Author's Note:
It fills my heart with glee to see everyone enjoying my tale like this...Especially after everything's that happened. Thank you, truly, for everyone who's read and reviewed for me. This chapter is very short, probably the shortest one I've written, but I can't just fill it with meaningless details and it didn't belong with the previous or next chapter, so it's kinda wandering on its own. This is another shift in perspective, but I promise we'll returned to our beleaguered hero and heroine.
She would never get tired of looking at her, she decided. The dawn was breaking over the small island, the soft, golden light painting the room in a pale yellow. Ty Lee was still asleep, her hair unbound and bedraggled, spilling down her naked back. It danced beautifully along the curve of her hip, the arch of her back, the swell of her...
Suki swallowed, her throat tightening. She felt terrible. While she knew, truly, in her heart, that her and Sokka were over, she'd still cheated on him. Profusely. And with much...enthusiasm. The thought...It nearly made her sick.
She should feel terrible.
But Ty Lee...She was intoxicating. So many layers Suki didn't even know about before. She knew about how open, and honest, and so damned genuine she was about everything that Suki could barely stand it. She'd learned more about the girl in the couple of days they'd spent locked up in her room than she had in three years...And she craved more. She couldn't get enough of her. She doubted she ever would.
She knew, in her heart, right to the left of where she knew about her and Sokka, that this wasn't some passing thing. She knew that. That fact, though...Terrified her. She wasn't ready for this sort of thing. She didn't want to be, really. But it was right here, in front of her...Literally. The thought made her head fuzzy.
Ty Lee murmured a little, shifting her head on her pillow, but didn't wake up.
Suki's eyes drank in the lovely girl once more, feeling a slight flush come to her cheeks. She really couldn't get enough of her. The taste of her lips, her skin, the glow in her cheeks when they...
She felt her own cheeks redden at the memories, and she could feel with it desire rising up in her again.
Pushing everything else aside, she moved closer, pressing herself to Ty Lee's back, running her fingers lightly along her tanned hip as she kissed the smooth shoulder in front of her. Ty Lee let out a small sigh, but stayed still. Suki smiled wickedly, and decided that she was perfectly okay taking the morning to wake her up properly, if she decided nothing else today.
"You know we have to go back soon." Ty Lee said, gently cupping Suki's face and bringing her eyes to hers.
Suki caught them, and couldn't help the twist of guilt and pain that crossed her face. "I know." She replied, softly. "I know. I can't hide in here forever." Her eyes closed." But I have no idea how to say...How to tell him its over. That...That I've already fallen for someone else." Her eyes opened, watering at the edges.
Ty Lee leaned forward and kissed her, trying to give her all the love and support she had for her in that kiss. "It's not going to be easy." She said, as they broke apart. She pulled Suki to her, wrapping her arms around her, feeling the tightness slowly draining from her muscles as Ty Lee's soft breath caressed her shoulder.
"He's probably not going to take it well. He's loved you a long time, but he's smart, Suki. So he probably knew this was coming, sooner or later. There's a big difference between hearing you say it, and to know that I'm a part of it...Even if he is understanding, I'm not naive enough to think his 'male pride' won't be hurt with you running off with another girl, and he'll probably blame me. To be fair, he's got a right too." She swallowed. "Its going to be hard, Love. But I'm a big girl, and I don't regret it. I can't. You're worth it, and so much more."
Suki's eyes grew wide, and she struggled in Ty Lee's arms. "But, that's not how it-" Ty Lee shushed her, a soft, comforting sound in her ear. "I know that. I'm not worried about that. I'm..." She swallowed again. "I'm terrified he's going to say...Something. Anything, and this whole thing will have been just a crazy, wonderful dream. I just got you, Love. Finally. And I'm not ready to let you go. Not now." She picked her eyes up, finding Suki's. "Not ever. You-"
It was Suki's turn to shush her, the raw emotion in her lover's eyes made Ty Lee's heart skip.
"I love you." Suki said, firmly, fiercely." She meant it. She knew it now, beyond a doubt. This was real, and spirits be damned, she'd fight for it, any way she had too.
Ty Lee smiled, all the worry draining her face, and she kissed Suki, deeply. When she pulled back, her eyes were wet, too.
"I love you t-"
An earsplitting roar rang out over the island, and the two could hear yelling and shouting from outside the the small home. With practiced ease, the two of them were off the bed and strapping on armor in seconds. Suki was just tying her belt when Ty Lee stopped her.
"Wait. Listen. You hear that?"
Suki stopped, and cocked her ear. The noises she was hearing, which she thought were alarm, actually sounded like...Cheering?
That roar rang out again, and really listening this time, it sounded...Familiar?
"Oh spirits." The realization hit Suki like a head-butt from the Unagi.
"What?"
"Ty...We-Well, I guess, us, are going to die. Very shortly. Probably badly."
She looked up, alarmed. "What? Why?"
Suki's eyes closed. "The Avatar. Aang. He's here."
Ty Lee's face lit up. "That's great! Why is that bad? We love Aang!"
Suki sighed, turned around, and put her hand on Ty Lee's cheek. "Because the Avatar is married to the sister of the boy you're stealing me from."
Suki watched the color drain from Ty Lee's face. Just like hers. Spirits, she was just as beautiful terrified.
"We're so dead."