Soldier's Boy

The Tales of Ba Sing Se

Kouji's Tale

Kouji had a sneaking suspicion that he was becoming quite an annoyance to the Dai Li.  Whenever he felt that someone had picked up his tail and was following him, he took steps to lose whoever it was, all the while keeping up the illusion that he had no idea he was being followed.  He wouldn't turn his head, just continue on, seemingly oblivious, but all the same the tail would find themselves losing him.

Rather than risk the budding network, now more Jet's responsibility than his own, Kouji had decided to lose his tails every time they picked him up.  This was a safer option than only losing them when he was doing something that would have been enough to get him picked up.

This also served as a protection for the children in the lower ring that he was starting to befriend — especially Dìrú, who like Kouji had come from outside the city.  Dìrú was what Kouji had termed an orphan of the city: his mother had been killed in the crossfire of a battle between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom, and his father had been taken by the Dai Li because he refused to remain silent about the war.  When his father had been returned, Dìrú said, he hadn't been the same.  Afraid the same thing would happen to him, Dìrú had run away and joined up with a street girl named Bìhai.

Bìhai's story wasn't as tragic as Dìrú's; her parents were craftsmen and she had had no experience with the war until meeting Dìrú.  Both of them had been pleased to meet Kouji — especially when Bìhai found out the younger boy was an earthbender.  It was a simple thing for him to teach her what she wanted to know — and in return, both of them agreed to help Kouji with the project that had been consuming his brain since setting his eyes on the Wall of Ba Sing Se.

He was going to climb the wall.

It was, perhaps, fitting, that all the preparations needed for this feat came together the day before his birthday, meaning Kouji would attempt the climb on the day he turned eleven.  This time last year, I was still home, he thought.  My biggest worry was hiding my bending from my father.  His hand drifted to his chest, where the burn scar lurked beneath his clothing.  I never would have dreamed I'd be travelling with the Avatar and the vanished Prince of the Fire Nation, trying to save the world…

The boy sighed.  But here I am, off to save the world — and at the same time the mastermind behind an illegal information network.  Way to go, Kou-Kou.  He grinned.  At least that makes life interesting.

He turned to his friends.  "Get some sleep, guys," he ordered.  "Tomorrow's the big day."

*          *          *

Kouji was up and out of their house in Ba Sing Se, obediently replying to Lee's demand as to where he was going with, "I'm just gonna hang out with some friends in the Lower Ring.  I know, I know, back by sunset," and was gone.

It took him half an hour to lose  his tail on crossing to the Middle Ring — Kouji tried to lose them in different spots through the city to keep them on their toes — and then made his way to the Lower Ring.  Dìrú was waiting for him.  "Took you long enough," he told the younger boy.

Kouji shrugged.  "Complications.  Have to keep a low-ish profile."

"Like anyone affiliated with the Avatar can keep a low profile."

"You and Bìhai are still free, aren't you?"

Dìrú grinned at him, and Kouji looked around.  "Speaking of Bìhai, where is she?"

"Getting in position," Dìrú replied, pointing to the Inner Wall.  "She started for the outside an hour ago."

Kouji nodded.  "Then we ought to meet her.  C'mon."

Together, the pair of them headed to the Inner Wall, where Kouji forged them a path through.  Once they were in the Agrarian Zone, it was going to be a long walk to their target.  However, both boys were sturdy, well up to the walk it would take.  And it was quite a walk, three hours of dodging crops until they reached their goal.

At the wall, Kouji closed his eyes and pressed his hands to it, seeking Bìhai.  "Got her.  She's under the tracks."

Dìrú nodded, and they moved along the bottom.  Once there, he dug through his pack, passing Kouji a long rope, which the earthbender forced into the wall and shot up to where Bìhai waited to secure it.  Kouji had no intention of falling to his death halfway to the goal.

Dìrú tied better knots than the earthbender did, so it was he who attached Kouji to his anchor.  "You remember the signal, right?" he asked, making Kouji laugh.

"I came up with it, Dì.  I'd better remember it."

"You'd be surprised," drawled the older boy.  "Good luck."

Kouji took a deep breath, put his hands flat to the wall, and began to climb.

It was a gruelling, draining process, and Kouji had to make small platforms to rest on more than once.  However, thanks to Toph's training, he wasn't as weak as he had been even three months ago.  Then, he wouldn't have even made it twenty feet.  Now, he was nearing the top and still going strong, despite his occasional breaks.  He'd lost three feet once when his hands had slipped, but Bìhai had held strong to the rope and he had dug his fingers into the rock itself, preventing broken ribs from the rope digging in.

It's probably a good thing nobody will see those marks, Kouji thought.  It amused him to picture Long Feng receiving a report of finger-shaped holes eighty feet up the wall, however.  Finally, as the afternoon was tingeing late, Kouji reached Bìhai, who hugged him.  "You did it!"

Kouji flushed instantly.  "Yeah…"  He reached over, worked the rope loose, and let it drop — the signal for Dìrú to head back to the City.  The boy then leaned back against the wall, breathing hard.  "I am going to sleep forever," he told Bìhai.

"You earned it it," she grinned at him.  "Come on — let's get back."

*          *          *

Kouji's body was still sore the next day, but he couldn't stop grinning.  He'd deftly avoided being questioned as to his whereabouts yesterday by mentioning he'd done something special for his birthday; as he'd expected, the mothering Katara took over planning some kind of celebration and had dragged Aang and her protesting brother out of the house.  Before Toph or Lee could call him on that distraction, he'd simply said quickly, "I'm going to the library!" and fled before Lee could get a grip on his shirt.

Now he calmly browsed the stacks of scrolls, looking for any interesting math texts.

"You're Kouji, right?" a voice said, quietly, behind him.

"Maybe," the boy answered, turning.  As he'd felt, it was another boy, just a little smaller than he was, in the silken garb of the noble families.  Were the Dai Li trying to find another way to track him?

"My name's Ran," the older boy — despite his size, he was about two years older than Kouji — said, softly. He came a little closer, to any observer, simply to examine the same shelf. "I come from Jet," he whispered.

Kouji kept his surprise off his face.  Jet had someone in the Upper Ring already?  Damn, but he moved fast.  The boy did a quick bending scan.  "Nobody close," he whispered back, "but let's keep it down all the same."

Ran nodded. "He wanted me to let you know I can handle things up here, so you don't need to risk exposing yourself. If there's something we think the Avatar needs to know, I'll get in touch with you."

"Then I'll pass everything I hear to you," the earthbender told the boy, then sighed.  "Not that I'm likely to hear much."

Ran nodded. "Every little bit helps," he said, with a grin, then pulled a text from the shelf. "See you."

"Bye," Kouji replied.

Ran bowed again and slipped off.

Kouji finished selecting his scrolls and headed back home, and — aha, there was the agent he'd ditched earlier.  Pleased, the boy let himself in and went to read.

Current Location: my bed
Current Mood: bouncy
Current Music: ...still no music.
Tags: au, avatar, fanfic, soldier's boy

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