the ninja and the pirate

About the setting: imagine the continent where the story of Naruto takes place as a part of the world of One Piece in the North Blue. The continent - I dunno its name - is a closed one, forbidden to be entered by anyone from the other oceans. A few small islands and archipels surround the warm part of the continent, creating a grey zone where no one knows which law to apply and where usually no one goes...
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Deidara felt as if his head was going to explode when he woke up. His whole body was hurting like every bone in his body had been shattered into tiny little pieces. When he opened his eye, all he could see was a blurry clear blue, which he understood as to being the sky. He tried to move any part of himself and failed completely. Like a puppet cut from his threads he lay there. Where am I exactly? What has happened? Where are the others?, fuzzy questions swirled around in his head. Then the memories of what had happened struck him again.

He had never really liked Akatsuki so he had been wanting to leave for ages but with the strict control of the others, he had seen no way to escape without being noticed and to be chased by the other Akatsuki members was something Deidara didn’t want at all. So he had made up a plan during his fight against the Uchiha brat. Building his most dangerous bomb inside of him, he had switched place with a makeshift replacement right before the detonation. With the power of the explosion he had shot himself like cannon ball through the sky, leaving Akatsuki and the rest of humanity that knew about him in the belief that he was dead once and for all.

Deidara sighed. What a stupid idea that had been. Staying with Akatsuki would have been a lot more comfortable than suffering this pain. He probably was in a worse shape than he had ever been in his life and he could feel the heat of a devastating fever rush to him. With grim he thought that he couldn’t even leave life as had always wanted, with a bang like his art.

He wanted to know at least where he was so he focused all his attention on his senses. His eyes told him that he was in an open place, the feeling of the ground beneath his fingers was that of warm sand, he could smell salt, fish and the luxurious scent of a rainforest and lastly the sound of soft waves brushing against a flat shore. The seashore, huh? So I was destined to die on a seashore. He managed to chuckle a bit as he thought: How ironic, me, one who depends on clay, shall die next to water?

His sight was more and more blurry by the fever and just before he could feel himself slip into his last oblivion, he saw a silhouette appear to his right.
“Are you ok?”, a female voice asked. Then he lost consciousness.

The scent of fire, warmth, cool wetness on his face, the feeling of someone’s presence… Deidara’s mind had some difficulties adjusting to reality after all that time spent on the border between sanity and madness caused by the fever. It seemed to him as if it had been an eternity since he had properly felt his body and although it was still painful - it still felt as if only every second bone in his body was broken only once – it was better than feeling nothing. Deidara managed to turn his head to where he could feel the other person.

His sight was still slightly dizzy but he could see someone kneeling before a fire. It was obviously a woman and the place where they were was something like a cave. Deidara tried to talk, to ask that woman who she was, but his voice seemed to have forgotten how it should work and his throat was as dry as a desert so out came only something like a cough from a half dead man.

The woman turned around and in the dim light of the fire Deidara had a sight that he would never forget for the rest of his life. Short straight dark orange hair that danced with the fast movement like a field of grass in the wind, skin as pure as porcelain that molded the perfectly swung bones of her face, a straight and small nose that just waited for a chaste kiss on top of it and gentle brown eyes like warm polished wood surrounded by long eyelashes.

The little pink lips joined in a adorable little sweet mouth that glittered invitingly in the half-light of the cave and her expression of surprise, the eyes open and honest with the elegant eyebrows swung like drawn by a artist’s brush and her mouth slightly open, softened as she looked him directly in the eyes. With the ease of a cat she stood up and kneeled next to him, moving her well proportioned body with the grace only a goddess would have.

“So you’ve woken up.”
Deidara was still caught by the beauty before his eyes so he could just nod, unable to speak.
“My name is Nami and I won’t hurt you so relax.”

Deidara tried to speak her name that fitted her so well but out came a sound that even a crow would dismiss as pathetic. The woman looked at him and searched then for the water bottle she had put next to where she had made a makeshift bed for the wounded man. She held it in her hands and said:
“You want water, right?”

He could only nod and felt relieved as the opening of the bottle touched his lips. The cool liquid ran over his mouth but he couldn’t swallow it. He moaned slightly at the disappointment of his throat getting no single drop of relief. Nami tilted her head as she drew the bottle away and said with a certain resignation in her voice:

“That’s not going to work, huh?”

She sighed and to Deidara’s surprise she took the bottle to her lips and took a big gulp. With her lips still shining from the water she came closer. Deidara’s eyes opened wide when he felt the soft and delicious feeling of her lips on his. Willingly he gave her way and the cool liquid filled his mouth. With some effort he managed to swallow it and Nami drew away. It seemed to him as if she had lingered for one more second than necessary but he threw away that thought the moment it came him into mind. There was no way that such a gorgeous beauty would do something like that.
“Feeling better?”

Her soft voice was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard as she asked him and as a response he managed to cough out something that sounded at least like a ‘yes’. Nami smiled at him.

“You’ve been away for quite some time, almost kicked the bucket there. I wonder what could have happened to you to put you in such a state. But you’re healing remarkably fast.”
Deidara tried to move but she immediately intervened and ordered:
“Don’t move. I’m not a doctor but even a blind man would see that you shouldn’t move and take it reeeeeeeeaaaaally slowly.”

She smiled encouragingly at him and Deidara couldn’t resist her voice. She seemed to have experience with ordering others around and yet she was so gentle. She changed the wet cloth on his forehead and organized his hair a bit. The relative comfort of his ‘bed’ combined with the warmth of the fire made him sleepy and as soon as his lids had closed themselves his mind had already drifted away.

When Deidara opened his eyes again, the fire was out and he couldn’t see Nami. The only light was the daylight coming from the entrance of the cave. Although his body still ached, Deidara managed to sit up and take a closer look at his surroundings. The cave was just high enough for a small man to stand and was about 4 steps wide while it seemed to stretch out a lot deeper into the dark rock where no light touched it. On the opposite side of the cave was a second makeshift bed out of 2 blankets and some dried leaves as cushion between the person and the hard ground.

With a touch to the side of his own place, Deidara knew that his bed had been made in the same fashion and with a look at his blanket, he sighed. His savior had used his Akatsuki coat as a blanket for him. (Those damn things sure are sturdy… but at least it protected me a bit, he thought.) He looked down on himself and saw that his upper body was naked and the rest of his clothes, including his almost empty clay bag were properly folded next to where his head would lay. Although the fire place was in the middle of the cave, Deidara could see no traces of smoke that would have been trapped inside the cave, endangering both inhabitants. Either this woman had known this cave for a long time or she was a genius at reading the wind.

That woman.

Nami.

“Nami.”

Deidara tasted her name like one would taste something new and yet pleasant to the tongue. He wanted to see her again, talk to her, listen to her voice and make sure that this hadn’t been just some kind of dream. He looked down on himself and looked at the ugly stitches on his hearth and on his arms. She had seen this and yet she hadn’t been afraid of him. Then he smelled himself and grimaced. He had that smell of a sick person, someone who hadn’t washed in days and sweat a lot. He decided to go out and to clean himself.

His legs protested as he forced his body to stand up. Come on, stupid body, you’ve been through worse!, he though while he made one step after another, supporting his weight with the walls of the cave. Deidara’s eye hurt when he stepped into the light of the day. Only after a few moment he could truly make out what his surroundings were. A beach with white sand, a luxurious rainforest encaging the little shore and in front of him the endless blue sea that joined far away with its mirror. The shore was in between two old lava streams that went out into the sea. The cave had probably been some kind of bubble in the melted stone before it became cold and hard.

Deidara took a deep breath of the salty and fresh breeze that came from the ocean. He enjoyed the feeling of the wind on his skin, the shining sun and the endless feeling of freedom. It seemed to him as if he would discover the world anew and with a much better perspective in Life. The dancing sound of running water came to his ear and he recognized the origin of that sound as being a clear little creek in the opposite old lava stream. With his shaky legs, Deidara walked over and sat down on a rock, almost exhausted from that little way. After a little break he stood up and proceed to wash himself. He had to grit his teeth when he rubbed over bruised or cut up places so that he wouldn’t moan or cry out loud. He was so absorbed in getting clean that he didn’t notice the pair of brown eyes that observed him.

Nami had been searching for some fruits as dinner when she came back and noticed that the man she had found on the beach was proceeding to wash himself. She had wanted to call out to him but then, as he removed the clothes he had held on his back, she drew her breath and remained silent. Of course she had seen him almost naked but that had been inside that cave with not much light except the fluttering flames of the fire.
Now, in the bright daylight, she could see ever muscle of the body that had obviously been trained for years. Yet he was still slender. He had let down that long blonde hair that shined like ripe wheat in the sun to wash it and when he turned it around again on his back, the plashing water seemed to stop in midair as Nami admired that perfect movement.

The flaw of his arms, that seemed to have been cut off once and connected again in a rather strange fashion and the strange thing on his hearth, seemed to disappear against the sharp profile of the man who now had half-turned towards her. His fair skin contrasted strongly with the black stone behind him and Nami caught herself wanting to kiss those elegant lips again.

She blushed slightly at the guilty reminder that she had lingered for some unnecessary moments on his lips as she had given him water. Now she could see him cup up water with hands and the graceful curve his neck made, as plunged he his lips into the clear liquid like there was nothing more delicious in the world. All his movements seemed to have the grace of a dancer and artist.

When his face distorted a little when something obviously hurt him, Nami wanted to touch his face, ease all of his pain and erase the wrinkles in his face. That man without a name stood there in the knee-deep water, his wet pants molding a backside that just asked for being touched.

Then the concern of his wellbeing too over and Nami stepped outside of her hiding place behind a rock and made sure to make a noise with some rocks at her feet. Immediately the man turned around with the expression of those living while always having to watch their own backs, a mixture of fear, suspense, aggression and animalist instincts. As their eyes met he relaxed and redressed. His lips turned into a wide and honest grin of relief as he just said:

“Hey!”
Nami felt a little bit shy and only answered:
“Umm.. Hey!”
The man scratched his head and looked slightly embarrassed.
“Etooo… thanks for saving me. You really saved me there, un.”

Nami blushed and was angry at herself for doing so.
(What the hell? Nami, you’re not that shy! Come on! Talk!, she thought.)

“No problem, really. If I didn’t save you, I wouldn’t be able to face my nakamas.”
The blonde looked a bit perplexed:
“Your nakamas, un?”
“Yes. You see… I’m a kaizoku.”

Nami bit her lips the moment these words left her mouth. Why did you have to tell him that, idiot? Now he will be scared or won’t want to stay with you any longer!
Suddenly the stranger laughed.

“A kaizoku? That’s cool, un. I’m a ninja and an artist, un.”
She had to chuckled at the funny way he talked. He seemed to be a really nice guy.
“What’s your name?”
“Oh, yeah, sorry, un. My name’s Deidara from Iwagakure, un. You’re Nami right? Pleased to meet you, un.”

The smile on Deidara face was enough to blow away all doubts from Nami’s mind and she responded with a wide smile on her face:
“Pleased to meet you too.”

Deidara looked to the side and said:
“I would like to shake your hand, but you must have seen mine and probably you don’t want to be touched by something like that, un.”
“Because of the hands on your palms?”
“Yeah, un.”

His voice sounded strangely clouded and low when he answered. Nami remembered her surprise when she had seen those mouth-like things on his palms and had also felt some disgust, but now that feeling had disappeared. She simply stretched out her arm and took his hand, shaking it as if it was normal. The feeling of the moving mouth on her skin made her giggle. She saw the surprised look in his eyes and said:

“Your hand-mouth tickles. Almost as if you were kissing me there.”

Deidara chuckled and sank down on his knees, although that hurt like hell. He folded his hand, so as to hold her hand as if she was a noblewoman and kissed her knuckles with a kiss so light as if a butterfly had done it. He kept his mouth only some centimeters away from her sin that smelled so alluringly sweet that he had to control himself not to press his nose against it and drink her scent. Through his half-closed eyes he looked up her who had gotten a bright red blush over her face and smiled.

“Really thanks a lot, dear Nami, un. How can I repay you for your kindness?”
Nami blushed even deeper.
“Eeeeehm… do you perhaps know a way to get away from this island?”

After Deidara had recovered from the little shock of this piece of news, they decided to eat some fruits. They found a comfortable place on the beach and started eating. It was Nami who started speaking between two bites:

“So how come you don’t know that you have been on an island all this time?”
“Hmmm, ‘cuz, you see, I wasn’t really awake when I flew here, un.”
“You can fly?”

“Nope, I kinda blew myself up in order to get away from my old working partners, un.”
“Owww, that must have hurt.”
“I don’t know whether blowing myself up or waking up was more painful, but yeah, it was, un.”

…

Both said nothing for a while. Deidara was surprised that Nami didn’t inquire why he left his former working partners nor why he chose to blow himself up for that. The silence became somewhat uncomfortable so he started asking her:

“And what does a female kaizoku do on her own on this island?”
“Treasure hunting. I heard there would be a big treasure on this island and I got permission from my captain to leave for some days. Unfortunately my boat broke, there’s no treasure anymore and I don’t know how to leave.”

“Won’t your … nakamas start to worry?”
“Probably, but the problem is, I’m their navigator and there was only one map of the region, so they kinda… have no idea where I am and they don’t really have a good sense of orientation, especially my captain.”
“Where are they now?”
“Well… I’ve been here for a week and I left them on an island about one day of travel by small boat. We had some major reparations to do on our big boat, so I guess they’re still stuck there.”
“Hard luck, un.”
“Yeah.”

…

Again they said nothing and just ate. This time it was Nami who broke the silence and started asking:
“Neeeee Deidara, you said you were an artist and a … ninja?”
“Un.”, Deidara nodded, his mouth occupied by some pineapple.
“What’s exactly a ninja?”

Deidara swallowed his bite the wrong way and had to cough first before answering:
“You DON’T know what a NINJA is?”
“Yeah, so what?”
“hell, how did you survive up until now?”
Nami answered with a slightly pouting tone in her voice:
“There’s nothing called ninja where I come from.”
“Gomen, un … So you’re from far away, right?”
Nami nodded.

“Hmmm… a ninja is… well, we basically are spies, assassin, mercenaries, this kind of work line, un… Most of us are born and raised in secret villages, called the hidden villages. Mine was Iwagakure and I don’t belong to it anymore, since I’m a rogue ninja, un. Rogue ninjas are those who leave the village without the permission of the leader and my kind is usually up to no good, un.”
“So how do you fight then? I don’t see any sword or stuff like that.”
“Well, most of the ninjas use martial arts called taijutsu and throwing knives or wires, explosives and stuff like that. Then we have techniques called ninjustsu which consist of attacking one’s opponent with the own chakra or using it on oneself and then genjutsu, the technique of illusions, un.”

“What’s chakra?”
“Chakra is something like the force of life in us, un. Everybody and everything contains chakra but it depends on the training you receive as a child, when the channels through your body that contain the chakra aren’t completely formed, un.”
“I see… So how do you fight?”
“… I’ll just say that I’m a freak, so I don’t fight like the others,” – he lifted up his palms – “and I’m keeping the rest a secret, un.”
“Too bad.”

Nami sighed and threw away the skin of the melon-like fruit she was eating.
“Anyway,”, she said, “as soon as I get how to leave here, we’ll have to part… but I don’t know yet how to leave. Do you’ve got an idea?”

“No, un. As for me, I always wanted to leave my group so it would be good if I laid low for the moment. Staying here would do me no harm, un.”

Nami said nothing while she rested her head on her arms.

“Sorry, un.”
“No problem. Don’t worry about it.”, she sighed.

They both stayed silent while they watched the sun go down, each mind occupied with thoughts for the other.

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A crossover for a dear friend of mine... at first I wasn't very fond of the couple and intended to make a short AU but after a little bit of thinking, they somehow seemed to fit really well and I also managed to keep more or less the original settings and the story kinda went from an one-chapter thingie to something with a looooooot more... ^^
Well, dear Alex, please enjoy ^^

And btw. ... did I mention that I like reviews?