Previously:
Both Ino and Shikamaru stared at him, dumbfounded.
"...What have you done with him?" Shikamaru glared at him furiously. Sasuke glared back.
"I have done nothing. I was trying to help him escape before Itachi could harm him and got marooned because of it." Sasuke explained.
"You? Helping someone? That's hard to believe." Ino turned up her nose, but Shikamaru couldn't help but look excited.
"So...so we're both trying to find Naruto, right? You must have information on Itachi's actual location, so if we all work together-" Shikamaru was cut off by Zabuza's rumbling voice.
"Well, what do we have here? One of Itachi's hellspawn? My, I do believe you'll fetch a handsome reward sum when we turn you into the Royal Navy." The captain walked toward the trio.
"Wait, Captain Zabuza! He's not-" Shikamaru tried to explain.
"Well, I'll commend you for picking up this little maggot. Maybe you kids aren't so bad after all. Tie him up and we'll have someone turn him in tomorrow."
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Naruto was trembling when he awoke, asleep still in the crow's nest of the ship he already knew was his captor's. How many times had he woken up to find himself on that ship? He'd even grown used to it by now, though it still was hard to accept, even after a few days. Five days? No, six now, he was sure. Almost a whole week.
The blonde shook his head and sighed, moving to his knees and pressing them against the crook of the bucket-like nest while he gazed over the edge, staring out at the endless expanse of sea. When he looked down, he noticed Itachi wasn't there and sighed, figuring since it was so late that the captain of the ship had gone to sleep. It would be easier to escape that way, he quickly decided, nodding to himself.
His eyes went back up, then down again, though not fixated onto the ocean. The waves that lapped against the side of the boat were so slight, silent and thin, that they barely made any noise. It was almost like the water was attempting to lull him back to sleep, but the blondie didn't feel like going back to sleep. He almost felt sick; memories of the older of the two brothers marooning the younger one. And, not knowing how long he had slept and how long the sand bank would have been there, he figured Sasuke was already dead. Thinking it made his eyes suddenly sting, and he found his face burried into his cupped hands, curled up against the side of the crow's nest.
Sniffing for a second, rubbing his wrists and thus the cuffs around his hands against his eyes, he sighed lightly, leaning back slightly and closing his eyes. Both arms resting at his sides, his fists clenched as his gaze moved down, eyes open again, staring at the cuffs around either wrist.
"Naruto-chan," a voice called from below. The name was familiar, but the voice was not. When he looked down, he noticed a tall, slender red-headed man, the tips of that tomato-red hair as white as snow. He smiled, waving up at him. "Come down. The Captain has ordered me to have you cleaned up."
Naruto studdied the strange red-head for a moment, then shook his head, untrusting of the stranger that was obviously one of the crew by the obvious marks burned into his flesh above his right wrist.
"I don't feel like it," he muttered, only loud enough for it to be heard below.
"Come down here, or I'm coming up there!" he threatened, keeping a thin smile present, refusing to become annoyed or agitated.
"Tch... I'm not coming down..." the blonde whispered, crossing his arms over his knees and pulling himself into a tight ball. A few minutes went by, and he figured the man had left, until he heared a sigh below and the footsteps of the other young male, only a couple years older than himself really even if a foot taller, then heard the ropes moving around a bit.
Looking over the edge, he noticed the male was climbing up. He rolled his eyes and leaned back again in a tight little ball, refusing to budge just because of the man's persistant nature.
It only took the red-head a minute to reach the boy in the crow's nest, then peeked over the cut-out where it made it easier to get on and sighed.
"Are you going to come with me or do I have to pull you out and drop you?" And, when the blonde made no comment, he laughed and grabbed the bottom rim of the shirt, pulling it towards him.
Naruto jumped, surprised at the back of the man's cold hands that had slightly touched against his thigh. He tried to grap at something, but in the tiny nest, there was nothing to really grab, and he found himself being dragged out and over the edge. He thought he'd feel the shirt tug to keep him, but the hand had been removed and he was just free-falling straight down.
"I warned you!" the red-head teased, laughing, starting to descend the ropes.
Quickly thinking, or hardly thinking rather, the blonde flailed his arms around, and ended up grabbing at a rope and holding it tightly, arms and legs around it, shivering and trembling.
Below, the man had already gotten down and was right below him, arms open.
"Naruto-chan, come on! Stop making it difficult! I'm not going to do anything to you..."
"Why should I trust you! You just dropped me from like, what, fourty feet in the air!"
"You caught yourself," he noted.
"What if I hadn't?"
"But you did, is the fact,"
Naruto grumbled, shaking his head and sighing. "Who are you and what did you want?"
"I'm Kiayme. Itachi ordered me to get you when you were awake and clean you up. A bath." He stared at him for a second with an untrusting, accusing look.
"Look," he said, after a minute of awkward silence, "I'm not going to do anything to you, if that's what you mean. I'm simply to wash you and your clothes and redress you."
He grumbled again, then sighed. He hadn't had a bath in awhile, and it'd be welcomed, he guessed. If the man tried anything, he could always just thump him in the face or kick his knee--the man was very thin, too thin to be a real pirate it seemed, so he wondered what the man's job had to be. Didn't seem to have any muscle tone at all. He slowly crept down the ropes, then realized his shirt was pulled up a bit, and it was still just as exposing as when he'd climbed down the tree not long before with Itachi under him. He quickly looked down, but Kiayme must have already noticed, and was looking down at the ground. He slid down the rest, nearly giving himself rope burn, then pressed down the edge of the shirt with his hands, his face turning a light pinkish shade.
"Now, then, this way--please come with me." He held out his hand, smiling at the blonde.
Staring at the hand cautiously for a second, then he slid his hand inside the slightly larger one, and was soon following the man, staring at the floor.
It only took them a couple minutes to walk into a hallway and down into a small room with a thick, tempered glass door, the room not smelling at all as bad as the rest of the ship. It actually smelt really nice, and good, and sweet.
"Strip naked and put your clothes in the small wooden bucket then sit in the empty tub right next to the filled one." the red-head instructed, pulling up the long sleeves of his white shirt and tieing them with some sort of string so that they stayed up. He moved over to a shelf of assorted bottles, a few a light-blue shade, a few orange, a few blue.
Quickly, knowing better than to dispute against the man, quickly stripped down the shirt, bandana and cuffs, unable to get the metal collar around his neck off, and carefully walked over to the foot-deep tub, sitting down in it and bringing his knees to his chest as he pressed his chin against his knee.
"Now, most of this is only perfume-based scents, and won't clean you that well, because I had to make them all myself this time, but they should work alright. You've gotten really dirty in only a few days, Naruto-chan."
"Most pirates, I've noticed, seem not to bathe and collect their stink over months..."
"Ah, yes, but you're special. Since you're a sex slave and all, you get one a week or at Itachi's will. So, you shouldn't get stinky ever. You'll always smell alright, especially after baths." He grinned, grabbing an orange bottle, a pink one, and a blue one; one of each color.
"What are all those, anyway?" he asked lightly, the blonde, staring over his shoulder at the bottles.
"Each is for something different. The orange one is to wash all the dirt and stuff off your hair and body. The blue one is for your hair, to make it really shiny and smooth and smell good, and the pink one is for your skin, after the bath and after you're dry, before you're to get dressed. It goes on your skin and makes it really smooth. There's a green one and purple one near you. Those two are for your clothes. Purple to clean, green to make it smell good."
"You actually remember all that?" The blonde arched an eyebrow, shivering a bit. It was pretty chilly in the room, despite being next to a large tub of water, which he'd presumed to be warm.
"Only a few things; not that hard." Smiling, the man set the small bottles next to the two nearby Naruto, which happened to be in a tiny bucket with steaming water on the bottom. "Alright, you're going to hate this, but the water's going to be really cold... And, hold on, let me get that collar off you."
"I don't like cold water," the captive complained, glaring off into the distance. He saw a large, open window, that lead to smaller ships--life rafts, he guessed--and would have attempted escaping. Only, now that he was naked, he wasn't sure that was such a good idea. It had been extremely cold outside.
The man pulled a key from the inside pocket of a satchel on his belt, played around with it inside the hole on the collar, and popped it out, pulling the collar with it. "But it'll have to go back on afterwards."
"I know," he muttered distastefully.
"Stay still,"
"I know!"
Frowning a bit, Kiayme walked over to the large tub of cold water, which was twice the size of the tub Naruto was in mostly, only one side was a bit smaller than Naruto's side there so that it could easier be poured into the smaller tub. He pressed against the edge, and it started tipping over, pouring the icy-cold water over onto Naruto's head and down his body.
The blonde yelped and jumped up, falling over and stumbling backwards, hugging himself and twitching, staring frightfully at the bucket.
"Get back in. You don't really have a choice in this..." He sighed.
"I know! But it's so cold!"
"You'll have some warm water before this is over to warm you up a bit. Sit back down."
Not really sure, but knowing that he didn't want to invoke the wrath of the guy who had hot water stashed somewhere away, he cautiously made his way back to the smaller bucket and sat down, shivering badly at the touch of the cold water against his body. He hesitated though, again, and when he didn't completly sit in, the red-head pushed down against his shoulder, forcing him further down into the water which was halfway filling the tub now. The larger tub--easy to turn because it was held up about an inch from some sort of thing holding it up--was back up straight, not disposing of any more water into the smaller tub which Naruto occupied.
Biting into his lower lip lightly, the blonde, still shivering, whimpered, hugging himself tightly.
Kiayme grabbed the orange bottle, pulling off the cork top and pressing his smallest finger into the top, which fit snuggly, and shook it gently. It had grown quite warm in the hot water, and was very thin and liquidy. Removing his finger, he then moved the finger back over the top halfway, so that the contents would gradually come out. He held it, upside-down, over the blondes head, until there was a small pile of a thick orange mush on the blonde's head. He set the bottle down, recorked it, and pressed his fingertips onto the boy's head, massaging his scalp.
"Stay still and keep your eyes closed, because if any of this stuff gets in your eyes, it'll be a pain getting it out, and it lathers thickly, and hurts really bad." the man informed.
"Fine..."
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"Master Zabuza--"
"What is it?" the man interrupted quickly, gazing over his shoulder at the shorter male.
"S-Sasuke, yes, Itachi's younger sibling, b-but you did agree to assist them in finding Naruto... And he... might know where he is."
"Its been a week. Go get a nice bath and come to bed. I'm in no mood to talk of this." He turned back, showing he wasn't going to go back on his word, and walked away quickly, leaving Ino, Shikamaru and Sasuke standing there, along with Haku, though he was slowly, hesitantly, trailing after his master.
Sasuke stared down at his feet, not saying a word. He was still standing, and just sighed, leaning back against the railing, fingering the rope, feeling stupid of having tossed the gun away.
Shikamaru looked back over at the brother of the infamous captain, inspecting him carefully.
Feeling the eyes upon him, Sasuke looked up, over at Shikamaru. "What?"
"I don't trust that you didn't do anything to Naruto..." he accused, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Fine, don't believe it." he said, annoyed. "I did nothing to him other than try to help him." Though, he was lying. He had tried a few stunts before, and there was always that dream of his, that fantasy he kept remembering occasionally when he grew to miss Naruto's presence.
"Tch..." He rolled his eyes, then looked over at Ino, frowning. "So, what do we do?"
She sighed, looking down at her feet, then walked over to the mast, loosening the rope. "There's nothing we can do of now. We'll have to tie him up. If you'll be as kind as to not to argue..." She slowly looked over to Sasuke, who'd already started towards her. He stared at her for a second, then rolled his eyes, closing them. She pressed his body agaisnt the mast, working the ropes until they secured him to it.
Shikamaru looked at Sasuke. "He knows something, though... We can't just let Zabuza take him away when he can help us rescue Naruto..." He frowned deeply, then turned around, leaning his stomach over the side of the ship, his stomach hurting and annoyed again at the boat's moving. He had a bad taste on his tongue when he looked back up, his stomach feeling empty for the millionth time today. He sighed. This wasn't helping at all.
Ino just stayed quiet for awhile, then stared at Sasuke, frowning. "Why don't you tell me everything you know, and that'll just make it easier? I'm sorry for Zabuza's order, but... I can't help that..."
"I don't know anything else but that they were headed in that--" he nodded his head towards an eastern direction--"direction. Naruto's always trying to escape, and I don't know how much longer Itachi will put up with it. I don't know if he believes Naruto's innocence is really worth the trouble."
"Innocence?" Shikamaru repeated, arching an eyebrow quickly when his head jerked back to stare with annoyance at Sasuke. "What the hell is that supposed to mean!"
Sasuke stared at Shikamaru for a second, then sighed, closing his eyes, then turning his head to the side and opening his eyes again, avoiding eye contact. "Tch, you wouldn't understand, I'm sure."
"If--"
Ino interrupted. "Quit it, you two... Look, Sasuke... Whatever you were really meaning by that, forget it for right now. There's no way for us to head in that direction, because this ship is going in the opposite direction... And the Captain won't agree to it, I'm sure."
"Tch... What am I supposed to do about that?" he muttered distastefully, annoyed at his position of helplessness, the inability to help Naruto, save him from his brother. The things Itachi could have been doing ran over and over like a broken visual record in his mind, which hurt, cutting his brain and heart deeply.
"I'm just saying... Tonight, I'll look around, and if everyone's asleep but us, we'll take the life boat... Alright?" She smiled at him, and he just shrugged, still plagued by the thought of his brother corrupting his Naruto. Unintentionally, a light growl escaped from his throat.
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1
The feminine male sighed, a thin towel stuck between his hands and his hair, wringing its length with the aid of the cloth. It was pretty much completely dry, but it still felt like it had a tiny bit of dampness to it.
Quickly shrugging it off, he set the small towel down, grabbing the brush and quickly gliding it through his length of black hair, before taking a white cloth and tying up his hair with it, one part slightly in a bun to keep it from trailing along the floor when he walked. He pressed two needle-like, long pings through his hair, through the middle of the bun-holding cloth, and looked in a nearby piece of a shattered mirror, holding it with slender, pale hands, inspecting himself. His skin was soft and smooth from the bath he'd just had ten minutes previous, and his hair had a very sweet, perfume scent to it from the soaps. He gave a soft smile, setting the fragment of a mirror down and working on his clothing.
With those slender fingers, he picked up a thin, practically see-through white under-cloth which was like a kimono, only going under the regular kimono. A very fine silk was what it was composed of, soft and delicate to the touch. He slid his arms through the sleeves, straightening it out before moving forward to the second part of the outfit. When his fingers reached down onto the small oak table, they gently picked up his thin, silk kimono, which's edges were a navy blue color, while the main parts were white with navy trimming and a robe-sash-thin, navy sash. He carefully slid into that, tieing the sash perfectly, and making sure all of his hair was over the kimono and still neat. His feet carefully slid into teakwood, inch-high Japanese sandals, the single white strap to go between his two first toes.
Looking over himself in the mirror and with his own eyes, inspecting himself, he looked for anything that might even be slightly out of place, before setting down the glass fragment and padding over to the door, opening it lightly and closing it in the same manner silently.
In the rooms that lined the hallway he walked along, he could hear the rest of the grew talking amongst each other or two themselves, getting drunk and having a fun time. At the end of the hallway, when he came to it, he carefully treaded up the spiraling staircase to a single, short hall, with only one door off to his left. When he got to it, he raised a fist to the door, knocking with the small knuckles on the back of his hand.
"Its open," a tired-sounding voice called, seeming to be stifling a yawn as the male said it.
His fingers graced the handle, wrapped around it, and moved it to the right, pushing open the door. His footsteps were light against the wooden floor as he entered the fair-sized room, which was the size of two of the regular crew's, closing the door behind him.
His soft-brown eyes stared at the strong man who was lying in his bed, staring up at the ceiling with half-open eyes, though not squinting. The younger male carefully walked over to him, sitting on the edge of the bed and running a thin finger over his shoulder and down his chest.
"Feeling alright, Master?" his weak voice asked slowly, frowning.
"Mm... My neck hurts."
"I'll give you a massage," he offered, smiling at his master and moving to a position that he could give the said treatment to his captain, urging him cautiously up with one of those slender hands.
The larger male sat up, murmuring a gruff 'whatever' and facing his back to the boy, who's hands touched his shoulders, gently rubbing them and massaging them with his palms at the tips of his fingers. He moved his hands down along the man's bare back, along his spine and sides, back up to his shoulders, gently right under his neck. Ten minutes passed before the older, bigger male stopped him, quickly moving around to face the younger one.
"Haku..."
The boy's face gave a slightly surprised look. "Yes, master?"
His strong, right hand moved up, touching the boy's cheek and sliding his thumb over the pale, perfect features. 'No matter how many times we sleep together... he always has that innocence to him,' the man concluded in his mind, his eyes gazing deep into that of the other's.
The young boy blinked. "Something wrong?"
"Ah, no... Not at all." He leaned forward, pressing his lips against the other's, as well as his strong, toned body against the thin, beauty-refined one. Haku, who was barely taken surprise by this any longer, didn't resist at all, but leaned forward, one hand pressed against his master's chest. His feet, still both hanging slightly off the edge, moved a bit, the sandals falling easily off as his legs wrapped around one of the man's.
Zabuza's left hand reached down, pulling off the sash and barely taking the time to toss it aside before moving his hand under both the kimono and the under cloth, sliding his hand along the boy's silky flesh and using his wrist to push aside the two cloths on the boy's body.
Meshing their bodies together, he moved his kissed down the boy's cheek, along his jaw line for a few kisses, then down the other's throat and onto his collar bone, left hand suddenly going up to remove whatever held Haku's hair up and tossing the cloth and two pins randomly to the rest of his room.
"Haku?"
"Y-yes?" the boy asked, through a heavy breath, tongue rolling over his lips.
"Let me see your wrists."
Obediently, the boy lifted his wrists, which around both was a leather cuff. Zabuza sighed, then, with his left hand--as his right was still cradling Haku's cheek--he pulled the two cuffs off, also tossing them aside. He didn't look up at Haku, though, but his grip on the boy's face loosened.
Haku stared at him, not really sure what to do, then smiled, staring at Zabuza.
"M-... Zabuza..." He shook his head, then closed his eyes, raising his left hand and pressing the other's loose right hand against his face again. "You're not stopping so early, are you?"
He looked up, seeing a slightly lustful look placed inside the innocent eyes. He smirked, and shook his head.
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1 Meiw. I couldn't resist writing something about Haku and Zabuza. I just couldn't, I swear!
Narumi-chan made me do it!
Whoo. Awesome. And, erm, if anyone thinks it is long, I don't care? I write everything really long. So, if you will--deal with it. But this feels a bit different than the things I usually write... Meh. Probably because I'm doing it based on a discontinued story of someone else, so now that I'm finishing it up 'cause I asked and such, it is a bit different. I've only continued one person's story before, and that was when I was young and into quizilla stories.
So, erm, do whatever. Like I care. I'll do more later. I'm a fast typist, so I'll probably end up getting a few chapters done a week. Maybe. Depends how much time I devote to this.
Whoo. Randomthings. Awesome.
Shiibi.
I'll disappear now.
