Author's Note: I feel iffy about this one. I really like it, except there's this one part I could never quite work out… well, you all know Toph is blind, but I really liked what I had going here and I tried to work that in as best I could… I'm barely coherent right now, so I'll just let you read. :) I am perfectly aware that Toph is blind, however, so I'd rather you not remind me.
Based (loosely) off the song White Flag, by Dido. Lovely song. I don't happen to own it, nor do I own Avatar: The Last Airbender.
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Oneshot 30: Perfect Strangers
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And when we meet, which I'm sure we will,
All that was there will be there still
I'll let it pass, and hold my tongue –
And you will think that I've moved on…
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Toph brought the piping hot tea to her lips; it was a cleansing, renewing experience. She tipped back the cup and the liquid spilled down her throat, and she invited it, loving the memories that entered her with the simple cup of tea.
The tea was Jasmine, a favorite of her good friend Iroh. She hadn't seen him in quite some time; of course, when she thought that she really meant that it had been a while since she'd visited his grave. The kindly old man had barely lived long enough to see the war's end; he had seen his nephew crowned Fire Lord, however, and to that man it meant the world.
Her fingers lightly brushed the engraved symbols around the cup's brim; they were Water Tribe, and she was terribly fond of running her fingers over them. She had learned the symbol long ago – she knew the emblem so well that it might as well have been inscribed in her mind, and her heart. She would never forget it, not if she lived to be a million years old and never got to run her fingers over one ever again.
Drinking tea in Aunt Ai's Tea Shop was a sort of ritual to her. She did it every anniversary of the Avatar's victory, in proper remembrance. She had found it difficult to keep in touch with Aang, Katara, Zuko, and Sokka; they were her closest friends, and she often had trouble getting others to write letters for her. Their visits had been regular, at first, but eventually, after the period of five years, had begun to occur only two or three times a year; the Avatar's schedule was terribly busy, after all, and Katara had taken to traveling with him and helping him with whatever he needed. Zuko was Fire Lord, so of course he had no time away; Sokka was busy, too – he was an important Water Tribe councilman and, while he did his share of field work, he couldn't seem to slip away from his duties for a day or two for a small reunion. Everyone was engaged in prestigious jobs, and Toph? Well, her first idea had been opening up a small earthbending academy. Soon after going through with this idea she realized just how much she hated other people's children, especially those of nobles; she nearly had to earthbend one child's mother into the Fire Nation because of the mother's taking up for her child's sickeningly bratty behavior. Toph had little mercy for arrogant children who hadn't been raised correctly, and thus, that career path wasn't for her.
Her second idea was proving much more successful; she had returned to the thrill of the Earth Rumble tournaments. Those winnings were enough for her to get by on – some guys made her generous offers for only a few pointers, but Toph would share her secrets with no one except the Avatar, and that was that. She was resolute in her decision not to train any of her opponents because, aside from the fact that she would be sharing her secrets, showing your adversaries how to beat you was possibly to stupidest move Toph could imagine.
She hadn't even thought of settling down, really. It might have been the life for her, once, if she had ever fallen in love; and if that had been the case, then her love hadn't been returned, and so she was shut away from the lifestyle of building a home and instead built a bigger and better name for herself. Instead of aiming to raise productive members of society and be a good mother and wife, she aspired to die a legend; they would talk of her for centuries, and her name would be forever stored in people's memories until the stories were twisted and all of her hard work was credited to another. So what if she didn't pass along her genes?
She took another few swallows of her tea and before she knew it, the cup was empty. She hurried up to the counter and the young woman refilled it without accepting Toph's payment for the new glass; the girl recognized Toph – not as the Blind Bandit, but as the companion of the Avatar. Toph did not know how the girl knew of her, though, and simply dropped the single coin back into the satchel at her waist.
Toph made her way back to the table and restrained herself from draining all of her tea immediately. The Jasmine was sweet and comforting to her tongue, but she held back, keeping completely controlled. Instead, she focused on breathing and thought to lift up her feet so that the constant footfalls in her vision wouldn't disrupt the tranquility. As she made to lift up one of her feet, however, she stopped, mystified.
Among the thumping hearts, the scattered breathing, the group of feet, she found recognition in one. It was such a fierce rarity that she recognized someone, and never had she not expected this person – for she had never visited him, or vice versa, without prior knowledge, and their paths never crossed while they engaged in their respective activities. He was with someone – someone that again she recognized, though the thud in her heart that this person caused was not owed to longing, but a brooding irritation and long-lost anger; and his breathing patterns and heartbeat sent within her a swirl of nostalgia and love and need while hers evoked a sense of bitter disdain.
Perhaps if she allowed her bangs to shield her face they wouldn't recognize her. With this comforting thought, she pulled out the pin in her hair that had held her bangs back and let them hang loosely, freely, a curtain of pitch that made the world divert its eyes. She found herself thinking that maybe, just maybe, her bangs might hide not only her eyes but her shame at still feeling such pitiful emotions – such feelings! Feelings that one such as she should never have, emotions that she should have let go of long ago.
They had entered the tea shop, and then, quite at ease, they approached the counter. He ordered for both of them, and his voice, while much deeper and defined, still made a twang of longing resound within her, and she would have recognized it anywhere. He ordered Jasmine tea for both of them as well; the idea of him drinking it made her heart ache worse, and she tried in vain to quell that stupid, silly feeling. The idea of her drinking it, however, made her blood boil. Can't she even have a simple cup of tea? Was that too much to ask?
Then she heard her voice mention something about a table, and Toph could feel his eyes sweep the room. She knew when he spotted her because his heart paused for a precious moment, and then his heart raced. Toph couldn't help it: he deserved it, for everything he'd done. She tucked her bangs behind her ear, carefully turned her head, and locked blind eyes with blue; it was uncanny, unnatural – and entirely unfair. She thought his heart might burst from his chest.
Since that fateful day where she confessed her feelings, where he learned how she felt – where they all learned how she felt, including her – he'd had enough sense to never bring them together purposefully. All reunions were performed when she was still at their home in the Southern Water Tribe, even if Toph herself should have gotten over her silly feelings quite some time ago. Toph briefly remembered his constant excuse of never being able to get away from work, and fleetingly, for that continuing moment in time, she felt cheated. He was supposed to be at work, and here he was with her. Some job.
And, quite suddenly, their eyes disconnected, and their shared "stare" was broken. It did not matter that she couldn't see him. She could feel him, every heartbeat, every breath, every smallest movement, and she could feel what her gaze did to him and what his did to her; and now he looked away from her, pointedly, like he was afraid of meeting her eyes once more.
She listened to him for a moment, and then she briefly nodded, and they walked past her table without so much as a backward glance.
Thus, in one of the final occurrences where their lives intertwined, Sokka of the Water Tribe and Toph Bei Fong acted as though they had not been best friends, had not traveled with the Avatar, had not fought a war. In fact, with the exception of the single moment in time where their eyes met and their hearts flew of their own accords, they were, quite simply, perfect strangers.
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I will go down with this shame
I will not put my hands up and surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I'm in love, and always will be
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