Author's Note: My first Avatar fic! XD Sorry, but I have to do this, no matter how juvenile it is. The format is a little different from most of my other stories, too. I've done dual perspectives before, but never in first-person. However, there might be more Katara POV than Aang, but I'll try to balance it out. Just bear with me if it gets confusing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender, on my honor, or may I be chopped up and made into soup. If I am lying, my only request is that it be minestrone soup. .

Chapter One:

Water

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Aang's POV

It's amazing how suddenly your skin can change over the course of a year. But not as amazing as the fact that those skin pigments can still work after being in ice for 100 years! Of course, it took a while for them to work properly. A very uncomfortable while. Believe me, red does not go well with blue.

"Aang, hurry up with those vines. We need to get those bags tied to Appa soon or we won't get to the other side of the river before nightfall," the clear, ringing voice of Katara called from the foot of the tree. I pulled my attention from my sun-tanned, callous hands and back to my task.

My feet were balanced precariously, but securely, on the uppermost branch as I tried to untangle the vines we were going to use as rope.

"And we can't use Sokka's rope because…?" I said, picking uselessly at a nasty knot in one.

"You heard him," she replied dully. "'Those cost good money! Besides, we need to save the well-made stuff for fighting and escaping and stuff, right? Right? Of course I'm right.'"

I chuckled. She got her brother's high-pitched, authoritive tone down perfectly.

Crying out in triumph as the last of the wrist-thick plants fell to the ground, I followed them; jumping lightly from branch to branch until I landed on the spongy undergrowth with the grace of one of those street performers in Ba Sing Se.

A good three inches from Katara's face.

I nearly laughed at her wide-eyed shock at my sudden appearance, but stopped mid-way through the thought when I was just as suddenly frozen by her stunningly blue eyes. To cover the abrupt heat rising in my cheeks, I quickly bent down and gathered the vines in my arms.

"Sorry, Katara," I said cheerfully. "Couldn't help myself." Katara just grinned and pushed me playfully.

"Nearly scared me out of my wits, you did!" she scolded mockingly. I said nothing, just shot her a cocky grin.

"Hey! Twinkle Toes! Once you're done with those vines I need you to tell that stupid bison of yours that if he has to go, he should go in the woods…NOT OUR CAMPSITE!"

I winced as Toph stomped into the clearing, her milky eyes fixed fiercely on a spot just over my right shoulder.

"I'll get right on it," I said, trying not to sound like I was smiling. Which I was.

Growling something that sounded curiously like it included "bison piss", Toph made her way back through the trees to our camp by the river. Katara and I shared a knowing look before hurrying after her, both of us highly amused.

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Katara's POV

You've got to admit; Aang's a goofy kid. He says and does all these crazy things sometimes, like he's making up for a century's worth of chronic inactivity. In must have been torture for a 12-year-old with his kind of energy. Sokka usually isn't all that amused by it (actually he can't stand it), but I personally think it's, well…cute. Yeah, I said it. Cute. That's the only word for it.

Ever since the whole "Will you go penguin-seal sledding with me?" I knew I would not have a moment's rest with this kid. I mean, come on. You spend 100 years trapped in ice, and that is the first thing that comes to mind? Penguin-seal sledding? You can't blame me for gaping in dumb confusion.

Maybe it was because of the war, or my mother's death, or Sokka's whole attitude about immaturity (which is really redundant if you think about it), but before I met Aang, I never really opened my eyes to the fun in life. Boy, did my little air-bender friend change that. Take now for instance;

"FLYING BISON BELLY-FLOP BOMB! WAAAHOOO!" Aang whooped as he jumped off of Appa's nose, glided a bit, and dropped into the river with a resounding SLAP. The moment his tattooed head popped out of the water, a torrent of complaints rained down on him from both Sokka and Toph, basically centering on the fact that they were securing the bags and he wasn't. Grinning sheepishly, he climbed out and shook himself dry like a dog, adding a little water-bending to take out the water soaked into his clothes. His chest and stomach were red from the hard contact with the water. I winced when I saw it, but it was obvious he didn't mind the palpable stinging.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," he said, roughly pulling his shirt over his head. He then bounded up to Appa, pulling the bags up with him easily as he wafted up drafts of air. Once he landed on Appa's back, he went to the task of tying the vines to the bags and the bags to the bison.

As soon as we finished tying the bags, we found we had a good two hours before sundown. The river was five miles wide, and Appa could make it across in no more than 25 minutes. Even so, the Fire Nation was still scouring the areas surrounding Ba Sing Se, obviously looking for Aang, so we had to get going.

Once we landed and untied the bags from Appa, Aang darted back to the river.

"C'mon, Katara! Let's do some water-bending!" Aang crowed as he ripped off his shirt clumsily as he ran eagerly to the riverbed. Two seconds later, a loud SPLASH resounded to our campsite about fifty feet from the river. I quickly followed, laughing as I saw Aang try to stop the current that was pulling at him. It only ended in speeding up the current instead. Giving up, he went underwater and swam to shore.

I was dressed down to my normal swimming wear due to the heat of the day anyway, so I followed Aang's example and ran off of a high bank by the river, diving into the refreshingly ice-cold water. A silvery-scaled fish darted by my left as I gazed through the rushing water.

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Aang's POV

Something just happened. I can't place it. It happened the second Katara walked into view. A sudden, uncomfortable tightening crept into my stomach; a different feeling from what I usually felt when I was around her. I could barely stand it.

Then again, it wasn't all that uncomfortable.

The only thing my mind registered was Katara's beautiful figure. Her toned, bare stomach and fluid grace as she walked were all I could think about before she jumped into the river with a shriek of glee. I shook my head to get the image of her out of my head, but to no prevail. It was branded there.

But why did it affect me so much? I wondered, distressed as my eye were locked on Katara, who was still underwater, and swimming towards me.. I've seen her like that many times before.

Well…then again…there was that time on the way to Omashu…

From that thought of Katara repositioning my Octopus stance, my mind pressed the fast-forward button on my memory. It stopped in a certain cave, a torch between Katara and me. From then my memory went in slow motion. My heart pounded just from my mind's-eye vision of Katara leaning in closer…and closer…

I snapped back to reality when I realized Katara was staring right back at me a few feet away, her eyebrow raised inquisitively. Embarrassment rose to my face, for the second time that day. I had to find a way to distract her before she saw me blushing.

A light bulb went off in my arrow-bedecked head.

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Katara's POV

Alright, I won't side-step the issue. I know Aang has a crush on me. It's no secret. He's given me that kind of entranced gaze many times before…although I'll admit, not so intense. But it's all a part of growing up, anyway. I mean, I'm growing up too…

And that is all I have to say on the matter, because I just got dunked.

It was then that I realized that that stare was not a lovey-dovey gaze, but a look of a predator examining his prey. A simple mistake.

Struggling to the surface to take a breath, I stared down Aang, thirsting for revenge. Grinning sadistically, I raised my hands gracefully above my head, allowing a very tall wave tower over Aang…before letting it crash on top of his head. I laughed as he came up sputtering.

"You guys! Stop fooling around! Can we at least make camp before you start acting like five-year-olds?" Sokka said, arms crossed as he glared at the two of us. Still chuckling, I climbed out with Aang tagging along behind me.

"Okay, okay," I said, heading over to my bag that held my towel. The sun was sinking to the horizon, leaving the sky a beautiful rainbow of colors. Drying off, I felt someone's eyes burning on me. I could only guess who it was.

Aang was innocently pulling on his shirt when I snatched a glance in his direction. But I knew better. He was staring at me.

Wondering why a feeling of flattered embarrassment came from this knowledge, I pushed the thought away and pulled on my dress before helping the rest of the gang set up camp. Once we were done, we had dinner of fish and some bread and cheese we got from Ba Sing Se. It was a warm night, so we decided to just lie out under the stars in our blankets, the fire out. I was beside Aang, whose brows were furrowed in concentration as he stared at the clear, starry sky.

"What are you looking at?" I asked, looking up as well.

"Constellations in the sky," he replied, his sight still focused on the stars.

"Which ones?"

"Oh…Altair, the Cowherd…and Vega the Weaver," he replied, a strange hesitance in his voice. He hastily added, "And the Big and Little Dipper. Think you can find them?"

The Cowherd and the Weaver…I knew that story. I forced down a blush as I remembered the story.

A young cowherd named Niulang the star Altair happens across seven fairy sisters bathing in a lake. Encouraged by his mischievous companion the ox, he steals their clothes and waits to see what will happen. The fairy sisters elect the youngest and most beautiful sister Zhinü, the star Vega, to retrieve their clothing. She does so, but since Niulang sees her unclothed she must agree to his request for marriage. She proves to be a wonderful wife, and Niulang a good husband, and they are very happy together.

But the Goddess of Heaven finds out that a mere mortal has married one of the fairy girls and is furious. The Goddess forces the weaver fairy back to her former duty of weaving colorful clouds in the sky because she could not do her job while married to the mortal. Taking out her hairpin, the Goddess scratches a wide river in the sky to separate the two lovers forever, thus forming the Milky Way, which separates Altair and Vega.

Zhinü must sit forever on one side of the river, sadly weaving on her loom, while Niulang watches her from afar and takes care of their two children

But once a year all the magpies in the world take pity on them and fly up into heaven to form a bridge over the star Deneb in the Cygnus constellation so the lovers may be together for a single night, the seventh night of the seventh moon.

I pulled out of my reverie, and discovered that today was the seventh night of the seventh moon. I scanned the skies and found the constellations of Altair, Vega, the Milky Way, and the Bridge of Magpies. Tonight Zhinü and Niulang would be allowed to be together once again…

"Which one did you find?" Aang asked softly. With a jolt I realized just how close he was beside me. Trying to clear my throat inconspicuously, I quickly found the Big Dipper and fell into a faux calm as I pointed to the constellation.

"I can never find the Little one," I said, chuckling. I heard Aang shift beside me and he took my hand pointing to the Dipper. Moving it slightly up and a little to the left, he pointed my finger to the North Star.

"You see that? Now follow the line of stars down…" he said, moving my hand as he spoke.

"I see it now!" I exclaimed, smiling as I lowered my hand. "Thanks."

Then I realized he hadn't let go of my hand. I turned slightly to look at him. There was a unfamiliar, yet warm look in his eyes. I let out a breath I hadn't known I had been holding. The corners of my lips turned up in a small smile as I relaxed. We sat there for what seemed like an eternity…

"APPA! YOU STUPID FLYING MONSTER! WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT GOING TO THE BATHROOM IN OUR CAMP???"

Aang winced, letting go of my hand. Smiling wearily, he stood up.

"I better go calm Toph down before Appa gets trapped by a granite cage or something," he said.

"Good luck," I replied wryly.

As he walked away I could still feel the tingle of his touch on my hand.

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Author's Note: (evilly) Yes, it's all cute now. Just wait…angst, angst, and more angst is on the way. (laughs evilly)