Yo Ho, On The Beach I Spot A Siren!

This was the life for her! The salty water spraying all over her, the churning of her great vessel against the thick and hard waves, the shouting her men giving out orders, and all of it complete with a swing of a hearty ale. Ino Yamanaka loved this life and she wished it would never end.

…well, that would change if she didn’t get away from the navy pursuing her for the successful robbery of the nearby port. She felt pretty calm about the whole thing, given that she decided to grab a pint of ale before giving her men the orders to make head towards their secret island once they escape or disable their pursuers. No need to kill, the entire crew already had gained a terribly high bounty as it is.

Captain Ino tossed her mug overboard, not really caring about pollution. It was the 17th century after all, nobody cared if you threw diseased hacked-off limbs or a entire corpse overboard. She rather drunkenly wandered over to a cannon and watched as her crew loaded it up. Ino reached into her coat’s pocket and pulled out a book of matches. She struck one alit and then threw it down onto the cannon’s wick. Her man ran off before the cannon jumped back from the recoil of the shot. The cannon flew into the portside of a navy ship, causing a minor explosion. Not enough to sink it right away, but enough for it to run off back home.

The men laughed the entire way to their private island, reflecting on their successful raid of the port and their easy victory over an navy vessel. Their beloved Captain downed some more whiskey before they landed, and took a entire bottom of the best stuff with her as she strolled alone on the beach. She swung the bottle back and forth as tried to sing a familiar shanty the best she could in her drunken stupor. Her voice was wobbly as was her movements and her alcohol-laded mind constantly made her forget the next verse in the song.

Something caught her eye. She paid no mind to it, Ino just thought it was one of those pink India Elephants she saw she really got hung over. But she couldn’t help but to stare at it. Well, a part of it was pink, but not entirely. Just the hair. The rest of the body appeared to be human…but the bottom…

…ye gods, a actual beautiful siren of the sea. On the beach, sun-bathing. Ino licked her lips, wondering if perhaps she was seeing a mirage. But no, mirages don’t reflect on the water’s surface. The thing looked real…so maybe it was real. The over-worldly voice did sound real to her…

Ino reached into her coat and felt some rope she placed in there some time ago. Matches and rope, the very things any great pirate should have on her at all times. One of the few things her mentor told her before she ran the traitor through with a enflamed sword. Ino dived over into a nearby bush and spied on the pink-haired mermaid for a bit to watch her movements. No way she wasn’t going to let this beauty escape.

With the mermaid’s back turned towards the land to gaze out to the sea, Ino left her hiding spot and approached slowly, making sure to not spook the creature. Right behind her back, Ino sprung upon the siren. The mermaid gasped and tried to swim away to the sea, but Ino dragged her in to dry land. Ino applied her weight down upon the beached siren and bought her arms together to bind them in thick rope. As much as the lady of the sea tried to struggle, the mighty pirate captain was able to bound her arms and keep away from the water’s edge.

“Oh my…” Ino exasperated as she watched her new siren pet growl at her. “Shall I call this my lucky day?”

“Perhaps it’s better if you call this your last day.” The siren grunted.

“I dunno why you didn’t recognize this place as a pirate’s fortress, mistress of Davy Jones.” Ino hiccupped. “We don’t fly flags up high to call attention to us, but I’m pretty sure someone like you would check to make sure you didn’t land on any civilized place…”

The mermaid’s response was to raise her tail up and smack Ino in the face. Being a strong swimmer to go against the intense weather of the region, the kick was enough to send Ino flying into a tree a few feet away. But unfortunately for the siren, Ino’s drunken state didn’t make her feel much pain, so the pirate captain was able to get up and quickly capture her prey again before the mermaid could return to the office.

“Now then!” Ino clapped her hands together after propping the mermaid against a far away tree and placing herself away from the range of the tail. “I believe we should get to know each other a bit better. My name is the…”

“Boar of the Sea?” The mermaid asked with a nasty smirk.

“No!” Ino shrilled with a rage-full expression. She calmed down and started again: “I’m the Feared Captain Ino Yamanaka. Feared because I can raid at any time and take whatever I want without remorse or without much trouble. And you are?” The siren went quiet but kept her gritting expression solid on her face. “Come on. This will be easier if you explained who you are.”

“…Sakura.” The mermaid admitted with a growl.

“Good!” Ino sat down and went quiet for a good long minute. Sakura stared at her captor in confusion. Ino finally spoke up: “…I’m not to sure how to go on from here.”

“Maybe?” Sakura grunted. “Let me go, you kidnapper?”

“Pirate.” Ino reminded.

“Pirates.” Sakura sighed and got comfortable on the tree. “You pirates pollute the ocean with your waste and gunpowder…”

“So does the navy.”

“Yeah, because they’re hunting your kind first!”

“I think we got off on the wrong foot.” Ino finally admitted.

“Oh.” Sakura groaned, lifting up her tail to firmly remind Ino. Ino’s response was to start laughing like crazy at the stupid pun she inadvertently made. Being drunk, her laughter wouldn’t stop and just got wilder and wilder the more she rolled around in the sand. Sakura wanted to remain tight-lipped, but the endless guffaw caused her to start giggling. So, the two girls started to bawl their eyes out from pure and stupid joviality.

“Yeah, I shouldn’t hold ya captive.” Ino burped out. “Even as a greedy pirate, I know if you love something, you should let it go.”

“Love?” Sakura questioned.

“Yeah.” Ino shrugged as she dug out her dagger…the one she stole off her dead mentor’s burning body. “I mean, have you seen the standards of male pirates? Stinky, hairy, and to act as unappealing as possible. Good men, my men, but there’s a good reason why I don’t share a bed with them.”

“And you want to pursue a relationship with a creature known to drag men to their deaths?” Sakura pointed out, holding up her bound hands.

“Why not?” Ino giggled. “It’s something different! Besides, it’s not like the navy is going to send men out to hunt you down and hold you hostage. You could follow us around and we could…” Ino’s path of thought got cancelled by her brain asking to be shut down. Ino managed to undo the rope bonds before she collapsed onto the soft sand.

“Cap’n!” Called out a gruff voice followed by a very firm shake. Ino awoke with a great splitting headache and blurred vision. “Oh, she’s awake. Back to ye posts!”

“Oh.” Ino moaned. “I drank too much of that ale. Remind me to not get that bottle again…’tis too powerful to have around.”

The crewmate nodded in understanding and lifted his captain back onto her feet. Ino’s head reeled back in such a way she nearly barfed but managed to keep it in. As she was lead back to the ship, she couldn’t but think about Sakura…if she even existed in the first place. Ino was so drunk, she had lost track of time. So it’s possible she just imagined the whole thing…

…but then she noticed something sticking out of her coat pocket. She yanked out some bits of cut rope and a note written on soggy paper. And written on the paper: “I’ll be following you.”

Plastered on the note was a lock of pink hair.