A/N: Alright, I know it's forever late…but when Kataang week was going on I didn't have a computer and I couldn't participate. I saw someone else had entered a late version and so I decided to do my own. You wouldn't be here if you didn't think Aang and Katara weren't just the cutest, so I'm sure you don't mind.


This prompt contains a reference to my multi-chapter work-in-progress, A New Beginning…a slight spoiler offered on the upcoming chapter. Check it out if you haven't already...I've been working really hard on it. :D


Prompt 2. Smoke and Mirrors

smoke and mir·rors n

cover-up: something that is intended to draw attention away from something else that somebody would prefer remain unnoticed

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Its not like he'd ever tried to hide it. He just wasn't sure how to relay the message. He'd kissed her once, and tried it twice, both drawing different reactions from her. The latter attempt was something he'd like to forget. She'd seemed appalled, offended…feelings that he never wanted to stir within her. So maybe the way she reacted to the first kiss was out of sympathy, or perhaps empathy, due to the uncertain outcome of the invasion. The kiss or her feelings on it hadn't been mentioned afterwards either. Not good, he thought.

He was currently in Ba Sing Se, six weeks removed from the final battle with Ozai. She, on the other hand, was in the South Pole tending to her sick grandmother. He'd written a letter to her and tried to keep it simple. He talked about their impending departure from the Fire Nation, her brother, the meetings, his utter boredom with those meetings…and how he missed her. He cringed at the thought of her reading those words, hoping she wouldn't think it too forward of him.

He'd told himself that he would refrain from such ambitious displays of affection toward her from now on. While Sokka and Zuko seemed to think that she wasn't angry, he couldn't help but think he'd done something wrong. Yet, there had been something in their interaction at the Fire Nation Palace that told him Sokka and Zuko were right. She didn't seem the least bit angry, even attempting to strike up a seemingly important conversation before they were interrupted with the news of her ailing grandmother.

Herein lied his dilemma. He knew she would be arriving from the South Pole soon, within a couple of weeks. He knew he would want to go to her, hold her, tell her just how much he missed her and how nearly two months without her had begun to make him feel like a part of his own spirit were missing. He also knew he had to stick to his resolve, to give her space, hold back. He wasn't one for playing with smoke and mirrors, or withholding his feelings. He wasn't sure he knew how, being the free spirit that he is. It would be truly difficult, indeed; but if he ever wanted that chance to be with Katara, he would have to try.


Eh, this one's aight...I know I read one of these that was rather good for 'smoke and mirrors'...

I referenced my own story, with Aang's uncertainty on how to react to Katara when she returns from the South Pole. The reference here eludes to Chapters 5 & 6, which haven't been posted yet. Ch 5 is in progress.