You & I

And so it begins

Y/N's POV
"Y/N, run away with me."

Iroh whispered to me as he hung upside down over my window.

I froze. Run away with him? If I was honest, there was something else I was hoping he'd say when I asked him what he was saying. If he had asked me this months ago, my answer would've been completely different, but I smiled from ear to ear before excitedly nodding,

"Yes, yes, okay!"

He put his finger over his smiling lips, signalling for me to shush,

"Is there anything you need to bring with you?"

I turned back to my room and eyed around it, nothing was really that special to me, I'd lived a dull life until I met Iroh... then I spotted my azure dragon hair pin, the one from our last night in Republic City, I ran to my dresser and pinned it into my hair, tying the top half of my hair into a bun before running back to the window,

"I'm set."

He grinned at me and extended his hand. I grabbed hold of it and climbed over the window frame before he pulled me up to the roof with him. I eyed the ground, we were two stories high, it didn't look like a very fun fall, nevertheless, I took a few steps back and jumped off of the edge.

I closed my eyes and braced myself for the impact, but I felt strong arms wrap around my waist and pull me back onto the roof,

"What are you? Crazy?"

"Well how else do you propose we get down, oh wise one?"

He hadn't let go of my waist, he smirked in response to my mockery before moving one of his hands to behind my knees and lifting me off of the ground completely, he then took a couple of steps backwards before running and jumping from the roof himself, again I shut my eyes and braced myself for the pain that was yet to come, holding on tight to around his neck, but to my surprise we didn't fall, Iroh was using fire bending from his feet to propel us upwards and then slowly descended to the ground.

"Woah, you never told me that you could do that!"

"There's a lot of things you have yet to learn about me."

He grabbed my hand, causing the butterflies in my stomach to do a somersault, and led me over to an ostrich-horse, he let go of my hand and locked his fingers together and kneeled down,

"Ladies first."

I'm pretty sure that he knew very well that I could get up onto the ostrich-horse without assistance, but the gesture was sweet, so I put my foot in his hands and he boosted me up before making his way around to the front of the ostrich horse and climbing on, in front of me.

Suddenly, from behind us I heard,

"Y/N! Get back here right now!"

My father... I stared at him with guilty eyes, but he started running after us, Iroh turned to me,

"Hold on tight."

I wrapped my arms around his waist as he rode the ostrich-horse faster and faster until my father was no longer in sight, then the world became peaceful, it was just Iroh and I, under the light of the moon. I nuzzled into his back, even though I had just left my house, my village and my parents, I'd never felt more home.

We rode to the shores of Azulon and boarded a very large ship, I followed Iroh below deck, he pulled a lever and out from the ship came a smaller boat which we then boarded together and set sail into the dark night.

I watched as Iroh steered the boat into the horizon.

"I didn't know you could sail! You continue to surprise me, everyday."

He smiled at me, but I continued,

"You came for me... why?"

He fell silent for a while, gathering his thoughts,

"Well... you're my best friend, and I care about you, I couldn't just leave you there to be unhappy for the rest of your life."

He turned a light pink, I sat beside him as he steered the ship,

"But Iroh, you know this is only temporary, sooner or later you're going to have to go home, and what about the United Forces? You're a general. Then you're supposed to marry in the next few years according to royal law and-"

"I'll send a letter to my grandfather, he'll handle the situation with the United Forces... but I'm not going to just marry a fancy fire bender, it just isn't going to happen, my heart is in a different place..."

My heart dropped, he has someone already,

"Wow, Iroh, I didn't know you had a girlfriend! You must tell me more about her!"

I tried to hide the disappointment in my voice, but Iroh flushed a deep red.

"O-oh, no, I don't have a girlfriend..."

"But there's a girl you're interested in, right? Tell me more!"

He looked increasingly uncomfortable, but that didn't stop me from pestering him. I shouldn't have even cared that much, I always knew Iroh was going to marry someone else, but it didn't stop it from stinging when I heard that he had another girl in his heart, but the again, he's the fire prince, naturally he'd have a beautiful girl waiting for him at home. But, I guess somewhere, deep down, I always hoped that maybe, just maybe, somewhere in his heart, he cared about me the same way I cared about him...

"Umm, well, she's beautiful, stunning actually, and she's a water bender, she has this contagious smile and her eyes shine brighter than all of the stars in the sky. She makes me feel happier than I've ever been, but, she could never feel the same."

Oh. A water bender, huh?

"You're crazy! Any girl would be so so lucky to have someone as amazing as you doting over her, she probably feels the same about you, tell her how you feel!"

"If it were that simple, I would've..."

Before I could ask any follow up questions, Iroh asked me:

"So where to?"

"What?"

"I told you I'd show you everything the world has to offer, where do you want to go first?"

"Oh? I get to choose? Umm... the Southern Water Tribe?"

He smiled,

"How did I know that you were going to say that? Southern Water Tribe, here we come."