Chapter Two: Discovery

What she felt at that moment could not be described in words. There he stood-proud, strong, and tall, arms crossed casually with his body leaning against the mast. He had grown handsomer-if that was possible-while still retaining some of his boyish features that had drawn Sakura to him at first. There was an air of mystery around him still, but then again, since when was there not one?

Brown eyes met hard onyx eyes, but she couldn't look away. It had been too long since she had last seen him-he left here there on that gloomy day, crying, taking a piece of her heart with him as he turned his back on Konoha.

So this is why no one told us the actual name of the ship, said Inner Sakura half sarcastically half mournfully. Both Sakura and her inner self knew that if they had known the name of the ship beforehand, they wouldn't have accepted the mission at all. When she realized that he wasn't coming back, she steeled her heart away from all thoughts of him. It hurt too much to think-to feel. She grew up that way, banishing everything that reminded her of him.

Note to self. Kill Kakashi-sensei and punch Neji-kun without Tenten-chan knowing.

Lost in her thoughts, Sakura did not notice how he observed her carefully. There was something extremely familiar about this girl, but he just could not place a finger on it. Perhaps he knew her from somewhere? Konoha perhaps? No, there were few people he bothered to remember from that place where he once lived. Where was she from? Another one of Orochimaru's pawns? Unlikely-she seemed far too innocent. Then again, looks can be so deceiving.

Stealthily, he turned on his bloodline technique, which the ship was named after. Eyes widened as he noticed the increased amount of chakra around the hair and eyes. "She's using a concealment jutsu," he thought to himself as he looked for more clues as to who she really was.

"What's going on here?" came a voice from over the hubbub of the crowd that had gathered on deck, talking amongst themselves of the new recruit among other things. Silence immediately blanketed the once lively ship as everyone stopped what they were doing and froze.

A man with blood red eyes and raven hair emerged from the captain's cabin, dressed in an extremely high-collared black and red shirt and black pants. A ring adorned his right hand, which glistened in the sun as he ran his fingers through his shoulder-length hair.

Sakura felt a chill run down her spine as she saw who it was. Suddenly, her view of him was replaced with a blue shirt.

"Not a word, Yoshizumi."

"I demand an answer. Why are all of you just standing there gaping? I expect an answer," came the harsh voice of the man who had just made an appearance.

Still, no noise was heard.

"Sasuke." said the older man.

"Itachi."

"Tell me."

Sasuke stepped aside and pushed Sakura forward, one hand on her shoulder. Immediately, she felt a wave of chakra run through her, but did not show that she noticed the change.

"She's the new recruit-the medic-nin that you requested. She has passed the crew's test to climb to the royal yard."

Hell yeah, said Inner Sakura, pumping her fist into the air, We're soooo awesome, don't you think so, Sakura-chan? We sure showed them!

"Quiet, you," thought Sakura, "we're in deep trouble-it's Itachi."

Oh yeah…well, who cares about him anyway. Sasuke-kun's here! And we're gonna show him exactly what he's been missing!

Sakura furrowed her brows. Her inner self really needed to learn how to shut up every once in a while, especially in serious situations like this one.

Itachi came down from the quarterdeck onto the deck where the other men were. Immediately, a path was made that led to where Sakura and Sasuke were standing. Sakura felt blood red eyes roam her face, as if searching for something. She felt quite naked beneath his gaze, but did not move at all.

Freaking pervert, I'll punch him sky high and make sure that he'll NEVER have children, yelled Inner Sakura, who was hugging herself, glaring daggers at the missing-nin. At that moment, Sakura felt like she could never agree with her inner self more.

"You'll do," was Itachi's reply after a few tense moments. "I am Captain Uchiha Itachi. The boy behind you is my younger brother, Sasuke. Kisame, Kabuto-come here."

Kabuto, who had led her onto the ship, emerged from the crowd first, followed closely by a man with a grayish-blue face and scary looking white eyes with black pupils. Itachi pointed to the latter.

"This is First Mate Kisame. That is Second Mate Kabuto. I expect you to address them properly. Do your job well, and you won't be killed."

The rest of the crew breathed a sigh of relief as his heavy footsteps traveled back up onto the quarterdeck and into the captain's cabin.

Good Kami, he's scary.

"Get back to work. The captain wants to set sail immediately," commanded Kisame.

"Hai!" came a chorus of sailors, and they set about preparing the ship for departure. They scurried like mice up and down the ropes, cutting and tying and stretching to get the sails ready to catch the winds.

Sasuke's hand left her shoulder, and Sakura turned around, as if to ask him what she should do.

"Who are you." he stated, waiting impatiently for an answer. His sharingan was still turned on, boring deep into her eyes.

Lie! Lie! Lie! screamed her inner self.

"Yoshizumi Nami, Sa-Uchiha-san."

You slipped. Better pray that Sasuke-kun didn't notice.

Sasuke winced at the name. He hated being associated with that horrid traitorous brother of his. And what was she about to call him? His name? Perhaps…

"Just call me Sasuke. There are two Uchihas on this ship."

"Hai."

"I won't repeat myself," said Sasuke, firmly, alluding to his former question what was annunciated like a demand.

"Nor will I," was Sakura's confident reply.

"You have an increased amount of chakra flow around your eyes and your hair, Yoshizumi. Do not lie to me."

I think this is the most Sasuke-kun's ever spoken to us at one time, said Inner Sakura sarcastically.

"I am half blind, Sasuke-san. I require chakra to see properly."

"And you hair?"

Think fast, Sakura! He's gonna suspect…!

"Excuse me," came a voice from behind Sakura. The two turned to see who was addressing the new recruit. There stood a man wearing dark shades, hands in his pockets.

"Is that Shino?" Sakura thought as she eyed him critically.

"What do you want," Sasuke snapped, "I'm speaking to her."

"She needs to get acquainted with the ship, Sasuke, before we set sail."

"Hn."

With that, Sasuke walked off, leaving Sakura with the Shino look-alike.

"Come on."

Sakura followed the stranger back to the forecastle, where she was nearly knocked over the second she stepped across the threshold by another girl. She too, was extremely familiar, with long blonde hair tied back in a high pony tail and blue eyes.

"Forehead girl," she said with a smirk.

"Ino-pig!"

"Shhhh! Not so loud! Shino, get over here. Where's Shikamaru?"

"What! Shikamaru's here? What the hell is going on!" whispered Sakura fiercely, not comprehending her situation at all. There were too many questions running through her head at the moment, mainly why her friends from Konoha were here and how the hell Kakashi-sensei managed to convince her to take up this mission in the first place.

"Come on, let's go to the back. No one's in there right now."

Sakura followed her friends closely, and they settled in a corner of the forecastle behind Ino's hammock. It was dark, and there was no candle to light the way. Sakura could barely see her best friend and the bug…man.

"Ino-chan, when Itachi came out, I felt a wave of chakra flow through me from Sasuke-kun's hand. What's going on?"

"Sakura, Itachi's got the sharingan too, remember? If Sasuke-kun could detect your jutsu, then Itachi definitely will. He must have put more chakra into you to hide your increase of chakra around your eyes and hair."

"Oh."

"You're going to have to dye it for real, you know."

Sakura did not answer. Her hair! Her beloved pink hair! Inner Sakura was weeping and clutching her hair with an anguished expression on her face.

"You have some idea of the mission, don't you?" asked Ino quietly, looking at Sakura directly, who was still preoccupied with the idea of losing the color of her hair.

"Not really. Only that I have to kill the captain of this ship."

Ino glanced at Shino, who nodded at her inquisitive look. Sakura really didn't have any idea about anything that was happening at all. Perhaps it was for the best that they will be the ones to tell her. If she had known beforehand, she definitely would not have come.

"Sakura, you really don't know, do you…"

Fake brown eyes stared at determined blue eyes.

"We're supposed to help Sasuke-kun kill Itachi. The problem is that Sasuke-kun tried a few months ago with our help, and he failed."

"What!" came her strangled whisper.

"Yes, Sakura. You would think that Itachi-teme would kick him off the ship, but he didn't. He said something about keeping friends close and enemies closer. Sasuke-kun's not allowed to train anymore, and he was demoted from being First Mate to being a part of the crew."

"There's something else, isn't there?" replied the former rosette-haired girl, frowning at the idea that Ino was leaving something out of the story.

The blonde looked pensive for a moment before continuing.

"You know that Orochimaru's dead, don't you?"

"Yes. Tsudane-sama mentioned it about five years back," said Sakura, waiting for her friend to elaborate a little more.

"Well, it's just that…Sakura! Itachi's got a hold of Sasuke's mark! He reactivated the curse!"

"What!" exclaimed Sakura, only to have a hand slam onto her mouth, muffling the sound.

"Shut up, forehead-girl! Do you want to get caught! The crew here is made up almost entirely of Itachi's men and women! How we got in here in the first place is a miracle in itself!" came Ino's sharp whisper.

Sakura shook her head no, and Ino let go.

"While Itachi was fighting Sasuke-kun, he did something. It was raining, and I couldn't see clearly, but I think he touched the mark with his bloody fingers. Something happened, and Sasuke-kun went crazy. Those marks spread all over his body and he grew those creepy hand-like wings! He had power, all right, but Itachi still managed to defeat him."

"I don't understand, Ino-chan. Why would Itachi do that if he wanted to kill Sasuke-kun? Why would he want to reactivate the curse to give Sasuke-kun more power?"

"I don't understand it either. But Sakura, after the battle-when Shino, Shikamaru and I hauled him back into the forecastle-he was muttering your name over and over again."

Sakura was speechless. Inner Sakura was doing cartwheels, but Sakura herself was worried.

"So what do we do now? Does he know you're on board?"

"Yes, Sasuke knows. I'm not sure if we should tell him about you though," whispered Ino in a worried tone.

"Why?"

"He might…do something rash."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at the blonde's comment.

"He might spend his time worrying over you, Sakura-chan, and Itachi-teme will notice. He notices everything, especially when it involves his brother."

Sakura said nothing in response.

"Yo."

Shikamaru had joined the duo.

After a few moments, Sakura asked, "Why do you guys not need disguises?"

Shikamaru glanced at her. "Itachi has never seen us before, but he's seen you. He'll know that you've been sent to help Sasuke, and he'll kill you. Plus, disguises are too troublesome…"

"Then why send me at all?"

"Don't you understand, Sakura-chan?" asked Ino, grasping her hand, "You're the only one who has control over Sasuke-kun! You're the only one who can save him from Itachi!"

"What?"

"Sakura, the curse mark faded as soon as he started muttering your name. It completely disappeared. Don't you get it? When Sasuke-kun fights Itachi again, Itachi would probably activate the seal once more! We can't let that happen-Sasuke-kun will die! That curse-that curse messes with his mind! He barely pulled through the last time!"

Sakura's eyes flew up in shock.

"All hands on deck!" came a faint shout from outside. Shikamaru stood up, mumbling about something or other being troublesome, leaving the two girls alone.

"Let's go see what's going on," said Sakura with determination. She wasn't going to let Sasuke die by some bastard's hand.

After all, he was the man she loved with all her heart.

xxx

A/N: Haha-how many people thought Sasuke was the captain? XD I didn't know that Kin and the rest of Orochimaru's pawns had died, so I guess this fic is now semi-AU. Sorry about the mix-up; I haven't seen the whole series yet, so I'm afraid I'm extremely ignorant of what exactly is going on in the manga. Please feel free to correct me if I get something wrong, especially the characterization. I like to keep characters in-character and not OOC. It bothers me when they're OOC. Unfortunately, Sasuke has spoken more than he should, but he was faced by his brother, so I figured it would be okay…Hmmm…

I'm planning to put far more humor into this, but it's serious for now in order to develop the plot a little bit more. Sorry about the boring-ness of this chapter! Hopefully the next one will be a bit better. Please, if you do review-tell me if I have any plot holes. I'm still playing with different ideas for this fic, and I'm afraid that I might not have thought everything out completely. I won't take offense-don't worry:D

I'm trying to update every Saturday, so check back next Saturday! If there's no chapter up, it's because school has eaten up my life and killed me. Not really. I'm a senior in the IB program. Enough said. Whoever said senior year was the easiest out of the four years of high school should be punished and enrolled into the IB program. Then we'll see who's laughing and claiming that senior year's so bloody easy.

Bitter? Of course not! Do leave me a review-I can't improve if I don't know what's wrong! I try to respond to all the reviews I get, and thank you to everyone who is reading this! I really appreciate it!

-Ivy