Chapter 19Ayaka had put all of them to work in the tavern after the navy girls had departed, just to help clear up the wrecked furniture before the carpenter and his workmen came in with replacements. The proprietress tartly reminded them that it was part of their fault that the tavern was wrecked, so they had to grudgingly agree to help. Well, some of them did anyway. Some people, however, were just not cut out for honest work at all.
"Yuko, I think you better just sit here and drink your rum." Ayaka sighed after the pirate captain managed to somehow brain Miki from behind with a shorn off table leg, sending the knife throwing pirate to cursing and knife waving at her own captain. Whether or not it was an accident was definitely debatable, but Kaori decided to just hush it up by handing Yuko a bottle of rum to distract her, while Yossi smoothly diverted Miki by grabbing a somewhat spaced out Ai and shoving the distracted barmaid in front of the groping demon. Predictably, the devil took the bait, and a surprised Ai squeaked and leapt away when a certain wandering hand decided to make itself known to her.
Rika giggled as Yossi returned to her side. "Was that necessary?" She asked. Yossi shrugged. "Not really, but it's the fastest way to stop Miki."
By the time Ai managed to escape Miki's clutches (practice helped, not to mention Miki was being a bit half hearted about it), the worst of the damaged furniture had been carted off to a corner of the tavern, ready to be dumped out in the back alley. And speaking of back alleys...
~*~*~
"Well, what were you doing?" Reina asked suspiciously, jabbing at Eri with the butt of her harpoon. "Lurking outside the Sea Coconut like that..."
Eri swallowed nervously, trying to back up a bit in order to crawl back up onto her feet. When she finally regained her footing, that was when she realised that the crazy harpoon-wielding girl was actually shorter than her.
Well I wouldn't have known... Eri blinked, but was snapped out of her thoughts when the pointy end of the harpoon came too close for comfort to her chin. Small in size or not, Reina was the one with the weapon. A very large, sharp weapon. Eri gulped again.
Reina was eyeing Eri critically. The crate girl looked familiar. Now where had she seen her before? It took a couple of moments before the facts clicked together in her head.
"Hey, weren't you down by the waterfront in that scuffle earlier?" Reina unconsciously let the tip of her harpoon drop down a little, no longer pressing as close to Eri's neck as before.
Eri didn't need a second invitation. This whole town was crazy. She needed to get away, as soon as possible.
Reina was taken aback by the speed at which Eri turned and ran for it, kicking up a cloud of dust in the process. Instinctively she tried to give chase, but for a turtle, Eri was surprisingly fast on her feet. Or rather, Reina was just slow, but let's not mention that when she's waving around a large harpoon.
Eri was quite literally leaving Reina in the dust, but let's not forget that the latter had the advantage of a ranged weapon. Cursing creatively under her breath, Reina slowed and took one of her light harpoons, and with a mighty heave, sent it flying after the fleeing turtle.
As it was, Eri had been about to turn the corner and escape into the street, but the hurled harpoon found her with surprising accuracy and quite literally pinned her arm to the wall by the sleeve, the sudden brake in motion sending the girl slamming into the wall with a heavy thud. For a moment, Eri saw little turtles flying around her head as she struggled to regain her bearings.
Reina puffed to a stop beside the dazed Eri, breathing heavily. The pirate girl had never enjoyed running at all. Actually, she wasn't even sure why she felt the need to chase down this strange girl at all. Maybe she was just being too curious for her own good. Oh well, it wouldn't hurt her in the least, or would it?
"
Now you're just being suspicious." Reina huffed as she glared at the dizzied Eri. "I just wanted to ask you a few questions, and you run away! What am I, some kind of monster you have to flee from?" The pirate seemed completely unaware of the fact that even as she spoke, she was waving her harpoon around for emphasis, and was thus freaking the crap out of Eri. Any sane person would obviously escape from someone who was brandishing a large spear-like weapon, and while Eri's sanity does come under question at certain points, her instincts for self-preservation were still prominent enough for her to want to run away from obvious sources of danger (in this case Reina).
"P-p-put that down first..." Eri shook her head hard, trying to clear her vision. Reina blinked and stared at her harpoon-wielding hand, as if finally realising that she was still flailing around with it. "Oh..." She lowered it, but didn't slide it back onto her back. "Now talk. What were you doing lurking around in the alley hmm?"
Eri tried to put everything together in her head. She had gleaned enough to know that those people she had met earlier were pirates, and that their identity as navy personnel had been uncovered. That was a very bad thing in her opinion. She had to leave port immediately. Preferably with the crew she came with, but if they were unavoidably detained, she would have to find an alternative method to return home.
Seeing that Eri was still a bit dazed and not replying to her, Reina put down the heavy bundle she had been lugging along and prodded Eri with the freed hand. "Oy, you alive?" The turtle squeaked, her eyes focusing back on the shorter pirate in front of her. "Nothing! I was doing nothing!"
"You call creeping around with a crate over your head nothing?" Reina asked incredulously. Eri flushed in embarrassment, even as she fought for a somewhat plausible excuse. "Um, I, uh...ok ok! I like small spaces! I was feeling insecure so I decided to hide inside a crate until I felt a bit better!" It wasn't quite a lie. Actually, it was pretty much the whole truth, just minus a few key points. Fortunately Eri didn't believe in sins of omission, so that didn't prick at her conscience in the least.
Reina had a "huh?" look written all over her face. "What the...are you kidding me?" She didn't sound too convinced. You couldn't blame her, after all it sounded just a little bit odd. Eri swallowed nervously. "It's true...I like small spaces...it makes me feel safe..."
"Eh, right..." Reina still looked suspicious though. "And as I was asking before you bolted, weren't you fighting alongside Yossi and Mari earlier?"
The facts clicked in the turtle girl's head. Oh, so that was why this girl looked sort of familiar. The harpoon should really have clued her in. After all, this same weirdo quite literally nailed down a bounty hunter with a well placed cast. Eri shuddered. Luckily Reina hadn't decided to do the same to her.
"Yes...well...I was..." Eri stammered out uncertainly, nervously tugging at her sleeve, trying to free it.
"Who the hell are you anyway?" Blunt as always, Reina didn't cut corners when it came to speech. She pretty much spoke her mind most of the time.
"No one really...just a normal person..." Eri answered evasively, pretty much ready to rip her sleeve off in order to get free by now. The fact that Reina was standing well within range of her helped. She wouldn't make the mistake of leaving the wonky eyed girl in control enough to hurl another harpoon at her before she fled again.
"Come now, if you're going to lie, at least do it better!" Reina sounded bored already. Her battle harpoon was already fully lowered, clearly she didn't really classify Eri as much of a threat. The pirate girl hadn't actually seen Eri in action earlier anyway, since she had arrived late, so she didn't know what the other was capable of. Thus she was taken completely by surprise when Eri, with a sudden move, tore her caught sleeve off and freed her arm, even as she reached out with her other hand and grabbed Reina's harpoon arm, snapping it up and backwards unnaturally to make the surprised pirate drop her weapon with a sharp cry of pain. Her movement now unhindered, Eri then followed up by twisting Reina's arm around behind the pirate, forcing the younger girl against the wall she had only been so recently pinned against.
"Ow, fuck, that hurts!" Reina yelled angrily, upset that she had been taken off guard so quickly and thoroughly. Feeling slightly apologetic, Eri whispered a quick 'sorry' before delivering a light blow against the back of Reina's neck, sending the younger girl falling dazed to the ground. Eri hadn't really hit hard enough to send the pirate into full unconsciousness, since she hadn't really considered Reina to be an enemy, just an inconvenience.
Reina groaned weakly even as Eri took off again.
Next time...I'll get my revenge next time...oooh it hurts...~*~*~
Ai had retreated back into the kitchen, partly to escape Miki, but mostly because she wanted to brood in a familiar place. Ai was a person giving to thinking quite seriously about the things that bothered her, and while her life up to now hadn't given her much to think about really, recent upheavals had certainly served to turn her modest little world upside down.
Specifically, marriage. She wasn't quite sure about the legality of the whole thing, since she dimly recalled that ship captains could only perform binding marriages when aboard their own ship, and Nakazawa-san certainly hadn't been on her own ship when that crazy thing had come down. Of course, if she chanced to mention that, the pirate captain might just go chase after Risa, drag the poor girl back, and haul them both off to her own ship and redo the whole ceremony again. It was something that the decidedly eccentric woman would do, knowing her, so Ai decided to keep her mouth shut for the time being.
Ai wasn't sure what to do about Risa. She was honest enough with herself to admit that she liked the other girl, but was quite certain that she couldn't have fallen in love with the young sailor in so short a time. She found Risa endearing and likable, but not someone that literally made her heart skip a beat just because she was near.
As if trying to prove her wrong, her mind slipped back to the time in the cellar when Risa had pulled her down and...she blushed furiously, her heart rebelliously skipping a beat at the memory. It was a purely physical reaction, the barmaid reasoned to herself. It had nothing to do with actually having feelings for the other girl. Of course not. It couldn't be possible. Not at all.
Then her mind decided to wander back to the time when she had attacked Miki with her ladle while trying to save Risa, and it made her pause, frowning in concentration. Why had she done that? Trying to pick out the reason, she let her mind drift back to that moment once more. She had not wanted to see Risa hurt, that was for certain. But to be sufficiently empowered enough to actually attempt some sort of an assault on that terror of a groping demon? Armed with only a ladle, no less. The thought made her giggle, just a little. It had been terribly frightening for her then, to have actually hit
the Fujimoto with a ladle, but on retrospect now, it was pretty ludicrous. That Miki hadn't decided to turn her into a pincushion for her knives was a minor miracle in itself. The Fujimoto had done that to others for lesser reasons.
Her logic wasn't bringing her anywhere. She was just going around in circles trying to find a conclusion that was acceptable to her. And, she realised with a jolt, the acceptable conclusion she had been looking for would be that she felt nothing but friendship for Risa. The evidence in her head simply wasn't pointing very strongly in that direction though. With a slightly sinking feeling, Ai realised that in the aftermath of that first, awkward make out session she shared with the younger girl, she had wanted to do it again. Preferably with the same person. The thought made her flush deeply.
Oh my.
I'm not in love, I'm not in love, I'm not in love. She repeated to herself.
I'm just, um, in lust. Maybe. She smacked herself mentally for that. How was that any better?
Risa had said that she would not leave her behind, and the young sailor had gone after her superior officers to clear up the situation with them. Risa would come back for her.
Will you follow me back?The question rang in her head, the last thing Risa had asked of her. Would she follow the other girl, leaving the tavern and this town which she had lived for most of her life behind? Could she do such a thing? Ai was confused. She wanted to ask the other girl back.
Would you stay for me then?There was no real answer for either question, at least not now. No matter what the outcome though, Ai had just realised one thing. Both questions, one from each of them, had wanted the other to stay by their side. That, if nothing else, had to count for something. Right?
Sighing, Ai got up and started with her daily chores. All this thinking was starting to make her head hurt.
~*~*~
"You LET her go?! How could you!!!" Maki exploded at Natsumi, heedless of the rain as it poured down around them. Yuuki, in the background, tried to calm his sister down by taking hold of her raised arm, but Maki only shook it off angrily.
"Gottchan, listen...!" The First Mate was cut off halfway by the enraged young lieutenant.
"You let them take her! What kind of a friend are you?! Didn't the Admiral ask you to watch over his daughter? Is this how you look after someone?!" Maki lashed out blindly, viciously with her words, not mincing them in the least. It hit Natsumi hard, and stung her badly. How could Maki say that of her? Did the girl not understand what was truly going on?
"I'm going to go after them and bring her back." Maki spat angrily. "And I'll do it alone since you just left her like that!" The taller girl turned to leave, but was halted by a startlingly firm grip. Natsumi wasn't about to let Maki dive into a situation half-cocked without even knowing what was truly at stake here.
"No! YOU listen to me first!" Natsumi's voice was filled with steel. She didn't get to become a senior officer on just her looks alone. She had earned it, fought for it, every step of the way. This was the side of her that had won her the rank she had today. The side that rarely made itself known in front of her close friends, and was now showing in full force. You just didn't push Abe Natsumi around like that for so long and expect to get away with it.
Maki faltered at the uncharacteristically stern look on Natsumi's face, clearly unused to seeing her Nacchi suddenly look so fiercely at her. The smaller woman actually managed to seem truly threatening, and it wasn't something that Maki was used to. She had seen the many expressions Nacchi had on her face, even the more private ones during their nights together, but never anything like this. She actually appeared truly angry, frustrated, and disappointed with her.
"You, follow me." The commanding tone left no room for discussion, not that Natsumi gave her a choice in the first place, since the older woman practically dragged the younger one along behind her, heading for the captain's cabin. Yuuki trailed uncertainly behind the two, wanting to know what happened to their captain, but too frightened by the explosive dynamic between his sister and the First Mate to interfere between them directly. Probably a wise move too.
Finally out of the rain and dripping wet, the two officers faced off in the middle of the cabin. Yuuki silently closed the door behind them. No one else needed to witness their argument. It was bad for morale.
"Well, what?" Maki shook herself like a dog trying to dry off, only succeeding in whipping her wet hair around and splattering excess water all over the floor. Natsumi seemed heedless of the fact that she was drenched, while Yuuki surreptitiously fetched towels from the side and quietly handed one each to the both of them.
"Firstly, how
could you think that I didn't try to bring Aya back?" Natsumi was seething at this point, obviously deeply hurt that such a thing had been accused of her. "I tried, Gocchin, I TRIED. But she pulled rank on me!" Maki gaped at the revelation. "She what?!" Aya had never done that to either of them in her life so far. She commanded them with their loyalty and respect, but never by throwing her rank around. "But why?" Maki pressed.
Natsumi pressed a hand to her forehead. "That stubborn fool means to sacrifice herself so that the rest of us escapes the blame of the charges against us. She's taking the full responsibility onto her own shoulders, in exchange for the fact that we will not be implicated."
Maki's jaw worked soundlessly up and down. "That idiot!" She growled, then paused as something hit her. "Wait, what charges?"
Natsumi pointed wordlessly at the parchment, and Maki looked it over more carefully this time. Her eyes widened. "This is ridiculous. Of all the things to accuse us of, they accuse us of the one thing we
didn't do!" She scanned down a few more lines. "Wait, what the....how come Aya has more charges than the rest of us?"
"She is the captain, you know. Double responsibility and all that." Natsumi sighed. Maki shook her head. "No no, I mean this part." She pointed at a certain segment of the words that had been revealed when soaked in the rain. Natsumi checked, and her breath caught in her throat. "Oh crud...I didn't see that before..."
Yuuki cleared his throat timidly from a corner. "Um, what?"
Maki ignored her brother. "We need to get her back.
Now." She made for the door, but Nacchi caught her arm first. "Wait."
"What now? We can't wait any longer!" Natsumi had a very conflicted expression on her face. Aya had placed a duty on her, and despite all her instincts screaming at her to just put everything down and rush to the younger's rescue, her sense of responsibility was getting in the way. Damnit, Gocchin was never going to forgive her for this.
"We can't." Maki stared at Natsumi incredulously. "What, why?!" Natsumi squeezed her eyes close, her expression pained.
"Aya...Aya said that we should follow orders...bring everyone safely back home first. She doesn't want any of her crew being condemned. She wants them safe, and she needs us to bring them home in one piece, preferably alive and healthy. That's what she told me before she left with them." Natsumi opened her eyes, pleading for Maki to understand her reasons. "I can't disobey her that way...I owe her family too much..."
"And you will abandon her to her own fate? You will just let her bear the whole responsibility and die for it?" Maki asked in a sick voice. She shook her head. "I can't, I can't do that. I'm sorry, but I'm going after her." She tore her arm away from Natsumi's grip, batting the older woman's hand away when Nacchi tried to reach for her again.
"How do you expect to chase after them? They've already left the harbor." Natsumi's voice was cracked, but it was evident that she was suppressing her own inner pain and conflict to deal with the situation as rationally as she could. "I can't let you take this ship to chase after them. I won't."
Maki twitched angrily. "I'll think of something." Turning to Yuuki, who seemed ready to follow his sister wherever she went, Maki shook her head. "No, you stay behind."
"But why?" Yuuki looked a little outraged. "I care just as much about Aya as you do, and you ARE my sister, I can't just let you go on your own."
"You can and you will." Maki barked at her younger brother, who for once, didn't shrink back and instead glared back just as fiercely. Maki's eyes softened just a little at that. "Listen, little bro, at least one of us has to make it back home. I rather it be you, since you're the boy and the heir. Do you understand?"
"Don't talk like you're not coming back!" Yuuki looked upset already. Maki patted his shoulder comfortingly.
"I'll try my best to make it back, but there's no guarantee. In the meanwhile, I want you at least to be safe. Take care of father, understand?" Unable to disobey his elder sister, Yuuki hung his head. Maki ruffled the young man's hair affectionately. "Don't get all girly on me, you're the guy remember? Get your back up and act like a man."
For his credit, Yuuki did stuff away the imminent tears and stand up straight. "Take care sis. Go kick some ass." Maki smirked at that, gripping her brother's shoulder more firmly and and leaning in a little to whisper to him. "Take care of Nacchi for me, please." Yuuki nodded seriously, and Maki released him before heading for the door.
"You know that if you step out now, you're no longer a part of the Royal Navy." Natsumi said it quite flatly and unemotionally, keeping a tight rein in on her emotions. Maki barely paused in her stride, casting a brief glance backwards.
"I stopped being part of the Royal Navy the moment they screwed us over like this." Her voice softened slightly. "Take care of yourself Nacchi."
Natsumi didn't reply, but her knuckles were white as she clenched her fists and turned away from the door. Maki felt a painful twinge at the subtle rejection, then steeled herself before running back out into the rain, too many words left unsaid between them.
I'm sorry Nacchi...but I can't not go...please understand...~*~*~
The rain had come suddenly, keeping the pirates inside the tavern for now, since they didn't feel up to running around in the rain. Kei and Kaori had gone back earlier to the ship, not long after Reina had limped into the Sea Coconut sporting a sizable bruise across the back of her neck. The wonky pirate looked positively grouchy and slumped down in a corner without talking to anyone.
Risa had also returned some time before the rain fell, and had immediately gone off to look for Ai. As for what they were doing and where, no one except Ayaka knew (or cared, really). The proprietress was a bit confused to see them disappear into the cellar (for a talk, as Ai explained hurriedly to her boss before), but decided not to ask too many questions. She also decided not to question why the two were taking so long. Or why they looked suspiciously dishevelled when they finally did emerge. Some things were best left unasked.
About a couple of minutes after the rain began, the twins burst in, this time surprisingly from the front door. They didn't usually do that. Both were however, sporting large, knowing grins, which was not unusual in itself. It simply meant either that they were "up to something", or that they had found out about something. Either way, the other pirates would learn about it eventually, one way or another, especially if it's important enough to know.
"You won't believe..." Kago started, panting heavily.
"What we just saw!" Tsuji finished, shaking herself to get rid of the excess water. Ayaka frowned and fetched towels for the soaked twins, who accepted them gratefully.
"What now?" Yuko sounded bored. And slightly drunk, but that was hardly new. Tipsiness rarely posed a real threat to the pirate captain's focus anyway, at least not too much.
Kago gestured to Tsuji to start first while she caught her breath. The older of the two nodded.
"We saw some guy in a navy uniform!"
Yuko yawned. "Old news, next please."
"Huh?" Tsuji looked confused. Yossi decided to explain the short version of what they encountered earlier while the twins were out. A collective "oh..." between the two, then Kago frowned.
"But the guy we saw...he doesn't look like those people you were talking about!" Tsuji nodded. "He looks quite a bit older."
"Maybe he's one of the others from the same crew. How would I know?" Yossi shrugged. Rika bit her lip. "Umm..." Yuko raised an eyebrow in her direction. "Yes, was there something?"
"Just that...if our ex-navy people were right, they are outcasts and don't have to wear a uniform anymore." Rika fibbed slightly, since she couldn't very well tell them that Aya had ordered her men not to wear uniform, and thus whoever that the twins saw couldn't possibly be from her crew.
The others all blinked at that. "Well I'll never..." Yuko started, while Yossi looked at Rika admiringly. "You caught on to that very quickly." The young noblewoman shrugged nonchalantly, trying to play down the issue.
"Different crew then? Gee, our little port awash with the Royal Navy? Wouldn't have guessed." Miki said sarcastically as she continued sharpening one of her knives, testing the edge tentatively with her thumb. "Ouch." She stuck the thumb in her mouth.
"This could be a problem." Ayaka noted from behind the counter. "You don't think they're here for trouble...?"
Yuko snorted derisively. "Not without a whole armada they won't. They're not that stupid."
"Hey~~ Listen to us finish first!" Aibon called out above the assorted conversations. Reina, from her corner, gave them a grouchy look. "You mean you're not done yet?"
"Gee, what's eating you?" The younger twin shot back. Reina frowned and muttered something about crates, turtles, and crazy girls under her breath. Kago shrugged, losing interest just as quickly in order to return to her main topic.
"Anyway, yeah, so Navy Guy was down at the waterfront with this other huge man who looks a lot like him, just not in uniform." She went on, and Tsuji added. "Probably brothers or something."
"And that's important somehow?" Yuko asked skeptically. The twins shook their head. "No, wait." Tsuji then decided to take on the rest of the story.
"So we were on the sitting on the roof of the Sea Lion tavern a few streets down, and were kinda eavesdropping on them when they went down the alley next to us with this really hot girl..." Aibon cut in quickly.
"You know that one, the one that Miki was sucking face with earlier."
Silence. Miki leapt to her feet. "What?" The twins ssexy beasted at her reaction and Reina looked faintly amused. "Are you telling me Fujimoto scored again so quickly?"
"Shut up, you." Miki growled, then looked at the twins. "What happened next?"
Tsuji shrugged. "We couldn't hear them clearly cos the wind was a bit strong and all, but it didn't seem like a friendly conversation. They looked all upset and everything."
"And then and then, this other woman, she was one of those we saw earlier here, comes in too!" Kago added, bouncing from one foot to another. "And then the two women talked privately for awhile. We couldn't hear what they were saying, but the newcomer looked like she was about to cry." Tsuji nodded emphatically. "Yeah it's probably nothing good."
Yuko was looking intently at them. "And then?"
"Well, Miki's girlfriend leaves with the men, and the other woman hung around crying in the alley for a bit before she left too. We don't know what happened after that because we didn't follow them and it looked like it was going to rain soon, so we came back here." The younger twin looked impishly at her fellow pirates. "Interesting enough?"
Rika looked pale, and Yossi placed a hand over the other girl's. "Are you ok?" Rika looked slightly shaken. "Nothing...it's just..."
Miki turned on Rika with a fierce look. "Do you know something?"
Rika bit her lip again, uncertain. "It's just that...Matsuura-san might be in deep trouble." Yuko snorted again. "That's a bit obvious, isn't it?"
Rika shook her head. "No, I mean..." She turned to look at the twins. "Excuse me, but did you see if the men were holding any kind of scroll or parchment with them at that time?"
The twins shared a glance, before Tsuji answered. "Uh, I think so yeah...they handed it over later to the other woman though."
The noblewoman hissed, clearly worried now. "As I thought."
"Care to enlighten the rest of us?" Miki asked snappily. Rika looked up again. "The only reason why there would be someone from the Navy here right now would be to come after them. If I'm not wrong, they came to arrest her and her crew, but if I know Matsuura, and I think I do, she probably made a deal of some kind and turned herself in voluntarily in exchange for her crew's safety. I would have done the same if I were her..." She trailed off.
"In other words, they're no threat to the rest of us, is that it?" Yuko queried. Rika looked at the older pirate. "As you said, the Navy won't send anything less than an armada to take over this port, so their only purpose must have been to get them and get out. So no, no trouble for the rest."
"Then that's settled. None of our business." Yuko took a swig from her bottle casually. Miki frowned slightly, but forced herself to sit back down without a word. The knife throwing pirate was feeling somewhat irritated by the fact that she had saved Aya's life only for the girl to let herself get caught again. She had about half a mind to go out and rescue that headstrong young captain again, but as Yuko had wisely said, it really was none of their business. Pirates and navy didn't mix very well after all.
Their little moment of reverie was broken when someone else burst in through the front, eyes wild and dripping wet, startling the heck out of the occupants in the tavern.
"What the..." Miki started, one blade in hand ready to cast, before she recognised just who had burst in. There was no further preamble from the intruder, only a very flatly simple line.
"I need your help."
~*~*~
Aya didn't recall much of her escape from the ship. Only that she had run up onto the deck, encountering some startled sailors who tried to stop her, but she knocked them out without hurting them too much. She didn't want to kill people who were only just doing their job.
There had been nowhere to go after getting up on deck, since the ship had left port and were heading out to sea. The guards had been closing in, and so the only way to go was out. Into the sea.
She had dived cleanly overboard, quite thankful of the fact that there were no sharks around here, but the contact of seawater against her shoulder wound was shockingly painful. The bursts of gunfire after her dive underwater forced her to stay under the choppy waves, trying to put some distance between herself and the ship. The current had been strong, and the stormy sea made it difficult to go far very quickly, especially when her shoulder was hurting like crazy. Thankfully, the visibility had been cut down by virtue of the heavy rainstorm, so the naval crew hadn't been able to aim for her after she had managed to swim out a bit further.
Somehow, just somehow, she managed to put a decent distance between herself and the ship she had escaped from. The only real problem now was where she was. The sea was, after all, still choppy and stormy, and the rain made it impossible for her to tell which direction was land. She could keep treading water for now, but she couldn't do it indefinitely, and her shoulder was still killing her.
Exhaustion wore in quickly, and her vision was blurring in and out, even as she tried to float on her back to keep from sinking under the waves. The storm was not helping at all. Nor was the fact that she was still weak from the poison.
The last thing she had remembered before blacking out was the looming shape of another vessel closing in on her location...
=======================================
Mmhmm.
Yuuki: You are totally nuts, you know that?
Me: I have no idea what you're talking about ^_^
Yuuki: -_-# You know what I mean. You split my sister and Abe-san up!
Me: Yeah yeah, what are you going to do about that?
Yuuki: -rolls up sleeves- I'm going to teach you a lesson.
Me: Feh, like I'm scared of you, crossdressing boy.
Yuuki: What the...oh that is so it. Oy sis, care to help me beat Estrea up?
Maki: -walks up- Considering what she did to Aya... -demonic look-
Me: Oy, you can't...wait....no! NOT THAT!!! x____x
Topic: All Aboard! [Chapter 26! --sorry for the wait] (Read 100170 times)