I'll Walk You Home pt 26

Chapter 8

pt. 8

Moonlit Conversations

"You are beautiful tonight." Sokka told her. "Well, you are beautiful every night. You were always and will always be beautiful. It's just so nice to get out of the city and really be able to see you and spend some time with you. I've missed you so much."

The young hunter was sitting in a stone garden, leaning on a large stone, looking up into the night sky, behind the VIP Quarters. The garden was to be looked at, not sat in, but the tribesman had never been very good at using things for what others thought they should be used for. The VIP Quarters was a three bedroom house with two baths, where you could actually take a bath, a front living room, a dining room, and a full kitchen with an attached wash room in the back.

"Now that the war's over I hope things are better for you. I hope La isn't a jerk or anything, though you've had lots of experience with jerks." The teen said with a deprecating laugh. "You don't need any more."

"Things have been a little crazy here." He told his lost love. "Toph has had a really bad time recently, so any help you can give her would be really great. Not that you have any reason to do me any favors."

The young man stood up then and began to pace around the stones in the garden.

"Can you ever forgive me? I caused you nothing but pain, turning your life into nothing but turmoil until I failed you completely and you…"

Tears came to the hunter's eyes then, and his words choked in his throat. Finally he continued,

"I'm so sorry, so very sorry. I tried to do the right thing. I always try to do the right thing, but it always turns out wrong. I ruined your life. I've ruined Suki's. And Now I've ruined Toph's. What is wrong with me? Why am I such a useless, horrible piece of shit?"

"Sorry, self pity, not something you are familiar with." He told her.

After a moment he gained control of himself and he said,

"Wanted to thank you again for all the help out on the desert. I couldn't have done it without you." Then he chuckled as he went on, "Oh did you hear Minh about the moonbeams. That's pretty rich isn't it? Throwing moonbeams and killing benders, as if someone as kind and giving as you could hurt anyone."

"Yeah, I killed people, five of them apparently, that makes a total of six counting Combustion Man." The tribesman sat down again with a sad sigh. "That means I'm going to have to have six Enemy Ways when I get home. How am I supposed to afford that? I'll be hunting for a year just to pay the shaman and to feed the guests. Maybe I could get a special two for one deal or something, like a bulk discount, since there will be so many."

"How did those old heroes in the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation stories afford it?" He asked more to himself than his princess. "I mean that Earth Kingdom story of the Blind King of the South who wiped out an entire army by himself. That would be thousands of Enemy Ways. How could one guy, even if he were a king afford that?"

"Well anyway it will be a while before I can get home and start on that. Have to raise the Southern Fleet first, then the Fire Army air fleet salvage operation, then after that…"

"Yeah… Suki…" The young man said thoughtfully. "What am I going to do about Suki? I didn't mean to hurt her. That's my problem I never mean to hurt anyone, but that's all I ever seem to do. Anyway, I… Well… I hurt her. I chose Toph over Suki. That's not quite true either. I didn't even make a choice, I didn't even think about it. When Toph said she was leaving, I just knew I had to go with her. I couldn't just leave Toph all alone."

"So what do I say to Suki?" The warrior asked. "I have to see her. I have to explain to her. I still love her it's just… What?"

He used his Wang Fire councilor's voice as he said,

"Well Suki, I love you, but since I have already ruined your life there's nothing much left for me in this relationship, besides I've fallen in love with a twelve year old girl who can't stand me, and who is probably terrified of me, or if I'm really lucky, she just hates me now, since I have ruined her life as well, and have turned her into a crazed killer. Oh by the way, I'm a crazed killer too, so it's probably all for the best that we break up."

"Yeah!" Sokka went on in his own voice. "That pretty much covers the situation."

The warrior leaned back and stared at the moon for a time. The moon made no reply, it simply rode on the clouds like a ship on a dark sea, beautiful but so very far away. Finally the young man said,

"You were… are so beautiful. Yes I'm shallow, but the first time I saw you, you were so beautiful. Even in my dreams I had never seen anyone as beautiful as you were, on your barge moving down the canal. You were like the first sunrise after the long winter night. I couldn't believe that anyone could be that beautiful. I thought I shouldn't look at her, being seen by someone like me must hurt her. You were so beautiful and elegant. And it was all effortless on your part, you simply were."

"And I spoke to you. If I had had any sense I would never have had the courage to try and talk to you. But you answered, and you were smart, and clever, and kind, and most of all you were fun. I couldn't believe that someone like you could be so fun to be with. You enjoyed so much of everything. You filled my heart. I had never had so much joy and fun in my life, those few short hours we spent together."

"This is going to sound crazy." The tribesman snorted. "But Toph reminds me of you. She is beautiful, and she can be elegant, when she wants to be. I still remember that party we crashed. But most of all it is her sense of fun that reminds me of you. The best times of my life have been having fun with the two of you."

"Toph laughed today." The hunter said. "It was so good to hear her laugh again. You would have loved her laugh."

The young man stared up into the sky for some time after that. The clear light of the moon reflected in his dark blue eyes.

"Thanks Yue." Sokka finally said. "I really miss talking with you."

Toph was getting ready for bed. Sokka had taken all her clothes to wash them so they would be ready in the morning, and he had gotten a simple tunic, draw string pants, and a short robe from the Stupidwhorebi… ok so she wasn't that bad. The sergeant had even apologized for her part in the argument and the fight that day. Minh had even apologized for attacking and mauling Sokka. The First Sergeant had blamed it on the wine, but Toph thought she was just a soggy pants whore who acted that way towards all gorgeous, heroic, brilliant, courageous, nice, stupid, idiotic, oblivious, idiotic, stupid idiots who didn't even get it when a woman was crawling all over him, and he just thought she was being nice, and not trying to steal him from the girl he was with, even though he wasn't that girl's boyfriend or anything, as a matter of fact that girl didn't even like him that much, and besides he already had a girlfriend, who he didn't like as much as he liked Toph, who was the girl he was with…

The blind girl, who had been pulling the tunic over her head at that point suddenly stopped. Wait a minute She thought. What was that last? She asked herself. She wasn't sure when he had said it, but she thought she remembered Sokka saying those exact words. Well maybe not those exact words but something pretty close. No, that was just crazy. She told herself.

The young bender finished dressing, and put the damp cloth Meathead had given her back on her face. He was right it definitely felt better. Stupid had commented,

"I wish there was some snow here. If you wrap a towel around snow it is really good for reducing swelling and pain."

And if anyone knew anything about swelling and pain it was Sokka. The stupidwhore… Oh ok, Minh had commented on the fact that Sokka was the only one to come out of the fight without a scratch, at least until Toph had smashed him with her earth whip. Yet the blind girl said he was always losing and getting beaten up in his training sessions. The young girl smiled, which hurt, as she remembered explaining that the young man was normally fighting the Avatar, and his teachers, so a bunch of soldiers and sand benders was not much of a challenge for him.

Toph took another sip of the tea her friend had made for her. It was tepid now and still very bitter. He had grated some willow bark and had steeped it in the tea, telling her it would help with the pain and swelling as well. The blind bender had to admit it was helping, the throbbing in her face was down to a dull ache, and her side only hurt whenever she breathed, or moved, or stood still.

How does he put up with this? The girl asked herself. Toph had never actually been injured in any of her fights, well not this badly at least, but her friend was always getting hurt, usually worse than this, and he always came back the next day and started over again.

The blind bender finished the tea and wrapped the robe around herself. Even with the tunic, pants and robe on she was feeling rather naked, without her breast bindings or loin cloth on. She felt like everything was just flapping in the breeze as it were, even though she was fully clothed. She put the damp cloth in the bowl provided and pulled the blanket off of the bed, laying it on the floor. She had no desire to sleep in the bed, she hated the cursed things.

The earthbender sent out a wave of bending into the house. Sokka had come in from the back yard a while ago, and was now bustling around in the house. Finishing letters, Minh had told him they had a post office and he could mail them out in the morning. The young girl was in the master bedroom of the house. She lay down on the stone floor and sighed in relief. She was exhausted, and just lying down was a wonderful treat.

Toph woke up from another bad dream. She lay panting on the floor tangled in her blanket. The young girl did not know what time of the night it was but it must have been late since she didn't hear any noises from either inside or outside the house. She was just getting back to sleep when she heard a knock on the door to her room. Sending out a wave of bending she found Sokka in front of the door, but he was not standing. Her friend was sitting cross legged on the floor with his back against the door and his sword in his lap. The blind bender was used to this. Ever since the desert he had slept that way, either against a rock on leaning on a wall of her earthtent. She knew he was keeping watch over her.

As the girl was "watching" the warrior, she felt his head fall back and hit the door, which corresponded with a loud knock echoing in the room. Meathead was dozing off and his head was banging on the door. Toph thought about it for a second then she got up and walked to the door. She didn't want to spend the night being woken every few minutes by Stupid beating his brains out.

The blind bender opened the door and the warrior fell in through the door way.

"Huh! What?" The young man asked surprised.

"Listen Meathead." The young girl told her friend. "You don't have a whole lot of brains to start with and I don't want to have to lead you around on a string like your mother used to do. So get up and go to your room."

"Oh, sorry." The tribesman replied, as he stood up. "Ok well good night then."

The two of them stood there for a moment then the girl asked,

"You're going to stay here aren't you?"

"Ahh, no, I'm going to my room." The boy said sleepily, holding his sword.

Neither one of them moved. Finally the blind girl said,

"You are so irritating! Ok, you can come in and sleep in the bed, I'm not using it, but no sitting up and watching all night. You have to lie down in the bed and be quiet."

"Ok." The warrior said, entering the room.

The boy walked into the room over to the bed dragging his blanket behind him. He seemed really tired. There was enough moon light coming in through the window for the young man to maneuver without hitting any furniture. He was dressed in the same tunic and drawstring pants Toph was wearing, although he did not have his robe on. The girl closed the door and went back to her blanket on the floor next to the bed. She lay down and pulled her own blanket over herself. She could hear the creak of the ropes and the sigh of the straw in the mattress as the boy lay down on the bed.

"Night Toph." The young man said.

"Night Snoozles." The young girl said.

Sokka lay on the bed staring down at his friend. There was a shaft of moon light coming in through the window that caressed the young girl on her blanket. He closed his eyes and was asleep in seconds.

Sokka was up early the next morning. He was careful not to disturb his friend as he left the room. He had a lot to do if they were to get a decent days walking in today.

The swordsman started by going out front to the large quadrangle in front of the house to do some sword drills. He pulled off his tunic to free his arms and to feel the brisk morning air on his skin. He felt better rested than he had in days and he wanted to enjoy it. He had woken up a few times in the night but had seen Toph lying safe in the moonlight next to the bed and gone right back to sleep.

The warrior's left leg still hurt, and Toph had not repaired his damaged leg brace yet, so he started slow and began with the forms he had adapted from watching his sister's waterbending, progressing up to air, then fire, then earth bending forms.

The First Sergeant watched from across the open field. Oma and Shu she thought. She had never seen forms like that before. Even with his injured leg the young man moved beautifully.

"I've never seen those styles before." Lieutenant Ho said behind her.

Minh came to attention.

"No sir!" The NCO replied. "Watching him you can believe that he took on five benders and won."

"Stand easy" The XO said "I've heard you handle a sword better than anyone in the company."

"I do my best sir." The sergeant answered, relaxing her stance and facing the officer. "One shouldn't always rely on bending, as my old drill sergeant used to say."

"Well, we should spar sometime." The First Lieutenant said. "I'm sure you could teach me a lot."

"Well sir it would be my pleasure." Minh replied. "But from what I've heard you know how to use your sword as well as any man, if not better. I'm sure I would be learning a lot as well."

"Maybe we old farts could come up with some moves that would even surprise these young kids." The man suggested.

"I'm sure we could, sir." The woman affirmed, with a smile.

Ho returned Minh's smile.

Later that morning a sergeant, who was under orders from the First Sergeant.

("What! You want me to teach the Black Lotus how to use a bow? What if he goes crazy again and kills me?

"Just stay away from the girl and you'll be fine." Minh had reassured sergeant Truong.)

The archer was fearful at first, which surprised Sokka, but he eventually loosened up and the lesson had been very informative and actually fun. Sergeant Truong for his part was impressed by how quickly the young man picked up on his instructions and was particularly impressed with the questions the water tribesman asked. They were mostly "why" questions, which showed he wanted to know the reasons behind the techniques.

Eventually the sergeant replaced the bow the young man had ("Total piece of crap!" Truong had told him.) with another better bow, and a quiver with a built in bow case, and a sheaf of twenty arrows. Ten war arrows with armor piercing points, along with five broad head hunting arrows and five blunt flu flu birding and small game arrows.

Next was a corporal who had been recruited from the sand tribes.

("Whatever you do Altan, don't look at the girl, and you'll be fine." The Top Kick had told him.)

Who taught the warrior the basics of using the bolas lasso.

Toph had bathed (she really missed the rain bath Sokka had invented back in Ba Sing Se) and had put on her clean travel clothes. She felt much better with her own clothes on. Her hair was down in the long sheaf she had worn at the start of the journey. She had just finished packing when she heard the knock on the front door to the house.

Using her bending she felt it was the... ok ok, Minh at the door.

Opening the door the blind girl told the soldier,

"He's not here. He went someplace to get a food thing. He should be back soon though if you want to wait"

"Commissary for rations?" The sergeant asked.

"Maybe." The girl answered.

"Good because I wanted to talk to you." The trooper said. "Can I come in?"

"Ok." The girl answered walking into the front room. "About yesterday..."

"I don't want to talk about yesterday." The soldier said. "I want to talk to you about before, in the desert."

"The desert?"

"Yes." The woman told the girl. "I don't know what happened to you, I just know it was bad. And I think you should talk to someone about it. Doesn't have to be me or him even. Sometimes it's easier to talk to a stranger, someone you'll never see again. But you should talk to someone."

"Is that it?" The girl asked.

"No, one more thing. It took me years to figure this one out." The woman said, nervously playing with the bandage on her right hand. "It was not your fault. You didn't do anything wrong. You did not deserve what happened to you. They were evil bastards, who are experts at getting you when you are vulnerable, and keeping you helpless. There was nothing you did, and there was nothing you could do, once they had you."

"Ok, thanks." The girl said.

"Oh, one last thing." The soldier added. "It wasn't his fault either, so don't blame him. Just be thankful you had someone who loved you enough to do what he did."

"Yeah... Yeah..." The girl said thoughtfully.

The two of them stood silently in the room. The girl thinking about what the woman had told her.

The young man came through door in a flurry of activity. He had two bulging black shoulder bags. He handed one to Toph telling her,

"This is yours. It's full of jerky and hardtack." As an after thought he waved to the sergeant and said, "Hi Minh."

"Hi, so are you two ready to hit the road?" The trooper asked.

"Toph you ready?" The young man asked his friend.

"Yeah." The girl said in quiet voice, with her head down, then she lifted her face towards the tribesman and in a clear voice told him,

"Yeah, lets get out of here."

"Ok!" Her friend told her, as he began to shoulder all his gear.

"You should be careful when you go up into the hills." The First Sergeant told the pair as she set them onto the ancient road. "Our patrols haven't gotten that far yet, and we've heard stories of deserters from both armies holding out and taking over villages up there."

"We will." The warrior told her. "Thanks for everything."

"Yeah," The blind bender said bowing to the woman. "Thanks for everything."

"Anytime." The noncom replied.

The young man bowed to the woman and the two companions turned and began to walk down the road.

After about fifteen minutes they had left the outskirts of the town of My Lot behind. Toph sent out a wave of bending to see if the two of them were alone on the road. When she felt that they were, she turned to Sokka and asked,

"So Meathead, what exactly is a cunt?"

The young man sighed. How do I get into these conversations.

"Well it has a number of meanings." The fifteen year old began. "First it is a rude name for a part of the female anatomy, next it is a pejorative term for a girl who..."

And the two friends continued down the road as the embarrassed boy continued with his explanation.

"So, guys have dicks and girls have cunts, right?" The blind girl asked.

It was late in the morning and the two travelers had left the town far behind.

"Right." The young man agreed.

"And the cunt is the same as the pussy?" The girl asked.

"Now-a-days, yes." The boy told her.

"And a boy can be a dick, and a girl can be a cunt?" She asked.

"Right." He told her.

"And a boy can be a pussy, but a girl can't be a dick?" She asked,

"Exactly." The boy said.

"That doesn't make sense." The young girl observed, frustrated.

"Your right, but that's life." The boy agreed.

The warrior stopped and looked just ahead. There was an old Roamer stone bridge over a gully. At some point in the past the roadway of the bridge had been destroyed by something and had been replaced by a wooden structure. This was going to be a problem. Toph would not be able to feel the bridge.

"Ahhhh, Toph we've got a problem." The warrior told the bender. "We've got a wooden bridge ahead. Maybe you could bend a new bridge so you can 'see' your way. Or you could bend steps down the side of the gully and up the other side."

The blind girl stood for a moment, then said,

"Or you could just lead me across like you usually do."

With that she reached out and took his hand in her own. It was a real act of courage for the young girl. She wasn't sure how she would react to the contact. If she would feel her skin crawl, if she could even stand to touch him.

Toph felt a wonderful warm tingle start in her hand. It moved up her arm, giving her goose bumps. She felt her heart begin to speed up and a warm flush move up into her face. She lowered her head to shyly hide her face from her friend.

"Or, yeah, I could just lead you across." The young man said, in a husky emotion filled voice.

And Sokka, holding her hand, led Toph over the bridge.

To be continued:

Disclaimer : "Avatar the Last Airbender" the characters and the world were created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and owned by Nickelodeon and Viacom or Paramount or some huge corporation. This is purely a work of fan fiction because I wanted to play in their world and I love the characters that they created.

Author's notes:

Well I really want to apologize for being so late with this but I don't want to get yelled at, so I won't. :-)

This is late for a lot of reasons, one the weekend was crazy busy. Two the chapter gave me a lot of trouble. I started it three times and deleted everything before I got this one, and this version is completely different than what I originally had in mind. I just hope this works for everyone.

To all of the reviewers, once again thank you so much. Your words mean a huge amount to me, and to the story. So to all of you, thanks again.

I try to reply personally to all the reviews. If I missed any one, please forgive me.

Sifu Toph: Thanks, I blame it all on them. They are just too clever by half.

Fay of the Ink and Paper: I tried to reply directly to you but incase it didn't work; Yes Toph out did herself Sokka was really impressed. The poor girl will probably never be able to be the friend ever again. And no they won't admit anything even under oath.

Saxsui: What a great review, thanks so much. I'm glad the action scene worked for you. Really glad!

Shadow: Thanks, I am glad that their characters come across that way, I actually am trying for that and it is good to hear that I am succeeding.

x

Once again thank you to all those who have added this story to their alerts and especially their favorites, and a very special thank you to all who have added me to your author alerts and favorites. That is a real honor for me. I hope I have not disappointed you with this chapter.

Thanks again to Vox Populi for all his help, and his dedications on his story "The Epic of Tokka" I really appreciate the honor. He has finished that story, but has many more going now, so take a look.

Thank you to all for reading

All comments and/or criticisms are more than welcome.