Sorry for being somewhat late with this chapter, I would've posted it earlier but I couldn't turn my laptop on, only to realise that it had ran out of charge and hadn't been charged at all because the charger had come unplugged :/. Like I mentioned in the previous chapter, this chapter was not how I originally planned it since the story was going to be heading in a different direction from what it previously was. This chapter takes place after the Smoke and Shadow trilogy and it has no relation to the show Adventure Time, I just thought that it was an appropriate title choice for the chapter.

Adventure Time

Following her decision to find Azula on her own, Izanami quickly packed up her life at Ember Island to begin her quest to find her estranged friend. Before she left, Izanami sent some short letters to Mai and Ty Lee explaining that she was doing some soul searching and asked them not to follow her. After doing so, Izanami left Ember Island and headed to one of the more populous places in the Fire Nation.

At first, Izanami wasn't sure where she needed to go in order to find Azula because she had no idea where the other girl could possibly be. So that was what prompted Izanami to look around and keep her ears open for any word on the Kemurikage. To Izanami's surprise, the one place she least expected Azula to go to was the place where she heard she was supposedly at. By listening around for any signs of Azula, Izanami was somewhat stunned to hear that the Kemurikage had been spotted near an Earth Kingdom port.

Part of Izanami had been suspicious about this information, but since she had heard nothing on Azula's whereabouts, Izanami figured that she might as well give it a shot. Getting a ride to the Earth Kingdom had been easier than Izanami thought it would be, since the first boat she found was able to get her there. Upon arriving at the Earth Kingdom, Akane immediately noticed how different things were after the first time that she had stepped foot in the Earth Kingdom.

For starters, she quickly noticed how lively things were since Izanami hadn't even stepped off the boat she arrived on before she was overwhelmed with everything that was going on. The people just seemed so much happier and less miserable, and Izanami could understand why now that they didn't have a war to worry about. Not wanting to waste any time, Izanami quickly got the updates that she needed and headed off in search of the elusive Kemurikage.

Back when they were younger, Azula always used to tell the story of the Kemurikage as a way to scare them whenever they had sleepovers. It usually worked on Mai and Ty Lee, but never Izanami since she knew that they were ancient spirits who only terrorised one town. The story of the Kemurikage always seemed to terrify Mai the most, which Izanami found somewhat amusing considering her general stoic behaviour. As for Ty Lee, she was always gullible and usually believed anything that she was told.

In hindsight, that was probably how Azula had manipulated their friendship to her advantage. By using Ty Lee's gullibility, Azula was able to have Ty Lee eating out of the palm of her hand so that she never questioned anything that she did. When it came to Mai, the older girl just liked rebelling against the rules that had been drilled into her head her entire childhood. It was easy for Azula to use Mai's desire to rebel against her parents to her advantage, since she had been so willing to leave them behind in Omashu.

Looking back, Izanami could see times where Azula had somewhat manipulated her own feelings to her advantage since Izanami had always laid out her feelings for anyone to see. Unlike Azula who kept everything to herself, Izanami wasn't afraid to show how she felt when it came to her emotions. That probably should've been the first sign that their friendship was destined to fail since Izanami now realised that real friends shouldn't be afraid to express themselves around each other, which Azula never did.

Wondering throughout the Earth Kingdom without being aided by a royal escort was a strange feeling for Izanami, since she had grown so used to being guided everywhere with her status as Azula's friend. But now that Izanami had practically no ties to the Fire Nation Royal Family, she was left to travel on her own. Travelling by herself was actually more enjoyable than travelling with the royal procession, since Izanami was actually able to take some time to look around and enjoy the scenery, something that she had never really taken the time to do before.

At one point, Izanami was wondering on her own through a suburban area whilst she tried to find news on the Kemurikage when something suddenly caught her attention. Up ahead, Izanami noticed a woman causing quite a scene. It seemed as though she was desperately trying to get someone's attention as everyone around just ignored her. That was enough for Izanami to forgo her search of the Kemurikage to go and see what was causing the woman such distress.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but what seems to be the problem?" Izanami asked gently as she approached her.

The woman gasped, "Bless your heart, young miss. I have been trying to seek help for hours and have only been fed dust. You are the first person to even spare me a second glance."

"Well, what's wrong?" Izanami inquired.

"My son is missing!" the woman wailed as she collapsed to the ground. "I left him out of my sight for barely even a minute and when I looked behind me he was gone!"

Sympathy instantly welled up inside of Izanami, understanding why the woman would be so distraught. Despite not being a parent herself, Izanami could only imagine what sort of turmoil it would put one through to lose their child. But in order for that parent to experience turmoil they needed to actually care about their child, which this woman clearly did.

"Have you looked everywhere?" Izanami questioned.

"Yes, I've searched everywhere little Niko could've possibly gone but I have not found him. I fear that he has been taken by those monsters," the woman's lip quivered as she spoke.

"Monsters? What monsters?" Izanami repeated.

"You haven't heard of the Snatchers? They're cruel people who prey off of unsupervised children and sell them off to slavery. My son is only five and he's too young to experience such suffering," the woman cried.

"Oh," Akane murmured, feeling somewhat disappointed since those monsters weren't the monsters that she thought they were. Her disappointment was soon replaced with anger at the thought of someone doing something so cruel to children.

"Will you please help me find Niko? He is the only ray of light out of the darkness that has corrupted my soul," the woman pleaded.

"Of course I'll help you…" Izanami trailed off, waiting for the woman to give up her name.

"My name is Gen," the woman introduced herself. "It would be helpful if you told me what your name was too.

"My name is Izanami," Izanami replied. "Alright, where do you think these Snatchers take the children once they've got them?"

"I'm not sure. They always disappear off north, near the old abandoned training grounds where the earthbenders used to train. After that, it's almost as though they disappear into thin air," Gen replied.

"I'll help you get your son back, Gen," Izanami promised. "Let's go and check out the area ourselves to see if we can find anything."

"Would you be able to use your firebending to guide the way once it gets dark?" Gen asked.

"Firebending? How'd you know that I could firebend?" Izanami asked, surprised.

"Well, I assumed that you were Fire Nation based on your attire and your name which made me assume that you could bend," Gen supplied.

"Oh. I guess wearing my training gear isn't the best way to blend in then," Izanami said sheepishly. "But why would you want my help anyways if I'm Fire Nation?"

"The war is over, Izanami. I would like to think that not all Fire Nation people are bad, especially after the company that I have acquired from the Fire Nation," Gen replied.

Izanami nodded, "Well, you're right in the sense that not all of us are bad… Just misguided, that's all."

"I have been fortunate enough to experience good will from the Fire Nation, even from those who had no reason to give me such," Gen admitted.

"Well, we've got no time to waste so lets see if we can find your son," Izanami stated.

Gen nodded, "Let's hope so."

Although Izanami had more pressing matters to worry about, there was something inside of her that felt compelled to help Gen find her son. It was almost as if Izanami knew this woman from somewhere, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Regardless, Izanami was going to help her find her son now that she'd promised she would, and Izanami didn't like breaking promises.

~*•°•*~

The entire journey with Gen was a lot more informative than Izanami thought it would've been. Within minutes Izanami was beginning to wonder if the Snatchers were just the Kemurikage considering the similarities in their stories. They always preyed on young children, as in extremely young children who were barely below ten-years-old. So Gen's son fit the bill perfectly and Izanami had a feeling that she knew who was behind this.

Knowing that there was a possibility that Izanami would run into Azula sooner than she anticipated, Izanami prepared herself for the odd chance that she did have to face off against her old friend. This time they would be adversaries, since every other time they had gone into battle it was side by side. Now Azula had her own gang of misfits that didn't include Izanami, which was somewhat intimidating to her since Izanami had no idea how she'd be able to handle herself against them.

Eventually they reached what Gen said was the abandoned training grounds. Once they arrived, Izanami could certainly see why it had been an area preserved for training since it seemed like the perfect spot to practice earthbending. Granted, Izanami didn't really know much about the other bending arts but she had certainly seen enough from talented masters during her earlier travels. Upon further investigation, Izanami couldn't seem to find anything that would put Gen at ease, but then they heard the estranged cries from the distance.

"Momma!"

"Niko!" Gen gasped.

Turning around, Izanami spotted a little boy running towards them from the distance. As he got closer, Izanami was struck by an air of familiarity with him. There was just something about the boy that Izanami recognised from somewhere and she wasn't sure what it was, and not knowing that was bugging her.

"My baby, don't you ever run away from me again," Gen cried as she picked Niko up into her arms.

"Is he alright?" Izanami asked.

"He seems fine. Are you fine?" Gen replied as she examined her son.

Niko nodded, "Yes, momma. The men with ponytails looked after me."

"Ponytails?" Izanami repeated.

"Yeah, they took me but it was okay because they didn't hurt me. They just said that they were waiting for you and your friend," Niko replied.

"They said that?" Gen asked.

"Yeah, they said that they wanted you," Niko said.

"And why's that?" Izanami questioned as she stepped back a bit, suddenly feeling overwhelmingly nervous.

"Because now we can finally achieve our revenge."

Looking around in shock, Izanami was stunned to see what appeared to be members of the Dai Li surrounding them. They hardly looked well groomed like they used to before, and Izanami had a feeling that that was what came with being outcasted from society because of their crimes against the Earth Kingdom and their actions in the Fire Nation.

"I-Izanami, who are these people?" Gen asked.

"They're the Dai Li. They're a group of earthbenders who used to patrol Ba Sing Se during the war. Then they betrayed their country for the Fire Nation and got banished from there as well," Izanami explained.

"Yes, we did get banished," the one in the front glared at Izanami. "By the princess who we pledged our loyalty to. We risked being branded as traitors for her. We gave up our country's freedom and protection for her, only for her to repay us by banishing us!"

"In her defence, she wasn't exactly sane then and you can't blame her for banishing you after you so easily betrayed your old leader!" Izanami exclaimed.

"It is not like we would've had anything to gain by betraying her as well since then we would have nowhere to go. The fact of the matter is that us – the great Dai Li – have been forced to live as outcasts for the past year! But now it is time for us to get the vengeance that we deserve, starting with you," another Dai Li agent declared.

"But what do I have to do with this?" Gen demanded.

"Oh, you know exactly what you have to do with this, peasant. You are the lowest of traitors, betraying your people the way you did. Now your offspring will pay the price," the agent in the middle proclaimed.

"You can't do this to us, because I won't let you," Izanami said as she prepared herself for battle.

The middle Dai Li agent laughed, "Foolish girl. It would seem as though you've forgotten our methods of attack, shame on you."

Before Izanami even had time to register what was happening, the Dai Li guards moved swiftly to create some sort of rock hands with earthbending. That was when Izanami remembered their signature rock gloves that came in handy when it came to detaining people, which was exactly what they did. Both her and Gen soon found themselves knocked down on the floor, with the arms and legs bound together by rock gloves.

"M-momma, what's this?" Niko asked nervously.

"It's okay, baby. Just stay calm and be a good boy for momma," Gen whimpered.

"Now that you're in our hands, you don't just have to be a good boy for momma, but a good boy for us as well. We're going to teach you the ways that you should be taught. Not with the lies she has raised you with," the Dai Li agent smirked.

"No! Don't hurt my baby! He doesn't deserve this!" Gen pleaded.

Her pleas were easily ignored as the Dai Li agents quickly gathered them up and started dragging them away. Izanami watched with sadness as she saw Gen separated from her son yet again, but she couldn't help but wonder what the Dai Li had meant by Gen being the lowest of traitors. In the short time that Izanami had spent with the woman, she didn't think that Gen was the traitor type. But she obviously had some importance to the Dai Li if they would go as far to take her away from her son as revenge.

At the same time, Izanami had no idea how she managed to fit into all of this. Somehow, the Dai Li had managed to figure out that she was on their soil once again. However that was, Izanami knew that she needed to find some way to get away from the Dai Li's clutches with Gen and Niko behind her as well.

It's safe to say that Izanami's mission hasn't exactly gone as planned, just like this story has. This chapter was supposed to detail some of the events that took place during the Search, but that was before I changed the outline that I had originally planned. As always, reviews are welcomed and encouraged so let me know what you think of this and what you think is going to happen next.

As for the names, Gen is a Japanese name that means spring and Niko is a Japanese name that means daylight.