Chapter 14: The Graveyard.

Sai knocked on the mahogany paneling of the Captain's sturdy cabin door, a silver tea set balanced precariously on his other hand. "Sir? Sir, I've brought you breakfast."

A pause, and then a low voice, muffled by the distance: "Come in."

He pushed the door open quietly to reveal a large, richly furnished bedroom. Soft rugs were spread across the floor, muting his footsteps as he padded towards the window; tapestries and gold plated plaques decorated the walls. Morning light filtered in, lending the thin cotton curtains an ethereal glow as they fluttered in the salty breeze. His Captain was leaning against the glass, intently studying a scrap of parchment with a slight frown.

Six in the morning and the man was already cleanly shaven, long black hair tied back in a low ponytail. He was dressed in the formal uniform of the Royal Navy but the long sleeves of his stiff white shirt were rolled back to the elbows, his dark red jacket slung over the back of a chair. Uchiha Itachi was renowned for his self-discipline, the tight control he held over every aspect of his life. Meticulous and efficient, he was a brilliant fighter and commander, having slipped up through the military ranks with ease. That, plus his mysterious demeanour and tragic history served to make him effectively irresistible to the ladies.

"Another letter from Konoha, sir?" Sai murmured, setting down the tray on a nearby desk.

"No," Itachi sighed, slipping the note into a shirt pocket. "Orochimaru."

Sai blinked, his large, dark eyes following the older man as he stalked forwards and broke a few crumbs off a slab of bread. He knew from years of companionship that the older man would tell him more when he wished, that no amount of questioning could wrench an answer from nor sit well with a reluctant Itachi - and so he merely stepped away, face a blank slate, and waited.

A few minutes later Itachi set down a pitcher of water and turned to him, his obsidian gaze sweeping over Sai's sharp features. Sai was not surprised when an odd expression flickered across his face; he had seen that half-wince, that pained look several times before. He had not been deaf to the rumours circulated amongst the lower ranks that Itachi kept him by his side, the quiet, loyal servant he had picked off the streets, for his resemblance to Uchiha Sasuke, the younger brother who had massacred the entire clan years ago. He himself had never laid eyes upon said sibling but had heard that he was apparently the spitting image of the Uchiha scion. Certainly, he knew that he could easily pass as a close relative of Itachi's, what with their mournful dark eyes and spiky black hair, the angular set of their features.

Sai didn't understand Itachi's motive for keeping him by his side, nor did he care. He had to admit that it was strange that Itachi would want to be constantly reminded of the brother who had destroyed his entire family - but the man had lifted him from a lifetime of extreme poverty and he owed him everything.

"Tell Kisame to change our course."

Sai snapped to attention when Itachi's smooth baritone broke the silence. "Sir?"

"Orochimaru is a madman," the Captain murmured. "He has admitted to being the one who plundered the Hyuuga's ship."

Two days ago a patrol had come across the burning wreck of what used to be the Konoha Maiden, slowly disintegrating into the sea as it drifted eastwards. No survivors had been found onboard; Lady Hinata, her cousin and the Uchiha prisoner all missing from the scattered corpses, presumed dead.

"He is holding the Hyuuga hostage?" Sai guessed, gesturing to the corner of the parchment sticking out from his pocket. Itachi snorted.

"No. Most likely he knows that the Hyuuga have been trying to get rid of their incompetent heir and would not pay a dime for her return," he told Sai matter-of-factly. "He has something far more valuable to me."

"Sasuke." Sai felt his heart sinking. He couldn't help but hate the man, not because of what he had done to Itachi but because Itachi still obviously cared for the bastard.

Sai's older brother had died of the flu when he was seven, their parents too poor to buy the needed medication. Growing up alone with the memory of brotherhood but not the actual bonds that had made his deprived childhood more humane, he had lost himself to the grueling daily routine of absolute poverty, too busy trying to find money to mingle with others his age. Now, more than ten years later, Sai was finally beginning to find a sort of older brother in Itachi, was beginning to re-build the fraternal bonds that had been severed so brutally – and yet, and yet, Itachi was still preoccupied with that traitor Uchiha Sasuke.

"My brother," Itachi confirmed coolly. "Orochimaru wants gold in return for Sasuke."

"Perhaps it is better this way," Sai suggested woodenly, unwilling to see the bitterness that darkened Itachi's eyes whenever Sasuke was mentioned. "Better that Sasuke should be retrieved and executed according to the law than let him be killed by a mere pirate."

"Sai – "

"Plus," he hastened to add. "This way, at least you can get the map back. The Uchiha treasure won't stay lost for long."'

"It must stay hidden," Itachi suddenly snapped. "The Uchiha treasure is not merely pieces of gold, Sai. Sasuke had no idea what exactly he was dealing with when he took the map. When we captured him again I had hoped that he had hidden it securely, somewhere even I wouldn't know of – so that when he is executed the secret would die with him. His escape from punishment by law is the least of my worries. Orochimaru must not get the map!"

Sai blinked, taken aback by Itachi's uncharacteristically violent outburst. "I'm sure Sasuke has already attempted to buy his freedom with it," he suggested bitterly. "Coward that he is."

A pause.

Then Itachi sighed, running a hand through his hair almost forlornly. "My brother is no coward."

Sai bristled. "He betrayed the Uchiha. He betrayed you."

"Many people have."

He gritted his teeth. "I'd never betray you."

Silence. Sai bit his lip, wondering if he had crossed the line.

"Sir, I apologize," he began stiffly, unable to stand the way Itachi was staring at him, an unreadable expression on his face. "I didn't mean to say-"

He broke off abruptly, surprised to see Itachi slowly lifting a hand up towards him. Eyes widened when he was lightly poked on the forehead.

"...S-sir?"

The older man watched him for a long moment. Then:"Find Kisame and tell him we're heading North by North-East. We should get there by nightfall."

"Sir – I –"

"You may leave now." Itachi turned away.

Sai bowed his head. "Yes, Captain."

"I thought," Sakura mumbled, staring glumly out the window, "That you said you had buried the map on an island."

Sasuke snorted. "And?"

They had been moved out from the cells after he revealed the location of the map to Orochimaru. Currently the four prisoners were given free rein of one of the viewing cabins onboard the Akatsuki, a thin, rectangular room comfortably furnished with a few dusty armchairs and a long dining table. Three guards were posted at the doorway; Sasuke recognized the woman he had knocked unconscious during the fight, her arm bandaged heavily where it had been crushed by her fall.

"Sasuke, this is most emphatically not an island!" Sakura hissed indignantly. "It's a graveyard!"

He shrugged, rolling his eyes at her from his armchair. "Feh."

But even the two most boisterous members of their group, Gai and Lee, were huddled together, staring quietly out at the scene before them.

The Akatsuki had sailed in a wide arc, drifting along the edge of the thick barrier of mist for the entire afternoon, until they reached a point where the mist seemed densest. There Sasuke had directed them to spear headfirst into the murky waters, after which Kabuto had taken over, knowing exactly where they were heading after Sasuke's tip.

In the rosy glow of the early evening the mist was tinted a pretty mix of pink and orange. Stray shafts of light that managed to pierce through caressed the hollow shells of a few dozen decaying ships of varying sizes, glancing off the enormous hull of an upturned warship to linger between the tattered sails of a small fishing boat. Sakura shivered as they sailed past the hulking skeletons of rotting, moss covered wood and the remnants of their former passengers – a tattered shirt pinned against a broken plank that jutted out from the water, a polished boot sticking out from under a gleaming pile of shattered glass.

The mystery of the mist was solved. She now realized that Shikamaru must have been lying when he said no one really knew why the weather was so strange around Leaf Island – he had been hiding a secret from the newcomers, hadn't trusted them enough to tell them everything about the hiding place of the Leaf pirates.

She pressed her hand against the glass. "What is this?"

Leaf Island was the tip of a dormant volcano, a rocky outcrop jutting out from the sea. A line of underwater geysers ringed the island in an enormous circle, boiling the surrounding ocean. A few protruded from the surface, creating small areas of glistening black spirals like massive, overgrown masses of rotting coral, spouting hot water and steam into the air. What they were seeing was one of the largest of such protrusions, a tangle of black rock that stabbed out from under the suface.

Sakura remembered Shikamaru's warning: Only we know how to navigate through the mist to the island; all other foreign ships that have managed to come through the area become lost. The lucky ones find their way out, the unluckier ones stay stranded.

The stranded ships had drifted in the mist before snagging onto the deadly, boiling outcrop, running aground or hooked between the narrow crevices one by one until a continuous line of broken ships had formed, tangled and crushed against each other. Even now the Akatsuki was sailing along at an excruciatingly slow pace, Kabuto, who was at the helm, knowing very well the danger they were in.

Sakura found Sasuke's reflection in the glass. The Uchiha was still lounging in his armchair, looking bored.

He...had hidden his map here?

Suddenly the ship shuddered, a grinding jolt shaking the entire structure. Sakura stumbled backwards a little, her breath hitching in her throat – had they run aground? Were they, too, now part of the dead and dying in this ocean graveyard? Had they –

A hand on her arm; she glanced up to see Lee smiling kindly at her. "Are you alright, Miss Sakura?"

"Yes, of course. Thank you," she muttered quickly, embarrassed. Inwardly she cursed herself for her cowardly behaviour. Once is enough, she scolded herself. You've already let down Lady Hinata and Hanabi – now is not the time to be afraid, not now, no no -

"Don't be afraid, m'lady!" Gai flashed a thumbs up at her. "We are always here to protect the fragile blooms that flower in adversity!"

"Er..." Sakura didn't know quite what to say. "Thank you?" Well intentioned as he was, Gai simply didn't make her any surer of herself. She didn't know if she could survive this, trapped in a ship with a group of pirates – after all, she was only a court lady, brought up to be gentle and quiet and -

"Feh. I'd hardly call her the fragile type," Sasuke suddenly spoke up, turning his head to stare at Sakura with a smirk. "Look what she did to me earlier."

He raised his foot to show a very ugly bruise that created an interesting black and blue and purple pattern against the pale skin of his ankle.

"Miss Sakura did that?" Lee asked, sounding awed.

"I did?" Sakura blinked.

"Back on your ship," he reminded her.

"Oh." Sakura blinked again, and then remembered that she had repeatedly stomped on him in a vain attempt to free herself from his grasp. "...Oh. Yes. I'm sorry about that."

"You are truly very deadly with your foot, Miss Sakura!" Gai winked at her encouragingly.

"Yes, I am, aren't I?" she smiled, feeling a little better about herself. Sasuke was looking amused but there was something about his expression, a kindness in his eyes – Sakura realized, with a jolt, that he had been trying to make her feel more confident. She smiled wider at him. "I guess I'm just too much for you, Sasuke," she teased.

"Feh. Too heavy, more like."

Silence. Then there was a flurry of activity and much hoarse shouting as both Lee and Gai attempted to pull a raging Sakura back from a (very amused) Sasuke, who remained sprawled lazily across his armchair like a bored prince.

"You - how dare you – too heavy? Too heavy? Let me at him!" Sakura cried, furiously trying to throw their arms off her. "Let me teach this horrible man a lesson!" She towered over him for a moment with all the terrible anger of a woman wronged, before grabbing his shoulders with an iron grip. "Oh, you –"

"Ahem."

All heads turned to see Orochimaru at the doorway, twirling his ridiculously fancy hat in his hands. "Good evening, ladiesssssss and gentlemen."

The four remained frozen. Then Sakura coughed, softening her grip on Sasuke's shoulders and leaning down until her hair covered her face.

"Oh, Sasuke," she mewed pitifully (albeit a little awkwardly). "Promise me you will protect me from the scary looking pirates!"

Sasuke was mortified to find himself blushing when she curled into the armchair, pressing herself against his side. He put an arm around her tentatively, glancing around to see Orochimaru's expectant face. "Why yes, maiden, I will – er - do my utmost to preserve your – your –"

"Innocence! Your lovely, feminine innocence!" Gai finished for him, who, along with Lee, had already managed to twist themselves into some heroic pose.

The guards on either side of Orochimaru looked like they were going to say something, to point out their obvious inconsistencies in behaviour – but thankfully Orochimaru was far too busy feeling gleeful at his evilness and apparent ability to frighten young ladies to notice.

"Well, Sssssasuke, we have reached our destination," he announced triumphantly. "It is time to find the map!"

"Aye." Sasuke gingerly pushed Sakura off him, wincing when she pinched him viciously in secret. He picked up the oil lamp they had been given, slipping a hand into his breech pockets to finger the splints that he still carried. "Well then, let's go."

Orochimaru bowed with a mocking flourish as he passed, an oily smile on his face. When Sakura, Lee and Gai attempted to follow him, though, the guards immediately blocked their way, drawing out their daggers to stop them from leaving the room. Sasuke turned around angrily.

"They're coming with me."

"Later," Orochimaru told him. "They are unimportant. They will follow behind us."

Sasuke looked past the guards to see Sakura giving him a small smile. "Go first, Sasuke. We'll come after you."

"Yosh! Never fear! We shall take care of our precious blossom while you are ahead!" Lee grinned.

"... ...Feh." Sasuke grunted before reluctantly following Orochimaru away.

The air was moist and wet when they emerged onto the deck. The massive shadows that were the rotting ships swayed slowly, emitting eerie creaking noises as they moved. Kabuto was waiting for them; the walkway had already been lowered, stretching down to rest against the large, tilted deck of a cargo ship. Ropes stretched taut between the banisters and various anchors below served to secure the Akatsuki to the other ship.

Sasuke stalked rigidly across the deck. He stopped by the walkway as if to survey their surroundings, in reality picking out a length of rope that ran between the posts right by the walkway and the front mast of the cargo ship. Well aware that he was being watched, he turned away from Orochimaru and the crew assembled on deck and leaned against the banister, discreetly pinching out the flame burning in the lamp.

"Sssasuke," Orochimaru called to him, following the Uchiha at a leisurely pace. "Are you ready?"

"Aye." Sasuke straightened and turned around, at the same time upturning the oil lamp with a deft flick of his wrist behind his back. The oil dribbled out and onto the post, drenching slowly down into the rope. "Very."

Back in the viewing cabin, Sakura was staring into the condescending smirk of one Tsuchi Kin.

Gai and Lee had been dragged away by two of the guards minutes after Sasuke's departure with Orochimaru, growling indignantly about their need to protect their delicate bloom. She had heard their protestations even as they were forced up the stairs by knifepoint. The moment she had tried to run after them, however, the other woman in the room had grabbed her roughly and pushed her back, sending her stumbling into the table.

"Why am I forced to stay here?" she demanded, trying to sound as brave as possible. "Your captain said that I am to follow Sasuke up to the deck. Let me pass!"

"In your dreams, you little whore,' Kin told her contemptibly. "You're not going anywhere."

"Why not?" Her hands fisted by her side.

"Captain Orochimaru has decided that you'd make a pretty little present for his men," Kin said spitefully. "As soon as he's got the map, every male in our crew are going to pay you a nice visit. I almost feel sorry for your little lover-boy there." She rubbed her injured arm angrily, obviously still irate at having been beaten by the Uchiha. "Almost. But not quite."

Sakura paled. "Never," she whispered. "Never."

"That's not up to you, I'm afraid," the other woman sniffed. "Look at you, trembling like the weak little thing you are. I bet you're sorry for leaving Konoha now, aren't you? I bet you've never had to do a single hard thing in your life, you with your court manners and your pretty hands. Look at mine!" She thrust her hands forwards, showing Sakura the coarse skin, the scars the disfigured her wrist. "These are what real working hands look like, you useless bitch! And your hair - so long, so unpractical." Her expression darkened, the jealousy evident now on her face. Suddenly she lunged forwards, grabbing a shocked Sakura by her hair. "I'd never grow mine that long, not if I'm going to be a good sailor. You see what I can do to you because of your damned vanity? You see?" She tugged cruelly downwards, yanking Sakura's head down.

"Stop! You – stop it!" Sakura cried, wincing, falling to her knees as she tried desperately to free herself.

Kin bit her lip, glaring down at the struggling woman. "I'd never have pretty hair like you," she muttered, twisting Sakura's until she yelped in pain, eyes squeezed shut. Kin snorted. "Weakling."

Stop –

Sakura gritted her teeth, trying to ignore the stinging pain.

Weakling.

Not again, no not again –

Never. Never never never never.

Her eyes snapped open. Kin's dagger was tucked into the scabbard around her waist, a hint of gleaming metal jutting out from the brown leather.

"What are you doing?" The other woman exclaimed when Sakura reached up and unsheathed the blade, slashing up in one smooth arc.

Pale pink strands drifted down to the ground; Sakura fell back abruptly, gasping for breath.

Kin stared at the woman glaring up at her, the jagged ends of her newly cropped hair falling softly just below her chin. "You –"

With a sudden cry Sakura was up on her feet, a deadly gleam in her eyes. Her fist swung back – lips flickered up in a confident smirk – and then Kin was knocked to the side by the force of her punch. Her head hit the hard edge of the dining table with a sickening crack, eyes rolling back, and then she was down and unconscious on the ground, pink locks still grasped tightly between her fingers.

Sakura fell forwards, grasping onto the table for support. Her chest rose and fell shakily with each shuddering breath.

Weakling?

... ...Never again.

"I must have buried it on the other side," Sasuke told an impatient Orochimaru. "... ...Feh. It was too long ago, I can't remember correctly."

He had led their group on a futile trip across the broken silhouette of wrecked ships for the past half hour, trying to give as much time as possible for Gai, Lee and Sakura to escape. Now, however, the others were getting impatient and he knew he couldn't drag on the act for much longer.

Kabuto was watching him with narrowed eyes. "Hurry, brat."

Orochimaru merely scowled, beckoning to Sakon and Ukon, the two crew members he had picked to accompany them on their little excursion. The rest of the crew was back onboard the Akatsuki, guarding the ship. "Lead the way," he said quietly, the intensity of his gaze betraying his excitement at being so close to finding the map to what was rumoured to be the biggest hoard of treasure in the seven seas.

Sasuke nodded, stepping over a broken mast. "It must be on the other side," he reassured them calmly.

He led the way back in the direction of the ship, slowly clambering across broken planks and the various death traps hidden by the mist. By the time they had returned to the bottom of the walkway they were all sweating from the heat and exertion; Sakon and Ukon had stripped off their shirts, revealing the throbbing veins and disfigured tissue that joined them. Sasuke rested a hand on mast of the cargo ship, rubbing his fingers against the rope connecting it to the Akatsuki while scanning the area around them.

Gai and Lee were in the distance, half hidden by a tattered sail. He narrowed his eyes; they were jumping up and down, waving energetically despite being surrounded by guards and probably hiding the less enthusiastic Sakura from view.

The splints were out in an instant. A hiss of dry wood and a flame was flickering by his fingertips.

"Ssssasuke –"

He turned around to face the surprised pirate Captain, a lazy smirk back on his face. "Say goodbye to your ship, Orochimaru."

A flick of his wrist and the mast flared to life, a streak of light rushing up the rope and spreading rapidly along the banisters of the Akatsuki, down and across the deck, the heady scent of burning wood and scorched fibre wafting into the mist.

A terrified shout; he spun around to see Lee breaking away from Orochimaru's men and scrambling towards him, slipping against the slanted deck in his haste to reach the Uchiha.

"Sasuke! Sasuke, she's still in there! "

She's still in there.

His head snapped up, the blood draining from his face as he watched the thick smoke mixing into the mist, further hiding the ship from view.

"Sakura," he breathed, and then he was off and running, darting across the crackling wood and headlong into the fire.