Chapter 11: Emotional Feelings

Rating: K

*collapses onto knees in exhaustion* This one was the hardest chapter to write of this story, mostly because I really wanted to get it done today. This is the Toph vs Ty Lee chapter, and it turns out a bit different than I had originally planned (as they all seem to). Confusing feelings, and some hurt at the end. Let me know how it came out, dear readers. Enjoy.


"Toph, you alright?" Zuko asked concernedly, brows knitted together as he took a few steps towards the younger girl. Ty Lee slipped from Zuko's arms, standing next to her old friend, watching the black haired girl's face. Zuko reached out towards the shorter girl, her body jumping backwards in near panic as his hand came into contact with her forehead.

"W-what is it, Princess?" she huffed, trying to play off her obvious discomfort with the situation. Being blind, she failed to notice the confused, worried look on Zuko's face. Turning her sightless gaze towards the bubbly brunette, she felt the older girl cock her head to the side in concern.

"You alright, Toph? You look kind of pale," she suggested, lips pursed sweetly as she spoke.

"Oh, I'm fine," Toph responded, right hand waving dismissively in front of her face. "I was just a bit surprised. It seemed like you and moody boy here were having a little bit of a moment," she laughed, brushing a few stray bangs out of her mint-green eyes.

"A moment?" Zuko and Ty Lee asked in unison, looking at each other then back to the blind earth bender.

"Yeah, you know, one of those sweethearts kind of things," her laugh faded as she felt their bodies tense up, her smile fading as she noticed the two of them fidgeting a bit in place.

"Oh, sorry to do that kind of thing in public, but it's just so sweet when Zuko gets all embarrassed and blushy," Ty Lee sung sweetly, her chocolate colored ponytail swaying gently as she turned her head towards the older boy.

"I didn't blush," Zuko lied, his jaw clenching just a bit at the realization that he and Ty Lee had embraced in public only a moment earlier.

"Aww, you did too," Ty Lee teased, Zuko looking quickly away from the younger girl.

"Well, isn't this sweet," Toph intruded as the pair went back and forth, finally drawing their attention back to her. "I guess since you're the Fire Lord you think you can just do whatever you want, right? I thought you were better than that, Zuko," she spoke, an icy tone on her voice as she said his name.

"What does that mean?" Zuko asked, his curiosity piqued by her cold tone.

"Heh, what does it mean? It means you're a lucky guy, Zuko. I mean, scoring two girls at once? Pretty impressive. I wonder if even Sokka could have done such a thing," Toph spoke, bitterness and a hint of hurt on her voice. Sokka fidgeted as the girls present each looked at him, Suki with an accusing look that promised a long talk later.

"It's nothing. I'll tell you later," Sokka excused, hoping that his promise of an explanation would soothe his girl. She simply huffed quietly, turning her gaze back to the three currently locked in their argument.

"It's not about that. I mean, I didn't come here for that," Zuko picked up where Toph had left off, his heart filled with guilt over what this would do to Mai.

"Really? Then you mean to tell me that out of all the places you could have picked, you picked the place where bubbles here happens to live?" Toph accused, hands resting firmly on her hips as she felt him squirm in position.

"Well, it was the closest place with one of my friends living there. The fact that Sokka and Suki also live here was also pretty nice," he explained, trying to keep his tone even, to prevent the girl from thinking he was lying.

"So you say. Did you think about your current responsibilities when you decided to have your little fling? What about your girlfriend, huh?" Toph continued, closing the distance between herself and the Fire Lord slowly, steadily.

"Of course he did," Ty Lee responded, stepping in front of her friend. Hands resting on her own hips, she watched the younger girl stop, the two staring "eye to eye". Zuko felt a little chill run down his spine at the scene, and he wished to the gods that he were elsewhere at the moment.

"And how would you know?" Toph asked accusingly, cracking her knuckles loudly as she "watched" the older girl.

"Because I know Zuko," Ty Lee said, smiling as she looked quickly back at the older boy, who smiled warmly back at her. "Sometimes he worries too much about other people, and he's reckless, and he's got a little bit of a temper at times, but deep down, he always feels bad when he hurts someone." As Ty Lee rattled off all the qualities about Zuko she could name, she felt her smile deepen a bit, her heart swelling with joy.

"Wow. That was fast. How did you think that up so quickly?" Toph asked, surprised that the older girl could think of so much in defense of her own apparent crush.

"It's easy because it's all true. He just loses sight of it himself sometimes," she whispered, her voice only landing on the ears of the boy in question, and the dangerous looking earth bender.

"Tch. Like I don't know that…" Toph mumbled in frustration, her hands hanging limply down at her sides. Exhaling a deep breath, she turned her attention squarely to the older teen behind the girl. "But who's to say he won't just change his mind again?"

"Hmm, I guess I really don't know for sure," Ty Lee answered simply, right index finger resting against her shin as she seemed to think for a moment. "But, I trust him," she answered, smiling brightly at the younger girl, even though she couldn't see it. Toph chuckled a bit at the frankness of the answer, feeling the girl's total confidence from her body.

"Oh yeah, how could I forget," Toph said, forcing a smile to her face as she felt the girl's body loosen up a bit, "you're the endlessly optimistic girl." It hurt her somewhere deep in her heart, having a second crush go down in flames twice. But she knew somehow that it would be different with the more socially well endowed acrobat.

"It's always good to be positive about life, you know? I mean, we have so much good going on in the world, so it's alright to appreciate it and make the best of things, right?" she spoke, her voice dripping with pure sugary sweetness. "It is good to see you again, Toph," Ty Lee sung sweetly, throwing her slender arms around the shorter young girl.

"Yeah, yeah, everyone missed me terribly," she answered, wriggling free of the happy girl. "Hmm, but you did remind me of something Zuko here said a little while ago," she belted, snickering as Zuko nearly choked on himself, realizing where the girl's mind was going.

"Oh? What did he say? Something good I hope," Ty Lee chirped, bouncing back and forth from the balls of her feet to the heels and back. She watched the younger girl smirk confidently, and she felt a hint of danger.

"Well, he said that you," here she paused to point to the red clad girl, "could beat me in a spar," she finished, pointing to herself.

"Really?" Ty Lee asked excitedly, turning towards the older boy as he sighed in abject defeat.

"Yeah, I did," he said gently, hoping that Toph wouldn't go that last step to prove it.

"Aww, that's sweet of you, Zuko. But I'm not sure I could. I mean, didn't you say that Toph was the most amazing earth bender in the whole world?" she asked somewhat teasingly, earning an embarrassed blush from the shorter girl.

"W-well, she really is, so I would never want to fight her, but, I do think you could handle it," Zuko replied, his smile gradually returning as he spoke. A snort of derision from the youngest member of their group, and Zuko knew she would definitely want to prove it.

"Then how about we settle that right now, huh?" she replied strongly, retreating a short distance away from the assembled group before dropping into her earth bending stance. Zuko felt somehow that there was some ulterior motives for the challenge, but figured that if Ty Lee was alright with it then it would be fine.

"That's up to Ty Lee," he replied, ruffling the brunette's hair aimlessly. The girl cooed a bit under his touch, before he pulled back, taking a few steps away from the slender acrobat.

"Sounds like fun, Zuko. I've never fought an earth bending master before," Ty Lee admitted, smiling as she dug her feet into a firm stance. Taking a few more steps back, Zuko approached the Avatar's group, taking a position to the far right next to Aang.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, shouldn't you stop them or something?" the bald boy asked, concern lacing each syllable.

"What do you mean? It'll be fine. It's not like they're trying to kill each other," Zuko said simply, scanning the area for something he could use as a seat. Turning towards the young acrobat's home, he took a seat on the small porch, leaning comfortably against the post that supported the roof as the others followed suit.

"Must be nice being so oblivious," Sokka joked, watching intently as the action was about to unfold. Katara and Suki looked at each other, smiling as they rolled their eyes at Sokka's short memory.

"What are you talking about, Sokka? You're the one that never realized Toph had a crush on you," Katara teased her brother back, smirking as she noticed his shoulders stiffen under the accusation.

"What the heck are you guys going on about?" Zuko whispered, left brow raised in curiosity as they each simply sighed, shrugging his question aside.

"It's nothing, Zuko," Katara replied, resting her elbows on her knees as she watched the spectacle unfold. She cringed a bit as Toph swished a bit of spit in her mouth before letting the fluid pass through her lips, sending it off to the side.

A stomp of her feet brought a large chunk of earth to chest level, a firm thrust of her arm sending the large mass towards the young brunette. Using her acrobatic skill, the girl barely ducked beneath the round block, pushing off with her feet towards the younger girl. The first step brought a pillar of rock up in front of her. Hands in front of her, Ty Lee used it as a makeshift springboard, sending her slender body flying gracefully through the air.

Toph looked around her a bit worriedly, memories of her defeat at Aang's hands coming to mind. Focusing as intensely as she could, her fingers twitching to pull another pillar up right behind her as she felt the light steps hit the ground. Ty Lee bounced back, leaping to the side as another rock headed right at her.

Pushing off of the wet ground with her hands proved difficult, but she managed to get back to her feet, running quickly to the side, looking for any opening. Stopping her movement, she slid a short distance in the thin layer of mud, feeling her hair swaying roughly behind her.

"Is that all you got, honey?" Toph asked sarcastically, pulling three large boulders from the ground. A pair of palm thrusts and a kick sent the three pieces of rock towards the young girl, who seemed undisturbed.

"Just getting started," Ty Lee answered, watching the rocks as they flew quickly towards her. Bending at the waist, the girl ducked backwards beneath the first, pushing into a horizontal spinning move to slip between the next two. A whistle of approval from Toph at the acrobatic maneuver was followed by a large cube crashing down towards the bubbly teen.

Pushing forward with her right foot, Ty Lee tried to increase the distance between them, leaping from position to position in an attempt to frustrate the blind girl. Rushing between two homes, she made her way towards the small river on the right of the main street, the blind girl riding a slab of stone in pursuit.

At the sound of soft splashing sounds, Toph leapt from her perch, lifting her hands up quickly, pulling the rocks from their perch in the center of the stream. On the third one lifted upward, Toph shattered the small boulder, hoping to break the older girl's foothold on the rock.

As the pieces broke away from one another, Toph tried to get a focus on where the girl might be, frustrated by the slight interference from the water in the creek and the lightly blowing wind. Before she could get a trace, she felt a pressure against her left shoulder, the limb falling weakly down to her side.

"Hey, no fair!" Toph cried, using her good arm to try and grab the girl's feet, frustrated as she felt no pressure on the ground. She seemed to move as fast as an air bender, spending enough time in the air to make it hard to get a good lock on her. Losing the use of her left arm, the black haired girl felt the true danger of the Fire Nation acrobat, the surge of chi used to manipulate earth dampening to a mere trickle.

"Sorry, but it's not exactly fair otherwise, since I don't have a weapon," Ty Lee chirped again, her feet splashing in the river a few feet away. A twist of her foot sent a crevice through the earth towards the source of the voice, hoping again to lessen the other girl's foot hold.

Taking a few steps back, Toph felt the others as they stood a good distance away, watching the battle unfold. It was similar to when she had fought Azula on the Day of Black Sun, as though Ty Lee were simply toying with her. Closing her eyes, Toph tried to calm down, planting her feet firmly against the ground.

She tried to focus on even the slightest disturbances on the ground, trying to distinguish each individual rhythm. Feeling the heartbeats of the young acrobat, she focused on it, feeling for any indication of the direction of her movement. Tensing her muscles a bit, she focused as much as she was able, knowing that Ty Lee would only try and get close to go for her right arm's pressure point.

"Watching" the direction her feet pointed, she managed to guess which direction she might move next, ready for whatever the bubbly teen might have planned. A push of her foot sent a short hill surging towards the girl, which she easily evaded. But as she sailed through the air, Toph smiled in triumph, sending a mass of earth about the size of the acrobatic girl towards her.

Ty Lee's eyes widened as she noticed the mass heading in her direction, straining her body to the side to evade it. But as the clump of earth passed her, it exploded, covering her in dust. Bouncing onto her feet, the girl coughed a bit, feeling the earth covering her from head to toe.

"Well, I guess that's my win," Toph said teasingly, as though internally she was saying 'in your face, Zuko'. Ty Lee not being one to quit herself, the girl turned quickly, heading back towards the river. A click of the tongue, and Toph attempted to grab the girl by her feet, missing as she leapt into the air. But as Ty Lee was about to land in the cool water, a submerged stone came flying quickly from the clear water.

The stone coming too late, Ty Lee was unable to evade the blow, the chunk of earth landing squarely in the center of the brunette's chest. Gasps of concern passed the lips of group Avatar, as they each went rushing to the girl's side, Zuko ahead of the others. Sliding to a stop, Zuko crouched down, cradling the girl in his arms, her breaths painfully weak.

"Come on, Katara, you have to help her," he said frantically, lightly tapping her cheeks to keep her conscious. The water bender grabbed a small bit of water from the river, covering her hands with the life giving fluid as she focused, turning it towards the act of healing.

"It's pretty bad. I think it might be broken," she said, referring to the girl's sternum. Zuko set the brunette's head down gently on the ground, anxiety filling his head as he watched the glowing water pass over the girl's prone form.

Turning his gaze towards the little earth bender, Zuko felt a familiar pain, one he thought he had gotten over. The pain he felt when his mother had left him, the pain when his father had burned him, the pain when Azula had nearly taken his life. He feared that even Katara's water healing would not be able to do the job, his inner insecurities taking over as he took a few steps towards the younger girl.

"Why? You didn't have to take it that far," he spoke, his teeth gnashing together.

"What do you mean? You're the one who said she could beat me," Toph tried to sound defiant, to not show the concern she herself was feeling. She hoped that Katara would be able to fix things, as she usually was. The raven haired girl felt Zuko's entire body tremble, and for an instant she felt a prick of fear in her chest, thinking that the Fire Lord was about to snap.

"Weren't you paying attention? She did beat you," he answered darkly, earning a disbelieving grunt from the short girl.

"What fight were you watching, Zuko?" she shot defiantly, wanting to know exactly what he was getting at.

"When she hit your shoulder, don't you think that she could have hit a different spot," Realization dawned on her with his words, and as she looked to the others, they had the same look on their faces, as they nodded in agreement.

"W-why would she do that? She was taking it easy on me? What the hell is that about?" Toph asked indignantly, a surge of anger and hurt mingling in her chest at the sad look she figured that Zuko must be giving her.

"It's nothing like that. Ty Lee just has a bad habit of taking it easy on people she likes. Otherwise, I don't think you guys would have made it to Ba Sing Se," Zuko spoke coolly, his hands hanging uselessly at his sides as. A deep intake of breath, and he stared at the young earth bender, a look that sent winces of awkwardness through the others.

"And because of that, she got hurt. Because you were so full of yourself, wanting to be the best. All she wanted was to be friends, but all you wanted to do was hurt her," Zuko spoke rashly, not truly considering his words as they passed through his lips. He was speaking out of hurt, and fear, not caring what they did to anyone else.

"It's not my fault…" the girl whispered, her gaze shifting to the ground, chest thumping with an empty, cool sort of pain. She wasn't sure if it was the words being spoken, or simply the voice used to deliver them.

"Then whose is it, huh? I guess that rock just came out of nowhere then, didn't it?" Zuko spat, a small voice in the back of his head trying to regain control of him, but finding his hurt and anger too strong for the moment. He didn't notice that the girl's body was trembling more with each word, with each syllable he used to cut her heart.

"I-I didn't mean…"

"Of course not. Nobody ever does," he said, coldest ice burning his words. As he turned away from the girl, she lost the last traces of composure, and tears streamed freely from her eyes as she turned away from the group, dashing off towards the farthest part of the island she could reach.

"Zuko, don't you think that was a bit harsh?" Sokka asked, hand resting reassuringly on his friend's right shoulder.

"What do you mean? She's the one who was out of control. Benders have to be in control of themselves, or people get hurt…" the last part was barely a whisper, and Sokka removed his hand, standing behind the Fire Lord.

"Well, I'm sure she has her own problems," Aang apologized for his earth bending teacher, not sure what else he could say to calm his friend.

"I'm sure she does," Zuko spat venomously, as though the thought of the earth bender were poisonous at that moment.

"Z-Zuko… it's alright…" Ty Lee spoke softly, Zuko's mood lightening as he clutched her right hand in his, smiling warmly as she seemed to strengthen with each breath.

"No, don't talk Ty Lee, it'll be alright," Zuko tried to calm her down, earning a stern shake of the head.

"Zuko, she couldn't just let it go. I think she likes you," Ty Lee spoke just as softly, Katara nodding gently as she continued to work on the young girl

"Well, we are friends," Zuko spoke, uncertain as to what Ty Lee was trying to get at.

"Teehee, you're so cute, Zuko. No, I mean I think she likes you, the same way Mai does, and the same way I do," she said, a light blush on her cheeks as she watched Zuko's eyes light up with realization.

"What? How can you say that?" he asked, pressing his free hand to his forehead as he thought back over their times together, the realization hitting him like a tone of bricks.

"I'm sure she is probably just a little confused about it, but I'm almost positive of it," the brunette spoke, giggling lightly as she watched Zuko's face contort into many different configurations.

"What am I supposed to do," he asked uncertainly, feeling guilt over how he had treated the girl.

"I'm sure if it's you, you'll think of something," Ty Lee spoke sweetly, reaching up towards his face, running her fingers over the smooth part of his face. "You always do," she answered, before her hand fell limply to the ground.

"Ty Lee!" Zuko shouted, clutching tightly at her hand as panic gripped him. The water tribe girl removed her hands from their task, pushing against Zuko's shoulders as she tried to calm him.

"It's alright, Zuko. She's just asleep," she replied, smiling at the pure relief on Zuko's face as he watched the light rise and fall of the girl's chest. Throwing his arms tightly around the water bender, he thanked her profusely for her help.

"Oh, it's alright," she responded, patting his back uncertainly, a dark blush tinting her cheeks at his outburst. "It seems like she's rubbing off on you," she added, earning a short chuckle from the others.

"So, she's going to be alright?" he asked, staring deeply into her clear blue eyes.

"I promise. Now, don't you have something to be doing?" Katara asked knowingly, watching as Zuko nodded before dashing off into the direction Toph had gone. Casting a single look behind him as he ran, Zuko felt relieved as the group gathered around the energetic brunette, allowing him to focus on the task at hand.

'I'm such a jerk. I hope it's not too late,' he thought to himself. Apologies really did seem to be his specialty.


Ah, Zuko better rush or he'll lose one of his dear friends. Will he be able to figure out the right things to say? Depends on if I can think up some good dialogue :P Next chapter we get the final doses of the Toko cuteness in this story, and things settle down a bit for poor Zuko... for about 5 seconds. Somehow this chapter was harder to get done than the previous one, and the Toko bit seemed different as well somehow. Hopefully the next chapter come out better, to balance the whole thing out. Look forward to more Ty Lee x Zuko sweetness in coming days as well.