Aftermath

[Zuka]

”Crew, please prepare docking procedures”

A voice overheard said through the loudspeakers on the boat as it closed in on its destination. Zuka stood on the deck and watched as the city skyline came closer and closer into view and she felt the pit in her stomach grow in size the closer they came together. The last time she had been here things had not ended well, she had been in a dark place and was on a horrible self destructive path that hurt a lot of people. Most notably she hurt the people that were closest to her and it took an extremely close call and almost crossing a line she couldn’t come back from to make Zuka realize that she needed help.

That night still played over and over in her mind, even a year later.

~*~*~*~

He just wouldn’t stop, he wouldn’t let her do what she needed to do, what she knew had to be done. Every time she tried to act he was there trying to stop her, getting in her way.

”This ends tonight, either you come with me on your own or I take you down.”

Kenji had interrupted her attempt at taking out the head of the Terra Triad, she had the woman cornered and out cold and was getting ready to deal the final blow but he had come in and stopped her, wrapping a metal line around her waist and pulling her back. After his interruption Zuka attacked and the two had fought a long and strenuous battle which resulted her in mask being broken from a boulder to the face but eventually the two of them had made their way to the roof of an old factory.

”Why are you always in my way?!” Zuka yelled at him as they stood off ”these people are evil, they need to be stopped!” for a few months Zuka had been self medicating with a combination of black fin, red ash and Xiānjìng as a way to deal with her crippling guilt about how she betrayed her father and the pain she was feeling at her choices. It had been a dangerous mixture that made her unstable and even more reckless than before.

”Look at what your’e doing!” He yelled back ”you are one of them you are no better than they are.”

Hearing that cut deep. Zuka knew it was true but hearing it out loud did something to her and her drug clouded mind couldn’t take it.

”I am not like them” she said in a dangerously low voice as a strange calm washed over her, she knew what she had to do. Calmly Zuka lifted her arms and started to move them. ”You should have stayed away Kenji, you should know better than anyone that you never go against a waterbender on a full moon” As she spoke Zukas hands danced until she could feel her control latch on to him and as she turned her hand ever so slightly his body began to twist and bend to her will.

With his body under her control Zuka started to force him to his knees, making sure it was painful as she did, bloodbending his muscles and bones to strain against their natural form. He tried to keep from crying out in pain but she could hear the strain in his voice and Zuka kept twisting him until she heard a scream. ’It didn’t have to be like this. You could have just let me be and everything would have been fine. “ She continued to put pressure on him until she could hear a few ‘snaps’ and another cry out in pain.

”Zuka..please.” Kenji said through strained gasp as he tried to fight her control, she was going to kill him if she didn’t stop but maybe that was the point.

”Zuka please” his voice was weak and full of pain and as Zuka stood there over him and watched him suffer something fell back into place as realization of what she was doing hit her. Her eyes immediately softened from their hard, crazed glare and she dropped her hands, releasing him as she did. She was going to kill him, she would have, Zuka knew she would have because her next move would have been to crush his heart. Taking a step back she looked at Kenji before shaking her head.

”I’m sorry” she told him as she continued to step away. Zuka knew sorry could not make any of this better and that thought made her start to panic. What she was supposed to do now? She had almost killed her for better or worse friend and as her mind started to cloud again Zuka turned and ran, leaving him on the rooftop.

~*~*~*~*

She brought her hand up to her forehead and held it there a moment before rubbing it. On the long list of horrible things she had done that was probably one of the worst and after that night Zuka had left Republic City, telling her lieutenants that she had family business to take care of and leaving them in charge of the Dolls and the club. She packed a small bag and boarded a ship for the Northern Water Tribe, Zuka needed help but she also needed someone she could talk to and there was only one person she had ever been comfortable confiding in and that was her grandmother. Hiko had always made Zuka feel at home and would give her that grandmotherly sage advice whenever she had visited and if anyone could help her now it was her.

The journey there was long and once the feelings of withdraws started to set in Zuka had started feeling cabin fever and was going to go insane locked in a tiny cabin for days. She wasn’t proud of what came next but black fin wasn’t hard to find on a water tribe bound ship and she bought enough to last her through until they reached land.

Hiko was surprised to see her granddaughter on her door step and she was horrified to see her in her current state. After ushering her in and letting her rest for a few days Zuka finally broke down and told her grandmother about her problem…well, about her addiction, the other things she wasn’t ready to share yet, she didn’t want to risk her grandmothers disappointment or disapproval on that.

The detox process was…to say difficult would be a vast understatement. Zuka had not been dealing with just one addiction but three and coming down off of those had made her a awful person to be around. She swore and broke things, threw fits, begged and pleaded for her uncle and grandmother to just make the pain stop but Hiko took it all in stride. She would calmly remind Zuka to behave and would help her through the particular tough bits with medicinal elixirs and healing sessions and finally after a few months Zuka was starting to feel normal again. She knew she wasn’t out of the clear just yet but the hard part was over.

The summer turned to winter and Zuka remained with her grandmother and uncle and took up helping Hiko in her healing practice. It was during this time that Zuka gained a new found respect for the healing art and started to study it more in depth.  It was true that healing was her weakest form of bending but she figured that focusing on something that wasn’t destructive would be beneficial to her. She was right, the calm meditation and non combative movements soothed her mind. Zuka’s skill in healing grew and eventually she was able to  help more and heal the larger and more internal injuries.

All of this time spent with her fathers family was like a dream but Zuka still carried a great weight on her shoulders. The guilt of what she had done was always there and her grandmother would occasionally question Zuka about it, Zuka always brushed it off as it was nothing telling her that she was fine but one night after a nightmare that caused Zuka to wake up in a cold sweat did she finally open up.

Zuka told Hiko everything: everything about her life from the moment when she ran away from home, to when she came to Republic City and started her own Triad to when she put on the mask and sought justice for her father and then later vengeance against her competitors.

It felt good to get that all off her chest but now that she finished Zuka waited for the inevitable ‘how could you’ and general disgust that her grandmother would most certainly feel. But, it never came. Instead Hiko reached out and pulled her granddaughter into a tight embrace and for the first time in a long time Zuka cried and the two of them remained like that for the rest of the night, just sitting there and talking, Hiko listening to everything Zuka had to say…and she had a lot to say, now that the flood gates were opened there was no stopping it until it had run its course.

After that night Zuka had really begun to heal and she had settled into a quiet life in the northern tribe but, the north was not without its problems or its own Traid element. Zuka did her best to ignore them, trying to convince herself that that was all behind her but all it took was being in the right place and the right time to send her back to her old ways.


She had been walking back to her grandmothers house one night from eating dinner with a friend and was making her way to the public transport when she heard a commotion coming from a alley. Zuka stopped walking and listened and heard sounds of a struggle coming from within. Her first instinct was to react but she forced herself to stay put, she wasn’t doing that anymore, that life had been behind her and whatever was going on was none of her business but, the longer she stood there the more the sounds turned into cries and pleas for help.

That was the tipping point and Zuka hurried down the alley until she came upon a group of men harassing a scared looking woman. Zuka gave them all a warning, told them to back off but they just laughed and thought they had gotten lucky with a two for one. She quickly put those thoughts to rest. While it had been some months since her last fight Zuka was not that rusty and she had taken care of them with little problems. With the men down the woman thanked her before running off and Zuka started her journey once again back to her grandmothers but the whole way there her mind raced and she could not shake the feeling she had gotten from taking those men down. That rush was back, that feeling of knowing that something had been done and that the Triads wouldn’t get away with their plan.

The seed had once again been plated and already it was taking root.

The next few days Zuka carried on is a distracted haze, she had been helping her grandmother in her practice but instead of healing the patients arm like she was supposed to Zuka was simply moving water back and forth. It had been like that every time and finally, after the third day of this Hiko pulled Zuka aside, sat her down and asked her what was wrong.

She didn’t know how to tell her grandmother what she was feeling but she managed and once she finished Hiko looked at her granddaughter and sighed.

’Do you know the story behind that mask?” the elder woman asked and Zuka shook her head no, when she had picked it out as a child she liked it because it looked cool, she didn’t care about the lore behind it.

When her granddaughter confirmed that she had no idea of the lore Hiko gave a slight nod and a ‘hmm’ ”sprits have always been part of our world that’s never been a secret. Every nations has its protectors and like people, spirits come in many forms. Most of them are good, they help us in many ways…some spirits are bad, evil creatures that only want to see our destruction and then, there are those in the middle. “

Zuka felt like she was a girl again, listening to her grandmother tell her stories when she and her father would come visit.

”These spirits in the middle are neither good nor bad, dark or light but they invoke the best of both sides. The owl is one of these spirits. Many believe him to be a omen of death and ghost, that if you see his face doom and despair will shortly follow, others believe him to be a symbol of bad luck but what most don’t know is that he is a symbol of justice. Those that see him are often compelled to confess their sins for fear of his wrath.” Hiko went to explain some more and while she was still listening Zuka’s mind was buzzing. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing, was her grandmother giving her her blessing to continue with The Talon? As Hiko finished her story she kissed Zuka on the forehead and retired for the night, leaving Zuka to sit there and contemplate. She stayed awake all night, mulling things over and in the morning she had made up her mind.

The process of getting back to the Talon was harder than she thought, Zuka had buried all of that so deep that getting it back was slow..and painful, a lot of difficult memories were associated with that mask but this was her chance to right those wrongs and do something good. As winter slowly began to change to summer Zuka spent those months training and preparing. She had designed a new suit, learning from her past encounters what did and did not work as well as a better suited mask . It had taken some time getting everything bit by bit so as not to raise suspicion but with the help of her uncle (who was rather handy) she was able to create something great.

When the time finally came to leave Zuka said goodbye to her family before setting off but before she left Zuka promised her grandmother that she would make she and her father proud.

Now here she was, a year later returning home.

As the boat finally reached the port Zuka carried her bags off and caught a taxi into the city. During her time away Zuka had sold her penthouse and had instead purchased a modest brownstone in the Phoenix district. The business of the club would have to happen soon but right now she wanted to enjoy the feeling of being back.

Two months passed and Zuka had been busy working on separating herself from the Dolls. She had given the Triad to Lena an Rei on the condition that they maintained the Dolls standards..backwards as they may be and the two agreed. Zuka also separated the Blue Dragon from Doll interest. It was now a legitimate business and acted as ‘neutral’ ground between all of the triads, still under Doll protection but they no longer operated their business from its basement. Her next big project was commissioning the government to allow for legal casinos since her illicit one had proved to be so profitable Zuka wanted to continue it but as a law abiding citizen, but that project would have to wait as there was something she had to do first.

The two months she had been back Zuka had maintained a low profile and had not reached out to anyone but she had kept tabs on a few people, one in particular. Kenji had not changed much from what she could see, he still ran his private eye business, still accepted clients and from the rumors she heard still kept his night activities up. There had been many times when Zuka wanted to go to his office and had started to with every intention of going to see him but she had chickened out at the last second. He wasn’t going to want to see her and really, she couldn’t blame him for that…she wouldn’t want to see her either after what she did and their reunion fell to the wayside as her work began to pile up.

However, that work was finished now and she had run out of excuses, question was, how was she to go about this?
Showing up to his door unannounced would probably get the door slammed into her face and if she tried to call him he would certainly hang up on her and any invitation she gave him would go straight to the trash. No, the only way this would happen was if she surprised him and she think she had an idea on how to do that.

Zuka watched Kenji for a few nights. When he wasn’t working his ‘other job’ he always stayed late at the office and would leave around the same time to find some food before coming back to finish whatever he was doing. So, she waited and on third night once he left Zuka slipped into the building and let herself into the office, sitting in a chair and waiting for him. A small smile came to her lips as she couldn’t help but think of the last time this had happened but that was a long time ago now…it almost felt like a lifetime.

She waited, and waited until finally after about a hour or so she heard footsteps coming down the hall.

[Kenji]

Kenji paid the noddle guy and then began to make his way back to the office. He tread a familiar path back to the office. It was only after he made his way up the steps and to the hallway of his office, that his lips fell into a hard flat line and his eyes narrowed slightly.


And why shouldn't they?


After all he knew what was on the other side of that door.

**** 

She's not the first girl to leave.



He wasn't sure why he had thought that, but it had been the first cogent thought he had, when he crawled into his house that night. Every inch of him was screaming in pain, and it was a nothing short of a miracle that he managed to put strip out of his costume and hide it away before shuffling to his bed. As his head hit the pillow, whatever adrenaline he had left gave out and the pain he felt was so intense he began to black out, however before the blackness hit him the last thought he had was


She's not the first girl to leave.

*** 

It was morning when he woke up, it felt like he had slept for a week, but as it turned out it was only two days. However as he got up out of his bed, and almost fell back over, as his muscles and bones screamed out still in pain from when they had been twisted and shifted involuntarily. Despite the pain he pulled himself up and started moving again. One foot in front of the other, as he got back in the swing of things.


As time passed it got easier to keep up appearances during the day, using a combination of herbs, balms, and liquor to keep everything in working order. However his nights were still an ordeal as sometimes he would wake up in the middle of the night, his body shooting with the phantom pain from that night.


Even when he was able to sleep through the night, his dreams were fitful, as often he would be back in the spirit world and hear the voice of that mocking spirit and the question it had asked him, what seemed like a life time ago


How much more can you endure, before you just....shatter?

*** 

As winter turned to summer, he kept himself busy with his work and it paid off. Cops, even good ones, seemed to ignore the stigma of his past and come to him when there was a problem that fell into the grey area. He helped them out, and in turn he had gained quite a web of contacts within the police department.


With that,when combined with his reputation for discretion, he also began to garner more wealthy clients. Missing jewelry, cheating spouses,and the occasional low level political intrigue. Nothing too exciting, but plenty that gave him more contacts and more importantly a much healthier bank account.


Enough for better quality suits, to finally get the Satomobile that had been gathering dust in storage and finally get it tuned up and fixed, to move from his shabby apartment to something a little more up market. He still kept his office in the same place though, partially because he liked it a little to much to move, and partially because in this neighborhood anyone who wasn't supposed to be there, stuck out. A trait that he still found valuable.


However the best thing he had done that summer was finally go see a healer. This one had no ties to any triad, she was also the most expensive healer in the city. However with a referral from one his satisfied clients ( and a generous bonus from said client) he got an appointment to see her. When he did, the healer had been amazed that, in her words, he was still able to walk.


As Kenji slid into the healing pool, he heard her say " This is going to be a lot worse, but you'll be a lot better afterward."



Nodding, Kenji then saw the pool glow and then begin to ice over as he could felt the healing water on his body began to draw out his pain....all at once. It took all his strength not scream as he felt his eyes roll back in his head, As blackness once again began to creep in his vision, he could still hear that mocking phrase in the back of his head.


How much more can you endure, before you just....shatter?



However when he finally stepped out of that pool, for the first time in a long time, he felt whole again.

*** 

As summer turned back to winter, Kenji's nights as The Ghost became more interesting, It had been subtle at first. Red Monsoon drops, being done by Agni Kai soldiers, Terra Triad warehouse being outfitted with Platinum Fist tech. However soon enough it was plain to see.


As it turned out, there was a way to get the Triads to work together, just give them a common enemy. However despite the obvious collusion, some of the snitches he had "cultivated" within the gang had told him that they weren't aware of the team ups until they were already en route. That meant that whoever was pulling the string here was further up the chain then the rest of the rank and file


It was a bit of a mystery, however if Kenji was being honest, he had some ideas as to who was pulling the strings.


However he didn't have time to think on that, because now it meant that every night he went out, if he wasn't on the top of his game, he might not make it back. He had to be better, quicker, smarter than he had ever been before. He started using an old safehouse, he had shuttered, to start keeping track of the new web the Triads were starting to form to try and catch him.


Becuase of this, every morning he woke up, he considered, packing up and leaving the city behind, However by the time it was night, he was once again putting on the mask and swinging into the night, because despite the added pressure, he had a finally started the inklings of a plan.


Despite that every so often he would still think back on the question


How much more can you endure, before you just....shatter?

*** 

Which brought him here to his front door, a year and two months later, as he opened the door of his office and saw her sitting there. She was probably expecting him to be surprised, however she was in for disappointment.

After all, she wasn't the first girl to come back either.


He took off his hat and tossed it on the rack and then sighed as he said " I saw you two months ago when you got off the boat and took a cab to the city."


He then walked toward his desk as he continued " I saw you a moth ago when you took back ownership of the club and severed it from the Dolls."



He then sat down in his chair and looked across at her " I saw you three days ago, when you tired to be incognito at that noodle stand a couple blocks up."


He pulled a coin out of pocket and said " I'm not sure who taught you how to tail someone, but whoever it is is probably very disappointed right about now."


He then flipped the coin and then his hand moved as he caught it and then in one fluid motion threw it at her. The coin then shifted and elongated into a sharp metal needle. It stopped just shy of plunging into her right eye and just hung there, right within striking distance.


Kenji then spoke again " Not sure why your here Zuka, not sure that I care. But I've got a few minutes to kill, so i'll let you say what you came to say, but here's the ground rules: You make a move on me, you lose an eye. You lie to me, you lose an eye. Hell, you say something that rubs me the wrong way, you lose an eye."



He then pointed back to his door " Or you can get up and go right back out the door back to where you came from. Either way works for me. So what's it going to be?"

[Zuka]

Zuka held her breath as he entered through the door but he seemed unphased by her being there. By no means had she been expecting him to be happy to see her but she was certain that as soon as he saw her there would be some nasty words thrown at her before she was told to get out.

None of that happened.

No, instead he calmly went about hanging up his hat and coat and started listing all the times he had seen her. " I'm not sure who taught you how to tail someone, but whoever it is is probably very disappointed right about now."

”I wasn’t trying to hide.” She told him, that didn’t matter but she hadn’t been trying to hide from him she just couldn’t figure out the best way to approach him which is why she had always left before she could.

As Kenji sat down Zuka waited for him to settle and watched as he started flipping the coin until suddenly..

When the needle stopped just before her Zuka moved back slightly out of instinct but once she realized it had stopped so did she. As it hung there Zuka squared her shoulders slightly and stared it down, keeping her eyes on Kenji. She was not afraid, would it hurt? Of course. Would it suck? Yes. Did she deserve it? You bet. He could have taken his revenge and left it at that but he didn’t (she was sure he wanted to) but no, Kenji had stopped it and was giving her the chance to say her peace. Part of that seemed odd to her, that fact that he was letting her sit here this long amazed her but she supposed she had thought wrong about him.

" Not sure why your here Zuka, not sure that I care. But I've got a few minutes to kill, so i'll let you say what you came to say, but here's the ground rules: You make a move on me, you lose an eye. You lie to me, you lose an eye. Hell, you say something that rubs me the wrong way, you lose an eye. Or you can get up and go right back out the door back to where you came from. Either way works for me. So what's it going to be?"

Once he had set his terms Zuka took in a silent breath, held it for a moment before letting it out. ”I know you don’t care about why I left or why I’m back and I know that I’m the last person you want to see.” Zuka paused, she had rehearsed this over and over in her mind since she had boarded that boat home and yet, now that she was here nothing that she had to say seemed good enough. But, she had to keep going, say her peace.

”I know I hurt you, I know I crossed a line that we can never come back from. I also know that any apology I give you isn’t going to be enough but I am sorry Kenji. What I did to you was horrible and – “ She wanted to say it was because she hadn’t been in her right mind but she knew that Kenji wouldn’t care or want to hear her problems and Zuka knew that that wasn’t a excuse so instead she stopped her thought and left it there. ”I’m sorry” Zuka held her breath and her grip tightened around the arm rest of the chairs as she tried to brace for the pain she was sure was going to come.”

[Kenji]

"Your sorry?" he echoed as he let out a short mirthless laugh as he kept the metal needle exactly where it was as he continued " You why I don't care why you left, Zuka? it's because I always knew you would. After all the whole Triad thing was just to stick it to your mom and the mask was just to work out your daddy issues, but I knew the moment it got too hard, you'd run like the poor little rich girl you are." he held up his hand as he said " Don't mistake me, there was a time that I thought I might be wrong," he paused "but I never am." He paused and echoed again " I never am"

"You know why I don't care that your back?" he asked as he twitched his hand and the needle flew back to his hand and he slammed it  down on the table. He stood up,looming over her and moved his hand revealing that he had turned it back into a coin again as his voice began to rise as he could feel anger rise up in him " It's the same reason that I haven't knocked you on your spoiled little princess ass a thousand times by now, it's because I literally am too busy to take the time out of my day to deal with what ever delusion made you come here, and try to make yourself feel better. Unlike you, I can't just put things on hold until I feel better, I just have to grit my teeth and keep going."

He sat sown and pointed to the door " There's the door Zuka, go run your little club, and tell your friends in The Dolls to keep their activities  on the grey side of things, and stay of my business." His eyes then narrowed as he said coldly " Oh and just so I make myself perfectly clear, I mean all of my business. If I see you in that mask or even hear a whisper of the name The Talon, I will take you out permanently."

"And I promise you, you'll never see me coming."

[Zuka]

As the needle flew back into his hand Zuka let out the breath she had been holding in from the anticipation of the pain and her shoulders relaxed slightly but that was short lived when he got up and began to shout at her. Zuka wanted to tell Kenji about why she left, explain to him what she was going through at the time about how she wasn’t in the right frame of mind but it didn’t seem fair and none of that would make anything better between them. So, she let him yell and pushed back the words that tried to jump from her tongue as he cut into her.

When he dismissed her Zuka glanced back at the door and was going to just get up and leave until he had put down his threat about keeping herself out of the mask. Zuka looked across at him and her demeanor changed a little, she was not going to let him bully her out of doing what she had come back here to do . ”I don’t need your permission Kenji. You do what you have to and I will do what I have to.”

[Kenji]

This spirit cursed meeting was almost over, and Kenji had to say that all in all he had done well considering.



Then she had to open her mouth again.



He could feel his mask of calm cracking as sharp laugh came out as he said “ You can’t possibly be this arrogant.” he paused and then gestured “ Look who I’m talking to, of course you are.”



He shook his head and said “ You time didn’t stop just because you turned tail and ran, things kept going, the triads are getting smarter and more dangerous. The only reason I’m comfortable walking the streets is because I have laid meticulous work to separate my days and my nights and because of that work, nobody thinks I’m a threat.”



He rounded back on her “ You on the other hand are sloppy, and reckless. It was a genuine miracle nobody caught on the last time you played dress up. They won’t be so careless again. They will figure it out and they will come for you.” he paused and said “ and if by some miracle you manage to get away, then they will go after your friends, your family. They will take them and make an example of them, not because they know anything, but because they need to make an example and to draw you out. Then once they have you in their clutches, I assure you they’ll do far worse to you, because that’s how it works in war.”



He stopped for a minute to catch his breath and calm down a little as he said slowly “ There are a multitude of reasons I hated Triads, but one of them is that most of them have mentality of a five year old. Everything is all about turf and what’s theirs and what's not.” despite himself he felt his voice rising again “ and you can claim that you're different than them but you're not and what you just said to me proves it.”



He sneered “ Permission. As if this is some stupid turf spat. You need to wake the hell up. This isn’t about you, this is about the people you're going to get killed just so you can work out your daddy issues.”



“What I said to you, wasn’t a threat. It was a mercy. I assure you, If i have take you out, I’ll be a lot kinder than what the Triads will do do you. I owe you that much after all.” he paused and sighed “ We were friends once.”



He paused, the fire in his words smoldering to an ember again as he spoke in a calm cold matter of fact manner “ They play for keeps now Zuka and you don’t have the commitment  or the stomach for this. So do your friends and family a favor and stay out of it or go home. I don’t care which.”

[Zuka]

She didn’t expect him to like her answer but Zuka was not going to back down. He could yell and shout all he wanted she knew what she was doing and she knew it was the right thing. A dangerous and stupid thing but it was what needed to be done.

”I started this, I can’t just let it go.”

Her actions while not the only reason had been a main catylist to these turf wars, back then it had been what she wanted, let them kill each other off and be done with it but things hadn’t gone to plan. This was her mess and she wasn’t going to just leave it.

Kenji didn’t stop however and Zuka could swear she heard a hint of what sounded like concern in his voice but it was hard to say, even when he was yelling Kenji was good at guarding what he was feeling. When he told her to go home Zuka’s eyes narrowed slightly. She didn’t run away, that wasn’t who she was and even if she had left once before she was back to finish what she started only this time with a cooler and more level head.

”I could have stayed away, Zuka butted in, her voice calm “it took months but after I got myself clean and accepted what I had done I was happy. I could have had a life there but I chose to come back because it’s the right thing to do. I know the risk, I’m prepared for those. “ Zuka knew how they operated, did he forget she used to be one of them. She knew all the awful things the Triads did to those that opposed them and she was ready for it. Her family was well protected so her concern for them was there but she knew they would be safe and if it came down to them catching her she was prepared to pay that price.

Once he was done Zuka gave him a moment ” I was wrong in how I handled it the first time, I know that but I was angry and looking for revenge. Zuka knew that, her recklessness had caused a lot of pain ”but they need to be stopped and nothing you say or do is going to change my mind. “

[Kenji]

He calmly  listened to what she had to say. However once she was done all he did was sit there quietly for a bit. He let the silence fill the gap for a bit before finally he let out a simple statement say in a cold tone " It was a mistake to let you put on a mask in the first place."

He stood up from his seated position, but still kept the cold even tone as he continued "And it's one I won't make again. I've told you what will happen if you interfere, just do me a favor and don't look surprised when I end it."


"He pointed to the door " This conversations over."


(meh short)

[Zuka]

So that's how it was going to be. Fine, she could accept that but Zuka was not going to let him bully her into submission, she had something she needed to do and if she ended up in jail because of it then that's how it was. Zuka's eyes narrowed slightly as his words but she said nothing. The tension in the room was thick, it felt like the tiniest spark could set them off but she had said what she need to say and had fulfilled her reason for coming so this reunion was over.

Pushing back the chair Zuka stood, straightening her back and standing tall to show him that he did not scare her off and she looked across at him her own cold gaze matching his. "If that's how it has to be then so be it." Zuka stood there for a moment longer before turning and heading to the door, opening it and walking out into the hall. She had plans to make.