This is probably my longest chapter. As always thank you for the reviews, I'm always happy to hear what you guys think of the story.
After the Avatar and his furry companions had stayed in Omashu for a week already, the three of them were flying towards Kyoshi Island. He was grateful for the time he got to spend with King Bumi. It was almost like the old days before he went into the ice 100 years ago. The two would spar, pull pranks, and wined and dined.
Sokka had suggested that they meet up there since it had been a while since they had seen each other. He had promised to make sure that Katara and Zuko wouldn't know anything about their meeting. The water tribe warrior would tell them that they were going to Kyoshi Island to meet up with the rest of the Kyoshi warriors since Suki hadn't seen them in a while. Toph would say that she was going back to Gaoling to see her parents and would use the same ship that Sokka and Suki would use. Katara and Zuko wouldn't know about the true purpose of their trips.
The island was in full view and Aang couldn't be any more excited to see his friends again after so many months. He was especially glad that he wouldn't have to worry about meeting Katara and Zuko, he still wasn't ready to see them again. Although the air bender felt guilty for feeling that way. He started to shake his head.
'Stop! I can't keep thinking about them. I'm here to see Sokka, Suki, and Toph. Thinking about those two will just bring me down.'.
The flying bison landed right in front of the village where the people stood excited to see the Avatar. They were all cheering for him and one young man started foaming at the mouth and fainted at the sight of Aang.
'I sure hope that guy is okay. Think I saw him do that the first time that I was here.', Aang thought to himself. The air bender jumped off Appa's head and greeted the villagers.
"Avatar Aang, it is so good to see you again.", Oyaji, the village leader, said as he walked up to Aang.
"It's good to be back on Kyoshi island sir," Aang bowed, "Have my friends arrived in the village as well?"
"No but I'm sure they will be here today. The ship they took probably isn't as fast as flying in the air would be.", the village elder responded.
"Well I don't mind waiting for them."
Oyaji led Aang to the house that he had stayed in previously with Sokka and Katara.
"Everything should ready for you Aang. Please let us know if there is anything we could do for you.", Oyaji said.
He thanked the village elder and turned to walk into the house until he heard a voice call out his name.
"AANG!"
The air bender turned to see a Kyoshi warrior running up to him.
"Hi…do I know you?", he asked as the warrior stood in front of him and embraced him with a tight hug.
"Oh yeah, you probably don't recognize me with my makeup. It's Ty lee.", the girl responded. Aang's eyes widened in surprise and then he returned the hug.
"It's nice to see you again Ty." The two friends broke off the hug. The two formally met after Zuko's coronation and got to know each other better.
"You got taller since the last time I saw you. Last time I saw you, your head went up to my shoulder but now you're as tall as me."
"Well I'm still growing. All the years stuck in that iceberg I was the same height. Maybe my age is catching up with me.", Aang shrugged.
"Maybe", Ty giggled, "It's a good thing you're still the same cute avatar. You're just growing up and becoming handsome now."
"Handsome? I don't know about that…", Aang rubbed the back of his neck.
"Don't be so modest Aang.", she said as she patted his bald head.
"Hey Ty! How about you don't leave your friend hanging? You're the only person I know here and I don't want to talk to anyone I don't know.", a new female voice said. Aang looked over Ty Lee's shoulder to see Mai, her friend and Zuko's ex-girlfriend.
"Sorry Mai but as soon as I heard Aang was here, I had to see him.", Ty replied.
"Hi Mai.", Aang waved at her. He didn't know Mai well unlike he did Ty Lee considering they had never interacted before. Most of what the air bender knew about her was from what Zuko told him.
"Hello Avatar Aang", she replied awkwardly. She wasn't sure how to act around him since she used to help Azula to try to capture him but seeing as Ty Lee was able to become friends with him, she hoped things between them wouldn't be awkward.
"Just call me Aang.", he said. Even though he was the avatar, he wanted others to see him as an air bender first.
"I'll try to remember that.", Mai responded with a smile. Ty Lee turned back to Aang.
"So what brings you to Kyoshi Island? Last I heard, you were traveling around the world and doing avatar stuff.", she asked.
"I made plans to meet up with Sokka, Suki, and Toph here. It's been a while since I've seen them so I'm here to hang out and catch up with them.", the air bender answered.
"They weren't traveling with you?", Mai asked.
"No, I've been on my own."
"His friends have been in the fire nation since he left.", Ty Lee said to Mai and then turned back to Aang, "Suki told me in a letter that you left to travel the world and about Zuko and Katara. How have you been?", she asked with a concerned tone.
"I'm fine, why do you ask?", the air bender questioned with a confused look on his face.
"I'm asking because I know you must have been hurt after finding out about Zuko and Katara. I figured that's why you left.", Ty responded.
"Whaaaaaat? That's not why I left…I left because I have to fulfill my duties as Avatar on my own.", Aang denied.
"You don't have to deny it Aang. It was already obvious to us since we started to chase you with Azula that you have feelings for Katara.".
"Yup, even Azula knew it. That's why we imprisoned her in the catacombs at Ba Sing Se, we knew that you would come looking for her.", Mai spoke up.
The air bender felt like slamming his head against the wall. He couldn't believe that even his then enemies could figure out his feelings for the water bender. They even used that against him to lure him into their trap.
"Did Suki tell you I left because of that?", Aang was wondering if the Kyoshi warrior was telling others what she knew.
"No, she didn't. I was just able to figure that out on my own. I would have done the same if I was in your shoes.", Ty lee assured him.
"I already made plans to leave, it was just a coincidence that they revealed their relationship to us that night. I already knew about it.", the air bender explained.
"Oh wow! You already knew? That means you were on the same boat as Mai.", Ty pointed to her gloomy friend.
"Really?", he looked at Mai who just had an irritated look on her face.
"I tried to meet with him while he was getting ready for his coronation. She was already in the room talking to him about when they would reveal their secret to everyone now that the war was over. Then they started making out and I just had to get out of there.", Mai looked down to her feet, "I betrayed Azula for him at Boiling Rock just to end up tossed aside when he chose to be with that water bender."
Aang gave her a sympathetic look. Mai had found out about their relationship the same way he had so he knew the kind of pain she was going through. Just like him, she was suffering from a broken heart as well.
"I understand how you feel. When I found out…I just wanted to fall apart. I felt this split in my chest and it hurt a lot and after I took care of Ozai I knew that I needed to get away. Otherwise, the pain wouldn't stop.", he said, "Even now when I think about them, I still feel it."
"I wanted to leave the fire nation as soon as I could so when Ty suggested I go with her to Kyoshi Island, I didn't even think about it for a second. I needed to get away.", Mai responded.
"I had to wait to recover from my injuries before I left. It wasn't easy especially considering I had to have my healing sessions with Katara. But once I finally left, I started to feel better."
"That must have been hard to deal with. Knowing that the girl you love was in a relationship with Zuko and kept it from you."
"She only hid it because she knew that I would be hurt, which she was definitely right about.", Aang said with a sad smile. Mai nodded.
The three of them were quiet for a few seconds until Ty Lee spoke up.
"I got an idea!", Mai and Aang both turned to her, "Since you guys have been going through the same thing then why not date each other?"
"huh?", Mai and Aang questioned her at the same time.
"Both of you guys have had your hearts broken, maybe you can help each other out. If you two date then maybe you can get over Katara and Zuko.", Ty suggested.
Aang and Mai turned to each other with raised eyebrows and then turned back to Ty Lee.
"No.", they both said in unison.
"Oh, come on! You guys barely thought about it.", Ty Lee responded.
"There is no way that Aang and I are compatible with each other. He isn't my type, he's just too…energetic and happy for my tastes.", Mai pointed out.
"And Mai is just too gloomy for me.", Aang turned to Mai, "No offense."
"None taken.", she assured him with a smile. The two of them knew they were the opposite of what the other wanted. Ty Lee's suggestion came with good intentions, but it wasn't a great idea. Aang wasn't Zuko and Mai wasn't Katara, the two of them dating could never work and they both knew that.
The air bender then let out a yawn. "Well it's been great seeing you two, but I need to get some sleep. I'll see you guys around later."
"Sure thing Aang. Hope you sleep well.", Ty Lee said. Mai and her waved him off as he went inside the house. As he laid into his bed, the air bender hoped that his friends would arrive by the time he woke up.
"Master Katara."
The water bender turned to see a servant coming up to her with a scroll, "Yes?"
"These scrolls came for you just now. It contains the latest information that we have concerning the Avatar's whereabouts.", said the servant. Katara took the scroll and thanked the servant. She took the scroll with her to her bedroom to read in private. She hoped that the latest information on Aang could give her an idea of where to go and look for him. Once she reached her room, she closed the door and sat on her bed as she unraveled the scroll and started reading.
So far what was written wasn't different from before. It would just say where Aang made his stops and what he did to help others. It wasn't anything new to her until she came upon his time in Lu Rane village. From what others had heard, Aang had saved a girl from a pervert that had attacked her. The water bender couldn't help but smile.
'Leave it to Aang to be a hero. Wait a minute-..', She started reading about how Aang decided to teach the girl how to water bend. 'Since when does teaching some girl he just met how to water bend become an essential part in "fulfilling" his avatar duties.'. She read on.
'So from what people in the village could tell, he and this "Kano" girl got really close with each other within less than a week.', Katara's hand started to grip tighter on the scroll. 'He leaves us without saying anything and is just flirting with girls now? Now he's getting chummy with a different girl that just so happens to be a water bender. IS HE TRYING TO REPLACE ME?!'. She threw the scroll across the room. Just what was Aang really doing on his travels? Were the reasons that he left for leaving in his letter even true? Again, why did he leave without saying anything to the gang?
'Why am I getting so angry? Aang has a kind soul, him teaching this girl how to water bend shouldn't bother me. I shouldn't take everything said in this scroll seriously either. The information might not be entirely accurate, maybe he isn't that close with her at all and it was just a misunderstanding. But why does it bother me so much?', she thought to herself. She shook her head to clear her mind and picked the scroll up from the floor. There was still more written in it.
'Apparently his last stop was in…Omashu. He must have gone to see king Bumi. He apparently stayed for a week until he took off again on Appa.'. There was nothing left in the scroll for her to read, that was all the information they had on Aang for now. Katara knew she didn't want to keep waiting on new information and decided then on what her next action would be. She would go to Omashu herself and ask Bumi where Aang went and wherever else he would go. If anyone knew, it had to be the air bender's childhood best friend. Nothing would stop her from finding Aang.
Aang had woken up from his slumber and was at the table eating food that was provided to him thanks to the villagers. He was wondering how much longer it would take for his friends to arrive until he heard Appa grunting from outside and then heard three different but familiar voices.
"MOMO! APPA!"
'They're here!, he ran outside to see Sokka, Toph, and Suki hugging the flying bison and lemur. Toph was the first to sense his presence.
"TWINKLE-TOES!". Sokka and Suki turned away from Appa and looked at the air bender with elation. The three of them ran to him and tackled him to the ground. Aang used his air bending to get them off the ground and the four friends came together for a group hug.
"It's great to see you again buddy. Looks like you've gotten taller and gained some muscles since we've seen you.", Sokka said.
"It's been too long.", Toph spoke.
"We missed you so much Aang.", finally Suki said.
"I missed all of you guys too.", after what seemed like a minute they broke off the hug, "You guys must be starving."
"You know me Aang, I'm always hungry.", Sokka replied. They all followed Aang back into the house to where the food was on the table. The water tribe warrior and the blind earth bender ran straight to the food and started gobbling whatever they could. Suki stood next Aang and put her hand on his shoulder.
"So how have you been feeling since…well you know?", she asked.
"I've been feeling…better since I left.", he tried to assure her with a smile. The Kyoshi warrior didn't seem too convinced though. Then an idea came to her.
"Let's do a bonfire tonight at the beach. We'll catch up on everything since we're still tired from our trip on the boat.", she suggested.
"Sounds like a good idea. You guys look like you can use some rest right now anyway. We got a lot of time to spend together.", Aang replied.
Later on, the group sat around the bonfire at the beach. Everyone was fully rested, and their hunger was satisfied except for Sokka. He was still eating snacks. Toph was telling the story of how Sokka got stuck in another hole like before but wasn't found until dinner time.
"Suki was the only one that noticed that he was missing for so long.", Toph said.
"Imagine how I felt finding my boyfriend stuck in a hole headfirst with his butt sticking out. When I ran back to get Toph, I couldn't stop laughing and when I finally brought her she wouldn't stop laughing for like five minutes before taking him out of it.", Suki said laughing.
"Sokka, how do you keep getting yourself into situations like that? Aunt Wu was right about you.", the air bender questioned as he wiped a tear from his eye from laughing.
"I refuse to believe that fake fortune teller was right about me! These things just happen to me.", Sokka replied as he tossed a grape into his mouth.
"If you say so", Aang chuckled. It felt great being able to talk to his friends like before, he missed the time they spent together.
"I'm glad you agreed to hanging out Aang. We've missed you a lot since you left.", Sokka stated and then added, "we aren't the only ones that miss you though."
Aang already knew where this was going. Toph and Suki were quiet and waited for the water tribe warrior to continue.
"I know I already told you in my letters but Katara really misses you. She hasn't been the same since she found your letter in your room."
"What do you mean?" Aang asked.
"We should start from the beginning. After she found your letter, Katara ran to us crying and screaming at us that you were gone. She couldn't understand why you would just leave us without saying anything.", Suki spoke up.
"I didn't expect her to take the news well but not as badly as she did. She started to worry about what would happen to you without us and Toph had to reassure her that you could take care of yourself. Even then she wouldn't stop crying until Zuko calmed her down and said he would ask June to bring you back.", Sokka remarked.
"It was a good thing we got to see you off before you left. That letter you wrote didn't explain enough why you had leave like you did.", Toph remarked. Sokka and Suki agreed, had they found out about his decision to leave like Katara did then even they would be extremely upset.
Aang put his hand on his forehead and felt a wave of guilt. He knew Katara would be upset but he didn't expect her to melt down like that because of him. Then Toph spoke up.
"You were lucky that you met June before she could take the job. Zuko said that she told him that you saved her life apparently."
"I just saved her from some bandits and let her and Nyla stay with me, Appa, and Momo at our camp. When I figured out why Zuko had summoned her and told her why I left, she said she wouldn't take the job since she owed me. June is really nice when you get to know her.", the air bender recounted his meeting with the bounty hunter and then remembered the kiss. Suki noticed a small blush on his face and became curious.
"Did something else happen between you too?", the Kyoshi warrior asked with a smirk. There was no point in lying since Toph would be able to tell.
"She…well-..before she went on her way...June… kissed me.", he could barely say it. His fingers subconsciously went to his lips, making it obvious to the others where exactly the bounty hunter kissed him.
"WHOA! She kissed you?!", Sokka spit out a grape. Toph smirked in approval and Suki had a surprised look on her face.
Aang nodded. "When she kissed me, she put her tongue in my mouth…I didn't even know that was a thing to do when you're kissing someone.". Neither Suki, Sokka, or Toph could control their reaction to this new information they had learned.
"BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!", the blind earth bender couldn't contain herself, "You didn't know that was a thing! You really were raised by monks, twinkle-toes even I knew that was a thing. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!". Suki and Sokka still kept on laughing along with Toph, leaving the air bender feeling more embarrassed than before.
"why did she kiss you?", Suki asked after they stopped laughing.
"She said it was to help me get over Katara and that there were other girls out there for me and that I shouldn't be too hung up on Katara.", Aang answered.
"So do you think you're ready to come back?", Sokka questioned him with a serious look.
"No.", Aang didn't wait to think about his answer. It may have been months since he had seen Katara, but he still wasn't ready.
"What do you mean "no"? It's already been almost four months since you left. Just how long do you plan on avoiding her?", Sokka asked with irritation in his voice. His sister had barely smiled since Aang left. Just how much time did he need before he would come back?
"I don't know…", the air bender looked away from him.
"Aang, I know you love my sister and I understand that you're hurt but you can't keep avoiding her like she's a plague.",
"It isn't that simple for me Sokka.", Aang insisted.
"How can it not be simple? You need to accept that Katara and Zuko are together and move on."
"Just how am I supposed to do that?! I can't turn off my feelings for her now that she's with Zuko, if I could that then don't you think I would have done that by now?!", the air bender stood up in anger, "Love doesn't work that way. I wish it did, but it doesn't!"
"We understand that Aang, but you can't keep doing this forever", Suki spoke up.
"What would you have me do Suki?", Aang asked.
"Maybe you need to talk to her about it.", Sokka suggested
"Talk to her about it? How do you expect me to do that? 'Hey Katara, lets talk about how much I love you even though you're dating Zuko. If you didn't feel the same way I felt about you then why did you kiss me back on the day of the invasion? Remember how when I talked to you about it and you just said you were "confused"? Only to know now that you were just lying to me since you were already in a secret relationship with Zuko at that point.'", Aang stopped to take a breath. He needed to calm down.
"Hold up.", Sokka held his hands up in a questioning motion, "you guys kissed the day we were invading the fire nation?"
"I wasn't sure that I was going to come back so I kissed her before I flew off from the submarine. She didn't pull away from me, she kissed me back. We didn't talk about it for a while until I brought it up during the Ember nights play.", Aang answered with a calm tone.
"And she said she was confused?", the Kyoshi warrior asked.
"Yeah and for some stupid reason I thought that by maybe kissing her like I did before then it would help, but she pulled away, got mad at me and went back to watch the play. It wasn't the best idea I ever had.", the air bender confessed.
"And finding out the way you did must have really hurt.", Toph spoke up again.
"It did.", he quietly responded.
"Then why not try to break them up? You could have just tried that instead of leaving all of us because of sugar queen.", Toph probed.
"I could never do that Toph. As much as I love Katara, I could never manipulate her into breaking up with Zuko for me. It would be selfish of me to hurt them like that. I know that leaving was just me running away again but there wasn't any other option for me. It was hard for me just staying there."
Toph figured that she couldn't argue with that. She knew Aang was too good of a person to pull off something like breaking up Katara and Zuko. She couldn't convince him otherwise. The air bender then turned back to Sokka.
"Please understand Sokka…I never intended to hurt Katara the way that I did. I could have handled the way I left better but I just needed to get out. I already hate myself for making you lie to your sister, but even now it still hurts when I think about her and Zuko. I tried to listen to June's advice when I met Kano in Lu Rane village."
"Who is Kano?", Sokka asked.
"She's a water bender that I met. She was a novice at bending, so I taught her some water bending moves during the short time I was there, and we became close friends. The night before we left for Omashu, I let her borrow some scrolls that I had so she could still train and then she kissed me.", Aang responded with his face blushing again.
"She used her tongue on you too?", Toph teased.
"Well no…but I did.", the air bender admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck and looked away from his friends. They started laughing at him again.
"Aang you really are something else.", Sokka finally said after laughing.
"And it had to be another water bender too. Maybe twinkle-toes has a type.", Toph pointed out.
"So novice water bender that you just decide to help after just meeting her in one day. Did her family happen to come from the South pole too?" Sokka jokingly asked.
"Actually Sokka, her family did come from the south pole.", Aang replied in a matter-of-fact tone. The water warrior was only kidding when he asked and was surprised at the coincidence. Neither could Suki or Toph believe it.
"Wait…so is she older than you too?", Suki asked. Even though technically Aang was 113 years old.
"She's fifteen years old."
His friends just gaped at him. Just what are the odds that he would find someone that was like Katara at an earth kingdom village? Maybe Aang really did have a type.
"It wouldn't have worked out between us anyway.", Aang spoke.
"Why not?", Sokka asked.
"Because she just reminded me too much of Katara. If I started dating Kano then I would just be replacing Katara with her and I couldn't do that to Kano. Plus, Kano was still seeing me as the Avatar and not Aang. I can't be with someone that wants to be with me just because I'm the Avatar.", the air bender explained.
They knew that he had a point. All four of them were quiet for almost a minute until Aang sighed.
"It's like I said before, me being away from Katara is still the best thing for me and her."
"With how she's been acting, I can't agree with you. I know you think this is the best solution but Katara is miserable without you."
"If I come back then I'll be miserable. Before I left, just being around her hurt too much. It was hard for me to pretend that everything was alright between us. I can't go back to that Sokka…I just can't.", Aang spoke with tears in his eyes.
It pained Suki to see Aang like this. It wasn't his fault that he fell in love with a girl that didn't love him back. These sorts of things just happened; Suki knew that for a fact. When she met Sokka, she didn't expect to fall in love with him either and now couldn't imagine her life without him. Aang already had the weight of the world resting on his shoulders as the Avatar and having his heart broken made things just difficult for him now. The Kyoshi warrior realized she couldn't take this anymore, so she stood up from her spot next to Sokka and walked up to the air bender. She then pulled him towards her and wrapped her arms around him.
"Suki…", Aang tried to speak but she interrupted him.
"Just let it out Aang. Don't hold it all in.", Suki implored him. With that, Aang rested his head on the crook of her neck and shoulder and let out a sob. She held him tighter and started rubbing his back. He finally wrapped his arms around her and let his tears flow. Sokka and Toph sat still and didn't say anything as the air bender cried. As much as Sokka hated seeing his sister sad, he hated seeing his brother like this as well. Aang genuinely loved Katara and still did. It wasn't fair of Sokka to ask him to come back just to see the girl he loved with another guy. Even if Katara was suffering, so was Aang.
Suki pulled her head back but still had her arms around him.
"I know you're hurting Aang and have been for a while now. It may seem like it won't ever go away but I assure you…it will. So take all the time that you need and remember that we'll always be here for you. Even if we are miles away, the three of us will help you in any way that we can.", she turned to Sokka and Toph, "Isn't that right you guys?"
Both of them stood up and put their arms around the two of them.
"That's right. Just promise that we'll still see you Aang. Sweetness and Sparky will never find out about us hanging out, I promise you that.", Toph finally spoke.
"I'm sorry for trying to force you to come back. Take the time that you need and come back to us when you're ready.", comforted Sokka.
"Thank you guys. You guys are my family and always will be. I'm really sorry for making you deceive your sister like this Sokka.", Aang finally said.
"Don't worry about it.", the water tribe warrior assured him as they all broke off from each other, "There is just something I want to know."
"What is it?", inquired Aang as he wiped away his tears.
"Just how hot is this Kano chick?"
Suki smacked her boyfriend upside his head, "Seriously?!"
"It's just a question!", Sokka replied.
"You're an idiot.", Toph groaned.
Aang laughed. Only Sokka would ask a question like that after such an emotional moment. It didn't bother him, he was just happy to be with his friends again.
Hope you all liked this chapter. Please leave a review, they really help motivate me to write more. I'm going to get to work on "Yandere Katara" next so expect that soon.