A.N. Alright, for my fic I had to switch some episodes around. The season one finale takes place and then episode 9, The Waterbending Scroll, occurs. Now we pretend that the gang all did everything they needed to do in the North Pole and then headed back to a town where they saw that pirate ship and blah happened. Then we have Zuko trying to bribe Katara with her mother's necklace, and now my fic comes in and changes everything.

Damn it! Katara thought angrily, her hands tied behind her back. Why did I have to steal that scroll? If only I hadn't stolen it, then none of this would be happening!

"If you pirates want your scroll back then you must deliver this message to the other two." Prince Zuko stood before the group of pirates, threatening to destroy the Waterbending scroll that had been theirs before Katara had stolen it in an attempt to learn some new skills. "Only after my message is delivered will you get your precious scroll back." Zuko threw a parchment at the pirate captain. The captain snatched it out of the air and handed it to a pirate standing next to him.

"Give those brats this, and make sure to knock them out first so they don't try to follow you back here." He ordered a band of four pirates to go and deliver the message. He then turned to Zuko and sneered. "What about the girl?" He motioned to Katara.

"She is why I sent the note and she will be no concern for you. Why do you even care what happens to her?" Zuko asked the captain with a raised brow.

"I don't!" The captain shouted in his defense. "It's just that, I thought a girl like that shouldn't go to waste. But I know that she won't." The pirate captain chuckled to himself with a giggle from the rest of his crew behind him.

Katara's mouth dropped as she caught the not-so-subtle wink the captain was sending Zuko. He's not taking me for that reason is he?

"She's just bait!" Zuko shouted angrily at the accusation. "The note states that if they wish to see her unharmed again then they must give themselves up, or else she will be killed. She will remain untouched until the boys surrender."

"Whatever you say, boy; that might be your intention at first, but things will change. I remember being a teenager; I remember what came to my mind back then." He winked again and Zuko sneered as he tried to ignore the man and turned to his crew.

"Place her in the holding cell!" Zuko shouted the order. Two guards dressed in the normal Fire Nation attire grabbed Katara and started leading her onto the ship. She could hear Zuko continue to talk to the pirates but she couldn't catch the actual conversation.

As she stepped on board, she looked around on the deck and immediately spotted an old man. He had grey sideburns, beard, and a short ponytail. He was dressed in armor covering only his chest and a red Fire Nation outfit beneath that.

Iroh turned just in time to see the guards leading a girl dressed in a Water Tribe outfit down to the brig. His face showed his surprise and confusion as she stared back at him and then disappeared from his sight. That must be the Waterbender girl that's helping the Avatar. What's Prince Zuko thinking? Taking a female hostage like that; it's not like him to be so rude like that! Iroh shook his head slightly and decided he would just wait until his nephew was done talking to the pirates to discuss with his nephew exactly what he was planning.

Prince Zuko was about to yell at the pirate captain again, when the four pirates that had delivered his note reappeared. "Good, now that my plan is in motion, you can have this back." He threw the scroll at the captain. The captain grinned, turned, and left on his ship with the rest of his crew in silence. Prince Zuko did the same.

"What is it, Uncle?" Prince Zuko stepped onto his ship and immediately asked as he noticed his uncle's peculiar face. Iroh was standing beside him with a big smile on his face. Zuko knew that his uncle wanted to talk to him about something that he probably didn't want to talk about; his uncle looked too happy, even for him.

"She's very cute, Prince Zuko, but I hope you don't have too much fun with her tonight; you will still have to get up and train tomorrow morning." Iroh teased his nephew who started turning red, from anger or embarrassment, Iroh couldn't tell which one though.

"Uncle," Zuko screamed in his fury. "She is only a prisoner; she will be the reason that the Avatar will finally be mine! I gave a note to the pirates to give to the Avatar. It states that the Avatar must give himself up if he wishes for her safe return to her idiotic brother and for the both of them to remain unharmed."

"Why didn't you just have the pirates capture the Avatar?" Iroh asked Zuko.

"Uncle, please." Zuko rolled his eyes. "If I can't successfully capture the Avatar on my own, why would I want a bunch of pirates to do it for me? That would just be too shameful to bear if they could succeed. But I doubt they would have been able to anyways. Now, I have to go deal with our new prisoner." Zuko stormed past his uncle and down into the brig.

He walked down the hallway leading to the prison chambers and stopped to open the chamber that two guards were watching. They bowed to him and he gave them an acknowledging nod in return. Stepping past them and into the room, he spotted the Waterbending peasant girl on the small cot, the only furniture in the room, trying to free her hands from the binding rope.

Katara stopped when she saw Prince Zuko enter the room and shot him a glare. "Don't even think about doing what those pirates said or else, I swear I'll--"

Prince Zuko interrupted her. "Look, girl, don't flatter yourself like that. You won't ever be thought of like that by me. And you are in no position to threaten me." He smirked as Katara's mouth dropped slightly. "Oh, I'm sorry; did I just crush your dreams or something?"

"No!" Katara screamed at Zuko. "I was just surprised that you know some manners. I'd never guess that the Fire Nation even taught manners." She smirked as he glowered at her.

"If I was you, girl, I'd hold my tongue," Prince Zuko threatened.

"Well, good thing you aren't me. And my name's Katara!" Katara rolled her eyes. "You don't even know my name, wow, I guess we were wrong." Zuko raised his eyebrow in question. "Aang, Sokka, and I thought that you actually knew information about us. I guess we gave you too much credit; you aren't as smart as we thought you were, and we didn't even think you were that smart to begin with."

Zuko held his anger in as he took a deep breath. I'm getting insulted by a prisoner! That will stop now! "Listen, I don't care what your name is or what you think about me; you aren't important! The only reason I even note that you exist is because I can use you to get to the Avatar and that's exactly what I'm going to do. I would have caught that idiot Water Tribe boy who thinks he's a warrior, but you were just too easy." His smirk returned.

I'd like to smack that smirk right from his smug face, Katara thought to herself. "Yes, you could only catch a girl when she's off guard in the middle of the night trying to escape from pirates. If I wasn't so distracted, you never would have been able to catch me, and you still wouldn't be able to catch my brother."

"So, that idiot with the boomerang is your brother? I thought he was your boyfriend and you just tagged along so you wouldn't miss him," Prince Zuko retorted.

"No, he's not my boyfriend." Katara shook her head trying to get that thought out of her mind.

"So, the Avatar is?" Prince Zuko inquired.

"No, Aang is just a friend."

"I bet you don't even have a boyfriend." Zuko snickered.

"And I bet you don't have a girlfriend." Katara shot right back, her smile returning in a triumphant victory as Prince Zuko scowled at her.

"I don't have time to waste on a girl." Prince Zuko held his head high.

"Yeah, right, I feel sorry for what ever girl is forced to marry you!" She chuckled slightly at the scowl she earned from Zuko.

"I am the prince of the Fire Nation; any girl would be lucky to end up with me!" Zuko glared as she rolled her eyes. Zuko grinded his teeth together as he watched her mock him, "I will not be insulted by my prisoner; you would be dead by now if I didn't need you to capture the Avatar!"

"I wouldn't be here if you didn't need me to capture Aang." She pointed out with smugness. "Oh, and it's too late to not be insulted by me; I think I already did a good job of that." She smirked.

Zuko let out a quite growl and then turned to leave, glancing behind himself at her. "Enjoy your stay here, because it will be a while until your precious Avatar comes to save you." Then he opened and slammed the door behind himself as he left Katara alone in the dark room.