Thank you, my reviewers! You guys are great!

This chapter is mostly filler and kind of short. But still, I hope you enjoy. :)

Chapter Eleven - Tranquility

Just as Sakura had told him, things got much better between Naruto and Sasuke over the next few days. Apparently she had also been correct about the brunet being closed off when he was confused. And about the fact that Sasuke could rant for hours about things he disliked.

"I mean, Sakura's newer to the ship than I am, the captain barely knows her, and yet her position on the ship is of higher status. What's that all about? Sure, she's been on a few other ships in her life, but still! I feel cheated," he had whined about for almost an hour the previous day.

Sakura had been part of the crew for five days, over which Naruto had discovered that she was really clever, extremely helpful and very kind, not to mention incredibly hot.

He liked her a lot.

But he liked Sasuke a lot more, and was more than delighted when the tension between them dissipated. They had almost reverted back to their old routine of eating meals and practicing piano together. Naruto couldn't be happier.

Well, he could, but he wouldn't push too much on that subject; Sasuke had been really touchy about it. Every time Naruto even tried to take his hand in his own, Sasuke would pull away roughly and whisper a harsh "Naruto!" But the blond was working on it.

"Where are we going?" Sasuke asked, flopping down beside the wheel where Naruto was stationed early one morning.

Naruto shrugged. "Just sailing," he replied.

They were silent for a few moments before Sasuke asked, "Didn't you say that you're not supposed to pilot the ship?"

The blond scoffed. "Yeah, well, almost everyone else is still asleep. Besides, I was fine the other day. No accidents at all-"

"Hn. But Gaara doesn't like you piloting. Does he know you're doing this? Maybe I should just…" With a smug grin on his face, he turned to get up.

"No!" Naruto interjected, reaching out and pushing down on Sasuke's head so that he stayed put. "Please don't tell. I like steering, and Gaara's just too picky. I'm not that bad; no one ever needs to find out."

As that was said, there was a snapping sound, and the handle that had previously been a part of the wheel was now lying in Naruto's left hand, completely detached, ends splintering. Naruto stared at it with a crestfallen face. "I can fix that…" he groaned.

When Sasuke looked up at him with a sceptical look, he shot out a, "What? I can! I have every other time I've broken it!"

"Every other time?" the brunet smirked.

Naruto flushed. "Yeah, just that… one… other time. That one time I broke it, I fixed it up fine."

Sasuke laughed. "Idiot."

In the afternoon of Sakura's sixth day as a deckhand on the Shuriken, she walked into the piano room and interrupted something that needn't have been disrupted.

Every day just after lunch, Naruto and Sasuke disappeared into this room and there they spent a couple hours simply enjoying each other's company. Some days they looked through the many shelves and discussed books they had both read. Some days they talked about their lives, what had passed and what they hoped to come. And some days they played the piano.

This day they were doing just that.

Sakura gasped as she walked in. "Oh, sorry, I didn't know anyone was in here. I just needed somewhere quiet to read," she indicated, pointing at the book she had brought with her. "I'm at a really good part, but Temari's snoring up a storm in our room and Kiba and Akamaru are making a ruckus on deck."

"It's no problem," Naruto said with a smile. "Stay."

So she did, taking a seat on the floor between the bookshelf and Sai's painting canvas. She had just opened her book to read when the music began.

Sasuke was playing the piano. Beautifully.

"Wow," Sakura said before she could stop herself. "I didn't know you could play the piano, Sasuke."

His cheeks reddened and his fingers fell away from the keys. "I don't," he said without turning to face her.

"Nah, he's lying!" Naruto said, patting the brunet's shoulder. "I've been showing him all the notes and fingerings. He's a natural," he finished, grinning widely, pride written all over his scarred face.

Sakura turned her head back to Sasuke. "You're amazing," she said, smiling.

The red in his cheeks darkened and he absently turned the pages of the piano music.

Naruto was still grinning broadly. "Well, he will be. With a little more practice." He turned to the music and flipped back a couple pages. "See, here, you…"

And with that they went on with their music lesson. Sakura placed her novel on the floor and watched silently, suddenly not so interested in her book.

It wasn't just music lessons that Sasuke was receiving. Ever since he had whined to Naruto about Sakura being an actual deckhand, Naruto had made sure that Sasuke would get the training he needed to become one as well.

Sasuke now wished he hadn't said anything.

"Keep focused, Sasuke!" Neji yelled in the brunet's face.

"Huh?" When his vision came back into focus, he saw that Neji was standing over him, where he was spread out on his back, having just been knocked over once again in their sparring match.

"Get up, grab your cutlass. We're not done yet," Neji said, standing back and holding his own sword in a defensive stance.

Sasuke groaned but did as he was told, and the clanging of swords began once more. And just as always, Sasuke would swing his cutlass at Neji, who would somehow easily deflect it with his own before bringing it around and knocking Sasuke's right out of his hands. And just like always, Sasuke would somehow end up lying flat on his back.

"Maybe sword fighting just isn't your thing," Neji mused, grabbing Sasuke's hand and helping him up from his place on the deck for the eighth time.

"You think?" he asked sarcastically, brushing off his pants and stalking away.

But all wasn't given up. The next day he was dragged out to the forecastle deck again. This time, however, it wasn't by Neji, and it wasn't to learn the art of swordplay. This time it was Shino, and he was sporting a gun.

"What are we doing?" Sasuke asked, eyeing the weapon, eyes narrowed.

"I was asked to teach you," Shino replied, cocking the rifle and turning to face a table on which several tin cups were sitting.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed further. "Teach me what?" he asked, although he already knew the answer.

Shino raised the gun, aimed and shot three times, hitting each cup squarely and effectively knocking them off the table. "To shoot a rifle," he finally replied, lowering the weapon to his side.

"Wow," Sasuke whispered, going over to where the cups were lying on the deck. He picked one up and examined it, noticing the hole that went right through the centre of it; the gun pellet hadn't been off by even a centimetre.

"Come, you try," Shino said from the other side of the deck, not having moved at all as Sasuke had examined the cups.

He stood and walked to Shino's side, where the surprisingly heavy weapon was put into his hands. Shino himself walked over to where a crate was set against the ship's rails and took out three more tin cups before joining Sasuke once again.

"Now cock your gun like so," he said, taking Sasuke's hands and showing him precisely how to do it, "And aim." Sasuke lifted the rifle to about shoulder level and nodded. "Fire," Shino said, and Sasuke did. Having missed, Shino said again, "Fire." Missed again.

Groaning, but determined to get it, Sasuke aimed at the third can and pulled the trigger. At first he thought he had hit the can, for it was no longer on the table, but then he realised that he hadn't hit the can at all, but the table leg, and all three cans were now rolling across the deck.

"Oops," he said, wincing. "Sorry." The now three-legged table, also missing a large chunk of the corner, was resting on its side and no longer of any use.

Shino just stared at it. "I'll get Naruto to fix that. You," he said, taking the rifle away from Sasuke, "Go. We'll pick this up another time."

It was late that afternoon when Naruto found Sasuke on deck, releasing his stomach contents into the ocean.

The blond grimaced and asked, "Stomach still can't completely handle the sea, huh?" He walked over cautiously to stand beside the other man, where he began to rub soothing circles on his back.

Sasuke groaned. "I'm fine. The spells of nausea just hit me once in a while. It's getting rarer and rarer, though." He spit into the sea then sat down, letting his head fall against the railing beside him.

"That's good to hear," Naruto said, joining him on the floor. He looked over at the sparkling water beside the ship, completely undisturbed by the happenings of the world, abysmal or pleasant, just allowing itself to be carried to wherever without a care. "We haven't done this in a while," he mused after a long while, surprising both Sasuke and himself with the unexpected sound.

"Done what?"

"Sat here under the dying sun, watching the waves, feeling the breeze. We used to do it all the time when we first met."

Sasuke smiled warmly. "We should do it more often."

Naruto nodded and looked back to the gentle, gleaming waves. "Yeah," he agreed.

They sat in contentment for a few moments longer until Sasuke suddenly clutched his stomach and groaned heavily. "I still don't get what you like so much about the ocean," he choked out, focused on keeping the remainder of his food inside.

"Really?" Naruto looked over, shock in his eyes. "What's not to love?" he began, rubbing at Sasuke's back once again. "With no rules or expectations, no real destination, surrounded by endless sea and endless possibility, it's pure freedom out here." He sighed contently. "I wouldn't wanna be anywhere else."

Sasuke's discomfort waned exceedingly at the words.

All was quiet again. Just as the light from the sun was almost extinguished, Naruto asked, "So, if you don't like the ocean, why you here, then?"

Sasuke looked down at the deck then out at the sea, eyes avoiding Naruto's face. "You," he replied quietly.

Naruto eyes squinted as he smiled.

They sat together, without a word, until the only light was that of the moon. At some point Naruto's hand had slipped across the deck and into Sasuke's. The brunet flushed deeply when he noticed.

He made to pull his hand away. "Naruto, I…"

"Shh…" Naruto breathed as he slowly leaned closer.

Sasuke gasped then trembled, but didn't move, as Naruto's tongue flicked out to lick up the beaded sweat on his neck before continuing up. "Don't speak," the blond whispered sensually into his ear. He then moved to place his forehead against Sasuke's in order to stare intensely into the dark onyx orbs, which could only stare back.

Sasuke almost whimpered when Naruto pulled away and stood casually seconds later.

"Come, it's time for supper."

Early the next morning, Naruto was woken by a soft knock on his cabin door.

"Come in," he groaned.

The door pealed open quietly to reveal the captain, arms crossed and eyebrows knitted together. "It's time," he voiced dolefully.

Naruto looked at him in confusion before his eyes widened. "What? Already? I thought we had a couple more weeks."

Gaara shook his head slowly; time was up. "We're almost there. Just after noon hour, I would say." He cleared his throat and glanced over to where Sasuke was sleeping soundly. "Ready yourselves."

TBC