Note: Another extremely sanitized version of an initially extremely… not child friendly fic. The original fic could be found ice-of-dreams. livejournal. com / 88575. html there.
Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender sprouted from the brilliant minds of Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, and is owned by Nickelodeon. I'm borrowing all the girls and Zuko for a while. I promise I'll return them.
Killing Me Softly
In retrospect, Zuko should have known that it was a bad idea to tell Mai, of all people, that he was bored. But last night, when she asked him about how the meeting with the delegates went, he had been honest in his assessment: He was bored. In a multi-national platform, with several of his ministers attending, the only reason he'd also been included in the talks was because the Avatar was there. On any other set of delegates, lesser officials would have micromanaged it for him.
For the last seven years, these meetings held an agenda that went on for the entire week. On the first day most of the leaders of the nations would talk and iron out the laws of war. Something which Zuko always paid attention to, especially since most of the war crimes were Fire Nation soldiers against the rest of the world.
Interesting enough, a Fire Nation minister pointed out that while the Fire Nation did have crimes against the world, a similar hearing should be held of crimes of the World against the Fire Nation. That particular minister had said that anything less would be considered 'Victor's Justice' and not true justice. He pointed out that the Avatar had also destroyed more than enough of the Fire Nation capital and villages. It was a valid point coming from his minister that couldn't be dismissed. Because to do less would be a disservice to his nation.
Over the next few days, dialogue would continue between all of the delegates. And finally on the final two days, Ministerial Negotiations would proceed before the last day where they would draft the final communiqué and decide to meet again the following year for the next round of talks. They held these talks on the Air Nomad's temples because it was decidedly neutral ground for everybody.
It was the Ministerial Negotiations that Zuko found boring. He'd already given them their directives, and most of the time, they already submitted their propositions to him in their own talks before putting forward to the summit, therefore there was no input needed from him. So, more often than not, he just watched the volley of his ministers talking to the Earth King Ministers or representatives from the Water Tribe. He'd listened to them argue for three years before he realized that they didn't really need him to listen to their arguments.
So he told her the truth: it was boring.
And Mai, well, she simply found the best way to relieve him of his boredom.
"Are you twitching in your seat?" Katara whispered loudly. "You don't look half as bored as you did yesterday."
Zuko stilled. Twitching? Really? He's going to kill Mai when he saw her next. "You are honestly bored out of your mind too."
Zuko watched Mai wiped her jaw as she tugged him out of the bed. He groaned because she honestly couldn't just expect him to move after the treatment he'd received when he woke up. That was still puzzling because Mai never liked sex just after waking up in the morning. She complained that it was messy, that they were both still sleepy and that she didn't like the feeling of it. It was rare that she initiate any morning activities to that variety. She did enjoy servicing him sometimes, to which he never complained, who would? She had managed to grin at him while pushing him inside the shower that was built into the temple. The mechanist had done wonders in the Air Nomad's technology, including hot showers for the Fire Nation royalty. Even their own suite. "Aren't you joining me?" Zuko asked as he fiddled with the controls of the mechanism, gauging the water that was pouring out with his hand. "Mmm, no, just get yourself clean. I'll wait for you in the room. Don't dress yet," Mai said as she ran the water in the sink, he heard her vaguely brushing her teeth and talking around the toothbrush. She raised her voice to be heard over the water, "And don't forget to empty your bladder." Zuko stiffened. Those orders never bode well. He just
Katara's voice broke the memory from this morning. Which was good. Zuko did not want reminders of this morning complicating the predicament he was in. "They don't need me here! Sokka I understand, because he's one of the candidates for become Chief after dad. Aang I definitely understand, but I'm not sure why I'm here."
"Uh, because you're one of the leaders in the health industry in the Water Tribes?" Zuko whispered back while keeping his eyes on one of the Ministers of Finance talking about investments. Katara snorted, because it wasn't called health industry in the water tribes. "You're good for Aang here anyway."
"He's more distracted now that I'm here," Katara pointed out as they both looked at Aang who was adjudicating the differences between the finance ministers. "He's nineteen, he's still flighty."
"He'll always be a little flighty," Zuko murmured then shifted his gaze towards Aang. They had put a good deal of burden on Aang's shoulders. But that had been the way it was since the start of the war, and apparently, even at the end of it. "He's just built that way. But other than the fact that he really wants the summit to work, he also wants to impress you."
"That's childish," Katara commented.
Zuko shrugged. He called it as he saw it. Aang was always going to try to be what Katara was going to want him to be. "Why are you sitting all the way here anyway?"
"Dad told Sokka and me that we were either going to stop fighting during these meetings or he was going to drag us to more. And though Sokka would want that, it was enough for me to want to sit somewhere else. I wasn't going to sit beside Toph. She's picking her nose." Zuko did not point out that Suki was not picking her nose. It didn't seem polite. Katara gave him an assessing look. "Besides, you looked really, really red this morning when you came in and I thought you were coming down with something."
Mai raised an eyebrow at Zuko's entrance to their temporary room with a terry cloth riding low on his hips and another in his hands as he squeezed out the water from his long hair. He blew small tendrils of fire on his palm to warm himself because despite the fact that the temperatures during spring was not termed 'cold' for the other nations, it felt close to freezing for most Fire Nation delegates. As such, most Fire Nation delegates had packed warm clothes and overcoats. Clothes that they would have worn during the rainy wet season in the Fire Nation. Mai was sitting at the edge of the bed and motioned towards the dresser. "Pick up that bottle of oil and that small sealed package, please." Then she widened the space between her legs, raised her skirt over her thighs and smoothed out the bed sheet underneath it indicating for Zuko to sit there. He gave her a small look of question before picking up her request then sitting down in front of her giving her the items. She pulled in closer to absorb some of his warmth and hummed appreciatively with his heat before taking the small pack and leaving him with the oil bottle. "You do know I'm naked under this, right?" Zuko complained lightly. "You'll get over the cold. You have all that wonderful bending, I only have you." She tore open the package, and then leaned on the side of his shoulder, her chin on his arm as she showed him what looked like a small blunted nail with a dragon for its head. "Know what this is?" He shook his head. "The answer to your boredom." He stiffened at Mai's words. Mai's solution to boredom usually required one of two things: a lot of knife throwing, which didn't seem to be the case, or a lot of sex. "I bought this months ago and asked the Imperial Physician how to use one, but the occasion never came up." What kind of thing has Mai gotten a hold of now that "When have I ever been less than safe? Pour some of the oil on my little dragon here." He did as she asked, then stopped when most of it was fully coated. It was still in its packet so that the oil could stay with it, and to minimize Mai's handling of the dragon. She put it aside for the moment and removed the knot of his terry cloth. Zuko stopped then looked at Mai. She gave him a level look. "Hey, remember your crown is over there, by the dresser." The Fire Lord's head piece has been their stop signal since they began experimenting with the more dangerous side of sex. He shook his head, he didn't want it. Mai stopped, uncertain, and he realized it was an unclear signal. "We're good, Mai. We are." She fitted herself close against him, her thighs bracketing his, her front pressed to his back. Guiding his palms towards the edge of the bed she made him hold on to it. Her palms on top of his, she gave a small kiss on his shoulder. "Don't let go of the bed, soldier."
Zuko gave a half strangled groan, Katara was not helping. Anything with references to heat, hot and this morning were not safe topics. "I think I may be coming down with something," he said in excuse. Because honestly he didn't think 'My wife is a lunatic in bed' was acceptable conversation in any context.
"You want a healing?" Katara offered.
Zuko's first reaction to that was: Good Agni! NO! The last thing he needed was Katara knowing exactly what he and Mai did behind closed doors. He was never going to live down the ribbing from everyone. "I think it's just altitude sickness. I'll get over it."
Katara looked like she didn't believe him but let it pass anyway. "Oh good. It's a recess. I need to stretch my legs. Look everybody's signaling."
Zuko wondered if he was going to survive through the day if he couldn't even survive through the first quarter of the meeting. Mai was definitely going to get something from him. It wasn't so bad if he was sitting down. All right, it was at least slightly tolerable if he wasn't moving. If he started walking things were going to get a little bit dangerous.
He waved for Katara to go ahead. "I'll follow you. I just need to, uh, mmm, write some notes."
"Write some notes?" Katara repeated in confusion.
"Yes," Zuko insisted, waving on the small table that held some scrolls and ink for him to write on. "Important Fire Lord stuff. Fire Nation stuff. Boring. You go ahead."
With one last look at him she shrugged and followed everybody out of the room into the small receiving room. Zuko dropped his head into his hands. He really needed to kill Mai. All the threats weren't helping with the way the dragon was pushed inside him, but it made him feel a little better.
oOo
When Zuko had managed a semblance of control, he walked slowly towards the Avatar's group, currently carousing in one of the corners of the room. They had commandeered a long snack table where Zuko noticed, a good deal of fruit pies were placed.
"Finished writing your reports?" Katara asked when she noticed that he was hobbling towards them.
Zuko resisted the urge to wince, but it had warbled the smile on his face into something that took Katara by surprise. He schooled his expression to a less pained one and shook his head, leaning on one of the tables for support, "Ahh, not yet, those ministers really work me to death."
"You big complainer, you," Toph scoffed cuffing him on the shoulder. As soon as the punch connected, she stopped, tilted her head and wrinkled her forehead in bewilderment. "Uhhh, Zuko, what do you have under your shirt that's making it all uneven?"
Zuko did not think he groaned but he bit his lip from preventing to do it anyway. "They're uh, suspenders," Zuko covered lamely, wondering what the hell suspenders were for. He was making it up as it went along. "They... hold up all of the... cloth in these robes."
Mai pushed Zuko towards the table and guided his hands on the edge again, his back half supported by the table. She waited until he found his own balance before she leaned her cheek on his chest. "You're still fine?" There was a slight flush all over his body, and the minute twitch of his knee, but he nodded. She picked up coiled rope from the side of the bed and unfolded it slowly while he supported himself on the desk. "You know, it's really hard to find good hemp," Mai told him a low even voice while she found the center of the red rope. "Fire Nation soldiers upgraded to those wooden or metallic handcuffs but some of the old fashion ones still carry it." Once she found the center she looped it around Zuko's neck, the two ends passing over his shoulders to dangle loosely in front of his chest. As it passed from his neck to his chest, he caught a whiff of the fibers, hemp had a very distinct woodsy earthy smell and this particular rope had also been treated with oils. She pressed the hemp against his abdomen and surprisingly, the rope was soft. "Spend a lot of time in jails, Mai?" "My ex-boyfriend left me in a maximum security prison," Mai said in an indignant huff while twisting the rope ends against each other in front of his chest. Its red color stood out against the paleness of his skin. "Some guards there taught me how to we use restraints when handcuffs aren't available." "You were tied up like She placed a hand at the center of his chest, where his scar was at, calming his racing heart. "I had clothes on. I was with my uncle and Ty Lee. There are only a handful of guards who know the old ways. And honestly, I don't think they realized what I meant to do with it." Her uncle was the only reason he hadn't gone back to get her in Boiling Rock. He knew that even with disobedience to Azula, her uncle would look out for her. He could just imagine her in Boiling Rock, bored, approaching her uncle asking him to teach her how to tie someone. When he was sufficiently calmed, she smoothed the rope against him, winding the ropes carefully around his chest. He leaned his head on her shoulder. The ties weren't tight yet, but there was promise there. She pulled the rope in front and passed it through the bands that were already coiled on his chest then methodically passed the ends front to back and then back to front again and again. He took deep breaths as each pass of the rope tightened the rest of that was already in place. Her fingers were dexterous as she twisted the ropes against each other to bend at a certain way and hold them in place. He watched her sure fingers as she worked, and breathed in her scent and the well cared for oils that had softened the hemp's fibers. She took the time to let him feel the grain as she made sure the bands pressed closely to his skin. When she finished she tucked the ends coiling it with another, securing the web without tying any knots. She stepped back and he felt the harness around him, caging him, framing most of his upper body in view. It didn't restrict movement, but he was more aware of his skin: its heat, the sweat, the fact that he rubbed against the rope every time he breathed. He was going to die. "How am I going to think during the summit?" he managed croak when he found his voice. Two crosses framed his pectorals, several webs cut across his abdomen to set off the muscles. Nothing could hide his red face or the rivulets of sweat that dripped off his body. "I thought it's the minister's meeting today? That you were bored out of your mind because you were just observing. That there are going to be scribes," she ticked off, repeating what he had complained about yesterday. "Besides you'll get used to it sooner or later." He hoped it was sooner rather than later. As it was, Mai's cure for boredom was driving him insane. She held up a small wooden box. He gulped when he recognized it. She was driving him mad and she wasn't finished yet.
"Hold cloth in your robes? Sounds like something Mai would do for you." Suki said slowly, sounding the words out in disbelief. He tried to remember what they were talking about, but it was difficult with Mai's brand of distraction. "That reminds me, where is your wife anyway? I thought you brought her here. I haven't seen her."
Zuko tried to go for a casual shrug, he was happy that the formal robes that had been packed for this trip were the heavy duty cloth made for the Air Nomad's temples instead of the usual Fire Nation silk. That would have clung to his skin and made the ropes obvious. However, Zuko still couldn't manage a shrug that looked close to casual. His expression might have been a cross between quiet agony and flustered panic. "Mai's a traditionalist. You know the Fire Nation rarely allows females into politics. Azula was a rather spectacular exception."
When Sokka raised his hand to slap him on the back Zuko pushed Toph in front of him. "Oh that's just great, hiding behind a blind girl," Toph criticized, her head turned slightly towards Zuko's direction.
Sokka frowned at his sudden lack of target. "Well we're not meeting now. Mai must want to meet us or she wouldn't have tagged along."
"The Fire Sages insisted she come to 'mingle' with the other 'females'." Zuko still didn't understand what the Fire Sages wanted, and they weren't insisting she join the politics so it baffled both of them that she was sent with him. They both thought that it might have just been them wanting her to be seen with him. "She'd rather have spent time with Shenzu, but he's too young to travel."
"It must be great to have all of those servants taking care of the little brat," Sokka said with a tinge of envy. Sokka himself was relegated to babysitting duties by a lot of the women folk when he looked bored. It was a fact that he complained about relentlessly when Shenzu was brought up in any conversation.
"The perks of being rich," Toph said in a low monotone, which Zuko uneasily interpreted as her 'Sokka could stuff his ignorant foot into his filthy mouth' tone. Toph had never been a fan of the entire nanny system.
"All right, look dad's waving us back in," Katara pointed out; giving her dad a half-hearted nod and a small sigh towards the rest of the group.
Aang groaned, and popped a last pie into his mouth before he sprinted off towards the double doors that led to the formal receiving rooms. Sokka and Suki followed hand in hand, Toph gave him what seemed to be the equivalent of an assessing look before she followed everyone else. Which left Katara.
Zuko had wanted everyone to go on ahead before he even attempted to walk a second time, but he should have known Katara would have wanted to make sure he was all right. He tried to fortify his breath before he stepped away from the table. It only sent a small zing to his spine this time.
"I think I remember promising someone some time ago a little payback with regard to these." Mai opened the case she was carrying showing one layer of metallic balls that he'd used on her. He'd brought along the metallic practice balls but he'd been too busy to use them. He swallowed but found out that his throat was rather sore and dry. He was going to need a drink of water before he left for the summit, he noted absently. Mai positioned him again, the back of his thighs pressed firmly against the table, his hands, on her shoulders. He quirked one eyebrow and she gave him a small smile before sinking to kneel in front of him.
oOo
"Stay for a moment," Mai ordered after led him to the bed finishing what she'd wanted from him. "I'm going to be late," he realized, but followed her instructions and simply decided to stay wrecked on the bed. She laughed before bringing in a basin of water and a rag, wiping the sweat from his body and bathing his face. When he was sufficiently cleaned of the sweat that he worked up during their session she stood up again and disappeared out of the double doors of their suite. She came back with a tray of food and water, and then proceeded to feed him. "You're not going to be late. I timed it pretty well," she said in mild reassurance. "The guards outside told me we have at least an incense stick of time left." Zuko sat up swiftly, ignoring the burn of the ropes, the slide of the thin dragon and the movement of the spheres. "There are guards outside our Mai gave him a level look. The guards had been there for the past week. They were bodyguards and also served as temporary servants. They brought food every morning and reminded them when the meetings were about to start. It shouldn't have surprised him that they were When she was finished feeding him, she pulled out heavy robes from the dresser and helped him dress with it. She hid all of the ropes, and shifted the heavy cloth so that it fell naturally against his skin, even when the hemp framed him. Finished with her task, she looked at him critically, and then pulled him down for a small kiss. "You look so beautiful with that corset." He snorted in disbelief, but let her get away wit the statement. She led him towards the doors and then kissed him again. "I'm going to shower, dress and think of His knee almost buckled at the words. She opened the doors and then smiled pleasantly at the guards outside. "The Fire lord is a little... warm. He might need to take a lot of breaks and drink a lot of water during the summit. Please take care of him." "Mai!" He was hardly an invalid. She raised an eyebrow and looked at his feet, daring him to walk. He took one step, felt the balls move inside him, and almost groaned. He might survive, but walking was going to be a little bit difficult until he got a hang of it. He
oOo
Katara groaned in appreciation once they were dismissed for the day. "Finally over. You look thankful enough. Half of the time, I thought you were going to try to crawl over the walls."
Katara didn't know the half of it. Zuko did not plan to inform her of this little fact. He tried to come up with a suitable and non-dork filled statement when Mai peeked through the double doors. She raised an eyebrow at him gave a small tilt of her head towards one of the back rooms and disappeared.
Katara was already rambling of something or the other, and Zuko could not really find an excuse to cut her off. But he was desperate enough to scan the room for their friends, because he wanted to leave. Immediately.
"Let the Fire Lord go, Katara," Suki said half in laugh when she managed to stop by, noticing the way Zuko was shifting uncomfortably and looking for a way to escape. "He's antsy enough as it is."
With a grateful nod at Suki, Zuko half-ran, half-trotted to the nearest room where Mai could be in. Brilliant, brilliant woman, she had made it easy for him to find her. She wrapped her arms around him, parking her chin on his shoulder in welcome before dragging him inside a small broom closet of all things. " I've been thinking of all the things I could do to you all day."
"You? What do you think that little stunt did to me?" He thought he broke past frustrated into unbearable when they finished lunch. And he managed to turn unbearable into blind need when he saw her. He caught her mouth in his in a mad scramble to lose the clothes.
"I kept thinking of you in those ropes, you wanting and - keeping you in endless frustration is frustrating me too."
"Mai I think I killed you twenty eight times in my head today," he told her gravely as he tugged all of her robes off, and then didn't even bother with the knife holster.
It was fast hard and dirty.
There could be no other way.
oOo
"Those balls are still inside me," Zuko complained, not quite regaining his bones yet.
"We'll get them out in our room," Mai said with a distracted air as she groped around in the dark for the belt that held her clothes up. "A little fire would be useful."
He lit one without thought as he tried to put his clothes to right as well. The ropes were still caging most of his upper body, but Mai hadn't wanted to cut them out, and they couldn't leave with all of that rope in their hands inconspicuously.
When they both decided they were halfway decent, Mai opened the door and shielded her eyes from the light from outside. One of the guards had been standing near the broom closet, face red. Zuko reminded himself to give some of their guards a personal bonus, fighting to keep his face from blushing too.
"Sooo..." the drawl was long and pointed. Zuko swiveled around to find Toph standing to one side, face scrunched up in glee. "How much are you willing to pay to keep this little secret between the Fire Nation royalty and me?"
Mai laughed. Zuko could just groan in misery. He was never going to hear the end of this. Period.
Author's Notes:
This... took an enormous amount of time to write (look at the time stamp, started 10.18.2010) , mainly because of the Maiko Big Bang. But also because November 1 & 2 is a religious holiday for us here, I had a major licensing exam and to top it off I finally got a job as an emergency room doctor so the 24-duties are occupying my time. I also wanted to do a Chinese Halloween fic, but for the same reasons stated above, wasn't able to do it...
If you're interested in WRITING a 20,000 word Maiko fic or DRAWING for the fic please come and join us at banked-flame. Livejournal. com :) we need fanartists and writers.
Shibari, the restraints Mai uses on Zuko really was a form of form of handcuff in Japan back in the middle ages. I'm not kidding. I used Shibari in a Ranma AU fic set in the middle ages. I just recycled an old idea of mine. You can't believe how difficult it is to find research involving shibari and a male sub.
And I don't think it's SAFE to keep it this long. Maybe the torso ropes, and sure the anal beads but not the sound (well I've put catheters in those places and replaced them mostly every three days but honestly haven't played with sounds... so I'm stepping out of the realm of "I know this" here). We're just suspending disbelief for a moment.
That was a whole load of kinkiness in one post, sounding, shibari (Japanese rope tying) and an almost anal bead.
Have I said that I really hate writing politics? It was one of my failings. Politics and Economics. The talks in these chapters are patterned after the Hague laws on war crimes, and the summits are patterned loosely after International Government Organizations, mostly ASEAN and G20. The ideas of war crime punishment came about after reading a fic of bombalurima1, where Zuko was paying off reparations of the Fire Nation, and I thought that huh, well... they don't have war crime laws yet and then I researched and well this was the product. I swear people shouldn't point me to research too much.