A/N: Hey, this is my first attempt at a story like this so any feedback you have would be appreciated! Before I jump in, I just want to explain something really quickly. This story takes place in an alternate universe that, just like the actual Naruto series, lacks technology. The only real difference is that there are pirates instead of shinobi.
Since I'm sure some of you are wondering, the pairings are as follows: Itachi x Kurenai is the focus, there will probably be hints of Sasori x Ino, but the two will have a sexual relationship rather than being in love.
Yūhi Kurenai blinked – was ... was that fire?
She stood at her window in stunned confusion as thick curls of smoke spread across the horizon. Her hand traveled to her stomach instinctually and she took a step backward. Hungry flames began to form in the distance.
That was the harbor of Konoha if she wasn't mistaken, and it was perhaps five minutes away from where she now stood in the living room of her wooden house. Turning her back to the glass, Kurenai didn't give herself a moment to think before grabbing her coat and jogging out onto her porch.
Her current attire wasn't the most appropriate: she wore a thin red housedress that flowed behind her as she moved. The jacket she had taken wasn't particularly warm either despite being lined in dark fur. The young woman frowned but shrugged it on hastily and continued forward in a pair of sandals that had been lying next to the door.
Her mind was blank and her movements were rigid. This lack of forethought was unlike her but she had an eerie déjà vu creeping over her. She had been here before and witnessed this entire scene countless times. A sense of dread began to eat away at her calm.
Why am I seeing this again? It was just a dream, all she needed to do was wake up but she kept her stride nonetheless. Maybe this was her chance to fix things, after all, it seemed so realistic. The smell of something burning reached her nostrils and her eyebrows knit together in puzzlement when she realized that it wasn't wood.
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Kurenai woke up gasping for breath. Another nightmare. She glanced around quickly and found that her soup had boiled over, its toasty smell had fragmented the dream. With a quiet groan, she pushed herself off of the chair where she had been dozing and moved the pot off of the stove.
Glancing at the mirror on the wall, she noticed a single teardrop trailing its way down her cheek. Kurenai swept it away before raking her fingers through her wild hair. It had been about a year since that fire had killed her fiancé Sarutobi Asuma.
She had terrible dreams about the event almost every night. They would all start in the same place – she would be staring out the window when the inferno began. On the day it actually happened, she had raced toward the smoke and found that a pirate ship was attacking the harbor town of Konoha.
Asuma had been at a local flower shop purchasing a bundle of roses for her when he had been killed by one of the pillagers. She vaguely recalled blood streaming from the corner of his mouth and a sadistic smile on the face of the man who had butchered him. The peculiar man had a girl kneeling at his side and one of his hands was fisted in her long blonde hair, she was sobbing and calling for help.
Kurenai remembered how he had dragged the girl away while she was standing frozen in her place. Her name had been Yamanaka Ino. No one had heard from her since she was taken away but the general consensus was that she had been killed.
Once the fire had been quelled by some of the villagers, it was announced that the pirates were a group known as the Akatsuki. She had never loathed anyone more in that moment, sinking down onto her knees in absolute misery after verifying the death of her beloved Asuma.
Kurenai inhaled sharply and broke herself from her reverie as she stared down into the soup. She poured herself a bowl but quickly found that she wasn't hungry. Listening to the hollow click as she placed the bowl on the counter before her, she moved slowly back to the chair she had fallen asleep in.
Crimson eyes fell to her stomach where her hands rested so tenderly. She had been pregnant but the baby had been a miscarriage. She had truly lost everything because of that raid.
A knock sounded at the door. Almost everything.
She didn't bother to get up right away, steeling herself for the conversation to come. She forced a smile to her ruby lips but it felt strained and she was sure it wouldn't fool her visitor. Kurenai kept it plastered to her pretty face anyway and crossed the distance between her and the door, swinging it open with an enthusiasm that was as false as her expression.
"Hinata, it's great to see you again dear!"
Kurenai was her senior by about ten years but the two were very close, the Hyūga girl had been something of a daughter to her. She moved out of the doorway, allowing the younger to follow her in. Kurenai took a moment to examine her; long raven hair, pale lilac eyes, and a slender frame that held its fair share of curves. She was quite beautiful actually, and equally timid.
"Hello, K- Kurenai-san," she shuffled a bit tensely, "How are you?"
"I'm doing fine." It was unconvincing, the words had sprung too quickly from her lips.
Hinata looked up with a pronounced frown and a flash of determination in her eyes. "It's been a year, hasn't it? Surely you've th- thought about it, you've probably been having those dreams again."
The elder's silence was confirmation enough so the girl pressed on, "I was thinking ... maybe you should go down to the bathhouse today. It always used to relax you."
The corners of her mouth perked into a faint smile as Kurenai nodded. "If that'll make you happy, I guess I could." She knew this moment would come; her close friend had finally worked up the nerve to force her into the village she had been avoiding for so long.
She had been debating all that morning how she would turn Hinata away and then she would make herself a cup of tea and sit on her couch like she did almost every day. Yet here she was, finally accepting the proposal because there were dark rings around Hinata's eyes and Kurenai knew she was the cause. It was the least she could do for the girl who had obviously been worrying over her for hours on end.
"You w- will?" came her dumbstruck reply.
"I will."
"Well, good then."
"Was there anything else, Hinata?"
The younger blinked and glanced around with a puzzled reluctance. She was surprised that Kurenai had agreed to leave the house she had been hiding in for the past few months.
Konoha had been rebuilt within weeks of the attack. The cannon fire had devastated much of the small town but its inhabitants were hardworking and had managed to repair many of the fragile structures in record time. There was nothing to fear now. The Hokage had even stationed a patrol to monitor the harbor for potential attacks. They could fend off any pirates who dared to breach their waters again, although there had not been one since the Akatsuki raid.
Still, Kurenai was not very confident. She had seen the pillagers' handiwork with her own eyes – they were vicious and certainly efficient. Apparently multiple men and women had died that day at the hands of only four of their members. She had only seen one, but he had been the cause of much of the suffering.
Apparently a second had set the village aflame using some sort of magic. Uchiha Itachi, the illusionist who could supposedly breathe fire. She knew better, it must have been some sort of trick.
"Um, no, I suppose not, I guess I should go." She didn't seem anxious to leave but Kurenai only nodded and showed her to the door. It had been a five minute visiting at most and yet, the dark-haired woman felt completely exhausted.
"The bathhouse, hm?" she muttered under her breath. Kurenai let a gentle sigh part her lips and with some effort heaved her form away from the door she had been leaning against. If she was going anywhere she needed to make herself a bit more presentable first.
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Her walk through town had been uneventful. It seemed most of the folk didn't have the heart to confront her, instead they spared her shaky smiles or ghosted a wave.
Kurenai rested with her arms spread across the large communal tub. Her hair was pinned back so it wouldn't be stuck to the sweat on her brow and her crimson eyes were closed against the dim light. She was alone, much to her thanks.
Sinking further into the warm water, she wondered if putting on a bit of makeup had been a bad idea. Her skin was nearly flawless as it was so she promptly decided against cover, but she couldn't resist the lure of dark mascara and lavender eye shadow.
She used to wear both on a daily basis but this was the first time she had bothered in months.
With a bar of soap in hand, Kurenai lathered her porcelain skin halfheartedly. The soft aroma of vanilla drifted into the empty air, becoming stronger with every movement of her hand. It was a warm, inviting smell but it did nothing for her. In fact she found it almost sickeningly sweet, she had always preferred a floral scent.
A sudden tremor in the ground made her freeze suddenly. A loud exploding noise accompanied it and the bar of soap dropped from her slender fingers into the sudsy water. She rose stiffly and grabbed a towel, wrapping it around herself hurriedly. She could recognize that sound anywhere now – cannon fire. It wasn't a dream, not this time.
Kurenai made her way to her crumpled clothing in fast strides. She took up the scarlet dress and pulled it on but her frenzied hands kept her busy with the zipper for a few moments longer. Black sandals with a small heel awaited her but instead of sliding them on, she simply grabbed them and headed for the exit of the bathroom.
Cool air hit her and the oppressive smell of smoke drowned out the vanilla that coated her. A pair of onyx pupils awaited her. They belonged to a man who was perhaps a few inches taller than her with dark hair that was tied back in a loose ponytail.
He fingers formed a circle at his thin lips, and although he was faced away from her, his eyes were focused on her own. She shifted her focus to his mouth just in time to watch him blow flames across the plaza. She gaped, paralyzed in her place. Uchiha Itachi. The Akatsuki.
They were back? But- but why? She clamped her jaw shut and gritted her teeth together, now wasn't the time to wonder about their intentions. She needed to escape, she couldn't do anything about this man who was setting her home on fire for the second time, especially considering she didn't even know how it was possible. She had thought the rumors circling about him were just panicked gossip.
Tears pressed at the backs of her eyes but she turned away and prepared to sprint back in the direction of her house.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Kurenai gasped, as she ran headlong into an enormous man whose skin seemed to hold an odd blue tint. She hadn't heard of him but she wasn't stupid enough to think he meant her no harm. His large hand was immediately on her wrist and the other took hold of her delicate shoulder.
"Let go of me!" she demanded, attempting to twist away from him. The movement was in vain, he was at least twice her size and easily capable of shattering her arm, and more. His grip became excruciatingly tighter and Kurenai was certain her wrist had just been fractured. She held back a pained scream, determined not to give them the satisfaction.
All around her, villagers swarmed like ants trying to escape the death that had come for them.
"Itachi, what should we do with her? She might fetch a good price on the black market," he noted, examining her features. There was a flush on her high cheekbones from the heat and pain, her stunning eyes held traces of primal fear that she was doing her best to mask with hatred. He didn't bother to hide his gaze as it wandered down to her ample bust and wide hips. "Yeah, she's a catch alright."
Kurenai made a disgusted sound deep in her throat but the man holding her simply chuckled, loosening his grasp on her. "Don't worry, I'm not going to grope you." She wasn't too sure if that was the truth, but hearing it did give her some comfort and she relaxed noticeably.
Her face turned back to the fire-breather, wondering just what he would have to contribute to this conversation. He didn't bother to look over her, instead he simply nodded and turned away. She thought he detected an apologetic softening in his eyes but it vanished too quickly for her to be sure.
As the larger man dragged her away, back toward the port, she didn't bother to make a sound or fight back. It was a hopeless waste of energy. She could only hope that there would be an opportune moment for escape before she crossed onto their vessel. Once she was on that ship, she might as well kiss her life goodbye.
They would sell her to the highest bidder, or they would kill her. She bit down on her tongue and squeezed her eyes shut. Don't think that way Kurenai, you're a survivor, she insisted inside her own head. She had been through the deaths of her fiancé and unborn child, she could last in this situation as well.
Unfortunately, no fortune came to her and the chance to struggle away never presented itself. Kurenai nearly stumbled over herself when her captor pushed her up a plank. "Welcome to your temporary home, I'm Kisame." He held out one of his hands for her to shake but she only glared at it. He retracted the appendage and uttered another carefree laugh. "Do you have a name, woman?"
"Yūhi Kurenai." She wasn't sure why she answered but it simply sprung to her lips at his question.
"Good to meet you, need anything we can take care of it. This doesn't have to be terrible for you, we can be pretty friendly as long as you remember your place," he noted, small white eyes boring into her.
"So I'm cargo then?" she responded bitterly.
"You've got it." He gave her a firm pat on the back that shook her and made her leer forward before she caught her balance again, and then he turned away and left her on the deck of the ship. For a moment she was surprised, because the plank was still there and she could have made a dash for it easily.
Her face fell when she realized that the other man, Itachi, was making his way onto the vessel. Kisame hadn't just walked off, he had ensured that the other man was on his way up before leaving. Giving her false hope just to crush it down once again.
Kurenai dropped to her knees, exhausted, and allowed herself a few choked sobs before regaining her composition. She couldn't cry, she couldn't give them the satisfaction.
The wooden plank was removed and the ship lurched forward as its anchor was brought back up from the depths of the harbor. She couldn't see anyone because of the encroaching night, but it seemed to her that the crew was comprised of ghosts. They were so quiet, every movement a mere whisper.
According to the little glimpses of movement she managed to catch, she determined that there were maybe four or five on the deck. Chances were there were quite a few more on other parts of the spacious vessel. None of them bothered to acknowledge her presence.
"Hello Kurenai-san," a soft feminine voice greeted.
Kurenai spun around, her eyes wide and her hair pin clattering to the ship in an eerily loud boom. Now that her dark hair was free it whipped around in the strong winds. "Ino," she answered in disbelief, "Is that really you?"