Responsibilities
Katara lies awake some nights just listening to her airbender's soft breathing.
He had always seemed to strong; even when he had been twelve and she looked down to see stormy eyes of determination. His hands, even though they had been smaller than hers for a time, had always seemed so steady. She had barely ever seen them shake or falter.
She almost wishes she could have seen him defeat the past Fire Lord, to see him so strong and invincible. Because it's times like these, where the night is dead and quiet, that she worries to the point of obsessiveness.
She hears his heartbeat and it suddenly sounds so soft, so featherlike and breakable. Katara watches as his chest rises and falls, his ribs showing and tanned skin stark against the light pale of his winding tattoos.
This man, he still only seems like a boy to her at times. A boy who's small and fragile and who might become a casualty, even with all his courage and resolve.
His heartbeat is enveloped in the darkness and his breath is just a small breeze. He is nothing like the strong Avatar everyone believes him to constantly be. Katara sees him so vulnerable, so weak in his slumber and is so honored and frightened by it. Honored in how he loves and trusts her so much; scared with the power and pressure she has.
She has always put him back together when he cracks, when he had been unsure and afraid. She was there with her reassuring touch and words, doing more help than any of her healing waterbending sessions had. And now she lies next to him nightly, enveloping him in her lips and limbs and willingly loves him; she gets more than enough love in return.
Katara knows it will always be her duty to be with him, just like his duty is to protect and keep the world in harmony.
He is the most powerful being, but she is just as much so because of these moments. The moments where she'll take him in her arms and breathe life into him through her kisses, make him feel alive and young and able.
She hears her own heartbeat sometimes too when she begins thinking about everything they've been through. It's just as soft and fast as Aang's and that makes her smile.
Because if they're similar in at least this aspect and they've both made it this far, she knows they can keep going.
If they just keep breathing, if their hearts keep beating that unbreakable rhythm, Katara hopes they won't break.
So she listens to his inhale, exhale, and attempts to feel reassured.
AN: Yesh; love the sap.