One Momentary Indiscretion

Prompt: For this month, write me a fic where someone confesses something. Maybe it's a fear, maybe it's a guilty pleasure, maybe it's a secret (theirs or someone else's), but there must be a confession and the other person's reaction to the confession.

Competition: May 2015 Monthly Challenge

Word Count: 3,730

Characters: Zuko, Katara

Description: Post War A/U. Years after Aang's victory over the dreaded Fire Lord, Katara is still not at peace. A moment of passion, weakness, and overall turbulent emotions has seen to that. As she tries to rationalize it all, the very impetus of her guilt tempts her once again. Submission for the May Competition at the AtLAFC forum.

As Katara was wrested from her uneasy slumber, she became aware that the very early morning was hot. At least, too hot for her taste, since she was raised in the South Pole and all. Blinking the last remaining vestiges of sleep from her eyes, she turned her head to the right, and looked at her bedmate. Aang was snoozing peacefully, and the expression adorning his face showed obvious signs of exhaustion, but was otherwise content. Katara's, on the other hand, was rife with confusion, doubt, and, most notably, guilt. Turning away from her sleeping significant other, Katara buried her face in her hands in an effort to calm her frantic nerves.

She'd had that dream again.

Katara rose and tiptoed out of the room as swiftly as she possibly could. Aang may have been a heavy sleeper, but she wasn't taking any chances. During times like this, she couldn't keep it together when he was around. Awake or fast asleep, his presence unnerved her to the point of near-total incoherency. Wandering the halls of the Fire Nation Palace, she couldn't help marveling at the grandiose architecture that made itself known in a most unsubtle fashion. Stopping at an intersection, Katara stared transfixed at a painting that hung on the wall. She didn't recognize it, and that was odd. She and Aang had been intermittently been staying here alongside places like Ba Sing Se, Omashu, and either of the Water Tribes in the three years since the War had been put to a stop. It was a result of Aang desiring to give the remaining Nations as equal an amount of his attention as he could muster. So, they travelled around the world as they did back then permanently, only at a much slower pace. Katara had found herself almost begrudgingly preferring their stays in the once dreaded Fire Nation, and had memorized much of the layout during their stays there. But, this was completely new to her. Zuko must have had it painted and placed there just recently.

Ah, Zuko. It seemed her thoughts couldn't help but find a way to fixate themselves upon the young Fire Lord. Other than a group of Ozai loyalists that had tried to assassinate him some months ago, things had been rather peaceful for the former prince. The other Nations' hostility toward the Fire nation had slowly been eroding, and trade had begun to open anew between the Earth Kingdom and the Fire nation. All in all, everything seemed to look forward to a brighter future.

And yet Katara was completely stressed out. Every one of their friends had noticed it, from Toph to the ever clueless Sokka. Hugging her robe tighter to her body, she figured that she might as well grab a bite to eat. 'Hopefully I'll be able to get this off my mind,' were the words that resounded through her head as she walked to the kitchens and dining area. Katara knew that there was some leftover Komodo Chicken from the previous night's supper, and her stomach practically screamed at her to fill it with ravenous longing. Knowing that any distraction was beyond welcome at that point, Katara rushed along with newly acquired haste. As she reached the dining area, she became aware of an uneasy feeling in her gut. Or, rather, she felt as if her gut was telling her to back away as quickly as possible. Katara chose to ignore this feeling, and stepped into the room. There was someone sitting at the table.

Zuko.

"Hm?" Zuko's head rose as he was alerted to Katara's presence. "Oh, hi, Katara. What are you doing up so late?" He paused for a moment before amending his question. "Or, early rather?"

"Uh…. Just wanted to get something to eat," Katara replied as she tried her best to avoid eye contact. Usually she could maintain her composure around him, but she was too raw from her dream to be able to face him at the moment.

"There's some leftover Komodo Chicken that's still here." Zuko indicated the food that he had been depositing on his plate as she entered.

"I know."

"Would you like some?" Zuko's wispy tenor was seeping its way into her subconscious, making her feel remarkably warmer than the already sweltering night had made her feel.

"Sure." As he was handing her the dish where it sat upon, he offered one of his signature earnest, goofy grins. She responded with a tight-lipped one of her own, attempting to mask her discomfort. Unfortunately for her, due to Zuko's recent dealings with slimy politicians, he had learned when people were genuinely expressing how they felt, and when they were liars. So, he saw through her thin veneer with no impunity.

"Hey, are you alright?" His face belied his concern.

She had to suppress a start at the caring tone his voice adopted. "O-of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You just seem to have something on your mind is all."

"Zuko, I'm fine." The tension emanating from Katara's form was palpable, and was thicker than the fog of the Foggy Swamp. Zuko's face fell at those words, and Katara felt her gut twist at the sight of it. Though he was not making her anxiety die down in any way, she couldn't help but try to console people when they looked like that. Especially Zuko.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that." She offered him as earnest a smile as her rigid face could muster. He seemed to accept her apology, and offered her a tentative smile of his own back. The moment seemed to last forever to Katara, as neither looked away for an indeterminate period of time, even as heat began pooling into their cheeks. There was just something about his eyes that claimed every ounce of her focus. 'So smoldering… I could get lost in them forever… What am I thinking!? I'm with Aang!' She abruptly jumped out of her seat and started hyperventilating, all thoughts of quelling her cavernous stomach abandoned. Zuko rose almost immediately after and started to go over to her. It was almost like he was reacting on instinct, as his eyes bore a determined glint to them. Katara reeled back from him, and turned and fled the room, shouting for Zuko to not follow her. 'I'm with Aang, I'm with Aang, I'm with Aang…' Those three words became a mantra in her head, shutting out all the other treacherous voices that tried to use that opportunity to speak up as she once again roamed the halls of the Palace. Feeling too shaken up from her earlier dream to go back to her and Aang's room, Katara instead opted to aimlessly roam the halls in the hopes that she might find some way to silence her thoughts.

Whether it was purely by chance, or she had subconsciously made all of the appropriate turns, Katara soon found herself outside of the bathing area. She opened the door and shut it behind her as quickly and quietly as possible, so as not to attract attention to herself. As she surveyed the room, she truly got an idea of how out of her element she was. 'Gleaming fountains, hot rocks ready for steaming… It's all so opulent.' She started to disrobe in preparation for a good, extended bath. While unraveling her breast wraps, her thoughts slipped back over to a certain scarred Firebender. 'He and I are just so different in terms of upbringing. He had these beautiful baths and servants to attend to him. We had to bathe by using wooden buckets, and we had to do everything ourselves. It wouldn't work. It couldn't work.' Her thoughts continued on this train as she bent the water around her and made it completely soak her skin and sink into her tension-filled muscles in an attempt to hopefully relax.

Her attempts to relax were mildly successful, but her attempts to dissuade her thoughts from traveling down all too familiar roads of wistful fantasy were completely in vain. As she closed her eyes for what felt like the first time in years, she thought back to the catalyst of these dreams. Years had passed, but she still felt every scorching molecule of air that had whipped against her that day. The day of Sozin's Comet.

'No! Nononononononono!' Her mind was frantic as she scrambled to reach her companion. 'Please, no. This can't be happening. You're alright. You have to be.' She vaguely made out someone screaming behind her, but she focused all of her remaining energy on reaching the supine form of the person who had sacrificed himself for her. The person who was now lying on the ground, twitching ever so slightly. The Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, Zuko.

In her haste to reach him, Katara tripped over her own feet, and rather than rise and keep running, she elected to crawl towards his shaking form, his moans of pain causing her sheer agony, and inspiring her to move even faster. Her ragged breathing and overall exhaustion were countered by a rush of adrenaline stronger than the one that coursed through her when Azula was raining down lightning upon her just seconds prior. After what seemed to be an eternity, she finally came up to his side. She hurriedly opened her water skin, and swirled the remaining water around the ghastly wound that the improperly redirected lightning had left around his heart. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and mixing with the water that was his only chance at life. Though inwardly hysterical, Katara's movements were graceful and precise, owing to her almost prodigal status in Waterbending, and the mileage her healing abilities had gotten over the course of the Gaang's journey. 'It's looking better. Yes! Please, PLEASE, Zuko.'

"Come on Zuko! I know you can make it! You've survived worse than this!" The last sentence was definitely a lie, but Katara was far too beside herself to care. "Please, Zuko! You've gotta pull through! I know you can! You're stronger than this! You can't-"

"K-Katara…" Her name escaped his lips, a barely heard whisper. Katara paused in momentary disbelief at his utterance. She brought her face close to his, ignoring the heat pooling in her cheeks at their close proximity. His breathing had resumed a regular pace, though he still had to gasp every few breaths. Her face lit up in ecstasy as she pulled away just long enough to see him offer her a faint smile before leaning back down and wrapping her arms around his shoulders and burying her face in his shoulder. Amidst her assurances of how glad she was that he was alright, she felt an arm return her embrace. As they lay there, time seemed to stand still. Katara only knew that she heard his breathing, felt his body pulled tightly to her, and recognized his smell as that of soot and sweat. Regardless, the moment was one that she could never deny being a highlight among the many that she had shared with others. She felt his hand start to thread through her hair, and despite the slight pain he caused her by pulling her hair out of the tangles that it had woven throughout it, she felt a pleasurable tingle run down her spine. Katara pulled back once more and met his gaze. They stared into each other's eyes for an indeterminate period of time before Katara leaned in. After the fact, she would never be able to figure out why she did what she did. But, the one thing that she knew for sure was that she kissed him.

It was… odd. Pleasant, but still odd. Their teeth clacked together at a couple of points, saliva dripped out of their mouths in a most embarrassing manner, and their tongues were not completely synchronized. The one thing that Katara registered, however, was the heat that spread throughout her entire body from the instant their lips met. It was searing, and as intense as waves crashing during a furious storm. It enveloped her entire being, making her moan in satisfaction. Her arms had moved from their place around his shoulders to cradling his elegant face with one hand and returning his earlier gesture by running the other through his hair. His hands were busy being wrapped around her middle, pressing into her in just the right manner to make her shiver. When they broke apart, each bearing a prideful blush, the tortured cries of Azula served to completely kill the moment. Not that the moment was ideal, but it was still a moment, or so Katara thought.

As Katara took a look at the once proud and strong Princess of the Fire Nation reduced to a pitiful, sobbing wreck, she was overcome with emotion and turned to Zuko, who had thankfully managed to stand up, and grasped his arm and leaned into him, averting her eyes from the scene. She felt him grab her hand and squeeze it in an attempt to offer her some comfort. She squeezed back. 'They fit together perfectly,' she mused as she looked upon their bound hands. 'Perfectly.'

Katara was roused from her temporary stupor as the water she was bending fell back into the ornate tub she was bathing in. Letting out a slight huff, she focused her attention back on her bending so she could finish washing in as efficient manner as she could manage. Her mind did manage to meander a bit as she went on, but her bending stayed true for the remaining duration of her bath.

Stepping out feeling relatively relaxed and refreshed, she put her unmentionables back on before pulling a crimson robe around herself. As she inched closer to the door, fearful of the day ahead of her, her mind once more delved into thoughts and feelings she was still wracked with guilt over. 'Zuko's so dreamy, and kissing him felt better than anything Aang has done for you.' She stopped and winced. 'Even you can't deny it. Try as he might, Aang can't fully steal your affection away.' Though momentarily dumbstruck by her own intrusive musings, Katara recovered with a fiery resolve. 'That's not true! Aang is the perfect boyfriend, and I love him for that! Anything Zuko and I did before that doesn't matter!' Katara's face showed her sense of triumph. Her mind's next point quickly sobered her and brought her crashing back down to reality. 'Then why do you still fantasize about it to this day?'

Try as she might, Katara could not answer that question. All she could do was try to find something to occupy her time with, which she immediately exited the room in search of. Unfortunately for her, what she found was the very cornerstone of her guilty conscience.

"Okay, now you can't say nothing's wrong," said Zuko as he stared at her with a determined expression on his face. "So, what is it? Please tell me."

"I…" She gulped nervously as she anxiously looked for a way to escape his presence. His body was an impenetrable wall blocking her in, much to her chagrin.

Zuko sighed and cupped his forehead with his hand. "This is about what happened that day, isn't it?" he asked, his voice riddled with trepidation. Her shaky, almost imperceptible nod served as conversation as he sighed once more in exasperation. "We can't just keep sweeping this under the rug. It happened, and we need both to get this out of the way, if only to maintain our sanity."

"I… can't," Katara said in a whisper, her face looking upon the ground in an effort to quell the swirling emotions that were catching a second wind within her.

"Why not?" His voice was incredulous, but still as reassuring as he could manage. "I mean, in essence it's a simple thing. Our emotions were out of control, we both very nearly died, and we kissed to truly feel like we were still alive. Or, that's all it seems to have been, at least." His tone had changed with that last sentence, and now held some layer of resentment.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I…" It was his turn to be unable to formulate his thoughts properly. "It seemed like you held a torch for me, at least judging by how much passion you put into it. I… kind of thought that we might be able to get together as a result. That's why I never went with Mai when she offered to take me back. I hoped you had something for me, and that we would be able to discuss the kiss, and see where it went from there." Zuko's expression darkened as he very nearly spat out his next words. "But, the next time we're in a close enough proximity for this talk to happen, I see you planting one on Aang. It… it really crushed me. I felt discarded; like I wasn't good enough for you. I tried to put it behind me, but it's never really faded away."

'He thought we had a chance?!' Katara's inner voice gleefully shouted. "You still feel that way for me?" she queried, hopeful yet conflicted,

"Yes."

"I… I don't know why I did that. Kissing Aang, I mean. I do love him, but I know that I felt something for you."

"You did?" His eyes were wide and hopeful at that admission.

"Y-yes." Her cheeks were burning, and she chanced a look at the cause of her tangled emotions. It did not help the flutter in her heart.

"Well, uh…." He nervously scratched the back of his head. "If you felt something, then why did you go for Aang while giving me the cold shoulder about it all?"

"I don't know," she whispered, eyes darting back down again. "I guess Aang was the safe choice. You were the one who I wasn't sure about, and I just folded under the pressure that the thought of 'us'."

"But it seems that hose feelings never truly died." He stepped closer to Katara as he continued to speak. "I still see you staring at me when you think I'm not looking. I see that you steal a glance at me with a blush on your face. That thing in the dining hall? It wasn't the first time we've held a look between us that feels like forever condensed into a single, beautiful moment. There's still some form of attraction between us."

Katara sat there dumbfounded as her mind shouted gleefully that Zuko nailed it right down to the tiniest of details. She couldn't formulate any kind of denial, and so she once again looked for an escape. As she made to move away, however, Zuko caught her by the forearm and pulled her into him.

Their lips met once more.

If the first kiss they had shared was searing, then this one was positively electric. This time she couldn't blame it on adrenaline, or her happiness at him being alive. Her emotions were turbulent, but she could not deny that she was completely enraptured in this embrace.

In short, she kissed back.

With his arms wrapped around her waist and hers around his neck, the pair stood there for some moments, completely lost in each other. Eventually the need for air, ironically enough, made it necessary for them to separate. Zuko rested his forehead on the crown of Katara's head as she nestled her face into his chest. Thankfully for the illicit paramours, nobody walked in on them.

'This is paradise,' Katara thought as her inner voice slipped out of her controlling fist. Her body felt warmer than the hottest of fires, and it seemed as if Zuko's fire was heating her up even further. For the first time in years she felt as if she was at peace.

Reality, sadly, is a very sobering beast. When it rears its head, even the most pleasant moments suddenly fall cold and collapse. Such as the one the two would-be lovers were in at that very instant. Katara stiffened suddenly as her rationality caught up to her body and emotions. 'No! This is wrong! This is complete betrayal! What would Aang do if he saw this?!' She wrenched herself out of Zuko's intoxicating embrace and backed away a few steps.

"Zuko, we can't do this." Her voice was clipped, and her voice was guilt-filled.

"I… In my mind I know it's not right, but I can't stifle this feeling." His eyes reached hers, and the desperate feeling that was in them almost made Katara rush right back into his arms. Almost. "That embrace, that kiss just now… That was the first time I've felt alive in years, Katara." He reached out his hand in an attempt to grab her sleeve. "I can't just pretend that it never happened. I wouldn't even if I could."

"B-but Aang…" She trailed off as she briefly considered letting him grab her before steeling herself and moving away again.

"I'm sure he'll understand. If I noticed you giving me looks, surely he has." Zuko was frantic in his efforts to sway Katara, and it really showed.

"We couldn't do that to him!" Her fiery emotions began to overwhelm her in one powerful sweep. "He nearly gave his life so we could be able to be here right now, and you're willing to toss him aside after all that?!"

"No! He's my friend, and I don't want to hurt him any more than you do, but…" He paused to swallow before continuing, his voice choking as he struggled to continue. "I've felt dead inside all this time, Katara. I can get things done, but there's no warmth; it's like my fire's been snuffed out. But that kiss seems to have re-ignited it. I don't wanna give that up. Please tell me you understand!"

"Zuko, we can't. That's all there is to it." She turned to leave.

"Don't go," Zuko said pitifully. He directed his eyes to the floor as she walked away, steadfastly refusing to look back.

Katara knew that her heart was screaming at her to go back to him. She ignored these cries, and felt her heart breaking with every step. She couldn't live with herself if she willingly turned back. One momentary indiscretion was enough for a lifetime.

A/N: Well, this was a doozy. Hopefully you enjoyed this little slice of angsty teen romance, and will tune in for more when it's released. Feel free to check out my other work if you're so inclined.

Also, major thanks to Painted With A Pallette for Beta Reading this. You rock, madam!

Read, review, and I'll see ya next time.

-TheNotSoTalentedPoet