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Violets are blue
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F.U.!
Chapter 3: Of fights and fire bending
"Sokka! What are you doing to Aang!"
Everyone looked up at the direction the familiar voice had come from. Including Zuko.
It was, without a doubt, the worst mistake he ever made.
There standing at the passage that they had all discovered led to a shallow pool, was Katara.
In nothing but her water bending outfit. Which consisted of what she wore under her dress or so Zuko assumed.
This is NOT helping! He chided himself silently.
Sokka who was not well-aware of the effect his sister had on Aang and, to his horror, Zuko, frowned at her before answering.
"What I'm doing to Aang?! What about what he did to me. And those 2!" he added with a snarl sending a murderous glare towards Zuko and Toph.
Katara rolled her eyes before turning to Zuko. "Life. Is never boring with those 2"
Zuko nodded dumbly carefully going over fire bending routines and sword forms to keep himself from staring at the water benders's… err…exposure. Or worse, blushing.
Yeah, forms were safe. Right?
Right.
Sokka who'd had finally had enough threw his parka at Katara. "Cover up would you Katara!"
Katara turned to her brother a bit less amused now.
"Eww! Sokka I don't want your stupid parka it stinks!" she shrieked throwing it back at him.
Sokka finally abandoned whatever futile attempts he had had towards subtlety and distance himself from what he knew would be his sisters reaction then said
"Yah well Id rather not have my kid-sister half naked for 2 guys to goggle at!"
"SOKKA!!" Katara wheeled around in a fury turning as red as her dark skin would allow.
Sokka widened the distance between him and his sisters and prayed to he spirits she didn't think of using the water whip on him again….bad memories.
So of course being Sokka he opened his mouth again.
"Did I ever mention how good you look when you're angry?"
The look he got from Katara wouldn't have just been enough to make milk churn it would have successfully solidified it into cheese.
"WELL, THEN I MUST LOOK AMAZING RIGHT NOW BECAUSE IM FURIOUS!"
"Yeah! You do look amazing! WITH NOTHING ON! THAT'S THE PROBLEM!"
"SOKKA!!"
"Fire bending"
Everyone turned to Zuko as the water tribe siblings morning fight was interrupted. Zuko shifted uncomfortably under their gaze and, rather than address everyone in the cave, turned to Aang.
"Have you mastered fire bending yet?"
Aang turned his gaze to the floor. This was one subject that he had hoped wouldn't come up again.
"I learned a bit but I haven't really mastered it. I mean I haven't fire bended since"
Zuko didn't say anything but nodded
"I was thinking. " he said a bit uneasily. "I'm still learning myself but in the 3 years I've been. away from the fire nation my uncle has been training me. I may not be a master but I know I'm no beginner. And fire ending's like riding an ostrich, one I get you trough the basics…"
"No"
Zuko frowned at the monk in confession had he just said..?
"I'm never fire bending again"
Yep he'd said no.
Silence followed Sokka and Katara exchanged glances Zuko really didn't know where to take it from here and Toph was, momentarily, drawing a blank at what to say
"WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM!"
Only momentarily thought.
Aang pushed past the earth prodigy and wasn't at all surprised when a wall rose from the ground to block his path.
"Toph let it go" he said more sharply than he had intended. Toph however wasn't faced buy his tone in the slightest.
"No, I want to know why you're being such a jerk to Zuko! I'm sick of it!"
"YEAH WELL THE FACT THAT HE SPENT THE LAST THREE YEARS TRYING TO KILL ME MIGHT HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THAT!" he yelled finally losing patience.
Unfortunately, so did Toph.
"HE SAVED YOUR LIFE! WHY CANT YOU JUST GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR..
"JUST LET IT GO!"
"NO! WHY CANT YOU JUST TAKE THE LESSONS AANG JUST HOW DO YOU EXPECT TO BEAT THE FIRELORD WITHOUT IT"
"LET!IT! GO!!" He yelled sending out a wave of wind so strong it knocked the blind girl off her feet.
"I'm never fire bending again and that's final" he said as Zuko helped Toph up. With that he took off in his glider leaving Katara and Sokka looking after him worriedly.
Toph let out the very same words she had no doubt heard from Zuko when shed tried to wake him up and also headed off the cave.
"Don't take it personally" Katara told Zuko after the silence was stretched so long it had to be broken "Fire bendings a touchy subject with Aang"
"Ya think" Sokka said earning annoyed looks from both Zuko and Katara.
"What?! Why does everyone always look at me that way"
"Because you're such a poster boy for tact and sensibility" Katara said dryly.
Sokka rolled his eyes.
"Do you need me for anything?" Zuko asked interrupting the siblings once more.
"No" Katara said "We pretty much need to wait for Aang and Toph to cool off to do anything. Why?"
"I just anted to go out and train for a bit" he said simply "thought I'd check"
Katara nodded and he too was off, taking his twin dual swords with him.
"You know" Katara said once the fire prince was out of earshot "all things considered Zukos really being on the team well. Not even Toph took to us like that"
You never looked at Toph the way , Sokka thought but he knew better than to say it out loud.
Behind them the Earth king stirred awake.
"Momzo?"
Skull cut. Block. Waist cut. Block.
Zuko threw himself into the form he was practicing. Fighting as he had been taught, on eight sides and three levels staring at the ground to obtain peripheral vision. Taking control of the form, the footing, the pace.
He had started his interest I swords when his cousin Luten had started learning the art of the twin swords Zuko himself, or rater the blue spirit, was now known for. At fist it had been just a few minutes a day, since with Luten moving up on the age group and training more and more Zuko hardly had time with him. Then as things within the royal family got worse he had found himself staying at training with his cousin and uncle more and more. Started clinging to it, needing to be acknowledged by someone so that his fathers neglect didn't seem that bad. Zuko could remember it, clear as day .LuTen's laughter as he fell multiple times trying to get the hang of the forms, and him laughing along because it wasn't the kind of laughter that made him want to hide, but the kind of laughter that told him it was ok, that he'd get it eventually. And his uncle, he'd been so patience.
Zuko felt his blood boil as his thoughts turned to his uncle. In that prison cell day in and day out. Was he alright? Would the guards mistreat him?
His hands burned at the thought of anyone mistreating his uncle, turning the metal handle of the sword an angry red. Zuko didn't notice how mad he had become until the metal burning his hands became too hard to ignore.
Zuko let go of the swords with a cry of pain, swearing under his breath at how little control he'd gained in regards to his temper. Something that could prove fatal to a bender. Especially fire bender.
Zuko sighed inwardly as he started to treat his burned hands. If Aang didn't agree to learning fire bending just how was he going to overthrow his father before the comets arrival?
Man this sucks!
Aang kicked the earth hard with his heel and glared as a nearby boulder collapsed into a million pieces not feeling any calmer he broke a few more cocks for good measure. Stupid Toph. Stupid Zuko, why would he want to teach him fire bending anyways? So he could throw him off a cliff when n one was looking?!
In reality he knew Zuko wouldn't do that-that'd be more Toph's actually. It as just that the mere concept of fire bending again really freaked him out. Ever since he'd burned Katara…he wasn't able to control even the flame o a candle.
"Are you done being a drama queen? I mean really had I known you'd do all this if I just told you to firebend teaching you how-to earth bend would've been a lot easier"
Aang rolled his eyes not having to turn around to know who was behind him. This was great, just what he needed really.
"What do you want Toph"
"I told you" she said "I want to know why you're being such a jerk to Zuko after he offered to teach you fire bending, not to mention saved your life"
"What's the deal with you and Zuko" Aang snapped angrily "Do you have a crush on him or something?!"
He knew it was a mistake the moment the words left his mouth.
Toph was silent for a while and Aang found himself growing anxious. When he finally turned around he knew he live to regret this moment.
Toph wasn't looking at him. The Earth Bandit was actually shaking and Aang wasn't surprised in the least when the earth shook along with her fist were clenched so tightly they were drawing blood…
"I. Have. HAD IT!
It was at this point that Aang though it a sensible decision to take to air.
He used air to propel himself just in time to see Toph actually be swallowed by the ground no doubt swimming trough it like a fish would trough water. In the blink of an eye she was standing in a rock pillar in front of him. A fist-shaped rock rose from the air and flew at him at such a speed that all he could do was drop back to the ground.
"WHY ARE YOU SUCH A JERK! ZUKOS! TRYING! TO HELP YOU! AND THEN I TRY TO FIGURE YOU OUT NOT TO MENTION MAKE SURE THE EARTH KINGDOM'S ARMY DOESN'T FIND YOU FOR BEING SUCH AN IDIOT THAT YOUD GO ALONE AND CREATE YOUR OWN PERSONAL EROSION AND ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY IS THAT I HAVE A CRUSH ON HIM! WHY JUST BECAUSE I TREAT HIM LIKE A PERSON?! DAMN IT AANG! WHATS WRONG WITH YOU?!"
Along with her little speech Toph had unleashed a torrent of earthbending attacks that Aang had never even seen in battle let alone knew how to counter. All he could do was dodge and pray she didn't go on much longer. After all even Toph had to run out of steam at sometime.
Right?
He want surprised in the least really when five minutes later the monk found himself trapped in an earth cuffing.
"Toph would you just drop it' he pleaded one more time he knew in his mind thought that nothing would shake Toph's resolution after what he had said.
True to his thoughts Toph only kicked the earth tightening her hold on the boy.
"Not until you tell me"
"You wouldn't understand"
"I would if you'd just tell me!"
"Would not!"
Would too!"
"Would not"
"Would too!"
"Would…agh! For the love of Triratna what are we?! 3?!"
"Well you started it!" Toph rebuked lamely. She knew how childish she sounded and to be honest she couldn't care less.
Aang signed and looked away knowing what he had to do to get out of this but not dreading it any less
"If I tell you? Will you let me go?"
"Maybe" Toph said sitting in a made shift stool she had earth bended out of the ground. Aang sighed; there was no going back now. He had to tell her.
"Man this sucks!"
Toph stared off into space as her mind tried to wrap around what she had just been told. Somehow the concept of Aang burning Katara was a concept too foreign to conceive let alone grasp.
Aang no longer on the earth coffin was sitting next to her. His face a mixture of sadness and shame.
"Ever since then…" he said "I just haven't been able to fire bend. I just know if I take the lessons they won't be any good I... I'll choke"
"You wont" Toph said finally knowing what to say.
"Why" Aang asked a little more irritably than he had intended. "Because I'm the Avatar"
"Nope" she said simply.
"Then why" Aang asked irritably. Truth was he wanted to know just what made Toph so sure about his bending when he himself was a wreck.
"Because you're you"
Aang smiled looking away as he blushed slightly. Toph was never one to compliment easily and he knew as sure as he knew that he truly was the last air bender that she would if quoted deny it whole heartedly. But that only made the compliment itself more valuable.
Toph suddenly looked up, all kindness gone from her face. Alarmed Aang stood up as well getting in a stance with his staff at ready.
"What is it?"
"Earth benders" she whispered "At least half of the kingdoms army"
"How soon will they be here" he whispered back.
Toph opened her mouth to answer but before she could a bunch of earth benders rose from the ground surrounding them both.
"Um…I'd say now"
AN: Well that's all for now. To find out what Toph and Aang's fates are review.
Lol
No seriously review
Speaking of reviews here are some responses.
First off Kinkatia:
Dude...you totally made Azula seem much more human. That's hard to do, I would think. You had a lot of typos, so I suggest you go back through and fix them to make it easier to read. But besides that, this was totally awesome! I love it!
Thanks that was exactly what I wanted to do. I mean she was raised by Ozai and the only time her mother even acknowledge-in the show at least was to wonder "What is wrong with that child"
Honestly, even if that doesn't justify her actions it does explain them.
As for the typos…eh he... (Laughs nervously) eh did I mention I typed that first chapter at midnight while trying not to get caught?
Next BlackSamurai:
MASSIVE amounts of spelling and grammar mistakes. Gotta fix those.
Besides from that it ain't bad... but it isn't very canon like. Azula has not shown a single shred of humanity since the beginning of the show and has continued to show a complete disregard for life and her brother.
It was too out of the blue, and it changed a lot of Azula's past too. It's been stated that's she close to psychotic even as a child.
I guess it was a bit out of character though not really I mean you can't really make out what a character was like as a child from one episode. And I certainly wouldn't call her psychotic just for burning the doll. I HATED dolls with a passion as a kid and if my bother had gotten a cool knife and I got stuck with a doll I would've done the same thing.
…..ok bad example. Still everything she did.(calling her brother dum dum, teasing him about his crush on Mai, spying on her father out of curiosity, was just kiddy stuff. Nothing like the cold Azula shown in the present.
Next is Death's Soulmate:
This story was excellent. I would whine about grammatical errors if I cared, but I don't. This story rose far above that. You used flashbacks, imagery, words, battle, and conversations excellently to get this story across. Nothing was wasted and that's the quality of a true writer. This is the best Avatar fic I've ever read and one of the best written one-shots around. You made it all seem so real and even I an anti-Azula was ready to help Zuko get her back. Excellent story.
Thank you! I'm glad I could show you a different side of Azula and if an anti-Azula liked the idea then I know I did a good job. I always liked Azula because I can identify myself a lot with her-she's loyal to her friends but disregards everyone else. And although I like to take "evil" as a compliment I know for a fact that there's more to people like that than what meets the eye.
On to airnaruto45:
Ace do what i do keep putting up fan fics regardless if your dad doesnt want you too eventually he'll cave and let you continue
Being a pk (preacher kid) since age 7 that was my natural reaction. One small itsy bitsy detail. He doesn't really know, else I would be dead. So him caving…yeah bit of an issue.
Last but not least my good friend Ranger24:
LOL! I thought people from the water tribe liked water!
LOL. Well like Zuko said its stereotypes like that that start wars like this to begin with.
Then again maybe he was just cranky Toph woke him up.
Anywhoo, I'm off to check out Pillar of Autumn and Crossover Hearts so you'll be hearing from me again soon enough!
…if my parents don't come home first.