Disclaimer: It pains me, but I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender, there I said it, I only own my OC.

A/N: I know what some of you may be thinking 'What about 'Olympic Heroes'?' Don't worry, I'm only posting this because I have a good amount of chapters stockpiled so I can update regularly while still trying to update Olympic Heroes more regularly. So, this is my second fanfic, and my first one for Avatar: The Last Airbender. It starts before the series, a year before the series to be exact, but only certain events from that year are going to be written out before I start in on the actual series storyline. Oh, and the intro is the only part that is ever in 1st person and it's in my OC's POV. Sorry if anyone is OOC.

"Don't be over self-confident with your first impressions of people."

– Chinese Proverb

My story doesn't start the way most girl's stories do. It doesn't start with a knight in shining armor coming to rescue me or being angry at my parents for not letting me date a bad boy. No, my story starts in a much more…unique…way and this is just the beginning.

Zuko stared out at the small Earth Kingdom town they were docked at. He hated wasting any time in his search for the Avatar. He had been searching for him for a year now and still nothing, not one sign that he was alive, much less still exists; Zuko was starting to become slightly desperate. His eyes scanned the harbor idly, not really paying attention, that is, until he saw a girl about his age. Admittedly, she had first caught his attention because she was pretty; give him a break he was a teenage boy who had been at sea with a crew made of only men for the last year. However, those thoughts were soon lost in the back of his mind when he saw her waterbend the water from a pump into her water pouch. 'What's a waterbender doing in the Earth Kingdom? Could she be the Avatar?'(A/N: I did say he was desperate) He thought as his eyes continued to follow the girl across the harbor. The girl was clearly a prepared traveler, for she wore a pack on her back, the aforementioned water pouch at her hip, and she had what looked like a sword strapped to her back underneath the pack.

A group of boys were playing ball moderately close to the water and as she passed them their ball went rolling quickly towards her and the water. 'OK,' Zuko thought, 'if she waterbends to somehow give the kids their ball back or she does nothing then I'll forget I ever saw her and continue on my search for the Avatar.' However, just as he thought this she earthbended a sort of curving ramp that caught the ball and sent it rolling back to the kids who waved and thanked her.

That did it. "Prepare the rhinos!" He yelled to any of his crew that heard him. There was a possibility, however small, that this girl was somehow the Avatar and he wasn't going to let her escape him; he had to regain his honor. She was headed down a path into the woods and he set off after her with his crew members when two of them came up to him, both riding Komodo Rhinos, with one for him between them. "Let's go; we are after the Avatar." He informed them as he headed down the gangplank.

Naomi glanced to the side as she rounded a corner in the forest path. She had known those Fire Nation soldiers had been following her, it was what she had been trained for after all; she had just been trying to get them away from any civilians and to figure out what rank the one in front was before she fought them. His helmet was different than the others; if he was someone as highly trained as an admiral she might be in trouble. She looked again as she rounded another corner and saw a burn scar on his face stretching over his left eye. 'The banished prince! What was his name again? Whatever, it's probably not going to be important in the long run. He can't be that much of a challenge; he's probably around my age and I doubt he's had as much fighting training as I have; a lifetimes worth for someone my age. At least that explains why they're tailing me all the way out here when the rhinos could've overtaken me like ten minutes ago. They think I could be the Avatar and don't want to risk causing a scene.' As she continued walking she saw a large rock just off the forest path. 'I could have a little fun with this before I take them out,' she mused. She stepped up onto the rock, threw her arms out wide, lifted her face to the sky, and waited. She hadn't been standing long when she felt the Komodo Rhino's steps and heard them stop.

"Lovely day isn't it?" She said turning her head around to look at her pursuers. "Have you ever just reached up to feel the wind on your face or stopped and appreciated the earth?" As she said this last word she struck her foot on the ground causing the earth to shake beneath the Fire Nation Natives.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Attack her!" The prince yelled at his soldiers. They both ran towards Naomi and she jumped off the rock to meet the faster of the two. Before his partner could catch up to them she brought a circular wall of earth up around them, cutting them off from the other two firebenders. Naomi and the soldier circled each other and as he punched, fire coming out of his fist, she bended the water out of her water pouch to divert his attack and then went on to hit him in the chest with it, pushing him backwards. She then bent up two large rocks from the earth and aimed them at the soldier. One hit his legs and the other his chest and neck area. He fell to the ground and she walked up calmly and struck him over the head with the hilt of her broadswords, which she had unsheathed as he was falling. Once she was sure he was unconscious she pulled the walls back into the earth and prepared to face the second soldier. She fought him much the same as the first, all the common soldiers seemed to fight similarly, though she lost some of her water to evaporation from their fire blasts. Finally it was just her and the prince. She didn't bother putting up any earth walls; none of his allies would be waking up any time soon to help him. He charged at her, fire spurting from his fists to form daggers. She brought her remaining water up to defend herself, but the fire in his hands simply evaporated it; there wasn't enough to withstand the heat.

"Hey! I was using that!" She exclaimed as she dodged his next swipe. She brought a large rock up and punched it towards him. He jumped over it and started kicking fire at her. She brought up a wall of rock to defend herself, but he just ran around and continued his attack. She pulled her broadswords out of the sheath and tried deflecting the fire he was throwing her way with them. It worked to an extent until he shot a much larger blast of fire at her. The swords deflected most of the fire but the force of the blow sent her falling backwards into a tree and made her hit her head, dazing her. The prince stalked up to her and, grabbing her swords, tied her hands behind her back and set her on his Komodo Rhino. The soldiers were waking up, she must have overestimated how hard she had hit them, and they headed back to the ship, her cursing her cockiness before the battle.

"There you are Prince Zuko, I was wondering what you had gotten yourself int- who is this?" an old man who was sitting on the deck with some kind of game and a pot of tea asked when they arrived at the ship, noticing Naomi tied and held between Zuko's two soldiers.

"This, Uncle Iroh, is the Avatar."

"You know, I keep telling you that I'm not the Avatar, but do you listen? No, you just ignore what I'm saying and continue your conversation like I never said anything." Naomi retorted from behind Zuko. She had been telling him the same thing since she had regained her senses as they were riding back to the ship and she realized she was in serious trouble.

"Prince Zuko, not to disappoint you, but the sages tell us that the Avatar is the last airbender, not a young Earth Kingdom girl." Iroh commented, unlike Zuko, he paid attention to what Naomi was saying.

"True, but she is able to bend two of the elements, coincidentally the first two that the Avatar would have to learn if they were born into the next nation in the cycle after the Air Nomads; water and earth." Zuko replied, completely convinced that this girl was the one who could give him back his honor.

"Fine if you are so insistent, nephew, why don't we put her in a holding cell and perform a test so we can determine if she really is the Avatar?" Iroh asked Zuko, not wanting him to get his hopes up.

Zuko nodded and motioned the guards to take her down to a holding cell below deck. Naomi went willingly, if not grudgingly, thinking that once their test results came up negative they would let her go. 'I mean, how many times can I be wrong in one day, right?' she thought as she was taken away from the light of the sun and towards the depressing cells.

"I don't understand! You can bend two elements, how can you not be the Avatar?" Zuko fumed when they had finished the test and it had told him and Iroh that Naomi was not in fact the Avatar.

"Look, I don't really know how I can bend more than one element, but I can and your test has told you that I'm not the Avatar so if you would just let me go…" She let her sentence hang off, hoping they would get the message.

Iroh moved to unlock the door of Naomi's cell but Zuko stuck his arm out in front of him. "Wait, I'll make you a deal, I still have your swords and your water pouch, if I find the Avatar or capture him in a year, I'll let you go and you can have all your stuff back."

"And if you don't find him?" Naomi asked, her interest slightly peaked, despite the warning bells going off in her head.

"Then I take you to the Fire Nation and pass you off as the Avatar to my father. You can still have your stuff back and then you have to hold your own." Zuko replied evenly, obviously thinking his deal was too good for her to refuse. Unfortunately for her, he was right, her broadswords meant the world to her for personal reasons and while she could live without her water pouch, she would have trouble finding a new, quality one in the Earth Kingdom.

"Fine, we have a deal," She said, almost regretting it when she saw the eerie smile creep onto the prince's face. 'He clearly needs to learn to smile more' she thought as he walked towards the upper decks. She was about to try and find a comfortable position in her cell when she noticed that the prince's uncle was still there. "Was there something you wanted?" She asked, not bothering to be polite considering her situation.

"I simply wanted to know what you would have us call you, since my nephew seems to have overlooked that detail." Iroh said kindly, not at all put off by her tone; he was used to dealing with Zuko after all.

"Naomi," she answered shortly.

"Well, I am General Iroh, but you may simply call me Iroh if you prefer, and the young man you just made a deal with is my nephew, Prince Zuko." Iroh said before walking out of her cell and closing the door behind him.

So, what do you guys think? Did I do OK? Please review, no flames please.

Oh and here's a summary of what Naomi looks like, it's also on my profile.

Season one:

Clothes: Dark blue leggings and cut-off shirt (cuts of at same place as Ty Lee's) with elbow length sleeves, light green Earth Kingdom style tunic with dark green trim (ends at her mid-thigh). Light brown, knee high boots with dark brown accents (Water Tribe style), blue wrappings around her wrists and Earth Kingdom style belt around waist.

Hair: Black, in a high ponytail, tied with a blue hair tie.

Eyes: sea-green.

Skin Tone: Earth Kingdom skin tone.

Season two: Pending

Season three (pt. 1): Pending

Season three (pt. 2): Pending