Title: By Chance

Summary: Our girl Toph decides to take matters into her own hands when she sees what's going on.

Disclaimer: Avatar – The Last Airbender belongs to Nickelodeon. I don't own any rights to the characters, places, or ideas of the show.

Warning: This story will probably eventually be mildly slashy (of the girl kind). Jeez, what is my deal with writing this stuff?

Sorry everyone who's waiting for other stories. This plot bunny just bit me on the behind and it won't let go.

Chapter 1

Ba Sing Se.

Oh, how I loath this city.

The people are creepy, the streets are dirty, and the rules are way too confining; almost as much as they were back home.

My parents aren't here though, so I suppose this place is better than home. But not by much. And the others are pretty nice to me. It's taken a while, but I finally settled into a less egocentric state of being. It's only slightly less, but enough so that I could actually be a part of this group. Once that change for the better had happened, I found that not only could I feel when people were lying, but I could sense other things too.

This brings me to my current predicament.

I felt them come into the city a few days ago, and I had almost panicked at how close they were to our house. Did they know we were here? Were they still hunting for Aang? Well, there's a stupid question – of course they still wanted Twinkle-Toes; he's the Avatar. Why wouldn't they want him dead?

It had been so hard for me to keep my cool and not lash out and attack them when I felt the vibrations of their footsteps no more than a stone's throw away from us. I'd know those feet anywhere.

There was the leader – Princess Azula. She always walked confidently, proudly. Her footsteps never paused, never hesitated. And there was a power to her strides, a self-absorbed, arrogant certainty and defiance in her stance. I guess it could be justified; I mean she is after all the daughter of the Fire Lord. I've never seen her and I've never witnessed her bending, but I've felt her lightning smash through any rock I could throw at her. It scared me a little – that she could so effortlessly defend against everything I had. It was one of the few nightmares I ever had that I would some day die at her hands.

Then there was the taller, quieter one. She seemed a little like me in some ways. She had confidence to spare, but not the arrogant kind. She was a dark, brooding sort; long, smooth strides and a calm, cold, calculating stance – almost belligerent in her bored attitude. She made it seem as though it was a chore simply to breathe the air around her. But she could certainly throw a mean set of daggers – it's just too bad I'm faster than she is.

And finally there was the third of the bunch – the odd one out. I could never really figure that one out – what was her name? Katara had called her Ty Lee, I think. She was light on her feet, she shifted her stances effortlessly, efficiently – never a single twitch wasted. Hers wasn't a cold or calculating style of fighting, but playful; it was almost as though she enjoyed everything she did, but in a child-like way. Her martial arts were incredible…the very first time I'd faced her the skill with which she'd struck had astounded me. Her voice was young, excited, joyous…she was truly happy to live; but she seemed more of a gymnast than a fighter.

I thought they were a bit of an odd group, working together the way they were. Then again, look at us – the Avatar and his friends.

But anyway, that's not the point.

So, here I am slinking around the rooftops of this stupid city sometime long past dusk, hunting down one of the three women who would sooner throw something dangerous at me than talk to me. Why, you may ask?

Because I'm a masochist.

Seriously, why am I doing this?

I could say that it was all a matter of tactics. If I could completely remove one of those women from the equation, better for us, right? Well, I'm not so interested in killing – not even those three, but I thought I had a pretty reasonable chance of convincing one of them to help us a little. I might be able to get them to tell me some information at the very least. I mean, half-an-ally is better than nothing, right?

But I would be lying if I said I was really thinking impersonally, so calculatingly. Really, I was doing this for her.

It had taken me a while to figure it out considering everything that happened whenever we all ran into each other, but I had finally worked out the whole picture. Of course, it also hadn't really helped that I couldn't see anyone's faces but still…better late than never.

Once I'd realized what was going on, I felt so ridiculous. I almost screamed it at the top of my lungs it was so obvious but I held it in. Why didn't anyone else see it? It was shrieking out to be heard in the way her heart beat just a little faster whenever she saw us. Whenever Azula would order them to attack, there would be the very slightest hitch in her breath and a twitch in her stance, a hesitation even she probably couldn't sense. It was like some part of her didn't really want to do it, like she was attacking more for the sake of duty or loyalty than out of any sense of dark morality or true willingness to do that which she was being commanded.

That was the definition of a friend to me, and it's just too bad that Azula doesn't see it. If the Fire Princess was more willing to treat her friends with the same respect they showed her, I probably wouldn't be plotting to take one away from her. I mean, if there wasn't a chance in the world that this could work, why would I waste the effort? But thanks to Azula's carelessness, thanks to her blindness, her arrogance, single-mindedness and her heartlessness, my plan's chance of success went from impossible to just improbable.

At first, this idea that popped into my head had seemed wild, insane – crazy…but it made sense after I'd thought about it a little more. If you take a girl who's doing something she doesn't particularly want to do and give her a chance to change, a chance to do something better – to do something more satisfying, what do you think will happen? All I had to do was open her eyes to the possibilities.

Oh – speak of the devil…there she is.

I feel her footsteps ahead of me suddenly, so abruptly it makes me realize I must have been far more absorbed in my thoughts than I was aware. I quickly duck down where I'm standing on the roof, feeling the vibrations of her slow, careful strides. She's deep in thought, not completely aware of her surroundings as she wanders down the deserted street.

Before I act, I take a moment to look at her as best I can. Is it really true – do you really feel about her the way it seems you do? It was one thing to suspect the attraction, but this plan of mine – despite being carefully created and meditated on – was something completely out there. This is something I can't take back, and if it blows up in my face not only will it be completely my fault, but one or more people might get hurt – very seriously most likely. If I am wrong, it could be a disaster.

Still out of sight on some random roof, I feel the way she moves; drifting from one shadow to the next. She pauses every so often for a few moments, and I use that time to carefully close the distance between us.

Soon enough, I'm on the roof of the building right behind her and I watch carefully the mental image I have of her. She's been stopped for the last half-a-minute staring up at the cloudless sky. Her stance is balanced and steady as always, but it's heavy; she has definitely got something on her mind. She breathes a quiet sigh and I finally find the unknown signal I'm looking for, the sign from the fates that I am in fact doing the right thing.

She's lonely.

Her brave, cool outer attitude is a façade, and I know deep down there's only one person close at hand – probably only one person in the whole world really – who could fill the empty void in this woman's heart.

Without moving from my perch on the roof, I reach out with my bending and open up a narrow, smooth-walled hole beneath my prey's feet, sending her plummeting straight down more than a quarter-mile to the huge underground network of caverns I'd found just a couple days before. It was my space I was lending over to one of our enemies. It was the place I'd been going to relax and meditate a little – to practice my bending too.

Hopefully, it would help these two in some way.

With barely a squeak of surprise, the woman is suddenly sliding feet-first down into what must seem like the very bowels of the Earth. I wait for a moment as the woman vanishes down the chute, her hair waving behind her as she gasps in shock.

But then I turn on my heel and start racing back the way I've come.

I have to get the last part of my plan.

She is easy enough to find, all things considered. I mean, it is pretty late at night and all. The only problem now is getting her sleeping body out of the house without waking anyone, especially the girl I am spiriting away.

I stand just outside Katara's room and take a deep breath.

This is it.

If I still have any doubts, this is my last chance to back down. If I want to, I could leave that other woman stuck down that hole and no one will be affected; she will eventually find her way out and she will never know that it had been my doing. I could still walk away and avoid the risk; I could still avoid the responsibility. As I stand there outside Katara's door, I find the question bashing me on the head none-too-subtly.

Am I willing to put Katara's safety at risk?

What is the worst that could happen? What is the best, and does it outweigh the possible worst-case outcome?

With a determined frown, I slide the door panel open and slip into the Waterbender's room. It is time I gave some company to the girl I'd stuck underground. Moving forward carefully, silently, I feel through the floor for the Earth and stone that lies beneath the house, willing it to grow up and slowly pierce the wooden boards on which I stand with a quiet, slow creaking sound. I move slowly – painstakingly so, hoping I can do this without getting caught and without waking the older girl.

The stone walls have risen completely through the floor all around her when I feel her heartbeat quicken and her breathing change… I can't tell if her eyes are still closed, or if she is even really waking up, but I take no chances. As soon as I feel the change come over her, I slam the time-beaten earthen walls closed like a dome over the prone form of the Water Tribe girl, blocking me from her sight as I prepare to send her down.

I give a light kick to the floor and Katara's tiny dome is sent plummeting straight down into the ground, the stone and Earth parting dutifully for her as I deepen the tunnel.

Once she is gone and I've closed up the hole behind her, I look carefully around me and listen to see if anyone has overheard my work. No one comes to investigate.

Satisfied that no one has heard, I turn around and retreat to my room. No one is stirring as I lay myself down on my mat, drifting off finally with only one thought still lingering in my mind:

Good luck, Sugar Queen.

A/N : So, here's the first chapter; I hope you liked it. Anyone want to try guessing who Katara's going to meet? We'll see how it turns out…