Man, you guys had me worried. That was too long of a wait, I feel bad for the ones that actually REVEIWED!!! You guys just don't believe me, do you? For that i should make it 10 REVIEWS!!!!
But I'm not that mean. Uhg Being nice has a sucky side. ok, I'm giving ya this chapter, but i better get some reviews faster. If yoy want the next chapter, just said me a review saying so, not hard!
Disclaimer: I do not own avata the last airbender, nor it's characters.
Reminder: for the people whom may have forgot, Ling is telling Zuko how Toshiro became the Capatin aboard the Black Swan... Chapter 14: Exposed
"OOF!" an older Toshiro exclaimed as she was pushed into a barrel, the mop she was holding now pushed into her shoulder. She knew that if the tip of the mop had pointier tip, it would have punctured her arm. She pushed herself back up, and pushed some lose hairs under her green bandana. Glaring at the man who shoved her, the look out, she sighed, knowing that the captain was watching her. She knew that he was watching her at all times, and she wasn't going to fight the men that harassed her on board. Brawling on the Black Swan could end in death for either fighter, or both, depending on if the captain killed the victor, for starting such a battle. She had seen it happen.
She continued to mop, and ignored the crude gesture. Five years had gone by, and everyday of those five years, she received some type of bullying or beating from the other pirates on board. Over time, she became used to the badgering and pain.
Ling looked down at the poor lad, and shook his head. He remembered back to when Toshiro had first joined the crew of the Back Swan, and what the captain had told him. He turned away from the sight before him, and sighed as he did every time before, to keep himself from interfering and disobeying his captain. It pained him to see the young boy be harassed by the rest of the crew.
Toshiro knew he was there, she just didn't acknowledge him, for good reason. She was unaware of his promise to the captain, and so she wanted Ling to think she was capable of taking care of herself. She wanted the captain to think the same, so no matter the injury or insult, she stayed strong. The only problem was that it made the crew even madder at her, especially Zans. He hated her since the day she came aboard, and it made them do more hurtful things to her.
There were other problems, but not of Toshiro's. The captain was planning his retirement, to make a new pirate captain. Most pirates made their first mate captain, and the new captain chose a new first mate, but he didn't think that it was going to happen that way. He was pacing back and forth in his quarters, trying to think of what he was going to do, when Ling walked in, hoping to have an audience with him. "Ling, what brings ye to me today?"
"I'd like to talk to you about your decision about the new captain."
The captain had yet to tell Ling that he was thinking about not having Ling as his replacement, and was thinking that this would be the right time, but Ling interrupted him with a new theory. "Sir, I don't think that I would like to be the new captain. I don't think I can handle the responsibilities of being in charge of the crew."
The captain stood up and explained to Ling why he didn't want to choose Ling in the first place. "Ling, I agree, but I would like ye to continue to be the first mate, of whoever I chose."
Ling smiled and gave a nod to his captain, then left to go back to his duties, including his five-year-old chore of watching over Toshiro. He walked down to the lower deck, and listened to the "rumors" among the pirates about the captain picking someone else to be captain. He laughed when he heard Zans, the man that was probably the last person on his list, saying that the captain would most likely pick him. Especially since Zans had hated Toshiro since the day she came aboard, and he was the one that started most of the harassing of Toshiro. Ling only shook his head, and continued the day.
The next day, Ling checked on Toshiro in the morning. She was by his hammock, putting on his coat that he never wore. It was a large, brown, worn-out coat that the captain had given him, hoping that it would fit, but he was hoping for too much from the thin first mate.
He watched Toshiro admire the coat, and decided that he would let her wear it, give it some use instead of just hanging by his sleeping space. He stood behind the young cabin boy, and gave her a sudden surprise. He could see her jump from the motion of her now log hair that reached just above her mid back. "You can keep that if you want, the captain gave it to me as a welcome gift," he told her. She smiled, and nodded, then left to go back to the upper deck. For days he saw her wear the coat, never taking it off. He was glad that someone wore it.
It had been a week since Ling had talked to the captain about his retirement plans, and he was going to ask him how close he was to choosing the new captain. The captain gave him no new news. "I just don't know, Ling," he said, shaking his head in shame for not being able to over come his problem, "The only man I trust on this god forsaken ship is you, and Toshiro, but the lad is too young, too inexperienced. He wouldn't be able to hold his own. As fer you, well, ye know why I haven't chosen you."
Ling nodded, agreeing to the captain's statement.
"I guess I only have one choice," The captain said, "The only man I think that can lead this bloodthirsty crew, is Zans."
Ling looked at the captain in utter shock. Was he insane? He watched the captain sit and shake his old head in his hands, praying for another answer. "But, Sir," Ling tried to tell the old man other wise, but they were interrupted by a loud crash from outside the room, on deck. They quickly opened the door to see what had made the noise, only to see Toshiro picking herself up from a pile of vomit, and the crew laughing.
"That isn't water boy, if you want to swim, get off the ship," a man standing next to a smiling Zans said. Zans' smirk at the young child made the men inside the captain's quarters know exactly why Toshiro was where she was: Zans had pushed her. Toshiro glared at the group of men as she tried to brush of the disgusting waste from her clothes. The men began to walk away, but it seemed that the push from Zans was the last straw for the young pirate. With her hand, she scooped up some of the vomit from the floor of the ship, and threw it at the back of Zans' head.
The men, including Zans, turned toward her, glaring at the thought of her having the nerve to do a thing to the man they all followed. She only glared back, red shinning her left eye. Zans walked over to her, and pushed her back down. She looked up at him, and again, stood up before him. She then pushed him, making him take a couple steps back to catch his balance. She was nowhere near strong enough to knock the man to the floor. In rage, Zans pushed her again, much harder than before, and then kicked her in the side. She stood up once more and pushed Zans again.
Only angering him more, he repeated his previous action of knocking her to the floor, and kicking her twice. He then picked her up by her coat, and pushed her up against the pillar that was topped by the crow's nest. She glared at him once more as he said, "That was dumb, boy," in the same fearful voice that used to send a shiver down Toshiro's spine, but it was different this time. She tried to use her hands to break free of his grip, but at no prevail; she merely swung her leg high enough to kick the man in the jaw.
He let go, and as she stood, he tried to put his jaw back in place. She stood firmly in place, her eye now redder than before, and told him in her fearless tone, "You've pushed me around for to long!"
Zans ran after her, and she used his head to boost herself up into the air, where she turned to be facing his back. She then kicked him in the spine.
The captain and Ling ran out of their place behind the quarter's door, and stood in the crowd of cheering and booing men. Too shocked to stop the brawl, they watched Toshiro as she fell to the ground with a swift punch to the stomach by Zans. She held her stomach in pain, then stood to ready herself for his next blow. He charged to her head, but she ducked and lifted her leg in time for his lower stomach to take the hit. She smirked as she watched him step back holding his stomach, just as she did. "You brat," he muttered, and he charged again, going much faster than he had before, and he hit her with much more force using his whole body.
She fell to the ground, and didn't stand up. Zans walked over to the motionless body, and kicked her, just as he did when their fight began. He smirked looking at all her visible wounds. Her lip was bleeding, and her cheek was beginning to swell. He could only imagine how her stomach looked after all the kicks and blows it received. He kicked her again, and she didn't even groan. It was obvious that she was done. The captain stepped in, and told him to stop.
"What were ye thinkin' Zans?! Are ye proud that ye can beat a boy?"
Ling went to the aid of the still Toshiro. Toshiro let out a slight moan of pain, and life. She began to move her head, and lift it from the ground. While the captain yelled at Zans, she managed to lift herself off the floor, against Ling's wishes. She reached down, and pulled Ling's sword from his sheath, and started to charge Zans.
"Toshiro!" The captain exclaimed, stopping her in her tracks. Not taking her eyes off her enemy, she listened to the reason that the captain gave her.
"Do ye really want to go to his level?"
She lowered her head, and walked to the captain. He told her to follow him to the infirmary. She put Ling's sword down, and as she rose from the weapon, Zans said, "You can't fight me with a sword, you don't know how, boy. The brat wouldn't hurt me anyways. He's too weak."
With that, Toshiro not only grabbed the sword she had put down, but took the sword from the captain's sheath as well. She charged Zans again.
Zans took a sword from his own sheath, and raised it against Toshiro's. She had attacked with one, and with the other, she stabbed it into the wood of the deck. She then used it as leverage to bring herself high enough to push Zans away by using her feet against his face. He stepped back, and rubbed blood from his now broken nose. Toshiro brought the swords back up to her stance, and waited for Zans to attack her. When he did, she ducked under his arm, came up behind him, and cut into his shoulder with the blade of Ling's sword. Zans dropped his sword, and Toshiro kicked in his knee, knocking him to the ground. He held his arm, and looked up to Toshiro, who now held the captain's sword to his neck.
"I told you, I'm not going to ignore you anymore, I'm going to fight back," she told him with a smirk. Blood ran from her mouth, but she still smiled at her achievement.
The captain broke the two apart, and as he told them that the brawl was uncalled for, and against the rules of his ship, Toshiro began to cough. She dropped the swords, and held one hand to her mouth, the other to her stomach as she fell to the ground. Zans forced himself up to see over the captain and Ling as the knelt down to help her, but she wasn't able to stand on her own anymore.
Ling tried to lift her, when her hand fell from her mouth, and then realized that it was covered in blood. Toshiro was coughing up blood. The captain ordered Ling to bring her to the infirmary, and he turned back to Zans as Ling left.
"You may have just killed a young boy, a boy that just let you live. He could have killed you; I saw it in his eyes. I could have let him too," he said to him before leaving to follow Ling to the infirmary.
Zans watched them leave, glaring at the captain, but mostly glaring at the boy who just brought him to sword point.
The captain walked into the infirmary. His shoulders slouched as he saw Ling looking over the young lad, still coughing blood into her small hands. He tightened them as he stepped to the first mate, and picked him up from his kneeling position at Toshiro's side. "Leave him," the captain told him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "There's blood to be cleaning off the deck," he explained as he led him out of sight of the boy. The captain took one more glance at Toshiro before he closed the door, letting the doctor help him.
He and the Ling took mops up to the main deck, where they cleaned up the blood of the fight. The captain had brought Ling to help him clean up the mess knowing none of the other men would do it, and that it would keep Ling away from Toshiro as the doctor examined him. "You couldn't do anything more," he told Ling in a serious tone.
Ling looked up from his work, his expression showing that he was worried about the lad. Not hearing any more from the captain, he went back to mopping. He was right, the only thing he could do was pray, and mop.
Two hours passed. They had cleaned up the bloody mess, but kept themselves occupied by continuing to mop the rest of the deck. The captain, not being able to take his thoughts off of poor Toshiro, put his mop aside, and headed back toward the infirmary. Ling's eyes followed him, and when he realized the captain's destination, he dropped his mop and quickly followed after. The captain opened the door slightly, and his jaw dropped slightly to see Toshiro lying on the bed, arms at his sides, and blood on the collar of the coat that Ling had given him.
The coat was laid over the body that wasn't moving. Toshiro's green bandana was no longer on her head, covering her light blonde hair, but hanging by her bedside. Ling pushed by the captain, and kneeled again at her side. He looked up to the captain, his eyes asking how someone could kill a mere boy. The captain only shook his head and looked down to the floor. The room was silent.
"Captain," the doctor walked inn from a large opened closet, containing medical herbs, medicines, anything that could help the many problems of a pirate crew. "I looked over Toshiro."
The captain looked up to him, hoping for some good news. He wanted something to at least let him know that Toshiro didn't die in vain, that she went peacefully, or told the doctor to pass information along.
"Oh, no, Captain," he said, waving his hand as if trying to stop the captain's thoughts, "Toshiro is fine. I gave him something to put him to sleep as I looked over him. I wanted him to stop coughing a little, and putting him to sleep did that, but I think you should know−"
"Excellent," the captain said with a smile. He looked happily down to the lad. "But why cover the boy with this coat?"
"About that, Captain," the doctor tried to stop him from raising the coat off of Toshiro, but he was too slow.
Ling and the captain looked wide-eyed at the child before them. Toshiro's loose hair lay lightly over white bandages that were wrapped around her chest. The boy had breasts?
"When looking over Toshiro,' the doctor explained, "I had to examine the bruises and injuries on her stomach, and when I removed her shirt, I found out a secret that our young cabin boy had been keeping from us."
The captain laid the coat back over Toshiro's body, and looked confused at her, then at the doctor.
"When I really thought about it, it made sense. I had been noticing a decrease in my bandages, and Toshiro is twelve, and she still looked like a young boy. And the large coat," he looked to Ling, knowing that the first mate had been the one to give her the coat.
"She wanted it," Ling told the captain, "I guess to help continue the secret of her gender. When she was younger, it was easy, but as she grew older…" He trailed off, and looked back at the sleeping girl.
The captain let out a silent laugh under his breath. He left the infirmary without a word. Ling looked at the doctor, who shook his head, showing that he was just as confused. They looked at the door, and then to the young girl.
The next morning, Toshiro awoke, and looked at the surroundings of the doctor's quarters. She looked at the lack of her shirt, and the doctor walked in as she quickly put her shirt back on. She glared at him, wordlessly telling him that her secret was to remain just that, a secret. The doctor forced a nod. If he told her about the captain and Ling's visit, he was afraid of her reaction.
She finished the last button, and grabbed her coat. She knew what day it was; it was the day that the captain would announce his replacement to the crew. She spied the captain standing next to Ling, who looked quite nervous behind the captain. Toshiro fought her way through the crowd of pirates, and looked up to the captain, as he was about to announce the new captain.
"The new captain is one that has shown more bravery than anyone I have ever met. He is probably the person you would least expect, but you could never guess why he's braver than the rest of ya."
Toshiro looked around to see if any of the men showed any sign of knowing they were captain. She saw no one, and looked back up at the captain.
"He kept a secret for years, one that could have killed him. He dealt with ya'll through a lot. He deserves to look at ya'll from the captain's post."
Toshiro looked up at Ling, and smirked. She knew it had to be him. That was why he was so nervous.
"Your new captain is none other than, Toshiro!"
The men of the crew looked toward the young cabin "boy," and watched confused as Toshiro looked at the men that stared at her.
"Come on up here lad," the captain said, gesturing Toshiro to join him on the helm. She stared at him as if he were insane. She blinked in confusion, but did as she was told. She stood by him, still lost in thought of his decision of her. She looked to Ling, who was just as lost. It seemed the Captain had kept his choice to himself.
"Toshiro is the bravest person to board this ship. Ya wants ta know why?" The captain asked the crew. With a mutter of responses, all yes's, he turned to Toshiro. He reached out his hand and asked, "May I see your coat?"
Toshiro held the coat tighter; keeping it closed, and shook her head. He glared at her, and she let go of the coat. She removed it, and gave it to him. She looked down, hoping that none of the pirates would notice her slight female figure, but it was no use. The crowd quickly filled with shouts and murmurs of the girl that stood before them.
"Quiet, men," he commanded the men. They simmered down, and he continued his explanation. "Five years men. Five years, and I never knew, nor did you, that a lass was on board. You know what happens ta women on board?"
Toshiro's head perked up as she heard men shout gleefully about killing her.
"That's right, and I bet ye, that Toshiro knew she would die on board the Black Swan. Am I correct Toshiro?"
Toshiro bowed her head, forcing a nod.
"Aye, I thought so, and yet," he continued, "Here she stands before ye. Not ta mention that she's been more beaten up than any of ye."
"Over a small amount of time," Ling told Zuko, "the captain convinced the men of the Black Swan, that Toshiro was more deserving of the place at the helm, and here she is today."
Zuko blinked at Ling. That story explained a lot about Toshiro. He had known Zans, not much, but he could recognize him on board the ship. He also knew that Zans did not like Toshiro, and Toshiro returned the feelings. It was Zans who was suspected of leading the revolt on the Black Swan.
Zuko rubbed his hand up his forehead and over his hair. He looked to Ling, and sighed.
"Toshiro went through a lot Zuko, and you wonder why she can tolerate you," Ling said as he laughed. He stood up from his place on the dock, and smiled at Zuko. "Toshiro told me to go collect more food, for the trip down coast. I better do that now, before she hangs me for taking a break." With that, Ling started his way back toward shore.
Zuko looked back at the sea. Toshiro made him a promise, to reunite him and his uncle. Now Zuko felt that he had a promise to Toshiro, to get her ship back.
Will Zuko help Toshiro get her ship back? Will Toshiro keep her promise? R&R to find out!
not the best chapter, but definetly the longest. Makes sense: longest wait, long chapter, but I'll tell you up front that that is coinsidence. Don't expacet the next one to be long, cause I'll tell ya, it ain't!