Chapter 3: I Hate Good Byes

The two eventually made it back. Toph's parents had already went to bed. "Yea, they were very worried."

"They probably just thought you were safe. You know being in the company of the fire lord," he grinned.

"No, you were safe with the world's greatest earth bender!" she laughed.

"hehe, well I should head back to the Fire Nation."

"Don't go now!" She grabbed his arm, "It's late & besides I've been in need of a good bending battle."

"Fine, I'll stay." Zuko smiled.

"heh I knew you would." She jabbed his arm. She laughed as Zuko let out a small 'ow'. "Follow me, I'll show you to the guest room." Toph led the new Fire Lord down the dark hall toward his room. The door cracked opened.

"Thanks," Zuko smiled and walked in. He turned on the light and looked around the lovely decorated room.

Toph walked in and jumped on the bed. She turned to Zuko with a serious expression on her face. "I need to know something Zuko."

"What is it?" He sat down beside her.

"Why are you here?"

"I can't visit a friend?" He turned away.

"Well you ARE the Fire Lord, I just imagined you'd be the busiest out of everyone."

"Being the Fire Lord is a lot of work, but I find for little vacations." He sighed, "And you were the easiest to find."

"Are you saying that you'd rather spend time with ME than your girlfriend?" Toph chuckled as Zuko began blushing even more. The room grew silent for only a few seconds. "Is something wrong? Your hearts pounding so fast its shaking the whole bed."

"It's nothing." He laid back on the bed.

Toph stood up and turned off the light and walked out. Normally she'd say something like 'I know when you're lying you know!' but she could feel that Zuko wasn't in the talking mood. 'When he's ready to talk about it, he will.' She thought to herself, 'it's probably nothing too bad anyway.'The young Earth bender walked to her room and went to sleep.

While the others dreamed, Zuko couldn't manage to go to sleep. He had far too much on his mind. He knew she'd be curious about why he was here but hoped she wouldn't ask. Toph can sense when people lie, but Zuko really didn't know how to tell people about what happened. He turned over. 'What should I do?' he whined to himself, 'I don't really want to go home just yet…but'

The image of the cute earth bender entered his mind. Then he saw Mai's face. Her normally expressionless face twisted into anger. He jumped forward with a scream as he imagined Mai throwing knives at him. 'I should stop thinking' he panted as he relaxed back onto his pillow.

The night continued but Mai still invaded Zuko's dreams, preventing him from sleeping. The newly risen sun shone through Zuko's window. 'ugh.' he blinked slowly. He sat up, hunched over yawning. His door burst open, shaking him awake.

"Morning, Zuko!" Toph shouted.

"Good morning." he tried to smile.

"Ready for our battle?" she jumped closer to Zuko with excitement.

"In a bit," he yawned again, "I'm still a little tired."

"Rough night?"

"Ye-" before he could finish Toph punched his arm and sent him over the bed and onto the floor. He said nothing.

"Well, hurry up." She grinned, "I've been waiting for this all night!" Toph walked off, giving Zuko a few minutes to rest.

Zuko groaned. He struggled to get up and when I finally stood up he headed for the door. 'It's just a practice battle.' he thought and met Toph in the backyard.

"Took you long enough." She slammed her foot on the ground, making a quake that sent Zuko flying into a near by tree. "ummm, Zuko?"

"I'm fine." he fell and hit the ground.

Toph ran up to Zuko and helped him up, "Are you okay?"

"I'm not too sure." he sat down.

"Having a bending battle isn't a good idea when you didn't get any sleep."

"Thanks for the advice." He sighed, "I had too much on my mind to get any sleep."

"Wanna talk about it?" She sat next to him. "Is being the firelord THAT tough."

"No, not really." he blushed, "I'm just having issues with Mai."

"Really?" She thought of what little she knew of Mai, "She doesn't seem like the 'naggy type'." she laughed, "that's more like Katara."

"…All we've been doing is fighting." He leaned back on the tree, "I just needed a break from everything is all."

"I can understand that." Toph smiled.

"Thanks for listening."

"well its not like I can get distracted by shinny things." She and Zuko laughed in unison.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't that good of an opponent."

"It's alright." She laid her head on Zuko's shoulder. "Because this is nice too."