Queen of Pirates - Chapter 9
Title:Queen of Pirates Author:razzie89 Beta:hamano_chiaki Pairing(s):Akame, Kameda, Ryoda, many more Rating:PG-13
Summary
Descending from a rich family, Kame was the only survivor of a ship raid several years ago. A group of pirates found him and decided to take him in, treating him as one of their own from then on. One day, Kame is kidnapped from the ship for no apparent reason. His friends are determined to bring him back, but that task proves to be harder than they had thought.
Author’s Notes
Here is the last chapter of Queen of Pirates. Once again, thank you to everyone who read this fic! ♥
Chapter 9
Kame closed his eyes, lifting up his face to meet with the cool ocean breeze. He hadn’t forgotten how much he loved this feeling of bliss and freedom - being carried forth by a ship into an endless supply of water. The worries he had felt over the last few days hadn’t entirely left his system yet - his body was fairly tense, and he could do with some sleep. But as he saw the Island of the Sun’s Tears disappearing into the horizon, it felt as if some of the stress in his body was left behind there too.
“How do you feel?”, Jin informed as he walked up to the ship’s railing, leaning against it much like Kame was doing.
The boy smiled to himself. He’d always gotten along well with all of the pirates he lived with, but it was hard not to notice how Jin had come to care for him more than before. He even spoke more often - something that’s hardly in his personality to do.
“I’m alright. Because everything’s going to be like before”, he explained.
Jin nodded. “We still need to make a stop at the Firefly before we can head back to our own ship, but I see no problems there. They’ll have what they wanted.” He sniffed at the last sentence.
“I know”, Kame replied softly, feeling a bit less excited than before. Although he never cared too much for gold or money, he had still felt a pang of defeat seeing Sho carrying their chest of gold into his ship’s interior. They’d worked hard to find it, together, but they weren’t allowed to keep even a single item.
Well, it didn’t matter. Better things had come out of their quest - and not only the fact that he got to return to the people he felt he belonged with. A feeling of warmth shot through his chest as he remembered how relieved their friends on the island had been at the return of their long-lost companions, Uchi and Kusano. Having been held captive after failing the quest Kimura Takuya had given them, they were released now that the treasure chest had found a rightful owner. So even if that owner wouldn’t be them, a good deed had been done, Kame decided.
“Kame”, Jin broke him out of his thoughts. The boy looked up, surprised at how he could have missed Jin approaching him like this.
“What?”, he asked, confused.
“When you were looking through the chest…”, Jin started. He turned away slightly, letting his eyes roam over the horizon as if to avoid Kame’s gaze. “Was there anything - did anything catch your attention?”
Kame frowned, unable to see where this was going.
“Was there anything you liked?”
Although he had understood the question, Kame didn’t quite get it. Jin didn’t usually spend time on trivial questions like this, things that no longer mattered - if they ever had.
“I… I thought you might like the scepter, so you could sell it -“
“Kame”, he said again, more urgently than before - which only confused Kame even more. “I’m not asking about myself, or about how much money I could make.”
Kame shook his head. “It doesn’t matter, Jin. The chest belongs to Arashi now. Unless you plan to steal it back or something.”
“Oh, that’s an option, of course. I’ll talk to Junno and Ueda later, see if they’re up for it.” An unexpected, but nonetheless very Jin-like grin appeared on his face - but it was gone only seconds after. “But that’s not why I’m asking this. So can you answer my question?”
Lifting his head up at the clouds in thoughts, Kame took a deep breath. “Well, I liked the ring. It was pretty.”
Against Kame’s expectations, Jin did not complain about his choice. He simply nodded, muttering something in agreement before walking off. Kame thought he saw a glimpse of the grin return to Jin’s face as he passed by, but it was too faint to be certain.
* * *
They were almost there. Just a few miles left, and they would be back at the Queen of Pirates.
It sounded unreal. Kame could barely hold his excitement about seeing everyone again - and being allowed to stay, this time. Their meeting with Arashi had gone smoothly, and he was allowed to return as soon as they had handed over the chest. Somehow his disappointment at having to hand it over hadn’t been as bad as he had expected - the joy of being able to return home overshadowed it. Surprisingly, even Jin didn’t seem to mind very much.
He frantically searched through his compartment in Sho’s ship to make sure he didn’t forget any of his stuff. Although he hadn’t expected to find anything left behind, a piece of white fabric sticking out of his night stand drew his attention. Did he overlook a handkerchief? He couldn’t even remember bringing any.
He neared the small cupboard and pulled it open, grabbing the piece of cloth to throw it in his luggage when he felt something hard inside. He sat down on the bed, peeling it open to reveal a tiny golden ring. It glimmered perfectly in the soft light of his night stand lamp, as if it had been polished - something that didn’t quite match with how carelessly it must have been put in the drawer.
On top of the ring sat a colorful diamond which drew the boy’s attention. The color kept changing as he held the ring in different angles towards the lamp, making him unsure about which color it really was.
This ring, it looked like - but it couldn’t be, could it? They had left the entire chest with Arashi, including the tiny ring he had examined during the quest. The ring that looked like a lover’s item to him, like something Jin wouldn’t be very happy with.
Jin.
Suddenly the unusual conversation they had had the day before popped back into his mind. The question Jin had asked him, and the odd grin as he walked off without an answer once he had replied to it.
But surely Jin wouldn’t have…
Kame turned the ring over and over in his hands and found himself smiling. It was absolutely beautiful. Before his mind caught up with his actions, he’d already slipped it over his finger - holding up his hand to analyse the sight.
“It fits you”, an unexpected voice broke the silence. Kame looked up in surprise to find Jin standing in the doorway, his hands in his pockets but a small grin once again in place. But it wasn’t a normal grin. His eyes looked warm.
The younger boy let out a nervous giggle, that ended up sounding like not much of a giggle at all. “Did you steal this?”
Jin looked up at the door frame, pondering those words. “I wouldn’t call it stealing.” He pushed the door further open and entered the room while continuing to speak. “I’m sorry you had to go through this, Kame. I wouldn’t have let it happen, but I had no choice.”
Kame didn’t know how long it would take before he would get used to how open Jin had become. But he could hardly complain about it.
“It’s a present for you. To make up for the past few days.”
“It’s beautiful. Thank you”, Kame said - too busy thinking and watching his ring to put the proper emotion in his voice.
Jin nodded, scratching his nose and looking around as if to find an excuse for the sudden silence. The sound of a familiar ship horn eventually saved them both.
“That’s -“, Kame started.
“The Queen of Pirates. They’re waiting for us, let’s go”, Jin continued, walking out of the compartment with relief.
It took Kame a few seconds longer to appear on the deck. Just a few seconds, to rub the ring on his finger and to giggle to himself. Because even when it was no longer needed, their image of lovers was being kept up properly.