I'm an engineering student, so I havn't written creatively in more than 2 years. I'm afraid it might be hard to follow. Feel free to leave suggestion on improving it.
I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender. If I did this would have happened on TV already.
A Dance of Interest
Zuko steps out the shabby shop with a small bundle of scrolls. Delivering goods certainly beat begging, and it fit well with his current lifestyle. It was a small artisan village, so thievery wouldn't accomplish any gains other than useless baubles. Zuko hurries to the town's southern gate in hopes of departing from the run-down shack, where Iroh had stayed behind along with the ostrich-horse in the event his injured uncle needed to make a quick getaway, before nightfall.
As he nears the gate he feels a sudden jerk on his right shoulder, and then a sharp pain on his right cheek. His eyes quickly focus on a cloaked figure with a hand extending and moving rapidly in the left corner of his eyes. He catches a fistful of the assailant's hood and pulls it back. His eyes widen in shock and his balled fist releases the cloth as though it had caught ablaze. Taking unmeasured steps back.
"Mai?" He gasps out.
"By decree of Firelord Ozai I place you under arrest." Comes her proclamation.
All is stark still for what seems like hours, as Zuko gathers his wits.
"Why not just ambush me? Why give away your position by striking me in the face? He questions her when his wits fail to add two and two to get five.
"You never said goodbye" is the only response given as she swiftly juts her hand out launching an arrow at Zuko. Zuko draws his broadswords together into his left hand. A resounding clink comes from his blades as the missile bounce harmlessly off the broad face of the sword.
"Goodbye?" he echoes. He couldn't help but let out an amused breath and a smirk crossed his lips when the mental image surfaced. He would have politely rapped on her family's manor gate. A servant would have answered and then questioned with a contemptuous look upon his or her face as his bandaged form explained he just wanted to say goodbye to the lord's daughter.
"Just so I could endure the humiliation of being turned away at the your gates." He seethes.
"You should of snuck in." she states plainly, as she begins her Death Lotus Dance technique with her left arm sweeping over her head followed shortly by her right. Zuko realized almost too late that her left arm was a feint, and three darts were flying out the right wrist to cut the darts from the air before they could reach him.
"You were supposed to steal me away" she quickly follows up. She spins on one leg with arms outstretching and her left foot suspended at a slightly downward angle. Zuko readies himself for a barrage to meet the broadswords, but finds himself jumping in the air and deflecting the storm of projectiles due to the two arrows that narrowly miss his feet.
"So you could join in a fruitless search for the avatar in exchange for nonexistent redemption? Better yet, so you could live the rest of your life in a place that loathes your existence, on the run from those that should adore you?" He scoffs. The dancer's eyes seem to glisten upon his words.
"That would have been fine with me." She seems to struggle to strain out of her mouth, as she leaps towards him with her legs split forward and back. Her arms reach out in a mockery of a welcoming embrace. Zuko unleashes a cloud of flames from his steel in hopes of obstructing her view and knocking the hail of weapons astray. The airborne beauty's eyes are burdened with tears that defy gravity.
"How can you dismiss everything so easily? I've lost my family, my honor, my title, my everything!" The prince raged. As their dance of attack and defend continues.
"You still had me." Mai finishes her dance a spinning back flip discharging her entire remaining stock of weaponry all at once. His stance becomes lax and guard drops. Thuck. Thuck.
"You were supposed to block those." She chokes out. Mai's tears finally succumb and descend freely.
Zuko falls to one knee with his eyes staring blankly to the earth.
Mai runs full force, stopping short of barreling into him as she drops to her knees. She pulls out the dart embedded into his thigh, tossing it aside. Her hands move to the arrow lodged in his left shoulder, but before she can tug his right hand overlaps her own two hands to resist against her motions.
"What are you doing? Let go!" She screams in dismay. His gaze finally rises to meet hers.
"And now?" He whispers almost inaudibly.
"Now and always" wisps out of her mouth before meeting his. His hand falls from the wound to encircle her. The moment seems to drag. Thuck.
"mmmm…ouch!" resounding from his retreating lips. She discards the arrow over her shoulder and tears her left sleeve with her teeth as he looks on bewildered.
"I can't have you bleeding to death on me now that things have finally become interesting." She states as though it were the most logical thing in the entire world.