The Cure

Azula sat in her office, looking up across her desk at her unexpected visitor and trying not to frown.

"Can I help you, mother?"

The word on the end of the question was just as pointed as ever, but Ursa took it in stride. She knew it would take her daughter time to accept her again, if she ever did, and Ursa was fine with that. She expected it, considering what Azula's childhood had been like.

It was just one of the many things she had yet to make up for since her return to the Fire Nation, after the War had ended four years ago.

"It's Zuko, Azula," Ursa said. "I need you to go talk to him."

"And I need you to remember that I formally outrank you," Azula shot back, her voice cold with control. "Don't try to give me orders. That time has passed, for both of us."

Ursa sighed, lowering her head.

"Forgive me, Azula," she said. "I didn't mean… I'm sorry," she finished, before raising her head to look up at her daughter again. "I know we've had our differences—"

Azula snorted bitterly.

"But this isn't about us," Ursa continued, pressing on undaunted. "This is about Zuko. You have to try to get through to him. Please."

"'Get through to him'?" Azula repeated, arching an eyebrow. "Isn't that what you and Uncle are around for?"

"We've tried," Ursa said. "But neither of us have managed to do much of anything. It's been four years, and he's still refused to call any sort of summit since the Treaty was first signed. I know he called for a period of peaceful isolation for the Fire Nation, but this—" Ursa threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. "This is just ridiculous. He can't have you running ragged all over the other Nations as his diplomatic Viceroy just so he can sit in his room and mope all day."

"My, my," Azula mused, a sharp smirk on her face. "You sounded just like Father for a moment there. Have you been to see him lately?"

"Ozai has nothing to do with this," Ursa said, sharpness coming into her own voice.

Azula laughed openly at that.

"That's why you and Uncle never get anywhere with him," she said. "Assumptions. Like thinking that just because the Avatar destroyed Ozai's power, he destroyed his hold over your son. On the contrary, Father's influence is as strong as it's ever been."

"How?" Ursa asked. "They haven't spoken in ages."

"Psychologically, Mother," Azula explained, fighting not to slip back into her old temperament. She was better than that now. "You know how that game works. Zuko is terrified of actually ruling because he knows exactly what he's capable of becoming."

"But he'd never become Ozai," Ursa insisted, steadfast. "Never. I know Zuko's better than that."

"There you go again," Azula said, sighing inwardly. She couldn't even take satisfaction from her mother's blindness anymore—it was just sad. Too many years in hiding had dulled her edge, and it was only just now beginning to get sharp once more.

"You might know what you think Zuko is or isn't," Azula continued, "but that doesn't matter. What matters is what Zuko thinks of himself. If you want him to get back to the way he was a few years ago, the first thing you have to do is realize that no one in this palace will be able to reach him."

"And why is that?"

"Because if you've noticed, we haven't exactly been a model family for the past few generations," Azula answered with an edge of biting humor. "We're all relics of the old era, mother. Raised and shaped by warlords in a time of war. What could we possibly do to convince Zuko he's nothing like us, when all he can see when he looks at us is the past?"

Ursa paused for a few moments to consider her daughter's words, but was still unwilling to give in.

"And you don't think Iroh is the exception to that rule, Azula?"

"He could be, in time," Azula allowed, "but not right now. Not as long as he keeps prattling on and paralleling everything to Ozai, at least. I appreciate the good cautionary tale as much as anyone now and then, but you can't keep warning Zuko about how horrible of a person his father was and then expect him not to let his own fear paralyze him."

"So what, then?" Ursa asked, looking weary. "We just give up? Keep running the Fire Nation on behalf of its hermetic Fire Lord? It's been almost two years since Zuko shut himself away, Azula. The people need to see their ruler. They need to be reminded he still even exists!"

Azula was about to reply, but the pair of women was interrupted by the sudden arrival of a messenger. He was the same age as Azula, but with eyes that made him seem much older. It was one of the many things he had in common with his superior.

"My Lady," he said, nodding to Ursa, before looking over at Azula. "Viceroy. The envoy you requested from the Southern Water Tribe has arrived. Shall I let her in?"

"In a moment, Yan," Azula said, smiling at the look of confusion on Ursa's face. Setting this whole thing up through back channels had taken much longer than doing it normally, but it was worth it just for the satisfaction of seeing expressions like that on Ursa's face.

"If you would leave us, Mother," she continued, rising and addressing Ursa politely, "there are things I wish to discuss with Yan in private before meeting with the representative from the South."

"Of course," Ursa said with an equally polite bow, before leaving the office. Yan watched her go, his steely amber eyes seemingly unfeeling. When he turned back to look at Azula, however, they softened ever so slightly.

"You okay?" he asked, dropping formality altogether. It was a liberty he only took with her when they were alone, a liberty only granted by the empathy that came through shared suffering.

"I'll be fine," Azula answered, a similar almost-softness coming into her voice. "Thank you. Any news from Ba Sing Se?"

"Kuei is pliant as ever, but Beifong… less so," Yan answered. "Still, with her as Grand Secretariat, the Earth Kingdom will not bend or break. Concessions are a small price to pay for an ally's long-term resilience."

"Agreed," Azula said, before shifting her focus to another matter. "How are you feeling?"

The Viceroy's Spymaster shrugged.

"It comes and goes," he said. "I don't think the nightmares will ever really go away. But I'm getting better."

"Good," Azula said, inwardly once again thankful that she dragged Yan out of the asylum with her when she left. His brilliance ran as deep as his scars, and it didn't deserve to be smothered in that awful place.

A moment of thoughtful silence passed between them, before Yan reassumed formal posture.

"Should I send the envoy in?" he asked, his voice official once more.

"Please do," Azula replied. "And ask someone in the kitchens to prepare some salmon for us for lunch when you're done. I need something to take my mind off… all this," she finished tiredly, gesturing to the pile of paperwork on her desk.

Yan nodded.

"Of course."

Azula sat back in her chair and sighed, taking a moment to try to collect her wits before her next visitor walked in.

When this was all over, Zuko owed her a chunk of the Fire Nation to call her own personal domain. No, not just a chunk. The whole damn southern half of it. Being a good sister was beyond exhausting. How did normal families manage to look after each other all the time without imploding and going completely crazy?

Azula only had a few moments to laugh at the irony of that last question before a very familiar face appeared in her doorway.

"Hello, Katara," the Viceroy said with a small smile, rising to her feet. "Thank you for making the trip."

"Of course," the second most powerful woman in the Southern Water Tribe answered with a graceful smile of her own. "Friends come before politics." Katara's expression shifted slightly, and Azula fought not to widen her smile. "I saw in your letter—is Zuko doing all right?"

"That's what we're here to talk about, actually," Azula said. "Please, take a seat."

The two women sat down, appraising each other for a moment.

"You look good, Azula," Katara said, sincerely. "And Yan seems… happier than usual," she added, with a sly look in her eye.

Azula smiled gamely: truth be told, she'd missed sparring with her rival-turned-friend.

"I don't know what you mean," she replied evenly, moving a pile of papers over to the side of her desk. "Yan's always cheerful. How's Sokka doing? Busy chasing away throngs of would-be suitors from your doorstep, I imagine."

Katara laughed.

"He does do that," she admitted. "And he's scary good at it, honestly. I think he might be developing a problem." Katara chuckled, sighed, and then shrugged. "I keep trying to tell him he's wasting his time, but you know Sokka. Never listens to me, and especially not when I'm right."

Azula chuckled.

"I know more than a few guys like that," she said. "It's their gender's specialty. Zuko's the worst at it, though."

Azula watched Katara's face keenly for the next few seconds, and was rewarded for her attention with exactly what she'd been hoping to see.

"I bet," Katara said at last, after the sudden, short spike of emotions had passed. "Speaking of, how is he?"

"Miserable, actually," Azula deadpanned. "Hasn't been out of his damn room in months except for the essentials, and the last time he did show his face at a Council Meeting it turned into a shouting match so bad they had to call it off early."

"Ouch," Katara said, wincing. "That sounds horrible. Any idea what's got him so shaken up?"

"One or two," Azula answered, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Okay," Katara spoke uncertainly into the silence that settled between them. "Go ahead."

"There's something I've always been curious about," Azula began, keeping her voice completely calm. "It's been three years since that Treaty ended the War—but Zuko's only been a shut-in for the last two. And in that first year, he seemed… somewhat manic-depressive, let's say, to put it lightly," she continued, leaning slightly forward in her chair. "The doctors taught me that one. Funny thing, though: even in that first year, before I became his full-time diplomat, Zuko would always send me to see your family in the South.

"Unless, of course," Azula finished with continued calmness, "Zuko could find a way to take a vacation and have it rather conveniently line up with a diplomatic mission down to the Southern Water Tribe. Quite the coincidence, wouldn't you agree?"

"That does sound odd," Katara said, clearly fighting not to openly squirm. "But what does that have to do with me?"

"Oh, come on, Katara," Azula said, dropping her calm at last. "Don't play coy with me, of all people. I don't care what you and Zuko have done, and I don't want to know. All I care about is that this has officially gone from tiresome to absurd. Zuko needs to get his act together, and I'd be willing to bet my whole year's pay that you can help him do it. Just… go talk to him, all right?"

Katara sighed.

"I don't think he'll want to see me, Azula."

Azula saw the look on Katara's face and cursed under her breath, because it confirmed her worst suspicions.

"It's a good thing I did this covertly, then," Azula said at last. "He has no idea you're here, and if Yan did his job right, then neither does anyone else. You should be able to get into Zuko's office with no trouble; I'll have Yan walk you there to avoid stirring up a scene."

"Even if I do talk to him," Katara said glumly, "that doesn't change what happened."

"Like I said, I don't care about your past," Azula countered firmly. "I care about your present. Go figure this thing out, for his sake. It's clear he needs you."

Katara said nothing for several long moments, before simply getting up and nodding.

"I'll see what I can do," she said. Katara was at the door before Azula called out to her, stopping her briefly in her tracks.

"I know I've said this before," the Viceroy told her, "but thank you. For what you did, back during the Comet. I might not have known it at the time, but… it was what I needed."

Katara looked back over her shoulder and smiled.

"You're welcome, Azula."

Katara left the office without another word, meeting Yan in the hallway and following his lead towards Zuko's office.

Katara paused in front of Zuko's door with her hand raised, trying to ignore the feeling of her heart hammering in her chest. It had taken a few days of thinking before she'd even consented to meeting Azula, but if she'd known that the purpose of the visit was something like this… Katara wasn't sure she'd have even been brave enough to come down here.

Something she owed Azula a 'thank-you' of her own for, then.

She was about to finally knock when a voice spoke out from within the room, causing Katara to freeze again.

"It's open, Katara."

He knew I was coming?

The thought made Katara's heart beat even faster, but it also put her at ease. At least she wouldn't have to talk him down from the shock of seeing her again.

Katara opened the door, slipping into the room and closing it again behind her, careful to lock it. Zuko's office hadn't changed in three years, apart from the large bed he'd had set up in the corner. Zuko himself stood facing Katara, his desk and chair behind him and piled high with scrolls and reports in various states of disarray.

"How did you know it was me?" Katara asked, unable to think of a better greeting as she stepped further into the room.

Zuko smiled.

"I have more eyes and ears around here than anyone in my family realizes," he said simply, moving towards Katara with deliberately slow steps. "I've still been running things, I just needed… time alone."

"Two years of time alone, Zuko?" Katara asked, arching an eyebrow. "That's a bit excessive. Your people need you."

"They have me," Zuko replied, his voice carrying an edge of bitterness. "Even if they don't see me, their concerns are what take up all of my time. I'm trying to keep the old guard and the new from tearing each other to pieces, Katara. It's exhausting.

"And besides, if I'm remembering this correctly," Zuko finished, staring right at Katara, "you were the one who thought it'd be a good idea if we stopped seeing each other."

"Yes," Katara replied, not giving an inch of ground. "I did say that, Zuko. Because it was splitting you in half! The time you spent down in the South with me was time you weren't looking after the Fire Nation, and I could tell it was eating away at you! I just wanted what was best for you, that's all," she said, sounding just as tired as Zuko.

"That's all I've ever wanted since the Comet," Katara murmured, half to herself, before falling completely silent.

But Zuko heard her, and was quick to place a comforting hand underneath her chin.

"Katara," he said softly, tilting her head up to meet his eyes. "Look at me."

She did, and suddenly it was like no time had passed at all between that first night after Zuko's coronation and now.

Katara hadn't dreaded a conversation this much in a long, long time. She'd been in turmoil over how to approach it ever since Aang had surprised her with that kiss back on Ember Island. She cared about him, and deeply, sure—but Katara still couldn't figure out if Aang meant as much to her in that way as she clearly did to him.

And she knew enough to know that that kind of uncertainty meant something in its own right.

And then there was Zuko, and what she still had to tell him about from when he'd taken a bolt of Azula's lightning for her… the whole thing was one big emotional mess.

As she approached Aang's temporary quarters in the Fire Nation Royal Palace, however, Katara was surprised to hear that a conversation was already going on within the room. The door was just open enough that she could hear everything clearly, but she didn't dare look inside for fear of being discovered.

"Aang, you gotta admit that what you did was kinda majorly unfair."

"Look, Toph, I know that. I screwed up, and it was beyond stupid. I've already told myself that like fifty times. I just need to know how I can fix it!"

"That's your problem, right there! This isn't about you fixing anything, Twinkle Toes! This is something Katara needs to figure out on her own time. The relationship street runs two ways, kiddo."

"Wait, so now you're telling me not to do anything? I thought you were supposed to be Miss 'Direct Action'!"

"When it comes to smashing rocks into things, yeah," Toph shot back. "Not this. This is something you need to be careful with. You can't just chuck a boulder at emotions and expect good things to happen. People get hurt," she finished, and there was something in her voice that made Katara straighten up and pay attention.

Aang, however, hadn't seemed to catch that.

"You sound like you're speaking from experience," Aang said, his voice heavy with hurt. "What do you know about this sort of stuff? Do you have any idea what it's like to feel the way I'm feeling right now? You spent your whole life alone in your house until I came along!"

The awkward silence that followed Aang's pained outburst was heavy enough that Katara could feel it weighing down on her from the other side of the wall.

"Toph," Aang said quietly a few moments later, sounding devastated, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean… I really am an enormous idiot. I'll just shut up now."

"You think I don't know how you feel?" Toph said at last, her strong, quiet voice trembling around its edges. "You think I don't know what it feels like to be looking at someone who's always looking at someone else? Or to feel some way about someone even though I know they don't feel that way about me? You think I don't know, Aang?" she asked, her voice rising back to its normal volume.

"How do you think I feel right now, you blockhead?" Toph said, and Katara could tell from her voice that the tears Toph had been holding back were finally falling. "Do you have any idea how painful it is trying to be your friend and give you advice I don't want to give you? How much it hurts to feel this selfish when all I want is to be selfless for you? To want to repay you like that, after everything you've done for me? Everything you've given me? Answer me that, Aang. Tell me you know how that feels, and I'll walk right out that door."

It was, understandably, several moments before Aang said so much as a word.

"Toph," he said quietly. "I… I had no idea."

"Of course you didn't," Toph replied. "You're blinder than I am, Aang."

Aang laughed softly.

"That's very true," he said. "Hey, come here."

"Don't you have someone else to be talking to right now?" Toph asked, her voice muted now. Katara guessed her face was resting against Aang's shoulder.

"Nope," Aang said. "She's sitting right here, and we have a lot we need to talk about. I'll try my best not to throw a rock at your head in the process."

Toph chuckled weakly.

"Yeah, like you'd hit me anyway, Twinkle Toes."

Katara smiled, turned around and walked down the hallway towards Zuko's office.

She paused near the door, pushing it open just a crack and waiting. If history was any indication, it was the Spirits' favorite pastime to throw her headlong into awkward situations. She'd barely avoided one back in Aang's room, and Katara definitely wasn't taking any chances now.

Her caution, it turned out, was entirely appropriate.

"Wait," Zuko's voice said, "what do you mean, you're not sure about being Fire Lady?"

"Exactly what that sounds like, Zuko," Mai's calm and bluntly clear voice replied. "Politics aren't my thing, I hate hanging around old rich people all day, and I don't just want to be a figurehead that happens to also be the mother of your children. I need my own freedom, too."

"I could give you that, Mai. I'm Fire Lord now, remember?"

"See, Zuko, that's the thing," Mai replied. "You've been out of the court life for a while. I never left it. The kind of game you're going to be playing… it has a bunch of moving pieces. You might think you'll just wave your hand and I'll be able to go do whatever I want, but you'll still have to answer to people. Everyone else who helps keep the Fire Nation in one piece. And they need the Royal Family to be a political force—on both ends. Why do you think your mother was so good at her job?"

Zuko was quiet for several moments, but when he spoke there was no hurt or anger in his voice.

"That was the most complicated break-up speech I've ever heard, Mai."

Mai laughed.

"Don't get me wrong, Zuko," she said, her voice full of affection beneath the surface, for those who could hear it. "You're still my friend, and I want us to stay that way. You ever need any spying done or whatever, I'm your girl. I just can't be your Fire Lady."

"I understand," Zuko said. "Thank you for being honest, Mai. And I'm sorry I didn't ask you about this before."

"No, it's also on me," Mai said. "I kept thinking you might give the throne to Iroh, or to your mother when she showed up a few days back. I should've known you would've taken the throne anyway. Sorry I thought less of you than that."

"How about we just agree to stop apologizing to each other, and call it even?" Zuko asked, chuckling.

"Sounds good," Mai replied, in equally good spirits. "See you around, Fire Lord Zuko."

"Of course, Mai."

The door opened wider a few moments later, and Mai walked out into the hallway. When she saw Katara standing there, she smiled cryptically.

"Thanks for fixing him up this morning," Mai said. "Zuko told me how you healed his new scar up some more before he got crowned. No one had any idea he'd even been injured."

"Not a problem," Katara said with a smile. "Taking care of people is what I do."

"Yeah," Mai said, her smile widening just a bit. "Well, take good care of him for me, will you?"

With that, she walked away, and Katara took a few steps into Zuko's office.

"Hey," Zuko said, smiling. "You heard that?"

"Yeah," Katara said bashfully, glad she didn't turn red outright. "Sorry."

Zuko shrugged.

"It happens," he said. "Does it hurt? Sure. I do care about her, Katara. But that also means I'm not about to force her into a life she'll hate, you know?"

Katara thought back to Toph's anguished confession earlier, and nodded.

"Yeah," she said, "I know the feeling."

Zuko was about to say something, but his words came out in a groan as he clutched his chest.

Katara was at his side in an instant, drawing some water from the pouch at her waist into her hand.

"Zuko? Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," he grit out. "It's just acting up."

"Yeah, I'm not buying that," Katara said, bracing Zuko under his arm and leading him over to a nearby chair. "Sit down, your Highness."

Zuko sank into the chair, slipping off his vest and sighing in relief as Katara pressed the healing water against his bare skin.

"There we go," Katara said. "Better?"

"Lots, thanks," Zuko said, already sounding more relaxed. "I don't know how you do it, but I owe you."

"No you don't," Katara said, "but you're welcome. What I don't know is why you took that damn bolt of lightning for me in the first place. That was stupid, reckless, and stupid."

"You said 'stupid' twice."

"There was a reason for that, Zuko."

The Fire Lord laughed.

"Well, what was I supposed to do? Let you die? You had no idea how to redirect lightning, Katara, and I did. What kind of Fire Lord would I be if I couldn't even protect the people I cared about?"

Something in Zuko's voice made Katara's heart-rate rise, and she was suddenly very acutely aware of just how close they were to each other.

"Zuko," she said, in an effort to deflect her emotions somewhere else, "thank you. For saving me, that is. Only one other person's ever put themselves on the line like that for me. I can't tell you how much it means."

"That's fine," Zuko replied, his voice as tender as Katara had ever heard it. "I can imagine."

"I thought I'd lost you, for a minute there," Katara mused, finishing up the healing and putting the water away. "And it hurt. It hurt a lot more than I'd thought losing you would. After everything… I guess I just thought nothing would ever be able to bring you down."

"And it didn't," Zuko said, reaching up to place his hand gently beneath Katara's chin, tilting her head slightly down to meet his own. "You brought me back, remember?"

"Zuko…" Katara began, leaning slowly towards him. Zuko rose to meet her, his amber eyes closing slowly—

And then Katara quickly backed away.

"Katara?" Zuko asked, surprised by the sudden emptiness in front of him. "Is something wrong?"

"No," she answered quickly, from the other side of the room.

"I just thought we should lock the door. In case… y'know," she finished vaguely, smiling at Zuko in a way that made him shiver.

"Umm, yes," he said at last, as Katara began walking back over to him with a renewed sense of purpose.

"I think that's an excellent idea."

"Katara? You okay?"

She blinked herself out of her memories, finding Zuko looking at her with concern in his eyes. It was funny how little he'd aged since becoming Fire Lord—his resilience had done him a favor yet again.

"I'm fine," she said, suddenly aware again of how close they were, and the warmth of Zuko's hand beneath her chin. "I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"About the night of your coronation. About how long ago that was."

"It definitely feels like longer ago than it was," Zuko said, before he shifted his hand beneath Katara's chin so that it cupped the bottom of her face. He slowly trailed the tip of his forefinger along her cheekbone, the look in his eyes close to reverence.

"You're so beautiful," he half-whispered, as Katara leaned reflexively into the touch and sighed. "I missed you so much."

Katara opened her eyes, closing one hand over Zuko's and gently moving it downwards, while her free hand came to rest lightly, tenderly on the flesh of his scar.

"I missed you too," she said, as Zuko's eyes closed and his head lowered slightly. Katara moved her other hand to the place on Zuko's chest where his second scar resided, feeling it through his robe.

"And you're beautiful, too," she said. "Not in spite of these. Because of them. Because of what they represent. You do know that, don't you?"

"No," Zuko said, opening his eyes again, "I'm still working on that. But… but when you say it, Katara, I can believe you."

Katara smiled, leaning forward and kissing Zuko. He was right, it definitely felt like longer ago than it had been since the last time they were together. What began as a sweet, tentative kiss, like a greeting between the two of them after so long apart, quickly deepened and became hungrier, more desperate. Like each of them thought that the other would vanish if they opened their eyes, or that the dawn would come and they would be alone again, as they had been for the last two years.

Which had been, they now realized, two years too many.

Katara's tongue slipped impatiently against Zuko's lips, as if asking why they weren't already open to receive it. Zuko was quick to obey, and the pair's arms closed more firmly around each other, deepening the embrace as they battled for control with the understanding that neither of them would lose in the end.

But it was an old competition, this one, and it would have its due.

Suddenly, Zuko broke the kiss off. But Katara barely had enough time to moan in disappointment before the sound shifted to pure pleasure as Zuko's teeth nipped at the place where her neck and collarbone joined. He smiled against her skin, placing a trail of light, torturous kisses that led down to where the opening of Katara's dress ended, above her right breast.

She moaned again, her hands loosening their grip just enough to pull the water out of the pouch at her hip. With impeccable control, she formed the water into a series of small, crescent-shaped blades and used them to slice Zuko's robes to little more than ribbons, leaving his skin untouched and bare to the fading dusk light as his clothes fell to the ground.

Zuko took a step back in surprise, while Katara just grinned at him.

"Where did you learn to do that?" he asked, too shocked to be embarrassed.

"Well, you know," Katara said sultrily, advancing on Zuko and smiling as he backpedaled towards the nearby bed, "a girl gets lonely sometimes, when she's all by herself. Learns a few… interesting tricks, to pass the nights away. A tweak here, a tweak there, and there we are," she finished, placing her hands on Zuko's pectoral muscles and pushing him the rest of the way down onto the bed.

"Now," Katara said, "I have a few more tricks up my sleeve, Zuko. Don't move."

The Fire Lord didn't even twitch—for a few moments, at least. As he lay down on the bed, Katara turned some of her water into a small sphere and passed it with teasing gentleness over Zuko's skin. It was just cold enough to make the flesh that it touched sensitive… sensitive enough that when the coldness of the water's trace was replaced by the slightly damp heat of Katara's kisses, it drove Zuko out of his mind with pleasure.

"Katara…" he'd hissed as she'd begun at her favorite weak-spot of his on the left side of his abdomen, pausing after her kiss to let the tip of her tongue linger there for a languorously long moment. By the time she'd worked her way up to his right nipple five sweetly painful minutes later—after spending two of those minutes paying special attention to the hypersensitive scar on his chest— Zuko's hands were bunched fists at his sides and the sounds coming out of his mouth were less words, and more strangled groans of ecstasy.

Katara straddled him, slowly and deliberately peeling off the layers of her clothing. Zuko stared up at her, his eyes wide with a mixture of admiration, love and lust. The passing of two years had only made her more beautiful, and as Zuko reached up to run his hands through her long, unbound chestnut-brown hair, he wondered how he'd ever deserved to love and be loved by someone as magnificent as Katara.

All of those thoughts melted into a single point as Katara slowly lowered herself down onto him, making Zuko groan again. A hiss escaped her lips as her back arched slightly, and she looked down at him with desire and triumph dancing in her blue eyes.

Zuko placed his hands on the small of her back and pulled Katara down to meet him, the full warm weight of her perfectly-toned body further intensifying the immense pleasure both of them felt as Katara's hips continued to move up and down, alternately making Zuko moan in longing or half-shout in pleasure. Eventually Katara pushed herself back up as her movements became more and more rapid, and Zuko could tell what was about to happen. Moving his hands down to her hips, he helped to lift and lower them again and again, faster and faster until Katara's whole body began to quiver and she only had the presence of mind left to form one, single word.

"Zukoooooooo…"

The primal sound of her voice made Zuko realize just how far from done he was. But he waited a few moments as Katara collapsed against him, breathing heavily. He returned to stroking her hair as he held her against him, feeling a sudden spike of longing to never leave this feeling behind him again. He wanted to wake up to it every morning, and go to sleep next to it every night, until his body failed him and his spirit passed into the Spirit World.

And then Zuko would wait there for Katara. And when she joined him, they would have nothing but each other, and eternity.

"Katara," Zuko said after a few moments, once her breathing had calmed back down. "You with me?"

"Of course," she said. "What is it?"

"I don't want you to leave me again," Zuko answered. "You're right, I can't be Fire Lord if I split myself in half. But living without you is worse than that. So much worse. And every time you leave, I see that clearer and clearer. I can't go through that again, Katara. I know it's selfish of me, but it just hurts too much to see you walk away again."

Katara propped herself up on one elbow and looked down at Zuko, nothing but love in her eyes.

"Well," she said, "that sounds like a pretty bad problem. Would you like to know my solution, Fire Lord Zuko?"

"More than anything."

Katara smiled, leaning back down and whispering something into Zuko's ear. By the time she was done, Zuko's eyes were wide with wonder, as if he didn't dare believe what he'd just been told.

"You would do that?" he asked. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure, Zuko," Katara said, reaching down and running a hand through his dark hair. "You think I don't feel the same way about you that you do about me? And besides, I help my dad handle Water Tribe politics all the time. The Fire Nation should be a piece of cake compared to dealing with the North."

Zuko laughed once, brightly, before lunging up and kissing Katara deeply. She melted into the kiss with a happy sigh against his lips, letting her guard down just enough that Zuko was able to flip them around in one smooth, powerful motion.

Katara barely had time to react to the fact that she was on the bottom now before she could do little more than hiss again as Zuko slipped inside her again, smiling mischievously.

"You thought I was done?" he whispered against her ear, the heat of his breath intensifying the wave of pleasure Katara felt as Zuko began to slowly pull out of her before sliding slowly back in a single, controlled stroke.

Katara's words became little more than strangled groans, and Zuko smiled.

"So that's what I looked like earlier," he teased. "Good to know."

He sped up, little by little, until he was moving as quickly as Katara had been at her peak straddling him. He was so lost in the feeling that Zuko almost didn't notice Katara wrap her legs around his lower back, pulling him closer to her and keeping him there.

"Katara?" he asked breathlessly, confused. "Are you sure?"

"It won't take tonight, I checked," she said, her voice equally as breathless. "I just want this. Please."

In no mood to argue, Zuko kept going, faster and faster, until he reached his peak and finally climaxed, together with Katara. He sank down on top of her and rolled slowly to the side, completely spent.

"I love you so much," Zuko said once he'd found his voice again, smiling so wide it looked downright goofy. "And you really mean it? What you said earlier?"

Katara smiled.

"I do," she said, chuckling at her own pun. "Look, your sense of humor's rubbing off on me already."

Zuko laughed, pulling Katara to him and kissing her again, gently this time. There was tenderness in the gesture, and love and need, and Katara answered him in kind.

"I love you too, Zuko," Katara said happily after they'd broken apart. "I'm sure your family will be glad to hear the news. Should we go tell them?"

"Now?" Zuko asked, looking incredulous. "Of course not. That can wait until tomorrow morning. Now, we sleep. You locked the door, right?"

"Of course," Katara answered, smiling again. "In case… y'know."

The couple laughed again, and then just held each other in blissful silence until they fell into a contented, peaceful sleep, side-by-side.

…

…

A/N: So yeah, this happened. Hope you enjoyed it. I'd sworn years ago never to write smut again because of how difficult it was to do well, but Zutara won out in the end.

They always win.

Hope you enjoyed it! And thanks to Masayume85's relentless reblogging of Zutara fanart on tumblr, which inspired this thing.