Boulders

Marble

I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender or Naruto. Just saying.

Toph awoke to blackness like every other day. It was nothing new.

However, her hands being chained above her was unfamiliar. So was having her legs tied and bound with some sort of really thick fabric.

She felt a spike of frustration. How had they known?

Toph tried to shimmy out of them, but whoever had tied them knew their knots.

"You awake?"

It was a strange voice she had never heard before, male, brusque, and solemn. Somewhere to her left. Toph stiffened. "Who's there?"

"Your name is Toph, right?" The speaker asked.

"You probably already know that," she hissed, pulling at the bands on her wrists. "Let me go before I come over there and smack that grin off your face."

"How can you tell?" The voice asked. "That I'm smiling?"

Toph didn't bother with a reply. "Either let me out or go away, your choice."

She could hear the speaker start to reply, but then a door opened and footsteps echoed on the floor.

"Tell me, Toph. What would you do with a threat to your hometown?"

Toph tried to squish the feeling of total relief that accompanied Shikaku's voice, drawling and irritating as it was.

She didn't even know him all that well! There was no reason for feeling anything.

She cocked her head, feigning nonchalance. "There's no one more powerful than I am."

When it came to Earthbending. King Bumi excluded. Toph added on the last bit in her head.

Shikaku let out a sigh. She heard him sit down, presumably in front of her. "Do you play any games? Shogi, or a different board game?"

She scoffed, remembering a short time when she'd earned an abundance of money by scamming scammers. "Only when I can see."

"Inoichi said you were definitely blind," the older man's voice was higher above her, now. Toph heard the clink of metal on metal and her hands were suddenly freed.

She rubbed her wrists, then felt for the stuff around her feet. It came off reluctantly, but once it was gone she tossed it to the side and touched her bare feet to the ground.

She could 'see' again.

There was a guard in the corner, playing with a small knife. There were no table or chairs in the small cell (It could be just a room, but cell sounded more dramatic), just Shikaku setting a board down on the ground in front of her. Them.

"What's this?" Toph asked. She tapped the ground to try and get a better view.

"Shogi," Shikaku was placing tiny, identical pieces onto the board. "Ever play before?"

At her shaken head, he began to explain, and held up a piece. "This one is the king; it has the kanji for king on... it."

Toph waved a hand in front of her face. "I can't read."

He cocked his head. "Could you make pieces you can tell apart?"

Well.

She could.

It only required a more precise touch. The question was, should she?

Toph turned it over in her mind, then pulled a chunk of stone from the ground. "What other pieces are there?"