Chapter 2 – Pirates have attacked the ship! Who is the daring captain!

Naruto, his eyes locked on the descending weight of metal, felt everything in the world slow down. Things around him became strangely more interesting than imminent death:

The pirate rebounded off the wall. The stow-away completed the spin that had allowed him both to duck and knock the pirate aside.

As the black eyes came into view they widened slightly, followed the cannon's fall. His hand rose in an odd gesture – thumb and the first two fingers pressed together, the last two folded down, touching his palm.

Then, without a moment's hesitation, he turned on one heel - his arm shooting out and grabbing the pirate - and swung the older man over his shoulder.

Around then, Naruto realized the cannon was still above him.

The pirate hit the floor-boards with a painful thud.

Naruto stared at the cannon.

The stow-away dropped down to a crouch by the now unconscious man. His elbows rested on his knees as he peered intently at the scraggly beard and weathered face.

The cannon hadn't moved.

Annoyance flashed across the boy's face when he glanced at the insignia – a fat, ugly dog wielding a sword, a lightning bolt behind it - on the man's arm-band. The boy sighed and slapped the man across the face.

Not that Naruto was complaining. It was just odd. Cannon's were supposed to fall.

'Wake up!'

And squash him. It was definitely supposed to squash him.

'Wake up.' The boy spoke with quiet authority, as if even an unconscious person would obey him.

Naruto blinked. 'What the hell-?'

Naruto was silenced as an icy glare, shot through dark strands of hair, came upon him. 'I'm trying to wake him up, that's what "Wake up!" means,' he replied, oblivious to the floating cannon.

'No. The- the cannon! It's . . . it's . . .'

'Yes?' He raised an elegant eyebrow. 'And you haven't felt like getting out from under it yet?'

After an internal debate as to whether his life or his pride was more important, Naruto rolled to the side.

The cannon dropped the remaining three feet. The heavy wooden planks broke under the weight, sending the cannon into the room below.

Shit. Even the blue-eyed idiot'll work out that was magic. What to do with him now? If he blows my cover I won't make it to . . .

Sasuke watched the boy sit cross-legged on the floor and scratch the back of his head in puzzlement, brushing blond hair forward along his cheek, just over his eyes – obscuring scars that looked like whiskers. His shirtsleeve, already loose and open, slid down his arm, revealing a slender pale wrist under a tanned arm.

Hrmm, damnit . . . I might just have to take him with me.

Sasuke returned the look of confusion from the large, sky-blue eyes with a severe frown. The deck-boy looked away immediately, angrily folding his arms with eyes narrowed nearly to slits.

The ship rocked to the side again. Sasuke stood to balance himself as the boy rolled along the floorboards straight into his legs. It happened so quickly that he couldn't react. He dropped straight down onto the idiot's stomach, winding him, just before the ship tilted once more. This time they both rolled – Sasuke steadied himself against the bookcase, only to be landed on by Naruto and have all the air knocked out of him.

They lay sprawled on the ground, each gasping for breath and trying to sit up, Sasuke having particular trouble with this as the blond dobe was still on his chest.

The door burst open to the sound of clanging swords.

The swaying shadows showed a figure backing into the hold, wild hair poking out of his fur-lined hood. The figure ducked – a few tufts of fur went flying, showing how narrowly he missed a beheading. Like lightning the brown-haired boy turned and stood up against the wall by the door opening and brought the hilt of his sword down on the next person to enter – a navy officer. The man blinked, his eyes glazed over and he crumpled to the floor.

Within the hood of the victorious figure, Naruto could see a lopsided grin on a tattooed face. The grin revealed sharp canines and on each cheek was an upside-down red triangle.

Naruto wanted to cheer the first successful pirate he'd seen, but all he could manage between the painful gasps was a sort of 'yarghg ugh' noise.

The pirate flicked his hood back and stepped forward, sword raised again, searching the hold with alert brown eyes. As he looked from Naruto to the stow-away, his eyebrows rose in surprise and the grin popped back onto his face.

He barked a laugh. 'I can't fight anyone in that position.' His sword lowered as he clutched his stomach. Finally, he dropped to a crouch next to them, 'You guy's aren't gonna fight me are you?' mirth played across his eyes, 'not that it would put me in much danger, anyway.'

Naruto nodded, 'ye-rgh.'

The boy gave him a hand and pulled him off the stow-away, who rolled onto his side and took a rattling gasp, 'What . . . the . . . hell . . . do you eat . . . dobe?' He asked between breaths.

Naruto let out an inarticulate growl, after all he had landed on Naruto first.

'Oi. You two wouldn't happen to know where contraband books are stored, would you?' the pirate asked, one hand on a hip.

Naruto and the stow-away turned to each other, their gazes cold.

'I'll guess that means you do,' he said with that toothy grin of his. 'Well?'

Naruto didn't want to let him know just yet that he had no clue where the books were. But he had to think of something fast, or he'd have nothing with which to bargain his way onto the ship.

'Your . . . insignia,' the stow-away regained his composure with one last deep breath and continued, 'is different to his.' He nodded to the unconscious man.

The brown-haired boy grimaced, 'Yeah, I'm not part of the crew – I'm catching a lift back to my ship. But I lost a bet with the captain.'

The boy's black hair fell forward briefly as he nodded once. 'Alright, I want to speak to the captain.'

The young pirate raised his eyebrows, 'Why?'

'I've hidden the books. Take me to the captain.' Again he spoke as if he expected obedience.

'What's your name?'

'Tell me yours first.'

'Kiba.'

'Sasuke.'

The pirate stuck out his hand and Sasuke shook it. 'Hold on a minute, we'll talk.' Kiba then proceeded to search every nook and cranny in the hold.

'You won't find them.'

'That's not what I'm looking for,' he replied as he finished, 'There's nothing else in the hold, right?'

Naruto shook his head.

'Kay,' said Kiba before he plonked down in front of them and crossed his legs with obvious relief. To Naruto's astonishment, he whipped a sealed bowl of ramen out of a pocket.

'You want some? I've got plenty.'

'What's that?' Sasuke asked as Naruto yelled: 'Yes!' with raised arms. They glared at each other.

The pirate got cups of ramen out of pocket after pocket after pocket, laying them on the floor between them. 'I came prepared.'

Naruto nodded enthusiastically, eyes sparkling in unabashed agreement. What could be more reasonable?

'Prepared for what?' Sasuke asked. One eyebrow rose slightly as the blond cleaning-boy stared at the still growing amount of cup ramen Kiba had brought.

'It's rumoured there's a monster on this ship, it is said that it can only be placated by noodles,' Kiba told them. Naruto expected the grin to reappear, but it didn't.

'A monster?' Sasuke repeated sceptically.

'Yes,' said Kiba in all seriousness, 'an unimaginable horror, as far as I've been told.'

Sasuke shook his head with a dismissive frown, his fingers interlocked in front of his chin, his elbows resting on his knees, 'So will you take me to the captain?'

'Um,' the pirate cocked his head to the side, 'well . . . according to the bet I had to come back with the books, so I'm going to see if I can do that first.'

Sasuke smirked, 'You will never find them without my help.'

'My name is Uzumaki Naruto!' Naruto cut in, feeling a bit left out.

'We'll see,' said Kiba as if there had been no interruption, challenge shining in his eyes.

Twenty minutes later, after half the floor-boards had been ripped up, he turned back to Sasuke. 'All right. Talk.'

If even half of what he had heard of this captain was true, Sasuke had to play his cards right. He kept his eyes on Kiba's back as the pirate lead them above-deck. There'd be no room for error.

Sasuke had never seen the ship this eerily empty. It had been steady for a while now and their footfalls – especially Naruto's – echoed loudly in the night.

The ship was high in the sky and the deck was cold and quiet, stars bright, seemingly close above the thin cloud they floated in.

Only when they reached the railing of the navy vessel did they see the pirate ship through the mist-like layers.

Kiba jumped up onto the railing and jumped off.

On his right, Naruto held back a gasp, letting out a small breath as Kiba swung up back into view, holding a rope, and landed on the far deck.

Although Sasuke knew that navy vessels used wide, railed planks to cross ships, he had heard of the pirates' more dangerous way of doing it. He found it hard to believe the pirate-obsessed cleaning boy knew nothing about it.

Kiba threw the rope back and grinned, 'No other way to cross, hope you don't have a problem with heights.'

Sasuke looked back at Naruto from the pirate deck, crossing had been easier than he expected. The cleaning boy took hold of the rope and stood on the railing. He looked down, his eyes wide, then looked up and Sasuke. A frustrated frown appeared on his face and he stepped off. From the muscles that stood out suddenly on the smooth tanned skin, he must have had a death grip on the rope.

Taking his gaze away, Sasuke turned to Kiba, 'Where's the cap-' He was cut off violently as he felt as if he'd just collided with a brick wall. 'Dobe!' he shouted as they sprawled on top of each other and skidded along the deck. There was a loud thud as they came to a stop.

They heard an amused chuckle from above. Sasuke tilted his head up, straining to look into the shadows.

He heard a bemused, mildly curious, lazy voice say, 'Hallo?'

Sasuke sat up facing Kiba, 'Where is the captain?'

The boy shrugged and drew his hood up, 'Looks like you have to speak to him first.' The boy stepped backwards out of the light.

Sasuke pursed his lips, was everyone outside the imperial palace this unreasonable? He turned to face the new voice, 'Will you take me to the captain?' he asked, keeping his voice as level as possible.

'What do you want to say to him?'

Sasuke almost sighed. It appeared that everyone was unreasonable. 'I'd prefer to say it to him.'

'And he'd prefer not to be disturbed.'

'Take me to the captain.' The person in the shadows seemed unfazed, unperturbed by Sasuke's most icy, most austere tone. Sasuke knew this because the man chuckled.

The black-haired boy schooled his expression and spoke to the darkness, 'I will hand over the books in exchange for passage to Kinsgora.'

A book snapped closed in the dark, 'Why would you want to go there?'

'That is my business. I know this ship is headed there.'

'What makes you certain of that?'

'Again, my own business.' It occurred to Sasuke that Naruto had been quiet for a long time. He glanced down.

'Your friend, in a feat of great agility and aim, hit his head after flying into you.'

Sasuke kicked Naruto to no avail. 'He must be granted the same passage,' he said eventually.

'You seem quite certain the captain wants these books.'

Sasuke rolled his eyes, 'This ship's called Icha Icha Paradise. Captain Hatake Kakashi will not leave without those books.'

The man leant forward, his face entering the light. Wild white hair splashed to the side, out of a band which hid his left eye and bore the insignia of the dog and sword and lightning. His face was masked to the cheekbones.

It was possible to read his expression only from his right eye, which, although half closed, was clearly amused.

'Then we have a deal, cabin boy.'

'I asked for passage.'

'Yes, you did. You didn't specify the conditions of passage. You've gotta earn your way on this vessel. It's a long voyage, after all.'