Zuko struggled to put on his robe. 'Ugh,' he thought to himself. He wished to himself that Azula wasn't quite so vicious. Why was it that every time he conversed with her, he almost always ended up getting up hurt in one way or another? Now she had scarred him in two ways, but she didn't know that. Obviously, he was physically hurt, but he was now emotionally scarred as well. He would always be wondering what if… But that was impossible. She obviously wanted to be with the avatar. Not that Zuko could really blame her; Aang did save the world after all. He still wished and hoped with all his heart that Katara would choose him instead of Aang, but that was really unlikely considering the circumstances. Zuko had a lot of work to do- many peace negotiations, rebuilding of towns, and other tedious work. Then there was always Mai.

Zuko did love Mai, but it was more of a sisterly love than true love. Sometimes Zuko thought that Mai just sort of stayed around for the perks of him being a fire prince. But when he and Sokka went to Boiling rock, she let them escape. She obviously cared for him more than she had feared Azula, and that was saying something. Zuko didn't know what to do. He wanted to be with Katara, but she was with Aang, and Mai wanted to be with him, but he didn't really want to be with her. It was going to be a long year. He then thought back to the past few months he'd spent with his friends.

"Friends," he murmured to himself. He'd never really had any true friends before. But he'd never had a family before either. Team Avatar was his family and his best friends. He had to remember to keep in touch with them as he fulfilled all of his fire nation duties.

He suddenly remembered that he had a coronation to get to and tried to pull on his robe again and winced. He heard a shuffling of feet behind him, and was about to fire bend at whoever it was, and then remembered the consequences of what happened last time he had jumped to conclusions and fire bended rashly. He shuddered. He still had bruises from when Toph chucked a bunch of pebbles at him. He probably deserved it considering that he burned her feet, but it still hurt.

He turned around to see who was at the door. It was Mai! He was really glad he hadn't fire bended now.

"You need some help with that?" she asked.

"Mai!" he said excitedly. He wanted to run to her and give her a big bear hug, but he knew he couldn't do that because of his injuries, and also he didn't think that Mai liked it all that much when she and Zuko made physical contact.

"You're okay!" He exclaimed. "They let you out of prison?" he continues reaching to hug her. She pulled away to help him put on his robe. Typical Mai.

"My uncle pulled some strings," she said. "And it doesn't hurt that the new fire lord is your boyfriend," she said as she tied up his robe. She put her hand on his chest. Zuko wanted to cringe at the coldness of her skin, but decided not to, knowing it would hurt Mai's feelings. Plus, he wasn't really sure what he wanted to do quite yet.

"So does this mean you don't hate me anymore?" Zuko asked anxiously. She blushed. 'This really isn't going to work out…' Zuko thought to himself.

Mai continued, "I think it means I actually kind of like you." She reached for his cheek and leaned up to kiss him. Zuko wasn't going to get away with this one, so he went along with it and just tried to enjoy it. However, that didn't stop him from getting away from the awkward moment as quickly as he could manage without seeming completely disinterested. He smiled at her.

Suddenly she said, "But don't ever break up with me again." She poked his chest simultaneously while she said this. He kept his eyes on her finger the entire time hoping one of her knives wouldn't come flying at his chest.

He smiled with the best apology he could come up with written in his face, and Mai just smiled. They then pulled together for a hug. 'This is how it should be,' thought Zuko. 'I think of her as my sister! I really shouldn't be leading her on like this,' Zuko's train of thought continued. 'I can't break up with her though; it would hurt her too much. I need a plan…'