A/N: R & R Thankies

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of the characters within it.

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Clouds

His arms were wrapped around her waist and his face was burried into her sepia-colored hair. His body rested against her, molding into hers as well as it could. His hands were in her shirt, arms resting on her stomach, in an effort to pull her closer to him... And somehow, cuddling wasn't even the right word for it.

No; cuddling, or any other sweet word often used to describe a couple's acts of affection, would never be good enough to describe what they had. It wouldn't even make up the half of it.

Katara reached up to her neck and played with the necklace that rested there within her fingers. The one that she wasn't quite used to yet, but embraced all the same. It was much like her mother's, the same lace-like material looped through the metal cast connecting the engraved purple stone to it's holder. The engraving itself was the water tribe symbol, but within the three consecutive waves, was a swirl looking character, representing the airbending civilization. She smiled as she pressed her fingertips to the cool stone, and felt as Aang tightened his grip on her.

She sighed happily and tapped her fingernails quietly on the lavender pendant, more content now than ever before in her lifetime. She'd only worn this necklace for a short while, because Aang had just proposed two nights ago.

"You're awake?" she heard him ask in a soft whisper.

She tilted her head to look at him from the corner of her vision. Her whole body shifted in his arms as she reached to kiss his neck.

"Yeah," she said in an airy tone, "I'm not tired."

"Me'n either," Aang replied, sliding one of his rough hands up her back a bit, the other pulling out of the garment and tugging at her hip so that they faced each other full on; body, face, and all.

Katara reached out at his head, resting her hand on top of it and running her fingers through the tufty hair that was growing there.

"I love your hair," she said, massaging his head and claiming each strand as her own.

Aang chuckled.

"I love you."

Even though she heard it before, she couldn't help but blush.

"I love you, too."

"You know," he said, smirking, "we don't have to go to sleep if you're not tired. We can do something... else."

By the tone in his voice and the smile on his face, Katara would have assumed the comment had a double meaning; but there was no lust in his eyes.

"What do you have in mind?" she asked.

"Whatever you want. Just throwing it out there."

It was a sincere thought, seemingly only what it was.

"Can we go outside?"

Aang raised an eyebrow at her in an attempt to read her mind.

"Of course."

He released his hold on her, and she climbed out of the bed. She slipped on some shoes, and in her undergarments and nightshirt, she headed out onto the balcony. Aang humbly followed.

Katara sat down and leaned on the wall outside, closing her eyes as the cool night air tickled her skin. Aang copied her, sitting next to her. She put her arm around him and squeezed once before letting go again.

"It feels nice out here," she announced.

Aang brushed his finger against her cheek, then lowered it and set it on her upper leg.

"Aren't you cold?"

She shook her head.

"No, but thank you," she responded, giving him a compassionate smile.

Aang squeezed the limb, returning the expression.

She turned her head upward and gazed at the sky. The stars twinkled in the empyreal air, some bright yellow, some white. The moon rested high above, about half full, and the darker spots on it seemed to blend into the entirety of the eggshell white, giving the appearance of a porcelain plate in the sky. Thin clouds slightly covered it up, moving slowly in the deep celestial blue. Each horse-tail cloud passed over the lights that dotted everywhere in the air on their travels.

"Why is it that clouds usually disappear at night?" Katara asked through the comforting silence.

Aang followed her line of sight up to the whitish-blue streaks in the sky.

"I remember the monks telling me a story about that," he said. "You know the puffy clouds? The ones that little kids picture all clouds as?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Well those, the cumulus; they are so close to the ground that when the night air, which is actually freezing, comes out, they practically melt and turn to moisture in the sky... the wispy ones," -he pointed at the clouds floating among the moon- "are made of ice, and can't melt because they are already frozen. So if the sun doesn't melt them during the day, they stay frozen at night."

"Oh. Is that where dew comes from?"

"I suppose."

Katara giggled.

"Did you ever think about..." she trailed off.

"What?"

Katara looked away, still giggling to herself.

"It's nothing. It's silly."

Aang pushed her softly and she rocked backwards a little bit, but didn't fall over.

"C'mon, tell me," he said in a playful voice, and grabbed her chin so that she was forced to look at him.

"Just... have you ever thought about us like that?"

Aang tried to read her eyes.

"What do you mean?"

She shook her head.

"Well... clouds are air and water right?"

"Yeah."

"So... I'm a waterbender, and your an airbender."

"Correct."

"So... we're like the clouds."

Aang released her chin and looked at the ground momentarily.

"Yeah. In a way, I guess we are."

They both laughed.

"Alright," Katara continued, "So don't you think it's a bit ironic?"

Aang brought her into focus again.

"What?"

Katara leaned forward and kissed his cheek.

"That you were frozen."

Aang's hand slipped and his back hit the ground with Katara on top of him.

"I mean," she picked up, "If I'm the water, then I'm frozen."

"And I'm the air, so you're trapping me until morning?"

"Hmm..."

Aang flipped her onto her back, his hand under her head and began to kiss her cheek, leading to her neck, then her collarbone.

"I like that aspect of it," she murmured.

He continued to kiss her body.

"As do I."