A/N: I'm SO sorry about the delay on this chapter. As those of you who follow all of my fics will know, I was accosted with an extrememly obnoxious plunny for the HP universe and it refused to budge until it was completely written and I could begin posting it. I'm super thrilled that you've all been enjoying this story so much. Seriously, thanks ever so much for all the reads and reviews. You make my habit of writing these pairings all worth it, ya'll. Much love!

xx-Kitten.

Brightest Nights or Darkest Days

By Kittenshift17

CHAPTER SEVEN

Katara was ashamed to admit she melted. He kissed her hard, tangling a hand into her hair and knocking her hood from her head even as his tongue swept into her mouth. Already panting from running, Katara was certain she forgot how to breathe for a few seconds before kissing him back. It occurred to her that he was only kissing her to make it look like they hadn't raided the barracks. That by doing so, they might look like rebellious teenagers who'd snuck out to rendezvous rather than like fugitives, but those facts fell by the wayside as heat seemed to suffuse her. His lips were warm and firm against her own, his free hand sliding up inside her coat and pressing her closer to him.

She found her own hands pulling at him, trying to get him even closer as instinct took over. She almost forgot that there were even soldiers after them, with him kissing her so soundly. His tongue tangled with hers and he pressed himself against her hotly, making her body react in ways she was certain she would blush over later. When her back hit the wall of the alley, he rocked himself against her and Katara's eyes rolled back in her head.

She lost herself in the feel of his lips and the taste of his tongue. She shivered with delight at the heat that radiated from him and she almost groaned at the feel of their chi brushing together when he rocked himself against her a second time. Dimly, she was aware of voices drawing closer, but she was too busy kissing Zuko to take any notice of them.

"Hey! You kids!" one of the soldiers called.

Zuko kissed her harder, tensing against her at the sound of the soldier's voice. It was a woman speaking and Katara supposed she should glance at them to better throw them off their trail.

"Hey! Lovebirds!" the woman tried again.

"Huh?" Katara blinked when Zuko pulled back from her lips and kissed his way along the length of her jaw, burying his face against the fabric of her coat to better hide his scar.

Realising he wanted her to deal with the soldier, Katara tried to focus bleary eyes on the woman. She dimly noted that it was the same soldier who'd raided the women's cupboard in the barracks and almost caught them.

"Did either of you see someone in a blue mask run by here?" the soldier asked.

"Hmm?" Katara asked, not even having to feign a lack of understanding for the question when Zuko lightly nipped her neck before drawing the flesh into his mouth and suckling at it.

"I said, did you see anyone run by?" the solider said and despite the questions, she didn't look angry.

"I... oh, god!" Katara pretended to spot the woman, letting her eyes bug wide and gripping Zuko tighter in a feigned panic. He tensed even further until Katara blurted, "Please don't tell my father you saw us!"

The soldier blinked in surprise.

"Not supposed to be out here, eh?" she chuckled.

Katara shook her head.

"Please? Please don't say anything? He'll be so angry with me," Katara pretended to plead.

"You didn't see anyone run by?" the woman asked, looking sympathetic and Katara fought a smile when the woman seemed to buy the act. Her own midnight sneaking to get her hands on Golden Thread tea obviously lent her a certain empathy to the idea of being inappropriate with someone she shouldn't.

"I didn't even hear you come up to us," Katara whispered, "Please. I snuck out when I wasn't supposed to."

The woman chuckled.

"You should pay better attention to your surroundings so you don't get caught," the woman admonished them. "Well, if either of you see anyone in a Blue Spirit mask, don't engage him. He's armed and dangerous."

"You'll keep my secret?" Katara pretended hopefulness, whimpering ever so slightly when Zuko nibbled her neck hard enough to draw blood to the surface in a love bite.

"This time, little one," the soldier smiled. "Thanks for your help."

She nodded her head and turned away just as Zuko lifted his head from Katara's neck to capture her lips once more, selling the idea that they simply couldn't keep their hands off one another.

"Did you check them?" another soldier, this one male, could be heard asking when the woman reached the mouth of the alley.

"Yeah, just a couple of randy kids hiding their relationship from their parents. Come on, he must've gone this way."

Katara might've laughed with victory if not for the way Zuko was kissing her hot enough to make her whole body tingle. When they could no longer hear their voices, Zuko pulled back from her slowly. His eyes glittered with something she couldn't describe when Katara blinked at him dazedly.

"What did you do with the supplies?" he asked, his voice low and husky even as he stood pressed so close that she could feel she wasn't the only one whose body had reacted to the heat of their kisses.

"Hid them. A few houses back there's an empty trash can behind a house," Katara whispered. "Where's your mask and your swords?"

"Hidden under a house a few streets over," he muttered. His eyes darted to her lips once more and Katara licked them self-consciously. "How did you know she'd buy the act of hiding from your father?"

"She was the one who broke into the cupboard in the store room," Katara whispered, spying another solider patrol out the corner of her eyes and reaching up on her toes to peck him on the lips again.

"So?"

"She was stealing Golden Thread tea," Katara murmured, dotting a line of butterfly kisses along the length of his jaw. Her stomach was doing somersaults and she was sure her heart might gallop right out of her chest to touch him so intimately yet so casually under the pretence of their facade. For his part, Zuko seemed rather gifted at making it look and even feel like he was into the idea of kissing her and touching her, yet when he spoke he sounded as though he were completely level-headed and as though he knew it was all just an act.

"What's tea got to do with anything?" he frowned, ducking his head slightly to press his lips to her ear when more soldiers walked by.

"It's a contraceptive tea women use to keep from getting pregnant," she explained in a low whisper. "There were boxes and boxes of it in that cupboard. She was stealing some in the dead of night, which means she's taking it in secret. Meaning she's likely carrying on a secret affair with another soldier or her commanding officer. Which, I'm assuming, is against Fire Nation army regulations. She was empathetic to the idea of a couple of kids hiding their relationship because she's hiding one of her own."

"You figured all that out from seeing a woman stealing supplies?" he asked. He sounded like the very idea baffled him. "What would you have done if she'd tried to use the information to blackmail you into helping her instead?"

Katara slid her hand up the back of his shirt and jiggled the knife she'd learned he kept tucked down into the waistband of his pants. His chuckle was cold and cruel and entirely unexpected in response to the idea.

"You got lucky," he muttered before tipping his head slightly and catching her lips again. Katara subconsciously pulled him closer, sighing against his lips and listening as more of the patrolling soldiers wandered by without disturbing them. She suspected the other guard must've tipped them off that they didn't know anything and so no one approached or interrupted the hot kisses he pressed to her lips.

She didn't know how long she stood there in the alley kissing him. Long enough that her jaw started to hurt and she was sure she could strip naked and not be cold with him so hot against her. Her mind kept trying to make arguments for what Sokka and Aang would say if they could see her, standing in an alley surrounded by Fire Nation soldiers whilst kissing the life out of Prince Zuko. Before even a single argument could fully form, he'd stroke his tongue against hers again and Katara would lose her train of thought.

"The sun's rising," he muttered sometime later, his husky voice breaking through the haze of euphoria surrounding her. "We need to get those supplies and get back to the house before we'll be spotted carrying them."

Katara nodded, realising he'd worked his hands under the hem of her shirt to grip the small of her back, their heat searing her skin deliciously.

"What about your swords and your mask?" she whispered.

"I'll get them," he murmured.

He seemed reluctant to step back from her even when doing so was the course of action they needed to take.

"Should we split up?" she asked. "Make them think the rising sun is driving us home before we can be caught?"

"Probably."

He pulled back from her slowly and Katara heard him sigh out a breath before he looked down at himself. She pressed her lips together to hold back her giggle when she spotted what his problem was, the faint bulge in his pants that she'd grown used to feeling against her making itself known to the rest of the world as he tried to walk. As though sensing the laughter she was holding back, Zuko glared at her and Katara snorted.

"Shut up!" he snapped.

"I didn't say a word," she protested.

"Your face did," he muttered, his own face glowing crimson with his embarrassment over the natural reactions of his body to hers. "Can you carry both supply sacks?"

"If I don't have to run, I can. But I'll draw attention heaving two huge sacks along the street," she replied.

He nodded.

"Which house was it where you stashed them? Show me," he nodded her ahead of him toward the mouth of the alley, pulling his hood up carefully to hide his face and his scar lest the soldiers spot it.

Katara did as he asked, holding back more giggles when he waited for her to go first before subtly trying to rearrange himself for ease of walking. Realising it would look suspicious if they didn't maintain the facade of being a couple besotted with one another, she slowed her steps until he drew level with her before looping her arm around his waist. He glared at her again before slinging one arm around her shoulders to better make them look like a couple.

"I'm going to make you pay for this," he warned when a tiny giggle escaped her at his sour expression.

"What makes you think I'm not already paying for it?" she blurted before realising what she'd said. Her cheeks flamed crimson at the idea of having him know that her body had reacted to the kissing and the touching, too.

He slanted a glance at her with one eyebrow raised before spotting her pink cheeks and mortified expression. Katara squirmed when his eyes travelled the length of her body to stare at the junction of her thighs. The many layers of fabric upon her person hid the dampness of her knickers, but she suspected he knew what she was dealing with just the same. When he began to laugh again, sounding entirely too smug for his own good, Katara walloped him once more.