Hi everyone! I am so, so sorry for this long wait!

I know I left you with a relatively good ending, but still. Life has just been very... full lately. Lots to do, and not enough time to keep writing. Besides, it wasn't always easy to write this chapter.

Enough from me now. Let's move to the next chapter!

Warning: I know this fic is rated M, but I suspect that I don't only have adult readers but also some teenagers, so you should know that there will be vivid descriptions of sex in this chapter. And, of course, there are also adults who don't like to read something like that.

I do not own Avatar The Last Airbender, nor its characters.


Chapter Twenty-Nine

Zuko's eyes widened, as he let out a surprised noise and staggered a few steps back.

He had not expected this.

He was still quick, however, to grab Katara's thighs and lifting them up so that she didn't hang half off him.

She was kissing him.

His lips immediately softened under her attention, as he kissed her back, but he definitely was confused. It didn't matter much now, though, because she kissed him, but it would come to it eventually.

He closed his eyes, as he enjoyed the feeling of her body against his. His hands stroked her naked thighs, soft and warm. He wished he could wrap his arms around her, but she had done a good job of that herself. Her arms lied around his neck, as her kiss demanded more and more of him. It almost felt desperate.

When he opened his eyes, he saw that hers were pressed shut, almost angrily so.

She had never looked like this while he kissed her. He started to panic. He'd just told her that he loved her, and now she kissed him angrily? What did this mean?

Carefully and slowly, he leaned back and ended their kiss.

Katara still frowned, but her eyes were wide, almost looking innocent.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Her frown deepened. "Of course, I'm okay! I am...!" She trailed off, biting down on her lower lip. Zuko's gaze was immediately drawn to it.

"I..." She hesitated again.

Zuko grimaced. "Look. Just because I'm in love with you doesn't mean you have to kiss me. I don't expect anything of you. I just... I needed to tell you because I... I can't do what my father wants me to. I can't do this to you because I love you."

Now she started crying.

Zuko panicked again. "No! No, don't cry. Katara!" He let her down and hugged her, laying his chin on her hair. "It's alright. I won't let it come to this." He rubbed over her back in an attempt to comfort her.

She let out a sound that almost sounded like laughter. "I'm not sad, Zuko!"

"You're not?" He frowned.

She nodded against his chest.

It felt so good to hold her against him. Feeling her in his arms... He never wanted to miss out on this.

"These are happy tears," she said again, through tears and laughter.

He swallowed. "So, you're happy that we won't go through with my father's plan?" He smiled. He'd made her happy.

"No!" she said vehemently. "I mean, I am, but that's not the reason I'm crying."

There was a motion against his shirt, and he looked down at Katara suspiciously, as she dried her cheeks on him. He might be in love with this woman, but that didn't mean he was okay with everything that she did.

He cradled her face between his hands and made her look up at him. Partly because he wanted to look at her face, but also because he didn't need any snot on his shirt.

Her ocean blue eyes were still brimming with tears, but she really did look happy, as she smiled up at him. The look in her eyes was so soft and tender.

"I'm happy because you're in love with me," she explained.

His eyebrows rose. "You are? Doesn't it bother you? I mean, I'd thought it would."

She shook her head. "No, it doesn't. And that's because I feel the same way."

He blinked. She... What?

A chuckle left him. Yeah, right. Katara loved him. Good joke.

She frowned at him. "What's so funny?" she snapped.

He looked back down at her, an amused expression on his face. "Katara. Come on. We both know that can't be."

Her face mirrored absolute incredulity, as she sputtered helplessly. "What? How can you say that? Of course, it can be. I mean, it is true!"

She looked outrageous and angry.

Zuko took a step back. "I just..." He rubbed his neck. "You wouldn't..."

Katara wore a short bathrobe, her hair was up in a bun, and still a little wet. Her hands were planted on her hips, and he finally knew what this familiar tug on his heart meant. What the hot, windy feeling in his chest was.

He swallowed. "You are really... I mean, you really mean that?" He knew he didn't sound convinced, and that only seemed to anger her more.

She threw her arms in the air. "Yes! I really mean it! I love you!"

Zuko could only blink again, and he felt the warm feeling in his chest swell, and he knew he wanted to grin like an idiot, but he still had trouble believing this was really true.

After all, who ever got a love confession back after telling the person one pretended to be in a relationship with that they were in love with them? How high was the probability? Right, zero.

He evened his breathing to stop himself from either grinning, hugging or kissing Katara, or telling her he loved her again.

He opened his mouth. "Why?"

Had he actually just said that?

Katara's angry expression vanished. "Did you seriously ask me why I love you?"

He blushed furiously, as he tried to stammer an explanation or apology. Of course, she didn't want to tell him! Why did he ask? Why?

He stared at the ground, wishing it would swallow him whole when she stepped towards him and laid her hands on his cheeks. His gaze darted to her. She looked at him in a way that he had never seen from her before.

Her fingers glided through his hair, which felt heavenly. He felt himself relaxing slightly.

"So many reasons," she said, and pink colour spread on her cheeks. "But the main reason is because of how you are. I love that."

"How I am?" he echoed, his voice suddenly husky. She couldn't love him then. He had prevented her from finding a job for his own selfish needs. He was too much of a disappointment for his family and had to work nonstop to make them like him. Uncle might have loved him, even as a replacement for his own son, but Zuko had managed to drive even him away.

"Yes," she said. "How you react to things, what you do in certain situations. What you think. The way you talk." She blushed and bit her lip. "I just… I think you're adorable, cute, amusing, infuriating, and a little too serious. You're a good person, and I feel very attracted to you. But you probably already know that," she added, pressing her lips together and looking at the floor in embarrassment. Then she took a deep breath and looked up at him. "You're just truly wonderful and one of the best persons I know, and I think that I could make you happy." Her voice had become quieter, almost whispered.

Zuko felt as if he couldn't breathe anymore. Maybe he would lose consciousness. Holy shit, was this really happening? It felt so unreal.

His hands shot forward to grasp Katara's hips, holding onto her, as he took several deep breaths, swallowing to get the choking feeling down his throat.

Were his eyes burning? He blinked rapidly.

"You already do," he said huskily, his voice raspy with suppressed emotions.

She directed a shy, but radiant smile at him.

His heart missed a beat, and he pulled her close to hold her tight again. "I love you, Katara," he murmured into her hair. Shit, I love you, he thought desperately, starting to kiss her hair.

She leaned out of his hug and put her hands on his cheeks, rising on her tiptoes to kiss him lightly. He kissed her back with a happy smile on his face.

Zuko felt lighter than he had in a long time, as if he could just soar into the sky.

Katara's kiss was as soft as a butterfly's flap, as her lips traced his. He felt their plumpness and leaned forward without thinking.

His eyes closed fully, as he wrapped his arms around her to pull her closer. Katara let out a loud breath and flung her arms around his neck, her kiss becoming more passionate.

A strong, desperate feeling to have this woman overcame Zuko. She was balm for his soul, and her kiss was medicine for his heart. Maybe she would change her mind about him, but right now she said she loved him. A hot wave of possessive feelings rushed through him. He needed her.

His fingers dug into her hips, as he licked her lips to get entrance to her mouth. Katara pressed herself closer to him and opened her mouth.

Zuko groaned, before bending down to grab her thighs to pull her up. She hooked her ankles together behind his back, and he pressed his lips tighter to hers, exploring her mouth with a hot passion.

Katara's hands wandered over his chest and back, which didn't bother him much, as he wore a shirt. In fact, it felt even better to feel her hands over his scars, as this area of his body hadn't been touched much at all in the last ten years.

She began to open the buttons on his black shirt to touch his naked chest. When her cool hands spread on his hot skin, she pulled away from their kiss and started kissing his throat instead.

Zuko took a deep breath. He needed to control his happiness, and he needed to control his passion.

But control had never been Zuko's strength. "I love you," he whispered into her hair again. He needed to say it. Had these words ever rung truer on his lips? They had never felt so good saying them.

Katara sighed. "I love you," she replied, and it felt like she planted the seed for love in his chest all over again.

As if her love enabled him to love even more. And because of that he loved her even more, and shit, was he really thinking these cheesy things?

He inhaled Katara's scent, felt her skin and body, heard her fast breaths, tasted her wonderful tongue, and saw the deep feelings in her eyes.

Aw man, he would shout cheesy poems for her from the top of the Eiffel Tower if it meant that she would remain by his side.

This epiphany caused goosebumps to appear over his back and he shuddered slightly.

He felt like he would become insane from everything that he felt right now. He pulled her tighter towards him and took a few steps towards her bed then. He felt oddly reminded of yesterday in his room, but this was better.

He laid Katara down carefully and leaned over her just as carefully.

Just because she loved him didn't mean that anything more would happen.

While he was trying to talk himself down, she already reached for him, pulling him down on top of her. She kissed him passionately again and pulled his shirt off his torso.

He found it harder to hold back and sank his hips down on hers. Slowly.

Katara only kissed him harder, spread her legs and pressed all her wonderful curves against him.

He was lost.

Making a strange noise in his mouth, he raised his stomach from hers to pull at the belt holding her bathrobe together.

Katara panted harshly, as he pulled back to look at her when he parted her bathrobe. She only wore panties underneath. His gaze was immediately drawn to her breasts and he raised his hands to touch them. They were soft, warm, and felt perfect in his hand.

She moaned a little, and Zuko felt as if this noise shot straight to his groin. He began to rub himself against her which only made her moan again, louder. Her hands wandered over his arms and chest, her eyes almost closed, as she looked at him from underneath her lashes.

His thumbs rubbed large circles over her nipples, and he lowered his head to kiss her lips. Her hands went again to his head, drawing him closer.

His eyes closed, as he dove his tongue into her mouth, his weight supported on his elbows, holding back to sink his whole body onto hers.

Katara arched her back to rub her breasts against his torso, when he drew his hands from them. He waved his fingers through her hair, scratched her scalp and groaned as she crossed her ankles behind his back.

Zuko's feelings completely overwhelmed him. He was flooded by love, desire, and need.

His mouth travelled to her throat, and he began to suck at her skin. Being close to Katara, touching her, kissing her, smelling, and tasting her became the most important thing to Zuko in that moment.

Although his thoughts were clouded by lustful haze, he still wondered how far they would be able to go. In the back of his mind, he just repeated, hopefully 'Don't stop! Please don't stop!'

oOo

Katara didn't want this to end. 'Didn't want' didn't describe her feelings accurately enough, though. She felt much more desperately about not wanting to stop.

Mostly, her thoughts only focused on more, and further, and more.

She pulled on Zuko's pants, pulling them down with an urgent need.

She had wanted this for weeks, but she hadn't been brave enough to grasp it. She had been afraid of her feelings for Zuko and that they weren't reciprocated. But now, she knew that he did return her feelings. And who knew, maybe he had felt like this for her for some time already.

Zuko hurried to pull off his pants, and just when he kicked them over the edge of the bed, Katara pulled at his briefs. He looked at her with wide eyes, then swallowed.

"So, we… This is okay, then?"

Katara flushed. "Y-yes. I… Well, now that I know you feel the same for me as I do for you, it's different. I want to do this." She tugged on his briefs again, looking him in the eyes. "Don't you?"

He sighed. "Gods, yes!" He pressed his lips to her cheek. "Of course, I want you, Katara!"

A light feeling rushed through her body, which felt as if it made sunshine light her cells.

"Good," she said. She sat up and pulled her arms out of her bathrobe, throwing it on the floor. She felt a little self-conscious at Zuko's burning, intense gaze, but when he actually licked his lips, she felt another rush of desire course through her body.

He leaned forward, caressing her shoulders and arms, his eyes travelling over her face and throat. A soft smile tugged at his lips, which made Katara's heart beat even faster. Adoration stood clear in his eyes, as he pulled her face to him to kiss her softly.

Katara sighed at this light, wonderful kiss full of love. She was still overwhelmed with happiness, hoping this was not a dream. She hadn't had any dreams about Zuko like this yet, but this was weird in itself, right?

"I love you," she murmured against his lips again, hoping that he would believe her when she only said it often enough.

He groaned in response and kissed her harder.

But Katara had another plan. She pulled away to kiss his jaw and sink her teeth lightly in his skin. He made a soft, whimpering sound. She continued with her kisses and licks down his throat. "You're wonderful, Zuko," she murmured, her hands stroking over his chest.

The way he had responded to her confessing her feelings had highly unsettled her. Did he really think so lowly of himself?

"You don't seize to astound me," she said when she sucked at his throat.

He clutched her tighter to him.

"You amaze me. And I want to be with you." She kissed his collarbones and added, "Desperately."

He groaned loudly and pushed her back on her bed, his mouth sucking on her throat. His hands were impatiently tugging at her panties, and Katara was all too happy to pull them down.

** (this is where it gets hot. If you're not into this stuff, skip to the next two asterisks)

It had been a week since she had shaved, as it wasn't summer yet, and she hoped Zuko wasn't one of those guys who only liked shaved vaginas. He didn't express any thoughts on it, though, as he began to touch her. His face simply pressed harder against her throat and his breathing became faster, as he moved his fingers over her folds.

She pressed herself against his hand, before adding her own to check how wet she was. Zuko's hand brushed against hers, and he looked up at her with flushed cheeks and narrowed eyes.

"What do you want?" he asked, his voice quiet and husky. It sounded as if he would actually do anything that she wanted of him.

She bit on her lower lip. "Just checking if I'm ready for you," she replied truthfully, her cheeks flushing.

"Are you?" he asked, his eyes dark with his blown pupils.

Katara swallowed. "Not yet," she answered.

Zuko took a deep breath, and then his fingers moved to her clitoris and began to rub. Katara let out a high pitched moan at the wonderful feelings he awoke in her body and rolled her hips rhythmically against his fingers. He swooped down to claim her mouth once again, his body sinking on hers, his erection rubbing against her thigh.

Naked skin against naked skin felt like heaven, hearing the sounds of pleasure from the other, and moving with each other added to their lust.

Zuko parted her folds and then he inserted a finger, carefully. Katara gasped.

She looked into his face, saw the concentrated look on his face and pushed her hips against his finger. "More!" she moaned.

When he managed to insert two more fingers, and Katara felt like she would come right then, thrashing her head from side to side, he pulled away again. Katara panted harshly, almost whining with disappointment.

She saw how the muscles in his jaw contracted, and then he blinked.

"Er… Do you… I mean, I don't…" He cleared his throat. "Do you have protection?"

Katara needed a moment to understand what he meant and then sat up quickly, opening the drawer of her nightstand. She was impatient and her hands didn't quite manage to open the little plastic.

She felt Zuko's chest in her back, as he looked over her shoulder. Gods, his proximity send the butterflies in her stomach on a rampage.

"Do you manage?" he asked lowly, his breath on her shoulder and his hands running over her sides to her hips.

She took a deep breath and had to swallow. "Sure," she said with a high-pitched voice, then contorted her eyebrows and put all of her concentration into her hands. It worked.

She rose to her knees and turned around, seeing Zuko on his knees, too. Her desire made it difficult, but she managed to tear her eyes off his handsome face and looked down. He put his hands on his hips and pulled his briefs down, pulling them off his legs. Katara stared at his erection, impatient to feel it inside of her. Carefully, but quickly she rolled the condom over his penis, trembling with lust.

Zuko's hands went to her hips, then to her buttocks and pulled her closer. She gasped when she felt him pushing between her legs. Oh, if he would enter her like this. She closed her eyes to calm down a little, then pressed her thighs against his, opening her legs to make it easier for him.

He nudged her face with his nose, and she looked into his golden, almost black eyes. His expression was hard, his nostrils flaring, and he looked a little crazed as if he was drunk. Katara felt drunk with him.

Then he pushed himself into her, slowly, but firmly. He kept looking into her eyes, and Katara tried to press herself harder against his body, moaning when she felt him fully inside of her. She leaned her forehead against his shoulder, revelling in the feel of him.

His muscles were all taught, and she thought she felt him shivering.

Against her ear, she felt him nuzzling her, and then she couldn't hold back anymore. She rolled her hips, making him groan, and then leaned back, pulling him with her.

He pulled out of her body, pushed her onto the mattress with his weight and thrusted his hips forward again, filling her.

Katara spread her legs wider, moved her hands on his neck, into his hair and raised her hips to meet his thrusts. It felt incredibly good to have him inside of her. And the angle with which he entered her made her toes curl.

She pressed her head against the pillow, a high-pitched moan leaving her lips whenever he pushed into her again.

Zuko's eyes were still narrowed, his face contorted with lust and desire. His upper lip was curled in a snarl, and she remembered how he had bared his teeth yesterday when she had touched him. The burning passion in his gaze added only to the lust he inflicted on her.

She placed her feet on the mattress, bending her legs, but when Zuko adjusted his moves, it made him touch a different spot inside of her, and Katara made an unhappy noise.

"No," she said, grasping his hips. "Like before," she panted.

Zuko pressed his lips together, and obviously tried to do what she wanted, but maybe it didn't feel comfortable for him?

He still felt good, stroking her walls, but the end point he met made her feel like she needed to pee.

She growled, as she shifted underneath him. He had stopped moving, remaining within her, the look on his face a little unsure.

Then she felt it. A hot surge of lust through her body. She gasped. "Now," she panted.

Zuko began moving again, but slower than before. Maybe she had unsettled him.

Frowning, she moved her hands over his sides to his chest, throat, and face. She caressed his cheeks, barely able to stand the slow rhythm. "This feels so good," she told him, lifting her head to kiss his lips softly.

Moaning, Zuko followed her down to her pillow again, his kiss passionate and hot. Slowly, but firmly, his rhythm increased until Katara had trouble to meet his hips on time. His thrusts became faster and harder, and Katara clung to him as if her life depended on it. He grabbed her hips firmly, his tongue pushed into her mouth like his penis into her vagina.

She couldn't kiss him in a coordinated way anymore, everything became a blur of lips, faces, and tongues. It was possible that she licked and sucked on his face.

Her moans turned to loud sighs and almost anguished whines, as she felt her orgasm approach. She didn't want this to end, but she really craved her release, too.

It snapped, when Zuko started sucking her throat where she was ticklish. Her whole body tensed, and she pressed her eyes together, something like a strangled cry escaping her lips.

"Aaahhh!" The waves of lust crashed over her but didn't still. Instead, it felt like a hot spring was still boiling her insides, as Zuko continued to thrust himself inside of her. "Oh… Ah!"

He hissed and groaned, the sounds of his pleasure making new heat pool in Katara's stomach.

"Katara," he groaned. "You're so… I want…" And then, she felt him shutter, and a noise which originated from a growl, but was almost a roar tore itself from his throat, and his body shook.

Katara opened her eyes to stare at him. Shit, this sound he'd just made! It made her feel aroused all over again, like little lightning bolts cracking under her skin. His eyes were pressed shut, his face contorted in an almost furious snarl, as he bared his teeth. Katara's breath hitched and she moaned at this… visual stimulation. Oh, gods.

Her body tensed one last time, and she had to whimper when he pulled her closer to shove himself further into her. A high pitched, breathy sound escaped her throat at the feeling, and she moaned when she felt him convulse inside of her. Oh, Gods, it felt so… Just really good, but better than that. Almost unreal, as if she was only dreaming this up.

She felt how his hands pressed hotly and hard on her hips, his thumbs digging into her skin. His hair brushed against her ear, his cheek pressed against hers, as he still groaned from his orgasm.

Katara wanted to stroke over his back but remembered that he'd said he didn't like that. So, she kept her hands by her sides.

"I love you," Zuko murmured into her ear, kissing her throat, then bending his neck to kiss her underneath her collarbone, where he'd bitten her three days ago. She shivered.

Katara smiled, as warm sunshine spread in her chest. "I love you, too," she answered, her hand waving into his hair to scratch against his scalp.

He grunted and raised his head to kiss her lips, a soft look in his eyes when he drew back. She smiled at him, and he slowly smiled back. He had such a beautiful smile.

He pressed a kiss to her forehead before pulling out of her and lying down by her side.

Katara turned around to face him and immediately snuggled close to his body heat.

Zuko leaned back to look at her. "Er, sorry, I have to…" He gesticulated at the bathroom.

Katara skidded away, blushing. "Sure, no, yeah." She coughed to clear her throat.

He grinned and leaned over to quickly press his lips against her mouth, before walking backwards to her bathroom. He kept looking at her, smiling, and Katara smiled back, broadly and a little like an idiot. When he closed the bathroom door, Katara turned on her back and grinned at the ceiling.

Had this actually happened? Had Zuko just told her that he loved her, and had they really slept with each other?

Katara pressed her hands against her cheeks, then turned around to screech her happiness into her pillow.

Zuko loved her. Zuko looooved her!

She managed to stop herself from giggling like mad, although she only wanted to laugh out loud and kick her legs into the air. But instead, she grinned like mad and pulled her blanket up because she started to feel cold. After the sweat cooled, and without another warm body, it didn't feel so nice to lie naked in bed.

Katara sighed. She wanted Zuko to come back!

Grimacing, she touched her forehead. He had only gone to the bathroom, gods! Was she already that far gone that she couldn't stand being apart from him for a few minutes?

But fortunately, Zuko already came back.

Katara sat up on her elbows and promptly blushed. He had not put on his pants when he had left for the bathroom.

She looked over his body – his really, really fit body – to his face to see him flushed, too.

A grin spread on her face. She crooked her finger to get him to come to her. "Come here, Zuko." Oh, her voice sounded husky. As if she had just had great sex.

Zuko's lips spread into something like a half-smile, as he took the few steps to her bed. He climbed on top of her, and Katara felt her breathing stop for a moment. He looked so softly at her.

"Hey," he said quietly, brushing her nose with his.

Katara beamed at him. "Hey," she whispered and lifted her hands to brush over his arms.

He kissed her lightly, before rolling on his side next to her. Katara tugged the blanket under him away and flung it over his form to cuddle up next to him.

She grinned widely, as she wound her arms around him, pressing into his hot, soft skin.

"This really happened, huh?" Zuko said, his fingers running through her hair.

"Yeah. Why?"

Zuko clutched her tighter to him. "Because I can't believe that I'm that lucky," he breathed.

Katara's hands wandered to his chest. "Are you generally unlucky?"

He chuckled in an unamused was. It was almost a snort. "Pretty much."

"I didn't have a lot of luck this year, either," she admitted.

"How so?"

"Job search. I applied everywhere, but no one could hire me." She sighed, as she felt Zuko stiffen. "It's alright now, though." She lifted her face up to look him in the eye.

He looked… prepared. Prepared to hear something bad. Oh gods.

Her hands kept stroking over his chest and up to his throat and cheeks. "If I would have got a job, I wouldn't have got to know you." She leaned forward and pressed a short kiss against his lips. "And I'm glad that I did."

She noticed that that was true. Where would she be now, if she had got a job this spring? She would be okay, sure, but she would still wonder about Zuko, and she would know if he had found another woman that their affectionate touches were fake. Oh, she really shouldn't think about other women with Zuko.

He smiled at her when she said that. "I'm glad you called." Then he began to sputter: "I-I mean I was glad then, but now it's different, because now I know you better and that you're wonderful and great and amazing, and I fell in love with you, because of how you are, and this was only possible, because you called and accepted to be my fake girlfriend… Er, speaking of that, we're a real couple now, right?"

Katara blushed. "I want to, so if you…"

"Yes, sure. I want that, too!" His smile had widened, and his eyes had narrowed into smiling slits of gold.

"Okay." Katara grinned. She couldn't wait to tell everyone!

Wait. Everyone already thought that Zuko and she were together. Well, she could tell her mum that they'd said the l-word.

Zuko let out a short laugh, before he kissed her again.

Katara wrapped her arms around him and returned his kiss happily.

She didn't know how long they kissed, but did notice her body demanding food, the longer they kissed.

It wasn't late yet, and Katara still needed dinner.

"Do you want to stay for dinner?" she asked between kisses.

Zuko blinked and then quickly sat up.

Oh no. He didn't have time.

"No! I have to take you on a date! A real date!" he exclaimed dramatically.

Katara smiled, but shook her head. "Not tonight." She sat up, too, and leaned into him. "Tonight, we will stay here, and just… enjoy each other's company," which was a good way to say that she wanted to get to know him better and spend more time with him in bed. Katara

was especially curious to find out how long he had already lover her.

As long as she had been in love with him?

"No date?" Zuko's face fell a little.

Katara frowned. "We can have dates. But… I'd rather be alone with you tonight," she said and blushed.

Zuko's disappointed expression changed into a thoughtful one, then a smile crept over his face. "Okay. I just… want to do this the right way, and I think that we still need a real date, but I want alone time, too." He wrapped his arms around her hips and pulled her closer.

Katara's heart began to beat like crazy. "That is good."

Smiling, he kissed her.

She returned his kiss for a few lazy seconds, enjoying the way his lips danced over hers, before she leaned back again. "Okay. So, I'm pretty hungry, but I don't think I have enough food for us here, so we should go to the market first."

He raised his eyebrows. "Market? It's late already."

"There's a market on campus. It's open until ten on weekdays," Katara explained.

"Hm. I never tried to get to know the campus. I just park my car and go to the law faculty and back."

She couldn't keep her fingers off him and combed through his hair. "I can show you around."

"I'd like that," he said with a soft smile.

oOo

Katara and Zuko went to the market to buy vegetables, fruits, and meat, and then to the convenience store, because Zuko wanted rice noodles and Katara only had instant noodles at home.

Zuko pulled a face, when she said that. "Instant noodles? Katara, you have to eat the real food. You know, there's a little shop in East Town, where they sell the rice noodles of their family recipe. These are the real ones."

Katara rolled her eyes. "Sure, bring them here next time, if you want to eat those."

"I mean, have you got any idea what they put into instant noodles? It's not even noodles anymore!"

Katara groaned. "Zuko! I don't care, they're delicious! They are easy to make and I love eating them, so back off!" she growled.

"No one gets between you and instant noodles, hm?" Zuko only looked amused.

"You're damn right!" Katara exclaimed and shrugged. "Besides, you're a snob. So, I don't really take your opinion seriously."

He gasped. "I'm a what?"

She giggled. "A snob."

Zuko pouted and opened his mouth to argue back, but he looked so adorable with that pouty face that Katara leaned towards him to kiss his cheek. "But you're my snob."

And he blushed. Very adorably, and his smile was so cute that Katara blushed, too.

Then, a very sweet smile spread on his cheeks, and he nodded. "I can live with that."

Katara giggled and grinned like an idiot when she felt his hand sneak into hers.

oOo

"Gods, why is your food always so good?" Katara groaned after putting noodles into her mouth. She'd never had such good rice noodles.

There were small, diced vegetables between the noodles, and warm egg, with chopped spring onions on top and a sliced yummy, soft hippo cow steak.

Zuko smiled. "I'm glad you like it."

Katara frowned and pointed her chopsticks at him. He raised an eyebrow in a disapproving way, but Katara didn't care. "I just thought that you clearly would only be able to cook a few things well, but not everything. Come on, there's surely something you can't make?"

Zuko nodded as he chewed on his noodles. "Well, first of all, you did some of this now, too. And secondly, I used to help my uncle with cooking, so I picked up a lot of stuff. But I'm sure there are things that I can't do." He shrugged. "I'm not a big fan of salads and stuff… I like my food warm."

Katara frowned. "What about sandwiches?"

He grinned. "There's nothing better than warm sandwiches. You know, with melted cheese."

Katara had to agree. "But in summer when it's hot, you don't eat warm things, right? What about fruit salad?"

Zuko sniffed. "Well, it's okay to eat it, I just don't like making it."

Katara frowned. "Seriously?"

He shrugged. "What? Everyone has their preferences. I like to fry things and to bake things. You obviously prefer soups and stew."

Katara opened her mouth to argue, but the only times she had ever cooked for them had been soups or stews. "No. Well, I like making them. But I also like cold food. Sure, there's a lot of warm food in the Southern Province, but we also eat a lot of smoked or pickled food."

"But you couldn't make that here, right?"

"No. I don't know if I actually could do this at all, though, since I only helped Mum and GranGran sometimes." Katara sighed.

Zuko frowned. "I think you never told me much about the Southern Province. Or your life there."

Katara cocked her head to the side. "Really?"

He nodded. "Yes, well, I know that it's cold there, and you eat weird plants from the ocean, but that's it."

Katara raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

Zuko cringed. "Well, there are some stereotypes that are familiar to me, too."

"Like what?"

"That you don't have any internet connection or radio reception," he murmured and quickly put a piece of hippo cow in his mouth.

Katara bit on her lower lip. "We have all that in Tarlokuit. But in my village, which is between two mountains at the farthest end of the land, we did have difficulty with that. Phone calls to anywhere were an issue, just as listening to the radio." She shrugged. "I never minded that, though."

Zuko's eyebrows rose. "Really?"

Katara nodded and smiled a little. "Yes. My grandmother always told me about how things had been when she'd grown up, and it all sounded so wonderful that I wouldn't have minded living in even less modern times. It seemed so pure and real to me what she told me."

Zuko tried to look interested, she could tell, but he wasn't good in not showing his real thoughts.

"Sounds like hell to you, doesn't it?" Katara said, trying to laugh.

"Not all of it," he said truthfully. "I am a fan of hot, running water, you know. And I like the internet. It is good for research. And news. I always read the news or listen to them or watch them. But not having to answer my phone anymore seems good to me. I think I wouldn't be as stressed in such a place."

Katara nodded. "Yes. That everything has to happen so fast and immediate really freaked me out in Ba Sing Se." She grimaced. "I wasn't great with deadlines at school or answering the phone at first."

"Do you sometimes want to go back to that?"

Katara smiled. "Maybe when I'm old. I will smoke fish and sell it to the villagers."

Zuko snorted, but it also sounded a little like a chuckle. "Sounds… fishy."

Katara's eyes widened and she saw with amusement how Zuko immediately turned crimson. And then she laughed.

Zuko had his eyebrows contorted and didn't look amused at all.

Katara chuckled. "Okay, you made a joke. I laughed. That's how it works."

He frowned deeply. "A joke?"

Katara groaned. "Yes! I know the concept is foreign to you, but when someone says something funny, you laugh."

Zuko rolled his eyes, before he sighed. "I just think that I'm usually funnier."

Katara laughed again. "Well, this now was very funny!" To milden her teasing, she pressed her knee against his and rubbed her foot along his calf.

Zuko's eyebrows rose and then he captured her foot between his legs.

"Hey!" Katara protested. "That's my foot!"

"It is my foot now," he declared and started eating again.

Katara wanted to pout, but a smile ruined it. "Okay," she said simply and went back to eating.

Zuko kept looking at her while he ate, and she bit down on her lip. She had to finish her meal fast, because then she could try to pull him back into her bed.


We finally made it! Phew! I really thought I wouldn't need twenty-nine chapters to get here, but I realised that Zuko and Katara are people who need time.

I got the idea of Zuko reacting with "Why?" to Katara's love confession from some post on instagram. It was "The Gaang's reaction to 'I love you'" or something like that. In the beginning, I thought it was funny, as it surely was intended to be funny, but while writing this I noticed how horrible this is. But also, sadly, accurate.

At least for book one or beginning of book two Zuko. I don't think that Iroh ever told Zuko that he loved him, until Zuko went to sneak into the North Pole. I think that Iroh was careful with showing affection, as he didn't think that Zuko would react positively towards it, and in the Fire Nation, after his mother left, I don't think Zuko ever heard anyone say 'I love you'. Yes, Zuko is way better when he joins the gaang and they treat him like a friend, but they have more people who love them, or at lest treat them well. I don't think that any of them understood what having friends meant to Zuko. That there were suddenly people who were nice to him and treated him well and cared for him. Yes, they teased him, but they didn't have any evil intentions, and Zuko knew that. And I also think that he loved them more than they loved him.

What I'm saying is that such an answer seems exaggerated, and maybe Zuko wouldn't answer like that, but he would, at least, think that. As long as he doesn't feel loved by Iroh, that is. When Zuko knows that Iroh loves him, that he deserves that love, then he can accept love from other people. But without it...? I don't think so.

Well, and Zuko in here disappointed Iroh and tried to win his father's love. Okay, there's his mother who tells him that she loves him, but she never visited him while he was in Ba Sing Se with Iroh. Zuko only ever talked on the phone to her. He could even wonder if his mother knows what his father did to him, and if she didn't go to see him, because she agreed with Ozai and thought that Zuko was a failure. Besides, Zuko thinks he hurt Katara in this story, by forcing her into this 'job', and then by telling her about his father's plan.

So, first of all, Zuko doesn't feel like he's someone who is loved or deserves love. Secondly, Katara hated him in high school. Thirdly, he treated her badly. So, why would she love him? This is how he thinks, and I didn't realise how accurately this shows Zuko's self-perception. But we will work on that!

So, smut... I don't know, this is the first sex scene I've ever written for fanfiction, and it feels weird, and I kind of want to hide in a hole, but I also think that it's okay. It's not very smutty, because that's just not my style, though. Some authors can write pages about just the act itself, without foreplay or orgasms, and I always run out of phrases to write. Like, "How else can I describe all this lust that they're feeling?", "I already used goosebumps and shivers, now what?", and so on. So, I would probably just repeat myself, if I ever tried this. Which I will not.

But I think that sex and physical pleasure are important things within relationships, and they're real and realistic and shouldn't be treated like forbidden topics. So, that's why I write about them. Just like how I would write about love confessions, or arguments, because it's an important part of a relationship. And I think that Katara is a really physical person. She likes to give hugs and shows her affection for people with physical affection. I think Zuko is a little more hesitant, but I like to believe that once he warmed up to someone, he really likes physical affection like hugs or strokes.

In the next few days, I will post a Zutara Christmas story, so keep your eyes open for that!

Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays, or a lovely time to everyone! Stay safe and healthy! I hope you will all be able to find some source of happiness in this time!

Until next time!

Answers to reviews:

To KatMora606: Oh, wow, thanks! I didn't know commenting twice is impossible, either. Yeah... Azula... Always going for the extreme. I think it's a character trait of hers. I mean, she cannot just capture her uncle and Zuko, no, she has to kill the Avatar and conquer Ba Sing Se, too. And she can't just leave a party, no, she has to ruin the party and burn down the house. She can't just throw her friends into cells, no, she has to bombard an ancient temple to kill her brother. Sooo, I think she would do something extreme if you mess with anything that she sees as important. Thanks! Oh, I would have loved to write about a jealous Katara, too, so I thought I would keep that part, but put it into another situation. Jealousy itself is not a nice thing, but writing about jealous characters is great fun!:D We will find out what happened to Iroh, don't worry. I enjoyed writing about him, too. Your feeling was correct. Things got hotter. Thanks for leaving a review!:)

To Shaina Cobra: Merci beaucoup! La decision n'était pas facile pour moi, parce que je voulais écrire quelque chose sur une Katara jalouse, mais je pense que tu as raison. Ca va vraiment mieux avec le caractère de Zuko. Je ne pense pas que j'aurais pu lui donner plus des raisons pour blesser Katara (émotionalement), parce qu'il ne voudrais pas le faire. Et c'est difficile à trouver des raisons pour quelque chose que Zuko fasse, mais ne veut pas faire. Merci pour ta critique! (Je suis désolée pour toutes les fautes.)

To uchihaNaruto247: Wow! Thank you so much! I honestly felt like it was an over the place chapter. You make it out like I planned all these things, but they just happened while writing, and in the end, I was very unhappy with it. The chapter wasn't like I had wanted it to be at all. But I think I get it now. The flashback shouldn't have made you suspicious. I just wanted to show that Iroh still has a bigger influence on Zuko than Ozai, because Zuko is a good person. He really wants to do what Iroh told him, whereas he only reluctantly does what Ozai tells him to do. And I missed Iroh in this fic! He's still going to appear, but it will take a while. No, Iroh is at his tea shop, or travelling the world, playing pai sho, and simply waiting for Zuko to come find him when he'll need him again. Because Iroh knows Zuko, and he knows his brother, and he knows that Zuko won't stay there forever. Well, Zuko didn't expect a love confession from Katara, and he also didn't want to make a big thing out of it... Thank you!:D

To Smckoy929: Thanks for your review! I hope your long wait for this chapter didn't damp your excitement too much...

To Guest (1): Hm... If you think they will stop Ozai from becoming president, I'm sorry, then I didn't explain this well enough. So far, Ozai seems like a liar and someone who uses the people around him to portray a better image to the public. That makes him manipulative, but as a politician or businessman. Katara doesn't know about the really evil things that Ozai has done. Zuko is going to go against Ozai's orders by staying with Katara, even after the election. It isn't about what Katara and Zuko will do to stop Ozai, but about what will Ozai do to Zuko after this disrespect? And what will Ozai do once he is president? I'm sorry, but this fic is going to become way more extreme. Yes, it is Zutara, but it took the whole gaang to fight Ozai in the series, and it will be the same in here. I hope I didn't confuse you too much. Thanks for your review!:)

To Guest (2): Yes! It only took a prologue and twenty-nine chapters! (I'd really thought it would be faster...)

To Mckennahales: Thank you so much for your review! I'm glad you enjoyed my fic!:)