Hey guys. Haven't updated in a while. Sorry. Holiday season, you know? Please read and review, and enjoy.

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Inuria

Chapter 5

Zuko had just blocked a large array of rocks and earth when a large, almost perfectly round, chunk the size of his head slammed into his stomach. With a grunt, the Firelord stumbled back a few steps as the chunk of rock fell to the ground.

Toph gave a snort of amusement as she gracefully slid her feet along the flat ground and hurled another blow at him.

Zuko dove and rolled forwards underneath the new array of attacks, then popped up in front of his friend.

"The Firelord never requests to spar," Toph commented with some slight amusement. "Normally it's the other way around." She finished off with a stomp and the ground beneath Zuko fell away.

He jumped and aimed some blasts of fire which the earthbender easily blocked. Zuko gave an expert roundhouse kick and a stream of flames licked their way through the air towards Toph who collected the earth around her in a sort of shell.

Zuko's eyes widened as he saw a large number of sharp projectiles hurtling through the leftover smoke towards him and took the opportunity to get close to his friend again.

"I needed to talk to you about something important," Zuko said only loud enough for Toph's brilliant ears to hear.

She spun with an arm held parallel to the ground and her hand in a fist and another well aimed rock hurtled towards Zuko with frightening speed. He jumped, spun in the air, and brought his heel down upon the rock breaking it in two with a neat line of flame and a puff of smoke.

Toph suddenly disappeared under the earth to pop up next to him and throw the ground from underneath his feet. The earthbender caught Zuko by the collar of his shirt before his face made contact with the ground.

"I don't normally carry out favors," she said to him with a slight smile. Toph tilted her head a little. "But you've got me curious."

Toph threw him back and the Firelord spun in the air, neatly landing on his feet and sliding backwards a bit on the now loose dirt. Zuko chanced a glance towards the water tribe siblings to see them bickering about something. He saw Sokka flail his arms in the air like a crazed chicken and Katara immediately face palming herself in exasperation.

Zuko focused back on his task at hand. It was true he normally didn't challenge people to spar. He never said no to a request, but he was hardly ever the one to request it unless he was highly stressed or angry or even depressed. Even then he preferred to take a personal balloon to the far off mountains where he could vent his emotions alone. His uncle was the only one who knew that Zuko did that, though. But even sparring against Toph voluntarily was something new. His high and mighty Firelord pride (along with the old Zuko pride as well) could hardly take Toph kicking his butt almost every time they sparred. So far he'd beaten her twice before. And that was the two matches directly after he had made the rule: 'no metalbending.'

But, Zuko thought as he fired a few more attacks, this was necessary. For his and the Fire Nation as a whole's well-being.

He sprinted towards Toph and gave a mighty leap as far as he could with a boost of flames from his feet. After landing neatly behind her, he bent down and did a simple leg sweep before her sharp senses could react to his presence on the earth. She tumbled to the ground with a grunt, and pulled him down to the ground as well so that his hands were on either side of her head, propping him up so that he was looking down at her face upside down.

Her pale green eyes 'looked' up at him and she had an eyebrow raised in curiosity. Zuko felt his lips pull back in a small smile. The earthbender's cheekiness and unpredictable behavior was entirely contagious. And it took him back to when the gang was traveling around the world ready to face Ozai in his crazy rampage of power.

"You could be saving an entire Nation." Zuko paused and then decided to add: "And a Firelord."

Toph set her hands underneath his arms and with a strong tug and a push of the earth, took Zuko by surprise and the Firelord tumbled forwards, off balance. He gave a surprised cry and ungracefully fell to the ground beside his friend.

"I'm in," Toph said, barely out of breath and hardly scratched.

Zuko lifted his head only to drop it again as he half groaned, half chuckled in his successful mission. Though he was going to be sore the next day.

"Two miles south of the Palace's docks. A large rock with an emblem. Keep an eye on it tonight for me," Zuko breathed softly so that only Toph would hear.

Toph merely gave a small smile in response then all of a sudden socked him in his side. Zuko grunted, rolled onto his side, and curled into a ball, holding the spot where he had been hit. Toph began to laugh. "Oh, I missed this! I forgot how fun this was!"

Inwardly Zuko was praising the earthbender's ability to pretend she and him were interacting differently than they really were. To anyone else watching, the two friends were just enjoying each other's company, making up for lost time.

"I'm going to be bruised tomorrow," Zuko managed to get out as he slowly stood on his feet.

Toph easily rose as well with her trademark grin, and the sixteen year old gave a small laugh. "I don't think either of us are surprised, your highness." The way she addressed him was obviously mocking and joking around with him and Zuko merely chuckled in response.

The two approached the water tribe siblings who had apparently either resolved their argument or just agreed to let the issue go. Katara looked up at Zuko with a questioning glance before the expression was replaced by one of annoyance when Sokka began to talk.

"Zuko, tell Katara that fire-pansies are real and in fact highly poisonous!"

Zuko blinked and stared at the young man in amazement. "How are you so . . .-"

"Amazingly masculine? Brilliant? Clever?" Sokka interrupted.

Toph rolled her eyes. "Spacious," she said instead as Katara covered her mouth to stifle a giggle.

Sokka sniffed and pulled out his boomerang, then began stroking it. "You're my only friend, Boomerang."

Zuko snorted then swayed a little as his head went momentarily light. He braced himself with a hand on Toph's shoulder as Katara rose to her feet in concern.

"I'm fine," Zuko said unconvincingly. He took a deep breath and steadied himself as Toph remained planted in order to let him get a grip on himself. For once her lack of sentimentalism was helpful.

Zuko shook his head to clear it and slowly took his hand off of Toph's shoulder. The earthbender merely grunted when his weight leaned heavily on her only to push off in one sudden action.

"I just need some time to myself." Zuko paused and glanced at Toph, avoiding Katara's scrutinizing gaze. He knew that if he looked into those blue eyes of hers, he'd tell her everything he wasn't supposed to. "Remember," he said softly to Toph as he made his way inside the palace, wincing with every other step.

As he went in, he couldn't help but think about what the man had said the other night. About the omnipresence of whatever secret organization he was a part of. That's when Zuko realized how much of a problem this was. That's when it all sank in. He couldn't trust anyone. Not fully. Not even the friends he had brought here himself.

"What was that all about?" Sokka asked aloud.

Katara stood still, obviously thinking to herself about whatever Zuko was going through and his refusal to confide in her.

Toph stood where she had been standing and where Zuko had leaned on her for support. She knew that Zuko had asked for her help in order to ease whatever worries and anxieties he had about whatever it was.

Toph curled her toes on the smooth and clean tile. She could feel Sokka shift where he was sitting against the large column and braced herself for the question she knew he was going to ask.

"What are you supposed to remember?"

The question came from a different voice. A more feminine voice. Toph felt Katara shift so that she was facing her.

"I . . . don't think I'm allowed to say," Toph said softly. She then rolled her shoulders. She wasn't one for questioning. "I need to fix this courtyard though."

Katara grabbed her shoulder as Toph's back turned to her and the earthbender felt dread seep into her.

A few years ago she wouldn't have worried about the possibility of lying to someone, especially someone she actually knew. But now that she'd made such good friends, and now that the basis of their relationship was full-hearted trust, Toph knew that she wouldn't be able to lie off the top of her head. Especially not to Katara.

Toph concentrated for a second on the earth, to soothe her mind. She could see the guards patrolling the palace and the courtyard itself. She could see Katara standing behind her, ready to help and ready to satisfy her curiosity. She could also see Sokka who was now on his feet, earnestly waiting for her response to Katara's question.

Toph faced Katara squarely. "To be honest I don't know. But," she said quickly in order to cut Katara's unasked questions off, "I do know that Zuko will tell you whatever it is whenever he's ready to. I don't think I should be the one to tell his secrets."

Katara paused. "If his life is in danger, or even yours . . . you would tell me then, wouldn't you?"

"Toph, you know we're here for you if you need us. You don't have to hide anything," Sokka added softly, his silly persona replaced with that of the water tribe leader.

Toph paused then nodded. "You two go ahead and go in for dinner. I'll be there after I fix this place up."

The water tribe siblings were obviously waiting for something more to be said, but Toph said nothing else. Reluctantly, they then went inside the palace.

Toph let out a breath she hadn't known she had been holding. Then she decided to distract herself with fixing up the place.

She punched her fingers into the stone and curled them, flattening out the rippled surfaces, then stood up and stomped the ground to even out the little dents and craters in the ground. As she began to clear out the rocks and stones and chunks of earth, her mind wandered.

She was supposed to be watching a rock for who knows how long. She did know that she was supposed to go out whenever night fell, that much was clear from what Zuko had told her.

A rock with an emblem. She hadn't 'seen' such a thing in all of her visits to the Fire Nation. And to watch something she hadn't known existed for whatever . . . it set her on edge. She had heard the crashes and felt the movements of the assassins in Zuko's room, even three hallways down and two floors up. If this rock watching was anything related to last night, she knew that this was dangerous.

Toph sighed as she overviewed her cleanup job. Zuko would be pleased. The last time she had been left to clean up, she hadn't done it properly in a rush to get somewhere.

A sudden movement made her pause. A pair of footsteps . . . a pair of feet that she hadn't ever encountered before. They were light and trained, but not as much so as Twinkle Toes'. They were deliberate, but not as much as Zuko's. Sort of uneasy and cautious, but not as careful as an intruder would be. And yet . . . this pair of feet seemed awfully familiar. Like something lost in a far off dream.

Well. This intruder was still an intruder and though the person moved with cautiousness, they also moved with confidence. This told Toph that whoever this was, they had been in the palace before.

She lightly stomped the ground and felt the vibrations carry up the walls of the courtyard, up the columns, over the railings and through the halls of the vast palace. The sheer size nearly overwhelmed her her first time within it and she had counted on focusing solely on one of her friends whenever she walked the halls. But now, she knew exactly what to expect - and what to look for.

"C'mon, c'mon . . .," she muttered impatiently as she waited to feel the person's retreating steps. Suddenly she sensed them again and gave a triumphant smirk. "Gotcha."

With a bound, and a push of the earth, Toph was flying over the railing of the second floor balcony and in front of a large door which she pushed open. The earthbender raced through the halls, the carpet only a minor hinderance in her pursuit.

Toph turned another corner and paused. Whoever it was was really close . . . if only she could -

Suddenly the footsteps disappeared and Toph was left standing alone in a long, vast, red-carpeted hallway. She stomped her foot again and followed the vibrations, but nothing out of the ordinary showed itself to her. Even things below the palace's foundations and between every wall - all of it was revealed and not a single thing out of the ordinary caught her attentions.

Toph huffed in frustration, blowing her bangs out of her eyes for a second, only for them to flop back over her eyes. "This is really annoying."

No one just disappeared. And there was no way the person flew. Though large, the corridors were small enough that one couldn't just fly. Even if they were an Airbender (unlikely), the breeze would've swirled through the halls and she would've felt something.

Toph snorted and, recognizing someone's presence behind her, whirled around in a fighters stance, instinctively launching a brick in the person's general direction.

"Oof - Miss Bei Fong..."

Toph slowly relaxed. An imperial guard just patrolling the hallways. She should've known.

"What are you doing in this part of the palace? Master Katara has been looking for you for a while. The whole place has been looking."

Toph shrugged and turned her face towards he ground. "I didn't know I was wandering for so long. I just had to look into something, that's all."

The guard she knew wanted to ask more questions but the earthbender merely stalked off towards the dining room where she knew her friends were waiting for her. After dinner, she had a mission to complete and a promise to fulfill.

So far the only thing that was interesting about watching this hunk of rock was . . . Toph drew a smiley face in the sand. There was nothing interesting about this job. Toph, in her moment of irritation at the Firelord and herself, promptly turned the smiley face into a frowny face.

Toph sighed. Zuko had obviously placed money by the rock. Then he had left and returned in time for dinner. Afterwards, she had trudged down here, encasing herself in a makeshift hollowed out rock. From the outside she was a giant boulder. Inside she could keep tabs on the entire beach. But so far the only movement was the waves against the shore. And even those weren't violent enough to keep her entertained.

She knew for a fact the money was still by the rock. She could see it.

Toph banged her head once against the edge of the hollowed out rock in frustration. All she wanted to do was sleep tonight. Was that too much to ask? Tomorrow, noblemen and women were pouring in from all over the world for the annual celebration and Zuko wanted her to watch a rock.

The master earthbender tilted her head to the side to think. She made a deal with herself. One more hour. If nothing happened, then she'd assume nothing would and she'd leave to go get some sleep. It was already somewhere around midnight anyway.

Toph yawned and began to let her mind wander.

What had the assassins wanted with Zuko? Obviously it had to be more than money. And more than Zuko's death because the men practically let him walk away unscathed. And if Zuko was afraid to talk about anything regarding the men and their deal, it meant that the water tribe siblings and herself were in danger. That told Toph that these people were in a lot of places where they could keep tabs on the Firelord.

Well it didn't matter too much. Sokka would follow Zuko to the end of the earth. Katara would too, in fact she would be willing to sacrifice an awful lot for the Firelord.

Toph smirked to herself. The Sugar Queen and the Firelord were beginning to develop and interesting twist in their relationship. Since her feet touched the ground, Toph felt their heart rates race whenever they were around each other. And she didn't miss the way Miss Fussy Britches tried to stick to Mr. Firelord all the time. Of course, knowing Zuko he'd be in complete denial about such feelings. What, with his pride and honor and such. Falling for and pursuing your best friend's ex-girlfriend wasn't necessarily something to help honor.

Toph sat cris-crossed and put her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands. Love was an annoying and complicated thing. If it were all up to Toph, what most people called 'love' she called 'an overused description.' There are different kinds of love and attraction and to her people just threw the word willy nilly.

Though she had to admit. She hadn't experienced whatever was so pleasing about a relationship in the slightest and didn't plan on it. Especially after her mother's attempts to thrust suitor after suitor after suitor into her life. Toph gave a crooked smile. She had almost forgotten how fun it had been to think of new ways to get those men to leave.

A shift in the sand made her pause and listen. A light shuffle. The sand could be playing tricks on her, but Toph's intuition told her that it was something more than just a crab or a bird.

Those footsteps . . .

Toph paused. Did Zuko want her to attack? Or just watch? Knowing Mr. High and Honorable, he probably just wanted her to watch so that she could find this person again.

"Oh, you lucky turtle-duck. You just wait till I get to finally kick your sorry, annoying, light-footed butt," Toph muttered aloud to herself.

She observed carefully as the man took the money and went the opposite way of the docks down the beach. She considered following but decided against it. She had enough information for Zuko. And risking herself right before the entire world's array of leaders and politicians arrived to the Fire Nation palace? Um, no thanks.

Toph waited until the man's footsteps disappeared, then she counted to seven hundred just in case the man decided to come back. Then, silently as the man she had been tracking, the earthbender slipped out of her little piece of 'camouflage' and made her way back to the palace.

Halfway there, however, she felt a swift breeze. She wouldn't have thought much of it if it weren't for the fact that before that new breeze, the wind had been blowing the opposite direction, and had smelled like the sea as apposed to - Toph felt a smile grow onto her face and turned around to face the new set of footprints on the sand.

"I was starting to miss the smell of sky-bison," she said over the waves.

She could feel the Avatar's smile and she rolled her eyes. "You're so happy I can feel it."

Aang chuckled and he stepped forwards. Toph met him halfway and jumped into his arms and into his embrace.

"Nice to see you too, Sifu," Aang said into her shoulder.

Toph pulled back and dropped back into the sand. "C'mon. Let's get back to the palace. And the stables. Appa will want to stay somewhere."

Aang answered with a hum.

"Where've you been?" Toph asked as they approached the docks.

"Here and there. Doing Avatar related stuff."

Toph gave a small smile. "And growing. I think it's safe to say your voice has officially changed."

Aang chuckled.

Toph suddenly socked him in the side and the Avatar stumbled to a stop with a grunt and a small groan.

"You haven't been doing much earthbending," Toph remarked. "If you'd been practicing even just the stances, you'd have a lot more resistance." She continued towards the palace as the Avatar recovered and used his airbending to catch up with her.

"Why were you out so late? You do know people are coming tomorrow," Aang said. "Or is that why you were out?"

Toph sighed. "That story will have to wait until it's over." She kicked a rock in her path and it went flying farther and with much more power than it should have. The two benders winced when they heard a window shatter and a woman scream.

"I missed you, Toph," Aang suddenly said softly and with an emotion Toph hadn't heard from him before.

Toph paused, then continued walking to cover her confused flusteredness. She scolded herself for feeling a mild heat rise to her cheeks.

Aang caught up to her and they walked in an almost awkward silence until they reached the palace entrance. The guards bowed when they recognized Aang and the Avatar nodded in acknowledgement. As the two teens reached the main staircase, Aang spoke again, and by the way his weight shifted, Toph knew he was doing that nervous habit of his and rubbing the back of his neck.

"I guess what I meant back there is . . . it's good to be back. And to see you again. Well, all of you."

Toph smirked when she heard Aang stop himself before he could ramble on and she decided that instead of holding this uncomfortable moment over his head, she was going to pretend it never happened.

Toph tilted her head. "You too, Twinkle Toes. But next time you go on your own adventure, remember to write every now and then, huh?"

She finished with a small genuine smile of her own, allowing herself to appreciate his presence again. "I'm going to bed, now."

"I am too, I guess," Aang responded. "I'll see you tomorrow and um . . . I hope that whatever you were doing, you did successfully."

Toph turned around and made her way up the stairs and towards her chambers, leaving he Avatar behind her.

"So do I," she breathed aloud to herself.

Zuko had said that the whole Nation could be at risk. Well if he wanted that risk to go away, he was going to spill the beans first thing tomorrow.

Toph entered her room and changed into her bedtime clothes, and after she brushed her hair and teeth, fell asleep the minute her head hit the pillow, leaving her with faint thoughts of threatening Firelord's and standing in the embrace of an awkward, but warm hearted monk.

"The celebrations begin tomorrow."

"I am aware."

"The girl was there?"

"Yes, sir."

"Mmmm. Good. Tell me, do you have your coat and dress robes?"

"Packed and ready."

"Go and enjoy yourself, my friend. I shall be in touch. This celebration is two: A celebration of peace for the Nation, and a celebration of victory for ourselves."

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