Charred //ZUTARA

Chapter 10 - ''I'm sure it means nothing.''

No.
NO.
Katara gasped looking at her neck in the mirror. As soon as she got up, she ran to the bathroom attached to her room to see if there were any marks of what happened between her and Zuko last night.
To her terror, there was a juicy, fresh bruise right below her jaw.
Spirits, how will she explain THAT?
Her hands trembling, she went back to her room. She spotted the dresser. Hoping she'd find something to cover up the proof of her betrayal, she opened the first drawer. 

Lipsticks, eye paints, creams...

There! 

She took out a small tub of powder. When she opened it, she realized the color matched her skin perfectly. Was that something Zuko thought of as well before she arrived? Stock up her room with things that were matched to her?

Now she was truly scared to open that wardrobe she kept avoiding. 

She grabbed a puff from a large container of them (as if she needed more than one). She started applying a large amount of powder on her neck. 

Please. Please. Please. 

Frantically patting in more and more, she groaned when she realized it didn't do much. Looking up in the mirror, she could still see it. Perhaps a bit faded but she had no doubt someone would notice. 

Katara gave up. If anyone asks, she will just make something up, right? It's just one, small bruise. She could lie about how she got it. 

She will most definitely not tell the truth. People would judge her too harshly not to mention what it would do to Aang. 

Agni, she couldn't even think about Aang now! How she's hurt him... Why didn't she stop last night? Why did she even go outside instead of staying in her room and powering through the Moon's will?

Why did Zuko let her do all those things? 

She felt nothing but guilt today. Yesterday she was angry. Horny. Needy. All those feelings were apparently not a good mix. She could only blame it on the Full Moon but what about Zuko? Was he also miraculously possessed by the Moon Spirit?

''Katara, you won't guess what...'' Aang barged into the room. She screamed, spooked. Seeing her standing in front of a dresser with her undergarments, he quickly turned around. Before he did so, she saw his cheeks gone red. He rubbed at the back of his neck. ''I am so sorry! I should've knocked!''

She couldn't hold back the eye roll. He was so childish sometimes. She was a woman now, yes. It doesn't change a fact he's seen her in similar clothing many times before during the war. They would swim around in the waterfalls and lakes like that. The fact that she saw it for something it wasn't, told her enough about the kind of feelings he had for her. 

''Aang, it's okay,'' she quietly put down the puff. She didn't think he saw what she was doing just now. Thank the Spirits she didn't choose to put on anything else on yet. ''Is that something that can wait? Perhaps I can get dressed and we could grab a breakfast together?''

''That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about,'' he said to the wall. Knowing she will not get him to face her until she is decent, she approached the wardrobe. Hearing her steps nearing him, he started spinning away from her. ''The kitchen has prepared a special Fire Nation breakfast for us. I thought you might be hungry so I came to get you since you probably don't know where the dining room is.''

''That's very thoughtful of you, Aang. Thank you.''

''No problem! You know the last time I was here...''

She stopped listening when she opened a wardrobe. Her breath caught in her throat. Agni! There was so many clothes here. The whole space was separated in two. Blue outfits, beautiful white dresses were on one side. The other one was like a sea of different shades of red and gold. Woah! She's never seen so many trousers, blouses, skirts and other likes!