I don't own the Avatar: the Last Airbender or any of its characters.


Anywhere – Part 4



It’s been so long since Katara had last been at home and now she couldn’t explain why but everything made her giggle or smile. Especially as she was watching the three boys – no, men, she should use that term more, they were no longer kids…

After Sokka refused her help in building a new watch tower, he became dangerously mad in only mere minutes as its existence was brought to an end by the acts of a reckless firebender. Of course he was just trying to catch a rather cheery airbender, who decided to cover him in snow with a penguin-ride while he was waiting for the waterbender to get ready. But as he refused to wear anything but his rather summer-fashioned Fire Nation clothes, he proclaimed that the avatar had tainted his honour, and his actions were righteous and acceptable.

And this ended in the three of them getting in the wildest snowball-fight she had ever seen. That’s why she couldn’t help laughing as the three of them were sitting now, wrapped in blankets, with their feet in basins filled with steaming water. Their noses were faintly red, and they sneezed one after the other, with their teeth lowly chattering.

“This is a-all your f-fault you know…” Sokka murmured with a side-glance at the fire prince, who only frowned but did not answer. “B-both of you will rebuild that t-tower with me tomorrow, and I hope f-for your sake that it will be as g-good as the finished one had been!”

Zuko let out a snort, with a small amount of fire escaping his lips. “I’m not going to pack ice-cubes for you, that stuff would melt around me sooner than it would be done…”

The scowl on the Water Tribe warrior’s face was deadly. “T-then you’ll freakin’ wear a parka and c-cut off your s-stupid bending!”

At this moment Aang sneezed loudly, creating a whirlwind like movement in the air around them. “Bless you.” The other two said in unison before the firebender went on.

“First, I’m not wearing blue and second…” He let a smirk came to his lips. “I’m not doing peasant’s job.”

This made the dark look change into a smug one on Sokka’s part. “W-well, I don’t see your c-crown, your highness.” This made Zuko hung his head. “A-and as the son of the C-chief, I c-can order you to d-do as I say…”

When the firebender opened his mouth to retort, Katara finally let out a laugh, asking. “What would you say if I and Aang bended a tower for you, and then you wouldn’t have to worry?”

Her brother narrowed his eyes. “T-that wouldn’t be the s-same… b-building had been a m-man’s job, I c-can do it again-n…”

At this she crossed her arms with a dark look. “Why don’t you just stop babbling and tell me how many towers you want?”

The water warrior’s eyes shone up at once. “Y-you would make me m-more towers?”

Zuko made a shrug as he slightly shook his head. “Don’t bother Katara, he just said it’s a ‘man’s job’, leave it to him…”

His lips was about to curl upwards, but as his brother-in-law snapped his head towards him with the following words it disappeared at once: “S-shut up, ‘fire baby’, she was not t-talking to you!”

As both the fire prince and the waterbender suddenly flushed crimson, the avatar looked from one to another before asking the snickering Sokka. “Fire baby…?”

The blue eyed man laughed out aloud. “D-don’t ask…!”

--

Katara knew that she opened her mouth to make her brother close his big mouth, but suddenly she felt as if someone had hit her with a snow-ball. But they were indoors, weren’t they…?

As the next moment the image before her turned fuzzy and dark, she tried to force her eyelids to shut more when a second poke came. “Katara…”

She felt that the air around her became warm. The ice-hut disappeared… the warm feeling of her parka around her changed into her holding onto a blanket… “Nnn…” She murmured pulling it above her head, but a hand held her lower arm, stopping her. “Let go Sokka, I don’ wanna leave home yet…”

The avatar slightly frowned as she still did not look at him at all. “No Katara, it’s me, wake up.”

She opened one of her eyes to have a peek. “Aang…?”

The monk made a smile. “Zuko’s here.”

She blinked tiredly before rolling on her side. “Of course he’s here… he has to build a tower for Sokka…” She mumbled with a yawn, but as she closed her eyes again, Aang lightly shook her shoulder.

“No, Katara I mean he’s here and waiting for you by the river!” The girl looked ahead of herself but the information was only slowly reaching her brain. “You know, we’re in the middle of the Earth Kingdom… Sokka made me stand guard?”

The waterbender suddenly sat up straight. “Oh my god, he’s here?” Her blue eyes meeting the avatar’s grey ones, and at the sudden excitement in her voice made him smile a bit sadly. He knew that he wanted to see her happy, just like now… but he had hoped for so long that once she would look at him with the same eyes…

He let out a small sigh with a nod. Before she started to get out of her sleeping bag. “Y-you said he’s by the river?” She asked but hardly did she make a step, she let out a small gasp, her hand reaching for her hair as she whirled back towards him. “How do I look?”

The avatar’s mouth stayed open for a moment, before he made a small smile. “Probably you should let your hair down,” He said as she felt her fingers meet with the ruins of her braid. “Other than that…” She undid her hair hurriedly, but she stopped listening to what he wanted to say.

For a moment he was only watching her. He knew that he could have said many things. That she was beautiful… that she had always been… and that he wanted to tell her that for so long now that it almost ached…

But he had seen the way she smiled as she talked about him. He remembered how they looked at each other back in that inn before he left them alone... he knew what it was like to fall for someone. And he knew the words she needed to hear.

“You look wonderful.” He said, a small but sincere smile appearing in the corner of his mouth, and for a moment her gaze softened as she stepped back to where he was, blowing one kiss on his cheek.

“Thank you, Aang.” She whispered as she pulled away, smiling at him, the way she always had. Kindly and proudly, the way like he had been her brother, son and best friend at the same time. And perhaps he had truly been all of those things to her, and a bond like that would never fade…

He stood in his place for a long moment even after she disappeared between the trees. His gaze moved up to the sky right in that moment when a falling star ran through the deep blue sky. His lips curled into a smile as his gaze followed it in the direction where his waterbending master had faded into the shadows. “This wish is for the two of you then… Katara and Zuko.”

He lowly whispered as he thought that no one heard him, but he jumped as someone spoke just beside him.

“Hey sissy,” The blind bandit smirked fully while leaning her weight on the avatar’s glider. “I’m not fond of waiting while you play the dramatic hero.”

Aang let out a great amount of breath through his teeth before whirling towards the girl in his age. “Could you keep quiet? We don’t want to wake Sokka…” He said, pointing to the side where in the second blue sleeping bag, the Water Tribe warrior was snoring loudly.

Toph lightly bowed her head to the side, before letting out a laugh. “Seriously, from the sound of it, this guy could only be waken by a dozen komodo rhinos!” As in the next moment the monk’s pale palm covered her mouth with a frown, her cheeks slightly pinked at the sudden connection, but fortunately it could not be seen in the faint light. She lightly bowed her head so that her bangs would cover her face more as she punched the boy in the stomach from the side. That made him let go.

“All right.” She said, while he gave her a dark look with tired eyes. “I won’t wake Snoozeles there, but don’t. Touch. Me. Again. Is that clear?” Aang’s eyebrow rose but he only gave an ‘ok’ as an answer, which made her expressions clear at once. “Now then, let’s move to start your first earthbending lesson.” She said, on an almost tingling voice, and his jaw dropped as she turned and started walking.

“W-what?!” The avatar whined. “But the sun is not even up yet, and I haven’t even…”

The blind girl turned to hold his eyes with her shady green ones, and the seriousness was both in her voice and on her face. “Do I look like someone who cares about that?”

He hesitantly took some steps towards her with his eyebrows knitted together. “Did no one tell you ‘no’ before?” He asked with a slight smile, but hearing her answer made it fade completely.

“Oh sure they did, but they all sounded more like ‘No, please no...’” She said, imitating a begging tone with tease.

As the girl’s smirk fully appeared on her face, Aang slightly paled, feeling as a drop of sweat ran down his temple. “You are a monster…”

“That’s my second name.” Toph smirked leaning towards him before putting her arms behind her neck. “Right after ‘God’.” She gave him a wink before walking ahead of him, leading the tongue-tied teen away.

In the meantime the snoring went on, even as the warrior’s form slowly turned to look after them with a frown above his now ice blue eyes. After two more of his faked snores, he let his lips turn into a thin line. Then he slowly brought his gaze towards the trees which followed the way to the river, getting a hold of his machete…

--

“I’ve been thinking Katara …” The scarred bender paced around the riverbank, nervously kicking into the smaller stones, while clearing his throat and trying his voice again. “S-so, I think it’s time…”

He shook his had, changing to a deeper voice, making a slight smirk. “Katara, after all those things you and I have…” He stopped again as his smile faded. And in the next moment he covered his face with his hands as he groaned into his palms. “You can’t even speak in full sentences, you idiot!” As suddenly there was a giggle behind him, his hands let go at once and when he turned around his mouth stayed open at first.

The waterbender stood just at the edge of the trees, her slim figure illuminated by only the moon’s light, with her hair falling around her face and shoulder… and yet her smile was what made him unable to think… in that moment her name rolled off his tongue so soft as if he had spoken it for the thousandth of times, leaving one single wish in his mind: if only time could stop right now…

The faintest blush appeared on her face, hearing her name before she walked up to him, while he could only follow her with his gaze. He always loved the way she moved, fluent and graceful which her bending required, quite the opposite of his rough and forceful way...

His lips curled up as her arms circled around his neck and she leaned forward till their noses touched. “Hi…” She whispered, holding his eyes before asking. “Did you have to wait much?”

He did not answer, only pulled her closer with a long but gentle kiss. Her hands slowly lowered to his chest before he looked at her again. “I could wait till the end for you.”

The waterbender made a small smile. “Knowing your all-so-famous ‘patience’, I truly have doubts about that…” She chuckled lightly, but as his expression turned into a small frown she silenced. “So,” She felt as his hands moved from around her waist to her hips, with his thumbs soothingly stroking her sides. “What did you have in mind for tonight?”

“I’ve been meaning… to tell you something…” He started hesitantly as her smile returned.

“So that was the reason for the practice?”

“Well, kind of…” The fire prince seemingly flushed, rubbing the back of his neck with a hand before he started again. “Katara,” He looked back at her, but his voice stuck in his throat as her blue eyes tried to read from his expressions.

But then her face softened, her smile encouraged him as she asked. “Yes Zuko?”

He let out a small amount of breath, taking a step away from her before he spoke, while she only let one of her eyebrows rose. “I know that during these past weeks things… got out of our hands,” This time Katara’s eyebrows knitted together with worry. Why does he say that? He… he sounds like those times when he decided something on his own… She felt as her heart beat louder, and one of her hands clenched before her  chest as she stepped closer to him, but he went on anyway. “And I’m also aware of that I can’t… offer much because of my banishment…”

“Don’t say that!” She said so quick that he snapped his head back towards her as she suddenly hold onto him, her arms around his muscular upper body with her head resting on his shoulder. He opened his mouth to go on, but as he felt her slightly shaking as her fingers clutched the fabric of his shirt, his expressions became gentle as he stroked her hair. “I’ve never asked anything…” She felt her eyes slightly turned teary. “It had always been enough that I knew you loved me! Zuko, please…!”

“Shh,” His lips slowly made their way from the top of her head down to her lips, his fingers wiping her escaping tears away. “You thought that…?” He couldn’t help a chuckle escape his lips, while she sniffed finally looking up at him. The smile on his face confused her before he spoke out. “Katara, I’ve been trying to say…” He said and her eyes fell on his hand as he slowly lifted a small blue and white barrette between them. “That you are my princess, and only you it will be.”

Her tears stopped. She looked from him to the hairpin, then back but her eyes held a slight confusion. “T-thank you Zuko,” She said and she let a small smile came to her face as she reached out for it. “It’s… really nice…”

“I.. this… err…” The firebender blinked twice before going on. He cleared his throat before making an apologetic smile. “I guess, I truly avoided the topic of Fire Nation customs about marriage, didn’t I?”

The waterbender’s eyes rounded as his hand held hers upon the small object, and she felt her blood rush into her brain at the word he used. But his smile remained, holding her stunned look. “You see, in the Water Tribes you have the carved necklaces, like the one you have…” He whispered huskily, while letting his other hand’s fingers trail to the pendant at her neck. “But as I know how much this means to you, I wouldn’t want you to part from it.”

Her eyebrows furrowed, before his hands reached up to stroke her cheek. “And you also know that in the Earth Kingdom they prefer rings as the sign of betrothal.” His only eyebrow lightly rose as she concentrated on what she had just heard, and his smile turned a bit more confident. “Do you think you can figure out what is given to the bride by the groom in the Fire Nation…?”

Katara’s lips parted. Her blue eyes suddenly lit up as her expressions changed from complete surprise to bliss. “Oh my god…” The firebender felt as most of the pressure suddenly left his chest when her hands pulled his closer to her with the hairpin. “Oh my God!” She squealed making his smirk appear. “Zuko, this…! OH MY GOD! I can’t believe…!” She let out a yell before she finally started. “Of course I w…!”

But in that moment, her voice trailed away, because his expression changed in a second from happiness to a pained one, and she could see his eyes roll upwards before he suddenly fell on his knees then onto the ground.

When she saw Sokka, holding his machete in his hand so that he could hit with the handle of his weapon, she felt her blood boil. His eyes were worried as he looked up at her, still standing where he was just a moment ago when he knocked the firebender out. “Katara, are you all r-…?” He wanted to ask hurriedly, but when he saw his little sister’s hand clench upon the barrette – which he had previously thought was in truth a weapon of some kind – his mouth stayed open. His expressions changed to an awkward one, and he pulled his hands behind him as he shifted his weight from heel to toe. “S-so… you… were not yelling because… he had… h-hurt… you or something…?”

With every single syllable he formed, her face turned more and more dark, and even the Blind bandit and the avatar froze somewhere in the far end of the forest as a scream echoed through the area: “SOKKA, YOU FREAKIN’ HOG-MONKEY!!!!!”