My first Kataang story! YEAH! Kinda fluffish… if that's a word, but I hope ya like it =D
Btw, it takes place like right after the Headband episode so… yeah
Aang's POV
The sun poured into my eyes as I woke up, stretching before actually attempting to stand. We'd had a long day yesterday. We'd landed in the Fire Nation, gotten disguises, I went to school and I'd even thrown the Fire Nation kids a dance party! Of course the best part of the day was when I got to dance with Katara… I know it probably doesn't seem like much, but when you have no idea if she likes back the way you like her, any reinforcement is positive reinforcement. I walked around looking for Katara, careful not to wake Sokka, Toph or Appa.
"Hmm… where are you," I said to myself as thought about her.
Just as I was about to give up I head something coming from behind a few trees. I jumped onto one of the branches and looked over, frowning as I saw Katara crying softly by the river. I was about to jump down and try to cheer her up when I heard her start to talk.
"Mom… I miss you so much," She cried quietly as she stared at her mother's necklace, "I remember when you gave me this… and when you gave me that ring, which I had to lose! Oh Mom… I miss you…"
I jumped down to the floor and started thinking. Ya know, maybe if I get her a ring to replace her Mom's she'll realize how much I really love her! MAYBE SHE'LL START TO LOVE ME TOO!
"Yeah! That's a great plan!" I shouted a loud.
"What's a great plan?"
I must have jumped 10 feet into the air, which, when you're an airbender is completely possible, because when I came back down Katara was standing right behind me, her hand over her mouth in an effort to stop herself from laughing.
"Hey! You snuck up on me!" I whispered, pouting as she continued to laugh.
"Yeah, you're right, you're right and I'm sorry. It's just the look on your face! Priceless," She whispered back, grinning from ear to ear.
Aah… she has the most beautiful smile…
"Aang?"
"W-what?" I asked, breaking out of my trance.
"I was asking you what your great plan was!" She repeated as I blushed.
"Oh… umm… nothing, just ya know… thinking about training and taking down the Fire Lord!" I exclaimed, following her as we walked back to camp.
"Well don't worry about it too much Aang, I know that it'll all work out in the end," Katara replied.
She's so sweet and optimistic! Another thing I love about her…
"AANG!?" She yelled again.
"H-huh?" I said, still a little dazed.
"Are you alright? You only seem to be hearing ever other sentence," Katara questioned.
"Who, me? I'm fine, just… tired, that's all," I said. That was a pretty good excuse, right?
"Oh, well maybe you should go back to sleep," Katara suggested, "I don't think that we'll be doing anything important today."
"Right… sleep. I'll do that," I agreed, walking back towards camp.
Great! Now I'm gonna have to wait to get Katara her ring!
So, after a combination of fake and real sleeping, I woke up again, this time greeted by Sokka and Toph who had both gotten up while I was out.
"I'm gonna go into town for awhile, okay?" I shouted as I took off into the air.
I heard a few voices shout back, but the sound of the wind muffled them out. Oh well, I wasn't really asking for permission anyway. A few minutes later I arrived in town at the local jewelry shop.
"What do you want?" The old man behind the counter asked grumpily.
"Umm… well I was looking for a ring…" I started to explain.
"How much ya got?" He asked.
"Ten gold pieces," I answered, showing him the money
He laughed and pointed to the case below us.
"Which one?" He asked, trying to suppress a grin.
I looked, but none of them really fit Katara. And then I saw it… it was a blue gem that was cut to look like a flower. It had a silver band and I could tell immediately that it was perfect.
"That one," I said pointing to it.
"You have taste, but this ring is 600 gold pieces," He replied, showing me the price.
600 GOLD PIECES!? I only had 10! And to get even that I had to take some from Toph… it was not gonna be pretty when she figured that out…
"I guess you don't have enough, huh?" He asked, obviously happy about it.
People sure got meaner while I was trapped in the ice.
"No… thanks anyway," I sighed, turning and starting leave.
"Ugh… wait up kid," I heard him say.
I spun back around, grinning as I hoped it make me a deal.
"I can't go down on the price… but if you can get the guy over there to give me his rare Blushing Pearl then you can have the ring, free of charge," He said, pointing to a man that stood across the street at another store.
"I can do that!" I replied excitedly, running over to him as he left the shop, "Excuse me!"
"What?" The guy replied angrily.
"I'd like to purchase your rare Blushing Pearl!" I exclaimed.
And then he laughed… not a good sign.
"Do you have 800 gold pieces on you?" He asked.
"Umm… no… I only have 10…" I replied, showing him the handful of gold coins.
"Hahaha!" He shouted, "Ten!? This pearl's worth 80 times that!"
I sighed. I was so, close… I guess I can forget about Katara every liking me back.
"I'll tell ya what," He began, "If you can get me the diamond-tipped pickaxe that the owner of this store has, I'll give you my pearl."
"Umm… okay…" I replied, heading into the shop.
It was dark and scary and it smelled… weird, but I had to get Katara that ring!
"Hello?" I said into the dark room, pushing through some curtains.
"HEY!"
I jumped and came back down into a large pile of ashes. I get scared waaaay to easily.
"Haha, sorry, so what's up?" A guy around 16, maybe 17 asked as he stepped behind the counter.
"Well… ya see… the thing is…" I stuttered.
I just couldn't think of what to say!
"Just spit out kid!" He yelled, slightly annoyed.
"I need your diamond-tipped pickaxe, but all I've got is 10 gold pieces! Can you please make me some kind of deal? I'll do anything!" I begged as the guy started to think.
"Hmm… I guess so, but you'll have to give me something pretty valuable in return, those pickaxes aren't cheap. That's 1000 gold pieces I'd be giving you! But… there is this girl… Rien. She lives four shops down. If you can get me a date with her, I'll give you the axe, deal?"
A date!? How am I supposed to do that!? There's no way I can say yes to this!
"Okay!" I shouted back as I ran out of the store and towards Rien's shop.
I'll make it up as I go along!
"Hello, I'm Rien! How can I help you?" A young girl asked.
She was only about a few years older than the guy at the other shop, but unfortunately… they were exact opposites! She owned a flower shop! It was bright, pretty and smelled great! This… was gonna be hard.
"Hi, so… umm… there's this girl that I really like and she was talking about a ring she lost, so I decided to get her a new ring, but it was too expensive so I had to get a pearl, which meant I had to get a pickaxe and the only way to get the pick-axe is if you go out with the guy four shops down!" I blurted.
Who knows! Maybe she'll understand!
"Him, huh? Look kid, you're cute and sweet for doing this for your girl, but the only way I'll ever go out with him is if… wait… is if you can get me the old woman's magic candle! She lives at the end of the block."
This chain was just getting longer and longer…
"Alright…" I sighed, trudging off to this old woman's place.
Madam Rouge, that's what it said on the door, kinda tacky if you ask me.
"Hell? Madam Rouge?" I asked, walking through a cloud of fog.
"Ah, have you come for a reading?" She asked quietly.
Madam Rouge was this old, heavily make-upped woman sitting on a cushion in front of a small black table.
"Actually, I'm here for you're magic candle…" I replied.
"My candle is not for sale!" She exclaimed, grabbing it and holding it tightly.
"Well, I was thinking that I could trade you something for it," I explained.
By now I knew the drill.
"Hmm… well, there is this little girl. Her mother owns the shop that's next to that flower store and she bought the last crystal ball from the vendor that only comes into town once a month! If can get it for me, I will give you my candle. And don't worry, the white stuff washes out."
"Oka… wait, what white stuff!?" I shouted, jumping to my feet as I noticed this white powder all over me.
"The fog leaves a fine white residue on whatever it touches, but don't worry, like I said, it'll come out," She answered as I started to leave, "Come back soon!"
By now I was covered with ashes and this white powder and I was starting to think I was allergic to one of the flowers in that shop, cause all of the sudden I'm really itchy!
"Excuse me! I need you're crystal ball!" I shouted into the empty shop as I walked through the entrance.
Then, out of nowhere a little girl popped up behind me.
"No way! This is mine! I bought it fair and square!" She yelled, clutching a small animal in her arms.
"Well, is there anything I could get you to trade?" I asked, hoping this task wouldn't be too hard.
"No…" She began.
As she started to think she loosened her grip on the animal. It leaped out of her hands and dashed out of the shop.
"FLUFFY!" She shrieked, "CATCH HER AND YOU CAN HAVE THE STUPID BALL!"
I ran after the little creature as it passed by the shops and turned into the forest, leaping over rocks and squeezing under fallen branches. I had almost caught up with it when I tripped and fell right into a large mud puddle.
"Aaaah!" I screamed, jumping to my feet and trapping Fluffy in a small rock cage.
I walked over, grabbed the thing and headed back into town.
"POOFY!" The girl yelled squeezing the little creature as she jumped up and down, "Here's your crystal ball!"
"Thanks…"
I took the ball and walked back to Madam Rouge's shop.
"I have the ball, can I please get your candle now?" I asked her.
"Why of course deary! Here you go!" She exclaimed happily, handing me the large candle, "Thanks again!"
"Uh huh…"
After that I walked back to the flower shop, gave Rien the candle and the headed for the pickaxe, where I told the owner to pick Rien up at seven. He grinned and gave me the axe, which I then gave to that guy who then gave me the pearl, which I finally gave to the old guy at the jewelry shop.
"So you got it! Well done! And here's your ring," He said, handing me a small velvet box and taking the pearl out of my hands.
I smiled weakly and slowly made my way back to camp. The sun was going down and I was so tired that I could barely move, but I did manage to find Katara before, I passed out. She was underneath a small waterfall bending the liquid around her into different shapes and figures. I quickly slipped off my boots, vest, shirt and headband and waded through the water, stopping only a few feet behind her.
I took a deep breath, cleared my throat and said, "Hey Katara…"
"Hey Aang. What happened to you? Where've you been all day, you're covered in… well I don't really know what you're covered in…" She replied, an eyebrow raised.
"Oh, you know… in town," I explained, being as vague as possible, "So… I heard you talking about the ring your mother gave you and how you lost it… and well, I got you this ring to kind of… make up for it…"
I know I was blushing like crazy, I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks, but it was pretty dark so I was hoping she didn't notice. I gave her the case and she opened it, gasping as she saw it.
"This is beautiful Aang!" Katara exclaimed as I grinned.
I knew it was perfect. She took the ring out of its socket and went to slip it on her finger, but the band wouldn't fit! And we were leaving tomorrow morning! My face dropped, my mouth hung open with shock and I felt like crying.
"Oh well," She said, shrugging, "It's the thought that counts."
She leaned in and kisses me right on the cheek, which of course made me blush even more and this time she definitely noticed. She giggled and turned around, walking back towards camp as I stood beneath the waterfall, too shocked to move. As soon as Katara was out of sight I collapsed back into the water, some of the mud, powder and ash washing away as my gasp turned into a crazy excited grin.
"Yep. Totally worth it."