Sigh. School has begun for me. Posting is becoming more and more difficult.

Anyway, this story occurred immediately after the last chapter.

Bitter Work

"Is he here?"

"No." Toph sighed.

"What about there?" Aang nervously jumped from one end of the hallway to the next.

"No."

"He's here, I know it. He's somewhere. Any minute now, Zuko is going to come charging at me with his wacko sister and…"

"Aang!" Toph shouted at him, fed up with his nervous twitching and paranoia. "Chill out. Zuko is not going to do anything. Not in school anyway."

"What? You think that he'll wait for me after school?"

"Probably."

"You're not helping!" Aang whimpered loudly.

"Again, chill. I'll be with you after school. He's not going to get you. I promise." Toph slapped his shoulder.

"Um…okay." Aang sounded ungrateful.

"What? You don't want my help?"

"It's not that…it's just…well…" Aang swallowed a lump in his throat. "…I mean…you're always watching out for me and…look…people are talking. About me, and how I can't fight my own fights." His eyes grew heavy. "I wanna beat Zuko myself. Just once. I don't think that I could do it though. I mean, everyone at school thinks that you're my bodyguard or something."

"I practically am!" Toph reminded him. "But…I hear what you are saying. You wanna be the macho manly man for once."

"Uh…yeah." Aang scratched his head.

"Okay. I have an idea. Do we have the same lunch period together?"

"Today we do." Aang had his schedule memorized.

"Meet me by Sokka's locker just before the bell rings. I'll help you out, skinny."

RRRRIIIIIIIINNNNGGGGG! The school bell rang loudly and the hallways became alive with movement.

"Gotta go!" Toph said as she ran away. Aang didn't even have enough time to say goodbye.

The moment she was gone, Aang went back to being a nervous, paranoid coward, twitching each time a larger person walked by.

Aang showed up by Sokka's locker early, way before Toph was there. Every second went by a bit too slowly.

After a few minutes of waiting (which felt like a few hours to Aang), Toph arrived with Sokka close behind her.

"What about the gym classes?" Toph asked Sokka as they approached Aang.

"No one has gym now. We're all clear."

"What's going on?" Aang asked Toph. Whenever she and Sokka talked secretively, it usually meant that they were doing something they weren't supposed to do.

"Ready?" Toph asked, not answering Aang's question.

"Ready for what?"

"Just follow us." Toph turned around, expecting Aang to follow.

"Where are we going?" Aang followed close behind her.

"Just be quiet and follow."

Toph led him down towards the gymnasium, creeping past the cafeteria and the teachers guarding the closed classrooms. Aang nearly had a heart attack on the way, knowing that he was breaking the rules, but, outnumbered and outranked, he went along with the two trouble makers.

Eventually, they found their way into the school weight room. Much of the equipment was sprawled messily out on the floor. Most of the regular users were not interested in keeping the floor clean.

Toph stepped onto the grappling mat and began stretching.

"Okay. Come here airhead. It's time to teach you something about fighting."

"Is that what we are doing!" Aang tried not to panic, but the moment violence came into the picture he couldn't help but worry.

"Don't worry little buddy." Sokka said, standing next to the door. "I'm keeping watch. Listen to Toph, she knows what she is doing."

"Um…okay." Aang nervously approached his friend on the matt. "What belt are you again?"

"High green. Why?" Toph pushed her arms over her head, still stretching.

"Just asking." Aang didn't know anything about karate belts, but he felt obligated to ask.

Toph stretched for a few more seconds and cracked a few bones before finally saying "Okay. All ready."

"So, what are you going to teach me first? The round-house kick? The flying upper cut? Maybe you can get a board and I'll break it with my head."

"Let's start with…throw a punch." Toph suggested.

"Sounds good. Sounds good." Aang clapped his hands together. Toph sighed.

"This is going take longer than one lunch session." She thought.

"What do you want me to do?" Aang asked as he took a very messy fighting stance and made barely threatening fists.

"Just watch what I do." Toph pushed him out of the center of the matt. "The key to any martial art…is your stance. Your stance and balance are what make the rest of your body resilient. You've gotta be steady and strong."

"Strong?" Aang looked at his skinny arms and his insecurities rose. Toph didn't give up on him.

"Look. The world is full of guys like Zuko. Fire in his heart, rocks in his brain. Rock is a stubborn element. If you are going to move a guy like Zuko, you've gotta be like him."

"That…makes sense?"

"Now come here." Toph waved her finger toward him. "Show me your fist again."

Aang did what he was told and balled his hand up. It was all wrong! Thumb underneath is fingers, wrist bent, pinky knuckle poking out. Toph spent a good five minutes explaining to Aang how to form a proper fist before continuing.

"Now look…the basic movement for this one is pretty simple." Toph thrusted her hand forward and threw a jab. "Okay. You ready to give it a try?"

Aang took a stance, which Toph had to correct too, and then he threw a punch. Instead of keep his feet planted on the ground and conserving his strength, he threw his arm WAY too hard, spun around in a circle and fell to his knees. Sokka laughed at him from the other side of the gym.

"I'm sorry. Maybe there is another way." Aang stood back up, determined to try it again. "What if I punched from a different angle?"

"NO!" Toph raised her voice. "That's the problem. You've got to stop thinking like this a creative, in-the-classroom situation. There's no equation, no cheat code, no trickidy-trick that's going to make that punch work! You've got to face it head on. And when I say head on, I mean like this!"

Toph threw the punch again, but this time at full speed. Aang was surprised at how fast she was. Her hand was like a pale white blur.

"Now, do you have what it takes to face Zuko like a man!" She yelled at him. Usually, Aang was made nervous by her yelling. But for some reason Toph inspired him. He didn't answer her; he just stood up and tried again.

Toph continued to show Aang very basic moves that relied on technique instead of strength. She made him lift a few weight, just to see how strong he really was, and made sure that he memorized the stance and fists she showed him.

Toph knew that the real secret of martial arts was training and practicing. She told Aang that it was all about knowing what to do, that it was more mind over matter. That way, he'd be much more confident if he needed to defend himself.

Half way through the lesson, Sokka began singing "Kung Fu Fighting", but Toph told him to stop. "Put a cork in it, Sitting Bull!" She yelled at him and Sokka shut his mouth.

"Here." Toph gave Aang a granola bar when she was finished with him. "You haven't eaten yet."

"Thanks." Aang devoured it in a few seconds. Even with all of the track exercise he did, fighting was a very different kind of training and Aang was hungrier than he had been in a long time.

"I think that you'll do fine now. If anything, you'll prove to Zuko that you can defend yourself and maybe he'll leave you alone."

"Thank you." Aang wiped his mouth clean.

"No problem." Toph shrugged off his gratitude.

"Not that." Aang wiped the sweat off his forehead. "You remember that thing I wanted to tell you something last night, but I didn't get a chance to?"

"No."

"Um…then I want to say something to you. You've always been there to watch my back Toph. Even though you usually get me into trouble…you always get me out of it. I don't know what I'd do without you."

The last sentence made Toph a little uncomfortable. Most of her young life had been troubled friendship after troubled friendship. She couldn't describe how overjoyed she was hearing Aang say such kind words. No one had ever told her that they really valued her, not in the way Aang had said. She wanted to hug him, tell him how he really changed her life for the better, and how he made her feel like she was worthwhile…but…

"Yeah, yeah. Don't over sell it, twinkle toes." …Those were the words that came out of Toph's mouth. She was too stubborn to admit to such sensitive feelings.

"Guys!" Sokka shouted and ran towards them. "Out the back. Quick! Someone is coming."

They all charged out of the back door, into the boy's locker room and worked their way back into hallways before they were seen.

Just when they thought they were safe, the bell rang, and the three had to split up again.

"Thanks again!" Aang yelled to Toph as she ran away, but he wasn't sure if she heard him.

Later That Day

Lying on Sokka's bed, upside-down as usual, Toph looked at the clock on his wall. She nervously bit her thumb nail, counting the seconds as they went by.

"You think he's okay?" She asked Sokka.

"You've asked me that like five times." Sokka said.

"He should have been here by now. He said he would be. I knew I shouldn't have let him go home by himself. Zuko might have ripped him limb from limb by now."

"Do you want to call him?" Sokka held up his cell phone.

"Please. I'm his body guard, not his mother."

SLAM! Sokka's front door opened and closed. Both teenagers sat up when they heard Aang coming inside Sokka's house.

"Here he comes." Sokka said.

"No duh." Toph rolled and stood up.

Aang walked inside Sokka's room. His hand was covering his right eye. He sat down very quickly and threw down his backpack. Toph and Sokka both stayed quiet.

"You won't believe what happened?" Aang said. He moved his hand away from his eye. It was black and swollen and his eyelid was only half open.

"Ouch." Sokka said.

"Oh my God! Are you okay?" Toph asked, worried.

"I won!" Aang shouted.

"Huh?" Toph and Sokka both were stunned.

"I won! I beat him! I beat Zuko." Aang shook his hand in the air proudly. "I mean, he got me good right in the eye, but I got him in his neck! And he went down! It was so cool! No one saw it coming."

"Neither did I." Sokka said with his jaw half open.

"Neither did Zuko!" Toph ran over to Aang and hugged him. "My little boy is growing up! I'm so proud…"

"Toph, get off me!" Aang pushed her off, just as Toph was beginning to fake-cry.

"You're finally acting like a man, twinkle toes." Toph kept trying to glomp him.

"Yeah, okay. Alright, quit it!" Aang struggled to keep Toph off him, but she was still stronger than him. "OW!" Toph accidentally touched Aang's bruised eye.

"Sorry." Toph jumped when Aang yelped.

"I'll get some ice for that, champ." Sokka said. He left his room and went downstairs.

"Thanks again Toph." Aang said to moment Sokka left. "I really mean that. Thanks."

"Uh…yeah Aang. What are friends for?" Toph smiled. Aang laughed, then moaned as his eye began to act up again. "…hey Aang." Toph said.

"Yeah? Ow."

"Um…I want to tell you…" Toph hesitated. She heard Sokka coming back up the stairs with the ice pack.

"What?" Aang asked.

"Oh, never mind." Toph huffed the bangs out of her eyes and sat back down.