[Talk Like a Pirate Day] Chapter 6: "Athwartships"
STORY TITLE: "Talk Like a Pirate Day"
CHAPTER: 6 - "Athwartships"
SERIES: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, xxxHoLic, X/1999, Tokyo Babylon
DISCLAIMER: Everything in the CLAMP Megaverse was originally created by CLAMP. They are entirely to blame for creating a system of crossovers that do not easily disclaim. Characters have been adapted without authorization or approval, and I am making no profit from their use.
PAIRINGS: Kurogane x Fai D. Fluorite (main). References made to: Doumeki Shizuka x Watanuki Kimihiro, Aoki Seiichirou x Kasumi Karen, Li Syaoran x Princess Sakura, Sakurazuka Seishirou x Sumeragi Subaru, Clow Reed x Ichihara Yuuko, Ashura-Ou x Fai D. Fluorite (this list may not be exhaustive for future chapters)
RATING: PG.
WARNINGS: 1) Pirates. 2) Ninjas. 3) Transitional chapter.
SEQUEL TO: Rum & Popcorn
SUMMARY: Long ago, in a universe slightly askew to this one, circumstances beyond anyone's control led to a fierce and bitter rivalry between Pirates and Ninjas, but Kurogane doesn't care about that. His only concern is to retrieve Princess Sakura and Syaoran from the Pirate King's ship...
Fai isn't making things easy.
Previously...
1: Ahoy, Matey!
2: Drivelswigger
3: Jolly Roger
4: Shot Across the Bow
5: Batten Down the Hatches
Athwartships (adv) a way to cross the ship deck, perpendicular to the midline of the boat; moving starboard to port, or vice versa
If he never got a prescient insight again, it would be too damn soon.
Princess Tomoyo had never complained about being able to see the future, but she'd told him once that the gift wouldn't suit him -- and now he understood why. The instant's glimpse that had flashed in his mind after his tangle with the blond -- scattered moments without context or reason -- was nothing but a confusion and a distraction. He worked his way silently down the hatchways, wearing shadows as a cloak and shield and still unable to get away from him. Every time the timbers creaked, he heard a sigh he knew better than he should have. The wind whipped through the rigging, and he was sure the whistle sounded like Fai's -- though he'd damn well never heard that.
Keeping his mind on his job actually took some effort when the entire ship sounded like a lover he didn't properly have yet and couldn't fathom being worth the trouble. What had his future self been thinking? From their brief acquaintance, he could already tell that Fai was ten lifetimes worth of havoc waiting to happen, minus the patience to wait. Even if the pirate was...
Well, perhaps there were persuasive reasons why he might want to hold on to a man like that. He'd be worth another roll in the sheets if the right circumstances arose, but Kurogane certainly didn't understand his future self going sweet on him. There were a few things you could call a man who'd clearly decided not to inform his council about a dangerous enemy (namely himself) until after he'd had his fun, and 'trustworthy' didn't top his list. But visions were visions. Maybe he didn't know what he'd seen. The bare fact was, between the roll of the 'Dragon of Heaven' sending unbidden shivers up his spine and the fact that he'd had to take to the decks in stocking feet in order to keep his steps silent, he was gaining some respect for Watanuki's position on pirates.
Those boots were moronic, and the fact that the blond was one hell of a lay and would continue to be so only made his outrageous disposition that much more insufferable -- not that he'd seen enough to get a clear picture of how it would go. He just knew.
But that was a problem for Future Kurogane. At present, his task was to get to the brig unnoticed and free the prisoners with as little ado as possible.
He had to assume the Pirate King had escaped his bonds already. Kurogane hadn't heard the least trace of a sound from the actual him, as opposed to the imagined fragments of memory -- no struggle, no doors, no walking. Any ninja worth calling a ninja could hear a raindrop run down a leaf from ten miles away if he tried, and from Fai he heard nothing. Maybe he had some pirate skill to silence his motions that Kurogane had never heard of before; he was the Pirate King. Yuuko could do loads of things that seemed like magic.
It was slower going than normal, even without the boots, as all the deck hands tended to be silent or at most hushed in prayer. Nothing to camouflage his footsteps or the rustle of his pirate costume. Once the curious music had stopped echoing out of the beams, the terrified quiet had grown thicker than a desert. He'd heard one pirate ask another if it meant the 'Dragon of Earth' wasn't coming after all, but his fellows hadn't seen fit to speculate. At least it made his task of finding the brig that much simpler. Syaoran and the Princess Sakura kept to whispers, but whispers were clear as bladesong to him. He had only to melt into the darkness of the copious numbers of shadows within the ship, and their voices could lead him slowly through the maze of ladders and decks.
"Syaoran..." the girl murmured softly. He wasn't far away now. They were just one deck below.
"Don't worry, Princess," his protege assured her. His voice was perfectly calm, just as he'd been trained to sound, but Kurogane could hear him tightening his grip on her shoulders in that awful quiet. He must have been nervous, if he were taking liberties like that. "Before you know it, we'll be home."
At the end of one shadow, a steep staircase turned with its landing bathed in lantern light. Kurogane checked back to look for pirate crew where he'd been, then leaned to check down the second stair. One deckhand there, polishing a store of muskets and checking their condition one at a time. As long as he was standing in the shadow, he could vanish from the world completely -- thin and clear as the absence of light against the wall -- but the man would see the movement if he stepped across a space as bright as that.
Same with a flicker step. Too risky if he didn't want to put the pirate on guard. And even if he could trust that his identity weren't common knowledge to the crew by now, there would be too many questions if he were to manifest and try walking through in plain sight.
Like, 'Where are your boots?' Or 'Didn't I see you getting taken prisoner on the beach earlier?'
Sometimes, the best technique really was not to use a technique, and to wait until your potential witness was gone -- or to make him look the other way.
"You aren't feeling seasick at all?" Syaoran asked, and Kurogane dropped a single tiny stone from the hidden pocket at his elbow into his hand.
Princess Sakura sounded like she was forcing a smile. "I'm fine, I promise. The waves are all light, really." Waiting for just the right pitch from those waves, Kurogane flicked the stone he'd palmed at the pirate's pile of guns. The weapons went rolling across the floor as if the ocean had thrown them, clattering and distracting the man more than enough for him to dart across the landing into the next shadow. Loud enough, as well, to startle the Princess into a gasp.
"Are you all right?!"
"Like rocking a baby's cradle," she laughed. "I'm all right."
"I'll remember you said that when I tell Princess Tomoyo how brave you've been." The boy sounded so serious about his intention that Kurogane had more trouble than he would have liked as he tried to keep from laughing.
He didn't have to see either of their faces to know that Syaoran would be gazing at her, full to his ears with earnestness, and Princess Sakura would be glowing at him brighter than any lantern the pirates might have in the room. He sometimes thought to remind his protege it was dangerous to fall in love with your charge, and other times would rather have told him he was an idiot for not realizing she loved him, too; but Princess Tomoyo had instructed him not to interfere. Never a good idea to cross the wishes of a Dreamseer. Besides, they were too painfully cute to set straight. Ever since that girl had washed up on their shore -- no memory at all, only a locket engraved with a feather and the words, "To Sakura" -- the boy hadn't been able to take his eyes off of her. And if fancying her hadn't made him lose his head while trapped on the Pirate King's flagship, Kurogane was certain he could allow it. A ninja rarely got the luxury.
For an instant, Fai's light, golden laugh rung softly in his memory. The pirate had a charm to him. Kurogane had to give himself that. Future Kurogane's choice of social entanglements might run a bit to the dangerous and deceitful, but with a substance to him that the ninja had to admit might prove habit-forming. That was one sound he needed no flashing visions to know in his bones, nor a similar sound from the ship to recall it. It was fair enough. Besides, an affair without a little danger--
Oh, I am not talking myself into that. Not him. Not here. Not now.
"I'm not being brave," Sakura whispered. Still with an eye to the man with the muskets as he snuck down the staircase, Kurogane listened more closely to what was in the present. He was near enough to start guessing about how they might be held and how he'd have to prepare. From the sound of their heartbeats and their breaths, they were probably nestled close in the dark. It wasn't difficult to imagine. Chains on an ankle each, but with a loose rattle that told him Syaoran had already picked the locks. Hard to believe he'd suddenly gotten that good at working bonds while under guard, but Kurogane wasn't going to complain. They'd be ready to go once he got there. "Without you..." the girl went on. He bit back a smile at the scene. "I'm so glad you're here with me, Syaoran."
Best to hurry. They were going to make his teeth rot if he didn't get there soon.
"Princess..."
"Please. Call me Sakura."
At that, he could have sworn that he could hear Syaoran blushing. But then again, Kurogane knew the shade of incandescent red the boy turned whenever his charge tried to make him less formal than his nature. What was more odd, he thought he didn't hear a guard sitting inside the room. That couldn't be right.
"I... I can't do that, Princess!"
"Not even if I ask you to?"
"Don't they ever stop?" a third voice muttered, and the speaker knocked his head against what was clearly the outside the brig door. No wonder Syaoran already had the locks on their chains sprung, if they'd been working on out-sweeting the pirates' tolerance for watching them. Knowing those two, it probably hadn't been hard. The young ninja never would have come up with a plan like that, of course. Must have been the Princess's idea.
But before he had a chance to think of a good line to tease them with when he got there, something moved on the ship. He turned all his senses away from the children in the brig to focus on what he had to think was a threat. A force was stirring on the impossibly quiet officers' quarters, deep in the heart of whatever spell Fai was using to keep him from hearing clearly. Within moments, ringing footsteps echoed on the deck, announcing the stride of someone who wasn't frightened into silence by the coming of the second Dragon. One of the pirate lords. The step's all wrong for it to be the King himself.
No sound of a heel like he'd seen on Karen the Blaze or the Fata Morgana, stride was too long for Black Cat Yuzuriha or Death Shirou, too austere in its rhythm to be Sora the Hatless, and the sound just a bit too light for the frame it carried to be the Oathkeeper...
Kurogane cursed silently in his head as, sure enough, the white coat of the Sumeragi billowed into view. Nothing could have been more clear in the mess hall than how high the other lords placed him in their ranks, but of all of them he was the one pirate Kurogane hadn't felt able to read himself. Strength, he could take. An opponent he couldn't read wasn't one he'd choose to fight. Somehow, he wasn't surprised to see that was the one he'd gotten. His charming Pirate King, best he could tell, had a cat's own skill at sensing what would be most inconvenient and doing it.
Pressed back against the wall, breathing as little as readiness would allow, he watched the pirate sweep down the corridor. No time for sneaking slowly, now, but also less need. Once the man walked by, Kurogane could stick in the moving shadow. No one would hear his footsteps as anything but an echo of the pirate's boots, and any rustle of his clothing would fade into the way that shining white greatcoat whipped like a flag through the air. Unlike Yuuko's cook, he didn't plan to complain about the odd fashion choices of the seas' top-ranked brigands. The Sumeragi would lead him straight to the brig, and cover his passage while he was at it.
No answer to how he'd take the pirate down, but one thing at a time.
Then, just as that thought had crossed his mind, Lord Sumeragi's eyes turned on him as he walked, as if he could see Kurogane hidden in the shadows. If he could, he'd be the first person to do it in going on twenty years, but his gaze cut out of the darkness to look the ninja straight on all the same. Or perhaps not? There was no sharpness of focus to the way the man looked towards him. Could be the pirate was simply looking ahead, not seeing him. But their eyes stayed locked just a little too long for Kurogane to believe anything but that he'd been spotted. Long enough and close enough as the Sumeragi stepped into the light for the profound green of them to burn into his memory. Never breaking that stare, the pirate lord rounded his way to the landing and took the steps down to the deck with the brig.
Made it a bit strange that the Sumeragi did as Kurogane would have expected of someone hadn't seen his hiding spot, and walked past without even a pause. If he weren't so confused by the act, he might have had reason to feel insulted.
But there wasn't time for either. He paced the pirate's shadow, definitely unseen by the musket cleaner who'd dropped to a knee at the Sumeragi's approach. As soon as the lord neared a corner, the man left his cleaning in what mess it was and dashed toward the night like his pants were on fire. Meanwhile, down the short hall, the pirate standing by a door whose face was slowly changing from nauseated to mortified could only have been the Princess's guard.
He pulled his plain, little hat off his head and held it to his chest as he stood to attention before the ship's navigator. "My lord. What brings you--"
"Weren't you meant to be watching our guests?" the Sumeragi asked in a tone just to the gentle side of unmovable.
"Ah, well..." The half-light couldn't hide the way his face was burning red. "You see, sir--"
"You've been relieved, Saiki." The pirate lord blew through the door without another glance. "Dismissed."
The young pirate backed away from the brig, placing his hat back on his matted, dirty blond hair, and bowed a slight reverence from the waist. "Yes, sir. Thank you, my lord. I'll... just..." He trailed off while he stepped down the hall, turning as soon as he was out of sight. This one didn't run like his crewmate, but neither did he dawdle while he walked.
The door left open like an invitation was too convenient to trust. Kurogane edged around until he could get a proper view. In one corner, behind locked bars, the Princess and Syaoran had fallen silent when the lord entered and both were on their guard. The lantern swaying ever so slightly with the roll of the ship on the waves left them with no shadows into which the boy could have vanished. The pirates here had clearly held a ninja or two in their time.
Across the room, the Sumeragi dragged a lonely chair over to the furthest corner from the light, until his face and hands were shrouded in the dark. That coat picked up every stray shine, as it seemed almost to glow, but Kurogane had to imagine the empty green stare while he watched. Just barely, he could discern the man taking off a pair of gloves, sticking them in his belt and pulling something from the case he'd been carrying.
It shouldn't have been that hard for him to see into the darkness. Apparently, ninja weren't the only ones who knew how to manipulate the shadows. Syaoran was watching the sight with just as much confusion as Kurogane had while the pirate sat and tucked what any fool could see was a violin under his chin.
The melody coming from it only confirmed what they thought they saw.
"A ... violin?" the Princess asked in a whisper, and turned to Syaoran hoping he could provide an explanation. "Wouldn't the sea air throw a violin out of tune?"
Well, that wasn't quite the confusion he'd personally been having over the Sumeragi sitting down to play when he'd clearly been sent to fight, but Kurogane had to admit it seemed a valid one.
"Well..." Syaoran looked back and forth between the man in the shadows and the expectant face of his charge. "He is a pirate. Pirates can do a lot of things at sea... that... an ordinary man-- Princess Sakura?"
The girl had turned from him to face the Sumeragi, shock written all over her face as she'd apparently forgotten her concern over the effects of humidity on catgut. "I know this song. I thought it sounded familiar before--"
"Where have you been listening to pirate chanties?"
Her bodyguard's indignation didn't seem to penetrate. She put a hand to her mouth, thinking hard to herself. Now that she mentioned it, Kurogane could hear how the strains coming from the violin were the same as the sound that had echoed through the ship before, sending every hand on deck into cold sweats from fear. Still looking like she did whenever she tried to pull something out of the fog of her old memories, she started to sing. "The guardian of the barrows sets his course tonight for you..."
At her words, Syaoran fell quiet, and Kurogane was sure he'd never seen the boy that frightened in his life. Hell, it was just a song, but the myths he’d heard about the ghost-assassin who came from the night itself to choose his prey and lead their souls to torment had made him glad more than once that he didn’t believe in old campfire tales. Even Lord Sumeragi sat up straighter in his darkened corner when he heard the Princess sing, and he was the one playing the damn thing.
"No shield is there can guard against his aim, so swift and true..." What a thing to surface as the first solid memory she'd been able to pull out of her past. But she kept on in a trance, as if she couldn't hear what she herself was singing. "When calmest is the midnight and you are most alone, death he brings on silent wings -- his earth your final home... He has come for me from the stars, burning bright--"
"Play something else!" Syaoran thundered, taking Sakura's hand with a sharp squeeze to shake her out her trance. When her singing cut off, the sound of the violin trailed off mid-phrase. The boy stood, still gripping her hand, and Kurogane decided to let him slide on having shown his bonds were unlocked as he did. He might have been trying to look impressive, not just letting his anger get the better of him. "I don't know if that's a threat or a sick joke, but the Barrows-guard won't come for my lady. Not while I'm here."
The shadows seemed to fall away from the Sumeragi's face as he sat forward, and the boy did well not to quail. He'd seen the rest of the council of lords look as if they were two inches from trying to melt into the deck under that same stare. "Unfortunately, you're wrong about that." Placid as could be, he stared quietly at his violin and bow for a moment, then placed them back in the case as if he’d found the request reasonable but had no interest in playing any song but that one, and he turned back towards Kurogane. "You may as well show yourself, unless you have a reason to draw this out."
Well, he'd had a reason. Namely, trying to think of a way to distract the pirate well enough to take him by surprise and end their confrontation quickly, but that seemed right out. Kurogane stepped away from the wall, melting back into sight as he left the darkness, and summoned Ginryuu to his hand with a flash. Meanwhile, the Sumeragi stood up and sighed, pulling his gloves back on. He could see well enough into the darkness to catch a glimpse of red stars etched on the backs of his hands, but only just.
There was probably a story there, but not one to ask after idly while preparing for a battle.
With no more explanation than he'd given for anything this evening, the pirate ignored Kurogane's approach and walked to the wall to grab the keys hanging by a large, steel ring. Something about the heavy atmosphere told the ninja not to strike just yet.
"I hope you don't mind if we go on deck. Fighting in an enclosed space won't end well for any of us." The Sumeragi fitted a key to the barred door, and Syaoran backed Princess Sakura up to the far wall as he summoned his own sword from the air.
"Stay out of this one, kid," Kurogane cautioned him.
The boy dropped the point of his sword as he was bade, but he didn't move from between the pirate and the Princess. "If you plan to kill us anyway, why spare us this long? Why bother calling the 'Dragon of Earth'?"
"Kill you?" After he'd hung the key back on the wall, the Sumeragi picked up his violin case and glanced back at the cell. "No one plans to kill you."
Despite the way the pirate had called on Hell's most infamous reaper not a minute before, saying he'd be coming for the Princess, Kurogane had to believe him. The man in white had the air of someone who was neither a murderer nor a liar. And there was the way the Pirate King had reacted when Kurogane had asked what he wanted with the Princess. Now, the blond was a liar, as certainly as the horizon stayed at the edge of sight's reach, but if he'd meant harm he'd have lied differently than he had. The ninja was sure of that.
Syaoran had less cause to take the pirate's word. "But... you said the Barrows-guard would..." The boy gulped, swallowing the rest of the sentence as if he couldn't bear to hear it aloud.
Not that anyone could blame him.
The Sumeragi strode up to him, seeming to tower over the boy who was quickly losing all the color in his face. "Yes, I said he was coming, and he does come -- for you both. He's the only one who can pilot the 'Dragon of Earth', I’m afraid. She doesn't always sail by the stars in your sky."
Well, that explained why Fai might have started talking about demons when he'd asked about the ship. In the bright lamplight, Syaoran had gone from pale to green. Princess Sakura's tight grip on his hand didn't seem to bring him any reassurance at the moment. "I thought you were being metaphorical."
Laying a hand on the boy’s shoulder, the Sumeragi started them both walking out the door. "Believe me," he answered, with another weary sigh, "He's quite real."
And wouldn’t you know, he’d apparently sided with the pirates. Just another reason to be glad he was a ninja. Kurogane filtered through everything he’d ever heard around a campfire, which couldn’t all be true even if the creature were real. At worst, if they stayed too long or this fight went badly, he'd be facing down a psychopathic psychopomp -- in addition to tonight’s impromptu duel in his stocking feet with the Sumeragi himself and getting a memo from his future self that he'd someday be falling for a pirate who'd make Watanuki's affair with Captain Doumeki look downright respectable.
No fire-spewing, disembodied jawbones the size of a rhinoceros, or mile-long sea monsters, nor even a single ravening zombie horde? Kurogane thought, kicking the wooden bulkhead to keep his good luck from running away. Not to mention that the Princess and Syaoran were alive and whole?
He’d definitely had worse days.
continued in...
7: Futtock Shrouds
8: Hornswaggle
9: Well, Blow Me Down [ full - explicit/ edited - PG 13]
10: Davy Jones
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AUTHOR'S NOTE
*****************************************
Still for beltenebra, all the way until chapter 8 is out! Approaching critical mass on the introductory KuroFai adventure, and wishing you many happy returns.
Oh, the fun of being well into a middle chapter of a comedy, with Kurogane having a portentous run-in with Subaru, only to realize, "Crap! This isn't funny at all! Something must be done... Except there's nothing happening... Time for a total rewrite!" The final two chapters will be a bit more action-packed. Please look forward to them, hopefully by the end of the week. We'll see how fast I can get those ready and approved by my fantastic beta, to whom all manner of thanks are due: sumeria.
See you in a few days with... ::drumroll:: "Futtock Shrouds". Not as dirty as it sounds.
CHAPTER: 6 - "Athwartships"
SERIES: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, xxxHoLic, X/1999, Tokyo Babylon
DISCLAIMER: Everything in the CLAMP Megaverse was originally created by CLAMP. They are entirely to blame for creating a system of crossovers that do not easily disclaim. Characters have been adapted without authorization or approval, and I am making no profit from their use.
PAIRINGS: Kurogane x Fai D. Fluorite (main). References made to: Doumeki Shizuka x Watanuki Kimihiro, Aoki Seiichirou x Kasumi Karen, Li Syaoran x Princess Sakura, Sakurazuka Seishirou x Sumeragi Subaru, Clow Reed x Ichihara Yuuko, Ashura-Ou x Fai D. Fluorite (this list may not be exhaustive for future chapters)
RATING: PG.
WARNINGS: 1) Pirates. 2) Ninjas. 3) Transitional chapter.
SEQUEL TO: Rum & Popcorn
SUMMARY: Long ago, in a universe slightly askew to this one, circumstances beyond anyone's control led to a fierce and bitter rivalry between Pirates and Ninjas, but Kurogane doesn't care about that. His only concern is to retrieve Princess Sakura and Syaoran from the Pirate King's ship...
Fai isn't making things easy.
Previously...
1: Ahoy, Matey!
2: Drivelswigger
3: Jolly Roger
4: Shot Across the Bow
5: Batten Down the Hatches
Athwartships (adv) a way to cross the ship deck, perpendicular to the midline of the boat; moving starboard to port, or vice versa
If he never got a prescient insight again, it would be too damn soon.
Princess Tomoyo had never complained about being able to see the future, but she'd told him once that the gift wouldn't suit him -- and now he understood why. The instant's glimpse that had flashed in his mind after his tangle with the blond -- scattered moments without context or reason -- was nothing but a confusion and a distraction. He worked his way silently down the hatchways, wearing shadows as a cloak and shield and still unable to get away from him. Every time the timbers creaked, he heard a sigh he knew better than he should have. The wind whipped through the rigging, and he was sure the whistle sounded like Fai's -- though he'd damn well never heard that.
Keeping his mind on his job actually took some effort when the entire ship sounded like a lover he didn't properly have yet and couldn't fathom being worth the trouble. What had his future self been thinking? From their brief acquaintance, he could already tell that Fai was ten lifetimes worth of havoc waiting to happen, minus the patience to wait. Even if the pirate was...
Well, perhaps there were persuasive reasons why he might want to hold on to a man like that. He'd be worth another roll in the sheets if the right circumstances arose, but Kurogane certainly didn't understand his future self going sweet on him. There were a few things you could call a man who'd clearly decided not to inform his council about a dangerous enemy (namely himself) until after he'd had his fun, and 'trustworthy' didn't top his list. But visions were visions. Maybe he didn't know what he'd seen. The bare fact was, between the roll of the 'Dragon of Heaven' sending unbidden shivers up his spine and the fact that he'd had to take to the decks in stocking feet in order to keep his steps silent, he was gaining some respect for Watanuki's position on pirates.
Those boots were moronic, and the fact that the blond was one hell of a lay and would continue to be so only made his outrageous disposition that much more insufferable -- not that he'd seen enough to get a clear picture of how it would go. He just knew.
But that was a problem for Future Kurogane. At present, his task was to get to the brig unnoticed and free the prisoners with as little ado as possible.
He had to assume the Pirate King had escaped his bonds already. Kurogane hadn't heard the least trace of a sound from the actual him, as opposed to the imagined fragments of memory -- no struggle, no doors, no walking. Any ninja worth calling a ninja could hear a raindrop run down a leaf from ten miles away if he tried, and from Fai he heard nothing. Maybe he had some pirate skill to silence his motions that Kurogane had never heard of before; he was the Pirate King. Yuuko could do loads of things that seemed like magic.
It was slower going than normal, even without the boots, as all the deck hands tended to be silent or at most hushed in prayer. Nothing to camouflage his footsteps or the rustle of his pirate costume. Once the curious music had stopped echoing out of the beams, the terrified quiet had grown thicker than a desert. He'd heard one pirate ask another if it meant the 'Dragon of Earth' wasn't coming after all, but his fellows hadn't seen fit to speculate. At least it made his task of finding the brig that much simpler. Syaoran and the Princess Sakura kept to whispers, but whispers were clear as bladesong to him. He had only to melt into the darkness of the copious numbers of shadows within the ship, and their voices could lead him slowly through the maze of ladders and decks.
"Syaoran..." the girl murmured softly. He wasn't far away now. They were just one deck below.
"Don't worry, Princess," his protege assured her. His voice was perfectly calm, just as he'd been trained to sound, but Kurogane could hear him tightening his grip on her shoulders in that awful quiet. He must have been nervous, if he were taking liberties like that. "Before you know it, we'll be home."
At the end of one shadow, a steep staircase turned with its landing bathed in lantern light. Kurogane checked back to look for pirate crew where he'd been, then leaned to check down the second stair. One deckhand there, polishing a store of muskets and checking their condition one at a time. As long as he was standing in the shadow, he could vanish from the world completely -- thin and clear as the absence of light against the wall -- but the man would see the movement if he stepped across a space as bright as that.
Same with a flicker step. Too risky if he didn't want to put the pirate on guard. And even if he could trust that his identity weren't common knowledge to the crew by now, there would be too many questions if he were to manifest and try walking through in plain sight.
Like, 'Where are your boots?' Or 'Didn't I see you getting taken prisoner on the beach earlier?'
Sometimes, the best technique really was not to use a technique, and to wait until your potential witness was gone -- or to make him look the other way.
"You aren't feeling seasick at all?" Syaoran asked, and Kurogane dropped a single tiny stone from the hidden pocket at his elbow into his hand.
Princess Sakura sounded like she was forcing a smile. "I'm fine, I promise. The waves are all light, really." Waiting for just the right pitch from those waves, Kurogane flicked the stone he'd palmed at the pirate's pile of guns. The weapons went rolling across the floor as if the ocean had thrown them, clattering and distracting the man more than enough for him to dart across the landing into the next shadow. Loud enough, as well, to startle the Princess into a gasp.
"Are you all right?!"
"Like rocking a baby's cradle," she laughed. "I'm all right."
"I'll remember you said that when I tell Princess Tomoyo how brave you've been." The boy sounded so serious about his intention that Kurogane had more trouble than he would have liked as he tried to keep from laughing.
He didn't have to see either of their faces to know that Syaoran would be gazing at her, full to his ears with earnestness, and Princess Sakura would be glowing at him brighter than any lantern the pirates might have in the room. He sometimes thought to remind his protege it was dangerous to fall in love with your charge, and other times would rather have told him he was an idiot for not realizing she loved him, too; but Princess Tomoyo had instructed him not to interfere. Never a good idea to cross the wishes of a Dreamseer. Besides, they were too painfully cute to set straight. Ever since that girl had washed up on their shore -- no memory at all, only a locket engraved with a feather and the words, "To Sakura" -- the boy hadn't been able to take his eyes off of her. And if fancying her hadn't made him lose his head while trapped on the Pirate King's flagship, Kurogane was certain he could allow it. A ninja rarely got the luxury.
For an instant, Fai's light, golden laugh rung softly in his memory. The pirate had a charm to him. Kurogane had to give himself that. Future Kurogane's choice of social entanglements might run a bit to the dangerous and deceitful, but with a substance to him that the ninja had to admit might prove habit-forming. That was one sound he needed no flashing visions to know in his bones, nor a similar sound from the ship to recall it. It was fair enough. Besides, an affair without a little danger--
Oh, I am not talking myself into that. Not him. Not here. Not now.
"I'm not being brave," Sakura whispered. Still with an eye to the man with the muskets as he snuck down the staircase, Kurogane listened more closely to what was in the present. He was near enough to start guessing about how they might be held and how he'd have to prepare. From the sound of their heartbeats and their breaths, they were probably nestled close in the dark. It wasn't difficult to imagine. Chains on an ankle each, but with a loose rattle that told him Syaoran had already picked the locks. Hard to believe he'd suddenly gotten that good at working bonds while under guard, but Kurogane wasn't going to complain. They'd be ready to go once he got there. "Without you..." the girl went on. He bit back a smile at the scene. "I'm so glad you're here with me, Syaoran."
Best to hurry. They were going to make his teeth rot if he didn't get there soon.
"Princess..."
"Please. Call me Sakura."
At that, he could have sworn that he could hear Syaoran blushing. But then again, Kurogane knew the shade of incandescent red the boy turned whenever his charge tried to make him less formal than his nature. What was more odd, he thought he didn't hear a guard sitting inside the room. That couldn't be right.
"I... I can't do that, Princess!"
"Not even if I ask you to?"
"Don't they ever stop?" a third voice muttered, and the speaker knocked his head against what was clearly the outside the brig door. No wonder Syaoran already had the locks on their chains sprung, if they'd been working on out-sweeting the pirates' tolerance for watching them. Knowing those two, it probably hadn't been hard. The young ninja never would have come up with a plan like that, of course. Must have been the Princess's idea.
But before he had a chance to think of a good line to tease them with when he got there, something moved on the ship. He turned all his senses away from the children in the brig to focus on what he had to think was a threat. A force was stirring on the impossibly quiet officers' quarters, deep in the heart of whatever spell Fai was using to keep him from hearing clearly. Within moments, ringing footsteps echoed on the deck, announcing the stride of someone who wasn't frightened into silence by the coming of the second Dragon. One of the pirate lords. The step's all wrong for it to be the King himself.
No sound of a heel like he'd seen on Karen the Blaze or the Fata Morgana, stride was too long for Black Cat Yuzuriha or Death Shirou, too austere in its rhythm to be Sora the Hatless, and the sound just a bit too light for the frame it carried to be the Oathkeeper...
Kurogane cursed silently in his head as, sure enough, the white coat of the Sumeragi billowed into view. Nothing could have been more clear in the mess hall than how high the other lords placed him in their ranks, but of all of them he was the one pirate Kurogane hadn't felt able to read himself. Strength, he could take. An opponent he couldn't read wasn't one he'd choose to fight. Somehow, he wasn't surprised to see that was the one he'd gotten. His charming Pirate King, best he could tell, had a cat's own skill at sensing what would be most inconvenient and doing it.
Pressed back against the wall, breathing as little as readiness would allow, he watched the pirate sweep down the corridor. No time for sneaking slowly, now, but also less need. Once the man walked by, Kurogane could stick in the moving shadow. No one would hear his footsteps as anything but an echo of the pirate's boots, and any rustle of his clothing would fade into the way that shining white greatcoat whipped like a flag through the air. Unlike Yuuko's cook, he didn't plan to complain about the odd fashion choices of the seas' top-ranked brigands. The Sumeragi would lead him straight to the brig, and cover his passage while he was at it.
No answer to how he'd take the pirate down, but one thing at a time.
Then, just as that thought had crossed his mind, Lord Sumeragi's eyes turned on him as he walked, as if he could see Kurogane hidden in the shadows. If he could, he'd be the first person to do it in going on twenty years, but his gaze cut out of the darkness to look the ninja straight on all the same. Or perhaps not? There was no sharpness of focus to the way the man looked towards him. Could be the pirate was simply looking ahead, not seeing him. But their eyes stayed locked just a little too long for Kurogane to believe anything but that he'd been spotted. Long enough and close enough as the Sumeragi stepped into the light for the profound green of them to burn into his memory. Never breaking that stare, the pirate lord rounded his way to the landing and took the steps down to the deck with the brig.
Made it a bit strange that the Sumeragi did as Kurogane would have expected of someone hadn't seen his hiding spot, and walked past without even a pause. If he weren't so confused by the act, he might have had reason to feel insulted.
But there wasn't time for either. He paced the pirate's shadow, definitely unseen by the musket cleaner who'd dropped to a knee at the Sumeragi's approach. As soon as the lord neared a corner, the man left his cleaning in what mess it was and dashed toward the night like his pants were on fire. Meanwhile, down the short hall, the pirate standing by a door whose face was slowly changing from nauseated to mortified could only have been the Princess's guard.
He pulled his plain, little hat off his head and held it to his chest as he stood to attention before the ship's navigator. "My lord. What brings you--"
"Weren't you meant to be watching our guests?" the Sumeragi asked in a tone just to the gentle side of unmovable.
"Ah, well..." The half-light couldn't hide the way his face was burning red. "You see, sir--"
"You've been relieved, Saiki." The pirate lord blew through the door without another glance. "Dismissed."
The young pirate backed away from the brig, placing his hat back on his matted, dirty blond hair, and bowed a slight reverence from the waist. "Yes, sir. Thank you, my lord. I'll... just..." He trailed off while he stepped down the hall, turning as soon as he was out of sight. This one didn't run like his crewmate, but neither did he dawdle while he walked.
The door left open like an invitation was too convenient to trust. Kurogane edged around until he could get a proper view. In one corner, behind locked bars, the Princess and Syaoran had fallen silent when the lord entered and both were on their guard. The lantern swaying ever so slightly with the roll of the ship on the waves left them with no shadows into which the boy could have vanished. The pirates here had clearly held a ninja or two in their time.
Across the room, the Sumeragi dragged a lonely chair over to the furthest corner from the light, until his face and hands were shrouded in the dark. That coat picked up every stray shine, as it seemed almost to glow, but Kurogane had to imagine the empty green stare while he watched. Just barely, he could discern the man taking off a pair of gloves, sticking them in his belt and pulling something from the case he'd been carrying.
It shouldn't have been that hard for him to see into the darkness. Apparently, ninja weren't the only ones who knew how to manipulate the shadows. Syaoran was watching the sight with just as much confusion as Kurogane had while the pirate sat and tucked what any fool could see was a violin under his chin.
The melody coming from it only confirmed what they thought they saw.
"A ... violin?" the Princess asked in a whisper, and turned to Syaoran hoping he could provide an explanation. "Wouldn't the sea air throw a violin out of tune?"
Well, that wasn't quite the confusion he'd personally been having over the Sumeragi sitting down to play when he'd clearly been sent to fight, but Kurogane had to admit it seemed a valid one.
"Well..." Syaoran looked back and forth between the man in the shadows and the expectant face of his charge. "He is a pirate. Pirates can do a lot of things at sea... that... an ordinary man-- Princess Sakura?"
The girl had turned from him to face the Sumeragi, shock written all over her face as she'd apparently forgotten her concern over the effects of humidity on catgut. "I know this song. I thought it sounded familiar before--"
"Where have you been listening to pirate chanties?"
Her bodyguard's indignation didn't seem to penetrate. She put a hand to her mouth, thinking hard to herself. Now that she mentioned it, Kurogane could hear how the strains coming from the violin were the same as the sound that had echoed through the ship before, sending every hand on deck into cold sweats from fear. Still looking like she did whenever she tried to pull something out of the fog of her old memories, she started to sing. "The guardian of the barrows sets his course tonight for you..."
At her words, Syaoran fell quiet, and Kurogane was sure he'd never seen the boy that frightened in his life. Hell, it was just a song, but the myths he’d heard about the ghost-assassin who came from the night itself to choose his prey and lead their souls to torment had made him glad more than once that he didn’t believe in old campfire tales. Even Lord Sumeragi sat up straighter in his darkened corner when he heard the Princess sing, and he was the one playing the damn thing.
"No shield is there can guard against his aim, so swift and true..." What a thing to surface as the first solid memory she'd been able to pull out of her past. But she kept on in a trance, as if she couldn't hear what she herself was singing. "When calmest is the midnight and you are most alone, death he brings on silent wings -- his earth your final home... He has come for me from the stars, burning bright--"
"Play something else!" Syaoran thundered, taking Sakura's hand with a sharp squeeze to shake her out her trance. When her singing cut off, the sound of the violin trailed off mid-phrase. The boy stood, still gripping her hand, and Kurogane decided to let him slide on having shown his bonds were unlocked as he did. He might have been trying to look impressive, not just letting his anger get the better of him. "I don't know if that's a threat or a sick joke, but the Barrows-guard won't come for my lady. Not while I'm here."
The shadows seemed to fall away from the Sumeragi's face as he sat forward, and the boy did well not to quail. He'd seen the rest of the council of lords look as if they were two inches from trying to melt into the deck under that same stare. "Unfortunately, you're wrong about that." Placid as could be, he stared quietly at his violin and bow for a moment, then placed them back in the case as if he’d found the request reasonable but had no interest in playing any song but that one, and he turned back towards Kurogane. "You may as well show yourself, unless you have a reason to draw this out."
Well, he'd had a reason. Namely, trying to think of a way to distract the pirate well enough to take him by surprise and end their confrontation quickly, but that seemed right out. Kurogane stepped away from the wall, melting back into sight as he left the darkness, and summoned Ginryuu to his hand with a flash. Meanwhile, the Sumeragi stood up and sighed, pulling his gloves back on. He could see well enough into the darkness to catch a glimpse of red stars etched on the backs of his hands, but only just.
There was probably a story there, but not one to ask after idly while preparing for a battle.
With no more explanation than he'd given for anything this evening, the pirate ignored Kurogane's approach and walked to the wall to grab the keys hanging by a large, steel ring. Something about the heavy atmosphere told the ninja not to strike just yet.
"I hope you don't mind if we go on deck. Fighting in an enclosed space won't end well for any of us." The Sumeragi fitted a key to the barred door, and Syaoran backed Princess Sakura up to the far wall as he summoned his own sword from the air.
"Stay out of this one, kid," Kurogane cautioned him.
The boy dropped the point of his sword as he was bade, but he didn't move from between the pirate and the Princess. "If you plan to kill us anyway, why spare us this long? Why bother calling the 'Dragon of Earth'?"
"Kill you?" After he'd hung the key back on the wall, the Sumeragi picked up his violin case and glanced back at the cell. "No one plans to kill you."
Despite the way the pirate had called on Hell's most infamous reaper not a minute before, saying he'd be coming for the Princess, Kurogane had to believe him. The man in white had the air of someone who was neither a murderer nor a liar. And there was the way the Pirate King had reacted when Kurogane had asked what he wanted with the Princess. Now, the blond was a liar, as certainly as the horizon stayed at the edge of sight's reach, but if he'd meant harm he'd have lied differently than he had. The ninja was sure of that.
Syaoran had less cause to take the pirate's word. "But... you said the Barrows-guard would..." The boy gulped, swallowing the rest of the sentence as if he couldn't bear to hear it aloud.
Not that anyone could blame him.
The Sumeragi strode up to him, seeming to tower over the boy who was quickly losing all the color in his face. "Yes, I said he was coming, and he does come -- for you both. He's the only one who can pilot the 'Dragon of Earth', I’m afraid. She doesn't always sail by the stars in your sky."
Well, that explained why Fai might have started talking about demons when he'd asked about the ship. In the bright lamplight, Syaoran had gone from pale to green. Princess Sakura's tight grip on his hand didn't seem to bring him any reassurance at the moment. "I thought you were being metaphorical."
Laying a hand on the boy’s shoulder, the Sumeragi started them both walking out the door. "Believe me," he answered, with another weary sigh, "He's quite real."
And wouldn’t you know, he’d apparently sided with the pirates. Just another reason to be glad he was a ninja. Kurogane filtered through everything he’d ever heard around a campfire, which couldn’t all be true even if the creature were real. At worst, if they stayed too long or this fight went badly, he'd be facing down a psychopathic psychopomp -- in addition to tonight’s impromptu duel in his stocking feet with the Sumeragi himself and getting a memo from his future self that he'd someday be falling for a pirate who'd make Watanuki's affair with Captain Doumeki look downright respectable.
No fire-spewing, disembodied jawbones the size of a rhinoceros, or mile-long sea monsters, nor even a single ravening zombie horde? Kurogane thought, kicking the wooden bulkhead to keep his good luck from running away. Not to mention that the Princess and Syaoran were alive and whole?
He’d definitely had worse days.
continued in...
7: Futtock Shrouds
8: Hornswaggle
9: Well, Blow Me Down [ full - explicit/ edited - PG 13]
10: Davy Jones
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AUTHOR'S NOTE
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Still for beltenebra, all the way until chapter 8 is out! Approaching critical mass on the introductory KuroFai adventure, and wishing you many happy returns.
Oh, the fun of being well into a middle chapter of a comedy, with Kurogane having a portentous run-in with Subaru, only to realize, "Crap! This isn't funny at all! Something must be done... Except there's nothing happening... Time for a total rewrite!" The final two chapters will be a bit more action-packed. Please look forward to them, hopefully by the end of the week. We'll see how fast I can get those ready and approved by my fantastic beta, to whom all manner of thanks are due: sumeria.
See you in a few days with... ::drumroll:: "Futtock Shrouds". Not as dirty as it sounds.