A/N; Even though she does not even begin to amount to Dr. Phil... I still love Oprah. Her show is so inspiring! XD Erm... for this... just imagine that Toph left the gAang, and it's been four years. Please?

Houdini Affect

She knew she was passing someone on the skinny dirt path, and obviously it was someone familiar when they stumbled and gave a spluttering, "T-Toph?!"

"Hey, Sokka," she greeted in return, not faltering in her steady gait (but instead silently willing him to follow). He stopped, too, and she could almost imagine the sour look on his face replacing the surprised one. She knew that he, too, wished that she would follow him. But then he must have remembered that this was Toph who (probably) wouldn't stop to aid an abandoned kitten, much less an old companion, and gave a sigh, galloping along until he reached her side.

"So..." he said, footfalls thumping rhythmically below. "It's... been a while, huh?"

"Four years," she replied. "Your voice is different, Snoozles."

"Really?" he asked. She smirked. "Yours too, I guess." Toph tilted her head to the side and he coughed. "Deeper, I guess."

"Gee, thanks."

"Not like a guy!" he corrected hastily. "Like... not so high-pitched and... whiny, you know?"

"No. I don't," she said icily, scowling in his general direction. "Why don't you explain further?"

He cried out in frustration and didn't reply. Toph's dour look melted, if slowly, for it really had been a long time, and why sully a long-awaited reunion with petty arguments? She cleared her throat. "So tell me; how on earth did you survive four years without me?"

"I'm not helpless!" he squawked, and she could tell by the various patterns of air gusting on her bare arm that he was waving his own vigorously.

"So you got over that phase?" she teased. He groaned in return.

"You're still the same spiteful person you were back then, Toph."

"Yeah," she agreed with a cheeky grin. "I don't plan to change for nothin'!" Prodding his arm she said, "And are you the same meat-loving, sarcastic wimp you were at fifteen?"

"You bet!" he replied, pleased that she remembered the phrase, if slightly butchered by her harsh tongue. At least she was speaking with him at all. "What are you doing out here now?'

"Changing the subject?"

"Just curious."

"Actually, I was suffocating at home. I was going on a walk."

"And how long was this walk," Sokka asked skeptically. She grinned back.

"If my internal clock's working right, five days."

She could hear Sokka smack his forehead.

"Is your dad going to send out some crazy troop or something after you?"

"I'm sixteen!" she exclaimed. "I can totally take care of myself."

"Does he think that?"

"... Good point. So what are you doing?"

"Katara sent me to the nearest town for medicinal herbs or... something." By the slight muffle in his voice, she could tell that he'd turned his head away. "We're camped over there."

"Yeah. That's so helpful, Sokka."

"Right. Sorry."

Toph abruptly stopped. Sokka skidded to a halt too, blinking at her. "What's up?"

"You!" she cried, and he jumped. Her outburst was unexpected and very, very random. Just like her. "Come here! It's driving me crazy!" He approached her, standing a cautious foot away from her body. She tilted her head upward toward his. "Say something."

"What do you want me to say?"

"Anything."

He huffed.

"You're as confusing as you were before."

"Oh?" She lifted her hand and he expected her to hit him. When she didn't, he continued.

"Yeah. You're basically the same." He paused, and her hand rose to his neck. He gulped, hurrying on. "I mean, sure, you're taller, and you... um... " he coughed, "look more like a girl now-- NOT THAT YOU DIDN'T BEFORE, but now you've got... things and stuff."

"Things and stuff?" she chuckled, finding his cheek. "Come on, Snoozles. Are you really still so awkward that you can't even name things and stuff?"

"Well...!" he cried indignantly. "Fine! You've got... curves! You didn't have those before!"

"I was twelve." She reached his forehead, and had to lift herself on her toes.

"Right." Heat radiated from his cheeks onto her forearm. She hopped once, and was able to reach the top of his head.

"You're so tall..."

"Really?!" He was excited. She scowled.

"I hate you for it."

Sokka groaned. "You're going to ruin a perfectly good compliment, Toph!"

"I hate being short!" she whined, tugging on his ear. "Nobody takes me seriously!"

"Hey!" he retorted. "I'm tall and nobody takes me seriously!"

"That's because you're Sokka."

"Again with the insults!" he muttered, blinking when she laughed. It wasn't vindictive or sadistic laughter; it was oddly soft. Her fingertips slowly traced the line of his jaw and her brow furrowed in concentration.

"What are you...?"

"In my free time," she answered, fingering his chin with her thumb, "I've taught myself to see with feel as well as sound. It took two years... but I finally discovered what my father's face resembled." She smiled and dusted her fingers over his eyelids, which he closed. "I'll never know the color of his skin is, or his eyes; I can't even imagine it. I'll never know what green is, or amber or brown, or red. I'll never be able to discern whether the sun is this fabled yellow or orange that people debate. I'll never see the sun set or rise, though, apparently, it's a breathtaking sight." Small fingers followed the curve of his nose downward. "But know, I can almost see who I'm talking to."

His breath hitched when her index finger brushed feather-light over his lower lip. "Toph..."

"Shh." Her head cocked to the side and she blinked. "You have thin lips, Sokka."

"Compared to what?"

"To my aunt's, my governess', but not to Father's."

"Nice to know."

"Come here."

His eyes widened and when he didn't move, she lowered her hands to the front of his shirt.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming!"

When he bent lower, Toph wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him close. His chin fit in the curve of her neck, and she turned, breathing in his scent. "No need to shout this to the mountaintops, but, Lord, I've missed you."

His heart skipped a beat and he was slow, almost hesitant in wrapping his arms around her waist. "Then... come back with me."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Toph smiled. "You really want this spiteful person in your life again?"

"No need to shout this to the mountaintops," he said, grinning, "but you never left."

"You mush-monster!" she cried, tapping her toe to the ground. A pebble hit the back of his head, and he lurched forward out of sheer surprise. Toph squawked as they both toppled over.

"Oh, geez, are you okay?"

"Do I look like a delicate little flower to you?" she muttered. It took a moment for him to realize that they were in a very suggestive position, her laying under him with his legs straddling her waist, and he sat up, blushing furiously.

"No. No, you don't."

She followed his lead, sliding her legs out from under him and sitting. She could feel his gaze on her eyes, and instantly pulled back when his face's proximity with hers was frighteningly close. "Sokka, what are you--"

Thin lips. Thin lips, large, strong hands, one at the back of her neck, one clasping her hands together (probably to stop her from bending a bunch of boulders to aim for his cranium). It was an odd combination and a handful of very new feelings.

She found herself unable of thinking thoughts to escape for a long, long time.

: Don't look back at a new direction
I love you once, needed protection
You're still a part of everything I do
You're on my heart just like a tattoo :

- Fin -