A/N: (re-write: 6/30/07) Enjoy!
Book One - The Journey Begins
Chapter Six - Interruptions
Katara took a deep breath and let it out slowly; she embraced the moment, wondering what would happen. She stared deep into the airbender's eyes before her; she then let out a shaky breath.
"What is it, Katara?" Aang asked softly with a small frown, he slowly began to feel a bit worried.
"I-I well… the truth is… I lo-" Katara was cut off by the annoying Sokka.
"Hey lovebirds! Come quick, look what I found," Sokka whispered loudly as he emerged from some nearby trees. Katara held her breath and bit down on her tongue nervously.
"Okay, we'll be right there," Aang called before he gently turned to Katara with a small smile.
"You can tell me later, okay?" Aang said sweetly. Katara nodded quickly and nibbled her lip; somewhat relieved. Aang suddenly sped towards the forest over to where Sokka had run off to.
"Coming!" Aang called as the two boys disappeared into the forest. Katara sighed with relief and, soon after, followed the two. Katara could only catch little glimpses of Aang's red and yellow clothing as she followed. She was soon somewhat out of breath; she panted and pushed bushes and hanging vines out of the way as she attempted to catch up to Aang and her brother.
"A-Aang, wait up!" She called. She was running too fast to notice that Aang stopped to wait for her. She accidentally bumped into him. Aang chuckled softly and grabbed Katara's soft hand.
"Keep up," he said with a small, teasing smile as he began to run again, still holding Katara's hand. The two followed Sokka to who knows where when suddenly, they came to a clearing, along with a wide dirt road, in the middle of the huge forest. There, in the middle of the small path stood two beautiful black horses, one had a white mane, tail, and hooves, but the other one was all black. Katara gasped; eyes widening with joy.
"Horses she cried happily as she ran to the all black one. Aang smiled and glanced at Sokka with one raised eyebrow.
"We thought you were asleep," Aang said as he crossed his arms. He then chuckled softly as Sokka cocked his head and rolled his eyes.
"I was, but I'm not always sleeping," Sokka argued. Aang shrugged and walked over to Katara. She looked at him with an eager smile.
"Let's ride them," she said softly, yet excitedly.
"Let's not," Sokka mumbled as he leaned up against a tree.
"Aw, c'mon…fun sucker," Katara argued.
"No, they don't belong to us!" Sokka said firmly as he stepped closer to Katara.
"Then who do they belong to?" Aang asked as he opened his arms wide, gesturing to no one in the forest, "There's not one out her but us…" Aang said as he climbed onto one of the horses. Katara joined him and sat on the same horse he was on. She dangled her feet to one side of the horse with a small smile as the horse gently whinnied and shifted its hooves.
"C'mon, Sokka, let's just ride around, we have nothing important to do today…" Katara said with pleading eyes.
"We always have something to do…We're always running from Fire nation… what if we're caught on our so-called stroll?" Sokka air-quoted with his fingers.
"Will you just relax? You take all the fun out of running from Fire nation," Aang said as he crossed his arms.
"I'm not going on that thing," Sokka said as he pointed to the black horse with no one on it. Sokka suddenly noticed something on the horse's thigh. Sokka stepped closer to it, eyes scanning what it was.
"Aha!" Sokka said loudly as he pointed, "Just what I suspected…These are fire-navy horses, this horse has a fire nation symbol branded on it."
"Oh well, we'll ride them and bring them right back," Aang said, getting somewhat impatient; he tapped his fingers on the horses side.
"Uh, maybe this isn't such a good id-" Katara was cut off by the sound of angry people yelling and whatnot; not too far away. Katara looked to her right, down the long dirt road. There were five or six fire nation officials running at them. Katara gasped; eyes widening.
"Aang, look!" Katara said as she pointed. Aang turned around and gasped.
"Oh no," Aang said. He then turned towards Sokka.
"Sokka! Get on the h-" Aang quickly stopped what he was saying only to see that Sokka was long gone down the dirty road on the other horse.
"I didn't know he could get on a horse that fast," Katara chuckled.
"Hold on!" Aang said as he suddenly tapped his heels into the horse's side. The horse neighed loudly and suddenly and quickly lunged forward, catching Katara off-guard. She gasped and quickly threw her arms around Aang's waist. The horse galloped so fast, Katara wasn't even sure they were running. It was more as if they were flying. Katara slowly turned her head around and looked down the disappearing dirt road; the Fire nation officials yelled angry things and threw their arms in the air madly. They were soon out of sight down the dirt road, which ran straight through the middle of the forest.
Aang's horse soon slowed down to a gentle trot before walking. Katara let go of her tight grip around Aang and panted slightly. She hung her head before tucking some loose hair behind her ears.
"Hmm… guess we always are running from the Fire nation," Katara frowned.
"Yeah," Aang stifled a small chuckle, "So… What were you going to tell me, Katara?" Aang asked softly as he gently adjusted himself so that Katara was in his view. Katara's eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat suddenly. She didn't know for sure if she wanted to tell Aang that she loved him while on a horse of all things. She would much rather prefer sitting him down , sweetly revealing her hidden secrets to him, hoping he felt the same, maybe even sharing her very first kiss with him. But on the back of a horse? How awkward.
"Oh, um…uh, I-I'll tell you later okay?" Katara said softly and somewhat nervously.
"Is it something bad? Is everything all right?" Aang worried as he half-turned around. Katara quickly shook her head.
"No, everything's fine, I-I'll tell you later, " Katara smiled gently before looking down and twiddling her fingers somewhat.
"All right," Aang agreed. Aang looked up from his gaze on the horses back to see Sokka stopped at the brink of a little stream, so his horse could drink. Aang's horse followed the other horse's idea and drank also. The three got off of the horses when suddenly, Aang noticed something around the horse's neck. It was a leathery rope with a name engraved on it. It said 'Jada.' Aang instantly smiled.
"This horse's name is Jada," Aang commented. He then walked over to the other horse, the horse Sokka was just on. It had the same leathery rope around its neck, except engraved in the rope was the name 'Shiloh.'
"And this horse's name is Shiloh," Aang said happily.
"Cool," Katara smiled.
"Amazing," Sokka said plainly in an 'I'm bored' tone.
"I say we steer off into the forest instead of following this trail. The Fire nation officials are following this road…We don't want them following us," Katara said.
"Well then, we better leave the horses here," Sokka said softly; he then suddenly dreaded saying that.
"No, we can't leave the horses," Katara complained softly. She frowned and stared at the majestic creatures.
"Sure we can. Look, it's simple," Sokka said sarcastically as he started walking away.
"Sokka," Katara complained as she crossed her arms. "You're so-"
"There they are!" cried a voice down the road. The three turned around to see about eight or nine Fire nation guards on horses charging towards them.
"Uh-oh…" Sokka mumbled.
A/N: Goodness, I'm tired… Chapter seven will be up soon. Please R&R! No flames.
- Katara -
Mohalo ;)