Toph's Snow Chap 15
Chapter 15: Princess
Disclaimer: Everything that is recognizable as Avatar doesn't belong to me. Only my OC's and the plot belong to me.
Week 23 (October 13-19, month 5)
Third Person Toph
Toph and Song had finalized the sale of Toph's property at the end of last week and Song already had builders building her and Haru a new house; the school house would be built later. Their home was being built on the outskirts of the property, so that the rest of it could be used for the school and a yard for the students to play and exercise in.
Toph was officially moved into Sokka's house, though she still spent time at Katara's because she didn't like to be alone. The walk between the two lots was a long one; Toph's house was half a mile from Katara's in one direction and Sokka's was a quarter in the other. Despite the distance, the move didn't take very long at all. Toph was able to bend a sort of sled to carry all her stuff, so it only took two trips.
Now Toph was concentrating on decorating the nursery. Katara helped advise her on colors to put in the room and different types of furniture. Before he left, Sokka told Toph not to buy a crib. When she had asked why, he just said that he wanted to go with her when they purchased one.
Third Person Katara
Toph's nursery was looking really pretty. Katara had insisted on painting the walls because they had been a gross shade of yellow, so she picked a light green color that was close to Toph's eye color. Toph bought a few pieces of metal in town and had bended them into shapes, as directed by Katara, to make a mobile to go over the baby's crib. There was a small table in the room for washing and changing the baby. A fan of Toph's had heard about the baby and brought her a chair that rocked that he and his wife had made themselves; it was their gift to her for helping to save the world.
Katara had also bought cloth fans to decorate the walls and had a neighbor paint a mural on one wall of the room. The picture was a simplified collage of some of their adventures during the war.
Toph normally would have had an issue with Katara taking over, and she did some of the time, but mostly she let Katara take over, because she wasn't sure what she wanted to do with the room and Katara's interference had given the room some direction.
Third Person
Satomi was enjoying school. She had three friends by the end of September that she played with all the time. Only one of them, Chau, could bend. The two of them spent most of their time, entertaining their other two friends, coming up with new tricks often. Satomi was usually so busy with them, that she didn't ask about going to see Ruki and Ruka much anymore.
Satomi and her friends raced each other to Ken's house after school. Li Chin beat them all by half a minute. He was the oldest at five and a half and was the fastest runner at the school. They all tumbled into the house when Ken's mother opened the door. Laughing they all sprang up and ran through the house, into the backyard. Ken's mother shook her head at the antics of her son and his friends.
In the backyard, Satomi and Chau started a bending battle, water and air against earth. They were pretty evenly matched, which made the battle exciting. Chau would kick up a rock and send it flying at Satomi, only to have her jump over it and blast air at her. Chau would then, push up a thin wall of earth to block the gust of wind.
Sometimes, a few of the other kids who lived nearby, would come and watch, or joined the battle, creating teams. Everyone always wanted Satomi on their team making her arrogant and proud, which Katara did not appreciate.
Tired from today's 'battle', Satomi and Chau laid on the ground, trying to catch their breath. Satomi had won this battle by a slim margin, her seventh win out of twelve battles.
"What should we do now?" asked Li Chin.
"We should play 'Princess Ball'!" said Satomi, it was her favorite game.
"Awww, not that again!" said Li Chin, he much preferred things that showed off physical strength.
"Well I want to play too. Ken?" asked Chau. Chau had Ken wrapped around her finger, there was nothing that he wouldn't do for her.
"Yeah, we should play!" said Ken enthusiastically. Li groaned.
"Fine."
"Yay!" cheered the girls.
Everyone stood up and paired off, Li was dragging his feet as he walked over to Satomi. The boys bowed saying the girls looked lovely, and the girls curtsied and said that the boys looked quite handsome. Then they placed their hands in the proper places, or as proper as five and four year-olds knew how, and danced around in circles doing an approximation of a waltz. They stumbled and tripped over each others feet occasionally when they got too close.
Despite all the mistakes and tripping, Satomi was having the time of her life. She always felt like a princess and pretending that she was one only made her wish to be one even more.
Katara was a little concerned with Satomi's princess obsession. She wasn't sure what Satomi would do to make her dream come true, which was why Katara was glad that they hadn't told Satomi that Haruka and Haruki were the crowned princess and prince of the Fire Nation.
Third Person Satomi
After they finished dancing, the four children went inside for a snack. Satomi asked Ken's mother what time it was when she got to the kitchen.
"It's two o'clock." She said.
"Oh, I have to go home now." said Satomi.
"Take these with you." She handed Satomi a few cookies. "And can you give this book back to your mother for me." she handed her the large book.
"Sure. Thanks for letting me come over." Satomi bowed.
"It's a pleasure to have you." Ken's mother leaned closer and whispered in her ear. "Between you and me, Ken and Li were a little boring by themselves. You and Chau made them more interesting." Satomi giggled at the compliment.
"You should go. Tell your mother I said hi."
"Okay. Bye!" Satomi waved to her friends and left.
She reveled in the warm air as she skipped and twirled down the lane toward her home, eating the cookies in her hand. She stopped along the way to smell any late blooming flowers and to look up at the clouds, trying to make pictures out of the shapes.
Soon she neared her house and when she walked inside, her mother wasn't there, neither was Auntie Toph.
Satomi walked back out of the house and into Katara's school house in the backyard. She pushed open the door and looked inside. Her mother was standing with her back to the door, demonstrating the water whip to a small group of waterbenders.
One of the students, an eight year old boy name Koichi, had recently taken up residence in their house. He had been orphaned when his parents protected him from a group of rouges on their way to the North Pole. He had only been five at the time and had spent the three years since then, wondering from place to place in the Earth Kingdom. Aang found him on his most recent trip and brought him home with him.
Koichi had been shy and withdrawn for the first few days, but he warmed up to them, especially to Satomi.
Satomi had taken to him immediately, completely smitten with him. She constantly followed him around the house, sometimes she had to be kept from following him into the outhouse and he was the only one she would take food from for a while.
Satomi watched as he tried to do the water whip, a move that she had just started learning too.
Someone in the room alerted her mother to her presence at the door.
Third Person
Katara turned around as one of her students gestured to the door and saw her daughter standing there, outlined by the light coming in from outside, staring at Koichi. She smiled and walked over to Satomi, opening her arms for a hug. Satomi jumped into her mother's arms and hugged her as Katara kissed her on the head. Satomi handed Katara the book she had been carrying and told her that Ken's mother had said hi. Then she walked around the pool in the middle of the floor that the students were bending from and stood next to Koichi. She smiled up at him and he smiled back.
Koichi loved having Satomi follow him around, except into the outhouse, she was like a baby chick following its mother.
"Okay. Let's try those water whips again." Katara pointed at the student standing on her far left to go first.
They went down the line, each taking their turn, or turns to do the water whip correctly. When it was Satomi's turn, she screwed up her face in concentration and pulled up a stream of water. She shifted her weight through the stances, making the water into a ball, but when she got to the last stance, she lost control of the water and it fell back into the pool. She pouted and crossed her arms, glaring at the water.
"It's okay Satomi. Try again." encouraged Katara.
Satomi tried to do it again, and the same thing happened. Now she was irritated. She tried a few more times, only to get the same result. Katara forced her to stop when she was on the verge of tears. Koichi bent down next to her and tried to comfort her, but nothing helped and soon, Satomi began to cry.
Katara hated to see her daughter cry, but she had to teach, so she asked Koichi to take Satomi back to the house. The other students were used to Satomi's tantrums; she was often temperamental when she was tired and they would just ignore her noise and keep working on their lessons.
Koichi, at a lost for what to do, tried to pick the small child up, but she wiggled her way out of his arms. He tried again and she still didn't allow herself to be carried, so Koichi employed the fail safe way Katara had taught him to get Satomi to do something she didn't want to do.
He tickled her.
Third Person Koichi
Koichi started to tickle Satomi and she couldn't help but laugh and squirm around, trying to get away from his hands. When she was thoroughly distracted, he was able to pick her up and carry her to the house.
He set her down on her futon in her room and she yawned and lay down; Koichi tucked her in and smoothed her hair down, and then started to leave.
"No! Don't go!" he turned back around.
"If I stay, will you go to sleep?"
"Yes." He sighed and sat down next to her on her bed. Immediately, she climbed into his lap, determined to keep him from leaving. He wouldn't have left anyway.
"Tell me a story."
"What kind of story?"
"A princess story!"
"Hmmm...Well, once upon a time, there was a young girl named Cinderella..."
As Koichi told the story, Satomi lay down in his lap and he stroked her soft, brown hair. When she finally was asleep, he moved her off his lap and onto her bed. He caught a glimpse of her face and couldn't help staring. Her long, wavy hair made a halo around her head, making her look angelic. Her face had a calm look on it, as if she was having a good dream and her lips were slightly parted.
Involuntarily, Koichi's hand reached out and touched her face, stroking her cheek. She sighed in her sleep.
"Oh, good. She's asleep." he snatched his hand back from Satomi's face, trying to suppress the blush that was creeping up his neck, and looked at Katara, who was standing in the door.
"How long did it take for her to fall asleep?"
"Only ten minutes."
"Well, let's do something about that hair of yours." Koichi touched his mid-back length hair.
"You won't cut it will you? It hasn't been cut since my parents..."
"Don't worry, I'll just put it up so it's not in your face all the time."
"Okay." he followed Katara into her room and sat down on her bed where she indicated he should. Katara walked over to her dresser, pulled out a brush and a piece of cord and walked back over to the bed, sitting behind Koichi and started to brush his long, reddish-brown hair, working out knots that had been in place for weeks.
"Your hair is in pretty good shape for someone who traveled like you did, other then the knots."
"I washed it every time I came across water. If I hadn't washed it, it would have been a tangled mess and I would have had to cut it."
"You did a good job. Do you have any hairstyle preference?"
"No."
"Alright then." Katara got to work, tying his hair into a long ponytail; Koichi had to hold his hair as Katara wrapped the chord around it and tied it tight.
"We'll have to get you a hairpiece from the market, but this will do for the time being."
"Thank you."
"No problem, honey. Truth is, I've wanted to fix your hair for a while. Will you come help me with dinner?"
"Okay."
Third Person
"Okay, now cut the potatoes like this." Katara demonstrated slicing the potatoes into really thin slices. Koichi copied her hesitantly, moving the knife slowly. Although he had used a knife, he had hunted to survive during his travels when he couldn't find anywhere to stay, he hadn't used one to cut things so finely; he was used to just hacking at the meat on a dead animal and cooking it on a spit if he could make a fire, or eating it raw when he couldn't.
"Exactly, like that." Katara looked out of the window and saw that the sun was getting close to setting.
"Koichi? Could you go wake Satomi up for me?"
"Okay." He walked down the hall to Satomi's room and opened the door. Satomi was sprawled out on her back, arms and legs going every which way. He bent down and shook her shoulder, calling her name.
"Satomi. Satomi, wake up." She stirred and rolled over onto her stomach.
"Satomi, you have to get up now." This time she stirred and opened her eyes. But as soon as she was awake, she started to cry. Koichi's eyes widened and he started to panic a little.
Did I do something to upset her? What do I do!
Koichi had never really been around anyone younger than him and this was the first time that she had cried when Katara wasn't around to help.
I don't think tickling will work this time.
Satomi climbed into his lap and buried her head in his chest, clinging to him. Her body trembled while she cried, like she was scared of something.
She must have had a bad dream.
Koichi wrapped his arms around her and awkwardly rocked her back and forth, like he had seen mother's at the market do when their children were upset. He whispered words he hoped were comforting into her ear and amazingly, Satomi started to calm down. She was still sniffling, but she had stopped crying.
"Are you okay?" she nodded. "Come on, dinner's almost ready." Koichi stood up and Satomi grabbed his hand as they walked out of the room and into the kitchen.
When they got to the kitchen, Toph was setting the table.
"Auntie!" Satomi ran over and hugged her aunt around the legs since her stomach was in the way of a real hug.
"Hey, Sato. As enthusiastic as always." Toph patted Satomi on the head.
"Dinner's ready!" Katara said as she balanced a few dishes on her arms. Koichi took one from her and put it on the table; Toph did the same.
"You really do too much, Katara. You should relax a little or you'll burn yourself out."
"I'm fine, Toph. But I appreciate that you're worried about me."
"Me? Worried? About you? Ha! Don't make me laugh!"
"Yeah, whatever you say Toph."
"Can we just eat? I'm hungry and so is the baby." Toph patted her stomach.
"Yes, Ma'am!" Katara saluted Toph and started to dish food out.
They eat in relative silence, concentrating on their food. When they finished, Toph helped Katara clear the dishes and wash them, while Koichi walked around the house lighting all the lamps with Satomi in tow.
"What do you want to do now?" Koichi asked when he was done.
"Can we play princess?" she asked. Koichi rolled his eyes, he was getting tired of the princess game, but he didn't want to upset her.
"Sure."
Satomi proceeded to boss Koichi around for two hours before he put a stop to the game. He was tired of having to crawl around on the floor and pretend he was a dragon so that Satomi could run around and scream in 'fright', tossing water in his face. By the end of their game, both of them were thoroughly soaked.
Third Person Katara
"Alright you two, bath time." said Katara walking into the room.
"Satomi, you first."
"I want Koichi to come too!"
"Now Satomi, Koichi has played with you all evening, let him have some time to himself."
"But-"
"No buts. Now go into the wash room and get into the tub; I'll be there in a second." Katara shook her head as she went to get her daughter clean clothes.
When she got to the washroom, Satomi was sitting stubbornly on the floor next to the bathtub.
"The water is going to be cold if you don't get in soon."
"I want Koichi with me! Then I get in."
"You can't always have what you want."
Goodness knows I don't.
"Are you going to get into the tube, or will I have to make you?" Satomi didn't answer.
"You've got three seconds to change your mind. One...two...three. Alright, have it your way."
Katara lifted Satomi off the floor and began preparing her for her bath.
Once Satomi was bathed and dressed, Katara filled the bathtub again so Koichi could take his bath and took Satomi into the living room. She sat her down and started brushing Satomi's long silky hair. Then she braided it into two identical braids.
"Alright Satomi, can you read this?" Katara held up a piece of parchment with a few characters written on it.
"Satomi. That's me!"
"Yes it is. How about this one?" She held up another sheet.
"Uh, mommy?"
"Try again." Katara encouraged.
"Umm, I don't know." Satomi shrugged.
"That the character for rain." said a male voice. Katara looked up and saw Koichi leaning on his hand, against the door frame.
"Correct. And this one?" she asked him.
"That one means shop."
"And this one?"
"Gold." He walked into the room and sat down on the floor in front of her.
Katara continued to hold up characters until there were a few Koichi couldn't read.
"It seems that you know the Kanji necessary for traveling, but that's all. If you want, I could teach you that ones you need to know to go to school. Then you won't have to stay here all day and you could make some friends your age."
"I've never been to school." he said hesitantly.
"There's nothing to worry about, it's just like waterbending lessons, except you are learning about the four nations and how to read and write. Can you write?" Koichi shook his head.
"It'll be fun, you'll see. I'll enroll you so you can start next week and, maybe Song can help you in the meantime. Now that I mention it, where is Song?"
"Hey Toph!" Katara yelled down the hall.
"Yeah?" Toph stuck her head out of her room.
"Do you know where Song is? I haven't seen her all day?"
"No. She's probably out with Haru."
"Oh, that's right! They went out to visit a carpenter to get their new furniture made. I forgot." Katara chuckled.
"Well, back to your characters Satomi."
I'm sooooooo sorry it took so long to update! I was really busy with robotics until this week. My team made it to the chapionships, which was epic! My school also blocked fanfiction, so I can no longer update from there. Oh well, I'm back now.
Those of you who are waiting for the lemon, I'm almost finished and plan to post it before the middle of this month.
Updates might still be a little slow because I have AP tests coming up, but I should be able to get going with the rest of this story!
*This is the first chapter with over 3,000 words!*
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far, I get really excited whenever I see that I have a review; it makes my day so much better.
Tell me what you think happened to Kazuka, I want to hear some theories before I post the next chapter. Who knows, someone might have a good one and I'll change what happened.
Jaa nee!