Disclaimer: See chapter 1.
A/N: Happy fluff.
AUTHOR'S APOLOGY! VERY IMPORTANT! Please read!
I am so sorry this is so late. I was bombarded with homework for the last two weeks, and last Wednesday my grandmother died. I was very close to her, so it wasn't fun. And since she lived with my extension of the family, we had to host everyone at our house after the wake and the funeral mass. I just want to thank all of you for encouraging to write. It provides such a great emotional outlet, and without your motivation, I would have given it up a long time ago.
Okay, ending the sappiness, on with the story!
Vestibular sense: Your sense of balance.
Synesthesia Chapter 3: Free Falling
"Don't you trust me?" The boy delivered the question with an outstretched hand and with, what he hoped was, a beguiling smile.
Katara arched one brow pointedly. She walked to the edge of the bison's saddle, where her friend stood, peering down at the air below Appa's feet. Hundreds of feet below, the oceans lay perfectly still, a sheet of glass reflecting the bright blue of the sky above.
She turned to the Avatar, hands on her hips.
"What? It'll be fun," He coaxed.
"Since when is dying fun?"
He adopted a mock wounded look, placing the once proffered hand over his heart in a show of melodrama.
"My dear lady! When have I ever let you fall?"
Her eyes roamed over the handsome face with its mischievous eyes twinkling, and a grin poking through the forced frown. A warm sensation spread throughout her entire body.
Oh, Aang, if you only knew, she thought. But he did not mean falling in those terms. An affectionate smile wormed its way onto her face.
Again, the hand reached out for her.
"Oh, alright," The waterbender conceded with a sigh, "You win."
She placed her hand into his, not able to put aside the feeling she had just signed her own death warrant.
He pulled her close to him, tucking her head neatly under his chin. She gratefully buried her head in his chest, as it hid the blush blooming over her face. Her heart thundered; the acceleration only partially due to the stunt they were about to pull.
Aang pushed off from the safe ground of the bison's saddle, and they plummeted down towards the ocean. They spiraled madly, Katara clinging to the young monk, the only thing she could in their mad free fall.
Finally, currents of air began to slow their descent, until they stopped only a yard above the water's surface. They hovered there for a moment, up-righting themselves. Katara felt the air swelling beneath her feet, and closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable.
She wasn't disappointed.
A huge push, like a shove from an invisible giant, sent them spinning upwards toward Appa.
They overshot the giant beast, flying into the air above him. Aang gently lowered them to the saddle.
They collapsed onto the saddle, Katara sprawled across the Avatar, both of them giggling like the children they had been when they first met.
Katara rested her head on her best friends chest, her eyes closed until her world stopped spinning so madly.
Tentatively, she raised her eyes to Aang and hoped that the world had stopped that nauseating rotation.
His gaze was on her, an odd sort of smile on his face.
She drew in a long breath, her stomach doing wild acrobatics at his look. The sky behind his face still spun, but her view of Aang had never been so steady or so clear.
His eyes dropped to her mouth and he leaned closer. She gently came to meet his lips.
Only a hairbreadth away from her lips, his own turned up. And as he asked his question, his mouth brushed hers, maddeningly soft.
"Do you want to do it again?"
A/N: I have a love/hate relationship with this chapter. One second I love it, the next I want to delete it. Le sigh. And in other news, this story took place in the daytime! Taste is up next.
REVIEW REPLIES IN THE NEXT CHAPTER. Sorry, I need sleep.