Okay so I'm not really satisfied with this chapter, but I'll probably fix it up a bit later. I've been soooo swamped with homework and studying since exams are coming up. I promise I promise I promise once I'm done with all this school stuff, I'll have some better material. Anyway, enjoy! :D

Hakoda wrapped his arms around me and embraced me in a tight, fatherly hug. "I'm going to miss you." He mumbled as I nuzzled into him.

"I'll miss you too dad…I love you." I smiled and looked up at him. He was smiling too, but I could sense the tiniest bit of sadness in his expression. I knew that letting go of me was going to be hard on him, but it wasn't like I was leaving forever. I would come back as much as I could for visits, and I'd write all the time. Besides, Sokka would still be here for him, even though Suki was going to show up at anytime, but they would still be here. I let go of Hakoda and backed up a few steps. "Where's Aang?" I asked him. He looked back at the huts behind us and motioned his head.

"I think Sokka was showing him to his hut." He told me. I smiled.

"Thanks dad. I'm going to go tell him the good news." Hakoda smiled again at me as I ran off towards the small hut that was made especially for Aang. Some of the Waterbenders who had come from the North Pole spent all day perfecting the hut, making everything just right for the Avatar. When I got to it I ran inside to see Sokka and Aang both sitting cross-legged in front of a small fire. They looked up at me up at me. "Sokka, do you mind. I need to tell Aang something." I said quickly, making my way to sit between them. Sokka gave me a look.

"Well okay, just feel free to come right in and interrupt our talking?" he said sarcastically.

"Sokka just go!" I narrowed my eyes and leaned my head towards him. He was just sitting there looking at me, lips pursed. Finally he got up and headed to the door.

"Whatever, I'll talk to you later Aang."

"See you Sokka."

When I was sure Sokka was far enough away from the hut, I turned to Aang and grinned. "What…did you want to tell me?" Aang asked slowly, noticing my smile.

"I asked my dad about Ba Sing Se, and he said yes." I watched as his face lit up and he returned the grin.

"That's great!" he said excitedly, pivoting himself so that he was completely facing me. "He didn't have a problem at all with the idea?" I shook my head.

"No. He told me that if there was anyone he wants protecting me, its you." Aang snickered to himself, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

"Well…I am the Avatar." he said pompously. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. If there was one thing that grew over the past few weeks, other then his height, it was his ego. And even though both were barley noticeable to the others, I could spot them from a mile away. The height I didn't mind at all, on the contrary I was actually quite happy when I noticed that he was subtly becoming taller then me. But the ego was something I could live without. Ever since Aang had defected Ozai, everyone had been giving him praise, giving him gifts, inviting him to celebrations, and doing something in his honour. For the first few days he was doing fine with the attention, just the same old Aang. But after about the fourth day of being worshiped and complimented by everyone, his self-admiration sky rocketed. Luckily days of calling him on it paid off, and he tried his best to keep his pride to a minimum.

The smirk fell from Aang's face and was replaced with a frown. "I'm doing it again…aren't I?" he asked cautiously, eyeing my unimpressed look. I nodded slowly at him, and he closed his eyes tightly. "Sorry."

"You're getting better."

"I am trying."

I casually scooted myself closer to him, though he didn't seem to notice because his eyes were now fixated on the fire. "What are you thinking about?" I asked him after a moment of listening to the hissing fire. Aang continued to look but answered my question with a childish smile, the one I hadn't seen since before Sozin's comet.

"I was just thinking," he began. "Do you think we can go penguin sledding tomorrow? You know, like old times." We both laughed, though probably not for the same reason.

"Old times?" I asked. "You make it sound like it was so long ago." Aang laughed again and looked at me, his silver eyes flickering in the light.

"Okay, so maybe not like old times. But we should really do it, you know, before we leave for Ba Sing Se." I leaned my head to the side as I thought about it.

"Well, Sokka might want you for some "man-to-man" guy time tomorrow. But I'm sure we can find some time. When are we planning on leaving?" This was a question I was very curious to know the answer of. I wanted to leave as soon as possible to start my new life with the boy I loved, but on the flip side I didn't want to say goodbye to my family.

Aang's eyebrows furrowed and he was silent for a minute, before his face relaxed again. "Umm, well…it's really up to you. Whenever you want to leave, we can." he told me. "But we shouldn't stay here too, too long. I really want to get out of these clothes." Aang looked down at his heavy blue parka. I chuckled and looked at him.

"Okay. Well, why don't we stay two more days?" I asked with a shrug, thinking that this would give me just the right amount of time to gather up the strength to say goodbye. He nodded.

"Two more days, sounds great." he agreed. I smiled and slowly climbed to my feet, Aang did the same. "Are you going?" he asked, sounding disappointed. I looked at him guilty and slowly nodded my head. I knew that it was only a matter of time before either Sokka or my father would come to tell me to get to my own tent, but for some reason I felt like going on my own terms, and not being walked in on.

"Yeah, I'm pretty tired from flying all morning." I said with a yawn. "I think sleeps probably the best thing for me right now." Aang bowed his head for a minute before taking a few steps towards me.

"Okay…" he said.

I quickly wrapped my arms around his neck, pulled myself closer to him so that our chests were barley touching, and lightly pressed my lips to his. He automatically slipped his arms around my waist and I felt his hands meet at the small of my back, pulling me even closer and deepening the kiss. I parted my lips ever so slightly allowing his tongue to immediately plunge into my mouth, running over my own, inside my cheeks and along the back of my teeth. Whenever Aang would kiss me like this, it would always be gentle and hesitant, as if he was scared of something, never once would he ever get rough with me. I was almost certain that he was worried Sokka would walk in on us, and to tell you the truth, I was too.

Since the victory of the comet, Aang and I had been keeping our relationship a secret from everybody, which was much harder then it sounds, trust me, but we had been doing a pretty good job. The only person who I thought might have suspected us was Toph, who for the last couple of days was very suggestive towards us. Luckily for us, Sokka had been left completely in the dark and seemed nowhere near the light. This was probably a good thing, because if he did manage to find out he would probably be very upset with us hiding it from him. I tried as much as I could not to think about that happening though.

Aang and I finally let go of each other and parted, both of us gasping for air. I smiled when I finally gathered another breath and crossed my arms. "Well, I should…go." I said. He nodded and smiled as well.

"Kay."

"I'll see you in the morning." I turned around and slowly headed towards the "door".

"Goodnight."

In the morning I woke up to find that Aang and Sokka had indeed went out hunting. So for most of the morning I was stuck doing chores with my grandmother while Hakoda, his friend Bato, and some previous Northern Water Tribe members discussed more plans to rebuild the village. By early afternoon, the boys still hadn't returned and I was beginning to think that they had strayed from their "hunting" and got side tracked by goofing off. It wasn't until about I finally saw them running over the horizon, that I suspected I was wrong.

"KATARA! GET DAD!" I heard Sokka yelling from the distance, his voice filled with fear. I continued to look at them for a minute, wondering if this was some kind of sick joke. But then I noticed the familiar red hawk flying behind them, and the large parchment Sokka was clutching in his hand. I turned around and dashed towards the hut my father was in and ripped open the curtain.

My father and the other men were sitting around a round table in the middle of the hut, looking down at the blueprints of a healing hut they were planning on making. They all looked up at me. "Dad," I said unsurely. "I think Sokka's in trouble."

My father and I bolted out of the hut just in time to be met by Sokka and Aang who stopped running. "Sokka, what's wrong?" Hakoda asked as he watched Sokka try to catch his breath. The red hawk, Hawky that I hadn't seen since our days in the Fire Nation perched on his shoulder and made a low gurgling noise. Sokka pushed the parchment to Hakoda.

"This…" he panted. "Came from Gaoling." Hakoda took it, opened it and began to read.

"Toph's city?" I asked as I watched my father's eyes move quickly back and forth across the paper, then I looked back at Sokka. "What happened?"

Hakoda closed the parchment back up and looked at us. "It was attacked." My eyes widened when I heard this, and panic set in.

"What?" I demanded turning on Aang. "What about Toph? Where is she? Is she okay?" Aang, who had been bent over in an attempt to regain his breath straightened up and opened his mouth to say something.

"We don't know. But this letter was written from her." Sokka rushed before Aang could say anything. I furrowed my eyebrows.

Over the few months we had known Toph, I had grown to love her as a best friend. And even though we didn't get along all the time, I wouldn't know what to do with myself if anything happened to her. She was my friend; the first real girl friend I had had since I was a little kid, losing her would be like losing a family member.

"Well what are we going to do? We can't just sit here and do nothing!" I snapped at him, throwing my hands in the air.

"I'm going to go to Gaoling." Aang said trying to stay calm, but I could sense that he was worried too. I narrowed my eyebrows.

"You're going? What about us?" I asked motioning to Sokka and I. Aang looked at us.

"Katara, don't you want to spend some time with your family?" he asked, dipping his eyebrows. I looked at Hakoda.

"Well, yes. But right now I think seeing if Toph is okay is a little more important." I said. Sokka crossed his arms.

"And I'm defiantly going! If anything happened to Toph…I swear I'll…" Sokka clenched his fists and looked down. I knew that he too felt the same way about Toph that I did, like she was our family. I placed my hand on Aang's shoulder, causing him look at me.

"The point is Aang, we're all family. We're going with you." Aang hesitated before nodding.

"You kids are going to need some supply's," Hakoda started. "Just in case."

I didn't mean for this chapter to be this short, but like I said...I have way to much homework. Promise next chapter will make up for this one. :)