Fieldtrip: Chapter 5 – Food
While Zuko was off swimming again Toph was, also again, picking her toes. Ever since she hung on Zuko in the water she didn't dare to go near it, afraid it would happen again. She felt her heart beat a little faster at the thought and quickly shook her head. A smile came to her face as she felt his shirt lying near her on the ground. That shirt was so big compared to her, and when she'd had it on, she felt so small. Luckily she didn't need it anymore, the sun was shining enough on her skin to warm her.
She just started picking the toes of her other foot when he came out of the water, the drips that came from him sending way too much vibrations at her at once. She closed her eyes fiercly, trying to block out what she felt. Without realising so she drew her friend's attention, who, after drying himself off a bit, walked towards her. His towel was thrown over his shoulder and almost slid off when he crouched in front of her, trying to figure out the reason why she seemed to be in pain. He took a bang of hers between his index finger and thumb, making her eyes shoot open immediately. He didn't see it though, he'd moved his eyes to her hair already.
"Toph, are you okay?"
"What??" She backed down against a tree, using her feet to do so. "Sure! I'm fine!" She gave him a nervous laugh before trying to cough it away, putting her hand on the back of her neck. "So... Why did you come out? You seemed to have a lot of fun."
"I'm hungry."
Toph stared a few moments at him, feeling his eyes on her, as if expecting she'd do something.
"Well don't look at me," she said, placing her fingers on her chest, "I didn't bring any food."
"You didn't?"
"Uh, no, you were the one who dragged me on this trip to go to my parents and threw my bag in my arms. When I didn't feel anything food-like I figured you'd brought something with you." The silence between them made her hit her forehead with her hand and sigh. "You didn't think things through, did you?" She felt him shaking his head. "Sokka was right after all. Guess I owe him some money."
"Wait, what??" Zuko let him fall onto his knees. "Did you two bet on me?"
"Technically, we bet on your thinking."
"I don't believe it!"
"And I don't believe you didn't bring any food!"
"Don't change the subject!"
"Food was the subject!"
Their arms were up in the air while frowns and water stroked their features – Zuko'd been making enough movements to make her wet as well – as they both panted softly. It was Toph who made the first actual movement and got onto her feet, digging her ankle in the ground. A few seconds later the Firelords clothes fell onto the ground in front of her. She picked up everything and threw them onto her friend.
"Get dressed, Lordy, we're gonna find us something to eat before you die of hunger."
He grinned before putting on his shirt. "Like you would mind."
As they were walking on the path surrounded by trees, Toph explained the rules of hunting in her own clear way.
"From the moment I feel an animal you run to it and, well, do what you're supposed to do."
"And what are you going to do in the meantime?"
"No questions, Zuko, I'm in charge here."
He smiled a bit at her, for some reason he liked it when she acted like that. When she suddenly stopped him by placing her arm in front of him he looked around immediately, searching for a possible prey. Before he'd even found the prey, he saw Toph stamping her foot on the ground, and only a few seconds later a little sabertooth mooselion fell onto the ground right in front of the Firelord. He watched it with big eyes, and from the moment the little creature saw him, it ran away as fast as possible.
"Go get it, Flameboy." Toph said, walking away from him.
"What about you??"
"It's escaping." she sang.
While grumbling, Zuko started chasing the little beast, still wondering what she was planning to do. He shook his head to lose his thoughts and to be able to concentrate on chasing the animal, and after he'd done so, he sped up a bit. His hands were trying to grab the mooselion, and every time he tried to take the beast in his arms, it was able to escape. Hopefully he didn't have to run after the prey too long, he knew he wasn't that patient. And if Toph wasn't planning to help at all, the chance that he would get angry with her was sadly enough big.
Even though he had some experience with hunting animals from the time he was banished he still had a lot of trouble with simply keeping up with the cub. After all, an energetic little animal wasn't the same as a fish. Still, it didn't make things more fun. Not that having to run after your hopefully soon to be food was fun anyway. His hands were grabbing for the fast creature, and each time he tried to capture it, it was able to escape. He figured it wouldn't take him long to fall on his face. Suddenly he was happy to be far away from the blind earthbender.
He stopped for a moment to take a breath, placing his hands on his knees as his legs were bent. He panted a bit before wiping off the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand, searching for his victim. When he saw it standing in front of him with its face to him, he smirked. Then, he jumped towards the beast, screaming out loud. Sadly enough the mooselion still hadn't lost its speed, and had been able once again to escape, making Zuko fall roughly onto the ground. When he sat up straight, rubbing his head, he meant to hear the cub laughing. With him. In an instant he got angry and made another jump towards the animal. This time, he caught it, and even though it was struggling incredibly fiercely, he didn't let go. His angry look changed into a happy one as he realized he wasn't such a bad hunter. He couldn't wait to tell Uncle about it, he bet he wouldn't believe it. Even he himself didn't believe it.
Just when he was about to get up and walk to Toph again, he noticed something. He looked at both of his hands, which looked dirty. He hit his forehead with one of his hands as a heavy sigh escaped his lips. How had that beast been able to escape? He was sure he'd been holding it tightly enough. Although... He shook his head, of course he'd held it tightly enough. He looked around.
"Uh oh."
Hopefully Toph was in a forgivable mood.
It had taken him about two hours to find the spot near the river, chasing the sabertooth mooselion cub had brought him further away than he'd thought. And having to face several wild animals didn't help either. The only positive thing was that he had managed to bring some food after all. In his left hand he was dragging a cow pig, his right hand holding three possum chickens.
He threw the dead animals onto the ground in front of his friend's feet before landing on his knees and falling onto his stomac. He panted heavily, not caring how dirty he was from all the fighting he had to do. He was sure Toph wouldn't complain at all, and if she would... Well, she better wouldn't.
"You left for one little creature and got back with for larger ones? I'm impressed."
He smiled to himself, he'd heard enough stories about her to know she was hard to impress. He was proud of himself.
"Too bad I ate already."
His smile disappeared instantly as his eyes widened and he looked at the blind girl.
"What??"
"Relax, I'm just kidding." she laughed.
"That's not funny!"
She laughed some more before hitting the ground with her fist, making some pieces of wood fall near her.
"If you start a fire, I'll cook."
Zuko shocked slightly. "You can cook?"
"Cook, earthbend, tell when someone's lying. The usual stuff."
He gulped at the realisation of what she'd just said. If what she said was true – especially the part where she told him she could tell when someone lied – she probably knew he'd lied to her when he told her how he'd gotten his scar. He decided not to mention anything about it, the chance that she'd forgotten about it was pretty big. Instead of saying anything, he awkwardly cleared his throat and made his way to the wood, setting it on fire as careful as possible. After that, Toph got up herself and carried what he'd caught to the fire.
"You go wash up, you smell awful."
He smiled at her before nodding, taking his towel and throwing it over his shoulder as he walked to the river. He removed every clothing he had on with exception of his undergarment and walked into the water. He wisely hid himself behind the largest rock he could find, he didn't like the feeling of being watched. He turned to face the large rock, throwing the towel on it and placing his hands against it for some rest.
"If you're gonna keep touching that rock, count on it that I'll see every little thing you do."
He let go off the rock instantly, images of a grinning Toph flashing through his mind. He knew she wasn't interested in him at all, but now she'd mentioned she would be able to see everything he would do made him blush fiercely. She was a true master at making people feel uncomfortable.
Just when he was about to start washing his feet as perfectly as he could, a smell came to his nose. He sniffed a few times with his nose high up in the air. He gasped from the second he realized what that unpleasant smell was, and without thinking he ran from behind the rock, out of the water towards his friend. He found her throwing some earth on the two possum chickens that were burning, though it didn't make any difference.
"Toph, what have you done??" Zuko asked loudly.
Toph gave him a goofy smile, one he had never seen from her, as she went on with covering the chickens with earth. She backed down with a frightened face as the fire spread to the leaves of the nearby trees and plants.
"I thought you said you could cook??"
"I lied." she replied, her smile only widening.
"You lied??"
"Let's not fight about it now," She ran towards him and took him by the pulse. "I think we better run!"
She pulled him with her, away from the entrance of the cave they'd been in for a while, only to be stopped by the fire that had already begun burning the trees and everything else that was able to catch fire, blocking their way out.
"How about swimming?" Toph suggested loudly.
"Too slow." her scarred friend answered before picking her up.
"Hey, what do you think you're-"
"Climb on my back." He narrowed his eyes. "We're going through it."
Without objecting any longer, she let him bring her to his back and clung onto it, holding him tightly. She suddenly shocked.
"Uh, Zuko..."
"Not now."
"This is kind of important."
"Later, Toph."
"But-"
She shouted loudly as she got interrupted by Zuko running through the fire, clearly using his bending abilities to keep them from getting burned. She felt his arms around her legs while he started running away from the dangerous area. The running only lasted a few minutes though, she was standing still again faster than she thought she would. His fast breathing made his body go up and down over and over again, making her wish she wasn't sitting on his back, feeling more of it than she normally would. She decided to stay quiet about it though.
"Hop on."
A silent moment between them allowed the sound of the fire to come to their ears again. "I'm sorry, what?"
The Firelord let her slide off his back, and from the moment she touched the earth with her toes, she felt two creatures somewhat bigger than her standing in front of them.
"Hop on." she heard him say again, this time sounding a little more urgent.
She silently obeyed him and bended the earth underneath her upwards, landing on the animal just the way she'd planned, which made her smile. She heard her rescuer jumping onto the other one as well and suddenly held her hand, calling to the beasts to start running, which they did. They were going a lot faster than when Zuko was the one who ran. Toph laughed quietly, she had to remember that one, in case she wanted to shove it in his face later.
After ten minutes of silence, maybe fifteen, the animals were allowed to slow down. Hopefully they would start talking again too. The blind earthbender smirked.
"So, Zuko," she began, "Haven't noticed anything yet?"
He lifted an eyebrow in confusion. "What's there to notice?"
"Doesn't whatever this is feel awfully soft? I mean, don't you feel its softness a little too well?"
"What are you talking about? I mean, sure, it feels a bit different than the last time, but other than that..."
"You really don't feel any differences?"
"No."
"Okay, let's try this," she began again, snickering, "When I was sitting on your back, didn't you feel my hands on your skin?"
"Toph, can't you just make your-"
"You've forgotten your clothes!"
An awkward silence filled the air between them, Zuko slowly looking down at his body. Fastly after that, the silence was broken with a loud shout that caused many birds to fly away from the places they were sitting, their peace disturbed. The shout was soon joined by laughter.
"Look at it this way, Lordy, at least you can help me win the bet now!"
"I hate this fieldtrip." he muttered to himself, lowering his head in shame.
To Be Continued