Orphaned

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. All rights belong to Bryke.

This fanfiction is an entry for alyssialui's Pro-bending Circuit Writing Competition. My task, as manager of my team, is to write a "No Bending!AU". So, obviously, that's what this is.

A few notes:

There is no bending

Toph is blind, and since there is no bending, she won't be doing much.

Zuko does have his scar, though it does not tell how he got it.

Appa is not a bison in this story, since it is set in the modern world. Instead, he is a South Russian Ovcharka, which is a breed of dog.

Aang has hair

Enjoy!

"Katara, I'm hungry," Sokka whined.

"I'm sure he'll be back soon," Katara told him.

Just then, a loud screeching sound, like nails on a chalkboard, echoed through the warehouse. Katara and Sokka turned toward the door, expecting to see Zuko, but found Aang instead.

"Guys!" he ran into the building, clutching a newspaper in his hand. "Look what I found!" he smiled, holding up the newspaper for them to see.

"Aang, it's your turn to wash Appa," Toph cut him off, sliding a bucket of water and a towel in his direction.

"What? Why me?" he whined.

"Because it was your idea to keep the stupid mutt, so you have to be responsible!" she reminded him harshly.

Aang frowned, taking the supplies, and walked toward the large dog, muttering, "Appa's not a mutt."

"Is there any food left?" Sokka groaned.

"No, Sokka. That's why Zuko is out getting some," Katara said.

Toph sighed. "I'm tired of having to wait for him before we can have food."

"Well, there's no other way." Sokka told her.

"You could get a job, smart one," Katara said.

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about," Aang piped in. "I found-"

"And what would a job do?" Sokka retorted.

"You would earn money to provide food for us, instead of Zuko having to risk his life on the streets as a criminal as he tries to keep us all alive!" Katara snapped.

"Ouch," Toph smirked.

Katara looked over at the warehouse entrance and noticed that Aang had forgotten to close the door.

"Aang, close the door, please."

Aang smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Right, sorry," he said, running to the door.

As he grabbed the metal door and began to pull, he noticed a figure clad in black limping toward the door. Upon closer inspection, he realised it was Zuko returning from his "grocery shopping".

"Zuko?" he asked himself, turning toward his friends. "Guys, Zuko's back!"

"Finally!" Sokka sighed in relief.

"But," Aang scrunched his nose. "I think he's injured."

Katara gasped and ran out of the warehouse towards Zuko, with Aang and Sokka in tow.

Upon hearing hurried footsteps, Zuko looked up and found three of his friends rushing toward him. Aang took the bag of food from Zuko's hands while Katara and Sokka wrapped his arms around their shoulders.

Although he was grateful for the help, stubbornness took over. "I'm fine," he blurted, his voice muffled by the blue oni mask over his face.

"You are most certainly not fine, Zuko," Katara replied.

They all walked into the warehouse and set him against the wall. Katara grabbed their first aid kit and sat down in front of the older boy.

"Where are you hurt?" she asked.

"No where," Zuko muttered.

"So, you were just limping here for no reason?" Katara glared, hands on her hips.

Zuko was silent.

"Show me where you're hurt, Zuko," she said in a softer tone, lifting his mask off his face.

Giving in, Zuko turned his right leg to show her the torn cloth of his black clothing.

A gash ran down the outer side of Zuko's right leg, and Katara winced, noting the darker spots of his clothing from the blood of his injury.

"How did this happen?" she asked, concerned.

"I, uh, tripped.."

Katara stared at him, knowing he didn't only trip.

Zuko closed his eyes, bracing for the lecture he knew was coming. ".. Out of a window."

As he expected, Katara began yelling at him about how stupid it was to jump out of a window and how he should be more careful while "doing his Blue Spirit duties".

"Wow, she must be pretty angry with him," Toph commented, taking a bite of the bread that Zuko brought back.

"Well, you know how she feels about Zuko being a wanted criminal," Aang said in between bites of food.

"I think we all know about how she feels about him in general," Toph laughed.

"W-what do you mean?" Aang asked in a hurt tone. They all knew the boy had a crush on the older girl.

Toph cackled. "Oh please, Twinkletoes. You don't really think that Katara would pick you over him, do you?"

Aang held back a few tears. "What does he have that I don't?"

"Do you want physical differences? Then ask Sokka," Toph said, waving her hand in front of her eyes.

Sokka whipped his head around, his mouth full of food. "Huh?"

"What does Zuko have that I don't?" Aang repeated to him.

Sokka swallowed. "Well, he has a scar."

"Besides that!"

Sokka thought for a moment. "Katara's been through a lot. She had to grow up almost too quick when our mom died. She doesn't have much of a childish side like you do. She needs someone mature. And that person is Zuko."

Aang frowned, then his eyes widened. "Wait, you mean you actually approve of Katara dating Zuko?!"

"Well, I can't exactly stop them now," Sokka shrugged, nodding toward Zuko and Katara.

Aang turned to look at them, and instantly regretted it. There was Katara, lip locked with Zuko, all while bandaging his leg.

Aang turned away and hurled, while Toph just laughed.

A/N: Um, so that happened. I don't know, it was pretty fluffy. Could you tell that the story idea switched around multiple times? I rewrote this 3 times, and then I just went with it. This is the result. Hope you enjoyed it, leave me a review! Those are nice!

Word Count(Not counting A/Ns): 871