[-Chapter Seven-]
"Please," Manchu begged. "You're different; you're not like the monsters. I can tell. That's why you're glowing."
"I'm what?" I demanded, but he had started rambling and he would not stop to answer my question.
"I saw you after Hei-Bai left me in the fog… it's so cold here, and I was afraid I'd never get warm again, and then I saw this blue light. I ran to it as fast as I could. I needed to see someone again, someone with two legs and a face, just like me. And then there you were, blue and glowing. You won't leave me, will you?" His words scared me. Blue lights and creatures without faces or legs? Where did he think he was? I forced my fears and questions away; Manchu would not be able to answer them for me. It was something I would have to think about later.
"There's no fog," I tried to croon to him, but I had never been much of the reassuring type. I just hoped that the familiarity of my voice would do something. I wished, not for the first time in my life, that I had the gift for helping people instead of hurting them. That I could reassure people like I wanted to. Instead, I swallowed my sadness and did my best. "And I'm not going."
"Can you help me out of this fog please?" the boy wailed. "I need to get back to Aiko."
"I'll bring you back to Aiko," I whispered, but at that moment a cool hand clenched on my shoulder and literally ripped me away from Manchu. I fell down into the pit with a cry. Mud splattered on my back, chilly in the pre-storm partial sunlight. I sprang back up right away, all but breathing fire. "You can't do that!"
Aku regarded me coolly. "Yes, I can. Let's TRY to stay out of trouble today, shall we Hikari? Although we both know that's impossible." Behind him, Manchu was screaming and thrashing in the diluted dirt. Two Chen-Li agents quickly subdued him and tied his hands and feet.
"I didn't do anything wrong yesterday," I snapped, although we both already knew that. "Now you get away from him. He wants to see my sister."
"Sorry, peasant. Koori's orders." With a flick of his wrists, he unrolled a very-official looking scroll for me to read. I wanted to punch him in his smug face for the look he was giving me. "What's the matter, Peasant? Can't you READ?" If I clenched my teeth any harder, they'd break out of my head. "By the order of the High Empress Koori," Aku dictated in his stupid smug voice, "all children possessing the ability to Bend are to be apprehended by any force necessary and transferred to a rehabilitation center in Omashu. Violators of this law will be severely punished." More like persecuted, I thought rebelliously, but I didn't have the time to dispute technicalities such as that one. Manchu's time was ticking.
"You can't take this boy away from his family!" I insisted.
"But I can. I have supreme authority over all of you. And besides, what cruel person would keep this boy from a chance at a normal life?" Aku asked innocently.
I marched up to him, wishing that I could punch him in the face and actually have it be effective in some way. "I know you, Aku." I studied the sickening grin on his face and gritted my teeth. "If this law makes you happy, there is no way it's a rehab facility in Omashu. I don't know what makes you happy, but—"
"Tormenting insolent children such as you makes me happy," he snarled. I opened my mouth to retort when a slim hand came to rest on my shoulder. I turned to yell at whoever it was, found my best friend Arisu behind me—where had she come from?—and before I knew what was going on I was twenty feet back. The Chen-Li were walking away with my sister's best friend, and the citizens of Gaoling were left to deal with a new law forced on us by our nutcase of a ruler. Not even the sudden burst of sunlight could ease this new chill.
I vaguely heard a door slamming around me, recognized the smell and straightened. "You can't just walk into Makoto's house!" Arisu ignored me, and I found that I couldn't pull away from her iron grip. She was, indeed, much stronger than I had first thought. Koto's parents got to their feet in shock when we paraded through, but Arisu flashed something in her hand at them and they backed away respectfully. I was so freaked out by the entire experience that I hadn't felt anything for a good five minutes. But once we were safely inside Koto's room—with its now-familiar wall map and oddly placed Pai-Sho table—everything came rushing back.
"Stop it, Risu," I commanded, although we'd halted a good five seconds ago. "What's going on?"
"We're going to talk," she announced, and she sounded so unlike Risu that I needed ten seconds to come up with a response. She sounded surprised, and scared, but determined and strong and… prepared.
"Does this mean I'm getting some answers?" I demanded. Maybe she knew what Manchu was doing, or where he'd been. What if she knew why some people glowed and some people didn't? I started forming a list of questions in my mind, and I was so preoccupied I almost missed her answer to the first question.
"That depends," Risu conceded, and a smile flickered about her lips. "On whether or not you'll like what you hear."
A/N: Hey guys! So, clearly I fail. This should have gone up last night, but I ended up Skyping with my best friend from home... Obviously, time got away from me. So many apologies!
Aku is up to no good being his big old jerkish self (again). Arisu is still being strange and mysterious. And apparently Hikari glows in the dark now! We've got ourselves quite a crew!
I will see you on Wednesday, folks! (promise ;D)