Kagome sighed as she sat at the table and looked at the man across from her. He merely stared back, not meeting her eyes but looking past her. She shook her head sadly as she got up to leave.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to endanger your village. I'll leave right away." The man nodded still not looking at her.

"I'm sorry Lady Kagome. I really am but we're a small village if the fire army…" He trailed off feeling stupid for making excuses as to why they couldn't house the Fire priestess for the night.

She smiled sadly as she got up, pulling her hood over her head as she made her way towards the door.

"It's fine, may the spirits protect you." With that she stepped back out into the pouring rain and made her way towards the towns exit.

It had been two days since her grand escape and much to her dismay the crew she was with could only get her two thirds of the way out of the fire country. It was way less then she had counted on but it was more than they had to help get her to.

Even so she was tired and had hoped to rest in the small village, Konoha, but they had turned her away, not that she blamed them. Everyone was sacred of the fire army, even those who lived in the fire nation.

She blinked as a small child ran up to her and tugged in her cloak, much to her parent's dismay.

"Lady Gome! Here! I made this for you!" Kagome smiled as she kneeled down to the young girl's level and took the offered gift. It was a crudely craved wooden barrette carved in the shape of a lotus. She smiled as she took the offered gift and patted the young girls head.

"Thank you very much. I will always treasure this. May I have your name little one?" The young girl smiled revealing that she was missing her two front teeth.

"Rin's name si Rin." Kagome smiled as she dug around inside her cloak and pulled out a beautiful golden hair pin and handed it to the young girl, ignoring the gasps of those around them.

"Here Rin, a token of my appreciation." Rin squealed happily and took the offered pin, hugging it to her chest and smiled brightly.

"Thank you Lady Gome!" Kagome smiled and patted the young girl on the head once more before continuing on her way out of the village gates.

Once she was in the woods the rain became a downpour, it was almost like someone was dumping buckets over the very ground she walked on. It sucked. Being the fire priestess meant she was at…odds with water. It wasn't she didn't like it, because she did, but to much of it made her crabby and this was one of those times.

The ground slipped and moved under her feet, now nothing but mulch and mud. Her cloak was heavy and stiff, worn down by rain. What really irked her was the fact that she looked like a drowned rat. So, in reaction to her discomfort the air around her became steam as the very flames within her surged up and made a barrier of heat, to dissolve the water before it ever got close to her.

She smiled lightly, even now that she was so far away from her destroyed temple the flames tried to comfort her, then again they were just as much a part of her as she was them.

She blinked as she stumbled over something and went rolling, ungracefully down a hill. Jarring her body and slamming into random things on the way down. She hissed as she came to a muddy stop, curtsey of slamming into something er someone hard and taking them down with her.

"Ita~" She winced as she sat up her eyes closed because of the amount of mud that had covered her. She blinked when she heard another pained groan as well an amused chuckle.

"Don't you dare say a word uncle!" She blinked as she wiped away the mud covering her eyes. She knew that voice, well it sounded familiar…

"I would never dream of it prince Zuko." Kagome gapped as she stood up, slipping on her own cloak and almost going down if not for the pair of arms that wrapped around her waist and steadied her.

"Whoa there, be careful miss we wouldn't want you to take another awful spill." Kagome merely made a weird choking nose and threw her arms around him clinging to him as tears gathered in her eyes.

Zuko glared at his uncle from his place on the ground, covered in mud. His uncle merely held his hands up in an 'I have no idea what's going on' gesture before wrapping them around the young woman who had rammed into him. He scowled, his anger causing the air around him to turn into steam.

"Um young miss are you okay?" Iroh blinked as the young woman pulled back to glare at him, tears in her eyes…deep blue…familiar eyes.

"K-Kagome?" She glared at him, once again making that odd choking noise as he pulled her close for a split second before pushing her away to glare down at her, an angry scowl on his face.

"What are you doing here? After I heard that what you did I was so worried and here you are! Hugging strange men in the rain!" Kagome glared at him huffed, flames coming out of her mouth.

"Excuse me! You're the one hugging random women in the rain!" He flushed red.

"Well I thought you were hurt!" She huffed but hugged him again.

"I missed you." Iroh hugged her back.

"I missed you to." Zuko blinked, a sick feeling in his stomach. What was going on? One way to find out.

"What's going on here?" Iroh shot him a small glare.

"Zuko! Respect your elders and respect your aunt!" Zuko gapped. Huh? What? That…pretty young woman was his aunt? His-huh-wha?

His eyes rolled back in his head as he flopped in an undignified heap on the ground, mud sloshing everywhere.

Kagome looked at her fallen nephew in concern, leaning on her husband for support.

"Oh dear…is he okay?" Iroh laughed and pulled her closer to him to lean down and whisper into her ear.

"He'll be fine, he just fainted….now let's talk about this…" Kagome nodded losing her cheerful grin. He was serious, and he was pissed.

"Sure…but let's get out of the rain…" Iroh nodded and let go of her to grab Zuko, easily and slung him over his shoulder.

"We have a small camp set up not t far way from here." Kagome nodded and fell in step with him, already she could feel how intense the atmosphere had become after Zuko had passed out. It was their policy to never fight in front of a child, theirs or other and as far as Kagome was concerned Zuko was hers.

She had raised him after his mother had died in labor, not that he remembered, she looked so different back then. Even so whether he knew it or not the mother he remembered and loved was her, and she would not let anything happen to him ever again. She sighed as she fingered his scar, never again. This she vowed.

"What you did was foolish." She sighed and nodded her gaze still on Zuko, whom she had dried, changed and put to bed. She herself had dried off and was now wearing a spare pair of Zuko's clothes. Iroh had changed his own clothes and let his hair fall over his shoulders to dry.

"I know but I was tired of playing the docile doll…" She trailed off, running her fingers though Zuko's lose hair.

Iroh let out a huff, she was always like this…he mused he was lucky she had stayed there so long…

"Kagome...you should have let us know what you had planned…" She snorted as she glared up at him.

"So you could try and tell me and discourage me? One can only take so much abuse before they snap my dear husband. I think I did very well putting up with it for this long. I wasn't even allowed to go to our son's funeral…" She trialed off feeling horrid after the words had left her mouth.

Iroh sighed sadly as he looked down, feeling like shit. He knew how much that pained her, to this day she had yet to even visit their sons grave.

"I'm sorry…" He blinked when she appeared in front of him and hugged him to her, he relaxed in her hold, resting his head on her chest. How long had it been since he had been able to hug his wife? How long indeed.

"I'm so sorry but I was so scared…I…I was afraid he would take you away from me like he's done to everything else…I would rather you be safe in his arms then be on his bad side…his enemy…" Kagome huffed and smacked the back of his head.

"I would rather be fighting by your side, my husband, then in his arms away from you. Now shut up and just deal with it. I'm here and there's nothing you can do about it. The die has been cast and we must play the game, no matter how it ends." Iroh nodded, taking in her scent of jasmine and fire. How he had missed her, she was his other half.

"I understand my love…what will we do now? I'm sure you have a plan." Kagome laughed lightly as she pulled back a light blush on her face. Iroh face faulted.

"You don't have a plan do you?" She blushed more and sat across from him, picking up the cup of tea that was waiting for her.

"Well…my plan was to get out of the castle, did that. I planned to get out of the fire nation and find you. Part of that is done. Then I was hoping we could look for the avatar…for Aang. We have to join groups if we plan to win this war." Iroh nodded.

"That's a good plan…well part of a plan. But how do you suppose we find them? Last we heard they were in the Earth country…and that was three weeks ago. Not even the white Lotus know where he is." Kagome smiled as if knowing a divine secret.

"That my dear you can leave up to me. As you know I'm the fire priestess and yes, as the rumors say I have been chosen by the fire sprit to be its vessel, meaning I'm connected closely with the sprits like you are." He nodded in understanding.

"I see…so you know." She smiled as she sipped her tea. Of course she knew. He had been chosen by the dragons he had spared to be their vessel. He like her would never age a day past twenty five, yet he had found a way to make a guise.

"Though I must ask…how did you make such a clever disguise?" Iroh smiled as his forum shifted lightly to reveal a handsome young man, a spitting image of their dead son. Her eyes widened for a second and then the image was gone. Iroh smiled sadly.

"Well I won a bet while playing a game with the spirits of mischief and envy…I was able to get a spell from them." Kagome sweat dropped leave it to her husband to gamble with spirits. She shook her head, a smile on her face.

"Only you." He smiled at her.

"Hai, only me." He reached over to hold her hand in his. Running his fingers over her knuckles lovingly.

"I missed you my love." She held tighter to his hand.

"And I you. Maybe next time you'll think before casting me as the docile doll?" Her voice was light with laughter but her eyes were full of pain. Pain he had placed there whether he wanted to or not. Yet, he played along with her and nodded a small smile on his face.

"Never again." She nodded her grip on his hand tightening. Never again would she be separated from her husband, never.

Omake

AILF

Sokka grinned as he took in Kagome's form. She was in a word perfect. He leaned over to a disgruntled Zuko and elbowed him to get his attention.

"Dude." Zuko ignored him. He elbowed harder.

"Dude~" Zuko grit his teeth and ignored him, already knowing what the other boy was going to say.

Sokka huffed and elbowed Zuko harder.

"DUDE!" Zuko huffed as her turned to the other boy his face flushed in anger.

"WHAT?" Sokka huffed as he wiped the spit off his face. A disgusted look on his face.

"Dude chill I just wanted to tell you, you have an ailf." Zuko blinked in confusion.

"A what?" Sokka grinned.

"An aunt I'd like to fu-AAAAAGH!" He was cut off by Zuko sending a wave of flames at his face.

"Say that again and I'll kill you." His voice was deadly calm making Sokka nod in fear. Zuko glared at Sokka for good measure.

Sokka let out a shaky breath as Zuko stalked off muttering insanely under his breath. That dude really needed to chill out.