I DO NOT OWN AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER.
well. I'm not sure how good this chapter will be. I wanted to get straight to what their going to do now, but I figured they needed a little time to talk. I know the end of the chapter is weird, but trust me its cause chapter 8 is going to be EPIC! (I hope...) meep meep meep.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! I can't make a good story without great criticism.
"So... uh... mai... hows, er i mean, are you... comfortable? I could... uh... find you a... something... nicer. If you want? For your... you know... body." zuko said twisting his hands and from the look on his face mentally face palming himself. "Sorry I uh... walked in. I thought you might need something. Katara said you seemed a little off." I roll my eyes at that, because the water tribe girl has only known me a grand total of ten minutes. Is she really one to judge how i'm behaving?
"Comfortable... hardly the word for how i'm feeling." My hands are starting to twitch and nervously reach for the daggers that give me some confidence. Now that their not here though I find myself acting as ridiculous as a school girl. If not worse.
"I can see you still can't talk to girls..." *thank agni* "Lucky me." The confusion and hurt on his face make me regret ever stepping foot in the temple. I've said something terrible, and now I have to explain myself to the object of my affections. Awesome. And worse, I have to tell him how jealous I was at the thought of the way-to-pretty-peasant-water-critic making moves on my dork. Or worse that earth kingdom girl with the oh so fake innocence. You'd figure my burning cheeks would be enough of an answer, but no. I had to be in love with prince oblivious.
Before I can get anything out though, he interrupts with his usual angry defensive tone, "What's that supposed to mean? I happen to be royalty! There are thousands of women who would kill to be with me! Women who would feel, and laugh, and not throw knives at me or make me fall in fountains! So what if I can't talk like other smooth guys? I was never smooth with you, and you still seemed to like me enough." He's red in the face and trying not to look at me. I can't help noticing the sudden moistness in his eyes. I'm only a few feet away, but it feels like miles. I try to move closer to him but when I take a step towards him he stops me.
"No. I'm not finished. I need to speak my mind." His stare seems to reach into my heart, its so intense. I just nod and wait to hear him out. He takes a deep breath and begins to speak in a quiet yet determined voice. "Listen mai. I,... I didn't mean to hurt you. Believe me, it was the last thing I wanted. I left you behind so you could be safe. This is my responsibility. My fight."
"But zuko I want to be a part of it. I want a change. I love my nation, and I want whats best for it." He seems a little annoyed at my interruption but I know the next thing I say will probably erase all that irritation.
"I... *Deep breath* ...want to be with you. I want to know that we made a difference." I'm staring down at the ground, cheeks red, and wishing I could say more. Unfortunately I'm not much better with speeches. So I try to convey my message to him through my eyes. The message that, I love him and want to be there for him. Even if we're not together. That i'm sorry I can't be more open with him. That i'm a coward for not showing him the real me.
"Why couldn't you let me in mai?" The suddenness of the question knocks me off kilter. I wasn't expecting such a direct question. Maybe he has gotten better at talking to girls?
"What I mean is, why did you only let me see little bits of you when we were together? You weren't like that when we were kids. You let me see you, The real you that I remember from so long ago. We used to be best friends. What happened? Why did you change?" I was hoping it wouldn't get this deep into conversation, but I guess we needed to talk about this. Too bad their isn't a way to skip this part. I already feel like i've shared too much.
"Things changed zuko..." I begin, then taking a deep breath as i delve into why, "...I remember how we were. There wasn't as much on our shoulders yet though. Things weren't as complicated."
He nods his head in agreement and looks to me as though to say 'continue', " I mean for a long time you were my best friend. Even more than ty. Then one day you looked at me differently. You made me feel special..., you showed me how it felt to be happy... that's when I stopped being your friend."
He looks at me confused and seems about to ask what i mean, but I quickly say what I'm dreading saying. what i'm posotive will shut him up, " Thats when I started to..., to..." crap, why can't I say it. I blurted it to half the prison gaurds, ty lee, and azula.
"To what mai?" zuko said talking a step towards me from the doorway.
I turned around and faced the window, hiding my face behind my bangs as I barely whispered my reply, "Love you." I silently celebrate my ability to finally get the words out.
Untill he said..."Wait...what!" I don't know how to react. He looks to be in shock so I try saying it again. "I... love you zuko. I don't know when exactly but its been a while."
"Why didn't you say something sooner? Why did you always act like I was such a pain in the ass? Why didn't you show me any kind of emotion! You wouldn't even laugh at me when I did something stupid!" He almost yelled as he took a step closer and reached for my hand. I pushed him back a step though, because their was no way I could concentrate if he moved closer.
"Because a lot of the time you were. Sometimes you still are." He sneers at me for a minute, then he looks at my smirk and waits for me to finish, "I didn't get to be me for a long time zuko. You needed to give me time. I can't change overnight. Neither can you." He looks down with a look of defeat, and then i say, "But I guess that's what made me crazy about you." His smile is so bright and makes me so weak in the knees that I don't think about what i'm saying next.
"Zuko, no, don't do that... I can't control my thoughts when you do that..." As soon as the words are out i smack my hand over my mouth and turn the deepest red. Just when I thought he couldn't invade my mind anymore, now he's taken over my ability to control my inner monologue. Well actually this time it was all my doing. perfect. I can tell by his smirk, that he's gotten a little ego boost from my unintended confession.
As he goes to lean against the door frame he misses by at least a foot. His arms wave frantically through the air as though he were swimming. Till he finally loses balance and lands in a pile of dorky royalty on the floor. About a minute goes by with him swearing on the ground trying to regain his footing and pride. For a few minutes he avoids eye contact and clears his throat. I'm holding back everything I want to say now. I know the second i open my mouth i'm going to further ruin the romantic moment we almost had with sarcasm or burst out laughing. So I start biting my lip, blinking rapidly and twisting my hands into the shirt. when he looks at me fear flashes across his face.
"Mai? are you ok? why aren't you breathing? you look like your in pain. should i get katara? mai please say something? come on woman speak!" he's franticly yelling by the end so i just put my hand on his chest push him back a few feet, walk towards the bedroll, sit down and then burst into laughter. The kind of laughter that hurts your stomach, makes your eyes tear up a little, and snort when you know your not a snort laugher.
At first zuko keeps yelling at me that it wasn't that funny. Then after a minute he joins me, because according to him I sound funny when I laugh. We're leaning against each other pushing and wiggling at the sheer stupidity of the source of our amusement. We both laugh even more hysterically when we see the looks on everyones faces. They're staring at us from the doorway as though we've gone completely insane. Who am i to say we haven't though? I haven't laughed this hard, or at all really, in front of anyone except zuko. Even then those were small chuckles compared to this. This is making me look certifiable.
After a few minutes recovery, we sit down by the window. He pulls me into his lap and holds me tight. "Mai?" he whispers into my hair.
"hmmm?" I mutter, as i'm getting drowsy with my head against his chest.
"I love you too." He whispers slowly, as he runs his fingers through my hair.
"I know." I say as my smile grows into his shoulder.
I thought our next meeting since the fiasco at my uncles prizon would be a complete disaster. Its a good thing I was wrong. Now the only thing left to do is figure out whats going on. what happened while i was out and what we're gonna do now.