This story was inspired by a pic on the Avatar Oekaki... the link isn't working here so check my profile for it!
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Sokka, proud and brave warrior of the Southern Water Tribe, was meandering through the forest one morning, in search of some breakfast. He swished his knife back and forth gleefully, cutting a trail as he went along.
Swish…
He had been dispatched by his sister Katara to find some food to take along for the road, as they would be traveling to a new campsite the next day. His food of choice would have been, preferably, some kind of delicious meat, but all he could come up with was a branch or two full or just-barely-ripe berries.
Swish…
Wait…
Suddenly, Sokka's acute, perfectly 100-percent-accurate warrior senses were tingling. That was not his swish. That was a different swish.
Swish…
Sokka's eyebrow twitched. He did not like unfamiliar noises. He did not like unfamiliar anything. He stuck his knife out in defense and did his shifty eyes, scanning for anything suspicious.
Swish…
Sokka had now moved on from the shifty-eye state of alarm and looked left and right. He couldn't detect any movement.
Swish…
Rustle…
By now Sokka had graduated to full-on warrior stealth more. He stepped cautiously over twigs and branches, carefully avoiding—
SNAP!
Oops.
Swish…
Seriously, what is that "swish" noise that keeps happening?
Sokka looked around anxiously. He couldn't see anything moving. There was no wind at all. If it weren't for that stupid "swish" noise, he would think he was alone in the forest.
Wait a minute.
Sokka's razor-sharp warrior vision zoomed in on a small, seemingly insignificant leaf that fluttered to the ground. Just above it was a low-lying branch that was covered completely with leaves.
Ah, Sokka thought, the genius detective in him picking up on the tiniest detail, that leaf didn't move by itself. No. Leaves, so far as I know, don't move by themselves. Something, or someone, must have disturbed that branch and caused the leaf to fall…
He inched closer to the branch, moving ever so slowly in order to keep the element of surprise…
"BOO!"
Ironically enough, the surprise was on him. An upside-down head popped out from the underside of the branch, right in front of Sokka's face.
"AAAGH!"
Sokka staggered backward and tripped over a branch, just as a figure clad almost entirely in pink leapt from the tree, somersaulted in the air and landed gracefully on the ground.
"Hi! Remember me?"
Sokka looked up at the girl, and, upon recognizing her, made a considerable effort to scurry away off the ground. But this didn't get him anywhere, and instead of helping Sokka, the image of him flopping around on the ground caused Ty Lee to burst into hysterical laughter.
Of course, this only made Sokka angry, and he jabbed a finger at the girl, who still couldn't contain her laughter.
"HEY! That was mean! What are you doing here, anyway?"
Ty Lee quit laughing long enough to help him up. She offered him her hand.
"I'm sorry. Here."
Sokka looked at the hand, then at the girl. He looked at the hand again, then back at the girl. He crossed his arms and tilted his head away defiantly.
"No."
"Really. I'm sorry for scaring you. Just take it."
Sokka decided that his dignity had already suffered enough, and it wasn't helping to go on sitting on the ground. He reluctantly took her hand, but not before inspecting it for anything that might cause him further pain or embarrassment…
"There you go. That's better."
Now standing, Sokka brushed the dirt off his pants and dusted off his bottom.
Ty Lee observed this with great interest.
Sokka quit primping and glanced warily at the girl.
Something's fishy…
He began pacing back and forth, beginning the first step of the detective process: the Interrogation Phase. The crime? Failure to respect boundaries.
He raised an eyebrow inquisitively and leaned forward. "What are you doing out in the woods so early in the morning?"
Ty Lee smirked and put her hand on her hip. "It's ten-fifteen."
"Yeah, well, that's early to me. And don't change the subject!" He stamped his foot for emphasis.
She tilted her head innocently. "I'm just exploring. I had nothing else to keep me busy."
"Oh, is that so." Sokka narrowed his eyes in an attempt to be intimidating. "Where are your cohorts? You know, the depressed chick and the one with the blue fire."
"Oh, you mean Mai and Azula. They're nowhere nearby. You don't have to worry about them."
Sokka looked unconvinced. "Awfully vague answer." He leaned in close. "Hiding something, are we?"
Having Sokka's face so close to her own made Ty Lee blush. Realizing this, he stepped back and folded his arms in an I-mean-business kind of way.
"Really. Mai's probably back filing her nails, complaining about how bored she is, and Azula's probably plotting a takeover of some other region of the Earth Kingdom. They don't know I'm gone, and even if they did, they wouldn't particularly care."
"Well. You have a good story, I'll give you that much. Almost believable. But the most important question: Why would you do such a thing to cause an adept warrior such as myself to lose his dignity in a manner most devious as you have just done?
"Isn't that redundant?"
"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" He stuck his finger up informatively. "As a warrior of the Southern Water Tribe, it is my humble duty to represent our tribe and to set an example for others by behaving as a respectful citizen should, which includes at all times maintaining a certain amount of poise and keeping my composure—"
"There's a bug on your forehead."
"WHERE?!? WHERE?!? GET IT OFF!! GET IT OFF ME NOW!!!"
Ty Lee smiled and shook her head as Sokka ran around in circles, screaming and flailing his arms. She stood in his path and tried to intercept him as he went. "Here. Let me get it. Hold still for a second!"
Sokka quit running around long enough for Ty Lee to lean over and flick the bug off his face. It flew a couple of feet in the air, landed noiselessly on the ground, and scurried away on the forest floor.
Ty Lee was about to comment on Sokka's inability to keep his composure despite his proclaimed warrior status, but he wouldn't permit her to make any remarks.
"Don't. Say. Anything."
She couldn't help but giggle. He seemed even more flustered than usual. It was hard not to smile, being around this guy.
It was such a lucky thing running into him like this. She'd really enjoyed messing with him earlier, swinging through the trees. It was so much fun to annoy him. It was really easy, too.
She'd seen him several times in battle before, but had never talked to him like this. He was much cuter up close, when the two weren't automatically enemies. It occurred to her that they had never talked for real, just as normal people. They had never formally introduced themselves.
Well one thing was for sure. That wasn't going to be a problem anymore.
"Hi."
Sokka looked over at her with a sulky look on his face. He seemed to be having an off day. "You've been in my company for the past ten minutes. I don't think the 'hi' is exactly necessary."
"I know. But I said it anyway." She smiled. "My name is Ty Lee."
Sokka wore a quizzical expression and scratched the back of his head. "I think I knew that already."
"Well, I never told you myself. As a matter of fact I don't think we've ever had a real conversation."
"Oh." Sokka began to feel less irritable. He had gotten off to a bad start, but he wasn't about to let that ruin his whole day.
"I'm Sokka."
"Right. I think I already knew that, too."
"Well, I just wanted to extend the courtesy of telling you that myself."
"Thank you. I appreciate it."
Sokka smiled despite himself. There was something here that struck him as different from their last meeting. Of course, there was the fact that they had always been on opposite sides, fighting against each other because they had to. But there was something else. Something here that hadn't existed earlier.
He didn't know exactly what it was. He didn't know exactly why, either.
…Well, he never was a deep thinker, so he wasn't about to figure it out.
But it didn't matter. Not right then, anyway. He was preoccupied with what was going on right here, and right now.
…Which brought him to a new question: What really IS going on here?
Sokka snapped back into reality, only to find Ty Lee staring at him and smiling. She immediately looked away and turned a shade of pink.
No other color seemed more appropriate.
"You know, for a soldier of the Fire Nation, you're rather… friendly."
She giggled. "Yeah, well, for a warrior of the Southern Water Tribe, you're rather… gawky."
"Hey!"
Ty Lee smiled. "Well, thank goodness for that insanely hard head of yours. It'll protect against any serious damage… and future chi-blockers."
"Hard head?" Sokka looked thoughtful. You can always tell when Sokka is thinking really hard because he strokes his chin and stares at some distant object.
"…oh YEAH!!" He smiled. "I remember that! Ha ha, good times, good times…"
She smiled and shook her head. "Yeah, we really go way back, don't we?"
"Well, ya know, it was a memorable day. 'Good try, but no'… I gotta start using that one again…"
Ty Lee sighed. She hadn't stopped smiling the whole time she'd been with him. She loved that kind of person: the kind of person who could make her smile constantly.
Better still was the kind of person who could make her smile without actually meaning to.
Sokka was that kind of person.
She had known there was something special about him ever since that first encounter, the chase that led them to the river. Sure, his looks definitely contributed to that notion, but his sense of humor was especially attractive. His was the kind that turned the ordinary and everyday into something hysterical.
Case in point: the day's past events.
Ty Lee looked over at him. He was standing off to the left, digging his toe into the dirt and looking around.
What exactly is it about him that is so attractive?
He was so… contradictory. One minute preaching about the importance of keeping one's composure, the next minute running around in circles, slapping himself. The way he would seemingly have everything under control, and then would turn around and be totally caught off guard by some giant crack in the rocks and end up talking for hours to a moose-lion cub.
That was Sokka, sarcastic and inconsistent.
And a lover of meat.
She would've kept on looking at him, admiring his adorable features and quirks, but all of a sudden he seemed to remember something.
"Oh wow, I was supposed to be back at camp with the meal a reeeeeeally long time ago… Rats!… I've got to go."
Ty Lee was disappointed. She was expecting to have a morning especially dedicated to watching Sokka act like an idiot (honestly, there's no better way to spend one's pre-lunch hours).
"Oh. Well, tell everyone I said 'hi', I guess. And that I'll try to go easier on 'em next time."
"Okay." He smiled. A real, genuine smile, Ty Lee noted.
"So I guess. I'll… see you around?"
She nodded. "Right. See you around."
"Okay." He picked up all his loose articles and started to walk away, but thought of something and turned around.
"By the way, sorry for anything that might happen in future battles. I still have a duty to my tribe."
"As do I." She was beaming. "But outside of combat, I have no problem."
He grinned back at her. "Right."
He turned around and walked away, disappearing behind the thick foliage of the forest.
Yes, Sokka decided, there definitely was something different about this encounter. But what? Why?
Maybe it was because she had been foreign and unfamiliar before.
He did not like unfamiliar anything…
But she wasn't anymore.
Yes, he had thought she was strange and odd before, but now she was just… out of the ordinary. Different.
Sort of like him.
Was different okay?
The answer came from within him. A place where there had been nothing for a long time. A place that had been empty ever since he had left the North Pole.
Yes, he suddenly decided.
Different was good.
Possible, possible epilogue if enough people want me to. Plus, if I write another chapter my story will appear in the Update list! Yay!
Anyway, please, PLEASE review if you want more and if you liked it. Nothing pleases me more (and inspires me to keep going) than a well-rounded review. SO GO TO WORK ALREADY!