Gunny had been tasked with transporting a massive shipment of tobacco from the plantations of the American South, north to New York City. The deal was off the books, the tobacco purchased for next to nothing, and would surely make a healthy profit in a city such as New York. Gunny was certain his plan would work flawlessly though, he had a massive shrimp boat custom outfitted to transport the massive load. However, being rigged to look like a shrimp boat, it would not raise any suspicion.

Gunny boarded the ship off the coast of Sullivan's Island, South Carolina. The night air was perfect, the city of Charleston could be seen from his bow, lights sparkling through the darkness. He grinned at the sight of his birth city. His local pull in the south was certainly a reason behind his confidence in the plan. He looked down and watched as men in small boats continued to bring in load after load of tobacco. After about 5 hours of watching the men bring in load after load, the ship was full and every ounce of the tobacco was loaded and secured. His ship was ready to set it's course.

As they set sail northbound, the ship disappeared into the darkness, the lights of the city drifted, and before long the only light came from the stars above. The night was beautiful. The sounds of the ocean splashing along his ship slowly put Gunny into a trance. He sat on the roof of the ship's cabin, smoking his pipe. The trip would take about five days if all went well, but would earn his crew about five years pay, and as for Gunny, much more. 

Gunny was planning how he'd spend his money from the deal in his head, relaxed, when suddenly he spotted lights. There were two large ships approaching his with haste. With no time at all there was a ship on either side of Gunny's. They were large warships, but they bore no flags or colors. Gunny stood alone on the deck, as a boarding party made their way on board and surrounded Gunny. The men parted, and one man approached Gunny. It was a Navy Captain, a familiar face, Captain Gilroy. A classmate of Gunny's from ages in the past. Gunny grinned and greeted him.

"My God, Gil you made me think I was about to die on these seas. What can I do for you? I'm assuming by the lack of colors on your ships, this is not a normal business encounter?"

The Captain laughed and nodded before replying. "I have no doubt you're transporting something I would rather not know about, and that's exactly what brings me onto you're fine ship." His face grew serious. "A business deal of mine went south of mine.. I'd rather not discuss it, but in a way to settle my debt to the person I owe money to, I agreed I'd show a member of their organization how to run cargo by sea. I told them I'd have their person taught by the best. You."

Gunny rose his eyebrows and shook his head. "No! Absolutely not! For fucks sake man.. what have you done?" Gunny knew it was serious, Gil would simply just kill anyone that crossed him. Gunny could see in his friend's eyes that this wasn't really optional. "I don't like this.. but I'm your man. I'll do it. Where is this guy?"

The Captain grinned. "No man.. it's a woman you'll be training." The Captain waved and a woman appeared before him. She was beautiful, but certainly had a dangerous presence about her.

"Hello miss, the name's Gunny... and you are?"

The sound of waves crushing against the ship seemed to fade out as the vessel came to a sudden stop. There was an important and urgent reason why Sakura was on that particular ship. She wasn't held captive or anything, although it did seem like she was because she was practically dragged from a large cargo run to be here. Even though deep down she didn't really want to go, she had no choice. The top boss of the organization she was a part of gave her an order she couldn't refuse. "There is a debt to be paid. And rather than going over the consequences ending in a matter of life and death, they've made a promise to have one of their best men teach one of my members how they operate on board a cargo ship."
 

She remembered her own words saying back to him with suspiciously raised eyebrows, "but why? I've been doing this for a few months now. I've got the hang of it."
 

The way he held his face with concern and doubt gave her the hint that maybe she wasn't quite skilled in the area. But her ego was clouding her mind. The boss knew she would be like this, but somewhere inside of him he had a soft spot for her and let her attitude go. She was fairly new and naive to the life of crime, after all. The woman knew what she was doing - sometimes. Other times, she either was overconfident or held too much pride in what she was doing. The ultimate recipe for failure. If she was going to be in the organization long term, he wanted her to defy all odds and exceed her potential. 
 

So in that exact moment, as she stood in front of the man who would train her in the coming days, she forced herself to be civil. "Hello." The smile on her unsatisfied face gave it away that she was already over it. She eyed him, looking down and back up all in one quick second. "My name is... Sakura." She looked back at the captain that introduced her and she gave a nod signalling him and his men that she would be fine from here. He said something about having other business matters to attend to. Then he hurried off with his men, marching back to their ships. 
 

Sakura looked at Gunny, speaking almost more to herself than him, "so I didn't bring any change of clothes and I don't know exactly how long I'm gonna be here." She proceeded to walk further, inspecting the ship cabin and the small space it had. Definitely a change in scene from the warship she just got off of.
 

Sakura didn't know what to expect, being here with someone she had never heard of, but if her boss and that navy captain allowed her to be here with him alone, then this Gunny guy must be very well trusted. He seemed like a resourceful guy too. A trait she didn't have. She didn't want to waste any time as she faced him again, tilting her head with curiosity.
 

"So, tobacco huh? Yeah I noticed the massive load back there. Does my training start now? I don't really like the idea of just sitting around and stuff... so.. anyways I'm glad to be here and I hope we can establish a good working relationship."
 

As she looked at him properly for the first time, she began to notice just how handsome this guy was. He had an unconventional but masculine appearance. Sakura mentally slapped herself for even having that thought. She was here for business purposes only!

But come on, she was here to receive a favour from a debt. Maybe she could afford to have a little fun...

Gunny immediately sensed that this young lady was not very thrilled to be on this voyage. This was certainly an unsettling thought, why would she be here if she was not eager? Why would whoever was able to have the Captain use such a favor, send someone that doesn't even want to be here. Possibly a sadist? Or perhaps this was meant to be a lesson for her, not only in how to smuggle on the high seas, but something else. Gunny shrugged the thought though, it mattered not. He had a task to do, and worrying about her was not high on his priorities.

Gunny smiled at her as he spoke, "It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Sakura-, My name is Gunny. As you can tell, I'm a smuggler, among other things. My expertise is smuggling over blue water." He listened as she asked about her clothing situation, he couldn't help but grin, "Well, if all goes well, we'll be on this ship about five days before making port in New York City." His face grew stern, "Is that going to be an issue?"

Before Gunny could even continue the thought, her attention shifted suddenly to the cargo, but more than this. She seemed to have suddenly gained some genuine interest. In what exactly, Gunny was not sure, but perhaps is it was a good sign. Perhaps Gunny shouldn't put to much into his first impression of her. He scratched the back of his head. 

"Well, yeah, it's a massive load of tobacco. Very high quality tobacco, which would normally incur extremely high taxes if transferred across several states north to New York. So, by smuggling it twelve nautical miles off the east coast, we bypass those taxes. We make a ton of money, and our customer up north pays far less. A true win win. As for a good working relationship, I would really hope so."

A smirk came across Gunny's face. "After all, people get lost to the sea all of the time." He flashed her a playful wink. "Do tell me, what kind of experience do you have in this trade?"

Sakura pursed her lips and her eyes rolled upwards as imitation of thought. "I'm new... to all this," her arms were crossed against her chest, "but I do recall once helping a few guys smuggle some liquor by sea. It didn't end very well though. Bunch of fucking hoodlums armed with pistols overtook the ship and stole all the cargo and cash. You can see now why I've been sent here..." She shrugged and smiled nervously before uncrossing her arms. But she wasn't going to show any signs of doubt in front of him and she immediately went back to her usual self. "So, you're a pretty experienced guy it obviously seems. Who taught you what you know?" Curiosity filled her mind.

While listening to his response, Sakura was beginning to grow tired as well, not from his words, but from the night air which was taking a toll on her functionality. She invited herself into the ship cabin. Thank goodness she wasn't claustrophobic. She walked into the tightly enclosed space and sat down somewhere, leaning against a wall. With her head resting back, she slowly shut her eyelids, somewhat keen for the morning. 

The smell of breakfast woke Sakura up. Birds chirping outside made Sakura feel like she was in a movie or something. She got out of the ship's cabin and squinted her eyes while looking around for Gunny. Where was he? The smell of pancakes had to be coming from somewhere. "Something smells nice," she said quietly when she finally found him.

Or was it just her imagination?

She hadn't eaten for days, after all. The sea breeze brushed against her soft cheek and she hugged her beige cardigan closer to her chest. Then she asked if he needed help with anything. He seemed too relaxed with what he was doing and it made her slightly envious. She had never met someone so chill before. Sakura sat down near Gunny and looked out into the sea. She didn't know where they were, but she knew they were close. 

Gunny was listening to the young lady tell of having some experience in the trade. Hearing this brought a sense of relief over him, but that sense of relief was stripped away as quickly as he had received it. Hearing her talk of having her ship hijacked and cargo stolen was unsettling to say the least. 'Armed hoodlums' hijacked her ship, and stole her cargo, but here she stood. It made little sense to Gunny. Why on earth would they not kill her? In his experience hijackers always killed the crew in order to conceal their identity. Gunny brushed aside the thought though, and answered her question.

"Well, I can't say any one person taught me. I would say I simply am a natural when it comes to this. I started at a young age, would come up with a plan. My plan would always involve either hiding in plain sight, or simply avoiding all contact as much as possible. Then, I would make back up plans should anything go wrong. Sure, there was trial and error, but I learned from every single trip, good or bad. This is how I became so seasoned."

As Gunny was talking, he noticed Sakura become very tired with each word, until she simply walked away, and into the cabin. Gunny went to check on her an hour later, and she was out cold. He shook his head, and rolled his eyes. He didn't know what to make of her. It was very much as though she detested being here. Gunny climbed on top of the cabin and set out his sleeping bag. He crawled in and kept his eyes on the horizon, constantly scanning for any signs of trouble.

As the morning came, Gunny climbed down and began cooking breakfast. He must have been doing well, because the smell seemed to be good enough to wake the dead. He couldn't help but grin at the sight of Sakura attempting to find her sea legs while half-asleep. Gunny made her a plate and handed it to her.

"Here let's get some food in us. We'll need the energy for later. Just eat it slow, don't need you to make a mess on the deck, if you catch my drift." Gunny said flashing her a wink. They both ate mostly in silence, until Gunny asked her what was on his mind. "So last night, you said you were on a trip, and got hijacked by armed hoodlums? You said they stole your shipment, but I have to ask, why didn't they kill you? How did you make it out alive? In my experience, anyone that hijacks a ship usually kills the crew in order to avoid retribution."

"Not to be cliche or anything, but I guess I got lucky. It was pretty traumatizing but I remember one of the guys' faces so well because he spared my life. I don't know how or what pushed him to make that decision but if it wasn't for him I wouldn't be here right now. Maybe he felt pity...? I don't know." As Sakura was telling this, she felt like she was reliving the moments all over again and as always when telling something from her past she would turn away and hide her face. She didn't want anyone feeling sorry for her. She was here now and she just wanted to move on. 

As an attempt to change the subject, she decided to make herself useful and started cleaning up the dirty dishes. Her spirits were clearly lifted when she came back with a smile, hoping to have it reflect back on Gunny's face. She was in a good mood and eager to stay that way for the rest of the day. "So... what should sea smugglers all have in common?" Sakura asked, the first question being on her mind for a little bit, and curious to know what they had that she lacked. 

Gunny noticed that the subject was not one she liked to relive. He wasn't sure he believed it was a simple as dumb luck that they spared her, but he wasn't going to press the issue. He shifted his weight as she asked him her next question. It took him by surprise a little, it wasn't something Gunny had ever considered. What made all smugglers similar? It was something Gunny didn't bother to try to understand. He simply did things his way without care for how others did. Perhaps her different perspective could prove useful after all. He thought with a grin on his face.

"Now that's an interesting question. Well, the obvious things smugglers all have in common is they seek a profit, the higher the better. Then there's the fact that smugglers innately operate under a code of silence, and with great secrecy. Aside from that, I suppose there may not be any true commonalities. In my experience, it is as any other profession. There are many variations, millions of different ways to do it. Some ways that possibly haven't even been thought of yet. I guess.. who knows.."

Gunny's words trailed off as did his train of thought. Suddenly a voice broke through the silence and sounds of waves gently brushing the side of the ship. The voice screamed out in terror. "Ship starboard bow!"

Gunny swung his attention in that direction and clear as day was a massive ship. It was not a military vessel, but it was a fierce sight. Worse yet, there were smaller boats already being lowered into the water. Whoever these people were, they made it clear that they intended to board, and quickly. Gunny looked to Sakura-.

"Well, let's hope that luck of yours holds up for us."

Gunny formed his crew and gave each of them a satchel. The six men took the satchels and began putting on diving equipment. They went over the port side of the ship and into the water. Gunny then turned to Sakura-.

"They'll be upon us in minutes, those men know what to do, and have drilled extensively for a moment like this. When they board. You and I must do everything possible to stall the inevitable. We must keep their attention for as long as possible. Then, once we have the signal, you and I will jump off of the boat and into the water understand?"

The small boats were upon them just as he finished his statement. Ten men with rifles boarded. They were not in uniforms and looked well weathered by the sea. This was not good.