Chapter 5

A/N: Sorry for the late upload, I was busy all day. To make it up to you here's my longest chapter yet. Thanks for all of the nice reviews, they really made my day. Let me know what you think and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its characters!

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Katara woke up to the sound of her phone's alarm going off in her ear. Usually she would complain but not today. Today is the first day of school, not only that but it's also her first date with Aang. No it's not a date, she told herself, it's just two friends getting breakfast... alone... just the two of us, snap out of it Katara, Aang's just a friend, right? After going through her minor mental crisis, she stood up and headed towards the bathroom. Shutting the door behind her, she walked over to the shower and turned the handle to let the warm water stream out of the faucet. Ten minutes later, she turned off and stepped out of the shower, wrapping a fresh towel around her body. She walked to the fogged up mirror and waterbended the moisture off of it before doing the same to her body and hair. She picked up her brush and began to sift it through her long, brown hair. With that done she walked out of the bathroom and towards her closet to grab her outfit for the day. It was a navy blue skirt that came just above her knee, paired with a light blue top with a white collar. She walked back to the bathroom before coming out completely dressed with her hair done. She walked to her bed and sat down before putting on her tan ankle length boots and her mother's necklace. Standing up she grabbed her backpack and placed her school supplies, an extra pair of shoes for waterbending class, and a water bottle in the bag before zipping it closed and standing up. She was walking to the door when she heard Suki groan and sit up before saying, "Katara, what are you doing up so early?"

"Oh, um, I was just going to go get some breakfast before school starts.", she told the girl, conveniently forgetting to mention that she was going with Aang. The last thing she needed was for Sokka to find out about this.

Still rubbing her eyes, Suki groaned and said, "If you give me a minute to get dressed I'll go with you."

"No," Katara said in an urgent tone, "Um... you sleep in, I'll bring you back a muffin or something."

"Okay, if you say so." Suki responded. She knew something was up but frankly, she was too tired to really care. With that she laid back down and fell asleep again.

Katara let out a relieved sigh and walked out the door. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw him standing there in the hallway playing with his hair. All she could think to herself was, Spirits, he's cute.

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Aang woke up to his phone's alarm going off in his ear. All his years of training as a monk had taught Aang to like mornings. Not to mention this morning is special, today is his first date with Katara.  No it's not a date, he told himself, it's just two friends getting breakfast... alone... just the two of us, snap out of it Aang, Katara's just a friend, right? Shaking his head, Aang stood up and walked over to the window. He sat down in front of it and began to meditate. A few moments later Aang, feeling relieved, stood up and walked to the bathroom. He turned on the shower and removed the clothes that he hadn't bothered to change out of the night before. A few more moments passed and Aang emerged from the shower, walking to the slightly fogged mirror, he noticed that his shaggy, brown hair was covering his tattoo and airbended himself dry. He combed his hair so that his arrow was just slightly visible and grabbed the clothes that he had brought into the bathroom with him. He jumped into his light grey, jogger sweatpants before pulling his orange and yellow, Air nomad tee shirt over his head. He walked out of the bathroom and slid on his infamous dirty, white, high top converse. He laced up the shoes and grabbed his backpack off of the floor, he threw a notebook and a couple of pens in there before zipping it up and slinging it around his back. He checked the time on his phone, 6:23am. He decided to wait in the hallway for Katara. Checking to make sure his roommates were still asleep he crept through the room and out the door. He waited there for a few moments, entertaining himself by twisting and playing with his hair. Just then he heard the door open and out walked Katara. Aang stood there stunned by her beauty, all he could think was, Spirits, she's cute.

"Ready to go." She asked him, flashing a bright smile.

"Yeah, let's go." He responded, giving her a smile of his own

They both giggled and started down the hallway in a nervous silence. They reached the door and Aang jumped ahead in order to hold the door open for Katara.

"Quite the gentlemen, huh?" Katara teased him.

Grinning, Aang told her, "Believe it or not, Chivalry isn't dead!"

They both laughed and Katara said, "Good to know."

Aang blushed and they continued walking down the stairs. Once they reached the bottom, they started towards the cafeteria when they heard a voice cry out.

"There she is, I was wondering how long it would be until I found you." Said a boy walking straight towards them. The boy was tall, with long, caramel brown hair, and brown eyes. By Katara's reaction she could tell he was no good. As soon as she saw the boy Katara immediately turned around and began to walk away. The boy lunged forward and grabbed her wrist pulling her back towards him. It was then that Aang stepped in.

"Let go of her, now!" Aang said in a demanding tone, that Katara could have never imagined he had in him. She could see the power behind his stare and she wasn't the only one. After a few seconds of deliberation, the boy let go of her wrist and stepped towards the now upset Airbender.

"And who might you be?" The boy questioned Aang in a deceptive tone, now inches from his face. The boy was taller than Aang, but even so Aang knew he was in control of the situation and the boy knew it too.

Straightening up Aang looked the boy deep in the eyes and answered the boy's question with one of his own, "Does it matter?" Katara shivered when Aang said that. Something about Aang seemed different, he seemed more... powerful. Like something else was taking over. She didn't like it. Although she didn't know Aang well, she did know that he wasn't the violent type. It was then that she realized that he was doing this for her. He was doing it to protect her. She had let this go on long enough.

She walked towards Aang and grabbed his wrist before saying, "Come on Aang, let's go." Aang could tell that she was practically pleading with him and gave into her request.

They began to walk away when the boy yelled, "Catch you later Kat!", adding a wink.

Aang turned back around causing Katara to pull harder on his wrist trying to lead him away. With a sigh he gave in. She led him all the way around the corner before letting go of his wrist and stopping. Aang looked away and didn't notice the tear that began to slide down Katara's face.

"Who was that guy?" Aang asked, anger still apparent in his voice. When he didn't receive an answer he looked over and saw a heartbreaking sight. He saw Katara trying to stifle her tears, and failing at it. Without even thinking he immediately grabbed her and pulled her into a tight embrace, letting her rest her head on his shoulder. He began to whisper things like, "It's alright" and "Everything's fine". Slowly Katara began to slow down and catch her breath but she didn't dare pull away from Aang's arms.

A few minutes passed and Katara had stopped her tears. Slowly, Aang began to pull their bodies apart and rested his strong hands on Katara's shoulders. He looked her deep in the eyes but she refused to make eye contact with him. She didn't want him to see her like this. She wasn't weak, but seeing Aang in that much pain and anger broke something inside of her.

Just then Aang asked her, "Katara, are you alright?" He didn't seem mad or upset anymore. Instead he asked the question in a very patient and understanding tone that seemed out of place for someone his age.

Katara nodded her head, still looking down. Aang pulled her to a patch of grass nearby and gestured for her to sit down. She sat down and Aang sat down next to her. They sat in silence. Aang was giving her space and time to think, and she was grateful for that. After a few moments of silence, Katara managed to find her voice and looked at Aang. Feeling her eyes on him, Aang turned to face the girl.

"Aang, what was that back there?" Katara asked him in a confusing tone. Aang couldn't really read how she felt, she almost sounded concerned.

Sitting up, Aang asked her, "What do you mean?"

"Why did you do it? Why did you stick up for me back there?" she continued

Aang took a deep breath and let out a sigh before saying, "Because I care what happens to you," He now looked her dead in the eyes, "You told me yesterday that I'm one of you guys now. Growing up as an Air Nomad, I never really had a family. Getting to know you guys though I think I finally understand what it really means. Even though we haven't known each other very long at all I know that you're important to me, and because of that I will do everything in my power to keep you safe." Katara was blown away. She had never felt such raw emotion from someone like this before. Unable to control herself, Katara lunged forward and wrapped her arms around the smiling Airbender. They stayed in the warm embrace for several minutes and only pulled away when Katara felt her phone vibrate. The girl reached in her pocket and pulled and checked the notification. It was a text from Sokka, Have you seen Aang?

Katara looked over at the Airbender who was lying down staring up at the clouds. Yeah I've seen him, she thought to herself causing her to giggle a little bit.

Aang turned onto his side propping his head up with his hand. "What's so funny?" Aang asked in a teasing tone.

"Sokka's looking for you." Katara told him, smiling at his teasing.

Aang pulled his phone out of his backpack and saw a text from Sokka, Where are you? Aang text him back telling him that he had gone to get breakfast, Sokka sure had a lot to say about Aang getting food without him but Aang promised the hungry teen that he would make it up to him. Aang placed his phone in his backpack and turned to Katara to see her staring at him.

"What?" He asked, confusion written all over his face.

"It's just um... your shirt, I'm sorry." Katara said, a little embarrassed.

Aang looked down at his shirt and saw what she was talking about. It was a fairly large wet spot from where Katara had been crying. Aang just laughed before telling her that it wasn't a big deal, and that it would dry.

Feeling bad, Katara told him to stay still and began to make movements with her fingers and wrists. Aang looked down and saw the water on his shirt begin to disappear and a stream of water formed from its place which Katara poured into the grass behind them.

"Thank you, Katara" Aang said in a sincere and grateful tone.

Katara blushed and said, "It's the least I could do." A few more minutes passed in silence until Katara spoke up again and said in a quiet voice, "His name is Jet."

Aang confused by the random statement just stared at her as he figured she would explain.

"The guy back there, his name is Jet," Katara told the confused Airbender, "He's been like that for years, I don't know why but he won't give up on trying to make me his. Nobody's ever stood up to him like that, Thank you Aang."

Jet, Aang made a mental note of the name and told the pretty Waterbender, "It was nothing, really."

Katara looked Aang deep in his stormy, grey eyes, "Aang, can I be honest with you... When you stood up to Jet I saw something in you that broke something in me. I saw so much pain and anger inside of you and it scared me, please don't make me feel that again."

In shock from the promise Katara had just asked him to make, he took a deep breath and responded, "I was doing it because I care, but if it hurts you that much then I promise it won't happen again."

They both smiled and Katara pulled him into another short hug before looking at him and saying, "Thank you Aang, that means a lot!" Just then the first bell rang and they noticed for the first time that there were other people walking around. They had been so caught up in their own little world that they didn't even notice the time.

"Well, I guessed we missed breakfast." Aang said standing up.

"Yeah I guess so." Katara responded, brushing off her skirt. They began to laugh. Catching their breath they turned around and Katara led Aang towards their first class.

To Be Continued...