Disclaimer: Don't own, don't work for, though if they are hiring...
Why Should I?
by ramasterharper
Zuko took another deep breath, straightened his shirt for the sixty-third time, flattened his hair and then ruffed it up again for the thirty-fourth and focused on a point in the sky for the forty-second time. After another step forward he repeated the actions and wondered if he was doing the right thing. He had faced hundreds of enemies in his eighteen years of life, fought or sparred with the greatest benders and warriors in the world and yet they had not produced the fear and anxiety this opponent had. For the ninety-sixth time he mentally hit himself.
It was only one girl for goodness sakes.
Granted this one girl could be counted as one of the greatest warriors in the world, she had never lost to a non-bender, but he was the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, soon to be Fire Lord and she was only ONE GIRL.
He wasn't even planning on fighting her.
After another deep breath and the assorted fidgets, he walked forward with military crispness into the Fire Nation's Palace's garden. He found her sitting near a fountain, feeding the turtle ducks. However, this one girl being Mai, she was twirling a blade in one hand, somehow managing to look bored while doing this, occasionally whacking a hunk of bread in her other hand with it, sending small shaved chunks of bread into the fountain's basin. The turtle ducks didn't seem to mind, though they stayed away from the twirling blade. Zuko marched right up to her.
"Mai, can I talk to you for a moment?"
At first Mai just inclined her head to look over her shoulder at him. She sighed, stopped twirling the blade, tossed in the last chunk of bread into the pond, and stood up, hands tucked in her sleeves. "Of course Prince Zuko," she replied in a tone that hinted that what he had to say better be good. They spent a moment looking at each other before Zuko remembered what he had come to say.
"Um…yes… thank you…" Zuko stalled. He cleared his throat and began, "Mai we have known each other for awhile now…." Zuko stopped, deciding that it sounded like he was asking her for money or something, not the tone he was going for. Mai raised an eyebrow and Zuko tried another tactic. "As you know I'm now a man…." That try sounded stupid even to him. Zuko could have sworn he saw the beginnings of a mocking smile on her face and definitely saw the eyebrow go higher. Turning away he swallowed and tried again. "I will soon be Fire Lord and every Lord needs a lady-"
"Lord Iroh doesn't," Mai pointed out. "And neither did your father."
Zuko quickly turned his head and gave her an annoyed glare. The fact she was right and was still giving him that bored look did not help his mood. Giving up on that train of thought he decided to try something entirely different. He got down on one knee, looked her in the eye, and held out his hand to hold hers. She didn't move, hands still in her sleeves, leaving his hand hanging out there. He decided to try anyway. "Mai, will you marry me?"
They stood there, motionless for a few heartbeats, Zuko counting every single one. At six beats Mai turned her back to him so fast she was completely around by the seventh beat. Zuko eyes widened in alarm, realizing that this wasn't the way it supposed to happen. The only skin he could see, at the base of her neck was turning reddish, and Zuko decided he had angered or embarrassed her, and also decided to leave before she decided to start throwing things. Very sharp things like that blade she was twirling earlier.
"I see. Sorry to have bothered you," a mortified Zuko sputtered out.
After he had stood back up, but before he had a chance to take a step away, Mai turned around again, her face wearing her typical bored expression again and not a hint of red anywhere. "Wait." Her hand reached out and held onto his sleeve, forcing him to stay. Zuko swallowed, making eye contact mainly to try to get warning if she decided to attack him. "Did you mean that?" He thought he heard a pleading note in her voice, his mind seizing on it even though it might have been his imagination.
Zuko took another deep breath, took her hand from off his sleeve, holding hers in both of his, looked her in the eye, and repeated, "Mai, will you marry me?"
Mai stared down at their hands, gave a ghost of a smile, and then her face became hard as stone once again. "Yes." Zuko let out a large breath and started a smile of his own, feeling a happiness growing inside him… "On one condition." …only to come crashing down again.
He let go of her hand. "Condition?"
Mai resumed her typical stance, hands in her sleeves. "More of a question really."
Zuko swallowed. "What is it?"
"Why should I marry you?" Zuko's mouth gaped openly at her.
"That's it?!"
"Give me one good reason."
Zuko's mouth opened and closed while his hand gestured in the air, as if it were trying to grab onto a reason. "You aren't supposed to ask that. You aren't even supposed to give conditions!"
"Oh? And what am I supposed to do?" Zuko being Zuko and also still in a mild state of shock missed the hidden danger in her tone.
"You are supposed to scream yes, tackle me to the ground, bat your eyelashes, or swoon or something."
"Swoon?" Mai raised an eyebrow. "If you want swooning, ever, you are defiantly asking the wrong girl."
"I didn't want you to swoon, I… I…" Zuko trailed off. He truly didn't want those things, and never in his life did he expect them from Mai, but he had made contingency plans for if they did happen. This question was not in any contingency plan. Still trying to comprehend what was happening he asked, "One reason?"
"One good one."
"Because I asked you?" It was the first thing that popped into his head. After all, he reasoned, asking had been very difficult.
"That's not a good reason to do anything," Mai calmly shot back.
Zuko's temper reared its head. "I could order you."
Mai seemed taken aback by that, but quickly regained her composure. "Yes, but you would not last long in that kind of marriage." Zuko noticed that she didn't say that the marriage would be short, just his ability to survive it, an idea that quickly made him gain control of himself.
"I wouldn't do that," he promised.
"I know," she forgave, leaving Zuko still searching for an answer.
He brought his hand to his side, realizing that he would never grab a reason out of thin air. The lump he felt in his pocket restored his confidence. "I brought you an engagement necklace." Zuko pulled out the rather simple gold and ruby necklace and held it out to her.
Mai took it in her hands and examined it while rubbing the fair sized center ruby. "Its beautiful, but not a reason."
"I think you are beautiful." Even Zuko knew that girls like to be told they were pretty. He felt a moment of victory when she gave a slight blush that quickly vanished.
"Thank you, but not a good reason."
"You would be Fire Lady."
"Not until you are Fire Lord, and Lord Iroh isn't retiring until you are twenty one."
"But you would be Fire Lady someday. Half the girls in the kingdom would want that." Zuko actually thought that was a good answer.
"Then ask one of them. I have no interest in being Fire Lady, it would probably be boring." That reply surprised Zuko.
"Boring?"
"Sitting beside the Fire Lord at state functions and looking after the palace while the Fire Lord is away, remaining quiet the rest of the time; very boring."
"You get to live in the Palace, you even get the palace."
"A large house with servants, how exciting," Mai deadpanned. She moved over to lean against the nearby tree, the same one she had spent hours under when she was little while Ty Lee and Azula had practiced tumbling. "My parents are nobles, so I already have several large estates, and before you try, I also have all the money I would ever need or want, more useless junk they call antiques that I could ever count, and even ships to transport me where ever I want to go."
Zuko growled in frustration, apparently material things and titles were not going to work. Vaguely remembering some of his Uncle's advice on why to marry he took a different tact.
"As Fire Lord I will need someone by my side that I can trust."
"Marry Iroh," Mai retorted why looking at one of her nails, engagement necklace ignored in her other hand. Now she was mocking him. Zuko gritted his teeth.
"Even if that was remotely legal, not stomach churning, and not horribly, horribly wrong, someone of his generation is too old, I need someone by me my side for life." After saying that, he almost patted himself on the back. By saying something like that it showed he was serious about commitment.
"There are plenty of wonderful six year olds that can probably outlive you."
"I need someone cunning. I know diplomacy and politics aren't my strength." She raised an eyebrow, surprised that he admitted a weakness, though it was obvious it pained him to do so. "I need someone skilled in them to help me rule."
"Ty Lee knows every member of the Imperial Court, and knows each of their sons personally."
"NO! Not Ty Lee." Zuko shivered, missing Mai's slight smile that disappeared as quickly as it appeared. "I need someone that doesn't make me want to jump out a window."
"Ever the romantic, aren't you?"
"I need someone strong, someone I can count on in a fight, to watch my back."
"The waterbending girl that travels with the Avatar is a strong fighter, so is the earthbending one for that matter."
"Even if I was interested in them, I want to marry a girl of the Fire Nation."
"Lucky us."
Zuko gritted his teeth, trying to remember why he proposed to this particular girl. He paced in front of her, eventually stopping in between her and the fountain and pointing an accusing finger at her. "You realize that I received five marriage proposals last week!"
He felt a small victory when her eyes flashed dangerously. "Good for you. You can go marry them then. If not I'm sure there are plenty of others that want to marry the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation," she spat.
"I don't want someone who wants the Crown Prince." Zuko was getting very frustrated and fury was seeping into his voice. "Maybe I realized that there was a person that gave a damn about me other than my Mother and Uncle. Not about the Crown Prince or even Lee, but about Zuko. Maybe I finally realized how important that was, how important that was to me. Maybe I realized that I don't want to lose that again, ever." He was breathing heavily and took a moment to collect himself. Mai's face softened and for a brief moment she gave a small smile, apparently touched. She stopped leaning against the tree, took the few steps toward him, and placed a hand on his chest, keeping him away, but providing contact and all but forcing him to look at her.
"Zuko," she commanded, her stern face returning. "So far you have given excellent reasons, excellent reasons for YOU to marry ME. The condition was to give me a reason to marry you."
Zuko blinked a few times, slowly understanding the difference. "Did I mention I was going to be Fire Lord?" he stalled, trying to think of a real reason.
"A few times," Mai allowed. He was still trying to think of a reason. Their relationship wasn't one that they could always know what the other was thinking or feeling, so he did not want to insult her by applying feelings to her he wasn't sure she had for him. Mai interrupted his thoughts. "Zuko, why should I marry you? Why should I marry you instead of any other boy or man?"
He felt like he was in a battle and losing, so he said the first desperate thing that came to mind. "Because I want you to marry me. I want you to be my wife, not someone else's. I want to be your husba-"
He was cut off as the air was knocked out of him by Mai wrapping her arms around him tightly. Normally such things actions would not have much affect on his balance, but the surprise and slight force of the impact was just enough to cause Zuko to lose his balance. He fell backward into the fountain, pulling Mai down with him. They landed uncomfortably with him on the bottom and her pinning him down. Sputtering water and her wet hair out of his mouth he shouted, "Are you crazy? Why did you just-" He was shocked into silence again when he saw her face. For once, Mai wasn't wearing a bored, amused, or annoyed expression; just a small, content smile.
"That's two more than I needed."
Iroh came out of the palace looking forward to afternoon tea under the shade of a tree. A friendly grin quickly grew on his face when he spotted the two young people heading toward him. The grin quickly turned into a look of confusion when he noticed they were soaked and leaving puddles behind them.
"Why are you all wet?" he asked out for lack of anything intelligent to say.
His confusion grew as Zuko gave him a small grin. "Girls are crazy," he replied with a mixture of happiness and long suffering. Iroh became almost fearful when he noticed a slightly smaller grin on Mai's face.
Iroh, finding nothing to disagree with in Zuko's statement let them pass without further comment. He did, however, take note of how the pair were holding hands and neither was trying to hide the fact as well as the new necklace Mai was wearing. After the pair had passed leaving large puddles behind, Iroh shook his head, gave a soft chuckle and went on his way.
A/N: My first Avatar fanfic and Avatar Oneshot. At least we are now guaranteed some sort of Maiko in Season 3. Finally... Anyway, review please! Please!