Principles of lust
She yelled at herself to quit staring. She really did; and even added volume to her mental voice in an effort to slap some sense into herself and hightail it back to camp where she belonged. But no matter how much she tried to drag her eyes away from the river, Zuko would shift and her eyes would be dragged back by the way his muscles moved underneath his pale skin.
Katara hadn't meant to stumble across the young fire bender's bathing site. She had just been on her way to refill the group's water canteens. She cursed herself for her lack of inattention. She hadn't been aware of his presence at all until she was nearly out of the trees, and only by moving fast to duck behind the nearest tree had she managed to avoid detection.
She had told herself then that she should just return to camp, but curiosity is sometimes a stronger force than common sense, and so she had peaked around the tree at the young man she had once called her enemy, but now considered to be somewhat of a friend.
Zuko stood with his back to her, but that didn't prevent her breath from wheezing out of her lungs in shock, for the exiled prince was stripped naked and standing in knee deep water. She had expected that he would at least have kept his pants while bathing, but oh was she wrong. Startled blue eyes roamed the flesh that was presented unknowingly to her, taking in the taut muscles that rippled beneath pale skin every time Zuko moved. He turned and twisted slightly as he washed, then suddenly sank down until his entire body was submerged.
Katara drew in a deep breath and held it, then released it in a barely audible moan as he surfaced facing in her direction. He resembled some ancient water god as the liquid streamed over his body, outlining his build and flowing downwards towards . . .
She swallowed a squeak and this time managed to drag her eyes away until she pressed her back against the tree she was hidden behind. Her face was flushed with a mixture of embarrassment and something darker that she didn't recognize. Making a snap decision, she decided to stay where she was, hidden with her back against her tree as she waited for Zuko to finish his bath. Heat kept suffusing her body every time she heard the water splash, and she was just thinking about forgetting gathering water when sounds alerted her to the fact that Zuko was coming out of the river.
After a few moments, his footsteps sounded from several feet away from her hiding place, and she knew that he was on his way back to camp. Still, to be safe, she waited a few more minutes before going to fetch the water. As it was, she had to fight the blush that wanted to grace her cheeks when Sokka questioned her about her why it had taken her so long to return.
"It was such a nice day that I decided to take a walk through the woods. Really, Sokka, you worry too much," she replied coolly, congratulating herself on how even her voice was.
As usual, Sokka replied in an irritated tone that it was his job to worry about his little sister, thankyouverymuch, and next time she got it into her head to take a walk to alert someone in the group before she vanished for an unknown period of time.
She glanced at Zuko out of the corner of her eye as she promised, relieved to see that he was being his usual grumpy self, which meant that he had no idea he had been spied on during his bath. And Katara resolved to keep it that way.