A Different Kind of Treasure (part 5)
A/N: Eep I got distracted~ Luckily my brains clicked on how to write this one :3 ♥
Band: Arashi
Rating: G (for now :3)
Synopsis: For a competition on saigo_no_lady Junba fic with prompt - 'a super exciting pirate/etc. AU where they fall in love and there are battles and they are both very dashing and maybe the rest of Arashi shows up'
Part 5: Rescuing a mermaid
“What do you mean, Satoshi?” Aiba stood in front of him when he looked away, unable to keep the worry out of his voice. “What kind of trouble?”
“I think it might be better if we find a way off of this ship first then talk about it.” Ohno looked around suspiciously. “There are too many ears here and as they gave us no warnings about what could happen on this voyage I don’t see why we should stay too loyal to them.” A smirk quirked across his face for a second before he turned serious again.
“Yeah, just say that a bit louder so the ears can hear.” Nino rolled his eyes though a more mischievous grin than Ohno’s spread across his face. “So how are we doing this?”
“Nino.” Sho hissed, giving a soft swipe across the head. “You act like Satoshi had any other way of doing this. He’d have to tell us somehow, right?”
“Yeah but let’s go quickly. It’s still dark out; if we’re careful we can sneak off into one of the row boats and go from there. The other ship will probably have anchored for the night as well; they won’t expect anyone to come after them.”
“And no one is, we’re not after whatever they took. We’re after Jun.” Aiba tried to nudge them out of the room. “Come on, let’s get going.”
“Easy, if we go all at the same time and make a racket we’ll give ourselves away.” Sho grabbed him, one hand on his collar, the other over his mouth. “You’re going to have to be quiet if this is going to work, Masaki.” He waited until Aiba gave a quick and understanding nod before taking his hand away. “Right, you pack up quick ok? Me and Nino will go up to the top deck and scan around.” He glanced at Nino to assess his reaction. “If there’s anyone up there we’ll be a distraction, I’m sure we can pull that off, right?”
“I’ll bring my magic cards then.” Nino scurried over to his bed, pulling out the small bag from underneath. “So, no weapons for now?”
“Yeah, you two can bring them up later, right?”
Ohno nodded, smiling away. “Knew you were better at this kind of thing than me, Sho.”
“Yeah, well I’ve got to be good at something.” Sho grinned before grimacing at his clothes. “On second thought, can I change first?”
~~~~
It had taken a little bit of effort, and Sho clamping his hand on either Nino or Aiba’s mouths to stop them from speaking too much, but finally they had managed to sneak off the ship into one of the rowboats without anyone noticing. Or if they did they didn’t care enough to raise an alarm. They kept a steady pace in the water, waiting until they were far enough from the ship to light a lamp safely and plot out their course after the other pirate ship.
Aiba sat in his spot at the front, Ohno in the middle rowing for now with Sho and Nino at the back keeping a look out on the ship they’d left behind. He bit his tongue, the darkness making him unusually quiet, waiting for the moment they decided to light the lamp so that he could ask questions. His head was still brimming with the suspicious yet friendly boy he’d left long ago and how he could change into the pirate that had set of a change of events like dominos. Not that in his mind there was much of a change now that he’d remembered him, after all he’d still refused to hurt him once he’d realised who Aiba was. His appearance might have changed significantly but his heart was still in the right place. Just what had happened after they’d separated? And why had they separated in the first place? A flash of light had his relapse into memories cut short as he turned to watch Ohno and Sho plot their way through the waves using a map and a compass, Sho looking up at the stars every so often to pinpoint their exact location. He waited until they’d decided which way to head after the ship, having debated whether it would be going back to port and which one it would probably head for. He gave a slight cough, clearing his throat before beginning. “So, Satoshi…”
“Alright, I guess you’ve waited long enough.” Ohno interrupted him with a sigh, giving a stretch before he continued paddling the boat, a soft smile spreading across his lips at the way Nino was clinging to the side of the boat and Sho because it ‘was making him feel seasick’. “Some people on board our ship apparently recognised him.”
“Really? Where from?” Aiba’s stomach tensed, whatever Ohno had found out couldn’t be good.
“He’s gaining notoriety on his own by the sounds of it, the latest ship he’s on has obviously not heard of him yet but then again neither have we so maybe he’s good at hiding himself or not as notorious as the man I was talking too tried to make him sound. Anyway, if this Jun is the person that the other crew were on about, he has a habit of finding out what he can about a ship and its crew before leaving them in the lurch and taking what he can carry off the ship without much hassle.”
“Wow, you’re in love with a pirate that has a habit of stealing from other pirates?” Nino sniggered to himself. “Maybe you shouldn’t have become a pirate to follow him; he’ll steal from you and break your heart.”
“S-shut up, Nino.” Aiba frowned, thinking it through. “Why would he do that, though?”
“I don’t know but, sorry, it doesn’t exactly make him trustworthy does it?” Sho couldn’t look at Aiba, scratching his head as he looked out to sea. “I’m just wondering what we’re going to do when we find him that’s all.”
“True, I told you before Masaki that I only take on people I can trust.” Ohno hummed quietly.
“You said you’d give him a chance though.” Aiba bit out, unable to stand them not trusting him before a thought slipped through. “Wait, I had a sense of dejavu when you told me that before but I couldn’t understand why…” It finally clicked, making him stand up quickly. “That’s it!”
“M-Masaki, please don’t rock the boat like that.” Sho muttered, clinging on for dear life before checking on Nino who was going a pale green colour in the lamp light and grumbling about his idiotic friend.
“Oops, sorry.” He settled down quickly, beaming now that he understood. “I think I was reminded of Jun. He wanted to be a pirate when we met but ‘not just any old pirate’. He went on about old stories where they were trustworthy and helped people.”
“You mean he was naïve basically?” Nino shrugged at Aiba’s hurt look. “What? Pirates aren’t good people, we’re thieves and in some cases murderers and your friend isn’t any different.”
“Maybe but if you have a trustworthy crew there’s surely going to be some morality involved, isn’t there?” Sho mused, rubbing his chin. “After all if the crew is trustworthy and loyal and the captain is a good man, surely they’d be much more likely to steal from corrupt crews than an unknown merchant ship or passenger boat?”
Nino shrugged. “Thieves are thieves whoever they steal from.” He waited for a second as they went through a rough wave before continuing. “And anyway, does this mean we’re thinking he’s stealing from other pirates because he’s finding out that they’d all stab each other in the back for a piece of gold?”
“Yeah, maybe. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what he has to say for himself, won’t we?”
~~~~
It took what felt like forever to find the ship, the 4 of them swapping around every so often to take turns rowing though Nino took over a lot less often than the other 3. They dimmed the lamp as soon as they noticed it, not even sure if it was the ship they were looking for at first but either way they had to approach cautiously. It took all of Aiba’s strength not to shout out when the words Siren’s Song glittered in the moonlight at them. He gave the others a beaming look not even taking in their endearing half smiles at the fact that they were about to enter an enemy pirate ship; one that had attacked them earlier that day.
Nino pushed Aiba out of the way, knowing that it was his turn to do something productive. Using his talents he scrambled up the ship, scouting out the way ahead for them before lowering a rope for them to climb up once he’d established the coast was clear.
“He’s good at that.”
“What did you expect?” Sho had an almost proud look on his face as he started to climb the ladder, looking down at Ohno as he pondered. “What is it?”
“Well, my ship is definitely going to need a navigator…” He looked at Sho pointedly before returning his gaze to a now confused Nino. “And a scout, don’t you think?”
Sho grinned, continuing up the ladder. “We’ll think about it.”
“What about me?” Aiba nudged Ohno to climb, tying the end of the rope to their boat so it didn’t drift off without them.
“Hmm. Sorry, Masaki, haven’t figured that out yet.” Ohno couldn’t help laughing at Aiba’s pout. “Well if all goes well tonight then maybe you’ll be in charge of finding me more trustworthy people to join up, that or our morale booster.”
“Wouldn’t that be Nino? He’s the one that knows all the sea songs.”
Before Ohno could answer a cough from above them caught their attention.
“Are we rescuing your pirate girl tonight or what?”
~~~~
The four of them snuck through the ship, Ohno leading the way because he had a fairly good idea whereabouts Jun would be.
“How do you know again?”
“Because-” A sigh punctuated Ohno’s words as he repeated himself. “He rises through the ranks to find out what the captain is like and once he decides he can’t trust him he steals what he can. So I’d say he would have his own private room, wouldn’t you?” He slipped through the corridor, opening the doors enough to gauge the person inside before closing it again softly. He came to one door and paused, looking at Aiba. “What do you think?”
Aiba frowned before taking his place at the door and looking through. It took a second for his eyes to adjust to the lighting but he could see just enough in the pale moonlight. He could see the faint outline of a person in the bed but their back was to them, he was fairly confident that they were in the right room though, especially when Nino piped up.
“You sure he’s not a girl? Because those hips…”
Aiba nudged him before walking into the room trying to be as quiet as possible just in case but the closer he got, the more he knew it was the person he was looking for. “Jun?” He whispered as he approached, shaking his shoulder gently as he did so. A soft groan made his heart thump slightly but he gave him another shake, glancing back at the others so they knew they were in the right room. “Jun?”
“Masa?” Jun blinked awake, turning to him as if he was in a dream. “What are you doing here?”
“We came to rescue you, of course.” Aiba’s breath hitched as Jun’s sleepy gaze turned to him, his eyes and hand instantly drawn to Jun’s cheek where the light was just strong enough for him to see the bruising there. “Looks like we were a bit late though.”
Jun sat up, the pain registering that it wasn’t as much of a dream as he’d first thought. He put his hand over Aiba’s, wincing as his other hand went to what he could now see of his chest. “You weren’t too late, my fault for looking after you it seems.” He chuckled. “But I’d do the same again…does this mean you remember me?”
“Yeah, I can’t believe I ever forgot you.” Aiba wanted to hug him there and then but now really wasn’t the time so he pulled him up instead. “But then again you have grown a lot since we last saw each other.” Another painful sounding chuckle came from his old friend so he carried on pulling him out of the room and towards the others as if getting him away from the people that had done this would ease the pain. The others didn’t say a word, getting ready for a quick escape before anyone noticed. The plan went smoother than Aiba had expected but then again who would have thought they’d go on an enemy ship to ‘rescue’ one of the crew members?
There was silence until they were far enough away to light the lamp again and Jun was starting to feel like the others weren’t as accepting of him. He was quite dazed really, not entirely sure what had just happened. “Thanks for coming to get me?” He decided that was the best way to say what he wanted, thanking them but also asking why they’d gone to the trouble of it for someone they barely knew. He rubbed his chest unthinkingly, wincing as his senses came into clarity, making him realise just what they’d helped him get away from.
“Don’t mention it. Masaki vouched for you.” Sho smiled warmly at him as if that made sense. He laughed when Jun still looked disbelieving. “You saved Masaki’s life; we thought we should return the favour?”
“I’m surprised they hit the face though.”
“And you knew I’d be in trouble because…?” Jun’s eyes flicked to Nino’s face in confusion at his words before ignoring him.
“Well you were hardly going to get away with killing one of your own crew members now were you?” Ohno laughed under his breath, looking at the map again. “Though don’t think this gets you a free ticket. You want to be a part of our crew you’ll have to earn more than Masaki’s trust.”
“Our crew?” Nino laughed at this. “Does this mean we’ve been recruited to your ship?”
“Where else, land pirate?”
“Oi, you can’t call me that anymore.” Nino rolled his eyes before turning to Jun, a smirk on his face. “Does that mean we get to keep him as a cabin boy to begin with?”
“Excuse me?” Jun’s eyebrow rose as if he couldn’t decide whether Nino was playing with him or serious and whether he should try and push his luck when he was beaten up and in a row boat with only one person he thought of as a friend.
“Don’t worry, he’s just teasing.” Sho rolled his eyes before looking to Ohno. “So, where to?”
“Back home, of course. Nothing on that ship to go back to.” Ohno shrugged before the pair of them started debating how to get back.
“I’m teasing, am I?” Nino huffed, fake annoyance showing through. “But don’t quite a lot of stowaways become cabin boys? Then again as you are Masaki’s pirate girl, maybe you should just be his cabin boy.”
“Nino!” Aiba hissed, going bright red before turning to Jun. “Sorry, Nino likes messing with people.”
“Yeah he seems like a troublesome brat.” Jun smirked back at him as if showing he would play just as much back. His eyes flicked to Sho before back to Nino, watching his smirk dim slightly. “Are you his cabin boy then?”
Aiba gaped at him. “How could you see it that easily?”
“Because he’s glued to his hip?” Jun laughed, feeling more at ease than he had in years, sitting next to his old best friend as if nothing had changed. As if they’d still just been playing pirates all these years. He turned back to Aiba though as a thought crossed his mind. “What does he mean by pirate girl though?”
“Uhh, because you’re the reason I decided to become a pirate and Nino got the wrong end of the stick?” Aiba babbled, a light blush coming back to his cheeks, gripping Jun’s hand as Nino laughed at him.
“Anyway, whatever, I’m sure I’ll have more time to tease once we get back to port.” Nino shrugged, looking at the other two, noting that Sho had tried to ignore Jun’s words but a flush was spreading down his neck as he guided Ohno in the right direction. “So, Satoshi, there’s nothing you need to go back to the ship for? Did you get your payment?”
“Nope, but that doesn’t really matter.”
“Well, it looks like you got a boat out of it then.” Jun felt the need to point out, happy when he was rewarded with a small smile in return.
“Well, I guess I have. It’ll be good to fish from, don’t you think?”
A/N: Hope that was OK...feel like I've missed something out or I don't know...maybe it went too smoothly? ^^;
Oh! And I almost forgot to put just in case ^^; the 'troublesome' comment was kind of meant to be an M no Arashi type response *been watching way too much G/D no arashi lately* and reading up on pirate ship jobs (?) cabin boys apparently were runaways or kidnapped by the pirates so I thought Jun being a stowaway as a child kind of fitted that image (or Nino thought so anyway *grins*)