I Want You | Legend of Korra | PG13 | Asami/Iroh
Title: I Want You
Fandom: Legend of Korra
Words: 2500
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Spoilers for the finale.
Pairings: Asami/Iroh
Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Korra!
Summary: Written for the ficbending prompt: Asami joined the United Forces after the season finale. Years later, Team Avatar is reunited when General Iroh and General Asami get married.
Asami stands alone.
The edge of the water temple stands on a cliff, perched high above the frigid water that churns with a dull roar. The sound resounds in her ears and is just loud enough to cover the crunch of footsteps in the snow.
"Mind if I join you?" Asami's skin prickles, and she tells herself that it's the cold. She turns to General Iroh and tries to smile.
"Of course not, General," she says with what she hopes sounds like enthusiasm. He remains as galant looking as ever: his uniform has been repaired since his assault on her father's mechaplanes had torn it nearly in half. His golden eyes seem to denote an oldness beyond his years. Asami wonders what kind of life he's lived, and then she is torn back to herself and the present and the hurt, the goddamn hurt is enough to bring tears to her eyes. Iroh is kind enough to ignore Asami pressing her palms to her lids, and the kindness is itself enough to fill her eyes once more. It's been a good while since she's cried in front of another person, and Asami is grateful that it's Iroh standing before her and not Korra or Mako.
"Iroh is fine, please," he tells her with a cautious smile. A few steps forward, and Iroh stands by her side. Asami leans in and touches her shoulder against his arm.
"Thanks for coming in to check on me," Asami sighs, and as the words pass across her lips, she can feel the truth behind them. She's been outside for at least twenty minutes, and since leaving no one else had come after her. No one else had cared enough to notice her absence. Asami wonders if the General pities her enough to feign interest, or if he too feels like an outsider at the edge of the world.
"It's a little crowded in there," he tells her, a low chuckle in his voice. "Besides, the company outside is far preferable to any within." He looks down at her through his lashes and Asami blushes slightly. "But that's not why I pursued you out here," he sighs, and Asami's throat tightens. Rejection. Again.
Iroh turns to face her now, and Asami follows suit. "I want you to join the United Forces."
Asami furrows her brow. "Me?" she blurts out. Iroh smiles, and Asami crosses her arms, digging her feet in the snow half to give her something to do, half to keep her steady. "I thought the United Forces only took benders," she manages.
"And I think that has been a mistake," Iroh tells her, and Asami smiles despite everything that's happened to her personal life in the last twenty-four hours. "You have shown to me that non-benders deserve a place standing alongside benders, united toward the same goal: peace."
"I'm not the only non-bender that can fight," Asami tells him. "Many of Amon's former followers might deserve a second chance with the fleet."
Iroh puts a gloved hand on her shoulder: it is warm through the fabric, and Asami wonders how hot his skin is to the touch. Mako had always run hot, and she assumed that most firebenders did. "This is why I need you, Asami Sato," Iroh says, and Asami can barely stifle a blush-he needs her-before her attempt at keeping her hormones in check succeeds. "You should be in charge of a batallion of non-benders and benders alike: you are one of the few people in the world that knows what it's like to work in a mixed team. You are knowledgable in a way that the United Fleet doesn't deserve, but desperately needs."
Asami pulls back slightly so that Iroh's hand drops off her shoulder, having hesitated there a second too long. "The United Forces would never want the daughter of a traitor," she murmurs, and the words open a wound inside her like a kick to the gut.
Iroh glances at her grief-stricken face for a long moment, then he gently takes her face in both his hands, so that she can look no where but his resolute visage.
"Trust me, Asami. You are exactly the kind of woman the United Forces wants," he says fiercely.
Asami closes her eyes. It's been a while since she's felt truly wanted: since someone or something had desired her. Her relationship with Mako had started out strong, but there had always been a part of him that had belonged to the Avatar, and it had taken the Battle for Republic City to recognize that in the choice between Asami and Korra, Mako would always make the same decision. Her father had chosen revenge over family, had abandoned and abjured her when she had refused to join him. In this moment, with Iroh's hands cupping her face, his right thumb running over the crest of her cheekbone, she felt wanted. And if the United Forces wanted her too, well, they could have her.
"Okay," she whispers.
"Okay," he whispers back, face breaking into a smile.
"Will I be working with you?" she asks as his hands fall back to his sides a little awkwardly. Now it's his turn to blush a little, and Asami kind of enjoys seeing him... flustered.
"I'm not certain where the Forces will place you-" he starts, but Asami throws her head back and laughs.
"If the Forces want me, they know where to put me," she sighs, hand on his shoulder. "I owe the United Forces no allegiance yet, though I'm sure I'll come by it in the months and years to come. I don't trust them yet, though soon enough I believe that feeling will come, if I join." She looks up at him and smiles widely. "But I do owe you my allegiance. I trust you. And if the United Forces want me to enlist, they'll know right where to put me: by your side."
Asami can feel the attraction between them sizzle like lightning, and for a moment, Iroh leans in closer and Asami is sure that he's about to kiss her. Instead, he sticks out a hand, and Asami clasps it tightly: for now, Iroh is her lifeline to purpose and honor and duty. Asami likes having something to live for.
"That's the only way I'd have it," he tells her, and she laughs a high, giddy laugh that is free from the tension of what's come and gone. Now Asami has a future, and somehow, Iroh is going to be a part of it-of that, she is certain.
Asami works hard in the United Forces and gains a loyal following of benders and non-benders alike. She commands a regiment of all nationalities and creeds, and they would follow her to the South Pole and back if she asked them to. The call her the Jade Fist of the Force due to her piercing green eyes, supposed beauty (though Asami took that one with a grain of salt), and affinity for hand-to-hand combat. Her men would die for her, and this fact she takes very seriously.
Asami makes her demands clear to United Republic of Nations: that if they want to keep her (and Asami Sato's name is the allegiance of most of the non-benders in the United Forces, so it's not just her but also many others), then they were going to assign her to work under General Iroh. They comply, either because they can't risk losing the support of the non-benders, or simply because they couldn't find a good enough reason to keep Iroh and Asami apart. The two of them became the most successful duo in the United Forces-separating them was never an option.
Asami defers General status for a full two years because with a Generalship comes a full fleet and full responsibilities-responsibilities that would take her away from Iroh. It's not until Iroh hears word of her deferral that she is forced to face the reality of excellence.
"Lieutenant Sato," Iroh calls formally in the mess hall. She stands and leaves her food behind to follow him into the corridor of their current ship, the Freedomfighter.
"I've gotten word from the council that you've been promoted... again," Iroh tells her.
"And have you gotten word of my polite yet forceful deferral?" Asami asks, as they enter his living quarters. Iroh closes the door behind him just fast enough before Asami has thrown her arms and legs around him. He takes this sneak attack in stride and runs his arms across her back and striding across the room toward his bed with purpose.
"I had assumed as much," he sighs. Asami ignores the disappointment in his voice and kisses him deeply. Iroh makes a deep, gutteral noise in the back of his throat and nearly tears the buttons off her uniform in his haste to undress her.
"Hey, I just had this pressed," she laughs as he throws the top across the room. The uniform clatters to the floor, medals of valor clanging against the metal tiles.
"Sorry," he murmurs, burying his head into her long, flowing hair. He stops for a moment while she shimmies out of her pants and he strips himself of his uniform. They are both naked and aroused, Asami can tell, but Iroh has a torn expression on his face that makes her pause.
"I feel like I'm holding you back," he tells her frankly. Asami crosses her arms across her bare chest and looks down at the rumpled bed.
"I don't know what to do. I know I'm ready for the Generalship. You know I'm ready for it," she says, looking him in the eye at last. "But I can't leave you. It would break me apart."
Iroh looks thoughtful for a moment, then he smiles. "Maybe it's my turn to be your Lieutenant for a while."
Iroh lets the implications of his words sink in for a moment, and then Asami shakes her head with a smile. "How can I deprive your men of their beloved General?" she asks him, finishing her sentence with a long, sad kiss.
Iroh shrugs, pulling her onto his lap. "It was just a thought."
Asami presses her forhead against his and sighs.
"I just had another thought," Iroh tells her casually.
"What's that," she asks, ducking her head to his neck and pressing kisses along the skin beneath his ear.
"We could always get married," Iroh says, pulling her back to look her in the eye.
Asami can't make words for a long moment.
"Married," she says, testing the word on her tongue. Iroh looks apprehensive, like he's regretting bringing it up.
"Husband and wife," he nods.
Asami breaks into a huge smile. "Was that a proposal?"
"I think it was," he murmurs, pressing a tentative kiss against her lips. She kisses him back hungrily.
"Is that a yes?" Iroh asks, his words falling against the skin of her cheek.
"I think it is," she sighs happily.
And so it's five years after the Battle for Republic City that Asami sees the rest of Team Avatar again. Asami is dressed in a white gown that dips between her breasts in a heart-shaped neckline, and from there lace travels up to her neck and down her arms to her wrists. Pinned to her breast are her medals of valor from the United Forces. Most of the attendants at the wedding are members of her fleet. Revealing her relationship to her men had been a bizarre moment, mostly due to the fact that the only people who hadn't known that Iroh and Asami's relationship wasn't common knowledge were Iroh and Asami. Figures. With their engagement came a new set of rules: couples in the United Forces could request to be stationed together, even Generals. So now two fleets sailed as one under the dominion of Generals Asami and Iroh. It is a little unconventional, but for the United Forces' two best Generals, certain people in high places were willing to make an exception.
Someone knocks abruptly, and a cautious head pokes in through a crack in the door.
"Asami!" Bolin cries out, and Asami can't help but smile at the earthbender as he bulldozes his way into the room, with Korra and Mako in tow. "Wow, you look completely beautiful, like, I'm pretty sure I'm ruined for all other women now that I've seen you like this. Iroh is a lucky guy!"
Bolin picks her up in a hug that nearly crushes her, and Asami feels a pang of nostalgia for the past when they had all been so close. She had missed Bolin and his goofball nature, had absolutely forgotten how good it felt to be in his company. Bolin puts Asami down just in time to let Korra envelope her in a strong hug.
"It is so great to see you-I hope we're not intruding, but we really wanted to see you before the ceremony started," Korra says, a little abashed. Asami hugs her back, and is somewhat surprised to find that she has missed the Avatar.
Mako ducks in a quick hug, and Asami is pleased to note that his touch no longer holds the spark it once did. "Nice to see you, Asami. You look beautiful."
Asami smiles. "Thank you, Mako."
Bolin, Korra, and Mako leave after wishing her luck, and Asami thinks that maybe they can all start over. A new beginning for Team Avatar, perhaps.
A slow, deliberate knock on the door. Asami walks over purposefully, where her second in command waits dutifully for her.
"General Sato," he says. "Are you ready?"
She takes his arm.
"Absolutely."
They walk down the hall, take a left, and suddenly they are in a vast hall, filled with Asami's friends and co-workers, cheering and shouting absurd things like "Jade Fist and Irohman!" She ignores the cheers for the man standing at the end of the isle, garbed in his best dress uniform. Iroh looks stunned to see her there, and Asami thinks back to when he had first approached her, so many years ago.
Asami's vows consist of the simply following: "This is the only way I'd have it, Iroh. If I could do it all over again, I'd choose the same things to end up here, in this moment, on this day. I would choose you a thousand times over."
Iroh's vows are even shorter: "I love, want, and need you. Always."
They kiss, sealing their compact, and the room explodes with cheers and clapping.
Asami stands with Iroh, and the world stands with them.
Fandom: Legend of Korra
Words: 2500
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Spoilers for the finale.
Pairings: Asami/Iroh
Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Korra!
Summary: Written for the ficbending prompt: Asami joined the United Forces after the season finale. Years later, Team Avatar is reunited when General Iroh and General Asami get married.
Asami stands alone.
The edge of the water temple stands on a cliff, perched high above the frigid water that churns with a dull roar. The sound resounds in her ears and is just loud enough to cover the crunch of footsteps in the snow.
"Mind if I join you?" Asami's skin prickles, and she tells herself that it's the cold. She turns to General Iroh and tries to smile.
"Of course not, General," she says with what she hopes sounds like enthusiasm. He remains as galant looking as ever: his uniform has been repaired since his assault on her father's mechaplanes had torn it nearly in half. His golden eyes seem to denote an oldness beyond his years. Asami wonders what kind of life he's lived, and then she is torn back to herself and the present and the hurt, the goddamn hurt is enough to bring tears to her eyes. Iroh is kind enough to ignore Asami pressing her palms to her lids, and the kindness is itself enough to fill her eyes once more. It's been a good while since she's cried in front of another person, and Asami is grateful that it's Iroh standing before her and not Korra or Mako.
"Iroh is fine, please," he tells her with a cautious smile. A few steps forward, and Iroh stands by her side. Asami leans in and touches her shoulder against his arm.
"Thanks for coming in to check on me," Asami sighs, and as the words pass across her lips, she can feel the truth behind them. She's been outside for at least twenty minutes, and since leaving no one else had come after her. No one else had cared enough to notice her absence. Asami wonders if the General pities her enough to feign interest, or if he too feels like an outsider at the edge of the world.
"It's a little crowded in there," he tells her, a low chuckle in his voice. "Besides, the company outside is far preferable to any within." He looks down at her through his lashes and Asami blushes slightly. "But that's not why I pursued you out here," he sighs, and Asami's throat tightens. Rejection. Again.
Iroh turns to face her now, and Asami follows suit. "I want you to join the United Forces."
Asami furrows her brow. "Me?" she blurts out. Iroh smiles, and Asami crosses her arms, digging her feet in the snow half to give her something to do, half to keep her steady. "I thought the United Forces only took benders," she manages.
"And I think that has been a mistake," Iroh tells her, and Asami smiles despite everything that's happened to her personal life in the last twenty-four hours. "You have shown to me that non-benders deserve a place standing alongside benders, united toward the same goal: peace."
"I'm not the only non-bender that can fight," Asami tells him. "Many of Amon's former followers might deserve a second chance with the fleet."
Iroh puts a gloved hand on her shoulder: it is warm through the fabric, and Asami wonders how hot his skin is to the touch. Mako had always run hot, and she assumed that most firebenders did. "This is why I need you, Asami Sato," Iroh says, and Asami can barely stifle a blush-he needs her-before her attempt at keeping her hormones in check succeeds. "You should be in charge of a batallion of non-benders and benders alike: you are one of the few people in the world that knows what it's like to work in a mixed team. You are knowledgable in a way that the United Fleet doesn't deserve, but desperately needs."
Asami pulls back slightly so that Iroh's hand drops off her shoulder, having hesitated there a second too long. "The United Forces would never want the daughter of a traitor," she murmurs, and the words open a wound inside her like a kick to the gut.
Iroh glances at her grief-stricken face for a long moment, then he gently takes her face in both his hands, so that she can look no where but his resolute visage.
"Trust me, Asami. You are exactly the kind of woman the United Forces wants," he says fiercely.
Asami closes her eyes. It's been a while since she's felt truly wanted: since someone or something had desired her. Her relationship with Mako had started out strong, but there had always been a part of him that had belonged to the Avatar, and it had taken the Battle for Republic City to recognize that in the choice between Asami and Korra, Mako would always make the same decision. Her father had chosen revenge over family, had abandoned and abjured her when she had refused to join him. In this moment, with Iroh's hands cupping her face, his right thumb running over the crest of her cheekbone, she felt wanted. And if the United Forces wanted her too, well, they could have her.
"Okay," she whispers.
"Okay," he whispers back, face breaking into a smile.
"Will I be working with you?" she asks as his hands fall back to his sides a little awkwardly. Now it's his turn to blush a little, and Asami kind of enjoys seeing him... flustered.
"I'm not certain where the Forces will place you-" he starts, but Asami throws her head back and laughs.
"If the Forces want me, they know where to put me," she sighs, hand on his shoulder. "I owe the United Forces no allegiance yet, though I'm sure I'll come by it in the months and years to come. I don't trust them yet, though soon enough I believe that feeling will come, if I join." She looks up at him and smiles widely. "But I do owe you my allegiance. I trust you. And if the United Forces want me to enlist, they'll know right where to put me: by your side."
Asami can feel the attraction between them sizzle like lightning, and for a moment, Iroh leans in closer and Asami is sure that he's about to kiss her. Instead, he sticks out a hand, and Asami clasps it tightly: for now, Iroh is her lifeline to purpose and honor and duty. Asami likes having something to live for.
"That's the only way I'd have it," he tells her, and she laughs a high, giddy laugh that is free from the tension of what's come and gone. Now Asami has a future, and somehow, Iroh is going to be a part of it-of that, she is certain.
Asami works hard in the United Forces and gains a loyal following of benders and non-benders alike. She commands a regiment of all nationalities and creeds, and they would follow her to the South Pole and back if she asked them to. The call her the Jade Fist of the Force due to her piercing green eyes, supposed beauty (though Asami took that one with a grain of salt), and affinity for hand-to-hand combat. Her men would die for her, and this fact she takes very seriously.
Asami makes her demands clear to United Republic of Nations: that if they want to keep her (and Asami Sato's name is the allegiance of most of the non-benders in the United Forces, so it's not just her but also many others), then they were going to assign her to work under General Iroh. They comply, either because they can't risk losing the support of the non-benders, or simply because they couldn't find a good enough reason to keep Iroh and Asami apart. The two of them became the most successful duo in the United Forces-separating them was never an option.
Asami defers General status for a full two years because with a Generalship comes a full fleet and full responsibilities-responsibilities that would take her away from Iroh. It's not until Iroh hears word of her deferral that she is forced to face the reality of excellence.
"Lieutenant Sato," Iroh calls formally in the mess hall. She stands and leaves her food behind to follow him into the corridor of their current ship, the Freedomfighter.
"I've gotten word from the council that you've been promoted... again," Iroh tells her.
"And have you gotten word of my polite yet forceful deferral?" Asami asks, as they enter his living quarters. Iroh closes the door behind him just fast enough before Asami has thrown her arms and legs around him. He takes this sneak attack in stride and runs his arms across her back and striding across the room toward his bed with purpose.
"I had assumed as much," he sighs. Asami ignores the disappointment in his voice and kisses him deeply. Iroh makes a deep, gutteral noise in the back of his throat and nearly tears the buttons off her uniform in his haste to undress her.
"Hey, I just had this pressed," she laughs as he throws the top across the room. The uniform clatters to the floor, medals of valor clanging against the metal tiles.
"Sorry," he murmurs, burying his head into her long, flowing hair. He stops for a moment while she shimmies out of her pants and he strips himself of his uniform. They are both naked and aroused, Asami can tell, but Iroh has a torn expression on his face that makes her pause.
"I feel like I'm holding you back," he tells her frankly. Asami crosses her arms across her bare chest and looks down at the rumpled bed.
"I don't know what to do. I know I'm ready for the Generalship. You know I'm ready for it," she says, looking him in the eye at last. "But I can't leave you. It would break me apart."
Iroh looks thoughtful for a moment, then he smiles. "Maybe it's my turn to be your Lieutenant for a while."
Iroh lets the implications of his words sink in for a moment, and then Asami shakes her head with a smile. "How can I deprive your men of their beloved General?" she asks him, finishing her sentence with a long, sad kiss.
Iroh shrugs, pulling her onto his lap. "It was just a thought."
Asami presses her forhead against his and sighs.
"I just had another thought," Iroh tells her casually.
"What's that," she asks, ducking her head to his neck and pressing kisses along the skin beneath his ear.
"We could always get married," Iroh says, pulling her back to look her in the eye.
Asami can't make words for a long moment.
"Married," she says, testing the word on her tongue. Iroh looks apprehensive, like he's regretting bringing it up.
"Husband and wife," he nods.
Asami breaks into a huge smile. "Was that a proposal?"
"I think it was," he murmurs, pressing a tentative kiss against her lips. She kisses him back hungrily.
"Is that a yes?" Iroh asks, his words falling against the skin of her cheek.
"I think it is," she sighs happily.
And so it's five years after the Battle for Republic City that Asami sees the rest of Team Avatar again. Asami is dressed in a white gown that dips between her breasts in a heart-shaped neckline, and from there lace travels up to her neck and down her arms to her wrists. Pinned to her breast are her medals of valor from the United Forces. Most of the attendants at the wedding are members of her fleet. Revealing her relationship to her men had been a bizarre moment, mostly due to the fact that the only people who hadn't known that Iroh and Asami's relationship wasn't common knowledge were Iroh and Asami. Figures. With their engagement came a new set of rules: couples in the United Forces could request to be stationed together, even Generals. So now two fleets sailed as one under the dominion of Generals Asami and Iroh. It is a little unconventional, but for the United Forces' two best Generals, certain people in high places were willing to make an exception.
Someone knocks abruptly, and a cautious head pokes in through a crack in the door.
"Asami!" Bolin cries out, and Asami can't help but smile at the earthbender as he bulldozes his way into the room, with Korra and Mako in tow. "Wow, you look completely beautiful, like, I'm pretty sure I'm ruined for all other women now that I've seen you like this. Iroh is a lucky guy!"
Bolin picks her up in a hug that nearly crushes her, and Asami feels a pang of nostalgia for the past when they had all been so close. She had missed Bolin and his goofball nature, had absolutely forgotten how good it felt to be in his company. Bolin puts Asami down just in time to let Korra envelope her in a strong hug.
"It is so great to see you-I hope we're not intruding, but we really wanted to see you before the ceremony started," Korra says, a little abashed. Asami hugs her back, and is somewhat surprised to find that she has missed the Avatar.
Mako ducks in a quick hug, and Asami is pleased to note that his touch no longer holds the spark it once did. "Nice to see you, Asami. You look beautiful."
Asami smiles. "Thank you, Mako."
Bolin, Korra, and Mako leave after wishing her luck, and Asami thinks that maybe they can all start over. A new beginning for Team Avatar, perhaps.
A slow, deliberate knock on the door. Asami walks over purposefully, where her second in command waits dutifully for her.
"General Sato," he says. "Are you ready?"
She takes his arm.
"Absolutely."
They walk down the hall, take a left, and suddenly they are in a vast hall, filled with Asami's friends and co-workers, cheering and shouting absurd things like "Jade Fist and Irohman!" She ignores the cheers for the man standing at the end of the isle, garbed in his best dress uniform. Iroh looks stunned to see her there, and Asami thinks back to when he had first approached her, so many years ago.
Asami's vows consist of the simply following: "This is the only way I'd have it, Iroh. If I could do it all over again, I'd choose the same things to end up here, in this moment, on this day. I would choose you a thousand times over."
Iroh's vows are even shorter: "I love, want, and need you. Always."
They kiss, sealing their compact, and the room explodes with cheers and clapping.
Asami stands with Iroh, and the world stands with them.