Who the F*** is Kanto?

Chapter 8 - That Jerk

"So that's what I was? A way to get to the top? Fast and easy..." She sighed. "Don't you even remember why you started this? To get a better life. That's what you told me you wanted on the first day. Not to fix the whole fucking city for everyone, just to do better."

"I said a better life for me and my little brother. That's no longer possible. None of this ever crossed my mind before Ling."

"Ling would want you to-"

"Don't fucking talk about him!" Kanto took two more steps towards her. "You didn't even know him!"

"You're right. I didn't." The tears broke free then. "And I didn't know his brother either..."

"Everything I feel for you is true, I swear it on Ling's grave, but this cause is more important. That my people, the people who have to grow up in this shithole, don't have to go through the same shit as me. I thought you of all people would want that to happen."

"I do, but you're not gonna make it happen. You think you're the first asshole thinking he's the only one doing crime for good reasons?" He'd fail, she knew it. She didn't bother explaining it, but she knew it was pointless. Just like you can't clean something with a dirty cloth, you can't end crime with more crime. If there was only one thing she'd learned from Aang, it'd be that. Kanto would get that too, but by that time it'd be too late.

"I have to try, Toph! You've had... How many years to fix it yourself? Fifteen? Things are no better now, than when I came to this city... You try and you work yourself to death, but have you ever asked yourself if you were going by it the wrong way?"

"And what if I arrest you right now? What then, Hotshot?" Toph flexed her hand and prepared her cables to seize him. He'd confessed to doing illegal things right here countless times. "It was a mistake coming back."

"You can't arrest me." It was almost a gloat. "You turned in that contract we had, didn't you? Before you came to meet me on Tuesday..."

She'd done exactly that. And that meant... She couldn't arrest him for anything done before two days ago. She could take him in for questioning, but that'd yield nothing. He'd thought about everything it seemed.

She probably looked even more hurt now, since he decided to try and come even closer. Toph was ready to let him, it was an instinct now, but then she sobered and swung her hand, pushing the earth under his feet, shoving him all the way to the opposite wall.

He didn't have any metal on him. Smart... She wasn't sure what she'd do if she could throw him around as easily as that. Using earth was already too easy, especially since he wasn't fighting back. After his body hit the wall it was quiet for a while and she remembered. The third heartbeat in the room... Everything she was doing, she was doing to the father of her child.

"Toph, we can still work together, like we used to-"

"Shut up!" Tears raced down her cheeks then as she slowly approached him. "You ruined everything!" If she allowed herself to bend at him again, she'd kill him.

Why not?

It came from somewhere deep in her mind. Toph had survived some devastatingly hard things in her life, but never, never had she been hurt like this.

Because it's Kanto.

"I know I did you wrong, but I'm not sorry. I made my decision and I-" She interrupted him with a punch to the face then. Those wouldn't kill him, at least not for now. He wasn't detained in any way, yet after the punch, he remained at the same exact place on the wall.

"I'd never ask you to stop being a cop for me. Never."

"A cop is what I am, deep inside. The man I worked with in this apartment worked for a triad, but he wasn't a criminal, he snitched, but he wasn't a traitor, he did murder people, but he wasn't a murderer... He was a cook."