Disclaimer: The following chapter is entirely fictitious. Any similarity to the history of any person living or dead is entirely coincidental and unintentional, except when specifically noted otherwise in the cast and crew credits. All celebrity voices are impersonated and no celebrities have endorsed any aspect of this fic.
Chapter Seven: Threatening Eyes
'-'
Their journey to Engoku could not have been worse. The whole time Zuko had not left his cabin and as far as he knew neither had Mai. Mostly his assistant made many of the decisions for him and kept the ship running, but Zuko did not mind. He was still too occupied with the thought that he was going to Engoku to find out more about Hiashi, and why she would be glad he never found her. He was told that she cared for people and when she cared for them then she would go out of her way to protect them, but he still had problems believing that. Instead, he would try and get that same information from someone who wanted her dead more than anyone.
Assuming he could get what he wanted
"This place smells like shit," Mai mumbled under her breath as the ship docked precariously on one of the many dilapidated port. Indeed the smell was unpleasant and the skies over Engoku still had its unhealthy reddish hue, dirt roads, and adjacent forests. It was still rundown and the pier was still flooded with the raggedly dressed citizens of all kinds of nations. The only difference was, however, there were less people today than there was eight years ago, when the war was still going on. Granted, it was getting close to night so many were retiring, but not at this time, he remembered. There were only the people who were in their shops and sporadic shoppers running around, trying to get home before nightfall. Zuko looked at Mai from the corner of his eyes but said nothing to her. He reminded himself that she had never been here before, so she had every reason to say what she wanted about Engoku.
"Let's just get this over with," Zuko said to her, walking down the ramp onto the shore.
"What are you expecting to find here?" she asked him.
"I'm looking for someone who might have information for me," he answered curtly.
"So then why am I here? Can't you find this person by yourself?"
"No. And even if I could, I need as much back up as I can get."
"So you expect me to throw myself in front of you in case you get attacked?" Mai raised her eyebrow and rolled her eyes with disbelief. "That is the stupidest think I've ever heard."
"It's better than sitting back at home and doing nothing!" he yelled at her.
"Yeah, but at home at least I'm still getting paid to do absolutely nothing." Zuko grunted and left Mai to walk many paces behind him. He knew listening to the witch would come back to fail him. There was not much he could do except find Sureiyaa on the large island. However, despite sounding difficult and time consuming, it seemed it would be much easier than he though. Off in the distance were several people clad in navy blues and silvers, and there in the crowd was one person that stood out in his memory."
"Holy sheeit!" the voice of the familiar androgynous gangster shrieked like a hog monkey. "It's scar face ag'in! I thought ya wuz dead!" It was déjà vu. Like the last time the gangster was surrounded by several others dressed like him and like the same time the gangster asserted himself as if he was invincible. Only this time, Zuko was not by himself.
"Listen here," Zuko snarled at the gangster, abruptly cutting off the laughter that blanketed the group, "I am looking for Sureiyaa. Where is she hiding?"
"Jackass, what makes ya th'o't I know dat? Or dat I'll even tell ya?" the gangster chuckled aggressively. It could have been the end of end of that, but Zuko came prepared with many armed guards, all posed and ready to strike the belligerent person. The gangsters looked around, seeing they were surrounded by an army of armed men.
"Lil' Choujue, just tell 'em," one of the girls with dreadlocks sighed. "You know how 'dem Faiha Nationerza's be with 'dem 'tudes." The hermaphroditic gangster glared at the female counterpart and switched their gaze back at Zuko.
"And what if I don' tell ya?" the gangster snarled, closing the gap between them. "I supposed ya plan on killing me? To hell wiff ya, what makes ya th'o't I'll jive?"
"Youkyou's on the other side," one of the beefier men finally said. "One of them 'tards hangs out on guard. He's bald 'n I think he's a dirt muncher so you can't miss him."
"Nah, I thunk he was a wetback?" one girl with a missing eye frowned.
"Bitch, shut da fuck up, he a dirt muncher!" Lil' Choujue barked. "There, ya got what ya wanted, iz ya happy now salad tosser?"
"Where on the other side?" Zuko asked roughly. The gangster was already infuriated with the others around him who had cooperated with Zuko, but he growled under his breath and finally answered.
"There'suh small shop down da way where dey sell jars. You can see him walking around like he'skeeping an eye out fo' sumfin. He'suh whimp so ya don' gots ta trip about uh fight or anyfin', but I warn ya, dere might be others." He pointed out down the road where the shop would be and added, "They protect Sureiyya well an' keep uh pimp-tight eye on da place, but dat poon-tang shouldn't give ya uh problem. In fact, if ya bully him enough he'll prob'ly show ya where she iz." Zuko jerked his head in the direction the gangster pointed at and led the way down the dirt road. "Don't say I didn't warn ya, though!" the gangster shouted down to them as they got further away. Cuz dat Sureiyaa'suh madness beeotch an' shhe'll shank ya at any chance she gets! Ya' dig?"
"This is going to be the death of me," Zuko muttered under his breath as they headed to the jar shop that was said to be nearby.
"The death of you?" Mai scoffed. "I could be at home right now." Zuko held his tongue and decided to say nothing, allowing the bored Mai to continue to carp about Engoku. After all, there was no worse place in the world. It would have been easier for Zuko to have been carried by the palanquin bearers, however, any sign of expense or prosperity would send up large signals for robbers and gangsters. Instead, a large army of armed guards would suffice. It had only been a quarter of a kilometer but the gangsters were right. Outside a strip mall was a bald man, clad in a washed out frail and thin red vest and just as thin grey shorts, pacing nervously and looking around. The man's head shot up when he heard the crunching sound of gravel and he froze in horror as Zuko and his soldiers drew closer.
"Shit," the man hissed lowly, tripping on both feet and attempting to dash to the door of the shop, but Mai had thought ahead and instead shot several blades into the door of his escape.
"Thank you," Zuko mumbled to her as the man tried to push himself away.
"I didn't do it for you," Mai said blandly, "I'm bored as hell. It just gave me something to do." Zuko glared at her once again, but still said nothing.
"Where is she?" he barked at the man. The man pounded his fist on the door in defeat, releasing a frustrating breath.
"Sureiyaa's been waiting for you," he said in a low voice, "Zuko."
"Then take me to her," he ordered, but the man laughed.
"You really expect me to just take you to her without so much as a fight?"
"You are in no position to fight. I outnumber you."
"She wants you to know she didn't have anything to do with Yanki's death, so you can go ahead and turn around now—" Zuko cut him off with one ball of fire aimed at his head. The man dodged the ball but only to be caught by the throat.
"I don't care!" Zuko snarled. "Take me to Sureiyaa, now!"
"I'm telling you, she has nothing you want!" the man spat back viciously.
"I'll be the judge of that!" Zuko rumbled "Now take me to her!"
"If I take you to her, then it will be your life, not mine."
"I'm willing to take my chances." With an outward sweeping arm, the man broke Zuko's grip from his neck and pulled the door to the jar shop open. It was emptied of any light or sound, simply adorned with shelves festooned in jars. He led them to the back of the counter where there was a door to the alley adjacent to them. Thought the door they went and there where no one could see them was a small rundown shack in the small and awkward placing of the alley. In that shack, Zuko assumed, in that tiny, unwelcoming, unassuming, and severely haggard looking shack, was the most feared person in Engoku. Zuko expected better.
"She'll only allow two people in," he said as quietly as he could. "I suggest your best if you wish to survive." He knocked on the door twice and held his fist, waiting for a response.
"You better be knocking because you killed him, Doku," the familiar female voice sounded off from inside.
"He doesn't want to accuse you of anything, Sureiyaa, he just wants to talk," Doku tried to say calmly to her but all that emitted was the shattering sound of porcelain.
"Bring them in, then!" she snarled loudly. Doku flinched but unhinged the lock and pulled it open.
"After you," he ushered sarcastically to Zuko.
"Surround the place just in case," Zuko ordered his men. "Mai, you're coming inside with me."
"Why would I want to do that?" she frowned.
"Because I said so," he said roughly. "You're safer inside than outside."
"I don't need protection. And besides, it's hot out here, and it's probably going to be hotter in there," she grumbled.
"Mai!" he said forcefully. He needed not to say more since she already knew he wanted to order her inside, but he knew he could not order her to do anything she did not want to do. She shoved past him and entered the shack first, Zuko and Doku following, slamming the door behind him.
"Doku, you god damn cunt-eyed bastard, what the hell is your problem?" Sureiyaa snarled once Zuko and Mai had sat down in the trashed chairs in front of her desk. The office was dark and oddly cool, simply lit with an oil lamp on the shelf behind her. On the walls were shelve with many knickknack and paraphernalia, some normal, while others, such as a decayed finger and a shrunken head, disturbing. To the left of her desk were shelves of short sabers, daggers, and other types of swords. Sureiyaa had her scarred feet propped on the rough desk while her goons, the red head and the frail haired girls he had met twice before, were on either side of her, the red head filing her decrepit nails while the silver haired woman leaned on the wall and glared at Zuko suspiciously.
"He just wanted to talk to you," Doku mumbled. "He's not going to do anything, besides, you can outnumber him."
"You're so stupid, you do realize that, yes?" Sureiyaa groaned, rubbing away a headache from her skull.
"I'm sorry, but he just wanted to—"
"Doku, shut the fuck up!" she hollered. Doku hung his head and said nothing. "You know something, when I first rose to power thirteen years ago I appointed you simply because you were sans balls. It was good at first since you never thought beyond your little leechi nut sized brain, but now I'm thinking I have no use for you."
"Sureiyaa, please," he began to stammer, but she would not hear it.
"Damn it!" she yelled, slamming her fist on the desk and fracturing it, forcing everything on it to fall inward. All three, Zuko, Mai, and Doku, were thrown aback in shock at her aggression. "You know what? I'm done! I'm done with your fucking excuses! I'm over it. Shiden over there has more testosterone in her middle finger than you can wish to have! You've been lucky that I kept you on long enough and if I've learned anything from Yanki's failures it's that I can't just trust a beating and others to make sure you learn your lesson."
"Sureiyaa!" was all he could say before a lightning fast grab for her shelf and throw landed a dagger directly into his brain, pinning him to the wall behind him.
"Oh my god!" Mai exclaimed, everyone but Sureiyaa and Shiden staring in horror at the now dead man who was pooling blood on the floor underneath.
"Gingitsune, get that motherfucker out of my office before he starts decomposing." Sureiyaa slumped back in her chair as a belligerent Gingitsune strode slowly to the wall, pulled the knife from the wall and dragged Doku out of the shack by the ankle. "So," she smirked maniacally, she and Shiden unfazed by what she had just done, "you're here to accuse me of killing Yanki, aren't you?"
"Who's Yanki?" Mai asked, apparently stifling her shock of the previous murder.
"Her name was Hiashi, you know that!" Zuko growled.
"Hiashi? Her?" Mai continued to ask, but she was again ignored.
"If you're here to ask, I did not kill her," she replied stubbornly. "Are you happy?"
"No, I know who killed her," he answered hastily. "What I want to know is where she's been these past eight years."
"And you expect me to know this why?" she laughed, Shiden laughing along with her.
"Zuko, you fuck-tarded firecracker, why the hell would we know anything about that mongrel Yanki?" Shiden sneered.
"Because he has people to pay to think for him," Sureiyaa chuckled, "why do you think he's got that gwai-lo skank with him?"
"Excuse me?" Mai said defensively.
"Bitch, you wanna try me?" Sureiyaa snarled, and Mai was ready to accept, but Zuko held out his hand to hold her down.
"Don't drag her into it," he said lowly. "You have information for me and I want to know everything you know about her."
"And what if I don't tell you?"
"Then he's going to scar your face, Sureiyaa!" Shiden joked. "So you two look like twins!" Zuko growled, but chose to ignore her comment. Instead, he reached into his cloak and pulled out something that no one had ever seen before.
"You know, while I was banished I travelled to some very intriguing places. Some you will never even have the chance to go, not even if you lived for a millennium. And these people, well, let's just say there are people out there who are much more advanced than us. This I picked up in a small underground city from a friend. He called it a gun."
"And what do you expect to do with this 'gum' of yours?" she smiled wickedly. Her and her crony laughed at him, unaware of what he was aiming at. Mai was lost and kept glancing at him in an attempt to see what he was going to do next. Without so much as a thought Zuko raised his hand with the gun between his fingers and pulled the trigger. The bang scared everyone and suddenly Sureiyaa was clutching her arm. Mai pushed herself away from Zuko while Shiden jumped to her feet, sword drawn and position like a bat
"SON OF A BITCH!" she screamed loudly. She held out her hand to see blood streaming down her arm from a single hole in her bicep. "What the fuck is that!"
"Now," Zuko said calmly, despite the mixture of shock and angered looks from the women, "what do you know about Hiashi?"
'-'
Kurogane took a deep breath as she entered the small stone waiting room. She had been there so many other times before, all for the same reasons, but every time she walked into the office, she could not help but feel chilled. "Hello, Marks Kurogane," the secretary behind the counter smiled. "You can have a seat, I will be with you in a moment." Kurogane nodded and threw herself in the small couch behind her.
What could be so important that Keme needs me now? Kurogane thought to herself. It's getting late and I'm tired, and I have a long day tomorrow. What did he need to tell me that couldn't wait?
"Excuse me, miss," a voice snapped her from her own mind, "Can you hand me that scroll?"
"What?" Kurogane gasped before turning to see the man asking for the scroll. "Oh, yeah, here." She picked up the scroll from the table next to her and handed it to the man.
"So what are you here for?" the man asked while unraveling the scroll."
"I have no idea," she admitted. "What about you?"
"I submitted an application for conference room A," he responded. "Just here to get back my confirmation letter."
"Sounds boring," Kurogane yawned. "At least you can get in and out soon enough."
"I doubt it," the man sighed. "I've been here for the past half hour and have yet to get anything."
"Oh, I'm sorry," she apologized for the slow receptionist. "I take it she's still writing it out."
"I doubt that, too," the man scoffed. "Between you and me," he muttered quietly to her, "I think she's been hitting some of the drinks. She's got a cup behind that desk she's been quaffing from since I've been here." Kurogane chuckled which delivered a caustic glare from the woman behind the desk.
"High Master Keme will see you now, Marks," the woman said sharply.
"Marks?" the man frowned. "As in Marks Kurogane?" She sighed as she went to stand up.
"Yes, Marks Kurogane," she groaned.
"You're the one who killed the Fire Lord, right?" he said in amazement. "You're my idol!"
"I'm sure I am," she mumbled, stepping behind the receptionist desk, past the double doors and down the winding stone corridor.
'-'
So sorry to my one reader, Moonlight1405, who has been waiting for a new chapter. Sorry I had to kill of Hiashi, but believe me, by the end of this story you won't be feeling sad that she'd dead. Now as to why I've taken so long to update, well it is a mixture of the facts that I've been lazy and writer's block stricken, but mostly it is because I have been more focused on another piece of fiction I've been working on, something that is not a fanfiction, but based off one, incidentally, this one to be specific! Hopefully I can get it done by sometime next year, but I am looking for readers (for that story). Also, just as a reminder, I have a deviant art page and if you would like to see any OCs mentioned in this fic, or just redrawing of other OCs, please review or PM me. I've recently added a picture of Sureiyaa, Shiden, and Gingitsune, and it was my first time using Photoshop. Frankly, I thought it came out pretty good. And as always, please review. Until next time (and maybe this time it won't be as long) Signing off!