19/12/2006 23:16:00

Disclaimer: Don't own Avtar, nope

AN: This is a one shot I wrote to say that I'm going to be gone for about a week, going up to my sister's for Christmas.

I remember the first time. It was a full moon and I was practicing my bending far away from the others. I was mad at my brother and Aang, working off the I heard a noise, and I was surprised to see you there, watching me. The water dropped to the river as you drew near, wearing naught but black pants and a black top, hair pulled back in that ridiculous ponytail of yours. You walked forward, wading into the water.

In no time your hands were around my waist, lips pressed against mine. I responded, pushing back with equal passion and strength, water raising around me as our bodies pushed together. Skin upon skin, clothes rubbing against clothes as our passion took the best of us.

Fire ignited in random places, water raising up to force it down. Steam surrounded us, blocking our passion from the world, enveloping us in its comforting grasp.

As soon as it started it was over. You lay my tired body on the bank, bending down for one last kiss before blending into the night, leaving just as silently as you came.

It was some time until we met again, and it was in the most random of places. You were in a tea shop with your uncle, and as much as it pained me I had to go to the earth king and warn him of the potential threat. When I got there your sister, Azula, attacked us, trapping me in a cave with no way out. I was down there for almost a day before you came in.

It hurt, the way you looked at me, almost as if you knew it was I who turned you in. We yelled, simmered down, exchanged calming, emotional words, and as our walls crumbled down who else but the Avatar to come and ruin what we had almost achieved.

Then, there was the fight.

I was winning, I was about to end the war, to bring down Azula, when you appeared. I glanced toward you, relieved and hopeful as you stood, hands held out in your ready stance. Our gazes held, and I noticed it, the look as if you were asking for forgiveness.

Up until you extended your hand, fire lashing out at me, I had admitted I loved you, but as we fought, your true loyalties laid bare in front of me, I called myself a fool, cursing the day I ever met you, cursing the day I let you approach me. You even made me curse the day I found Aang, envoking your wrath as Fire Prince.

When Aang fell and Iroh let us escape, I chanced one more glance toward you, and as I saw you standing next to Azula, it seemed the most natural thing in the world. It was then, as I carried the dying Avatar away, that I realized we never had anything. It was merely a quick flame that sputtered out. Fire quenched by water, water burnt away by fire. It was a hand, grasping at smoke, it was love lost in the dark.

We were never meant to be, we never will be now.

I can never forgive you, and as long as you stand by Azula's side, it will be I that destroys you, not Aang, not the Avatar, but me, the peasant you chose to love for a night, only to break her hear later.

I love you still, Zuko, that I have to admit, but as long as that day exists in my memory, as long as whenever I think of you I see you standing next to your sister, I will bring you down.