Chapter 7: Hunger

A/N Torture is fun, but I am guilty for not putting them together yet. Should I ??? Haha

Sokka felt the never ending hunger gnaw at his stomach with much impatience. He was alone on the shore, waiting for the possibility that somehow he'd get food. No matter, he could complain about it when his friends and sister returned. He'd been lying on his back atop of Appa for some time, just watching the clouds and comparing them to food.

"Hey, Sokka." Speak of the devil. Toph hopped up on Appa and laid next to him. "Hungry, huh?"

"How do you DO that?!" Sokka demanded. "Predicting my moods, my feelings, my fears...it gets all very annoying after awhile!"

"Sokka?" Toph said in a completely serious tone.

"What, Yeu forbid, is it?" Sokka snapped.

"Your stomach is gurgling." Sokka froze and listened- YUP. He was now, officially, the world's thickest hungry guy.

"Ohh. That DOES tend to happen when I'm starving my ass off! I swear when I breathed in some dust, it actually got digested."

"Want to go hunting or something? Katara says you're no good with fish, and I'm horrible when it involves water..." Sokka brightened.

"As in...meat?!" Sokka cooed, picking his head up.

"Well, if you consider eating platypus-bear, then I do believe that wouldn't fall under the vegetable department.

"I'm in," Sokka decided, leaping from Appa and helping Toph down. "Can you...hunt?"

"Seeing as I'm the Blind Bandit, campion earthbender and accurate mind reader...yeah, I can handle it." Sokka smiled at the words.

"And your choice of weapon 'Oh Mysterious Blind bandit?'"

"Gee, I don't know Sokka!" teased Toph. "I find it hard to believe that you're asking that question." Sokka blushed and apologized quickly.

"Save it. Let's go hunting."

OoOo

Sokka and Toph were having fun. There was no way around it. Sokka may have been doing badly at the hunting part, but for once he was a good sport and didn't whine and complain. Toph thought he might be sick.

"Sokka, are you OK? Should I get Katara to do that waterbending thing with her hands to heal you?" Toph asked innocently.

"Toph, I'm fine! Let's just find some more possum chicken. I've had a craving for them since that Swamp thing..." Toph giggled.

"Katara told me about that. All those smelly swamp men and the whole 'Aang's vision' thing. Odd, it's like our fates were planned out or something..." Toph finished with a shrug before putting a hand up to stop Sokka. "There's some prey near." Sokka nodded enthusiastically. They were now in some sort of clearing, making it hard to be sneaky and unseen.

"A rabbit," Sokka whispered. They both jumped up at the same time and ran for the rabbit, and just as Toph had raised her hand to bend, the ground beneath them LIFTED.

And they fell.

"AAARRGGGHHH!" Sokka screamed. Toph landed skillfully on her feet. Sokka, however, had no such luck. He did a full split, hurting his you-know-where.

"OWWW!" Sokka screamed. Toph groaned.

"Sokka? You do realize we're in some type of trap. We can get out of here easy."

"But...OHH MY D-" Toph wiggled her nose in disturbance. "Fine."

Toph planted her foot firmly on the ground, giving it a sharp turn. The earth under Sokka shot upward, only to make Sokka's body fly up and into a net...

"Haha, yummy yummy," A thick voice grumbled merrily. Toph jumped.

"AHH! TOPH- HE'S GONNA EAT ME!!!" Sokka screamed.

"I'm coming, Sokka!" Toph climbed up the wall of the hole, but the second she got out she realized that she was surrounded by hungry looking men covered in paint.

OoOo

"Wow, it's almost night time," Katara observed. They were back at the shore, where Katara had decided to sit in the sand and scare Aang. He had been scared by her actions before, but now he was in fact lying there beside her.

"Yeah. I even see a few stars up there..." Aang mustered, his breaths shallow and timid. Katara laughed.

"It's wonderful. I've never seen any weather this warm before." Katara pulled off her heavy parka. Aang smiled slightly.

"I wonder where Toph and Sokka are," Aang mused. Katara groaned.

"Way to kill a moment, Aang," Katara complained. Aang laughed. She stood up, and kicked off her shoes.

"I want to go swimming," she explained. Aang swallowed. He doubted his hormones would be able to stand the thought of Katara, in a bathing suit, at sunset. Far too romantic.

"I'll watch," Aang decided. Katara looked hurt, but she peeled off her clothes and dove in all the same. Aang watched er for a few heart-stopping minutes with a small blush on his face.

"Thanks for abandoning me, Aang," Katara teased, doing a backstroke.

"Your welcome," he teased right back. Katara giggled. The water DID look quite tempting, and it WAS pretty hot tonight...No, Aang refused to go swimming with Katara, at night, alone, without Sokka and Toph...although he had a suspicion that she would try to give them a moment (or night) alone. She was all for their 'could be relationship.'

"Ohh, Aangie please come in the water," Katara puffed out her lower lip. "Zuko never did fun things like this with me." Curse all females and their persuasion skills!

"Fine." Aang pealed his clothes off as well, leaving his pants because his underwear was where he drew the line. He stuck his foot in to check. Katara burst out laughing.

"Come on, Aang," she jeered, pouting again. Aang finally hopped in, splashing Katara purposefully.

"Happy now, Tara'?" he teased her again. Katara smiled.

"Is that a pet name, Aangie?"

"Is that a pet name, Tara?" They both looked at each other, lost for words. Then, Katara or 'Tara' broke the moment by splashing water in Aang's face.

"Hey! That was uncalled for!" Katara laughed, climbing out of the water. Aang was surprised, she'd begged him only to leave?

"Oh, so I finally come in, and then you leave?" Aang said testily. Katara turned around, winked, then continued. The sun had set by now, and the moon was rising. It was full. Aang decided he had no choice but to follow her. Katara was pulling her clothes on, looking happy and mischievous.

"Katara...what's wrong? You're acting so...strange..." Aang stared at her with confusion and concern. Katara turned to look at him, face closed.

"I have to tell you something," she whispered. Aang watched her, following her gaze to her feet. She was absently squeezing her hair, the way she'd been doing it earlier.

"Here, let me." Aang bended the water off her with skill. Katara looked up, her cerulean eyes locking with Aang's charcoal ones.

"So what did you want to tell me," he continued hopefully, still locking eyes. A smile tugged at her lips.

"I wanted to say, that...You know I'm truly sorry about Zuko, and how I didn't think you liked me as much as I had, so I went out with him and everything?" Aang slowly nodded. "Well, I don't think that worked very well...Aang, I think I may be in...in..." Aang squinted his eyes.

"What is it, Katara?" Katara opened her mouth, taking in deep breaths like she did when she was about to preform some huge amazing waterbending move.

"IthinkImaybeinlovewithyouAang," she stammered in one breath. Aang's eyebrows jumped up, in danger of popping off his face.

"What did you say?" Aang whispered. Somehow, Katara had become closer. There was no telling how, but she had. She wasn't as close as they'd been before Sokka had interrupted with his meat dream, but still close enough to feel each other's breaths.

"I think I may be...in love with you." now she was holding his hands! Monk Gyatso forbid how she was doing those things without him realizing, but their eyes were still locked and his hands were clutching her's.

"Katara...you have no idea how long I've hoped for you to say those words..." Aang smiled gently. "Since...since the day I met you I knew that I did...Love you..." Aang's voice was almost inaudible.

That's when their lips met, their eyes closed, and that incredible kiss happened. Katara and Aang fell back on the sandy shore, their kiss seeming to last forever. Soft and wet it was, and boy did the sparks flow.

"Aang, I think I have to admit something," Katara startled Aang.

"What is it?" he said softly.

"I was spying on you and Toph earlier, on that 'activity.' I figured out she just used the word 'date' to try and upset me, so I'd admit my feelings. She told me... I guess she was setting us up. After I listened, I realized I had to tell you..." Katara searched Aang's eyes for whatever was there to see.

"I guess she did." Aang didn't even blink.

"Aang, I am sorry about-"

"If you apologize for Zuko one more time then I'll think I'll die of understanding." Katara smiled, looking happy. "I'm also sorry if me and Toph acted flirty on the ride here...I was kind of hoping you'd get jealous."

"It worked." They kissed again, not needing anymore words to fill the only space left between them, but a kiss to replace it.

OoOo

Sokka and Toph weren't having as much fun. In fact, quite the opposite.

Apparently cannibals lived at the northern part of the island, and didn't bother visitors unless they ventured there. Sokka and Toph had missed the sign, of course, which they later found out meant something about killing... 'will kill anyone that passes.'

So, there they sat like a couple of kebabs, tied to a large log, in the middle of a group of cannibals.

"Sokka, I have a plan," Toph managed to mumble.

"Do tell," Sokka whispered sarcastically.

"Crush them all with a stamp of my foot?"

"Works for —" Some freak had just shoved an apple in his mouth. As hungry as he was, Sokka actually began to EAT it, talk about ironic.

"1, 2...3!" Toph jumped up, landing with a BOOM! The men and women and children cannibals flew back with the impact. They all jerked their heads up in confusion. A boy around the age of twelve grinned.

"ALL HALE THE ROCK MOVER!" he roared. Toph blushed immediately. Sokka clucked his tongue with annoyance.

"So what now?" he muttered. Just then, all the people bowed down. To Toph. She looked quite pleased, and in Sokka's mind, very arrogant.

"Worthless Welp must be SAAAAAAAACRIFICED!" the boy added in a dramatic moan. Toph couldn't even stifle her giggle.

"Sokka the welp...ha!" Toph laughed. "But what's a welp?" three men stepped forward. They untied them briskly, then tugged on Sokka's arm.

"No. He's my...brother..." Toph explained. The men exchanged glances. Sokka sulked. As much as he liked Toph in a very non-brotherly way, he would NEVER want to be her BROTHER.

"Brother sacred to magic family. Brother live," the middle man spoke sternly, saying the words so emptily that Toph thought he had no soul left in him.

"Cool. Watch this!" Toph stepped forward, placing her foot firmly on the ground, and twisted it. A large amount of earth rose from the ground. The cannibal people cheered.

"Name of goddess?" the man demanded.

"Toph."

"TOPH IS OUR GODDESS! ALL HALE TOPH AND BROTHER!" Sokka and Toph exchanged glances. This would take a lt of explaining to do when they got back to Aang and Katara.

Author's Note

So I stole the cannibal island thing from Pirates of the Caribbean...but let's face it, you didn't see that one coming! And YES KATARA SAID SHE LOVED HIM! (Starts doing the boogey-woogey)

Aang: what's that?

Katara: a weird dance they do in a parallel dimension.

Aang: ...

Katara: Ya, I know.

Me: Shut up love birds!

Aang/Katara: we're not-

Toph: eh hem?

-Poisonedmoonshine474