Heehee, I know you all hated my cliffhanger! But I tend to write like that, so you may have to get used to it . . . I know, I'm evil :D!
~~~~~~~x~~~~~~~x~~~~~~~x~~~~~~~x~~~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~
Zuko
"You're- WHAT?" I yelled, I was dumbfounded, there was no way that Suki would willingly marry anyone other than Sokka, no way.
Suki cringed when I yelled, falling back, almost letting one of her other girls step in front of her before speaking, "It's not like I wanted to! It was Oyaji, he said my days as a warrior were coming to an end, and that he had found a suitable husband for me. . ."
I was shell shocked, but Toph, in her usual way, seemed to roll with the punches, "Then we'll just steal you."
I looked over at Toph, as if she could sense the stares directed her way, "What? You and Snoozles had a thing, yeah?" Suki nodded vigorously before realizing Toph couldn't see her, "Yeah," she muttered, "We did."
"Then it's settled. You're going to the South Pole with us." Toph said it as if it was merely that simple.
"I can't just leave, Toph, I have a duty to my girls, to my home, to Kyoshi. I loved Sokka, but it's been three years since I've seen him."
Toph turned to me, "Sparky, haven't you been writing Snoozles for a while?"
"Yeah but I don't see what that has to do with anything." I said, confused.
"What do you and Snoozles talk about all the time?" she inquired further, she was hinting at something, but I wasn't picking it up.
"Anything really, but he usually just talks about how much he misses Suk- oh." I turned to Suki, "You're all he talks about, how much he misses you, what you look like, how beautiful you are." I left out the part where Sokka had detailed how good she was in bed, I figured she didn't need to know that we had discussed that, "How much he loves you."
Suki teared up, "There's not much that can be done, but I'll see what we can do-"
"Suki!" yelled a man nearby, he was tall and skinny, not much in the way of muscle mass, but he sounded angry, and his face was contorted by it, "Shit." muttered Suki.
She turned back to face us again, and the man came up behind her, "Who are these people?" he demanded, "Why are they here?" The two girls who had followed Suki to greet us slunk away quickly back toward the village.
"Shinakio," Suki nodded politely, "These are my friends, Toph Bei Fong and Fire Lord Zuko." She gestured to us both in turn. Shinakio sneered down at us, not even bothering to bow back, as was custom.
He turned to Suki, "Who ever they are can wait, I'm hungry." He then promptly spun on his heel and walked back to the village, winking at every girl he passed.
Suki groaned, "His name may mean faithful and bright, but he's anything but." She turned to Toph, "When are we leaving?"
~~~~~~~x~~~~~~~x~~~~~~~x~~~~~~~x~~~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~
Later that night, Suki met us outside her hut. Her makeup had been removed, and her now longer hair was brushed and down. She seemed a little flustered, we kind of knew why.
"I may have to live with that man for then next month before our wedding, but I will not sleep with him." she sounded disgusted and a shudder passed through her frame.
Toph laughed, "It's just because you and Snoozles got a little friendly and you don't want him to know,"
Suki paled, "No! I just really don't want to sleep with him!" Toph continued to laugh at her.
Suki scoffed and turned to me, "So where we doing this?"
I pulled my hood farther up, to conceal my face, "The woods, we have a basket for dinner."
We walked through town quickly, avoiding all people, merely blending with the shadows. When we reached the woods, the nearly full moon had reached much higher in the star filled sky.
We sat just inside the woods, with enough foliage to muffle our voices and hide our shadows. I opened the sack I was carrying and pulled out three metal containers. I held them in my hands and willed them to heat up. When they were steaming, I passed them about.
We sat in silence, eating our food before plotting Suki's escape.
When we all finally put down our chopsticks, Toph spoke, "It's really simple. Just leave in the middle of the night like we did with me."
"We can't do that this time though, Toph. You have no intention of returning home, and I'm sure that Suki would want to come back to Kyoshi at one point," Suki nodded sharply, "Then all we have to do is get him to unpropose."
She shook her head now, "I can only refuse the marriage, but that may backfire."
Toph snorted, "You're a freaking warrior? How can it backfire?"
"You'd think it couldn't, but, it can." She looked over to me, begging me to understand with her eyes, "If I, the leader of the Kyoshi warriors, decline a marriage proposal, the village men may begin to think that we're becoming to bold. They may cut down the training for the warriors. And if enough men oppose the warriors training . . ." she trailed off.
"They could cut parts of it." I finished for her, she nodded slowly, her eyes wide with fear.
"Then we do this my way." Toph cracked her knuckles, "We scare him off."
It grew quiet around our circle, the three of us sitting in the dark, the only light coming from the moon above us. At this rate, it would just about be full when we reached the South Pole.
Finally, Suki spoke, "That just may work, Toph."
~~~~~~~x~~~~~~~x~~~~~~~x~~~~~~~x~~~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~
The next day, Suki trained extra hard with the warriors, she worked up such a sweat that her makeup was running down her face when she returned home. She had mud coating her robes from the last rainfall, and her hair was very messy.
When Shinakio returned, he took one look at Suki, and stopped dead in his tracks.
"What the hell?" he yelled, "You look like shit!"
Suki glared, "And what are you going to do about it?" she challenged him, her chin was raised in defiance.
I grinned to myself, everything was going perfectly. Toph and I were watching, or I was anyway, Toph was "feeling" what was going on, from outside the window, it was just getting dark so I was easily concealed.
"You are going to go take that crap off! I refuse to look at you when you look like that!" he yelled, gesturing toward the bathroom.
"And if I refuse?" she crossed her arms, adding to her defiant demeanor.
"Then I'll leave!" he sounded genuinely serious. Honestly, this guy made me want to puke, I hated men like that.
"Then go." And with that, Suki turned into the bedroom and pulled out a bag. She walked to the dresser, stuffed a load of men's clothing into it, and walked out. She threw the bag at him, which he dropped, "Get out of my house."
"I mean it Suki!" he sounded nervous now, "I'll leave!"
Suki had lost interest in him already, though, and had turned back to her cooking, "I refuse to change, so leave."
With those words, Shinakio straightened up, "Fine then, I'm breaking the engagement. Let's see how well you do without me!" he turned around and marched out the door. And with him went Suki's defiance.
She sagged against the table, "She's losing it, Sparky, go help her." said Toph.
Suki flopped down to the floor, putting her head between her hands, "I did it. You guys!" she looked up, "I did it!" there were tears of joy running down her face, smearing the already smudged makeup and leaving tracks of pale skin in the white, black, and red goo.
"When can we leave?" she asked, back on her feet, "I need to see Sokka."
"We can leave as soon as you're ready, Suki!" I assured her.
"Good, let's go tonight." and with that she promptly left the room to go shower.
~~~~~~~x~~~~~~~x~~~~~~~x~~~~~~~x~~~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~
When she finished, she ran over to her co-leader, Ajan's home where she told her that she would be leaving and didn't know when she'd be back.
At midnight we left, leaving only a note that Suki may return, or that she may not. Not specifying where we were going, we vanished.
~~~~~~~x~~~~~~~x~~~~~~~x~~~~~~~x~~~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~
Katara
Sokka was acting very funny, whenever he looked at me, he began to giggle. Normally I would have strangled whatever he was keeping from me out of him, but with the full moon fast approaching, and the festival being set up at the last moment, there were many things to keep me busy and away from him.
But I kind of figured it out when it began to snow black.
I looked out toward the horizon, just seeing the spot of a Fire Nation ship steadily making it's way toward our home.
That could only mean one thing.
Zuko.
~~~~~~~x~~~~~~~x~~~~~~~x~~~~~~~x~~~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~~~~~
I know it's kind of short, and a liiiiiitttle late. But I tried my hardest, been a rough week with, yaknow, life.
Anyhoo, reviews, as always, are greatly appreciated! :D Please let me know what you think! :D TEEHEE!
Kai