Wanted

By: Agent-Ayu

Chapter 4

Notes: Sorry for not updating in a long time. School really kicked my ass 2nd Semester with Sophomore Reviews. Right after school ended I needed at least a month off before I got back into writing. I also had to deal with a lot of personal problems too.

Disclaimer: Disclaimer from Prologue still applies.


"Hey."

Ty Lee looked behind her to see Azula.

"What are you doing out here, Ty Lee? We leave bright and early in the morning."

The acrobat smiled and turned back to look at the ocean. "I know… I couldn't sleep. So much had happened in just a few days here. It started off rough, but I wouldn't want to change it any other way."

Azula sat down on the boulder next to Ty Lee. "I would have wanted to change the first night we were here."

"Why?"

"I talked too much. I didn't want Zuko and Mai to hear what I said about my mother." She looked at the sand. "They don't understand. They never will."

Silence fell between the two girls as they listened to the waves crash along the beach. Ty Lee shivered as a breeze blew by them. "Here." Azula took off her out layer shirt and draped it over the smaller girl's shoulders.

"No, it's alright. You'll get cold." Ty Lee objected.

"Stop arguing with me. It's my job to argue with you remember. Besides you're not a firebender, your natural body heat is much lower than mine." She crossed her arms and tried to act like it wasn't a big deal.

Ty Lee smiled and scooted as close as she possibly could next to Azula before placing her head on the princess's shoulder. "Thank you, Zula."

The princess cleared her throat as she tried not to blush. Even though Ty Lee wouldn't be able to see it since it was dark, but she'd be able to see her aura and feel her body heat rise. She wrapped her arm around the other girl's shoulders. "You're welcome."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Wake up!"

All of a sudden Azula was splashed with a bucket of water. It's been nearly a year since she's been treated like this, then again her 'boss' doesn't care what others think as long as she gets her money. Everyday the Fire Nation princess asked herself how she ended up living this life after leaving her ship and she reminded herself she still owed her 'boss' a lot of money.

"If you don't get up soon, I'll have Nyla paralyze you and I'll turn you into whichever Earth Kingdom town will pay the most to have you hanged or whatever form of torture they decide to put you through, Ferret."

Azula rolled her eyes at her boss's nickname for her since they met at the tavern that 'faithful' day. "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me 'Ferret'? By the way, why do you call me 'Ferret'?"

June laughed as she finished packing her stuff into one of Nyla's saddle pouches. "Listen kid, since you owe me money, so I can call you whatever I want. It is your fault I lost that bet last year."

"How is it my fault when those thugs started the fight?" Azula rolled up her sleeping bag and placed it into one of the other empty saddle pouches.

"Because you're the one who knocked into me and caused my opponent to win the arm wrestle. Not only did you ruin my winning streak, I lost five times the amount I usually make at that tavern. You've come a long way this past year, but you still have ways to go before you pay off your debt." June mounted onto Nyla's saddle. "Now come on. We still have a bit of ways to travel for our next job."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

It had been a few months since she ordered the crew to dropped her off at the Republic City and for them to return back to the Fire Nation. After two years of traveling at sea, like her brother, it was time she traveled on foot and through the Earth Kingdom. It was the captain's suggestion for the princess to begin her journey at the most neutral city in the world. The city her brother and the Aang founded while she was still in the asylum.

The princess spent a few days in Republic City observing how benders and non-benders from the three nations could live together in peace and equally. While she was there she noticed how there were more and more families forming with a parent from a different nation. She saw one sibling being able to bend water and other fire.

That moment Azula felt more lost than ever. She knew the world moved forward, continued, and changed while she was still locked up, but it hadn't sunk in until that moment. The world was indeed changing and for the better. Now the princess had to find her place in this world, a world after the war.

As she traveled through the Earth Kingdom, she avoided Omashu, Ba Sing Se, and Kyoshi Island. A city she renamed, a city she conquered, and an island whose name she smeared. Azula didn't know how her brother survived living in the Earth Kingdom without money, and barely having any food to eat with each passing day. But, if Zuko was able to push through this so could she.

In desperate need for some money, Azula walked into a tavern that Zuko had mentioned to her a couple of times. Her brother mentioned a bounty hunter he once hired to track Aang was a regular patron and had a shirshu. When she saw the shirshu sitting outside the tavern, she knew she was in the right place.

The moment she opened the door, she moved out of the way as a man flew out of the tavern. Azula looked in to make sure no one else was going to be tossed out before walking in. The princess went straight for the bar and sat on one of the stools close to the wall so she could keep an eye on her surrounding. It didn't take her long to spot June. She looked exactly the way Zuko described her.

"What can I get you?"

Azula looked at the bar tender. "A shot of your strongest and a glass a water."

The bar tender gave Azula a look of his own before getting her order. Azula threw her head back as she drank her shot. She slammed her glass down on the counter and coughed. The shot was a lot stronger than she expected it to be from an Earth Kingdom tavern.

"Is that liquor imported from the Fire Nation?"

"Nope, this one is all Earth Kingdom. Want another? It'll be on the house."

"One. Just one more and that'll be all." Azula coughed harder after drinking the second shot as it burned in her throat she laid her head on her wrapped arms.

The bar tender chuckled. "Bet that cleared your sinuses. Here's your water, kid."

She pressed her palms against her eyes as she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The princess looked around to see what other people were doing to make money in this tavern, obviously money was made from gambling, but it was mainly made from winning arm wrestling or fighting. Both Azula didn't want to participate in, if there were game of cards, she could easily bluff her way into many wins.

Azula rested her head on her arms again. In that moment a small gang walked into the bar. They glanced around until they spotted her at the bar.

"Well, well, well. Look it here fellows. Fresh meat."

She didn't move.

"Seems like she doesn't know the rules around here. Hey!" One of the members attempted to grab her arm.

She smacked the guy's hand away without looking. Slowly she raised her head and glared at them. "Don't touch me. Also if you're smart enough you'll leave before you end up in the hospital."

The gang laughed amongst themselves, not believing her. "Do you know who we are? We're proud Earth Kingdom soldiers who fought against the Fire Nation and kept them from taking over our villages and our neighboring villages."

Azula smirked and took a long sip of her water. "I don't think you realize who you're talking to. Also you battles aren't exactly that impressive. I doubt you infiltrate and conquered Ba Sing Se since teenagers from the Fire Nation conquered that, specifically and mainly by the Princess of the Fire Nation."

Laughter bellowed amongst the gang again. "The Fire Nation's crazy princess. She might have conquered Ba Sing Se, but she went all wolf-bat shit crazy! Last we heard she was in the loony bin!" They laughed again.

"Then you idiots are very much are out of touch. She has been out of the asylum for the past five years." Azula finished off her glass of water. "She's also wandering around the Earth Kingdom under orders of Fire Lord Zuko."

All laughter suddenly died out among the gang. "The Fire Nation is messed up. A boy should not be ruling. Who the hell let's the craziest bitch in the world loose? I heard she went wolf-bat shit crazy because of mommy issues." The gang began laughing again.

Azula balled her fists as she adjusted herself slowly ready to fight.

"We're not worried that she's loose. We could take her! Her and her whole family!"

The laughter died again as the talker of the gang went flying into the nearest table. The rest of the members looked back at Azula.

She cracked her knuckles and then tilted her head until her neck cracked on both sides. "That's one down. That leaves the four of you. Still think you can take me and my family?" Her golden eyes gleamed as she stepped into the lighting just right.

"Shit! It's her! Get her!"

The remaining for members charged at her at once. She grabbed her stool and tossed it at them. Using the little distraction time she had, she got behind one of the tables and kicked it their direction, knocking another guy to the ground to catch his breath.

Cheering could be heard through out the bar as the other patrons saw the fight break out. Some began placing bets. One of the members began throwing a roundhouse at her head. Azula spun around and hooked her leg around the guy's leg and smacked him hard on the ear, popping his eardrum.

"Is that all you go-" a chunk of earth slammed into her stomach as she was thrown back. Losing her balance she fell onto June.

"Hey! Watch i-" June's hand was slammed to the table by her opponent.

"I win!" Pissed off, June punched her opponent in the nose and knocking him out.

Before Azula could charge back into fighting the small gang, June had grabbed her by the front of her shirt. "Do you realize what you had just cost me, kid?"

"No, and there isn't time for that." Grapping hold of the bounty hunter's arms, Azula used her for balance as she jumped up and kicked another thug in the face. She didn't have a chance to land on the ground when June pulled her by the front of her shirt again.

"You will pay me back in all that money I lost because of you."

June let go of Azula to grab the last gang member and slam his face to the table. She grabbed her glass and smashed it against the back of his head. "There. Your fight is over. Now you're mine."

Azula winced as she felt a sharp pain on her hand. Before she could fight back there was another sharp pain on her other hand. She couldn't feel her hands at all. They were paralyzed. "What the…?"

The bounty hunter held up a needle and pushed Azula towards the door. "Nyla. Attack."

A sharp pain struck the front of her before her body completely fell to the ground. "That needle had shirshu venom on it. Comes in handy. Now that I know you won't be able to resist me." June tied Azula up for safe measure and secured her onto Nyla's back. "I'm going to work you to the bone until you pay me back."

True to her word, June worked her hard. She tried running away a few times, but she was easily caught. Somewhere along the line the two grew to work well with each other when it came to catching bounties.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Here you go! One wanted man for the Police of Republic City." June kicked her capture in the rear towards the police.

"Normally we don't hire bounty hunters to do the job for us. We don't know how to pay you." The Deputy Chief of Police replied a little nervously.

"We'll take the sword." June and the police officers looked at Azula. "That'll be our payment. The sword that man was carrying. We'll take it."

"I'm sorry miss, but that is in police custody as evidence n-" The Deputy swallowed his last word when Azula crossed her arms and stood toe to toe with him.

"Either we get the sword or I let that bounty go and you can have fun trying to capture him yourself."

The Deputy gulped as he tried to intimidate her with his height. "Miss, we can not allow you to take the sword w- eep."

"You're intimidation tactics aren't going to phase me, Deputy. I once conquered Ba Sing Se and controlled the Dai Li, who were feared by most of the city because of what they do to citizens who don't follow their laws.

"What would my brother and Avatar Aang think when they find out when the Deputy Chief of Police and the police force are not doing their jobs properly in protecting the city that was created for the purpose of unity between all the nations?"

Azula stared the Deputy Chief of Police down like she had many years before to Long Feng. Game was set and match. She had won. The Deputy grumbled before ordering one of his cops to retrieve the sword for Azula.

"Take the sword and get out of my city." He shoved the sheathed sword into Azula's chest and stomped away.

The princess politely bowed to the Deputy Chief of Police to add a little more salt to wound. June sighed. This was exactly why she handled the payment negotiations with their bounties and Azula doesn't say anything. However, she had to give props to the princess for her intimidation abilities.

"Congratulations, Ferret. You finally paid off your debt. Though I still don't understand why you chased after that guy in the forest all for a sword."

Azula re-sheathed her newly acquired sword, "It belongs to my friend's brother. I hope to one day return it to him. But, according to his sister he lives in the one place of the few places I'm definitely not welcomed."

"So what? Yeah, you conquered Ba Sing Se and a good amount of the Earth Kingdom still hates you, what is so bad about this place."

"Because it's Kyoshi Island. Ba Sing Se would try to charge me with war crimes, but it will never stick since I did what my Fire Lord ordered. But, Kyoshi Island… it's because I used their warrior's uniforms and name I was able to infiltrate Ba Sing Se, and they will never forgive me."

"Oh please, I thought at least being a bounty hunter this past year would teach you something. Don't give a shit about what others think of you. You and your brother are definitely related with how many times I've seen you pout. Prince and Princess Pouty."

Azula glared at June. "That's because I was a spoiled royal bitch, who still has family and trust issues. And to top it all off, I'm officially documented as a recovered mad woman."

"So?"

"What do you mean 'so'?"

"You're dreading too much on the past, Ferret. Move on with your life. Be who you are now. Make people know and remember you now, not what you were during the war. I never saw you during the war and only hear about what you did through you. There is a lot more to you, kid. Here!"

June tossed a small sack of money towards her. "That should be able to hold you for a while. It's all gold pieces. Got any plans now that you don't have to slave away for me?"

The princess looked down up at the sky. "I'm going to head south. Get as close as I can to Kyoshi Island. It's like you said I have to make them see me for who I am now and not who I was. By staying in a town that trades with Kyoshi Island I should run into a few of them at some point and hopefully work something out with them."

The bounty hunter smiled and extended her hand out to Azula. "Well, good luck to you, Ferret."

Azula shook June's hand. "Thank you and you too, June."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

The first thing Azula did was purchase an ostrich horse and some warmer clothes. The seasons were changing and snow had already begun to fall upon Republic City. She had just finished strapping on the saddlebags when she saw a couple of kids chasing an animal to an alley way laughing. Azula asked the clerk to a near by store to watch her ostrich horse as she went to check on what was happening. She recognized what was about to happen all because of the malicious grin on those kids' faces as they chased after that animal. She used to give that same grin when she was about to throw a whole loathe of bread at the turtle ducks when she was a kid.

When she entered the alleyway she saw one of the kid toss rocks at the animal and the other one throw fireballs at it. Before the flame could hit the animal, Azula firebended the flame away. The two kids looked at each other confused until they turned and saw Azula. "Get away from the animal."

The kids screamed and ran away. She glared at them as they ran off before walking over to the animal. Her eyebrows rose when she realized it was a fire ferret. Apparently the kids had already burned the poor animal and were on the defense against her. Azula knelt down and held her hand out to the fire ferret.

"Hey, little guy or girl. It's alright I won't hurt you." The fire ferret hissed at her and tried scratching her hand. She caught the fire ferret's paw and pulled the animal towards her. The ferret tried fighting her, but she grabbed it by the scruff and held it close to her.

Azula walked out of the alley back to the store and purchased some gauze and ointments for the ferret. "Come on. Stay still. It's going to hurt a little." She rubbed the ointment on the ferret's burn causing the animal to yowl. "I know it hurts, but it's going to make you better." The princess and to gently step on the ferret's tail to keep the animal in place as she wrapped the gauze around it's body. "See? That's it. No more pain, at least for now."

When Azula took her foot off the fire ferret's tail, it scurried away from her and became defensive again as it growled at her. "Fine if you're going to be that way. It's best you know this now before judging to run off or stay." She held out her hand and produced a small ball of fire. The fire ferret hissed at her. "Don't worry. I won't hurt you. Back where I'm from my niece owns a fire ferret and we get along just fine. Though he does tend to do what he wants."

The fire ferret relaxed a little and walked a little closer to her. When Azula looked at the ferret, it coward and hissed at Azula until she looked away. Once the princess looked away did the ferret walked a little closer. She kept an eye on the ferret from her peripheral vision until it was licking her hand.

"Alright. So, it looks like the three of us are traveling south together." She picked up the fire ferret. "Ah. You're a girl. I guess Kai' would be a fine name for you. Do you want a name too?" The ostrich horse tilted its head before shaking its head. "Didn't think so."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Jing sat at the dining table skimming through her book while Yu finished making their dinner. "Is she ever going to wake up?"

Yu looked away from the stew towards his daughter. "She will when she's ready. We don't know what she has been through, but she definitely exhausted herself. Her body needs rest. She won't be at hundred percent when she wakes up either, after sleeping for so long she'll still feel drowsy."

The two looked at their porch door as they heard scratching noise against the wood. Yu slowly opened the door and looked down only to see something red run into the house. "Daddy! It's a fire ferret!" Jing exclaimed.

The fire ferret sniffed around the kitchen floor before running down the hallway and began sniffing the floor there until it was at the patient's door and it began scratching the door viciously.

"Daddy, do you think that fire ferret belongs to her?"

Sighing in defeat, Yu opened the door and the fire ferret bolted into the room until it was sitting on top of his patient's chest, licking her face. Slowly the patient began to stir. Jing ran into the room to see if the woman was indeed going to wake up.

She groaned and squeezed her eyes tightly before slowly opening her eyes. She kept feeling the licking on her cheeks as her vision came into focus. The blurry red finally shaped into the fire ferret. The woman smiled at the animal. "Hey, Kai."

Kai began chatting to her and rubber its face against her cheek. She smiled and scratched the back of the ferret's head. She looked around and saw Jing and Yu watching over her.

"Hi!" Jing said ecstatically.

The woman just nodded towards the young girl as she sat up. "Where am I?"

Yu stepped forward to answer her question. "You're at our home." He gestured towards himself and his daughter. "I'm the resident doctor and we've been looking after you for the past week while you've been asleep, Azula."

Her eyes widened in fear. "How… How do you know my name?"

Jing jumped up onto the foot of Azula's bed, "Because you told us when you kind of woke up a couple of days ago! So, you're Azula and your fire ferret is Kai. I'm Jing! My daddy's name is Yu. My mommy's name is-"

"Jing! What did I tell you about overwhelming my patient?" Yu interrupted his daughter.

"Oops. Sorry, daddy. Should I go check up on our dinner?"

"Yes, that would be nice, honey."

Azula watched as the little girl ran out of the room. "She's… a bundle of energy."

Yu chuckled as he pulled a chair up and sat down. "Yes, she is. Sometimes I think some of that energy comes from her mother's side of the family. If you don't mind I'd like to run some check ups since you're up now."

"Where is your wife? In the kitchen working on dinner?" Azula held her arm out for Yu.

"No." He pressed two fingers on the pulse of Azula's wrist as he turned over a minute glass. The two remained quiet as he counted each beat. "She's at a special training retreat with most of the other women of the village on Kyoshi Island."

The princess blinked and shook her head to make sure she heard her doctor correctly. "Kyoshi Island? How far are we from Kyoshi Island?"

He finished jotting down his notes before he began unwrapping the bandages on Azula's arm. "About an hour boat ride from the island. We're very close to Chin Village, but we need to avoid them since they… are a bit crazy."

"So… when will I be meeting your wife?"

Yu wrapped new bandages around her arm. Before leaning back on his chair. "In three weeks. The training is a month long. I'm going to go check on Jing and dinner. I'll have my daughter bring some of the stew in here for you to eat and something for your little friend too."

Azula nodded as she scratched the back of Kai's ears. She let out a deep breath. An hour away. An hour away from Kyoshi Island. An hour away from Ty Lee.