Inspiration based from the song Falling Slowly by The Frames.
Each chapter is a line from the song. (in no particular order)
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Falling slowly, eyes that know me
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All was at peace. Everything and everyone on earth was relaxed. The fighting was over. The fire nation had their new ruler and all prisoners were released. The war has been over for nearly a year. Everything seemed to be looking up for everyone…almost.
Avatar Aang and Katara, a water bender from the southern water tribe, were sitting against an outside wall from their home that they shared with Sokka, Suki, and Toph, staring at the orange sun went down. They'd been together ever since the end of the war and were closer than anyone has ever been. They knew each other's secrets and didn't have to do anything but look at the other to know how they were doing or what they were thinking. They were in love.
"Katara…what's wrong", Aang said with concern. Katara had been really quiet for the past few days. No one could tell why, not even Aang. Whenever someone she didn't care to tell about her issues asked, she either quickly changed the subject or remained quiet.
Katara looked up from the ground and looked at his face for a second and then quickly turned back to the ground. She remained silent for a few more seconds before speaking. "…Do you ever think about what might happen...you know the future?" she asked.
"I don't know, I guess sometimes...why?" he asked still concerned.
She looked up, directly into his eyes and said, "I don't know…sometimes I just get scared. What if something happens...and you aren't there anymore? I don't want to ever be without you, Aang…I can't even think about it without driving myself insane."
He stared at her for a few seconds, straight into her eyes with so much love, then left her a kiss on her forehead and tightly embraced her. "I'm not going anywhere Katara" he let go of the hug, took her face in his hands and smiled at her, "I'm never going to leave you…I promise" Katara couldn't help but smile back. She held one of the hands he put against her cheek and closed her eyes took a deep breath. "You're everything to me, Katara. I'll stay here forever with you"
"You promise?" She opened her eyes to look back into his.
"I swear on my life" he said with so much sincerity.
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The next week seemed to be going somewhat better for Katara. She wasn't as quiet as she has been and she either seemed to be worrying about things with Aang less or quickly got better at hiding it. Regardless, Aang wasn't convinced she was completely better. He figured as much that she wouldn't be. It hasn't been all that long since they talked about everything. He figured the best thing to do was not ask about it again for a while so in case she wasn't thinking about it as much and that's why she seemed to be doing better.
By the time a month went by, it wasn't brought up at all. Katara was finally acting like her normal self. One morning she was outside, eating breakfast in her usual clothes with her hair down and all tangled from sleeping, when Toph came out and sat next to her, tossing an orange in the air and taking a bite as she sat down. Katara just looked up at her, just sitting there, chewing.
"Good morning?" Katara said with a confused look on her face as to why she didn't say anything.
Toph then tried to muffle something out of her mouth while chewing but her mumbling didn't sound like English.
"…what?"
Toph then lifted up one finger, telling her to wait one second. She finished chewing her food, swallowed, and then said, "I was chewing. Give me a few seconds alright there?"
"oh, sorry"
"I was trying to say it back but I was eating. Anyways, we have no more rice; want to head to the market later today?" Katara took a quick sip of the juice she was nearly finished with and nodded. "Though I'd say we wait after you wash off, you smell disgusting"
"I don't smell that bad, Toph"
Toph took another bite from the peeled orange and chewed for another second, "Of course you don't to you; you've been around it all morning. Those of us who haven't seen you all night and morning just smell it now and aren't used to it can tell how bad it is, Katara" Toph then stood up and walked back inside their home. Katara put her cup down and grabbed a small bunch of her hair and sniffed it, then looked fully disappointed.
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Katara, now bathed and clean, walked through the market with Toph: just looking around at this point. They never really paid attention to where the specific stands were in the market: they always preferred to just walk around and find things whenever they found them.
"So, how are you and twinkle toes doing together?" Toph asked just walking around oncoming people.
"Were doing great" Katara said smiling, "I think he's doing something special tomorrow."
"What's going on tomorrow?"
"It'd been a year tomorrow since we kissed at Iroh's tea shop; since we've been together."
"Well isn't that really, freaking adorable…is he the reason why you were so sweaty today? Did he go into your room last night, huh? Come on, tell me?" Toph said trying to make Katara feel purposely awkward. She knew nothing had happened but always liked putting Katara in awkward positions because she felt as if she needs to toughen up and get over things like that.
"No, Toph! Nothing has happened." Katara argued back, defensively.
"Heh, I know, you've never been the fast type anyways. I figured as much. It's just fun to make you feel awkward, is all"
"Why don't we just look for the rice for now?"
"Suit your self"
The two of them walked around and talk for another15 or 20 minutes before they found the rice. They handed the man selling it the money and headed home with a huge bag being cradled in Katara's left arm.
They were just talk about random stuff like stories about random things about their week and things such as that on the way home.
"So the dude ran into me, knocked me down, and didn't look back. I didn't want to make a scene either so I didn't bother earth bending in front of the whole market, so I let it slide"
"Have you ever let things slide, Toph? That sounds nothing like something you'd do"
"Hey give me some credit; I've grown up a little. I can control my anger now…or at least I try to slightly more than I used to." Katara gave off a small laugh that she tried to cover up. "What? I have!"
"Sure you have" Katara said, chuckling a little every now and then. That's when she saw someone running towards them. He was getting closer and closer and didn't stop to look if anyone was around him. Soon Toph and Katara tried getting out of the way but the runner ran into Katara, which made her drop the bag and dump half of the rice they just bought into the ground.
"What the hell was his deal?" Toph said with a little anger, which she soon faded and turned calm as Katara spoke.
"I'm not sure, he looked drunk or really scarred" Katara said as she bent to the ground: salvaging as much of the rice that fell out of the bag as she could.
"I'm guessing it was a mix of the two"
Katara finished picking up the rice from the ground and tied it back up again. "Why aren't you getting angrier? Normally you'd freak out if someone was just walking behind you." She said as they continued to walk home.
"I don't know. I told you that I've grown up a little." She paused for a moment then continued talking. "I guess I just take things as they come now. Sometimes things just happen and you have to deal with them. Anger just seems useless sometimes. I just didn't get why that guy was running around drunk and scared"
"Yeah…that was really weird" Katara just looked at her for a moment, astonished. She never expected anything like that to come from her mouth. She always used to have intense anger issues. But she understood where Toph was coming from. Katara understand about 'dealing' with things.
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There's chapter one.
Hope you liked it!
I'll get chapter two up as soon as I can!
