We're so close to the end of 2011, I can practically taste it. So much is happening in the world of Avatar next year: the Promise Trilogy and even Legend of Korra. Yep, 2012 is shaping up to be a good year indeed. :D Anyways, I've got a nice little chapter for you before the New Year comes. I probably won't be updating this again until after New Years, since I literally just finished this chapter today, but I will try to get the next chapter done as soon as I can. In the meantime, enjoy and review! :D
Since I won't see ya'll till after the New Year, I thought I'd just take the time to say HAPPY NEW YEARS! :D Long live Avatar: The Last Airbender! Cactus Juice for everyone! XD
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. The show and its characters belong to Mike and Bryan, the brillant geniuses behind one of the greatest cartoon shows in the history of cartoons. Their work is legendary, and I salute them for it. I also do not own "The Promise" story, which is written by Gene Yang, and is also the property of Mike and Bryan. I am simply help to spread the news of the upcoming story and do not take any responsibilty for the development of the story itself; I am only going off of what is known thus far.
What Did You Call Me?
"Just shift your weight through the stances," instructed Katara as she twisted her arms off to the side, leaning more on her right leg while keeping her left leg back for support as she streamed the water around her body. Her students, both guys and girls, eagerly watched her as she did her Waterbending, their eyes full of awe and wonder as they watched their teacher work. Lifting one arm above her head and leaning back on her left leg, Katara let the water stream circle once above her before swooping down low to the ground with a sweeping motion of her other hand. "Let yourself become one with the water," she continued as she compressed the liquid into a cohesive ball.
Spinning to face towards the fountain of the training complex, Katara shot her arms out to both sides, spreading her legs and splitting her water stream into two parallel forms, the clear blue liquid starkly contrasting and yet still melding into the lightish blue around them. With a graceful twirl of her arms and a flick of her wrists, the water streams silently snaked back into the fountain, barely even making a splash as they returned to their point of origin.
Smiling with satisfaction at her work, she stood up straight and lowered her arms down to her waist, closing her eyes and softly exhaling her energized breath in order to relax her chi. She heard her students clapping off to her right, and she opened her eyes as she turned to face them. "That was amazing, Master Katara!" exclaimed Sakumo, one of her students, a young man with ruffled black hair and sterling cyan eyes.
Before Katara could respond, she heard a voice behind her jokingly say, "I should hope so." Katara's students immediately stopped clapping and respectfully bowed, clasping one fist into an open palm. Turning around, she saw Pakku walking towards them from the entryway. Giving Katara a warm smile, one she returned with great affection, he stopped next to her and chuckled as he said, "I was the one to train your teacher, after all, and even then I'm not afraid to admit that she's a much better Waterbender than I am."
Feeling her cheeks flush a little with pride, Katara folded her arms behind her back and tilted her head up towards Pakku, her students coming out of her bow as she said, "Oh come on, Grandpa. I'm sure there are still some things that you know that I couldn't possibly master." She had been put in charge of training Pakku's advanced class of Waterbenders a couple of weeks ago, and she did her best to impart all of her knowledge and expertise in the ways of Waterbending to her students. Even so, she still admired her step-grandfather for all of his own skills and wisdom, despite the fact that he had proclaimed her as a Master Waterbender after her time in the North Pole during Aang's journey around the world.
"I wouldn't be too sure about that, Katara," said Pakku with a truthful smile. "You're a natural when it comes to Waterbending." Gesturing to her students, he added, "Because of you, all of these fine young Waterbenders are going to go on to be masters in their own right, restoring the long-honored tradition of Waterbending to the South Pole." Out of the corner of her eye, Katara could see her students beam with pride, straightening up as their minds thought of the day when they would be proclaimed Master Waterbenders, carrying on the teachings of their masters to the next generation.
"Master Pakku!" suddenly called out one of Katara's students, a young girl with a dark brown bun of hair and soft cerulean eyes, raising her hand up for the elderly Waterbender to see.
"Yes, Makita?" questioned Pakku with a raised eyebrow as he turned towards the girl, Katara also following his gaze. "What is it?"
Dropping her hand, Makita asked, "Would it be at all possible for the Avatar to come here? A lot of us want to see him spar with Master Katara." Several of the other students nodded in affirmation of Makita's statement, expectantly looking at Pakku for an answer.
"I don't see why not," chuckled Pakku with a shrug. He thoughtfully held up a hand to his chin as he added, "If I do recall correctly, the Avatar was deep in council with the Chief and the elders last night." Katara knew what he was talking about; Aang had gone to speak with Hakoda, Sokka, and the other elders about how to improve their relations with the Fire Nation now that the War was over and Zuko was the new Fire Lord. The meeting had gone on long into the night, much to Katara's disappointment since she wanted to see him before she went to bed, but she knew she had to get some sleep before her class. Turning towards Katara as he dropped his hand, Pakku asked, "Katara, would you be willing to go wake up your boyfriend so that you two can spar for these youngsters?"
"Grandpa!" groaned Katara with embarrassment, furiously blushing as she heard Pakku chuckle and several of her female students giggle. Shortly after their arrival in the South Pole, the entire village knew of her relationship with Aang, and they had all whole-heartedly accepted him just as her own family had. Needless to say, that didn't stop the gossiping amongst her female students, who seemed jealous that she was with Aang but would never, for the life of them, try to steal him from her; they still knew their place, since she was their Waterbending teacher. With her more familiar students, those she had trained one-on-one because of their potential, she allowed them to ask how things were going with her and Aang, and she was more than happy to do so. It helped to make things more personal and more comfortable, and it also allowed her to be more open with other people as well as with Aang, since she could tell him what her students think of him.
"What?" playfully asked Pakku with a teasing smile. "An old man can't dote upon his step-granddaughter?"
Sighing with exasperation, Katara relented and said, "Well, no, but that doesn't mean you can embarrass me in front of my students." Seeing Pakku smirk, she knew that she was only fighting an uphill battle. Pouting at him, she grumpily said, "Fine, I'll go get my boyfriend." She dropped the pouting look to smile at Pakku once more, letting him know that she was only joking. Despite all of his teasing, Pakku truly did approve of Aang being with her, and he let it show whenever he could.
As she walked off, she heard Pakku say, "Now, as for the rest of you, I'd appreciate it if none of you teased my step-granddaughter about her relationship with the Avatar."
"But none of us have teased Master Katara about that, Master Pakku," respectfully protested Sakumo, causing several of his classmates to nod in agreement with him.
"It was merely for future reference, Sakumo," explained Pakku. "I know you all respect your teacher and the Avatar far too much to resort to teasing, but you're all still youngsters."
"But-" Sakumo began to say.
"And since you want to still keep arguing the point, Sakumo," said Pakku, "you and Makita will spar until your teacher returns with the Avatar." Katara chuckled to herself as she heard both of the mentioned students groan; Makita and Sakumo were extremely awkward around each other, and everyone in the class knew that they each had a huge crush on the other. In a way, it seemed really cute to Katara when she saw those two interact, since they reminded her of how Aang used to act around her when they were on their journey around the world.
The next few minutes seemed to pass by in a blur for Katara, and soon she found herself standing inside of her home. She saw Aang sprawled out on his cot, the furs covering him up to his neck and his mouth slightly open as he slept. Katara softly smiled as she made her way over to the bedside, crouching down so that her face was level with Aang's. Deciding to take her time, she waited a few minutes just to watch Aang sleep some more, smiling at his innocent form as it rose and fell with each life-giving breath, his warm breath slightly ghosting on her face. He always seemed so perfect to her no matter what he was doing, her heart fluttering with each second that her eyes laid on him. Finally, she gently kissed Aang on the lips, whispering, "Good morning, Aang."
She heard Aang stir, the blankets shifting slightly as the Avatar groaned his awakening, his startling gray eyes cracking open ever so slightly and smiling as his gaze fell on her. "Morning, Katara," he quietly mumbled, content to stay still and allow himself to bask in her presence. Opening his eyes a bit more as Katara chuckled, Aang asked, "Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?"
Lovingly blushing at his words, Katara reached up and affectionately ran her hand along Aang's head arrow, smiling as she jokingly said, "Only about a couple or so dozen times."
"Really?" questioned Aang with a raised eyebrow, playfulness clear on his young face. "Because it seems like I've said it a lot more than that many times. You look amazingly beautiful pretty much every day."
Katara mirthfully chuckled, leaning down to kiss him on his forehead, getting just close enough for him to tilt his head up and kiss her chin. Leaning back, she asked, "How is it that I ended up with someone as amazing as you?"
"Fate, I guess," said Aang with a shrug of his shoulders, freeing one of his hands from the blanket and reaching up to gently cup Katara's face, his thumb tenderly stroking her cheek with loving affection. She smiled at his touch, his careful yet gentle fingers sending chills of pleasure down her spine and into her very core. Even with all the unlimited power of the Avatar, he was still a tender and loving young man, full of life and optimism that made her smile from day to day. After a few moments of silence, Aang dropped his hand and asked, "So, what's up?"
Katara perked up at his question, raising her eyebrows in attentiveness. "Hmm? Oh yeah; Pakku wanted me to come get you. Apparently, a lot of my students want to see the two of us spar."
"Aww, do we have to fight?" complained Aang. "The last thing I want to do in the morning is fight with my totally awesome girlfriend."
"Oh, come on, you big baby," she teased as she kissed his forehead again. "It's just a little sparring match, a chance for me to show my students how much I can whoop you at Waterbending."
"Oh, is that so?" playfully challenged Aang as he sat up, letting the blankets fall off of him as he hopped out of the cot. "In that case," he huffily said with a sense of bravado as he walked towards the entrance of the dome, "I'll be sure to win, then."
Katara chuckled as she rushed up behind him and hugged him from behind, making him stop as she draped her arms in front of his chest, letting his hands touch hers as she kissed his cheek. "You're so adorable when you try to act tough."
Aang chuckled, leaning his head against hers as he said, "Only for you, Katara." Soon the two separated from one another, letting their fingers instinctively interlace as they made their way through the village. Along the way, they passed by many denizens of the village, who cheerily greeted them as they walked by. A couple of women said that they looked absolutely cute together, making them both blush as they thanked the women for their compliments.
At one point, Aang said, "It's still pretty amazing that the entire village approves of me being with you."
"Yeah," nodded Katara, "but that's because they all know that you're a pretty amazing guy." Aang smiled his appreciation to Katara, who returned the smile as she lovingly squeezed his hand.
Soon the two arrived at the Waterbending academy, walking in just as Sakumo sent a water stream jetting towards Makita, who deflected it with a flick of her wrist and sent a wave of snow towards Sakumo with a wind-milling motion of her arms. Sakumo raised his arms up, forcing a wall of ice to jut out from the ground, blocking Makita's attack. Pakku stood off to the side, staying near the middle in order to monitor the match, along with the rest of Katara's students. Pakku noticed Aang and Katara coming towards them, and he raised his hand as he said, "Makita, Sakumo, that's enough. Master Katara and the Avatar are here."
Makita stood up straight as Sakumo lowered his ice wall, awkwardly shifting in their places as they glanced off to the sides, as if their sparring match had left a sense of anxiety and discomfort more than what they were used to. Finally, the two of them turned towards Aang and Katara, respectfully bowing before they rushed off the far sides of the body of students, who were giggling and chuckling as they hastily retreated from one another. Aang smiled, knowing full well from Katara about Makita and Sakumo.
Dropping his hand from Katara's, Aang turned his attention to the students and cheerfully said, "Good morning, class."
Noticing that the almighty Avatar was addressing them, the students stopped their merriment and straightened up, bowing as they said, "Good morning, Avatar Aang." Pakku nodded at their respect of his step-granddaughter's boyfriend, but said nothing as he stood there.
Aang put his hands on hips as he said, "I've heard from Katara that a lot of you want to see me and her doing some sparring."
"I was the one who suggested it, Avatar Aang," meekly called Makita from the crowd, shyly ducking behind one of her friends just enough for her eyes to still be visible. However, another one of her friends gently elbowed her, nodding for her to not hide from the Avatar. Makita reluctantly came out from her hiding spot, standing timid under Aang's watchful gaze.
"Well, Makita," proudly said Aang as he dropped his arms, "I'm glad that you and the rest of your classmates have taken such an interest in seeing how two Master Waterbenders spar."
He heard Makita yelp as soon as he said her name, her tan skin growing darker as she blushed. Confused, Aang raised an eyebrow as she turned towards her friends and disbelievingly whispered with a giddy smile, "The Avatar knows my name!" Her friends giggled along with her while the boys just rolled their eyes, though Aang could feel Sakumo staring at him with deadly intensity.
Noticing Sakumo glaring at Aang, Katara decided to take hold of the situation and raised her hands in a placating manner as she said, "All right, settle down, everyone." Dropping her arms as her students settled, she said, "If you want to see me and Aang spar, you have to promise me that you'll all be on your best behavior."
"Yes, Master Katara."
Katara admirably nodded, saying, "Now that that's settled, it's time for all of you to see your teacher spar with the Avatar."
"Just don't feel too bad when I beat you," said Aang with a wave of his hand as he walked to the right side of the arena, throwing a playful smile over his shoulder as she shot a dirty look at him.
"I was just about to say the same for you," she shot back with a devious smirk, walking over towards the left side of the arena as she did so. The fountain was just off to the side, out of the way enough for the fighters to face each other without any impediments. Taking her place and holding her arms off the side in a Waterbending posture, Katara leaned back on her right leg and tauntingly called out, "Are you ready to get beat Southern Water Tribe style, Mr. Avatar?"
"Ready when you are, Ms. Hair Loopies," jested Aang as he loosened his arms, letting them hang in the air as he extended his chi to the liquid in the fountain. Katara scowled at him, though she could still the warm fondness and playfulness in her sparkling eyes. The two masters stood as still as glaciers, the frozen artic air thick with tension as the onlookers anxiously glanced back and forth between the two. Pakku seemed to be the only calm person in the crowd, looking over the scene with the same manner that he watched all of his students.
Suddenly, Katara drew a speeding stream of water from the fountain, twirling the liquid around her body with a spin of her arms before launching it straight at Aang as she threw out her hand. Aang jumped forward and thrust his arms out to the side, splitting the water stream in half and looping it back around a single, fluid motion of his arms. Melting a layer of snow beneath his feet, he drew up more water into his streams in the blink of an eye, coalescing his attack into a massive wave before throwing it at Katara.
Katara twisted her feet, encasing them in ice as the wave roared towards her. With great grace, she split apart the wave with a single tearing motion of her arm, twisting around with her other arm to catch the resulting water streams. Taking control of her other arm again, she added more power to her move, cohering her water streams and throwing them into the ground, freezing them into ice as they slid across the ground towards Aang.
The Avatar was ready, however, for this eventuality. He jumped up into the air, cartwheeling over the menacing ice serpents below as he extended his arms outward. His chi caught the ice, ripping it out of its frozen form and melting it back into liquid, snaking upwards as he continued to raise his arms. He landed on his feet, a large stream of water at his command, coiled like a vicious serpent about to strike. "Catch this, sweetie!" he shouted as he shot an open palm forward, commanding the water to forcefully torrent towards Katara.
Katara, even with all of her mastery as a Waterbender, immediately froze in place, her eyes wide with utter shock.
Her heart began to race like a wild animal, threatening to burst out of her chest and run rampant around the arena.
Her breath became hitched in her throat, almost suffocating her as her feet still refused to move in order to avoid the monsoon that was rushing towards her.
WOOSH!
The unforgiving water stream slammed into Katara, making her scream "Augh!" as she was thrown back against the far wall of the arena, the water drenching her to the bone as she slumped to the ground. Her students, and even Pakku, collectively gasped at the same time, staring in disbelief at what had happened.
Aang, mortified by what had happened, also gasped with fear as terror took hold of his heart. "Katara!" he cried out, rushing over to her side as fast as his feet would carry him. He hastily crouched in front of her, putting his hands on her shoulders as her eyes lazily came back into focus, every part of her being dripping with water. "Are you okay, Katara?" worriedly asked Aang, his eyes wide with apprehension and concern.
Her eyes drifted towards him, seeming to shift in and out as she tried to keep her gaze on him. Finally, she shook her head to clear her senses, and when she was done, her eyes seemed sharp and discerning. "Katara, I'm so sorry!" quickly said Aang, feeling awful at having thrown his girlfriend so hard with the force of his attack. "I thought for sure that you'd catch my attack, but you didn't and got hit instead, and I'm so sorry for that, and-"
"What did you call me?" she softly asked him, pushing back some damp hair that had fallen into her face, never moving her eyes from Aang and not caring if she was freezing because of the water that had soaked her. That one word he had called her rocked her to her very core, making her feel somewhat vulnerable and yet wanting more at the same time. It was a strange feeling, one she hoped to make sense of as soon as she got an answer from Aang.
"What?" asked Aang, not sure what Katara was talking about. Maybe he had hit her so hard that she was delirious, and that only made his worry increase ten-fold. "What do you mean?"
"Before you launched that water stream at me," continued Katara, "you called me something. What did you call me?" She could see the gears furiously working in his head, spinning with all their might as he tried to piece together what she was saying. Finally, everything seemed to click in the young Avatar's mind, and when it did he broke out into a huge smile.
"Sweetie," he simply said, grinning so much like an idiot that Katara couldn't help but feel her heart flutter like the wings of a Moth-Butterfly. "I called you sweetie." Seeing a look of uncertainty and slight confusion come over Katara's face, Aang stopped smiling, thinking that she was possibly angry with him. "I just thought, that we've been together for so long, I thought…I thought that you'd like me calling you something like that or-"
"Aang," she softly beckoned, snapping him out of his self-ranting and making him focus back on her. Brightly smiling at him, she added, "I'm not mad at you."
"You aren't?" asked Aang, raising an eyebrow out of perplexity.
"You just caught me off guard with that," she continued, liking the sound of Aang's new nickname for her. Thinking of something, she deviously smirked and added, "Sweetie."
Realizing that Katara actually liked the name 'Sweetie', he broke out into an even bigger grin as he lovingly asked, "Are you alright, sweetie?"
Katara blushed as she chuckled, warmly responding, "I would be if you were to help me up, sweetie." Aang helped Katara to her feet without a moment's hesitation, finding his arms snaking around her waist as her hands came to rest on his chest, their hearts resonating through each other's bodies with the pounding beats of their mutual love. Strangely, Aang thought that Katara was even more strikingly beautiful when she was drenched in water, making her seem more in tune with her element than when she was simply streaming it.
"Better now, sweetie?" he warmly asked her, kissing her forehead as to alleviate any pain that his attack had caused her.
"I'm always better when I'm with you, sweetie," amorously replied Katara, feeling herself lost to the warm depths of Aang's eyes, her heart feeling like it was soaring on the winds of an everlasting love. She placed a tender kiss on his nose, passing her love for him into his body through that simple and yet meaningful gesture.
"Ahem," coughed Pakku from the sideline, snapping the couple back to reality as they looked back at their onlookers. All the female students were swooning, dreamily gazing at the scene in front of them, while the guys just awkwardly shifted in their places. Pakku was intently staring at them, crossing his arms as he said, "So sorry to interrupt the moment, but is Katara alright?"
Realizing that they had shown their more intimate sides in front of Katara's students, both of them broke out into violent brushes, separating from their embrace and yet still keeping a close enough proximity for them to hold hands. "Yeah," nodded Aang, "though I think that we- uh, she might need to take a break for the rest of the day." Katara smiled at his thoughtfulness, despite the fact that her face burned with embarrassment at having been so intimate with Aang in front of her students.
"Perhaps," said Pakku with a knowing smirk, making the couple blush even harder. Pakku took few steps out of the crowd, turning around to face them as he said, "You heard the Avatar; for the rest of the day, I will be teaching you. Avatar Aang is going to take good care of your teacher for the rest of the day." He threw a wink over his shoulder at the couple, who gratefully smiled at him before they turned around and left. Pakku returned his attention to the students and said, "All right, now you're all going demonstrate for me all the knowledge of Waterbending that you possess so far, and then we'll if you're really up to par with what I have in mind for you all."
As Pakku instructed the class, Aang turned to Katara and asked, "So you really like 'sweetie', huh?"
"More than like, Aang," sincerely replied Katara with a smile, leaning in to warmly kiss him on his cheek. Into his ear, she whispered, "I love it, sweetie." Leaning back from him, she added, "I could get used to hearing you call me that."
"I should hope so," chuckled Aang, "because you're going to be hearing it a lot from now on, sweetie." Taking his turn to kiss her cheek, he said, "I love you, sweetie."
She giggled as she returned the kiss, saying, "I love you more, sweetie."
Aang smirked as he kissed her again. "I love you way more, sweetie."
"No, I love you way more, sweetie," responded Katara as she leaned in to kiss his cheek again.
Before Aang could say anything in reply, a voice from behind them asked, "How is it possible for you two to get any oogier?" Aang and Katara stopped and looked behind them to see Sokka walking towards them, a clear look of annoyance on his face. Stopping just behind them, Sokka crossed his arms and incredulously said, "Sweetie? Seriously? Where in the world did that come from?" Even as Katara opened her mouth to respond, Sokka held up a hand and said, "You know what? I really don't want to know." He waved farewell to them, saying "Later, guys," as he walked off, disappearing around the corner of a building.
After a few moments, Aang slowly said, "Well, that was…odd."
"That's my brother for you, sweetie," sighed Katara, smiling at her boyfriend as she looked back at him. He smiled back at her, and soon the two had made it back to the Chief's home, drying off Katara and getting her tucked up in a warm blanket. The two of them snuggled up on a couch, Katara's nestled into the crook of Aang's neck as he wrapped his arms around her, bringing her closer in order to keep her warm.
After an hour or so of them snuggling and quietly talking with each other, Hakoda walked in, not surprised at the affectionate position that they were in. Hakoda chuckled and said, "I thought I'd find you two here." As they looked over at him, he added, "Pakku told me what happened at your little sparring match earlier." Warmly chuckling, he said, "I never imagined Aang to be one to call you pet names, Katara."
Nuzzling into Aang's neck, Katara contently murmured, "I know, but that's why I love my sweetie." She kissed his neck, making him give off a small hum of pleasure as he smiled. "He's always full of surprises."
"You two guys…" said Hakoda with a shake of his head and a knowing smirk, looking at the couple as if they brought back fond memories of when he would snuggle like that with his own wife. Turning to leave, he said, "I'll just leave you two alone so you can enjoy your private time."
"Thanks, Dad," softly murmured Katara, smiling at her father as he left them to be alone, the flap snapping shut behind him. Katara closed her eyes, snuggling closer to Aang as she whispered, "I'm going to take a little nap, sweetie."
"That's fine by me, sweetie," replied Aang, kissing the top of her head as he smiled. Resting his head against hers, he added, "As long as you're in my arms, I'm always happy."
"Hmm," hummed Katara with a smile as she felt the drowsy hand of sleep begin to wash over her. Kissing his neck again, she whispered, "I love you, sweetie."
"I love you too, sweetie," replied Aang, kissing her forehead as she felt her body giving into drowsiness and exhaustion. Soon the soft, feathery sounds of her light breathing filled his ears, and soon he fell asleep against her, safe and secure in the everlasting bonds of their unbreakable love.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Remember my advice, my loyal readers:
BUY THE BOOK, AND SUPPORT THE WORK OF THE PEOPLE WHO STRIVE SO HARD TO BRING THIS INCREDIBLE STORY TO US.