Toph put her feet in the water, sunbathing, her wet hair running down her back.
"You're doing it all wrong, Shins." Aang said. Everyone was now teaching the seemingly-impossible-to-teach firebender. "Why are you sinking so fast?"
"Family curse." Shinji said. "My family sinks."
"Maybe it's from where you used to hate waterbenders." Sokka said. "Or maybe water has always had it out for your family."
Sokka fell over, but it was Katara who hit him down, a mark where her water-whip had hit him.
"Shut up. He'll learn soon, you just have to be nice about it." Katara said. "And give him some time," she added, seeing Shinji come out of the water spluttering again.
"Even Toph learned faster, and she's blind!" Sokka said.
Shinji dunked Sokka's head under water. "Shut up or I'll turn you to ash." Shinji said when Sokka resurfaced.
Sokka got out of the water and sighed. "Hey, Toph, got any insight on how to teach him?"
"Stop coddling him." Toph said. "Make the water above his head and keep him under. He'll learn or drown."
"I'm guessing the date didn't go well." Sokka said. "Well, waterbenders, do as she says."
Toph snapped her fingers, and rock rose, raising the pool so that it was twice Shinji's height. Katara and Aang then began filling it up, and Shinji was soon up to his neck in water.
"Is this a good idea?" Shinji asked.
"I think it is." Toph said.
Shinji sighed, deciding noble silence was a better option than yelling at Sokka, then took a deep breath as Katara and Aang finished filling the pool.
Under the water, all sound was muted. After an initial panic wave, Shinji began swimming. Maybe not as good as Toph, but still better than before, and he still was able to rise to the top.
Unfortunately, as soon as he rose to the top, something fell down, hitting him on the head and pulling him under. Shinji rubbed his bruised head, then identified what had hit him.
It was a who, and she was unconscious. Shinji grabbed Toph and swam to the surface, finding notable difficulty carrying her.
Shinji noted the rock walls were not down, and that he couldn't burn through them.
"That was a terrible idea." Shinji said to Toph, checking to make sure she was breathing. A figure appeared standing on the rock wall, looking down at Shinji. She had blue eyes, and brown hair that went down her back. She wore Earth Kingdom clothes, despite obviously being a waterbender.
"It's been a while, eh, Shinjiro?" Kairi asked.
Shinji ground his teeth, but kept swimming.
"I heard you started drinking jasmine tea. That's pretty clever, since jasmine's one part of the antidote. But without the other parts, you can't heal!" Kairi said, walking on the rock border.
"Now would be a good time to wake up." Shinji whispered to Toph. "If only to take the barrier down."
"The talk of the town is that you're dating the legendary Toph. She's thirteen, though, and you're what, sixteen? Seventeen?" Kairi asked, then used a waterbending move.
"No-!" Shinji said when more water was put in the pool. 'It's coming true!' Shinji thought. 'Drowning to death, just like what I was afraid of when I was a kid!'
As a child, Shinji had an abnormal fear of drowning. After his parents died, though, Shinji had fought that fear away, believing the only thing to fear was waterbenders. Now, though, his fear of waterbenders gone, as the hate of them was, his older fears were resurfacing.
Shinji screamed under water, then swam upwards, putting Toph above water before himself.
"You really care about that blind girl, don't you?" Kairi asked, sitting on the barrier, legs dangling over.
"She's more than a blind girl!" Shinji coughed.
"I have to admit, that warrior wasn't hard to fight. I'm surprised you didn't have anyone else to watch over you." Kairi said.
Shinji grew a crooked smile and, out of nowhere, a gust of air knocked Kairi down into the water, the rock barrier falling at the same moment. Katara used waterbending to lift Toph up to her, using the excess water to lift her up. Shinji looked to Kairi, who had just now stood up in the ankle-high water.
Shinji began breathing, and adopted his firebending stance.
Kairi took the water from her clothes and attacked.