Yay! Thankyou Khazia for your reviews. You are one of my heros. In fact I was kinda worried you would think I was trying to rip off your story by writing this, but truth be told you were my inspiration. Okay, I think that's enough gushing. Here's my next chapter. I get hurt. It's sad.

"What do you want Zhao!" Zuko demanded as soon as the admiral stepped aboard his ship.

"Ah ah ahhh, remember your manners prince. My title is Admiral, don't forget that." Zhao said shaking a finger at Zuko as though he were being a naughty little boy.

"Fine Admiral. What do you want?"

"Isn't it obvious prince Zuko. A week ago, I captured the avatar. At the time, your ship was only a few miles away from the holding cell in which he was being kept. Then, a masked thief entered that tower and stole the avatar from me. Low and behold, your ship was gone the next morning before news could have leaked that the avatar was missing." Zhao said, smirking at Zuko.

"So we shipped out that morning. What do you want here?"

"Prince Zuko, I know you were the thief, I know you stole the avatar from me and I have strong feeling that he is on this ship."

"If I had the avatar I would be heading home to present him to my father. I wouldn't still be sailing to the north." Zuko said. He and Zhao had begun circling each other, looking for weakness or openings.

"Well, if the avatar is not here, I'm sure you wouldn't mind if my men checked your ship." He made a hand motion and twenty soldiers surrounded Zuko and his crew while more disappeared below deck to search all the rooms. Zhao smiled when Zuko exchanged a nervous glance with his uncle.

Katie paced around the room nervously running her fingers through her hair. What was going on up there? She could hear footsteps in the hall and let out a sigh of relief thinking it was Zuko or Iroh. But then she heard the sound of doors slamming open. The footsteps and slamming doors grew closer and closer. Katie looked around thinking that she could find somewhere to hide, but there was nowhere. Then the footsteps stopped outside the door to Zuko's room. The handle turned and the door burst open with a crash. Two soldiers poked their heads in taking a defensive stance. They gawked at Katie and she gawked back at them. Then they exchanged a smile that she didn't like at all.

"Admiral. There's no sign of the avatar, but we found this girl below." Zhao turned to the soldier and took in the sight of the strange girl he was holding on to. He had never seen so much exposed skin being flaunted around so openly. There were barely sleeveson her shirt and there were nearly two inches of flesh visible between the top of her baggy pants and the bottom of her shirt. The clothing itself was of very fine quality, however scarce it may have been.

"Well well, what is this?" He asked, turning to Zuko looking amused.

"She is nothing but a slave. We are taking her to the next port to trade with." Zuko said without batting an eye. Zhao let out a little 'hmm' sound and stepped closer to inspect the girl.

"She's quite tall for a woman." He said and gently touched her arm. "She's strong as well." He lifted his hand to her chin, pulling her face up forcefully and twisting her head side to side. He then pulled back her lips and looked at her teeth as though she were a horse up for sale. "I'm surprised Zuko. I never thought that you would be one to own slaves. I also must ask where you found one that is so healthy." Katie tried to struggle away from his harsh hands, but the soldier that had brought her up was holding her arms tightly behind her back. Instead she tried to bite at the Admiral's finger. Zhao merely laughed. "She's a feisty one as well. I'll save you the effort of trying to find a slave trader and buy her myself."

"I'm afraid not Admiral. We already have a deal with a trader." Zuko said. Zhao glared at him, still holding Katie's chin. Then quite suddenly he turned back to her and kissed her, hard. He forced his tongue into her mouth. Katie squirmed harder then ever to get out of her captors grip. She could already feel bruises forming in her mouth; she tried to yell but was unable to. All around her she could hear the laughs and jeers from Zhao's crew and the indignant yells from Iroh and Zuko. Finally she found an opening she could use as an advantage and brought her knee up between the Admiral's legs as hard as she could. Zhao withdrew immediately with a hiss of pain, almost doubling over. Katie jumped off the ground and lashed out with her legs catching Zhao in the chest. It probably would have had more of an effect if Zhao hadn't been wearing armor and if Katie hadn't been barefoot. But he was still knocked ungraciously onto his tuckas. The soldier that had been holding her arms was unprepared for this move and had been pushed backwards. He released his grip on her arms when they both fell to the ground. Katie hastily tried to scramble away from the soldier and get to her feet when she felt a boot tip make harsh contact with her ribs. She then felt the sting of the back of someone's hand. That someone was wearing a ring that left a deep scratch from the corner of her eye, down her cheek and almost to her nose. Two large hands closed tightly around her neck. She was turned forcefully and pushed against the wall. She looked fearfully into the flaming eyes of Admiral Zhao. His fingers closed tighter around her neck. She couldn't breath. She felt herself being slowly lifted up so that she was barely standing on tip-toe. She tried to scratch and pry his hands away, but he was too strong. Her efforts were useless. She opened and closed her mouth trying to gasp for air, tears began streaming down her face. She could barely hear the sounds of Iroh's voice over the drumming of her heart in her ears. This guy could snap my neck like a twig! She thought to herself.

"Admiral, she is the property of this ship and you have no jurisdiction in this matter. If you do not release her now I will report your actions to the Firelord himself." Iroh said stepping forward. Zhao, however, knew that Firelord Ozai wouldn't give a damn about a slave girl, even if she did belong to his son and brother. He tightened his grip on her neck even more. She still tried to claw at his hands, but her struggle was growing weaker with each passing second. Zhao sensed a thrill deep down inside as he felt her life draining away beneath his hands. Then he felt a burning fist rest forcefully at the base of his skull.

"My uncle told you to release her Admiral Zhao. If you want to keep your head where it is, you will do as he said." Zuko hissed into his ear. Zhao glared over his shoulder and, after a few more crucial seconds, released his grip on Katie's throat. She dropped to her knees, coughing and gasping for breath. Iroh came to her side and checked her wounds.

"Your uncle is right. I have no jurisdiction when it comes to privately owned slaves. But the second she leaves your hands prince Zuko, she will be mine," Zhao hissed, he then turned back to look at the gasping and sobbing girl, "and she will suffer. FALL OUT MEN!" He yelled to his crew. They all boarded back on Zhao's ship and slowly drifted away.

"Are you all right?" Zuko asked, kneeling down beside Katie and his uncle after Zhao had left from his sight.

"Yeah, I think I'll be all right." Katie said between gasps and coughs. She wiped tears from her eyes hastily and clutched at her ribs. A drop of blood fell and splattered on the deck from the gash on her face.

"Come on, let's get her down below." Iroh said grabbing one arm and helping her to her feet. They led Katie back down to Zuko's room and called for the ship's doctor. He cleaned up her face as best he could and slathered some goop on her cheek to keep the wound from reopening. Surprisingly there wasn't much damage done to her neck other then a lot of bruising. The same was to be said for her ribs.

"All and all, I think you came out on top m'gell. From they way he was walking, I don't think Zhao will be sitting down comfortably for a while." The kind doctor said to her, his eyes twinkling.

"If you say so." She said giving him a weak smile. He bustled around humming to himself for a while, he pulled out a small packet of some kind of liquid and dropped it in a cup of water. He heated it with his hands and stirred it around.

"Drink this. It will help with the pain." He said handing her the cup. Normally Katie refused painkillers as though they were the devil. She would suffer a massive migraine attack for several days before breaking down and pulling out the ibuprofen. But right now she didn't care if this stuff ate away the lining of her stomach. She guzzled it down. It tasted horrible and burned the sides of her already stinging throat.

"I'm starting to think I don't like it here." She said gasping for breath after she finished drinking the potion.

"I am very sorry that this happened to you. Especially on my ship." Zuko said quietly. Katie looked up and saw from the pained look in his eyes that the apology was legit.

"Yeah, well. It's not like any of this is your fault." Katie said rubbing at her throat.

"I know what will cheer everyone up!" Iroh exclaimed. He held out his hands as though giving the most important announcement one could give. "We will advance music night to tonight!"

"Oh dear lord no." Zuko groaned. Katie couldn't help but smile.

"That sounds like fun." She said hoarsely.

"Please, don't encourage him." Zuko muttered.

Later that day Iroh proudly showed Katie a small number of instruments that were played during music night. There were an assortment of wind instruments and several things she had no idea what could be done with. But in the very back of the closet, she found something that was halfway between a Ukulele and a banjo (she decided to call it an Ukujo). Katie didn't play any type of guitar exactly, but she did play the violin and was an accomplished string plucker. She had no idea what note the strings tuned to, so she tuned them to the G,D,A,E of the violin. She retired to Zuko's room and spent the day strumming out all the tunes she could remember. She moved from playing the Bacchanal Concerto in G minor to the Beatle's Yellow submarine. She had begun picking out a tune from Phantom of the Opera when Zuko walked in.

"How are you feeling?" He asked awkwardly.

"Fine." She said looking down at the fingers on her left hand, trying to find the right note. She found it and played it loudly, giving Zuko a triumphant grin. He furrowed his eyebrows at her.

"You are a most curious person." He said.

"If you mean I'm weird, I already know that." Katie said picking another tune from the library of her mind and began playing it. It was a fast one; her fingers could barely keep up with each other as she skimmed over the strings. She knew Zuko was still watching her so she raised her head and met his gaze. "Can I help you with something."

"No." He said simply and continued to watch her blurring fingers. Katie felt really awkward but kept playing anyways. At least he wasn't glaring at her anymore.

"Dude, what do you want? You're really starting to creep me out." She said after a few minutes. Zuko cocked an eyebrow at her.

"This is my room and my ship. I would suggest you don't make demands to me." The glare was back.

"Geez, I'm sorry. Don't get your panties in a bunch." Katie leaned back against the wall trying to find a comfortable position for her ribs before she began playing again. Her fingers were beginning to feel raw, but it was a good feeling. Music was one of her outlets along with writing and drawing. It was something that could consume her mind and block out the world. When Katie looked up again Zuko had finally stepped away to wash his face in a basin of water. He also took his hair down and retied it. The whole while Katie watched him intently. Even if he was a jerk, he was still pretty dern hot. The ship decided at that moment to hit a particularly large wave taking Katie off guard and the lurch jarred her rib.

"Shammit!" she growled and sat up straight clutching at her ribs.

"Is that supposed to be a curse word?" Zuko asked laughing.

"Actually, it's two. You have a really sick sense of humor you know." Katie said with a scowl. Zuko merely shrugged.

"Music night is about to begin. I suggest you wait here a few minutes so you don't have to wear a hat." Zuko said as he began to walk out of the room.

"Just what kind of hat are you talking about?" Katie asked warily.

"You'll see soon enough, and trust me, you don't want to wear one." Zuko left leaving Katie to contemplate the hats.

Well, I guess you could call that a cliffy. If you want the next chapter I expect five more reviews. Bwahahaaa. Then again I'll probably post it even if I don't get the reviews because it's a chapter I'm really excited about. But the reviews would be nice anyways.