Chapter 14

Hakoda of the water tribe was a good and decisive leader. The men he had led this far knew that they could, with peace of mind, put their life in his hands. His men trust him to make the call in a difficult situation but this situation got him a bit stumped.

He believed that they had gathered enough intel. It only took two days before they started repeating what they had already found out. Despite that, he felt like he was missing something…something very crucial. He spent the whole night thinking about it before deciding to continue with his initial plan.

This was the summary of the intel they had gotten; Sasuke came here by ship about two years ago and has been living with the ship captain ever since. Nothing seemed to happened after he arrived but not long after, rumors began to spread about him being a fire nation spy. Despite the fact that there was no tangible evidence to prove the rumors, the people believed it and alienated him.

Apparently none of that seemed to bother him, seeing as how he went about his day while ignoring everybody else. Two things stand out in this story. After questioning the crew members of the ship, they all mentioned that one night they all felt unusually drowsy and fell asleep. The next morning, the ship captain's assistant was nowhere to be found and the captain gave no explanation for it.

The second thing that stood out was that despite the rumors, only the ship captain seemed to play nice with him, something that his wife was strongly against.

Hakoda being the smart man he is, felt something was wrong and it was all connected to the ship captain. Hence why he was on his way to pay him a visit, and if he's lucky Sasuke will also be there.

They had already affirmed that Sasuke had no relatives here. Although his reason for attacking them was unknown, Hakoda believed that he wouldn't be too hostile should he meet him there. His reason for thinking this was that fact that Sasuke could have come back to finish them off at any time he wanted but here they were.

Steeling himself, he made his way to what would be the ship captain Shen's house, if their info wasn't wrong.

'I never thought I'd see the day where I would be afraid of a kid…*sigh*' he thought with a slight deadpan look.

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Shen sat on the edge of his bed with a troubled expression on his face. His plan to have the mysterious fire nation boy grow dependent and trust him and him alone wasn't working. The fire nation was expecting results and he was getting desperate.

'If this keeps up, it's only a matter of time until they send someone else here.' That was the one thing he didn't want to happen.

Then sending someone else would mean that he was no longer needed and everyone knows what awaits the people who the firelord no longer needs; Death. He had put a lot of effort to be trusted to handle this sort of things.

He was born in the fire nation but despite being a fire bender, he had no talent for combat. Only after a lot of begging and appeal did the firelord decide to give him another role. One that wouldn't require much combat, being a spy in the other nations.

With the firelord giving him that chance to prove himself useful, he didn't want to waste it. He spent years cementing his position in this town to get their trust. He even took a risk and had a baby with a woman. The risk being that if the child was born a fire bender, then all of his efforts would be for nothing.

He hadn't considered that when they were both drunk and not able to think well but it was too late. Fortunately for him, Lady Luck was on his side and the child grew up to be an earth bender. His influence in the town was equal to a chief in a tribe, which was why it was so easy to poison their minds against Sasuke.

Now all of his efforts seemed to be for naught as he was now faced with the most impossible child. The boy, despite living in his house, his saw them as nothing, to be specific, he totally ignored them. He had proven to be self sufficient, never asking for anything, which grated on Shen's nerve.

'What kind of kid is this!?' He screamed internally in frustration, controlling his urge to pull at his hair. The more he thought about him, the more frustrated he got.

He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. He had two weeks before the next scheduled report. He would have to try a different approach. His thought process was interrupted by the sound of someone knocking on the door.

He headed toward the door in minor confusion. His wife was out with their son visiting a friend and she wasn't supposed to be back yet. Sasuke was still in the same position he was in when Shen entered the house earlier, a seated meditation position, which almost caused him to scream.

'What kind of-' he forced himself to be calm as he brought his full attention to the door, curious as to who it could be.

He opened the door, only to see an unfamiliar face. No, that's not right. He knew everyone in the village and this man at his door was not one of them. Despite that, he could take a guess as to who it was. Being a spy, information is crucial.

The tanned skin, blue eyes and the brown hair tied in a warrior's wolf tail…the answer couldn't be more obvious to him. The features of this man perfectly matched the description of the chief of southern water tribe, Hakoda.

He sweated internally while looking at the slightly imposing air around him. He racked his brain, trying to think of a reason why such a man would want to meet him.

'He can't possibly know about me being a spy! He can't! The only other reason he would be here is…' His mind was on the brink of collapse as it trailed off.

'That boy…!' He growled in his mind. Bringing his focus back to his visitor, he noticed that the man looked at him, confused and concerned.

"Hello?" Hakoda asked slowly, trying to elicit a response from the man. The man quickly snapped out of whatever trance he was in.

"What?" He replied unintelligibly, realizing that he had been silent for quiet some time.

"My apologies. I'm a bit distracted today. What did you say?" He spoke again politely, now fully into his act.

"Sorry about that, but I was wondering if I could come in. It's important." Came Hakoda's reply.

"I can't just let a stranger into my house! Whatever you have to say, you can say it here." Shen said trying to get him to leave.

Despite Hakoda seeming a bit taken aback, he also understood his 'worry'. On a normal day, he would have simply left so as not to seem rude but unfortunately there were things more important than that.

"It's really in your best interest to hear what I have to say…without all these listening ears eavesdropping." He emphasized the last part after looking inside, past Shen to see Sasuke staring back at him with no particular expression on his face.

Shen, having now confirmed the reason Hakoda was here, was now faced with two options. Option one being to let him in and listen to what the water tribesmen had to say, and option two being to refuse him entry which could possibly lead to him possibly being cornered by more water tribesmen before he could call for help.

Steeling himself and displaying a forced calm facade, he stepped back allowing Hakoda entry into the small house.

"No problem. Come on in." He said in a friendly voice which Hakoda didn't comment on.

"Most appreciated." Hakoda replied curtly, his eyes not leaving Sasuke's as they engaged in psychological warfare.

Hakoda knew he had willingly entered the lion's den. Now, depending on how he handled this, he could either become the lion's friend or it's next meal.