Hey thanks for the reviews, I didn't really expect as many as I got. Maybe there are just more Maizu shippers out there than I thought, XD

-O-

Mai was still in the creek, stiff with surprise, and her head tilted back slightly to get a better look at him. At first she had thought she had jumped to conclusions and made a mistake about his identity, but as the lightning flashed across the sky again, she could tell that she was not mistaken at all. The burn scar over his left eye made her sure.

Zuko relaxed his fist and sat back in the water. "Mai," he said shakily, as if he was just as surprised to see her as she was him.

True, they had not seen one another for a few years; the last Mai had seen him was at his Agni Kai three years ago where he had received the severe burn over his eye, directly by the hand of his father, Fire Lord Ozai. It had horrified Mai when she had witnessed it, as well as everyone else, but no one dared say a challenging word to the Fire Lord. The man had claimed that the act was to be a 'punishment' for Prince Zuko to learn respect, and then had exiled his son. All because Zuko had refused to battle his father instead of the man whom he had verbally insulted.

Still propped up on her elbows in the water, Mai swallowed and felt a hot blush on her cheeks, and was glad for the darkness to hide it. Maybe her old crush on him was not completely quenched, after all. "Zuko... has your exile brought you all the way out here?"

He did not answer right away; he stood up slowly, the water pouring off him in streams. Mai pulled herself to her feet as well and looked up at him. He was tall, and even under his loose tunic she could tell he was powerfully built, and his brown hair was no longer in the customary top-knot; instead it was short, but thick and choppy- she liked it.

Usually very calm and collected, Mai now felt very awkward, and was sure that Zuko did as well. Then she realized that he probably thought that she was still an ally to Azula, and was more than likely expecting that she might attack him again, or Azula would appear out of nowhere to pursue a fight. Mai quickly wanted to make sure that he knew the truth of it. "Azula and I have seperated company. You know how she is, I'm sure." She gritted her teeth silently and felt like kicking herself. She had not been this uncomfortable for a long time, if ever. She hated to lose her calm composure, and fought to get it back. She slipped each of her hands into the latter sleeve and straightened her back to appear as if she was much less shaken than she really was.

Zuko turned from her and stepped out of the creek. Mai followed awkwardly, and suddenly remembered that Thomas still existed. He had freed himself from the tree and hurried over angrily. Luckily he had not heard the words that had been passed between them, and Mai was glad for a chance to cover for Zuko. Any other time, back when she had still been with Azula, she would not have hesitated to turn the exiled prince in to the fire nation, for he was considered a traitor by the Fire Lord, but now that she was on her own, she was glad to be making her own decisions.

"Mai, are you all right?" Thomas asked, the worry clear in his voice. Mai sniffed- the bruises on her arms were throbbing, but that could easily be excused now, so she nodded stiffly. Thomas glared at Zuko and spit out, "You know this guy?"

"Yes," Mai said icily. "His name is-" She paused and looked at Zuko, her eyes questioningly. Thomas would not know the exiled prince by sight, but he would surely recognize the name. Zuko caught on quickly and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Lee," he said flatly. Somehow, Mai could tell that he was used to saying that to people.

"Well, Lee," Thomas said with clear distrust, "why is it that you attacked me?"

Zuko's expression changed to one of severe restraint, and Mai could tell that he was fighting to say, You attacked me. Without knowing exactly why, Mai jumped to Zuko's defense. "Be quiet, Thomas," she said harshly. Was it because she truly did want to defend Zuko, or did she just enjoy being rude to Thomas? Probably both, but she was pretty sure that it was mostly the former, and that unnerved her in a good way.

Thomas looked genuinely surprised that he was the one she was snapping at. "But he attacked us, Mai." He stepped forward to her with his hand extended in worry. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Insanely annoyed with him, she reached over and seized his blond hair in her thin fingers. "Thomas, go away," she said through her teeth, and shoved him back as she let go. His eyes narrowed at Zuko, a clear sign of immediate hate and jealousy, but he did not dare stick around when Mai had told him to leave. He backed off and then disappeared into the shadows.

Mai felt the raindrops dropping, and her hands went back into her sleeves as she turned back to Zuko. She could not remember being in as such an awkward situation as this- well, except for the incident in the fountain a long time ago, and they could thank Azula's rudeness for that. Meeting up with Zuko again had been so unexpected and was still accomplishing to turn her reserved nature inside-out. Right now it felt like the most uncomfortable thing in the world. Was he as nervous as she was? She had never known if he liked her as she liked him, though she had always wondered. The two of them had been seperated too quickly by Zuko's sudden exile to find out.

Zuko leaned over to wring the water out of his clothes, which dripped down onto his leather knee-high boots. As he worked on the task, which seemed to have much more effort put into it than needed, he said flatly to Mai after a moment of silence, "We know why I'm out here. Why are you?"

Glad to be having some sort of conversation, Mai tried to relax herself. "Azula, of course. She's put me onto her list of traitors now... along with you and your uncle. Where is Iroh, anyway?"

Zuko looked pained, and he froze in mid-move. "I don't know. I left him to go on my own way some time ago." He closed his eyes suddenly, as if there were more to the story and it was painful to remember. Mai was curious, but did not ask. She that, or at least used to, Zuko had a bad temper. He kind of reminded her of herself.

Mai suddenly felt a chill, for it was still raining and the wind was picking up. With another flash of lightning, she took in more sight of Zuko. Even with the dreadful scar, he was quite the looker and very attractive according to Mai. He still wore the hard expression that he always had, even three years ago, but there was something about him that seemed to be missing. At first, looking at him, Mai could not place it, but suddenly she realized it. It was his pride that was greatly diminished; somewhere during his exile, and had obviously had a great deal of humbling. For a moment Mai felt sorry for him, then was surprised at herself for feeling anything of the sort for anyone. Well, it seemed as if Zuko was an exception to a lot of her own qualities- the only person that she had ever dared feel this way about.

Mai lowered her deep womanly voice and said, "You seem to be holding out pretty well. I noticed that in the fight you didn't use your firebending."

"It'd be a dead giveaway to who I am," Zuko said firmly, and stopped wringing out his clothes. "I didn't know it was you I was fighting, and even if I had, I couldn't have trusted you. I still can't."

Somehow that stabbed Mai very deeply. True, it was her own fault that he had any reason to distrust her, for she had agreed with Azula to track him down in the first place. If she had not done that, she and Zuko might still remotely be friends. But if she had not done that, she would not be talking to him now. So fate was a very strange thing.

"You can trust me," Mai stated. "Even if you don't know it now."

Suddenly Zuko grew hostile. "Don't think I don't know that you were one of those who were tracking me down. What did you plan on doing with me once you caught me? You were just as bad as Azula."

Mai blinked hard, and she felt the raindrops running down her face. Thunder crackled in that moment of silence, and she decided that if he could get angry, so could she. "You don't know what I would have done," she snapped. Even though an argument was brewing, she was still so glad at finding him again that --this thought surprised even her-- she kind of wanted to hug him. She had never really wanted to hug anyone, not even her little brother.

Her harsh words of reply seemed to calm Zuko for some reason. He ran his fingers through his damp hair (Mai noticed attentively that he had big, strong hands- she had felt his blows as well and was secretly impressed) and sighed slightly. "Mai... I'm sorry, it's complicated." Everything about him seemed to be complicated, but she liked that. "Look, I need to find my broadswords." He turned and glanced at her from the corner of his good eye. His voice was thick as he said, "You fight even better than you used to."

As he walked away in the direction she had sent his swords flying, she stood and stared blankly at the back of him. Was that just a compliment, from Prince Zuko? There was no doubt that his exile had changed him a lot, but Mai had never expected that drastic of a transformation. The way she remembered him was hotheaded and arrogant, usually saying even the rude things that were on his mind, for a prince could get away with that kind of thing. But not a young man with his old uncle in exile. It just did not work that way.

Mai was a little unsure at what to do next. Since she had been the one to lose his swords in the first place, she decided to help him look for them. And that way she could have more time to talk with him, for there was no telling when he would decide to go off on his own again. And surprisingly, Mai did not want him to go yet, even though it was probably inevitable.

When she caught up with him, he had already pulled one sword from a tree, slid it into the sheath on his back, and was searching for the other. Mai joined him silently, feeling somewhat foolish for a reason she did not know, and quickly located the other sword under a thick thornbush. She got down on her knees and pulled it out gently, getting stuck all over with thorns, then got up and handed it to him wordlessly. His hand touched hers as he grasped the hilt, and it paused there for a moment before he took the sword from her. Mai looked down at her black fingernails before quickly slipping her hands into her large sleeves.

Zuko dropped the sword into the other sheath, which shwooshed in with a metallic sound. Mai swallowed again and watched him. It was not much use looking for her shurikens and arrows in the dark, though they were close by somewhere, so she decided to wait until daylight. She was tired, but adrenaline was keeping her awake and excited, though this excitement did not show in her expressions in the least. She was a master at hiding her feelings behind a dull reserved mask.

"Lee," Mai said at last, and he turned to look at her. She used his alias name just in case Thomas was around listening, and it sounded strange to say it. "If you want," she said dully, "you can camp with... us." Darn Thomas. "It's not like I don't have room."

Zuko shrugged slightly. "All right. Thank you."

Forbid that Zuko should think that Thomas was her boyfriend. If there was any sliver of chance that Zuko liked her, nothing would ever be done about it if he thought that. So she must find some tactful way to make it clear that Thomas was just a tag-along who never ceased to annoy her. But she did not have any ideas yet.

Mai glanced up at the raining sky. "I don't have any shelter." Too bad neither of them was an earthbender, or they could just make a cave. "I guess we'll just be wet."

And they were. By the time the three of them had settled down to sleep under a clump of trees, the suddenly irritable Thomas in the middle, the rain was coming down quite hard. Mai lay on her back with hands behind her head, and she glanced to her right and saw that, past Thomas, Zuko was already down on his side and asleep. Maybe if he was comfortable enough to fall asleep so quickly, he was probably not that nervous. Or perhaps he was just very tired.

Thomas was blatantly glaring at Zuko, who even looked hard and tough when he was asleep, and Mai frowned and leaned over to eblow Thomas in the side. She mouthed a threat when he looked over at her, and he quickly turned his gaze up to the sky. She rolled her eyes at him in silent frustration, and later fell asleep with her mind still on Zuko.

-O-

It had finally stopped raining by morning, but Mai was still damp when she awoke. At first when she sat up from her dry spot on the ground, she was confused at where she was, for a moment expecting to be back in her own boring house, or maybe somewhere with Azula and Ty Lee. But when she began to focus on her surroundings, she realized where she was and saw Thomas nearby, crouched on the ground and trying to start a fire with a few sticks. She looked past him and scanned the area slowly, and felt a stab of distress when she did not see who she was looking for. But she refused to let that show.

Nonchalantly she asked, "Is Lee still here?"

Thomas stopped working the stick and glared up at her, then jabbed his thumb over his shoulder to indicate that Zuko was up the creek somewhere. She frowned at Thomas as he turned back to his work, and she headed up the creek in search of Zuko. She did not know what she would say when she found him, but she felt as if she did not say something he might decide to continue on his own way again. If he had left his own uncle, there was no reason that he would not leave her as well. Not only did Mai not want to be left alone with Thomas again, her old feelings for the exiled prince had been resurrected with his sudden appearance again. Ty Lee had teased Mai about it all of it before, but had got nothing but a small grin in return. Now, for the first time in a long while, Mai felt quite confused. There was no reason to think that Zuko had ever liked her in the same way before, no less if he did now.

Before the night of that Agni Kai, it had usually been easy to tell what the prince was thinking, for he would just say what was on his mind- that was one of the things that had brought him to the point he was now. No doubt he had been through a lot since then, and he had changed drastically, so there was more than likely no more of his blurting out his opinions. Mai thought --or hoped, rather-- that maybe since he had been humbled so much, perhaps he had room and time to have feelings for someone.

Mai could not believe that she was thinking this way. It was so out-of-character for her that it made her almost uncomfortable with herself. That was why she was feeling so differently than her normal quiet, intimidating self. Usually she was a very reserved person that kept to herself, but for some reason she felt open to Zuko, as if she did not mind letting someone in. Even if he did not like her in the way she liked him.

She found him bent down by the creek, splashing water on his face, and she stood silently behind him with her hands in the sleeves. He froze for a quick moment, a sign that he knew she was there, then let the water that was in his hands trickle back down into the creek. Mai tilted her chin back and looked down her nose at him as he turned to look at her.

"Mai," he said.

"Zuko," she replied, as if they were two rivals who were meeting again for the first time in awhile. It pained her to to think that was what it reminded her of- maybe it was her own tone trying to hide what she was really feeling, but either way she was being more cold to him than she wanted to. After always acting this way to everyone almost her whole life, it was difficult to act in a different way than one was accustomed to.

It was easy to tell that Zuko wanted to say something else, but he was obviously out of words for the moment. He stood up and dried his hands on his tunic. Now that it was daylight, Mai could overlook him more accurately. As he glanced up at her, she noticed the gold specks reflect in his eyes, and it brought back memories of years ago. She had always thought that he had nice eyes, and still did now, even with the scar over the left. It was killing her that she did not know what he was thinking about her. Just her luck, he probably was not thinking anything.

"It was a wet night last night," he said awkwardly. His voice was deep, and Mai liked it.

"It was." Here they were talking about the weather like two old bored farmers. It was not at all the things that Mai wanted to say. She wanted to know exactly what Zuko had been doing in the time of his exile, where he had gone and who he had met. She remembered back when the Fire Lord hard announced his son's banishment, that the only way the prince would be accepted back was to bring back the Avatar- a seemingly impossible task, for the master of all four elements had vanished a hundred years ago. But there was another young Avatar here now, who Zuko had probably been pursuing, as Mai would guess. She wanted to know if Zuko had ever found the young boy, but there seemed to be no way to ask that would not bring back memories and be hurtful.

"Your friend," Zuko said, "Thomas. He said you're headed for Shecca."

"He's not my friend- or my anything," she added. "He just insisted on following me. And yes, I'm headed for Shecca. The Fire Nation doesn't know me there."

Zuko glanced at her with a look of pain in his eyes. It was much more difficult for him to be on the run, for people would recognize the Fire Nation prince much more easily than they would Mai. Then his expression suddenly had a twinge of anger to it. "Azula knows just how to keep someone on the run. She's hard to avoid. I know."

Mai looked down at the wet ground. She wanted to say she was sorry, but that was so unusual for her that she could not do it. "She does," she said instead. "And she's got Ty Lee right along with her."

Zuko's fists clenched and the muscles in his hands tightened. "My sister's got people on her hit-list; me and my uncle, the Avatar, and now you. All just to bend to the will of our father and exercise her power." His eyes closed angrily. "I guess she's heir to the throne now. As if she needs more for her ego."

Mai tilted her head to the side. Just a few minutes ago she had wanted to talk to him seriously, and now suddenly he was doing so out of his own free will. What luck. Maybe this was her chance to get to know some more things about him. "You never know," she said quietly, "your father may get to realize what he's doing and accept you back, even without the Avatar."

His eyes opened and he looked at her almost sadly. "No... and besides, I've gotten over trying." He turned away from her and his voice cracked. "I've captured the Avatar more than once. Once he escaped, but the other time... I let him go."

Mai was surprised, and her eyebrows rose under her bangs. "You let him go?"

Zuko shook his head. "Maybe it's just the things Uncle Iroh has been saying to me over the years. I've learned to live without my throne, my father, and even my honor. I've gotten used to it after awhile. I don't need all of that." He sighed through his teeth. "I don't know why I'm rambling to you about all this..."

He was certainly not rambling. Mai was hanging onto every word. "Just because you don't need it doesn't mean you don't want it." She took a step towards him. "Zuko, I know you still don't trust me, but you can." These words were so against her nature that she had to force them out, for they must be said. "I'm not like Azula, and I'm not even with her anymore. She's gone."

"Not completely. If she ever catches either of us... I know the punishment for being a traitor well, because I used to enforce it, Mai."

She was not so sure. "And that is?"

He looked at her firmly but did not speak. Even though he had not said a word, Mai understood. The punishment for treason to the Fire Nation was more than likely the offender's life.

"So," Mai said after a moment of silence, "you've given up on searching for the Avatar. What are you going to do next?"

Zuko shrugged. "Find a village somewhere far away from Azula and get a job, I guess." He suddenly frowned. "Uncle's always trying to set me up with girls."

Here was what Mai had been aiming for. "And you don't want a girlfriend?" She sounded as if she did not care, but really she was dying to know.

"No," he said bluntly. "It's hard to have a girlfriend in exile."

Now this was not going the way Mai had wanted it to. If he did not even want a girl, it would be pointless to ever let him know that she liked him. She was sure that he knew that she used to have a crush on him, but that did not mean anything for what she felt now. She wondered at herself for a moment, and at the foolishness of actually thinking that she and Zuko might have a future. They were both wanted by the Fire Nation and he was the exiled prince who was still trying to find his footing in the world, and there was probably just no way it could ever work.

Suddenly Thomas was there with them, and Mai had never felt more like strangling him. She stood glaring at him, but his eyes were fiercely on Zuko, who just looked back with a hard expression. Thomas seemed annoyed that the conversation had blatantly stopped with his arrival on the scene, and his jaw was so tight it looked as if it might break. "I can't get the fire to start," he said harshly to Mai. "Maybe Lee could start one for you."

Never had Mai wanted to drive her fingernails into Thomas more than she did now. "Maybe you could go somewhere and mind your own for once," she snapped.

"This is my own," he said. "Do you think I actually trust that guy? Lee's probably not even his real name."

Was there a reason that Thomas might think that? Either he had been eavesdropping or he was just very sharp. "It doesn't matter who you trust," Mai said flatly. "And I don't need your opinion. I never asked for you to follow me in the first place."

Thomas' eyes flashed. "Maybe I should find my own way to Shecca."

"Maybe you should," she agreed angrily. She jabbed a long finger towards the south. "Or go back to the Fire Nation camp."

"That's a great idea! I'm sure Princess Azula would like to know your whereabouts- you know, they pay a pretty penny to people who give out information on traitors."

He had to be bluffing. "You're not going to hold anything over my head, Thomas. You wouldn't turn me in."

It was a very true saying, and Thomas knew that he was caught in his own words. His teeth grinded back and forth in his closed mouth. "You're right." He nodded to Zuko. "But I would turn him in."

Zuko frowned, and Mai blinked slowly. What was that supposed to mean?

"It's not like I don't know who he is," Thomas laughed scornfully. "You really don't give me enough credit, Mai. You actually think I don't know he's Prince Zuko? Who has a scar like that by accident?"

Maybe she hadn't given him enough credit. "Thomas, don't you say anything about this," she warned.

"What's stopping me? Maybe I will, maybe I won't. I'm going on my own now, and you two can stay together and pretend that you don't like each other." When he saw Mai's surprised and blushing face, he laughed again. "Oh, I guess you figured I didn't notice that either. Well, I don't care." He looked at Zuko. "You can have her, okay? And to think that I liked her! Ha."

Mai was so caught off guard that she did not know what to do. Thomas was walking away into the woods, just like that, and Mai was confused. She was glad that he was leaving, but to find out that he had known so much! She glanced at Zuko, who was watching Thomas storm off with a slight color to his cheeks, as if it were the remains of a blush. Mai bit her lip slightly and felt as if she could nearly pass out from embarrassment.

Thomas turned back to them but continued walking backwards. "Oh, and make your own frickin' fire. Just ask Prince Zuko to firebend one for you."

Mai had the urge to throw a shuriken at him, but ignored it. She looked at Zuko and shrugged a little, as if trying to apologize for Thomas' rudeness. Thomas turned straight again and disappeared through the trees. And when he was clearly gone, there was a dead, bashful silence. Zuko coughed ever so slightly, and Mai ran her fingernails over her palms inside her sleeves. The silence dragged on for a few seconds that seemed more like hours. Finally Mai gathered herself enough to speak.

"I doubt he'll turn you in," she said in a low voice, trying desperately to cover what she was feeling. "Even if he does, you can avoid it again. You have so far. Thomas is just all talk."

Zuko looked at her with eyebrows raised slightly, as if he wanted to say something but could not. Mai knew how that felt. She was dying to tell him that she used to have a crush on him and still did, if it was not more than a crush. It was confusing to meet up with someone you liked without seeing them for years, for she was not sure if she had the right to still like him. He had changed so much that maybe he was nothing like he used to be, which could be either good or bad.

"Mai," Zuko said huskily, and in the next flash of lightning she saw that he was looking at the ground. "You know... I could stay with you for awhile, if you don't care. And if you don't mind the danger of an exiled prince being with you."

She was so caught off guard that she did not know what to say at first, but she was glad that he had asked. She had been thinking that he would go off on his own again. "I'm also wanted, Zuko." She nodded her head once. "So you can stay with me."

-O-

After a week of traveling together, the two of them were much more accustomed to one another, and Mai realized that she had gotten over her nervousness around Zuko. But her feelings remained the same, if not stronger. And since they traveled quickly and saw no sight of the Fire Nation, they were quite sure that Thomas had not reported them.

Sometimes Mai wondered what happened to Thomas; where he had gone and what he was doing. Not that she particularly cared about him, but she was more worried that he had gone to the Fire Nation, or perhaps even Azula herself. Zuko was the one that did not seem too concerned, for he had been avoiding his sister and tribe for years now, and probably quite used to it. Though not overly afraid herself, Mai admired his bravery quite a lot. And she really wondered if he admired hers at all.

He was a great help when it came to cooking. Usually Mai would hunt and Zuko would cook when she brought it back, for he could easily start a roaring fire in a matter of seconds. He told her that he and his uncle had worked in a tea shop once, so he was quite an expert at making at tea. This seemed to be a little unlike something he would be good at, but Mai was starting to get used to his differences now. He had gotten older and he had been in exile for three years- there was no reason that he should be the same.

Not to say that she did not like him this way; she certainly did. And she wanted to know what he thought about her. Back when she was part of Azula's trio, Ty Lee had teased her more than once about her feelings for Zuko, for she was one of the only people who ever knew about it, she and Azula. At those times that Ty Lee had pointed it out that it would be 'interesting' for them to see Zuko again, Mai had smiled at the thought of it but never expected that it would actually happen, especially as soon as it had. And she had been entirely unprepared.

At least Zuko was at ease with the situation, or at least he appeared to be. Sometimes he would look at her strangely and she could not tell what he was thinking, or their hands would touch for whatever reason and he would be the first to shyly pull away. Times like these would make Mai even more confused than she already was, but it was completely against her nature to blatantly ask if he liked her. She had hardly even considered that.

They had stuck to the deep woods, which seemed to stretch on forever, but at least they were safer this way. And more alone. It drove Mai crazy that they were the only ones out here for miles and there was nothing she could do to quench the burning fire within her. One night as they sat around a crackling fire that Zuko had made with just the flick of his wrist, the sky was clear and the moon full, and Mai was having conflicting thoughts. She sat with her knees up and her arms loosely around them, and she kept glancing at Zuko, who was sitting by the fire and slowly polishing the blade of one of his broadswords. There was a small voice in Mai's head that was telling her to just state her feelings, but a louder one that was telling her to keep her dignity and stay silent as usual. Zuko obviously noticed her looking at him, for he glanced up and actually smiled slightly. Mai was surprised and felt herself flush, which luckily for her could not be seen, even in the bright moonlight.

Suddenly the fire between them roared up nearly three times its original height. Mai's hands shot up to naturally to protect her face and she had to jump back to avoid being caught aflame. Zuko dropped his sword aside and almost literally threw himself onto the raging fire. At first Mai was amazed and actually frightened for him, but when he pulled back again it was obvious that he was firebending, and he stood up and removed the still burning flames from the ground. They were suspended in the air between his hands for a moment, but then he motioned in a half-circled orb, and the flames promptly diminished under his control and then turned to nothing but smoke.

Mai had to admit to herself that she was impressed. But when she looked up at Zuko's face his expression was sheepish, clearly embarrassed, and Mai had a thought that maybe the fire so suddenly raging up had not been done merely by itself. She had not been sure that a firebender could control flame that was not produced by their own selves, but this incident showed that they certainly could. Not to say that she thought Zuko had done it on purpose --though that was a possibility-- because firebending could maybe be controlled by emotion, as far as she knew. But just what had Zuko been feeling to cause the fire to explode like that? She certainly wondered.

Zuko cleared his throat nervously and helped her up from the ground, which she did not need but accepted anyway. "Are you all right?" he asked, and it was obvious that he was honestly concerned for her. When she nodded and assured him that she was, he grinned apologetically and picked up his sword. "I don't know why that happened... I'm usually in control."

So he had caused it. And Mai was curious to know why. "Nobody's hurt," she replied flatly, for that was what mattered, she guessed. She bent down to the ashes and pile of sticks that had been scattered and began to scrape them back together in a pile. Zuko sheathed the sword and bent down to help her. They worked in silence, and Mai noticed that it was hard to breathe; not from the smoke of the fire, but rather because she was so close to him. This did not happen often, for they usually kept a respectful distance from one another, especially during the night. But right now it seemed almost natural to be right by him.

Once everything was back in its original pile, Mai noticed that their hands were covered in a thick layer of black ash. Later she would look at this moment as maybe fate or luck, but at the moment she was annoyed. She took off her gloves and tried to remove what had accumulated under her long fingernails, but it was not going to be easy without water. Zuko suggested that they head over to the creek, and she followed him. The full moon was reflecting off of the flowing water, and it made quite a beautiful scene, but neither of them noticed. They bent down on the sandy bank and dipped their hands into the water and as they washed in silence, Mai's hand brushed Zuko's. It had been an clear accident, but a few seconds later his hand quite blatantly rested on the back of hers. Her heart skipped a beat as his fingers moved gently up over her wrist and somewhat over her forearm.

She looked up at his face and he was looking back at her, and suddenly without knowing how, they were standing and he was kissing her on the lips and she was kissing him back, and as he pulled her closer to him her hands slipped over his shoulders and to the back of his neck. She could feel his muscles and the wet coldness of his hands, but his mouth was warm and inviting. His grip around her shifted and he dipped her back slightly, as if in a dance, and she clung tighter around his neck. She had never kissed anyone this way; nor had she wanted to. It seemed as if all her confused questions of whether Zuko liked her at all were answered silently with that kiss.

There was no telling how it would have all ended if what happened next had not happened. From somewhere up high, a sinister and female voice emitted a harsh laugh. Zuko and Mai pulled away from each other as if slapped, and the laugh only intensified. Startled and embarrassed, Zuko whipped his swords from their sheaths and quickly dropped into a stiff fighting stance. Someone dropped down gracefully from the high branch of a tree and landed with hard a noise, and it could not have been someone that they wanted to see any less.

Azula.

Her evil-sounding laugh quieted, and she took a few steps forward. "I've been looking for the both of you for a long time," she said teasingly, "and no doubt I find you- together, no less!" Her brown hair moved slightly in the wind, and then her face as well as tone hardened. "We all know what the Fire Lord will pay for not only one traitor, but two. We'll see what I can do to help him." Her hands ignited in an icy blue fire, and she let out a battle cry as she rushed foward to meet them both.

-O-

Cliffhangers are always fun. I know it took me forever to get this chapter up, so I wanna see some reviews, lol