Written for the Zutarotica 2010 Summer Challenge.
Set during "Tales of Ba Sing Se". Slightly AU. Or is it? *dun dun dun*
Features adult content of a sexual nature. If you continue to read you agree that you are of age to do so.
It had been a pleasant evening within the walls of Ba Sing Se. A chance to get away from the rest of the gang was something Katara wasn't going to pass up, especially with how Aang dogged her every step since returning from the day spa. Once she helped Toph and herself scrape off the layers of makeup, she was off in such a rush that she hadn't bothered braiding her hair.
The stalls in the Lower Ring were nowhere near as lavish as the other Rings but the craftsmanship was there, simple yet still beautiful. She took her time, examining one trinket then another before moving on. A particularly ornate candle holder caught her eye. Moonlight gave the carved soapstone a faint shine as the simple tea light warmed it from within.
Too much of a rumble in her belly and too few coins in her pocket kept her moving. There were all sorts of temptations but what she needed was a solid meal. There! A little noodle shop packed with locals- always a good sign. The hostess seated her in the back, a little nook all to herself, and she sagged into her chair in relief.
"She is not my girlfriend!"
This rude declaration broke the shop's pleasant silence. There was an inkling of familiarity in the voice but she could only see the back of the scruffy haired boy whose outburst had everyone looking at him. Katara was fairly sure she'd never met the girl unlucky enough to be seated with him. Her menu looked more and more appealing, determined to ignore anyone else trying to make their relationship woes public.
Buckwheat noodles, rice noodles, regular noodles. Each sounded more delicious than the last. And the fact that she didn't have to cook any of it would make it taste that much sweet-
Crash of dishes had everyone looking at the young couple once more.
Show off! Katara snickered under her hand, wholly satisfied that karma had been served as the boy cleaned himself off from… whatever it was he had been trying to do to impress. He half turned in his seat as he toweled himself off and her mirth died in her throat.
She might have missed it, visible from the angle she was sitting for only a second but just that second chilled the blood in her veins. A misshapen ear. Red and scarred and partially obscured by hair of all things.
Zuko.
Her menu was paper thin but it was her only shield as she fought to breathe again.
What was he doing here? The tips of her ears turned pink. Had he been sitting there all this time?
No mistaking it. No matter how different he looked, Zuko was stiff and straight in his seat, just as humorless; just as ill at ease. Oh, she had him caught this time. There must be some master plan that required some degree of stealth. The fine green vest he wore was far too new to make a convincing disguise. It looked like the thing had never been worn and he couldn't wait to be out of it.
He wasn't fooling anyone.
Except for that girl. So sweet, so innocent. She couldn't possibly know who she was dealing with. Otherwise how could she be sitting there smiling?
With him.
It would have been better to be sensible-Go back. Let the others know Zuko is here- but her curiosity had Katara two steps behind the young couple, following them as the girl took Zuko's hand and lead him away as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
The girl thankfully kept Zuko preoccupied, dragging him along like a puppy. It was only once they came upon an open square with a fountain in the middle that Katara had to keep to the shadows. Too far to hear what they were saying, she could barely make out Zuko's soft rumble as the girl covered her eyes.
As soon as she saw him take a firebending stance, Katara had her waterskin at the ready, preparing to halt whatever harm he was about to unleash. For some reason she hesitated, and for that she eventually would be grateful.
Flashes like little fireflies flew from Zuko's fingertips. His motions were controlled and artfully precise, a dance that brought the square to life.
It was infuriating. This was water- this was supposed to be her element!- but in the soft moonlight, the flicker within the paper lanterns made the simple fountain look like an exotic jewel.
Katara tore her eyes away to see Zuko passing a small card to the girl. Plans, maybe? Payment for spying for him? The words were still too soft to hear.
What… what was going on? Was that a kiss? That girl was kissing Zuko. And for the briefest of moments, he was kissing her back.
Something dark, something ugly seethed inside her. It came with a ferocity that almost bowled Katara over. On its heels came the inexplicable spike of triumph as Zuko threw himself back.
The girl was stunned. She wasn't the only one. "What's wrong?"
"It's complicated. I have to go." Without a backwards glance, Zuko was gone.
It was all Katara could do to keep up with him, leaving the crestfallen Earth Kingdom girl behind. She needed answers and there was only one person who could possibly give them to her.
The stitch in Katara's side forced her to come to a halt. Pain wasn't nearly as infuriating as the realization that she had lost her target. Catching her breath, she realized she was back where she had started from but the noodle shop was boarded up for the night as were all the other vendors. Not a soul to be seen.
This was useless! She should have done the right thing from the start, alert the others then alert the Earth King! Head back to the Upper Ring and-
It took the prickling of her skin to realize that she was no longer alone.
"So the Avatar is in Ba Sing Se?" Zuko was so much less intimidating as he was now; unruly hair spiking out any which way making his good ear stick out like a jug handle. Up close the green silks made him look even more out of sorts. The only familiar thing about him was the scar and the suspicion, eyes flicking to the rooftops as if she were the one leading him into a trap.
With no armor or anger to hide behind, he looked… young. Vulnerable.
Katara frantically tried to blink her sympathy away. This was the enemy! Say something! "Aang isn't here. He left us here to talk to the Earth King and headed back to the North Pole." She stared back in defiance, hoping there wasn't enough light to see the tips of her ears turning red under the burden of her lie.
"You expect me to believe the Avatar would leave you behind?" he asked archly. "I know you're smarter than that."
That this flustered her at all had her furious. At herself, at him, at everything. "What were you doing with that girl?" The stricken look she received made her abandon any questions as to why this had been the first thing that had come to mind.
"What did it look like I was doing?" he hissed, guilty flush to his cheeks making him look even younger.
Katara's mouth kept going, too incensed to curb her tongue. ""Something awful, I know it! Whatever scheme you're planning, you shouldn't force innocent people to do-"
"What? She was the one who asked me on a date! I would never do any-"
"A date." Her laugh was harsh, a bark of incredulity. "You call that a date?" His eyes went wide and she almost crowed. "That kiss was pathetic!"
Blood in the water as Zuko turned a brilliant scarlet. She closed in for the kill. "It's like you've never kissed someone before!"
"You know that from your vast amount of personal experience, huh?" he sneered, panting like a wounded animal.
Her own blush betrayed her this time.
"Is it really so hard for you to believe?" His shout thundered off shuttered windows and empty streets. "That I'm trying to be happy. Just this once."
A confession, so raw, so personal it had her reeling in confusion.
"I'm planning on leaving the city as soon as I can," he said, his head hung low. "There's no sinister plan here if that's what you're so worried about."
Spirits. He was close to tears. She could feel them coming.
Her hand was on his sleeve before she even realized it. His wild eyed surprise came close to tearing her apart.
It was the rattle of sword and armor rooted them both to the spot.
"I heard yelling. I shouldn't be hearing anything this time of night in this sector, Lieutenant!" A gruff, disembodied voice got louder and louder as footsteps approached. "I'll have your ass demoted to junior ditch digger if you can't maintain a simple curfew!"
A second voice was thin and simpering. "The Lower Ring is too full of criminals, sir!"
"And our job is to deal with them!" There was clearly no interest in hearing otherwise. "Get your men to clear the area! We don't allow this sort of thing in Ba Sing Se!"
Katara took a cautious step towards the clatter but she was grabbed and unceremoniously hauled deeper into the darkness by Zuko's arm around her waist. They wound up jammed into an alley, a tight space between shops.
"Careful!" All of the fragility Zuko had shown was masked again as he dragged her under a small portico. "The guards here- they don't treat rule breakers very well."
And with Long Feng's warning, the last thing Katara needed was a run in with the guards.
The hiding spot was adequate, so poorly lit that they could see out while others had a hard time seeing in. Zuko made sure they kept as close to the wall as possible. The line of him was taut, too consumed with scanning for signs of danger to realize he was pinning her hard enough to crush the breath from her lungs.
She remedied this by delivering a sharp jab to his gut.
With no room to step back, Zuko curved inwards. "S-sorry! I'm sorry!" he stammered, lapsing back into that apprehensive boy from only moments ago. "I didn't mean-"
"Quiet!" she snapped. Now it was her turn to listen.
"C'mon Chuanli, this is useless!" A short guard strode past the alley that hid the two with little concern. "No matter how many pickpockets and thieves we catch, there's always gonna be more!"
A taller, reedy man stopped in front of the alley and peered into the darkness. In the portico, the two pressed themselves into what little space they had, neither daring to breathe. "Captain Cho wants us to make sure-"
"Yeah, well Captain Cho's always got a bug up his ass!" The shorter guard seemed eager to be on his way. "I don't know where they come from but there's no end to the scum that want in to Ba Sing Se."
The thin man turned on his heel, no longer interested in the alleyway. "Peng! You know better than to say that out loud! You'll get us into trouble!" The guards continued their bickering but moved on.
A soft exhalation tickled Katara's cheek. She looked up, narrowly missing Zuko's chin with her nose. He didn't seem to be aware of how close he was, still craning his neck, on alert yet unaware of her scrutiny. She could feel him, wiry and strong underneath his green tunic, smelling freshly scrubbed with the scent of soap and a hint of jasmine. Nothing at all like the ash and smoke she had expected. The skin of his scar was thick and rigid, like a turtle's shell, but the eye was no less expressive devoid of brow or lashes.
"They're probably gone." The alley still held all of Zuko's attention. "But we should stay hidden for a little while." With a lick of his lips, he finally turned to her. "They might doubleba… doubuh… buh…" His tongue ceased working properly once he focused on her.
She would have thought he was frozen solid if she couldn't feel him shiver against her. Had his eyes always been that gold? She couldn't be sure.
Afterwards, Katara was never really sure who initiated it. That's what she would tell herself when she would finally curl up to sleep in her Earth Kingdom bed. All she knew was that she tilted her head just so and in the middle of a blink their lips met. Shy at first it accelerated into an awkward clacking of teeth and mashing of noses. With a flick of the tongue, Zuko accidentally brushed against her lips as he tried to wet his own and he startled like a deer rabbit.
Where had this Zuko come from? The one who was capable of bringing such beauty to an ordinary fountain. The one whose first instinct was to hide them both from a common enemy. The tentative one, the one that very nearly fell apart at the thought of a kiss.
So heartbreaking to think that a kiss was all that was needed to keep his darkness away. The wild child in her wanted to see more of this person who had been hidden all this time, get him to unravel at the seams. Watch Zuko come undone.
No matter that she had little idea how to go about doing that.
She steadied herself with a hand on his hip and drew him in again. Sucking on his bottom lip had her sharing in his stuttered breaths. Once she released him, he grew bolder; devouring her mouth while cradling her head in his hands.
That he poured everything of himself into that kiss shouldn't have surprised her. She'd experienced his dogged determination first hand. Her world tilted on its axis; how different the world would be if she could simply keep him here, like this.
They came up for air, burrowing into each other's necks to come down from the stratosphere. There it was again, that hint of jasmine. Katara couldn't help but breath it in, letting her hands roam the small of his back. His head jerked up in response and she discovered the spot just under his ear tasted like bergamot.
It was Zuko's soft guttural moan that shot an unexpected burst of heat straight through her core.
She clawed her way up his shoulders, clasping him to her. The air around them grew stifling hot and he turned into a mad thing. Mouthing, biting what exposed skin on her he could reach with his hands threaded in her hair and she returned the favor; her teeth rasping over a small patch of stubble over his cheekbone he'd missed in his haste to shave while he suckled at the curve of her chin.
Their legs mingled as the need for more sensation got them more and more frantic. Arousal spiraled up and up and up until she was wound up tight, bucking against him when she felt him stiff and wanting against her thigh.
More. Katara wanted more even if she wasn't sure what more was exactly. Hiking up her skirts she wrapped her legs around him and Zuko was more than willing to take her weight, with his fingers digging hard enough to leave bruises on the backs of her thighs.
There. The head of him was straining against the thin nothingness of his trousers, through her own clothing, pressing right against that kernel of hers that she had only ever vaguely explored. Her own wetness had already sopped through her leggings and she bore down. They shared groan after groan, little mewling cries from them both. His hips rolled against her and rolled again, nullifying any discomfort of the wall digging right between her shoulder blades as she locked her ankles behind him. She felt the flex of his spine, the shake in his legs as they moved together.
They found a rhythm and it was good. So good. With his power he ground against her as she used her leverage to grind back at him. The feel of him hot and hard running his length over her was a friction that she couldn't resist and she clenched and again and- oh…
Oh.
A white wave came crashing down, calling out as it burned through every nerve in her body before leaving her quaking and wrung dry. He was right there with her, straining as she spasmed around him and she could feel him quake and twitch and spend himself underneath her.
Even in his lassitude, he guided her down until they were a loose limbed pile on the ground. His kisses had become effortless and she kept him trapped between her thighs as they eased back to normalcy together.
"Peng, did you hear something? I thought I heard something."
Those damn guards.
Peng didn't seem to care. "If you're so worried about it, then go check it out!"
Slumping in resignation, Katara knew that without an escape route she was in no condition for a fight.
Breath tickled her ear. "Get somewhere safe," Zuko whispered. "They'll follow me." Without waiting for her response, he was gone, scrambling up the side of the building with little effort.
"Someone's up there!" With an actual target, Peng finally came to life. "After him!"
Katara hugged her knees to her chest and waited until she could no longer hear chasing footsteps. She needed every minute of it, unsure of what this night would mean for Zuko -or more urgently -to herself.