I feel proud of myself, writing so much in so little time.

'Chapter 3 - Pirates!'

Before I had time to utter a single word, a sharp blade was pressed against my throat and a strong arm wrapped itself around my waist. The man who held me rested his chin above my head and chuckled at my apparent discomfort.

Behind me came Tenten's indignant growls. She was struggling, no doubt, and hard. One of the pirate's swore vehemently as a thump resonated through the night. Tenten had most likely managed to hit him where it hurt.

"Damn it, tie the bitch up! That fucking hurt. Seriously." Growled the pirate who got hit in the family jewels.

As much as I wanted to turn around and see how Tenten was doing, I couldn't. The man keeping me in place wasn't someone that I wanted to anger.

"Try anything, kid, and I'll slit your girlfriend's throat from ear to ear." My captor said sharply just as Sasuke moved his hand towards his belt-knife.

That was when it struck me. No attempt on holding back Sasuke had been made by the bandits. Feeling both relieved and worried at the same time, a strange combination indeed, I focused myself on being a good captive. Getting my throat cut from ear to ear did not sound like something that I would take pleasure in. Then again, hoping that Sasuke would not do anything rash was all that I could do.

From somewhere on my right I heard the sound of footsteps. They were unhurried and casual, as if the person they belonged to was taking a mere stroll.

Finally, a figure came into my plane of sight. It was a tall, dark-haired man in a captain's hat. His hands were clasped behind his back and his face was undeniably cold. All in all, he looked a lot like Sasuke.

Wait. WHAT!?

My eyes widened to the size of saucers. No. It couldn't be. There was no way! This couldn't be Uchiha Itachi. Not the Uchiha Itachi, dreaded pirate of the Seven Seas. Then…the pirates surrounding us would most definitely be his crew!

I groaned inwardly.

Of all the ghastly scenarios in the world this must be the most horrible. Captured by pirates? Bad. Captured by the crew of the Red Blade? Certain doom.

"Hello, little brother." Itachi drawled, his lips curving up into a smirk. "How nice it is of you to finally set your sights on a bride."

Sasuke's hands balled into firsts as anger flared up in his eyes. He was ready to fight, there was no contradicting that.

"Weren't you paying attention to what the First Mate of my ship said?" Itachi asked, raising his eyebrows in a mocking gesture. "You make a single move and the girl dies. You can't afford to make such a sacrifice for your own selfish reasons, now can you?"

No, he couldn't.

First of all, I didn't want to die.

Second of all, my father would declare war against the Kingdom of Uchiha the second he would learn of my death. Insensitive man or not, my father did love me.

Sasuke took in a deep breath and slowly unclenched his fists. Within a matter of second he had forced himself to calm down…to a certain extent. If one were to take a look at his forehead, one would know just how angry he was. The vein pulsating there said it all.

"What do you want, Itachi? You've already disgraced the Uchiha name and killed our father. What more could you want?" Sasuke spat, visibly straining to keep his rage under control.

Ah, testosterone…sometimes I thought that an ounce of it could fuel a whole kingdom for a year.

Itachi cocked his head to one side. "What more could I possibly want, you ask?" His voice took on a malevolent tone. It was so positively spiteful that simply hearing it made me want to rip off my own ears. Never before had I heard so much wickedness in a person's voice. Never until now.

"I want the genie which belongs to the Kingdom of Hyuuga. This particular genie is said to be the strongest of the nine currently known to the world. The Kyuubi, they call her." Itachi intoned. "Rumor has it that the genie is currently in possession of a boy by the name of Uzumaki Naruto. If the King of the Hyuuga Kingdom cares at all about his daughter, her fiancé, and politics, he would without a doubt force Naruto to hand over the genie in exchange for their safety."

My blood went cold.

"The genie in exchange for their safety." The only problem with that plan was that Naruto no longer owned the genie.

I did.

The small flask tucked into my cleavage was by now beginning to burn a hole in my chest, figuratively speaking.

Quite suddenly the awful situation I found myself in just got worse. Not only did Naruto no longer have the genie, he would also get into trouble. My father would be livid once he learned that the sole item with the ability to return his daughter and her fiancé was no longer in his reach.

Why, oh why did I have to accept that gift!? Naruto had insisted and I had accepted. Stupid. Stupid, stupid, STUPID! I should have known that nothing good would ever come of that little flask.

I looked over at my future husband, if we ever survived to get married, that is. Back in the gardens I had confided in him about Naruto's affection for me. With so little information given on the subject, Sasuke could not have possibly figured out that Naruto did more than just tell me he loved me.

I wasn't quite sure if that was a bad or a good thing yet. Then again, I didn't have much of an opportunity to inform Sasuke of that now…as I would most likely get someone's hand showed between my breasts. And that wasn't something on my 'to-do' list.

I would just have to play my cards right and continue keeping the little flask hidden until I figured out what to do with it. For now I would have to let things unfold as they may.

"Planning on world domination?" Sasuke retorted, taking on the role of the tough guy.

"Trying to impress your bride?" Itachi asked, shaking his head in an amused way. "And no, there are some things more important to me then world domination. Things that you don't need to know about."

Out of the corner of my eyes I saw a blonde man sneaking up on Sasuke. His hand was held over his head, holding what appeared to be a cutlass.

I gasped in fright. As a punishment for making a noise, the knife at my throat grazed my skin ever so tenderly , drawing a thin line of blood from my neck.

Due to my uncontrolled gasping, Sasuke noticed the man and blocked the blow that was coming down at him. Caught arm to arm with a pirate, Sasuke did not have the chance to prevent a sharp blow to the head that came from behind him.

My fiancé's eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed. As his limp body hit the ground, I was able to see who it was that knocked him out cold. To my surprise, directly behind where Sasuke previously stood there was a blue-haired woman. A hefty bat was balanced in the crook of her elbow and she looked particularly pleased with herself. The other pirate's supposed attack was only meant as a distraction.

"Nice work, Konan, Deidara." Itachi said as he turned around on his heel and started to walk away. "Tie the three of them up and take them to the ship."

My last thoughts before I fainted were composed of just how doomed I was and just how much it would suck to be surrounded by unwashed pirates.

I will do my utmost best to get Chapter 4 up sometime tomorrow.