Chapter 3: For Family
Tenzin
Since the incident, everything had been a complete mess, from Hiroshi throwing a tantrum over what the bandits had attempted to do to his family, but his wife quickly calmed him down by telling him that they were fine and that he didn't need to worry, that was the easy part. But the difficult part lay ahead.
After accidentally killing a member of the trio, Naruto had completely shut himself down and was not responding to anything. Tenzin had attempted to speak with his nephew, but Naruto had been as deafeningly silent as a grave.
However, the third issue was something about which his father had warned them nine years before.
Tenzin, Bumi, Kya, their mother, Uncle Sokka, Toph, and Zuko were seated in chairs in a circle around Aang, who was sitting in the center and looking serious. Katara looked at her husband with concern, wondering what had caused him to be so... concerned.
"You might be wondering why I brought you here," Aang began looking around at his friends before moving on to his children, with his gaze falling primarily on Kya, which was noticed by Toph.
The blonde child had only been a month in the family and Kya had already fallen in love with him, but it wasn't just her, everyone loved him, Aang couldn't blame her, after all Naruto was a very good kid who never cried in front of anyone or woke up crying in the middle of the night. "It has something to do with Naruto," Aang explained, knowing Kya would not like this.
"What about him?" Kya inquired, her body shifting forward as she looked at her father with wide eyes.
He sighed, as if he were exhausted. "It was the day Naruto joined our family that I noticed something strange... there was a Whirlpool mark on his stomach, almost as if it had been drawn by someone, which I initially dismissed as nothing unusual. I went to check on him the night he came to live with us, and despite the fact that he was only a baby, Naruto was leaving this... strange power "Aang paused in the middle of his sentence to allow the new information to sink in.
Everyone, especially Kya, appeared to be concerned. "I haven't noticed anything unusual," Kya quickly clarified, explaining that Naruto was no different from any other baby; in fact, her mother had observed that even Bumi didn't laugh as much as Naruto did when he was a baby.
Aang put his hand up to ease her concerns. "I'm not saying there's anything wrong with him, but I did check and the Whirlpool mark had disappeared when I removed his covers, but it reappeared when I touched his stomach with my fingertips. I... I think I saw something, "Aang stated, his face flushed with the memory, he was still unsure of what that thing was.
"Can you tell me what you saw, Aang?" Zuko inquired, knowing full well that his brother was always the one who enjoyed a good laugh and a relaxed attitude.
"A massive Red Eye appeared in front of me, bigger than me. Suddenly, I felt as if Sky bisons were standing on top of me, almost crushing my body, and the creature said to me that I should stay away "Aang finished, his face sweating and his breathing heavily by the end.
Everyone was alarmed because they had never seen Aang behave in such a manner before. Kya swallowed, apprehensive about what her father was about to embark on.
A hush fell over them as they contemplated what they should do in the next few moments.
"What should we do?" Sokka inquired, his voice calm, but his face was anything but that on the subject.
"Nothing for now, Naruto has shown nothing to indicate that he's a danger, but I'm just telling you to keep an eye if anything unusual happens," Aang Stated.
Tenzin escaped his thoughts, when Naruto had started sobbing against his chest, Tenzin had seen his eyes for a fragment of a second, they were Red.
After arriving back at the Air Temple, he had sighed on relief to see his blue eyes back.
Tenzin was now considering how to approach him; he was well aware that killing someone was not something Air Benders did; they were taught from an early age that all life was sacred. Tenzin was now considering what he could say to him. In every situation where an Airbender was forced to defend himself against a threat, he would always choose to dodge and counter the attacks rather than actually going on the offensive and attempting to harm the threat.
Naruto, on the other hand, did it to save his friends? Before knocking on his door, Tenzin asked himself this question. When Tenzin knocked on the door, nothing happened; there was no movement to open the door or anything; all Tenzin could hear was his muffled sobbing, as if he were hugging a pillow.
"Naruto, could you please open the door?" Tenzin inquired, knocking on his door once more. The door was locked, and Tenzin could hear the sobbing come to a halt but no sound of footsteps approaching the door.
Tenzin was about to ask the same question once more when Naruto finally spoke up. "Uncle Ten-Tenzin, how i-is Asami?" Naruto inquired, his voice barely audible above a whisper, his eyes red from crying, as his voice had almost completely vanished.
"Naruto, she's fine, but could you please open the door for me? I need to speak with you about something." Tenzin spoke in a pleasant manner, taking care not to express any signs of anger or anything else that might indicate he was enraged.
There was a moment of silence, but Naruto quickly walked to the door and unlocked it. Tenzin opened the door slightly, only to see that it was completely dark inside.
"Can you tell me why it's so dark inside?" Tenzin inquired, his gaze falling on his nephew, who stood at the door's opening. Upon hearing the question, Naruto clenched his lips together.
Tenzin didn't say anything as he walked into the room, immediately opening the windows and brightening the atmosphere. Naruto squinted at the bright light shining into the room, his forearm covering his eyes with his other hand.
Tenzin turned to face him and motioned for his nephew to take a seat in the bed. As he sat down, he noticed his blonde nephew was still standing in the same spot. Naruto eventually agreed after hesitating for a moment.
Tenzin wrapped his arm around him and hugged him from the side. "Naruto, tell me why you're locking yourself in your room." Tenzin inquired, making certain that he was looking him in the eyes.
While looking at his hands, Naruto noticed a flash of blood on his hands that passed through his eyes. He quickly ducked his hands behind his back and avoided his gaze.
'I-I ki-Killed Him,' Naruto stuttered out, tears streaming down his cheeks and his chest hurting like a punch had been thrown at him.
Tenzin took a deep breath, knowing that what he would say next might very well determine the kind of person his nephew will grow up to be.
"You did Naruto, but tell me what you did. What were you thinking? Did you really want to do it?" "NO," Naruto screamed as he raised his eyes to meet his own.
'I-I, he was going to harm Asami, and I didn't want him to harm her, because she is- was my friend,' Naruto said in hushed tones at the end, knowing that Asami would have no desire to associate with him after witnessing what he had done. Recognizing that he was a Monster.
Putting his hand on Naruto's shoulder, Tenzin looked into his nephew's blue eyes, which met his own faint blue ones.
"What matters is what you did to protect your friend, Naruto. That is what is most important. We will face many challenges throughout our lives, and the ones that pose a threat to our friends and family will always be the most difficult. Accidents do happen, and you should not consider yourself to be any less as a result of what has occurred. All of us make mistakes, and I am no exception. I have made and will continue to make mistakes. We are not perfect; at the end of the day, we are just ordinary people." Tenzin spoke while hugging Naruto, who hesitated before hugging him in return.
"Thank You, Uncle, you're smart, despite what Uncle Bumi says," Naruto said attempting to inject some levity into the conversation, Tenzin chuckled and rubbed his hair, much to Naruto's displeasure.
Later
Naruto, Tenzin, and Pema were all eating together, and baby Jinora was sleeping in a crib next to Pema.
Pema was relieved to see that Naruto had somehow reverted to his former self, the little blonde eating a loaf of bread and some boiled vegetables.
KNOCK
The group stopped eating as Tenzin instructed whoever who came to the door to come in. The door opened to reveal Hiroshi, who was followed by his wife and Asami, who stood in the front holding flowers in her hands.
Tenzin was the first to speak, standing up to greet the guests and saying, "Oh, Mister Hiroshi, it's good to see you again."
"I'm sorry for interrupting your lunch, but we wanted to personally thank you for saving my wife and daughter," Hiroshi said, looking at Naruto who didn't smile, still feeling the weight of it, but he was distracted from his thoughts when he saw flowers close to his face, Asami handing them to him.
"Mom said Flowers are a good gift. I choose the ones that have the best smell," Asami said smiling brightly at Naruto who despite everything, returned the smile.
He smelled the flowers, before looking back at Asami. "They smell wonderful Asami, Thank You," Naruto said, making the girl blush slightly, suddenly avoiding his eyes much to Naruto's confusion.
Then, much to Naruto's embarrassment, Yasuko came up to him and kissed his cheek, "You protected my daughter, Naruto, and if you ever need anything, we will always be here to help." Asami rolled her eyes at her mother
Tenzin invited Hiroshi and his family to join them for lunch.
During the night, Yasuko sat close to Pema, checking on Jinora every now and then, mostly comparing her to how Asami used to behave when she was a baby, much to the girl's embarrassment and Naruto's amusement, especially when Yasuke revealed that Asami cried all night, never resting, especially once when she got scared of her own shadow. This caused Naruto, Pema, and Yasuke to laugh
Yasoku decided to say something different after noticing her daughter covering her face. "I'm sorry, my dear, I didn't mean to embarrass you in front of your boyfriend," Yasuko teased, causing both children to blush.
At night, Asami's family left, Naruto kissing Asami's knuckles, much to Yasoku's amusement, who figured that perhaps, eventually there might be more between the two, Hiroshi on the other hand narrowed his eyes slightly. Remembering what Naruto has bee able to do to the Trio member.
After leaving Naruto went to his bed, ready to sleep.
Dripping, Dripping, Dripping, Dripping...
Naruto opened his eyes at the sound of falling water drops and looked around, only now he could feel the water below his knees, almost reaching his knees.
When he looked around, he realized he was in what appeared to be sewers, with pipes running around the walls and steam leaking from pipes.
Naruto, on the other hand, did not feel cold at all; in fact, he felt warm, very warm.
Growl
Naruto turned at the direction of the sound, looking he saw pipes around, and a long dark tunnel in front of him.
With caution, Naruto walked towards the sound. He noticed the water turning redder as he approached, but he couldn't see where the tunnel was leading. Naruto noticed a light expanding as he approached and covered his eyes before proceeding forward.
Moving his arms away from the blinding light, Naruto was confronted by a massive jail in front of him, the bars of which appeared to be larger than the Air temple.
Naruto exhaled, wondering what was hidden behind the bars, something large. Naruto's eyes noticed a piece of paper where what was probably the jail's keyhole was, with the word 'Seal' written on it, leading Naruto to speculate what it meant.
Naruto was about to approach the bars when he felt a sudden weight around his body, as if his bones were cracking. After falling to his knees, he heard a dark laughter on the other side of the bars.
Two Red eyes appeared just behind the bars, peering through the bars.
"It appears that my Jailer has finally honored me with his presence,"
Bulin
The worst season in Republic City was winter.
In summer, the rains came, but it was easy to hide from those. Republic City had no shortage of bridges and overhangs to wait beneath, and after the storms had passed, the city emerged in force to sample the bountiful harvest of the markets and take part in the summer's festivals with their bellies full and their purses fat. They were rich and easy marks, the best kind.
The rain and the heat could give you a fever, and that could be nasty, but medicine was easy to steal once you knew how, so a fever would never kill you. Not like the chill of winter. There was no medicine for that.
In winter, the snows fell thick and long, and it was not rare for them to continue long into the night. No one came outside except children to play in the newfallen snow, the markets were empty, and the festivals were few and far between. The marks that did pass by would not relinquish their coin so easily.
The bridges and underpasses were little defense against the blizzards. The snow clung to skin and clothes, soaking through fabric and making everything damp and cold, a cold that refused to go away. Rain in summer could often be a welcome respite from heat. Snow in winter was always a fearful prospect.
Mako and Bolin's first winter on the streets of Republic City had nearly seen them starve. The young urchins would have died had they not been taken under the wing of Peachy, the self-styled Beggar King. Peachy had taught Mako and Bolin the art of the grift and con, and shown them how to adapt their begging methods to the mark.
Mako wondered where Peachy was now. He hadn't seen or heard from the Beggar King since the affair with Mahk the Dagger two years prior. The thought was pushed away as quickly as it came. On the streets, few thoughts could be spared beyond survival.
"Mako?" Bolin called from over near the fire. Mako's younger brother had wrapped himself in the hessian "blanket" which he and Mako shared between themselves. A patch of his hair was missing, a souvenir from a tussle with a feral cat.
This crumbling factory had been Mako and Bolin's home for the past year. No place in the factory was comfortable, and at night the cold winds blew through the shattered windows and made them shiver, but the snow never got inside, and that was what mattered.
"Mako?" Bolin repeated. "Can I play in the snow? I heard some kids playing outside. They sounded like they were having fun."
Mako ground his teeth, but adopted a kind smile for his brother's sake.
"Sorry, Bo," he said. "If we had more firewood, maybe, but that's the last we have. You'd have no way to warm up and get dry."
"But-"
"Bolin, listen to me." Mako walked over to his brother and put his hand on his shoulder. "You know how dangerous the snow can be if the cold and wet stay on you. Remember the first winter, before Peachy found us?"
Bolin frowned and hung his head. "Yeah," he admitted. "But-"
"No buts," Mako interrupted, his smile fading. "Now that mom and dad are gone it's my responsibility to keep you safe. If anything happened to you... I couldn't bear it."
Bolin nodded. "I know," he said. "Sorry, Mako."
Mako gave his brother a hug. The hessian scratched against his skin uncomfortably, but Mako ignored it.
The snow stopped after two more hours, by which time Bolin had fallen fast asleep. Mako allowed himself a small grin at his brother's snoring before making his way to a pile of rubble on the far wall, taking care not to wake Bolin. The fire was a dying pile of embers by now, a thin wisp of smoke rising from the ashes.
Mako carefully shifted the rubble until he came upon an old, beat-up, green metal box. This box was Mako and Bolin's life support in the winter. Any extra money earned by hustling throughout the year went into the "cash stash," as Bolin called it. It was another thing Peachy had taught them - another thing they owed him.
Mako pulled five yuans out of the box. It would be enough for a bit of food and some dry firewood. Mako had tried to collect his own wood after the rain or snow before - it never burned, and the smoke was unbearable. He'd learned then that good, dry firewood was an expense well worth the price.
Mako stuffed the yuans into his pocket, replaced the rubble, and snuck away from the fireside towards the exit. The heavy metal doors of the factory shut with a loud metallic clang behind him, but Mako was sure it wouldn't wake his brother. As careful as Mako often was around him when he rested, Bolin was capable of sleeping through just about anything. It was something that had caused the brothers trouble more than once.
As Mako made his way to the market, he found his gaze caught by the enormous statue of Avatar Aang that stood stoically in the bay. Everyone said that the statue was a promise of safety and protection for the people of the city, but Mako had lived on the streets long enough to know that it was an empty promise at best, and a cruel lie at worst.
Bolin still bought into the promise, though he had learned better than to tell Mako about it out loud.
"Don't worry, Mako," Bolin had assured him time and time again for the first few months that they had spent on the streets. "The Avatar will help us, you'll see. The Avatar will come and make sure that we won't have to live on the streets anymore."
Eventually, Mako couldn't take it anymore. "The old Avatar is dead!" he had snapped. "And the new Avatar is just a kid like us, growing up somewhere in the Water Tribe. We'll probably never even see them except in a newspaper."
Bolin hadn't said anything about the Avatar after that. Not to Mako, at least. But Mako still heard him at night when Bolin thought he was asleep, whispering to the Avatar to help them. It always made Mako sigh and shake his head, but he never said anything.
Mako turned away from the statue. If he kept dawdling, the market was like to close before he even arrived.
As it happened, the market was indeed nearly empty by the time Mako reached it, the sun beginning its retreat beyond the horizon. Only four stands remained open, but luckily those stands offered what he needed.
From Goh, a wizened butcher with a thick grey beard and pockmarked skin, Mako received a few strips of dried and salted meat in exchange for two yuans. Goh refused to tell Mako what sort of meat it was. "Be grateful I'm givin' you any, street rat," the butcher grunted. "S'only my husband says I oughtta be more nice to the less fortunate. Now get yourself clear 'fore I change my mind."
Mako slinked away, and approached the woodcutter's stand. The woodcutter was named Hira, a young but stern man with a hawkish nose and thin lips. There was a dark, sunken hole in Hira's face where one of his eyes ought to have been. The woodcutter was frequently heard to boast that he had lost his eye in a fight with a platypus-bear, but Mako and Bolin had learned the truth overheard from Hira's father. The eye had actually been lost to an infection that the family had been too poor to treat. Even without knowing the truth, it was easy to see through the lie, since the missing eye was the only scar the supposed platypus-bear had left.
Hira shoved three tiny logs into Mako's arms and demanded three yuans as payment. Mako grumbled but paid the price. Hira was a waterbender, and found it amusing to freeze anyone who complained about his prices in a block of ice. In winter, that could be a death sentence.
Mako was left with three thin strips of meat and three twigs with which to keep a fire going, but at least he had something. If it hadn't been for the cash box, he would have nothing at all. Mako silently thanked Peachy as he left the market.
A short, sharp whistle caught his attention, and Mako cocked his head to the side to see a figure waiting for him leaned against the side of the market gate. It was not a face Mako had wanted to see, and he grimaced.
Shady Shin laughed as he noted Mako's expression. "Now, is that any way to greet an old pal?" the gangster chuckle as he swaggered over to Mako.
"We ain't pals, Shady Shin," Mako said curtly. "Whatever you're selling, I don't want none of it."
Shady Shin sighed and shook his head. "Be reasonable, Mako," he said. "You and your brother can't survive Republic City on your own forever. Sooner or later, you're gonna need a fraternity. You're gonna need the triads."
"I'll tell you where you can stick your spirits-damned triads!" Mako spat. The curse felt hollow in his mouth, and Shady Shin knew it.
"My, my, what a foul mouth you got on ya!" the waterbender said, throwing his head back and laughing. "I'd ask if you kiss your mother with that mouth, but- y'know."
That made Mako angry. He slashed his arm in Shin's direction, producing a burst of flame that left the gangster stumbling backwards into the melting snow. Mako glared at him for a moment before beginning on his way.
"Dammit, Mako, listen to me!" Shady Shin called to Mako, fumbling back onto his feet. "You and Bolin are the best hustlers on the street that ain't part of a group! Sooner or later the other triads are gonna be coming to call, and if they can't recruit you, they're gonna do their best to make sure no one else can!"
"Let them come," Mako called back. "Me and Bolin will be fine as long as we have-"
"Your cash box, right," Shady Shin finished, crossing his arms.
Mako stopped in his tracks. He turned back to face Shady Shin. "I never told you about the cash box," he said. "How do you..."
Shady Shin grit his teeth and ground them softly. "This is why you need us, Mako!" he snapped. "You're naive! Everyone knows you and Bolin were Peachy's boys, and everyone knows that Peachy's boys keep cash boxes in the winter! Now, if you wanted to recruit a couple kids and the only thing keeping them from having to turn to a triad was a measly little cash box... where do you think you'd strike first?"
Anger snatched Mako's mind away from reason once more. "If you wanna threaten me and my brother, come out and say it to my face!" Mako shouted.
"I ain't threatenin' nothing!" Shady Shin protested.
Baby flames danced around Mako's hands, pleading for him to make them grow. "What are the Triple Threats planning to do, Shin?" Mako demanded.
"We ain't plannin' on doin' nothing," Shin insisted. "We still want you to make the smart play and come to us willingly. But I can't say the same for, say... the Agni Kais."
The fires died and Mako's eyes widened in fear. All around him, the world seemed to slow as Shady Shin's words sunk in. "What are you saying?" he breathed.
"I'm saying," Shady Shin replied, with the faintest trace of a smirk crossing his lips, "that if I was you I'd hurry on back to that little factory of yours. I hear it's gonna be surprisingly warm over there before long."
Time stopped, and it was hard to say exactly what happened next. As he ran, Mako noted sluggishly that he no longer held the wood or the meat. It was in his pocket, he thought. Or maybe he'd dropped it on the ground. Avatar Aang watched him as he ran, sneering from atop his hill.
"It's no use," Aang said, or maybe that was just a voice in Mako's head. "Everything will always fall apart. You'll never be more than this. Just lie down and let the snow bury you. It won't hurt. You'll even feel warm by the end. Just lie down and give up. The cash is gone, Bolin is gone, and you'll never get through winter without either of them. What's the point in running when everything's gone and no one cares?"
"Shut up, Aang!" Mako screamed. In the street, Aang was laughing at him, and there was Shady Shin too, and Mahk the Dagger and the man who killed his parents. They were all laughing and jeering and telling him to give up.
He heard someone whispering under his breath for the Avatar to come and help them, and he wondered how Bolin had gotten there before realizing the voice was his own.
Finally, the factory was upon him. Or else it was an enormous pillar of fire in the shape of the factory.
Flames leapt from every window and every crack in the wall. There was creaking and groaning and crashing everywhere as the fire greedily gobbled the building up. All Mako could think of was the cash box - all those yuans, hard-earned and carefully-saved - he thought he could see them in the embers rising from the blaze, his only hope making its escape into the sky.
He found Bolin hidden, shivering, behind a pile of tires on the other side of the yard. The hessain was still wrapped around his shoulders, a fresh red bruise on the side of his head.
"I'm sorry!" Bolin wailed when he noticed his brother approaching. The hessian slipped from Bolin's shoulders and all of a sudden his arms were around Mako, squeezing as tightly as they could. Tears streamed from Bolin's eyes and snot from his nose, both soaking Mako's shoulder in equal measure as his little brother pressed his head to it.
"Th-there were so many of them!" Bolin sobbed. "I w-wanted to f-fight them but there were so many of them a-and I barely got away and hid but I m-messed up and one of them hit me before I g-got away but I hid behind the tires and they didn't ch-check!"
"Who were they?" Mako asked urgently. "What did they look like?"
"Th-they were all dressed in r-red," Bolin said. "They s-smelled like s-smoke."
"The Agni Kais," Mako cursed under his breath. "Shady Shin knew all along."
"Th-they set fire to the f-factory as s-soon as they gave up l-looking for me. W-why would they d-do that?" Bolin's teeth were chattering.
Mako turned his head to gaze at the inferno. "The cash box," he said. "They wanted to get rid of the cash box."
With a final, deafening groan, the factory breathed its last and the structure collapsed in on itself. Within minutes, the factory was a pile of rubble, a few last defiant flames flicking in and out of the cracks.
"And it worked," Mako said, his lip twitching. The tears came unbidden, and for once Mako could do nothing to stop them. With one arm he clutched his brother, and with the other he tightly gripped the red scarf he wore.
"Wh-what are we going to do?" Bolin whimpered.
Mako clenched his jaw. Bolin was scared. That meant he couldn't be. He had to be strong. He had to be decisive.
"Don't worry," he told Bolin, saying the words that he himself did not believe. "It's going to be okay."
"How?" Bolin asked, looking up at his brother with eyes puffy and red from crying.
"I think I know a way to get us some work," Mako said. Every word he spoke felt like a knife in the back of his parents. "It'll be alright. We just need to be brave for a little while. Can you be brave for me, Bo?"
Bolin adopted his most serious expression and nodded. "I'll be brave for you," he assured Mako. "Don't worry, bro."
Mako gave a fake smile and kissed his brother's brow. "Can you walk?" he asked. Bolin nodded.
Mako helped Bolin to his feet and retrieved the hessian blanket, draping it around Bolin's shoulders. "Let's get going, then," he said. "We don't want to be late."
The worst season in Republic City was winter, when the snows fell thick and long, and it was not rare for them to continue long into the night. As Mako roamed the streets of the city with his brother, he cursed himself for being stupid enough to hope for the Avatar's aid. He would need to be smarter and stronger. Weakness would get him killed, and Bolin with him.
There would be no heroes coming to help them, Mako knew. No Avatar. Not in winter. All that was offered by winter in Republic City was the cold, the dark, death, and fear.
That was how things were. And Mako knew, as he and Bolin found the base of the Triple Threat Triad, that it was how things would always be.
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