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Chapter 4: My Little War

Zuko and Mao had been training for over an hour. They were killing time, there were still 4 hours till sundown. The crew watched them train from their posts. They never saw Zuko went all out like he did with Mao with his uncle.

Their wrists collided, and both struggled to push each other away. Zuko was surprised how strong Mao became. Last time he was able to take her down in under an hour. But now both of them were exhausted, but neither of them wanted to call it quits.

"Your hair's a mess," Zuko said.

"You're starting to stink," Mao retorted.

Both of them jumped back. Mao then charged at Zuko. Zuko was ready to kick. She jumped to dodge. She landed in front of him and did an uppercut, shooting flames out of her feet, throwing Zuko to the walls of the deck.

Zuko got up and charged at Mao. He jumped and kicked, but she blocked his attack with her arm. He landed behind her, crouched & kicked her feet, causing her to lose balance and fall to the ground. Before she could get up, Zuko was already standing over her. He was about to deliver his last blow.

Mao closed her eyes and felt the force and heat of his fist approaching her face. But then, she only felt the steam right in front of her face. She opened her eyes & saw Zuko's fist stopped short in front of her face.

"Jerk," she muttered, before bursting out in laughter.

"What's so funny?"

"You looked so serious."

"I was serious."

"About fighting a girl?"

Zuko opened his fist. Mao grabbed his hand and Zuko pulled her up.

"I'm going to take a bath," said Mao. She turned and left Zuko on the deck.

He picked up his robe and sat down by the side of the deck. He leaned back and stared up in the sky. Still a long way to go. He wondered when Aang was going to surrender himself, just to save his friends.

Maybe he will.

Of course he will.

Mao looked in the mirror, examining the cut on her lower lip, courtesy of Prince Zuko. She dabbed her towel on the cut, leaving blood stains on it but the cut was still bleeding. She scooped up a handful of water from the basin and splashed it on her lip. She winced.

"What's wrong with your lip?" Zuko asked, standing by the bathroom door.

"Just a little cut. Not a problem," Mao replied, washing the blood off.

"Come on, let me see."

Zuko walked towards Mao and placed his hand at her chin. He tilted her head up a bit and squinted his eyes, examining the cut. He lowered his face and kissed her lower lip.

Mao's eyes widened. Of course, she was surprised. Before this it was just little pecks, a friendly gesture, mostly from her side.

But this one was long. Zuko had his eyes closed. Uh oh… she felt a little tongue slipping into her mouth slowly…

"PRINCE ZUKO!" shouted a crew member, seconds before reaching the bathroom door.

Panicked, Mao placed a hand on Zuko's chest and pushed him away.

"Oh… Err, forgive me for the intrusion, Prince, but it's the Avatar, he's here," said the crew member, "but there is a problem."

Mao dropped her towel and ran up deck. On her way, many guards were down. Same case on deck. Katara and Sokka were climbing up the flying bison.

Mao ran towards Aang, who was just climbing up Appa and stopped, causing her to skid and released a trail of fire towards Aang. He jumped back and then forward, pushing Mao away with a strong gust of wind, causing her to fall off the ship.

She fell into the water. Panicked, she wasn't able to swim up. She struggled for air.

Soon, she felt something lifting her up from the water. She reached the surface, taking a deep breath. The lower half of her body was still in water, but it was floating on air along with her. Then she felt herself dropping but her landing felt soft. Someone had caught her. She looked up.

Zuko.

Her eyes then focused on something else. The flying bison in the air.

"Mao! I understand what you mean. I know how you feel!" Katara shouted, "I'm sorry."

Mao raised her arm up to the sky and pointed at Appa. She struggled with her breathing and finally shouted, "SHOOT THEM DOWN!"

As she watched the troops pushing the catapult, everything went blurry and finally, everything turned dark.

Katara sat quietly on Appa's back, staring at the clouds. They managed to get away from Zuko's flying fireball attacks. Sokka was flying Appa. Aang sat staring at Katara. Katara turned and looked at Aang with a puzzled look.

"What?" Katara asked.

"What was it you shouted at the girl? Who is she anyways?" Aang asked with the same curious look on his face.

"I… uh… sort of talked to her while we were on the ship. Well, she came and talked to me and I made her a bit angry…"

"Not a bit. A LOT. They were making so much noise, I can barely sleep," Sokka interrupted.

"Shut up, Sokka. Anyways, she told me something…"

"Like what?" Aang asked.

"She said… 'You're a girl like me. You should understand a woman's feelings towards a man she loves'. She sounded… I don't know, sad?"

"Maybe she's Zuko's future queen or something," Aang suggested.

"I don't think so. She didn't have the royalty feel…"

"Just drop it okay, Katara. We're safe and we can forget all about Zuko and that girl," said Sokka.

"But Sokka-"

"NOT LISTENING."

"Jerk."

Zuko was sitting right outside his quarters. Mao was being attended to by a doctor on the ship. Zuko rested his forehead on his fists and closed his eyes. He had given his men strict orders to track down Aang.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw his Uncle Iroh. The old man smiled softly at his hot-headed nephew. But what Zuko didn't know that the expression he was wearing on his face right now was a surprise to Iroh.

It was the same look when Zuko had to face his father in the Agni Kai two years ago. Fear.

"She'll be alright, Prince Zuko. I'm sure it was just the shock from falling into the waters," said Iroh, attempting to comfort Zuko.

"No, Uncle, you don't understand… Mao can't swim. When we were small, she almost drowned in a river. Ever since then, she's been afraid of the water." Zuko punched the wall beside him, "I wonder how much courage she had to gather just to get on a boat and come here…"

"And I'm sure she hasn't regretted it one bit."

The door opened. Zuko stood up. The doctor came out of the room.

"It's just shock, Prince Zuko. Lady Mao will be alright," he said.

Zuko nudged him aside and went into his quarters to see her. Iroh bowed to the doctor on Zuko's behalf.

Zuko sat down by the bed. Mao was still sleeping. He took her hand and held it close to his forehead.

"Thank god…" he muttered.

"I didn't know you were so worried…" Mao croaked.

Zuko looked at her and finally hugged her.

"Hey, hey… this isn't like you, Zuko… don't tell me you're turning soft now…" Mao teased.

"Shut up, idiot. You scared me half to death."

"I scared you? What happened to the fearless Prince Zuko? I knew you gone soft two years out in sea."

"You talk a lot for someone who's supposed to be in shock."

"You're still hugging me, Zuko. Get off, you're getting too close for comfort. And my blanket's slipping off. And I'm not wearing anything underneath this blanket."

Zuko let her go. "As if I never saw you naked before."

"Shut up!"

Zuko leaned and kissed her nose. He took Mao by surprise. She laid on the mattress, looking up to him wide eyed and embarrassed.

"I can't believe I'm actually saying this but…" Zuko swallowed hard, "Damn you're beautiful… I really, really can't wait to go home. To regain my honor, my rightful place in the throne… with you next to me."

"Zuko, about that…I…"

"What is it?"

Mao opened her mouth but the words just wouldn't come out. She didn't want to hurt him. Or was it she didn't want to hurt herself? She didn't know.

"It's nothing… I'm just tired…I haven't been sleeping well, that's all…" Mao said instead.

"You rest. I'm going up deck."

"Okay. Thanks again. For everything."

"No problem."

Zuko left the room. Mao turned to her side with her back facing the door. Her tears betrayed her.

author's note : i'm sorry . i'm sorry . i'm sorry . i'm sorry . dont kill me. i hope you're okay with this chapter :D