A/N: Sorry it took me so long everyone. RL got a bit hectic and my sleep patterns got fucked over so I could barely think, let alone write. That, and this chapter did not want to play nice.
Much love! xx-Kitten.
Brightest Nights or Darkest Days
By Kittenshift17
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Zuko didn't like it. He hated people. He hadn't been kidding about barely tolerating Katara. He wanted out. Out of the igloo. Out of the deal to travel together. Out of the sight of Kuzon and Meng. Out of the Earth Kingdom.
The blasted Water Bender was getting to him. He hadn't been expecting it when she'd laughed so hard at his odd humour and his plot to steal her body heat for himself. He'd been shocked when she'd reached for him, and he'd nearly lost control when she'd kissed him for no reason other than apparent desire. She'd stripped him out of his shirt!
He'd be lying if he said that wasn't a new experience for him. The only women he'd ever tumbled with had been paid by his Uncle, or by the crew on his ship. He didn't seek out female company, and he didn't usually keep it. Living in close quarters with a girl like Katara was confusing enough without the kissing for the sake of hiding their identities. The idea that she'd kissed him for no reason was messing with Zuko's head.
He wanted to do it again. He wanted to tell Kuzon and Meng to fuck off so he could push his luck and see how much he could distract the little Water Bender until she had need for that Golden Thread Tea, after all. She was so warm and so soft and she didn't care about his scar or his title.
She sassed him, she back-talked him, she swatted him and insulted him without seeming to mean a word of it, even when he was rude to her. She'd even plucked up the courage to sing a song of her people, just because he'd mentioned not recognising the tune.
He needed to get out. He needed to get away from her. He'd been warned about this type of attachment before. If he spent too long with her, he'd get used to her. And then he might start to enjoy her. He might even fancy her, after a while. Especially if she would let him fuck her.
Gods, his groin ached and he wanted, more than anything, to peel her out of her clothes and her sarashi wraps so he could run his hands over every inch of her.
"Is this okay?" Meng asked softly from across the fire.
She and Kuzon had climbed onto the second sleeping platform, piling their packs next to the raised earth and sitting amid a pile of furs for warmth as they devoured some of Katara's stew. Zuko couldn't blame them. It had tasted fantastic. He sat with his legs in the small entrance-way Meng had made on each sleeping platform. Each one was a foot above the ground, with another foot of earth ringing the platform for privacy. She'd managed to lower the fire a bit too, into a small pit in the middle of the room, creating a ring for seats around it and lowering it so it couldn't escape or spit flames at anyone.
"It's great, Meng," Katara smiled at the other girl from where she sat, cross-legged, next to Zuko.
"Did you make the stew, Katara? It's delicious," Meng said. She was a chatty thing. Zuko didn't like it. Katara was chatty enough. Two chatty girls were going to drive him mad.
Kuzon was quiet as he sat against the wall. Meng had managed to erect a little more Earth on the far side of their platform so the icy wall of the igloo wouldn't touch their skin. She'd offered to do the same to the one Zuko and Katara would share, but Katara had asked her not to, claiming that she was already too hot and might actually melt if she slept curled up with Zuko without being able to cool down by touching something cold.
Water Benders, Zuko had decided, were crazy.
"It's nothing," Katara said modestly, though she smiled.
"It's better than I could've made," Meng argued. "Thank you for letting us have some."
"Honestly, it's no trouble. It's actually, well… A big part of being in a Water Tribe is about community spirit and closeness. My people have always helped each other. We share everything, that's just how we live."
"Kind of "what's mine is yours" attitude?" Meng asked.
"Essentially. We all have our own personal possessions, of course, but the way we live means that we have to work as a community to survive. Hunting leopard-seals and Whale-bears is hard work. They're big animals and they're dangerous. Tracking them is hard; killing them is even harder. And hauling them back to the village once they're dead is harder still. The meat must be butchered, the parts collected for their various uses, the strips of meat dried, the fat cured, the bones boiled for glue and other useful things. No one person could hunt, butcher and return the kill to the village alone. We share the work, and we share the spoils. I… honestly, it's nice having someone to share with."
Zuko knew he and Kuzon were both staring at her, wide-eyed, when she looked over. Fire Nation people weren't like that. They were all about personal gain, everyone out for himself first.
"You haven't had anyone to share with?" Meng asked, smiling softly at the way Katara lit up to talk about her people.
"I… no. I haven't. I was separated from my brother and my friend when the blizzard struck, and I've been away from my Tribe for more than a year. The men all went off to war when I was young, so I grew up surrounded by women and children and the elderly. Having spent so long in close quarters with my brother and my friend since leaving – the friend is male – it's odd to talk to another girl again."
"I know the feeling," Meng nodded. "My family is very large. I'm one of nine siblings. We grew up sharing, too. Travelling with just Kuzon has been so strange. It's odd, not having my younger sisters stealing my hairbrush or my younger brothers swinging off me wanting food when Mum is too busy working to cook something decent."
"At first it was nice," Katara smiled. "You know, not having to worry about so many people and not needing to be aware of the younger ones all the time or having so many chores to do every day. After a while though, I started to miss them all. The little quirks everyone has; the way that Gran Gran would smooth her hand through my hair before bed; the feeling of being part of a community. I miss it."
Zuko watched the little Water Bender as she looked down at her feet, biting her lip like she might cry for missing her people and he realised she cared about them more than he'd cared about anyone except his Uncle. He didn't even really think about it as he shifted on their sleeping platform until he was sitting behind her, looping his arms around her middle and pulling her back to lean against his chest in silent comfort.
She didn't protest the hold. She just leaned back against him trustingly, her chi sliding against his and making him crazy. Kuzon watched with assessing eyes as Zuko cuddled the little Water Bender, on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary in his behaviour. Zuko was beginning to think the other boy was going to find a lot of things out of the ordinary. Katara turned her head and nuzzled her face into the side of his neck, burrowing her cold nose against his skin and Zuko held back a hiss.
Meng was eyeing them like she thought they were adorable. Zuko rolled his eyes to himself. He needed sleep. It had been a long day and he wanted, more than anything, to crawl into his sleeping bag and hold Katara until he stopped feeling so wretchedly cold.
"We should get some sleep," Meng said softly. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm tired after all that walking and almost being eaten by wolves."
Katara muffled a yawn against Zuko's neck in apparent agreement and Zuko couldn't quite hold back a chuckle.
"Come on, Water Bender," he murmured, scooting back across their bedding and pulling her with him. "Time for bed."
"Goodnight," Meng called from across the fire when Zuko dimmed it a bit, Meng and Kuzon climbing into bed themselves. "And thank you, again, for saving us."
"Goodnight," Katara said in reply, pulling her shirt back off over her head and rolling to face Zuko.
He watched her shuffle around, trying to get comfortable and he smirked when she dug her hands under his shirt. Wanting to feel all of her skin pressed to his, he removed his own shirt and pulled her in closer, sliding his knee between her thighs and curling his arms around her back, he pulled her close until she was flush against him. The feel of her chi sliding against his, enveloped and snug inside his own, made him smile.
It shouldn't, but it did. He was getting used to the feel of their chi mixed that way and he'd missed it all day while they'd been walking. That was a problem, he knew. If Uncle were there, he'd be nudging Zuko and giving him approving looks, probably. Saying things about how pretty girls were to be kept happy and how nice it was to have company.
Zuko rolled his eyes even as he felt Katara press a soft, affectionate kiss to the middle of his chest, her arm looped over his waist and he finger tracing soft patterns over his back. He could almost feel her beginning to drift, though whether it was toward sleep or if she was moving on the wind of the blizzard as it began to howl, Zuko didn't know.
He doubted he'd be able to get a good sleep with two potential threats just across the fireplace, but the lulling feel of her fingers, the soft puff of her breath and the exhaustion after their long day caught up with him. His eyes drifted closed and he felt his body slowly relax against her, drinking in her warmth and feeling her chi running against his as he dropped off to sleep.
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
Katara's eyes snapped open to darkness at the sound of a soft, breathy moan. At some point during the night she'd kicked the blankets off her feet to press the soles against the icy wall of the igloo. Her whole body felt alarmingly warm, but not in a bad way.
Another soft sound drew her attention and Katara tipped her head back, unsurprised to find herself in Zuko's arms. His eyes were closed and his brow was slightly furrowed, but he didn't seem to be the one responsible for the noises. When another moan sounded, she lifted her head, shifting slightly to look across Zuko's chest – where she appeared to be sprawled.
On the far side of the barely glowing fire, two shapes moved. Squinting through the gloom, Katara spied Meng upon the sleeping platform. She was sitting up, facing the back of the igloo and she seemed to be gyrating slowly. Hands upon her hips guided her motion and Katara's cheeks flushed crimson when she realised what she was looking at just as the girl's head dropped back.
Meng and Kuzon were having sex. Right there, across the fire, where anyone could see; apparently without a care that she or Zuko might see them or hear them. The idea made her uncomfortable. The sounds Meng was making also stirred something else that she didn't want to think about and Katara quickly laid her cheek back on Zuko's chest, not wanting to be caught looking or caught awake for such a thing.
She felt Zuko shift ever so slightly and Katara tipped her head to look at him again. His eyes were open this time and she got the feeling he'd been awake for a while. He glanced at her carefully, being sure not to move enough to tip the other couple off that either of them were awake even as another breathy moan escaped Meng. Katara met his gaze, her cheeks still pink, her breath suddenly uncomfortable as she tried to control it.
She'd heard other people having sex before, of course. It wasn't something easy to hide when one lived in an igloo. It was just a natural part of life, but that didn't stop her own thoughts from travelling in forbidden directions. It also didn't stop her from recalling that, before Meng and Kuzon had showed up needing help, she'd been peeling Zuko out of his clothes.
He smoothed one hand, very slowly, up her back, fingers skimming over her flushed skin and her bindings to tangle in her loose long hair. When he looked at her, she got the feeling he as silently trying to convey that they should stay quiet and not move, lest they interrupt. Because as awkward as it was to listen to the other couple having sex, it would be even more awkward if they interrupted before Meng and Kuzon were finished.
Pressing her lips together, Katara laid her cheek back on Zuko's chest once more, snuggling a little closer to him as silently as possible. He sighed softly, his nails scratching absently against her scalp and making her heart race inside her chest. She hated herself a little for the sudden urge she felt to have her way with the Fire Prince.
She wasn't supposed to want him. She wasn't supposed to be eavesdropping on someone else having sex. She certainly wasn't supposed to be imagining what it would be like to have sex with Zuko. Meng moaned again, her breath coming faster and their pace increasing. Katara shut her eyes, not wanting to hear. She was surprised Zuko hadn't spoken up to interrupt them, actually. He was hardly shy when it came to expressing his displeasure or his annoyance. She was a little shocked he hadn't told them to shut up so he could sleep.
Wondering if the performance was affecting him as much as it did her, Katara pulled her feet from the wall, Bending the dampness from them before sliding closer to Zuko. He tensed when she slowly slid her leg across his body, his hand coming up to catch her knee before she could reach her destination, wanting to know if he was turned on, too. He made a face at her in the dark when she tipped her head once more and Katara pushed against his hand, wanting to put her knee back down across him.
He narrowed his eyes at her before slowly, carefully, laying her thigh down across his hips. She could feel the hot, hard length of steel inside his clothing as she did so and she didn't know if she wanted to giggle, or if she should feel relieved that she wasn't the only one whose body was betraying them.
Stifling the giggle lest the other couple realise they were both awake, Katara laid her head back down on Zuko's shoulder and tried to think about other things. She hated that she couldn't even say something to him to distract both of them without tipping off the pair across the fire. She wished they'd hurry up, actually. It was awkward enough sleeping next to Zuko and touching him this way without the added issue of other people's sex-noises.
Zuko kept his hand on her knee, making certain she wasn't going to move her thigh, lest she start something she wasn't sure she wanted to finish. Katara had no intention of doing so anyway, but that was hardly the point. She couldn't help but think that, come morning, things would be awkward. How as she supposed to look at either Meng or Kuzon without blushing when she'd listened to them having sex?
At least with Zuko they'd both reached a point where bodily reactions such as his 'rising with the sun' and her own reaction to him when they kissed could be brushed off, downplayed or ignored when they weren't childishly teasing one another for it. It was still awkward, but it had been accepted as unavoidable when they were interacting in such close quarters. This, however, was completely avoidable. The likelihood that they might all be stuck in this igloo for the coming days while the blizzard raged didn't at all improve matters and Katara found herself wishing with all her might that the blizzard would let up long enough that they might make it to a town where they didn't have to share a living space – a sleeping space – with the other couple.
There was only so much she was comfortable sharing and sex details weren't one of them. Zuko's fingers in her hair, digging gently against the base of her skull and the back of her head lulled her in spite of the increasingly loud noises coming from the other couple. Either they believed she and Zuko were heavy sleepers, or they simply didn't care if they disturbed them. Katara traced patterns with her fingertips across Zuko's ribs and chest, being very careful to avoid touching his nipples. She would swear his chi was entirely cloaking hers, wrapped around hers and making her feel funny inside.
She wished there was someone who could explain their odd chi connection to her. She wondered if Aang would know anything about it. He might've read about it or learned about it during his training to be a monk. As she laid there, trying to think about anything other than the sounds coming from the other platform, Katara wondered what Sokka and Aang were doing. Had they been separated from each other during the blizzard, too? Were they injured? Were they even alive? Her heart began to pound with worry the longer she thought about it and she found herself gripped with the urge to look for them, blizzard or not.
"Stop it," Zuko breathed to her, turning his head far enough to whisper against her forehead.
Katara froze, realising she'd begun to wiggle, trying to pull her leg back from where he held it against his groin, intent of moving her feet back toward the icy wall of the igloo, maybe even on melting the wall and moving through it, out into the night to seek her friends.
"Let go," she replied just as softly, lifting her knee so she wasn't touching him before pulling her leg back to herself.
"Where are you going?" he asked when she pulled out of his arms and rolled away, toward the wall.
Katara held her finger to her lips, pulling her shirt on over her head. She needed to get out of the igloo. Logically she knew that the blizzard would drive her back inside in short order, and that trying to run out there in this right now would be foolhardy, but she needed a walk or she was going to worry herself sick. She needed a bathroom excursion anyway. Creating a small hole in the wall of the igloo, she crawled out through it, wincing at the bite of the cold wind as she escaped the warmth of the igloo. Zuko hissed behind her, obviously disliking the cold even more than she did but Katara ignored him.
"Where are you going?" he demanded when she crawled all the way through.
"I need to go to the bathroom," Katara whispered turning to face him.
"There are wolves out there," he argued with her, climbing half-way out through the hole she'd made like he meant to stop her.
"As though I'm afraid of wolves?" she scoffed. "Hush up and either follow me if you need the bathroom, or climb back inside and I'll seal the hole until I get back."
She suspected that by now, they'd have disturbed the other couple, but she was too concerned about her friends and her bladder to care anymore, especially with the icy winds of the blizzard ripping at her hair, her clothes and her skin as though it sought to rip the flesh from her bones.
"If I get frostbite, I'm going to hurt you, Water Bender," Zuko growled, grabbing his shirt and a coat before crawling out of the igloo after her.
"I promise I'll warm you right back up," Katara teased, sealing the hut and walking off into the storm.
"Where are you going?" he demanded, following after her. "You're going to get lost. If I have to put up with those two by myself until the blizzard ends, and then have to find your frozen corpse somewhere when it's over, I'll re-animate you just to murder you, Katara!"
"Must you always threaten me?" she laughed. "Wait here. I have to pee."
"Gross," Zuko declared.
"As though you don't?" she laughed.
"Practically impossible like this," he flicked a hand toward his crotch and Katara laughed again.
"Your friends were a little too… uh… comfortable in our presence, I think," she laughed.
"They're not my friends," he growled.
Katara ignored him, ducking behind a tree to handle her bladder before melting some snow to rinse her hands. She didn't much fancy the idea of going back inside, even if she was freezing out in the storm. It felt wild, raging across the Nations. She wished she could fly on the wind; that she could travel to wherever Sokka and Aang might be. Instead she was stuck with Zuko. And he was no happier about it than she was.
When she rounded the tree she spied him behind another one, dealing with his own bladder and shivering as he did so.
"Do you think they're finished," she asked, melting more water and watching him breathe enough heat into in that it steamed.
"Probably," Zuko grunted. "That or the icy blast of you opening a hole in the wall will have sapped their fervour. If this blizzard is still raging by morning, you're making that peasant hut big enough that I don't have to look at them or hear them, Water Bender."
"Do you actually think that you can boss me around?" Katara laughed at him.
Zuko glared at her but didn't bother trying to enforce his birthright or his royal privilege. Katara laughed all the more at the idea that he apparently knew she would do as she chose, no matter what he said.
"I'm freezing," he muttered, reaching out and yanking her against his chest. Katara burrowed against him, having left her coat inside the igloo and noticing his warmth compared to the frigid wind and driving snow.
"Duel me later?" she asked against his neck. "I can make an igloo big enough for us to train in until this passes."
Zuko nodded and Katara could hear his teeth chattering when he pressed his jaw against the side of her head. Pulling out of his hold despite the sound of protest he emitted, Katara tugged him along with her, back toward the igloo. She melted the wall to admit them and pushed him in ahead of her. She desperately wanted to seek out Sokka and Aang, but there was no chance she'd find them in this. No matter where they were, it must be far from her. Katara took a slow, deep breath, drawing the icy wind inside herself and sending a wish to the spirits that they would guide her friends safely to Ba Sing Se.
~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
Sokka, of the Southern Water Tribe, was right at home in the middle of a blizzard. He had his boomerang and his heavy furs from living at the South Pole and he was only too accustomed to trudging through ice and snow to get to wherever he was going.
And he was going to Ba Sing Se.
Katara might've been thrown from Appa's back in that storm and flung anywhere, but they'd made a plan. She'd follow it. His sister wasn't stupid. She knew as well as he did that whenever one was separated from the Tribe in a blizzard, there was a place to congregate. A meeting point. A heading that was to be followed until friends, family and tribespeople were reunited once more. The time they'd spent since leaving the South Pole, there was always a place to meet.
No matter where they flew aboard Appa, they picked a place that was considered the heading; the meeting place; the place to travel to in the event of separation. She would follow it. She would be on her way to Ba Sing Se as long as she was able, Sokka was sure of it.
"This is getting ridiculous," Aang complained as they sat inside the igloo the Avatar had built with his Bending, housing Sokka, Aang, Appa and Momo. They'd been sitting inside the wretched thing for three days, now. Having managed to travel for one whole day between blasts of the blizzard, they were making very slow progress toward Ba Sing Se and they were getting on each other's nerves.
Sokka hadn't realised, until now, just how much of a buffer Katara provided between himself and Aang. He hadn't realised how much he relied on her picking up after him, mending his things, cooking for them and generally mothering him, either. He missed her, if he was being honest.
"It'll let up soon," Sokka told the grumpy Air Bender. Aang had been furious and worried since they'd lost track of Katara in the storm. They hadn't even met up until a week after the initial hit of the blizzard, having been blown apart. A rare day a week in had allowed for flying and Aang had spotted him slogging through waist-deep snow in the direction on Ba Sing Se.
"What if it doesn't?" Aang said. "What if Katara is out there, hurt? What if she died of exposure? What if she broke her neck when she landed? What if the blizzard never ends and all the plants and animals die? We'll all die."
Sokka tried to control the urge he had to throw something at the kid. He was relatively certain that of the two of them Sokka himself was usually the worry wart overthinking everything, but lately Aang's mind had been running away from him as he imagined any number of wretched things that might've befallen Katara.
"This blizzard is obviously something to do with the Spirit world, Aang," Sokka said, trying and failing to be patient with the kid. "Why don't you try to make contact with the spirit world and figure out why the spirits have decided to punish the whole world with this blizzard? It's not like we're going to be going anywhere any time soon. Maybe you can talk some sense into those spirits so we can all get to Ba Sing Se and find Katara that much sooner."
"If she's even still alive," Aang muttered darkly. He was cranky and Sokka really wanted the kid to travel to the spirit world for a while just so he'd have some peace and quiet to think.
"Fine," Aang said. "Don't move on until I get back, I guess. Maybe the spirits will know if Katara's alive."
Sokka nodded, watching the kid settle himself to meditate. His arrows began to glow after a little while and Sokka breathed a sigh of relief to know he'd finally have some time to himself without the kid muttering doom and gloom in his ear. He hoped Aang got some answers about the blizzard and about Katara.
The sooner they got Katara back, the better.