First of all, I'm trying out a new sort of "format" with this chapter.

DISCLAIMER: Damn, I still don't own Avatar.

WARNING: This, I think, is going to be the longest chapter I have ever written, so I advise you to find a good cup of tea and make sure you have a while before you start reading it, mkay:D:D Reading so many fanfics with unbearably fluffy Kataang scenes, leaving me feeling all happy and warm and toasty inside, have inspired me to write this super-chapter and a bunch of oneshots, all today. I LOVE FLUFF!!!

The Storm

Chapter 7, Part 1 (Katara's POV)

I awoke suddenly a few minutes past sunrise, as my body had grown accustomed to doing, and gave a large, gaping yawn. Arms thin, but strong, stable, comforting, that felt right, were firmly but gently embracing me, one wrapped around my waist and another almost lovingly supporting the back of my head, intertwined slightly with my hair. I glanced to my right. Aang was still peacefully asleep, an expression of complete happiness embellishing his face. Aang. The name now meant more to me than Avatar and best friend. Now, whenever I heard or thought of it, the thoughts that came first to my head were, unfalteringly, my life, and perfect. But those weren't are not enough, didn't even begin to describe how I feel about him. Aang was quickly becoming a deeper and deeper part of my life; a safe harbour in the storm, someone I could always talk to when I felt sad about anything,comforting in all our ventures, brave to face his destiny and accept it yet still be cheerful, and nicer, more polite, and more caring than expected of any being of this world, especially towards me. He had taken the risk of Sokka seriously attacking him in the morning, all to once again show kindness beyond any other person I had ever met, and comfort me after my musings. Truth be told, I really was cold, and he had selflessly done his utmost best to comfort me, and succeeded, as he was wont to do.

Now I carefully laid a fingertip on the nape of his neck, and began to absently trace the pattern of his tattoo along his bald head. He looked so peaceful in that position, arms still loosely around me and the expression of complete bliss still etched upon his face. I sighed, and, noticing that Sokka was moving in his sleeping bag and Iroh had already lit a fire and begun to make tea, gently prodded Aang's arm and called his name. His eyes fluttered open, and the brilliant grey flashed in the sunlight streaming into the clearing, and his expression looked confused for a moment, before his usual goofy, wide grin split his face, literally beaming at me. I smiled as well.

"How'd you sleep?" I asked, determined to show my care as well by beating him to the nicety.

"Never better, you?" he said cheerfully, before giving me a quick peck on the cheek, and a quick but tender hug before gently Airlifting himself out of the bag and onto his feet, then offering a hand to me.

"Wondefully" I replied, and I think he was momentarily startled by the seriousness in my voice. He really had helped me get to sleep, and I wanted to show him how much I cared. "I mean, it really was sweet of you to comfort me like that, and even more so to try and keep me warm." He grinned hugely again, and pulled me up.

"Anytime." He kissed me again, and the combination of his comment and kiss, I think, made my heart melt as it was prone to do these days whenever he did me a kindness. I returned the gesture, and we held like that for a few seconds, soaking up the happiness of the moment. I wanted him to always be there.

Part 2 (Zuko's POV)

I awoke with a start as somebody was leaning over my sleeping pallet. It was my uncle, holding a cup of tea and smiling broadly. I rolled my eyes, and tried to turn over and bury my face in the crude pillows. I was tired, and had no desire for a scaldingly hot drink at the moment. I had stayed up part of the night before, listening in on Katara and Aang's conversation. When I saw them lay together, so content, I felt something, a reminder of feelings I have not felt since I was a little boy, since I last saw my mother. It startled me that love I should perceive as something peculiar, and I was not proud that I had evaded all forms of it in years past to capture the Avatar, that the war and my father's evils would hide it from me so.

Iroh prodded me with the tip of his finger. "Zuko," he said, in the slightly nasally voice that had always added the prefix of "Prince" until we joined with the Avatar. "Get up. I feel that trouble may be at hand."

I sprang from my makeshift bed. "Where?" I hissed, ready to fight. Uncle solemnly raised his hand and pointed a finger in the direction of Sokka, who was eyeing Katara and Aang, and their position right by her sleeping bag, with a slightly agitated look in his eyes, which quickly became manic. I understood at once, and nodded. Aang would be loth to use his Bending in a fight against a non-Bender, and in hand-to-hand combat, though Aang had superior strength, Sokka would get the best of him before long from experience. And Sokka was steadily becoming more and more agitated as thought after thought seemed to dawn upon his mind. Uncle and I walked briskly over to the campfire, close enough to intervene if Sokka decided to unleash his feelings.

Uncle casually offered me the steaming cup of tea again, and I drained it in one gulp simply to get him out of my face, but scalded my tongue in the process. Uncle laughed.

"You would not have burned your tongue if you had sipped it slowly and enjoyed it," he toyed. I shot him a look, and was about to retort when a heated argument broke out between to kids. Unbeknownst to us, while we were talking, Sokka must have approached the couple and began to berate them for what I inferred as doing certain things that Sokka thought they had. Now Toph was yelling at Sokka as well, trying to defend the two. Uncle and I stepped over to the group, and folded our arms serenely, listening to the argument, and ready to hold back a spitting mad Water Tribe boy if we had to. Toph now spoke again.

"Listen, Snoozles, if they say they didn't do anything, THEY DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! THEY WOULDN'T LIE ABOUT STUFF LIKE THAT!" The younger girl seemed ready to defend her two friends, the couple of which she apparently liked, to the death. Aang nodded his head vigorously, and Katara glared at her brother with a look that plainly meant daggers for the stubborn boy.

"Were telling the truth, Sokka, I promise. Katara just had, well, a bad dream, and I tried to cheer her up, and she was cold, so I tried to warm her up. I just helped her get to sleep, okay? You've always seemed okay with me, well, liking her before, and, besides, I'd never do ANYTHING like that to Katara, we're much too young, and even if we weren't I'd still respect her and do it the right way." He finished, and seemed to look at Katara for approval, and she smiled warmly, then he glanced at my uncle, as if to check that he'd said it the right way, and Iroh gave an approving little nod.

Sokka looked from one face to another, and each shook his head a little as Sokka's eyes passed over him. Sensing he was beat, Sokka bowed his head in a sort of shameful way, and extended a hand towards Aang.

"I'm sorry if I insulted you. I shouldn't have said anything." But Aang was already pumping his arm enthusiastically, and telling him not to think a thing of it, though Katara still looked icily at her brother, with a look that plainly said "If you dare imply that Aang would act that way again, you'll answer to me." Sokka gulped at her look, and even Katara managed a small smile as we all laughed. This is wonderful, I thought. Everybody so comfortable around one another, so nice, and caring. Uncle must have caught a look on my face, and grinned knowingly as I punched him lightly on the shoulder. This was the way of honour, not my old life.

Part 3 (Toph's POV)

I tried to calm down, but was still seething. Sometimes Snoozles just has no clue when to keep his fat mouth shut. Katara and Aang now chatted lightly together as they and Iroh made breakfast. Zuko was perched on a tree branch, absentmindedly whittling away at a twig, small puffs of smoke twirling form the tip of his knife. Sokka was bustling around the camp, hauling water, gathering firewood, things he almost never did, all seemingly to try and redeem himself with his sister. I was sitting with my back to a great tree trunk a few hundred yards form the group, spinning a few pebbles in the air above my outstretched hand. Katara and Aang now both laughed, seemingly at a joke from Iroh. He whispered so softly, and they were so far away, that even my ears only caught a few words, which happened to be "Sokka" and "red" and "spluttering", I grinned as I realized the topic of their mirth, and got up, intending to get closer and hear more of their conversation as Katara stirred some porridge-like fare in a large pot above the fire that Iroh had lit.

Suddenly Iroh made a comment, and, as I was closer and getting even more so, I heard everything he said.

"So, Avatar Aang, you have mastered Waterbending, and are well on you way to doing the same with Earth. What of Fire?" Iroh suddenly recoiled as he realized he struck a note inside Aang. "I'm sorry. Did I offend you?"

"It's okay," said Aang, his face darkening. "You weren't there, you had no idea."

"What happened, if I might ask? Or, would you rather not speak of it?" Iroh looked at Aang with sympathy, for, I guess, he had already guessed that Aang had had trouble coming to terms with the awesome, yet horrible power of fire. I had reached the group now. Aang shook his head, and turned around, then walked slowly toward a large tree and catapulted himself into it. Katara looked at Iroh sadly before running after Aang, and climbing up into the branches to join him. I looked up at Iroh, now standing right beside him, and he smiled sadly. We were good friends now. He thought much the same way as I did, yet differently as well.

"Sometimes I need to just refrain from speaking," he said sadly, as he sat down on a large stump, and motioned for me to join him. "What happened?" he asked tentatively. "Do you know." I nodded.

"To make a long story short, a few weeks ago they met Jeong Jeong the Deserter who had left the Fire Nation. I assume you know who he is?" Iroh nodded solemnly. "Well, he agreed to teach Aang Firebending only after he had a vision form Avatar Roku. He still believed that Aang lacked the control and will needed to do it, but still taught him after being ordered to do so by Roku. After many breathing and stance exercises that left Aang impatient, Jeong Jeong gave him a smouldering leaf, told him to keep the flame from reaching the edges as long as possible, and after a few moments, a ball of fire erupted in Aang hand. He tried a few tricks, tossing it around himself, before attempting to do a trick he saw a performer do at a festival in a Fire Nation controlled town. He ended up sending a wall of flame outwards from himself, and Katara held out her hands before stumbling back from the fire, her hands and arms really burned. She ended up finding that she could heal using her Waterbending, as only their Masters can, and healed her wounds, but Aang vowed to never Firebend again, and has been scared of it since."

"Because he hurt her, and that, along with the danger she and all of you go through every day just to be with him, is too much for him to bear. The fact that he burned her." I stood shocked for a moment at his sudden understanding, but he saw my expression and gave a sad smile.

"All Firebenders feel too powerful when they first try it. And I know Jeong Jeong. As he would say, it is more curse than gift. I hurt somebody I loved when I first learned, and, to this day, I am still loth to Bend at all. It eats you up inside, being a Firebender." I now smiled sadly, and we both glanced up to the tree where the couple was talking. Katara, having apparently comforted Aang slightly with the fact that she had long forgiven him, and that she may never have learned to heal if he hadn't burned her, was now hugging him fiercely. I caught the words "I'll still never do it again," and Katara hugged Aang again, apparently trying to impress upon him that he must.

"That's the one thing about them that's so special."

"What?" Iroh said, apparently confused. I elaborated.

"He cares more about her than the entire world and himself, and she cares more about the entire world and him, his destiny, than herself. They really are special. They mean so much to each other." Iroh nodded again, and offered his hand.

"We should go finish breakfast for them." I nodded, and once more he and I walked off together, both happy for the couple, and leaving them alone to speak. Zuko looked up from his work, and stared off in the direction of the tree, where Katara and Aang were now locked in a passionate embrace. I saw him give a genuine smile, and looked to my side to see that Iroh was grinning back at him. They really fitted in with our group, enemies turned ally in the storm of war. Katra and Aang, however, had by far the safest harbour, yet the one most battered by the winds.

I'm done!! Phew!! But, that was really fun to write. I think I'll do next chapter this way as well. Rate and Review please. And, I need your help to detect mistakes in flow, if any part is awkward, or doesn't make sense, please tell me about it in your comment so I can fix it!! Thank you. YAAAY FLUFF!!!!

-Zach J