(Gaara and Toph)

Chapter 3

Note: New stuff doesn't start till chapter 4, i'm just editing this stuff and reordering a bit 

Toph's POV

I landed on the ground with a - wait. I landed on the ground. "Oh ground, how I've missed you," I proclaimed, and proceeded to splay out on the ground, making dirt angels. Huh. This island must be bigger than I thought, the vibrations got too faint for me to feel before I could sense a shoreline. It was also sand, and a lot hotter than it should have been. Then again, it was always cooler in airships. Anyway, I sat up. "AANG, QUIT PLAYING AROUND GET ME BACK UP THERE." I shouted.

I sweatdropped. Didn't think I'd ever be asking to get put on an airship. Something about the island just felt...off. "HEY, CAN YOU HEAR M - ." I broke off as someone suddenly appeared in front of me. How had he appeared so quickly? I hadn't sensed him walking toward me at all. 

He crossed his arms and droned,

Gaara’s POV

 "Who are you?" 

I had been sitting on the sand dunes outside the village thinking of that boy again. "I'm going to become Hokage and make everyone acknowledge me!" was what he had said, his face, as always, in a wide grin. I put my fingers up to my lips, tracing out my own ghost of a smile. He was always so...happy. It made him seem so normal. I never would have believed he was like me, even if he was a Jinchuriki, if it weren't for what he said that day.

"I fight to protect my friends...who I will always thank for freeing me from the hell called loneliness." 

Loneliness. It was indeed a hell. A hell all of us Jinchuriki shared. Created by the village, for the village...only to be feared and hated for our power. Even now that I am about to be appointed Kazekage, the elders still look at me with fear. The day they took Matsuri*, they said they didn't give us backup as a show of faith in my abilities. I could tell they really just hoped the enemy would kill me, finally ridding themselves of Sunagakure's "Double-Edged Sword." They might have succeeded as well, if it weren't for the Konoho shinobi. He saved me again, Naruto. 

I've been working hard to become someone also...important to others. The younger generation has come to accept me, with no little help from Matsuri. I allowed a faint smile to become visible on my lips. Temari was always scolding me for frowning all the time. It just didn't come naturally to me, after so many years of never having reason to do otherwise. Around Matsuri, though, a smile seemed to come to my lips more naturally and more often than around most people. She was, after all, the first villager to trust me.

How far I've come, to be formally named Kazekage tomorrow. I only wish my father could see me...Would he be proud? Or would he be furious his failed experiment dared lead his precious vilage.

All of a sudden, I looked up as I caught a glint of metal in the air, and watched as a woman appeared in the sky and fell to the ground. She was dressed in full armour - a shinobi?  I stood up, suddenly alert, how did she sneak up on me? I flashed over to where she lay in the sand. She wasn't wearing a headband, and didn't have the developed chakra network of a shinobi, either. But if she wasn't a shinobi, how did she appear so suddenly?

"Who are you?" I asked.

She looked up, startled, "I'm Toph, Toph BeiFong." 

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Toph's POV

I cleared my throat and quickly hid my surprise over his appearance. "I was just flying over to test out an airship for the police force.” I paused, “My police force," I said, flipping my head to one side in annoyance. "I'll just be on my way once I get back to the ship, Aang, the Avatar, was supposed to come get me after he made me fall," I said, pointing upward. He stared at me impassively. I frowned, what, all that name-dropping, and no reaction?