London 1715

It was a horrible day to die – was there ever a good one? Swirling mist and dense for blocked out the sun. Defiant and proud, he stood on the horrible assembled scaffold, his mouth grinned an evil and cynical smile as his gaze swept over the hyper crowd making merry at his expense. A heavy sun-kissed beard hid the dimple on his right cheek , if it hadn't, his dark demonic feature would have been transformed instantly, and the marks upon his face shown to all who could see, confirming the nickname they had oh-so graciously given him. Demon. Even then, his roguish good looks were enough to bring any young man or woman swooning at his feet.

He stood tall and imposing, almost regal, a noose around his neck, hands tied behind back prepared to pay the Fox his due. There' be no bargaining- nay, he'd traded his soul long ago. Yet his lust for life spurt hot and fierce in hid veins, like a flame licking at dry ground and bursting into an uncontrollable forest fire. Was this how it would end? He supposed it must, given the life he had led; there wasn't much he regretted though when he thought about it, his evil reputation was far fetched from his deeds. Still – it was a terrible day to die.

The coach moved cautiously through the throngs of people lining the water front on Miller point. Not many people paid any matter to the crest sewn on the door or the footman trying to clear a path for the lumbering coach.

Inside, the Lord Kazuki Haruno, Earl of Fire Country, stuck his head out of the window to get a better view as his coach neared the waterfront. People were everywhere in the mid-July heat as the listened to the Kings Band play.

"Damn me, we're going to be late" muttered the earl, a frown adorning his handsome face into a scowl. "'Tis the crowds m'dear, damn annoying. Not even this heavy weather had put a damper on these people spirits. You'd think the man was a hero not a pirate."

"I wish you hadn't made me come along father. It's….it's so….annoying"

"You're not turning squeamish on me, are you, Sakura? You look bloody pale all of a sudden" Concern colored the earls words and mad his daughter roll her sea green eyes "'Twas Sasuke who suggested I bring you today. Thought you might enjoy it." Sakura fixed her father with and annoyed glare.

"Seeing a man hanged. Really, father, both you and Sasu know me better than that. I think the custom barbaric."

"You should hate the man as mush as I do m'dear." Lord Haruno said. "Kyubi has cost me hundreds of pounds lost in cargo. I've invested heavily in shipping only to have most of my vessels attacked by Kyubi and his kind. Sasuke's brother lost nearly his whole fortune." Sakura sat thinking until she was suddenly pulled forward, her eyes growing widen as the coach jerked to a stop.

"W can't go any further, Your Grace." Their driver Rock-Lee called down. "The road is but impossible."

"Drat" Lord Haruno said, exasperated. "Well, no help for it m'dear, we'll have to go the rest of the way on foot. I mean to see the Demon breath his last."

"I'm not moving" Sakura grumbled. "I've no stomach for such. If I hadn't agreed to meet Sasu here I'd have stayed home."

"And miss the excitement?" Lord Haruno asked, slightly annoyed by his daughters lack of enthusiasm. "Your fiancé is to accompany us to Lady Ann's musicale after the hanging. Do you see Sasuke anywhere?"

"In this crowd?" Sakura huffed, shaking her head making her short, oddly colored pink hair, around her face.

"Well then I'm off m'dear" The earl said, waving gaily, stepping down from the coach. "Rock-lee will remain here so no harm comes to you. A festive occasion like this deserves a proper viewing." Sakura watched as her fathers' broad figure actually disappeared among the crowd.

The only child of Lord Haruno, Earl of Fore Country, nineteen-year-old Lady Sakura was the catch this season. Tall and slender, her body was curvaceous and regal. Her waist was slim, and her hips attached onto impossibly long legs. Numerous men courted her, as much as her seductive beauty and grace as for her generous dowry. But Sakura was not only all that, she also had the strength of an angry bull, and the tongue of a snake. Sakura only wanted one person, and finally she was his. Sasuke Uchiha, Duke of Fire Country. His brooding personality, midnight black hair, pale skin and eyes as black as night. Yes, she finally got him. Noting was going to jeopardize her future.

A loud cheer forced Sakura's attention to the scaffold where Kyubi stood, and beside him two burly guards. Did they expect him to escape with his hands tied behind his back and a rope around his neck? She thought disgusted. She could see him clearly as she leaned out the window to view the Demon known as Kyubi.

Kyubi face death with a stead fast courage that Sakura couldn't help but admire. A slow smile curved his lips with ironic humor despite the jeering crowd waiting for his untimely death.

Kyubi fixed his smoldering sky-blue gaze on no one in particular, roving over the hundreds of commoners gather for his hanging like vultures waiting to pick his bones. He squared his broad shoulders and smiled, determined to meet his fate with the same raw courage with which he had conducted his life. Kyubi was aware of the stir he created among the women in the crowd, and with the arrogance of a fully fledged pirate, winked roguishly at a common maid. Her happy squeal gave little joy.

The he directed his gaze farther too where the vehicles were clogging the street, finally settling on the one coach where a ravishing pink haired girl leaned out the window. If he had to die, he thought, he'd find nothing more pleasing to take to his grave than the image of the seductive rosette. She was sheer perfection, from the short straight pink hair fanning her face, to her tempting fullness of her red lips.

Over the heads of the rowdy, loud crowd, their eyes met and Sakura felt herself shiver, not out of pleasure, but out of disgust. The way he was looking at her! She could see the smirk on his face and it made her shiver again. She closed her eye and put an image of herself and Sasuke in a not-so-innocent position and she felt better. When she opened her eyes again, she yet again saw him staring at her and she shivered once again and this time she couldn't help but notice that the man was annoyingly handsome, dark, dangerous and highly conceited. She closed her eyes again, hoping she hadn't shattered Sasuke's image, and when she saw his beautiful face in her mind, she instantly felt better.

Kyuubi sighed regretfully as he watched the beauty close her eyes and slide back into the coach, fully aware that his colorful life was about to be snuffed out at the age of twenty-six. He did not even have the right of a grave injustice done to him as a child, one that had completely changed his life.

Kyuubi watched warily as the hangman approached bearing the black hood. He shook his head, refusing to face death as a coward. He would rather die with his pride intact. The hangman shrugged and looked to the dragoon (1) captain for the order to pull the lever controlling the trap door. Kyuubi tensed, bracing himself for the endless drop into eternity. Then amazingly, he opened his mouth and his rich, humorless laughter rolled over the crowd, the sound of a complete mockery to death itself.

His laughter sent a shudder through Sakura and she sneered. The man was mad. Did he respect nothing? If imminent death didn't frighten him, obviously nothing did. She thought for a bit, what would take to bring a man like Kyuubi to his knees, and immediately dismissed the though. A man with no scruples, one who laughed at the face of death, would bend for neither God nor man.

Sakura listened to the band as it started to play; at about the same moment her attention was diverted to a disturbance in the crowd. Women screamed, mean swore and children cried. Within moments people everywhere were fighting or scrambling to get away. Suddenly Sakura realized her father was in that swarm of chaos and she felt panic hit her. Her first thought was to find him herself, but then she realized her errors in her thinking. Even with her strength she could not search for her father and return unscathed. Leaning out of the window she called down for Rock-Lee.

"Perhaps we should be leaving, my Lady." Lee advised, alarmed at the turn of events.

"Not without my father." Sakura protested, shaking her head vigorously. "I'm safe enough here, go find father. Hurry, please." Reluctant to leave her, but realizing he employer could be injured in the mob, Lee gave her one last grim and ran off.

Sakura watched in a disgruntled manner as the dragoons left their posts and plunged into the midst of the fighting in a vain attempt to get back the order. Sakura wondered what had happened to change the course of events from a celebration, to an all out riot. Nit realizing, her eyes flew to the scaffold where fate had seen fit to grant Kyubi a temporary rest.

Sakura gasped in disbelief, and blinked a couple of times. Was she the only one out of hundreds who saw what was taking place? A giant of a man, holding what looked like a wicked looking cutlass, leaped onto the deck of the scaffold in one simple motion. Dressed in wide briefs and a vest that bore his massive chest, he easily dealt with the two guards flanking Kyuubi. He moved to swiftly that Sakura barely saw the downward slash of the cutlass as it swerved the ropes binding Kyubi and removed the noose around his neck. Sakura looked on, stunned into disbelief as the two men jumped down and were instantly lost in the teaming mass.

Sakura waited with held breath for the cry of realization of discovery, troubled by the jolt of elation surging through her. Though the mere presence of the pathetic, disgusting demon made her want to retch, she could not but help admire the idiots courage and daring.

The suddenly Kyuubi appeared at the edge of the crowd, somehow arriving without a scratch and unnoticed, his huge rescuer protecting his back. Almost at the same time four gruff-looking ruffians appeared from different directions, all gravitating towards Kyuubi. And horror of all horrors, they were headed right for her coach!

Just as Sakura gathered her wits and prepared to flee, Kyuubi flung open the door and leaped inside, landing squarely atop Sakura's slim form. The air left her lungs in a loud whoosh, and a terrible fear assailed her. She struggled in vain against the weight pressing her into the squashes (2), she was strong for a girl, abnormally strong, but she knew that she was no match against this demon. He wasn't like the men she knew; Kyuubi was a demon, and a strong demon at that. Just then the coach took off with a jerk and she felt sick when Kyubi's strong and broad form massaged against her softness. Sakura didn't have t raise her eyes to know that he was staring at her, but she did anyways. His sky-blue eyes gleamed with appreciation and amusement as he gave her an audacious wink.

"Well met, my lady" His voice was like a bird, dying a horrible and painful death, she couldn't help but wince.

"How fortunate I am to find refuge in the bosom of a beautiful woman." Slowly and seductively his gaze slid over her face to rest on the swell of her heaving breasts.

Sakura gasped in dismay, angered ay the suggestive tone of the Kyubi's voice.

"Get off you...you demon!" she blasted pounding ineffectively on his broad chest. "And stop this coach immediately. My father will have your head for this. He's the Earl of Fire Country"

"I saw the crest on the door from my…er…lofty perch." Kyuubi returned lazily, "That's the reason I chose this coach. That, and the stunning lady I saw leaning out the window." The teasing laughter was back in his eyes and a seductive huskiness lingered in his voice.

"You won't get away with this" Sakura hissed, hating the look Kyubi was giving her.

"I already have" Kyuubi chuckled, a low rumble in his chest. "And you, my lady, will see that I escape intact"

"I'll do no thing!" Sakura strongly disagreed. There was suddenly a loud commotion and Sakura realized that Kyubi's daring escape had finally been discovered. Kyubi also heard and reluctantly got up off of Sakura to peer out the window.

"Bloody bastards" he muttered as a crowd of mounted (3) dragoons thundered after the stolen coach.

Sakura turned to lean out the other window and was heartened to see that both her father and Sasuke had somehow found horses and were riding with the dragoons. She looked closely at Sasuke and felt her heart flutter. His eyes were sharp, mouth shut tight; his hands were griping the reigns as he urged the horse on. She turned to Kyuubi gloating.

"My father and fiancé are hard o your heels and when the catch you you'll wish the hangman had done his job."

"Blood thirsty little kit, aren't you?" Kyuubi grinned cheekily "But then, you wouldn't have been at my hanging if you weren't. Sorry to disappoint you, my lady, but I've grown quite fond of my neck and this worthless life."

"A vicious and despicable like" added Sakura with so much venom in her tone: she was surprised his face had yet to melt. "Your vile deeds are legendary. Murder, robbery, rape, every crime possible to man kind. You're a…a…demon!"

"Aye, they call me 'demon'" Kyuubi admitted, his expression turning grim. The clear blue in his eyes changed to that of a stormy shy, his fully, always grinning mouth hardening, and suddenly Sakura know real fear. "I freely admit to thievery, even murder, but I've yet to commit rape. Do not [play with me, my lady, or I might be tempted."

Sakura recoiled from the bearded man, wishing she could melt into the cushions. She should have realized she couldn't reason with a demon.

Kyuubi turned away to concentrate on the dragoons pounding behind the coach. He was fairly certain they wouldn't fire as long as he has the earl's daughter for hostage. He slid a speculative glance in Sakura's direction, finding himself oddly curious to learn her name. Just then the coach lurched and Sakura flew across the seat, landing in Kyubi's lap.

A mischievous smile turned Kyuubi's eyes to a predatory sea. Instinctively his arms tightened around Sakura's soft womanly curves and a grunt left his lips. He was highly annoyed that she just didn't seem to…fit quite right. "What is your name?" he asked, still intrigued

Mesmerized by Kyubi's compelling gaze and deep voice, Sakura answered instantly

"Sakura, Lady Sakura Haruno"

"Sakura" Kyuubi repeated slowly, his eyes roamed appreciatively over her face and hair "Damn but you're a tempting morsel!"

Then before Sakura had a chance to gather her wits, his mouth slanted across hers. The kiss was surprisingly gentle, sending a shock wave through her entire body. But as it deepened, Sakura felt his tongue trace the soft contours of her lips, then plunge inside to explore. Shock sent her sense whirling. No one, not even Sasuke, had kissed her like that. When Kyubi's hand came to cup her breast Sakura regained her wits and was furious. But before she had the opportunity to lash out, there cane a banging on the coach roof. Kyubi jerked upright, setting Sakura on the seat next t him as a tall lean man lowered himself through the window. Sakura gasped as two more men quickly followed crowding into the cramped coach.

"Well done lads" Kyuubi congratulated heartily "Where's Neji?"

"On the drivers bench with Shika" one of the men replied "You alright cap'n?'

"I am now Shino. You boys arrived in the nick of time. A few minutes more and I'd be fish bait"

Shino smirked "We only followed orders. 'Course we didn't know for sure it would work, but we couldn't let you hang" He stared at Sakura "Who's the wench?"

"The lady is our luck lads. Meet Lady Sakura, her father is the Earl of Fire Country, who will make certain the dragoons let us board our ship without mishap. Where is the Nine Tails docked?

"She's anchored in a little corner near the mouth of the Thames" another one of the pirates piped up

"Excellent fingers" Kyuubi grinned "Maybe tonight we'll have a party and you can play us a tune!" Named for his ability to play the red flute, Fingers was tall and thin, his mouth covered by a cloth and an eye patch on his left eye. He carried his flute everywhere.

"What about her?" asked a third man sourly, pointing to Sakura. He was as fierce looking a man as Sakura had ever laid eyes on, with heavy dark brows, a scowl and wild brown hair sticking out from his wool cap.

"Lady Sakura will be released once she's served her purpose, Choji" Kyuubi explained.

"The shore battery will fire on us before we leave the Thames" Shino predicted glumly "Twill take some fancy maneuverin' to escape their bloody canon"

"They won't fire on us with Lady Sakura aboard" Kyuubi said confidently

Finally Sakura found her tongue "What? Surely you don't mean to take me aboard your pirate ship! I won't go"

"You have no choice, my lady" Kyubi pointed out "But I give you my word, no harm will come to you"

"The word of a pirate? You expect me to trust a man known for his ruthlessness?"

For some reason Kyuubi found Sakura's fury amusing and a grin took over his features "You'll do as I say my Lady"

"The dragoons are gainin' c'apn" Fingers called, hanging out the window

"How much farther?" Kyuubi asked sharply

"Ten minutes" Shino estimated "if we keep up this pace"

They were traveling so fast that Sakura knew she'd be black and blue from banging against the side of the coach. Kyubi was only partially successful in protecting her with his muscled form.

Behind them dragoons were indeed gaining on the speeding coach. Both Lord Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha had managed to keep up with the soldiers, so when the dragoon captain drew his pistol and prepared to give the order to fire, the Earl screamed out in protest

"Stop you fool! My daughter is in that coach. I'll have your head if she's hurt" Shaking his head in disgust the captain stopped his order. No matter how badly he wanted Kyubi, he hadn't the nerve to contradict the wishes of and influential earl.

"We're nearly there Kyuubi" Shino called out, instantly stiffening "there's the longboats" When Lord Haruno saw the coach skid to a halt on a point of land overlooking the mouth of the Thames, his heart sank to his feet. Then he saw a longboat waiting a short distance off shore, and fear for his daughters' safety twisted his gut. He turned to Sasuke and barked "Use whatever means necessary to keep the shore battery from firing"

Sasuke gave him a reproachful look, but nodded grimly and thundered off

Before the dragoons reached the place where the coach had stopped, five men, including the huge long haired man named Neji, quickly scrambled down the bank and waded out into the water where the longboats bobbed in the surf. Only when the dragoons slid to a halt a short distance away did Naruto step from the coach, dragging Sakura behind him.

"Don't shoot!" Lord Haruno warned. He dismounted, advancing a short distance, hoping to reason with the vicious pirate. "Let my daughter go, Kyubi" He called out as Naruto pulled Sakura relentlessly toward the shore.

"Name your price"

"I have no need for your money, milord" Kyuubi answered "Nor will I harm your daughter. When I am safely away she will be set free and escorted safely home. More than that I cannot promise"

"Have you no compassion? Sakura has caused you no harm. She is but an innocent victim"

"Aye, milord and I'm sorry for it, but you have my word, I'll keep lady Sakura safe"

By now, Kyuubi had reached the edge of the water. He looked back for a mere second but found he couldn't turn his gaze. There was a man on a beautiful ebony horse, his chest heaving with exertion, his midnight black hair plastered to his head, but it was his eyes that seemed to captivate the pirates every sense. Eyes that stared into those of a clear ocean before showing their annoyance those of a murky sea green.

"Sasuke…" if Kyuubi hadn't seen the look the pale male was sending the beauty in his arms, he wouldn't have know which person to whom she was addressing, but since the fact was obvious, he gave himself something and tried the name on his own lips "Sasuke…" he said it so quietly that not even the woman in his arms had heard it, yet the man across from him seemed to know, and black clashed with blue once more before Kyubi bent down a little and scooped Sakura in his arms to cradle the woman, and dashed away, almost like he was running from the only person who could bear his soul in one word. He placed her inside and scrambled after her while his men took up the oars and began rowing. Afraid to fire, for fear of hitting the earls' daughter, the dragoons stood helplessly on the river bank and watched the longboat round the point, hugging the shore as it made its way to where the Nine Tails was moored.

Yo!!! Alright, I hope you all liked it and the next chapter coming up!! =]

Review if you like!! =D

1)A dragoon was like a police officer, just in the 1700's. They wore the funny looking get-up with the sword strapped to ther hip.

2)Squashes were just cushions in a horse drawn carriage back then.

3)Mounted dragoon, same thing as a dragoon...just on a horse ^-^ LOL