Title: ARR! (#001)
Author: Blue and Red
Characters/Pairings: Slight Tezuka/Echizen
Word Count: 1814
Summary: In which Echizen joins the crew of the pirate ship Seigaku.
Author's Notes (Red): Well. This is very much a monster tale that is in-progress, meaning that it's raw with enough holes to be sunk before you can finish reading the title. But it's an idea that we want to materialize, so we hope that you enjoy reading it as much we enjoyed writing it!

The ship heaved and bucked on the choppy seas. A dark figure, descending unsteadily into the hold swore as the stairs beneath his feet rose and fell. As the vessel gave a particularly violent lurch, said figure tripped down the final step, still swearing loudly. Another figure appeared in the doorway, illuminated by weak sunlight that filtered down through the hatches.

"Momoshiro, are you okay?"

The first figure in the hold rose and waved a hand nonchalantly at the first mate.

"Aye Oishi, I'm fine."

With another worried glance at the other man, Oishi left. Momoshiro waited until he was gone before collapsing on a nearby crate, wincing. Gingerly, he snaked a hand down to touch his sprained ankle... and encountered fur.

"Meow."

"Damn cat." Momoshiro stroked the brown and white fur fondly as the ship's cat rubbed itself against his shins and purred. It didn't take long for questing fingers to find the scrap of cloth the cat carried in its mouth. "What's this?" It was silky and scented, not quite the kind of material one expected to find on a pirate ship.

A ship at sea is never fully silent. Always there is the groan of planks, the flapping of sails, the slap of waves against the hull. Momoshiro would never have noticed the extra shuffle of something moving if Karupin hadn't mewed and streaked towards it. There was a brief scuffle as someone tripped and a scruffy, soaked boy sprawled out of the shadows at Momoshiro's feet. Karupin gave a satisfied meow and settled on said boy's back and began to wash himself.

Momoshiro's first instinct was to scream bloody murder, of course. He didn't expect anyone to be in the hold at this time of the day; that was actually why he decided upon this location to recuperate from the week's hectic activities. But the boy's eyes opened, golden and guileless, and found himself drawn into his gaze.

The younger boy spoke first, voice ringing with a certain arrogance in spite of the vestiges of childhood it still contained. "Who are you?"

Quickly recovering from his slight daze, Momoshiro fired back, "I should be the one asking that! Who are you?"

"I asked you first."

Twitch. "Cheeky little brat. You're obviously not one of us, so I'm gonna have to take you to see the captain." He made a move as if to get up, but promptly fell right back onto the crate, clutching his ankle in agony. "$#&!"

The boy shook his head slightly and drew himself to his feet. With a small smirk plastered on his youthful features, he held a hand out to Momoshiro, and said, "Mada mada dane."

This boy... There's something special about him... Momoshiro grabbed the proffered hand -- he knew when to swallow his pride. But he also knew that his grip was stronger than it looked, and he was more than able to pull the smaller male in the direction of the captain's cabin.

"I'm a nice person, kiddo. But not everyone's like me." He turned to look at the other full in the face. "Better watch that smart mouth of yours around Tezuka-senchou."

Tezuka was having a good day. Just yesterday they'd carried out a very successful raid against yet another merchant ship and in addition to their cargo, he and his crew had relieved the merchant of a fair bit of gold. Tezuka liked gold, it came with the territory, being a pirate captain and all. In fact, the pirate was in such a good mood that he allowed himself a little smile -- which vanished as soon as someone knocked on his cabin door. Certain appearances had to be kept, after all. (Tezuka thought that having a captain smiling in any manner other than evilly was bad for discipline and morale.)

"Enter."

There was a brief scuffle and the door burst open to spill a tangle of limp and people. Tezuka recognised the person on the top of pile: Momoshiro. Somehow he wasn't all that surprised to see the spiky-haired pirate involved in his disturbance. The figure beneath him however looked completely foreign. The captain allowed the pile on the floor to continue scuffling for a moment more as it struggled to separate and right itself. In the end though, he decided it would be simpler to separate them himself. He found himself with a very abused-looking Momoshiro who clearly favoured his right ankle and an exotic-looking boy who glared sullenly and was slight enough for him to heft easily with one hand.

"Momoshiro, what is the meaning of this intrusion?"

"Tezuka-senchou." The pirate tried to straighten but had to lean heavily on the sturdy oak table to do so. "I found this stowaway in the hold."

"I see." Tezuka glanced down at the boy and met with golden eyes glaring from behind a curtain of tangled dark hair. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Tell Fuji that his presence is requested in my cabin. Immediately."

Momoshiro hesitated and with some amusement, Tezuka noted it was to cast a concerned look at the dangling boy. Perhaps he had over-done his reputation of being the terrifying captain...

"I will not be casting his boy overboard, Momoshiro. At least not until we have sighted land. And let Inui have a look at that ankle. That's an order."

Momoshiro looked faintly green at the thought of visiting the ship's surgeon -- Inui's "juices," as he called his medicines, were legendary even among other pirate ships for their ability to make even the toughest man pass out. Still, he managed an "Aye, Captain!" before hobbling out to find Fuji, the ship's boatswain, who incidentally was one of the precious few who didn't not faint from drinking Inui's juices.

Tezuka waited patiently for the door to click shut before releasing his frip on the strange boy's shirt. He observed that the boy didn't lose his footing as most people would when coming into contact with the group so suddenly. Rather, the youth righted himself and stood straight, body language only betraying the barest hint of defiance.

Silence. The tension in the room was palpable, and Tezuka intended to keep it that way until the boy broke. Best if the other spoke first; Tezuka wanted the last word on his turf. It would not be good for him to reveal his hand so early in this little game the boy was playing. Besides, the boy also reminded him of himself once upon a time, when he was arrogant and reckless and thought that he could take on absolutely anything...

Finally, the boy stated, "You're Tezuka Kunimitsu, and this ship is Seigaku."

Tezuka chose not to acknowledge the obvious.

The other continued, "I'm here to join your crew."

Now, an eyebrow lifted. (Perfectly, of course -- it was an art that every captain had to master along with smiling evilly.) "What gives you the right to do so? I don't recall authorizing our boatswain to hire anyone, and we have no need for additional crew at the moment."

"You could use a cabin boy."

"Only if he can prove that he's worth the additional cost." Ah, the challenged had sparked a fire in the boy's golden eyes, and it was oddly enthralling.

"I can do anything you could need me to do." It was said simply, a statement, not a boast even though it was clearly a great source of pride. Tezuka regarded the boy's skinny frame for a moment.

"Anything?" His tone was doubtful; he meant it to be so.

"Anything." The boy bristled and Tezuka knew his initial impression of him to be correct. Here was a child who would overcome any challenge he accepted -- or die trying. While such spirit was admirable, Tezuka could not tolerate people without the competence to back it up. Somehow, though, he suspected that would not be an issue with the stowaway.

"Can you fight? Wield a blade?"

"Yes." And the captain felt sure he would be deadly at it too. There was much of the predator in those golden feline eyes -- even if their owner did not yet have the air of one aware of the fact.

"Alright. You're our cabin boy until we put to port. I'll reassess your worth then and see if you're worth keeping."

"Uh... Okay." The boy looked stunned, perhaps at being so readily accepted with so few questions asked. Tezuka wasn't stupid; he knew that any probing he did now into the boy's past was unlikely to be met with the truth. He did however have to know one more thing about the stowaway because really, calling him "the boy" all the time would just be ridiculous.

"What's your name?"

"Echizen Ryoma."

"Echizen Ryoma, while you are a member of this crew, you will show all higher-ranking crew appropriates respect. Which, since you're the cabin boy, is everyone. Are we clear?"

"Yes... Tezuka-senchou." It cost the boy some pride to add the honorific, the captain was amused to see. However, he didn't have to put up with the sullen cabin boy for long since a soft knock sounded on the door and it opened before he could call out. Fuji Syuusuke, boatswain of Seigaku, only living man immune to Inui's juices and the only person on board to breach Tezuka's privacy so casually, smiled in.

"Senchou, Momo-ko said you wanted to see me."

Momo-ko. Tezuka resisted the urge to press his face into his palm. There was a term no self-respecting pirate ship should ever hear uttered, never mind that no self-respecting pirate should ever say it. Already he could see the mirth dancing in the new cabin boy's eyes and the faint upward twist of his pale lips. Unfortunately, there was no controlling the tensai short of slitting his throat and Tezuka wasn't that willing to waste a talented crew member. That, and Fuji was a terrifyingly efficient boatswain. (If he were very drunk, Tezuka might, perhaps, have also been pressed into admitting it was because he was rather fond of the man as well. Tezuka was very careful about his alcohol intake.)

"Fuji, this is Echizen Ryoma. He'll be our new cabin boy on probation. Get him settled in and assign him his duties."

If Fuji looked incredibly feline and gave the air of one just awarded a particularly succulent treat, Tezuka ignored it. Already he simply wanted the mass of complications he felt this boy was bringing gone. Being left on his own to his private captainly duties sounded most appealing, alluring new cabin boy or no. As the boatswain led the dark-haired boy out of his cabin, Tezuka briefly considered the possibility that Echizen would jump screaming from the ship the moment they sighted land after a week with the crew, Funnily enough, that was how they'd lost the last three cabin boys...

Originally posted: 01/01/2007
Last modified: 30/01/2007