In the Name of Calypso

Chapter 1 - Captain Gaara

    “Believe me now, Gaara, you don’t want to do this,” Kankuro shouts from inside his bedroom. 

    Outside the room, Gaara stood there stiffly with his sword drawn. 

    “I know you took them, Kankuro. I suggest you step out of the room and hand them to me before I kick this door down,” Gaara said. 

    “Alright! Alright! I’m coming out, lower your sword, okay?” Kankuro muttered, turning the handle to the door and opening it. 

    He held out the pens he had stolen from the desk in Gaara’s office. Gaara took them and slid his sword back into its scabbard that was tied to his belt. 

    “I’m about to go on a two month long voyage and you steal the feather pens off my desk. What’s wrong with you, hm?” Gaara asked, waving the feathers in front of Kankuro’s face. 

    “Well I was bored and Temari was washing the clothes, so I just found something to do,” Kankuro said, rolling his eyes. Gaara rolled his eyes, too.

    “I have to go get ready, find something productive to do while I gather my things, okay? Don’t steal anymore of my things,” Gaara said, heading to his room to gather up his essentials. 

    It only took about twenty minutes to gather up all his clothing, papers, maps, ink, and feather pens. He then got dressed in his naval uniform so that he was ready to board his ship along with his first mate, Matsuri. Usually women weren’t first mates when it came to sailing, but Matsuri had studied under Gaara for years and he insisted she went with him on this voyage. At least, that’s what Rasa had said. Gaara never actually sent in a request for her to sail as his first mate. To be frank, Gaara hated Matsuri with a passion, but he didn’t say anything because he’d be thought of as crazy and he’d lose his job. 

    As soon as he boarded the ship, Matsuri came out of nowhere and started shooting questions at him. 

    “I won’t lie to you, Sir, I’m pretty excited for this trip! Are you? I heard we’re sailing upstream! Is that true? Come on why aren’t you talking? What are the coordinates for our destination? Oh! I meant to ask earlier, are we headed to the end? You know, of the world?” Matsuri asked, never ending the trail of questions. 

    Gaara ignored her and went to his captain’s quarters, hoping for a moment of peace before starting the long journey ahead of them. He sat at his desk and held the bridge of his nose for a second, taking in the silence. He then heard yelling from outside and he sighed. 

    “Time to go, I suppose,” He muttered, standing up and walking out onto the main deck, 

“Hoist the colors.”

465 (These chapters will be short for a bit)