Suki's swing
It was a rainy day on Kyoshi today. There was nothing to do but to train with the girls. Even though Suki liked toughening herself, her routine was starting to get really boring. Even with Ty Lee's everlasting supply of cheerfulness, nothing would ever be able to get rid of what the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors was feeling right now and most of the time, boredom.
After her training that day, Suki went back home. Ever since the ending of the war and coronation of Zuko, nothing interesting has happened to her boring life. Sokka had to return to the South Pole to help with her reconstruction. They kept in touch through Hawky, but they haven't met in about a year. She missed him dearly, and she longed to set her eyes on him again someday soon.
"I wonder if he's change in anyway." Suki thought to herself.
The rain stopped. Suki changed to her normal clothes and went into the forest behind her home. She headed deeper into the woods, until she reached her destination. It was her old haunt as a child. Whenever she was lonely or bored, she would come into the forest and sit on her swing to pass the time. She thought back to the time she first got this swing. It was over a decade already. Oyaji built this for her when he saw her hiding in a corner crying her heart out. Suki was always the odd one out among the little kids. They all saw her as a tomboy, an unnatural girl. Oyaji felt sorry for the young girl and went into the forest and built the swing from rope and a wooden board, suspending from a strong and big tree. When Oyaji first took her small little hand and led her into the forest to the swing, Suki's tears stop flowing. She and the old man had hours of fun. Time passed by and she started going there herself. After she joined the Kyoshi Warriors when she was eight, her time spent visiting her swing was greatly reduced. Eventually it became forgotten, just a memory of her past.
Suki snapped out of her flashback. She wiped the raindrops of the wooden seat and check it if it was still stable. She sat on it and started swinging a little. She picked up the pace, but the swing was too old. The rope snapped under the pressure. Suki fell to the muddy ground. Suki became covered in mud.
"Shoot!" Suki shouted. She was going to need a second bath.
Suki cleaned off as much of mud as she could off her face and clothes. She got up and quickly ran back to her home. Lightning bolted, followed by the sound of thunder, and rain started falling again.
"Darn it!" Suki cursed as she ran back to her home.
It took Suki about an hour or so to clean up. Suki put on her water tribe bathing robes Katara gave her and came out of the bathroom. She headed to her bedroom and turned in for the night.
The weather on the next day was much better than yesterday. Suki stretched herself and got out of bed. She had just finished her breakfast and washing her face when someone knocked on her door.
"Coming!" Suki shouted.
Sokka stood outside waiting. The door opened in his face. Sokka fell back on his backside. He should not have stood so near the door.
"Hel- ! I'm so sorry! Are you alright?" Suki rushed to her visitor realizing she must have hit his face by accident. The person at her door was covering his face.
"Well, it's always better with you." The visitor moved his hand away from his face.
"Sokka!" Suki quickly hugged her visitor. She pulled away, Sokka's nose was bleeding.
"Oh my, did I hit you that hard? Come in, we'll clean that up."
Suki helped Sokka into her house. Sokka sat down on a chair and Suki went to get a hankerchief to clean his blood. Suki returned and gently cleaned off the blood. Suki sneezed as she was wiping the blood off Sokka.
"You caught a cold?" Sokka asked.
"Yeah I guess, was playing on my swing until it broke. Hit the mud pretty hard."
"What's a swing?" Sokka asked. Since he lived in the South Pole, he had never seen a swing before, much less know what one was.
"Well, I'd think its better if you look at one."
Suki took Sokka to her old haunt after his bleeding stopped.
"I haven't used it for almost a decade, that's probably why it broke."
"You sure it wasn't because you put on weight?"
"What did you say?"
"Nothing." Sokka and Suki turned around and head back to her house.
"So, what's the swing for?"
"When I was young, I was different from other girls. I liked fighting, sporty activities and stuff boys usually would like. I hated dolls and other girly toys. Because of that I was ostracized, I didn't have many friends to talk to. So one day I tried to play with some of those girls, they said no and other mean things about me. I ran away and hid in a corner to cry. Oyaji saw me and built me that swing, as something I could use to entertain myself whenever I was bored or lonely." Suki seemed a little sad when she mentioned that. Sokka had a plan formed in his head.
"Well, when I was younger, my sis and I would just throw snowballs at each other. Every once in a while there would be a fire nation attack on us. They took our waterbenders and my mother." Sokka looked down in sadness.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Guess we're the almost the same huh. I never got to see my parents." Suki replied.
"Sorry." Sokka said.
"So what brings you here?"
"Well, I wanted to surprise you, since reconstruction at the South Pole is nearly complete. Besides, I can't stand long distance relationships."
"Me too." Suki gave Sokka a peck on his cheek.
"Thanks for surprising me." Suki continued.
"Sorry about the door." Suki said, smiling embarrassingly.
"Nah its okay. So what's interesting on your island?"
"Depends on what you think is interesting."
"Let's go shopping then!" Sokka suggested.
"What?"
"Come on, it will be fun!"
"But, I don't like shopping!"
"Hey, who's the one who told me she was a girl and not just a warrior too?"
"Yeah, but that does not mean girls must shop." Suki replied.
"It will be fun! And besides, I can't come here whenever I like, you know." Sokka persuaded.
"Oh alright. But don't spend too much!"
"Don't worry, I'm loaded." Sokka took out a big pouch and gave it a shake.
"How'd you get so much money?"
"Well, Toph and I scammed some Fire Nation dudes. We saved quite a lot and exchanged it for Earth Kingdom cash."
"I thought she was loaded?"
"Not after she joined us. Come on, we've got some shopping to do."
There were many shops selling all sorts of interesting products. The first one they entered sold clothes. Sokka chose a sleeveless dress with flowerembroidery. Suki entered the changing room and out on the dress. Sokka nearly drooled when Suki came out of the changing room.
"Well?" Suki asked.
"You look beautiful." Sokka replied.
Suki blushed at his comment. Sokka turned her to face the mirror.
"Don't you agree yourself?"
Suki checked herself in the mirror, this was the first time she actually felt pretty.
"Yeah…" Suki said softly.
"Let's get you some more."
The thing Suki really enjoyed being with Sokka, was that he made her feel like a girl. He made her able to be girly. If it wasn't for him, she would have never bought clothes, unless it was really necessary.
"You should get some clothes yourself, handsome." Suki said.
"You're right!" Sokka took a big bundle of fancy clothing and entered the changing room. Sokka kept going in and out of the changing room to show off. It took him nearly half an hour to finish trying out all the clothes. He bought down every single dress he tried out, but made sure Suki got as many clothes as he did.
They went on for hours, Suki started to enjoy shopping soon enough, but Sokka was still more enthusiastic then her. Suki could not blame him, since he had experience shopping from around the world. When they got back to Suki's usually empty house was suddenly loaded, her wardrobe was full of beautiful dresses.
"Well I guess I'll be going now, see you next time!" Sokka told Suki.
"Wait! Don't go yet!" Suki shouted her reply while grabbing Sokka's hand. Sokka smiled to himself, everything was going as he planned.
"Why not?" Sokka replied, pretending to be surprised.
"Well, it's not everyday when I get to see my boyfriend from the South Pole on Kyoshi." Suki reasoned, not knowing Sokka had something up his sleeves.
"I missed you so much. You can't just leave me back here all alone."
"Well, if you insist," Suki was jumping for joy in her head. "But where am I gonna stay?"
"You can stay here for the time being."
"Nah, you can't expect me to stay at a woman's place right? I mean, it's like, not allowed."
"For me then?" Suki wrapped her arms around Sokka's neck, looking at his dazzling blue eyes.
"Ok then, but where do I sleep? There's only one bedroom."
"I guess we'll have to share then, won't we?" Suki looked at Sokka mischieviously. Sokka was overjoyed, his plan was gonna be better than he expected.
The night spent outdoors with each other was fun. The night spent at Suki's place was even more appealing. Strange noises came out of her room that hot night. Sokka waited for his girlfriend to fall asleep before continuing with his plan. He took strong ropes and tools with him as he quietly exited Suki's house. He quickly got to work on his plan. He removed the old ropes from the tree and attached the new ones. He worked hard on the seat of the swing, making sure the holes to insert the rope through were properly carved in. Sokka continued to work hard on his swing. His efforts paid off in the end.
"Suki's gonna love this!" Sokka told himself.
Suki woke up surprised, surprised that Sokka wasn't by her side snoring away.
She got up and got dressed. She went to her kitchen, and found a piece of paper on the table.
Suki,
Meet me in the forest after you read this note, I've got something to show you.
Lots and lots of hugs and kisses,
Sokka
"That buffoon!" Suki commented after reading Sokka's note.
"He couldn't even wait for breakfast." Suki smiled.
Suki got out of her house and head for the forest.
"Sokka! I got your note, where are you?" Suki called out. Suki was suddenly 'attacked' from behind. Sokka covered her eyes with his palms.
"Ok, now you're just being silly Sokka, let me see." Suki said.
"Now now, I want this to be a surprise, so don't mess it up."
"Oh fine, but hurry, I'm starving!" Suki replied while rubbing her stomach. Sokka's stomach growled as well.
"Let's go then." Sokka replied. He led Suki through the forest to the tree that held her swing. Sokka moved his palms away from her eyes.
"So, how is it?" Sokka asked as Suki laid her eyes on the surprise. The tree had Sokka's and her name etched into its bark. A heart was surrounding their names. She turned back to the swing.
"It's beautiful Sokka." Suki replied, feeling the seat with her hand. Sokka sat down on the swing and placed Suki on his lap. He started moving the swing gently. Suki rested her head on Sokka's shoulder.
"Thank you Sokka." Tears of joy were about to fall from her blue eyes.
"You're welcomed. There's something else I wanna show you." Sokka reached into his pocket and pulled out a necklace with green silk attached to it.
"Back where I live, guys would propose to gals with these babies." Sokka said while shaking the necklace.
"So Suki, will you?" Sokka asked slowly in a deep manly voice. Suki took the necklace and looked at what was embedded into the gem stone it held. Suki shut her eyes, and her tears roll down her cheeks. She put in around her neck and opened her eyes.
"Yes." Suki replied opening her eyes. She closed them again and leaned forward. Sokka did the same. Their lips met as they continued swinging slowly. After a good moment of kissing, they broke for air.
"Thank you Suki." Sokka replied. Suki hugged her new husband tightly.
"One more thing, how do we stop this thing?" Sokka asked in his usual goofy tone.
"Oh Sokka, you're such a buffoon!"