Guy's I am so sorry. I should of gotten this done much earlier! I curse myself. Today and last night I was really busy. This should of been done by last night! Ugggg. I hate it when I feel late or overdue. Please forgive my lateness! Enjoy.
Disclaimer: Nickelodeon owns all, even my soul.
Chapter 8-Childhood
Once Katara had woken to the sound of a thump across the room she was sleeping in, she bolts up. Her eyes search the room to find Aang standing in the door way frozen as if he was trying to catch something, and she realized that the amour no longer stood. His face was contorted into a grimace. Katara giggled at his position.
Aang turned his head towards Katara fixing himself so he was just standing, not frozen in a ridiculous position. "Oh sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," Aang stops and looks down and rubs the back of his neck. "Well…I meant to, just, uh, not like that." Aang says a sour face coming as he trips over his words. Katara giggles and swings her legs over the side of the bed stand she slept on last night. When she got up she was sure not to step on the mattress that lay on the ground.
Katara walks over to join Aang by the door, noting the knocked over amour. Aang stares at it too. "Should we pick it up?" Katara asks glancing at him.
"Ya." Aang answers simply. Both take hold on the amour and Katara is surprised to see how heavy it actually was. Aang held his side pretty good, but Katara's eyes bug out of her head and a grunt escape her lips.
"Dang, this thing is heavy." She strains as both her and Aang set the amour back on its legs. Aang takes his hands from underneath the portable closet and rubs the red line across the inside of his hands.
Aang smiles slightly. "Oh ya," He agrees looking back to his hands and massages the tender skin a little more. He starts to talk again turning up to look at Katara again. "Breakfast is done." He informs her.
Katara gives a smile, but then it turns into a slight frown. "Well who cooked because if Zuko did, the food will surely be burned?" Katara asks a smirking Aang.
"No, I did." He answers blushing slightly. He was surprised Katara didn't know that about him.
Katara gazes at him surprise showing in her raised eyebrows, "No way," she exclaims. "I never knew you could cook." She tells him a large smile slipping across her face.
Aang smiles back, a shy smile covering his features. "Well, were both learning new things about each other." He says before walking out the door.
Katara follows him out to the space provided to get to the rooms around the circular tower. A spiral stair case lay out in the middle of the small space. Both Katara and Aang make their way to the entrance of the staircase. "So," Aang speaks up breaking the think silence. "You never did finish telling me about yourself," Aang points out, a smile on his face. "So what was our connection to each other?" he asks innocently.
Instantly Katara pales. Her throat locks and she feels like there's no air to breath. "Um…" she mumbles trying not to give away what she and Aang really were. Slowly she licks her lips feeling the dryness of them. "Well, we were really good friends; and I taught you everything you knew about Waterbending." She states her eyes focused widely in front of her.
Aang lets his eyes fall, disappointed, just friends. That's what she had said. "Oh, that makes sense." Aang says hiding the disappointment in his voice. Katara nods, not knowing what to say in this awkward moment.
The rest of their trek down the curving staircase was engulfed in silence. Silence that cut through each of them, both thinking about the feelings they feel for one another.
Katara couldn't help but feel this atmosphere with Aang was somewhat familiar. It was only familiar from the many times she would admire him when traveling around the world, thinking he didn't love her back. The only difference this time was that she knew the feelings weren't mutual. He was in love with another.
As both Katara and Aang exited the tower and found Zuko awake as well. "Is Sokka and Toph up yet?" Katara asks, keeping her eyes in front of her. She spots that breakfast is laid out on the chipped cobblestone with a blanket lying underneath. Zuko sits on the blanket with an empty plate in front of him.
"Um, not really." Aang says rubbing the back of his neck.
Katara furrows her eyebrows. "What do you mean by that?"
Aang hides the horrified look making its way to his face. "Sokka, well, I went in and I told him to get up, and he chucked something at my head," Aang told Katara a slight frown taking his features. "Then, there was Toph," Aang states widening his eyes. "Let's just say if I hadn't somehow felt it, I would have been picking gravel out of my face for the past week." Aang explained a small smile taking his once horrified face.
Katara gazes at him shocked, "What, you said you felt it?" Katara asked. Aang nods. "Aang! I think that you used an Earthbending technique without knowing it!" She exclaims giddily.
Aang's lips tilt upwards at the corners in glee. He was slowly progressing. Zuko looks to both of them, "That's weird." He states nonchalantly.
Katara turns to him, "What?" she asks, not understanding what he meant.
Zuko shrugs his shoulders. "Well, didn't you say that Earthbending was the hardest for Aang to learn?" Zuko asks, more in like answer than anything else.
Katara thinks it over. Yes, it had been his hardest element to learn, but he learned it. So if his body could automatically remember some bending outlines, than it will only take to bring his memory back. She explains this to Zuko, getting a nod of his understanding.
Toph and Sokka came walking from the tower in their regular clothes. "Hey," Toph calls out. "I'm ready for food! What do we got?" She asks as she joins everyone at the blanket.
"I fried up some fruits and vegetables with some berries that I found along the yard." Aang answers, not even thinking about it.
Sokka looks at Aang with wide eyes. "What about the meat?" he asks hoping Aang had just forgotten about mentioning it.
Aang's nose crinkles in response to the mention of eating meat. "I didn't cook meat, because first there is none around. Second I wouldn't dare cook meat in this courtyard, or anywhere near this Temple," Aang announces then continues to speak, "Third, all life is sacr-" Aang can't even finish the sentence before Toph cuts in.
"Ya, ya. We all know about your vegetarian ways, and it sickens me," Toph tells Aang and plops down on the blanket. "But meat or no meat, I'm starving." She announces.
Sokka also sits down pouting because there's no meat. Katara rolls her eyes at her brother. She didn't have a love for meat as great as his. In fact she was ok without meat. Sokka couldn't live without that food though; he would probably slip into depression or something without his meat. "Oh no, what's the meat and sarcasm guy gonna do without his meet?" Katara teased as she picked some berries and brought them to a small cloth she was keeping her food on.
Sokka looked up at her, taking her question literally. "I have no idea." He pouts.
Zuko looks up from his food. "Sokka, I think she was kidding."
Sokka looks to his Firebender friend, "Well I wasn't." he retorts.
Zuko holds his hands up in front of him defensively. "Just letting you know." He tells a huffing Sokka as he turns back to his breakfast.
Both Toph and Katara roll their eyes. Toph rolls hers because Sokka can never man up, even though she hated the thought of no meat as much as him. Katara rolled her because of her brother's immaturity at times.
Aang just sat by quietly and watched everyone interact with a close eye. He couldn't help but wonder what it would be like if he could remember them like they remember him. If he could just be able to understand the nicknames and inside jokes everyone held. It was still a mystery to him as to why Toph called him Twinkle Toes. Aang inhaled sharply; there was so much to remember. And since he is the Avatar he is probably needed somewhere to keep the peace, or something he had to do.
Before Aang knew it, Katara's elbow softly nudges him. Aang awakens from his thoughts; his eyes recovering from the glazed over, unfocused ones they were only a minute ago.
Sokka was talking, "Alright, so I came up with how to do this reenactment last night," Sokka announces to everyone. "Here's how it will work, Zuko, you will play Aang…" Sokka is cut off from the rest of his sentence with Zuko's protests.
"Why do I have to be Aang," Zuko asks wide eyed. "Remember at this point in the war I was hunting him down. And besides we look nothing alike, and I wasn't even here for this little visit." Zuko protests more. The idea of being Aang was not what he wanted to do.
"It was ether you, or Toph." Sokka answers.
Toph stares in front of her but addresses Zuko. "Ya, you're definitely keeping your role as Twinkle Toes." She states with power in her voice.
"Well, I'm not playing Aang. End of story." Zuko announces folding his arms over his chest like a child.
Toph's lips scrunch up until she's pursing her lips. She stands and walks over to Zuko, grabbing his caller and pulling him inches from her blind eyes. She couldn't stare into Zuko's hazel orbs, but her blind unseeing eyes, unfocused made her look even more intimidating. "Your gonna be Twinkle Toes," Toph uses her free hand to poke Zuko's chest. She continues with her sentence. "Because if I have to play Twinkle Toes I'm gonna lose it. I'm as far from him as possible," She jabs her finger into Zuko's chest again. "Number one, I'm a girl," She tells Zuko with a hard glare before Sokka's snickering comes into earshot. "Shut it Sokka, before I have to for you." She states aggravated by his muffled snickers, but once she says her threat the snickers instantly stop. Toph turns back to Zuko, "Number two; I'm an Earthbender, as far from an Airbender as possible," Toph holds Zuko tighter, and blindly stares into his eyes. "And number three, I said so." And with that she releases him and sits back down.
Zuko holds to the caller of his shirt horrified at the proximity Toph came into. Mentally Zuko reminds himself never to get on Toph's bad side, especially in the morning.
"Stop!" Sokka called to everyone. Currently they were back in the courtyard and the sun was setting over the distant mountain tops. They had all been out all day trying to reenact the memory they had with Aang at the Air Temple. Multiple times however, they were interrupted by Zuko, Katara, or mainly Toph not being able to keep their laughs to themselves any longer. Or at other times Sokka telling them to stop because they messed up the scene or it didn't flow right. Sometimes at times, Aang would actually absentmindedly speak up about something the scenery reminded him about his childhood.
This time it was all on Sokka though. He called them out on something that actually worked pretty well in Katara's mind. Katara huffs and places her hands on her hips, frustrated. "What is it now?" she snaps at her brother.
"I don't think that this is working. Being here at the Air Temple. Aang isn't even focused on us half the time and I think that this place is bringing back more childhood memories than post iceberg memories," Sokka states and stops for everyone's reaction. "I think that we should just leave to Kioshi Island tonight." Sokka suggests.
Everyone was silent for just a moment, thinking about the possibilities. Sokka was very right about this not working. If they left for Kioshi Island they may get there late at night if Appa flew fast enough and warm beds and civilization would be waiting for them. Zuko raises his eyebrows, "Sounds like a plan." He states, Toph and Katara continue nodding their heads.
Aang looked everyone over, he himself almost wanted to get away from all of this. The Air Temple was now sad and lonely, and Aang made a mentally note to restore it back to its natural beauty. "Aang, you in?" Katara asks.
Aang nods once. "I'll go get Appa ready."
It took until the sun was no longer in view and the bright, almost, full moon set a silver glow to everything. Finally everyone was smuggled into Appa's saddle, except for Aang, who sat on the bison's head. Katara saw as Appa lifted off the ground and into the air. She looked back to the deserted grounds and couldn't keep her thoughts to herself any longer.
Slowly she crawls from her sleeping bag and goes to talk to Aang at Appa's head. The night breeze combined with the speeding bison made for a cold trek to the other side of the saddle. Carefully Katara steps over Toph's sleeping form and next to Aang. She holds to Appa's long white fur to keep her from falling off. Katara sits next to Aang and looks forward towards the moon. "Hey Aang, can I tell you something?" Katara asks, wondering if Aang will think she's crazy.
Aang looks over to her and turns his body to face her. "Ya, what do you need to talk to me about?"
Katara averts her gaze from the moon to his similar grey eyes. "It's about this flashback thing that happened to me last night…" Katara begins, and tells him about the daydream she had. She explains how she think that it may of actually of been a flash back of someone's life.
Aang stares at her in disbelieve once she is done explaining. "Wow Katara, you must be a really spiritual person. That's amazing." Aang tells her.
Katara blushes slightly. "I don't know if you could say really spiritual, but I try," she confesses. "But really I don't know what to think." She admits looking at her fidgeting hands.
Aang gives her a warm smile and turns his eyes back to the sky, "You can't know what to think when that happens," he tells her and gives her a sideways glance, he continues to speak. "All you can know is that magical things happen at the Air Temple."
Was this chapter good? I feel it is a little jumpy, like maybe I'm jumping all over the place, not my best work. But hopefully you guys liked it. Remeber I love to get reviews from all of you! So please, pretty please review! You guys ROCK! :)
