A/N: Thanks ever so much to all of you taking the time to read and review. You're so sweet. I'm pleased so many of you like this story. I really wasn't expecting this many people to be on board the Zutara ship. I can't wait to see what you think of this chapter!

Much love! xx-Kitten.

Brightest Nights or Darkest Days

By Kittenshift17

CHAPTER TEN

Zuko moved off her so fast that Katara nearly got whiplash. Suddenly, he was crouched beside her on their sleeping bags, a dagger in each hand, and his eyes were narrowed on the source of the sound.

"HELP!"

The rapid pounding was almost drowned out by the howl of a wolf, sounding entirely too close for comfort. Melting the wall, Katara looked on in shock when two teenagers almost of an age with her and Zuko toppled right through it. Beyond them a pack of wolves was bearing down on them.

The girl screamed as she fell through the wall to land in a heap on the far side of their fire, while the boy cursed and managed to roll, coming up into a crouch almost identical to Zuko's. His eyes fixed on the threat they made even as Katara used her bending to freeze the wall solid once more. Just in time, it seemed, because the solid thump of a wolf colliding with the wall followed a moment later.

"Who are you?" Zuko snarled at the kids across the fire.

"You saved us!" the girl panted, righting herself slowly even as she scrambled away from the wall. "And you have fire. Gods, I could kiss both of you! There are wolves out there."

Katara watched the girl warily. She had messy brown hair and the vibrant green eyes of an Earth Bender. She also had scrapes on her hands and knees, a rip in her shirt and she was bleeding.

"Did you get bitten?" Katara asked before the girl could catch her breath. She made to move forward to help her, but Zuko's hand on her stomach – hot against her bare skin – stopped her suddenly.

"I did, yeah. Gods, and it looks like we interrupted some fun for you two. Sorry about that, but honestly, I feel insincere saying it when the alternative was being eaten by wolves. Kuzon, stop glaring at the pair of them! They just saved our lives! Put down your knife this minute," the girl swatted her friend. "Sorry about him. He's a bit edgy. I'm Meng, this is Kuzon. Thank you, again, for saving us. Although I'd love to know how you made the wall melt and freeze again. Actually, I'd love to know how you made a hut out of ice, to be honest, but I'm rambling. Sorry about that too, I ramble when I'm terrified and I did almost just get eaten by a pack of wolves."

In spite of the dire situation and the wolves now scratching and digging at their igloo, Katara couldn't help but laugh at the way the girl prattled.

"I'm Katara," she introduced herself. "I should… put a shirt on. Dang it, where is it? I need to heal you before you attract who knows what else with the scent of that blood all over you."

"You're a Water Bender," Kuzon, the boy, accused her.

Katara froze, turning slowly to look at him. She narrowed her eyes slightly at the way he watched the pair of them.

"Well, obviously," Katara rolled her eyes. "Aren't you glad I am? If I wasn't you'd be being ripped to shreds right now. Kuzon, was it? Fire Nation name, isn't it?"

He narrowed his eyes on her in return. Eyes, she noticed, which were the same brilliant shade of Fire Bender gold as Zuko's.

"Clever, aren't you?" he said tightly.

"Oh, for crying out loud, Kuzon! Stop being such a jerk. She saved your life. Ignore him, Katara. He's always this touchy," Meng said, swatting the boy again. "Did you say you have healing abilities? Because that would be fantastic. I'm so sorry we had to burst in on you like this, but honestly, I'd rather this than facing those wolves."

"How did you even run into them?" Katara asked the other girl. She couldn't find her own shirt in the tangle of sleeping bags and so she settled for Zuko's, pulling it on over her head and making the prince frown at her. She nudged him to get him to relax, noting the way he was sizing up the other boy like he wouldn't mind hacking him to bits. "Put the knives down. They're not here to kill us."

"You don't know that," he argued. "Kuzon's tried before."

Katara froze again and so did Meng. Kuzon didn't look surprised by the accusation.

"You're running with a Water Bender, Prince Zuko?" Kuzon asked, raising one eyebrow and looking smug. "My, my, what would the Fire Lord have to say about that?"

"You two know each other?" Katara asked, immediately on the defensive at his words and the idea that he clearly recognised Zuko.

"His mother used to work in the palace in the Fire Nation," Zuko said tightly. "She was banished when my mother disappeared."

Katara's eyes darted between the two of them carefully.

"What do you mean he tried to kill you once before?" she asked, moving closer to Zuko and preparing to spear an ice-shard through Kuzon's heart if the need arose.

"It was a bloody practice match!" Kuzon suddenly protested, lowering his dagger and shooting Zuko an exasperated look. "I didn't try to kill you. I just tripped while chasing you with a sword we weren't supposed to be playing with."

"You nearly took my arm off," Zuko argued.

"Please," Kuzon rolled his eyes. "I barely even nicked you with the blade. You were always such a drama-prince."

He started to laugh and Katara watched Zuko, noting the way his lips twitched like he might laugh too. Meng was watching closely too, and she sighed when both Fire Nation boys relaxed.

"Is the tense pissing match over?" she asked. "Because I'm still bleeding here."

Katara laughed, already liking the other girl. Hurrying around the fire, she took a look at the scrapes and the bite mark before using her Water Bending to heal them.

"This is seriously so cool," Meng said. "You're a Water Bender. I've never met a Water Bender before."

"You're an Earth Bender, aren't you?" Katara asked the girl.

Meng looked surprised.

"How did you know?" she asked.

Katara shrugged.

"Well, anyway. I am. But I'm not very good at it, yet. It's hard to be good at bending without being hauled off by the Fire Nation soldiers, so there's hardly opportunity for me to practice. The most I can do is make a sleeping platform a foot off the ground. See, watch?"

She took a Bending stance and raised the sleeping station Katara had set up, with Zuko still on it. He narrowed his eyes on the girl dangerously. Katara shook her head at him, noting that Kuzon looked protective of the girl the minute Zuko looked at her.

"Are you still bleeding, Meng?" Kuzon asked, moving toward the messy haired girl.

"No, Katara healed me," Meng smiled, turning to the boy and going up on her toes to kiss him. "We survived. I thought we were done for out there."

Kuzon nodded against her lips, kissing her back hotly and Katara glanced at Zuko. He looked surprised to see his former sparring partner kissing an Earth Bender.

"How long has it been since the two of you saw each other?" she asked him, moving back to sit next to him on the now raised sleeping platform.

"Since I was five, when my mother disappeared," Zuko said quietly. "Katara, don't trust them too easily. We both have a price on our heads."

Katara nodded.

"I'm not about to turn you in, Zuko," Kuzon said, looking away from his girlfriend to shoot Zuko a hurt expression. "I don't need the gold and I sure don't want the attention of the Fire Nation fixed on me."

"Yeah, sure," Zuko rolled his eyes. "As though anyone is going to turn down that much money."

"Thirteen years apart and exile haven't changed your condescension, I see," Kuzon said bluntly and Katara almost bit her tongue off in surprise at his boldness.

"Haven't taught you any more manners than you had at five, either," Zuko replied.

"You two were kids together?" Meng asked, smiling. "That's wonderful. Imagine the odds to have run into each other again now! That's amazing. Kismet, even. Did you call him 'Prince'?"

"He's the son of Fire Lord Ozai," Kuzon nodded his head. "Banished after losing an Agni Kai, wasn't it?"

Zuko gritted his teeth.

"Weren't you banished too?" Katara asked, frowning. "What are you doing in the Earth Kingdom?"

"Sure was. Best thing that ever happened to me, getting away from that place," Kuzon nodded.

Katara watched Meng bend a second sleeping platform for the two of them on the other side of the fire. The girl went about unrolling sleeping bags on the platform, making herself right at home. Something Zuko frowned over. Katara thought it was rather amusing. They could hardly send the young couple back into the snow to face the wolves, and the blizzard was kicking up again, the wind beginning to howl as it whistled past the smoke-hole.

"You're pleased you were banished?" Zuko asked.

Kuzon nodded, handing his girlfriend a water skin.

"Best thing to happen to me. I was finally free. No more dressing fancy. No more following all those buggering rules in the Palace. No worrying about putting a toe out of line or getting into trouble. It was great. I could just be a regular kid."

"What did you mother do in the palace?" Katara asked.

"She was a ladies maid to Zuko's mother, Ursa," Kuzon told her. "When no one was looking, me and Zuko used to play together, whenever we could give Azula the slip."

"What are the two of you doing way out here?" she asked curiously.

"Same as you, I expect," Kuzon said. "Trying to get to Ba Sing Se. We followed the cleared path on the road to get to here, which I'm guessing was cleared by you. We thought we'd make it to the next town before nightfall, but we didn't. Those wolves snuck up on us while Meng was trying to Bend us a shelter for the night and we had to run for it. I've never been so glad to see shelter in all my life."

Katara nodded.

She looked over when Zuko nudged her and saw that he was handing her the crumple up ball of her shirt, obviously wanting his own back. She pulled it off over her head without thinking, giving it back to him and taking her own from him. The look he shot her before she pulled her own back on made her recall with startling clarity just what they'd been doing before they'd been interrupted and just why he'd had his shirt off to begin with.

In spite of both being Fire Nation, and being childhood friends, she also noticed that Zuko looked wary of Kuzon. He sat close to her side, tense and ready to Fire Bend or to lunge at the other boy at a moment's notice. He also seemed all the more comfortable with her and interested in her in that moment than she'd expected. She wondered if he was just trying to make them look more like a couple, suddenly needing to perform again, or if he was genuinely worried and wanted to make sure they'd both be safe.

She understood the feeling. Even though they were both strangers and seemed nice, she felt the urge to press closer to his side. She was perfectly capable of defending herself against either of them, she knew, but there was comfort to be had in knowing Zuko would defend her too, if it came to it.

"Are you a Bender, Kuzon?" Katara asked in the silence that followed his explanation.

"Yeah," he nodded. "Fire Bender. I'm a bit rusty, though. I was flinging fireballs at those wolves to drive them back, but they're hungry after such heavy snow and the blizzards. They were determined to eat the pair of us."

"Why are you rusty?" Zuko asked.

"No one to spar with," he shrugged. "No one who wouldn't rat me out for a Fire Bender, anyway. You've probably noticed that the army get cocky about it and the rest of the world hates us?"

Zuko nodded his head.

"So I keep it to myself, use it to heat tea or start a hearth fire and that's about it. I haven't sparred with anyone since I left the palace."

"Why didn't you find other Benders to spar with?" Katara frowned.

Zuko was the one who answered.

"Do you know how few people want to even talk to you when they find out you're a Fire Bender, Katara?" he asked. "I helped save a kid from being conscripted to fight in the war for the Earth Kingdom a while back and had to Fire Bend to do it. Before they knew what I could do, they invited me to their farm, let me eat with them, gave me work, money and supplies even though they had so little. The minute they found out, that ungrateful little shit told me he hated me and walked away without another word."

Katara frowned.

"Admittedly, you don't have the best reputation," she said. "Did you tell them your name?"

Zuko narrowed his eyes on her.

"The point is, being a Fire Bender isn't so great unless you work with the Fire Nation and want to piss off the rest of the world," Kuzon told her when Zuko looked annoyed. "Kept it to myself. Meng was the first one I told in almost ten years."

Katara nodded and silence fell. It was slightly awkward, as though they were all waiting for Zuko's temper tantrum.

"There's some stew in the pot there, if you two are hungry," Katara offered when Zuko didn't speak. Instead he stood up and made for the door, where one of the wolves was digging at the small opening. A yelp and the scent of singed fur followed his throwing a fireball and Katara winced.

"Oh, we don't want to put you out and eat your food," Meng protested.

"It's no trouble. Eat while it's hot. You've had a pretty bad day," Katara told them. "Besides, I think we might be stuck here together for a while. The blizzard is kicking up again."

"Oh no," Meng whispered, her eyes going wide. "What if we run out of food? Or get snowed in?"

"We won't run out of food," Zuko growled, throwing another fireball through the small opening, tormenting the hungry wolves outside. "That is, if you don't mind eating wolf."

"You're going to… kill one of those wolves?" Meng asked, her eyes wide in horror.

Katara almost rolled her eyes. She'd grown accustomed to Aang and his respect for all life, but there were times when being delicate about killing for food was the only way to live. Especially in a blizzard when all the fruits and vegetables died.

"What? You want to save the mangy beast that bit you?" Zuko sneered over his shoulder and Katara sighed. She was not in the mood to put up with him being a strop again.

"I should make the igloo bigger," she muttered to herself. "If we're going to be stuck here, maybe for days, we're going to need more room and it's already too hot in here."

"You're muttering," Zuko said, appearing beside her when she paced toward the back of the igloo and began bending, drawing more snow from the surrounding area to strengthen the walls against the wolves and to expand the igloo.

"You're in the way," she murmured to him in return.

"Why are you making it bigger? We're not staying here," he informed her.

"We don't' have a choice," Katara argued.

"We're leaving in the morning."

Katara narrowed her eyes on the prince. "Look at this," she said, unfreezing a section of the roof and pulling the water back, revealing a huge storm cloud overhead, heavy with snow.

Zuko eyed it in annoyance.

"Bloody hell, it's cold when you do that," Kuzon complained, huddling closer to the fire and making it grow.

"We're going to run out of firewood," Zuko warned her. "And food."

"We'll eat a wolf," she replied.

"You would, wouldn't you?" he smirked cruelly. "Savage peasants, you Water Tribe folk."

Katara swatted him. He caught her hand.

"Don't hit me, Water Bender," he murmured, pulling her closer by her wrist.

Katara darted a glance toward Kuzon and Meng. They were busy eating, but Kuzon was slyly watching them.

"Don't be a jerk, then," Katara replied. "And let go. I need to seal the igloo again before one of those wolves gets in."

"I don't want to stay here. Not with them," he told her, pulling her even closer and putting his hand on the small of her back even as she using her Bending.

"We don't have a choice," she muttered. "What's your problem? He used to be your friend and she's nice."

"I was barely tolerating you," Zuko replied, too quiet for the others to hear. "Maybe you didn't notice, but I don't like people. I like my Uncle and that's it. Even he gets on my nerves. Putting up with you is bad enough, without two strays."

Katara rolled her eyes.

"You seemed to be tolerating my company just fine before they showed up," she reminded him. "In fact, I'd say you were enjoying my company. Immensely."

"How am I to enjoy it now, with these two here?" he asked.

Katara laughed at him. She didn't mean to, but she couldn't help it. He was so grumpy and so moody all the time. He also didn't seem to realise he'd just admitted annoyance over the notion of not being able to kiss her because they had company. As though he hadn't realised they'd been about to make a mistake and cross a line that couldn't be uncrossed.

Being in his company this way was dangerous, she realised. His chi was enveloping hers even as he stood there, invading her personal space and complaining about everything. He'd obviously decided that the best way to siphon her body heat was also by touching and kissing her. If Katara was honest with herself, she didn't know how far things might've gone if they hadn't been interrupted.

And that was a problem. He was supposed to be the enemy. They might've called a truce as a result of mutual need for the other to find their companions and to travel safely, but that shouldn't be extending to anything sexual. Gods, she'd only been with him for three days. Admittedly, her track record with boys was short and heated in just the same way, but that had turned out to be a mistake, too. She'd slept with Jet before realising he was a monster and she'd been interested in Haru too, before they'd parted ways.

Haru was a good guy, at least. But Zuko wasn't. In fact, he was one of the worst people she knew. He was a killer. A traitor to his own nation. A menace hunting Aang. A nuisance with the way he was so ridiculously moody all the time.

And yet Katara couldn't deny that she was attracted to him. His hands on her body felt good. His lips on hers felt amazing. Even the feel of his desire prodding at her when she woke or when they kissed felt good. Worst of all, his chi felt addictive. Zuko would likely be the biggest mistake she would ever make, but dang if he didn't show promise that he would be the most intoxicating, passionate, wild, delicious and pleasurable mistake she could make.

"It's not funny," he told her, looking all the more annoyed.

"He's a Fire Bender too, Zuko. He could probably use a friend. They're both Benders but they have almost no access to their abilities, look at them," Katara tipped her head, watching Meng trying to create a small wall around each of the sleeping platforms to give them all some privacy and to keep them from rolling off the platform and into the fire. She wasn't having much luck.

Kuzon was trying to make the fire bigger to warm the igloo back up after Katara had taken the roof off it, looking like they were both chilled to the bone.

"They're pathetic. What is your point?" Zuko deadpanned.

Katara swatted him again without thinking.

"If you hit me again, I'm going to pin you to something and find another way to occupy your hands, Water Bender," Zuko warned her.

"Stop it!" she hissed at him, pulling her hands out of his grip when he tried to catch them. "My point is that they need help. Not everyone is as lucky as you or me. They haven't been fortunate enough to be trained by a Master. They're barely managing the basics and they need us. There's no way they'll make it to Ba Sing Se on their own. They nearly got eaten today and they aren't strong enough to defend themselves very well. You could teach Kuzon how to be a decent Fire Bender, because – and if you ever repeat this I'm going to hit you again – you're probably as close to being a Master as most people ever get. You could train him and show him how to Bend well enough to defend himself.

"I don't know much about Earth Bending, but I could show Meng some of the Water Bending moves I know to see if she can apply the same principles to Earth Bending. It's not the same, of course, but I found that even being around Benders of different elements before training with Master Paku was helpful. She might learn a few things. Enough to make their own hut to hide from wolves if the need arises, at least. Look at them, Zuko. They're cold and they're hungry. They're tired, and they're going to be stuck with us until this blizzard breaks. So stop being a snobby jerk just because you hate everyone on the planet, suck it up and realise that for the next few days, you and your former friend will be getting reacquainted."

Zuko curled his lip.

"Besides," Katara whispered. "They're actually a couple. Outside of kissing, I've got no idea how to pretend to be someone's girlfriend, and you're doing a rubbish job of being a boyfriend."

"I defended you" he replied. "I didn't even say anything when you took my shirt. I'm being a fantastic boyfriend."

"You're being a jerk," Katara corrected him.

"If anyone else spoke to me the way you do, I'd burn them to a crisp or have them killed," he said, arching his eyebrow at her in challenge.

"D you know how pompous you sound when you say things like that?" Katara countered. He narrowed his eyes on her, looking like he was thinking about hurting her to remind her that they weren't a couple and weren't friends and that he was a Prince.

"You only want to travel with them because you can't you stand the idea of being alone with me," Zuko said bitterly, looking away.

Katara realised right in that moment how many issues Zuko must actually have. She sighed and he stiffened in surprise when she ducked her head slightly, pressing her torso to his chest and looping her arms around his waist in a loose hug.

He stood stiff for a moment before putting his arms around her, his chi sliding along hers sensually and making her want to melt into him. She was still too warm inside the igloo, especially when pressed against him, but she could feel him shiver ever so slightly with the cold.

"Let's just see how the next few days go being stuck in here together," she muttered against his neck, surprised to feel him prop his chin on the top of her head. "If things go well, maybe we can travel with them. If they don't, we'll travel together to the next town and then go our separate ways."

"Are you talking about you and me? Or us and them?" he clarified.

"Us and them, you idiot!" Katara snorted. "Though if you annoy me as much as you have been today, I reserve the right to duel you until we both keel over from exhaustion. And then to demand a foot rub."

"You're delusional," he told her.

Katara knew it was probably true.

"Selfish jerk," she accused, though there was a fondness in her voice as she said so.

"Deal with it," he replied and Katara laughed all over again.