Avatar the last airbender: The Samurai

......Shinta.........

  One day has passed since team avatar left Shinta after learning the truth behind his wife's death. The team tries to recover from the shock but Aang begins to think to himself. They only saw him kill his wife but they never heard his reasoning behind it, wanting to hear Shinta's side of the story he attempts to talk to the others.
    "Guys please we still didn't here why he killed her." He states in begging tone as Sokka glares at him.
    "We don't need to, he's just like the other soldiers of the fire nation. Ruthless Killers!" He yells at the end leaning towards aang causing him to shrink and back off. Katara rushes over and touches Sokka's shoulder, he looks towards still a little ticked off but calms down a bit. Katara walks put from behind him and walks towards Aang and touches his shoulder.
"Aang I know your troubled but you saw what we all saw, he killed her." She states calmly trying to hide the fact that she was still upset and slightly angry about the situation.
"But Katara We never gave him a chance to tell us why......He's different now Katara. You saw him back then in that vision he looked angry but didn't you notice the pain in his meyes..." he states still in a pleading tone. Katara sighs and looks away knowing that whatever he says next couldn't change his mind, she opens her mouth to answer when she suddenly hears Toph's voice.
"Twinkle Toes is right. I felt his heartbeat when he tried to tell us the truth, we need to go back and give him a chance. Can't any of you remember how helpful he's been to us!?" She yells finally as she stormed over to them. Karats looks down and then clutches her fist tightly. She then looks up with a glare and crosses her arms.
     "Fine but if he does anything to hurt us especially Aang when we return to hear him out I will hurt him." She states as everyone nods in understanding. Aang quickly runs over to Appa and gets on top of him.
    "Let's go!" He yells as the others climb aboard.
     "Yipp Yipp!" He yells his Appa quickly begins to fly off.
The flight was awkward as silence from the group filled the air, from the disproval of Katara and Sokka to the hope from Aang and Toph. Aang stares forward pouting slightly as he thinks to himself.
   'Shinta has changed I know it, I just let the shock get to me and Katara saying those things about the fire nation also get into my head.' He continues to look off into the distance until he hears someone call out for him.
    "-ang Aang!" Sokka yells causing to jump slightly then look towards Sokka.
     "What is it Sokka?"He questions.
      "We're gonna need to land soon so we can hide Appa." Sokka states with ordering tone. Aang sighs as he goes to land Appa when Toph finally speaks.
      "Hey guys do you remember that one time Aang allowed Shinta to try to fly Appa? Haha that was hilarious." She continues laughing  causing the others to stare at her confusingly.
    "What? I'm just trying to lighten the mood." She states then huffs.
"Your all to tenses, this is Shinta we're going to. Sure he was a samurai assassin who killed his wife but......you could never tell that he was." She states calmly looking down at the ground. The others look at each other then look away as guilt begins cross over there faces.
"Did any of us really trust him in the first place...?" Aang questions letting it linger amongst the silence. The gang began to think to themselves.
Short flashes of memories of times each one of them was able to have a one on one conversation with Shinta. Toph begins to remember the time she and Shinta had spent when she wasn't able to sleep one night.
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The night was cool as a calm breeze blew through the trees. A fire flickers in the distance as young man stares into its flames. Shinta takes a sip of his tea as he stares into the fire. The movement of a bush nearby causes Shinta to freeze and then look in its direction. Toph emerges from the bushes and makes her way to log.
"Oh good evening Toph, I didn't expect anyone else to be awake at this hour." Shinta states as he goes for another sip of his tea.
"Well you know how I am. Sokka was keeping me up with his snores." She yawns and stretches. Shinta sighs sensing something was off about the tough earthbender.
  "What's wrong Toph, I can sense something is off about you." He questions her with concerned tone. She sighs and looks down knowing he was right.
"Promise me that you will keep this a secret from the others? I don't want them to see me all soft like Twinkle Toes." She looks up at him.
"Of course I won't you can trust me." He smiles kindly and sets down his tea to his side. Toph takes in a deep breath and then calmly let's it out.
"I had a dream about my family......in the dream it was after we won the war. I decided to go home and finally talk to my parents but...when I got home I saw me...well not the real me but the me they thought I was......" Toph looks down sadly in the direction of the fire. Shinta nods slightly and looks towards the girl, reaching up he touches her shoulder with kindness.
"Well Toph...parents must learn that there children can't always live up to there expatiation. You are helping the avatar save the world we live in. I know somewhere deep down they are proud of you. You are showing the world that whatever disability they have does not mean they can't be something in this world." He states with a kind yet serious tone. Toph lifts her head up slightly and smiles.
   "Thanks Shinta..." She says, her voice sounded hopeful and proud. Shinta smiles and then picks up his tea then takes a sip. He looks up and stares at the night sky. A slight smile comes across his face.
  "You should head back to bed now, the sun will rise up in a few hours." He states.
   "Fine I'll go to bed but when are you going to sleep?" Toph questions looking towards the man. He takes a sip of his tea then exhales.
  "I've gotten used to being awake for hours with minimal sleep, I'll be fine." He says calmly, Toph gets up and heads back to her rock tent. As she enters she looks back at him and smiles slightly thanking him once more in her mind.
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As the memory ends she sighs and then looks up at everyone else.
"Are we almost there?" She ask when Aang mumbles a yes and they land in the place they previously stayed at earlier. As they make there way through the town they noticed it was silent. Fog had arisen and was making everything hard to see.
"What's going on here?" Sokka questions when suddenly a ball fire is shot towards his face. Aang jumps in the way and uses his earthbending to create a wall shielding them both.
The gang begin to run as they block attacks from there mysterious attacker until they finally the home they last saw Shinta. When they run through the fog they the home....or...What was left of it. Shock ran through there bodies seeing it's burnt remains but horror slowly filled in as they see Shinta's sword stabbed into the ground. The sheath and hilt had obviously been burnt and no longer had it's beautiful color. A burnt and tattered piece of Shinta's Kimono had been tied to the hilt, a breeze caused it to flap around. Aang slowly walks over to the memorial and then falls onto his knees. One by one the others walk over and fall to there knees, Tears slide down Aang's face as he pulls the cloth off of the sword.
"It's my fault.....We left him here..." He says with a sorrowful voice. He clutched the cloth tightly in his hand as memories of the last time he saw him went through his head.
Toph stands up and walks up to the home, stepping through the burnt remains of the doorway. She stands in the area where they had left Shinta that day. A hand touches and squeezes her shoulder gently in a friendly manner.
"Sokka....this is our fault. We left him here even though we knew that he was danger long before we arrived....." Toph states blankly as she looks at the place they last left there friend. Sokka looks down slightly blaming himself. He let his fear and anger towards the fire nation stop him from seeing who Shinta was, he made the others see a monster that no longer existed, and know Shinta's gone.
"....It's my fault. I'm the one who only focused on his past instead of seeing him now." He states looking down and away.
Katara enters the home holding Shinta's sword which she had sheathed. Aang follows behind her as she lays the sword down in front of them all.
Aang takes in a deep breath and then looks up. Tear stains were on his cheeks but he still gave a determined look.
"After we defeat the fire lord we will find who did this." He states when a flaming sword is thrown at them. It lands just behind where Katara put down the sword. The gang gathered around each other and gathered up there bending while Sokka took out his sword.
"You know I was hoping you all would come back." A voice states amongst the burnt remains.
"That dear friend of yours didn't exactly die peacefully." It states once more as a whip of fire makes its way towards Katara when Toph uses her earthbending to shield her.
"He was in pain mentally and physically. I poisoned him with my sword. The poison caused him to feel like he was burning from the inside and soon he was burning from the outside." The voice gives a sick laugh after saying how Shinta suffered.
"Show yourself coward!" Sokka yells when someone finally jumps down a beam a few feet away from them. The gang jumps back slightly so he couldn't be closer to them when he attacks.
"Who are you!?" Aang demands as the man walks towards him. He then smirks and bows.
"My name is Kousuke Shisho, I am the student of your fallen friend. He looks up at them still smirking.
   "And I've come to kill you young avatar." He states as he pulls out his other sword quickly setting it on fire. Jumping into the air quickly he sims the sword towards Aang, with a loud yell the blade gets closer as Aang throws up his hands to block the attack....Silence filled the air as something heavy hit the floor.