A/N: this was inspired by a picture on deviantart by Irrel called Zutara- Ninja Mission. Just a one-shot that has a slight Zutarian undertone. Enjoy!
Body heat
Zuko knew Katara was exhausted, he was too. During their little ninja mission to find Yan-Rah Zuko had only slept for ten minutes, and he knew Katara hadn't slept at all. He looked back at her from his place at Appa's head, she was shivering and there were dark circles under her eyes. "We should stop; we're both tired."
He saw Katara nod and steered Appa to the ground. They were in a small clearing in the middle of the forest. Appa groaned as Zuko slipped off his head and landed on the ground. Zuko saw Katara jump out of Appa's saddle and Zuko started to take it off the beast. When it finally slid off his back the bison gave a happy grunt and promptly fell asleep. Zuko saw Katara leaned against a tree and went to join her.
"Hey," she said as he sat next to her.
Zuko yawned, "Hi…" Minutes later he heard her teeth chattering and asked, "You cold?" She nodded and brought herself closer to him. "We didn't bring anything, did we?" he asked in a tired mumble. This time she shook her head and crawled into the space between his legs, which were bent up to his chest. For a moment he sat as still as stone (that was not being bent) and waited for her to come to her senses, but she just settled her weight into his chest and sighed a sigh of relief.
"Relax, I can't sleep with you all stiff like that," Katara muttered, lying her had back on his left shoulder. He automatically relaxed and his head rested against hers and he brought his right arm up to rest on his knee. His hand came up and rested on one of her knees and they both fell asleep with a sense of belonging.
