Changed

Chapter 22

What I Didn't Want

~Asami's POV~

I turned and saw Iroh standing there. And by the look on his face, he had just watched most of what I did, if not all of it. I closed my eyes and made them go back to normal. I felt the urge to run, to cry, to scream all at once. I never wanted him to see me like this and this isn't how I wanted him to find out about me.

"Iroh." I said. I started to walk towards him and he backed away. I felt my heart drop.

"What are you? And don't tell me that was nothing because I just watched all of it."

I cringed. I looked around and saw that nobody else was around. I had to tell him. I just stood there, frozen. I tried to speak but nothing came out of my mouth. Iroh had just seen my vampire side, he just saw part of the monster I am.

"Tell me Asami. Now."

I gulped and made my voice come out. "A vampire." I said quietly. Iroh backed away from me even more. He shook his head and took a breath.

"Please, Iroh, let me explain..." I begged.

"Monster." He said and walked away, back toward the gym. That word hurt more than anything I had ever felt. I felt my heart shattering as he walked away from me. I called after him, but he ignored me. I ran after him and grabbed his arm lightly. He stopped and snapped at me.

"Let go Asami. Don't touch me. Don't follow me. Don't talk to me." He jerked his arm away from me and continued walking.

I stood there, my eyes welling up with was not how I wanted this to happen. Iroh had seen the side of me I never wanted him to see, and he rejected me.

~Korra's POV~

Asami called me. I answered right away. "Asami, where are you? I just saw Iroh walk in here without you."

"I need you to come outside...Azula is gone. Please I can't talk to you on the phone for this." She said, her voice cracking up. She was crying. What had just happened?

"Of course, I'll be right there." I told her.

"Is everything alright?" Mako asked me. I shook my head.

"I'm sorry Mako, I need to go find Asami. She sounded really upset." I hugged him. "I'll be back."

"Hey, no problem. Take your time. I'm gonna go find Iroh, I just saw him storm in here looking pissed off…" I nodded, and then walked off to find Asami. I found her outside the gym, sitting on a bench with her head in her hands. Her dress was ripped, and her there was blood on it and all over her hands. I ran over to her. What had happened?

"Hey what's wrong? " I said sitting down next to her. She continued to sob and I put my arms around her. After a minute she sniffed and answered me.

"Azula came out of the gym after me, we got in fight, as you know. After you went inside, I won, but I had to hurt her. I broke both her arms and compelled her to go home and tell Ozai I finished his request. She listened, but…-" she paused and wiped her eyes.

"- Iroh saw all of it. He saw me Korra. He called me a monster, and then he walked off and I ran after him and tried to stop him. He said "don't touch me, don't follow me, don't talk to me" and jerked his arm from my hand and walked away. He didn't even let me explain." Asami cried and I hugged her tightly.

I knew now why Mako had said Iroh looked pissed off. I was mad at Iroh now. How dare he do that to Asami? Maybe he was scared, didn't know how to handle what he saw. I sighed internally. I was going to give him a one-for when I saw him next.

"He was probably just scared, Asami. I don't think he meant it."

"He's right though, I'm a monster. I would have reacted the same way."

"No, you aren't. You were just defending yourself and me. Mako saw him come into the gym right before you called me. He said he was going to talk to him."

"He's going to tell him what he saw." I saw the panic in her eyes. "Mako doesn't know does he? That I'm-"

"No, I didn't tell him. Only, you and I and Mai and TyLee know."

"And now Iroh...This is so bad. No, no, no." She said standing up and pacing around. I stood up and stopped her. I put my hands on her shoulders.

"It's going to be okay, Asami. We'll explain. They'll understand." I said. She shook her head and started to cry again. I hugged her tightly. I needed to get Asami away from the dance. "I'll be right back okay? I''m going to go ask Mako to take us home." Asami nodded.

I walked back into the gym to find Mako.

~Mako's POV~

I went after Iroh when Korra told me Asami called her upset. I'd just seen him storm in the door and across the gym. I ran after him and caught up as he reached the doors to the hallway.

"Iroh! Hey."

He turned and saw me but then kept walking away. I caught up to him and grabbed his arm.

"What's going on?" I said.

"Nothing." He growled.

"Yeah, right. Korra gets a call from an upset Asami and you come storming in the gym pissed as hell? What the hell happened?"

"We got in a fight, that's all. People get in fights, the end." Iroh turned and walked away from me. I groaned.

"Whatever man." I said and walked back to the gym. When I got there, I found Korra coming inside. She walked over to me. She sighed.

"Hey, can you take Asami and I to my house? I'm sorry, I feel really bad since you and I are on a date but she really needs to get away from this dance." She said.

"Hey its fine, I get it. You just wanna comfort your best friend." I said pulling her in for a hug. "I found Iroh, whatever happened he won't talk about it. He just stormed off again." Korra rolled her eyes.

"When I see him next, I'm gonna beat him." She grumbled. I laughed.

"Go find Asami, and I'll drive you both home."

"Okay. Be right back." She said kissing me on the cheek.

~Korra's POV~

I took Asami around the school to another set of doors, so nobody would see us, and into the girls' bathroom to get cleaned up and handed her my jacket to hide her ruined dress. We met Mako in the gym and then he took us to my house. Asami spent the night after I explained to my mom that she was really upset. My mom agreed., which isn't surprising since she has always thought of Asami as a second daughter. My mom doesn't mind if Asami stays over at our house anytime really.

I gave Asami a pair of my sweats and t-shirt when we got up to my room. She went in my bathroom and took a shower. I could hear her crying. I turned on some music so I wouldn't have to listen to the heartbroken sobs of my best friend, which were tearing me up inside. I didn't know what I could do for her, or if there was anything.

I'm really worried about Asami. I've never seen her so broken. I had a feeling that Iroh would find out himself but this was not how I expected it to be. This was probably the worst way for him to find out about Asami. I'm also really pissed at him right now. Sure, he saw something unexplainable and it most likely terrifed him, but he could have at least let Asami explain what he had seen. He hadn't even given her a chance. Part of me wished I had seen him when we were leaving the dance, I would have probably decked him for making her cry like that. I sure wanted to now.

I wondered if Iroh would tell Mako about Asami. I think I could handle it if I had to explain to him what was going on. If that happened, we'd need to explain to both of them. This was really turning into a mess.

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