It's a good thing that I decided to write chapter two when I did, two more reviews came in after I finished, making this story, chapter one anyway, twenty-two reviews, not bad! A MidWinter's Romance is the top of the league with thirty-two reviews, and my Sly Cooper is the silver metal winner with twenty-nine reviews. If I were to combine three of my four Avatar stories, I have over sixty reviews, kool, but why has no one reviewed the Fire Hunt? Hangs head low and pouts oh well, I'll just concentrate on this for right now. You all wanted to see Aang's kiss, now you will!
So, what happened Aang?
Yeah, it seemed like you took five days to pee!
Will you stop this! Let Aang continue with this story!
Well, I never did see that girl for a very long time. In fact it was almost three months, and my training in the city was almost complete when . . .
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Aang felt his legs leave the ground as he raced through the streets of Toshigawa, his heart slammed against his chest as he ran, and his hands went through the motions of constructing the air around his lower body into a tight ball. The boy monk leapt into the air, and came crashing down into a vendor's box of tomatoes, the fifth time this week that he had managed this stunt.
At first he was afraid that he would be in trouble, and looked up sheepishly at the tall thirty something man. His hair was long and browner than mud, flowing down his brood shoulders, and stopping at the middle of his back. His green eyes shined with amusement and a little frustration as he looked at the boy. "Late again, young monk?" he asked, his voice booming through the streets.
Aang smiled and stroked his bald head. "Sorry Tenshi," he chuckled.
"Monk Driatsyo isn't going to keep paying for your damages, Aang," the tall man sniggered as he helped the boy to his feet, and brushed off his damaged produce off of him. Tenshi had been one of the very few merchants with a source of humor in this town, and Aang was lucky he had ran into him than someone like Lysta, who would have skinned his hide with her thick dragon skin belt if she was there.
The merchant pointed toward the main hall and nodded. "Well Aang, I would suggest that you keep going, or you'll miss your final exam."
Aang bowed out of respect and, his brown eyes twinkling with joy and relief. "Thank you Tenshi, I will." The boy turned and rushed toward the building, giggling as the merchant warned him to steer clear of any other merchants along the way. His heart ached that he couldn't play today, as he had been allowed to during the weekend, but he and Driatsyo had were told to return to the Air Temples no later than the third moon of the month, and that was three days from now, which meant the final test would have to be preformed earlier than expected.
Aang ran into the building, at top notch speed, his face turning upwards into a smug beam as he allowed the air to move him at speeds that most humans would never imagine going. Training in this big city was reaping all rewards left and right as far as his talents went, and yet there was something very empty that he felt about Toshigawa. A certain someone he desperately had hoped to see, even a glimmer of her hair at least once – but to no avail. The monk ran up the five stories of the building, arching left and right as he passed people, and stopped short of the examination room door. The boy caught his breathe and looked around the hall, biting his lip as he hoped to see no one he knew, tapping a certain foot and looking very irritated at him. And Driatsyo would have been a little ticked off at his tardiness too!
But to his surprise there was no one here, not even the secretary that normally sat at the desk in the far side of the hall, paging through important scrolls and pressing her finger against her lips to silence the boy if he grew too rowdy. There were no plants, no picture frames, and no plaques that read which room was which. If this had been Aang's first trip to the hall, he'd be totally and completely lost.
It was unsettling standing there, the only life in the hall, the only sign that there had been human contact with the building at all, despite it being there. Aang blinked and called out, but heard only his voice bounce from wall to wall and down a corner as he stood there. The boy frowned and turned to the dark brown door, studying it as if he thought it might provide him with answers. Aang blinked a few more times, and opened the door, walking in.
I wish I hadn't done that, what I saw next still haunts my dreams to this day.
What did you see?
It was the thief's doing wasn't it?
Katara, now who's not letting him finish his story? Hey, wait, what are you doing with that scarf? Why are you coming at me with it? WAIT!1
Will you two stop! I'll tell you all ready!
Tables were overturned, chairs broken, the lamps were knocked down and Aang hurried to put out the flames from their fire, but why they had been lighted during the day, he had no idea. Finally, he turned to face one of the corners, and saw the broken body of Driatsyo lying on the floor. The air monk gasped and rushed to his mentor's aide, but screeched as a hand clamped down on his shoulder, and he felt himself spinning around. His eyes widened and he shook his head, there stood the one person he had wanted to see for these few months, and she was bloody and her glare the stare of a raved animal. Aang used his air bending skills and shoved his body away from her grasp, grabbing a glider that his mentor had bought him just the other day.
"What did you do?" Aang growled. "He helped pay off your debt, and this is the way you thank him?"
"I did nothing of the sort," the girl growled, drying blood off of her hands with her clothes, and scowling at the action. "I was told to come here, when I did, he was already dead."
Aang crotched and raised his glider in a defensive position. "You are a liar! To think, to think I actually . . . I actually," his voice became lower and he lowered his guard for just a split second.
The girl rolled her eyes and puffed out a breath of air. "Oh please," she sighed. She looked at him, and seemed startled at his hurt reaction. "Look, I didn't mean . . .," she began, and then thought better of it. "I'm sorry, okay? But I didn't kill your grandfather."
"He wasn't my grandfather, he was my mentor, my friend, and you killed him!" Aang roared, he rushed forward and caught the girl by her shoulders, pinning her to the blackboard. "Why?"
"I told you he was dead when I got here!" the girl roared raising her knees and pushing the air monk away with a powerful blow of her own. "I received a letter from him asking me to meet him here, he said he wanted to tell me about something, and I guess I owed him so I came, that's all."
Aang opened him mouth to speak, to shout something at the girl, and then closed it, looking over at the body as he did. He blinked. Driatsyo was not a letter writer, he hated it, and got out of it whenever he could. If Driatsyo had wanted to say something to the girl, he'd do it right out and forward, which was much more his style. "Do you still have the letter?"
"I did, until the teacher of the school attacked me, and burned it," she said. She looked at the monk and shook his head. "Look, if you don't believe me fine, but it's not my fault."
"Actually it is," the monk said. "It looks like you killed Driatsyo, and killing an air monk is a crime around the world, so I would have to take you to the temples, and they'd question you, if you've got nothing to hide, then you'll come quietly."
"And why should they believe anything from someone from the likes of me?" the thief asked, her long brown hair still tied in a pony tail flowing over her shoulder. She glowered at him and crossed her arms.
"Look, we're not like the rest of the world, we don't judge based on how you live your life, or where you come from," the boy began his mind hoping that she might be telling him the truth, but the rest of his senses telling him it was false to hope so.
"Stop looking at me like that," the girl screamed, her eyes filling with tears. "I hate it, I HATE it! Do you have any idea what it's like? People look at me and they either see a poor little girl that fate turned its back on, or they see a filthy beggar who the gods were right to smite down! They don't even bother to ask me my name before they judge me!" Her body was shaking, and as Aang tried to walk toward her, she retreated into a corner, tears running down her cheeks as if they belonged to a water fall. Outside he could hear thunder rumble and lightning flash.
"So, what is your name?" the boy asked.
She blinked at him and cocked her head. "What?"
"Your name, what is it?" he asked with a smile.
She blinked again, and lowered her head. "Kritana," she said her voice so soft and tender that it would be easier to slice through it, than a tissue paper.
"I'm Aang," he said.
"Everyone in the city knows who you are," she said, slinking to her feet. "It took me a while too, but eventually I learned who you were."
"So, Kritana, when did you get this letter?" Aang stroked his chin and began pacing back and forth. He had a good talent at reading people, when not too emotional, and though the death of his mentor still burned in his chest, he had a strong feeling that it was not this girl who killed him.
"A few hours ago," she said. "Early in the morning; just as the sun had begun to rise. It asked me to meet him here, just a little while ago, and as I told you, when I arrived, he was dead, and then your teacher rushed in here, and before I got a chance to explain, attacked me, and burned the letter."
Aang lowered his head and began pacing back and forth some more, his brow turned downward thoughtfully.
"Could you please not do that Aang," Kritana asked, "it's annoying."
"Sorry, but I don't understand why my teacher would burn the letter?" He frowned, went to begin pacing and then stopped as she glared at him with a smile. "Sorry." He blinked and sighed. "Maybe we should go to the regulator chief and have him brought in?" he asked of the legal officer in control of the city.
"Why do you think I came up from you from behind?" Kritana said. "I do have a few friends in this city. I had one of the go to the regulator chief, but something happened."
"That doesn't make sense either," Aang shouted, and stroked his chin again. "Maybe my teacher told him what she had seen?" A moment later Aang could hear commotion out of the building and he rushed to the window, gasping as he saw dozens of officers rushing toward it.
"Kritana, why would you come back to the crime scene anyway?" Aang asked, looking at the girl.
"I saw you heading this way, when I was ready to leave, and decided to warn you," the girl said. When she saw the blank face she looked at the window and shivered. "They didn't accuse just me."
Aang's mouth dropped to his feet and he blinked. "My teacher said I was part of it? But, but that's crazy! Why would she do that?"
"That's what the regulator chief asked too," the girl said. "Apparently he's gone missing, and the constable is now in charge."
The commotion was now coming inside the building, and Aang's mind began to race. They couldn't stay here anymore, and judging from those angry sounding cries, there would be no explaining their situation. "We've got to get out of here," he said.
"Thank you Sherlock Holmes," she hissed. "But how are we going to get out of here?"
Aang smiled and grabbed Kritana's wrist, pulling her to his body, and blushing slightly, as did she. "You do know what an air bender can do, right?" He winked, concentrated on the window, and before she could protest flung them out towards the open air.
They soared out into the open air, both screaming at the top of their lungs as the ground beneath them came racing up toward them to met their bodies, and then they laughed as Aang concentrated and used another gust of air over his legs to springboard them onto a silver gray roof of another building, way over the heads of the angry mob. Aang clutched on to Kritana's wrist tighter and yanked her forward, rushing to the edge of the roof, and bouncing off, as if he were jumping on a trampoline. The girl looked frightened at first, but her features were now turning to delight, as they bounced from roof to roof, until they were nearly at the border of the city.
Aang looked at her and back at the crowd. "You should be able to slide down from here, and make your escape into the woods. If you're quick enough you might just make the ferry."
Kritana's smile turned upside down and she cocked a head. "Who say's I'm leaving?"
"It's kind of dangerous here now," the boy shrugged. "I just thought it might be easier if we split up, and I figure this mystery out."
"So I'm a hindrance?" she shouted, waving her arms about. Thunder began to rumble off in the distance.
"I didn't say that, I just wanted to get you to safety," the boy said, taking a step back away from her. The sky was darkening now, as large rain clouds hovered over the city. "If you want to stay then go ahead, I won't stop you."
Kritana scowled at the boy, her chest rising and falling, and her eyes studied him with such intensity that they literally were glowing. "I was born in this city, lived in it; I know every corner, every shadow you'd have to slink through to do your little investigation." Now she was pacing, one eye on him, the other on the crowds, grumbling on having lost the pair; though she knew it would only be a matter of time before they'd discover what had happened to them. "And I want to know who killed your gran—your mentor too. He was one of the few outsiders who took pity on me." She smiled and poked him in the ribs, "So yeah, I'm staying."
They stared at each other for a long time, longer than either of them should have taken. Brown shining eyes, met brown radiate eyes, their bodies breathing and exhaling air in perfect rhythm, their chests rising and falling in unison. Aang blinked first and swallowed, slightly turning his head, when she caught his chin with her open palm and held his gaze in her own. Kritana smiled and cocked her head to one side, slowly approaching the young air monk, whose heart was now beating out of rhythm, his chest hurting him, but he didn't mind, he didn't care, somehow this was coming, and he knew it wasn't possible to stop it, nor did he want to.
Aang were you out of your mind! That's how you got your first kiss?
Katara, shut up, it's just starting to get really good! Although for the record Aang, you should never let the ladies make the first move, it doesn't look very professional. OWWW Why'd you hit me with that coconut again!
Because nothing else was working as effectively as that!
Guys, guys come on, the story's not over yet, and besides, the two of you are starting to freak me out! I mean Katara, you've been holding on to that long with your hands so tight it kinda looks like your going to snap it in half, and Sokka, you're about ready to fall right off your log.
If you'd notice, I did, thanks to a certain young sister's fruit to my noggin.
Might I remind you we're doing these stories so we don't kill each other? Sigh, Katara, relax, Kritana was going to kiss me then, but it didn't quite happen as we wanted it too . . .
The two of them stood there, closer and closer to one another, their eyes shut, their lips puckering, as the young air monk's heart raced. Just as it seemed like their lips would met, lighting struck. Aang had heard about a first kiss being like fireworks going off in the sky, but he didn't think the saying was literal, and as he opened his eyes he realized that it was in reality, just lightning. But that didn't stop the citizens from following the lightning strike, and looking in their direction.
Kritana's eyes widened and she shot back as if she had been poked with a white hot metal prong. "I-I shouldn't have done that, I'm sorry." Once again, tears began to roll down her cheeks, and Aang frowned shaking his head.
"Look, we both kinda got caught up in the moment, but let's just get out of here, maybe go to one of those dark alleys you mentioned. If we can just get enough information, we should be okay."
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They'd hidden for two days, and the time was quickly coming for Aang to return home, that was, if the Air Temple didn't fall for the lies of the Constable and the teacher, and decide to help hunt the young detectives down. There always seemed to be a break in the case, always a teasing little bit of information, but just like that janganut pudding, once you had just a bite, and went back for more, it was gone, snatched in the hands of someone else.
The closest they had come was the hiding place of the regulator chief's location, but when they got there, someone, whoever had taken him away. It was enough to bring the ten year old air bender to his tears of his own. Why was this happening, what was he missing? He began pacing back and forth, ignoring the eyes of his companion as he moved.
"If I don't do something like this, I'm going to lose my mind," he told her the last time she asked him to stop. There was something, something he had forgotten, missed. Was it something Driatsyo had said? Aang sat down and cross his legs, stroking his pounding bald head. Not only were they always just one fingertip away from clues, but for some reason, there was always clouds and lightning flashing that would give them away to the angry mobs, and they'd have to run. Not to mention that whenever they were near anything with water it would act violently.
"Kritana, what do you know about the Constable?" he asked for like the umpteenth time.
"Everything I told you about him is all I know, Aang," she said. "He's a bully who likes to make trouble for everyone, except for the Upper Citizens, and even they can't stand him. He hopes to one day become a top cop I guess you'd say, maybe even mayor, and then, then I don't know what."
"I just can't understand why my teacher would say that I helped kill Driatsyo, unless the constable got to her and bullied her into saying I did."
"I doubt that Aang," she said, her mind racing in a thousand directions. "He worships the ground she walks on, she thinks he's a god, high above the 'regular' people, and . . .," she stopped short and her eyes widened so far they nearly exploded. Overhead thunder roared and lightning flashed. "I'm an idiot!" she shrieked.
"Not this again," Aang cried, leaping to his feet as his faced stared into the sky. "Go away, we don't want you." Then he realized what she had said, and spun toward her, slinking further under the bridge where they were hidden. "Wait, why are you an idiot?"
"They were in on it!" she cried. "Your teacher is the wife of the constable, Aang, I think she's the one who killed Driatsyo."
Aang looked at her, his mouth flinging open and shook his head. Listen to what she say's Aang, but don't give too much away, there's not much trustworthy about her. "I'm an idiot too! How could I have forgotten what he said about her?" He turned and told the girl what his mentor had said. "I thought it was because she was so strict, so mean, that maybe because she was from the outside of the Temples. But he had sensed her darkness." He frowned, "He wouldn't have trusted her alone, and she couldn't have killed him. But her husband could." More lightning flashed as he spoke, but neither one seemed to be able to move.
"And then he wrote the note, and she waited for me to take the bait!" the young thief shrieked with rage and more lightning flashed overhead.
"My, my, what cleaver little mink rats," cooed a dark voice to the side of them. They turned and gasped as the constable and his wife, Aang's teacher, along with a few other townsfolk stood their expressions dark and livid. "But even I attracted the interest of your beloved mentor, so I had to hire out to do the job," he said, motioning to the others.
"You monster," Aang roared. He shot forward and launched himself at the constable, but was knocked back with a blast of fire, coming from the fingertips of his wife. "A fire bender?"
"A commander in the Fire Lord Sozen's army," she said, raising an eyebrow. "You have interesting talents Aang, very interesting. My lord would like to speak with you very much."
"Stay away from him," Kritana screeched. She rushed forward and slashed at the Fire Commander, but shrieked as the older woman clutched her arm and spun her around, bending her arm behind her back.
"What should I do with this one?" she cackled.
"She's of no interest, just a no good lousy thief," the constable chuckled. "No one will even miss her when she's gone."
"You don't know anything," Aang shouted, leaping into the air, "her name is Kritana, and she's no thief." The constable raised a staff and began twirling it, ready to strike, but a gust of air ripped it from his fingers.
"Kill that brat," he roared at his underlings.
"No, the Fire Lord wants him alive," the teacher shouted, twisting Kritana's arm tighter. Above the battle lightning and thunder screamed and howled, flashed and exploded.
"I won't let you hurt her," Aang cried, light blue energy swarming through his body. "I won't let you hurt anyone." The boy hovered in the air, amid frightened whispers and shaking bodies, and sent a small tornado down on his foes, knocking all of them to their feet. When the energy was drained, he dropped to the ground, and gasped for air.
"Aang," Kritana cried.
"Take him now," the constable snapped. A second passed, and then another. He frowned and looked at his goons, who were fleeing into the distance. "You idiots, he can't even fight anymore. Come back here, he can't even fight!"
"I can," called a booming, echoing voice. The constable and his wife looked at the source of it, and the evil fire bender released the girl she was holding and shook her head.
"No, no they're all gone! We killed them all years ago," she whispered.
Kritana's body was glowing with yellow light, and where her brown eyes had been, there were now bright white orbs. Lightning struck across her body, but she didn't even seem to be phased. Water rushed around her body and splashed across her clothes, but the combination didn't seem to faze her either.
Aang had heard stories, but that's all they were. He never thought he'd actually see one, especially as powerful as Kritana. "You're a Lightning Bender," he gasped. The girl looked at him and smiled.
"Have a picture painted, it will last longer," she said, her voice heavenly, and yet sad. "I've tried to hide this for years. I thought I was a freak, until I met you. You seemed to make it all right."
"You can't be a Lightning Bender, the Lightning Temples were all crushed under our kings," the Fire Nation Commander/ Teacher wailed. She frowned and shook her head. "One last rat that slipped from our nets until now," she inhaled and bent backward.
"Laurn, wait," her husband called. His wife shot flames from her lips and hurled them at the girl, but Kritana countered with a massive wave of lightning and water combined, and knocked the evil people back, and back again, until Fire, Electricity, and Water subsided, and all that was left were the charred bones, burned crisped the benders' powers.
The light subsided from around her body, and she dropped to the ground, next to Aang. He looked at her, shocked at what she had done, but knowing that justice and her own battle had just met, and resolved to bring her peace.
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The next few hours were some of the most exciting in Aang's life in Toshigawa. The regulator chief was found tied and gagged in the basement of the constable's house. The constable's men were rounded up, and all testified to their employer's plans, and to the even dark plans of his wife. They were to be invaded by the Fire Nation, and once taken over the constable would have been made the imperial governor of the city. Fire Lord Sozen's agents of course apologized for the "rogue" agent's insane plans, and assured the city that it had nothing to worry about.
Gyatso himself came to pick up Aang, with a small legion of Air Monks, and took possession of his cousin's body. Aang's mentor would be taken to the temples, and buried a hero for his actions, and his defense of the secret that Aang had not yet figured out about his life.
And as for Kritana, her secret was out, and the city was divided as to what to do. Some were afraid of her more than ever, others accused her of causing odd storms during the different seasons, while others still were excited to have such a fabled bender still living among them.
"So, what are you going to do now?" Aang asked her, as they received a few minutes along before his departure. His heart ached, Gyatso had invited her to come live in the Temples, where she could be properly taught how to contain her powers and use them for the good of the people, but she had declined.
"Not sure, probably won't stay here though," she said.
"But this is your home," the boy exclaimed.
"True, but now that people know what I am; they still look at me differently. Some might even try to use me as a weapon, and besides, once the Fire Nation finds out that a Lightning Bender is living, here, even just a half blooded one like me, they wont rest until they burn the town down to the ground to get rid of me."
"But the Fire Nation isn't like that," the boy said. "I have lots of friends there; they're nothing like that crazy commander lady."
Kritana giggled and stroked Aang's cheeks. "You're cute when you're being naïve," she said. "Never lose that innocence of yours Aang, promise me that." He nodded and she giggled again. "By the way, I have something that belongs to you, I'm kinda stole it a while back."
Aang screwed up his face and began filling his pockets, looking for anything that was out of place, or gone. "Everything seems to be here, what did you steal?"
She smiled and leaned forward, quickly like a puma, and gently pressed her lips against his. Seconds passed, and then a minute, and before long Aang felt lost in those strawberry lips of hers, and kissed her back. They finally parted as a massively smiling Gyatso cleared his throat, and chucked as they blushed. "That," she cooed softly. "Thank you Aang, thank you for everything."
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"And so I went back to the Temple with Gyatso, and she went on her way. Neither one of us saw the other again, but I've always thought about her." Aang bowed his head and blushed, "and I know she always thought about me. I don't know how, I just . . . kinda do."
Katara had been ready to tear out the throat of this girl the moment she heard about her thieving arrogant ways. But now her jaw was so far down to the ground that it could hardly be measured. "A Lightning Bender? My gosh?"
"Oh come on, those are just old wives tales, they never really existed," Sokka groaned, holding his very sore head. "But just out of curiosity, you said, she told you she was a half Lightning Bender, what did she mean?"
"Her father was a full fledge Lightning Bender, the last of their kind," Aang said with a smile. "But when he came to Toshigawa he married her mother, who was a powerful Water Bender."
Katara frowned and stroked her chin. "Didn't Gran-gran always tell us stories of her own grandmother having powers over lightning?" A chill ran up the girl's spine.
"Like I said, old wives tales," Sokka smirked.
"I'll give you an old wives tale," Katara growled, shooting to her feet, her fist ready to strike her brother. Aang quickly rushed to his feet and shook his heads.
"Will you guys cut it out! Besides, if you knock him out, Katara, you won't hear his story."
Sokka looked at the two of them and massively gasped air. "My story!"
Okay this is fun so far! I hope I haven't been driving you guys nuts with the in and out in the story between the past and the present. I wasn't sure how to handle that, so I did the best I could for a thirty year old fanfiction writer, ;). Anyway I based Kritana a little on Katara, in appearance anyway. For those of you who wanted an Aang/Katara first kiss, sorry, but don't go anywhere, you might still be happy! That being said, what did you all think of Kritana, and the fact that I created a fifth type of bender (was I the first anyone knows of to create a Lightning Bender in Avatar fanfics)? I just thought Lightning was an element too, and they didn't use it in the show, so what would have happened if at one time there were those who could control that electric element, and what happened if they were killed nearly to extinction? Let me know what you think.
Time for my reviewer responses;
lensgirlfriend: Thank you so much, I hope that late October is soon enough. By the way, your name is interesting, I kind of remember a character named Len from somewhere, but can't remember the name of the show, is this who you named yourself for? Again, thanks for the praise.
Meow of the Iron Catfist: Another awesome name! Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed chapters two through four. I try very hard not to disappoint.
Well that's it, on to chapter four!