Toph never particularly liked the water, being blind made it something she was uncomfortable with, but she could learn to love it; as long as Katara was the one floating in it with her on calm nights like this. Toph desperately wished she could wade out into the water to float as gently and gracefully Katara did, she wanted to be with the woman she was in love with.
"She'll never feel that way about me though; I'm gruff where she's graceful. I am hard and rigid where she is soft and fragile; ugly where she is beautiful." She whispered into the wind on the brisk night at the beach; the water lapping calmly at her callused toes. Toph rubbed her hands together to feel each individual callus, each one took years of continuous earth bending to acquire, she liked the way they slid gently across her skin and she loved how she could soften them just before she reached out to touch someone's face.
Toph felt slow, deliberate vibrations as Katara climbed up the stone ladder at the midway between beach and its dock and walked all the way up to meet the black-haired woman at the small rock pathway along the end of the grey coast. Katara exhaled when she stopped next to the other girl and sat down gingerly; careful not to pinch one of her many injuries. She gasped slightly at the movement her right rib gave when she lowered herself next to Toph, she hated loosing her bending whenever she, Mai, and Ty Lee sparred; the other women had long since improved just how hard they hit you when you came within range, and it didn't help that Katara wasn't as fast as she needed to be to avoid any contact with her sparring partners.
"Still got no Bending Sugar Queen?" Toph smirked.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Ty Lee got me pretty good earlier, when she hits you it just…takes it all away." She rubbed at her aching shoulders; regaining some of her bending, just enough to push against the waves with her hands. "Heh, have I ever told you how glad I am she decided to switch teams before she thought it a good idea to improve her technique?" Katara laughed softly.
"Yeah you have, especially the last few times she's mopped the floor with you." Toph's lips had already risen in a smile.
"Ha! Like they haven't beaten the pulp out of you before?" Katara's sapphire eyes were alight at the thought of Toph being thrust on her rump by girls in skirts and a smile caught on her lips.
"Yeah, right!" Toph laughed and lay back on her arms to the cold stone beneath.
Katara giggled for a moment longer before following Toph's motion and laying on the stone with her arms behind her head.
Sitting there under the stars with Toph instilled her with happiness, she felt warm even in the chilled salty air and she felt safe next to the other bender. Katara's sapphire eyes flicked to her left where Toph rested just within her vision, she saw the younger girl's long raven black hair flowing gently as it caught in the breeze; and her heart skipped a beat. She longed to hold the younger woman close to her, she should be able to do it, shouldn't she? After all, she was 20 where Toph was 18, they were both adults and hiding her feelings was childish…right?
Toph lifted her hand and let it rest over Katara's, being careful only to slide her calluses gently over the other woman's skin the tender moment was enough to push Toph into speaking; turning to the other woman she said, "Katara I-"
Just as Katara's lips parted to bare her soul to the other woman; Toph's head shot up and she thrust her hands into the stone beneath them, which served as the beach's only dock, to make the earth form stone gauntlets that enveloped her arms all the way up to her broad, muscular shoulders. Katara jumped to her feet and pulled as much water as she could muster to drape around her shoulders and encase her arms, she dropped into a defensive stance as her eyes darted over to Toph's beautiful body. "No! Focus you idiot! You barely have enough strength to hold yourself upright! And you're putting yourself in danger by thinking about her on the battlefield!" Her mind screamed at her.
Toph was usually good at multi-tasking, but not now, not with an unknown danger and Katara next to her in that wonderful pose; ready for anything…Out of nowhere a rock shot at her head. She thrust her head into the thing with a small smile, loving the way it shattered with contact to her pale skin. The earthbender tensed under the temporary armor she wore, once again falling into the trance of Bending she started whenever she thought about keeping Katara safe, protected, even though she knew full well the other woman could fend for herself if need be. Toph's head shot from side to side, as she felt vibrations only from the end of the dock due to the sand and water that surrounded them and by extension, left Toph completely blind. The only thing she could see were the constant gentle vibrations of Katara standing a few feet away from her, but what she could hear? That was a different story; there was a thrumming sound all around them like a bunch of vulture-bees flying their way, the sound grew in volume and depth until it was enough to completely consume them. And that's exactly the way Toph felt, she couldn't see anything but she could feel a pulse in the air and the stench of smoke was carried to her on the wind.
Katara sucked in a breath in shock when she saw what she never thought she'd see again for the rest of her life. It was Azula and 5 of her Di Lee agents, they'd burst out of a cocoon of sand and dirt that exploded in every direction. When the water bender cleared out her eyes she saw them all standing on the sand in silence with smirks on their faces; Katara's pulse quickened until she heard it pound in her ears. Her mind flipped back to almost 4 years ago when she'd chained the girl to a water grate in the fire nation capitol, the deafening screams of the demented child that writhed around on the ground still rang through her ears whenever she closed her eyes. The woman who stood before them was almost a copy of the Azula Katara said goodbye to the day of Sozan's comet those long years ago; she had the same black hair that was let long and in tangled heaps on her shoulders, she had the same crazed look in her eyes and when she smiled her left eye twitched ever so slightly, she still stood with her right hip up and her left foot out. She still wore fire nation armor that was fit for royalty; it was charcoal-black with golden fire emblems lining it at every edge, the fabric underneath was crimson at the breaks for her elbows and knees, but at the center of her chest plate she had a golden eye engraved into the black medal, this stuck out to Katara but she dared not say a word about it. The deep crimson cloak that hung from her shoulders blew against her booted legs in the brisk salty air. Katara turned her attention to the woman next to her; hoping to allow Toph a semblance of sight, the water bender let some of the water she was bending around her shoulders slide down her rigid body and slither quietly down the length of the entire deck to the sand where Azula and her guards stood; once under them it sunk into the sand and hardened into ice under their feet. Katara prayed for all she was worth that Toph had felt the water as it left her foot.
Toph was beginning to get agitated when not a word was uttered nor an action taken in offense or otherwise because she simply wasn't a patient person, not in the least. She was getting jittery and she almost asked Katara what the hell was out there on the beach, but she felt the water bender next to her stiffen and the vibrations emitted from her body showed deep, strained concentration. Toph's head jerked up when she realized what was happening; she felt the water crawl down the other woman's body, that wonderful body. Katara was giving her some sight, something to see! Toph felt the ice harden underneath 6 bodies with varying weights; she also felt the heavy robes of a high-ranking fire nation officer on the one in the middle….and the officer, was a woman. A very familiar woman, the earth bender was almost sure she'd figured it out until she heard the woman in front of them let loose a cackle that shivered all the way down both women's spines.
"It's so great to see the two of you again, in action, ready for the unseen threat. Yet, neither of you willing to shed any light on your recent odd actions, the way you two get jittery when in close enough proximity. Odd how your friends will do that…isn't it, Katara?" Azula asked as she cocked her head to the side with a sadistic grin.
The water bender's throat was suddenly very dry as the woman standing before her turned those golden eyes upon hers which glowed like sapphires; she didn't know what to say, her thoughts danced around madly in her head "Does she know how I feel about Toph? How does Toph feel about me? Where did Azula come from? How did she escape?" The water bender's lips parted to speak, to form words and ask questions; but before she could say anything Toph moved to stand before Katara in a protective stance.
"You're going to get your ass kicked if you don't start making sense." She growled low in her throat as she cracked her knuckles through her stone gauntlets.
Toph felt the fire bender tense and her back got rigid, she could even see the woman's stiffened expression at the remark. The earth bender knew the second Azula took a breath that she'd hooked her, "Gotcha." She whispered.
Katara thought the Di Lee agents would swarm over them and she'd get the chance to maneuver until her bending was fully restored and she could sweep them away with a simple twist of her arms. But when her eyes drifted up to the fire bender's golden eyes, the woman in front of her started laughing; she laughed until her side hurt and continued to laugh even then; her Di Lee agents looked at her with an alarmed expression, as if they thought she would burst into flame if she laughed too hard, but when she straightened and dropped her robe off of her shoulders and took a step forward they stiffened with anticipation.
Katara let her head back to relax her abdomen and help her gather the rest of her water bending strength. She pulled the water surrounding them to envelop her body and thrust it away to make a bubble around the two of them; the water bender pulled Toph closer to her and turned the water into a shield of ice. Katara took comfort in holding the other woman close, she loved the warmth and the smell of earth that covered the black haired bender; they stood there in the now freezing air with Katara breathing heavily, trying to regain her focus and strength. Toph slammed her right foot against the ground as a smashing sound rang through the air and pillars of earth rose up from the clear blue water, Katara marveled at the beauty in Toph's powerful bending. Katara could watch her love bend the world to her will for hours on end without even the slightest thought of stopping, she would've too; if that fire hadn't burned down her wall of ice.
Toph could see the ice bubble Katara had formed around the two of them, and she thought it was… sweet of the other woman, but she wanted to make sure she'd have something to help her fight. She lifted her right foot and slammed it into the earth beneath her; she felt large pillars of rock pierce the surface of the cold water and connect with the end of the dock and keep rising so as to cover their backs. She also felt Katara turn her head to stare agape at the power Toph commanded, her heart quickened at the sight of the other woman's strength. Toph laughed low in her throat and turned back to face Azula with a smirk on her face, but that smirk faded when she felt the fire bender's cruel twisted smile spread across her face. The earth bender's ebony brows furrowed and her defensive stance automatically reappeared, just as a wave of fire erupted from Azula's legs.
The ice wall melted within seconds, leaving their fronts completely exposed to the warriors who no doubt had the intent of killing them. Toph's pale face contorted into pure hatred, she hated Azula and what she'd put Katara through, she wanted to kill the psycho who stood crouched at the other end of the dock. The Di Lee agents tugged lightly at their rock gloves as they strode forward onto the dock with cocky smirks plastered to their faces. Toph punched one gauntlet covered hand into the other with a sickening crack as the stone collided and her knuckles cracked underneath. The Di Lee ran until they got a quarter of the way to the end of the dock where the two benders stood crouched and surrounded by their elements, ready for anything; when the earth benders took their next step, it was to start a rock slide to get the rest of the way down the dock.
Toph saw them as clear as day the second they stepped from the sand to the stone serving as their dock she smiled to herself as she waved her arms above her head in a circular motion, to cut rocks from the stone pillars behind her and vault them at the enemy. She saw it collide with one agent's face and her lips twisted in a cruel smile; she jumped up just a little into the air and landed with her legs spread and her fist rammed into the ground, the dock split in half and she laughed as the agents fell towards the water, but they didn't hit it because Katara had hardened it into ice. The earth benders hit the freezing cold surface with sickening crunches, which brought an extremely sadistic smile to Katara's face. The two friends exhaled a long steady breath and smiled at each other until Katara was hit in the temple with a rock and Toph got burned.
Neither of them saw the last Di Lee agent spring out of the sand with little to no sound at all. Only Azula was aware of the man in green as he quickly brushed the sand from his robe and pressed his hands together; as his hands met the rock-gloves he wore melded together and formed a ball of earth which he launched directly at Katara's head. It struck her with a resonating crunch and a spray of blood was emitted as she fell to the ground, Toph moved to catch the other woman even though she knew she wouldn't cover the distance fast enough, and she wouldn't risk using the earth to catch her because of the risk of breaking her neck; but she dove anyway. She leapt trying to cross the distance of 5 feet, her arms spread, in the desperate attempt to catch the woman she loved, but as soon as her feet left the ground; as soon as she was in the air blind Azula shot a wave of lightning that seared through Toph's stomach flesh. The powerful earth bender fell to the ground in a bloody heap with a sickening thud.