Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar. If I did, this wouldn't be called fanfiction.

Title: Catrabbit

By: Shuramai

Summary: "Not that I'm saying Katara is homicidally inclined--but sometimes, I swear I can feel a cloud of doom hang over her when, say, Sokka eats the last Leechy nut." Toph and Katara-centric. Slight Spoilers for Western Air Temple.

A/N: I decided not to post this in my Avatar Drabbles, as it is more of a oneshot than a Drabble.

I'm really not one for lying--if I can tell a liar from the way their heart beats, or the way their body reacts when lying, then I wonder if normal people can tell when I lie.

Of course, back in Gaoling I didn't really care, but these people are like family to me now, more than my real one, as the latter had the tendency to shove me at tutors or babysitters. In fact, I was the Blind Bandit for a helluva long time; with the way the way people go on and on about the Earth rumble Tournament, you'd think my parents would've heard something.

Maybe they had--but if they did, they probably never guessed it was me, as I wasn't allowed to go into town. Ever.

Anyways, I don't like to lie--at least, not to my friends, because really, I don't want to start a rift or Hundred Year War Part II in our group. I mean, we argue a lot, but we haven't actually tried to kill each other per se.

Well, with the exclusion of Sparky. But he wasn't on our side before.

Oh--and Katara.

Not that I'm saying Katara is homicidally inclined--but sometimes, I swear I can feel a cloud of doom hang over her when, say, Sokka eats the last Leechy nut. Or if Zuko opens his mouth and says something, anything, because she really can't stand his guts.

But even she knows that Aang has to learn Firebending, and we can't go scouring the world for that Jong Jeong guy (or whatever his name is) there really is no point in trying to maim and decapitate Zuko in his sleep.

Never knew Sugar Queen was sadistic to daydream about something like that, and then tell me about it. I am so going to need therapy after this...

Sometimes, I wonder if Sokka and Katara are even related. Sokka doesn't lapse into momentary bouts of insanity/rage.

Strike that last statement--he does go insane.

"I wonder how these would taste like," I hear him murmur, when we are foraging for food to take back to the Western Air Temple. I hear a rustling of bushes, and even I know that it is a stupid idea to shove stuff into my mouth that could have the potential to taste bad, be poisonous, or be a combination of the two.

"I wouldn't if I were you," I say, as I feel vibrations coming from around his feet. "In fact I would--"

I hear Sokka squawk as loudly as a Catrabbit, the very animal I tried to warn him about, nearly throttles him in its attempt to protect is assets, i.e, the berry bush. Sokka howls, dances around in a destructive rampage as he tries to pry it off his face.

Later, when he has managed to both calm it and himself down, he decides he wants to keep it. As a pet.

"Don't tell Katara," he tells me, as he tries to smuggle the thing in his bag. "Katara will blow a gasket."

"She's gotten really edgy lately," I comment, as Sokka struggles with the Catrabbit he has decided to name "Skippy Fluff Hopper". "She was screaming at Aang yesterday. Something about flying food."

I can almost hear the cogs inside of Sokka's mind as his brain begins to function.

"Exactly what--"

"I don't want to know," I say, and I don't. Aang is starting to become a little bit more like Sokka everyday, and it's no wonder. If the only male role models you've had are a bunch of old monks, then its only normal to look up to someone closer to your age who you consider to be a big brother to you.

At least, I think the flying food thing was a prank. Aang could've been practicing an ancient Airbending move for all I know.

"It's because she's worried." Sokka is quite sure of this explanation,as he tries to coax Hopper into his bag with some of the berries he'd scavenged. "Anyways, just keep this between you and me. I mean, you know how Momo gets."

I almost face plant the ground at what he says. "What?"

"Appa and Aang have this "bond" with each other, so Appa doesn't get jealous if we add a new member to the group," he seems extremely assured of this explanation, and I absently wonder which side of the family Katara and Sokka inherited the 'crazy' gene from. "Momo gets jealous. He didn't like Hawky."

"I wonder when he'll come back," I muse aloud, ignoring his little explanation as it is absolutely ridiculous in the first place. Sokka has just managed to subdue Hopper and we're heading back.

"Yeah. I miss him," Sokka has this wistful tone in his voice, and I wonder how is it possible to miss something you've only had for a few days.

"We have a bond," Sokka insists, when he hears my not-so-subtly-hidden snicker. We are very close to home now, and he drops his voice an octave. "And remember, don't say anything."

...

Even though we haven't known each other for long, Haru is starting to become a very good friend of mine.

Before, the only person who I could teach/practice Earthbending with had been Aang, and for a long time, he hadn't been able to get to grasp it very well. Of course, now he does, and I love practicing with him, because, let's face it, I love Earthbending in general.

But I like the fact that it's not only me, but Haru as well who is also teaching Aang a few pointers. It makes it more interesting if we decide to have a little Earthbending duel between the three of us,since my Earthbending is different from Haru's, Haru's is different from mine, and Aang's has become a weird mix of both of ours.

It's only natural that I gave Haru warning, as he was not only my friend, but a fellow Earthbender to boot.

"Are you allergic to cats of any kind?" I plopped myself down on the ground, and didn't chose to care that Haru wasn't exactly alone, but was playing a game of Pai Sho with Teo.

"No." Haru was confused--either by my question, or by the move Teo had just done on the board between them. "Why?"

"Sokka brought a cat home." I lay back on the ground, spreading out. I feel relaxed; absently wondering if Sokka is having to fight the Catrabbit back out of his purse--er--bag.

"What kind?" Teo asks, and he laughs as Haru suddenly groans. "WON!"

"Catrabbit."

"I quit." Haru yawns, then I hear his bones pop slightly, and I assume he's stretching. "We've been at it for hours. And you still keep winning."

"What will Katara say I wonder?" Teo is folding the board up, and I hear the clinking of tiles as they are stored away.

"Sokka's trying to keep it a secret from her," I admit. "You've seen how she's been acting."

"No kidding. She nearly bit Duke's head off yesterday. Something about flying food," Teo murmurs, as though he wasn't quite sure.

"I think his name is "The" Duke," Haru yawns again. "And I need a nap. I won't say anything about the Catrabbit, but...we know Katara will go nuts when she finds it. Especially if it decides to raid the kitchen."

"I keep hearing this rumor about "flying food" Is that what happened yesterday?" I had been with Zuko at the time, observing him and Sokka as they practiced swordfighting. I was a bit interested to see if Sokka would've been a good match against Zuko. He wasn't.

"The Duke and Aang had been trying to raid the kitchen for a snack. I don't know the details, but Aang said something about flying cakes, and attempted to demonstrate. That kitchen's tiny, so you can imagine the mess."

I could, and allowed myself a snicker.

"Anyways, I think I'll go find Sokka," I could almost taste the smile that Teo had to be wearing. "I could play this game all day."

"Wait! Before you go, do you promise not to tell anyone about the Catrabbit?" I didn't want to get Sokka in trouble, although it would be fun to do, and see whether or not Katara would ultimately kill him.

"Fine, although we'll see it soon enough," Teo warned, and took off, humming some song. He was painfully off key.

Haru sighed, and I could almost feel the vibrations that came from his rumbling stomach. "That is the last time I play Pai Sho with him. He makes me more tired and hungry than a Earthbending fight. Yes, we will have one," he added, when I almost began to ask. "I just...need food. You and Sokka find anything?"

"Some fish, as usual. And poisonous berries."

"I hope you're just kidding about the poisonous berries."

I shrugged. "Yeah, me too."

...

We made our way to the Kitchen, also known to me and Sokka as Katara's room.

Not that it was her actual room, only that she was constantly here, trying to make our meals. Of course, most of us helped cook, and at one point, we had begun taking turns making dinner, but really, Katara still supervised the entire process.

I think I'll start calling her Chef, as opposed to Sugar Queen.

Anyways, I could already hear Katara's dulcet tones when we'd arrived.

"Why is it that I have to act like a female version of Fire Lord Ozai every time you do something?"

Yep, that's Katara for you. Agni incarnate himself--er, the female version.

"I was just fooling around," The Duke did not sound like he was minding Katara's figurative state of rage at this point in time. "Is that a crime now?"

"It is when you steal Sokka's sword, and try to kill Momo with it!"

"It was an accident! And Momo's fine--"

Sometimes, I wonder if its normal for twelve to sixteen year old kids to constantly have death on the mind.

"You tried to kill Momo?" I am not very alarmed, as I know that he can take care of himself. Momo, I mean. The Duke--er--he'll have an aneurysm by the time Katara's done berating him. Or his eardrums will pop, one or the other.

"This isn't funny Toph," Katara deadpans, as if I'm making some sort of joke. "Momo won't come out of Sokka's room now--" I slightly wondered if the lemur found the new pet "And The Duke has to learn that we have responsibilities in this group, not like--"

"Hey! Jet made us do stuff too! He just wasn't as strict as you are," The Duke does not sound like a very happy camper, before Katara says anything else, he stomps off so loudly, I can see his clenched fists.

"Come back here! I'm not through--"

"Just leave him alone, Katara. Do you think it's easy for him to be with a bunch of strangers?" Haru's voice cut's through Katara's own as though it were a well placed rock in one of our Earthbending matches. "I mean, you guys barely know him."

Katara sighs. "It's just..."

"It's tough for all of us. You, Sokka, Aang, Toph--you have a routine. You know each other really well. We knew each other for a span of a few days, Zuko was the enemy, and Teo you knew probably as well as you knew me. The Duke is a kid, Katara--you said yourself that you didn't really talk to him until we were all lumped together--"

Katara sighs, and almost immediately, Fire Lord Ozai the second herself, calms down. "I know--The Duke only spoke to Aang when we first met. It must be hard for him not to be with Jet's gang--it's his family, after all."

"Exactly," I murmur, and then I hear such a loud shriek coming from Sokka's room that whatever Katara was about to say gets cut off before she can say it.

"Gods! I can never have peace!" Katara runs off, and I sigh.

"Here we go again." I say to Haru, and we decide to follow Queeny.

...

Katara can move fast--I mean, really fast. I'm pretty sure that if she was an Airbender, she would have beat the pants off of Aang, regardless of him being the Avatar or not.

(Then again, I have actually surpassed Aang, in my natural element. You've never heard of a Metalbending Avatar, have you?)

By the time we get there, I can hear Sokka and Katara yelling at each other, and I can hear Aang attempting to bring peace to this whole situation, as he tries to reason with the girl.

"Are you insane? Why do you think we have soup all the time? We have seven people living here, not to mention a flying lemur and a sky bison--"

"It's a Catrabbit!" Sokka protested,"It'll eat anything--"

"It'll eat up mice," Aang helpfully put in, the eye of the Sokka/Katara hurricane that seemed to take place around him.

"It'll eat up our vegetables!" Katara continued, and if she was a Firebender, she probably would be flaming at the mouth right now. "It's an omnivore! Why is it you have to have pets all the time, Sokka? I mean, it was one thing when you brought home that baby Polar Bear, but now a Catrabbit?

Do you know anything about them? They shed, like crazy! And the furballs, Gods, I'm NOT picking them up. Those things are half wild and --"

"I brought it!" I blurt out, even though this is not true, and I hate lying. "I thought it would be neat to have another pet!"

Now everyone has gone silent, except Zuko and The Duke, who has just made it into Sokka's room at the last minute.

"I found...Hopper in Sokka's room, Toph," Katara explains, as though she is explaining this fact to a very slow, stupid Mooselion. "He said it was his, and everything."

"It's mine. He's just covering up for me."

I can almost feel dozens of eyes on me, and I wonder why the heck I'm even covering for Snoozles over there. Then I realize that I'm tired of Katara constantly yelling at Sokka, The Duke, and Zuko, who barely opens his mouth except to chew or mumble something.

I'm no masochist, but I'm tired of her constant nagging, and if I can save Sokka from a scolding, then I've done my good deed for the day.

"Okay, I'm lost here. What's going on?" Zuko is fairly bright, but even he can't figure out why Katara is yelling using just two sentences.

"Katara has become maniac-depressive again, Sparky." I wave in the direction of his voice. "Just don't listen to her."

"Maniac-depressive--"

"I'm going to go practice Earthbending," I announce in a loud voice, as though this is the most important thing to do in the world. "Wanna come, Haru?"

"What? Oh. Yeah." I descend the stone steps, feeling the vibrations as Haru descends after me.

And I pretend to not hear Katara shouting obscenities after us.

...

I didn't think that my running away from Katara and her temper was going to solve anything.

And I was right. It wasn't like this I wouldn't run into her if I tried to avoid her, because let's face it, we live at the same place. 'Nuff said.

It wasn't like Katara had decided to follow me--me and Haru, practiced until we were exhausted, and even when he left I still kept at it. Somewhere nearby I could hear Zuko and Aang training, but I paid it no mind as I was concentrating on my moves. I can't let them get rusty, after all.

It had to be late at night when I was done, because soon after I couldn't hear the Firebending training coming from nearby, and my muscles were all achy.

Not to mention I was starving--I don't think I'd ever felt this hungry in my life.

I made my way back to the Temple, and of course, ran smack dab into Katara. Or rather, I had been concentrating too closely to my stomach and nose to notice that food didn't generally start sprouting wings in order to be devoured by starving blind girls. The food had been coming closer--and was being carried by her.

"Toph--we need to talk," she stated, oblivious to the drool that started to seep from between my lips.

"Fine." I mumbled, and snatched the food away, my mouth and stomach instantly thanking me for the meal. I began to shovel it in like there was no tomorrow, which was very possible, if Katara had gotten spiteful enough to poison said food.

"I--I want to apologize," she begins, and for a second, my mouth is so full of food that I cannot speak, even if I had wanted to. "It's just...the pressure gets to me, you know?"

"Pressure?" I don't mean to, but the food in my mouth takes a life of its own and almost sprays her as I talk. "What pressure?"

"I don't know why I'm really acting like this, its just--Zuko here makes me edgy, and then I can't help to wonder what our next move is going to be, against the Fire Nation.

And while were trying to plan, we still have to have live our lives in the meantime. We need to train, we need to eat, have clothes washed, mended, take baths, or otherwise, the Fire Nation will smell us a mile away anyways--"

I almost choke on my food. Was Katara making a joke?

"And what I really meant to say was--I overreacted about the whole Catrabbit thing. I just started freaking out, and we really don't need that right now."

"No, we don't," I agree, and for a second, I wonder if I have said the wrong thing, because it sounded wrong when the comment snuck out of my mouth. Thankfully, either Katara doesn't notice or doesn't mention it.

"I just want to say--I apologize," Katara does sound remorseful, and I can tell she's not lying. This, for some reason, makes me feel guilty. "Anyways, it's late. I'm going to bed."

"Wait." I sigh, and then mutter, "I'm sorry too."

There is this silence between the two of us, and for a split second, I wonder why I'm apologizing too. I sure as heck didn't do anything. I protected Sokka from her wrath, so technically, I'm completely innocent here.

I mean, Katara goes overboard a lot. She's like, constantly PMS-ing, and trying to act like she's older than Zuko, even though she is younger by like two or three years or something. Heck, she tried to be the parent in our group, even before the others came, even when it was only Sokka, Aang, her and me.

She's not our boss--she shouldn't act like she's the only one with common sense here.

Then, for some reason, I keep replaying these images from my head from the time we first got here, to the present. Katara trying to stretch out the rations, to feed two girls and five boys. Having to deal with someone who she believes might turn traitor on us at any second.

And like she said, she was worried about the future, because it seemed both so far away and so close. Aang has to defeat the Fire Lord. We need to get to the Fire Nation, somehow, to do so.

I mean, even with Sparky teaching Aang now, is it really enough? The kid's only twelve, and the Fire Lord--he has to have had the best training with the best teachers that royal money could buy. He has years experience. And is that enough? Even with us helping?

Like Katara said, we were also trying to live as normally as seven kids (and now three) animals could. There was uneasyness between all of us, after the failed invasion, because back there, we'd been so certain that we could've brought the Fire Nation down to its knees...

I realize that I could've made it easier for Katara. For everyone, really. I complained alot, argued with just about everyone, but it was just something I did. It was just a normal thing to do, like when Aang became bubbly, or Zuko became withdrawn.

I could see Katara snapping. I had seen her snap, a few times. Just like Aang had, when he lost Appa...

"You know," I tell her, shattering the thick silence between us like glass, "You really should lighten up a bit. Thanks--for the meal. You didn't have to."

"You're welcome."

"And I have a confession," I absently fiddle with the now empty plate,"I didn't actually bring the Catrabbit home. It was Sokka."

"I know. He and Aang--we talked. Actually, I've talked with just about everybody in the Temple. I really was getting out of hand, wasn't I?"

"A bit," I say, grinning. "But I don't blame you. I hate Catrabbits too."