Of Cactus Juice and Sleeping Arrangements

by Baka Pocky

When Katara woke up that morning, her first thought was that her sleeping bag was a lot fluffier than normal. And warmer.

When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was a lot of white fur. Polar bears, her sleepy mind told her. But weren't those in the North Pole? She turned her head slightly, gathering more information for her groggy mind.

Katara was nose-to-nose with Aang. Who was still asleep. With his arms around her waist and a smile on his face. Katara scrambled to remember how this had happened.

Ok, she told herself, think. There was a rainstorm and there wasn't any shelter to be found. After they landed on Appa, Toph offered to make everyone an earth tent in a fit of rare niceness. Aang declined, not wanting to be 'closed in' as he put it. He created a sort of giant air bubble to keep the rain off, as Katara made the fire to dry their clothes.

Sokka, after returning from hunting empty-handed, scorned Aang's dinner (which he claimed was only rabbit-snake food) and delved into his own stash of food. Munching on some jerky of dubious origins, he found a bottle of cactus juice. Katara remembered asking him why on earth he even had it. Sokka claimed he kept it for "the memories". Giving up on her brother, Katara turned around to find something in her own pack to drink. When she turned around, Toph was fighting back giggles, and Sokka looked suspiciously innocent.

Taking a swig from her water skin, she eyed them warily before slurping a big spoonful of the soup Aang had prepared. Katara congratulated him on how good it tasted, she remembered that. For some reason, she also remembered him being purple . . . After that, her memory got fuzzy. Why on earth would she be sleeping with Aang? Beside her. With Aang beside her, she corrected herself.

Her mind jumped to the 'talk' Gran-Gran had given her. She couldn't forget those stories and warnings about dangerous men who would try to seduce you into doing things with then. But, this was Aang. He was too nice for that, right? Anyway, he was still a kid.

Katara was lying on one of Appa's many feet. That explained the fluffiness. It was quite comfortable. No wonder Aang always slept here. Through the shiny haze of Aang's air bubble, she could see it had stopped raining. The sun was already above the trees. Maybe she should wake Aang.

No, she decided, let him sleep. He looked so peaceful. The young boy wasn't thinking of learning the elements, or of being the Avatar. Katara wondered what he was dreaming of that made him grin like that. She hoped it was her . . .

Woah! Where did that come from? Aang was her friend! He was like a little brother. A cute little brother. Who was really sweet. And she really liked . And she wasn't really related to him . . .

Okay, so she loved Aang. But he was the Avatar. He couldn't be with some girl from some backwater (literally) tribe. Aang would probably end up married to some Earth Kingdom noble.

But no, said her romantic, hopeful side, so what if Aang wasn't really hers? She could pretend, at least for right now. Heck, he was hugging her in his sleep and grinning. It didn't take much imagination to see that as, well, something Katara remembered from Gran-Gran's stories (the romantic ones, not the scary ones) that waking up in your lover's arms was dead romantic.

Though they never mentioned the numbness. Even if Aang barely weighed anything (Katara made a mental note to make him eat more), a 12-year-old sleeping on your arm all night eventually cut off some circulation.

She really wished she could remember what had happened last night. What had Toph and Sokka done? Speaking of which, where were they? She couldn't see Sokka or his sleeping bag. When she turned to scan the camp - doing her best not to disturb Aang - all she could see were the remains of last night's fire, and Toph's earth tent. And was that tent bigger . . .?

Though on second thought, she didn't really want them around right now. Having the King and Queen of Sarcasm find her and Aang like this would mean endless teasing and awkward questions Katara didn't know the answers to.

Though it was late in the morning, and they needed to get going, she decided to just let things alone. Katara snuggled closer to Aang and shut her eyes, intending to get a few more minutes of sleep.

That is, until there was a loud clatter, a thud and what sounded like cursing from her brother. Crap! Katara hurriedly tried to disentangle herself from Aang. She only succeeded in sitting up, Aang having clutched her waist more firmly than she expected.

"Nnghh," he mumbled into her side, "Katara, stay . . ." Luckily, the Avatar was still mostly asleep. Aang's voice was still loud enough to attract Sokka's attention, lying on his stomach half-in-half-out of Toph's earth tent.

"Uh, hi sis. Why are you up?" Her brother hadn't noticed Aang, thank the Spirits for his stupidity. Now, maybe if she got him to -

"Hey, I thought Aang was going to put you to bed, not snuggle." Sokka was sitting up now, his arms crossed indignantly. Katara thought this was odd. The response she had been anticipating had involved a lot more yelling and gesturing forcefully on her brother's part. She was thrown for a minute.

"What?" she managed after a while. Sokka shifted slightly. "Wait, is this because of whatever you put in my soup?" He avoided her gaze for a minute, but eventually nodded sheepishly. "What was it?!"

"The Cactus Juice." he muttered. Katara glared.

"And is that why I am in Aang's . . . bed?" she demanded, unsure if she could call Appa's foot a bed.

"Uh, pretty much." Sokka grinned. "You're a lightweight, sis. Well, Aang wasn't complaining, anyway."

"Hey, it's not my fault I'm not used to people spiking my drink!" Katara yelled. "And why are you -" She was stopped mid-rant by movement and more mumbling at her side. Aang was waking up.

"Well, I'm going back to sleep now. Have fun explaining!" Sokka beat a hasty retreat into Toph's earth tent.

"Katara, you're too loud." mumbled Aang, looking up at her blearily. She was saved from answering by his sudden awareness of his position. He sat bolt upright and almost fell off Appa before Katara caught him. "Uh, hi Katara." Aang said awkwardly, only too aware of Katara's grip on his arm. She smiled shyly, and pulled him back onto the sky-bison.

"'Morning." she said cheerfully, trying to hold back her blush. Aang was really cute when he'd just waken up. "Why am I here?" Aang gaped a bit.

"You don't remember? Well, after Sokka put that leftover Cactus Juice in your soup -"

"Yes, he admitted that much. I'll get him back." Katara's eyes narrowed. Aang hurried on.

"Yeah, um, anyway, then you got a bit . . . weird." He blushed and ducked his head.

"Weird how?"

"Uh, you got really affectionate." Aang seemed very interested in a matted bit of Appa's fur.

Katara's now familiar blush returned in full force. This, with what Sokka had said, shed some unwanted light on the events of last night. "I didn't do anything too bad, did I?" she asked quietly.

"No, you just wouldn't stop hugging everyone, and you attached yourself to my neck. Uh, I couldn't get you to let go, even when you'd fallen asleep. That's why you're here. I, er, hope you don't mind . . ." he trailed off uncertainly.

"No, no, that's okay. I'm sorry for being so much trouble" They sat in silence for a while, both blushing. Aang got up first, having noticed how late it was.

"I'll go get some food for breakfast." He jumped off Appa, and walked toward the edge of the clearing. He turned back just before he entered the trees. "Uh, Katara?" he said, not turning around.

"Yeah?"

"I didn't mind."Aang bounded away, aided by air bending. Katara was left alone, wishing she could remember last night, once again. She got up, still dazed by Aang's statement, vague thoughts of Sokka's payback floating through her mind.