The Pink Haired Pirate: An Old Norse Saying

Rated: M for language, future mature themes, violence, gore

Warnings: Spoiler alert for Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

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They met up on the wall, that evening, after the fight. Sakura couldn't see his face too well, as his cowl was in place, and while his excitement toned down in his adulthood, it was still noticeable by the people close to his heart. Like her.

"That was a nice fight, imouto. You know... your chakra punches remind me of someone..." He thought for a moment. "Oh right, of that Tsunade woman. The Sannin. Blonde hair, monstrous strength, unmatched healing abilities, and huge rack."

Sakura took off the ANBU mask and tied it to her hip. She enjoyed the first fresh breath of the night's breeze. October or Frost Fall was closing in, but the Imperial City was south enough to truly get cold sometime in late November or Sun's Dusk. "Huh. Yeah, she's been my mentor for quite a while. First for almost two years soon after she returned to Konoha, and then after I got back from the battle at Marineford. I resumed the training again, but it was cut short by the war. I liked to fight... but I didn't complain at all when I was stuck in the infirmary. It was her way of training me during the war. At first, I thought I was stuck in the wrong division. I was supposed to fight in the 3rd Division battalion."

"Huh. That explains your fighting style a lot. But there's something still off about your taijutsu stances. Something really unfamiliar."

Sakura shrugged her shoulders. "I'm just glad the mask didn't break." She patted it gently. "That guy looked like he picked his teeth with alligators; no joke. And I think I will be really sore in the morning."

Shisui chuckled. "You'll live. I do advise treating your wounds when you go back to Lady Valentia."

Her hand moved onto the pendant she was given. She smiled softly. "Yeah... she said she's rooting for me. She told me she used to be a Priestess of Nocturnal before Ebonmere sealed. I guess that out of all the cultists I saw and read about, the circle of Nocturnal might be the sanest."

Shisui couldn't help but agree. "I know what do you mean. We are all thieves and love the coin we get out of it just like the next guy, but Nocturnal is nothing more than a businesswoman. Or... businessdaedra. You tend her shrine in death in exchange for all the luck she gives you in life." He concluded. "But not even I would trade my soul for it. The best rest you get after such a tumultuous life, is when you're dead."

"Aa. You're right. That's why I kinda resent Karliah for roping me into this bullshit. It's the reason why I refused to drink from the Ebonmere when it was opened. As long as the Key stays where it belongs... I'm happy. I have a question, though."

Shisui raided an eyebrow beneath his cowl. "Ask away."

"Mr. Delvin told me about the cowl before. He said it was cursed. That your identity would slowly get erased over time. How come you still remember who you are? Or that we... can remember. Or that we can talk to you."

Shisui didn't risk taking off his cowl, for identity reasons. "The curse was broken about two hundred years ago. There was the Gray Fox, a count of I don't know what county, and there was this guy who joined the Thieves sometime in the Third Era. Nocturnal cursed the cowl because it was stolen by a thief - ironic, right? - but the curse was broken by them using an Elder Scroll." He explained. The history was written down by someone in the Guild, who was close enough to the count's successor.

The cowl became something more like a badge of office than anything, but it still concealed your identity better than a mask or a regular cowl would.

"Wait. Elder Scroll?" She briefly remembered Septimus Signus mentioning about dedicating his life to study the Elder Scrolls before he made the pact with Herma-Mora. He lost his mind too when he has read one even briefly.

"Yes. There used to be a library in the White-Gold Tower that contained hundreds of scrolls. It was one of the greatest heists performed by the Thieves in Cyrodiil. But they disappeared under mysterious circumstances. And we are not to blame. If you ask me, if they're powerful enough to break a lasting Daedric curse, the scrolls just grew a mind and legs on their own and ran from the Thalmor. I don't want to imagine what would they do if they got their hands on them."

"Huh. Me neither. They do enough damage on their own."

Then, his hand reached into one of his inner pockets. The picture was a little worn and seemed to have gone through quite tough memories. Sakura recognized the picture instantly.

It was taken on that faithful day at the Cat Manor. Neko-baa has taken three copies of that photo. One was kept on her personal shelf of memories, the second was framed and placed on a desk in the old Uchiha compound - which was eventually retrieved and kept by Sakura, and the final one Shisui decided to keep and take with him on missions.

He was the eldest of the four, even Itachi was two years younger, so he started going on those extremely dangerous missions first. It was one of his most treasured possessions, reminding him of home and his family, even after years far away on a stranger land.

"But no curse can withstand a family. So I bet that I wouldn't need an Elder Scroll to remember you, Itachi or Sasuke." That was a theory they were both glad they wouldn't have to test. Who knew how strong was the curse? But it was a nice thought.

"I have the picture too... I took it from the compound before I left. I gathered quite a few photos in an album. Whenever I feel homesick... I just flip through it." Sakura sat down on the wall, leaning her chin on her knees.

"I miss them... I really have to send them letters. I just have to find the right moment." When the tournament is over; she promised herself. When she has the cowl, she will send letters. She will just summon a bunch of cats and deliver them all.

"You should. I bet they miss you too."

"Naruto is engaged." Sakura smiled a little to herself. "I didn't think I would see the day he'll have opened his eyes. Hinata has been crushing on him since at least our Academy years."

"Hinata? The Hyūga Heiress, right?" Shisui briefly recalled. He remembered her as their friend, and from the whole Kumo-Hyūga mess. She was meek, shy and soft-spoken, but enjoyed the company of her friends and has grown in a really strong kunoichi.

"Damn, the kid's got game." He low-whistled.

Sakura giggled. "Yeah. From what Naruto has told me, he first met her outside of class on a winter day, when a bunch of brats thought it was appropriate to bully a clan heir. He got beaten up pretty badly... but I guess Hinata admired him for it. It was sweet, I guess. They were meant to be together." And she would certainly not complain to have her as her sister-in-law.

"I should go visit for a little while... you know? And see my crew. I miss those guys..."

"Maybe when the tournament is over... I can come with you. I would send a letter home through you or your cats, but who would believe us? That I'm 'back from the dead'?" He sat down next to her.

"Coming with you would be a much better idea."

Sakura liked it too. She couldn't help but grin slightly when Shisui ruffled her hair. It messed her hair, true, but so what? As much as she denied it as a child, she liked those small affection displays. They encouraged her.

"Then it's settled. Say, are you up for a game of Shunshin Tag? Just like the good old days?"

"A game of tag, you say? I don't know, do you think you have gotten fast enough to keep up with me?" He grinned. His mouth was still visible, after all.

"I don't know. But it's a good way to measure my speed."

He made a deflating sound. "You were much easier to rile up when you were younger."

Sakura shrugged and untied the strings of her mask to place it back on her face. "Ready whenever you are, Shisui-nii." They both crouched on the edge of the wall.

It was so damn tall... and so damn fun to climb when nobody else was looking.

"Alright then. Tag!" Then he sprinted, leaped and vanished, leaving Sakura to search for him, a second before he tapped her back. She shook her head and followed immediately, flickering in a tree. Shisui may have suppressed his chakra, but he was not quite off the charts.

Sakura rustled through the dense trees. She grasped on a branch and pulled herself higher and higher, graciously coiling and landing on top of the crown. She looked to left and right. A flash of black and a few leaves fleeting away drew in her gaze. Then, she filled her feet with chakra and pushed herself off the branch.

The wind was blowing on her left and on her right. But no matter how high she would jump, there was no surface to land on, other than the very hard ground. Her arm shot up and five, barely-seen blue chakra strings wrapped around one of the guard tower extremities.

She was glad that she could have learned a few useful things from Sasori no Danna before his death.

The strings pulled her up and released them the moment her feet silently collided with the roof of the tower.

Shisui was already waiting, grinning widely. "Not bad. Kinda like a spider. Though for that, the rope should have been shot out of your butt."

Sakura's eye twitched. "For your information, the web does not come out of a spider's butt."

"Yeah, yeah. Sure. Come on, catch me!"

Sakura made a sound and flickered before him. She leaped, readying her palm to make contact with his chest, but his body vanished almost immediately.

She lost balance, making her stumble forward. She slammed her hands on the surface of the tower, stopping her fall. She bent her legs, sticking them on the surface of the tower, and stood up.

"I thought this was supposed to be a game of tag, not hide and seek." She puffed, before jumping off the tower. She landed on her feet and started running around through the Waterfront District, looking for Shisui.

She could sense him, but his chakra levels were hidden so well, they could be easily mistaken for a civilian's. And it was full of them in the Imperial City. The only inhabitants of Tamriel that had larger amounts of chakra, were mages. The rest would train in archery, melee combat or stealth, and rarely mixed two of them together, not knowing they could easily boost their strength up.

Sakura tried to distinguish Shisui's chakra from the sea of foreign spiritual energies. Then, she spotted him entering the floating tavern. Damn.

Sakura crept inside the building, trying to be as silent and as inconspicuous as possible, all while wearing that totally obvious outfit and looking not to knock into somebody and cause a scene. Who knew how those inebriated patrons would react?

Despite Minerva's description of the poorest District, it has almost seemed to her like the exact opposite. Yes, it was poor, and if you came from the other side of the city, you most likely had a purse shaking with coin strapped to your hip.

But if you were one of them... if you belonged with them... you were welcomed with open arms.

And unfortunately, her alter ego was recognized by the denizens of the local.

"Hey, it's Karasu! Good fight, lass!" She felt someone pat her shoulder, in a good-natured manner.

Shisui was standing in the corner, with his mask off, hanging from the tips of his fingers. She raised an eyebrow, walking over.

"What are you doing with your mask off?"

"Don't worry. We are all family here. Nobody snitches each other, they all know who I am." The Shisui made the bold move of removing her own mask, exposing her face and identity to the public.

"This is Karasu, my little sister!"

They cheered again. And as Shisui was messing her again, undoing a few strands of hair from her clothed bun, she could feel a familiar look in the distance. It was Alessia, completely aware of everything that happened around her. Including her appearance in a foreign costume and her alias as a gladiator.

All she could hope was that everything that happened here... wouldn't reach Marcurio's ears.

"Of course, we all keep our real names secret... but there's no point in covering our faces." He slumped in a chair. "How about a drink before you go rest for tomorrow's fight?"

A drink sounded pretty good... she couldn't lie.

A waitress came with two mugs of ale. But they reached a point where ale wasn't strong enough anymore, and Shisui really insisted that there wasn't a drink better than cyrodiilic brandy.

Sakura's chakra system was burning the alcohol pretty fast. But boy, those drinks were strong. When the lady came with golden bottles of sujamma and matze, she knew she wasn't thinking well anymore.

She was laughing, engaging, as her cheeks dusted with a soft pink. Shisui wasn't far from her, either. He kept a bit of consciousness, refraining himself from flirting too boldly with the waitress, and overall not making a joke out of himself. He had a reputation to uphold.

A tall, black-robed person approached their table. He had brown, messy hair that reached his shoulders, pitch-black irises and a weird, mischievous glint in his eyes. "You know, you look like someone who can handle their liquor." His eyes were entirely focused on Sakura.

"Of course, I have this mug to hold it all." She grinned, stupidly. The mug was totally empty at that point.

The man chuckled. "How about a friendly competition for a staff then? I have a nice staff and I'm looking for a worthy wielder."

The drunk Sakura couldn't really notice anything wrong about the mysterious stranger, who revealed himself to be named Sam Guevenne. But Shisui, who was slightly more sober than her, could only hope that the 'staff' Sam was talking about, was an actual mage weapon and not a 'meat staff'. Because otherwise, things would get bloody.

"Staff? What kind of staff?" Shisui asked.

Sam simply smiled. "It's a conjuring artifact." He pulled out a bottle and sat it on the table. "What do you say, Karasu?"

"A drinking contest? I was trained by one of the biggest drunks in Land of Fire! You don't stand a chance?"

"Very well then." Sam took two of the empty mugs and filled them up to the brim. "I have to warn you, it's a special brew. Very strong stuff."

Sakura simply swatted him away. "Here we go then." She brought the mug to her lips and chugged it in one go. Damn, it was sweet! She could taste a hint of grapes and roses, but it was amazing! She knew she wanted to have more.

"Feeling up for a second round?"

"You can bet!" Sam filled the mugs for a second round. At that point, Sakura started to feel a little light-headed.

Shisui watched them go and has expected Sakura to drink him under the table by now. Alcohol tolerance was common in the few - two - students Tsunade had.

"So says you. I think I've hit my limit on these things. Tell you what, one more and you win the contest."

Sakura wanted to say now, but instead, she grinned and said yes. Sam filled her cup for a third time.

"Wow. You've really done it. The staff is yours." Sam sounded genuinely impressed to see a human withstand his special brew so well. Relatively, anyway. Your average man would have died from alcohol intoxication by now. Or at least puke their stomach out. It was not meant to be consumed by a human.

"Hehe. Thank... you..." She pushed her mugs away.

'Alright, Sakura, know it's time to sober up!' Her body was completely unresponsive to the stream of chakra and coursed her veins, looking to burn the alcohol. So there was a teeny tiny problem. She wasn't sobering up!

"You know, you seem like a fun person to drink with. I know this great little place where the wine flows like water. We should head there." Sam suggested.

The drunk Sakura simply smiled. "An afterparty?" She giggled. "What are you waiting for, then? Head the way!"

Her world went black the moment she stepped outside the tavern.

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Glossary

*Cyrodiilic Brandy: In Skyrim, it is an imported Imperial brandy, known for its ability to recover the consumer's stamina. Still, it contains about 35–60% alcohol.
*Matze: The Dunmer word for beer, is a strong, typical Morrowind imported rice beer made out of saltrice.
*Sujamma: Another traditional Morrowind drink.

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A/N: This chapter is short because I really wanted to lay the ground for what's going to come in next. If you guys played the game, you might recognize it... but you will also notice there's something really different about it. Yeah, new pranks because they ain't in Skyrim anymore.

I'm not going to spoil it for anybody who hasn't played the game, or the quest, but it's a quest that triggers in the nearest tavern when you reach level 14.

Sam will appear later in the fic too.

I was thinking a long time ago to write a separate fic about her past. Everything that happened prior to her journey as a pirate. I have chapter ideas in mind, but this is something I really want to finish beforehand. I already haven't updated the main shit in a long time. But One Piece is going on and on, so I have time. XD

The special chapter will be released soon. I wanted to publish it yesterday for April's Fools and Sakura's birthday, but it was not done yesterday. And it's not done now. I will try to finish it up, though.

I've been thinking of her apprenticeship a lot. Basically, she was more or less involved in the massacre, but nobody but Danzo knew her implication. Which meant that she could act as a spy of Konoha in the name of the Akatsuki. She was partnered with Zetsu because he could not only teach her about spying (his domain), he could also safely transport her without being detected.

At first, it was easier to hide her status because Genma would be away on missions, and hiding it from her brothers was not that hard. It became a task when they became genins. That's when The Third caught wind of it and decided to turn her into a double agent - learning that she had to partake in the massacre too.

Hiding it from Tsunade was not that hard either. She was working a lot, and while she was also training Sakura, she couldn't supervise her all the time. She could use the solo missions as an excuse to leave the village, but still keeping her double-agent status.

I was even thinking of her using an alias or a disguise to share the information with Jiraiya. Or sending him anonymous letters. Perhaps.

Well... suggestions for future chapters? Cyrodiil is completely untouched in the 4th era, as we know nothing of what's happening right now, so anything lore-friendly can be doable.

Cheers!