Azula spent the next few hours exercising and sparring with Miya. She needed to regain her bending, and the only way was to find her drive. She was lucky she wasn’t trained to just bend fire back in her world, but she could block attacks like punches and kicks. After the invasion event, she was more aware of how important it was to fight during similar situations.
Miya taught her how to use a knife, which she excelled in. It was no different than using her blue fire daggers. She easily managed to keep herself from being stabbed.
“Okay, next we try our kicks and—hey!” Miya said as Azula almost punched her in the nose.
“You have to be quicker than that. No talking”.
“Oh…Ho Ho! Okay then!” Miya tried a low kick but Azula anticipated it, using her knowledge. She knew that Miya’s best attacks were toward the opponent's lower body parts. Every time she did that, the princess would jump, and then pin her partner down.
“You’re pretty smart. Was your former home a Sci-Fi setting?”
Azula scrunched her nose a bit. “Pardon me?”
Miya just rubbed the back of her head. “I guess not…now let us try with a staff”.
Azula caught the bo staff thrown at her. Miya silently demonstrated a few swings and made a pose to show she was ready. Azula tried to attack but Miya had the upper hand as someone who fought with weapons instead of bending. The princess may have been a firebending prodigy, but that title no longer suited her when coming to this world. She needed to learn a new technique that didn’t require supernatural abilities. Miya had a form that enhanced her confidence. She seemed to have been trained to fight for years. It was frustrating.
“Come on Azula, is that all you have to offer?” Miya taunted with a cocky attitude. For that, Azula used her staff to trip her sparring partner.
“You think you are terrific? Well, I know more about playing dirty”.
Miya sat up and smiled. “I don’t think I can imagine how badass you were”.
“Get up and show me these techniques, until I have mastered them”.
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As the sun was setting, Aragami and Tamamo were in Aokigahara by Mount Fuji. Aragami felt impatient.
“Where is that animal! Azula could be a tortured prisoner by the Hand scum already”.
“Hey, stop whining, we are close to it. It should be red with black paws, ears, and tail tip”. Tamamo sniffed. As they walked, Aragami pulled Tamamo close to him as he leaped up onto a large branch. The reason was that a few men were searching the area.
“FOの兆候はありません”
“待って、私は今動物を見たと思う”
“Get the thing before that ******* Aragami finds it!”
The men nodded in agreement and walked to the sound of something walking on leaves. As soon as the men were gone, the ninja and the kitsune sighed in relief. “Okay, the coast is clear. They don’t know we are on to them”.
He noticed Tamamo’s face was red. “Tamamo? Why do you…look…like…”. He realized he was holding the kitsune far too low on the back and she had her chest against him. She sniffed him on his neck. He teleported back to the ground, the kitsune floated down.
Aragami cleared his throat and tried to fix the awkward situation. “Can you trace the fox Tamamo?”
“Yes, that is what we have been doing. But we better find it fast”.
“You’re right, those two goons might scare it away, and fighting those idiots would be a bigger waste of time”.
“So how should we find the fox without them noticing?”
“You forget, young Tammy, I am a shinobi. Stealth is my specialty”.
Meanwhile, the henchmen were using a tracker when it started to beep. “Finally! We found that animal, to be honest, I have no idea why the sensei wants it but…”
“We are being paid for it, so we shouldn’t question it”.
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The men snickered. Then the sound of a fox screaming was heard. “That must be it”.
“What a dumb animal!” The man scoffed. As they went to the bush, they pulled out their firearms. “We are going to be rich my man!”
The tone of the fox’s screaming lowered and shifted into a woman’s giggle. The fox emerged from the bush, in a large terrifying form. The man’s eyes widened in horror. The fox looked down at them and silently whispered: Run.
The men screamed in terror and ran for their lives. Tamamo shifted back into her human form and laughed triumphantly.
Meanwhile, Aragami had finally found the creature. Scarlet red, with black ears, half of each leg also black, and a black tip and a white underside to the chest. He wasn’t informed what the fox was supposed to look but he felt the same feeling towards it as to Azula. He felt like adopting it and needing guidance. Just like Azula. He needed to capture it, but since it felt like he was looking at Azula, he would have to pull the same trick. Wait until it’s distracted until—
Tranquilizers were already shot at the creature, but not from the ninja. He looked around. As he suspected, a man identified as Kravenoff the hunter, walked to the fox. Now that it was unconscious, the proclaimed “Great Hunter”, placed one foot on its side and grinned slyly.
“Food for my pet, and another head for my wall”.
“Get away from that fox, you large disgrace of humankind!”
The man looked at Aragami who had already leaped to strike his Ninjato at the hunter who slapped both his hands against the blade. He flipped the ninja behind him to a tree. Chuckling, he walked to Aragami.
“Kravenoff was warned that magic assassins were creeping all over the rural areas of this country, I have faced the most savage beasts. It seems Kravenoff should’ve been paid to kill said assassins instead of a mere fox”.
“You are not very bright then. Of course, a rookie mercenary would accept a contract without learning what he is getting himself into”.
He then teleported out of sight. Kravenoff gasped. “Magic! No matter, Kravenoff has the scent of the wolf, and the eyes of eagle—“.
Aragami impaled him from behind. “Unfortunately, Kravenoff has the brain of a chicken”.
The ninja pulled back his Ninjato and kicked the man to the ground. He then walked to the unconscious fox, as he was about to pick up the animal, Kravenoff let out a lion’s roar. Aragami turned around to face a large wild cat hybrid monster.
“Kravenoff is clever enough to observe the assassin’s tricks. So Kravenoff made a deal with ghost man to hunt down the mere fox, who said magic assassins are after”.
“Shinobi Shaw? You let him do this to you?!”
“Fox will be Kravenoff’s soon!”
He charged at the ninja who teleported from every attack. This cat/human hybrid was fast and his heightened senses made it hard for Aragami to hide. He knew there was only one way to be rid of him. Before Kravenoff noticed him, Aragami muttered a spell he had learned in his early years. A portal appeared behind Kravenoff, pulling him in. Once the portal closed, Aragami rushed to the fox. Tamamo arrived.
“Aragami! I heard a lion as I went to check on you”.
“Shinobi Shaw”.
“Shaw was the lion?”
“No, he hired some Russian mercenary to hunt down our target”.
“And the lion?”
“Russian man was the lion. Shaw turned him into a wild cat hybrid monster”.
Tamamo stared at Aragami, he had the look that someone of guilt would do. She then realized “So if Shaw knows about the fox…”.
“Then he also knows about Azula”.
“At least we know she is with the hand, we will rescue her and merge her and the fox together”.
Aragami’s eyes were filled with more worry. She seemed to have realized something he didn’t want to share with her.
“Aragami…where is the Russian man’s body now?”
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Kravenoff felt like he was falling in a bottomless pit, until he hit solid ground. “How could magic assassin do this to Kravenoff? He will find that fox for Shinobi Shaw—”
“Well, well. A brand new servant has been offered to me…”, A female voice with an otherworldly tone spoke from behind him. Kravenoff turned around to find a fair-skinned woman with bright white hair, and torn black fabric dress. She was levitating before him. “I was planning to kill you but I won’t since I heard that scum’s name coming out of your mouth. Tell me…what’s this I hear about foxes, magic, and Shinobi?”
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At the hand palace, Azula decided to go and eat from the kitchen when she noticed a man in what she learned was a business suit, sneaking into a forbidden room. She decided to follow. Softly peaking through the open crack, she heard him talking to the sensei.
“I told you Shaw-San, that girl is the key to all our problems! She’s almost as important as the fox that came with her!”
“I already know that! But what you didn’t tell me was that some kitsune and Aragami are also looking for it. But don’t worry, I hired a guy who deals with supernatural beings like Aragami”.
“That could be a problem. He is an ally to most yokai. It won’t be long before he finds out the girl is here”.
“Then let him come for the girl. We can prepare for that. Just make sure she is clueless and easy to use as a weapon—”.
Azula was suddenly yanked away by Miya. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? You can’t eavesdrop on the sensei!”
Taking her back to her Washitsu and closed the Fusuma shut. She looked at Azula with fury. “How could you be so disrespectful to eavesdrop like that?”
“You are hiding something from me. Why did you take me in? I know you did it so I’d follow you to this temple”.
“I saw potential—”
“Don’t lie to me. You were ordered to find me. You knew I was from another world!”
Miya was shocked to hear what Azula had realized. Her face was enough to convince her that her suspicions were correct. “This clan knew how important I was from the beginning, and you knew as well”.
“Azula—”
“So, I think that every time I am asked about my former life, YOU will tell me everything you know about this…country, or I could just tell the highest member about a man named Shaw—”
“You can’t, if the high members find out about Shinobi Shaw conspiring with Sensei then I’ll be a—”
“Loose end? Tell me everything you know about Shinobi Shaw”.