Eyes Wide Shut

Eyes Wide Shut:
_{A prelude to Tokka Week 4}

"When did she become so beautiful?"  Sokka thought to himself as he watched Toph wring out her long tresses.  They had been caught in a sudden rain shower that forced them to abandon their trail and find shelter.  With luck they had happened to find an abandoned farm house, but not before becoming soaked to the bone.  

Upon their entry into the small, one room structure, Sokka had set to the task of building a fire in the old fireplace, grateful for the stack of wood that he found beside it.  After the fire had roared to life, he turned to find that Toph hadn't wasted any time to get out of her drenched clothing – though her chest was still wrapped and she wore her breechcloth.   Her form glowed before him by the light of the fire, bringing a reaction that he didn't expect - his pulse quickened as his heart pounded the blood through his body.

Unaware of this change in him, because the floor was made of wood, Toph continued to go about her business unknowingly; gathering up her discarded clothing to dry them by the fire.

"How old is she again?" Sokka asked himself and quickly did the math in his head.  It had been 4 years since the end of the war – so she was 16.  She hadn't grown much in the height department, and her usual baggy clothes hid where she had grown.  His eyes raked over her body as she approached him.  Her musculature was lean, her waist was slim and her breasts were full.  

"Sokka?" she asked.  She only knew that she was moving towards the warmth of the fire, where she had last heard him, but other than that, she was completely blind.  

"Yeah?" his voice cracked and he cleared his throat. "Over here," he said.  She adjusted her footing slightly to the left and continued towards him.  "Here, let me take those," he offered and took her wet bundle of cloths.  He turned away with a blush, and moved to hang her clothes off of the back of a chair; which he then moved closer to the fire.  Toph had made her way closer to the fireplace and was rubbing her arms vigorously with the attempt to warm up.

Sokka shivered violently before prying his eyes away from her and moving to remove his own wet clothing, which he then hung from the back of a second chair.   He moved closer to the fire, struggling with his inner turmoil.  The young woman before him… was his friend…  She was a comrade, someone who he trusted with his life in battle; he felt that she was off limits as a rule of trade.  Yet, he was suddenly well aware that she was no longer a twelve-year-old kid.  

Toph began to work the knots out of her waist length hair.  She sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the fire; her blind eyes staring into the flames.  She knew that he was standing behind her, but startled when she felt him kneel there and run his fingers through her hair.

"Here, let me help," he said.  

"Thanks…" she muttered, acutely aware of his body being so close.  She had thought that her childhood crush had disappeared.  They hadn't seen each other for years, until recently when he showed up at her parent's home in Gaoling.  Needless to say, her parents weren't happy to see him.  After she had returned home from the war they had kept her under lock and key for awhile, fearing that she would run away again.  She proved again and again that their efforts were in vein, as she continually escaped to the Earth Rumble tournaments – which she still held the title of.  

Also, earthbenders from all around the nation, including Master Yu, came to beseech her about teaching them to bend metal.  It was a difficult process, considering that they first had to relearn everything that they currently knew about earthbending.  Thus far, none of them had been able to master this new way of bending, and therefore were unable to metalbend.

Sokka didn't even get a chance to talk to Toph, as her parents had him thrown out immediately.  He had to hang around for a few days, watching the Earth Rumble in the hopes that she would make an appearance.  He needed her for a mission that had been handed to him by the Avatar – to find the perfect location for a new city that he had been discussing with the leaders of the other nations.  Who was better for knowing the terrain then Toph?

Toph had jumped at the chance to travel again; she was becoming bored with the home life.  They returned to the Bei Fong estate that night only to grab her backpack, which she had managed to keep hidden from her parents and the servants by earthbending it into the stone floor beneath her bed.

Toph and Sokka had only been traveling for a few days and were now stuck in their current situation by the weather.  As Sokka worked out the knots in her hair a sigh of contentment escaped her lips, which caused her to sit up straighter with a start - she was becoming so relaxed by the gentle hypnotic pulls of her hair that she was practically leaning back against his body.  The feel of his naked torso against her back sent her heart racing.

"So…" she said awkwardly, searching for something to say.  "How are you and Suki doing?  Have you proposed yet?" She inquired teasingly.

"Yeah…" he said, picking up a clump of her hair that was being especially stubborn.  She felt him pulling at the strands and didn't need earthbending to tell that he was getting frustrated.

"Oh…" she replied.  She reached back for the mass of knotted hair that he was working on and relieved him of his task.  "I see…" she said, hoping that she hid the disappointment in her voice.  What did she expect?  She knew that this would happen.  "Congratulations, when is the wedding?" she asked, concentrating on pulling her tresses apart.

"She turned me down," his voice filled her ears.  She tried not to smile, but couldn't keep the corners of her mouth from turning upwards.  She kept her face hidden by her mass of hair to keep him from seeing it.  "Oh…  I'm sorry to hear…"  She said as sympathetically as she could manage.

Sokka shrugged, "Don't be, it's for the best."  He stretched out on his back, with his hands behind his head, and stared at the ceiling.  This small talk between them was weird.  He missed the days when they laughed, joked, and teased one another.  

Once Toph was finished detangling the tangles in her hair, she gathered it all over one shoulder and started to braid it.  Sokka lifted his head to sneak a peek at her.  "You've changed a lot," he observed out loud.

"What?" she exclaimed defensively.  "I have not!  I dare you to say that to me when I'm not surrounded by wood."  She flung the braid back over her shoulder and turned to glare into his direction.  

Sokka chuckled and didn't doubt that he would be buried to his neck in earth if they were outside.

"What are you laughing at, Meathead?" she growled with warning.  "Don't think that you have an advantage, here!" she said, moving to sit on her heals, ready to stand.

"It's just nice to see that you're still the same old Toph… under all of that…" he said, his voice fading at the end of the sentence.  She didn't see the gesture that he made with his hand to indicate he was referring to her body.

"Under all of what?" she demanded to know.  She was now standing over him with her fists balled at her sides.

"Uhhhh….  T…Toph…  please don't do that…" he stammered.  From his position he got a change of view at her curves and felt the reaction that it caused to his body.  He flung his arms lazily over his face, trying to block the sight from his vision; but it remained behind his closed eyelids.  

"Don't do what?" she exclaimed in annoyance and stomped her foot against the floor.  "What are you talking about!?" she shouted.  "You're the one who has changed; I don't understand a thing that you are saying anymore!"  

Sokka was thankful for the shelter around them – that they had found a house instead of a cave.  Her anger wasn't to be reckoned with out in her natural element - but outside of her natural element, he was given a chance to react in his own way to the situation.  Reaching up to grab one of her fists, he yanked her down on top of him and watched as her eyes went wide in shock and the blood drained from her face.  She scrambled off of him faster than canyon crawlers to food.  Her eyes were wide and held a hint of fear.  "O….oh…" she stammered.  Slowly the blood returned to her face and her cheeks became red from discovering the physical reaction that she felt when she had landed on top of him.

Sokka watched her with a raised eyebrow, surprised by her display of innocence.  He didn't realize until then just how sheltered her life had been.  With a heavy sigh he rolled onto his side with his back to her.  "I'm not going to do anything to you," he spoke reassuringly.  "I was just trying to make you aware of what you were doing."

The sound of the rain filled the room, causing Sokka to nearly doze off by the time that she finally spoke.  "I… did that?" she wondered out loud to no one in particular.  "H…how?  I…didn't even touch you…" as she spoke her voice became more confident.  

"You're just not aware of how beautiful you've become…" Sokka answered hazily, half between being awake and being asleep.  

Toph stared forward, blindly; her cheeks permanently stained with color.  "I'm beautiful?" she questioned.  

Sokka's mind slowly kicked into gear.  He rolled onto his back and turned his head to look at her.  Her milky green eyes were staring at nothing in particular, and he saw the confusion and uncertainty written all over her face.   She was overwhelmed with unfamiliar senses that she didn't understand, and she wasn't able to ground herself to see properly through earthbending.  He mentally kicked himself and sat up to move towards her.  She jumped and pushed against his chest when he gathered her into his arms.  "Shhhh…" he whispered comfortingly against her ear.  

Toph slowly relaxed into his embrace and let her head fall against his chest.  She traced the outline of his muscles, trying to form a mental image of him, and reached up to explore his face and hair before running her hand back down to his shoulder and arm.  Sokka practically held his breath - his heart pounded beneath her ear.  Toph was pleasantly surprised by the reactions that she caused in him.

Her other arm was neatly tucked under one of his and around his side.  She lightly traced her fingers around his back, relishing in the way that his muscles quivered.  "Toph…" he spoke her name in warning, causing her to freeze.  "I only have so much control…" he admitted reluctantly.

She listened to his heart beat against her ear and his slow and steady breaths as he calmed himself.  At the moment, the only thing that she knew was the way his body felt – the smoothness of his skin, the solidness of his muscles, his racing heartbeat and controlled breathing.  Seconds passed, maybe minutes, before he gently squeezed her.  Toph felt a tender touch against the side of her head and wondered if he had just kissed her.  "Sokka?" she asked curiously

"Hmmm?" he answered against her ear.

"W…what does it feel like?" she quietly asked.

"Hmmm?  What does what feel like?" Sokka asked in confusion, he had been in the process of drifting off again.

"What does it feel like… to be touched?"

Sokka bolted upright, wide awake.  She felt his body stiffen and his heart jump.  He was silent for a long moment, thinking – or so she assumed.  When he finally spoke, his voice sounded different; somewhat deeper in tone.  "I don't know how to explain it in words…" he answered.  Toph waited, sensing that he had more to say.  "but, I could show you…" he offered.  Toph looked up towards his face with wide eyes.  "Would you like that?" he asked.  

Toph's heart felt like it would leap out of her chest and her cheeks burned.  She could only nod her answer to him and gasp when his hand – which had been resting around her hip – brushed up her arm, over her shoulder, and to her face.  He traced his fingers over her lips and held it against her cheek before crushing his lips over hers hungrily.  His tongue ran over her lips, urging them to part.  She obliged and surrendered her full trust to him as he deepened the kiss.  

"Tell me when you want me to stop," he broke the kiss to say, but she reached her hand to the back of his head to pull his lips back to hers.  This time, she kissed him, not ready for this new experience to end.