His chest hurt.
Her eyes were clouded with tears.
His throat was closing.
And he couldn't stop running.
"Toph! Stop!"
The blind bandit didn't bother to listen, continuing to run past the few people still on the street.
Nothing deterred her until she reached the house and burst through the door.
Ignoring a somber Katara by the window, who watched Naruto attempt to follow and stop Toph, he went straight to his room without a word, shutting the door in Naruto's face, the sound of a block of marble sealing the entrance.
Naruto tried in vain to open the door, wanting desperately to enter and say...
What, exactly?
He didn't know, but he could hear Toph on the other side of the door, seemingly knocking down everything in the room.
"Toph, please let me in," he pleaded, attempting to open the door, but the only way in would be to break it.
"You're not coming in, you jerk!" Toph's scream reverberated through the house. "You're not coming in, you...!"
She tried to quell her fury and pain by destroying everything in reach, but it did nothing to ease the ache in her chest.
"Toph, don't do this, I just want to talk."
All Naruto wanted was to go in and calm her down. It pained him to hear her almost broken voice.
Finally, she stopped wreaking havoc, sitting amidst the debris of her room, hugging her legs tightly, trying to make herself as small as possible.
Katara stayed out of everything; it was best to wait for things to calm down before finding out what was happening, although she didn't have to dwell on it much either.
"Toph…" Naruto continued knocking on the door several times.
"Get out, Naruto!"
"..." Silently, the shinobi rested his head against the door. He could hear the soft sound of the girl crying.
He could only slump against the door and sit, waiting for her to open it.
….
On the other side of the walled city, a serene Azula sat on her bed, her expression radiating happiness. She closed her eyes, savoring the memory of that kiss, letting it replay in her mind.
"Looks like you had a good night," remarked Zuko, who sat on the bed above, observing his younger sister's dreamy and contented expression. Azula, silently tracing the bracelet on her wrist, met his gaze with a soft smile.
"It was perfect."
.
.
.
.
.
The start of the day was... complicated.
Naruto hadn't budged from Tohp's door all night, waiting for her to come out. He felt terrible. What had he done wrong? It seemed like many things, as usual.
"Naruto..." He raised his head at the sound of Katara's voice calling him from the living room. "Can you come for a moment?"
He knew it wasn't a question; he had no choice but to go.
Walking to the living room, he found Katara seated at a small table. He sat heavily across from her, head bowed.
"Naruto, look at me," Katara said calmly, her gaze fixed on him.
"..."
"Lift your head and look me in the eyes." Katara's tone brooked no argument; she was very angry.
"..." Slowly, he raised his head, meeting her gaze with his blue eyes.
"What happened?" she asked slowly, hoping it was all just a misunderstanding.
That there was an explanation for why Toph locked herself in the room, more than angry and volatile, and in the end ended up crying.
"I..." Naruto felt transparent under Katara's gaze. He knew he had to tell the truth. "I... I went on a date with another girl."
"..." The waterbender didn't need more than that sentence to understand everything that happened. "And Toph found out?" She asked with a softer voice this time, starting to piece together the situation.
"Yes..." Naruto couldn't help but feel small and awkward. "I didn't do anything wrong. I was with her, and when Toph arrived, she got upset."
"You're an idiot," Katara blurted out, unable to hold back her frustration. She felt the need to say it.
"Why?"
"You invited Toph to go to the festival in the morning, and then you went with someone else at night. Don't you understand? You hurt her..."
"I... I didn't want to hurt her."
"However, you did..." Katara was angry and felt the need to make Naruto see his mistake. "But it's also my fault. I should have been clear and not given false expectations to everyone, as if it were some fairy tale."
Unfortunately, not everything unfolds as we hope.
The idea of Naruto not accepting another girl's invitation just because Toph had feelings for him would be unfair.
True love was when two people loved each other, not just because one felt attracted to the other. Forcing acceptance based solely on one person's feelings sounded complicated, but it was just logical.
"Do you think she hates me?"
Naruto had never seen the blind bandit so angry as she was last night. He feared this could damage their friendship, after so many months of companionship and fun.
He didn't want that to happen.
But... he couldn't help but think.
He felt even worse knowing what he had done—making plans with Toph in the morning, only to go out at night with someone else and leave her hanging. It seemed like he had prioritized the other girl over their friendship.
He had let Toph down, and he couldn't blame her if she wanted to crush him with a mountain.
"She doesn't hate you..." Katara reassured him with a softer smile as she tightly held Naruto's hand. "She's just angry. It will take time and effort, but you'll regain her trust, and everything will go back to how it was before."
"Do you really believe that?"
"I promise you, Team Avatar will always be united. We started this together, and it will stay that way until the end of time."
"Thank you, Katara. You always know what to say," Naruto appreciated the girl's words, returning the handshake.
"Well," with everything already clarified and possibly solved, another topic had to be brought up, which piqued the waterbender's curiosity. "So, tell me... Who is the lucky girl who went out with you on a date?"
Whoever the girl was, he hoped she was at least a good person. After all, he wouldn't let one of his friends have a toxic relationship with a bad girl.
A mother hen had to take care of her chicks.
Katara had a mother complex that no one would take away from her.
Smiling embarrassed by the question, Naruto scratched his cheek, looking away. "Well, she works in a small tea shop in the lower part of the city."
"I see, is she cute?" Katara asked, increasingly curious.
"Wow, yeah," he responded without thinking, only to bite his tongue at Katara's smile.
"Hmmm," with a mischievous smile upon seeing the blush on the shinobi's face, she moved closer to him. "And how did the night end for you?"
"Well, I took her to the top of the walls to see the view, and we talked, then, you know."
"No, I don't know."
"We kissed."
"Wow~ wow~ Uzumaki, what a hunk," she was amused to see how the boy's blush became much more intense.
"Stop teasing. I didn't expect my first kiss with a girl to be with Azula."
That whole calm and fun atmosphere was broken by the mere mention of that name.
Katara let go of the boy's hand as if it burned and looked at him in disbelief.
"Katara?"
[ If you want to read advance Chapters then go to Pat reon and support me there.
PAT REON I'D:- Alzero ]