Did everyone have a good X-Mas? No coal? Good! Anyways thank you all for reviewing! Well, here it is, and apparently some of you are actually disappointed that this is the last chapter, and I’m sorry for those who are. They’re a lot of people who are gifted with patience with their stories. I'm not one of those people. So sorry, but even if I forced myself to continue this story, it would start to get really bad and there would probably be monthly updates. Nobody wants that, so...yeah. Enjoy the last chapter. Happy Holidays.

Disclaimer: My last disclaimer(sniff)...How should I say it?...w/e. I don’t own Avatar. Wow, that was special.

EDITED(Yay! Every chapter has been edited)

Chapter 13

By the time the sun had risen, Aang had lost half the nights worth of sleep without a single sign of Zuko’s whereabouts. He had stayed by the fire the entire night, senses alert for any clue that would show that the firebender was still there. Though none ever came, he was sure that if he let his guard down for even an instant, he would take advantage of the moment and strike. And the worst part was, his paranoia had triggered many suspicions in Katara

He had planned to go back to the clearing later, explaining to his friends that he had left his staff there so that he wouldn’t have to lie to them, but Katara insisted that she go with him. Sokka even offered to go, and it took a moment for the airbender to imagine why he would want to come with them. Then it struck him how awkward it would seem for him for him to want Katara to go with him and not Sokka, alone with just the two of them. After what he did to his sister! Surely Katara would have told him by now...

"Sokka can come with me. Someone needs to look after Appa anyways,"he finally said, casting Katara an apologetic glance. She shrugged, her expression letting him know that it didn’t matter to her who accompanied him. Enthusiastic that Aang had chosen him over his sister, Sokka quickly picked up his weapon and pocketed his knife, ready to leave. With a wave good-bye, the two boys set off into the forest.

After a few moments passed by in the dense forest, Sokka began to realized how fast they were going. An invisible force had driven the airbender to almost a running pace, and by the time they had reached the spot they were looking for, he was short of breath. He obviously couldn’t stand a single second without his staff.

He began frantically searching around, checking in every bush, behind every tree, and over every inch of visable ground. Sokka immediately recognized the long wooden staff next to a tree, and was about to call out to him when he noticed a dark red area on the other side of the clearing. He went for a closer look and was startled to see that the noticable area was made up entirely of red leaves. This was unusual, because most of the leaves in the forest were either a deep green or orange-ish yellow, and they were usually scattered in unpredictable patterns, not bunched into one pile.

Suddenly he noticed a glint of silver poking out through the sea of red. Reaching in just barely, he was able to pick up the shiny object. It was a knife, covered in a sticky red liquid that he knew could only be blood. Where on earth did it come from though?

He looked back down at the leaf pile and came to a sickening conclusion; someone or something had been hurt or killed with a knife. The leaves in fact weren’t red leaves, but stained red with blood.

Of course, the island could have been inhabited by hunters at one time, but the blood looked fresh, and there were only a certain amount of animals that could shed that much blood and not die. And he didn't see a body anywhere, so it couldn't have died here.

He looked around the clearing, searching for any other clues that would lead to what had happened to whatever it was that had bled to death. Suddenly he noticed that a few trees held black scars over their surfaces, as if they had been burnt.

Burnt?

"Aang,come look at this,"he called. The airbender abandoned his search to join the water tribe warrior, his expression darkening when he saw what the older teen was pointing at.

"Do you know what that is?"he asked. The airbender hesitated, panicking when he noticed the bloody dagger in Sokka’s hand, and quickly thought of another lie, the price being another guilty weight being dragged down on him.

"I was trying to firebend,"he quickly said. The teen threw him a mildly surprised look, but chose not to tell him how dangerous that could have been to practice firbending in an enclosed area full of dry, flamable plants. After all, if he was practicing, nobody could complain, not even him.

"Then I wonder where the blood came from,"he said to himself, staring down at the knife.

"Blood?"he asked innocently.

He showed the monk the blood stained knife and told him about the stained leaves, Aang keeping a baffled and overly dramatic shocked expression throughout the entire explanation.

"It must have been an animal,"he said.

"But there’s no body, and look at this,"he said, walking over to the middle of the clearing, where Aang had assembled a sloppy pile of sticks for his fire the previous night, "Did you make this?"

"Yes,"he said, so quickly, only the most idiotic morons would have missed it. Unfortunately, Sokka wasn’t one of those people, but he only gave him a suspicious glare and shrugged his suspicions off.

"Oh well. Get your staff and lets head back." He nodded in agreement, blushing slightly as he pretended to look confused, unsure where it was until Sokka pointed him to it. He quickly picked up his staff, cast one last glance around the clearing, and hurried himself to catch up to Sokka, the dark shadows of the forest enveloping them as they stepped back inside the dense pack of trees.

Neither boy said anything on the way back, bringing along more awkwardness with it and more relief when they finally broke through the cluster of trees and into the less dense freedom of their clearing.

Katara spotted them from the other side and quickly made her way over towards them, noticing how tense Aang became when she waved. He quickly lowered his head, pretending to be interested in something on the ground instead of her.

"Aang, Appa isn’t healing well,"she said quietly. He looked up, his expression darkening at this.

"You can’t heal him?"

"I think Zuko must have put some kind of poison on the arrow that he shot,"she said, then seeing how quickly his expression had changed from sad to horrified, quickly added, "But he won’t die Aang."

"If he can’t heal himself, we’ll just have to find a new hiding place. Zuko could probably be on our shore any day now, its only a matter of time now,"Sokka said.

Aang rubbed his arm nervously, debating with himself whether he should tell them the truth or not. He had found no sign of the firebender all night and morning, and he doubted he would wait this long to try to capture him. Though he didn’t know why, he had left him for some reason, but he wasn’t complaining. Still, he felt horrible for lying, and badly lying at that. But Sokka didn’t need another reason to be disappointed in him, and Katara definitely didn’t need another reason to hate him. He loved her too much to lie again. No, he would keep quiet for now.

"I’m going to check on him,"he suddenly said, making a move to leave, "Thanks Sokka." A lightening bolt suddenly jogged Sokka’s memory, and as soon as the airbender had left, he pulled out the knife he had kept and held it out for his sister to see.

"I just remembered, check this out. Blood. Where do you think its from?" Katara stared at it, examining the blood-stained blade with disgust.

"...I'm not sure, Aang said he was helping a dying squirrel, so I suppose it was from that,"she said slowly, staring at the blood-stained knife with a disgusted look on her face.

"Squirrels aren’t even native to this island! And besides, he wasn’t doing that, he was practicing firebending,"he said.

"Firebending? Did he tell you that?"she asked incredulously.

"Yeah, isn’t that what he told you?"

"...No."

She tried to shake off her suspicions, after all, he probably had a good reason to lie. He was most likely just embarrassed that he was finally ready to take on responsibility and get a head start on learning firebending and had simply asked her for the leaves in case he got burned again. And the squirrel? He probably mistook it for something else, it was dark out, she couldn’t blame him. It was just a small fib, she couldn’t really be mad at him if he was embarrassed. But Sokka was right, then how did the knife get there?

"Maybe it was there before. I’m sure its nothing,"she said, reassured.

"But the blood on it was pretty fresh, and there was this huge puddle of blood all around it! And there were burnt marks on all the trees and the earth seemed dis-proportioned, almost as if some earth benders were fighting there."

"He would have told us if there were other people here,"was all she could bring herself to say.

"I’m not trying to accuse him of anything, but this knife doesn’t belong to either of us, and if there’s someone here hurt, we need to know. It just doesn’t seem like him to keep it from us though."

"...I’ll go talk to him,"she sighed, glancing over at the monk.

He nodded, replying, "Don’t make it too obvious."

"I won’t,"she said, waiting for her brother to leave before she slowly approached the young avatar. Why on earth would he tell them two different things? What did he have to hide?

He looked up when she approached, turning away from Appa to look at her, his expression set into a mildly surprised and almost anxious state.

"Hi Katara,"he greeted. She returned the greeting, suddenly grateful that they were at least greeting each other like normal friends by now. It was as if his kiss had loosened the tension between them instead of putting more on.

"How’s Appa?"she asked.

"...Bored,"he replied, sighing and lying back into the bisons soft fur, "Like all of us."

"...I never got to ask you how that squirrel you were so keen to help was doing."

She couldn’t help but notice his hesitation, but she knew better than to draw to a conclusion that quickly with that simple piece of evidence.

"It’s fine. It just had a broken arm. The leaves helped, thanks,"he replied, looking down. She stared at him for a while, trying to put two and two together. Then where did the blood come from if the animals bone was broken? If it had hurt Aang in the process of helping it, why didn’t he just say so? And how on earth could a plant heal bones?

"Did it hurt you?"she asked sincerely.

"No. Why do you ask?"

"Well I was wondering why you looked so messed up last night. I just figured it must have really hurt you really bad to give you that many marks,"she said softly. He didn’t say anything for a moment, racking his mind for something to say.

"Oh...um...that was from when I tripped,"was all he could think of to say. She didn’t say anything for a while, trying to figure out the best way to make him confess. Finally, she decided that the best way was to see if he really was telling the truth.

"Sokka told me you were practicing your firebending last night. Can I see?"she asked, hiding a sly smile as the airbender’s expression dropped.

"W-What?"he stammered.

"Firebending. Let’s see it,"she repeated.

"Oh! Uh...oh-kay,"he said slowly.

He stared at her, dumbfounded for a moment, before she slowly reached out for a small leaf on the ground and gave it to him. He stared blankly at it, unsure what to do. Seconds passed by, and still he just stared at the leaf in his hand, now concentrating as hard as he could on drawing heat from a source that he had no idea how it worked. She noticed how he tried breathing the way Jeong Jeong had taught him to, but still nothing happened. The leaf remained perfectly cool, even when a full minute had passed.

So he was lying. The burnt areas her brother had described couldn’t have possibly been caused by Aang, she knew now. If he was incapable of burning a leaf, she knew he was incapable of burning bark.

She felt hurt, and almost betrayed. If he really wanted to forget all the things he said and did to her, he would have tried to help put their relationship back in place, not lie to her. And Sokka? What did he have against him?

"Aang, its okay,"she said quietly. He looked up, surprised at her sudden quiet tone.

"What’s wrong?"

"You. You weren’t practicing last night, were you?"she said quietly. She studied his expressions carefully, knowing that what she thought was true when the guilt he showed appeared almost instantly.

"...No,"he finally confessed

"And there was nothing dying, was there?"she asked.

He hesitated, looking away as he responded, "Well kind of, yeah."

"What do you mean?"she asked, suddenly confused. Suddenly an impossible thought crossed her mind, like a lightening bolt. She didn’t know why she had just remembered it, but hadn’t Aang mentioned Zuko when he woke up?

No, she corrected herself, he had just woken from a crazy dream and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. Besides, she was sure he would have told them if it was Zuko. He was too dangerous to let slip by.

"...You’d probably freak out if I told you,"he muttered.

"Was it you?"she asked quickly, eyeing his numerous cuts. He shook his head, eyes lowering so that she couldn’t see his guilty expression.

"Was it a stranger neither of us know?"she asked, this time more softly. He shook his head again, and this time she felt a hint of annoyance bubble inside of her. Whoever it was couldn’t be terribly injured if Aang refused to let them help him or her, that wasn’t like the monk to leave someone hurt...unless that person was already dead.

"Aang, you owe me,"she said, her voice suddenly serious. He glanced up, their eyes locking for a moment before the airbender deliberately looked away. Unfortunately for him, she caught side of the shallow burn on his cheek when he turned his head.

"Aang, you’re burned...,"she said quietly, reaching out for his cheek to examine the burn. Aang couldn’t possibly have burned himself, leading her to believe that the injured person must have been a firebender, which would also explain why he refused to tell them who. But why would a firebender come to a deserted island? The only person that knew they were there was Zuko. Her thoughts suddenly flashed back to what Aang had blurted out when he had woken up the previous night.

Realization suddenly struck her, sharper and faster than anything she had ever experienced. There was no other explanation, it had to be Zuko.

The pieces were slowly fitting together right in front of her, and for a moment, she didn’t know how to react to her conclusion. Aang probably accidentally hurt the firebender, which must have been why he wanted the leaves so badly, and he must have attempted to stay there the entire night, then who knows what might have happened after that. It definitely explained his lame lies, but why on earth would Aang want to help Zuko? She thought that she had seen anger in his eyes when Zuko had done what he did to her, why would he be willing to forgive him so easily when he couldn’t even forgive himself for what he had done to her?

"When did you get this?"she asked softly. He hesitated, but she could tell that he couldn’t stand lying to her anymore.

Which was why she accepted his excuse when he quietly replied, "Yesterday."

She didn’t say anything for a while, silently trying to figure out the story on her own before she directly asked him. If it was Zuko who had been here, they must have had a pretty intense fight if they had marked that much of the clearing as Sokka had described, and it would also explain why Aang was in such a bad shape. Yes, Zuko fit into the problem perfectly, it was definitely him.

But something about his decision made her suspect that she was missing something to it. To forgive someone that easily, and then try to protect his friends from him by lying didn’t sound like something coming from the simple mind of a twelve-year old boy. But then again, she knew that Aang was definitely more mature than his age. Even so, she wasn’t even sure she would be able to do that. She had to admit, she was impressed, even if Zuko was their enemy.

Had she really just taken for granted that he was like every other twelve year old boy?

"Katara, I’m really sorry...,"he said quietly, shaking her out of her thoughts. She looked back at him, and knowing what he had done, honestly didn’t know whether she wanted to slap him for being such an idiot and going through with something so dangerous, or kiss him for being the soft-hearted person he was.

A tense moment passed by between them, then without warning, Katara quickly pulled him into a tight hug. He froze in her arms, his memories trailing back to the last time she had gotten this close to him.

"Aang, you could have gotten really hurt. Zuko is really dangerous,"she said softly, emphasizing his name in an exhasperated whisper.

"W-What?"he stammered nervously, "You’re not mad?" It was more of a statement than a question, and it resulted in an even tighter embrace from the older teen.

"Not as mad as I probably should be,"she replied, gently releasing him. He returned this with a worried expression, as if she were going to begin going down a list of horrible things he had done.

"So...you know? How?"he asked quizzically.

"First off, you’re a really bad liar,"she said, smiling mischievously as he laughed. His expression then grew more serious.

"I think Zuko somehow escaped,"he said hoarsely, "He hurt his arm and I fell asleep on accident. When I woke up he wasn’t there. I couldn’t find him this morning and he didn’t turn up at night. I think he left." She hesitated, thinking for a moment. Why on earth would he leave? Especially when Aang was asleep, in easy access for him to kidnap.

"He probably did then. He would never wait this long,"she answered.

"I didn’t want you and Sokka to freak out about it, I’m sorry,"he said, ashamed.

"It’s fine, just don’t do it again,"she said hurriedly, "What are you going to do about Zuko?"

"Leave it alone, I guess. If he’s gone, there’s no point worrying, is there?"

"Unless he’s planning on coming back,"she replied.

"I wanted to go check for footprints or something like that on the beach, but I didn’t want to make you guys think I was avoiding you,"he said.

Trying to ignore the light feeling fluttering inside her at his concern, she replied, "Then I’ll go with you."

"...Are you going to tell Sokka?"he asked quietly.

"Why shouldn’t I? He should know." He quickly diverted his eyes, the same guilty expression filling them. She watched his emotions play over his face, a sense of understanding coming over her. Whether he was embarrassed, guilty, or just didn’t want her to tell him for other personal reasons, she understood that he simply didn’t want her to be the one to tell him, for whatever reason.

"It’s okay, you can tell him when you think it's the right time,"she said comfortingly. He looked up, smiling weakly.

"Thanks,"he muttered. She returned the smile, lending her hand for him to stand up. He accepted it, and casting one last glance at Sokka, who was busy trying to re-start the fire, followed the airbender back into the forest.

They chatted merrily as they made their way to the beach shore, making markers on the way with Aang’s earthbending to help them keep track of where they were. At last they broke free of the dark cluster of trees and into the sun-lit region of the beach.

Katara paused for a moment, watching the gentle push and pull of wave on waves for a while before she turned back to catch up with the monk.

They walked along side the length of the shore for nearly an hour, checking for any sign that Zuko was for sure, gone. Finally, when they had walked clear to the other side of the island, faint footprints were found imprinted in the sand, preserved by the fact that there was no wind to kick sand up on that particular day. A large deposit of sand rested on the tip where the largest wave would touch, and both knew that only a ship could have put it there, yet there was no ship around. So Zuko had obviously left.

"Why would he leave like that?"Katara asked, jumping back as a cold sheet of water brushed against her bare feet, "It doesn’t make any sense."

Aang said nothing to this, shrugging in response and looking up to the clouds. Nothing more was said of the firebender after that. He obviously had left them alone, and though many questions as to why still hung over them, he wasn't coming back and there was no point in worrying themselves about it.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, slowly making their way back around the island. Aang stayed silent for the most part, submerging himself in his own thoughts. Soon enough, she began to get lost in her own.

She could recall telling herself she wasn’t ready to take on the emotions that would flood her if she accepted her love for Aang. It seemed ridiculous now that she thought about it that she had never noticed the hidden maturity buried inside the young boy. He had kept it from her so well, but even still, there were just some things about him that no other twelve-year boy could possess so masterfully.

The effects of everything that happened to her had helped herself admit her blindness in the first place. He had shown this side of him so many times before, and she had turned away from it, refusing the possibilities and understandings it had to offer her. It was no doubt that his confession had forced her eyes open to see that the opportunity had been there the entire time, and now she was able to see for the first time that he really was a better friend than she had given him credit. It was like not wanting a prize until you actually saw what it was, and then you knew you wanted it.

Now that she had come to realize that the boundary lines keeping their relationship apart had all but disappeared, what was keeping her from finally returning his compassion? No, she already knew the answer.

Because it seemed wrong.

Despite all that he had been through, no amount of suffering could make a person suddenly understand things more profoundly than any other. He was still only twelve, and he still held all the characteristics of a regular twelve year boy, even though there were some things about him that spoke of a much older person. He was young, true, but he wasn't callow. He had done so much for her, they had gone through so much together, and he had always been there for it. What if it turned out she hadn't felt that way after all? What if it ruined their friendshp?

She glanced over at him, their eyes locking for a moment before she quickly looked away, wishing she hadn’t looked. She tried looking back at all that they had been through together.

His friendship meant so much to her, perhaps she was just scared of changing it. What if something happened to them? She would never be able to let go of something that had become so infused into her. Their current relationship was so fragile right now. But he wanted this so badly, she knew it was hurting him to keep it from her. It felt like a crime to not be willing to at least try this new approach.

Though his young age still bothered her, she knew that he was right; if he was willing enough to take on the consequences of love, she couldn’t stop him. He had proven himself by doing what no other avatar could do, and she admitted that he was right about that too. If he could do that, there was no reason he couldn’t feel that way about someone at such a young age.

Then what was holding her back?

"Katara?"

She shook herself from her thoughts, turning to look at the young avatar, who had stopped walking.

"Mmh?"

"We’re back where we started. Do you want to stop and rest before we head back?"he asked.

"Oh, sure!"she replied. He quickly sat down on the soft sand, staring blankly out at the blue expanse of ocean as she followed him, collapsing next to him. Most of the afternoon had been spent walking, and the relief of finally being able to rest showed as they fell to the ground from exhaustion.

Neither of them said anything for a long time, both trapped in their own thoughts. The only sounds that broke the stiff silence was the calm lapping waves of the ocean on sand. Katara’s own question kept ringing in her head, and after a while, it became increasingly annoying.

What was holding her back now?

The scenery was entrancing. Behind them lay the dense forest that they had lived in for the last few days, on their right, the distant cliffs rose above a thin layer of mist, and on their left was no more than the forest beyond the point where they sat. The ocean added a mystifying touch to the scene, pulling their thoughts into it along with the tide.

Which was the reason Katara didn’t notice at first when Aang’s hand slowly slipped into hers. His soft skin in contrast to the rough sand tore her away from the ocean, and for a moment all she could do was stare at him, an undescribable feeling coming over her that felt suspiciously like confusion.

His cheeks flushed bright pink when he saw her expression, then before she could say anything, he yanked his hand away, quickly standing up and looking away.

"I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that,"he whispered softly.

He paused for a moment, as if waiting for her to say something, and when she didn’t, he turned around, making a move to leave. The urge to stop him was overwhelming, but she still wasn't sure about what she felt.

If she could have stopped time right then and there, she would have looked into his eyes and seen her closest friend, a sweet enthusiastic little boy with a past that provided him with the basis of a more understanding yet inexplicable outlook on life. But because she had waited that extra second, she suddenly found herself delving into a familiar and at the same time, alien boy with a heart so full of love and compassion that she knew it hurt him to not just let himself implode. And it was at that extra second that she realized that even when he had offered her the impossible, to wait for her when already, he was on the brink of slipping, was a self-sacrifice even she couldn't compete with. Knowing that, and holding back her own feelings as well, she now saw that letting him suffer like this suddenly felt incredibly wrong.

And suddenly she could see that the space between them had been filled with some mysterious substance she couldn't even describe.

"Aang, wait,"she pleaded. He stopped, his expression resembling mild surprise as he turned around, still blushing.

Without thinking, she stood up, quickly taking hold Aang’s wrist and pulling him in to plant a light kiss on his lips. Confusion replaced shame, and when she broke away, he looked more confused than ever.

"Um...,"he said slowly, "I’d say that I’m sorry, but I can’t really now because...you did it. Kind of ironic..."

"No, Aang,"she mumbled, the heavy flow of emotions running through her causing her throat to tighten as she continued, "You know what’s ironic? Loving someone for so long and not being able to realize it until that person showed me how stupid I was from the beginning. That’s what’s ironic." He stared at her for a moment, her words sinking in slowly but efficiantly. Her breathing was long and heavy, the silence unbearable.

Finally he whispered, "Really?" She forced back a sigh from the relief of that word. The heavy immense of emotions crashing down on her at that moment made it hard for her to find her voice, so she only nodded in response.

Another tense moment passed between them, then finally when Katara was ready to shake an answer out of him, he quietly replied, "Look, if this is because I'm acting weird again, I'm really sorry, Katara. You don't have to tell me things I just want to hear though."

"I'm not,"she softly whispered, the words tumbling out of her mouth faster than she could keep track of, "If I could take back everything I said, I would. You've given so much to me...I want to return it Aang."

"No,"he said, shaking his head, "You didn't have to. Asking someone to feel a certain way about somebody...that's not right. I shouldn't have pressured you like that."

"I'm glad you did though. It worked,"she said through a weak smile. He stared at her for a moment, slightly confused as to what she meant and unsure of what to say. Then hesitantly, he took a step back.

"As much as I love hearing you say that, I'm not like Zuko. I'm not going to force anything on you. If these are forced feelings, then I'm sorry I put them on you. I don't want you to feel like you have to think differently about your friends just because I do. I couldn't do that to you."

"Aang, it's not,"she said softly, regaining her hold on his wrist, "I don't feel obligated to do anything. I just want to be together. I love you..." His countenance softened slightly hearing this, recognizing the pleading look in her eyes.

"...I love you too,"he said after another moment’s silence

"I'm glad,"she replied, returning a weak smile, "But there’s two things I want you to promise me."

"Anything."

"First, as much as I hate to admit it, you still have your duty to keep. You need to master firebending by the end of the month, and I don’t want to be in the way. I know you can handle this, but there’s no point making you balance a relationship and your responsibilities as the avatar at the same time, so you have to promise me thatwe won’t express your feelings for me until you’ve defeated the fire lord, and I’ll do the same." His expression fell slightly at hearing this, but he promised anyways.

"Second, you have to promise that no matter what happens to us, it won’t effect our friendship. You mean to much to me to mess that up,"she said.

"Promise,"he said, a weak smile grazing over his face before he pulled her into a tight hug. She hugged him back, the earlier guilt she had carried almost instantly being carried off.

They stayed that way for a long time, so pre-occupied that they didn’t notice an out-of-breath Sokka come running out of the forest. He stopped when he saw the two locked in the others embrace. His face broke out into a wide grin at the sight, and before either of them had noticed his presence, he was laughing.

"Ha! I finally caught you guys!"he shouted, startling the two teens away from each other, "You guys sneak off for hours and I finally find you love birds HUGGING! Ha ha, you guys are going to get it for months!" Katara rolled her eyes at her brothers reaction, but Aang only stared at him with a mix of confusion and fear set over his face.

"Wait, I thought you didn’t want me and Katara together. You said you were disappointed in me when I told you about what I said,"he said questioningly.

"What are you talking about? It’s hysterical! Besides, I wasn’t talking about you when I said that, I was talking about how I was disappointed in you for giving in to such a lame trap. Come on, Aang, you just stood there and did everything Zuko told you to do. He's dangerous, I really thought you were smarter than that."

Katara glanced over at Aang, who was staring at the older teen with a dumb-struck expression.

"Aang?"she asked teasingly.

"I don’t want to talk about it,"he muttered, slapping himself on the forehead. She laughed, gently leaning her head on his shoulder, the action rewarded with more of Sokka’s snickering. She didn’t care though, she would never care what her brother thought of them.

She wasn’t even sure if telling Aang what she only inferred upon herself what she had been feeling at the time was the right thing to do or not. She knew though, that even if her feelings weren’t quite parallel to his yet, with time, it would someday get that way.

Aang would mature, as she would, maturing and allowing room for their relationship to strengthen with it. He would do so it his own pace, and she wasn’t going to criticize his innocence anymore, not when it was all he could hold on to at the moment. She realized that by now, that his childish disposition made him who he was, and he would carry that with him no matter how much he matured. She was ready to embrace that fact now.

Her thoughts were pulled back to the beach, blushing when Aang quickly kissed her cheek when Sokka’s back was turned. She in turn slipped her hand into his, smiling silently to herself. She felt her heart swell with affection for the airbender as his fingers closed in around hers, and as they made their way back to camp, she knew that change was in store.

Their gazes clumsily locked for a moment, then fell as Aang nervously laughed, "What is it?"

She returned this witha loving stare, then replied mirthfully, "You've grown taller." His confused expression suddenly dropped after a minute of wondering what she meant by this, and he blushed.

AUGH! FLUFF! SO MUCH FLUFF! IT BURNS!ha , that’s the end. I hated it. Very corny ending...anyways. And as tradition(but I’m sure you guys don’t know this yet unless u remember faeriefan from the FOP section), I always give a very, very, VERY long authors note at the end of all my stories.

First Item: Uh...thank you! Duh! Lol. But seriously, I can’t believe the popularity that this got, I got at least 20 times more hits than my old deleted story(I’m not joking. Just goes to show how much ppl can improve in a year)! And over 100 reviews...wow. First time ever, I’m so happy! Thank you guys so much for sticking through for so long, seriously! And now, since it’s the perfect time, here’s the special special thank you’s(not a shout-out):

1bzwriter:For threatening me, pestering me, annoying me until the point where I had to update even if it would kill me, thanx! Lol(jk). But seriously, uv been so awesome! Thank u SO much! And again, my 100th reviewer! I can’t get over it! U rock! Thank you! XD

My little sister(Mystic Air Bender18):Ok, so chances are you don’t even care if I’m thanking you in public, but seriously sis, I would never have gotten over that 2-month writers block if it weren’t for u! Luv ya!(virtual hug)

The Next Avatar: For being so supportive and letting me be a member of her wonderful C2 community. AxK rules!

Y Sunshine and Whirleeq: Just wanted you two to know that you guys are my all-time favorite authors and I really appreciate you reading most of my story. Thank you!

And of course, I’m thankful for all my reviewers, not just the ones I mentioned, you guys are SO great, thank you for taking your precious time to read this and give me motivation to write more. I appreciate your comments so much, even when I tell you guys I think my stories stink, seriously, its has nothing to do with you, I’m just hard on myself. I seriously thought that this story wouldn’t attract anybody, and you guys are just so awesome giving me feedback and criticizing me when I wrote something really weird down, so thank you! I wish I could give individual thank you’s, but I think you get the point, and I don’t really have room, lol.

Ok, gosh I sound like I’m being presented a Grammy, lol.

A lot of you probably didn’t like the fact that I left Sokka out of the story for the most part. Simple reason why, and plz don’t be offended, because its my personal opinion: I honestly don’t like him. Anger bubbling? I’m sorry but its true, I don’t know why, I just don’t like him as much as the other characters. I tend to leave characters that I don’t like alone in my stories, which is another reason Zuko is so bad, because I had to really force myself to write him(yes, I bet now you guys are on the verge of not even bothering to review, but its true, zuko isn’t my fav either. a real shocker, i bet uv never met a single person that isn't a huge zuko fan). Its not that I hate them, I just get annoyed REALLY easily, and there are things about them that just bug me: Sokka’s lack of common sense and Zuko’s constant snappy atitude and the fact that hes so spoiled. Spoiled ppl really bug me. I’m sorry that Sokka had to suffer from my favoritism, but there’s not much I can do about it now. They’re not horrible characters, Sokka can be pretty funny and Zuko’s always fun to see develop, just not my favorite. Somebody might think that Aang’s hyperness is annoying, but I think its darling. Its just me, so sorry everyone had to suffer from it.

Now, I don’t know if anybody remembers, but remember I said that I had a really weird plot coming up, like I would hint something about Ozai, and then I crashed into evil writers block and I completely changed it? Well just to humor you, I’m going to tell you what I was planning before I decided to change the entire plot. Prepare to laugh hysterically:

Katara was going to somehow magically realize her feelings for Aang right after his confession, then they get all mushy gushy, then that same night, Zuko shows up. Aang and Zuko talk, like they’re all of sudden not enemies anymore, and Aang agrees to go with Zuko if he’ll teach him firebending. Zuko agrees and teaches him in two nights. Two nights, yes, you read it right. Aang tells Katara, she gets mad, but they go anyways. They get to Ozai’s castle and Zuko helps them sneak in. Aang fights Ozai and wins. Then he and Katara live happily ever after. The End.

Did anyone laugh? I laughed typing it! Aren’t you glad I changed it? Lol, now my writers blocks was worth it, huh? Lol, seriously, to think I was actually going to do that, I would never forgive myself. But though this story didn’t come out exactly how I wanted it too, I’m happy with it compared to what it would have been.

Well since my authors note is two full pages long, I guess I’ll stop here. Thank you everyone! Seriously, you guys rock! XD

Oh and before I go, I'm writing a story titled "Second Chances" thats the sequal to "Memories Painted Black," but you don't necessarily have to read "Memories" to get the plotline. So if you're a major AxK fan,its highly recommended. How is it that its AxK if Aang is dead? Read and find out.

My last review for this story...(sniff) Virtual cookie for the first person to give me a nice long review!