Zuko
The weeks left until the comet pass slow. Every look from Katara drops my stomach. Every time her skin brushes mine when we pass each other in the hallway it sets me on fire. And it's killing me to wait to pull her into my arms, feel her mouth on mine, trace my fingers over her skin, make her a part of me. It's hard hiding it from everyone, too. Sokka's becoming the best friend I've ever had, which is a low bar, I'll admit, but I have a feeling he'd reach it even if it were a high one. I don't like feeling like keeping something from him.
We have a strict training schedule we adhere to each day that Sokka came up with. Wake up at dawn, 2 hours of training, then a three hour break where we also eat breakfast together. Two more hours of training, lunch and another 3 hour break. Last two hours of training and then we're done for the day, usually exhausted by the end of it. We eat dinner together each night at dusk, Katara usually being the one to cook. She's really good at it, too.
We each find ways to spend our breaks during the day. We take naps, go down to the beach, and some of the others go into town and explore. I stick close to the house, though. I could get spotted too easily.
Katara spends a lot of her time in the library. She told me that while they're taught to read and write in the Water Tribe for messages and such, all their stories are oral and not written down. I like passing the doorway and looking in, seeing her sitting down with her nose in a book and a smile on her face.
A few hours after dinner tonight I decide to give in and go see Katara. She's in her room sitting on the bay window seat, sleeping against the wall with her book still open in her lap. The moonlight shines through the window on her face, illuminating it in a beautiful silver light.
I lean in the doorway, deciding if I should wake her up or not. She's not dressed for bed yet, is still in a red silk skirt with a matching halter crop. Her Water Tribe necklace is tied around her neck. She covers it if we go to town, but in the privacy of the Beach house she keeps it close.
Looking at the angle of her head, despite how cute it is, I know if she stays like that her neck is going to hurt tomorrow. So I go over and sit next to her, then lean her back until her head's in my lap. She lets out a cute hum as she blinks her eyes open, and when she sees it's me she smiles.
"Fire Prince." She says. I chuckle.
"Water Princess. You look beautiful, Katara." I whisper. She lets out a light laugh and sits up.
"I guess friends can complement each other. On that note, you look so good right now it's twisting my stomach in knots." She says and strokes the side of my face, the side with my scar. I fight the urge to look away and cover that side of my face with my hand. Katara's made it clear without words she doesn't want me to hide it, though. She really believes I'm handsome, with the scar or without it. She wants to see me. Which is something thatI'm so grateful for, but I still don't know how to really accept. I don't have to accept it though to keep looking in her eyes instead of turning away, though. So I just look into her blue orbs and try to get lose myself in them, and everything else too.
"I was reading Roku and Ju-Lee." She says as she takes her hand off my face and picks her book back up.
"Again?" I laugh. "You're going to wear the scroll out."
"I love it. It's kind of like the story of Omashu. It still has action in it with the sword fights and battles between the tribes, but that isn't the main focus of the story. It's sweet and romantic, and at the moment somewhat relatable, two enemies falling for each other. Hypothetically, of course." she chuckles.
"Of course." I say and fight the urge to put the stray lock of hair behind her ear. If I touch her now, I might give in completely and kiss her, which we agreed to wait for until after the comet. And that's only Five days away.
"I can't keep my eyes open. Could you finish reading that chapter to me?" She asks and hands me the book, curling into my side.
"Sure you want to cuddle so close?" I tease, leaning down and smelling her hair. She still uses jasmine. "What if Aang or Sokka walks by?"
"Eh, it's not like I'm laying in your lap. Friends can lean on each other when they're tired." She says.
"Is that so? Cause now I'm going to be very tired any time I'm around you." I joke.
"Are you going to read the chapter or not, Zuko?"
"Okay, okay." I chuckle and start reading where the page is turned, enjoying the feel of her body against mine. When I finish, she's asleep on my side. And part of me wants to carry her to bed and just let her sleep, but a very selfish part wants some time with her awake. I look out the window on the beach and see it's empty, everyone else is inside, probably in bed. And that part wins. "Katara?" I ask. "Katara, you still awake?" She hums and smiles, then shakes her head in a really cute way to wake up.
"Yeah?"
"Come with me." I say and grab her hand, walking to her door. I check to see the hallway is clear, then smile at her and pull her behind me as I run down the hall and through the back door, Katara trying to stifle her laugh behind me until we're outside.
"Where are we going?" She laughs behind me as we run on the beach.
"Where no one will see us." I smile at her, running to a hidden cove I remember finding with Lu Ten when I was a kid. Once we get there, I stop running. Katara bends over with her hands on her knees, panting to catch her breath. I smile, waiting for her to look up and around. When she finally stands up straight, her face goes from smiling to slack with the shock of the beauty of it. The full moon and stars are reflecting on the water, and the waves here literally glow. I asked Lu Ten why once, and he said that it's some kind of bioluminescent algae. I don't tell Katara that, though. The mystery adds to the beauty.
"Zuko…"
"You're even more beautiful than the water here, Katara." I whisper in her ear, making her gasp. I laugh at the look on her face.
"I've never seen anything like it." She tells me, her smile returning as she wades ankle deep into the water and twirls in it, making the droplets spin around her.
This. This right here. It's my New favorite memory. Katara, glowing in the moonlight with an easy and sleepy smile on her face, dancing in the ocean, surrounded by the two elements that make up her power. She's breathtaking.
After a minute, she jogs back over to me and sleepy kisses my cheek.
"Thank you for this, Zuko." She whispers. I feel her shudder next to me.
"Cold?" I ask. She hums and nods her head. "Here." I say and give her my shirt, then grab some driftwood and start a fire next to us. We sit down with Katara wearing my shirt and cuddling into my chest. I raise my internal body temperature so it warms her faster. We're far past friend territory now, and I find myself struggling between I don't care and we only have 4 more days until the comet, and If Aang finds out about us now, he'll be devastated. We can't afford that.
"Come on, Water Princess." I chuckle as she nuzzles closer to me. "Not yet. Just Five more days. Lets get you back to bed."
"Lets stay here. We won't get caught. I want sleep." She mummer, and pulls me with her as she lays backwards. I indulge her, enjoying it every bit that she is as I look up at the stars with her body pressed into me.
"Katara, this is a bad idea." I tell her, but I can't put much sincerity into the words while I'm smelling her hair.
"The comet doesn't matter anymore." She says, sleepily blinking her eyes at me. "Please? I'm ready for that moment. I don't want to wait to be together anymore." She says, making my heart flutter like a bumble-hummingbird. I think for a second and take a deep breath.
"Sleep, Water Princess. We'll have that moment soon enough. We can't risk Aang losing focus yet. Go to sleep, and I'll carry you back to the house." I tell her gently, inwardly kicking myself for not taking the opportunity to finally kiss her again. But not yet. I can't lose focus either while I'm training Aang, and if there's one thing that will for sure make me, it's actually being with Katara. "Sleep." I say again, and she nuzzles closer. A few moments later, she drifts into a deep sleep. I kiss her forehead and pick her up, then sneak both of us back inside the beach house.
"Goodnight, Katara." I whisper and kiss her forehead as I lay her in her bed. "Just a few more days. Then that moment with you is mine."
...