Grabbing my bag and my spear, I moved so fast to Appa that no one could see me until I was motionless, sitting with my spear lying in front of me and my bag beside me. I sat Indian style waiting for the rest to board. Toph created some earth stairs for everyone to climb up.
After everyone was situated, Aang gave Appa a "Yip, Yip" and we were off. Zuko held on to Appa's saddle for his dear life as he looked through the sky in fear. I laughed and said, "Get used to it, Zuko. We pretty much live up here." I had my eyes closed in a relaxed position. Zuko sat next to me so he turned and glared at me.
"That's Prince Zuko, to you, peasant," Zuko hissed. I opened one eye, giving him a warning glare while my bangs blew in the wind.
Sitting up straighter, I ordered, "Give me fifty pushups, now." As I said this I patted Appa's back.
Zuko looked at me like I was nuts, but I held my blue eyed gaze firm into his golden eyes. Sokka looked back and sniggered making Zuko shoot a fireball at him. The water tribe warrior dodged it as he glared daggers at Zuko.
"Now I want 100," I said, firmly.
The Prince was about to protest, when his Uncle intervened and said, "Prince Zuko, you swore to follow her every order. I suggest you get to it."
He paused and looked at his uncle and then he turned to me. I liked him better with his hair, but that wasn't important now. He was my student and I had to teach him to the best of my ability.
Assuming the position, he mumbled something under his breath. I saw he was using two hands for the pushups and I said, "You use two hands? Well, we're going to have to break that habit."
Zuko kept growling angrily at me, but I didn't care. "Pay attention while you do them, Zuko."
Folding my arms across my chest, I looked at him firmly and used my drill sergeant voice as I said, "With this group, you are not a Prince. You are our firebending traveling companion. You are not superior to anyone in this group. Not even Momo."
Momo turned around and saw Zuko doing his pushups. He flew over and landed on his back, while Zuko clenched his teeth harder.
"From now on, you will refer to me as sensei or Mikomi-sensei, even ma'am will do, but never simply Mikomi and, worst of all, I never want to hear you refer to anyone as peasant again. Understood?" I asked roughly.
Aang, Katara, and Sokka gave me a worried look as if they feared Zuko would lash out on me at any second. I winked at the three of them and they smiled. The wink was to show them I knew what I was doing.
"Yes," Zuko said, leaving out my name on purpose. I could sense the heat rising from his infuriated body.
"I will teach you to respect those around you. Then maybe you will deserve our respect, as of now, I don't believe there is a person in this group, other than General Iroh, who trusts you. You will earn their trust just like you will earn their respect, by showing them some," I said demandingly as I watched Zuko go up and down.
The General in question was smiling at me widely. I could tell that he thought my teaching methods were just what Zuko needed and maybe they were.
"By the end of my teachings, I won't be surprised if you hate my guts and would love to see me die at your hands," I said firmly as I brushed my ponytail back. "But I didn't allow you to travel with us for us to all become friends, so I could really care less what you think about me." As I said the last comment, I bent close to Zuko's face as he went up and down, hissing it at him.
I heard him growl deep in his throat as he finished his last pushup, sweat on his forehead. He panted and took up his place next to me. Looking to his face, I studied it carefully. Anger was spread all over his face.
"Stop showing so much emotion on your face," I said, looking at my nails. "People exploit revealed emotions. People like me." I smiled at the last comment as Zuko took a deep breath and calmed himself. He had actually hidden the emotion on his face even though I saw his fists clenched. "You might want to learn no to show any emotion on your body," I said looking to his fists. "Skilled fighters can see emotions very well, so don't show emotions like anger during battle."
I sighed, "But you did wipe the emotion off of your face very well. Hmm," I said moving to sit on my legs in front of him. "I wonder how well you can keep that up though under provocation."
Zuko didn't move and didn't show any emotion on his face as I turned to Katara. "Toss me your water skin."
She took it out and tossed it to me as I had ordered. Everyone was watching Zuko and me as I held the water skin in front of him.
"I won't provoke you now, in front of everyone, but I will when you least expect it, so you'd better be ready for it," I said, shoving the water skin into his chest. "Don't drink too much of it."
I assumed my former position next to him and sat in my meditation position. Toph nudged me in the side with her elbow and said, "I like your style of teaching, twinkle toes. I thought you'd be a softy teacher."
Laughing, I said, "No, Toph. I will keep getting harsher and harsher as time goes on."
Zuko rolled his eyes and frowned at this comment. I think he knew that I was telling the truth too. His training hadn't even officially begun, but I had already demanded push ups out of him. This guy had better be ready to be pushed beyond his limits.
Everyone heard Sokka still giggling as he said, "You got bossed around by a little five foot one girl."
"Shut your mouth!" Zuko shouted sitting up straighter next to me as I felt him heat up.
"Why don't you shut yours you pompous firebender?" Sokka yelled.
"Why you lowly watertribesman! How dare you talk to me like that, you insolent idiot!" Zuko retorted his eyes nearly glowing with the anger.
"You're no better than any of us, little Prince!" Sokka retorted with a mocking tone.
Zuko dove at Sokka while he did the same to Zuko. I appeared right in the middle of the two and held a hand on both of their chests as they tried to get at each other from over top of me.
Shoving both of them back with great force, I stood on Appa's back looking at the two of them at first indifferently.
Then I felt my eyes turn golden when I shouted at the both of them, "BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP UNLESS YOU'D LIKE TO BE ROASTED ALIVE!"
As I shouted this blue flames sparked around both hands. The two boys glared at me, but were silent after that. I sighed as I sat down after extinguishing the flames. Rubbing my temples, I mumbled incoherently to myself wondering what I had gotten myself into.
We had found a good spot for Aang to begin Earthbending, so we stopped for the night. Toph and I slept in her earthen building, while everyone else slept next to Appa. The two of us discussed how we would be teaching our pupils. The Blind Bandit assured me that I would like her teaching style as well.
The two of us woke first and walked over to our pupils who slept far apart from each other. Aang was already awake and waiting for his first lesson eagerly. Iroh, Katara, and Zuko still slept heavily. My student was right next to the rock wall. The other two were allowed to sleep for now, but my student wasn't. I frowned down at him with my arms crossed over my chest.
Still staring angrily at him, I said, "Toph, would you mind waking my student?"
She shook her head and thrust her heel into the ground, which made a column of earth rise and shoot Zuko into the air. This woke him sufficiently as he screamed on his descent toward the Earth. He landed on his stomach and looked at me angrily.
"Good morning, student," I said, smiling. "The torture begins today."
Zuko growled at me and wiggled out of his sleeping bag. I had my spear in one hand and my black bag in the other. He stood fully awake now and looked at me. Out of nowhere, his hand shot out at my throat and he whirled my body around to pin me on the rock wall. I gasped air in through clenched teeth as Zuko growled, "Stop treating me like someone so far below your level." My legs writhed beneath me searching for footing as I opened my mouth wide. Showing it, blue flames gathered at the back of my throat and shot out toward Zuko who dropped me and jumped back.
"I treat you as I see fit, because as of now you are far below my level," I said calmly. There was a crack in the Earth below me, so I stuck my hand into it causing fire to shoot out of it in a circle around Zuko and myself. The flames raised high as I looked at Zuko fiercely.
The insolent Prince charged at me, but I side stepped the attack and drew fire out of the fiery wall to shoot at him. He actually dodged it, but kept attacking as I kept side stepping every attack and dodging it. Zuko was becoming weary from his relentless, but useless barraging of attacks.
"Can't you see, Zuko? I'm toying with you," I said, lowering the flames around me. Now I yelled with the next comments. "I have far greater knowledge than you could possibly fathom. I've trained too many hours to have some snot nosed Prince disrespect my authority!"
Zuko just glared and huffed loudly, issuing smoke from his nostrils.
Motioning for him to follow, I walked toward the site where Aang was to begin his training with Toph.
"For now, we'll watch Toph and Aang," I said, without looking back at him. "Starting off, my training isn't all that bad, because we begin with scroll work. Intelligence is key in the martial arts. A fool would never be able to master them."
Zuko and I took a seat on the sidelines as Toph explained to Aang the stance of an earthbender. I saw the firebender's interest in Toph, so I decided to discuss her.
"Toph, is the greatest earthbender I have ever met," I said, staring at the girl as we sat watching. "She is very headstrong and spirited, just like an earthbender should be."
Zuko looked down at me and nodded, approving of my analysis. We watched as Aang tried to move a boulder, but ended up shooting himself backward into Appa.
The firebending Prince laughed and I punched his side firmly. He glared at me and rubbed the spot I had just hit as I said, "It's no laughing matter. This element will be the hardest for Aang to master, because it's his elemental opposite."
Then we watched as Toph jumped at a rock fiercely, completely smashing it. I turned to Zuko and saw his wide-eyed gaze on Toph.
"I don't exaggerate when I talk of someone I respect, Zuko," I said, still watching Toph intently. He nodded in return and finally saw why I respected Toph so much.
"Like I said earlier, Toph represents earth very well," I said indifferently with my arms folded across my chest and my bag on my back. "She's steady, powerful, and unfaltering."
Turning to look at Zuko, I said, "Fire is quick, destructive, but powerful all the same. Its nature is untamed, which makes it one of the hardest elements to master." Pausing, I pulled out a scroll from my bag and continued, "The martial arts are about intelligence, precision, and balance. Power comes from training these three assets, which I have done. I spent my life doing nothing but this, so don't dare question my knowledge without consequence."
The Prince realized how seriously I took this, finally. He nodded and said, "Yes, Mikomi…"
I glared at him and he added sensei to the end through clenched teeth.
I smiled and said, "Good. Now we begin your intelligence training." Unrolling the scroll, I set it on Zuko's lap as I moved to sit directly in front of him.
"As a ninja, you must know the anatomy of the human body by memory," I continued. The scroll had two bodies drawn in, a male and female. "A human body has many weak points that we ninja take advantage of. Especially ninja who lack in physical strength."
Zuko looked up at me and nodded his understanding, then stared at the scroll. On the scroll there were green points, blue points, and red points all over the bodies.
"The green points are called pressure points, Zuko," I said, pointing to one of the pressure points. I stood and ordered Zuko to do the same as he sat the scroll off to the side. "Give me your arm."
He held his arm up and I pulled the sleeve up. Tapping a spot on the under arm of his bicep, I said, "This is one of the pressure points." Moving my index and middle finger which were pressed together, I touched a spot right below the crease of his elbow, "This is another." I moved the fingers again to a spot directly on the side of his forearm. "This is the final one in the arm."
"Now, don't move," I said. I jabbed each spot on the arm I had just shown him firmly, while his Uncle watched from afar. Zuko grunted with each jab. I took a step back from him and I said, "Shoot a fireball at me with that arm." I looked bored as Zuko looked at me like I was crazy, but he complied. Holding his palm up, the firebender attempted to shoot a fireball at me but failed as he kept trying. Walking back to him, I put my hand on top of his and lowered it.
"Zuko, the pressure points are crucial points in your body that transport energy or chi," I said. "There are three in each arm and four in each leg, while one resides in your abdomen and one in the neck."
Looking at him intently, I said, "By jabbing each pressure point firmly, I blocked up your chi passage in that arm, therefore rendering your bending useless."
The prince looked at me with an amazed expression and asked, "Does this work on any type of bending?"
I nodded and said, "It's helpful for the non-bending ninjas, but I like using it as well. On more muscular benders, you should hit all three, but otherwise two will do. I wasn't sure about you so I hit all three just in case."
I turned to my tone serious and said, "Mind you, each pressure point must be hit at a specific angle, all must be hit at an angle of exactly 109 degrees. The order in which you hit them doesn't matter. Look at your arm."
Zuko followed my orders and glanced to the arm which was rendered useless. The pressure points showed themselves because they all had black bruises on the skin above them.
"That's how you can tell whether it worked or not," I said taking a step closer to him. I put my hand on his arm as I looked up at him. "To get the chi flowing through the arm again, simply massage the spot in a clockwise, circular motion using your index and middle finger." I did this to each spot on his arm and my other hand held up his arm. The top of my head only came up to his chin as I massaged his arm.
"Try bending with that arm," I said. He did and it worked this time, while the bruises had disappeared. I smiled and said, "It worked."
"Now you will try to do the same on me," I said, smiling. He looked at me with a worried expression. "I'll show you the angle again." I didn't jab him this time but I showed him what the angle looked like. I held out my arm and he hit the points firmly, but I didn't show any emotion on my face.
"Hit all three, Zuko," I said because he only went with two at first. "I know I'm not muscular in the least, but I want you to get used to hitting all three as a precaution."
"You have bandaging over two of the spots," he said as he held my arm up and looked at my forearm.
"It doesn't matter," I said. "It works even through clothing."
After Zuko had jabbed three spots on my arm, I looked at my arm. I don't think they had worked very well, but I ordered him to stand about ten feet in front of me. I held my palm up to face him and said, "You'd better hope this works or be ready to dodge."
The Prince stared intently at my palm as I attempted to shoot a fireball at him. A blue fireball jumped out of my hand and crashed toward Zuko who dove out of the way. He stood looking at me incredulously.
"I told you the martial arts are very precise," I barked at him. "You weren't accurate enough. I want ten pushups!"
He raised an eyebrow at the low amount of pushups I had given him. He'd learn in due time that nothing's as simple as it seems with me. Zuko assumed the typical pushup position and did ten two-handed pushups. Standing, he looked at me for my next order.
"That type of pushup is weak and old school," I said turning so my back faced him. "From now on when I say "pushup," I want ninja pushups, which look like this."
I did a handstand and pushed myself up and down ten times, while keeping my balance well. I held the handstand and looked at him with his expression of shock on his face. I knew he would have trouble doing these but he had to learn.
Remaining in the handstand, I said, "These pushups push your muscles more and train your balance." Pushing off the ground, I pushed myself into the air, flipping and landing on my feet now facing Zuko, who stared at me like I was crazy.
"I want ten ninja pushups," I said, smirking while he just stared at me. "I guess you don't know how to do a handstand do you?"
He shook his head as he frowned at me. I knew he would get frustrated with me, but I didn't really care. It was my job to teach and that's what I was doing.
"I'll hold your feet up for you, for now at least," I said. "Do what I did, but I'll grab your ankles."
Zuko did a handstand but immediately began faltering. I grabbed an ankle with each hand and said, "For a handstand keep your legs tight together and straight up."
I barked, "Point your toes! Now go! I want ten."
Zuko tried to do one as I kept his balance for him, but as he lowered himself he had trouble pushing himself up. By the fifth one, sweat was pouring down his face and wetting his hair.
"I bet Azula wouldn't have any problem doing this," I said, mockingly. Zuko growled deep in his throat as I felt him heat up. Then he fiercely finished the rest of the pushups as I gently let his feet go while he lay on the ground panting.
I sat beside his head on the ground and said, "Showing anger is a sign of weakness, Zuko. You look stronger without showing all your rage, because you're strong enough to contain it. Like me, I get angry a lot, but you never see it on me. It'll frustrate any opponent to see that you don't anger easily."
I pulled out a water skin and handed it to him as I continued, "I compared you to Azula to provoke you and you failed because I felt your ankles heat up. By the time I'm done with you, you'll easily be able to defeat Azula. I promise you that."
Zuko looked at me and smiled when he saw that I was serious while he sat up drinking the water. "So let that be your goal Zuko. Remember that someday you'll be able to show the world that Azula isn't much of a prodigy at all."
I grabbed the water skin out of his hands and said, "Not too much, my pupil." I smirked at the title I had given him while he frowned. "Now, try to hit my pressure points again."
Zuko and I continued this training for some time until he had hit all the pressure points in both arms, my neck, my legs, and my abdomen, rendering my bending useless. I massaged each point gently and said, "Good, you have each spot memorized?"
"Yes, sensei," Zuko said, panting. He had done more pushups when it failed, but then he finally got them all in one day.
"Good, remember them well, because I'll randomly tell you to hit pressure points to test your knowledge," I said. "You did well for your first topic, Zuko. Now, let's go over some of the other points."
Picking up the scroll, I motioned for him to stand behind me and look over my shoulder to see the scroll.
I pointed to the next color of dots, which was the blue points and said, "These blue points are called nerve points. The dots show the location of certain nerves that cause different things to happen to a person. There is only one in every limb, so there are only a total of four in the body."
Handing him the scroll, I reached to my ponytail and pulled out a senbon needle. I held it in front of his face as he analyzed it carefully.
"The senbon needle is the only weapon accurate enough to hit these points because each point is the size of the tip of this needle," I said. "This takes a great amount of mastery to perform, Zuko. It requires a large amount of practice."
Grabbing his arm again, I said, "This may hurt a bit, but it'll end quickly."
Taking the needle I stabbed into the point which was located right above the crease of the elbow. Immediately, his arm began shaking violently, so I pulled the needle out, ending the shaking.
"If this needle is embedded there for more than five seconds, the shaking lasts for fifteen to twenty minutes," I said wiping the needle off as Zuko rubbed the spot, which bled. Unraveling some of the bandaging on my forearm I ripped it off and wrapped it around Zuko's arm where I had just stabbed. "Did you feel the pain course through your entire arm?"
Zuko nodded as he clenched his teeth.
"That nerve runs through your entire arm and hitting the middle of it causes that," I said, indifferently as I heard rocks crashing close by. I wondered how Aang was progressing.
"I use this often on my enemies. I did it to your sister twice now," I said, smirking. Zuko returned the smirk and asked me what she did.
"The first time she stopped and held that arm like it was going to fall off," I said, laughing. "The second time she pulled the needle out too quickly for it to take any decent effect."
Zuko smiled at me and looked into my blue eyes while I stared at his golden visible one. I could tell he admired me to a certain point, but it was nothing more than student and teacher as of then.
Coughing, I said, "Well, it's difficult for you to practice this one because I'd rather not be your personal pin cushion."
Rummaging through my bag, I found a target I used to train regularly. I took four kunai knives and stuck them sharply into a rock wall we were near to hold the target up. Walking back to Zuko, I stood in front of him and looked up to his eyes.
"Alright, Zuko," I said. "Precision is another important aspect of the martial arts. Just watch."
Without turning my back, I pulled out a senbon, my fingers wrapped around it. I threw it over my shoulder and Zuko looked at the target with a bewildered expression. Turning around, I looked at the target and saw that I had hit a perfect bull's eye.
"I only need to see my target once, and I'll never forget it's location as long as it remains stationary," I said, indifferently. "But that's a result from a life of experience."
Tapping the holster on my right thigh, I said, "This is a shuriken and kunai knife holster. I only keep about two kunai knives with me." I pulled out a black kunai knife and showed it to Zuko. Putting my finger in the hole, I twirled it around my finger while Zuko backed away.
"I don't keep many of these because they're bigger and not as quick," I said, replacing the knife back in its holster. I pulled out a shuriken and said, "This is a shuriken, also known as a ninja star. They're faster than kunai knives."
I pointed to the holster on my left thigh and said, "Of course, the senbon needle is the greatest and my preferred weapon of the three. It is quick, precise, and deadly if used right. But I think we'll start with the easiest of the three: the kunai knife."
We continued this training for awhile. Everytime Zuko missed the bull's eye, he had to do another ten ninja pushups. At the rate I was pushing him, Zuko was able to do a handstand on his own by the end of the day. I was relieved by this as well. Time was not on our side considering I spent about fourteen years of my life to master these arts.