Chapter 8
A/N: So here's chapter 8! Next chapter will probably come in two weeks instead of next weeks since I'm going away on vacation. As always, reviews, favorites, and follows are appreciated :)
If you want to see a really cute picture I drew of Kakashi and Appa, check out this link to my Tumblr: bit . ly / 2ySj8rK
Kakashi doesn't mean to listen in on Lee's and Mushi's conversation, but the walls are so thin and his senses are better than the regular civilian's. It's interesting to hear that they're firebenders and that the nephew has some kind of relation to the Avatar.
When Lee mentions his 'destiny', Kakashi gets a bit more curious about the duo. And while he could let the conversation feed him more information, he decides to break the tension to see what Lee does. When the teen storms out of the apartment, Kakashi knows to follow him. A shadow clone poofs into existence and lays down on his futon. Quickly changing back into his navy shinobi clothes to help blend into the night, he heads off after the teen. His headband is back in its rightful place.
The window in his room provides a perfect exit for Kakashi, using his chakra to walk up the wall to the rooftops. He keeps low, watching for any Dai Li agents while keeping an eye out for Lee. He crosses over the rooftops, finding the streets practically empty other than the stray animal or guard.
He hears a grunt and a tussle a few streets away. When he arrives, there's a figure with a blue theater mask running away from a Dai Li agent. "Out of my way, skinny," the disguised man shouts back at the earthbender.
Kakashi raises an eyebrow in surprise. That was definitely Lee's voice. Perhaps that's what his uncle meant by "stirring up trouble".
The agent falls for the bait like textbook. Lee leads him into an alley with a dummy set up on the far side then hides in the shadows of some crates. The agent fires his rock gloves at the figure's chest and head, knocking off the stuffed dummy's head and bringing it down.
Kakashi watches as Lee silently unsheathes his sword from his scabbard, revealing it to be two curved swords. The Dai Li agent doesn't even see him coming as the swords hook around his neck. "If you don't want to end up like him, you'll do what I say. Tell me where the Avatar's bison is."
The interrogation goes smoothly; the Dai Li agent obviously hasn't had training in resistance and spills all the information about the bison and their secret base under Lake Laogai. Kakashi silently drops down from his perch behind Lee as the teen knocks out the agent with the butt of his sword.
"Well, well, aren't you a troublemaker?" Kakashi says while opening his orange masterpiece to the page he left off at. He peers over the edge of the book as Lee whips around to stare at him. The teen twirls his blades at him, not saying a word.
Kakashi simply turns the page. This was his favorite part after all. "You really must not like serving tea."
At that, the teen sprits at him, blades ready to cut. Kakashi matches Lee slice-for-slice, easily dodging while still reading his novel. He even starts a conversation. "Your plan with the Dai Li agent was pretty good, but it would've fallen apart if he had called for backup."
He can't help it, the teen reminded him of his old genin student (before he turned his back on them).
Lee still doesn't respond but starts to pant as his slices become sloppier and sloppier. Kakashi decides to stop him before he gets too tired out. As Lee overreaches a thrust again, Kakashi steps to the side and grabs Mushi's nephew's hand as it passes by. He easily twists the wrist, making the teen drop his sword on the ground. Lee struggles, swinging his other arm to try and hit Kakashi. Kakashi simply twists his arm behind his back and pushes Lee against the wall of the building, pinning his remaining sword between the stone and the teen's chest.
He sighs, finally tucking the book back into his pocket. "Now then, let's calm down, hm?"
"Who are you?!" the teen shouts.
"Look I just want to help you find the bison is all." Kakashi doesn't know what the boy wants to do with Appa, so he goes with the most believable answer. "I'd like to get in on that sweet reward."
"You're… you're after the reward?"
"Of course, plus a little bit of gratitude from the Avatar wouldn't hurt. Isn't that why you're after the bison too?"
Lee hesitates before answering, "Yes."
Kakashi rolls his eyes, glad the teen can't see him. Lee's worse at lying than Naruto, and that's saying something.
"So, we can help each other instead of being against each other. I heard everything that the Dai Li said about the lake and the bison. I can help you infiltrate it, be the distraction, whatever. Then we can split the reward. What do you say?"
He can see Lee try to see the positives and negatives of his plan. The teen probably thinks that he can take Kakashi down with his bending at the lake when they reach the bison. Finally, the teen nods against the wall. He releases the teen and picks up the sword to hand back to him. Lee cautiously takes it back, tucking both swords into his sheath.
"You wouldn't happen to know where this Lake Laogai is?" Kakashi asks while tucking his hands into his pockets.
"It's in the agricultural section of Ba Sing Se, on the west side. We'll have to cross the wall to get to it."
"Right, we'll have to go tonight before they switch bases." Kakashi walks over to the downed Dai Li agent and drags him into the shadows of the crates. He grabs a nearby tarp and tosses it over the unconscious man. "Let's go."
They run towards the closest rail station to the outer wall of the Lower Ring. Kakashi decides that it would be best to let Mushi's uncle know where to go fetch Lee after this is all over. As they run back past their apartment, Kakashi makes sure Lee is in front of him before tossing a kunai with a coded location scratched into the handle into his shadow clone's room. His clone should get the idea.
Lee constantly looks back at him as they journey towards Lake Laogai, obviously wanting to ask Kakashi questions but refrains. The mask doesn't help much to hide the teen's emotions. They arrive at the empty station save for one guardsman. He's leaning against the train cart, hat tilled in front of his face. The green glow of the crystal torches doesn't reach so far in the night, allowing Kakashi and Lee to slip onto the stone tracks easily. They make sure to stay low and run fast.
Kakashi spots the lake down below once they make it to the other side. They slide down the hillside, coming to hide behind some rocks lining the shoreline. The lake is quiet, mist making the scene eerier.
"There's nothing here. The Dai Li lied to me," Lee hisses and turns around, ready to head back and hunt the man down.
Kakashi grabs his arm before he can leave. "Ma, haven't you heard that patience is a virtue? Sit down for a bit." He can tell there's been some kind of activity here, but he's not sure if it's from an underground secret base or people visiting the lake.
"Fine, ten minutes." The teen yanks his arm out of Kakashi's grasp. "If no one shows up, I'm heading back."
And so, they wait, looking for any movement around them. The foliage rustles in the wind, the water laps at the sand, yet there are no people. Time passes slowly. With each minute that passes, the teen gets more agitated.
Suddenly, the sound of scraping rocks come from behind them. Kakashi reacts before Lee does, tugging the teen to the opposite side of the boulder. Together they peek around the side of the rock.
A large cave opens up in the mountainside, two Dai Li bending the earth around them. More agents come spilling out of the entrance, moving large crates on earthy platforms. Lee moves to sneak in, but Kakashi halts him.
"What?" Lee snarls.
"There's no way you can get through all of them," Kakashi says seriously, no playful tone in his voice. This is a mission now; one he cannot fail. "Wait until the others get far enough before taking out the two at the door."
Lee thinks for a moment before nodding. Together, they creep closer and closer in the shadows until they're hiding in the nearest shrub by the hidden entrance. When the last agent with a crate slides up the slope with his package, the two at the door move to seal the door.
"Now." Kakashi speeds forward with a silent Shunshin to the one farthest to them, letting Lee sprint to the other one with his swords drawn. He knocks his opponent out with the butt of his kunai before the man can even turn around. With the teen around, it'd be best to keep the bloodshed to a minimum. Lee does the same thing with one of his swords.
They creep into the base, revealing miles and miles of long tunnels. Footsteps not their own echo all around them. Kakashi turns to the masked teen. "You wouldn't have happened to have gotten directions from that Dai Li?"
"There should be a steel door that the bison is locked behind."
Kakashi draws out a sigh from behind his mask. "Well, let's get searching."
He would've suggested splitting up, but with the unknown number of agents that could be hidden in the tunnels, it wouldn't be a good idea (for the teen, at least). The small, bluish crystals lining the tunnels are their only source of light, no sunlight penetrating the stone walls around them. They check each steel door they come across, spotting storage rooms, jail cells, and even a small room with a single lantern on a circular rail. They each take one side of the tunnel, hiding away whenever the Dai Li pass by.
Lee opens one of the doors and Kakashi can hear the familiar growl of the flying bison. The teen takes up most of the doorway, but Kakashi can see overhead the mused fur of the large animal. "Expecting someone else?" the teen asks the bison as he steps into the room.
Appa only growls louder in response.
Kakashi closes the door behind them but not all the way. The noise makes the teen and bison turn to him. Appa stops growling.
He tilts his head towards the bison, making eye contact with the brown eyes. "Welp, what are we going to do with him?"
Lee turns back to face the bison, swords still drawn by his side. It takes him a moment before he speaks. "I… I have to get him out of here first."
The teen is the only one who reacts when the door creaks open. Kakashi's shadow clone had dispersed when turning into the hallway they were currently in with company in tow. The copy had made sure to poof away out of sight.
The door opens further to reveal the portly figure of the teen's uncle. Kakashi's somewhat surprised at the memories he receives, that the tea maker decided to come with his doppelganger to find his nephew. The man wasn't half bad at sneaking around either.
"Uncle?" Lee questions, taking off his mask. "What are you doing here?"
The man's eyes are alight with anger. "I was just about to ask you the same thing. What do you plan to do now that you've found the Avatar's bison? Keep him locked in our new apartment? Should I go put on a pot of tea for him?"
"I'm… I'm going to…"
"You never think these things through!" Mushi shouts. "This is exactly what happened when you captured the Avatar at the North Pole! You had him, and then you had nowhere to go!"
Well, shit. Things were getting heated, literally. Lee's palms sputter with flames, making his swords' handles glow with heat. It also wasn't good news that the teen was actively working against the Avatar Kakashi has to help. Kakashi creeps further back into the cell, standing next to the bison. "I guess you know these two."
Appa huffs while placing his head on his paws. Kakashi gets to work on picking the shackles on the bison's hind legs. It's when he's reaching the two last chains on Appa's front legs when the conversation draws his attention back to the nephew.
"I'm begging you, Prince Zuko! It's time for you to look inward and begin asking yourself the big questions. Who are you, and what do you want?"
Kakashi looks up at the reveal of Lee's true name. He supposes a prince of the Fire Nation wouldn't exactly help free the bison out of the goodness of his heart. Then again, the teen was in the Lower Ring of the Ba Sing Se serving tea.
While the newly-named Zuko freaks out, throwing his swords to the ground, Kakashi undoes the last shackles on Appa. The bison moves forward to lick Kakashi.
The movement of the large animal brings the two firebenders' attention back to him, both seemingly forgetting that he was there in the first place. Kakashi scratches the back of his head. He would rather not take the teen down in front of his uncle. "So, hope you don't mind but I was planning to return the bison to the Avatar."
Mushi (if that even is the man's name) pins his nephew with a hard stare. The teen has beads of sweat decorating his forehead, looking at his forgotten swords on the floor. "…Go."
"Right." The door is too small for Appa to go through. Kakashi looks up at the source of light, the moonlight shining through a metal grate high above them. "I'd suggest you two get out of here then. Wouldn't do for the Avatar and the Dai Li to find you two. I'll meet you back at the apartment."
The old man quirks a bushy eyebrow at his statement, but the teen is silent, still standing like a statue. "Very well." And the two disappear out of the cell.
Kakashi attaches a paper tag to one of his kunai and tosses it into the grate above. The rice paper starts to burn. He pushes Appa so they're against the wall.
With a loud explosion, the metal grate comes tumbling down. It crashes on the stone below, making another bang. Someone would definitely hear that. Kakashi hops onto the bison's bare back, clutching the brown fur that made up his markings. There's barely and space between his head and the stone ceiling of the cell. "Let's get out of here."
Appa grumbles in agreement and flaps his tail. Kakashi's hair brushes the rocks as the bison rockets up the tunnel to freedom. Kakashi grabs onto the fur tighter. They appear out of a clifftop, flying into the sky high above the misty lake. The sunrise is beautiful from so high up, reflecting off the water and haze. Kakashi pats the back of the bison, repeating the words he said in the forest. "Glad to have you back." Even though the bison wasn't much of a conversationalist, Kakashi did miss the great beast.
A speck of white approaches the side of Appa. Kakashi first thinks that it's a curious bird but as it gets closer, he can see the large ears and body of the creature. It's some kind of cross between a bat and a lemur. It flies to the side of the bison's head, chittering excitedly and nuzzling into the white fur.
Appa groans in response and reciprocates the motion. Kakashi looks at the small creature. "Friend of yours?"
At his words, the small animal's ears flick upwards. The flying lemur notices him, screeching in surprise and jerking back to flap its wings in place. The bison grumbles, speaking back to his tiny companion. After a few groans and chitters, the conversation about Kakashi is seemingly done.
The lemur loops around and descends towards the opposite shore of the lake. Appa steadily following behind. As they get closer and closer to the ground, the fog clears more and more. There's a group of children surround on all sides by Dai Li standing on rock walls. Kakashi wonders why so many teens want to find the Avatar's bison.
Kakashi can see the bison lowering its head, horns ready to plow through the stone. Appa heads toward the far wall, making sure the wall tumbles away from the kids. That leaves Kakashi to deal with the other wall as well as the ones sticking to the cliff.
As Appa makes his charge, one kid in orange notices the huge shape against the sun. "Appa!" he calls joyfully.
Kakashi makes sure to swiftly jump off the back off the bison, blending in with the rain of broken stones. He lands on the shoreline unnoticed (except for one short girl). With the lake beside him, water jutsu would definitely be easier against the earthbenders.
Kakashi flicks through the forty-four hand seals with familiar ease. The B-rank jutsu would be enough to disrupt the Dai Li. As he lands on the tori seal, Kakashi quietly calls out, "Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Dragon)!"
It's the rushing water that flows higher and higher that catches everyone's attention. The dragon head of the water glares down at the earthbenders. It silently roars before surging through the stone walls and cliffside, sweeping up the Dai Li agents in its current. It tosses them far out into the lake.
One of the kids nudges the girl dressed in blue still staring up at the animated water, but she shakes her head in denial. It's only when the shortest girl that noticed his landing points in his direction does the group notice Kakashi.
He drops the jutsu when Appa tosses the only remaining earthbender out into the water by the leg with enough force for the man to skip across the surface.
The kids move to surround the bison. The taller girl turns to him. "Who are you?"
Kakashi just slouches in place, giving the group a lazy wave. "Yo, I'm the one who freed the bison. You're welcome, by the way."
The bald kid with arrow tattoos is still hugging the bison when he looks at Kakashi. "You're the one who saved Appa?"
Kakashi blanks for a second, looking between the bison and the twelve-year-old. The arrow tattoos. How he's hanging onto the giant animal like a lifeline. Kakashi almost wants to pull his hair out in frustration because of the fact that the Avatar, savior of the war and Kakashi's ticket home, is some kid dressed in vibrant colors (he and his blonde student would make great friends). "Yes," he answers blandly. He really needs a drink. Kakashi takes out the scroll in his pouch. "I have a scroll for you. From some creepy guru at the Eastern Air Temple."
The teen with a short ponytail stops the Avatar from approaching him to take the message. "How do we know we can trust you?"
Kakashi rolls his lone eye. "Trust me or don't, I don't care." He tosses the scroll at the kid, who catches it on instinct. "Anyways, I'm out of here."
"Wait, we didn't even get your name!" the older boy yells, throwing up his hands.
The Avatar has a completely different reaction. A wide grin spreads across his face. "Can you teach me that cool waterbending trick?"
Kakashi eye-smiles. "No." And poofs out of existence.
Kakashi uses Shunshin for most of the way back. He rubs his forehead as he arrives at the apartment. In the words of a Nara, this is definitely troublesome. He should've stayed with the group, having finally found the Avatar after all this time, but having to deal with a group of kids to stop a war wasn't exactly what he had in mind. If they're as bad as his genin at that age, Kakashi would probably go insane. He's bound to meet the Avatar again in the Upper Ring anyways.
He slides open the door to reveal "Lee" lying on the futon with sweat all over his face, the teen's uncle patting his forehead with a damp towel. The old man gets off his knees, brushing off invisible dust. "I didn't think you would come back. I assume you have questions."
"I'll be sure to ask them, but right now, I really need a drink. You guys have sake?"