The Blind Fire Bender (An Avatar the Last Air Bender Fan Fiction)

Chapter 5

"Do 30 hot squats while I go get us some water."

It had been several weeks since Zuko joined the Gaang, and he still couldn't believe that they had accepted him. Sure, they were a little rough at first, but once they had gone on their life-changing field trips with him, they quickly became his friends.

"So, how's twinkle toes doing?" the others were sitting around the fountain watching him train the young monk.

Zuko shrugged, "Fine, I guess. He doesn't seem to be taking things very seriously though." all of them 'looked' over at Aang and saw that instead of Hot Squats, Aang was playing with Momo. "That doesn't look like Hot Squats!"

Aang looked up in horror from being spotted, "Sorry Sifu Hotman!" he quickly went back to his squats.

Zuko sighed and took a seat on the fountain. "I have never met a child that got distracted easier."

Katara laughed, "Yeah, Aang's easily distracted."

"Ugh! You're telling me!" Toph rolled her eyes, sometimes I would tell him to repeat certain moves, but he would try to sneak away from me because I'm blind. Sure, I can't 'see' him, but I can still see him!"

Zuko chuckled, "I guess he must be too scared to try that trick on me."

They looked at him with confusion. "Or it could be the fact that you can se..." Sokka was quickly cut off by Zuko spinning around to glare at Aang.

"Don't think I won't come over there if I see you not doing Hot Squats one more time!" he yelled.

"But I did all thirty!" Aang pouted as Momo ran up his arm. "We've been training all day! Can't we stop for the rest of the day?"

Zuko sighed, "Fine... but tomorrow you and I are getting up at sunrise to make up for lost time!"

"Aye aye, Sifu Hotman!" Aang gave him a salute and ran over to join his friends.

"Man, do you have some kind of 'slacking off' sense?" Suki joked. "You weren't even facing him."

He shrugged, "With fire bending, I can sense heat. People and animals give off heat, plus, I can sense anything that the sun touches. I can also heat up the air around me to sense things."

"Oh, that's cool! So, you can kinda see, even if your eyes are closed?" Katara asked.

"Well, yeah." He made a 'duh' face but none of them picked up on it.

"Close your eyes!" Sokka said excitedly. He rolled his eyes but did as he said, he had learned a while back that it was best to just let Sokka act on his craziness. It was better than the alternative. "Ok, what am I doing right now?"

Zuko sighed, "You're making a stupid face at me. Now you're playing with Toph's hair. Now you're using Aang's head as a drum. And now you're... Ew... why are you licking Momo's feet?"

"Wow! That's so cool!" Sokka grinned.

They all shuttered as Momo found cover in Suki's arms, "You're disgusting."

"What?! I had to do something unconventional to make sure that it worked!" Sokka defended.

"Poor Momo," Suki gently pet him, "He's been scarred for life." They all laughed.

"So how long have you been able to do that heat-sensing thing?" Aang asked.

"Three years," Zuko said solemnly.

"Can you teach it to me?" he asked, none of them picking up on his shift in mood. "It could come in handy."

Zuko nodded, "Yeah... I could show you sometime. It takes a lot of concentration though. when you use it, you are literally fire bending nonstop. What I was first learning, sometimes I would pass out from exhaustion. But I eventually got used to it."

"So, it's kind of like my earth bending," Toph noted. "When I want to see, I have to use earth bending, even if I'm not moving anything. It can be pretty exhausting."

"So, why'd you learn how to do that in the first place?" Katara asked.

He was about to answer when suddenly Appa let out a long moan. "Oh, sorry buddy, are you lonely?" they all grinned and ran over to him.

"I love Appa..." Toph snuggled into his fur, "He's so soft..."

"Yeah..." after a while night fell, and they all fell asleep curled into his fur...

(A/N - Hey guys, thanks for reading! I hope you like it. Flamio hotman!)