The setting sun cast long shadows. Her long brown hair swayed in the wind as she threw her arms around his neck. He wrapped his tattooed arms around her waist as their lips met…
Zuko shut his eyes tight in an effort to banish the image from his mind. He couldn't stop thinking about her.
Katara….
She was gentle, powerful, kind, and heart-breakingly beautiful. She made his heart race and his palms sweat simply by stealing him one of her inquiring glances. Around her he melted from the emotionless machine built over years of rejection from his father, to the caring, gentle child who sat by the pond with his mother feeding turtle ducks.
He remembered the pain of watching her fall into the Avatar's arms outside the Jasmine Dragon after the Fire Lord had been defeated. He remembered the clean, soapy smell of her hair when he hugged him after they confronted the man who killed her mother.
And he remembered when Azula threw lightning at her, when he instantly realized how much she meant to him. He risked his life for her once an would gladly do it again.
But she was with the Avatar.
His own relationship with Mai had ended. She had come to realize that the love shining in his eyes was not love for her.
Part of Zuko wanted Aang and Katara's relationship to end, for Katara to fall into his arms.
But she was happy with the air bender. And Zuko loved her so much that nothing else was more important than her happiness.