Book 1: Prodigy
Chapter 3–Agni Kai
When Shisui finally came to, he found himself bound against a wall with heavy, steel chains so tightly that none of his limbs could even reach halfway toward the other. Shisui panicked slightly before he realized where he was.
And more importantly why.
He felt like sighing and mumbled, "I just attacked the Fire Princess in broad daylight." He wasn't sure how he was going to get himself out of this one. It seemed he was always find some way to get himself in trouble these days.
The door to his room creaked open and Shisui looked up to find a guard, now glaring at him and looking at him as if he were dirt itself. Shisui shot him a glare in return.
The man didn't say a word, simply going to his restraints and taking them off the wall but not his body. When he caught Shisui glancing at the restraints he tugged them, showing how tough his grip was.
"Don't try anything." He warned. "I have orders to burn you away if you do."
Shisui, to his credit, didn't react outwardly, something most people in general wouldn't have able to do in his situation. "Where are you taking me?" Being pulled along like some kind of animal was something Shisui felt he couldn't tolerate for too long.
"Why the hell should I tell you, brat?" He continued to pull Shisui along, but a bit more harsher now. "Just shut the hell up and keep walking."
Asshole. Shisui thought, the rattling on the chain and the force on his risk keeping his anger in check. He was sure at that moment he was a second away from retaliating and breaking out of his restraints. But he wasn't sure if he could escape from the man and escape wherever they were holding him.
He would rather be safe than sorry.
He scans his surroundings as he's pulled along harshly, taking in the metal walls and floors. He felt a bit weird being so close together and not having nearly as much as freedom to do much.
At times like this, he really wished he had the Body Flicker. It gave him a sort a freedom he couldn't describe.
Finally, he makes it to a large room, sort of looking like a thrown room with all the expensive looking decor. But he has no time to get a good look at the large thrown as he is forced down into a bow by the guard who also gets low to pay respect.
"Is this the boy?" A deep voice sends shivers down Shisui's spine and he would've looked up to see where it came from if not for the giant hand on the back of his head. "Azula?"
Small footsteps make their way into the room and Shisui, despite his nervousness, forces his eyes close to focus on the sound.
They stop in the middle of the room.
"Yes, Father." The voice sounded haughty, bold, and most of all really, really annoying. "This is the boy who attacked me back at the guard station."
Silence followed after that, and Shisui could admit that nervous sweat was dripping down his face and his face did that thing where it looked like he was kind of smirking.
He hated it when it did that.
That man broke the silence with booming authority. "Boy, you might not know but the act you committed was treason against the Fire Nation. Because of this you will be sentenced to death."
Now Shisui was fighting against that big hand holding him down. This was serious. He hoped to god this wasn't the Fire Lord he was currently speaking to and the man currently sentencing him to death. He desperately wanted to see him. He needed to know.
"Father, if I may speak." That female voice spoke up again. This time it was full of respect and just as strong. "I wish to propose an Agni Kai against him. A commoner has tried to disgrace me before my very own soldiers and for that, death isn't even much of a solution. If you abide it, I wish to fight this commoner."
Agni Kai. Agni Kai. Shisui heard those words before, spoken by his mother in her not so silent conversations with his father. She definitely used it. But... I don't know why I'm getting such a bad feeling from all this.
"That might prove entertaining." The Fire Lord agreed after a moments thought.
Shisui was immediately picked off the floor but still held down by the head as more guards came to take off the chains.
Chains off, Shisui grabbed his wrist and rolled them around, testing them. He gritted his teeth at the buzzing pain of tight restrains and glared forward at the haughty girl his good memory forced him to remember.
"Boy," Shisui immediately turned to the large, red curtain that only saw a silhouette of the man behind it, speaking. Shisui wasn't glaring anymore, he was wary. Wary of the power he simply felt from the man just speaking. His instincts were telling him not to move and the guards who had taken off his restraints were currently surrounding him, only giving more fuel to the fire.
The man continued. "My daughter, Princess Azula, has challenged you to an Agni Kai. As a citizen, I'm sure you've heard of it. Now, step onto the platform."
The guards moved out of his way, standing to the side now and Shisui didn't even think about moving. He ignored the command. Not on purpose, but he could really think.
He had just attacked the Fire Princess.
And now he was supposed to fight her.
Couldn't he just apologize? Did he want to apologize?
That smirk on the girl's face only reminded him of the ones his own family had wore. He didn't have any personal problem with his family but he was always just so frustrated with them, specifically their unwillingness to change.
Something hit his back and he stumbled forward, surprised and glared back at a guard who had somehow gotten behind him.
He cursed his inexperienced body.
"You do not have a choice, boy." The man sneered. "Move onto the platform. Now."
Shisui didn't move. He didn't flinch. The stronger man didn't scare him.
"You shame not only your family but the Fire Nation as a whole refusing my painfully blatant command." Shisui turned his attention back to the red curtain, to the man speaking. "I will be exiling your family when I find out who you are for such a criminal offense."
Shisui gritted his teeth. He couldn't allow that. He wouldn't, so he moved. He walked painfully slow to the platform and watched the eyes of the smirking girl. They weren't as overconfident now. They were watching him. Watching how he moved, how he reacted... and his emotions.
His foot stepped on the platform and suddenly, he could remember what an Agni Kai was. He remembered reading a scroll in his parent's room about it. This was a lethal, traditional challenge to the death and he had to fight the renowned, genius Fire Princess. He stepped onto the platform fully and walked to the middle of it, a nervous pit in the deepest parts of his stomach. But his face didn't show it.
He wouldn't allow her the satisfaction.
"I'll humor this battle, if only for my entertainment." Shisui could hear the amusement in his voice and while his fist clenched at his sides, he kept his eyes forward, on her. "Boy, what do you wish for if you were to win this battle?"
It was a that time that he saw the Princess's face morph and she doubled over, laughing hysterically, as if the very thought of him beating her were some sort of joke.
Despite that pit, he allowed himself to smirk and spoke over her hysterics. "I ask for three things." He held up each finger as he spoke. "One, that you let me leave in peace and I get my things back. Two, you leave my family out of this. And three, you don't banish her after I embarrass her."
His last request shocked the room so much that it had turned the laughter and amusement into a definite silence. He found himself on the end of dozens of glares, but he ignored it. He said his peace.
And he meant it.
She was fuming. Her entire body tightened and her tiny hands scrunched up hard into a tight fist. Seems that she would make him pay for what he had just said. "Anytime you wish, Father." She gritted out.
"Begin." He said immediately after.
Shisui wasted no time, straight on rushing her, meaning to enact on his words and finish her off quickly. He didn't expect her next moves.
Swiftly and gracefully, she leapt into the air and preformed a front flip. Fire followed her movements and shot of her feet in an arc.
Shisui's eyes widened at its speed but he also marveled at it. He'd never seen fire bending before. But he had to dodge it. He stopped himself on a dime and leaped away but not before a small part of the fire caught his arm and sent him into immediate pain. He hit the ground on his side, clutching his burned arm as if it were going to do something.
But Azula didn't stop her attack.
"Pity," she remarked and Shisui glanced above to see that she had jumped once more. "After all that talk I'm shocked this was the challenge you would be giving me." She repeated her earlier movement and a scythe of fire nearly burned him once more but he moved out of the way and leapt to his feet.
He tightened his grip on his arm and grinned in excitement, despite his pain and confusion of what exactly she was doing.
This was Fire Bending. And it was much faster than he had anticipated.
I underestimated her. She's skilled. And her fire really burns. I've gotta get close to finish her but how. This is an open space and she's got more range than me. He thought. He went back to his first time trying to attack her and immediately took away the idea that he could rush her quickly enough for her to not be able to hit him. When he ran at her she followed his movements with those sharp eyes and then used her fire to counter him perfectly.
No more mistakes. He couldn't afford it.
"Don't think you have time to rest!" She was rushing him now and Shisui was just realizing how fast she was on her own. Her Fire Bending had nothing to do with her speed.
Damn it.
He found himself on the bad end of hand to hand combat mixed with Fire Bending. She sent a spinning kick that he rolled underneath and leapt up to dodge a leg sweep that threw fire around like rope. He finally felt the imitative to attack and brought his foot down on her but she was able to block with her arm.
The ground beneath her cracked and she gritted her teeth. Shisui felt something in her forearm shift. He might've just broken the Fire Princesses arm.
A torrent of flames aimed for his head sent him back and he would've landed on his head had he not caught himself in a handstand and flipped to his feet. She was clutching her arm tightly, seemingly the pain too much to bear at the moment as she hadn't tried to attack him like before.
Shisui used this time to analyze her previous moves. She's fast, agile, can control fire, and she's ferocious. This is my only break during this whole fight and tbh acts because I made it. If I don't find a weakness in her form, she'll kill me for sure. He admitted.
"I'll admit," she began with a smirk. "That actually hurt, but I've been training since birth. It'll take more than this amount of pain to defeat me, commoner." She let go of her hand and moved it around to test it, and sure enough she could move it with no noticeable problem.
That was bad.
"Too bad for you." She mocked. "That little hope on your face just fluttered out."
Despite what she said being the truth, he smirked himself. "Yea, I know that. You don't gotta point it out."
She frowned at that smirk. He was in a tough spot. What the hell was he smirking for? "Do you not understand your situation? Wipe that smirk off your face, commoner."
"Sorry, no can do." He couldn't help it himself. This tough situation was stimulation he had been sorely missing ever since he had come to this world. "I'm excited right now, despite you being stronger."
"Well let me quell that excitement, and turn into unforgiving terror!" Her grin stretched across her face unnaturally and she rushed forward.
She punched the air several times, forcing Shisui to dodge the fire bolts by backing up and dodging side to side. It was a distraction, he soon figured out when he found the Fire Princess in the air, spinning wildly. With a yell, she sent multiple circles of flames that would sandwich him between the others.
Could he dodge that? He was on the edge of the platform. He would have to back out if he were to escape, but he wasn't sure what the Fire Lord would do if he dishonored a sacred tradition.
But I can't lose! With that thought repeating itself in his head over and over, he found the resolve to face the attack head on and try to dodge it. Suddenly, he could see better. It was almost like his eyes were trying to show him a path.
He followed after it, and in no time at all he found himself behind the technique as it scorched the ground where he previously stood.
"Y-your eyes?" Azula stammered, surprised. She'd never seen anything like that. Was she imagining it? She had to be. Eyes just didn't simply change colors
My eyes? Shisui brought a hand up to his face and he suddenly could feel all the chakra gathered in his eyes. It had to be his Sharingan! But how did he have it? He was no longer a Uchiha by blood anymore. His new mother had fully given birth to him. And why did it activate all of a sudden?
I'll worry about all of that later. Right now, I have to focus on finishing this.
"I don't plan on killing you to win this Agni Kai, or burning you for that matter." He added after a second thought. "I only want to win so that my deal with the Fire Lord is achieved. If you give up now, I won't hurt you more than I have already."
"Why the hell are you talking as if you won or something?!" Her face has gone red and she was shaking violently. She was livid! This commoner has the audacity to talk to her as if he were suddenly superior to her. "You're nothing but a filthy, lowly commoner who's lucky to even be in my presence! How dare you talk as if you were above me!"
Shisui hadn't much clarity with his Sharingan, and while he did it know for sure, he speculated from how good he could see that both his eyes only had a single tomoe. He couldn't see much but he felt she was having a build up of some kind of energy in her.
So much so that he was surprised at it. His didn't even compare.
She crossed her arms over her chest like she was displaying an x before letting it go in one motion. Fire blazed from her and surrounded the entire platform with burning heat.
Shisui could feel it immediately and sweat was already forming on his skin. He began to cough hard, finding it hard to breath as the flames grew in size, nearly to how tall he stood.
Dammit, I can't breath! She must be planning to suffocate me, or finish me off when I'm unable to move! I-I've got to get rid of these flames!
He had to! Or it was going to be over, for real!
When he crumbled to the ground in a coughing fit, the shorter girl laughed at his plight. "Hahahahah! How does it feel to take in your last breath? This is what you get for disrespecting me! How dare you!" Now close to him, she lashed out with a foot that hit him square in the chest. He heaved and was forced on his back where she once again slammed her foot on his chest, keeping it there this time.
"Did you for a second believe that you could defeat royalty, commoner." Even with that harsh glare, she sounded amused now. "You're nothing but a hopeless fool who got lucky to even lay eyes on me. And yet, with such a difference in our status, you not only claim to embarrass me but to actually lay hands on me and nearly break my arm." Her fist clenched tightly in anger and she stepped on his chest harder to make it more difficult for him to cough; which he was constantly doing.
"You're only here by choice. You were nothing to begin with and you will die the same way you lived. As a nobody!"
"F-fuc—nghhh!" Shisui tried to, underneath her boot.
She smirked and leaned down to hear his mutters. "What was that, commoner?"
Shisui glared into her eyes with his burning red ones. "F-fuck you!" He yelled and spat on her face.
Surprised, she stumbled off him, looking at the spit that had landed on her cheek with bloodshot eyes. Quickly filling with rage. "Y-you bastaaar-" she had leapt at him, about to burn him alive when her eyes glanced at his and that was all she saw, cutting her words of rage off.
She slumped to the ground and the flames surrounding the room that were nearly to the roof extinguished.
Shisui gulped in the fresh air without even realizing how he was looking. He probably still wouldn't have cared since he nearly suffocated in the flame barrier.
Finally gaining his breath, he realized that he just beat the Fire Princess Azula. But what he didn't know what was awaiting in for that very reason.