Author's Note: Sorry it's been so long guys. I've been struggling with some personal issues lately. That's also the reason for the lack of updates with Avatar High. I have a plan for that story, but haven't been able to right it out because I just haven't been, well, inspired enough I guess. I promise I will eventually update that story though. I don't know when though because I am still dealing with some personal stuff. I hope you all understand and enjoy the second chapter of this story in the meantime. As always reviews are appreciated.
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar The Last Airbender.
Katara awoke to a delicious smell drifting into her room. She rolled out of her bed and shivered. She'd been gone from the South Pole for so long that she had forgotten how cold it was there. She slipped out of her nightgown and traded it out for her usual pants and tunic. After pulling on her boots, Katara walked out into the kitchen. There, her Gran Gran stood hunched over a pot that seemed to be the source of the smell that had woken her up. Her grandmother turned around, her eyes brightening when they landed on Katara.
"You're awake my little waterbender!"
"Good morning Gran Gran," Katara said smiling, "What are you making?"
"Oh this? This is just an old recipe I happened to remember from my days in the Northern Water Tribe. Would you like some?"
"Sure." Katara walked over to the pot and Kanna scooped a ladleful of what looked like porridge into a bowl.
"It looks a lot like porridge," Katara observed. Kanna chuckled.
"Just try it."
Katara scooped a spoonful into her mouth, letting the flavors wash over her. It tasted of honey and some other flavor Katara could not identify.
"This is delicious Gran Gran! What's in it?" she exclaimed once she'd swallowed.
"It's a secret," Kanna said smiling.
As the two ate, they chatted about various things that had occurred while the two were away from each other. Katara told her grandmother some of the gaang's best adventures and in return, Kanna told Katara about the re-building of the Southern Water Tribe. Then Katara asked grandmother how she and Pakku were doing.
"We are doing wonderful, and I think I owe part of that to you," Kanna said smiling.
"What? Why me?"
"You were the one that changed his attitude towards women," Kanna said chuckling, "Now he's not as much of a sexist pig-chicken." Both laughed at this. Then Kanna spoke again.
"How about you and Aang? I would love to hear about you two."
Katara blushed a little and started to twirl a loose lock of hair around her finger.
"Aang and I are doing great Gran."
"What is he like? I only know him as the almighty avatar, although he seems to be quite the gentleman."
"Oh, he is. He's so sweet and caring. He always put's my needs before his own even when he doesn't have too. He selfless and brave and would do anything for me as he has demonstrated through his actions multiple times. He's handsome and when he gets excited he gets this adorable sparkle in his eyes. He's always complimenting me even when I don't deserve it. He always knows exactly how to make me feel better when I'm feeling down and can cheer me up when no one else is. He's so brave and strong and smart…" Katara trailed off, caught up in her thoughts about Aang. Her grandmother cleared her throat after a few minutes and Katara snapped out of her thoughts.
"Oh! Uh, sorry Gran Gran. I guess I got, erm, distracted," Katara said, blushing. Her Gran Gran chuckled.
"It's quite alright dear."
"Um, Gran Gran?"
"Yes Katara?'
"Do you actually know where Aang is? He is usually up by now. Actually, he usually gets up around the same time I do."
"Yes, I actually do happen to know where he is. He woke up about ten minutes before you did and said something about going out to meditate," Kanna said.
"Ok. Thanks Gran Gran. I think I'm gonna go take him some breakfast."
"Well, go on then. I'm glad we've gotten to catch up like this."
"Me too Gran Gran," Katara said smiling. She gave her a grandmother a hug before pulling on her fur coat and grabbing a bowl of the porridge looking stuff her grandmother had made. Then, after thinking for a moment, she grabbed a blanket, just in case Aang was cold.
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Katara found Aang sitting up on Appa's head, his eyes closed and a serene expression on his face. He breathed in and out slowly, his chest rising and falling with each fresh breath of air. Katara smiled at his calm figure. Some people would get bored watching someone meditate, but Katara loved to watch Aang do it. There was just something so calming about it. She climbed up on Appa, and sat down beside him, careful not to disturb his meditation. She watched the steady rise and fall of his chest and tried to match her breathing with his. She then crossed her legs like he was doing and rested her hands on them. Taking a deep breath, Katara closed her eyes and tried to clear her mind as Aang had explained was done in meditation.
Sensing a presence beside him, Aang opened his eyes to see Katara in a meditation pose. He smiled softly and feeling his gaze, Katara opened her eyes back up and turned to look at him.
"Hey," he said softly.
"Hey," she said back, smiling. She then remembered the blanket and breakfast.
"Here," she said grabbing the bowl and spoon and handing it to him, "Gran Gran made breakfast. Also, I brought you a blanket in case you were cold." She draped the blanket around his shoulders and Aang smiled.
"How did I manage to get so lucky and have you as my girlfriend?"
Katara smiled, a rosy blush tinting her cheeks.
"How did I get so lucky and get to have you as my boyfriend?" she asked in return. Aang chuckled softly and pulled her towards him so that they were both under the blanket's warmth.
"How about we just say we are both very lucky people to have found each other?" he said to her, his breath tickling her ear.
"Deal," Katara said giggling. Aang wrapped both of his arms around her planted a kiss on her head. Katara smiled and snuggled up against him.
"I love you Aang," she whispered.
"I love you too Katara."
Katara angled her head to kiss him, but right before their lips could connect, a snowball hit Aang. Aang looked around in shock. His expression was just so priceless, that Katara couldn't help but laugh. Aang's eyes finally landed on a group of giggling young kids.
"Who threw that?" he asked, jumping down from Appa. The two boys who stood at the front of the group both pointed at each other.
"Well, you should know never to throw a snowball at the avatar and his master waterbender girlfriend," Aang said smirking. He then waterbended some snow at the two boys. All the other kids laughed as the boys got covered in snow. One of the two boys shook off the snow and grinned.
"SNOWBALL FIGHT!" he yelled. All the others ran to take cover, giggling and squealing all the way.
"Katara, come down here! I need back-up!" Aang called up Katara as snowballs started to bombard him. Katara giggled at the sight of the almighty avatar getting pelted with snowballs. She decided to come to her boyfriends aid and jumped down to help him out.
"Thanks sweetie," Aang said to her, sporting that goofy grin of his that Katara loved so much. Katara grinned back at him.
"Why don't we show these kids just how good two master waterbenders are in a snowball fight?"
Aang's grin grew even wider.
The two rushed out to where the kids were taking refuge, bending snow and every direction. Squeals came from the kids as they tried to escape. Soon everyone was laughing and covered in snow. Then, as Katara and Aang were running from some of the kids, laughing and smiling, Katara slipped. She fell into Aang and both of them tumbled down to the ground. Katara landed on top of him and all the other kids laughed, but Katara just stared quietly into Aang's eyes, suddenly caught up in her own little world. Aang grinned at her, his bright eyes sparkling with warmth. Katara couldn't help but close the remaining distance between their lips and kiss him. The kids went silent. Aang closed his eyes, kissing her back. One of his hands tangled itself in her hair, the other wrapped around her waist. The warmth from each of their bodies was more than enough to protect them from the coldness of the snow. When they pulled back, Katara rested her forehead against Aang's. She was smiling.
"Hi," she murmured softly.
"Hi," he murmured back, a happy smile covering his face. They stared happily into each other's eyes, losing track of time as they got caught up in the love they felt for each other.
"Hey lovebirds. I don't mean to interrupt you kissie-face fest or anything, but Pakku is looking for Katara."
Katara and Aang looked up to find an annoyed looking Sokka. Around him, the little kids giggled. Katara got up off of Aang, brushing off some snow that had collected on her fur parka. Aang airbended himself up and followed in suit by brushing the snow of his own parka (which had been given to him upon his arrival). They said goodbye to the young children who had already started a new game, then, Sokka led Katara and Aang to a big igloo. Katara pushed the curtain that hung over the entrance and Aang went to follow, but was stopped by Sokka.
"Nuh uh loverboy. You're coming with me. The last thing Pakku needs is his guest waterbending teacher to be distracted by her boyfriend," Sokka said, waggling a finger in front of Aang's face.
"What are we doing then?" Aang asked as Sokka led him away from the igloo where Pakku and his students were.
"Well, since Suki is helping Gran Gran out with some stuff around the house, my dad and I figured that you, me, and him could all have some man to man time."
"Oh, okay," Aang said.
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Katara's eyes grew wide as she walked through the curtain and stepped into the large igloo. Inside, students gathered around an ice platform with fountains full of water at each end. On the platform, two students sparred as Pakku oversaw them, giving out directions and advice every few minutes.
"Kaito! Don't try and go against the water! Flow with the water. That is the very concept of waterbending. If you do not understand that, you will never be a true master," he called out to one of the two sparring students, a boy that looked around ten or eleven and had ruffled dark brown hair. A boy the crowd snickered and Pakku gave him an icy glare.
"Don't you laugh Ikei. You were doing the very same thing when you were sparring with Miki earlier," Pakku told him, motioning to a girl who looked around thirteen and had long black hair. The girl called Miki gave Ikei a smirk and Ikei scowled. Then Pakku noticed Katara standing at the entrance.
"Ah. There you are. Come on over," he said, motioning for her to join him where he stood on the platform, "Kaito, Anana, please sit down." The boy and girl who had been sparring bowed to him and walked off the platform to join their fellow students.
"Class, today we have a very special guest. How many of you know about Master Katara?"
Everyone raised their hands.
"That's what I thought. Now can someone name some of her accomplishments?"
Several students once again raised their hands.
"Arrluk?" Pakku said, calling on one of his students.
"She taught the avatar most of his waterbending," the boy who had been called on stated.
"That's correct. What else? Nukka? What about you?"
"She fought that crazy Fire Nation princess, didn't she?" a girl with dark brown hair pulled up into a bun said.
"Yes. She did fight Princess Azula and defeated her. What about you Sisi? What is another one of Master Katara's accomplishments?"
A bored looking girl looked up from where she'd been talking to her friends.
"Well, she's dating the avatar, isn't she? I'd say that's an accomplishment."
Sisi's friends giggled, and Sisi smirked. Pakku sighed in exasperation and rubbed his temples.
"Must you face every situation with such sarcasm Sisi?" he said, obviously irked by her behavior.
Before Sisi could answer though, Pakku motioned for Katara to step forward.
"As many of you know, Master Katara and her brother, Sokka, are here visiting home. Avatar Aang and Sokka's girlfriend, Suki, are here as well, so if you see them, be sure to treat them with respect," he told them, looking especially at Sisi during the respect part. He then continued.
"Master Katara has agreed to come in and help out with some of my classes. I expect all of you to treat her with as much respect as you do for me, if not more."
"Yes Master Pakku," the students chorused.
"Now, Katara, would you perhaps like to give a demonstration to the students?"
"Sure," Katara said smiling. Pakku stepped off the platform to allow Katara as much room as she needed. Katara closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She focused on the water all around her. The snowy ground, the ice platform, the water in the fountains. She took it all in. Then, in one fluid motion, she opened her eyes and pulled the water out of one of the fountains towards her. The water obeyed, smoothly flowing through the air in the direction her hand commanded it to go. She then brought out another stream of water from the second fountain. The two streams of water seemed to dance together as Katara moved her hands in a series of complex motions. They then combined into one larger blob of liquid. Katara manipulated the larger stream, making it rise up then dive back down and swirl around her. She pulled more water out of the fountains to join what she already had and brought it around her in a whirlpool. She manipulated the large whirlpool so that it lifted her up into the air. The students oohed and awed as she did so. Katara then dissolved the whirlpool, and split the water into two separate streams, each going in one fountain without making a splash. Everyone began to clap as she finished her impromptu performance. Katara smiled. Pakku came up and patted her on the back.
"That was really good," her old master said, a proud smile on his face.
"Thanks," Katara said.
As the clapping died down, Pakku spoke to his students.
"I am glad to see you all are impressed by Master Katara and hope you look forward to having her here as much as I do. Okay, that is all we have for today. Don't forget to practice what we learned!"
The students all filed out of the igloo, their voices all mixing as they talked to each other. Pakku then turned back to Katara.
"That was my ten through thirteen year old class," he explained, "I think you'd find this class the most interesting to teach, since they already have some knowledge from their early days of waterbending, but still have a lot to learn."
"Thank you for inviting me Master Pakku. It'll be an honor helping you teach one of your classes," Katara said.
Pakku chuckled.
"The honor is all mine dear. I'm just glad to have a set of extra hands to help me out. My students can get pretty rowdy sometimes."
Katara laughed.
"So how many classes do you teach?" she then asked.
"I teach three main groups. The youngest group is mainly five through nine year olds. Then there is the ten through thirteen year old class as I said before. My last class is fourteen and up."
"And all the waterbenders were brought down from the North Pole?"
"Yes. We want to reestablish waterbending here in the South Pole, and since there are no other waterbenders besides you in the Southern Water Tribe, and you are traveling with the Avatar and your friends most of the time, we brought some down. And it's not like we can rely on you to completely repopulate the tribe with waterbender babies."
Intimate thoughts about Aang flooded into her head at the mention of babies, and Katara blushed.
"Yeah," she mumbled distractedly.
"Well, I better let you go. My next class is starting soon. I suppose I will see you at dinner?" Pakku said.
"Um, yeah. I'll see you then," Katara bowed, "Goodbye Master Pakku."
She hurried out of the igloo, running into a boy a few years older then her on the way out.
"Watch it," the boy growled at her. He had dark brown hair that was almost black. It was pulled back into a ponytail. His eyes were dark blue, almost indigo, like they were filled with the shadows. He had an unsettling demeanor about him, like that of an ocean right before a storm. It made Katara nervous.
"C'mon Yakone. Let's go," another boy called over.
"Coming Kassuq," the boy with the dark eyes grunted. He gave Katara one last look of contempt before stalking off after his friend.
Katara let out a breath she hadn't even been aware she was holding. There was something off about that boy called Yakone. She could not quite place her finger on it, but there was something evil lurking behind those dark eyes of his. "I'll ask Pakku about him later," she muttered to herself before walking off.
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"Yakone?" Pakku said as everyone ate dinner, "Yes, he is one of my students. Quite the waterbender too. His dad is actually part of the new council we have set up. Why do you ask?"
"Oh, I just ran into him outside the waterbending center. There was something weird about him. I couldn't tell what, but something was off."
"Hmm," Pakku said, "Well, he does have the tendency to come off as menacing, but I've never had any problems with him."
"Okay. I was just wondering."
After dinner, Katara helped her Gran Gran clean the kitchen then she headed to her room. As she sat on her bed, she thought about what Pakku had said earlier. Not about Yakone, but about repopulation. He had said she could not repopulate an entire population of southern waterbenders, and Katara knew that, but after he said that, she thought of the Air Nation and how its entire existence hung by a thread. She knew Aang still grieved about that from time to time. She wanted the airbenders back for him, but how on earth was she supposed to repopulate an entire nation? Before she could think any more about it, a knock sounded on her door. She called for whoever had knocked to come in, and the very person she'd been thinking of walked into her room.
"Hey Katara," Aang said coming over and sitting down on the edge of her bed.
"Hey Aang," she said softly. Aang frowned.
"Is something wrong Katara?" he asked her, his voice filled with concern.
"I was just thinking," Katara said.
"About what?"
"The Air Nomads."
Aang fell silent. Then, he let out a small, "Oh."
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up," Katara said once she saw his face.
"No, no. It's fine. So, what about them exactly were you thinking?"
"How on earth I'm will be able to repopulate an entire nation."
Aang blushed at the mention of repopulation. He tried to fight off the sensual images threatening to invade his mind, and spoke.
"Katara, I don't expect you to be some baby-making machine! I don't expect you to repopulate the entire Air Nation, and I never have!"
"Well, you could get a-"
"Katara, I am not getting a harem!"
"But Aang! You need to bring back the Air Nomads!"
"No Katara. No. I don't care about that anymore. I mean, yeah, I love them and wish they were still here, but I also love you Katara. Do you remember when I went to visit that guru?"
Katara nodded.
"And you remember how I told you about chakras?"
Katara once again nodded.
"Well," Aang continued, "The Air Chakra is blocked by grief and opened by love. When I opened my Air Chakra, I saw the entire Air Nomad population before me. Then they began to disappear one by one into a puff of smoke. This smoke floated up into the air and formed your face. Guru Pathik told me love never truly leaves, but is simply reborn."
Aang took Katara's hands in his own.
"Katara," he said looking deep into her eyes, "You are an entire nation to me."
Katara felt tears fill her eyes, and one of Aang's hands reached to brush them away. He then pulled her into a loving and gentle kiss. When he pulled back, Katara spoke.
"I'll still try to have airbender babies," she said.
"I don't care if they are airbenders, waterbenders, or nonbenders as long as I get to have them with you," Aang said chuckling.
"Really?" Katara asked.
"Of course Katara. I love you and could not imagine starting a family with anyone else."
Oh Aang," Katara said. She pulled him into another kiss which Aang gladly returned.
Extra Author's Note: Hope you are liking this story so far as well. I hope for my inspiration for Avatar High to come back soon. When it does, I'll be sure to write and update that story. Once again, I know what I'm doing next, I just don't have the inspiration to write it yet. In the mean time, I hope you are enjoying this story. If you have friends who would like it, please spread the word. I'd like to try and get this one just as popular Avatar High and The Hidden Enemy. Anyways, as always, please, please review!