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[OOC: This is an old scene that was done a while ago and never quite finished. To be continued soon, maybe? xd ]

Outside of the city, the scenery was just as free of greenery as it was within. Scrubby plants clung to the ground and up the mountainsides, but the brisk walk through the gullies paid off. It was only a short ways off the main road, around a bend that hid the crumbling silhouettes from view. The ruins looked majestic and picturesque against the blue sky, and the sight encouraged him to dash the final distance.

Rin-ji had been paid little mind by the guards that patrolled the road. However, since it wasn't one that the nobles favored the military was considerably more lax. As long as he was careful not to bring attention to himself as he rushed down the dirt road, they barely registered his presence. Now that he was out of their sight he felt free to run, kicking up plumes of dust in his wake.

As he crested the hill and came up between the two imposing and angry looking pillars that once held gates that had long since rotted away, the training field spread out below him. He was struck breathless for a moment, and to Rin-ji it could not have been more beautiful on the first day it was presented.

Li Ren didn't share Rin-ji's admiration for the field, however. She had seen it so many times that it looked to her like nothing more than a very large patch of dirt that was slowly growing vegetation again due to years of abandon. It was her private playground of sorts; the military had no use for it anymore and anyone else in need of training was sure to go a real school. It was also the only place she felt safe meeting with Rin-ji for this sort of task. She knew that her luck was bound to run out if she continued meeting with him in the main city.

She had intentionally arrived before him. Though it may have been appropriate for her to be late as a noble, Li Ren believed it would hardly do for the student to precede the teacher.

And so, she was the lone occupant of the field below as she moved through warm-up exercises. The feminine beauty from the bathhouse might as well have been imagined. Li Ren had once again transformed into her more masculine persona and she was so wrapped up in her movements that she didn't notice Rin-ji's approach.

As Rin-ji spotted the girl taking on her strong, elegant stances, his heart involuntarily skipped a beat and he was overcome by a wave of anxiousness and excitement. The scene was perfect, he imagined. It was like a painting sprawled across a paper screen in a great hall in some noble's house. He moved down the final steps onto the bare ground slowly, respectful for the moment.

"Li Ren!" He called out after a moment, picking up the pace of his steps to reach her quickly. "Did I make you wait?" He asked, but it seemed like merely a habitual gesture. Rin-ji was not terribly concerned that he might have made Li Ren wait, but it was more out of a lack of thought than real callousness.

Li Ren jerked rather ungracefully when she heard her name called. Even though she knew Rin-ji was expected, having another person invade her quiet training managed to catch her by surprise. She hadn't spoken with him since the day at the bathhouse and seeing him now felt vaguely awkward. She recovered from the initial startle, hardening her face slightly, and finished the set with apparent ease.

"No, you're fine," Li Ren replied steadily, if authoritatively, tilting her chin up slightly. She smoothed her clothing down and turned to face him. "I expect you're ready to work hard." She thought her voice sounded much more comfortable than she was suddenly feeling.

Rin-ji exhaled slowly and nodded with conviction. "Very," he agreed. Remembering that Li Ren had never been the sort to be gentle with him, he tightened the complicated knot at his waist that transformed the length of cloth into a pair of pants. If he lost those at the hands of Li Ren, Rin-ji figured it would be time for him to just roll over and give up the fight.

He lovingly set aside his satchel of fire bending scrolls before he stretched his long arms above his head, followed by leaning side to side in a mock version of a martial artist loosening himself before practice. Rin-ji would never be a picture of grace, and it only served now to highlight the imperfections in his movements.

"I've never really learned the cold arts," he commented suddenly, "I don't know how different it is from bending." Bending came naturally with breathing, with each drawing in and exhaling of breath, but that simplicity was tangled up in a knot created by poor lessons. Even thinking about how to untie and separate the threads was proving to be confusing.

Li Ren's face twisted slightly when he referred to it as "the cold arts". The term inadvertently reminded her that unlike him, she had no bending ability whatsoever. Her lack of ability was not something that generally bothered her, but the phrase had always struck her as one that implied that fire bending was a more worthwhile pursuit. They were, after all, in the Fire Nation.

In an almost predictable manner, she abruptly dropped to the ground and kicked out at Rin-ji's footing. As she did so, she snapped at him, "Widen your stance. You're an easy target." The maneuver probably wasn't necessary, but it did make her feel somewhat better.

Rin-ji barely had time to yelp before his back hit the ground with a loud thump. With the wind knocked out of him he was forced to remain silent and merely give her insulted looks as he coughed and pulled himself to his feet again. "What..." He struggled angrily and tried to defend his wounded pride. "That's not fair..! I wasn't ready! I wasn't even in a stance, and if I had been I... I..."

Li Ren stood imposingly despite the fact he dwarfed her once he was back on his feet. It took all her self-restraint (of which she had much too little) to keep from knocking him off his feet again. With her hands at her hips, she looked up at him intensely and snapped back at him, "Are you here to whine or are you here to learn?"

"Are you here to teach or are you just here to pick on me?" Rin-ji retorted, but he did manage to pull himself together. All the while he kept his eyes trained on Li Ren as if he expected her to assault him again without warning at any moment. "So, master, where do you want to start?

Li Ren glared up at him heatedly, struggling to keep her fiery temper in check. Her feelings toward him ran hot and cold so easily. She had been anxious to get away and see him the entire time her fiance had been in town, yet now that she was with him all she could think about was knocking him onto his a**. She jerked away abruptly, turning her head before she issued any further violent actions toward him.

"Widen your stance," Li Ren instructed again. "It's easy to take advantage of your height. You wouldn't want someone to knock you over while you're trying to bend. You could very well end up setting yourself on fire and do your opponent's work for him."

Obediently he widened his feet and took on a simple defensive stance that he had learned and felt fairly confident with. As her harsh words continued his face transformed into a sour frown once more.

"I wouldn't do that," he grumbled, though he actually had burnt himself from time to time. Li Ren didn't need to know that. He didn't want to give her any more reason to doubt his abilities. The more she belittled him, the more he wanted to impress her. He imagined performing that one great trick that would make her stop and admire him... respect him... He felt his stance start to weaken as he daydreamed and immediately pulled it together again. "Shouldn't my height be an advantage?"

"Not if you can't carry your weight properly," Li Ren quickly corrected him. Why had she ever thought this would be a good idea? She should have known they would be at each other's throats almost immediately, just as they always were. Those moments when they actually seemed to get along were few and fleeting.

It certainly didn't help matters that Li Ren hardly guided with a gentle hand. ..Or really that she didn't know the first thing about teaching another person.

"Take a deep breath and come at me," she instructed, assuming a defensive stance. "I promise I won't hurt you."

"Liar," he sighed under his breath, but without any malice. He did as she said, taking a deep breath, and then he moved.

"Giving up that easily," Li Ren remarked in amusement as she looked down at him, though she was doing him an injustice in saying so. He'd managed to keep up with her longer than she had expected, making up for what he lacked in skill with determination. Not that he hadn't managed to pick up a few things along the way. Despite remembering the purpose of the exercise was for him to improve, Li Ren had to fight outrage the first time he had managed to knock her off her feet.

Li Ren turned to look toward the city, one hand resting at her hip. "What, exactly, do you propose we admire? All I see is some roof tops. Not terribly impressive." That said, Li Ren was trying very hard not to admire Rin-ji's bare chest. It was also times like these that she became irrationally jealous that men could shed their layers without reproach. She was dripping in sweat and would have liked nothing better than to strip off her top and expose her bound chest.