Katara laid on her mat, playing with a stream of water over her head, matching to the slight rocking of the ship. Back and forth, back and forth, her thoughts swirling as much as the water she spun.
Aang needed her. Just a few weeks ago, she'd been fighting every chance she had to try to escape. Now, she had free reign of the ship, hours without anyone observing her, and plenty of chances to run, but she'd stop.
At first, she'd passed it off as needing to be sure Zuko didn't die. Then she wanted to make sure he reached a full recovery. He was recovered now, that was for sure. So why wasn't she leaving? Yes, she'd kissed Zuko. And she'd liked it, a lot. But was that really enough to keep her from wanting to get back to her brother, to Aang? Right now, it was just the two of them, probably sick with worry as they tried to find her, and here she was playing with water with an unlocked door beside her.
Zuko's question echoed in her ear.
"Were you ever lonely up there?"
Aika and Irohs' face ran through her head, the healer she'd worked with when Zuko had been hurt, other guards of hers she'd made friends with, Rizen, Zuko, the people she'd started coming to know on this ship.
Yes. If she was going to answer honestly, yes, she had been lonely up there, several times. As much as she loved her brother and Aang, as wonderful as flying everywhere was, the long days where she'd grow hungry and cramped from staying in the same position had worn on her. And so, despite being a prisoner here, Katara had to admit the friends she had made here had been something she'd been longing to have for a while. She'd found an unexpected friend in the fire nation prince who kept her company and concerned himself with her when she was hurt or seemed worried, another thing she'd been longing for.
After her mom had died, she'd tried so hard to fill her shoes, to be there for Sokka, and later on, for Aang. She'd been doing it for so long, she'd forgotten what it felt like to have someone caring for her the same way. Sokka and Aang cared about her, she knew that, but it seemed so easy for them to forget to ask her if she was doing alright like Zuko had after seeing the expression on her face today.
"How does he make it so hard for me to want to leave?" Katara whispered to the empty room, dropping her hand to the side so that the water splashed onto the floor, a few droplets hitting her cheek.
Katara sat up as the door opened, a tired looking prince walking inside, who seemed to perk up as he saw her.
"Looks like you made it back," he muttered, sitting at the edge of his bed.
"Looks like you're good at stating the obvious," Katara sang, rolling her eyes.
Zuko copied her, a small smile growing as he watched her.
"What were you doing in here?" he asked, leaning down to take off his shoes.
"Thinking," Katara said with a shrug.
"What about?"
"And you care because…?"
The hurt look that appeared on Zuko's face made Katara realize what she'd said.
"Oh gosh, I'm sorry, Zuko," she told him, turning so that she was completely facing him. "I shouldn't have said that, it was an accident, I swear."
Zuko shook his head, giving her a half smile.
"I probably deserve it," he admitted. "It's not like I didn't kidnap you or anything."
"That's true, but still, I will admit that there's worse people to be kidnapped by."
His smile grew at her words, sitting up to consider her.
"Really?" he asked, crossing his arms. "You think there's worse?"
"Well not anymore," Katara retracted, pursing her lips.
With a soft chuckle, Zuko stood and walked to her mattress, dropping down in front of it with crossed legs.
"So, do you want to tell me what you were thinking about now?" he asked again.
Katara looked him in the eyes, debating.
"Home," she finally said.
With a nod, Zuko's eyes glimmered with understanding.
"I'm guessing that like before, you're not talking about the South Pole, are you?" he concluded.
"No. Aang. Sokka. That home."
Zuko nodded again.
"You must really miss them," he whispered, looking away, hands in his lap.
"I guess," Katara murmured.
"You guess?"
"It's terrible, I know," Katara sighed. "I should miss them more than I do, shouldn't I?"
Zuko looked up at her and shrugged.
With a start, Katara realized Zuko was dealing with being separated from his family, just like her.
"Do you miss your family?" she asked.
The sudden question threw Zuko off guard, and his face became clouded.
"Zuko," Katara said in a hushed voice. "I know you don't like talking about your family. You don't have to. I wish you would; I think it'd be good if you did, but I won't force you to."
Nodding, the cloud in Zuko's expression lessened, though his gold eyes remained narrowed slightly.
"Sometimes I miss them," he finally told her, voice quiet so that Katara had to lean forward to hear him. "But I'm not sure what it is I miss."
"I'm so sorry, Zuko," she whispered, tears brimming in her eyes as she saw the pain he was feeling.
"Why are you sorry?" Zuko scoffed lightly. "You're not the one who kicked me out of my home."
"You were kicked out of your home?"
"What did you think banished meant?" Zuko joked, trying to move on from the tense situation, beginning to untie the straps of his armor.
Katara scooted forward to offer her help, Zuko turning to the side to give her better access, his natural heat washing over her, leaving her flushed as she untied the straps. When she finally finished, Zuko lifted the armor over his head, smirking at her as he set it on the table beside his bed.
"What?" Katara asked warily.
"Oh nothing, just wondering if the reason it took you so long was because you enjoyed being so close to me."
Katara blinked, registering his words before smacking his arm, glaring at him as he jumped away from her.
"If I ever get near those ties again, I'm tying them so tight you'd better hope someone is able to get them undone quickly before you pass out from lack of air," she threatened, poking him in the chest.
Zuko swallowed, rubbing the spot she'd hit. As Katara turned away, she heard Zuko mutter behind her, "As if you'd be fast enough to get them tied".
Spinning around, Katara flicked her fingers at him, the water from the ground flying up and striking his forehead.
"Was that fast enough for you?" she retaliated.
Wiping the water from his face, Zuko growled, stalking towards her. Katara held her ground, crossing her arms before she realized she didn't have access to any other water at the moment, leaving her pretty defenseless. Her eyes widening with the realization, Zuko smirked at her expression, obviously having already recognized her dilemma.
"What's the matter, waterbender?" he mocked. "Are words the only ammunition you have right now?"
"I'm warning you, Zuko," Katara threatened, taking a step back as Zuko pressed forward.
"Warning me with what?" he whispered, nearly an arm's reach away.
The moment he was close enough, Katara dropped to the ground, swinging her foot out in an arch that knocked Zuko to the floor. He fell with a surprised hiss, his hands lighting up with fire in an automatic defense.
Grabbing his arm just below his elbow to avoid the flames, Katara flipped him onto his stomach, wrapping his arm across his back. As she reached to snag his other arm, Zuko managed to instead grab her wrist, flinging her to the ground. He swung his leg over her so that he was kneeling over her, both hands smacking the floor on either side of her head.
"Did you miss me today?" he murmured, dropping his head towards hers.
"Ha," Katara responded weakly. "I think you were the one missing me after you nearly threw Rizen overboard."
Zuko growled, the heat from his body increasing as his anger grew, head lowered so that his lips were nearly brushing hers, his breath blowing across her face.
"I swear," he snarled. "If anyone interrupts me this time…"
He let the threat die as he closed the final millimeter, pressing against Katara's lips. He pushed her into the floor, bending on top of her as Katara's arms went up around his sides, gripping his shirt, her eyes fluttering shut.
This definitely makes it hard to want to leave, she thought to herself, feeling one of Zuko's hands entangle itself in her braid, tugging it loose to leave her hair spilling across the floor. Once he'd managed that, his hand came up to her face, cupping her cheek, his thumb tracing along her chin. The two of them shifted for better positioning, Zuko's heat beginning to encase Katara.
With a gasp, Katara twisted her head away, managing to get a breath in before Zuko was tilting her head back towards him, entrapping her lips with his. He smiled against her mouth as her arms went further up along his back, fingers lightly tracing his spine.
"What are we doing?" she asked, breathlessly.
"Trying to live," he replied, his nose brushing hers.
"Aren't we supposed to be enemies?" she tried, hardly sincere.
"Just shut up already," Zuko murmured, pressing forward once again. "Who knows when the next interruption…"
Three sharp knocks sounded at Zuko's door, both their eyes flying open at the sound.
"I'm going to kill everyone working for me," Zuko promised, hesitating to move as he stared at Katara.
Solving the problem for him, Katara pushed Zuko away from her, sitting up and scooting back to where her mat was.
"Always the busy commander," she teased, prompting him to go and answer the person who was knocking again.
He shot her a glare as he stood, straightening his shirt as he walked to the door.
"What?" he barked as he threw the door open.
A guard stood waiting for him, leaning forward to whisper something, eyes watching Katara nervously. Zuko drew back sharply as he listened, disbelief in his eyes. He looked over at Katara fearfully before his gaze clouded, face stiffening.
"Let's go," he said, turning back to the guard and stepping out of the room.
The door slammed shut behind him, Katara flinching at the sound, trying to understand what had just happened. Standing up, Katara raced to the door, planning on following Zuko to find out what had happened.
The blood drained from her face when she tugged on the door handle, the door remaining closed in front of her.