A/N: After a big ol' case of writer's block, I'm back with a brand spankin' new oneshot. I hope you all like it. And a big special thanks to .beak for reviewing my other oneshot, "Stargazing". I really appreciate it. Well, anyways, here you go, folks! And in the words of Bryke: "Enjoy, woo hoo!"
Disclaimer: I do not own "Avatar: The Last Airbender". It belongs to Bryke, Nickelodeon, and Viacom.
As the morning sun found it's way into Katara's bedroom, it's blinding rays doing it's best to bring the Waterbender out of her slumber, she tried equally hard to not let it happen.
She, along with the gang, including her boyfriend, the Avatar, were in the Fire Nation, partly to enjoy the weather and atmosphere, but mostly to attend Council meetings in Fire Lord Zuko's palace. It had been 2 months since the end of the war, and ever since his coronation, Zuko tried his best, almost daily, it seemed, to reconstruct ties with the other nations that his father and those before him so unmercifully severed.
But to the gang, mostly Katara, it was getting more drawn out and boring every day.
Even Aang was starting to get flustered about it. But that was always part of his Airbender nature. He never wanted to be grounded on things, especially boring meetings. That, and among many other reasons, was why she loved him.
With the dawning of this new day meant the dawning of yet another boring meeting with the councils of the other nations. But Katara, however, wanted sleep, and so she stayed in her bed. After all, she had just helped save the world from a maniacal tyrant. She felt like she had deserved to sleep in once in a while.
But no sooner could she accomplish this, she felt someones hand gently nudging her to wake up. It couldn't have been Toph or Sokka, they would've been too rough with her.
That could have only meant one person.
"Hi, Aang...," she sleepily mumbled.
Aang, as tired and bored as Katara was, was trying desperately to wake his girlfriend, with the fear of being late to the meeting, and getting an earful from a certain big brother of hers, in the back of his mind.
"Come on, Katara, wake up," Aang had quietly spoken. Katara didn't respond, desperately trying to go back to sleep.
"As much as I don't want to go to this, we can't be late. Everybody's waiting for us downstairs, and I don't want to hear anything from the Council," he insisted.
"But Aang....," Katara quickly responded with a whining moan. "It's too boring and dull. Can't I just sleep in this one time?"
"I'm sorry, Katara, but that will have to wait another morning. Now, come on."
Katara, being as stubborn and sleepy as she was, decided to not pay attention to Aang, and instead pulled her cover as far as it would go over her head.
Aang sighed and was starting to give up, and was preparing to get up to leave, but when he turned his head, he could see that Katara exposed her bare feet from pulling the cover over too much.
He continued to switch glances between Katara and her lovely feet for a few more moments, when a devious idea formed in his mind. With a mischievous grin on his face, Aang quietly sat up, and began to carefully tip toe to the foot of the bed, with his dastardly plan already set in motion. This was going to wake her up, for sure. It was also probably one of the few times he was glad that Toph had called him Twinkletoes, because Katara would certainly not expect what was going to happen next.
As he sat down, he carefully locked Katara's legs in his left arm, and had his right hand, fingers and all, wiggling, ready to do damage.
Katara had felt something grab her legs, but before she could react, Aang was on the attack, tickling her feet without mercy, and making her explode with laughter.
Katara screamed through her laughs, begging for Aang to stop. But he wouldn't. Aang had found out through a recent foot massage, that her feet were very sensitive, and one of the most ticklish parts of her entire body. And today, he had found the perfect opportunity to exploit that weakness.
She again tried to plead with the Airbender, hoping to gain some empathy so that he could stop torturing her feet, but Aang wasn't listening, for part of him wanted to hear the sweet melody that was Katara's laugh. It was always musical to him, and he took towards any approach he had to hearing that beautiful, infectious sound.
As he continued to run his fingers up and down her soles faster, he couldn't help but laugh along with her.
"Maybe this will teach you to a lesson in waking up on time!" he chuckled.
But Katara was too busy laughing to hear him.
Aang, thinking Katara didn't hear him on purpose, then decided to really take it to another level.
Beginning at the heel of Katara's foot, He started to move his fingertips up her soles, raking and scratching his nails all over the tender flesh of her feet, eliciting an increased octave of laughter from the Water Tribe girl. Aang's fingers went up and down -- ranging from slow and tortuous, to quick and maddening -- from the balls of her feet, to the arches, to the insteps, all the way to the base of her toes.
Katara knew what was coming next, and realized that she had to try at least one more time to compromise with Aang before he would be the executioner of her impending doom, and send her into near hysteria. But before she could open her mouth to beg, it was too late.
"Here comes the fingers," he said in a sing song voice as he brought his fingers in between her toes.
That sent her over the deep end. The instant Aang did that, she let out an earsplitting shriek that surprisingly did not deafen him. And following that shriek was an out pour of squealing, hysterical laughter. The entire Fire Nation might have echoed with the sound of it. And just when Katara thought it couldn't get any worse, it did.
While Aang was having so much fun tormenting his beloved, another evil idea popped into his head. Remembering an old game - a song if you will - that some of the Air Nomad nuns used to play with the young benders, he grabbed Katara's left big toe with one hand, and began to sing the song, albeit with a few minor adjustments, inspired from the adventures that he and his friends have had.
"This little penguin went to the cabbage merchant, this little penguin didn't," Aang teased. "This little penguin had some roasted seal jerky, this little penguin didn't. And this little penguin cried, 'wee, wee, wee!', all the way home!"
While Aang was harmonizing the tune, he was causing even more agony for Katara. Starting with her big toe, he went to the next one, and the one after that, all the way down to the pinky toe, while lightly stroking his finger on the bottom of her foot, and punctuated the last lyrics by scraping his fingers all over Katara's feet again, making her laugh her head off constantly throughout the entire time. He repeated this process on her other foot, doubling her laughter even more. Katara was laughing so much, and without stopping to take in some air for her lungs, she had thought that she was going to soon die from lack of oxygen.
The torture continued for minutes, on end, until Aang finally relented. He had gave Katara a chance to breathe, for she had been panting ever since the tickling had subsided. The end result was a sight to see. The bed spreads and covers were all over the room, due to Katara thrasing around. The bottoms of her feet were now a different shade of color, and was slightly twitching in the aftermath of what Aang had done. Her cheeks were now stained with streaks of tears as a result of her laughing so hard.
"Thank you," she spoke; but it was barely a sound, for she had been left practically breathless from his assault on her feet.
After wiping her eyes, Katara spoke again, this time in a more relieved tone, "But please don't do that again anytime soon."
"I'll try my best not to," Aang responded, and he began to laugh.
"You should have seen yourself, it was hilarious," He laughed.
Katara was trying to be mad and upset at him, but she couldn't ignore his boyish charm, nor his contagious reaction to what had had just happened, and had no choice but to laugh along with him, realizing that it was indeed quite humourous.
After their fits of giggling subsided, Katara got herself ready, but before that, she gave Aang a brief kiss.
Aang was almost left speechless when sthey both broke for air. "Well, good morning to you, too," he said.
"It most certainly is a good morning," Katara replied, and soon, after she got dressed, the pair were off to the meeting, never forgetting the experience they had just had.
After all, it was just another morning with the Avatar.
Mindless fluff, I know. But I just had to get that out of my system. Well, that was my second oneshot. And always remember, please read and review!