Chastity
A/N: This fic is entirely pointless. There isn't really a setting to it, and it doesn't even matter. I'm not sure why I'm posting it. It is typical for my stuff – I am not an intense or dramatic person, but all of my stories seem to become that way :P Here it is…
"Katara…"
She froze. Aang stepped inside the tent without waiting to be allowed in, his eyes downcast.
"Um…" Katara began awkwardly, entirely uncertain of how to point out something obvious.
"No, Katara, listen." He rubbed his left elbow with his right hand self-consciously, still staring at the ground. "I want to talk to you. Well, actually, I want to tell you some things. Some important things.
"When we kissed – at Ba Sing Se and at the invasion – it meant a lot to me. It doesn't make sense, but it felt so… right."
He smiled at the ground and continued. Katara's breath was caught; she had nothing to say.
"Katara, I love you.
"I don't know how you feel about me. I only know that we kissed. Twice. But since then, we haven't acted any differently. We are still only friends. If you felt the way I wish you did, things would be different. This... Can't be the way I wish it was."
Katara watched his eyes, her own full of tears. Compelled to say something, yet still utterly speechless, Katara blundered, "But… why do you love me?"
Aang's expression contorted with pain at the question. Then it calmed. Softly, he answered, "I don't know."
There was silence. Right as she opened her mouth to say something (although she had no idea what to say), Aang spoke again, with more intensity.
"You're beautiful. I just love the way you… are." He frowned a little, as though dissatisfied with his explanation.
"You mean, you find my figure attractive." Katara's voice was gentle. Aang didn't know it, but his explanation was bringing a memory to the forefront of her mind, a memory of something Gran-Gran told her when she was a young girl. Presently, she was not insulted; she was curious, and trying to understand.
Nevertheless, Aang blushed at this (accurate) analysis. He hadn't realized it before, but she was right.
"Yes." He turned his back to her in shame. Determined to explain, he continued, "Your deep, oklive skin has always held my attention, I guess. The hair, too, especially with the loops that hang next to your face. And…" He turned, and his eyes finally met hers as he said it. "Your eyes." He let his gaze explain, let his searching look tell her that her pretty blue eyes meant the world to him.
Even when they were tearful and sad.
And… Embarrassed?
"I just love you, for whatever reason. I had to tell you."
His face turned back to the floor and he exited the tent. She didn't move a muscle. She could not believe that the Avatar himself had professed his love to her. It was crazy.
But her mind wasn't jammed because of that; no, that she could have guessed.
"Chastity is not being unaware of temptations, young one," Gran-Gran's voice echoed in her head. "It is overcoming them."
Katara had been completely naked.
And he hadn't even seemed to notice.
Katara felt herself begin to cry.