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Rises with the Heart	By : AngelaBlythe Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > Het - Male/Female > Katara/Zuko Views: 11670 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-PART I
- 2-PART II
- 3-PART III
- 4-PART IV
- 5-PART V
- 6-PART VI
- 7-PART VII
- 8-PART VIII
- 9-PART IX
- 10-PART X
- 11-PART XI
- 12-PART XII
- 13-PART XIII
- 14-PART XIV
- 15-PART XV
- 14
- 15
RISES WITH THE SUN
XV.I
Toph could smell the ocean just as clearly as she could feel it – a big blur of nothing with some half-sand on the bottom. Since lots of the ocean and beach was made of broken and tiny shells, Toph had a difficult time with the sea. Sure there was dirt in the ocean, so that made it like a very stringy liquid, but it was nowhere as clear as solid ground. It wasn’t even similar to sand. But at least she had partial sight in sand. And she didn’t get seasick on the sand.
She guessed she should have known who it was…after all, it had only been three years, and there was really only one person who was stupid enough to think they could sneak up on her, but smart enough to know how to try. She turned around smoothly, brushing her foot over the ground. The man flew in the air, only to land on a pillar of rock, then a slightly shorter pillar of rock, then another shorter pillar of rock. And then the ground.
“Hey!”
Toph smiled tightly, trying not to. “Oh, Sokka, that was you!”
He grumbled. “I don’t see how you knew it was me!”
“Your stride length and body weight might have changed,” Toph said offhandedly, “but you’ve still got that hitching ‘getting ready’ step.”
He laughed. “Come here, Toph. It’s been a long time.”
Sokka was much taller, and had gotten broad around the shoulders. He had the build of a warrior, of a slightly slender earthbender. He held her for a while, his embrace warm and welcoming. “It’s good to have you back,” he said. “We worried.”
Toph shifted out of his arms. “Yah, well, I’m fine. I’m an Earthbending Master. And I can take care of myself.”
“Yah. I know.” Sokka turned from her to the direction of the sea. “Those ships are all mine,” he told her.
“How many?” she asked.
“Twelve,” he answered. “I helped make all of them. I command from the Yue, she’s the biggest Water Tribe ship ever built. She’s the flagship of the first fleet built since the war, and she’s all mine.” He snorted. “We’d be there in half the time if the Earth Kingdom ambassadors didn’t have to have their own ship.”
“Who’s ‘we’?” Toph asked. “I’m not getting on that thing.”
He swung his arm and clapped her on the back. “Come on! It’ll be great! You, me, Aang, and Katara all together again!”
“How can I resist?” she murmured. Then she sighed. “Aang’s coming?”
“Well, yah,” Sokka said. “After we drop you and Katara off in the Fire Nation, Aang and I are going to be looking for Azula. The Yue’s the only ship fast enough to catch her cruiser.”
Toph frowned. “Where’s Katara?” she asked quietly.
Sokka sat by the edge of the dock they’d been walking towards. Toph stayed on the solid ground. “She’s escorting the Earth Kingdom ambassador from Omashu. We’re waiting for her and a friend of my father’s. They should be here within the next week.” He hummed low in his throat. “Sure I can’t give you a tour of the Yue?”
Toph glared. “Yes. I’m not getting on a boat until I have to.”
“It’s a ship.”
“Whatever.”
They sat in silence for a while before Aang came swooping down on his glider. He landed on light feet some fifteen feet away from Sokka and Toph. The jarring existence of new feet on the ground caused Toph to jump a bit. She’d always been touchy about that. He jogged over lightly, laughing.
“Hey, guys!”
“So, how far, Aang?” Toph asked.
“Bato and Huu should be here later tomorrow, but I couldn’t find Katara, she’s not close enough,” Aang replied. “I’m hungry.”
“You’ve just begun speaking my language,” Sokka jumped in, taking Aang and Toph by the shoulders. “Now I know you don’t want to eat on my ship, but how about I just take you to the best restaurant landside?” Then he paused. “Toph’s treat.”
“What?!” Toph cried.
“Every time we go somewhere with you we always get the royal treatment!” Sokka said. “All I’m asking is for a decent meal! I’ve been eating soldier’s rations for months….please!!! My stomach NEEDS good food!!!” He fell on his knees before her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Please!” he begged.
Toph tried to push him off, but his stomach was too powerful. “Fine! Fine! Get off!” she growled, trying to drag herself away. He was surprisingly heavy.
They all walked out of the restaurant several pounds heavier, and Toph even let out an undignified burp when they exited. After a while of wandering, they all found themselves at the docks. Toph reflected silently as Sokka and Aang caught up.
This would be her second trip to the Fire Islands. The first had been horrific, terrifying. Every moment filled with fear that they would be caught, that they would fail Aang or even die. This time they would be expected. Maybe not welcome, but needed. Aang had told her a little about the situation already, but she still didn’t know a lot about what she was supposed to do. She represented the most important person in the world, and a dead civilization. And she wasn’t exactly a negotiator. Earthbenders couldn’t be negotiators. Their element was too stubborn. You had to be forceful…
Could that be why Aang chose her? It was difficult for Aang to be forceful. As Avatar he had a responsibility to protect people, and in those cases he could afford to be forceful and uncompromising. But a lot of his job entailed being a negotiator. The Avatar couldn’t afford to be weak in front of an assembly like the ambassadors and the Fire Lord. Toph could do whatever she wanted. Plus, her family was one of the oldest in the Earth Kingdom – and one of the richest. Perhaps second to the kings of Omashu and Ba Sing Se. But not many others…she wielded a certain amount of power and respect because of that.
“I said, ‘Where are you staying, Toph?’”
She jerked her head to Sokka. “I have rooms at an inn near the middle of town,” she replied. “And it’s late. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She got up and headed in the direction of her inn. It was a nice inn, and they treated her obscenely well.
“Hey, wait!” Sokka cried. “I’ll walk you there…it could be dangerous.”
Toph grunted. “For who?”
He laughed. “For anyone who gets in your way. See you, Aang!”
“I could have walked myself,” Toph said grumpily when they had left the docks.
“Well, maybe I wanted to walk you,” he said.
Toph looked away, blushing. That childish crush was calling again. It’d been brief and strong, but for a while she’d really liked Sokka. She was a lot younger than him…she still was. He was eighteen now, practically a man. She was still a girl. Unfortunately, her frame always lent to the illusion of a doll. She was petite, always had been and always would be. She should have been just another weak little brat, spoiled and rich. But she’d been born blind and stubborn, and a powerful bender. She was nothing like the doll that she was so symbolic of, that people confused her with so often. She had no time for prettiness and ribbons and fashionable dresses. She liked dirt, hard work, and rough words.
“Hey, Toph,” Sokka said, breaking her concentration.
“What?” she barked.
“You left the South Pole without barely a word…Katara and I missed you. Aang missed you.”
Toph shrugged. “I was in the way,” she said. “I always had to have someone leading me around. There’s no solid ground in the South Pole.”
“We didn’t mind, though,” Sokka said, stopping and putting a hand on her shoulder. “We worried a lot. You didn’t send word…we even went to your parents… They blamed us and yelled at us, of course, told us we weren’t welcome, but we went. They were scared. We were scared.”
It was true, Toph very rarely thought of people’s feelings. She thought it was because she could never see their faces, the pain she caused them. It was easy to walk away when you didn’t know people were crying.
For a moment her passive face faltered. Then she shrugged off Sokka’s hand from her shoulder. “Well, whatever. I was fine. Just because I’m blind doesn’t mean you have to worry about me all the time.”
Sokka didn’t say a word. He started walking without her. Then – and she could tell he was angry by his long, strong strides – he turned and stomped a foot on the ground. “We weren’t worried because you’re BLIND, Toph! Can’t you get that through your stubborn head? We didn’t drag you around the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation for your HEALTH, to PROTECT you! You can do that yourself; we all know you can. We took you because you are a friend, and we love you, and you wanted to help Aang!”
With dangerously angry strides, Toph stalked up to Sokka, rage blinding her more than her lost sight. She poked her finger into his chest roughly as she yelled. “I didn’t ASK you to care! I didn’t NEED you to!”
Sokka sighed, putting his hands on her shoulders with a firm squeeze. “Yes, you did, Toph. You just didn’t say it.”
Toph’s jaw dropped. Her anger fled her. She heard him chuckle a little. “You really haven’t changed, Toph. Three years and you’re the same girl I remember.”
She turned away from him, long hair falling over her eyes. “Yes, I have,” she replied. “You just bring out the worst in me.”
Sokka laughed, pulling her into a hug. “I tend to do that to a lot of people.”
When Toph lay down in her bed that night, she found it hard to sleep. It wasn’t because she still wasn’t used to the softness of the bed. It wasn’t because the city sounds echoed in her ears. It wasn’t because she missed Sha-Mo and Ghashiun and the rest of the Bedi-Humi. Mostly, it was because she kept wondering what it would be like if Sokka kissed her, if Sokka had been Ghashiun when he said he wanted to marry her. Would she have said yes to Sokka? Was she redeveloping that stupid old crush? What were the chances that Sokka felt the same way?
XV.II
She had almost forgotten the nausea…the horrible overload of vibrations caused by rain. Toph had no reason to worry about rain in the Si Wong Desert, and at home she’d always had a nice, feather bed to muffle the sensations. It never cured the nausea or made it go away – nothing would probably – but it helped. And just then she had absolutely no respite from the barrage of vibrations. It was worse than being completely blind – like she would be in the ocean or in the air. She had absolutely perfect ‘vision’ and the constant vibrations illuminated her world. Whether she wanted it to or not.
It had begun raining when Bato of the Water Tribe and the creepy, smelly mystic guy from the swamp arrived in the port. They still waited for Katara, but she would be here any day. Toph had been caught somewhere between the docks and her rooms at the inn when the sky began its attack. Usually she could smell rain when it was coming – but it had come fast and hard over the ocean quite unexpectedly.
She stumbled over her own feet for a moment, trying to make her way back to the inn. At least there she could become absolutely sick in private. Another wave of nausea brought Toph to her knees, and she held back the urge to vomit. She moaned and staggered up, one hand on her stomach. Fighting to keep her lunch, Toph’s knees gave way again and she found herself spattered with mud.
With a long, painful sigh, she drew herself up and managed the long struggle back to her rooms at the inn. Normally things would have been okay if she were in a bed or a raised structure. The vibrations of rain hitting the earth could be dulled. But she had only a mat, and her rooms were on the ground level. Her hair spilled over her face, long from her years in the desert. She groaned as thousands of vibrations ran through her at once. It was all…perfectly…nauseatingly…clear…
“Hey, Toph!”
She moaned. Voices let off their own vibrations in echoes. Normally she couldn’t feel them, but at this point she could feel everything. She couldn’t even bring herself to yell at whoever it was. She could hear Sokka and Aang calling her name several more times. Then the door burst open with a barrage of light and heavy footsteps.
“Go away,” she managed in a sickly moan.
“You don’t look so good, Toph,” Aang said in a soft voice.
Toph wanted to roll over and tell them to go away, but she couldn’t even move without needing to vomit. “Just leave me alone,” she whispered, clenching her jaw.
Their voices came in disconnected whispers, disembodied and distant.
“I don’t know.”
“Well, what should we do?”
“Maybe we should get a doctor.”
“She doesn’t like doctors.”
“She’s supposed to –”
“Well, she can’t go now.”
“…”
“Aang, you just go. You can’t miss this. I’ll take care of Toph.”
“I don’t want to leave her…”
“A lot of important people will be there. You’ll be missed.”
“I guess…”
“Just go. We’ll be fine. If it gets bad I’ll send for you.”
“…Okay, Sokka. Get better, Toph.”
She didn’t – couldn’t – respond. The door closed, and thunderous, amplified footsteps approached her prone body. “What’s wrong, Toph?” he asked in a soft, soothing voice. He put a hand on her back, and it was warm through her soaked clothes.
She moaned. “Go away, Sokka…”
“Are you sick?” Sokka asked. He sounded concerned.
Toph attempted to sit up. “Kinda,” she mumbled. “All the raindrops…they create vibrations on the ground…it’s overloading my senses…”
“This happens every time it rains?” he asked in a soft, disbelieving voice. He was moving her hair away from the back of her neck, smoothing it away from her face with gentle hands. Normally this would have caused delightful, fluttering butterflies in Toph’s stomach. With all the rain it was an added sensation that drove her senses to maddening confusion.
“It’s not always…so bad…” she breathed in reply, shivering. The rain was cold and constant as she’d been walking to the inn, soaking her to the bone. The rain was the worst kind of downpour. It fell straight at the ground angrily, making Toph’s mind whirl. “There’s nothing you can do…just go…”
He seemed to ignore this, because while he moved away for a moment, he returned with a cloth and began to dry her face and arms and hair. “At least you got a bath out of it,” he laughed lightly.
“Shut up,” she replied quietly. A torrent of rain slammed into the ground and Toph felt her gag reflex go off. She held it in and moaned.
“We really should get you out of these wet clothes,” he said gently, drying her hair. “You’ll just get even more sick.”
“Pervert,” Toph groaned in semi-good humor. She was never without a good repertoire of witty repartee. She even managed a half-laugh at his indignant reaction.
“Hey! I’m trying to help! I swear I won’t look!”
“Whatever…” Toph replied, losing interest in banter.
He helped her to sit and then drug the woven sandbender tunic off over her head. It fell heavily on the floor, weighted down with water. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Toph knew she should be terribly embarrassed at the situation. But one of the good things about being blind was she didn’t have to impress anyone; she didn’t have to care about what they thought.
At the same time she knew that she wanted Sokka to find her attractive. The few days she’d spent with Aang and Sokka brought the feelings back to the surface. They were feelings she thought she’d drowned with two years in the sand. She didn’t see how she could compare with other girls that Sokka probably knew. He was a kind of ladies’ man, and she got the feeling from Aang that he’d been in quite a few serious relationships over the past three years – including that Kyoshi warrior, Suki. Sokka probably had tons of girls that he’d dated…or had more serious relationships with…physical relationships… How could Toph hope to compare? She was fifteen, blind, foul-tempered, and never even thought once about what she wore or looked like.
…But Ghashiun had thought she was pretty. He was about Sokka’s age – maybe a year older. He had wanted to marry her… Three years away from her friend had tempered her body, but not her tongue or her attitude. She was still doll-like, petite and lithe, but now she had hips and breasts. She knew they weren’t terribly big, but she would probably not grow anymore, either. She had the body of aristocracy – petite, slender, pale, and not made for child bearing. How could that be attractive to a man like Sokka? He was like a warrior – strong and tall and manly. He would want a woman like Suki, strong with curves and breasts. Not a doll-like girl with a bad temper.
“Just slip your arms in this robe,” he said softly. When she found the armholes he tied it tightly around her waist and pulled her hair out the back. Toph leaned back on the mat, feeling a little better. He had left her barest underclothes on out of modesty, but they were warming with her body.
Lying belly-down on the mat, Sokka continued to rub her back soothingly. “My mother used to do this when Katara and I were sick,” he told her in a whisper. “She said it helped the flow of blood, made the sickness go away.”
It solved Toph’s shivers at least. The rain wasn’t slowing at all, and Toph was still drowning in sensations when it happened. Sokka reached over her body and then drew her into his lap, holding her like a doll, stroking her hair and the back of her neck. Toph’s eyes shot open in surprise as his warm, strong arms wrapped around her.
This had never happened before! She wasn’t talking about the holding (though Sokka had never held her before, either) but about someone holding her while it was raining. Normally she made sure everyone left her alone during these times – ashamed that someone might think she was weak. Now she wished she’d always had someone to hold her. She could only feel two vibrations – her heart…and his… He wasn’t conductive of the vibrations – whether it was just him or every human. She couldn’t feel the vibrations coming through the floor as he held her in his lap, stroking her hair gently.
Part of her wanted to reject this, push him away and spit and fight and yell until he left. But a more insistent part of her wanted to stay like this forever, wrapped in his arms and feeling only the beating of their hearts.
Toph wasn’t sure, but…was he sniffing her? Her face was resting against his chest, one of his hands supporting her back as the other rubbed her shoulders and caressed her hair. Suddenly he pulled her close into a hug, pressing her against his chest and sliding his cheek next to hers. Yes…yes, he was smelling her. “How are you feeling?” he asked in a low, deep voice. Her pulse quickened at the VERY GOOD vibrations it sent down her spine.
“Warm,” she whispered, not trusting herself to say anything else.
He was very quiet for a moment. “I like you, Toph,” he whispered in her ear.
Toph tensed. “I…um, like you, too, Sokka.”
His proximity and warmth was suddenly overbearing and frightening. It was fine if Ghashiun had liked her. It was an impossible relationship, and she hadn’t felt anything but familial love for her fellow tribesman. Sokka was different. Sokka had always been different.
“No,” he replied softly, one of his hands caressing her neck lightly. “I mean I really like you.” He paused. “It’s okay if you don’t like me back…but we can still be friends…right?”
Sokka – holding her, inhaling into her hair, warming her – was confessing his emotions…baring all. And then, more unbelievable than all that, he leaned over and kissed the curve of her neck…ever so gently…
“Sokka,” she whispered, feeling her whole body shiver with…what was that…?
“I’m sorry,” he said softly, burying his face in her neck. “You’re sick and I’m – I’m just taking advantage… You know you make it hard to get close to you.”
Toph didn’t respond right away. His hot breath on her neck, their two heartbeats thumping one after another, and his lips so close to her skin – Toph was drowning in a totally different set of sensations. And these ones were as beautiful and terrifying as they were foreign. Even when Ghashiun had held her it had never been so intimate, so electrifying as this.
“I know,” she finally said.
“When I first saw you,” he confessed, “I wasn’t sure if it was really you. You were…well, wearing jewelry and your hair… The desert…seems to agree with you… Are you going back?”
“No,” she whispered. “Not to live. It’s not my home.”
He hummed into the skin of her neck. “I wish you’d let me do this more often,” he murmured into her ear. “I love holding you…”
“Sokka, I –”
“You’re right. I’m sorry,” he interrupted, not really sounding sorry at all as he pulled his head up and cradled her against his chest.
“Why?” she asked softly, half-fearing the answer.
He seemed to need a while to think this over. Finally, he rested his temple on the top of her head. “Of all the people I missed all these years – Aang, my sister, Suki, Yue, my mother – I never felt the absence more than when you left. You’re special, Toph. And you’re beautiful. And I know you think you don’t need anyone…but someday, when you think you do, I hope you think about me…”
Toph didn’t have words to respond.
“The rain’s stopped,” Sokka said softly.
Toph could hear the drizzle outside, light and pattering against the window. “Sokka…” Toph said, for the first time raising her hand and putting it on his shoulder. He jumped when she touched him. “Will you stay…for a little while? Until I go to sleep?”
“Toph…I don’t know if that’s a good idea…”
Tentatively, Toph brushed her fingers over his neck, his jaw, and his chin. She could feel his heart beating faster and faster with every small, slow movement of her hand. Her fingers found his parted lips, his hot breath coming sharp and short. She pulled on his shoulder, angling her face until…
His lips met her briefly, chastely. Toph felt the most lovely sensation of floating, his lips locked on hers passionately. When he broke away Toph shivered and felt her cheeks heat into a small blush. “It’s just that…” Toph said softly, her lips moving very close to his. “It’s just that I like you, too, Sokka…a lot…”
This kiss was not chaste, and it thrilled Toph more than she could have thought. She didn’t know what to do with her hands, or when to breathe, and Sokka’s lips were so warm and soft against hers. He was lowering her to the ground, his tongue meeting hers briefly, like hot satin. She shivered as he knelt between her knees, lips trailing down her neck in hot shocks. A gasp escaped her lips when he sucked gently on her collarbone. His hands, too, were brave in a way that made Toph warm inside. It was a need they brought out, one she was unfamiliar with, and a little frightened of. His large hand cupped her breast, caressing it gently and softly. She mewed in pleasure, raising her hips to meet his in some primal reaction she didn’t fully understand.
Sokka groaned; it was more like a growl. He tore his lips away from her neck, confusing and chilling Toph. “I’m sorry,” he said, standing swiftly.
For some irrational reason, Toph felt tears welling in her eyes as he closed the door behind him.
- 14
- 15
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Rises with the Heart