Hey all, this is my first time ever publishing on this account (go to profile for details). This is a oneshot for my favorite cartoon of all time :P. Although I'm a Zutara fan, here's a KataraxAang story for all you Kataang shippers out there. Enjoy and please give me feedback!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Aang's silence was killing Katara.

Recently, he'd been avoiding her. No—ever since Aang's journey to the Eastern Air Temple where he'd met someone to teach him how to control the Avatar state—he'd been avoiding her.

Whenever she even attempted to talk to him, he'd turn her down within seconds with some random, stupid excuse.

"I have to go give Momo a bath."

"Can't talk right now. I need to go help Sokka, uh—fish."

"Not right now, Katara. I'm teaching Toph to read."

Teaching a blind girl to read? He wasn't even putting any effort in his excuses nowadays, and Katara knew something was up. But how could she ever approach him if he kept running away from her every opportunity he had?

Finally, Katara just couldn't take it anymore. She had to do something; she was going to make Aang talk no matter what.

"Aang."

Aang peered up from the ground, a sullen look upon his face. At the sight of Katara, his eyebrows furrowed and he looked away immediately.

"We need to talk."

"I'm busy."

"No. You're not."

Aang regarded her with raised brows, startled at her sudden forwardness.

"You've been avoiding me, Aang," Katara started off gently, "and I don't know why. Did I say something wrong? What…what happened with Guru Pathik?"

At the mention of his time in the Eastern Air Temple with the guru, Aang's eyes widened.

"I'm not avoiding you—"

"Did he teach you how to control the Avatar state?"

Aang had never actually told them the outcome of his time with the guru. Had it been beneficial to him? Could he now go ape shit on the fire nation with a snap of his fingers? They were all dying to know, but no: Aang hadn't let a word slip about it.

"Look Katara, I need to go and—"

"You need to go and what, Aang?" Katara finally cracked, steam literally bursting from her ears, "Go educate Toph to write? Go teach Sokka how to waterbend? I'm done with your lame excuses, Aang. I need answers. And I need them now."

Katara was close to tears. Aang glanced at her warily with a heartbroken expression on his face. Could he not trust her enough to tell her something? It broke Katara's heart to think so.

"You can trust me, Aang," she whispered softly, comfortingly, "I'm here for you."

Suddenly, something snapped inside of Aang. His eyes widened by a tenfold and his demeanor darkened, anger oozing from within him. The atmosphere was deathly cold even though they were standing by a scorching hot fire in a small cave.

"NO KATARA! You're not here for me! You don't know anything about the troubles of being the Avatar, so stop acting like you do! Just—LEAVE ME ALONE!" With that, Aang snapped out his glider, took a running start, and jumped from the edge of the cave into the dark, quiet night air.

"Aang!" Katara called after him but it was too late. He was merely an orange speck in the deep, black sky.

Her shoulders sagged. Her knees crumbled, and her palms shot up to her bleary eyes as tears streamed from them. She sat there in the small cave, crying her heart out.

Aang hadn't trusted her. And Katara hadn't thought of anything at all from his point of view. How stupid could she be? He was the freaking Avatar! She was just a pathetic little waterbending girl who happen to find a small boy trapped in a huge ball of ice. She was nothing.

"Katara?" A soft, husky voice called.

Katara didn't look up. She didn't care what kind of a mess she looked like right now. Her body shook wretchedly as her sobs got harder and more audible.

"Katara!" Strong arms wrapped themselves around her. They pulled her in closely to the owner's hard chest.

Katara could just barely make out the smell of burning fire: Zuko.

Zuko gently shushed Katara while cradling her in his arms, rocking back and forth.

It seemed like hours passed before Zuko finally broke the silence. Or at least, broke Katara's loud sniffling noises.

"What happened?"

Katara shook her head from side to side; she was in no condition to say anything at the moment, and only burrowed her head further into Zuko's chest. Katara didn't know when she'd begun to trust Zuko, but she was glad she had.

"Okay, okay. Where's Aang?"

Katara's sniffles erupted into loud wails once more. Instantly, Zuko knew something was up between the two of them.

"Wh-where did he go, Katara? He didn't…run away—did he?" Zuko questioned hopefully.

Katara shook her head into his chest as her sobs got louder. Fatigue passed over Zuko. All his life, he'd been chasing the Avatar, and the one time he actually gains his trust, he runs away again. Would he have to go chase after Aang again?

Zuko opened his mouth to ask another question, but just as he was about to, a loud whoosh passed right by them, putting the fire out in the cave. Zuko lit a ball of fire in his palm and shot it at the still-hot-firewood.

He gasped, "Aang!"

Aang peered at Katara tightly held in Zuko's embrace and his expression hardened. He looked like he was just about ready to kill someone.

"Sorry. I didn't know I was intruding," Aang addressed them curtly.

Zuko raised an eyebrow and glanced down at Katara in his arms. Instantly, he broke apart from her.

"A-Aang…"

The sight of Katara looking like a watery mess (no pun intended) broke Aang's heart. Her eyes were bloodshot and there were tearstains all over her face. Her hair was flying in all directions and there were wet tear splotches on her water tribe dress. She looked like she'd been crying for hours.

"K-Katara…" his voice softened slightly, but he still couldn't erase the image of her in Zuko's arms, "Who did this to you?"

Zuko scoffed loudly. "Take a wild guess," he mumbled, arms crossed coolly.

Aang widened his eyes. She hadn't been crying because of…him, right?

With a curt nod, Zuko silently left the scene, taking most of the heat in the small cave with him.

"Aang, I'm sorry!" Katara erupted immediately, "I didn't think of anything from your point of view. I didn't think about your burden as the Avatar. Aang, I'm so, so sorry." The tears wouldn't stop streaming down Katara's cheeks. Her words seemed more than genuine; she was truly sorry. Sorry for something she hadn't even done.

"No…" Aang mumbled softly, slowly approaching her and taking her in his arms. "It wasn't you, Katara. I'm sorry."

Katara gave him a quizzical look.

Aang sighed heavily and finally, he began to explain what happened at the Eastern Air Temple.

Guru Pathik had told Aang that he had to unlock 7 chakras—all located in different parts of the body—in order to reach the free-access of the Avatar state.

However, after unlocking 6 chakras successfully, he finally came to the last one. Unfortunately for Aang, this one was a major problem.

"Why?" Katara croaked.

Aang sighed heavily again. "Because…because I had to let go of all my emotional and physical attachments."

Katara furrowed her eyebrows in puzzlement. "He said you had to let go of Appa?"

Despite himself, Aang chuckled softly. "No, Katara. I had to let go of my love…for you."

Katara did a double take in his arms. "W-what?"

"To answer your question, no, I didn't gain control over the Avatar state, because you were in the way. Guru Pathik told me I had to let go of you, and I…I just couldn't do that." Aang confessed, refusing to look Katara in the eyes, as he turned red. This was the boldest she'd ever seen him towards her.

Katara was slow on processing this information. Aang…loved her?

At the thought, her heart filled with joy. But then, another, dreary thought came to her.

"B-but…what about the Avatar state?"

Aang shrugged. "Guru Pathik said if I left at that time, I'd never be able to control it. I guess I'll have to fight the Fire Lord with just…me."

Katara shook her head fervently. "But-but Aang. You just ruined your one shot of ever controlling the Avatar state!" Her lack of response to his love confession was quite rude, but at the moment, Katara was looking towards his duties as the Avatar.

Aang shrugged again carelessly with a ghost of a smile playing on his lips. "I don't care, Katara; you're worth it. As long as I have you, I don't care."

Hope you liked it (: Also, I know Zuko shouldn't be there during this point since he's not part of the gang yet, but I needed my dose of Zutara, so I just popped him in there. And Aang needed to get jealous. Sue me :P