Title: Committed

Pairing: Zuko/Katara

Rating: M

Summary: There are some sins in life worth committing.

A/N: Can I just say that I loathe verb tenses? I feel like the writing probably jumps around a bit in regards to that, so I apologize. However, thanks for reading! And happy holidays if I don't update before then =)

Pride

Katara has officially been appointed Ambassador of the Southern Water Tribe to the Fire Nation, which means she will be around for a good while. A part of me is thrilled-but another small part of me is terrified at the prospect of being alone with her. We hadn't gotten around to talking about what happened that night.

I was beginning to think that it really had been a dream.

What happened? Why did it happen? My mind kept coming up with crazy explanations...

Was it some sort of messed up joke? Was she going to come up to me one day, laugh and say, "Just kidding!" and we'd go back to normal?

Was she experimenting? She could've just asked... If it was all an experiment, I would think she'd want some feedback. I mean, she was pretty good. Not that I'm well versed in the ... subject. Mai had never-well, Mai had never really done much of anything.

Unless she was practising for someone else? The thought gave me a tight feeling in my chest that I didn't wish to dwell on. Whenever I went down that path, the flames in the wall torches flared a little brighter...

It's been two weeks now.

It's been busy, what can I say. When I was younger, I used to believe that Fire Lords got to do whatever they wanted-the majority of the job being spent sitting on that damn throne surrounded by walls of fire. I soon learned that to be a good Fire Lord, one does not simply sit around. Instead, I find myself going to meeting after meeting. This is probably because the Four Nations haven't had peace in over a hundred years, so there's a lot to catch up on.

It's been two weeks.

Being an Ambassador, Katara is at many of the same meetings as me. When discussions get particularly boring, I find myself staring at her, trying to catch her eye when the others aren't looking, searching for a sign that it had been her that did that thing to me that night.

So far, nothing. For a while, I couldn't even look at Katara without feeling a blush crawl up my neck. Meanwhile, she was able to look me right in the eye, without so much as a blink, and say trivial things like "Will General Iroh be joining us today?" or "Here's that scroll outlining the shipping policies between the Water Tribes and the Fire Nation".

It's been two weeks.

I couldn't wrap my head around it. She gave no acknowledgment that that night had ever occurred.

The sounds of shuffling people and papers startled me as the meeting came to an end.

I had been thinking of her again. It's been happening a lot more lately...

After dinner, I headed to the Royal Gardens to clear my head. The Gardens were private and quiet, a good place to meditate or practice some bending forms. I had shed the Fire Lord robes and crown for my simple tunic and pants and chose to wander around barefoot, feeling the grass between my toes. The sun was beginning to set, casting the manicured landscape in a pinkish orange light.

I hated the colour orange.

I began stretching, relaxing and working my muscles after a day of sitting in meetings, breathing slowly and deeply. I closed my eyes, the only sounds being my own breathing and the soft splashes from the various fountains and waterfalls on the grounds.

Suddenly, a rustling of leaves nearby announced that I was not alone after all.

I whirled around, a snarl on the tip of my tongue when I was met with the sight of Katara, stepping out from behind some bushes looking slightly sheepish.

I promptly forgot how to talk. I was thankful for the sunset lighting as I could feel a blush forming on my cheeks.

My gaze shot to the ground as I opened my mouth to say something, but I was swiftly interrupted by the very wet yet burning feeling of a water whip swiping at my legs. My eyes shot up.

The water whip encircled her body, encasing her hands as she stood at the ready. When our eyes met, she quirked an eyebrow at me, her blue eyes taunting.

All of a sudden, she smiled.

I could've sworn it was the smile.

My smile.

I blinked, taken aback, which was the wrong thing to do because I immediately had to dive out of the way as shards of ice came pelting towards me.

The awkwardness that had sprung up between us soon dissipated in the air as her water attacks met my fire in billows of steam.

For the first time in a long time I felt free and uninhibited. We were sparring, throwing what we could at each other, pushing each other and ourselves to the limit, relishing in the power of our elements, and challenging each other in a way that no one else could. If it was at all possible, I felt like Katara had gotten better. My heart was pounding as my body screamed at me to keep up with her assault.

Meetings or no meetings, I really had to schedule more time to train.

I gasped as my back slammed up against a tree, the wind getting knocked out of me. I tried to move but shortly realized that I couldn't. I was frozen to the tree. A triumphant look lit up her face as she slowly began sauntering towards me.

I instinctively began the breathing exercises meant to stimulate my inner fire, hoping to melt the ice and wipe that victorious smirk off her face, but the many layers of ice proved to be too thick to melt quickly. She stopped right in front of me, her face mere inches from my own.

I prepared to concede defeat when unexpectedly, she kissed me.

It wasn't the most chaste of kisses either. It was a hot openmouthed kiss, our tongues and teeth clumsily clashing against each other. I quickly found the ability to respond after a millisecond of complete and utter shock. Her hands gripped my face desperately as our lips moved against one another, drinking each other in.

I clenched my fists hopelessly in the air, my arms still locked in place, yearning to move closer, to bring her closer to me ... but being frozen to a tree made that impossible.

She was the one that stopped the kiss, pulling away from me as I struggled against my icy barricade. I'm sure I looked pretty pathetic because she giggled at what must have been a forlorn expression on my face as she took a step back. With a wave of her hand, the ice melted and I slid unceremoniously down the trunk of the tree to the ground.

Katara stared down at me with a smirk, arms crossed over her chest as I slowly sat up rubbing the back of my head where it hit the trunk earlier. I stared up at her, seeing the pride shining on her face. I couldn't help but chuckle at how pleased she looked. She looked down incredulously at the sound of my laugh which only caused me to laugh more. Protesting, she jumped into my lap, tackling me back to the ground. My hands instantly went to her hips, to move her off of me but she switftly grabbed my wrists to prevent such a thing, demands that I accept defeat spouting from her lips.

It went on for a bit, but let me just say that when the girl you just shared an extraordinary kiss with is squirming all around on top of you, there was bound to be-

Both of us went still at the same time.

Katara's eyes went slightly wide and I prepared myself to promptly roll over when she'd surely scramble off me in horror. I'd apologize profusely, face to the ground to hide my shame, then die on the spot. Simple, really.

Only ... she didn't get off me.

She squirmed a bit more and my reaction to her grew a bit more. I bit back a moan but she must have sensed it because her eyes lit up with ... something... and, with her hands still around my wrists, she squirmed again.

Katara was grinding against me.

My pulse began to quicken as her hips swiveled against mine, experimentally. I finally let out a moan, not being able to hold it in, my hands automatically going to her waist ... but not to push her off...

She shushed me, one hand coming up to place a finger against my lips, the other wrapping around my wrist again to bring my hand up against her breast.

The look in her eyes is mischievous, and an excited thrill goes up and down my spine at the glint in her eyes.

I sit up then, to kiss her, my one hand gently massaging her breast while the other snakes around her waist, to the small of her back, pushing her closer to me.

We're soon panting into each other's mouths. My hands scramble to the front of her tunic, fumbling at the sash until the cloth falls back from her shoulders. My tunic meets the same fate as hers, as she flings the useless red material over my shoulder. Her hands are all over me, fingers skating up my ribs (which she discovers is my ticklish spot), over my shoulders, down my arms, then back up. She lingers a bit near my chest as the roughness of the flesh becomes more prominent beneath her fingers. She stops kissing me for a moment and looks down at the star-shaped scar there, a sharp intake of air telling me that she remembers that day almost as vividly as I do. I open my mouth to say something ... anything... but with a tiny smile and a small shake of her head, she locks her arms behind my head and we go in for another searing kiss.

Right. No talking.

The feel of her nails scratching up my back and her hands running through my hair leaves me feeling dizzy. My mind reels, words like now, now, hot, more, kiss, more, now flitting through my brain.

Both my hands slide up her back, pushing her close to me as possible. I wanted skin on skin contact, but there was a barrier preventing this from happening.

I try to make quick work of her chest wrappings, all without separating my mouth from her skin, but this tactic soon fails as I find my fingers helplessly tangled and the damn garment nowhere near to being off. I make a frustrated noise. Katara giggles, reaches back and with what seems like a mere tug, the wrappings fall away easily into my hands.

I throw her wrappings aside as I lean in for another kiss, my hands exploring the newly exposed skin. I begin to gently rub as I start to place kisses along her neck, then her collarbone, then up the other side of her neck. The sounds she was emitting was like music to my ears. My mouth drifted lower as Katara unconsciously leaned back, arching her back and giving me more access to her body.

After almost rolling us right into a tree, I gently pushed her down into the grass to continue my exploration.

I switched from gently kneading her breast to tweaking her nipples with my fingers, absolutely fascinated by the way they hardened underneath my touch and at the blooming of goosebumps on the surrounding skin. I placed my mouth on top of one nipple, my lips placing a kiss upon the senstive peak. I really had no idea what I was doing, but from the whimpers coming from her mouth, I had to be doing something right. I switched to lavish attention on the other breast, determined not to make it feel left out.

Katara kept running her hands through my hair, her nails gently scraping against my scalp. I kissed my way back up to her lips. I couldn't get enough of her.

She stops the kissing for a moment, enough for me to open my eyes to look at her. My eyes meet hers, and in that instant, so much was said between us without any of us having to say a single word.

Her fingers tenderly brush against the left side of my face, starting at my chin and softly going up the side to my scar. She traces the lines of my scar, her eyes open and honest as they stare into mine. It was only a second, but it felt endless.

Our lips met once more, a little gentler this time, caressing as we discovered each other's tastes. Her hand made its way to the waistband of my pants, pushing them down so she could grab a hold of me.

I hiss in pleasure as she begins to stroke me and the tiny still-functioning part of my brain urges my hands to divest her out of her own bottoms.

Things begin moving quite fast again. I never make it completely out of my pants. With a surprising amount of strength, Katara pushes me on to my back so that I'm the one lying in the grass. She positions herself on top and lowers herself down over me, sheathing me inside her warmth. Her face slightly contorts in discomfort for a second as she adjusts to having me inside her. It's her first time and it killed me that this was causing her pain because to me, everything felt so so good. I sat up to kiss her. I wanted to whisper something, to say something or tell her something but the words never came.

Words weren't really our thing anyway.

Before long, she moves against me, her furrowed brow smoothing over as we strive to find a rhythm together. She bounces in my lap as my hips thrust up to meet her, our tempo anything but poetic. But struggle as we might have during that first time, whatever we were doing was working for us. Our breaths came out in pants as we made every effort to keep quiet lest we be caught. She felt so warm and wet around me... I knew it wasn't going to last much longer.

I bury my face into her neck, grunting against her skin as it happens, stars exploding behind closed lids as I pump once, twice, three times into her. I clutch onto her, willing my heart to slow down as our chests heave against each other. I turn to look up at her and she smiles, wiping my sweat-drenched hair away from my forehead. She gives me one last slow kiss as we are still joined together before we find the energy to disentangle ourselves from the other and pick up our clothing.

I brush blades of grass from places I didn't even know I had and pull my pants up from around my knees. Somehow my tunic ended up in a bush.

Katara forgoes the wrappings, simply slipping on her pants and tunic. I couldn't help but peek as I noticed her still erect nipples strain against the fabric. She catches me, gasping theatrically at my insolence before turning away to finish tying up the sash.

Funny how we become shy again after ... well, after that.

She uses the pond as a mirror to finger-comb the tangles (and grass) from her hair. I watch as she makes herself look more presentable, and feel my heart swell a little. She stands up with a huff and motions up and down her body for my inspection, eyebrow raised questioningly.

I shrug halfheartedly and she smacks my arm in retaliation.

We walk back towards the Palace together, a careful distance between us, but close enough that our hands brush every so often. Too soon, we part ways, as Katara reaches the Visitors' Corridor of the Palace.

I continue walking back to my end, when I feel a water whip thrash lightly against my behind. I turn around to see her, that triumphant smirk upon her face delivering her message to me loud and clear:

I win.