Three days after they'd snuck into the attic and gotten to know one another a whole lot better, Katara laid in her bed glaring at the ceiling. Her body tingled all over and she wondered if this was what going crazy felt like. All day long she'd found her eyes drawn to Zuko, tracing over the long, chiseled lines of his body and drinking in the power he exuded from every pore. When she watched him fire-bending with Aang, she could practically feel the heat of his body on hers once again, and when he'd glanced at her sideways during dinner, he'd shot her a subtle wink while no one else was looking as she served out dinner onto plates for everyone. She felt the electric heat fizz across her skin when she'd handed him his plate and their fingers had brushed lightly.
She couldn't take it.
She wanted to feel all that fire boiling under his skin again.
She wanted to feel the wicked heat rushing through her, inside and out, while he clutched her close and kissed her dizzyingly.
She wanted to touch him again.
Katara wondered if he would mind if she invaded his bedroom.
Would anyone else know?
Toph had gotten stroppy after dinner when Aang had said something to upset her and she'd stormed off down to the beach, claiming she would be spending the night outside where she could be surrounded by the Earth instead of the stifling constraints of the Fire Lord's summer house. Sokka and Suki had been so wrapped up in each other that she wouldn't be surprised if they were going at it like dog-bears themselves, or exhausted after doing just that. And Aang... Katara bit her lip. Aang was a light sleeper. She didn't imagine it would be a good thing if she snuck into Zuko's bedroom for casual - mind-blowing - sex with the Fire Nation prince when she knew Aang had feelings for her.
It was just... well... she didn't feel the same way about the young Avatar.
She loved him dearly, like a little brother, and she would risk her life for his whenever necessary, but... she didn't feel the spark of attraction and hunger that she felt when she was with Zuko. The time Aang had surprised her with a kiss, it had felt uncomfortable and wrong. Unwelcome. Not like it felt at all when she kissed a boy she was interested in. Compared to kissing Jet, it's been dissatisfying. Compared to kissing Zuko... well... it was like comparing bland oatmeal to zesty salsa.
Stars, she wanted to taste Zuko's spicy kisses again.
Could she?
Should she?
He was the Fire Nation Prince. When they overthrew Fire Lord Ozai and Azula - and they would overthrow them, she was sure of it - Zuko would be required to ascend to the throne. Would Katara regret whatever might blossom between them between now and then if she went to his bed again tonight? If she made a habit of getting naked with the prince, would she yearn for his hands on her like this, a million times stronger, when the war was over and she had to return to the Southern Water Tribe. She wasn't Fire Lady material, after all. She was - as Zuko had sneered more than once in the past - just a peasant by comparison. Daughter of the Water Tribe Chief, sure. Technically, a Princess by her people's standard... okay. But she was no fine lady by Fire Nation standards. She wouldn't know the first thing about the etiquette expected of the future Fire Lady.
But... well... that was a while away, wasn't it?
Hadn't they all determined to live in the moment and stop worrying about the impending future and looming doom that might claim them? Hadn't they said that this was the time to do those last-minute things they might need or want to do before the battle was upon them? Hadn't Sokka come to her just yesterday and asked in a low voice if she thought it would be out of order for him to ask Suki to marry him and perform the ceremony before the battle just because he didn't want to be without her and didn't want her doubting his feelings for her if, for any reason, he didn't survive the coming fight?
Didn't Katara owe it to her own happiness to take her pleasure where she could find it, even if she found it in Prince Zuko's arms?
Throwing the covers off her tingly body, Katara rose from her bed quickly and slipped out the door and down the hall. She relied on the gleam of the moon outside the window - so close to full it made her quiver - to guide her feet through the corridors and up the stairs, climbing for Zuko's room. She winced at every creak on the stairs, moving carefully and trying to keep from alerting anyone to her late-night excursion. She hoped her brother and her friends were all deeply asleep. She hoped they wouldn't wake despite the racket she was making.
When she reached Zuko's door, she carefully turned the handle and wince at the creak as it swung open. As she slipped inside, her eyes searched the bed, wondering if she'd woken Zuko with the sound.
And she lost her breath when she crossed the threshold and was suddenly spun violently and slammed into the wall beside the door, and sword to her throat and a scowling prince ready to murder her.
"Zuko!" she gasped against the hand covering her mouth to prevent her from crying out.
He froze.
"Katara?" he asked tightly.
She nodded urgently, and his sword disappeared quickly.
"Agni, Katara!" he whispered-yelled at her. "I could've killed you!"
She nodded, her heart hammering wildly with the surge of fear and adrenaline that slammed through her.
"What are you doing here?" Zuko asked. "It's the middle of the night. I thought you went to bed? I thought you were an assassin!"
Katara bit her lip as Zuko's hand over her mouth slid down the side of her neck before he surprised her, laying his forehead against hers and breathing out a heavy sigh of relief.
"Sorry for frightening you," she apologized quietly. "I... couldn't sleep."
His thumb stroked along the column of her throat at her words and Katara's stomach flipped nervously with butterflies, wondering if he would understand what she meant by that.
"Is that right?" he asked in a low voice, his tone growing husky in a heartbeat and her butterflies rioted as desire tingled through her, gnawing at her bones.
"Mmm," she hummed.
Zuko gave a low chuckle that sounded awfully smug to Katara's ears, his hand sliding up to cup her cheek and the pad of his thumb smoothing along the length of her lower lip.
"In that case..." he murmured. "You'd better take this off and get on the bed, waterbender."
His free hand tugged at the tunic she'd slipped into to cross the house and seek him out, though he still clutched the handle of his sword. Before she could process his words, his lips descended on hers, kissing away her sense and weakening her knees. Stars, it was like nothing else she'd ever known. Her body just responded to his like he had the key to her every secret. Katara kissed him until she couldn't breathe, her hands lifting to tangle in his dark hair, clinging to him hungrily while she pressed her body to his, thrilled to note he slept shirtless too. She mewled into his mouth desperately when they broke apart for oxygen.
"Shhh," he hushed her. "You'll wake the others. Take that off while I get the door."
Katara only blinked when he pulled away, swiftly pressing the door closed as quietly as he could.
"Huh?" she asked dazedly when he crossed to the bed and returned his sword to where the second Dao blade leaned against the side table by the bed.
"You heard me," Zuko rasped at her when she trailed after his stupidly, lured to him like a moth to flame. "Take. It. Off!"
Katara's knees nearly buckled at the growled command. Stars, he'd been born to make demands and have people obey them, hadn't he?
"Now!" he growled, yanking his pants down his legs until he stood naked.
Katara nodded, jolting into action at the sight of his arousal rearing and ready to ravish her. She hurried to pull the tunic off over her head, her body bare beneath it. She felt Zuko's gaze slide over her body like a hot caress, the temperature in the room spiking suddenly and she trembled before he closed the distance between the two of them, claiming her lips without hesitation while his hands smoothed down her side and around to rest on her bum before he gripped her tight and lifted her with alarming ease. Instinctively, Katara wrapped her legs around his waist while her arms curled around the back of his neck. Their tongues tangled headily, making her crazy. She shivered all over, heat tingling through her as the delicious scent of him overwhelmed her senses and the heat of his skin lit her from within.
She never wanted to not being kissing Prince Zuko, Katara decided even as he carried her the short distance to his bed and laid her down upon it.
He wasted no time crawling over her, their kiss breaking as he trailed a burning line of desire along her jaw and down the side of her neck. Katara's toes curled in the sheets, her nails raking down his back when he kissed his way over her chest and engulfed her left nipple in his warm mouth.
"Stars, Zuko," Katara breathed raggedly, gasping and mewling when his fingers found her other nipple, pinching it wickedly. Her hips bucked involuntarily and a growl of smug satisfaction escaped him before he swapped his mouth to her other nipple, pinching the abandoned one between his thumb and forefinger sharp enough to sting and drawing a ragged cry from her lips.
"Shhhhh," he hushed her again, licking her playfully before kissing his way further down her body, his lips feathering her ribs ticklishly before he licked a circle around her navel and pressed kisses and nips to her belly beneath it, trailing further and further south.
"Zuko..." she whimpered, her eyes wide as she lifted her head to watch him while his hands trailed over her bare thighs, gently guiding them apart before pressed her knees into the mattress, pinning her legs wide open for him.
"Try to keep quiet," he smirked at her, nuzzling her pubic bone. "Or you'll wake the others."
Katara nodded frantically, her heart racing and her whole body simply trembling with anticipation.
"Did you lock the door?" she confirmed. "Oh, sweet merciful spirits!"
Her concerns about the locked door flew from her mind when his tongue dragged wickedly slow over her aching center, throbbing dully in time with her frantic heartbeat.
he laughed huskily at her reaction when Katara's hips arched up off the bed, chasing his mouth, craving more, while her hands fell to his head, her fingers knotting in his hair helplessly. He licked her again, another long, slow drag on this tongue over her skin, and Katara closed her eyes as a low, throaty moan tore from her.
Zuko took his time about it, not about to be rushed despite the desperate soaking Katara's senses. He licked her again and again, his tongue dipping inside her before tracing over the most sensitive part of her only to repeated the process, flicking his tongue repeatedly, licking and licking and licking her until she cried out helplessly, her hips shifting with his every touch, while her head tossed back and forth on the pillow. She couldn't stand it.
"Zuko... please..." she begged, unsure what she begged for, only knowing she needed something. Needed more. Needed him.
"Shhhhh," he soothed her, one of his hands trailing up the length of her thigh to join his tongue at their apex and Katara groaned, rocking into the rhythm he chose, hungrily craving more. Needing him. Wanting everything.
She had to scramble for the pillows, yanking one over her face and muffling her cries when he drove his fingers in deep and beckoned with them repeatedly while his mouth closed over the sensitive button at the top of her slit and sucked hard. She didn't entirely drown out the scream she tore from him, but Katara was too lost to the release to care if the whole house heard her.
Zuko licked her through it as her body spasmed and trembled, orgasms rocking her to her very core before he slowly backed off, letting her catch her breath.
Katara's heart was hammering out a staccato when he slowly kissed his way back up the length of her body, pausing to lavish attention on each of her breasts in turn, before he nuzzled into her neck, taking away the pillow she'd put over her face and nipping her neck lightly.
"You alright?" he asked huskily.
Katara huffed breathlessly, nodding when she couldn't find words.
"Are you ready for more?" he asked, and Agni help her, he sounded so smug, but she didn't even care.
"Please," she begged.
Zuko's laughed low as he nudged his way between her legs, lax as they were in her boneless state, and when he slid deep, her recent release and his ministrations having eased the way, the sound Katara made was shameless and embarrassing and primal. He built to a wicked rhythm then, taking what he wanted from her without apology, driving deep and high and hard, and only the way he'd slid his hands under her back and curled them over the tops of her shoulders kept his powerful thrusts from sending her slamming into the headboard.
Katara could only cling to him as he took her with barely restrained passion, ravishing her like he wanted revenge for something. She didn't mind. It felt good. Agni, it felt so good as he slammed into her again and again and again. She raked her nails down his back and she kissed his neck and nipped his shoulder and she let him push her up that cliff to the precipice again, her breath ragged and her whole body shaking uncontrollably.
"Zuko..." she murmured in a panic. "Zuko... I..."
Her cry of release was overlapped by his heavy groan as he plunged into release along with her, both of them flying over the edge together in a shuddering, trembling, gasping tangle and Katara didn't think she would ever tire of the bone-tingling desire that gripped her tight when he made those glorious sounds.
When she'd caught her breath, she was definitely going to see if she could get him to make them again.