Leech Meet Mooch
Sakurako plopped down roughly across from where the other nukenin sat aimless on the deck. She'd finally finished rigging all the sails right and making sure nothing was broken too badly from their last little scuffle.
"You're a real nuisance, you know that?" She told them.
They grinned.
"Alright then, mooch. No more breaking my ship, or I'll throw you overboard for real, this time." Sakurako didn't love much in this world, but her large sailing ship was one: Akariichi was her name. One of the first things she and her old crew had stolen as the newly-minted Cherry Pirates. The old girl had survived storms way out of her league, a tough old bitch, and while Sakurako didn't expect anything would be able to take her out for good, it was still annoying to stop for repairs when all she wanted was to be out on the open ocean.
The other simply nodded.
"So," Sakurako sighed, accepting her fate as the one carrying the conversation, "heard Kiri's pretty shit. That why you're hitching a ride?"
They nodded again, tilting their head. "Compared to?" they said.
"Fair point. Amegakure," she admitted, because she was pretty sure she was all over Kiri's bingo books, anyway. Not like it was a secret worth keeping. "That village is pretty shit, itself. Living there produces some of the most paranoid ninja on earth." Between the constant infighting and unrest, paired with their isolationism and advanced technology, she'd seen firsthand how the ninja there collapsed in on themselves, gnawing raw on intense insecurity. She'd been that way, herself. Still was, maybe, but something about the sea calmed her like no other. Enough to be functional, even.
The other nin huffed-- snuffled, even; she tried not to laugh-- and nodded. "Kiri is full of distrust. Can't even trust kin. Kill each other just as much as the enemy."
It was the longest bunch of words she'd heard the stowaway string together, yet. Figures, she'd always found people more impassioned when it came to things to complain about. She hummed.
"Sounds shitty, alright. Don't know if it's much better out here, but if you can find a good group to run with you'll at least have a few people to watch your back."
"It's different already," they said, peering at her. "Met you."
"Shut it, mooch," Sakurako snapped, crossing her arms. "Just because I'm giving you a pass this time doesn't mean I'm not dangerous, got it? Don't expect anymore free handouts after I dump your ass on the mainland."
The stowaway snorted and grinned. Nuisance.
"Alright," she huffed, using her oar to pull herself up. "It's getting dark. I'm putting on the stove, so don't complain to me if you get cold, 'cause that's the best you're going to get. And don't," she pointed, "mess with the sails again. Go to sleep and get out of my hair, got it?"
"Aye, aye," they teased with a hand to their forehead. Despite saying that, they glanced surreptitiously up at the crow's nest. A gull up past its bedtime cawed from its perch, there. Sakurako shook her head and turned to go inside. Whatever the stowaway was planning, she'd deal with it tomorrow. With any luck they'd actually sleep and give her a few hours of peace.
"Orbeez," the stowaway suddenly said, slowing her in her tracks. She turned and raised an eyebrow at them. "Not mooch," they clarified, and pointed at themself. "Orbeez."
She huffed, leveling them with an unimpressed stare. "You're always gonna be an annoying mooch to me, but nice try," she said. "Sakurako Akutagawa." She turned and continued inside.