You love her when you let her go

Zuko x Katara

A/N: Trouble in paradise incoming. We've just reached the climax of the fic, and we're closer to the end. And soon we'll know what happened to Sokka and Aang after they saw Admiral's Zhao Navyship arriving at the Southern Water Tribe.

Chapter 8: Wild waters

Well you see her when you fall asleep

But never to touch and never to keep

'Cause you loved her too much and you dive too deep

As much as Katara tried, she couldn't sleep. She had awaken about an hour ago and had spent it turning around in the couch, sweating and desperating. She sighed, her body was tired but her mind couldn't rest. Outside through the bull's-eye she could see the storm, heavy rain and lightning. The sound of thunder was frightening and the ship was moving more than usual. It scared her so she looked away.

She turned to the center of the bed and saw Zuko peacefully sleeping, his messy dark hair covering his eyes. His breath was stable and the bedsheets left half of his thorax exposed. Katara took advantage to memorize each detail of his body. The bedsheets covered until his hips, she could even notice the beginning of his pubic area covered by hair. Katara traced his muscles with her delicate fingers, imitating the caresses of a feather. First his six-pack, then the chest. But soon, the girl got immersed in his beauty and got distracted, making the soft touch more noticeable until the prince opened his eyes.

Katara immediately regretted what she did. She didn't want to wake him up. He was sleeping deeply and peacefully and now he was rubbing his eyes like a child.

"What's wrong, Katara?" He asked huskyly. "Do you want a second round?"

Zuko leaned forward and tangled his arms around her. His lips sucked on the tanned skin of her neck. The waterbender couldn't believe he could have so much energy to even think about repeating it. She was tired after the pleasure a few hours ago but enjoyed each caress of Zuko's lips on her skin. She shivered, his warm tongue descending down to his chest. Before he could continue further, Katara stopped him.

"I can't sleep." She said. Zuko stopped and laid beside her, staring at the stunning views.

"Why is it? Do you regret what happened?" The prince asked worried.

"No, of course not." She wasn't lying, if she weren't a little dull, she would even encourage him to do it again. "You have been gentle and sweet."

Zuko smiled tenderly and pulled Katara to his chest. The waterbender snuggled into the crook of his neck and closed her eyes. She just couldn't find something so comforting to compare to the sensation of being clinging to Zuko.

"Then what worries you?" He asked, knowing that she normally slept well and tonight she was strange.

"How far are we from the Water Tribe?" She suddenly asked.

Zuko comprehended that she was melancholic. She had a dilemma, she wanted to return to her family but still wanted to have Zuko by her side because her heart ached when he wasn't with her.

"Two days more or less. It depends on the storm." He replied, studying Katara's expression, noticing her eyes watering up. "Don't cry, love." He begged.

But his beg only made Katara want to cry more. She hid her tears by sinking her face on Zuko's chest. He could feel the cold tears falling onto his skin. He tightened the embrace and kissed her scalp. She was even trembling of how scared she was to lose him. Zuko's heart ached but knew that letting her go waa the right thing to do. He couldn't allow himself to be selfish and expose her to the dangers of being banished from the Fire Nation and in chase of the Avatar.

"I have to do it, my ship is not safe. I wouldn't forgive myself if something happened to you." He tried to make her understand. Eventually, with warm back rubs, Katara calmed her cries.

"Do you love me?" She asked once she found enough voice and strength to talk.

"I will only know it when I let you go." Zuko replied.

But Zuko already knew the answer. It hurt deciding to return Katara to the Water Tribe. He was sure that he would cling into the bed sheets, smelling her sweet scent. Of course he loved her. During her stay on the ship, Katara made him forget his pain, the sorrow of not being home, the spite to his father, camouflaged by endless sadness.

Katara was satisfied by the answer because deep down she knew too that their love was in return. Now she would made sure that these two days that she would spend with Zuko were well spent. She didn't want to cry despite feeling sadness for having to leave him. She wanted to enjoy her company and appreciate the warmth he had as a firebender and how his arms protected her from everything.

"Do you remember that music night when you made me beg to get out of the cabin?" He nodded. "Well, I have to confess that I enjoyed having to do those embarrassing things to convince you."

Zuko smiled at the memory of that night. He just wanted to test her and it ended with a pleasant surprise.

"I told you I only wanted to hear that you were mine, but I didn't specify because I wanted you to be loving with me." He confessed back.

"Now we don't need any excuses to touch each other." Katara added, seductively caressing his chest.

"So, what are you waiting for?" He teased, smirking sensually.

Katara, with a fast push, made Zuko lay down on the couch. She climbed on top and sat on his hips. He pushed her forward and their mouths met passionately, not allowing a rest to breathe. Their hands explored each other's bodies as their tongues danced. Zuko held Katara's face and hair, cupping her cheeks.

"Mmm… Katara." He moaned between kisses.

The waterbender felt Zuko's hardness against her center. He was turned on due to the kissing and Katara started to feel the same way, a burning need to have him inside. Zuko's hands descended to her chest, his thumb pinched a dark nipple and his other hand pressed the other breast firmly.

"Zuko…" She moaned, arching her back as she placed her hands on the couch, letting him please her.

Suddenly, someone opened the door. Katara yelled scared and covered herself with the bedsheets, sitting beside the prince on the bed. Zuko huffed at the interruption and stared angrily at his man.

"Excuse me, sir. But the helmsman can't control the ship! This storm will make us sink!" He said, almost ignoring the situation in which his prince was.

The romantic and hot scene shared between Katara and Zuko lost its meaning. The urgent new made the prince get up from the bed and get dressed immediately. Even Katara, who was hiding her trembling body under the bedsheets, was starting to put on the pieces of clothes that were lying on the floor. The guard exited the room, understanding that the couple needed privacy and remembering what happened to the last guards that disrespected the prisoner. The lust and arousal disappeared from the room, now there was only concern between Katara and the fire prince.

"I need you to stay here. Safe." Zuko sentenced as he put on his armor.

"I can help you…" Katara muttered, low but enough for him to listen at her plea.

Despite that, Zuko couldn't comprehend the meaning of that since Katara was still keeping her waterbending as a secret. She could be in fact useful, but for that she needed to reveal her true self and secret abilities. Abilities that were hidden and that costed her mother's life to keep them that way. Could she end the same way her mother ended if that ship of the Fire Nation and its crew, including the prince, found out that she was the last wanted waterbender of the South Pole? Before she could reach a conclusion for her dilemma, Zuko was kneeled before her.

"I want you out of trouble, so obey." He ordered, returning to his initial rough tone, the one he was used to speak to his men in tense situations like the one they were in.

Katara couldn't help but nod at his intimidating tone. She heard him say "good" under his breath and then he exited the room calmly. What she didn't see was the prince running outside the deck with the urge the situation required. The ship was going from side to side due to the waves cradle. It was worse than the prince imagined but while being in such intimate moment in bed with the prisoner he hadn't noticed. That was what happened whenever he allowed himself to feel something, he lost his focus on major responsibilities like guiding the ship and keeping his crew safe.

As Zuko exited the interior of the ship, salty water splashed his face from waves that were impacting with the metal of the ship. They were going totally against the direction of the waves, making it impossible to advance towards the south pole. He had been silly to ignore the storm and decide to go through it anyways. But it was too late to regret. His uncle was trying to order around the men to resist the powerful waves, but each one came stronger than the last one.

Meanwhile, the waterbender watched through the slim window how the waves were trying to swallow the ship. They weren't going to make it. the water was uncontrollable and so was the ship due to the ocean's movement. They needed her waterbending skills even if it meant that the sacrifice her mother did to hide her was in vain. Katara knew it was a life or death situation and she preferred to do something and end paying the price herself than sacrifice the whole tribulation to save herself in vain.

"Uncle! Go inside!" Zuko ordered, knowing that Iroh's balance was hard to maintain while being on the deck. "I'll take care of it."

"I don't think so, Prince Zuko." Iroh replied, having to yell to get his words into his nephew's ears. "This is the worst storm I've ever seen. The only solution is to change the course." He proposed as a solution.

"It's too late to change the course. If we try, we'll sink before we can turn." Zuko replied at his wise uncle, who had no other advise than a wrong one.

Iroh was going to answer something more, but he opened his eyes in surprise instead. Zuko turned and saw Katara with her coat on, running to get to the beginning of the ship. She crossed their path without saying a word and jumped at the edge of the metallic deck, facing the wild waters.

"Are you crazy?! You're going to get yourself killed!" The fire prince yelled in an anxious tone that creeped down Katara's spine.

"My nephew's right, Miss Katara. This is too dangerous for you." Iroh also tried to reason with her but she was immersed in staring at the deep ocean that shook the ship from side to side.

Against all odds, the prince advanced through the deck, fighting the splashed that came from the waves and the intense wind that chilled his usually warm skin. His prisoner was just standing there, hands lifted and still, as if that were useful someway to stop the waves and calm the storm.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Zuko yelled once he reached her, pulling her by the arm. "Get down here in the deck and return inside, peasant." He sentenced roughly, making her face him.

"I told you I can help." Katara insisted, resisting his grip to face the entire ocean before their eyes. She didn't succeed, so she used all the strength her body had. "Let go of me!"

Katara managed to get free from the prince's iron grip. With all of her concentration and strength focused on her arms and hands, the upcoming enormous wave that was coming towards the ship was torn aside. The waterbender was surprised for a moment, but she guessed that it had worked thanks to fighting Zuko previously.

"Katara?" Iroh asked, amazed with what the little lady had achieved with just a movement. Her sight, nevertheless, traveled exclusively to Zuko's expression, unreadable for her.

"Order your men to stop the engine!" The waterbender asked at the fire prince, the only one capable of making an order be immediately followed.

Zuko looked behind him, there were men waiting for a command. He found no other solution that obeying to the apparent prisoner that could waterbend.

"Do it, now!" The prince barked, making each member of the crew move to make the people controlling the engines stop.

Being that ordered, the ship's engines were turned off in a matter of seconds. Nobody noticed the difference since the waves didn't allow the ship to move further. Before the waves cold actually move the ship backwards, Katara lifted her hands and an icy wall rose from the depths of the ocean, making a barrier that contained the waves coming from the front. Furthermore, once the ice barrier was secured, the waterbender lifted her hands and created a bubble on the sky that contained the rain. Even the wind had stopped, leaving all signs of storm and unbalance out of the ship's reach. The silence was made, nobody dared to speak after seeing what the prisoner was capable to do. With those skills, she could have been able to escape from the ship whenever she wanted. But even Katara didn't know she was capable to dominate the water that way, it all had been born from the survival instincts.

"You can waterbend." Zuko sentenced behind her, in an unknown tone.

"She saved our life." Iroh exclaimed, trying to dissuade the ideas his nephew was having after such revelation. "We can't possibly cross this before the storm ends. If it weren't for the ice blocking the-..." The general was left talking alone as Katara got down fro, the edge of the deck and met Zuko's eyes.

"You lied to me." The fire prince sentenced in an angry sigh. His trust had been broken, he couldn't reason despite Katara's action. All he could feel was hurt and betrayal. Tension was once more filling the deck.

"I couldn't risk my life! I didn't want to end killed for being a waterbender… like my mother." Katara confessed, lifting her hands to caress Zuko's face, but he made a step back so her fingertips couldn't reach him.

"You could have killed anybody in this ship if you wanted." He continued realizing things while speaking his thoughts out loud.

"But I didn't! I healed you when you got burned during training!" She reminded him, desperating by seeing his reaction. "On the lake I could have killed you and I didn't!" Katara continued and made a step further to try and regain her captor's affection.

"Prince Zuko, she deserves a Thank You, not untrust." Iroh tried to help Katara, trying to make him open his eyes. She was their savior, not someone unknown with bad intentions. But everybody on the ship knew his temper and how difficult it was to reason with Zuko when he was displeased.

"Men, send the waterbender to the prison hold. She'll stay there until we reach her tribe." For Zuko, Katara was another different person after revealing her inner self. And so, it determined his sentence.

"Nephew!" Iroh muttered as the guards cornered Katara. He was committing a grave mistake. "Even though she hid her waterbending, you shouldn't take it so personally." He was really sorry for the peasant and he believed that with more influence towards Zuko he could achieve freeing her. But the fire prince was hurt and that was something that rarely happened and he didn't like to be repeated.

"Zuko, let me talk to you before you make a decision!" Katara begged, hands lifted in the air as a sign of surrender as the guards creeped towards her. "Please!" She pleaded once she obtained no answer from him.

The end is very near, chapter 10 will be the great finale and the tension has just started building up. Any guesses on what will happen? There are still a lot of unanswered questions that will come to place sooner than you expect.

Frozenheart7