You are Everything that I've Been Searching for ~ a Zukka Fanfic

Chapter Eight, The Red Bow at the End of the String

Chapter Eight, The Red Bow at the End of the String

Zuko had a certain expectation of what blind people were like, and Toph was the exact opposite of what his expectation was. She was loud, boisterous, and reckless. If Zuko had to come up with three words to describe her he'd choose "Powerhouse gremlin energy".

She was a short girl, barely five feet tall. She had long black hair tucked under a green beanie and a long fringe that fell over her milky grey eyes.

Aang had invited Zuko to one of his hiking club's hikes. It wasn't a particularly hard one, just around a nice little lake which would take them about three hours if you didn't count snack and lunch stops. Zuko wasn't really a hiking sort of person, but he decided that this one looked easy enough so he'd give it a try.

Aang had said that he had a close friend who was also in his hiking group; he had known her for almost as long as he had known Katara and Sokka. He also mentioned that she was blind.

At first, Zuko had thought that it was very impressive and brave that Toph was in the hiking group even though she was blind, he hoped she would be able to keep up. But upon meeting her he came to the conclusion that he had been completely wrong to think that about her.

She forged ahead of the group, jumping over logs and rocks. She relied completely on herself, using two hiking poles and her four senses to navigate. Also sometimes Aang or someone else in the hiking group would call out something like "Stairs coming up" or "Branch! Watch your head!"

Overall, Zuko thought he enjoyed the hike. The pace was steady, not too fast, not too slow. The weather had been nice, it was sunny but not too hot because it was early morning. The group was nice? They were friendly and chatty. There were about five of them, not including Aang and Toph. Zuko had been told their names but he was having trouble remembering them.

He felt awkward trying to force some sort of small talk out of himself so he just spent most of the hike just listening to everyone else talk. He didn't mind just listening absent-mindedly while he daydreamed about other things. He definitely enjoyed it more than he would have if Aang hadn't been there, and Toph too, she was funny.

Eventually, they finished the hike and Aang, Toph and Zuko got a ride home from someone in the group, Zuko couldn't exactly remember his name. Something like "Meshaan" or something. He was a nice guy, a little bit flustered about everything but yeah, a nice guy. He was kind of cute but he wasn't single, he had a partner called Tacci whom he talked non stop about.

He dropped them off at Sho Ha university and said his goodbyes. Toph didn't study at Sho Ha university, in fact she didn't go to university at all, but she said she claimed to be a Sport and Exercise Science Major, if she were to major in anything at all

Toph was supposed to meet Katara at the Sho-Ha University's pool who would be finishing her lengths. So the boys walked with her there.

Zuko had never been inside the unversity's pools before but now he wished he had. They were technically owned by the university but they were open for the public to use, which generated about enough revenue to cover itself.

There were two main sections; a main swimming pool that had a shallow end with a slide for kids and families, it also included a hot pool area for people to soak and relax, and then there was a 30 metre lane pool with a diving board in a separate part.

Zuko followed Aang and Toph through the doors of the lane pool. Toph was walking a little bit closer to Aang and her grip on her hiking poles had tightend, she tapped them in front of her frequently.