You have wasted about four seconds of yournlife reading this pointless message and you still are, so i suggest you stop.

JOKING! i couldn't resist! ^^ anyways hi, and on with chapter 4! XD


My eyes widened. Oh dear. I did just hit the captain. My mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.

Kurosaki let out a tiny smirk, before his face went back to blank. Suddenly, his hands enclosed around my wrists, and I yelped as he suddenly pulled me close, chocolate eyes only a few inches from mine. My brain froze.

'While you're on this ship, princess, I suggest you behave yourself', he whispered, making me shiver. I narrowed my eyes and started struggling.

He released his tight hold on my wrists, sending me staggering back. My heartbeat in my ears, I ran over to the wall, looking out of the small glass window there. Kuchiki was slowly disappearing into the distance, my hope of getting back there lessening by the second.

I spun back around, chest heaving. 'Let me out of here', my voice was desperate and cracking. My vision blurred as tears began swelling.

One of the crew snorted 'Or what?'

'I'm a princess' I said, my voice a few octaves higher than normal. 'People will be after me!'

'We're already getting away quite quickly, and besides, we set something to slow them down' another crew member said grinning.

My heart was pounding, and I was experiencing the first real lick of fear in all my 15 years of royal life. I tried to keep my face straight as I glared at Kurosaki.

'What do you want with me?' my voice betrayed my emotions, cracking with fear.

'My boss wants you' Kurosaki said after a moment.

'Why?' I asked, frowning.

Kurosaki shrugged slightly. 'You'll see' with that, he turned to leave. I narrowed my eyes and grabbed the sleeve of his black coat, once again without thinking.

'What did I say about behaving?' Kurosaki muttered, flicking my hand off. He stopped at the door, murmuring something to the orange-haired girl.

She sighed, shooting a glare at him and nodding reluctantly. He walked back out the door, his small crew parting to let him through. The girl turned to me.

'Ok, princess' she said smirking. 'You'll be staying with us in the girl's cabin'

I didn't trust myself to speak, so I nodded, fear coursing through my veins. How was I going to get out of this? I was born and raised in the palace lifestyle, so I have no idea how to fight. The most I could do was throw a pure gold fork at somebody.

The crew moved off, muttering and glaring at me, going back to whatever they were doing before they crashed the Kuchiki-Shiba wedding. Great. The crew was already hostile to me.

I stayed in the small cargo room for a moment, trying to calm myself down. Kaien would probably set sail after me. That thought cheered me up slightly, my heart fluttering as his angelic face swam in my mind.

'Oi!' a young voice shouted. 'What'd I miss? What's happening?'

'But late now, Akira' a deep voice grumbled.

My head snapped over to the door once again. Akira? Wasn't that Ayami's brother?

I cautiously peeked out the door, ignoring the staring eyes, gasping when I saw a familiar brown-haired boy, a spitting image of Ayami except male.

'Akira!' I shrieked, running out of the room. Akira turned to see who called his name, eyes widening when he saw me.

'R-Rukia-sama?' he said incredulously, walking towards me.

'It's Rukia, remember?' I hadn't seen him since I was 10, but he was hard to forget. He was like his twin sister; mischievous, funny and surrounded by an infectious, happy aura.

'What are you doing here?' he asked, smiling as he released me from his hug. Fear immediately replaced the small happiness I had seeing him.

'I've been kidnapped by these pirates', I said dryly, ignoring the glares from the nearby crew. Akira's face fell.

'Oh, yeah they were talkin' bout somethin' like that', he mumbled, looking away from me guiltily.

I frowned. 'How did you end up kidnapped?' to my surprise, he laughed.

'I wasn't kidnapped' he said, flashing a smile.

'You weren't?' I said confused. He shook his head vigorously.

'I ran away' he explained. 'Ukitake can be a cruel place for those low on the food chain. I took a chance and snuck on here, where I was lucky enough to not be killed. So now I'm part of the crew.'

'How come they said you've been kidnapped?' Akira snorted.

'They don't want people to think their servants are out of their control, so they made up rumours'

'Ayami has been worried sick about you', I muttered. My heart thudded painfully as I suddenly realized I may never see them again.

'I have been considering getting off at Kuchiki, but I didn't know if Ayami was there'

'Oi! Get back to work, Akira!' a voice shouted form nearby. He sighed.

'I have clean-up duties for a month because of a betting game with some drunks when we landed on Hitsugaya' he explained, grimacing. 'It didn't go well, and they chased me back onto this ship, where they started a fight, and somehow a barrel of gunpowder got lit and made a giant hole in the ship' he shuddered. 'Kurosaki-taichou wasn't very happy with me'

I smiled slightly as he hurried off, grabbing a mop on the way. I felt eyes on me, so I hurried to the girls' cabin, which had a gold sign on it, decorated by a picture of a strange white rabbit, and a few smiley faces and pictures of foods. The men's cabin was a small distance away, twice as big as the girls' one.

I opened the door and quickly shut it behind me, leaning against it and ignoring some of the wolf-whistles directed at me. Damn pirates.

I gasped as I saw I wasn't alone. The orange-haired girl was swinging in a big, orange net-like bed, humming and weaving some brightly coloured string in her hands. The small light brown-haired girl was singing something, picking up objects off the floor and placing them in their correct places.

I was surprised this room was. It was fairly large for just 2 girls, with light wooden walls, decorated with painting and woven things, the floor covered by a thin, sea-coloured carpet that was placed in the middle. There were 2 of the strange nets on each wall, each wall decorated according to its occupant. Another door sat near the orange net, which I assumed to be the bathroom.

Both girls looked as I entered, the orange-haired girl frowning. I swallowed, trying hard not to hyperventilate, feeling hollow. Soon, reality would catch up with me and I would probably go into a hysterical escape frenzy.

'Hi, I'm Yuzu', the smallest girl said, smiling at me warmly. 'That's Inoue' she pointed to the other still frowning occupant.

I tried to smile, but it probably came out as a grimace. Yuzu giggled. I felt slightly warm. At least not everyone was hostile towards me. She walked over to a corner of the spacious room, pulling out a dark blue net, and walking back to me, holding it out.

I looked at it blankly. 'What is this?'

Yuzu giggled. 'That's right; they don't have these in palaces, huh?' I ignore the assumption, looking down at the strange object. Fishing net? Hisako told me about the fishermen and how they…fish.

'In case you're wondering, it's not a fishing net' oh. 'It's called a hammock'

She walked over to the door, standing on a small table, and strung the hammock onto two hooks on the ceiling.

The ground beneath my feet suddenly rose, and I yelped, stumbling back against the wall.

'Don't worry about that', Inoue said, not looking up from her knitting. 'We're on a ship so it always happens'

A ship? That's right; I'm on a pirate ship. I've never been sailing before, as my parents said it was overrated and too dangerous.

I didn't like it. The constant rocking was making me feel queasy. I walked over to the freshly strung up hammock, and sat on it, gasping as it shifted under my weight. For a moment I thought I was going to fall, breathing a sigh of relief when I didn't.

'Umm', Yuzu said, looking at me thoughtfully. 'Would you like a spare set of clothes?'

I looked down, my stomach churning as I saw I was still in my silk wedding dress, still in the tight corset and uncomfortable shoes, still wearing the lace head covering. My lip trembled, and a single tear slid down my eye.

'Uh, yeah, um, I can lend you some of my clothes' Yuzu said hurriedly. 'You're really small, so we look about the same size'

She pulled out a bright pink blouse and a pair of pants similar to hers. She strode over to me, placing them into my slightly raised arms. I automatically raised my arms out, waiting for Hisako and Ayami to change me.

Then I remembered they weren't here. I've never changed my own clothes before, as they were all dresses with tight string at the back.

I tried reaching for the back of the dress, but found it impossible. Stifling a frustrated sigh, I looked towards Yuzu for assistance. She smiled and walked over to me, undoing the strings.

'This dress is really beautiful!' she murmured, helping me out of it.

'Too bad I didn't get to use it' I muttered. Yuzu remained silent.


Reviews are very appreciated! ^^

till next time,

-lazy llama-