Soldier's Boy

Twenty-Five

 

 

One morning, about four weeks after their arrival in Ba Sing Se, Kouji woke up to an oddly familiar rumbling outside.  "…Appa?"  He rolled to his feet and ran outside.

Sure enough, there he was, just landing. Lee was perched on his head, wrapped around a horn so he wouldn't fall.  "Aang!  Wake up!  Appa's back!" Kouji yelled, propelling himself up to land lightly on Appa's head so he could check on his brother.

"WHAT?!" Aang shot out of the house so fast he broke the roof. "APPA!"

"Morning," Lee said, a little breathless.

"Morning," Kouji replied, prising Lee off of the horn carefully.  "Come on, let's get you on the ground…"

Aang, however, had other ideas, practically bowling Kouji over when he threw his arms around Lee, babbling incoherently. The teenager went a few shades paler and gingerly hugged back.

"Aang," said Kouji, trying to catch the Avatar's attention.  "Aang.  Help me get him down, will you?"

"Huh? Oh, okay."

"I can get down myself," Lee said, once he'd extracted himself from the overjoyed twelve-year-old.

Kouji had his doubts, but his brother had his pride.  With a shrug, he dropped to the ground and glanced up at the pair still on Appa.  Lee climbed down a little more slowly. Aang seemed to have no intentions of going anywhere at the moment.

"Let's get you inside so Katara can look at you," Kouji said.  Once Lee was closer, he lowered his voice.  "Did Long Feng have him?"

Lee nodded. "I'm fine. Just bruised a bit, I think."

"Right…"  There was a certain doubtfulness to Kouji's tone as he led his brother inside.

"What's all the shouting about?" Sokka, only half-awake, mumbled. "We being attacked again?"

"Lee got Appa back," Kouji told the older boy.  He smirked to see that Not Fluffy had curled up on the Water Tribesman's stomach.

"Really?" Sokka sat bolt upright, dislodging the bunny-cygnet, which squawked and nipped at his fingers.

"Yes, really," Kouji said, laughing now.  "Go see for yourself; he's outside."

Sokka dumped Not Fluffy on Lee's shoulder and skittered outside to do just that.

"Katara?" Kouji called now.

"She's still asleep," Toph said, wandering out, yawning. "Don't ask me how, all the noise Twinkletoes is making."

"Sokka is her brother," Kouji pointed out.  "Can you go wake her up?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Thanks."  In the meantime, he tried to get Lee to sit.

This, Lee was willing to do. "Just bruised a bit," he tried to reassure his brother again.

"Against the Dai Li?"  Kouji was clearly sceptical.  "We need to make sure."

"I only got hit once."

"It only takes one hit to break a bone, Lee," the boy told him.

"What's going on?" Katara asked, Toph pushing her out the bedroom door. "Okay, Toph, stop it, I'm up!"

"I think Lee's hurt," Kouji informed her.

"Okay," she said, settling down to check him over.

"I only got hit once," Lee protested again.

"Mmhmm. Where?"

He sighed and gestured to his right side.

"Okay, then. Take off your shirt, it's easier when I can see what I'm doing."

Pleased that Things Were Being Done, Kouji rescued Not Fluffy from Zuko's shoulder and stroked her gently while Katara checked him over.  Grudgingly, Lee pulled off his shirt — and blinked, surprised. "I…didn't realize it was that bad." At least half the ribs on that side were broken, one badly enough to break the skin.

Kouji's jaw fell open.  "How could you not notice that!?"

"It hurt when it happened. Then I think I just started ignoring it."

The boy's free hand flew up and slapped his forehead.

Katara smacked the back of Lee's head. "Bad. Especially since I can't knit bones." She sighed. "I'm going to try and set them. This is going to hurt."

"Can't hurt worse than when they broke in the first place," Lee said, philosophically, and braced himself as his brother turned away.  Kouji had no desire to see this.

"Kouji, could you go see if we have any bandages left?" Katara asked, after a few minutes.

"All right," said the relieved boy.  He flitted off to where the supplies were kept and located the rest of the bandages.  "Yeah, found some," he called, then returned.

Katara wrapped Lee's ribs up tight, then gave him strict instructions to take it easy until his ribs healed.

"I'll make sure he does," Kouji told her, and gave Lee a Dire Look.  Lee seemed about to argue, but quailed at the look on his brother's face.

"What happened?" Katara asked.

"I think I want to hear this story too," agreed the boy.

"I broke into the Dai Li base and stole Appa back. Had a little trouble leaving," Lee explained.

"Who caught you?  Just Dai Li?"

"Long Feng and a few others."

Kouji looked over at Katara with an odd light in his eyes.  "I think Aang needs to have a chat with the Earth King," he said.

Katara nodded. "I'll go out and let him know. You stay here and babysit Lee?"

"I don't need a babysitter!" the sixteen-year-old protested.

His brother ignored him.  "Yep.  We need to get that done before Long Feng does something subtle and devastating."

She nodded again. "We'll be back as soon as this mess is taken care of. Lee, where's the Dai Li base?"

"Under a lake at the edge of the city. Laogai, I think."

"Don't rely on it being there," Kouji warned.  "And don't forget about the drill; it's still where we left it broken."

Katara nodded. "Right. See you guys later." She slipped outside to get the others and go to the palace.

With a  sigh, Kouji dumped Not Fluffy onto Lee's lap and began to pace the house.  Lee behaved and sat quietly for about two minutes, then settled Not Fluffy onto a cushion and went out into the backyard to practice with his swords.  As soon as Kouji felt it, he swore and headed outside.  "Damn it, niisan…," he said in a warning tone.

"What?" Lee asked, breathless again, pausing and turning to face the younger boy.

"This is not taking it easy."  Kouji pointed to the house.  "Inside.  Now."  He frowned, noting something unusual under his feet, but decided not to tell Lee right now.  Gods only knew what the teen might do if he knew the agent who normally watched the house was gone.

"I need to get used to working through this," Lee pointed out. "My ribs might not be all the way healed by the eclipse."

"They also might be," Kouji countered.  "It's two months till then.  For now, though, you need to take it easy so the bones can start to fuse.  If they slip…"

"I don't want to get out of practice," Lee shot back.

"It takes bone at least a week to heal enough to prevent slippage, I think," Kouji replied.  "And Katara might just drug you if you make her set those ribs again."

"She wrapped me tight. If the bandages start slipping, I'll come in."

"No, Lee," the boy snapped.  "And if you try again, I'll sink you."

Lee stared at him for a minute, then gave in. "Fine."

Kouji pointed at the house and gave Lee a Significant Look.

"Why can't I sit outside? Look, I'll even give you my swords so you know I'll behave."

The boy hesitated, then sighed.  "All right."

The teenager put the swords back in their sheath and held it out to him.  Kouji carefully accepted it and slung it over his shoulder while Lee settled in to watch and wait for the others and Not Sulk.  Kouji settled in as well, a bit worried by the lack of their normal watcher.

 

It was late when the others got back, long after sundown. All four seemed elated.

"I take it it went well?" Kouji asked, smiling.

 

"Yep!" Aang said, cheerfully. "Long Feng got arrested, and the Earth King's going to support the invasion. And we need to have a Conference. Me and Toph both got letters, and Sokka and Katara also got news. Long Feng intercepted it and kept it in our files."

"…He has files on us? Files that people can read?" Lee broke in, frowning.

Kouji whistled.  "Damn.  Bìhai said something about that, but we all thought it was a rumour…"

"This is bad," Lee said.

"Well, obviously," Katara said, "but what…?"

"I think he recognized me, in the base. I think he knows…" Lee trailed off.

His brother's eyes went wide.  "Please tell me you have those files."

Katara shook her head. "They only gave us the letters and intelligence report…"

Kouji's eyes narrowed as the wheels in his head began to churn, but then he shook his head.  No.  He couldn't do it, and he wasn't going to risk Ran by asking the nobleman to get the files for him.

"Which is what we need to talk about," Sokka said. "What's in those letters, and what we're going to do about them. We'll worry about Lee's file next, but first thing's first, okay?"

"Right, okay.  What've we got?"

Aang went first. "There's a man living at the Eastern Air Temple. He says he's a guru."

"What's a guru?" Sokka interrupted. "Some kind of poisonous blowfish?"

Kouji smacked him.  "A guru is a teacher, a sacred conduit for wisdom and guidance.  Do you not read?"

"Yeah, what Kouji said," Aang agreed, then went on. "He wants to help me take the next step in the Avatar Journey. He says he can teach me to control the Avatar State!"

"Then you should definitely go," the boy said.  Because you're scary in the Avatar State.

Aang nodded, then Katara took her turn.

"And I can't believe we know where our dad is now!" That, then, must be what was in the intelligence report she'd mentioned before.

"I know what you mean," Toph said, quietly. "My mom's in the city. And, from her letter, it sounds like she finally understands me!"

Lee looked away, fiddling with the end of one sleeve.

Kouji reached for his brother's hand and said heartily, "That's great, Toph!"

"This is all such big news," Sokka said. "Where do we even start?"

"I hate to say it," Katara started, "but… we have to split up."

The boy frowned, then sighed.  "Yeah, you're right."

"Split up?!" Aang yelped. "We just found Appa and got the family back together! Now you want us to separate?!"

"It's the only way we can do this, Aang," Kouji told him calmly.  "You need to learn to control the Avatar State.  It's probably best that Toph reconciles with her mother as soon as possible.  And I bet Katara and Sokka want to meet their father."

Katara nodded. "If we're going to invade the Fire Nation, you need to be ready."

Aang hesitated, then slumped a little, defeated. "Well, if I'm going to the Eastern Air Temple, Appa and I can drop you off at Chameleon Bay to see your dad!"

"Someone has to stay here with the Earth King and help him plan for the invasion," Sokka pointed out gloomily.

Lee started to interrupt to volunteer, but Katara cut him off.

"Don't even think about it. You're still hurt, and if you're right about Long Feng identifying you… you should just stay in the house."

"And Kouji needs to make sure you don't do anything stupid." Sokka sighed, and stood up. "I guess that leaves me."

"No, Sokka," Katara said. "I know how badly you want to help dad. You go to Chameleon Bay. I'll stay here with the King."

"I guess that settles it, then," Kouji said, smiling wryly.  He knew Lee wouldn't like being sidelined any more than he did.

Sokka did a little squirmy dance. "You are the nicest… sister… EVER!" He threw his arms around her and kissed her cheek.

"Easy there, Big Brother," Katara said, pushing him away. "Though you're right. I am."

Kouji laughed, and even managed to hide a lot of the hollowness to it; Lee just stared at the ground.

"We'll leave in the morning," Aang said, decisively.

"Good luck, all of you," the youngest of the group said.

Lee nodded.

"I'll see them off then come right back," Katara said. "Probably safest if you two stay here."

Kouji sighed in vexation.  I hope Ran gets word to Jet about Long Feng…, he thought.

The others scattered to their rooms to get their things together. Katara went to write a note for her brother to bring to their father, explaining why she wasn't coming herself.

Kouji glanced over at his brother.  "Do you think he has anything on me?" he asked, trying to hide his worry.

"Dunno," the older boy replied, dully.

Worried, Kouji looked over at him.

"Why? D'you think he might?"

The boy nodded.

"Why?" Lee's voice was still dull, and he didn't look up.

Kouji's eyes dropped to the floor.  "Because a lot of people may be in danger."

Now Lee looked up. "What do you mean?"

Kouji took a deep breath.  "Remember when I told you Jet was here?"  He lowered his voice significantly to make sure Katara wouldn't hear.

Lee nodded.

"I know that because I saw him from the cart when Joo Dee first brought us here," the earthbender told his brother.  "I went back to the Lower Ring later and found him again."

"Okay."

The boy fidgeted.  "I convinced him to head up an information network."

"…oh."

Kouji ran a hand through his hair.  "It didn't take much convincing, I only had to show him the drill… but thanks to you guys crashing the party, I had to distance myself from the operation."

Lee nodded. "Jet probably has his own file. Long Feng's the type of asshole who'd have a file on everyone in the city."

"I warned him about the Dai Li, and he's been very careful, but…"  Kouji winced.  "I've been deliberately ditching the tails Long Feng set on me since the crashing.  If he started looking too closely…"

Lee was quiet for a minute. "There's nothing you can do about it now."

"If I can warn my contact here…"

"We'll try and find him tomorrow, while Katara's seeing the others off," Lee said, decisively.

The boy relaxed and nodded.  "Thanks, Lee."

"No problem," Lee said, managing a tight little smile.

Kouji gave his brother a hug around the shoulders and wandered to his room.

 

Lee stayed in the common area that night; two hours before dawn, Kouji came wandering back out with Not Fluffy to collapse with upon a cushion beside the teen and go back to sleep.

The others joined them an hour or so after dawn, to eat one last breakfast together before they all went their separate ways.

"Good luck, guys," Kouji said, smiling at them.

"We'll meet up here before the invasion," Aang promised.

"I'll try and make it," Toph promised.

"I know you will," the other earthbender replied.

Toph hugged Kouji, then punched him. "Let's go."  The eleven-year-old was flaming red.

"I'll be back in an hour or two," Katara promised the brothers, then the four of them headed off.

"Adda wibble," Kouji said.

"See you," Lee said, waving a little. Once he was sure they were out of earshot, he turned to his brother. "Do you have any idea where to find your contact?"

With an effort, the boy pulled himself together.  "No, but we usually meet in the library — and I know how he walks."  He tapped one bare foot on the ground.

"Then let's go to the library." If he was going to be forcibly sidelined for at least a week, Lee wanted to do as much as possible before Katara started yelling at him.

As they headed that way, Kouji noted that nobody seemed to be following them.  Whether or not Lee seemed to notice the same thing, he gave no indication.  Absurdly disappointed, Kouji slipped into the library and made straight for the mathematics section as he always did.  While he walked, he tried to see if Ran was there.

The older boy was, curled up in a chair with a copper scroll.

Relief flooded Kouji, and he picked out a text and wandered to where Ran was.  "Hi," he said softly, taking the seat behind him.

Lee slipped some distance away, looking at the history scrolls.

"'Lo," Ran whispered back, not looking up from his scroll.

"There may be a… problem."

"What kind of problem?"

"You know Long Feng's out, right?"

"Yep." There was a certain amount of relief in Ran's tone.

"Turns out he kept files on all of the Avatar's friends," Kouji murmured.

"He kept files on everyone in the city," Ran corrected.

"Did he?  I didn't know for sure… but think about that for a minute."

"We aren't doing anything illegal. Now that Long Feng's out, they can't do anything to us," the smaller boy said, quietly.

Kouji relaxed.  "Good.  Good."

"Are there any files you want me to make sure the King and the Council of Five don't get their hands on?"

"Lee's.  And mine, too."  Kouji winced.  "Especially Lee's."

Ran didn't ask. "I'll do what I can."

"Thanks.  Get them to me if you can; hide them in some math texts.  And don't let Jet see them?"

Ran frowned. "I guess…"

"It's very important," Kouji told him.  "Jet needs to stay free and on the streets."

"There's something in those files that would get Jet arrested?"

Kouji hesitated and picked his next words carefully.  "Jet is a bit… sensitive about certain issues.  I think he might well flip if he read them."  He tugged on the end of his braid.  "I owe you big for this, Ran."

"No problem," Ran said. "And, yes, you do."

Kouji remained another five minutes, glancing at the text he'd chosen, then got up, put it back, and found his brother.

"All set?" Lee asked.

He nodded.  "I've pretty much forfeited my soul, but yeah."

"Tell me when we get back to the house."

"Deal."  Kouji led the way back.

Lee seemed a little out of breath, and was definitely paler, when they go there. "Forfeited your soul?" he asked, right away.

The earthbender made him sit down.  "Ran said that the network would be fine since Long Feng is out of the picture — networking like that's not illegal.  But he offered to get your file, and mine, before the Earth King or the Council of Five see them."

"That's good, isn't it?"

"Very good, given what we are."  Kouji pulled on his braid and sighed.

"So where does the soul-forfeiting come in?" Lee asked, fiddling with the end of one sleeve.

Kouji eyed him.  "The fact that Ran is going to get those files, which have probably been locked away somewhere?"

"…Oh, right. Sorry."

The boy groaned.  "Damn Long Feng anyway."

"To the deepest level of hell," Lee agreed, resting a hand on his side.

The boy curled up beside him and reached out to pet Not Fluffy gently.  "And now we wait."

"Yep. Now we wait."