Disclaimer: First Chapter
Story Start!

Night Watch was the most boring duty.

The Jail cells already limited what a servant could do, preventing them from accessing their strengths as a servant and preventing the use of Noble Phantasms. Normally it was less boring because it was just deemed to be something Shuten could do while drinking, so she was just stuck in the position at night.

Tamamo was taking over Beni-Enma's usual job, and Van Gogh had a fit of insanity recently, so the roles had been shifted. Not to mention Ishtar wasn't on the ship at all, so everything was shifted around. Melusine needed to be the one who watched over the Crow's Nest since she was flight capable. Anne and Mary were working through the night on ship enhacenments and repairs, repairs were finished and now the ship was being layered with Wyvern Hides to protect it from minor attacks and damage in the future.

Chloe was trusted, but not trusted enough to guard prisoners.

That left guard duty up to Atalanta at night, and that was awkward for her because one of the prisoners in the cells was her Archer self. A version of her that she found... off to look at. A naive version of herself, who insisted on dreams that could never realistically happen. Whenever it was her turn for guard duty late at night, she just didn't really like the way that herself looked at her the entire time.

Then there were the looks that Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa would send her for recognizing her and her hide. She felt awkward being near the famed minotaur Asterios, and guarding over Circe was always going to be awkward for her. Seeing her hello Greeks was just an unpleasant experience all around, and she was dealing with 6 of them all in one room.

It would be easier just to kill the enemy Master.

Yet, it wouldn't feel right to do so. The girl was submissive, passive, and wasn't putting up any resistance at all to her treatment. In all honesty, she wasn't even treated poorly. The only time she and her servants were confined to the cells were during times of great stress like with the Siren, or after meals for the night. At any other time they were allowed to roam the bottom 2 levels of the ship freely, so long as there were other servants around to guard them.

"Girl."

"Yes?" Hinata answered as she rubbed her eyes, sleepy, but still awake enough to have a conversation. She looked over at Atalanta. "Does Naruto need me for something?" She asked, and there was hope in her tone.

"Are you angry?" Atalanta asked her.

"No, why would I be?"

"Because you're literally being imprisoned by a bastard with no feelings. He is treating you poorly." Atalanta Archer chimed in. Atalanta didn't spare her a glance, but Hinata sure did as she actually showed some backbone at that second. The weak and submissive master gave her best glare towards her archer aspect right then.

It wasn't intimidating, but it was still a glare.

"You don't know him, don't bad mouth him like that." Hinata stated, from the middle of her prison cell. "You see us being imprisoned... you're... you're wrong." Hinata stuttered, before she looked at Atalanta next. She was still glaring, which did up her interest in hearing her out. "... Naruto isn't cold hearted, he's warm, and kind... he works harder to protect the people precious to him than anyone else. He might seem cold to you... and you... but none of you know the real him." Hinata showed her spine.

Atalanta just nodded in mild agreement.

"Yes, that does seem to be the case." Atalanta wouldn't argue.

Naruto put on a cold front, but when anyone needed help he stayed with them. When Van Gogh needed him to keep her sanity, he stayed by her for as long as she needed. When they faced Charybdis, Naruto protected all of those who gave up by giving them hope to strive for. He was currently by Beni-Enma's side, forsaking his own sleep to help her. He treated his prisoners well, giving them freedom and good meals. He wasn't constantly barking orders, and he actually listened to their opinions on matters.

When fighting the Master Kiba, who clearly hated him, her master had tried to spare his life and give him a way to survive. He wasn't naive like her archer self, he could still make a choice that needed to be made, but he was able to see when that choice didn't need to end with death.

"I haven't seen the light of day since I've been imprisoned."

"You're openly hostile to him, why should he let you out." Hinata argued against Archer Atalanta, who really had been hostile to Naruto. Even Hinata agreed that she needed to stay locked up while she showed such open hostility. "For those of us who aren't showing hostility, he locks us up to protect us, and to prevent us from fighting at night. You're the problem, not him."

"Me... the problem... he's an enemy, and he treats you coldly. You are clearly in love with him, and he still treats you like a prisoner... a prisoner might be treated well, but that doesn't change the fact that he treats you like one."

Well, at least tonight wouldn't be boring.

"You think he's treating me... coldly... he fought for me. He has risked his life many times to protect me! When my father told me I couldn't date him anymore, it was me who didn't fight with my father. Naruto fought to protect our relationship, but I was the one who was weak! It's my fault that his heart got broken, because I didn't see that he needed my help! Even if he treated me coldly, it is my fault for not being there when he needed me... it's MY fault that I couldn't see his suffering... his pain... just me being here hurts him." Hinata started to lose the strength in her voice.

She was crying.

Her tears fell from her face freely, and even Archer Atalanta looked away from her, unable to stomach seeing how genuinely hurt the girl seemed. The utter self-hatred she seemed to hold for herself was hard to imagine.

"You knew Master before he summoned me... can you tell me a bit about your relationship with him?" Atalanta asked the girl, interested now that she finally seemed open to talking. She wasn't the only one, all of the talking seemed to be waking up the other servants who had been asleep before now.

Hinata was still crying.

Eventually she did calm down enough to wipe her tears.

"... He protected me... the day he showed up at school, I fell for him. One day, I and a few other girls were kidnapped and he was allowing a group of thugs to beat him to death... just to protect us. Naruto..." Hinata started to smile again. "... Naruto protects people. It's his strength, and his greatest weakness. Naruto will lift the world on his shoulders and smile, hiding his pain from the world and those closest to him. He tries to do it all himself, because he doesn't want us to suffer." Hinata reached her hand out of the prison and touched Atalanta's knee.

Atalanta allowed it, the girl wasn't trying anything threatening at least.

"You need something?"

"Protect him... please. Don't make the same mistake I made. Don't let him shoulder everyone's pain by himself. Naruto can do anything he puts his mind to... but even he needs somebody to support him too. I never saw how much he needed my help, and I hurt him... don't do what I did." Hinata pleaded with Atalanta, who placed her hand on the girl's hand.

Her claws cut the girl, drawing blood.

Atalanta stood up and started to leave the prison.

There was no guard needed.

-With Naruto-

"Come in." Naruto stated when he heard a knock on the door. He was surprised to see Atalanta walk in though, when she was suppose to be guarding the prisoners. Atalanta silently walked across the room, and she looked at Naruto's bed and saw a mostly-healed Beni-Enma laying in the bed. Her bandages had been changed and the room had the smell of healing ointment.

Atalanta smiled at it.

It was late at night, but he was still giving it his all. When almost everyone else was asleep, he was awake and working himself.

"Do you have something to report?" Naruto asked, curious since Atalnata was just silently looking around the room. She walked up to him sitting at the table, looking over the map. She saw him and the notes he was making.

"What are you doing?" Atalanta didn't answer him.

"I'm making a most likely map of Charybdis. The ocean beast opens her mouth 3 times a day... and we know several locations she opens up. With some math and guess work, I can guess where he territory is... using the Siren's location, and how Charybdis never showed up there as a reference I can guess that Ocean Beasts don't actually share territory." Naruto wanted to track down the other 5 Ocean Beasts and complete his Fragmented Holy Grail, giving him an edge over the other masters.

"Mmmhmmm." Atalanta hummed as she looked over the map. She looked at him and winked at him, before she stared at the map again. '... This is the likely course... evenly spaced locations, and it matches what we do know.' Atalanta could see that he had been working extremely hard trying to plot several possible courses, before he finally decided on a single course that was the most likely.

"Since Ocean Beasts don't seem to share territory, knowing the path Charybdis takes will give me a clue on where the other Ocean Beasts aren't located. Did something happen, you seem..." Naruto was surprised when Atalanta just got right next to him, and leaned up against him. She pushed him so that she could share his chair with him, and simply leaned on him. "Atalanta?"

"I'm not great with words or speeches. If you need me, you can rely on me. If I think you need me, I'll be at your side. I fight for you, and I fight by your side... so rely on me more." Atalanta couldn't think up some great speech to proclaim her intentions and feelings, so she just came out and said it. She leaned up against him and got close. It was a cool night, so her body warmth was going to be how she showed some support right then and there.

"Am I ruining a romantic moment?"

Atalanta jumped out of the chair when she looked down and saw Chloe was underneath the table, and she wasn't the only one who jumped. Naruto jumped too in surprise when he saw Chloe wearing lingerie underneath the table.

"Chloe... What are you wearing!?"

"I was hoping that I could get a little bit of a mana transfer. Did I come at a bad time... or maybe I came at the right time. You know... I'm a bit of a bisexual myself, so... maybe we can turn this little romantic moment, into a romantic threesome." Chloe offered as she looked between the Master and Berserker, licking her lips.

Naruto grabbed her by the back of her lingerie and her panties, before he lifted her up into the air. He walked right to the open door and flung her out of the room, before he closed the door behind her and locked it.

"That girl is a menace... I swear." Naruto mumbled, since this was the 4th time that he had to kick her out of his area.

Atalanta looked at Naruto.

"... Hmmm... it might not be a bad idea for you to take her up on her offer at some point." Atalanta could see that Chloe was just going to keep going until she go what she wanted. Naruto was also a captain with an only female crew, and several of his servants were after him romantically in one way or another.

Anne and Mary were both plotting to get some booty.
Melusine was attached at the hip to him, unless he gave her orders making her leave his side.
Chloe was lewd, but she seemed genuine in wanting to get closer to him.
Van Gogh felt safest when she was around him, and his presence allowed her to return to sanity.

"I should?"

"If she is willing, and you feel the urge strike you, then I see no problem with it. It seems you have several servants who would be willing... who want to be closer to you." Atalanta had been caught in a very embarassing moment, so she used this as a chance to get out while looking cool. "... even I am willing to let you try and tame me, though I may bite." Atalanta ended it on that as she left the room.

Chloe tried to sneak back in once the door was unlocked.

Atalanta grabbed her by the hair.

"OW!"

"Not tonight, wait until Beni-Enma has healed." Atalanta saw that this was not the time or the place for Chloe to make her lewd move.

"Beni?"

"Master?" Beni opened her eye and looked towards Naruto.

"... What was all that?" Naruto asked in confusion, since he didn't know what just happened. Atalanta came and comforted him, and then made some kind of move. He looked at the awake, injured servant. Beni sat up and looked at the changed bandages on the floor, and looked out the back window to see the moon.

Naruto had stayed up looking after her.

"I think that is up to you to figure out. Thank you for looking after me. I apologize I got injured this badly in that fight." Beni apologized for the trouble she was causing him. The enemy Berserker had hit her with a very powerful attack, and she was a speed fighter. She wasn't as durable as some of the other servants. She mainly evaded damage by not getting hit.

Naruto frowned at her.

"We both failed, so you don't need to say sorry. You got out alive, so lets just be glad. I can't wait to eat your cooking again." Naruto smiled and nudged her, moving to sit on the bed with her. She smiled at him and opened her arms up.

"Here, rest up... you've earned it."

Naruto nodded and allowed himself to lay his head down on her chest, and she wrapped her arms around his head. She laid down as well, and her body served as his warm pillow. It only took him moments to fall asleep.

When he woke up, he had felt refreshed.

He had needed that.

Chapter End!
Please Leave Me Lots of Nice Long Reviews, But No Flames Please!