A/N – Bet you didn't know I was a Maiko fan, huh? I know, cheap oneshot and bad title. I tried my best! I'm hoping for some inspiration for Lost In California, maybe some sand & sun will give it to me! ;Pokes Profile; I just got this idea, like, 5 minutes ago. I hope you like it! I don't own Avatar.

She'll be fine. She'll find someone else, forget about me, and live a happy life with him. Someone more special, who'll take care of her. Someone who won't abandon her.

Once upon a time, I had sought comfort from those words.

Now they darken my thoughts and haunt my dreams. What selfish, ignorant things to think! I thought that by joining the Avatar I was going to restore peace to the world, but when you leave behind that person who is the world to you, what help is that?

"I'm so sorry," everyone says. No, they're not sorry. They don't get it. They don't understand. They don't know what it's like or how it feels to lose two important people in your life, and not know where they are or who they're with, or if they're even alive.

Now that I'm standing in her room, looking back on things, I can see what went wrong. I never should've left. Everything is my fault.

"She read that letter of yours and went completely insane for weeks," Azula had said. "I guess she finally had enough."

"Where did she go?" I demanded, just itching to smack that sly expression off her face.

"No one knows." The same thing she had said about Mom. "But her daggers are gone. I wouldn't be surprised if she had committed suicide by now." The she leaned forward as much as she could without hitting the bars of her prison cell. "You do realize how much you hurt Mai by leaving, right?"

The last words she told me earlier today still hung in the air, like a deceiving, swirling mist, looking for the right person to haunt.

My Uncle--or should I say Firelord Iroh--tried to comfort me. He was the only one who came close to opening me up. But still, I couldn't talk. I could barely eat. I don't remember the last time I had slept ever since I left the Avatar at the Western Air Temple.

I run my fingers along the bottom frame of her open window, and look down upon the city. I can see all the places we liked to go. There are many, considering how easygoing everything was. I see the palace across the street, and immediately turn away with disgust.

How can I go on being the perfect little prince while she's out there somewhere?

Thoughts churning inside my head, I make my way to the back of the room. This is where Mai kept all her portraits. Tears fill my eyes, but I can't let myself cry. I have to be strong; I have to hope. She may come back. So I swallow the lump in my throat and resist the urge to break out bawling.

Suddenly, I hear footsteps coming down the hall. Then two voices, the first one, a woman, quick and defiant, the second, a man, utterly confused and a bit scared. The man walks away, and the woman kept going, the rhythm of her walk becoming more rapid with each step. The door is closed, so I can't tell exactly who it is. But I know I have to try.

She's almost at the door now. I know what I have to do. I know what I'm going to do. Even if it's stupid, I can't bear it any longer. I miss her too much…

The door creaks open, and I run. I sprint. Going so fast to reach that door I don't even look to see who it is.

I close my eyes, place my hands on the stranger's hips, and kiss her. At first she's shocked, and I'm doubtful. Once I feel her start kissing back, I think I know exactly who it is.

I want to keep kissing her, and enjoy it, but I know I have to look. Because I still have doubts. Because I need to see her face before I start sobbing. If it's even her.

My hands still on her hips, and my eyes still closed, I break away and lower my head, then stare at the floor. It could be one of those investigators. They had been crawling around her entire house ever since she left. I hoped and hoped. I've never wanted anything as much as this before, and if it wasn't her…

"Please, please be…"

I look up, and catch a glimpse of a sarcastically happy smile, and glinting amber eyes…

She laughed. Oh, how I've missed her laugh.

"I should go away more often," she jokes. A smile grows on my lips, and then I know I have to get serious. I have to apologize.

"Mai…" but that's as far as I get. She wraps her arms around my neck and pulls me closer until our lips meet. There is nothing left to say. Everything is solved, all in a kiss.