mission report for htenywg
Mission report for htenywg
Delivered by: getyourzexion
Title: Sayaendou
Groups/Pairings: NEWS, Ryo Nishikido/Tomoshisa Yamashita
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Ryo needed a ride back home, but could he really trust pirates? More to the point, did he have a choice?
Notes: Sorry for including KAT-TUN in this, but they are serving the role of plot devices and nothing more, so I hope that’s alright. I hope you enjoy the fic~ I don’t know about well-written, but it’s certainly supposed to be humour!
“That no-good, rotten, conniving bitch!”
An elderly woman gasped in indignation as the rather irate man who had just spat that rather venomous epithet shouldered past her roughly, without the slightest hint of an apology. She wasn’t about to demand one either, the man was glaring at the wooden planks below their feet with such intensity that it was surprising that the entire dock hadn’t spontaneously combusted.
“Ah! You must be Nishikido!”
Ryo resisted the urge to wince - the voice was far too perky for his hangover and general bad mood to cope with for any extended period of time. He looked upwards, determined to give his best ‘fuck off and die’ glare - only to falter as he caught sight of the boy who had called him.
Well, fuck. There’s no way he could stay mad at a boy with a face like that.
“I’m Tegoshi,” the boy said, still remarkably cheerful, holding out a hand for Ryo to shake - which he did, albeit reluctantly, “The Captain said you were coming.”
“Marvelous,” Ryo replied dryly, “Where is he?”
“He went to town on some business. Uh,” Tegoshi paused, “He should actually be back by now. Not to worry, he’s probably just gotten lost.”
“…This happens often?” Ryo raised an eyebrow.
“Oh, only on land!” Tegoshi insisted “At sea, he’s the best pi- sailor out there!”
Ryo raised an eyebrow at the boy’s near slip, and obvious hero-worship but gave a short nod, he wasn‘t about to complain about someone‘s idol in front of them. “Right.” Ryo didn’t believe a word of it. But he wasn’t really in the position to be choosy about who could help him out at this moment.
“Ah, here he comes now, actually! You‘re in luck!” Tegoshi chimed in again, pointing down the docks as he spotted his captain finally arriving back.
Ryo certainly didn’t feel very lucky, having woken up this morning to find that his latest ex-girlfriend had not only refused to put out, but also ditched him last night and taken all of Ryo’s money with her. Ryo really didn’t feel bad about pushing her ass out of that cart now.
Catching sight of Captain Yamashita, Ryo didn’t feel any luckier. The man had feathers in his hat that were actually bigger than the hat itself - and each one of them were a different wonderful shade of eye-searing colour. His jacket was shiny and tasselled, and contained so many different patterns that it made it difficult to look directly at it without giving someone a massive headache - and certainly wasn‘t helping Ryo‘s hangover.
He certainly didn’t fit Ryo’s image of a respected ship captain. Especially when he stumbled over his own feet and nearly tumbled right off the docks.
Ryo should have known never to trust any information that Yoko gave him.
-
Yamashita Tomohisa had always wanted to be a pirate. He had grown up in a small port town, with his mother and sister - his father had been a merchant, always out at sea, or travelling to distant towns to negotiate and trade. However, whenever he was home, he used to tell the most amazing stories of where he had been, tales of mysterious strangers he’d encountered, and myths from far-off lands.
Yamapi had been fascinated. But his favourite stories were the ones involving pirates - despite the fact that his father was a merchant, and the merchant vessels ran the gauntlet every time they set sail, the stories of these pirates enchanted Yamapi. Men who lived only by their own rules, who were dangerous, exciting and free.
Yamapi knew he couldn’t be anything else.
The hats weren’t as cool.
-
“You’re lucky,” Yamapi remarked after he’d introduced himself, having managed to successfully navigate his way to his ship without any more trouble, “It’s not often we take a passenger aboard.”
There was that word again. Lucky. Ryo was beginning to hate it - he frowned at Yamapi’s back as the captain led the way up the gangplank and onto the deck. “Oh, really?” Ryo remarked, despite the fact that he knew fine well exactly what kind of ship this was, “That’s strange. You’re clearly not a merchant ship, with no cargo, but you’re certainly armed heavily enough to give off that impression. What is it exactly that you do?”
Yamapi’s stride faltered, “We…uh,” he floundered, clearly lost for what to say.
“We’re mercenary guards.”
Ryo turned to face who had spoken - another young man, who was eyeing Ryo rather warily from behind the pair of horn-rimmed spectacles he had perilously perched on his nose. The man walked across to Yamapi and handed him a few letters from the large stack of rolls of parchment and books he was carrying with him, before turning to face Ryo. “I’m sure you’ve encountered them before, no?”
Ryo smirked to himself, so there was someone on board who had more than two brain cells to rub together, “Oh, of course. It’s so obvious now.”
Yamapi muttered a few quick words to the other young man, after a brief glance through the letters he’d been handed - too quiet for Ryo to overhear, but the young man nodded in acknowledgement before disappearing back below deck - but not before giving Ryo another guarded look.
“Trouble?” Ryo remarked mildly, trying to appear nonchalant.
“Eh? Oh no, That’s our uh, navigator, Shige. I’m not here to do the smart stuff, I leave that all up to him.”
“Clearly,” Ryo commented, knowing that the barb would most likely slip past the captain’s notice, “What exactly are you here for then?”
“…Pretty much just to stand around and look pretty, I suppose.” Yamapi shrugged carelessly.
“Like a figurehead?” Ryo asked, “Why don’t we just tie you onto the front of the ship then?”
“Oh, but we already have a marvellous figurehead!” Yamapi stated, looking suddenly proud as he bodily dragged Ryo over to the bow to show him. “Isn’t she beautiful?”
Ryo stared. “It’s…a pea pod.”
“Yes! Exactly! Welcome aboard the Sayaendou!” Yamapi declared grandly, sweeping his arms out dramatically and knocking a precariously balanced bucket off of the railings to clatter loudly on the docks below.
There was an pause as Yamapi beamed expectantly at Ryo. Ryo stared impassively back, clearly unimpressed.
“Aren’t you going to ask why we’re called the Sayaendou?” Yamapi asked, after Ryo had gotten fed up of Yamapi’s hopeful look and stalked off across the deck. Yamapi had looked mildly offended before hurrying after him, ducking quickly in front of the other man and blocking his route to the cabins.
“Not really,” Ryo replied, warily eyeing the numerous sequins attached to Yamapi’s coat as they glittered obnoxiously in the midday sun, “That would require caring.”
Ryo shook his head and side-stepped around Yamapi and into the cabins below deck.
-
It wasn’t until three days out to sea that Ryo realised that something was very wrong.
“YAMASHITA!”
Yamapi looked up from his card game with Tegoshi with a wince as Ryo’s yell swept across the deck. Tegoshi suppressed a laugh and propped his elbows up on the barrel he and Yamapi had been playing cards on, just as Ryo spotted the captain and stormed over.
“You bellowed?” Yamapi inquired innocently.
“You lied to me, you bastard! We should be able to see land by now if we were en route to Cresta!” Ryo snarled, gesturing at the extremely land-free horizon.
“Ah, yes, you’re right,” Yamapi nodded, adjusting his hat as it slipped slightly with the motion, “That’s because we’re not en route to Cresta.”
Ryo narrowed his eyes as Yamapi continued to give him a beguiling smile. “That is exactly my point!” Ryo continued to rage, “You promised to take me to Cresta!”
“Again, correct,” Yamapi conceded, “However, you failed to specify a time-frame for this journey.”
“What.” Ryo stated flatly, suddenly not liking the direction in which this conversation was heading.
“We will go to Cresta,” Yamapi said, shooting Ryo a reassuring smile, “Eventually. When I feel like it.”
Tegoshi sighed and collected up the cards off the barrel, as Ryo let out a nearly incoherent roar of rage. Maybe Massu wasn’t busy and could play cards with him instead - Yamapi never let him cheat anyway.
-
It had been near to three weeks since Yamapi had all but informed Ryo that he was being kidnapped, and Ryo had finally decided to bring up the subject of the crew’s less than lawful occupation. Seeing as it didn’t look like Ryo was going anywhere soon.
“So. Pirates, huh?” Ryo stated, surprising Yamapi in his cabin, as the captain looked over some old, yellowing maps spread out on his desk.
“Don’t give me that, Nishikido,” Yamapi turned to glance briefly over his shoulder, “The whole crew knows that you used to sail on the Puzzle as one of Kanjani.”
Ryo paused, slightly thrown - he had expected a protest, not what was as good as an admission.
“I wasn’t one of them.” Ryo shrugged, “They gave me quarter when I managed to piss off a rather angry group of pirates in Eras.”
Yamapi snorted, “Well, I can believe that. You do seem to have quite the talent for that.”
“Has Kato been complaining again?” Ryo sighed, the ship’s tactician was just too easy to pick on.
“Once or twice.” Yamapi admitted.
“Tch. Crybaby,” snorted Ryo, “But I want to know how you knew I was with Kanjani. I know I stayed with them for a while, but-”
“I had an encounter with Kanjani a while ago - it wasn’t serious, but neither of our ships had had a good fight in quite some time,” Yamapi turned around, leaning against his desk, “It was just off the coast of Eras, probably wasn’t long after they’d picked you up.”
“That doesn’t answer my question,” Ryo cut in, “In fact, that makes it even more suspicious about how you knew about me. I hadn‘t been there for long, and I wasn‘t involved in the fight!”
“Ah, true. But I never forget a pretty face.” Yamapi winked, before slipping out of the room before Ryo could come up with a reply.
-
“Ship ahoy!”
Yamapi’s head whipped around to scan the horizon at the call. “Who is it, Tegoshi?”
“It’s the Queen of Pirates!” came Tegoshi’s response from the crow’s nest. “I can tell by the leopard-print sails!”
“Oh,” Yamapi sighed, sounding disappointed, “It’s only KAT-TUN.”
“You almost sound like you were looking for a fight.” Ryo smirked, leaning against the main mast.
“I am!” Yamapi threw his hands in the air, “And I can’t attack the Queen. Last time I did, Jin refused to speak to me for a month after he had to put up with Kame sulking all over the ship muttering about the cost of replacing all the sequins.”
It didn’t take very long before the two ships were close enough to initiate contact.
“Oi, Kamenashi!” Yamapi hollered across as they drew level with the Queen, “Where’s your captain?”
Kame shot a dark look across at Yamapi and scowled fiercely. “You’re looking at him,” he muttered shortly, tone cold.
“Eh? Oh my god, you finally snapped and threw Jin overboard, didn’t you? You monster!” Yamapi gasped in horror, casting Kame an accusing look.
“No, I didn’t, but I’d bloody well like to! You want to go find Akanishi, you’d better go looking for the Yellow Gold instead,” Kame fumed, “And if you find him, tell him from me, that if I ever see him anywhere near the Queen again, I’ll keelhaul him!”
Yamapi looked across at the now red-faced and furious Kame, and hummed thoughtfully. “Then…Jin’s gone?”
“Yes, that would be the case,” Kame hissed back, through gritted teeth, his hands clenching into fists by his side.
“Huh. Then tell me, Captain Kamenashi…” Yamapi eyes narrowed, the corner of his mouth quirking up slightly, “What’s now stopping me from boarding your ship and taking your entire cargo?”
Kame immediately tensed, but his eyes lit up, fierce and determined. “Me.”
-
“Why the fuck am I having to fight?” Ryo muttered as the Sayaendou’s resident doctor, Koyama, insistently pressed a cutlass into Ryo’s hands.
“Captain figures that if you get out some of that, uh…pent-up agression, then maybe you’ll stop antagonizing Shige.” Koyama shrugged - to be honest, they needed all the help they could get, too.
“Hmph. I’ll show him ‘pent-up agression’,” Ryo snarled, stomping over to grab a line over to KAT-TUN’s ship.
“I’m sure you will,” Koyama sighed, following after Ryo reluctantly, “I just hope you do it quietly. And in private.”
-
The sharp clang of swords rang out across the sea, steadily rising in volume as the battle increased in fervour with each swing.
“I should have known that Akanishi was the only thing keeping you from attacking the Queen!” Kame gasped, as he successfully parried Yamapi’s lunge.
Whatever Yamapi was about to respond with was lost as the sound of cannons filled the air and everyone on the deck of the Queen of Pirates staggered as the ship gave a great tilt. The military ship firing bore the flag of the high noble family that ruled the nearby town.
“Shit!” Yamapi swore, as the boat rocked violently, “We were too close to port?!”
“No, they’ve been coming further and further out recently.” Shige called out irritably, “You didn’t exactly give me much time to say anything about it!”
“Damn it! Get back!” Yamapi ordered, the crew of the >Sayaendou moving to retreat on their captain’s orders.
The sound of cannons increased, and there was a loud splintering sound followed by the Queen giving a huge lurch. Ryo stumbled, his foot catching on a loose plank, dimly he heard Yamapi’s voice, yelling his name, but it seemed so far away.
The last thing Ryo remembered was the bright blue sky and the white-hot pain that exploded across the back of his skull.
…
The pain was still there when he woke up. The room spun severely as Ryo opened his eyes, and he shut them again with a groan.
“About time,” came a voice from somewhere beside him - Ryo wasn’t exactly sure, it sort of hurt to exist right now, he wasn’t going to make the situation worse by moving his head to check.
“Why are you screaming at me,” Ryo slurred, opening his eyes a tiny fraction, to see someone’s face blurrily swim into view, “Oh, fuck. I wish I was dead.”
Ueda gave Ryo a sneer in response, “Amazing, something we finally agree on. Well, seeing as you’re not dead, I can finally get back to more important things than looking after your sorry ass.”
“Good fucking riddance!” Ryo yelled, as the door swung shut after Ueda, immediately regretting it as his head burst into a fresh wave of pain.
-
“God damn it all!” Yamapi slammed a fist against the main mast, once the Sayaendou had pulled into a remote marina, largely unknown to all lawful seafaring vessels, “Shige, where’s the most likely place that Kamenashi would take the Queen?”
“Well, I’d say the most likely place would be the cove off the coast of Lyna…” Shige’s frown furrowed as he spoke, “Captain, you’re not thinking about going after them, surely?”
“Of course we are!” Yamapi shot Shige an incredulous look, “I’m not going to leave someone behind! And certainly not with Kamenashi!”
“Personally, I’m more inclined to feel sorry for Kamenashi right now.” muttered Shige, “The cove is only my opinion, Captain. If I’m wrong, then we’ll have no chance of catching up to them.”
“That’s right, the Queen of Pirates is a far faster ship than ours,” Koyama agreed, “It would easily be able to out manoeuvre us.”
“But we have to try!” Tegoshi insisted, looking distressed, “We can’t just abandon Ryo!”
“You’re only saying that because he puts up with your selfishness.” Shige rolled his eyes.
“It’s still our best shot, right?” Massu interrupted, before Tegoshi could properly react to Shige’s jab.
“Right.” Yamapi nodded, “To Lyna’s Cove it is then. Let’s just hope the Queen happens to be there. …Along with his ship.”
-
To avoid the possibility of the Queen taking off at the first sight of the Sayaendou, Yamapi had ordered the ship to drift just out of sight behind the rocky outcrop.
His plan was to carefully navigate his way around the outcrop, and climb over to the cove, sneak onto the ship and rescue Ryo, all without anyone seeing him.
…In hindsight, he probably shouldn’t have been wearing his hat in that case.
Fortunately, the Queen of Pirates did happen to be docked at Lyna’s Cove.
Along with the Yellow Gold.
Yamapi paused, unsteadily balanced between two large rocks, before he started laughing so hard that he completely toppled off of the rocks and into the water.
Yamapi coughed as he surfaced, quickly grabbing his hat, before it drifted off and the seagulls mistook it for a potential mate. Okay, so this wasn’t really a part of his plan, and it completely blew his idea of a dramatic and dashing rescue to pieces. Ryo probably wouldn’t swoon if Yamapi was dripping all over him at the time.
Well, to be honest, Ryo probably wouldn’t swoon anyway. He was more likely to kick Yamapi in the shins and demand to know why he took so bloody long.
Yamapi managed to swim across to the makeshift dock established in the cove, and lurked underneath the pier that the Queen was docked at. And…oh yes, he could hear the argument from here - there really was no mistaking Kamenashi’s furious screeching. It had certainly been directed at Yamapi enough times for him to know.
Satisfied that the crew of both ships would be distracted sufficiently and nobody was left on anchor watch, Yamapi swam across to the Queen, finding the anchor chain and slowly managing to drag himself up it. Once he reached the bulwark, Yamapi hauled himself onto deck, landing in a waterlogged pile of sequins, and a far cry from the debonair hero he had hoped to be.
Yamapi crept along the deck, as stealthily as possible - which was quite difficult, considering he made a rather unpleasant squelching noise with each step - and eventually reached the cabins, which were mercifully unlocked. Clearly the crew had been more concerned with trying to restrain a murderous captain than securing the doors.
“Ryo!” Yamapi cried, bodily crashing through the cabin door and managing to fall in a soggy pile at Ryo’s feet.
“Jesus christ!” Ryo shouted, jerking backwards as far as his restraints would allow, “What the fuck are you doing?!”
“…Rescuing you.” Yamapi mumbled, standing up and pushing his wet hair back with his hand. Ryo made a strange strangled sort of noise and Yamapi peered closely at his face, “Are you alright? You look sort of…red.”
“Of course I’m not alright!” Ryo snapped, turning his face away, “Untie me, for god’s sake.”
“Tch. You could be a little more grateful to your saviour, you know.” Yamapi chided, reaching around Ryo to get at the ropes.
“Saviour?! I…I didn’t need rescuing, you idiot. I could have gotten away any time I wanted!”
“…I see. So you just enjoy being tied up?” Yamapi leaned back to raise an eyebrow at Ryo, who stubbornly looked away again, “Interesting. I’ll keep that in mind…”
“Shut up. And what the hell’s taking so long?!” Ryo growled, shifting uncomfortably.
“Aw, Ryo. And here I thought you enjoyed being close to me!” Yamapi yanked on the rope around Ryo’s wrists, after loosening the knots, and they fell away, “You don’t?”
“You’re dripping wet. I’m getting soaked here,” Ryo groused, rubbing his sore wrists in relief, “Whatever, let’s go.”
“Ah, wait. Not so fast!” Yamapi grabbed Ryo’s arm and stopped him, “Heroes usually deserve a kiss in return for saving the damsel in distress.”
There was a long pause as Ryo stared in disbelief at Yamapi, clearly unable to believe what Yamapi had just said.
“Did…did you just call me a d- Mmph!”
Yamapi, having realised that perhaps he may have said the wrong thing, decided to fix things - by ensuring that Ryo’s mouth was far too busy with his own to be yelling at him.
…Seemed to be working pretty well.
-
“Well then, I guess you’ll be wanting us to set sail for Cresta now?” Yamapi asked, hands gripping the wheel tightly.
Their return to the Sayaendou had been less than graceful - Kame had seemingly had enough of screaming at his former captain and had returned to the ship, just as Ryo and Yamapi were about to climb down the anchor chain. It had quickly turned into an impromptu swan dive, although a great deal less graceful, and Yamapi had lost his hat. He still missed it.
But they had made it back in one piece, and Koyama patched up Ryo’s injury properly. Yamapi had been waiting until Ryo was fully healed, but he couldn’t put off the inevitable forever.
“I see you’re still stupid,” Ryo rolled his eyes, reaching out to smack Yamapi on the back of the head, “See, this is exactly the reason that I’m going to have to stay here. Someone has to stick around and make sure you don’t accidentally throw yourself overboard.”
Yamapi sighed dramatically, hiding his grin, “Guess I’ll have to affix padding on all the cannons then.”
Delivered by: getyourzexion
Title: Sayaendou
Groups/Pairings: NEWS, Ryo Nishikido/Tomoshisa Yamashita
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Ryo needed a ride back home, but could he really trust pirates? More to the point, did he have a choice?
Notes: Sorry for including KAT-TUN in this, but they are serving the role of plot devices and nothing more, so I hope that’s alright. I hope you enjoy the fic~ I don’t know about well-written, but it’s certainly supposed to be humour!
“That no-good, rotten, conniving bitch!”
An elderly woman gasped in indignation as the rather irate man who had just spat that rather venomous epithet shouldered past her roughly, without the slightest hint of an apology. She wasn’t about to demand one either, the man was glaring at the wooden planks below their feet with such intensity that it was surprising that the entire dock hadn’t spontaneously combusted.
“Ah! You must be Nishikido!”
Ryo resisted the urge to wince - the voice was far too perky for his hangover and general bad mood to cope with for any extended period of time. He looked upwards, determined to give his best ‘fuck off and die’ glare - only to falter as he caught sight of the boy who had called him.
Well, fuck. There’s no way he could stay mad at a boy with a face like that.
“I’m Tegoshi,” the boy said, still remarkably cheerful, holding out a hand for Ryo to shake - which he did, albeit reluctantly, “The Captain said you were coming.”
“Marvelous,” Ryo replied dryly, “Where is he?”
“He went to town on some business. Uh,” Tegoshi paused, “He should actually be back by now. Not to worry, he’s probably just gotten lost.”
“…This happens often?” Ryo raised an eyebrow.
“Oh, only on land!” Tegoshi insisted “At sea, he’s the best pi- sailor out there!”
Ryo raised an eyebrow at the boy’s near slip, and obvious hero-worship but gave a short nod, he wasn‘t about to complain about someone‘s idol in front of them. “Right.” Ryo didn’t believe a word of it. But he wasn’t really in the position to be choosy about who could help him out at this moment.
“Ah, here he comes now, actually! You‘re in luck!” Tegoshi chimed in again, pointing down the docks as he spotted his captain finally arriving back.
Ryo certainly didn’t feel very lucky, having woken up this morning to find that his latest ex-girlfriend had not only refused to put out, but also ditched him last night and taken all of Ryo’s money with her. Ryo really didn’t feel bad about pushing her ass out of that cart now.
Catching sight of Captain Yamashita, Ryo didn’t feel any luckier. The man had feathers in his hat that were actually bigger than the hat itself - and each one of them were a different wonderful shade of eye-searing colour. His jacket was shiny and tasselled, and contained so many different patterns that it made it difficult to look directly at it without giving someone a massive headache - and certainly wasn‘t helping Ryo‘s hangover.
He certainly didn’t fit Ryo’s image of a respected ship captain. Especially when he stumbled over his own feet and nearly tumbled right off the docks.
Ryo should have known never to trust any information that Yoko gave him.
-
Yamashita Tomohisa had always wanted to be a pirate. He had grown up in a small port town, with his mother and sister - his father had been a merchant, always out at sea, or travelling to distant towns to negotiate and trade. However, whenever he was home, he used to tell the most amazing stories of where he had been, tales of mysterious strangers he’d encountered, and myths from far-off lands.
Yamapi had been fascinated. But his favourite stories were the ones involving pirates - despite the fact that his father was a merchant, and the merchant vessels ran the gauntlet every time they set sail, the stories of these pirates enchanted Yamapi. Men who lived only by their own rules, who were dangerous, exciting and free.
Yamapi knew he couldn’t be anything else.
The hats weren’t as cool.
-
“You’re lucky,” Yamapi remarked after he’d introduced himself, having managed to successfully navigate his way to his ship without any more trouble, “It’s not often we take a passenger aboard.”
There was that word again. Lucky. Ryo was beginning to hate it - he frowned at Yamapi’s back as the captain led the way up the gangplank and onto the deck. “Oh, really?” Ryo remarked, despite the fact that he knew fine well exactly what kind of ship this was, “That’s strange. You’re clearly not a merchant ship, with no cargo, but you’re certainly armed heavily enough to give off that impression. What is it exactly that you do?”
Yamapi’s stride faltered, “We…uh,” he floundered, clearly lost for what to say.
“We’re mercenary guards.”
Ryo turned to face who had spoken - another young man, who was eyeing Ryo rather warily from behind the pair of horn-rimmed spectacles he had perilously perched on his nose. The man walked across to Yamapi and handed him a few letters from the large stack of rolls of parchment and books he was carrying with him, before turning to face Ryo. “I’m sure you’ve encountered them before, no?”
Ryo smirked to himself, so there was someone on board who had more than two brain cells to rub together, “Oh, of course. It’s so obvious now.”
Yamapi muttered a few quick words to the other young man, after a brief glance through the letters he’d been handed - too quiet for Ryo to overhear, but the young man nodded in acknowledgement before disappearing back below deck - but not before giving Ryo another guarded look.
“Trouble?” Ryo remarked mildly, trying to appear nonchalant.
“Eh? Oh no, That’s our uh, navigator, Shige. I’m not here to do the smart stuff, I leave that all up to him.”
“Clearly,” Ryo commented, knowing that the barb would most likely slip past the captain’s notice, “What exactly are you here for then?”
“…Pretty much just to stand around and look pretty, I suppose.” Yamapi shrugged carelessly.
“Like a figurehead?” Ryo asked, “Why don’t we just tie you onto the front of the ship then?”
“Oh, but we already have a marvellous figurehead!” Yamapi stated, looking suddenly proud as he bodily dragged Ryo over to the bow to show him. “Isn’t she beautiful?”
Ryo stared. “It’s…a pea pod.”
“Yes! Exactly! Welcome aboard the Sayaendou!” Yamapi declared grandly, sweeping his arms out dramatically and knocking a precariously balanced bucket off of the railings to clatter loudly on the docks below.
There was an pause as Yamapi beamed expectantly at Ryo. Ryo stared impassively back, clearly unimpressed.
“Aren’t you going to ask why we’re called the Sayaendou?” Yamapi asked, after Ryo had gotten fed up of Yamapi’s hopeful look and stalked off across the deck. Yamapi had looked mildly offended before hurrying after him, ducking quickly in front of the other man and blocking his route to the cabins.
“Not really,” Ryo replied, warily eyeing the numerous sequins attached to Yamapi’s coat as they glittered obnoxiously in the midday sun, “That would require caring.”
Ryo shook his head and side-stepped around Yamapi and into the cabins below deck.
-
It wasn’t until three days out to sea that Ryo realised that something was very wrong.
“YAMASHITA!”
Yamapi looked up from his card game with Tegoshi with a wince as Ryo’s yell swept across the deck. Tegoshi suppressed a laugh and propped his elbows up on the barrel he and Yamapi had been playing cards on, just as Ryo spotted the captain and stormed over.
“You bellowed?” Yamapi inquired innocently.
“You lied to me, you bastard! We should be able to see land by now if we were en route to Cresta!” Ryo snarled, gesturing at the extremely land-free horizon.
“Ah, yes, you’re right,” Yamapi nodded, adjusting his hat as it slipped slightly with the motion, “That’s because we’re not en route to Cresta.”
Ryo narrowed his eyes as Yamapi continued to give him a beguiling smile. “That is exactly my point!” Ryo continued to rage, “You promised to take me to Cresta!”
“Again, correct,” Yamapi conceded, “However, you failed to specify a time-frame for this journey.”
“What.” Ryo stated flatly, suddenly not liking the direction in which this conversation was heading.
“We will go to Cresta,” Yamapi said, shooting Ryo a reassuring smile, “Eventually. When I feel like it.”
Tegoshi sighed and collected up the cards off the barrel, as Ryo let out a nearly incoherent roar of rage. Maybe Massu wasn’t busy and could play cards with him instead - Yamapi never let him cheat anyway.
-
It had been near to three weeks since Yamapi had all but informed Ryo that he was being kidnapped, and Ryo had finally decided to bring up the subject of the crew’s less than lawful occupation. Seeing as it didn’t look like Ryo was going anywhere soon.
“So. Pirates, huh?” Ryo stated, surprising Yamapi in his cabin, as the captain looked over some old, yellowing maps spread out on his desk.
“Don’t give me that, Nishikido,” Yamapi turned to glance briefly over his shoulder, “The whole crew knows that you used to sail on the Puzzle as one of Kanjani.”
Ryo paused, slightly thrown - he had expected a protest, not what was as good as an admission.
“I wasn’t one of them.” Ryo shrugged, “They gave me quarter when I managed to piss off a rather angry group of pirates in Eras.”
Yamapi snorted, “Well, I can believe that. You do seem to have quite the talent for that.”
“Has Kato been complaining again?” Ryo sighed, the ship’s tactician was just too easy to pick on.
“Once or twice.” Yamapi admitted.
“Tch. Crybaby,” snorted Ryo, “But I want to know how you knew I was with Kanjani. I know I stayed with them for a while, but-”
“I had an encounter with Kanjani a while ago - it wasn’t serious, but neither of our ships had had a good fight in quite some time,” Yamapi turned around, leaning against his desk, “It was just off the coast of Eras, probably wasn’t long after they’d picked you up.”
“That doesn’t answer my question,” Ryo cut in, “In fact, that makes it even more suspicious about how you knew about me. I hadn‘t been there for long, and I wasn‘t involved in the fight!”
“Ah, true. But I never forget a pretty face.” Yamapi winked, before slipping out of the room before Ryo could come up with a reply.
-
“Ship ahoy!”
Yamapi’s head whipped around to scan the horizon at the call. “Who is it, Tegoshi?”
“It’s the Queen of Pirates!” came Tegoshi’s response from the crow’s nest. “I can tell by the leopard-print sails!”
“Oh,” Yamapi sighed, sounding disappointed, “It’s only KAT-TUN.”
“You almost sound like you were looking for a fight.” Ryo smirked, leaning against the main mast.
“I am!” Yamapi threw his hands in the air, “And I can’t attack the Queen. Last time I did, Jin refused to speak to me for a month after he had to put up with Kame sulking all over the ship muttering about the cost of replacing all the sequins.”
It didn’t take very long before the two ships were close enough to initiate contact.
“Oi, Kamenashi!” Yamapi hollered across as they drew level with the Queen, “Where’s your captain?”
Kame shot a dark look across at Yamapi and scowled fiercely. “You’re looking at him,” he muttered shortly, tone cold.
“Eh? Oh my god, you finally snapped and threw Jin overboard, didn’t you? You monster!” Yamapi gasped in horror, casting Kame an accusing look.
“No, I didn’t, but I’d bloody well like to! You want to go find Akanishi, you’d better go looking for the Yellow Gold instead,” Kame fumed, “And if you find him, tell him from me, that if I ever see him anywhere near the Queen again, I’ll keelhaul him!”
Yamapi looked across at the now red-faced and furious Kame, and hummed thoughtfully. “Then…Jin’s gone?”
“Yes, that would be the case,” Kame hissed back, through gritted teeth, his hands clenching into fists by his side.
“Huh. Then tell me, Captain Kamenashi…” Yamapi eyes narrowed, the corner of his mouth quirking up slightly, “What’s now stopping me from boarding your ship and taking your entire cargo?”
Kame immediately tensed, but his eyes lit up, fierce and determined. “Me.”
-
“Why the fuck am I having to fight?” Ryo muttered as the Sayaendou’s resident doctor, Koyama, insistently pressed a cutlass into Ryo’s hands.
“Captain figures that if you get out some of that, uh…pent-up agression, then maybe you’ll stop antagonizing Shige.” Koyama shrugged - to be honest, they needed all the help they could get, too.
“Hmph. I’ll show him ‘pent-up agression’,” Ryo snarled, stomping over to grab a line over to KAT-TUN’s ship.
“I’m sure you will,” Koyama sighed, following after Ryo reluctantly, “I just hope you do it quietly. And in private.”
-
The sharp clang of swords rang out across the sea, steadily rising in volume as the battle increased in fervour with each swing.
“I should have known that Akanishi was the only thing keeping you from attacking the Queen!” Kame gasped, as he successfully parried Yamapi’s lunge.
Whatever Yamapi was about to respond with was lost as the sound of cannons filled the air and everyone on the deck of the Queen of Pirates staggered as the ship gave a great tilt. The military ship firing bore the flag of the high noble family that ruled the nearby town.
“Shit!” Yamapi swore, as the boat rocked violently, “We were too close to port?!”
“No, they’ve been coming further and further out recently.” Shige called out irritably, “You didn’t exactly give me much time to say anything about it!”
“Damn it! Get back!” Yamapi ordered, the crew of the >Sayaendou moving to retreat on their captain’s orders.
The sound of cannons increased, and there was a loud splintering sound followed by the Queen giving a huge lurch. Ryo stumbled, his foot catching on a loose plank, dimly he heard Yamapi’s voice, yelling his name, but it seemed so far away.
The last thing Ryo remembered was the bright blue sky and the white-hot pain that exploded across the back of his skull.
…
The pain was still there when he woke up. The room spun severely as Ryo opened his eyes, and he shut them again with a groan.
“About time,” came a voice from somewhere beside him - Ryo wasn’t exactly sure, it sort of hurt to exist right now, he wasn’t going to make the situation worse by moving his head to check.
“Why are you screaming at me,” Ryo slurred, opening his eyes a tiny fraction, to see someone’s face blurrily swim into view, “Oh, fuck. I wish I was dead.”
Ueda gave Ryo a sneer in response, “Amazing, something we finally agree on. Well, seeing as you’re not dead, I can finally get back to more important things than looking after your sorry ass.”
“Good fucking riddance!” Ryo yelled, as the door swung shut after Ueda, immediately regretting it as his head burst into a fresh wave of pain.
-
“God damn it all!” Yamapi slammed a fist against the main mast, once the Sayaendou had pulled into a remote marina, largely unknown to all lawful seafaring vessels, “Shige, where’s the most likely place that Kamenashi would take the Queen?”
“Well, I’d say the most likely place would be the cove off the coast of Lyna…” Shige’s frown furrowed as he spoke, “Captain, you’re not thinking about going after them, surely?”
“Of course we are!” Yamapi shot Shige an incredulous look, “I’m not going to leave someone behind! And certainly not with Kamenashi!”
“Personally, I’m more inclined to feel sorry for Kamenashi right now.” muttered Shige, “The cove is only my opinion, Captain. If I’m wrong, then we’ll have no chance of catching up to them.”
“That’s right, the Queen of Pirates is a far faster ship than ours,” Koyama agreed, “It would easily be able to out manoeuvre us.”
“But we have to try!” Tegoshi insisted, looking distressed, “We can’t just abandon Ryo!”
“You’re only saying that because he puts up with your selfishness.” Shige rolled his eyes.
“It’s still our best shot, right?” Massu interrupted, before Tegoshi could properly react to Shige’s jab.
“Right.” Yamapi nodded, “To Lyna’s Cove it is then. Let’s just hope the Queen happens to be there. …Along with his ship.”
-
To avoid the possibility of the Queen taking off at the first sight of the Sayaendou, Yamapi had ordered the ship to drift just out of sight behind the rocky outcrop.
His plan was to carefully navigate his way around the outcrop, and climb over to the cove, sneak onto the ship and rescue Ryo, all without anyone seeing him.
…In hindsight, he probably shouldn’t have been wearing his hat in that case.
Fortunately, the Queen of Pirates did happen to be docked at Lyna’s Cove.
Along with the Yellow Gold.
Yamapi paused, unsteadily balanced between two large rocks, before he started laughing so hard that he completely toppled off of the rocks and into the water.
Yamapi coughed as he surfaced, quickly grabbing his hat, before it drifted off and the seagulls mistook it for a potential mate. Okay, so this wasn’t really a part of his plan, and it completely blew his idea of a dramatic and dashing rescue to pieces. Ryo probably wouldn’t swoon if Yamapi was dripping all over him at the time.
Well, to be honest, Ryo probably wouldn’t swoon anyway. He was more likely to kick Yamapi in the shins and demand to know why he took so bloody long.
Yamapi managed to swim across to the makeshift dock established in the cove, and lurked underneath the pier that the Queen was docked at. And…oh yes, he could hear the argument from here - there really was no mistaking Kamenashi’s furious screeching. It had certainly been directed at Yamapi enough times for him to know.
Satisfied that the crew of both ships would be distracted sufficiently and nobody was left on anchor watch, Yamapi swam across to the Queen, finding the anchor chain and slowly managing to drag himself up it. Once he reached the bulwark, Yamapi hauled himself onto deck, landing in a waterlogged pile of sequins, and a far cry from the debonair hero he had hoped to be.
Yamapi crept along the deck, as stealthily as possible - which was quite difficult, considering he made a rather unpleasant squelching noise with each step - and eventually reached the cabins, which were mercifully unlocked. Clearly the crew had been more concerned with trying to restrain a murderous captain than securing the doors.
“Ryo!” Yamapi cried, bodily crashing through the cabin door and managing to fall in a soggy pile at Ryo’s feet.
“Jesus christ!” Ryo shouted, jerking backwards as far as his restraints would allow, “What the fuck are you doing?!”
“…Rescuing you.” Yamapi mumbled, standing up and pushing his wet hair back with his hand. Ryo made a strange strangled sort of noise and Yamapi peered closely at his face, “Are you alright? You look sort of…red.”
“Of course I’m not alright!” Ryo snapped, turning his face away, “Untie me, for god’s sake.”
“Tch. You could be a little more grateful to your saviour, you know.” Yamapi chided, reaching around Ryo to get at the ropes.
“Saviour?! I…I didn’t need rescuing, you idiot. I could have gotten away any time I wanted!”
“…I see. So you just enjoy being tied up?” Yamapi leaned back to raise an eyebrow at Ryo, who stubbornly looked away again, “Interesting. I’ll keep that in mind…”
“Shut up. And what the hell’s taking so long?!” Ryo growled, shifting uncomfortably.
“Aw, Ryo. And here I thought you enjoyed being close to me!” Yamapi yanked on the rope around Ryo’s wrists, after loosening the knots, and they fell away, “You don’t?”
“You’re dripping wet. I’m getting soaked here,” Ryo groused, rubbing his sore wrists in relief, “Whatever, let’s go.”
“Ah, wait. Not so fast!” Yamapi grabbed Ryo’s arm and stopped him, “Heroes usually deserve a kiss in return for saving the damsel in distress.”
There was a long pause as Ryo stared in disbelief at Yamapi, clearly unable to believe what Yamapi had just said.
“Did…did you just call me a d- Mmph!”
Yamapi, having realised that perhaps he may have said the wrong thing, decided to fix things - by ensuring that Ryo’s mouth was far too busy with his own to be yelling at him.
…Seemed to be working pretty well.
-
“Well then, I guess you’ll be wanting us to set sail for Cresta now?” Yamapi asked, hands gripping the wheel tightly.
Their return to the Sayaendou had been less than graceful - Kame had seemingly had enough of screaming at his former captain and had returned to the ship, just as Ryo and Yamapi were about to climb down the anchor chain. It had quickly turned into an impromptu swan dive, although a great deal less graceful, and Yamapi had lost his hat. He still missed it.
But they had made it back in one piece, and Koyama patched up Ryo’s injury properly. Yamapi had been waiting until Ryo was fully healed, but he couldn’t put off the inevitable forever.
“I see you’re still stupid,” Ryo rolled his eyes, reaching out to smack Yamapi on the back of the head, “See, this is exactly the reason that I’m going to have to stay here. Someone has to stick around and make sure you don’t accidentally throw yourself overboard.”
Yamapi sighed dramatically, hiding his grin, “Guess I’ll have to affix padding on all the cannons then.”