Zutara Week 6 & 7

By Lil Black Bird

aka Shin Yuy

6 & 7 – Stare and Pinch

I know I probably can't combine the two but this one refuses to be written separately With the work still going on #5 –Mythology I wanted to make sure this got done before it became Monday.

WARNING Mature situations ahead, not quite a lemon but close enough. MATURE READERS ONLY and it will be labeled appropriately so people don't have a cow.

It was strange… the world of winter. He stood on the edge of the ice wall, looking out over the sea. He was bundled up in blue furs and warm clothing, his breath of fire helping to keep the chill of morning at bay. The war was over, he couldn't remember the details of it but he was older and the South Pole now was as prosperous as the North. The walls of the new city were tall and strong, the buildings more than just tents and roughly crafted huts. There was even a palace, where Hakoda ruled as chief, training his son to take his place.

The forms began to flow in his mind and his body followed, no flame from his fists but the kata moved his body as he thought. Iroh had released him from the duty of Fire Lord until he was of age and ready. Secretly he knew Iroh knew what he wanted… to see the world and work to fix it along with the Avatar. There was much to be done and the Prince of the Fire Nation personally seeing to the rebuilding of the things he or his nation destroyed was doing a lot actually to mend wounds.

The first stance of the Dancing Dragon came unbidden and he let it flow, its movements similar in some ways to the smooth gentle rolling katas of the waterbenders. He moved through almost all of them then, just before the last form, he stopped. Standing he turned to see his disturbance. The last three days he had caught the children of the city staring at him when he came to the outer wall to practice. Today it was no child, nor guard, or waterbender.

It was just her.

She crossed the distance between them, her hands going around his hip and one to his face, gently touching his scar through her gloves. His long hair blew untied in the breeze from the sea and despite himself he shivered. They hadn't had much time for what had bloomed between them during the war. Too much to do, too many things to guard against and too many people always around, always needing them. He had agreed to go with her to the Pole, to meet her family to see and help with the rebuilding.

Now they had time.

Warm lips met his; arms encircled her in her parka, pulling her near. Their bodies eclipsed the Sun as it rose higher in the sky. They broke and the shine in her eyes, the glint of mischief and longing made him stare in wonder. There were times he had wondered why him… why bother? However, that smile and the way she stared at him sometimes… made the hurt boy that was slowly learning to let people in feel wanted.

And if the hand sliding under his parka… playing with his bare belly said anything… he was wanted.

She tugged him away, down the stairs and through the streets. Eyes were on them, they always were. The Water Tribe loved gossip. Up the canals and to the Palace and to the wing for diplomats. They had Toph and Aang help build an island for the palace to sit on, so Earthbenders had a true floor to feel with and if a Firebender tried to melt anything they'd not ruin the entire palace. She dodged between tapestries and ice pillars into his rooms. They were guest quarters but one day, she promised, he'd have a place of his own here.

The fire was already lit, the room warming with the sun through the ice windows. Furs and thick silks covered the floor and the mound of bedding in the far corner. He hit the pile with an 'oof' before he had his arms and lap full of Waterbender.

"Katara…" his voice was a whisper silenced by a kiss hotter than the sun. Hands moved to tug and pull out of clothing, removing layer upon layer of leather and fur and defenses long built up. She made him weak in ways he never wanted to be strong again. And he gave her strength she never knew she needed.

It was all going so well too… till something pinched him.

He yelped and woke up, throwing the covers aside. A spider-fly had landed on his thigh and bit him and was suddenly very very crispy. It was hot. The air was heavy with moisture, the monsoon rains not far off. He was on his cot in the Western Air Temple, the window shutters open to try and let the cool air from the canyon in. He had tossed off his covers in his sleep and now lay in little more than his pants and a sheen of sweat. He fisted his hands in his hair and groaned. That damn dream… he'd been having ones like it for a few weeks now and it was making just being around Katara rough. She'd been cold and cruel to him to begin with. However, over time she'd started to tolerate him. Now though they were a lot closer and it was stirring… things and thoughts it really shouldn't.

As with the night before the dream had started something and his body ached for it to be finished. With a groan, he sat in a meditative position, ignoring how hard it was to move…and how hard it was… and tried to meditate. He would not have such thoughts about the girl, who was as far as he knew a few years younger than him and iso/i not interested. The interaction a week ago at the fountain, where they found some kind of understanding had started the damn feelings and they were getting worse.

He couldn't get calmed down this time though. The weather too warm, the ghosts of hands and lips still fresh in his memory on his skin. He leaned against the wall, the rough cool stone doing little to ease the heat inside. Fine if I have to… handle it I will. he decided and slipped the rest of the way out of his clothing.

Katara wandered the halls of the temple. It was too damn hot to sleep and she couldn't wait for the rain to start and take the heat away. She did this on occasion, stopping in and checking in on everyone. Aang was sleeping peacefully, Momo curled up on top of his head snoring. Sokka was for once not snoring loudly and sprawled across the bed. He was curled around Suki, the two holding each other, Sokka's chin on top of Suki's head. She had caught herself staring at them for a while, happy and a little bit jealous. Toph was sprawled on the ground, the stone floor of her room warped slightly as she bent in her sleep. Haru and the boys were out cold, the plans for some new invention abandoned on the floor where they slept. She didn't bother stopping in on her father. He was awake and sitting outside watching the moon. 'On watch' he had said but she knew his mind wouldn't let him sleep.

She always checked on him last.

Sometimes he would be tossing and turning, caught in the thrall of a nightmare. Other times he would be passed out cold in the exact same position he fell into bed in. On occasions, she'd peek in through the door and see him seated in the window sill, his scar in shadow as he watched the moon go across the sky. He was quiet when he slept unless it was a nightmare and they had been getting worse over time. Her old self would have been happy to watch him suffer. The new appreciation for him… and the new little flame hidden behind friendship wanted to make sure someone was there to be human for him too.

There was no light under his door but she could hear him moving around. A grunt and a groan or two sounded through the wooden door and she looked through an old knotted hole to see if he was having another nightmare. Last time she had been bold enough to go in and sit with him. He never woke but he had slept calmly the whole night.

He was sitting on his bed, blankets pooled around him, knees up and spread hiding his lower half from view. He was naked, she could see every detail of him in the moonlight and she flushed bright red. His hair hid his eyes but she could see he was panting, could hear it from this distance. One arm was bent and disappeared between his legs, the other fisting in the blankets.

Oh my! she turned red and moved to turn around I so didn't need to see that! It was almost as bad as the time she peeked in on Sokka and Suki. She did know how babies were made and had… err done something similar herself. She was a teenager for Sea's sakes.

"Katara…" she stopped and stood still, the breathless calling of her name ringing in her ears. She turned and looked back in the door and saw his head had fallen back and off to one side as he groaned her name again. He was shaking as he… she couldn't even put words to what he was doing but the idea that he was thinking about her… to her surprise she felt warm and not repulsed or outraged. Maybe it was the little flame in her heart that acknowledged it burned for Zuko. She actually felt a bit… smug that she had caused this particular reaction out of the young man. Zuko was attractive. His body was well built from head to toe to… her gaze drifted down his torso, his leg that had been blocking her view had slid down and she could see all of him.

Some bold part of her smirked and the plan was already in motion before she had a chance to think otherwise.

Zuko was caught up in the feeling and his own imagination. In his head he was still in the hot room of the ice palace, it wasn't his hand on him but hers. He didn't hear the door open quietly and close, nor felt the presence of someone before suddenly said someone was wrapped around him, arms about his shoulders, lips on his neck below his bad ear and body pressed against his exposed side. He stopped, froze more solid than Katara could make ice and shook.

"Don't stop." She said and he looked at her, confusion and fear in his bright eyes. "No one's ever gotten this worked up for me… I wanna see." She pleaded in a teasing voice that was far from asking for him to continue… it was demanding. He felt his pulse jump and his breath hitch.

"Katara…wha…"

"Shhh someone will hear you if you get too loud." She sat beside him, taking his free hand in hers and twining their fingers as she leaned against him, using her body to block the doorway. She rested her head on his shoulder and just watched. "Don't tell me you're going to stop just because I'm here. Don't tell me you're scared."

It was a dare, a challenge and they both knew they couldn't resist those. He rested his head atop hers and continued. Her smell, her touch, her breath on his skin made things progress faster than anticipated and a small part of him worried he'd scream with her watching. From her vantage point, she was rather enjoying the show, despite the deep blush on her face. His muscles worked in various ways; she could finally follow the little trail of dark hair down to where it ended rather than wondering. Yes, she thought, he was built well from head to toe and everywhere in between. She could see scars she never noticed the tiny freckles on his shoulder from the sun, the bob of his Adam's apple as he swallowed back a groan and squeezed her hand. She gave him a returning squeeze and held on. He smelled… like hot spice and warm clean ash from the incense he burned before sleep. However, there was now that musk… that delirious smell that made her head spin a bit.

"I made you like this?" she whispered and felt him shudder. "Do you think about me when you do this?"

"Yes…" he was blushing harder and stopped moving. She could see his pulse in his neck, in the part of him he held in his hand. "I'm sorry I…"

"Don't apologize Zuko." She said, her free hand reaching over to trace the lines of his stomach, watching it flinch at the touch. "I kinda like the idea I can bring you to such a state." She watched it twitch in his hand, felt his lips on her hair as he groaned. "Keep going. I want to see what I do to you."

She was bold, always had been, and her hand wrapped around his, around him and they moved in tandem for only a few short minutes before his world faded to white and the smell of clean water and grass. She held him as he bucked and twitched and writhed. Locked the choked sound of her name from his throat away in her memories for later use along with his smell and the pale vision he made in the moonlight. She bent the sweat from his skin to clean him off and gathered the blankets about them as he curled into her, his body wrung out. She could feel his blood, the moon near full, and it burned and moved through his body like thunder on the wind. They moved and he was curled with his head on her shoulder, his hair damp and breath unsteady.

"I'm sorry…" he muttered and she laughed.

"Stop apologizing. Had I seen you weeks ago I'd have been angry as hell." She rubbed his back with one hand, the other still entwined with his fingers. "I understand the whole birds and the bees thing Zuko."

"It's wrong to think of you that way… without telling you." She could feel the heat of his blush on her shoulder and giggled, threading her fingers in his hair. This felt nice, right almost. She breathed in his smell and looked down at him, smiling.

"I think I figured it out a while ago… just didn't want to admit it." She could feel the blood begin to slow, his body succumbing to a dazed and lax state. "This is a weird way to find out you like me."

"You don't think I'm a pervert?" He looked up at her and saw that fragile face that had been broken so many times. The hope he wouldn't be hurt again because she was oh so good at it.

"Sokka's a pervert. I think you wouldn't do this to yourself if there weren't feelings there first. I know you, heart first then you leap before you think." She pressed a chaste kiss to his forehead and relaxed.

"I didn't think you'd care." It was a whisper, harsh in a breathless voice and it earned a tug at his hair that made him yelp a bit. "Ow."

"Idiot." She chided, rubbing the injury. "I just had to thaw out a bit. There was a big wall of ice between you and me. We're just too stubborn I think to let it stand."

"Well… at least I know this isn't a dream." He said with a yawn, fishing with his feet for at least his shorts. "You never pull my hair that hard in my dreams."

"You want the dream over me?" she backed off, watching him put some form of clothing on and liked the idea she was the only one who had seen it all. They settled back together leaning on the wall, wrapped in the blanket.

"No… the real Katara is the best."

In the morning, none of the others found Katara already making food. Zuko wasn't doing his morning meditation or kata near the statues like he always did. Aang was glad but chose to go look for them while the others started breakfast. He checked Zuko's room first, on a whim and stared at the scene before him.

Katara was sitting up against the wall, the pillow behind her head and back as she slept. Her head was resting on top of Zuko's unruly hair, his head on her shoulders, and arms around her beneath the blanket around them. He stirred, some pained little noise in the back of his throat reaching the airbender's ears and watched as Katara nuzzled his hair, humming quietly in her sleep. The prince stilled and wrapped around her more, keeping the chill of morning from her.

Aang wanted to be angry. Wanted to go in and kick Zuko's ass for even touching or holding Katara like that. She was his! She took care of him, taught him, worked and faught with him! He'd seen her first!

But a part of him remembered the Guru's words. Let go Aang. Love is a good thing but it will tie you to the world and keep you from the Avatar State. Something in him hated those words, hated that the Guru was right. He took a deep breath and turned to leave when he felt someone staring at him. He turned to meet blue eyes, looking at him in a way they never had before. She had her arms around Zuko protectively, like she loath to let him go. I don't ask for much but this… let me keep this. they seemed to say to him.

And his heart knew… some Avatar before him remembered this moment a dozen times over and he felt like the wind came through and plucked up the sour feeling from his stomach, the ache in his head and it was… gone.

"Take care of him." He said quietly, hoping she would comprehend. "I… I think I understand now."

"We'll take care of each other." She replied. "Like we always do."

Aang left the room, closing the door and felt the tears run down his cheeks. They didn't feel full of grief… and the final little chime in his head rang softly making him feel whole.

He had family

He had friends

He had allies

He had people to love him unconditionally and he had love for them back.

And now… he had something fragile to protect. They always watched out for him, and he for them but this tiny chance was his alone to guard. It was his secret with the girl who held his heart for so long. He only hoped Zuko could survive Katara.

Fin