I'll Be Your Family

Similar People pt. 3

Zuko looked at the little girl who had his fate in the palm of her hands. She was scratching her chin, seemingly lost in thought before she looked at him, smiling like Azula did when she found a new game to torment him with.

That can't be good, He braced himself for whatever pain she was about to inflict on him.

He stumbled a bit as he felt the cuffs that were holding his arms and legs break apart. He looked at her in confusion, wondering what game she was playing.

Is she trying to make me lower my guard? He thought, trying to understand why she would release him when he wanted to escape and she didn't want him to.

"Show me." She stated with no apprehension whatsoever. Like she just asked him what the weather outside was and was waiting for an answer.

"What?" He asked, put off by the change in her attitude. 

Wasn't she mad at me, why is she calm now?  I know she reminded me of Azula but it's not like she's crazy too.

"Show me your bending. No one's getting in the arena now so we can use the ring, that way you won't have to worry about getting reported." She said.

Never mind, she's insane.

He looked at her with caution. "Why do you want to see my bending, I just told you there's nothing to see. And how do you know I'll be reported for it, I never told you what element I bend."

She looked at him like he was an idiot. "Well first of all Scruffy, I want to see your bending because I refuse to believe the first person to injure me is a weak bender. Secondly, I know you're either a Firebender or an Airbender. Your feet are planted too light to be an Earthbender, and you don't carry water with you. If I had to bet, I'd go for Firebender because of your temper. It doesn't matter to me either way, I just wanna see how you fight with bending compared to your swords."

He thought about the offer for a few seconds. Depressingly, he realized that there wasn't much to think about.

If she's already narrowed it down there's no reason to hide it anymore. It's not like I could have broken those cuffs she had on me, if she wanted to turn me in she would have already done it. Besides, I've had to hide my Firebending since I got to the Earth Kingdom, it would be stupid to pass this offer up.

"Alright, I'll show you. I'm not fighting you though, my shoulder's still injured from the boulder you threw at me yesterday." He rubbed his shoulder, hoping she wouldn't make him fight her again as he walked towards the ring.

"Tch! Alright Scruffy, I'll just give you some targets and watch from the side." She created some earth dummies and sat down at the edge of the ring. 

"Whenever you're ready!" She yelled as Zuko got into his bending stance, excited to finally fight without having to hide his bending. 

He punched, funneling his anger into his bending, warming up as he crushed dummies, one after the other. He compared every form with a picture of Azula in his mind, knowing that her forms wouldn't be as stiff. Knowing that her fire would burn hotter than his ever will. He launched himself into his regular training routine, feeling ecstatic that he could finally bend without having to worry about the Earth Army capturing him. 

Toph listened as he threw himself at the earth dummies relentlessly, switching between attacking the targets and practicing his forms without resting. He kept it up for an hour. When he was done, he sprawled out on his back, feeling much more relaxed than he had been when he got here.

He must've been hiding his bending for a while if he was this pumped up. Makes sense, not like anyone else in the Earth Kingdom wouldn't report him for Firebending. This confirms my earlier thoughts though, he isn't comfortable with his style of bending. He was much more fluid and relaxed when he was using his swords.