Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own Nickleodeon's "Avatar: The Last Airbender" or its associated characters. No profit is gained from the writing and publishing of this story but should the creators, legal owners, their solicitors or the site administration of deem this post offensive and request it's removal, it shall of course be taken down without hesitation.

The prompts that inspired all pieces of this collection belong to Rashaka and her community 64damn-prompts (written with an underscore instead of a dash) at livejournal. There they have been posted under the name 'kirschreich', which is the name of my writing journal.

Author's Note: Most of these pieces are set some time after the conclusion of the series. It is definitely a Zutara A/U. Although it does not seem like it, the individual snippets are in fact connected.

Ratings vary – corresponding warnings are included in every chapter.

Please note that this story features the regular community prompts, revisited prompts (meaning prompts that have been picked up a second time) and versus prompts (meaning drabbles containing/relating to two or more prompts).

10 To achieve what he wants

Theme: #34 - roads

Characters: Zuko, Katara

Warnings: minor sexual content

Rating: R

There are many roads to achieve what you want, but sometimes you will find that the road you are looking for is nowhere to be found on your map and so you will either have to look very hard and roam the surrounding areas or make a road for yourself.

It isn't that easy for Zuko, unfortunately.

There are customs, a protocol, even an entire nation that limit his possibilities (which seems paradox as he is the one ruling over said nation) and that place obstacles in his way.

He's young and energetic; he's a lot wiser than he was when he first set out to chase the Avatar and the remnants of his honor - but still he cannot find a way, no, the way he's looking for.

He is also easily distracted by sparkling blue eyes, tanned hands and skin soft as silk. His nights (and his bed) are often filled with shapely legs wrapped around his waist, with soft gasps of pleasure and incoherent cries of his name and more, faster, more, please. And even on those nights when he rests alone under his sheets, he can hear the cries of his lover, see her arching her back in a feline, almost feral manner, feel her lips brush against his and taste the sweetness of her skin, for even in his dreams he cannot be without her any longer.

And that is the reason why he is looking for that road; because he simply can no longer be without her, no longer wants to be without her and in fact won't allow her to be able to be without him any longer than strictly necessary.

So he looks for that road and almost despairs because between needing her and having her, he realizes that it is impossible for such a road to exist because everything in his nation, in its past and present, is set against what he wants.

He wants her. It's that simple. And he will not be denied.

Alright, he might run into some trouble with Sokka, but that is expected. That he can deal with. That he is looking forward to.

That he won't even be legally able to run into these troubles, however, is unacceptable.

Some days he asks himself why he even wants to change a thing for when he kisses her throat and she trembles from his touch he is perfectly content with his lot in life. Very content.

But on other days, someone manages to draw a laugh from her or causes that sparkle in her eyes he is so fond of and he wants to tell them to back off but he can't, not as forcefully as he wants to. He can't even make it known that she is not to be approached in such a manner - period - because he has no such claim over her.

Thus he is back to searching that road and it feels like chasing the avatar all over again because whenever he thinks he's got it, it vanishes into thin air, leaving him tired, cold and frustrated.

He is hopeful, however.

Because in the end, Zuko managed to catch up with the avatar. He is certain that the road he is looking for is no different.