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Chapter 6: Stay

Katara shot up suddenly from her sleep as if she had a bad dream. She was breathing heavily. Cold sweat trickled down her back. She placed a hand on her forehead and felt her temperature. It wasn't fever.

Aang sat up and looked at Katara, "Katara, are you okay?"

"Oh, did I wake you, Aang? Sorry…" said Katara, "It's…nothing."

"You're crying."

Katara was startled when Aang told her she was crying. She touched her cheeks and felt tears flowing from her eyes. Why was she crying? What exactly did she see? Katara touched her neck and felt the slight burn from Mao's grip earlier in the day. She began to wonder if Mao's touch had the power to connect her feelings to Katara.

"It's nothing… really. I just had a bad dream…" Katara assured Aang that she was okay. "Go back to sleep, Aang. We have a long day ahead of us."

"Something tells me you're not okay. Ever since we got off Zuko's ship. You wanna talk about it?"

"You wouldn't understand. Really. It's nothing."

"I could listen."

Katara gave in. "It was a dream. But it felt too real to be a dream. I saw Zuko and that girl, Mao on the navy ship. They were talking about something. I couldn't really remember what it was all about. But Mao was… really… hurt. She was crying. Zuko was holding her and wouldn't let go, even if Mao was shouting at him."

"Do you think… Zuko loved her?"

"I think he does… but I guess he realized it a little bit too late…"

"But they're together now right? If they realized that they love each other, they'll be together from now on right?"

Katara shook her head. "Mao's a servant to the Fire Lord's family. Zuko is the Fire Lord's son. They can't be together. It's forbidden."

"That's really stupid isn't it? If they love each other they should be allowed to be together."

"It doesn't work that way, Aang… Mao realized this for a long time. But she couldn't let go…" Tears started streaming from Katara's eyes, "I wonder how long has she been carrying this burden with her…"

Katara gazed up into the sky. It was an unusually calm night. The stars were out. The breeze set in. It was a nice night. Too nice for the moment.

"I don't feel sorry for Zuko… But I feel sorry for Mao… it must be hard for her…" Katara added.

"Yeah… I guess…" Aang replied, looking up into the sky.

Mao sat on the floor of Zuko's room, facing the table of candles, where Zuko had always sat while meditating. She pulled the ribbon that tied her hair and let her hair fall slowly, hitting her back. Her hair was slightly above her waist.

She took out her sword from its sheath. She took a lock of hair and closed her eyes. She placed the blade closer to her hair, right above her right shoulder and in one quick move, chopped off her long hair. Strands of hair fell on the floor. She took the sword in her right hand and did the same thing to the second lock of hair over her left shoulder.

Her tears fell. The hair she had kept for two years was now gone. In two cuts, it was gone.

The door opened.

"Mao, breakfast is-" Zuko stopped in his tracks. His eyes were wide open. "Mao, your… your hair."

Mao turned to look at Zuko, tears in her eyes but a smile on her lips. "I thought I'd cut it."

"But- I thought you loved your long hair." Zuko kneeled down next to Mao.

"You wanna know why I kept my hair long, Zuko? Two years worth. I told myself not to cut my hair until you come back home. I wanted you to see me as a girl, as a woman. When my hair was short, you treated me like…one of your guy friends. So I thought, if I kept my hair long, I'd be prettier than before. And you'd eventually fall in love with me." Mao laughed, tears still trickling down her cheeks. "Silly girl, aren't I? Hoping her Prince Charming would come and fall in love with her and whisked her away on his golden chariot. I dreamt of nothing more than a fairy tale."

Zuko looked at her and touched her short hair. His hand ran down from her hair, tracing her shoulder and finally finding its place in her hand. He took both of her hands and held it close to his lips. He kissed them and placed them on his forehead. "I'm sorry," he finally said.

"What for? Please, you don't seem like the apologizing type."

"Thanks for rubbing that in, idiot."

"You just said you're sorry and now you're calling me an idiot?"

"Shut up, you're ruining the moment."

"Moment? What moment?"

"What about YOU then? First you're crying and now you're yapping."

"Quiet you before I burn what's left of your hair."

"You do mine, I'll do yours."

Mao pounced on Zuko and he fell on his back. She was on top of him. Just like old times. She missed it. So did he.

"You can never be serious for a long time, can you?" Zuko asked.

"Guess not."

Zuko wiped a tear from Mao's cheeks. "You've been crying too much lately. It's time you stop."

"Sir, yes sir."

"Come on. We'll continue our search for the Avatar and be on our way home." Zuko left his room.

At that point, Mao didn't want to go back home. Going back home meant not being able to be with Zuko like now. Going back home meant serving Lord Ozai and his family.

In short, a part of Mao didn't want Zuko to find Aang. But Zuko's honor was important to him. If she loved him, she'll just have to help him regain the honor he had lost.

"But as long as I can be by his side till the day I meet Death, I'm happy." She remembered herself saying.

As she was reaching the door, it swung open, barely missing her face. It was Zuko and it looked like he had been running from the deck to his room. There was a smile on his face. Until now, Mao could never tell the difference between his evil smile or his happy one.

She just decided both looked pretty much the same.

"We found him," he told her.

author's note: teehee. i found my fanfic "featured" on an avatarsue lj but i found it rather amusing. even though they arent too fond of my fanfic, i thank them for giving at least a few good comments. xDDD finding out that your story is seen as "bad", "terrible", "awful", etc, there would be a quick thought of stopping and abandoning the story. i'll post mine up anyways, just to finish it. so people at avatarsues, if you're reading this : thanks! no, really, i mean it.sarcasm not included.xDDD