AN: I hope you weren't too attaced to the pattern of fairy tale followed by plot. There will still be more fairy tales in this (it's a fairy tale au after all) but there might be several chapters between each one. As for this chapter: this is a spin on the original tale of the Little Mermaid. Disney basically took the whole "mermaid sells her voice to be with a prince" part of the story and ignored the parts they didn't like, so if the only Little Mermaid you know is their version then this will look very different. Other than the descrition of Rapunzel's tower and the names in Sleeping Beauty, I've been using the original stories and tweaking them as opposed to taking from Disney. I suppose I should've warned you earlier, but oh well. Enjoy and drop a review!

By the Sea

Once upon a time there lived a mermaid princess under the sea. She had always dreamed of seeing the sky, something that was only allowed after she turned eighteen. On the day of her birthday, she swam happily up to the surface, to feel the sun on her face for the first time. But when she arrived, the sky was black, and around her a storm was raging.

Through her disappointment, she saw a ship being tossed by the waves. Men were being thrown off the ship and drowning in the ocean she called home. Not wanting to see others taken by the water she loved, she swam to them and managed to save one: a human prince. She dragged him to shore and lay him on the beach, guarding him against the crashing waves until he woke.

During the night, she had been enchanted by the beauty of the human male, finding herself marveling at every detail. But when the morning sun broke through the clouds the next day, she realized with fear that humans might not find her looks appealing. Like all mermaids, her skin was pale and covered in scales, and her hair was the dark green of seaweed. She knew some of her kin had been called monsters and had been hunted. So when the prince opened his eyes, she disappeared, terrified, into the water.

She didn't return to the surface for days, but her thoughts remained consumed by the handsome human prince. Finally unable to contain it anymore, the princess went in search of the Sea Witch and asked to be turned into a human. The Witch agreed, but told the mermaid that every spell comes with a price. The princess would have to sacrifice her voice to the Witch in return for the potion that would transform her tail to feet and her scales to skin.

The Witch warned her to not take the potion, saying that the transformation would cause the princess more pain that she could possibly imagine; her feet would feel as though she were walking on glass with each step, and her skin would burn from even the smallest ray of sunlight. But the mermaid insisted that she wanted to see her prince again. Finally, the Witch warned her that she had three days to make the prince fall in love with her. If by sunset on the third day she shared the kiss of true love with her prince, the potion's effects would become permanent; her skin would darken to the color of a human's skin and stop burning in the sunlight, her feet would no longer bleed when she walked, and her voice would return. If, however, the prince did not fall in love with her by that time, she would be doomed to walk forever as if knives were pricking into her soles, bleeding and never healing, her skin would burn as if scalded by the sun but never change from its pale color, and her voice would remain lost. The only way to change it was to find a man who could fall in love with her.

The princess accepted the potion despite the warnings and drank it as soon as she was on the beach where she'd taken her prince before. She immediately felt the effects of the potion as her body changed from mermaid to human. She changed into the clothes given to her by the Sea Witch and walked for the first time to find her prince. Her feet bled inside the shoes and her skin felt as though it were on fire, but at long last she came across a beautiful castle on the beach.

The prince didn't recognize her, but took pity on her haggard appearance and let her stay in the castle. Even though she couldn't speak, he found himself drawn to her and he invited her to the ball that evening. She danced the night away with him and the other nobles, despite her feet bleeding the entire time. And even though everything was exactly how she'd planned, the prince danced half the night with a different girl.

The sea princess didn't give up hope, and continued to visit him the next two days. The prince took her around the town and told her about his life. He explained the duties he had to uphold, and how he had accidentally defied them by falling in love with a poor girl he'd met on the streets. The mermaid princess was unable to speak her horror, and by the end of three days the prince confronted his parents and told him about his love for the girl he'd spent most of the ball with days before. To the princess' dismay, the king and queen gave him their consent to marry the girl.

The sun set on the third day as the prince and the girl from the temple announced their engagement and kissed passionately in front of the court. The forgotten mermaid threw herself from the tallest tower into the sea, hoping to end her life. To her despair she couldn't die, and she remembered the warning from the Sea Witch that doomed her to live forever in pain until she can find a man who loves her in return.

Naruto sipped his water, glaring at the sun high in the sky. He'd arrived in the port the night before and run into a group of 'friendly' merchants. He'd drank too much and woke up that morning to find his pockets considerably emptier than they had been before. He cursed the port for catering to thieves and pirates alike, but luckily he had enough back up gold to pay for his room and meals.

The journey to the sea had been more of an avoidance tactic rather than a planned adventure. Even a few days of walking after defeating the dragon – a feat that had somehow already managed to make its way around the surrounding villages – he wasn't ready to confess his failures again. He opened the book and found that the nearest tale was the Mermaid Princess.

The Mermaid Princess had been even lower on his list of options than the Sleeping Princess was. It wasn't for the same reasons though; there was no evil Witch or dragon to defeat now. No, his reason was that he hated the story of the Mermaid Princess. As a child, he'd cried the first time he'd read the story and refused to look at it again for years.

He supposed it would be better if he were the one to break the spell from the princess and stop her from feeling pain, but somewhere in his heart he knew he wasn't the right man to do that. Naruto couldn't say how he knew; he just did.

Nevertheless, here he was.

Naruto finished his drink and dropped a couple of coins on the table before grabbing his sword and sweeping out. He wandered around the market, glancing about to see if he could find a woman with pale skin and green hair. He wasn't positive the mermaid princess would be at this port, but the last time he'd checked – a few days before his birthday, he'd had the Witch of the Forest confirm all the locations in the book – she was in the area. At the very least, she never ventured far from the sea or the original prince's castle, so it was a start.

He was in the midst of deciding what exactly he was planning to do when he found the mute princess, when he overheard a familiar voice. He turned and ducked out of sight just in time to see the raven haired rogue to walk around the corner.

"…Sell what you can here and collect the profits. We're setting off at sunset, is that clear?" The raven was talking to two men flanking him.

The one to the left bowed slightly. "Yes, captain." He disappeared into the crowd before Naruto could blink.

The one on the raven's right spoke next. "So what's next Sasuke? Any bars you want me to shake down? Men to intimidate?" He was a brunet with strange tattoos on his face just below his eyes and looked as happy as the raven was passive.

"Go find the rest of the crew and tell them they have until sunset. And call me captain."

"Yes captain, sir!" The brunet gave a ridiculous salute and ran off. Naruto laughed to himself at the look on the raven's face. He seemed to be at his wit's end. It was good for him, the blond decided.

"So," he said, stepping out of his hiding space. "Your name's Sasuke then." He relished the look of surprise on the raven's face at seeing him, even though it was masked immediately.

"Hn," the man named Sasuke responded. "What of it?" The raven continued walking.

Naruto fell in step beside him. "Well it gives me something to call you other than rogue. Gotta say it's a nice change."

He didn't have to look to know the other was rolling his eyes. This was only their fourth time meeting, but Naruto already felt like he knew the raven. "What do you want?"

"Just wondering if you're here to mess up my saving the next princess."

Sasuke snorted. "As if I would do such a thing."

Naruto shrugged, trying to maintain the nonchalant tone of voice. "Well you've already done it three times already."

"Coincidence."

"No such thing." Sasuke turned the corner and Naruto almost kept walking straight. He finally caught back up.

"It's not my fault you believe in false fate, little prince."

"Hey! I called you by your name, the least you can do is call me by mine."

"Your options are 'little prince', 'idiot prince', or 'loser prince'. Take your pick." Sasuke was smirking.

"Bastard…" Naruto growled in warning.

"Captain!" A voice interrupted. They both turned around to see a large man running towards them. "Lee got in another fight and was thrown in jail. The guards said they won't release him till morning. What do you want me to do?"

"Again?" Sasuke brought his hand over his face in an exasperated manner. Naruto listened in silence as the two of them discussed how they were gonna deal with this Lee guy who'd apparently done this multiple times. The gears in his brain worked to discover the source of his nagging suspicion in regards to Sasuke.

Everything snapped into place the moment the other ran off. "You're Sasuke Uchiha!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing at the other openly.

Sasuke Uchiha, also known as the Black Pirate – or sometimes the Black Captain – was a well-known criminal throughout the modern countries. The Five Country Alliance that the Fire Country was part of had declared that anyone who captured the captain and his crew was required to bring him to a tribunal where the five monarchs would decide his fate.

He was known for ravaging and burning port-side towns, destroying military vessels from several different countries, and he was accused of killing the prince of the Water Kingdom. If Naruto had captured him back in Rapunzel's tower, he wouldn't have needed to continue journeying around to find a princess in far off lands; all the lands would've offered him their princesses' hands in marriage already. He'd defeated a dragon and that hadn't happened; that's how big of a deal the Black Pirate was.

Sasuke hissed and grabbed Naruto's arm, dragging the blond down an alley. "Keep it down, idiot."

Naruto ignored the warning, instead remembering snippets from their interactions before. "Black tunic, faded boots, and a cutlass – not to mention your apparent love of treasure – all leading to one conclusion: you're a pirate."

"Rogues like me love looting for gold and jewels. This forest is a paradise, and despite what you may think the princesses won't be returning. It'll be full of others like me in a day or two."

"Why did you stop, young Uchiha?"

All the clues had been there before. But he had one question. "Why is the Black Pirate travelling around and stealing from princesses on land? Those castles you went to were nowhere near the ocean."

"Tch. None of your business, prince." Sasuke scoffed. "And it's captain to you."

"It's weird," Naruto continued, completely ignoring the other. "Because if I had known who you were, I would've just captured you before. And then this wouldn't keep happening. I could've chosen from all twelve of those princesses if you hadn't gotten in the way!"

Sasuke turned his cold glare on the blond. "Capturing me wouldn't have stopped you from arriving too late."

"I don't think lateness was the problem."

"Tch." Sasuke made that same irritating noise with his tongue and stalked deeper into the alley. Naruto noticed that the sun was starting to dip closer to the horizon; it wouldn't be long before the pink hues of sunset covered the sky.

He pushed forward with what he wanted to say, knowing he had minutes before the raven left him to go god knows where. "I've known there was something off about you for a while, and now I have solid evidence. You definitely did something to prevent me from rescuing any of those princesses."

The glare the raven shot him would've staggered a weaker man, but Naruto held his ground. "I've told you once, and I'll tell you again: I don't care about your little adventure or stupid desire to rescue princesses. I would like nothing more than to never see your face again. Now, if you'll excuse me." He swept past Naruto, as if that were final.

The blond's hand shot out and before he knew it, he had grabbed hold of Sasuke's arm. The raven stared down at the offense with a poisonous look. "Where are you in a rush to go, Sasuke?" He emphasized the name on purpose. It worked exactly how he'd planned; the raven turned his venomous stare to Naruto's face. "I'm not done with you yet. Plus you can't even leave with one of your men still in prison –"

"I'm a pirate; I don't have to obey the rules." Sasuke jerked his hand out of Naruto's grasp. "Goodbye, idiot prince." He managed to make it out of the alley without being stopped again.

Naruto glared at the irritating man's back as it disappeared. Sunset was fast approaching, and the pirate would be gone, leaving the blond with his questions. An idea half formed in his brain, and he made his way to the pier. If the pirate refused to admit he'd done something wrong, then he would just have to find out for himself.

The ship with black sails was stupidly easy to find, which probably meant the port he was in catered openly to pirates. The guard sitting in the watchtower above the sails – Naruto had no idea what anything was called on a ship, never having needed to board one – was staring out to the ocean, and he was able to slip onboard unnoticed.

He found the stairs and made his way down, looking in each room until he found what looked like a rarely-used storage area. There was a small cubbyhole hidden behind barrels that were probably filled with blood or something equally creepy, but Naruto made himself as comfortable as he could.

The slight shaking of the boat threw off his balance, even while sitting, and he belatedly remembered one of the merchants who had come to the palace saying something about 'sea legs'. Naruto didn't think he had any. He tried placing a hand on the wall next to him for support, but it was moving too and didn't help.

A collection of muffled shouts drifted down from above, and Naruto temporarily forgot his discomfort. He could hear people running around upstairs, and he figured that meant the crew was back and they'd broken their man out of jail. No one seemed keen on coming downstairs, and Naruto smiled smugly at how well his plan was working.

The smile slid off his face when the ship lurched beneath him. It creaked as it moved, and with a jolt of his stomach, he realized that it shook so much more when it was moving than when it was docked.

He tried to hold it in for as long as possible, but barely a few minutes had passed before he was leaning out the window, releasing his overpriced lunch into the water below. He turned his head back to land, and saw it already fading into the distance. This ship really was as fast as the legends said.

The thought faded to nothingness as another jerk of the ship had him getting sick once more. He was so busy feeling his own discomfort, that he forgot he was supposed to be hiding until he heard a loud thump behind him followed with a "what the hell?!"

Naruto was violently torn from the window and flung against the wall. "Who the fuck are you?" The words came from the brunet with tattoos on his face that Naruto had seen earlier that day.

He tried to think of something witty to say in response, but his face turned green and the man abruptly released him just in time.

"That's disgusting." Naruto couldn't find it in him to disagree. "Whatever." The man grabbed Naruto by his collar, hauling him upright and dragging him back to the stairs. The blond would've protested, but the vertigo he felt upon walking was too much.

He wasn't entirely sure how they made it up the stairs, but suddenly the faint purple of sunset filled his vision, and it was so much brighter than the darkness in the storage room.

"Captain Uchiha!" The tattooed man yelled, and Naruto watched as the rest of the crew seemed to notice him for the first time.

The raven appeared at the top of the stairs Naruto hadn't paid attention to upon entering the ship. "What, Kiba? I told you –" Whatever he was going to say dropped away when Sasuke finally made eye contact with Naruto.

Naruto held his composure as much as he could, secretly grateful that the man named Kiba hadn't relinquished his grasp on his collar.

"Why are you on my ship, little prince?"

"'M as tall as you are, I'm not little." He managed to say.

"I found him with the canons, captain." The tattooed man spoke. Sasuke gave him a nod, and to Naruto's discomfort, his collar was dropped and he was left to balance on his own.

Sasuke took a step forward, and Naruto's world swayed for a second. He stumbled but managed to stay upright. "I asked you why you were on my ship."

Naruto glared at him. "I told you we weren't done. I wanted to see how you were sabotaging me."

The raven reached out and grabbed a sword from the nearest crew member, holding it steadily before him as he took yet another step forward. Naruto stumbled backwards and, to his embarrassment, fell to the floor. The sword was lowered, and the blond felt cold steel on his chin.

"Pathetic," the raven muttered, and somehow Naruto knew the word was for his ears alone. The sword was removed and the raven straightened up, no longer meeting Naruto's eyes. "Kiba, lock him in the brig. I don't want to hear any more about this idiot prince."

"Aye, captain."

The blond was shuffled roughly off the ground and dragged once more down the stairs into darkness, his eyes never once leaving the raven's back.