Disclaimer: I do not own any part of ATLA in any way, shape, or form. I own NOTHING!

Chapter 14:

KATARA

Confused. That was the word I used when Aang confronted me about our relationship the night we went to see the Ember Island Players. I told him I was confused. And I was. I still am. In fact, I might be more confused now than I was then.

It's funny. What I said to Aang that night still applies. Only now it applies to Zuko. The time isn't right. We have other things to worry about right now. I am confused.

Confused…

Maybe Haru was wrong. Maybe I haven't changed. I've ignored my situation with Zuko just like I ignored my situation with Aang.

When Aang kissed me after the invasion, we went on as if it had never happened. I did the same with Zuko the first time we kissed and every subsequent time since. But things are more intense with Zuko. Larger. Engorged. Swollen. Increasingly difficult to ignore.

At first, I was at peace with the simple fact that I liked kissing Zuko. It didn't feel like it was hurting anything. It just felt good. It was nice. Simple. Easy. I could lose myself in him. I could lose everything in him. I would become blank and all the things that buzz and swarm angrily in me grew perfectly, wonderfully still. I would empty completely and then be filled with warmth, contentment, and a delightfully frightening longing instead.

Zuko is the best remedy for my particular ailment. Other things rival him but nothing quite compares. Nothing makes me feel that good, that at peace.

But it doesn't feel that simple anymore. It feels more complicated than that now.

If I had to put it into words, I doubt I could. What would I even say to him? We can't be together. We both know that. But I don't want to be away from him either. I like how he makes me feel. I cherish the moments we have together. I feel stingy and greedy about them. I want to hold onto them, tuck them away like the waterbending scroll I stole.

Now that we've left the refugee camp, I find myself thinking about Zuko more and more. My mind has snagged on thoughts of him and despite my best efforts, I can't yank it free.

We have reached an inhospitable, uninhabited region of the Earth Kingdom, which has left me with few opportunities for me to distract myself.

The last village we came across was abandoned, one of the many burned to cinders. The only thing we've come across since then was an elderly couple's old farmhouse where we stayed a couple of days to help them around the farm in exchange for a place to sleep.

Civilization dwindles away but so does some of the comet's damage. The forests we trek through are some of the lushest I've seen in a long time. They are full of wildlife. I wonder if this is one of the areas where Sokka, Toph, Suki, and the White Lotus were able to spare.

It is nice to see what looks like the Earth Kingdom I remember, but the lack of people creates different issues for me. Most of the time, I am left alone with Zuko and my thoughts. Both are dangerous.

To make things worse, it's a full moon. I can't sleep. So not only is my mind alive and buzzing, my body is too.

Relief comes in the form of a lake within the woods not far from where we made camp for the night. I strip down to my bindings and submerge myself completely. The water is cool, crisp, and refreshing. It stuns all the senses in all the right ways. I feel myself recalibrating, and I let out a long sigh.

I surrender my weight to the water. Listening to the soft chirping of crickets and the quiet croaking of frogs, I look up at the full moon through the blue-green canopy overhead. The forest around the lake is dense and old, full of thick tree trunks. It flickers with fireflies, and the water itself is clear enough that I can see the moon rippling along the surface too.

I lose myself in my element until I hear rustling nearby. I prepare to encase whoever it is in ice then I see that it is Zuko.

I should be relieved that it is just him, but I'm not. Our eyes connect, and my stomach tightens. My heart threatens to worm its way into my throat.

Wrapping my arms around my middle in a vain attempt to cover myself, I turn my back and consider leaving. I don't want to be alone with him, but at the same time, I want nothing more.

The water swashes near the shore. I can feel every movement he makes as he walks toward me. I imagine this must be what it is like for Toph when she uses earthbending to see.

Everything grows warmer. I sense him right behind me.

"You okay?" he asks, his voice rough and low.

"I'm not sure," I confess as I look up at the bloated moon and keep my arms wrapped protectively around me. I don't trust them. My entire body whirs, reacting strongly to Zuko's mere presence.

He touches me. His fingertips glide down the outside of my arms. The touch is gentle and feather-light, a touch I never would have thought he would be capable of.

I don't move. I can't. I'm paralyzed by the anticipation of what he might do. My skin is covered in goosebumps. I've missed him. I've missed having him this way, but I don't dare say that. Not that I have to. My body has already told him.

My mouth opens to say that we should go back to camp, that we shouldn't leave Korri alone even though she's close enough for us to hear her if she cried but nothing comes out.

Zuko grabs my wrist and gently turns me around. I don't resist. I flow with him. I adapt as easily as the lake we inhabit does.

Despite being clothed in my bindings, I feel so vulnerable and stripped. It is as if my chest has been cracked open, each of my ribs pried out of the way. My soul and heart laid bare in front of him. Those searing golden eyes can see it all. They know everything I've ever thought about him, everything he's ever made me feel.

His arms wind around my waist and tenderly pull me into a long hug. It is so warm that it almost melts tears right out of me. Tension I didn't even realize I was holding releases like steam. Exhaling, my arms go around his shoulders, my fingers curling at the base of his neck.

He pulls me flush against him before tilting away slightly, his lips inches from mine. He teases them a moment before finally kissing me. The kiss is deep, potent. I melt like I always do, and a part of me hates myself for it, ashamed at how easily I buckle, how easy it is for him to make me something else, something that is entirely his.

His lips glide along mine for a long time, our hands slowly getting greedier and greedier. I pull him by his overgrown hair. He strokes the small of my back before gripping my hips and forcing the entire length of my body to his. We can't get closer. Our skin blends. Not even drops of water can trickle down between us, but it still isn't enough.

Zuko warms the water around us, and he may not even be trying to. His mouth is all over my neck and the top of my chest. My head rolls back instinctively as I gasp.

Digging his fingers into the skin between my shoulder blades, Zuko burns off the bindings around my chest, and I don't care even though I probably should.

Bending down, he lifts me by the back of my legs and forces me around him. I moan as soon as his mouth goes back to my now-bare chest, his scalding tongue fondling the tender skin there with an intensity that makes my back arch. My legs wrap tighter around him. My toes curl. The heat of him and the water makes me pant.

He hauls me back to the bank, splays me on the soft, damp earth, and crawls on top of me. He's beautiful with the moonlight crashing down around us. His eyes. His lips. Those regal yet angular slopes in his face. I can't stop myself from reaching out and touching them.

My heartbeat throbs violently in my chest. All I can think about is how I want more of him. I hurt for it, and I am close to asking for more when he burns off the last of my bindings.

A tiny voice in me screams at the realization that I am naked underneath the Fire Prince, but its cries are muffled out by all the heat and steam filling my head. Somehow, it doesn't matter. There is only one word thrumming through every single nerve, muscle, and ventricle I have: More.

His mouth is on mine again, alternating between my top and bottom lip. His tongue teases mine, but his mouth moves on quickly. He shifts around, meticulously kissing his way down me until his head is between my legs. I tense up but only for a second. I trust him and honestly, I want whatever he will give me.

His hands play at my lower abdomen and thighs, kneading the skin there carefully as he pauses and looks up at me in silent question. He'd stop if I asked. But I don't.

My legs spread and he hauls them over his shoulders. His hands latch onto my waist as he yanks me down to his mouth. I gasp from the intense, abrupt movement then I gasp for a completely different reason.

Despite the firm hold he has on my waist, my hips buck up to meet his mouth. My hands tangle in his hair. I rapidly lose my breath only to find it again. I squirm and moan in ways I never have before.

Zuko doesn't utter a word but with every movement of his tongue, I can feel all kinds of commands going into me:

You are trying to distance yourself from me. That's fine. Distance yourself all you want, but I am going to make sure you remember how I make you feel. I am taking another piece of you before I go. You aren't casting me aside that easily, he says.

The act is passionate and possessive. I feel myself being branded by him as it happens, but I enjoy each stroke. In that moment, I want to be branded by him. I want nothing else than to be completely his.

My back arches up and up and up until I break down the middle to my core, all the way to my toes. I cry out, and after another long, agonizing stroke of his tongue, he stops.

I'm breathless as he slowly kisses his way back up me. He hovers over me, his face a few inches away from mine. Still pulsing and tingling all over, I touch his cheek and caress his face.

He grins at me and kisses down the tender underside of my wrist. I shiver.

"I don't love you," I breathe, as if these words can form a shield and protect me. Whether it is to protect me from what I already feel or what I'm afraid I will feel, I can't say.

He scoffs playfully and laces our fingers, kissing the pulse beating in my wrist again. "I don't love you either."

A/N: As always, thanks so much for reading and reviewing!

I know this one was a little shorter than most of my chapters, but hopefully, the, um, spicier aspects of it will make up for it!

We will be back in Zuko's head next time!

Thanks again for everything!