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Toph's POV

I woke up in a foul mood. I felt like I'd been doing that a lot lately. But I had a reason. The reason was…none other than our host, Todd.

As Ana drove me to school as she did everyday I had been contemplating something: How was I going to get Todd alone to yell at him and possibly punch him for blackmailing me to go to the dance with him? More importantly, why would he?

"Toph? Is something wrong? You're like murdering my radio."

For the past thirty minutes I had been punching buttons, trying to get a decent…um…what was it again?–a stat-on? Well, whatever. I was trying to get some decent music playing that would calm me down, but everything I clicked on played slow music. That's not what I want.

"Ana I'm trying to find that rad station you were telling me goes great with my personality."

Press. Press. PRESS!

Ana smacked my hand. "Stop it! You're hurting Isabelle."

An awkward silence passed.

"Did you just call…the radio...Isabelle?"

Silence and a hesitant, "What? Is that such a bad thing?"

…

"You named a box Isabelle." I scratched my head and played with my bangs. "Why?"

"Because…well, I don't rightly know. Todd and I had a weird argument about it and it ended up with me calling it Isabelle and Todd naming it Harry. It was a strange birthday."

I rolled my eyes. "I bet it was."

"Anyways, why must you be so mean to Isabelle?"

I furrowed my brow.

"I'm just in a bad mood. The cast and all."

"Hmm…It's really getting on your nerves isn't it?"

I held it up. "No duh!"

With a jolt the car stopped, signaling that we were at the mind-numbing, lackluster building called school.

I sighed.

School in this age was just so boring. I couldn't do anything. Back in my world I was like a Goddess who taught and disciplined, unlike most of these "teachers" – or so they call them – who did nothing but talk and talk and talk…and talk. I'm getting sleepy eyed just thinking about it. Back in the Fire Nation I had my own training facility. And on occasion I would travel to Earth Kingdom and teach a couple of classes on the side. But only after my soldiers graduated would that happen. Then I'd have three months of vacation to do whatever I wanted.

But I never really wanted to take a break. I loved teaching. Twinkle Toes taught me that.

I'd never tell him that he inspired me but I still silently appreciate it.

Teaching though, was something I think I could get into. I hadn't told Hothead yet, but I had actually gotten a position from the Earth King to become a Sensei at the biggest school in the earth kingdom, Byakko Gakko. But I had turned them down and asked to teach smaller schools around the country. When they had asked why I still hadn't given them an answer. The Earth King didn't care because he knew that I probably had a good reason but his new adviser Chen Lee – a nice guy, bit of a worry wart, but a really good guy – was very curious about why I didn't want to teach at the best school in the Earth kingdom.

Truth was that on my way there to meet up with the King and take a tour around the facilities I had met up with this little girl, Chan Juan, who was deep in the forest, practicing earthbending. I had startled her as she was lifting a medium sized rock and she about dropped it on her head but I pushed it away with a flick of my fingers. When she got closer to me – to thank me – she saw that my eyes were blind. Immediately it was like a flip on the personality switch. She went from nice to fan-girl. Chan Juan pulled me towards her small village where only eight out of 37 people were earthbenders.

She had told me that many gangs would travel through their land and steal from them. And with so little earthbenders with very little experience they couldn't protect their loved ones. It was a nice dream she had: to become strong enough to take on anyone who hurt the ones she loved, but she needed a healthy dose of reality.

Reality was: She was no twinkle Toes who could learn it in a few weeks. She'd have to train for a lot and I mean a lot of years before she was ready to be taking on anyone without a care in the world. But…I wanted to believe in Chan Juan. I really believed that she could be one of the best. Certainly not as good as me, but I'd get her there. So I delayed myself for a month and a half to start a small school to teach them all the basics and advanced skill. School started from whenever I woke up to whenever I wanted to go to sleep. Clocks had no meaning to me; I went by my own time.

I worked those kids till they were panting for breath and their hands were callused beyond repair. But they never faltered on their determination. They wanted to learn how to protect everyone and that's what I was teaching them. I was happy there. They were happy to have me. And when gangs would come near sometimes I'd take my students out to show them what it was like in a battle situation. What I wasn't expecting was that a couple of the gangs would run away in sheer fright as they got a good look at me.

They'd yell: "It's the Blind Bandit! Fall back. No, that means run away don't fall over just run away!"

And they'd run away with their tails between their legs. When this first happened the kids were just staring at me as I laughed. When did I get so popular?

Oh, but I'm getting off track.

The point was that I was missing my home again. My life. I missed teaching. Twinkle Toes did need to be refined on the finer points of earthbending but I really couldn't teach him anything he couldn't figure out on his own. When could we go back?

Something bumped my shoulder.

"What do you want Toto?"

Rhetorically he asked, "How does she always know?" To me he said, "Ana's been thinking you're a little moody this morning, as you always have been since you've gotten that nuisance of a cast."

"Well, I don't like being restricted of my movements."

I sidestepped a hoard of kids who were charging past me to get to class. It's like they were excited about sitting on their butts for hours and listen to a sort of interesting but not really monologue made by an adult. How strange they were in this world.

"The wildflower grows in abundance in nature, surrounded by its family, but taken into captivity, and it will bloom and die shortly afterwards."

I punched his shoulder. "You are so morbid sometimes."

"So I've been told."

"You do realize that I'm going to kill you later right?"

He sighed. "Expected it. Can I have an exact time of death?"

I crossed my arms. "Time means nothing to me."

"One of the many wonders of being blind. Time is limitless."

"No. It's just pure laziness." I gave him a smirk.

We both walked into the classroom of some subject and sat down next to each other in the back.

"Ah. I should have been able to know that but sadly I did not perceive any notion of lethargy from your person."

I shook my head. He was so strange but he made me just want to forget my anger for a second and just laugh with him. But of course I couldn't forgive him until he was ten feet underground.

After school was over Todd offered to drive me home later, said he had something to show me – which I thought was a little weird because I couldn't see anything. But I didn't say anything, surely he had a reason.

Ana had called him out on it but otherwise let me go. I felt like she was mothering me too much.

"So what do you want?" I asked Toto as he drove off with me in the car.

"Ah my dear, could I be so daring as to ask a maiden to wait one everlasting moment for me to come up with a decent clarification?"

I punched him. "Who are you calling a maiden and where are we going? I hate surprises."

"Oh, do you now?"

I didn't answer.

"Alrighty then. We are heading to a special place."

I crinkled my eyebrows.

"Why?"

"It's a place that can make you think twice about your actions and make you reflect on the past. It's a nice place."

I turned my head and looked at him, exasperated. "Doesn't matter where we are I'll kick your butt anyways."

He chuckled nervously.

It didn't feel like he took me very far. Maybe something like an hour it took to reach our destination. Toto wanted me to follow him and I had to keep my chuckles to myself.

The dog leading the girl.

Ha. Just like the play.

Okay, maybe it wasn't that funny.

I followed Toto through the heated street, wanting to kick him dead so badly. In fact, I think I had been holding in my anger long enough.

"Why?" I asked hoping that he'd give me some time to explain so that he wouldn't ask that annoying question.

"Why what?"

Ah, there it was. I moved ahead of him and swiftly turned around. I balled my hand into a fist and punched his jaw. With my foot I kicked his gut.

"Why were you blackmailing me to go to the dance with you? It would've been so much easier to just ask."

He spit the bit of blood that had gathered in his mouth. How I despised the smell of blood. But for some reason it did give me a bit of satisfaction knowing that I made him bleed. Irony; what can you do?

"So what's your excuse? I don't like being used."

I pulled back my fist, rearing for another go but just as I was to make contact with his bruised face his hand enclosed around my fist. Undeterred, I put my back against his front and rammed my elbow into his side, ignoring the slight pain it caused. He grunted and tried to run away, but I kept at his heels.

A chill entered my spine and made me stop in my tracks. This strange feeling came over me and I wondered if I had entered another world. Or my world.

But this had a distinctive feeling, different from that of my homeland.

A hiss interrupted my thinking.

"What is this place?" I asked him. It was supposed to be 95 degrees outside but on the inside I felt freezing.

This place that he had taken me too didn't have a good feeling, but it wasn't a bad one either. I was probably a bit more sensitive to these things – having relied on my senses since birth – but maybe it wasn't just me.

"This place is an Indian burial ground. It's said to be sacred land."

I gulped. Oh, it definitely felt sacred.

"What does it feel like to you?"

He took a while to answer and I occupied myself listening to his even breathing. Wasn't I beating him up before? Oh, but darn it he was right. In this sacred ground I didn't want to even touch him. I just wanted to get out of here as fast as I could, back to Ana's house where nothing felt creepy.

"To me…it feels sort of heavy. Like the air is filled with regret. It makes me remember some things that I've done that I'm not so proud of. That's why I come here. When I leave, I always want to do better."

I joined him as he sat down, right beside him. Played with the hem of my shirt, I kept my hands occupied not wanting to touch this sacred earth. No matter how uncomfortable I was feeling, I could tell that Toto's mood was taking a turn for the worse.

"What have you done that makes you like this?" I asked, truly curious.

"Well…it's not always what I have done but what I haven't done."

I closed my blind eyes, feeling my surroundings. A ball bounced, not that far away. Cars went by and children played. Mothers kept watch over their children while gossiping, their screams of joy or laughter vibrating throughout their bodies. And fathers were doing something in the yard or under one of those metal monsters. Life went on there while here, on this sacred land, time seemed to stand still.

"That's stupid. Why would you regret what you haven't done? If you haven't done it then go out and do it already instead of moping around and waiting for the answer to come to you in a creepy place. Go and find the answer yourself. Trust me, it's a lot more satisfying."

He sighed. "How do you know? What if: what you wanted to do could mostly likely break a very special bond and you couldn't risk it?"

"Then you're a coward."

He nudged my shoulder. "How do you know?" he repeated.

Nostalgia filled me. "Because there was a time that I had to risk everything I had known…to gain everything I hadn't." I smiled a private smile. "I ran away from home once, well, actually a lot of times before that time. Don't get me wrong, I like my parents – but they were just so controlling and overbearing. There had to be some way to free myself from this life. And there was. I…well…um…" okay, this is difficult. I had to make up a lie. But what? Wait…I got it. "Well, Twinkle Toes and the monks did a lot of traveling. We had met in an underground fighting ring and he offered–"

"Whoa! Underground fighting ring? Who was fighting?"

I flexed my arm. "Who do you think?"

Suddenly he grabbed my shoulders and pivoted himself to face me. "What the hell is wrong with you? You could've died! What were you thinking? Were you even thinking?" he yelled in my face, shattering the silence of the burial ground.

I pushed him away. "Look, Toto. I was the champion. I've taken on people three times your size and won without a single scratch on my pretty little face. Besides it's in the past. It's not worth worrying over."

"Does Ana know?" he asked worriedly.

I scoffed. "As if I'd tell her. Does it look like I want to kill the person who feeds me?"

He let out a breath I hadn't realized he had been holding in. "Thank God."

"No, thank me. And stop interrupting." I smacked the back of his head as he scooted back into his place in silence. "As I was saying we met in an underground fighting ring and after my match he told me he had been looking for a teacher. To, you know, teach him some fighting skills."

"Why would he want to learn how to fight? I can't imagine sweet, innocent Aang fighting."

I turned my head to smile privately to myself. "Oh, he doesn't like to fight. But if he has to he can. And in this particular case, a lot of people were counting on him to fight." Understatement, much?

"Who was his opponent?"

"Um…this guy was sort of like a bully. If Twinkle toes could beat him then he'd leave everyone alone." Yeah, all the people from the four nations were counting on him. But did he let them down? Almost, but he pulled through in the end.

I heard scratching. "Er…well, that seems…kind of strange."

"Well I'm sorry that I'm not a good story teller. I'm old, my memory's fading."

His hands ruffled my hair. "You're too cute."

I smacked it away. "Is that why you wanted me to go with you to the stupid dance?"

He giggled sheepishly. "Well…there's a reason for that."

"Well, spit it out!" I yelled.

"It's…embarrassing."

With a look of incredulity I stared him down for a good five minutes. A prick on the back of my neck told me that he was staring me down too. But we both knew who would win.

"Okay, okay stop it. You're freaking me out! I'll tell you." he yelled.

I laughed maniacally. "So speak, oh, stupid doggy."

He sighed. "Well…I kinda, maybe, sort of, like…Ana."

I grunted in exasperation. "No duh. It's really not that hard to figure out. The only way someone couldn't have known that was if you were a complete knucklehead, like Ana. So why did you ask me if you wanted to go with Ana?"

His heart was beating really fast due to embarrassment. I decided not to laugh for his sake. All I wanted was to know was why he had asked me instead of his love?

"Well…I thought you'd understand if I told you that I liked her but obviously I'm going to have to elaborate." I punched his arm. "Okay, so I didn't ask her because it was so obvious that she wanted to go with Aang. She has a crush on him," the last part was said with a pained whisper.

"Aw, you baby. Unrequited love." I stuck a finger in my mouth. "Shoot me now. Look at you, trying to be all gallant and whatnot. You're a self-sacrificer and you'll most likely die an early age because of it. You should have just asked her. It would've saved me a lot of trouble."

He sighed. "I'm sorry. But I couldn't. She doesn't want me…she wants Aang. Damn his foreignness. They always get the girls."

"Right…." So Ana liked Aang. She couldn't like him. If she did she'd only end up getting hurt. Twinkle Toes and I had to leave and we couldn't take her with us.

That was the first thought that came to my head. But it was soon followed by another. This wasn't a thought per se, but a feeling. One that sped up my adrenaline and made me want to hurt somebody but cry at the same time. It twisted in my stomach and made me feel so weird.

"Can we get off of all these dead people? It's freaking me out."

"Of course, 'tis time I took thyself home."

He opened the door to the metal monster and helped me in before getting into the other side.

As soon as he was inside I punched him twice with force, but not enough to actually break his arm – though that was an option.

"Ow, what was that for?"

Right in his ear I yelled, "That was for using me because you're too pathetic to admit your feelings!" I slumped back into my seat and crossed my arms.

"Strength thy name is woman," he said. Without another word he drove off.

I think I'm beginning to understand Todd…just a little better now. Maybe if I do I won't want to hurt him as much…nah. I giggled quietly to myself beside this strangely sensitive–tough talking guy.

A/N:

Byakko Gakko is translation for (hopefully the right translation) White Tiger School.

Chan Juan, "moon; graceful; ladylike". I thought it was sort of like the antonym to earthbending…idk. I liked the name too.

Chen, "great; vast", Lee "Plum". So Chen Lee is a Great Vast Plum. Hehe.

So there's that one. I had to finish working this one out before I could get to the other story. But hopefully the other story will be completed soon. Sorry for the weight. Hope it was worth it.

Love: Lola of the Peaches

=]