Not much to say. Work just has me fucking exhausted. Covering for reception this week, so I'm doing two jobs and am just swamped. Because of that, I just don't have it in me to proofread this. Bad me, I know . Mistakes are my fault.
After another day of riding, the four travellers finally arrived in the Fire Nation Capital City. They entered the smaller harbour town that was nearly overshadowed by the enormous volcanic crater above that housed the Royal City.
"So, where's this family of yours live?" Rai asked as they casually strolled into town.
"Hang on, I've got the address here somewhere," Takumi said, rummaging through his pockets and pulling out a folded piece of paper. He quickly ran over to one of the locals and inquired about the address. "He says it's just a few blocks north of the main square up ahead."
"You've never been to your own family's home?" Hiro asked.
"Travel is expensive and my mom and I weren't exactly swimming in money," Takumi remarked. They followed the local man's directions until Takumi found the matching house number. He stepped up to the door and hesitantly knocked on the door.
After a few seconds, a man with dark hair and yellow eyes like Takumi's answered. "Yes?" he asked, holding the door open half-way.
"Um, hi, are you Kou?" Takumi asked timidly.
"Yes, I am. And what's this abou- Wait a minute," the man, Kou, stopped. He opened the door the rest of the way and stepped forward, putting his face close to Takumi's, causing the boy to instinctively take a step back. "Takumi?"
"Y-yes," Takumi squeaked.
Suddenly, the man smiled widely and laughed loudly, taking Takumi into his arms and easily lifting the small boy up into the air while Takumi's friends exchanged confused looks. "I haven't seen you since you were this big!" Kou bellowed happily, setting Takumi down and gesturing about the size of a baby with his hands. "Aika, get out here! You'll never guess who's here!" At his call, a woman appeared in the doorway. "It's my sister's kid, Takumi!"
"Oh my goodness, look at how much you've grown! I can't even remember the last time we saw you!" the exclaimed, taking Takumi's face in her hands and examining him. "Oh and these are your friends?" she asked, noticing the others standing there just watching. "Please, please, come in, come in," she said, ushering everyone inside.
Everyone sat in their small living room around a coffee table as Aika brought in a tray of cookies and tea. "I'm sorry that you had to be on your own for when your mother died," Kou said sadly, gently patting Takumi's shoulder. "But hell, my sister loved you more than anything. I'm surprised she didn't ask me to help her with some of her bills, but well, we're not exactly dripping in spare funds here." Kou and Aika's house was rather big, but the interior was quite empty, as if piece of furniture and decorations had been removed and possibly sold.
"Yeah, mom was always a little too proud to ask someone else for help. She never wanted to be a burden to anyone. Almost reminds me of someone else I know," Takumi said, glancing at Rai.
"Well, you're welcome to stay here with us, Takumi. I'm sure it's what your mother would have wanted," Kou said with a smile. Takumi glanced at his friends and focused in on Rai. He knew from the beginning that this was supposed to be the end point: Rai escorting him to his family in the Fire Nation and then they'd part ways. But… now that they were finally here after everything they had to go through, he didn't want to leave them behind. "That is why you've come all this way, isn't it?" Kou pressed further as Takumi remained silent.
"Um…" Takumi hesitated to answer, looking to his friends. His eyes pleaded for something from them, but even he wasn't sure what it was he was looking to them for. What did he want them to say? That he had come here to live with them? Or that they had simply been passing through on their way to another destination?
"Yes, that is why we've come here," Rai finally spoke up, causing Hiro, Sati and especially Takumi to quickly glance over at her in shock.
"Rai…" Takumi whispered.
"I offered to escort Takumi here from Republic City. I figured a scrawny little kid like him wouldn't last a day on the road on his own."
"And will the three of you be staying in town as well?" Aika asked.
"No, we'll be on our way," Rai replied, standing up, followed quickly by Hiro and Sati.
"Aren't you going to at least say goodbye?" Sati asked.
Rai stopped just in front of the door at Sati's question and turned to face Takumi. She walked over to him and stood just one step away from him. Takumi looked up at her with those big hopeful eyes of his, as if begging her not to leave. However, all Rai muttered was, "Goodbye, Takumi." With that, Rai disappeared out the door, followed closely by Hiro, who said nothing. Sati lingered in front of the doorway, giving Takumi a sad look. He didn't see this however, as he was hanging his head sadly. Seeing this, Sati walked over to him and lifted his chin with her hand.
"I'm sure we'll visit," Sati said with a reassuring smile before wrapping Takumi in a tight bearhug.
Takumi returned the hug as tightly as he could and when they pulled away, he asked with a smile, "Take care of Rai, will you?"
"Of course," she smiled. "You take care of yourself, ok, Takumi?"
"I will." Before parting, Sati placed a gentle kiss on Takumi's forehead before following Rai and Hiro out the door.
Outside, Sati raced on an air scooter to catch up to Rai and Hiro, who continued strolling away from Takumi's aunt and uncle's house. "You're really not just going to leave him, are you?" Sati exclaimed, landing right in front of Rai and cutting off her path.
Rai stared at the airbender with her usual angry glare and replied nonchalantly, "What's it to you?"
"Look, I know you're still mad at me for trusting a complete stranger earlier, but… after everything you've been through with Takumi, that's the goodbye you give him?"
"Takumi knew from the very start how this was going to end before you ever joined up with us. If you're having such a hard time saying goodbye, maybe you should just stay here too," Rai said, attempting to push past Sati, who merely moved in her path again. "What?" Rai shouted this time, her patience wearing thin.
"You need to confront your feelings, Rai. You can't just bottle everything up or it'll just explode!"
"She doesn't have to do anything!" Hiro interjected.
"Oh, I'll get to you and your bottled up emotions in a second!" Sati assured him, confidently standing her ground. "I know you care about Takumi and there's no way that you'd just say goodbye like that and disappear from his life forever."
"Yes, I care about Takumi," Rai admitted. "Which is why leaving him here is the best thing for him."
"What? Why?"
"I lead a dangerous life and he's walked the line between life and death enough times. He's safer if he stays here."
Rai pushed past Sati, followed by Hiro, leaving Sati standing there, defeated. "But… safer doesn't mean happier. Can't we just… stay a few days? To make sure Takumi adjusts well before we leave for good?" Sati pleaded, running up to Rai again.
"Well, we do need to restock on supplies," Hiro mentioned.
"Yes! Yes, we need to restock! And Daisy is awfully tired from all that flying. I think all of our animal friends could use a nice day of rest!"
Rai rolled her eyes and sighed before firmly saying, "Fine, we'll stay the night. But we leave tomorrow."
That evening as Rai and Sati went through the market to replenish their food stocks, the airbender kept trying to get Rai to open up her feelings more, but as usual was met with a brick wall that was determined not to budge an inch. Hiro, meanwhile, stood outside a blacksmith, waiting for his broadswords to be sharpened. Suddenly, Hiro noticed Kou standing just outside the entrance to an alleyway. He was about to call over to the man, but then noticed Kou looking back and forth, as if checking to see that he wasn't followed. Hiro instinctively hid behind a pile of crates and watched as Kou hastily entered the alley. Hiro cocked his eyebrow in suspicion. He had tailed enough thugs and creeps enough to know when someone was up to something no good. And for a man who was recently reunited with his nephew, Kou looked exceptionally troubled.
"Here you go, all nice and sharp." Hiro was pulled from his thoughts as the blacksmith handed him back his sheathed broadswords. Taking his blades, Hiro stealthy entered the alley and spotted Kou disappear into a back entrance. Hiro slowly crept up to the door and peeked into the room through a window that was slightly cracked open. He managed to see Kou inside with another person, but couldn't get a good view through the tiny crack and he didn't want to push the window open further and risk alerting them to his presence.
"He showed up today, just like you said he would," Hiro heard Kou say, his speech littered with nervous stammers.
The hidden man handed Kou a paper. "Good, at sundown, bring him to this location at sundown and you'll get your money. You have an hour until sundown, so I suggest you hurry." Hiro quickly ducked into a hidden nook in the alley just in time to avoid Kou, who dashed out the building and back into the alley.
Once he was sure the coast was clear, Hiro emerged from his hiding spot. "He was definitely talking about Takumi… What is he planning?" When he exited the alley, he looked at the clock in a nearby plaza. An hour wasn't a lot of time to figure out what was going on, but it certainly was enough time to make sure Takumi's so-called family had no ill intentions with him. He looked around and saw Rai and Sati nowhere near him and decided to proceed without them. An hour wasn't as big of a window of time as one might think and he didn't want to risk missing Kou, Aika and Takumi when they left their house.
"Where are we going?" Takumi asked, as Kou and Aika shut the door to their house behind them.
"We thought it would be fun if we showed you around town a little more!" Aika said excitedly with a smile.
"Oh, ok, yeah I guess that would be fun," Takumi sighed as his eyes drooped sadly.
Noticing this, Aika set her hand gently on his shoulder. "I know it must hurt to say goodbye to your friends, but I think you'll be really happy here, Takumi."
Even though her words did little to console him, he at least appreciated the gesture and smiled back at her. "Thanks… What's this place?" he asked as Aika and Kou led him into a small, enclosed garden.
"This is the Yat Sun park. Your mother and I used to come here a lot when we were kids. The signs say not to feed the animals, but we would always sneak in bread anyway," Kou whispered with a smile.
As they entered, Takumi gasped at the sight of the beautiful park. The large pond in the center had pink flower petals from the nearby cherry blossom trees floating on the surface. Flowers decorated the edges of the pathway, at the end of which stood a large, decorative red and gold pavilion. "Wow," he whispered in awe as he made his way to the pavilion to get a better look at the whole pond and the rest of the park. Aika and Kou slowly followed as they looked around suspiciously, noticing two black suited men ushering other park-goers off the premises. Takumi turned around and just noticed the odd behaviour. "What's going on?" he asked.
Suddenly, Aika and Kou's expression shifted to sadness and guilt as Aika whispered, "I'm so sorry, Takumi, but we wouldn't be doing this if we weren't desperate."
Takumi turned his head when he heard footsteps coming from the path to their right as a tall, bearded man in a suit with his hair combed back stepped out. Takumi let out a faint, shocked gasp from between his lips as he instinctively took a step back. "Dad…" he said.
His father, Peng, said nothing. Instead, he turned to Aika and Kou and handed them a suitcase. The couple opened the suitcase and gasped in amazement at the sight of the large number of bills inside. "For your troubles," he said simply, before turning to finally address Takumi, "Hello Takumi."
"You're not even going to acknowledge me as your son?" Takumi cried, glaring angrily at the man who was his father.
"You've become quite a thorn in my side, do you know that?" Peng asked, maintaining a straight and intimidating posture as he spoke.
"Thorn in your side? All I ever wanted to be was your son! And you send thugs and assassins to kill me!"
"Wait, you did what?" Kou cried in shock.
"This doesn't concern you. Leave!" Peng ordered.
"Y-you told us you were trying to contact and meet with him after my sister died. Why would you try to have your own son killed?" Kou asked.
"Because if word got out that I had a bastard son, my marriage and my political career would be ruined. I can't have that happening." At the snap of his fingers, the two suited men who emptied the park earlier appeared at Peng's side. One of them advanced on Takumi and roughly seized him by the arm.
"Hey!" Takumi shouted, instinctively fighting back and trying to pull his arm free, but to no avail.
"What are you going to do with him?" Aika cried, stepping forward, but the other suited man stood in her way.
"That's none of your concern. Escort them from the premises; they have no further business here." Peng waved his hand as his henchman easily dragged Aika and Kou away towards the park entrance. "This time, I'm going to make sure that you don't get in my way," Peng whispered darkly, towering over Takumi as he spoke.
Suddenly, Peng was swiftly kicked right in his face as Hiro swung down from the top of the pavilion. Peng fell back onto the ground, clutching his bleeding nose. Before the henchman holding Takumi could react, Hiro grabbed his wrist, freeing Takumi from his hold and spun the man around and pushed him on the railing of the pavilion while pinning his arm to his back.
"H-Hiro?" Takumi cried in shock. "What are you doing here?"
"Saving your ass, that's what," he replied, lifting the pinned henchman over the railing and plummeting into the pond below. Just then, the second henchman appeared behind Hiro and wrapped both his arms around the young swordsman's neck. Hiro quickly reacted and lifted his legs up, running them up one of the pavilion pillars so that he jumped over the henchmen and landed behind him. Hiro delivered a swift kick to his lower back, sending him over the railing as well to land in the pond with his comrade. With them out of the way, Hiro turned to their boss, who still clutched his bleeding face. Hiro rolled his eyes and scoffed. This was clearly a man who had never been punched in the face before. In a single stroke, he drew his broadswords and held them across Peng's throat in an X formation while pinning the frightened man to the ground. If the swords were any closer to Peng's skin, the sharp blades would surely slice his flesh open or threaten to decapitate him in one swift movement. "I could kill you for this. It'd remove many a problem and make my life a hell of a lot easier…" Hiro said, truly entertaining the idea as Peng stared up at him with wide, fearful eyes. "But I won't. If you think this kid is any threat to you," he said, gesturing over to Takumi with a nod of his head, "then you're a bigger idiot than even I can give you credit for. He has no political pull or any evidence in his favour and what he has is circumstantial, at best. Listen to me carefully now because I will only say this once: you need to stop this now. Stay out of his life," Hiro said in a serious tone, glancing at Takumi as he spoke, "and he'll stay out of yours." Hiro pulled away from Peng and sheathed his swords. He took a few steps back and just as Peng pushed himself off the wall to step forward and open his mouth to protest Hiro's words, the swordsman jumped up and spun around, delivering a swift kick to Peng's jaw and knocking the man unconscious. Hiro then turned to address Takumi's aunt and uncle, who continued to cower off to the side, staring at the long-haired boy with wide, shocked eyes. "And you two...You disgust me. No one would miss a pair of worthless lowlifes like you," he said, reaching for his swords, prompting the terrified couple to yelp in fear and cling to each other tightly. "But it's not my place to decide your fate. Hiro lowered his arm and looked at Takumi. "What say you, Takumi? You saw how much family means to them. Should I let them live? Do they deserve their worthless lives?
"No! Don't kill them!" Takumi interjected, coming between Hiro and his aunt and uncle.
"So quick to defend those who betrayed you, sold you out for money…"
"We didn't know what Peng was going to do to him, we swear!" Kou exclaimed fearfully as he and his wife clung to each other tightly.
"And your ignorance makes it ok?" Hiro snapped before turning back to Takumi. "Give me a good reason why I shouldn't just kill them now. Would you honestly miss an aunt and uncle who so quickly sold you out for money?"
"Maybe they do deserve it, but…" Takumi started, turning his head to look at his so-called family with sad eyes. "It's not my place to decide, it's not anyone's place."
Hiro stood there, silently taking in Takumi's answer before finally speaking. "This once," he said, holding up his index finger, "I will abide by your wishes. But I know there is more to it that it simply 'not being your place'. Takumi began to speak, but Hiro stopped him. "Don't explain it to me," Hiro pointed at Takumi's family, "Explain it to them. Make sure they know why they get to walk away from this."
Takumi hesitantly turned to face his aunt and uncle, the very same couple that had just recently welcomed him into their home only to sell him out to his death. "P-please don't kill us Takumi. We needed the money!" Kou begged desperately.
"I swear, we only thought he wanted to meet with you! We didn't know what he really wanted to do with you!" Aika pleaded next.
With a dry throat and voice devoid of emotion. "I believe you, I believe that you thought no harm would come to me but family are supposed to be the people you can count on; you don't sell out family, you don't betray family. You're not worth the effort to hate or want dead. I've...I've never wished death upon anyone, and I'm not about to start now." Takumi then turned to address his still unconscious father. "How could I ever be a threat to your position? You're not my family any more, none of you are. Let's go, Hiro." Takumi turned around and stormed away, barely holding in his pain.
Hiro lingered for a moment to give the couple a vicious glare. "When the oaf wakes up, tell him that if he comes after us again, I won't stay my hand so easily." As he caught up to Takumi, Hiro spoke, "We'll swing by their place and pick up your things and Kiwi," Hiro said.
"Y-you mean I'm going back with you guys?" he asked, surprised.
"Well, where else are you going to?" Hiro remarked.
With a relieved sigh and smile on his face, Takumi muttered, "Thanks."
"Don't mention it, kid," Hiro replied nonchalantly.
"Don't mention it?! You saved my life back there, even when you didn't have to. You could have just left me and move on with Rai and Sati, but you didn't. I should be nothing but grateful, and I am! But…"
"But what?" Hiro pushed.
"I thought you didn't like me."
"I don't. You have an unbearably naive of a view of the world that makes you too gullible and trusting. You think that everyone's problems would be solved if we were all just nice to each other. I swear if you didn't have the most uncanny luck out of anyone I've known, I bet you would have gotten yourself killed a long time ago." Takumi was about to open his mouth and protest Hiro's claim, but quickly recalled all the times his life had almost met its end were it not for someone's timely intervention. "As the Blue Spirit, I always strived to be a guardian of the innocent. What kind of a guardian would I be if I didn't act when an innocent life was in danger? Just because I don't like you doesn't mean I should just turn my back on you."
"I… I guess you have a point there." Takumi sighed. "Look, I'm-"
"Don't." Hiro cut the boy off. "No apologies. I don't do those very well. Best to just sweep it under the rug and move on. You don't apologize to me and keep your foolish morals in that head of yours," he lightly poked Takumi's forehead through his headband as he spoke, "and I'll make sure you live to spread those morals of yours to those that care to listen. Deal?" Hiro asked, extending out his hand.
Takumi chuckled briefly before shaking Hiro's hand, "Fine, you have a deal, Hiro." After retrieving his belongings and Kiwi from his aunt and uncle's home, the two boys headed back to the small inn at the edge of town they had been staying at. When the pair entered the large room they had rented out for the night, Sati quickly stood up at the sight of Takumi.
"You're back!" she exclaimed, rushing up to him and lifting him up into a tight hug. "What happened? Aren't you staying with your aunt and uncle from now on?"
"It turns out they weren't exactly the most trustworthy of people," Hiro explained. "His father was waiting there for him."
"Your father?" Rai suddenly sat up and marched over to the two boys. "What happened?"
"I took care of the problem," Hiro replied.
"You did scare him real good. I don't think my dad should be bothering us again any time soon," Takumi chuckled. He looked up at Rai, waiting for her to say something about him being back. However, all she did was pat him on the head and return to what she was doing before.
Next chapter - Fall: Team Avatar busts a slave ring and frees their captives. But Rai is shocked when she comes face to face with their leader, Ryota.