TOMOKO - burning gold. (atla)

f o u r | SPARRING MATCH

ɪᴛ ᴅᴏᴇꜱ ɴᴏᴛ ᴍᴀᴛᴛᴇʀ ʜᴏᴡ ꜱʟᴏᴡʟʏ ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴏ, ꜱᴏ ʟᴏɴɢ ᴀꜱ ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ꜱᴛᴏᴘ."-ᴄᴏɴꜰᴜᴄɪᴜꜱ

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now

TOMOKO SAT IN FRONT of her mirror in her room. She bit her lip in frustration as she struggled with her hair. It was taking all of her strength to try and pull her hairbrush through the tangled mess, a result of standing outside in the great winds from the night previous. She pulled her hair back, and out half of it up in a top knot.

She was a young woman of seventeen years. Her eyes were the colour of burnt gold, flecks of amber spotted within. The previously mentioned hair fell just below her shoulders, and had a mind of it's own. It was dark and wild, like a lion-doves' main. Her build was stocky, muscles gained from intense years of fire bending training. She had olive skin that was not seen with many Fire Nation born subjects.

They were heading south, last she had heard. Gradually, the temperatures had started dropping within the last few days, and Tomoko had opted to dawn a long military jacket that fell just bellow her knees.

She looked into the mirror, silently observing herself. She looked over her face, pinched cheeks, and shrugged. She stood up and fastened her golden belt around the jacket at her waist. The buckle was that of pure gold, with dragons decorating it. She tied the laces of her boots and made her way through the coridoor of the small ship.

She made it to the main deck where she could see the crew walking around and going about their day. She spotted her uncle sitting off to the side at the Pai Sho table with a cup of tea in his hands, observing Zuko as he proceeded with a fire bending lesson.

She walked over to her guardian and sat down, shooting him a friendly smile.

"Morning, Uncle." She greeted.

"Good morning, Tomoko. Sleep well, I trust?" Iroh responded.

"Aside from the insessisent rocking? Peachy." She chuckled. Iroh gave a small laugh. "How's Prince Ponytail and his lesson?"

Iroh looked over to where his nephew was training. "He's doing well, improving. He keeps falling back on emotion for fuel, but he is doing better."

Tomoko nodded, and a smirk appeared on her face as an idea hit her. "Guess he'll need to see it from a true master."

She walked over towards Zuko and the crew member he was sparring with. "Hey, doofus!" She called to her friend.

Zuko looked her way with mild annoyance. Tomoko approached the crew member and tapped his shoulder, signaling for him to take his leave. Tomoko took his place and held her arms up in a fighting position. "What do you say to a sparring match? Loser takes a dip in the water for three whole minutes." She said cockily.

Zuko eyed her, and then the ice cold water surrounding them. Ice chunks floated past them. He matched her smirk with a look of determination. "You're on." He said, taking his stance.

The two circled eachother, daring for their opponent to make the first move. Ultimately, Zuko made the first strike with a high kick, flames following his foot. Tomoko dodged and returned fire with a right hook. Zuko ducked and circled behind the girl, gaining an advantage. He looped his arm around her neck, although loose enough so she wouldn't struggle to breath.

He pulled her into his chest and chuckled at his easy victory. "Look's like you'll need your bathing suit."

Tomoko huffed before leaning forward quickly and launching Zuko in front of her. The boy landed on his back, and Tomoko towered over him with a smirk on her face.

She readied her stance again, a small controlled flame protruding from her fist. "What was that? Couldn't hear you over the sound of me kicking your ass!" She grinned.

Zuko laughed, before springing up out of the way of Tomoko's fire. Tomoko shot small balls of fire in his direction that he deflected, and sent returning ones her way.

The duo exchanged blow after blow at eachother, but neither one able to hit the other with their fire. Zuko was waiting for when he had the perfect opening to one up Tomoko. He saw it when she stumbled slightly, and he took his chance. He fired a shot that distracted her.

Tomoko deflected the fire with ease, but failed to see Zuko in time. Zuko grabbed the shorter girl and thrust her on his shoulder.

"Zuko! What are you doing?!" She shouted.

"You smell, I think you need a bath." He quipped as he neared the edge of the ship. Tomoko shrieked and started pounding on his back.

"Zuko, I swear if you toss me in-!" Tomoko started, but Zuko's movement of removing her from his shoulder caused her to squeal. "Don't you dare!"

Zuko held Tomoko in his arms bridal style at the front of the ship, and he gave her a sly smile. Just as he was about to launch her in, a bright light shot up into the sky and immediately his attitude changed.

He took a step back and dropped Tomoko, before running to the very edge and holding onto the railing. He shielded his eyes as he stared at the pillar of light. This was it. This was a sign of the Avatar.

Tomoko groaned from being dropped so suddenly. "Hey, jerkface, what was that-" Tomoko looked towards the sky and saw a beautiful pillar of blue light. "Woah." She breathed quietly.

"Finally." Zuko said to himself quietly. "Oko, Uncle, do you realise what this means?"

"That you forfeit our match?" Tomoko joked.

"That I won't get to finish my game?" Iroh offered, tiles in front of him.

"It means my search is about to come to an end." Zuko said with determination, hope lacing his voice.

Iroh gave a large sigh.

"That light came from an incredible source!" Zuko continued. "It has to be him!"

"Or, it's just the celestial lights. We've been down this road before." Iroh explained calmly.

"Uncle's right, Z. It could be anything from celestial lights to sun refraction on the ice. You don't know for sure it's the Avatar, or anything supernatural for that matter." Tomoko added, agreeing with her guardian.

Zuko had his back turned to them, his back tense and irritation bubbling in his chest.

"I don't want you to get excited over nothing, nephew. Why don't you and Oko join me for a cup of calming jasmine tea?" Iroh suggested.

Zuko turned his head around quickly, his eyes full of anger. "I don't need any calming tea! I need to capture the Avatar!"

Tomoko huffed in annoyance as Zuko gave the order for the helmsman to set course for where they saw the light.

She grumbled to herself before turning to her uncle. "We'll, if he's not going to take it, I'll happily oblige with the tea, Uncle."

Iroh poured her a cup of warm jasmine tea, and Tomoko graciously accepted it. She sat down and rested from the match she had with Zuko, breathing heavily.

Tomoko looked out at the water where she had seen the light appear and disappear, and the wind blew through her hair. Secretly, she hoped, for the Avatar's sake that he wasn't there and what she and Zuko had seen were just celestial lights. But deep down she knew that the light was leading to something powerful, and the road ahead was going to be a massive headache.