Zuko arrived the next day for pai sho, as usual. He seemed distracted and tense, not saying a word about the night before. He'd received a message from General Zhao that morning, a thinly veiled request for updates which was little more than an excuse to taunt Zuko for his inability to catch the Avatar. It all but called him pathetic and an embarrassment to the Fire Nation. Weak.
He would be damned before he'd let anyone think he was weak.
Katara thought his strange mood must be something to do with the previous night. As they played, she thought maybe if she brought it up, the strained atmosphere might dissipate.
"Thanks for taking me up to the deck last night. That was nice of you."
Zuko frowned at her from across the table. "Don't call me that. I'm not nice."
"I just meant, you can be. When you want to," she said quietly.
Zuko felt his temper flare up. He was not nice. Nice people were pushovers. Nice people were preyed on by the strong. He would not allow anyone to be victorious over him.
"Shut up! Do not call me that again." Zuko shouted, slamming down his pai sho piece. "I was just bored and needed to pass the time until the Avatar comes to pick up his bait."
Now it was Katara's turn to feel angry. And hurt. After what had almost happened between them last night… but of course, she meant nothing to him. How could she ever have thought, even for a moment, that there was a decent person in there? That there might be something more between them. How could she forget that he was just using her to capture her friends and further the Fire Nation's conquest of the other nations?
"Right, that's all I am to you, just bait for Aang!"
"That's right." Zuko replied, ignoring the slight pang in his heart.
Katara simmered in resentment, continuing the game simply out of habit but not speaking to Zuko. Mid-match, he executed a skillful deception in his strategy using a series of moves Katara had never encountered before.
Her wrath boiled over, "What was that?!"
The move shouldn't have been allowed, yet somehow it was technically within the rules.
"What do you mean? You're just upset because I'm beating you this time."
"Sure, you're winning." Katara continued under her breath, "Making dishonorable moves like that, no big surprise there I guess." Her emotions roiled within, manifesting in a sudden need to antagonize the fire prince to firmly remind herself who, and what, he really was. Not that she needed much reminding, at the moment.
Zuko went deadly quiet. Then came his voice, even and restrained, "What did you say?"
"I said," Katara spoke up, knowing she was entering dangerous territory but not caring, "that you are using underhanded, dishonorable, tactics!"
"And what would you know of honor?" Menace crept into his voice, smoldering just under the surface.
"More than you!" The turmoil erupted in a torrent of words, "You're a terrible person, you know that? Always following us. Hunting the Avatar. Trying to capture the world's last hope for peace. Taking me prisoner. But what do you care? You're the Fire Lord's son. Spreading war and violence and hatred is in your blood."
"You don't know what you're talking about."
"I don't?! How dare you! You have no idea what this war has put me through."
"And I don't care." Zuko exclaimed, jumping up.
"I hate you!"
"I don't have to listen to this. Especially not from the likes of you." He stormed from the room, slamming the door on his way out.
Katara wilted onto the floor, weeping. She felt more alone than ever, now. How much longer would she have to be here? When would Aang and Sokka come?
O – O – O – O – O – O
Days passed and Zuko didn't return. Katara told herself she didn't want to see him anyway, that he was the enemy and a monster—but she knew deep down that wasn't the case, even in spite of their fight.
And she did want to see him, no matter the logical side of her brain's opinion on the matter. She missed his visits, and the way he would very nearly smile when she teased him or when he got the advantage in pai sho. The way his eyes softened when he looked at her, but only when he thought she wasn't looking. The unexpected thoughtfulness he had shown, bringing her up on deck that night.
But she wasn't left completely to her own devices. Even as Zuko failed make an appearance, Iroh came to play pai sho with her. He seemed so grandfatherly, which didn't fit with anything she'd heard about him: the cunning Fire Nation general, the Dragon of the West.
And even though he roundly trounced her each time they faced off, it was nice to have company.
"Do not worry about my nephew, Katara. He will come around." Iroh said, as he once again defeated her in what could barely be called a match.
"I don't care about that," she lied.
"Okay," Iroh agreed placidly. She got the sense he could see right through her. "Well, that is all for today." He carefully packed up the pai sho board and placed their teacups back on the tray.
"See you later," she said.
"Do not be so hard on yourself. You are in a difficult situation," he said as he left.
Once he was out of sight, Katara stuck her tongue out at the door.
O – O – O – O – O – O
Zuko finally came back, joining her dinner again one night and acting like nothing had happened. His mood seemed to have improved over the days of their separation. However, Katara, never being one to just let things alone when she was upset, couldn't help but bring it up toward the end of the meal.
"Hey, listen. I'm sorry I yelled at you before," she began.
"It doesn't matter."
"It's just that for so long now whenever I would imagine the face of the enemy, it was your face."
"My face." Zuko's raised his hand to his face, his fingertips grazing his scar. "I see."
"No, no, that's not what I meant."
"Okay."
"Try to understand. The Fire Nation took my mother away from me."
A sympathetic expression crossed Zuko's features. "I'm sorry."
Neither of them spoke as she shed a few quiet tears.
Unexpectedly, Zuko said, "That's something we have in common."
Katara tried to wipe her tears away but more simply took their place. "What?"
"My mother. She disappeared the same night my grandfather, Fire Lord Azulon, died. I think… my father had something to do with it." He wasn't sure why he was telling her this.
Eyes widening, Katara put her hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry. That's…" She was at a loss for words.
"I'm just saying. I get it." Zuko looked uncomfortable.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No."
"Okay, then I'll talk. My mother was killed in a raid. I was only eight." Katara absently raised her hand to touch her necklace, forgetting that it wasn't there. "She was brave and kind and strong. They were looking for waterbenders. She died while I ran to find my father. I think… I think she died to protect the last waterbender in our tribe."
"You." A peculiar look of recognition crossed over Zuko's features.
Her voice wavered. "Me."
Zuko was quiet for some time. He could almost hear his mother's voice when she woke him in the night, the last time he ever saw her: "Zuko, please my love, listen to me. Everything I've done, I've done to protect you."
"I should go," he said, his voice hoarse.
He left without another word.
O – O – O – O – O – O
Later that evening as Katara sat up reading (an incredibly dull account of resource allocation and how it affected the economy in different regions of the Fire Nation; no wonder these books were so dusty), Zuko appeared in her doorway once more.
Glancing up, she said, "What do you want?" She felt exhausted by his mood swings and from talking about her mother only a few hours earlier. As soon as he'd left, she'd felt stupid, questioning why she had opened up to him when he so obviously didn't care about her and was just using her to trap her friends. He was so unpredictable. One moment he was seemingly interested in her and thoughtful—occasionally even playful—and then angry and ready to erupt the next. She didn't know which Zuko had just arrived, and she was sick of trying to figure him out.
The firelight from the lanterns in her room highlighted the hard lines of his form as he hung in the doorway, fiddling with something in his pocket.
"Listen, I'm pretty tired Zuko. What is it?"
Despite her words, she felt charged with a tingling energy as his golden gaze rested on her. The air in the room felt electric, like the feeling before a thunderstorm—and it was building. Was this going to happen every time she saw him? It confused and frustrated her. She was supposed to hate him.
Finally he stepped into the room, letting the door swing closed behind him.
"I thought about what you said. About your mother." He pulled his hand out of his pocket. Cradled in his palm was Katara's mother's necklace. "I wanted to give this back to you."
Katara's heart swelled with joy, tears filling her eyes as she jumped up to cross the room. She took the necklace gingerly, her fingertips sweeping Zuko's palm and causing an unexpected shiver to glide up her spine. Ignoring it as best she could, she turned the necklace around in her hands, reveling in its familiar texture and weight as she tied it back around her neck.
Zuko watched her silently, feeling intoxicated by her closeness.
"Thank you so much for this. You don't know how much it means to me."
Yes, I do. Zuko thought. However, what he said was, "Well, it wasn't much use to me since you won't give me any information about the Avatar anyway."
"I don't believe that. This was very kind of you."
"Don't say that." His voice was tight. There she went again, labeling him with words that were practically synonyms for weakness. He remembered his father calling him a coward after he wouldn't fight him in Agni Kai. He wouldn't let anyone think he was a coward, ever again.
"I'm serious. You know, I think that deep down, underneath that whole vengeful fire prince thing, you really are quite a nice—"
A glower took over Zuko's face as he exploded into action, seizing the small waterbender's shoulders and shoving her backward. His momentum continued as her back hit the wall, causing his body to push fully against the length of hers, immovable. It happened so quickly, Katara barely had time to feel shocked, let alone react, as he pinned her to the hard metal wall.
"Shut up!" he hissed with his face was so close to hers that their noses touched. Katara felt the blood pulsing through her veins; her heart hammered. He continued, "I told you not to call me that. I am not, and never will be, nice."
As he spoke, he pushed against her harder, his pelvis and muscular torso seeking to grind her into the wall. Trapped, she could feel how powerful the firebender was. Only Katara didn't feel afraid. She felt defenseless, sure… and utterly aroused.
The feel of his body pressed against her so intimately flooded her with overpowering desire—desire that she'd been trying so desperately to keep under control these past weeks. She thought that if he wanted to, he'd be able to take her right there against the wall and she wouldn't be able to do anything about it. The thought made her feel a bit ashamed, but a thrill went through her at the notion. Heat pooled in her stomach. She was overwhelmed by all of the things she wanted Zuko to do to her. All the things she wanted to do to him.
She stared at his lips, now only inches from her own. Involuntarily, she released a small whimper.
Zuko drew his face back by millimeters at the sound. He hadn't noticed the affect he was having on her.
Katara didn't think. She crashed her lips onto his.
For a split-second he froze, his whole body going rigid. Katara pulled her mouth away, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment. But before she could think of something to say—and what could she possibly say?—he surged forward, kissing her with unbridled ferocity.
Her head spun with their proximity as he pushed against her harder. She rocked her hips against him. Zuko groaned into his throat, not breaking the kiss but instead deepening it. When his tongue grazed her bottom lip demandingly, she obeyed at once, parting her lips to allow him entry. His hands released her shoulders, flying up to grip her hair and trying to draw her even closer, impossibly close. Now she wouldn't be able to pull away from the kiss even if she had wanted to. But pulling away was the last thing on her mind. Her knees felt weak and she wrapped her arms around him for support, urging him still closer against her.
He kissed her without restraint, which she returned in equal measure. He nipped her bottom lip lightly, enough to sting, and she rocked her body against him again and again as they kissed. Giving as good as he got, he ground against her powerfully, and she gasped as she felt his cock straining against her through their clothes.
It was better than she had ever imagined. She'd had sex before, with a boyfriend she'd had in the Water Tribe at 17, but no one had ever lit her on fire like this.
Zuko ended the kiss, causing her to emit a low whine of disappointment. He looked at her for just a moment, pupils dilated with lust, seeking to take her in. Then he lowered his head, planting hot, searing kisses along her jawline and down her neck. She clutched at his shoulders, losing herself in the sensation of his mouth on the sensitive skin.
As he continued trailing his lips down her neck and across the swell of her breasts, Katara moaned and arched her back. Delicious heat poured through her body in waves. She felt as though she was about to combust.
Unable to withstand it any longer, she grabbed his face and urged his mouth back against hers. Their tongues intertwined, tasting each other. Now he ran his hands along her body, feeling her curves and creating an ache deep inside her. She wondered if she would ever be able to think of anything else after this.
She wrapped a leg around him, all too conscious that her groin was now pressed against his cock as they moved together. Zuko's hands slid under her thighs, lifting her and wresting her other leg up around him as well. His fingers felt unbearably hot under her dress against the bare skin of her legs. She locked her ankles behind his waist, grasping urgently at the back of his head as he kissed her greedily against the wall. He was drowned in desire, every nerve in his body screaming that no one else should ever be allowed to touch her this way, that she was his waterbender and he would have her.
Without removing his lips from hers, Zuko swung her away from the wall and carried her to the bed, plunging them onto it roughly. Katara lay on her back with her legs still wrapped around him, panting as he grasped both of her hands in his and held them firmly to the bed.
Her mind went blank, overtaken by sheer need. She bucked her hips, rubbing against his cock and eliciting a guttural moan from him. She felt feverish with the desire for him to possess her. It didn't matter that they were enemies, that he was Fire Nation and she Water Tribe, that he was hunting her friends. Nothing else mattered but his soft and insistent lips on hers, his lean body on top of her, his cock throbbing against the most intimate part of her.
He sucked on her bottom lip, teeth adding the slightest sting to the pleasure, and she let out a desperate little groan.
Grinning, Zuko finally tore his lips from hers to examine her beneath him. Her lips were swollen; she was breathing heavily and flushed with need. He had never seen anything so breathtaking in his life.
"I think you like being my prisoner," he said, his voice husky.
Katara was too far gone to speak, yearning for his lips back against hers. It was all she could do to moan again and strain toward him, until he leaned back in and captured her lips. She kissed him hungrily, Zuko's mouth driving her further and further from intelligibility.
Before long, however, he pulled away again.
My prisoner?, his own words reverberated in his head as he looked down at her, pinned beneath him with her legs spread, looking thoroughly disheveled and completely vulnerable.
Through the fog of his lust, a glimmer of horror rose in his chest. Zuko backed off of her hastily. "This isn't right."
Only aware of the intolerable loss of his exhilarating heat and the thrill of his weight on top of her, Katara sat up to catch his hand as he backed away.
"Wha?" she said hazily. "Zuko, it's okay. I want—"
A monstrous crash sounded from somewhere above them. The deck of the ship. Zuko gave her one last uncertain look before pulling his hand away.
"Zuko, I—" Katara barely registered what was going on, still filled with arousal and desire.
"It's the Avatar." Zuko's jaw set.
Katara sat on the bed, stunned, her body aching for Zuko's touch, as he rushed from the room.