A Swim
That night Katara rested on the bed, her back against the headboard and her legs crossed. She was already dressed for bed in a dark red gown. She read a book about Fire Lord Azulan's reign. During his reign the war began, and was still going. She didn't understand how Zuko would want to become like his father and grandfather. They're horrible men, nothing like Zuko.
Katara's thoughts stopped when she heard the door open. She looked over the top of her book to see Zuko shut the door.
"How was spending time with your friends?" She nicely asked. Zuko looked at her and noticed the book she held in her hands.
"It was fun." Zuko answered. He then walked to the dresser and pulled the diadem from his hair and kicked off his shoes. Katara watched until he began to pull his shirt off. Katara found his perfect abs to be so sexy. She felt a blush coming and quickly placed the book up to her face.
After Zuko was done dressing for bed he slowly sat on the opposite side from her. Katara closed the book and placed it on the table beside the bed, she looked at him.
"Don't worry, hands to myself." Zuko told her with a slight smile on his face. Katara placed the blankets over her legs and raised her eyebrow.
"That's what you said last night, and you lied." Katara, said making a point.
"I will be sure to control my body tonight." He said, Katara smiled, placed her head on the pillow and looked up at the ceiling. She realized that he must have been awake and placed his arms around her while she was asleep, so she decided to interrogate him.
"You were awake last night, when you held me, right?" Katara asked. Zuko smiled to himself.
"Maybe I was." Zuko said and placed his hands behind his head. Katara felt uncomfortable and sat up to keep her distance.
"So you had it planned out?" She asked him with a slightly angry tone.
"Uh huh." Zuko said with some pride in his words. Katara grew angrier.
"So you were just like 'I'll do what ever I want' right?" Katara asked again.
"Yeah." He answered.
"Did you ever think I didn't want your hands on me?" Katara said with anger still in her voice. Zuko closed his eyes and relaxed his arms.
"You need to relax." He told her.
"You didn't answer my question." She replied, Zuko sighed and thought for a moment. He opened his eyes and sat up to look at her.
"Why are you always angry when I am around?" He asked her.
"That's not true!" Katara said.
"We have to deal with this weather you like it or not." Zuko told her.
"I know." She said quietly. Zuko sighed again and laid down. Katara watched his turn away from her, she also laid down and turned her back to his back. Zuko dimmed the candles and they slept.
Morning
Zuko awoke with his arms around her waist, again. He thought she would be pulling away right now but she remained asleep. He pulled her a little closer before closing his eyes and relaxing again.
A few moments later Katara felt his chest moving up and down as he breathed. Her back was against his chest and his arms were around her waist. She opened her eyes and sighed.
"How do we keep waking up like this?" Katara asked him with a small smile on her face. Zuko opened his eyes; realizing she's awake.
"The physical attraction?" He said with a small smile on his face. Katara smirked to herself.
"Maybe…" She said and felt the warmth of his body against hers. She took a deep breathe and closed her eyes again. Zuko let a victory smile before closing his eyes and relaxing.
Later in the gardens
Katara, Zuko, Shing and Cheng stood in the gardens. Katara stood beside Zuko while Shing stood across from Katara; he never took his eyes off her. Even though Shing and Cheng lived outside the palace they spent a lot of time there, since they were Iroh's students and Zuko's friends.
Cheng noticed his brother's staring and shook his head to himself. Katara finally realized Shing's staring and raised an eyebrow.
"Shing are you alright." Katara asked. Shing finally blinked and look at her face.
"Oh yeah, yeah." Shing said and looked at the ground.
"I can't believe I am related to you." Cheng told his brother. Zuko knew Shing found Katara attractive and so to further tease his friend Zuko wrapped his arm around her waist. Katara looked up at him and smiled, she leaned against him.
"What are you guys doing today?" Cheng asked Zuko. The prince thought for a moment then looked at Katara.
"I think we were just going to hang out here." Zuko told his friend. Shing thought for a moment, then got a sneaky idea.
"Maybe Katara would want to join us… We can go swimming." Shing announced to the group. Zuko thought for a moment before answering.
"A swim might be nice." Zuko said.
"Okay, Shing and I will meet you at the beach then." Cheng said and walked out of the gardens with his brother. Zuko looked to Katara.
"If you don't want to come, I'd understand. But it will be fun." Zuko told her. Katara thought for a moment.
"I'll come." She said and Zuko took his arm from around her. She followed him to the beach.
At the beach
Shing was already in the water in a pair of long shorts. Cheng laid on the sand with his eyes shut. Katara and Zuko walked onto the beach, they stopped walking. Zuko began to pull off his shirt and he kicked off his shoes. Katara once again noticed his perfect body and slightly blushed.
"On second thought, maybe I'll just walk around the beach." Katara told Zuko as he took off his pants to reveal his sleeping shorts. He wanted to swim with her but he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable in undergarments.
"Are you sure?" Zuko asked.
"I'm sure." She nodded. He nodded and pulled the diadem from his head, and gave it to her. Katara placed his diadem in her sleeve and began to walk down the beach.
"Come on, Zuko!" Shing said and waved his hands in the air. Zuko looked at his friend and jumped into the deep water. Katara watched him and slightly smiled, she continued to walk by herself down the sandy shore.
Zuko turned and looked at her then he got a sneaky idea. He walked from the deep water and stood in the shallow water that came to about his knees.
"Hey Katara, come here!" Zuko yelled to her. Katara turned around and walked to the edge of the water.
"What?" She asked and looked at him. Zuko smiled and grabbed her around the waist, he pulled her out into the deeper water and released her.
"Zuko!" Katara yelled and flipped her wet hair from her face. Zuko laughed. "It's not funny!" Katara replied.
"Yeah it was!" Shing said and joined in Zuko's laughter. Katara gave them each a slight glare then created a wave of water that pushed them both away from her into deeper water.
"Hey no fair!" Shing yelled at her as he tried to swim through the wave. Katara laughed at the both of them as they tried to swim towards her. Zuko grabbed Katara around the arm and tried to pull her farther out, but she hit him with a stream of water.
Zuko spit out sea water, Katara giggled which made Zuko smile. He then noticed Shing swimming past him and towards Katara. He grabbed Shing and dunked him under the water. Katara giggled at Shing's attempt to push up for air.
After a few more seconds Zuko released Shing, and he came up gasping for air. Shing then turned around and reached to dunk Zuko in return.
Katara quickly made a wave of water to take Shing away from Zuko.
"No fair!" Shing said and tried to swim back, but couldn't. Zuko smiled at her and was thankful she would do that for him. She returned the smile and continued to keep Shing away from them.
"Shing we have to go home, now!" Cheng yelled from the shore. Katara stopped bending the water around him. Shing swam back to shore and grabbed his clothes.
"See you guys later!" Cheng yelled back to Zuko and Katara who were still in the water. Shing waved to them and followed his brother back home.
Zuko and Katara swam back to the shallow water and looked at each other. He looked at her and thought she was so beautiful, her wet clothes stuck to her figure and made her even more appealing. Katara looked back at Zuko and noticed his staring, she smiled. He returned the smile and walked towards her.
"Katara…" Zuko began and stood in front of her.
"Yeah, Zuko?" She asked and looked up into his eyes.