AN: Finally I can update! I'm loving the Pirate AU and am really enjoying making up new challenges for our heroine.

I wish I could be faster with updates - not only for this story but others too - but the inspiration flow in my head is so limited these days. Anyway, I won't let any of the stories down! Review please! :D

Chapter 4. A Pirate's Trainee

"Are you sure you want this?" Hinata's eyes locked with Sasuke's before she read over the paper again. Joining the Akatsuki Pirates wasn't just something you did. The contract bound to it consisted a long list of rules. Secrecy and loyalty came with it, as well as a whole new life. One must devote their live to the Akatsuki, treat them as their family and leaving would be considered betrayal, which meant death.

Hinata's eyes scanned every detailed rule, until she reached the bottom of the paper where every pirate had signed with a blood-mark. Hinata swallowed. The fact that she actually didn't have any hesitations about this scared her a little bit.

She reached for Sasuke's pants and the man replied with a surprised "hey!' when she took one of his knives from him. She brought the knife to her finger, but Sasuke grabbed her hand and stopped her. "I'm sure," She said, but he kept a hold of her hand.

"All this time I felt like a bird with broken wings. I was locked up in our household, my life ahead of me decided by my clan…" Hinata said. "R-remember those marks you saw? On my back…?" Sasuke loosened the grip on her hand and nodded. "My cousin did that to me… He did a lot to me, and there was nothing I could do." Sasuke now let go of her hand but kept looking at her with his piercing dark eyes. "I thought, with help from the Akatsuki I could show them what I am capable of… and give my cousin what he deserves..." Hinata's lips started to tremble, but Sasuke grabbed her hand again and he nodded.

"Revenge." He smiled. "Then you're exactly at the right place. You're no longer a bird with broken wings. You know? I'm actually not sorry at all for taking you away from that place," Sasuke grinned and Hinata giggled.

"I guess you guys saved me. So…" She brought the knife to her finger and Sasuke moved again, but the knife was already cutting through the skin of her thumb. She lowered her hand and pressed her mark on the contract. "Thanks for letting me join." She smiled but Sasuke frowned and quickly grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips.

"H-hey!" Hinata gasped when he first licked the tip of her thumb and finally started to suck the wound clean. "W-what are you doing?" She said with a blush, and she tried to pull her hand back. "Taking care of you," He said before he teasingly licked her thumb and sucked on it again.

"B-but doesn't this mean that maybe you should stop…"

"I'm taking care of my crew, and I'm taking care of you. Whether you're an official member or not, you were mine anyway." He winked and Hinata blushed. Being told that she was the property of someone was not supposed to make one's heart flutter, but it did. "But you have to help me," Hinata said when he finally let go of her hand. "I have to learn everything." Sasuke smiled at her determination and patted her head. "We will get started right away."

One of Sasuke's trousers got its pipes cut off, a belt applied, and the dress she wore on the night of her kidnapping was recycled into a tight tank top. Together they had sliced the bottom part of the dress, and it surprisingly worked out pretty well. Still without a bra to wear, Hinata felt awkward at first, but the top was tight enough to – well – keep her jiggling friends together and in place. And with that, she finally had something to wear, and it immediately made her look like a pirate girl, rather than someone wandering around in their pajamas.

"It's comfortable enough, thanks." She turned and smiled gratefully at Sasuke after studying herself in the mirror.

"I'm not a designer but I think we did some pretty good job there, yeah." He nodded with a satisfied smile, and Hinata turned to look at herself one more time. "Oh…" She reached up to take off the necklace her father gave her, but she felt Sasuke grab her hands to stop her.

"Keep it on. It was the reason you were brought here, and besides, it's a nice feature. It will leave an impression on people." Hinata turned around and looked at him with questioning eyes.

"What do you mean?" She asked. Sasuke moved her hair over her shoulders and pulled it together so that her neck was revealed to him.

"The pirate girl with the jewel, wouldn't you like such a reputation?" He smirked.

"I don't want a reputation" Hinata said with a blush, but Sasuke pulled one of the cotton strings he had hanging from his pirate coat and used it to tie her hair in a ponytail.

"Or you could just go as 'my woman'." He winked at her and she shook her head hastily. She remembered how the silver-haired man from before referred to her as 'the Uchiha's girlfriend'. Sasuke took one of the blades from the wall and handed it to her. "Here, this'll be your first lesson. I'll take you to the best swordsman we have to teach you."

With wide eyes Hinata nervously greeted her supposed teacher. She had no idea Sasuke was as cruel to let the blue-tattooed scary looking man teach her how to swordfight.

"Can't you…?" She whispered as she quickly turned back to Sasuke, but Sasuke grabbed her shoulders and turned her around so she was facing Kisame again.

"I'm busy at the moment, and I have to admit I'm no better than he is. You'll be family from now on, so it'd be good to get to know him. Besides, he doesn't bite," Sasuke said, and he and Kisame exchanged playful expressions.

"Don't I?" Kisame asked, and Hinata shuddered.

"Don't worry." Sasuke patted her shoulder and descended the little stairs back to the other side of the deck. Hinata was now alone with Kisame on the top part of the deck, and she noticed the others pirates were staring at her.

"So you joined Akatsuki hm? Welcome." Kisame extended his hand to properly greet her. Hinata nervously accepted it and he firmly shook it. As he did so he suddenly pulled her towards him and she gasped. She squirmed when he squeezed her upper arms and struggled.

"W-what are you doing?" She asked. He let go of her again and looked at his hands, his fingers flexing.

"You're quite delicate and have no muscles, are you sure you could handle a sword?" He asked. "W-well I was hoping you could teach me," Hinata said, rubbing her arm where he had squeezed her. She tightened her grip around the blade and held it in front of her.

"Alright." Kisame walked around her until he was standing behind her. "First of all," He started, and he grabbed one arm from behind while he moved one hand to grab one of her hands. Hinata gasped at the sudden body contact with the firm man and she tensed. "You're holding it like this, and you're too tense," He said, and Hinata was silently blaming him for that. When he had finally repositioned her hands he stepped in front of her again.

"What's going on?" Deidara asked, and he looked at what the other pirates were looking at. "Kisame's teaching our princess sword fighting," Sasori whispered. "Didn't you hear? The Hyuuga joined our team." Deidara grinned. "Really? Awesome!"

"Oof!" Hinata fell backwards with Kisame's sword pointed at her chest.

"Confidence, that's your first problem. You don't have enough confidence," Kisame said strictly, and Hinata picked up her sword again. Her problem was her teacher, she thought. She was just a starter, so how could he be so – "Kya!" She shrieked when Kisame already flung his sword at her again, and she quickly lifted her own in defense. When it clashed against his, stopping him, the pirates below cheered.

"You do have some reflex there, I see." Kisame complimented, and Hinata sighed in relief. "T-that scared me! I'm just starting, can't you –" She took a step back when he stepped towards her and was able to block his next strike as well. "If it ain't fast you won't learn well. Feel the danger and you'll be able to do it just like that," The man told her and she kept backing and blocking until backing away wasn't possible anymore if she didn't want to drop down into the sea.

"And now, hm?" Kisame asked, and Hinata looked over her shoulder at the deep waters. This man was going to be the death of her! She looked back at him and then thought she had no other choice but to try to attack him back. She took a step forward and swung the sword with both hands. He blocked her attack casually with one hand and didn't step back.

"Is that all you've got?" He teased. Growing frustrated, Hinata took a step to the side, removing her from the scary edge of the ship and she attacked him again. This kept going on as he kept blocking each and every attack. The more frustrated she became, the faster she was able to move, and Kisame's grin grew with satisfaction at each time she increased speed. By now she was using one hand to handle the sworld, and Kisame had to move as well to keep avoiding her furious attacks. Hinata smirked when she had finally driven him to the edge of the upper deck, and one more step back would mean for Kisame to fall down on his cheering comrades.

"Not bad girl," He said while Hinata panted. She raised her sword once more but was caught off guard when Kisame suddenly grabbed her arm with his free hand, and before she knew it they had switched positions and she was leaning over the edge, with only Kisame holding her to keep her from falling.

"W-what –" She panted, but Kisame clicked his tongue. "A pirate pays attention to everything, and a pirate is prepared for everything. Just now you were only watching my sword, but a man's a lot more than that," He said, and Hinata gazed behind at the crowd beneath her. She looked back at him and nodded. "O-okay, I got it." She swallowed and just wished he would pull her back. Kisame grinned when he noticed Sasuke had returned to the deck and they exchanged glances.

"Well then, that's enough for today's lesson then." With that, he pushed her over the edge, and with a loud shriek Hinata fell back. She was caught by Sasuke and she breathed heavily from the shock.

"T-that was just mean!" She said, looking back up at Kisame. Kisame shrugged and stuck his tongue out at her.

"Be prepared for everything," He sang. Hinata pouted at Sasuke and he smirked.

"Did it go well?" He asked, still not putting her down.

"She did well," Kisame said, joining them back on the lower deck.

"Good to hear." Sasuke put her down and Hinata looked at Kisame with mixed feelings. She then smiled at him.

"Thank you," She said.

"She's a cutie, she should be trained well or she'll be the weakness of us all." Hinata blushed when Kisame patted her head. She hoped that was a joke, but somehow she felt the pressure rising. She was the only girl, still weak without skills and she was accepted to be one of them. There was no doubt she could be their weakness after all. Sasuke noticed the worry on her face and he playfully pulled her ponytail.

"Don't worry," He said. Hinata smiled back and nodded, but the worries still remained.

"What are you doing?" Hinata asked when Sasuke was preparing a bed in the tiny study next to his room.

"Now things have changed I can't force you to sleep with me anymore, but I also won't let you join those other perverts. So sleep here for now," Sasuke said as he finished preparing the bed.

"R-really?" Hinata asked. She had just gotten used to Sasuke's cuddling at night… She blushed at the thoughts.

"What is it? Would you prefer to keep sleeping with me?" Sasuke teased, but Hinata quickly shook her head.

"O-of course not!" She squeaked.

"That's what I thought. I won't bother you here, so just relax," He said, and he walked back towards his own room. Hinata sat on her knees on the bed and sighed. The kinder Sasuke was treating her, the more her heart would flutter. She couldn't be falling in love with a person like that?! She pulled the blankets over her head and squealed. No way!

That night it took her a while to fall asleep. Somehow the sound of the waves was much more hearable from the tiny study, and without someone to cuddle with it was pretty cold too. Eventually she must have fallen asleep at one point, because the next moment she opened her eyes, she was surrounded by candle lights and… she couldn't move.

"Hmm? Where am I?" She mumbled sleepily, and she squirmed. Her hands were tied together behind her back, and her feet were tied together, with a rope connecting them to her hands, leaving her in a really uncomfortable hogtied position. Realizing this she was immediately awake and the next thing she heard was the loud roaring laughter of the pirate crew. They had her on the floor in the middle of the deck, surrounded by candle lights and they were all standing around her.

"Hinata Hyuuga, welcome to your welcome ceremony of the Akatsuki," Sasuke said as he stepped out of the darkness. All the other pirates stepped closer as well and Hinata looked up at them.

"W-what? Welcome ceremony? A-and why did you tie me up?" The pirates started to laugh, and Hinata took notice of Deidara and Kisame sitting on either side of her. "Don't worry, we did this to each pirate, it's a tradition." Sasuke reassured her. "Yeah, don't worry! When it was me, they hung me upside down there!" Deidara whispered and pointed at the fore mast. This was supposed to help her, but it didn't.

Hinata looked in confusion at Hidan who placed a tiny inkwell in front of her with a couple of paintbrushes, which Deidara took. "As a tradition to mark the birth of a member of the Akatsuki, we mark them with a piece of body art that defines them," Sasuke said.

"B-body art? Tradition? I-is this a sorority or a pirates crew? T-that's insane!" Hinata squeaked shyly while Kisame moved her shirt up to reveal her bare back.

"Of course we've never had a girl before, so excuse us," She heard Kisame say, but she could hear the sarcasm in his voice.

"Don't worry, it's not permanent ink," Sasuke said, and Hinata watched how Deidara dipped his brush in the ink.

"A-and what will it be?" She asked. "I thought for a while and then thought about the conversation we had. It'll be a bird, one that can fly, as a definition of your new freedom." Sasuke winked at her and Hinata rubbed her lips together. Aside from the fact that she was in a very awkward position and that all the attention was on her, this wasn't supposed to be so bad, but… She tensed when Deidara's brush made contact with her skin and she gasped.

"It'll be wonderful. If there's any artistic talent among us it'll be Deidara," Kisame said while Deidara started to create a masterpiece on her lower back. Kisame kept a hold of her clothing to make sure Deidara wouldn't be disturbed, but Hinata's squirming was already disturbing enough.

"Keep still little one," Kisame said, but Hinata puffed out a mouthful of air.

"P-please, it tickles!" She gasped, and her body shook.

"You gotta be kidding!" Kisame laughed, and Deidara raised an eyebrow at the slithering lines.

"Hold her still," He said, the concentration dripping from his face. And this while the others were watching, cheering and singing their traditional songs. Hinata had never been more embarrassed in her entire life. One more pirate had to join to keep her still while Deidara continued his torturous artwork, switching from thick paintbrushes to thin paintbrushes. The thin ones were the worst. By now Hinata was one giggling mess, catching her breath, and Sasuke had to admit this was quite entertaining. After what seemed like eternity, Deidara was finished and they released her. Now it was only the ropes keeping her limbs immobile, but it was a relief to finally have the freedom to squirm around again. And not to have those horrible paintbrushes violating her body, because damn that was ticklish.

Deidara blowing the wet paint made her giggle again, and the blonde pirate laughed at her. "You're quite sensitive aren't you?" He pinched her side and Hinata squealed. "Hehe. The ink's drying already, great stuff this." Deidara chuckled, picking up the tiny inkwell and admiring it.

"Alright, and now for your second lesson…" Kisame said as he got up. "Here." Hinata's heart made a little jump in shock when a knife was suddenly thrown before her, its blade sticking into the wooden deck. Hinata looked at him, then at Sasuke and back at Kisame.

"W-what?" She asked, and Deidara got up as well so she was alone in the middle, with the knife.

"It might not be the exact position as you're in now, but every pirate may get tied up once in a while. And every pirate should have the skills to free themselves, so…" He nodded at the knife. "Get yourself out." Hinata's jaw dropped. She knew he was right and she would be very happy to be able to free herself if she was ever to end in a situation like this. But… She struggled against the ropes and felt embarrassed. Why couldn't those pirates just go back to sleep again and leave her be? Everyone watching her made the situation twice as embarrassing!

After confirming that there wasn't a possibility to get a hand or foot out, she crawled like a little worm towards the knife. She ignored the talking, laughing and singing voices of the pirates and smiled when she reached the knife. She struggled again but couldn't find any other way, so she bent and took the knife with her teeth. It was difficult to get it out of the wood because it was so deep in, but she managed.

And now… She sighed. This was sooo impossible. With the knife between her teeth she was struggling like an idiot. She tried to throw the knife towards her hands but it missed and landed a bit further away from her.

"Ahh, I can't!" She moaned, but Sasuke shook his head.

"Don't give up yet." Hinata looked at him with begging eyes.

"I really can't," She said.

"Keep trying," Sasuke said, and he finally nodded at the other pirates. They all went back to their beds, leaving Sasuke alone with Hinata. Hinata struggled again but got tired and admitted defeat again.

"Don't give up," Sasuke said again, and he sat next to her. Hinata looked up at him and blew her bangs from her face. She then crawled towards the knife again, and when she was there she tried the whole process once again. She took it with her teeth and tried to throw it over her back and catch it with her hands. It missed again and this time landed right next to her. Even with just Sasuke watching her, she felt pressure. Deciding to try something else she rolled on her back and stretched her fingers in an attempt to grab the knife. Almost there… Time was ticking and Sasuke was still patiently sitting next to her. The night breeze sent chills down her spine with her bare back still revealed, and she shuddered. She moved a little bit more and her stiff fingers were finally able to close themselves around the knife.

"Got it!" She said, and she rolled back on her stomach. Now with the knife in her hands she still didn't know well what to do. She tried to turn it in her hands so the blade was facing the ropes that connected her feet to her hands, but during this process she accidentally dropped the knife again.

"Nooo, I really can't!" She sighed.

"I guess I really will have to come and save you then." Sasuke picked up the knife, cut the rope she had tried to cut first and turned her on her back. Her hands were still tied behind her back, but at least she wasn't in that horrible position anymore. "So if you were taken from us, if I won't be there to save you it means we'd lost you already?" Sasuke asked, moving her hair from her sweaty face.

"I'm sorry, it's just… I never knew it'd be so hard…" Hinata mumbled.

"One day you'll learn, okay? Because, out there –" Hinata let out a spontaneous laugh when he purposely tickled her exposed stomach. "There are evil people who would hurt you –" He poked her side and she gasped. "…Torture you –" He squeezed her sides and she squeaked. " – Without mercy…" A couple of more pokes and she was in a hysterical giggle fit, sucking in her stomach and begging him to stop. "…Until you'll beg to be released by death." He stopped and she caught her breath. She nodded at him and still giggled silently.

"I'm serious, though," Sasuke said, smiling back at her smiling face.

"I know…" She sighed, and she gasped for air. Sasuke looked into her pale eyes and got lost in them for a moment. He was drawn towards her until their faces were very close.

"Can I kiss you?" He asked.

"W-would my answer matter?" Hinata asked with a blush.

"No." His lips touched hers and she closed her eyes. That familiar heat flowed through her body again, and it was even better than before. She felt him wrap one arm around her and lift her off the ground. With the other he took the knife and cut her hands free.

Enjoying her freedom again, she moved her hands and placed them on his hips. She found herself kissing him back. She pulled her tied feet towards her until she was sitting on her knees, and Sasuke pulled her more towards him until she was caught in his strong embrace while his lips never once left hers. In that sitting position they warmed each other up for a little longer, while the waves moved the ship through the dark of the night.

Later that night before returning to her bed again, Hinata studied herself in the mirror. She turned around and studied the piece of art covering her lower back. Her lower back was decorated with a beautifully drawn bird with spreading wings and a long tail, with the Japanese characters for 'freedom'.

Above that was a little cloud that was apparently the Akatsuki logo. She smiled. It was beautiful. With a new family by her side, she was going to do what she wanted.