Book 2 Chapter 6

As the Sun Sets

The island was fairly quiet as the evening came around. Mako, Korra, and Bolin were fast asleep in their rooms from their extensive day with Lin. Pema had the kids play in their rooms to keep Rohan from waking up, while Tenzin and his brother stayed late at City Hall.

"You think it's a little too quiet" Asami whispered to Iroh as they walked down the hall.

"Wanna go somewhere noisier?" Iroh gave her a smile like he was up to no good and dragged her along outside. The two made their way to Republic City shores where Iroh's fleet was stopped at. He lead Asami aboard his ship, never has she been aboard a boat this big. His crew consisted of his closest friends, and he introduced Asami to most of them.

"Wow, these men really look up to you Iroh" she grabbed a hold of his arm as they walked along.

"Yes, these men are my family, and I treat them as such. I would risk my life for any one of them" he said standing tall and with a serious tone. Asami didn't doubt him one bit. She noticed Iroh acted more stern and firm when around his crew than when he's with her and liked knowing that she saw a side of him no one else did.

"Asami, I want to show you one more thing, but you have to close your eyes" Iroh took Asami's hand in his and led the way.

"Iroh, where are you taking me?" she said trying not to stumble and embarrass herself in front of him.

"One sec, almost there and no peeking!" the two came to a stop "alright now open" he looked at Asami's expression as she opened her eyes to see the most beautiful sunset with the oranges, pinks, and reds of the sun reflecting and shimmering across the blue ocean.

"I-Iroh, this... is ... beautiful" Asami was absolutely stunned at how gorgeous this sight was. It was definitely something she didn't see every day.

"Not as beautiful as you" he said looking at her the entire time, not even noticing the view. She turned and looked at him, all he could notice were how her eyes reflected the colors of the sunset and how they glowed different hues of green.

"Asami, you are absolutely breath taking" he said as he got lost in her eyes again. The way Iroh looked at her made her feel like she was the center of his world. She felt important to him and second to no one else. She hasn't felt this special in a long time.

She took her hands and wrapped them around Iroh's head as he wrapped his around her waist. She closed her eyes as he brought his lips closer to hers, and in an instant everything went silent. All the worries in the world could not break them apart. Her lips were sweet and his were soft and gentle. The two separated for only a few seconds to catch their breath, and in that moment Iroh knew he was the luckiest guy in the world. Asami quickly brought her lips back to Iroh's and this time kissed him with a little more force. The sun finally set in the horizon and the full moon glistened in the night sky. As the two finally separated, he saw her eyes shine as bright as the stars.

"I've fallen for you Asami Sato" he said moving a strand of her hair behind her ear. She quickly embraced him and felt so loved in his arms. Of all the men in her life, Iroh is the only one who she knew would never hurt her. She felt safe.

Iroh and Asami were out late and didn't get back to the island till midnight. He walked her to her room, "Goodnight Asami" he leaned over to give her a soft kiss on her cheek.

She blushed, "Iroh... please stay."

He couldn't say no to her so he nodded "Let me go change first." When Iroh got back and entered Asami's room, she was sitting on the edge of her bed waiting for him. He was in his usual dark sleeping pants and red shirt, so was Asami in her pink nighty. He walked up to her and leaned up against her pushing her back on her bed, he lied down half on top of her and gave her another kiss.

She brought her hands around him and rested them on his back. His hand ran down the side of her body while the other was wrapped around under her torso. His lips parted from hers and planted small kisses along the side of her cheek as he made his way down to her neck. He found one spot that made Asami release a small moan. He slowly bit and sucked at that one spot as she rubbed her hands up and down Iroh's back.

He brought his head back up and looked at Asami "If I don't stop now I won't be able to control myself" he laughed.

She looked back up at him, "what if I don't want you to stop?" she said still rubbing his back slowly.

Iroh smirked, "that would be irresponsible of me to let this go any further Asami, I hope you understand. I would like for us to continue our relationship and as it grows I promise you, we'll pick up where we left off" he gave her one last kiss on her lips before he moved off of her. She smiled up at him and rested her head on his chest. How could she have gotten so lucky, Iroh was truly her Prince Charming.

The next morning came too quickly for Iroh. He wanted to stay with Asami longer even if it meant a couple of more minutes, but being a General he has to run off a very timely schedule. He moved Asami off of him very slowly so he wouldn't wake her and gave her a gentle kiss on her lips before he left her room.

As he was closing her room door slowly, Mako was doing the same right next to him. The two glanced at each other.

"Good morning Mako" Iroh said as he walked past him and continued down the hall. Mako couldn't help but glare at the guy. Even though he wasn't with Asami anymore, he still cared about her. Mako knows Asami is beautiful, but doesn't want just any guy getting with her then leaving her once he's done. He made a mental note to talk with Iroh later about this. In the meantime he made his way to his brother's room to wake him up for school. Mako decided to go with both Korra and Bolin to drop them off at school, trying to spend as much time with Korra as he can because he just doesn't get to spend as much time with her, she's always busy doing something.

Asami was the last to get up. Being out so late really tired her out, but being with Iroh definitely was worth it. She noticed Iroh was no longer in bed with her and was praying that last night wasn't just a dream. She got up to change. She made her way to Iroh's room and found him reading letters that would come for him daily. Many were from his fleet, but the important ones were always from either his grandfather or his mother.

"Good morning Iroh" Asami spoke softly as she made her way into his room.

Iroh quickly put down the letter he was reading to meet her half way and gave her a big hug obviously extremely happy to see her, "Good morning Asami, so what would you like to do today?"

She thought for a few minutes then spoke, "I want to head over to my estate, care to join me?" Iroh smiled as he opened the door for her and the two walked hand in hand out the room and made their way over to Republic City.

Asami pulled up to the Sato Mansion, remembering the last time she came here was with Iroh. Coming with him made this place feel like home again.

"So why are we here?" Iroh asked as the two made their way in through the front door.

"There's some important paper work I need to fill out and a couple of calls I have to make, I'm going to start up Future Industries again" Asami kept walking up the stairs as Iroh saw haw focused she was and couldn't be any prouder.

While Asami was busy with her business in her dad's former office, Iroh decided to take a look around. He found a room down the hall that was fairly big with race posters hanging on the walls which made him come to the conclusion that it was Asami's room.

He walked over to one of the dressers and looked at all the picture frames sitting on top of it. There were pictures of Asami holding her helmet standing next to a satomobile, and another one of her driving a satomobile. Iroh soon came across one more photo of Hiroshi, Asami as a child, and her mother. He picked up the frame and saw how happy Asami looked in the photo. She said she was fairly young when her mother died, and realized it must have happened shortly after this photo was taken.

"Having fun?" Iroh quickly jerked around when he heard her voice.

"Oh, yeah. Your mother... she was very beautiful. You look so much like her" he said sincerely.

"Yeah... so I'll be coming her more now, I'm officially the President of Future Industries" she said changing the subject.

"Congratulations Asami! We should celebrate" he said as he ran up to her picked her up and twirled her around.

"I'm not really in the mood for celebrating today" Asami looked down.

"Alright, then why don't we just hang out here and order something to eat. How's that sound?" he lifted her chin up with one finger.

"That sounds nice" she gave him hug and the two ended up downstairs in the living room. They ordered noodles from Narook's and Iroh noticed that Asami barely touched her food. He sat her down on the couch after they ate because he wanted to know what was bugging her.

"Are-are you alright Asami?" he rested one hand on her shoulder and gave her a worried look.

"I'm fine. I've just got a lot going on in my head right now" she said closing her eyes.

There was silence for a while until Iroh spoke again, "you miss your mom don't you?" Asami's eyes opened and he saw small tears form. She wasn't going to cry though, just the thought of her mother made her sad.

"I do, and I have every day since. Today of all days even more, because it's her birthday" she closed her eyes once more and remembered when she was young waking up in the morning and making breakfast for her mother on her birthday's. Her mother would wake up with a sparkle of joy in her eyes, and Asami loved that look. Something she's never forgotten. Iroh wrapped both his arms around Asami and rested his head on top of hers.

"You know, I bet she'd be so proud of you. If I had a chance to meet your mom, I'm sure I'd already know her because she would be just like you. Don't ever feel like she's not with you Asami, because she'll always be inside your heart" he gave her a kiss on top of her head.

"Thanks Iroh, that makes me feel better knowing that, and knowing you're always here for me" she hugged him back. Iroh looked down in guilt, he should have told her sooner.

"I got a letter from my mother today. She needs me to return to the Fire Nation."

Author's Note:

Thanks for all of the Reviews. This was definately one of my favorite chapters to write. Next update will be withing a few days :)