Avatar One-Shots

Defense (Irosami)

"No..." He muttered, "it isn't..."

Now it was Asami's turn to be worried.

"Iroh..."

Iroh pushed past her towards the door. Asami caught his arm.

"Iroh where are you going?" She asked, although she already knew the answer. Her husband looked back at her, his eyes filled with rage.

"I'm going to teach a punk a lesson," he growled, pulling his arm free and disappearing out the door before she could stop him. She heard the loud roar of an engine coming to life (she'd get him later for taking her car) and the skid of tires on the street.

Asami wasn't sure what to do. There was no way she could go after him without backup, as no matter how strong she was, she couldn't break up a fight between two grown men twice as strong as her. Besides, Iroh was a firebender, and even though it wasn't exactly honorable to fight a non-bender like Shen with bending in this particular situation, he didn't seem to care about honor at the moment.

With a deep sigh, she reached for the phone. It rang twice before a familiar voice answered.

"Hello?" Mako's voice came over slightly garbled.

"Mako, Shen showed up at the factory today and attacked me."

"Oh, no. Are you alright?" He asked. Asami waved a hand, forgetting that no one could see her.

"I'm fine, but he left bruises and Iroh saw them."

There was a silence that lasted a full five seconds before Mako spoke again.

"Alright, how long ago did he leave?"

"About two minutes ago."

Asami had a feeling Mako nodded before answering. "Okay, I'll be at the mansion in five."

Those were the longest five minutes of her life. She waited outside, and ran to Mako as soon as his motorcycle came into view. Together they sped towards the run-down bar that was Iroh's likeliest destination.

"Maybe we shouldn't stop him," Mako called over his shoulder, "I mean, Shen is a pretty bad guy. Maybe we should let Iroh teach him a lesson."

"Aren't you a cop?" Asami asked. Mako shook his head.

"I'm off-duty. And besides, it's technically self-defense, if you turn your head and squint a little. He's defending you from Shen."

A moment of silence passed between them, the sounds of the city taking over.

"It isn't Shen I'm worried about," She finally said, "I don't want my husband becoming a murderer."

The rest of the ride was in silence.

-

Iroh knew the moment he saw the bruise on her face where it came from. It was fair sized, covering her left cheek and probably easily covered, and it didn't seem to be very deep, but that wasn't the point. The point was, that bastard had touched his angel. His grimy hand had made contact with her face, and if that wasn't bad enough he caused her pain, no matter how slight. But then he saw the bruises on her arms, and his vision went red. Her beautiful faire skin turned purple, her wince as he touched her. It was the most terrible sight he had ever seen. Shen had done that. Shen caused her that pain. And there was no way in the Fog of Lost Souls that he was getting away with it.

"Evening, General," Shen called as he lifted his whiskey to his lips. But before he could take a sip, Iroh knocked it out of his hand and shoved him against the bar. He faked a pout.

"Awe, now that's a waste of a perfectly good drink. Shame." He said with a deep, throaty chuckle.

Iroh was not amused.

"You know why I'm here," He snarled. Shen only chuckled once more.

"'Course I do. You're here to repay me for the beauty work I did on your girl. Shame I couldn't help her more. Man, I'll bet it just killed you seein' her hurt, even tiny little bruises like that. Probably put you through misery almost equal to what I felt when you got me discharged from the United Forces."

Iroh's anger only grew. "After what you did, you deserved to be discharged."

Shen's cool demeanor began to melt. He shoved his former superior off of him and swung a right hook that missed. Iroh grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him against the nearest wall as hard as he could with his left hand, his right igniting in blue fire to match his anger. Shen's amused demeanor returned briefly.

"What's the matter? Can't beat me without your bending?"

Slowly, Iroh extinguished his fist before slamming it into the other man's jaw. For a brief moment he caught the bartender's concerned expression. He bent Shen's arm behind his back and shoved him out the back door.

-

If Asami ran for the door any faster, she'd've been moving at the speed of light. The bar doors flew open for the second time that night as the woman went straight for the bartender, her firebending friend not far behind. She didn't even need to ask if Iroh was there: the scuffle coming from out back told her enough. She rushed to the back door and found Iroh straddling the man, knuckles bloody, beating him to a pulp. Shen didn't look like he could take much more.

Mako didn't need any instruction: he went straight to work pulling the general off his opponent. Iroh refused to go without a fight. He struggled as if his life depended on it, even landing a few punches, until Mako managed to turn him around to face his wife. Asami grabbed him by the chin and made him look at her. His face was a little bloody and scratched, but it wasn't too bad. A relieved expression spread across her face and she hugged him fiercely, ignoring the pain as pressure was applied to her bruised arms. He winced, but wrapped his own arms around her.

"I'm so glad you're alright. Don't ever do that again!" she scolded. His arms tightened around her and he scoffed.

"Like I'm gonna stand idly by while some scum hurts my wife."

Asami only tightened her own arms as a few tears slipped down.

"Ahem" Mako cleared his throat, drawing their attention towards him.

"I hate to interrupt, but what do you intend to do about him?" He asked. The couple shrugged it off.

"Report him. Claim self-defense. You're a cop, what does the law say about this situation?" Iroh asked. Mako glanced down at the blood pulp of a man, then back to his friends.

"Well, the law would say you're both in the wrong. But knowing this guy, he would be too scared to report anything, knowing that he'd be going down with you for that," he gestured to the bruise on Asami's face, "so I'd say the best option is to pretend none of this ever happened."

That was good enough for everyone, so they all headed off to their respective vehicles.

"You aren't hurt too bad, are you?" Asami asked. Iroh chuckled.

"'Sami, I'm fine. A little bruised around the ribs perhaps, but nothing irreversible."

Asami smiled. "Good," she said, shoving him lightly and then smacking him hard upside the head. "That's for taking my car."