A/n: This fic has more humorous Tokka, so if you're sick of the fluffyness, this will hopefully work for you. Less sugar fluff, more laughs.

"What is the horrible smell?"

Katara covered her nose with both of her hands in an attempt to block the odor from it, but to no avail. Aang and Sokka quickly followed Katara's motion, leaving only one culprit.

"Toph, what have you been doing?"

Toph gave a careless shrug, "Meh, playing in the dirt, earthbending, the usual."

Sokka, with his nose pinched with both hands, pointed out, "Uhg, it smells like skunkweed. Did you roll in a patch of the stuff?"

The earthbender thought a moment, "I might have encountered some."

Katara through in her piece, "And on top of that, you haven't had a bath in who knows how long. You're filthy."

Toph scowled at this, "I've told you before, I like being covered in earth."

"Well that's no excuse. There's a river not to far from here. Go and wash up."

"You can't make me," Toph snapped back, "Besides, I can't see in the water. Do you want me to drown?!"

Katara already had that figured out, "No, I don't. Sokka can go with you and make sure you don't go under."

Sokka's eyes snapped open at this, "What?!"

Katara gave him the 'you-know-why' glare that told him he had no choice.

"Alright," he grabbed Toph's hand, reluctant at being forced into anything, "C'mon, Toph, let's get you clean."

When the pair got to the glittering, shallow river, Sokka sat down. Toph removed her clothes with much complaint, still leaving on her under-wrappings: a gold-colored chest wrap and a pair of brown shorts. She cautiously waded into the glassy water, her bare feet walking on the river bottom. A lot of small river pebbles an shifty sand met her sight-providing feet, making her surroundings distort and become fuzzy. Her hand found a large boulder to steady herself on as she continued into the flowing waters.

Sokka watched her progress from the riverbank, holding her clothes for when she was done. He noticed with her headband off and her bun undone that her hair was quite long. He forgot that sometimes.

Looking back again towards the river, Toph was now squatting in the river so her whole body would get wet. Then she quickly dunked her head a few times, still untrusting of the water.

Sokka then had one of his ideas. He tooka off his tunic, pants, and armbands, leaving on only a pair of purple shorts. He also undid his pony tail. Grinning widely, he laid belly-down on the riverbank, then entered the river without a ripple. Sokka swam towards Toph, not touching the river bottom.

When she felt something grab each of her legs, Toph gave a shriek in terror, not being able to see what it was. Sokka emerged from the depths with Toph on his shoulders, clutching his head for dear life.

Sokka then shoved off, swimming strongly and laughing, as Toph continued to scream.

When he had had his fill of fun, he stopped. Panting, he looked up at Toph. She was still holding on tightly, still scared when her feet weren't touching the ground. Sokka could feel her accelerated heartbeat and equally speedy breathing.

"Toph, are you okay?"

The look on Toph's face changed from one of fear, to one of anger.

"Sokka, you jerk!"

With a mischievous smile and a forward shove, she toppled Sokka forward, dunking him into the river. When they both come to the surface, Toph pointed a finger at him, "That's for scaring, and nearly drowning me."

"Oh yeah?" Sokka smirked, "Well this is for rolling in skunkweed," he slapped the water hard, causing it to spray Toph. She laughed, spitting water from he mouth. "Yeah, well take this!"

She returned his attack with her own attempt at a splash in his direction. They were both laughing now, and the two fought a furious water battle, both having great fun with it.

They continued at it until they were both equally soaked, and exhausted. The duo waded out of the water to lay down in the sun and dry.

Sokka laid down belly up, Toph did the same, across Sokka's middle. He could feel her long, wet hair on his bare abdomen. Sokka put his hands behind his head and sighed happily.

"Well that was fun, maybe you should roll in skunkweed more often."

Toph laughed at this, "Yeah, maybe next time you can teach me how to swim so I actually have a chance, cheater."

They both laughed again and then fell silent, enjoying each other's company as they let the warmth fill and relax them.

A/n: This was inspired by a chapter in the book "Poppy's Return" by Avi called A Question of Bathing (it's where I got the title). So please tell me if you liked it, I tried to cut back on the gooey and focus more on the funny aspect of their relationship. So review, review, review!