A/N: Again, for my bingo card. This one fills the prompt "bend and not break." Just some one-sided Haru/Katara fluff with references to other pairings.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender.

Warnings: Pairing oriented, spoilers, set during series, and Mustache!Haru.

To Claim
By: Nuit Songeur

The sound of the rock pounding against rock was metronomic to Haru. It helped soothe tension and ease stress levels, the mind-numbing, as he practiced daily and drilled the same routines over and over. Such attention to his earthbending made him a formidable opponent the day the invasion. He was proud to fight alongside his father, proud to be welcomed among the others with open arms and not with discrimination against his age. The Avatar was much younger than Haru, as were his companions. So it didn't surprise him when they accepted other recruitments that were practically children.

Katara was very accepting as well, seemingly overjoyed to him. Mentally, he was glad that his mustache made him seem older.

This had been the opportunity he had been waiting for— to have time with Katara. It'd been a while since they'd seen each other, and Haru was quiet anxious to talk to her. In private. Nothing inappropriate, of course, just to spend time with her. Katara was most certainly an intriguing girl.

But, every time Haru tried getting her by herself, she was always need. Go heal that person, go help Aang with something, Sokka got his finger stuck in something. The list seemed endless. It was if she'd completely forgot about their friendship and moved on, becoming an important for the invasion. But, Haru supposed he shouldn't be disappointed about it; they were in the middle of war. There was no time for youthful infatuation.

It wasn't until after the invasion failed and after they fled Fire Island did Haru began noticing something. It was just small things, the way Katara's eyes lingered on the Avatar, the way the Avatar would stare at her, the way their hands lingered whenever they touched. It made something in Haru sink.

"I think they like each other," said the Duke whenever they reached the Western Air Temple.

"I don't think so. He's a bit too young for her," Haru replied. Pipsqueak scratched his nose.

"I always thought she'd end up with Jet. They seemed to like each other a lot." Haru froze.

"Who's Jet?" he asked carefully. Pipsqueak looked at the ground sadly.

"He was our leader. Sokka told me he died in Ba Sing Se." Haru grit his teeth.

"I'm sorry," he said softly before turning away from them. He vanished in one of the Temple rooms before any of them could call out to him.

Aang? Jet? What was with all of this? Haru thought…

What exactly did Haru think?

He was jealous, though he shouldn't be. He didn't have any sort of claim over Katara. If anything, Aang did. Still…

Still, it made him want to earthbend more. Earthbending took away his anger and made him not want to break anything.

Please review!

-NuitSongeur