Day and Night, a naruto fanfic

A/N: gaarrr… I hate having a cold. It just means coughing, sniffling, and sneezing all over the place. Happy Holiday's my butt. ( Any ways I hope your holiday's are all warm and fuzzy… considering mine are just sneezy and sniffly.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto what so ever. If I did though he could have something to say other than BELIEVE IT! It drives me insane…. –lies twitching on the ground because of insanity-

DAY AND NIGHT

CHAPTER I:

Captain

"At night my child is when a star does what it does best… It shines; perhaps one day you'll meet one. Yes, one day I'm sure you will meet one."

"Captain, these are the survivors, what do you wish to do with them?" Heavy boots pounded on the ships deck as the said male approached. His emotionless sky blue eyes stared down at the shivering men before him. All of them were scared out of their wits, trembling in their soaked clothes a few were even mumbling prayers under their breath.

Each one of the men had heard stories about the man that stood before him. The captain of the feared ship the Shukaku, Sabaku no Gaara. He was a legend in all of the seven seas, mother's told stories about him to get their children to obey.

Stories portrayed him as a half man half beast with sharp yellowed teeth and the eyes of the sand demon Shukaku himself. Other sailors claimed he killed helpless people and hung their lifeless bodies from his mast. Stories lead these men to quake in their boots as the captain approached.

One man even whimpered as the pounding stooped, no one wanted to look up and face him. All were too frightened to consider it. All had come to the decision that their lives would end shortly.

"So this is it then?" a low raspy baritone spoke up. Gaara crossed his arms over his black jacket as he continued to inspect the men before him. "Rather frightened lot aren't they now?"

Laughter sounded around them after the comment. The six frightened men flinched as they heard the captain unsheathe his sword, the metal scraping against it's holder as it was pulled out into plain sight.

A boy with dark brown hair whimpered when the blade of black sword entered his vision. The tip was just an inch from his chest; he held his breath without even realizing. "You boy, what's your name?" He heard the voice from somewhere above him, meaning the captain was standing right in front of him.

"K-kon-konohamaru sir," he whimpered. He raised his head slightly to look upon the captain. What he saw was like nothing he had heard about.

Before him was a tall lean male that couldn't be much older then twenty. Blood red hair peeped out from under his deep brown captain's hat. He had on a long heavy trench coat like black jacket trimmed with gold trim. It was left open reveling an off white button up shirt tucked into a pair of worn tan pants that in turn were tucked into a pair of black heavy leather boots. Around his waist was a belt that held two sheathes one empty as the sword was currently pointed at his chest. Along with the sheathes the belt held various pouches and a canteen. Emotionless sky blue eyes stared down at him, above his left eye, a red kanji tattoo meaning love. This was the feared Sabaku no Gaara, fearsome yes, but nothing like he had heard of.

"Ah yes, you're not that old now are you… How old are you?" Gaara asked in a bored tone. He knew this boy by his name. His first mate often spoke of him, how he would call him boss when he was younger. Naruto always spoke proudly of the young boy.

"I-I'm fif-fift-fifteen." Konohamaru sputtered out. His black eyes widened in fear,

Gaara shook his head in a negative way. "That's an awful young age to die no-"

"Monster!" one of the other survivors yelled out interrupting the captain. "Tormenting a boy. He's not even a man yet, leave him be! You're worse then the stories make you out to be!"

Konohamaru sighed in relief as the black blade was drawn away from his chest. What he saw next though made him scream out in terror. The captain had pulled his sword away from him only to stab the man who had referred to him as a monster.

"So, is that what the rest of you think? That I'm a cold heartless monster?" Gaara roared at other captives. His blue eyes flashed with anger. "Throw them in the brig. I have no further use for them… I'll figure out how to dispose of the rest of them later. Leave him out though." The captain pointed to Konohamaru before walking away, his heavy boots sounding off on the wood deck.

Konohamaru blinked as a group of the pirate crew surrounded him, their murmurs were impossible for him to make out. "KONOHAMARU!" They all moved aside as a golden haired man ran up to the boy and pulled him into his muscular arms. "I never thought I'd see your face again!"

It took a moment but Konohamaru eventually recognized the loud voice. "Boss?" he murmured unsure of himself.

"Man, it's been forever since I heard someone call me by that! Never thought your mentor would become the first mate of the Shukaku now did ya?" Naruto let the brown haired boy out of his death grip and looked him over.

Konohamaru had certainly changed out of the little boy he had known years ago. It was no wonder he had not recognized him at first. Konohamaru was a good foot and a half taller then he had been two years ago when they last saw each other. Now he had to be at least five foot eight, although Naruto was still taller at his height of six foot. What else was different about Konohamaru was his hat that he once wore was now missing from his head.

"You got ride of that weird hat you used to always wear I see," Naruto commented. He gave the boy one of his foxy grins and ruffled his already messy and wet hair.

Konohamaru pouted and pushed the blonde's hands away from his hair. "My hat was not weird," he whined.

"Was to," was all Naruto had to say to that.

"It was not!" Konohamaru paused for a moment as he thought of something else. "Hey Boss, why did Captain Gaara not kill all those men immediately, and leave me free for that matter?" he questioned.

"Well," Naruto clapped him on the shoulder, "I'll tell you… after we get you into some dry clothes. I'm sure I have some extra clothes that you'll fit in." He pushed Konohamaru towards one of the many cabins located on the large ship.

Konohamaru did his best to catch the articles of clothing being tossed his way. He was happy they weren't like Naruto's usual attire that included the most vivid orange imaginable. Instead it included a tan ruffled shirt and a pair of deep brown breeches. They all appeared just small enough to fit him properly.

"Erm, what about boots?" Konohamaru muttered gazing down at his bare feet. He wasn't sure when, most likely when the crew had brought him aboard, but his own shoes had vanished. Now he stood barefoot.

Naruto's bright blue eyes followed his gaze. "Ah, ya not need worry about that. I'll find some boots that'll fit you. Till then you shouldn't worry, the deck hasn't given one man from our crew a splinter in years. If you hadn't noticed a good portion of them don't wear boots as long as their at sea."

"So Boss, what was it you were going to tell me about Captain Gaara?" Konohamaru brought the subject back up again as he began to change into his new clothes.

Naruto sat down on the hammock in the room and looked at the young man. "O yes, of course, first though you're going to explain to me why in the seven seas you were on a navy ship."

Konohamaru sighed heavily and sat on the hammock opposite of the blonde. Naruto had been kind enough to set one up for him to sleep in so that he wouldn't have to come up with something on his own. "I was being taken for questioning believe it or not. They were taking me to Suna for the trail. I was being condemned for association with a pirate, didn't know why till now.

"They didn't lock me up since I was going willingly. I was still a prisoner, I was treated like one at least. I was being taken because of you right?" the brunette finished off.

Naruto just nodded his blue eyes focused on the ground. "I suppose you want to know about Gaara now don't you?"

Konohamaru grinned and nodded his head. "Oh yes!"

"Me and him are pals. Of course you probably figured that out on your own considering I'm the first mate and all. But he's not what people say he is, at least not any more. He's changed a lot since when I first met him.

"I'm sure you heard the stories about him, those are all mostly what he used to be. He would kill for pleasure, frightened me quite a bit when I first joined the crew. He had a sort of saying to; ah… what was it now? Ah, yes, he used to tell us that he wouldn't hesitate to kill us because he loved no one but his self. He's a lot different now," the blonde explained.

"What about how he killed so many people aboard the navy ship though? Or what about the man he killed out of the survivors. Or, or, how he said he would figure out how to dispose of them later? Or, or, or…"

"Calm down boy!" Naruto interrupted him. "Now let me get to all that. You see Gaara has to keep some of his reputation going, that way the stories about him will keep going about."

"Why would he want that?"

"Now will you quit interrupting, I was just getting to that. Gaara can't have a bunch of pirate hunters coming after him or else we'll all be killed. He kills some people then leaves some survivors who can go on and tell about how horrifying he is. He makes the survivors feel that every day they spend on the ship will be their last. After that we leave them stranded on an island used for rum storage for some merchants. They take them to shore and the survivors go on believing that their lucky to be alive. As long as people think nothing can defeat him then only a few navy ships will come for us. It's best for it to stay that way so that we stay safe." Naruto bobbed his head up and down as a signal that he was done explaining.

Konohamaru bit his bottom lip taking it all in. "He took down one of Suna's biggest navy ships though, he can do anything thing then!"

"On the contrary there are many things that I can not do," a deep slightly raspy voice came from the door way. Upon inspection Konohamaru could see that the speaker was indeed the captain he had met just a few hours ago. "For example, I can't get your blonde friend over then to shut his mouth and not talk while he's eating…"

Gaara was still an intimidating site; even now that he learned the truth about the captain. He was leaning against the door frame, gazing at a dagger that he twirled around in his hand. "I just came to make sure my crew hasn't scared you into throwing yourself over board and to tell you that you're welcome to join us for dinner." When Gaara finished speaking he pulled himself off of the door frame and walked away in a slow swagger.

Konohamaru turned back to face Naruto when he heard the blonde's fits of laughter. Sure enough Naruto was holding his stomach doubled over laughing. "I really don't see what's so funny."

Naruto slowly brought his laughter to a halt and straightened himself out. His mouth spread into a foxy grin as he looked at his friend and flicked his own nose with his thumb. "Well you see, in his own way Gaara just told me that you're now apart of our crew… how's that for good news?"

To say the room was noisy was an understatement. The whole crew somehow managed to squeeze around the table and also make some room to fit him in there as well. It was a tight squeeze for all of them but from what Konohamaru could tell it was worth it.

The whole table top was covered in delicious food, which Naruto told him was in his honor since he was a new addition to the crew. There were so many selections to choose from Konohamaru wasn't sure where to begin.

The young brunette reached out to grab a chicken leg only to have his hand smacked away by Naruto. "Have to wait for the Captain boy, that's the only rule. He's the one that starts the dinner."

Konohamaru sighed and looked out at the food in a dazed state. 'Oh I can't wait till he gets here. I'm soooo hungry. I can already taste those mashed potatoes.'

"Like what you see boy?" Konohamaru turned around to see a chunky man sitting to his left. He had brown hair lighter then his own and red swirls on his round cheeks. "I'm Choji, the cook on this vessel. Good to see someone appreciate my art even when their new. Don't let any of these men scare you. Oh, and to give you a tip, grab as much as you can as quick as you can…"

Konohamaru blinked at the man's comment. "Umm, okay then."

The whole room grew quiet when the sound of boots hitting the ground entered the room. The captain walked over to the only empty seat at the end of the table and slowly sat down in a leisurely way. He grabbed one of the green apples off the table. As soon as he took a bite out of it was like something was set off. All the men reached for the center of the table to grab all they could. Konohamaru was one of them.

When the men had finally calmed down and began to eat Choji began to laugh at the young brunette to his right. "Look at all the food you got. You'll do fine here, just fine." He laughed some more and went to eat his own food.

Konohamaru only spared the man a glance before going back to his own plate of food and digging into his chicken. He stopped only when he noticed that the only thing his captain had eaten was an apple.

"Naruto, how come Gaara hasn't eaten anything besides that apple?" he questioned.

Naruto looked up with some ramen noodles hanging out of his mouth. "Oh, well he doesn't really eat much in front of the crew. He just eats fruits and vegetables throughout the day, during meals he'll sometimes have a bit of meat. Oh an Choji, great food tonight!"

The round man just nodded his thanks and went back to his mashed potatoes not really caring that he was getting more on his face then he was in his mouth. It was a rather humorous site really.

"So what do you think of all this Konohamaru?" Naruto asked him still eating his ramen. The noodles hung out of the side of his mouth as he spoke to the boy.

Konohamaru just shrugged and looked at his now empty plate. "It's great so far I guess, I mean I've only been here half a day."

Naruto nodded and pulled a bottle of rum his way. "Just wait till tomorrow you'll love it I just know it." He leaned back in his chair and took a long swig of the liquid letting it burn his throat as it went down. "Just you wait…"

A/N: So there's the finish of it… I really hope you all liked it. It sorta just popped into my head one night. Oh and trust me this isn't half the plot… You haven't even met all the characters. ) Well it's belated I know that but happy holidays to you all. Oh, and please review… it's very encouraging.