The Bei Fong state was probably the most beautiful place ever. It had huge gardens, full of flowers, tiny lakes and rabbits. The rooms where fresh and calm, every piece of furniture was exquisite. The servants were pleasant and neat in their matching uniforms. That's not to mention Lord Lao Bei Fong, with his excellent diplomacy and immense knowledge. Or Lady Poppy Bei Fong and her good manners and how classy she was. Or Toph Bei Fong, the kid who had traveled with the Avatar, was a complete Tomboy, hated each detail written before and right now, she was trying to mess her outfit if not get it off.
And the perfect definition was golden cage.
It was absurd! She was fifteen and her mother still dressed her up! Or more likely, tied her up.
Now, the Toph we picture could be recognized anywhere, but that however was not the case. She was supposed to be Miss Bei Fong here.
So she had to stay with her face clean, as so as the rest. Her…was it called hair? Well, whatever it was, it was silky and shiny. Ew. Oh! And her green clothing had been thrown away; Anyways, it would have looked odd now. How she hated it but she had…grown up. Or 'Blossomed' in her mother's words.
She blew her bangs away from her face. At least she kept that. That and the title of Best Earth Bender in the world. I mean, she trained the avatar! But apparently, her parents would not notice. Or maybe they disliked the fact. They kept her on the golden cage, fixed down with dresses, hair-dos and trying to arrange her marriage. She did had missed her parents - just a little bit-and when she came back home, things were good. She could play around with earth, spit if not in public, and dress her wonderful green suit. And one day, 'she was no longer a child, now she was a girl and blah you need more personal care blah shower blah bla blah marriage bla'!
And here she was now, three years away from her adventures and friends. She missed Appa most off all. And Momo. Oh, yes, she missed Twinkle Toes, and Sugar Queen. She did miss Sokka a ton. She missed even freaking Azula! She would give anything to hear about Ozai again, get on the flying bison and be days without showering. Anything.
"Toph? Sweetie!"Miss Bei Fong called from inside the house. When she came in Toph's room, Toph was glad she had climbed out the window, because hopefully -if heavens were on her side- maybe she wouldn't find he-
"There you are Hun!"Her mother interrupted her prayers, tipping her shoulder. "Get in now, it is dangerous, you might fall and end up hurt and we don't want that, do we?" She asked trying to treat the matter carefully. Toph just sighed and got inside in a jump. The coral color kimono apparently flied around her, being of a fine silk. That was part of her metamorphosis; beautiful, unbelievable dresses, having 'manners'-stands for acting- and shoes.
"Is there anything you would like to say, mom?"She asked with little interest.
"Oh, yes Toti, and it is really great!"Her mother expressed cheerfully. She could bet she was smiling. Toph just wondered why her mother did things such as smiling to a person who can't see it, or call her Toti. If she didn't like calling her Toph, why had she named her like that?
"What is it?"
"We are going on vacation Hun!" Mrs. Bei Fong continued "You even might see some of your friends at the fire nation. Anyways, I have noticed you quite sad lately. Is something wrong?" Mrs. Bei Fong questioned with a furred brow.
"I'm…I'm fine mom" Toph answered scartching some imaginary itch in the back of her neck.
"You seem quite depressed…I think these vacations will do you some good, you will see your old friends, and get some fresh air, know some new people; these vacations will do you some good" Again, she finished cheerily.
After some minutes passed, the lady realized her daughter wasn't going to answer. She took her daughter's hand in hers and directed to the closet. "So come, let's pack your clothes! You'll take your best dresses; remember we have to make a good impression to the other countries."
Toph stopped dryly at let go of her mother's hand. "I am not wearing a dress in public. I thought we had a deal on that." She asked cocking an eyebrow.
"Toti, I think the best would be for you to forget that stuff. You shouldn't be 'the best earth bender' if that's not you, and you don't have to act like someone you're not"
"Mother! I am. And I do like earth bending and nicknames." Toph answered hotly. "Not like cheesy dresses and people that can't keep their word." She mumbled.
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Zuko rubbed his temple. He really was the Fire Lord.
He never believed he would get to that, all by himself. And let's say things weren't easy. The war was not over just by the fact that Ozai was dead.
There were still lots of soldiers in the earth kingdom, and troop by troop he had taken them back. When that was finally over, it hit them. The economy on Fire Nation was all about war.
The fabrics did nothing but weapons and gunpowder, making a lot of people unemployed. That led to them having less money and starving. Even if he managed to make the chelon –the fire nation coin- higher, it wouldn't last because that would need the food to be cheap, and there was so little space in the fire nation to plant, so the agriculture was expensive.
He sighed.
That lead back to the first problem, the earth kingdom wouldn't plant for them any longer. He even tried to buy some territory from the Earth kingdom, but they refused. And the people hated him. Never had they been so hungry and poor before his legacy, so he was considered a bad fire Lord.
But yet, the country was a nice picnic compared to this.
"The Earth kingdom wont trust your nation if you don't commit to your job!! If I'm allowed to give my opinion about it, of course…" And this meant having the ambassador of the Earth kingdom over him all of the time.
Zuko really disliked the man. He was…unnerving. Andong was probably as old as his uncle, but he had nothing of the charm of him. Andong stood with a very young appearance, fit body for his age, mostly black hair and straight back. The oldest sign in him was his sun-curted face, and the multiple wrinkles around his dark and angry eyes. Apart from that, Andong clearly didn't respected him and 'accidentally' called him prince every once in a while. He would complain about how uncommitted the fire nation was with the peace, and Zuko was frustrated about being already committed until the neck.
This whole deal was exhausting, and right now he would really appreciate his bed.
After excusing himself, he went upstairs to his private rooms. After opening the door he found his room empty and dark.
He managed to distract himself from the fact by undoing his clothes. His thick cotton shirt felt down heavily, leaving his bare chest exposed to the cold room. He stretched his arms behind him a little; he was too tense. Zuko decided he could shower on the morning, now he was really in a hurry to close his eyes and forget about how lonely the giant room looked.
He could still blame it on Azula. After the boiling rock, Mai was never found. He allowed himself to smirk sadly.
Would it have actually worked? She felt a lot of hate to the world, he remembered vaguely. Sometimes they ran out of things to say, but he wasn't supposed to think that of a disappeared person. Maybe the concern of his consultants was well directed.
They feared he would never marry and have heir. After all, that could happen. He had been called a loner many times in his life, and he was. That had sounded so…old times. It even gave him the urge to check if the shaved head and pony tail were still there.
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Just an accident, chapter 1: T to be sure. And also because I´m lazy. WARNING there might be some sexist comments made by the characters, yet they're only to prove how illogical they are.
Summary: In his intent to help Toph, Zuko ends up kind of...well married to her.
2)"It's time to end with this big fat lie," she said confident, yet the lump in her throat apparent. "This whole thing was...all a...It was his fault!!"
Pairing: Toko. I'm trying not to put any Maiko here without making him look like a bastard but..er...hard.
Comments: Sorry guys! If you are re-reading this chapter it may seem a bit different, and that's because it had too much typos –I actually received some P.M. about the matter. It really had a lot of mistakes so I practically had to write the chapter again. I hope it ended up better.