A/N: This is a series of fluffy, pretty pointless vignettes, all based around the line, "Can I keep you?" In case you did not notice, I stole that line from the 90's movie, "Casper," which also involves a romance between children around the same age. I might add more vignettes later, if the mood strikes me, but for now, this was all my brain would spurt out.

The Avatar Returns

Katara's head was tucked in her brother's shoulder, both Water Tribe children dozing lightly after their escape from the Fire Nation ship, as they flew away from the South Pole on the back of a flying bison. The waterbender's face was almost completely obscured by the hood of her large coat, but the flash of light brown skin peaking out from the protective winter gear was one of the most beautiful sights Aang had ever seen. Sokka and Katara, both virtual strangers to the young airbender, not only risked their lives to save Aang, but also left the comfort and familiarity of the Southern Water Tribe to journey off into the unknown with him.

Aang knew he was lucky. Most people would not throw away everything they knew and loved to help out some goofy kid. Aang could not fault Sokka for his weariness towards the avatar. Even Aang doubted he could be so trusting if some random person popped out of an iceberg, yet Katara had extended her hand towards Aang and took him under her wing. When Aang woke and found himself staring into her mesmerizing blue eyes, the avatar knew he forged a connection with the young girl that he would never be able to forget.

Katara accepted his claims that he was an airbender, despite no one seeing hide or hair of a single airbending monk in a century. Katara helped fill in the gaps once they had realized just how long he had been in the iceberg. Most importantly, she did not ostracize him or even revere him once it was revealed to her that he was the avatar. The monks Aang had grown up with, the same monks who witnessed him through all his awkward childhood stages, did not know how to treat him once they found out. Katara was different. Despite the short time the two had spent together, Aang knew she was special.

There was a war going on. The Fire Nation had ground down the nations with a tyrannical fist, and Aang's head was still spinning with the news. This was not the world he had left behind. As the avatar, Aang knew he could no longer run from his responsibilities. There was a long road ahead of him, full of many unknown perils and obstacles, but gazing at the waterbender and her brother, huddled together on Appa's back, Aang felt that perhaps he could persevere through it all as long as Katara remained by his side.

Aang scooted forward on the saddle, leaning in as close to Katara as he dared. "Can I keep you?" The boy whispered, as his right hand twitched, wanting very badly to stroke along the patch of skin that had been teasing Aang for the last hour or so.

Sokka let out a cacophonous snore, causing Aang to airbend himself away from the pair in reaction to the sudden noise. The moment was broken, but as Aang began to steer Appa closer towards the direction of the Southern Air Temple, a sensation of warmth settled over the youth. The future might be full of mystery, but with Katara as a traveling companion, and most importantly, as a friend, Aang could not wait for his destiny to unfold.

Bato of the Water Tribe

Listening to Sokka and Katara wax lyrical praise about their father and the virtues of the Southern Water Tribe to Bato set Aang's teeth on edge. He knew the siblings missed home, but having the reminder that they belonged somewhere else, with other people, was a smack in the face. The two seemed so content in a world that did not involve Aang that he had to slip away.

Letting the door covering flutter close behind him, Aang smacked his head a couple of times in retribution for letting him fall into the delusion that Katara and Sokka would travel with him forever. They had lives that existed outside of the realm of the avatar and The One-Hundred Year War. They had a family that loved them.

"Can I keep you?" Aang scoffed, walking down the path towards the beach. "Keep dreaming, Aang."

No matter how much Aang wished it were different, he couldn't keep Katara to himself. She and Sokka would leave him to reunite with their dad, leaving him alone once again. In a sense, Aang figured it was a divine consequence for leaving his old life and his old family. If Aang didn't abandon the Air Nomads one hundred years previously, who knows if there would even be a war to fight now? Aang abandoned his people a long time ago, and now his new family would do the same. Aang supposed his punishment was fair, but he could not help but wish that Bato had never shown up in his life.

The Waterbending Master

Katara had been improving on her waterbending skills ever since she had pulled Aang out of the iceberg only several months prior. Aang was aware of the fact, as he had practiced with her on a daily basis, and had been saved by her skills and quick wit numerous times, but watching her hold her own against Master Pakku, arguably the greatest waterbending master in the entire world, took the avatar's breath away. The water did not force itself against the slight girl's body, but rather flowed with her. To Aang, Katara had never looked more beautiful than she did with her hair falling loose around her shoulders, and water spiraling at the command of her fingertips.

Katara lost the battle. No one expected her to win, least of all Katara, but the fight had been so close and so intense, just the mere emotion and shock of all the spectators could have melted the entire Northern Water Tribe, leaving the city to drift off to sea. An untrained student, let alone a girl, holding their own against Master Pakku was unheard of. The silence that surrounded the people of the Northern Water Tribe was that of shock, but it was also full of awe and wonderment. Just by looking at Katara, even as she was pinned under long spears of ice, her panting breath clouding in front of her face was a sight to behold. In that moment, not a single person in the crowd could doubt Katara's importance, or the power she could wield.

"But you still won't teach me, will you?" Katara snapped out, still defiant in times of confinement. Aang started towards Katara to defend her, when Sokka grabbed his arm, pulling the boy to a halt.

"That girl can handle herself," Sokka spoke, nodding his head towards the altercation. Turning his head, Aang could already see the conversation between Katara and Master Pakku had taken a turn. "Nobody has ever been able to tell that girl no. If that were the case, we wouldn't be here with you now, would we?"

Aang beamed at the older boy, his gratefulness for the waterbender blossoming in his chest until the avatar felt like he was going to explode. Katara had completely changed Aang's life for the better, and Aang vowed that he would try his hardest to make it up to Katara, even if he had to spend his entire life in the presence of the waterbender. In fact, that would be preferable.

Katara and Master Pakku had reached a conclusion, and Katara was standing tall in triumphant. After decades of patriarchy ruling over the Northern Water Tribe, all it took was the reminder of Master Pakku's first love for him to cave and agree to teach girls waterbending. Walking over to stand beside his friend, Aang busked his shoulder against Katara's, her good mood rubbing off on him.

"Hey, you looked pretty good out there. Can I keep you? I think you might come in handy," Aang teased Katara, wrapping his arm around her shoulders when she started shivering in the cold. Katara cocked her head in his direction, sending him a wink. Grinning in return, Aang took that as progress.

The Avatar State

In front of his very eyes, Aang watched Katara die. The image of her sinking into the ground, unable to stop her trajectory, permeated Aang's mind as the avatar state took over. There was no war. There was no cause. There was only the man who had slaughtered Aang's best friend in the entire world. Vision tunneling, the avatar struck.

The power of all of his thousands of past lives culminated under the avatar's skin, and the force of anger channeling through his veins made him unstoppable. Destruction reigned down from his hands, showing the men the true consequence of flirting with danger. They wanted to bring out the avatar state, and now their wish was his command.

When Katara resurfaced, Aang was lost to the avatar. The balance of peace was gone and only vengeance remained. It took Avatar Roku, informing Aang of the avatar cycle's own mortality to pull him from his poisonous state of mind. Emerging from the avatar state, and seeing the damage inflicted on the Earth Kingdom base struck Aang with the realization just how dangerous of a weapon he truly could become.

The group had fled from the scene, not even waiting to hear any apologies. It had become obvious to the three kids that they would have to continue this journey alone. The avatar was too powerful, and no matter what side of a war you are on, it is still war, and there will always be people who are willing to exploit someone for the "greater good."

Aang could not help but be plagued by the visions of rubble scattered across the base. He had razed their tiny fortitude to the ground in mere minutes, and at the time, he had no reservations about such an act. To be honest, what scared Aang most was not the incredible wealth of energy contained in his small body, but the knowledge that he would react in the exact same way, without hesitation, if he thought Katara was in trouble.

Once they had set up camp, Aang separated himself from the group, needing some time to come to grips with his own emotions. Aang wasn't dumb. He knew he had romantic feelings for Katara. From the moment he saw her face, Aang thought that she was beautiful. Her confident spirit and never-ending support just caused Aang's feelings to grow, but his display brought him to a whole new realization. Aang was in love with Katara.

"Aang, are you okay?" Aang immediately jumped into a defensive stance, startled by Katara's unexpected appearance. Seeing her standing there, sincerity starkly written in her eyes, caused Aang to break down.

Falling to his knees, Aang wrapped his arms around Katara's waist, and pressed his face into her stomach to smother the onslaught of tears.

"Please don't ever leave me, Katara! Please! Can I keep you? Please?" As Aang's salty tears soaked Katara's tunic, without any signs of slowing, she slowly stroked her fingers on the blue arrow cascading down his baldhead, tickling at the base of his neck.

"I will never leave you, Aang."

The Cave of Two Lovers

They kissed. Aang had finally kissed Katara, after months of yearning for the young waterbender. It was just his luck that immediately afterwards, the cave was flooded with the crystal's light to lead them out of the labyrinth, and Katara ran off towards the exit. Too shocked from the sensation of Katara's soft lips pressed against his own, Aang merely stumbled after his friend without forcing any kind of conversation between the two.

Once they escaped the clutches of the cursed cave and met back up with Sokka, the two would continue in their not-conversation. As much as Aang wanted to interpret Katara's silence being indicative of her own nerves being rocked by their moment of intimacy, a growing dread filled the avatar's stomach with the thought that perhaps the kiss meant nothing to the young girl.

Katara had been the one to propose the kiss in the first place, but she had acted out of a means of survival. To the water tribe girl, Aang was her silly, strictly platonic, friend. There would be no forcing the issue. Aang was not about to ruin the best friendship he ever had. Aang would rather have Katara as just his friend, than not in his life at all.

Unbeknownst to his fellow travelers, Aang had sequestered a piece of crystal away from the cave's walls. Out in the sunlight, the crystal remained dull and listless in his hand, but the avatar could remember how they glowed in reaction to his love for Katara. Even if nothing ever happened between him and Katara, he would keep this memory with him forever. Pressing the crystal against his lips, Aang whispered to himself, "Can I keep you?"

Sozin's Comet, Part Four: Avatar Aang

Standing on the balcony of the Jasmine Dragon, watching the sunset over Ba Sing Se, Aang felt a sense of calm overwhelm his senses in a way that he has never felt before. The war was finally over, and while there was a lot of work to be done to restore the world back to its rightful balance, now there was time to rest. There was now time for peace, tranquility, and simple pleasures such as a cup of tea.

Katara joined Aang on the balcony, and not a single word transpired between them as they fell into an embrace. Aang had always been the proactive one in the questionable relationship between the two. He had always been the one to engage a kiss, or push her into talking about what was, or was not, between them. Now, bathed in the purple and red hues of the sunset, a warm breeze winding between them, Aang knew that the next step was hers.

When Katara pulled Aang into a gentle, yet passionate, kiss, it felt like every imperfection and blemish on the world had suddenly righted. It felt like a watch, with one loose cog, had been repaired to tick perfectly in time with the universe. The world could have been crashing down around them, and Aang doubted that even that could draw out the avatar state in this moment.

Releasing Aang, Katara leaned back to look Aang in the eyes, smiling softly. Her hands remained cupped around Aang's jaw, and her thumbs began to slowly stroke his cheeks. To Aang, there was nothing to be said. It felt as if their cosmic energies had joined, and everything between the two was understood. There would be no more misunderstandings. No longer would the two stumble around each other, not sure where to draw the line in the sand of their friendship. Aang was content with the silence, but Katara had one last thing to ask.

"Aang, can I keep you?"