Oh my god, its been so long I actually forgot what this story was about. No, just kidding. Its just been so long I know. And I am not even sure if this chapter makes sense, or flows or whatever. Just let me know what you all think, and try not to send me hate mail about where I've been all this time. :P

Chapter Seven

The next day I woke up with no lingering pain in my leg, and feeling refreshed, if not a little thirsty. So the first thing I did was get up, gingerly stepping on my leg, just testing it. When I could feel nothing but the normal pressure of the muscles stretching I made my way to the door, and peeked out, seeing no one I continued on my way. Besides being thirsty, I was also a little hungry.

Debris still littered the hallway but it was considerably less than the night before.

Stepping carefully over a large plank of wood I made my way to the door and shoved against it to pry it open. Sunlight filtered through the widening gap making me cringe and hiss in pain at the sudden brightness.

Suddenly a frightening scene came into focus; a captain with fiery red eyes shouting orders at his crew. The eyes as red as blood, with spinning black marks, enthralling me in its grasp.

Gasping, a stumbled back, hitting a solid object behind me. A voice above me had me looking up to see blue eyes and blonde hair.

"Watch it Sakura, you may hurt yourself again, scared us all half to death you did," Naruto's rumbling voice gave comfort to my fear of Sasuke's eyes. I was just about to reply when the sound of running feet had me spinning just in time to catch the small body barrelling into my chest. I laughed as I wrapped my arms around Satoshi's warm body, ruffling his hair in affection.

"Were you worried baby boy?" I cooed looking into his glistening eyes. In answer Satoshi just cuddled closer, shaking his head in defiance. I couldn't help the laugh that bubbled from my throat as I cocked him on my hip and started to look around the deck in the sunshine to see the amount of damage the ship took.

Planks of wood lay in abundance around the deck, with red marks seen every here and there where a pirate had fallen, whether to his death or just with injury.

Walking around the ship I couldn't help but see the sad attempts at fixing the broken planks of the ships interior and build.

A shadow blocked the sun from my eyes and when I looked up narrowed onyx eyes were glaring at me.

"Why is she walking around the ship as if she is not a prisoner?" The captain was very scary when he was angry. Kind of like a daddy octopus when you decide you want to make him squirt ink… not the best of my childhood memories. Let's just say I was cleaning off the ink marks for week afterwards.

"Hey teme… she just saved a whole bunch of us in that attack. Where is she going to go anyway? All that's out there is a whole lot of open ocean," Naruto's voice from behind me, reverberating through his chest which I could feel at my back, was soothing and reassuring.

"Yeah Captain, Naruto's right. She just saved our hides. The least we could do is give her the benefit of the doubt and put her to work to help us with the ship," Temari added her part before turning back to the work she was doing. The Captain stared me down, but I had had a lot of practise with my own father at keeping up an emotionless façade when someone is trying to intimidate you.

"Grab a bucket and start mopping up the blood," he commanded before walking away to help a crewmate with some ropes.

"Is he always like this?" I couldn't help but ask as I gently placed Satoshi on his feet.

"Sometimes worse," Naruto spoke seriously, wiggling his eyebrows, making me laugh as I grabbed a mop.

This was going to a loooong day.

It took all day, but we finally had the ship looking liveable. The broken wood had been stored in the cellar, we had repainted the mast and a lot of the interior of the ship as well as mopping away the deck until the wood underneath shined through. Not a bad job if I do say so myself.

I was just finishing up tying off a loose rope when I felt a presence behind me. I didn't even need to look to know it was the Captain that had bound me to his ship.

"Why were you in the water?" His deep voice still sending shivers down my back as I turned and stood to my full height in front of him. Which was only up to his chin, mind you.

"I've told you multiple times now, Captain, I fell from my ship. I was in the water for hours before you rescued me in your fishing nets." My eyes narrowed as I watched the mistrust build in his eyes. I helped save his crewmates and his ship and he still couldn't give me the benefit of the doubt.

"You can stop the lies, Princess. Your story is impossible." His eyes seemed to look right through me as he began to walk away. "I'll find out the truth one way or another Sa-ku-ra."

Watching him go I couldn't help but feel that he would find the truth, one way or another.