trans_9 | Panda Lily [closed]

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Panda Lily [closed]

The Southern Air Temple is beautiful, even when it's empty. The wind whistles through empty hallways, empty treetops sway outside, no bison at all grazing from them, no lemurs leaping from branch to branch. Appa is over in his own Sensorium, and Aang had already spent quite a bit of alone time talking to him. Now he needs alone time with someone else.

His room is different here in the Sensoriums--his bed is near the window now, the canopy swaying in the breeze. It's there for the view of the rest of the temple. But it's just a move of the furniture, nothing else has changed.

It still brings him solace, even in its emptiness, this facsimile of his old home. Though bittersweet, it helps center him, and he needs to find his center again, especially with what he plans to undertake with the crew. Like his past lives told him--to help bring balance back to the universe, the crew needs help finding balance, and it's help he's pretty sure he can provide--even if he can't, at the very least, he has to try. To help them find balance, he must find balance again for himself.

Still looking out the window, he scratches at his side--the bandages are off now and the healed skin is itchy. He's fully healed, and has another set of scars to add to his little scar gallery, but he feels better. Almost himself again, even if he's a bit clumsy from a lack of Bending practice--the sarcophagus kept his body in good physical shape, but it didn't do much for his coordination.

The wooden floors creak and that's how he hears her in the doorway. He'd invited here to talk. They need to talk--he wants to talk to her, to listen to her voice, to hug her. He wants to just be in her presence again. There are thing he needs to say to her that he couldn't really say around Sokka and Toph.

"The breeze feels so nice in here," says Aang to his guest. "Sometimes I forget it's not real."

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"Trust me, it takes some getting used to," Katara replied. "It was actually one of the first places I recreated when I first got here. I guess you could say I was thinking of you a lot, and still am in a way."

She had to be honest. It was beautiful to be here, the same as it was when she first arrived, but less empty now that he was here. AS it was, she had to hold back from touching his skin because of the scars, and really, hold back touching him period. She knew how easy it was to fall back into old habits, and now that Aang was older and had the history of being by himself, she knew that was a line she had to read carefully despite her feelings.

And there was still the fact that every time he so much as touched her that her heart skipped, and she had no idea how to tell that to Aang. The promises she made to be with him, they were there, but she had been looking for the right time to tell him without freaking him out. How was that going to be easy? Her words sounded clumsy to her right now, slow. It was all she could do to compose herself in front of him when her own feelings were screaming to get close, to touch. Right now, this was the bet place: it was the first place they visited when he was first freed from the iceberg.

"You've had time to talk to Sokka, haven't you?" she asked. "I'm guessing he told you a lot of new information about me, stuff that I'm sure you want to know the truth about. I thought you'd want to know my side of things before you decided anything. That's...well, that's so like you."

She barely hid the admiration in her voice. It was SO good to see him after all this time.

No no no, there's no problem with the touching, Katara! He likes the touching and the cuddles and the kisses, and he's been starving for affection. Being trapped in a small space, an enemy trying to destroy him mentally at every turn, dealing with that kind of rage and hatred--he has been lonely for so long, and all he wants to do at the moment is wrap his arms around her and never let go.

But he isn't sure where they stand. He doesn't remember the end, all he remembers is the Invasion, the kiss, her never really dealing with it. But then here on the ship she's been acting so loving and--

Aang wants to figure out where exactly they are right now, because he doesn't know.

"What I figure..." says Aang. "Is that you found new teachers and are incorporating their physical training into your Waterbending. You're probably throwing out most of the beliefs that don't fit in with Water Tribe beliefs and beliefs from our world. Sokka is being overprotective as usual, which means you're being stubborn back, and in between taking care of each other like you always do because you love each other, you're getting along like cat-seals and dog-whales."

He looks over at her with a rather shrewd expression.

"Is that close?" he says as he leans back in the bed on his arms. The shadows put his back in sharp relief. So many scars now. The one from Azula's lightning bolt, more recently, the bullet scar, but also there are strange circular marks up and down the sides of his spine. Like healed over puncture wounds.

On his arms are light burn scars, maybe from a corrosive substance of some kind--it's much worse on the right arm, and it looks like tattoo was redone there. And all over his chest and back are odd little marks and gouges.

He doesn't remember what happened to his arms.

He doesn't want to talk about what happened to his back.

Yet despite the obvious signs of the hardship he's been through, the expression on his face as he looks up at her is the usual sly, knowing, cheerful expression, and the way he relaxes on the bed makes it seem like he's twelve again, lounging around the campfire as they all sit there and talk and laugh in the quiet spaces between the war.

Katara giggled. "Actually, that's a pretty good assessment. Sokka and I are mostly fighting over misunderstandings, but that we hardly get to see each other didn't help either. See, we pod popped at the same time, but we both reacted differently to it too. Sokka freaked about being put on the ship with all of the strange people, and I just...well, I adjusted. I talked to people, I got to know them pretty well and learned a lot about their ways which seemed strange at first but are now just another part of accepting different worlds. I made some mistakes too, and I'll tell you about them in detail, but I don't think learning something that would help with my bending was one of them. Sokka just doesn't get that."

But here, Katara did move closer, her hands starting to trace the scars that Aang had obtained: she knew the Azula scar, and of course the scar from the stupid bullet wound from the stupid person that shot him. It had taken everything for her to not ask who had shot Aang so she could give them a peace of her mind. She knew better now though: all that would do is make her angry and bitter about things, and what was the point of that anymore? Aang was here in the flesh, with her and talking and LISTENING like he always had. Her hand went to his head, touching if gently. She could have lingered over the scars, but right now she was happy to see a shaven Aang that was more like the one she'd known in her dreams and in her memory. Him being older had...well, it definitely made her more aware of how attracted she was to him, but those feelings were always second to having him as her friend and someone she cared about.

And without thinking, she puts her arms around him and hugged him close. She could here Sheeana almost scolding her about restraint, but she had understood, as the months had fallen by, that there was little hope of her doing that. She'd almost lost him more than once, and now that he was here in the flesh, why did she want to stop herself from doing what she dreamed of? No one would scold her for this: she loved him.

"I missed you Aang," she said softly. "It wasn't the same without you. I met a lot of great people, and they were all very caring and wonderful, but they weren't you. I guess you could say I was as obsessed with finding you as Zuko was those years ago. I'm so glad you're back!"

And there it is. Her arms wrap around him, and his wrap around her, and they sit there, just holding one another tight. She used to smell of leather and oilskin and seaweed (her hand lotion, and boy it did make her hands soft) but with the sterility of the ship and the plant suits, she smells different now. Not entirely different though. The smell of the leather of her waterskin lingers, and now there are other smells, from the ship. But as he holds her close, burying his face in her neck, he breathes in deep, and there's still the smell that was always underneath everything else, that's purely, uniquely Katara.

The young Airbender is lost in it, in the smell of her and the soft skin of her cheek and neck against his skin, in the feeling of her gentle arms wrapped around him, and of her body, firm and warm pressed against his. His hands grasp at the cloth of her clothes tightly, and it starts with a single sob, and then he breaks down, yet again, and amidst his tears, he wonders if he'll ever stop crying like this.

But he can't do small talk right now. He can't even fake it, all that he can manage is pure, raw emotion, everything he was afraid he would never have the chance to say to her. The rest can wait, she needs to know, he needs to tell her, make her understand the depths of the love he feels for her.

"I muh-missed you s-so m-much," he chokes into her neck, completely undone. "Every day. Every day, Katara."

There weren't words to describe the heaven that Katara was feeling right now. It was like this wasn't real, this was one of her dreams where she woke up and Aang was still gone, somewhere on the ship where she couldn't reach him. She couldn't begin to describe the many nights she lay awake thinking of him, hoping that wherever he was, he was thinking of her too. She knew there would be a lot to tell him, a lot that she had to explain: the Yeerk, Meluly, the Lex Luthor thing, the Bene Gesserit training, but as far as she was concerned, all of that could come second to being with him right now, holding him like she was. If they could stay like this, she was sure she could die happy, but of course she had no wish to die without him in her arms. He was a little taller now, and that took some getting used to, but that didn't matter.

The crying, she knew, was evident: he had been through a lot, and she guessed that the King had spared no torture for him. She couldn't imagine what he could have been through in that sarcophagus: the thought of it was actually making her cry too, and so she did, her arms holding him closer. She would never, never let him go again. THIS was what she missed every time she saw Will and Matt or Fate and Nanoha together: she knew true love when she saw it, and this was it. Being near him like this, naked skin pressed against hers gave her an involuntary shiver and only made her draw him closer.

"I...I missed you too Aang, so much. All I could do was wonder where you were, hope that I would see you again in my dreams. It was never enough. I know that's selfish, and I know that it wasn't anything you could help, but I felt like I was missing a part of myself here. Sokka kept claiming I was losing my heritage, but I never missed my people: they've always been in my heart, no matter where they are. But you...it was like a constant ache to be around all of these people and for you to not be there. I'm...I have to ask you something. Do you remember the end of the war at all?"

He shakes his head into her neck.

"They said--they said the war was over, that we'd won, but they had to wipe so far back. I have...pieces, here and there. The Western Air Temple is the last thing I really remember. Zuko trying to join us."

"Oh." Katara hadn't realized just how thorough their mind wipe had been. She didn't mind Aang not remembering her stupid indecision after that horrible play, it still made her angry with herself when she thought about it. What did bother her was that Aang didn't remember how the two of them were AFTER the war, where they finally got to be with each other. That hurt, but she also knew there was nothing she could do about it.

"I'll help you remember," Katara said softly. "I HATE that they had to take those memories away from you. They're a part of who you are, and you deserve to at least remember how you defeated the Fire Lord. You were amazing...not because of the fight, but because you stuck to your convictions and didn't kill him. You beat him on your own terms, and you were able to still honor your convictions to not kill anyone. That was...the strongest and best I've ever seen you, and I loved you for it."

Here, Katara couldn't resist it anymore: she leaned in, her arms around his neck, and have him a kiss. It was gentle but passionate, and she didn't break lip contact until at least forty seconds. "And I'll make sure you remember THAT too."

More fat tears plop down his face over the kiss, and he reaches up a hand to wipe away her own tears.

"I might have lost really important old memories, but that's why it's important we all make new ones, that we look to the future."

He smiles at her, and that gentle hand keeps brushing her cheek.

"It's a future I want you in," he says, breathlessly. "I love you so, so much. I love you like--like the sea loves the moon, and the flowers love the sun, and the stars love the sky."

Now he kisses her back, and it's such a gentle kiss, kind and sweet. It takes a while for him to break it off, too.

And she couldn't help but cry too: she had kept everything in until now, and even when she had been with Sokka and she cried, it wasn't the same until the two of them were together. Even his touch, just that, was enough to send happy shivers up her spine. It was Aang, here, and no one could take him away anymore. She didn't care if the Security team gave them a billion rules now: as long as she was with Aang, she would be happy. They would face anything together.

"I want to make a million memories with you Aang," she said, smiling through her tears. "You don't have to flatter me with words. I'm yours. I've been waiting for you to be here, going over everything in my brain. I want you to know...I love you too. It's always been you, you and no one else ever could make me feel this way. I'm just so, so happy you're here with us finally!"

And she kissed him again and again. She couldn't see life without him: how had she survived all those months by herself? They seemed to fade now like they never existed, at least, the parts where she felt alone. Now she would be with him: her friends, her family, her Sisters, everyone.

And him.

Words aren't enough, so he settles for kisses. A million little kisses, falling like leaves during Autumn, pressed against her mouth, her cheeks, the line of her chin.

Each of her own tears is kissed away, and there's the taste of salt on his tongue, and then he closes his eyes and presses his lips to her mouth again, and again, and--

Each kiss is slow and purposeful, and considering he's the type of person to savor every great thing in life, that's no surprise at all. And he really doesn't mean for this to go anywhere--to do that he would have to know where it's even going, and the thought hasn't even occurred to him.

Aang just wants to show her how much he loves her, and a million little kisses seems as good a way as any.

It was like they were making up for lost time and it was wonderful. Katara felt a surge of happiness grow through her and now, finally everything seemed to be right with the world. The moment she'd seen Aang, that feeling had been there: she hadn't cared abut the long hair or the grizzled look,m it was still Aang under there. It was like they had never left each other, but all of the things that had been unsaid between them were answered now in each kiss. His scent was the most pulling of all: the faint smell of blossoms in the breeze with the light smell of Appa, a smell she'd eventually become familiar with on their travels together.

Still, it was hardly believable, and in-between kisses Katara let out a small sigh of contentment, her arms falling to the small of his back, her body leaning closer to his, until they were finally tripping over each other and fell, Katara laughing lightly, a blush coming to her face that she was more than happy to have come to the surface.

"I guess we're still trying to make up for lost time," Katara said, killing the silence. She gazed adoringly at Aang. "But just so we're clear? You are totally my boyfriend. I know you may have been used to my mixed messages, so I want to be perfectly clear now: I don't want anyone else but you forever Aang."

And her kiss pressed to his lips again and it was like slow rain, sweet and wet and gentle.

He laughs too as he falls back with her on top.

"That's really good to know because I was confu--mmm! Mmm? Mmmmm..."

Okay, no more talking. No more talking, just kissing. Just lots and lots of kissing. With the whole tongue thing--that's very interesting to him, and pretty new. He thinks he likes the tongue thing. He also likes how it feels to have her on top of him.

Aang starts to realize that he just...really, really likes their current situation a lot, although he's kind of wondering how they're both getting so short of breath when they aren't really running around or anything. There are lots of strange feelings going on, in fact, in the pit of his stomach--and his skin is getting kind of flushed all over.

It's not a bad feeling, though, none of it feels bad. Just...new. Confusing.

Really, really nice.

Taking the initiative was apparently not the only new thing she was learning from being with Aang like this. All of a sudden, without realizing that, shes beginning to feel a kind of attraction for Aang that was a little more intense than she'd really felt before. It was like skin was breaking out in goosebumps and she feels really, really good, but she didn't know what to call it yet. She just continued kissing Aang, running her hands over his head and then around the neck again, kissing with passion.

And then she took a deep breath and it was like her body was on fire, and her eyes widened a moment, and now she was beginning to see exactly why she couldn't place the feeling really: she'd never felt anything close to the intensity of this, the bliss and the peak of emotion like this where her own body responded to his touch and his body and every caress.

But she definitely knew what the feeling was, all right. She'd heard talk from adult about these intangible things call hormones, buts he always dismissed it as something adults said to explain their continued warped ideas of sexuality with teenagers. Now, though, she was really beginning to see exactly what was so irresistible about hormones now, and how love actually played a BIG part on it.

And maybe that's why she SHOULD be moving away from Aang and stop kissing him but she hasn't yet.

Aang isn't even really thinking about anything other than what they're doing. Nope, not a chance. His entire inner monologue is pretty much something like:

Loveloveloveloveloveoohthatfeelsgoodloveloveloveloveloveoohthatalsofeelsgoodloveloveloveloveheythatfeelsgoodtoo!Lovelovelove...

Sitting up, with her straddling his lap, he runs his hands up and down her back and sides, slooowly, and his mouth winds its way down to her neck and starts kissing her there, his breath cool and soft against her skin as he breathes between kisses, affectionately nuzzling at her neck whenever he pauses to take in a breath.

Maybe it would have helped if she HADN'T known what this feeling was, because even knowing that didn't keep her from gently sliding her hand up and down Aang's back and tracing her fingertips along his spine. She knew somewhere in the back of her head there were things unsaid with Aang about this kind of feeling,a place she never really thought about until now.

NOW there were so many questions and she was trembling at his warm touch because it feels so good. She only wanted to be here with him and have him touching her like this. She could trust him, he loved her with everything in him and she knew that and why, why had she even pulled away before? Her mind was racing with all of these thoughts while her body seemed to do act without thinking.

She sighed into his mouth, and without even thinking about it, let out a quiet, gentle moan of bliss. It was a soft "haaa" but she blushed hotly at it anyway.

Edited 2010-03-19 11:51 (UTC)

That moan does...things to him. Uh, sort of...noticeable things...to places.

His skin flushes pink with mild embarrassment, and he spends a moment, holding on to her, his face buried in her neck, just breathing, not exactly sure if he should say something, or if they should stop or...

Yeah, she doesn't want to do that Aang. She really doesn't.

Which is why she tackles him back on the bed and wraps her arms around him, kissing him tender from his lips to his neck. She takes her time though: this wasn't something she really wanted to rush, but she wanted Aang to know exactly what was on her mind...which was why she was really trying not to think much farther than being close and kissing him and touching him.

No, thinking farther than that would be bad, bad bad. And it would be worse for Aang because she was a Bene Gesserit and knew what was happening to him right now even if he didn't.

Edited 2010-03-19 12:21 (UTC)

It gets rather intense. Hands slide off clothes and slide across the skin underneath, legs lock around hips, backs arch, and when she starts kissing his chest, he whispers her name like a prayer.

It feels like he's burning inside.

Before long, there aren't many clothes left in the way. In fact, there are almost no clothes left in the way, and in a moment, there's going to be nothing but skin on skin and mouths on mouths and mouths on skin and so on and so forth. In a moment, everything is going to change for the both of them. In a moment, Aang is going to understand one of the many wonders and mysteries of life the Avatar took a life on Earth to understand...

...how extremely frustrating it is to be interrupted before having the chance to make love to your girlfriend.

Oh, and also, he's going to understand what it feels like to go from making out with your significant other one second to being plunged into freezing cold water the next second. That, too.

Because that's exactly what Stacy does to the both of them. The Sensorium illusion changes and plunges the two teens into an absolutely glacial lake.

"BWAAAAAH!" Sploosh!

Aang comes up to the surface, sputtering, his teeth chattering.

||Aang, Katara, cease and desist procreative activities immediately.||

"You c-could have j-just t-told us that!" Aang protests. Loudly.

Katara was breathless, her emotions at her peak, her mouth opening in gasps...and for the first time, water takes HER by surprise and she shrieks, jumping a foot in the air.

"Ahh!" she yells, and get up, a growing blush all over her body. "T-THAT WAS....NOT COOL!" She yelled, her face contorted in temporary rage. seriously, that was just wrong! Of course, she had an idea of what she was just about to do, so she should have expected that. She just...never figured it would happen to her anytime soon.

So much for that.

"I'm sorry Aang," Katara said, her lips chattering. "Stacy doesn't let us do...uh, what we were just doing."

She sighed. "Now I'm all cold."

And frustrated. Very VERY frustrated.

"It looks like the rest of our clothes are on the bank," Aang says, shivering--and then he takes her hand in the water as they walk to shore.

Katara sighed. Stupid ship: who thought that was a good idea anyway? In retrospect she guessed it might be good it interrupted them then: she knew how powerful her feelings were for Aang. Save for Stacy, nothing else would have gotten her away from him.

But here, Katara gave him an impish grin. "Race you!" She yelled and took off toward shore surfing style, her feet being the board to guide her in the water as she used her hands to guide and propel the waves.

His girlfriend is surfing half-naked back to shore.

"...Iiiii think I'll just walk."

With his waist still in the cold water. Yeah.

Katara, however, is not once to back down easily...and knew darn well that had it not been for that moment, Aang would have been just as willing. There was that, and of course the glaring fact that Katara was far used to cold water than Aang was.

Which was why she surfed back toward her boyfriend, her hair blowing in the breeze. "Oh, don't tell me a little cold water has got you down? You're the Avatar. Maybe this means we have to resume training all over again?"

Which was just baiting teasing, but Katara refused to let their special moment be spoiled by a ship shaking its non-existing finger at them.

"I definitely need practice! It's just, uh, the water's fine!"

Freeeezing cold, but fine! Yeah! He'll just stay in the cold water for another minute or so before getting out.

"Feels great, yup!"

Even though it's making him shiver, but that is the intent. Eventually, though he does make his way to shore, and to his clothes, turning his back to Katara so he doesn't watch her get dressed again. A strong burst of air swirls around them both to dry them off, and he gets dressed again--this time putting his robes on, partly for warmth, partly because it doesn't seem like a good idea for him to be running around shirtless in front of Katara right now.

He doesn't seem upset by what just happened. Maybe nervous? Not sure how to handle it. A little awkward.

Katara sighed to herself. They SHOULD have been more responsible, more careful...but she couldn't help it. She really had no idea that all that time apart, all of those feelings she had for Aang would intensify because he was gone for so long, and he would be the same man that she always knew. She lost herself in his eyes, and for that reasons he dressed hastily, then turned to Aang.

"I guess we should wait for now," Katara said, feeling the sting at how empty that sounded to her. Oh yes, I love you more than anything in my life, but for the ship's sake we should control how we show our love!

But common sense. "There's a lot we're dealing with. I'm not ashamed we were that way, I just...want to make sure we don't go too fast. To be honest, I just don't want us interrupted. You and I have a special bond, and if we ever want to show that, we should with no one to bother us. You mean...everything to me Aang. I love you."

She smiled. "But I AM sorry you had to suffer that cold water!"

Aang sits down in the grass on the bank, legs drawn up, blushing slightly, and looking sheepish, but he still looks pleased.

"Slowing down would be...good. That was, uh, new. And nice, and...different. Definitely new. I've never really felt that...strongly before, even with you. I know, uh--okay, I got the talk about the birds and the bison from Monk Gyatso, but I hadn't really thought about...those kinds of things very much, and--"

He just breathes out a breath, trying to figure out what he's trying to say, a little "hooo."

Hoo boy.

"But slowing down would be good. We have a lot of catching up to do, and we should figure out where we are first, and with the war, we never had much time to just be with each other and we should probably do that first."

He goes on, "And I need to figure out some things, because that--a lot of that goes in the face of the things the monks taught me. But because I'm the Avatar, I have to let go of some of the things the monks taught me, which makes it all okay, but that means I never really...thought about those things, like I said, so I have to figure out how I feel about it all."

Holding up his hand, he takes her own, an invitation for her to sit down next to him.

"But what I do know is I love you, too." Obviously. "You're the one I want to...to share that with. ...When we're both ready."

Sit with him, Katara.

Katara definitely didn't need any coaxing to sit next to Aang. What had happened between them had been awkward, but Katara knew that doing the "good, smart thing" of staying a distance from Aang wasn't going to happen. They'd had a lot of time to not be together, there was no ways he was going to happen now that they were here.

"It's a new feeling for me too Aang. It's kind of a per of Bene Gesserit training to learn, uh, things about that, but I always thought it was embarrassing because it just seemed like people just did things with each other and there was nothing more to it for them. It isn't like that with you at all. It's more like...like I love you so much that the feeling just takes over me and I can't stop kissing you and touching you. But for now, we'll be careful."

Here, Katara smiled. "Yes, we do have a lot to catch up on, don't we? I need to show you the ship and tell you about all of the people I met. I want to show you some of the really neat places I've been, in the Sensorium and on this Christmas holiday. Also I...ought to explain why some people on the ship might be mad about the choices I've made. I'm guessing that you talked with Sokka about it. I know he would have mentioned it to you."

His hand in hers, however, made all of those past things seem manageable. She gave him a sweet, gazing look. "I still can't believe what you've done for all of us. I saw the sarcophagus and everything. You don't have to get into all of the detail: I know it must be traumatic enough for you. But I am glad that you were doing everything in your power to make sure we were all safe. Just when I think I know how great of a person you are, you always manage to surprise me again."

At that, he presses a kiss to her temple.

"I wanna know everything."

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