Looks can be deceiving
Etherealstar


Author's notes: To all the kind people thank you for everything. I am most blessed for that. This chapter goes out for all and a little reminder I didn't update due to exams, but that's all over…take care.
Disclaimer: Avatar and Avatar Manga is owned by Nickelodeon and Sitcom. All rights reserved.


Chapter 6: Revelations.

"Mr. Haru?"

"Please, call me Haru. Mr. Haru sounds so cold and not to mention old" he said.

"W-What are you doing here, not stalking I hope" she leaned back

"Well that's what I'm wondering myself now" he seem sincerely confused. He scratched his head and wondered if he had gotten everything wrong. Had he? 'No, no…this couldn't have happen, I knew what I read, this has to be correct' but he was still so confused. 'But she's a geisha' he paused.

"Oyee!" she snapped her fingers bringing him back to reality.

He gave a small blush and became quiet.

"Oh my gosh you are a stalker"

"No no, Ms. Katara, please, that would be the least of things I am. Please, hear me out for a moment. I know the situation looks a little odd" he was injected, "a little odd, try very odd" she corrected.

"Well yes, but please try to understand I have a good explanation. If you would only hear me out then maybe all would seem plausible?"

"Mr. Haru, it's bad enough that you jabbed me against a wall on our first encounter, but bucko now you're stalking me?" she asked, "hey I appreciate the love and everything but I'm really not that type of girl who likes all the attention" she tried to shew him away.

"Ms. Katara" he tried to a get a word in

"Please, call me Katara"

"Katara" he pronounced her name, "please give me a couple of moments to just explain myself and not to mention why I'm here in the first place"

"Believe me I know. You're a stalker and you like me. The bad news is, I really can't say I feel likewise for you - okay, so who am I fooling I don't feel anything but shock for you, but say what that doesn't mean we cant be friends?"

"Katara" he stressed on her name.

"What?"

"Would you please shut up" he said.

Katara huffed and folded her arms. 'So rude!'

"Thank you" he said.

She tapped her nails expectantly against her cheek and waited for him to continue. With a sour expression on her face she refused to be cooperative with the man.

"Katara I know you may think as if I'm stalking you but I'm not"

"Sure you aren't"

"I come on a mission, a most severe one you could say" he said saddening considerably. A little too quick if you asked Katara. It was then she arched a brow.

"Are you a waterbender?" he asked suddenly.

His question was frank, dryly said and interestingly strange.

"W-What?" she was caught by surprise by the statement.

"Are you a waterbender?" he repeated.

"W-Well, you see…-wha-what kind of question is that?" she seem furious.

"Katara I need to know, are you a water-bender?" he asked.

"I really don't know what you're talking about"

"Oh I believe you do. You're the Avatar's friend and I know the only friend and female friend he had that was a waterbender is you. Why deny it Katara, afraid that I'll tell somebody..say the Fire Nation?"

"You wouldn't dare" she hissed.

"Ahh, so you do admit therefore you are a water-bender?"

"Well, sort of, kind of" she looked down.

"How can you say you're a sort-of a water-bender…unless I'm really missing something" he said.

"No no" she waved off, "you're not missing anything. I am a water-bender but its been years I've water-bended" she said.

"Why, isn't that what you were meant to do, I mean if its anything you should become isn't a waterbender most legitimate and expected of you?"

"It's not so simple Haru. It really isn't"

"Then elaborate to me"

She sighed, "it's painful" she whispered.

"Please Katara, I don't wish to resurrect the pains in you, but can you please tell me why you've forsaken the thing which you've been gifted with?" he asked solemnly.

She sighed, "I learnt water-bending late in my life. It was pretty interesting learning water-bending from my friend, the Avatar as you so know him. But at that tender point in my life when I was sheltered in love from all my love ones, fate took a painful twist at me." She winced.

"It was May 16th the day the Fire Nation raided the Water Tribe. I was only fourteen when I saw the true bold and fiery efforts of the Fire Nation. Dust, ash and fire lit the world I once called mine. The Fire Nation attacked the water-tribe in full fleet but what really made me succumb to my shame and unworthiness was when a few fire-benders sent fire bolts into my family's house. My mother and father were asleep but Sokka and I had been at a friend's. I went rushing through the crowds of screaming people. The sky was grey and thick of smoke and it almost seem to look as judgment day. I kept running to my home hoping that my mother and father had made it out. But when I arrived they were stuck in the burning house. I tried my best to get water from everywhere and anywhere using my water-bending skills to my best. It so happened that regardless how hard I tried to obtain water, I couldn't and in that moment of knowing that I could do absolutely nothing, I fell to the ground knowing that I would had to watch my family die. There blood-curling screams of being burnt in fire haunted me. It was on that day I gave up believing that water meant healing and gave up believing in myself." She looked up with tears in her eyes, "my past is no fairy-tale Haru, I lost everything I loved by enemies and haters and all I ever did was watch them shred my world and sanity apart"

"Then why don't you fight for your beliefs once again?"

"Because I've made enough mistakes on the road already."

"Katara, I came to you because I need your help" he said.

"My help, what can I do except attract beasts both ugly and pretty?" she asked.

"To start off with, I lost the woman I loved to Prince Zuko and it's a result of my negligence I drove the woman I loved to her death. Her name is Jun, and it's a shame I made her go to her death even when I knew the end"

"Strange" she whispered.

"What's strange?" he asked.

"Its strange you liked me. You invited me to your chamber and made me feel as if you were highly attracted to me, what was the reason for that?" she asked.

"I was under stress of weather choosing Jun or another woman to kill Zuko. I was depressed and alcohol really wasn't cutting it when it came to calming my senses. I hired a geisha, luckily, and I guess still drunk from the alcohol I acted as if I was strongly attracted to you. In a way obsessive. Believe me Katara, I didn't mean to do anything I wasn't suppose to" he said.

"You're forgiven" she smiled.

"I made a mistake Katara because I was a fool. I didn't analyze my situation properly. I had a bad past myself with the Fire Nation and as a result I made Jun, my beloved suffer for me. But I forgot to oversee something, something I should have" he said.

"What's that?"

"Ninjitsu can't beat fire. It's always going to be fire and water and I know if its anybody that can beat Zuko, its got to be a water-bender and you're the only one I know"

"Woooa, hold on there bucko. We seem to have jumped the gun it appears. Look Haru, its one thing to lose the love of your life, true, I know how it feels with both my brother and best friend captured, but its another thing when you say I'll be the one to beat Zuko" she paused, "the Fire Nation is too powerful to be defeated. And even if by some miraculous reason I agreed, I can't exactly say this is as simple as one, two, three. The Fire Nation is built on stratus of hierarchy. If I have to fight Zuko I have to go through each level and who knows if I'll make it through alive"

"Look" he handed her a piece of parchment.

"What is it?"

"It's a proclamation Katara. The Fire Nation is taking the top 10 geishas into their fortress"

She looked up from the paper at him, "you're not thinking what I'm"

"Yes Katara, I am. At the end of the month you may have the perfect opportunity to kill Zuko. Finally you could put a stop to him once and for all"

She shook her head, "what don't you understand Haru?" she whispered, "I fear the Fire Nation and Zuko all the more. As much as I may hate him, I don't see how I could bare to face him, much less kill him. No Haru, perhaps you have the wrong person"

"Katara please, I know the Fire Nation has taken everything from you, from your parents and family to your friends but it wont stop. You're the only person I know who could defeat them, because for one, you're gifted with a supreme gift. You're a water-bender and it's a gift you should use to your best. Instead, you just throw it away because of painful memories"

"How dare you!" she hissed, "I'll have you know it was hard without my parents. I failed them and it was never easy to give up water-bending for them but I had too, because when I really needed to be the best of the water-bender that I was, I couldn't be that and I'd gladly give what made me, me, to them."

"It wasn't your fault Katara"

"Well Haru these things just don't happen for no reason now do they?"

"No, they don't, and this is exactly why I believe it's an opportunity for you. You're a water-bender, and a geisha. With your pretty face you'll be heading to the top in no time. You may actually have a chance at this, a chance to avenge for all those you've lost and finally punish the Fire Nation for the torture you lived with for years."

"I wish Haru as much as it sounded so good and simple to be that way. And because I have drawn the lines of where reality and dreams are I don't cross those lines and I advise you, you shouldn't too, its because we cross these lines we lose the very things we love, maybe it was for that reason you lost your love and whose to say what else you may lose if you continue to live like that." She paused, "I'm sorry Haru, but I can't just pick up myself and become the snake that lies in the Fire Nation, it's because even through all my hard days I still had one source of family. I just can't leave behind my only form of family to ready myself on a mission which offers me no assurance of coming back, its selfish of you to assume I may want to give this a shot, when I myself have a reason to live… my Gran Gran."

"But your gift"

"I'm no longer a water-bender Haru..so maybe you should just stop while you're ahead"

"No...no, I wont stop now, no not here, at least not for Jun. I lost so much Katara and as much as I'd want to slap you for your denials, I have to come to terms that not everything is that simple but that doesn't mean I should give up and believe me, for Jun I wont" he said.

He stood to his feet "its time I better get going" he said.

"Yeh"

"If you change your mind…here's my card"

"Haru please no"

"Please, Katara just take the card" he said.

She sighed, "very well"

Reading the small letters on the card she looked up to blabber and that's when she realized he was gone.

"Haru? Haru?" she looked around her room, "I guess he's gone"


"Master Ozai…the villagers have been gossiping about the fire Nation, a few of these old people think its funny to humour the Fire Nation by revealing the truth of the freedom fighters"

"Is that so?"

"Yes milord, we've seen a couple of the old rats sell themselves rotten to the truth. Might I say sir, if this continues we may be facing more than the average, stray freedom fighter."

"Exactly what are you saying, soldier?"

"An army milord. If word keeps slipping out this way, the Fire Nation may be jeopardy. We must not take any chances milord"

"Very well, eliminate all those who spread idle word. Make all assassinations silent and unseen, we don't want any relapses of the idle gossip now do we?…I want no one to spoil our name"

"Yes your majesty"

"Wake the others you have a kill, soldier."

Ten top ninjas were called from their chambers to execute their majesty's request, any slip up meant immediate death from Ozai himself, he couldn't risk letting the people know he was sending ninjas to silently kill them, in fact, this would put him in dire consequences and right now a headache was the least of things this king wanted. With ninjas at perked on the prime hour of the midnight, they all flew through the large window knowing their mission tonight was the same old drab routine, to kill and destroy.

It was then Ozai smirked, 'nothing like a good kill to make a king feel all powerful'


To be continued…