Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Last Airbender.
Bodyguard of Azula
Chapter 25: Scams and Viewpoints
"Talking"
"Thinking"
"Bijū/spirit talking"
"Bijū/spirit thinking"
(Location: Team Avatar)
Katara and Toph stood apart from one another, holding themselves in their bending stances. "Okay." Aang announced as he stood up and tied his headband around his eyes. "I'm ready for some training." He took his Earthbending stance and felt the vibrations in the earth. He moved forward in a zigzag motion to avoid the rock columns Toph bent out of the ground. He felt Katara bend the water at him, which he returned and then bent a large rock out of the ground and hurled it at Toph.
"Good job, Twinkle Toes." She told him after grabbing the rock. "Visualize, then attack!" She threw the rock back at him. He dodged by literally drilling himself down into the earth. The rock sailed over him and slammed into Katara, knocking her down.
"Maybe you should take your own advice, Toph." She said after getting back up.
"What's the matter? Can't handle some dirt, Madam Fussy-Britches?" Toph taunted her as Aang popped out of his hole.
Katara's eyebrow twitched. She bent a large wave up out of the river and pushed it at Toph, leaving a small hole in the middle to allow her and Aang to stay dry. The wave dropped on Toph, soaking her to the bone. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I splash you, Mud-Slug?" She asked mockingly.
Trembling with anger, she bent up an earth ramp and charged forward. Katara bent water from the river and charged forward, freezing it into an ice ramp. The two collided and went flying. "Are we taking a break?" Aang asked. The blindfold was still around his eyes.
Meanwhile, Sokka had been lying in wait. "Sneak attack!" He shouted out as he charged forward. Aang casually bent a stone pillar up out of the ground, stopping him in his tracks.
"Sokka, sneak attacks don't work if you yell it…" The Air Nomad began to say as he dropped the pillar back into the ground, turned around, and raised the headband to see. However, he didn't see Sokka when he turned around. That was when he felt the edge of a jian at his throat.
"I know they don't work, which is why I did it." The Tribesman said from behind him. "It was meant to distract you."
"You got me again." He admitted a little sheepishly. Sokka withdrew his jian and sheathed it. The two of them saw mud splash nearby and saw that Katara and Toph were fighting in the mud.
"Hungry for a mud pie?" asked Toph, kicking mud in Katara's face. She stumbled back and tried to wipe the mud off her face.
"I'll give you a mud pie!" She bent mud at Toph, knocking her down. She leapt back up and off-balanced her by bending a small earth column up underneath her. It sent her flying back against the wall. They were about to attack each other again when Aang spoke up.
"Uh, guys? I thought we were supposed to be training me." He said. That was the whole point of the training, wasn't it?
Katara calmed down and took a few steps forward. "Very well, pupil," She said. "I believe we've had enough training for today." She walked away from them, intent on getting cleaned up.
Toph bent the mud off and walked out of the mud pit. "While Katara cleans up, let's go have some fun!" She told Sokka and Aang. They agreed with the notion.
They walked down a road in the nearby city. "Look at all those messenger hawks." Sokka said as they pasted a large coop, which could house a lot of them. "Wouldn't it be cool to have one of those? That way you wouldn't talk to anyone, you could just send them messages."
"I like the idea of not talking to you." Toph remarked.
"Funny, Toph, funny." He replied sarcastically.
"So, guys, what are we going to do with our last silver piece?" Aang asked the two. They hadn't taken a lot of money when they left, so they didn't buy a lot of things.
"We can get more money." Toph answered as she stopped and pointed down at the street below them. "Right there," Aang and Sokka looked down at where she was pointing. They saw a man playing the three shells game with a crowd. "This is where you see people are at a disadvantage. Everyone guesses wrong because the dealer moves the rock at last minute." She told them after they had gotten down to the street. "But I can feel it with my Earthbending."
The person playing lost and wept for the loss of his money. He and a few others left. The dealer looked around and saw Toph. To be more specific, he saw Toph's blindness. "You there," He called out to her. "Want to play a friendly game?"
"How can I possibly play? I'm blind." She waved her hand in front of her face to emphasize the point.
"You don't have to see to be lucky." He told her. She sat down, felt out the table and the shells, playing the "Can't see" card for all it's worth. Aang placed the coin on the table and the dealer started up. He showed her the pebble and placed the shells back down. He started to move them around, but unbeknownst to everyone else (minus Toph) he put two extra stones into the shuffle. That way, whichever Toph chose would be the right one. She pointed at one and he took the shell off, revealing the stone.
"Flamey-o, Toph," Aang told her.
"Wow, fancy guessing. You're amazing at this." The dealer told her, tossing two silver pieces onto the table. "Would you like to make the game a little more interesting?" He played around with a few coins to get his point across.
"More interesting? How?" She asked, still sounding like a naïve little girl.
"Well…let's say you toss in your friend's fine sword there." He pointed at Sokka's jian. "Then I'll put up twenty silver pieces against it and that's more interesting."
Before the Tribesman could even protest, Toph snatched his jian out from his hands. "I'll do it for forty pieces."
"Forty silver pieces it is." He started shuffling the shells again, taking out the extra two in the process. As he tried to do the same with the third stone, Toph bent it back into the shell. He waited confidently for her to choose. "Sorry, little lady, but…" He began to say as he picked up the shell she pointed at, only to find the stone underneath. "Huh?"
"I won!" Toph cried. She grabbed the money while Sokka grabbed his jian and the four of them ran off before the dealer could say anything else.
"That was so cool!" Aang declared. He didn't know you could use Earthbending like that.
"Yeah, it was." Sokka agreed. "However, Toph, the next time you're going to be bet my sword, I will feed you it. Understand?" He asked, his voice only slightly threatening.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it." She told him. Even though she said without sounding like she cared, she made a point not to do it anymore. If Sokka made a promise like that, he would keep it. And she didn't want to be on the receiving end of such a threat.
(Location: Royal Palace)
Naruto was in his room, working on his book at a table. It was a slow process at that moment, as he was trying to figure out a couple of things. He was thinking them through when he got company. "Hey Naruto," Temari said as she and her brothers walked into the room. "Working on the book?"
"How could you tell?" He asked with slight sarcasm. But he was glad that they were there. Perhaps they could help him. He put the pen down and turned around to face them. "I could use your help."
"What do you need?" Kankurō asked the blonde as he sat down at the same table.
"I'm trying to come up with a rank that sounds both vague and mysterious at the same time. Got any ideas?" He asked the three of them.
The Sand Siblings frowned in concentration, thinking it over. "What about something like 007? That's sounds kinda cool." Temari suggested from where she sat on the bed.
He shook his head. "Sounds more like a codename then a rank." And he didn't want a codename, he wanted a rank.
"What about Triple Black?" Kankurō offered to him.
He thought about it. "Yeah, I like that. But how do I show it as a rank and not a phrase?" That would be the key to the story.
"Have them as a tattoo of a black triangle on each wrist and between the shoulder blades." Gaara said from where he stood against the wall. "That, in turn, forms a triangle itself."
"Oh, that's a nice touch. Thanks, Gaara." Naruto told his friend. He quickly wrote down the idea so he wouldn't forget it. He had written down several ideas since he started writing. Some had been thrown out, but some were kept.
"Lord Naruto," A servant said, coming in and handing him a message before walking out of the room. As Naruto opened the message, a frown appeared on his face.
"What's wrong?" Temari asked him, seeing the frown.
He finished reading the message, sighed, and put the book and pen away. "I have to go out for a while. I'll be back." He stood up and went out the door without saying anything else to them.
(Location: Team Avatar)
Toph, Aang, and Sokka walked back to the camp with their arms full of food and other things they needed, all carried in baskets. Akela padded behind them. "Where did you guys get the money to buy all this stuff?" Katara asked them as they put the baskets down.
"Toph got us money." Aang explained as he sat down with a fruit in hand. "She scammed one of those guys in town who moves shells all sneaky like." Katara had a scowl on her face when she heard that.
"She did use Earthbending to help herself win." Sokka said.
"Ah, so she cheated." His sister stated.
"Hey. I only cheated because he was cheating." Toph protested. "I cheated a cheater. What's wrong with that?" She thought it was just fine.
Katara, however, did not. "I'm just saying this isn't something we should make a habit of doing."
"Why? Because it is fun and you hate fun?" The blind Earthbender asked her.
"I don't hate fun!" She protested before putting Momo on top of her head. "See? Fun," Momo fell off her head, screeched at her, and ran away.
"Katara, I'll personally make you an Avatar Promise that we won't make a habit doing these scams." Aang told her, standing up and raising his headband to show his arrow tattoo.
That promise lasted about twenty five minutes (which was the amount of time it took to get back to the city). The three of them got back to the city and went back to work. First, she started off with two men playing a dice-like game with sticks instead of actual dice. She bet her money, tossed the sticks, and made sure she'd won via Earthbending.
Next, they went to a carnival, where there was a test-your-strength challenge. After one beefy-looking guy tried and failed, Toph went. She struggled with the hammer a bit, making the crowd laugh, and then swung the thing, using her Earthbending to help. Not only did she ring the bell, she destroyed it, and took her reward as the weighted ball landed in a tent, collapsing it.
She then scammed someone by using her Earthbending to push a small rock up in front of a noble's carriage. She pretended to be struck by the carriage and Sokka arrived, dressed up as a local guard (complete with bushy beard). The nobleman had bribed him with several small bags of money before he supposedly agreed to look the other way.
(Location: Royal Palace)
Naruto walked back into the palace. What he was going to do next, he was not going to enjoy. As he walked through the halls, he went past Azula, Zuko, Kori, Mai, and Ty Lee. "Hey Naruto," Ty Lee called out, waving him over. "Where have you been?"
"I went to go see a prostitute." He said bluntly. "Don't jump to conclusions." He warned them as Ty Lee, Mai, and Kori had looks of outrage on their faces (Azula had one of hurt).
"What exactly are we supposed to do when you say something like that?!" Mai demanded.
"She does have a point, Naruto." Zuko agreed. "And I'm not saying this as her boyfriend." He had thought that the blonde loved his sister. Now he went did something like that?
"First off: just because she's a prostitute, doesn't mean I slept with her." The Paragon of the Fire Nation told them. "Second: she asked me to come for a favor."
"What kind of favor?" Kori asked him, still a little suspicious.
"That is something only a few of us need to know right now." He turned to walk away. "Zuko and Azula, come with me." He ordered the two siblings. After sharing a brief look, they went after him.
"Where are we going?" Zuko asked as they went down a corridor. While he might've wondered the halls at night occasionally (something that drove Há absolutely nuts), he was fairly certain that he had never been down this part of the palace.
"Some where I'd never thought I'd go voluntarily. If this wasn't happening, she would owe me big time." Naruto muttered that last part to himself.
"Naruto, just what is this prostitute to you?" Azula asked, having heard the muttered part. As far as she knew, he didn't act like this for any prostitute (then again, she didn't think he knew any prostitutes).
"You'll see. We're here." He said, stopping in front of a door.
The two siblings immediately realized where they were. "Uh…Naruto, this is Yāo Jing's room." Zuko said, looking at the door with confusion.
"I know. Trust me, I know." He knocked on the door. The brief silence that followed was almost deafening.
Yāo Jing opened the door. When she saw Naruto, she glared at him. "What do you want?" She all but snarled at him.
"Can we come in?" He asked her, not batting an eyelash.
"If you've got something to say, then say it there." She told him. "Otherwise, go away."
"You do realize that it's fairly rude not to invite guests in, right?" She was about to slam the door in their faces, when he gave her surprising news. "Your mother is dying." While Azula and Zuko were shocked by those words, their bastard sister didn't show a single thing on her face.
"So? What's your point?" She asked him, like it was nothing of great consequence.
"She wants to see you before she dies. She asked me to pass that on to you." He looked her straight in the eye. "Should I tell her you'll be coming?"
"…Leave." She slammed the door closed. The echo of that slam seemed to hang around the hallway for a few seconds.
"That went well." The blonde said as he walked away.
"Is her mother really dying?" Zuko asked as he and his sister followed. While he and Azula knew that Yāo Jing's mother was a whore, they had never actually met the woman.
"Do you honestly think I would lie about something that serious?" He asked in reply.
"How do you know her?" Azula asked her bodyguard.
"I tracked her down after I met Yāo Jing. Once I found her, I got to know her and we became friends." He chuckled. "It's ironic. One of the most sadistic and evil people I know on this planet is the daughter of the whore with the biggest heart of gold I have ever seen."
"What will you do now?"
"I'm going to see her one last time. The two of her are welcome to come along, but it won't be a pretty thing to see."
"What do you mean?" Zuko asked him. But even as he asked the question, a sense of dread was welling up in his stomach.
"She's been burned, and it was your loving father who wielded the flame." The blonde's voice was filled with both sarcasm and hate when speaking of Ozai.
(Location: Team Avatar)
"Guys, I think these scams have gone on long enough." Katara told the others as they sat around in the camp. "If you keep doing them, something bad is gonna happen."
"Could you for once stop being such a sourpuss and lighten up?" Toph asked her, tossing her a silver piece.
"Oh, I'm sorry! You thin k I should be more like you? Like some wild child?" She asked in return, tossing the piece down to the ground.
"Yeah, maybe! Maybe then you'd see how great we have it!" As she spoke, Sokka grabbed the piece off of the ground. "I mean, look at us. We're travelling around this side of the planet, making easy money, having fun, with no parents telling us what to do!"
"Ah, I see. You're acting like this because of your parents." Suddenly, things were making a lot more sense to the Waterbender.
"Whatever."
"They were controlling over you, so you ran away and now you act like your parents don't exist. You act like you hate them, but you don't. You just feel guilty." Katara told the blind Earthbender.
"I do hate them!" Toph insisted. They had locked her away from the world and she had to run away to see it and to train the Avatar. How was she supposed to forgive them for doing that to her?
"I don't think so. I think you miss them, but you don't wanna deal with that, so instead you act like this crazy person." That made a lot more sense to the Waterbender.
"Look, I ran away to help Aang!" She declared, standing up.
"You know what? It doesn't matter. These scams put us all at risk and we don't need that." Katara insisted. "We already got some third-eyed freak after us."
"Let's just call him the assassin." Sokka stated.
"What? No colorful name?" Aang asked playfully. When it came to name-calling, Sokka was king.
"This is nothing to kid about, Aang." The Tribesman told him with complete seriousness.
"We have enough money!" Katara told Toph, completely ignoring Sokka and Aang. "You need to stop this!"
"I'll stop when I want to stop and not when you tell me!" Toph shouted at her. She bent the bag of money into her hand, walked away from the group, and made an earth tent.
"Speaking of money," Sokka stood up and grabbed another bag of money that had been sitting at his feet. "I'm off to spend some. See you guys later." He made his way into the city and towards the messenger hawk coop, buying one. "Wing," He told the bird as they left the building. "Welcome to Team Avatar. My name is Sokka and I am your new owner. As such, I'm must warn you that there is already a lemur in our group, so I don't want to see any fighting. Also, there is a wolf with us. You mind your manners and he won't eat you. Understand?" The messenger hawk screeched. "Glad you understand." As he walked away from the coop, he went past the board of wanted posters. One poster made him stop and ripped it off the board. It was a poster of Toph. "You're right, Wing." He said after the hawk saw the poster and screeched. "This is bad."
(Location: Fire Nation Capital)
The three of them stood outside the brothel. It didn't have any extravagant things on it. It just looked like a normal building. "Are you guys ready?" Naruto asked Azula and Zuko. They nodded. "Alright, we might as well go in." He walked up to the door and knocked on it. It opened to reveal a stunning woman wearing almost nothing. Zuko focused his eyes on the ground and chanted in his head that he had a girlfriend. Azula just scowled at her.
"She's been waiting." The woman simply stated. She wasn't trying to seduce any of them. She was completely serious.
"Thank you, Cong." He said, walking through the door with Zuko and Azula behind him. "How has she been doing?"
"Not well, the doctor thinks she won't last longer." She looked out through the door, trying to see if there was any one. "Is she coming?"
"I don't know. But maybe it's better if she didn't."
"Naruto, you know how much she wanted to see her." She told him.
"I know, but Yāo Jing isn't what she hopes to see." He sighed. "May we see her?"
"I won't stop you." She just went back to where the others prostitutes were. No one was really working, which meant it was too early, or they had closed for the day.
"Thank you." He made his way towards the stairs that were off to the left wall. He went up them with Zuko and Azula following him. They went to the third floor, where there was only a door at the top. He walked up to it and knocked. "Chun? It's me, Naruto. I brought some friends." He called out.
"Please come in." A pleasant voice called through the door. They walked through the door and into a large, cozy-looking room. "Have a seat. I'll be out in a moment." They heard call out from an opening the siblings assumed led to the kitchen. They sat down next to a table. She came out and Zuko and Azula had to stifle their gasps, but they couldn't hide the looks of shock and horror.
Chun's face was completely disfigured. The left side of her face looked melted and drooped down. Her right side was the same color of red that Zuko's scar was and was also paralyzed, locking it into the form of a half-crazed grin. While her right ear was still there, her left ear had been reduced to nothing. Her hair ironically looked like it hadn't been touched. It just looked like it was recently cut.
"Our father did this?" Both Zuko and Azula thought in horror. It was strange, but they could see Yāo Jing in Chun, a kinder and gentler Yāo Jing. Zuko also couldn't help but feel how lucky he was.
Naruto stood up to greet her. "Chun, as radiant as ever," He told her, taking the tray of tea she held in her hands.
"Don't be a tease, Naruto." She told him, her tone lightly chiding. She looked at the two other people in the room. "Prince Zuko and Princess Azula, I am honored to have you." She bowed to them.
"The honor is ours, Lady Chun." Zuko told her, standing up along with his sister.
"Lady Chun?" She repeated, sounding faintly amused by his words. "I'm certainly not a lady. I am a simple madam of a brothel." She sat down and looked at Naruto.
He knew the meaning of that look. "I'm sorry, Chun. I don't know if she's going to come." He hated to dash the hopeful look she had, but it was the truth.
"There's no need to apologize, Naruto. All I asked for was that you tell her. What she did was up to her." She told him, but they could tell she was disappointed.
(Location: Team Avatar)
While Aang and Katara practiced their Waterbending in the river below the camp, Sokka approached Toph, who was counting the money they had collected. "Toph, when I was in town, I found something you're going to like." He told her, pulling out the poster.
"Well, it sounds like a sheet of paper," She said in reply. "But I guess you're referring to what's on the sheet of paper."
Having forgotten that she was blind, he pressed on. "It's a wanted poster, of you." He told her. "They've nicknamed you 'The Runaway'."
"A wanted poster, that's so great! 'The Runaway' I love my new nickname." She exclaimed excitedly. "Is there a picture of me? Does it look good?"
He looked at the poster, then at her, then back at the poster. "Well yeah, actually, it does look pretty good. But Toph, you're missing the point. Maybe Katara was right. These scams are drawing too much attention to us."
"Don't be such a worrywart like your sister." She told him, picking up the bag of money. "Think of it this way: Now you have plenty of money to help with the invasion plan."
"Well, that is true." He admitted. "I had this idea of making armor for Appa and Akela." If it worked out, the bison wouldn't be in complete danger during the invasion.
She handed him a few gold pieces. "Here's a little extra so you can get yourself a nice map of the Fire Nation. You know what?" She handed him the entire bag. "Make it an atlas."
"No." He handed her the money back. "The armor is fine, but don't try to bribe me to ignore this."
"Very well, but this wanted poster is going to stay our little secret." She grabbed the poster and put away before he could grab it. She walked away as Katara and Aang walked up to him.
"Sokka, tell me you didn't buy a bird." Katara said with an annoyed look on her face.
"No, he just likes my shoulder." He replied with obvious sarcasm. "Besides, it's not just a bird. It's a messenger bird. Now we can send messages all over the world, even to Gran-Gran."
"Wow, how does it work?" Aang asked.
"Uh…I never actually thought about that. Wing, Gran-Gran, South Pole," He ordered the hawk, pointing south. Wing just shook his head. "Okay, so we might have to work on it."
"You named him Wing?" Katara asked. "What kind of name is that?"
"It's better than Hawky." He replied.
"He's got a point." Aang agreed. Momo climbed up onto Aang's shoulder, screeched at Wing and then leapt at him. The two of them were about to start a fight on Sokka when he grabbed the both of them and held them apart.
"The two of you knock it off or I will feed you both to Akela!" He warned them. Akela, having heard the prospect of food, stood up and padded over, looking at the lemur and hawk with the interest of a hungry predator, the Doomsday smile about to show itself. The two of them got the point and calmed down.
Later, Sokka and Toph had gone back to the city, leaving Katara and Aang with the animals (minus Wing). While Aang sat next to Appa and took a drink out of a canteen, Katara cooking something in the pot before bending some of it into Appa's mouth. "Well, look who decided to join us." She said as Sokka, Toph, and Wing came back, carrying bags of money. "Where have you two been? Off scamming again?"
"Yes, we were." Toph answered like it was no big deal.
"And I suppose you don't think what you're doing is dangerous at all?" She asked, walking up behind the blind Earthbender.
"No, I don't."
"Really?" She asked.
"Yes, really," Toph answered.
"Well then. What's this?" She pulled out the poster.
"I don't know! I mean, seriously! What's with you people? I'm blind!" She pointed at her eyes to emphasize her point. How many times could they forget that she couldn't see with her eyes? It was not that hard!
"You don't act like it, Toph." Sokka told her. He had seen her walked around like she could see. That was what made them forget.
"It's a wanted poster of you! 'The Runaway' is that what you're called now?" Katara asked Toph. "Are you proud of this?"
"Where did you get that?" The blind Earthbender demanded.
"It doesn't matter where I got it. The fact is—"
"You went through my stuff! You had no right!"
"Your stuff was messy and I was just straightening up, and I happened to stumble across it." The Waterbender tried to explain her actions.
"That's a lie, you're lying, Katara!" She accused her, pointing her finger at her.
"Fine, it's a lie!" She said, slapping the finger away. "But you've been so out of control lately, I knew something was up! I knew you were hiding something and you were!" She showed the poster again, which Toph snatched out of her hands and threw away before walking away. "Don't you walk away from me while I'm talking to you?"
"Oh really, Mom?" asked Toph. "Or what are you gonna do? Send me to my room?" Her voice was full of sarcasm as she spoke.
"I wish I could." The Waterbender replied.
"Well, you can't!" She snapped, the sarcasm being replaced by anger. "Because you're not my mom, and you're not their mom!" She pointed at Aang and Sokka, who were sitting off to the side.
"I never said I was!" Katara protested.
"No, but you certainly act like it! You think it's your job to boss everyone around, but it's not! You're just a regular kid like the rest of us! So stop acting like you can tell me what to do! I can do whatever I want!"
"…I don't act that way. Sokka, do I act motherly?" She asked her brother.
"Do you honestly think I'm stupid enough to answer that? I'm staying out of this." He told her
"What do you think, Aang? Do I act like a mom?" She asked the Air Nomad.
"Well, I…" He began to say, rubbing his eye.
"Stop rubbing your eye and speak clearly when you talk!" She ordered him, proving the point Toph made.
"Yes, ma'am," He replied quickly, doing as he was told.
"I can't be around you right now!" Toph declared, walking away.
"Well, I can't be around you!" She walked away in the other direction.
Wing screeched softly as the two left. "I know, Wing." Sokka said to the bird. "Why can't they just get along?" Akela gave him a look that asked him if he had really just asked that question.
(Location: Chun's room)
"Please, drink." Chun told them as they held cups of tea in their hands. They had all sat back down again and had been given their cups by her.
Naruto took a drink from his cup. "Excellent tea as always, Chun," He told her with praise in his voice.
"You flatter me." She looked over at Zuko and Azula, who barely taken a sip from their cups. "Is the tea not to your liking?" She asked them.
"No, the tea is fine. Great, actually," Zuko assured her. "It's just…" He trailed off, not really wanting to finish the sentence.
"What?"
Azula decided to be the one to finish the sentence. "This is the first time we've met you." She told Chun. "It's not what we were expecting."
"Oh, I see. You mean this." She gestured to her face with her free hand.
"It's not that, not entirely."
"What else is there?"
"Aren't you…mad?" That was the question both she and her brother were thinking, but didn't really want to say aloud.
"Mad at your father?" She gave a light laugh. "I was, but not for this." She gestured at her face again.
"Then what for?" asked Zuko.
She put her cup of tea down. "Perhaps I should start at the beginning."
"Chun…" Naruto began to say, like he was going to make her stop before she even started.
"Naruto, it is my story to tell." She took a breath and began. "I had been a prostitute long before your father visited me, but he was the one who ended it. When he came here, he always chose me. Eventually, I discovered I was pregnant and I knew he was the father. I told him and he was overjoyed at the news. When I had given birth, I held in my arms the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Then your father arrived, with a full contingent of guards. He took my baby away from me and I couldn't do anything to stop him." She stopped talking as tears came down her face (at least, out of the eye that still had a tear duct).
"You can stop, if you want to." Azula told her. The princess was already disturbed by what she was hearing.
She wiped the tears away. "No, it's best to tell the entire thing."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I am. I forced myself not to think of her for five years, until I saw her on the street. I sent a message to your father, asking him to come. When he did, I pleaded with him to let me see her. I asked for only one day to spend with my daughter. He grew furious. He slapped me and beat me as well. As I lay on the ground in pain, he told me that she wasn't my daughter. I was just a whore and I should know my place. So, as punishment, he decided to burn me."
The two children of Ozai were horrified at what he had done. "What happened next?" Zuko asked. He couldn't help but ask that question. It was like there was nothing he could do to stop the story now.
"He left me there." She answered him. "Thankfully, the others had found me and got me to a doctor. The money was taken care of by a mysterious person, I never found out who it was. The last madam ensured I wasn't cast out to the streets by teaching me what she knew. She soon retired and I took over. I have been the madam of this brothel ever since."
"But why wait all these years before trying to see her again?" Azula asked. There must've been a reason for that.
"I was afraid that if I tried, your father would actually try to kill me." Chun told her. "That was my reason until I learned I had cancer."
"That's when she asked me to tell her." Naruto said. That's when they heard the door open. They all turned to see who it was and saw Yāo Jing standing in the doorway.
"Měi Lì?" Chun asked with hope in her voice, looking at the woman who she thought was her daughter.
(Location: Team Avatar)
Toph was sitting at the edge of the camp. Katara had been sitting on the other end until she had walked away (more liked stomped away). "What are we going to do?" Aang asked Sokka.
"I'll take care of it." He replied. He got up and walked over to Toph. "Come on, we need to talk." He told her. She huffed, but followed him.
"So, lemme guess." She said as they sat down on the ledge overlooking the waterfall. Unbeknownst to them, Katara was bathing below. "You brought me out here to tell me that your sister's not annoying as I make her out to be."
"Nah, she's pretty much a pain." He told her, making Katara scowl. "She's always got to be right about everything and she gets all bossy and involved and in your business."
"Yeah, I don't know how you could deal with it." Toph told him. She would've gone crazy from all of it (she was going crazy from it now).
"Actually, in way, I rely on it." He replied. When she heard that, his sister looked up at their dangling feet.
"I don't understand." The blind Earthbender told him.
"When our mom died, that was the hardest time in my life." He started to explain. "Our family was a mess, but Katara? She had so much strength. She stepped up and took on so much responsibility. She helped fill the void that was left by our mom."
"I guess I never thought about that." Now it made a lot more sense that Katara would act like a mother to everyone.
"I'm gonna tell ya something crazy." Sokka told her. "I never told anyone this before, but honestly? I'm not sure I can remember what my mother looked like. It really seems like my whole life, Katara's been the one looking out for me. She's always been the one that's there. And now, when I try to remember my mom, Katara's the only face I can picture." Katara, having heard all that, began to cry.
"The truth is sometimes Katara does act motherly, but that's not always a bad thing. She's compassionate and kind and she actually cares about me." She wiped away tears in her left eye. "You know, the real me. That's more than my own mom." Katara was deeply touched by this and sank lower into the water. She began to swim away. "Don't ever tell her I said any of this." Toph told him, punching him in the arm.
"Hey, my lips are sealed. Besides, Katara needs me as well."
"What do you mean?" She asked him, unsure of he meant.
'If I wasn't with the group, what do you think would have happened at the river town? Or at Kouzan?" He saw the realization appear on her face. "While Katara is all what we said, sometimes she'll believe what she decides is right and everyone should follow her. If someone objects, she ignores them. That's why she needs me. I'm the one who always brings her back down to earth. In a sense, you've been acting her when she gets like that."
"No I haven't!" She protested immediately.
"Are you sure?" He asked her. "You've been scamming people and even when they have a poster for you, you don't care. You said that you can do whatever you want. That's what she does when she gets like that."
She saw his point. She had been acting like Katara. "Then what should I do?"
"That's your choice, although I recommend restraining yourself when it comes to stuff like this. We aren't on vacation, Toph. We're in the middle of a war." He reminded her.
She thought over his words as they made their way to camp. There, a dressed Katara was waiting for them. "Hi, Toph," She began. "Um, I wanna—"
"Katara, stop," The blind Earthbender interrupted her. "You don't need to apologize. I was the one being stupid. These scams are out of control and I'm done with them."
"Actually, I wasn't going to apologize. I was gonna say…I want to pull a scam with you." Her words shocked both Aang and Sokka.
"What? You wanna pull a scam?" Toph could not believe that she was hearing this come out of Katara's mouth.
"Not just any scam. The ultimate scam," Aang fainted and collapsed to the ground, foaming at the mouth while Sokka just stood there. "Whaddaya say, Toph?" She asked, pulling her close. "Just me and you, one last go. You in?"
"You know I'm in!" She agreed excitedly. "Now what's this idea of yours?"
"The plan is simple: this wanted poster says you're worth a lot of money. Ten times more then you've made in all of your scams. So I'm gonna turn you in and collect the reward. Then you Metalbend yourself out of jail and we're on our way."
"Sounds like a plan."
"Okay, who are you and what have you done with my sister?" Sokka demanded of Katara, pointing an accusing finger at her.
"I'm right here, Sokka." She told her brother with exasperation. Honestly, why did he get like this?
"Fine," He said, seeing that he wasn't going to win the conversation. "Just so you know, I reserve the right to call you an idiot should this plan of yours goes south."
"Oh relax, what could possibly go wrong?"
(Location: Fire Nation Capital)
The two women stared at each other. "It is you, Měi Lì." Chun said, looking at Yāo Jing. She had hoped her daughter would come and she did.
But her daughter winced slightly at those words. "Who's Měi Lì? My name is Yāo Jing." She replied.
"We'll leave the two of you alone." Naruto said, seeing that the two of them would need some privacy. He, Zuko and Azula stood up and walked out of the room. It turned silent for a few minutes after they had left.
Chun spoke first. "Will you have some tea?" She asked, gesturing with a hand at the tea kettle and cups sitting on the table.
"So you're my mother." Yāo Jing said rudely, ignoring her question.
"Yes I am, Měi Lì." She replied, not at all insulted. "Please sit and have some tea."
"Don't call me that." She snapped at the woman. However, she did sit down at the table and took a cup of tea.
"How has your life been?" Chun asked her daughter.
"Why should you care? You were never there for it." She took a sip of tea. While it wasn't the best that she had, she could admit that it was quite good.
"But I want to know about it. I am your mother."
"If that's what you want to believe." Personally, she was having a hard time seeing how they were mother and daughter. She just couldn't see it.
"It's the truth. I carried you for nine months in my womb. The only time I held you in my arms was moments after you were born. That is, until the now so-called Fire Lord took you away." Chun's voice filled with slight disgust at that last sentence.
Yāo Jing heard the disgust and instantly reacted. "Never talk about my father like that!" She snapped at the older woman in the room. "He is a great man!"
"Would a great man do this to someone?" She asked with both sadness and bitterness, pointing at her face.
"You must've deserved it." There was no way her father would've done something like to someone without a good reason.
"He gave me this when I asked to see you for only a day." She told her, dropping her pointing hand.
"Well…why did you ask? You must've known that he would have refused."
"I did, but I had also hoped he'd relent."
"But instead, you got burned for your troubles." She laughed cruelly at Chun. "You know, it was better that he took me. Then I wouldn't have to be a whore." She wouldn't be down here, with the dregs of civilization.
"Is it any better than being his recognized illegitimate daughter and have no chance of obtaining the throne?" Her supposed mother asked her, taking a sip of tea once she had finished speaking.
"You shut your mouth!" She said in a hissed whisper. "The throne will be mine!"
"…You would sacrifice everything just to obtain it?" Chun asked her after a moment's silence. "You would murder your own siblings?"
"Yes, I would. Power is all that matters in this world." And the throne of the Fire Nation held the most power in the Bending Countries. It would be hers.
She sighed. "Spoken just like your father, how sad."
"I told you not to speak about my father like that!" Yāo Jing screamed at her. No one would insult her father in front of her.
"And what if I did? Would you kill your own mother, Měi Lì?"
"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" She yelled at the older woman, standing up and throwing the cup of tea to the ground. "Why do you calling me that!?" It wasn't even her name!
"It was the name that I had chosen for you. You were the most beautiful thing in my life." Chun told her, looking up at her from where she sat with sad eyes.
She wanted to say something, anything, back at her. But she found herself unable to. Finally, she gave a scream of both rage and frustration. She stormed out of the room and down the steps. Chun's calm look melted away as she began to cry. Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she looked up and saw Naruto standing beside. "I'm sorry, Chun." He said.
"Don't be." She told him, wiping away the tears. "I always knew she would end up something like that, but I kept hoping that there was something of me besides my looks in there."
"I should gut that bastard." He growled. He should've killed Ozai the minute he had met the man.
"Would Prince Zuko and Princess Azula let you?"
"If I did it right now, they'd probably help me kill him and hide the body." He had seen how disgusted they looked when listening to Chun's story. But he knew that they were disgusted at their father, no her.
"Killing him will not help the situation, Naruto." She told him. "It will only make it worse."
"I know. I still want to gut him." He calmed himself and looked at her. "Do you want to be alone?" He asked.
She nodded. "Yes, please."
He walked back to the door. "I'll be back tomorrow."
"Thank you." Only when the door closed and the footsteps on the staircase disappeared did she start to weep again.
(Location: Fire Fountain City)
Toph ran down the street, trying to get away from her chasers. When she ran into the main square, she got caught in a net and was trapped. "How could you do this to me?" She demanded of Katara, who was standing over her. "You betrayed me!"
"You brought this on yourself." Katara told her. "I had no other choice." She crossed her arms and looked away. But when she looked back, she wore a sly smile. Their plan was working.
"You did the right thing by turning in the Runaway." The leader of the guards told her as he walked up to her.
"The right thing is its own reward." She replied.
"Well, I'm happy to hear you say that."
"But…I still want the actual reward." She told him. The plan was to get the money, after all.
"Of course, right this way." He led and she followed.
(Location: Toph)
A guard dragged Toph into the jailhouse. She tossed her into a cell and slammed it shut. Toph felt around, but couldn't feel any metal or any earth. "Hey, what kind of cell is this?" She demanded.
"A wooden one," The guard told her. The Runaway got very worried at that point. This was not going as planned.
(Location: Katara)
She stood in front of a desk as the guard leader picked up a box and opened it. When the door behind Katara opened, he closed it and pointed at her. "That's her! That's the girl you were looking for!" He declared. She turned around and saw the assassin standing over her.
(Location: Camp)
Aang was pacing around the camp while Sokka sat on the ground with Akela at his side and Wing on his arm. "Do you think this scam of theirs should be taking this long?" Aang asked him. The Air Nomad had thought it would've been done by now.
"I was wondering the same thing. We better check it out." As he stood up, Wing hopped off his arm and onto a pot next to Momo. "You two behave, Appa's in charge." He told them as he and Aang walked off with Akela following them. As soon as the humans were out of sight, the hawk and the lemur began to screech at each other. But one bellow from Appa quelled them immediately.
(Location: Jail)
Both Katara and Toph sat in the same cell. "Wait!" Toph said suddenly. "It's a trap!" How could she be so stupid and not recognize it?
"Really?" asked Katara sarcastically. "No kidding! Is that why we're sitting in a wooden cage right now? Gee, how'd you figure that it was a trap?"
"Not for us, Katara!" She told her. "We're the bait. He wants Aang!"
The Waterbender understood immediately what she was trying to say. "I can't believe I was so stupid! See, this is exactly why I'm against these scams! I knew this would happen!"
"But…this was your idea." Toph pointed out.
"I know. I wanted to show you that I'm not so motherly. I wanted to show you that I can have fun too." That had been what made come up with this scam in the first place.
"Katara, you are fun. If nothing else, you're at least fun to argue with." That was always a good thing to have.
"I know your relationship with your parents is complicated. And I shouldn't have said what I said." She had stepped out of line when she had done that.
"It's okay. I was really mad when you said that because…well, because maybe it's true. I try not to think about it, but when I left, I probably really hurt them." She began to cry as she said it. Katara gave her a hug to comfort her.
(Location: Fire Fountain City)
Aang, Sokka, and Akela walked through the city. "Where do you think they might be?" Sokka asked the Air Nomad as they went down a street.
"Where do you think anyone is?" Aang asked in return. Since they set foot in the city, they hadn't seen anyone else. As they entered the main square and went past the tall statue of Ozai, Akela stopped, sniffed the air and began to snarl.
"What is it, Akela?" Sokka asked as he went for the jian on his back. Aang heard the sound of someone inhaling. Turning around, he saw the assassin standing on a rooftop, ready to fire.
"Guys, look out!" He cried out, grabbing Sokka and pulling him around the statue just as the blast hit. Akela had leapt through the statue's legs and joined them on the other side. "It's the assassin!"
"Thank you for stating the obvious." Sokka remarked, rubbing his head. The assassin leapt off the roof and fired another blast, making them move.
(Location: Jail)
Toph tried to force the cell door open with no luck. "What are we gonna do?" Katara asked her.
"I don't know." She answered, stepping away from the cell door. "I wish we had some earth or water. We need bendables!"
"What about your meteor bracelet? You could make a saw." That would get them out fast.
"I left it back at camp." She explained as she sat down. "I was worried they would take it."
Katara sighed and wiped her forehead. It was getting hotter in the cell. But when she noticed the sweat on her hand, she got an idea. She got up and started running in place. "Um…Katara? Are you okay?" Toph asked her.
"Just fine." She replied, concentrating on what she was doing.
"Well, what are you doing?"
"I'm making my own water." Wiping her forehead again, she bent the water at the cell door, slicing into it.
"Katara, you're a genius! A sweaty, stinky genius!" declared Toph as she stood up. Katara didn't respond, she just reached underneath her armpits.
(Location: Fire Fountain City)
The assassin took a few steps forward and fired off another blast. It hit the ground, just as the three entered an alleyway. Sokka was sent crashing into a wheelbarrow, making it stand upright. He rolled off of it and Aang helped him get up. The two of them, plus Akela hid behind it. "This guy is too good." Sokka declared. "He shoots fire from his brain!"
"We should split up!" Aang said. "He can't chase us both." Before Sokka could argue that point, the assassin walked through the smoke and into their sights. He fired a blast just as they split, destroying the wheelbarrow. He walked forward when he saw Aang trying to run past him on the rooftops. He fired another blast which sent Aang flying into the statue of Ozai, smacking right into the chest and falling to the ground.
As he tried to get up, he saw the assassin standing over him, preparing to fire another blast. But before he could, a good amount of water engulfed his head and froze. As he tried to get his head free, Aang saw Sokka, Katara, Toph, and Akela in the street behind him. "Aang, get up!" Katara told him, running forward toward him and helping him get up.
"Let's get out of here." Toph said as they ran away. As they did, the assassin shattered the ice with a punch of his metal arm. He inhale and fired off a blast. Toph, having felt him, bent a rock to act as a shield. The blast hit the rock, shattering it. One of the small fragments sailed towards him and hit him right in the middle of his third eye. He stumbled back, covering his eyes. When he recovered, he attempted to shoot another blast but it literally backfired and sent him flying into a wall. Shaking his head, he tried to look for Team Avatar but couldn't see them.
(Location: Royal Prison)
"You've got a couple of visitors." The guard called into Iroh's cell before opening it. He turned around to see who it was. While he was not surprised to see Zuko, he was surprised to see Azula and Naruto. "I had never thought you would see me of your own violation, Azula." He told her.
"Nice to see you as well, Uncle." She replied sarcastically. That was such a nice way to start off the conversation.
"Uncle, we've met Chun." Zuko bluntly told him.
He looked over at Naruto. "She's dying and wanted to see her daughter." The blonde explained. "I went to go see her and they came with."
"Ah, I see." Iroh said.
"You were the one who gave the doctor the money to save her, didn't you?" Azula asked her uncle. She knew that he was that kind of person.
"Yes, I did." He answered. "What my brother did was unnecessary and cruel. I knew he wouldn't care if she had lived or died, so I gave the brothel money so that she could be saved." He looked at his niece and nephew. "You disapprove?" He asked them.
"…Uncle, for once, I approve of your actions." His niece told him.
"I do as well." Zuko agreed.
"Thank you." He fell quiet for a moment before finally asking a question. "Did Yāo Jing meet her?"
"Yeah, but it didn't end well." Naruto told him. He looked at Zuko and Azula. "You guys go wait outside, there's something I want to ask Iroh in private." They didn't argue. They had gotten their answers.
"What is it, Naruto?" Iroh asked once his niece and nephew had left the cell, closing the door behind them.
"You weren't the only who took care of the money, were you?" The blonde asked. Somehow, he just knew that was the case.
The Dragon of the West smiled when he heard that question. "Of course I wasn't."
"Who was the other person?"
"Who do you think it was?" He asked cryptically.
The Fire Paragon wasn't annoyed with not getting a straight answer. He smiled instead. "I guess I should've known." It had made sense to him once he realized who Iroh wasn't talking about.
"Are you going to tell them?" Iroh asked, growing concerned. He knew of what the blonde had found, but he did not know where. That secret stayed with the blonde.
"Not unless they desperately want to know." He replied.
"You are the only one who knows where she is, Naruto."
"You don't think I know that?" He asked the old man. "She made me swear an oath never to reveal her location."
"They still have a right to know."
"Yeah, but I'm not going to tell them right now." He walked back to the door. "Goodbye, Iroh." He said before walking through the door and closed it.
(Location: Team Avatar)
Appa had landed for the night. Aang and Sokka had already gotten out of the saddle and started setting up camp. Katara was about to join them when Toph spoke. "Katara," She began. "I need your help."
"What is it, Toph?" She asked, curious to know. Things between them all had been a bit subdued once they had gotten away. They all knew that was going to be the end of the scams and cons.
"I need you to write some things down for me." The blind Earthbender held out a piece of paper. "I wanna send a letter to my parents."
She smiled. "I'll be happy to help." She wrote the message. When she was done, the two walked over to Sokka. "Hey, Sokka?"
"Yes, idiot," He replied.
His sister frowned at those words. "Will you stop calling me that?"
"Not until I'm bored with it." He replied. "What do you need?"
"We need to use Wing. Toph has a letter for her parents." He simply handed the hawk to them. They put the message into the holder and Wing took off, taking its message to Toph's parents.
(Location: Royal Palace)
Yāo Jing had taken a private dinner and was readying herself for bed. It had been a week since the visit to the brothel. And yet, that meeting she had with the madam of the place still rang clear in her memory. She didn't know why, but she couldn't get that burned woman out of her mind. She was surprised when she heard someone knocking on the door. But it turned to hate when she saw who it was. "Why are you here?" She said harshly at Naruto.
"Your mother is dead." He simply said.
"So what? Are you expecting me to come to the funeral?" She would be damned by the Spirits before she went to a whore's funeral.
"The funeral already happened." He told her. "Besides, the prostitutes wouldn't have let you anywhere near it."
"Then why are you here?" She wanted to go to bed and he was stopping her from doing that.
"Chun wrote this before she died. She wanted you to read it." He offered a scroll to her. She snatched out of his hands and slammed the door in his face. She walked back into the room and opened the scroll, letting something fall to the ground.
Měi Lì
By the time you read this, I'll be dead.
I know you might not love me, you might even hate me. But you are still my daughter and I will never hate you, no matter what you do.
I know you probably want nothing to do with me, but I'm still leaving you something to remember me. I can only hope that you won't destroy it.
Goodbye, my little Měi Lì. I love you, now and forever.
Your mother
Chun
She burned the scroll and threw it into the heath. She picked up what had fallen to the ground. It was a picture of Chun when she was pregnant. On the back of the picture was writing that read:
Chun and little Měi Lì, eight more weeks to go!
Looking back at the picture and at the younger Chun, she could see the resemblance. They both had the same long, dark, wavy hair, the same high cheekbones and the same rosy lips. Their eyes were even the same storm grey color. While Chun's eyes looked cheerful, seductive, and content, she knew that her eyes held nothing but promises of fear and cruelty, as while as ambition.
She was tempted to burn the photo as well, but couldn't do it. She now knew that the burned woman she had met was telling the truth. She had been her mother. "My name is Yāo Jing." She finally whispered to the room. For some reason unknown to her, tears began to fall from her eyes.
End
Author's note: Thank you for all the reviews you've sent me.
For the record, Yāo Jing is still going crazy at the end. I'm just adding fuel to the fire. Plus, it gives me a reason to do the mirror scene.
Also, Ozai can be that cruel, remember what happened to Zuko? That was just for speaking out of turn.
Yes, Combustion Man is going be called the assassin until he dies. Do you honestly expect Sokka to grow up like that and still give his enemies nicknames? At the very least, he can come up with something better than Hawky for a messenger hawk.
If you think about it, while Katara does support him, he's there to keep her from getting too big a head. If he wasn't there in Ba Sing Se, Katara would've never taken help from Jet and would probably have browbeaten everyone else into following her lead. Honestly, if you think about it, every time Katara gets on a streak on how right she is, she gets uppity and a little unbearable. A good example: this chapter.
Yes, I know I made a James Bond reference, it was on purpose. Like I said before, I intend to make the character the James Bond version of that world, with a little private detective thrown in for good measure.
I'll see you all next chapter!