Hey guys. Sorry this is late. Enjoy

Caress

This story takes place sometime before, "Sokka's master"

Night has come again. Our heroes continuing their adventure through the Fire nation to meet up with the small resistance team who will join them on the day of Black Sun. Katara, Sokka and Toph were already asleep, but Aang was still up. Looking into the night sky, he wondered if he'll truly succeed in their mission. The Earth Kingdom fallen, a small team of benders and warriors, and Aang still hasn't mastered firebending, although he doubt he'd find a firebender willing to help him.

Something suddenly caught his eye, a flash of light. A few seconds after that, he heard the familiar sound of thunder, a storm was coming. He sees clouds forming and in an instant, he felt raindrops. "Oh great," he said to himself, he forgot the tropical storms the Fire Nation have been known to have. Acting fast he uses his earthbending to make a tent around his sleeping bison, he makes another around the tents Katara and Sokka had up, so they wouldn't be bombarded with rain water. Finally, he makes a ditch around their little camp to prevent flooding, not worrying about whether anyone saw him, doubt any firebenders would be up and out this hour anyway.

Aang sees another flash, followed by a thundering that came faster than the last one. Remembering what he learned around thunder, the quicker the thunder came after the flash of lightning, the closer that lighting was to you. Forgetting his tent, he earthbends and covers himself in a single tent like Toph always does. Hearing the rain drops on the earth tent, he shut his eyes and calmed himself, now all he had to do was wait it out.

As his eyes were shut, Aang started feeling the vibrations of the drops hitting the ground, his lessons with Toph opened his senses and allowed him to see like she can...that's when she sensed Toph...clutching herself, her heartbeat erratic and her mumbling "it's just a storm, it can't hurt me" over and over. Something was wrong with Toph, he had to know what.

Aang earthbends and starts burrowing underground like a badgermole, he digs his way through until he reaches under Toph. Feeling her tent would be big enough for the two of them, he digs his way out and into her tent. He couldn't see her in the dark but head her clearer, still saying, "It's a Storm, it can't hurt me" not even acknowledging Aang's presence. Aang moved closer and put a hand on her shoulder, "Toph?" he asked, making her jump, followed by punching his arm, making him go "ow!" "What is wrong with you? Entering a girl's tent without her knowing, I ought to-" but her rant was cut short when an even louder thunder came crashing, making Toph gasped as she suddenly grabbed Aang in a fearful embrace, her head buried in his chest, mumbling "sweet spirits" in her scared tone.

Aang wasn't prepared for this: his earthbending teacher squeezing the life out of him as the thunder rolled. He struggled to talk, "Toph, you're crushing me" he said, but Toph didn't release him. Aang did the only thing he could do...he wraps his arms around Toph and held her close as well, his hands caressing her, rubbing her back in a soothing manner. This seemed to have done the trick as Toph loosened her grip on him, but she still held close.

"It's ok, Toph, you're safe, I'm here." Aang told her, he spoke softly to her. In their embrace, he could feel her heart beating fast, she whimpered a bit as the rain came harder. Aang never though he'd see the day when Toph Bei Fong, the Blind Bandit, was scared. He would have laugh if Toph wasn't holding onto him at the moment, the girl might have crushed him harder if he did.

Toph would no doubt already realize Aang's observation the moment she grabbed him, so she started explaining. "Ever since I was really young, I've been scared of storms. The thunder was so loud it hurt my ears...I could actually feel the lightning hit...it hits with so much power..." she trailed off when another sound of thunder came crashing down, making her whimper and hold Aang tighter. "Toph, it's ok, it's not going to hurt you. You're safe" Aang said, trying to sooth her, "How would you know?" She asked, half scared of the threat of lightning hit, half annoyed at being told the same thing before, by her parents. "Well...the earth is protecting is, even if it did strike, we'd still be safe" Aang explained.

Another sound of thunder came, this one louder than before, making Toph mumble and curse under her breath as she pulled closer to Aang. Aang continued to caress her form, making her heart beat more calmer. Toph lifted her head to talk, "I feel how much the lightning hits...did it feel that way when Azula hit you?" she asked.

Aang remembered that, after finally reaching the Avatar State, Azula pulled a dirty move and struck him in the back with lightning. The pain was so intense, even in the state, it caused him to black out, making him dream and wander until he awoke months later. Remembering that made his heart beat faster, Giving Toph's answer, but he voiced them anyway, "It did...it felt just like this."

Toph pulled him closer, not in a fearful embrace but a more caring one, her eyes teared as her hand caressed the scar on his back, the scare left by azula. "I was scared you'd never awake. We all were scared but...I was scared the most. You were the first real friend I ever had...I didn't want to lose you" she said through her tears. Aang felt awed at that, out of all of his friends, he'd never thought Toph would be worried for him the most.

"It's ok, Toph...I'm here. I'm not going to go anywhere" he said, comforting her. Another sound of thunder came, but Toph didn't pull tighter. Aang felt her heartbeat though their caress and knew she felt at peace. "Aang...Promise me something" she asked, "Let me guess, not a word to anyone about this?" he guessed. "No" Toph said, "if there's ever another storm...promise you'll be there. Promise you'll hold me like this...this protective...caress" she said. Aang didn't expect that, but he promised nonetheless.

They sat together, caressing one another, comforting eachother as the world around them continued to storm, the thunder, lightning and rain continued, but still they stayed.

That's the end of "Caress." Hope you liked it