"THAT'S THE FLYING boar from my vision," aang begins as him, katara, sokka and miizumi duck behind a rock and look at the front of the beifong estate covered by two guards.
"i know about the bei fong family." miizumi says and they look at her. "apparently before the war started, they used to be good friends with my family." she explains.
"come on!" katara exclaims and they find a wall that is on the outside of the home. aang flies over while sokka helps miizumi up.
the girl grabs katara's hand and the three of them land on the other side. they hide behind a bush and look out for people.
suddenly, a earth mound emerges from beneath them and throws the four of them into the air. they hit the ground and the blind bandit is in front of them.
"what are you doing here, twinkle toes?" she asks as she looks down at aang.
"how'd you know it was me?" aang replies.
"don't answer to twinkle toes. it's not manly." sokka whispers.
"you're the one whose bag matches his belt." katara responds.
"how did you find me?" the blind bandit asks.
"well, a crazy king told me i had to find an earthbender who listens to the earth. and then i had a vision in a magic swamp, and—"
"what aang is trying to say is he's the avatar. and he still has to master earthbending, but if he doesn't do that he won't be able to defeat fire lord ozai." miizumi explains as she walks towards the two.
"not my problem." the girl shoves her hand in miizumi's face. "now get out of here or i'll call the guards." she says as she walks away.
"look, we all have to do our part to win this war and yours is to teach aang earthbending." sokka protests.
"guards! guards, help!"
miizumi sees her friends run away and begins to follow them. they hide on top of a roof and watch the girl play so innocently in front of the guards.
════ ⋆★⋆ ════
miizumi puts on her best smile as toph's father looks at her. when he looks away, she glares at sokka who is chewing noisily. she slaps sokka in his side and he pushes her arm away from him as the butler places a cup of hot tea in front of toph.
"blow on it. it's too hot for her." toph's father says.
"allow me." aang grins and sends a small wind tornado to toph's plate, cooling her drink down. he earns small applause from the others.
"avatar aang, it's an honor to have you visit us." toph's mother smiles.
"in your opinion, how much longer do you think the war will last?" toph's father asks.
"i'd like to defeat the fire lord by the end of summer, but i can't do that without finding an earthbending teacher first." aang replies and evilly smirks at toph.
"well, master yu is the finest teacher in the land." toph's father points to the man sitting next to toph's mother. "he's been teaching toph since she was little."
"then she must be a great earthbender." aang exclaims and toph stares at him. "probably good enough to teach someone else—ow!" the girl smiles in satisfaction and starts to eat her food.
"do you want some of my fish?" miizumi whispers to katara.
"sure, thanks." the brunette replies and miizumi picks up a few slices of cooked fish with her fork and puts it on katara's plate.
"can i have some too?" sokka smiles, resting his head on his hand as he looks at miizumi.
"i don't know. i'm kinda craving fish right now." miizumi sighs. "but i guess i'll give you some." she gives some pieces to sokka.
"thanks, mii." sokka grins. their short conversation is interrupted by aang loudly sneezing and causing a gust of wind to blow throughout the dining room.
"what's your problem?" toph yells as she slams her hands on the dining table.
"what's your problem?" aang replies and the table goes silent.
"well, shall we move to the living room for dessert then?" toph's mother suggests politely. a few hours go by and toph's parents allow miizumi and the others to stay at the bei fong estate for a few nights.
in their shared bedroom, miizumi brushes her hair on the bed across from where sokka and katara sit while aang pets appa's snout.
"goodnight, buddy." aang smiles. miizumi hears light footsteps and turns to see toph standing in the doorframe. she throws her hair over her scar and then lets out a small sigh in relief when she remembers toph is blind.
"look, im sorry about dinner." toph says to aang as she leans on the doorframe. "let's call a truce, okay?" she ushers aang to follow her and the two go to the backyard.
katara excuses herself as well when she goes to the bathroom to freshen up. miizumi starts brushing her hair again.
sokka feels his cheeks heat up as he realizes it's only him and miizumi in the room. he sits up straighter and clears his throat, but the girl doesn't look at him.
"your hair looks fine." sokka says and miizumi looks at him. "well, to me at least. it's your hair so i don't know how it looks to you."
"thanks, sokka." miizumi replies and her eyebrows furrow in concentration. "but sometimes we're so busy i don't really have the chance to brush it, so it's sometimes a little tangled."
he stands up and walks to the bed where she is and sits behind her. he gently holds his hand out and she places the brush in his palm.
he grabs all her hair with one hand, pulling it off her neck and running the brush through one section at a time. his eyes scan over her smooth hair and how not one strand is out of place.
"seriously, it looks good." he mutters. he softly throws her hair over the left side of her neck, having taken note of that whenever she wears her hair down, she makes sure to cover her scar.
"how many times are you gonna tell me?" she sighs as she turns around to face him.
"until you believe me." he smiles and she looks down to hide her tinted cheeks. "so do you believe me or do i have to say it again?" he places his hand on top of hers.
"okay, okay, okay." she exclaims with a soft laugh. she hesitates before she brings sokka's hand to her shoulder and meets his eyes.
"i don't know if you want to hear this, but i gotta get this off my chest before it eats me up." sokka begins and she turns her attention to him.
"i think i've liked you ever since the first day i met you and you tried to kill me. you're beautiful. and i promise i won't ever hurt you like the fire nation did."
his cautious fingers hover just above her scar and she can hear her own breath hitch. she can't look at him, not like this. not when she's run away from her country, leaving her crown behind and now a random boy from the southern water tribe is in front of her. not like this.
but when she finally gathers the courage to look back at him, she finds herself fighting the urge to do something she never thought she'd be doing before.
she cups his face and pulls his lips to hers, closing the gap between them. it takes a few seconds for sokka to realize what was happening, but he soon closes his eyes and returns the kiss.
he places a comforting hand on her scar as he deepens the kiss. her lips are soft and don't have a taste he can't exactly pinpoint, but that soon goes away when she breaks the kiss.
sokka looks at her as he catches his breath. her cheeks are flushed and for the first time ever, she's opened up to him. while it wasn't in the way he had expected, nothing about that fact changed the way he felt about her.
"i'm sorry. i was just so nervous i had to get it over with or i was gonna die." miizumi sighs as her grasp still lingers on sokka's hand.
"you have nothing to be sorry for." sokka simply smiles. "i don't have any regrets."
"yeah, i don't think i have any regrets either." miizumi says.
the moment is cut off by a loud crash and the girl looks out the window to see aang and toph peeking out two metal crates while being carried away by a group of thugs.
"they're in trouble." sokka says. "come on! we have to go tell everyone else!" he grabs her hand and they rush to the living room.
════ ⋆★⋆ ════
K TALKS!
this chapter is kinda short today & im sorry for that.. i hope the kiss made up for it 😭
END.