The top of the barrel opened, and Amu found herself looking up at two faces. "Um, there's a girl in there, Russell." The red headed boy said. "What the hell…" the other replied, reaching a hand in.
"What were you doing in there?" The red head, Thomas as she now knew, asked once they took her to the Doc. "I was hiding." She said without thinking, then mentally smacked herself. "From who?" the Doc asked her, putting a band aid on the knot on her head. "Some…bandits." She told him. "They were chasing me and I hid. I didn't mean to end up here."
"I didn't mean to end up here." She repeated about 10 minutes later to Captain Morgan. He laughed at her. "Too late for that now. I say you join us." She looked around at the different faces of the crew. 'Forgive me' she said to herself. "Then I guess I cant argue with that,"she agreed with him.
Amu awoke from her dream to footsteps on the stairs. "Amu~" Thomas said in his usual sing-song voice. "Nate asked for your help in the kitchen this morning." He said, bursting into her room without knocking like usual. She'd learned to change quick with her back to the door pretty quick.
And not to be easily embarrassed
"Ok, I'll be right up." She smiled at him, making her bed in a sloppy manner before running up the stairs.
She walked into the kitchen just as Nate was turning on the stove. "Hey, what are we having today?" she asked him, washing her hands. "I don't know, what do you want?" he asked, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.
She giggled. "You know me, I love sweets." Nate gave her a rare smile. "Cinnomon rolls it is then." He said. Amu playfully smacked his arm. "You know me too well." She laughed.
"You've only been here two months, and it feels like you've always been part of the crew." He told her as they carried the dishes out to the rest of the crew. "He's right!" Russell said, grabbing two rolls at once. Amu smacked his hand. "Hey, share!" she yelled at him.
"See?" Captain and Eduardo yelled at once, causing everyone to break into laughter. "Shut up," Nate said as he walked back into the kitchen. "Or you're gonna choke on your food." Amu finished.
"Amu, can you help me clean the deck today?" Thomas asked her sweetly. "Sure, right after breakfast." She told him, making her own plate of food.
"Hey, you said that we were doing a sword lesson today!" Russell whined at her. Amu laughed. "I know, I didn't forget about you. After the deck, I'm helping Eduardo with mapping our new route, then helping Nate with lunch. After that, we will do our practice."
Captain laughed loudly. "You trying tto fit everyone of us in that schedule of yours Amu?" Amu took a bite of food. "I already did." She smiled. "After practice, you said you needed my help with a new girl of yours, then before bed I'm helping Doc count his supplies so he knows what to get at the next port."
"You really are amazing." Thomas said. When she smiled at him, he turned bright red and started shoveling food into his mouth. But Amu didn't seem to notice.
"Oh!" Amu yelled out surprised! "I almost forgot!" she got up from the table and ran into the kitchen. She opened up every cabinet, scanning them and counting on her fingers. "Yes!" she jumped up and down. "I got everything!"
She shoved Nate out of the kitchen. "Go eat," she told him. "I'm cleaning up today, and I also call making dinner tonight. Alone."
The entire crew starred between Nate and Amu. "Wait, she can do that?" Eduardo asked, his fork half way to his mouth. Nate never let anyone into the kitchen without him. Let alone cook by themselves.
But Nate just shrugged. "She's Amu, so I'll let her." He said, taking his seat and eating. "Wait," Russell said. "You didn't finish your ffood." Amu smiled indifferently. "That's ok, I'm not hungry." She told him, before prancing into the kitchen, leaving her almost full plate of food behind.
Amu kept her promises. She helped Thomas clean, Eduardo make the new chart, Nate make lunch, and was now on sword practice. "You're getting good." Russell told her.
Amu giggled. "Thanks," she said, blocking his sword. "It's 'cause I have a great teacher." Russell focused on his sword to stop from blushing. But because he focused to much, he forgot she was only a bigginer, and slashed out with a move she didn't know.
"Eek!" she screamed, letting go of her sword and dropping to one knee. "Amu, are you ok!?" Russell yelled, and Eduardo came running. "You idiot, what did you do!?" the navigator yelled at him. "I'm okay," Amu told them. "It just surprised me."
"Are you sure?" Russell asked. "Stop lying!" Eduardo suddenly yelled. "What's going on?" Nate said as he and Captain came over. "Russell here just tried to cut off Amu's hand!" he yelled, furious.
"I already told you I'm fine." Amu smiled up at them. Nate kneeled down by here. "If you're okay, then why are you dripping blood all over the deck?" he asked in a forced-calm voice. "It's just a little scratch." She reassured him. "From when I dropped my sword."
It was obvious that she was lying through her teeth, so Captain sighed. "Go see Doc," he said. "And you two, stop fighting."
Amu nodded, and ran off to see Doc.
"Hey Amu," Doc said, then saw her hand. "What did you do!?" he exclaimed, grabbing her hand and looking at the wound.
"I tried to sword fight with my hand." She giggled, wincing as Christaphor wipped off the blood. "You idiot, I'm going to have to give you stitches." He said. Amu laughed emptily. "It's not like it's the first time." She said.
Doc sighed. "You're right. This is the third time I've had to do it." He said. "Now tell me straight. You know don't you."
Amu batted her eyelashes, faking innocence. "Know what?" Doc gave her a bored look. "That they're all in love with you." She gave a soft smile.
"I do," she said.
