A/N: Update! Yay! 23 more reviews and I'll have 100. I never thought that would even happen. Maybe I should give out a prize??? I dunno. We'll see.

Chapter 14

Aang trudged through the palace trying to see if he could find Toph and Sokka. He couldn't hear Toph yelling so they must have covered a lot of ground. He figured as much. Toph seemed really upset and Sokka wasn't dumb enough to give into her that easily. It would probably take a while to find them. But he kept questioning whether he actually wanted to find them. He really didn't want to talk to either one of them. He was embarrassed to say the least. He never knew absolutely until now that Sokka had the world's worst timing. And he wasn't sure if he trusted Sokka to keep something like this a secret from everyone else for too long. But then again, Toph was very persuasive.

Toph.

He didn't even know what happened. One minute they were talking and the next minute they were inches away from each other. It was unintentional and he never planned on it, but he couldn't deny the fact that he felt right about it. To him, it was a pretty natural feeling, being that close to her. It wasn't awkward or nerve-racking like it had been with Katara. It felt like second nature and for a second…he wanted to kiss her. And he had a feeling that she wanted to, too, because she wasn't about to protest. What would have happened had Sokka not barged in on them just now? All of his thoughts were getting more and more confusing as his time around the earthbender grew and he knew that he couldn't deny that.

The curtains of the windows in the hallways were drawn letting sunlight flood into all of the rooms so Aang guessed that the morning was finally starting. Several servants would walk by carrying plates of food, laundry, clothes (they were oddly designed so he guessed they were Bumi's), and rags in case they needed to do a few good rounds of dusting. As he rounded another corner, he still couldn't find Toph. He knew it wasn't safe to leave her alone. For all he knew that spirit could come and try to mess with her again. He didn't need her freaking out because she thought she felt something that wasn't there. She was really shaken up the first time. He didn't need her to deal with that again.

The hallways got quiet suddenly and no one was around except for himself. He was probably near the off limits side of the castle where Aang had first asked Bumi for a place where he could be alone. He could also see the large locked door that led to the next part of the castle that only Bumi had the key to. The hallways were dimly lit and it didn't look like the servants came through here often. The probably came to clean once every few week and were then ordered to leave. He wondered why. Maybe a king needed his privacy every once in a while. He wasn't quite sure.

He heard footsteps coming down the hallway East of him. He started down the hallway and turned the corner expecting to see Toph. But instead, he saw a rather tall Water Tribe warrior rubbing at all of the sore spots a certain earthbender left on his arm not moments ago.

"Hey, Sokka," Aang mumbled, still not getting over the awkward situation back at his room.

Sokka stepped back a little. "You're not going to hit me are you?"

Aang rolled his eyes. Toph definitely caught up to him. "No."

Sokka sighed. "Good. I tell you, sometimes I wonder if she practices her punches when no one's looking. They're starting to bruise," Sokka complained, looking his arm.

"Listen," Aang started. "You…do you mind…you know…not telling anyone?"

"Don't' worry," Sokka said. "Toph made sure of that I wouldn't. And I won't. Besides, she's right if you think about it. You're girlfriend, you're problem."

"Toph's NOT my girlfriend," Aang countered, blushing slightly.

"So that wasn't you two about to kiss back there?" Sokka asked with a smirk on his face.

"I…I don't know what it was," Aang said honestly. He leaned back against the wall and looked to the ceiling hoping that some kind of answer would just fall from the sky. "It's not like I meant to. It was actually kind of an impulse. I don't know why I tried."

Sokka shook his head. "Ah, the awkward phases of young love," he said knowingly, placing a hand on Aang's shoulder. "Look, something like that isn't a random impulse. There's always a reason behind stuff like this. And judging by the way you guys have been hanging out together a lot lately, it's obvious that the reason you even tried to kiss her was because you like her. Or am I wrong?"

"…" Aang wasn't about to say that Sokka was wrong, because then he'd be a liar. It was true. Lately, he'd growing more and more attached to his earthbending master. They'd always been best friends back when they were kids, and he'd always said that he liked her. But they had always liked each other as friends and that's how it stayed. She was beautiful, fun to be around and she was the one who told him to brave and never give up. He confided in her for a lot, but they had always stayed friends. Just friends. But ever since Aang had been getting Toph out of extremely sticky situations, it seemed like the attachment had grown. He always felt the need to protect Toph, to tell her that he would be there for her no matter what, even though he knew she didn't need it. But he didn't like protecting her because he thought she needed it. He protected her because he wanted to. And even though she may not want to be treated like that and would like to take things head on by herself, he'd be behind her in case she needed him. And he liked that job. He wanted to be her crutch in case she needed it because…well…he did like her. A lot.

Sokka smirked at Aang's thoughtful face, knowing that what he said worked. Aang wasn't protesting, so he knew he was right. Not that he doubted himself in the first place. "My work here is done." And he walked away, off to retrieve his treasures from the royal kitchen that he left behind in Aang's room.

Aang didn't notice Sokka had walked away until he suddenly snapped out of his thoughts. He looked around and grumbled to himself. Figures he only came by to give him advice on his personal life. But he was actually surprised that anything Sokka said had actually worked. He had experience with Sokka's love advice, and it had failed horribly right in front of his face. It was good to ignore him when he started coming up with his half-brained advice on how to snag the perfect woman. But then again, he had managed to get Suki to like him. Maybe he was just lucky that his charm had worked on someone. But whatever Sokka said had made Aang realize that there was a reason he enjoyed hanging out with Toph so much. Maybe he should find him and thank him later.

Just then, he heard more footsteps coming down the last hallway that Aang had yet to go down. He only heard one person coming, but for some reason he had felt as though there was someone else coming. Aang pushed himself off the wall and walked towards the approaching footsteps. He looked through the dimly lit hallway and was able to see a clad-green figure coming towards him. Toph.

He was about to run towards her until he saw something else. Behind her was a towering figure, also dressed in Earth Kingdom apparel. Although it looked more like a uniform than anything else. As he looked closer he saw it was a rather tall woman with a stoic expression on her face. As the two of them approached Aang felt his jaw hang open slightly. Aang quickly composed himself and bowed to the woman behind Toph.

"Avatar Kyoshi. It's an honor."

………………………………………………………

"How do you expect Toph to control her bending in only three days? Is that even possible?"

The three benders managed to find an abandoned room in the passageways, just in case a stray servant managed to tick their nose where it wasn't supposed to belong. The less everyone else knew about all of this the better. There was a long table in the middle of the large room, probably used for large meetings. Toph and Aang sat on one side of the long table while Kyoshi sat nice and tall across from them. Aang found it a bit uncomfortable to sit in front of someone like Kyoshi. Even though there was a chance she wasn't trying to be, Kyoshi was extremely intimidating. But since Toph couldn't really see her, she thought she was more annoying than intimidating.

"If we were dealing with a normal case, then no it wouldn't be possible. But from what I've heard, you have a supposed advanced talent in earthbending. More so than most people, am I right?"

Toph failed to overlook the fact that Kyoshi used the word 'supposed.' As if she didn't completely believe that Toph could probably take this Avatar in a fight. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I like to think I have an extremely advancedtalent in earthbending," Toph explained, highly annoyed. Kyoshi glared at Toph, also annoyed at the girl's outburst.

Aang laughed nervously when he felt the sudden tension between the two earthbenders. "Avatar Kyoshi?" Aang asked. Kyoshi averted her glare from Toph and looked at Aang, acknowledging his question.

"Koh has seemed to be toying with Toph. Somehow he's getting to her senses and she seems to be seeing him all over the place. How is she expected to concentrate on her training when he could pop up at any time?"

"Oh, you needn't worry about that, young Avatar," Kyoshi assured. "I've tried my best to conceal your presences as best as I could. You all should now be barely detectable as long as I'm here with you. But I can only keep you concealed for three days. That's why your training is limited to that time, Miss Bei Fong. If you were to practice without my keeping your presence unnoticeable, The Face Stealer will only come twice as fast."

"Well, I guess we should start our training as soon as possible then, huh?" Toph asked.

"I think I remember Bumi saying that the underground training arena was not too far from here," Aang offered. "There was a long staircase that led to a balcony the last time I was here. That balcony overlooked a huge training arena that I think would be perfect for your purposes."

"There was a set of stairs down one of the hallways over here when I was chasing after Snoozles. It led into a really huge space now that I remember. That must've been the training arena. We should go there now and start," Toph said.

"You should notify all of your other friends. We wouldn't want them thinking something is wrong when they hear a sparring session going on down underneath the palace."

Toph fidgeted a little in her seat. That meant telling them that Kyoshi was here. And that also meant telling everyone about everything that was spiritually wrong with her. Aang picked up on the fact that Toph tensed up and put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. Toph looked up.

"I don't think we can avoid telling them anything anymore," he said. Toph nodded.

"How about this?" Aang asked standing up from his seat. "I'll go and update everyone on what they need to know. Meanwhile, I'll leave you two to train together. I wouldn't want to get in your way."

"Well," Toph started. "Maybe we could—"

"That sounds like a perfect solution," Kyoshi interrupted. Toph clenched her teeth. She's here to help, she' here to help, she's here to help she kept repeating.

"Well, then allow me to escort you two to the arena," Aang offered.

Toph looked over at Kyoshi with her arms crossed over her chest. She stood up and rolled her eyes at her, pushing her chair back roughly. Kyoshi failed to miss this and her eyes widened along with a 'how dare you' look on her face.

"Is that the respect you show your superiors, Miss Bei Fong?" Kyoshi asked standing up, giving Toph the coldest glare she could muster.

"Excuse me?" Toph said, obviously not affected by Kyoshi's menacing stare.

"It's clear to me that you obviously have a blatant disregard for manners," Kyoshi answered simply.

Sensing that Toph was losing her temper, Aang tried to nudge her. "Toph," he whispered. "I really don't think you should—"

"I can do whatever I please. And since when did you become Ms. High-and-Mighty?" Toph yelled.

"Since I became the protector of this world and master of all elements," Kyoshi answered proudly.

Toph scoffed. "If you can bend all of the elements, let's see you bend a scrap a metal."

Aang looked back and forth between his friend and his past life. Both were the type of person that could easily win a fight no matter if they were right or wrong. Aang didn't find it smart to break up a fight between two people like that. It was the equivalent to suicide. But, they only had three days…

"Um…well…if you two are done talking, we should, um, be getting to the arena…now…"

Toph and Kyoshi stomped out of the door and made Aang flinch a little as they went by him. He sighed and caught up to them before they killed each other.

The walk over to the training arena was awkward to say the least. The soon-to-be teacher and student duo were not on speaking terms and Aang had to walk in between them just to make the point even more concrete. The only sounds were their feet scuffling along the floors of the palace and Aang, being the social butterfly that he was, found it very uncomfortable to be overcome with silence. Toph could've been a little more respectful to Kyoshi. She is after all her master whether she liked it or not. But at the same time, Kyoshi probably could've gone about pointing that out to Toph a little more nicely. Toph had never really had a human master (well, except for that Master Yu but everyone knew he didn't count) so he guessed that this wasn't going to go smoothly. But this…was ridiculous.

"Well…we're here," Aang alerted the two earthbenders. The three of them were standing in front of a set of large double doors which had a staircase leading down to the large arena that Aang had mentioned. He noticed that no one was making a move so he alerted them again that they were at the arena.

No response. As expected.

"Look, with all due respect, I think in order for this to be successful the teacher and student have to be on speaking terms," Aang said a little louder.

Silence.

Aang sighed. "I'm going to go let everyone know what's going on. I'll leave you two to your training." Aang bowed.

Nothing.

Well, this was going along quite nicely.

Aang walked off, muttering to himself about whether leaving Toph alone with Kyoshi was a good idea. He had no doubt that Kyoshi wouldn't dare get out of control with her temper. But Toph…

He shuddered at the thought.

…………………………………………………………………

As soon as Aang was out of Toph's line of vision, she stepped through the double doors with Kyoshi following behind her. The staircase twisted down until it reached a large landing. On the landing was a large archway that led into the open balcony that overlooked the training arena that was just as big as the one back at Earth Rumble VI, Toph noted. Toph turned around to face her teacher. No words were exchanged for a few minutes. It had less to do with the fact that they were mad at each other and more with the fact that they thought they probably couldn't even form a good conversation even if they wanted to.

"So," Toph started. "What's first?"

"First, I want to go over something," Kyoshi stated.

Toph raised her eyebrow. "What?"

"As of this moment, you are my student and I am your teacher whether either of us likes it or not. Therefore, I expect you to refer to me properly as your Sifu."

Toph was dumbstruck. "Excuse me?"

"It only makes sense that you show your master respect. Seeing as you don't have experience with…ahem…human teachers, you probably have never said it to anyone. That's understandable."

Toph crossed her arms, clearly annoyed at how she thought she was better than everyone else. She really had problems with people who thought they could tell her what to do. Clearly not willing to say anything, Kyoshi sighed.

"I won't teach you anything unless you address me properly."

Toph lifted her head. "You wouldn't dare. Just because of that?"

Kyoshi shrugged.

Toph grumbled under her breath and held and dug her nails into the railing of the balcony. She really, REALLY didn't like people who thought they could tell her what to do. But she said that she could easily decline the offer. And Toph was desperate for help. Spirits, this woman was stressing her out. Who knew that one person could be so annoying? It was like she was acting like one of those people who abused their power just to see their subordinates squirm around and be forced to follow everything they said. That thought disgusted her. But like she said earlier. She did need help.

Toph let out a very loud sigh. "Fine! What's first in our training…Sifu Kyoshi?"

Who knows what could have happened if Toph was able to see the huge smirk on Kyoshi's face.

"Well, since I've only heard rumors of your bending, I thought I'd get to experiment with it firsthand."

"Meaning?" Toph asked.

"I just want to see how you handle yourself in battle. It'll make it easier to teach you if I know how you fight," she explained.

Toph shrugged. "Easy enough. So what? Do I have to knock you out of the ring…knock you out," Toph said with a little bit of a smile.

"No," Kyoshi said, ignoring the last comment. "Just land a single blow, and that'll be all."

"Alright," Toph agreed. "But no Avatar stuff. Earthbender to earthbender only," Toph emphasized.

Kyoshi smirked. "Very well then. I think that sounds fair."

"So when do we start?" Toph asked, getting more and more eager.

Suddenly, Toph felt a pillar of earth come up above her feet. It was angled to launch her off of the balcony and onto the floor. Toph felt it launch her off of the balcony and the next thing she knew she was in the air. She came crashing down to the floor. Before she could hit the ground, she braced her legs for the impact of the ground. She landed on her feet, covering them in rock to stick her landing. Then she felt Kyoshi come down onto the arena, right in front of Toph. Kyoshi brought her fists forward and brought two medium-sized boulders out from the ground. She flicked her wrists up and sent them straight for Toph. Toph rolled to the left, avoiding the first boulder and brought her arms out in front of her. The boulder collided with her outstretched arms, crumbling to dust upon impact.

Kyoshi walked forward and stopped ten feet away from Toph. "I thought we could start now," Kyoshi said, getting into her stance.

Toph smirked and got into her earthbending stance as well. "Well that sounds like a great idea."

A/N: Meh, not too happy with this one at all. I'm actually falling on my face from getting no sleep and I think this chapter suffered for it. Sorry if it seems off and if there are some mistakes. Next one will be action-packed so it should be better.

BTW, look out for a continuation of one of my one-shots. I'm kind of excited for it myself!

Review!