Author's Note: This is what you would call a companion fic, or a sister story, or whatever... to 'Black and Blue'... The stories will run along side each other, and relate to each other, and pieces that might be missing from one will be in the other. They probably should have been pushed into one story, but I figured there would be too much going on for one story... Let me know what you think...

Disclaimer: Don't own it... Just love it...

Kaizoku Sentai: Gokaiger

Pink and Red - Part I

It wasn't often, that they fought among one another anymore. Though Luka was constantly picking on Don, Ahim knew it was harmless. Her self-appointed sister hid her feelings very well, but Ahim could see right through it. Luka liked Don. Ahim didn't blame Luka for hiding her feelings, she grew up in a situation where emotions were a necessary sacrifice for survival. They were a weakness that they couldn't afford to have exploited. Ahim felt sorry for her friend. Though Ahim had a similar growing up. Oh, who was she kidding, Ahim's past was nothing like Luka's, but Ahim hadn't the freedom to love who she wanted, either. If the Zangyack hadn't come, Ahim was in line to wed some nobleman from some world she'd never heard of before. She missed her people, missed her family, missed her homeworld… But if she hadn't lost them… she'd never have met the pirates… never have met Marvelous.

An interesting fairy tale, isn't it? The Princess and the Pirate… Her journals were filled with pages of not only words that would empower her people if she ever found survivors, but words of her secret admiration for her captain. She treasured her journals. They were the only way she could express her true feelings. She'd never have the courage to tell Marvelous. Heaven forbid anything should interfere with the hunt for the greatest treasure in the universe. Ahim wasn't even sure he was capable of those kinds of feelings. And she wasn't about to embarrass herself by asking. Marvelous had taken on a heavy burden. Ahim knew all their lives were in his hands, and he was just as devoted to them. She saw that when Basco had captured them all to bait Marvelous. But was he capable of something more? She thinks she may have seen a little something in his eye every now and then. And his annoyance with Don and Luka's antics ran deeper than that, she knew.

And the latest fight among the crew, surprisingly, between Marvelous and Joe…

They all were confused. There was a reason that Joe was Marvelous' first mate. Not just because Marvelous found him first. Marvelous and Joe were best friends, brothers-in-arms. And Joe didn't give his trust easily, Ahim knew.

The battle against the Zangyack had been over for some time, but Joe hadn't returned to the Galleon. And Marvelous had spent his time alone in the crow's nest. No one else was speaking, even Luka and Gai were keeping quiet, as if the slightest sound would set Marvelous off. Tension in the air was so think, Ahim didn't think their sabers could cut it.

She didn't like it when Marvelous was upset, especially at his first mate. Of all the fights she had witnessed through the time she had been with the pirates, this hurt her heart the most. She had to do something, even if it meant spilling her deepest secrets to her captain.

She quietly rose from her seat at the table, not even giving the others a second glance as she headed upstairs. She could feel their questioning gazes, but nothing was said except for an "oomf" from Gai as Luka knocked him back into his seat when he tried to get up to follow Ahim. She gave Ahim a bright smile, a wink, and a small salute while she held Gai in his seat.

Ahim smiled softly, a little heat filling her cheeks. Her 'big sister' apparently was more perceptive than she had led Ahim to believe. She had to remember to thank Luka later.

Her hands were clasped together as she walked, more to have something to hold on to than for anything else. She hadn't quite figured out exactly what she'd say to Marvelous, which was odd. She was usually very, very good at speaking, saying exactly what needed to be said. That was the diplomat in her. But this situation required something more personal. And she didn't know if she had the nerve to say exactly what she felt.

She released her hands so that she could pull her shawl tighter around herself. She didn't know if there was a chill in the wind or what, but she found herself trembling as she came to a stop. She stood still, debating for several minutes whether or not she really wanted to make the climb into the crow's nest. Then tension felt heavier out here than it had inside. She could almost feel the weight of Marvelous' brooding. And she had a feeling it went far beyond the fight with Joe.

It was unusual for Marvelous and Joe to have been at each others' throats, sure. But there was something more. She didn't know whether or not she really wanted to invade his privacy. But she couldn't stand for him to be so withdrawn, especially after such a heated argument. That wasn't like Marvelous. It worried her to no end.

Apparently her subconscious took over at some point, because she hadn't realized she'd started climbing until she was in the crow's nest, staring at the back of that red coat.

"Marvelous-san…" There was a tremble in her soft voice that prevented her from saying anything more than that. At least he acknowledged her presence, that helped a little. It was a simple glance over his shoulder, but she could see that her presence there was a comfort. He seemed to relax just a little, though he remained silent for the moment. And he didn't ask… correction… order… her to leave.

Her trembling stopped as she found her strength again. She finally stepped up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. To her surprise, he reached up and took her hand in his. It seemed he needed something to hold onto, as well. His hand trembled around hers. She frowned as she placed her other hand on top of his.

"Please tell me what happened today…" Her voice remained soft, but the tremble was no longer there. At this point in time, she needed to be his strength. She wanted to be that for him. "I worry about you… I do not think it was the fight with Joe-san that is weighing so heavily on you…"

"Hn…" The corner of his lip quirked upward just slightly as he gave her hand a squeeze. So perceptive, the pink princess… He was glad she was. He'd come up to avoid the interrogations he was likely to get from the others regarding the fight. That would have probably led to another fight, with as angry as he was. But he'd secretly hoped Ahim would follow him. Just her presence was enough to calm him, and now that she was letting him hold on to her for support, he felt like he could talk to her.

The small smile quickly fell, but his hand remained tightly around hers as the other hand remained in his pocket, closed tightly around something very important to him. He needed all the support she could give him at that moment.

"Basco pulled me away from the rest of you earlier… He tried to bait me into fighting him. He knew exactly what would hurt, what would make me mad… I didn't realize Joe followed… What Basco had to say probably hurt him worse… Joe had every right to be mad at me…"

He could feel Ahim's gaze but she never voiced her question. A part of him hoped she would have, he didn't need this to be a one-sided conversation. He needed a little guidance through questions he knew she had. There was just too much information to go through, too many emotions that blocked him from saying certain things that were way too relevant to everything else.

He sighed as he withdrew his hand from his pocket, still closed tightly around a small object. He held it for a moment, trying to figure out the best place to start. He had to make himself uncurl his fingers from around it.

Ahim felt him begin to tense up again as he pulled his hand out of his pocket. She couldn't see what it was he held so tightly on to, not at first. But she couldn't hold in her surprise when he revealed it, a GokaiBlack Ranger Key.

"I didn't know there was a GokaiBlack…." Her voice was soft. And though Ahim was interested to know the story, she knew that whoever GokaiBlack was, it was someone that was very important to Marvelous and Joe, considering where the conversation started.

"This belongs to my little sister, Gamina… Basco had it…"

Well, that wasn't the answer she was expecting. She knew there were things about Marvelous they were still learning, but hearing that he had a little sister, and that she was one of the team, or should have been… That wasn't what she was expecting to hear…

"Things were so bad, while we were growing up… I never wanted her to worry, I never wanted her to get hurt… Wherever we were, at the time, I had her stay hidden while I did what was necessary to get the next meal, or find our next ride… I never taught her how to fight, never taught her anything that would put her in a position to get hurt… Gamina was too young to remember our parents, but I made a promise to them that I would take care of her…"

Ahim felt a sinking feeling in her heart as he paused. That was not a promise easily kept, considering what she knew about Marvelous' life. And the more she thought about it, the more pieces started falling into place. And she hoped she was wrong with where she thought the conversation was going. But considering who was involved…

"AkaRed didn't want anyone on board who couldn't protect themselves… The only thing he asked of Gamina was that she learn, at least, to use a gun… Just in case… I really didn't want to teach her, but with what AkaRed was offering, I could hardly refuse… But I couldn't bring myself to do it… Just the thought of her holding a gun made me feel like I was breaking my promise… So Basco taught her… She loved the attention she was getting from him… Eventually, he started teaching her hand-to-hand, but that was just an excuse for making-out… Pissed me off because he only did it when he knew I was watching… but I wasn't the only one protecting her, anymore… I hated it, but he put a kind of smile on her face that I would never have been able to…"

He had to almost literally bite his tongue to keep from saying that it was the kind of smile he had when he was watching her practice her swordsmanship, or the smile he saw on her face when she thought he wasn't looking. But it felt as if he didn't have to say anything.

Ahim repositioned their hands to interlace her fingers with his, still resting her other hand on top. Marvelous closed his hand around his sister's ranger key, sighing as he felt her head on his shoulder.

"She was in love with him…," she replied softly.

He nodded. "He… he hurt her most of all when he betrayed us…"

Ahim frowned at the tremble in his voice. And there was a long pause as he slipped the ranger key back into his pocket, still holding tightly on to it. There was far more beyond that simple remark that he wouldn't say. But she knew better than to push the topic. Instead, she remained quiet, holding his hand for as long as he'd let her, listening as he finally drew in a breath to continue.

"I don't think she ever fully recovered… But there for a while, she wouldn't eat… She wouldn't speak, unless she was screaming through a nightmare…. I… I didn't know how to deal with it… so I just left her alone. It wasn't until after we picked up Joe that she started getting better… She spent hours silently watching him when he trained… It seemed to be the only thing that kept her calm… Then, one day, she asked him to teach her… First words she'd spoken since the betrayal… After that, they were practically inseparable… It was a long time before she spoke to me… She relied on Joe… They trained together until they could fight in perfect sync with one another… I couldn't believe how strong she became with Joe's help… I gave her the GokaiBlack key… Because she and Joe never had a problem beating their opponents until they were 'black and blue'…"

"They must have been quite a team…" It was all she could reply, while she let the information set in. It was clear there were things that Marvelous wasn't saying, but she didn't need to hear them to understand. "It must have been hard for you… It seems Joe-san knew exactly what to do to help her… Did he know what had happened…?"

Marvelous shook his head. "The first he heard about Basco was the same as when you all learned about him… I always believed that what happened in the past, stayed in the past. There's nothing we can do to go back and change it…"

"But you never forgot about it, either… You still carry guilt over allowing your sister to get hurt… You felt angry about Joe-san getting so close to her, didn't you?"

"I knew Joe would never hurt her… And Joe knew from the beginning not to get too close… Even if I hadn't stressed it again and again… He respected that… Even when I noticed he had feelings for her, he never did anything inappropriate… He held her so she could get through her nightmares, nearly every night, but that was as far as anything went…"

He sighed as he pulled the key out of his pocket again, staring down at it.

"I was more mad at myself for not having listened to my instincts back then, and for not doing anything to help her cope… And I took it out on Joe because he filled that role… I think he ended up filling it a little too well… She couldn't fight unless she had him backing her up. She couldn't hold a transformation. She couldn't even use any of the other Ranger keys at all… I thought sending her to Earth ahead of us… alone… would give her the chance to gain some strength of her own… There were other reasons… But it was Mina who decided not to say anything to Joe… I suppose I should have…"

Ahim felt him rest his head on top of hers as he fell silent, and she knew that was probably all she was going to hear from him for the day. She understood. It was a lot of very personal information to relay. She was glad to have been the one he trusted enough to give it all to. Of course, she knew, and he probably did as well, that the others were probably at the bottom of the ladder, listening in. If they were, at least they were respectful enough to remain quiet.

Marvelous would have given anything to enjoy this moment with Ahim. But, even though he did feel a little weight lift off his shoulders with confiding in her, there was still too much weighing him down. Why did Basco have Mina's Ranger Key, when she had it when she left the Galleon? He didn't think he wanted to know the answer to that question.

The silence was broken by the ringing of his Mobirate. He sighed as he reluctantly let go of Ahim's hand so he could answer. Damn bird had really bad timing…

"Marvelous… Zangyack is attacking! Joe's already fighting them… But… Gamina is there, too…"