Susiko waited for Yuudai to respond, picking at her food blandly, tearing the roll that came with it to shreds with long pale fingers. The fire bender looked outside the window, thinking about her past, ignoring Yasuo for the moment. --How is my family?— she thought, a bit worriedly. Then, realizing that she should live in the present, and not the past, she turned her attention back to Yasuo, training her golden gaze on him.

[OOC: Please note that the "Darkest days" whatever will probably happen right at the end of my post.

To Doku Yugami - feel free to enter. But please don't interrupt our Agni Kai.

This was all written with Kouun last night. This took so long to write, you have no idea.]

She smiled happily, looking down at the ground.
"I-It was the least I could do."
She looked at Selece's happy face.. and smiled genuinely for a moment.. seemingly on cloud nine, finally turning her back and looking towards Kouun.

Kouun looked up at Kenta who had walked over to him asking if he had witnessed the fight.

"You should have won Kenta. Her only water source was that well. You could have easily plugged it up and made it much harder for her to fight you. I guess you don't think that far."

Kouun slowly got up and shook his head in a disappointed fashion towards Kenta. He then noticed Amatria had fallen asleep, after a few minutes she woke up with tears building in her eyes. She asked if they could leave. Kouun walked over to her and bent down to her level and placed his large hand on her shoulder.

"We will leave as soon as I and Yue settle things, okay Amatria?"

Kouun stood up and walked over to Selece and Yue.

"I'm ready if you are, Yue."

She nodded to him to signal her readiness, motioning him to follow her slightly as the walked a bit aways from the others.. about 30 feet or so. They were still visible, but a ways enough away that they wouldn't be hit by backlash.

She ruffled around in her sleeves a moment, then smiled slowly, looking at him.

"We'll fight. Whoever gets knocked out the first is the loser. Understand? If I win, I get to go free. But if you win, I'll follow you all the way to Ba Sing Se with no more problems on my part. Agreed?"

She waited for the answer, and then.. "I'm sorry I don't have the ceremonial robes. But then again, you're not a Firebender.. so.."
She smiled, a little at first, her smile growing.

"Agni Kai.. begin."

She clasped her hands behind her back, walking towards him slowly, a cheshire smile painting her face.

Kouun was slightly confused on her strange demeanor. She was simply walking up to him as if he would do nothing.

"You sure seem lax for the situation!"
He then stomped on the ground with his right foot, and punched his arm forward, sending an earth spike traveling through the ground toward Yue, trying to break her cool. He quickly shifted to a defensive stance, and waited for her next move. He predicted she would dodge and fire a blast in return. He would just have to wait and see.

She saw it coming, following it along the ground with just her eyes. She would have to time this just right. Right as she saw it puncture the smooth, supple ground.. she slid to the side on the balls of her feet.. feeling it just barely graze the edges of her shirt. She looked back to him with a smile, continuing to walk forward. She was slowly but surely closing the distance with each slow, taunting step.

Kouun thought to himself:
*Damn it. She is just gonna keep advancing and try to choke off my bending. OK. Well, lets see her dodge this!*

Kouun bent low to the ground so that the palms of his hands could touch the dirt which was so vital to him. He then quickly raised both his hands into the air and raised a large wall about 6 feet tall and 7 feet wide . He then stomped on the ground near the base of the wall and gave the wall a strong push. The wall then began to streak toward Yue rather quickly.

She laughed. He actually heard her laugh. It took her about two seconds to sidestep the required seven feet.

Yue thought, *I'll tease him a little bit. Let him graze me. Touch the tips of my hair. A few inches.. one inch. He'll think he's so close..*

She let the wall breeze by her face as she made a surprised expression, then grinned to him to show she was faking shock. She saw him growing irritated at this little game, and she ran forward to him. Within a few seconds, she had pressed her chest to his, standing nose to nose with him, the tips of her toes touching his toes. She was panting from having run that far in such a short distance of time. Her breath caressed his lips - she was THAT close.

"Hello there." She grinned wider, her eyes sparkling with malevolence. She was mocking him.

Kouun was surprised of how quckly she had closed the gap between them, She then greeted him in a mocking matter. His blood began to simmer as frustration reared it's ugly head. He managed to suppress the irratation and tried to give Yue a right hook to the body to knock her away.

She slid along his left side, just outside of his reach as she slammed her left shoulder into the gap between his sternum and his abdomen, pushing forward as he pushed forward.. the net result being a shoulder slammed into his solar plexus with all of his own weight behind it. She continued sliding along his left as his right hook - literally - came within millimeters of her body. She smiled to him with a wide, cocky smile. She toe-stomped his foot, sitting it on fire. He felt her two fingers jabbing his body, setting various pieces of his clothes aflame. This was a battle of attrition.

Kouun felt the air in his lungs escape him when she struck him in the solar plexus, before he could even catch his breath he felt his feet getting extremely hot and some patches of his skin began to sting from the burns that were being caused by the flames that Yue had ignited on his clothing. He instinctively stomped on the dirt under neath his feet to make it cover his body and smother the flames. After going through that process which took a whole 3 seconds he quickly tried to find Yue, when he spotted her only a few inches away from his left shoulder, he swept his foot in a counter clock wise spin trying to knock her off balance.

She followed her pattern of stepping within his spins to knock him off his rhythm. So, he was sweeping her, yes? She stepped in closer, so she was closer to the axis of rotation - his other foot... which she kicked at the ankle as hard as she could. That could have one of many effects. She could break the joint.. or just knock him horrible off balance so he'd fall face forward - and depending on where his arms, hands, and fingers were - maybe mess up some of those, too. She stomped her toe into the ground, and kicked some flame onto his slowly-collapsing form.

Kouun fell to the ground hard, his right hand which he was using to brace himself gave out a loud snapping sound, as some of his fingers had bent to far back and broke. Kouun winced in agony but had to once more react quickly to the flames which had once again began to eat away at his clothes. He slammed his right hand onto the dirt which brought up a blanket of loose dirt to smother out the flames. He arose from the dirt as quickly as he could, his breathing was now heavy and his head was beginning to be clouded by frustration, he was fighting the exact same way he had in their last fight, but she managed to counter each attack this time around, he had to think up of a new strategy before he lost this fight..

He was on the ground in front of her, struggling to think - struggled to move. He had no defenses ready. She smiled - now seemed a good time to use it as any. She made the motions of Lightning-bending.. slowling dragging her fingers in the air in opposite, concentric circles.. drawing her fist back and punching it forward as she widened her stance, bracing her lower body as she breathed in deeply, and punched. The air around her fist exploded with a loud CRACK ripping through the air. It was a gigantic explosion caused by failed lightning-bending.. and it echoed across the ground and into the forest like a crack of thunder. A huge cloud of dust and smoke erupted from contact with the Earth. Had she vaporized him, too? Her hand was a little numb.

She spoke quietly, her hands once again behind her back.

"That was my Thunder Punch. It brings instant death."

As soon as Kouun recognized the motions of Yue's arms he stomped the ground and raised his left arm raising a thick wall of earth, then suddenly the wall shattered and the force of the blow sent Kouun flying back into a nearby tree. His back and head slammed into the thick trunk of the large tree. His vision was blurry and he could see two blurry figures of Yue in front of him. They slowly began to become in focus and joined as a single entity. His ears where also ringing and he could only see Yue's lips wording something.

"Damn.. I'm going to die in this stupid fight." he thought out loud.

She walked up to him slowly, bending down at the waist to leer into his face, grinning from ear to ear like some sort of sicko. She said - her voice dripping with arrogance.

"Is that all you've got? The Stone Wolf and the Earth Kingdom are nothing to me."

She kicked her foot forward, kicking a gout of flame all over his slumped form.

"Isn't it sad? Now that I'm fighting calmly and rationally, you can't even land a hit on me."

She laughed sickly, her eyes looking down at him - piercing him. Those monsterous eyes.

"PATHETIC!"
She kicked more fire onto him.

"PATHETIC PATHETIC PATHETIC!"
She kicked three more gouts of flame onto him, giggling through her teeth as she watched him writhe, pinned against the tree trunk.

"Is that all you've got?!"

Kouun had barely managed to avoid the flames by rolling to the side.

When he got back up to his feet, he noticed that his wolf pelt had caught aflame. He put out the flames by bending some dirt around his hand, and patting out the flames. He stared at the burnt pelt which was given to him by his grand father.

He thought of what his grandfather might have done against this kind of enemy. She obviously already knew all of his normal techniques. She also had a devastating close-range attack, but it required time to pull off. He then tried to calm himself, he knew that anger would only hinder his fighting abilities.
*OK Kouun... No more brute strength...it's time to see what you can come up with using that thick head of yours. She seems to just be countering all your close range swings, but now you have some distance on her...think of an attack she hasn't seen...one she can't predict...Got it!*

Kouun stood up straight and then helded out his left hand away from his body, and opened his hand - palm facing upwards.

"I think it's time I show you the Fangs of the Stone Wolf, Yue..."

He then jumped a few inches off the ground, and when he landed a small tremor could be felt. As soon as he slammed his feet on the ground a large dust cloud surrounded the area that he and Yue where in. He could still sense where she was by feeling her movement through the dirt. He pinpointed her location and made a fist. The dust around her began to solidify and started to ensnare her in a stone cocoon. He could only use this attack once, after that most of his higher-level bending was out of his reach, due to the lack of energy. The best he could do after this attack was probably launch a few boulders at her, or put out a few fires. This attack was Kouun's last gambit.

She thrust her hands, palm down as she exhaled, long and slow.. superheating the air around her as she saw the dustcloud coming in. No, she had never seen an attack like this, certainly! But she could guess at what he was aiming at as she started to see stone chunks starting to form from the dust. He was aiming to entrap her - it was cute. He never attacked her in any sort of lethal way.. he always tried to stop her from attacking him. That would be his death, this day.

As the rock settled around her, it was already superheated.. and very thin due to how much dust it took to make even a centimeter of rock. She thrust her right and left elbows forward, breaking holes in the weak sarcophogus. She closed her eyes and headbutted the rock in front of her, drawing a little blood from her forehead. She had broken out of his 'final' attack with little to no effort. She slowly walked up to him, smiling.

"Your fangs are dull, Wolf."

She went threw the motions of lightning bending. He knew it was coming - her Thunder Punch. She pulled her hand back, and punched forward, her eyes suddenly looking away from him as she looked at something in the distance. She shifted at the last second, the explosion blowing a hole in the ground next to him.

"GET DOW-" She said, as she grabbed him by the shoudler, and threw him sideways - sprawled out on the ground.

She never finished that sentence. An arrow pierced her throat from the front.. shooting out the other side of her neck. She gurgled on her own blood for a mere moment before a second arrow plunged directly through her chest - more importantly, directly through her heart. Blood quite literally spurted out her front and covered him.. blood gushing from her now punctured heart as she started to sink to her knees.

It was funny, too. She could've just hit him with the attack, and dodged the arrows. Or she could've just not attacked, and let him get pierced by the arrows.

But no. She had spared him the attack, and threw him out of the way. First she spared his life, then she saved his life. And now she had paid for it with her own life.

As if this wasn't enough, a third arrow - this one a flaming arrow.. plunging into her stomach.. setting her robes on fire as she fell like a broken bird. She landed on her side with a splat.. the light already gone from her eyes. Blood was pooling around her. Attached to the arrow buried in her neck was a tiny note. She felt so cold, all warmth leaving her body.

She had an arrow through her throat so she couldn't breathe. She had an arrow through her heart so she was losing all blood in her body, and the ability to pump it through her body. And she had an arrow in her gut, and was on fire. Not very good situation.

Far, far off.. an archer retreated along the treetops.

No one had noticed the growing shadows creeping along the ground. Perhaps they thought it was a cloud passing by.

If they looked up.. they would notice all was dark. All was black.

The sun was completely obscured by the moon. The Day of Black Sun.

She was but one of many casualities that would occur this day.

[ OOC: Don't try to pursue the archer. He's retreating, on trees (so you can't sense him through Earthbender) from over 500 meters away. You'll never catch him. Lastly.. her Firebending is gone for the duration. Also, since the Full moon is out.. that should mean that all Waterbenders have their powers at max, shouldn't they?

Also, give Kouun a chance to reply before anybody is all "OMG heal her" or "OMG bury her." Okays? -looks at Kenta-mun and Amatria-mun- ]

((My character has no effect on what's happening on the ground, so I'll slip my post in now.))

Doku had been there for the whole of the Agni Kai, having just found the small gathering when their frivolous match was starting. It had been difficult to find his target, as the trail of destruction that he had been following cut off after a ways, most likely do to a battle’s end, and he had had to continue his search with a more watchful eye. When he finally caught up to the one he pursued, he was quickly disappointed to find that the firebender had been captured. It had taken a while to discern who it was, as she had taken off her nation’s distinctive armor, but the most submissive one was not difficult to pick out of the group. It didn’t change anything that she had already been apprehended. The fact that her jailers had yet to kill her was proof enough that his hand was still needed to make sure the task was done.

It was about that time when the Agni Kai began and, having hunted firebenders before, he knew it was best to watch and see what skills she had. And so, he sat patiently, perched on a tree branch and concealed by a thick canopy of leaves. What a waste these ‘honorable duels’ were in his eyes, performed by a nation whose people had no honor to speak of. But this particular duel proved useful as it showed how skilled his quarry was against her captor. How she had been captured to begin with was beyond him, though the man she fought did have plenty of comrades it seemed. The thought that she might be stronger then him never crossed his mind. He simply didn’t think that way, preferring to carry out his form of justice in total disregard of the odds.

“If she wins this, she goes free…” Doku thought calmly to himself, “That would be for the best. She’d be alone then, an easier tar-—”

His words to himself were cut off as the firebender was cut down mere moments before she would have delivered a finishing blow to her earthbending opponent. Three arrows piercing her form, blood pulling at her feet, he watched as she fell limply as the bull’s eye for some archer’s target practice. He wondered who could chance be passing by and have the skills to pick off a Fire Nation soldier with such seeming ease. Was she the target for someone else, a person who must have been hunting her longer than he? In all this time, he could have finished the job and made sure she died, but he was in as much of a shocked state of mind as anyone down on the ground below. For the moment, all he could do was watch. If she somehow survived the rather lethal looking wounds, then he would plan out his next move.

OOC: Ack, so sorry, Shio... Sorry for the slight godmoding.

Karena woke up, and stretched her arms above her head. She looked around, and noticed Iroh and Zuko still sleeping. Groaning at her slighlty sore body, she swung her legs to the side of the bed. She quickly changed while the two men in the room with her were asleep. That was one of the drawbacks of sharing a room with two men, when you were the only girl. Zuko sh e didn't mind, but Iroh? Yeah...

Smiling at her baby, she moved the handle straight up so that she could carry Nikuro with one hand, and still buy groceries. She hoped that Zuko wouldn't tell her to stay. She had been cooped up in here for over a week now since Aang, Katara, and the others left, and she was tired of it. She was tired period, but that's beisde the point. She needed to get out, or she thought she was going to go mad. Some fresh air and a walk around the city would do her good. She needed to leave this room.

Having a newborn baby was hard on her, and she didn't think Iroh and Zuko were faring well either. After all, since they all slept in the same room, if the baby cried, then they woke up sometimes. She felt bad for them, but at least they got to go back to sleep. She didn't. She got up, and walked over to Zuko's bed, which was near hers, and sat down on it, near him. She rubbed his shoulder. "Zuko, wake up," she whispered.

She straightened her skirt so that it didn't get wrinkled while she sat down. She was dressed in normal Earth Kingdom attire, like her fiancee and his uncle were. Her long, black hair was tied back so that if her baby woke up, he didn't start playing with her hair. Again, she wondered what Zuko would say when she told him that she was going out to buy food. She didn't want to fight with him on it, but she had to leave. She'd done enough resting...

The pressure that Karena used on Zuko was enough to wake the sleeping Prince. A few mumbles escaped his mouth as he slowly turned his head to the left and right and then slowly opened his eyes. The room slowly became visible as Karena. She was up and dressed. Their son Nikuro lay in his carrier as Karena held it. It looked like she wanted to go out and Zuko would not have any of it.

“Karena you…” Zuko began but stopped. It was strange he just couldn’t bring himself to tell her that he wouldn’t allow her to leave. Though she was good and had recovered she would always be looked upon as a tired woman by Zuko. And the sad part was that Zuko knew she wasn’t that, as Karena always said she was a warrior and the Banished Prince just didn’t want to accept that; even though he was beginning to.

“Fine,” Zuko grudgingly said as he pushed the covers off of himself and sat up. His naked chest was quickly covered as Zuko pulled an Earth kingdom top and placed on himself. He quickly turned and lay his feet on the floor and was ready to hear Karena out. Even though he didn’t want her to go out, he still felt that she needed to rest.

((Ooo close to 3000 Karena))

The young Prince pondered at the thought of accompanying Karena on her outing. Though he would accompany her if she chose to leave he still felt that she should remain inside. That last battle was still imbedded into his mind for at that battle he had seen Karena in a horrible state and worse of all he could do nothing about it. But her he had a chance to keep inside and safe. Yet regardless of that reason he still felt that he should let her go out, but he just couldn’t.

Still seated on the bed Zuko began to make fists with his fists as he thought of what to do, he should go with her and he had to. “Okay…I’ll go,” Zuko said a little grudgingly he then quickly added, “I’ll take Nikuro.”

With that he quickly reached his right hand over and grabbed onto his son’s carrier. And slowly pulled it so that Karena would let go, he just didn’t like the idea of her caring something so fragile, she could strain herself and drop Nikuro.

He turned to his Uncle and quickly told him, “Uncle will be going.”

Iroh merely moaned a little and turned to the other side of his bed. With his face now facing the wall Iroh slowly said, “Yeah.” With that a loud long yawn escaped the old man’s mouth as he tried to sleep.

OOC: Yeah, almost... Just a few more posts.

Karena sighed. Zuko seemed tense to her. I bet he doesn't want me to go, she told herself. She was suprised that he was being so understanding, and not fighting with her about it. It wasn't like him, not really... She wondered why. She stood up, and walked over to him, laying her hand on his arm. "We should get going," she told him, her voice soft. She turned to walk out the door, but she froze. She needed to know.

She turned back towards Zuko. "Why are you letting me go?" She asked him. "I was sure you'd argue with me, tell me to stay here... Why aren't you?" She wanted to know what was going on in his mind. He was still so shut off with her, and it bothered her. She wanted to know what he was thinking, feeling. She hoped that he'd tell her. She needed for him to tell her. She wanted to know. Him arguing with her was almost better than this. At least when he argued with her, most of the time, she knew what he was thinking.

As soon as she thought that, she took it back. She didn't like him yelling at her either, and as emotional as she still was, she'd ended up yelling at him back or crying, neither of which was good for her - or them. Expressing yourself was one thing, yelling at each other was not. "Or is there something else bothering you right now?" She asked him. Tell me...

“I don’t wan to argue with you,” Zuko responded hopefully answering the question poised by Karena. Still his answer was a little on the rude side and to keep her from getting angry Zuko quickly added, “It’s just… I don’t think we should argue out here, we could be found out.” With that Zuko headed to the door and then stopped as Karena halted before the exit. He gazed at her and realized that she was still delicate and he couldn’t just risk her.

“There is nothing wrong Karena, everything is fine.” Zuko began as he finally got tired of the room and sort of squeezed himself so that he wouldn’t push Karena aside so bad and slowly made through the door along with Nikuro’s carrier. Even though he made his exit out the room as subtle as possible he felt that he pushed Karena a little too much to get out.

“Let’s go,” Zuko said as he took about three steps into the hallway and then just stopped.

He still felt some reason to keep her inside and with that he quickly killed those reasons by saying, “And you’re right you do need to get outside.” Then without turning around Zuko walked off and headed to the exit of the inn, hopefully leaving Karena back there to think about what just happened. Even though the two were close Zuko still felt that he had to get trust after all he let her get injured in that fight a couple days back.

Docks

Awaking with a start as the ship lurched, Tao cursed under his breath, mad at himself for oversleeping. Getting up, slumping and stumbling from the hangover last night, he went up to the deck after putting his glasses on. Kaito and Okimi were already up. They had arrived at last in Gaoling. Getting his bearings straight, he took in his surroundings. There were so many people loading and unloading ships. Merchants with their carts of goods and costomers of those merchants. The docks were full of people and goods. Spotting a Dai Lee agent, he stood alert. Among the crowd were enemies that would do unimaginable lengths to capture them. The Dai Lee was a distraction, he soon realised, as he felt a stone gauntlet cover his mouth and another pull him back, right into the hands a another Dai Lee.

Struggling, Toa kicked and tried to escape as he was picked up and shoved into a wooden jail cart, a stone gauntlet used as a gag and two more as handcuffs. This was not a nice welcome, he knew. Unfortunately, Kaito and Okimi, and the ship were now out of sight, as he was carted off supposedly to jail.

Docks

Awaking with a start as the ship lurched, Tao cursed under his breath, mad at himself for oversleeping. Getting up, slumping and stumbling from the hangover last night, he went up to the deck after putting his glasses on. Kaito and Okimi were already up. They had arrived at last in Gaoling. Getting his bearings straight, he took in his surroundings. There were so many people loading and unloading ships. Merchants with their carts of goods and costomers of those merchants. The docks were full of people and goods. Spotting a Dai Lee agent, he stood alert. Among the crowd were enemies that would do unimaginable lengths to capture them. The Dai Lee was a distraction, he soon realised, as he felt a stone gauntlet cover his mouth and another pull him back, right into the hands a another Dai Lee.

Struggling, Toa kicked and tried to escape as he was picked up and shoved into a wooden jail cart, a stone gauntlet used as a gag and two more as handcuffs. This was not a nice welcome, he knew. Unfortunately, Kaito and Okimi, and the ship were now out of sight, as he was carted off supposedly to jail.

OOC: Tao Kong there are no Dai Lee in Gaoling... only in Ba Sing Se, and you shouldn't have posted. You haven't passed the Battle Training yet.

Karena looked at Zuko, with a quizzical expression on her face. "'Who knows?'" She repeated. She shook her head. "Well, I don't know how that will help us when we run out of money. I think you might have to get a job... We need to eat, and the baby needs diapers and thinks like that. Things that require money, which we will run out of eventually." He really must have something on his mind right now... she thought. What kind of answer was that? She wondered what was on his mind, but then pushed those thoughts said as he wasn't letting her in, like she knew he should be.

Karena walked over to another one of the shops, looking at some of the food that the merchant had on sale. She assumed that Zuko was close behind her. She didn't think that he'd be parting with her very much anytime soon, due to her weak state, but the firebender preferred things that way. This arrangement wasn't all that bad in her opinion. She would prefer that some of the things regarding her situation were different, but in the meantime, this would have to do.

A man walked up to her, a few other men behind him. "Hello," he said, looking over the woman before him. Yes, this was the women from the poster. Wanted by the Fire Nation, this pretty lady would get him some money, especially if the Banished Prince was anywhere near here, but he doubted it. If she knew where the Avatar was, then the Fire Nation would most certainly want her. "Now, I know there is something that I can do for you." He knew women responded well to flirting. He knew he could get on her good side.

Karena didn't even look at him. "No, I'm fine," she said. It was a few minutes later when she realized that the man was still starting at her. "Excuse me, do you have a problem?" She said, her voice laced with attitude and annoyance. "Go bother someone who cares." She waved him off, hoping he would just go away. However, she was even more annoyed when she realized that he was standing there, a creepy smile on his face. She turned to him defiately. "Go away." Her voice left no room for argument, but he wasn't moving...