A/N: GASP, two Avatar fanfictions in a row! Surprising , isn't it? I can't help it, I've suddenly gotten addicted to this fandom. Yes, odd, I know. Anyways, this is a SokkaxToph oneshot, the paring I happen to like the best from Toph. 3

Well, my new obsession is ZukoxToph, though...

Ok, I'll stop.

Anyways, Toko for you guys! Enjoy!

Disclamer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. Oh mai.


'That' Question

By xspirit.shinobix


Toph immediately hesitated, her foot in midair. Sure, what should've happened was that she would slam her foot on the ground, causing a molded rock to emerge from the ground. Then she would give it a solid punch, pushing the rock across the air, finally crashing into one of the sturdy walls of the air temple. She would've. Before a question was inquired, slowly floating in the air, reaching Toph's ears.

She made no movement for a split second, before resuming her daily earth bending training. "Did you say something Sokka? I wasn't listening…" she lied, watching the rock she punched soar through the air. Actually, she heard the water tribe warrior quite perfectly. She just…didn't know what to make of it. It was…unexpected. Abrupt. Though in the first few days, she hoped that he wouldn't ask 'that' question.

"I asked why you kissed Suki when she saved you from drowning, back at the Serpent's Pass." He repeated, sighing at having to repeat himself as he sat on the edge of the water fountain. "You know, I think you need to get your hearing checked, Toph."

Yup. It was the question. It was back when Toph and the rest of the Avatar's group were walking on ice at the Serpent's Pass. Being able to see with only the earth, she had no sense of where she was going on ice. Losing her balance, she had fallen into the water, unable to swim. She heard Sokka yell out her name in horror. Then--a hand. It grasped onto her side, pulling her out of the water.

It must be Sokka! He saved me!

Coughing out water, as her savior clambered up a block of ice, she beamed, wrapping her soaked arms around 'him'.

"Oh, Sokka, thank you! You saved me!" With that, Toph gave a grateful, affectionate kiss on the cheek of-

"Um..."

Huh?

That didn't sound like Sokka.

In fact, that soudned a lot like...

"I'm not Sokka...I'm Suki."

Oh. Suki. The girl she had just met that offered to help us across the Serpent's Pass. Well, this is...just...

"...You can drown me now." came from the mortified Toph.

. "Toph had no idea how to answer, didn't know what emotion to show. But as usual, unfounded anger formed from her embarrassment. She whirled at him with a heated glare, a look that everyone was used to, yet an expression that wasn't expected from Sokka as he asked the question. Why did it have to come to this question? Why now? When she hasn't even thought about until this idiot just mentioned it now!

"What kind of a stupid question is that?! This question, it's so, it's just so--, random! Why do you even WANT to know?" she smashed her foot on the ground, showing her annoyance. "Will you be quiet, I'm training!"

"I don't know, I thought it was just weird…I mean, you don't really seem like the kissing type—"

Toph's eyes narrowed dangerously at Sokka's bluntness, to which he gulped audibly. "Oh, so you quickly assume that I don't kiss? Is that it, Mr. I-know-everything? I can kiss anyone, anytime!"

"Well, no, I—"

"Is there anything wrong with kissing the one that saved you?" she pushed on angrily, her pale, white face now turning tomato red.

"Oi, let me talk!" Sokka interrupted, with an indignant expression. "I'm older than you, so you shall treat me as a respected leader." He stood straight and proudly, with a pompous expression, to which Toph couldn't decide whether she had to punch him or laugh uncontrollably. She decided that she'll do both later, after this adverse dilemma.

"Now, what I wanted to say was that I remember you saying a different name as you kissed her, which I found really, really weird."

Toph froze. She hoped (though an unrealistic hope), that maybe, he wouldn't notice that one small detail. But, being the perceiving type he is, it was inevitable. Well, since he knew anyways, she can try to make this situation as least embarrassing as possible. "That's not weird! Everyone does that!" she said, her face getting more flushed by the second.

Sokka raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? Everyone, huh?"

"Yes, everyone."

"I don't think so."

"Well, I do."

"Well, I don't."

Okay. Making it less embarrassing isn't working at all.

Toph twitched, trying to contain her frustration. "And your point is?" she growled menacingly.

"Well, I just think that if I were to kiss someone, I wouldn't say another name." he replied with his usual talk, staring at Toph with an odd look. "Speaking of which, what name did you say? I forgot…" he trailed off, mumbling guesses under his breath.

'Uh-oh…at this rate, Sokka'll remember that I thought Suki was him when I gave her that accidental kiss! Then he'll know that I…I…!'

"I know it started with an S, like Suki…" Sokka pondered to himself, with a finger to his chin. "S…Sumo? Saki? Sushi? No…that wasn't it-"

"F-forget about that!" Toph interrupted loudly, trying to distract him. "It's nothing! Nothing whatsoever! Irrelevant! Unnecessary!"

Sokka, however, paid no heed to her, as he was already too deep in his thoughts. "Sake…? No, Soko? Sako? Soka?"

'A-ah! He's close! Gotta do something, gotta do something—' starting to panic, she positioned her feet to the ground, ready to pummel him down with her earth bending—

"Oh!" Sokka stood up suddenly, from his thinking position, causing the slabs of rocks to stick out uselessly from the ground. His tone was laced with 'I figured it out!', to Toph's dismay.

"I remember now!"

Oh.

"You said my name at that time!"

Crap.

Toph inwardly sighed in defeat. 'It's futile to try and mislead him…I'm sure Sokka knows by now that I like him,…I guess I can't do anything about it.'

She looked away, blushing, with an embarrassed frown plastered over her face. "So what if I did say your name? It- it doesn't…it doesn't mean…anything, lazy idiot…" she glanced up, her face still getting redder by the second, trying to see his initial reaction.
"I'm lost."

Toph looked up fully now at her crush.

The appearance on his face was a confused one.

"But, why did you say my name when you kissed Suki? Why didn't you thank her?"

"…Because," she replied slowly, "I…thought you were the one who saved me from drowning. But it turned out to be Suki."

His expression didn't waver.

Toph's mouth was agape. He couldn't possibly be this stupid. He just possibly couldn't. He was able to remember that I thanked him when I kissed Suki. He figured that much. But he can't figure out this? Could he really be that dense?

"And Toph, you look horribly flushed. What's up with you? You sick or something?"

It's official. He's a complete retard.

"Well, Sokka," Toph spoke finally after she had found her voice, "Now that you know, will you PLEASE drop the subject?"

Sokka still seemed persistent. "But, now I want to know why—"

Without warning, she towered over him threateningly, slowly punching a fist into her hand. Being in such an undesirable situation for so long, she finally cracked. "Do not let your curiosity get the better of you." She snarled quietly. "DROP IT."

"Y-yes ma'am…" he squeaked, cowering under her presence. Her demeanor was unusually…frightening

"Now, if you can't see, I'm training. Do me a favor and leave me alone!" she snapped, a slight blush still adorning her cheeks.

"Geez, alright, I'm going, I'm going." Stretching himself, he walked away lazily.

When she was sure he had gone, she released her breath, plopping to the floor.

"I knew Sokka was always being an idiot, but for him to be THIS dense…unbelievable…"

She smiled, despite her efforts to keep an angry face.

Why did she have to fall in love with an idiot like him?


A/N: REVIEW, OR I WILL COME IN YOUR ROOM AT NIGHT AND STEAL ALL YOUR PEACHES. 3