Summary: 'Who am I really? Who are my parents?' These thoughts kept hunting Zuko since he was a child. Now that he and Toph were raised together, the two of them join the Avatar's group. Many mysteries shall unfold, and choices have to be made.
Sentiment: Chapter 1
兄弟 Siblings
Within the Bei Fong Estate, the sun was shining brightly above the deep blue the sky. Two half-siblings were in the backyard. One of them watched the clouds passing by. The boy always liked to relax himself at the garden of the Bei Fong Estate, it was his favorite place. He looked at the girl who was sitting next to him.
"Toph, you'll be going again?" he asked.
The blind girl often slipped out to participate in the Earth Rumble VI competitions. Sometimes, Toph pulled him with her, even though he found it boring. She always won.
"Yep, I'm ready" the girl said with much confidence. She stood up and stretched her hands, "Big Bro, wanna tag along?"
The boy looked up in annoyance, "It's Zuko," he reminded her.
"Right," she chuckled.
"I'll be gone until tonight so I won't be able to make it"
"Whaat?" Toph said disappointed while her arms fluttered down. "What're you gonna do then?"
"Well," Zuko said as he glanced around. He didn't wanted anybody to hear this other than Toph herself. But knowing Toph, there probably really was nobody around.
"I'll go try to improve my fire bending skills somewhere safe," he said "besides, I have seen you lots of times fighting like a one-man army, and I think it's starting to get annoying"
Toph grinned and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Dah, I rule–"
Zuko rolled his eyes, "Sure," he mumbled and stood up, "Good luck" he said and received a friendly nod back.
Toph nodded. "Don't let anybody see you," she could feel waves of vibrations underground, but they were still far away.
"who knows what'll happen when everyone finds out you're a fire bender"
"Yeah, I know-"
"Shh!" Toph said quickly which surprised Zuko, she was still disguised as the Blind Bandit.
"Someone's coming, I have to go now," Toph whispered and ran toward the stoned wall placed all over the area, she pressed her hands against it. A hole appeared and she ran through it. The hole closed again and it looked like nothing even happened.
"Yeah, also goodbye to you" Zuko said sarcastic as he turned into the direction of the gate. Unlike Toph, he used proper manners. Not that she had any choices being disguised as the Blind Bandit.
Zuko noticed some soldiers walking by who were protecting the mansion and waved Zuko a hello. He walked out and started heading to some special place only he and Toph knew of. It was a secret cave which was located west of the Bei Fong Estate. He looked behind him, hoping nobody followed him while he approached the secret place.
Toph was the one who made the cave he remembered, he felt grateful for that. She knew he wanted to learn fire bending without easily being recognized, but it wasn't that easy because it's the element of their enemy. So she helped him out a bit by making a cave for both of them.
Toph made that very own cave when she was five years old. She was way too strong for her age back then he thought as he headed towards the cave.
Zuko approached the secret place. Toph made a small opening which he could barely pass through. But that's even safer. He crawled through the opening and looked around. good, nobody's been here he thought. In all those years nobody's ever been here, so why would someone now.
They were the real blind ones for not recognizing this place he thought bitterly.
His eyes glanced over to the old half-rotten fire bending scroll Toph stole from a Fire Nation soldier when they were little. She gave it to him and together they trained each other.
He took a deep breath and exhaled.. and repeated this.
Toph was the only person he actually trusted together with her parents. He found it difficult to trust other persons.
Fire bender..
He sighed at the sudden thought, he actually liked to be a real fire bender. But not everyone would just welcome a fire bender, it probably would end badly for that fire bender.
Zuko took a step forward and shoved his right foot back. he threw his left leg up and released a ball of fire. And so he repeated the same move a few times.
Flashback..
"So big brother's a fire bender?" Five year old Toph said as she stared into the eyes of the nine year old Zuko, he nodded slightly.
Both kids were home in the backyard.
"Please keep this between us okay? I might actually get killed or taken as prisoner if someone found out about it" Zuko said as a hint of fear could be heard in his voice.
"killed.." Toph whispered slowly, trying to collect all information about 'that' word. Her eyes widened slowly as she understood the meaning. "I won't tell.." she said and walked towards the wall.
Zuko blinked as he watched her, "Hey, where are you going?"
"Ssh," she said and gently spread her fingers on the stoned wall, "follow me" she said and opened a opening with her bare hands, making Zuko gape at her like an idiot.
"Wow, you never told me you could do that!" he said surprised.
"I haven't told anybody about this, you are the first one I told" The five year old Toph replied while the two kids walked through the opening.
Zuko gazed at her. So she too had a secret, a secret she didn't wanted to tell someone. He actually felt safe with her, that's really special since he didn't liked to be around by strangers. Although Toph wasn't a stranger to him but his little sister.
He blinked and turned towards Toph.
"Why not taking the gate?" he asked her before Toph closed the opening and turned to him.
"Because this is much more fun!" Toph replied and giggled, making Zuko frown in disbelieve.
Flashback: Minutes later..
"So what're we doing right now?" Zuko said as he walked next to Toph, wondering where they went too. He inspected his surroundings but it didn't felt familiar.
"Walking"
"Where to?"
"Quit the questions and pay attention" she growled at him, making Zuko groan, those were no words for a five-year old. He didn't like the idea of not knowing where he went to without knowing it. But he did trust her, so he kept silence.
"I told you how I can feel things through my feet, right?" Toph suddenly started.
"Yeah you did," Zuko said as he raised a dubiously eyebrow, "how so?"
Toph ignored the question, they stood before a mountain full of rocks, "Okay, step back"
Zuko did as she told him. She raised her hands up and moved them quickly to the right, making the rocks follow her movement. Zuko watched in disbelieve, she really was strong for her age.
"What do you think?" she said proudly, her hands placed on her hips. "We can make it our own cave and do things we wanna do!"
Zuko 'wowed' in astonishment, "That's amazing!" he said excited and walked in, "I can even train my fire bending without having to pay full attention to the people around me!" he stated and Toph nodded in agreement,
"ha, yeah, same goes for me," she said happily. Toph wondered, he'd probably needed something to learn fire bending from, and since there's no teacher, the was just one way left. "First I think it is best to get you a fire bending scroll"
Zuko looked up "But how do we get one?" he asked.
"Watch, and learn" she said with a mischievous smile.
End flashback..
Zuko walked out of the cave and looked at the sky, the stars were floating high up in the sky. It was dark already he thought. Had he been training for so long? It felt he'd trained for just wondered how Toph's fight went, but knowing her, she'd probably won, like she always did.
No way could there be someone to actually defeat her, he thought with a grin as he walked towards the Bei Fong Estate.
He looked at the gate and it seemed to be under protection by lots of guards, he frowned as he walked up to them. "Why's everyone here, did something happen?" he asked as he faced one of the guards.
"Oh sir Zuko," The guard said as he turned to him "lots of things happened today, we didn't hear the details but it seems like the Avatar and his team are inside together with Lady Toph. We do not know what's happening inside though. Feel free to pass"
Zuko nodded en passed the gate. The Avatar.. he thought. He'd heard stories about him, not that he really cared.
Just as he opened the front door, he got smacked into a young boy with an arrow printed on his head. Both boys yelped as they took a few steps back.
Zuko glared at him, "Watch where you're going!" he growled at him.
"I'm sorry!" the boy replied quickly.
Another boy and girl were passing by and both gave him a frown. They wore blue clothes. Were they really Earth Kingdom? he asked himself. Even the other guy wore orange strange-like pajamas. He glared the other way and waited for them to be out of sight.
Zuko sighed. Why was it always so hard to be nice to strangers?
Zuko shook his head and headed towards the sitting room. He noticed Lao and Poppy as he approached them. They didn't looked happy at all. "Where's Toph? What happened?" he asked them, showing a confused expression.
A serious expression formed its way on Lao's face. "The Avatar paid a visit. Now that he's gone, we'll have to take care of Toph even more. You will protect your sister, will you? It's too dangerous to leave her alone for one minute." He said and paused. "She's in her room"
Zuko gave him a surprise look as reply. What did he meant with all that? Toph could take care of herself, she's not stupid he thought bitterly, but kept quiet and headed towards her room.
he walked up the stairs until he stood in front of her room. He swore he heard rumble sounds, he knocked on the door. "Toph, are you there? It's me, Zuko" he said.
"Zuko?" Toph whispered while she opened the door ajar.
"Can I come in?" he asked and received a nod back from Toph.
Zuko glanced at Toph, "What happened today?" he asked but his eyes quickly gazed at the traveling back on Toph's bed, he noticed a few objects next to it, "And what are you doing now?" Toph sighed, "I'm going to leave this place," she said as she stepped to her bed and tucked some of her objects in her bag.
Zuko flinched at this sudden acknowledge and asked, "What do you mean?"
She closed the bag and tossed it on her back, "Just like I said it," she said and took a small breath, "I'm going to help the Avatar on his journey to save the world,"
"But what about your parents?"
"Screw them," She scoffed while her face fell, "I know they're my parents, but," she spaced in the direction of Zuko, "I am not a weak child! I can do things on my own" she snapped while crossing her arms firmly.
Zuko looked with pity at her. "You're right" he said and approached Toph.
"Thank you" she said relieved, at least he understood.
Zuko kept quiet for a minute, he stood a few inches from the window and watched birds flying off. A sudden thought rushed through his mind, "What happened today anyway? Did you won?" he asked.
Toph didn't answered for a minute, then shook her head. "The avatar defeated me," she admitted but raised her hand. "but I almost won" she lied.
Zuko stared at her with surprise "You're kidding me, right? He defeated you?"
Toph shrugged and sighed, "I'd let my guard down, but hey, he's the Avatar. No wonder I got blown away"
Zuko shrugged, "True," he said and raised his eyebrow, "So you want to help him.. save the world or something?"
Toph nodded, "I'm going to be his earth bending teacher, he still got a long way to go"
Zuko grinned, "I feel sorry for him," he said, knowing Toph would be a strict teacher. He paused and raised his finger. "but," he said sarcastic, "I'm only letting you go if I'm coming with you"
A smile formed its way on the girls face, "I don't want it any other way, Big Bro"
"Stop calling me that!"
"Nope," she grinned at him, Toph turned her body in the direction of the window and gazed out of it, she felt no guards around in the garden. It seems like father already summoned all his bodyguards and tell them how his ' helpless daughter' needed more protection she thought disappointed.
she placed her hands in the air and concentrated on the ground. Zuko stared behind her and watched. A huge block of stone shot out of the ground and both jumped on it. They sneaked out of the Bei Fong residence and ran towards this so-called 'Avatar'.
XoXoXoX
They've been running away from home for some time now. It didn't mattered to Zuko at all because it always felt like they've been trapped in that house for years anyway. They weren't even allowed to go outside the walls most of the times. Thanks to Toph, of course, they could.
He felt that Toph was thinking the same thing, although she really cared about her parents. The other part of her must've felt really bad.
Suddenly, they heard small noises in the distance. Zuko glanced over at Toph, She felt the discomfort of her brother, "It's them," she said and paused, knowing Zuko's I-don't-trust-everyone thing, "don't worry, they're really nice," she reassured him.
Zuko committed her words. He saw a white creature in the far distance, he was pretty big. There were three small figures too, but they weren't clearly visible, although they did look familiar somehow.
He heard the white beast growling softly as they came closer. The three figured turned to look at them. Zuko could not believe when he saw their faces. The boy with the arrow on his head to whom he walked into was in the Avatar's team? He thought surprised.
The bald boy yelped in astonishment as he saw Toph and the other boy running at them. "Toph?" he said and paused, looking over at the other boy, his eyes were bright gold. He'd never ever seen them before. But he remember bumping in to him, he squeaked at that memory and turned to Toph again, "Why are you here?"
"My dad changed his mind, he said I was free to travel the world," she said spacing a little at the bushes a few inches away. She then placed her arm around Zuko's arm, "but he only allowed me if I took my brother along"Zuko flinched as all eyes glanced over at him. He felt uneasy.
"He's you brother?" A girly voice said, she was the one wearing the blue clothes. Her long brown hair fluttered in the wind. The girl walked over to them and frowned as she looked from Toph to Zuko, and from Zuko to Toph. "You two don't look that much alike"
"We're half-siblings" she said sincerely. Zuko just nodded.
The girl nodded in acknowledge, her blue eyes set on his golden eyes. "So what's your name?"
Zuko kept quiet for a bit. He didn't really know what to do. He sighed, "I'm Zuko"
"I've never heard an Earth Kingdom name like that"
"Well then now you do"An awkward silence filled the moment and Zuko wondered what he said wrong. Toph sighed. "Okay let's speed up, we don't have all the time of the world" she said, knowing that her parents would've found out she'd left by now.
She walked over to the girl and pointed at her stomach, "This woman here is Katara, a waterbender" Toph said looking at her brother, Zuko nodded stiffen. He'd never met anyone else who could bend water.
She turned around to the bald boy with the arrow on his head, "This is Aang, the Avatar and the last airbender"
Zuko blinked a few times, that little kid was the Avatar? And the last airbender? It would've been amusing if he hadn't bumped into the kid a hour ago.
Another boy walked from behind them, he seemed to be annoyed by the fact that everyone had forgotten him, he raised his hands, "Yeah, yeah. And I'm Sokka the non-bender" he said narrowed his eyes uneasy. "Nice to meet you" he said coldly.
Katara and Sokka blinked in confusion, wondering what they'd said wrong.
Toph stared down at the ground, she felt Zuko being pretty insecure about this. No wonder, he never had friends beside her, but she was also more like a sister to him, she knew that.
"He doesn't mean that" she said when banging him with her elbow several times.
Aang looked over at Zuko, he felt bad, "I'm sorry from before"
Zuko looked up in surprise, wondering what he meant, "About what?"
"When we ran into each other, I'm sorry. I should've been more careful, but I was so disappointed about Toph who couldn't teach me earthbending."
Zuko glanced down at the ground, then met his eyes, "Well, it's not your fault," he said and paused, "I mean, I should've been more careful too"
"Thank you" Aang said.
A soft smile formed its way on Zuko's face and he nodded.
Maybe, if he were to know them a bit better, they might actually become good friends. As in a real friend he'd never had before.
Sokka who by now was on top of the huge white animal cried at them, "Can we go now?"
Katara and Aang exchanged glances and smiled, "Get on Appa, we're going" they both said.
"Appa.. Is that the white beast?" Zuko asked and received a nod back.
Toph threw her hands in the air, excited, "Finally! We're going, I thought we would've never leave this place" she said sarcastic while getting on Appa.
Zuko found himself getting on the sky bison with the help of Aang and Katara. He watched Aang getting on the head of the bison saying something like 'yip yip' and suddenly he found himself flying in the air. He noticed Toph clinging at his clothes. No wonder, she couldn't see anything without the ground.
Zuko set his eyes downward at the many little houses flying by. He was deep in thought. Maybe now, someday.. would he ever meet his real parents, if they were alive. That was something he longed for so long.
End Chapter.
I'm sure there are questions, don't worry, all will be explained. I'm sorry for my poor English, I know it's not the best, but at least I tried. Anyway, please review, they are what drives me to make a next chapter!
