I think the title pretty much says it all. That's right…SOKKA'S POV!!! Muahahaha! This is probably a one-time dealio, though. So don't get too attached. And Niki-look out for two of my many catchphrases hidden in this chapter.

I'm not going to lie.

I don't like the way that jerk keeps looking at my sister.

That's right, I said it. I called Zuko a jerk.

You know, I thought that maybe the guy wasn't so bad, for a while there. Until he started giving Katara the Eye.

Nobody give my baby sister the Eye.

And it's not like he's being discreet about it either. He's not even good at giving girls the Eye. He's so completely obvious, it would take a moron not to notice. He's just sitting there, scribbling away at his little paper, and then every TWO SECONDS looking up at Katara.

It's almost an insult to my intelligence, really. He thinks that I'm that moron who won't notice.

Ha. Who's stupid now?

You know, I might sound like I'm just messing around now, but I swear to Tui and all things holy that if he tries anything…

His Fire Nation ass is grass

Look at him, sitting there…probably writing some dippy little love poem about my sister.

Well, I guess she is being poetic for him today. All melancholy and spirit-like. A little bit like Mom.

Well, it makes sense to me. Mom was…so different from everybody else in the Water Tribe. They were brash, and abrasive, and mom was always so soft. Water to their ice. Everybody loved her, but Katara…

Katara almost worshipped her.

Not that it's a bad thing, or anything, because I don't blame her. Mom was everything. She was fun, she was pretty, she was smart, and she was our world, Katara's and mine.

But then she died. No. She was killed, before our eyes. And I cried with Dad, and I try to make Mom proud to this day.

Katara bottles it up. I guess she feels like…

Like she needs to be strong. For Mom, for me, for Dad, for Aang, for Toph, for everybody. She puts up this front like she's only got two emotions:

Happy and mad as all hell.

But she knows and I know that there are so many things in between those two emotions, especially for her. And I just wish she'd let them out, just once, instead of letting them build and build and build and build, because one day

One day she's just going to burst, and I don't think I'll be able to take it.

She's all I have left.

Me and Tara…

Us against the world, right?

I think she's falling asleep on my shoulder now…good. She needs it. She probably hasn't been sleeping well, if she's been sleeping at all.

Plus, this gives me the perfect opportunity to go shopping for her without her flipping out.

I don't care what she says. Fifteen makes you a woman in the Southern Water Tribe, and I'll face a saber-toothed moose lion before I let this day go by for her.

"When you go into town, may I go with you? I think we have similar purposes in mind."

Oh, Tui help me. We'd better not have 'similar purposes in mind.' Katara will kill me.

Then again, how many times a day do I think that? Only about a million.

Besides, my little sister deserves the best on her birthday. And if the best is two presents, one from me and one from the jerk, then so be it. She deserves any bit of happiness, any bit of kindness she can get.

So I guess he can come with me, but I won't be held liable for my actions.

Hey. This one's pretty amazingly short…I just wanted to post something for you guys…

I don't know if I'll be able to get anything else up this weekend…I've got the Winter Formal dance on Saturday, so I'll probably be sleeping for most of Sunday. But I'll see if I can't get you guys a little somethin' somethin' by tomorrow.