Hello everyone! It's been a very long time since I last wrote and published fanfic and I'm also not a native speaker, so any feedback is more than welcome! If I find the motivation to keep writing (haha :), this story will be multi-chaptered and cover the time period between the Kataang kiss on the DoBS and the finale. It seems to me that 95% of Kataangers trace Katara's confusion in regards to her feelings for Aang back to a deep and profound fear of losing him. I've never been a particular fan of this theory as I believe that her confusion is simply that: confusion. So while this story might not comprise of a very detailed plot, it will explore both Katara's and Aang's perspectives during the above mentioned time frame. I hope you enjoy my take on this and I'd be happy to hear your opinion on the issue :)

Katara knew that Aang was waiting for her.

He was waiting for her to say something, do something, to walk up to him and show some kind of reaction to his kiss. Well, their kiss. Because after all, she had kissed him back on the Day of Black Sun. Now, in the long aftermath of this kiss, she was only too well aware that something between them had changed and that there was a need to address the subject sooner or later. However, Katara was hoping that this would happen rather later than sooner, as she had no idea of what she could tell Aang. She sensed that he was waiting for just any kind of reaction to his kiss! But so far, she had pretty much been acting as if nothing had happened at all...

Katara sighed and closed her eyes. She felt bad. She probably wasn't being entirely fair to Aang about the whole matter, leaving him hanging in the air like that (haha!, she thought sourly). But wasn't it better to postpone a conversation until she was certain about whether she returned his feelings or not? Otherwise, she would either have to reject him, at least for now... And she just couldn't imagine doing that, having to break his heart (especially mere weeks before the most important battle of his life! Plus, what if she would change her mind later if she found out that maybe after all she did have feelings for him? That would be awkward, and maybe by then it would also be too late, maybe he would already have found someone else that he liked…). It was either that, or she would have to tell him that she couldn't disentangle the wild jungle that were her feelings and that they should just keep things the way they were (or at least, had been). And that would be awkward in itself, and, admittedly, nothing she could imagine doing at the moment. There were simply much more important matters at hand, such as her friends' parents as well as her own father being imprisoned who knows where. See, whenever she was trying to figure out her feelings toward Aang, thoughts of the Day of Black Sun and the upcoming Comet were clouding her mind. And whenever she was respectively trying to keep a cool head amidst the disappointment about the failed invasion and all the constant worrying about the near future, thoughts about Aang would pop up. Which really didn't help staying focused on their task ahead. This was just no time for romance, now was it! See, she was doing it again, just in this very moment! Spending way too much time thinking about matters of the heart. She wanted to and would, of course, be there for him if he needed support and comfort. She just didn't want to be alone with him in a situation like that out of fear that he would bring up the kiss…

Frustrated because again, she hadn't really solved anything, Katara got up from the fountain's stone railing she had been sitting on and where she had absent-mindedly and pointlessly been bending the water back and forth. It would be time to get started on dinner soon anyways and she wanted to get at least a few minutes of water bending practice in before that in the hope that it would ease her headache. For now, she just couldn't bring herself to do anything other than avoid being alone with Aang at all costs the way she had been doing ever since they had reached the Western Air Temple. Her resolve was clear: she simply had to buy herself more time.

Aang sighed, frustrated as well, although for different reasons. Zuko and he were taking a short break before getting started on their last exercise for the day (at least he hoped so; sometimes Zuko ended up making him do push-ups after dinner… duh!) and he was giving himself a quick rinse to get rid of the sweat on his forehead. He splashed some water into his face, although admittedly, he would have liked to plunge his entire head into the well. Which, after a brief moment of hesitation, he did. He reemerged seconds later, shaking off the water. This isn't helping, he thought to himself. He had hoped to clear his head from thoughts about Katara for at least a few minutes, especially because the training session hadn't really done the job today. His progress in fire bending was mediocre thus far and Zuko had already been rather irritated with him all day. Which wasn't really a big surprise considering his current state of affairs with Katara, now was it?
Dinner was going to be ready soon and he would, again, be near her and yet so far away... She would pass him his dinner bowl, maybe their hands would touch briefly, and he would try to hold her gaze while she would avert her eyes and go on to the next person awaiting their bowl of steaming rice. Perhaps she would sit down next to him, not too far away so that it would seem weird, but also not as close as she used to do before... before, well, the kiss. He felt like ever since then, things between them had been just terribly awkward and it was certainly nothing he enjoyed.

On the day of the invasion, when he had returned from his failed attempt at finding Firelord Ozai on the palace grounds, he had already spotted her from afar. She had been kneeling down on the battle field together with Sokka, Toph and Hakoda, but was the first to get up because she had spotted him as well. When he had landed and told them about Ozai's apparent knowledge of their planned attack, he had felt her eyes on him, and they had felt heavy and profound. Although it was just mere minutes during which they discussed a new plan together, he subtly felt that something between Katara and him had changed and that there was now something between her and him only, something wonderful and promising and worth to fight the Firelord today and come back to for. As much as he had to stay focused on his task, in the very back of his mind he was already looking forward to reuniting with his favorite waterbender later because he assumed that then they would have time to fall into each other's arms and confess their feelings and maybe even kiss again… However, the entire invasion had been nothing but a failure, leaving him to feel like the greatest failure in the universe himself. He almost couldn't bring himself to face the people who had fought beside him, the people who were forced to surrender as he and his friends, those people's children, would take off on Appa and leave them behind. He couldn't hold back his tears, the shame was too devasting. And there she was, just like she always did: he sensed when she knelt down beside him, put her hand on his shoulder, trying to reassure him, to show him he was not alone, that she understood. His shame was so great he couldn't look at her at first, but when she leaned down closer to him and made him look at her, he saw, amidst her exhaustion, a comforting smile which seemed to be reserved for him and for him only... She was trying to silently comfort him, to give him a gentle little push in the right direction, to tell him, nonverbally: It's okay. Don't blame yourself. It is not your fault. You can do this. Just get up and talk to them. Which he then did.

This moment of silent communication between the two of them, brief as it had been, had felt like an extension of what was already there in terms of their close friendship, and their kiss earlier that day like the beginning of what had now shifted to something more than platonic. On the way to the Western Air Temple, Aang had assumed that they were now dating - or at least would probably start dating as soon as they found a private moment to talk. He had imagined how he would gather his courage (as he had already done on that submarine, so at least he knew it was possible!) and walk up to her and ask her if they could talk, or maybe she would walk up to him, and he would gladly and now verbally confess to her the feelings he had been harboring for so long... and she would maybe blush and then coyly tell him that she wanted to be with him, too, which she would say in such an adorable manner that he couldn't do anything other than take her hands and intertwine their fingers and lean in to her and...

But none of that had happened. Instead, he was starting to think that maybe she was avoiding him. His stomach sank at the thought of that. In the beginning, he had just waited for an opportunity to talk to her privately, but when none came up, he started to actively make attempts whenever their friends were busy doing something else. He had also given her perfect opportunities to come up to him if she wanted to. But somehow she always found an excuse, be it a sudden fatigue which urged her to go to sleep or a need to collect herbs for a specific meal. It was starting to get ridiculous. His eyes had searched hers in hopeful anticipation at first, but when they did not find what they were looking for, or when they couldn't hold onto it as it was fleeting and evasive, they had gradually grown more and more disillusioned. It was also starting to dawn on him that maybe her apparent avoidance wasn't due to nervousness or shyness on her part. With each day that passed, his hopes grew smaller and smaller and he started to question his confidence. Maybe she didn't actually feel the same way? Maybe he shouldn't have been so sure about the kiss being the gateway to reciprocated romance? Maybe she just didn't want to break his heart and instead decided to say nothing rather than reject him directly? When he now lay awake at night, not being able to find sleep, the voices grew louder and louder. Did she even like the kiss? Does she feel uncomfortable around me? Did I ruin our friendship by making things this awkward between us?

Katara's thoughts kept drifting off and her movements started to become less gentle as she gradually lost focus on her waterbending practice. Deciding that she had run out of concentration for the day, she slowly let the water trickle back down into the fountain and stretched her arms and back. Once she started walking in the direction of their base camp, she noticed her friends' chatter and laughter as they were toying around the hidden places of the temple. Sometimes she wanted nothing more than to talk to someone about the whole thing that was going on between Aang and her behind the scenes. To receive some advice, maybe from Suki, who was one of her girlfriends after all and had at least some level of relationship experience. But at the same time, Katara wanted to respect the Airbender's privacy and not reveal his feelings for her behind his back, sensing that it wouldn't be fair to him. After all, she didn't know Suki that well… Would she keep to herself or maybe spill some of it to Sokka? Ugh, Katara pulled a grimace at the notion of her brother getting involved in the matter. She certainly didn't need him to know anything about her love life! Maybe if she could talk to someone who didn't know Aang… She sighed. That was probably one of the downsides of having a close-knit friend group, although she certainly couldn't complain. But there was more to it. She feared that if she told anyone in their friend group, it would raise expectations. That it would make people believe that Aang and her would, eventually, get together. And she wasn't sure that that was what she needed.

As she walked back to camp to get started on dinner, she passed Aang and Zuko who seemed to be wrapping up their practice for the day. She could only see the Airbender's back as he was listening to Zuko explaining something about timing one's breathing with the exertion of a fire fist punch. As she passed them, Zuko's eyes briefly flickered over to her, acknowledging her presence, although he kept talking and quickly redirected his eyes to his eager pupil. She remembered the moment when Zuko had expressed his desire to join their group not too long ago and Aang had asked Sokka, Toph and her of their individual approval. When his grey eyes had turned to her as the last and toughest nut to crack, it had been easy for her to detect all the respect he harbored for her, the way he cherished her and her opinion. Had he considered her his girlfriend in that moment? The thought made her shiver involuntarily.

She kept on walking, hoping that Aang wouldn't notice her, but of course he had seen Zuko glance over his shoulder and thus turned his head to see what it was that his teacher had spotted. His eyes widened briefly when he saw Katara, but he didn't shoot her a smile, his face remaining expressionless instead. He simply said, "Hey, Katara," and then, after she had returned the greeting, turned back toward his teacher. Instead of resuming her way in the direction of the camp, Katara took a detour to Appa who was dozing in the shade near the fountain. Once she was out of her friends' sight, she released a deep breath, noticing only now how tense she had become when she had seen Aang. She couldn't ignore the look of resignation on his face. Had there also been a trace of contempt, or had she just been imagining things? Compared to the first few days after their kiss, when he had appeared hopeful, brave, maybe even happy to look at her, she now saw more than ever the hurt and confusion in his eyes. He just wants to know what's going on inside your head, Katara! He wants to know why you reciprocated the kiss, and what you feel for him, she thought to herself. But then why wouldn't he just come up to her and ask her about it?, she wondered in a moment of brief irritation. After all, he was the one who had started this! Well, that's not really what you want either, remember, Katara? You're trying to avoid the subject! And quit pretending, you need to be fair to him… he has tried to talk to you several times already! He must be pretty disheartened by now… She sighed again and allowed herself to hide her face in the comforting fur of her giant bison friend.