Chapter Twenty! Woooo! Twenty chapters since I first started this story? Wow.

Chapter Twenty

Day Seventeen

The rain poured down hard, pelting the metal deck. It sent deep vibrations into the metal, disturbing Toph's sight. Her feet shuffled uncomfortably as she struggled to get a sense of where she was heading. She absolutely hated it. As if hearing her distaste, the rain pounded down even harder.

Exhaling loudly, Toph mentally cursed Sokka for keeping her up so late. She had made the mistake of going to one of his 'meetings', in which Sokka speaks with Hakoda and the others about how 'great it is that the world thinks that Aang is dead'. At this particular 'meeting', Sokka excitedly explained a new invasion plan. Toph didn't listen, and zoned out the entire time.

Now, it was past midnight. Toph could tell by the way the air chilled her skin, drawing out goose bumps. She trudged across the deck, muttering under her breath, her bun of hair growing soaked in less than a minute. Her bones were wet, her clothes dripping, and she was shivering. In fact, Toph really wasn't sure she was heading across the deck. The rain sent vibrations down, making it hard for her to tell where she was going. For all she knew, she could be taking her death trip off the side of the boat.

Damn rain.

She cursed mentally, clenching her fists as she shuffled across the hard metal ground. The pounding of the rain echoed off the deck, sending shivers through her spine. Finally, she felt the rain cease to stop soaking her as she entered the doorway. The drops of rain still furiously beat down, but at least she wasn't still getting wet.

Toph ran her fingers through her hair, kneading the knots out before smoothing it down. She wrung the water from her clothing before shaking her head, sending drops of water onto the ground. Sighing, she blindly felt her way down the hallway, biting her lip as she nearly ran into the wall numerous times.

The rain made her blind. Well, Toph was already blind, but the rain made her literally feel helpless. She couldn't see with her eyes, but with her feet. And this damn precipitation wasn't allowing her to do so. The earthbender trudged slowly, trying to sense any kinds of movement. Once she thought she had reached someone she would stop, only she grunt in anger as she realized the thought heartbeat was only the rain.

Her hands nimbly felt the wall, and suddenly her hand rested on a doorknob. Her brows came together as she tried to see if it was her room…It was on the right side of the hallway, which was the same side her room was on. She shifted the weight onto the balls of her feet as she attempted to see if anyone was inside. From what she could hear or see, nobody was.

Finders-keepers. Toph thought with a smirk, yet it disappeared as her thoughts scattered. What if it was just a storage room? That would be embarrassing. But she didn't care. Her hand encased the metal knob as she open the door swiftly, stepping inside with such confidence that only she could radiate…even if she was silently hoping that she hadn't stepped into some storage room with monster rat shit everywhere.

As soon as she stepped into the room, the pounding of the rain came into an immediate echo, leaving her with some breathing space as her 'sight' came back slightly. The vibrations sent by the rain were still there, of course, but thankfully they were ceased to a mere rumble. Thank you Spirits, for giving me my sight back. Toph nearly snorted with her sly thought.

Instead, she began to move across the room, but stopped, tilting her head slightly as she shifted her feet. A steady thump-thump-thump of a heartbeat, maybe two, shimmed through the metal ground and into her feet, alerting her senses. The first thought that came into her mind and actually stuck was someone's in here.

Moving instinctually, Toph merely clenched her fist and felt the delicious crack of metal as it bended willingly. Her palm opened again as the metal coiled around the trespasser.

While the metal was wrapped around the person, Toph had a better sense of who exactly it was. Her shoulders slumped in pure anger and embarrassment at her stupid actions as she released her.

"I'm sorry, Sparkles." Toph sighed, closing her sightless eyes in agony. The second time since she had met Sparkles, she had mistaken her for someone else. It was pure pain to have mistakes like this. It was also pure pain to not have thought up a better nickname for the airbender, simply referring to her as 'Sparkles'.

There was silence. Toph hesitated. Sparkles-Vinca-was in the room. Why wasn't she talking? Did she hurt her? Shit.

"Vinca?" The earthbender ventured, taking a step forward.

Of course, she remembered, she wasn't talking. Vinca had been mute for the past two weeks.

"Oh, I forgot. You aren't talking." Toph cooed, a teasing aura coming onto her. She focused on Vinca's heartbeat to feel it beating hard, like she was embarrassed. A sly smile formed on her lips.

More silence.

Toph continued speaking, "Anyway, as you can see, I wandered into your room…Can you be a dear and help me to mine?" She chuckled. Vinca's heartbeat relaxed as she realized that Toph was now teasing.

Still, there was silence.

Now, Toph was growing tired and irritated. "Okay. I'll just go try to find my room. I might fall off the edge of the ship, but that's okay…"

There was a sigh, and Toph could almost hear the smile in Sparkle's voice, "Yes, Toph," Her voice came out raspy and quiet. She raised it, "I'll escort you to your room."

The earthbender smiled in triumph. She had gotten Sparkles to talk-take that Katara!-and now, as she sensed Vinca walk over, she got the sense that someone else was in the room.

"Who else is in here?" The other heartbeat was slow, as if he or she was asleep.

There was a hesitant shuffle, "I-I…um…" Vinca stammered, and Toph could almost see a feverish blush rising to the airbender's cheeks. "I…well…"

"Spit it out, Sparkles!"

A nervous laugh, "It's…well, Aang…this is his room?" Her voice came out as a squeak as she hurriedly opened the metal door.

Toph merely raised an eyebrow, but didn't press. "Ok. To my room. I'm tired. And you should probably hit the hay as well, Sparkles."

Toph was a curious individual. She wouldn't let on to that. Instead, she let everyone she met know that she was a badass girl-someone not to be messed with. Even though it was all true, Toph couldn't help but wonder what Vinca was doing in Twinkletoes room.

So, she went to find out.

The next night it was still raining, but not quite as hard, but just a mere sprinkle. Toph went from her room to Twinkles, pressing her ear up against the closed door, squinting her sightless eyes in concentration.

An amused smile crept onto her face as she heard Vinca talking to the Avatar. Her voice was smooth and sweet. Toph couldn't tell what exactly she was talking about, but knowing what Vinca was doing in Aang's room smothered her curiosity and she went back to bed. However, after sensing Vinca walk back to her own bedroom sometime in the light hours in the morning, Toph went back to Aang's room.

She couldn't help but noticed that Aang's heart beat faster when Vinca was around and slower when she wasn't.

AN: Sorry for such the long wait for this chapter...well, not exactly 'long', but much longer than you guys are used to. Haha (: Anyway, I'm going to wait until I get at least 5 reviews (or more, more would be devine) until I post a new chapter. I will do this for every chapter, but don't worry, I don't usually keep to my word when it comes to posting chapters. Knowing me, I'll most likely post a new chapter out of excitement because, well, if it makes sense, that's what I do. (ahem) Doing this 'five reviews until new chapter thing' will allow me to have a sort of 'break', because I kind of need it. School is hard, and track season just started and so has soccer, and I have both pratically every day. Along with homework, its hard for me to come up with an inspiration for a new chapter. But, never fear, I won't leave you all alone in the dark with this story. More chapters are on the way!

I'd also like to thank everyone for all the reviews. It's nice to see how people are liking the story, and they give me inspiration to write more. Also, thank you everyone for following this story, even through all the 'blah!' moments. I appreciate you guys! I love checking my e-mail and seeing the alerts, such as "insertsomeusernamehere has favorited your story" and ect.! It really makes my day. I get a little happy tingling sensation when I see those!

Aha'. I feel guilty with this whole 5 Reviews thing, like I'm bribing you guys or what not. But I've promised myself that I'll do it, and I'll see how it goes.

As always, thank you all! (: