Title: Better Left Unsaid
Pairing (s): Kataang
Summary: 20 things you didn't know about Katara and Aang.
A/N: Although nearly all of these are related (with the exception of number seven, as that is simply one of the many possible outcomes in their future) they are very, very out of order. Thus, there will be ones of them as adults and then ones of them as adolescents. It's just very...mixed-up and kinda drabble-ish. That being said, hope you enjoy it!
1. "Some people," Avatar Aang says in his thirtieth year, the proud father of two children, one boy and one girl, "Say that my wife is undeserving of my patience, my kindness, my love, and my status as one who has very much changed the world."
He pauses.
"I always take care to assure them that it is very much the other way around."
2. The most remarkable thing about Aang was not that he did not fall; far from it.
It was the fact that there was someone always, always prepared to help him get back up.
Her name was Katara.
3. Contrary to what many believe, Katara and Aang killed many, many times over in her life.
"Did they do it in the name of justice?" Toph Bei Fong smiles wryly. "I dunno. Sometimes I wonder…does their love outweigh her crimes? Their mistakes? And, if those victims were here, if they could see what they had helped accomplish, would they forgive them?"
Only stunned silence.
Toph looks strangely serious as she continues, as if she can perfectly picture the listeners' surprised expressions. "If it had been them? If they had been the victims? If they had been killed for the sake of the world…if their deaths had been, in some way, just…Aang and Katara would've forgiven. They would've, a thousand times over." A chuckle. "As for me? I don't really think I could."
Once again, Toph pauses. "Could you?"
4. "Aang and I were young and foolish, once," Katara of the Water Tribe acknowledges, smiling, while balancing a baby on her hip, "but then again, weren't we all?"
5. Her brother thinks Katara must be some sort of weird.
Sokka watches her, leaning against the thin wood walls, as she twirls around under the falling cherry blossoms, laughing as the sakura trees rain down on her.
Aang lifts her up and spins her around, pure love and joy radiating from them both. Katara's hair swirls around her face, pink petals caught in her hair and flashing a stark contrast against the mop of brown.
Sokka watches her, and thinks, wow, they're not really dealing with a creature of this earth, are they, because Katara's far too special to be anything less than something from above. Yeah, weird, 'cause Sokka really doesn't think anyone else could act this peculiar, but still be as deserving and giving of love and compassion as his sister.
And seeing them together, seeing the not-so-young-anymore treasuring her like she should be, he comes to the unsettling yet satisfying realization: Aang is perfect for her.
As he walks away, Sokka makes no effort to conceal his smile.
5. Katara loves peaches. She'll stuff them in her mouth when no one is looking, orange juice running down her chin and dripping down to the ground. She always makes sure that she's alone; that no one catches her being so self-indulgent as to stuff it all in her mouth at once. Katara swears to Aang that she never been caught while eating one; not even once, and, laughing, that she only tells the ones she trusts the most about her weakness, lest it be, in some unthinkable way, used against her.
Aang will smile and just hand her another piece of fruit, and enjoys the fact that, somewhere along the way, he has become one of these people.
6. It has often been observed that, while Katara was, without a doubt, one of the more compassionate human beings to walk the earth, her kindness was balanced out by her nasty temper.
It also has been noted that those who suffered the worst of this were, too, the ones that were given the bulk of her kindness. Her anger was, most have decided, just another way of showing her affection.
When told of the population's general opinion, Toph Bei Fong scoffs. "Affection? Yeah, right. You just weren't there when I had to tell Katara I got mud all over her favorite shirt. Nope, let me tell you, for me, at least, affection and anger were not at all related, whatsoever."
Toph's lips quirk in a smile. "Now Aang? Aang, let me tell you, was a completely different story."
7. "You know—" Firelord Zuko gazes out the window, water streaming down in tiny rivulets. "She hated me."
Aang starts, even though he should already know this a thousand times over. "She hated you," he repeats, brow furrowed and voice strained by the familiar bitterness of loss.
"Not without reason," Zuko points out heavily, eyelids closing on a troubled amber gaze.
"No," Aang agrees softly, absently stirring his long-since cold cup of jasmine tea, "Never without reason."
8. It is a very well known fact that Katara was the girl that, at the age of fourteen, awoke the Avatar from a century of sleep.
9. It is not a very well known fact that, when Aang first blinked open his eyes, he thought that he was in heaven and the girl gazing down at him was nothing less then an angel.
10. In case you hadn't heard, to this day, he remains of the same opinion.
11. Aang has never found it hard to forgive.
"I know I've made tons of mistakes in my life," he says, "So if someone is really, truly, sorry, it's the least I can do, right?"
Katara smiles and nods and every single time she thinks back to that moment, when she truly wanted to change, to be like him, she'll say to herself, I'm going to forgive like that one day. I'm going to live like that one day.
And every day, every single day since then, she tries her best.
But even if Katara just isn't quite there yet, even if she snaps when she shouldn't or gets angry when he doesn't deserve it or just plain messes up, she knows it's okay.
With Aang, her best is all she has to give.
12. "I was watching the entire time," Iroh chuckles, sipping from his tea. "You two never knew. You thought you were all alone in the world…" He smiles, with a hint of wistfulness, of loss. "Ah, to be young, to be in love."
Aang stares in disbelief. "You were—you could tell—that is to say—you're not surprised?"
Iroh throws back his head and simply laughs. "I was there, Avatar. Right from the beginning…"
"From the beginning?" Katara asks skeptically. "You were watching?"
Iroh returns to his tea. "I was watching."
"All along?"
"All along, child," he smiles, "All along."
13. Sometimes, Koh laughs at her, leering and flickering faces before her so fast that she barely has time to blink. "My precious Ummi, someone will be joining you soon."
Ummi does not answer, but she prays for the Avatar's lover. She prays he will not make the same mistakes. She prays that the cycle is not forever; that this Avatar will find a way to break the will of time.
Ummi prays, and Ummi watches.
And then, when the face-stealing demon is destroyed forever, and Ummi steps free for the first time in centuries, the first thing she does is stop to silently thank this new love for being so special that she could give Avatar Aang the strength to do what Kuruk could not.
14. "It was dangerous, perhaps, to love as fiercely as he loved her, but if only for the fact that, should he loose her, his whole world would have disintegrated right in front of him."
15. The necklace he gives her is simply adorned; merely a spiral carving engraved into the stone and a simple blue band around her neck.
Katara really thinks it's a lot like him; simple and clean yet beautiful in its own way.
So when she looks back up at Aang, fidgeting nervously and looking like he's about to puke, Katara already knows what she's about to say.
"Yes."
16. A child is something to cherish; to hold within your heart and never let go.
Aang knows this. He wants their child's name to be beautiful and representative of his love for Katara, and what brought them together. Still, they have not decided; no name yet has seemed truly right.
So when he looks down at their newborn baby girl, at first, Aang is lost. Then, he is struck by a sudden flash of inspiration, one that is so surprising yet fitting he wonders why he hasn't thought of it before.
"I think we should name her Momoko (1)."
17. "So…" Toph drawls, shooting Aang and Katara a drawn out smirk. "I hear you two have been spending some quality time together lately, eh?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Aang retorts soundly, although his red cheeks and nervous fidgeting say otherwise.
"Really?"
"Yes," he replies firmly, rosy cheeks slowly fading to normal.
Toph gives him up as a lost cause and turns to Katara. "What about you, Sugar Queen? Haven't you been meeting Aang lately in bed?"
Katara chokes on her tea. "Excuse me?"
"I said, haven't you been meeting—"
"I know what you said!" Katara snaps. "And the answer is most certainly none of your business!" She pauses. "And, just for the record, no, I haven't."
"I can tell your lying," Toph says in a sing song voice, grinning maliciously. She sniggers. "Just wait till Sokka hears about this!"
Aang and Katara glare accordingly.
18. "Aang? I…I have something to say."
"What is it, Katara?"
"Well, I think…it's silly. Never mind."
"No, what?"
"I think…I think…I think I love you."
"…"
"Oh, Aang, I'm sorry, I never should have—"
"Katara. Kiss me."
"I know, I shouldn't have—what?"
"Kiss me."
She stares at him for a moment, before slowly (but happily) obliging.
And from then on, everything just seemed to fall right into place, like the pieces of a giant jigsaw puzzle that only she and Aang knew how to put together just right.
19. At the wedding, everything is perfect. The firebugs fly around, lighting up the night, give the whole garden a dreamy feel, and the fountains, Sokka grudgingly admits, are a nice touch.
But he has more important things to attend to.
Walking up to the groom, gazing lovingly at his wife as she animatedly greets the Earth Kingdom ambassador, Haru, Sokka says abruptly, "Hurt her and I'll kill you."
And then he walks away.
20. Just for the record, Sokka never had to kill Aang.
End
(1), Momoko--A Japanese name, meaning peach child (in relation to number five).
On number six--yes, I do really believe that when Katara gets mad at Aang, it is often because she cares about him. On number thirteen...I don't think we know what happenes to Koh's victims after their faces are stolen, so I just assumed that, should Koh be killed, they'd be free to go.
Um...I think that's all. Tell me if I forgot anything, or if there's any major OOCness or anything like that. Well, tell me what you think (please)!