Day 1: Serendipity

You know the drill. What's mine is mime and what's Bryke's is Bryke's.

Tickle

Ok. Ok. So she was to blame. It's her fault that she was in this awkward position. It's her fault that Sokka was shouting death threats loud enough to reach Yue. It's her fault a very handsome, very naked, Firebender was her only shield form said brother. Most importantly, she was not the only one to blame.

Before all of this had even happened, much earlier in the day, no one, not she her brother or her (at this time clothed) Firebender, could have imagined they would have been in this predicament at all. Katara was working from her ambassador office in the Officials Wing of the Firenation Palace. The mounds of parchment on her desk were mostly from Omashu Earth Kingdom Nobles who wanted to secure their agreements with relevance to trade with the Water Tribes. The others were miscellaneous -peace meeting registrations or citizenship transfers into other colonies. For the amount of documents she had to go through, she managed to fly through them with ease. She mused off handedly to herself that the reason she had finished so quickly was because she had finally found time to do some yoga during the day.

She wandered up and down the halls of the enormous royal estate, peeking into the many doors she knew her friends should be behind. Unfortunately, the light load she had been handed had not been offered to her friends that day.

Katara took to the kitchen where she hoped a snack would distract her from her boredom. She still was not quite use to having others cater to her, so when the cooks and other kitchen help fussed about her; she almost blew a fuse from the frustration. Eventually, she was able to escape from the kitchen with a small bowl of some type of flakey cheesy crackers, but not soon enough.

Katara absentmindedly walked through the hallway with her eyes directed at the crackers which she stuffed unceremoniously into her mouth. As she continued down the hall she muttered to herself about being bored and about the rampaging kitchen help. She had no real destination now that she had her snack, so Katara kept to hall wandering.

"Stupid lousy cheese crackers; there always has to be spice in the food here, and a simple snack is no exception I see." Yes there was spice in the flaky snack, but there was hardly enough on each cracker to actually be a bother. Honestly, she had just walked long enough to run out of things to satisfyingly complain about.

"Well if our foods offend you so greatly, why don't you eat your own?" The snide remark, enhanced with a smirk that would have been smacked off his face if he weren't himself, bounced off the halls directly to Katara's ears.

"Then I'd only be avoiding the problem, not solving it. It would be far better if the meals were just prepared in a non-offensive way." Katara stopped walking, licked the last bit of her snack off her fingers and turned her attention to her friend, Firelord Zuko. She noticed the smirk on his face but also that there was no light in his eyes.

"So Zuko, how come you aren't stuck in a meeting or locked in your office buried beneath piles of documents?" Katara walked over to him leading against the wall he was leaning on, so that they could have the conversation next to each other.

"My head counselor told me I needed to take a break for a while. He says that I'm too stressed and that overworking myself will only lead to a larger disruptive setback later on."

"He's right, but that doesn't sound convincing enough for you to give up a few days' work."

"Yeah, I refused and told him I would take my chances. Then he threatened to have my Uncle sailed over here so he could properly scold me, and then recount me on his many 'late night visitors.' Believe me I get enough of those in his letters. While seeing him would be nice, I can't just pull his away from his jobs and his 'duties'." They simultaneously shuddered in revulsion, and then share a good laugh.

"What do you have planned for your time off?"

"I have no idea. I'm not very good at relaxing."

"You're right."

He shifts his eyes to glare at her for a second before they share another laugh.

"What were you planning to do today?" It was Katara's turn to be stumped.

"I don't know. Everyone is swamped with work today. I thought I could spend time with one of them but that plan looks like a no go."

"Well then it looks like we're keeping each other company for a while." She left the bowl on the stand by their standing place that held up a flower pot. One of the servants should see it and tend to it.

They ventured in and out of the palace and finally arrived at the Firelord's study. Katara claimed dibs on the Firelord's chair, leaving Zuko to sit on his desk facing her. Their discussions finally lead to Katara asking him if he was ticklish. Of course he said no, but Zuko is a terrible liar.

The tickling was obvious to anticipate, but she was so persistent and quick that Katara broke through Zuko's guarding arms and landed her frenzied fingers on his stomach. Zuko immediately doubled over and tried to grab her hands, but Katara kept managing to evade his grasp and made contact with him long enough to cause his body to jerk in response. His face was flushed when Katara decides it was time to stop the attack. As he caught his breath his posture remained apprehensive of a surprise attack.

Katara marveled at the sound of the laughter that was caused from the barrage. It was loud, unrestricted, and goofy; she may have even heard him snort. She honestly hadn't tickled him for very long, but in that short amount of time she had watched a side of him that scarcely has time to surface, especially considering his occupation.

"Don't do that again. I hate being tickled Katara."

She didn't listen. She knew he was serious because he took the time to add her name. Instead, she shot her fingers back into his side; she had to see that wall break down one more time, and see that sparkle in his eyes one more time before they are shut away until the next forced vacation. Immediately his face crumpled and his reserved countenance was tucked away in the creases he drew onto his face from laughing and scrunching up. He struggled away from her fingers, but she pulled him back, still managing to tickle him. He couldn't maintain his balance on the desk while trying to keep Katara's hands at bay, and trying to squirm away from her all at the same time. Zuko couldn't catch himself and he crashed down on Katara. That didn't deter her; somehow she was on the floor with him, the chair was toppled over, now her face was clenched and her diaphragm was heaving, because Zuko had decided that if she was going to torture him he can return the favor.

They were both wriggling on the floor laughing manically, neither one was letting up, but Zuko couldn't take the constant stimulation anymore. She has reduced him to begging, but Katara was not letting up. Zuko was pleading for her to stop, but she must have been too lost behind her own laughter, because she was not relenting. Zuko had had enough. He forcibly rolled over to pin her down with his body, hoping the proximity would bring her to her senses. It didn't, her arms were still free and she could still play at his sides.

She sent the tickling sensation down his side to his waist, trying to find a new target spot. Instead of a renewed burst of laughter her ears were met with a different sound. It was the mixture of a huff and a groan. It was finally enough to get her to stop. The sound hit right in her ear, and the breath it traveled on was warm and damp. She couldn't stop the shiver that went down her spine.

"It took you long enough to listen." Zuko's voice was different; maybe it was gruffer because of the laughing, but there was also something else. Katara noticed this and also how squished under Zuko she was.

Zuko had finally grabbed her wrists and pulled them away from their bodied which in turn meant he didn't have much support of his own to hold him up. He was amazed at how much energy he actually lost just from tickling. His head was rested very close to Katara's and he could feel the tremor run through her when he spoke, but he wasn't about to run the risk of another attack. He also pretended that he didn't know what his breath in her ear was doing; it was his own little payback for the tickling.

"I told you to stop, more than once you know."

"I hadn't realized." She was lying. She really had heard him, but she was just so bored and seeing his face light up was far more alluring than stopping.

"Zuko?"

"Yes?"

"If you don't liked being tickled, then what do you like?"

He could hear it in her voice. Whatever game they had been playing had just become more than friendly. He repositioned himself so that he was sitting astride her.

"Maybe I should demonstrate."

Still a bit suspicious, he let go of her hands with a slow caution. When it was apparent that she wasn't going to launch another attack he let his hand go immediately to her breast. He massaged her through her clothing and when her lips formed an O he leant down to capture her moan with his mouth. His kiss was like his groping: firm, purposeful, but surprisingly gentle. Zuko pulled back to see the faint blush on Katara's cheeks under her closed eyes. He stilled his hand and Katara's eyes fluttered open.

"Better than a tickle?"

"I don't know. Maybe you should try it somewhere else." Katara's smirk was only in his line of vision for a short time when he plunged back to her lips before sliding down to the crook of her neck. He opened her shirt revealing more smooth skin for his lips to travel on. When her breast bindings became a problem he simply removed those too. When his tongue flashed across one of her nipples she decided that she needed to have some more fun with him.

"I still don't think I'm understanding. I should aah" –Zuko had shifted from licks to teeth grazing- "try a different approach." She pushed Zuko up allowing them both to sit; she slid his shirt open felling he muscles in his chest ripping under her fingers. She was very thankful that he was in very simple garments and not his usual multilayered robes. He still had to wear his crown, but that had fallen off in the tickle fight.

She brought her lips to his and made sure he knew she was the one that was in control as their tongues danced around. She slightly pulled his bottom lip away from his mouth when she finally backed off from the kiss. Katara could see the heat inside of Zuko's eyes as they caught their breath; so far this look on his was her favorite. Zuko scooted back to remove his pants and undergarment giving Katara time to do the same.

He pushed her back down, but instead of joining her, his lips found a way to her center. He sucked on her nub and slid two fingers inside of her eliciting mewls and moans. Before she had time to climax he pulled away from her. Taking his fingers slick with her juices he, one at a time, held both of her nipples between them then licked her flavors off. As he busied himself with her breast she took the opportunity to reach down between them and grab his member. When he drew a deep breath she looked at him far too innocently and asked him in a slightly mocking tone, "Did I tickle you?"

Zuko repositioned then slowly slid into her letting her feel his length. Smirking he asked, "Did I?"

After that the only things they talked with were their bodies; moans and grunts were the only noises that filled the room, with an occasional throaty mantra that consisted of their names. A good rhythm had been set until Zuko broke it when he stopped to pull them off the ground. He took Katara and pinned her to the shelf of scrolls that was behind them. Once they were in a comfortable position Zuko plunged himself deep within her and set an even faster pace, causing some of the parchments to haphazardly scatter on the ground.

They both came hard, but instead of getting to collapse into each other's arms they were instead interrupted by one very furious brother.

"Ah ha!" Sokka had his one finger pointed at them. "I knew it sounded like you two! Unhand my sister; I don't care if you are the Fire Lord or not! Ew, cover up if you are going to turn around!" Zuko grabbed a hand full of someone's clothing while they were barraged by Sokka's threatening reprimanding lecture type thing. (It would have been a lecture if he hadn't kept asking a million questions then immediately dismissing them.) Zuko didn't dear pick up more clothes, even though he realized he was using Katara's unraveled binding as a scanty cover-up, Katara had insisted on using him as her own cover.

She hadn't planned this day at all which caused her to be bored. By the end of the day, not only did she find a way to be entertained, but she got to see a Zuko that wasn't all scowls, and more importantly she knew just what it took to break him out of his gloomy attitudes. And the thought of getting him to laugh in public had crossed her mind a few times.

"Sokka get out or I'll spend the next hour telling you every minute detail of Zuko and my 'fun time'."

As Sokka sprinted out the room Katara also added this new way to shut up her brother to her list of serendipitous findings.

Yeah! Zutara Week 2012 is officially here. I'm participating again but I think the rest of the entries will be late. It's been a long time since I wrote my last smut so bare with me. ^_^