When I got up in the morning, my hands where once more bathed in deep crimson liquid that I found them in every morning. How many rabbits or other innocent animals died this time? I thought. I rolled out of my sleeping bag and hurried down to the river as the sun started to rise.
I was just about to dip my hands in the river to rid them of the evidence of the burden I bore, when none other should appear, than Aang. "Hey Katara!" He said cheerily when he saw me. I had no time to inconspicuously dunk my hands in the water, and no pockets to shove them in, so I quickly clasped them behind my back. "Hey Aang, what are you doing up so early?" I asked as friendly as I could.
"Oh, you know, sometimes I like to get up early to meditate and waterbend a little."
"Oh," was all I could manage as a reply.
My brain was working furiously to find a way to get rid of Aang, without being rude, and without showing him my hands and without looking like I was hiding something. This was proving to be a challenge, and on top of everything, my nose begun to itch, and I felt a sneeze coming on. "So Aang, how's firebending going?" I asked in an effort to distract him and myself from my sneeze.
"Well, Zuko's saying that-" he began, but at that point I couldn't hold in my sneeze any longer, and out of habit as I knew I would, I lifted my hands to my nose when I sneezed. SO CLOSE!
And of course, my plan of distracting Aang by getting him to talk about firebeding was thwarted because that boy doesn't miss a beat. "KATARA! Oh my god! What happened to your hands?" He yelled.
"Nothing, nothing, why what would be wrong with my hands?" I stuttered, trying once again to hide them behind my back. He grabbed them and began to inspect them, as carefully as he could, while I tried to pull away.
"Katara, that's a lot of blood," he said quietly, "but I don't see any cuts anywhere on your hands." Wow he really doesn't miss anything. I thought, Why can't he just be ignorant just this once?
"Listen Aang, this… this blood," I stuttered my stomach fluttering, not sure where to begin, "I…. I…"
"Katara, you can trust me, tell me why you have all this blood on your hands, I don't want to see you hurt." He said.
Tears began to prick my eyes, "This happens every morning!" I exclaimed, no longer able to control myself.
"Do you know why?" He calmly prompted.
"Yes! Its because every night I go into the woods and bloodbend! Every night I end up killing harmless little bunnies and whatever other animal happens across my path!" At this point I was slumped over onto Aang's shoulder, the tears flowing more and more every second. Aang's expression was almost unreadable, but you could tell there was slight disgust on his face, but what worried me most, was the fear that was in his eyes. His eyes always did betray him.
"Katara, why would you do this? I thought you said you where never going to use this power!"
"I know! I know!" I sobbed, "But the thing is, Toph said I'm still asleep when its happening! I don't know what it is, but there's something inside me or controlling me or something to do this! I need to know! I can't keep doing this Aang! I can't!" "Katara, it's ok. It's ok." He began to stroke my hair as my sobs began to dissipate into mere choking and hiccupping.
I looked at him through my tears and asked, "So, you don't hate me?" "Katara, why would I hate you? I would never hate you! I love you." Aang exclaimed. I looked up into his eyes, that betrayed his every true emotion, and I saw the most caring and truthful stare I had ever seen. In answer, I said nothing, just lay my head back on his chest, and squeezed him as tight as I could. "I love you too," I whispered, and as I did, I realized I truly meant it. I truly and entirely meant it. And in return, Aang squeezed me just as tight. Nothing more needed to be said, just that hug was enough. It said all of the unspoken words that over all this time we never had the courage to say.
The warm embrace slowly turned into a kiss, and by the time we broke away we were both breathing heavily and were aware that the sun was well over the horizon. I looked down, and there was still blood on my hands, a reminder of the outside world. For just a few minutes, nothing had existed it was just me and Aang in a blissful peace. But now we realized as we looked down at my hands what we had to do. Aang cleared his throat as I bended the water from the stream onto my hands to rid them of the now dried blood.
"Listen, Aang, about the bloodbending at night…" I trailed off.
"Don't tell Sokka?" He guessed.
"Ya, I'm just not sure what he'll say, and…" I trailed off again. "Listen," I started, "Aang I really do love you, but maybe with this whole bloodbending issue, it would be best if… Well I mean, we don't know why I'm doing this so I could end up hurting you and…" I started to babble, but was cut off by Aang.
"Katara, I care too much about you, I love you, and we're in this together."
"Ok. But if there is any chance of you getting hurt, you have to promise me that you'll let me do whatever is necessary to protect you?"
"Katara-" He began to protest.
"Promise me Aang."
"I promise," He finally said in defeat.
I let out a huge sigh and said, "Well, I guess I better go cook breakfast."
"Ya, we should probably walk back up to the Temple," he said. I gave him a quick peck on the lips and he grasped my now blood-free hands and we walked back up to camp.