V37.2

Who Are You?

Jun was still beautiful, with pale skin, long, thin black hair, and eyes that could kill you on contact. At the moment, the Gaang was talking about how they remembered her and trying to explain to Toph what had happened. Listening to it from their point of view confused the Koh out of me but I pushed forward and through the crowd to find my frienemy.

When I pounded my palm on her table, Jun didn't look up. "Well," I hissed in my most menacing voice, "if it isn't an old friend."

She looked up as soon as she heard my voice. Her eyes widened in disbelief. "Whoa, Red, what…?" She grabbed my arm and pulled me down next to her. "The last thing I heard of you was..." One of her hands ruffled through my short hair and she laughed genuinely. I wasn't sure I'd ever heard that from her before. "Damn, Red. You're alive. How many lives do you have, exactly?"

"So far? ...Six," I said simply, after thinking for a moment. We both smiled and nudged each other, showing our own brands of affection. "I'm alive and well, Jun. And much better off than you saw me last time."

The bounty hunter got my meaning and looked up. I felt Zuko's heat right behind me. "Oh, great. Prince Pouty is here." Then she very obviously looked around the tavern before her dark pointed eyes looked at me. "Where's your creepy grandpa?"

I could feel the glare without even looking at him. "Don't call him that. He's my uncle and he's not here."

Jun held her hands out, as if for protection. "Got it. So what's up? It's pretty serious if you're coming to me with big of bounties on all of your heads. Let's see...Water Tribe boy and girl at ten thousand gold pieces a piece, Toph Bei Fong worth millions, the Prince of the Fire Nation and the Sun Spirit's host...I could retire with all of your heads on my platter."

Sokka was near, then. All of them crowded around the table, making me feel claustrophobic. "I thought you said that she was a friend, Emiko!"

I'd always underestimated her. "You would have attacked already if you wanted our bounties. The odds aren't in your favor. You'd rather go for the obvious payment, not the difficult one." Jun acquiesced with a slight tilt to her head. "We need your help finding the Avatar."

"Again?" My friend thought it over, then downed her tea. "Doesn't sound like too much fun."

Zuko put his hands on my shoulder, as if both of us could convince her to help us. I tried to keep from blushing at the warmth of his hands and the anger that was rising inside. "Why won't you help us?"

"Calm down, Princey. I already told you that it doesn't sound like fun." She raised her hand for another cup of tea. I sighed, knowing that when Jun didn't want to do something, she wasn't going to do it. And we definitely didn't have the money to pay her how much she'd want.

I wasn't sure she had an honorable side but I was willing to try to appeal to it. Or her greedy side. Or both. "Once we defeat Ozai and the world is saved, you'll have plenty of jobs from the royal palace to find traitors and the like and bring them in. Sound like something you'd be interested in?"

"Saving the world and getting paid?" she asked as she ignored the lady bringing her tea. She set her elbows on the table and stared into my eyes. "Red, I think I might love you."

oOo

I sat under Appa's shadow, not able to sleep. Even after such a long time of traveling, I was only physically tired, not mentally. Aang was nowhere to be found. We were searching after Iroh, resting outside of Ba Sing Se. Finding Aang had been a bust so I knew that my spirit senses weren't completely dulled. And yet it didn't make me feel any better. He'd gone on his spirit journey after I'd pretty much scarred him for life. He'd needed the wake-up call but I wasn't sure I'd gone about it the right way.

It was too late for that, though. Somewhere near me Sokka was snoring and next to him was Katara. I had no idea how she could stand it but I was sure that she'd been living with him for long enough that it was easy to ignore. Zuko was up on Appa's saddle, tossing in his sleep. The part of me that still loved him wanted to comfort him. The part that was burned and hurt ignored him.

I hoped that I wasn't waking Toph with my fidgeting. That didn't seem to be the case, though. She exploded from her tent and scared me. I stood up as well, fire quickly surrounding our small group. I jumped in the air and stomped my feet down, thrusting my hands out and breaking the wall easily. It just as easily flew back up.

"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" Toph screamed to everyone who was practically still asleep. Zuko rolled off of Appa and fell to the ground with a shout.

I, on the other hand, was prepared. I sent streams in every direction, sensing the heat signatures of where each target was. My streams, hotter than the wall, went through the opposing fire easily. There was an angry growl and the wall turned into an inferno, suddenly tightening to surround me. Zuko, finally off of the ground, was trapped with me. I looked up, seeing a small hole of starlight out of the top of the five-story high fire tornado.

It was hard to breathe, the fire tightening around us. I pushed outward, trying to break the hold, but I couldn't. Zuko tried flying upward, but he couldn't get that high. "Let us go!" The oxygen was slowly sucked out of the tube, pushing me to grasp Zuko. His embrace, once warm and perfect, was scaring me. He didn't have any air, either. "Z-Zuko," I gasped, putting my head into his neck.

"E-Emiko," he sighed, fisting one hand in my hair and shaking. "I-I..."

"Well, look who's here!" cried a maniacal voice, somehow reaching my ears through the fire tornado. "Jeong-Jeong, let them go, won't you? We're all friends here."

The fire quickly diminished, leaving me gasping for breath. "Koh!" I grasped Zuko tight, unwilling to let him go. We could have died...who was attacking us? I turned, still holding on to Zuko, to see an old man with a white and blue uniform on, throwing his arms out wide. One of his eyes seemed bigger than the other, and he looked…psychotic.

I looked around and saw many older faces. There was an obvious Waterbender with the group as was a dark-skinned man that I sensed didn't have any bending abilities. And then, walking through a wall of flames that had also surrounded the entire campsite, was a man with crazy white hair and scars. He looked terrifyingly familiar. The Gaang didn't pay any attention as they chatted with the old men as if they were old friends. Dressed in what I knew to be a White Lotus uniform, he had dark skin, bright yellow eyes, crazy, wild white hair, and two scars on his face that told of many battles. I thought that I'd seen him somewhere before, but I couldn't be quite sure.

But I knew for sure that he was crazy. At first, I'd thought he was going to sneeze. His eyes widened after he stared at me for a moment and took a breath. And then he screamed, "Who do you think you are?" and instantly charged at me with a wall of fire.

Zuko threw up a flame to protect us but it was quickly diminished. I threw up my own wall of white fire in a last-ditch attempt but he flew through it. As he landed I jumped, spun, and then slammed my fists downward, creating a circular wave of flame that spread toward the crazy man. He simply jumped over the attack and then slapped his own hands into the ground, conjuring fire up around my feet. I almost felt the burn before I jumped over it, using my Firebending to get away a little faster.

"Jeong-Jeong, what are you doing?" someone called, cries of protest ringing out across the campsite.

The crazy, white-haired man jumped toward me, performing a spinning kick and sending a wave of fire at me. Panicking, I kicked behind me and shot a fireblast from my foot that was rather weak. The two collided and exploded, sending me flying into the large stone wall that one of the men had created.

"I'm one of you!" I cried to him, coughing as I felt the large knot forming on the front of my head. I shakily got up and settled down into a weak first position. This is what it's going to be like on the day of the comet, I thought, my entire body shaking. I'm going to be overpowered by a stronger Firebender and then I'm going to die.

He put a ring of fire around me, starting at where the wall was on my right, going around him, and ending on my left. He then stomped both feet onto the ground, making the fire go sky-high. He was breathing heavily, his yellow eyes wild and crazy as he came toward me. "Who are you?" he growled, fire lighting up his hands.

There was something about him that scared the Koh out of me. There was an intensity in his eyes that made me want to cower but I didn't. I stood up straighter, tried to stop shaking, and I managed every part of me except my knees. "I-I am Emiko." I stood up straight, coming out of my stance, to hold my head high and look him straight in his shocked eyes. "And you?"

He was silent for a long time. The fire behind him flickered, making his hair look like crazy, destructive flames. When he finally spoke, his voice was deep and gruff. "Jeong-Jeong," he said simply, also straightening up. His entire face was stoic except for his angry eyes.

I knew who he was. The Deserter, the first man to ever leave the Fire Nation military and live. I put one fist onto my palm and bowed deeply. "An honor, Sensei." I then straightened up, his eyes once again shocked, and said, "May I ask why you decided to attack me?"

The old man—sorry, Jeong-Jeong—simply waved his hand and turned around, walking past his fire wall. I stared after him as Sokka came up to me, asking if I was okay, but I shooed him away.

"Wait," I said quickly, pushing past my friends, moving quickly toward him. "Jeong-Jeong!" I grabbed his arm and turned him around to look at his indignant face. We stood there for a moment, my hot hand against his burning arm, and I tried to search his familiar topaz eyes. "Who are you?"

I thought that his eyes were slightly watering, his eyes taking in my features like a hungry man. One of his hands slowly reached up, his callused fingers touching my cheek reverently. It was a soft touch, one that made tears come to my eyes as I tried to flinch away. His hand cupped my cheek and he whispered, "Amaterasu..."

I rolled my lips inward, keeping in the gasp. "H-how do you know my mother?" He tried to pull me into an embrace but I pulled away and took a step back. My body was shaking again. My head hurt. My heart was beating a mile a minute. "Answer me!"

"You are the child of Amaterasu," he said simply, staring off into the distance. His face was stoic again, the moment of weakness gone. The only sign that he was showing any emotion was his fisted hands. "And Amaterasu...was my child."