Author's Note: Since a lot of people really liked "The Rock Who Opened Up" (and because I had some free time on my hands), I decided to write a sequel to it. Like the previous installment, this fan fiction is Kataang and Tokka. I guess you could say there's a hint of Taang, but it's really just Toph and Aang's awesome friendship. If you haven't read "The Rock Who Opened Up", you will still easily understand this story. There are only a few references to the prequel in it, including the fact that Aang and Toph know each other's secrets. With that in mind, please enjoy the story! TJJK
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It was a beautiful day in the small Earth Kingdom meadow, at least in Aang's opinion. Spring was just ending and bringing a prominent air of summer as it went, peeling open the petals of the flowers that had yet to bloom and carrying in the last of the migrating birds with a gentle, mothering hand. The azure skyline molded into the endless array of hills in the distance and the sun's tender rays combed their grassy slopes with the lightest of shadows. Pastel flowers in shades of baby blue, yellow, and pink lined the banks of a small, muddy stream, just outside the cattails, of course, which dominated the fresh loam at the water's edge.
Aang gathered these flowers happily, working his small, tattooed hands down their thick, green stalks and plucking them delicately out of the dirt as though each one were a newborn baby. He then placed them lovingly inside Katara's water skin, which he had 'borrowed' when she and Sokka had gone out fishing further down the stream earlier that day. Aang was glad that she had left him alone or he would have never had the opportunity to gather his bouquet.
Katara will be so surprised when she sees these, the young Airbender thought excitedly, picturing Katara's beautiful smile as she picked up her water pouch to find the flowers. Maybe I can even tell her I love her… Deep down, Aang knew he wouldn't be able to tell Katara he loved her right then and there. Like Toph had said before, he didn't have the guts. But nothing could spoil the Avatar's mood; not on a gorgeous day like this.
Aang smiled broadly as he continued on his way along the riverbank, enjoying the sound of the gently trickling water and the soft twittering of the springtime birds. Aang loved nature to his core. It was also so mystical and carefree, so full of surprises. Just like Katara, he thought with a small smile, pleased with his fine comparison. A refreshing zephyr sifted through Aang's clothes, rattling the cattails with a crisp chattering and sending a few riverbank frogs hopping for cover in the tall weeds. Aang smiled again. It was so tranquil.
As the Airbender kept walking, he heard a soft splashing sound coming from a break in the foliage. Being as curious as he was, Aang found himself eager to investigate. Abandoning a butter-yellow flower he had been about to pick, Aang straightened up and strode over to the sound, keeping his contented smile plastered to his face.
When he saw who was behind the brush, Aang felt his smile slip a little. It was Toph! He hadn't expected to find her here; he was almost sure she had gone off fishing with Sokka and Katara. Now that he thought about it, Aang never did see Toph go with the siblings; she had just sort of vanished. She had her feet in the water and was splashing them quietly around, unaware of Aang's presence. At closer inspection, Aang realized she was stroking something softly in her lap, though Aang couldn't see what.
"Toph!" Aang cried out in surprise.
Toph jumped and whirled around. When she registered who had spoken, she frowned slightly. "Hey, Aang," she said expressionlessly, turning back to 'stare' across the stream and resume her splashing. "I didn't see you there. Actually, I can't really see anything." She gestured blindly at her feet, which were still in the water, immune to any vibrations at all.
Aang frowned as well. Toph wasn't acting quite like herself; she rarely called him 'Aang' unless she was dead serious. "I thought you went fishing with Sokka and Katara," Aang replied, scratching his head uneasily; something about Toph's behavior scared him a little.
"I don't like trout and that's all you find down here," she responded blandly, keeping her face averted from him completely.
"You don't like - ?" Aang started but was cut off.
"Trout with sauce, trout with seafood, sautéed trout; you have one trout, you've had them all." Toph pulled her feet out of the water and drew her knees up to her chest, concealing whatever it was that was in her lap as she referred to her life back with her parents.
Aang nodded before remembering she couldn't see it. He crouched down beside Toph. "What's that you've got in your lap?" he inquired, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever it was.
Toph cut him off sharply by turning away. Ignoring his question completely, she pointed accusingly at him. "Flowers, Twinkletoes?"
"Uh… yeah…" Aang said rather awkwardly, a small blush rising to his cheeks. "You know, for Katara…"
"I know all too well," Toph commented shrewdly, a small smile forming on her lips.
"Toph… are you okay?" Aang asked her, still trying to see what she had been petting.
"I'm fine…" Aang was suddenly panic-stricken; her voice had suddenly become shaky and unsteady, so very much unlike Toph. What more, a small, silver tear formed in her glassy eye and slid slowly down her tanned cheek, leaving a pearly white streak in its path.
"Toph!" Aang exclaimed, horrified. "Toph, what's wrong?! What's happened?!"
"N-nothing important, Twinkletoes," she stuttered, trying to retain her tough disposition.
Aang didn't need to feel her breathing to tell that she was lying and he remained adamantly next to her. "Toph, please tell me!" he begged, putting his hand tentatively on her shoulder. She didn't tell him to go away, or even shrug his hand off. Instead, she squeezed her eyes shut tightly and allowed several more tears to escape her eyelids.
"No!" she said thickly, trying to stem the flow of tears by wiping her eyes. She sniffled and Aang tightened his grip on her shoulder. He was determined to find out what was wrong with her. Feeling his hand tense, Toph sighed. "Look, it's n-not important! I'm just being w-weak."
"Toph, you're not weak," Aang whispered consolingly. "It's okay to cry sometimes."
"No, not f-for me," Toph muttered, her voice barely audible over the sound of running water in the creek and her increased sniffling. "My parents think I'm s-so weak and helpless… Crying doesn't help and it only gives them a reason to think I can't p-protect myself. But I can, I really can. I don't need their help."
"Is this about your parents?" Aang asked; he had never heard Toph cry about her parents before. But she shook her head roughly, causing some of her soft, black hair to full out of her bun.
"It's about…" she snuffled again, trying to continue. "It's… about…" Unable to go on, Toph picked up the object in her lap and held it out to Aang resignedly.
In her small, pudgy hand lay a large, brown flower with a thick, mud-colored stem. As shocked as Aang was to find Toph with a flower, the most girlish prop on the face of the Earth, he examined it closely, his mind working furiously at deciphering the meaning of Toph's sudden liking to flowers. Truthfully, it was probably the ugliest flower Aang had ever seen but he didn't have the heart to tell Toph; she wasn't able to see what flower she picked! The center was a kind of mustard-yellow and the big, jagged petals that jutted awkwardly out of it were as brown as the dirt. The stem (which was just as brown) was rather chunky and had a few holes in the sides that looked like they had been nibbled out by parasites.
"Toph, it's beautiful!" Aang lied before he could stop himself; he had forgotten that Toph could tell if people were lying. Luckily, she had dipped her feet gloomily back into the water.
"Really?" she asked, a little hopeful sounding.
"Er, yeah," Aang continued. "Is that for… Sokka?" He added finally, not wanting to upset Toph in such a delicate state.
She nodded and clutched the flower to her heart. "Well… at least it was," she added finally. "But he doesn't like me. If you like it so much, you should give it to Katara." She then passed the flower to Aang, but he promptly refused.
"Toph, how long have you been out here?" he questioned, pushing her hand away as she offered him the flower.
"As long as you have, Twinkletoes," Toph replied. "I felt you leaving and I went after you, thinking we could get some Earthbending done. Earthbending is strongest in the spring and that's almost over. You still have a lot of work to do so I thought now would be a good time. But then I saw you picking flowers and… I don't know, Aang… Something kind of possessed me to get a flower for Sokka. I don't know why. It was a stupid idea." Before Aang could give her a defensive retort, Toph continued. "Then I realized that Sokka doesn't like me. He never has and he never will."
"Toph!" Aang cried, having heard enough. "You don't know that! Remember that time we got trapped in that cave? And… and then we got out and Katara and Sokka were there? You, well, you went over and hugged him and he didn't even mind!"
"That was one time!" Toph shot back, turning moodily away from the Avatar. "He kissed that Suki girl. And apparently, that Princess Yue as well. He's never kissed me."
Aang was stunned. He couldn't think of a time where he had ever felt as sorry for Toph as he did now. Not even when she told him about how possessive her parents were. "But Toph, you don't seem like the type of girl who would want to get kissed! Sokka knows that and he doesn't want to make you uncomfortable!" Aang fabricated, trying desperately to cheer up his Earthbending teacher. Unfortunately, Toph had her feet on the ground again and she glared at Aang with her fathomless eyes.
"Don't bother lying, Twinkletoes, I can tell you are!" she said snappishly, her frown deepening considerably.
Aang flushed but didn't abandon ship. There was still courage in Toph and he could feel it. "But Toph, you really don't seem like the person who would want to get kissed," Aang said, truthfully now. "You're always so tough and confident. And, well… You've taught me to be too. But don't give up on Sokka."
"Why? So I can get rejected when he finds out I do like him?" Toph asked, a hint of anger in her voice. "I know Sokka, Aang. He's not interested in girls like me. Suki is pretty, funny, and a great fighter. She's perfect for him. Sokka only thinks of me as part of the gang. I'm even sarcastic to him sometimes!"
"That's why you and Sokka belong together," Aang said quietly. "You have so much in common with each other. Just think about it!"
Toph put her hand on her chin and went silent for a few moments, obviously wondering about what she and Sokka had in common. After a few minutes, she stood slowly up. Aang followed suit.
"Do you really think Sokka will like this?" she asked hopefully, holding up the flower.
Aang nodded. "He'll love it. That will really surprise him."
Toph smiled shakily. "I think he might actually like it," she said confidently as the two started to head back. "It took me forever to find it. I thought it was the best looking one since it was so big." Aang smiled meekly; poor Toph didn't understand color.
"It'll take us a little while to get back," Aang told her, taking the flower from her and Bending some water into its stem. "We should put this in something. You know, so it doesn't wilt."
Toph nodded and kicked sharply at the ground, knocking a cylinder-shaped rock out of its place in the riverbank and Bending it into a rough but practical vase. Aang Bended some of the stream's water gracefully into the cup and placed the flower lightly inside. The two shades of brown from the cup and the flower seemed to blend rather nicely.
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The sun was already drooping tiredly behind a curtain of thick, gray clouds when the Water Tribe siblings returned from their day of fishing, heaving a tightly woven net filled with ugly, silver fish over the small slopes and rabbit holes that dotted the ground. Toph and Aang were lounging carelessly on the logs they had hauled in around a small campfire just the other day when they had set up camp, battling small, earth mannequins lazily in the air while Momo watched with some jealousy; Toph usually played with him at night. Conveniently, Toph and Aang had chosen seats directly across from each other with Aang's being under a bushy pine and Toph's in the direct sunlight.
"We're back!" Katara called exhaustedly, wiping sweat off her forehead as she slumped on to the log near Aang, who blushed a little. The water pouch with the flowers was nearby; Katara luckily hadn't discovered it yet.
"Now we have to cook…" Sokka moaned, swatting Momo away from the bag of fish; he had stealthily snuck over and attempted to steal a trout. The lemur prated angrily under his breath and took refuge on Toph's shoulder, watching the earth dolls with beady eyes.
"Aang, I found some wild strawberries for you while we were out fishing," Katara announced to Aang, who dropped his puppet at once and straightened his posture, hesitantly accepting the small pouch of berries that Katara was handing to him.
"I wish you would just learn Firebending already so we don't have to go through this every night!" Sokka grumbled irritably, fumbling around with two pieces of flint, which failed to light.
Aang ignored the joke; he was so distracted by Katara's beauty that nothing seemed to really matter anymore, not even his looming fate of fighting the Fire Lord at summer's end. Something hard and sharp knocked against the Avatar's bald skull and he cried out in pain. He realized Toph had hit him with a rock and, looking over at her, he noticed she was making strange hand gestures and glancing repeatedly at Sokka, who was cursing the flint under his breath.
Aang immediately realized what she wanted and shook his head; she had to wait for Sokka to sit down to show him the flower. Katara glanced bemusedly over at Aang upon hearing his cry and he gave her a dazzling smile. Katara turned a little pink (unbeknownst to Aang, who had gotten slightly numb just thinking about the Water Tribe girl) and looked away.
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"Fish's done!" Sokka called to the others joyfully half an hour later. Katara got up eagerly, clutching her stomach. Aang had long since finished his meal and was holding Katara's water skin, preparing to give it to her when she got back to her seat.
"Sokka…" Katara sighed dispiritedly upon seeing the fish. "It's burnt."
"Live with it," Sokka growled under his breath, shooting her a venomous look.
"Next time, I'll cook it," she suggested, turning around with a broad smile; Sokka had never really taken cooking lessons with their mom and therefore, was far from a master chef.
Aang hid the flowers behind his back. They were almost completely unnoticeable in the dark of the night. "Katara, while you were fishing today…" Katara turned with interest, fingering the burnt fish absentmindedly; she seemed vastly fascinated with what he had to say. "I went out to the meadow by myself, and, well, I thought you might like these." Aang presented the flowers to her and Katara gasped in delight.
"Aang, they're beautiful!" she squealed excitedly, accepting the water skin and cradling it close to her heart. "And they smell wonderful!" Aang could hardly conceal his grin. "You must have worked all day to get these!"
Aang shrugged sheepishly. "I guess so. I thought you might like them."
"Aang, thank you! I love them!" Aang turned to Toph and gave her a quick thumbs-up. But what happened next was completely and utterly unpredictable. Aang never would have guessed that Katara would be so happy with her flowers. Because one second, Aang was smiling encouragingly at Toph, and the next, he felt Katara's cool hands around his shoulders and her soft lips on his cheek.
Katara let go only seconds later, smiling brilliantly, but the moment lasted forever. Aang touched the spot on his cheek where she had kissed him and enjoyed the warmth she had brought to his body. Had she really just kissed him? Aang suddenly felt very giddy; he wanted to get up and perform a crazy dance or ride wildly around on his air scooter. A bright pink glow rose to his cheeks and he sat in a silent stupor, feeling happy just to be sitting near Katara.
Meanwhile, Toph was sitting on her log with only Momo's company, feeling rather lonely. Aang had just gotten a kiss for his flowers. Was she in for a treat from Sokka or an awkward moment?
"Here, Toph, I got your fish for you," came Sokka's voice from planet Earth and Toph snapped back to reality. She scowled at the fish but accepted it with exaggerated gratefulness. "I got you the piece that was burned the least." Sokka smiled at Toph and she felt herself go pale. Examining her fish, she realized it was the least burnt. Had Sokka given her the best piece for a reason?
Toph picked at her fish quietly for a few minutes while Sokka gnawed viciously at his, talking with his mouth full and telling the tale of how a few fish had almost carried their net away downstream while they had been fishing. Toph wanted to show him the flower… But she couldn't muster up enough courage. What if he didn't like it? Or worse, what if he didn't like her? The thought was unnerving and Toph tried to shrug it off. You'll never know until you try, whispered a strong voice in her head. Toph took a deep breath. Well, here goes nothing, she thought.
"Sokka?" Toph interrupted, causing Sokka to stop talking and look down at her with a concerned look in his eyes; perhaps her voice had been a little too shaky. Luckily, at that moment, Aang engaged Katara in conversation about all the different types of flowers he had gathered. She paid rapt attention to him and Toph realized her breathing sped up.
Sokka was now staring at her, waiting for her to continue. I can't do this, Toph thought and felt horror rise through her body. Sokka was waiting! She'd have to say something! Do it! Do it right now! Seized by a reckless, irresistible urge, Toph plowed on.
"Sokka, Igotthisforyou!" she cried breathlessly, reaching behind the log they were sharing and producing the small, earth vase that contained the lonely, brown flower. There was silence in which Sokka merely stared at the gift. Toph felt choked. What was wrong? Did he like it? Her heartbeat picked up, pounding painfully at her ribcage. What had she been thinking? What was wrong with her? It was obvious that Sokka didn't like her! Not when he had girls like Suki around! Everything Aang had told her had been a lie that she'd been too distracted to catch! She was foolish for thinking Sokka liked her more than a friend!
"Toph…" Sokka said finally and Toph stiffened. "Toph… it's beautiful!"
"What?!" Toph whispered, barely believing her ears. Did he just say it was beautiful? No… she must have heard wrong! But without her eyes, her ears were ultra-sensitive – they had never failed her before!
"I love it!" Sokka cried, this time with much more gusto. "Did you pick this by yourself?" Toph nodded, feeling numb but in a pleasant way. "Toph… thank you." That seemed all Sokka could say and Toph felt him place the pot next to his feet.
Feeling happy beyond words and extremely tired, Toph slouched in her seat, finishing her fish now that she had much more of an appetite. For some reason, the fish was a lot tastier now; why did she ever hate trout?
Noticing her drooping posture, Sokka offered her his arm. "You can lean on me if you want, Toph," he said casually, scooting closer to her. "It's been a long day."
Toph gladly rested her head on his shoulder, smiling to herself. "It sure has," she replied. She saw Aang grinning at her from the other side of the campfire and flashed a smile back. He had gotten a kiss and she hadn't. But so what? Toph realized that she didn't need a kiss. She had gotten a good enough reward. Some people had different ways of showing their affection. And she realized that she wouldn't have it any other way.
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Well, that's it! Please review if you enjoyed! Also, if anyone here is reading my multi-chaptered fan fiction, I'd just like to say that chapter five is almost done and should be out sometime this week.