Last bit of Chapter 6:
The dark-haired boy landed and turned to a silent shape leaning against the mast. 'Kiba, I can do this one alone, if you don't mind.' His voice was peculiarly delicate.
Kiba shrugged, 'Whatever suits you, Haku.'
Chapter 7: His reasons . . . ! Special People . . . ? Why do they fight?!
xXx
In the end, the chain began to come in handy. Naruto gave it a momentary glance and saw Sasuke's nod in the corner of his eye. At that, he grabbed onto the middenmast (1) and swung around the pirate, successfully whipping his legs out from underneath him – the man fell into the rigging, cursing.
Naruto was now standing on a starboard spar and saw a flicker of movement from the direction of the prow – Sasuke wouldn't see it because of the subsail in front of him. Without a thought, Naruto made a small gesture with his left hand. Not a moment too soon, Sasuke dodged out of the way of the two oncoming pirates (2). The black-haired boy landed on the spar next to him and they jumped - in the same instant - to the top of the subsail, to find themselves above the baffled crew-members.
Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other, each smiling only once they'd looked away.
They leapt onto the spar the pirates stood on, landing lightly and silently on either side of the pirate duo – and with two swift hand-movements the chain caught the men by surprise – sending another lot into the rigging.
Naruto grinned. This is becoming fun!
He looked up to the crow's nest. They were nearly there.
xXx
flash-ah back-ah (to twenty minutes earlier) –
The captain raised an eyebrow. 'I did say you can't work alone. I don't lie.'
Sasuke sighed.
He turned to Naruto, who was frowning slightly. It irked the young Uchiha. 'What, dobe?' He could tell Naruto was thinking.
'Why don't we just actually try it together? We could get the chain off much quicker.'
Sasuke stared. His eyebrow twitched. That's what Kakashi wanted. As much as he wanted the chain off, it was not in his nature to take what sounded suspiciously like orders. He almost shuddered.
'So?' Naruto urged.
Sasuke opened his mouth, his eyes glancing over to Kakashi – smug bloody Kakashi – and he found it very difficult to form words. He gave a curt nod instead, reluctantly.
flash-ah back-ah ends - thumbs up –
xXx
Sasuke's eyes traveled up the distance between the spar they stood on and the one below the crow's nest. It was far. But he heard the slightest hint of noise from below – he jumped to the side, pulling the dobe with him. These bloody pirates could be fast when they wanted to be – and appear out of BLOODY nowhere.
Naruto's body slammed into his as they found their footing – Sasuke pushed off him, balancing the blue-eyed boy while at the same time leaping up and grabbing the rigging above (3).
His eyes locked onto the pirate, and with the chain in hand, he said, 'Naruto!'
As soon as the word left his mouth, the moron actually launched himself off the spar (4), his foot connecting with the hairy chest of the first pirate. (5)
Sasuke tightened his grip on the ropes and grit his teeth – the dobe hadn't gotten any lighter in the last half an hour and his shoulder still ached from one of their many landings.
Sasuke concluded that rocks were indeed what the dobe ate. (6)
The chain had swung round the mast as Naruto jumped – the metal links seemed to cut into the wood. Sasuke got an idea.
Naruto had to be nimble. Sasuke looked down at him – yes, with a body like that he had to be nimble. So this might work . . .
xXx
Haku stood with one hand against the middenmast. His long, pale neck leant forward as he gazed at the two 'enemies' making their way towards him . . . in a very intriguing way.
Behind the mask, his brows drew together.
He felt magic from one of them and . . . something from the other. Unconsciously, he rested one of his hands on the hilt of a throwing knife.
This might get interesting.
He frowned again.
Haku was never sure he liked interesting. Interesting often became messy.
xXx
When Sasuke landed on the spar above, Naruto was already running up the mast – the toes of his boots pushing off from the indents in the wood cut by the chain.
So he could move when he wanted to.
Naruto continued past Sasuke, and Sasuke's breath caught when he saw the pirate right behind the dobe. But Naruto slammed the heel of his boot onto the pirate's foot and the base of his palm met the pirate's chin. As the man was falling backwards, Naruto drew the pirate's sword from its sheath.
Sasuke shook his head, that was dirty fighting, where had he learnt that?
In one fluid movement, Naruto brought the flat of the sword into contact with the side of the crew-member's head and swung around, embedding the sword into the mast.
And he could use his brain when he wanted to, for that matter, Sasuke noted.
Naruto jumped up, propelling himself onto the next spar by pushing himself off the sword, twisting round the middenmast as he did so, cutting the chain into the wood.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. He had to swallow his pride, even though he knew Kakashi must be intolerably smug by this point.
Sasuke leapt, up, using the path created by the sword, the chain and the moron.
He almost lost his footing, when he saw Naruto fly back from the spar below the crow's nest. There was a throwing knife in his arm. Sasuke's eyes narrowed and shot upwards. That had been directed by magic.
Shit.
He ran around the mast, cutting the chain into the wood and twisting it to keep it there, caught Naruto and held him to his chest with one arm.
Sasuke turned to the now pale blond. The cut was deep. Blood poured down his arm.
'Are you all right?' Sasuke endured about three seconds of horrible internal struggle. He had to get to Kinsgora, but he also had to ask, 'Should we go down?'
Naruto met his gaze in shock. He shook his head and silently gripped the dagger, pulling it out . . . The blond-haired boy ripped the edge of his shirt and bound the wound roughly. He met Sasuke's gaze again, 'We're getting those bells, I'm not getting off this ship. I'm going to become a sky pirate.'
Sasuke stared. Why did this strange boy have such determination? To become a pirate, of all things?
Sasuke looked up to the crow's nest, then down to the deck. He turned to Naruto with a raised eyebrow. 'All right, did you see your attacker?'
xXx
flash-ah back-ah (to eight years earlier) –
'Magic!'
The word echoed in the child's ears. How had Father found out . . . ?
The child stood in the doorway. He shook. He didn't want to enter the room. He could smell blood, but he refused to believe it until he saw it. Yet the last thing in the world he wanted to do was see around the door.
The child heard the man let out a sob, and took a step back.
Father couldn't have. Could he?
'Haku?'
The child froze, his eyes wide. He stepped forward, the door creaking open as he went inside, his hand still clenched around the doorhandle.
Haku's eyes shook. His entire body trembled. His gaze swung between the body on the floor and his father, holding a bloodied knife.
His mother's hair spread out across the wooden floor, mingled with blood.
'Father?' Haku asked timidly.
'I'm not that.' The man gestured to the woman. 'You're the bastard son of a lord. How could she do that?'
'Wh- What have you done, Father?'
The man then turned to him.
Four months later:
The tiny child scowled at the creature before him. The ratbird (7) hissed. There was a pile of food between the two of them. The dark-haired boy had spent the entire day foraging through the city for that food. It was his.
He had to fight. He was close to starving. But he hated every second of fighting. It bought up memories of that day – of when his father had murdered his mother and of what the child had done after that . . .
He swallowed. It was his fault he was alone now.
But if he had not done . . . that, he would be dead.
He gasped in pain as the ratbird scratched up his arm with three sharp talons, and he brought the back of his hand against the side of the creature's head. It launched back in a flurry of feathers, a dazed look in its beady eyes.
Just as it gathered itself, a knife flew through the air and imbedded the ghastly creature against the wall of the alleyway.
Haku's head swung round and his gaze met that of an older boy.
This new child crouched down. There was a strange look in his dark yellow eyes.
'You don't get many of these away from the sky-ships.' The older boy looked up for a moment before his eyes fell again. 'And you don't get many brats with magic on the street.'
Haku stared.
'They usually have nice big families to take care of them.'
Haku lowered his eyes, wondering if this stranger would take his food.
'So, do you want one?'
'One what?' the child asked quietly.
'A family.'
Haku's eyes shot up.
'We could use something like you,' the stranger continued.
'. . . so you need me?'
'Yeah,' he said with his head to the side. 'You'd come in useful.'(8)
flash-ah back-ah ends –
Naruto gritted his teeth against the pain. He could feel he was loosing blood – even though he had his strange ability to heal, he knew he had to do something quickly.
He refused to be the reason they were kicked off Kakashi's ship – Sasuke got them on and he wouldn't be the reason they had to leave.
He wasn't competitive by nature – but it felt suspiciously like losing.
Naruto looked at Sasuke out of the corner of his eye. The dark-haired boy still hadn't let go of him.
He blushed. (9)
It feels warm in his arms.
Even when they were this high in the sky and up the mast.
Strange…
The blond followed Sasuke's gaze. It was locked onto a strange masked boy, silhouetted strongly against the white clouds behind. The wind guided two stray locks of dark hair to the side.
xXx
The dark-haired boy held the blond close, glaring daggers, his neck arched back. Haku looked down over the spar, eyes narrowing behind his mask. He stared at the Sasuke.
That's the one I have to look out for…
The boy had magic. Strong magic, at that. Why was he on this ship?
It's no matter, he decided. He had to stop them, so he'd get rid of the noble first. He drew out a rolled up piece of cloth, untied the cord around it and in seconds had needles held between each of his fingers. He hadn't used these since being separated from him.
He strengthened his resolve and leapt off.
xXx
Sasuke had finally let go of Naruto and the boy balanced himself against the mast – one hand on the chain, one on the wood. (10)
Naruto looked around, but the attacker had disappeared. He looked at Sasuke and could have sworn he saw a flicker of red in them. Strange, he thought, sasuke's eyes were dark. He was certain of this because he had spent . . . most of the morning looking at them.
Sasuke's eyes moved downward and Naruto felt himself (11) lurch to the side as Sasuke pulled him against his chest again. Their lips brushed. (12) (– groins – or a highspeed nipple brushing) Naruto suddenly couldn't remember what he had been about to blurt out angrily.
He shot a glance at Sasuke – why were his cheeks red?
Naruto looked away before he met Sasuke's gaze – which was why he looked at the mast – three needles were embedded in the mast where his hand had just been.
Damn.
He looked around for the attacker again, but still could not see anyone.
They looked at each other – their glances held meaning – and they both moved to get themselves off the and land on a spar.
As they landed, Naruto saw flecks of blood fly from Sasuke's hand – he must have cut it holding them up on the chain for so long. The black-haired boy winced and looked at his palm. Naruto felt a sudden wave of guilt. He'd been a burden.
Shit.
A flash of light in the corner of his eye – that was the only sign of the movement behind the teme – more needles. Lots of needles.
Naruto didn't know where his speed came from. He just had to move. He felt a flame burst into life in his stomach and a burning energy spread throughout his body achingly. And he could move.
He felt pain – pain spreading out from his back and shooting to every part of his body – his vision blurred – he could make out Sasuke's frantic eyes in front of him and he was aware of falling . . .
xXx
Author's notes:
(1)
Big pirate: 'yes – middenmast – a real, piratey word.'
little pirate: 'yup yup, we searched through the rigging of the internet and found, on the port side of the prow . . .'
Big pirate: '. . . found a keel of knowledge, below the bridge, where the helm is . . .'
little pirate: '. . . we were going 60 knots an hour . . .'
Big pirate: '. . . we mustn't forget – with all that kick-assed info. – about the starboard spars!'
Yesyes – we have to show off that we've done reeeeesearch – hehe XD
Feel free to correct us – there are probably 4 year old dessert-dwellers who know more about boatey stuff than we do . . . :P
(2)
mwaaaaaaa drrrrrrrrr – you can imagine the airplane noises – oncoming flying pirates :)
little pirate giggles
Big pirate – thinks: but how would they become aerodynamic enough to fly . . . ? - shrugs–
little pirate: 'where's the chocolate, big-pirate-sama?'
Big pirate: 'chocolate!'
(3)
please note that we refrained from using ANOTHER of those ever-so-handy spars
– for those of you who have not done your research, spars are those cross-beam thingies which are attached to the mast (with, um something . . .) – usually the sails, and lots of rigging stuff, (we think) hang off these . . . ta da! Lesson one is now complete – push stop and turn over tape –
-fluff pirates bow-
Big Pirate: 'for those of you who don't know – tapes are those really antiquated strange thingies which were around before CD's and MP3 players and the like – they also made sound and noises but they didn't know how to jump between songs (we used hand buttons - rewind thingies - for that) and we had to turn the tape over (yes, actually take it out and turn it over and put it back in (with a click)) to hear the other half of the mystical magic that is the tape . . .'
Little pirate: -confused- 'stop babbling, big pirate – your insane dribble will bore people. Who knows about that sort of thing? are you from the arc?' –stares-
Little pirate receives blow to temple from big pirate and is attacked with the spork of dooooooom . . .
(4)
Big Pirate: 'ok, we had to use it again – they are just so handy . . .'
Little Pirate: 'thank god! No dribble.'
Big Pirate: -scowls- 'I am nothing if not concise, informative and entertaining to the last . . .'
Little Pirate: -rolls eyes- 'of course. I'll humour you.'
(5)
Little Pirate demonstrates with foot movements while laughing maniacally –falls off chair in process–
-Big Pirate rolls eyes-
(6) Little Pirate cackles, runs into garden, appears again – this time with rocks – starts to move them toward her mouth
Big Pirate slaps her hand away – 'No! Rocks are not what people eat!'
Little Pirate: 'but Naruto does!'- pouts –
Big Pirate: -stares- 'um . . . we weren't being serious . . . you did know that, right?'
Little Pirate: -wide eyes- 'really?'
(7) ratbirds are an idea from the Edge Chronicles . . . we don't own the ugly-arsed . . . things
Little Pirate: 'Everyone! Read the Edge Chronicles! They're so kick-assed! blatant advertising)
Big Pirate shakes head
(8) Little Pirate: 'Zabuza is just so cool!'
Big Pirate: 'This is a Little Pirate note. Haku is cool, not Zabuza.'
Little Pirate: 'Awww…. Aint Zabu-chan so cute with all his pointy teeth?'-wide eyes-
Big Pirate: 'Pointy teeth, pointy teeth – just like Kisame.'
Little Pirate: 'Yosh!' –pumps hand in air like Lee-
Big Pirate: 'You fool!' –shakes head as she cuts MOUNTAINS of vegetables, waiting for cocktail impatiently, mad glint in eyes-
Little Pirate: O.o
(9) the fluff pirate's brother, now an honorary fluff pirate for a day because he contributed the following joke:
Naruto: 'Sasuke, is that a mast, or are you just happy to see me?'
(vvv impressive, Sasuke, considering you've been climbing up it for what feels like three days . . . )
Big Pirate: 'The fluff pirates have something much more interesting than Sasuke's boots.'
Little Pirate: 'Hehe – imagination going wild, Big Pirate-sama!' –eyes shining-
(10)
it seems to be the chapter for contributions from outside sources:
big pirate: 'perhaps this is unwise'
little pirate: O.o
anyway – the Flying Pink Peanut tried – very hard – to make this the next line:
Naruto: 'Ow I have a mast up my bum! What shall we do? Oh dear. Oh baby, oh baby.'
Sasuke smiled.
The pirates considered this, but we'd rather . . . build up to such a – ahem – statement . . .
(11) note: the Flying Pink Peanut thought we should finish this line with 'writhe in pleasure' . . . but it's, again, a bit early, isn't it – they haven't even kissed yet!
(12) there was some debate about this line – the main question was what would brush as they were pulled toward each other –
- big pirate said cheeks – because it struck her as the most logical thing that could happen
- little pirate said screw logic, this in fanfic – their lips need to brush – c'mon!
- the flying pink peanut entertained us with a long and well-structured argument as to why it should be their groins which touch momentarily . . . hmmm….
It was around the time she said 'perhaps, their asses should too' that we noticed flaws in her logic – and it was when she suggested a 'high-speed nipple brushing' that we discarded her ideas entirely . . . mostly to prevent little pirate hyperventilating as she rolled on the floor laughing – the poor girl has to breathe after all . . .
As you may have noticed . . . the little pirate won, as the one who reads fluffy fanfics and the one who oh so cleverly made big pirate agree to hand over the reigns of the fluff in the v beginning . . .
Big pirate – sigh-
xXx
True to Naruto style – we will have as many flash-backs to tragic pasts! Ooh, the ANGST. Enjoy! XD
Hypno-eyes – REVIEW – hypno-eyes
(the fluff pirates look very funny – squinting strangely while trying to hypnotize people through computer screens)
this chapter is dedicated to the contributors – the pirate's brother and the Flying Pink Peanut . . . is also dedicated to wlkwos (specifically to wlkwos's poor dislocated toe :( - get better soon! – let this be a lesson to all of you: amateur ballet is dangerous – don't try it at home she had injections and bones re-put-in-position-thingy and now the one toe's grafted to the other!) and of course to all our reviewers – we listened to you like good girls and made a long-assed chapter !
:D