Day 3 Foreign

The firebender stayed where he had fallen, one knee on the ground and one hand holding him in place, panting from exhaustion. The fight had taken a lot out of him, even his spars with Toph had not prepared him for this. He kept his eyes trained on the sandbender before him who was breathing as heavily as he was. But both knew they would not, could not back down. Zuko glanced down at his hand on the ground and saw the ring Toph had given him long ago. She had said he needed to wear it so she could keep tabs on him, but he knew now it was more than that. She was worried about him, and he knew he would always protect her, even from frauds like this sandbender before him. A whoosh caught his attention and he bent a large flame up and over him as a whirlwind of sand came at him. He had done this before and got back to his feet, firing a few fireballs at and through the glass that now surrounded him. The second fireball burst the glass and Zuko continued to fire at the sandbender. The man protected himself with sand and they traded blows, dodging each other again until they were both sent backwards and panting from exhaustion again.

"You…dirty…foreign…pig!" the sandbender spat.

"You're…not…so clean…yourself," Zuko remarked, and almost smiled when the man grimaced. But his smile didn't have time to reach his face, because the remark seemed to infuriate the man and he was running towards the firebender while pulling a large sand dune behind him to pound onto Zuko. Zuko tried to get to his feet again to dodge the wave of sand, but his legs resisted, shaking from the strain he had put on them so far.

"You will never have her, you foreign pig!" the man yelled as he ran towards Zuko. "She is mine!"

Zuko readied his chi for a last chance defense, when suddenly he was sucked into the ground. His eyes automatically closed, waiting for doom to descend upon him. When it didn't come, he opened his eyes to find the sandbender struggling, also bound in the earth. Zuko didn't know if this was another enemy and was about to try his last resort; another failed attempt at lightning.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a familiar feminine voice said from behind him. He couldn't turn to see her, but he relaxed slightly, knowing he was ok…for now.

The sandbender across the way had obviously spotted Toph and stopped struggling, staring with adoration in his eyes. Zuko scowled, but seeing Toph walk up to the man and block his view, he let it slide. She had probably felt it anyways.

He watched her squat down in front of the sandbender, wearing sandbender clothes and listened as she spoke to him.

"Now Raj, you know I never picked up that wreath you made for me, so we were never engaged. So, this is meaningless. I've made my choice, and it wasn't you."

"But Toph," Raj whined. "I love you, I always have. How could you let this filthy foreign pig…"

"You will NOT speak about my boyfriend that way!" Toph stated firmly, shutting the guy up. And then her tone turned soft, which was a rarity. "Look Raj, I like you as a friend and as my teacher, but nothing more. Your ways are as foreign to me as his are, but I know him. And I've chosen Zuko. I love him. And there's someone who's been waiting for you to see them." Zuko watched as Toph tilted her head to the left and turned to see a young woman standing there in sandbender clothing, watching the scene unfold with teary eyes focused on Raj.

Zuko felt the sand let him go and he rose to the surface, feeling battered and bruised. He stood carefully, feeling every bruise that would feel ten times worse by the next day and after Toph got through with him.

"Now, you know what a silly thing you've done Raj, don't ever do that again," Toph stated with a little venom in her tone and the sandbender nodded enthusiastically. Toph turned back to Zuko and frowned at him. "All right, dear, now it's time for our talk." She stalked right up to him and poked her finger into his chest. He winced as she touched a bruise and because now it was his turn. "How dare you leave without a word to me! Just a small pile of sand! You're lucky I found you when I did! And the fact that you wouldn't trust me to talk to me about this!"

"But, Toph…"

"No buts! You made me worry, and Uncle and Aang!"

"You didn't…"

"Who else was I going to ask to look after things while I rescued your sorry but!"

Zuko looked at the sandbender being helped out of the sand by the girl sandbender, but the man just shrugged. It seemed like Raj knew Toph's temper as well as Zuko did. And since Raj didn't have a claim anymore, the heat fell onto Zuko. And even though he was going to regret it later, Zuko was all too happy to see his girlfriend. Just as she was going into another rant, he picked her up to kiss her soundly.

"Look, I'm sorry," he said after kissing her, knowing she would listen. "And I promise I won't go off alone to defend your honor again." She punched his arm and he winced. "Ever again."

"All right," she sighed, "but that doesn't mean you're not going to get a piece of my mind!"

"Fine by me, as long as we leave all this sand behind." Toph just chuckled and reached up to kiss him.

"Sounds good to me."