I'm back! Again! With school done and finals over, I will dedicate myself to this fanfic! And to working on AMVs.
BTW, I'm canceling the contest. I've realized that many shows can seem similar to this, so it's not the best contest to have. Sorry. :(
Haikus are awesome.
Ask Sokka, the haiku pimp.
I don't own Avatar.
News travels quickly, but for some strange reason it seems to travel faster to Kyoshi Island than other places. One would expect that any place in the middle of an ocean would receive any piece of gossip last, but similar to how Zuko tracked Aang to this island in a different era, rumors from an unknown peasant girl spread across the world with an unusual swiftness. Just two days after this girl talked to her neighbor about what had transpired between her two unique guests, a Kyoshi Warrior heard a retelling of the events from a naval officer reloading their ship at the island. Of course, as it is with many rumors, the words become twisted as they pass from one person to another…
Suki's precision and grace as she danced around the training room with her fan halted the Kyoshi Warrior for a moment as she watched her fellow warrior in awe. Her fan seemed to connect with her body as she slashed it through the air, using both defensive and offensive tactics in her movements. Suddenly, Suki's purple eyes flashed towards the previously unnoticed warrior, who grinned, completely unfazed.
"Hi, Suki!" The warrior jumped into the room with a triple flip and landed on her feet with her stance unwavering. "You'll never guess what I've heard!"
"Ty Lee," Suki sighed as she folded her fan and placed it in her belt. "Whatever you have to say, I've probably already heard it. From you. I know we're friends, and I know you've had some not so great friends in the past, but it's sometimes necessary to give your friends some alone time."
Ty Lee's grin didn't faltered, and she continued enthusiastically, "But I heard something about Sokka!"
"Really?" Suki asked enthusiastically as a small blush appeared on her face, despite the heavy layer of white makeup. "What did you hear from him?"
"Well, it's not exactly from him…" Ty Lee started to twiddle her finger, an usual act for the usually bubbly girl. "But I heard," her voice dropped into a rushed whisper, "I heard Toph and Sokka had sex!"
An awkward moment of silence followed that disturbing piece of information. Unexpectedly, Suki burst into a fit of giggles. "Oh, the things people will come up with!" she laughed as she wiped a tear from her eye.
Ty Lee watched on, obviously confused. "Suki, I thought you were going to go crazy with rage, not laugh about it. I thought I was going to need to paralyze you."
"Oh, Ty Lee," Suki replied as she wrapped an arm around her friend's shoulder, "You have to learn to ignore these rumors. Someone probably saw Toph and Sokka travelling together, and they automatically jumped to the conclusion that they are a couple. And, to make their story especially interesting, they add some juicy details."
"But doesn't it make sense?" Ty Lee countered. "I mean, we all know Toph has a crush on Sokka. Travelling together, alone, don't you think that she might make her move on Sokka?"
Suki turned somber and commented gravely, "Ty Lee, Toph is not that type of girl. She may have a crush on Sokka, but she likes Sokka enough to not mess with our relationship. She respects me as well, even if she can't like me as much since I'm dating Sokka. Most importantly, she values her friendship with Sokka too much to screw it up by telling Sokka how she really feels. She may not be his girlfriend, but she's his best friend, and that seems to be good enough for her."
"But how do you know all this?" Ty Lee asked. She always thought of Toph as the greatest earthbender ever who had a crush on Sokka, but she never bothered to look deeper into the earthbender's persona.
"Oh, I have eyes," Suki smirked. "Since Sokka seems to be blind to everything obvious in this world, I have to watch out for both of us."
"It was nice of you to let us stay in your house last night," Toph grumbled under her breath to her overly gracious host as she supported a still tired Sokka to the awaiting carriage.
"It was my pleasure," Akina replied in a guarded tone.
"S'not even noon yet, Toph," Sokka mumbled incoherently, "Can't we stay a little longer…"
Toph felt Akina's head turn so fast it was bound to cause whiplash. "No," she stated firmly. Despite being as… interesting experience to say the least, Toph was sick of the charade. Besides, her musings last night left her feeling incredibly guilty about the whole thing, so she wanted to stop this as soon as possible for Suki's sake.
When the duo reached the carriage, Sokka collapsed on the closest seat. Toph sighed, ad gently positioned Sokka's legs that were sticking out of the carriage onto the wooden floor. She then brushed some dirt off her hands and turned back to Akina.
"Are you sure this guy is safe?" She verified, referring to the man driving the carriage.
"He a friend; he won't do you any harm." Akina paused, and then stated, "It's nice to see how well you watch over Sokka."
Toph turned her head away and blew her bangs out of her face. "Well, not everyone can put up with Snoozles."
"You're actions towards him are touchingly, and something surprisingly affectionate." Akina glanced towards the slumbering boy almost longingly, and then grinned once more.
"Have a great journey," were Akina's last words to Toph. "I hope you find what you are looking for."
"Mmm… meat," Sokka yawned as he reached out above him to catch the seal jerky just out of his reach. "Come to me…"
Toph drew the line at this point. Listening to Snoozles earn his namesake was one thing, but hearing him ramble in his sleep all morning was an entirely different matter. She supposed it only occurred on rare occasions, though, as she never heard it from him before. She would have to ask Katara about that the next time she saw her.
"C'mon meat," Sokka continued, "I only want to eat you…" Past being sick of this nonsense, Toph leaned over and flicked Sokka's face.
"Ow! Bad meat!" Sokka exclaimed as he rubbed his sore cheek. Finally opening his eyes, he glanced around, still dazed, before noticing Toph. "Oh. Hi sweetie!"
Toph flicked him once more for good measure before leaning back on her seat. "We've left, Snoozles. You can stop the 'couple' act. And if you ever call me sweetie again, your will be buried so deep into the earth you will melt from the heat down there."
"Oh," Sokka frowned, trying to assess his current situation. To be fair, he first thought he was back on Kyoshi Island, and the woman clad in green before him was Suki. However, all the memories of the past week flooded back, and he remembered his current mission with Toph. "So… where are we off to now?"
"We're getting a ride across the desert from some old friends."
Late that afternoon, the carriage stopped at the edge of the desert. After the man who brought them there received his money and drove off, Sokka asked, "So, how exactly do you plan to convince the Sandbenders to lend us a sand sailer?"
Toph grinned. "Don't forget, Sokka. I've learned some tricks since we've last seen our old pals. Besaides, they still owe us big time."
Sokka sighed as he turned towards the desert. This place didn't bring a lot of pleasant memories. From the idea for the failed invasion plan to the sandbenders kidnapping Appa, this vast expanse of sand seemed to cause nothing but misery. He supposed, however, that he should be grateful that they revisited during the fall, as it felt slightly cooler than he remembered.
Toph pulled Sokka's sleeve and guided him into the sand. It's also good that Toph learned how to sandbend, Sokka thought gratefully.
For the next half hour, Sokka trudged through the sand with Toph being his only guide to survival. They wandered silently, not finding the strength to break the tranquility that the desert seemed to emanate. Sokka kept track of how far the sun sank in the sky as each step took him deeper into the desert. When the ground seemed to touch the sky, Sokka swore he saw a tiny sliver of green sky, as he had the other day. However, when he rubbed his eyes to remove a grain of sand, it disappeared.
"Are we there yet?" Sokka whined.
"If you would stop looking at the sky," Toph replied saucily, "you would see a tent right in front of you."
"Oh." Sokka and Toph stopped before dozens of sand sailers surrounding a large wooden building.
"Hmm…" Sokka mused as he stroked his chin, "They probably built a portable house and moved it here with sandbending."
"Whatever." Toph grabbed Sokka and dragged him to the entrance. Before raising her fist to the entrance, Sokka stuck his arm in front of Toph in oder to stop her.
"Allow me," Sokka grinned at Toph before using both fists to pound on the door. As the door opened, a sandbender emerged with an irked expression.
After glancing once at the duo, he commanded, "Leave." Then he slammed the door in Sokka's face.
Toph narrowed her eyes as she recognized the familiar voice. "It seems that our friend is still a little shy." Once she cracked her knuckles, Toph pulled her space rock bracelet from her arm and bended it into a saw. She proceeded to cut out the doorknob, and then pushed the door in. The sandbender looked on in shock as Toph picked up the sawed-off doorknob and calmly handed it to him. Other sandbenders watched on warily as the familiar faces calmly surrounded their disgraced clan member.
"Hey, Gashiun," Toph smirked, "Long time no see. I need a favor."
"Li-listen," Gashiun stuttered nervously, "I already helped you out before. I thought that was all in the past, and-"
"What my son is trying to say," an older sandbender interrupted, walked up behind Gashiun, "is that he will be happy to help out anyone who he has wronged."
"Yes, father…" Gashiun mumbled crossly, as he avoided all eye contact, especially from Sha-Mo, "I was getting to that."
"Sure," Toph drawled, enjoying watching Gashiun squirm. "I'm sure he felt that when he locked us out."
Gashiun looked down at his feet, avoiding his father's harsh glare. "Well," he changed the subject with a bitter tone, "What do you want?"
"We want to borrow a sand sailer to get across the desert."
Before Gashiun could speak, Sha-Mo answered, "Of course. You can borrow Gashiun's sailer."
As Gashiun gawked in shock, Toph replied sweetly, "Thank you, Gashiun. I just need a quick lesson on how to control it."
"It will be his pleasure." Sha-Mo glared at his son, and then turned back to the travelers. "No, actually, he'll drive you across the desert himself." This resulted in a groan from all three.
"Here's the rules," Gashiun explained as he untied the rope that kept his sand sailer down. "Number one: don't wreck my sailer. Number two: don't bother me when I'm driving."
"Whatever," Sokka rolled his eyes as he jumped on board. Toph, on the other hand, roughly shoved Gashiun off of the sailer before jumping on. Afterwards, she immediately sat down next to Sokka and latched onto his arm for support on the wood as Gashiun jumped on and began to travel to the south.
As the sun faded completely from the sky, Sokka felt Toph drift off into slumber, still gripping onto Sokka's arm while they traveled at high speeds. Gashiun bended the sand swiftly without once looking back to his unwanted guests. Sokka tried to ignore the overbearing silence, but finally succumbed from boredom.
"So…" Sokka cleared his throat awkwardly as Gashiun continued to pay no heed towards the Water Tribe warrior. "How have things been?"
Gashiun scoffed, "Very well, considering how my father has no respect for me now because of you."
Sokka glared at their guide. "Well," he retorted scornfully, "I wonder why, after you stole the Avatar's bison!"
"How should I have known?!"
"Why should you be stealing?!"
After a pause, Gashiun mumbled, "I had no choice."
"Sure," Sokka said, "I'm sure that out here in the desert, you can gamble all your money away."
"I didn't gamble!" Gashiun exclaimed. "I just… wanted to help the sandbenders. After all, things aren't that cheap in the desert."
"Well," Sokka asked, "have you learned your lesson?"
"I haven't stolen anything after that…"
"But you still feel no remorse," Sokka concluded. "You haven't truly learned from this experience. You just don't want to get in trouble again."
"Whatever," Gashiun said, exasperated, and turned his attention once more to sandbending.
Sokka narrowed his eyes, and folded his arms across his chest. This action, however, caused Toph's head to fall onto his lap. His expression softened, and he tenderly tucked a stray piece of hair back into her bun.
"So…" Gashiun commented awkwardly, "Are you two dating or something?"
"What?!" Sokka nearly shouted, startled at this sudden accusation. "No way! She's like a little sister…" Somehow, this sentence felt weird to say. He attributed this to their pretend makeout the other way; after all, he would never make out with Katara. And whatever he did in his childhood doesn't count!
"Okay… don't have to be so harsh…" Gashiun backed off. After another uncomfortable silence, he finally stated, "I guess I do feel bad about what I did three years ago. The Avatar seemed pretty distressed. It's a good thing the other girl was there to calm them down."
"Yeah… that girl is my sister, and they're dating now."
"Really?"
Sokka often gets teased about how he stupidly drank cactus juice when they were trying to escape the desert. He contributed it to "desert insanity". Likewise, he contributed the sudden and unexplainable comradeship with Gashiun to the same syndrome. He would have blamed his strangely affectionate behavior towards Toph on the illness, with his glancing at her every minute and adjusting himself to try and make her more comfortable. However, that didn't seem right, similar to how calling her his little sister didn't fit their relationship anymore. What happened? was the question going through Sokka's head as they travelled across the desert.
The next morning, at the same time when Suki heard a certain rumor, Toph woke up to a beaming Snoozles peering down at her. He greeted her with, "Good morning, sleepyhead!"
…Which Toph responded to by punching Sokka in the arm. Hard.
In case you weren't sure. Gashiun was the Sadnbender that kidnapped Appa in The Desert. Sha-Mo is his father.
As always, reviews are greatly appreciated!
~Butterfinger