23 Captive Reader

A/N: By the way, for those who are still confused on the whole levels for characters I had set up I will explain a little about that now.

What makes up a level (Excluding the MC).

> Physical and Metaphysical Strengths (Strength, Speed, Energy Quantity, Spirit, etc.)\

> Attainment in combat-related Skills and Abilities (Martial Arts, firebending, etc.)

> Bodily State (Weakened, Unhealthy, Healthy, Poisoned, etc. Usually this is a temp. debuff, though not in Iroh's case, a chubby body which can't usually be healed just by ingesting medicine or a good night's sleep.)

What's not included in this level

> Experience (Experience in fighting. Iroh is heavily supported by this, which is why he's able to defeat various other higher leveled foes or similarly leveled foes. An example would be a fight between Iroh and Azula, Iroh would easily win.)

> Mental Fortitude (Weak will, etc. A broken mind could be considered a bodily state weakness, but when it's not broken and just shaken up, it doesn't affect anything much besides ability to properly think.)

ALSO! One more thing I wish to address. The whole thing regarding the suppression wasn't a reference to the types of suppression in chinese novels, this was more of a mental suppression. Like having weak knees because of nervousness (usually attributed to a weak mentality and vice-versa a weak will. It was a perfect chance to introduce the method for Genji to not get weak knees when I have him go up against terrifying foes or entities in the future. Like a lion turtle (not really terrifying but it's an example.))

AAAANNNNNDDD one more thing, for those wondering how Azula knew Genji was a firebender despite not firebending even once, it was because she's a very observant and analytical person. Something she needs to do in order to put into actions her strategies, plans, and know the personality and the way someone thinks.

Or in her words, be a 'people person.'

(SPOILER)

She's basically a psychologist, although just one who can read other people not herself. Reason why she loses herself and goes insane in the last episode of ATLA. They go further in depth in the comics about her crumbling mentality, as well as how she feels about her mom.

***

Captured!

The Aang gang was captured after Aang had managed to escape the unagi and put back on his clothes.

With the bags over their heads removed and their eyes falling upon a large group of people, mostly made up of women in uniform, the Aang gang was confused.

Especially Sokka, the misogynist.

"Hey! Where are the men that ambushed us?" asked Sokka, genuinely wondering where they were. He refused to believe that he was easily taken down by a group of women without being able to take them down.

His poor and weak pride was wounded and he wanted to show everyone that he isn't weak.

Even though he had lost many fights multiple times.

Suki, who was standing next to a red skinned Oyaji filled with rashes, frowned and leaned forward.

"There were no men! We took you down," said Suki as she narrowed her eyes and looked at Sokka.

Sokka scoffed and turned his head, "There's no way a weak woman like you could possibly take US down."

Katara rolled her eyes and couldn't believe what her brother was saying.

'I should have frozen his genitals off back when I had the chance…'

With a frown on her face, Suki stomped forward and held on to Sokka's collar before saying, "I will feed you to the unagi personally."

Suki, and the other Kyoshi Warriors, were insulted by Sokka who called them weak. They all had frowns and didn't reject Suki's idea as they all smiled and were ready to 'sacrifice' Sokka to the unagi.

"Wait no! He didn't mean that," nervously interjected Katara, worried that her only brother was going to be killed.

Despite how irritable her own brother could be at times, she still loved him no matter how annoying he is.

"He's really just an idiot. Sokka says and does a lot of dumb stuff a lot of times!"

Katara continued to try to defend Sokka but it only served to make Sokka feel dejected the more he heard his sister talk bad about him.

"No… it's my fault," Aang finally spoke after hearing the conversation between the two women and Sokka. "It was my idea to come here. I only wanted to ride the Elephant Koi."

"Nnng! Hgnn! Mnngnnm!"

Suddenly interrupting Aang's talk, Oyaji tried to speak but no matter what he tried to say, all that came out was muffled by his big lips and sore throat.

Suki turned to look at Oyaji and put on a weird face as she looked at the irritated look on his face.

"We're going to feed you to the unagi," said Suki after roughly knowing what Oyaji was trying to say. "You have trespassed onto this island of ours and might be from the Fire Nation."

"..."

Katara, Aang, and Sokka were quiet and didn't know what to say in their defense.

"However!"

The eyes of Katara, Aang, and Sokka lit up after hearing Suki's 'however' since it was their only limelight at the moment.

"A traveler recently came here and changed our minds regarding traveling for the brief time he was here," said Suki as she blushed a little and put her hand over her chest.

Katara noticed the type of look Suki was giving and instantly understood what had happened. Katara rapidly questioned Suki in a happy manner, "So does that mean…?!"

"Yes, we're letting you go for now," said Suki as she nodded to the Kyoshi Warrior standing next to her. "We will keep you closely under surveillance however."

"That's fine! As long as we don't get fed to the unagi," said Katara, quickly thanking Suki for letting them go.

Sighing in relief, Katara turned to glare at her brother before sighing as she turned to look at Aang with a shake of her head. So far on her trip, she has traveled around a couple of areas with a childish boy who's careless and her brother who is certainly annoying and causes trouble because of his pride as a man.

A dumb pride that had almost gotten them killed earlier.

Sokka had his head down and a sulking look on his face as he evaded eye contact with all of the Kyoshi Warriors.

…

A week later after the capturing incident, Aang being the Avatar was soon revealed to everybody because of his airbending and his companion beast, Appa.

On the other hand, Sokka was still humiliated like last time when they allowed him to join the lessons of the Kyoshi Warriors.

…

"Thank you for not kicking us off the island right away," said Katara, thanking Suki as soon as she got some time to talk with Suki.

Suki sighed and said, "I'm only doing this because I recently had a change in opinion because of someone I met before your little group."

Looking interested at what Suki had just mentioned, Katara asked, "The person you're talking about, who is he?"

Pursing her lips, Suki said, "He's a very hot man. His name is Genji and he has the world's most charming Golden eyes."

Katara felt her body freeze at Suki's words as she remembered the other man that also had golden eyes.

'Are golden eyes that common?' thought Katara as she remembered the golden eyed man. His devilish looks, golden eyes, tall and muscular body, and his wavy long hair that reaches his shoulders.

"Can you describe him to me?" asked Katara, biting her lips, hoping that this man isn't the same as the one she knew.

"Yeah," said Suki as she began to remember Genji.

Just like Katara's description of him, Suki said something similar which caused Katara to stop in her tracks. Suki paused and turned around to look at Katara's alarmed expression on her face.

"What's wrong Katara?" asked Suki, a bit worried about Katara.

With an anxious expression on her face, Katara turned to look Suki in the face and asked, "Did… he say where he is from?"

"Hm… I'm sure he told me he came from the Southern Water Tribe," said Suki, remembering the story Genji had told her.

"He's lying!"

Katara quickly denied Suki's words and said, "He's from the Fire Nation!"

Suki frowned and looked at Katara with a skeptical look on her face.

"17 days ago, he attacked the southern water tribe with a fire nation ship to capture the Avatar!"

Without holding anything back, Katara told her story from when she first saw the Fire Nation Ship in the distance to when Genji attacked Sokka, all the way to the time Genji attacked Aang, the avatar.

Head hanging low and a dark expression on her face, Suki had kept quiet this entire time, taking in the information Katara had told her.

"You…"

Finally, Suki opened her mouth and caused Katara to flinch, expecting some crying or a loud yell of anger.

"... I'm going to look for him…" said Suki, lifting her head with a serious expression on her face. "He's a really sweet man… I'm sure there must be a misunderstanding…"

"What?"

Dumbfounded, Katara decided to listen to Suki to see what she was planning. She didn't want to believe Suki, who called a Firebender kind or sweet.

'She must have been tricked… poor girl,' thought Katara. Suddenly remembering the golden eyes, she shook her head and sighed. 'Can't blame her…'

"I'm going to look for him and ask him personally whether what you told me is the truth or not," said Suki, walking away from Katara rapidly as if she wanted to escape from there.

Katara watched Suki walk away and knew that she must have set herself on leaving the island to go look for Genji.

…

Walking away rapidly, Suki covered her face to keep people from seeing her tears.

She didn't wish to believe it, but the Genji she knows and loves sounds very similar to the man in Katara's story.

Suki was having conflicting thoughts since the Genji she knows is someone who is very kind and everyone helped the kind lady and man from [The Bear Owl Table]. However, the Genji in Katara's story is someone who was the opposite.

A brash and violent man who even burnt a harmless animal, Appa.

Wishing to believe in Genji was hard because Suki had a feeling deep within her heart that Katara was telling the truth. She had a feeling that Katara's story could be trusted.

'But why…' thought Suki as she felt a pain in her heart and her eyes turned watery and dull. 'I will find him… and ask him!'

***

ACHOO!

Genji sneezed and sighed as he grabbed a book in front of him.

Within this current time frame, Genji had spent an entire week reading history books because Azula had ordered him to. During many times, Genji didn't wish to read. However, he forced himself and even managed to make his Calm Mind and Indomitable Will to go up some levels.

[<Calm Mind> (Lvl. 27)]

[<Indomitable Will> (Lvl. 19)]

He couldn't do anything about it either because she was keeping close eyes on him through various firebenders. Not just that, but Genji can't run away because he was in the Fire Nation Palace's Library.

All this time of his was being waste and the only things he got from reading war books were just two skills.

[<Reading> (Lvl. 39)]

[ - You can read anything and faster! Depending on the level, it will also affect level of understanding.]

[System Remark: What did you expect? Gold?]

[<Novice Artist> (Lvl. 12)]

[ - Whether it be Visual, Literature, even Performing Arts, you can perform them all! The beauty and accomplishment of these Arts depends on the level!]

[System Remark: Draw me a sexy system for me! No wait! Write me an ero novel!]

With just these two skills, Genji wasn't too sure what would come from these two skills. So far, they have been completely useless and didn't help him in any form.

The only skill he could possibly see being useful is definitely the Reading skill. To be able to read anything, it must mean even old languages or even lost ones, right?

Though it does embarrass him a little at how his reading skill is so close to the 40th level mark.

'Ugh… these books are so annoying,' thought Genji as he finally finished reading a history book.

He was about to head over and pick up another book before being stopped suddenly by Azula who was looking at him with a condescending look.

'It's been an entire week since I last saw her,' thought Genji as he looked at Azula with interest.

She hasn't changed much since the last time he saw her. He could still see completely through her and he could even notice her inner self crying.

'Did she meet her father or something?'

"Hmph, it's been a week since we've last seen each other and you have already forgotten the formalities. Do you not respect me?"

Pushing Genji into the wall next to the bookcase, Azula slammed one of her hands on the wall. Lifting her head and looking into Genji's golden eyes with a smirk Azula leaned in with a smirk.

Genji was currently using his Calm mind skill desperately as he looked into Azula's seductive and sharp eyes. Her pretty little nose, her beautiful pale complexion and even her cherry colored plump lips.

She was so alluring, but Genji couldn't feel excited as the crying little girl in Azula's eyes ruined the mood for him.

"You look very lonely today," said Genji.

This time, Genji didn't talk to Azula, but rather to her inner self in the form of a crying little girl.

At this moment, Azula suddenly froze and didn't know what to say. She felt her insides stir and even her eyes got a little moisty.

'What the hell's going on?' thought Azula as she quickly stepped back and looked away from Genji as she rubbed her eyes a little.

"I'm leaving," said Azula, quickly ignoring Genji as she shot him a glare. "Study other books instead of the history books."

'Finally!' thought Genji as he looked at the other books within this library. The library wasn't that big, but it was to be expected since at this time the printer hasn't been created yet.

Since they're currently in an era filled with war, rather than technological advancements on literature or any other area, military technological advancements are made more often than other areas.

Azula walked away and before she left, she glanced over at Genji once more before thinking to herself.

'I need to keep a closer look on him. He's a weird and dangerous man who is able to make my body feel weird and is even attacking me mentally. I don't know how he's doing it, but I will find his secrets even if it means that I have to break him down slowly.'

***

A/N: As far as I'm concerned, Azula is very innocent regarding feeling any sexual feelings towards another person since all she thinks about is power and manipulating others. Thought she does understand love and liking someone, like the time she tried to talk with Chan.