Boulders

Return

In which Toph finds herself back where she started.

▪▪▪

They warped.

It was a terrible, twisty feeling, one of being squeezed through a tunnel, yet at the same time drowning through soaked, clinging silk. Tobi's hand held fast to her arm, a steady pressure that bordered on painful until they reached something, some sort of barrier, and he was torn away from her.

Or was she torn from him?

All Toph knew was that she was falling, spinning, sucked down a drain-

Frigid hands touched her where Tobi's hand had been moments (hours) ago.

"I am sorry," a quiet rasping voice hissed. "You were the wrong one to ask this of."

Toph tried to reach, tried to touch the speaker, but her flailing hands touched nothing.

"Return," the voice whispered. "We have been avenged."

Toph lost consciousness.

▪︎▪︎▪︎

Toph was only slightly aware of the flickering of motion the ground sent her. There was someone standing above her, cool hands touching her fevered head, then it was just her, alone in the blackness. Her Earthbending flickered on and off, stuttering in a way it hadn't since she'd been taught sight by the badgermoles.

She opened and shut her eyes, then her hand drifted to her sword hilt.

Her fingers closed on empty air. Toph shot bolt upright and reached for her kunai holsters.

They weren't there either. In a second she was in an all out panic, off of the bed in which she lay and onto the solid wooden floor. The texture of it beneath her toes only heightened her anxiety, and Toph was this close to just pulling on the ground and seeing what came of it.

"Ah! You're awake!" A soft female voice said suddenly. "We weren't sure what had happened, but that guy was bad news for sure."

"Where's my sword?" Toph managed. Oma and Shu, her throat hurt!

"The white katana?" The woman asked. "With the tassels?"

Although Toph didn't know the color, (it could very well have been lime green for all she knew) she remembered the sliding silky feel of the long tassel on the hilt very clearly. She opted to nod instead of answering.

"It's in the front room. We decided that it would be best if you didn't have a weapon right besides you when you woke up in case you were disoriented and attacked us." The woman paused, probably to make a hand motion, then continued. "You'll want your knives back, too?"

Well. Toph wondered if all people were that clueless. If you took away a shinobi's weapons, of course they'd want them back.

She followed the woman out of the small room and into the main chamber of the house. The floor was littered with scraps of dried leaves, the scent of herbs almost suffocating in the small area. Toph sneezed, then tried to pretend she hadn't.

A minute (and some clanging) later, the familiar smoothness of her sheath was pressed into her hands. Toph slid a thumb down to the handguard, tightening her grip firmly around the soft leather of the hilt.

She quickly tied it securely to her belt and reached out for her weapon pouches.

A little while later, everything was where it should be, from First Aid to her rarely used supply of shuriken.

Right. Time for the interrogation.

"Where am I?" Toph whispered.

"Oh! This is a little island off the coast of the mainland." The woman said pleasantly. "It's part of something called the Shimizu Isles. Nothing more than a little cluster of rocks, but it's home to us."