Chapter 17: Making it work

The room was permeated with a sudden coldness, a thick tension ensued. Usually Kurokiba was a nice person. Sure she'd been thrown into a hostile world with a bad hand, but she tried to make the best of a bad situation. She may appear nice and harmless on the surface, but honestly she was far from nice or harmless. Only remnants of her past life kept her grounded and reasonable, but sometimes, once in a while she'd snap. She'd turn cold as ice and calloused, she'd regress into an unfeeling human eating monster.

"Or else what?" Kurokiba asked coldly. This surprised Azula greatly, no longer was the overly friendly girl there. Her bright eyes were now dulled and a pressure flowed from her stare that caused Azula to stop breathing.

"You think you came here by mistake? I didn't call out to you to be here, in fact by the looks of things I'd wager I saved you from a very terrible situation that befell you in your world. Listen girl don't mistake my kindness as me letting you step over me. You're nothing here and if you leave you'll die within a week." Kurokiba said with venom, she knew that being only kind with someone like Azula would yield unwanted results. Kurokiba didn't care that she was now in a body of a thirteen year old, she had experienced more than enough to guide Azula and make her a better suited person to stay around her.

"W- how dare you speak to me that way!! I'll burn your pretty little face for such nonsense!" Azula scowled, she wasn't used to being stood up against, usually people just followed her words out of fear even Mai and Ty Lee were no exceptions, they did betray her in the end but fear had kept them in place for years before then.

"This isn't your world anymore princess, your cripple of a father won't protect you and your title as princess is worth shit your bending power even more so. You'd better embrace your new life as a summon." Kurokiba said coldly and stood up to leave.

"I'll bring you food in an hour, eat and rest, if you escape I won't look for you, just know that you won't last two minutes before someone catches you and they won't be as kind as me." Kurokiba growled out and left. Azula sat there, stunned at what just transpired. She believed every word Kurokiba uttered by some twisted instinct and she didn't like that.

As promised after an hour, Kurokiba came back with a tray of food. She prepared a balanced meal and made it as easy to eat as possible.

After placing the tray down, Kurokiba also settled on the chair next to Azula's bed. Azula didn't even acknowledge her presence this time, she simply preferred to stare down on the blankets held tightly in her frustrated grasp.

"You've got to eat princess, don't tell me you wished for salvation only to die now? Such an unfitting end too." Kurokiba lamented. She sounded genuinely sad as she uttered every word. Silence reigned over the room for a minute.

"Don't pretend to care, you only brought me here because you have some use for me. Why else would you force me to obey you?" Azula pointed out, even with her crumbling mental fortitude she could tell that an outside force was telling her to submit.

"I can't deny that, but that's only in place to make sure you don't stab me in the back or something. Your life is yours to lead otherwise. I won't use my power over you." Kurokiba said solemnly. In all honesty she disliked the way their master servant relationship was designed but she could acknowledge that it was necessary.

That said, she wouldn't abuse her power over Azula, she'd negate as much of the effects of her authority as possible and let the girl make her own choices.

"Betrayal huh?" Azula muttered to herself as she looked at the ground sadly, her eyes gaining a solemn and pained look.

"I'm guessing your no stranger to the term?" Kurokiba leaned closer and asked. Azula sighed and stared down for a few seconds.

"No, no I'm not. Either as the instigator or the recipient. I've experienced both worlds." Azula confided, her hands shook visibly. Kurokiba smiled sadly at the tragic scene.

"Whatever you did back in your world I won't judge you. You have a new lease on life, in a new world where nobody knows of the terrible princess Azula. Use this to see life from a different perspective, a perspective where you aren't the centre of your world but a spectator." Kurokiba spoke softly and reached out to hold the girl's hand. Azula reeled back and glared at the girl.

"Relax, I won't bite, not without your consent anyway." Kurokiba said with a suggestive smile.

Azula's rage built up from deep within her, the flames threatened to burst out, but in the last second she took a deep breath. She considered Kurokiba's words.

'Maybe it is time to consider others.' Azula reasoned, she could tell Kurokiba's antics came from pure intentions.

"I'm not into that stuff." Azula commented with a snort and focused on the food in front of her.

Kurokiba just smiled at this, she had sensed the malice Azula emitted a few seconds before but it suddenly vanished, and her reply wasn't what she would've usually said.

"Eat up and sleep. Tomorrow we need to go shopping and also buy some books about the customs of this world, you need to follow them to blend in." Kurokiba said cheerfully.

'Why do I have to read some book about how to coexist with peasants, they should be the ones who look up to me in awe and cater to my whims.' A voice bellowed from deep within Azula, but she pushed such thoughts down as low as possible and instead focused on her meal while also nodding in agreement.

Kurokiba smiled when seeing this, she hummed happily and left the room. She'd made more progress in one day than she thought. Azula was opening up.

Deep down she must've desperately sought salvation, she wasn't as difficult as anticipated by Kurokiba.

.....

Sorry for the late release, I've been busy with my exams, I'll try to keep the chapter updates consistant.