Chapter III: Cactus Juice Shenanigans

Rated: Borderline Mature for implied Lemon and romance (Kataang, Maiko, Sukka, mention of Yukka, and Aang/?)

Summary: A confession of love goes awry; news is broken in the worst possible way, and lots of clinginess. The only possible culprit? Cactus juice. November Fanfiction Raid.

Timeline: After Ozai's defeat and Zuko's coronation, but before the Ba Sing Se epilogue.

LES: The cool thing about being in charge of the Fanfiction Raid is that I can celebrate personal events with the monthly theme. I turned 21 this month and can now legally drink. So, what better way to celebrate that than making Cactus Juice the theme of the month? I wanted to write this drunk, but I only drank enough for a buzz, and it's gone now.

Sokka couldn't quite believe his eyes!

He had been attending the private party celebrating Zuko's coronation as Firelord. The state party had finished and now only personal friends of the new Firelord remained to celebrate with him. This really just amounted to the Gaang, Suki, Iroh, Mai, and Ty Lee.

Given that there were underage people present (Aang, Toph, and Katara all being too young to drink) there was no alcohol being served. This meant that Sokka would have to find his own buzz.

However, his thoughts of getting drunk were tabled when he walked into the wine cellar and noticed a bottle labeled as Earth Kingdom Cactus Juice sitting innocently on the shelf.

Sokka only the vaguest memories from his own experience with cactus juice, but everyone told him that he had hallucinated under its influence.

It would be quite interesting to see how the others would react, and the best part was that since cactus juice was not alcohol, he would not have to feel guilty if Aang, Toph, or Katara got some.

Quickly as lightning, Sokka pulled down the bottle and spiked three random drinks before he emptied the bottle and tossed the evidence.

One of Zuko's servants came in, picked up the tray containing the spiked drinks, and carried it out towards the party.

Sokka grinned to himself and followed him. Let the insanity begin! Because everyone knew that, sometimes, it was just as interesting to watch others be drunk as it was to be drunk yourself.

The tray was carried out and everyone grabbed a drink, meaning that all three cactus juice-spiked drinks would be drunk.

Suki called a toast by raising her glass high. "I'd like to call a toast to Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, and Zuko for all their work to make the world a better place. To peace!"

"To peace!" The room echoed as they all took drinks from their glasses.

It immediately became apparent to Sokka who got the cactus juice-spiked drinks.

He grinned. This was going to get interesting.

Aang felt strange.

In the immediate aftermath of Suki's toast, he had suddenly been overcome by a sudden burst of disorientation.

He couldn't tell up from down. He had never felt this disoriented before, even when he had performed his first loop-the-loop. His equilibrium was so thrown off that he thought he was on the ceiling, but he didn't spare a thought on how he could have gotten there.

He gazed around the room in confusion. He also didn't remember his past lives being invited to the party, but Roku, Kyoshi, and Kuruk were all there.

Roku was chatting with Mai as if they knew each other, Kyoshi was demanding that the servants bring her another drink, and Kuruk was leaning against the wall watching the proceedings.

Aang stumbled as his equilibrium shifted and he was back on the floor. He grabbed a nearby table for support.

"Hey! You all right over there?" Kyoshi called over towards Aang.

The young Avatar growled. "Leave me alone, Avatar Kyoshi. I'm fine."

"Huh? 'Avatar Kyoshi'? Are you blind too? I'm Toph!"

Aang froze and squinted at Avatar Kyoshi. She came into focus and he realized that it actually was Toph. "Oh… sorry, Toph."

Toph watched Aang carefully with her Earthbending vision. It was like he couldn't find his balance. Toph had never known Aang to lose his balance. "Now, I might not being an expert in the vision department, but even I think you should be able to tell the difference between a twelve year old girl and a grown woman who has been dead for centuries. Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine. Can you excuse me for a moment?" Aang watched as Katara left the room and headed out into the garden area. Without waiting for Toph's reply, he went after her.

Aang couldn't quite figure out why he was going after her after what happened on Ember Island; but it was like someone lit a fire in his gut filling him with reckless courage.

He didn't care if Katara did not feel the same way about him. He just had to tell her how he felt… the truth.

She stood motionless at the center of the garden, gazing up at the moon.

For a moment, Aang was dumbstruck by her beauty, and then he called out to her. "Hey."

Katara turned around and smiled. "Hey, Aang, beautiful night, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's beautiful. Almost as beautiful as you." Aang said boldly.

Katara's gaze dropped and she blushed brilliantly. "Aang, I…"

"I can't help how I feel and it's time you knew the truth. I'm in love with you." Aang said frankly. "I love you." He repeated, as thought amazed to get the words out.

As the words that he had kept locked in his heart for so long flowed out, Katara smiled at him. "I should have told you a long time ago. I love you too, Aang." She spread her arms wide as an invitation for an embrace. Aang moved forward instantly and embraced her. He had never felt so happy in his life!

Inside, Toph found Sokka. "I think something's wrong with Aang."

"What? What did he do?" Sokka asked.

"Well, he confused me for Avatar Kyoshi, and now he's outside confessing his undying love to a tree."

Sokka glanced out the window and, sure enough, there was the Avatar embracing a tree.

Wow, I knew that Aang was into respecting all life, but I didn't know it went that far!

Though, on second thought, Sokka could cut him some slack for being a literal tree-hugger. After all, Sokka had once loved the moon, so he supposed he couldn't make fun of Aang for loving a tree.

He leaned out the window. "Whoo! Way to go, Aang!"

Aang let go of the tree, smiling brightly in his direction. "Thanks, Avatar Kuruk!"

Sokka blinked. So Aang was affected by cactus juice the same way that Sokka was: by having hallucinations. He realized he shouldn't have been surprised because Aang had all ready proven himself prone to hallucinations.

It explained why Aang had confessed his love to a tree. He probably thought it was the girl he had feelings for… either Meng or that On Ji girl…

He left Aang outside, leaving the Avatar trying to kiss the tree, and turned his attention to his next victim.

As Mai was speaking with Zuko, she got the distinct impression that he wasn't really hearing what she was saying. He was just staring at her blankly with his eyes glazed over. "Zuko, are you listening to me?" Mai demanded.

Zuko blinked slowly at her. "Of course I'm listening to you." He said before he turned and walked away, leaving Mai confused. Turns out, she would deeply regret letting him walk away.

Zuko walked purposefully to the stage and mounted it. "Excuse me; can I have everyone's attention, please?"

Almost everyone turned their attention to Zuko. Only Sokka noticed Aang come back in, sans his new arboreal girlfriend.

"I would like to announce that I have knocked Mai up!" Zuko said with a huge smile.

Everyone froze except for Suki. She was the closest to Aang and attempted to cover his ears, but it was too late.

Aang ducked her hands and called loudly: "What do you mean by 'knocked up', Avatar Roku?"

Zuko didn't question Aang calling him 'Avatar Roku'. He was instantly at Aang's side, almost like he had teleported, and wrapped his arm around the young Avatar's shoulder. "It means I got her pregnant with these loins!" Zuko said, indicating his crouch.

Aang got interested. "Really? How?"

Before anyone could stop them, Zuko had pulled Aang away and was giving the thirteen year old boy an extremely lewd version of the Birds and the Bees talk that would have made the author of the Kama Sutra blush. Aang, however, was deeply involved in the talk, and didn't seem embarrassed in the least. But, perhaps, that was just the cactus juice.

Back in the corner of the room, Mai blushed deeply in embarrassment and quickly left the party, sure that she wouldn't be able to show her face among these people again for many years.

Sokka just laughed. So Zuko had proven himself a blabbermouth! It was just unfortunate that Mai had chosen this night to tell her news to Zuko because no sooner than he had found out, everyone had found out, and now Aang was getting an in-depth talk on just how babies were made. Even Sokka blushed a little at some of the things that Zuko was saying (and he wasn't a virgin either!) but seeing the look on everyone else's faces as Zuko began to teach Aang about different positions was completely worth it.

It was at that moment that Sokka's third and final victim stopped with their phase of disorientation and joined the party.

When everyone saw Katara stalking towards Zuko and Aang, they all thought that Katara's mothering instincts were kicking in and she was on the move to protect Aang's innocence. However, it turned out that they couldn't be more wrong.

Instead of yelling at Zuko and covering Aang's ears, she instead wrapped her arms around the two boy's shoulders and proclaimed in a loud voice: "I love you guys!"

"But you're not Mai…" Zuko protested weakly as Katara leaned up on her toes and kissed him on the cheek.

Zuko, thankfully, did not have to deal with Katara's affection for very long because after the brief kiss she released him and grabbed Aang's shoulders, swinging the boy around to face her. "But I love you more."

Everyone gasped as Katara pulled Aang forward and gave him a slightly different kiss than the one she gave Zuko. It was not a brief contact with his cheek, but full-on mouth and tongue kiss! Aang did not seem to mind, because he almost instantly recovered from his shock and returned her kiss with just as much passion.

Almost as quickly as it had happened, Katara pulled out of the kiss, leaving Aang frozen in place. "So… what were you guys talking about?" She asked Zuko playfully.

Zuko didn't seem to be shocked or bothered by their kiss at all, and answered as if nothing had happened. "We were talking about sex."

"Yeah." Aang said, with a dreamy grin on his face. "Avatar Roku was teaching me how to get a girl pregnant."

Katara rolled her eyes. "Talking about sex? Don't you know that the best way to learn about sex is with some first-hand experience?" Aang began to drool. "Come on, let me show you…" She began to attempt to drag Aang away from the party and into the private apartments.

Sokka, surprisingly enough, couldn't take anymore at this point. He instantly jumped forward. "Oi! No sister of mine is going to be giving up her virginity under the influence of cactus juice! Especially to the Avatar!"

"What's wrong with being the Avatar?" Aang asked with a dopey grin. "Roku said that being the Avatar would help me with the ladies. You should know, Kuruk."

"No, I don't know!" Sokka yelled, deciding that things would progress faster if he just played along. "There will be no baby-making with my sister tonight!"

Katara huffed and rolled her eyes. "You're such a spoil-sport, Sokka." And then she passed out, only just getting caught by her brother.

"Whew. Glad that's over." Sokka said, hosting Katara's prone body against himself in preparation to take her to her room to sleep it off.

Aang, however, just stared at Katara's limp body in confusion. "So I won't be finding out about sex?"

"No!" Sokka yelled, carrying off his sister.

The next morning found three people in a highly confused state and two people pissed off at them. It was one of the effects of cactus juice that none of them remembered what had happened the night before under its influence. So Zuko couldn't remember finding out about his impending fatherhood, or giving Aang 'The Talk'. Aang couldn't remember confessing his love to a tree Katara. Katara couldn't remember offering to have sex with Aang. And, perhaps in a way, that was for the best.

Sokka felt like he had aged several years the night before, but that wasn't so surprising considering that he had witnessed his sister wanting to make love to a boy two years younger than she was. Hell, he could have witnessed her wanting to make love to anyone, older or younger, and it would have been disturbing. So maybe it had less to do with Aang and more to do with the fact that she is his sister. A horny sister was something that no brother wanted to see!

Aang tried to stay silent in the face of Sokka's wrath, but when he caught the older boy glaring at him across the room for the hundredth time, Aang felt that he couldn't stay silent anymore. "Um… Sokka? Are you upset at me for something?"

"Upset? Upset? Why would I be upset? What could possibly be upsetting about the things I witnessed last night? Now I suggest that you shut up, because you are about two seconds away from getting your happy bits chopped off." Sokka growled.

From that moment, Aang decided that a vow of silence would be the best way to preserve his health. Katara walked into the room, holding her head and groaning, and Aang was about to give her a cheerful wave when Sokka exploded.

"DON'T EVEN LET ME CATCH YOU LOOKING AT HER, YOU LITTLE PERVERT!" He yelled, causing the two friends to jump in shock. Sokka glared at the two of them before stalking out of the room.

"What's up with him?" Katara asked quietly, and Aang shrugged. Suddenly, Katara began to giggle and Aang gave her a look of confusion. "Aang, why do you have lip paint on your lips?"

LES: Well, you see, Katara… that lip paint is actually from your lips. There was a bit of transfer when you kissed him the night before. LOL. Don't you just love drunken shenanigans? Aang hallucinates, Zuko is a blabbermouth, and Katara is REALLY affectionate.