[Talk Like a Pirate Day] Chapter 7: "Futtock Shrouds"
STORY TITLE: "Talk Like a Pirate Day"
CHAPTER: 7 - "Futtock Shrouds"
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 applies to the work as a whole and may not be depicted equally in every chapter)
RATING: PG. Would be G, but some "stylized" violence is depicted, along with one incident of foul language.
WARNINGS: 1) Pirates. 2) Ninjas. 3) If I mock X, it's only because I love it so.
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...
Meanwhile, when sending Kurogane a challenge, Fai insists upon sending the very best.
Previously...
1: Ahoy, Matey!
2: Drivelswigger
3: Jolly Roger
4: Shot Across the Bow
5: Batten Down the Hatches
6: Athwartships
Futtock Shrouds (n) pieces that join the rigging of lower and top masts
The deck was much more pleasant than the brig inside had been. Well, of course it was. But as long as she had Syaoran with her, the prison hadn't felt confining, just uncomfortable. Outside, the wood she sat on was weathered, washed and smooth, with not a splinter to be felt, and the air was so fresh. After smelling nothing but dank, stale brig except when they were allowed out for dinner, the stiff sea breeze along the coastline was like heaven.
Actual heaven would have been leaning her head on Syaoran's shoulder to watch the waves curl and cap themselves with white foam in the dark distance, letting the roar of the water and the rock of the boat lull her to sleep. But how could she? Syaoran had insisted that she wasn't to take a turn on watch all the days they'd been captive -- that it was his responsibility -- and so he hadn't taken even a nap the whole time. Now that Kurogane had come to help them fight their way home, she had to be awake and ready to go. More than that, she had to be ready to give both ninja her all.
Several yards away, Kurogane was doing his part by staring down the quiet gentleman before they started their climactic battle scene (as Tomoyo liked to call moments like this when she staged adventure plays). She and Syaoran had the two young brigands, then. The mission they'd been signaled was simple, too: look for a way to escape. It was a difficult to see how they'd get past the two deckhands who'd been drafted to keep an eye on them without a fight, so she might have to do more than stay out of harm's way while Syaoran and Kurogane took care of it. That was okay. She could do what she had to do. No matter what, they'd absolutely be all right.
Blocked in by the boy with long, light brown hair and a bandana on their left, and by the boy with darker hair and a pierced ear on their right... Lanterns held to the sides, making a sort of prison of light to keep Syaoran from melting into the shadows and taking her with him... Not being allowed to conk the watchmen on the head and start trouble while Kurogane was preparing to duel someone very scary...
This wasn't going to be as easy as beating Syaoran at Go Fish, but they could make it work.
"Would they get to it already?" the pirate on her left asked. "It's lookin' to storm, and I've got better things to do than ninja-sit."
Syaoran's eyebrow twitched at that, but he kept his focus locked on the two men who really might've broken into a battle at any moment. One of Syaoran's jobs was to always know what Kurogane wanted them to do, and he wouldn't be thrown off by the sky looking threatening or the clouds blocking the moon. Not like the pirate crew -- most of the bandana'd and bedraggled sailors had gone running off to hide when the four of them came up on deck, saying a big fight with no moon was one too many bad omens for bearing. Their two guards had been the only ones left standing, which made them the bravest (among pirate underlings, at least, since no one could match Syaoran for that).
The pirate on the right, the one to whom the lord had handed his violin, laughed off his friend's grumbling. "Come on, Asagi. You know what badasses are like. It's always stare, stare, stare, til they think they know what the other guy's gonna do. And then -- bam! Blink and you'll miss 'em."
"I'm just sayin', no one on the 'Dragon of Earth' pulls this shit. They attack, you're dead, and that's that. Man alive, when am I gonna get promoted off this ship?"
"Promoted? You're crazy, wanting to serve over there. A few planks short of a fo'c'sle, not that you asked me."
"Watch who you're talking to, Segawa," the boy in the bandana snarled, summoning a little whirling mass of water like a top, then forming it into a blade in his hand.
The one with the earring leaned back against the wall, content to ignore the threat. "You know they don't need crew, I assume. But you let me know when you make lord class, okay?"
She'd always listened very carefully to the way challengers talked before they went in for training fights at home, and was quite sure based on how these fellows spoke that Syaoran could have taken both the young men in under a minute. But they couldn't do that yet. Kurogane had given extremely specific instructions. 'Don't move,' he'd said, and when ninja said 'Don't move,' they meant, 'I can't risk this fight while protecting you.'
But she could already tell the Sumeragi was serious business.
So they'd be good. Then, there was no question, Kurogane could get them out. Fighters who visited Tomoyo's palace on training visits never lasted more than three seconds against Kurogane, even when they could make Syaoran fall back on his lightning element spells. If the Sumeragi were as strong as everyone seemed to think he was, the two of them might really end up having one of the storybook battles Tomoyo-chan liked so much. It was too bad she wasn't here to see it in person.
"Say, Syaoran..." she whispered. Even if his eyes were forward, she knew he was listening. "If he doesn't carry a sword, that means he's a spellcaster, right? He doesn't look like the brawling type to me." The man in white was quite elegant, in fact. Brawlers were never that elegant.
"That'd be my guess," Syaoran answered softly.
On the right, the cheerful boy laughed out loud and winked at her. She must have been talking too loud. "Only the best spellcaster ever," he said, ignoring his shipmate's mutterings about 'second best, you mean'. "Good eye, there, lass."
"Kindly address the Princess as, 'My lady', pirate, or--"
"Or as Sakura!" She smiled and pulled Syaoran back by the arm before he did something silly like picking a fight over a name. Tomoyo had declared her a Princess, to be sure -- making up new stories and costumes every other day for what country she might have come from -- but there was no need for all the fuss. It wasn't like any imperial family they knew of was missing anyone for her to be a real princess. "It's okay, Syaoran. I don't mind."
Meanwhile, she used the code he'd taught her, forming her hand into the signal to look for an escape point and pressing it against his palm. He knew they weren't supposed to do anything to keep the guards' attention, so they could get away with as little fuss as possible. Ninja were at their best when people were overlooking them, after all, just as pirates specialized in being too theatrical for anyone to pay attention to anything else. Naturally, his face went all red. Syaoran didn't always like it when she held his hand. "I'm sorry, Princess. Of course."
"Hey, chin up, kid." The pirate rapped Syaoran lightly on the shoulder (her bodyguard endured that valiantly, with only a small grimace) and gave her a nod. "I confess, milady. Cap'n Arisugawa gave orders you're to have rank from us. But since you were so kind, I'm Segawa Keiichi, at your service," he finished with a wink.
The surlier pirate cleared his throat and jerked his chin at the deck. "Quit swingin' the lead, all of you, or you won't know to duck when the sky starts falling."
Sure enough, it looked like the fighters were nearing the end of the 'staring menacingly' phase of battle. You could always tell when combatants were fully powered-up by the faint whirlwinds stirring up the dust around their feet and making their clothes billow ever so slightly. In the Sumeragi's case, the short shoulder capes on his greatcoat fluttered just as much as the hem, and the grey plumes on his hat bobbed proudly -- though he didn't seem to fear the hat itself coming off as she would've done if there'd been a real wind like that. Sakura retraced all the parts of his outfit in her head a second and third time, making sure she could remember it for later. Tomoyo would absolutely want to see a sketch of any outfit that moved that way. And she couldn't forget to include the glowing, greenish-white pentagram the Sumeragi had manifested, either. All spellcasters who were fighting seriously really ought to have magic circles, Tomoyo insisted. Syaoran used paper charms instead, of course, but he was primarily a swordsman. They had different rules.
The Sumeragi's spell didn't seem to need a chant (of which Tomoyo might think poorly, but she'd have to give him full marks for posing with his coat blowing out full circle), so it was easy to hear the soft pop of air rushing in on where Kurogane had been. He and his sword flickered out of sight, not leaving a trace to show which direction he might have gone. Half a breath later, like a sudden rainstorm, glimpses of Kurogane -- here and then there before the previous image could fade -- flitted into view with his sword slicing down toward the pirate. The bolts of light that stopped Ginryuu traced out a perfect sphere around the Sumeragi and the deck of the ship tremored all the way to where they sat watching. No one dared speak a word just yet.
She squeezed Syaoran's hand again, sensing an impact coming in her gut. The sparks all around the pirate lord flashed brightly enough to hurt and turn the whole scene white, but she couldn't close her eyes. Kurogane was fighting for them. The least she could do was pay attention. The sound hit a stuttered instant after the light, while the scattered afterimages of Kurogane's attack were wiped clean out of the air. As the whiteness faded and the deck washed back into view, Sakura could see waves churning all around the hull of the ship from the violence of the shock -- and still the feather in his hat was only nodding.
If Kurogane hadn't been sure to succeed in his rescue, she would have wanted to ask later how pirates kept their hats in place like that. They couldn't have been pinned, since the men and ladies both took them off for bowing and such. Maybe next time she got kidnapped, she'd find out.
"Does he really think he can get through the Sumeragi's barrier with a sword?" Asagi muttered. "I kind of expected more sense, bein' a legend and all."
Keiichi turned to Syaoran while they waited for Kurogane to reappear. "Hey, kid. That sword -- Ginryuu, right? Is it enchanted or something? The stories weren't exactly clear."
"That's because he's a ninja," Syaoran answered. Ninjas took a great deal of care, she knew, to keep their reputations as shadowy as pirates' were shameless.
As for Ginryuu, Syaoran's own family had made it -- though one of Tomoyo's ancestors had given it to Kurogane's family generations ago. As the personal ninja of the imperial family, the Li clan had designed countless weapons and artifacts, none of whose powers had ever been revealed to anyone but the bearer. Not being the bearer, Sakura hadn't gotten clear details, but the Li were descended from Mihara Ichirou, who was said to have been a son of the god Clow Reed and who may have forged Ginryuu himself. If any sword could break through a spell like the Sumeragi's, that would be the one.
Kurogane stayed hidden, wherever he might be, and the Sumeragi still stood in his place on deck, slowly turning his head to scan the area with his mouth drawn tight. All around the ship, the swirls of wind that seemed to come from nowhere twisted into ribbons of water and formed whirlpools midair. Their appearance seemed to set the pirate more on guard, so they must have been Kurogane's doing. Sure enough, the streams coiled outside the gentleman in white's magic barrier into six watery forms -- each one shaped like a ninja charging with a sword drawn.
And for each form, the pirate threw a paper charm: five of the water ninja splashed into puddles on the deck, and the sixth took on Kurogane's proper appearance.
Just at that moment, Ginryuu surged through the barrier, throwing sparks in every direction. The glowing circle dissolved (and the flashing lights with it) when the Sumeragi dodged. He took a quick step along Kurogane's line of attack, barely avoiding the sword, then...
Flickered.
And appeared an instant later on the other end of the deck.
"What the hell?" Syaoran muttered softly. "What's a pirate doing flicker-stepping?"
"Do you hear us complaining about your ninja using a sword?" Asagi shot back.
Neither of their guards seemed surprised, either, when the Sumeragi and his newly reilluminated magic circle levitated off the deck -- all the way up the the height of the crow's nest on the main mast. She'd seen some pretty impressive jumping around the dojo back at the palace that necessitated the five-story ceilings, but this gentleman was clearly floating. That, Sakura was quite sure she'd never seen. Kurogane appeared to be cursing to himself as he dashed toward the side of the ship and bounded into the air. Well, at first, anyway. Once he got going, she could only see the black lines showing where he'd been as he ricocheted between masts to approach the Sumeragi.
"Syaoran," she whispered as quietly as she could. "Can all pirates fly?"
"I don't know. I've never fought a pirate lord. But... normal pirates don't."
More paper charms flew from the pirate's hand, meeting the ninja when he turned and exploding in the flash of a swordblade. Kurogane's path seemed to cross where the pirate was hovering several times, but without much effort the Sumeragi edged out of his way and continued his barrage of spells.
"Flying looks pretty overpowered to me." Sakura tugged on Syaoran's sleeve and leaned closer to his ear. "You should learn how, too."
He nodded with his eyes going wider every time the man in the white coat dodged like a firefly flitting around the sky. "Yes, my lady. As soon as possible."
"And then you can teach me?" When Syaoran's only answer was to look concerned in her general direction, she smiled back at him. "Or if I learn first, I'll be sure to teach you!"
"... Yes, my lady. Though I hope you won't be fighting, Princess."
Before she could answer, the bright flash of a blade struck through some of the rigging and the blur of Kurogane leaping toward the deck pulled it down after him like a net. The Sumeragi dropped down quickly, and another wordless flash of light dissolved the ropes to dust, but Kurogane was ready for the moment his barrier dropped. Ginryuu swung straight under the pirate's arms toward his chest as he appeared in the scattering ropes.
Then, quickly enough that the pirate's afterimage still lingered while the dust settled, the Sumeragi flickered out and reappeared behind Kurogane. One slice to the neck with the lord's hand glowing the same greenish-white as his magic circle, and the ninja flew forward. Luckily, Kurogane was no normal man, or he might have easily fallen unconscious. Being at the top of his profession as he was, he managed to break into a roll and stand to face his opponent without the least delay. She could even hear the power-up wind surging this time as they both gathered their strength for another round.
"Great. More staring," their surlier guard muttered. "Is this really necessary?"
All of a sudden, while the two combatants locked eyes and settled into their guards, flecks of something white drifted down from the sky, practically glowing against the dark backdrop of the clouds and the churning waves. Ash or snow would have been her first thought, but Sakura knew she would have smelled something burning so near, or would have been able to feel much more cold in the air if the weather had been right for snow. However, when the breeze blew the flecks close enough to see properly, she was no less confused.
Petals. And the occasional full blossom, intact.
But there weren't any trees in blossom on the beach for a rain of petals to have reached them, let alone this many.
"Sakura?"
She whipped her head towards Syaoran, ready to exclaim -- he'd finally used her name without calling her 'Princess'! But she bit her tongue when she saw the shape of the petal he'd caught out of the wind.
He'd meant the flower. Darn it.
Her ninja looked more confused than she could remember seeing in years. "How can there be sakura blossoms? It's the middle of summer."
"Oh, he does that," Keiichi answered, waving his hand at the Sumeragi. "Whenever things get dramatic. I thought from the way you fight you'd be used to people summoning stuff."
"By channeling elemental ki, and I'd be able to tell if he were doing it. He's not."
Well, maybe the atmospheric sakura was another special pirate skill, like the flying. Pirates were more prone to showmanship than ninja were. But she didn't mention to Syaoran that she thought the shower of blossoms was sort of pretty, in that not-really-ninja-y, ostentatious way.
"Just be glad it's not Lord Shirou fighting," Asagi said, stretching out his legs and leaning his head back on his hands. "Feathers. Everywhere."
The nice pirate's head whipped around as fast as could be. "Hey! Kamui's feathers are awesome!"
"Right, I forgot. You're friends with Death Shirou, and I'm the one who's crazy."
While the pirates bickered, Syaoran squeezed her hand and nodded at Kurogane across the deck. The dark-haired ninja locked eyes for just a moment and as he lifted his sword into a one-handed stance formed his other hand into a signal.
I'll distract them.
Sakura swallowed a gasp, pulling up one of her legs so she could stand quickly even before Syaoran made the symbol for "Get ready to run" in her palm. To send a signal like that... Kurogane didn't think he could win? Well... the lords were the best among pirates, she supposed. And the Sumeragi could fly.
"I'm just sayin', the feathers are a bitch to clean. With sakura petals, you get them wet and they come right up with a stiff broom."
"Okay, I'll give you that--"
Both of the deckhands fell silent and pale as Kurogane summoned a wave out of the ocean that stood slightly taller than the masts, surging up behind him as if waiting for his signal.
Keiichi looked back and forth between the wave and Asagi, then hissed, "Is he trying to capsize the ship?"
"Lord Sumeragi would never let that happen. See?" And even as Asagi spoke, the pirate lord's glowing pentagram spread out around the whole boat, and the wave crashed down around it. For a moment, the entire scene seemed encircled in a sphere of churning seawater, but not a drop fell through. Those few seconds were all Kurogane needed to charge the pirate -- now inside his barrier -- though Sakura wasn't sure how this was going to help them escape. The crewmen set to keep watch on her and Syaoran didn't seem any less alert than before, and if the Sumeragi could keep swords from breaking into his shields, she had to assume he could keep fleeing captives from breaking out of the them.
The flash of the sword and the flicker of their bodies was too fast for Sakura's eye to see -- a blur of motion that wouldn't let the dust lay still in the tattered wreck of the ship's rigging. And then, just as suddenly as they'd moved at each other, they were still. Kurogane was down on one knee, the pirate standing behind him with a handstrike paused just a hair from his shoulder. Ginryuu's blade was stopped no further from the Sumeragi's neck, gleaming in the darkness like a lighthouse warning sailors to hold their distance.
No sudden movements now. Kurogane stood, and the two fighters turned about each other with slow, even steps circling around. Both pulled back into their stances, smooth and strong and with no focus in the world save what was before their eyes. A rolling wind pushed a cloud of sakura petals between them. They billowed and swelled, and the Sumeragi's lunge forward sent the pink storm spiraling outward. Answering at the same instant, Kurogane whipped his sword into a high block above his head and yelled out in a voice fit to shame thunder.
"Parlay!"
The pirate lord froze in his step and all the floating petals fell to the deck in heaps. It was a good thing Syaoran noticed one of their guards kick over a lantern in surprise and was sure that moment was the moment to run. Sakura had been so busy thinking, "Huh?" that she'd forgotten to do more than stand. But her ninja pulled her into a nearby shadow, and they raced as fast as she was able for the edge of the deck. If they'd waited another second, they would have been caught by the nice crewman, Keiichi, without a doubt.
He turned to the surly crewman to ask, "Did he just say what I think--"
"Yeah, he really did. Oh, what now?"
"Asagi, they're gone."
"They're... what?!" The watercaster whipped his head back at the place where she and Syaoran had been sitting a moment ago, then threw his bandana to the deck when he saw the empty space. "Goddamn fucking ninja!"
They were almost to the wall now. With Syaoran slipping them both through the shadows, they'd be invisible to most eyes -- as good as home -- so she chanced a quick glance backwards. It looked like the Sumeragi (who even managed to look elegant in his expression of silent, wide-eyed shock, which was quite impressive) had dropped his barrier from around the ship. The faint, greenish glow was completely gone. The pirate himself didn't shift an inch from where he'd frozen mid-attack. "Excuse me," he asked, the sound reaching her ears clearly despite the distance now that all the combat winds had fallen still. "Did you just say... parlay?"
"What does 'parlay' mean?" she whispered to Syaoran as he helped her up onto the wall. Her bodyguard shook his head as he prepared them both to dive over the edge, looking just as confused as the Sumeragi and the two crewmen combined.
"I have no idea."
continued in...
8: Hornswaggle
9: Well, Blow Me Down [ full - explicit/ edited - PG 13]
10: Davy Jones
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AUTHOR'S NOTES
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Well, the faster I get back to writing it, the faster it'll be written. My heartfelt thanks go out to sumeria as always for her help beta-ing these stories into shape.
Questions? Comments? Thank you for reading!!
CHAPTER: 7 - "Futtock Shrouds"
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 applies to the work as a whole and may not be depicted equally in every chapter)
RATING: PG. Would be G, but some "stylized" violence is depicted, along with one incident of foul language.
WARNINGS: 1) Pirates. 2) Ninjas. 3) If I mock X, it's only because I love it so.
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...
Meanwhile, when sending Kurogane a challenge, Fai insists upon sending the very best.
Previously...
1: Ahoy, Matey!
2: Drivelswigger
3: Jolly Roger
4: Shot Across the Bow
5: Batten Down the Hatches
6: Athwartships
Futtock Shrouds (n) pieces that join the rigging of lower and top masts
The deck was much more pleasant than the brig inside had been. Well, of course it was. But as long as she had Syaoran with her, the prison hadn't felt confining, just uncomfortable. Outside, the wood she sat on was weathered, washed and smooth, with not a splinter to be felt, and the air was so fresh. After smelling nothing but dank, stale brig except when they were allowed out for dinner, the stiff sea breeze along the coastline was like heaven.
Actual heaven would have been leaning her head on Syaoran's shoulder to watch the waves curl and cap themselves with white foam in the dark distance, letting the roar of the water and the rock of the boat lull her to sleep. But how could she? Syaoran had insisted that she wasn't to take a turn on watch all the days they'd been captive -- that it was his responsibility -- and so he hadn't taken even a nap the whole time. Now that Kurogane had come to help them fight their way home, she had to be awake and ready to go. More than that, she had to be ready to give both ninja her all.
Several yards away, Kurogane was doing his part by staring down the quiet gentleman before they started their climactic battle scene (as Tomoyo liked to call moments like this when she staged adventure plays). She and Syaoran had the two young brigands, then. The mission they'd been signaled was simple, too: look for a way to escape. It was a difficult to see how they'd get past the two deckhands who'd been drafted to keep an eye on them without a fight, so she might have to do more than stay out of harm's way while Syaoran and Kurogane took care of it. That was okay. She could do what she had to do. No matter what, they'd absolutely be all right.
Blocked in by the boy with long, light brown hair and a bandana on their left, and by the boy with darker hair and a pierced ear on their right... Lanterns held to the sides, making a sort of prison of light to keep Syaoran from melting into the shadows and taking her with him... Not being allowed to conk the watchmen on the head and start trouble while Kurogane was preparing to duel someone very scary...
This wasn't going to be as easy as beating Syaoran at Go Fish, but they could make it work.
"Would they get to it already?" the pirate on her left asked. "It's lookin' to storm, and I've got better things to do than ninja-sit."
Syaoran's eyebrow twitched at that, but he kept his focus locked on the two men who really might've broken into a battle at any moment. One of Syaoran's jobs was to always know what Kurogane wanted them to do, and he wouldn't be thrown off by the sky looking threatening or the clouds blocking the moon. Not like the pirate crew -- most of the bandana'd and bedraggled sailors had gone running off to hide when the four of them came up on deck, saying a big fight with no moon was one too many bad omens for bearing. Their two guards had been the only ones left standing, which made them the bravest (among pirate underlings, at least, since no one could match Syaoran for that).
The pirate on the right, the one to whom the lord had handed his violin, laughed off his friend's grumbling. "Come on, Asagi. You know what badasses are like. It's always stare, stare, stare, til they think they know what the other guy's gonna do. And then -- bam! Blink and you'll miss 'em."
"I'm just sayin', no one on the 'Dragon of Earth' pulls this shit. They attack, you're dead, and that's that. Man alive, when am I gonna get promoted off this ship?"
"Promoted? You're crazy, wanting to serve over there. A few planks short of a fo'c'sle, not that you asked me."
"Watch who you're talking to, Segawa," the boy in the bandana snarled, summoning a little whirling mass of water like a top, then forming it into a blade in his hand.
The one with the earring leaned back against the wall, content to ignore the threat. "You know they don't need crew, I assume. But you let me know when you make lord class, okay?"
She'd always listened very carefully to the way challengers talked before they went in for training fights at home, and was quite sure based on how these fellows spoke that Syaoran could have taken both the young men in under a minute. But they couldn't do that yet. Kurogane had given extremely specific instructions. 'Don't move,' he'd said, and when ninja said 'Don't move,' they meant, 'I can't risk this fight while protecting you.'
But she could already tell the Sumeragi was serious business.
So they'd be good. Then, there was no question, Kurogane could get them out. Fighters who visited Tomoyo's palace on training visits never lasted more than three seconds against Kurogane, even when they could make Syaoran fall back on his lightning element spells. If the Sumeragi were as strong as everyone seemed to think he was, the two of them might really end up having one of the storybook battles Tomoyo-chan liked so much. It was too bad she wasn't here to see it in person.
"Say, Syaoran..." she whispered. Even if his eyes were forward, she knew he was listening. "If he doesn't carry a sword, that means he's a spellcaster, right? He doesn't look like the brawling type to me." The man in white was quite elegant, in fact. Brawlers were never that elegant.
"That'd be my guess," Syaoran answered softly.
On the right, the cheerful boy laughed out loud and winked at her. She must have been talking too loud. "Only the best spellcaster ever," he said, ignoring his shipmate's mutterings about 'second best, you mean'. "Good eye, there, lass."
"Kindly address the Princess as, 'My lady', pirate, or--"
"Or as Sakura!" She smiled and pulled Syaoran back by the arm before he did something silly like picking a fight over a name. Tomoyo had declared her a Princess, to be sure -- making up new stories and costumes every other day for what country she might have come from -- but there was no need for all the fuss. It wasn't like any imperial family they knew of was missing anyone for her to be a real princess. "It's okay, Syaoran. I don't mind."
Meanwhile, she used the code he'd taught her, forming her hand into the signal to look for an escape point and pressing it against his palm. He knew they weren't supposed to do anything to keep the guards' attention, so they could get away with as little fuss as possible. Ninja were at their best when people were overlooking them, after all, just as pirates specialized in being too theatrical for anyone to pay attention to anything else. Naturally, his face went all red. Syaoran didn't always like it when she held his hand. "I'm sorry, Princess. Of course."
"Hey, chin up, kid." The pirate rapped Syaoran lightly on the shoulder (her bodyguard endured that valiantly, with only a small grimace) and gave her a nod. "I confess, milady. Cap'n Arisugawa gave orders you're to have rank from us. But since you were so kind, I'm Segawa Keiichi, at your service," he finished with a wink.
The surlier pirate cleared his throat and jerked his chin at the deck. "Quit swingin' the lead, all of you, or you won't know to duck when the sky starts falling."
Sure enough, it looked like the fighters were nearing the end of the 'staring menacingly' phase of battle. You could always tell when combatants were fully powered-up by the faint whirlwinds stirring up the dust around their feet and making their clothes billow ever so slightly. In the Sumeragi's case, the short shoulder capes on his greatcoat fluttered just as much as the hem, and the grey plumes on his hat bobbed proudly -- though he didn't seem to fear the hat itself coming off as she would've done if there'd been a real wind like that. Sakura retraced all the parts of his outfit in her head a second and third time, making sure she could remember it for later. Tomoyo would absolutely want to see a sketch of any outfit that moved that way. And she couldn't forget to include the glowing, greenish-white pentagram the Sumeragi had manifested, either. All spellcasters who were fighting seriously really ought to have magic circles, Tomoyo insisted. Syaoran used paper charms instead, of course, but he was primarily a swordsman. They had different rules.
The Sumeragi's spell didn't seem to need a chant (of which Tomoyo might think poorly, but she'd have to give him full marks for posing with his coat blowing out full circle), so it was easy to hear the soft pop of air rushing in on where Kurogane had been. He and his sword flickered out of sight, not leaving a trace to show which direction he might have gone. Half a breath later, like a sudden rainstorm, glimpses of Kurogane -- here and then there before the previous image could fade -- flitted into view with his sword slicing down toward the pirate. The bolts of light that stopped Ginryuu traced out a perfect sphere around the Sumeragi and the deck of the ship tremored all the way to where they sat watching. No one dared speak a word just yet.
She squeezed Syaoran's hand again, sensing an impact coming in her gut. The sparks all around the pirate lord flashed brightly enough to hurt and turn the whole scene white, but she couldn't close her eyes. Kurogane was fighting for them. The least she could do was pay attention. The sound hit a stuttered instant after the light, while the scattered afterimages of Kurogane's attack were wiped clean out of the air. As the whiteness faded and the deck washed back into view, Sakura could see waves churning all around the hull of the ship from the violence of the shock -- and still the feather in his hat was only nodding.
If Kurogane hadn't been sure to succeed in his rescue, she would have wanted to ask later how pirates kept their hats in place like that. They couldn't have been pinned, since the men and ladies both took them off for bowing and such. Maybe next time she got kidnapped, she'd find out.
"Does he really think he can get through the Sumeragi's barrier with a sword?" Asagi muttered. "I kind of expected more sense, bein' a legend and all."
Keiichi turned to Syaoran while they waited for Kurogane to reappear. "Hey, kid. That sword -- Ginryuu, right? Is it enchanted or something? The stories weren't exactly clear."
"That's because he's a ninja," Syaoran answered. Ninjas took a great deal of care, she knew, to keep their reputations as shadowy as pirates' were shameless.
As for Ginryuu, Syaoran's own family had made it -- though one of Tomoyo's ancestors had given it to Kurogane's family generations ago. As the personal ninja of the imperial family, the Li clan had designed countless weapons and artifacts, none of whose powers had ever been revealed to anyone but the bearer. Not being the bearer, Sakura hadn't gotten clear details, but the Li were descended from Mihara Ichirou, who was said to have been a son of the god Clow Reed and who may have forged Ginryuu himself. If any sword could break through a spell like the Sumeragi's, that would be the one.
Kurogane stayed hidden, wherever he might be, and the Sumeragi still stood in his place on deck, slowly turning his head to scan the area with his mouth drawn tight. All around the ship, the swirls of wind that seemed to come from nowhere twisted into ribbons of water and formed whirlpools midair. Their appearance seemed to set the pirate more on guard, so they must have been Kurogane's doing. Sure enough, the streams coiled outside the gentleman in white's magic barrier into six watery forms -- each one shaped like a ninja charging with a sword drawn.
And for each form, the pirate threw a paper charm: five of the water ninja splashed into puddles on the deck, and the sixth took on Kurogane's proper appearance.
Just at that moment, Ginryuu surged through the barrier, throwing sparks in every direction. The glowing circle dissolved (and the flashing lights with it) when the Sumeragi dodged. He took a quick step along Kurogane's line of attack, barely avoiding the sword, then...
Flickered.
And appeared an instant later on the other end of the deck.
"What the hell?" Syaoran muttered softly. "What's a pirate doing flicker-stepping?"
"Do you hear us complaining about your ninja using a sword?" Asagi shot back.
Neither of their guards seemed surprised, either, when the Sumeragi and his newly reilluminated magic circle levitated off the deck -- all the way up the the height of the crow's nest on the main mast. She'd seen some pretty impressive jumping around the dojo back at the palace that necessitated the five-story ceilings, but this gentleman was clearly floating. That, Sakura was quite sure she'd never seen. Kurogane appeared to be cursing to himself as he dashed toward the side of the ship and bounded into the air. Well, at first, anyway. Once he got going, she could only see the black lines showing where he'd been as he ricocheted between masts to approach the Sumeragi.
"Syaoran," she whispered as quietly as she could. "Can all pirates fly?"
"I don't know. I've never fought a pirate lord. But... normal pirates don't."
More paper charms flew from the pirate's hand, meeting the ninja when he turned and exploding in the flash of a swordblade. Kurogane's path seemed to cross where the pirate was hovering several times, but without much effort the Sumeragi edged out of his way and continued his barrage of spells.
"Flying looks pretty overpowered to me." Sakura tugged on Syaoran's sleeve and leaned closer to his ear. "You should learn how, too."
He nodded with his eyes going wider every time the man in the white coat dodged like a firefly flitting around the sky. "Yes, my lady. As soon as possible."
"And then you can teach me?" When Syaoran's only answer was to look concerned in her general direction, she smiled back at him. "Or if I learn first, I'll be sure to teach you!"
"... Yes, my lady. Though I hope you won't be fighting, Princess."
Before she could answer, the bright flash of a blade struck through some of the rigging and the blur of Kurogane leaping toward the deck pulled it down after him like a net. The Sumeragi dropped down quickly, and another wordless flash of light dissolved the ropes to dust, but Kurogane was ready for the moment his barrier dropped. Ginryuu swung straight under the pirate's arms toward his chest as he appeared in the scattering ropes.
Then, quickly enough that the pirate's afterimage still lingered while the dust settled, the Sumeragi flickered out and reappeared behind Kurogane. One slice to the neck with the lord's hand glowing the same greenish-white as his magic circle, and the ninja flew forward. Luckily, Kurogane was no normal man, or he might have easily fallen unconscious. Being at the top of his profession as he was, he managed to break into a roll and stand to face his opponent without the least delay. She could even hear the power-up wind surging this time as they both gathered their strength for another round.
"Great. More staring," their surlier guard muttered. "Is this really necessary?"
All of a sudden, while the two combatants locked eyes and settled into their guards, flecks of something white drifted down from the sky, practically glowing against the dark backdrop of the clouds and the churning waves. Ash or snow would have been her first thought, but Sakura knew she would have smelled something burning so near, or would have been able to feel much more cold in the air if the weather had been right for snow. However, when the breeze blew the flecks close enough to see properly, she was no less confused.
Petals. And the occasional full blossom, intact.
But there weren't any trees in blossom on the beach for a rain of petals to have reached them, let alone this many.
"Sakura?"
She whipped her head towards Syaoran, ready to exclaim -- he'd finally used her name without calling her 'Princess'! But she bit her tongue when she saw the shape of the petal he'd caught out of the wind.
He'd meant the flower. Darn it.
Her ninja looked more confused than she could remember seeing in years. "How can there be sakura blossoms? It's the middle of summer."
"Oh, he does that," Keiichi answered, waving his hand at the Sumeragi. "Whenever things get dramatic. I thought from the way you fight you'd be used to people summoning stuff."
"By channeling elemental ki, and I'd be able to tell if he were doing it. He's not."
Well, maybe the atmospheric sakura was another special pirate skill, like the flying. Pirates were more prone to showmanship than ninja were. But she didn't mention to Syaoran that she thought the shower of blossoms was sort of pretty, in that not-really-ninja-y, ostentatious way.
"Just be glad it's not Lord Shirou fighting," Asagi said, stretching out his legs and leaning his head back on his hands. "Feathers. Everywhere."
The nice pirate's head whipped around as fast as could be. "Hey! Kamui's feathers are awesome!"
"Right, I forgot. You're friends with Death Shirou, and I'm the one who's crazy."
While the pirates bickered, Syaoran squeezed her hand and nodded at Kurogane across the deck. The dark-haired ninja locked eyes for just a moment and as he lifted his sword into a one-handed stance formed his other hand into a signal.
I'll distract them.
Sakura swallowed a gasp, pulling up one of her legs so she could stand quickly even before Syaoran made the symbol for "Get ready to run" in her palm. To send a signal like that... Kurogane didn't think he could win? Well... the lords were the best among pirates, she supposed. And the Sumeragi could fly.
"I'm just sayin', the feathers are a bitch to clean. With sakura petals, you get them wet and they come right up with a stiff broom."
"Okay, I'll give you that--"
Both of the deckhands fell silent and pale as Kurogane summoned a wave out of the ocean that stood slightly taller than the masts, surging up behind him as if waiting for his signal.
Keiichi looked back and forth between the wave and Asagi, then hissed, "Is he trying to capsize the ship?"
"Lord Sumeragi would never let that happen. See?" And even as Asagi spoke, the pirate lord's glowing pentagram spread out around the whole boat, and the wave crashed down around it. For a moment, the entire scene seemed encircled in a sphere of churning seawater, but not a drop fell through. Those few seconds were all Kurogane needed to charge the pirate -- now inside his barrier -- though Sakura wasn't sure how this was going to help them escape. The crewmen set to keep watch on her and Syaoran didn't seem any less alert than before, and if the Sumeragi could keep swords from breaking into his shields, she had to assume he could keep fleeing captives from breaking out of the them.
The flash of the sword and the flicker of their bodies was too fast for Sakura's eye to see -- a blur of motion that wouldn't let the dust lay still in the tattered wreck of the ship's rigging. And then, just as suddenly as they'd moved at each other, they were still. Kurogane was down on one knee, the pirate standing behind him with a handstrike paused just a hair from his shoulder. Ginryuu's blade was stopped no further from the Sumeragi's neck, gleaming in the darkness like a lighthouse warning sailors to hold their distance.
No sudden movements now. Kurogane stood, and the two fighters turned about each other with slow, even steps circling around. Both pulled back into their stances, smooth and strong and with no focus in the world save what was before their eyes. A rolling wind pushed a cloud of sakura petals between them. They billowed and swelled, and the Sumeragi's lunge forward sent the pink storm spiraling outward. Answering at the same instant, Kurogane whipped his sword into a high block above his head and yelled out in a voice fit to shame thunder.
"Parlay!"
The pirate lord froze in his step and all the floating petals fell to the deck in heaps. It was a good thing Syaoran noticed one of their guards kick over a lantern in surprise and was sure that moment was the moment to run. Sakura had been so busy thinking, "Huh?" that she'd forgotten to do more than stand. But her ninja pulled her into a nearby shadow, and they raced as fast as she was able for the edge of the deck. If they'd waited another second, they would have been caught by the nice crewman, Keiichi, without a doubt.
He turned to the surly crewman to ask, "Did he just say what I think--"
"Yeah, he really did. Oh, what now?"
"Asagi, they're gone."
"They're... what?!" The watercaster whipped his head back at the place where she and Syaoran had been sitting a moment ago, then threw his bandana to the deck when he saw the empty space. "Goddamn fucking ninja!"
They were almost to the wall now. With Syaoran slipping them both through the shadows, they'd be invisible to most eyes -- as good as home -- so she chanced a quick glance backwards. It looked like the Sumeragi (who even managed to look elegant in his expression of silent, wide-eyed shock, which was quite impressive) had dropped his barrier from around the ship. The faint, greenish glow was completely gone. The pirate himself didn't shift an inch from where he'd frozen mid-attack. "Excuse me," he asked, the sound reaching her ears clearly despite the distance now that all the combat winds had fallen still. "Did you just say... parlay?"
"What does 'parlay' mean?" she whispered to Syaoran as he helped her up onto the wall. Her bodyguard shook his head as he prepared them both to dive over the edge, looking just as confused as the Sumeragi and the two crewmen combined.
"I have no idea."
continued in...
8: Hornswaggle
9: Well, Blow Me Down [ full - explicit/ edited - PG 13]
10: Davy Jones
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AUTHOR'S NOTES
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Well, the faster I get back to writing it, the faster it'll be written. My heartfelt thanks go out to sumeria as always for her help beta-ing these stories into shape.
Questions? Comments? Thank you for reading!!