Hû dropped into a predatory crouch at the voice, unexpected and sudden as it was... It wasn't every day that he missed someone's presence. Especially when it was so close.

I must be slipping... More punishment tonight... Hû thought of his frequent habit of examining his surroundings, meditating on them for hours on end. It was punishment as far as comfort was concerned, since the warrior never slept or ate in the midst of his observations. The pangs of hunger or the heaviness of his eyelids would weigh down on him until he was satisfied.

"I apologize, miss... By your leave..." Hû said, bowing and averting his eyes politely, silently cursing the raven locks that fell down into his eyes. The half-mask that hid his face from mid-nose to chin didn't move with gravity, secured to his head as it was with strips with silk and twine, and metal hooks that wrapped around the backs of his ears like the frames of glasses. The mask served its part in protection, both of his identity and of his flesh. Several miniscule lines in the metal stood as testament to this fact. Lines resulting from debris, thrown his way in many a fight with fellow Fire Nation soldiers, for purposes of training, or by enemy warriors, be they Earthbenders or members of the Water Tribe. There were minute details that one picked up over a life of combat. For example, Hû understood that, just because an Earth Kingdom warrior shot a boulder at him, and he sidestepped the projectile, that didn't mean tiny flechettes of stone couldn't also come his way, in a conical pattern from the source of the rock. Hû actually served with a man who was blinded by such fragments. As far as he was aware, the man was currently running a small restaurant in the Capital.

"I was simply taking pleasure in the energy of the sun, free to all, and abundant for manipulation..." Hû said, rising from his bow and wondering if the woman was deliberately standing naked in the river. He couldn't deny that he'd gone too long without the pleasure of such a sight. But something about the situation made him feel... Undeserving... He'd never seen the appeal in spying on bathers. It was much more rewarding when the sight, the sweet fragrance, the soft touch of a woman's bare flesh was earned. So, guilty although he held no blame, Hû pulled his hood back up with his left hand, covering his eyes from the view and counting the stitches that lined the cloth. His right hand moved to the thick, loose belt of throwing blades that hung at his waist. The identical blades were simple, yet elegant in design. As long as his hand, with the same width and shape of a willow leaf, although quite a bit thicker. They were blackened shortly after shaping, and the darkness was rubbed away in the sharpening process, leaving a gleaming steel outline, a warning of the strong, razor sharp edges.

"If I may, you might be better suited to interrogating passerby if you were properly dressed..." Hû added, grinning beneath the mask and bowing his head slightly once more.


[[OOC: No problem. Good things come to those who wait, after all... Just post when you can, if only to let me know you're alive.]]

It was hard to tell how long he had been here but his guess was that it had been about two weeks since he had become a part of the odd group of self proclaimed rebels, but in those two weeks not much rebelling had occurred. From what the one eyed man gathered, by listening in on their conversations, they were all in rather bad spirits do to the loss of a few of their members. Other than that all he knew about them was their names.

For the most part he was treated with a sense of distrust and neglect. The young water tribe girl would bring him food when they ate but when he tried to talk to her she would simply walk away, the others kept to themselves for the most part, but he didn’t really concern himself with them either. The only members that intrigued him were the two members of his former tribe.

The more he watched them the more he remembered. Kyozuki, though she didn’t know it, was the spitting image of Chiyiko, and the strong and stubborn front she put on when she talked to him was no different. She had left on her own accord to learn how to bend, while he was banished by his master. Then there was Kai. He hadn’t recognized him at first, but after being stuck in the same place as the guy for two weeks he finally realized that it was young Kaito who he had wanted to cut down when he first layed eye on him back in the alleyway.

He was one of Master Pakku’s younger disciples, a boy who showed promise and was a bit of a trickster. Knowing that the two had been under the same tutelage his rage had been suppressed. He was once this man’s senior, although he doubted that the man would recognize him as he was now.

A rather familiar aroma filled the air as he sat there sharpening his blade and reminiscing of the past, pulling him away from his memories of the pure white snows of the north. The rhythmic scraping of his blade against the sharpening stone was then interrupted by the small footsteps of the young water tribe girl. "Here" She said as she set the bowl away from him… He couldn’t help but smirk a bit, she must have still blamed him for what happened at the teashop, even though he had nothing to do with those guards listening in on their conversation. "Enjoy" She said as she turned away. It was then that Kazanko layed dow his sword and stone and reached for the small bowl of hot stew.

"Thanks, Chiyiko…” He had no idea that the name he had just blurted out was that of his sister’s, so when Kyozuki responded with "What did you call me?"

He had to think… had he called her by another name? Once he remembered he couldn’t help but look away from the young girl a bit embarrassed by the mistake that had occurred “Chiyiko…” he answered after a moment of silence. “It is my little sister’s name…” He expected her to snap at him soon, saying mentioning something about his betrayal or something along those lines, but there was nothing “Maybe you knew her when you were back in the North… you two should be about the same age, in fact you remind me a lot of her…”

When Yumi saw the man turn aside, she finally felt the cool air sweep across her wet, naked body. She blanched, the white of her face bright against the tan of her body. For a terrifying moment, she actually thought she might blush. But she quickly – almost too quickly- composed herself, and calmly reached for her wraps. She began winding the strips of fabric around her body, making sure not to hurry too much – she wasn’t abnormally shy, and nor was she ashamed. It was her fault, yes, but this… person couldn’t make her feel bad. She heard his excuses through slightly wet ears; a few shakes took care of that. “That’s fine,” she said curtly, finishing her wraps and moving on to her tunic. “I shouldn’t have overreacted.” That was a long conversation for her – the longest conversation she’d had in a month was “Two, please,” and that was to the fish vendor back home.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw him pull his hood over his head. He probably felt awkward. Well, it was nobody’s fault, and if it were, it would be her own. As she pulled her brown tunic over her head, she heard him speak again.

"If I may, you might be better suited to interrogating passerby if you were properly dressed..."

Imperceptibly, she gritted her teeth behind her tightly clenched lips. Yumi very carefully tied the sash around her tunic, and secured the roomy pants around her waist with a tug. He was laughing at her. She could sense it. No, he wasn’t laughing aloud, but she could feel it. The hands that grabbed her pack were trembling, only slightly, but it was noticeable. She controlled it easily, but it still unnerved her. “If I had realized I was unclothed,” she said, slinging her pack over her shoulder, “I would not have spoken.” She walked towards the man, stopping a few feet away. Looking up at his face, she saw the mask that covered half of his face. Her sword was still in her pack; she took out the sword and strapped it across her chest. The tip hung near her ankles, and she rested her hand on the hilt. “My apologies for the unexpected show,” she said drily.

"Mine for the watching." Hû replied earnestly, looking up once he heard the stillness. The sound of fabric rustling, of the woman dressing, had kept his gaze on more innocent objects. Once they ceased, he figured that it was alright to meet her eyes, which he did. And he wasn't impatient to break that gaze. Interesting... Hû thought, stepping forward slowly, bringing them one step closer to one another.

"When a woman doesn't realize that she's naked, I should hope that there are more important things on her mind than apprehending the odd Firebender..." He said, crossing his arms and pacing around her. He looked out at the girl from beneath his hood and grinned, his eyes glinting with amusement that didn't show through his fearsome half-mask. The weapon that she carried was something of an oddity. Although she was stout, she was by no means large, and Hû always thought that the double-bladed swords were better suited to people of a more intimidating stature. In fact, he was the only man he knew of who could balance power and speed proficiently enough to make the weapon anything more than a hindrance. His teacher was a beast of a man, massive with muscle, who wielded the weapon like it was nothing. And other young men he'd watched make attempts at the weapons use always seemed to catch the blades on their clothing, extremities, or objects in the environment. Even with some skill at the use of the double-blade, Hû preferred his dual sabers. He was familiar with them, he saw them as extensions of his own body, not nearly as cumbersome or awkward as the double-blade.

"That's an interesting weapon for a young lady..." Hû said, stopping slightly to her left, hands now loosely hanging by his sides.

((Short, yes, but we're into conversation territory now))

“Maybe you knew her when you were back in the North… you two should be about the same age, in fact you remind me a lot of her…”

Kyozuki shifted uncomfortably. Quite aside from who she was talking to, she preferred to avoid thinking about her past - least of all the healing classes that had led to her being ostracised. Covering up her discomfort with a prim look, she gave a diffident sniff. "I wouldn't know" she replied. "I didn't pay much attention to the rest of the healing class after-" she bit her lip and looked sideways in consternation. She hadn't wanted to go there - not with this man... she stayed silent, hoping he'd just let it slide.

Kazanko’s cold eye stayed fixed on the girl as he waited for some kind of response, and despite the dim light, he could tell that he had made her a bit uncomfortable. Did she find it odd that such a man would have a younger sister? Or maybe it was that she thought all people related or connected to him were vile traitors or blood thirsty mercenaries… Then as she changed her demeanor he stopped his train of thought.

"I wouldn't know. I didn't pay much attention to the rest of the healing class after-" She came to a sudden stop… After she had been caught for water bending? If he remembered correctly when she had been yelling at him she mentioned something about being kept from bending… was that the after? Well whatever it was it was obviously something that caused the girl some discomfort.

“You know… My little sister Chiyiko learned to waterbend…” He paused a bit and took a look to see if he had caught her ear. “She thought that being in those silly old huts was boring and she would rather spend her time following me around on patrols, listening to stories, or trying to get me to teach her how to do it...” The man chuckled a bit at the memory of his little sisters big blue eyes staring at him as she followed him around. “If you had known Chiyiki I’d imagine the two of you would’ve gotten along famously…”

Kyozuki's imperious expression softened as Kazanko told his tale. To tell the truth, she was slightly envious - here was girl who'd actually been trained in combat waterbending. What she wouldn't have given for a brother like that... no, wait, what was she saying? This man had betrayed the Water Tribe.

"All very well" she said, trying to stay aloof, "but that doesn't change the fact that the Water Tribe ex-"

And then Kyozuki realised that she didn't actually know why he'd been exiled. She'd been too angry to care at the start, but she'd had time to simmer down - and though she was far from forgiving him, she could still put two and two together.

"...you were exiled for teaching her waterbending, weren't you?" she said quietly, more a statement than a question.

Masato awoke from a not-too-pleasant dream as the smell of soup made its way into his nostrils. He looked around, and noticed everyone gathering around a cooking fire, over which was a pot. Obviously, someone- Kyozuki, he found out shortly- was making soup. So, he stood up, stretched, and made his way over to the fire. He accepted the soup with a quiet murmur of, "Thanks," and began to eat. It was delicious. He was surprised. He hadn't expected Kyozki to be able to cook well.

He noticed with interest that the new member, Kazanko, once again chose to sit off by himself. It wasn't very surprising, but it was a bit odd for it to last that long. He was about to turn back to the rest of the group, unconcerned with the Waterbender's strange habits, when he heard Kyozuki ask the man something. He couldn't hear what she said, but the conversation that followed seemed interesting. So, he ate with one eye on the two benders. He was very interested in what would become of their little chat.

The girl picked it up rather quickly even though she had wanted to do nothing but stay away from him since that day. He smiled before taking a spoonful of the stew she had brought him, enjoying the warmth before he looked back up at her and nodded before he took yet another spoonful of the warm broth.

“It is a little more complicated than that, but yes that’s what it boils down to.” He paused and looked up at the grey ceiling. “She had used her bending to defend herself against some overly touchy boy…" He paused and ate another spoon of the soup. “The boy goes and tells some guards that my sister had lured him… and then tried to rob him!” Anger began to fill his voice as he remembered what the council had said to him. His hand slammed against the stone floor and it was the clang of the spoon that had made him realize his little outburst.

“Sorry about that…” He said as he regained his cool. He sighed before he continued. “Well, after that I was given news that my sister was going to be banished from the North… and I pleaded to my master to spare her, to reconsider the banishment…” He smiled a bit as he remembered the day he fought his old master.

“He offered me a deal… I had to fight him, my own master… If I won he would grant my sister amnesty, if I lost, I was the one who would be banished… either way my sister would be off the hook… So I took him up on his offer, lost an eye and here I am” He laughed a bit before he ate his soup… “In a way I guess I should be thankful to master Pakku… “

As Kai ate his soup, he thought about the North Pole and how different life had been, especially before he'd gotten married. Yuzuki had been the best thing to ever happen to him, but he longed for a time when all he had to do was attend Waterbending classes and play in the snow. Of course, the threat of the Fire Nation had been one that was never really forgotten, even though the city they lived in was a fortress, but he'd never really found himself worrying about an attack until the Siege of the North had happened.

The Siege had taken more than just his carefree attitude about the war; it had taken his wife. He set his jaw as he thought about how she'd been killed, even though she'd stayed inside like he'd asked her to. Why were benders who had been on the front lines in danger's path still alive while his wife, who hadn't even wanted to get involved, had been killed? It didn't seem fair, and he wiped a single tear from his eye and tried to think about something else.

It was then that he picked up on the conversation taking place between Kyozuki and the traitorous Waterbender. He listened with interest, especially since the word "exile" had come up. When the story was finished, he found himself getting up from his seat to approach the one-eyed man.

"So, it looks like I'm not the only Waterbender to have been jilted by Master Pakku," he said.

Kyozuki's expression softened the longer Kazanko spoke. When he'd finally finished, she looked away, her arms folded with her fingers splayed on her upper arms. It was eerie. This Chiyiko was almost a perfect mirror image of herself. Right down to how she'd been found out. Being forbidden from waterbending had been a terrible enough prospect - she wasn't sure how she'd have coped with exile before she'd decided to impose it on herself by choice.

"I never thought..." Kyozuki trailed off, before taking a ragged breath, closing her eyes and setting her face again. No, it doesn't change the fact that he's been working with the Fire Nation. That had nothing to do with his exile. But even Kyozuki could tell that was a weak justification. She was getting backed into an even more uncomfortable position than she had with Ji back on the roof of the Swallowtail Inn. Luckily, Kai chose that moment to join the conversation.

"So, it looks like I'm not the only Waterbender to have been jilted by Master Pakku."

Hû paused for a moment as the girl offered her blade. Not something to be done lightly. In his opinion, it wasn't something to be done at all. When his moment passed, Hû shook his head, flashing another unseen grin beneath his mask, pushing her weapon away softly.

"No, I don't think that will be necessary... The quality of the weapon is evident, and there's nothing I could gain from testing it that couldn't be gained from a simple examination. I doubt you would be so foolish as to carry a weapon if you were incapable of using it." Hû said, bowing his head for a moment. He continued to appraise the girl. Clothing was simple and functional. Quite unlike his. The function took priority over the simplicity. Protection was the main concern. Hû could defend himself easily enough, but insurance never hurt.

"Excuse me, miss... My name is Hû Yang... The nude inquisition caused the introduction to slip my mind..."

Two weeks alone in this hell hole was torture. But they had been a productive two weeks. Indeed. It's amazing what one could learn from ordinary people by asking the right questions. What people seeing and hearing when doing their laundry, relieving themselves in the middle of the night, or any of a thousand other mundane activities. It had taken 14 days to get a real lead, one that brought him straight to this spot. Collateral damage is what it was really. Those clumsy bastards in the colony terror squads didn't care what they destroyed. He'd read the report on the so-called rebels and their tavern meeting place. It was burned to the ground. He wasn't interested in the rubble, like some scavenger trying to profit off of another's tragedy. Not that he was above such acts, it was simply that he had a purpose for being here. He bypassed the rubble of the rebel's former meeting place, where they all supposedly perished. That was until 3 curiously well co-ordinated incidents occurred. One of them involving a 'plant bender' apparently from the swamp to the south east. Shortly after Kazanko disappeared. It wasn't until a mere hour ago that one woman recalled a party of people one night, walking past the rubble. She inspected, said she didn't want to see them in trouble with the guards. Only to find they'd disappeared. Fourteen days ago, the same day Kazanko went missing.

No by no stretch of the definition was Kazanko a friend. But he was the closest thing Van had to one, and a partner he sure as hell didn't want to lose. Seemed to be happening all to regularly these days. There it was. Any matchstick would glance over the spot without a second thought, but to a bonofide Earthbender it was clear as day. A slight depression in the landscape where some bender decided on a little desencion.

He rotated his arms at the elbows, and bent his knees, before pushing downwards creating a sort of vacuum, which nature of course abhors. He fell through the ground as the full circular motion replaced the dirt above his head.

After maybe a foot of top soil, and then some cavernous rock which supported the mountain the man's feet hit air. A moment of fright nearly stole his wits, but he focused and once again connected with the earth, driving his palms down and softening the blow of his landing, kicking up dust in every direction.

As the dust settled his predatory eyes widened in glee. A mirthless toothy grin spread across his face.

Bathed in green light the scene was almost illuminated and frozen in time.

4 contacts. Two girls, two men, and one boy. A fire pit was in the centre of the room, though his arrival must have extinguished it. He appeared to have caught them at dinner time, with their proverbial pants down.

There in the corner was Kazanko, happy as a lark, fitting in to any situation he was thrown into. Always the charmer.

And there the man stood. Hunched over from his landing, his feet and lower shins warpped in dirty bandages into his grey pants. Very light battle armor over his torso, eerily sharp teeth and black beady eyes fixated on his new prey. Strapped to his back, a greatsword 5"5 from hilt to tip. He reached out and wrapped a bandaged hand around it, lifting it like a dagger, and bringing it into ready position.

If Kazanko wanted to play rebel, Vanshiro Ikemi would let him.

"Your time is up water-bender." The venom in his voice only half acting. "We know you've been spying on the Fire Nation under the guise of a mercenary. The question is for what purpose?" He hoped the idiots would buy it. He knew Kazanko would roll with the punch, as he always did, the snake.

In the mean time Vanshiro Ikemi let out a battle roar and swung his great sword effortlessly in a wide arc. Kicking up dirt all around the cavern till the blade came to rest over his shoulder. He stopmed the dirt with a foot bringing up a rock the size of a man's torso. Rapidly thrusting the butt of his hilt at it, the stone rocketed towards the young watertribe girl Kazanko was getting all too friendly with.

Oh this was going to make up for the past two weeks.

Food, it had been a while since they had a good meal and his thoughts lingered on the first night they had all met… “Man, I miss Ji’s cooking…" The boxer sighed as he sat around the cooking pot, taking in all the smells that the boiling stew had to offer, and although it didn’t smell half bad he knew there wouldn’t be enough to eat to his heart’s content. Once Kyozuki handed him his bowl he gladly excepted and snatched the bowl right out of her hands. It was only after more than few spoonfuls into his meal that he realized that everyone seemed to have gathered around the one eyed guy… Not really one who enjoyed eating alone Koji started to make his way towards the small group when the cave started to rumble, as if something were eating the ceiling away.

Then something crashed into the floor, the sudden explosion of dust and noise caused the already awestruck earthbender to drop his bowl of stew. The hungry boxer dropped to the floor as he mourned the loss of the day’s first meal. Looking up to see who, or what had fallen from the surface his blue eyes caught a glimpse of a rather oddly dressed man, with a rather oversized sword strapped to his back. The sorrow that was brought on by his food being wasted quickly washed away as anger slowly started to pour through his veins. That man… That man had cost him his food, and that man would pay!

Kazanko looked over at the young waterbender who had been listening in on his little story, the look on her face seemed rather somber now but she quickly turned away before expressing how she felt. Three soft words, that is all she had said, but icy waterbender knew that there was more to it. He was about to say something to the poor girl but then the voice of that Kaito fellow caught his attention.

"So, it looks like I'm not the only Waterbender to have been jilted by Master Pakku."

The eyebrow over his eye patch raised up with intrigue as he turned to face the man. He could feel a bit of his blood boiling, but he knew this man, he had trained with him, it was not this man’s doing that had caused him the loss of his home or sister. “Kaito right?” His voice carried no emotion as he spoke to the man. “ Last time I saw you, you froze Dando’s feet to the snow…” He took another spoonful of stew before a bit of debree fell into his bowl… “Well that’s no good” He said as he put the bowl down on the floor. The instant he looked up at the stone ceiling was the instant a familiar face came through, a thunderous crash rang through the caves as he hit the floor and a sly smirk snuck across the waterbender’s face as he got up to his feet.

Vanshiro Ikemi… Why was he not surprised? He had been wondering where or what the greatsword wielding rat had gotten himself into, but now that he was here he couldn’t help but feel a bit at ease, after all he didn’t want to have to go through the trouble of finding himself someone who was as, well he hated to admit it but, as talented as Van.
"Your time is up water-bender. We know you've been spying on the Fire Nation under the guise of a mercenary. The question is for what purpose?"

“Don’t make me laugh Vanshiro… you know that I fight for the people of this great land!...” His tone was the same cold and emotionless tone that usually found itself being used by the man, but he knew Van would get a little kick out of that line, he also knew the rat would probably try something, so he drew his wakizashi, the water that he had stored in the large skin under the sword’s sheath followed the shiny steel bade as it eerily hovered by its edge. He didn’t bother with his fighting stance; he simply stood with sword and water drawn.

His predatory opponent let out a fierce cry as he swung his giant bade through the air, bringing up a rather large cloud of dust, but when you only had one eye, you rarely relied on vision in a battle. He heard the sounds of a heavy stomp, coming from Van’s direction, and soon enough a stone came piercing through the dust, but it was not aimed at the one eyed mercenary. “Bastard!” he shouted as he made a dash to intercept the speeding stone missile, his sword arm slashing outward sending the water after the stone but he feared it would not reach in time, but out of the blue came that strange earthbender with the small green shorts, and as if a falcon had been pulling his punch, he smashed the stone to bits before glaring up at the sharp toothed swordsman and Kazanko pulled away his attack.

"You piece of hog-monkey shit… You made me spill my soup!” He shouted before he stomped the floor and threw an uppercut in the direction of the strange swordsman causing the floor in front of him to erupt and streak towards the greatsword. Kazanko’s blue eye simply watched as a trail of elevated dirt and rocks krept towards Van… He didn’t really know the boy name Koji but he didn’t know if he would be enough to take on Ikemi… “This could be fun..”

Through the empty streets Liang followed the large man, suddenly he picked a fight with a firenation solider. Cold, freezing shock doused the teenager as Kuma fell to the lighter man. Mind wiped blank with fear, he did nothing more than obey the firenation officer, and bent down to pick up the bloody sword. But, he couldn't walk away from his newly found comrade, and stayed, curled against the wall until they had taken his body.

-Two Weeks Later-

Hunger had taken the boy full force, and he lay, propped up against the clay wall, sword grasped in hand, as if it were his only chance for survival. But, you couldn't eat a sword. The last coin didn't last long, and was quickly spent on bread that had lasted him a week as he took one slow bite after another. The only savior for thirst was the water pooled in the street and alleys, trash cans offered a scare banquet of rotten food, and even then he couldn't beat the crows and rats to the first bite.

Days had been wasted searching for the rebellion, and now Liang had simply given up hope, passing it off as a drunk rambling. One couldn't worry about ideas of freedom when the stomach was roaring. The child climbed up the wall, setting himself on his feet again before heading out onto the street. Weak with starvation, he crawled against the side of the houses. Then a small whiff of stew caught his attention. Just the smallest temptation of food made the adolescent lose all will to go on. He slid against the wall, inhaling the smell of food as if he were trying to eat the air.

He was disappointed. They actually seemed to be having a civil conversation. No yelling of any kind. That was no fun. He was about to turn away when the final Waterbender, Kai, got up and went over. Masato hoped that would inject some energy into the conversation, but was disappointed. He turned away, bored.

He was about to finish eating when the cave started to rumble and a large explosion ripped through it. He put down his bowl, all thoughts of eating aside. He stood up and stared at the newcomer, pulling out two knives as he did so. Well, at least he knows how to make an entrance, he thought. But who's gonna fix the hole?

When the newcomer said something to the most recent addition to their group and responded to by name, Masato's gaze flickered to Kazanko. Of course the two knew each other. Kazanko seemed to attract the attention of unsavory characters. But there wasn't time to focus on that. All too quickly, there was a rock heading toward Kyozuki. Masato was about to attempt to intercept it when Koji did that for him. So, crisis averted, Masato turned back to Vanshiro. Seeing rocks flying at the man, Masato decided to help out. He shifted slightly, then threw a couple knives at Vanshiro, from the side opposite the rocks. Hopefully he'd do some damage and annoy the man.

((Right, now that I'm no longer bed-ridden with flu...))

Kyozuki gave a cry of fright as the ceiling caved in, bringing an earthbender with it.

"Your time is up water-bender. We know you've been spying on the Fire Nation under the guise of a mercenary. The question is for what purpose?" and with that he threw up a rock, before thrusting it her way with the hilt of his sword. Kyozuki screamed, throwing her hands up in useless defence even as the missile was shattered by Koji. The immediate danger now gone, Kyozuki stumbled back against the wall and curled into a heap on the floor, once again nothing more than a dead weight as the rest fought.