Toph's Snow Chap 16
Chapter 16: The Old Master
A/N:I finally edited it, yay!
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership to anything but my characters, the rest aren't mine. ;)
Week 23 (October 13-19, month 5)
Third Person
As Xiao woke up, Kazuka was being tended by Yuka. He remained still, pretending that he was still asleep.
No one else was near the camp, so Yuka decided to change Kazuka's bandage right there.
"Alright. Now that you're awake again, tell me what happened to your leg. And don't give me that beating around the bush nonsense either." Yuka snapped at Kazuka.
"Well…I was practicing my knife throwing since I can't practice anything else at the moment, and I missed one of the knives as it came down and it stabbed me in the leg. I tried to bandage it, but I guess I didn't do a very good job, because it came off during the night and I woke up covered in blood."
"Aha!" exclaimed Yuka, causing Kazuka jumped a little, which caused Yuka to push down on the gash and Kazuka to hiss in pain.
"Sorry. I knew something strange was going on that day. You'd just told me that night that your cycle wasn't due for a week so when I found your sheets, I just thought you had miscounted. Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't want to bother you. You already do so much for me." She looked down at her hands in her lap. Yuka lifted her chin up and looked her in the eye.
"That's what I'm here for, Kazuka. Promise me if something like this happens again, you'll tell me as soon as you can, no matter what I'm doing?" she said softly.
"I promise."
"Good girl." Yuka finished wrapping up the wound. "You should go wash up. Try to keep that bandage clean. I suggest you take a bucket and sit on a rock to clean yourself, but seeing as you'll be taking that boy who is pretending to be asleep, you probably won't want to do that." At that, Xiao sat up, blinking the sun out of his eyes.
"How did you know?" he asked Yuka.
"I didn't become a nurse without knowing the difference between a sleeping and a conscious person. Now go wash up quickly, we are leaving soon."
The teens stood, Kazuka with Xiao's help, and moved toward the river.
When they reached the river, no one was in sight.
"I wonder where the others are?" remarked Kazuka. Xiao shrugged.
"We probably walked past them without realizing it.
"True."
They stood there for a moment before separating and proceeding to get undress behind trees.
"Don't look!" yelled Kazuka as she walked as quickly as she could to the edge of the river and got in, blushing all the way. She had removed the bandage altogether, deciding that it was easier to just put it back on then to take the chance of getting it wet.
"Okay, I've got my eyes closed." She heard a couple steps, a yell and a loud splash as Xiao entered the water. Waves spread out from where he landed and buffeted against Kazuka, making her stumble a little.
"Hey! You could have knocked me over!"
"Sorry."
"Just hurry up and get clean. We don't want to make everyone wait for us."
You don't want to make anyone wait, but I couldn't care less. Xiao thought.
They washed quickly and left the water one at a time, getting dressed behind their trees again.
"You ready?" asked Kazuka
"Yeah." They walked back to camp quickly, catching a few stragglers who had been bathing further upstream on their way.
In their absence the camp had been cleared and most of the students were sitting in a carriage waiting to leave.
"Kazuka! Over here!" shouted Sara waving a hand out of a window.
Xiao helped her over to the carriage and pulled her in after himself. She sat next to Li as the four of them settled down for the ride to their destination.
The trip to Shu Jing was an interesting one. Instead of moving from carriages to boats and back when they moved from island to island, they rode over the newly invented 'collapsible bridge' that connected Shu Jing and Jang Hui. It had been invented by Teo and his father and was being implemented in several places around the world.
The collapsed bridge rather impressed the students as they rode up to it, wondering what it was. They watched in amazement as workers let steam into two vents that were used to push a huge wheel. The twin wheels started to turn and pulled long chains with them that were attached to the two missing sections of the bridge. The two pieces were pulled slowly up and into place. Workers scrambled around to put locks into place and then remove the barriers from in front of the travelers; a few workers stayed on the bridge to direct traffic.
"And that students, is what you can accomplish if you put your mind to it." said Sokka.
When the apprentices stepped put of the carriages that night, they found themselves in front of a large manor. Waiting in front of the gate was a black haired man who looked to be in his early fifties. Sokka walked up to the man, bowing when he reached him.
"Why so formal Sokka? Or should I say, Master Sokka."
The man opened his arms and Sokka walked into them, hugging his master, who he hadn't seen since the end of the war.
"You have been busy since I last saw you I see." said Piandao.
"Yeah." He responded while scratching the back of his head. "These are my top apprentices and I was hoping you would help me finish their training and present them with their own swords?"
"I would be honored. Where are you staying?"
"Um, I haven't found a place yet, but I sent Hawky with a message to a few inns in the area, so I'm hoping they have room for us."
"Nonsense. You and your apprentices will stay here at my estate. I have plenty of space for you."
"Thank you, Pinadao." Sokka turned around to address his students that were standing a few paces away, talking amongst themselves.
"Attention! We will be staying here for the remainder of our trip." Cheers went up from the students.
"Alright, alright, calm down. Let's get inside before we freeze out here."
The students ran into the house, with the exception of Xiao and Kazuka.
Third Person Piandao
When Sokka gave the announcement that the students were staying at Piandao's estate, they all shouted their approval and took off toward the main hall. Two made their way much slower then the others, a girl leaning on her male counterpart. A middle-aged woman walked behind them; she seemed to be keeping an eye on the girl.
Piandao turned to Sokka.
"May I ask why she needs so much help to walk?"
"Oh, that's Kazuka. There was…well it's a long story, but the gist is she fell off the ship and almost drowned, and since then, she hasn't been completely healthy. Recently, she got an infection from a gash on her leg and is recovering from it."
"That's a rather unfortunate plight for such a lovely young woman. Do you know where she is from, she looks familiar?"
"She's from the Fire Nation, Fire Fountain City to be exact. Who does she remind you of?"
"An old friend of mine; He was a foreign dignitary."
"Well, I've never met her parents. As far as I know, they sent her to the Earth Kingdom and she found her way to my school by herself.
"How old was she?"
"Ten." Piandao's eyes widened.
"She was very young to be traveling by herself."
"That's Kazuka for you." Sokka laughed. "Independent before an adult can get a word in edgewise."
"We should go inside; it's getting colder out here."
As they walked inside, Piandao couldn't help but be bothered by the fact that Kazuka looked so much like his friend.
Third Person Kazuka
It was just after nightfall when they got to Master Piandao's mansion. The inside was as impressive as the outside; everything was painted red and gold with draperies and rugs everywhere, but the décor still managed to look tasteful. It reminded Kazuka of the palace in the Earth Kingdom.
The students were split up into rooms, three each except Kazuka who got a room to herself and Li and Sara, who would have roomed with her if they had been allowed.
While she was waiting for dinner to be cooked, Kazuka had a maid point her to the library. When she opened the door, she found herself in a huge room. Every surface was covered in books. Stacks were piled several feet high all around the room. Dozens of cushions took up the remaining space along with a large table that had a map of the four nations spread across it.
She walked around until she found an interesting book on the Fire Nation.
Might as well learn something about the place I come from.
She was buried deep in the book, when someone tapped her shoulder, making her jump in surprise.
"I didn't mean to startle you, but dinner is ready." said a maid.
"Thank you." The maid started to leave. "Wait. Do you think I could borrow this?"
"Yes Ma'am. As long as you return it before you leave."
"Thank you. Um…could you lead me to the dinning room?"
Dinner was an uncomfortable affair for Kazuka. During the entire meal, Piandao did nothing but stare at her, a contemplative look on his face. Kazuka could do nothing but try to ignore the look as she talked with her friends.
Third Person
After dinner, the students got ready to go to bed, since they had four long weeks of training ahead of them to finish their sword mastery.
At midnight, a figure walked out of a room and down the hall, slipping into another room.
Kazuka looked up as her door opened and scrambled to pull the blanket up over her half naked body, dropping the book she had been reading on the floor.
"You know, you're supposed to knock." Kazuka said as she sat up with her blanket covering her lap as she was only wearing a shirt and her loin cloth.
"Sorry." Said Xiao. He bent down, picking up the book off the floor.
"Fire Nation: Origins to Present. Shouldn't you know all this stuff already?" Kazuka froze.
Damnit! Why would I have that book? Why…aha!
"Yeah, well, I was just refreshing my memory. I haven't been here since I was nine."
"Oh, that makes since. How's your leg doing?" Kazuka relaxed once he believed her excuse and fell into an easy conversation with him.
"It's fine. It hurts sometimes though, especially while walking."
"I guess you'll have to sit out of practice for while."
"Yeah." She looked down.
"Hey, don't be like that." He pulled her face up to meet his eyes. "I bet as soon as you're healed, it'll take you two seconds of practice and you'll be kicking my ass again." She blushed and laughed.
"You always know how to make me feel better." He shrugged his shoulders.
"Eh, it's a gift." She chuckled again and they continued to talk through the night.
The next morning, Yuka knocked on the door to Kazuka's room, walking in when no one answered. She sighed and shook her head, wondering what they could have been thinking; they were lucky she had been the first into the room. She backed out, closing the door quietly behind her.
On the bed were Kazuka and Xiao, sleeping side by side, facing each other, their hands clasped together on top of the blanket.
Xiao woke up an hour after Yuka visited the room. It took him a minute to remember where he was. He smiled at the sight of Kazuka sleeping peacefully next to him and the feel of their legs tangled up under the blanket, happy that they were getting along. But he lost his smile as he listened to her breathing, which hitched at regular intervals. He couldn't help thinking about the fact that he had caused her health to deteriorate.
Kazuka stirred and opened her eyes, looking at Xiao.
"Good morn- what's the matter?" she let go of his hand and reached up to wipe off a tear that was making its way down his cheek. She stared at the wet drop on her finger as if it had insulted her. He sat up and wiped his face with his shirt.
"It's nothing."
"It is not nothing."
"I'm fine Kazuka, really." He forced a smile.
"No you're not. Please, just tell me." She placed a hand on his cheek, caressing it as he leaned into her touch.
"I-I was thinking about how I caused all your health problems." He looked down.
"Oh, Xiao. I thought we'd settled this already. I forgive you." She tried to pull his face up to hers, but he refused to look her in the eye.
"I know, but I still feel guilty." He gently removed her hand from his face and cradled it in both of his hands, which were resting in his lap.
"Xiao, listen to me. I forgive you. There is no reason to feel guilty, I'll be fine."
"But you keep getting sick. It-"
"Xiao." She said firmly. "It is not because I almost drowned. I was born a month early, so I get sick easily. I can usually hide it better though…" She lost her train of though for a second and then found it again. "I'll be fine, really."
"What about your breathing?"
"I've had that for most of my life." Although it is a little worse now.
"Will you promise to let me or Yuka know if you feel bad from now on."
"If it'll help you forgive yourself, I'd do anything."
"Anything?" Xiao lifted an eyebrow.
"Not like that you pervert!" Kazuka slapped him lightly on the arm, blushing.
"What? You said anything. How else am I supposed to take it?" he said playing innocent.
"Not like that! Ugh, men!" she threw her hands up in the air and hopped off the bed. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get dressed."
"You're excused. Go ahead."
"I can't get dressed with you in here!"
"Why not."
"Because I ca- Because you're- Because I- Because I- Because I said so!"
"That's no reason at all. You might as well get dressed, I'm not leaving." Xiao laid back down on the bed, propping his head on his hand.
"I. Am. Not. Getting. Dressed. With. You. In. Here." Kazuka crossed her arms and popped her left hip out.
"How about a deal? I brought some clothes with me last night and we can change at the same time. How does that sound?"
"Fine." She said through clenched teeth. Xiao got up and walked over to the pack sitting next to the door that Kazuka had just noticed in that moment.
Kazuka grabbed her clothes out of her own pack and laid them on her bed. She started with her breast band and struggled with it for a few minutes under her shirt to tie it correctly until to warm hands replaced hers. With only a few instructions, Xiao tied the band on with quick, deft movements.
Kazuka pulled her shirt down and turned to find a fully dressed Xiao standing behind her.
"How'd you get dressed so fast?"
"My clothes are more straight forward, not as many knots."
"Humph." Kazuka quickly dawned the rest of her clothes and slipped on her shoes.
"Finally." Kazuka just rolled her eyes.
"Now that you've had your fun, let's go. Pervert." She opened the door and waved him out. Xiao swaggered out the door, a smirk on his face.
"That's Mr. Pervert to you." Kazuka smiled.
Finally I finished this chapter! We're getting to the exciting part in about two chapters. There are secrets revealed and a fight scene! Hopefully it won't be too terrible. We'll be with Sokka, Xiao and Kazuka for a while and then it'll go back to Toph and Katara. Please, please, please review! I love hearing from you guys!
Jaa nee!