"WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY MONEY ISN'T ANY GOOD HERE?" Toph slammed her hands on the wooden bar between her and an inn keeper that she was about two seconds from killing. In the corner of the room, Kegare leaned back against the wall and played with his fingernails, knowing that neither Toph nor the inn keeper would back down.

"It's not that your money isn't good, it's that I charge two gold pieces a night. You gave me two copper pieces."

"Does it look like I know the difference? I'm BLIND!" Toph pulled down her bottom eyelids to show her pale green eyes to the inn keeper. "You're really going to turn away a young, innocent blind girl?"

"With the mouth you got on ya, I doubt you're innocent ya brat. Besides, your boyfriend looks strong enough to defend you."

"He's not my boyfriend-,"

"I'm not her boyfriend-," The two Earthbenders looked over at each other with a puzzled look.

The Inn Keeper laughed before walking towards the back door, "Yeah, you two aren't a couple."

"Okay, look," Kegare sighed as he reached back to his pocket. He pulled out two gold pieces and showed them to the inn keeper. "Can we stay the night now?"

"It's two gold pieces per person," the Inn Keeper stated.

"This is robbery! ROBBERY I SAY!"

"Do you really want to keep dealing with her," Kegare questioned, pointing to Toph. The inn keeper turned around, grabbed the nearest set of keys and slammed them on the counter. "Thank you very much sir." The young Earthbender took the keys off of the counter and placed the gold pieces in their place. "Come on trouble maker." Kegare grabbed Toph's arm and dragged her away from the inn keeper.

"I'll remember this you thieving jack—WHOA!" Kegare violently pulled Toph down the hallway and out of sight from the inn keeper.

"Spirits, I've never had so much trouble getting one room before." Toph glared blindly at Kegare, who was now trying to unlock the door to their room. As soon as he opened the door, Toph shoved the male Earthbender to the side and entered the room. Kegare steadied himself and scowled, sighing through his nose before finally coming into the room. Toph jumped on the bed furthest from the door, lying on her back and looking up. "You seem…awfully angry…er than usual."

"Bite me!" Kegare simply scratched his cheek with a curious look on his face. Toph sighed, narrowing her eyes as she gazed blindly at the ceiling. "I'm just…kinda fed up with this whole stupid crap."

"What do you mean? You're an Earthbender. Were you some type of noblewoman or something?" Toph's eyes narrowed further, a deep scowl forming on her face. Kegare noticed the look on the blind girl's face. He sat down on the bed across from his partner, "Or…you were of some type of noble status before the War."

"Don't think about kidnapping me. I'll kick your butt into next week if you try it."

"Oh I'd never dream of going against the Blind Bandit," Kegare replied, a grin forming his face. Toph rolled her head back, gazing her nonfunctioning eyes over at her fellow Earthbender. "Alright, no sarcasm. Duly noted."

"You're a crappy Earthbender, but at least you can pick up clues quickly enough." Kegare shrugged offhandedly in agreement. Toph moved her head back in place, staring blindly at the ceiling. "For awhile, I was able to just flaunt my status as a member of the Bei Fong family around and get whatever I want."

"Wait, wait, wait, the Bei Fong family?"

"You NEVER interrupt when a woman is talking moron," Toph shouted. "Can I talk?" Kegare stayed silent. After a few seconds Toph took another small breath and continued, "Whatever I couldn't get with my family status, I could just take with my Earthbending. Then that stupid Draft kicked in, and all Earthbenders were required to join the army. The Underground Earthbending Tournament was canceled, and all of the members were shipped off to fight the Fire Nation. Once the Earth Kingdom found out who the Blind Bandit was, they wanted to throw me out in the front lines. My parents denied I had any talent, cause I hid that from them and my Earthbending 'teacher.' I was forced to use my Earthbending to stop the Dai Li recruiters, then I ran away, but not before I got my parents into their carriage.

"After that, we went separate ways, cause I knew that the Earth Kingdom would be more likely to come after me to get me to join the army, rather than my parents for unknowingly harboring a draft dodger like myself."

"You didn't learn how to Earthbend from a teacher," Kegare asked.

"Not a human teacher." There was a prolonged moment of silence. Toph closed her eyes in annoyance. She could practically feel her 'partner's' curiosity lingering in the air. "I always hated the fact that everyone I ever met treated me like some helpless princess because I couldn't see. My parents were the worst when it came to babying me. I ran away one day when I was really young, not really knowing where I was going. I evidently found myself in a cave, where a group of Badgermoles, the original Earthbenders, found me. They saw I was blind like them, and I learned from them. Since they're blind, they see using their feet. Every person or animal's movement across the ground sends out vibrations. As long as my bare feet," Toph raised her leg up, wiggling her toes in the air to emphasize her point, "are touching the ground, I can 'see' everything from the vibrations alone."

"That's…impressive," Kegare admitted. The boy pulled out the hair tie for his ponytail, letting his black hair fall down around his head. "And it would explain a lot."

Toph smiled a bit, lowering her leg over the edge of the bed, letting the tips of her toes tough the ground. "You're probably the first person to believe that story."

"Well I don't know any Earthbenders who can see using their feet alone. Except the Badgermoles that is. And you seem rather fond of using neutral jing."

"Now there's a surprise," Toph exclaimed, the smile on her face obvious from her tone alone. "I didn't know there were any Earthbenders who knew about the jings."

"Well, my father taught me about the different types of jing. And he learned it from his Earthbending teacher."

Toph moved her head up a bit towards Kegare's direction, "So your dad was your Earthbending teacher?"

"Kind of I guess." The male Earthbender lied down on the bed, propping his chin on his arms while looking in Toph's direction. "He taught me some basic stuff, and the concept of each main jing, positive, negative, and neutral. After that he went off to join the army to fight the Fire Nation, leaving mom, my sister, and I by ourselves."

"Oh…" Toph's eyes softened a bit in sympathy. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Kegare rolled onto his back, resting his hands under the back of his head, "He was hardly there to begin with. He wasn't really a bad father. I mean he was the only one who brought food home because he was the only one working. Mom had to take care of me and the newborn. Once I was old enough, dad started training me to Earthbend. Just when I think we were starting to bond," Kegare lifted his hand up to the ceiling and waved it in the air, as if brushing his emotions aside, "and he's leaves us high and dry." He moved his hand back behind his head and sighed.

Toph remained silent, unsure of what to say. "Was he patriotic or something?" The blind Earthbender mentally kicked herself for the stupid question.

"A little bit."

"Are you?"

"I was."

"What happened?" Kegare groaned, causing Toph to smirk a bit. She enjoyed having someone around to torture on a regular basis. Kegare arched his neck, looking up at the top of Toph's head.

"I wanted to be like my father. When the Draft started, I joined the military."

"That was a year ago," Toph pointed out. "You have to be at least sixteen to join the Draft. You would've been what age?"

"Fifteen," Kegare replied.

"How'd you manage to pull that off?"

"I told them I was sixteen, the Draft just started and the door to join the army was left wide open. As long as you didn't look like a child, and you could Earthbend properly, the army took you. I was actually better than half of the men who joined up."

"Because they don't know the concept of waiting and listening right," Toph asked.

"Pretty much. Anyway, I was apart of the Terra Team. They're an 'elite' platoon of Earthbenders who take out large regiments at a time with their coordination in Earthbending. Thing is though, if you break up the team and get the members in single confrontation, they're next to worthless. I was probably one of the few who could actually hold his own by themselves. Anyway, a large platoon was deployed to take out this huge Fire Nation encampment. We were going to attack at night, so the enemy's Firebending was at it's weakest without the sun, and strike from all sides. We were going to sink their tanks, crush their weapons, and take out anyone else in our way."

"Something went wrong right," Toph guessed.

"Oh yeah. Big time. The Terra Team, the squad I was assigned to, was going to make the first strike with a powerful display of Earthbending. Once the Fire Nation was awake and mobilizing, then every other team would move in and attack. Well, some idiots decide to break formation, thinking they could do more damage if we broke up the squad and sent multiple powerful strikes. Unfortunately, our commanding officer told them to get back into formation, a Fire Nation soldier who received nature's calling saw us and alerted the camp before we could strike."

Kegare closed his eyes and sighed heavily, "The resulting battle was…unorganized, to put it kindly." Toph remained silent, her eyes closed as she listened to her partner's story. Kegare closed his eyes as well as he began to recall the events of that night. "Lots of stupid choices were made by both sides. I provided defense during the fight, rather than actually attacking. Figured save as many lives as possible since there was no way that the battle would be ended quickly and cleanly. I tried to get everyone to retreat, but they were hell bent on completing the mission. Eventually, we lost enough numbers, and a small group of Fire Nation reinforcements showed up before we decided retreating was a good idea. When we returned to Ba Sing Se, the few surviving members of my team were tried for treason, which was the formal way of saying stupidity."

"On what charges," Toph shouted, rolling onto her front. "It's like your team intentionally startled the Fire Nation!"

"No, but we broke formation from the plan, defying the direct orders that we were given from one of the generals, and Long Feng himself." Toph's eyes opened and immediately narrowed into slits of hatred upon hearing that man's name. Kegare opened his eyes as well and continued, "Our insubordination also alerted the enemy, and got twenty five capable Earthbenders killed. The results of our actions weren't exactly in the best interests of the Kingdom." Toph scowled bitterly, rolling over onto her side before letting out a small huff of disapproval. "Or at least that's what Long Feng told our squad when I asked what charges. Everyone except my commanding officer was sentenced to be executed. I lucked out, because they found out I was only fifteen, and too young to be on the front lines. Long Feng figured that one, it would be bad if it got out an under aged kid got into the military via the Draft, making more people oppose it, and two if it got out that I did join the army and was executed, that could turn the people against him and the army. So instead, I was sent back home, dishonorably discharged from service."

"So why are you on the run from the Earth Kingdom forces now?"

"Well, now that I'm sixteen, Long Feng figures he can kill me now, throw my body out in the front lines, say I died in action before I start telling people the dirty little secret about how a fifteen year old joined the army and was sent out into the front lines. To him, I'm just a loose end. So I left before the Dai Li showed up, and my mom and sister moved to another town without telling anyone about it. I don't even know where they're at right now, and they don't know where I am."

"Really? I know where my parents are at least."

"It's safer for us if we don't know where the other is. Or even our friends from the village. That way Long Feng can't use anyone or anything to track us."

"Your family just thinks of everything huh?" Kegare shrugged, smiling a bit as he looked up at the ceiling. Toph let her arms lie stretched out on the bed. She closed her eyes and sighed, ready to go to sleep. "Wait…" The blind Earthbender's eyes reopened with a curious glint in them. "Does your name have anything to do with what happened in the military?"*

"My, aren't we the nosey little blind girl."

"The nosey little blind girl who is going to have you sleeping in the dirt if you don't answer her question!" Kegare sighed in annoyance and closed his eyes in some vague hope that he could shut Toph out. "Now tell me about your name."

"My real name or your degrading nickname you dubbed me with?"

"Your 'real' name Man-Boy."

"My parents just really didn't like me."

"You must LOVE sleeping six feet underground."

Kegare sighed again and tightened his shut eyes. Toph waited, shaking her foot impatiently. "It's more of a nickname I gave myself. I decided changing my name would help with the whole disappearing from Long Feng's sights thing. I may not be very patriotic, and I think a lot of the people in my squad on the Terra Team were idiots, but I still cared for them. They were like my brothers. And the fact I wasn't executed along with them…I think it makes me a bit of a disgrace in that regard."

"So what? You're running away to find some way to redeem yourself, and then you just hand yourself over to death?"

"No, not exactly. I'm not suicidal. I won't just roll over at let the Dai Li take me back to Long Feng to die."

"But you are looking for a way to redeem yourself," Toph asked.

"I'm looking for a way to make a difference. If I learned one thing from my time in the military, it's that we never accomplished anything. At least it never felt that way. It always seemed like we were beating our heads against the wall, doing the same thing, fighting the same faces, with no sign of victory in sight. And in the military, they didn't care about anything besides victory. It didn't matter how many lives you uprooted, as long as you got one tactical advantage, or one small victory against the Fire Nation, then it was worth it.

"That's why I wanted to try and make some type of small difference. I wanted to help people, to save lives, not to take them, or uproot, or ruin them. I wanted to make a change for the better."

"And if you become some type of hero to the common people around the Earth Kingdom, then Long Feng can't kill you without losing the support of the people?"

"Maybe I'm doing this out of the goodness of my heart," Kegare stated, "Is it so hard to believe I'm a good person?"

Silence lingered in the air. Kegare looked over at Toph before he rolled over in bed. He pulled up the blankets over his body and closed his eyes.

"There's no way you're a good person," Toph finally said.

Kegare groaned, putting a pillow over his head. On the other bed, Toph grinned widely for no other reason than she gave her new partner a goodnight pestering.

"Toph two, Man-Boy zero," the blind Earthbender whispered to herself happily.

"I'm dealing with you aren't I," Kegare finally spoke up after he removed the pillow from his head. Toph's brow furrowed in confusion. "I don't know many other people or creatures that would tolerate you for this long. Even the Spirits themselves would've been driven off by you." The blind Earthbender tilted her head to the side, her face twisted in insulted confusion. "Blind, hard-headed girl one, Kegare one."

"Wait, what happened to my two?"

"You lost that when I came up with that comeback," Kegare replied. "Now go to bed. You can be angry in the morning."

"I'm gonna kick your butt once I get enough sleep!"

"Looking forward to it," Kegare said sleepily with a long yawn at the end.

"Night Man-Boy."

"Goodnight Blind Girl."

*Kegare means 'disgrace,' 'uncleanness,' and/or 'impurity' in Japanese, according to a translation site I used. But basically the term is a very negative thing in Japanese, and is more specifically a Shinto religious term. Neat eh?

Hope you're enjoying the story, and leave a review on your way out =D