I'll Walk You Home

Chapter 1

Part 2

The Party's Over

Katara peeked out between her fingers and saw Toph standing beside Sokka who was sitting bare chested in a chair by the table. They were both giving her very odd, curious looks, as if to ask what's with you?.

She could see that Sokka was a mess. His Kyoshi makeup had always seemed a little strange to Katara and now that it was all smeared and bloody it was even more bizarre, and his poor nose was at a very strange angle.

Katara gave a sigh of relief, behind her she heard Ty Lee sigh as well, though it sounded more like a sigh of disappointment than of relief.

"Ty Lee could you please bring me a bowl of clean water?" Katara asked as she moved towards her brother. Sokka was going to need some healing. Ty Lee did a series of cartwheels out of the room and into the kitchen.

As Katara approached him, Sokka moved his left arm from around Toph's waist and began to scratch her back. He had finally realized, after all these months, that Toph could not see the visual cues he used so much. Sokka's usual thank you was to give a wide grin, or a goofy smile, with perhaps a thumbs-up added in. The blind girl obviously could not pick up on this, and recently Sokka had determined to try to express himself in a more tactile fashion with her.

He had tried various things, like patting her on the shoulder, or stroking her arm, (he had avoided playful punches because he knew that would result in immediate and painful retribution). These just seemed to irritate the earthbender. When he first scratched her back she had made a sound which Sokka interpreted as mild disinterest. For the Water Tribe boy this was a great victory, everything he did seemed to irritate the touchy blind girl, so if she didn't mind something he did, he chalked it up as a big plus.

Sokka liked being liked. He was not a master bender, or a skilled warrior, he felt he did not have much to offer, unlike everyone else he knew now, so to him the only thing he had was that he was likable, and it was obvious to him that Toph did not like him. She was constantly criticizing him, hitting him, and calling him names. This hurt him quite a bit, not that he would ever admit it to anyone, but he liked Toph and wanted her to like him back, but it was very obvious that she actively disliked him, and the dislike had been growing recently. So the fact that she didn't mind him scratching her back was a great victory, and he continued to use it as a way of saying thank you.

Toph felt Sokka's arm move from around her waist. Finally, she told herself, now she could relax, the blush would go away and she could be herself again. Then she felt his hand move up to her shoulder blade. Oh no! Meathead is going to scratch my back. He had started doing this recently and it drove her mad. It sent a warm shiver up her spine and caused goose flesh to rise on her arms and neck, her heart would leap into her throat, she would be unable to breath, and she would have to repress a moan of pleasure every time he did it.

Sokka began to scratch, and Toph began to melt. It was the most wonderful feeling. He did it just right, not too hard, but not too soft. His nails were just the right length for a good scratch. It was the most luxurious feeling in the world, especially since it was Sokka doing it. When he did it, all she wanted to do was curl up next to him and purr.

BLIND BANDITS DO NOT PURR! she shouted to herself. Toph was able to strangle the sigh/moan/purr of pleasure her body was trying to release and all that came out was a sort of non committal

"Errrrahhh…"

Stupid body, stupid "Stupid", but most of all stupid crush Toph told herself, but it felt so good that she could not bring herself to bat his hand away as she would have liked. Too soon it ended with a nasal,

"Thanths a lot Toph" from Sokka.

Katara, during this, had walked up and looked at her brother's ruined nose.

"Sokka this is what, the third time you've had a training accident? You really need to be more careful, I'm not sure how many times I am going to be able to fix this."

"You're a great healer, Shish, thish wonth be any probemm for you." Sokka replied with confidence.

"I only had three classes in healing, Sokka" she replied as she tentatively reached for his nose. She added,

"After you finish raising the fleet you should take some time to travel to the North to have a real healer look at your leg and now your nose. Also what's this about a bad shoulder?"

"My shoulther is finm. I justh hurth ith a while ago and iths' a little weak is all, ith'll be fime." He was then cut off as Katara tried to rearrange his nose so that his face would resemble its' original configuration.

Toph heard a wet grinding sound which caused her skin to crawl, and she unconsciously let out a disturbed…

"ehwuuuu that sounds awful!"

"You shoulth hear ith fromm my sithd." The boy told her.

"Quiet! This is hard enough without you making jokes" Katara told the two of them, then she added, "Ty Lee do you have that water I asked for?"

"Right here!"

Katara turned to the sound of the acrobat's voice and saw a bowl of water at eye level held up by a pair of slippered feet. Ty Lee had apparently walked over from the kitchen on her hands. The healer bent a portion of the water out of the bowl and onto her hands where it began to glow. She then applied it to the boy's broken nose.

Ty Lee used her feet to toss the bowl up into the air, then flipped from standing on her hands to standing on her feet, caught the bowl as it fell, then caught the left over water in the bowl. After all that she looked over Katara's shoulder to see how the healing was going.

Toph wasn't sure what had just happened since so much of it had happened in the air and out of range of her earthbending senses. She just knew that it was getting crowded around Sokka so she backed up, then finally decided to leave the room entirely and go out to the small garden in the back of the house. Now that "Sugar Queen" was inside, "Twinkle Toes" would not be far behind and she would have the garden all to herself. She wanted some alone time to do some thinking.

Katara moved her hands over Sokka's nose and after less than a minute the glowing stopped and the boy felt the water run down his face. He reached up and felt his nose which was still tender but at least felt secure on his face now. He pulled the two wads of paper he had used to stop the bleeding out of his nostrils and took an experimental breath in and out. It all seemed to be working again. He gave his sister a big grin and a thumbs up, with a

"Thanks sis!" At the end for good measure.

"As cute as ever, maybe even better" Ty Lee enthused from over the healer's shoulder, "Except for the dirt and makeup, and the blood." She finished rather lamely.

"Well, you better get cleaned up, you have to help me make supper." She told her newly repaired sibling.

"Ahhh, Katara do I have to? I'm injured and besides I'm a terrible cook." Sokka whined.

"If you want meat then you are going to have to prepare and cook it."

Sokka stood up from the chair but kept his knees bent and rounded his arms taking his cave man stance and dropping his voice into a low register said

"Sokka like meat, meat good!" He then stood up to his full height and pulled Katara into a warm hug telling her "Thanks a lot sis".

As the warrior released the healer Ty Lee held up her arms to him and began hopping up and down saying

"What about me, I brought the water"

Sokka took the acrobats hand and, bowing politely to her, raised her hand to his forehead and said

"Thank you, Ty Lee"

"You're welcome" she answered while returning the bow, but then she added "but I'd rather have a hug".

"I'm not much of a hugger" Sokka explained.

The young man blushed from the attention of the pretty young woman, and to cover his embarrassment began to bustle with the weapons and equipment that was on the table. He looked up trying to find Toph so he could give her another back scratch thank you but she was nowhere to be seen. Didn't even wait to see if I was ok he told himself sadly.

"I should get cleaned up" he mumbled.

"Oh let me help the wounded warrior!" Ty Lee gushed.

The pink-clad-wonder spun and did a back flip with a 180 degree hop/turn at the end then went into a handstand walkover and arrived at the equipment duffle that she had earlier left by the door.

Katara rolled her eyes at the antics of the new member of the group. Where does she get the energy? the waterbender asked herself.

Sokka had bundled his gear up into his keikogi and pulled it up into his arms. As he turned for the hall to the bedrooms Ty Lee pulled the strap of the equipment bag up onto her shoulder. The bag's weight caused her to list to the side and she refrained from any gymnastics as she walked over to Sokka and put her hand on his bare muscular back.

Katara gave the scantily clad one a sharp look, and Ty Lee removed her hand as the two Kyoshi Warriors trudge down the hall to the boys' bedroom door. The blue eyes of the healer followed them, as her brother opened the door and walked in, those same eyes opened wider as the acrobat followed him into the room.

The waterbender waited a few moments before she called out,

"Ty Lee you can help with supper too."

It was another moment before "pinkletoes" appeared in the door way with a

"See ya, Cutie."

Then she bounded down the hall past Katara and on into the kitchen.

Sokka stepped out of the doorway next, still dressed in his hakama, with a large towel over his shoulder. He looked to his sister, shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. She shrugged back and turned for the kitchen, but before she could get there she saw her new boyfriend come out of the back hall way.

"Is Sokka alright?" Aang asked her.

"So far, it's everyone else I'm worried about," she told him as she took his hand and led him into the kitchen.

Sokka turned and limped down the hall to the wash room at the far end. Ty just loves to embarrass me he told himself it must be the high point of her day to make me look like a complete fool in front of everybody. Toph can't be bothered to even see if I'm ok. Suki keeps beating the crap out of me ever since… he didn't finish that thought. It was not a place he wanted to go right now. Dejectedly he opened the door to the wash room to get himself cleaned up.

Toph sat on a cushion on a stone bench in the garden, her feet were on the ground and the vibrations of the massive city came up through them and into her head causing a dull throbbing ache. At least it's better than hearing "Sugar Queen" grinding Sokka's broken bones together. The sound of that had almost made her sick.

By Oma I hate this place! This city was too large, too full of noise, too full of rules. She had no confidence in the ruling council, even with Aang watching them they would end up running the city just the same way it had always been run, and even if King Kuei returned she knew it wouldn't get any better. The Earth King was a complete fool and simpleton.

It was so much better back during the war when it had been just the four of them. Not that the war was good but the four of them had been perfect together and they had been free. Katara and Aang, Sokka and me she told herself. That had been the best time of her life.

Sokka had been so understanding and loyal to her. She could open herself up to him and he opened himself to her. He had never treated her the way her parents had but he still had always been there for her, whenever she had needed him.

Toph pulled the space-earth armband off of her left arm and held it in her hands, feeling its smooth strange metal. It was truly unique, there was nothing like it in the whole world and he had given it to her.

Toph had thought for a time that all boys were like Sokka, well Aang was different but he was the Avatar, of course he would be different from everyone else.

After the Day of Black Sun there had been the other boys, but they had not really been part of the group. They were always off playing around the temple, and they had been nothing like Sokka.

Then Zuko had joined the group. She thought he would be just like the only real boy she had ever known. She soon found out that Sokka was as unique as the metal of her armband.

Her "Life Changing Field Trip With Zuko" had been a complete disaster, he couldn't care less about her. She had opened herself up to him and he had ignored her. If it wasn't about Zuko, Zuko wasn't interested.

The field trip that had actually changed her life had been Sokka's trip with Zuko. That was the trip that ended all her hopes and plans, and dreams. It was the trip that had brought Suki back, and the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors had taken Sokka from her, and now "Fangirl" was taking him away to her own private little island. Taking him away forever, and all Toph would have would be the armband.

Toph felt her eyes begin to burn and her throat start to close up. She felt the tears start to run down her face. She put her armband back on and rubbed the tears away.

She decided then and there that she was leaving. She wasn't going to wait around to be hurt even more. The war was over, the Gaang was over, it was time for her to go home.

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.

Updated Note: Once again this has been cleaned up thanks to all the work of Vox Populi who was generous enough to proof read the chapter for me. Any errors still there are mine and mine alone.

I put notes at the end, This is all part of the set up for the actual story which will begin in around chapter 3 which should be chapter 4 by Fan Fiction.

Thank you for all the reviews and favorites. I hope you will stick with the story and that you will enjoy it.

Thanks for reading.