Shinji sat, meditating, on Appa's back. Sakura tried mimicking him, but one of her eyes were opened slightly to see what he was doing.

"S-So, you j-just sit w-with your eyes c-closed?" Sakura asked.

"Pretty much." Toph said.

"Shinji's like an old man in a young man's body. He was so near death he only focuses on bigger things while younger people- like us -focus on smaller things." Katara explained.

"Thank you." Shinji said, moving and standing on one arm.

Sakura looked alarmed. "D-Do I h-have to d-do that?"

"No." Shinji said.

"What are you doing that's so weird?" Toph asked, picking between her toes.

"I'm upside-down using one arm to hold myself up," Shinji said, like it was an average occurrence.

Toph immediately thought of Toph. "Why?" Toph asked, trying not to be blunt as she usually was.

"I'm trying to see what Ty Lee finds so attractive about this view of the world." Shinji said.

Toph heard 'Ty Lee' and 'attractive' in the same breath, setting off alarms in her head. "It's not like I can't stand on one hand, too!" Toph said, and almost attempted it when Shinji quickly tackled her to the ground.

"I'd rather not repeat our previous venture." Shinji said, looking down at the sand.

"Sorry," Toph said.

Shinji shrugged, poking Toph's nose before he stood, meditating once more.

Toph sat up, then blushed and asked "When he was on top of me, did it...?"

"It looked dirty." Sokka said.

Shinji, however, didn't hear this conversation, lost in memories. Memories of his parent's death, memories of every single bounty he had ever taken, and memories of fulfilling the contracts.

When the team arrived at Kiyoshi Island, the others ran ahead, leaving Sakura and Shinji behind.

"Y-You don't h-have to s-stay behind w-with me." Sakura said.

Shinji shrugged. "I don't mind. Maybe they can tell the villagers I'm coming. I'm not exactly-!" Shinji dodged a fan, pulling Sakura down with him, his black hair getting a single strand cut. Shinji stood, looking at the Kiyoshi Warriors around him. "Where's Ty Lee?" Shinji asked, and the Warriors took it the wrong way, believing he was now hunting the cheery Kiyoshi Warrior, and ran forward, attacking him.

Shinji dodged several blows, counterattacking a Warrior who tried to use chi-blocking attacks. Shinji took her sword, spinning the weapon in his hands.

"I am here with the Avatar." Shinji said, and brought his sword up quickly, deflecting a fan that was aimed to take his head off. "Peace never works." Shinji sighed, and the Kiyoshi Warriors suddenly put their fans up, standing at attention.

"Hey Shins!" Ty Lee said, walking on her hands. "Why are you fighting my friends?"

Shinji firmly planted the sword in the ground. "Self-defense. I take it they know me as the 'Ash Bounty Hunter'?"

"Yep!" Ty Lee said, then her smile changed to a frown. "I forgot to tell them you had changed."

Shinji shrugged. "Don't worry about it."

"Don't worry about it." Toph mocked, stomping on the ground. She had aimed to his Ty Lee, but Shinji, picking up the sword at the precise moment and placing it behind him, confused Toph. Toph shot Shinji several feet in the air, and he promptly got stuck in a tree.

Shinji shook quickly, then called down. "All earthbenders, step forward."

Toph and Aang took a step forward.

"Should I guess who got me stuck up here?" Shinji asked. "And should I choose who will get me out?"

"Don't worry about it, Shins!" Aang said, then shot air into the tree. Shinji fell to the ground, slamming his back on the ground.

Shinji laid there, silent, and Ty Lee asked "Are you dead?"

Shinji shook his head, then breathed out and stood, a bruise already forming on his back. "I would prefer no one shoots me from trees. Understood?"

Everyone, even the Kiyoshi Warriors, nodded, the ice in Shinji's voice making him seem like a military commander.

"Good." Shinji sighed.