Blood Thirst.

Summery: Kataang one-shot. "You are the Avatar. You managed to bereave the FireLord of his firebending... And now I, your wife, beg you: take my bending away!"

A/N: Also a long ago written story, which brought me the 1st prize at Avatar hot-fest I (November 2009). I tried hard to make the language of it sound English enough, but there are a few places that may still feel a bit weird. As long as it looks grammatically correct, it's fine. But if not, could you possibly inform me about it as I still don't have any beta reader. Reviews extremely welcome )

The town slept, washed with the full moon light as if with oil. The booming sounds were reflecting off the walls in the deserted streets, causing her to flinch from tension and draw her head deeper in her shoulders. She was creeping like a thief, trying not to wake the playful echo of stone crossings. When she came up to the coaching inn on the outskirts of the town, she leaned against the wall for a moment in relief: almost all the windows were dark, the guests went to bed, and she did not have to face any of them in the dining room. Before stepping inside she blinked a few times and rubbed her eyelids - the reddish haze was inundating her sight making it difficult to see the steps clearly, the measured pulsation inside the bodies sleeping in the rooms was maddening...

"Katara..."

He stopped close, stretched out his hand - to touch her cheek, but she dodged the red flickering flower of his fingers, and getting around him, started to climb up the stairs. He did not allow her, picked her up in his arms, and in two jumps they were on the second floor, in their attic. Katara awkwardly scrambled out of the embrace, avoiding his eyes, walked to the table and sat down heavily on the stool.

"Wait, please. I'm tired."

"Care for dinner?"

A convulsion shot through her body as if she held the gag spasm. He was instantly at her feet, looked into the grayed face, took the ice-cold fingers in the palm, and they immediately began to quiver. She freed her hand gently .

"That bad?" Seeing her shivering Aang brought a fur cloak, but no longer tried to touch her.

"Thank you, love," she smiled gratefully. "Yes, today there was an awful lot of work... Three women in childbirth - all malpresentation ... fractured clavicle ... boy fell from the roof of a shed. Gastric ulcer ... gosh, better not ask!"

"I will not."

"What about you?"

"Nothing new. Quarrel between the earthbenders and firebenders at steel plant... The two boys got lost in the swamp... Then it was necessary to lay water on the fields..."

"What? Is this now also Avatar's duty?" Katara asked, undisguised irritation obvious in her voice.

"It is not difficult. And they would have to spend weeks for that, no less."

"And still, do you remember what Iroh said. People must build their lives on their own. We only help..."

"I know, I know. But you had not come, and I decided: why not ... You, too, could have not interfered. The healers here coped with all this without you before."

Katara dropped her head in her hands folded on the table.

"They cried... for so long… Even after they'd been given a decoction. And the babies... They were so bad there, inside – cramped, stuffy..." She started to tremble again and wrapped herself tightly in the cloak.

"That won't do. You're absolutely exhausted... Don't worry, tomorrow it will be easier - the moon is waning. Let's go to bed, you need to rest."

"Go without me. I can't sleep until the moon goes down. I have enough power for another three days like this."

"Another day like this - and there's nothing left from you. You melt away with every hour."

Katara threw her head back and straightened.

"I feel every warm-blooded creature inside this inn, I can tell exactly who has heart problems, who has bad blood vessels, I know that in a room on the first floor there is couple making love at the moment, that a mouse bore mice in the pantry behind the sacks of beans. And you think that I can just fall asleep?.. I came here, afraid to wake up people in their houses with my steps, because when they sleep, it's better. I see no walls and no pavement, but dozens of red blood bodies, cowering in their beds and mattresses. With each person I'm healing with a help of bloodbending, my feelings aggravate even more. Now I more than ever understand how Toph can see being blind. But most of all I'd like to get rid of this new "vision"!"

"Love..."

"Aang, better leave me alone. You should not be around me right now. You – least of all. I feel like a monster..."

"But you're not! Think of the people you've saved. Several times I've heard people speak about you today – they thanked the spirits that you'd come to the town. Not Avatar, but Katara, the waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe!"

"They don't know what that means! They don't know how I see them now! They would be horrified and cursed me, if they knew, from whom and how I learned to bloodbend! Aang, I'm afraid to lose myself, as it happened to Hama, afraid of losing control of this power!"

Sitting at her feet he looked up at her. His eyes were quite serious.

"What do you feel, tell me. Why are you afraid? What do you want?"

She could not bear his gaze, so she stood up and began pacing the room.

"I don't know. Once I would say that I do not want to intrude into a person without his consent... But now I just can't help this awareness of the inside of anyone who's around at the full moon. Power overwhelms me so that I need to give it a way out, for example, in the hospital - otherwise ... otherwise I don't know what can happen. I see myself as a sort of a creepy purple creature with lots of tentacles extending to everyone to reach out at some moment, pull the strings and subdue their will. I can even sleep only at daytime, while there's no moon in the sky. I don't want this! I didn't ask for this gift! I want to be just Katara, your wife - to help you, stand by you, cook, sew, do laundry, bear your children! I want to wake up from this bloody nightmare and forget about it!" She turned to her husband, quickly approached him and knelt down beside him. "You are the Avatar. You managed to bereave the FireLord of his firebending... And now I, your wife, beg you: take my bending away! Or I'll just go crazy."

Aang startled and stood up without taking his darkened stormy eyes off of her.

"You do not understand..."

"You do not understand!" she cried out, too, standing up and turning away from him. «My power has become my curse. With each full moon I'm afraid to break, do something terrible, cause pain, even take someone's life unintentionally! And you ... you are always there, holding my hand, coddle in your arms, kissing the artery on my neck, so hot, so alive ... Don't you understand, that I can clench a fist, and your heart will stop! I'm afraid even to look at you - I don't see you, but what's inside, everything blurs before my eyes!" Katara closed her eyes and waved her hands in despair. "I'm afraid to touch you, because then it all becomes a reality, not just bloody delirium..."

Her hand met his chest, and Katara recoiled to the wall in horror, but Aang came up so close that she could not avoid contact. His darkened eyes wandered over her face, he was silent, not trying to hug or calm her down. Just the opposite. Her eyes widened and her heart missed a beat. Desire. Craving. Thirst. Hot rapid breathing, rushing out of his chest. A cold flow hit her lower abdomen with arousal and returned to the shoulder blade making her skin bristle with goose bumps. Her heart again gave an irrelevant beat.

"Aa-a..." His name in her tightened throat turned into a drawling moan, her fingers frantically dug into the fabric on his chest, and she started to scratch his clothes off, suddenly realizing that nothing was more important than the touch of his bare skin, the feeling of complete unity, undivided possession and belonging. The thundering current of his blood no longer scared her, it called into a breathtaking maelstrom, forcing her veins to sing under the pressure of his desire.

...The sun rays flowed through the window, announcing that the day came long ago, but they did not pay attention to that. Aang looked at the light through his wife's delicate fingers, which seemed transparently red. Katara smiled gently into his chest. The thirst flooded back, the passion soaked like a wave into the sand of dawn, leaving them weakened and breathless, in the foam of sheets.

"You're beautiful," Aang said. "Perfect."

The memories made her whole frame shudder and cuddle up to him even closer.

"I was not myself..."

"You were mine. I would not change this night for any other. I felt every beat of your heart, every curve of your veins, thirst in your blood..."

Katara abruptly sat up, staring at her husband stunned.

"You are..."

"Of course", Aang playfully traced the light-blue lines on her dark arm with his fingertips, triggering a wave of shivers in response. "All these full moons together with you could not be in vain. I am also a waterbender, you know."