Ch 20- The Dance Begins
"What are you doing here?" Aang asked, eagerly.
"I live here," On Ji replied with a happy smile. "After the Avatar defeated Fire Lord Ozai, my father moved the whole family out here. He wanted to start fresh and to leave all the bad memories behind."
"People here have bad memories, too," Toph pointed out.
Aang seemed to remember she was there. "On Ji, this is Toph. Toph, this is On Ji."
"It's a pleasure to meet you," On Ji said, then bowed like she would have in the Fire Nation.
"Right back atcha."
"I can't believe you're here," Aang laughed.
Toph could feel the elevated heartbeat of the girl standing a little too close to Twinkles. The other two she had almost forgotten about, began to creep up slowly.
"I'm surprised to see you, too, Kuzon."
Twinkletoes and the annoyingly sugary sweet girl continued exchanging pleasantries. Next to them, Toph was quickly getting bored. She exhaled, loudly, to let them know her displeasure, but they kept right on yapping.
Unable to listen anymore, Toph crossed her arms. "You about done here, Twinkles, 'cause I ain't getting any younger and we still have stuff to do, remember?" She was hungry dammit.
"I'm sorry," On Ji apologized, "I didn't mean to keep you."
Ugh, of course she apologized.
"Don't worry, you're not," Aang replied, sending the earthbender a pointed glare.
"I actually have to get going, too. We're setting up a secret dance party for tomorrow night…" Toph didn't need to see the other girl to know she was blushing.
"Yeah, they were just telling us something like that," he motioned to the two girls standing behind him. "I think it's great!"
"You do?" On Ji's blush intensified. Toph could practically feel the heat pouring from the other girl's face. "I don't know if you heard but, we had one every chance we got after you left school. I've continued the tradition you started back in the Fire Nation here in Omashu." Toph almost gagged. "Maybe you'd like to come?"
"Yeah, sure! I'd love to!"
"Your girlfriend is more than welcome to come, too."
"What, oh, no, she's not my girlfriend," Aang stuttered at the same time Toph laughed, "Pfft, please!"
"Oh," On Ji sounded a lot happier now as she turned to Toph. "I do hope you'll come as well."
"We'll be there!" Aang replied before Toph had a chance to tell her what she could do with her secret dance party.
"Great, see you tomorrow," On Ji said, then took a tentative step to hug him. "We can catch up and you can tell me what you've been up to."
Toph almost laughed at the girl. It was just a hug, for earth's sake! Why was she reacting like she was? But then his heartbeat spiked, too...
Whatever. Toph walked away. The girl said it was nice to meet her or something, but Toph wasn't interested.
She'd only taken a few steps when Aang caught up with her. Toph figured he'd say something about how she could've been nicer. Well, she had a response all ready for him. But, he didn't say anything about it.
"You think Momo and Appa finished all the noodles?" he asked and she could hear it in his voice. He sounded happy, more upbeat than usual. Probably had that goofy smile plastered on his face, too.
"I'm not hungry," she snapped, turned on her heel, and walked in the opposite direction.
"Toph? Where you going?"
"Don't worry about it, Kuzon!"
...
The next morning, Toph was lying on Appa, facing up towards the sky. Her eyes were closed and her hands were tucked behind her head. She hadn't slept well at all and even got up before sunrise. After earthbending until the ground began to warm up, she was still feeling on edge. She wasn't sure why. Anyway, being on the big fuzzy bison was calming her some.
Or it was until she heard Aang approach. Then, her bad mood returned. He was carrying a lot of stuff, but she didn't offer to help.
"I'm back!" Aang announced. Appa and Momo each greeted him in their own way. Toph continued as though she hadn't heard him. He could tell something was bothering her, but didn't press her. "Hey Toph, you're not still sleeping, are you? You'll never guess what I got! After meditating I went flying and there was a small marketplace not too far from the pond we found yesterday," he informed her even though she had yet to acknowledge anything he said. "I bought some food there and they even had the bells Suki wanted!"
"Congratulations," she droned. She had planned on feigning sleep, but decided against it at the last second.
Aang came closer. "I brought you some lunch."
"Not hungry," she muttered, but her treacherous stomach betrayed her and growled at that very moment.
Climbing onto Appa's back, Aang sat down next to her. "It's those pork-chicken noodles you like."
Ooh, she did like those.
"Gimme," she cried, trying to snatch the bowl from him.
His quickness surprised her. "Not until you tell me what's wrong."
"Eh, I'm not that hungry," she lied and laid down again. This time with her back to him.
"Come on, Toph. I know something's bothering you." He waited for her to face him, but she didn't. "Fine, don't tell me," he said, sounding disappointed. Still, he placed the bowl down by her head. "But you should eat something anyway. I don't know if they'll have food at the dance party."
Toph sat up, snatching the bowl. "I'm not going."
"What? Why not?"
Holding her food carefully, she jumped off Appa. "Maybe 'cause I don't want to," she said.
"But it'll be fun!" Aang insisted, jumping off too. "Please, Toph! We don't have to stay there the whole time. And we can leave whenever you want."
She started eating the pork-chicken noodles.
"I did you a favor back in Gaoling, now you can help me out," he barbed.
Toph sputtered. "What're you talking about? What favor?"
"Aren't we Earth Rumble IX's Tag Team Champions?"
The crowd went wild!
"Didn't I tell you, Twinkletoes?" Toph yelled over the deafening roar.
Aang laughed along with her. They won. They actually won! Quite easily, too. Well, except for the injury to his eyes.
"We gotta celebrate!" she said, taking her belt and carefully handing the other to Aang. When she took his hand in hers and raised both in the air, which led the already boisterous cheering to escalate further, Aang understood why she loved fighting in the ring.
They stood there, side by side, enjoying the moment. She couldn't have done it without him, she realized, squeezing his hand. Laughter bubbled up inside her when he squeezed back.
Toph opened her mouth to argue, but shut it just as quick. He could see her thinking about it, weighing her options. So, he decided to nudge her in the right direction.
"Of course, if you don't want to go because you can't dance…"
Toph knew exactly what he was doing and though she usually didn't fall for such goading, she couldn't stop her mouth from rising to the challenge.
"I can so dance!"
"I don't know, Toph," he was smiling now, "You didn't at the dance party back in the Fire Nation."
"That's 'cause no one asked me!" she growled, then quickly wondered how bright it was and if he could see her cheeks turn pink.
"I'll ask you at this one," he promised, oblivious to her reaction. He didn't get a chance to ask anyone after he danced with Katara because the headmaster showed up.
Though he wasn't lying, she snorted nonetheless. "I don't need a pity dance from you, Twinkletoes, I can get my own dancing partners."
"Great! You can show me your moves in a few hours!" he smiled and left her to eat her noodles.
"Yeah...great," she mumbled and chewed her food.
...
Usually practicing her bending helped Toph's sort through her thoughts, but not that time. Frustrated, she plopped down against the closest tree trunk she found.
What would be the purpose of going except for Twinkles? None. Absolutely none. And yet, ugh, she was still going to do it, wasn't she?
Fine, she would go simply because she did kind of owe Aang for dragging him into the Tag Team tournament without asking. And because they were friends and he had asked her. But that was it. There was no ulterior motive or anything
Standing from her comfy spot against the trunk, Toph returned to their campsite. The damp and sweaty clothing she still wore brushed against her skin and oddly enough her first thought was she should probably change.
Toph paused where she stood and couldn't help shake her head at the irony of the situation. Who would have thought she'd want to look...presentable? Honestly, before returning home, she wouldn't have cared. Time was she would've simply showed up with the very messy bun she was sporting (more than half her hair was falling out of it), while wearing slightly smelly clothes from the previous night's pond soaked wrestling match and earthbending all day. After all, since she was only going to a cave full of people she didn't know, it shouldn't have mattered. It seemed that perhaps some of her mother's advice had actually gotten through her thick skull and stuck.
Of course it didn't hurt that her mom may have made a few valid points concerning hygiene, not that Toph would admit it to anyone. Or it might've been that her mom actually treated her like a person and not a helpless blind girl anymore that made her pay attention. In any case, some of Poppy Beifong's advice actually made sense. Some.
If Sparky was there, he wouldn't have said anything, but they would both know what he was thinking. Bemused, Toph shook her head again as she searched her satchel. Trying to find a dry set of clothes along with the hair brush she knew her mother snuck into her things was done quickly and she was ready to go soon after.
...
After waiting what seemed like hours, though it wasn't nearly that long, and not hearing from Toph, Aang assumed she wasn't going with him. As he tied the headband around his head, he couldn't help the disappointment he felt. With a sigh he walked back to camp to inform Toph, Appa, and Momo that he was leaving to the secret dance party.
To his surprise, Toph was there.
"Took you long enough! Momo was about to go looking for you."
He thought she would've taken off into the woods by now. To earthbend her frustrations again or something. But to his even greater surprise, she was preparing snacks for Appa and Momo instead and yet that wasn't what had Aang blinking numerous times trying to comprehend if what he thought he was seeing was what he was actually seeing.
Toph had changed. Not only changed, but fixed her hair. Toph had changed and fixed her hair. Toph never changed or fixed her hair. Not unless Katara told her it was time for her weekly bath, which was always met with great resistance. But right then, Toph looked clean and smelled nice and and...
"What?" she asked, walking over to him. She touched her hair just to make sure the braid's shape felt like what her mom usually created for her. "It's crooked, isn't it?" Toph groaned, suddenly self-conscious that she messed it up.
"Uh, no. Not at all," Aang stammered. The braid, a simple, three-stand one, came over her right shoulder. That along with the pale green and yellow trimmed number she wore made her look so different. Older, somehow...and feminine, but still like Toph. The tunic had no sleeves and was cinched at the waist. She had tied a belt around it, which was more for decoration he guessed. The dark pants she wore completed the outfit and all put together, she looked rather pretty.
Toph was waiting for him to say more, but he didn't. Instead, his heart was doing that weird thing those girls' hearts were doing yesterday, when they were talking to him. She didn't know what to make of that.
"You okay there?"
"You've changed," he replied, sounding like he needed to catch his breath. Aang didn't just mean her clothing or hairstyle either.
"Well duh," she answered, "My clothes were wet and sweaty. Unlike you, Twinkles, I can't waterbend or airbend myself dry, remember?"
Whether she misunderstood on purpose or not he couldn't know, but Aang chose to let it slide. "Guess not," he chuckled instead.
"So, you ready to go?" Toph asked because he kept looking at her without saying anything and it was making her feel weird.
Her question snapped him out of whatever daze he was in.
"Wait, you're coming with me?"
"You asked me to, didn't you?" she nearly growled. Had he changed his mind already? Not that she suddenly wanted to go or anything.
A huge smile erupted across his face. "This is going to be so much fun!"
Reluctantly, she smiled back. "It better be."
...
This is so boring, Toph thought. The music was okay, but everything else sucked. The people, the drinks, everything. Worse, Aang was too busy talking to that On Ji chick or dancing with those two girls they met by the pond. And yes, he would dance with both at the same time. All the while she was sitting alone on one of the benches she earthbended for the occasion. Because although those girls were supposed to set up the previous night, when Aang and Toph showed up, the cave was still just an empty cave. Apparently there were ribbons and candles hanging on the walls, but she couldn't see those.
Oh and Toph could've been dancing too, she'd been asked, twice, but something was really bothering her. Actually, Twinkletoes was bothering her. Everything he did and didn't do was bugging her.
When he took a break from all the girls following him around to sit with her and talk, even for a few minutes because wasn't he the popular one, that annoyed her. When he was too busy to hang out with her, that annoyed her too. When she heard his laughter ring throughout the large cave, that really annoyed her.
Replaying one of the short conversations they had was only pissing her off more.
"Your girl, she makes Sugar Queen look like Ozai."
"She's not my girl," Aang said, clearing his throat. But the thought of having a girl made him turn red.
"She sure wants to be," Toph pointed out, sounding utterly bored.
Aang looked up at her, "You think?"
She gave him a look for daring to question her. "I know, airhead."
Later, when Twinkles and some new girl swirled past her table, Toph couldn't help herself, she bended the cave floor so that Aang's dancing partner squeaked as she flew face first to the ground. Toph's satisfaction was short lived however. Twinkletoes helped the girl up and then continued to hold her hand as if she was some kind of infant unable to stand on her own. All Toph wanted to do was chuck rocks at his head.
Another thing, Toph didn't get what all the fuss was about. She had danced before. Not with a boy her age, though her instructors had been male. Anyway, she didn't get what the big deal was. Why were the girls giggling and gushing like idiots? Why were the boys nervous, blushing dunderheads?
When Toph sat down at the table closest to the band with the sole purpose of being away from everyone else, and to try and enjoy the music, various groups of girls Toph had never met before sat with her to ask about Aang. The first question was always the same: are you his girlfriend? She deliberated stopping the music to address the rather large crowd and inform them all once and for all that no, she was not Aang's girlfriend and yes, she was well aware he was a super sweet, nice guy (though she wouldn't have used those words), and finally no, she didn't realize how cute he was (she was blind!). After the fourth group approached her, Toph was seriously considering making up outlandish lies to shut them all up. But...she didn't want to ruin his night.
Fed up with all of them, she stood to leave. As she was stepping out of the cave, she ran into one of the noodlebrains using the stupid wooden path leading to the entrance. The collision was a painful one.
"Watch it!" she growled, too angry to sooth the aching throb that started at her forehead and wound its way around her entire head.
"I'm sorry, it's my fault-"
"Yeah, it is."
"-I wasn't paying attention." He offered his hand to help her up, but she stood on her own. "Hey, do I know you?"
"Doubt it," she muttered under her breath, but when he stepped off the stupid wooden boards that essentially blocked her sight and onto the soft earth, her face snapped up to his.
"Do you remember me now?"
...
When Aang looked over at Toph's table, she wasn't there. Gray eyes searched the crowded cave to no avail. Guilt and concern (but mostly guilt) chewed on his insides. He would feel terrible if she got bored and left. He would feel even worse if she'd been gone a while and he only just noticed.
The truth was Aang hadn't meant to ignore her most of the night. Just as he hadn't meant to be flattered by all the attention the girls were lavishing on him. At first he just thought they were all really friendly, but eventually he realized it was more than that.
And it...it felt nice. People (mostly girls) wanted to talk to him about something other than his being the Avatar. It was so refreshing and liberating not having to worry about what he said and to who without inadvertently sparking an international crisis. There in the cave, he could just be another regular teenager, doing teenagerish things, like hanging out at a secret dance party, talking to pretty girls, and dancing with them. It was fun! Well, it had been fun. Now, his friend was missing.
Aang excused himself from On Ji and the group of girls which seemed to be following him everywhere, to look for Toph. She wasn't with the band, who were taking a break. She wasn't in the restroom. She wasn't anywhere in the cave, so he went outside.
That was where Aang found her, standing on the wooden path she claimed to dislike so much, talking to...some guy. Here he was getting more and more worried by the second and there she was having a conversation and why was she smiling like that? And...and was she laughing?
The concern and guilt in the pit of Aang's stomach shifted, turned into something else, something he hadn't felt in a very long time. But that...that couldn't be right.
The more likely possibility was that Aang was simply upset because he had been worried and Toph was laughing it up with some stranger. The least she could have done was told him she was leaving.
Growing more and more irritated, Aang didn't want to watch them anymore, but he couldn't look away. His stomach dropped as the boy inched closer until he was standing too close, invading Toph's personal space. Aang frowned, Toph really shouldn't be standing on wood where she couldn't see...
She seemed more than alright though. Toph laughed again, said his name, Ohev. It sounded familiar, but Aang couldn't place it.
Gray eyes continued to watch intently, waiting for her to shove the guy off, earthbend him to the Fire Nation, something, but she didn't move. Not towards Ohev, but not away from him either.
Then the guy had the nerve to lean in further and whisper something in her ear. Toph did the unthinkable then, she blushed. Blushed!
Who did that guy think he was!? Aang didn't like to hit people and he was a firm believer that violence was never the answer, but in that moment, his thoughts were not his own. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he wanted to punch anyone so badly.
More than a little aggravated, Aang felt his hands go numb. They grew heavy at his side. He felt a little sick, too, and was overwhelmed with the need to be somewhere else. Turning on his heel, he returned inside.
...
The girls were as animated as they had been earlier, they talked and even flirted with him, they asked him question after question and wanted to dance with him again, but Aang wasn't feeling it anymore. Only On Ji seemed to notice.
"Are you okay, Kuzon?" she asked when the music began again and the others left to dance.
"Yeah, I'm having a lot of fun," he replied, offering a weak smile.
It was clear she didn't believe him, but there was no judgment in her brown eyes. "Do you want to talk about it?" she offered.
No, he didn't want to talk about Toph. "Maybe we can sit this one out?" he countered.
"Okay," she smiled at him and they found an empty table near the entrance.
After waiting fruitlessly for him to say something, On Ji made a comment about the decorations thinking a neutral topic might be in order, but Aang had stopped listening. All his attention was drawn to the girl who chose that precise moment to walk in...unfortunately still in the company of that guy.
Feeling inexplicably annoyed, Aang didn't watch them dance, keeping his eyes trained on the table even as a little voice in the back of his head urged him to turn around. On Ji didn't fail to notice the way the corners of his mouth turned down. She attempted to begin a conversation several times, but nothing she said could draw Aang out of the sour mood he was suddenly in.
Why was it bothering him so much? he wondered. Aggravating him unlike anything he could remember? He didn't want to feel this way. He had been having such a great time earlier...
Someone came to ask On Ji to dance and although she refused initially, Aang smiled at her and insisted she go. She did, reluctantly, but as she walked away to the middle of the dance floor, brown eyes turned back. Kuzon was standing now, leaning against the edge of the table, his arms were crossed over his chest and he was watching someone or something with an intensity she couldn't comprehend. Curious, she followed his line of sight which was aimed at...his friend? On Ji sighed to herself, understanding.
The music continued. Everyone in the cave was dancing, everyone except Aang.
...
"Who woulda guessed you'd be right about something?" Toph grinned, teasing him. The secret dance party hadn't been that bad after all.
"What are you talking about?" Aang muttered, still irritated.
Twinkletoes had hardly said anything since they left the party. It had been one word answers, if anything at all.
"What's with you?" Toph snapped.
"Nothing."
"Don't gimme that!" she growled. "You've been sulking since we left. Most of those girls asked if you would write to them and you pretty much ignored every last one. So what happened? That girl of yours hook up with someone else?"
"She's not my girl, Toph!"
His outburst pretty much confirmed it. Toph hadn't meant to nearly smile. It wasn't relief she was feeling either.
"It happens," she declared, no longer sounding upset.
"What does?"
It had taken him two whole songs, but Aang finally remembered him. The boy who had been talking to Toph, who danced with her, who made her blush. Ohev. He had been with Chong and the other traveling nomads the last time they saw him.
Back when they were twelve, Aang had been happy for Toph when the kid kissed her cheek because she had been happy. But, it wasn't happiness he was feeling at the moment. Not that they found each other again, not that they were having a good time. It was something else, something he had great difficulty putting into words.
"What happens?" he asked once more, simply to stop himself from following that train of thought.
Toph ceased walking, her bangs falling over her eyes again.
"You like someone," she explained with a shrug. "But they don't feel the same way."
"I- that's not what this is!" he replied, startled. That wasn't it, he mentally repeated.
"If you say so," came her reply as she walked on, undoing the messy braid only to redo it again.
That's not it at all, Aang argued with himself as he watched her. It couldn't be.
AN: Ohev shows up in one of those Avatar books from long ago, Love Potion #8. That's all I'll say for now. ;)