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Title: The Narcissus
Author: windlily

Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe/Adventure/Romance
Status: In Progress
Rating: T; Rated for implausableness, violence, some language, homosexuality, and implied sexual scenes (both willing and unwilling).

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Bleach characters; they belong to Kubo Tite. And the original concept of the story was relayed to me by Vacant Eyes of FF.net.
Summary: Young pirate Matsumoto is thrust into unwilling captaincy when Ichimaru is captured. In desperation, she decides to kidnap a prince and force a trade. But who is this boy by the prince's side, and why can't she tell what he's thinking? [AU HitsuMatsu]

Setting: The Narcissus is supposed to take place in a fictional corner of the world around the late 1600s and early 1700s, when the golden age of piracy is finally beginning to wane. It centers around three particular countries that are entangled in rocky alliances with each other after a war that left a bad taste in many people's mouths. Mostly because certain people refuse to accept that it's over yet.

I have also posted this story in a community on LiveJournal. If you'd prefer to read it there, you can do so by following this link: Bleach Gone Pirates

Story Teaser:

“Dammit,” Hitsugaya cursed under his breath. “Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.”

He knew he shouldn’t have gotten his hopes up; this was a pirate vessel after all. It wasn’t military issued, so nothing would be in the same place. If there were any life boats on this ship, they weren’t anywhere he could see in this darkness.

“He’s got quite the mouth on him, hasn’t he?”

Hitsugaya whirled around at the unexpected voice, his body moving instinctively in front of Yamada’s. This side of the deck had been so eerily quiet, he had been sure that no one could have been there. Unless… “Dammit.”

They had been waiting for them.

“Yeah. He is pretty mouthy.”

“I would be too, if I had just been caught trespassing on someone else’s property.”

Three people stood before him, and all appeared to be armed. The one in the center was the only woman, so she must have been the one who had spoken first. Her face was concealed behind a hood of sorts attached to the tattered, cape-like cloak she wore. She looked as if she could hold her own, though her physical strength was probably lacking. A scimitar was situated comfortably at her waste. The second one to speak had been the man directly to her left. He appeared much more like the hand-to-hand type of opponent, having the muscle that the woman lacked though definitely not the brains. Obnoxious, red hair was tied up into a messy ponytail, and tribal tattoos adorned much of his body, visible through the white of his shirt. Slipped neatly into his belt was a large, twisted, East Indian kris the likes of which could only have come from Java itself. He also looked to have several guns hidden about himself. The third man, however, was the one who made Hitsugaya the most wary. He, like the woman, was obviously not the type who would purposely go around getting into fights, but unlike her, he had an aura about him that screamed he was the deadliest for his mind. A green and white striped bucket hat shaded playful, dark eyes that bored so deeply into his own he had to wonder if the man could read his mind. His weapon was a conspicuous English rapier.

“Well, I guess you were right, Kisuke,” the woman smirked dryly. “We didn’t have to do anything at all. They came right to us.”

“Great minds think alike,” he matched her smirk. “Which makes it all the easier for greater minds to find out what they’re thinking.”

“H-Hitsugaya…” the frightened prince drew closer to the young man in front of him. Hitsugaya could have kicked him as he saw the woman’s brow rise.

“Hitsugaya, huh?” she asked. Their casual tones were really starting to grate on his nerves. “So that’s the name of the famed ‘pretty boy’ who follows the prince around everywhere? It fits. What’s your little friend’s name?”

Pretty boy…? The stressing servant forced himself to take a deep breath. Sure, he had lost the chance to use an alias, but if these people didn’t even know the name of the Sixth Prince of Hueco Mundo, perhaps it wouldn’t matter. He recognized the name of this ship; he knew what these people were after. If he was right and was able to keep the situation under control, they should be able to make it out of here with their lives intact. “His name is Hanatarou Yamada. But the likes of you may refer to him as Prince Hanatarou Yamada,” he replied, voice strained to stay calm. He felt Yamada grab hold of his wrist.

The one with the tattoos guffawed. “That scrawny little guy? Seriously?” He turned to face the woman, his glance questioning. “Rangiku, this is who we went to all of that trouble for?”

“Yup,” the woman replied without looking at him. She continued to stare at Hitsugaya for a moment longer before hopping down from the rise she had been standing on. “And now that they’ve introduced themselves, it would be rude of us not to do the same, right?” The rough one grunted something inaudible, but the other man seemed to find it incredibly amusing. The woman ignored them, taking another step closer to Hitsugaya and the prince before she continued, bowing mockingly. “I am Captain Rangiku Matsumoto, and these two are Renji Abarai and Kisuke Urahara. We will be your captors this evening.”

“We don’t intend to be captured by anyone, let alone a pathetic batch of worthless, scum-sucking pirates,” Hitsugaya seethed, the grip around his wrist nearly cutting off his circulation.

“Pathetic, worthless, and scum-sucking?” Kisuke Urahara cocked his head. “You really don’t like us very much, do you?”

“Well, you have just doomed every man aboard my ship,” he countered without missing a beat.

“As if you could call them men! Those monsters don’t even deserve to be called animals!” an angry Renji suddenly burst, brandishing his fist.

“Kisuke…” the woman who had proclaimed herself captain muttered dangerously, and the blond replied by bashing his fist into the rowdy man’s cranium and knocking him clear down to the floor. The following silence was deafening until, finally, Rangiku Matsumoto broke it in order to continue the introductions. “Well then. Now that that’s been taken care of, it is my duty as your jailer to welcome you prisoners to our humble abode. So without further ado,” she smirked as she lowered into a bow yet again, and Hitsugaya forced himself to stare apathetically on, “Welcome aboard the Narcissus.”