Chapter three of my Aang/Onji fanfic.
I do not own "Avatar: The Last Airbender," nor do I own the characters. This is just a fanfic.
The loud clang of the school bell echoed through the corridors and classrooms, heralding the end of that morning's classes. Almost immediately, doors slid across, and the red-and-black clad students poured out onto the main courtyard, the air alive with the buzz of a thousand chattering voices.
Onji followed Kuzon out of class, being sure to keep her eyes on his headband as he disappeared into the crowd. Finally, he stopped in the corner of the courtyard, talking to Shoji, another one of their classmates.
Onji gulped before waving. "Hey…hey Kuzon!" she called out to him. But as she walked over, her shoulder collided forcefully with that of another girl.
"Hey! Watch it!" the girl snapped, her gold eyes glaring at Onji.
"I-I'm sorry, Kiya," Onji said quickly, shifting her eyes away from the girl's sharp face.
"Next time, you will be," Kiya responded threateningly before stalking off into the crowd.
Onji gulped at the threat, and turned to see Shoji and Kuzon walking towards her.
"Who was that?" Kuzon asked curiously.
"Kiya," Shoji replied darkly. "If you thought Hide was tough, you should definitely keep clear of her. She's one of the school's best Firebenders." He chuckled. "That's how she got the nickname Agni Kiya."
Kuzon looked him, raising an eyebrow in confusion. "Why's she called that?" he asked.
Onji and Shoji just looked at him. "Come on, Kuzon," Shoji said. "You do know what an Agni Kai is, don't you?"
Kuzon just blinked. Shoji sighed.
"Agni Kai? Fire dueling? Ringing any bells?"
"Er, not really," Kuzon said, scratching the back of his head nervously. "My colony was pretty…uh…rural. None of us really knew all that much about, er, mainland customs."
Onji giggled. This was one of the reasons she liked Kuzon. He was a great guy, but not so perfect that he overshadowed everyone. He had his flaws, just like anyone else, and he wasn't afraid to admit it.
Shoji looked between Kuzon and Onji, and smiled. "Well then," he said. "I, uh, better get going. See you later." And as he walked off, he gave Onji a wink from behind Kuzon's back.
Onji felt herself blushing again as the two of them were left alone.
After a few moments of painful silence, Onji decided to speak. "So…what colony did you come from, then?" she asked. If she wanted to find out more about Kuzon, now was the time to do it.
"Uh…the…Chen-Fey colony," he answered unsurely. "In…the western Earth Kingdom."
"The west?" Onji repeated. "So not too far from here then."
"Er, guess not," Kuzon said.
The two started walking through the crowd of school children.
"Well…what about parents?" she asked.
Kuzon shrugged. "I never knew them," he said. "They…they died not long after I was born. My colony raised me."
"Really?" said Onji. "Because I heard that you – and your parents – had a meeting with the headmaster the other day."
"Oh! That," Kuzon said, turning red. "You wanna know the truth?"
She nodded.
"Well…those were just two friends of mine pretending to be my parents."
Onji laughed. "Seriously?" she asked.
"Yeah," Kuzon said, chuckling. "My 'dad' was just a fifteen-year-old wearing a fake beard."
Onji just laughed harder. "Really? What about your mother?"
Kuzon snickered. "Let's just say I'm not sure if she would be my mother or my aunt, if you catch my drift."
The girl's eyes widened. "They were siblings?"
Kuzon nodded. "Yup. In fact, she was the girl I was dancing with last night, remember?"
Onji's smile faded. "Oh…yeah," she said. She had forgotten about her, the dark-skinned girl. How close was she to Kuzon? Onji guessed at pretty close, if she had been willing to disguise herself as Kuzon's mother in order to help him out.
But Onji was so lost in her own thoughts, she crashed into someone walking in the opposite direction, and fell painfully onto the stone ground.
"Sorry!" she said quickly. "I-I wasn't looking where I was…" She looked up and gulped.
She had bumped into Kiya again. The girl looked down at Onji angrily.
"I warned you…"
Onji scrambled to her feet as a flame leapt into life in Kiya's hand. "No! Please, it was an accident!" she begged.
But before Kiya could take another step, Kuzon stood between them.
"Move it, kid," she said warningly.
"She said she was sorry," Kuzon said firmly. "Just leave her alone."
"Get out of my way…"
But as Kiya made to walk around Kuzon, he stepped swiftly to the left, blocking her path again. The Firebender sniggered. "What's this, Onji?" she said teasingly to the frightened girl. "A new boyfriend? Didn't take long, did you?"
Onji turned bright red at the comment.
"So what, kid?" Kiya said, turning her attention back to Kuzon. "You want to fight for her?" The flame in her hand roared with greater ferocity. "Fine by ME!" As she reached up, ready to bring the flames crashing down on Kuzon, he leapt straight over her head, landing nimbly behind her as the attack struck the ground harmlessly.
By this time, the other children realized what was going on and had formed a crowd around the scene.
"What's the matter?" Kiya taunted as she and Kuzon circled one another. "Scared of a little Agni Kai?"
Kuzon's face turned white, and he hung his head slightly. "I-I can't," he said.
"Can't fight, or won't fight?" Kiya said.
"No, I really can't," Kuzon said. "I…I can't firebend."
There were various murmurings and gasps from the surrounding crowd. Kiya just laughed.
"Seriously?" she said. "You're a non-bender? Well, this should make things easier…"
"Not quite," Onji said, loud enough for Kiya to hear. She placed a hand on Kuzon's shoulder to pull him back, and stepped forward. "If you want to fight a Firebender…fight me. I'm the one you want."
This was met with further surprised gasps from the crowd.
"Wait…you can firebend?" Kuzon asked quietly.
"A…a little," Onji replied. "I know a few basic moves…"
"Onji, please," Kuzon said, sounding concerned. "You don't have to do this."
"I know," said Onji, looking back towards Kiya. "But I want to." Now was her chance to prove herself, to prove how far she would go to help Kuzon.
Kuzon stepped reluctantly back into the crowd, and Onji assumed a firebending stance. As Kiya smirked, she felt both determined and terrified at the same time.
"Then let's begin," Kiya said. Without a moment's hesitation, she leapt forwards and sent a stream of blazing fire towards her scared opponent. Onji panicked and jumped out of the way, bruising her hip and grazing her elbow as she hit the ground.
She scrabbled to her feet only to see another fierce attack roaring towards her. In a sudden wave of terror, she performed a quick, rigid movement with her arms, screwing up her eyes as the flames streamed only inches past her face, barely managing to divert them.
Taking advantage of Kiya's momentary hesitation, Onji punched the air twice, sending two feeble balls of fire towards her opponent. She expected Kiya would block them both easily, and was not disappointed. A single sweep of her arms extinguished the flames instantly.
"Pathetic," Kiya said cruelly. "Truly pathetic."
Onji kept jumping and rolling away from the barrage of flames sent her way, only just managing to keep ahead of Kiya's attacks. She had never learned to block firebending attacks, only divert them. And even then, she could only do so on the feebler attacks sent her way.
Onji cried out as a flame licked past her shoulder, setting it alight for a moment before she managed to quickly pat it out with her other hand. Thankfully it didn't burn her skin, only singed her school uniform slightly.
Both scared and exhausted, Onji was running out of ideas. She looked from Kiya to Kuzon, who was standing at the front of the crowd. He caught her eye and started making unusual swinging movements with his arms, stepping softly from left to right.
Why's he dancing? Onji thought, recognizing the Ba-Sing-Se ballroom dance Kuzon had taught her the night before. Is now really the time? But she saw the serious look on his face and in his eyes, as if this particular dance was somehow important to her fight.
Onji looked back at Kiya just as she leapt forward to attack again, flames roaring in her hands. Time itself seemed to slow down as a flaming fist headed for her face.
Onji was panicking, her mind racing furiously. So, in a last, desperate attempt, she did the first thing that came to her mind…
She danced.
She stepped to the right, swinging her right arm up as she did so. And sure enough, her wrist collided with Kiya's with enough force to deflect the attack.
The Firebender was momentarily surprised, but that didn't stop her from attempting another punch. Without missing a beat, Onji stepped to the left, letting her right arm swing back down as her left one was raised, once again redirecting the vicious attack.
The crowd started cheering, making Kiya all the more enraged. She aimed a blow at Onji's stomach, but she stepped smartly to the right, moving sharply around her attacker with the 'Camelephant Strut,' another dance Kuzon had demonstrated the night before.
With a terrible roar, Kiya spun around, sending a blazing arc of fire towards Onji. Instinctively, Onji leapt into the air. The whole world seemed to spin past her as she somersaulted backwards. Such a thrilling sensation came over her. The wind blowing through her hair, the sun arcing past her. She felt…wonderful. And as the ground came back into view, Onji braced herself…and with a sharp tap, landed perfectly on one foot.
The crowd erupted into cheers and applause. Even Kiya looked like she had just been struck dumb.
Onji smiled, spotting her opponent's obvious opening. She jumped forward, her fist raised and ready to strike…
But she had been careless. In a sudden blur, Kiya's hand clapped firmly around Onji's fist. Onji gasped, and then screamed in pain as a searing heat was forced into her hand. Kiya then threw her forcefully to the ground, clearly not caring about Onji's burnt, reddened hand.
Onji tried to soften the stinging pain with her good hand as she looked up at her opponent. Kiya raised her flaming fist, ready to deal the final blow upon her. Onji screwed her eyes shut and braced herself for the flames.
But she heard the crowd suddenly gasp, and the fierce whoosh of fire could be heard to her left. Then all went silent, save for a few near-silent murmurings in the crowd.
Slowly, Onji opened her eyes.
Kuzon stood before her, his hand clamped tightly around Kiya's wrist, holding it away from the fallen girl. A smoking black scorch mark had scarred the stone ground beside Onji, marking where the flames had missed their target.
"Enough!" Kuzon said dangerously. "You've made your point, Kiya, now leave her be!"
The Firebender turned her sharp gaze from Kuzon to Onji. She yanked her hand away from Kuzon's grasp.
"Fine!" she spat. "This fight is over anyway." She turned sharply on her heel and walked off into the crowd, shoving the astounded spectators out of her path.
Kuzon sighed. "It's okay, Onji," he said. "Come on…"
But as he turned around, Onji was already running away from the scene of the Agni Kai.
A few, speckled tear marks were the only sign that she had even been there.