Perspectives
It started with a glance. Nothing special, really. Plenty of people have eye contact every day. But over a flickering fire that he had started, sparks snapping in the air, a pair of water-blue eyes met gold. And there were more sparks than the fire could ever hope to make.
Her brother noticed. He pretended he didn't, but somehow, lying to himself didn't seem to help. He noticed it in the way that their arguing had grown less angry and more playful. He had noticed it in the way that when in battle, he automatically checked to make sure she was ok. He noticed it in the way they sometimes glanced at each other, when they thought nobody was watching.
Denial wasn't pretty, and at this point in time, it was downright ugly.
The Avatar saw it, and didn't want to. The girl he loved exchanging something with someone who had previously been their enemy. Albeit, now he was one of them, but, somehow this made the hurt all the more painful. He had been their assailant, had tried and nearly succeeded to kill them many times. But all of that was forgiven now. And Aang had to wonder.
Would she have forgiven him as easily?
To be fair, she was sure they didn't realize they did it. After all, if you're blind, people tend to think that you can't see. But Toph does. She sees it in the way their hearts beat faster, in the way Katara's temperature rises when Zuko compliments her necklace, and in the way Zuko breathes deeply when another male makes a pass at Katara. She may be blind, but she can definitely see. And what she sees, others refuse to look at.
Zuko knew he was in love, and it worried him. Not only because he had yet to reestablish his honour and right to the throne, or they were even now being hunted by his family, or the fact that her older, protective brother owned a giant boomerang. No, he was afraid of hurting her. All he ever did was hurt people. It was the very nature of fire. Stand too close, and get burned. Late at night, when he stared contemplatively at the sky, and remembered his Uncle telling him that the stars burned, he wondered if it hurt. Because she was a star. And he would do anything to make sure she didn't burn.
Katara wasn't sure, but she was feeling something. She didn't know if it was love quite yet, and their adventures thus far had made her a cautious girl. She had discussed it with Toph, and the two girls had come to a conclusion. The only way to know was to kiss him. A bit drastic, she supposed, but then, she had never been very patient. And as Toph distracted the others, she made her way to Zuko's solitary fire beneath the night sky.
She sat down beside him, and tilted her head back to stare at the moon. Bathing in it's glow, she drew on her courage, surprised to find herself very nervous, and turned to face Zuko. And as she stared into his face, marred only by the comet-like scar surrounding his eye, she leaned forward and pressed her lips gently to his. There was no explosion, no fanfare and no fireworks. But as her eyes drifted shut, and her mouth opened under his, she noticed she did feel something.
She burned.
So, this was my first Avatar fic. I haven't seen all of the episodes, so I'm really sorry if someone seems OOC or if I messed the plot up or something…
Please, be kind.