章節 125: Chapter-125
It wasn't the same.
"His lips..." She was a bit rough when touching the Uzumaki's lips with her fingers, going up a bit. "His nose..." Little by little, a clearer image formed in her head while her hands continued exploring his face. "Eyes... forehead..." It felt strange to notice how another person's skin was so soft to the touch.
"..." Naruto had to bend down a bit so that the girl could now run her hands through his golden hair, which was tangled between her fingers.
He couldn't deny it; feeling a girl caress your hair was an incredible sensation. It calmed his insides.
"Cheeks." Toph didn't know how much time passed as her hands caressed his cheeks more carefully, which strangely had three marks on each side. She couldn't resist the idea of scratching them a bit, hoping that the boy would purr.
But he just smiled amused; people didn't purr.
The last thing his fingers touched were her lips, wanting to memorize what that smile he always had on his face would look like.
Toph suddenly stiffened when she felt the boy's hands touch her cheeks, squeezing them between his fingers.
"It's boring that you are the only one who can touch me." With a playful smile, the boy stretched out the blind bandit's jaws.
And he had to stop himself from laughing as she tried to pout, but having her cheeks red and tight made it hard to take her seriously.
It wasn't until a full minute later that the two of them separated, to walk back to the camp with the others, side by side, their hands almost touching from time to time.
...
Zuko climbed down from the giant bird to look carefully at a long trail left in the middle of a green meadow. Apparently, he had only seen the disturbed earth for a few hours, still a little wet.
The banished prince had a very good idea of what had happened.
Climbing back into his transport, he followed the trail, a look of determination in his eyes.
...
Storm clouds loomed over the horizon, a storm brewing.
Something that made Uncle Iroh worry seemed like a bad omen.
But he didn't want to think about that; they were only a few days away from reaching their destination with the entire caravan of refugees, with whom they had formed strong bonds of trust since their princess Azula was the fighter who prevented them from having problems with thieves and mercenaries.
She and her faithful Amazonian adept, who could use the bones of men as toothpicks, was a rather disturbing image for the old dragon of the west, who thanked the spirits that Yoko was so loyal to his niece.
That he had a strange habit of having strange friends.
A circus girl, who had the ability to disable the best voice actors.
A girl from high society, who had perfect aim.
And now an eight-foot-tall giant woman who could break rocks with her bare hands.
Had I mentioned that I had a weird and possibly romantic relationship with a 13-year-old boy who had magical powers?
"You are the only one, Azula," smiling, the old man took a sip of the tasty lizard soup. It was quite a spectacle to see the Amazon woman fight an eight-meter-long lizard and kill it with her hands, giving the refugees a decent dinner.
"What will you do when you get to Ba Sing Se, my Lady Zu?" The giant woman sitting on the head of her dinner asked curiously; it would be a good trophy to hang on the wall of her future home.
"I haven't thought about it." Azula let the soft wind caress her face while she looked at the beautiful landscape of mountains and trees. Before, she wouldn't have bothered to see something like this, but now that her heart felt much calmer, she enjoyed doing it.
"Because?"
"Because I simply don't know what to do with my life, my future. Right now, I just listen to my uncle, letting myself go with the flow, and maybe... just maybe find my destiny."
For a few seconds, the girl's face was illuminated by the sun's rays, but her face was darkened by the storm clouds that were getting closer.
"That was beautiful, Lady Zu; I think you will do it." For her part, the giant warrior looked moved by her Lady's words.
"And you?" Azula wouldn't have bothered asking him that before, but she was curious to know what her new bodyguard will do.
"Serve you, Lady Zu."
"No, I don't want to know what you will do; I want to know what you want, what is your dream?"
Yoko wasn't expecting a question like that, and she looked around. There were only the two of them, nervously she rubbed her bulging arm full of muscles.
"Aren't you going to laugh?"
"Do I look like someone who laughs?"
"..." The princess's intense gaze was enough for the warrior. "I spent a lifetime hurting and fighting; since I was a child, my father taught me that only the strong survive and that strength is everything. Without power, you are nothing. If you don't fight, it wouldn't be anything... and when he died, I had to take charge of the gang." All the men who accompanied him had the same faith and loyalty that they had for their father; she was their leader.
And now Lady Zu was hers, the only woman to beat her in combat.
"Why does this sound so familiar?" The banished princess asked herself almost ironically, who could not help but compare her life with hers. "If you don't like to fight? What would you like to do with your life?"
"I want to sing!"
"…"
"My mom said I sing like an angel! I used to sing for her every night before bed, and now... I only do it when I'm in the bathroom."
"Okay..." Azula had to fake a smile at the excited look of the giant woman, who had eyes that almost sparkled with happiness when talking about her dream. "It's... a nice dream."
"Really?! Thank you, Lady Zu!"
"Ahg!" The princess could barely react when she was enveloped by the giant arms of the armored woman, who looked like she was going to break her back with this bear hug.
"I'm glad that you believe in me, I know it's a silly dream. In every town and bar I've visited, all the women who sing are so small, elegant, and pretty, and I... I look like the fusion of a nymph and a troll."
"I've seen uglier women who have been successful, why not you?" She said as best she could between the warrior's enormous breasts; she let go, and she could breathe easier.
"Do you really think I'm not that ugly?"
"I've seen uglier people; you look good next to them."
Azula was no good at encouraging people, without ending up insulting them; it was fortunate that Yoko was too happy for her Lady's 'flattery.'
"Boss! Lady Zu!" The moment between both girls ended when they heard the gallop of a giant lizard, ridden by one of Yoko's many followers, who had a look of panic.
"What's happening, Kezu?"
"The Fire Nation!" That single sentence was heard by the entire group of refugees, who were obviously upset. It would be a joke of fate, that being so close to a safe place, they would now be attacked.
"Explain." Azula remained impassive; this was not the time to lose her mind.
"It's a strange transport, Lady Zu. It's like a big metal car, it's huge and it's moving at full speed, it's coming straight at us."
"The armored train?" It was one of the Fire Nation's newest creations, an armored steam train that could travel at incredible speeds over all types of terrain, and she already had an idea of who was using it.
"What will we do, Lady Zu?!"
"Please, we can't run into them now!"
"You have to do something! I'm begging you!"
Why were they asking her?
Azula saw the hundreds of people gathered around her, farmers and peasants, old men and women, men and women with their small children, all of them looking at her as if she were their salvation.
She was not obligated to help anyone; she was sure she could take one of the many giant lizards and go to Ba Sing Se. These people would be a good distraction, so she could get there without problems.
"What will you do, daughter?" was the only question the princess heard, from her uncle who looked her in the eyes.
Slowly the banished princess made her way to one of the many giant lizards, belonging to the mercenaries, to climb onto one of them and look at all the people around her for a few seconds.
"Everyone, listen!"
Her powerful scream was heard by every person in the area, with a hard expression the teenager pointed into the distance.
"Everyone has to go towards Ba Sing Se! If you can run, do it! If you can carry the children and the elderly, do it! If you have to leave your belongings, do it! Your lives are at stake now and on the other side of that mountain is the peace and security that I desire!"
The people's response was immediate.
Falling out of the bags and letting go of the carts to carry their most necessary belongings, leaving all the dead weight, the younger ones gathered the older ones and if they didn't have an animal to pull, they would do it themselves.
The organization only took a few minutes and everyone was ready.
"Lady Zu?" Yoko saw in confusion that her Lady was not aiming to go with them; instead, she was looking into the distance at the black smoke of the armored train that was getting closer and closer to her.
"Take care of these people."
"What?"
"I order you to stay with these people and protect them until you reach Ba Sing Se."
"But... but... but... and you?!"
"Someone has to act as a distraction," she murmured dryly, as she moved her neck until it cracked; she hoped she wasn't so rusty that she couldn't put up a good fight.
Plus, if the person he thought there was was there, it would be the fight he's been waiting for a long time.
"Let me accompany you, my Lady!" Yoko was more than ready, with a strong grip on her club to go face whoever she was.
"No." The discussion between both fighters was heard by everyone present, who remained on the sidelines.
"I could die."
"I know," Azula murmured coldly, grabbing the large lizard's ropes tightly.
She had many enemies among the members of the Fire Nation army; now being a banished princess, they would not waste the opportunity not to try to burn her alive.
It was something he always kept in mind.
With a sigh, he looked towards the horizon, before moving forward, he felt an extra weight, and he didn't have to turn around to know who it was.
"You should never turn your back on a battle for a good cause, right?" said the western dragon smiling, who was already sitting on the saddle next to his niece.
Azula took the moment to look one last time at the people, whom she had lived with for… almost a month. All of them were people she would once consider mere scum, just peasants who would be good for only labor at most.
Now she had all their eyes on her, looking at her as if she were the last hope in their difficult lives.
"I'll give it to you, Yoko."
"I will do it, my Lady." Seeing that he couldn't talk to her, the only thing he could do was comply with her order, "You have my word."
The banished princess made the lizard advance and soon found herself advancing at full speed towards the armored train with her uncle.
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