Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar. Derr.

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Toph's Pov

Silencing myself, I crouched behind the boulder and listened in to Aang. "Aang…" A voice said. "When it comes to women you never ignore them for others. Toph – though she's very different from your regular girl – is still a girl with feelings. She's your best friend. You should apologize to her." Why were they talking about me? How did that man know me? I've never heard his voice before. "I know she'll forgive you."

Heck no. Who was this man that was speaking false words to Aang? I say man because he sounded much older than 16 or 116 in Aang's case.

I never actually got that. The whole age thing, I mean. Aang was built like a 16 year old but was 116. It didn't make any sense to me and I really just didn't question it. As long as he wasn't dying on me anytime soon; I'd be fine.

I listened carefully, not even risking breathing loudly in the silent night. I heard sloshing of water. Was Aang waterbending? The sloshing stopped and I could just barely feel little droplets of water vibrate through the earth. I was able to feel that by focusing all my might into a single object. And that object at this moment happened to be the Avatar.

The man spoke again, "Sprinkling rain leads to sharp, stinging, pouring rain, but in the end there's always sunshine."

I almost scoffed but decided against it. Proverbs, metaphors, quotes…I did not particularly like them. Of course, living in the Fire Nation and frequently visiting a tea maker in the Earth Kingdom, I've gotten sort of used to all the proverbs. But ever since being taken out of that situation and into this one where the only things close to proverbs were Toto's weird words, it was weird hearing them again. The man spoke with such eloquence and grace that it enticed you to listen to the words. The only other man I know was a fat tea maker named Iroh, one of my best friends.

What did his words mean anyways?

I heard a soft sigh. "What does that mean?" the All Mighty Avatar asked.

I fought the urge to scoff again. Honestly, what kind of Avatar doesn't know the meaning to all the proverbs in the world?

A stupid one.

"It means, in your case, that if you have a small problem, that in turn can lead to accusations and misery for both parties but once the problem dissipates the two parties can experience happiness."

Who were these 'parties' that would eventually experience happiness? Toto and Ana? Riley and Heidi? Skeeter?

I cocked my head to the side.

What kind of problems could Skeeter be dealing with? How to pull a prank and run? Honestly, the kid seemed like the only one out of our little group of friends who didn't have any problems. Or at least kept them to himself.

"But why do I have to apologize? I was just trying to protect her."

My uninjured hand tensed into a fist, ready to strike. Protect! Protect! I got your protection right here Twinkle Toes!

I was ready to pounce and possibly dislodge a couple of limbs. But I fought the urge. I wanted to keep listening. Maybe I'd find out who the man Aang was talking to was.

I wasn't stupid. I could feel the man's presence but I couldn't feel him, his body. Charging in there would be a stupid idea. Years of training taught me that.

"Because Aang, somebody must take the first step. Both of you were in the wrong, and once you do apologize she'll realize that she may have been in the wrong as well."

How was I in the wrong? That man really didn't know what he was talking about. Aang was the one who was hogging up all the attention like The Pebble in a swimsuit. He was the one who was ignoring me. He was the one who didn't understand what it was like to see things through my eyes.

This world…was nothing short of confusing. Every single time I walked down the street with Heidi or Ana or by myself, I developed migraines. Everything was moving all at once! My mind was trying to decipher all these new things in one step.

Brain overload much people?

I'd try to suppress it. The urge to kill that was caused by the pain, I mean. No need to unleash my earthbending fury on all these non-benders…though it was tempting. No. I promised Aang. No earthbending in public. And that I understood but…

That was sort of the other reason I had blown up at him.

Did he not understand that not earthbending was like asking me to stop breathing? It was like asking him to stop airbending or just bending in general, him being the Avatar and stuff. Earthbending was a major part of who I was. Earthbending made up 90% of me. The other 10% was just how kick-ass I was, but that's not the point. The point was that he was limiting me in ways he could never understand.

He had eyes, he could see. He didn't have to airbend or bend anything else for that matter. But I couldn't do that. If I didn't bend I'd feel helpless and depressed, then anger for feeling helpless and depression. The rapid change in moods was more than enough to leave a regular person just breathless thinking about it.

Earthbending was how I saw. Ask me not to and I'll truly be blind. It gave me a feeling of hollowness inside if I wasn't earthbending. It was like denying a part of who I was and I don't do that. I'd have to come up with a compromise with Twinkle Toes if I was ever going to have peace.

That's probably why I blew up at him. I was just so stressed from the pain and pretending everything was fine when it wasn't. Usually, I'd tell you right out if something was wrong. But I felt so freaking guilty for keeping who I was a secret from everyone after they'd helped me so much that I just passed it off as if my troubles were nothing. Now that, I admit, was my fault.

Letting all my feelings get bottled up without letting them out was bound to bite me in the butt one of these days.

"Do you really think it'll work?" he asked the man.

"Oh, I'm sure it will." Suddenly, I felt a prick in my neck that I usually get when someone stares at me. Did the man know where I was? How'd I give away my position? I had been perfectly still! So still that in was developing cramps in my calves. Who was this guy? "Avatar Roku…do you think she hates me?"

A pang of guilt and anger hit me. Because I'd been ignoring him he was feeling down and not his usually overly peppy, cheery self that annoyed the stuffing out of me but that deep down I really didn't mind it. The guilt only lasted for about a second and then I moved on to anger.

How could I hate him? He's so stupid. Hate wasn't my thing; it took too much energy to hate someone. But I did dislike many things. For the past two weeks I had disliked Aang because of what he did. But I couldn't hate him. He was my best friend. An idiot, sure, but my best friend nonetheless.

"She can't hate her best friend, even if that friend makes a mistake."

I stiffened even more than I was in my crouched position.

Was this guy a mind reader?

But the words Aang spoke next made my heart beat faster with unfamiliarity.

"I miss her."

He missed me?

I thought back to the times when the gang would have to run away because of Master Yu and Xin Fu trailing after us. My parents had only wanted me back because they thought Twinkle Toes captured me. They probably missed me, but I think it'd be safe to bet that they missed having something to control and protect. I should buy them a Platypus Bear, I concluded.

I think this was the only time someone had really missed me. Truly missed me. Toph. Not a 'disabled' child but the real Toph Bei Fong.

And by the steady beating of his heart I could tell he wasn't lying.

An unfamiliar soft chuckle reached my ears. "Avatar Roku," Aang called out, "where are you going? Avatar Roku!"

Avatar Roku? As like another Avatar? I thought there could only be one per generation or something. Wait! I think he told us something about this before. Avatar Roku was one of his past lives…yeah, that's it! He was conversing with his past life.

Talk about split personalities.

The man's demanding presence was gone. Where did he go?

I searched everywhere for a sign of his presence but found nothing. Aang still hadn't moved from his position. Which was good, because we needed to talk.

Not caring about my still healing arm or the fact that earthbending was a no-no, I earthbended Aang into the ground using only three fingers. His head was the only part that he was able to move. Well, that's the only part of him I needed him to listen to.

He swiveled his head back and forth trying to found out where I was. I moved the boulder aside with my unhurt pinky. The movement caused me to cringe; the burning sensations were stronger, but I didn't care. I stood upright.

"We need to talk Twinkle Toes."

"Toph what -"

I cut him off. "Shut up and listen up, Aang. I am the one askin' the questions around here and you're going to answer me." He was silent for about ten seconds.

"Toph, please hear me out! I have something to –"

With a flick of my finger I hit his head with a small pebble and he shut up. The pain flared once before it dulled again.

"Did I stutter? I said you were going to listen to me and not speak." I waited and he showed no signs of speaking. His heartbeat was slowly becoming steady as the seconds passed by. "First of all, I want you to know that I don't hate you. I was just extremely pissed at you for two weeks because you're an idiot. Do you have anything to say for yourself? And it better be good because I'm done hearing stupid excuses."

He gulped. "Toph. I'm so sorry. I was being an idiot thinking that you needed protection. But after fighting alongside with you all these years, you'd think I'd learn." He laughed softly. "I forgot that you don't need anyone to protect you. But that doesn't mean that I won't be there for you. You're my best friend and I've missed talking to you. I've missed you. There's no one else like you in the world. I…" he stopped talking and his heart beat faster.

I scrunched my eyebrows. "You what?"

He refused to answer.

"You what?" I asked again.

His heart rate sped up. "You're…wearing a skirt, Toph."

"What? No I'm…" I remembered that I was. Damn Heidi! "Well, don't look you perv!"

I raised a wall in front of us.

"I wasn't! I turned my head."

My cheeks felt like they were on fire. I was going to have to kill Heidi for not having anymore clean clothes. Oh, she was going to get it.

I cleared the knot of embarrassment away from my throat. "Whatever. The second thing I want to stress, is that no earthbending policy."

"Toph," his tone was warning but still slightly embarrassed.

"Aang. Shut up and listen. I'm sick of not being able to earthbend. Earthbending is the very essence of who I am. How could you ask me not to? You turned out to be a pretty crappy best friend if you can't even tell how much it…it hurt me." I turned away from him. "I feel constantly empty and horribly bad for not being able to do what I love the most. It's the most horrible feeling. You wouldn't know what it feels like because you don't need to earthbend. I do. And I can't keep going on just not doing it. Not doing so limits me in ways I can only hope you understand." I paused, the dream I had had a couple of hours ago. Heat slightly stained my cheeks and my throat felt tight, "I don't want to lose you." I paused, letting the words sink in before continuing in a stronger voice, "I propose a compromise."

He sighed heavily, filling his lungs with a gallon of air and then letting it out. "I'm so sorry." His voice was heavy with regret. He definitely wasn't lying to me this time. Guess my words got through to him.

I ignored his regretful saying and focused solely on what I was proposing. "Listen. I propose that we train every single night, until we go home, right here. It'll be just like the training we used to do except now we have a time limit. I need to get my daily dose of earthbending in and this is how I want to do. So deal with it." I crossed my arms, happy with my statement.

"Toph…I am sorry and I don't want to lose you either…but…what about your arm? It takes at least six weeks to heal a broken arm and it's only been two. I can't allow you to do such things in your state of health."

I laughed sarcastically. "You can't allow me to do that? Excuse me, who's the teacher here Twinkle Toes? If memory serves, I was the earthbending teacher and you were my pupil. Just because you're the Avatar doesn't mean I'll ever let you forget it. If I say I'm going to earthbend, I'm going to earthbend. Heck, to sink you I barely even needed to use two fingers. And you can't even get yourself out. Pathetic." I stomped my foot to lift him up and tugged his hair to drag him the rest of the way out.

I smiled at how much pain he was in because of me. "Over the years I've improved my earthbending skills and I want to test out how strong I am even when I'm 'injured'. So, today we can't because I'm tired. So let's go back."

Twinkle Toes followed me all the while grumbling about his pained head and how his body hurt all over because of being pulled into the ground with such force.

"Quit your grumbling Twinkle Toes, you're being stupid. All you got out of that was a proposal and a couple of bruises."

He groaned. "I never said that I'd accept your proposal."

I stopped in my tracks and said in an ominous tone, "Are you sure about that?" I turned my heard around slowly. At the feel of his heartbeat speeding up I had to suppress a smile.

"You kno-o-ow what, it's not a b-bad i-d-dea." He cleared his tight throat.

I smiled devilishly at him. "That's a good boy." I kept walking.

After a couple of moments of silence, walking through the crisp desert night with the wind blowing slightly around us, Twinkle Toes spoke.

"Toph."

"Yo?" I moved a bug from my path, not really wanting to get any nasty goop on my precious toes.

"Why are you even here? I mean, why did you come?"

A snake rattled its rattle in warning and I shot it up in the air while I passed through. "Because Toto, Peppy freak, and Riley sent me to look for you."

"Peppy freak?" he asked incredulously.

I nodded. "Yep. That's Heidi's new nickname. Because she's too peppy and a bit of a freak."

Twinkles sighed. "I worried them didn't I?"

"Like hell."

"I'll apologize when I see them. I feel awful." I could feel him pouting behind me. Of course that was over as soon as the snake landed in front of him. It hissed and lunged at Twinkle Toes. His pulse suddenly quickened. Twinkle Toes squealed and airbended it out of existence. Poor snake.

I keeled over laughing and clutching my stomach.

"That was not funny Toph!" He yelled, breathless and terrified. His pulse was crazy.

I tried speaking. "Y-y-y-y-yes-s-s. I-I-It Wa-a-a-as!"

"It just popped up in front of me! How was I supposed to react!?"

He was so embarrassed!

"You sounded like-like-like a girl!" I couldn't breathe; I was laughing so hard. My lungs burned for air but I couldn't stop the convulsive laughter; it refused to fade

"It was right in front of me!" he adamantly defended himself.

I shook my hand at him. "Just-just shut up! Let me calm-calm down!" Another round of maniacal laughter overtook me as I remembered his squeal.

After I had calmed down we kept on walking, but I was soon growing bored of it. Not necessarily bored but…tired. My legs felt like lead with every step I took. I yawned after about twenty minutes of hiking. My shoulders were aching as the pain went from my forearm up. My arm was sort of burning and itching badly. When I tried to stick a finger in there to scratch it I always came up short. It was annoying me so badly I wanted to punch something. So I punched the closest thing, my favorite punching bag.

"Ow! Toph, what was that for?"

"I'm tired and sore. This is taking too long!"

He sighed. "Sit down Toph."

"Why?"

"I'm gonna give you a massage so you won't be so sore in the morning."

Though, in the night I hoped he wouldn't see it, I could just feel myself blushing. But I did what he asked because I could really use it and I wasn't one to pass up anything for free. And being sore in the morning just didn't seem like my cup of tea.

He created a small stool for me to sit down in. "Nice craftsmanship Twinkle Toes."

"Thank you," he chirped.

"Make it fast, though, I want to get to bed." It was getting hard to keep my eyes open.

"Got it, Sifu Toph."

I sat down. He brushed the hair out of his way, leaving me with a tingly sensation (I was sensitive when it came to touching my hair). His hands were unnaturally warm and I figured that he was using firebending to warm me up. He had such soft hands and touch that was deliberate and moved my flesh in a way that just made me melt.

I knew I was sounding so much like a girly-girl but I couldn't help it. He just made me feel so good as he moved in circles, back and forth. Just like I couldn't help sounding like a girly-girl, I couldn't help but to let out a little moan as my tense muscles softened and felt limp.

He stopped. "Are you okay? Did I hurt you?"

"No…" I groaned. "Don't stop. Feels so good."

He began again, kneading my shoulders like dough. Oh! How good it felt.

"Toph? Can I ask you something?"

I nodded my head. So much in the bliss of relaxation that I didn't dare use my voice. His hands slowed down but didn't stop.

"Do you want to go to the dance with me? The one on Saturday that Ana and Heidi were talking about?"

I crinkled my brow. "Can't."

He stopped and I pouted. Why did he stop!? It was getting so good.

"Why?"

"I'll tell you if you promise to stop stopping." He resumed his massage. "I'm going with Toto."

He flinched and was about to stop but started up again. "Why?"

"Because he…asked. So I said yes." He really didn't need to know about the whole blackmailing thing. But when I got back I'd be sure to beat some answers out of Toto.

"Oh."

He was silent after that.

"Why don't you ask Ana or something?" I suggested. For some reason I didn't like the way the suggestion came out of my mouth. It didn't sound right.

"Sure…"

He focused more on his ministrations. Oh it was so good. So relaxing. So soothing. It was so soothing…so…soothing….

A/N:

Well, here it is! Sorry it's a bit late! But at least it's out!

...don't kill me.

Anywho, I went recapped a bit of the last chapter because I wanted to get Toph's opinion in here, just in case anyone was wondering. Aww, did ya'll catch how Toph was a little jealous panda wanda? Okay, no idea where the Panda Wanda came from but I'd rather not question it.

My other story might not be out until Friday...I'll try to get it out earlier than that but homework does take priority...and I had to damn much of it today. It's like 10:30 p.m. and I'm tired as hell. Long day. Good day, but long.

R&R and tell me what you thought of this chapter...good...bad...nuetral...whatever.

love love love!

Love: Lola of the Peaches

=]