Katara wrapped her arms around her body, trying to stay warm as she headed down towards the river . She walked carefully so she wouldn't trip over anything in the dark, she was so focused on not falling she almost walked right past Aang. He was sitting with his back to her, legs crossed, his palms facing upward as he meditated. Quietly Katara sat next to him and waited patiently for him to acknowledged her presence.
"Hey Katara," he said after a minute, his voice empty of any emotion.
"Aang I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have yelled at you like that!" she apologized.
"That's ok Katara. I understand." He said in that same blank voice.
"No Aang I don't think you do." She said, grabbing his shoulder and turning him to face her.
"Your right, I don't." he said angrily, "you got so upset over something that wasn't even my fault!" he said his voice rising. "It's not like you care anyway, I don't unders-"
"I was jealous." She shouted over him. Seeing his startled gaze she repeated her statement quietly. "I was jealous , I didn't like seeing her kiss you. Because, well," she stammered, not able to meet his gaze, "I wanted to be the one kissing you."
"Really?" asked Aang, his voice incredulous.
"Yes." She whispered back.
After a moment of silence, Katara looked up nervously. Did he not like her? Why wasn't he saying thing? But as soon as her eyes met his she knew she had nothing to worry about. His smile was shy as he slowly leaned forward so all she could see was him, and then she couldn't see anything because her eyes were closed and all she could think about was Aang's lips on hers and how wonderful it felt. Gently he placed his hand behind her head, pulling her closer to him as he continued to kiss her sweetly. Katara wasn't sure how long it was before they pulled away for air, all she knew was that her heart was racing and she felt more loved than she thought possible.
Toph smiled when she "saw" her best friends walking up. Their hearts were racing, and to Toph it was pretty obvious what had been going on. Sokka, on the other hand, was not so observant.
"Where have you two been?" he asked dramatically. "And what's with your hair Katara? It's all frizzy!" he said making broad gestures at her hair. "And what's with your faces? Their all red, what were you two do-" Sokka stopped mid-sentence and looked at them with shock before pointing crazily at them. "I know EXACTLY what you two were up to! I can't believe you! I trusted you Aang, and now you're doing this behind my back?"
"Sokka I'm sorry, we didn't exactly mean for it to happen though." Reasoned Aang.
"Oh you didn't mean for it to happen. You think that makes it all better?" Yelled Sokka.
"No, but I thought you would understand. I mean I kinda did tell you before." He admitted, his voice hurt.
"What? No you didn't!"
"Um actually I did, you know back where that fortune teller was."
"Aang, I think I would remember you telling me that you were going to fire bend! I mean after you burnt Katara I thought we were done with that!" Continued Sokka, walking in agitated circles.
"Wait, what?" asked Aang in confusion. "You thought I was fire bending?"
"Isn't that what you were doing? I mean why else would you look like that?" demanded Sokka.
"We were-ow!" Said Aang, rubbing the side that Katara had just jabbed with her elbow.
"Were sorry Sokka, but it was just to make a fire, to keep warm." Katara told her brother.
"That's still no reason to be fire bending."
"Your right Sokka, Aang's sorry and he won't do it again." Katara said sincerely while Aang nodded profusely.
"Well you better not." Said Sokka threatening before walking over to his sleeping bag, mumbling the whole way. "Stupid Avatar, stupid element, fire bending ha!"
"So." Drawled Toph slowly as Aang and Katara went to pass her. "You aren't going to sneak off tonight to fire bend, are you?"
"Nope, not us. Good night Aang." Said Katara quickly.
"Good night!" Aang called back as they both rushed to their sleeping bags while Toph laughed evilly in the dark.
Almost a week past and Aang and Katara still didn't have a chance to be alone together. They had been so busy with Sokka's strict schedule, and it didn't help that Katara's brother was constantly keeping an eye on them to make sure they didn't "fire bend," that they never got a chance to talk about that night. Which was just as well thought Katara, since she wasn't so sure about her decision to tell Aang about how she felt. Not that I have any doubts about loving him she thought feircly, if anything her love for the avatar had only grown. What really had her worried was that Aang was going to have to face the firelord soon, and knowing Aang, the whole time he would be worried about her. That was something she couldn't have happening. He needed to be completely focused when dealing with Firelord Ozi, and she was afraid she compromised that when she confessed her feelings. She only had one choice for now, and that was to keep her distance no matter how much it hurt to do so.
Aang glanced over at Katara trying to hide his confusion. He didn't understand what was going on with her, almost a week ago they had kissed and it had been wonderful, he had been so happy and he thought Katara was too. All that changed the next morning though when Sokka was going over the invasion plan. Katara had be quiet and withdrawn, not meeting his gaze or talking to him unless necessary.
"ha! I win!" yelled Toph excitedly.
Aang and Katara looked over at the earthbender who was grinning from ear to ear as Sokka had a displeased frown on his face as he admitted to defeat.
"What are you guys doing?" asked Aang curiously as he walked over.
"Just playing some games." Responded Toph as Sokka once again hid a pebble under a cup and then set down two more and moved them around.
"There! Find it now." Said Sokka smugly after whipping the three cups around rapidly.
"This is too easy." She replied with a laugh as she once again correctly pointed to the right cup.
"Great." They heard Katara mutter in the distance.
"What's wrong?" asked Sokka.
"Well were just about out of money and food." She said worriedly, chewing her bottom lip.
"Well Toph's pretty good at this, why don't we all go while she tries to get money from the street vendors?" offered Sokka.
"Sokka we can find money some other way." She said, not sounding convinced.
"Well we can just try a couple, just to get some supplies." Said Aang looking at Katara.
"Ya ok." She said dismissivly, not noticing Aang's hurt look or Toph's glare.
"You heard her boomerang squad." Said Sokka standing up. "Let's go!"
"Enough with the boomerang squad." Muttered Toph as the three made their way to the village.
"You guys we have enough supplies. You need to stop with the games, we don't want to call attention to ourselves." Said Katara the next night while they were all eating dinner around the fire.
"Well who knows how long that will last?" said Sokka with a sigh.
"It wouldn't hurt to have a little extra money in case we need it." Agreed Aang.
"You might be comfortable taking money from strangers," snapped Katara at Aang, "but I'm not."
"Hey!" said Toph shortly, not liking the way Katara was talking to Aang. "they aren't just random people, they are street performers who spend their lives tricking people out of money. There just getting what they deserve." She said folding her arms over her chest, daring Katara to speak against her. What is her problem? Thought Toph irritably. She could tell that Katara didn't mean what she said, so why was she saying to anyway? And why is she taking out her confusion on Aang? She knew the air bender was just as confused by Katara's mood swings. Toph had noticed ever since the "fire bending" episode Katara had been standoffish towards Aang. This doesn't make sense. I can feel that she loves him, and everyone knows he feels the same towards her. Why is she trying to hide it?
The next day Katara walked over to Toph, feeling bad for being so snappy the other night. "Hey Toph," she said quietly.
"What do you want sugar queen?"
"I just wanted to say sorry for last night." Said Katara sincerely.
"It's not me you should be apologizing to." Said Toph angrily. Before Katara could respond Toph turned to her, "what's your problem anyway? You both like each other, so why are you treating him like crap all of a sudden?"
"What-what are you talking about?" stammered Katara.
"Aang you idiot!" yelled Toph. "I've gotten really close to Twinkle Toes and I really care about him, so it upsets me when you go around playing games and hurting him!"
"Toph you don't understand." Whispered Katara.
"I understand enough." Responded the younger girl. "You know how he feels and your bored, it was more fun when he was chasing you, so now you've started this new game to make things interesting." Accused Toph.
"That's not true!" snapped Katara. "Why would I want to hurt Aang? If anything I want to be with him more than ever, but it's better for him if I keep my distance Toph."
"Oh ya, confusing him and hurting him is really what he needs right now." Katara cringed at the harsh words.
"Toph," she pleaded, needing her friend to understand, "in a couple weeks Aang is going to face the fire lord."
"Ya, I know that already."
"And you also know what a loving person Aang is. We are ALL going to be a part of the invasion, and we are all at risk of getting hurt." Continued Katara. "Aang needs to have all his focus on Ozi, not worrying about us."
Toph let this sink in for a minute before saying, "oh. I didn't think about that."
"I can't have him distracted, I can't lose him again. So it's better for him to think that I changed my mind about us than have him get killed." She said, tears gathering in her eyes.
Now it was Toph's turn to apologize. "Katara I'm so sorry, you should have told me though." She scolded gently. "You can always talk to me Katara, even if I don't really know what to say." She awkwardly patted the other girls back.
"I feel so bad." Whispered Katara. "I know what I'm doing is hurting him, I guess I'm being selfish, I'm too afraid to lose him to tell him what's going on."
"No. Your being very brave to save the one you love." Responded Toph as Katara broke into fresh tears.
