*Azula*
"HOW?" Azula demanded. "HOW IS SHE STILL ALIVE?"
"I do-do not kn-know princess." The guard stumbled over his own words.
"Take me to her!" She commanded. Huh. I said the same thing this morning, when I was off to kill her, and now I'm saying it again, to see if she's alive. Go figure. The guard grunted a quick agreement, and started to quickly lead her out of her room, along the ship's many floors, and up the stairs, onto the open deck. The massive ship was still docked, by the shore, of the island, waiting for the return of the soldiers sent to bury the enemy's body. Now a burial was no longer immediately required if the guard's tale was true. The guard, and the princess, got off the ship, and started walked the beach, until they came across the river that emptied into the ocean. They began to walk along the Mizuki river. An hour later, Azula, and the guard, were at the site, of the battle, that had taken place only hours ago. Remains, of the brutal fight still were present, Azula noted the scorch marks on the earth, and the broken wall, made by the powerful young bender, she had fought. Azula noticed something she hadn't noticed before. A pool of blood, where her victim's body had laid. As she stared at the red liquid, she as if in a trance, couldn't help but move closer, to the puddle of blood. Slowly she approached the pool, until she was right in front of it. Hypnotized by the blood of her enemy, she cautiously kneeled down beside it, and dabbled her fingers into the sticky red substance. She brought her hand back up, and to her face, she looked at the thin coating of blood dripping down her fingers. She then proceeded to stand up, and continue fallowing the soldier. The guard, had been looking at her, like she was stark, raving, crazy, the entire time, but didn't have the nerve, to say anything. The twosome continued their journey, in silence, as they turned into the woods and delved deeper and deeper, into the trees, and pre-dawn darkness. They'd been traveling for another half hour, when Azula started to hear, the chatter, of the fire-nation troops. They quickened their paces, at the sound, and within five minutes they were upon them. A group of five, sitting around a crudely dug, burial hole, talking loudly to one and other. Funny. I could have sworn I sent six of them. Azula thought, as she came closer. Even when she was only two feet away, the group still didn't notice her, and she was forced to clear her throat. Everyone jumped to attention the moment they became aware of her. Azula made a swift analysis of the area around the troops, and didn't see the earthbender. "Where is the girl?" She inquired in a firm tone. One of the soldiers, pointes to the west and said, "Ji took her over there, stupid kid won't leave her alone." Azula started marching off in the direction the man pointed, directing her escort to stay put. About ten yards deeper into the woods, she came across them. The girl, had been placed on a soft grassy area, she lay with her eyes closed, and perfectly still. This girl can't possibly be alive. Azula thought as she drew nearer, and noticed a boy. He only looked to be about twelve years of age, which didn't really surprise Azula, the army took anyone, no matter the age, he had green eyes, and shoulder length brown hair, thin pink lips, and was average in height. The boy stared at the girl, with a sad look in his eyes. He must be Ji. Azula noted. She approached quickly; Ji looked up at the sound of her footsteps. Unlike most soldiers he didn't immediately stand at attention and salute her, but went right back to staring sadly at the girl. When she was a couple feet away Azula asked. "Are you the soldier Ji?" She said it in a surprisingly quite voice. Azula was normally a very loud, demanding person, but for some reason she just felt like now was a time to be quite. Ji's eyes never left the girl, as he nodded a yes. Azula walked forward several steps more, and set down on the bare ground, only two feet away from the young soldier. Ji finally turned to the princess. "She's alive." He said gruffly and turned back to the girl. Azula looked at the girl too, and was captivated by the look on the girl's face. Her expression was totally at peace. Azula's mind wandered back to the subject of how you look when you die, only this time she thought, Is this what I'll look like when I'm dead? Could I ever look that peaceful? She had no answer. Azula suddenly wondered What was she thinking about when she died? She was snapped back to reality, when she heard a locust chirping in the trees. "This girl is dead, look at her she's not even breathing! How can you possibly be so stupid that you think she's alive?" Azula exclaimed to Ji. Wordlessly the boy grabbed her hand, and brought it to the girl's wrist, where the veins were closest to the surface. At first Azula tried to pull away, but Ji's hand firmly kept her from moving her hand. Then Azula felt it. A dull, far away beating. A pulse. Her mouth dropped open in shock. The girl was still among the living. But how? Azula had brought her down, herself, yet here the girl was, her heart still stubbornly continuing to beat. It was impossible. Azula immediately looked to the girl's chest, and she witnessed with her own eyes, that the girl wasn't quite as still as she seemed. Her torso, weakly rose and fell. The girl was just barely breathing.
"She is alive." Ji finally spoke, repeating his earlier words. He let Azula's hand go then, and she quickly removed it. "What the hell happened? How in the name of god did you find this out?" Azula yelled in shock, at the young man. Ji shrugged, not taking his sad eyes off the girl. 'You ordered us to bury this girl. Two of them carried her. I wasn't one of them. We kept walking, until we got here. We dug a deep hole. I was the one that was supposed to put her in. I was just about to when, I felt it. Her pulse. I knew she was still alive, so I immediately put her on the ground, outside the hole, and shouted that she was still alive, and that we can't bury her because then she'll really die. 'So?' they said. And I said, 'So we can't bury her!' they said, 'Why not? She's supposed to be dead anyway. The princess wants her dead. Go ahead and bury her.' But I said 'No.' and they threatened me. Saying it would be treason if I didn't do it. But I still said 'No.' They said they'd send a messenger hawk to the fire nation capital right now, to report it, and I broke. I said 'Fine, but lets at least ask the princess what she wants us to do first.' They all groaned, and protested, but let me send a messenger, to you. At first the girl and I both stayed with the others but… I don't know. I guess I just thought… I got the vibe that… I just felt like… like if she knew where she was, she wouldn't like it one bit. Like she wouldn't have liked, being around them. So I brought her out her. And then you showed up. The end." Ji sighed as the story came to a close. He brought his hand up, and started a blue flame. It was a very advanced move, for someone his age. Azula didn't get why he was doing it, until he brought the flame to the girl's throat. "JI! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? ARE YOU CRAZY?" Azula burst, as she slapped his hand away from her neck. Ji looked at her with confusion. "You don't want me to kill her?" He asked a thin trace of hope in his voice. "What were you thinking? You go through all that, to keep her from being buried alive, just to kill her yourself? You're insane!" Not answering his question. "You do not want her dead?" Ji repeated his question. Azula stopped. Do I want her dead? A blank look crossed her face. Of course she wanted her dead. She was the enemy! A direct ally to the freakin' avatar! Yet… even though Azula wanted to say, so much, that she wanted her slaughtered right now, she couldn't bring herself to say the words. You've killed a million times before Azula, why should this be any different? She asked herself. The difference was those times were different, in her eyes; she had been killing for the good of the fire nation, killing her enemies. But standing there looking at this girl, she couldn't bring herself to think of her, as what she was, the enemy, right now she was just looking at an innocent girl, with raven hair, and earth kingdom cloths. "I don't know." She whispered to Ji, answering his question. "I just don't know. I… I need time to think about this!" She said in an almost hysterical voice. Azula had never been this confused. "Take all the time you need princess, Neither of us are going anywhere. Just go back to the ship, think it over, and come back…" Ji tried to calm her. Azula decided to take him up on his suggestion, and started to run, away from the girl she thought she'd killed, and the soldier boy. "Princess!" Ji called. Azula stopped running, and spun around to face the boy. "Just one more thing… If you come back and… and you know. I might not be able, to… abide… by your orders. I'm sorry I just don't think I could kill her. When I tried to earlier, well… I was trying to fallow orders, but in the end, I know I wouldn't go through with it." After Ji finished Azula walked on. His comment was treacherous, but who was she to judge him? Right now she was thinking some pretty disloyal thoughts too. How could she punish him for what she's also doing? She kept walking until she came back to where the other men we're standing. Her escort tried to fallow her back the ship but Azula, ordered him not too. She wanted time alone. The guard did as he was told, and Azula left him behind. She continued to walk down the river the way she came, and this time didn't pause, when she came across the battle site. She actually was in a real hurry to get away from there. She kept walking, and walking, retracing the route from earlier. It was dawn by the time that she reached the ship, and by the time she boarded almost everyone was on the top deck, doing this or that. The moment Azula boarded, all the soldiers saluted her. She didn't acknowledge them at all; she walked right past them, and went down the stairs, and across the halls, until she reached her room. She hadn't locked the door she had been in such a hurry to leave, the night before, and the door swing right open, when she twisted the knob. Azula locked it from the inside this time; she didn't want to be disturbed. She needed desperately time to think. She walked into her room, and despite what she wanted to be thinking about, another thing caught her interest. The red on her walls. The color took her back through the years, and she realized that no matter where she was, or how old, she had always had the same shade of red walls. Why? She thought. My favorite color is blue. How in the word did I end up with red walls? Maybe it was just because she'd never noticed it before, she'd grown up with red walls, maybe it just had never occurred to her that she could paint her walls any other color. It had always seemed so natural to have red walls, for Azula that she'd never noticed their color before. Azula walked to the back of the room, and with her pale porcelain like fingers and caressed the crimson wall. Then she was captivated by another shade of red. A darker richer shade. The dried blood on her hands. The girl's blood. The one that was now lying almost dead, unconscious, with a twelve year old soldier. Azula stared at the blood with wide eyes. Her victim's blood was both metaphorically and literally on her hands. The blood brought Azula back to the awareness of the decision she had to make. She sighed, and went over to the soft bed, plopping down on it in exasperation. She continued to gaze at the enemy's blood. She thought of the girl's face, sweet, and innocent in peaceful sleep. It was impossible to think of anyone as the enemy when they looked like that. Like someone who had never seen trauma or war, like someone that was truly happy. You can't think of someone that looks like that, being someone who deserves to be slaughtered. But does she deserve to die? Azula thought. She was the enemy. One of the weak, spineless people that it was her country's duty to red the world of. But it was just a girl. A kid. Does a kid deserve to die? She asked herself. Ji's face popped into her mind Does a kid deserve to go to war? Then her brother's face came into her mind, in her mind's eye Azula saw her father burning his eye Does a kid deserve that? Finally her own crying face came to her as she watched herself being burned by her father. Does a kid deserve that? Then her mind went back to the girl's face. Why did these horrible things happen to kids? My burns, Zuko's scars, Ji's hard life that was designed for a man, much older than him? All we were doing was trying to find our places in this damn world, and these horrible things happened to us. The girl must have been just doing the same, finding her place, that just so happened to be with the Avatar. Was that really her fault? It's just the hand she was dealt, and she's trying to make the best of it, just like the rest of us. Does she really deserve to die for doing what we all do? Why should a horrible thing befall her, for something that was just in her cards? Azula thought about the girl for hours, when she finally got up, went to her washroom and cleaned the girl's blood from her hands. She had made her decision.
Incase you haven't already guessed this Ji is going to be one of the major characters outside Toph and Azula, so remember him, btw his name is pronounced like the letter G. Thanks for all the reviews! Keep it up!