Zutara Week 2013
Day Two
Genre: Romance/Angst
Rating: M for sexual situations
As per Zutara Week rules of submission, both characters are above the age of consent.
Euphoria
(noun); a feeling of well-being or elation
Etymology: New Latin, from Greek, from euphoros healthy, from eu- + pherein to bear, to carry
Euphoria is medically recognized as a mental and emotional condition in which a person experiences intense feelings of well-being, elation, happiness, excitement, and joy…an intense state of transcendent happiness combined with an overwhelming sense of contentment.
Euphoria is generally considered to be an exaggerated physical and psychological state…not typically achieved during the normal course of human experience.
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And then he sees her.
It is so much more than sight. She walks into his view and a spell is cast. The corners of her mouth lift her smile and his heart. Her laughter rises in his chest as it does hers. The sway of her hips when she walks makes him dizzy. She becomes the center, the focus, the core. The air is easier to breathe when she's sitting beside him at the fire. The shackles of past wrongs don't feel so heavy.
And then he sees him. And it all changes.
No longer the young, carefree monk he chased across the kingdoms. No longer the child he taught to Firebend. Aang was a man now. And his adolescent crush on Katara had grown into a real passion. One that, to all appearances, she returned. Or at least allowed. Aang greeted Katara with a warm smile and a hug, and she welcomed the embrace. It would be too much to bear if her eyes didn't flick his way, if they weren't full of apology and shame.
Strange to think her shame would bring him peace, but if it meant nothing, she wouldn't look that way.
The sun has long set before she comes to him. Every year they camp here, on the beach at Ember Island, to remember all it took to end the war. To remember the sacrifices they made. To remember the friends they lost. Strange to think a time so full of remembrance should bring such ecstasy, but if he's honest, it's the only time of year his heart is full.
She closes the flap of his tent with practiced hands. She's stopped pretending that she doesn't know why she's come. She turns and he can see the burden lift from her shoulders. She stands straighter. Her blue eyes are brighter. Her smile is wider. He stands on shaky legs, heart thudding in his eardrums. Her presence is intoxicating, clouding all of his senses, making his mouth run dry. He stumbles over her name. "Katara."
She breathes a sigh of relief. "Finally."
They run to each other in the small space of the tent, arms clasping to each other as a lifeline. Heads swimming they stand there, content to embrace, content to hold on, unable to do anything but sway together until their vision clears. He regains balance first, pulling away to cradle her face between his hands, brushing kisses over her cheeks as she laughs softly. She sounds content. "Zuko…I've missed you."
"I missed you, too."
He pulls back to look in her eyes, thumbs absently tracing the creases in her smile. This joy must be a kind of madness, to put everything else out of his mind so completely. She raises a hand to his cheek, running her fingers over the familiar ridges of his scar. Strange to think there was a time he would have shied away. Strange to think he leans into her palm now.
They don't have to go through the reasons anymore. They know them by heart. The reason why Zuko has yet to take a Fire Lady, despite the urgings of his council. The reason why Aang has never told Katara how he feels. The reason why Katara has refused dozens of marriages that would give her people security. They aren't children anymore. None of their lives are truly their own. Zuko must lead a nation. Katara must rebuild the Southern Tribe. And Aang has to deal with the whole world's problems. Their lives draw them in three separate directions, a triangle that spans continents and would tangle too many lives together.
Peace may be kinder than war, but only a fool would think it's easier.
Zuko breaks the silence, slowly running his hands over her shoulders, edging the fabric of her dress aside. She shrugs, helping the garment slide off her skin.
"How long can you stay?"
She starts on the tie at her waist. "Two weeks at most. You?"
"There's a ship scheduled to take me back in ten days. It's a busy time in the Fire Nation."
Katara moves her hands to the front of his shirt, slowly pulling it over his head. "Only ten days, huh?"
Zuko tosses it aside. "It was the best I could do."
Katara runs her hands along his waist, sliding her hands along the top of his pants. "What if there's something wrong with the ship? Some kind of technical difficulties?"
Zuko smirked, the fire in her eyes spreading to his own. "Well, that would take time to fix, of course."
"A few hours?"
"A few days if you do it right."
Katara laughed, a deep, throaty chuckle that sent Zuko's blood rushing south. She let the dress fall to the side, making quick work of her breast bindings, letting them both fall to the ground. She looped her arms around his neck, pressing her bare chest against his as she whispered, "I'll see what I can do…"
Zuko was lost. The humming in his ears overwhelmed all else and he could do nothing but kiss her. His lips fell to hers in necessity, needing to feel her mouth moving over his. She snaked her tongue into his mouth, grasping desperately at the back of his neck; Zuko's knees buckled, sending them both to his pallet on the ground. Katara giggled against his lips, and her laugh was contagious. Zuko couldn't stop the smile that was spreading across his face, rolling over a now cackling Katara and pinning her hands above her head.
"You've making it hard for me to concentrate, love."
Katara tried to keep her mouth shut, but Zuko's condescending look had long lost any power over her. It sent her riding on another wave of laughter, one that Zuko couldn't help but join in. Her laugh, like her kisses, was intoxicating. "I know, I'm sorry. It's just…your knees literally gave out…"
"I'll have you know I took a pretty good hit to one of those knees saving your life in the Eastern Air Temple. It's an old injury."
"Oh, is it now?"
Zuko's face softened as he cupped her cheek, amazed that he'd found a love like this, if only for a few days out of the year. He thought back to their early days, the passionate way she protected her friends. How much it meant to finally be counted among them. Zuko couldn't remember a time before he loved Katara, not really. He brought her hand to his face and kissed her palm, eyes shining in the darkness. "Yes. It is."
Katara's brow creased, his words burrowing straight to her heart. It got harder to leave him every time. Harder to not refuse the daylight and stay in their tent forever. But there would be time for that later. She had the rest of the year to mourn the loss of him. For now, he was real in front of her, heavy over her as he kissed down her neck, warm and alive between her hands as his lips ghosted over her stomach. She crooked his chin up, forcing him to look at her. "I love you, Zuko."
"I love you too."
The rest was a blur of limbs and embraces, two bodies racing for the same goal, becoming one in a moment of ecstasy. Nothing felt like this. No one else could ever feel like this. When two halves of the same whole unite, it can be felt down to the core. Katara held onto him, hips meeting his in a primal rhythm, every stroke a declaration of love. She didn't last long; she never did their first night together. Her legs quivered as she felt the delicious tension snap, eyes creased in pleasure as she whimpered his name. Zuko was fast behind her, falling over the edge and stifling his groan with a kiss.
They stayed like that for a moment, unable to do anything but breathe each other in. A fleeting thought crossed their minds, that maybe it was better this way, that surely a life filled with this would be too much to bear, too hot to burn for long. They should take what they could get and not think of "what if".
Some circumstances cannot change. Some hearts are too dear to be broken. But the precious moments, the fleeting hours of bliss that make life worth living, they belong to those that steal them.
Definition/etymology from Merriam Webster's dictionary
Medical definition of euphoria from Wikipedia (I know, so credible.)
Hope you enjoyed my different take on the word "euphoria". Please read and review!