Gyatso and Kara: Prodigies of an Avatar

Chapter 6- 15th Birthday

"Happy Birthday, you're 15!" Topaz shook Kara under her bed sheets. Hakoda rolled clear blue eyes and walked next to her. "Topaz," he put his hand on her shoulder. "Why don't you help Kyoshi with getting her gifts?" "Okay, Hakoda." She smiled the mischievous smile that she had inherited from her mother. "But you better not tell her anything, or steal my lines." "Alright, Topaz." Hakoda said smirking lightly.

He bent down to his granddaughter's ear and whispered. "Kara, you need to wake up." He heard a grumble and she turned the other way. "You don't want to keep your guests waiting, would you?" He stood up. "What guests?" she wiping some drool off of her mouth. "Well, Kyoshi and Topaz are guests, and Gran-Gran, and Li." "Li?" she asked slightly surprised. Li wasn't a regular visitor to their house. He was one of Kara's first friends since she had come to live in the South Pole. "Yes, Li" Great, she thought sitting up. Her brown hair was oddly shaggy this morning. "Is she up?" she heard Kyoshi ask walking into her room. "Hi, guys!" Before Kara could say another word, she was awarded two huge hugs. "Happy Birthday, Airhead!" Topaz squeezed her even tighter. "I can't get air!" Kara screamed when Kyoshi mimicked her. "Sorry, Kara. We just can't help it."

The Boys

Gyatso's blue eyes opened as freezing water splashed him.

"Rika! What was that for?"

He turned to his friend laughing.

"Your birthday," she replied simply pulling her honey colored hair behind her ear. "You know Rika, for a 13 year old, you're pretty crafty."

"Thank you for that, my friend." She said laying her head on his arm.

She looked at the sun in front of them, heart pounding. "I remember the sun came out when we first became friends."

"Yeah," Gyatso looked down.

He remembered. He remembered the scream, the terror. He remembered. Rika's mother had died in his eleventh birthday. She had a heart attack, and died a long and painful death. He and Iroh had come to the rescue. The boys played with her at lunch time in the middle of training, and history (all they learned was history, math, warrior skills, training, and English). The three had clicked.

"So, Rika, why are we here?"

He had no idea they were planning a surprise party for them.

"That's between me, Iroh, and Master Pakku." She shoved him lightly on the arm.

"Will I ever find out?"

"Maybe, maybe not"

The Girls

Kara tugged on the sleeves on her light blue parka that oddly resembled her mother's. She looked at herself and frowned. I wonder what Gyatso's doing right now, she thought pulling her two strands of hair that is clipped to each others matching clip. It had been five years since she had seen her brother. It had been five long years of war. It hurt not to get his happy greeting in the morning. Not to hear him yell, "Kara don't do that!" when she wanted to go on as a volunteer at the Fire Days Festival for the magician because he knew she would be scared. She missed Iroh's silly comments, and quick thinking on his feet. She even missed little Roku running to her and sitting on her lap.

Hot moisture fell down her cheek as she blinked. She quickly swiped her hand across the tear and re-composed herself. She had to stop thinking about them; she had to stop hoping to see them again. Oh, how she wanted to see how they looked, how they developed, how they changed. Was Iroh still her naïve friend?

She was aching to know.

The Boys

"So what you're saying is that you think Iroh will ask me out?" Rika looked at Gyatso in disbelief.

"What about the age difference?" Gyatso shrugged and smiled.

"Well, he's bound to do it if you keep drooling at him. I mean, he'll pity date you."

He got a hard shove.

"Ouch!"

"That's what you get Gyatso . . . and I won't get a pity date." Just as Gyatso was about to make another smart comment Iroh and Master Pakku ran up to them.

"Gyatso, Rika." Master Pakku greeted them formally, kind of rolling his eyes at Rika.

They had never really gotten along. Master Pakku thought that Gyatso's training was far more important than talking to a 13 year old girl. It wasn't that Rika was childish; it was that she didn't understand the importance of Gyatso in the war of all nations.

Yes, they called it the war of all nations. Even though most of the Fire Nation called it the war of Azula. Almost every nation had a handful of people fighting with Azula; every nation that is, except for the Water Tribe. They absolutely did not want to be a part of the war.

"Hey, Gramps." She sighed saying "Gramps" under her breath.

"So," Iroh said scratching his hair. "Why don't we get inside?"

The Girls

Topaz leaned on Li's shoulder and sighed.

"What is taking that girl so long?" She converted her green eyes (which she had also gotten from Toph) to Li's left hand.

"Li, what's in your hand?" Topaz sat up and looked at her friend.

She hoped it wasn't anything for Kara that would be considered romantic. Kara didn't think of him as more than a good friend, and Kyoshi had a huge crush on him. She did not want any drama in the house.

"I'll get Kara." Kyoshi said getting up from her seat.

Kara walked into the large living room of the house. She felt suddenly cold when she saw her breath in the air. "Happy Birthday," she heard Li's voice by the couch made of ice. Her lips curved into a smile when she was awarded a group hug.

If only Gy- . . . She stopped herself from thinking of her older brother.

She felt the wet substance of tears developing in her eyes and blinked them back and lay her head against Li's (who was the closest body to her) shoulder.

After they had finished hugging and having the whole party, Li took her outside.

The two sat on the snow outside of the large igloo. Kara's grey eyes turned to Li curiously. "So, what's up, Li?"

She asked adjusting herself on the snow.

"Well, you know how we've been best friends ever since you came to the pole?"

"Yeah, what about that?"

"Have you ever thought of us as more than that?"

Kara blinked twice trying to understand (she did have a lot on her mind).

"What I'm really asking is . . . do you want to go out sometime?"

He glanced at her hopefully with his blue eyes.

"What!" She sighed falling softly on the snow.

She closed her eyes softly, and took a deep breath. "You know I can't do that."

"Why?" he said a bit saddened.

"You must be blind not to know that Kyoshi is totally in love with you, and if you really think about it, you love her back. I mean, you look at every girl, including me, the same way, except for Kyoshi. You look at her like she means something." She felt the weird tension between them, and sat up.

"Doesn't it seem really stupid for you not to ask her out?"

The Boys

Gyatso blew out the candle in the boys' room, and sighed. "Good night, guys." He said turning around in his bed. "Good night" Iroh and Roku replied. Gyatso scratched his dark brown hair and touched the curls in his hair that still didn't straiten up. He remembered hearing his mother talk about his father's hair doing that, and felt a pang of guilt. He had never thought of his family that day.

"Oh, my gosh, I forgot to tell Kara happy birthday." He had always said happy birthday to Kara in his head to feel closer to her. It had been so long since he had seen the girls. He wondered, was Topaz still secretly scared of Appa, did Kyoshi grow out of her counting, and did Kara think of them.

He closed his eyes and fell into a dreamless slumber.

So, that would have to be one of my most dissapointing chapters. I think I was just trying to introduce you to an older group. The kids have a clean record ( there are no players, pervs, skanks, and ect. . .) so there wont be any drama, too big ;-) I must tell you that there will be pairings of the main characters.

Everybody will like someone in the group. That means there will be no Rika/Gyatso or Rika/Iroh. Also, there will be no relative pairings! That is discusting.

God Bless, Leelee488512

P.S.- Whoever can correctly guess the pairings ( by PM) gets a dedicated Chapter!