Tenten instantly felt the change of temperature upon awakening. Where she was warm in the storeroom, she could not stop shivering in this new location. After opening her eyes, she realized she had been moved to the brig, a revelation that angered Tenten more than frightened her.

How dare the captain put her behind bars! She was a lady—a woman of station—and he had no right to show such disrespect to her person. Of course, she knew she didn't look like a woman at the moment. No, she looked more like a homeless person from the streets, not the wealthy young lady she was.

Which was for the best. Tenten refused to give her real identity away to this man—even if he decided to torture her for it. Telling him would equal death—not just her own, but his and his crew's as well. Not that Tenten should care one bit about what might happen to him or his crew members, but she didn't want to be caught up in more of her father's—and his—mess than necessary.

Tenten wondered if the captain would be willing to let her go once he reached his destination in exchange for her working on board. It would be preferable than being kept in this cold, damp cell. But even if she must remain here, if he promised to let her go once they reached land, she wouldn't complain. Hell, she even contemplated warming his bed for the duration of their journey if that was what persuade him to let her leave without harm. For surely by now her fiancé knew of her absence and was rallying his men to find her.

Tenten would take her chances with these pirates over being handed back to that man.

So no, she would not tell the captain who she was, and she would do everything in her power to leave this ship and make a new life on some unremarkable small town, somewhere her fiancé would never find her.

"Are you awake?"

The voice startled Tenten and she jumped, her head whipping around to find the speaker. A man stepped into the dingy lamp light, holding a tray in his hands.

"The captain asked me to make sure you had enough water, since you seemed dehydrated," he said, letting himself into the cell and placing the tray in front of her with a kind smile. "He also told me to get you some food. I'm sorry it is only basic. The captain would flog me if he found out I fed you anything other than what he told me to."

Tenten didn't care. The piece of crusty bread and watered down soup looked like heaven compared to the raw vegetables she had been eating every day. She would have loved some stew, or something with chunks of meat in it, but she wouldn't complain. This was more than she had expected to receive from the pirate captain, and she would be an idiot to be ungrateful for it.

"Thank you." Tenten smiled at the kind pirate, wondering how such a man found this sort living.

"My name is Rock Lee, but you may just call me Lee. I am the first mate to captain Neji Hyuga of the Crimson Night. What is your name?"

Tenten had heard of the Crimson Night. The crew weren't as vicious as other pirates, but they were still ruthless, and they revelled in looting other ships, pirate or otherwise. Tenten supposed she was fortunate to have found herself onto a ship that took captives instead of killing all their enemies, and she had never heard of stories of the crew of the Crimson Night raping people. But just because she hadn't heard of it, did not mean it didn't happen…

"Your name, miss?" the first officer asked again, watching her with shrewd, guarded eyes. Tenten got the feeling that although he was kind to her, he wasn't one to be trifled with.

"I'm nobody," she replied. She grabbed the jug of water off the tray and took a huge gulp, not wanting to keep eye contact with the pirate. Although the water tasted slightly stale, she felt as though she could cry as it ran down her throat to settle in her belly. Nothing had ever tasted so nice.

"Even so, you must have a name."

She shook her head. "I don't want to say."

"If you are unwilling to say, I can only assume that you are a lady of means and you are afraid we will recognise the name and hold you for ransom. That, or you are running from someone and do not wish for us to spill your secrets to them." He spoke in an amused tone, as though he was just making it up, but Tenten knew he meant the words, and she had to stop herself from panicking at just how close to the truth he had come—on both counts.

"Does it matter what my name is?" she snapped, using anger to hide her fear. "You can only be planning to either kill me or let me go, and I don't see why my name is relevant in either case. If you want to kill me for stowing away on your ship, just do it. I'd rather not have my imminent death dragged out. And if you're planning on letting me go, then we won't see each other again so what's so important about knowing it?"

Lee held her gaze and Tenten had to fight not to squirm under his perusal. There was no way she was going to back down from this. As soon as they knew who she was they would attempt to benefit from that fact. And yes, she realized she could have lied, but this man seemed smart—smarter than perhaps he let on to others—and she wasn't a very good liar to begin with. It was best for her to just keep her mouth shut so as not to incriminate herself any further.

"Very well then." He stood up, gave her another long look, then nodded. "I must go. Maybe you will feel like telling the captain."

Tenten didn't think a sentence so innocuous could be said in such a threatening way, and she decided to re-evaluate the nice-guy image she had in her head of him. Of course he wasn't a nice guy. He was a pirate for goodness sake! There was nothing good about pirates.

The first mate locked the cell behind him, taking with him the only lamp and leaving her in complete and utter darkness.

.

.

.

"Captain," the female captive said from her place on the floor. She was still wearing men's clothes, and it allowed her to move freely inside the cell, instead of being encumbered by so many layers. Still, Neji wouldn't mind seeing her in her usual attire—clothes that would hug her body instead of sitting like a shapeless rag.

"Lady," he nodded in reply, coming to stand at the outside of her cell door.

It had been two days since she was taken to the brig, and Neji had to admit that she was looking better. Not a lot cleaner—he had only allowed her some water and a rag to wash her face and hands, and was still yet to see a bath—but her face held colour once more and she seemed brighter, more alert than when he had found her.

"Is it lunch time yet?" she asked, eyes darting behind him in case Lee was following with a tray of food.

Neji wanted to snort at the gall of her. She was his prisoner; she would be fed when he deemed it appropriate. Hell, he had every right to withhold food from her since she was withholding information from him.

"Lee will bring something shortly," he replied instead, unable to deny her.

Neji had been visiting his prisoner since the first day she had been transferred to the brig, and each day he found himself looking forward to seeing her. She was a breath of fresh air on this testosterone filled ship, and she didn't seem intimidated by him. More than once he found himself butting heads with her, but he found her wit and intelligence attractive.

His captive smiled, and not for the first time Neji wondered what those lips would feel like against his. "And a bath too?"

Her eyes were twinkling as she asked, but he detected the hopeful note in her voice. A smirk tugged at his lips. "You get a bath when you tell me who you are."

She pouted, her shoulders slumping under the blanket he had provided for her on her first day in the brig, after he had noticed how her body shivered in the dark room.

"I'm kind of hoping you get so sick of the stench of me that you have no choice but to order me to take a bath," she admitted with a grin.

Neji raised an eyebrow at her. "I was not aware that I had the ability to order you to do anything."

She laughed at his words, the noise feminine and utterly enchanting. "True. Not many people can get away with telling me what to do."

Not for the first time, Neji had to tell himself why it would be a bad idea to enter the cell with her. He wasn't worried she would attack him, but he was worried about his own reaction to being so close to her, seeing as though he already felt attracted to the mysterious woman. He pulled up a chair and sat by the door, knowing he would be there a while despite his mind telling him he had more important things to do.

"Captain," Lee appeared at his side, too early for lunch to be served.

"What is it, Lee?" Neji didn't want to be annoyed at his first mate, but he also didn't like being disturbed when he was speaking with his captive.

"Kiba has spotted a ship in the distance, travelling in our direction. It could be nothing, but he wanted to make sure you knew either way."

"Pirates?" If they were, Neji would be more than happy to fight them head on. Otherwise, he would rather continue undisturbed, not only because their arrival at their destination was time sensitive, but now because he didn't want to risk any harm coming to his captive if a fight broke out.

"Nay, Captain. It's a navy ship."

"Keep an eye on them but let them be. We are too busy to have a skirmish with the navy right now."

"Aye, Captain. I will inform you if anything changes."

Neji nodded, satisfied that his men would do their jobs properly. He didn't believe the navy ship would bother them, but he wasn't going to be caught off guard either. "Good. You may go."

Turning back to look at his pretty captive, Neji was startled to see the colour had drained from her face and she was shaking even more than on her first day in the hold, when she had been freezing. He frowned, worried that she had suddenly become ill.

"Are you well?" he asked her, trying to keep the concern from his tone. It wouldn't do him any good if his captive found out he had taken a shine to her.

Her eyes met his, wild and… frightened? What did she have to be frightened about?

"Don't engage with them," she said with an unsteady voice. "Please. If they came after you, don't fight them."

Was she worried about a battle? No doubt, if this was her first time on a ship, of course she would be a little apprehensive.

Neji tried to give her a comforting smile, though he wasn't sure it worked. "You do not need to be afraid. My men are skilled fighters, and I will not let harm come to you."

But his captive was shaking her head, her body shaking uncontrollably. "No, no, no, no. You can't. Please!"

He wasn't sure why this was upsetting her, and Neji didn't know how to comfort her, so he tried to change the topic. "I am getting tired of calling you 'lady'. Will you tell me your name so I can call you appropriately?"

Her head snapped up to his, as though it was the first time he had asked her the question. She paled further, making Neji more concerned that something was ailing her. "No, I won't tell you. Maybe…" she paused, thinking, and then met his gaze. "If you flee from them, I will tell you."

What made her so certain that the navy ship would attack them? Lee had said they were a distance away, and naval ships rarely tried to fight pirates if they did not have backup—they knew pirates had a reputation of fighting dirty. Neji wasn't worried, but his captive seemed to think it inevitable that a fight would ensue.

"I am afraid that I cannot make such a promise," he told her. "I am a pirate; if someone wishes to go against me then they will regret it."

She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could do so Neji heard feet pounding down the stairs to the brig.

"Captain! They are turning astaboard and readying their cannons!" Lee's voice was loud and urgent in the quiet of the room, but Neji was still able to make out the sharp intake of breath from inside the cell.

"Ready the cannons, then. If a fight is what they want, then a fight is what they shall have." He stood, knowing his men needed direction, though he didn't want to leave his captive alone in her cell. A part of him wanted to stay with her and reassure her but he knew he couldn't. He was the captain of his ship, and it was his duty to make sure they came out victorious from this fight—he needed to be with his crew.

"Wait!" His captive scrambled to her feet and clutched at the cell doors, just inches from where he was standing. Her eyes held fear like he had never seen before. "At least give me a knife or a dagger to defend myself. I'll die otherwise!"

Neji frowned, not only because she wanted a weapon to defend herself against the navy—people she should be overjoyed to see at that moment—but also because of the finality of her voice. Did she truly believe she would be killed in this skirmish?

"I will not let you die. You will be safe here." Neji longed to do something more, to prove he would keep his word. But what would it look like to his first mate if he reached through the bars to caress her face? No, that would not be a good idea.

"I will keep you safe," he promised, his voice low. He fixed his eyes on hers, willing her to believe him, but she shook her head and stepped away from the grates, a look of defeat on her face. She didn't believe him. Neji was surprised at how much that hurt, but he couldn't fault her for not trusting him. They may have formed a rapport over the last few days, but she was still his prisoner.

He turned his back on her and made his way up the stairs, his first mate hot on his heels. He would take care of this problem, but he wouldn't stay away from his captive for long.

It was about time they got to know each other better.

I really wanted to add another scene, where they talk for the first time, and if I were making this a longer fic, I would have. But alas, I have to condense it. Perhaps I'll end up writing this as a full story line in the future. Not sure how many people would want to read a pirate AU though...

Thank you for reading! Keep up the reviews, I am always so happy when I see them!