No One Can Prove Me Wrong!
CHAPTER THIRTEEN- Brother
The four watched as Zuko walked off the ship, looking more then a bit depressed.
"Ok, he either found nothing or bodies. Either way, I think we should avoid the subject." Sokka said calmly. Katara elbowed him in the ribs.
"Maybe you should just shut up!" she hissed.
"Hey, was anyone there…?" Tsuyosa asked quietly as the firebender walked towards and past them, seemingly heading back to Appa.
"No." he answered coldly. Shrugging, the others followed.
"Where are you going?" Aang dared.
"Zhao's a power-hungry bastard. There weren't any bodies, so that means he'll bring them back to the Fire Nation, where he'll be rewarded. The trip takes maybe a day and a half from here." Zuko explained.
"So, we have a little to grab Chikara and get there before them." The prince stopped for a second to glare at the dragon before continuing.
"It means we're heading there. Now."
"WHAT?" Sokka exclaimed. "But Aang barely knows Earthbending! We can't take on the Fire Lord already!" Zuko suddenly turned around fully to glare at the water boy.
"I am not going to loose my crew to the Fire Nation! And especially not to that damn Zhao! I don't care if I go alone, I'm getting them back!" he hissed.
The crack of the slap rang in the deserted port.
"You are acting like an idiot again, Prince of Fire." Tsuyosa said, glaring and voice deeper, like when he first saw her in his dream.
"If you return to the Fire Nation as you are, you will die. Neither you, the Dragon of Water or the Avatar are prepared to fight The Fire Lord. I can tell you without a doubt in my mind: The Dragon of the West and your crew will survive." She said, loosing some of the edge as she finished. Zuko was still a bit stunned by the hit, but none the less glowered at Tsuyosa.
"Were you so sure when Yugasa died?" he spat. The dragon twitched, sparks flying from her hands. Zuko's did the same.
"Uh, guys! Maybe we should just drop the whole thing?" Aang offered, sensing the hatred.
"Not. Now. Avatar." The two said in unison, fists in flames.
"Yugasa was a mistake. Only Lady Hikari and-"
"Is that your excuse? 'Lady Hikari and Lord Yami' this and that and I won't let my uncle die because someone forgot to tell you!" Zuko snapped.
"You are being irrational! Look, this isn't about me or my past! This is about you and the fact you are risking the repeat of yours! Or have you forgotten the last time you fought your Father?" the fire surrounding the teens hands faltered.
"We can't face him now! We need Aang and Katara to learn their full power! You still need to learn as well…" the dragon extinguished her fire, and the prince slowly did the same.
"Fine," He said, still not sure, "but if they die, the blood is on your hands!" Tsuyosa gave a small smile.
"Ok, Prince of Fire. I'll make sure to remember."
"I still can't believe that bastard." Ji hissed. All of the firebenders were put in one cell, hands bound to stop firebending, while the rest of the crew were further down the dank hallway.
"I know how you feel, Lieutenant Ji, but as long as Admiral Zhao is in charge, there is nothing I can do." Iroh sighed. Ji merely slammed the intricate handcuffs against the wall, the resulting bang defining.
"shit." He mumbled, bringing his hands back. The box-like steel covered his entire hand, a matching one of each arm and attached by a thick chain. The steel heated up very easily, so when one tried to firebend, it would result in you just burning yourself. The edges by the wrist were also quite ragged, making the cuffs even more comfortable.
"You should try to control your anger." The general said calmly. Ji sighed.
"I just can't tell if it was better or worse that Prince Zuko wasn't around." He mumbled. Iroh nodded.
"I'd like to think for the better. Now we have someone to trust on the outside."
"So, the capital is this way?"
"That's west. You are now going to the Fire Nation." Zuko replied dryly.
"Oh, right." Aang grinned sheepishly, turning Appa around.
"What is it with celestial beings having no sense of direction?" the prince asked. Tsuyosa shrugged.
"Everything's different, I guess. I personally have always been terrible with that stuff." She said. It was a glare normally reserved for Zuko's uncle, the dragon was happy to say. Meaning the teen didn't hate her, he was just annoyed.
"You know, you guys really look like siblings." Sokka pointed out suddenly. The two just looked at him strangely. The look was exactly the same, I must point out.
"Hey he's right!" Aang exclaimed. Katara also nodded in agreement.
"You gotta be crazy; we look nothing like each other." Zuko said, surprisingly calm, but getting annoyed.
"Well, you both have black hair, and gold eyes, and your both firebenders-"
"And pretty much everyone from the Fire Nation has black hair and gold eyes, and lots of people are firebenders." Tsuyosa cut off.
"You act exactly alike." Katara said, continuing for her brother.
"Do you and your brother act alike?"
"No, but…"
"You just do." Aang said.
"What?" Tsuyosa couldn't even fathom the Avatars reason.
"Not all siblings act alike, but they are. And no matter what, they still act, in a way, like siblings. That's what you guys act like!" The two just gave an identical confused look before brushing it off.
"In any case, we're not." Zuko said, planning to finish the conversation right then. But old Sokka was now curious about something.
"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" he asked.
"Not directly." He answered flatly.
"Huh?" the prince sighed.
"Do any of you know anything about how a monarchy works?" all but Tsuyosa shook their head. The dragon wasn't going to get involved in this.
"For the love of- Look, It's normal for a king to have many heirs, right? So if the first one dies or something, the next one takes the throne…?" they nodded, following. Zuko felt like he was teaching kindergarten.
"Right. Well, not all those heirs come from one wife. I far as I know, my father has…um..." he thought back. He didn't spend much time speaking with the other women when he was home. "Five… I think… but the point is every wife has at least two children. So ten heirs, and I think there are two girls, so that's eight heirs. So, technically, I have ten siblings." He concluded finally.
Sokka's jaw dropped.
"And I thought I was unlucky with just Katara! That must suck!"
"No. I didn't see them often. They were really step-brothers and sisters. The only one I ever saw was my older brother, Zurui, but he died a while ago." Katara gave a small gasp.
"I'm so sorry." Zuko looked at her quizzically.
"What are you talking about? Zurui was a lying bastard, plus he always used to beat me up. He got himself killed." He said. They stared, even Tsuyosa was curious.
"You want to here the rest, don't you?" they nodded. Laying his head back on the saddle, he closed his eyes.
"No."
"Ah, come on, Zuko! PLEASE? Pleasepleaseplease pleasepleaseplease pleasepleaseplease!" Aang tried, continually shaking the firebenders shoulders. The teen did his best to ignore him.
He hated Zurui, and he didn't want to talk about it.
"Zurui! Hey Zurui, did you hear?" six-year-old called, running up to his new teen brother. Zurui had just turned thirteen and had bragged non-stop, but Zuko didn't mind. Zurui was greatest firebender in the world, and he always wanted to be just like him.
"What are you talking about, ujimushi no shiranai (1)?" The heir asked, looking up from behind a wall of books he could always be found in. The younger brother winced, but let the insult fly.
"Uncle Iroh returned from Ba-Sen-Se today! They're having the de-briefing now, but I don't know if things are good…" Zurui glared at his brother.
"You are an ujimushi no shiranai! If things went well, word would've come by now! It's obvious that the old man failed." He stumbled out of the pile of books and walked over to his brother, clearly angry. Zuko just stared, knowing he should probably run, but his legs wouldn't move.
A few of the place maids stared as Zuko walked hurriedly down the halls, going back to his room. He was covering his face with his sleeve which was becoming visibly stained an even deeper red. Barely holding his tears back, he ran back to his room and slammed the door.
He didn't know if he hated or loved his brother. Zurui was scary in the fact that anytime he got angry, he went after Zuko. The younger brother was no match when it came to fighting, and running would be very disgraceful, so all he could do was hold his ground and avoid injury. This time it was a bloody nose, but last time it was a broken arm, and sometimes Zurui would be really mad and used Firebending. That one was really hard to cover.
A knock on the door cut off his thoughts as he heard a soft voice from outside.
"Prince Zuko?" Zuko gave a small smile.
"Come in, Shinsetsu." He said. Slowly, the door opened and a girl about Zurui's age walked in. She had the normal traits: black hair, gold eyes, pale skin; but Shinsetsu was very kind. She was the sister to the third heir, Zukai, and one of Zukos best friends.
"What happened this time?" she asked, walking over and sitting next to the child.
"I just got a bloody nose. It's nothing." He said, lowering his sleeve. The bleeding was slowing down, but his shirt was ruined. The maids would hate him.
"Was it Zurui?"
"No! Of course it wasn't! I just fell, is all!" Shinsetsu wasn't fooled. Sighing, she stood up and walked out.
"Stay here. I'll be back with some tissue." Zuko sighed, flopping back on his bed.
After thirty minutes, Shinsetsu had not returned. The bleeding had stopped and Zuko got up.
"She didn't get lost, did she?" he asked himself. That was impossible, Shinsetsu lived in the palace like he did, and they both knew the place like the back of their hands.
Slowly, he walked out of the room and, making sure Zurui wasn't there, ran in the general direction the doctor was.
Skidding to a stop at the top of the hospital wing, he ran into the room to his right that acted as an office.
"Excuse me, has Shinsetsu been here?" he asked the first person he saw. The woman shook her head and Zukos stomach dropped. Where the hell was Shinsetsu?
"Zuko! There you are!" he turned to face Zurui, who looked quite happy.
"Uh, Hi, Zurui. What's going on?" Zuko said quietly.
"I want you to see something." Zurui grinned. The younger brother looked up, surprised.
"Sure!" Grabbing Zukos arm, his brother led him out of the hospital wing.
"Zurui, what did you want me to see?" the young prince finally asked. They stopped in front of a very large door Zuko had somehow never noticed. As a matter of fact, he didn't recognize any of these hallways!
"You know that girl Shinsetsu?" Zurui asked. Zuko nodded, a sudden ping of regret as he remembered he didn't know where she was.
'She's probably back home. Forgot something and didn't tell me' he reassured himself.
"Well, you won't guess what I found!" Slowly and with a bit of a struggle, Zurui opened the door to the dark room.
A foul smell hit Zukos nose, rotten and stale. Covering his nose, he squinted to try to make out the shadows. Zurui suddenly pushed him forward, causing him to loose balance and land flat on his face.
Right into a puddle of thick, red liquid.
Hurriedly and with a small yelp, he got up, eyes now adjusted to the dim light. On the floor lying in the blood were three figures: a boy about fourteen, a woman dressed in royal gowns, and the worst of them all;
Shinsetsu.
Zuko, eyes wide, stumbled back. He felt a hand on his shoulder stop him, and he looked up at his older brother who had a sadistic grin on his face.
"She killed them, and then herself. She told me a while ago that she would, that Zukai would find peace in death away from their mother and our father. Strange how some people think, isn't it?" Zuko just stared.
"Why…why didn't you stop her? She-they didn't deserve to die!" Zurui now frowned.
"Ujimushi no shiranai, do you know what having them dead means? It means one more mother not trying to kill the first heirs! That woman was out to kill both of us, and if I stopped Shinsetsu, I would've put you in danger. What kind of brother does that?" Zuko glared, ripping himself from his brother's grip.
"I would rather have died! You aren't a good brother! You Never Have Been!" He ran off, tears threatening to fall.
"Zuko! Zuko wait!" he heard the footsteps of Zurui following him and began running faster.
Down stairs, past guards and into the dirt valley that surrounded the palace, he kept running, and his brother followed, now angry.
"Get Away From Me, Murderer!" Zuko yelled. He heard a familiar swoosh and just dodged a blast of fire. A hand grasped his arm and he freaked as it began to heat up.
'When did he get so close?' Unfortunately, he tripped and didn't have time to finish. He soon found himself pinned to the ground, Zurui above him with a disappointed look on his face.
"Poor Zuko can't figure it out. He isn't meant to rule the Fire Nation. In fact…" He lifted his right arm, pointing it at Zuko and setting it ablaze.
"He shouldn't even have the chance." Panicking, Zuko sat up and punched Zurui, not very hard, but enough for the teen to loose balance and fall back.
Onto what seemed to be a very sharp rock.
A sickening crack was heard and Zurui gasped. Zuko watched in horror as blood dribbled out of his brother's mouth and his body went limp.
"Zurui…?" he asked quietly, walking over and kneeling next to the body.
"Zurui…are you okay…?" a bit urgently, he shook the heir's shoulders. But all that did was deepen the wound.
Even the six-year-old could figure out what happened. And without second thought, he ran off to say what happened.
Prince Zurui was dead.
A/N- I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote this, but when do I ever?
(1)- Ujimushi no Shiranai- as far as my rough knowledge of Japanese goes, this means ignorant maggot
Zurui- this means dishonest, sly
Shinsetsu- this means, creatively enough, kind
Zukai- the guy who only showed up dead, his name means illustration.
R&R!