Summary: Secret feelings are always the most obvious...

Genre(s): Romance

Character(s): Katara, Toph, Aang, Sokka

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender

Author's Notes: This is set somewhere in season two, no specific part of season two, just after they meet Toph.

Author's Notes 10/5/10: Improved this story for better reading! Enjoy!

* It Is Nice *

It was a beautiful summer morning in the Earth Kingdom; the cool morning breeze rustled the trees at the edge of the forest that the Gaang had made camp at the previous night. Aang had just returned from practicing his latest earth-bending techniques when he immediately noticed something was amiss.

"Where's Katara?" he asked Sokka as scanned the campsite for the missing water-bender. Sokka did not move from his casual position on his sleeping bag.

"Oh, I don't know…she went off by herself earlier, said she'd be back later," he replied as he distractedly played with Momo. Aang was somewhat satisfied with that answer, though he did feel a bit worried. Nonetheless, he entered the forest in search of something to eat for breakfast.

Dusk swiftly approached and Katara was still absent. Aang paced around the campsite, worried about the safety of the older girl. He stopped in his pacing as he spotted a figure on the horizon, slowly approaching the campsite. As the figure came closer into view, he realized it was Katara, returning from the unknown place she had been all day. As soon as she entered the campsite, she was immediately confronted by Aang and Sokka.

"Where have you been?" they both asked in unison. Katara was taken aback and swiftly hid something behind her back.

"Oh…nowhere," she replied ambiguously. The boys were not satisfied with that answer and continued their questioning.

"Um…how about I get dinner started?" Katara quickly suggested in an attempt to stave off any further questions. Sokka immediately relaxed at the mention of food and halted his questioning. Aang looked helplessly at the older boy for support but received none, so he gave up on finding out where Katara had been as well.

* Avatar *

Later that night, after everyone had been fed and the boys went off to bed, Katara snuck out of her tent and tip-toed her way over to Toph's rock tent. The blind earth-bender had been inside her tent all day, not caring enough to interact much with the rest of the group outside of meals.

"Toph?" Katara whispered as she knocked on the rock tent. The rocky door instantly slid seamlessly down into the earth. The young earth-bender stood on the other side, an impatient scowl set in her features.

"What?" Toph asked irately. Katata, not put off by Toph's mood, held an object out for Toph and waited for her reaction as it dangled in her face.

"Do you like it?" Katara finally asked after a long moment of simply holding the object in front of the younger girl.

"Well, I don't know…what is it?" Toph replied sarcastically. Katara blushed, she had forgotten about Toph's blindness again.

"It's a necklace!" Katara said excitedly. "I know you can't see it, but I thought you'd like something to wear around your neck anyway," Katara continued as she grabbed Toph's hand and placed the pendant of the necklace in her palm. "Go ahead; feel it, I carved it myself."

Toph ran her fingers across the etchings in the smooth rock of the pendant, tracing every tiny curve. She could feel that the overall shape was circular, a smaller half-circle was carved into the center; and five small stars were etched around the center half-circle in an even, circular pattern.

"Why are you giving me this?" Toph asked as her irritation dissolved into curiosity. Katara struggled for a quick explanation.

"It's a…uh…friendship necklace!" she offered lamely. "The moon and stars represent the union of…friendship," she continued with a suspicious happy smile, fortunately Toph could not see. Toph raised a skeptical eyebrow; she could feel Katara's heart beating erratically.

"Well…thanks, Katara," Toph said as she tried to pull the necklace from Katara's grasp.

"Toph, in the Water Tribe, it's customary for the recipient to say 'I do' when accepting a…friendship necklace," Katara said as she pulled the necklace away from Toph and held it out to her in both hands; the necklace prominently nestled in the curve of her open palms.

"Toph, do you accept my necklace?" Katara asked as she felt a flush spread across her face, she was thankful that Toph could not see it.

"Uh…sure, I do," Toph replied as she took the necklace from Katara's hands and clasped it around her neck.

"It looks good on you," Katara complimented, her blush deepening. Without warning, Katara leaned in and gave Toph a warm kiss on the cheek; then she was gone, quickly making her way back to her tent.

Toph thought the whole experience was weird as she felt the place on her cheek where Katara had kissed her.

'It is nice though…' she thought as she ran her fingers across the pendant again.

END

Author's Commentary: Yay! My first Avatar story, I hope you all liked it. I am still without a beta reader and so I had to check everything myself and make sure the story wasn't bad. Katara sure is a sly one though. All feedback is happily welcomed!