Chapter Six: A Plan Uncovered

"All hands on deck!" came the overly familiar shout of Kabuto. Grumbling, Ino rubbed away the sleep from her eyes as she swung her legs out of the hammock, which really was not too smart. She must have forgotten that she was on a ship in the first place and that physics existed. The hammock tipped her over because her weight was concentrated on one side of the hammock, causing her to fall hard into Shikamaru's waiting arms.

"How troublesome," came the rich baritone voice as he righted his fiancé, carefully setting her back onto her feet. She shot him a quick smile of thanks before taking his hand and dragging him out of the forecastle onto the deck. She really did not want to hear Kisame's "being late" lecture and be punished with doing extra work (like cleaning the latrines) on the ship.

The deck was already crowded with their crew mates, wondering what was going on. Perhaps they would be attacking another merchant ship? It had been a week already on the Sharingan, and they had not taken any particular action. The men (and women) were getting rather antsy at this inaction and were often found sharpening their weapons and practicing rather interesting jutsus on one another.

The blonde let her eyes sweep over the crowd, looking for a particular brunette and a chicken-haired man. She let out a soft giggle as she wound her arms around one of Shikamaru's, thinking of how she had found the two in the gallery. If that wasn't a Kodak moment, she didn't know what was. Sasuke had the funniest look on his face-he seemed rather terrified of Sakura and her oh-so-special healing ointment.

She suddenly stopped herself mid-giggle as realization dawned upon her. Only Sakura knew how to make that balm-she had developed it over the years as a genin and often used it on Sasuke and Naruto when they got hurt. Surely Sasuke would not overlook that fact, would he? He certainly didn't overlook her and Shikamaru's rather clandestine relationship-how could he overlook such a blatant hint?

"Don't worry about it, Ino. It's too troublesome," said Shikamaru, removing his arm from her grasp while seeming to read her mind. Ino sighed and shook her head, waiting for that bastard Kisame to start talking.

That was when she noticed that Sakura was standing rather close to Mr. bug-man as said bug-man whispered in her ear.

That was when she also noticed the infamous Uchiha glare being directed toward the poor bug man, who was completely oblivious.

Ino clamped her hand over her mouth to stop from giggling. The great Uchiha Sasuke-jealous! What has the world come to!

Shikamaru shook his head, muttering his characteristic phrase under his breath as he looked at what his fiancé was giggling at. Really, what was it about jealousy and love and all that other stuff that would make women melt into a giggling mass? He rolled his eyes and stuck his hands in his pockets, waiting for Kisame to speak. At the moment, he was quite annoyed that this rather drawn-out meeting was cutting into his cloud-watching time.

Like Shikamaru, Sasuke was annoyed as well, but for a very different reason. Shino-one of the men he had grown up with, seemed to be speaking quite intimately with a certain brown-haired fellow pirate. The bug-obsessed man was currently slightly bent, whispering something into her ear that caused her to giggle softly, brown eyes sparkling with happiness.

He unconsciously clenched and unclenched his fists. Anger rose up within him as he observed the two of them, who seemed to be in their own little world. He hardly ever heard Shino speak unless it was about the mission, and to see him joking or whatever he was doing with Yoshizumi Nami infuriated him beyond belief.

A soft voice in his mind kept repeating: "you're jealous…you're jealous…you're jealous…" like a mantra, but naturally, he ignored that voice.

He really didn't like the fact that there was another voice in his head beside his own that was telling him things that he would always scoff at. After all, hearing voices was the first sign of insanity.

Or the first sign of feelings that he had no wish to explore, but that's not the point…

"Attention."

All chatter stopped as the crew adjusted their attention to the three men on the forecastle deck. It was the second time that Uchiha Itachi had addressed the crew, so it must be rather important. On either side of the traitorous man were Kabuto and Kisame, both of whom were dressed in black.

"As you all know," said the elder Uchiha in a quiet voice, "we have been very inactive for the past week. I assure you that the wait was for naught-there is a merchant ship about twenty knots away containing some rather…priceless goods that would benefit us greatly. If we increase our speed, we should be able to catch up with them within the next two days. Failure is not acceptable-you should know this by now."

Itachi's red eyes swept over the crowd, reading his crew's expressions. Most looked eager to finally pull out their weapons and fight for real, while others seemed rather passive. His gaze fell upon his younger brother, who had his hands in his pocket and was glaring at something to his right.

Smirking slightly as he identified exactly what-or rather who-his foolish little brother was glaring at, he continued to speak.

"You should know that there are certain people who must not be injured in any way on this merchant ship called Maid of the Mist from the Hidden Mist Village. Their pictures will be posted inside the forecastle-be sure all of you get a good look and memorize their faces. You will take them as hostages, and we will deliver them to Water Country, where we will receive our payment. Understood?"

A loud "yes, Captain Itachi-sama" was heard from all around the ship, and the dark-haired man left. Kisame immediately began rattling off orders in order to increase the speed of the ship, and the crew scrambled to obey them.

Sakura was not exempt from the orders, even with her position as a medic-nin. Lithely, she scampered up the ratlines toward the trysail, where she was to tie everything down securely. Afterwards, she was ordered to continue climbing until she reached the main top-gallant sail, where she was to again tie everything down. The idea was to allow the sails to open up completely so that they could catch the wind, thus causing the ship to move faster across the waters of the ocean.

As she worked, she did not notice that a certain pair of obsidian eyes was watching her. Her mind was concentrating on sending chakra to her feet while maintaining the brown color in her hair and eyes. It was a rather difficult feat-to segregate enough chakra into three completely separate places in the body-and it took quite a lot of will power to maintain it. Her petite body was not meant to generate a great mass of chakra like Sasuke's or Naruto's, and as a result, she was doing all she could to produce as much as she could.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was quite frustrated. He was given a relatively simple task-to open up sails with some of his chakra on the main mast. This allowed him to be completely aware of what was going on around him, especially a certain brown-haired woman who was currently tying down sails.

He narrowed his eyes. She was hiding something-that much he could tell. She never did tell him why there was a great amount of chakra flowing into her hair, and he honestly doubted that she was telling the truth when she said that she was half-blind and needed the chakra to see. There was something so familiar about her, but he simply could not place his finger on what it was. Perhaps it was her use of language or maybe the way she carried herself around the ship…he didn't know, and it bothered him mainly because he was frustrated over something as stupid as the familiarity of a female.

When he finished his task, he sat along the beams of the upper main-topsail, watching Nami. He watched how her braid swung to and fro in rhythm with the soft bouncing of the ship along the waves. He watched her hands nimbly tie down the sails with strong knots fused with a tiny amount of chakra to ensure their strength. He watched how she bit her bottom lip as she concentrated on her task, eyebrows furrowed perhaps in deep thought.

A wave of disgust suddenly overcame him.

He was Uchiha Sasuke.

He did not watch women work like some love-sick boy.

Scowling, he clambered down the main mast without the help of ratlines and landed with a flip on the deck. Slipping his hands into his pockets, he headed to the forecastle. It wasn't his watch, so after finishing his task, he had every right to return to what he was doing before.

He stopped at the door of the forecastle, looking at the pictures posted on it. There were three of them, all female and very rich-looking. Two possessed bright red hair and clear green eyes-he assumed that they were identical twins, since they looked exactly alike. Either that, or Itachi decided to be stupid and post two pictures of one girl, but he honestly doubted that.The raven-haired man let his eyes fall on the last picture, and his breath was caught in his throat.

There she was, sitting prettily on a swing, pink hair flying into different directions and twinkling green eyes sparkling with happiness. He felt his heart clench at the sight of the handwriting at the bottom of the picture, confirming his suspicion.

Haruno Sakura-age 23. Konoha.

Those words written in a thick, black ink stared back at him tauntingly. He shook his head, and opened the door. Haruno Sakura? On a merchant ship?

What was she doing there anyway?

And how long ago was it when he last saw her?

"If only, if only, if only," came that soft voice in the back of his mind. Sasuke ignored it. Stupid conscience.

As he neared the back of the forecastle, he heard two soft taps followed by 5 nearly inaudible slaps on the wooden floor. Recognizing the code, he made his way toward Ino's hammock and slid under it, where he was met with the faces of the blonde, the genius, and the bug-lover.

"Hey, Sasuke-kun," said Ino quietly. Sasuke nodded his head and sat down Indian-style, waiting for the others to speak. Much to his annoyance, it was Shino who began.

"My bugs have informed me of what was to happen," he stated in a monotonous voice, "The hostages will be transported to Water Country and sold to a man by the name of Hizaki Raidon. He is a notorious slave trader, and he is willing to pay billions for the acquisition of the three girls, most likely because he can set a ransom for them. All the girls come from wealthy backgrounds-it would be quite easy for him to gain back all he paid for," said Shino, much to the amazement of his three partners. Since when did Shino say more than a short sentence at a time?

"The Haruno family is a wealthy family," said Ino quietly, anticipating Sasuke's question as to why Sakura's picture was posted, "They were not originally from Konoha. I've heard rumors of them actually being a gypsy clan who possessed different gifts. Some could see the future, others could perform miracles…their skills are very valuable. What I don't understand, though, is why Itachi won't sell the hostages himself if he wanted money"

It was Shikamaru who answered her question, quickly figuring out Itachi's plan.

"Although Hizaki Raidon is most well known as a slave trader in the Underground, he also possesses a variety of forbidden scrolls. I would assume that along with paying Itachi, he would also be handing over a few of those scrolls as well…"

Sasuke nodded, understanding the lazy genius. That would make sense-Itachi was always testing his strength, and in obtaining more scrolls (especially the forbidden ones), he would keep getting stronger and stronger. He also never knew about Sakura's background, but Ino's rapid response bothered him. How could she have known what he was going to ask? The raven-haired man moved to leave, and no one stopped him. It seemed as if for him, the meeting was over.

When they heard Sasuke's retreating footsteps and the familiar closing of the forecastle door, the remaining trio breathed a sigh of relief. They had hoped that he would not ask many questions about Sakura, since they themselves were slightly in the dark about the whole fiasco. Never in their lives would they have thought that such a situation would arise. They had talked to the real Sakura earlier, right after they saw the pictures. The four of them came to the agreement that they would play along and discover the true identity of the doppelganger before revealing everything to the aloof ninja. He had enough on his mind anyway…

While Ino, Shikamaru and Shino stayed inside the cool cabin, Sasuke was lost in his confusion. He was almost sure that the woman named Yoshizumi Nami was Sakura disguised-there was no way that anyone else could have had his former teammate's personality traits. He had observed her talking quietly to herself, just as Sakura used to do, and the way she treated his wounds was so familiar that it almost made him homesick.

Almost, however, was the keyword there.

Now someone by the name of Haruno Sakura was about to come aboard. That made his entire theory on why Yoshizumi seemed to be hiding something invalid. If Yoshizumi was Sakura, then who was the woman in the picture? If the woman in the picture was Sakura, then what was the brown-haired girl hiding?

Sasuke grunted in annoyance as he shoved his hands in his pockets. This was the first time in a long time where he became confused. Not confused about his mission, but confused in the matters of the heart.

After all, he got himself into this whole situation because of a certain rosette-haired girl with a wide grin and pretty green eyes.

If there was one misconception many people have about ships, it would be that the sails are light and airy, scooping up the winds in order to move the ship forward. In reality, however, those sails are made from a very heavy canvas, and when just one of those sails get tangled up on a spar, it must be pulled free or else it can tear or burst, often bringing down rigging, other spars, and even an entire mast. A sail that is out of control can whip around in the wind, usually shoving sailors overboard or injuring them heavily.

What was just described above happened the next day as the Sharingan was on course to intercept the merchant ship. After seeing the flying jib become entangled in a nearby spar, Itachi quickly shouted, "Yoshizumi, fix it!"

Sasuke, for some odd reason, quickly replied that he would do it, but Itachi simply smirked and shook his head.

"I ordered Yoshizumi to fix it, not you, my dear foolish little brother. After all, she is expendable…you, however, are not…"

Sasuke glared at his older brother in anger-he would dare assign such a dangerous task to a newbie! Nevermind that perhaps in the deepest part of his heart Sasuke might have cared for the false brown-haired girl, but really, it was quite unacceptable.

The flying jib was set at the furthest point of the bowspirit-in fact, it was set at the very top of it. Considering that the Sharingan was moving at approximately three knots with the bow forever rising and falling, it was obvious that a broken jib would easily dip into the sea itself, thus causing the bowspirit to snap in half. The bowspirit was a crucial part of a ship because it provides the anchor for the forestays, which allows the foremast to be stepped further forward on the hull. As a result, the flailing sail must be quickly fixed, perhaps at the price of a sailor's life.

Sakura stood up bravely and climbed up the steps leading from the main deck onto the forecastle deck. There, she proceeded to climb onto the forepeak, which led to the bowspirit itself.

"Nami-chan," came a voice. Sakura stopped and look behind her, seeing Ino with her hands clapped together in fright. Sakura gave her old childhood friend a confident smile, even going so far as to flashing a peace sign. As she turned back around to complete her assigned task, she heard the low baritone voice of Shikamaru.

"Don't mess with the sail itself. Just cut the rope, and the sail will free itself. Cut sharp, then swing under the bowspirit in one quick jump, or the sail will toss you in."

Sakura nodded, pleased that she had some advice to go on. Taking a deep breath and feeling as if she were walking the plank, she continued.

"Time youself, Yoshizumi," she heard as she inched along, "If the ship plunges, the sea will grab you and you'll drown."

She concentrated her chakra to her feet, knowing that it was just enough to allow her to keep her balance. The sea, no matter how much chakra she could generate to her feet, could easily swallow her whole.

Finally, after what seemed to be eternity, Sakura reached the flying jib. Carefully taking a kunai out of one of the pockets in her cargo pants, she tried to forget how vulnerable she was at the moment-one hand holding onto the backline while the other was grasping a sharpened kunai.

Swiftly, she leaned forward and began to cut the taught rope. When the rope finally snapped, Sakura lost control of the weapon, and it sprung from her grasp. Acting from her trained reflexes as a ninja, she sprung forward to grab hold of the weapon, but the bowspirit chose that moment to plunge, leaving the twenty-three-year-old woman hanging off the bowspirit by her hands, feet dangling less than a meter above the sea.

A/N: Yay! Extra long chapter for an extra long wait! Please don't kill me for the cliffhanger…I just felt that it seemed to be an appropriate place to stop. That, and my fingers are freezing because there is currently no heat in my house (sob). I'm very happy with the way the story's going-writer's block, begone:D I would like to mention right now that the flying jib scene is not from my brain-it is from the great Avi's brain who wrote The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. You may remember that I got the idea for this fic from the book, so yeah. There are only two scenes from the novel that I will use in this fic, and this was one of them. You'll have to wait for the other one! Again, I don't own the brilliant novel The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, and thus fic is only loosely based on it. The story line is completely different, but I'm just very fond of the two scenes that I am/will be using. You'll see why later. :P

Also, if you are not familiar with the parts of the ship I'm referring to, click on these two links (or copy and paste onto the URL bar thingy). The first link shows the different decks and stuff of the ship while the second link shows the different sails. Hope it helps some!

http/www.nmm.ac.uk/mag/shared/images/shipviewsdiagram.jpg

http/www.nmm.ac.uk/mag/shared/images/shipsailsdiagram.jpg

For further clarification on the terms (such as spar, knots, and bowspirit), go to (which is the most awesome thing ever) and type in "ship" or "knots." The "ship" will take you to a page where you can find a glossary, and the "knots" will tell you exactly how the whole ship speed thing works. :)

As you may have read in my profile, all of my internal assessments for IB are finished. My oral commentary was a passage from The Bell Jar, right when Esther takes sleeping pills in an effort to kill herself. That was a miracle in itself, because I'm not particularly fond of the book but managed to reread it last Saturday (and neglecting to update) so I knew what I was talking about. Score! Thank God I didn't have to do Hamlet or Mill on the Floss. I think I could have managed the John Donne poems, but whatever. It's all over and done with. Yay! Now…as for IB exams in May coupled with AP exams…let's not talk about that. ;)

Thank you all so much for keeping up with this story and actually leaving reviews! I had a record of sixteen reviews for chapter five! I was SO ECSTATIC when I saw them-all of them had some criticism in it and weren't just "hey, please update." You guys are the absolute best and I could not ask for better readers. Cookies for everyone!

Seguha: Thanks:)

Zuan: Haha-thank you! He's being a bit dense right now, but he's at least recognizing that she's familiar!

Els1321: I love romance novels too! They make me really happy, because they're so perfect. Maybe that's why people read them-it usually ends with happily ever after, which in the real world, isn't always possible. I suppose most people are secretly quixotic, ne? I know I am. :P

Animemistress419: I love fluff! Hope you liked this chapter!

Kawaii-Kme: I think that was my favorite part in chapter five-Sakura punching Sasuke. It's something that I can see her doing, and I was laughing the entire time I was writing it. I'm glad you liked it too!

Someone: Nice name! ;) Don't worry, Sakura's hair did not go bye-bye. She's concentrating chakra there to make it seem brown. It's still pink and not dyed-don't worry! Hope I cleared that up some! This is very important for later in the story, but I'm not going to tell you why:P I'm glad you thought Sasuke was in character. He's so hard to characterize well in a love story! Happy reading!

Sillymail: Cute name! Hehe! Thanks for reading!

Kurenai Chinoumi: Thanks! Hope you liked this chapter! I love Sakura's infamous bruise medicine. It makes me happy! XD

Hinako89: I'm glad you liked it! Hope you liked this chapter too!

Silvercage: Yes! Cookies! Your wit amuses me greatly-indeed, the raising of an eyebrow would probably too much emotion for our dear Sasuke-kun to handle. ;P

Queen Cow and Steak: This chapter didn't have too much sasusaku, sadly, but lots of pondering and frustration! Yay! Bwahahaha…I'm feeling rather devious. Mmm…what will happen to Sasuke next? (grins evilly) Ino's a tricky character when you get down to seeing things from her point of view-she seems so strong and self-confident, but I often wonder if that's not just a simple façade so that people won't pick on her like Sakura. Whereas Sakura wears her heart on her sleeve, so to speak, I get this feeling that Ino presents the world what the world wants to see and keeps her real self hidden so as to not get hurt. Hmmm…

Neon kun: I kinda like Sasuke OOC sometimes, but not too OOC, if that makes sense. Somehow, having Sasuke scream "I love you, Sakura!" to the whole world seems very unreal to me, and I can't see it, which can be a problem. I don't know. An OOC Sasuke is pretty sweet though. :) Thanks for reviewing!

Akkirako Chikuro: You must teach me how to make that cool heart symbol thingy you put in your review! I love it! I'm glad you like the pacing and the story line-now that the plot is actually thickening, I hope it's starting to make a little more sense!

MizzBlizz: I love your pen name-it reminds me of Miz Frizzle from The Magic School Bus, which had to have been my absolute favorite television show when I was younger. In all honesty, it still is, but shhhh…XD Sasuke will figure out that Nami is Sakura eventually, but not quite yet:P

Sasusaku4life: haha-hope you liked this chapter!

KittyCat918: Thanks:)