Hey, everyone reading this! This is my introduction into fanfiction. I've written stuff for other things before, but this is my first time publishing anything. This is going to be a small, chaptered story with a little bit of plot here and there. We'll see how this goes!

Chapter 1

Midnight is for Regrets

Katara loved any occasion when she could put her hands on Aang's body, even though they had been in each other's near constant company for almost three years. And even on occasions such as this one, when her hands were touching his body because it needed her healing abilities. Her heart was aggrieved to see his flesh torn and the blood making a stark red trail to the ground. But there was no stopping the warm buzz of excitement that always ran up and down her spine whenever their bare skin touched.

She gave her head a slight shake to clear recent memories of other times they had touched and concentrated on Aang's chi pathways, willing his skin to pull itself back together. Earlier, before Aang had stumbled into their campsite, grimacing and clutching his bloody side, Katara had been enjoying the peaceful calm that always came with nightfall while she was preparing their dinner. Now she let the strength of the rising moon's glow seep into her as she closed her eyes in order to better feel the flow of energy within the water encasing her hands.

As the wound finished healing, Katara suddenly felt a familiar hand wrapping itself around her calf and slide its way further up her leg. As it passed under her knee and trailed up the back of her thigh, she lost concentration and released the water she was bending in a splash onto her patient's abdomen and the freshly healed cut on his side.

A bubble of laughter escaped her lips. "Aang! That really makes it hard to focus!" Any frustration she might have felt melted when she saw the pleased grin spreading on his face and noted that his eyelids were closed in relaxation instead of being screwed up in pain as they had been moments before.

Aang was lying stretched out on his back before her on a make-shift bench he had earthbended for them. He half opened his eyes and continued to lie there, watching her bend more water from a nearby stream and making it gently run over his skin as it rinsed away the blood. He followed the fluid motions of her skilled body which glowed in the flickering light from the nearby campfire. When he was clean, she ended with a pulling motion of her arms through the air, removing all traces of water from the surface of his skin to the ground below and leaving him completely dry.

"Sorry," he finally said. "Just couldn't stand it anymore." His smile grew unapologetically.

She put her hands on her hips in an all too familiar Katara-pose, but her eyes met his in a knowing glance and he saw the corners of her lips quirk. "If you keep doing that when I'm trying to heal you, I may have to start tying you down."

"Hmm, that's an interesting idea…" he answered with mock thoughtfulness.

Rolling her eyes she bent down to examine her handiwork. "Looks good," she announced nonchalantly, although inside she felt the warmth of pride in seeing the result of her well perfected skill. "However, now might be a good time to rethink the logic in testing the patience of wild komodo rhinos."

"Hey, who would know they had such bad tempers?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, who would know?" she replied sarcastically.

"And anyway," he continued, ignoring her tone, "I've never ridden one of those before, and it couldn't have always been wild. Komodo rhinos aren't native to the Earth Kingdom."

He sat up, looking reflectively at the sky. "It must have gotten left behind by some Fire Nation soldiers when they were ordered to go back home."

Aang and Katara had been spending the past few weeks traveling on Appa, who was now snoring in sleep with Momo curled up on his head. They had been visiting various Earth Kingdom villages that had sent requests for help to the capital city of Ba Sing Se. It was Aang and Katara's first time traveling alone together, and they had been thrilled to take on the mission for several reasons. One reason being that they would finally be able to spend some time alone and another being that they would have the opportunity of helping lots of people; thus, spreading the influence of the Avatar.

They had just finished assisting the last village on their agenda and were stopped to camp for the night somewhere in Earth Kingdom woods before they began a journey to the Fire Nation Capital. They were all getting back together for the celebration of the two year anniversary of Zuko's coronation, and for the anniversary of Aang defeating Fire Lord Ozai.

They would of course be seeing Zuko and Mai, but also Sokka and Suki who had been spending the summer in the South Pole. The plan was for them to also bring along Gran Gran and Pakku. Gran Gran had not left the Southern Water Tribe since she moved there when she was sixteen, and for her to be able to travel and see other parts of the world now that peace had finally come was truly a momentous prospect. Chief Hakoda however, would be remaining in the South Pole. He was still trying to make up for his nearly three year absence away from his tribe.

Toph was also going to be coming to the palace for the celebration. On the following day, Aang and Katara would reach the western coast of the Earth Kingdom where they were going to pick her up in the Wulong Forest. From there they would begin the trip across the ocean and on to the Fire Nation.

Katara sat down beside Aang on the earth bench, vaguely watching the water flow over the rocks in the stream. "A lot more was left behind than just rhinos. Remember that last village we were in? It's been over a year since a Firebender walked down one of its streets, but there are still repairs being done. Not to mention the people who are still scarred by the memories of living in terror."

Once again she felt the touch of Aang's hand, but this time in an effort to give and seek comfort. He pulled her hand onto his lap and laced their fingers together, the fingers of his other hand tracing patterns along the back of her hand.

"I know," he answered solemnly. "There's no telling how long this whole 'Restoration Movement' is going to take. The more I see how little has changed in all this time, the more I think it'll never completely go back to the way things were."

She turned to see his profile looking down at their hands and his face dark with the thoughts she knew were going through his mind. The thoughts that had never quite gone away and that crept up on him whenever he began to doubt himself. The feelings of inadequacy in his role of the Avatar, and of his uncertainty of his ability to restore peace which was his responsibility. No matter how many times she or anyone else reassured him, the doubting always returned.

"You know even though you are the Avatar, you're not going to have to single-handedly fix the world," she began gently. "Give it a little more credit. Because of you, so many people now have the chance to rebuild their lives without the interference of a power crazy Fire Lord trying to take over the world. I think small towns like the last one are going to be their own best cure to being happy and prosperous again now that they have the peace to do so. Your job is going to be to make sure that no one obstructs that peace again."

Suddenly Katara smiled as she recalled a fond memory. "And don't forget how else you help people. The kids in that village were having the time of their lives playing on Appa, and you had everyone laughing their heads off when you told them that story about Sokka and the baby moose lion. You give people joy, and it's little things like that that do so much more than you think. It relieves stress and helps people feel hopeful about the future so that they can move forward. That's what it's about, right? Moving forward. Not regretting over the past."

Aang finally raised his head to look her in the eye. "You really think that me just having fun with those people does all that? I mean I know it's important to have fun, but how do you know that it can actually change their lives?"

She stood up abruptly, walking a few steps away and then turning back to look at him with her most serious expression while he stared at her in question.

"I know because I experienced it personally. When I first met you and brought you to my village, I saw such a complete change from what it had been for so long. People were enjoying themselves for once. I heard laughter all the time instead of crying. Kids had a chance to finally just be kids… and so did I. I couldn't remember feeling like that since before my mom was killed. And it was all because you brought back fun into our lives."

He hadn't stopped staring at her. After a while he finally spoke in a very quiet tone, "What would I do without you?"

"Probably bleed to death," she answered, equally quiet.

He stood up and closed the short distance between them within a second, making a gentle wind blow back her long hair in his haste. "That is without a doubt absolutely true," he said quickly before wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into a long and passionate kiss.

Her arms found their favorite spot around his shoulders, and her hands caressed the back of his neck in a way that always caused him to deepen the kiss so that she felt it all the way down to her toes. Ever since their first real kiss on the balcony of the Jasmine Dragon, their emotional and physical relationship had continued to grow and so had Aang. Katara had been grateful when the day finally came that she no longer had to lean her head down for him to kiss her. But not much longer after that, he was the one leaning down for her. With each kiss he had become more confident in how he touched her. And when the newness of kissing wore off, ever escalating skill, passion, and love took its place to weaken her knees during each embrace.

Eventually they stopped to breathe, and Katara rested her head in the crook of his neck, eyes closed serenely. "You seem to feel better now," she said, still clinging to him.

"You have a way of doing that to me," he responded tenderly, running his hands through her hair and reveling in its silky texture. "Both with the talking and the healing… and other things."

"I really need to teach you how to heal yourself," she told him as he softly rubbed the bridge of his nose along her jaw.

"I like you doing it," he answered while breathing on her neck.

"What about when I'm not with you?" she asked.

"Easy. I'll just keep you with me all the time."

She couldn't help smiling despite herself. "You know that's not realistic. We're not always together when you do dangerous things. Like when you disappeared off Ember Island two days before Sozin's Comet and then had the biggest battle of your life." Her smile turned into a troubled frown as she recalled the severe trepidation of that time. "We were on separate continents! If you had been horribly injured-" she abruptly stopped talking as she felt her voice begin to tremble and her throat constrict with emotion. "Anything could have happened," she finally murmured after a long pause.

"Hey," he pulled himself away from her slightly, still holding her in his arms, and nudged her chin up to meet his smiling gaze. "What happened to moving forward?"

"Hmm," she answered, pretending to sound exasperated. "Just like you to turn my words against me."

"Oh, yeah? Since when?"

"If you don't know, then I'm not going to tell you."

"We'll see about that," he said craftily with a devilish smirk on his face.

An unexpected gust of air suddenly seemed to blow up from the ground itself as it lifted her off her feet. Aang scooped her up, one arm cradling her back and the other wrapping itself around the back of her knees as he settled the two of them on the ground.

"Hey!" Katara squealed, unable to keep from breaking into a huge smile.

"Hey what?" he dared her teasingly as he pinned her beneath him.

He proceeded to tickle her mercilessly as she shrieked in laughter, pausing every now and then to place his lips on various spots of her body instead of his fingers. On her collarbone, beneath her ear, the inside of her wrist, her neck.

They spent the remainder of the evening in that same joyous state, neither one of them needing to put into words what they were both thinking. About how happy they were just to be able to be together, especially after all that had happened to them since the day they first met.

0o0o0o0o0o0

"Never look back unless you are planning to go that way."

― Henry David Thoreau

So, that concludes the first chapter of my first fanfic. Now, the question for you is: WAS IT ANY GOOD?

Please let me know!

I'm dying to hear what anyone has to say