So, sorry about the wait…I got sidetracked with a knew project. I'm not posting it until it's completely finished because it's kind of intense and I'm not sure which direction it's going to take yet.

Anyway. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Don't own!

-xXx-

Unlike the others, Yuki couldn't say he held any belief that this place was haunted. Where his crew—Sebastian being the only one exempt— saw supernatural accidents, he saw poor footing on the risky part of the trail and anyone who was stupid enough to wander off in a dark cave deserved to be lost in his opinion. Speaking of stupid…Yuki looked around trying to find that painfully pink hair that was sure to be sulking in a corner somewhere. Nothing. Yuki barely resisted the urge to punch the wall in frustration and instead turned back to Sebastian.

"Sebastian, you can get the others back to the ship; I have to go look for that idiotic brat."

"With all due respect captain, I'm going to have to say that's a terrible idea; you're life is far more important to us than his."

Yuki just rolled his eyes. "It'll be fine, you know I don't believe in this ghost shit."

"I think, sir, that everyone would feel better if they didn't think you were dead."

Yuki looked Sebastian over, if there was anyone in his crew capable of finding a lost person in these caverns, it was certainly him. But still, Yuki hated having other people do his work for him. And yet, he could see the point…

"Very well. Find him and meet us back at the ship." Sebastian nodded and was gone.

-xXx-

Shuichi had tried everything to calm himself down as he walked. He tried thinking happy thoughts, but somehow those always ended in fire or blood. He also had tried humming a song from his childhood only to find that the tune greatly intensified the creepiness of the situation. He paused for a moment, taking a deep breath in a vain attempt to calm his nerves and gather his wits. Quite suddenly, the sharp sound of a stone as it skidded against the floor of the cave and fell into a pool of water with a soft 'plop' echoed into his ears, though he was certain he, himself, hadn't kicked anything.

Shuichi bit his lip as panic flooding though his veins. "Yuki?" He called hesitantly into the darkness. An eerie orange light appeared, reflecting of the rust-colored stone walls, followed by a tall dark shape. Shuichi remained where he was, completely paralyzed by fear as the figure approached. Shuichi squinted as it got closer, hardly daring to believe who was in front of him.

"Sebastian?"

"If you're quite done exploring places you really shouldn't be in, let's go." The black haired man said curtly, turning to lead Shuichi out of the frightening cavern

"How did you find me?" Shuichi asked as his heart returned to a more normal pace. For a moment Shuichi wasn't sure that Sebastian had heard him, he felt as if his voice had been swallowed by the empty, dark void that surrounded the two of them.

"I saw you walk off."

And you didn't stop me? Shuichi thought bitterly, thinking of all the pain he could have been saved had he not wandered off.

"I didn't think you'd wander this far though." Sebastian continued, as if reading Shuichi's thoughts.

The pinkette was barely aware when they entered the cavern in which the treasure was stashed; in the darkness all he could decipher was a mounded shape from which the occasional clash of torchlight on gold could be seen.

"Where're Yuki and the others?" He asked into the darkness.

"On their way back to the ship. It would only cause unnecessary panic and frustration if we made everyone wait for you."

Somehow Shuichi got the feeling that Sebastian didn't like him much. Opting for quiet companionship, Shuichi spent the rest of the journey through the caves doing his best to follow in Sebastian's steps and slip or stumble over any of the loose stones. When he finally caught sight of the proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel" Shuichi didn't even bother resisting the urge to run and took off past his tall, dark-haired guide, some how managing to stay upright during the entirety of his sprint.

"Shuichi thank God you made it!" A voice behind him exclaimed. Shuichi turned and managed to catch a glimpse of Eric's face right before he was scooped into a hug and swung around.

"E-Eric?" Shuichi stammered through his constricted air supply. The brunette dropped him, laughing in a slightly embarrassed manner.

"Sorry about that. Over-excited I guess." He mumbled, scratching the back of his head.

"I thought everyone went back to the ship, why are you here?"

"Yes, please do enlighten us." Sebastian said sternly, strolling out of the dark, stony mouth as if he were leaving his own home.

"Aw don't be mad! I was just waiting for you two! I noticed you weren't with the rest of the group so I dropped back to make sure you made it."

Sebastian raised an unimpressed eyebrow and started walking down the path.

"And Yuki was ok with that?" He asked over his shoulder.

"Er, well, I didn't exactly ask permission." Eric admitted as he and Shuichi fell into line behind Sebastian. "But I figured he wouldn't mind— especially if it was for Shuichi. Besides I had to make sure you two were alive!"

"And what if we never came back? You would have just ended up trapped on this island, left to fend for yourself or starve."

"I would have managed!" Eric scowled. "And besides, it was you, there was no way you would end up lost in there!" Shuichi could have sworn he heard Sebastian laugh, but the image was too strange and he pushed it aside.

Going down the mountain was infinitely quicker—if more tiring for the legs—than going up had been. Eric spent most of the trip teasing Shuichi about getting lost and trying to scare him even more with poorly elaborated horror stories that still somehow managed to send shivers down Shuichi's spine no matter how ridiculous they were. Sebastian seemed apathetic towards the conversation and stayed silent throughout the journey, only speaking again when they stepped onto the sandy strand, barely in view of the ship, giving Eric a short order to run ahead and tell Yuki that they were on their way.

Shuichi practically bounded the remainder of the way to the boat, excited to see Yuki and hold little Rue again. Unfortunately, a single but powerful glare from Yuki prevented him from approaching the blond once they had been rowed back to the safety of the ship and instead he darted down to visit Rue and assure her that he was perfectly safe and would never on his life abandon her. He eventually managed to eat a little bit of food that Eric had brought by, but in all honesty his experience up in the pirates' treasure trove had thrown him off balance and left him with a very poor appetite so instead he took to his new favorite pastime: playing with Rue.

-xXx-

By the time Yuki came down, he was lying on his stomach, pulling a now feathered piece of lace that had once been attached to that much-abhorred dress in an indecipherable pattern for Rue's enjoyment.

"Is it your goal in life to make mine unbearably frustrating or do you just have a knack for being impossible to manage."

"I don't try to be difficult…"Shuichi muttered, releasing the piece of lace which Rue immediately pounced on, further tearing it to shreds.

"Really." Yuki scoffed, unconvinced. "Well you do a damn good job of it."

Shuichi bit his lip and sat up on his knees, forcing himself to look directly at Yuki. "So ah…on a scale of one to ten, how angry are you this time?"

"Did I say I was angry?" Yuki asked coolly.

Shuichi stared uncertainly at Yuki, debating whether or not this was a trick question.

"I'm not angry." Yuki relented once he noticed Shuichi's hesitation. "I was just…" Worried? Concerned? No way he could say that to Shuichi; knowing that idiot, he'd probably have a heart attack from over-excitement and die. So instead, Yuki did something even more idiotic—he knelt in front of Shuichi and kissed him.

"I swear to god brat, how many times will it take for you to learn to just do as I say?" Yuki whispered as he broke away. Shuichi barely managed a few unintelligible noises around his bewilderment.

"Speechless again…I would think you would be starting to get used to this."

Shuichi scowled and pulled away. "How am I supposed to get used to it when you never give me any warning, stupid-head!" Only realizing how childish his statement was after it was said.

Yuki raised an eyebrow at the outburst. "May I just remind you that it was this "stupid-head" as you so charmingly put it, that made sure you got out of those caves."

"That was Sebastian." Shuichi sniffed, maintaining his pout.

"And who do you think told him to go find the idiot that got himself lost in there?" Yuki asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Right.

"Now if you're done complaining, I'm going to sleep." Yuki stated, leaning over to blow out the candles.

"Yuki, wait!" Shuichi cried, suddenly very much afraid of being stuck in the dark again. "Do you, I mean, is it possible for us to leave the lights on for tonight?"

Yuki frowned. "You've never been scared of the dark before. Why the sudden…oh."

"I'm not scared of the dark!" Shuichi objected. "What I meant was, Rue and I aren't situated and I didn't want to try and find my way in the dark."

"Of course." Yuki watched with faint amusement as Shuichi took his time picking his way over to the bed and situating himself and Rue under the covers. Regardless of whether or not the brat would ever admit that being lost in the caves had scared, Yuki knew it had and sick as it was, he found the reaction slightly adorable.

"Rue's not staying in her bed tonight?"

"I thought she would get lonely." Shuichi sniffed. "You know, you could just leave the candles going, they set a nice glow in the cabin."

"Not a chance." Yuki said, blowing out the candle and dropping the room into shadow. "I hate sleeping when there's light." He settled into the bed and turned to the side, wanting to fall asleep but somehow curious to see what Shuichi would do now; that boy was nearly impossible to predict. For a while there was only silence and Yuki thought that perhaps the brat had just shut up for once and gone straight to sleep. Something he wasn't sure was a good thing or a bad thing. But eventually the faint sound of whimpering floated down to his ears.

No way was he going to sleep with this pathetic-ness right behind him.

Rolling back over, Yuki pulled Shuichi close to his chest, stroking his silky pink hair gently. Ever so slowly he felt the boy relax in his arms and soon enough he, himself, was succumbing to the serene feeling that comes with having the warmth of another person against you.

"Yuki…thanks for sending Sebastian after me." Yuki cracked one eye open—not that it did any good in the dark— and then the other, surprised at how serious the usually over dramatic boy was being.

"You didn't really expect me to just abandon you, did you?"

Shuichi remained silent, unsure how to answer: saying no would mean he thought Yuki was a complete asshole. Saying yes would make him seem stuck up and spoiled.

"Well I hoped you would." He finally concluded.

Yuki chuckled, leaning away just enough so he could slide a finger along Shuichi's jaw and place a soft kiss on his forehead. "Diplomatic, brat. You could—" Yuki was cut off by Shuichi covering Yuki's lips with his own for a brief—yet utterly adorable—moment.

Almost as soon as Shuichi broke away, Yuki pulled him back, twining a hand into Shuichi's hair so he couldn't shy away easily and deepening the kiss. Eventually Yuki decided to release him, wanting to put a stop to things before he no longer wanted to stop them. Shuichi gave only the smallest mewl of complaint but then snuggled closer to Yuki's chest, tucking his head comfortably under the blonde's chin.

"Hey Yuki?" A soft voice questioned, just as the pirate captain was about to fall asleep.

"What."

"Why were you so against Rue being named Mika?"

"Don't know. Why are you so concerned about it?" Yuki retorted, though he was fairly certain he already knew the answer to his question.

"I once had a friend named Mika, I lived close to her back in England. She was murdered right after I came down here."

Yuki shifted away from Shuichi, hoping the other wouldn't notice the nervous pace of his heartbeat. "So you decided to name a cat after your deceased girlfriend?"

"She wasn't my girlfriend!" Shuichi protested.

"Right. My mistake. I'm sorry for your loss." Yuki said, tilting Shuichi's head up so he could kiss him again—anything at this point to get his mind off of Mika and that particular train of thought. Shuichi accepted the kiss—and presumably the apology as well—very willingly.

-xXx-

Review replies:

Kyouyacloud: haha awws

Midnight13731: Haha yay! I'm glad it made you feel better ^^ …and presumably aided in procrastination :P

Angel Wings-008: Aw thanks! I hope I'm improving with the chapters : / But seriously. Shuichi needs to break out of this habit of getting himself in bad situations -_-

Riddiculusvampire: hehehe yeah, I kind of have an unhealthy obsession with cliffhangers, though this chapter wasn't bad ^^ So cool! I've never been anywhere even remotely tropical so when I was writing that I was really hoping my imagination was totally off haha

Lilgurlanima: psh, curiosity would never kill a cat…Shuichi on the other hand…

Akita aka Sesshomarus luvr: haha, you def reminded me that I had to update this XD

So guys, drop a review please! Love you!