The Heart's Hitsuzen

Chapter Three: The Maiden

By: Eviltiger

Author's note: Own nothing. I'm in a good mood today! Ahahahahahahahaaaaa! Sooo, ya like the cliffy? Heh heh. Wanna begin? I betcha wanna. Soooo, here ya go! I got one review, and I guess I should be happy with that only. Sigh... But thanks anyway to you who reviewed! YOU ARE AWESOME! Here we go!

YAAAAAAAAAAA!

As the black ship of doom approached nearer and nearer, the Captain of the Tsubasa had determination in his eyes that was quickly counterbalanced with horror and disgust as he began to see something appearing alongside of the Black Wings: a passenger ship, no doubt full of innocent people, engulfed in black flames which glowed strongly, full of hate and menace. The poor ship most likely had gotten itself a death warrant by merely appearing in the Black Wings' view. The monstrosities aboard that had been twisted to the point they were beyond recognition as humans enjoyed giving no quarter, and mercy wasn't part of their vocabulary.

The Black Wings, however, showed no immediate sign of attacking. After a moment of confusion, Syaoran came to the answer quickly. Fei-Wang Reed had intended to capture or kill only Syaoran by means of sneak attack; now that he was ready and his crew was beside him, Fei-Wang didn't want to take any chances. Although the Black Wings were easily the deadliest ship on the skies, he had refrained from crushing the Tsubasa and starting the battle. This was an option for him, because not even the Tsubasa crew was foolish enough to start a battle they knew they were going to lose. Syaoran gritted his teeth in frustration. Signaling his crew to put their auras away and weapons down, he lowered his sword while walking toward the edge of his ship. Sure enough, Fei-Wang Reed was standing at the edge of his ship as well, completely unarmed, an all-knowing smile on his face. Syaoran immediately identified him as one of the three attackers who had surprised him. Kyle Rondart, his ever loyal servant as well as Kimihiro Watanuki were both standing next to the Captain, obviously the two other attackers.

"Fei-Wang Reed. Getting your minions to help you try and win against me huh? Such a cheap shot. Where's Xing-Huo? I'm pretty sure she was the one who slipped under my defenses; no one else on your filthy ship has that kind of ability." Fei-Wang Reed continued to smile calmly, disregarding the jibes almost to the point where Syaoran wanted to sound the attack against the ship from hell, foolish or not.

"We are pirates, my dear comrade, are we not? There is no guidebook we must follow, nor are there any chivalrous codes that we must keep to, yet the Tsubasa seems to forget that. What makes the Tsubasa, and their young captain, deny this and show mercy to those who do not deserve it? The weak are to be destroyed, not shown compassion to." Syaoran narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists, obvious anger radiating from him. If Fei-Wang Reed noticed this, he was completely unfazed by the young man's hostility.

"However," He continued, arising confusion from those on the other ship, "we did not come here to quibble amongst ourselves. As you can clearly see, we did not wish for a fight here, simply a clean assassination. It does not matter too much, as we have already accomplished one of our goals. Any battle you incur might damage the… goods we have on board. We will leave you for now, young captain." Upon hearing this Syaoran's anger multiplied. The Captain of the Black Wings had a nasty habit of tending to be so blunt it angered people. A tiny worm of curiosity and managed to crawl into Syaoran's mind, though. Fei-Wang Reed could usually care less about the goods his ship had obtained. What had he managed to pilfer that was so important he couldn't risk an exchange of blows with any ship?

"Don't think this is over Fei-Wang Reed!" Syaoran shouted as the ship of tainted night slowly began to move away from them and sink back into the misty evil they had appeared from. The reply was a clear threat; the words slightly echoing before fading away.

"Do not worry, young captain. This… is far from over." As he said that, Fei-Wang Reed held up a necklace. It was very hard to make out, but those on the opposite ship could just make out the thin silver chain and a pendant made out pure diamond that was carved into the shape of one wing. As the crew looked at it in confusion, they noticed a change in their captain as Fei-Wang put it back in his robes and disappeared along with his ship: the Tsubasa Captain had turned a deathly shade of white, recognition, shock, and anger were written all over his face before he quickly recovered himself. The crew exchanged glances, and all confirmed that they were thinking the same thing: their captain had recognized that necklace.

Once the black ship had left, the whole Tsubasa crew let out a little sigh of relief. After their brief pause, however, they soon went into action. There was still the matter of looking for survivors from the ship that the Black Wings had burned and left in their wake.

"Tomoyo! Search out any survivors that may be in the water or ship! If there is the slightest possibility they are alive, tell us! Fai, steer us toward the vessel! Sôma, help Tomoyo search! Yui, Kurogane, stand ready!" The crew nodded, and everyone rushed to do their jobs. Syaoran gripped the railing, his mind a whirl.

"It couldn't have been… I was just imagining things… there's no possible way that could have been hers!" Yui, seeing his standby as an opportunity to confront the captain, interrupted Syaoran's thoughts with a cough.

"Say… Captain… do you… by any chance… know… that necklace that Captain Fei-Wang Reed had held up?" Syaoran immediately turned to face Yui, his eyes aflame and his usually calm demeanor gone.

"No! I don't! Never have, and never will! It was probably some trinket the bastard just took a fancy to!" Syaoran practically yelled. Everyone on the ship had heard his words, and it was completely silent for a few seconds before the hustle resumed. Yui knew better than to push the subject, as his Captain turned away from him once more to tightly grip the railing of the ship, muttering furiously the whole time. This was, once again, something the crew had never seen the Captain do.

"In the "water"! Someone's alive!" Tomoyo shouted, breaking the tense atmosphere. A moment later Sôma confirmed what Tomoyo had said, and pointed at a figure limply holding onto a barrel. Yui and Kurogane set to work immediately, jumping into the ocean-like sky in such a hurry that they had forgotten to take their shirt and shoes off, although Kurogane had had the sense to toss his sword to the side. The curses from the two men upon realizing their mistake were very amusing to hear, despite the heavy mood, and Syaoran couldn't help but crack a smile at their interesting choices of words. Whoever was in the sky was extremely lucky that they had gone overboard in a strip of sky that was very far away from any dimension. In that space, the sky could be likened to water, and one could swim in it. Sometimes, the sky-water was even fresh and drinkable. A few miles closer to the next dimension, however, and anybody overboard would plummet to their deaths.

Kurogane reached out and grabbed the figure, and began to swim with it over his right shoulder, while Yui supported the other half of the figure's weight by letting it lean on his left shoulder, keeping the figure's head above water. Once the duo reached the side of the boat Syaoran tossed down a rope he had secured to the side of the vessel and signaled it was tied on firmly. Kurogane nodded to Yui, who proceeded to let go of the figure and grab the rope. Once one hand was holding onto the rope, Yui helped Kurogane position the unconscious person onto his back in a way so the figure wouldn't fall off.

While Kurogane gripped the side of the boat with one hand, Fai shimmied up the rope onto the deck, and then waved down to Kurogane. The tan man acknowledged the wave with a nodded, and caught the rope. Then, holding onto the taunt material with one hand and supporting the figure with the other, he held on tight while the whole crew strained to pull him aboard. Kurogane, being a very tall and muscular man, was hard to lift in the first place, and the additional weight did nothing to help. After many heaves, grunts, and a few barrels of sweat, Kurogane finally arrived at the railing of the ship. He looked at the crew and Captain of the ship he sailed under and scoffed good-naturedly.

"Keh, weaklings." Fai smirked exhaustedly up at Kurogane before retorting,

"Kuro-wan-wan is a really heavy doggy, though!" Kurogane's eye twitched slightly with annoyance and was about to reach for his sword, but a look from Sôma quickly stopped him. They still had, after all, an unconscious person on deck and sopping wet clothes to dry. Tomoyo had rushed over to the unconscious person immediately after Kurogane had placed it on deck. She had been checking for any signs of consciousness, when the figure started coughing weakly. Everyone stopped what they were doing and leaned to take a better look at the person.

It was a woman, probably no older than 20, and most likely around the Captain's age. The water had plastered her hair to her face, but even though she was in utter disarray, the lady was no doubt beautiful. She had dark auburn hair that went to the middle of her neck. Two strands of her soaking wet hair were significantly longer and went slightly below her shoulders. Her face was pale, burn wounds were all over her arms, and the dress she was wearing showed signs of not only being soaked with sky-water, but of being set aflame and torn. Even that condition, however, it was clearly a very gorgeous dress. Whoever the young maiden was, it was clear from the ship she had been sailing in and the exquisite dress on her that she was not unfamiliar with higher class standards.

The maiden slowly began to open her eyes, coughing up sea water all the while. Kurogane helped her to sit up as she struggled to bring herself in that position. Her jade green eyes were stunningly clear and bright as she turned her head in wonder and confusion. She didn't utter a single word or sound, save coughing. Her eyes then focused on Tomoyo, who wasted no time in trying to glean any type of information.

"My name is Tomoyo. You are onboard the Tsubasa. You are safe with us, for we will not hurt you. What's your name?" Tomoyo waited anxiously, waiting for the answer.

"The…. Tsubasa?" She asked slowly. Her voice was soft and quiet, similar to the sound of tiny bells. Tomoyo nodded slowly, and the crew saw she was willing herself to be calm as to not disturb the lady.

"Yes, that's right, the Tsubasa. We rescued you." This only seemed to confuse the maiden more, and she slowly looked at each of the crew. Then her eyes met with the Captain. Syaoran turned completely white, as if he had seen a ghost, or rather, become one. Before the rest of the crew could really comprehend what exactly was going on, Syaoran was gripping the maiden by her arm harshly, his eyes ablaze.

"You!" He hissed, murderous intent radiating from his aura, "Never thought I'd see you again, this time, at my mercy! Should I just throw you overboard, or make the death more painful? You're choice!" The maiden gave a small cry of terror and pain as she struggled to get out of his grip. The crew could only stare in shock at their Captain's terrifying change of character.

"Who are you? What did I do?" She cried. Syaoran gave a viscous smirk as he practically spat,

"Oh, pretending you don't know me, vixen? Or is it that I was just so insignificant to you that after I had done everything for you and after you betrayed me, I didn't matter anymore? I never meant anything to you did I? Your true feelings were always craftily hidden by that mask of yours!" By this time the crew emerged from their shock and leapt into action. The Captain was really trying to injure the girl! Kurogane and Yui quickly rushed forward to grab their Captain, struggling to restrain him.

"CAPTAIN! GET A GRIP!" Kurogane roared at Syaoran while shaking him. Eventually Syaoran stopped struggling, resorting to only glowering at the girl. The maiden's eyes were huge and scared, confusion written all over her face. She had crawled away from Syaoran the moment both men had caught him. Small tears trickled down her face. Tomoyo and Sôma quickly rushed to comfort the girl, uncertainty flickering in their eyes as they looked at the Captain.

"I-I don't know you! I don't know! I don't remember anything!" the girl sobbed. Tomoyo soothed the girl, rubbing her back while saying gently,

"It's all right, the Captain's just mistaken you for some other person, and it isn't you he's mad at. Right… Captain…?" Tomoyo addressed the last part to the man behind her.

"NO, SHE IS THE ONE! I'VE WANTED MY REVENGE ON HER FOR FOUR YEARS! DON'T THINK YOU CAN FOOL ME!" Syaoran managed to roar before he was quickly shut up again by Kurogane and Yui.

"Captain! Think straight! She is telling the truth! If you stop trying to kill her with your murderous intent for a moment you would be able to feel the innocent aura radiating from her as well!" Sôma shouted, narrowing her eyes at the Captain. The amber eyed man simply scoffed at that, but remained silent. What was going on? Turning back to the maiden, she said kindly,

"Don't worry. Until your wounds are healed, we will make sure the Captain does not go near you. It's okay. I can sense you're telling the truth. If the Captain never met you, it's only common sense that you wouldn't remember him." The girl sobbed harder at this and shook her head furiously.

"No. It's not that I just don't remember him; I don't remember anything at all! I don't even know my name!"

Hmmm…. Yet another cliffy…. Oops…Dun-dun-duuuuuuun! Reviews pleeez. THAT MEANS YOU!