Toph thought she would never encounter anything so tormenting in her life. She never thought she could feel this angry, this pained...

This annoyed.

She suddenly broke into a coughing fit, her whole body shuddering with the force of the hacking coughs. Her hand grabbed at the cloth that bound her chest, as if she could somehow squeeze away the uncomfortable feeling.

She stood shakily, and stumbled around, trying to find something to wrap herself in. She found a bag (who's it was, she did not know), and fumbled with the clasp. She had finally gotten it open, when she felt a warm hand on her shoulder, pulling her gently away from the random bag.

"Come on, badger mole, you need to rest."

She tried to protest, but when she opened her mouth to talk, nothing but a wheezing sound came out.

"Don't...wanna...," she coughed out. Suddenly, the ground was gone from beneath her, and she was gently swung over a warm shoulder.

"Sparky!" She wheezed, "put..me...down!"

The exiled prince, or 'Sparky', as he was now commonly called, chuckled, and swung her back onto the ground. She landed on something soft, and found that it was Sokka's funky smelling sleeping bag, resting on top of Appa's soft fur..

"Smells...ba-"

The small earth bender broke into another coughing fit, and she felt strong arms wrap around her.

"Relax," Zuko said with a grin, "just calm down. You'll get better soon."

Toph attempted to talk again, but to her complete and utter mortification, found that she could no longer make noises at all. She crossed hair arms over her chest, and scowled, looking about ready to rip somebody's head off.

"Just go to sleep, little badger mole, or I'll call Katara over."

Toph stared at the prince in open-mouthed horror. She had finally suceeded in getting the fussy Water Tribe girl to leave her alone for a minute, promising that she would lie down and try to get better (she'd had her fingers crossed behind her back). All those annoying questions! Are you okay? Where does it hurt? Do you need some help?

A warm hand came and rested on her forehead. "Your fever's coming up. Maybe I should call Katara over..."

Toph grabbed a handful of earth and threw it at him.

"Don't...you...dare."

The small girl then broke into another coughing fit, caused by her determination to keep talking. She stood up, and tried to walk away, but she again found herself cradled in the warm arms of Zuko. She struggled momentarily, but broke into another coughing fit, and then settled for glaring at him.

Sadly, glaring at him with a flushed face and half-closed eyes didn't seem to work, because he chuckled (again. Was he enojoying her pain?), and put her back on the sleeping bag.

"Cold..." she mumbled, wrapping the warm blanket around her tighter. She reached blindly for another blanket, but her rough hand landed on Zuko's arm, and she pulled him down next to her. After getting over his momentary astonishment, he wraped his arms around the small earth bender, and raised his body temperature slightly. Looking down at the peacefully sleeping child in his arms, his last thoughts before drifting off to sleep, was that he would never, ever let anything hurt her...


Katara sighed as she bent the last of the water out of her hair. She was exausted. Taking care of everyone at the temple was hard. Meals needed to be cooked, clothes needed to be fixed, and Toph was so stubborn when it came to taking care of her. She was expecting to see havoc when she arrived back at the main court yard. She expected to see Sokka whining for food, Teo and the Duke experimenting with who knows what, maybe even Haru ripping up chunks of earth with Toph. (She didn't expect the blind girl to keep her promise about resting).

What she didn't expect was for it to be quiet and peaceful. And the thing that truly shocked her was the sight of her little earth bender snuggled up against Zuko, her head resting on his lap, and his arms wrapped around her, leaning against Appa who was snoring loudly. She smiled and her eyes softened at the sight. She went to check on Tophs fever and found it had gone down. She stretched and sat down, thinking that resting her feet wasn't much of a crime. Suddenly, something warm wrapped around her arm, and she found that it was Zuko's hand. She relaxed immediatly, and looked at his face. His eyes were still closed. She yawned. Just a few minutes...

She was asleep before she closed her eyes.

Bad, I know. I don't really like it, actualy, but the world needs more siblingly Toko.