Pirates Life For Me
By: Demon Hiei's Girl (Demon Usagi)
Chapter One
Standard Disclaimers Apply
Author's note: Inspired by Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest? Noooo, of course not. Where did you get that crazy idea? Geez.
Warnings: This is my first alternate universe fic that is actually AU. As in, has nothing to do with the actual series at all. Thus, OOCness is guaranteed to some extent. Also, I'm making the bulk of this up as I go along. So if anything couldn't possibly happen, well, get over it. Cause this is what I like to call "fiction". And in fiction, things don't always ring true. Oh, yeah, and this fic will have yaoi. At the very least, shounen ai. I don't normally "warn" people about that, but you know, why not? Oh, 'Roiyaru' is a bad google translation for 'Royal', which I did indeed get from PoTC: Dead Man's Chest. Har har, I'm so clever. Not. I do lame ass things like that sometimes. Oh yeah, let me warn you about the cussing and other crap. Well, I guess that's it. Enjoy!
(Italics are thoughts)
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"So, you're really going after him?" mused the port's governor, Koenma Daioh. The brunet haired, middle aged, down to earth man laid back in his oversized chair to leer at the younger man in his presence. The raven haired, chocolate eyed, seemingly innocent individual in front of him noticed the slight arrogance in the higher up's voice, and couldn't help but smile. "Urameshi Yusuke, you are the best in the business, but I don't think even you are enough to catch the infamous pirate, Jaganshi Hiei."
"Hate to disappoint ya, boss, but he doesn't sound so tough." Yusuke chuckled, still highly amused by Koenma's reaction.
"Don't call me "boss", Mr. Urameshi." Koenma sniffed, gnawing at the pen he held between his teeth. "All you are is a bounty hunter."
"A really, really successful bounty hunter, you mean." Yusuke corrected, the grin still evident on his face.
"Nevertheless..." Koenma sighed. Port Roiyaru was small, and Governor Daioh collected any bounties that came his way. Roiyaru had a decent jail cell, along with great execution tools, so it was an excellent place to turn in astray villains. Some ships would stop at Roiyaru along the way of whatever journey they were on just to turn in the poor souls with a bounty on their head.
That's how things worked at Roiyaru. Bounties were accepted by a mere governor, and said governor was treated like a lord. And while Governor Daioh was not evil, he also wasn't one hundred percent merciful. He took his position quite seriously, and those who followed him had to be the best.
When it came to bounty hunters, Urameshi Yusuke was definitely the best.
Koenma entrusted the man with a lot of things, but to take on the "Demon Lord" Hiei was unthinkable. Yusuke had taken down quite a few overly powerful bounties in his time, but this was far above his head.
There was a rumor that a mysterious place called the "Makai", or the dimension of the demons, existed in some domain outside the realm of humans. A few demons and apparitions had been spotted, captured, some even killed in the human world. The ones seen, however, were so ferocious that humans tended to avoid them at all costs. Which lead to the greater rumor. The few people, mainly pirates who had been survivors of one of Hiei's tirades, claimed that Hiei was in fact a demon, not a man. Provided, not many humans ever got a good look at the Demon Lord, but his crew had been seen countable times. Despite the humans for a crew Hiei kept, they were all rotten to the core, and pillaged many villages of royal valuables and took countless lives. They were a crew to be feared, no doubt.
"You know the horrid rumors, Mr. Urameshi," Koenma continued, rubbing his temple.
"Yeah, but do you really believe this 'Hiei' character is a demon? We do have one picture on a wanted poster, and he doesn't look green and scaley to me." Yusuke grinned, cocking his head to the side. "I don't see any extra appendages or anything."
"Looks can be deceiving," Koenma added, smirking now himself.
"Look, boss, you aren't really my boss as you pointed out. I don't need your approval or your permission to go after this guy's head. I just thought I'd let you know ahead of time so when I capture his ass it won't look like some fluke." With that, Yusuke exited the governor's office and headed to his ship.
It was a small ship, filled with all his supplies for capturing his prey, along with necessities to survive himself. Greeting his small, but effective crew, Yusuke boarded.
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Yusuke had remarkable luck for someone in his profession. So, when a giant storm caught him and his ship off guard, it was completely remarkable. The poor man's oversized boat didn't stand a chance, and was slowly torn apart by the wind, rain, hail, and vigorous ocean. Yusuke, trying to save his mast, was knocked unconscious. In the madness, he would have surly died, if not for a loyal crew man who tied the raven haired boy to one of the few still intact lifeboats with strong, sturdy rope, and pushed it towards the tide in hopes he'd make it to land. It would seem foolish considering the weather, but really it was the best chance any of them had. It was clear that seventy five percent of the crew were going to die. At least our captain should live. He's a lucky man any way. I hope the Gods will smile upon him.
The small boat was beaten many times during the storm, but as with all storms, eventually it passed. Since the bounty hunter was tied to the boat with powerful rope, he never fell out despite what the weather threw at him. Luckily for the young man, the ship (prior to it's sinking) wasn't too terribly far from an island of some kind. It took merely a day and a half for the unconscious individual's lifeboat to hit the sand of the shore. Around three hours later, Yusuke's body twitched as his senses slowly came back to him.
He felt cold. Probably effects from the water that spanked the boat on several occasions. He slowly opened his eyes. He was on a beach. The sun was beating down hard on the island, but Yusuke involuntarily shivered from his soaked clothes. Yusuke struggled for a moment to wiggle his leg in a position so his bound arm could reach the knife he had kept in the strap of his boot. Once his fingers held the blade, he cut the ropes. When the bounty hunter was at last free, he struggled to his feet. His hope was that there was a village of some kind nearby. Surly there had to be, right? The dark haired man sighed, scratching the back of his head. He realized that while he some how had been saved from the fate of drowning after his beloved ship sank, he had no money, food, or even dry clothes. And unfortunately, Yusuke dreaded asking some locals if he could temporarily work to earn some money so he could get out of this potentially weird place.
With a defeated sigh, Yusuke started his journey towards the center of the island. Not surprisingly, a village was there. A fairly well sized one, at that. It had a huge market place, as well as many buildings that were probably homes or shops.
"Ugh. Where do I go now? I can't go back empty handed; Koenma will laugh his ass off and never let me live it down." Yusuke mumbled to himself. What a predicament... "I wish I had a lead of some kind...Damn."
Yusuke's hand quickly dug his hand into his pocket. Thank gods! It's still here! ...crumpled, dirty, and wet...but here nonetheless! Yusuke yanked out still damp parchment; the notoriously nicknamed Demon Lord's wanted poster. Yusuke studied the black and white image he held in his hands. The man staring back at him was still young, or so it seemed. If he really was a demon, it wouldn't be surprising. After all, demons aged naturally slower. He had dark hair, not that he could tell how dark from the lack of color the poster presented. A white star burst of hair was in the center of the ebony locks. Needless to say, the picture wasn't taken willingly, so Hiei's eyes weren't exactly facing forward. His gaze was more to the side. He had a wicked smirk plastered on his lips, open enough just to see the fangs he had in his mouth.
The photo wasn't a picture taken from when Hiei was captured at some point because Hiei was never captured at any point. He himself was never even 'almost' captured. He was always well guarded by his crew, and if one was in danger, another member would protect them. For a pirate crew, they seemed quite loyal to each other. But only each other. The fact they were so hard to capture made each of them quite a bounty. But Hiei's bounty alone was worth triple of the whole crew's worth combined.
He ain't bad looking for an evil little sucker. Yusuke mused to himself. Wish I could find your ass so I could present it to Mister High and Mighty Koenma. I could retire with your bounty in my bank.
Rude laughter distracted Yusuke from his thoughts. Tilting his gaze upward, he saw a tall man with short, white hair. In the center of the man's forehead was a wicked scar. He was accompanied by a shorter individual who was wearing a dark, navy cloak; a hood was covering the majority of his head from view.
"Har har har, Cap'n! We sure found a potential target! No one in this meager village has even heard of you!" the man laughed, keeping his voice low nonetheless. Yusuke could barely hear them from his position. Hovering over a stand at the market place that sold robes really didn't help the young man much. Yusuke slyly followed the two, hoping to learn something interesting. He kept enough distance to not catch their interest, nor rise their suspicions.
"Calm yourself, Bui," the cloaked man whispered to the taller man. "Who knows what these people could be hiding."
"I doubt a village this small has anything that valuable." Bui shrugged off.
"Some things valuable are in heads, not safes."
"Like...knowledge?" Bui asked, cocking an eyebrow. The cloaked man scoffed.
"Obviously..."
Yusuke couldn't help be curious. This was too good to pass up! Obviously, if Cloak-y over there is a captain then they must have a ship! Maybe I can hitch a ride from them to a bigger town where I can scoop some leads! ...can't say anything yet, though, they may be pirates themselves.
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Yusuke followed the pair out of the village after the two finished gathering some supplies. The two walked to the beach where their ship was docked. Some other crewmen were waving down at them, instructing them to board.
"Really, Cap'n, I dun know why you bother to get the supplies yerself. I bet the crew would be more 'n happy to go to town to avoid suspicion." Bui calmly sighed, leaning against a tree as his cloaked comrade made vague, but recognizable had signals to those on his ship.
"Simple really," he replied, turning to face Bui (missing the hunter who had concealed himself behind a large tree). "If I let them shop for us, we'd never get the correct things." The shorter figure dropped his hood to reveal dark locks and piercing red eyes. Yusuke gaped at the sight before him, and quickly grabbed a hold of the wanted poster. He looked between the man and his picture several times over; there was no mistake. It was him! Demon Lord Jaganshi Hiei, the pirate no one had ever been able to capture!
Funny...Yusuke mused in bewilderment. No one ever caught the little shit, but he walks around in the light of day unguarded. ...Ironic.
"Come aboard, Bui! Aren't you done babysitting Hiei for the day?" a female voice cried down to the two men still standing on the sandy shores.
Yusuke squinted up at the woman. Her body looked tiny and frail. She had long, pink hair tied tightly in a braid that gave her a false look of innocence. Her large, brown eyes were hard and cold looking, as if she had seen some big events in her life time. Then again, to be in the great Hiei's crew, she must have even participated in said events.
"What was that, Genkai?" Hiei snorted up to her. "Don't mock me, or you'll be taking Suzuki's place in scrubbin' the deck clean."
"Oh thank God!" a blond haired man shouted, standing up straight as if he were on his knees, a bucket of water in his hands. "I hate my job!"
"Then git off the ship," Bui glared and the smaller man. "We don't have time for slackers."
"Ugh, if you ask me, all of ya are morons! Now git yer asses up here!" Genkai groaned, an annoyed look flashing across her face.
"First I gotta take care of something." Hiei sighed. In a flash, his body was turned and a pistol was in his hand. Without warning, he fired and hit the tree Yusuke was hiding behind. Yusuke's heart stop beating momentarily. "Some whelp over there has been eavesdropping. Bui..."
Before Hiei could finish his command, Bui was behind the tree, grabbing the smaller man by the arms from behind and shoving the hunter's body forward until he was in front of Hiei. Bui proceeded to shove the young man to his knees, then grabbed the dark hair so he could yank Yusuke's face up to gaze into the red eyes of his prey.
"Nuthin' more 'n a tiny grunt, Cap'n." Bui chuckled darkly. Hiei rolled his eyes and pointed the pistol to Yusuke's forehead.
"Give me a reason to spare your life." Hiei glowered to the man on his knees. "No one who's gotten this close to me has ever survived before. Why are you so special that you should be granted another chance?"
Yusuke shuddered under the intense look from the pirate. "I-I'm but a lowly peasant. I just sell things in the market place, my life is worth not your time."
"You lie," Hiei glared, scoffing at Yusuke's babbling. "You're not a native of this island."
"N-native, no, but I am here merely to support myself. I had to move from my former home when my only ship sank! Thus, I live here now, selling hand made crafts. You have no reason to kill me; there is nothing I can do to hinder you or your crew. I won't turn you in, I promise! Even if I tried, you'd be too far ahead to get busted by anyone from this village!" Yusuke stammered out, hoping his lies sounded enough like truth to save his ass from the horrible fate of a bullet to the brain.
"That's all fine and good, but if I were to spare you, what would I get in return?" Hiei asked, lifting an eyebrow up into a red bandana that was tied around his forehead. Yusuke looked up at him confused. What did he mean? Obviously, Yusuke had nothing valuable on him at the moment. Hiei let out an irritated sigh.
"Lock 'im up."
Bui, without question, lifted up the bounty hunter and carried him aboard the ship. Once the ship started sailing out into the navy depths, Bui continued to carry the boy down deeper into the ship where he came across several empty cells and chambers.
"It's weird." Bui stated as he roughly threw Yusuke into a tiny, damp cell, locking it up tightly. "My captain rarely keeps prisoners."
With that, he left Yusuke to brood in the wet, loneliness that was his prison.
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"I can't believe you let that whelp live." Bui sighed, looking over the edge of the boat into the golden sunset.
"Don't let it bother you, Bui. If he doesn't come up with a way to prove his worth to me before we hit the next port, I'll kill him. He doesn't seem like an important person anyway; I highly doubt he'll be missed."
"Ho ho! This is a nice picture of you, Cap'n. It really brings out your eyes!" laughed Suzuki, gazing at a piece of damaged parchment. Hiei ripped the paper out of the servant's hands.
"I can't believe they got a picture of you to put on a wanted poster." Bui said in slight awe. No pictures were ever taken of the captain.
"It was sold to them by Tarukane, remember that shady man who sold us cloth three years ago?" Hiei smirked, wadding the paper between his hands and chucking it over board.
"Ah, I remember that ugly excuse of a man. What ever happened to him?" Bui questioned, eyeballing the smaller man next to him.
"I did away with the traitor." Hiei darkly chuckled, leaning on the closest wall.
Bui sighed, "This is why the crew doesn't want you to walk around in the open. It's dangerous every time with yer bounty."
"Perhaps," Hiei said, giving Bui a glance. "But no one's been smart enough to catch me yet."
"It takes more 'n smarts, Cap'n." Bui stated, crossing his arms across his chest. "It also takes luck. One day, some lucky bastard may git to ya, then..."
"I'm a lucky bastard, too, though, Bui. Let's just see what Satan has in store for me, okay? Lest we forget, my luck has yet to run out."
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Author's note: Well, there's the end of chapter one. I thought this chapter seemed too short, but I couldn't add anymore without getting into the next chapter. This is kind of an experiment for me anyway. I'd like to see what people think of this peculiar fiction of mine. Please, review and let me know what you thought. Feel free to rant if you'd like; I adore long reviews. The more I get, the quicker I update. Cross your fingers! Also, I don't normally start new fics before I finish the one's I started (aside from my old, on hold fics). In this case, To He Who Broke My Heart. But I got this idea and couldn't pass it up. I'm really happy with this one so far. I hope everyone else feels the same. :D