Chapter Fourty

Airball

Mhmm…?" I blinked my eyes open, letting them focus. There is the distant sound of chirping, leaves rustling, and the steady dripping of water. The air is filled with the smell of flowers and other things that my mind didn't care to acknowledge. I felt…safe, right where I was laying. A small yawn drifted out of my slightly parted mouth, and I felt a gentle stirring underneath of me. I was unaware of where exactly I was, but as my eyes wandered, I realized that I was in the garden.

Judging by how the sun was almost above me, yet blocked almost completely by the overhang, I estimated that it was around noon. I moved slightly, listening to the steady thump underneath of me, closing my eyes.

I began to drift back into a slumber as I buried my head deeper, easily getting comfortable. An object was wrapped loosely around my shoulder, and I felt warm.

The said gentle stirring underneath of me shook slightly, "…Vinca?" the familiar voice murmured into my ear.

I jumped, my eyes flashing open as I scooted about two feet back, disoriented. I quickly rubbed my eyes, letting them adjust to the figure in front of me. There sat Aang, blinking against the faint sunlight, and resting his palms against the ground, propping himself up. A giant yawn engulfed him, and he ended it with another.

A faint smile played on his lips as he stretched, "Hey sleepyhead," He greeted with a chuckle.

I ran a pair of fingers through my hair, "How long was I asleep?"

He shrugged, seemingly content, "A few hours, I think."

A sudden realization hit me, and I stared at him with wide eyes, "Was I…asleep…on you?" I stammered, heat rising to my cheeks.

"Yeah," Upon seeing my blushing face, he quickly backtracked, "I-I mean, not exactly on me, just your head," He pointed to his upper chest, almost exactly where his heart is, "Right there," he gave a nervous, toothy smile.

I awkwardly cleared my throat, feeling downright embarrassed. Pulling my knees up to my chest, I apologized, "I'm sorry."

"It's alright. I was pretty tired too, so it's no big deal." Aang brushed it off breezily, laying back onto his back, making grass-angels.

A smile tugged at my lips as the blush started to cool off, "I'm not really a morning person." I admitted.

He laughed lightly, "I'm used to it. Neither is Sokka and Toph,"

I laughed with him, closing my eyes as a gentle wind circled around us.

His laughter soon died down, and he sat back into his original position, his gray eyes focusing on me, "So…uhm, how are you feeling?"

"Good, why?"

Aang lowered his eyes, his fingers picking at the grass under us, "Well…you were kind of…sad, earlier." He stammered.

I blinked, mildly confused. And then it hit me like a slap. I remembered remembering that night, the burning, the fire, the…everything, everything was so crystal clear, like it was happening all over again. "Why do you want him to join so badly, Vinca? His kind of people killed your grandmother, right? And burned you. What's the big idea with him, anyway?" My whole body tensed, and I felt myself plunging into the memories, the nightmares-

"Vinca? Vinca, don't…" Aang shook me, snapping me out of my trance. I flinched, my head whipping towards him, my hitched breathing softening. "It's okay. You're okay."

I swallowed, exhaling gently as I pushed away those thoughts. I shouldn't be remembering them. They're in the past. In the past. Its over. I mentally repeated, my fingers subconsciously drumming against the ground. "I'm sorry. About that, I mean." I apologized.

"No - I'm sorry." He countered, his gray eyes staring at me in worry. "You were remembering…that night, weren't you?"

I nodded,hugging knees up to my chest. "But why are you sorry? It's not like its your fault." I pointed out.

"Well, I'm the Avatar-"

"Just because you're the Avatar doesn't mean you can always take the blame for things like these," I interrupted softly, motioning towards my scars, "So don't be sorry."

Aang frowned, his brows coming together, "When you are remembering that night, it scares me. You go all tense and stuff, and its frightening." He paused, "If that night wouldn't have happened…"

"Then I wouldn't have met you." I finished, even though I'm sure that's not how he was going to finish it.

He sighed, but otherwise seemed to let the subject drop. There were a few seconds of silence before he finally spoke again. "Want to play a game?"

I raised an eyebrow, "What kind of game?"

"Follow me."

"Airball?" I repeated slowly, watching as Aang earthbended tall rock columns out of the flat ground. Some where taller than others.

He seemed satisfied with the amount of columns he had made and joined me on the ground. "Yup. It's tons of fun."

"How do you play?"

Aang raised his palms, making a raised square figure with a circle in the middle at each end. "Since we don't have wood columns or the wooden ball, we'll just have to use rock and a ball made out of actual air." He demonstrated the said action, "I'll stand on one end in front of the goal, and you'll stand by the other," He pointed, "One of us with start the game by kicking the airball forward. It's kind of tricky, but you'll get the hang of it." Aang grinned, a mischievous glint in his eyes, "The airball bounces off of the columns." I followed his finger, "and you have to get it into the hole to score."

"Sounds…complicated."

"It's actually kind of simple. It might take you a few tries to get it right, though. I'm a bit rusty myself." Aang grinned, "Do you understand?"

I nodded, "Yeah."

"Let's go!" He then gusted himself up onto the column right in front of the goal I was supposed to score on. I did the same action, taking my place at the goal across the field of columns. "Ready?"

I took a stance, "Ready!"

Sporting a goofy grin, he skillfully created a ball of air, twirling it around his fingers. He released it, and as it dropped, his foot swung forward. With a soft smack, the ball was hurtling away from him.

The ball bounced off of a rock, loosing some of its power before bouncing off yet another. I watched it as it neared, but it seemed to be gaining speed. And suddenly, the airball was racing towards me.

I inhaled quickly, bringing my foot up to meet the ball. I kicked it away, but lost my balance as I realized that the circumference of the column wasn't quite as large as I thought it was. As I found my footing, I heard an almost inaudible swoosh next to my ear and turned to see Aang celebrating. He had scored.

"Aang; one, Vinca; zero!" Aang crowed, doing a victory dance.

I narrowed my eyes, putting on my most menacing face, "Oh, it's on!" I yelled, smiling deviously as I created another airball and swung it his way.

"Who won?"

"I think I did."

"What? No!"

"You forfeited!"

"No I didn't! I just said that it was late -"

"And that you knew I would win!"

"Stop lying, I was winning from the beginning!"

"Actually, I believe I was the first one to score…"

"Rematch."

"You sure? Because I beat you pretty hard the last time…"

"You're asking for it!"

It was past dinner time when Aang and I returned, exhausted, from our airball match.

"I still think I won," I mumbled before Aang could say that he won, because he did, even though we lost count somewhere after thirty. I eventually got the hang of it, and it was a close game, but we both knew that Aang had won. I wasn't going to let up, though.

Aang wore a tired grin, but still seemed energetic, "I beg to differ."

I laughed lightly, "Fine, you won. You had years of practice, though."

He shrugged, nudging me, "Whatever makes you feel better!" He then proceeded to do yet another set of his silly victory dances.

Laughter escaped my lips and I rolled my eyes, walking ahead of him as we made our way into camp. He let out a startled squeak, hurriedly running to catch up. My eyes wandered to see my brother and my friends sitting around the fire, eating what appeared to be rice.

Katara let out a relieved sigh at the sight of us, "We were so worried! Where have you been?"

"Playing airball!" Aang replied enthusiastically, plopping down by the fire. I took a seat next to him and my brother.

Sokka let out a groan, "That game…is pain filled." He shuddered.

I took a bowl of rice that was handed to me by Haru, mouthing a 'thank you'. I then settled back, listening to today's events.

"And then he offered himself as prisoner. Can you believe that? Like we would want him as a prisoner!" Katara was explaining to Teo, who had apparently missed out. "So I waterbended at him and told him to leave. Ugh. He makes me so angry." I realized that they were talking about Zuko.

"So…Zuko's not joining our group?" I asked her, smiling weakly.

The waterbender made a face, "No."

I swallowed my mouthful of rice, "Oh." I said, not really up for an argument.

"I still think you all are crazy, Sugar Queen." Toph muttered from her spot across from me.

"And how are we all crazy, Toph?"

Toph smacked her fists against the ground, causing everyone to glance her way. "Because! You have a firebender, who can teach Aang, the Avatar firebending, and you're refusing him! He wasn't lying once when he was trying to convince you nutcases to let him join!"

Everyone was silent.

"He's not joining. And that's that." Katara finished, dropping her bowl of rice and stomping away.

Toph let out a frustrated screech before storming away in the other direction.

"Okay then." Sokka whistled nervously.

AN: Thank you for all your patience! I hope you liked this chapter, it was a bit short. But anyways, thank you guys for the reviews and adding me to your favorite's list, ect, ect. It really brightens my day when I get an email saying that so-and-so added me to there alert list. :)