A/N: Wow, thanks to everybody who read last chapter! I wasn't expecting such a positive reaction. I'm already planning out a follow up chapter(s) for the last prompt. :)
Affinity
Prompt: Scales
Rating: M
Title: A Drop In the Ocean
Summary: Because he is desperate enough to make a deal with a fish as seductive as her.
The longboat bobs in the water as the small waves hit the side. Six of the sea-hardened men within it watch as the seventh brings a square of cloth out of his pocket.
All the men lean forward as hands, calloused from rough use, pull back the cloth to reveal its contents, a long string of pearls with a teardrop shaped emerald dangling from the middle.
The pirates practically begin salivating at the sight of such an impressive piece of jewelry. It is sure to be worth quadruple its weight in gold.
Ignoring the greedy aura of his crewmen in the boat, the possessor of the necklace tosses it into the ocean.
"Captain, are you mad?" a man yells in outrage while plenty other gasp at the loss of the precious necklace.
The captain's face remains impassive as he studies the water. "They are like any other woman, they don't come cheap," he says, earning a few laughs from the other men.
"Now what?" one asks.
"Now, we wait."
And wait they do, for nearly five hours they sit in the little boat, in between the deserted shore and the Sharigan ship.
Dawn begins to break over the horizon and the crewmembers start to lose hope.
"Maybe we're in the wrong spot," one says.
"Better not be, that necklace could have bought enough rum for a month," another adds.
"I knew he's crazy," yet another begins, "there's no way there's such thing as mer-"
The man stops talking when ripples appear in the water. All of the pirates stare at the spot and gasp when a pink-haired woman breaks the surface. Her features are delicate, her nose small and upturn, her eyes the same color of the emerald that now rests around her neck.
"Captain Sasuke Uchiha," she says with familiarity, her voice strong and joking.
She moves towards the boat and rests her arms on the ledge next to the dark-haired captain.
"It's been a while," she tells him before pushing herself up and gracefully landing on the empty seat at the front.
Now, all the men take in the full sight of the creature. Her pink hair cascades down past her hips, covering her round chest, and where legs should be is a tail consisting of shimmering, light and dark green scales. She lounges in front of the men with all the confidence in the world, her back resting against one side of the boat while her long tail dangles over the other.
She looks like every pirate's dream. Her skin smooth and touchable, her long hair draped over the boat and floating amongst the water, her lithe body adorned with all manner of jewels and precious metals.
"Sakura," Sasuke says, betraying no emotion.
"I think it's been exactly one year and two months," Sakura says, as she moves towards him, the golden bangles on her arms jiggling. The other men in the boat cannot decide whether they should fear the mermaid or kiss her.
"Who gave you that?" Sasuke asks, gesturing to the sapphire ring on her left pointer finger.
"What's it to you?" she snaps, her green eyes burning in anger. She composes herself a moment later and sub-consciously begins fiddling with one of the many necklaces hanging off of her delicate skin. "If I remember correctly, last time you were here, you cut off some of my hair and left."
Her tail slaps the water in emphasis, the motion causing the boat the rock dangerously and the splash raining droplets of salty water over the men.
With the grind of metal against metal, Sasuke's sword is drawn and poised at her neck.
"If you try and tip this boat, I will kill you," he says menacingly as he presses the sharpened edge to her skin.
"Ah," she says in realization, "I figured this wasn't a trip of pleasure." She uses her arms to crawl closer to Sasuke until her nose barely brushes against his. Her soft gaze hardens again as a ribbon of red runs down her throat from moving against the blade. "What exactly do you need from me? One of these rings that you accidently promised to another? A lock of hair for the local trader? Or perhaps, a hot fuck to release some of that pent up aggression?"
Sasuke eyes the pieces of jewelry embellishing her. The majority he recognizes as gifts from himself, but others are unfamiliar, causing a sense of jealousy to wash over him. Her words eat at him on the inside, but externally, he doesn't let anybody else see it.
"I need some scales," he states, eyeing the glittering green of her lower body.
"No way in hell," she spits back before moving away to jump off the front of the boat. Before she can, Sasuke grabs a fist full of her endless tresses and drags her until her naked back is up against his chest.
"Row to the shore," Sasuke orders and, after a moment of hesitation, the boat begins cutting through the water, towards the small beach.
"Sasuke, you bastard!" Sakura protests in outrage as she wiggles around trying to flip the boat. "I will drag you to the bloody depths if you don't-"
Sasuke cuts her off by placing a large hand over her mouth and the familiar feeling of the bottom of the dingy hitting the shoreline urges Sasuke to push the mermaid away from him. He pulls his hand up to his face in order to inspect the bleeding bite mark there.
His other hand holds the ends of some of the petal locks, which he secures his hold of. He needs her and there is no way he will let her slip through his fingers, not this time.
Once the boat stops moving, he throws a boot-clad foot over the rim and onto the moist sand. Standing at full height, he grabs Sakura from under her arms and drags her out of the boat as well.
Laying her down on the beach, far enough away from the water that she can't escape, he begins barking orders at the crew. "Come secure her, but if you steal any jewelry or lay a hand where it shouldn't be, I'll gut you on the spot."
"If you think I'll just let you take them, then you have another thing coming, asshole!" she shouts in protest, her thrashing causing the pearls on the circlet around her forehead to clink against the gold.
"You forced me to do this, Sakura," Sasuke says as her grabs a small dagger from the holster around his waist.
At the sight of the blade moving near her tail, Sakura stops moving and shoots him a wicked grin, "Good luck trying to cut off what's not there."
As if the words were an order to her body, the green scales begin disappearing, or more accurately, sinking into her skin. Within seconds, long, very human, legs replace the large emerald tail.
All the pirates stare at the woman in amazement. After all this time, Sasuke never knew that a mermaid could retain a human form.
Her smirk widens at his facial expression as she stretches out on the sand. Her long pink hair both spread out around her and covering her small breasts.
"You bitch," Sasuke spits out before once again, grabbing hold of her hair and pulling her up to stand next to him. "Stay with the boat," he orders the, openly gawking, crewmen before dragging Sakura down the beach and out of sight.
Once none of the other men can see, Sasuke wrenches Sakura's arm around so that she must face him. "You could grow legs this whole time!" he yells in outrage.
"I grew a lot more than that," Sakura says with a wink as she presses herself up against him. The dark haired man backs up, but stumbles on the uneven sand, causing both of them to tumble to the ground.
Sakura lands on top, straddling his hips with her new legs. Sasuke tries to ignore the feeling of her warmth seeping through his thin trousers as she leans towards him, looking every bit the majestic creature she is.
"Sasuke, I have decided to give you a chance at having some of my scales, even though you just treated me so rudely," Sasuke eyes the now coagulated blood on the side of her neck. "You want my scales, I want to see more of the world. I have a tail, well not at the moment," she lets out a little giggle, "and you have a ship."
"Or," Sasuke begins before changing their positions so that he is pinning Sakura to the beach, "I will just kill you if you don't give me any."
Sakura doesn't let his harsh tone faze her, instead she moves her arms up to wrap around his neck, "it's obvious that you need my scales for something very important, otherwise you wouldn't have come here." She cranes her neck so that he can admire the pearl necklace he had just gifted her, now wrapped around her neck. "You're lucky I'm a sucker for emeralds, or I would have drown you and your crew in a heartbeat."
"I'm sick of this game," Sasuke orders as her presses more of his weight against her. "Turn back." The words are uttered dangerously low, as if he will indeed kill her.
With another mischievous smile, that he has come to loath, Sakura wraps her legs around his hips. "Once I turn full human, I won't get my tail back until the next full moon," the mermaid says as she trails a dainty foot up and down his leg.
"The last full moon was yesterday," Sasuke bites out angrily.
"Well," she says, a sneer coming across her face, "it looks like you have a month to wait."
"There are other mermaids," the captain says, trying to ignore the feel of blood rushing downwards as her foot continues its movements.
"Not nearly as many as there used to be, and nowhere near around here," she leans up so that her bare breasts brush against his thin white shirt, "and you know as well as I that I'm the most social of the bunch."
He realizes the validity of her statement. At this rate he'll be forced to take her with him. His blood already begins to boil as he thinks of how the men will react with such a beauty aboard. Heck, it boils at the thought of having to keep her in his cabin for an entire month.
Sakura. Human Sakura. In his quarters. In his bed.
He suppresses a shudder at the thought, but stiffens when he feels cool lips press against his neck.
"What are you doing?" he asks her, his voice husky from the thoughts of her in his bed.
"I'm persuading you," she murmurs as she moves her hands under his heavy jacket and over his shoulders. "After all, this is my first time having legs again in months, I want to use them."
"Sakura," he warns, but allows her to relieve him of the thick leather. Once his coat is off, she begins expertly removing his weapon holsters. At this, Sasuke realizes that he cannot hold himself back. The fire that once burned inside of him for the mermaid still has some embers left behind and he intends to give them oxygen.
He seals his mouth over hers and begins ravaging it as if she were his life source. He battles her tongue for dominance and once he finds himself winning, moves from her mouth to her neck. She lets out little moans of pleasure, fueling his fire even move.
As he allows his hands to roam over her awaiting body, he feels hers do the same. She pulls his shirt up over his head and begins running her dainty palms up and down his back.
Suddenly, he feels her freeze up. "Wh-what have you gotten yourself into, Sasuke?"
He himself stiffens when he realizes exactly where her hands are. Slowly, as if regretful, he moves off of her and sits up.
"Is this what you need the scales for?" she asks, tracing the black ink that rests over his left shoulder.
The look in his dark eyes is answer enough.
"Very well," Sakura states as she rises and begins brushing the sand off of her naked body. "I will come with you, then we will both be satisfied. I'll get to travel, and you'll get the scales in a months time."
He looks up at her and now realizes that she will indeed be onboard the Sharigan with all of the testosterone driven crewmembers. At the thought, he tosses his shirt over her head and proceeds to don his hat, coat, and holsters.
"Well," she says happily, "Come on! The world's waiting!" She skips happily down the beach, her too long hair blowing behind her while her too flashy jewelry jangles and her too long legs doing nothing for Sasuke's, now painful, hard-on.
I will be taking request for prompts for Affinity. You can check out the list of prompts I already have prepared on my Livejournal and then either leave me a review, PM, or comment on the Livejournal post and I'll try my best. :)