she realized she had successfully burrowed beneath the house and escaped death narrowly.

She flopped onto the ground before she quickly scrambled to her feet when seeing that the murderer was directly yards away from where she stood, his back turned towards her as he waited for her to appear from the front door. Without hesitation, she bolted for her life, not even turning back to the burning house of her childhood home, her entire world, to see if the man had noticed.

Nothing mattered to her any more than to just run.

Run. Run as fast as she could away from the danger.

Perhaps she was running from the horrible reality that now was upon her. Either way, there was nothing for her back there. She no longer had anything what she once called 'home' to go back to.

What she would never know that later on, her life would be transformed by running into a certain special person that night as she found herself bolting through what she knew was the beginning edge of the interior city of the fire nation capital.

Akemi turned over on her back and looked at the stars illuminating the night sky. Iroh had fallen asleep a while ago and was snoring the night away. Her eyes lingered at the stars and marveled in their beauty, and they seemed clearer than usual nights.

"Zuko..." she whispered as her mind suddenly trailed to her best friend who was probably still continuing to wander about for probably over a mile away. She hoped he was sleeping easy tonight. With that, she bade herself goodnight and turned over onto her side to try and sleep.

This time, she didn't dream of her past memories as she drifted off into slumber.