Ziggy's Corner: Whoa! Holy Gobbers! 20 reviews! For only the first chapter? Ye Gods! I guess you can call this story a hit! Anyway; one explanation and an apology before we get going. First as I'm sure you are all aware, this story was going to be called I've Kissed A Girl (Unless I took out that beginning statement before I submitted the story and left it on my file, in which case, ignore this rambling). I also want to apologize for the bad grammar, I usually double check my work, but when I submitted this story, it was early in the morning, and the last day I had for a week away to house sit at a relative's house and use their net access. This chapter as well as the third and a possible fourth, won't be added until sometime in October, November. I promise these next chappies will be checked until I'm positive they are error free as I can humanly make them. All that being said, at the end of this chapter, I'll be doing reviewer responses, so have fun and enjoy the beginning of Aang's story ! By the way, when you see this mark before and after a paragraph it means that they're talking in the present, until the final paragraphs that is, otherwise it'll mainly feel as if you stepped into a time machine, and went back to the very time period when the kisses happened.
It was over one hundred years ago. The air monks had just sent me to a metropolis in the Water Nation, for training though at the time I didn't understand why.
You went to the Water Nation a hundred years ago? Cool, what was it like!
Sokka, shut up, I want to hear this!
OWWWW, Enough with the coconuts to the head already!
Hahaha, okay come on guys, calm down. Yeah, I visited all of the nations all those years ago. Anyway like I said, I was sent to the Water Nation by the monks, it was one of the first trips away from the Air Temples, and I was only ten. The city's name was . . .
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Toshigawa -- the capital city of the Northeastern Water Nation Islands. Aang raised his head and felt his mouth drop to the floor as he looked at massive stone and jade buildings that shone with the power of the sun, and flowed around the landscape as smooth as the giant waterfalls that surrounded them all. The buildings had to have been at least fifty if not sixty feet in length, and couldn't have been possibly been any younger than three hundred years old. The young air monk shuddered at the power and majesty of the buildings.
Far below the buildings were smaller living quarters where the normal people worked, liven and played in this awesome metropolis. People dressed in light blue and white silk passed by, each one smiling and waving to each other as they passed. Each person had large bright eyes of either blue as the sea, or as green as the jade monoliths around them. A huge massive park rested right in the middle of the city and the young boy gasped in delight.
"Don't be getting any bright ideas young man," the elderly air monk said, clamping his hand on the boy's shoulder. "You know why you are here."
Aang's bright brown eyes dimmed and he lowered his head. "But they look like they're all having so much fun," he moaned, pointing to a group of children playing with a water ball and a net.
"You're an air bender, Aang, not a water bender," the old man said.
"Then why do the temples keep sending me to the other nations to train then?" the boy asked, his lower lip shaking.
"When you are older, you will understand," the gruff old man said, and began to push the boy toward one of the larger jade buildings. The elderly air monk looked like a brittle old man, but Aang had heard stories that when push came to shove, he could fight like a rabid tiger. Driatsyo looked down at the boy as the walked and sighed. "That look might work on old doddering fools like Gyatso, Aang, but not on me." He looked at the boy again and sighed even louder, escorting the boy into his future role as avatar.
The training began almost immediately after they entered the structure. Aang was tested on his knowledge of the Water Nation, on water bending techniques, as well as his air bending skills. He was also tested on his math skills, his skills at negotiating, and for some reason peace keeping skills. Hour went after hour, and the boy's mood grew grayer and grayer with each ticking of the grandfather clock that was within the examine room. Finally the water bender who had quizzed him for so long tapped her long chin, and narrowed her eyes, motioning the monk to walk out of the room with her. The closed and locked the door, leaving the young air monk all alone.
The room was rectangular in shape, just as Aang had thought a classroom would look like, with a large black board in front of the room, and a small handful of desks scattered around in four perfect lines, although the air monk was the only one who was "attending" class. There was no large teacher's desk or chair; instead his instructor had paced back and forth while she had questioned him, as if she were interrogating him for committing some kind of crime. Twelve medium sized lamps hung high in the ceiling, none of which were lighted as it was the middle of the day, but it did mean that children were taught here at night.
At first Aang considered listening at the door, but it was solid stone, laced over with jade crystals; no sound would get in or out of that room. Aang stuck his tongue out in thought trying to decide if he should use his skills with air and what he knew of water to try to hear, but an image of Gyatso entered his mind, shaking his head with a playful, understanding smile on his face, but with disappointment all the same.
The grandfather clock continued to tick as the boy sat there, his back aching as he sat perfectly still in his seat, his heart aching to run out and play with the children that he had seen in the field. Another hour past, and then a half hour. What could they be talking about for so long? Maybe they want to see if I'll get out? Maybe it's another test?
At that thought, Aang smiled mischievously and eyed a nearby window. It was open with a slight slant, so air could come in, and the boy could breathe, but not enough that he could get out of the room. That was, it was slanted just right so that a normal boy would not be able to squeeze out, but Aang was not a normal boy.
The air monk sneaked over to it, eyes on the window, and ears to the door, in case they might open it as he tried to make his escape. If asked what he was doing if he got caught, he'd tell them that he had assumed that it was a test to see how long he was confined in the building before breaking out. It made sense, at least to a ten year old it did.
You didn't! I can't believe you'd sneak out on a test!
Do I have to hit you with something harder than a coconut? Let Aang continue, please.
So as I was saying . . .
It took him a few minutes to decide the best possible way to squeeze air around the slanted window so that it would open without making too much noise or too much pressure and breaking it completely. The air monk pulled his hands forward and slowly back, as if he were grabbing on a rope as was yanking it forward. Gently air started to push pass the window, and slipped passed the gears, lowering the window inch by inch until the glass pane was level with the gaping hole in the wall.
The boy looked pleased at his accomplishment and used another gust of air to raise himself to the window's level, preparing to crawl out of it, when the door unlocked, and the water bender and Driatsyo entered the room, their eyes widening.
"What are you doing, Aang?" the air monk snapped, rushing over to the window. The old man grabbed the boy by his ankle and gave a little yank, pulling him back to the ground.
Aang groaned, and felt sore . . . mostly in the pride department. However; other than that, he was fine. He rose to his feet and glared up at his elderly instructor. "You were gone for so long; I thought it was a test to see if I could escape from a locked room."
"Young man, if you think that answer is going to fly," the teacher snapped.
Driatsyo glared down with him with a sigh, and then his shoulders sagged. He smiled, and to the astonishment of the woman he began chuckling. "Well I suppose that you just proved that you could probably do just that," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "But next time try and be a little more patient," he said, patting the boy on his head. "You must learn patience."
"This is ridiculous," the woman snapped. "If this had been some kind of test, why would the window have been opened at all?"
Driatsyo swirled to face her, and narrowed his eyes. "Madame, the boy is special, that much is true, but he's not so special that he can control all of his wind bending abilities yet. He probably figured that you knew that, and gave him some slack, so he could use the abilities he does have to the best of his ability, and not put too much strain on him."
"You doddering, senile old fool," the woman's only response was. She stared at the two air benders for a long time before groaning in exasperation and turning on her heels to leave. "The tests are over for today. I suggest you find the young monk a room for the night and let him sleep. He'll need it for the next couple of weeks."
Aang sighed as she left and turned up to his mentor. "I apologize, Master Driatsyo," he said, his voice lower and embarrassed.
The elderly man put a hand on the boy's head and smiled. "Apology accepted, young air monk. But again, you must learn patience. Do you understand?" The boy nodded and the elderly man chuckled.
"Doddering old fool am I?" he said with a wheeze of laughter. "I guess Gyatso and I aren't that different as I thought we were." The two air benders laughed a long time, and went to find an inn to spend their days and nights in the city, when a burst of movement flashed between the two of them, followed by cries of outrage.
"Stop her," a constable shouted, pointing at a young girl with light brown skin, and a long brown pony tail that flowed down her back dressed in a green parka ran by. "She's a thief!"
The girl stopped for a second, and looked at the two air monks, her large brown eyes glowing in the late afternoon sunlight. She seemed to scowl at the elderly monk, until his gaze rested firmly on her, and then turned her attention to Aang; who stared at her slack jawed.
Aang had of course seen young girls his own age, as the temple pushed him all over the world, training him with this, or with that. The Eastern Air Temple was full of young air nuns, but the boy had never seen a girl with such an exotic . . . aura. He blinked for a few seconds and then smiled, being rewarded with a stern scowl.
"Have a picture painted, it'll last longer," she snapped, and went to turn a corner. A gust of air raised her off her feet and blasted her back toward the monks, where the constable quickly clamped his iron hands on her shoulders.
"Let me go," I didn't do anything wrong," she howled. The girl looked eleven years old, and smelled of salt water. Anxious to be free from her captor, she clamped down on his arm and bit until she punctured skin. In the sky thunder appeared from no where and lightning flashed.
The constable threw his head back and howled in agony, dropping the girl, but not before he snapped a small purse from her waist and snapped it off of her belt. The meaty man held the bag up in the air and squeezed tight, as if imagining that he was choking the girl's throat. "This little beggar stole this money from an upper citizen," the officer snarled.
"I did not," she snapped, forcing herself not to cry. "That was a gift for my family!"
"And what family would that be?" the officer chuckled, "the rats and Sori Fish you live with down by the docks?" He bent over her and narrowed his eyes. "I watched you take that money when he wasn't looking. That didn't seem like a 'donation' to me."
"What's an upper citizen?" Aang asked Driatsyo.
"In this town it is the senators or the merchants of the hills, those who live in the jade buildings we were just in," the air monk explained. "Most of the people like in the center of the city, in small stone buildings," he sighed, he hadn't wanted Aang to see that, "and the poorer live near the rivers and the beach, making whatever shelter they can."
The boy frowned and looked around the massive city. "But there's so much space, why not share the buildings and the food?"
"Mind your own business," both the thief and the constable snapped at him.
Two thoughts ran through the boy's mind then. Immediately he knew that he didn't like the officer, and just as equally he felt a strange attraction to this girl. He offered her another smile, but her scowl sent him back reeling.
"I would suggest that you don't associate yourself with the likes of her," the officer said, his eyes studying the boy and the girl. "Being an air monk, you should want to keep your reputation clean."
The lawman then turned to Driatsyo and nodded his head. "Besides, the upper citizen is not the only one she has stolen from," he snatched a second bag from the girl, still sitting on the ground, tears biting her eyes, and went to hand it back to the monk. "I believe this is yours."
Aang gasped as he looked at Driatsyo's coin purse in the officer's hand and looked at the thief, his heart breaking a little. It quickly healed as he reminded himself that there was more than enough money in there, and Driatsyo usually took more than one coin purse for just an occasion.
The monk smiled and shook his head. "No, no officer, I can't speak for the upper citizen, but I had donated that to her."
The large man took a step back and gasped. "What?"
"What?" cried the young thief, more lightning struck across the sky.
"What?" Even Aang had to ask. He looked at his mentor and frowned.
"No one can take from me, what I do not want them to," the air monk said with a smug smile.
Aang shrugged and crossed his arms, what the elderly monk said was true, Driatsyo was very aware of his surroundings.
"Then how is it that you didn't know she had made off with your money?" the officer snapped.
"I told you, it was a donation," the older man said, offering another smile.
The constable stood there very unsure for the longest amount of time, and then narrowed his eyes, grabbing the girl by her shoulder. "That maybe true, but there is still the matter of her thievery of the upper citizen."
"How much did she take?" the monk asked, cocking his head.
"It doesn't matter how much, justice has to be made for what she has done," he said, looking down at her. The early evening air brushed through his thick brown hair and he smiled down at her. "I've been hunting this one for a long time, and finally I caught her slipping up."
Driatsyo shrugged and turned to Aang. "We should be going; I have to find an inn for you and see you off to sleep before I find the upper citizen and see how much has been stolen from him, and pay it back."
"I thought I said to stay out of this," both the thief and the constable howled in rage. There was even more lightning now, and storm clouds seemed to materialize out of nowhere.
"Damn bizarre weather patterns," the constable hissed, gawking upwards to the sky.
Driatsyo gave the girl a kindly smile, and then turned to the officer, his grin turning dark. "No, you told Aang to stay out of this; you made no mention of me." The officer opened his mouth to speak, but the air monk raised a finger and shut him up. "And I'm pretty sure I know whose purse that is that you are holding. If I'm right, I'm sure I'll have this matter taken care of very soon."
With that, the two monks walked off into the distance, and registered into an inn. Driatsyo indeed found the upper citizen, an old friend of the monk, and the man indeed agreed to drop the charges against the girl, of course it cost the monk dearly, but he was glad to do it, and then made sure his donation was handed over to her by the very same, bullying constable who had made the arrest.
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"I stayed up late that night, thinking all about her, I don't really know why. My gut told me that it was just a one time incident, that I'd never see her again. She wasn't very happy that we had gotten involved, and told Master Driatsyo that both he and I could frag off." Aang smiled at the memory and sighed, stretching as he looked at his two friends, his mind once again firmly in the present.
"Aang, that's horrible! I don't even know why you even bothered to fall for a girl like that!" Katara was scowling, and for some reason the young avatar could not figure out was clenching a tree branch with her left hand so tight it almost nearly snapped in half, her eyes twitching as if she had salt water in them.
Sokka looked at the two of them and cocked his head blinking dumbly. "Hey, wait, I thought we were talking about our first kisses here." His eyes caught his sister rising to her feet, raising the stick she was holding over her head, and he shielded himself from her wrath. "Katara, you put that stick down NOW!" he wailed.
Aang chuckled and shook his head, "We are, you guy's. But that was just my first encounter with her, what happened afterwards in the weeks that followed, well, that's what was REALLY horrible." The thought of that memory made the young hero frown, and shudder.
"So? What happened?" Katara had started to calm down, and was now sitting on the log where she had been for most of the story.
Aang smiled at Katara and rose to his feet, stretching. "Sorry Katara, I have to save that for a little later." He turned and began walking away.
"Hey, wait a minute, where are you going?" Sokka called as he reached out to him.
"Bathroom break," the boy avatar said with a bright grin. He chuckled as the words knocked his friends to their backs and put his hand on the back of his head. "I'll finish my story when I get back. You guys can talk between yourselves over who should go next while I'm gone, so we can keep going after I finish my story." He waved to his friends and disappeared around a corner. "See you in a couple of minutes!"
Okay, I hope you've all enjoyed chapter two! Yep, I'm a big meanie cutting it off just as the tension gets great, but heck, keep them on their seats for more, that's what I've always heard anyway. And good things are worth waiting for! Besides I plan on updating at least two chapters, so you'll not wait long to see or read Aang's first kiss. For those of you who wanted an Aang/Katara kiss, sorry, I had other ideas, although don't leave, you might get to see something you'll like later. Now to my reviewers:
Sanriochica333: All big brothers are the same I guess, of course I have no little sister pouts but I'd probably be the same as your brother and Sokka, its just our protective "yeah I'm a guy, but all guy's are some kind of level 'dirt bag'" philosophy with their little sisters. Hey at least he looks out for you. Anyway thank you for the kind words.
Kayko15: Yep, and if you ask me, I stopped just as it was getting interesting with this chapter too. Its my way of having you come back for more and more ! And thanks for the nice comments.
Kim: You might just get your wish, of course there's no saying that she didn't kiss someone else first, or even that she has had only one kiss. Wouldn't that just drive Sokka nuts! Are any of you who have reviewed after 9/10 friends of Kim's? Let me know, otherwise, for those friends of Kim's whose computers work right, review! I'd like to see what you think too! Anyway that you so much for taking the time to review Kim, it means a lot to me .
Dragonsfire: Like I told you all in the begin of these review answers, the first kiss wasn't Aang and Katara, but hold on, you'll like something you see.
crzysheelf: AH! Okay you've talked me into updating LOL! Thank you for the compliment .
btrfli 123:LOL, Well you're getting more, but I doubt anyone would continue to hold interest for millions of years from now with this story .
Hotspur: One of my following Avatar fans, thank you for yet another great review. You now know who, kissed Aang for the first time, and come next chap, you'll know more about her, and her name too!
Mexman 1993: Thanks for the compliment. But sorry Katara does not give Aang his first kiss. Besides it makes no sense, why would she get so shocked that he admitted to being kissed, if she was the one who did it? But don't fret, just keep reading.
Mystic Water Bender3: I most definitely wanted humor in this story, and wanted it to be very light and warm hearted (not fuzzy feeling warm, but warm heated to put the reader to ease), so thank you. I'm so glad you liked it. And hopefully you enjoy this new chapter and the next of them as well. Thanks for the compliments.
The Next Avatar: Er, ah, yes I AM thirty. Lol Hopefully that's not a problem for you, but on another note, what did you think of the story?
RealiTBYte101: Interesting name, anyway thanks for the compliments. As I said before you've seen the girl who will eventually kiss Aang, next chapter you'll know more about her, as well as her name.
aangsair: Well, sorry for not giving you the best gift of a Katara/ Aang first kiss, but keep reading for some interesting developments. Thanks for the compliments.
FlamesofHisheart: Well somebody got his or her wish, Lol. Nope the day I write an Aang/Koko first kiss, is the day they wheel me out of my home in a wheelchair and take me to the old foggies home. And since as The Next Avatar clearly pointed out, I'm only a very young thirty year old, that ain't likely to happen any time soon. Koko was too spoiled a character if you ask me. Keep reading the next chappie, to find out Aang's real first kisser's name.
Flying Green Flamingo: Thank you. These next two, possible three chapters should be on line sometime in October or November, so I hope that's soon enough for you.
sokkalover: Okay, okay this is an update, and the third chapter you'll see the big kiss, for Aang anyway. If its not the one you wanted, well, as I've told many a fans so far, keep reading.
starchic: Kool, so from the sounds of it, I'm the very first fan that anyone knows about who's written a historical background to why the war began, and now the first that anyone knows about so far to write a fanfic where they talk about their first kisses. Awesome! As you can clearly seem I am still going! Thanks for the review .
AmayaWhiteWolf: You get your wish, here's more, and thanks for the compliments. And, ohhh, you must be a psychic because one of your guesses does indeed happen!
Raving-Lunatic: Whoa, okay here's more! Chapter three tells Aang's first kisser's name, and the following chapters you learn about the other two companion's first kisses, so keep reading. Thanks for the compliments.
PyhcoDancingBookworm: Um, okay why do most of my fans have beginning names that either are, or sound like, or mean psycho? Of course I could be misunderstand your name dear, or dude, so sorry if that's the case, but if its not, why do all the "crazy" fanfic fans flock to me? gulps you're all not going to hunt me down and rip of my clothes to sell on E-Bay are you? LOL, anyway, you get your wish, as of this chapter their stories are being told.
Cat-san: Aren't I just though, hehehe! Well I hope you still think so with this chapter.
Whew, and that's it for now, good thing I made myself write this chapter before there were more of you! This chapter might have gone on for ages! And then none of you would have gotten to see the thief's name. Or read about Sokka's or Katara's first kisses for that matter. So anyway sit back, relax and enjoy the third chapter, cuss here it comes!