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Memories from Western Airtemple	By : DarthAnimus Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > AU/AR - Alternate Universe/Alternate Reality > Slash - Male/Male Views: 16187 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own "Avatar: the Last Airbender" or the characters. I don't make any profit out of writing this.

Chapter List
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Memories from Western Air Temple
Chapter 5
Sparring Partner

Zuko wondered if anyone else was awake yet. He had been lying in bed staring at the ceiling for what seemed like hours, waiting for the sounds of laughter and chatter that accompanied breakfast time. He had not heard a single whisper signalling of anyone being awake, however, but he was aware of the sound of footsteps approaching as soon as they came close enough.

The arrival paused at the doorway and a moment later Toph’s by now familiar voice bellowed: “Wakey, wakey Prince Charming!”

With a groan at both the title the girl gave his as well as the loud tone, Zuko sat up in bed a glowered uselessly at the earthbender before grumbling with distaste: “I am awake, Toph. What do you want?”

“Oh, I knew you were awake”, Toph assured in a bored tone. “I was just wondering how long you were going to lie here pretending that you weren’t.” The girl’s tone turned curious. “Why are you just lying there anyway?”

“Katara doesn’t want me awake before everyone else”, Zuko answered truthfully. “Because of that I simply stay here until everyone has woken up.”

“Oh”, Toph said in a tone that indicated that she did not really approve with Zuko approach on the matter. Then she continued in a nonchalant manner: “Then I guess you might be interested to know that everyone had woken up ages ago.”

“That’s odd”, Zuko commented as he climbed out of bed, staring to pick up his clothes. “I didn’t hear anything.”

“Because today is shopping day”, Toph replied easily. “Twinkle Toes and a couple of others are going to go find a town to do some shopping for supplies so breakfast had to be eaten quickly so that everyone could help pack.”

“I see”, Zuko grumbled as he contemplated whether it was fitting for him to change in Toph’s presence or not. The girl solved the problem for him, however, as she turned around and walked out of the room, calling over her shoulder: “I’ll snag you something to eat while you get dressed.”

“Thanks”, Zuko called back before beginning to pull a shirt over his head. It would figure that just as he thought that he was finding a routine that should keep him from ending up in any conflicts then suddenly something like this came up.

Jumping on one foot while he pulled his second boot on, Zuko made his way to the doorway of his room, running a hand through his messy bed hair before starting to walk down the path Toph had went moments ago. When the prince came out of the temple he headed for the girl in question, who came him a bowl and spoke: “You start eating while I’ll go make sure that the take off will be without any problems.” The earthbender grinned crookedly. “Those guys are hopeless without me.” And with that she was gone.

After being left to his own devices, Zuko sat down cross-legged on the ground and poked around his bowl of whatever with a spoon. Honestly, did this group never eat anything even remotely substantial? During Zuko’s stay they had eaten nothing but soup, porridge and this suspicious goop that might have been leftovers from the previous morning. Still, everyone else had eaten it and, judging from Toph’s normal behaviour, had survived it. And so, it was in the middle of eating the day’s equivalent of breakfast when Toph came back and immediately spoke in a commanding tone: “Come on, Firecracker. Let’s spar.”

A sigh came from Zuko before the firebender spoke in a tone of distaste: “I don’t think I should. I mean, Katara doesn’t want me firebending.”

The smirk on Toph’s face was definitely mischievous as she said: “She’s not here, is she?” The smirk turned into a bull-blown grin. “No. She left with Snoozles and the others to buy some supplies from a town. The trip is so long that they will gone for most of the day.” The earthbender looked like she was about to burst into giggles. “Sugar Queen will never know.”

Running a hand through his hair Zuko looked at the girl from the corner of his eye as he spoke: “You do realize that firebending leaves marks, right? She’s bound to pick those up, not to mention the smell of burnt things.”

A heavily exaggerated sigh came from Toph, followed by the girl exclaiming: “Honestly, when did you turn into such a pansy? You’re never going to fit in if you keep bending over backwards to please Sweetness.” The girl frowned at his general direction in a displeased manner. “Trust me on this, the more you are like yourself the quicker you’ll fit in. Grow some backbone, will you?”

Shaking his head Zuko gave a sad look that he knew the other could not see and replied: “I’m sorry, Toph, but I really don’t think that I can do that.”

Next the girl groaned in frustration but finally gave in as she spoke in an exasperate manner: “Fine, fine. Let’s practise some non-bending combat then. I guess it would be good for us to work on that as well.” The girl was almost pouting by then but Zuko knew that Toph would not be caught death wearing such an expression. He smiled slightly to himself as he said: “Agreed”, and proceeded to finish his breakfast, which had cooled down into a disgusting glob by then. But he would have to eat it, since he would definitely need the energy later on.

As soon as Zuko had set his bowl down he was forced upwards when the ground beneath him lifted him from his sitting position into a standing one. Then he got roughly grabbed by his arm as Toph dragged him into an open space that they could practise on.

Zuko drew his body into a battle ready position and watched Toph spread her posture. Suddenly the boy was reminded of the earthbender’s exceptional strength and was also awfully aware of the girl’s short stature. He coughed nervously and then uttered: “I feel like I’m at a slight disadvantage here.”

“Oh? You fear my superior skills that much?” Toph questioned, her wide grin somehow making it into her tone of voice as well. Zuko scoffed at the words and then snapped back: “Actually, I was worried that you might hit me below the belt by accident, being so awfully short.”

“Watch it, buddy”, Toph snarled in a menacing manner. “You make another comment like that and I will be aiming for your crotch.” The girl’s tone was dead serious and Zuko coughed into his fist before mumbling weakly: “Got it.”

Without any further word the girl rushed at Zuko and the prince twirled to the side on a way to dodge a kick aimed at his knee. He turned to launch his own attack, kicking his leg in an arch meant to make the girl lose her footing. Toph stepped back easily, avoiding the attack and jumped forward to head butt Zuko’s stomach. Knowing very well how much that would hurt, Zuko leaped up and barely avoided the girl, who smacked on the ground with a heavy thump.

An angry yell reached Zuko’s ears only a couple of moments before a boulder of earth struck out to hit him, Toph apparently having accidentally lost her temper when she could not hit him. Zuko jumped up, grabbing the rising edge with his hands and allowing the momentum to throw him into the air so that he could land on his feet a short distance away. He took a couple of staggering steps back to regain his balance and heard Toph call out: “Sorry, I lost my temper there for a moment.” The girl’s tone turned into one of amusement: “But, man, Firecracker. I think I might have chosen the wrong nick-name for you.” She was now approaching the firebender and smirked teasingly. “You should be called Twinkle Toes Junior.”

Zuko scoffed, something that Toph seemed to be good at making him do, and growled out menacingly: “Don’t you dare.”

The girl continued to smirk, not at all affected by Zuko’s tone before she sang: “We’ll see…”

Rolling his eyes Zuko brought his hands to his hips as he questioned: “How come you have such a nasty stroke anyway?”

“I used to participate in earthbending tournaments in order to find some thrill”, Toph replied easily. “I never got used to losing, I guess.” The girl paused thoughtfully. “You do know what those tournaments are about, right?”

“Yes, yes”, Zuko assured the girl. “In my nation they’re called the sport of barbarians but I think questionable culture events are better than suppressed culture events.”

The serious look that came on Toph’s face told Zuko that the girl understood exactly what the prince had meant with suppressed culture. As much as it surprised him that a native of the Earth Kingdom could understand the hardship the Fire Nation was also going through, the firebender did not want to dwell on this topic of conversation and forced his tone to sound somewhat cheerful and friendly as he called: “Are you absolutely certain that your hostility had nothing to do with that payback about your feet that you mentioned before?”

Laughter came from Toph then, telling Zuko the real answer to the question even as the girl said: “Don’t be silly.” The earthbender laughed again before speaking: “How about we have another go at it? I’ll promise to keep myself in check this time around.”

“Even though I find that an empty promise, I might as well”, Zuko said in a tone of voice that was playfully put-out, and actually earned a giggle out of Toph before the girl charged at him again.

&

It was almost lunchtime when Zuko finally got enough and sweating and panting he sat down on the rocky ground to stretch his sore legs. Toph had tired out some time previously and the firebender had practised his fighting katas until his muscles had also been too sore to keep on exercising his body. Still, despite the throbbing ache in his legs and arms, Zuko felt absolutely fantastic. With a satisfied sigh the prince leaned backwards and lied down on his back, staring at the blue sky.

“That was fun”, came Toph’s voice from a short distance away and Zuko hummed in agreement. The girl had actually kept true to her word about not using eartbending again, despite Zuko’s doubts, and after she had tired out she had sat down with her feet planted on the ground to observe Zuko’s firebending forms, even though no fire had been formed. After a while of battling imaginary opponents Zuko had forgotten all about his silent observer and had gone through moves that had been memorized by both his mind during years of hard training.

“You know, you don’t move like most firebenders”, Toph commented suddenly and Zuko lifted himself up on his arms, looking at the girl in question. Toph naturally did not see him move but felt it anyway and continued: “I’ve faced a few firebenders and they all stomped their feet a lot when they fought. You, however, step a lot lighter than the most.”

“That’s because balance is important to firebending”, Zuko explained. “It’s important to have one’s feet firmly on the ground. I’ve fought so much on surfaces that can’t be trusted that I’ve learned to find balance in other ways.” The prince smiled to himself slightly. “It’s a good style since it gives me the opportunity to use my legs and feet for attacking as well.”

A thoughtful hum came from Toph and then the girl spoke again: “Your sister uses her feet some as well, so I guess she is also utilizing the use of her feet.” Zuko frowned at the memory of the girl in question but was still listening when Toph continued: “But she moves so heavily. It’s a lot different from you.” The earthbender trailed off then, like she had something more to say but was not sure if she should speak. Zuko was not so curious as to pry and lied down again, fully planning to enjoy the calm atmosphere some more.

Just as Zuko allowed his eyes to slid shut Toph’s voice came once more, this time full of uncharacteristic wonderment and hesitance: “I never thought there would come a day when I would meet beautiful firebending.”

Snapping his eyes open and jolting upwards Zuko shot a wide-eyed stare at Toph and hissed out breathlessly: “What did you just say?”

The prince never got an answer out of the girl when a sudden cheerful yell caught their attention: “Zuko! Toph! We’re back!” And immediately afterwards Zuko saw the orange bundle, which was the Avatar, approaching them at top speed. Standing up to greet the enthusiastic boy Zuko soon regretted the action when he fell back on the ground with an airbender on top of him.

“Hey there, Twinkle Toes”, came Toph’s voice then and Zuko swore he could hear laughter in her voice, aimed at him predicament no doubt. “Did you guys bring lunch with you? I’m starving.”

“Oh yeah, lunchtime!” Aang cheered and got off of Zuko. The prince immediately seized the offered opportunity and stood up, not about to have anyone walk in and see him lying on the ground in such a disgraceful manner.

Soon enough the whole group was having lunch together and Toph entertained everyone with a wild description of her and Zuko’s non-bending brawl. Zuko was almost smiling to himself, completely comfortable with letting the earthbender do all the talking when the line ‘He stood no chance’, forced him to speak up: “Excuse me, miss Pebble, but I believe it was you who got so frustrated with failing to hit me that she used her earthbending to try and land a hit.” The firebender smirked to himself in satisfaction when he finished: “And even then you missed.”

“I warned you about the short-cracks, didn’t I?” Toph snapped with no real malice from across the circle the group was positioned in. “Next time we go at it I might land some unpleasant hits, if you know what I mean.”

“Repeating the same conversation bores me”, Zuko shot back with a faked, loud yawn and Toph released a growl before muttering: “Whatever”, and leaving the rest of the party looking between the two with looks of various degrees of confusion and utter bewilderment. Apparently no one had exected anyone to be able to get along with Zuko so well so soon. Still, Zuko was too happy about the situation to be bothered by the stares.

The dumbfounded silence was then briefly broken by Toph’s quiet mutter of: “Junior”, and Zuko was not willing to take that jab standing down. With his face twisting into a look that was a mix of annoyance and amusement Zuko pelted the girl with a nut, the projectile smacking the earthbender in the middle of her forehead, causing the girl to release an indignant yelp. There was actually a couple of chuckles around the circle then and, coming from right beside the Fire Prince, Aang’s merry laughter was heard the loudest, the sound ringing brightly and causing Zuko to feel warm within his chest.

To be continued...

Ending Notes: For some reason, I like the thought of Toph gaining extra insight on firebenders and the Fire Nation in general, being part of the Earth Kingdom and all.
And yay! I got two new reviewers for the previous chapter. I'll make sure to update quickly for the sake of celebration.
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Memories from Western Airtemple