((I don't own Avatar or Naruto))
The apartment was small. The front door opened onto a tiny sitting room with a table and an old cushioned bench across one wall. To the left was a kitchenette with a refrigerator, sink, and a few cupboards. A sliding Shoji door on the right led off to a tiny bedroom with a ply-wood desk and dresser. Another on the same side opened onto a bathroom with a sink, toilet, and compact standing shower.
Aang was absolutely amazed. He opened the refrigerator and closed it again and again, watching the light turn on and off and feeling the cold air come out. He turned on the faucets and watched the water swirl into the drain and wondered if it was the same water and if it worked on pressure. He stared for about ten minutes at the toilet, rather puzzled, then played with the shower, eventually discovering that if you turned the nob one way the water got very very hot.
Eventually he helped himself to something food-like in the cupboard and sat in the center of the sitting room which had the biggest window. He put his hands together, one fist resting against the other to create a complete circle of energy through his body. He closed his eyes and emptied his mind, allowing his thoughts and feelings to drift freely, detached. Soon he felt a slight hum around him, felt his mind expand from his body and his senses, and opened his eyes.
Aang was standing atop a tall mountain peak surrounded by clouds which stretched in every direction to the horizon. Before him stood an ancient looking man with a short white beard and a black crown with gold trimming holding his long silvery hair up into a bun.
"Avatar Roku." said Aang, smiling in relief.
"Hello Aang." answered Roku with a twinkle in his eye.
"I need your help." began Aang "I'm lost, I don't know where I am, and everything here is so strange. I don't.... I don't even know if I'm even in my world anymore."
Roku Smiled knowingly. "Aang, you are always in your world. The sepperation of worlds, time and space, dimensions are illusions in much the same way the sepperation of Elements or people are."
Aang pondered this for a moment. "But I am not where I came from, it's not the same, and I can't find Katara or Sokka or even the Fire Nation."
"Aang you are the Avatar. The great bridge. You will find your friends and your home if you look hard enough. But do not forget, you are the Avatar, you are not simply the host of a great spirit. If you think you brought yourself to this place, it is most likely for a reason. Learn more about where you are before deciding to be somewhere else."
With that the wind picked up and the clouds swirld around him, blocking his vision. When the vortex cleared Aang was sitting back in the appartment looking out the large windows at the orange sky of a setting sun.
Aang sat for a while in meditation. Reassessing in his head for some time he decided that Roku's advice was probably right. He breathed deeply and cleared his mind, and preparing for what he had to do. A single tear trickled down his cheek as he felt the pain of letting go of his desire to find his friends, his home, Appa... Katara... His heart ached, and he felt a tug like he was pulling part of himself out of his chest. But a thread held on tightly, a single thread, and with one final calming breath, he released it, and felt his desires drift away. At the same time his own body felt lighter, untethered and he drifted in a freedom of transcendent serenity as he felt the weight of his desires leave him.
No longer in conflict with himself, or tethered to want, he felt more harmonious, aware, and he soon had the distinct impression that someone was standing right outside his door, and had been there for some time.
Standing up quietly he moved to the door opening it quickly. He saw a flash of orange beside it and heard a muffled "Eep!".
"Ummm.... Naruto?" Aang said looking up and down the hall, then up at the ceiling where Naruto was squatting upside down.
"Aang-Kun! Look at this cieling! IT's so dirty it needs to be washed you know!" Naruto spoke a bit too loudly.
"Naruto... Would you like to come in?" said Aang stepping aside and holding the door open?
"Oh no I'm Fine... have to clean the ceiling..." began Naruto but Aang cut in...
"I know you're guarding me, it's ok. But you can come in if you want." offered Aang.
Naruto stopped pretending to clean the ceiling with his forehead protector and dropped to the ground, right side up. "Well Tsunade only told me to keep an eye on you, she didn't 'SAY' I had to stand in the hall all night."
Aang smiled as he let Naruto in and watched the young Ninja flop onto the long wooden bench. Aang got another food type bar thing (he guessed) from the refrigerator and sat down on the other end of the bench, turning to Naruto and giving him half of his food stuff.
After munching on the bar for a minute Naruto turned to Aang "That Jutsu was Amazing."
Aang smiled for a moment before looking down at the floor, a somber expression on his face "Everyone is scared of me now though, aren't they?"
Naruto looked serious for about five seconds before he smiled and said "It's ok, you just made a lot more butterflies than most people. But they were just butterflies."
Aang gave a half smile.
"People used to look at me like that." confided Naruto "Some of them still do."
"Why?" Asked Aang, surprised.
"Because... " Naruto chose his words carefully. "Because before I was born, someone nearly destroyed Konoho. And when people look at me, I remind them of it I guess."
Aang didn't press but regarded Naruto thoughtfully.
"And I guess, because I don't have parents... it made it worse, I felt more like an outsider."
Aang smiled. "I don't have parents either."
"You don't?" asked Naruto.
"None of the Air Nomads did. There are four Air Temples where I'm from, and when a child was born they were sent to one of the other temples as a baby. So no one ever knew who their parents were."
"Why? Why wouldn't they want kids to know there parents?" Naruto exclaimed.
Aang bit his lip softly. "I guess... because if no one knew who was who's child, then all the children were treated equally. There wasn't any favoritism, and... well it sort of made it like a really big spread out family."
"That sounds kind of nice." said Naruto. "Kind of like I think of Konoho as my family now."
Aang nodded.
"Aang!" said Naruto standing up energetically "I, Naruto, will help you reunite with your big Air Family."
Aang looked suddenly despond ant.
"What... what's wrong Aanng-Kun." Naruto perplexed, tilted his head slightly. "I'm kind of loud sometimes... I'm sorry..."
"It's not that... " Aang said softly "... Thank you Naruto... but you can't help me find them."
"Why not?" Naruto seemed incredulous, anyone saying he couldn't do anything just seemed preposterous to the young Genin.
"Because... " Aang began, taking on a more matter-of-fact tone "Because they're all dead. The Fire Nation killed them all when I was 12."
Naruto looked confused and a bit thunderstruck. "You don't mean Kono..."
"No." said Aang. "I don't think my Fire Nation is the same as your Fire Country."
Naruto sat back down looking slightly defeated, then offered... "But you're alive... maybe..."
"No." said Aang again, this time with a note of cold bitterness in his voice. "I'm the last Airbender."
There was a silence before Aang spoke up again. "But.. my friends are my family now. Sometimes you make your family."
Aang looked at Naruto and Naruto looked at Aang, and there was a moment of unspoken recognition, and a feeling of something shared passed through each of them once more.
"Then I'll help you find them." Naruto declared definitively.
Aang smiled wide.
Outside the window, on the roof, Kakashi listened intently while pretending to thumb through a book.