DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything Avatar related. Except for the complete First season. I am still on the lookout for the seasons 2&3 on DVD (and I'm talking complete seasons here, not the DVDs with 3/4 episodes on them.)
Skin, Chapter I
"Katara! Come on, you're going to be late!" Sokka called from downstairs. Sokka, who had just started a degree in Mechanical Engineering this year, was her official ride to school every day. Ever since her father had joined the army and left them at home alone with Gran Gran, they had only access to one vehicle, and since her school was on Sokka's way, she caught a ride with him every day.
"Coming, Sokka!" She yelled down the stairs, grabbing her favourite cerulean jacket as she rushed out of the bathroom. Today was her two month anniversary with Jet, and she had dressed up extra nice for him. Instead of her normal jeans and tee shirt, she was wearing a sky blue sun dress with a wide, white belt across her hips. Ignoring Sokka's dumbfounded look at what she was wearing, she grabbed her white purse from beside the door and walked out to Sokka's old blue Chevy.
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"Sparky! Wake up!" Zuko's eyes shot open as Toph jumped on his bed. After a lengthy custody battle after her parent's divorce, she got stuck with Iroh, who was apparently her uncle by marriage, because her mother, Poppy, had been Ursa's sister in law. So she had been living with Zuko and Iroh for the past year and a half. In that time, she's been adopted into their family unit; Zuko accepted her as the little sister that he always wished that he had, and Iroh spoiled her as if she was his own.
"I'm up, I'm up... you little badger-mole, you. Get off me, you tyrant". Giving Toph a light shove, barely sufficient to dislodge her from on top of him, he managed to climb out of bed wearing nothing more than a pair of light sleeping pants. Once, he had been self-conscious around Toph because she didn't care about your state of dress on account of her blindness, but he had eventually adapted.
"I've got to get to school, and Uncle can't drive today! Something about Liang calling out sick for her shift at the Dragon? So you get the honour of driving me to school today. Who knows? You might even see Katara..." Dancing away from Zuko's grasping hands; Toph nimbly darted out the door, her fingers barely grazing the walls of his room.
"Little brat..." Zuko mumbled to himself as he dragged himself out of bed and changed into a set of day clothes: dark blue jeans, a red tee shirt, and the sweater that Katara had given him for Christmas the year before. Even thinking her name brought a faint hint of a blush to his face. He'd been in love with Katara, one of his best friends, for years, but he had managed to hide it from everybody else save his observant uncle. Toph, of course, had figured it out after meeting them together for the first time, but (surprisingly) waited until she had left before calling him out on his feelings.
Walking downstairs, he wasn't surprised to see that Toph was already sitting in the passenger seat of his crimson Mitsubishi Eclipse, the only thing that he'd ever used the money from the trust fund that his mother left for him on, flipping through his CD collection. Shaking his head, he rolled his eyes and slid into the driver's seat and tossed in a random CD. He groaned as he realised that the CD that he had put in had been his latest birthday present from Sokka: a Great Big Sea collection. He had off-handedly mentioned that he liked one of their songs, and Sokka had bought him a CD for his birthday every year since. Truth be told, he only liked that song because it had been the first (and only) time that he had danced with Katara.
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Sokka managed to pull right up to the sidewalk near the front doors to drop Katara off when suddenly he heard a distinctive celtic band blasting through a car's speakers. Turning around, he saw Zuko's distinctive car and broke out into a grin. "Katara! Look how's here!"
Turning, Katara looked and saw Zuko's car pulling up right behind them. Jumping out of Sokka's car, she ran up to the red vehicle and ploughed into Toph as she got out.
"Sugar Queen! Now why'd you have to go and tackle me like that? You've ruined my outfit!" Trying to give Katara a harsh stare, she nearly dissolved into giggles as Katara failed to contain her own.
"Toph, you're blind. I'll be willing to bet that you don't even know what colors you're wearing right now. Besides, we both know that you don't care what other people think about what you're wearing."
"Well, I certainly care what other people think of my little sister." Zuko's distinctive raspy voice cut through the air. Giving a mock glare, she laughed and ran around the car to embrace her best friend. Grabbing a lock of his hair, she wrapped her other arm around him as she pressed her face against his chest.
"I know you do, Sparky" she said with a teasing tone to her voice "And I'll bet that Hahn's arm still hurts from when you broke it." Hahn, one of the popular kids, had insulted Toph on her first day of school here. When Zuko found out about it, he had confronted him about it and Hahn, arrogant asshole that he was, freely admitted to Zuko that he had, in fact, made fun of Toph's disability. Gossip around the school that year had said that Zuko had fought off four members of the football club to get to Hahn and break his arm before he walked away.
Holding Katara out at arm's length, Zuko's heart stopped for a second as he saw her beauty once again. It was her eyes, he convinced himself, that stole his breath every time that he looked at her. "It's good to see you again, Katara. What's it been this time, 3 weeks?"
"Yeah, it must be around that long. So, what have you been doing?" As the two continued to talk, Toph sidled over to Sokka and hit his arm.
"So, you ever notice how much like girlfriend and boyfriend those two act?"
"Katara and Zuko? Nah, they're just good friends. I mean, Zuko's my man. If he had the jones for my little sis, he'd at least have the decency to tell me."
Giving Sokka a blank stare, she hesitated for a second before punching him in the arm again. "If I ever catch you using 'jones' like that again, I will seriously beat you black and blue Sokka, I swear by Oma and Shu. No, but seriously, Sokka, they complement each other. I mean, Zuko's hot headed and Katara's calm. He's impatient where she's patient. She's love where he's passion..."
Grabbing Toph by the arms, he scrutinized her for a second before demanding her to breath. "I want to see if you snuck into Iroh's good stuff again, because you are not talking any sense, little lady. I mean, Katara and Zuko? I mean, Katara's a better match with that kid Aang who had a crush on her for the longest time back in seventh grade before he moved away." Looking back at the two other people, Sokka turned just in time to see Katara trip over the curb on her way into the doors, but beofer he could arrive at her side, Zuko was already there, helping her up. He saw Katara rubbing at her calf, and he winced, knowing that a bruise would form within a couple of hours.
Zuko cursed himself for not catching Katara in time. He had been right there, but the sway of her hips in that dress was just too distracting. She's not interested in you, Zuko. She already has a steady boyfriend, and even if she didn't, she wouldn't be interested in you. She only sees you as a friend. With one hand on her shoulder and the other on her hip, he helped her into the school office where Wu, the school secretary, gave him a dirty look. Him and Wu hadn't been on the best of terms – she kept trying to read his fortune, and he kept insulting her and calling her a crackpot. As he helped Katara into a chair, he offered to stay with Katara, but she just gave him another one of her soul melting smiles and told him that she'd be alright, and that Jet would take care of her.
At the mention of her boyfriend's name, his smile faded, though he kept up a decent impression of one for Katara. He knew that Jet wasn't good for her. Before he had graduated, him and Jet had hung out occasionally, and he knew that Jet only dated a girl long enough to sleep with her, then it was off to the next conquest. Usually, the girls succumbed in a matter of weeks, but Katara's managed to hold off for a full two months. Knowing Jet, however, he knew that he would ask her to the prom and afterwards... He'd take what you want to share with her.
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Ursa's brother married one of Poppy's sisters in this CRAZY AU.
I just love to torture Hahn, don't I?