Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction ❯ Of Stalkers and Very Bad Advice ❯ Apology Accepted? ( Chapter 7 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Disclaimer: Nope, not mine yet. One day though... (shakes fist at the heavens)

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I sat in the house's only empty room for about two hours, silently fuming. I was beyond pissed, and when beyond pissed, I liked to fight, bite and burn.

The first and last weren't possible at the present, so I flopped down on the bed and chewed viciously on a corner of the pillow. Childish, I know, but I can't even mutter to myself without Toph hearing me! It's like `Big Brother's watching you'. Except I think there was a part in that where people weren't allowed to have sex, except to conceive a baby.

I punched the pillow as hard as I could. I'm sorry; did the thought of sex for fun really just cross my mind at a time like this? As for everything hellish going on in my life right now, I think I'll blame Sokka for it. After all, he's the whole reason I can't think straight right now. For once, I made an honest effort to be civil to that creature, and he slaps me in the face with all the assumptions everyone makes about me from the moment they lay eyes on me! I'm not happy-go-nice-nice like Ty Lee. I'm not compassionate like Katara. And I don't fight for what I believe to be `right' like the Avatar. People look at what I'm not, and they instantly think they know what I am!

“Then what are you?”

I looked up. Rather, I tumbled out of bed, arms windmilling, with a soggy pillow corner clamped firmly in my mouth. Then I realized I'd said that last part out loud.

And Sokka heard it.

“What do you want?” I spat past the pillow.

“I want to talk.”

I felt my canines puncture the pillowcase. “So talk,” I said simply.

“Not here,” he said. “Outside.”

I didn't want to get up. I didn't want to spit out the pillow. And I did NOT want to so much as look at Sokka.

But I did.

We walked down the street for a few minutes in silence, until Sokka reached out and nicked something from a passing cart. “Here,” he said, passing me a large pear. “Don't tell Katara I did that. She'll skin me alive.” He took a bite of his, chewed noisily, and swallowed. “What? Aren't you gonna eat it?”

“What did you want to talk about?” I asked, still feeling pretty pissed. If you couldn't tell by now, I have anger issues. Yes, I've finally admitted it! Go me!

There was a long silence, then, “I'm sorry.”

“What?” I blinked. “Wait, what?”

“You heard me. I'm sorry.” He took another bite out of his pear. “For what I said. I didn't mean it.”

I snorted, finally taking a bite out of my pear. “Not now you don't. You did before.”

“I didn't know—”

“Well, that's a bit of an understatement.”

“—about your mother,” he finished.

I choked on the fruit, then glared at him. “What?” I snarled.

“I'm sure Katara told you, but we lost our mother when we were kids,” he said. He wasn't looking at me, and could've been speaking to the half-eaten piece of fruit in his hand, for all I knew. “She took it harder than I did. I wanted to be with my father, and I wanted to get revenge. But my father wouldn't let me. He said I had to take care of Katara.”

“Where are you going with this?” I asked.

He finally looked at me. “She suffered. Almost every night, she went to bed crying. Instead of trying to help her, all I did was teach myself to fight. Every time I saw her cry, I only hated Firebenders more. They weren't human to me anymore. I wanted to kill them.”

“Is that why you hate me?” I said softly.

“It wasn't just you. I even hated Aang for a bit when he started Firebending. But no. The reason I hated you was because you're the Prince of the Fire Nation. I hate Firebenders, and the minute Katara was in danger from you, I wanted you to die.”

“Killing Firebenders won't bring back your mother.” I wished I still had the pillow to chew on.

He shook his head. “I know that. I've always known that, I think. But...” With a sigh, he tossed his pear to a passing cat. “I think hearing it from you makes more sense.”

“How so?”

“Because, in a way, I guess you're telling me I'm the same way I imagined all Firebenders to be.”

Then he reached out towards me. Something unexpected, but he didn't seem likely to kill me, so I didn't move. The tips of his fingers brushed my face, right over the scar on my eye.

“I'm sorry,” he said again, a bit softer this time.

“Your hands are cold,” I whispered.

“Oh.” He moved to pull his hand back. “I'm s—”

“Will you stop apologizing?” I said, exasperated, pressing his hand back to my face. “It feels nice.”

I almost laughed at the look on his face, but honestly, his hands really did feel nice. Almost as though he could do that healing thing his sister could. He pressed his other hand to my face as well, and I practically felt my legs melting away beneath me. Something about his hands... They weren't icy, but they didn't have much warmth in them, either. I could feel the heavy calluses on his palms from long hours practicing with that boomerang thing, but there was something of his sister in the gentleness of his touch.

Then it changed. I think he made the first move, but next thing I knew, there we were, tied in a lip-lock in front of an old cabbage vendor, all the Spirits, and pretty much anyone else who cared to have a look.

And I didn't give a damn.

It was a weird feeling. Not unpleasant; quite the contrary, actually. Just... odd. There was the slight ick-factor of having another guy's tongue in my mouth, but something about the taboo of it all just made me want more. For the first time in years, all the tension seemed to lift, and I forgot everything. My father, Azula, Uncle Iroh, Tenku...

But then he stopped. Damnit! “What's... wrong?” I asked, slightly breathless. Damn him, he's good.

“Either some random voyeur girl is watching us, or I've found your stalker,” he muttered. The stress came back at me full-force. Shitshitshit!

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!” Tenku bellowed, eyes overflowing with tears. “You can't kiss him! We're married! I'm PREGNANT!!”

Sokka snorted in laughter, then covered it up with a coughing fit.

But I wasn't looking at him, and I didn't feel his arms wrapped around my waist. I was looking at Tenku's stomach. I'd never looked before, mostly because it was too dark to see much of her clearly when we met. But now I noticed it. Her stomach was rounded—and it wasn't fat.

I know I didn't marry her, I know I didn't sleep with her, and I know that if she keeps pushing Sokka's buttons, he'll go slice-and-dice on her ass.

But that doesn't explain the baby...

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DUN DUN DUUUNNN!! Stay tuned, guys! (waves) Byeeee!