Seven Days
blue-eyes2014

Summary
It's Kataang week. Seven days; seven prompts; seven ways to love.

Disclaimer
Avatar: The Last Airbender and all related characters are copyrighted to Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

Prompt: Umbrella
Rating: K
Characters/Pairing: Aang/Katara, some Gyatso, brief mention of Kya
Summary: An otherwise unimportant moment in the rain on a busy sidewalk.
A/N: First. Avatar fic. Ever. And it's horrifically short; I'm sorry. -sob-

.1.

The first time Aang saw her, it was her umbrella that caught his eye.

He was five, out running an errand with Gyatso, and it was raining heavily, casting a dark gloom on the day. One hand grasping his guardian's while the other clutched an orange umbrella, a mist rose off the pavement, causing the figures around him to become nothing more than shadows, ghosts. With so much gray, it was inevitable that the umbrella would draw his gaze when he and Gyatso stopped to wait for the traffic signal.

It was bright pink with a motif of white flowers, a flash of color in a gloomy world, and as he studied it, his eyes found the girl who was holding it. She was facing away from him, dressed in a blue raincoat and yellow galoshes, brown hair falling down her back. When she turned around, the movement revealed a naturally tan face and big blue eyes (could eyes be so blue?) which quietly watched the moving crowd. Then her wandering eyes met Aang's gray ones.

For the briefest moment, neither child reacted, opting to simply stare at each other in the quiet moment. Then the girl smiled, and gave Aang a small wave. Aang returned it with a tiny, shy smile of his own as he briefly relinquished his grip on Gyatso's hand to wave back.

The girl's smile became a grin, and a woman Aang could only assume was the girl's mother walked up to her, saying things the boy could not hear. Almost at the same time, the signal changed, and Gyatso began to cross, simultaneously giving Aang a small tug which brought him back to the present. When he glanced back, he was just in time to connect eyes with the girl before she disappeared into the crowd.

...

During his life, Aang's friends would call him silly, admiring Katara's umbrellas, but even so...

He could never forget that his first glimpse of his best friend, his beloved, had resulted because of one.