So, I'm back with a new story. This story has been floating around in my mind for quite some time and I decided that now was the time to get it written and get it posted. I've been working on this chapter almost nonstop since early yesterday and I'm extremely excited to finally be able to post it.

I want to give a huge shout out to Orangana for helping me with this and giving me so many wonderful ideas and pointer for this story. This story probably wouldn't near ready to post if it wasn't for her. Forever thankful for your help, beautiful!

Summery; Freedom was her goal and she would do anything to attain it. Even if that meant striking down those in her path and signing away her soul to the depths of the sea. After a mysterious encounter at a shady bar, Sakura finds the escape she had been looking for. Now the medic of the infamous Akatsuki pirate crew, she uses her gift to help them towards their goal and her own. With bitterness and the ache of betrayal driving her, will these rough and rowdy pirates succeed in repairing her broken soul? Will Sakura be able to forgive the sins of the past? Will Sakura ever be able to love another ever again? Maybe all she needed was the salt laced wind blowing through her hair and the sweet scent of freedom guiding her way as she sails the seas into the horizon. Pirate AU

Warning; Rating is subject to change.

Anyway!

I do not own Naruto or its characters, just the plot to this story.

If you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow.

S Lyubov'yu,

Casper

A young girl of eleven sat on her windowsill, staring out the lone window in her room with longing. Oh how she wished that she could go outside. The day she and her family had found out the she had an aptitude for healing, her parents had not permitted her to leave the house since. That had been four years ago. She had not left her family home in four long years and oh how she yearned to feel the wind on her face. Since finding out about her abilities, Sakura's family had forced the young child to master her gift so they could turn her gift into a profit.

Not once had they ever taken her feelings towards being used as nothing more than a cash cow into consideration.

Hell, she couldn't even remember the last time her parents had looked at her with any form of adoration. Whenever her parents had need for her, they would send a servant of the house to fetch her. They never came to her room and tucked her in at night like they used to. They didn't even call her by her name anymore. They no longer looked at her as their daughter, to them, she was nothing more than a tool for them to use. And at the tender age of eleven, Sakura wanted nothing more than to escape the place that she was forced to call home. She knew that once she turned of age, she would be forced to marry a man of her parents choosing.

First her gift was being sold and now in just a few short years, her life would be sold to the highest bidder. The pink haired child couldn't help but feel bitter about her situation. Nobody got to choose the hand they were dealt by the Fates, but she would have given anything for them to give her a different hand. She didn't care if that meant she had to grow up on the streets. Anything was better than being a prisoner to your own parents. But then again, she would not wish her life onto anybody else. For now, she would endure. But once a chance came to her...she would escape this place and never look back.

The scent of sea salt drifted through the air as Sakura wandered down the dirt trodden path that led to the only bar in town. Normally, she wouldn't be caught dead going there, but after a hard days work in the seaside village of Ame, she needed a drink in her hand as soon as possible. The only thing that could make her day anymore irritating was if the seemingly never-ending rain decided to be a bastard and begin once again. Rain was a common thing in this village, but that didn't mean she enjoyed it. As a wandering medic, it was her job to travel from place to place and aid those who needed her most. She enjoyed her job immensely, but that didn't mean that she enjoyed all the places she visited. But then again, anywhere was better than that hellhole she had run away from so many months ago. Now that she was free, she wasn't about to start complaining about something as ridiculous as a little rain. With a small sigh, she pushed her candy colored bangs from her eyes, the bar was finally in her sights. She mentally prepared herself for the awkward comments about her hair being natural or not. No matter where she went, it seemed that her coral colored hair was the thing she was recognized for more than anything, not her medical expertise, her fucking hair. She'd been tempted to dye it a dark shade but had quickly decided against it.

Pushing open the doors the led into the bar, Sakura inwardly groaned at the sight the greeted her. Men, nothing but men. Was it too much for her to ask for a female drinking partner for once? Apparently so. She mentally shook her head and weaved her way towards the bar, dodging drunken men every step of the way, even breaking the fingers of a handsy male who thought he was brave. Strong, independent women were rare these days, and she just so happened to be one of those rare women. She saw no desire in wearing thirty pound dresses that constricted her breathing, granted she had not been forced to wear one of those godforsaken dresses since she was a mere child and her gift had not appeared yet.

No, she much preferred her tight, leather shorts that hugged her bottom, fishnet stockings running up her legs, ending just underneath her shorts. Her stomach was bare, breasts bound with bandages and a tight leather top covering the bandages, the sleeves of her top ending just above her elbows. She wore simple leather gloves with holes for each of her fingers on her hands. Black combat style boots adorned her feet, extending up to her mid-calf. She wore a simple black cloak over her clothes, her waist length pink hair was bound in twin pony tails that cascaded down her back. She knew it was dangerous for a woman her age to walk around in such attire, but it was comfortable, especially with the amount of traveling she did, dressing light and comfortably was best.

After dodging a few more drunken men, she hoisted herself gracefully onto the only barstool that didn't reek of vomit and god knows what other bodily fluid and signaled for the barkeeper. She didn't miss his glossy eyes giving her body a once over, although there wasn't much to see due to her cloak, it didn't stop men from trying to sneak a peak. She resisted the urge to sigh at his oogling, opting to clear her throat instead.

"What'll you have, miss?", the barkeep asked, his eyes never drifting away from the small opening in her cloak.

"Rum, the strongest you have.", Sakura replied, knowing that using any sort of manners in this place would get her nothing but strange looks. She'd been to these places before, but it wasn't as if she didn't know how to act like a decent person when the need for it arose. These were hard times and in most places, being nice would only get you hurt in the long run. She had learned the hard way.

'You are not about to start thinking of the family you left behind while you are trying to drink and relax in a borderline brothel, you stupid girl. Just drink your rum and shut the fuck up', she inwardly scolded herself.

Life hadn't been easy since she had runaway from her family's estate, but in these times, being a woman wasn't a very easy thing to be. She had refused to abide by the social standards of a lady. She had been expected to be a polite little doll to be sold off to the highest bidder. She had been expected to use her gift for healing whenever her father ordered her to do so, even if she didn't want to. Some days she swore that her healing gift was nothing more than a curse. But the expectations her so called family had for her didn't end there, not by a long shot. She had been expected to produce an heir for her father's legacy, he even had the gall to order her to make sure her offspring carried her gift for healing.

She had been expected to do many things, but she had never been asked what she wanted. Never asked what she wanted to do with her life. Never asked what she wanted to do as an adult. Nothing but expectations and she refused to be nothing more than a tool for her father now that she was an adult. When her father had told her that she was going to basically be sold to a family on the coast for an undisclosed amount of money, she had put her foot down. When her father refused to reason with her, she left. She had finally found her opening and fled her home in search of a better life and she had no plans of looking back, especially now that she had found a little bit of freedom.

Her bitterness towards her family didn't just extend to her father either, in Sakura's eyes, her mother was just as guilty as her father. Whenever Sakura had attempted to avoid healing someone in need at her family's estate, her mother would sit back and watch as she was punished. Never once stepping in to defend the girl that was supposed to be her daughter. When her father had told her mother that he had found the perfect man to sell their daughter to, her only question had been about how much money they would be receiving for Sakura. It had been all about the money, never about Sakura's well-being.

The servants of the house were just as guilty as the people who were supposed to be her parents. They had always turned a blind eye to her whenever she returned to her room bloody, broken, or just plain exhausted. Sakura would have been lying if she claimed to feel any remorse for the three servants that she had had to kill in order to escape the estate and gain her freedom. In her eyes, they had deserved every painful cry that she had torn from their throats. The sickening crunch of their bones shattering and breaking still played in her mind, she couldn't help the small sadistic smile that graced her lips at the memory. Though she was technically a wanted woman and the servants weren't the only people she'd had to kill since leaving the estate, her life was much better than it had been. Nothing in the world could make her even consider returning to the hellhole she had escaped from.

If she had to continue to take out the people that got in her way to retain her freedom, then so be it.

"And look at where you are now, a somewhat successful medic drinking alone in a shady ass bar.", she muttered to herself before taking a large drink from the glass of rum in her hand. It burned going down, but that wasn't about to bother her one bit. There were worse things in life than a little alcohol burning her throat. She set the glass back down on the counter and turned in her chair to survey the bar, wondering if she would find who she was really seeking on her travels. In truth, the true reason she was wandering from town to town was so she could hopefully run into the infamous pirate crew known as the Akatsuki. From what she had heard through the rumor mill, they would be the perfect people to help her get back at her father for the things she had to endure as a child.

They would be able to give her the true sense of freedom that was so desperately seeking. Coupled with the fact that it would be nearly impossible for her to be arrested and hung for her crimes against both her family and the country. Normally, men would be let off with nothing but a slap on the wrist for killing somebody. But as a woman, she would be hung without question. And she wasn't ready to die just yet. She had been lucky so far that the people she had healed had either never heard of her or were too desperate for healing that they didn't care that she was technically a murderer.

For now, all she could do was hope that the Akatsuki would require a medic and would be willing to take her in.

"Oh, who am I kidding? Nobody in their right mind would take a pink haired eighteen year old healer with a grudge seriously..especially one that is wanted for somewhere around ten murders.", she grumbled bitterly. With a small sigh, she turned back towards her glass, intending to down it as quickly as she could before getting another one in her system. Her aim was to get drunk at that moment, a foolish thought she knew, but she wasn't in the mood to act smart. She just wanted to feel like a normal person for once in her life. Since the discovery of her gift, she hadn't been treated like a normal human being by anybody, not even the clients she healed as she journeyed. The moment someone found out that she didn't use traditional medical techniques, she was treated like she was a monster. So, once her obligation was completed, she took her payments and left without a second thought.

"You look like you're thinking pretty fucking hard there, Pinky.", a voice snickered.

Sakura snapped out of her self pitying thoughts and turned in the direction of the voice that had clearly addressed her, after all, how many people had pink hair?

"What's it to you if I'm thinking?", she asked smoothly, a pink eyebrow raised questioningly. Sakura took in the sight of the male next to her, noting that he didn't look like he was much older than her self. Piercing purple eyes bore into her own jade eyes. Silver hair slicked back tastefully and wearing nothing but a strange pendant around his neck and a simple pair of black leather pants.

"It doesn't fucking matter what you're doing, but I'd watch my ass if I were you. Most of these fuckers look like they're already molesting you with their eyes, wouldn't want to give them a chance to actually do it, now would we?", the stranger replied with a small smirk, his eyes roaming over the small woman next to him. It wasn't everyday that a woman wandered into the bar, especially an attractive one.

"Why, you worried about me?", she replied with a smirk of her own. Despite his foul mouth, she didn't feel like she was in any danger sitting next to the mysterious man. In fact, in a weird way, it felt almost comforting.

'Don't start getting comfortable, Sakura. You never know about the shady ass people you run into in these villages. Knowing your luck, he could be after your bounty as well. Better to be cautious.', she inwardly scolded herself for her foolishness.

"I wouldn't say I'm worried about you, Pinky. If the fucking rumors about you are anything to go by, I'm pretty sure you could lay me flat on my ass without even breaking a sweat.", the silverette replied with a small chuckle.

"And what rumors are going around about me? And how are you so sure that I'm the one they're talking about, it isn't like I give out my name to people.", she challenged with a small glint of amusement flashing in her emerald eyes.

"For one, it's pretty obvious that they are about you, how many people have fucking pink hair? Yeah, thought so. And second, I heard this little rumor that you've got this interesting gift for healing people, even it's from the brink of death from a disease. That, and they're blaming the small earthquakes that have been shaking the lands around here on you as well, don't fault me for being a little damn curious. Plus a few other things that are best left unspoken in the open.", he explained, quirking an eyebrow when he saw her flinch slightly when he mentions the small earthquakes that had been shaking the village for the past few days.

"Well, you aren't wrong about the healing thing. I doubt I could deny that no matter how hard I tried to. As for the earthquakes, I have nothing to say on the matter. No need to give the surrounding villages more reason to think I'm some sort of demon from Hell.", she replied bitterly.

"I thought most medics were supposed to be gentle and kind creatures, you seem pretty fucking bitter.", the silvertte pointed out with a small frown.

"Well, excuse me for not being the perfect lady I was supposed to be raised to be.", she spat before she turned back to he long forgotten glass of rum, taking the rest of the drink in one go before slamming the glass down on the counter hard enough for it to shatter. With one last look at the stranger next to her, she hopped down from her seat and made her way out of the bar and back onto the streets, inwardly scolding herself for losing her temper.

Sakura looked over her shoulder as she made her way down the dirt path that would lead her back to the forest surrounding the village, frowning when she noticed that the man from the bar had followed her.

"Probably just wants to smite me for being some sort of demon.", she sighed to herself. Some days she just wished that she could be alone. That people wouldn't judge her because she was different. But then again, she would rather be able to help people and be considered a demon rather than stand idly by while people died for no reason. She was sick of being the bitter woman that she had become but what options did she really have?

"Oi, Pinky, wait up!", a voice called from behind her.

"Why? You want to tell me I'm demon from the depths of hell and have the Gods smite me?", she called back, not even pausing in her trek towards the forests.

"No, bitch. Now stop fucking walking away from me so I can talk to you, fucks sake.", the silverette from the bar called back.

With a sigh, Sakura stopped in the middle of the path and waited for the stranger to catch up with her. Her body tensed in case she needed to run away from this man. Hell, she didn't even understand why she had listened to him and stopped in the first place. The moment the male came up next to her, she started walking again, waiting for him to speak. When minutes of silence greeted her, she let out an annoyed sigh and turned her head towards the strange man.

"So, you going to say something now that I've waited for you? Or are you just going to walk next to me like we're on some sort of pleasant evening stroll.", she groaned. She really didn't know what was up with this guy, usually unless somebody wanted something from her, they wouldn't even look in her direction, much less speak to her. She couldn't help but be a little suspicious about his obvious curiosity about her.

"I was thinking, don't be so damn impatient. You're starting to sound like the Puppet Fucker.", the man snapped back.

"I don't think I want to know who or what a Puppet Fucker is, but what are you thinking so hard about?", she asked with another sigh.

"I was thinking about taking you to meet my fucking boss.", he explained vaguely with a smirk. He knew she was starting to get annoyed, but he couldn't help it. She was just so damn interesting when she was angry. The sight of her shattering a glass against the counter back at the bar continued to play through his mind. He couldn't help but be interested by the strange young woman. He couldn't help but wonder what other sorts of abilities she could be hiding from the world.

"And why, pray tell, would you want to take me to meet your boss? What purpose would that serve?", she asked suspiciously, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"Because, stupid, we need a medic. Plus, he would pay you better than the people in the villages would. And you wouldn't be scorned because you're fucking different. Everyone he employs isn't exactly normal. Plus I know for a fact that you're a wanted criminal, kind of hard to arrest someone if they aren't on dry land, don't you think?", he explained with an exasperated sigh.

"Everyone isn't normal? Just who are you?", she asked, squinting at the man. From the looks of him, he didn't look different, but then again, neither did she. Aside from her hair color, she looked as normal as anybody else.

"Hidan the Immortal. Member of the Akatsuki pirate crew.", he introduced with a smirk.

"You're a member of the Akatsuki? I always heard that they had a tattoo of a crimson cloud on their bodies, I don't see a tattoo anywhere.", she accused.

"You seem to know your shit, kid. That's true, we do have tattoos, and yes, I have one. It's on my leg.", he explained before reaching down to pull up his left pant leg, turning it slightly so she could see the crimson cloud on the back of his calf.

Sakura's jaw dropped when she saw the tattoo. She had been looking for the Akatsuki since she ran left her home and now one of the very people she had been looking for was standing right in front of her. It seemed that Lady Luck was on her side for once.

"Well, since you're telling me the truth, I'll meet with your boss if you really want me to. In truth, I was actually hoping I would meet a member of the Akatsuki one day.", she admitted as she watched him pull his pant leg back into place. She couldn't even imagine how annoying it had been to pull skin tight leather up his leg just to prove to her that he wasn't lying. Not that she didn't appreciate him proving it to her, that is.

"One thing you'll find out is that I don't fucking lie, Pinky. Also, now that I gave you my name, why don't you give me yours.", he pointed out before he began walking again, the pinkette falling into step next to him.

"Name's Sakura. Yes, I know it's cliche as all hell. You don't need to remind me.", she replied with an unladylike snort, receiving a small chuckle in response from Hidan in the process.

"Well, Sakura, let's go meet up with the Captain. I'm sure he'll be more than happy to fucking take you in. We've been in need of a medic for quite some time. Everyone on the ship is sick of the shitty stitch job Stitch Face gives them every time one of us gets hurt.", Hidan explained, steering her towards a path to the left, the sea and the ships docked coming into sight.

"I can assure you that I could do a much better job than he could, and all without the use of stitches.", she smirked, holding up a glowing mint green hand, showing off her gift.

"Trust me, I believe you. It's the Captain that you're going to have to convince.", he sighed.

"Well then, bring me to him.", she ordered, pointing at the ship that absolutely screamed piracy. She took in the sight of the gigantic black ship, it's beauty was something that belonged in a story book. If it was this beautiful from afar, she couldn't wait to see it up close.

"Then let's go.", he replied before taking off in a dead run in the direction of the ship.

Not one to be outdone, Sakura took off after him, easily matching his pace and picking up speed whenever he would.

They raced towards the ship.

Sakura raced towards her freedom.

So there's the first chapter. I really hope everybody enjoyed the first installment of Life at Sea.

Again, thank you so much to Orangana for all her help in making this story into what it is, I don't think I could have done this without her advice and suggestions.

Again, please leave a review, favorite, and follow if you enjoyed!

Until Next Time!