"I don't like the idea of you going into town alone." Zuko said, not meeting her eyes. He hated feeling helpless and letting Katara go alone seemed like a recipe for disaster. They were sitting across from each other on the straw mattress. The room was only dimly lit by a small flame in Zuko's hands and from the moonlight that was able to make its way through the thicket of trees that the hut was settled under. Despite there being a full moon, only a sliver of light made it through the dense branches. They had been so tired and relieved to have found a place to stay that they had wanted to immediately fall into a restful sleep, knowing that they could toss and turn without fear of pitching off the side of the raft. But they were in a strange new territory and knew they had to focus on making a plan first.
Katara brushed him off. "Zuko, it's going to be okay. You know as well as I do that someone is far more likely to recognize you then me and even if they recognize me they likely won't care. You may be killed on the spot."
Zuko threw her a dirty look, but said nothing, knowing that she was right.
"I'll hopefully only be gone a day or two. We just need enough money to get us going. Right now we have nothing and I hope to eat something other than nuts over the next few weeks." Katara shuddered, remembering the many times Sokka had defaulted to all nut diets when they had run out of money. While she would have done anything to have her brother here with her, she refused to live like a chipirrel, scurrying down from the trees and fighting over the nuts that had fallen to the ground.
Katara didn't know much about ChenBao other than what she had heard on her last trip North. It was a small impoverished town, meaning there may not be much work to be had. However, her talents may be particularly valued. She may be able to trade task work like improving their irrigation canals for a few weeks worth of supplies.
Zuko made a noise of disgust. "It just feels, it feels- wrong. To stay here, hiding in the house, waiting while you risk your life to get us out of here."
Katara opened her mouth to explain to him for the forty-fifth time why that was not an accurate description of the situation, when the otherwise silent night was interrupted by the sound of voices. The light in Zuko's hand winked out of existence and in one swift motion he threw himself off the bed, dragging Katara along with him. She gasped in surprise as her back hit the floor with a dull thud. They hadn't been high off the ground, but she hadn't expected to be grabbed and thrown like that. As she started chastising Zuko his hand flew to her mouth muffling any sound.
Without thinking she reached out, but didn't go for the hand across her mouth. Rather, she slapped him across the face and then let her arm fall to her briefly wondered if he would hit her back. She stopped fighting and just glared at him through the darkness. Although it was the dead of night and she couldn't see a thing, she could almost swear she could see him glare back. Eyes burning like hot coals in the dark.
The voices grew louder and she could see warm torchlight fall through the uncovered window.
"Did you guys see that?" said a deep voice. Several people, Katara guessed, a group of 5-6 stopped just outside the house.
Katara held her breath and she could feel Zuko stiffen above her, neither of them daring to move a muscle. Although they had rolled off of the bed, the mattress was on the floor and they were barely concealed. If any of the men decided to stick their head in the hut and wave their torch around, they would instantly be seen.
"Shí Lěi, as normal you are drunk. There's nothing up here, Lee and his brother left a fortnight ago to follow the bear salmon migration. They won't be back for at least a month."
"I swear I just saw a light." Shí Lěi protested and Katara resisted the urge to scream as light from the torch swept through the small hut. If they were discovered, Zuko would likely be instantly recognized even if it wasn't as the banished Prince of Fire Nation but fire kin.
It would likely be an ugly fight to the death, whose death- she wasn't sure. She couldn't see the entire group, could only judge their number based on their voices and the sounds of their feet on the hard packed earth. While Katara and Zuko were undoubtedly masters of their respective elements, taking on half a dozen earth benders after weeks of traveling on the raft was likely not going to end well in their favor.
The light turned towards them, as if it were alive and aware of their presence. Suddenly it rushed forward as though it had spotted Zuko and Katara twisted together on the floor. The last thing Katara saw before clamping her eyes shut in fear was the outline of a large man starting to enter the room.
She felt like a coward, knowing that she should spring to her feet and throw everything she had at them. But she knew the waterskin at her hip didn't hold nearly enough to take on that many. She feared for Zuko more than anything.
She grasped the fabric of his shirt, and jerked him towards her, closing what little distance had been between them. Zuko had only been using one arm to support himself, the other covering her mouth. He yelped in surprise and Katara physically flinched at the noise. She wasn't in a great position to cover Zuko's mouth back.
Luckily for them, no one seemed to notice. At that exact moment Shí Lěi let out a terrible howl of pain and the lantern flew from his hand. It hit the ground with thud and the light flickered out. A roar of laughter rose up from the group of men, followed by a stream of curses from Shí Lěi.
"Alright big fella, you've had enough for tonight. Let's get you home to your wi-" before the other man could finish his sentence there was an explosion of noise and the ground just outside the house shook, it felt like the beginning of a landslide.
Katara dug her fingers into Zuko's back, as if that could save them from being crushed.
To her surprise it stopped after the initial boom and quake. She heard the the second man yell out, "Hey! You could have actually hurt me." There was another roar of laughter and soon the light from the other torches began to fade.
Katara sighed and released her grip on Zuko. Zuko groaned and she let him go. She hadn't realized just how hard she had been holding onto him.
She looked up to apologize but fell silent at the look on his face. Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the hut without the fire, using the glimmer of moonlight that had made its way in through the window to look at him.
He looked as he always had but somehow entirely different. Maybe it was the angle, she didn't spend a lot of time laying under Zuko.
From here, his normally aggressive and distant personality seemed to melt away. Tentatively, she reached out and brushed her hand along his face, the side where his scar was. Although she had done it once before, she felt him freeze above her.
She jerked her hand back in reaction, afraid that she had done something. She opened her mouth to say something, but before she could get the words out he kissed her.
Katara drew in a sharp breath against him, realizing that she had misread his initial reaction to her touch. At the sound of her, the force of Zuko's kisses intensified. He dropped his weight to his elbows, hovering just above her and allowed his hands to weave themselves through the soft waves of Katara's hair.
She recovered quickly from her initial surprise, and Katara reached up to snake her arm around the back of his neck, running the ends of her nails over the back of his neck. He shuddered at the feeling of her fingers on his bare skin. Although Zuko had kissed people before, it was never like this. It felt like a bolt of lightning making its way through his body, setting every nerve in his body ablaze.
For a moment, laying there, with Katara wrapped in his arms, Zuko could forget about the rest of the world. For a moment there was no saving Aang, no stopping Azula, not even rescuing Uncle Iroh. Just her.
Her kiss may feel like bolts of lightning, but Zuko kissed Katara with a tenderness he didn't know he was capable of. For so long she had seen him as the enemy, the face of the aggressor. He wouldn't- he couldn't blame her. But he could try to show her there was more.
He gently cupped her face in his hands and traced the hollow of her throat with kisses. Her entire body arched back, and she reached out, sinking her nails into his arms as if to pull him closer.
Then it was as if realtor some other dark force came crashing back into him like a wave, Zuko recoiled from her touch, rolling away and across the room as though she had burned him. She could feel her face flush with embarrassment, wondering if she had done something wrong. While she had kissed before, Jet had been quick to show physical affection. At the time she had been enamored with his smooth words and the fact that he desired her body. But she quickly realized the whole thing had been a manipulation. With Zuko it was different, she wasn't sure how, she just knew it was.
"I'm sorry." she whispered. She wasn't even sure for what, things were beyond messed up.
"Don't be sorry." he snapped, a little more harsher than he had wanted. Zuko felt instantly guilty as Katara immediately fell silent. He took a deep breath, trying to regain his composure. "It's not you, these last couple weeks have just been a lot. Let's just get some rest?"
She said nothing but climbed up onto the straw mattress and curled up on the far end, making it clear there was plenty of room for Zuko. They slept facing away from each other, somehow feeling more lonely and misunderstood than they had on the raft.