Okay, I got a request from BallBuster to continue the kissing scence. I did, half because of her/him (sorry) and half because I wanted to. So, the first...eight paragraphs are the contiuation. Feel free to skip to the break if you want. (FYI, lemon burns, so don't expect any.)
They broke off when they heard the footsteps of Toph and Aang in the next cabin. "Aang, what did you want to talk to me about-mmph!"
Zuko chuckled. "Looks like Aang has finally told Toph." Katara nodded, then forced Zuko's attention back to her by kissing his scar.
"It's your birthday, right?" she asked, wrapping her hands around his shoulders. Zuko nodded, kissing her forehead. "And you said that this," here she motioned to their positions and kissed his cheek, "was a good enough birthday present?"
"Yes, yes," he murmured, leaning down to kiss Katara's neck gently. Katara arched her neck back and moaned softly, adding to the moment. "Any time I have with you is a gift, especially when there's no worries of Sokka coming in and completely ruining it. Katara, I love you."
Katara smiled and kissed Zuko. "Well, you'll have to wait a year or two before I'm old enough," she teased. "I love you too, Zuko." Zuko didn't respond; he just grabbed her face and covered her lips with his. He gently nipped at her bottom lip, causing Katara moan softly Zuko bit again, this time letting his tongue gently brush her lips. Katara couldn't hold back her moan and tightened her grip on his shoulders. She opened her mouth, giving Zuko the entrance he had begged for.
He kept his hands occupied by running them through her hair, rubbing the sides of her neck, gently brushing her shoulders, then moving down her back, stopping right before he went lower. Katara returned the motions, rubbing his well-toned chest muscles and his neck. She pressed herself against him, wanting to be as close as possible to the former prince. Zuko understood and moved one hand to her head, pressing her lips against his.
"Happy birthday," she murmured into the kiss.
Happy birthday indeed…
Zuko woke up the next day in his own cabin. He remembered wanting to share Katara's bunk, but she protested in case Sokka or someone walked in.
"That's probably why Lakai gave us separate cabins, Zuko," she had said. Zuko grumbled about it, but he agreed. Now that he was awake, he slipped into Katara's cabin, which was next to his. (His was the end of the passage, so only one curtain connected it to another cabin.) Katara was still asleep.
Zuko slowly laid down next her, wrapping his arms around her. "I'll save you from the pirates," he whispered, causing Katara to jolt awake.
"Zuko, don't do that!" she muttered when she realized who it was. Zuko chuckled. Katara sighed and nestled against Zuko. "You do realize I'm in my underclothes and you appear to be without a top?" she asked.
"Yes," said Zuko simply. "The question is do I care?" He held her tighter.
"Lemme guess. You got hot last night and decided to get a cool as possible?" Katara asked. "I had to get a big bowl of ice cold water and wet my neck down to sleep."
"There are downfalls to being a Firebender. You can't always control your body temperature," Zuko answered. "But that's not the only reason I couldn't sleep."
"What other reason was there?"
"I was thinking of you," he murmured. Katara shivered slightly. She rolled over, meeting Zuko's lips in a kiss.
"Come on. I smell breakfast and I'm hungry." Zuko nodded and got up. He went back to his room to put a shirt on and met Katara outside their cabins. Sokka was still asleep, obviously, but the others were obviously awake.
There was a horrendous smell coming from the galley. "Agh!" Katara gagged, covering her mouth in Zuko's arm. "What is that stink?"
"I don't know. It smells like your brother's sleeping bag and my uncle's sandals put together with an unwashed Appa," complained Zuko. They saw one of the crew come stumbling out of the galley.
"Oh, thank Jala. Git in there an' tell Chen that his 'breakfast' is deadly," the man said. "He says he won't dump it 'less all ya new people choke on it. The Avatar an' 'is girlfriend, along wi' the acrobat, have already tasted it. The liddle blind girl nearly got sick."
"I don't have to taste it to tell it tastes bad," Zuko said. "You might want to go wake up Sokka, the other guy. Tell him there's a new dish to try." The man nodded and went to wake Sokka up. Katara and Zuko went to brave Chen's cooking.
Lakai grimaced when she saw the latest victims. "I'm sorry you have to do this," she said. "Chen's cooking is typical very good, but he has this recipe that he cooks every so often. Whenever he does, I pull the 'fasting for three hours' card. Toshi's starting to take after me."
"What do we have to do?"
"Getting sick after taking a small bite would be good," Aang said, hunched over a bucket. "Ugh, I want to get sick so badly."
Lakai rubbed the young Avatar's back sympathetically. "When this is over, I have some peppermint that might help in the infirmary. How ya holdin' up, Toph?"
"I'd rather die." Toph looked pale. Ty Lee didn't respond since she was too busy trying to force an upheaval of her stomach.
Toshi tapped Zuko's shoulder. "Here comes the murderer now. Hope you have a good gag reflex."
Chen was stout former Fire Nation citizen. "Ah, two others. If they like it, I'll cook this more often." Chen dished out two servings of something no one could name.
Katara looked at it. "Do I want to know what's in here?"
"Probably not," Zuko said. They looked at each other and tried a bite at the same time.
To say it was worst than Zuko's attempt at tea brewing would be a great injustice to the tea. Katara instantly spat what she hadn't accidentally swallowed out in the bucket while Zuko gagged and followed suit.
"Five down, one to go. You're not going to have Iroh try it; he's old and it could kill him," Lakai said before Chen could protest. "And soon as Sokka tries it, I'm makin' something to help these poor kids!"
It was a few minutes before a groggy Sokka stumbled in. "What's this about food?" he asked.
Chen handed Sokka a serving and replied, "Breakfast. Tell me what you think."
"Food." Sokka ate the entire bowl before he's stomach starting reacting to the foul concoction by emptying itself everything he had ever put in it in the bucket.
"There. If Sokka gets sick from it, then it's vile, Chen," said Lakai, getting a rag and wetting it down for Sokka.
"Don't toss it out to the fish; it'll kill 'em," Toshi warned. "Burn it or something." Chen pouted but consented to his captain's wishes as Lakai led the sick teenagers to the infirmary.
"Finally! Now he'll stop making that cursed recipe." Lakai bustled around, getting plants and various potions down from her shelves. "Here. Sokka, since you actually got sick, you'll need to drink this for the rest of the day and eat soup until tomorrow." She handed him a flask of something smelling strongly of peppermint. "The rest of you, drink this whenever you feel ill." She handed out five bottles of tea or something similar. "Don't drink it all in one sitting, though; that'll make it worse. My advice would be to go lie down for a few. I am."
"Why?"
"The celebration last night drained me and I have feeling no one here went to bed at a reasonable hour. I won't tell anyone who doesn't already know, but next time, keep it down."
"Who knows?" Zuko, Aang, and Sokka asked suddenly.
"Well, I certainly do. Toshi kinda figured it when I came back from checking on you guys shaking my head and muttering, and I'm pretty sure Iroh knows, at least about Zuko."
Sokka looked at Zuko. "What did you do to my sister? And you better lie to me because I just lost everything I've ever eaten so I'm cranky."
Zuko returned Sokka's look. "I did nothing dishonorable to her, if that's you are implying. I merely led her back to her cabin and we kissed."
"A lot more 'just' kissing if ya ask me," Lakai muttered. "Toshi's a passionate person, but from what I could hear…"
"Sounded like one heck of a game of snakes," Toph finished, using an Earth Kingdom slang word for passionate kissing. Lakai snorted.
"He's telling the truth, Sokka," Katara said. "Now, you're sick. Go lie down on your bunk. You get mad at Zuko, or Lakai, or me later."
Ty Lee stood and helped her sweetheart up. Sokka glared daggers at Zuko, who merely glanced coolly back.
"Do you have something to get this awful taste out of my mouth?" Toph asked. "It tastes like something up and died in there." Lakai laughed and pulled out some hard, rock-like things.
"Here. These will help. I picked it up at a port city. It's like candy, only very sweet. They help my stomach in the mornings. And the afternoons. And the evenings. I have a bad stomach." The teens took one each. "They won't have much taste, but anything better than the taste of Chen's attempt at eggs."
"Eggs?" Aang asked incredulously. Lakai nodded. "I've tasted better swamp water."
"At least swamp water won't kill ya," Lakai pointed out. "Now, shoo! I gotta clean up. Sanitary reasons." Lakai shooed the younger benders out. Toph grabbed Aang's hand.
"Come on, Twinkles, if you're gonna be perky enough to practice later, you need to go lay down." Aang rolled his eyes.
"See you and Iroh later to practice, Zuko?" Zuko nodded. He waited until they two twelve-almost-thirteen-year-olds headed to Aang's cabin to laugh.
"Toph has one weird way of showing affection," he joked. Katara snorted and took Zuko's hand.
"I could say the same for you. You stared down my brother!" Zuko nodded, leading Katara to the end where their cabins were.
"I'm not about to let anyone say I can't kiss the girl I love, even her overprotective brother," he replied. "If I love someone, nothing gets in my way of showing it." With that, he kissed Katara quickly, thankful the awful taste had left his mouth. Katara smiled when they parted.
"Must be a Firebender trait, being so bold and daring. What if Sokka had seen you kissing me just now? Or your uncle?"
"Who cares?" was Zuko's rebellious reply. Katara smiled and pulled Zuko along to her cabin.
"Breath! Breath, you idiot!" Iroh called.
Lakai laughed. "I didn't think 'idiot' was in your vocabulary, Iroh." The retired general sighed.
"When teaching my nephew Firebending, I learned to add it. He was quite the stubborn pupil," he said.
Katara giggled. "Still is if you ask me." Zuko growled and reached out to swat the Waterbender. Katara dodged him.
"Zuko! Stop flirting and get back to practicing!" Iroh ordered. Zuko blushed slightly and obeyed his uncle. Aang giggled and looked at Zuko. The older boy looked at Aang and nodded to Toph. Aang blushed and focused on his form.
Iroh sighed. "It's impossible to teach two love struck teenagers Firebending," he muttered to Toshi. Toshi laughed.
"Ever try practicing with a love struck Waterbender who happens to be your wife? Not easy. You can't yell at her or she'll make you sleep on deck." With that, Iroh burst out laughing.
Everyone looked at Iroh, even Sokka, who Ty Lee had helped to the deck. "Is the lesson over now?" Aang asked. "We've being out here for a few hours now, ever since Zuko woke up." The former prince had taken a nap after returning to his cabin. (The problem was that Katara was with him, still clothed, but in his arms.)
Iroh nodded and waved a hand in dismissal. Zuko dropped his stance and reached for the towel Asha had provided. He dried off and went to Katara.
Katara, Toph, Ty Lee, and one of the crew, a girl around Zuko's age called Dian, were talking.
"I still the best way to take someone down is from the inside," Ty Lee said.
"Knocking 'em out works fine for me, thank you very much."
"Freezing them to a tree is a good way to shut someone up. Trust me, I've tried it."
"There is nothin' like a dagger to stop a guy from comin' to close to ya. How d'you think I keep them idiots off me?"
"Your twin brother?" the other girls asked.
"An' what do I do when Zai is busy?" Dian asked. Zuko remembered that her real name was Dian-Sung, but she preferred her nickname and would threaten anyone who called her Dian-Sung, except her twin.
"Point taken," Toph said. "What do you want, Scarface?"
"Just wondering what you talking about," Zuko said simply. Dian looked at Zuko.
"Hmm…" She glared at Katara. "I never get the good'uns. All the boys here are ugly or they reek somethin' awful." Katara blushed at Dian's comment, as did Zuko when he realized Dian had just given him an once-over.
From the crow's nest, Zai's voice rang out. "Ship off to starboard!" Everyone crowded around the right side of the boat to see. "Pretty big, too."
Toshi looked at the ship. The older ones had to cover Aang and Toph's ears at his profane outburst. When he started saying things that would offend any woman, Zuko and Sokka covered their respective lovers' ears. Lakai waited her husband was then slapped.
"Toshi, what in the world is wrong?"
"It's the Royal Sea Palace, Princess Azula's ship."