Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar or Sailor Moon.
Hi! It's me. Yes, I have updated in a while but I wanted to do a Avatar story badly so here it is!
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The crowd grew larger and larger as the fight became more impressing. In the center of the crowd was a ring where two females opponents faced off. The firebenders watched amazingly as one female knocked her foe out of the ring with a powerful fire blast. The crowd cheered wildly as the female victor displayed a cocky smirk and rested her hands on her hips. She was undefeatable! There was no one who could beat her now! Her smirk grew as the crowd yelled her name, praising her for her awesome powers and strength, the complete opposite of her brother. Princess Azula! Princess Azula! Yes, that was her name!
11-year-old Prince Zuko growled within his throat at the arrogance that his sister showed. His father, Fire Lord Ozai, clapped his hands in approval. His daughter was surely the best female in the village and hosted this little tournament so he could prove that his daughter was the best female in the nation and rise his daughter's fame. Zuko lowered his head in disappointment. He knew his father thought lowly of him and knew Azula was his favorite. He wished his sister would have met her match and lost, but found that dream far away. If only mother was here...
"Anyone else dare challenge me?" the 10-year-old princess suggested as every female turned their heads away. Someone would be a fool to fight this beast. The young girl was powerful and even beaten the female adult masters. Azula laughed to herself, seeing the fear in everyone's faces, exactly what she wanted.
"I will fight you," a timid, determined voice stated. Azula's eyes widen in surprise along with everyone else's, not thinking anyone would challenge her. Her shock soon wore off after staring at the conditions of her opponent. A peasant girl with messy black hair that flowed to her waist with purple steaks and ragged clothing, a torn shirt-dress. Her amethyst eyes were filled with determination as she spread her bare feet in an offensive stance. Apparently, she was of the same age as she. "Are you ready?"
Azula held back a laugh, biting down on her lower lip. Was this girl serious? All her dozens of opponents were of the middle-class; someone who could pay for lessons, but this...this was pathetic! Why should she even waste her time, still, she never turned down a fight, not even for this stupid reasoning.
"Your death wish," Azula answered as she too, stood in a offensive stance as she always did. She was quite surprise to she the peasant in an offensive stance then a defensive one.
Zuko blinked in confusion, what was this girl thinking? He heard his father chuckle, finding this very entertaining. Zuko turned his attention back to the strange and predictable fight. Why did this peasant girl just challenge her? Maybe for the reward...maybe she just wanted to try and earn some money...even if it was life-threatening. He was glad that he did not have to go through things like that.
Azula charged first, swinging her leg to send a blade of fire toward her opponent. The peasant jumped up and sent a fireball towards the princess. Easily dodging it, she charged towards her again and threw massive amounts of fire strikes at her. The girl dodged them with ease, flipping and twirling like air and water, gracefully.
Zuko's face lit up with joy, was his sister finally going to meet her match. Never have he seen a female dodge with such grace and beauty! He saw his father sit alertly in his seat. He watched as the peasant stepped back and leap forward, sending equal amounts of fire back at the princess. Her eyes widen in amusement as she too had to dodge and destroy the fire that roared towards her. No way was she fighting this hard just to beat a peasant girl! A peasant girl out of all people!
Azula avoided the last fireball and swung her arms in the air. When she stopped, she yelled and sent towards the girl a gigantic fireball that caused the spectators to run away from the ring. Zuko's eyes widen in pure horror as he saw the girl just stand there as the giant fireball hurled towards her. His father rested back in his chair, seeing that the match was set. Zuko groaned in disappointment as Azula smirked victoriously as the fire made contact with the peasant. He could hear the people muttered how she tried and how her death was lost foolishly. Suddenly, a loud scream was erupted from the ring. Fearing it was the girl, Zuko closed his eyes in horror, but quickly opened them when he felt his father jump out of his seat with a gasp.
Azula fell backwards as she was stroke in the chest with a large fireball. Everyone stared in confusion and fright as the princess hit the ground with a loud thump. The fire disappeared from were the peasant girl was standing. There, in a large purple barrier, was the peasant in a offensive stance, her hands thrust in front of her.
Everything fell silent as the peasant walked to the moaning Azula who clenched her chest in pain. Stepping on her stomach and outstretching her hand to the injured female's face, she whispered, "I win."
No one dared to clap or cheer, afraid of what the lord would do. The peasant girl turned to face him, her bare foot and hand still near the princess. She spotted Zuko with an overjoyed expression upon his face. "I want the reward."
The Fire Lord stared in disbelief at what he was looking at. How could...this was impossible! This was of trickery and trickery alone! "You get nothing!"
"But I-"
"No buts! If you do not leave, I shall have you severely punished!"
What! The girl could not believe her ears. She defeated his daughter fair and square and knew she deserved that reward. Seeing the soldiers slowing advancing towards her, she grunted and dashed out of the ring and into the forest.
Zuko, finding it the right time to leave, quickly snuck away and followed the girl. He watched as everyone ran to the princess, screaming was she alright. She respond by blasting them all away from her and walking back to the palace, their father right behind her. Zuko ran for awhile, finding himself becoming tired. No, he was going to keep going and prove that he was not weak.
The prince suddenly stopped when he stumbled upon an old, small shrine. He examined it, wandering where the peasant girl went to. Then, a fireball hit him square in the back, causing him to fall flat on his face.
"What do you want? Do you come to kill me for defeating that cocky princess?" the peasant girl shouted as she stood in the same stance she was in when she defeated Azula.
"No, I come in peace, I wanted to thank you!" Zuko exclaimed and slowly sat up and faced the peasant girl. He watched as she stared at him with anger filled, protective eyes.
"Why?" she asked, not quite understanding the reasoning.
"Well-"
"Rei!" a woman's voice called. Zuko turned to see a woman stand at the entrance of the shrine. Her face was pale and she wore an old kimono. Her hair was twice as long as her daughter and her dark amethyst eyes were filled with fear and worry. "How could you attack the prince? You could get us killed for that!"
"He was trespassing mother," the peasant girl, Rei, stated and crossed her arms grudgingly.
"Please, come in and have some tea?" Rei's mother asked nervously, fearing that the prince would go and tell the Fire Lord of their behavior towards him. Zuko eyed them both carefully and nodded slowly, finding it the perfect time to explain his coming.
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"I see," Rei's mother, Reinala, stated as she poured Zuko more tea. They sat in a room only lit with the help of the sun. There was only a small, torn rug by the door and a small table in the middle. Rei sipped at her tea carefully, eyeing Zuko every chance she got. She did not care for his long-life dream coming true, all she cared for was her reward money.
"Rei, I sent you out for bread and bread only. Not to go and fight the daughter of the Fire Lord!" Reinala said loudly as she set down her tea. "You could have gotten hurt and-" She stopped her lecture as a heavy cough befell on her. Clenching her chest, she fell into a ball. Zuko watched nervously as Rei quickly got up and assisted her mother. She led her out of the room as Zuko softly rubbed the back of his hand. He did not feel comfortable watching Rei's mother in such a state. It painfully reminded him of his mother...
Zuko looked up as Rei walked back into the room. She sat opposite of him and only glared into his eyes. He returned the glare and watched as the corner of Rei's mouth twitched.
"Why don't you leave now? Your father did not give me my reward so I should not even treat you with respect."
"What my father did was wrong and he did not want to believe the fact that his daughter lost, to a peasant girl for that matter."
Rei chuckled to herself as she rested her hands on the table, sitting Indian-style. Zuko smiled a bit, imagining the rage his sister was going through, because of her unpredictable lost. Soon, his smile faded as the room was filled with an awkward silence. Seeing there was nothing to say anymore, maybe he should depart now.
"My mother is sick as you can see," Rei whispered as she rubbed the back of her left hand. "She has been this way for months and her health is slowly declining. She barely can walk now and I just wanted to help her. I wanted to get a little money for her to go she a doctor and buy some medicine. My father...is a monster. A horrible father and an even horrible husband. He abandoned my mother and I just for a higher position in the army. He told us that we were not that important..."
Zuko watched as the girl held back her tears and clenched her teeth in rage. He could hear the distance coughs from the hall and rubbed his arm uncomfortably, not knowing what to do.
"My life is kind of the same way," Zuko softly replied as the girl stared at him bewildered.
"How?"
"It's a long story..."
"Trust me, I have time."
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Zuko drew his hand back and thrust it forward, sending out a large fireball. Rei nodded her head and did the exact same thing. Zuko nodded in approval and Rei slightly blushed and smile. He felt proud that he was teaching someone firebending. Awkwardly, he felt that she should be teaching him since she defeated his sister. Rei excused herself, saying she was going to check on her mother and ran into the shrine. Since they were outside, he could examine the shrine fully. He learned that she and her mother were priestess and this place use to be blooming with business. However, the war did not allow for it to last long. That's how she was able to create that violent barrier.
"Is that your new girlfriend?" Azula asked as she stepped from behind a tree, her two best friends, Mai and Ty Lee, beside her. Mai's eyes were filled with tears as she watched Zuko teach the peasant girl some firebending moves. She was not going to allow for her crush to be taken from someone of such low status. "You might as well just live here and not cause us the trouble."
"What do you want!" Zuko demanded, knowing his sister was up to no good. Then, fire arrows rained down on the shrine, causing it to go up in flames in seconds. Zuko watched horribly as soldiers jumped from behind the tree. Rei ran out terrified and angry as she watched the scene.
"What are you doing!"
"We were ordered to destroy the shrine that lies here, by my father of course," Azula replied as the soldiers slowly advanced. Rei growled furiously and turned on her heel, running back to get her mother. Before she could, the entrance collapsed and so did the rest of the shrine.
Blank amethyst eyes watched as everything went up in flames, knowing her mother could not survive such a state. Zuko also watched in horror as Rei's mother did not come out of the shrine. Azula laughed loudly and crossed her arms. "You should not mess with forces much stronger then you. Zuko, I believe it is time to go."
"No!" Rei shouted and sent a fire blast at Azula, scarring her upper right arm. The soldiers gasped in surprise. Rei breathed heavily and shook with terrifying rage. How dare they come and kill her mother and her home! She did not care who that girl was, she was going to die!
"You stroke the princess! That crime is rewarded with death!"
Rei only spun on her heel and dashed into the forest as night fell upon them. The soldiers quickly followed as Mai and Ty Lee hovered over the enraged Azula. "That girl is going to pay! I want her to die by my hands and my hands alone!"
With that said, Azula jumped up and followed the soldiers, her two best friends behind her. Mai took a quick glance at Zuko and watched as he stood there, the shrine turning to ashes in mere minutes.
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Zuko woke with a start as the dream faded from his mind. He scanned the area as he breathed heavily, clenching his chest. He lied near a river bank as his ostrich horse slept peacefully next to him. Why did he have that dream...that past vision? Was it because...he just lost someone by the hands of Azula? Uncle...
Zuko lied back down, hating his sister more and more for the things she wrongfully caused. Then, his mind wandered to the girl in his past vision. Rei, did Azula kill her too? She bragged about how she showed that peasant girl what was coming for attacking a princess. But Azula always lies...Azula always lies.
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"Help!" Sokka exclaimed as he ran out of the forest and to the campsite. Aang, Katara, and Toph stared bewildering at Sokka as he ran to them with a large sum of bananas. Momo came and grabbed a pair and handed one to Appa. The others also grabbed themselves some bananas and devoured them happily.
"Um, yeah, I was screaming help for a reason," Sokka mumbled as everyone continued to ignore him. Then, a herd of angry monkeys charged towards them, chasing anyone that had a banana.
"Sokka! Where did you get these bananas exactly?" Katara shouted while running from the wild beasts, everyone following her lead. Appa flew up into the air, the group finding no time to hop on his back.
"They were just lying in a pile so I just thought it was some sort of blessing!" Sokka replied while receiving a slap from Toph.
Soon, they ran into a dead end and turned to face the angry monkeys. Toph was ready to face them, but Aang held his hand out in front of her. "What are you doing?"
"We should not fight these monkeys."
"Why! And get ourselves killed by them!"
Suddenly, a black blur appeared in front of them. They blinked in confusion as the caped figure lightly slid her foot across the ground and an earthquake of fire erupted in front of the beasts. They shouted in fright and immediately ran back in the other direction. Everyone stared in awe, but quickly changed their attitude when noticing they were a firebender. Jumping in a fighting stance, they were not sure if it was Zuko, his sister, or someone after them.
They turned around, heavily clothed so you could not tell the gender. However, they lowered their mask to show amethyst eyes filled with concern. "Are you kids alright?"
"Kids! We're not all kids!" Sokka shouted and Katara slapped him on the head.
"Excuse my brother. We are thankful for your help."
"No problem, you guys should be careful..." the voice was blurred by the mask and a smile could be seen under it. They turned around and begun walking away, but a hand grabbed their arm.
"Wait, can we thank you with something to eat? Or at least know your name?" Aang kindly asked as he stared at her eyes, never seeing anyone with such an eye color. The person smiled again and nodded their head, agreeing to the dinner.
"My name is Rei and you?"