Pirates of the Arisu :: 5th Storm :: The King and I
Title: Pirates of the Arisu
Genre: Alternate Universe, BL&Yaoi, Action&Adventure, Comedy/Crack, Slight Drama&Angst
Pairings: ShouxHiroto, mentioned AoixKai, etc.
Summary: Kohara Kazumasa had a dream to sail the seas and explore every bit of land he could. He shared that dream with Ogata Hiroto and made a promise to come back for him. When he finally did, he decided that he can't possibly go back to Kohara Kazumasa and took on the name "Shou" -- the captain of a pirate crew -- with his own agenda.
Warnings: Sexy Shou in one hell of an eyepatch and mild language. XD
Prologue - 01 - 02 - 03 - 04
5th Storm :: The King and I
Hiroto sat in the room all by himself. Isolated. Pissed. Fuming.
"DAMMIT POSEIDON!" Hiroto found himself shouting. "WHY THE BLOODY HELL DID THIS HAPPEN TO ME?!" Well, at least he successfully infiltrated the palace (in a way). Shou and Tora and the others had to be proud of him for that...although it was completely unintentional. The storm seemed to have swiped him away farther than the others--to the point where he was in front of an officer named Byou.
The brunet had a glare to his image (literally, Byou just wouldn't stop glaring!), and Hiroto saw that he, evidently, took his job seriously. That was the reason as to why he was standing in front of Hiroto's temporary door--guarding it so he'd be under house arrest. The thief wiggled his way under the covers, pulling it over his head and burying his face into the pillow.
It was a lot better than Shou's bed.
Click.
His highly-sensitive ears twitched. That was definitely the door. Who was it? He slinked over to the edge of the bed, where he stashed his most important weapons--the ones that he definitely couldn't let Byou and the others take. He grabbed the nearest weapon close to his hand--a ninja star. Well, it wasn't too bad. Hiroto squiggled right back to the center of the bed--ninja star right under his pillow.
The mattress near his feet swallowed lump of weight--it wasn't too heavy. Hiroto furrowed his eyebrows. It couldn't be Byou. Being a marine, Byou was probably 180 pounds. (That was probably an exaggeration.) Probably isn't, Hiroto thought to himself, at least, I hope so. Byou didn't seem like the man to be screwing around with. Now I have to pray that it isn't someone scarier than Byou.
"Uhmmm..." the stranger started. Hiroto felt a shaky breath escape his throat. God, he sounded like an angel! His voice was more feminine than Shou's, but it was still beautiful. "I'm Takeru, and who may you be?" Hiroto pulled the covers away from his head, leaving behind his ninja star for a bit. Big brown eyes met smaller, almond shaped black eyes. Hiroto pursed his lips. Even this person--this Takeru--looked angelic.
"Hiroto," the thief responded. "Are you...a marine?"
Takeru grinned and shook his head. "Nope! Rather, our little island likes travelers as long as they don't steal anything valuable and trash the village and kingdom itself."
Hiroto raised an eyebrow--finding less need to use the ninja star at this moment. After a while, he questioned the blonde further, "Then...who are you?"
"I'm in charge of this island," Takeru replied before quickly looking away--as to, perhaps, avoid Hiroto's shocked gaze.
"Huu~~ Is that so? You're really young though! How old are you? Nineteen?"
Takeru blinked twice before giving Hiroto a bewildered glance, which Hiroto only brushed aside carelessly. "Y-Yeah... You're not surprised that you're meeting the King?" Takeru queried.
Hiroto tilted his head to the side, matching up with Takeru's cuteness. "Should I be?"
Takeru chuckled and shrugged. "Normally, people would be," Takeru responded.
"But I've already met kings--I've had to steal from one, too," Hiroto mentioned with a smirk. "Aren't you scared? You invited a thief into your household."
Takeru also tilted his head to the side, mimicking the pirate, before smiling. "It's fine. I already know that you won't steal anything--yet anyways. Plus, I don't mind if you steal from our treasure room in the palace. There's nothing valuable in there anyways."
Hiroto arched an eyebrow before lying back down onto the bed, wiggling around to get comfortable.
"You're weird," Hiroto commented.
Takeru smiled. "You're weird, too," Takeru retorted. "Hiroto-san, I'll help you find your comrades. I vow on my name to help you find them--we are friends now, right?" Hiroto sighed. Friends with a member of the royal family? Hiroto thought to himself, That's a little strange for a pirate. However, the thief could only smile as he buried his face into his new pillow. He was delighted.
"Thank you," was the only thing he could say before falling asleep.
What a rough day... Hiroto grunted.
"Hiroto!" his mother called out as she pulled him back. She couldn't let him go any further on the dock, knowing that--with his stubbornness--he'd probably jump into the sea. "Hiroto, stop that!"
"Kazumasa-kun! Kazumasa-kun!" Hiroto cried over and over as he flailed his arms rather dangerously, tears itching his eyes. He couldn't let his first friend go off like that. Originally, he was a shy and quiet boy, stuck in his shell, but, somehow, Kazumasa was able to make him cry and whine and yell and shout and laugh and smile. "Come back!"
The scene was wiped away by a white light. Hiroto was no longer a little boy. He was sixteen, still stuck on the biggest island of Japan--Kantou. This older Hiroto stood on a ship, but it wasn't the S.S. Hofu at all. It was the ship he had boarded with Kazumasa...
Before long, a familiar face came into view, smiling at him, promising everything would be alright.
"Kazumasa-kun!" he wanted to cry out, but he couldn't. Was this person really Kazumasa-kun? Sure, he had arrived the same way as the boy from approximately eight years ago...but that couldn't possibly mean--
"SHOU!"
Hiroto panted.
What was that?
[SHOU]
Of course the locals would stare. We didn't have time to cover up Nao's pink hair, after all. As we walked along, Tora kept griping about how we should have found black berries to dye Nao's hair to something near black, brown, or even blue or purple (because, I mused to myself bitterly, blue and/or purple is much better and way more normal than pink). On the other hand, Saga would occasionally stare at all of the fruits and grains and meats that they had in the marketplace--and life got worse when we stopped by the plaza, where there was a wishing foutain (the idiot dropped one of our many gold coins into the water and wished for a better stove).
I started to doubt that they were taking this mission seriously.
"Hey, but we're on Royale SuGizo," Nao chirped, attempting to cheer me up. "There's tons to do here with Pon! I'm sure the little one is alright; I mean, it is Pon. We'll meet up with him in no time!"
Then there were whispers about how we kidnapped a "little one" that managed to escape behind us. Thanks Nao for your brilliant outburst.
"SHOU-CHAAAAAAN~~"
I turned around, immediately, as my eyes widened.
Was that a bear?!
"SHOU-CHAN! COME BACK!" a brunet cried as he desperately chased after the wild animal. "TAKERU WON'T BE HAPPY--SHOU-CHAN! STOP!"
I couldn't help but laugh as a wet tongue licked at my skin. I couldn't even guard myself against this bear! I couldn't even bring myself to guard my face from it! If only Hiroto was here... I wonder how the little squirrel would react. The brunet was able to pull the cub off of me before I started imagining that it was Hiroto licking me. He bowed his head and apologized over and over until I reassured him that it was alright.
"Is this your bear? It is natural to have bears as pets here?" I inquired curiously.
The brunet laughed before shaking his head. "No. I don't think it's natural anywhere to have little bear cubs as pets. This is actually my master's," the brunet replied.
Tora was the one who took over the investigation this time. "Master?"
He nodded before clarifying for us--saying that he was a servant. He eyed us a bit suspiciously before asking if we were travelers. That was partly correct. After all, we did travel. Besides, if we said that we were pirates then there's a 50% chance that we'd be kicked out. Pirates were rather well-known for their acts of robbery and greed. We weren't completely like that. Yeah, we do steal, but we do know when to stop and all.
That's why I ended up responding with a rather weak, "Yeah..."
He smiled.
He knew something.
"Is that so? Uhm... If you need anything at all, or if you're missing a person, then you can go to the palace and ask for Shinpei--that's me. I'll help you out," Shinpei promised before clutching the bear and running off. In the distance, we heard him scold the young cub along the way.
"Palace, huh?" Nao mused. "We have to keep that in mind--connections to high places can only last so long, hmmm?"
But there was one thing with his statement that just bothered me. That Shinpei smiled, and he mentioned that. He obviously knew something that could be related to us--or maybe even one of us.
"'If you're missing a person,' was what he said," Saga brought up to light. I was sure that Saga and Tora had understood my thoughts, but we were a little weary on what Nao was thinking about--or if the pink haired pirate had understood anything at all. "It's almost as if he knew we were missing a crewmate."
"No," I spoke up, "I think he does know where Hiroto is."
"What do we do, Captain? Your wish is our command," Tora stated.
There was a moment's pause in the air. Silence had nearly swallowed me, threatening to take away my voice and the confidence that went with it. Only silence couldn't steal anything from me because I had already made my decision.
"Let's go to the palace," I declared with as much strength I could muster.
There was no way I was going to lose Hiroto--ever.
Tora and Saga began to ask the natives about the palace's location. Nao and I ended up scouting the area together, mapping any geographical figures that were of any importance. We met up at Saga's wishing fountain within half an hour and exchanged information. Nao finished sketching out our map before tracing out our best route.
Then Saga brought up an excellent question, "Why are we planning a route? It's not like we're going to infiltrate it if we can just ask for Shinpei and get some information."
I deadpanned. "Let's just use this route since we spent thirty minutes on it."
And so we trekked over to the palace, exchanged a few words with the guards, and was about to be scanned for weapons until a voice interrupted us once again.
"SHOUSUKE!"
I gasped before a familiar little bear cub pounced on me again.
Another person pulled him off this time--a blonde with cuteness rivaling that of Hiroto's (although Hiroto still held onto my heart). He smiled with woe, regret, and guilt all evident in his expression before apologizing. "I'm Takeru. Shinpei's out running errands right now, so I figured I should greet his guests. You are?"
"I'm Shou," I introduced myself without my title for a certain reason (I was a bit of a pacifist), "and who are you?"
"Your Highness!" another voice cried out before revealing himself as an elegant brunet. "Captain Byou is growing aggravated with your new friend," he informed. "It seems that the captain is nearly close to maiming him for giving him hints on how to shoot his gun because, as Leiutenant Manabu claims, he keeps missing the very center of the target by 5.5 millimeters." The royal advisor stopped upon seeing us. He glanced at the king. "Are these...?"
The king grinned. "Evidently," he replied before turning his attention back to us, "I'm Takeru! Do you know a person named Hiroto?"
My eyes narrowed.
"Did you capture him with your navy?"
Takeru only giggled before shaking his head. "Of course not! I have a pirate friend out at sea as we speak! Well, he's not completely friendly, but I managed to get on his good side--somehow," Takeru chirped. "Hiroto-chama is in the marines' training yard because he wanted to see how strong our navy was." Takeru bounded up the stairs behind him, standing right next to his royal advisor. "Come! Masato and I will show you the way! Oh, and, if you want to see Shinpei, he should be with Hiroto-chama--watering the flowers with the gardeners."
As he gave us a mini tour of a section of the palace on the way, I couldn't help but brush his words aside carelessly. Even though they might help me later on in the future, I couldn't help but only think about Hiroto. It might be dangerous for us to stay longer. We just wanted to loot some treasure and then leave. Although the king claimed that he didn't mind "travelers," I couldn't help but feel that most of the navy he had felt differently.
And that feeling grew stronger when I saw a shirtless brunet pinning Hiroto to the wall with an angry expression. No, angry was an understatement. He looked furious, flaming, and--overall--pissed off. Hiroto, on the other hand, only had a face of defiance. He was trying to break free, but he couldn't. His arms were even shaking.
"FUCK OFF, BYOU!" he screamed before getting out a pained yelp as Byou tightened his grip.
That was it.
This Byou was on my shit list--target number one.
A/N: Man, I haven't updated in a while. :P
--Next Chapter!!-->