Light My Fire

by TigerFlower

A teenage and mature Mai, who is on the run from Azula and considered a traitor, is hiding out in the forest. She runs into Zuko and things just go from there. Not going to be very long, but R&R if you don't mind.

1. Chapter 1

-O-

She was on her stomach in the high thornbush at the edge of the woods, just out of reach of the firelight, and was motionless, holding her breath. She would not be doing what she was about to do had not the circumstances been the way they were. She had not eaten for two days straight; she was hungry and in need for a new katana and stilettos, for the sword she possessed now was cracked and near the point of breaking, and she had lost most of her stiletto wepaons during hunting. The camp in front of her seemed to be her best bet, for it was not as if she would find her supplies lying out in the woods. Thomas, a young man she had encountered a few weeks ago and insisted on staying with her since, was somewhere in the darkness behind her.

She could not just go and ask for the things she needed; that would mean something terrible, perhaps immediate death. She was honestly not afraid, but certainly did not want to die. The camp was Fire Nation, and two months ago that would have been a safe haven for her. But the events that had taken place had driven her to seperating herself from the alliance with Princess Azula, and thus being forced to act as if she did not exist. If the princess found her, especially so near to the camp, she would be called a traitor and face an uncertain fate. She had parted from the rocky friendship with the princess out of for the most part frustration, for there was only so much mental and verbal abuse she could take.

The princess was a very self-centered and bitter teenage girl; she had the tendency to be cruel and unfair, and if things were not going her way, it was a bad thing for the people around her. Her violent temper was a curse to her servants and friends, and that was if she had even managed to make friends. So the reason for the seperation was no mystery.

Now in the brush, Thomas appeared silently and looked down with worry. His blond hair fell into his eyes as he crouched down and whispered, "Mai, the time isn't right. What if you get caught?"

She waved him to silence him, ignoring him as usual, and listened. She could hear the noises of the camp, the crackling of the fire, and the hard beating of her own heart. She was not usually nervous, but this time she could feel it creeping upon her. She was weak from hunger, but her stubbornness drove her on. She and Thomas had only known each other for three weeks, but for some reason she felt an unusual responsibility for him that also fueled her need to steal. She knew it was wrong, but had never exactly cared in the first place, and wanted to make sure that Thomas knew that. She would not let him forget his place.

"If I get caught, I can get out," she replied flatly. She had not mastered any bending of an element, but Thomas knew her power of cunning and weapons. She had used this ability to her advantage more than once, and she was headstrong, yet relaxed, and was not afraid to show it.

Thomas had mastered no element either. He still marveled over Mai's ability to hold her own without one, but she had always brushed him off about it, too cold and set in her ways to really care what he thought anyway. Thomas allowed himself to be subject to her and often did whatever he could to satisfy her, but that usually consisted of being quiet and staying out of her way, and there was no mistaking that he was not content with this, but did not have the bravery to say so. Besides, he knew that he was lucky that she was letting him travel with her at all.

At first glance, Mai did not look like a girl who would be living in the wilderness. She was tall, thin, and very shapely but her loose-fitting clothing prevented the eye from seeing it, for she was a very reserved person. She did not have to worry about looking good, for she was very pretty in a natural way and did not wear face paint- she did not need to. Her clothes reflected her personality, a dark-colored maroon and black robe, with large maroon sleeves which was where she secretly hid most of her weapons. Her hands were covered by black fingeless gloves that extended up her arms. Her black hair was put up on her head but hung down in thick ringlets. She did not care much for fashion, but nearly everything she wore managed to look good on her thin frame. In fact, nearly everything about her was thin. Her face, her golden eyes, even the dark bangs that hung over her forehead.

Mai was on a slow journey to the well-known city of Shecca, for she was not known by the Fire Nation there and wished to find a job so she could earn money and live civilly, or at least for awhile. She lived in the wilderness because she had no other family and nowhere to go; she had no one but Thomas now, who for some reason that she did not know had decided to accompany her on her long journey, though he knew that the city was so far away that it would probably take a very long time to get there, especially at this rate. Mai did not really care if she had him there or not, for she would much rather be alone, but she tolerated him. They both knew that the camp they were following was not headed for Shecca, for Thomas had heard someone state so, so Mai knew that they would have to break off from the camp before long. It was why she was so intent on getting her supplies now; it could not wait another night.

There was no doubt in her mind that the camp was Fire Nation. Anyone who knew the signs of the nations could see that, and luckily she knew them. The Fire Nation was a very ruthless and powerful people, and Mai knew it quite well. But there were various tents on the campsite, and she knew exactly which one housed the weapons and which one the kitchen. She decided that when it was the right time to make her move, she would infiltrate the weapons tent first. For if she got a good weapon and no food, she could at least have better chances at hunting.

"Stay here," Mai commanded, and slowly pushed herself up to her knees. Thorns got caught in her hair and robe, but she ignored them and prepared to move. She was a very skilled fighter and stealthy when she wanted to be, so she did not have much worry about getting caught. It was late at night and most of the fires of the camp had been put out, and most of the men were asleep. Mai's position helped her out, but it was not a coincidence- she had chosen this spot to emerge from the woods because it was closest to the weapons tent, and the closer it was, that meant she would have to spend less time out in the open. There was no telling whether there would be guards inside the tent, but she did not have time to think on it. She tried to prepare herself for anything, calm as usual, and took in a slow breath.

Thomas squeezed her wrist to show that he was supporting her, but she pulled away irritably and moved. She silently streaked across the grassless ground, calm and collected, and quickly came upon the side of the tent. She pressesd her back against one of the poles that kept it together, careful to stay in the dark shadows, and breathed easily. She was very agile and fairly skilled in the ways of hand-to-hand battle, but she was quite hoplessly outnumbered, regardless of her prowess. Even with Thomas backing her up, they were automatically defeated if caught. It was why she must keep her presence concealed.

She crept sideways and hoped that no one would be inside the tent. If there were only a few guards, she could probably take them easily, but if not... Silent as an owl in flight, she slowly looked around the corner and into the opening of the tent. She saw the shine and glare of weapons inside, and there was one small lantern, but thankfully no guards.Feeling the eyes of Thomas on her, she went inside and gladly vanished from his view. There were so many weapons inside here, all with the mark of the Fire Nation, that she had no idea which one to take first. Mostly there were katanas and other types of long blades, but she was uncomfortable with standing there and thinking on it, so she located a sturdy-looking blade and gently took it from its peg on the wall. The hilt was made out of the most beautiful gold and wood, with the mark carved into the side of it, and the actual blade was shiny and very sharp. She fingered it gently, but knew that she must move quickly. But as she turned towards the opening in the tent, she discovered that she was not alone, for there was an armed guard standing broadly in the doorway with his eyes glaring into her.

There was not time to let him make contact with her, so she did the first thing that comes into her mind. She whipped three stilettos from her wide sleeve and threw them hard with ease. So quick was her action that the guard had no time to move, and the jagged points of the flying weapons hit his armor and drove him backward. Mai knew that it was now a good time to get out, so she grabbed the katana and made a hasty escape that she made sure was not entirely appearing fearful. She went gracefully by the guard, who was trying to pull the weapons from his armor, and then quickened her pace towards the woods.

Princess Azula was more than likely not in the camp, but if Mai was caught she would end up facing her eventually. Mai had always obeyed the princess, but unlike nearly everyone else, she was unafraid of the hot-tempered Azula, despite the princess's terribly advanced firebending and skill in martial arts. But having no fear did not guarantee safety. When this party of firebenders made their way back to the princess, they would tell her of their sighting of Mai, and then Azula would be very aware of her old friend's close whereabouts.

Mai and Azula had been on-and-off friends for years, up until now, but that would mean nothing to the ruthless Fire Nation princess. She used every chance she got to humiliate or cause pain to others- Mai had seen it before and did not exactly wish it upon herself. Azula had especially directed her bullying upon her older brother Zuko, on whom Mai had once had a crush and had to admit to herself that though she had not seen him in years, she still did. He was actually now in exile and was the object of his sister's pursuit. Mai did not know the story well, but she knew that the Fire Lord Ozai had commanded Azula to find her brother and uncle, who had accompanied Zuko in his exile, for they were now considered traitors. Mai had only helped Azula in the search because of her secret hopes of seeing Zuko again.

Azula and Mai's other friend in the threesome was Ty Lee, a girl that was pursuaded by the princess to join the search and leave the circus life. Mai had had a better relationship with the bubbly girl than with Azula, but it had not been strong enough to keep Mai from leaving the group. Now if the three of them met up again, Mai knew that she would no doubt have to face them both in battle.

Now she made a quick entrance into the darkness of the woods, but even then she did not slow down. She held the stolen katana tightly in her her hand, and heard Thomas's running foostepts beside her. "How many saw you?" he asked, panting.

She wanted to tell him to shut up, but she kept herself focused on quickly dodging the passing trees and thornbushes. It was somewhat difficult to run in her long robe, but she was used to it by now and still managed to be graceful. Even at her quick running speed, she was still fairly quiet, her thick ringlets of hair flying back behind her, but the same could not be said for Thomas. He was heavier and not near as agile as Mai, and sometimes she just wanted to tell him to get lost, but decided to save that for a time when she was really angry with him.

Thomas was worn out soonly, but Mai had hardly even started to pant. She continued to rush through the thick woods, another silent shadow in the darkness, but began to slow down once she was certain that the camp was far enough away. Even if the guards had come after her, there was no way they could find her in the blackness, and she did not see any torches. So she stopped and leaned the side of herself against a tree to catch her breath. Thomas stopped beside her and bent over with hands on knees, sucking in air. It was a miracle in itself that he had managed to keep up with her somehow.

"They didn't come after us," Mai said after a moment of breathing. Her voice had matured into a woman's by now, as the rest of her had as well, and there was no doubt that Thomas noticed it. She tried not to think that he had feelings for her, for she could not relate.

"Good," he replied in a raspy voice, still bent over and moving his hands to his hips. "At least you got a weapon, though."

Mai turned and leaned her back against the tree, and held up the katana. Its blade reflected the moonlight and shined elegantly. "And I lost three more stilettos," she stated flatly. She glanced up at the sky to determine the time of night, and motioned with her free hand that they should keep moving. A small groan escaped Thomas's throat, but he would not dare trifle with her. Back-talk was completely out of the question, for he knew that she would banish him from her company if he made her angry.

They moved on for another couple of hours, Thomas expressing his discomfort with this by letting out a tired moan every now and then. Mai had the nerve to tell him that if he wanted to rest that he should go ahead but when he woke up she would not be here, but he no doubt already knew that. She was so annoyed with him sometimes that she had considered ditching him many times, but for some reason kept him around.

She did not know why; she certainly had no romantic interest in him. She was the kind of person that was easily bored, and frankly, Thomas bored her. He was all about pleasing her and making her more content, if she was ever content, but his desperateness over her made her nauseous. She felt like slapping him daily but refrained herself from it- she did not want to be like Azula anymore.

When they came to a stop again, the moon was high in the sky and casting some light into the dark woods, making it just bright enough to see. Mai reached to her hair and pulled the ribbon that held it up away, and the black ocean of thickness spilled over her thin shoulders. "I'm going to the creek," she said roughly, "so don't you dare think about following me." He would not follow her, for no one was that foolish, but it would not hurt to make her point again. She glared at him, then left him standing there alone as she went to locate the water. She could hear the rushing of it and absentmindedly found it snaking nicely between the trees. She felt another wave of hunger and tried her best to ignore it. She would go hunting later.

She kicked off her black shoes and unfastened her two-piece robe, slipping the black apron-like part off her shoulders and then shedding the maroon shirt and pants underneath. They all dropped to the ground in a heap and she took off her gloves and stepped into the water. It was fairly deep and quite cold, for the season was hurtling into autumn fast, and she waded out into the deepest part and let herself sink until the water was up to her neck. She shivered involuntarily and then tried to relax. Luckily she had a bar of goat-milk soap with her, which she had also helped herself to previously, and she dunked her head in the cold water and washed her hair. She could feel the rocks on the bed of the creek and the live things swimming around in the water, which did not bother her, and let her mind wander.

She had never thought that it would end up like this. She had lived a fairly normal life before, and it was her boredom that had made her accept Azula's invitation to join the search for the princess's brother and uncle. At the time Mai had not even known what the mission was, but she had been desperate for something to do. But who could stand putting up with Azula's abuse for long amounts of time? Mai had begun to develope a resentment for the princess, and thus felt driven to part company. Too bad Ty Lee had made no offer to come along as well.

Mai was still considering tell Thomas to get lost. True, he had never really done anything to offend her, but she was natrually quite solitary and was better off and more comfortable in silence by herself. Of course, there were certain people that she would be glad to share company with, but the chances of that were very slim. The main thing she needed to concentrate on was figuring out a way to tell Thomas to go away without being overly harsh.

She was starting to get used to the temperature of the water, and actually began to enjoy her bath. She did not usually enjoy much, but she liked being alone and she liked silence. Both of which were hard to have with Thomas around. Well, she would find a way to get rid of him soon enough. If he wanted to go on to Shecca, he could do so by himself.

Mai felt only the tiniest bit badly, for she knew that Thomas no doubt liked her. As far as she thought, he could at least find a different way to express it, other than stalking and clinging around her. Not to say that she would have interest in him in return; she could not imagine that. Thomas was just certainly not her type, and he should know that, shouldn't he? She herself was sixteen but was not sure how old he was, and did not really care. It would not matter for long, anyway. He would be off on his own way again, soon enough. Sometimes she wondered why he had been wandering around in the woods by himself in the first place, but had never cared enough to ask. Perhaps it was a similar reason that she had, but he had never said so.

She stood and wrung out of her thick hair, the water splashing down into the creek in a thick stream. She hauled her dripping self out of the water and onto the sandy creek bed, standing for a few moments to air-dry, then pulled on her clothes and slipped the black sleevless robe on and buttoned it up the front of her shapely torso. She made sure her remaining weapons were still in the sleeves, and once assured that they were, sat down on a dry rock and began to tie up her hair. It was difficult to handle when wet, but she had done it many times and could manage fine.

Suddenly she heard Thomas saying her name in a high whisper. She stiffened as she tied the last ribbon and felt a flare of rage that he would dare approach her when she was bathing in the creek. For all he knew, she could still be naked. She stood up, pondering on what kind of pain to give him, when she heard him call again in a loud whisper. She spotted his silhouette behind a tree and narrowed her thin golden eyes. If he only knew the pain he was about to receive!

"Mai," he whispered hoarsely, and motioned her over to him.

She was coming, all right. She slid both hands into the opposite sleeves, and made her way over to him angrily. "I told you not to follow me," she stated coldly, and she saw his dark form shrink back.

"Mai, it's the Fire Nation guards," he said quickly, holding up a hand as if to block an oncoming attack. "They followed us."

Mai felt her back stiffen. "How many?"

"I don't know, I think just two. Should we get out of here?"

"No." Mai drew the stolen katana out into the open. "You just stay out of my way."

The guards did not know what hit them, and were both down hardly before they could blink, and Mai had not yet even begun to fight. Her skills were incredibly fast and rarely did she miss a hit on her target. As it went with the two guards. The men were back on their feet fairly quickly, but Mai was much faster. As soon as they were up, she moved in with a double-fisted smash to one, immediately followed by a flip-kick to the other. The katana was idle in her hand for now, and she planned for it to remain that way, unless the guards drew weapons. No doubt that they would, but Mai never gave them a chance. She was here, there, and everywhere before the men were even aware of her first location. She had learned a great deal of her acrobatics from Ty Lee during the years that they had known each other, and she silently thanked her friend.

Mai ricocheted off a tree and came back in a multi-combo kick that had the guards quickly down again. She briefly noticed Thomas out of the corner of her eye, staring in awe at her violent performance. She tried not to let him distract her, and performed a series of graceful backflips that took her back away from the guards so she could briefly catch her breath. One of them stood up and picked up an unseen spear from the ground that he had brought with him, and set his sights on Mai. She looked at him squarely, her face expressionless, but her eyes flashed and taunted him. She pressed her long black fingernails into her palms and waited for the man to make his move, who wasted no time and rushed forward at her with spear ready. She patiently waited until he got close, then kicked the oncoming weapon to the side, and while he was trying to regain his balance, used his knee as leverage and smashed his face with spin-kick and karate jab to the jaw. As he fell to the ground she rebounded from him, never even touching the ground, and pulled a few shurikens from her sleeve as she came down upon the other guard. His eyes widened at the sight of her and he quickly moved out of the way.

Mai landed on the ground lightly, but got up in a split second and was in a full run at the guard who was trying to avoid her. As if suddenly hit with a wave of bravery, he narrowed his eyes and took a stab with his spear. It was a well-timed attack, but Mai easily dodged and connected her wrist with the weapon. She pushed it down and to the side, which twisted the man's arm and gave her the upper hand. She yanked the spear from his hands and promptly cracked it in half over her knee. She stood up straight and threw the pieces to the side, her face hard and serious and expression never changing through the entire fight, and took one step towards the man before he backed away and fled into the darkness.

She sensed someone close behind her, and reached back and sure enough connected. She latched her hands into the remaining guard's shirt and summoned all of her strength before bending over and flipping him clear over her head and slamming his heavy body to the ground. The air whooshed from him, and she bent over him with katana in hand and made a mock move of stabbing him. His arms flashed up to protect his face, which was a very useless move anyway, but Mai stopped the blade only inches from his body. It was quite enjoyable to strike fear into the hearts of grown men.

She stood up and put the katana away, then seized the man's shoulders and hauled him up, adrenaline fueling her strength. She let go of him and dropped herself into a fighting stance, the thin fingers of her right hand close to his throat, and nodded her head in the direction of the Fire Nation camp. "Go," she commanded, threatening silently and communicating her meaning with the cold look in her eyes. The guard stepped away from her reluctantly, but when she reached for the katana, he disappeared quite quickly.

With the end of the fight, all fell silent. Mai caught her breath and smoothed out the large sleeves of her shirt. She suddenly remembered Thomas, who was still standing quietly beside a large pine tree. She glanced at him. "Let's move," she barked, and after a moment of wide-eyed staring, he followed her silently.

-O-

They travelled on until the sun rose, then rested for awhile but began moving again as soon as they could. Mai pressed Thomas on roughly, knowing that it might mean death if they stopped for too long or took their time. The two defeated guards no doubt when back to camp and told their story of their battle with the fierce girl in the darkness, and if they gave too much information, it would not be long before they figured out they it had been Mai, traitor of the princess. She was just another person on Azula's hit-list now.

By the time dusk came around, Thomas was vocally complaining of his fatigue, despite Mai's warnings to be quiet. They were still in the deep woods of the forest, which seemed to stretch on forever, and finally Thomas stopped and leaned his back against a tree. "We've got to rest soon," he said bravely.

"I say when we rest," Mai snapped, "not you. If you want to stop, go ahead, but I'm going on."

Thomas moaned.

"The Fire Nation is after me," she stated. "They have been for awhile. I don't know why you're even following me. It's not like I invited you."

Thomas flashed a quick glare at her. "Would you rather me leave?"

She did not answer, only looked at him and arched one eyebrow slightly. He looked away, interpreting the silent anwer. Mai knew she had offended him, but since when did she care about things like that? Let him live her boring life for years, then put up with Azula for awhile, and see how friendly he was. But that was just Mai's personality, and it was true that the two of them were very different. Thomas could be very open and had a fairly carefree attitude, while Mai took everything seriously and did not have time to be careless.

She pushed him on until nightfall, then chose a spot on the left side of a shallow creek to rest. "We'll camp here tonight," she stated, and sat down and just then realized that she was very tired and hungry. It was better to travel at night and rest during the day, but their fatigue would not allow that right now. Thomas lay back on the ground, moaning and mumbling to himself. Mai ignored it and said, "Start a fire. I'm going to find something to eat."

"Thank goodness," he grumbled as Mai rose from her spot in the dirt. "Get as much as you can."

She scoffed at him and headed off into the twilight. In the clearing it would have been more lit, but in the woods the trees blocked off the light and therefore made it appear more dark. Mai smelled rain in the air and heard the distant rumble of an oncoming storm, and was annoyed to know that the night was more than likely going to be a wet one. She had only one remaining stiletto in her sleeve, and she retrieved it and clutched it in her hand as she silently made her way around through the trees. The first living thing that she saw, she planned to nail it.

It happened to be a large quail. She heard it moving around before she saw it, and froze in mid-move when it fell into her line of vision. She stiffened and prepared to launch the weapon, and when the time was right, let it fly. The bird went down in a flash of feathers, and fluttered for a few seconds before it stopped moving. Satisfied with herself, Mai went to it and pulled out the bloody stiletto from the bird's chest and briefly dried it off before putting it back in her sleeve. Good thing she was such a good aim. She picked up the quail by the tail feathers and decided that it was large enough to feed both her and Thomas, and if he wanted something else, he could just go get it himself.

By the time she reached their campsite, Thomas had put together a pile of dry sticks and was blowing on a small flame inside them, which grew larger with each breath. He glanced at Mai as she sat down, and she began plucking the feathers from the bird in fistfuls. His eyes fell to the soon-to-be food, and he turned back to the fire and blew harder.

It was soon roaring, and Mai had the featherless meat of the bird speared with a thick arrow and held cooking over the crackling fire. Thomas sat with his knees up, looking on hungrily, but the two of them were silent. Mai kept glancing up at him with annoyance, wondering if he could not find something else to stare at, and was glad when the meat was finally cooked.

She for once found it easy to fall asleep that night, after making sure that there was distance between her and Thomas, as usual. He seemed to be asleep as soon as he lay down, but Mai was awake for a few minutes, flat on her back with her ankles crossed and the thick ringlets of her hair flowing out on the ground around her. She glared over at Thomas, who was nothing but a dark silhoette on the ground, and thought seriously about ditching him tomorrow as she fell asleep.

Mai did not know what woke her up a few hours later; perhaps it had been a thunderclap, or the light rain that was beginning to drop from the sky, but all she knew was that suddenly she was awake. Lightning flashed across the sky, and in the brief second of light she saw that Thomas was nowhere to be seen. The thing in itself was not so strange, but for some reason it secretly unnerved her. Not that she felt as if she needed him; it would just make her feel awful if something had happened to him. And besides, the very night itself was creepy.

The rain began to fall harder, and Mai sat up. There was no shelter out here, not in the woods. If she wanted to get out of the rain, the only thing to do would be to get under a tree, but she was already under one and it was not helping much. She blinked the sleep away from her eyes and noticed that, strangely, her heart was beating quite hard. She swallowed and silently told herself to go back to sleep, and laid back again on the wet ground.

There was a sudden crash in the dark shadows, and a deep cry of pain. Thomas. Mai was up and on her feet before she even knew that she was doing it, and she took a few steps in the direction of where she had heard the sounds, and she was hearing more. By the sound of it, it seemed as if Thomas was in some kind of a scuffle. Annoyed that he could not take care of himself, Mai squinted and shielded her eyes from the rain with her free hand.

After a quick flash of movement, Thomas suddenly came hurtling head-first from the weeds and crashed to the ground on his shoulder, sliding a few feet and smashing into Mai's shins. Various places in his shirt were ripped, and he was bleeding. There was no time to ask what was happening, and Thomas pushed himself up, panting, and clutched his ribs, his teeth grinding together.

Mai pushed him to the side. "Leave it to me," she barked, and drew the katana. There was suddenly the dark outline of a figure a few yards in front of her, and she faced it head-on. As she and the figure rushed forward to meet each other, she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. If the Fire Nation guards had located them, she was in trouble.

But there was only one person, and he did not seem to be wearing armor. He had two broadswords, one in each hand, and Mai's katana smashed off the blades that formed a criss-crossed blocking shield with a metallic clash. The force of it drove her back a step or two, but she came back quickly, silently, swinging her sword gracefully, but all of her attacks were blocked again. As her opponent blocked high with his swords, and she could tell that he was young by the grunts and growls of his battle cries, she attempted to kick low, but he countered that with a kick of his own. Mai danced out of the way and then barely dodged the oncoming swipe of another sword attack.

He was very skilled with his weapons, that was easy to tell, and he was strong. Mai could feel it in the force of his blows that she blocked and dodged. Unaware of quite how it was happening, she was being driven backwards across the wet ground, and as much as she fought it, she had no choice but to go back if she wanted to dodge the deadly blades of those broadswords.

Mai saw an open chance to make her own move, and she launched herself to the left in a no-handed cartwheel. Her landing was steady, even on the wet dirt, but her opponent was just as fast as she was and was upon her again, and she was hard-put to block the oncoming wave of swipes and slashes. She could not see his face; it was too dark, even when the lightning flashed, but she could luckily see enough to tell when to dodge, block, or attack. And now was the time for an attack. In a one-handed swing with the katana, she connected the blade perfectly, which clashed hard into the hilt in his right hand, and his sword went whistling through the air and stuck hard into a tree.

They were evenly matched now, or at least with weapons. Mai felt the rain dripping off her bangs and onto her face, and the two of them were motionless in their fighting stances for a moment. But the loss of one weapon did not deter him for long, and as he came rushing at her, she skitted backwards and pulled two shurikens from her sleeve. In one quick motion, she threw them with as much force as she could muster, and they cut through the air dangerously. He stopped and whacked them from the air with his remaining blade, and they stuck deep into the ground a few yards away. Mai was practically on him in one leap, with both hands on the katana, but as she came down, he reached up with one hand and caught her wrists, throwing her attack completely off. She was uncomfortably suspended for a split second, but then he shoved her back to where she fell to the ground. She hit the mud on her shoulders, and turned the fall into an agile, backward somersault that brought her back up quickly.

Now she noticed that she had somehow lost the katana. It was no doubt somewhere on the ground in the vacinity, but there was certainly no time to look for it. She backed up a step, but only to gain her balance, and then shot herself at him violently. It was a very foolish move, really, for she was bladeless, but she was willing to try. With each hand into the latter sleeve, she whipped out two handfuls of arrows and let them fly. He slashed a few of them away with his remaining sword, but he had to turn away and doge the others. Mai took advantage of this, her teeth grinding together in a closed mouth, and she connected a few hard kicks into her opponent's unprotected side. He growled his pain and turned back to face her, but she was already on the other side of him with her hands around his sword, and she kicked him in the stomach, which released his grip on the sword and let it fall into her hands. An expert with flying weapons, she threw it hard to the side, and it disappeared deep into the darkness.

With another bolt of lightning, Mai saw the flash of the green and brown color of his clothes, but other than that could not make out much more. And his stomach might as well have been made out of rock, for he recovered quickly, and the hand-to-hand fight was on. She blocked his hard punches, which were heavy and bruised her arms, but at least she was blocking. He pulled back and did a three-sixty-degree spin-kick, which Mai barely ducked under and could feel the air off of it above her.

Was it just Mai, or was the ground suddenly steaming? She did not know, but she pushed herself up from her crouch and smashed her fist square into his jaw. She was surprised that she had connected, but all of the sudden Thomas was close- too close. Enraged that he had ignored her command to leave the fight to her, she threw her one last stiletto at him, which stabbed through the sleeve of his shirt and pinned him to a tree. She could see that his eyes were wide with fear during the next flash of lightning, and then she turned her attention back to the battle at hand, but was unfortunately a little to late.

Her opponent hit her squarely --with what, she was not quite sure...probably his fist-- and she was nearly driven back into the creek. She fought for her balance at the edge of the water, but knowing it was lost, figured that she might as well go down fighting. She threw a hard sweep-kick, which he had obviously not been expecting, and when she hit him hard, they both went down into the water.

Mai landed on her back with her knees up, and he fell horizontally on top of her. At first all she noticed was the freezing coldness of the water, but then something else caught her attention. Just as he pushed himself up onto his knees, Mai was hit with a flashback. It was centered a few years ago, and Azula and Ty Lee were there, and she remembered falling into the fountain in a position similar to this, and she had been embarrassed...

He was on his knees with his fist drawn back, and Mai felt her breath suck in- not with fear, but with realization. She swallowed and pushed herself up onto her elbows in the water.

"Zuko?"

-O-

Well it was an attempt, at least. This won't be a very long story, but somebody review on it plz.