I don't own Naruto or any of the affiliated characters. Unfortunately.
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She had spent her childhood watching them. The two boys. They had come down to the dock and the beach everyday. The first time, they had been friendly, playing.
It had been her first time at the shore, too. The boys were no older than her, only five or six. One was blond, with blue eyes that shone with his happiness. The other had black hair, and black, quiet eyes. But those eyes were just as happy, just as sad as the other boy's eyes.
The blond one was the first to see her. She had been hiding under the dock, watching up through the planks. She loved watching the dark haired boy, Sasuke. He was so cool, so reserved and nice looking. And yet it had been Naruto who saw her first. She blamed it on her pink hair. Naruto had stared at her, then tugged on Sasuke's sleeve, saying, "Hey, hey, Sasuke, look! A mermaid!"
But this was after whatever that tragedy had been. Naruto had sometimes, back during the earlier years, gazed sadly into the water. But then, when Sakura was maybe nine, Sasuke had not come for weeks on end. When he finally did start to come again, he had been silent, cold, and had almost ignored Naruto. He and Naruto never played pirate the way they had used to anymore. Instead, Sasuke insisted on practicing his swordsmanship, something Naruto wasn't very good at.
It was a time like this that Naruto first spotted Sakura. She had started to grow her hair out, due to a comment Sasuke had made about preferring long hair. That day, she had tied in glass beads she had found, which had probably caught the light, and gotten Naruto's attention.
Naruto was dazzled by how pretty the mermaid was, but Sasuke hadn't even bothered to look. He sat at the edge of the dock, polishing his sword, a quiet but angry glint in his eye.
"Idiot." He murmured under his breath.
Naruto ignored him, or didn't hear him, and leaned down over the side of the dock to see her clearly.
Sakura scowled at him. She thought him loud and obnoxious, and in need of more sword practice before she thought much about him. She preferred Sasuke much more.
"Hi there! I'm Naruto! I'm from the village up there, on the hill. Who are you?"
"Sakura, from the rock caverns near the shore. Hey, is Sasuke from your village, too?"
Naruto blinked. "Hm? Yeah, he is. Hey, are you really a mermaid?"
Sakura rolled her eyes, but nodded. Holding onto the dock's post for support, she lifted her tail out of the water and waved it around.
"Cool. The scales are really pretty."
Sakura didn't give much heed to Naruto's compliment. Now if it had come from Sasuke . . .
"Sakura?"
"Hm? Yeah, Naruto?"
"Do you know much about pirates?"
She shook her head. "No. My parents don't talk about it much, and the only ships I see are merchants' "
"Oh. Okay then."
Sasuke stood up. "Come on, Naruto. It's getting dark, and there was a red sky this morning, which means that the weather's not going to stay nice."
"How smart!" drooled Sakura.
She watched them leave. Well, at least she had an excuse to talk to Sasuke now, even if it was through Naruto.
-o-o-o-o-o-
Ah hah, this is no parody!!
Lala la LALALA!
More to come! I'm rewriting the story of Naruto, Pirate style! Stick around for the Chuunin exam REVAMPED! YAY!
Seriously, this is gonna be fun! Can you guess who's gonna be a merperson, and who's gonna be human?