Hi, there, BlackRose here, and I have a new story that will be meshed with another one of my stories "Fire War Renaissance". For those of you already know of it, then you know I've promised this for a while, and for those of you who don't know of the story, then check it out.

Most of these chapters will be little snippets of scenes that happened during, before, and eventually after the story that didn't make it into any actual chapters. But, these first few chapters are considered the prologue to the story.

The prologue will pretty much just focus on Katara wrapping her mind around a relationship with Aang. By the time FWR begins, Aang and Katara where already three months into their relationship, so I thought I'd emphasis that it wasn't as immediate as people might anticipate.

Disclaimer: No ownage.

Butterflies

At the beginning…they were less than ideal.

Katara hadn't even known if Aang was alive or not at first. She was just sitting there, waiting. She didn't exactly know how to feel about him at the moment. After what happened on Ember Island a few weeks ago, they had barely said two words to each other. It wasn't even annoyingly awkward like after they kissed during the invasion. Whenever Katara was near him, he'd lose himself. She could see the pain in his eyes and how desperate he was to cover his emotions with that smile of his.

But all thoughts of his sadness completely left Katara for a moment when she looked up and saw Aang getting off the airship, tired and bruised, but still alive.

She couldn't help but run up to him, but the moment she was a few inches away she stopped herself. Suddenly taken aback that she was being so open towards him, even if it was for a moment.

"Uh," Aang stuttered. "Hi Katara."

"Y-you're okay?" Katara whimpered, her voice cracking as she felt tears in her eyes. She wanted to slap herself for crying and wanted to kick herself for feeling that she couldn't cry in front of him anymore.

"Yeah…you're okay too, right?" Aang asked her, and she just nodded, bobbing her head with her hands clasped over her mouth.

There was a moment of silence between them in which Sokka came out of the ship as well, hobbling along.

"What's wrong with you two?" He asked. "You guys are just standing there."

"Wh-what….it's nothing." Katara exclaimed, looking over slowly to see Sokka's wrapped up leg. "And what about you? What happened to your leg?"

"Well that's a long story in itself." Sokka teased and Katara immediately went over to her brother.

Aang just stood there, confused and a little dazed. He had always hoped that Katara would show a little bit of emotion when they finally saw each other after the battle. He looked over at Katara and saw her fixated on Sokka's leg. It was appropriate, he supposed, but he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

But was that really all she had to say to him?

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

There weren't many words exchanged between anyone that night. It hadn't taken Sokka, Suki, Toph, and Aang to return to the capitol since they were flying in an airship the second time around, and Zuko had already arranged for Ozai to be taken away to the prison in the same transport that was taking Azula to Hoi-Ten.

It was Zuko's choice, of course, to place Azula in the Hoi-Ten Mental Facility and one he made rather quickly, in fact. It only took him a few moment of staring at his sister once she had finally cried so much that she had passed out to know that she needed mental help. Katara could only agree, though she would've preferred a much more cruel fate for the fire princess, she honored Zuko's choice of what to do with his own sister.

"You do love her, don't you?" Katara slightly teased him when he expressed genuine worry about Azula's derange condition. Zuko just groaned.

"Yeah," he answered simply. "Too bad she doesn't love me."

Katara, had to admit, that she didn't think she'd ever stop learning more things about Zuko. She had carved to deeply in her mind that he was a bad person that she still couldn't completely wrap her mind around the idea that he was really this kind of person.

And so, with Azula on her way to Hoi-Ten and Ozai on his way to the prison just outside the capitol, everyone was finally able to relax and eat without once ounce of the war on their minds.

There was a marvelous feast that took place in the banquet hall of the palace, luckily one of the parts of the palace that wasn't burned during the agni-kai between Azula and Zuko.

Though, Katara was the first—as usual—to realize that Aang wasn't among the people at the table. She looked around at the overly huge table filled with mostly people she didn't know, but she couldn't spot Aang whatsoever. She hadn't really gotten too good a chance to talk to him when he got off the airship, and she was beginning to resent herself for it.

"Hey, Toph," Katara tugged at her.

"What…what is it?" Toph asked, chewing her food carelessly between her words.

"Do you know where Aang is?"

Toph just smirked. "I was wondering when you'd ask that." She teased, and Katara just blushed, which, of course, Toph had to feel. "He's in the infirmary," Toph answered, deciding that then wasn't the time to tease Katara and her blush. "Sokka was just there a while ago for his leg, so you can ask him where it is."

"It's, okay, I think I'll be able to manage." Katara stood, still blushing, she didn't know why, but she felt that it was kind of embarrassing to ask her brother to take her to Aang. She wandered about the palace for a good twenty minutes, twiddling her thumbs and being too lost her own thoughts to even find anything.

Was she seriously wandering around the palace to find Aang? What in the world would she even say to him?

Katara was trying so hard to get it out of her head that her and Aang were having problems. He had feelings for her, she was confused, he was depressed, she felt like dirt because of it. She wouldn't allow herself to do anything out of pity, she just wouldn't.

The night of the play, when all of them returned to the beach house, Katara wanted nothing more than to just wrap Aang in her arms and tell him everything would be fine. She would've liked to tell him that, if she had known that she wasn't the problem.

And so the little annoying voice in her head always told her not to do anything drastic or nurturing, at least not until she simplified things. But she had already simplified as much as she could.

She had two choices: Love him or don't love him.

And she very well knew the consequences that went along with both.

She didn't like either odds.

"Katara?" She heard Zuko's voice break her thoughts, obviously coming from the infirmary himself. He was walking gingerly down the hall, but he seemed much better than he had in the previous hours.

"Huh?" Katara's head snapped up at him. "What did you say?"

"What are you doing wandering around here, aren't you supposed to be eating dinner?" He asked.

"Well, I was actually, uh, I was….uh.."

"Well, just in case, Aang's in the infirmary right now, if you were going to see him." Zuko mentioned, a slight smile on his face. Katara groaned. Did everyone know about them two?

"I-I wasn't going in there just to see Aang…" Katara countered, crossing her arms and looking away, but her blush just made Zuko smile even more.

"Mmmm Hmmm," he hummed and walked up to her before her was about to walk away, placing two firm hands on her shoulders so she was forced to look at him. "But, just for the record, you might want to make up your mind, Aang's a major war hero now, and someone more aggressive is going to pick him up if you don't." He told her that, patted her hair, and walked away without another word or gesture, leaving Katara shaking and cold.

He was right.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Katara knew that Aang just decided to go to the infirmary because he didn't want to go up as ask her to heal him. She blamed herself. They hadn't talked like they used to in what seemed like forever. Ever since the invasion….

She blushed again, as she did every time the invasion crossed her mind.

Confused as she was, she knew that their kiss on the submarine wasn't an innocent peck. It had more depth and substance than the ocean they were floating on. And just for that split second, that one moment in time, Katara loved him. She knew she did, her heart wouldn't have pounded like that if she didn't love him, but ever since, she hadn't felt that pleasurable flutter around him. For the time being, it was butterflies in her stomach…and not the good one either. The bad ones that felt like they were carrying spikes on their wings while they flew violently under her skin. She winced at the thought. It hurt to be around him almost, so she avoided him.

But now she couldn't. She couldn't stay away from him anymore, but she knew the second she's get around him, it would hurt again.

Apparently, though, it was too late. In her deep fog of thought, she had wandered into the infirmary, not really even realizing she'd found it and was face to face with a nurse…and Aang.

"Is this the girl?" The nurse asked happily. Bandaging Aang up.

"Uh…yeah," Aang tried to answer quietly, obviously embarrassed, but Katara had heard anyways.

"Oh, well, I'll leave you two alone then," the nurse smiled, giving Aang a thumbs up before leaving into another room. Katara didn't met Aang's eyes, she just sat down in the chair across from his and looked at the window.

"So," She started dryly. "You told her I was your girlfriend or something?" Obviously assuming that what the nurse meant by her comment.

"What!" Aang exclaimed, waving his arms in surrender. "No, no, Katara, I didn't…I…I-I'd never do anything like that."

Katara was still silent.

"I did say that I really wanted to talk to you, though," he explained and Katara's face immediately softened.

"You do?" Katara asked, slightly softer and more normally, or at least enough so Aang could relax a tad. He nodded.

"Well yeah, we didn't exactly get a chance to talk much when I got here." He told her, scooting his chair a little closer, but stopped in his tracks when she saw her recoil in her chair. "I…uh, are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, no broken bones, to fractures, just a few scraps that I healed after I helped Zuko deal with Azula," she told him, trying not to sound as nervous as she was. She could feel it already. The sharp butterflies. She winced, trying to forget them and took a look at all the bandages on Aang. He had no major scars and all seemed like they'd heal in due time based on the bandaging on him, but there were so many little bandages everywhere, he must've had many bumps and scraps. She unconsciously reached out for him out of habit, touching one of the bandages on his arm and examining them. She didn't trust anyone healing and taking care of Aang but herself, and although the nurse was a palace professional, she still felt she could've done better.

Aang blushed while she touched him, her light contact enough to remind him of before…the good old days. But the fact that as soon as Katara looked up at him—their eyes locking intensely for a few moments—she pulled away, reminded Aang that the good old days were obviously no more. He frowned and stood, walking towards the window and stood with his hands on the sill, looking sadly out at the light rain that fell, washing away the burnt remains of Azula and Zuko's battle.

"So is this how it's going to be now?" Aang asked her so many moments later. His voice was hoarse, dark, and obviously saddened more than Katara could even comprehend. Her eyes widened while she looked at him, his bare back facing her that seemed to glow in the candle light in a radiance that made her mouth water (to her confusion and embarrassment).

"What?" She asked, trying to play dumb for as long as she could. She knew what was coming, what questions and feelings were coming, for sure. But she wasn't ready, she wasn't ready to know or ready to tell. She just wasn't!

"This thing now, this…wall between us," he exclaimed, turning to gesture towards both of them. Though his raised voice wasn't in anger, it was a broken yell, one that only emphasized his sadness. "Is this what I've turned us into?" He added more quietly, letting his head and arms hang shamefully and it was believable enough that Katara didn't feel like he was just putting on a good show.

"You?" She echoed.

"Yes me, this is my fault…me and my stupid feelings."

"No, Aang, don't go and blame this all on yourself." Katara pleaded with him while the sharpness in her stomach continuing, not only that but it seemed as if the butterflies had caught on fire, their spikes hot and causing her insides to inflame, feeling warm and not too good. "You always do that, you blame yourself for everything and it's just not true! This is my fault as much as yours…I've…" she cut herself off then, cursing herself for beginning to rant, but her cut off definitely caught Aang's attention.

"Um…" He mumbled, not really knowing what to say.

"You…you still like me right?" Katara asked shyly, not looking up at him as if her life depended on it. "You kissed me twice because you like me, right?" Aang smiled, the kind that made Katara melt inside for whatever reason, and walked over to her slowly, grabbing one of her hands and bending down on his knees while she still sat in her chair. His eyes were sincere, and Katara couldn't help but get lost in them.

He squeezed her hand before speaking. "Katara…I don't just like you…I….I love you, Katara." He told her seamlessly, as if it were as natural as breathing. Aang didn't know it would be that easy, even in his dreams he would have a hard time telling Katara his feelings, but then, as she looked at him so beautifully flushed and confused, he couldn't think of any easier thing then just telling her the truth. He hoped the effortless confession would calm her, even if it was for a moment and he lost himself and allowed his need and emotions to take over, wrapping his arms around her softly and gently pulling her against him as he raised to her level.

Katara was numb.

It wasn't surprising to put two and two together and know that love was how Aang felt about her…but hearing him say it, and so easily. It made her feel foolish for being so confused.

"I-I know." Katara told him, leaning into his shoulder gratefully. Feeling his warm was soothing to her, like sinking into the hot bath she so much needed.

"You do?"

"Yeah…I guess."

"And…?"

"And what?"

"And you're confused?" Aang pushed slightly, he knew it was risk he couldn't really afford, but something in his gut told him it was okay.

"Yeah," Katara answered. She wanted to just say she loved him too and get it all over with, but it wouldn't have been as genuine as she would've liked, and after the beautiful confession he said to her, she didn't want to settle for anything less than what he gave her.

An honest-to-spirit and purely natural confession of the heart.

"And you know what?" He said, pulling back and looking at her calmly. "That's okay. Just as long as you know that I love you and that I'll wait for your honest answer no matter what it is, I think it's going to be okay."

"R-really?" She expected him to be sad or mad or something emotional, but all she saw in his eyes was patience. Patience and a calming smile.

"Really." He confirmed.

And her butterflies disappeared as soon as he pulled her against him once more.

Don't worry, it continues.

Next few chapters will deal further with Katara and Aang getting that much closer to a relationship…fun fun.

Next Chapter in the Prologue: As Far As Parties Go.

Reviews are always welcomed from old and new readers!

~BlackRose108