I am so sorry all for the slow update! Uni had started so I've been all study, study, study. To make matters even more fun I accidentally deleted my fanfic folder with all my plans & what not (& trust me to not save it in two places). So here's chapter 6 for you all to enjoy! Oh, & thankyou for telling me that I got Gaara's character right! I was worried if I got him right or not, thankyou!

Disclaimer: I own nothing; Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto & Avatar: The Last Airbender belongs toMichael Dante DiMartino&Bryan Konietzko.

Chapter 6 – Gaara

It had been about five days since Aang and Toph arrived from Konoha, and Gaara hadn't yet had the chance to take Toph out for some lessons. Temari had taken Aang out every day; those two were getting along perfectly, and from what Kankuro had observed, those two gelled pretty quickly as well-though Gaara was expecting that since both Temari and Aang were air users. Unfortunately, he wasn't so lucky with his student. Before they had the chance to get to know each other, he had to ask that "taboo" question for Toph and he didn't know whether she was still angry or not. But he knew for certain that this wasn't the end of it, and he had a hunch that not being able to take Toph out straight away (like Temari did with Aang) to show her new techniques-well this was only adding fuel to the fire. Sighing, Gaara turned his chair to look out the window of his office. He hoped at least that Toph understood why he couldn't take her out straight away like she wanted-because of his Kazekage duties. Oh well, he guessed he'd find out when he finally had the chance to take her out.

Toph

Bouncing a ball against the wall, Toph counted five hundred consecutive bounces before she threw the ball off in another direction in frustration. Why was Aang having all the fun and she was stuck doing nothing because her stupid teacher was too "busy" to bother to train her? Standing up, Toph left the apartment because she'd been there for two days and if she had to stay there any longer it would do her head in. She wanted to do some exploring of her own, maybe go annoy Gaara in his office. After all, she was going to get him back for that Hyuga comment, though she really wanted to during their first lesson. She wasn't the Blind Bandit for nothing! Chuckling at these thoughts she wandered around Sunagakure, Toph had the feeling she was attracting quite a few stares but she couldn't care less. 'Seeing' him approach, Toph turned to face Kankuro just as he approached her.

"What are you doing skulking about the place?" he asked, though not in a rude way.

"What's it to you?" she shot back, not going to be pushed around by the middle Sand Sibling.

"Let me rephrase, why are you by yourself? Shouldn't you be with your airbending buddy?"

Growing frustrated, Toph snapped, "Well sorry I've got nothing to do in this place since your brother is too busy to teach me anything!"

"Hey, it's not Gaara's fault he's got his duty as Kazekage."

"Five days!" Toph cried out, "Five days! I should've just stayed in Konoha! Kakashi and his lateness have got nothing on Gaara!"

"How old are you?"

This question took Toph by surprise, why on earth would Kankuro want to know how old she was?

"Twelve, why?"

Muttering something incoherent, he then said, "Nothing you need to worry about, bye now!" and he turned and started to walk off.

"Hey where are you going?" she demanded.

"Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about" Kankuro called back.

Toph was fed up, when was she finally going to get some fighting in? That was it; she was going to see Gaara now and DEMAND to start their training! She thought she'd had to wait maybe a day or two when Gaara said he couldn't teach her anything straight away, but five? Making her way to Gaara's office, she made her away inside, found his office room and ignoring the polite way of knocking, kicked the door in and stormed inside.

"When are we going to start training?" she demanded, "It's been five days, Temari's taken Aang out every day and I've been stuck here doing nothing!"

Little did Toph know that she had just walked in on the Kazekage in a meeting with some of the city's officials, though little did she care, "I should've just stayed in Konoha!" she yelled, not caring less of everyone else in the room, "Some teacher you are, you haven't bothered to teach me anything at all!"

"How does tomorrow sound Toph?" Gaara asked, sounding calm.

That took her by surprise; she was expecting him to shrug it off. She was also hoping for that so she could have a reason to yell at him some more, "Ah yeah that's fine." She answered.

"Meet me here at nine tomorrow morning, is that fine for you?" he asked.

"Yeah that's perfect thanks." She answered, still a little surprised by Gaara's sudden 'get out and go' behaviour, "Well...I'll see you tomorrow morning" she added as she made her way out, "And ah...sorry about the door as well."

"Goodbye Toph" she heard him call out as she walked off.

Toph was excited when she got home; tomorrow she was finally able to start her training with Gaara! Finally she'd be able to show off her skills and get him back after that Hyuga comment!

Gaara

Waking up early the next morning, Gaara cancelled all his meetings for the next week so he'd be able to give Toph all of his time. He didn't want her waiting around any longer, what sort of teacher would he be if he left his student around waiting? Hell, what kind of Kazekage would he be if he left his invited guests alone? Getting ready, he left his room to go and meet Toph outside his office like he promised yesterday. After waiting a little while, she arrived looking eager.

"So where we going and what are are we doing?" she asked.

"Follow me, I'll explain as we go along."

The two of them made their way out of the city and into the surrounding desert.

"Hey how come we're going out here?" Toph asked.

"Because I feel that the training areas will be too small of an area, and the sand out here is much easier to handle."

"Well you sound like you know your stuff, let's hope you're good in practise."

Another small, rare smile appeared on Gaara's face. No one had made him smile as much before as Toph had done, "I guess you'll just have to wait and see."

Toph then suddenly frowned, and it took him a quick moment to realise, "I didn't intend it to be-"

"It's fine" she cut him off, "So what are we going to start on?" she asked, moving on pretty fast, well so Gaara thought.

"Show me what you know" he started, "So I know what to work with."

As soon as Gaara saw that smirk on Toph's face, he regretted what he just said. And sure enough, after a few quick movements between the two of them, Toph caught him and threw him upside down.

As soon as he got up Toph was at him again, but Gaara was quickly catching onto her movements & he made a small bit of sand he was standing on levitate up in the air. Catching Toph off-guard, Gaara thought he had it in the bag when all of a sudden he felt a quick sinking feeling, a slight sharp pain in his back and he found himself on the ground again.

"You live up to your reputation" he said as he was getting up.

"I'm not the champion of Earth Rumble for nothing!" she said proudly, standing with one foot on his stomach, "So, where's this exceptionally skilled Kazekage ninja I've heard so much about?" she asked, "Maybe you're all bark and no bite after all."

In one quick movement, Gaara caught Toph's leg with sand and flipped her onto her back, he crouched down next to her, and "Lesson number one" he started, "Never gloat until the fight is actually over.

Instead of a retaliation move like he expected, Toph jumped up and demanded, "Teach me how you do that!"

"So actually want to learn now?"

"Yes, yes teach me how you grabbed me with the sand!"

Gaara then showed Toph how to manipulate sand; they were finally starting their proper lessons.

Toph

She had finally gotten back at Gaara, she never really wanted to hurt him but at least she had gotten her revenge and if he was wise he would have learned his lesson. She was picking up quite well on these sand techniques; she was really enjoying herself and was happy that Gaara was finally teaching her something. One day, she wanted a real battle with him, nothing serious, but it would be fun. She mentally reminded herself to ask him later.

Toph soon lost track of the time, but it felt they were only out here for five minutes when Gaara called for a lunch break.

"What? But we've only been out here for just a little while!"

"It's actually been four hours."

"Four hours?"

"Come on" he motioned for Toph to follow him, "You need a break whether you want to or not."

"So what will we be doing after lunch?" she asked, curious and eager to learn more.

"That will be enough for one day."

"What?"

"Well you're picking things up considerably fast and at the rate we're going, you'll probably have learned all you can within a week."

"And is that such a bad thing?"

"Not necessarily, but what about Aang? You'll go around complaining that you're bored, which will pressure Aang into going back to Konoha just to please you."

Doing her trademark blow-the-bangs-off-her-face she said nothing and followed Gaara in silence.

"Hey can we have an actual fight one day? Nothing too serious, but it would be great to see who is stronger out of us!" Toph asked, remembering her thoughts from earlier, "Hey wait I've got it! Let's all go back to Konoha & have a tournament with everyone else back there!"

"As much as that sounds like a great idea Toph unfortunately I don't have much free time. Let alone time to travel to Konoha, I must stay here and protect my village. However, I wouldn't mind a fight with you."

"We should get Temari and Aang to have one as well! We should make it just before Aang and I go back once we've learned everything!"

"We'll ask them if we see them when we get back to the village."

When the two of them got back to the village, a ninja ran up to them asking for Gaara as something needed his attention.

"I'll let you know when we'll train again" he said before leaving with the other ninja.

Feeling slightly put off and annoyed by Gaara having to leave so suddenly, Toph made her way back to where she and Aang were staying. She was to find out that Aang was already home.

"Hey Toph!" he said as she sat on the couch near him, "Temari told me that Gaara took you out for your first lesson! So how did it go?" he asked.

"Fine" she answered, still a little annoyed at Gaara rushing off, "Hey Aang" she continued, "If anyone ever asks me to be a leader for whatever reason, make sure I turn the offer down."

"Ah okay sure" Aang agreed after a quick silence, "Ah Toph, are you okay?"

"I'm fine"

"Well, I know you always talk to Sokka and such, obviously I'm not Sokka but I'm here to listen as well, okay?"

Turning to Aang, Toph smiled and said, "Thanks Aang, I really appreciate it."

I hope I wasn't too OOC with Gaara in this chapter, I tried to follow how he was with Matsuri in those filler episodes. Thankyou all & I apologize again for the slow update!