A/N. I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender

The next morning, Katara got up before her brother. Aang had already gone to meditate, like he always did, around sunrise. The waterbender had seen him come from his usual sleeping place next to Appa, take the new tunic from the branch and walk away with Momo flying behind him.

Rummaging in her bag, she found some soap and walked towards the stream that Sokka had indicated the previous evening. Looking around, she didn't see or hear anyone, and pulled the dress off. Standing just in her bindings, she began to wash herself as much as possible. She didn't like to clean in the forest. It was always half work, never really clean in the more important places. It was always nicer to have a place like a room somewhere with a bathroom.

The only positive aspect of this situation was that the boys left her alone. Sokka had been very clear that he didn't want to share a washing time with her, and she could only agree. On the other hand, she knew Aang and her brother went together most of the time to wash up. And she wouldn't have a problem with having Aang next to her…

Stop it brain. Not now.

Since the kiss in the tunnels, it had been a hectic and confusion couple of days… Bumi didn't come with them, then they had been lost in a swamp and finally Aang had nearly been boiled in oil. They had not talked about… That.

She didn't know what to do. Leave it any longer, and it would become awkward. But if she just jumped in, without any opening, it could be very embarrassing. Yesterday, talking about the rituals and the clothes, it had seemed a good moment, but at the last moment, she had chickened out.

Somewhere behind her, a branch cracked under the weight of something. Or… Someone.

"Oh Spirits! Sorry! I-I didn't… I didn't know you were here!" It was Aang.

Quickly grabbing her dress, she turned around, only to see the airbender, with the new clothes under one arm, and his hands firmly in front of his eyes. Momo, sitting on his master's shoulder, was mimicking the gesture.

Pulling the dress over her head, she felt the rush of blood towards her face. It was only the second time the airbender saw her in her bindings. And it was not a great timing. The awkwardness between them was sure to double or triple now…

"Aang, you can look." She said gently, turning her face away from the boy so that he couldn't see her red cheeks.

"I-I didn't mean… I thought you were still at the camp! I would never… You know! C-creep up on you… While you…" He tried to explain. Katara quickly glanced towards him. He was adorable…

Standing there, shuffling on his feet, looking at the ground, with one hand around his neck while the other pulled at his trousers.

"Aang, it doesn't matter. Not like you've never seen me like that." She said, while thinking about what the airbender had thought about when he saw her like that.

He relaxed, and then looked at the water.

"I kind of need… to wash up. And… you know… change."

She nodded, and quickly took off. Momo flew over, to sit on her shoulder. The chittering lemur had caught some bug that he was munching happily one.

"For an Air Nomad pet, you like bugs way too much." The waterbender shook her head and arrived at the campsite. Sokka was up, sitting next to the bags with food, pulling bread and other items out of it for breakfast.

"Where were you? I woke up, all alone! Aang gone, Sis gone! I was worried sick!" Her brother said playfully wagging his finger towards her.

"We were just washing up." At the moment she said those words, she kicked herself mentally. Poor choice of words Katara…

"We? Like… Together? That is weird Katara…" Sokka raised his eyebrows. The waterbender couldn't help but blush.

"No… We just… kind of bumped into each other."

"Hah! Poor little Aang, he must have had a heart attack. I never met a guy so weird about naked people! You know, I once tried to talk with him about that… Ah, the little monk didn't like that one bit!" The water tribe boy laughed aloud, shaking his head at the memory.

Katara thought back at the tunnels… At that moment, he had seemed everything but a monk. How he had pressed her against him, kissing her like the world was ending. In their case, they had really thought it. She asked herself, not for the first time, what would have happened if the crystals hadn't lit up. She didn't know if Aang had noticed, but while kissing, she had tried to undo the buttons of his shirt…

Shaking her head, she returned to reality.

Sokka had sat down next to Appa, happily munching on some bread, while trying to chase Momo away, who was trying to steal some food from her brother. That lemur was way too fond of eating.

"Hey…" Aang's voice came from behind her. Turning around, she thought she would have a heart attack.

Standing in front of her, was Aang… But at the same time, not really. The boyish look was gone. His novice clothes had apparently given him a younger look. What was standing before her was… Something else.

The robes just covered half his chest, and some of his left shoulder. The tattoos that snaked around his arms were clearly visible now. The black trousers were looser than those of his novice clothes and were propped inside the higher boots.

"So…?" His voice sounded hesitant, and he seemed to try to hide behind his glider. His forehead was pressed against it, and a little red hue was visible on his cheeks.

"Well… It's different…" She spoke. She couldn't help it, but her thoughts were all over the place. She would have to travel with Aang… Like that. Her body was already aching with some sort of weird sensation that she couldn't really place.

"You don't like it! I knew it! It is weird. I just thought…"

"NO! I-I like i-it…" Katara felt the heat rush to her face, but she didn't care, "I just… Did Air Nomads wear this? Like all the time?"

"Yeah, monks wore robes, novices in the temples had the clothes I wore… And airbenders who didn't live in the temples wore these kinds of garments…" Aang was rolling a part of the tunic in his hand, clearly uncomfortable.

"Well, I like it… Very much." And she did. The airbender didn't need to know how much exactly.

Standing face to face, she couldn't help but remember the last time they had stood like this. And what had happened after…

Quickly walking away, she sat down next to Sokka, who was looking at Aang with a bemused smile.

They walked back to Goaling after breakfast, because Sokka wanted to look at another bag. She loved her brother, but his shopping moods were the worst. But she indulged, because it had been a rough few days. Or weeks for him.

Standing in front of a shop with a display of a plain green bag, Katara tried to convince her brother to buy that one, so that they could move on to more important matters. Like buying new food supplies, some soap, and other basic necessities.

When Sokka finally decided to buy the bag, she stood outside with Aang, waiting for her brother. A shady character, standing next to the store, marched up to them.

Dropping an arm around Aang's shoulder in a friendly manner, he handed the airbender a paper.

"Hey… You kids like earthbending?"

How the guy thought they were earthbenders, she couldn't understand. She herself was clearly water tribe, an Aang… Well, if he didn't have tattoos, a bald head and very grey eyes, he could probably pass like one. So, not at all.

"You like throwing rock? Then, check out Master Yu's earthbending academy!" The man walked away, whistling happily.

Katara bent over Aang's shoulder and couldn't help but think about how it would be to brush her skin against his.

Stop it brain. Stop!

The flyer had a man on it, bending a rock away. It said Master Yu, one of the best earthbenders in southern Gaoling area, proposes lessons for beginning benders! First lesson free (On presentation of this flyer.)

After that, it indicated the prices of other lessons. Katara hadn't thought about that. Maybe they would have to pay a teacher… How were they going to afford that?

Sokka joined them, clutching the bag in his arms, with a smile. Aang showed him the flyer and went to the address indicated on it. They would join him in two hours' time. In the meantime, she herself and her brother would do the other shopping.

"So, what do you think? Is this Master Yu a good candidate?" Sokka asked her when Aang was out of earshot, moving gracefully between the masses.

"No. Bumi said it was someone who could listen and wait. This Yu don't seem to be that kind of guy, if you look at the flyer." She answered. Still, it was good for Aang to at least try and find someone.

"Yeah, that's what I thought too…. But at least, we are looking." Sokka sighed and began to help her buy the necessary supplies.

After the normal things, like vegetables, salt and other necessities they could hunt or gather, Katara wanted to look at one shop with books. Apparently, literacy was quite high in this part of the Earth Kingdom. She had noticed that in most parts of the world, it wasn't something that was normally taught to children. At the South Pole, her mother and Gran Gran had been quite firm about learning their letters, so both she and Sokka knew how to read.

Looking at several volumes that treated earthbending, she bought one small book that explained the most basic moves. Maybe that would get the airbender started, even if they couldn't find a teacher. Sokka tried to convince her to buy one book with the very… weird title of Air people's ideas of lovemaking.

"Hey, you bought that book for Aang for academic purposes. This one is also for Academic purposes." Sokka wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"You think that even if he needed explaining, a book written by chauvinist Earth Kingdom people who don't know the first thing about the Air Nomad would be a good idea? To give to the only airbender?" She couldn't help but think about that… How had Air Nomads seen this? In the Water tribes, it wasn't discussed. Or at least, not openly. Sokka had told her about how the warriors joked around when their wives or female family members weren't there. When the men had gone to war, the women had talked about it sometimes, late at night. But never in detail.

Sokka laughed, and put the book down, walking to the exit. Curious, she opened the book, to immediately slam it shut. Yep. Chauvinistic author. And artist. Who had taken great care to illustrate his book.

She paid for the earthbending book and walked outside.

Her brother and Katara walked up to where Master Yu's academy was, and were surprised by a very dusty Aang, standing in a, earthbender uniform, hitting the side of his head to get sand out of his ear.

"So?" Sokka asked, but the airbender shook his head.

"Earthbending is… Something else." He muttered, "Yu is not my teacher. I think he is rather taken by money. Not by actually teaching." They sat down on a bench, just outside the school, when two boys around their own age walked by.

"I think The Boulder is going to win back the belt in Earth Rumble VI." One said.

"He is going to have to fight his way through the best earthbenders in the world, to have shot at the champion!" The other said. That perked their attention. If there was a place, where some of the best benders came together, surely they could find a teacher there.

Aang also seemed excited, for he ran in the direction of the two guys.

"Excuse me! Where is this earthbender tournament exactly?"

"It is on the island of Noneoya… None of your business!" The taller of the two laughed, walking away, leaving a dejected Aang.

Sokka, with his love of bad joked, tried, and failed, not to laugh. Katara, seeing how Aang looked, put her arms around his shoulders. She could feel the airbender move towards her, pressing gently against her.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of this." Nobody insulted Aang.

Running towards the two boys, who just rounded a corner, she shouted, in a high voice, that she didn't like to hear from herself.

"Hey strong guys! Wait up!"

Also rounding the corner, she saw the two boys waiting, with smirks on their faces. Well, she ddin't know what they expected. But it wasn't what she had in mind.

"Look at that… Abandoned your loser friends to hang around with real guys?" The tall one said, on a voice that did not sound at all believable.

"Yeah Jing, look at how she is blushing." She knew that it was because of how Aang had responded while she had put her arms around him.

"Where is that tournament?" the waterbender asked. She wasn't in the mood for this kind of talk. She actually never was.

"Well… We could tell you… If you showed us your t…" The rest of his phrase was cut short, because she bended him against a wall, freezing the water. Doing the same to the other guys, who just had looked, mouth wide open, she walked up.

"I ask again. Where. Is. That. Tournament."

"Just outside the eastern gate, at six! Follow the rocky arrows. Please let us go. I'm freezing."

"It will melt. Let this be a lesson to you." She walked away, back to her brother and Aang, he seemed to discuss the bag Sokka had bought.

"Who is ready to go to Earth Rumble VI?"

Answers :

Gabriela N. Gonzalez : Yeah, I kept that idea from the other fic, that Aang only told her about his culture. And Sokka just strikes me as that one person who enjoys shopping way too much lol/

CoyoteLemon : This chapter is a little lee tension, but it will be back in the next one!

Ashley Barbosa : Yeah, I thought it would be weird to have a sixteen year old Aang in his novice clothes, so I changed it! And yeah, I tried to pick up some aspects of it! It is the one comic that treats on Air Nomad culture, so I will heavily inspire myself with that comic.

Jjsmith103 : Even if they kissed, they both don't know how the other feels, and that makes for some great tension!