Family Reunion [Kasai - Lazuki]

Finally, after a few days journey, the Hellsong touched into the Fire Nation's port. It wasn't anything too special, they just needed resupplying, maybe get a few new things and get someone to repair the kitchen after Yaku's last accident. However, Kasai didn't seem annoyed that they had to touch into the port. He was actually smiling as he crouched on the rail of the ship, looking the port over. It was nice to finally touch solid land again, and since he was last in this port the Black Admirals had grown in size ten-fold. They were now the equivalent of a small fleet, and it didn't seem to be about to get any smaller. It was nice to be reminded of how quickly his plans were accelerating.

"Sir, are you ready to leave the ship? Everyone else is waiting for your orders." Namcha broke him out of his daydreams and he turned, smiling at the man.
"Well, my friend, I think they can do whatever they want. Just be back here in two days, alright?" the other man nodded, and he called to the other men. Kasai leaped off the side of the ship, a fall that would kill most men. Namcha obviously knew that and cried out, running towards the side of the ship.
"Captain Kojin!!"

Kasai rose up from below the bar of the ship, his feet on fire with his usual flying technique.
"yes, is there something the matter Namcha?" Namcha face-palmed and went back to his other men as Kasai touched down on solid land and walked off. He could use with a good beer, there were sure to be some bars in this port.

Lazuki arrived at the docks around 30 minutes before Kasai and his crew. She let the only passenger off, Sei. He would have been scarred for life by this ride, almost silent, and full of dead bodies to keep him company. The crimson haired girl walked off the blood stained boat, and entered the bar. He knew her, so her gave her the usual.

A short time later, a man with hair as red as hers came into the bar. He was clad in air-bender like robes, and a face that matched hers in some way. She had never heard of any relatives, as far as her memory went back. Still, this man looked like something was... off, but also he looked like her. Some of the men in the bar ducked as she walking over to approach the man, but she didn't attack, she pulled out the ransom note she carried with her and handed it to him. It was a reward for her head, but it wasn't done, and it said her first name before a splatter of blood covering her last name, Kōjin. It quotations it said 'The crimson spark.' 'If found, dead or alive, contact...' The ink fell of the page.

It had been two days worth of a journey, and that had been much too long for Sei. Much too quiet. The entire ship seemed to reek of death, which had done nothing to discourage his pilot's little fetishism. He sighed as he stood up, looking for his clothes for the first time in days. He was seriously, SERIOUSLY going to need some ice. He looked over to them, torn off next to the door and remembered how it had started. he opened the cabin's window and picked up his clothes, walking over to the window.
"Repressing memory in three, two, one..." he threw the rags out of the window, dropping them into the sea where they sank like stones
".... and repressed." he said, before walking out of the cabin, still completely nude.

As he walked towards the pier, many people stopped to look, or screamed that he was a pervert. He really wasn't, and as he pulled mud off of the ground and wrapped it around him, he was glad for the covering. With his body finally hidden from the rest of the world, he walked off the boat and out of the docks, heading for where he had heard a metalbending teacher resided. He could really use that bending, he thought to himself, and it would be a good way to take his mind off his weekend.

He had arrived at the bar without any troubles from the locals, although he was getting a few funny looks. Whether they be confused, disparaging, disgusted or even fliratious. There was even one unlucky guy who'd tried to flirt with him. A large, smartly dressed man with a moustache. He had to assume this guy was military from the way he dressed. He was about to back away when he looked at him seductively.
"Hey sweetcheeks, what's a pretty young girl like you doing in a port like this?" Kasai's eye twitched in anger and took the lighter out of his pocket.
"oh, nothing. just this." he said. setting the man on fire as he moved away from the burning corpse, which within seconds turned to dust.

He finally got in the bar and looked around for a place to sit. There was a seat free at the bar and he took it happily, ordering a cider. he wanted to drink, he didn't want to get stinking drunk from a single glass. the man nodded and went off to fetch it. That was when a strangely pretty girl came across the bar towards him, holding something. It looked like a wanted poster... wait, it was her picture. He gulped, wondering why she was showing him this.

"Whilst I'm sure it's a very interesting story, my dear, I'm trying to drink here, so if you could please..." he said, before realizing that the blood was covering up the name. As it dripped off, he saw the surname and gasped slightly. She was another Kojin? his eyes narrowed at her and he raised his hands to be shaken.
"I'm Captain Kasai Kojin, pleasure to meet you. Now, what the hell do you want?" he asked, his earlier kind demeanor gone.

"I'm Captain Kasai Kojin, pleasure to meet you. Now, what the hell do you want?" he asked, his earlier kind demeanor gone.

Kojin? That meant they were related. However, another part of his name struck her. Captain He was either a captain of a real ship, or a pirate. It didn't make sense to her. How could a pirate be related to her? She was a real person. Pirates ruined her life. She couldn't be related to one of those creatures, could she?

The bartender turned around. He wasn't too bright, so all her did was put two and two together. "That's the Crimson Spark! Anyone on the seas, hunter or pirate would know that! I mean look at her! She got the long red hair..." He took a better look at Kasai. "You have red hair too! Are you like, her side-kick or something miss?" He asked him.

The bartender started flipping out as he looked at Lazuki, much to Kasai's annoyance. all he'd wanted was a nice evening out, but NOOOO he couldn't even fucking have that.
"That's the Crimson Spark! Anyone on the seas, hunter or pirate would know that! I mean look at her! She got the long red hair..." He took a better look at Kasai. "You have red hair too! Are you like, her side-kick or something miss?" He asked him. Kasai stood up, knocking over the small stool in his anger as he grabbed the bartender by the collar, puling him over the bar.

"Did you just say the crimson spark?" he hissed, to which the man nodded. Well, fuck. This girl was a pirate hunter, and she was standing right next to him? He had to be careful, and do nothing that he would regret later.
"So... you're not her sidekick miss?" Kasai snapped and slammed his fist into the man's face, knocking a tooth out.

"Listen here you gormless waste of skin. I'm going to say a word, one single word, and you'll know who I am. and you're going to fucking regret calling me a girl." he said, before saying something quietly so everyone in the bar would probably not hear.
"ABADDON!!" At that word, everyone in the bar froze instantly, even though it was only heard slightly. Although Kasai's name itself wasn't all that well known, the name Abaddon was. Abaddon, the head of the Black Admirals, the second largest and one of the most feared pirate fleets in the whole of the world, and the man who ran it with an iron fist. Abaddon, the pirate lord who'd slaughtered his own parents because they'd abandoned him. Abaddon, the only pirate who'd never raped, and had never destroyed a ship. Every ship that he fought became corrupted, and served whatever purpose he wanted it for. But no-one on any of the ships he'd fought had ever been seen again. Hence why he was known as Abaddon, the destroyer of souls.

The man in his arms was squealing like a pig as he realized who he'd just insulted.
"I'm sorry sir... I.... I...." it was clear he was on the brink of tears of fright, to which Kasai just pulled out his lighter and lit up a cigarette, passing it over to him.
"Don't worry, don't worry..." the man seemed to cheer up, reassured, before Kasai dealt the blow
"... you won't feel a thing." he caused the fire to shoot up, burning his body to a crisp quickly. Kasai grinned a manic grin for a second, before taking off his tricorne and ruffling his hair
"Oh, it's hard to find people who can tell man from woman."

The red haired man-Kasai, got out of his seat, furious. They were definitely related. The man walked up to the bartender, and probably threatened him. Lazuki didn't move or respond, this sort of thing happened all the time. However, he said something that shocked her.

"ABADDON!!"

Lazuki wasn't afraid, she was furious. She couldn't believe that she was related to a pirate. She wanted to end him so bad, but he was related to her in some way. Part of her, a part that she thought was long gone, wanted to love him, treat him like her own blood. As far as she knew, he was the last living Kojin. The part that has been active for longer wanted to gut him. She walked up to him about to attack when suddenly, and hugged him. It was surprising to her, and probably to him as well. Her spikes dug into his skin.

Kasai had been ready to repel an attack, to set his long-lost relative on fire, to take her with him even if it meant his own death. After all, that was his motto; The only ones who should kill are those who are willing to die themselves. But... she changed that. He was about to move backwards when she embraced him. He stopped in his path for a second, not sure what to do. She was the Crimson Spark. If there was one enemy of every single pirate on the seas, she was it. But... she was family. Sure, he had burnt down his parents house, and left them homeless but he'd never been able to kill them. He'd wanted to, he'd SORELY wanted to but he just couldn't. Now here he was again, forced to love someone who he should only have feelings of contempt for. His brain was screaming for him to lunge at her, to kill her, to save himself the trouble later. But... for the first time in his life, his body won over his brain.

As they stood there, the ashes of the bartender wafting up in a small breeze from the door, he wrapped his arms around her, hugging into her. People around the bar were looking confused, some horrified, some just flat out bemused. The Crimson Spark, pirate hunter extraordinaire, was showing love to Abaddon, one of the most notorious pirates ever to have existed. This wasn't right, this wasn't how it was supposed to be, and no-one knew that better than Kasai. But if he could just share this one moment of peace, this one moment of forgiveness, then maybe he could live with what he'd done.

The spikes were pressing against his back, but he didn't care. He hugged tighter, just glad to be with his family again. He'd hoped so often as a kid that he'd have a brother or a sister, or at least someone to share the loneliness with. He'd never had that, he was an only child, and his soul had hardened because of it. He didn't need help.... he didn't need anyone. So why did his heart feel heavy of any weight? He smiled in their embrace and whispered to her.
"T..thank you..." He didn't know why he said it, but as the words set in, he felt himself almost break. He.... wasn't alone anymore?

She thought he was going to kill her, she was the bane of all pirates, and he was the lord of some, yet there they were, in harmony. She wasn't looking, but she could imagine the faces of the people in the bar. They were confused, and scared. This wasn't what was supposed to happen. They were supposed to fight, and only one of them would walk out, and maybe nether. If another pirate not from Kasai's army came in, he would only see the Crimson Spark, and Abaddon in an embrace. Seeing death itself would be less horrifying.

She let out a single tear, but it was one of joy. She loathed crying with a passion, but she didn't mind the tear. This was one of the few times she was truly happy.

"T..thank you..." All she wanted to do was respond, but she could only smile. This was the only time being mute had caused her any sadness.

As their embrace ended, he smiled at her and noticed she was crying... The Crimson Spark was crying? Over him? Tell him that fact another day and he'd have laughed at the concept, but now... it felt wrong. Gently moving his hand up, he wiped it off her cheek and smiled at her
"a tear, Miss Kojin?" he was about to ask how she was, when one of his men walked into the bar. Of course, this was bad enough for Kasai, but to see how bad it was, try to imagine it from the pirate's point of view. His master, the man who had never shown any mercy to anyone who would so much as call him a girl, embracing the crimson spark, the woman who had slaughtered entire ships worth of enemies. Then, Kasai turned around and saw him, his eyes widening in shock. What was this? Why had his master sneaked off to see her... was he wiping a tear away from her cheek? His mind clearly went somewhere it shouldn't have.

"Rajj!! this isn't what it looks like..." Kasai started, hoping to explain that the girl infront of him was his relative, someone he hadn't even known he had until five minutes ago. However, the man clearly didn't want to hear it. He pulled out his sword, pointing it at Lazuki obviously intending to run her through with it.
"C-Captain... I'm sorry.... She can't.... She can't..." he was obviously distressed by what he'd seen and even Kasai's silver tongue couldn't stop this. He swung his sword, aiming for Lazuki's head and.... it stopped.

As he'd swung it, Kasai had brought his heavy shoe up, blocking the blow by slamming into the side of the blade. The pirate was caught off-guard, by which time he'd swung around and landed a punch to his face which had sent him flying across the room and knocking into the wall. He sank to the floor like a sack of stones as Kasai walked up to him, pointing his sword.
"The Crimson Spark is a member of my family, Rajj. That means you just attacked one of the few people in this world I actually care about. You saw what happened the last time someone did that. You remember?" Rajj nodded and started begging. Kasai put the blade against his throat.
"Then you'd better start running.... and NEVER show your face upon the Hellsong again. You are dismissed Rajj, you'd better get out of my sight." he nodded and got to his feet, running out of the door.

"A tear, Miss Kojin?"

Lazuki was about to wipe it away and deny it, but she was too late, and he wiped it for her. They seemed like they would get along so well, two mass murders together as a family. She wondered what their parents were like. Maybe this demented enjoyment of others suffering ran in in the family. Then a man walking in the bar and looked at them, his face full of shock and he looked horrified. She could understand. The two biggest enders of life, together, and if they didn't know that they were related, they looks like they might have been going out.

"Rajj!! this isn't what it looks like..." It was too late. The man already drew his sword. He swung it at her, and she could have easily killed him, but Kasai stepped in. "The Crimson Spark is a member of my family, Rajj. That means you just attacked one of the few people in this world I actually care about. You saw what happened the last time someone did that. You remember?" The man, Rajj, was now pleading for his life. "Then you'd better start running.... and NEVER show your face upon the Hellsong again. You are dismissed Rajj, you'd better get out of my sight."

Rajj started to run. He was still a pirate, so she raised her hand, and he exploded into a wonderful pool of blood and guts.

Kasai just looked on as he saw Rajj explode in a pool of blood and guts. A moment earlier he would have probably had a go at Lazuki for that one, but he'd already betrayed his master so he was a free pirate. That meant that his protection was off, and that Kasai had no problem with him dying. In fact, the main reason he hadn't killed him himself was because he was trying not to look too evil infront of his cousin, but now that she had opened the evil door he had no problem with acting naturally
"Umm..... Lazu?" he started, sounding a little concerned.
"Could you teach me how to do that, please?" A few of the people in the bar started to notably shiver with fear at the concept of someone who was already one of the most feared pirates on the seas getting one of the most powerful techniques that they had seen.

To be honest, he probably didn't need the technique, he had his martial arts, his weapons training, and he was already amazing at Fire bending. Anyone who'd challenged him in Firebending so far had fallen by the wayside, but that was probably because he was able to snuff out the jing that it required to stay active. But his casting of the art was mediocre at best, and he needed a good offense with his defense. He figured there was something, anything, he could pay his cousin with to get her to teach him.

"Umm..... Lazu? Could you teach me how to do that, please?" Kasai asked her. Even he should know how stupid his request was. He the Pirate lord of the black admirals asking the crimson spark to help him train. However, she had only just hugged him a second before, and they were related. Maybe he'd teach her to snuff fire.

Lazuki held her hand out, made a face like she was focusing, and a small, harmless explosion happened not too far away. She would start him with that.

Kasai felt completely and utterly stupid as he had to ask her to teach him how to combustion bend. Naturally, they should have been worst enemies, rivals, those destined to slay each other on the field of battle. He was one of the three pirate lords who sailed the oceans, and she was the most infamous pirate slayer for upwards of a hundred years. People like that weren't supposed to be friends, and they certainly weren't supposed to be related. Apparently, nobody had given god the memo and he'd made them cousins.... still, at least he might get something out of this. If he could make an alliance with his cousin, maybe his clan could avoid being dealt with like the others. He suddenly felt sorry for the Dragonbone pirates, as they would have absolutely zero chance now. They wouldn't juts be versing the pirate slayers, but there would also be an extremely skilled fire-bender after them just to remind them not to get ahead of themselves. Whilst it would be a good few months for the Black Admirals, he knew it would be the complete opposite for the Dragonbones.

However, as she started to teach him, he was a little bit surprised about her methods. Well, surprised and annoyed. She just showed him she could do it, she didn't direct him how to do it or show him an exercise that would let him know how to do it either. He couldn't analyze it just from seeing it, so what was he supposed to do? He knew that asking her to verbally show him would be a waste of time as she hadn't said a single word since they'd met. He was starting to wonder if she was a mute or something.
"Umm.. sorry cuz, but I really don't get how to do it. Showing isn't going to be enough I'm afraid."

"Umm.. sorry cuz, but I really don't get how to do it. Showing isn't going to be enough I'm afraid."

Lazuki nodded. She thought he might not get it that way. Unforchantly for him, she was unable to tell him how. She couldn't talk. She thought about it for moment.

It hit her. She wasn't able to talk, but she knew how to write. She pulled out a piece of paper and a writing utensil, and started to write down how.

Paper:

Spoiler:

She handed the paper to him, and started to fine tune her hand.

Kasai had to fight a very strong urge to facepalm as she pulled out a writing implement and a piece of paper. He couldn't help wondering if she just kept them on her person at all times in case there was ever anything she needed to say to someone that couldn't be done in the world's most important game of charades. He picked up the note and read it back to himself quietly. Unlike most pirates, he had had a fine education and as such he could read it easily.

The first sentence proved his suspicion, that his cousin was a mute. It was... a little disappointing that he'd never be able to hear the voice of a family member that he actually cared about, but such concerns were not the matter of the hour right now. He read the instructions about how to combustion bend and nodded to himself, mentally preparing himself for what he was going to have to do. So, he had to concentrate on a small part of his body did he?

He decided that it would be safest to try something simple like a finger. That way, it wouldn't take as much concentration as it would on a larger area like the palm of his hand. He concentrated a small amount of energy into his finger, knowing that it would be dangerous. He really did not feel like exploding today. Thankfully, it didn't seem to be the area where his point was, and thus he didn't explode. He gathered a small amount of oxygen around his finger as he often did with more powerful fire-bending techniques, and finally sent it flying, hitting the cooler behind the bar. It lit up with a very small explosion, but enough of one to cause it to go flying across the room and hit someone in the head, crushing their skull. Kasai didn't know whether to be happy about it actually succeeding or to be a little surprised that he had just committed manslaughter. A second later he realized he didn't care all that much about committing manslaughter after his current bodycount was somewhere in the hundreds, so he just grinned. Finally he turned and ran his hand through his cousin's hair gently and affectionately, as if saying thank you.

"Now, You want to learn Snuff bending?"

Lazuki smiled. He did it. Well, she had created bigger explosion when she was six, but he did it. She took the paper back and started to write on it again.

Congratulations, you were good enough to not kill yourself, and on your first try, you even created an explosion. I've created much bigger ones at six, but that's a good start for you. Many people would have been dead. I even need some practice. I wasn't born with this thing.

She held up her metal arm. She lost her hand firing at a ship that got lucky. He ran her hands through her long crimson hair. That was another strange thing about the two, they both had that flowing red hiar, and with it, Kasai sort of looked like a girl.

"Now, You want to learn Snuff bending?"

Lazuki nodded her head, and started to write again.

It would be useful, and an intimidating thing to use. If someone saw me use it, they would know I was trained by Abaddon himself. The Crimson spark and Abaddon related? They would write this down in history books.

She handed the paper to him again.

Kasai looked at the note and nodded. It was strange, though. She seemed so uptight when she wrote, her words seemed to be something that someone who didn't understand social interaction would right. There was no shortened words, no colloquialisms, no nothing. It was like reading a dictionary. Still, it was nice to be able to talk to her and understand her. It was odd, however, that she mentioned the history books. He never really intended to go down in history, he didn't really think of being remembered in one hundred years. All he thought of was changing the way pirates were seen, and becoming strong enough to dominate the seas. To think of long term effects of this... it was something that he rarely did. However, it was a nice, comforting thought to know that his legacy would continue after he died, no matter how gruesome and bloody an end it would probably be.

"alright, now, you know how fire bending is done?" he asked, his voice gentle and soothing like a teacher.
"Benders like you and I require concentrations of heat in order to bend fire. They can use their body heat to do it, and as such most people can't do very much of it." he said, as if he was teaching a little kid. It was the easiest way to understand it.

"Now, if the concentration of the fire is spread out, then the fire is as good as gone. So, you reverse the process and spread out the heat energy to the surroundings. This is the easiest way of doing snuff bending. However, this only really works with low level techniques. I'd teach you how to do higher level versions of this technique, but that's something each person has to discover on their own, due to there being several methods of this." He said, explaining the basics. He'd get onto the actually showing her how to do it in a second.

"Alright, now, you know how firebending is done?" "Benders like you and I require concentrations of heat in order to bend fire. They can use their body heat to do it, and as such most people can't do very much of it."

Lazuki nodded her head. She knew how it worked, she just couldn't do it. She wasn't I little kid. She hadn't had much schooling, but she wasn't five.

"Now, if the concentration of the fire is spread out, then the fire is as good as gone. So, you reverse the process and spread out the heat energy to the surroundings. This is the easiest way of doing snuff bending. However, this only really works with low level techniques. I'd teach you how to do higher level versions of this technique, but that's something each person has to discover on their own, due to there being several methods of this."

She nodded to his explanation, and took her paper again.

I believe that this... snuff bending, would be easier for me to accomplish if I were to steal the oxygen from the opposing firebender just before he has the chance to strike back. By doing this, he would complete the motion, but no fire would appear, reducing damage to the surrounding area and charging my counter attack much faster than if I aquired the oxygen myself. It would leave the before mentioned firebender vulnerable, and I should have enough oxygen to counter attack before her recovers from his immobile state.

(I glad you picked that up, that's what I was going for ^_^)

Kasai looked at the piece of paper and shrugged, looking at her with an expression of really not caring how she did it.

"La, that is the way I do it for the extremely powerful techniques, as it takes much more concentration than anything else. However, due to the fact that you're used to manipulating oxygen, I'd say go for it. You clearly have a higher skill at that than I do, so you could probably use it for every little snuff. So, if you want to do it that way, go ahead." it wasn't really a point that made much concern for him. It was then that he noticed something and brought that up too
"However, I tend to use non-oxygen consuming fires. Oxygen just happens to be the most common type of flammable gas that powers fire. I've got butane powered fire-bending from this little toy of mine." he reached into his robe and pulled out a lighter. It was how he fire-bended, as he stopped people from managing to mess with the oxygen, and was one of his best weapons against airbenders who tried to mess with his oxygen supply.

"wait... you're not a firebender, are you? That means I'll have to be both sides of the demonstration. Come with me." he beckoned her to follow him as he headed to the door. If he was going to put out his own fire, he'd need to make it clear he no longer had any control over it. That meant complete detachment from his body, and as such would almost certainly cause the place they were currently standing in to catch on fire and burn to the ground.