Stilettos

The past year as Fire Lord had been challenging for Zuko. He was stressed out from the days full of long meetings and arguments. Besides coming up with the plans for Republic City, Zuko was working on plans to reconfigure certain aspects of the Fire Nation and to help rebuild and aid places such as Omashu and the Northern and Southern Water tribes after the devastating attacks they had suffered.

This vacation was the perfect remedy. He was lying on the beach after a particularly interesting fire duel with Aang. The sun was just about to touch the horizon. Toph and Katara were bending the wet sand at the shore while Ty Lee and Suki half practiced new moves and techniques, half goofed off. Sokka was watching them cartwheel around the beach while Momo sat on his shoulder. Everything was perfect except, where was Mai? She had left a few minutes ago, but Zuko didn't know where she had gone off to. The question was pushed from his mind when he saw a servant walking down the steps to the beach.

"Fire Lord Zuko. We just received a hawk from an advisor. He says that he needs to speak with you and that he will be here shortly."
"Here? Now? I'm on vacation! What could be so important that he would interrupt me on vacation?" The others stopped their games at this flash of rage that could be so familiar in Zuko sometimes.

"I'm sorry sir, I do not know. He says it's urgent." Zuko sighed and calmed himself down. Whatever it was, he would have to go. Hopefully he could make the meeting quick and return to the beach as soon as possible.

"I'll be in my study waiting for him." Zuko said. He trudged up to his study, dreading the meeting. He didn't even bother changing out of the loose pants and relaxed tunic he was wearing. Hopefully his advisor would get the message.

When he entered the study, Zuko headed towards his desk, figuring he would go over some notes, maybe prepare something as a way of shortening the meeting. But before he could reach his desk he heard a sharp whirring sound in the air, and before he knew it, was pinned to the wall. The knives ripped into the thin fabric of his tunic. Mai stepped out from behind the door, a gleam in her eyes.

"Mai!" Zuko shouted, "What are you doing?"

"Nothing." Mai said passively, and then stood on her toes to kiss him on the lips. Out of instinct, Zuko wanted to touch her, but the knives would not budge from the wall. She began to kiss his neck, sending shivers to his lower back.

"Mai" he said softly, and then a little more loudly and urgently, "Mai! Not right now. An advisor-"

"There is no advisor, Zuko." She began kissing him again and Zuko felt relieved and happy. More than ever, he wanted to hug her, to hold her and to kiss her back, but he couldn't and she just continued to tease him with her kisses. After a few minutes of this torture, which seemed agonizingly long to Zuko, he looked in her eyes.

"Mai," he said softly, trying to communicate how desperately he wanted free, how he would kiss her fiercely the moment he was able to. She smiled, her eyes flashed.

"I suppose I've let you suffer long enough." Two knives suddenly appeared from within her sleeves. They cut along the sleeves of his white tunic, and just before they reached his collar, Zuko felt a sudden sharpness at his collarbone. His eyes widened in shock. She had nicked him. A tiny cut was now bleeding slowly.

"Mai," he gasped. She stared back at him, her face expressionless. But he was free now, and he embraced her and kissed her just as fiercely as he had promised.

oOoOo

Mai sighed, her head resting in the crook of Zuko's neck. He smiled sleepily at her.

"That was.. surprising. Why did you..?"

"I was bored," Mai responded passively.

"Of course," Zuko couldn't help but smile. Without warning, Mai pushed herself off of the lounge in Zuko's study. She attempted to fix her messed up hair and pointed at Zuko's desk.

"There's an extra shirt for you there. I'm going to get ready for dinner," and she abruptly walked out of the room, her back perfectly straight, and her hands in front of her. When the door shut, Zuko jumped off of the couch and pulled on the tunic which was nearly identical to his previous one. He turned towards the wall, thinking that he had better remove the knives, but before he had taken a step, the door behind him burst open.

Katara and Aang jumped into the room, closely followed by what looked like the rest of their friends.

"Zuko! We thought we heard noises. Where is that advisor you were meeting?" Aang said, his voice loud and strong.

"Um, he left. Noises?" Zuko was thankful that he was fully clothed and hoping that they would not notice the shirt pinned to the wall.

"Yeah, bumps, and some noises, like shouting." Suki piped up. Zuko cursed inwardly. His study was overlooking the area where his friends had been playing. And he and Mai hadn't been extremely quiet.

"Zuko!" Katara exclaimed, "Are those knives in the wall?" She strode over to the wall behind him and inspected the knives pinning the thin fabric of his now ruined tunic to the wall. She frowned, "Did.. Mai do this?" She looked shocked and confused. "Zuko, you're bleeding!"

Suki and Ty Lee inspected the wall as well when suddenly Ty Lee laughed a tinkling laugh.

"Oh, I see what's going on here." She laughed again and Suki smiled in agreement. Sokka started laughing too and clapped Zuko on the back, much to his embarrassment. They left with Toph, who was in stitches, leaving just Zuko, Aang, and Katara in the room.

"Zuko…what?" Katara asked. "Mai did this?" Zuko nodded carefully. Katara looked upset. Aang was glancing worriedly at her. "Zuko, that's not love. That's just—that's just pain."

oOoOo

Zuko was troubled by Katara's words. He loved Mai, and he loved the time they spent as just the two of them. As he walked down the hall, he wished that Katara and Aang had not caught him like that.

Mai was wearing a casual red beach outfit. She was sitting at the vanity tying thin ribbons in her hair when Zuko walked in. He dropped the knives and scrapped fabric on the vanity.

"Everyone walked in and saw the knives; they all know what happened." Mai's eyebrows scrunched together just slightly.

"Hm, I had hoped that we would get away with it. Oh well."

"That's not all though. I think that Katara and Aang, well, Katara at least, is kind of freaked out."

"Oh." Mai looked at herself in the mirror, thinking. "I'm sorry. I suppose there's not much we can do about that." Her face was perfectly calm, if not unconcerned, but Zuko had a feeling that she felt troubled by this.

"Don't be sorry. I just thought that you should know." He leaned down into the mirror's reflection and kissed her on the neck. "Anyways, it was worth it."