The storm clouds billowed far to the south. Building up for an intense down pour, that would wait until it got to the gates of the city. There wasn't any denying that the rain was needed. But the memories that the rain brought caused him to turn way from the window. He frowned as he looked across the luxuriously decorated room. The red and gold accents that sparkled in every corner of the room brought no comfort. Every thing seemed rigid, and sharp. Another night of endless screams had kept him awake. It was the memories of the war, the blood forever stained on his hands that kept him awake at night. But more than anything, it was the rain.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He looked over to the sleeping silhouette inside the gossamer curtain. He moved over and pulled back the curtain. He leaned over and set a kiss on the raven haired woman's forehead. He ran his hand lightly over her very pregnant belly. He smiled and turned back to the window. He walked over and sat in the window sill, watching the lightening flash in the distance.
The torrent skies, lit up with every flash and the rolling thunder growled over the landscape. He could see the rain crawling over the mountains at the edge of town. Soon the cooling drench would wash away the filth from the streets. He closed his eyes as the painful memories came haunting back to him. It was raining the day everything happened. A solid down pour. He and the others had found a cave to hide in until it had passed.
He opened his eyes and looked out over the horizon as the rain hit his house. At first the soft pat on the roof was comforting, but then the rain intensified. He closed his eyes and shook his head as the thunder rumbled through him. He stood up and closed the window so that his beloved wouldn't catch cold. They had tried for to long to have a child, then when they decided it wasn't in their cards, she became pregnant. He didn't want to chance it.
He shed his embroidered robes and pulled on his cloak, his broad swords tight across his back. He closed the door and walked down the hall. He opened the grand doors and stared out at the growing storm. He shut the doors behind him as he walked out onto the porch. He stared out at the rain pouring from the roof. He reached his hand out and let the cool water run over him. He closed his eyes and stepped out into that chilling drench.
He walked as the rain stung his skin. He looked up at the small break in the cloud at the moon that hung proudly in the sky. He frowned and continued to walk. The moon hand changed everything. He and Katara had been together for a year, before everything happened. He could still feel the fire that her touch created. The soft taste of salt on her lips, and the way her skin felt under his hands. She had captured him, heart and all and he was enveloped. She had taken him deeper into his own heart then he had ever gone. The world seemed brighter, everything was soft, and nothing was bad.
He found the old Cyprus under which his vows were made. He sat down under the tree and stared up through the branches. He closed his eyes as the rain washed over his face.
That was ten years ago tomorrow. When his world was thrown into an emotional uproar, during that intense down pour. Three of them had made it to the cave. But it wasn't until they looked back that they had noticed Toph had fallen behind. It should have been Aang that went after her, but he was already sick with a bad cold in his chest. So he and Sokka, went back for her. She had gotten lost after Aang let go of her hand. She couldn't follow their footfalls through the rain and hail. He and Sokka took different paths where the trees divided.
He opened his eyes as he felt the lightening crack around him. The thunder crashed and shook the Earth around him. Let it shake.
He would never be able to forget what she had looked like when he had found her. She was huddled under a tree, shivering to keep warm and trying to get as much out of the rain as possible. He had reached his hand out towards her and touched her head. She had jumped up and threw her arms around him, only when she realized that he was the wrong height did he let go.
"Who am I hugging?" He smiled as she frowned at him as he told her. She crossed her arms over her chest, and he can remember far to vividly the tear that streamed down her face.
"He didn't come looking did he."
"He's sick." She had looked up at him with doubt in her eyes.
"Is he? Is he really?" He could remember thinking that Aang had never treated her like his girlfriend. But he always shrugged it off because he was comparing them with him and Katara. He threw a fire ball into the air to signal Sokka. He took off his cloak and threw it around her, drenched or not it was more then she had on. He led her back to the cave. He turned to see if Sokka was coming, and managed to see the boy's blue through the dark of the trees making his way back. He and Toph walked through the opening of the cave and turned the corner into the cavern.
He stood up as the rage of the storm drew closer. He drew his swords, tossing them to the ground at the base of the tree. He walked up to the top of the city overlook and watched as the lightening danced around him. All hell was breaking loose, just like when they turned that corner.
He could remember his heart freezing as he caught Toph's wrist. Katara and Aang were wrapped in each other's arms, exploring the depths of each other's mouths. He almost burnt Toph's wrist before she jerked her arm away. Katara's eyes were filled with fright as she turned to look at them. Toph could feel the heart beats, she could smell the lust in the air. She shook her head as she 'stared' at them.
Katara had fallen at his feet begging for forgiveness. He could feel the anger rising inside of him, but more than anything else was the pain. She had held his heart in the palm of her hand, without thought nor care she crushed it. Aang said nothing only looked the other way not even man enough to face the blind girl that was blind no longer to his actions.
He shook his head pushing Katara away from him. The rain seemed even louder then. He didn't even feel the water hit his skin, because as he looks back on it now it wasn't. It was evaporating faster then it could hit. He tore threw the the forest, fully aware that he was being followed. His anger had reached his peak when he turned around ready to fight, only to be looking down on the equally hurting earth bender. The tears trailed down his eyes in hot streaks, and as he noticed his, he could see hers, through the rain.
The lightening lit up the skin as it grew closer and closer, dancing spontaneously around him. The electrifying heat growing more intense.
She wrapped her arms around her as she cried. He stared down at her and felt his own heart ache not only for himself, but also for this other broken heart. She had believed Aang when he told her she was beautiful. She had taken everything he said about her to heart. He was the first person she had ever let in that deep. They were both hurting for the same reason. He could still hear the broken sound of voices calling for them, strewn and skewed threw the cold drops. He had stuck his hand out for her as his mind came back to him, she took it without a question. They left that night surrounded in rain and never looked back.
He closed his eyes and looked toward the sky as the lightening hit home. The enormous bolt shot into his body, and out through his finger tips absorbing into the ground. As the energy escaped from him he turned to look back at the his house. There on the porch in the door stood his world. Staring out into the rain with blind eyes, and a belly full of baby.
That had taken to each other that night, it had taken months for them to get over their broken hearts, only to find that the person who had sewn the stitches, was the one that they had been looking for. Two years of loving one another with all their beings, building up their city, there were married, and not a stitch has slipped from their sewn up broken hearts.