Father, into your hands I commend my spirit
Father, into your hands
Why have you forsaken me?
In your eyes forsaken me
In your thoughts forsaken me
In your heart forsaken me, oh

~ System of a Down

'Don't fall in love with her.' Asami repeated to herself all through Saturday. She was working, because what else would a person do on a Saturday, and even though she needed to get some work done her mind kept drifting towards the tanned girl with the pretty smile.

She would meet up with Korra the next morning and couldn't help but smile through her buttload of paperwork. Her smile didn't even falter that much when her father came into her office, even resigned Hiroshi held most of the power within the company.

'Good day, father.' She had said in the proper way she had been taught by her late mother.

'Good day, daughter.' He had responded, then he had gone on about business and how he thought the company could improve, he wanted to go back to coal whereas Asami was trying to steer the company to clearer sources of energy. Then he had jabbed at her for dressing not formally enough and looking like a slut. She had thanked him for the feedback wanting to move on with her paperwork but as he left, he had left something on her desk.

That something was why she was now storming outside to the balcony of their floor. Almost the whole company was empty except for a few. She threw open the doors and saw her best friend and assistant in a corner, looking out of the city.

'Opal!' She yelled; she could see Opal dropping something from her hands as she strode towards her.

'I wasn't…' She stated. 'I mean I've quit.'

'I wasn't saying you were.' Asami said.

Opal looked down to the street where she had dropped her cigarette. 'I mean I'll quit again, but I found out mom bought a packet yesterday and I smoked some of hers and now I'm hooked again.'

'They're disgusting Opal.' Asami stated.

'Do you want one?' Opal extended the pack to her friend.

'No,' Asami said, eyeing the pack longingly. 'I quit years ago; besides I wasn't addicted, you were.'

'You were, too' Opal said as she lit a new one. 'Only you preferred them with weed in them.'

'I smoked pure, most of the time.' Asami sighed as she eyed the letter her father had left her. 'I could use some right now.'

'I have some in the office.' Opal admitted.

'Why the fuck would you have some in the office?' Asami inquired. 'Are you getting high at work?'

'No,' Opal said, before seeing Asami's glare. 'Yes... but only when Jinora is around, she and her boyfriend grow their own, it is really good.'

'My father has instated a no drugs policy.' Asami stated.

'That's why you liked to get high in college, as an outlet.' Opal reminded her

'I might have, but we can't do it here at work.' Asami said.

'Or we do it in your office, your father's old office.' Opal said. 'Because no-one can make you this pissed except Hiroshi Sato.'

'Fine.' She relented as they walked back towards her office. 'I was about to invite you over for Saturday wine anyway.'

'Good, I'll be right back.' Opal walked to her office and came back with a full bag of pot and quickly rolled a small joint, it would get Asami high, but probably not herself.

Asami coughed as she took a hit, it had been over four years since she had last smoked and even then, she had been an absolute lightweight.

'Forgot you couldn't handle your shit.' Opal laughed. 'What has he done now?'

Asami threw the letter in Opal's lap. 'Read!'

Opal saw formal handwriting on the top side of the letter and smaller, fancier writing on the bottom.

Dear Asami,

Your invitation for dining with the General has been accepted and he will see you tonight at six.
It is expected of you that you wear something nice and will never address the general with anything else than his title.

Until then,

The Office of The General

Hi, pumpkin,

You need to go, no claiming you are sick.
I don't want to hear excuses or claims
The General is only doing this to convince the public he isn't a faggot,
It is up to you to prove the public wrong, he needs this to run for office.
No man would ever vote for a fag or dyke.

I will see you later,

Hiroshi Sate
Chairman of Future Industries

'Bastard.' Opal exclaimed. 'He still doesn't know you're bisexual?'

'He is very homophobic; I could lose my position at this job.' Asami sighed. 'And now he's using me to meet this general I don't care for. And it is the night before I meet Korra again.'

'You're meeting her again?' Opal asked and took a hit, Asami nodded. 'Good, I'm glad for you.'

'Yeah…' She sighed as she stared at the letter Hiroshi had left. 'He couldn't even tell me himself; can't I just join you and Suyin for dinner like usual?'

'I don't think you can get out of this.' Opal said. 'Besides I'm not sure if mom will cook. She came home even later than me last night and I had a booty call, I think she might have had too.'

'I don't want to know about you and your mom fucking, I just need to know how to get out of this.' Asami slumped back in her chair in defeat, the scarlet letter still on her desk.

'So, Asami,' The General said. 'Could you find this place easily?'

'Well, it was the biggest house on a large hill,' Asami's sarcasm dripped from her words. 'And you send a limo, plus the car I actually took had the Future Industries satnav which I designed, so yeah; it was quite easy to find.'

Asami knew she should be nicer, he was after all a high-ranking general in the army, but he was a slimebag and uptight. Their date was set in a dining hall big enough for a great festive celebratory ball. It contrasted with everything she liked, she wanted something small and quaint; taking Korra to a restaurant yesterday had already been a bit much, usually, she just prepared a home-cooked mail together as that was where you truly got to know someone, but Korra was a stranger and she felt safe with the brothers.

'Your father has told me you want to move to clean energy.' The General sat on the other end of a long table, due to the silence in the room his voice carried across it, but still, Asami felt an urge to shout.

'I do.' She said, somewhat hopeful of a normal conversation, she hadn't shared one with anyone yet, not with the driver, the maid, the butler, or with her date.

'Wouldn't it an unwise decision?' Asami wondered if she sounded as pompous as The General did. 'Isn't coal the answer?'

'It isn't the future; we must look ahead in these times.' Asami recited, through numerous interviews she had to repeat that line, usually, those interviews were given by perverts only giving her a platform for her looks or condescending bastards who didn't believe a woman could lead such a big company.

'I think it would be unwise.' The General repeated, good for him, she thought as she continued eating her first course. It wasn't good, the products were high-end but there was no love in the preparation and Asami had always tasted the difference, even with her parents, she preferred her mother's cooking.

Her phone buzzed, she hoped it was Korra, it was.

[20:31] Korra: How late tomorrow?

[20:31] Asami: So glad you texted, I don't know, pick you up at 10?

[20:32] Korra: You seem glad, wanting to see me so soon?

[20:32] Asami: Yes, but I'm on the most boring date in history and in need of a distraction

'Asami.' The General said as he made her look up from her phone. 'The main course is served.'

She thanked him politely before returning to her phone with a smile on her face.

[20:32] Korra: You're on a date, in between our two dates? Which are very close to each other.

[20:35] Asami: My father set me up, but the guy is the worst, I'd rather be with you right now.

[20:36] Korra: Do I know them?

[20:36] Asami: Probably, he's The General, running for office.

[20:36] Korra: Him? I've heard of him.

[20:37] Asami: Not a real social person.

[20:38] Korra: Aren't you the one on the phone during?

[20:38] Asami: You're right, talk to you later, see you at 10:00

[20:39] Korra: Can't wait.

'Sorry, important person' Asami half-lied, she smiled at him, the thought of Korra being a veil or mask she could pull over herself.

'Work?' He asked, Asami hummed as a response, technically not a lie as it was neither yes nor no. 'Hmm, have you thought of a replacement?'

'For what?' She asked.

'For the company when we wed?' He stated, with a tone in his voice as though it should have been obvious.

'This is just a date.' Asami said with finality in her voice. 'And I'm not leaving my company, even if we do get together, a feature that has a lower likelihood hood than me sprouting wings and flying away.'

'That is not what your father told me; we are to be wed by the end of the month.' He said with a questioning look. 'Did your father not tell you that?'

'He didn't.' She was furious, she stood up and walked a figurative mile towards his chair. 'It makes this easier. I will not marry you, ever. I will call my father and make sure I don't want to have to see you again. Good! Bye!'

She stormed off walking through hallways full of portraits and busts until she reached the front door, she flung them open and strode towards her car, already calling the person she started to hate most in all the four nations.

'How the fuck could you!' She yelled.

'Don't use that language against me,' Hiroshi sternly said, before 'Pumpkin, please understand.'

'Don't you dare call me that, that was mom's name for me,' Asami screamed in fury. 'Only she got to call me that.'

'Asami, please understand.' Her father tried to be calm but Asami could hear he was mad as well. 'You are not getting younger and you don't have that much time anymore to produce an heir for me.'

'That's what this is about?' Asami was beyond livid at this point. 'I won't produce a child, fuck you father.'

'That is no way to treat your old man, pumpkin.' He said calmly, trying to compose himself.

'Don't fucking call me that!' She drove from The General's property as she headed to her own mansion, she couldn't set a foot in the Sato estate tonight. 'And maybe, if we're talking about behaving ourselves and treating people well… Don't sell your daughter as a common fucking whore!'

'I wasn't selling you,' Hiroshi said. 'It would just be a beneficial marriage for the both of you.'

'What would you get from it?' She sneered. 'You get your company back until I produce an heir and maybe even until they are grown, provided it is a boy. You get me out of the house and in the kitchen like a wench and you can rest assured that the last reminder of mom is gone.'

'Pumpkin…'

'Don't... Just don't.' She sighed as she hung up on her father, she steered the car towards an empty car park and put her head on the wheel.

She screamed as loud as she could before breaking down in tears. To distract herself from her moment of weakness she opened her phone, she gazed for a while at the wallpaper of a woman who looked a lot like Asami held a baby with raven hair and green eyes. This just made her cry more.

She opened an audio file she had saved from back when she was seventeen. It was a pocket-dial from her mom, of the day that she died, Asami had been at college at the time and wasn't home when it happened, some burglars shot her during a raid, the killers had never been found. She pressed play as the last words of her mother rang through the car after a good minute of listening to Yasuko walking the streets of the city.

'Hey pumpkin, I must have called you by accident again, it happens so much with this now telephone your father gave me, he said it was just my fault for doing it, but I'm just not that good with technology as him and you.

I hope you're doing well in college and having loads of fun, maybe you even find the love of your life. I can't wait to meet them, is it bad that I hope it is a she? I know you haven't come out to your father yet, as I know he can be a stubborn bastard and mean at times, but he wants the best for you.

Please call me back soon, I miss my little pumpkin and hope to see her soon when everything here at home gets better.

Always remember that you are loved and deserving of love.

I love you, Pumpkin.'

She broke down, how could she not. She cried and cried until she had no more tears to shed, she drank some water and drove back, the words Yasuko had spoken to her, the last words she would ever tell her. They were words of kindness and the love her mother had for her. Her mother had always seen the best in her, not the business potential her father saw, but she saw Asami as someone who above all wanted to be loved. She had felt comfortable enough that when her mother had visited her at college, the only time she had done, she had come out to her, something about fifteen years later she still couldn't do to her father. Asami felt tears rolling again over her cheek as she drove through the dimly lit streets.

Asami was still crying when she finally found her way to her own home, she had moved out after coming back from college, not being able to live in that house without her mother anymore. She thought of Korra whom she needed to pick up eight hours from now, she smiled softy for the tanned woman was the only light she saw and the darkness Asami had created around herself. She fell into an unruly sleep with her mother's words echoing through her mind.

'I love you, Pumpkin.'