Chapter 9: Secrets
A/N: Update so soon? Has TheBakingQueen been replaced with an alien? Believe me, I'm as shocked as you are. Thanksgiving Break along with no HW has severely helped. The date in the beginning of this chapter is 1/9/2019, as was the last chapter. Anyway, here it is! Also, thanks to ChanceC and the Guest review I got last chapter!
Last Time:
"If things had been different, would there have been a chance that this," Katara gestured between them, "could've become more than a figment of my imagination?"
The airbender gave her a small smile. "Maybe. Just maybe."
The two benders sat in a long, seemingly endless silence, contemplating what had just occurred.
Aang turned to Katara, cocking his head at her and asked, "Why?"
The girl furrowed her eyebrows. "Why what?"
He squinted at her, trying to read her neutral expression.
"Why do you-" he faltered, "Why do you love me?"
The waterbender tensed a little, startled by the softly whispered question but goading him to elaborate with her eyes.
Aang sat back a little and continued.
"I've always been so horrible to you. I tease you, call you names, make your life miserable. How can you like, much more love, someone who does that to you?"
Katara sighed and chuckled a little.
"You make it impossible not to. I told you, you're sweet, funny; you're corny and playful. The heart wants what the heart wants, regardless of all the reasons it can't have it."
The boy closed his eyes, thinking for a moment.
"But how? How do you know?"
The waterbender sucked in a breath, completely still as Aang opened his eyes and looked at her scrutinizingly.
"I... I have my ways," Katara said, nervously glancing at her partner.
The airbender sighed. "I know there's more to it, don't get me wrong, but I'll leave it for now."
The girl smiled in relief and nodded. "Thank you."
The two once more sat in silence, albeit a more comfortable one, each thinking and fantasizing.
"Katara?"
She looked at him. "Yes?"
"Can we talk about earlier? What I said to you?"
Katara buried her lower face in her knees, pulling them to her.
"What is there left to say?"
Aang cringed at the change in tone to a cold, menacing voice.
Gulping he said, "I'm sorry."
The waterbender raised an eyebrow at him, urging him to continue.
"I know sorry doesn't even begin to cover it, but I am sorry and I didn't mean any of it."
He waited from some semblance of reassurance that it was okay or that she forgave him but was met with instead, "Prove it."
"Hmm?"
"Prove that you're sorry, that you didn't mean it." Katara paused and took a deep breath. "Give this," she waved her hand in the space between them, "a chance, if only as friends and in secret."
Aang grinned at her and briefly took her hand in his, squeezing it, before letting go, trying to ignore that sparks that shot up his fingers and the butterflies in his stomach as she slightly smiled.
"Now that I can do."
Needless to say, Katara's next couple days at school became a bit more bearable. Of course, out of respect, Katara stayed out of Aang's head, but she also didn't need to with the growth of communication between the two.
While neither didn't outrightly announce their newfound friendship (which in its own right, was rapidly growing; the two naturally connected with each other), it showed in the little things, like how he would shoot her discreet smiles in the halls and at lunch, or how he would tease at school just a little less, for appearances. It didn't seem like much, but quite frankly, the waterbender couldn't remember the last time she felt this happy.
That Sunday, Aang and Katara found themselves down the street, at Aang's house (a shock for Katara, wondering how she had never noticed his proximity) for their 'one-day-on-the-weekend talk', even if they had done their part the day before as well. It was on this day that the conversation inevitably led to a more serious topic, the truth value in their reputations.
"Katara?" the airbender asked, lying back on his bed next the girl in question, facing him while propped up on a pillow.
"Hmm?"
Aang tilted his head to her, eyes filled with amused curiosity.
"Do you really have nine tattoos?"
Katara raised her eyebrow in amusement, a smile dancing on her lips.
"Another rumor about me, I presume?" She rolled her eyes as the boy next to her nodded.
"Well," she started, hugging the plush pillow under her, "I don't have nine, but I do have a few." She bit her lip. "Do you want to see them?"
The airbender's eyes widened, debating on how to answer, eventually settling on yes.
Katara sat up, stretching a little, and took off her jacket, revealing a tank top underneath and with it, a wolf on her upper right arm and a penguin on her left forearm. She subsequently pulled up her leggings to her knee, uncovering a beautiful panda lily winding its way up her calf.
Aang slowly reached out his hand to her arm, looking to her for permission as she nodded, and traced the dark-blue inked wolf, appearing as if it were looking up at something.
He tilted his head back up towards the waterbender and asked, "What are their stories?"
Katara pointed to the wolf first. "It's a symbol of sorts, kind of in confliction with this one," she pointed to the flower on her leg. She sighed. "You remember the story between my brother, Suki, Toph, and me, right?"
The airbender nodded, having heard a vague description from both Sokka and Katara.
The girl smiled sadly, forlornly. "It was the most impulsive of them all, really. It was during a time when I felt like I had no one, hence the lone wolf. It was a reminder of what I had lost."
She leaned against Aang, accepting the comfort of his outstretched arms protecting her from the outside world.
"In another way, it's a kind of remembrance, a memory. Our parents always used to call Sokka their 'wolf warrior' and it fit with what I wanted to symbolize."
Katara next pointed to the little penguin on her forearm. "Another bittersweet memory. Before she-" the waterbender's breath caught in her throat, slowly relaxing as Aang held her a little tighter, a little closer.
"Before she died, my mom would always call me her little penguin. This was my own way of honoring her and keeping her close to my heart."
The girl smiled, a genuinely happy smile this time, as she pointed to the last tattoo winding up her calf.
She looked at Aang.
"Do you know what a panda lily is supposed to represent?"
The airbender shook his head, intrigued.
Katara sighed, remembering memories long forgotten. "I remember as a little girl, watching my mom and dad together, dancing, laughing, whatever, and seeing how happy they were together. The panda lily is a reminder that true love is out there, somewhere, and that maybe one day, I'll have what my parents had."
The two layed there in blissful quiet for a while, just barely remembering to call Hakoda and change before Katara drifted off to sleep in Aang's arms.
Subconsciously smiling at how peaceful she looked in her sleep, Aang took a moment to appreciate just how beautiful Katara was when she was free from the world and its inevitable stresses.
"Wait, what?" The airbender turned his head away, bashful. "Beautiful? Where did that come from? I don't..." He gulped, risking a quick glance at the sleeping girl in front of him, a smile adorning her lips, slightly parted, and her hair out of their normal loops, splayed across the soft pillow under her head. "Well, it's kind of hard to not call her adorable with a smile like that."
Aang shook his head and grinned to himself, softly stroking her hair. "Maybe," he decided, "having a crush on my best friend doesn't have to be a bad thing."
A/N: YAY! Finally, some Kataang! I would've put it much earlier but unfortunately, I have to make this realistic and put in *mockingly* character development and filling scenes. Bleh. On another note, I made a brief list on what should be in each chapter, putting this story at about 30, but I have been going much slower than expected so this might be anywhere from 30 ish to 40. Also, the significance of Katara's address that I put a few chapters ago was actually the number '72718' which was the date of the last lunar eclipse, 7/27/2018.