The sun had only just recently fully risen into the sky, as Aang and Toph made their way along the wide wooden corridor of the inn. They had stayed the night in the inn, it was the same one they had stayed in the night before. Unfortunately they had arrived late in the evening so there was only one room left. The fact that the room Aang and previously stayed in was now taken up by the man that had hurt his leg and his friend, had also contributed to the room sharing. To Aang's surprise Toph hadn't reacted to badly to the situation, she had made him sleep on the floor under the open window though. It was for this reason that Aang was now walking down the corridor rubbing his back. At first Toph had ignored him, but now it was starting to irritate her.

"Would you stop doing that. The person we are going to see has a broken leg."

Aang almost spun round to look at Toph. "You said it wasn't broken. You lied."

Toph let out a faint sigh. "I didn't lie. I simply held back some information for his own good."

"Still sound like lying to me." Aang was now slowly starting to stretch his back, making a big deal of it hurting.

"You are such a wimp." Aang turned to look at her and defend himself, but she spoke again. "To think I was starting to think you were stronger, tougher now."

Like any male, Aang was greatly interested in what Toph had just said. "You think I'm tou..."

"No I thought you might be, but I guess I was wrong. It was just the way you stood in front of me, to stop me from getting hit by that bolder. You stood your ground, you didn't let it move you even a little. You were like a real earthbender. I was impressed."

"Really."

"Not any more though." Feeling like he had nothing to lose, Aang started to rub his sore back again. "It's your own fault, I told you to use the sleeping bag." While they had been walking Toph had been trying to tie her hair back in a braid but soon gave up as it kept coming undone.

"I could have slept with the blanket on top of the covers on the bed, if you would have let me." Realising that his voice had gotten louder as he spoke and that the people in the rooms they were walking past had most likely heard his outburst, cased the avatar to lower his head as he turned a deep shade of red.

Toph fought back the laughter that was fighting to escape from her lips. She folded her arms tightly across her chest to give her something else to focus on. When she trusted herself to talk again, she made special effort to keep her voice even. "I may not look or act like it, but I am still a lady of noble birth. It is bad enough that I had to share a room with you, I am not going to share a bed with you as well."

Taking his eyes off the wooden floor he walked along, Aang let them drift up. Looking at Toph completely from her feet, clad in brown boots to the top of her head covered in long black hair. In contrast to what she had just said, she did look like a noble lady. Her clothes the green light long robe, wore over brown trousers ticked into brown boots as a wall against the world around her, were simple and practical yes, but the robe had a small silver embroidered pattern around the high neckline and cuffs. Making it stand out as being more than a simple robe. She of course had probable found it in the wardrobe in her room at Omashu, like most of her clothes it would be provided for her by the earth king, Bumi or Zuko if she was in the fire nation. So she didn't choose to ware detailed expensive clothes, but she did. Coupled with the way she held herself, walking with her head held high, stepping very lightly singled her out as being a true lady. No matter what she did, the inherent grace and air around her would never go. He would tell her this, but he didn't know how to say it properly. He also didn't want to argue with her any more than he was already, by telling her that she was wrong.

When they finally reached the end of the corridor, Toph turned to face the last door on the right. She was about to reach out to knock the door, when she turned to face Aang on her left. "I'm just going to check his leg over. You can go to the stable to get Appa ready, I won't be long."

"No, I'll stay with you." Toph just gave a subtle shrug before she knocked the door. Aang bit his lower lip a little, cursing himself again for his outburst. He didn't know why he had panicked when she said she would go on her own.
He wasn't worried about her, she could handle herself perfectly well, plus the two men they were going to see were no threat at all. One of them had a broken leg, for crying out loud. He wasn't jealous either, he really wasn't. Sure the one with the broken leg had called her an angel, earth angel to be more accurate. A name he knew was more to do with her herbalist skills than her looks, but still. He wasn't jealous that he might like Toph in that way, he wasn't jealous that Jet and the Duke had liked her like that. He was most defiantly not jealous, at least not about that. He was a little jealous because as horrible as it was to admit, he thought of Toph as being his in a way. She was his friend, his teacher surely he was aloud to think of her being his a little. He thought of the rest of their friends in that way as well, not so much now that they had paired off a little over the years though. He felt he belonged a little to them too. He guessed he felt this way because he had never had anything that was just his in his life, so his friends were very important to him. He liked to think of them as a family, but he realised he would have to start to change his way of think as they started to grow up, and created little family's of their own.

Aang was pulled from his thought, by Toph digging her elbow into his ribs. "Ouch, that hurt." He looked at Toph, who was shouting him a be quite or I will hurt you even more glare. In the time he had been lost in his own thoughts, the door had been opened, the friend of the man with the broken leg had asked Toph how she was, then turned to ask Aang the same thing. Which he never heard, therefore respond to, which was what led to the elbow in the rips. She let out a faint sigh, took hold of the sleeve of his robe and pulled him into the room with her. Once inside she released his robe and moved over to the bed in the centre of the room. Aang folded his arms and leaned against the door frame.

When she reached the head of the bed, Toph reached out and placed her hand on the man in the beds forehead. "Your fevers gone, hows your leg."

From the second she entered the room, than man in the bad hadn't taken his eyes of her. "A little sore, but not to bad." He was now looking right up at her, right into her eyes. Aang found himself tensing up a little at this.

"I'm just going to check it over before we go." Aang saw a look of slight disappointment on the man's face as she said that. He felt bad, but he did take some pleasure in that. His hurt leg was on top of the covers resting on a pillow, so Toph simple took a few steps along the bed to reach the broken part of his leg. Her hands were held out hovering a inch or less above the area below his knee. After a couple of seconds her hands lowered resting on his leg. "There is apart of the bone that hasn't started to fuse back into place. I can but it back in place now, but I don't have any more pain medicine left." She may not have been able to see the look of fear on his face, but she could just feel that it was there. "I won't hurt as much as the last time. I promise. Just hold my hand as hard as you have to like before." Her right hand was the closest one to him, so that was the one she held out to him to hold. He lifted his hand to take hers, but pulled it back a little. He saw the four small scabs on the palm of her hand, he knew that he had done that the last time he held her hand. He didn't want to hurt her again. Again Toph felt clearly what he was feeling through the faint vibration she felt from her hand on his leg. "Its ok."

She didn't need to say any more than that, it was her tone that let him know she was telling the truth. He quickly reached out and took hold of her hand. Aang however couldn't help but let a faint smile cross his face. The memory of Toph tell him not long ago that she had lied or kept it from him for his own good, came to his mind.

Like the first time to Aang and the other man it didn't look like Toph was really doing anything. The look of discomfort on the man's face was the only telling sign like before. After a few seconds, Toph let out a deep sigh as she lifted her left hand from the man's leg. "How dose it feel now." Aang noticed she was taking in a lot of small breathes as she tried to keep up with her lungs demand for air. It seemed like he was the only one that noticed this, he pushed himself off the door frame to go and see if she was ok. It was then that he looked at her again, she seemed to have her breathing back under control. His head lowered to the floor and he realised her must have be able to pick up on her breathing because he was feeling her vibrations faintly through the floor.

"Much better, thank you. You really are an angel."

"I'm no angel." Toph gave a forced smile towards the head of the bed. It was at this point that everyone in the room was made aware of the fact that the man in the bed was still holding Toph's hand. He didn't let go if it right away, he gave it a tight squeeze first. Aang's eyes were now on Toph, she looked a like uncomfortable. Like she wanted to move as far away from the man as possible. "Rest for a couple more days, then try and put some weight on it. If that's ok then you can..." It just dawned of Toph that she had no idea what these men were doing in the earth kingdom or anything about them. "Carry on with what you were doing." It was a stupid thing to say, but it was the safest thing to say with the limited information she had.

She gave a small nod with her head before she moved away from the bed and towards the door. "If you ever wanted to catch up, my name is Uragiri. It means betrayal." Toph was now at the foot of the bed, Aang saw her mouth open a little to say something, but nothing came out.

"Ignore him. He is always saying that to pretty girls. He thinks it makes him seem dangerous and interesting." The other man, how had been standing by the window, like Aang tacking in all that was going on. He had been looking at Toph while he spoke, but he now turned to his friend. "And it really doesn't."

"My name is Toph, as you know. It means supported lotus. That doesn't mean that I am delicate and need to be looked after...and I'm afraid your friend's right, it doesn't make you seem dangerous or interesting." Aang lowered his head, so no one would see him biting his lip to stop himself from laughing. There was no one he knew that could deliver a subtle put down the way Toph could. In her own way she had told him that she was not interested in him in that way, and to soften the blow letting him know that it was more to do with her than it was him. "We better get going now." She had now walked round to stand next to Aang. As he moved out of the room after her, Aang took one last glance around the room, giving a self satisfied smile to the two men. "Take it easy on the leg. See you around."

The smile on Aang's face was now a grin. He couldn't help it, he had been stupid. Sure Uragiri may like her, and made attempt at telling her, but he never got any were. He was really nothing to her, he was something to her though, her friend. At the end of the day he was the one she was leaving with, they were a we. A feeling of guilt started to build up in the airbenders stomach, whipping away the smile. If she knew how he thought of her and the rest of the group as belonging to him, and him to them, he knew she wouldn't be pleased. He also felt guilty because when he figured out that if Jet had lived Toph probably would have stayed with him. Leaving him and the others, he felt a little glad that she had ended up staying with them. Making him feel like he was glad Jet had died in a way. Which he wasn't. He just wanted to keep his friends together. He had also just been pleased that Toph had no interested in the seemingly nice man that liked her. He didn't like her like that, and he didn't want to. He knew she didn't like him like that, and didn't want her too. He just wanted her to stay with him, as a friend a travelling companion. Everyone else had gone off, he felt like she was the last one left. Did this mean when she liked some other guy like she liked Jet, and he of course like her, he wouldn't be happy for her like he should.

"Aang...did you hear me, Aang." She once again got his attention by elbowing him in the ribs.

"That hurt." Aang once again started to rub his sore side.

"Don't you dare start that again. It can't hurt that bad." Her eyes had now locked onto where is face was, as she turned to face him with her are crossed looking annoyed.

He couldn't help himself. He made a big fuss of rubbing his sore side and still sore back. "It dose hurt, but I bet I could still beat you to the stables." he held out is free hand, the left one still rubbing his back. Slowly Toph lifted her hand to take his. Just before she was about to reach it, he pulled his hand away and started to run along the corridor.

"That's cheating...twinkle toes, get back here." Not waiting long Toph ran off after him.

Aang turned his head around to look at her running after him. "Come on, you are slower..." He never got to finish is taunt. As he feel to the ground mid-sentence.

Toph had been while Aang was thinking of what to say to her to taunt her, had held her arms out in-front of her. Then when he had turned his head back, she pulled her arms back into her chest, causing the floor board that had been bent to knocking into his ankles, knocking him over. Toph was now standing next to Aang as he lay on the floor, her hand resting on her knees as she bent down a little towards him. "I may not be able to bend wood, but there are metal nails keeping the floor boards together."

Aang had now pulled himself onto his elbows, and was looking up at Toph as she looked down at him gloating. "Are you going to help me up." He held his hand up to her. Toph pulled herself up, so she was standing at her full hight, arms again crossed. There was a look of uncertainty on her face. She didn't know if she should trust him or not. "You can trust me. I'm not going to pull you down on to a hard wooden floor." She hesitated for another second or so, before letting out a sign and holding out her hand to take his. Toph was a little stronger than Aang expected, this coupled with the efforts he put into helping her pull him up caused him to be pulled forward into her. Toph had to move her right leg back to keep her balance and stop the force of Aang falling forward.

There faces were only an inch or so apart. Aang's eyes met her and for the second time he got lost in their unique colour. Toph straightened herself up, forcing him back a little, but he still kept his eyes on her. A grin slowly crept across her face, as she took two small steps to her right. Like she figured would happen, Aang followed her lead. The grin now took over face, as she turned on her heels and bolted along the corridor. Knowing Aang seemed to be taken a little aback by the closeness and her unusual eyes, she took the opportunity to get a head start on him, there was no way she was going to go down without a fight, not even if it was a silly bet.

It took Aang a few seconds to process what had just happened. Giving his head a small shake and letting out a faint laugh, he took off after her knowing for sure he wasn't going to be able to catch up to her. Another thing he knew for sure was that wherever they went things were never going to be boring with Toph travelling with him.

Thank you so much for reading and for the reviews. I hope you liked this chapter and as its the last chapter in his story, I hope you liked the story as well. Like always any comment good or bad are very welcome.

The next part of the story, part 9 is going to be about Aang taking on a airbending student. This will be the second of the five new parts I am adding to the story. So I have a idea of what I am going to do with the story. I have how it started and ends planed out, and a few ideas for chapters in-between. But I would love to know if you have any ideas for training techniques or anything like that. It would help to fill in the story.