A/N: Thank you all for being so patient. You can blame brain farts, and yes, I'm a 28 year old woman who just said brain farts. ) Love is Blind will be up shortly once I finish the chapter, so her is Fight Ch 7. Enjoy, and don't forget to review! Thank you!
Disclaimer: Don't own Avatar
Chapter 7
Zuko walked to school alongside Toph. She seemed quieter than usual, but he figured it had to do with what he told her on Saturday. He didn't even know why he had told her, but just being alone with her in the cave had made him want to tell her everything. But he knew that would be dangerous, for both of them. They passed a group of students on the steps who stopped talking to look at them before falling into whispers as they passed the group.
"Be careful," Toph said as they walked up the last few steps. "Jet's back and word is that he wants revenge."
Zuko scowled, but remained silent as they walked inside and towards his English class. Just before they reached it, Jet stepped in front of Zuko. The scarred teen tried to move around Jet, but Jet moved again to get in front of Zuko as Toph stopped next to him. The two seniors frowned at each other and the halls turned silent as golden eyes met brown.
"What do you want?" Zuko asked, trying not to growl.
Jet frowned for a second longer before his eyes moved to glance past Zuko before they met the scarred teen's eyes again and Jet smiled.
"Just wanted to see if you're still tough," Jet replied with his easy smile. "But," he whispered as he narrowed his eyes at Zuko, "don't interfere with me again."
Jet moved as if to walk away, but Zuko moved to cut him off. "Then don't ever push a woman against her will," Zuko said in a low, dangerous tone. "Because if you ever try to hurt a woman again, I'll make sure you suffer."
Leaving Jet looking shocked, Zuko moved past him and walked towards his own English class. He noticed Toph had to catch up with him and seemed to be studying him as the halls became alive with the heated whispers of gossip.
"Good for you," Toph said with a grin as they reached his class. "Now don't get into any more trouble, because there's a dissection in biology."
Zuko just nodded and went into the class and sat in the back. Chuck, who Toph only ever called Pipsqueak, sat next to him and Zuko tilted his head forward to let his hair shield his scar and face from the big senior.
"I just want to say good job," the big guy whispered as low as he could. "Jet's never been easy to stand up to, but you're right. He's taken far too much of a liking to Katara and he needs to back off. I may be his friend, but I'll back you in any fight against him over this matter."
Zuko glanced up and saw Chuck smiling down at him with a huge grin. He nodded once, feeling better, but continued to let his hair shield him and his scar as the class filled and many people glanced back at him until Mr. Pokku entered and took charge of the class. The rest of the morning moved the same way, though biology was more laid back since they were dissecting a pigeon. Toph made him smile as she made coarse jokes about the bird and organs and tried to get Aang into the dissection. Zuko became tense again as he walked out of chemistry with Toph and towards the cafeteria. Lunch was the only time he actually saw Jet and he hoped the spiky haired senior would leave him alone.
As they entered, Zuko saw Jet sitting with Smellerbee, Longshot, Chuck and a few others. Jet seemed unhappy and Zuko saw why when he spotted Mr. Pokku and Mr. Jeong talking in a relaxed way between Jet's table and Toph's usual table. Relaxing a little, Zuko got his lunch and followed Toph throughout the quiet cafeteria. All eyes followed him and he nodded back to the two teachers as they nodded to him.
"Wow, you made quite the impression," Sokka said as Zuko and Toph sat.
"Yeah, I hate it," Zuko muttered.
Toph laughed, and the sound echoed through the cafeteria until normal conversation struck up among all the other tables. Zuko glanced over at her and saw her grinning as her laugh died down to a chuckle.
"Ah, come on Sunshine. The attention's not that bad. Kind of reminds me of when I started school and broke Frank Boulder's nose. He's Mr. Boulder's son. My history teacher. I got sent to the principal's office and nobody except Twinkles, Snoozles and Sweetness would talk to me for two weeks in case I might hit them too."
"Yeah, and we only talked to you so that you wouldn't hit us for not talking to you," Sokka told Toph with a smirk.
Zuko watched as Katara smacked her brother on the back of the head to which Aang winced and Toph started laughing again.
"Thanks, Sweetness," Toph said before starting on her lunch.
Zuko watched through his hair as Katara blushed before looking at Zuko shyly.
"I never said thank you," she told him. Zuko nodded, but Katara continued. "And what you said this morning to him, that was really impressive. Thank you, for everything."
The scarred teen looked up at her and nodded again. "No problem," he muttered as he saw Toph frowning next to him. "How did you hear it?"
He noticed Toph blush slightly as Aang and Sokka grinned.
"The whole school knows," Aang said. "Word just got around from the people who were there. Everyone seemed to know before first period even started, and I got it confirmed by Toph in biology."
"And the teachers are here to make sure Jet doesn't try anything," Sokka said in a whisper.
Zuko nodded again. He had already guessed that. He ignored other questions on the subject and soon the others took the hint and started talking about classes and the martial arts club. They tried to steer clear of talking about Jet, but Sokka and Aang kept going back to him and how the reaction of the club would be if Jet showed up. Near the end of lunch, Zuko got fed up with the talk and left to head to history early.
XXXXX
Toph knew Zuko didn't like hearing about Jet, and when he left before lunch ended, she wanted to follow him, but she knew, this time, he really needed to be alone. Also, Katara moved and slid next to her in Zuko's empty spot as Sokka and Aang started talking about martial arts and Aang trying out for the track team.
"So, what's up between you and Zuko?" Katara asked Toph quietly.
"Nothing," Toph muttered in a low voice.
"Come on, Toph," Katara said sweetly. "I've seen you frown whenever a girl gets too close to him, even me. Do you like him?"
"He's my friend, nothing else," Toph stated.
"Ok…then what would you do if someone suddenly kissed Zuko?"
Toph tried to say she wouldn't care, but the response stuck in her throat. She imagined someone like Jin kissing Zuko and she instantly wanted to rip Jin's head off.
"I'd kill them," Toph growled. She tried to keep it in a tone so low Katara wouldn't hear, but, by the junior's giggle, Katara had heard.
"Then you like him. Relax Toph, and enjoy it. I think he likes you too. At least you're the only one he's comfortable with. I've only seen him smile around you. Has he even hinted that he likes you?"
"No," Toph sighed. "I'm still figuring him out. He's had a hard life."
"Yeah, he seems the strong quiet type under all that attitude," Katara giggled.
"What are you two talking about?" Sokka asked.
"Nothing," Toph growled. She was never more thankful for the bell than right then. "Got history, see you guys," she said as she grabbed her backpack and darted out of the cafeteria.
As she walked to history, she thought about Zuko and what Katara had suggested. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that maybe she did like Zuko. Every time a girl had talked to Zuko, she had become uncomfortable, even when Katara had thanked him for standing up to Jet. And Zuko seemed to pick up on her feelings. That was kind of freaky, but she could read him as well, though he was the most confusing person she had ever met. As soon as she thought she had gotten him down, the mystery got bigger. And as soon as she thought he would confide in her, he did, but then he didn't. It was so frustrating! And yet, it was kind of nice that he did let his guard down around her and confide in her a little. But what if it was just another crush, like what she had with Sokka? She didn't want to go through the heartbreak again.
"Just forget about him," Toph muttered to herself as she reached her history class.
She tried to focus on the lecture, but the continental congresses and confederation were boring. Her thoughts kept straying to Zuko and she again tried to think of what he might look like. Apparently a lot of other girls thought he was really handsome, but Toph just wanted to know what shape his face was. She knew her face was round, so was Aang's. Katara and Sokka's were longer, but each person's face seemed to fit their personality. From what she had heard from her friends, nearly half of Zuko's face was covered by his scar. Toph had never asked anyone to describe it to her. Instead, she wanted to wait for Zuko to tell her.
She was caught daydreaming as Mr. Boulder called on her. "Toph, what year was George Washington inaugurated as the first president?"
"I don't know," Toph stated.
"Then learn it," Mr. Boulder said to her with a frown before he turned to the whole class. "Because Miss Toph has been negligent, there will be quiz tomorrow."
The class groaned just as the bell rang and Toph hurried out and to the locker room. She almost didn't hear someone saying her name until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She reacted automatically and grabbed the hand on her shoulder before she realized she was at school and the hand belonged to a girl.
"Sorry," Angie's voice came to her as Toph let her hand go. "I just wanted you to know that I don't blame you for the quiz. 'The Boulder' has been late in his quizzes, and a lot of us expected one soon."
Toph giggled along with Angie at the nickname for their history teacher. Mr. Boulder always talked of himself in the third person, and new ideas didn't penetrate his thick skull easily. Thus, all the students called him 'The Boulder'.
"It's cool," Toph said with a smile. "Do you know what we're doing in gym today?"
"Yeah, my grandfather said we would be playing flag football."
Toph grinned. "Well, I hope I'm not on Snoozles or Sunshine's team."
"Zuko? Do you like him?" Angie asked as they stopped at their lockers.
Toph froze with a hand on the combination lock and tuned her hearing to Angie. The other girl was turning her combination lock and wasn't paying attention to Toph. The question was innocent, or seemingly so.
"Nah," Toph said with a fake smile. "I mean, he's my friend, but I don't know if it'll go any further. He said he moves every few months."
"That must be hard," Angie said as Toph opened her locker. "Moving once was hard enough. I can't imagine moving a lot."
"Yeah, but he seems pretty tough for it," Toph said with a soft smile. She knew Zuko was a lot stronger than he let on, and he seemed pretty settled in to move again anytime soon.
"Yeah, I hope I can learn some Shaolin from him," Angie said as they both finished pulling their gym clothes on. "We'd better hurry. Grandpa won't like us being late."
Toph smiled along with the other sophomore and hurried out onto the field. There, Mr. Jeong separated the students into three teams, and though Toph was sad that Sokka was on her team, she smiled as she faced off against Zuko's team first. Somehow, she always managed to end up against him, whether she planned it or someone else did, but it seemed they were the two fastest people on the field, so they were always chasing each other. Toph enjoyed every second of it and grinned and laughed as she ran. While she caught the flag off of Zuko four times, he only caught her twice. During the last play between their two teams, she heard the ball snapped back to a junior and then handed off to Zuko.
Smiling instantly, Toph altered her course and ran to where she heard him running past Angie and a few others. She heard his flags flapping at his waist and put on an extra burst of speed as they neared the end line.
"Can't catch me," Zuko said back to her with a smile in his tone.
Toph just grinned and leapt at the mast moment, grabbing a flag before he reached the end zone. She rolled, but her foot caught his and he tripped, rolling into the end zone, never letting the football go.
"Don't have to catch you," Toph said as she held up his flag and grinned. She heard a light chuckle come out of Zuko before she heard him get up and move towards her. She continued to leave her hand up with the flag and Zuko grabbed it and pulled her to her feet. Toph didn't expect so much strength as he pulled her a little higher than her height and she stumbled a bit and stepped closer to him. Zuko stepped away as Toph ducked her head to hide her blush behind her bangs. She shook her head as if to stop blushing. She knew she shouldn't blush. It was just another stupid crush and she would get hurt again.
"You ok?" Zuko asked as Toph heard their teams moving towards them.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Toph lied as she smiled at him.
She heard Zuko nodding as he followed his team off the field and Lee's team came onto the field. Toph sighed and pushed her emotions out of the way as she got in position to run the ball down the field.
XXXXX
Zuko was confused. Toph had been acting strange since Monday. He had thought it had been what he told her over the weekend, but then she had been normal at lunch on Monday, only to become even quieter and distant after gym. He had caught her blushing after he had helped her up and she had almost stumbled into him. He wondered what had caused the change in Toph, but forgot about it until they started walking home. She had mentioned the quiz in history and he had offered to help again. Toph had been silent throughout the studying before her Hung Gar lesson and he had left. She had been oddly quiet since then and now it was Wednesday and he followed Toph and her friends to the gym again. Toph was walking with Katara and though the junior kept talking, Toph was still silent and seemed to be getting more uncomfortable the more Katara talked and giggled. Sokka and Aang were between the two girls and Zuko and kept talking about Jet and Aang's birthday party.
Though both boys kept glancing back at him, Zuko never entered the conversation and merely frowned whenever either directed a question at him. They were the first to arrive in the gym for the club meeting and Zuko moved to the far wall to lean against it as the others talked.
"Sugar Queen! Enough!" Toph finally cried before she stalked over to lean against the wall next to Zuko.
He glanced down at her, but she seemed to be in a bad mood. He had noticed Katara watching the blind girl as she stalked off and then the junior's face lit up as Toph stood next to Zuko. Katara hurried to her brother and Aang and they started whispering before the three approached Zuko and Toph.
"Zuko, do you know if you're coming to the party yet?" Aang asked innocently.
Zuko glanced at Toph and saw her become interested, though she continued to frown through her bangs.
"Yeah, I'm going," he said.
Aang and Katara's faces lit up into huge grins as Sokka smiled before Zuko noticed the blue eyed senior look towards Toph. Sokka's face fell into a frown and Zuko risked a quick glance at the blind girl to see her mouth hanging open in astonishment.
"Oh Toph, we can go get our costumes this weekend!" Katara cried.
"No," Toph stated.
"What?" Katara asked, confusion on her face and in her tone.
"I am not getting a costume with you," Toph stated as she stood up from the wall. "You're like my mom, and will make me wear a dress. No."
"But…" Katara started as Zuko glanced from girl to girl.
"No. Dresses. Remember last year? And the year before that?!" Toph asked. "You got me to dress as a witch and a vampire. And both had dresses. So, no dresses."
Katara glanced at Zuko, pleading with her blue eyes. He just shrugged, trying to stay out of the conversation. Toph started to smile and Zuko knew something bad was going to happen.
"I'll go costume shopping with Sunshine," Toph said. "That way, I know he won't get me into a frilly, girly dress."
Zuko groaned with despair. He had hoped he could just make up something at the last minute, but since he was pulling Toph into going to the party, she was going to pull him in deeper. Katara went from confused to bright and cheerful again and pulled her brother and Aang away to whisper some more.
"What are you doing this weekend?" Toph whispered.
"More family stuff Saturday," Zuko sighed. His uncle had told him about the plan to visit his sister that weekend. He was not looking forward to it, but she was still family and it had been nearly three months since he had seen Azula.
"Ok, call me when you finish," Toph whispered to him before he saw her start to frown again.
Zuko glanced up and towards the door as he heard the entire gym quiet and saw Jet enter followed by Smellerbee, Longshot, and Chuck. They moved off to the side, but Jet gave one of his dazzling smiles to Katara and then Zuko. The scarred teen merely frowned at Jet as Mr. Jeong moved to the center of the room.
"Good afternoon," Mr. Jeong stated as he glanced around. Zuko noticed the teacher's gaze falling on Jet and staying there before he continued. "We'll split up into our groups again, but first I want to instill upon you the honor that comes with martial arts." He turned towards Zuko and Toph. "Would one of you care to demonstrate in a simple spar?"
Sokka, Aang and Katara all looked hesitant, and Toph looked like she was going to speak up, but Zuko did first.
"I will," he said as he stood off the wall and approached the mat. He saw Toph frowning, but this time he didn't care. He had been so frustrated all week by Jet and Toph's unusual silence that he needed to do something. Gym had helped, but there was still the edge that could only really be taken out on a punching bag.
Mr. Jeong studied him slightly as he made his way to the mat before the teacher turned to the other students. "And another volunteer?"
Hahn started to move to the mat, as well as Angie and another junior Zuko knew he had gym with, but Jet beat them all to it.
"I will, Mr. Jeong," Jet said with his easy smile.
Zuko frowned, but he had put himself in that position. He glanced at the teacher and saw Mr. Jeong frown as well, but the teacher went with it.
"Very well," Mr. Jeong said in a slightly harder voice. "This is just a simple spar, and we do not let our emotions get in the way. First, we bow to our opponent."
Both Zuko and Jet bowed to each other, though neither took their eyes off the other. As soon as they rose, they both sank into stances and studied each other. Zuko noticed Jet was using an unfamiliar style, though it seemed to be based loosely on Hung Gar.
"Excellent fighters can study each other and learn things just by watching their opponents," Mr. Jeong continued as Jet moved first, jumping in with a jab to Zuko's head. Zuko blocked it and jabbed in towards Jet's stomach, but Jet jumped out of range before swinging around with a kick.
Zuko again blocked it as he studied Jet's methods as his uncle had taught him. He saw Jet leaving most of himself open and using more power than he should have. After a minute of Zuko blocking Jet's attacks, Zuko noticed the other senior getting frustrated and tired. As Jet jabbed in again, Zuko moved underneath the arm and grabbed it as he turned to throw Jet over his shoulder. Zuko twisted Jet's arm as the other senior landed on his back so that Jet couldn't rise again and any try to get out of the hold would cause pain. Jet glared up at Zuko from the ground as he twisted slightly, only to find himself effectively pinned.
"Once the match is decided, both opponents bow to each other again," Mr. Jeong stated as Zuko let Jet's arm go and bowed to him. Jet rose as well and started a bow, but as Zuko got up, he saw Jet turn to kick him.
Bringing up his arm to block, Zuko was surprised as Toph instantly appeared and caught the incoming leg, twisting it and sending Jet to his back again.
"Hey, she's not in this!" Jet cried. "It's just between us!"
"I only interfered because you were going to win by any way possible," Toph said back to Jet, glaring at him. "You're a dishonorable jerkwad, you know that?"
Jet was about to retort, but Mr. Jeong stepped in front of Toph. "Jet, you showed dishonor when you were clearly bested. And you came here merely to satisfy your own goal of revenge. Leave, now."
Zuko watched in anger as Jet frowned once more at the teacher before frowning at Zuko past Mr. Jeong's shoulder before he stalked out.
"Everyone, please split into the groups you were in last week," Mr. Jeong said before he turned to Zuko. "Zuko, I need to speak with you."
Zuko clenched his fists as everyone separated and Toph gave him a weak smile before she went to the advanced group. Mr. Jeong turned to Zuko and motioned for the teen to follow him out of the gym. The scarred teen barely controlled his temper as the teacher closed the gym doors behind him.
"Zuko, you know you shouldn't have sparred against Jet. He was waiting for just that opportunity."
"I know," Zuko growled as he leaned against the wall, folding his arms over his chest.
"But I do want to say that your uncle would have been proud to see how well you controlled yourself," Mr. Jeong said with a smile. "Next time, I suggest you not volunteer until you know your opponent."
Zuko nodded and studied the teacher as Mr. Jeong stroked his long white mustache absently. The teacher smiled at Zuko and went back to the gym doors. "You can stay out here, or join Toph and the others again."
The scarred teen waited a minute after Mr. Jeong had re-entered the gym before he sighed and went back into the gym. Many people stopped and stared at him as he walked back in, but immediately Toph's voice rang out.
"Come on lazybones!" she said to a group of students, a mix of mediocre and advanced students. "Stop looking around and get it right!"
Zuko went to stand next to her as most of the people in the gym turned back to what they were doing. Toph corrected a few stances before retreating back to Zuko's side.
"Okay, start again," she said to the group and Zuko was impressed as the group before him did an easy sequence of punches and kicks. "Feel free to join in and adjust stances," Toph whispered to Zuko before moving in among the students.
He noticed the five who had been with Toph and him the last week moving among many of the other students, correcting stances. Zuko watched Angie correct a junior and senior before he moved to a pair of freshmen in the back and stood behind them. They glanced at him nervously, but Zuko just stood behind them as Toph shouted out her orders again.
The group moved again and Zuko noticed the freshmen in front of him nearly falling over as they tried the high kick. When they stopped, he stepped up to the pair.
"You have to have balance, and not so much power," he told them as he moved one of guy's feet farther away from his center. "Balance and movement first, then the strength will follow."
The freshmen looked slightly scared until the one Zuko had corrected went through the forms again with his wider stance.
"Like that?" the boy asked.
Zuko nodded and the other freshman copied his friend as Zuko moved away from them to help Toph with the others for the rest of the club meeting.
