A/N: Thank you for your patience orz I'm sorry for taking so long TT0TT First family came to visit, then I got sick THEN I realized that FF messed up the formatting for the past two chapters...so I had to fix it (and then make sure that didn't happen here ;w;). I appreciate the comments, and I hope you enjoy the chapter \uwu/

"Did something happen between you and Yun?" Rangi asked nonchalantly as she inspected a nearby flower.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Kyoshi flinch as she crouched over the garden. "No. Why do you ask?" Kyoshi tried keeping her voice even, but there was a slight change in her cadence, just for a moment.

Liar.

"Something just felt different," Rangi mumbled. If only she had the courage to just say 'I saw you two in the gifting room.' But perhaps it was for the best, she might not like the outcome of the conversation that followed it. At least for the moment, their relationship could live in blissful ignorance.

Kyoshi playfully scoffed and pushed her shoulder against Rangi's. "Please, the three of us are always together. I think we'd all know if something changed."

Always together? She thought sarcastically. Then she chastised herself. No, she's just being hyperbolic…

The irony of that statement was not lost on Rangi, Yun technically wasn't with them at the moment. Just like how Rangi hadn't been with them the other day. The times Rangi and Yun were alone together? Those didn't count. It wasn't the same. Rangi and Yun were in love with Kyoshi, not each other.

The memory of that day replayed in Rangi's mind. Her eyes darkened with jealousy, but she didn't let the rest of her face show it. "I suppose you're right." She wished Kyoshi would at least be honest that she had feelings for Yun. It would probably make the whole Fire Lily Incident a bit easier to stomach, because at least she would know her friend trusted her.

Maybe that was it? Kyoshi didn't trust her to talk about her obvious bullies from the village, or about her past. She didn't trust her to confide in her past, the past Rangi had to get out of Auntie Mui. Could it be that Rangi was the problem? Did Rangi do something that deemed her untrustworthy in the eyes of her beloved friend?

Rangi turned her attention to picking at some flower's leaves to calm herself, softly rubbing her nail along its skin, feeling the grooves. She kept at it for who knows how long, when suddenly a bunch of white and orange specks flitted by her face. She accidentally inhaled one through her nose, and it caused her to sneeze.

She fell back onto her butt and rubbed at her nose with her sleeve. She stopped when she heard laughter beside her. Kyoshi was covering her mouth with one hand, trying to hold her laughter back. In her other hand held the weapon. A now emptied dandelion-tiger weed.

"What are you doing?! You're going to spread those seeds throughout the garden!" Rangi yelled at her, annoyed. Kyoshi was smarter than this, why would she risk ruining the garden?

Instead of feeling embarrassed or ashamed by Rangi's impromptu scolding, Kyoshi's laughter erupted, unable to be contained.

"W–what? What are you laughing at?"

Kyoshi was gasping for air. "Y–you!"

Rangi flushed in embarrassment. Great, another hit to her pride. She just figured out the girl she was in love with was in love with someone else, their best friend and the Avatar no less. And now she was laughing at her. This was the worst week ever. She may as well confess and ruin their friendship right now to truly cement it.

"Why?!" Rangi grumbled.

"I–I've never seen you sneeze before!" Kyoshi was wiping away tears from her eyes. "It was like a canon! You sneezed out fire, and it flew you back!" The memory of it caused her to double over in a new wave of giggles. She clutched at her sides and curled up on the ground.

Rangi bit her lip. Her cheeks were still flushed from embarrassment, but thinking of how silly she may have looked and seeing how gleeful it made Kyoshi, made it so Rangi had to fight back her own bout of laughter. She covered her mouth. "Th–that's not, snrk, funny!" Rangi started to choke, trying to hold the laughter back with her hand. "I–I might've, set the, garden, on fire!"

The image of a firebender sneezing so badly that it caused an expensive garden to become alight, set the girls over the edge. Kyoshi kicked her legs as she clutched at her sides. Rangi put her own head between her knees as she shook, chokes of laughter and mirth escaping between her fingers.

The two girls stayed like that until their laughter finally washed over them. "Ok, ok. Remind me not to do that again. I didn't know this was such a dangerous weapon against firebenders." Kyoshi held up the stem, almost admiring the weed.

Rangi leaned over and took the item from Kyoshi's hand, savoring the way their fingers brushed against each other. Maybe Rangi was a masochist, that's why she kept letting this type of thing happen.

Rangi closely inspected the stem and then set it on fire with just her finger tips. "Yes, very dangerous indeed."

She looked back at Kyoshi, who was staring at her with an expression Rangi couldn't exactly place. She raised an eyebrow at the girl, who seemed to zone back in, and scrambled to get into a seiza sitting position. "Ah! Sorry, I was spacing out." Kyoshi laughed. "Hey, your birthday is coming up, isn't it? Is there anything you want?"

You. Rangi thought, knowing she couldn't say it out loud. As long as she could spend part of the day with Kyoshi, then that's all she needed. Rangi shrugged. "No, I can't think of anything."

"Well, you're easy to shop for," Kyoshi said sarcastically.

"I could say the same for you!" Rangi shot back, still reeling about how hard it was finding a present for the frugal girl.

"I have everything I could ever ask for already!"

"Same!"

Kyoshi pouted, and then began looking Rangi over thoroughly. Her eyes raked over the shorter girl, starting from the tips of her toes, to the top of her topknot.

"W–what are you doing?" Rangi fought back a blush that was riding up the back of her neck. She wasn't used to Kyoshi staring at her this much.

"Hm," Kyoshi hummed, stopping to stare at Rangi's face for a moment, then they wandered upward to linger on her topknot. Then she turned away, having finished looking Rangi over. "I know exactly what to get you."

She sounded confident.

"Whatever," Rangi looked away, trying to hide the smile on her face. She wanted to jump with excitement at what Kyoshi had in mind, but she opted to push the other girl's shoulder playfully instead. "Now hurry up, or we'll be here forever."

"If you help me it'll get done faster," she turned around to pick up a flower they needed to transplant. "Here I know you love these, you can plant them." She held out a pot of young fire lily plants.

Rangi couldn't help herself from recoiling at the sight and smell of the flower, her face scrunched up in disgust. "Ugh, keep those away from me!"

"What? The fire lilies? But I thought they were your favorite flower? You helped me plant these last year!" Kyoshi was shocked.

"Not anymore, the scent makes me nauseous," Rangi swatted the air, trying to blow the powerful fragrance somewhere else. She didn't care if she was being childish, the point still stood. She hated the flowers now.

"Oh…" Kyoshi moved the flower away from Rangi's view, and went to hand her a different one. "Do you have a new favorite flower then?"

Rangi turned back to Kyoshi, her eyes narrowing a little in thought. Her eyes slowly swept the garden, looking for a flower to pretend to like. Nothing caught her eye. Her eyes landed back at Kyoshi, like they always did, always returning to the scene of the crime. She stared longingly at the taller girl's freckles. Then she heard Autie Mui's voice in her mind.

"Starpoppy." She said the words before she could stop herself. "I like starpoppies."

Kyoshi stared at her confused, and then broke into a smile that made Rangi's heart thump. "I think I can manage to get some of those."

Stars greeted Rangi as she opened her eyes. She marveled at them, forgetting where she was for the briefest of moments, and just stared at the beauty above her. She wanted to savor the moment for as long as she could. Reminiscing of a time when she could stargaze with Kyoshi and Yun.

"Now that was a nice dream, if I do say so myself!" A familiar female voice rang next to her.

Aaaaand the moment was gone.

Rangi sat up and pressed her palms to her eyes and pressed down hard. She needed to get up and resume her journey. She moved her hands around her body, making sure her armor was securely in place, the rucksack she had was still on her person, and lastly, the pin in her topknot was still there.

Her fingers lingered on the cool metal for just a moment as she recalled the dream she had, her heart clenching painfully. She'd forgotten about it until now, with all the commotion going on, and in all honesty was more focused on the tassel that still laid in her rucksack. She cursed herself for forgetting something so important, she should've realized and left it back at the mansion. Now it laid on her head like a weight, a shackle. Yet another reminder of what was ruined.

"What a nice trip down memory lane! And you seemed to get a good nap in!" Kyoshi said cheerily, cutting into Rangi's spiral.

"You mean the memory where you lied about us?" Yun asked, a mocking tone in his voice.

"Ugh, there was no 'us'!" Kyoshi bit back.

"So you say," Yun mocked.

"She doesn't even know what we did or didn't end up doing!" Kyoshi retorted to him.

"I don't know. I liked to point out fire lilies whenever I could! And you'd blush about as red as one. Something must've happened right?"

"Is that a crime? Is it a crime to blush?"

"No, but think of poor Rangi!"

"I do think about her! That's why I never brought it up! You're the one who doesn't care–" Kyoshi started to protest again.

"Will you two shut it? You're giving me a headache," Rangi snapped at them. It was hard to think when she had two hallucinations gabbering in her ear!

"Oh quit your bellyaching! It's not our fault you lost to the real Kyoshi," Yun waved at her dismissively.

"It is. You two wouldn't stop your damn commentary during the whole encounter!" It was already hard enough stomaching the real Kyoshi's words, but having to deal with the peanut gallery? It was a special kind of hell.

"Not the whole encounter," Kyoshi tried to defend.

"Yeah it was only when she started lying!" Yun said, crouching down behind Rangi and whispering in her ear. "You can't let her fool you, Rangi! You know the truth AND she's always been so secretive!"

Kyoshi knelt down in front of Rangi, her ghostly hand gently grabbing Rangi's chin and tilting her head so they could see eye to eye. "You do know the truth, but not all of my truth."

Rangi glared at the apparition. "Why all the secrets?"

"Because she wants to destroy the world! Me! The Avatar! It's not that hard to see!" Yun shook her from behind.

"Everyone has secrets Rangi, that's not illegal. Even you do. Like how you were–no, still are in love with–"

Rangi ripped her head away and grabbed at her ears, "Shut up! Stop talking! I–I'm not–! I'm no longer–!"

"Keep denying it, but it still sounds like you are!" Yun said in a sing-song voice.

"No! I have a duty, I'm going to bring her to justice!"

"So you going to do that while you straddle her or–"

Rangi turned around and threw a punch at the air. It went right through Yun. Because he wasn't there, he didn't exist.

"Woah, woah, calm down tigerdillo! It's a fair question!" he laughed, and then his voice got low. "I just wanted to test your resolve. Because remember, she's a killer. An enemy of the four nations. She betrayed you, your honor and the Avatar"

Rangi stiffened. Right. Kyoshi was the enemy. She knew that. But it...

"She even sullied master Jianzhu's name and my name. The Avatar's title. She never cared about being the Avatar before, but suddenly she starts slinging the title around? Why is that?"

Rangi tried to swallow but the action just felt like a rake across her dry throat. It was a struggle for her to even breathe.

"Because she's still trying to manipulate you! She's doing what she does best. She lies." He grabbed Rangi's face and made her look him in the eye. "She lied about the fire lilies. Her past. Her feelings and friendships. All to your face. To my face. Unabashedly. She doesn't care, she just wants to control you."

He dropped his hands from Rangi's face. Rangi let her body fall forward to where she had to catch her upper body a few inches from the ground. Her body felt so weak as she gasped for air.

Yun knelt down beside her and whispered.

"I bet she even knows about your true feelings for her. Maybe that's why she's aimed for close quarters combat? She knows the more intimate the attack the more you'd hold back."

Rangi took a ragged breath. It was true. She wasn't sure why but each encounter with Kyoshi did make her feel so much weaker. Her blows didn't have as much impact. Her fire was smaller and more frail. Rangi thought it was because she was so tired from the journey.

But perhaps there was more?

Perhaps there was still a nagging, lingering part of her that was afraid of hurting the Kyoshi she used to love and cherish.

"Kyoshi's like a poison to you. Look how she makes you weak , she's the reason you're hurt."

"Rangi you know that's not–" Kyoshi tried to intervene.

"Don't listen to her either. She lies too. Kyoshi always lies." Yun poked Rangi's head with a finger. "Whether it's the real one, or the one in your head. Kyoshi. Always. Lies." He punctuated each word with a tap of his finger on her forehead.

"Kyoshi always lies," Rangi repeated. "Kyoshi always lies…"

Yun smiled. "Now you're getting it! Now get up and go get that little deceiver! Bring her back to Yokoya, to master Jianzhu, so he can hand out her punishment! She'll be dead, and then you can finally wash your hands clean of her! Get your honor back, go and help find and protect the new upcoming fire Avatar! You know? The works!"

Rangi knelt there motionless.

"Hello? Earth to Rangi! Helloooooo? Did we break her?"

This isn't right. Rangi thought. Her head sunk to the ground as she grasped at her head, gasping for air with dried sobs. Why? Why was it now dawning on her that Kyoshi would die when she brought her back? Was she stupid? Distracted? Both?

Of course she would die, she killed the Avatar!

She would be bringing her other, only remaining best friend to their death. The same girl that she was in lov–

Rangi let loose an animalistic scream from her lips as she dug her forehead into the dirt below.

How? How was it possible for her world to just keep crumbling? Was there no end?

Rangi sobbed, the tears finally forming again, into the ground for a good long while. She felt like she was drowning in a sea of her own tears. And then a small bubble of air popped its way to her.

"I should be the one to do it."

"Hm?" Yun's voice responded as if he had heard the bubble. Or maybe she had actually said it outloud herself? "Do what?"

"I should be the one to do it," her voice repeated. At least, it sounded like her voice. Except it was distorted and hollow and nullified of all life. It didn't feel attached to her body anymore. "I should be the one to kill Kyoshi."

She watched the words fall from her lips like tar. She no longer saw anything in front of her, only a black void.

"Oh! That is interesting, but don't you think Sifu should do it? I mean, I was his student."

"I don't care," Rangi's hollowed voice echoed into the void. "You were my friend. My charge, my job. She was my friend. And– and I– I love," a flare of emotion came back into Rangi's voice, a choked sob. "I loved her. She betrayed me... more than she did Jianzhu."

That's right, in Fire Nation law, Rangi was the one who was more intimately wronged. At least that's what she would tell herself; she was greatly overlooking just how much the world took stock in rules of teaching lineage and deference when it came to one's sifus.

Regardless, she had a fair stake to such a claim, therefore, she had the right to end the other's life, not the executioner. If this was the Fire Nation, she could claim to be the one to deliver the final blow.

It was something that was only doled out for the most heinous crimes that would result in an execution. And nothing was more heinous than killing the was an act that would allow the victim to reclaim their honor. And, depending on how they were executed, the one executed could also die with some honor intact.

And, wouldn't that be a better ending to this sad tale? Better than bringing the girl back kicking and screaming for some Earth Kingdom execution? Didn't Rangi deserve to reclaim some of her honor? Didn't Kyoshi deserve to die with some honor?

Yes, Kyoshi deserved some honor. That was the least Rangi could do for the girl she loved. To die by an old friend's hands rather than some stranger's. Even if it was Jianzhu's, her old benefector.

"I have to kill Kyoshi," Rangi repeated. "I'm going to kill Kyoshi."

A cold feeling seeped into the core of Rangi's body as the colors of the world around her faded away. She slowly got up and gathered her things, only vaguely aware of the hallucinations. Their mouths were moving, but she couldn't hear them anymore. Soon, she most likely wouldn't see them anymore. She would finally be alone.

No. She was alone. Because of this choice she was making. She knew she wouldn't be able to continue on afterwards.

Kyoshi always lies. I have to kill her.

Rangi repeated the two lines in her head like a mantra. Needing to steel herself for what she needed to do. To remind herself of what she needed to do.

After she gathered everything, she steadily began her trudge through the dark forest.

Rangi was sure it was noon, but the forest was so thick that barely any light filtered through the leaves.

She'd been walking for hours with no end in sight. Her only thought was her mantra. Until now.

I don't know where to go. She finally allowed a new thought to form in her head. She saw a direction Kyoshi had gone, but she could've diverted course after she got out of Rangi's eyeline. There was also the fact that Rangi wasn't making good time, not without a steed.

Kyoshi could easily land in a village, rest, and be well on her way by the time Rangi got her footing.

Rangi was screwed.

So much for specializing in fleeing and evasion. Can't even track down your own damn ex-friend.

Still, she didn't stop her legs from moving forward. There was benefit in just stopping. Positive jing was just too ingrained into her.

It wasn't until the ground started to rumble and the sound of trees starting to break, that Rangi stopped and inspected her surroundings. She got into a low stance as the ground shook harder, trying to maintain her balance. Rangi braced herself as the snapping grew louder and then–

She was met with two massive black holes staring right back at her. No, not only black, they had a giant, pink, flowering nose that wiggled as if it had a mind of their own. The jaws of the void opened and two long whip-like tongues flashed out.

Rangi used her jet-stepping to dodge them both, and sent a blast at the monster's direction at the same time. The monsters nimbly dodged her attack and geared up for a counter when a sharp noise rang through the air.

The creatures collapsed on the ground, running their faces across the dirt in agony as their paws tried to clamp over their heads.

"Oh good! We've found you!" a voice rang out from the treeline. "You're Mistress Rangi, correct?"

Rangi looked over and saw a group of Fire Nation men and women with some Earth Kingdom gents as well. They were wearing research attire. One of them wielded a whistle that bothered the creatures severely.

"Headmistress Hei-Ran and Master Jianzhu said you'd need our assistance? That our shirshus would be of great service to you?"

Ah, so they were the shirshu handlers Jianzhu promised Rangi at the beginning of her journey. Which meant…

Those creatures over there are shirshus.

"Thank you, your timing is impeccable," Rangi said, shaking one of the researcher's hands.

"Glad we can be of service!" the man beamed at her. "Sorry for their attack, they're a bit hard to control if I'm being honest. Plus they like to attack what they're tracking when they finish tracking it down."

"It's no problem, I understand," Rangi said, making a mental note. Shirshus had a paralyzing agent if she recalled correctly. It could be useful in subduing Kyoshi, but she would need to make sure she landed the final blow.

"Do you have a scent for them to track? We have two because they always travel in pairs with their mate."

"I do, I have two scents they can track, just in case." Rangi grabbed her rucksack and started to rifle through it. She pulled out the tuffs of Pengpeng's fur and handed it to the man. Then her fingers grazed the gold tassel.

She paused, deliberating, then moved her hand to clasp Kyoshi's shoe instead. Despite Rangi's resolve, she couldn't bear the tassel accidentally getting ruined. It was…the last thing she could be selfish about, she realized.

The men and women approached the beasts and began administering the different scents to them while blowing on their special whistles.

"Ok, I think they're set to go! Here, climb on the back of one of these mounts and we can get to tracking!"

"Alright," Rangi said, as she gazed up at the void of the two monsters, but only saw the voids staring back at her.

A/N:
Me: Remember, to bold Rangi's thoughts when she's REALLY going off the deep end!
Me: Ok
Me: *forgets*
Me: Shit gdi *has to re-read to remember where I needed to start bolding* I can't wait until you calm down girl so you can think straight again. TT0TT