Thanks for all the great reviews! I'm sorry I couldn't personally reply to any of you, I've had a really busy week.
Hmm, this might be my favourite chapter so far. I hope you enjoy. :)
Chapter Twelve - Confrontation
They were less prepared than they had hoped. Since Sasuke's family was no longer in the picture, they had placed all reliance on Sakura, and she hadn't had enough to cover the entire debt. They had been hoping to have some time to collect the bit that they were missing, but time was up, and they remained short.
To say that they were screwed was an understatement. The Sound was a sick, malicious crew, and they would stop at nothing to get back what was theirs. Hell, they would stop at nothing to get what wasn't theirs, as long as they wanted it badly enough. And this debt was something they both wanted and needed.
Naruto looked past the ship, to the island in the distance. His past stupidity had been chasing them for a year now, and it had finally caught up. His sentence was awaiting him on that strip of uninhabited land in the middle of the ocean. He exhaled deeply.
The crew was still asleep. Gaara had gone below to make the two of them some breakfast, leaving Naruto to steer the ship alone towards certain doom.
It was going to be a rainy day. The sun was just coming out, and there wasn't a cloud in sight, but the breeze was strong and nippy and full of moisture. Good thing he had thought to put on a cloak before coming on deck.
The hatch below thudded open and Gaara was seen coming up with a plate of toast and eggs. Naruto smiled in thanks when the captain handed him the food and took over the piloting so that he could eat.
When a particularly heavy gust nearly knocked the eggs right of his plate, Naruto sighed and set it down. "It's going to be one hell of a day, eh?"
Gaara nodded. "I would say so."
"Does anyone else know that we're meeting the Sound today?"
The captain simply blinked. "No."
The blond eyed him suspiciously. "How did you know we were meeting them today?"
Gaara glanced over quickly before sighing. "Orochimaru left a message for us with Tsunade. She told me about it when we were there last. They know we're here; they've found us. It would be unwise for us to run."
"Whoa, you've known about this for that long and didn't bother to let anyone know?" Naruto asked, angry that his friend hadn't let him in.
"That's not true; I told you we were running out of time." Gaara said, smirking. Then he added a quick, "Sorry."
Naruto shuffled anxiously before wolfing down the rest of his breakfast. "I'll take over from here," he told the captain, who nodded silently and returned to his cabin.
As the morning progressed, Naruto watched as more and more of the usual lively faces of the crew sunk as Gaara told them of the day's plans.
When Sakura woke and found Naruto on the deck, staring blankly at the island, she knew something was wrong immediately. "What's up?" she asked, coming to stand beside him at the ship's edge.
"We're meeting with the Sound today," was all he said, but she understood.
"Oh. Does Sasuke know?" she asked.
Naruto shook his head. "He's not up yet," he explained.
They stood in silence for a couple minutes, allowing the swift breeze to flow carelessly through their hair.
"I'm sorry."
Sakura's brows furrowed and she looked over at the blond in confusion. "For what?"
He looked over at her, allowing her to see the grief in his eyes. "For getting you and Sasuke into this. If it weren't for my stupidity, the two of you would be living happily in your port town, and the crew would be as careless as they should be."
"Don't say that, Naruto. I can't speak for Sasuke… well, except that I can, and we're both happier out here than we've been for a long time. And as for this debt you have to pay… it's not like it's your fault, right?"
Naruto stared at her blankly for a few moments before blinking and turning away to stare out at the island once more.
When Sasuke did wake, close to an hour later, the ship was nearing ever closer to shore.
"I don't see another ship anywhere," Sai was saying to Naruto. "Maybe they won't come today."
Naruto nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, maybe they won't. Maybe they forgot all about the money we owe them and are far off on the other side of the ocean right now."
Sai scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous, Naruto," he said, completely missing the sarcastic tone of the other man. "Think logically. Even if we don't meet them today, they're going to find us eventually. Better to get this over with than drag it out, don't you think?"
"What are you guys talking about?" Sasuke asked before the blond could say anything in reply.
Naruto cringed and Sai scowled at the unexpected arrival of Sasuke.
"Oh, morning, Sasuke!" Naruto said, rubbing his neck awkwardly. "How are you?"
The brunet's first thought was that Naruto was referring to the previous evening, but by the look in his eyes, he knew that the blond was thinking about everything but the actions of the day before. "I'm fine. What were you guys talking about?" he asked insistently.
Sai rolled his eyes and walked away. Naruto sighed. "You know that whole… ransom thing we needed you for?" He waited for Sasuke to nod. "Well, we're paying that money back today."
"That's what's got you so anxious?"
Naruto's eyes jumped around, never landing directly on the shorter boy. "Yep."
"I don't believe you." Sasuke was glaring. "Naruto!" he shouted when the blond wouldn't say anything more.
"Okay, okay, Sasuke!" the blond yelped, holding his hands out in front of him as Sasuke kicked him in the shin. "All I can tell you is that the people we owe the money to are here. We gambled with them, among other things, and lost. They've been searching us down for quite some time and now they've found us. But since we have most of the debt, thanks to Sakura, we're going to meet them on that island there and give it back. Easy peasy."
Sasuke stared at him disbelievingly for a few seconds before sighing. He knew that he wasn't going to get anything more from the blond and so decided to let it go. "So, how long's all this going to take?" he asked, leaning against the ship's rail and looking toward the small desert island. The trees were tall and thick towards the centre; the entire coast a sandy beach. The water surrounding it was calm and pearly blue. It looked like a nice place for a vacation, but he knew they wouldn't be staying a moment longer than needed.
"Hopefully we'll all be back on the ship, safe and sound, by nightfall," he heard the blond say behind him.
As the ship landed on the sandy beach, Gaara came over to speak with Naruto.
They mumbled quietly to eachother just out of ear's reach, but Sasuke was able to catch short snippets of what they were saying.
"…going to be royally pissed. We don't have what he wants…"
"…be swift, get out quickly, we don't want to stay long…"
"…dangerous for them. Our necks are on the line…"
"…leaving two behind with Sasuke and Sakura. The rest are coming-"
"Wait, I'm not coming?" Sasuke interrupted. "Why not?"
Gaara looked over at him sympathetically. "Because it's dangerous."
Sasuke was confused. Naruto had said it would be fine. "But-"
"You can't come," the blond ordered. "You're going to stay here with Sakura, Neji and Sai."
"Sai? I'm not staying! Naruto, please let me go. I'll stay safe, I promise," he pleaded, not knowing why he wanted to go so badly, only knowing that he wanted to stay as close to Naruto as possible.
"Sasuke…"
"Naruto."
The blond growled in frustration; those dark eyes always got to him. He looked to Gaara, who had raised a hairless brow at the blond, hoping that he would put his foot down and solve the situation. However, the captain turned to Sasuke and said, "If you promise to stay close to Naruto and listen to everything he tells you, whether or not you agree with what it may be, you can come."
"Gaara! No!"
"Naruto, he's not going to stop whining. And if you make him stay, he'll sneak off and get into trouble. It'll be better if he stays where he can be watched," Gaara explained calmly, as though Sasuke wasn't there.
Naruto looked back and forth between them before sighing and letting his shoulders fall, defeated. "Fine. But you won't leave my side and you won't say a word, got it?"
Sasuke nodded quickly. Naruto rubbed the bridge of his nose, thoroughly annoyed, and now even more nervous than he was before.
The group had been wandering through the dense thicket for over an hour when Kiba barked, "Do you have any idea where we're going?" Akamaru flicked his tail in agreement.
Temari rolled her eyes. "To the other side of the island," she snapped, looking behind her to where Kiba was walking. "Now shut it, idiot."
Kiba muttered something harshly under his breath, earning a smack from Shino, but Temari chose to ignore whatever he had said.
Sasuke, as promised, hadn't stepped a foot away from Naruto's side. The undergrowth of the woods was beginning to piss him off. Branches were cutting through his trousers right down to his flesh and mosquitoes were eating away at any part of him that wasn't covered by clothing. He couldn't be happier for the cold, since it had convinced him to wear the long-sleeved shirt that was now protecting him from the majority of the bugs.
As he absently scratched at a fresh bite on his cheek, the group broke through the trees and onto the beach.
This side of the island was different, much less inviting. The beach was rocky and covered in bits of driftwood and old fallen trees that had rotted through.
As his eyes roamed the beach, Sasuke gasped. Under the ever-darkening sky that was threatening a storm, there sat a large, unnerving ship in the waters off of shore. Twice as large as The Shuriken, it was made of a dark wood, almost black, with huge black sails. And standing on the shore in front of the ship stood its crew, completely still and waiting, with their hair and clothing billowing eerily in the wind.
There were eight of them, less than their own group of twelve, but they stood with such poise that Sasuke knew they were nothing to be fucked with.
There was one female, standing in the centre of the line of men. She had sharp eyes, a wild mess of dark pink hair atop her head and a scowl set on her face. To her left was a rotund man with a tuft of orange hair on his otherwise bald skull. His arms were crossed across his chest in a condescending manner. Beside him was a tall man with a zigzag parting his long white hair. He was holding a sword of some sort to his side and looking absolutely bored with the situation. To his left was an anxious looking man, sporting a white ponytail and wiry glasses.
To the right of the woman were two men with identical straight grey hair, standing on either side of a taller, black man with four extra arms, which unnerved Sasuke more than any of the others. All three were wearing identical smirks.
Standing in front of the line of arrogant people was the tallest man of all, with long, straight black hair that fell over his shoulders and down his back. Plastered across his face, which was pale as fresh snow, was the most sadistic smirk of all. There was no doubt that he was the captain of the Sound, Orochimaru.
"So, you've arrived," he said after several tense minutes of silence, a slight hiss in his voice.
"You noticed, did ya?" Naruto retorted, earning a smack from Kakashi.
Orochimaru's eyes thinned and he said, "Yes, well, on with our business. I believe you have something for us."
Kankuro bit his lip before pulling out a small envelope from his cloak. He gulped and strolled forward across the open beach, wind whipping at his face and light drops of rain falling onto his brown head.
As he neared the Sound, Orochimaru held out a hand, stopping him in his tracks. With a flick of his finger, Orochimaru signalled to the man with glasses, who stepped away from the lined-up crew and walked forward to meet Kankuro. He took the envelope from the brunet and opened it up to count the money inside.
Gaara took a deep breath and Naruto swallowed.
When he finished counting, the man turned to face his captain and noticeably shook his head. Orochimaru's smirk fell, thinning into an almost invisible line. "Kabuto, come, bring the money." He did as he was told, and handed the envelope to Orochimaru, who counted it for himself.
Kankuro hadn't dared to move from his place between the two crews. Sasuke shifted behind Naruto's shoulder.
"I see…" Orochimaru began. "You failed to repay the full debt."
"Oro-" Naruto began, forcing the man's furious glare upon him.
"No need for explanation." The smirk had formed on his face once again, and Sasuke knew something wasn't right. "Kimimaro," he called quietly, pointing two of his fingers toward the crew of the Shuriken.
The white-haired man raised his short sword and, before anyone could move an inch, it flew swiftly across the open expanse between the crews and embedded itself deeply into Gaara's chest.
Temari cried out, Kiba and Akamaru growled, and Sasuke swallowed bile as blood began to pool around the open wound. Kankuro spun around and began to run back towards his brother, not caring about the evil crew he had turned his back to. Naruto said nothing, but grabbed Sasuke's hand in his own.
"We leave," Orochimaru ordered, crushing the envelope in his hand.
TBC