sparklefiction | (no subject)

Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Characters: Shaozu (Zuko/Mai), Kaguya (Sokka/Yue)
Warnings: AU, possible drama, possibly dirty

Under the influence of Avatar Aang's boundless enthusiasm and Toph Bei Fong's hard-nosed business sense, not to mention a dose of inventiveness from Sokka of the Water Tribe, the Earth Rumble tournament had evolved from a second rate small-town event to a multi-national competition. Over the years it had become so large that it had to be moved from its original location to a wide, empty plateau. There, over the course of ten days, people gathered from every nation to form a temporary, highly-structured village, at the center of which was the arena where benders of all elements would compete.

That had been the idea, anyway. But there were, of course, no airbenders around to participate until the Avatar's children were skilled enough to take part. And though the Fire Nation posessed what seemed like a glut of benders for such a relatively small country, they weren't entirely welcome in the Earth Kingdom, and so there were very few who made the trip to take part in the event.

It wasn't every year that they had royalty come to watch the event, and after King Bumi wiped the floor with the competition several years after the tournament's inception, none had stepped up to participate. So it was especially exciting that not only had five firebenders come from the Fire Nation to demonstrate their skill -- the top five in their class at the Royal Academy, in fact -- but that the Fire Lord's eldest son was among them.

The impression that most people got from Shaozu immediately was that he was quiet and intense. He was not actually taking part in the competition, but had come to conduct a demonstration which included a rare event that most of the onlookers had never before seen; a full ceremonial Agni Kai. And while there were certainly many among the crowd who would have made the assumption that the other young men were letting Shaozu look good, anyone who knew more than a thing or two about bending could note his obvious skill. When he concluded the final demonstration by shooting a bolt of lightning into the sky, there were few who could deny it.

Girls alarmed their fathers (and some, their husbands) by waving and shouting and flinging scarves and handkerchiefs to the firebenders and the prince especially as they exited the arena, the young men still bare-chested from their dueling. One or two waved back, but Shaozu's gaze was fixed straight ahead, and he did not stop or look around until he had slipped back into the tent, his tent; his status allowed him at least this much privacy, if not a whole building constructed solely for him.

Shaozu splashed water onto his face and wiped the sweat from the back of his neck with a damp cloth. It had been dustier than he had thought it would be, and now his skin was covered in a gritty film.

He'd need to have someone prepare him a proper bath sometime that evening. Shaozu wasn't as fastidious as his mother, but he was not particularly fond of being dirty.

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"Is the ice melting?" Shaozu asked suddenly. When she gave him a questioning look, the corners of his mouth curled into yet another smile and he mumbled, "I wouldn't mind watching you use bending again."

Kaguya blinked a few times, then beamed at him, her full lips concealing her teeth even as she spoke. "No, it isn't, I've left it too cold for that, but I can change it into something else if you'd like. I can move it outside?" She brought her hands together in her lap and shrugged, laughing softly. "I can do some flashy, showy things, but they usually require a lot of space, and I wouldn't want to knock anything over."

Shaozu straightened, tilting his head and dragging his fingers slowly through his hair in a way that made her want to climb over the table and into his lap.

"Just show me some basic forms."

She nodded and slipped gracefully from the table and to her feet, closing her eyes and pressing her hands downward in front of her, then slowly streaming a sliver of ice from the top of the block, melting it, and then moving into her forms with the stream following the orchestrations of her body.

She performed with her eyes half-closed, not needing to watch the water to sense its movement, or to avoid the furnishings of his tent. This was not so much a drill as a ritual dance, serene motions of deep, inner peace that flowed into one another with controlled, flowing perfection.

Shaozu's mind was full of conflicting images. He thought of striking her down at almost the same moment as he thought of sweeping her off her feet, he thought of tearing the clothes from her body at the same time he thought of burning the flesh from her bones. He sat utterly still, breathing evenly, watching and waiting for the impulses to fade or to at least make some kind of sense.

She was beautiful. Being near her filled him with pleasure. He hated her.

She formed a whip, a shield, and a hovering dagger of ice that spun and became a fan, then dissolved, on her whim, into a cloud of snowflakes and surrounded her in glitter and reflected the light of his candles like sand composed of a thousand flickering miniature gems.

"It's not as impressive as lightning," she said, quietly, "But it makes excellent cover."

Shaozu rose slowly to his feet, his tea utterly forgotten.

"My great-uncle studied waterbenders..." He was walking slowly toward her, his head canted forward, his brow slightly furrowed.

"Did he?" she ignored the catch in her voice and condensed the snow into a perfect, spherical ball, then dissolved that into the cloud again, this time swirling slowly around her.

Shaozu lifted one hand, drawing his palm through the air where the snow glittered and drifted.

"Maybe I should, too," he said.

Then he grabbed her arm, forcefully jerking her against his body as his lips met hers in a hard, searing kiss.

If Kaguya were as delicate as she looked, it might have hurt, but she wasn't, and instead her snow fell around her feet and she groaned very quietly into his mouth, unsure if the heat in her face was him or the blushing and dizziness that overwhelmed her.

Shaozu kissed her thoroughly, tasting her lips and her mouth, his hand sliding along her arm, her bare arm...

She'd been asking for it. From the moment she'd spoken up at the flap of his tent, she had done nothing but tease him. But even as he tried to remind himself of all the reasons he shouldn't, Kaguya was arching against him, her breasts pressing soft against his chest.

The arm not caught in his grip slid up around his neck, her fingers moving gently through his hair, trembling very slightly, because for all of Princess Kaguya's experience in fending off boys, she wasn't actually experienced in that particular sense, and this little triumph was thrilling and well worth the wait.

Pressed against hers, Shaozu's body was warm, hard, muscular, everything she could have imagined. His hands roamed over her clothes, the heel of one palm brushing tantalizingly against her breast. Their mouths still locked together, he was just starting to pull her toward the corner where she was sure his futon lay when his bare foot encountered the water she had been bending, now drenching the rug all around them.

Shaozu's reaction was immediate, and unkind.

He shoved her away as if she had burned him, his eyes flashing, his teeth bared.

"I told you!" he snapped. "I told you I didn't want the floor wet. Now there will be mud everywhere!"

Kaguya winced and flushed, and then, very practically, lifted the water from the floor and added it back to the ice block. Her eyes lowered to her feet, and she twisted her fingers together.

"And I told you," she murmured, her tone slightly wounded but mostly apologetic, "That I would take care of it."

Shaozu dragged one hand across his eyes, absently licking his lips, which still tingled from the savagery of their kiss.

"This was what you intended the whole time, wasn't it?"

"I'm not sure what you mean," Kaguya's brows furrowed slightly, and she kept her eyes downcast. "My intention wasn't to upset you."

"This- this-" Shaozu made a vague gesture and huffed, to irritated to speak coherently.