When Amu was shaken awake the next morning, the first things she saw were two, great, green eyes. Then other things came into focus: a shock of reddish hair, silver earrings that gleamed, and a smile that appeared about to split the boy's face in two. He untied her from the mast with ease. "You okay, kid?" he asked as he finished.

Amu, rubbing her chafed wrists, frowned at how he addressed her; a princess was not to be treated as a child! "I'm fine!" She rose, but her legs failed her and she landed on her rear. Her fine eyebrows knit together, perplexed.

The boy tried to repress his ever widening grin at her comical expression and failed. He stuck out his hand as gravely as he could. "I'm Kukai Souma. Nice to meetcha'."

"Princess Amu Hinamori of Shugo," Amu said primly, ignoring his hand.

Kukai looked annoyingly amused.

"She alive?" someone called from up in the crow's nest.

"Yeah!" Kukai shouted.

Amu tried to make out the face of the unknown person, but the sun, though covered by somber clouds, was too bright for her eyes.

"Good!" The speaker dropped lightly to the deck, landing crouched. He raised his head, sending raven hair in an arc over his forehead. Something glittered at his throat. Midnight blue eyes twinkled at her, and Amu recognized him as Ikuto. She was surprised to see that his ears and tail were gone. Had she dreamed them up?

"Did you sleep well, Princess?" Ikuto smirked.

"Yes, I did, Pirate," Amu shot back, angry at her disgrace. "I slept so well! Why, I didn't even feel the freezing water drowning me, or see my clothes being ripped by the wind, or even think of how much I would rather be back home! Indeed, Pirate, I had the best sleep of my life!"

"Hm…" he pondered. "I told you to call me 'Captain'."

She shrieked. "That's entirely beside the point! And besides, I refused!"

"Then again, I wouldn't mind if you called me 'Ikuto'… No matter. You'll warm up to the idea. In the mean time, you should probably get cleaned up now, though. That bruise looks pretty… bad."

Amu reached to her forehead, where she had injured herself the previous night. There was a lump under her fingers. It throbbed as she touched it. "Ow," she muttered. But that wasn't what bothered her, no, there was something else she'd seen a moment before, something important. But her thoughts were cut off by a soothing voice.

"My apologies for your injury and rough treatment, Princess." A man stepped into the sunlight, the one who had tied Amu down the night before, the one who so greatly resembled Tadase. "I am Tsukasa Amakawa, first mate. It is my honor to finally meet you, Princess Amu."

"You were expecting me?" Amu asked, puzzled.

Ikuto and Tsukasa exchanged knowing looks.

"In a way." Tsukasa smiled. "Now, Captain, you must get the Princess properly settled."

"Sure. Utau'll do it. Utau!"

"Here I am!" It was the girl from the night before, the one who had embraced Ikuto so passionately.

Ikuto waved vaguely at Amu. "Utau, this is Amu Hinamori."

The beautiful woman turned her sparkling, violet eyes on Amu, and suddenly her gaze lost all of its vibrancy and turned cold. "Huh, the princess of Shugo, right?" Utau sneered.

"Yes, Utau," Ikuto said. "Princess, this is Utau Tsukiyomi, my younger sister."

Amu gagged. Sister? But, but, last night… They had…

"Ikuto, I placed some material on your desk that you should look at. Perhaps we should go take care of that now…?" Tsukasa said pleasantly.

"Uh-huh," Ikuto said. He shrugged to Kukai before leaving the scene with a flourish of his cape. Tsukasa followed.

Kukai, who had been content to watch up until this moment, in an attempt to salvage the situation, quickly stepped in. "Ah, Utau, why don't you go get the Princess settled?" he asked cautiously. She frowned. "Please?"

Utau's glare worsened considerably before she turned on her heel and walked away, blonde hair streaming, leaving poor Amu behind.

Kukai nodded at Utau's back. "Go on, follor her. She's not so bad, you know. Go on."

Slowly at first, Amu trotted off after Utau.

Kukai shook his head sheepishly, throwing Utau an admiring glance. "Women," he muttered.


"Here." Utau tossed a bundle in Amu's general direction; the princess lunged and caught it. Her nose wrinkled at the raggedy clothes that were the bundle, along with the scent that faintly suggested cat urine.

Utau sneered. "Oh, don't worry, Ikuto'll have you parading around in pretty dresses in no time. Until then, you'll be wearing those."

Amu shrugged off her distaste as dignifiedly as she could. Her golden eyes searched the area for a private place. "Where do I change?" she asked cautiously, dreading the answer.

"Right where you are. Best hurry up, too, before someone else comes in." She swung herself up into a bunk, dislodging a wiry, black cat from its perch. It meowed angrily and leapt to the floor, where it rubbed itself against Amu before settling in the bunk below Utau's.

Amu blushed as she stripped herself of her tatters and pulled on the slightly less tattered ensemble. When she looked up again, Utau was staring at her – no, not at her – staring at the lock around Amu's throat. Her beautiful, violet eyes clouded over. "So that's why," she murmured.

Amu stuffed the lock away, frightened at Utau's sudden change in emotion. So here, yet again, was someone who recognized the lock. But why? It was just a pretty trinket; why was it so important?

"Where shall I be sleeping?" the princess asked to cover the odd moment.

Utau gestured to the floor, "Pick a spot, any spot."

"Don't be so mean, Utau-chan!" an orange-haired girl chided. She had snuck up behind Amu, and the princes jumped away, putting her fingers to the dagger at her hip.

"Whoa! Easy," the girl said. When she saw that Amu had relaxed, she turned and threw herself in a close-by bunk, sweeping up a worn, stuffed bear in her thin arms.

"Shut up, Yaya," Utau shot back.

Yaya stuffed her thumb in her mouth. "You're mean, Utau-chan."

"Well, you're just a big baby."

Amu giggled; the girl truly looked like a big baby.

"Oh, Amu-chan, you'll be sleeping under Utau-chan, there," she pointed to the bunk, currently unoccupied save the cat who looked like he would never move again. Yaya grinned. "With Yoru, apparently. He's Ikuto's cat. No idea why he keeps a cat on a ship. It's kinda stupid, you know…"

"Don't question Ikuto!" Utau said.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry."

Amu slowly sat down and winced; last night had made her muscles stiff. "So, you're Yaya-san, yes?"

Yaya nodded. "That's me, alright. Yaya, the baby. Welcome aboard."

Utau snorted and lobbed something at Yaya as if to vent her incomprehensible anger. Yaya began to whine.

But Amu paid no attention to this. Something was tugging at her mind. Something she'd seen earlier, back when she'd stood with Kukai and Tsukasa and Ikuto… Ikuto! Of course! That was it! That's what she'd forgotten! For, as Amu remembered, she became more and more sure of what had been bothering her for the longest time, of what she had glimpsed around Ikuto's neck, of what had glittered so prettily in the sunlight; Tadase's key.


Ugh, ugh, ugh, I absolutely DETEST that ending. So, if you thought it was bad too, know that I agree. The fact is this chapter was sitting in my files, complete save for an ending. And I had to do SOMETHING before it drove me totally insane. And, another thing; I'M SORRY UTAU FANS PLEASE DON'T KILL ME I KNOW SHE'S A TOTAL B***** IN THIS CHAPPIE BUT IT WAS THE ONLY WAY I COULD THINK OF TO ADD SOME MORE DRAMA TO THE PLOT SO PLEASE FORGIVE AND FORGET SINCE SHE WILL MOST DEFINETELY BECOME BETTER LATER ON!

On a vaguely less hyper note, I would like to tell "ColoradoGirlie", who has yet to create an account; "Sorry for the mixup, I thought it was obvious, but I guess it was less obvious to the readers... The mauve-eyed pirate is Tsukasa Amakawa! I'm frankly quite embarassed, I really did think people would get it... :( Thanks for the review!"

And thanks to the brilliant people who leave such brilliant reviews, because you're all absolutely, totally brilliant!

And now for a bit of self-advertising... I AM A BETA-READER. There. I said it. So, if anyone needs help, here I am. I've got a whole summer to help as much as I can. :)

Thanks again, and REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW if you want more DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA!

~Star-chan