Disclaimer: I do not own the following show used, Avatar: The Last Airbender nor do I own it's plot and it's characters. I am merely a fan who writes and authors fan based stories about said subject. This story is in no way profitable and is not rightfully mine to make profit from. So, as a mere fan who does not in anyway own said show or make money from, obviously, I can toy with, tamper, create and/or destroy ANYTHING of the original I please because it in no way effects the actual product. Any thoughts against this, please, do tell.

Notes by Nerf-or-Nothing: I AM SO SORRY! I am SO SO sorry it has taken me so long to update. I've been immensely busy... oh and I've been lacking drive to update... you can blame the lack of Tokka fanfics. What can I say, it's my favorite. I read all ships but I only review Tokka, mostly, since I they are so RARE! Makes me sad. Really does.

SO in hopes of getting more Tokka fanfics out there, I beg of you to make some people. I REALLY beg of you and, I'll do what I HATE to do, but I will be giving away ideas for Tokka stories just so people can't say, “I can't think of anything.” Well, now you don't have to, all you have to do is write them.

Just PM or email me if your interested in the ideas.

Love and Marriage

Chapter Three

Sokka sighed and blew at the hair in his face. He had taken down his hair and it hung by the sides of his face to his chin is soft, straight chocolate colored locks.

Currently he was sitting out in the courtyard of Xiao Lang Academy and sharpening his black bladed sword. Him and his father had witnessed a shower of falling stars in the South Pole and one had fallen to the snowy ground. Hakudo had let Sokka make the sword out of the metal from the space rock and when Hakudo left to fight the Fire Nation, Sokka gave it to him. When they left Appa and the others at the bay, Hakudo gave Sokka back the sword and encouraged him to use it.

A sharp crash came from his right and he sharply turned to see Toph with a tall, wooden staff hit a few targets.

They had been at the school for four days now. It had turned out that both Feng Mei and Xiao Lang knew of Toph's blindness. They had been stuck with trying to find a plausible excuse to how Toph could still move and see without actual eyesight. Instead, Feng Mei and Xiao Lang seemed to make one for them and yelled in awed words that Toph was gifted by Agni with foresight or something to those terms.

They went on to say they were then gifted by spirits and chosen to “teach” Toph how to better her ability and teach her every weapon they could. Saying they were honoring the spirits because they were chosen to teach her since she appeared at their school.

Sokka had a sneaking suspicion the two old teachers knew just exactly who they were and what they intended to do but he couldn't be sure. Either way, they didn't seem all that evil like he assumed all Fire Nation people were...

Toph let out a shout of glee as she managed to hit the mark with the staff and twirled the staff in victory.

She was still quiet but she was quickly coming out of her shell and he was glad.

Toph had her hair up in her traditional bun once again with a pointed gold headband much like her old green one.

She wore pale red, baggy pants that were pulled tight around her mid calf and a sleeveless matching pale red top that left her shoulders and neck completely bare. A dark burgundy colored wrap was tied around her thin waist and tied in the front.

On her wrists were thick, dark red and gold bands with pale red cloth spilling from the bands and falling over her palms.

He smiled and reached in his pocket. In his hand was a ragged, black piece of rock. It was the same type of metal from his sword.

Toph had already managed to master Metal bending while on the ship.

He planned to give it to her but lately, he could barely talk to her without stumbling. He was just glad she couldn't actually see his blush.

A fighting staff hit the ground in front of him and he looked up to see Toph standing over him, one arm holding out the staff and the other leaning on her hip.

“Why are you being so lazy?”

Sokka scowled and plopped down to lie on his back. “It's our break time. This is the time I get to be lazy.”

Toph frowned but shrugged and dropped the staff before falling backwards and laying right beside him. “So, is it just me or do Mei-Mei and Old Man seem a bit...”

Sokka chuckled at Toph's nicknames for Feng Mei and Xiao Lang. “Suspicious? Yeah, I've been thinking that to.”

Toph put her hands on her stomach and propped up her knees. “They don't seem like bad people. I would question them and see if they'd lie but they seem like the people who would know just what I as up to...”

Sokka nodded and gave Toph a small smile, one she couldn't technically see and moved to put the rock back in his pocket. It was too late though, Toph had felt him playing with it.

“What'cha got there?” Toph asked and reached over to grab it.

Sokka's eyes widened and his gulped. Blushing he pulled the rock behind his back and moved nervously away from the girl trying to get it from him. “It's nothing!”

Toph's eyelids lowered and one of her delicate black eyebrows raised. “Weren't we just talking about how I can tell when people lie?”

Sokka nodded slowly.

Toph grinned foxily and held out her hand. “Now be a good boy and give me that.”

Sokka stood up and moved further away, “Give you what?”

Toph stood up and grabbed her staff. “Don't make me use this!”

Ah, now I know why I'm so glad when we come here. Toph can't do any damaging earthbending attacks on me. “Just try it.” Sokka said smugly, sure Toph couldn't possible hurt him when she couldn't earthbend.

Toph scowled and swiftly swiped at Sokka's left side, which he dodged but she knew he move and hit him in the back of his knees, making hi fall the ground in one quick fluid motion. Twirling the staff, she shoved it two inches from nose and smirked. “I think you have something for me.”

Sokka blushed at how she said it, since he was initially going to give it to her. “Just let me up.” Sokka complied in a defeated voice.

As soon as Toph withdrew the wooden staff, he knocked it from her hands and gave a shout of victory. “Not as tough as you think you are, huh!” Sokka said smugly as he stood up and even tossed the meteorite in his hands mockingly.

Toph's pale eyes seemed to glare at him but instead of frowning, she smirked.

Sokka gulped and only managed to take a step back before Toph pounced on him and began to try and roughly pull at his arms, intending to take the rock with force. Sokka shoved the rock in the folds of his shirt and pulled at Toph's hands, trying to get her off him.

“Just let me see it! You've been playing with it constantly lately, I wanna know what it is!”

Sokka gaped at her and mentally slapped his head, knowing he should have figured she'd have known about it from the start. “Your so nosy! Can't a guy have some privacy without your echo-location vision spying on my all the time!”

Toph stood still and blushed. “I don't spy on you all the time!”

Sokka immediately smirked at her pink face. “Suuure. That's why your blushing.”

Toph blushed a darker color and let go of one of his arms before promptly punched his shoulder. “I'm not blushing!”

“OW! Alright fine! Your not blushing and you don't spy on me!” Sokka said flinching.

Toph smirked and crossed her arms, still straddling him around his waist.

“Of course your not blushing, I mean why would you when you don't spy on me,” Sokka started with a vicious grin, unable to help himself. “All the time. You only spy on me half of the time.”

Toph uncrossed her arms and pushed down on his shoulders, her faces inches from his making him blush this time. “Why you!”

“Now now, what did we say about all this public displays of affection!” Xiao Lang started with his arms crossed.

Sokka immediately sat up, causing Toph to stumble down from his lap with a small shout.

“Oh my...” Feng Mei said, hand on her cheek and shaking her head. “”How inappropriate.”

Sokka stood up and shook his head. “It's not what you think!” he tried to explain, blushing and waving his arms around frantically.

Toph snickered, still sprawled out along the ground. Sokka sent her a glare that went unheeded.

- - - - - - -

Zuko frowned as he stared up at the grandeur of the Fire Nation palace, glowing with the heat of many intricate torches and shining with golden walls and painted in the richest of reds. He was home... and yet he couldn't understand why he's never felt more to his right, he watched as his uncle was led towards the dungeons, his neck and his wrists wrapped in metal chains. Zuko's expression darkened. Uncle...

Azula eyed her brother as he stood before the grand doors to their palace home and frowned thoughtfully. For three years she had not seen nor heard from her brother. When she first saw Zuko she had tried to capture and imprison him after having heard about the siege on the Northern Water Tribe and how he not only failed but had destroyed what would have been a successful victory.

Oh how she had loathed him and was disgusted by him... she was again reminded of all the disgraceful words father would spew in his name and why she denounced him as her brother.

An eight year old Azula laughed loudly and joyously as she ran behind her mothers long and billowy red skirts. Ursa gave a surprised shout before soft chuckling escaped her and she pat her daughters head with affection, her eyes alight with soft and tender love. Azula smiled and admired her mothers beauty.

A childish shout and boyish giggle broke her of her trance and she returned to hiding but only momentarily as her older brother jumped in front of her, forcing her to take off in a flurry of giggles.

Far from the Palace gardens, Azula and Zuko ran unknowingly into a section of the Palace they were forbidden to enter.

Azula stopped, skidding on her small, pointed shoes and barely missed crashing into her father.

Zuko did not have as good of luck as he stopped too short and crashed fully into their father and fell harshly onto his back.

The generals that walked with Ozai eyed Zuko with disgust and annoyance, Ozai sharing a similar look of disdain. Azula titled her head, unsure why they showed such looks to her older brother.

“These are your children, Prince Ozai?”

Ozai nodded distantly and shot a large flame out at the target he and the men practiced their firebending with.

“Are you not training them?” Another general questioned, shocked.

It was in that moment that their father had begun to teach them, and what he realized the potential each child had. When Azula had firebended, she hit the mark, albeit on the side of the target but with brilliant blue flames that were surprisingly powerful. ...When Zuko had been made to hit the target, he bared managed to ignite a foot in front of his hand and his fire was but a small sparkling shock. Their father had been so ashamed and the generals even had the audacity to laugh and mock.

Much later that day, when the sun was dying in the distance and darkness covered the land, Azula and Zuko were settling for bed.

Her mother had tucked her into bed and whispered her prayers and happy dreams as she kissed her daughters forehead before closing the door to bid Zuko a good night as well. While Ursa tucked her brother into bed, she was visited by her father for the first time she could remember.

He asked if she'd like to be read a story and had brought her the prettiest doll she had ever seen, carved of smooth porcelain. He set the doll on the top of her dresser and said it was a gift for such a wonderful job she had done at bending and had asked if she would like to learn more. At first she had been hesitant and so he told her a story of the greatest firebenders and how firebending was beautiful, graceful and given only to those who could treasure it and should be treasured and mastered.

After the story, Azula had agreed.

Ozai had begun to cry and his face reddened with upset. After Azula asked what was wrong, he had told her how upset he was with Zuko's performance. Azula had at first mentioned Zuko had made a pretty spark and could be better. Ozai poisoned her mind and told her how Zuko knew better then that and when he was her age he was offered to be trained but had instead wished to play and be lazy.

Ozai told her how it upset him and how Zuko had made him look bad to the generals in the fire fields, where they had practiced. Ozai visisted her every night and told her a story and talked about how sad Iroh and Zuko made him and many cruel things the two had done to him.

Azula began to believe him and side with him, no longer wishing to play with her beloved big brother but instead wished to train and hung around her father day in and day out.

Ursa had tried to persuade Azula to relax and enjoy her childhood but Ozai refused it and when Ursa would attempt to put her foot down, Ozai would tell Azula of horrible things Ursa had done and how she favored Zuko to Azula.

He taught her to manipulate situations and people and told her everyday how Ursa would side with Zuko and how she loved Zuko best. Azula would then do something horrible and blame Zuko and yet, somehow her mother always comforted and believed Zuko and never believed her and so, she believed her father.

She believed it more when Ursa would no longer tuck Azula into bed and no longer kiss her forehead goodnight.

She hated them both for hurting her father and hated them both for hurting her.

Azula could still remember it clearly, but after spending months in Be Sing Se with Zuko, recalling past memories and creating new ones... she could not recreate an image of a horrible brother but only see the brother that protected her and fought beside her. The brother who talked and reminisced with her and who had sat with her and enjoyed her company, enjoyed being her brother and having her as his sister.

“Hey Azula, are you alright?” Ty Lee asked, flipping over Azula's head, landing and standing inches from her face.

Inside, Azula's heart sped up at the sudden surprise but outwardly she merely blinked as a reaction and smirked. “Space, Ty Lee.”

Ty Lee blushed and grinned before cartwheeling to stand beside Azula, a good foot and a half between them to accommodate Azula's wishes.

Azula looked ahead of her and saw the dark shadows beneath her brothers eyes and the confused countenance of his stance. She frowned as she watched him eye everything in a sad, wistful manner and how he seemed stiff and paranoid, on alert for any such predators who would pop out of no where and imprison him or intended to kill him.

This was their home, one Zuko had not laid eyes or feet upon in years and one Azula had been away from in months, where she was for the first time on her own and away from her fathers influence and now that they are back, the changes in them are greater then ever.

Zuko had become a solitary figure, lost in the finery of his own birthright and knowing his very heritage could be the death of him. His father had burned and banished him and all he wanted was to renew his honor and just once, experience his fathers good graces. He was a prince, a brother, a son and a nephew.

He was banished, he was disowned and he now was a deceitful betrayer. His eyes were cold, and dark, watching his surrounding in swift alertness and ready to kill at an given moment. Almost all warmth of his soul gone to be replaced by the visage of a dangerous man.

Azula had become a confused soul, lost in what was real and what was fairytale. She had been told tales of how her brother was shameful and disgraceful but on her own she had encountered the very opposite. She knew in her heart that this was not the brother who had stolen all the affection of their mother and wished to hurt her and her father.

She was once a princess of cold and calculating tactics, gifted by the fire spirits. She was a sister to a brother whom she assumed envied and hated her. She was a daughter to a mother whom she assumed ignored and abandoned her ...and she was a cruel niece who hated her uncle and his birthright as the next Fire Lord.

Now she was a princess lost and confused in her own reality, a prodigy in the bending but awed by her brother, who not having been gifted was a powerful bender through hard work and experience. She had disowned her own brother who was not some envious monster but a protective brother. ...And she was a daughter to a mother who had not hated her but whom she hated and who had not left her but her and the brother who had supposedly stolen all her love. She was a niece who pitted nephew against uncle and damned her family to prison.

Her eyes were no longer cold and dark, calculating the surrounding and planning new tactics but studying her brother with the regret and shame of her own person. She was no longer the beautiful dangerous princess, but a little girl who missed her mother and with soft warmth, watched her brother and whispered in her mind, what has she done... to a brother who still loved her even after all her evil deeds...

- - - - - - -

Katara frowned and blew at a stray piece of soft chocolate colored locks that had fallen in her face.

Aang watched her and smiled. “Don't worry, we'll find a way. We always do.”

Katara nodded and pulled at his hand in a comforting gesture. Whether for Aang or for herself, she couldn't really tell as she stared at the massive line of people being forced to join the military since they were firebenders. A small gasp escaped her as she saw a young, eight year old child being trained to master his firebending by shooting at a lifelike target. The target's heart burst to flames at the boy made his move.

“Everyone apparently suffers from this war, not just the other nations, but their own.” Aang whispered despairingly as he eyed the harsh training for the young children and for the crippled old.

Katara pulled Aang away, no longer wishing to see such atrocities and as they left, unable to stare any longer, they couldn't help but continue to see the image of suffering in their minds eye.

- - - - - - -

A week later, Azula witnessed,Zuko fleeing from the dungeons, his face flushed and angry red and his eyes wet with unshed tears. In his hand, an ancient fire nation relic was gripped tightly in his fist, the sharp gold edges of a crown cutting into his skin.

“Who am I... and what have I done!” Zuko shouted to no one in particular as his collapsed on the ground and finally cried.

Azula hid behind the post, several feet away and looked at her hands. “Who am I... and what have I done...”

Chapter End

PS. I LOVE THE NEW EPISODES! Ah, so awesomely awesome. They are coming along pretty darn good. IF TOPH HAD BETTER LINES AND BIGGER PARTS and actual GOOD WORTHY episodes.

I mean, I cheated. I saw all nine episodes but I do watch them when they come out or tape 'em still...

Anyway, Toph's episode is The Runaway but come ON! Even Sokka got a more worthy episode, where it was serious and NOT goofy... even though it had it's moments. Yes, The Runaway is a semi-serious episode but Toph is getting shorted on some character development here. She's become the comic relief of the group now. It makes me sad cause she is my favorite. Katara is cool and all and I think she's a great character but Toph is my favorite so I have a right to be mad.

I'll stop complaining now.

Please review me. It makes me happy.

AND READ MY AUTHOR NOTES! PLEASE?