Slight OCC. I tried to keep them in character…but, I don't think I did that well.
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Zuko groaned and sat up stiffly, gently pushing Katara off him. She whimpered and clutched her leg, biting her lip so hard it bleed. Zuko glanced at her and asked, "Is it broken?"
She shook her head. "No, but it—" she hissed slightly as a shock of pain streamed up her leg "feels worse."
"Just heal it," he grumbled, rubbing his head.
"I can't, my canteen was ripped off when we fell," Katara said stiffly, experimentally trying to stretch her leg out, only to retract it quickly as her face scrunched up in pain.
Damn. Zuko had been hoping she would be able to heal the collection of gashes he had received.
The day had started out normally enough. Zuko and his uncle had been with the avatar for nearly a month, and they were traveling over a mountainous area on Appa when suddenly the snow started coming down heavily and made it hard for Appa to see where he was going. The group had been looking for a safe place to land when suddenly the wind had picked up and Appa had trouble flying straight. As the giant bison struggled to stay in the air, the wind had suddenly caused him to tip to the side. Surprised and on the very edge of the saddle, Katara had fallen out with a scream, and in her panic grabbed onto the closest thing next to her—Zuko.
Of course, he was just as surprised as her to find himself falling from the sky at least twenty feet above a forest, not to mention at least another thirty to the ground once you measured the trees. But, he was a price after all, and doing the honorable thing he had grabbed Katara tucked her into his chest as he fell, taking the brunt of the trees as they fell. The branches had managed to cut his face (Zuko was amazed he hadn't lost an eye) and arms, while Katara had only gotten injured when they hit the ground.
"Are you alright?" Katara asked after a moment's hesitation.
Zuko coughed and stood, much to his body's protest. "Fine," he muttered. "Can you stand?" he asked, not sounding really interested. Of course he wouldn't leave her there, but he didn't want to have to carry a girl on his back around all day.
Katara carefully pushed herself to her feet and switched some of her weight of her leg in question. After a sharp hiss of breath and a few tears in her eyes, Zuko took that as a no.
He sighed, irritated, and put a hand to his face. Alright, well, the rest of the group probably had problems of their own so they wouldn't find them soon, and the snow was picking up. He had a feeling it would turn into a blizzard soon. "Look, we should get out of the cold."
He walked over to Katara. "Get on my back."
Katara stared at him. "You're joking." During the previous month, Zuko had failed all of her hopes of having changed. He was just as anti-social, moody, and rude as before, only having changed slightly in the fact he no longer attacked her every time they made eye-contact, which he kept to a minimum.
"Get on or I'll drag you," he hissed, reaching for her arm.
"Alright!" After a small hesitation, Katara warily got onto his back. He shifted her, hooking his arms under her knees—careful not to jostle her injured leg—and began walking. "Do you even know where we're going?" Katara now had to raise her voice because of the wind's howling. Katara was surprised at how warm his back was, but then she realized that should have been obvious due to the fact he was a fire-bender.
"While we were on Appa I saw a kind of cliff, I think we can find a cave there."
And Zuko was right. He wasn't walking long before they came to a small cliff, and after a bit of walking up and down it, they found a hole large enough for both of them. Zuko carried her inside and set her down, then scooted as far away from her as possible. The cave wasn't very high of large, but it would do.
Katara was overjoyed to find that it was damp in the cave and hurriedly gathered all she could to heal her leg. Once the pain receded, she let out a relieved sigh and smiled, closing her eyes. But she was still freezing. Glancing at the cave's opening, she could see snow whipping inside, and along with it the cold.
Hoping that there was enough water in the cave to do what she planned, Katara pushed it towards the opening and formed a thing wall of water, quickly freezing it. It kept the snow and most of the cold out, and Katara leaned back against the cave wall, still shivering slightly.
Zuko watched her as she worked, his knees drawn up to his chest to keep him warm. He saw her shiver and frowned—if he, a fire bender was still cold, then she must feel like she had just been doused in ice water.
Katara felt his eyes on her and turned, suddenly ashamed. "Oh, Zuko, I'm sorry, I forgot about you." She shuffled over and Zuko watched her carefully. She gathered what little water was left in the cave and gathered it in her palm, running it over Zuko's face. He stiffened as her cold hand touched his skin, surprised at how close she was, but Katara didn't notice. Her face was determined as she healed the cuts on his face and then began pushing the now-torn sleeves of his shirt up his arms to heal those too. Zuko couldn't help it as goose-bumps rose on his skin, and shrank slightly away from her. During all his time with the group, Katara was the one (after Aang) that he had avoided most, due to all the previous…disagreements they had. But right now she was in her element, and it didn't matter who it was that she was helping, only that she could and was helping.
Once she was done, Katara stayed kneeled before him, her hands on his right arm.
"Katara."
She blinked and pulled her hands away, looking sheepish. She had forgotten where she was for a moment and was only focusing on keeping her hands warm. "Sorry…it's just…" her body trembled with another shiver.
Zuko was about to bend some fire in to his hand when he stopped himself. Creating a fire in such a small confined space wasn't smart, not only would it suck up the oxygen, but the smoke would burn their eyes and throat.
"Zuko, can't you…?"
He shook his head and explained what he had just realized.
Katara's face fell. "Oh, right…" She glanced at him, wondering. He would probably say no. But still, she risked frostbite if she didn't warm herself soon. Then again, she blushed just at the thought of asking him, never mind pressing against him to keep warm. Back in her village, she and Saaka had done the same thing when blizzards passed, but he was her brother. Zuko was a fire bender; her up to a few weeks ago hated enemy, never mind the price of the fire nation.
Zuko leaned his head back and closed his eyes, preparing to conserve energy and go to sleep. Katara sat there, shivering, then finally decided to screw her embarrassment.
Zuko was just drifting off when he was shocked to feel Katara's hand's on his knees. He ignored it, not caring what she was doing, until suddenly he felt her begin to push his legs apart. Confused as hell, he jerked up and opened his eyes, to see Katara blushing madly and not meeting his eyes, but staring hungrily at his chest.
"Just what on earth do you think you're doing?" he demanded. His momentary shock from when he felt Katara's hands on him had made his inner fire to spike as a natural reaction, and Katara couldn't help it, she pushed past his legs and pressed herself to his chest.
After a moment of basking in the seductive warmth of his body, Katara realized what she had done, possibly due to the fact that Zuko had become stiff as a board. She decided that acting as embarrassed as she felt would make her seem weak and give Zuko a chance to protest, so she went bold. "Zuko, I am freezing, and you are warm. There is a blizzard outside, and I'm not moving until the risk of frostbite is gone," she said crisply, hoping she sounded confident and determined.
Zuko couldn't quite hear her, he was rather distracted because her hand was settled on the inside of his thigh, rather too close for comfort. He recalled what she had said and nodded stiffly, struggling to keep his voice steady, and said, "Fine, just move so that you're back's to me, it'll be more comfortable."
Katara gave him a quick smile and flipped, pressing herself against him. Zuko sat there, ridged, as Katara tried to get comfortable while still having every possible body part against his broad chest. He clenched his fist to keep a small flame from exploding from them as Katara shifted her hips, thus—completely unknown to her—grinding her bottom against his groin. Ever muscle in his body was tensed until she stopped squirming, and even then he had to bite the inside of his cheek to remind himself it would not be appropriate to shove her off him, or to pull her closer and…okay, it would just be inappropriate. Of course he had urges before, but before he had been able to control them. Keeping his self-control was a struggle, and he wasn't used to that.
But soon Katara stopped squirming and feel asleep, her head resting on his shoulder, and Zuko soon forgot what he had previously been thinking. The muffled sound of the howling wind outside of the cave was strangely calming. He let himself relax, and lazily wrapped an arm around Katara. But he immediately noticed how cold she felt, and wrapped his other arm around her, gently shaking the girl. She grumbled and asked, "What…? Wait, where…?" She looked down at the arms surrounding her, then twisted and saw Zuko's face. "Zuko?" she cried, bursting up.
"Calm down!" Zuko said loudly.
Katara closed her mouth and remembered, shivering madly. She sneezed, and Zuko rolled his eyes. "Katara, look, just…get back here." She nodded and scrambled back over to him, curling up against him. Zuko could feel her shiver against him and hurriedly wrapped both arms around her tightly, quickly heating up his body with his inner fire.
Katara twisted so her back was to him again. "You know, for a girl who spent most of her life living in ice huts," he drawled, "you'd think you would handle cold a little better."
"Shut up," Katara said, pulling his arms around her tighter. "I have a cold."
A moment of silence passed, and Zuko could still feel her tremble slightly, so he added even more heat to his hands, which he rubbed up and down her arms. Katara sighed happily and leaned into his touch, muttering, "You're warm…"
Zuko rolled his eyes, but suddenly he sneezed loudly. Katara stiffened for a moment, then twisted around and slapped him in the face, her face red and furious. Zuko hadn't realized it, but when he had sneezed, his grip involuntarily tightened on her…and his left hand happened to be on her chest.
"Pervert!" Katara yelled, slapping him again, then stalked off to the very edge of the cave and sat down, hugging herself.
"What the hell was that for?" Zuko demanded, his cheek burning.
"You grabbed me, you pervert!" Katara yelled, disgusted that she had even put herself in such a position.
Zuko stared at her. "I did no such thing!"
"Lair!"
Trust me, I would have noticed! Zuko thought furiously, but decided to keep that comment to himself. "Katara, I would never!"
She glared at him, but couldn't help but wonder. If Zuko had wanted to cop a feel, wouldn't he have done it earlier? And this was Zuko, Mr. Stone Face himself! Now that she had calmed down, she couldn't actually believe that he would…
"Katara…" Zuko began, even from her he could hear her teeth chattering, "Just believe me and get over her before you freeze to death."
Katara looked at him, still wondering. He would never…
She slowly shuffled over to him, still glaring at him. As she sat down and scooted into his lap, she hissed, "Touch me again and I will rip your hand off."
Zuko smirked. He couldn't help but admit that he liked it when she talked with fierceness—it reminded him of fire. "I'd like to see you try," he almost laughed, and was rewarded with a sharp elbow in the stomach. This time he did chuckle and wrapped his arms around her.
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And there you have it! It wasn't quite romantic, but I like how it turned out. I know Katara being sensitive to the cold isn't really correct, but I couldn't figure a way around it so…she has a cold. If you like my writing, check out some of my other fanfictions! Thanks for reading!