Name to come soon

[Zuka]

SPOILER: Click to show

Not done obviously but my computer is acting up and I'm afraid I'm going to lose what I have so I'm going to post it here and add to it as I go. Will repost once its all completed

They had escaped; somehow they had made it out of that fight alive…maybe a little worse for wear but alive. Zuka was tired. The battle had been long and difficult and she had a lot to think over as she sat on a bench, turning herself sideways and brought her feet up, putting her knees up and hugging them as looked out one of the small circular windows of the cabin. The boat gently rocking back and forth was a slight comfort.  

A lot of things had happened tonight and some of those things would stick with her long after. Zuka had killed that chi blocker Ula, which, wasn’t what was bothering her…not really. In her heyday as a Triad leader Zuka was certain she had killed or at least maimed her fair share in the more intense turf wars, it had been part of the package.

No, it wasn’t the killing it was what came after.

As soon as they had set fire to that warehouse and made it out alive Kenji and Zuka, The Ghost and The Talon ceased to exist. They had planed their escape well and in doing so had to leave no trace of them behind. As far as everyone else was concerned The Ghost and The Talon had died in that fire and Kenji and Zuka had met a similar end.

Neva and Teo had been a huge help in planning their escape and if it wasn’t for the two of them Zuka was sure they wouldn’t have made it as effortlessly as they had. Before the night of the fire came Zuka had signed everything she had over to Neva, giving her control of her finances, the club and anything else of importance so she knew things would be in good hands. Zuka had her reasoning’s for doing so; if things had somehow went south and they were forced to return it would be easier to assume control back and Neva deserved something in return for all the help she had given her. Zuka wished she could have left something to Zula but it was better this way.

Thinking of her sister made Zuka bring her hand up and rub her face while she sighed. Poor Zula, she was left in the dark to all of this and would have to live life thinking her twin was dead. The thought of it caused a pit in Zukas stomach as she thought of all the pain her sister would be feeling once she got the news but…it had to be this way.

At least that was what she kept telling herself.

Dropping her hand Zuka glanced across the room to where Kenji was sitting in a chair. It was dark ,the only light coming from the moon outside that seeped through the small windows but she could see his outline and even she could tell the change in his demeanor. They both had been through a lot tonight; each of them had their own burdens to deal with and their own way of dealing with them. Which is why they sat there in silence, there didn’t seem like much to talk about right now and the both seemed to agree.

Zuka watched Kenji for a moment before turning back to the window and resting the side of her forehead against the glass.

~*~*~*~

The next day Zuka woke up from a restless sleep and tried to shake off the feeling of the unknown. What was going to happen after this? Their plan had been to head to Kyoshi Island; it was small, far enough away and neither of them had spent time there in the past. It was a good cover since it would be the last place anyone would think to look for either of them but to make sure she wouldn’t be recognized Zuka knew she had to change a few things.

Zuka carefully got herself out of the small bed making sure not to disturb Kenji as she did and walked to one of bags that they had packed for their new life. After rummaging through a backpack Zuka found what she had been looking for and pulled out of box of black hair dye, carrying that over to the small bathroom so she could get it over with. Flipping the switch on the side of the wall Zuka grimaced at the sudden bright light and waited a moment for her eyes to adjust before setting the box down on the ledge of the sink and turning on the water.

First things first.

Zuka stuck her hands under the running water and closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of the cool water spill over her hands. She left them there for a time, enjoying the comfort of her element before finally letting the water pool into her hands and bringing her face down and splashing the water across it. Zuka repeated this a few times until she was satisfied and once done she reached up to turn the water off, blindly reaching for the small towel that she had seen when she first walked in. After grasping at nothing the first few attempts her hand finally hit something soft and she grabbed the towel and covered her face.

As she patted it dry Zuka straightened back up and pulled the towel away from her face, ready to take care of her hair but, as she looked at herself in the mirror Zuka had a change of heart. If she did this then Zuka would really be dead and she wasn’t ready to let go of her yet, not when so much work had gone into making her. Zuka had worked hard for everything she had, she had clawed her way from being a prissy noblewoman who did what she was told to a independent thrillseeker and she couldn’t let that go….not yet.

Giving the box of dye one last look Zuka decided now was not the time. She knew that soon she would have to but she was going to hang on being Zuka for as long as she could. With her mind made up Zuka tossed the towel aside and grabbed the box and threw it back into the bag she had found it.

~*~*~*~

The next day they were close to their destination and after Kenji changed into the clothes that were left for them and went above deck to make sure everything was set with Teo, that they had their plan set and papers were in order. Zuka stared at the bag she had thrown the box in a day earlier. It looked like it was time.

Quietly she got up from her chair and retrieved the box of dye and shut herself in the small bathroom.

It was now or never.

Over the next hour Zuka colored her hair to a jet black and when the dye was rinsed out she took a pair of scissors and with a deep breath cut her long hair until it was slightly above her shoulders. With her hair dyed and cut Zuka used her bending to pull some of the excess water from her hair so it would dry faster and began brushing and trying to figure out how to style it. She played around with different styles for a few minutes before getting frustrated and settling with taking some of her hair and pinning it into a bun on each side, leaving the rest to hang down.

Now that that was done Zuka stepped out of the bathroom and went to change into the clothes from the island that Teo had gotten for them. Zuka pulled her clothes from a bag and held them up, thankfully it was blue, she could live with blue…even after all this time Kyoshi island still held on to many of its customs.

Zuka made quick work of changing and throwing her other clothes with the rest of her things and looked herself in the mirror. The transformation was complete, Zuka Ou-Yong was officially dead and Umi stood in her place. Looking away Zuka…Umi decided she should see what the others were doing and went to join Teo and Kenji on the deck and watch the island come into view. Zuka wanted to get a look at her new home.

~*~*~*~

Kyoshi Island was….small. It was the only way Zuka could describe it.

Zuka remembered learning about the island in her studies as a child, about how Avatar Kyoshi formed it, about when Avatar Aang and his friends traveled to it and by looking at things the villages looked exactly as they had in her text book. Even after the years and the technological advancements the world had made the island looked to remain relatively unchanged with the exception of a few modern touches.

From her position on the dock Zuka could see a larger village in the distance and it looked like a few of the bigger villages had been built up and had more of the comforts Zuka was used to but it was still a bit of a culture shock, it was almost like she was back in her teens when she left home.  Hoping around all those Earth Nation villages but even those were a little well along than this.

Naturally, Zuka was hoping that they would be staying in one of those bigger villages but of course she knew that would be too much to hope for. As they got off the boat and made sure everything was as it should be Kenji and Zuka said their goodbyes to Teo and watched as he and the boat headed back toward Republic City.

Zuka heaved a large sigh as she watched the boat get smaller and smaller until it disappeared on the horizon and once it was out of sight she looked around before looking to Kenji, wondering what they were supposed to do now. Kenji and Teo had been the ones to handle most of this part of the planning and she had trusted them to do so but now she almost wished she hadn’t .

”Right” he said, breaking the awkward silence, Zuka was sure he could feel her hesitation with the choice of location but if he could he did a good job of ignoring it. Kenji bent down and began picking up his bags and Zuka did the same, slinging the straps of two duffle bags on her right shoulder and carrying the backpack in her right. She followed Kenji as they walked down the dock to the mainland and then to a old beat up car. Zuka looked at the car and she could feel another sigh coming but she choked it down. It wasn’t even a satomobile! It was one of the cabbage corp models and it hardly looked like it ran….Zuka stopped herself from continuing on in her mind and she reminded herself that they were in hiding, that they had to blend in and that this wasn’t about what they had or didn’t have but the fact that they were alive. Material things didn’t matter.

When they were done loading their belongings into the car Zuka climbed into the passenger seat and waited for Kenji to take the drivers since he knew where he was going. As he stuck the key into the ignition the car sputtered a couple times but wouldn’t turn over. Once more Kenji tried and the car did the same and Zuka groaned quietly while leaning her head against the window and lightly hitting the side of her head against the glass.

Huh, Teo was supposed to fix that” she heard Kenji say and as he tried to start the car a third time.  The engine clicked and finally came to life as it sputtered a little before becoming smooth. ”Ha!” Kenji said in victory as they pulled away from the docks and started down a dirt road. Zuka kept her head on the glass and watched the larger villages fade from her line of sight.

The island was small so it didn’t take them long to reach their destination…or at least she didn’t think it would have since they had to stop a few times as animals and live stock blocked the road. But, finally they had made it and Zuka was ready to see where the two of them would be spending the foreseeable future together. Getting out of the car Zuka looked around and noticed a few things. The area was secluded, the only neighbor she could see was another house in the distance quite a bit away. There was a nice sized hill that opened up around the area of the house that Kenji could extend if they wanted more privacy and Zuka could hear the sound of waves crashing close by which meant they were close to the water which she was happy about. However, she still had yet to see the actual house and once Kenji had joined her the two walked up the hill and she stopped.

The house, while quite large was dilapidated and looked like it hadn’t been lived in in years. Part of the roof was missing and looked like it had caved in, boards were falling off the side of the house, shutters hung loosely or not at all and vines had taken over the exterior. That was just the outside Zuka could only imagine what the inside looked like.

”Please tell me you’re joking” Zuka said as she turned to look at Kenji, hoping for a ‘gotcha!’ but knowing it wasn’t going to be the case.

”It’s not that bad” Kenji defended

Not that bad? Zuka looked at Kenji and then walked over to porch and gently touched one of the shutters that was hanging my its last screw. As soon as she did the shutter gave way and fell to the ground and Zuka held up her hands and used them to point to the shutter ”not that bad, huh?”

”Ok so it needs some work” Kenji shot back casually while following Zuka to the porch and opening the front door. As he did a few birds flew out at them from being startled. Kenji ducked and Zuka ‘pfft’ at him but he ignored her. ”didn’t know we would have pets either, did you?” With the coast clear Kenji grabbed Zukas hand and led her inside and began to explain the potential the place had.

As he explained Zuka looked around at the mess. She was right in assuming part of the roof had caved in because she looked up and saw the large hole where no doubt the birds and who knew what else had gotten in. Kenji followed her gaze up ”skylight” he told her before going back to his explanation. Zuka barely heard him as her eyes swept over all the dirt, sand and bird droppings that littered the floor and surfaces.

Kenji noticed her looking around and sighed before stepping in front of her to block her view and placing his hands on each of her shoulders. ”Look, I know it’s a mess and it needs a lot of work and this is all a big adjustment but think of this as a project. Something to keep us busy while we get used to things now that its..different.”

He had a point, fixing this place up would be a nice distraction from things and keep them busy for who knows how long. Defeated Zuka let her shoulders fall and her head fall forward into Kenjis chest ”ok”

Kenji slightly laughed and moved his arms accordingly and wrapped them around her instead. They stayed like that for a few minutes before a thought crossed Zuka’s mind and she lifted her head slightly ”Kenji, where are we going to sleep?”

~*~*~*~*~

The next few weeks they spent their time making repairs on the house. Their first order of business was getting the house cleaned out and Zuka swept out all of the dirt and sand while Kenji started repairs on one of the rooms that would be the bedroom. Their first few nights there the two had camped out on the beach, when they arrived on the island it was the middle of the spring months so it wasn’t terribly cold and with the help of a fire and blankets they were able to keep warm but they couldn’t sleep on the beach forever.

It had taken most of the day but Zuka had finally gotten all of the sand out and had cleaned the floors and surfaces of the main living area so if nothing else they could at least sleep on the floor inside while the room was being finished. There was still a giant hole in the roof but as long as it didn’t rain they would be fine.   Thankfully the electricity in the house still worked so it made walking around the place at night a lot less like a maze where you could fall through the floor at the wrong step.

Next, Zuka had moved on to the vines that had overrun the area. She used her plantbending to move them away from the house and instead up the side of the cliff and the ones that were particularly stubborn she sucked the water from and destroyed the roots system so they wouldn’t return.

With them out of the way Zuka went to try to help Kenji.

She had never had to build anything before and so she didn’t know what kind of help she would be but she could at least offer.

Mostly Kenji just had her hold stuff for him while he hammered nails and boards into place but after a few weeks of that the two of them were tired, annoyed  and had been stuck with each other while working which had lead to their first fight…well, no, but had their first fight as a ‘couple’.

The two of them had done everything backwards, usually you didn’t move in with someone until you had known them for a few years and you know, you loved them. Did Zuka care for Kenji? Of course she did but she didn’t know if she was to the point of love yet. Both of them had had their fair share of bad decisions in the past…Zuka knew she had many but her worst decision had been Han and Kenjis had been Jaya whom he had recently just killed. Neither one of them were in a place for something like this and no matter what they tried to tell themselves this relationship was fragile.

Part of Zuka feared that things only happened the way they did given their situation.  That they had been thrown together in the midst of war and with emotions high they used that as a excuse.  It was a fear she kept to herself but it was always in the back of her mind. 

Even with all of their collective years of knowing each other they both knew very little about the other. Each of them had been guarded for their own reasons but now that it was just the two of them they couldn’t afford that and needed to let those walls down…Problem was, that was easier said than done. Years of conditioning and not trusting people had done its number on both of them.

It didn’t take them long before they were able to work through that fight but it was only the first of many.

Majority of their fights were trivial things: He would do something to annoy her and she in turn would do something to annoy him. The two hadn’t been together long enough to really know the others ticks and habits so it was a learning experience. There was one night in particular that a fight had been caused because of something rather stupid.

Kenji had spent most of his day patching the roof of the house while Zuka worked on cleaning the rooms that he had finished prior and by the end of the day both of them had been exhausted. Zuka had finished before Kenji had and she sat herself at the makeshift table with a cup of tea with an apple core next to it. Their stock of instant noodles and other liked things had run out yesterday which meant that tomorrow they would have to go to the market that was a few miles down the road so tonight her dinner had been one of the apples that had been left.

As Kenji finally came in he grabbed a glass and went to the sink where he filled the cup with water and drank it down, refilling it once more and doing the same. Satisfied he began rummaging through the kitchen.

”It looks nice” She said, looking up at the hole that was no longer there.

”Thanks.” he mumbled while he continued searching ”did you make anything for dinner?”

Zuka looked at the back of Kenjis head with a small glare. Perhaps she was too tired and worn out that things were getting to her but what had he been expecting exactly? Up until now they had been boiling hot water to add to dehydrated food and it didn’t cross her mind that eventually they were going to reach this point until now. ”No..” Zuka said.

Kenji turned to look at her ”why not?”

Oh he didn’t. Zuka would give him that he had been working all day but so had she and she wasn’t exactly thrilled that there wasn’t much left to eat either but she had dealt with it. Well” Zuka began, annoyed and holding out her hand counting with her fingers. ”One, there is no food. We need to go get some tomorrow and two. You do know that I don’t know how to cook, right?”

Why would she need to know how to cook? Zuka had come from a home where she was catered to and even after she left she lived in a big city where anything and everything she could have ever want was within walking distance and if she didn’t feel like going out she had people at her beck and call that she could send instead. Cooking had never even been on her mind.

Zuka could see the change in Kenjis body language and she could tell that he was annoyed but he shouldn’t have assumed that in the first place. ‘Fine’ before he grabbed the last ash banana and disappeared to another room.

’Wait a minute!” She called after him, turning in her chair to look in the direction he had disappeared to ”do you even know how to cook?” Zuka asked but received no answer. That was what she thought; he had assumed that she would be the one to take care of that. After that Zuka let him go, letting him pout all he wanted but the next day when it had blown over..again Zuka made a point to sit him down so they could talk things out and figure out things like the cooking and the laundry and stuff like that.

Since neither of them knew how to cook it was safe to say they were going to have to learn together because they couldn’t survive on Flameo noodles alone. The rest of the things they had divided and split up, agreeing to help each other with some things while the rest would be left to whoever job it was. After that things had gone a lot smoother and their relationship had gotten back on track. Even to the point where the two slowly began to open up more to one another.

It wasn’t much but it was a start.

~*~*~*~