Looking for Iroh

~x~

Chapter One: Forgiveness

She had almost forgotten about him, the boy with the music box.

"Read all about it! Equalists attack the Fire Nation royal palace, read all about it!"

"Didn't you hear? Oh my it was awful, they say that nearly everyone was killed. Luckily the Firelord escaped…"

"But the Firelord's entire family were killed! Who will take the throne?"

"Nobody knows. I heard from a very reliable source that Firelord Zuko's grandson escaped with him, but he was lost in the pandemonium of it all."

It appeared that news travelled slowly in Republic City. But she heard it all. So, the boy with the music box never escaped after all.

Asami was crouched behind a stack of boxes, a very stale piece of bread in her hands. She ate slowly, tasting the bile rise in her throat at the texture of it. But it wasn't like the little girl hadn't roughed it before, the town of Republic City was cruel, much crueller than a maids job in the Fire Nation palace. But she had lived here alone before, and she was far younger then.

Stop being such a baby, she scolded herself. Bread is bread.

A shadow appeared before her eyes, it draped over her shoulders like a cape and she looked up to its owner. She saw the black mass of hair before anything else, then his skin, as pale as winter snow, and his eyes, even paler. They were almost white, his eyes. It reminded her of her old room in the Fire Nation. She had spent hours staring at the plain white walls, waiting for the time to pass until she was asked to do something else. It was something so potent and familiar in her memory she had the colour etched behind her eyelids when she went to sleep at night.

She blinked at him.

"Hi." He said.

"What do you want?" Asami replied, her mouth twisting into a frown.

He cleared his throat, tightening his hands into tight fists. "Give me your bread."

Asami almost laughed. "No! Go get your own bread!" She had dealt with bullies before, and if this boy tried to touch her- she would make sure his hand broke clean off. A dark shade of puce crossed his face as his brows knitted together angrily.

"If you don't…" He did something with his hands and Asami jumped to her feet, her stance wide, just like Iroh taught her. She saw the glint of something under the lamppost and it was then she realised- he was waterbending.

Clumsily, at that. Water sloshed out of his grip and his arms wobbled with the effort of it.

"If you don't I'll hurt you."

It was a threat if ever she heard one. He sounded unsure, though, so Asami wasn't too fazed. She grounded herself, and watched his movements with eyes as quick as mice. The boy scowled at her. He shot out with his waterbending, and instinctively Asami ducked, but the water didn't even get close to its trajectory.

The boy's face fell when he heard the slap of water hitting the ground behind him.

Asami saw her shot and took it. She leapt out toward him and they went rolling backward out into the bustling street. She stopped them rolling any further by shoving her feet out to meet the pavement. The little girl pinned the boys shoulders with hard hands, scowling at his now very anxious face.

"What were you saying?" Asami said smugly, bringing her fist back ready to punch him square in the face. He balked, his lips opening, then closing. He looked around him to try and find someone to yell to. And while the two children were surrounded by people, none would care to break up their fight. Homeless children were not of rare breed in Republic City.

"I'm Tahno," the boy said, almost apoligetically. Asami's brows deepened further. What is he doing? Trying to be buddies?

"What is it to me?" She asked viciously.

"Well, you're a girl, and I'm a boy. I can look after you-" Asami grabbed his collar with her free hand, "-okay okay! I get it, you can look after yourself! But you'd be better with another person there… We will survive better out here together."

Asami loosened her grip on his collar, considering him. He was right, two people is definitely better than one… She had learnt that at the Fire Nation palace when she was cleaning the main hall. The floors, it seemed, travelled on for miles. She flicked her eyes back to his, studying him.

"And… Winter is coming. It's all well and good in the summer, but when it's cold and snow is falling, I can offer you shelter with my bending."

She snorted, letting go of his collar entirely and letting her hand rest. "You'd probably put me in more danger of catching a cold with your bending."

Tahno's face fell again, his eyes seemed to lose some of their shine. Asami let out a lengthy sigh and got off of him. She stood back and held a hand out to help him up.

"Well, okay. But don't ever try to fight me again."

He smirked. "I won't. Forgive me?"

A/N: Okay so here's the first chapter of Looking for Iroh. As I've already mentioned this is a Disney Anastasia crossover, but if you've never seen the film, it won't matter. You'll understand everything that happens regardless.

I'm so excited to write this hehe. It's my first long LOK fic, and of course for Irosami week! So here we have a very young Asami(eight) and a very young Tahno(ten) as orphans. Sob. Orphans?! I hear you say, but Asami is not an orphan! She's stinking rich! In this AU Asami may or may not be an orphan, but she is alone. And why? Well you'll have to wait and find out.