I'm so sorry for the late update! I've been drowning in work and school, but now it's spring break so I can write some more. This chapter is a lot shorter than I intended it to be. The reason for this is because I found myself writing multiple chapters for one day (Like the recent sleepover was like 4 chapters, but the timeline in the story was just a day) So I decided to finish this day so I can go back to writing one chapter for one day (When I say day I mean a day in my story) I hope you understand lol.
Anyway, enjoy the chapter! Thank you again for the reviews, I didn't know this story would be so well received, so thank you so much
I do not own ATLA or anything else in this story. Don't sue me.
"Sugar Queen, I need your help,"
"What for?" Katara asked, not wanting to leave her boyfriend.
"Just come with me," She said, a little annoyed. Katara frowned and look at Aang.
"I'll see you after practice, can you pick me up?" She said. Aang nodded with a smile and Katara kiss his cheek before getting up and leaving to help Toph. Katara and Toph headed to a bench just outside the school exist, they sat down and Katara noticed Toph's demeanor was a little off. She had her shoulders slumped, her head down and a hurt look on her face.
"What's wrong, Toph?" Katara asked gently.
"Haru said he doesn't want to be with me anymore," She confessed. Katara frowned and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry," Is all she could say.
"Whatever, it probably because my feet are dirty and I look like a slob," Toph said, kicking herself.
"Don't say that, you're beautiful," Katara comforted. Toph knew she was telling the truth due to her earthbending sense. Which made her feel a whole lot better.
"You'll find someone better. Someone who calls you beautiful every day," Katara said, trying to lift her spirits and give her home. Toph let out a frustrated sigh and blew the bangs off her face.
"I guess…" She said she stood up. Katara removed her hand on her shoulder and looked at her with a frown.
"Where are you going?" She asked curiously.
"Home. Bye, Katara. Thank you for the kind words," Toph said with a slight smile. Katara knew she wasn't okay. It was probably the first time she heard Toph say her real name. Katara nodded and Toph left for home. "I feel so bad for her… She'll find a great guy, no doubt." Katara thought as she got up and went to tennis practice. There she saw Haru and Suki talking. "Haru is on the team now?" She thought as she approached them. Haru and Suki noticed her and smiled.
"Hey, Katara," Haru greeted. Katara wasn't angry with Haru, just a bit bummed out. Haru didn't do anything wrong. He didn't have romantic feelings for Toph and he did the best thing by telling her instead of leading her on. "When did Haru get such a deep, silky voice?" Katara thought.
"What's up," She greeted back and set her stuff down on the ground.
"You ready for practice, Kat?" Suki said, a little excited.
"Yeah! Hopefully, we'll make varsity this year," Katara thought out loud.
"You'll make it, don't worry. I'm going to tell the coach I'm here," Haru said while walking past Katara. She caught a whiff of Haru's scent as he walked by. "Wow…. he smells really good," She thought as she began stretching.
"So did you hear about Toph and Haru?" Suki asked as she began stretching as well.
"Yeah… Toph told me before I got here. She's really bummed out," She replied.
"I would too. No offense, but if Sokka and I weren't together, I would definitely try to get with him," Suki said with a giggle.
"None, taken. I would do the same if Aang and I weren't together," She replied with a giggle of her own.
"Anyway, I have a question. How are traditional are you?" She asked with curiosity. Katara raised an eyebrow at the odd question.
"What do you mean?" Katara asked, needing clarity.
"Like, how traditional are you when it comes to your culture? Do you follow all the traditions?" Suki said, clearing Katara's confusion.
"Oh, well, kinda. I love my culture. Specifically the Southern culture. But since both of my grandparents are from the Northern Water Tribe, I had to follow some of their traditions, and I hated it," Katara explained while sitting down and reaching for her toes.
"But I thought Gran hated the North, why would she teach you their customs?" Suki asked while doing the same stretch and Katara.
"Well, we never did the sexist traditions, but we did have to pray to the moon spirit. Which, don't get me wrong, we do that in the south too, but in our own way. But Gran and Gramp thought the Northern way was better." Katara replied.
"What did you have to do?" Suki asked curiously.
"We had to pray on our knees for hours, Suki, hours," Katara answered, remembering how boring and painful it was.
"Yikes, and how does the South do it?" Suki asked.
"We usually went on a hunting trip and sleep outside. We would hunt an animal, kill it, eat it, and then use its furs as a blanket to sleep. It was important to sleep directly under the moonlight because and to use 100% of the animal because it represents us thanking the moon spirit for providing life," Katara explained.
"How does sleeping under the moonlight represent that?" Suki asked with a smile. Katara laughed a shrugged.
"I don't know, but I know it beats praying for hours. So when I have kids, I'm going to take them on hunting trips and no pray for hours," Katara said, earning a laugh from Suki.
"Wait, but how is that gonna work with Aang?" Suki questioned. Katara's face fell slightly, she hadn't thought of that.
"Oh… I don't know. I mean, I can do the hunting, killing, skinning, and cooking while he's just with us. But I highly doubt he'll be comfortable with that," Katara admitted while doing a butterfly stretch.
"Yeah, that's true. I thought about this a lot with Sokka. We have different cultures, but they're a whole lot more similar when compared to the Air Nomad culture." Suki confessed.
"Yeah, our cultures are like… complete opposites," She replied.
"Don't worry, you guys will figure it out," Suki comforted. Katara nodded hesitantly. They both got up and went to the coach who just called the team for a team huddle. About an hour into their practices, Katara noticed Haru on the court right next to her. She saw his agility and was quite impressed. "When did Haru get so muscular?" She thought. "He looks good." About another hour later She found herself waiting at the curb for her boyfriend to come to pick her up. She just sent the text to Aang before noticing Haru walking towards her.
"Hey, Katara, you need a ride?" Haru offered.
"No thank you, I already have one," She answered.
"Oh, okay," Haru said while walking past her, again, Katara got a whiff of his scent, "He smells good even after practice," She thought
"Wait, I have a question, why did you end things with Toph?" She asked curiously. Meanwhile, Aang just turned the corner on the street Katara was at and saw her talking with Haru. He was about 100 yards from them. He pulled over and parked and decided to see what happened next.
"I just didn't feel that spark, you know?" Haru answered while stepping towards her.
"Oh… well, thanks for not leading her on," Katara said.
"Katara, that's literally what any decent person would do," He said with a laugh. Katara laughed as well. Meanwhile, Aang heard his phone go off. He looked down and he didn't recognize the number. He raised an eyebrow and opened the text.
"HI, Aang! It's me, Ty Lee. Don't ask how I got your number, but I see you! Look to you're left!" Aang looked to his left and saw Ty Lee waving excitedly at him. He laughed and rolled down the window.
"Ty Lee? What?" He said with another laugh. Ty Lee giggled and walked up to the car before getting in.
"I was gonna go home, but Mai needed some help with something, so I went to help her, but now it's solved and I was on my way back home," She said.
"Ohhhhh," Aang said while looking back at Haru and Katara, still talking.
"Whatcha doing?" Ty Lee asked.
"Just spying on Katara… wow that sounds bad, maybe I should pick her own now. I can also give you a ride home if you want." Aang said while starting the car. Ty Lee giggled.
"I'd love that," She hummed. Meanwhile, Haru and Katara had just finished talking about a funny story that included Sokka, of course.
"Well, I should get going," Haru said, a bit nervous.
"Okay, see ya," She replied. Haru took a deep breath and out of nowhere kissed Katara. Katara was shocked and she couldn't move. What in the world? Why would Haru kiss her? This is so confusing. However, she found herself kissing Haru back. And oh my was it a great kiss. Aang pulled up and he couldn't believe his eyes. Ty Lee gasped, she couldn't believe it either.
"KATARA!" Aang said, furious. Haru pulled away and Katara whimpered, but her heart sank before Katara could say anything. Ty Lee pulled Aang's collar and kissed him. Aang couldn't believe it either. Before he could react, Ty Lee pulled away and spoke.
"Payback!" She yelled.
"I didn't know you and Aang were together?!" Haru exclaimed. Aang didn't know what to feel, he wanted to cry but he was so furious with Katara. He got out and grabbed Katara by the arm and firmly, but gently, pulled her away from Haru. After they were about 20 feet from him, he looked at her and he wanted to break down. Here he was, believing he would spend the rest of his life with the girl of his dreams, but he found him kissing another man. Katara was already breaking down, she regretted it so much. She didn't have feelings for Haru, although he was a great kisser.
"Why," Aang said while tears escape his eyes.
"Aang, he k-kissed me. I... I-I," She stammered.
"You kissed him back! Why? I thought we were perfect for each other!" He yelled.
"We are! H-he means n-nothing, I-I promise!" She said through her tears.
"No, we're not, and quit lying! You know what? screw you," Aang fumed.
"P-please Aang! It was just one kiss, please don't break up with me." She pleaded. Aang began pacing back and forth.
"They're not gonna like this," Aang said. Katara raised an eyebrow in confusion, momentarily distracting her from her regret, guilt, and sadness.
"What? D-do you m-mean the spirits?" She asked.
"No, but them too, but I'm talking about them," He said, looking past her towards Haru and Ty Lee. Katara turned around and saw Ty Lee and Haru talking. She was even more confused.
"Ty Lee a-and Haru?" She asked curiously.
"No, Katara. I'm talking about them," Aang said sternly, making Katara even more confused.
"What?" She asked, seriously confused.
"The people watching us," Aang clarified.
"Who's watching us?" She asked, wanting answers.
"I don't know, but there's a lot of them," He replied, now realizing how many there were.
"How many are watching us? What are you talking about? Aang you're scaring me," Katara rambled.
"There's about 25,000 of them, and they're all angry and unhappy," Aang replied, while frantically looking around to see all of them staring at him and Katara with angry faces.
"Why are they angry? Are they gonna hurt us? And where are they?" Katara asked, seriously scared.
"I don't think they can hurt us, but they're angry at us; for you kissing Haru and for me kissing Ty Lee," Aang answered, Katara's distraction ending and she was about to cry. "Why? Why in the world did I kiss Haru back? I ruined everything," She thought.
"I'm s-so sorry, A-aang…. Please forgive me," She begged while breaking down into tears.
"You shouldn't ask for my forgiveness… you should be asking for theirs," Aang said while pointing at what seemed like nothing. Katara looked and squinted her eyes. Then, out of nowhere, a bunch of angry individuals showed up. She jumped and she couldn't believe it.
"What!? Aang this isn't normal, we must have pissed off some spirit! They're everywhere!" Katara said, panicking.
"Shh, shh, Katara relax and look at their eyes," Aang said, noticing something. Katara took a deep breath and looked into one person's eyes.
"They're…. Moving…," She thought.
"They're moving left to right… like they're reading something," Aang pointed out.
"Aang! That doesn't matter! Let's get out of here! They're angry!" Katara exclaimed while grabbing his arm, but Aang didn't budge.
"Don't worry, they'll calm down once they realize, they might have already realized anyway," Aang said in a calm voice.
"What are you on about? Once they realize what?!" She exclaimed.
"Once they realize what's today's date is,"
Happy April 1st :)
