Zutara Week Day Two: Blood

“Zuko!” Katara screamed again, staring down.  Thankfully, he managed to land on a ledge and was spared from the jagged rocks at the bottom.  But that didn’t leave him unscathed.  He lay there, bleeding, and only half-conscious.

'Oh, Yue, what have I done?!'
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“Katara?  Katara, how’d you get over here?  And where’s Zuko?” Sokka asked, as everyone returned from the market.  Katara stood up from kneeling on the ground and turned around, face streaked with tears.  

Before anyone could comment, Toph yelled, “Sparky!”  She rushed over to the gorge and took a stance.  Stomping the ground and swiftly raising her arms, she caused the ledge to detach itself from the wall of the cliff and rise.  Everyone gasped as they saw Zuko’s bleeding body.

“Katara, what happened?” Aang asked, staring at the prince.

“He-he fell…” Katara croaked.  Snapping to attention, she started giving out orders.  

“We need to head back to the beach, or to some kind of water source.  If I don’t heal him soon…” she trailed off, tears threatening to spill.   She didn’t need to say anymore.  Creating a large platform of rock, Toph told everyone to get on.  Using her earthbending, she caused the rock to move forward at an astounding speed, deftly dodging trees (they aren’t THAT close together).   In almost no time at all, they were back at the beach, and Aang set Zuko down in the house.

“Leave us alone.  I need to be able to concentrate.  And I think Appa’s getting louder.” Katara said, shooing everyone out the room.  Closing the door, she gently removed Zuko’s shirt, and bending the water out of a nearby bowl, set to work on healing his chest wounds.  There was some blood seeping out of his legs, so Katara removed his pants as well, blushing lightly at his toned body.

Somewhat glad he was still unconscious; Katara healed a few gashes in his legs.  Zuko was still covered in blood, so Katara reluctantly used her blood bending to take the blood away.  As she bent the blood away, she was transfixed by the way it looked in the moonlight.

Zuko’s blood was unlike any blood she had ever seen before.  It was a dark, rich red, and just had this…feel…about it, that made Katara never want to see it again.
Shaking her head and feeling disgusted at herself, she bent the blood out of the window and waited for Zuko to wake up.

~~~~~A few hours later~~~~~~

“*groan*” Zuko stirred and opened his eyes, taking in his surroundings.  As far as he could tell, they were back at the beach, and apparently, he was in a room in the house.  His old room, in fact.

Sitting up and looking around, he saw Katara slumped on a chair, eyes closed and breathing slowly.  He glanced back at his body to see how he was clothed in nothing but his shorts.  He also noticed how he wasn’t bleeding and how the wounds he had received didn’t hurt anymore.

Moving his arms to make sure they were fine, Zuko, being Zuko, accidentally knocked over the bowl by his bed.  It fell to the ground with a crash and shattered everywhere, causing Katara to wake with a start.

“Oops…” he said, smiling nervously.  Katara just shook her head in annoyance and went outside to fetch a broom.  When she came back, she said, “You’re lucky you didn’t wake anybody else up.”  Yawning, she started sweeping the shards into a pile.

'She looks really tired', Zuko thought.  And it was true.  Katara’s eyes were half closed, and she yawned more than once while sweeping.  But she was nothing short of beautiful.

“Here, let me,” he said and moved to take the broom away from Katara.

“No, I’m fine…” she trailed off as Zuko circled her from behind and put his arms around her in an effort to get the broom.

'He’s warm…' she thought, but immediately slapped herself back to the present.

“Zuko, I said I was fine!” she snapped, and it came out harsher than she intended.  Zuko heard the bite in her voice and took his arms away.

“Sorry…” he muttered, and went back to the bed and laid down on his side, back facing Katara.

She bit her lip.  'Was that too harsh…?'

“No…I’m sorry…I’m just tired,” she whispered, trying to justify her actions.  Zuko sighed quietly.  'I can never stay mad at her…'

“It’s fine,” he muttered.  Katara smiled, and finishing her sweeping, put the broom in a corner and started to head out when…

'Ohhhhhhhhh shi-!'

She started panting and sweating, arms encircled around her.  Zuko turned around to look at her and was alarmed to see the Water Tribe girl looking pained.

“Katara, are you okay?” he asked, concerned.  He walked up to her, but Katara yelled, “Stay away!”  Taken aback, Zuko stopped in his tracks.

“S-Sorry…it’s just…I have to go!” Katara cried and rushed outside to a small pond a little ways off from the Royal Family’s vacation home.  Stripping, she quickly waded in and sighed, glad to wash herself.  Little did she know she was followed…

Zuko immediately blushed as he saw Katara take off her clothes.  Looking away, he started to head back when he spotted her clothes, hastily thrown aside.  Intrigued by a dark spot on her pants, he leaned closer to investigate.
……

'Oh.'