How Katara got her tattoo and other things that happened that night…

.~.

Alone (the prequel)

Katara laid in bed partially propped on her pillow reading a book. She smiled up at her husband when he came in and closed the door. He crossed the room and crawled up on the bed, pushing his wife's legs apart just enough so he could lay his head on her right thigh. He placed his hand on the left one and rubbed his thumb across the faded tattoo on the inside of his wife's leg.

"I didn't know you told anybody this was here."

Katara smiled, thinking about the night he'd placed the image there.

.~.~.~.

It was a beautiful spring evening in Ba Sing Se. Aang and Katara were celebrating their engagement at the Jasmine Dragon. Iroh had closed down for the night so that they could have a private party. Most of their family and friends were in attendance.

About two hours into the party, Katara and Aang stood on the terrace trying to steal a moment alone when Iroh came out. He cleared his throat, interrupting their kiss. "Young love is a beautiful thing to behold." he said with a soft smile on his face. A hot blush heated their cheeks, "It must be hard for the two of you to have time to yourselves." he said, stopping in front of Aang, "I love Sokka, but it must be daunting having him constantly between the two of you."

Aang smiled and nodded his head. The general handed him a folded piece of paper with a string attached. Aang took the uncommonly heavy piece of paper and a key slipped out attached to the other end of the string. He opened the paper and saw an address on it. "Iroh, what's this?"

"Just an engagement gift from King Bumi and I. I will leave you two to go see it." and with that Iroh went back inside.

Katara and Aang looked at each other and Katara took the paper from his hand, "This is right down the street, let's go."

She grabbed his hand and they ran around the side of the shop and down the street to the address on the slip of paper. "They gave us a house." Aang sputtered out, "I was thinking it was an office or maybe an apartment, but this is a whole big house." he turned to Katara, "This is too much."

The young woman smirked at him, "Come on Aang, let's at least see it."

She took the key and opened the door. The house was marvelous. It was decorated and furnished with items from all over the world. King Bumi and Iroh had even added things from the Air Temples.

The nineteen year old man ran his hand across the head of a small statue of Avatar Roku, "Well, it is nice." he said, starting to have a change of heart, then he noticed a little note sticking out from under the statue. He pulled it out, opened it and smiled.

"What does it say?" Katara asked.

Aang looked at her, "'All lovebirds need a nest.'"

The nearly twenty-one year old woman took hold of her fiancé's hand and kissed him softly on the cheek, "Can't we keep it Aang, please? We're here all the time and I'm tired of staying at the palace. Wouldn't it be nice to have a real place to come home to?"

The young air bender looked around the room, then at the love of his life, "Come on, let's go see the rest of this place."

They went from room to room until they had seen the entire house, then they settled back in the living room on the couch, "So, do you want to go back to the party mow?" Aang asked.

Katara gave him a startled look, "Are you crazy? For the first time we are totally and utterly alone. Nobody knows where we are except for Iroh and King Bumi, and they won't say anything, and you want to go back to the party?"

"No, I was just giving you the option. I want to do this." he leaned over and pressed his lips to hers, easing her back on the couch. "I've been trying to get you completely alone for years."

"You know what I've been wanting to do for years?"

Aang leaned back and cocked and eyebrow thinking he already knew what she was going to say, "What would that be?"

"I want to see your tattoos."

Aang gave her a disappointed look. "You've been seeing my tattoos for seven years."

"No I haven't," she said with a smile, "I don't know if the tattoo on your back is one continuous one or it it's three."

"Oh." Aang said simply. He understood the curiosity. Sokka and Zuko had asked him that same question years ago, but they hadn't asked to see it. Then it hit him, she'd asked to see his tattoos, "Ohhh…" he said finally getting the point.

Aang got up and practically jumped out of the formal robes he'd been wearing. He was in nothing more than his underwear in a couple of seconds. The Avatar gave the water bender a cocky smile, turned around and took off his last piece of clothing.

Katara's eyes followed the blue line from the top of Aang's head, down his back and to the point at the base of his spine where it split into the two lines that crossed his buttocks and rounded his legs. "That's what I thought." she said as she stood up. Aang looked back at her over his shoulder and started to turn around, "No, don't move."

She came up behind him and cocked her head, studying the stripe on his back. She reached out and put a finger at the base of his spine and lightly traced the center of the line up to the base of his skull. He shuddered and moaned a little, "Katara, what are you doing to me?" he asked rhetorically.

She leaned against his back and wrapped her arms around him, resting her hands on his chest, "Aang," she hummed, "do you know what I want?"

"What's that?" he asked, a huge smile spreading across his face.

"I want a tattoo." she said, sounding excited.

"What?!" he asked, looking over his shoulder with a furrowed brow.

She looked up at him smiling sweetly. "I want a tattoo. You know how to do one, don't you?"

He cut his eyes at her, "Technically, yes, but I've never done a real one, and I've only seen it done once."

"And didn't you say those things in the case in the back room were for tattooing?"

"Yes, I did." he said through gritted teeth.

"And you said the ink was easy to make?"

"Yeah."

"So can you do it, please? I just want a little one."

He looked into her pleading eyes and he knew he couldn't deny her anything. "Yeah, I'll try."

She bounced up and kissed him on the cheek, then ran off to get the tools and start cleaning them. Aang stood there, alone, naked and disgusted with the situation. He looked down at his erection, "Well, you might as well go away. I've got a tattoo to do."

.~.~.

He was still irritated about the turn of events, but he had taken a few minute to pull himself together. He put on his pants and went out into the garden to find what he needed for the ink. After preparing a small well of ink he went back into the house looking for Katara.

When he found her she was sitting on the bed in the master bedroom with the tools laid out on a towel beside her. "So, what did you want me to tattoo on you? I hope it's nothing too hard for me to do." he asked.

"It's not, you've already done it before." she rested her hand on the new betrothal necklace she was wearing, "I want this."

For the first time since he was naked in the living room, Aang smiled, "I can do that. Where do you want it?"

Katara pulled her dress back at the slit and slowly spread her legs, "I want it right here." she said, touching the inside of the highest part of her thigh.

Aang's eyes stretched and his brain shut down for a second, then it clicked back on, "Um, you want it right there?"

She smiled at him, "Yes, right here."

He gathered his composure as much as he could, "Okay, lay down and get comfortable." He mentally lectured himself about getting too excited about exactly where he had to position himself in order to place the small tattoo. 'Alright, it's just skin. I'm going to get down here, put the design on her leg and then' he shook his head to keep his thoughts from drifting to where he knew they would go, 'Get yourself together Aang.'

The young man crawled up on the bed and settled himself slowly between his betrothed's thighs. He ran his hand gently across the spot where she said she wanted the tattoo. Aang felt Katara quiver under his touch and he brushed his thumb across her leg again. He smiled up at her again, "It's going to hurt, are you sure you want me to tattoo you?"

"I'm sure." she said in a confident manner, "You got a full body tattoo when you were half my age, I think I can take it."

All he responded with was, "If you say so." and he dipped the tool into the dark blue ink and started to tap the design into her thigh.

Katara flinched with the first piercing of the needle into her skin. It hurt quite a bit, but she couldn't tell him that after her bold proclamation. First, he made the swirl that was at the center of the design. Then he made the waves, two small ones on either side of the swirl and one underneath. When he was done, he wiped away the bits of blood and excess ink and looked up toward Katara.

"Well, that didn't take long at a-" he stopped mid-thought when his eyes reached her face and he saw that she was in pain, "Are you okay?" he asked, jumping up on his hands and leaning over her, "Why didn't you tell me to stop?"

She smiled at him, "Because I really wanted it. Besides, you told me it would hurt, I just didn't know it would feel like that. How did you handle it when you were so little?"

Aang's pride wouldn't let him say more than, "I meditated." The truth was he had tried to meditate, but it was hard for him to focus so he laid there and cried silently until he passed out, "I'll be right back."

Aang came back with a glass of water. He sat it down and drew the water over his hand, "Okay, I'm going to heal it, tell me what to do." he said, sitting beside her.

"Aang, you don't have to do that." Katara protested.

"Come on, I have to learn sometime. Either tell me what to do or you'll have a cold wet leg."

She laughed, "Just focus on it. Think about healing, about making it better and send that energy out through the water."

The Avatar did as he was told and the water started to glow, so brightly that the water bender said, "Would you look at that?"

"What? Is something wrong?" he asked, taking his eyes away from the water.

"It's almost as bright as spirit water." she said.

"Oh." he answered simply as he placed the water covered hand on her thigh. "Is it working?"

"It worked" the woman said, propping herself up on her elbows, "I don't feel the pain anymore."

"Good." he placed the water back into the cup, "Can I?" he asked, gesturing at her leg.

"Be my guest." she said.

Aang got back in the position he was in when he'd placed the tattoo. He laid his hand on her thigh, with the newly placed ink in the crook between his thumb and forefinger, "it came out pretty good." he said, admiring his work.

"It's perfect." Katara said, sitting up and opening her legs wider so she could get a good look, "I love it."

"I love you." he said, gliding his thumb across the tattoo. He started to look up at her, but the sight of blue silk and lace above his head caught his attention. "Is that new too?" he asked as he gliding her thumb against the lace.

She shivered a little, "Suki brought them for me from the Fire Nation. They're much more comfortable than my old ones. Do you like them?"

He rolled over on his stomach and slid his hand up to her hip, pushing her dress further up, "Very nice." he glanced up with a devious twinkle in his eyes, "Can I see the whole thing?"

Katara wordlessly pulled the tail of the dress up around her waist and leaned back. Aang his hand from one side of the blue material to the other, "Yes, this is very nice. Did you thank Suki?"

"Yes I did."

"I think I should thank her too."

"Aang," she said sweetly, "come here."

He did as she asked and crawled up until he was hovering over her. Katara laid back and beckoned him to follow. He did so and she wrapped her arms around his neck. She looked onto his eyes, "Aang, do you know what I want now?"

He pursed his lips, "What would that be?" he asked, ready for another crazy request.

She pulled him closer, put her lips right next to his ear and simply whispered, "You."

He didn't move, his eyes just stretched wide open, "Are you sure?" he asked quietly, "You don't want to wait until the wedding?"

"I think we've waited long enough." she said into his ear, "Don't you want me?"

He pulled back and gave her an offended look, "Did you really just ask me that? Of course I want you."

"Then stop talking and kiss me." she said, pulling him down on her.

Aang gladly obliged Katara's request. For the next several minutes they didn't say anything. For the first time they could enjoy each other without the possibility of being interrupted. There was no Zuko looking for Aang to talk about plans for Republic City, no Toph interrupting just to interrupt and, most of all, no Sokka hell bent on them not having any time alone together.

The two wordlessly explored each other's bodies taking special notice of what touched elicited what reactions. Katara loved the low hum Aang would give when she ran her nails across any one of his arrows and the moan he'd give as she nibbled and sucked at his ears or neck. She giggled when she wrapped her hand around his length and he gasped.

Aang paused for a second and blushed at his reaction. He looked at Katara who had a smug look on her face. He squinted his eyes and said "Oh, you find that funny, do you?" Then he locked eyes with her and with a smug look of his own he slid his hand down her body. When he paused at the sensitive nub between her legs, her breath hitched. His smirk widened into a smile. Then he went farther and dipped two fingers into her center. She gasped and tightened her grip around him.

He loved the way she felt inside, soft and warm and wet all at the same time. The way she writhed under him and placed soft kisses about his face and neck as she stroked him almost pushed him to the brink. "Katara,' he said as he pressed his forehead into the pillow next to her, "I need you now."

She replied breathlessly. "I need you too."

Katara moved her hands and placed them on his back. Aang slowly pulled his fingers from her and position himself at her entrance. As he pushed inside her slowly, she pressed her face into his shoulder, trying to hide her discomfort at being stretched in such a new way. She gripped her fingers into his back.

Aang's rapture at finally being inside his love was tempered when he felt her face contort on his skin, "Katara?"

"No Aang," she held him tight to her, "don't stop. I'm fine." she already knew what it may have felt like, a few of her friends had told her what she could expect.

Though he was reluctant to carry on, Aang pressed himself deeper into Katara until he was fully inside her. He lifted himself so that he could see her. He wanted to see for himself that she was fine.

"I told you not to stop." she chastised softly. She lifted one leg around his waist and stroked against him. He smiled and leaned down to kiss her.

They moaned and grunted softly as they moved slowly against each other until they found their rhythm. Katara's discomfort turned into pleasure and she started to breathlessly moan his name into his ear.

"I love you Katara." he panted to back to her.

She wanted to say 'I love you' back to him, but she was overcome by the raw sensation racing through her body. All she could get out was a drawn out moan of his name. Katara wrapped her legs around him, pressing her face into his chest and gripped her nails into his back, holding on until her pulsing around him eased. When she laid her head back on the pillow, Aang, for the first time in years, involuntarily slipped into the Avatar State.

.~.~.~.

Katara looked down from her book at her husband, "She asked why I was walking different. I decided to tell her about the tattoo."