Chapter Dos
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Yumi ran almost the whole way to the port, but all she could think about was her mom, and her brother. Why were the fire nation soilders coming after her family? Her father was a captian, what was going on? She slowed her pace when she reached a small town on the sea. Yumi looked around, their were docks in the distance. She quickened her pace again and without paying attention, crashed into someone. She looked down and a woman was on the ground, she was trembeling as her fallen groceries lay strewn everywhere. Yumi felt a wave of compassion for the woman. She bent down and started to pick up the fallen food.
" Sorry about that, ma'am, but I'm in a hurry. Are you hurt?" She asked, gathering the items, the woman slowly got up, cradeling the remaining groceries on the floor.
" No, no. I'm sorry I bumped into you, thank you for this." She said lowly, eyeing the groceries Yumi still held in her aims. Yumi nodded and handed the groceries to her.
" Well, bye." Yumi said, and ran off in the direction of the docks. The woman dropped her groceries, and a sinister look appeared on her face then as she watched the girl run off. She walked over to the neighboring ally and peered down it.
" That the girl?" A voice rang out from the dark passage. The woman grinned.
" Yeah. That deserters child." She sneered, as she watched Yumi in the distance. She was apparently arguing with the boat captain to let her on.
" It's strange. We so easily caught that older boy, but this girl was slippery." The male voice concluded. He stepped out of the shadows then to reveal a man cloaked in dark red, his hair was slick back, he wore a menacing smirk.
" I agree." The woman said, leaning against the cold, stone wall.
" Did you find the woman?" The man asked, as he watched a pack of people crowd onto the ship that was in front of the docks. Apparently Yumi had convinced the captain to let her on. She hastily tryed to blend in with the other people getting on board.
The woman hesitated. " No, sir. We couldn't track her as easily as we thought." She said, smally.
" That's fine. The children were our main concern. Catch the girl first. Follow her, and don't blow your cover this time." The man said quickly, he looked both ways and trotted down the sidewalk. The woman nodded and went in the other direction. She made her way to the ship, the captain was admitting some of the last people on. When he saw the woman approaching his eyes got bright.
" Why if it isn't my favorite delivery girl!" He laughed with a smile. " Did you find out about those packages, Celia?" He asked. The woman named Celia nodded and pointed to a small huddle of leather bound packages behind them. She fished out of her pocket a cap, that had the name of the shipyard on it. She pulled her hair up into it and pulled it down over her eyes, she nodded once to the captain and made her way up the ramp.
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Yumi felt out of place on the ship, of course it was made up of her people, but they were all in groups, families and friends, together. She stood awakardly in the center of the groups, alone. It made her long for her own family even more then before. She felt tears in her eyes. She hit herself mentally for being such a wimp. Her brother and her father would never cry in this same situation. Yumi shifted her glance to examine her surroundings. Their was little light, all the light that shone in was from a window that had long crevases in it. Yumi sighed and looked around, she was surpised to see a little boy staring up at her, with his mouth partially open.
" Um..hello." She said to him. He kept staring, she laughed uncomfortabley. An old man came up behind the two, he put his hand on the little boys' shoulder, their heights were almost identical.
" You look so lonley over here, miss. Would you like to come sit with us?" He asked with a smile, the little boy grinned at her and nodded.
" Thank you, I would like that." She said politely, smiling at the litte boy and then the old man. Yumi followed then over to a corner where another little boy, a little older then the previous one, sat playing with a toy that was decorated with a lot of beads and the such. The boy ran over to the other one and started to grab the toy. The old man sat down next to the two boys, he motioned for Yumi to do the same. She obeyed and collapsed on the floor rather harshly.
" Hmm, you don't seem too well." He examined Yumi, she was panting slightly. " Are you alright, child?"
Yumi nodded happily. " Sure, I just had to run to catch the boat, you know how it is." She laughed, the old man eyed her suspiously.
" My name is Makoto, what's yours?" One of the little boys suddenly piped up.
" I like your name Makoto, I'm Yumi." She said sweetly. The little boy grinned as he went back to playing with the toy, the other one looked up.
" And I'm Tanaki, where is your mommy and daddy?" The other one said, trying to get ahold of the toy Makoto was playing with.
" Tanaki, don't be rude." The old man scolded. Yumi smiled at the boy.
" Sorry, gramps." Tanaki whimpered.
" My mommy and daddy are with my brother. I'm going to meet them at the next port." She explained, which was almost a flat-out lie, but it wasn't as if she could say that she didn't know where her whole family was at all.
" Oooh." The boy said, agreeing. She smiled at him, then turned back to the old man.
" Where are you all heading to?" She asked.
" Fairing. We live their." The man answered simply. Fairing, that name was familair. It was the next port, the one she was heading to.
It was getting dark and Makoto and Tanaki had fallen asleep, their grandfather was sipping tea, when Yumi got up and stretched. She looked around, most people were sleeping too. She wondered how many of them were fire benders like herself. She walked over to the steel door that they had come into. She put her hand on the door knob, it made a chreeching metalic sound as it opened a crack. Yumi pulled it more and slipped out the door. She walked up the many stairs and out through and open hatch in the cool night. The frigid air hit her face and whipped her hair back. She stepped out and looked around, their was no one around, except a woman. She was leaning over one of the sides, staring out into the blackness of the sea. She looked familiar.
" The sea is lifeless at night, almost threatening." The woman mused, without turning around.
" Are you talking to me?" Yumi asked. The woman turned, she smirked.
" Don't you agree...Yumi?" The woman asked, ignoring Yumi's question. Yumi gasped.
" H-how did you know my name?" Yumi asked, backing up. She froze. It was the woman she helped earlier.
" I have orders to take you to The Fire Lord, Yumi. Your brother is already there." Celia said lightly.
" You took my brother." Yumi eyes flashed with anger. Celia laughed.
" Well, not me personally, he was so weak. I didn't even have to take care of him myself." She chuckeled and rested one of her hands on her hip.
" Shut up. My brother is strong," Yumi narrowed her eyes. " I won't let you capture me. I must find Prince Zuko!" Yumi cried.
She started to shake as she focused and concentrated with of all her effort to use all of the fire she could muster. She held out both of her hands and postioned her arms so they were pointing directly at Celia.
" What are you going to do, child, throw a punch?" Celia taunted. Yumi ignored this.She could feel the energy burning through her body, suddenly two streams of fire shot out of her hands.
But...it was weak and sputtered into nothing but steam, before it reached the Fire Nation Scout, Celia.
" WHAT?" Yumi shouted, appalled by her failed attempt. The boat rocked then and Yumi lost her balance, she fell on her arm, she could feel the tendants in her forearm stretch. She winced in pain but forced herself to stay silent, as she glared up at the now approaching woman.
" This was easier then I expected. Your just a two-bit fire bender. I suppose you didn't inherit anything useful from the dirt bag father of yours." She snarled. Yumi tried to back up, but just fell back onto her arm again, this time she cried out in pain as she reinjured it.
" I have to find Prince Zuko!" She yelled.
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Whoo. Well, I hope all you reiewiers enjoy this. I updated a chapter a day, that's pretty good for me, lol. Please REVEIW, I LOOOVE REWIES! Tell me what you think about my OC, Yumi, if you want!