The Pink Haired Pirate: An Old Norse Saying

Rated: M for language, future mature themes, violence

Warnings: Spoiler alert for Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

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Shisui was pissed off, that was understandable. Even if the cowl was on, his whole aura gave away a feeling of anger and impatience. He was pacing the room, annoyed, holding Sakura's porcelain mask in a hand, and making angry hand gesticulations with the other. The other thieves were keeping their distance, not wishing to be sent flying right out of the sewers. Everyone besides Padfoot, anyways.

Their boss was usually calm but upbeat, stern but friendly, and they have seen him in such a state only twice in their lifetime: once when the Summerset Shadows crossed him, and second when Tobias almost killed the councilman's daughter.

Shisui has been royally pissed and Tobias was almost killed on spot. He was given a second chance that was blown not many nights ago, but their usually jovial leader's attitude took a drastic turn for the worse.

And now it was not that much different. He let out an angry nose exhale when his damn little sister finally showed up, running, almost out of breath, with a gigantic rose strapped across her back. Behind her was Alessio - divines bless that kid and someone who seemed to be his older brother. The resemblance was uncanny.

"Where the hell have you been?!" Sakura stopped, flinching, as she took a step back. "Do you know what could have happened?

"I-..."

"You could have been killed! You have been called twice to join your match too; get your ass in the Arena. Now." He replied, sternly, but not before pushing her mask against her chest, for her to put it on. Now, the other thieves may have seen Shisui angry before. But she certainly didn't; not as a kid and not as an adult.

"I... Alright. Wish me ... luck." She gave the Rose to the closest person to where she was standing from, Marcurio, and ran through the iron gate, but not before putting on her mask and making a grand entrance; right when the Announcer was ready to call off her match and maybe send the slave driver after her.

Shisui's shoulders visibly relaxed as he let out a loud exhale, pinching the small space between his eyes, or well that piece of cloth that covered the bridge of his nose. "Thank you for finding her, Alessio. She's going to drive me into an early grave one day. Where did you even find her?"

"You were worrying over nothing, boss." Alessio began, kinda confident. "In Leyawiin. We kind of found out that Sam was actually Sanguine. They pulled some pranks and got drunk. She won that staff." He pointed with his thumb at the gigantic rose that was currently being held by his older brother. He seemed to be chatting with the brown cat perched on top of his shoulder. A rather familiar cat too.

"Leyawiin??"

"She cast an illusion to make the citizens fall asleep so they wouldn't see us breaking into the castle. We remembered that only halfway on our way to the Imperial City though, so we have to go back." He answered rather sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

Shisui listened, and in the end, exhaled. "Good thing you're all alive and well. Come on, let's go to see the match." He walked towards the hallway that would lead to the front row seats, but not before stopping in front of Alessio's older brother. He extended his right hand. "My name is Shisui, Sakura's older brother, pleased to finally meet you."

"Marcurio. Alessio's older brother. Likewise." He shook his hand firmly, switching the staff on the other hand.

"Come on, big brother. We have front row seats." He was nudged by Alessio to go. At first, he would rather have gone to go and see if he could do something about their parents' illusion, but he caved in eventually. He followed a small group of thieves and took a seat beside his brother. The view of the fight was pretty good. Sakura was mopping the floor with an unfortunate Bosmer.

The Arena was mostly full, and the matches were spectated by all kinds of faces; foreign or local. He remembered passing by a booth, where you could place bets on the team or the solo fighter. Yet he spotted a rather familiar face in the crowd. The man was watching the fight with mild interest, showing less excitement than his fellow spectators, but invested in the match nonetheless.

Then the realization dawned on him. He leaned closer to Alessio and whispered.

"What is Uncle doing in the tribunes?" Amaund had the best seats in the whole Arena, and for a brief moment, Marcurio could bet he recognized him.

"I guess you didn't know." Alessio didn't seem to be fazed or surprised even in the slightest. "Uncle has always been a fan of gladiator fights. He never missed a single one, and I know because neither did I. I usually come with boss and the others unless I have something better to do. He has placed quite some big bets on Sa- I mean Karasu."

"Really? Since when?" Now that he thought about it, Marcurio didn't know much about his father's younger brother. He knew he stayed within the family business - joining the Elder Council - which was a hereditary title sometimes, and that he sometimes had a butler drop off to buy some books from his father's bookshop. But he has never shown any interest in underground fights, so it must have been a newly acquired taste.

Alessio shrugged. "I don't know. He showed up one day and hasn't missed a match ever since. Maybe betting on fighters earns him a good sum. He must have joined the rich betting club or something."

The match soon ended, and the Announcer lifted Karasu's victorious arm high up in the air. He stepped away before a pride of lions swarmed the Arena. Sakura was visibly struggling to keep up with the sheer amount of starving lions that wanted to devour her, but she knew that pity wouldn't save her.

Sakura was cutting through the animals with force and her chakra scalpel, albeit tearing apart her clothes here and there, but it was nothing she couldn't handle. The Gray Fox was watching but could say nothing for the sake of neutrality. Some have betted on the lions, thinking they would eat her alive, but others have grown confident enough to bet on the newcomer, Karasu of Skyrim, to put the beasts down.

Alessio started to yell, encouraging her to get up when she was pounced by several lions at the same time. "Come on, Karasu! Show them who's the king of the jungle! They're just overgrown house cats!"

The crowd cheered when they were blasted apart, and even louder when the last lion was dead. She caught her breath, heavily, as she watched the crowd, and headed for the exit.

Marcurio didn't realize how numb his free hand was for gripping on the edge of his seat so tight for the whole time, his knuckles turning white and his palms almost started bleeding.

"I thought the lions would get her." Alessio walked beside him. Marcurio kinda had to find her; to give her the staff back and for no other reason. "The fight was pretty good. I really want to know how she punches like that." He admitted as they headed for the exit.

"Mana. She gathers mana in her fist and expels all of it at once. That's the gist of the technique." Marcurio found himself explaining, as he looked for a pink head.

Alessio's eyebrows shot up underneath his cowl and nodded. "Wicked. Should we go home then? Boss will stop by to release the illusion shortly."

"I'm trying to find her. She has given me the staff to hold onto it while she was fighting. Come on, I think I spotted her." He started to quicken his pace, and Alessio didn't complain but just jogged after him. How hard it was to find someone with pink hair in the whole crowd, anyways? The truth was that she was short too, so it was not quite that easy either.

They dodged the masses of people; his Uncle was already gone, maybe he took some weird and premium passage that didn't stick him with the whole riff-raff, and the thieves have gone elsewhere too.

But at least they found Sakura outside, waiting for them patiently, in the night. She pulled her mask aside and seemed to have a slight bruise beneath her left eye which had to be healed later. "Over here." She smiled, as they jogged up to her. "Stuff turned out better than I expected. I didn't really expect them to find and release a whole swarm of lions, honestly. One of them would have taken my eye back if I didn't have my mask on."

"The fight was cool, but you should see the war happening at the betting booth right now. Lots placed bets on the lion. Your win loosened up a few coin purses, you know?" Alessio grinned. Sakura's next destination was Lady Valentia's shack; no more drinks that night. Sam will have to shove them in his backside if he comes up with another weird offer.

"Really? And here I thought that the crowd liked me." She shared his smile. "They promoted me, by the way. You're looking at the Arena's newest Bloodletter. The pay was not that bad either. I mean the Bosmers put up a good fight. Those invisibility potions are great. Now if they could have also masked their presence overall, they would have been more of a challenge."

"How much did you get paid?"

"350. The khajit I was supposed to fight got killed in a previous round, so they released the lions instead. I really felt bad for them. They were getting starved to be extra vicious, I don't think that even my body would prove itself to be much of a meal. I feel uneasy when I have to fight cats." She sighed.

"Even khajits?"

"Nah, those are humanoids with cat fur. Equally annoying as those without fur."

"350? Might join a fight or two myself." Alessio low-whistled.

"No, you won't." Marcurio shot him a stern look. "Nobody wants to see you shipped back home in a bucket."

"Hey, but Sakura..."

"Is not going to get whooped by our mother when she finds out you joined an underground fighting rink."

Alessio snorted. "Fine. I'm earning enough as I am now."

Seeing Valentia's shack getting rather close, proved itself to be a cure for the awkward silence that settled between Sakura and the two siblings. She jogged up to the front door.

"Well... this is my stop. Thanks for... well... everything."

"For nothing! Come on brother!" He wanted to leave, but Marcurio wouldn't budge just yet. He still held the rose staff. Alessio wanted to say something but closed his mouth. Instead, he walked a bit farther away, to give them space, just like he did on their way back to Imperial City.

"Here's your staff. It's rather... interesting." He held it out, with both hands.

Sakura wrapped two hands around the stem, a little awkward. "I... thank you. For holding it... and stuff."

"No problem... none at all." Neither of them let go of the stem yet. They just... stood there, Mara knowing what was going on. Marcurio wanted to pull away, to let go of the handle, but Sakura pushed it back in his hands.

"You... you can keep it." She bit inside her cheek. "Take it as... a peace offering. No hard feelings. Alright?"

Marcurio wanted to push it back. "Don't be stupid. We're fine, you don't have to give any peace offering . You won it right and fair."

"Yeah but..." Still, she pushed it back against his chest. "I just... can you imagine me fighting with a staff? I prefer to have my hands free... honestly." She joked lightly, but it was mostly true. She had a few swords herself, and kind of preferred not to carry them around.

He kept the silence up for a small while. "... thank you. For the staff."

"Aa. You're... welcome. For the staff." She smiled just slightly.

His hand rose up to her cheek just a little. Sakura couldn't do or say anything either. Her face was gradually getting redder and redder, feeling his thumb brush against her skin. It went higher, and higher until it touched the violet bruise beneath her eye. Sakura visibly flinched.

"You should... probably take care of that." Like broke out of his daze, he removed his hand.

"I think I should. ... Good night."

"Good night."

Sakura disappeared behind the door a bit too fast, and she had the feeling that Lady Valentia may have been discreetly watching them from her window for all that time.

Marcurio strapped the staff across his back; he'd have to read more into it later, joining Alessio on their way to the Market District. His little brother had an unmistaken wide, cat-like grin, looking at him the whole time.

"Not a word. Alright? Not a word."

"As you wish." Alessio shrugged, but he knew he had to share it with his sister afterward.

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Lady Valentia opened the small jar of a green but pleasantly smelling salve, perfect for bruises and open wounds. Sakura insisted that she could heal it herself, but the old lady was more than happy to treat it, so she simply sat down in the chair and let her rub the ointment beneath her eye.

"You know... I may have not told you before but... you remind me a lot of my daughter-in-law, Carlotta. She lives in Skyrim, you know? My son was smitten in her before..." she sighed. "The Civil War... is causing pain on both sides, Sakura. I wish I could have convinced him not to enroll in the army. It would not have been a shame... lots of other men pick other professions... and stay together with their families." Lady Valentia drew in a heavy sigh. "But that's just an old woman's wishful thinking of the past. Don't mind me."

"I'm sorry for your loss, Lady Valentia. His soul... is in a better place..."

"Mmm." Lady Valentia screwed back the cap on the ointment jar and put it away, in its designated drawer. "I know. He is, no doubt. His soul is free in the Aetherium... and I am going to meet him again, eventually." She gave Sakura a feeble smile.

"Rest, child. You will get the cowl soon enough, you will see."

Sakura touched under her eye, with a glowing palm and sighed. She laid down in her knitted blanket nest and exhaled, relaxing.

"I know. Good night, Lady Valentia."

Lady Valentia blew out the candle.

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Minerva felt like she was waking up from a dream. She didn't remember much, but a grey cowl and a pair of red eyes. She has been having dreams like these for a while. Dreams that began and ended with red eyes, but seemed nothing out of ordinary. And when she woke up, the kids were on about their business, and her husband was sipping his coffee.

The woman took the glasses off her face and cleaned the lenses thoroughly with a fine piece of cloth she tucked in her pocket.

"Tesoro, have you ever noticed that something's wrong with our children?"

Vincent's mug of coffee stopped halfway through, as he rose his gaze from the book opened on the dining table.

"Wrong? What do you mean?"

Her head fell into her hand. "I don't know. It's like... they're absent sometimes. The lights are on but nobody's home. Do you know what I mean? I touch their faces and yet and I touch nothing. They're like... illusions."

"Mamma...? What are you going on about?" Alessio's head was peeking out from behind the door of Marcurio's room. He rose a brunette, confused eyebrow.

Minerva pulled her lips in a thin line. She motioned him to come closer. Alessio walked closer to the table, rather unsure, and he could see a look of relief on his mother's face when she finally touched his face. She sighed.

"Oh ... mio Dio... I think I'm losing it in my old age... nothing, you can go."

"Mamma ... " Alessio started. "I hope that you know I love you all. And that I would never do something to put you in danger."

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A/N: I'm embarrassed, okay? I gotta go back to my writing routine, I know, but I literally had no idea what else to stretch this character with. So I said 'okay', and finished it. Yeah. I'm really sorry. T-T

I didn't even what did I want to achieve. It's more like small aftermath to the previous chapter that could very well be merged into one.

I don't want to make the Arena fights boring. They are kinda repetitive and just copying and pasting every segment with maybe some different names is... eh...

I can't even come up with kickass enemies yet. They're still in the 'filtering' process before the real fights start on the 1st of October. Speaking of which, right now in this chapter, it's 28th of September, Friday. This means that on Monday, it will be the exact 1st of October, so she has two more days to prepare.

Two for training and battling only on Saturday. On Sunday everyone is watching the teamed fights. Dragons vs Serpents.

I want to apologize for the long A/Ns by the way. Writing these really takes heavy stones off my chest, no joke. Venting and more or less discussing my ideas with you is so helpful for my psyche. It gives me the motivation to continue, honestly. But if they bother you, go onto the next chapter when you hit A/N. I won't be mad, just do it.

I planned to give Marcurio the staff from the start, honestly. I have written a while ago a snippet for the 'A Night to Remember' quest, a bit more Fidel to the original storyline, and Marcurio was the one to get the staff too. I guess they got a little mushy in the end.

Do you know how Marcurio is kinda a sassy Tsundere wizard? Well, I'm kinda playing on that, but bruh, I can NOT write him too much like a stereotypical Tsundere. I mean he's still a grown-ass man, not a schoolgirl with temperament issues. XD I really have to find a balance between keeping a level-headed look of the stuff and the whole 'It's not like I want you in my presence or anything...' side of things.

But if you know his lines, his in-game dialogue, he literally sasses you all the time. But he's not really mean about it. Arrogant, yes, but it's not really mean. His personality takes 180 degrees to turn when he marries you because yes, he's one of the followers that can be married, and becomes much sweeter. I mean sadly because he loses his whole sarcasm that made me love his character. Something which I don't want to happen in-story.

I have a fragment of the prologue written out, by the way. It was actually written weeks ago and I went over it (it's the rewritten version actually) and I kinda love it. I mean, I actually feel a bit proud of that one. It's kinda rough around the edges, but it's not even nearly done.

It's just so hard actually getting to write it. I wish I could play everything out in my head and then they'd magically be converted into text. That would be amazing. Thanks for being patient enough so far. If you have suggestions too, let me know. :)

Cheers!