"Argh!" it was a whisper but it was enough to stir Mai, she moved but quickly fell back into her position. He then quietly closed the door and went back to his couch

"What is wrong with me?" he silently screamed to himself, he then shut his eyes and thought about what he felt all night, and ended back up where he started, just as confused as ever.

Mai was a fire bender, so she naturally woke with the sun, but she also heard Zei and Nilak were already up complaining about something. She woke up to sore limbs, but most her of her cuts were gone thanks to Nilak, Mai woke up and walked into the kitchen in the big baggy shirt, it came down a little shorter than just under her shin

"Morning guys" she moaned, limping out of the bedroom,

"Stupid Oven! Morning Mai" Zei chirpily said, while banging on his oven, Nilak then passed her the kettle, she already knew she had to heat it up, there oven was faulty at best

"You feeling better this morning?" Nilak asked, sitting next to her

"Yeah, I'm not bleeding, so that's a start, when are we practising?" she asked, she was still worried about the finals, Nilak sighed

"Mai, you are injured, no training today"

The kettle started to boil within Mai's hands and she passed it back to Nilak, Mai hated coffee, she always had, her dad had always made her hot chocolates and she loved them,

"Here" said Zei passing her a hot chocolate, he knew she liked them too

"Thanks" she said grabbing it in both her hands and putting it to her lips, not caring that it was, being a fire bender she was good with heat

"Guys, I don't have any clothes, only my training clothes at the gym and the dress I wore last night, I also don't have a tooth brush" she said slapping her forehead and sighing,

"We have spare tooth brushes Mai, and well you can wear some of our clothes" She than looked at him raising one of her eyebrows

"I can't wear your clothes, they don't fit. OK, how about you guys train, I'll watch, then I go home in that?" Zei and Nilak exchanged looks

"Alright, but you're not doing anything today Mai" she nodded, damn it, she hated being so useless, she gulped down then rest of her hot chocolate, her eyes were black from the make-up that she was wearing last night

"I'm going to go wash my face, and stuff" she slid out of her chair and into the boys bath room.

She turned the tap on lightly and splashed some water to her face, then looking up into the mirror, assessing the bruises to her face. She hated that they were on her face, people could see them, she could say it was from practise, lord knows she has had some shocking injuries from Pro-Bending career, but she never got hit in the face, they would know something was up. Mai felt the cool water hit her white skin, it trickling down her face off her jawline splashing back into the water below, she always found water an interesting thing, she thought it would be cool to bend it, but she hated it none the less.

She brought her hands to her face removing any of the make-up that was on her face, her face was sticky from the tears that she had shed last night and her hair was knotty and messy. She grabbed her hair tie that she kept on her at all times and quickly brushed it throwing it up into a high pony tail.

There was a knock at the bathroom door

"Come in" she said softly, Nilak walked in with a tooth brush in is hand

"Here, it's never been used I promise" smiling at her, he was wearing a singlet top, Nilak was chiselled, he was lean, toned and tall. His hair was black and his skin was only the slightest bit darker then Mai's. But those eyes, she was surprised he didn't have a girl friend

"Thanks Nilak" she said walking over to the door to him reaching out her hand taking the toothbrush, she briefly touched his hand and remembered last night, the closeness between the two, the way his soft hands, the way even though they were total opposites, water and fire just seemed to go together with those two.

She looked up into his eyes, he was wearing that same expression, pained and desire, no, she had to shrug this off. She then grabbed the tooth brush softly and walked back to the sink, smiling at him as she did so; he walked out the door slowly closing the door behind him, taking one last glance at those long legs while he did

"Ready?" Zei asked who was already dressed

"Yeah, you go and get everything set up; I will walk to practise with Mai" The sides of Zei's moth perked up into a smirk

"OK, see you there Nilak" he said picking up his bag and walking out the door chuckling. Nilak rolled his eyes and put on his usual clothes.

Mai walked out and into his bedroom putting back on her dress that she wore last night, walking back out the dress was ripped in several different places, she quickly put on her ballet flats that she left at their apartment last week when they were talking tactics for the game.

"Where did Zei go?" she asked walking over to Nilak

"He left, come on we had better go" he replied walking out the door, Mai quickly following behind him. Mai was starving, she hadn't eaten anything for breakfast, as she walked her stomach made a funny noise, and thank god Nilak didn't hear it

"Are you hungry, you didn't eat anything a breakfast" he said stopping out the front of a dumpling shop, she hated relying on other people for things

"No, I'm fine" she tried pulling a smile, but no such luck, it was an awkward one, Nilak rolled his eyes and pulled her over to a chair and pushed her down lightly

"Sit, don't move" he walked into the dumpling shop, she sat awkwardly at a table by herself, with couples all around her, she sighed when she felt someone move behind her she quickly whipped her head around to see Hasook standing behind her

"Go away Hasook" she said flatly

"Oh touchy, so still wearing that dress I see? Did you have a sleep over with your boyfriends?" she scowled at him,

"Is it any of your business what I do when I'm not beating you?" she asked, in a matter of fact tone, his face went bright red in rage

"I wouldn't be so sure girly, last time I checked during that match you nearly drowned, and had to get your boyfriends to rescue you"

"I don't need rescuing from anyone" she said through her clenched jaw, he smirked know that he had pissed her off

"You know it's funny, your mums the avatar, your brothers are generals for the united forces, and your dad is not only a legend in Pro-Bending, he saved the city along with your mum. Where did you go wrong?" she wanted to punch that stupid smirk off his face, she remained quiet

"What's wrong Mai?" he smirked coming even closer to her

"Leave me alone Hasook" her fist was now trying to make contact with his face, no, she would get thrown out of the tournament if she did that

"You should take her advice" This time it wasn't her speaking, it was Nilak, Hasook chuckled

"Boyfriend to the rescue again Mai? Wait wasn't that Akai? I can't keep up anymore, well you still owe me a date beautiful" he said, giving her one last look as he walked away.

She froze, hearing Akai's name made her stomach churn; she had really liked that guy, why did he turn out to be such a jerk

"You OK?" He said, putting a paper bag down on the table

"Yeah, he is just a jerk, anyways let's go" She was not OK, he had literally made her body ache all over again

"Here I brought you something to eat" he said handing her the paper bag, she smiled at him and arching an eyebrow as she opened the bag

"Yum, how did you know what to get me?" she asked taking a bite out of a pork dumpling with a sweet peach sauce, this was her favourite

"Mai, I've known you for three years, I know what you like to eat" he laughed, she looked down further into the bag, there was a small cup cake with a flower on the top of it with white petals, she loved white flowers, there was also a three small biscuits with dried fruit in them, he knew her to well

"Thank-you, you really didn't have to do that, how much do I owe you?" she hated people buying things for her, he gave an exasperated sigh

"Mai, you don't owe me anything. I bought them for you, now eat otherwise I will force feed you" she giggled and took another bite of her dumpling, Nilak smiled at her, they were nearly at the arena now

"So, what are you doing for your birthday?" she had totally forgotten about that, it was in a three days and she was turning seventeen, Zei and Nilak were still a years older than her, they turned eighteen soon

"Nothing, I hate birthdays, you know that" she laughed

"You bought us something for our birthdays; we have to buy you something for yours!"

"Yeah, but I'm a girl, we do that through instinct" she said giving him a punch in the arm, what would he even get her, she wasn't really into all that material stuff

"Well, if you say so" he was still going to get her something, but he wasn't going to let her know.

Once they reached the arena, Zei was training as he should have been; Nilak was soon to join him. Mai went to the change rooms, she opened her locker to find some clothes and note

Fire Ferret, thought you would need these, take a shower and be back by dinner time, oh and your brothers are still here, so be careful because they were planning something, Love Dad
P.S: Don't worry Ikki picked them out for you

She laughed at her father's note; she opened her locker to find what she would usually wear in there, along with her father's scarf that he had given to her when she turned thirteen. She quickly had a quick shower and put her clothes on, thank god Ikki had chosen her boots, they were her favourite boots, and she wore them with everything.

When she got into the shower, searing heat hit her body, water trickled down her bruised skin, and luckily they were starting to go that disgusting colour which meant they were healing. Steam filled the room, she always loved steam, she thought it was cool how two elements could come together to make it.

She sighed as the water hit some of her open cuts, causing that small moment of pain then that soothing feeling of water rushing over it. She hated water, she was so much like her father, people had always told her that, but she knew parts of her were like her mother, like that urge to do well in everything she did, or when she was angry wanting to hit someone.

She turned off her shower letting her wet hair drip down her back, she grabbed her towel and dried off, getting dressed in the process, and she couldn't dry her hair without setting it on fire so she would get Nilak to bend it out of her hair.

When she arrived back at the gym, her hair was still wet, so Nilak bent the water out of her hair for her, she smiled and sat on the side lines and watched her friends spar

"Man, we are so going to win this tournament" Zei sang, Nilak laughed at his friend and continued sparring, she happily watched, because she honestly couldn't be bothered training today

"Mai?" Mai quickly whipped her head around to see Jinora at the doors of the gym

"Jinorra!" She yelled running over to her friend and giving her a giant hug, she now had her air bending tattoos and looked exactly like her father but had her mother's eyes, she laughed at the girl who was like another little sister to her, but then her face saddened as the hug broke

"What's wrong Jinorra?" Mai asked, Nilak and Zei had stopped sparring and came over to see what was going on

"Mai, umm, I don't quite know how to say this…" she said in a sad voice

"What is it Jinorra?" she asked, she was worried now, Jinorra looked at Mai with a sad look and put her hand on her shoulder

"Mai, your mum is in hospital, and it's not looking good" Mai felt hot tears well up in her eyes

"How? Who- who did this?" Jinorra looked down once again

"She was attacked by a blood bender"