The Bounty Hunter

"Ahahaha!" Xai roared with laughter, pounding his fist on the table between them.

"It's not that funny," Kana insisted. Her arms were crossed and there was just a little pink to her cheeks.

"No," he said, grinning, "It was damned hilarious! The great Kana Li Teng is only a Li Teng because she didn't read the licensed user agreement! Bwahahaha!"

She glared at him for a few more minutes. Then she made a swift, subtle move with her right leg that lifted the table from her side. He fell off balance for a moment, his face falling towards the surface. The woman then pushed the table back down with a hard slap and it rushed up to meet him.

There was a crunch and he shot up holding his nose. It was bleeding profusely.

"You broke my nose!"

"Join the club." Inside, she was panicking. She had just assaulted the Avatar! She had assaulted the freaking Avatar, and broke his nose!

She wanted to yell that it had been an accident! She hadn't been thinking! It was just the memories. They brought it all back. The strength, the fire in her veins. The viciousness.

She got up and moved around the table. She grabbed the man by his face, batting his hands aside. She used her thumbs to push his nose back into proper alignment. The crack was sickening. Or, it would have been, had Kana not seen and done much worse.

After walking back over to her sink to wash the blood off her hands, she brought a small pail back with a washcloth for the man that she was actually sure could squash her like a bug.

"Is there actually a club?" Xai asked, his mood seemingly only slightly affected by the pain in his face.

"What?"

"When I said you broke my nose, you said to join the club," he grinned at her, dabbing at the place where his broken nose had punctured the skin and hissed in pain, "Is there really a Kana Broke My Nose Club?" his grin was even more annoying as he said this, "Do they have a good membership package?"

Kana just glared at him for a moment before sitting back at the table and saying, "Membership packages include broken noses, and whatever other bones, unnecessary to life in a cell. Benefits have been listed as pain, unending suffering, and the knowledge that a woman one third your weight just kicked your high and mighty ass."

The man just laughed and sat back down himself, "Sounds… well, let's just say I'm thinking of joining a less painful club."

"Good for you," she drawled.

After another minute or so, to allow him to fully clean up, and wipe the blood off her table, she started speaking again.

"Turns out, old Sinmao felt like his grandsons were lacking something. Leadership, he said."

-+909

"They won't listen to someone outside of the family," Sinmao Li Teng said, walking along the boundary of Kana's new home with the girl in question, "I fear that, if I gave them their licenses, they'd only end up dead. Too divided."

"I don't see how adopting me solves that situation," she said, she stopped walking and turned to face the old hunter, "I mean no disrespect, sir-"

"Ah! Call me grandfather, girl," he crossed his arms at her.

Kana took a breath and said, "I mean no disrespect, Grandfather, but I-" she paused again, trying to think of how to say this, "I am glad to be adopted. My future is undoubtedly brighter, having a family at my back. However, would I not be an outsider to your grandsons, still? Wouldn't they see me as a… a gold digger, looking to steal their inheritance?" she looked disgusted by the prospect, "Why would they listen to me?"

"Because you beat them," the old man said simply, "My son is not a warrior. He is a good man, providing for his family better than I ever have, and does so without ever having to throw a single punch or chamber a kick. He can not lead those boys. I am too old. My bones have grown frail and I am slow. You," he placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, "Kana, you are strong, swift and smart. I look at you and see greatness impending. I adopted you to lead those boys, keep them alive, and maybe bring some of that greatness to our family when you rise to the annals of history."

The girl wasn't sure how to take this. She'd had no designs on this family. Oh, sure, like anyone would, she'd thought about what it would be like if she had as much as this privileged family. It would be nice if she had a bed that was not lumpy and sheets that were not full of holes. Blankets that weren't patched and scratchy.

But she hadn't tried to manipulate them into this! So, how did it happen?

She honestly didn't know.

And she would never know that that was the exact reason Sinmao had insisted on getting her in the family.

So, unsure of what else to do, she bowed to the old man.

"Then, Grandfather, I will do my best to bring honor to the Li Teng name," she stood up and met his amber eyes with her own grey.

"I know that you will," he patted her shoulder, "You will have a week to gain your bearings. Then you will begin training with your brothers. When I deem the four of you ready, you will be given licenses and sent into the world."

"And queue the training montage!" Xai said with a grin.

"What?"

"Uh, it's a thing in Movers nowadays. A character will have to train up, and that takes a long time, right?" Seeing her stare blankly at him, he continued, "Well, rather than show every single step, Movers will show the beginning stages, when they are bad at it, the middle, where they are starting to get better- oh and it's all set to music!- and when the song comes to an end it shows the character mastering the training. That way the audience gets to skip all the boring repetition of training."

Kana just stared at him. She didn't look confused, thankful, or anything in between. Just annoyed that he interrupted her. Her finger tapped on the table, the sound of it weighing more heavily on him than the ticking of a clock.

"Can I continue? Or do you have some other wisdom to impart, O Great Avatar?"

He winced at her tone, but shook his head and gestured for her to continue.

Kana waited a moment to see if he would really remain quiet, then continued.

"We trained together for three months. After that, Grandfather deemed us ready for the world of Bounty Hunting," she ran a hand through the dark spikes of her hair, "We took to it like turtleducks to water. We also took Grandfather's words to heart. We never underestimated a bounty. If there was too little information, we didn't take it on. We had to kill a few of them," she sighed, not looking proud, "One was a Combustion Bender. He had been terrorizing a county, preying on the people. He almost killed Dai. I stopped him," her eyes took on a far away look, "After that, we started going after the warrants where the person was wanted dead, not alive. I discovered that people were far more willing to pull out every stop if you were there to kill them. The brothers had no issue with this, and the money was better. Grandfather tried to warn us away from this path, but I kept pushing. Sixteen men and women. That's how many I personally killed. The last five I fought so brutally that we almost didn't get the bounty. Their faces were barely recognizable. And then," Kana sighed, setting down her tea, her stomach turning at what came next.

"We got cocky. I got cocky," she said. She glared harder at the Avatar when he whispered 'Training Montage complete'.

+-909

"This is the house of Spike Xiao. He escaped from prison two years ago," Kana said, a certain light in her eyes. This was the very criminal that had brought the Bounty Hunting business to her attention. It would be a mark of pride to take him in. His bounty was too low, otherwise.

Tai, Dai, and Imon nodded, waiting for her orders. This was how it worked. They went over their information, talked over plans, then went out and got their man.

"I should enter from over here," Dai said, pointing to the north side of the map, "The pond will prove useful for me."

"I will approach from the front, with you," Tai said next, looking at Kana, "His bounty is low, but he is notoriously clever. Imon, for that same reason you should stick to Dai. We know that Xiao is here, but we haven't seen who else is in the house. It could be the remaining members of his gang."

"That sounds good to me," she looked at her brothers, "Let's go get him." The four of them bumped their fists together, then stood up and made their way out of the town, towards the small farm house. They split off a little more than a mile out.

Kana and Tai were surprised to see Spike Xiao waiting for them. He was facing them, away from the rising sun, chopping wood.

"Mornin'," he called, pausing in his chopping.

"Spike Xiao," Kana began, not letting his odd behavior stop her. Sure, most ran or tried to bargain, but she could stop him if he tried anything. "There is a bounty on your head. Three thousand Yuan, dead or alive. Now, we can do this the easy way," she stepped forward and flame licked over her fists, "or we can do this the real easy way." She took an aggressive stance, "You decide."

The man took a long swig from a canteen, then wiped at his face with a rag. He stepped forward.

That small motion, just that step, had spikes of stone shooting up at them from their feet.

Kana leapt back, lashing her leg out and sending a wave of fire at the Earthbender. Tai pulled up his own barrier of earth, then smashed it forward with a straight punch.

Spike Xiao turned it aside, lifted up one leg and was hit with a veritable wave of water. Dai and Imon had joined the fray.

"There is movement in the house," Tai said, "Is it the rest of your gang?" The Earthbender had yet to master the Bei Fong sensing technique, but he could at least get something from it.

"Stay away from the house!" Xiao ordered. He punctuated this by raising a field of sharp points from the ground all around him. He stomped, causing them all to lift into the air, then pulled his fists back to his side in a strong horse stance.

Before they could try to stop him, he lashed his hands forward, twisting each hand as hard and fast as he could and ending with his pointer and middle fingers on each hand pointing outwards.

In return, the earthen spikes began to spin rapidly and shot outwards.

Dai tried blocking one with a wall of ice, but the spinning projectile tore through it. Only Imon pulling him out of the way saved his hide.

Tai raised a wall of earth and it was barely enough.

Kana, however, used no defense. She jumped over the attack and approached Xiao at speed, fire dancing over her fists.

There, the real fight began.

A fiery punch was barely dodged. More spikes of earth were deflected. A series of kicks were blocked with floating rocks. Those same rocks flew at Kana's head. The young woman dropped to the ground, then swept Xiao's legs at the same time as blasting fire at where his head should land.

Her brothers could only watch. As usual, they were awed at the speed and power their diminutive sister could produce. They were supposed to be on watch, but they were only keeping their eyes on the current fight. They didn't see the interloper.

+-909

There was silence for a while as Kana sat there, looking at her hands. She just examined them, seeing the flaws.

"I'll spare you the gorey details. That person that tried to get in on the fight? That was Spike Xiao's kid. He was five. Just wanted to stop the scary lady from hurting his daddy. All I knew was that someone had hit me and I lashed out. Burnt him alive in a flash of fire," she heaved another sigh and started to lift her shirt, showing several wicked looking scars across her stomach, "Xiao, as you can imagine was inconsolable. Enraged beyond words, he started attacking me. I was in shock, and ashamed. I would have let him kill me. My brothers didn't."

Xai sat there for a moment, just absorbing her words, staring at the woman who was known as the most brutal bounty hunter in the Fire Nation. This same woman now showed almost no sign of the violent beast she had been.

"What happened next?"

Next? She supposed that was important, too.

"I was in shock, ashamed, in denial. I knew that the kid was dead. There was barely anything left of him. I decided the only correct thing to do was to turn myself in. The brothers didn't like that. They thought we should hide it and keep hunting. Grandfather agreed with me. It took them a while to forgive me. I went to prison. My sentence was five years, both because it was accidental, and because I turned myself in. I got out in three on good behavior. I moved out here with the blessings of my father and grandfather. I got a job as a welder, just something to do, really. I've got plenty stocked away in an account in my name.

"I just wanted something active, that was as far away from my old line of work as it was possible to get, and still use bending."

"Why?" Xai asked after a time.

"Why, what?" The woman asked.

"Why did you stop?" He held up a hand to stop her automatic argument, "I get it. You killed an innocent kid. That was horrible. But why did you give up bounty hunting? No offense, but you were considered the most feared bounty hunter in the Fire Nation. Hell, you saw it! Years after you went dark, people here, in Republic City, still fear your name. The monster you were? People are probably shocked to know you were arrested without a body count attached to the event."

Kana glared at him for a minute, but couldn't deny the truth of his words. She'd glossed over some things. She had been a monster. She exalted in the fight, the challenge. She loved the feeling of blood pumping through her veins, pushing herself to the limit. She loved how every hit she delivered to her victims convinced them to fight harder.

Over time, that turned into a certain thrill for causing pain, and then the killing itself.

So, 'why did she stop' was a good question.

"Because I liked it."

"What?"

"I liked it. There was a moment, small and you could miss it if you blinked. I liked it. I liked the fact that it took me almost no effort to kill a child," she looked him in the eye, her gaze as monotone as her words. She turned away, giving a mirthless laugh, "Ya know, I think if I had continued after that we actually would have fought. I'd have been the evil head hunter that killed for fun. You would have had to take me down."

She stepped away from her table then, washing her hands before she started to prepare a small meal.

"Well," she said to the muscular Avatar, " there you go. The reason why the infamous Kana Li Teng quit hunting. I killed a kid, liked it, realized I'm a monster, and turned myself in before I could do it again. I told you," she turned her head, but didn't quite look over her shoulder, "This story doesn't have a happy ending."

She heard it as the man stood up, moving towards the door.

"Thanks for your time," he said, then left.

Kana went back to preparing her meal. She ignored it as her hands shook. It didn't matter. It would go away in time. It always did.

"Damn it."

+-909

The next day she was both relieved and saddened not to see the Avatar waiting for her. Relieved because it meant story time was over and she could stop remembering. Saddened because of the fact she'd finally gotten all of it off her chest. She hadn't slept that well since she was seventeen.

There was something to be said for telling someone your story.

The next day she felt better, even. Knowing that she was no longer a person of interest, except to her parole officer, was liberating. It was happening. She wasn't important anymore. The world was forgetting her.

By the time the weekend rolled around she was back in the routine. She wrote a letter to her grandfather and father, explaining what had happened. She also thanked them, again, for sticking by her during the dark times.

The following monday she had a couple of drinks with Feihung and the boys, then ambled home, only slightly buzzed.

When she opened her apartment, she realized everything was going to hell and sighed.

"Hey, Wei Yi. Looking crisp in that suit."

"Indeed."