Boulders

Till

Please remember to keep this a PG party!!

Thank you!!

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It was official.

Toph hated Tobi.

She hated him with every fibre of her admittedly short stature. His annoying cheerfulness reminded her all too much of Aang in all the wrong ways. While Aang was cheerful, he knew when to be serious and when to shut up.

Tobi knew nothing.

Other than how to bug her.

And kidnap people, but that was an extension of annoying her, and she didn't want to give him more than one real skill.

Before her unreasonable, logical brain could point it out, teleportation was a SKILL, not actually KNOWING SOMETHING. You could have fluff for brains and still be able to teleport.

Case in point.

"Tauuuuu-chaaaaan," Tobi wailed behind her, sounding like a beached whale, but stupider. "Payyyy attention to meeeee."

Toph turned down a side corridor and slammed the ceiling down over the entryway in an effort to make a very clear and obvious point, but Tobi teleported back to her side.

He was like a limpetclam. A sticky, slimy limpetclam with about as big of a brain. Toph ground her teeth and sped up, walking a bit faster.

He kept up with his obnoxiously long legs, hovering over her shoulders and occasionally popping in front of her. She always slid him to the side when he pulled a stunt like that, but he remained undeterred.

"Oma and Shu!" Toph snapped. "Go bother someone else!"

"But I like YOU right now!" He protested. "No one else is newer than me, and none of the senpais want to hang out."

"Neither do I," Toph said, slowing down her words so that they could get through his thick skull to the dead flies and bits of fluff beyond. "Go. Away."

"Ah," Tobi said with mock sincerity. "But here's the thing, Tau-chan. I'm YOUR senpai. You're my cute little kouhai!"

Toph didn't know what a kouhai was, but it sounded like a bad thing to be his. "No I'm not. Don't call me that."

He jumped in front of her and wiggled like the piece of seaweedkelp he was. "Call you what, kouhai?"

Toph lunged at him.

He laughed and leaped aside, keeping out of her direct path easily. Toph was reminded of the stupid skill gap, but she kept at it until she managed to close her fingers on the edge of one of his oversized sleeves.

He was pulled up short, slipping and falling onto the floor. She threw herself at him with all intentions of throttling him until he called her by her real name and not any of his crazy nicknames when-

He wasn't there.

Toph felt her knees connect with the rock ground, pressed her left palm to the earth, but couldn't feel him.

He hadn't teleported, that much she could tell. There was always a strange sucking sensation that sent the hairs on the back of her neck prickling and standing straight up, as if some sixth sense was warning her that not all was well.

There was none of that this time, nor any of the quick steps that signaled a shunshin (Kisame had identified the move to her during their late night raw egg and rice meal). It was like he had simply vanished.

"My, my, kouhai. So lewd!"

His voice sounded from right underneath her! Toph leaped to her feet and back, feeling for all she was worth.