While Aang and Katara were practicing water bending in the Northern Water Tribe; Sokka and Yue set off on a "date", talking about their feelings and all the mushy stuff isn't quite Sokka's cup of Jasmine tea. Sokka has always been the caring, protective type; the type that would charge head first into a battle with weapon drawn no matter how badly he was out numbered. He would do whatever it took to survive; which is the exact type that is a huge turn off for Princess Yue. She has a high sense of pride as woman, she doesn't like having a man look after her; she would rather have a...weaker guy that she can protect and easily control. This "date" was no more than a way for her to dump Sokka, she plans on letting him down in a very gentle way; lie to his foolish. Sokka knows that it is normal for the Northern water tribe to have arranged marriages, but what he doesn't know is that Yue is to young to have an arranged husband already. To take advantage of the southern water tribe boys lack of cultural knowledge, her plan is to lie to him so that he thinks shes really upset that she cant be with him and run off crying.
"Aang!" scolded the master, "Keep your guard up or you'll never reach Katara's level of water bending! You should feel ashamed, you have dozens of past lives and yet you fail to best a girl? A girl is better then the Avatar...In all my days I ne-"
He was cut short by the sound of a scolded students voice. Aang flushed a light, embarrassed pink, turning his otherwise pale white skin pink to his ears "Y-yes master Pakku, i will do my be-"
"EXCUSE ME!" Katara interrupted while sending a wave of water towards her master, which he evaded with a lazy side-step. "LAST TIME I CHECKED I ALMOST BEAT YOU IN THE DUEL THI- -" she stopped in mid sentence only to realize the sly smirk her master had on his face, she flushed, turning her normally dark tanned skin the deepest crimson and bowed deeply, with a smirk of her own. It was the Northern Water tribes customs that women were suppose to use their bending in order to heal the wounded, rather than train in the arts of water bending combat. But this changed when a girl from the Southern water tribe challenged the master water bender to a duel, she was easily defeated but when the master "Pakku" approached her he seen something on her neck he hasn't seen in a while, a betrothal necklace. He carved this necklace himself then presented it to a woman named "gran gran". Gran gran did not want to be controlled by the stupid customs of his tribe that saw women as objects, only to be used in arranged marriages. Upon discovering that this girl was his gran daughter, his cold sexist shell melted and he began to train her and the Avatar.
"That's enough for today, rest up and be prepared for tomorrow", as Katara and Aang ended their training for the day, Sokka's was just beginning. The only difference is Sokka wasn't bending water, he was bending emotions. The moon was set high in the sky shining down on both of them as they leaned on a bridge railing over a basin of water. As an awkward silence began to creep on the pair, Sokka was going to say something but Yue broke it first.
"Sokka..." Yue said with a hint of worry in her voice, if everything went according to plan the she wont have to deal with this oaf anymore. Startled and a little confused the water tribe boy quickly dug into his pockets for a gift he made, hoping to fix whatever it was that was troubling his girlfriend. At the word he jumped a little, Sokka and Yue had only been seeing each other for a few days; it was truly love at first blinded sight. The reason he had jumped was neither of them called the other "boyfriend" or "girlfriend" it was always...Sokka or Yue.
"Wait...I made this for you" He pulled out a small carving of a fish...or something that resembled a fish but didn't quite match the anatomy. Twisting and turning it to figure what the heck it was; Yue let out a long irritated sigh.
"What is it?" she asked, with annoyance apparent in her voice. When it dawned on her that her tone had become sharp, she realized she had to play it off cooler, or Sokka just MIGHT catch on. Like magic her face softened and her shoulders relaxed. Seeing the sudden change in Yue caused Sokka to think that his gift worked! He began to relax and thought everything seemed to have resolved itself.
"Its a fish, i spent all day carving it for you". He knew that she could have anything she wanted, having such a rich and well known family in the tribe had its perks. So he decided something hand made and heart felt would fit better. Sensing that Sokka was beginning to open up, Yue decided it was time to end this... right when he was open and vulnerable; for good, due to her own irritation...she could no longer play this game.
"Sokka...", Yue pouted with tears swelling into her eyes and her throat burning the pain of (fake) tears. "I - - I cant do this anymore!" She was looking directly into Sokka's azure eyes but quickly turn her back to him, she could almost hear something inside the young warrior break. A faint smirk crossed her face, trying to hold back a small laugh at how easy and enjoyable she found this to be.
"Yue...Whats wrong? Did i do something wrong?" He reached out a hand to give her shoulder a comforting, light squeeze, but was quickly swatted away like a common house fly.
"NO! Sokka i cant anymore...I'm engaged, I'm set to marry another in a month, I'm sorry". With this Sokka wanted to run but couldn't, he couldn't bring his legs to move.
"Wait, so this whole time...you've only been messing with me? How long..." He trailed off waiting for a reply.
"A year, i have been engaged a year. I never had any intention of falling for you Sokka! Its just the way you looked at me in the grand hall, when every other living thing was focused on the arrival of the Avatar...your eyes looked at me." She could have stopped right there, and told him to get lost but instead she said something she never intended to leave her thoughts. They picked me out from the thousands in the crowd! Your eyes...chose me!".
"O-oh I see, well that's OK...its not like you can really help who your tribe promises you to." What was ment to come out strong and proud came out as a whimpered plea, a plea that scream kill me, end this pain. With a swift movement he grabbed his fish shaped present and hurled it with emotion into the ocean. "I hope you two are happy;" running as fast as he could, he stormed into his tent, quietly sobbing into his pillow until morning. After Yue was alone her smile faded as the moonlight danced on her snow white hair, as she felt a single trail of moistness coming from her eye, a tear.
When Katara was the first to wake she noticed something was wrong with her brother. He should not be so pouty after a date, he should be happy, skipping and humming.
"Sokka...Whats wrong?" Katara pleaded, "you had your first date with Yue yesterday...did something go wrong?" Katara knew she wasn't her big brothers mother yet she couldn't help herself but be motherly, though she knew deep down that she was not getting anything out of him for a while she continued to press Sokka for more information on the events that unfolded. Shoving off the enthusiastic attempts of Aang and Katara to comfort him Sokka layed in his tent; feeling the cold artic air wrap around him, never before had he been this cold. Whenever they made cheerful attempts, he would cross his arms, and face the other direction.
About 3 hours later, just as Sokka was ready to tell them the juicy details, a single black snow flake landed on his nose.
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Thanks for reading! As always reviews are always highly accepted, please do not hold back on the criticism; also let me know how you liked this story! No matter what i will finish this story, just need to know how much people like it in order to tell me show fast i should put chapters out there! The next 10 or so are planned, but I'm open to suggestions! And Yue fans...dont murder me T_T, I promise she will improve!