A/N: Sorry the update took so long, but I told you it would. It just that I've been so busy lately I haven't had the chance to sit down and write much! School shopping, you know? Ha. Anyway, if I don't update soon don't ever think for a moment that I gave up on the fic! That will never be true, sometimes it just takes awhile and I write every chance I get!

Someone asked me what's wrong with a romantic Toko kiss? Nothing, as long as it's not out of character. I never said there wouldn't be one, either. ; )

And uh, here it is. Enjoy?

Chapter 4

The First Trial

Her feet carried her to the main hall, where she knew Zuko was waiting for her. She wondered nonchalantly what he would think of her uncharacteristic wardrobe. She kind of liked feeling of the light material of the dress trailing behind her, covering her feet. Other than that, Toph couldn't really say she was looking forward to the first trial. Iroh said to be fair, so she was going to be herself.

She could see into the main hall before she entered it; before her, the same servant boy from earlier was leading her.

"Did you send for her or not?" she heard a voice snap, and sensed Zuko talking to another servant. His eyes rose as he saw the two approach, and Toph was amused to find that at first the Fire Lord didn't recognize her. He looked over her head with an impatient look in his eyes. Only when she drew closer did his eyes alight on her.

"Ready?" Toph asked airily, crossing her arms. Zuko stared.

Toph? he thought. She smiled at her feet as she felt his heart skip a beat in shock at her sudden elegance. With exaggerated grace, she turned around and lifted her chin.

"Shall we?"

He nodded mutely and wondered where she suddenly acquired this royal look and mannerism. She did belong to a pretty noble family, didn't she? It must have been imprinted on her from the time she was young. Shrugging it off, he walked by her side to the large front doors of the palace. Stopping suddenly, and held out his arm.

Her head was turned, but she could still see this gesture. Zuko was determinedly staring straight ahead, the slightly bent arm still out. She turned her head and looked at him skeptically.

"Um-" she began.

"Take my arm. There are people waiting out there for us and we're expected to keep up a public appearance. Just do it," Zuko said shortly. He felt a small arm hook into his, and heard a reluctant sigh from the girl.

"Whatever you say," she said, and the doors swung open. A wave of sunlight hit them in the face, causing them to squint. Zuko led her out, and sure enough Toph discovered he was right. Word seemed to spread and a huge mass of people waited on each side of their path, eager to get a look at the new 'couple'. It irritated Toph.

She wanted them to go away, but the millions of vibrations skimming her feet told her they were really the main attraction. She could feel everybody's eyes examining them, judging them.

Move on, nothing to see here, she thought agitatedly. Zuko was stiff but regal beside her. Toph guessed he was used to it, being the a prince for most of his life and now the Fire Lord. Even if he didn't live at the palace for all of it. When they finally escaped the crowd of eyes she slid her arm out of his and scowled. They walked on for a little while, without a true destination.

"That was annoying," Toph said, breaking the silence. Relieved, Zuko turned his golden eyes to her.

"I know," Zuko said. "It happens a lot." She blew the bangs out of her eyes and slowed her step; she could feel his eyes on her.

"You look nice," she heard him say simply. At first he had been surprised by her dress, and self- conscious of the fact that he hadn't bothered to look that nice. What he was wearing was fine; a simple styled red outfit with gold and black trim, a similar style to the one he wore in Ba Sing Se save for the colors. But still, she made him feel dressed down.

Toph's eyebrows raised slightly and she turned her head in case she involuntarily blushed. She had been wondering whether he would comment on her image. There was no attraction in his voice, it was just a friendly compliment. Still, it proved to melt away some of the barrier that threw itself between them, a barrier that never previously existed.

"Thanks," she replied. "But Fire Nation servants are crazy." Zuko smiled. "Do you see this?" she asked, lifting her arm and waggling her fingers in front of his face. Zuko squinted, a confused look flitting across his features.

"No?"

"Exactly! Perfectly clean! I was collecting dirt from Omashu and Ba Sing Se under these nails!" Despite himself, Zuko laughed. It didn't matter how dressed up she was, she was still the perfectly normal, odd, graceful, graceless earth bender that he was familiar with. If that made sense, which it didn't.

"Where are we going?" Toph asked suddenly. People were starting to stare at the Fire Lord and his new Earth Kingdom princess, whispering to each other with wide eyes. Zuko didn't seem to notice this, but Toph's heightened senses could just make out the sound of whispering, but nothing more. Beside her, the Fire Lord shrugged.

"We're supposed to go to a tea shop. There's one not to far from here. It's not as good as Uncle's but…"

"I don't care." With her consent, or somewhat frustrating lack of opinion, Zuko lead them there. He couldn't expect her to care about anything like that now, anyway, and so he didn't push the matter. When the drew closer to the Little Dragon tea shop, they could see an unusually long line by the take out window.

"Let's go in," Toph said, glancing at the line.

"Yeah." When the two entered, it was nearly empty. Toph went over to a small, round table, drew a chair out, and sat down. Zuko followed, eyeing her. The waitress seemed to be busy with the long line that was steady compiling outside the window, but strangely nobody would come inside the shop.

Zuko tore his eyes from the scene and back to the dressed up girl that was leaning back leisurely, refraining from slipping into completely terrible posture. He sighed,

"This whole thing… it's hard to believe," Zuko said slowly. "It's crazy."

"I know." A small answer. He felt pressured to make some form of conversation.

"I mean, I was almost ready to accept the idea of an arranged marriage, until I found out it was you." The Fire Lord didn't realize how his words sounded until they left his mouth, and urgency seized him as he watched Toph's eyes widen from a split second, and then a familiar blank mask slipped onto her face.

"I didn't mean it like that!" he said hastily, hoping she was listening. "I mean, I meant that I didn't want you to suffer because… You shouldn't have to have this responsibility, it's mine. I-"

"Calm down, Sparky. I understand," he heard her say. Relief flooded him(along with a hint of annoyance. She was still calling him that name?), but he could still sense something bitter in her manner. "Besides, I'm not exactly girlfriend material."

Zuko arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" he asked slowly. Toph laughed and almost snorted when she heard this.

"Come on, Sparky. You know. It doesn't matter how much manners I'm taught or what you dress me up in. I'm not all girly, and I don't really like all that sappy, mushy stuff. I could never be like you and Mai were."

Why did she have to mention her name? Mai, he thought. Him and Mai? She didn't know the first thing about them. Them... All over each other? Mai seemed to think she could melt away the troubles and scars of his past with a single kiss, and that was something he grew to resent the most. If that counted as being 'mushy stuff', then he didn't like it either.

"Mai and I didn't work out for a reason," Zuko said seriousl, but looked distracted, "and that was one of them. No one person has certain qualities that make them 'girlfriend material.' It doesn't work that way. You find somebody, or somebody will find you, that loves you for who you are, and accepts every part of you. To that person, you are 'girlfriend material'… for them." He thought he sounded a little too mature beyond his years, but it was true. He almost wished he hadn't explained this to her as he realized with a pang that Toph would be missing out on all this, never getting the chance to find that person if she married him.

He thought that Toph realized this too as she lowered her head slightly. Zuko frowned, and at last the waitress came over.

"My apologies for the wait… Fire Lord Zuko! I'm so, so, sorry. W-what can I get you?" the young girl stuttered.

"Um, jade tea," Zuko said.

"Jasmine, please," Toph told her flatly. She nodded and scampered off, preoccupied still with the long line. Once she left Zuko could feel the silence press on, until words were finally spoken.

"I guess so," Toph said in late response to his previous words. "Don't you sound mature." For this, he had no answer. "You think I'm immature, don't you?" The Fire Lord blinked, opened his mouth slightly, then closed it. He had to think before he spoke, he knew, he was treading in dangerous water.

"No… In some aspects you may-"

"Don't answer that," she interjected bluntly. Zuko wasn't sure of what to say as he stared down at the young girl, who abandoned her leaning posture and sat upright now, more towards him. He couldn't find a suitable reaction to her statement, and was luckily spared the task of finding one when the waitress scampered back towards them, looking rushed. The young girl set two cups of tea before them and hurried away as soon as she had come.

Wordlessly Zuko brought his cup to his mouth and sipped at the tea, only to grimace and set it back down.

"It tastes strange," he said, staring into the swirling brew. Toph sipped hers and shrugged.

"Mine is okay. Maybe it's because you're so used to Iroh's," she suggested.

"Maybe," the Fire Lord replied doubtfully.

An hour and a half earlier…"Gather 'round, gather 'round followers!" the boy called, and a small crowd of people dutifully huddled around him. "Suki, tell us what you found out." The girl beside him smiled triumphantly.

"Well, I gathered from Toph that she and Zuko will be heading to a tea shop for lunch on their first trial in exactly one hour."

"Great," Sokka said, beaming. "Do you know what this means?"

"Tell us!" Ty Lee said. Aang looked over his shoulder uncomfortably; he thought that people might get suspicious if they saw a group of kids huddled in a tight knit circle in shadiest corner of the courtyard. He didn't like the whole concept of this at all. He watched Sokka lean over, taking a stick from Teo, and start drawing in the sand.

"This is the closest tea shop near the palace, isn't that right Ty Lee? The Little Dragon?" Sokka asked. The Fire Nation girl nodded. "Right, then that's where they'll go. This is what we do… Everybody has to participate by making the longest line you possibly can, and make a fuss about everything. Complain, buy a lot, whatever you have to do, just don't let the line go down! We need a major distraction. Aang, you stand by the door and tell everyone that tries to come in that the shop is undergoing construction and turn them out. And Suki and me will…"

"They others can only buy us so much time! I got us into the back room, what now?" asked Suki. Unknown to the extremely busy staff, the Kyoshi Warrior and her boyfriend were in the backroom of the Little Dragon tea shop. A hand flew in the small but wide widow that exposed the room and clipped yet another piece of paper to the string hanging width wise overheard. Sokka reached up and snatched it.

"It's Toph and Zuko's order!" he cried, eyes glued to the slip of paper.

"And?"

"Toph wants jasmine tea and Zuko wants jade tea."

"And, Sokka What do we do?" The boy in question flew over to the back of the room, where numerous boxes of tea bags lay on stacks of shelves.

"We give Toph what she wants, but Zuko, we give him something that's going ruin the trial for sure!" Sokka exclaimed, darting a finger from box to box, reading the small descriptions of each. Comprehension dawned on Suki and she smiled.

"Right!" she said, helping him thumb through the descriptions. "What can we give Zuko?" Sokka stopped his finger in the middle of a box and squinted.

"How about this? Red Oyster-fish tea?"

"What's that?" Suki asked.

"The description says it's an aphrodisiac. What's that?" Suki froze and yanked her boyfriends hand away from the tea.

"No! No! We do not want to give that to Zuko. Keep looking." Sokka shrugged and kept on, ignoring the slips of paper with fresh new orders piling up on the string. A few minutes later, and she heard her boyfriend cry,

"Aha!" She turned around to look where he was pointing.

"It says 'moose-ant extract tea. For upset stomach. Causes repeated regurgitation.' That will make Zuko throw up all over the place! Can you says disaster?" Sokka said, mentally giving himself a pat on the back. Suki wrinkled her nose.

"That's sounds gross. We don't want to hurt him. Plus, it also says it takes up to forty five minutes to work! It has to work before they get back to the palace…" she said.

"Then… then… I know! I'll wear a disguise and pretend to attack them once they leave! And that's got to get Zuko's heart beating faster, which means his blood will circulate faster, which means whatever's in that tea will hit him sooner!"

Since when did her boyfriend become so smart? Suki jumped and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"You genius! You sick, evil, genius! Let's do it?" Sokka, ecstatic, nodded. He began to focus all his attention on making the tea, even ignoring Suki when she asked him if he felt just a little bad about this, and how many tea bags he was putting in the tea because normally it only needed one, and if he was planning to kill Zuko after all.

A noise sounded by the other door of the room and they both jumped. Suki placed both cups of tea on the counter and grabbed Sokka's arm, racing to escape.

"Let's ditch this place," Toph said tiredly. Zuko answered by getting up, he was just as eager to leave as her. On their way out they could see the huge line dwindling down to a few last people, and others walking in the shop.

"Weird," Zuko commented under his breath to himself. The afternoon was at it's peak, although the sun seemed to be hiding under a fluffy blanket of clouds that cast a shadow under all that walked beneath them. Both were content with the silence as they began to walk back to the palace.

What happened next was unexpected at the least; Out jumped a random person from behind the nearest building, which happened to be not very far from where the two were walking. Zuko squinted his eyes, examining the person that was wearing black clothes and a bandana around his eyes, with two crooked holes cut in so he could see.

Zuko looked to Toph, who seemed to be equally confused about the scene. Then this person in black unexpectedly dashed up to the girl and pushed her-hard.

Toph was an earth bender. A sturdy, rock solid earth bender. She felt somewhat undignified when she actually stumbled back, tripped over the bottom of her long dress and thumped gracelessly on the ground.

Zuko blinked, but it only took a nanosecond for the fire to rear in him.

"Give me all your money!" The mugger said loudly, waving his hands wildly in the air.

Who did this 'thug' think he was? No, did he know who he was? Who Toph was? What he would do to him? Anger reared inside him like a dragon, like a whip ready to lash out for all the frustration in his life on this one person. Forget helping Toph to her feet, Zuko turned to the bandit, face contorted in anger, and was about to unleash a fury of blazing hot flames when suddenly-

He doubled over, feeling his stomach churn. He couldn't help it, he fell to his knees and gagged.

Toph was no longer on the ground. Furious with being pushed around, she resumed a solid stance and glared in the direction of the attacker.

"I-I said g-give me your money," the thug said, taking small steps backwards.

Why… why does this guy sound kind of like Sokka? Toph thought. But Sokka wouldn't attack them, she knew. She took a step forward, and felt Zuko behind her, trying to get off his knees.

"Do you KNOW who I AM?" she roared. The man in black stepped back.

Wow, she really shouldn't let being the Fire Lord's fiancée go to her head, thought Sokka, who was the 'man' in black.

"I AM TOPH BEI FONG, THE BLIND BANDIT, THE GREATEST EARTH AND METAL BENDER IN THE WORLD! ARGH!" she shouted, and a huge tidal wave made of rock and earth rose into the sky. The mugger turned heel and ran for his life. Toph went as far as making the rock wave chase him up the street and around the corner before she let it go and turned to Zuko.

"Zuko? Are you all right?" she asked cautiously, leaning downwards with her hands on her knees. In response, he threw up. And again. And again. "Gross," she said, and made a bucket out of rock. She gave it to him and looped his arm around her shoulder to help him up, leaning away from his face.

"The… tea…" Zuko gasped angrily, keeping the bucket near his face. He even allowed Toph to help him walk back up to the palace.

"Don't be stupid, there wasn't anything in the tea. This whole thing must be getting to you." The Fire Lord couldn't reply, because he was busy vomiting into the bucket.

End of Chapter:

Yup, this chapter was kind of... outgoing. Hehe. Please review!

About the next chapter, all I can say is... it's title is 'Meet the Parents'.