Chapter 6 birthday

It was New Year's Eve and the gang was camping out in front of a camp fire roasting some meat and marshmallows. The next day was going to be Katara's sixteenth birthday and Aang was preparing something special for her, in fact he will spend all night making it. He couldn't wait to see the look on her face when she sees it. Before long it was time to go to sleep. Katara climbed into her tent and got into her sleeping bag, soon to be joined by Aang. They snuggled as they lay on the grass until Katara fell asleep. When he knew she was he gently let go of her not wanting to wake her up. He then reached for his pack and took out a blank sheet of paper in a frame, a bottle of glue, a water color kit and two packs of noodles. He then quietly walked out of the tent and sat on the grass with his ingredients at hand. He placed the paper on the ground and opened the bottle of glue and poured a thin line of it on a piece of noodle and placed it on the page. Once secured he did the same with another piece of noodle and then another. After a while a picture was starting to form but it still wasn't clear what. First a head, then a long flock of hair with a flower in it, then a pretty face with bright eyes and a small nose and nice shy smile. Then he created the neck part and then the torso and arms and hands. One of the hands was pointing at the figure's neck, emphasizing the presence of a necklace made of flowers and that was placed around it. By this point Aang was about a quarter of the way done with his work of art and he was exhausted. He assumed it was one in the morning or so and he knew he had a way to go before he could go to sleep if he wanted to finish it on time. During the next few hours Aang placed the stomach part and a pair of legs and small feet to go with them. He then placed some noodles to form an outline of dress. He looked at his artistic creation and wiped the sweat from his brow. He could see dawn kiss the horizon. He was almost done; now he just had to paint it and it would be ready. He opened his water color kit and his water pouch and used it to water the colors. He started with a slightly bright shade of brown and used it to paint the figure's face, arms and hands. He then cleaned his brush and then dipped it in the black color and used to paint the character's hair and her shoes. Next he used a grey color to a pint a stripe on her shoes and most of the flowers on her necklace except for the one in the center which he painted pink next. He used a dark shade of blue to paint the girl's dress and bright blue to paint her eyes. He used a faint shade of red to paint her lips and black again to paint her eyes lashes and eye brows. Finally he used a bright yellow color to paint the flower in her hair and put the brush down. He gazed at the work of art he made and blew on the paint gently to dry it up. He held in front of him and smiled tiredly but happily

"Happy birthday Katara. I hope you like this…"

He could now see the sun beginning to rise. Realizing his work was done he picked him his stuff and the portrait and placed the artistic equipment back in his pack and closed it gently. He then placed the painting behind his pack so it would be hard to see, crawled into his sleeping bag and yawned widely. Before long he was asleep but it wasn't long after that he was woken up by his beloved Katara

"Aang?"

He snorted in his sleep

"Aang wake up" she rubbed his shoulder gently

All Aang could do was make an incoherent groaning sound

"Aang are you okay?" asked the girl slightly concerned by his odd behavior

"Must… sleep…" he muttered tiredly without even opening his eyes

"What happened? You couldn't sleep last night?"

She got no answer. Aang has fallen asleep and was snoring softly. Half offended, half amused by his response she tucked him in and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Sleep tight Aangy…" she said and thought she saw Aang smile in his sleep. She got out of the tent to see the rest of group roasting eggs on a camp fire

"Hi guys" she said

"Good morning Katara" said Suki with a broad smile

"Good morning Baby sister" said Sokka as he turned to face her

"Happy birthday" he smiled and she smiled back at him

"Thanks Sokka"

"Happy birthday Katara" Suki beamed at her

"Yeah happy birthday sugar queen" said Toph while picking her toes

"Thanks guys" she beamed at them

Sensing the absence of one voice Toph spoke

"Where's twinkletows?" she asked

"He's asleep. Apparently he didn't sleep at night"

"Maybe he went outside to meditate. He does that a lot at night" said Sokka while pocking the eggs with a stick

"Yeah but he always wakes up okay. Why would he be more tired now than usual?"

"Maybe he's cheating on you and is sneaking out" teased Sokka

"Very funny Sokka. Aang would never do that"

"Whatever you say Sis, just saying…"

"Well I'm saying I'm gonna use my water bending to smack you upside the head of you don't cut it out. Aang would never cheat on me. I know it"

"Whatever you say Sis" said Sokka

"Don't worry Katara. I'm sure Aang has his reasons for sleeping in" said Toph

"You're probably right" said Katara and with that they sat down to eat their breakfast.

It was the early hours of the afternoon and Aang still hasn't woken up. Given the fact that it's her birthday she's a little frustrated she can't spend time with her boyfriend on this special day as the evening grew near her anger increased until she decided she had enough. She marched into the tent and approached Aang

"Aang wake up" she said rather sharply. Aang opened his eyes weakly and sat up

"Morning Katara"

"It's not morning anymore mister Avatar it's evening"

"What? How long was I out?"

"All day basically" said Katara annoyingly

"So why didn't you wake me up?"

"A part of me wanted to but another said I should let you sleep but enough is enough. I was looking forward to spending the day with you but now I can't because you were asleep through the whole thing!" yelled Katara with tears building up in her eyes

"Do you even know what day it is?" she asked with anguish as tears dropped down her cheeks. It was then that realization finally dawned upon him. His eyes widened in shock

"It's your birthday!' he remembered

"Yeah and not just any birthday, it's my sixteenth birthday. I was hoping to celebrate this birthday with you. We could have gone to the lake or something but you had to sleep all day because instead of sleeping last night you had to go do your stupid meditating or go on your long walks" yelled Katara as she sobbed

"Kataara I didn't sleep all night because I was busy making your gift" said Aang deeply offended by her outburst

It was a few seconds before his words sank in for her

"What?" she asked in slight shock

"I spent all night making a portrait of you out of noodles and then I painted it. By the time I finished it, it was morning. I did it during the night because I wanted it to be a surprise. I didn't know it will turn out like this…" said Aang and reached for the painting and presented it to Katara. Her eyes widened in shock and she placed her hand on her mouth

"I'm sorry I hurt you Katara and I would do anything to have a second chance to make you happy on your sixteenth birthday"

Katara sighed happily as another tear made its way down her cheek, only this time it was a tear of happiness

"You just did Aang. You have no idea how much it means to me that you worked so hard to make this for me for my birthday with all the heart and effort you put into it and that you gave up your night of sleep just for me…"

"So you like it?" asked Aang

Katara's eyes sparkled with tears of joy

"It's beautiful Aang; thank you" she said and gavee a warm grateful hug which he returned

"I'm so sorry I yelled at you Aang. II had no idea you slept this whole time because you were up all night making this for me. Can you forgive me?"

Aang tightened the embrace around her and stroked the back of her hair

"Of course my forever girl… of course… I'm sorry I slept through your birthday Katara. I promise we'll celebrate it properly next time"

"I'd like that Aang… very much…" said Katara as he held her in his arms. He then let go of her and planted a soft, loving kiss on her lips. Once parted he said

"Happy birthday my forever girl…" he smiled at her and she smiled back

"Thanks Aangy. You're the greatest" she said as he brought her into another hug

"Katara"

"Hmm?"

"You still wanna go to the lake?"

To be continued…