Disclaimer: If I had a million dollars, I'd buy myself Taang. -Hums.- Don'tcha love that song?

Hide and Seek

By: Looly

Now, she was sure that he was being pushed beyond his limits. At the beginning of the game his movements had been quick, light, and precise; now he swung his body in a careless, heavy manner, and it was easy to detect him. His breathing was also a dead giveaway, as it was now rugged and he had given to grunting in frustration. For nearly half an hour the two had played their game of hide-and-seek—of course, Toph knew that hide-and-seek between two 'benders was much more than a game.

After all, she had warned him at the beginning that if she caught him, he would be in trouble.

The Airbender was clearly agitated: in a game of hide-and-seek, a blind girl certainly shouldn't be so much of a challenge. But he had also promised not to use his Airbending skills and to rely only upon Earthbending. At the beginning Toph herself had been impressed at his agility. Being a natural Airbender (and a talented one at that) he was bound to have quick, light steps.

But Toph knew how easy it was to break Aang; his calm demeanor was easily overpowered by his anger. She hoped that he could take his anger and place it within his Earthbending, but so far he had shown no sign of doing so.

Oh well. Soon she would find Twinkle Toes, pin him under some rocks, and she could get on with making him suffer.

"She's blind," He muttered to himself as he sprung from tree limb to tree limb. Against his promise, he had unconsciously used Airbending quite a few times throughout the game. Aang finally resolved that he would use it for jumping, but not if (when) Toph caught up with him and began a battle.

"Blind, but not deaf!" Came his master's voice; he jumped out of his skin, emitting a cry, and fell from the tree. "But you're the one who didn't see me coming, aren'tcha, Twinkle Toes?"

Aang didn't know how she did it. Even outside of training the Blind Bandit would sneak up on him and scare him half to death. It annoyed him that she could catch him off guard—he had an easier time guessing when Prince Zuko was going to pounce than Toph.

Leaping from the ground, Aang focused on a boulder just a few yards behind Toph; lift lift lift lift lift—

A feeling somewhat like glee filled the Airbender as the rock began to shift, and then slowly (painfully slowly, lift, darnit!) rise from the ground. He had it! He had it! Now, he just had to direct it towards—

"Too slow, Aang."

He froze. The boulder dropped.

She was standing right behind him. With a depressed sigh, Aang tilted his head and looked up. Surely enough, levitating right above him was a boulder that was nearly three times the size of the one he had tried to lift.

"No fair!" But he knew it was fair. How could a blind girl possibly cheat, anyway?

The boulder crashed down upon him, forming a human coffin over all of his body with the exception of his head. He scrunched up his face in a wince.

Toph was good. Real good.

The Blind Bandit smirked as her colorless eyes focused upon the Avatar. "So, that was a nice little game, wasn't it?"

No answer.

"Anyway. What did I tell you about letting you anger get to you? You let your anger control your actions and take over them, stupid. You have to control your anger and cycle it into your power. Anger can be a help or a hinder depending on how you use it. Twinkle Toes." Toph rolled her eyes and said, "And you're still too loud. You running around is like having someone scream into my ears, y'know that?"

Still, no reply.

"Hmph. Well, beatcha, Avatar," Toph chirped.

"Not until you tag me, actually."

Now it was the Blind Bandit's turn to freeze; Aang wasn't in his little coffin. But he was supposed to be there. But he wasn't.

She twisted around, eyes wide and mouth open. There he stood, only a few inches away from her, and by the sound of his voice she knew he was mimicking the smirk that had graced her own lips seconds earlier. Impossible, she thought to herself. How had she not--? How did he--? There was no answer. He couldn't possibly have gotten out without her "seeing", let alone hearing!

"Twinkle Toes, you're not allowed to—"

Something was on her mouth. She blinked, eyes still wide open; his lips were on her lips. From what she knew, they didn't belong there. After a second of her body tensing up due to the action, she suddenly relaxed and let out a soft sigh. For some reason, his lips on her own felt… nice.

And then they were gone.

And she knew he was probably grinning like an idiot.

"Hey, Aang?"

"…Yeah?"

Toph dug the heel of her foot into the ground; the next moment, Aang was flying in the air, leaving a tower of earth in his wake, and suddenly landing with a dull thud on the ground. His coffin of rock reclaimed him within a split second, and Toph made sure it was secure. Then, calmly, the Earthbender strolled over to Aang and leaned down beside him. Extending one finger, she gave him a firm jab on the head.

"You're it."

As the two 'benders returned to camp, one covered in many new bruises, the other traveling a few feetahead and look quite annoyed,an awkward silence held firm. The Water Tribe siblings offered a curious glance to the Airbender, who only blushed and shook his head. The Earthbender walked right by them, her scowl never faltering.

Aang took a seat by the fire and let out a sigh. What a day.

"Twinkle Toes!"

He winced; what could she possibly do to him now?

"Nobody ever told me you were bald."

Enjoy? I hope so. Just in case it didn't make sense, Toph tagged Aang by poking himon the head--and thus felt that he was bald. Anyway,I hope you all liked it, and reviews make my day. So... be a pally and leave a review?