Disclaimer: Though Mike and Bryan may speak to me in my dreams (I had ANOTHER dream about meeting them)that does not mean I own Avatar.

A/N: Remeber that drabble a few chapters back with some nice Suki, Sokka, and Toph closure...? Yeah, well it's back to hating each other in this one. There's some uh... not nice things that Toph thinks/says about Suki in this one... but there's also some mean!Suki and apologizing!Toph. Quite a switch that ( I hope) is in character. Oh, this is like part two to the last drabble, its more of a mini series or arc as there are a few more chapters involving talks with Mai, Ty Lee, Aang, Sokka, and Zuko.

36. Sarcasm

Well, after that "oh so successful" talk Katara and I had yesterday, I totally expected Katara to come find me and we'd apologize and talk seriously, or at least as seriously as we could with her making ridiculous suggestions, and then we'd come to some conclusion and we'd bond and hug and reach that so coveted level of "soul-sisters", but apparently Katara is pissed at me. So she sent Suki to finish the job of talking me out of liking Sokka, woot woot. At least with Katara I would have had a chance of making her understand my stand. Because, I didn't want to steal Sokka away from Suki, or anything, I just… wanted people to take me seriously I guess. To not try to make me change my mind when my liking Sokka wasn't hurting anyone, except for me possibly, but oh well.

Unlike Katara, I don't love Suki. I don't even like her. She is, in my mind, the most useless and stupid addition to the "gang". And the fact that she stole my bestfriend and potential love interest away from me didn't help her any. Especially since Sokka has been more moronic and pansy-assed since he started dating her. But, by some miracle, and after much begging, Zuko was able to drag Sokka into actually going fishing. As in actually baiting a rod and throwing it in and waiting for a fish to bight and then reel it in, instead of running of to some prison in the middle of a boiling lake to rescue an imprisoned dad, and then by chance find some girl you haven't thought about in weeks, but kissed about five months ago. As in actually bring back meat and not said imprisoned dad and girl. And Katara and Aang were out "waterbending" which really meant they were making out in their underwear. So I was left alone, yet again, at the camp.

"So… I'm guessing we're going to talk about Sokka now, right?" I ask Suki.

Apparently, Suki doesn't like subtly because she sits there like a lump on a log until she finally answers. "Well, yeah. That's what I wanted to talk about."

"You mean, that's what Katara sent you to do, because we both know neither of us want to talk to each other." I answer and absent-mindedly flick a rock towards the nearest tree.

"Well, maybe, I don't know anyway. You… like Sokka." She askes, only it was much more of a statement then a question.

Deciding to milk it for awhile, I keep quiet until finally, when it seems Suki is nearly dying of anticipation, I give her my, short, one worded, monosyllable answer. "Yup."

"Well… you know he's my boyfriend."

"I'm not blind." Ok, I might be literally blind, but that doesn't mean I couldn't "see" any better or worse than the nitwits I hang around with.

"So you can't date him… because I'm dating him. He's my boyfriend! Mine!" I don't think she means to shout the last part, for she seems pretty embarrassed as she waited for my answer.

"Yeah, I know. I'm not planning on stealing him."

"Well, that's, uh… good to know." And then (Thank spirits!)she turns to leave and I wonder how I got so lucky, when she turns around.

"Why?"

So, that caught me off guard. "Why what?"

"Oh don't give me some smart ass retort Toph. I want to know why you still like him, even when you know he's dating me." Oh wow, Suki's actually showing some backbone. Frankly, I don't like much more than her other, oh-so-sweet personage.

"Well, you like him so you can see the appeal in Sokka."

"But why won't you just… give up? Do you like making me miserable?"

"Because I can't! He was my bestfriend first and I just want things to go back to normal!" For someone so awesome, I'm awfully emotional. Suki can't tell, but I'm coming close to tears.

"Normal? We're teenagers and we just fought in a war? What's normal about that?" Suki askes.

"Because!" Wait, I'm Toph Bei Fong, toughest and best Earthbender in the Earth Kingdom, no, in the world and I'm losing my head to some bimbo? No way. So I do some of those breathing exercises I overheard a few nannies talking about (because as if I'd ever let some old geezer teach me how to act) before starting again. "Things were different before you got here. Sokka wasn't some whipped guy who hung onto his girlfriend's every word and never left her side."

"Is that how you see it?"

"You don't see Sokka hanging out with any besides do you? He's only on that fishing trip with Zuko, because Katara still scares the shit out of Zuko and made him pull Sokka away from you. And when's the last time you saw me talking to Sokka? Or Katara for that matter. I mean, I'm just the backup for when you aren't around, but Katara is his sister and he should at least talk to her more than a daily 'hi', 'bye', and 'if Aang goes too far just say the word and I'll beat his Airbending ass'."

Suki is quiet for awhile, but I can tell her heartbeat is completely normal—until she starts freaking sobbing on me. Oh shit, I don't know what to do about this. She is trying to be quiet about it, discreet so I won't notice, but I notice everything.

"Suki… it's uh…" Spirits, this is hard to say but I force it out anyway because I vowed to myself once that just because I didn't like her didn't entitle me to be rude—well, ruder than I was to my friends—to her. "Not your… " And there it is. The big word that I don't want to say, but not saying it would be weak because you are always supposed to take responsibility. I take another deep breath and mutter the word as fast as I can. "Fault. It's the situation's. And somewhat Sokka's too…" And then there is silence again, but I sure as hell am not going to offer anymore comforting words. My quota for the week is filled by the words I have just said.

"I have to now." She says finally, even though I know there is no where for her to go as everyone is gone, but she walks off anyway. I'm left, once again, to myself, but this time is not nearly as funny as last time. I mean, it's kinda funny the way Suki went all possessive over him, and I laugh a little at her expense but it's not quite the same at laughing at Katara's.

"Suki!" I say without thinking and suddenly realize that dammit, I'm going to be nice again. I try to stop the next words but I am too slow because they're already rushing out of my mouth, afraid that they'll be stuck in my head forever if I only had my way. "I'm sorry."

I really don't know what to expect, except maybe Katara to pop up from somewhere with glee and admit this was the whole point of our talk, but she doesn't. Suki talks, though, but it's quiet and I'm not even sure the words are meant for me. "I'm sorry too."