Hi again, Starbuck here! Thanks to my lovely reviewers: ria, babe300, Oddinary (love the pen name!), and Fattyaddy-99. Here's the next chapter...I hope you'll enjoy it.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own this anime. Accuse me of anything and your favorite pair of pants will spontaniously combust.

Chapter 2: Romeo to her Juliet

"You. Pirates. Come with us." the male instructed.

The crew cast reluctant glances at each other. These characters seemed awfully shady...would they really follow them?

Zoro was...suspicious. Since these two had shown up, the other villagers had scurried away like mice frightened by a cat. They could be bringing them to meet their leader, perhaps to be thrown in prison. It was a well known fact: pirates and shinobi do NOT get along. Whatever dispute had caused the Pirate Shinobi War, as it came to be called, was unclear...but the fact remained that neither side would yield, even after centuries of fighting. Most of them didn't even know why they hated they other, merely, that they had been brought up to. His hand hovered over the three blades at his waist. If they made even the slightest move to--

And Luffy began to follow them. Just like that. Zoro sweatdropped...so much for being careful. Looking at the others, they nodded silently before following after Luffy and the two mysterious shinobi.

It wasn't long before they'd strayed off the main road, wandering into a lush forest. Sanji looked upwards at the trees, which contained a strange tar-shaped fruit that he was unable to identify. Focusing his attention back to their two shinobi, questions began whirring in his head. Why had they intervened like that? Could they be trusted? What were they planning on doing with them? The cook took a long drag on his cigarette. In the end, such questions were useless until they got to where they were being lead.

"Your questions will be answered in due time. For now, I ask that you just follow."

He looked up. The statement had come from the female, but he found it odd. Odd that she had said that right after he'd been thinking of all the questions he wanted to ask. Interesting. After some time of walking in silence, the crew was stunned that Luffy hadn't made so much a a peep, a house came into view. Well, cottage might be a more accurate description. A steady plume of smoke puffed up from the top of the chimney. The two led them up to the doorstep and opened the door, beckoning them inside. They followed without question, shutting the door behind them and standing huddled in the doorway. The two proceeded to disarm themselves: removing shin and arm plates, as well a removing their scarves. They had taken their sandals off at the door, and Sanji noted they looked rather different than most sandals he had seen. They looked more like boots with the toes cut off...

"Well? Don't just stand there, make yourselves comfortable." the male instructed.

They did so, sitting on a couch or chair, or merely leaning against a wall. The male sat in a chair, watching them all. The female had disappeared momentarily, but returned with a tray full of steaming beverages. Setting it on the table, she motioned for them to drink. They all picked up a cup, though Nami, Sanji and Zoro hesitated in drinking anything.

"It's not poisoned or drugged, if that's what you're thinking." the female said, taking a cup herself and taking a long sip. "You see?"

"You could have just as easily poisoned ours and left yours untouched." Zoro stated.

"Ah, but then why would I have let you choose your drinks first, Swordsman?" she asked, a knowing smile tugging on her lips.

"True. Pardon my assumption." he replied, taking a sip as well.

Sanji and Nami followed suit, tilting their cups back. Sanji was, to say the least, surprised. The tea had an extremely calming effect; it was like drinking liquid tranquility. He looked to the two shinobi, wondering if this might be the reason for their oh-so-smooth demeanor.

"Now, before we begin, I think it would be proper if we introduced ourselves. I am Tatsume, and this is my younger brother Ryunosuke. May I ask your names?" the female, Tatsume, said.

"Luffy."

"Usopp, the great captain of--"

"Roronoa Zoro."

"Nami."

"Sanji."

"Thank you. You pirates were unwise to dock here, you realise." Ryunosuke said.

"You are aware of the reason you were treated with such hostility I would hope." Tatsume added.

"Because of the Pirate Shinobi War. Look, we don't want any trouble. All we wanted was to get our supplies and get out of here." Zoro insisted.

"That has been taken care of." Ryunosuke said, motioning to one side of the room.

There sat five large sacks, obviously filled with supplies. Luffy began to ooh and ah, wondering how they'd gotten them in such a short manner of time. Sanji began to wonder the same thing, when he became aware of something in front of him. A wallet. He looked up to see Tatsume holding it out to him.

"Here. You dropped this back at the market place."

"Oh. Thanks." he replied shortly, pocketing the wallet.

"Jeez, Sanji, you dropped your wallet? That's pretty careless." Nami scolded.

"Nami-san, I--"

"Fujiwara-san pushed him out of his shop as he was paying. The fault goes to the shopkeeper, Nami-san." Tatsume noted.

Nami shrugged it off. Money wasn't something you fooled around with. If the cook had lost it, it would have been his head. Her attention wandered back to Luffy, who seemed to be squirming with anticipation. At last he blurted out:

"So you guys are shinobi?"

"Yes. The entire village is made up of shinobi." Ryunosuke replied.

"So...how about you join our crew?"

"Luffy-san, I mean no offense when I say this but you're a pirate. We are shinobi. We do not work with pirates." Tatsume said with a dark chuckle.

"How come?"

"That's how it has always been."

"Big deal. That doesn't mean you can't join our crew!" Luffy said, a grin on his face.

"Understand, Luffy-san, Tatsu and I do not believe in this war...but we have responsibilities here. Our village cannot be left unprotected." Ryunosuke replied.

"Protect..." Luffy murmured. "What do you need to protect it from?"

"That is none of your concern." Tatsume said suddenly.

Her hand gripped a katana still strapped at her waist, a katana none of them had noticed was there. Zoro eyed it warily, his hand travelling to his own swords. Seemingly noticing their stares, her shoulders relaxed some and her hand left the blade. She bowed her head in an apologetic manner.

"Forgive me. It's not something I like to think about." she said.

"There is a man. A pirate. A shinobi. Who used to be a part of this village. He left and betrayed us all, and now periodically threatens the island. We are the only thing standing in the way of him taking over Adante." Ryunosuke said.

"If that's true, then why did the people down there act as though they were afraid of you?" Zoro inquired.

"Ah, so you noticed that, did you?" Tatsume said.

"It was kind of hard not to." Nami countered.

"Well, the answer is simply that we're...different. The villagers never liked that, but seeing as we protect them, they've changed their opinion a little." Ryunosuke explained.

"Then let's go beat him! Come on, we can all do it together and then you can join our crew!" Luffy hollered.

One track mind.

"You have your own priorities. Leave us to ours and be on your way. Please." Tatsume said, looking mellow.

"Come on. We might be able to help! I know we'd want you to come aboard!" Luffy persisted.

"And I, the Great Captain Usopp, would be glad to help! Why, once I took on an entire fleet of Pirate Shinobi with my bare hands!" Usopp proclaimed.

"That's very considerate of you, but no. You may stay here as long as you need, but don't try and--"

At that particular moment, there was a loud explosion. The two shinobi's heads jerked in the direction of the village, eyes wide. He was there. Swiftly, they grabbed anything they'd taken off and put it on, slipping on their sandals at the door. They threw the door open, Tatsume running out and Ryunosuke turning to them.

"He's here. You lot stay here while we take care of this. DON'T interfere."

And with that, he slammed the door shut after him, leaving the crew of the Merry Go in silence. They sat for a minute or two before making for the door. Who were they to turn down a good fight? Luffy was still insistent that the two would join his crew and was adamant to help them. Sanji piped up suddenly amidst their chatter.

"And besides, how could I stand by and not help a beautiful young lady?" he said.

"You ever think of anything else, Love Cook?" Zoro snorted.

The crew hastened their pace as they heard screams coming from the village. From the forest path, they could see smoke billowing upwards, as well as the tips of flames. At last, they emerged into the village...and into a scene of chaos. Bodies littered the street around a tavern who's wall had appeared to be blow out. A few houses had been set on fire, and villagers were scrambling to either escape or save their homes. And in the middle of all this were Tatsumen and Ryunosuke, along with a strange man.

He was dressed in black as well, though he somehow appeared more sinister. He was easy to spot with his bright red hair and emerald colored eyes. A scar ran across his right eye. Ryunosuke lay a few feet away from his sister and the man, struggling to get to his knees. Tatsume made some strange signs with her hands and lifted one hand to her mouth, blowing out a stream of flames. The man had already started his own hand signals, dousing the fire with water.

"You're so foolish, Tatsu! Do you really think you can defeat me with a technique that I taught you!"

He used more hand signals to summon water from a pipe that had broken above ground. He formed a massive dragon of water and it crashed down upon Tatsume. When the water cleared, she was left lying near the same market Sanji had been thrown out of earlier. She rose shakilly to her hands and knees, coughing and spluttering. He grabbed her by the scarf and hauled her up roughly.

"Did you really think you could defeat me?"

"Actually...yeah..." she gasped.

"You always were weak, Tatsu. Ryu had all the real potential, but you softened him with your ways. With your love." he hissed. "You are of the Forsaken, Tatsu. Don't you forget it."

"GUM GUM ROCKET!"

The man hardly had time to comprehend what was happening before he was pummeled by Luffy's attack. He was knocked back some feet, dropping Tatsume in the process. She glared dagger at Luffy, managing to get to her feet this time. Sanji put a hand on her shoulder to steady her as she teetered on her feet.

"You alright?" he asked.

She slapped his hand away, her voice a low growl.

"Don't touch me, pirate."

Giving her a slightly odd look, he lifted his hands and stepped back from her, a sign that he would be leaving her alone. Clenching and unclenching her fists, she raised her hands and began making those strange hand signs again. They watched her with an air of curiousness.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" she hollered.

In an instant, there were at least a dozen replicas of Tatsume, each looking as angry as the real one. The began to charge the man, looking intent on spilling his blood.

"I hope you're ready, Raito!"

The man, who had been identified as Raito, had recovered from Luffy's attack and now grinned cruely with barely a scratch on him. He made hand signs of his own and hollered something out. At first it appeared nothing had happened, but the second the clones got within a foot of him, they all disappeared in a poof of smoke.

"Ha! Tatsu, such weak form! It was easy to pick out the real one." he cackled, preparing another jutsu.

"Checkmate, you bastard." Tatsume said with a smirk.

Indeed, there were two Tastume's left standing, but Raito didn't see the one behind him. He also didn't see that one clone go up in smoke, and reveal itself to be none other than Ryunosuke. The golden eyed shinobi dealt him a powerful blow, knocking him once again to the ground.

"Wow, he disguised himself as one of the clone things!" Luffy said.

The crew of the Merry Go moved in closer, eager to fight...with the exception of Usopp, who stayed hidded behind an upturned wheelbarrow. Raito wasn't moving. Ryunosuke joined Tatsume's side as they looked to him, knowing he wasn't dead.

"Nice plan, Tatsu! What should we do with him now?" Ryunosuke asked.

She turned her back to him, wiping some of the blood of her lip with the back of her hand.

"Simple. We finish him off."

"Right."

Ryunosuke reached to a pouch at his hip and retrieved a kunai. Spinning it once arounf his index finger, he grasped it and turned to look at Raito, ready to do the dirty work.

"Hey, you beat him!" Luffy exclaimed.

"He couldn't have been that tough if you were able to beat him so easilly." Zoro said sourly.

"Hn. Just goes to show what you know. YOU try fighting this guy and we'll see what happens to you, eh?" Tatsume said with a snort.

"Still, you did beat him. How about joining the crew before Luffy wets his pants?" Nami said.

Indeed, Luffy was once again squirming with anticipation. When he 'decided' who new members of the crew were going to be, nothing could deture him from that decision. Nothing.

"Perhaps." Tatsume answered shortly.

"Or perhaps not."

What happened next happened so quickly, that no one registered it completely at first. It had been Ryunosuke who'd spoken, now facing his sister's back. She'd turned to meet him just as he began to draw his kunai at her. Dulled by fatigue and battle, her reflexes were too slow...but her reflexes no longer became the issue as Sanji quickly moved in front of her, taking the blade in the side. He made a pained noise as blood dripped from the wound, Tatsume staring in horror at the scene. Ryunosuke twisted the kunai, a sickening crack accompanying a grunt from Sanji.

"You should have kept out of Juliet's business, Romeo." Ryunosuke hissed.

Chapter two! I hope that was a little more interesting than the first chapter. Remember to read and review, and I'll have chapter three up soon!