CONTENT WARNING: Contains themes of dubious consent. I do not condone these acts in real life.

This is the same story as Chapter 1, but told from Zuko's POV. You don't need to read Chapter 1 to enjoy Chapter 2! I skipped a few paragraphs of "then they went here and did this," but I don't think you're missing out on much. Just know that I use the Google translate version of Japanese names for certain body parts. Maybe you think that's cringey. Don't tell me if you do, I'm sensitive.

When I heard a group of students in a courtyard of Ba Sing Se University talking about a young, beautiful waterbender who had come to the University to study medicine, I had a good feeling they were talking about Katara.

They didn't use her name, but how many other young, female Master waterbenders could there be in the world? At any rate, I knew I needed to see for myself.

As I eavesdropped on the group of students, I found out she was taking an anatomy class that ended in 30 minutes. I found the location of the classroom by asking a secretary at the registrar's office, and navigated the stone hallways to the room.

She was sitting all alone in the classroom when I found her. She was even more breathtaking at twenty-five than she had been at seventeen, the last time I had seen her. Her dark brown hair, only a shade lighter than my own, was pulled back from her face. Small blue stones sparkled on her earlobes. I had never known her to wear jewelry before, besides her mother's necklace. I watched her bend water into ice as clear and smooth as glass.

"What's a healer like you doing in a university like this?" I asked.

The ice she had been bending dropped from her desk and shattered on the ground.

She looked up, and I knew she recognized me.

"What's the Fire Lord doing in Ba Sing Se?"

"I'm on a trip to meet with the ambassadors of the throne. Trying to rebuild relations between the kingdoms by hawk message is not as easy as it sounds." I felt embarrassment hot on my cheeks, and I faced the window so she wouldn't notice. "I wanted to see Ba Sing Se University. I never got around to it when I was… living here."

"And you just happen to find me?" she asked.

She got me there. I laughed and said, "No, but I heard some students talking about a master water bender and I put the pieces together."

"Zuko, I'm sorry."

I bristled a little at her apology. I hadn't come here to talk about that. As far as I was concerned, she had made the right choice in leaving after the end of the war. What had I expected, that she would stick around the Fire Nation just for me? We had a fling one summer, the sort of fling teenagers have before they really start their lives.

"Don't worry about it," I said.

She got up and looked like she was about to hug me. "Really, though. I can't tell you how much I've thought about you over the years. I know it's silly. I broke things off with you, not the other way around. I should be over it, but I'm not. I feel terrible about what happened."

"Katara, it's fine. It's all in the past."

She quietly sighed. "I'm happy you're here. If you're not too busy with Fire Lord business, I could show you around the university part of town."

"That's kind, but I'm afraid I was planning to leave the city tonight." Although it wasn't like the royal ship would leave without the Fire Lord.

"Stay with me. My apartment isn't huge, but I have an extra bed roll if you're okay sleeping on the floor."

I thought about her offer. She looked like she wanted me to stay. An extra night wouldn't hurt. And gods, it had been so long since I had seen her.

"No, I couldn't possibly impose," I said. Just to be polite.

No imposition," she replied. "It's the least I can do for an old friend."

"I'd like that," I said.

. . . . .

I was deep into meditation. The candle glowed brightly in front of me, its heat reminding me to focus on my breath. Moonlight streamed through the window, but the city was relatively quiet, at least on this street. My mind traveled inward, losing myself to my meditation.

What brought me back was the creak of floorboards behind me.

An old jolt of fear hit me. You don't live through three years of banishment without a healthy dose of uneasiness, even in the most peaceful of places.

My heartrate picked up, and I turned to defend myself, until I saw Katara standing in the doorway. "Katara?" I asked.

"Sorry. Just checking on you."

I believe doctors call this "misattribution of arousal." My muscles were tense, my heart beating hard, my body ready for a fight. But instead of an enemy, I was looking at a beautiful woman that I had loved for eight years.

Before I even knew what I was doing, I had jumped up and grabbed her. I kissed her, losing myself to the memories of her from Ember Island. Everything came back in a tidal wave. I knew I'd lose her again, I knew this moment wouldn't last, but if all I had was one night, I would make the most of it.

I pushed her lithe body against the wall, pinning her in place with my own. I grabbed her wrist in case she tried to push me off. She was kissing me back hard, and her hand found the back of my head, so I knew she wanted this too. Maybe not as much as I did. She was the one who had left me, after all.

I pushed my leg between hers. I needed to gauge how willing she was. I knew I would never be able to force her though. She was a far more powerful waterbender than I was a firebender, and she had the full moon on her side. The danger of her only made trying to force her seem more intoxicating.

I kissed her neck, tasting the salt of her sweat like she had just risen from the ocean. One hand held her waist, the other pinned her wrist above her head, and my body pressed against hers as though I could keep her with me through sheer willpower.

Katara pulled my hair as she bit my earlobe. Gods, I was not going to last. I gripped her wrist more tightly before spinning her to the floor, my old training kicking in as I swept her feet out from under her. Instead of letting her drop, like I would with an opponent, I guided her body to the floor. She struggled, but she didn't try to bend. If she really wanted me off, she could have done it in an instant. I had seen her bending earlier that day, so I knew she was just as powerful as she had always been.

As Katara struggled, I put more muscle into holding her down. I had never, and would never, force a woman, but this was a game between us. A fantasy, almost. As benders, she would beat me. As humans, my strength outweighed hers.

I kept kissing her even as she struggled. The fire within her was like a match to kindling for me. Blood pounded its way through my body, and her wiggling against my inkei was only making it hard as steel. Her hips met mine, and I could have sworn I felt the heat emanating from her chitsu. Her wrist almost slipped from my grasp, so I focused on pinning her down instead of the effect she was having on me.

Once I regained my hold on Katara, I looked at her robes. They needed to go. I released her waist for a moment so I could untie the knot that held her robes together. In an instant, her breasts were free, and I remembered how it felt to be a seventeen-year-old boy, seeing her breasts, feeling them in my hands, for the first time. I kissed them, savoring the weight and warmth of them, knowing I could release my seieki at any second. Not yet, not yet, I willed myself. You're not a boy anymore. Keep it together.

Whatever I was doing to her breasts and nipples, she was clearly enjoying herself. She had stopped trying to throw me off her, and her legs wrapped around my back. She was gasping, straining.

I wasn't expecting her to try to flip me.

Her strength took me by surprise, and I let go of her wrist. For a second I thought she might overpower me, which, I'll be honest, fanned the flame inside me. I had no idea what she'd do to my body once she was in control.

She had momentum on her side, but I knew that could be used against her. I let her feel as if she had the upper hand, then used a wrestling trick to get her on her stomach. Not as easy as it sounds, but I quickly had her pinned again. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, that meant I was lying against her round o-shiri.

I needed to get inside her, and quickly. I still had my underclothes on, and she did as well. The first thing I did was pull her up against me so I could remove her clothes. Afraid she might try to flip me off her, I held her to me and found what the sailors used to call "the woman's magic button," her kuritorisu.

She relaxed almost as soon as I grazed it with my fingers. It was hot. She whimpered quietly as I stroked small circles around it.

"Zuko," she said. "I'll kill you."

Her words, the first either of us had said since I had kissed her, only enflamed me. I was trying to overcome one of the most powerful waterbenders in the world. Someone far more powerful than me. She absolutely could kill me if she wanted. The thought only made me harder, more desperate to be inside her.

I pulled off my underclothes, holding fast to her waist in case she started to struggle again. Her breaths were coming in ragged gasps, and I knew she was close. Not yet, Katara, I thought as I pulled away from her kuritorisu to grab my inkei. I guided the tip inside her, gritting my teeth to avoid exploding. I pushed slowly back and forth, not wanting to hurt her or risk losing my control to the pleasure of her. I held her waist, pulling her gently back toward me as I pushed forward into her. Her chitsu was hot and wet, and I held my breath as I moved deeper and deeper inside her.

The damn woman chose that moment to try to fight me again.

Katara lunged forward, and I could only grip her waist hard and slam fully into her. The force of it knocked the breath out of her, but once I knew she was fine, I started to pound her. I pushed her shoulders to the ground so she had less room to struggle. With her hands free, I knew she could bend water from the kettle and kill me in an instant. I was too preoccupied to care. Pulling her o-shiri back toward me, I thrust into her with wild abandon.

Being with a woman had never felt so incredible as it did with Katara. I reached down and rubbed her kuritorisu, hoping she felt the same way about this that I did. As I was reaching peak, I slowed, unwilling to let the night end so soon. I pulled almost completely out of her, slowly stroking her with the tip of my inkei as I rubbed her kuritorisu. She was moaning. The sound of it was too much for me.

I began taking her again, slamming my inkei into her as hard and as fast as I could. I shouldn't have been surprised when she pushed back her hips to meet me.

I felt the familiar rising in my kōgan, the feeling like I'd never catch my breath again, and at that instant I knew where I wanted my seieki. I had never experienced it before, the act of releasing my seieki inside a woman. But if I was going to do it with anyone, it was going to be Katara.

Holding her waist with one hand and her shoulder with the other, I groaned as I felt my seieki shoot through me and into her. "Katara!" I cried as I tried to force myself as deep as possible, relishing the feeling of unloading into such a dangerous and forceful woman. Imagine conquering a hurricane. That was the feeling of taking Katara.

As my seieki finished ejecting into her, I continued to thrust into her lightly. Her muscles were spasming around my inkei, and I knew she had finished with me. A dangerous thought excited me then, but I was too exhausted to keep holding myself up.

I dropped onto her, breathing hard, loving the feeling of her body underneath mine. My inkei, still slightly hard, remained inside her hot chitsu. I kissed her cheek, her hair, her neck. My fingers found hers.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that," I said.

"Force yourself on me?"

I kissed her neck again. "I could never force you to do anything." After lying against her for a few minutes, I felt something unbelievable. My inkei, still tucked inside her, began to stir.

I wondered if she could feel it. My hips began to move of their own accord, a small shifting that only stimulated me more. Katara didn't say anything.

A few minutes later, I was nearly fully aroused again. She still didn't move, but I know she could feel it. I considered taking her in the same position again, but I wanted to see her face. Pulling completely out of her, I rolled her onto her back.

"I know you're not asleep, waterbender. You don't sleep well during the full moon," I growled.

She looked like she was going to argue. As much as I would have loved that, I wanted her to feel like I had control over her. Even though, of course, we both knew how untrue that was.

I put my hand on her throat. Not hard enough to squeeze or constrict her breathing. Just enough to warn her I could. She reached up as if to push me off, but I quickly grabbed her thin wrists in one hand and pinned them over her head. I released her throat so I could guide my inkei back inside her warm body. Before I did though, I rubbed it on her kuritorisu. Trust me, I wanted to do more. I was already thinking of how to tie her down so I could taste her salty kuritorisu and chitsu. But I doubted she'd lie still for that.

I needed her. I pushed hard back inside, gasping as her wetness enveloped my inkei. There was nothing in the world like the feeling of taking Katara.

Despite releasing my seieki only a few minutes before, my inkei only wanted more of her. She twisted her hips in a futile attempt to dislodge me. She could have done it easily, just by bending water with her fingertips. She was playing this game just as much as I was.

Her struggling only made it feel that much better. It was the illusion of forcing her, even though I knew she was enjoying it. I tightened my hold on her and pounded her harder. When her hands nearly slipped free, I grabbed the belt from her robe and tied her wrists together. That gave me the freedom to grab her waist and pull her body even closer to mine. She was gasping as I thrust into her harder and faster than I had before. Her body was limp, like she had no strength left to fight me. My kōgan tingled and my heart raced, knowing I was about to release my seieki into her again.

"I'm coming!" At the sound, she began struggling, and the stimulation was too much for me. My seieki shot into her, and I continued pounding, hoping somehow I could get it even deeper inside her as she wiggled her hips.

Finally, I slowed, and our gaze met.

I could have stared at her forever.

"You might have impregnated me," she said. There was neither malice nor pleasure in her voice. That was the plan, I thought of saying. But no, that thought hadn't even fully registered in my own head at that point.

I placed my hand between her sweaty breasts. She looked even more beautiful, her hair tousled and her legs wide, my inkei still inside her. "A student studying anatomy would know what tea to drink or herb to chew to prevent that," I replied.

"Get off me," she said. I pushed away from her and fell flat on my back. I was still breathing hard.

"I'm sure you have plenty of bastard children as it is," she added. The comment surprised me. What did she care?

I decided to answer honestly instead of prying into her psych.

"No," I said. "Women have tried. They think a baby will secure their future as Fire Lady. I never finish inside them. And I watch them drink the special tea afterward that prevents such a thing."

"Why me then?" she asked.

I looked at her, and suddenly I knew what I wanted. I could see her lying in a bed, a baby at her breast. Our baby.

"Because I wouldn't mind having a baby with you," I admitted. Impossibly, my inkei grew hard, and I crawled over to mount her again. This time, she welcomed me with open legs.

. . . . .

Epilogue

Nine months later, I held a screaming baby boy in my arms. His face was red, his hair dark, and he was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my entire life.

Katara lay sweaty and exhausted on the bed. The doctors had assured me it had been a straightforward, normal birth, but I had still worried about her. She smiled when she opened her eyes and saw me holding our son.

"Congratulations, Fire Lord," she said.

"Congratulations to you too, Fire Lady," I said as I kissed her forehead.