A/N: I decided to write this fic as a surprise for my friend KatAang32 because her most prized story on here, Together Again, just reached 100 followers! I definitely recommend you read it if you like Kataang as a ship.
Note: I'm not great at writing Kataang (I'm a Zutarian…) so bare with me… I tried.
The young Avatar had never been as worried as he was this morning. Not even fighting Ozai and saving the world had put him under as much stress as he was under today. Today was the day Aang would fight his hundredth firebending match against Zuko, he'd won the last ninety-nine of these little battles and if he won today he would have officially mastered the element of fire. Aang couldn't sleep all night, he knew he was capable of winning the fight, but fire had always been the element he was least comfortable with. It all went back to when he'd burnt the girl he'd fallen for… he hadn't really trusted fire since. The young boy let out a soft sigh and willed himself to get up and get ready for the day. Once he pulled his training clothes on and washed his face, Aang made his way to the kitchen where Katara was eating breakfast.
"Good morning." Katara smiled cheerily as Aang sat down and rested his head on the table.
"Morning…" He mumbled back. Katara let out a little laugh before placing a bowl of fruit salad in front of him.
"Couldn't sleep, huh?" The waterbender watched as Aang sat up and popped a berry into his mouth.
"Not really." Aang looked up at her. "I have never been so worried in my life. I didn't think I'd ever get to where I am now." Aang shook his head.
"Well, Aang." Katara moved her chair a bit so she was facing the Avatar. "I knew you'd get here, and I know that you're going to kick Zuko's butt today." Aang looked up at girl, melting into her eyes.
"You really think so?" He asked, still unsure of himself. "I just… I can't stop thinking about that first time I firebended… when I hurt you."
"Aang!" Katara rolled her eyes dramatically and showed Aang her hands. "We've been over this hundreds of times now! I'm perfectly fine."
"But, Katara –" Aang started, but was cut off.
"No buts! I want to see you go out there and own this just like you did with earthbending. If you can take Toph, you can definitely take Zuko." Katara had nothing but confidence in the young boy she'd found in the iceberg, she truly believed there was nothing he couldn't do. Her confidence in him actually made Aang feel better.
"Yeah! Maybe I'll even be able to beat you someday." Aang chuckled, already knowing that would probably never happen.
"One element at a time young pupil." She teased, before she started cleaning the table up from the mess their friends had left this morning. Aang finished his fruit quickly and helped her dry and put away the dishes. Once they finished, Aang felt a little bit of worry starting to creep up on him again.
"Well, I guess I better go and get this over with." Aang frowned and leaned against the counter, taking a deep breath and blowing it out strongly enough to send the wind chimes across the room into a happy little song.
"Hey." Katara dried her hands on a dishrag and leaned against the counter beside him. "I know you can do this. I believe in you." She smiled brightly at him as she peeked over at him.
"Maybe you're right. I'm just worrying for no reason." Aang chuckled softly, holding his hand out for the waterbender. "I'm ready if you are." He told her. Katara took his hand and let him lead her to the back door before she stopped him.
"Aang wait." Katara let his hand drop as she leaned down and pressed her lips softly to his for the tiniest moment. "For luck." She explained as she opened the door and ran over to where Sokka, Suki, and Toph were watching Zuko warm up. Aang smiled giddily as he made his way outside.
"There you are!" Zuko yelled over to him, picking his towel up to wipe the sweat off his bare chest. "You ready to lose, Avatar?" There was a small smile playing on his lips, letting Aang know that the smack talk was all in good fun. Aang caught Katara's eye from across the yard and it gave him the strength he needed to fight.
"Better question is are you ready to lose?" Aang shot back causing his master and opponent to laugh.
"Well okay then!" Zuko threw his towel into the grass and took a few steps back. "You know the rules by now right? You can bend only fire, we stay in the yard, and you can't use the Avatar State. We'll fight Agni Kai style, first to fall loses."
"Just get on with it!" Toph yelled from the sidelines. Aang looked over to the sidelines momentarily and got an encouraging smile from Katara before he turned to Zuko and bowed. The master firebender returned the gesture and the fight began. Zuko and Aang both sent out forceful augmentations that crashed into each other in the middle of their makeshift arena, Aang took advantage of this and broke right to catch Zuko on his weaker side. The airbender threw five quick fire-jabs before dropping to the ground and rolling out of the way of a stream of fire.
"Nice!" Sokka yelled, pumping his fist in the air. Everyone was rooting for Aang to win this fight, but knew Zuko couldn't go easy on him, no real enemy would ever give Aang that luxury.
"Is that the best you got?" Zuko taunted, throwing a fire whip towards the Avatar. Aang smiled.
"Not even close Sifu Hotman." Aang chuckled, taking the opportunity to use an advanced intertwined fire stream to try and gain the upper hand in the fight. Zuko used blocking fire to dissipate the flames, but was a second too late, throwing himself off balance.
"Finish him, Aang!" Katara cheered, jumping up to get a better view. Aang flashed her a quick smile before throwing a couple of fire blasts at Zuko. The firebender tried dispersing these flames with a few well placed flaming arcs, but Aang had somehow managed to get himself behind Zuko.
"Sorry Zuko." Aang yelled as he wrapped his foot around Zuko's ankle and pulled his leg out from under him. Zuko went crashing to the ground and Aang held a fireball in ready for three seconds before Zuko broke out in a huge smile.
"Congratulations, you've mastered firebending." Aang offered Zuko his hand and helped pull him up just as Katara came running over to him, launching herself into his arms.
"Aang you did it! You won!" The girl didn't seem to have any qualms about hugging the now sweat drenched Avatar. "One hundred sparring matches in a row." Katara shook her head at Aang, amazed. "I knew you could do it!" She told Aang, still bouncing with excitement.
"Thanks for believing in me." Aang told her shyly, rubbing the back of his neck. Katara simply broke out into a huge grin and pulled him close to her, kissing him sweetly again.
"I always will, Aang." She laughed lightly, when she pulled away from him a wry smile played on her lips. "Except when it comes to you beating me at waterbending… now that I'm going to have to see to believe!"
A/N: So, congratulations again to KatAang32 for 100 followers on Together Again! Hope you liked this story!