Playing Waterbending (Avatar: Last Aibender SI)

Toph looked at me stoically, but her cheeks suddenly burned red.

I mean, a girl like her—who could sense an entire population going about their private business—couldn't possibly miss a dirty joke.

'Man, it must be traumatizing to see your parents having sex without meaning to. No wonder Toph wanted to escape her home,' I thought, but I kept that to myself. There were so many questions I wanted to ask her, but they were so inappropriate that even I didn't dare.

"For the record, I held back because you didn't seem to have any water. But..." Toph said, "I'm not going to back out of my end of the deal. And I've seen the way you look at me, so I won't mind."

Before Katara could say anything—Toph was seriously getting on her nerves—I stepped in.

"So, why does everyone think I want sex?" I asked directly. "And how exactly did I look at you?"

Sure, I did. Who doesn't? But that's not what I wanted from her. Though she wasn't bad looking, my relationship with Katara was still fresh, and I wasn't bored.

"Yeah, how exactly did he look at you?" Katara crossed her arms, standing in front of Toph, scoffing and bending down to her level.

"I wonder too. I can't see, after all," Toph replied smugly.

"Urgh..." Katara was holding back a scream.

"So, what's your demand?" Toph ignored her and asked me.

I pondered a bit.

I could tell her to follow me.

But that would make her feel forced.

"It's okay. I'll teach you metalbending. It's not like you haven't passed the requirements already," I said. "We're currently on a mission to spread metalbending and dustbending to help the Earth Kingdom hold back the Fire Nation. If you'd like to follow us for now, that would be great. If not, I'll just teach you metalbending."

Of course, since I knew Toph was a runaway child, I knew she'd take me up on my offer.

If she didn't, I would have ordered her around.

Yes, I might be an asshole.

But I needed her for the sake of freedom—mine included, which was most important to me.

"For sure. Tell me how to bend metal," she said.

I reached into my pocket and grabbed a golden coin.

Seeing it, I put it back, fished around again, and pulled out silver and copper coins. I put the silver one back and tossed the copper coin to Toph.

She caught it.

"You have to understand, it's not about metalbending. It's about bending the earth particles within the metal. Usually, when an earthbender learns this, I have them bend the smallest amount of earth and then split it, over and over, until it becomes so small they can feel the earth particles. Since..."

I looked at her feet, wondering why they were still pretty despite her walking barefoot all the time.

"Since you can see through your feet—or skin—you can definitely see the earth inside the metal."

"Now that you mention it, you're right," she said, holding the coin between her fingers and playing with it. After tossing it a few times, the coin started shifting shape. Toph waved her fingers, and the coin twisted further.

'Okay, Haru may be very talented, but compared to Toph, his talent is trash. Well, to be fair, Toph met the requirements for metalbending a long time ago,' I thought.

Toph chuckled. "So that was the trick. Can't believe I missed it this whole time."

"Maybe because you weren't exposed to much metal."

"My parents never let me hold money or any kind of metal. I never had to buy anything because I had everything," she boasted. "Guess if I'd been thrown into that metal prison rig, I could've figured out metalbending on day one."

I blinked twice and forced a smile. She had no idea how right she was.

Katara clapped her hands and smiled, like I usually would.

"Now that you've learned what you wanted, why don't you leave? Maybe if you're good, you can help other earthbenders learn it," Katara said.

Toph narrowed her eyes and smirked. "Don't worry, I won't steal your guy. This is the second time I'm saying it."

"Who said I'm worried?" Katara turned to me. "Ryuk, should I be worried?"

I knew that if I teased her, I'd end up using my hand tonight.

But then again, if I gave up every time because of the sex leverage she had, I'd turn from a man into a total pushover, and at the distance future, I would have to do the dishes to have some fun time. That would never happen. 

I decided to counter the trap question with another trap question.

Time for a classic shonen anime protagonist reply.

I reached into my pocket.

I held my coins and counted them.

"Don't worry. She didn't steal me," I said.

"Ryuk!!!" Her eyes widened.

"With the water sense I've developed, no thief can steal me. Blind or not," I replied, my lips twitching as I held back laughter.

"Give me a direct answer," she demanded, desperate.

I sighed and wrapped my arm around her shoulders, hugging her to my chest.

"Relationships are about mutual desire. No one can steal anyone. The relationship ends when the mutual desire ends. Got it?"

"Yes. But..."

"No buts," I interjected. "You've got to understand that. If you want something to stop, it's about what you feel—not about what others do. No one can steal me, or you. People just walk away."

"Makes sense," Katara said, thinking over my words. "But how do you know that? Do you have experience in relationships?"

"Yes. I've dated tons of women. Remember the prison rig? I seduced every female guard there," I deadpanned.

I wasn't going to play into her jealous act. Jealousy was fine by me, but it could get annoying.

"Geez. You could've just said it was obvious." She replied. 

"Yes, even I can see that," Toph teased with a smile. In other words, even a blind girl could see it, but not you.

Katara's eyelids twitched.

"Okay," I turned to Toph. "So, what's your answer?"

"I've got nothing to lose by following you. It could be fun," she admitted. "Besides, you're pretty interesting. You have a water sense similar to mine. Also..." She stood beside me. "I can't take that loss well since I didn't go all out. So I can't miss the chance to smack you back."

She waved her hand at my back. But because she was short, it landed as a clap.

I shot her a glare I'd only reserve for my worst enemies.

"Meant to hit your back. Sorry, didn't see it," she smirked. "Blame yourself for being tall."

"Or blame yourself for being too short," Katara added, pulling me to the other side so she and Toph stood next to each other.

'Now that I think about it, where's Sokka? He was talking to that big-boobed lady...' I thought, looking around. 'Well, if he doesn't show up by tomorrow, I'll leave without him.'

"That was a low hit," Toph sneered. "Let's talk later after we—"

"Great, bounty hunters." I sighed, my water sense alerting me.

Around the sparring area, trees and rocks provided cover, and behind many of them, people were hiding, clutching their weapons.

"The hundred thousand gold isn't a hundred thousand for nothing," said a familiar voice.

Katara flinched, taking a waterbending stance. Water from her pouch floated beside her, ready for any sudden attack.

I turned my head and saw the referee from the underground matches, along with the guys I'd thought were just staff.

They said a hundred thousand gold—that meant they wanted to hand me over to the Fire Nation. I couldn't blame them, though; I had thought of doing the same. The only difference was, in my version, I'd still be alive if I survived.

"You could've attacked any other day," I said, a weird sensation of euphoria washing over me.

Tears welled up in my eyes.

Today was my luckiest day. I'd won all my gambles, and I was getting enemies at just the right time. It was so polite of them to let me finish my spar with Toph, too.

"And?" he asked.

I raised my hand to the sky. The moon shone brightly, casting its light over the forest.

I could feel my chi raging calmly through my body, like my bending power was on steroids.

Remember when I said I was more desperate to become a bloodbender than Vegeta was to become a Super Saiyan?

"I'm so happy. Today is my luckiest day." I wiped my tears with my hand, ignoring the strange looks I was getting. "I hope your nuts have enough blood in them."