I am so sorry for the slow update!
Disclaimer: I own nothing;Narutobelongs to Masashi Kishimoto &Avatar: The Last Airbenderbelongs toMichael Dante DiMartino&Bryan Konietzko.
Toph
Lying in her bed, Toph relayed yesterday's events over in her head...
"As the Kazekage, you're summoned to a Kage summit in the Land of Iron regarding the Akatsuki and the tailed beasts" Temari said, looking grim.
Standing there, Toph couldn't believe it! It was only earlier when Katara warned her and Aang, and they dismissed it as if it were nothing!
Turning to Aang and Toph Gaara said, "I'm sorry you two, but my siblings and I must go now to figure all this out. We will talk tomorrow" and with that he left with Temari and Kankuro in tow.
oOo
Frustrated, Toph turned over so she was lying on her stomach with her face buried in her pillow and balled up her fists and threw them down onto the bed. No, no, no, no! It wasn't supposed to happen like this! No stupid criminal group was meant to appear and ruin it all! Who do they think they are? Running around causing havoc thinking they own the place! Causing her and her friends to pack up and go back home! If she ever ran into this criminal group she was going to ANNIHILATE them! Hit first and ask questions later in the good old Toph Bei Fong way!
She was so caught up in her own anger that she didn't notice Aang before he knocked on the door.
"Toph?" he asked through the door, "I've invited Gaara, Temari and Kankuro over for dinner this evening. I thought we could accommodate them for once and that since we're most likely leaving soon, I thought this would be nice for a thank you for all they've done for us. Would you like to help me with the dinner?" he asked.
"I thought they'd be on their way to the Land of Iron by now." Toph called out by her way of an answer.
"When I saw Temari earlier she said that Gaara had made no decision when to leave yet. From what she said he's waiting on something from Konoha" Aang explained, "I also asked her if they wanted us to leave anytime soon but Temari said that wasn't necessary and that we can stay as long as we want, even when they leave we can stay if we want" he continued.
After a slight silence between the two Toph called out, I think we should go back to Konoha right away; no doubt Katara is getting worried about us."
"We can't just leave without saying goodbye! That would be extremely rude of us!"
Damn he got her there, "Fine" she called out, not in the mood for an argument.
Seeing Aang leave, Toph turned back onto her back. Staring up at the wall she tried to think of why she was really upset by Gaara's sudden having to leave. That night when they were all out for dinner she was upset enough about the thought of having to leave. But something had changed now, at first she didn't want to leave but now that Gaara was leaving she couldn't wait to get out of here. That's when it suddenly dawned upon her, sitting up quickly Toph pondered on her realisation. No way, that couldn't be it could it? She couldn't have feelings for Gaara, could she? She thought back over the time she'd spent with him; how she'd get annoyed whenever he had to leave due to his duties, that immense joy she'd feel whenever they'd spend all day training. She had always thought this was due to her loving to earthbend so much, but she realised, that at first it was this. But as she spent more time with Gaara, the more it was that she loved simply spending her time with him. She thought back to her first night here, with those annoying, giggling girls. At the time it was just pure annoyance to her but now the thought of girls acting like that towards Gaara made her jealous. At least she could say that she liked him due to personality rather than looks (she assumed he was really good looking by the way those girls were acting). He was older than her-fifteen. Only a three year difference, but a twelve year old girl must seem so young to a fifteen year old, and with her attitude...
Huffing with annoyance, Toph fell back down onto her bed and curled up into a ball. Why did she have to go and get a stupid crush on Gaara? Why can't she get a crush on someone who wasn't of high importance and who didn't have all the girls going crazy over him? She was reminded of Zuko just then and thought of his feelings for Katara. What if Gaara had a secret crush on someone? She couldn't decipher his feelings easily as she usually would-Gaara was just like Azula in that aspect (not that she had tried to find out whether he was lying, but his heartbeat was always normal). Even if she was able to see and read facial expressions she was sure she wouldn't be able to read Gaara's expressions, he was a very guarded person. This all made Toph even more annoyed so she decided to go outside to earthbend for a while to help get her mind off things.
Walking past the kitchen, she stopped to tell Aang where she'd be.
"That's fine!" he said, "If you're not in by the time those three get here, I'll call you in."
She was about to leave when she saw what Aang was making, well in this case trying to make.
"Twinkle toes what are you trying to make?" she demanded reverting to his nickname she gave him.
"Ah...dinner" Aang said giving his efforts a look, "It's not meant to look like this is it?" he asked.
"No food is meant to look like that!" Toph chided.
Going over to where they kept their money, Toph grabbed out a few coins and handed them to Aang, "Go and buy some takeout" she ordered, "I'll clean this mess up."
Leaving a disgruntled Aang to go and buy some takeout Toph took her time cleaning up Aang's mess. To be honest she wasn't really looking forward to this dinner, not with her silly feelings all over the place and having Gaara over here wasn't going to make things any easier. What if he noticed something odd her with her? Ugh this wasn't going to be easy. Half of her wanted to run and hide in her room when they arrived yet the other half was excited of the challenge. For once she was annoyed at her fighting spirit. Soon just before she finished Aang returned and the two of them set everything up as if they cooked it themselves, laughing as it reminded them of the scams they used to pull in the Fire Nation. After a little while the Sand Siblings arrived, and Toph started reciting the alphabet backwards to help keep her concentration-she wasn't going to let herself get caught out! Aang let them in and they marvelled at the food, Toph and Aang caught each other's eye and they tried not to snicker.
"So Aang what have you and Toph made tonight?" Kankuro asked, seating himself.
"Aang did all the work" Toph answered, thinking herself being wise and helping Aang bringing the last few things out to the table whilst Temari and Gaara seated themselves (so she could make sure to not sit too near Gaara).
Once she and Aang had brought everything out, she seated herself at the end of the table as Gaara sat at the opposite end. She mentally thanked herself for being blind so she wouldn't have to look at him whenever she looked up because she would've blushed like mad and get caught out. Soon everyone got into their dinner, complimenting the two benders for their work.
"This tastes just like that restaurant we usually go to!" Kankuro said, "I'm impressed, no one can top that place when it comes to food!"
"Ah...actually I have a confession..." Aang started.
Toph knew he'd crack quickly.
"That is the food from that restaurant" Aang admitted, "I really can't cook at all so Toph and I decided to get takeout."
Everyone started to laugh, Toph didn't hear Gaara's voice amongst them but she wasn't surprised; she'd never heard him laugh before-he was probably smiling or something (which he was).
Once everyone calmed down Gaara started, "Toph I'm sorry that I wasn't able to take you out training today."
"It's fine" she said a little too quickly, everyone looked at her not expecting that reaction (they were expecting one of her usual outbursts).
"Have you taught her patience as well?" Aang whispered to Gaara.
"I heard that!" Toph snapped, "Just because I'm blind doesn't mean I can't hear!"
"So Toph I can take you out training tomorrow if you wish." Gaara suggested, quickly trying to change the subject.
"Shouldn't you be on your way to the Land of Iron place?" she asked.
"I'm pretty sure the other Kages haven't left their villages either. They're all pretty suspicious of each other."
"What is this meeting about exactly?" Aang asked.
"The Akatsuki" Temari answered.
"The what?"
"The Akatsuki are a criminal group made up of missing-nin from all over the place. They're the ones who've been extracting the tailed beasts" Gaara answered in a very serious manner, "From what we know there used to be ten of them but most of them have died now, we're not sure if they've recruited any new members or not." (A/N: I'm not sure/can't remember if Suna knew about Sasuke & his team being a part of the Akatsuki) and he went on to describe what the Akatsuki got up to.
"They sound pretty serious" Aang noted.
"They sound like the old Fire Lord" Toph added.
"They actually killed me." Gaara said.
"WHAT?" the two benders cried out at the same time.
Toph couldn't believe that! Gaara, dead? But how on earth was that possible?
Gaara then explained, "When a tailed beast is extracted, the jinchūriki dies. That happened to me, and then an old elder of this village used this jutsu and transferred her life force into me. She died of course."
Toph couldn't believe what she was hearing; she had no idea what to say to something like that.
It was Gaara who started to talk again, "So Toph, will it be alright if I take you out training tomorrow?" he asked.
"Oh, ah yes. Thank you" she answered, completely forgetting that he had asked that question previously.
After a while the Sand Siblings eventually left and Toph helped Aang clean up.
"Is everything okay Toph?" Aang asked, "You seemed...not yourself tonight."
"I'm fine" she snapped, then sighed, "I just wish Katara was here right now." She said, she really needed some girl time with her, Katara would understand.
"Aww don't worry we'll be seeing her soon, and I miss them as well" Aang said, not getting what Toph meant at all (for which she was glad).
The next day Toph for the first time didn't get up early so she could meet Gaara. She was lucky she did this because after a few minutes of waiting when she arrived at their usual meeting place he turned up and told her he wouldn't be able to train her today and apologised because he had too much to work on for when he left for the Kage meeting.
"It's fine" Toph said with no emotion, "You need to put your village first anyway. After all, isn't that what being a Kage's all about?"
"You're right, anyway I must be off; I'll see you tomorrow" he said before turning to leave.
"Gaara, wait!" she called out.
Stopping, he turned to look back at her.
Looking down at the ground, she mumbled, "I'm really sorry about my behaviour and how I treated you when Aang and I first arrived".
"What was that?" he asked slyly.
Knowing what he was playing at she turned her back on him and crossed her arms, "You know perfectly what I said! And don't expect me to say it again!" and she stormed off.
oOo
It had been three days since Toph saw Gaara last, she and Aang had been home throughout for they neither saw Temari or Kankuro about either.
"I really think we should be leaving" Toph noted, "Those three are always busy and they don't need us to worry about, and don't get me started on Katara."
"You're right; I think it's best if we leave soon."
oOo
Having all their things packed and ready, the two benders were about to leave and find the Sand Siblings when there was a knock on their door.
"How funny!" Toph heard Aang say, "We were just about to go and look for you three!"
Coming out her room (she was checking to see if she'd left anything) Toph 'saw' the Sand Siblings standing in the main room.
"You've come to tell us to leave" Toph stated, again with no emotion.
"Toph!" Aang started but Gaara cut him off.
"In a sense, but we'll be leaving with you, some of the way at least. Temari will accompany you all of the way back to Konoha" he stated.
The two benders nodded.
"Thank you for all you've done for us" Aang said, "I couldn't be more grateful."
"I just hope we've been adequate enough teachers" Temari said.
"Adequate?" Toph started, "You guys have been awesome; you've both taught Aang and I so much!"
"I'm just sorry you two couldn't stay longer and that we've all had to leave so suddenly" Gaara said.
"It's fine" Aang said, "Oh yes, before I forget!" he continued, "Whenever you guys want to you're more than welcome to come to visit our home! I'd like to show you guys around where we're from; I think you'd all like it."
"Thank you Aang" Gaara said and the siblings helped the benders with their last few items and left Suna with the whole village there to say goodbye to Gaara and to make sure he's safe whilst they're away.
Much to Toph's annoyance there were a lot of annoying girls crying and acting stupid, she couldn't wait to get away from them.
oOo
During their second day of travels was when Gaara and Kankuro parted with Temari and the benders. To Toph's surprise she found herself somewhat alone with Gaara, how on earth did this happen?
"Best of luck at the Kage meeting" she said, thinking of a way to distract herself so she wouldn't get flustered around him.
"Hopefully it will go well; if the other Kage are willing to co-operate with each other. The Akatsuki is more of a threat than borderlines."
"Well think of it like this: if Aang, a twelve year old kid can bring nations together then it isn't as hard as it seems."
"But Aang's the Avatar."
"You're a Kage aren't you? A position everyone looks up to, the same as the Avatar, you see?"
She couldn't see the look Gaara was giving her right now. She wondered what he was thinking about.
Just then Kankuro called out to Gaara, telling him that they should get a move on.
"There's something I must tell you" he said, "The reason it took me a while to leave for this meeting was because I didn't want to leave your company. I find you a charming girl and I really enjoyed spending that time with you."
And before Toph had a chance to comprehend what Gaara had just said, he turned and leaved with Kankuro with a quick goodbye to Temari and Aang. When his words sunk in she was convinced he meant that she was a great person-no romantic notions. After all, he was such a reserved person why say all of that? She pushed this to the back of her mind as she approached Temari and Aang; she wasn't going to be bothered by any of it.
"We'll have a break, then continue on to Konoha" Temari said.
"Sounds good!" Aang said happily, he was excited to see everyone again.
oOo
Aang
The first thing he noticed when he got back to Konoha was Sokka's outfit. Why was he in a green jumpsuit? He voiced his thoughts out loud.
"Well when you and Toph were away Neji and his team returned; remember them? Well their mentor Gai supervised some of our lessons and he and Lee told me that if I wore this jumpsuit it would make me stronger! I have to admit it's much easier to move around in" and Sokka then started to flex his muscles and move around a little to prove his point.
Giving Zuko a look, he seemed to know what Aang was thinking and warned, "Don't ask".
"So tell us, how was Sunagakure?" Katara asked and Aang got excited and told them what he and Toph got up to whilst away.
"Toph you're being unusually quiet, didn't have a good time?" Sokka asked.
"I had one of the best times thank you very much" she answered a-matter-of-factly and turned away from the rest of the group, her mind on other things.
"Ah, is she really okay?" Katara whispered.
"I think so; she's been like that for a little while actually. I think it's a really girly thing because she told me she wished you were with us. You talk to her okay? You're good at stuff like that" Aang said.
Giggling, Katara agreed to talk to her.
"Oh hey where is everyone by the way?" Aang asked, "I know Naruto's away but what about Sakura?"
"She's gone on a mission with Kiba, Sai and Lee" Zuko answered, "We've also decided to leave tomorrow, if that's alright with you two" he continued.
"Yeah it's fine" Aang answered.
"Good" Toph said.
Katara
The next morning they were all ready to leave. They said goodbye to their friends who were still in Konoha, inviting them to come and visit whenever they wanted. When they got everything ready, Appa lifted off and Katara had to admit she missed the flying feeling with Appa and was glad that they had a long journey back to their home.
"Oh no!" Toph suddenly said.
"What is it?" Katara asked, slightly worried for her friend.
"I'll tell you later" she answered. Little did Katara know was that Toph was just reminded of the fight she and Gaara promised to have along with Aang and Temari.
Giving Toph a drink, Katara caught Zuko's eye and he looked away quickly. He'd been ignoring her a lot lately and it was really starting to get on her nerves. She hadn't done anything to upset him! She was definitely going to get to the bottom of his weird behaviour, and soon.
After about an hour of flying Aang stopped to give Appa a rest, and as per usual Toph was the first one to jump off. Katara followed her and was going to talk to her.
"What's up?" she asked when she reached Toph who was sitting by a small stream.
"I've gone and got a stupid crush" she answered.
Katara blinked, this was the last thing she expected from the blind earthbender! A crush? And Toph of all people!
"On who?" she asked.
"Gaara, he was Temari's brother, the Kazekage of his village and my teacher."
"Wow Toph I didn't expect that."
"It's nothing I'm going to worry about; I just didn't want to grow feelings for him. Crushes are annoying you know that?"
Chuckling, Katara had to agree, "So what are you going to do about it?" she asked.
But before Toph had a chance to answer, she was up on her feet in a flash, "Someone's coming!" she said and ran back towards the others and Katara followed just as quickly.
"Is everything all right?" Suki asked when she saw the two girls running towards them.
"Someone's coming!" Toph said again, "I don't know who they are but they're moving pretty fast!"
And right then a figure emerged from behind a tree. Katara and everyone else moved to their usual fighting stances, ready to fight. She studied the person; he was in a black cloak with red clouds and wore an orange mask with a swirl pattern mask.
He started to laugh, "Well it's about time I've found the mysterious benders! I'm a good boy so I make sure I follow out my orders!"
I'm sorry if this has any mistakes it's a quarter to two in the morning but I really wanted to finish this & a little lazy to proofread it (I know, I know, not good). As I stated in the previous chapter, I may have gone OOC with the characters but I don't know what they'd be like when they'd have feelings for someone (& after all this is a Gaara x Toph fic lol).
I have two thanks to give out: the first to theninetailedkitsume for giving me the idea of Gai & Lee tricking Sokka with the jumpsuit and to Noel Ardnek for the idea of the Akatsuki going after the benders!
Again, it's off track with the Naruto manga (but it's not a fanfic for nothing lol).
Also, I apologize but I've got exams coming up so I've got to put my studies first (so most likely another slow update, ugh I know I'm really sorry!). But this week I do have a week off so I'll get to work on the next chapter straight away.
On a side note: Anyone know of Legend of Korra has been confirmed of its delay till 2013? ARGH will be HIGHLY annoyed if it's true, after all, it was originally meant to air sometime this month!