Aang watched Katara from his perch on a rock across the lagoon. She was waving her arms gracefully, bending the water with ease. To Aang it looks like she was dancing. her brown hair fell unbound over her shoulders, flowing like waves down her back. Her soft eyes were the color of the ocean. She had a look of calm concentration on her face. Aang sighed. He could stare at her forever.
"What are you doing Aang?" Katara said with a laugh, breaking him out of his reverie.
"Just thinking," Aang responded, jumping down into the lagoon with her. Suddenly, she got this mischievous look on her face. "What is it?" Aang asked.
"Nothing." Katara had a secretive smile on her face. She turned away from him and continued her bending. Aang sighed again and began to practice his water bending.
Then, without warning, Katara whipped around and bended a wave of water right in his face. Aang was completely unprepared and easily lost his balance. When he resurfaced from the waters of the lagoon her found Katara standing in front of him laughing uproariously. Her laugh was like music to him.
"Come on, Aang," she said with a smile. "You were totally asking for it." Aang blushed a little. Sometimes he wished his stomach didn't turn upside down every time she smiled at him. "Here, I'll help you up." She extended a hand and pulled him to his feet. Aang didn't want to let go of her hand. He just stared into her eyes. She withdrew her hand after an awkward moment.
"Look, the sun is setting," she said, pointing to the horizon.
"It's beautiful," Aang said softly, but he wasn't really looking at the sunset.
"Yeah, it is."
"Dinner is served!" Sokka called from the shore.
Aang ate silently, watching Katara joke around with Sokka. Aang knew he was in love with her. He knew it from the moment she pulled him out of the iceberg. And he knew that he would always be in love with her no matter what. But he also knew that she would probably never love him back. She would always be his friend. She would always be there for him. But she would never be in love with him.
And sometimes he thought that it was better that way. He was the Avatar. It was his duty to save the world. And he was dangerous. He had hurt her once before. He hated himself for it. He vowed never to bend fire again. But he knew that he had to learn to bend fire. And he knew that it was possible that she would get hurt because of him. Or that he might hurt her. He shuddered to think about it.
He knew that he would love her forever. But he also knew that his love would always be heartbreakingly unrequited.
A/N: Awwwww! Poor Aang! I decided I felt like writing some Avatar drabbles and one-shots because I love writing very short stories (because they're simple, to the point, and often very powerful) and this was the first thing that popped into my head. I'd like to write more but I don't really have any ideas right now :\ If anyone has a request that I could work with I'd love to hear it. I've never done a request and I think it might be kind of fun. : ) And just so everyone knows, as far as the various pairings go, between Kataang and Zutara I don't have a preference. I think that both are equally adorable! I'm not trying to endorse or refute any pairing with this story, it's just some randomness I thought of.
Please Review!
As always, suggestions and constructive criticism are always welcome.