Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Air-bender or its respective characters
Hide and Seek
Fluffy white clouds reflected in the clear water of a small pond just outside a large red palace. A young boy, not more than the age of ten, sat cross-legged at the pond's edge, gently tossing small bread crumbs into the water. Small turtle-ducks quacked excitedly as they scurried through the water to their floating lunch. A small smile could be seen on the young boy's pale face, admiring the little creatures he was feeding.
"Zuko!" his mother called from the veranda behind him, "Come here please!"
After tossing the remnants of the bread into the pond, Zuko stood and scurried to his mother. "Yes mother?" he spoke as he stood before the opposite side of the railing.
Zuko's mother smiled down at him sweetly. "Your sister's friend Mai is here, but your sister has not yet returned with Ty Lee. Would you please entertain her for a while until they get back? I have business to attend to with your father."
Zuko's smile quickly faded. "Do I have to?" he wined.
His mother narrowed her eyes. "Now Zuko, you need to learn to play with others. You two will get along just fine. Mai is a very nice girl. She comes from a noble family." As she stepped aside and turned to leave, she revealed a dark-haired girl, around the same age as Zuko. She stood there shyly looking down at her hands. "Play nice you two," Zuko's mother called out as she stepped inside the palace.
"Hi Zuko," Mai said quietly as she fidgeted with the bottom of her robe.
Zuko did not reply and both of them stood silent for several minutes until Zuko finally spoke. "So, what do you want to do?" he asked.
Mai raised her head to gaze at Zuko. "I don't care," she replied.
Annoyed, Zuko grumbled amongst himself. "OK… well, what do you normally do with my sister?"
"Whatever she tells me to do," Mai replied simply. There was a brief silence again, this time Mai breaking it. "What do you like to do for fun?"
"Practice fire-bending," Zuko replied.
Mai looked down at her feet, disappointed. "Oh… I can't fire-bend." She paused for a moment, then raised her head again as she spoke. "But I have been learning Shuriken jutsu."
Zuko's eyes lit up in excitement. "You're skilled with shuriken?! Can I see?"
Mai's cheeks turned pink, and she replied modestly, "I'm just learning. I'm not really good at it yet."
"Please show me!" Zuko pleaded. "I'm sure you're good."
"Alright," Mai replied and leapt over the railing to the ground beside Zuko. Zuko excitedly followed Mai to a spot several feet in front of a nearby tree. He watched intently as little Mai pulled out several small arrows that had been tucked away in her sleeves. She blushed, feeling the eyes of Zuko watching her anxiously. She held the tiny arrows in her right hand and concentrated on the tree before her. Zuko's mouth dropped, agape as he watched Mai swiftly fling the three arrows from her hand at the tree. Each one landed perfectly perpendicular to the tree trunk, a miniscule distance between each of them.
"That was so cool!" Zuko hollered and jumped about excitedly.
"What was cool?" Zuko's wicked little sister unexpectedly asked from her spot behind Zuko.
Zuko spun around, glaring at his sister as she stood there, arms crossed over her chest. "Nothing Azula," Zuko snapped.
Azula rolled her eyes and turned to her friend Ty Lee who was in the midst of cart wheeling across the lawn. "Ty Lee! It seems we have an extra person to play with today. With my brother we now have an even number."
Ty Lee rolled to Azula's side, a perky smile on her face. "Oooo! So we can have teams!" she exclaimed.
"Exactly," Azula replied. She turned back to Mai and Zuko. "So what do you two say about a friendly game of team hide and seek? The two of you against me and Ty Lee."
Mai removed her arrows from the tree and tucked them back away in her sleeves. As usual, she did not reply to Azula's request, because despite how much she wished not to play, there was no way she could say no to the Fire Nation Princess. Zuko on the other hand, did not have a problem saying no.
"There's no way I'm playing with you girls!" Zuko protested.
Azula's fake smile transformed into an even more fake pout. "But Zuzu… we need an even number. It's so much more fun with teams." Not hearing a reply from Zuko, she furrowed her brows and continued sternly, "Do I have to get mother's opinion in the matter?"
Zuko cursed his wretched sister silently within his head. "Fine. I'll play your stupid game," he gave in, wishing not to involve his mother, who would certainly talk him into it anyway.
"Great!" Ty Lee exclaimed eagerly, "I love games!"
Azula smiled deviously. "Alright, you two get to hide first. We'll wait two minutes, so find a place quick."
Mai approached Zuko, a bored look plastered across her face. Azula and Ty Lee covered their eyes and stood facing the tree Mai had used as a target earlier. As Ty Lee began counting loudly, Zuko grabbed Mai's hand, unaware of the blush that formed in her cheeks.
"I know a great place to hide!" Zuko whispered as he tugged Mai along with him.
Azula peeked over her shoulder, snickering cleverly. "Ty Lee! Stop counting. They're gone!"
Ty Lee paused for a moment, and removed a hand from her eye so that she could peer at Azula. "But Azula, we're supposed to give them two minutes."
"I already know where he's taking her. He always hides in the most obvious spots," Azula explained. "Let's just have some fun. We can watch them from the roof." She pointed to the side of the palace, where ivy grew up lattice along the outer wall.
Ty Lee smiled brightly, enthused about Azula's plans. "You're always so crafty Azula!" She giggled as she quickly followed Azula up the palace wall.
Zuko took Mai to the front of the palace and stopped before several rose bushes, letting go of Mai's hand.
"We're not hiding in there are we?" Mai questioned as she noticed the abundance of sharp thorns.
"Yeah," Zuko replied simply as he crept behind the bushes carefully. He crouched down in a small opening between the palace and the rose bushes. Mai stood at the edge still, unsure of whether or not she wanted to go back there with him.
"Maybe I should hide somewhere else, so that it's harder for them to get us," Mai suggested.
"Come on!" Zuko spoke in a hushed tone and motioned for her to come back with him.
Mai reluctantly made her way along the wall, careful not to get entangled in the thorny rose bushes. She crouched down next to Zuko. They were almost on top of each in the small space. "This is kind of a tight space," Mai whispered and looked away, trying to hide her blush.
"I usually am back here alone, and there's plenty of space," Zuko replied as he tried to readjust to put more space between them.
From atop the roof of the palace, Ty Lee and Azula peered down at Zuko and Mai. "You can see them perfectly from here," Ty Lee whispered to Azula. "You know what? I think Mai likes your brother."
Azula ignored her friend's naivety and smiled deviously as she spied on her brother and Mai. Both Ty Lee and Azula tried to stifle their laughter as they watched the two struggle to get comfortable behind the rose bushes below.
As Mai tried to situate herself comfortably, she lost her footing and toppled over on top of Zuko. With her face only inches away from Zuko's, she could no longer hide her blush. Zuko noticed, and his cheeks reddened as well.
"Sorry," Mai whispered as she tried to push herself off Zuko. One of her hands slipped in the dirt, and she landed back on Zuko with a thud, this time their lips almost touching. She was quick to get up now, as her face brightened tremendously. Zuko quickly sat up as well, equally embarrassed. They sat for some time without speaking or looking at each other.
Zuko finally broke the silence, frustrated with waiting so long for Azula and Ty Lee to come searching for them. "What's taking so long? I haven't even heard them walk by yet," he complained.
Mai shrugged her shoulders. "It's been over two minutes." A thought occurred to her and she realized that Azula was probably just playing a trick on them. She was about to tell Zuko, but he spoke before she could.
"That was really cool what you did with those arrows. I've never seen a girl do anything like that before." He twiddled his thumbs nervously in his lap, regretting the compliment.
"Thanks," Mai replied quietly. There was another short moment of silence. "Do you not like girls?" she asked out of the blue.
Zuko gave her a sideways glance. "Most of them…"
"I don't like girls either," Mai replied. "You're sister is mean and Ty Lee is just annoying."
Zuko continued to twiddle his thumbs as he spoke, "But I think you're pretty cool, for a girl."
"Really?" Mai asked. Zuko thought he might have seen a smile on her face, but she had looked away before he was certain. Then there was more uncomfortable silence.
Azula sighed in agitation. "These two are so boring," she complained to Ty Lee. "Let's go do something else."
Ty Lee pouted in disappointment. She had been enjoying watching the two 'lovebirds' below. "You think when they're older they will be any different?" she asked Azula as she followed her to the back side of the palace roof.
"I think they'll be even more boring," Azula replied dryly and scaled down the lattice.
"I'm jealous," Ty Lee stated, "I want a boyfriend!"
"Silly Ty Lee," Azula replied, "You don't need a 'boyfriend'. They're just a distraction. Besides, you have me."
Ty Lee titled her head to the side, confused by Azula's last statement.
Mai watched intently from out of the corner of her eye as Zuko reached into one of the rose bushes and plucked out a rose. She struggled to see what he was doing with it, but at the angle he sat, she was unable to see his hands. As Zuko turned to her, she quickly looked away, hoping he had not notice her staring.
"This is for you," Zuko whispered as he held out the rose to Mai.
Mai looked at the rose, which was now black and smoldering.
"Black is your favorite color, right?" Zuko said as Mai took the rose from him.
Mai stared in awe at the black flower. "Yes," she replied shyly. She leaned forward and placed a kiss on Zuko's cheek. The two of them blushed, and Zuko took one of Mai's hands into his own.
"You want to forget about hide and seek and go play alone?" Mai questioned.
Zuko nodded and they both stood, making their way out from the bushes, hand in hand.
A/N: I hope this was not too cutesy to the point that Zuko and Mai were OC. Please review and tell me what you think.