I wrote this after seeing Ember Island Players on its premiere night. Let's just say that I was miffed at the situation and wrote this as...(as dorky as this sounds) some sort of closure. Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender.
"Well, um…it's really late now, isn't it?" Zuko was looking up at the almost-pitch-black night sky as they entered the Firelords summer home. "We should probably go to sleep." They all stood in the front room, still disturbed and annoyed about the ending of the play. The awkwardness and tension in the air could have been cut with a knife.
"That's a fine idea by me." Suki yawned and looped her arms around Sokka for a hug. "Goodnight Sokka." He hugged her back and pecked her on the lips.
"Goodnight Suki. I think I'll head to bed too." He stretched his arms up as high as he could and let them drop.
"Make sure you two go into separate rooms." Toph sleepily joked. Zuko gave out a small laugh. Sokka and Suki, clearly tired from the long night of disappointing and upsetting performances, stared at Toph with clear disapproval. Obviously, Toph was unable to see the couple's reaction, and started her way down the hall.
"Goodnight everybody. Let's hope we feel less suckish in the morning." Toph stepped inside her room and shut the door.
"As we were saying, I think Sokka should walk me to my room." Suki gently held her boyfriends forearm to take him with her. "See you guys in the morning."
"Goodnight." Zuko replied cheerfully. "Well, Aang, now that I think about it I'm not that tired. If you wanted to train or something…" Zuko turned around to face his student, who seemed to be absentmindedly staring out the window into the night sky. "Aang?"
"Oh! Yeah. Sorry. Actually, I'm kind of tired…if you don't mind…I'll go to bed. See you in the morning." He gave Zuko a small wave as his teacher gave him a respectful nod. Aang turned to Katara, who was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, avoiding the gaze of everyone that remained around her. "Um…goodnight Katara." Without another word, Aang quickly headed down the hallway. Zuko gave Katara an observant look.
"Are you mad at him or something?" Katara continued to look at the floor.
"What? Oh, I'm sorry. What just happened?" She gave an embarrassed laugh and tucked her hair behind her ear.
"Katara, Aang just said goodnight to you, and you ignored him. What's going on with you two?" Zuko asked simply. Katara immediately got defensive.
"Why do you need to know? Is it any of your business? So what if I'm confused, I still support him and I-"
"What?" Zuko responded.
"Um…nothing. I think that the play upset all of us…I'm going to go to bed now. Goodnight Zuko." She turned to leave.
"Wait, Katara!" Zuko put a hand on her shoulder and turned her to face him. "Are you sure that there's…nothing going on between you and Aang? I mean, I may not know everything, but Mai and I-"
"Goodnight." She began down the hall, avoiding any glance backward, any wrong step, anything at all that would remind her of the night's events. And then it happened. She took a turn down another hall, only to bump into the Avatar himself. They tumbled to the ground, Aang nearly on top of her. The only thing that kept him from touching her was his arms, holding him up right above her. They looked directly into the eyes of one another, wondering what to do next.
Not only were their faces inches apart, but Katara had noticed at that moment that Aang was shirtless, only flustering her even more. Katara gasped and quickly moved out from under him, but remained sitting on the floor. Aang got up from the ground and held a hand out to the clearly horrified Katara.
"Are you okay?" He asked her. She slowly took his hand and let him lift her off of the floor, surveying him as she moved up. In seconds, they were face-to-face.
"I'm fine, thank you." She meant to take a step in the opposite direction, but accidentally tripped over her own feet and landed right into Aang's arms. He was silent. Katara backed away slightly, looking right into his eyes. Suddenly, it came clear to her. How he felt, exactly. She could see all of his pain and anticipation, but his eyes still held in them the childlike wonder that she admired and adored, and wanted so badly to have in herself.
Slowly, she leaned closer to him, her confusion clearing up less and less. They may have been in the middle of a war, but the thoughts of fighting and determination flew from her mind. All she wanted now was Aang. He copied her actions, slowly leaning towards her, their lips almost touching. Katara kissed him ever so lightly. He broke away from her and took a few large steps back.
"Now isn't the right time." He gave her one last look of longing and departed to his bedroom. Katara sighed, and wondered when the right time would come.
Poor Katara. PLEASE REVIEW!