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Shadows

Chapter 2 The Order of Shadows

"Welcome to The Order of Shadows." Said Kumori

"What's the Order of Shadows?" asked Aang.

"An old guild of elites, made of three families from the three nations. The Yami family of the Water tribes, the Myou family of the Earth Kingdom, and my family the Kage family of the Fire Nation."

"You're from the Fire Nation. I knew this was a bad idea." Said Sokka

"Relax you saw me fight if I wanted to kill you I would have. Now come the Grandmaster will explain to you everything to you." he led them to a room with a throne a wizened old man with the same pale grey eyes as Kumori. They approached the throne. "Master Kagemaru it is my honor to present to you Avatar Aang and his friends."

"Kumori there is no reason for formalities. Address me as you normally would." Said Kagemaru

"Yes grandfather."

"Please could you tell me about the Order?" asked Aang pleadingly. Kagemaru laughed jovially.

"My we are eager. The Order is made of three fam…"

"We heard that part."

"Alright then, the Order was formed about 20 years after the war began and is an alliance between the three nations. But we are loyal only to the Order no one nation controls us. We strive to keep the world in balance no one element should rise above the rest. But we also stress we only become involved when thing are too unbalanced. Mostly this involves things such as sabotage and assassination."

"So you have been fighting the Fire Nation making sure the balance is safe." Said Katara

"No, the Fire Nation is not our only target. Whenever any one element begins to surpass another we are there to even the score. It is through our influence that the war has been a stalemate for so long."

"What why are you keeping the war a stalemate?" yelled Sokka

"Because young one the world needs to be balanced, if the Fire Nation loses the war the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe will destroy them leaving only two elements throwing the world into even greater unbalance. We have only maintained the balance between the elements, something that should have been the Avatar's job." Kagemaru looked at Aang.

"I'm sorry." Said Aang

"It does not matter, what matters now is you have returned. But if it is any consolation the Fire Nation is our main focus as of ten years ago."

"What happened ten years ago?" asked Katara

"That bastard Kurai is what happened." Said Kumori

"Kurai, you mentioned him to that Firebender you said he would pay for his crimes."

"Ten years ago my father Karasu and mother Kuroari assassinated an important Fire Nation general and disrupted the delivery of supplies that cost the Fire Nation a victory, they lost horribly. That is when Fire Lord Azulon became aware of us. The fact that a prominent Fire Nation family was rebelling did not sit well with him. So my family went into hiding."

"But Kurai betrayed us." Said Kagemaru "He was tired of hiding in the shadows. A waste of our power. He felt the Order was becoming weak. The odd thing is what he said was the cause of our weakness is what gave him his strength."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Aang

"Even though Kurai was of the Kage family he was an Earthbender. You see up until recently the three families kept to themselves, but my father's generation started marrying into the other families, combining the bloodlines and strengthening the bonds of the Order." Said Kumori

"What does that have to do with anything?" asked Sokka

"I shall explain." Said Kagemaru. "Bending is not an ability you can just learn, it is an inborn skill to learn your native element. Every generation one person is born with power to learn all the arts this is the Avatar. You see Bending is both hereditary and spiritual. Many people who are Benders pass it on to their children, but sometimes a child's spiritual energy is not enough to be able to bend."

"Like you and your brother Miss Katara, you are Waterbender and he is not, but he still carries the blood of a Waterbender and it is likely that his children might be able to Waterbend." Said Kumori

"How did you know I was a Waterbender?" asked Katara

"I have known enough to recognize them; also those in the Order are trained in the fighting style for each element."

"But what does this have to do with Kurai's power." Asked Aang

"His father was of the Kage family and a Firebender his mother was from the Myou family and an Earthbender. As I said Kurai was an Earthbender but there was an anomaly to his bending." Said Kagemaru.

"A what?" asked Sokka

"An anomaly something that made his Bending unique to him. He was the offspring of an Earthbender and a Firebender, he was an Earthbender but a small amount of Firebending seeped into his Earthbending."

"What does that mean?"

"Earthbenders are capable of controlling stone, mud, crystal, ore, sand and even rock candy but they can not bend processed metals or glass even though metal is made from ore and glass from melted sand. They have been too changed by fire. This was Kurai's anomaly the fire in his blood gave him the power to bend metal and glass. He was the most powerful Earthbender I had ever seen he was known as the Slicing Shard for he specialized in making diamonds something only a master can do. But despite this power he hated it, he was jealous of his younger brother who was a Firebender he wanted the power of fire not pathetic earth."

"If he hated being an Earthbender so much why was he so good at it?" asked Katara

"He was a perfectionist he had to have perfect control; almost was not good enough. (A/N Sound familiar) He wanted the destructive power of fire; he felt that if he had been born a Firebender he would have had his brother's anomaly. Kurai's younger brother was the reverse a small amount of Earthbending seeped into his Firebending."

"What was his younger brother's anomaly?"

"He was known as the Crystal Blaze he was able to transform his fire into a glass like crystal that he could entrap his opponents with and when the crystal came in contact with normal fire it explodes violently."

"He sounds powerful, what happened to him, maybe he can teach me Firebending." Asked Aang

"He's dead. He died two years ago along with my parents; Kurai killed them." Said Kumori sadly.

"I'm so sorry Kumori." Said Katara

"Kumori I was wondering were your parents benders?" asked Aang

"Yes, my father was a Firebender and my mother was an Earthbender."

"So what type are you."

"I do not bend; I just do not have the will." Kumori stood. "May I be excused grandfather?"

"Yes Kumori." Kumori walked out of the room. Kagemaru sighed. "I am sorry for that but Kurai's betrayal hurt Kumori greatly, even though he was ten years older than Kumori they were very close and it nearly destroyed him."

"It must have hurt him so much, I can't even imagine that kind of pain." Said Katara

"It is best not to think about it, this is something Kumori must confront himself." Kagemaru stood. "Come I will find you accommodations for the night." And he led the group out of the room.

Rooftop in city.

Kumori stood on the roof just watching over the city. He was in his demon disguise. Kuro flew down onto his shoulder.

"Any trouble Kuro?" the crow-bat only chirped a reply. "I guess the city is quiet tonight." He looked around. "Looks like all the guards have gone to the palace. I wonder why?" and Kumori headed toward the palace.

Palace

Kumori perched himself outside the window and looked inside.

"Attention it is my honor to present Princess Azula." Said a man. Kumori watched as a girl with black hair and golden eyes and she looked about 14 or 15, he knew instantly she was a Firebender, and a powerful one at that. She was accompanied by a two girls. One was black haired and looked like she was bored. The other looked overly happy. Azula sat down at the table; it appeared to be a meeting.

"I have come to understand that in the two weeks we have held this city nearly 150 of our soldiers have been killed, and it is all the work of one man." She said coolly but you could hear the anger in her voice.

"Yes only one has survived his assaults, he is in recovery right now."

"What did he have to say?"

"He wore a mask but he could tell by the voice he wasn't much older than you, maybe your brother's age. He also isn't a bender but he is able to kill by throwing needles, and he cut off general Shao's bending by attacking his pressure points."

"Hey that's my fighting style." Pouted Ty Lee "And he stole Mai's style too."

"It does sound like your fighting style." Pondered Azula. "Was there anything else?"

"He had a message for your father. He said someone named Kurai would pay for his crimes. Do you know who this is?" asked the soldier. Ty Lee squealed

"Who could possibly want to hurt Sifu Kurai, he was the greatest and cutest teacher at the academy for girls." Piped Ty Lee.

"I will pass the message onto Kurai but now onto this Demon of the Twilight; how to draw him out." said Azula

"Lady Azula if I may suggest something, he seems to be trying to drive us out, perhaps if we threaten King Bumi, which will defiantly draw him out."

"Excellent idea." Now leave my friends and I have something to discuss." All the soldiers left leaving only Azula, Ty Lee and Mai.

"So what do you think Azula do you want to face this guy, I just want to know how he knows Sifu Kurai." Asked Ty Lee doing a head stand.

"But do we really want to get rid of him, I mean he has made this city interesting. Personally I would like to meet him just to see how good he is. It is one thing to take out common soldiers but what about elites." Said Mai. Azula walked over to the window and stuck her head out. Kumori sitting right above her. He could have easily stuck a needle into her neck, her death would have been a huge blow to Ozai, but he didn't for two reasons. He only killed those who deserved it; the soldiers he killed were brutes who picked on civilians. He could tell she was cruel but something like that was beneath her. The second was a thought that came into his head the moment he saw her up close.

A rose with thorns. He thought suddenly. Beautiful and dangerous. But then mentally kicked himself for that thought. It was then that Kumori decided to leave and he quietly jumped away from the roof and into the night. Seconds later Azula just looked above her and gave a knowing smirk before pulling her head back inside.

"I have a plan. But first I must send a letter." And Azula left the room. The next day it was announced that in one week King Bumi would be executed for war crimes.

The Great Divide

Deep within a hidden part of a valley a man in red and black Fire Nation armor complete with skull mask. Cold blue eyes that shined like diamonds stared from behind. He wore a black cloak with red trim, it had the kanji on the back that read Shard. He was looking over his pride and joy, a training field of over one hundred men. They would be key to victory against Ba Sing Se; they were the Fire Nations first and only Earthbender unit.

"General Kurai." Kurai turned to see a soldier running up to him. "A letter from Princess Azula in Omashu." Kurai took the letter and opened it. He smirked behind his mask.

"So Kumori you still hate me, what has it been ten years since we saw each other last saw each other." Came a calm gentle suave voice that could chill to the bone. He closed the letter. "Kazan, Yougan!" to men came up to him dressed in similar armor, one had brown hair and eyes the other had red hair and eyes, but other than that they were identical.

"What do you wish…" said the red eyed Kazan the only Firebender in the unit.

"…General Kurai." Said the brown eyed Yougan; Kazan's Earthbending twin.

"We are heading for Omashu I wish to see how strong Kumori has become. And we'll have some fun with the Order as well." Kurai stomped his bare foot and they were lifted up onto a floating platform of earth and moved to Kurai's Canyon Crawler mounts. (A/N those giant spider things from the Great Divide episode.) They climbed into the saddles and rode up the wall.

Well that ends this chapter. I came up with bending anomalies because according to Wikkipedia bending is part genetic. So if it is genetic wouldn't there be mutations among the bending gene. Especially if two different types of benders have children. But as I said for the most part Kurai is an Earthbender with a small bit of fire which allows him to control metal and glass. But any way pretty much nothing but action coming up next chapter. Read and review please.