It happened with a touch. He gestured toward her while she happened to move toward him and then his hand was touching her shoulder, his fingers resting warm on the bare skin of her arm.

For a moment, two moments, when he should have let go, his hand was resting warm on her shoulder, and Zuko was staring at his hand and then he lifted his gaze to her eyes.

And Katara was simply watching him, silent and calm, too calm.

And Zuko could hear her breathing.

And he could feel his heart beating.

Perhaps he said her name then, and he felt his hand slide down the warm, brown skin of her arm to meet her hand, his fingers briefly entwining with her fingers and then her fingers were laced through the hair at his neck and her arm tugging him down, her breasts pushing into his chest, her mouth, her hot, wet mouth on his mouth.

He had dreamed it so often. He must have been dreaming it.

But she was urgent and real and she moaned and then she tore herself away.

She was staring at him with her mouth open and red, her hair disheveled, staring at him with something like want and something like pity. Staring at him with hunger and sadness in her eyes.

I've been wanting you, too, she tells him.

Zuko, I've been wanting you, too, but you know it can't -

Zuko doesn't care. He doesn't care. He reaches for her again and she doesn't pull away, his mouth on her mouth and his hands in her hair and his body against her body. If he could, he would consume her. He would hold her so close that they would fuse together.

And then she is pulling at him, pulling him closer. She is as strong as he is. She is as desperate as he is, although that's impossible.

He wants to die in her arms.

He has never felt anything like this. It feels light the lightning, but instead of passing through him it just builds and builds, and Zuko's heart is thundering in his chest as he moves with her, within her. He feels like he is dying in her arms, and she is the one crying out.

Later they recover enough to move to his chambers. And then they do it again. And again.

He never wants to stop touching her. Instead of pushing him away, she turns toward him or she climbs on top of him, ravenous, with tears in her eyes.

Zuko expected a drowning. Instead they are going to set each other alight and they will burn until only ashes remain.