Okay, this is my first Avatar fanfic, I'm normally only doing Naruto ones, but I've gotten so into this that this was the only thing that could get me to get back into my other fanfics and break the Writer's Block I've been on.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Avatar.

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They had lost. Plain and simple, they had lost. How foolish had they been to think that the Fire Nation wouldn't have thought that if an invasion were to happen, that it would take place of the Day of Black Sun? Now most of their allies were captured and there was very little that the small group of kids could do to save them. It had been a couple hours since they finally arrived at the Western Air Temple and everyone was either skulking around and thinking about what had happened that day, or frantically freaking out like a certain twelve year old Avatar.

But not Toph, sure she had the events of the day swirling around in her head, but many other things as well. She was currently sitting on a ledge that she had been told opened out to a view of 'the whole world', as Sokka had remarked to her on their ascent up to the temple. "Are you okay?" The Earthbender suddenly heard behind her, causing her to jump slightly at the surprise.

Once her senses came back to her, she noticed that it was Katara who had startled her so. 'Was I really that deep in thought that I didn't even notice her?' She thought as the girl clad in what she had been told was blue proceeded to sit next to her. "What are you doing out here Sugar Queen? Shouldn't you be trying to calm Aang down? He's been freaking out since we got here." Toph spat out, half in retaliation for catching her off guard, and half just for the hell of it.

After hearing a sigh, Toph could tell from the way the girl moved that she was looking out over what must have been a beautiful sunset. "Wow, it's beautiful! You sure can pick a spot Toph…"

"You're starting to sound like your brother…" She said with her sarcasm laced voice, yet also with a small smile on her face.

"Oh! I'm so sorry Toph; I didn't mean it like that! It's been a stressful day…and it just slipped…" She started to stammer out.

"It's okay, really. I kind of like it when that happens?" She said with a smile as her thoughts drifted back to the many times a warrior with a wolf-tail had forgotten.

Katara's eyebrow went up in confusion at hearing that. "Like it? How is that?"

"I just do okay!" After sitting there a moment in silence Toph figured that she didn't need to add to the strain of the day with being defensive. "I like it when Sokka does it…" She said meekly, Katara turning to her in slight surprise because she had never heard Toph talk like that to her. "It makes me feel normal, when Sokka forgets I don't see it as him 'forgetting', but as him seeing me as a normal person. He doesn't act like most everyone else does if they know I'm blind, he sees me for me and I like it."

Katara sat there, just taking in what the girl had told her when a small smile came over her. "You should tell him how you feel." Hearing that, Toph snapped her head to where she figured Katara's was and stared a little bit off target with a gaping mouth. This of course caused Katara to let out a light giggle at her antics. "Come on Toph, you didn't seriously think it was your big secret or something did you?" Getting yet another bit of silence from the girl she figured that Toph had thought it was a secret. "We Water Tribe people are very perceptive as a matter of fact. You didn't think that anyone would pick up on you consistently clinging to him on Appa? Or how you missed him the most out of everyone when he was sword training?"

Toph just sat there gaping at the Waterbender until her brain reloaded. "Well you suck at being 'perceptive' for your own business! Sokka is horrible at it and so are you!" She grumbled at Katara, a blush forming on her face for being found out.

"What do you mean by that!?" Katara said with a glare.

"It took you this long to figure out Twinkle Toes has it bad for you?!" Toph just grinned when she felt Katara's heartbeat skyrocket and felt her tapping her fingers nervously against the ground. "Looks like we're even now, but you really should know better than to think that I wasn't going to pick up your increased heart rate after you kissed him on top of that "Sub" thing we rode in!" She remarked with laughter in her voice.

"Damn her!" Katara said under her breath.

"I heard that too…"

"Enough about me…seriously, why don't you tell him?" She asked while reaching her hand over and putting it softly on Toph's shoulder.

Quickly swatting Katara's hand off of her shoulder, Toph crossed her arms and sighed heavily. "Because there's no use in it. He would never see me the way I see him, he's all uppity about Suki now…you heard him on Appa, Aang told you what Azula said and how he reacted."

"You really think that?" She asked, getting a slow nod back from the girl next to her. Katara sighed as she thought back on her discussion with Aang earlier.

"Why do you think he went off the handle about Suki" The Avatar asked Katara.

"He wants to prove himself wrong…He thinks he's cursed that any girl he falls for is going to end up dead. It happened with Yue, and he thought it did with Suki. He wants to prove to himself that he isn't cursed so that he can move on." She stated, getting an understanding nod from Aang.

"Of course I believe that!" Toph said loudly, throwing her hands in the air and plopping all the way to the ground, laying her forearm over her face. "Why else would he be so crazy about it? I'm just his friend in his eyes; I'm not match for Suki…" She said weakly, it was a good thing her arm was in front of her face. She didn't want Katara to see her tears as they leaked from her sightless eyes.

"I may not be observant on my own matters, but I know my brother. You've got it all wrong; Suki is no match for you." This caught Toph's attention; she sat up and secretly whipped her eyes cleared of tears as she did. "There's nothing really going for him and Suki anyway. Any attempt at a relationship between them would fail horribly; they've only spent like three days total together. One of which he resented he because she beat him up, another he was being to overprotective for any real bonding to happen. The only thing that keeps her in his mind is that she gave him his first kiss."

Toph took all of this in, and couldn't help but crack a smile. Maybe there was a chance for her after all. "Besides, I've never seen him bond with anyone more than he does with you. You two do everything together, he talks with you all the time, and like you said about him not seeing you as just a blind person, he feels the same way about you not thinking of him as just a non-bender. Plus, he told you that thing about out mother…he's never told anyone that, let alone even talk about her with anyone other than a passing reference, not even with me."

"You heard that!?!"

"I might have…accidentally heard it…I was taking a bath in the lake under the cliff you were on. What other reason would I have for suddenly wanting to go do some crazy scam with you?" She remarked with a sly smile. "He cares for you a lot more than you would know, probably more than he knows."

They sat there in silence for about a minute before Toph let out a satisfied sigh. "Thanks Katara…" Katara was just about to tell her that it was no problem when she was suddenly punched rather hard on the shoulder. "If you tell anyone about this I'm going to bend you off this mountain! You got it!?"

"Of course." She said while she rubbed her now pained arm. Then they both heard a shriek that could only come from Sokka and the laughter of the people inside the Temple. "I better go; it sounds like Haru is freaking Sokka out with his facial hair again." She said as she stood up and dusted off herself. "I'll talk to Sokka a little bit once everyone calms down in there."

"Thanks…but don't tell him too much!" Toph said to the Waterbender, with a nod Katara left and went back to where everyone else was. Leaving Toph to herself, the moment she was alone again Toph slid her bracelet down and off her arm and began to bend it like she always would do when she was bored. A smile breaking her face as she bent the greatest gift she had ever been given into a heart and then quickly back in to its original form only with the addition of a small heart on the center of it. With a larger smile she slid it back onto her arm and made her way inside to get something to eat.

The earlier feeling that the entire group had shared upon arriving at the Temple was washed away over dinner. Everyone was soon laughing and having a great time while Sokka decided to tell all of the newcomers to the group the story of their journey along with in the specific stories that were about each new member. Toph had a great time, some stories she had heard slightly different, or not at all, such as the story pertaining to The Duke. But she couldn't stop the huge smile that was on her face when he retold her story, how he had acted before she knew him and his antics at Earth Rumble 6. But she also noticed that it was this story that he took the most time and care into telling, almost like it was one of his favorites.

But eventually it got late and the stories got to the present, everyone then wandered off to their own little areas to fall asleep and hope that none of the Fire Nation's War Balloons found where they were. Toph and made her way back outside and close to the ledge she had been earlier. With a flick of her wrist a Toph sized Earth-tent rose from the ground. But she wasn't exactly tired yet, only wanting to get it up so that when she was tired, she wouldn't wake anyone up with the Earthbending.

She just sat there, for hours just captivated by her thoughts. So many things running through her mind, but there was always one thing that her thoughts always raced back to…Sokka. She couldn't deny it any longer; at first she had thought it just a crush. But over time he had became much more than that. Even though in her mind she knew that to say it out loud would sound crazy, even to her, it just wasn't something the rough and tough Toph would say. But in her mind it bounced around like The Boulder's ego on Boulder Night and she couldn't keep it quiet, she loved Sokka. She loved him and it felt so right, but at the same time it was the scariest thing she had ever thought. With the new development with Azula and Suki, she was not only afraid of telling him and being hurt herself, but also hurting him by possibly making his heart confused.

She was suddenly rudely brought out of her thoughts when a body plopped down next to her and gave her a little shake. "Earth to Toph! You in there?" Sokka said as he shook her shoulders.

"Damn, twice in one day!" She said under her breath, cursing at just how much her mind was distracting her. "Yeah what do you want Snoozles?"

Sokka just let out a laugh. "Ah, it's been a while since you've called me that!" He sat there in silence for a moment, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. He had just had a small talk with Katara that was really messing with his head. She had told him that she heard his little talk with Toph about their mother and had asked why he never told her that. He had just stuttered around and not really come up with an answer, but then she huffed at him and asked him why he had chosen to tell Toph before storming off with an odd smile on her face.

He had originally decided to ignore her and just go to bed, but it kept nagging in the back of his mind. Why had he told Toph? He then took time to sort out his mind, but along the way to sorting he was bombarded with all of the different things they had done together and sort of realized some things. Also the image of her smile at dinner when he told her story kept popping up to the forefront of his mind.

"Well maybe I should call you it more often if it gets you to zone out like that!" he heard Toph say in her normal sarcastic voice, snapping him out of his thoughts. "So what do you want?"

"What? Can't a guy just come and talk with one of his best friends when he can't sleep?" He replied in his own brand of sarcasm, a smile growing on his face when he saw her own form at his joke. "But seriously…I can out to…apologize I guess."

"Apologize? For what?" She asked in a concerned voice, she could feel his heartbeat speed up slightly as well and a nervous twitch in his right leg. From her experience with the Boomerang Boy, the left leg meant he was in trouble if Katara found out, his hand meant he was stressed out about upcoming events, and the twitching of his toes meant he was hungry and tired of waiting for dinner. But she had never made a connection with a right leg twitch.

"For what happened with Azula, I wasted the last of our time trying to pry information out of her when we could have been busting into the Fire Lord's chamber." He then said with a hung head.

Toph instantly knew that a right leg twitch must mean guilt. But when speaking up to respond, she couldn't make herself speak louder than what must have sounded like a depressed mumble. "Its fine, you care for her and was worried. I understand."

Sokka just looked at the girl to his left, hearing her speak in that tone almost hurt him. There was a hint of pain in her voice and for some reason he desperately wanted to make it all better again. "I won't let you down again Toph, I promise."

'Let me down? Oh crap! Has he figured me out!? Quick, I've got to change the subject!' She screamed in her mind, but lucky for her Sokka's wandering eyes did that for her.

"Wow, it's beautiful out here! You sure found a great spot, very romant…I mean" He corrected himself in a panic. "What I meant was…it's nice out here."

Toph's face just lit up with a ferocious blush. The first thing the boy had thought to comment on was that it was a romantic spot! Maybe her mind was just playing tricks on her, but she had felt his hear rate skyrocket up as soon as he had caught himself, it had gone up to the same pattern that Katara had when ever she would have something Aang related said to her that came close to having romantic implications. With a smile adding onto her blush she reached out and gave him a playful gentle nudge to the shoulder. "I'm blind idiot…"

'How could I have forgotten again!?! She must hate it when I do that!' He thought while he shook his head in disappointment at himself. "Sorry…."

"What does it look like?" She said quietly in response, Sokka just looked oddly at her. He had been expecting a wave of rocks or perhaps a hard punch, but not this.

"Well…there's a few clouds scattered across the sky just, between them you can see millions of stars twinkling behind them. The view goes on for miles; you can see several smaller mountains that are light up slightly by the nighttime light."

Toph could feel him relaxing as he described the night sky to her. In her mind she was taking everything in and trying to paint a picture of the moment in her mind. With a slight blush she scooted a little bit closer to him. Then with a firm decision in her mind to go for it, she lightly placed her hand over his as it sat on the ground next to him. Feeling the warm hand laid on top of his he abruptly stopped his description and Toph could feel his heart rate skyrocket once more. Leaning closer to him, she cemented her plan in her mind and spoke, not taking her hand off his. She was trusting what Katara had told her and was going to do this. "Is the moon out tonight?"

Sokka just smiled at the sight of her hand on his, it just seemed right for some reason. Lifting his hand up slightly, he grasped her's and intertwined their fingers. "Yeah, she's out and is about half way in the waning cycle. Why?"

Toph's smile broadened; once more he referred to the Moon as a 'she', Katara had told her the story of Princess Yue a while ago, so she understood. It would work perfectly with her plan. "Did you know that in the Earth Kingdom they pray to the Moon?" She could feel Sokka shake his head in a 'no' response, once again forgetting she couldn't see him. "Everyone knows that the Moon gives Waterbender's their power, so the connection is made with water. The people would ask the Moon to bring rain if there was a drought, or to stop floods. She's an important aspect of our culture, just like your's." Sokka heard her refer to the Moon in the same way he did and raised his eyebrow in confusion, not thinking she knew the story. "I've asked the Moon for something before…" She said almost silently, almost breaking and not going through with her plan, but she was determined and inched even closer to him.

"What did you ask for?" Sokka asked, both of them now looking at each other and totally in the moment.

Leaning in close, their lips mere inches apart, Toph decided to seal the deal. "Her blessing for this…" After those words she closed the distance and kissed him. It was a light and gentle kiss, full of raw feelings, but soon it grew as Sokka returned the kiss. It soon became heated as Toph poured her entire heart into and Sokka received every ounce of it. She had released his hand and had slipped her hands around his neck, pulling them closer together as their kiss deepend. Sokka was in heaven; never before had he shared a kiss like this with anyone, let alone experienced the feeling that was now exploding from his chest. It felt like it was meant to be and he embraced it, he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her tightly.

Finally they broke, both of them gasping for air yet still not releasing one another. It was Sokka who first broke the silence when he pulled Toph into his lap so that their embrace could deepen. "I think she gives her blessing, and I would know. She's a close personal friend of mine!"

Toph just let out a small giggle and laid her head against his chest, feeling his heartbeat going crazy. Swallowing hard she took a chance and decided to finish was she had started, there was now no doubt in her mind that he liked her, now all that was left was to let him know just how much she cared. "I love you Sokka…"

His eyes went wide when he heard that, no girl had ever told him that, not Yue or Suki. But he didn't respond, he just held her tighter and smiled. Toph then smiled as well, he didn't need to respond, his heart had done that for him. She had felt the truth of the matter in its rapid beating and smiled, knowing that even if his mouth couldn't say it, his heart always would.

After a couple minutes Sokka realized that Toph had drifted off to sleep in his arms. Being careful not to wake her, he scooted them both back until he was being propped up by one of the walls of Toph's now unused Earth-tent. He moved around slightly so that he could get comfortable, which was very easy to do when you have someone like Toph in your arms. Once he was settled he looked down at Toph, who by now was clinging tightly to his chest with a smile on her face. Reaching down he planted a gentle kiss on her forehead and smiled. 'I love you too, Toph.' He thought what his mouth had wanted to say earlier, but it wasn't long before sleep took him, it was just the beginning to their new journey together. A journey that he hoped wouldn't get found out in the morning.

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Well I hope you all enjoyed that, I'm a huge Tokka supporter and it's my fav ship in Avatar. This might go beyond a oneshot if enough people like it. So please review and tell me what you think and what you liked so I can gauge if I should make another chapter.