L i k e A P r i s o n e d B i r d S e t F r e e

"So you're Hinata's cousin, is that right?"

He was glaring. It was a fearsome and intimidating glare, and his eyes were narrowed dangerously, but she had seen worse. After looking into the murderous, piercing eyes of Uchiha Sasuke — nothing would ever send shivers down her spine the same way again. "What have you done with her?" He asked in a calm, but commanding voice. She found no fear hidden behind his pearl-like orbs, but neither did she find the arrogance that she had seen in the Uchiha's. And for that reason alone, she found herself much more tolerable of him.

But they were all the same, these military men. Of course, in his eyes she (or if it really was in his eyes, he,) was the enemy. Of course, he first asked about the poor defenseless woman that he felt it was his duty to protect, in order to hide the fear that he felt for his own life. He jumped to conclusions, categorizing all pirates as 'evil.' She was not evil, no, he was the evil one. He was the self-righteous one. She would stamp him out of it.

Sakura still kept her gender a secret from him, her hat pulled over her head and titled downwards to hide most of her face. She noticed obvious efforts to crane his neck and get a better look, but she moved always as to keep her identity concealed. "Hinata is not my prisoner. She stays here on her own free will. She earns her keep, and keep her we shall, so long as she wishes to remain." She said. "Hinata has gained my trust and is free to leave any time she pleases. Though, I highly doubt she ever will. You, on the other hand..."

She swept her hat gracefully off of her head. He went rigid. "Are a different matter. There are secrets on this ship that must never be leaked, and because of that, I'm afraid we can no longer let you go free. If you agree to become a member of my crew, we will accommodate you the best we can and allow you whatever freedoms we can afford. If, however, your loyalties can not be swayed, we will be forced to dispose of you."

He was still frozen with shock, and it took a moment or two for him to regain his composure. There was contemplation in his eyes as he looked into Sakura's, before they fell downcast, and his lips pursed together. "I'll have to think about it." He muttered finally. Sakura nodded and rose, satisfied that the negotiation was going a great deal better than the last one, and retreated above the deck of the ship to give him time alone with his thoughts. He had potential, this one.

A few of the crew members were looming around, looking expectant. "It's only a matter of time now." Sakura said to Tenten, who stood nearest to her. "But I'm pretty sure he's convinced." And after the Captain walked away to attend to other matters, Tenten slipped beneath the deck and into the brig. Minutes later, she returned, announcing his agreement to cooperate, and his membership in the crew.

C h a p t e r V I I I

Land Ahoy!

"So it was you!"

I awoke to the sounds of the Captain's yells, and half-expected to find her leaning over my bed, scowling, mouth open and ready to chastise me for something or another that was more than likely not my fault. Instead she was off near to the doorway, standing across from the white-haired man with one hand on her hip and the other pointed at his chest. He lifted his hands to his face defensively. "You break into my room, steal my keys, and then let that lunatic free! Are you mad? Are you trying to get me killed?"

"On the contrary, Sakura. If I had not let him go, he would not have stopped young Lieutenant Hyuuga from running you through, and you would be very much dead." He man replied with a smug smile, and upon finally noticing that I had awoken, turned his head towards me and gave me a polite nod of recognition. "Good morning."

It was an understatement to say that I was confused. There was something evidently awry with this picture, of my savior standing and chatting leisurely with my enemy, as if they were old friends that had gotten on one another's nerves. Sakura glanced at me briefly, before turning her attention back to the other man and opening her mouth to retort. I interrupted her. "You..." I breathed, drawing my eyebrows together.

"Are a spy, yes." He replied, as if reading my mind. And he said it much too casually, as if it were something he was blatantly proud of. My mind whirred angrily. I had trusted him, from the first time I had met him, and it was foolhardy of me. I had known straightaway that there was something off about his character, but I had chose to ignore it. But then there was something else that didn't make sense, if he were actually an enemy, why had he set me free the other day? "I masquerade as an aristocrat on military ships that carry expensive goods or could be potentially threatening, and inform our lady Captain here of their whereabouts."

There was something about his graceful demeanor that caused irrational respect and I could not allow myself to be openly rude to him. I kept quiet, despite the furious comments that rose to my tongue. "Enough," Sakura said, directed more at the man than at myself. "I'm not through with you yet, Kakashi. You better explain to me your reasoning behind letting him go. I don't want to lose my trust in you." She said. And of course, all three of us knew what that meant. If he were to prove untrustworthy, he would not be permitted to leave the ship again.

"Well," he said calmly. "I was so disappointed that I missed your last sword fight. I was hoping to give myself a second chance to see it."

She seemed satisfied by his answer, and surprisingly relieved. She did nothing but sigh and shaking her head, muttering something incomprehensible under her breath. "No harm done, right?" He concluded with a breezy chuckle, his shoulders shaking. "But if you don't mind, Sakura, I'd like to stay on board this time until you can drop me off somewhere suitable. I don't know how long it will be until the men on that ship are rescued."

"Fine enough by me." She replied. "You're always welcome." And she looked as if she were going to say something else, but there came loud knocking on the door and she instead went to answer it. I took this as a suitable time to get out of bed, and tossed off the covers, finger-combing through my tangled hair as I stood. What I wouldn't do for a bath and a clean mirror. I probably looked as dirty and disheveled as the rest of them.

"Captain, if you would be so kind as to grace me with your glorious presence for a word or two?" I didn't have to guess twice to recognize who stood outside of the Captain's quarters. If not his undeniable voice that made me cringe like it were nails being raked on a chalkboard, then the bizarre choice of words were a dead giveaway.

"You flatter me, Lee." Sakura replied with a soft tone of voice that I was unaccustomed to hearing, unless she was speaking to Hinata, and stepped outside, not bothering to shut the door behind her. I stared at the white-haired man with the eye patch, who Sakura had referred to as Kakashi, with both bitter resent and humbled adoration. I still wasn't quite sure what to think of him. He had turned to watch Sakura and Lee as they spoke, listening in on their conversation.

"We unfortunately ran out of canon balls while sinking the enemy vessel yesterday, and had to resort to using potatoes instead." Lee said. So that was the unexplained mystery behind the unreasonable potato storage of this ship. They used it as makeshift ammo. "So we'll need to find a the nearest port and stop to buy supplies."

The Captain's face split into a smile, her eyes twinkling thoughtfully. "Perfect timing. I've been meaning to visit Tsunade, recently, and we need to drop off Kakashi somewhere. Very well then, Lee, thank you. We should arrive shortly, if you can make it until then." She nodded and dismissed him, and he scurried away after bowing to her over enthusiastically, provoking a giggle. She giggled.

"He's the student of an old colleague of mine." Kakashi said suddenly to me. I was startled, and blinked as he continued. "The apple really doesn't fall too far from the tree." It was bad enough that there was one person like Rock Lee in the world, and the idea of two made me shudder. "Well, Sakura," this was the third time he had used her first name, which seemed totally out of line, but went without reprimand.
"If you'd excuse me, I'll find something to busy myself with." And he left the room, leaving the two of us alone again.

She turned to me. "Well, seeing as you have rendered yourself useless," she began spitefully. "I suppose you have the day off. Do as you please, but don't get in anyone's way. Especially mine."

But I wasn't really concerned with what I would do with my day, there were other questions on my mind. "So what exactly allows him to get away with calling you by your first name?" I asked, completely off topic. She looked perplexed, cocking her head slightly to one side. "That man, Kakashi. And what happened to his eye?"

I was surprised when she gave the answers so freely, as usually, when involving her, I had to fight for them. "I've known Kakashi since long before I became Captain of this ship." She said. "Tsunade regarded him highly, and he was once my superior. So, I suppose that I'm quite used to it. Sometimes I don't remember that my status is now above his. And there's nothing wrong with his eye, he can see fine with both."

She spoke of him fondly. I had no intentions to pry further into the matter, and quite apparently, neither did she. "I have better things to do then chat with you." She said abruptly, abandoning the pleasantries that I was unaccustomed to. Something had put her in a good mood, and it wasn't me. "Don't get yourself into trouble." And she went off to do whatever it was that was clearly more important than I was.

She had said I could do as I pleased, so long as I did not get in anyones way, and I planned to stretch that one boundary as far as I could. This day would provide me the perfect opportunity to pick back up the occupation that I had temporarily forsaken, due to unprecedented obstacles that had deterred me. I still had one goal in mind, and that was escape. The first step was finding my sword.

I was making progress. I had already begun to formulate a plan around the discovery of the hiding place of his weapon. It was still a bit blurry around the edges, but it was a start. I would best Sakura in fencing, then take her as my hostage, and the crew would undoubtedly be forced to comply to my will. There of course was the fact that my sword was hidden in any given place on the ship, and it boggled my mind to try to think of all the places it could be hidden, by some unknown person. This posed a bit of a problem.

But, unfortunately for the Captain's not-so-brilliant plan, I was thoroughly convinced that for me, nothing was an impossibility. It was all within the mentality, and regardless of the common perception, a woman's mind was not all that complex. It had not taken me an eternity to come to notice that Sakura was borderline obsessed with trust, and kept a strict line separating those who she could and those who she could not. She only would have given the important task of hiding my weapon to someone who she felt she could totally confide in.

And then, who else would I turn to first other than that ever faithful thing attached to her hip — the first mate, Naruto?

When I ventured out to search for him, the first thing that caught my eye was something I wasn't quite sure that I was really seeing: Hyuuga Neji, trailing after Tenten as she introduced him to the rest of the crew. It might have struck me as odd that Sakura herself was not, as she done to me, but I was too absorbed by the phenomenon before me. Hyuuga Neji. Walking around. Free. Whereas in the first several days of my captivity, I was kept chained to a wall below deck, at the mercy of the swaying boat, starving.

"Ah, and you've already met Mr. Uchiha, I believe?" Tenten said, gesturing towards me as Neji turned to face me. He gave me a curt nod, but did not meet my eye. I could see what he was stiff with. Shame, shame because he had caved in so easily.

"You submitted so easily?" I demanded, ignoring the presence of Tenten as I stared at him, making no attempt to mask my disgust. He seem unaffected by my anger-fueled glower. "You forsake your duty and country, just like that?"

Now he turned to me, offended, the line of his mouth tightening. "You are incorrect." He deadpanned, bitingly. "If anything, I behaved more rationally that you did. What they asked of me was not unreasonable, and their values are not quite so twisted as I was lead to believe. To agree to their terms would be in both my best interest and in that of Hinata's." Quite clearly, I was mistaken. He was not shamed by his actions, not even the slightest. If then, why was he so uncomfortable around me?

It was then that Naruto decided to do me the favor of finding me instead of waiting for me to find him, and much to my luck, walked up to us, clapping a hand on Neji's shoulder. "Alright then, I can feel a storm coming. No fighting aloud on the ship, otherwise the Captain will get involved, and then you know what happens. She'll end up nearly murdering the both of you. Sasuke over here," he looked at me, his eyes glinted mischievously. I anticipated a rude comment before he even made it. "Is just sour because he almost died twice, and was saved by the Captain both times, before he became a member of the crew."

"Which is another reason why I accepted their offer more readily than you did." Neji added, shifting awkwardly as he diverted my gaze again. "I'd rather not become the Captain's personal whore in order to earn my meals, thank you very much. It only came to that arrangement because you were too stubborn and prideful, Uchiha. To be in such a position... aren't you a man? Overpowered by a woman...How pathetic."

And I was beginning to think that I was finally rid of that horrendous rumor. How foolish of me. "There is no truth behind that story!" I spat, and I could feel the heat rush to my cheeks, which only worsened at the sound of Naruto's hysterical laughter. "I peel potatoes, for god's sake! It never happened! And I never would have let such a thing happen, either!"

"Oh, please." Naruto cut in, clutching the sides of his stomach. "The only reason you weren't raped like the pitiful, defenseless little boy you are was because I happened to walk in before she managed to strip you of all your clothes." He howled, loud enough for everyone on the entire ship to hear. Heads turned towards us. Neji quirked a brow. Smug little bastard.

"Excuse me."

The Captain's voice was nerve-racking, low and threatening, a murderous hiss. It caused the onlookers to jump fearfully and return to their work, as if they hadn't noticed anything at all, and the remainder of us to freeze. "I'd like to clear up a common misconception." She continued. "No such event transpired. Ever. Am I quite understood?"

"Yes Captain!" Squeaked Tenten, and Naruto nodded vigorously. Neji had paled, and did not reply, but she didn't seem too bothered by his lack of response. Instead she turned to me, her expression softening somewhat, but still far from friendly.

"I'd like to speak with you, please." She said, and stepped aside. I looked at Naruto uncertainly before following after her. She stopped near the side of the boat, and I looked out over the waters. It rose and fell, like the ocean was breathing, and the boat dipped with its movement. "In a short time we will be arriving at a nearby port to buy supplies, as you might have heard earlier this morning. At which point, I will be leaving the ship to visit Tsunade. Naruto is accompanying me, and without us, you pose a serious danger to the crew. And unfortunately, I don't feel in a cruel enough mood to lock you back in the brig. So you will be joining us, so I can keep an eye on you."

I could feel the hope swell in my chest. This reeked of an opportunity for escape.

S e e k i n g T h e S t o r m y D e e p

Just kidding.

Oh mah gawd. You guys were TOTALLY eating it out of my hands! That was hilarious! You guys are a laugh and a half!

And yes, that means no, I never intended to discontinue the story. That's probably why it seemed so out of the blue, because I threw it in there as a last minute joke. And a joke it was. By my standards, anyway. I have a twisted sense of humor. For some reason, I find the idea of lotsa angry people yelling at me very appealing. -nod-

So, I apologize to those of you who wrote out fucking long reviews, trying to convince me to continue my story. If it's of any constellation, if it had truly been my plot to ditch the story, you probably WOULD have convinced me to continue. But seriously... The extent to which some of you guys freaked was frightening. And flattering. I feel so loved.

I was intending to make this chapter a great deal longer, but I really wanted to finish it up tonight so I could just reassure you guys that EVERYTHING WAS GOING TO BE OKAY. I would never stop now! I love you guys too much!

So take a chill pill. Maybe two, for you special cases. And leave me a review? If you don't forgive me, and don't FEEL like reviewing, might I remind you that I DID update a new chapter. A DAY LATER. Some props, please?