Author's Note: Because everyone loves a goofy, historically hand-wavey pirate AU, right? This is a (heavily edited) re-post of what was published back in 2006 - 2007. The first eight chapters are co-written with Corisu Li. I'm currently planning on writing the rest on my own. Anyway, enjoy!

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Chapter One: Boarded

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Ocean travel did absolutely nothing for Sango.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. It did do something: it made her wretchedly seasick. It was so bad that, after a scant few hours on the open waters, she had nearly fallen overboard as she tried to walk from where she had been clinging to the portside railing back to her cabin. Since then, she had been confined to the cramped, dank room that would serve as her living quarters for the entirety of her journey. After a long residence on her father's island plantation in the Caribbean, she was returning to England. But, before she arrived there, Sango had to endure what could easily amount to a three-month-long journey.

Considering that for the past two days, she had been on the constant verge of regurgitating her stomach's scarce contents (she hadn't eaten since before she boarded), the prospect of those three months was taking on a daunting cast. At least from Sango's viewpoint. All that she wanted to do was dive headfirst into the waves and swim frantically for the closest strip of land.

Unfortunately, that wasn't an option, so Sango settled on the next best option: sleep.

So, sleep Sango did, or at least she tried to. Odd noises kept reaching her ears despite her half-conscious state, sounding like shouted commands, mixed in with the occasional oath. Sango groaned, wishing she had something to cover her head with besides the smelly, ratty blanket that covered her. Her head hurt so much...

The door to her cabin burst open with crash, and she made herself peel her eyes open. A man stood at the doorway, looking incredibly flustered, and after a moment Sango recognized him as the second mate of the ship. She wondered foggily what he seemed so frantic about.

"Miss! Please, you must get up immediately! We must move."

"Move?" she muttered. "Why?"

"Because, Miss. The ship has been—" That was the last word he managed to get out, because at that very moment, his head was cut cleanly from his shoulders by a shining cutlass. Another man, this one unfamiliar and grinning arrogantly and carrying the distinct stench of rotten fish, made his presence known by kicking the body aside.

"—boarded and taken over," the man finished. "I do hope you weren't headed anywhere of importance, little missy. We've got a new destination in mind."

Any other day in any other place, Sango would have stood up then and there and given him a piece of her mind, particularly for calling her a "little missy". However, she was too out of sorts to care, much less to even realize that the man was a pirate and that this was more than a very odd dream. Instead, she merely passed back into dizzy unconsciousness, completely oblivious to the predicament she was now in.

It was bound to be a long journey indeed.

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When Sango next awoke, the first thing that she realized was that she was no longer in the hard, uncomfortable bed that she had grown accustomed to suffering in. No, the surface that she was lying on was even harder and more unforgiving, if that were possible, and it took her a moment to get her bearings.

The churning in her stomach told her that she was still at sea. Fortunately, she felt nowhere near as nauseated as she had before. The area in which she was confined was so dark that she could hardly see. The only light that filtered into the room came from several cracks in the ceiling – it looked like it might be a trapdoor.

Moving cautiously so that she wouldn't agitate her already rebellious stomach, Sango sat up and blinked, trying to force her eyes to adjust to the darkness. Peering into the shadows, she realized just how small the compartment was. If she were to stretch out her arms full-length, she would easily be able to touch both walls. Uneasiness that had nothing to do with the water or the rocking of the boat began to well up within her. Whatever was going on, it wasn't good.

Sango shifted to her knees, steadying herself with a hand to the wall. It was grimy beneath her palm. Sango frowned but chose to ignore it. She needed to focus on figuring out where she was and, if possible, finding a way out. That in mind, she began to shuffle forward, running her fingers along the wall in search of a door, or maybe a ladder.

Sango had only moved forward a couple of feet when she ran into a strange lump in the middle of the floor. Unable to discern what it was by sight alone, Sango reached down and felt – was that human flesh?

Startled, Sango fell backwards, landing hard on her tailbone. Whatever she had been expecting, it hadn't been a body.

"What's going on?" Sango muttered, closing her eyes and forcing herself to breathe even, her heart still pounding loudly in her ears. She needed to calm down and stop jumping to conclusions. Whatever had happened, panicking would not help her. She needed to keep her head on straight and determine whether or not the person she had touched was alive or dead, and then whether or not they were an ally.

She had just settled on this course of action and was steeling her nerves when the body suddenly shifted. The person moaned, then sat up abruptly and muttered something unintelligible. Though she couldn't make out the words, the cadence of the voice reached Sango – it sounded like a woman.

"What did you say?" Sango asked after a moment's hesitation, squinting and trying to make out the other woman's face. There was a brief hush, before a trembling, yet comprehensible, whisper broke through the silence.

"You're awake?"

"Yes," Sango replied, her eyes finally adjusting enough so that she thought she could make out the huddled form of the other girl leaning against the far wall. "What's going on?"

There was a choked sound which she guessed to be a mix between a gasp and a sob before the other young woman managed to gain control of herself. "The... The ship was taken over... P-Pirates... The crew tried to fight back, but they killed... everyone..." Her composure was lost then, and she broke down into tears, leaving Sango to awkwardly crawl towards her and try offer comfort while processing what little had been revealed.

Pirates? The infamous scoundrels of the sea? The ones who were hanged by water's side as a warning to their fellow outlaws? The men who ship merchants dreaded and the Navy hated? They had boarded and captured The Charity? The idea was not very consoling. In fact, it was downright terrifying. Vaguely, she thought she remembered something of the sort happening, but it felt like a dream in her memory. However, Sango reasoned, there was no point in going to pieces, unless she wanted to annoy some swashbuckling halfwit and find herself with an extra hole in her head, courtesy of a pirate's gun. Of course, there was always the ever-present alternative – walking the plank like a damsel in distress out of a sailor's tale.

"Hey..." Sango began, having noted that her companion had quieted some. "What's your name?"

"Ayumi," she sniffled. "Yours?"

"Sango. Ayumi, what happened that's gotten you so worked up?" Well, besides the obvious trauma of criminals invading the ship and laying gun and cutlass to everyone on board. "I mean, did those men do something to you?"

The other girl inhaled shakily. "They... My husband. They—" Ayumi stopped abruptly, before letting out a whimper and cowering back. Confused, Sango opened her mouth to inquire as to what had caused these strange actions, before she heard the heavy footsteps overhead. They stopped, and with a creak, the trapdoor above swung opened to allow lantern light to flood the tight space. Sango found herself needing to shield her eyes from the glare.

"Ah, what's this? Both of the beauties have woken up. Come ladies! Don't jus' sit there... Get up 'ere!" There was a clatter, and Sango lowered her arm to see that a rope ladder had been dropped from the hole in the ceiling. Despite her earlier search for such a ladder, she found she would have much preferred to remain where she was instead of ascending. Regardless, Sango bit the insides of her cheeks to keep from retorting and reached for the ladder. She honestly doubted that any pirate would have any qualms about coming down and retrieving her if she chose to be stubborn. Frankly, she wasn't prepared to let one of the filthy brutes touch her.

As she neared the top rung, however, a hand locked itself around her forearm and pulled her up the last few feet, depositing her on the ground. Lips going thin, Sango glared up at the three shoddy men as they took their time in looking her over. It was like they were appraising her like she was something on sale at a market, and it brought bile to her throat.

'What I wouldn't give to claw their eyes out...' Sango thought venomously. Even so, she was thankful when their attentions turned to 'helping' Ayumi out of the trapdoor. It didn't take much time though, and soon both girls were being hustled up a short stairway. Sango set her mind on trying to memorize the path they took, just in case an opportunity arose in which she could break away and try to escape. The matter at hand had driven all thoughts of her earlier seasickness from her mind and from her body, though she still felt a little shakey, and Sango felt significantly better for the improvement.

Suddenly, Sango was grabbed by her shoulders from behind and was spun to face the one pirate who had to be the worst of the three who were chaperoning the two captive women. His breath was rotten and his teeth were yellow lumps in diseased and blackened gums. His weathered, pocked, and ugly face was covered and framed with coarse, matted hair, and his nose looked as though it had been broken more than once. Needless to say, when he leaned in close to leer at Sango, giving her a good whiff of that breath, she was sorely tempted to break it for him again.

"Now, now missy..." he grounded out, his voice as pleasant as a mud puddle of starved leeches, "don't be a-walkin' there, lookin' so entranced. You looked about ready to be a-wanderin' off..."

Refraining from turning and gagging in the manner she truly wanted to, Sango plastered a simpering, fake smile onto her face. "Wander off?" she repeated. "Why would I do a silly thing like that when I'm in the company of such fine gentlemen?" The pirate didn't seem to detect the blatant sarcasm in her tone, and his companions made no comment if they managed to catch it. In fact, the gruesome man seemed rather taken with the idea of being considered a gentleman. Too taken.

"In that case, a pretty lady like yourself wouldn' mind giving this seafarin' gent a kiss, now would she?" He moved in closer, and Sango felt as though she needed to vomit. There was no way she was going to let her lips so much as touch the filthy man!

"Oh! I couldn't do a thing like that!" she said, raising her hand to her face as though she were embarrassed, although it really was a subtle attempt to block the lout's smell from her senses. "You see, I'm, ah... betrothed. To kiss anyone but my intended would be completely dishonorable!"

This caused one of the other men, a more wiry man with a horse-like face and a closely trimmed moustache and goatee, to fall into a fit of laughter, making the lantern he held swing wildly. The light tilted back and forth, leading the shadows of the ship in a dance around the corridor. Sango turned her head to look at the man, and could see Ayumi standing like a wraith a few steps behind him, eyes wide in the unsteady gloom. The cackling rogue finally calmed himself enough to speak. "Dishonorable? Ha! Where you two will be goin', honor ain't gonna mean anything."

Sango had every intention to ask just what was meant by that, but that was when the third 'chaperone', a tall black man of a frightening demeanor, decided to make his opinion known. "Enough. The captain said to be silent about it, and the watch ends soon. Let's make this quick and shut these wretches back where they belong." There was a murmur of reluctant agreement from the other two men, and all conversation ceased save for the orders Sango and Ayumi were given.

They were first allowed a brief visit to the ship's head – the on board privy – before being herded into the galley. Each was given a chunk of hardtack and a lukewarm cup of tea and told to consume it all, which they reluctantly did. A short while later, the two women were hurried back the way they had come and all but shoved down the ladder back into the stinking hole that was their prison.

A sudden heaviness of her eyelids soon made it clear to Sango that the food had been drugged; she had had no intention of falling asleep in such a situation. Ayumi slumped to the ground, her breathing slow and measured. Soon after, Sango slid into unconsciousness as well, unable to ward off the unwanted, unnatural weariness.