She hadn't counted on Miki interfering of course. The knife-throwing pirate stealthily imposed herself between Aya and the broken doorway of the tavern, ignoring the death glares from both the young captain and a certain taller lieutenant behind her.
"Hold it." Aya levelled a stern gaze at Miki, who was impeding her exit. "What now?" Her voice was exasperated as she looked at the older girl.
"You're just going to leave without repaying your debt to me? You owe me your life you know." Aya frowned. She had almost forgotten that.
"I know that. But what do you want? I can't offer you anything else except my gratitude." Exasperation and irritation laced that voice. Miki smiled lazily.
"I haven't really thought of it yet...until I do, you should stay with me." Behind Aya, 2 pairs of eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Aya herself clenched her teeth together, grinding the molars against each other as she tried her best not to try and choke the person who had saved her life.
"I can't do that." Every syllable came out rather strained. Miki looked absolutely nonchalant and uncaring. "That's not my problem, is it? What about that supposed honor of yours? Aren't you people supposed to be really honorable and all that crap? Are you going to just skip out on this debt then?"
Direct hit. Natsumi winced for Aya's sake, and wondered if Aya might just decide to murder Miki on the spot to get out of her predicament, saviour of her life or not. People did have limits after all. The navy captain didn't show any outward sign of her inner conflict, but Natsumi knew Aya well enough to sense the murderous intent hovering around the younger woman.
Cool...keep cool...calm... Aya recited the mantra inside her head, knowing that losing it would only entertain that infuriatingly obnoxious pirate before her. Taking a deep breath, Aya tried to combat the overwhelming urge to whip out her gunblade and chop Miki into tiny pieces. Self-control won out, fortunately or not.
"I cannot, and will not, follow you. You are the most obnoxious, self-centered, and impossibly shameless person I've ever had the displeasure of meeting in my whole life up to now." Aya paused, savoring the twitchy expression on Miki's face, before continuing. "Unfortunately, it is a distinct misfortune of the times that I do owe my life to you, and while I acknowledge the debt and offer my gratitude, I cannot accede to your churlish request now. But trust that I will not forget the debt, and on my honor and that of my family, I will repay it one day. This I promise, that as long as I, Matsuura Aya am alive, I will repay that debt to you one day."
Given the state of her emotions, that was quite a speech by Aya, certainly one that would have made even her father proud. Miki, for her part, looked somewhat stunned due to Aya's less than flattering description of her personality. Somehow, hearing it being put that way from someone like Aya profoundly shocked the pirate. It just...hit her a lot harder than it would even if it came from someone else. Just the way she said it...
Taking the opportunity since Miki was distracted at the moment, Aya quickly pushed past her and went out, Maki and Natsumi tagging along behind, Natsumi nodding in farewell to the rest of the pirates, who were finding some amusement in Miki's current imitation of a stone statue. Risa, on the other hand, whispered a few quiet words under her breath to Ai, clutching at the older girl's hand and squeezing it comfortingly, before chasing after her superior officers.
By the time Miki had recovered from her trip to "What the fuck was that?"-land, Aya and company were already out of the tavern and several yards away. Incensed, the pirate dashed to the doorway and yelled.
"I'll get you for that!"
Without even sparing a glance backwards, Aya waved one hand dismissively. "I'll be waiting for it."
Turning around, Miki growled at her snickering shipmates. "Shut up, damn you." Her eyes strayed back to the departing group, or specifically, to one captain prodigy that had irresistibly captured her attention and sucked it in like a vortex with no return.
Damn her...~*~*~
Reina was whistling as she took the back alleys, crisscrossing the narrow lanes to get back to the wharves sooner after her second trip of the day to the blacksmith. The burly man had been greatly amused to see her back within 15 minutes of departing his smithy, but wisely chose not to comment further since the expression on the wonky-eyed girl's face was...unpleasant, to say the least. The inconvenience of having to retrace her steps didn't sit too well with her, even if she did get a bit of action with the little skirmish earlier.
Passing by the opening of another alley without a care in the world, Reina hefted her load of freshly repaired and newly made light harpoons, determined to get back to the ship to drop off the load. However, a strange movement in the alley she had just walked by caught her attention, and being a naturally curious person, the wonky eyed pirate couldn't help but slow and turn around to take a second look.
Weird. Nothing. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Just some abandoned crates and barrels, and piles of rubbish scattered in random piles, just like any other alley. Reina was sure she thought she had seen something move...but since there was nothing, she would go on...
Wait. Reina blinked and rubbed at her eyes with her free hand. Was she hallucinating? Did a crate just...move on its own? Her eyes wide, Reina watched as the crate in question jiggled to one side, shuffling across the ground like it was being moved. Except there was no one moving it. At least, no one that was apparent. Reina didn't really believe in ghosts, but she was willing to overturn that belief at the sight of the mysterious moving crate. It spooked her.
That last thought knocked some of her spine back into her. She wasn't a coward, damnit! There were no such things as ghosts! She was going to march right over there now and prove it. She would!
Feeling somewhat frightened by her own audacity, she reached over her shoulder to grab at her main weapon, the specially reinforced battle harpoon that was slung across her back. The weight of the familiar weapon lent her strength and courage, and slowly the wonky pirate advanced, her feet making very little sound on the floor as she moved closer to the independently moving crate that was currently shifting near the back door of some place.
A couple of feet away from the supposedly haunted crate, Reina paused, lifting her harpoon higher and shifting her grip, readying for a thrust to break the crate and prove once and for all that there were no ghosts in the world.
CREEEEAAAAK!!! The sound of splintering wood as the sharp end of the harpoon made contact was gratifying, but what Reina did not expect was the equally surprised yelp that squeaked from within the crate at the same time. Just when the pirate thought that perhaps ghosts really did exist, the crate fell apart sufficiently to reveal a crouching Eri...and the harpoon that had narrowly missed impaling the hidden girl's arm.
"What the hell are you doing?!" They blurted at each other at the same time. Eri shrank backwards, falling on her butt and wincing when some wood splinters poked her awkwardly. Reina just looked confused. What in the world was this girl doing, hiding in a crate and moving around with it on her like some kind of second shell? Even as she thought that, Reina voiced her opinion aloud.
"What are you, some kind of turtle? Crawling around with a crate on top of you!"
Eri blinked rapidly. "How did you..." Then pausing when she realised that someone just pulled the turtle reference to her again. Worse yet, this girl didn't even know her and she made turtle jokes too! Did the world hate her surname
that much?
Life just wasn't fair to her at all.
~*~*~
"How long before our preparations are complete?" Aya asked briskly as she paced the deck of her ship, glad to be back on it after so long. Well, technically, it hadn't been all that long, less than a day actually, but the string of events in between had stretched the hours a lot more than she liked.
"We need to round up the crew first I'm afraid, it's on a bit of a short notice. And we do have to finish up the repairs before we sail. We can leave earliest just before sunset, though in that case we might as well wait until the next morning before we sail out." Natsumi replied professionally as she checked her list. Aya sighed. "Can't it be any quicker?"
"Hey, we got that Ishikawa off our backs, so the bounty hunters won't be after us anymore." Maki commented as she stopped by her two comrades. Aya smiled tolerantly at the taller woman.
"That's not the point Gocchin. They still think she's with us, so if we leave quickly it would draw attention away from her. Might as well give her a bit of a breather and a headstart for them to start running before the bounty hunters catch on to the fact that their quarry's elsewhere already."
Maki shrugged with a sidelong glance at her captain. "How very nice of you."
"Well, might as well do her one last favor after wriggling our way out of protecting her." Aya said, turning to face the seaward side of the ship. "And there's also that thing with those attackers from last night...I wasn't lying about that part, we might actually be in trouble there..." With a frown, Aya fell silent, thinking about the implications.
"You don't think that really..." Maki began, but Natsumi shushed her with a look, trying to reassure Aya.
"Don't worry, I'm sure your family will be safe. Your household guards can take care of them if nothing else." Aya smiled at that.
"Yeah...Boss and the rest...they can take care of things..." The youngest of the trio looked distant for a moment. "I miss them." She admitted. "All of them."
"Well, take a break for now, we'll take care of things until we can sail." Natsumi said firmly. "It'll be a bit of a rush, but I'm sure we can make it out of port before the sun sets." Beside her, Maki nodded in agreement.
Unable to find the energy to protest, Aya acquiesced gracefully, leaving her officers to do the work. It would take a while, but she could wait. She trusted their ability after all.
An hour later, the sky had darkened, storm clouds gathering ominously overhead and obscuring the sun from sight. The sky was dark and heavy, with imminent threat of a fierce thunderstorm. Maki had gone to ask a resting Aya if they were to set sail even in a storm when their preparations were complete, and Aya, ever the reckless captain, insisted on their departure plans. Nothing short of a hurricane would change her mind on that matter.
A half hour after Maki's report, Aya got restless and went out of her cabin to check on the progress, and was met by Yuuki, who informed her that the repairs were almost complete, although Nacchi and his sister had personally gone out to help round up the stragglers before they actually set sail. The sky remained threatening overhead, with flashes of lightning and the roll of thunder rattling like a drum in the moist air. But there was yet no rain.
Impatient herself, Aya got off the ship, intent on seeking the other two out and get them back. Stragglers were secondary, what was important was getting her officers back on board so they could leave on schedule.
Maki came back to the ship first, with a couple of sailors she managed to find. Speaking to her younger brother, she learned that the captain had gone about a half hour ago, and that Nacchi hadn't come back from her search yet either. Yuuki then suggested that they complete the preparations while the others were away, so that there would be no delay when they returned. Shrugging, Maki agreed, beginning to oversee the operations as befitting her rank, ignoring the fact that the air was getting uncomfortably humid and thick as the moisture in the air built. Tropical storms were such unpredictable affairs some time, the lieutenant mused. Quick to build, and fierce when it broke, but ultimately it would clear as quickly as it came.
15 minutes later, the First Mate returned. She didn't find anyone else. But she was holding a piece of parchment, her face pale even as Maki hurried up to her, wondering what could be wrong. Wordlessly, the parchment was handed over, even as Natsumi said those fateful words in a cracked voice.
"She's not coming back with us."
The storm broke overhead, sending showers of rain down onto the face of the earth, in benediction or in lament, it could not be known. Only that the sky wept in unrelenting torrents, echoing the hearts of the mortals it gazed down upon.
As if it would never stop, as if it would endure forever...
-----------------------------------
I repeat, no one kill me after Miki nearly murdered me at the end of last chapter!
Maki: And I will do what she failed to do, you little twerp of a director.
Me: What do you mean, twerp?! And why do you want to kill me? o_o
Maki: What did you do to Aya, you nutso?
Me: Well, you just have to wait like everyone else to find out.
Maki: I guess I have to do this the hard way... *rolls up sleeve*
Me: *pales* Oh...shi....nooooooooo dooooooooooooooon't!!!!
-screen fades out-
Topic: All Aboard! [Chapter 26! --sorry for the wait] (Read 137903 times)