x o x o x
"Earth." Aang said as he slowly drew his eyes to look at Katara. She was now stairing at him with a smile on her face. "Yes!" She said as a blush crept to her face; looking away immediately after her outburst. At her words, Aang placed a hand on her cheek, turning her head to face him. When her eyes caught his, she drew a sharp in-take of breath as different emotions became her.
The one thing she had wanted since she was 15, and he 16, was finally happening. As Aang slowly titled his head to
the side, and his eyes closed as he came even closer to her face, Katara placed her hand upon his lips to stop him.
Aang's eyes flew open in shock at her actions. "Katara? Why?" He asked as he scrathed his head in confusion. Katara
sighed and looked over her shoulder to see Sokka laughing in a merry way with his buddies over a game of "Tell All"; in
which one of the other men had to tell his most cherished moment. Incidentilly, it included some random woman and her
dressing robes.
Katara gave a dramatic sigh and pointed a thumb to her idotic brother and his crounies. "So, that's what's stopping you"
Aang asked as he released her hand from his, instantly taking her into a bone-crushing hug. "Yep." Was all she had to say
as melted into him. He knew every way to make her feel special, like she actually had a place on the earth.
"Well..." Aang sighed as he held her to his chest. "...we need to find some alone-time, with out "Mr. Man" or his buddies"
Katara laughed at what he said. "Yeah, Sokka can be a big pain sometimes. But you gotta love him, he is after all, the reason
I survived to meet you." She said as she made to get up, only to be pulled down to the dirty ground below. "Don't leave yet,
please..." Aang said in a pouty way. Katara heaved another sigh and sat cross-legged next to him. The two sat in sheer silence
for about five minutes before Katara spoke.
"I know..." Katara said in a sly voice as she got up and bent over Aang to whisper in his ear. "Let's go to the Chang Dae-han
Festival tomorrow..." She said as in a sensious voice, her hot breath on his neck as she spoke made him shiver. "O-okay"
Aang stuttered, amazed at the effect that her simple voice had on him. "What time should we leave?" He asked as Katara
sat back down next to him. "When the sun fades into the moon..." Katara said in a most poetic way. "...and the stars shine"
She said as she leaned her head on her sholder. Aang responed by too leaning his head on hers. They just stay like this, staring
out onto the endless hoirzon.
x o x o x
The trio had found the village where the Chang Dae-han festival would be held later that evening. They had checked into an Inn,
booking a large room with three beds and private access to the bathing house. When every thing was put away into there
respective drawers, Katara sat at the low table in the center of the room and began to sip a mug of sweet tea quitely. It was
deep into summer, in the month of Kyong-nyol han Yol, when the heat was particularly unbearible; espcially in the Earth Kingdom.
Katara had packed away her winter kimono and heavy furs for her lighter cotton Yutaka. Tonight the heat was so bad that she had to tie back even the sleves of her Yutaka with her spare Obi cord. So there she sat, the heat of summer bearing down on like breathing through a wet blanket, sipping her sweet tea when it happened.
Sokka and Aang burst through the door, two angry women soon followed. When the enraged women finally caught up to them,
Katara saw that they where the local aprentice Geisha by the way the had thier hair in the "split peach" style and had patterned
silk holding it in place. Suddenly one of the Geisha began to hit Sokka with her folded fan and the other had begun to beat Aang
with her parisol.
Katara couldn't help but laugh at this scene. When Katara finally went over to the enraged performers to ask what was wrong, Aang and Sokka both had bumps the size of small grape fruits on the back of their heads. "Excuse me, but may I ask what these morons did to make you so mad?" Katara asked the geisha with the parisol poiletly. "This stupid man thought it would be funny to dare his friend over there to steal my older sister Izuko's fan. And then that oaf over there actually did it.
"Oh my gods..." Katara sighed as she placed her index finger on her fore head. "Yep. That would be Sokka for you." Katara said as she helped Aang to his feet. "May I ask your name?" Katara asked the Geisha with the parisol. "My name is Si-in, and this is Mu-jang han." Si-in said curtly as she adjusted her hair. "Well, Si-in-san, please give Izuko-san my deepest apologies, for I cannot control what these idiots do."
Si-in and Mu-Jang looked at her as if she was insane. "Very well. We must be leaving now." And with those words, Si-in and Mu-jang left without another word. "Thank you, Katara!" Sokka said as he gave his sister a huge. "Get off me!" Katara screamed. "You should know better than to mess with the Geisha around here! The next time Si-in sees you and Aang, I think she will hit you more. Only harder next time." She said with a snicker as she sat back down to her mug of sweet tea. Aang said nothing and sat next to her. Sokka glared at them and stomped out of the door.
"Thanks for saving us." Aang said as he got up to get his own mug of tea. "No problem." Katara said between sallows. Aang sat down next to her again, only this time with his own cup of chilled green tea. "I have to go and get ready for tonight." Katara said as she finished her tea right after he sat down. "Why! You look fine just the way you are!" He said as he begged her to stay. Katara's eye twitched as she took in what he said? She looked okay? 'He thinks I look okay! My hair is a mess, my make-up is slowly melting off my face from this damned heat, and my robe is hanging off my sholder. Obviously, he needs to drink more of that tea and wake-up. I look horrible!'
She thought to herself. "If you think you look bad, then look again. I think you look beautiful. You look more like the girl I met four years ago.
Not like some primmed little doll." He said as he took her face in his hands and placed a kiss on her lips. Katara was so suprised by his
words and actions that all she could do was nothing but to let him have his way with her.
x o x o x
To Be Continued...