I'll Follow You Home – A Zutara Story.
Meeoko
Summary : Sequel to 'Eventualities Are Inevitable'. After being captured by a group of Fire Nation radicals and uncovering a secret plot to destroy the Avatar Cycle, Zuko and Katara must work together to find a way to stop the Sila Vatra before Sozin's Comet arrives.
Spoilers : Puppet Master, Day Of Black Sun part 1 and 2, Western Air Temple, Fire Bending Masters and Boiling Rock part 1 and 2.
Author's Note : Haha, sorry guys. I know how much you hate me and my cliffhangers. I've had a few threats from shnioob abot it actually. :P
Thanks for all of the positive feedback on both my last chapters, 'The Tale of Takutta and Nori' and 'Zuko's Nightmare'. I'm glad that they were received so well and happy to see all the good feedback about the tale of the Black Ice Blade.
Okay, so the last chapter ruled out Zuko as Toph's crush. Wondering who it is? Read on and see if you're right.
No matter how hard she tried, Katara couldn't stop shaking her head in disbelief. This was all just so happening so fast. Everything was changing and it seemed as if all balance in the world had turned upside down.
I can't believe I got it so wrong.
When she looked back over the last few months, it was all very difficult to imagine how she would have reacted just under a year ago, when she had first met Aang. There was no way she would have believed what was happening! If Aunt Wu had told her a fortune that summed up her very situation, she still would not have believed it.
Travelling all over the world on a flying bison, being chased by an angry Fire Nation prince and his tea-loving Uncle..
Learning Water Bending, after attacking the only Water Bending Master in the North Pole.
Watching one of my friends become the new Moon Spirit.
Having a metal man try to blow me up with his brain.
Learning Blood Bending.
Becoming The Painted Lady.
Letting a Fire Bender, our mortal enemy, team up with us to fight his father.
Getting captured with the same Fire Bender. Breaking his nose twice. Having to bend his blood to escape. And then kissing him!
And now...this!
She wouldn't have believed it if she weren't living it at that very moment.
Katara had been absolutely dumbstruck when Toph had discovered her and Zuko kissing. She was even more stunned when Toph explained that she'd known about their relationship since their return to the Air Temple. And when Toph finally told Katara the truth, she had been rendered completely and utterly speechless.
Toph had only given in and told her because of Zuko.
"Look, either you tell her, or I'll do it." he had said to her, threateningly.
The Earth Bender seemed to have been reduced to a more primitive version of herself. She seemed so much smaller and frailer. For a moment, Katara could see exactly what she was without her confidence or her bending. She was just a twelve year old kid who had absolutely no idea what she was doing!
Toph had looked down at the floor and fiddled with anything within reach. Katara was horrified to see that she was actually blushing!
Toph? Blushing? What's going on? What's Zuko talking about?
"How did you guess, Sparky?" Toph asked him timidly.
"Well, lucky for you, I'm better at working things out than Katara."
Thanks Zuko...
Katara had grumbled and crossed her arms. She wasn't that far off all the time. Sure she made mistakes sometimes, but Zuko didn't have to rub it in.
"Will someone please just tell me what's going on?" she had demanded to the other two, who seemed to have momentarily forgotten about her.
Zuko looked at Toph evenly, though Katara didn't know why. It wasn't as if Toph could see him. After a moments silence, Toph finally let out a small sigh and slumped her shoulders.
"Katara, do you know what Aang went through when you both went missing for so long? He was broken. He was so hurt. It was like he'd just given up without you."
I know...and I still feel awful about it.
Katara had raised an eyebrow.
"Is that why you've been so mad at me lately?" she asked.
Toph shuffled her feet.
"Well, yeah. But not just that."
Then what is it? What did I do that was so wrong? And what's Aang got to do with...
Katara's mouth fell open slightly. She darted her head around to look at Zuko, who just rolled his eyes at her. She understood now.
"Toph. Do you...do you like Aang?" she stammered.
When Toph raised her gaze from the floorboards beneath her face, Katara could see that her face was crimson. She was frowning hard, as if she didn't want them to ever see her showing any emotion other than sarcastic glee.
She grumbled a reply. Katara had to strain to hear her.
"Took you long enough, Princess..."
Katara's head span. She had absolutely no idea what to say. So much had happened since their escape from the Sila Vatra. Everything she could remember since their return had whizzed around inside her head. She had tried to think of anything she might have missed. Something that she should have seen earlier. Any indication that Toph had been acting any differently around Aang, when they had returned.
She hadn't been able to think of any.
"But when...how...what happened?" she spluttered.
Zuko sighed and sat down on the bed. He began to eat his meal quite calmly, as if he was waiting for Katara to finally figure something out. Toph had sat down cross-legged right on the floor, where Zuko's make-shift bed of sheets still lay. Katara had noticed that some of them were singed and had burn marks on them. Usually, she would have worried about what Fumio would say, but at that very moment, she found that she didn't care.
"Look." Toph sighed. "Aang was upset. He thought you were dead. All he did for days and days was just sit and meditate. Sometimes he didn't do anything. He wouldn't eat or sleep. He even started talking about giving up and letting Ozai win!"
Katara had instantly felt a pang of guilt rise up inside her stomach. Aang had told her what had happened, but she had no idea of just how serious it was.
He was going to just...give up?
Toph continued, trying to hide her blushing cheeks behind her bangs.
"When he finally came back from the spirit world, he said that he had had to let you go. He looked so guilty and sad. He looked like he was going to do something stupid if I just left him to himself. So, I spent a bit of time with him and talked him through it. He got better and even started training again. But we never stopped talking. And then, when you came back..."
"You were angry at me." Katara whispered back. Now she understood. "You were angry because I had hurt Aang and because...because you wanted him to like you as much as he had liked me."
Toph had nodded solemnly.
"I was so mad at you. I know it's stupid and that he has bigger stuff to worry about, but I wanted him to just see me for once. Like he always saw you."
Katara bowed her head, feeling insanely guilty and upset all at the same time. They sat in silence.
Katara wanted to pound her head against the wall for not seeing it before. She also wanted to Water Whip Zuko into the next century for not telling her about it sooner! Now she had hurt both Aang and Toph. In doing something she hadn't intended to happen, she had turned the whole natural order upsidedown.
"I think you're missing something out, Toph." Zuko said through slurps of his noodles.
Toph seemed to sink into herself. She turned her head away from him and pouted.
"Not now, Sparky." she grumbled.
"If you don't tell her, then I guess I will." he threatened again. "If you don't talk about this, it's just going to keep eating away at you."
Toph had stuck her tongue out and crossed her arms defensively across her chest.
"That's pretty good advice for someone who won't even listen to it himself!"
Now it was Zuko's turn to sulk.
He hunched his shoulders and scowled, going back to his noodles. He angrily mumbled something that Katara didn't quite catch.
But she's right, Zuko. If only you'd just listen to me. You don't have to keep hurting yourself all the time.
Although Zuko had said nothing else on the subject, Toph decided not to risk his threat. If she was going to tell Katara, she'd at least want to tell her herself. Still scowling, she mumbled the words to the burnt sheets beneath her.
"What did you say?" Katara asked, unable to hear exactly what Toph had said.
Toph mumbled mumbled her words again into the sheets. But Katara still couldn't understand what she was saying. She crossed her arms and sighed.
"Toph, I can't hear you."
Reluctantly, Toph cleared her throat and looked up at her, with a face like thunder. She was blushing from ear to ear. She repeated her words unnecessarily loudly.
"I said, I. Kissed. Aang!"
They walked in an awkward silence through the Eastern District. Katara couldn't focus on the route they were taking, the people they were passing or what they were going to do once they arrived at the Sila Vatra's building.
After Toph's outburst, nobody had been able to say a thing. What could they say?
They had eaten their meals in stunned silence and then headed solemnly out of the Three Embers Inn to once again begin their observations.
She kissed him? When? What happened to all of us? How have we changed so much in such a short space of time? And why haven't I noticed until now?
Katara wondered about lots of things. Why it had happened. How it had happened.
Did Aang feel the same way about Toph? Is that why he had seemed so guilty when they had returned to the Air Temple? Did he feel like he had betrayed her?
She felt insanely foolish for not spotting it earlier. How had Zuko known when she didn't? Had he spoken to Toph about it before or had he just guessed?
Either way, Katara did not want to draw any more attention to her mistake. Because she had ignored Toph's bad mood for so long, her anger and jealousy had grown into something much larger and now...
...now nobody is speaking to each other.
They reached their platform on the volcano a little before sundown, much earlier than they had intended to arrive. But it seemed as if nobody wanted to point it out.
It was going to be a long (and probably boring) night, spent in awkward silence.
All in all, it had been an eventful day, right before the sun had even risen in the sky.
Katara had been worrying about Zuko ever since he had woken up screaming. He had seemed a little distant, even before that. After she had told him the story of her great-grandfather and the Black Ice Blade, he had been very quiet.
Katara had managed to drop off to sleep without much difficulty that night, apart from having Toph's smelly feet in her face. Zuko had offered to sleep on the floor and let her and Toph share the only bed.
But she had woken up when she heard somebody talking next to her. Groggily, Katara opened her eyes, expecting someone to be speaking to either her or Toph. But all she saw was Zuko, tossing and turning in his bedsheets. He was grunting and mumbling to himself every so often. He hadn't been talking to them, but to nobody. Katara had stared down at him for a few moments as he continued to mutter and turn frantically in his sleep.
Soon his fitful speech had woken Toph too.
"What's he saying?" Katara had asked.
Toph had just shrugged her shoulders sleepily and yawned.
"Some people talk in their sleep, it's no big deal. I just hope he shuts up soon so I can go back to sleep."
But Zuko had not stopped. It had gotten worse.
His face had contorted into a look of pain and fear, with his eyes still tightly closed. He would unexpectedly thrash around in his bed or kick out at the sheets. Katara could see that he was coated in sweat, but was even more concerned when the sweat began to evaporate into a rising puff of steam. The smell of something burning began to waft over to them.
Now both wide awake, Toph and Katara had stared down at him as he thrashed around under the sheets.
"Wasn't fast enough. Wasn't strong enough." he mumbled to himself. "Don't hurt them anymore. I'll do it. I'll do it instead. I'll bleed the world away!"
Katara had felt her body go rigid with an eerie fear. Toph seemed to be doing much the same.
"What's wrong with him?" she asked Toph. "Should we wake him up?"
But Toph hadn't had time to reply. Zuko began to raise his voice until he was almost screaming.
"I won't let them bleed anymore! I won't let them breath it in!"
Breath what in? Katara had thought, clutching at the sheets nervously.
"I'm not him! I'm not him! Reflections can lie!" Zuko screamed. "I'm not him! I'm not him!"
With a jolt, Zuko had sat up instantly, tearing away the calm of night with the most terrifying scream Katara had ever heard in her entire life. Both she and Toph had jumped, their hearts pounding in their chests. The steam from Zuko's body rose upwards, almost like a fog, clouding the room.
Panicked by his petrified screams, Katara had begun shouting to him, trying to snap him out of it. She didn't know what else she could do!
When Zuko seemed to realise that she was speaking to him, he stopped screaming and fell back onto the bed like a wounded soldier.
Katara could feel Toph stiff and rigid next to her on the bed, much like she was herself. She noticed that Zuko kept looking down at his hands, as if he could see something that they couldn't. They tried to speak to him. To comfort him and ask him what was wrong. But his answers were fleeting, as if he didn't care. He never once looked at them.
Why won't he look at me anymore?
And when she had followed him downstairs to try and calm him, Katara had not expected Zuko to say such disturbing things. After she had burnt her fingers on his boiling skin, Katara had tried her best to comfort him. She told him that he wasn't Ozai, when she heard him muttering to himself. That he never would be. But after she had told him what he had been saying whilst he was dreaming, Katara's veins had run cold at his reply.
"It was like someone was killing you in your own dreams...and you didn't stop it. You didn't want to stop it."
"Until this world see's Ozai gone. Until I see him gone – then I'm not going to be able to stop it."
As soon as he had uttered those awful, terrifying words, Katara had gone back inside, trying to force back the tears in her eyes. It was as if he had given up. Like Ozai was going to have control over him for the rest of his life and there was nothing he would be able to do about it.
She willed him to fight it, but a small part of Katara knew that Zuko would never win until Ozai was gone.
The experience had rattled her. When he returned to their room, an hour later, Zuko had tried to put them at ease by boiling their bath water for them, but Katara found that she couldn't look at him. Couldn't speak to him.
As she sat in the water and washed herself, Katara could no longer hold back the salty tears from spilling over her eyes and down into the bath water.
She had cried for him. For herself. For Aang and what he would have to do to finally give Zuko freedom from his father. She had cried for the world and what it had become.
But mostly, Katara had cried because she knew that Zuko was slowly destroying himself. And slowly, it would destroy her too.
"Toph?"
Katara's voice broke through the eerie silence and startled them all. Katara thought that her own voice had sounded much louder than she intended it to be.
After all of the thinking that she had done, Katara found that she had learnt something from the terrible experience. If Zuko was going to destroy himself, she would try to stop it, even if he wouldn't let her. But she didn't want to be responsible for the slow destruction of her friendship with Toph either. She had to say something. Anything that would fix it.
"Yeah, Katara?" Toph answered quietly, without looking at her.
Zuko looked at her expectantly, but Katara ignored him.
"Toph, I just wanted to...to say that, I'm sorry."
The young Earth Bender looked up from the ground and looked over at her, with dark circles ringing her eyes. Nobody had gotten much sleep the night before...
"What?" she asked.
Swallowing her pride, Katara forced herself to look Toph in the face, though she knew that it wouldn't make much of a difference to her blind friend. This was something she had to do for herself and for Toph.
"I said, I'm sorry." Katara repeated quietly. "I had no idea how much I had hurt you. Or Aang. I know you'll still probably resent me for it years from now, but I just..." she sighed "...I don't want to lose you over this."
Zuko turned away from both of them, faced the volcano wall and crossed his legs to meditate. Katara knew that he couldn't give them much privacy, sitting on top of a volcano, but he was certainly trying. She felt grateful for it and smiled weakly at his back.
Toph cocked her head slightly, a confused look crossing her face.
"Katara. I don't resent you. I know the way I acted wasn't fair. It wasn't your fault that you got captured, I know that. It's just..."
She huffed and stuck her lip out. Toph wasn't really one given to emotional speeches.
"I guess I was just so jealous." she continued "I never really liked Aang before – at least not in that kind of way. But when I saw him so sad and hopeless. It really hurt, ya know?"
Katara nodded sadly.
"We got closer and closer while you were gone. And I really started to like him. I was so mad at you for hurting him. But I guess that I was also mad for a more important reason. I was kind of jealous. I wanted him to think about me like he thought about you. And then when you turned up with Zuko and started smooching..."
Toph made a gagging face. Katara giggled nervously.
"...I guess I thought it was unfair. That Aang was so miserable and you were so happy. After you guys came back, it was like he forgot all about me. Like he was ashamed. It just made me feel so mad. And so lousy all at the same time."
Katara lowered her head and sighed heavily. Her heart felt very heavy.
"I don't know if I could ever make it up to you or Aang, Toph. That's why Zuko and I...we haven't told anybody yet. We thought that we would hurt Aang and that he would do exactly what you just told me. But I guess we only ended up hurting him anyway."
Smiling gently to herself, Katara lowered her voice.
"What you did for Aang was so great, Toph. You brought him back from oblivion. I don't think I could ever have done that."
The Earth Bender perked up. A small smiled graced her lips.
"You really mean that, Katara?"
Looking up at her hopeful young friends, Katara placed her hand on Toph's shoulders and smiled.
"I really do, Toph. You brought him back from somewhere I never could have. If it weren't for you, he might not have made it through. He might have given up completely."
They sat in silence for a minute. Toph bowed her head, but when she raised it again, Katara could see the same, smug smile on her face that she was so used to.
"So I guess I kinda saved the world, huh?" she asked smugly "I brought back the Avatar – the worlds only hope. So in a way, I guess that kinda makes me the hero of all this."
Katara laughed and hugged her friend tenderly. All of the tension and guilt washed away from her body and blew away with the wind.
"You know what, Toph? I guess it does."
After that, Toph and Katara had talked and laughed happily, just as it used to be before they were captured by the Sila Vatra.
And just how it should always be.
"You know, you're not allowed to marry Sparky without my permission!" Toph had stated boldly.
Both Katara and Zuko stiffened up. There it was again, the seriousness. Zuko was still meditating, but even that remark had caught him off guard. Katara chose her words carefully when she replied, giggling nervously.
"Well, I wouldn't count on marriage just yet, Toph. Zuko and I are still...we, uhm...well...we're working things out."
I really hope I didn't just say the wrong thing.
Toph continued to talk happily, oblivious to Zuko or Katara's discomfort. Katara was immensely glad that she had returned to normal, though she didn't know if Toph would ever really forgive her.
"Everyone in the group is pairing up. You and Sparky. Snoozles and Suki. Me and Twinkletoes. I bet that Momo and Appa are feeling left out by now. Maybe we should hook them up." she chewed on a stick of dried meat "Those would be some weird looking babies though."
Katara laughed. She had missed this.
"I can just imagine Aang walking Appa down the aisle." she joked "We'd need to get Appa a pretty big wedding ring. And Momo would probably eat his!"
Toph took a long drink from her canteen of water. Leaning back on her hands and looking upwards at the sky with blind eyes, she looked happier than Katara had seen her since she had ridden Zuko like a hog-monkey.
"So, does he like you back?" Katara asked. She had been meaning to ask the question for some time, but only hoped that it didn't sound too intrusive or make Toph angry.
Instead, Toph just sighed and blew the bangs away from her face.
"I think he does. On the day that we all left the temple, I talked to him about it. I had just wanted to say goodbye, but we ended up talking about everything that had happened when you guys were missing. He said that he wanted me to be careful, because when the war was over, he was going to take me Koi Fish surfing." she looked over in Katara's direction. "That means he liked me, right?"
Katara smiled and a happy laugh escaped her lips.
"Definitely. Trust me, when Aang asks you to go and surf on giant Koi Fish, he's really just asking you out on a date."
"I guess I should learn to swim then." Toph joked.
They sat in silence, happily staring up at the sky There was no moon tonight. Or if there was, it was covered over by dark and menacing clouds. Katara heard Zuko breathe in heavily. Striaghtening his legs, he turned back around to face them. He had been meditating for almost two hours.
How does he do that without his legs falling asleep?
"I don't think that this is the right way." he said suddenly, looking down over the ledge.
"The right way to what?" Toph asked, still not taking her unseeing eyes from the dark clouds in the sky.
"We aren't going to find out enough information this way." he replied seriously, looking down at the Sila Vatra's large black building. "We've only seen one person go in or out so far and nothing else seems to be happening. If we're going to discover their secret weapon, then we're going to need something else."
Katara sighed. She had almost forgotten about their mission entirely.
"What should we do, then?" She asked him.
For a moment, he didn't reply, but continued to stare over the edge blankly. Katara didn't know what he was looking at. Her Gran-o-vision prevented her from seeing almost anything in the dark. But slowly, Katara could feel her sight returning. The bruised Irises were beginning to heal.
"Toph," Zuko asked "last night you said something. You said that inside the building, there was something that you couldn't quite pick up. That the Sila Vatra seemed pretty interested in it."
"What's your point, Sparky?" Toph said dryly.
Katara noticed that Zuko would wince every now and then, whenever he moved his face. He would also keep touching his scar, rubbing at it like it was on fire.
What's wrong with his scar?
"I think we need to get a closer look at whatever they're so interested in."
"How?" Katara asked, feeling useless. She didn't really see any other way into the Sila Vatra building without Earth Bending into the underground tunnels, and that would definitely draw some unwanted attention.
"The tattoo's." he replied. "Every member has a tattoo. That's the key and that's how we're going to get inside."
"Do you really think that this is a good idea, Zuko?" Katara had asked, as they walked back from the Three Embers Inn. "I mean, shouldn't we check it with Sokka and dad first?"
Zuko strode on confidently through the streets, with Toph in tow behind. There was no chance of anyone stopping them. The dark streets were deserted.
"I don't think we have much choice." he replied, rubbing at his scar "The Comet is getting closer and we don't have the time to wait around. Plus, you never wanted to check anything with your brother before. He told me about the time you posed as The Painted Lady to help blow up a factory. You didn't check it with him then. Why start now?"
Katara bit her lip and tried to keep pace with Zuko's long legs.
Because I know what these people are capable of...
"This is so cool!" Toph shouted from behind them, poking at her new fake Sila Vatra tattoo "When, I'm older, I'm definitely getting a real one!"
Katara stuck her tongue out.
"Ugh, Toph! Why would you ever want one of those things?" she chided. "They're rough and ugly and they stay with you forever."
Toph simply smiled and poked at her tattoo some more.
"That's exactly why I want one!"
"Don't keep poking at it, Toph." Zuko groaned, still looking straight ahead "You don't want it to rub off."
They had hurriedly returned to the Three Embers Inn after Zuko had made his suggestion. It had been agreed that they would pose as Sila Vatra members, by giving themselves fake tattoo's to gain entry into the building. Katara had suggested that she use her new reverse healing technique to create the tattoo's by bruising the blood vessels under their skin. She had been eager to continue with her new technique, after she had used Eyeball Bending.
They don't call me a Water Bending Master for no reason, after all.
But she had sulked when Zuko had told her that they would simply be drawing them on, instead.
"You can't make black bruises, Katara. The closest you can get is purple, and we need them to look as authentic as possible."
It's a good thing Sokka didn't draw these on.
Katara knew fully well that her brother had almost no talent for the arts. She remembered his picture of Appa, when they were making 'Lost' posters in Ba Sing Se.
Surprisingly, it was Zuko who had drawn them on. He had a firm, steady hand and seemed to be very good with a paint brush.
Why is he so good at everything? Katara wondered, realising that she had asked herself the very same question right before they had been captured by the Sila Vatra.
The ink tattoo's were a good likeness to the one she had seen on Chan. According to Zuko, each member of the Sila Vatra had their tattoo in a different place and that they could choose where they were drawn. Katara's was on her wrist. Zuko's on his forearm and Toph's on her ankle.
"Why can't I have it on my forehead?" she had moaned to Zuko, who had point-blank refused to draw it onto her head.
"Because that would be completely obvious and stupid! Do you think that a Sila Vatra member would walk through the streets with the mark on his head? Half of the city know and hate them!" he had barked, ignoring Toph's protests. "For the last time, Toph, you're not having it on your head!"
They had also borrowed some black clothing from Fumio at the Inn, who had some spare lying around. It made Katara wonder exactly why he had so much black clothing, but she decided to just trust in Master Piando's judgement instead. There was no way he would let them stay in a house with one of the members of the Sila Vatra as their landlord!
Katara and Toph had quite a job to fit into their new clothing and had to make some adjustments to their disguises, so that they didn't trip over them or have the clothes simply fall off.
Zuko seemed to already own some black clothing.
"Where did you get those?" Katara asked him as he tightened the belt firmly on his new Sila Vatra disguise.
"From my Blue Spirit days." he murmured quietly. He seemed to be feeling a little guilty, though Katara wasn't quite sure why.
"You were on a wanted poster, Sparky?" Toph had asked. "So was I. Except they called me 'The Runaway'!"
Katara had rolled her eyes. Toph always wanted a chance to brag about being a wanted felon.
They were nearing the Sila Vatra's base. A black smudge in the centre of the Eastern District. Katara held onto Zuko's hand to guide her through the streets. Although her vision was slowly getting better, she still found it difficult to find her way in the dark.
Zuko was still rubbing at his scar. He would grit his teeth every time he moved his face.
"What's the matter, Zuko?" Katara whispered in the darkness.
Katara noticed that Zuko still wouldn't look at her.
"It's just my scar." he murmured "I think a storm is coming. My scar usually hurts a lot before bad weather."
Katara looked down at the pavement as they walked through the city streets. She hadn't thought of his Zuko's scar would affect him other than his appearance. The dead tissue inside was probably sensitive to changes in the weather. And she had noticed that there were dark, angry clouds in the sky.
"Toph, put your hood up." Katara reminded her.
Groaning, Toph pulled the black hood up and over her face. They had decided to have Toph wear a hood, to cover her eyes. They wouldn't be able to explain themselves if the Sila Vatra realised that she was blind. Zuko was also wearing a hood. It was pulled as far over his face as it would go, without limiting his vision too much. The Sila Vatra had captured them both, after all and it was likely that almost every member knew what Zuko looked like.
Our cover stories might be enough to fool that guard at the gate, but not them.
The tall building loomed above them. Katara swallowed a knot in her throat.
"Okay. Just let me do the talking and don't make anyone angry. We get any trouble, we'll try to stop them from sounding the alarm and then get out as soon as possible." Zuko ordered.
Katara could see what he must have been like when he was travelling with the sailors under his command.
"Let's go."
Taking in a deep breath, Katara let Zuko lead her over to the large iron door of the base building. He banged loudly on the metal, making her jump. The silence was eerie and her heart was pumping a mile a minute as she saw the panel in the door slide open. A pair of golden eyes looked out at them.
It's now or never. She thought.
Author's Note : Into the belly of the beast, as they say.
Well, now you know – Toph has a thing for Aang. Congratulations to everybody who guessed right. And congrats to anyone who figured out why she was so angry with Katara.
Haha, I think it's kind of ironic about what Katara said about tattoo's. I have two of them and one was based on this story. XD
You just know that Toph is the kind of girl who likes tattoo's and 'rough' things. Especially after watching her Ember Island Players character (I won't say anything more, just in case some of you may not have seen it yet).
Poor Katara. Worried about Zuko all the time. He's just too stubborn to let her help him for once. Pfft, men.