Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar. If I did, Toph would be older so she and Zuko could be together.

Place: Takes place right after The Western Air Temple

BAD BURNS

Toph only sat outside Zuko's room, listening to Katara's death threat. What was she so mad about? Zuko was an OK guy. The day before, Katara mentioned being imprisoned in Ba Sing Se with him. Did something happen between them? Toph jumped slightly feeling Katara run out of the room, clearly furious. She'd never seen Katara like that before.

Toph felt sorry for Zuko. No one should have to see that side of Katara. The young blind bender frowned. What right did Katara have to do anything hostile. Was she just like this around new group members? Not likely. Katara had a problem with Zuko and Toph wanted to know what it was.

Toph jolted to her feet, which she'd forgotten were still burned. Toph yelped in sheer pain, a few tears rolling down her face. Toph gulped and hissed to herself, manging to take a few painful steps before she fell backwards. Toph expected to fall onto the round and shut her eyes, but was caught mid-fall by a pair of strong but gentle arms from behind.

"You OK?" Toph head Zuko's voice. His voice was defiantly something she liked about him. It was formidable and scary when he was mad, but at other times, like now, it was kind and caring.

"Yeah, I'm...I'm fine." Toph said, trying to get out of his grip. Just because she was hurt didn't make her helpless. That's just what her parents wanted. Toph escaped, but fell right back into the older bender's grasp. "I deem this as your fault." Toph said dryly.

Zuko took a sharp breath. "I can't very well argue with that. Here, come with me." Zuko took Toph's small hand, leading her into his room and had her sit on the bed. "So, are your feet any better? I hope I didn't hurt you to badly."

"They'll be fine in a few days." Toph playfully scoffed.

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I still have that bruise on my ribcage where you bended at me." Zuko smiled warmly. At least she'd forgiven him.

"Hey, you did it first." Toph joked. It was quite clear to both of them that until Zuko could gain the trust of the others, Toph would be the first and only real friend he'd had in years.

"Well, I do know what burns like that feel like." Zuko sighed.

"Seriously?" Toph asked.

"There's a scar on my face, over my eye." Zuko tilted his head down at shut his eyes, as if ashamed of something. He looked at Toph, seeing only a lightly surprised expression on her face.

"A scar?"

"Yeah."

"Can you even see out of that eye?" Toph questioned, very interested in the answer.

"No. Not anymore. For the first few days after I got it, I was able to see a little. Only shapes and shadows at first. I tried to retrain that eye to see for about a month, not knowing the dangers of putting to much strain on it. And finally, one morning, I lost the sight in my left eye completely." Zuko explained.

"Can I...touch it?" Toph asked. Zuko hesitated for a moment, but took Toph's hand and brought it up to his left cheek. Toph tranced his face until she came to rough, dry, hard skin. Zuko couldn't fell her hand on his scar. The nerve endings on the scar had been scorched off, robbing him of all touch on his scar.

Toph shivered somewhat. What had happened to Zuko? Whatever it was, she was certain it wasn't a good memory for him. It must have been painful. She finally had to pull away.

"Can't you do anything to make it better?" Toph asked, sympathy clear in her pail, colorless eyes. Zuko remembered Katara's kind offer of an attempt to heal.

"I have healing abilities."

"It's a scar. It can't be healed."

"This is water from the Spirit Oasis at the North Pole. It has special properties so I've been saving it from something important. I don't know if it would work, but..."

Zuko could still feel Katara's gentle hand on his face. She was once so kind and tender with him. So what exactly had he done wrong. He knew he betrayed her trust and that she had every right to be angry, but he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something more to it.

Zuko returned his golden gaze to Toph, who was patiently awaiting an answer. Toph wasn't usually so patient, but she knew it wasn't the time to be pushy.

'No." Zuko said with a mixture of hurt, sadness and regret in his voice.

"Hey guys." Zuko and Toph both looked at the doorway to see Sokka. "Lunch." It was clear that Sokka hadn't warmed up to the presence of the Fire Nation Prince who he'd once considered his enemy. He was also somewhat surprised to see Zuko and Toph talking so casually and friend-like.

Toph's feet were still burned and as long as they where, Toph knew she was helpless. The young earth bender then did something that she would otherwise never do. She warped her relatively small arms around Zuko's arm, allowing him to guid the way.

Zuko was somewhat shocked by this revelation. Was Toph just being nice, did she want to encourage him to at least try to befriend the others, was she depending on him? Sokka, Zuko, and Toph all entered the kitchen, all thinking the same thing.

'This is going to be one awkward meal.'

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