S h i v e r M e T i m b e r s

Between the singing and the dancing, the rum and the drinking games, the socializing and merrymaking — the disreputable events that went on behind the closed door to the Captain's quarters went unnoticed by the remainder of the blissfully ignorant crew. They sat about in circles and clicks, chatting and gossiping about the most exciting new topics that seemed centered on the arrival of the two newest members to their company, the spirited Lieutenant and his shy and endearing Fiancée.

"I could have sworn he actually died!" Ino howled with shrill laughter, clutching the sides of her waist as tears sprung to her eyes. "I think the captain did too. You should have seen the look on her face! She looked like she was about to go into hysterics! Poor thing. You know, I think she might have actually taken a liking to the strapping young Mr. Uchiha. She's never gotten quite so upset about a man before."

"I thought being upset was a sign of dislike." Responded the uninterested drawl of Nara Shikamaru, who rolled his eyes at his blond companion in a questioning stare. He had only a sip or two to drink that night, and was a good deal more sober and in his senses than his hopelessly drunk comrades. She cackled again, taking desperate gasps of air in between laughing fits.

"Oh, poor naive Shikamaru. Concerning women — the more a person's opinion matters to us, the easier and more deeply upset we are by them."

"I'll drink to that." Tenten hiccuped, raising her mug and causing the foam that topped the amber colored liquid to slosh out the sides. She took a long drink, smacking her lips together in satisfaction when finished. Her chocolate orbs darted elsewhere, her smile reaching them when she spotted the young couple that had isolated themselves at the helm. Naruto was trying to teach Hinata the fundamentals of steering a ship. "And then there's a different sort of upset, right?" She said. "Poor Hinata. She looks about ready to faint."

"She makes a good companion for the lively first mate, I must say." Ino remarked. "They do neutralize each other nicely. If only he weren't so blunt, and would notice how she dotes on him." She sighed, admiring the glittering night sky, cluttered with countless stars.

"You two seem to forget that Sasuke and Hinata are intended for each other." Shikamaru reminded them bluntly. It effectively put a damper on the mood.

C h a p t e r I V

Rivalry

She seemed to realize that my shirt was not going to come off while the sword was embedded in it and the wall. So when she removed it, with lack of effort which was surprising, seeing as I had not been able to pull the sword free myself (I credited it to the awkward position I was forced to tug at it from, not my inferiority to her,) I seized my chance and attempted to make a break for it. But even when drunk, the Captain was no fool. She had seen it coming a mile away, and readily ran it through my pant leg. "Trying to run away?" She chuckled. "Are you frightened of me, Sasuke? I wondered where I will have to stick the sword when I remove those, too..." She wondered out loud.

"Stop." I ordered, trying to resist her hands as she pulled my shirt up over my head and tossed it carelessly aside. "You don't want to do this. You're drunk." But she ignored me, her hands running shamelessly along the contours of my bare chest. I shivered and wriggled helplessly under her touch. "Stop!"

"Thank heavens for that." She whispered, moving her lips against my collarbone as she spoke. "I'm so much more indulgent when I'm drunk. And of course I want to, naturally. Do you think that I would be trying if I didn't?" Her hands abandoned me, and she began to shed her own clothing next. I had to force myself to tear my eyes away as her shirt dropped to the floor, embarrassed. I could feel my face burn. "Look at me." She commanded. "Don't you want to, Sasuke? Don't you want me?" I shook my head, pinching my eyes shut. "I'll change that. You'll be begging for it, by the time I'm through with you."

She forced my head towards her body with a firm hand on my chin. I was relieved to find she was wearing a corset, as bizarre as it seemed to wear such a thing under mens clothing. I supposed it would be a little risque to wear nothing but a loose-fitting white shirt. She fiddled with the strings and ties, and I tried again in vain to push her away from me. "What's the worth of a man's virginity, I wonder?" She seemed to be speaking to herself. "They who give it away so much more freely than a women does. How many more times after this until your debt is repaid?"

She wrapped a leg around mine. My mind went spinning. "Stop!" But my pleas fell on deaf ears.

Then the door opened. "So have you two killed each oth — Oh my god!" I had never been quite so gratified for the existence of the loudmouthed first mate. He stumbled backwards in surprise, before regaining his composure and springing into action. "C-Capt'n!" He wrapped his arms around her waist and attempted to pull her off of me, but to no avail — she would not budge. "Let go of him, now. The jokes over."

"Naruto..." She snarled threateningly, tightening her vice-like grip on me. I winced. "You're interrupting something."

"I know. Good thing too, eh?" He said with an uncertain laugh. "You don't really want to do this, Capt'n. Remember this guy? He made fun of your hat. No one makes fun of your hat, right?" The ties of the corset had fallen loose and come undone in the struggle, and not was held against her chest only by Naruto's pulling arms. "He didn't even say thanks when you saved his life, twice! The ingrate. You really hate this guy, remember?"

She thought it over, and then nodded her head fervently. "Yeah!" She agreed, glaring at me. "I hate you!"

"So then why are you giving him exactly what he wants?" Naruto finished. I opened my mouth to deny his absurd accusation, but before I had the chance to utter a single word, a hand flew across my face. I heard the slap before I felt the sharp sting.

"How dare you try to take advantage of me?? You pi..." But she was unconscious before she finished speaking. She fell backwards into the waiting arms of the blond, who let out a relieved sigh and clamped a hand firmly over her stomach to keep the corset in place. He freed me, removing the sword, before setting her carefully face first on her bed, and then took on the task of trying to refasten the complex back of the undergarment. When I finally realized how to breath, I spoke again.

"Y-you shouldn't." I muttered. I was opposed to the idea of a man touching a women's unmentionables, even if only to preserve her decency. "It's improper."

But he ignored me, continuing to fuss with it until he gave up, throwing his hands up in the air in defeat, and swore under his breath. "I gave you fair warning!" He said, standing up and neglecting the snoring figure of the Captain. I picked my shirt off of the floor, and examined where she had cut through the fabric before redressing myself. "I told you that the Capt'n doesn't take her liquor well!"

"Well, you could have mentioned that she was going to try to rape me." I snapped back, frustrated as I did the buttons up unevenly and had to start again. My mind was still a mess, my heart still racing in my chest. She had caught me completely off guard, her actions so unexpected that I wasn't quite sure how I was supposed to feel about them. Angry? Frightened? ... Flattered? "You conveniently forgot to leave that bit out."

"Well," he wrinkled his nose. "The Captain does tend to get a bit frisky when drunk, but she's never tried to go as far as that before. She rarely does anything besides try to steal a kiss or feel someone up.
In fact, even when she's downed a bottle — she turns downs offers from the crew. Gets 'em all the time. You see, most of the men are this ship are quite attracted to the Captain." I wasn't surprised in learning this, she wasn't an unattractive woman. "She must really... you..."

"I'm going to find Ino." He said. "She'll know how to put on that thing. The Captain will probably be a little disconcerted in the morning if she wakes up to find herself half naked. You, um, stay here. If she wakes up before we get back, which is unlikely, run." Before I had the chance to object, he retreated and left the unconscious Captain and I alone.

I sat on my cot and tried very hard to keep my eyes focused on the floor, but couldn't help it when they occasionally drifted upwards to sneak a glimpse at her exposed back. I studied the delicate curve of her spine, the pale, unblemished skin pulled firmly over soft looking flesh. I swallowed hard. It was a powerful reminder that even though the Captain of an infamous pirate ship — she was still a woman.

I tried not to think too much about what Naruto had said about me being the first man on the ship she had attempted to sleep with, because I wasn't quite sure what it could possibly imply or how I was supposed to react to the information. I heard the sound of approaching laughter, and tore my eyes away from her revealed skin guiltily as Naruto and Ino returned. "She did what? You're kidding! The first time she takes my advice to heart and I'm not even around to witness it." Ino entered the room, and when she laid eyes on me, lost herself to a fit of laughter. "Still so red faced! Poor thing."

I glowered miserably at the floor as Ino tackled the corset, tying it with expert fingers. When she was finished, she pulled on the Captain's shirt and then tucked her under the covers of the bed. Not once did the Captain stir. "She's going to be beside herself in the morning." Ino giggled. "It'll be hilarious. I have to remember to pat attention to how she reacts once she sobers up a little and realizes what she's done."

I had been secretly hoping that she would have been drunk enough to remember nothing in the coming morning. Naruto bent and picked up the forgotten sword, locating it's sheath and putting the two together. "I'll keep this until the Captain decides where she wants to re-hide it." He announced. "We should be going then, we've got to catch some sleep and be up early to get this ship moving in the morning." He chuckled. "Have a nice sleep, Sasuke."

"Night, solider." Ino sang, giving me a two-fingered salute as she made her way out the door to leave me alone once more with the wasted young woman who slept deeply in her bed. "Sleep with one eye open from now on, okay?"

--

She refused to meet my eye.

Honestly, I prefer it be that way than any other. It was so much easier to ignore each other, each pretending that the other didn't exist, rather than deal face to face with the awkward occurrence of the previous night. Of course, we were not permitted to forget it. Naturally, because Ino had been let in on the scandal, the entire ship new. They laughed and joked at us, making crude suggestions and comments. The Captain was furious every time anyone so much as spoke my name. I disregarded them.

The Captain was, for the most part — back to her old self, besides her obvious poor mood. She snapped at and ordered her crew around restlessly, as if she found some satisfaction in ordering commanding people and governing them by fear. I steered clear of her, as she did me, and any communication that needed to take place between us was through the first mate.

When I woke up in the morning from the precious few hours of sleep I could salvage from that night, the Captain was already gone, and Naruto was waiting for me outside of her quarters. "So," he started, beaming at me and giving me a friendly, firm pat on the back. "It's your first official day as part of the crew. The Capt'n asked me to find some work for you. I don't think she's really up to facing you just yet."

"Fine, whatever." I grunted unenthusiastically. "Let's just get it over with, shall we?"

"That's the spirit!" He said sarcastically. It was well into the morning, the sun already nearing the zenith of the cloudless sky. It blared down on the open deck of the ship ferociously, and sweat was already beginning to prickle at the back of my neck. No one else besides me seemed to notice the scorching heat, however. They were probably a good deal more accustomed to it than I. "I was thinking we could find something for you to do in the kitchen. Being under the deck of a ship is usually a good deal easier than above for people like you, land-lover. Although, I'm not too sure people would be very appreciative of you vomiting on our food, either."

"I'll be fine in the kitchen." I snapped. He shrugged, muttering that I was free to suit my self. We wandered into the familiar kitchen, although it was not quite as busy as I had remembered it being. Most of the workers walked about leisurely, chatting with each other while they washed dishes or scrubbed the floor. I recognized the strangely hideous man I had met the other day instantly. He stood out like a stalk of corn in a wheat field. He was hanging upside down from the rafters, doing pull-ups.

"Lee, you lunatic, get down from there!" Naruto barked, and the bizarrely clad young man jumped down with surprisingly grace, landing on his feet like a cat. "Nutter..." The blond muttered under his breath. "Find something for Sasuke to do down here, won't you? He gets seasick too easily on the upper level. Oh, but first." He turned to me. "When was the last time you ate?"

Now that I thought about it, I was incredibly hungry. "The last time you fed me." I replied.

"Well, in that case, feed him something beforehand. He's probably starving." Naruto said to Lee, before turning to leave. Lee nodded wordlessly. "And don't work him too hard, he had a bit of a rough night last night, as I'm sure you've probably heard." He climbed back up the stairs and out of sight, laughing to himself as he went.

The ugly dark-haired man turned towards me, a stern expression on his face. "It's a pleasure to be working with you, Lieutenant Uchiha. We will try our best to accommodate you." He said stiffly, pouring some water from a canteen into a dirty-looking glass and handing it to me. I ignored the cup and gulped it down eagerly. "I'm glad to have my eternal rival close to me."

I quirked a confused brow. He really was a peculiar little man. "And what exactly are we rivaling about, perchance?" I asked, raising the cup to my lips and sipping again.

"For the fair heart of the lady Captain, of course."

I nearly spat my water all over him. "Why on earth would I want such a thing?" I demanded, thoroughly shocked. "I hate the creature! I regret to inform you that you are severely mistaken," I continued, raising my head proudly. "And will find no competition coming from me."

He was throwing some food on a plate, his eyes directed downwards, but I could tell by the way his lips were pressed together in a thin line that he was unconvinced. "There is no point in trying to hide it." He said. "I know that you tried to seduce the poor, innocent Captain last night." He pushed the plate at me. I didn't even look at it, and it remained forgotten against my chest.

"I did no such thing!" I retorted in my defense. His resolve was unwavering. "It was she who--!"

"My beauteous Captain would never commit such a vile act!" He roared defiantly, raising a shaking fist in a non-threatening, but passionate, way. "You are a horrible man, Lieutenant Uchiha — spreading such dishonorable rumors about such a gentle, kind woman. But I will admit that your deceiving outward appearance gives you an unfair advantage, and you will make for a challenging opponent. Fear not, true love and youth will triumph!"

Every head in the kitchen was now turned towards us, was they did not seemed overly surprised, only amused. A few of them giggled, turning and whispering to their neighbor. I concluded that this type of behavior was typical of him, but it did not help erase my dumbfounded awe. I stared at him, my mouth hanging agape, as he posed valiantly in front of me. I began to seriously reconsider accepting kitchen duty. He was genuinely off his rocker.

"Well," he said, his face splitting into a nerve-racking smile. "Now that we've got that all clear, let's put some use to you, shall we? Stew is on the menu for tonight, and we need a whole whack of potatoes peeled."

After I had finished my food, as sat on a stood and watched the shavings of potato skin curl and tumble onto the dusty ground below, I thought about the chain of events that had taken me from a proud Lieutenant of the military just months from getting married and starting a life anew to a potato peeler below the deck of a pirate ship — and hung my head in shame.

Eventually, the pile of potato peelings grew noticeably and the pile of potatoes shrunk. My hands were tired, and cut in a few places where I had been careless. I was growing increasingly bored of the repetitive work, so when the door creaked open my head snapped upwards hopefully to see if someone had come to drag me and use my labor elsewhere. As soon as I caught sight of pink, I quickly redirected my attention at my work and peeled away furiously. I sliced open my index finger and winced, putting my finger in my mouth and sucking.

When she started walking my direction, my heart skipped a beat. "It'll keep bleeding." She said. I stared at her boots as they came to a stop in front of me. "If you suck on it like that, it won't clot." I was paralyzed when I felt gently urging hands prying my finger away from my mouth, and she brought her face down towards it. She pressed her thumb near the cut, and held it there until the blood stopped seeping out of it. "There." She said, satisfied. She wiped the spilled blood off my finger, and then on her pants.

She looked right at me, but I felt no sway in my chest when she did. Her stare lacked both friendliness and obvious distaste, and was a difficult one to read. I hadn't the faintest idea what might be going on in her mind, whether she was still stuck on the incident that had happened last night, or had not quite forgotten, but forsaken its memory. She bent down and picked up a peeled potato, examining it scrutinizingly. "Each of them stripped to perfection. Do you take pride in a job well done, Sasuke?"

I merely nodded, unable to force any words to come to my tongue. "I think that's enough work for today. I don't want you to get sick again. You can go up on the deck and be sociable if you wish, or if you're tired you can nap in my quarters. I would assume that you haven't gotten much sleep since your arrival on my vessel."

"Yes..." I replied hesitantly. "I think I'd like to sleep." She gave a curt nod of the head before excusing herself to speak with an obviously overjoyed Lee. I stood, stretching my aching legs, and wandered above the deck. I ignored the heads that turned my directions and the whispers and giggles that flew about, walking briskly without making it seem like I was in a hurry.

Once again, regardless of the poor result of the last time, I had no intention of sleeping when I arrived at the Captain's quarters. But neither did I intend to search for my weapon, as she more than likely had re-hidden outside the obvious place. I had a different mystery other than the whereabouts of my sword that I wished to solve first. I shut the door behind me and let out the breath that I hadn't realized I was holding, waiting a few moments to make sure no one had followed me before approaching the foot of the Captain's bed and kneeling down besides the chest.

I wanted a hint. A clue that would lead towards the discovery of her identity.

There had been an obvious effort to find a replacement lock for the one I had broken, but the one she had found was a great deal easier to pick. I rummaged inside of the chest, just to confirm beforehand that she had not in fact returned my sword to it's previous hiding place. Just as I had expected, it was not hidden within the piles of clothing and accessories.

I took my time, examining each item carefully. Checking the pockets of petticoats, she seams and hems of gowns in case she had been clever enough to sew something into the clothing. I had a difficult time trying to imagine the laces and frills on the Captain, or seeing her adorned in the pearl earrings and ruby broaches, and countless other expensive pieces of jewelry that I pulled out of probably five separate boxes that were either painted gold or glittering with jewels.

Gloves... Handkerchiefs... It was a spacious chest with a great deal in it, and I was growing depressed as I neared the bottom of it. So far, I had found nothing of use. But I dug on, carefully refolding everything and preparing it to be put back in its proper place easily. My heart jumped when I spotted a small, rectangular package on the wooden floor of the chest, wrapped in red satin. I pulled it out, and then the Captain announced her presence. "If you are satisfied that you will not find your weapon in there, you can put that back, please."

Judging by the way she looked at me, I assumed she had been standing there watching me rifle through her belongings for quite some while. She looked unimpressed, if not bitter. "I have asked someone else to hide it for me. It could be anywhere on the ship." She said, stepping forwards. "Not even I know its location, in case you thought you might try to drug or torture the information out of me. You can search for your precious sword on this ship during your entire life lived on it, but you will more than likely not find it."

"I was not looking for my weapon." I replied. Her face paled visibly, and her eyes narrowed into a glare. She reached for the package that I had in my hand, but I held it out of her reach. "Who are you?" I demanded. "I want a name, a history. Who were you before you were the Captain of this ship?"

"I am the Captain of this ship now," She seethed, grasping for it blindly. "And that is all that matters. Give me those back, they do not belong to you."

"I'll give you these back if you tell me who you are." I replied.

"My identity is not of your concern, and it is not something I will share until you gain my trust." She spat. But I would not give her back something she quite obviously did not want me to see, and she realized this. She drew her own weapon, pointing it at my neck. "Return what is rightfully mine back to me." Then, she directed her sword to my knee. "You do not need a leg for peeling potatoes. Do you fancy peg legs, Sasuke?"

Reluctantly, I handed it over. I would find some way of discovering who she was eventually. "Your name." I begged. "A first, a last. I don't care. Give me something. It can't be that important to keep secret."

"A name?" She pressed the package protectively against her chest. "You may call me Captain."

S h i v e r M e S o u l

Okay, so this chapter is like... five pages shorter than the last.

Oh well. It was another speedy update brought to you by... YOUR REVIEWS! That's right, keep 'em coming... Keep 'em coming...

PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY REVIEW! ;; I'm a reviewcrackwhore. I sold you my story. Now give me my crack. : o Erm I means reviews.

Sakura's acting suspicious ooooh... OOOH... Bewaar.