I'll Walk You Home pt 36
Chapter 12
pt. 1
Heart
The fifteen year old tossed the training knives to the Traveler who caught them easily.
Now what did I do? The young man asked himself, as he began to unbuckle his leg brace. This is so not my fault.
The teen watched as the assembled fighters helped Gia back up onto her feet. Well it looks like the chi block is gone. He told himself, so that can't be it.
A little over one hundred paces away, the blind bender waited impatiently. He is so going to pay! She told herself.
Sokka looked at his cache of weapons which lay by the corner of the field. His sword, club, or machete could be used for blocking missiles, but given the small size of the field and the close confines of the nearby camp, he didn't think Toph would actually be throwing a lot of stuff at him. He was not good enough with his throwing knives to use them as Mai did to pin the blind girl by her clothing, which left him his boomerang as his only offensive weapon.
Boomerang was his best weapon against the bender. She had a very hard time feeling it once it was in the air since it did not travel in a straight line. If he threw it while he was in the air she would have no idea where it was except for the sound.
Shortly after the war Sokka had been training against Toph and while dodging everything the blind bender had been throwing at him, no easy task, he had launched himself into the air and cast boomerang at her. He had thrown it in a high looping arc, and on its return it had smashed into the back of the small girl's head, stunning her, and knocking her to the ground.
The tribesman had dropped his weapons, and with his heart in his mouth, had rushed to his fallen friend, scooped her up, and began to frantically search for Katara in the hope that his sister could heal his friend. The blind girl had come too, dazed and confused, in the young man's arms. In her own panic she had bitten his left arm, sinking her teeth in until she tasted blood. Surprised, the tribesman had dropped his friend, which had been a big mistake; it took him over half an hour to dig himself out of the ground.
By the time the young man was on the surface again his friend was nowhere to be seen. The young girl had not spoken to him for a week after that, even after his arm had become infected and he was laid up in bed for a few days. His arm still bore the marks of her teeth. He would wear them until the day he died. No, he would never use boomerang on his friend ever again. There was too much danger of her being injured, which would break the boy's heart.
Sokka's only other chance was to try to close with the blind bender, and using the technique taught to him by Ty Lee, try to block Toph's chi. The irony was not lost on him. Or is that a paradox? He asked himself. Or possibly it could be drollery?
"I'M WAITING!" Toph shouted, from the other end of the field.
"Be right there!" The young man answered, putting the brace with the rest of his equipment.
"Can you watch my stuff for me?" The blue eyed boy asked the dark eyed man standing nearby.
"Of course." Zoltan answered.
The dark skinned warrior was going to need all the speed he could muster to have any chance, which he had to admit was slim to none, and the brace would only slow him down. Thinking along the same lines, the young man untied the draw string to his pants and turning his back on the assembled fighters began to reach into his leggings, but seeing the assembly of girls on his other side, the young man turned back to the fighters. They had at least seen this before, probably, even if some of them were women.
The blue eyed teen reached into his leggings, and amid the jibes and smirks of his fellow fighters, arranged himself, he then pulled his loin cloth tight and tied the ends of the cloth to the waist band. He didn't want anything getting in his way while he ran. He then retied the draw string of his pants, and dropped to the ground in a runner's starting stance.
"Ready!" The young man called out.
"Goody!" The blind girl responded with a grin, taking a horse riding stance.
The crowd on both sides waited breathlessly. And waited, and waited. Nothing happened for nearly a minute and the fighters especially were getting restless.
The dark skinned teen started, catching all the watchers by surprise, but not Toph, he was forced to leap high into the air, as a barrier suddenly rose out of the ground in front of him. His hands caught the top and he vaulted over it before it had even stopped rising.
Instead of diving straight over the barrier, the tribesman vaulted to the side barely avoiding the pit that, at a gesture from the young bender, had opened on the opposite side of the wall. His legs were pumping before he even hit the ground and his run had begun.
"Son of a bitch is fast." Kizzy noted with a smile.
Gia nodded in agreement as she watched the young man.
Sokka was not running at his friend, but at an angle, almost as if he was running off of the field. He could not run in a straight line, if he did the blind girl would easily get him. The water tribe teen was like a ship heading into the wind, tacking back and forth, left and right, in order to reach his goal.
Toph advanced a step, her right arm shooting out in a low hook, fingers extended.
The tribesman felt the tremble in the earth and dropped rolling on his side, letting his momentum carry him under the five needle sharp earth spires that had suddenly risen at an angle from the ground aimed where his chest had been. Grabbing the shaft of one of the spires he pulled himself up and through the gap between it and its fellow, and running along the base of the five spires, charged off at a new angle this time towards the small bender.
"Oma and Shu!" Nikolai said in awe. "I would have been a shish ka bob on that one!"
The fighter's comment got appreciative laughs from the other fighters standing near him. Both groups of watchers began to move down the field to keep the action in view. This was becoming interesting.
Meathead's good! Toph told herself with a smile. She loved playing with Sokka. Twinkle Toes was ok, but he was always cheating using airbending to stay off the ground. Sugar Queen and Sparky would just stand there and bash at her with their bending, but Sokka would run. She never knew which direction the tribesman would take or how he would react. It was a joy to play with him. She really had to be alert and using her best whenever she played with her friend, who just happened to be a boy, definitely not her boy-friend.
Cut left! The boy told himself. Not yet, wait for the trembling in the earth! The rational part of his mind answered. Toph was the best! He told himself. It was always fun to play with her. He had to give his best, splitting his awareness between her, so he could see what form she was using in her earthbending, and the ground ahead of and around him. She was a master at making traps of quicksand and pits in front of him as he ran. She was the best bender in the world and he had to give his best to her if he was going to play.
The blind girl stomped her right foot to the ground and brought her arms down, out, up, and around, her fingers curling at the top of the arc.
The tribesman didn't know the form the bender was using, but he felt the earth tremble under his pounding feet. He cut left, his right leg being the stronger it was easier to go left, but it was too late. Two large earth waves rose up out of the ground in the form of a funnel, open at his end and joining as they approached the blind girl. The waves crashed together at the apex and rolled down towards the runner.
Sokka was trapped and had no way out. If he tried to stop and turn it would be too late, so he turned towards the left hand wave running up the increasing slope, he jumped up towards the right hand wave and kicked off of it, the kick carried him through the closing gap between the two, and over the crest of the left hand wave just as the two crashed together. He slid on his chest, down the outside slope of the wave, avoiding the largest pieces of the rubble, but grabbing two small stones as he dug his hands in, flipping himself over and landing on his feet. He took off running again, this time at an angle to the left almost away from the small bender.
"Oma, that had to hurt!" Nikolai commented as he saw the young man slide on his bare skin.
There was sympathy, tinged with admiration in the man's voice. His remark earned nods from the fighters around him. None of the fighters of the Travelers were benders and they had all begun to quietly root for the young non bender.
Cut right! The boy told himself as he felt the ground tremble underneath him, and he saw a small tell tale cloud of dust rise from the field in front of him. It was probably a softened section of earth the young girl had created to trap him. He pushed of with his weaker left leg as he made the sharp turn. He was now heading more directly for the small bender.
The young man's left leg was much improved with all the walking and the running he had done in just the last couple of weeks, but it was still weaker than his right, and his right turns were not as sharp as his left, since he had to kick off the turns using his opposite leg.
"Duck!" Sokka shouted as he threw the stone in his right hand at the small girl.
The teen always warned his friend when he threw anything at her, after the boomerang incident, even though with stones, she would have no problem feeling them coming at her. He always threw hard and fast trying to hit her. She could sense a stone that was meant to miss and would simply ignore it. If he was going to distract her and break her earthbending, he had to mean to hit her, which he didn't like, for fear that he actually would, but otherwise she would be pissed that he hadn't really tried.
Toph felt the stone coming at her. Good one! She told herself as she felt it fly right towards her chest. Meathead always aimed for her chest, since it was easier for her to avoid head shots. With chest and stomach shots she had to move her whole body out of the way or block them. She pulled up a small barrier of compressed earth and blocked the stone.
"You want to throw things? Try this!" The blind bender shouted with a grin, punching the barrier at the teen as he ran.
Fuck! The dark skinned fighter cursed to himself, as he threw himself down and skidded along the ground on his bare back, under the flying block. He really didn't think the bender would be shooting at him.
There were gasps of fear and a scream from the crowd of girls that had been watching the battle as the block of compressed earth missed the boy and continued to hurtle straight towards them. With a gesture from the blind girl the block disintegrated before reaching the watchers, covering them in dust.
This is great! The blind girl told herself. She was really enjoying this. Her bending hadn't felt this good since before entering the desert, maybe not ever. Whatever Stupid had done last night had really worked and her sense and ability to bend felt wonderful. She had complete control of her element and she knew just where he was. Her eyebrows furrowed as she felt for the young man.
Sokka was on his feet again and moving before the small girl could focus on him.
What the fuck is he doing? The Blind Bandit asked herself.
"He's running backwards!" Pesha, a large spearman standing with the fighters said.
The dark skinned teen was technically retreating the way a swordsman backs away from an opponent, but he was doing it at high speed and not just for one or two steps as he would in a fight.
"Shit!" Nikolai said in wonder. "He retreats faster than I can advance!"
"Shit is right!" Gia echoed the man with the scimitar.
The small bender was confused by this unusual movement but only for a second. She kicked up three blocks of earth and shot them at her friend. Meathead is fucking crazy! She told herself, reveling in her friend's insanity.
The teen saw the blocks headed his way. They were aimed at his legs. He wouldn't be able to duck under these. He turned and ran straight for them, and straight for the Blind Bandit. At the last possible instant he dove over the blocks, but he angled the dive so he would land to the right of them, thus avoiding the pit his friend had just opened for him, rolled and was back up on his feet running again. He knew that the bender would have to deal with the blocks so he had a second or two to move in on her, he turned towards the girl.
With a gesture Toph pulverized the blocks she had punched at her friend. She knew he would avoid them and her pit as well. This was Sokka after all. But she had another trap for him. She would blind him. She stomped her foot to the ground and shot her fists out, a cloud of dust erupted from the field around the young man.
As soon as the tribesman saw the dust begin to rise he shut his eyes tight and using Sifu Piandao's training pulled up the last image he had in his mind of the ground ahead of him. Using the image to navigate he continued to run full out, then at the right moment, he turned towards the bender who was his goal.
"Duck!" The warrior shouted, throwing his last stone, while still running blindly through the dust.
Oma! Toph cursed as she dodged the stone that came straight for her. Stupid didn't even slow down! That had caught her off guard.
As soon as Sokka smelt clean air he opened his eyes and saw Toph right before him. He was nearly there. He was running on adrenaline now, but he called on what reserves he had to run faster. Just one or two more seconds and he would be on top of her.
Toph kicked her right foot down and forward creating and riding a small earth wave away from the teen coming right at her. As the wave ran out she brought her fists down in a full power move.
Sokka saw the blind girl almost fly away from him, he then saw the pit open up in front of him. He had no time to stop or turn so he threw himself into the air trying to land on the other side.
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! He cursed in his head. He was going to be short. His chest hit the opposite side of the pit, knocking what little air he had left out of his lungs. His hands scrabbled at the edge trying to find a grip to pull himself out. He finally got a hand hold, and was dragging himself up over the edge when he felt the earth close on his wrists. He looked up to see the Blind Bandit a short distance away with her hands in the crane beak form. He was trapped.
The young man pulled and twisted, but for all his straining it was pointless. His hands were held firm. There was nothing that muscle and sinew could do against the greatest bender in the world.
Sokka pulled himself the rest of the way out of the pit and knelt before the victor, sitting back on his heels, his hands still bound to the ground, his chest heaving, pulling as much air as he could into his starving lungs, his muscles pushing against his taught skin, desperate for the oxygen in his blood, his hair down, the hair tie lost as he had skidded under the first block of earth, his skin covered in bruises, scrapes, dirt, sweat, and blood. His blue eyes found her face, and with a small smile he panted,
"Uncle… You've… got… me… I'm all… yours."
The blind girl wanted to rush to him and just hug him to death. She wanted to pull him so close no one would be able to tell where one began and the other ended. She wanted to kiss him and hold him forever. He was just the most amazing, and special boy in the world. She felt her heart melt in her chest.
"Excellent!" Zoltan said in a quiet voice.
The dark eyed man, with the rest of the fighters, had moved down to watch the end of the fight and, along with the female watchers on the other side, the two groups had gathered close to see the finish.
"Amazing!" Nikolai the swordsman said, as he began to clap his hands.
Others took up the applause from both groups. Toph raised her hands above her head, in her Blind Bandit pose to acknowledge the acclaim.
"I've never seen anything like that, son." An older fighter said.
"No one has." Pesha the spearman agreed, clapping his hands. "Dark Skin, you are amazing."
"Are you alright?" One of the women watchers called out to the young man.
"Amazing!" Gia proclaimed.
"Beautiful! Just beautiful!" One of the teenage girls said with tears in her voice.
The young warrior did not register the praise or acknowledge it. He was distracted by the blind girl in front of him, whose arms were raised over her head in victory. She was so beautiful, so proud, so talented, so smart, so amazing, so curvy, and her pants clung to her so perfectly, and her blouse really showed off her… Oh Tui not now! The fifteen year old cursed. Cold, freezing, starving. He told himself as he strained all his muscles against his restraints, using his thigh muscles to try and raise himself. That helped but it didn't kill the problem completely. Luckily the tightly cinched loin cloth kept the problem from being too obvious, unless you were consciously looking for it.
"Is there a problem?" Kizzy asked her taller companion.
The archer had noticed that the slim woman beside her was no longer applauding, but was staring intently at the water tribe warrior on his knees a few paces away.
"No problem that I can see." Gia replied dreamily, then coming to herself she began to applaud again, and then added a short trill of encouragement.
The other women fighters joined her in her trill, the male fighters cheered and shouted their approval of the young man. The teenage girls on the opposite side added their trills to those of the fighters.
Toph realized that no one was looking at her. All their praise and applause was directed towards her friend. My friend who had just lost, in case you hadn't noticed! She thought with ill grace. Meathead was good, but she had still won, and she had used some pretty sweet moves on him too. The young girl lowered her arms and placed her fists on her hips as a scowl crawled onto her face.
"He would have won if she hadn't cheated at the end." One of the young women told her companion.
"You know benders." The girl standing next to the first replied.
That was it. The blind girl had heard the quiet conversation between the two onlookers. She dropped her hands by her sides and strode the few steps between herself and the teenage warrior, who was still straining mightily against his restraints. The small crowd grew silent to hear the finale of the fight.
"Loser!" The small bender said crossing her arms across her chest.
"Obviously!" The fifteen year old replied, with a large smile on his face. "You're the greatest bender who has ever, or will ever live. I didn't stand a chance and never will."
There was a small smattering of applause and a few sighs from the young women at the gallantry of the young warrior. This did not improve the young bender's mood in the slightest.
The blind girl planted her right foot in front of the tribesman. This, of course necessitated her leg, clad in the thin, shear silk of her loose pants to come out from under the surcoat she was wearing and reveal itself to the young man, who for some reason increased his attempt to break free from his restraints just then.
With a gesture the bender raised her foot slightly on a small, short earth pillar. Then with a flick of her wrists the ground holding the blue eyed fighter's hands shattered and he almost literally popped off of the ground with nothing to resist his straining muscles.
"Kiss it!" The twelve year old girl told the boy.
"If that's all you wanted, you just needed to ask." The dark skinned teen proclaimed. "You could have saved us both a lot of time and trouble."
"Less talk, more kissing!" The girl ordered.
"My pleasure." The young man replied.
Why is she still pissed at me, she won? Sokka asked himself as he reached out for the young girl's limb. Without the bells and bangles to hold it closed the bottom of the bender's pants had dragged in the dirt, so she had rolled both up to the top of her calves in order to keep them out of the way. The fifteen year old gently placed his right hand on the young girl's heel while placing his left on the top of her foot.
Toph's foot was filthy. Well her feet were always filthy. The young man brushed the loose bits off, with his dirty hand, he then lowered his head.
There is an interesting but little known theory about chi paths that is only discussed by philosophers and the high monks of the air nomads. The theory states that once a path is open it is open, energy and sensation pass unobstructed in both directions. The same is true of chakras. Once it is open energy moves freely through it, especially if it has been recently blocked for some reason. It over compensates by opening especially wide for some time after the blockage is removed.
A corollary to the open path theory states that paths and chakras that have been recently used retain a residual energy that amplifies anything moving through them. The more powerful the chi sent down the path or chakra at the time of use results in more residual energy and a greater amplification.
The young bender had never heard of the theory or its corollary, but she was about to find out that they both understated the actuality of the situation.
The twelve year old felt the young man's hand tenderly brush the top of her foot. She could feel the flying saber tooth moose lions begin to assemble in her stomach for a re-match. Her heart began jumping for joy.
As the young man lowered his head, Toph could feel each strand of the boy's loose hair as it trailed across her skin. That was when the giant badger moles began the trapeze act over the kick ball game. She felt his warm moist lips make contact as he began the kiss. It was gentle, yet strong, there was no tentativeness about it. It was loving and passionate while still being chaste and caring. It was the kiss of someone that truly loved her. That's when the flying fire breathing lion turtles joined the circus.
Sokka heard the earth pillar under the girl's foot crack, then he felt it shatter, the debris knocking him back as the young girl snatched her foot out of his grasp.
The small girl stood stunned and silent, her face, neck, and ears bright red, her chest heaving as the waves of fire passed through her. It was nowhere near as strong as it had been last night, but between the memory and the reality, it was impossible for the twelve year old to distinguish the two.
"Toph?" The fifteen year old asked, surprise and concern evident in his voice.
The young girl felt tears sting her eyes. He did that with another girl! She thought. He kissed that stupid skinny assed Gia like that? Her foot still tingled. Hell, her whole leg was tingling. And Stupid had shared that with someone else. "He had her half naked and nearly passing out"
"Are you ok?" The boy asked starting to rise from his knees.
"I'm fine!" The girl told him, holding back her tears. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"I'm sorry…" The tribesman began.
"Shut up!" The blind bender yelled. "You stupid… stupid… foot kisser you!"
Toph stomped her foot on the ground and before Sokka could even make a sound he was swallowed completely by the earth under him.
The bender suddenly became aware of everyone in the small crowd staring at her. She turned and fled, hot tears running down her cheeks.
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:
I tried to load this up on Wednesday but there were problems with FF and I kept getting an error message everytime I tried to edit the story so it's not my fault it is so late, well not all my fault.
I have to give a big Thank You to CrazyExtreme who told me how to bypass the problem and get the chapter up. You should check out his story "The Seeds We Sow". He is an excellent writer with an interesting Sokka story in an AU distopian Avatar world.
A little late and a short chapter but I did not want to delute the fight between Toph and Sokka with a long chapter.
I hope the fight between Toph and Sokka lived up to people's expectations, though I don't see how any writer could really do justice to those two fighting.
I know I said I would have them on the road at the end of this chapter, but I don't want to short change their time in the camp, and the shopping and festivities will be important to the later chapters and to their relationship, so there will be one more chapter in camp before they get on the road again.
Thanks to everyone for sticking with this story.
And a special thank you to everyone who has taken the time and trouble to review. I really appreciate all the encouragement and advice, you people are great! I have only been doing this for about two years now and from my small number of stories you can see that I am still a novice. All of your help and encouragement is what has kept me going and hopefully improving.
I always try to answer all reviews. If I missed anyone please accept my apologies.
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To Anonymous Werewolf; Thank you, I'm glad you are still following and enjoying the story.
To siml; Wow! Thank you so much. That is very kind and generous of you. I only hope that I won't disappoint you with the later chapters.
To Mental Traveler; Thanks, yeah you have to keep your ears open waiting for the potty. You reviewers are more than a small part to the story. You guys are great and keep me going.
To Sange; Sorry, not a whole lot of internal dialogue in this one but Sokka will have a stern talking to himself soon. :-)
To Kagey; Thanks for both of your reviews. To know that people are enjoying the story is the best payment of all. About the Fanart, I would be deeply honored if you chose to do something based off of my story. I would run around screaming and show it to all my friends. (And I'm not kidding!)
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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.
Thank you to all for reading
All comments and/or criticisms are more than welcome.