He kissed me deeply. And then, suddenly—

"So Zuko, is it true?" a voice came from the doorway, interrupting both of us. I jumped ten feet back, hitting the table.

Zuko whipped around, facing Mai. "What?" all the blood seemed to drain from his face.

"Is it true?" she crossed her arms over her chest. "What she knows you're going to say but isn't going to force you to say it?"

"What . . . no," he said. "No."

"Zuko?" I said quietly. "I'm not sure I—"

"Don't." Mai put her hand up. "Just stop. You have a knack for ruining everything, don't you? Everything that's going well, you decide to ruin it."

The silence was so loud I felt like my eardrums would explode. Heat filled my cheeks as I remembered what he'd done to me, how he'd embarrassed me. Forgiveness vaporized from my heart.

"What do you think you're doing here?" I spat out. "How dare you come here after what you did to me."

"Mei, I came back to—"

"Don't call me Mei!" I hated how loud my voice sounded, but I needed to be all bark and no bite because it would hurt me if I physically hurt him anymore. "You're an evil person." I stood tall, looking him in the eye. In those beautiful, honey eyes.

"I'm sorry—"

"I don't care."

"I know what I did was wrong. I'm here to apologize, and I'm here to help the Avatar."

Whoa whoa, slow down. Help the Avatar? when did that happen? I remembered clearly that all he wanted was his honor. He was obsessed.

"You don't know me," he said through gritted teeth.

"I know a lot about you, and I know you have a good heart in there somewhere. I want you to let go of the Avatar for once."

He whipped around, his eyes ablaze. "I can never do that. Ever. I want my fathers love back. I want respect from the Fire Nation. I want to be with my sister like the old days. I want my honor back."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "You said there was no way—"

"I don't care what I said. that was before. Now I know my destiny—" Could I slap him again?

"Don't use that word in front of me. You know how many lives you've ruined looking for your 'destiny'?" My mind spiraled back to when is first met him. I should've seen what was coming.

"My name isn't Izuki."

"That's not a secret," Zuko scoffed. "Everyone knows youre a horrible liar."

"Oh. Well," I smirked, "You should give me lessons."

He scowled. "what's your real name?"

"Ayame, but everyone calls me Mei."

Zuko froze. "Mei?"

"Yeah. Why so surprised?"

Zuko shook his head, his brow wrinkling. "Nothing. I just knew a Mai some time ago."

"Hmm... Maybe we were long lost friends and weve just been reunited?" I suggested.

"Who, me and you?" Zuko asked, and I nodded. He scoffed. "Yeah right. Trust me, shes nothing like you."

She wasn't. He was right. I remembered when he'd hated me, only keeping me along because he thought i knew where the Avatar was.

"Enough!" Zuko yelled, and I was sort of glad he cut me off. Fire appeared in his hands like daggers, and I crossed my arms over my chest, my glare daring him to throw it at me. "You." he pointed at me, his teeth clenched, "Agni Kai. Sunset."

I'd found it funny. I never would've thought that I'd be in love with such a selfish, mean, jerk, but honestly, those are the type of stupid guys all girls accidently fall for whether they like it or not. But it was only because of the sweetness inside of them somewhere that they let show sometimes, like worrying about you.

Sighing, I'd asked, "Hey, Zuko, now can I try real lightning?"

Zuko almost went ballistic. "Are you crazy? I'm not going to shoot lightning at you! I haven't even really done it myself. Uncle taught me some time ago—" he stopped.

And that time I'd eaten berries and passed out. he'd carried me for miles and stayed with me till I'd woken up.

I woke up as something cold touched my face. Groaning, I sat up, rubbing my face and eyes to find cold water sprinkled on my face. I was still exhausted but not entirely anymore.

"where am I?" I managed to mumble.

"You're alive. You weigh a lot, you know that?" A very familiar low, dry voice stated.

I opened my eyes and cracked a smile, then immediately yawned. "Zuko, what happened?" I looked around myself to find myself in a bed. Zuko was standing right next to me, an extremely annoyed look on his face.

Even though he took care of me, he'd never liked to admit a good deed. And those times he'd always warned me that something was wrong and I never listened to him, like with Hama and Jet. He always warned me. And sadly, he was always right.

"I made a mistake once. I won't do it again." I knew he was talking to me, but apparently Katara didn't realize that.

"Once? Are you serious? Do you know what you have put us through? Do you know what you put Aang through?"

"I know, I know, but I'm here to make it up to you. I can teach Aang how to firebend."

Everyone fell silent again. " That might be a good idea," Toph shrugged nonchalantly. Katara let out a frustrated groan.

"It's not worth it. We have Ayame." Sokka crossed his arms over his chest.

"Ayame—no offense—" Zuko quickly said, stealing a glance at me, "hasn't been taught, so she doesn't know how to teach. It comes to her naturally, so she can't help the Avatar learn."

"Just call him Aang," I mumbled, feeling more attracted to him than I should've from his previous 'no offense' statement that was not really offensive at all. He nodded at me, giving me a "Zuko's precious smile that barely ever shows but when it does lights up the whole room" smile. I felt me defenses lowering and cursed him for it. How could he be that fantastic after a war?

I looked away furiously and much to my dismay, I accidently met Katara's eyes. Even though she was angry at our mother, taking that anger out on me, she seemed to understand what I was going through.

So she looked Zuko straight in the eye and told him to leave. I wanted to argue and let him stay, but I knew what Katara was doing was exactly what part of me needed, if not wanted. Zuko's eyes pleaded with me, but I kept looking away. Just go. I love you, but you have to go. I can't stand you. I don't know why, but I can't be around you.

"He has a good point." Toph shrugged, and then smiled apologetically in my direction when my stomach exploded in frustration.

If he stood here any longer I'd personally ask him to stay and offer my room as a place of rest because the rest of the five hundred extra rooms in the upside-down air temple were "too unfit" for a prince. Who cared if they looked the same? If one said 'my room' the other said 'vacant', we all knew which one he should take.

I blushed profusely and mentally kicked myself.

"You don't want to leave?" He stopped walking. "Why would you to hang around a monster like me? The scarred banished prince." Zuko scoffed.

"Why wouldn't I?" I shrugged. "You don't seem like a bad guy." He seemed surprised, but he set his jaw.

"Oh," he looked over his shoulder, "Then you don't know me very well."

"People make mistakes," Zuko whispered under his breath. He was right. I made so many mistakes, traveling with Zuko and the Gaang. Honestly, thinking about it, I realized how annoying I used to be, and immature, laughing at everything, playing practical jokes. Maybe it was my way of showing affection.

"Wake up!" Zuko yelled loudly in my ear. I screamed in annoyance and gave him a good punch on the nose. I heard Zian cracking up a distance away, and opened my eyes.

"Get lost!" I yelled at Zuko, throwing a pillow at his face, wishing it was on fire. Who was I kidding? I grabbed another one as it burst into flames, and threw it into Zuko's face.

I was always the mean one.

"Why is he covering his face?"

"Because he . . . is really ugly." I whispered the last part to the boy. "And he is ashamed of his face and all. He's sensitive; he was made fun of a lot when he was young."

The boy cracked a smile. "That's funny."

Yet he never left me. I joined the Gaang. In a way, i was more desperate for the Avatar than Zuko.

I also realized, that no matter where we were or how well he knew me, he was always kind hearted. He never found a way to actually hurt me, except for now.

"Fifteen gold each," the lady said sweetly.

"Really? Fifteen?"

"How about ten?" the lady offered. "I can't go lower than that."

"Oh. Alright. Then I'll have one." I picked up the lighter green one but Zuko rolled his eyes.

"Whats wrong with you?" he asked. "I just told you we had like, four hundred bags of money. Get, you know, what you need." he pulled down the darker green one too and dropped it in my arms. Then he tossed ten more gold coins into the lady's hands, who was still smiling.

But Zuko helped Azula hurt Aang. He joined their team, for his honor.Yet I couldn't use that against him because I'd done the same thing.

I felt exhausted. My shoulders sagged and I blinked wearily.

"It's not my decision, Zuzu."

I don't know what broke him. The fact that it wasn't my choice, or the fact that I'd called him Zuzu. He asked us, Zuko the great, egoistic man asked us to take him as a prisoner then and I put my hands up in the air, done.

I left him on his knees and walked back into my room, heartbroken. I couldn't see him do that to himself.