Chapter 1 the Girl
One afternoon, Prince Zuko and his Uncle Iroh were at the market. Prince Zuko was waiting as his uncle marveled at the many things he saw, his patience wearing away. "Hurry up, Uncle. We don't have all day. I have to be on the Avatar's trail before nightfall." "Don't worry Prince Zuko. Just relax and take a look around." Uncle Iroh replied with calm. "Grrrr…" Zuko got angry and stomped the ground, sending a bit of fire in the air from his clenched fists. "Fine. But be ready by sunset." He said and walked away. He was deep in thought, unaware that Iroh was behind him. He stepped into a dead end where he saw a firebender warrior about to strike a girl. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to steal it…" she said pleadingly. "Yeah, I'm sure. And we'll see to it that it never happens again" replied the warrior with a smirk on his face.
He was just about to strike her with fire when Prince Zuko stopped him. "What are you doing?" He shouted at the firebender. "She was stealing from one of the merchants. It's my duty to keep dirty thieves like her away. And it's none of your business anyway." "What was she trying to steal?" "Fruit." "You were about to kill because of fruit? You fool." Prince Zuko said with disgust. "Here" he gave the warrior the money for the fruit "Come on" he commanded the girl. She silently followed. The warrior in the mean while tells his comrades about Prince Zuko and soon the story reaches to Commander Zao. "Prince Zuko is even more pathetic than I thought. That soft hearted fool…. He'll never earn his honor back." The Commander said to himself.
At the market, Prince Zuko finds out that his uncle saw everything. "That was very brave of you. But you know that Commander Zao will here of this and make a fool of you, don't you?" Uncle Iroh asked with curiosity. "I don't care what he says. He underestimates my power and one day, he'll see." They walked silently to the ship Uncle Iroh went aboard, Prince Zuko followed but the girl stopped. Prince Zuko turned back to check on her. "I don't have all day, we have to leave now" he said, gesturing for her to come along. There was something in her that he liked. She nodded and followed silently. On the ship, Uncle Iroh gave her a spare room. "What is your name, child? If you're going to travel with us, I need to know that much atleast." "My name is Sakura. And thank you…" she gave no reason for her thanks but Iroh understood. "Sakura….that's an interesting name… and a nice one." Prince Zuko said, taking them by surprise. Sakura smiled and bowed her head down. "Uncle, tell the captain to head north." Iroh left. "Thank you so much for saving me. May I know the name of my savior?" she asked softly. "Why would you care?" he said bitterly "I'm sorry." She responded. Prince Zuko broke the long silence "Get settled in. We're going to be traveling for sometime." As he left he said, "By the way, I'm Prince Zuko." She stood there thinking for a moment and smiled.