Chapter 21 "The Inland Sea"

"I don't think of you as a friend, I love you!"

Love you…Love you…The words echoed and reverberated off of the stone walls of the dungeon, traveling until they could no longer be heard by the two boys standing in shock in their individual cells. Surprise was painted clearly on both of their faces; Seto surprised at hearing the words, and Crow surprised at even having said them.

The pirate opened his mouth quickly, thinking fast to try and amend what he had said, say it was a mistake, but his mind and his mouth just weren't connecting the words. The pirate blinked at thought that he was speechless once again in the presence of the maroon haired boy he called his best friend, but realized that in fact, he wasn't speechless. He had already said the words. Crow wasn't going to go back on them now. He meant them, and he never went back on his word.

Silence reigned supreme between the two for what seemed like an eternity, but was really only the span of a few moments. Seto wasn't speaking…why wasn't he speaking? Crow thought worriedly, squinting in the dim light of the dungeons to see his friend in the cell across from him. He could see the boy for the most part, though he guessed had Seto been wearing his trademark, too big turquoise coat he'd be able to see him easier.

For his part, Seto was standing near completely still, aside from the twitches that indicated that the confession had indeed not stopped his heart. The pirate wondered whether or not he'd sent the poor boy into shock by accident.

"C-Crow, I-I-um…" Seto faltered, clenching his hands around the blue fabric that was the shirt Crow bought him. Where was his coat? He missed his coat. He wanted to go hide in the warm, brightly colored fabric. He wanted to hide. He wanted to think. He'd…he had heard Crow correctly, right? No, no, no of course he had. Crow would have said otherwise by now. Crow loved him. Crow loved him. Crow loved him. Crow loved him.

Crow loved him!

Seto took in a sharp intake of breath at the thought, feeling his heart constrict in his chest like his ribs were tightening. He glanced self consciously at Crow in the dark, and watched the flames of the pirate undulate in color and size. They were continually changing; at one moment a worrying shade of blue, another a sickly green colored anticipation, the next colored a bright red and yellow of impatience. They were changing so much that the maroonette couldn't even begin to guess what Crow was feeling right then, except for one color.

That stomach flipping, deep shade of red.

Seto watched entranced as it bloomed and flowed all over Crow's normal deep blue fire, a constant within all of the other changing fires. A constant…was love constant? Was that heart squeezing, dizzying shade of red Crow's love for him?

The thought made him more ecstatic then he assumed was actually possible. The thought made him want to run and hide, to never see that entrancing shade of red again.

Seto didn't know what he wanted to do. He had never been in love, but was this how it felt? Was this how Crow felt? Seto blushed at the prospect of asking the pirate, though he almost knew for a fact that Crow would probably have an answer. Crow always had an answer for anything that Crow asked. Seto never knew how to answer anything. When Crow had asked about the flames he saw that day back in Garnet, he hadn't known the answer to any of Crow's questions.

But it was because of Crow that he was finding the answers, because Crow had taken him out of Garnet and into a world Seto could barely comprehend but was happy to just enjoy if Crow was there. He thought back to the night after they had escaped Ribon, and how Crow had comforted him. How Crow kissed him.

He remembered that he didn't want to live in a world that Crow wasn't in.

"C-Crow…" After the long period of silence which had really only taken place over a few seconds, Seto's quiet voice seemed incredibly loud and out of place "I…I don't really know how I feel about you." He admitted, his face darkening in a blush that warmed his entire face.

Crow blinked and stared over at the figure in the cell across from him, a thoughtful look on his face that went unseen. The pirate captain sighed "Ah well…I kind of expected that answer." He admitted, giving his hand a flippant wave. "Think about it all you want to, we've got time. We aren't going anywhere anytime soon." He said jokingly, rapping his knuckles on the cell bars. He heard Seto give a quiet laugh. The pirate felt his chest tighten, walking away from the bars to a darker corner of the cell as he heard clothes rustle in Seto's cell, probably the boy sitting down.

Crow had been honest, he'd expected that answer from him. Seto was the most socially awkward person he'd ever met, which he was sure was because he'd lived in near isolation from all human contact except for the man he called a grandfather until the man died.

And he would wait for an answer, no matter how long it took for Seto to decide, he would wait. And he would respect whatever conclusion the boy he loved came to.

But if Crow was being honest with himself, he wasn't sure if he wanted to hear Seto tell him no.

"Oh round white moon, oh how beautiful your light is tonight. How truly precious you can be. I look into your eyes and softly touch your hands. Farewell love, and tomorrow we will meet again."

"What'cha singing, Ren?" Toyo walked back over to the silver haired girl, who sat perched on top of a large stack of crates waiting for him to return with food. They had been shopping most the day and it was starting to get late; the sun would be setting in a few hours. He gave the girl a curious look as he hopped up onto a lower stack of crates next to hers', holding up the bread he'd managed to find for a half decent price.

His question went unanswered as she took the bread from him, giving it a slightly disapproving look "Was this all you could find?" She asked, taking a bite.

Toyo shrugged "You'd be amazed how much they charge for food in a City full of merchants." He answered with a tiny smile. Ren looked down and grinned.

"Nah, I kinda expected it." She said with a small laugh. The red head below her grinned, taking a large bite out of his own over priced bread and turned to look at the sight in front of them. He always found it amazing whenever they stopped in on Merchant City that all of these people could come together for the same thing, and is such a large number a city was dedicated to it. Or something like that, he hadn't really been paying attention when Zen had told him.

"So, how do you think Seto and Crow are doing on their little castle invasion?" He asked.

Ren hummed thoughtfully chewing on a piece of the bread, and swallowed "Dunno, I kinda expected them to be out of there by now actually." She said with a shrug "I'm surprised we didn't run into them yet." Both teens turned to give the plaza a glance, both wondering about the same thing.

"Are you sure it was a smart idea to get Crow to go with Seto in there?" Ren asked.

"Wasn't my idea, blame Zen for that one." Toyo said with a shake of his head, not sure what to think "Crow's pretty competent though; there's no way he would let something happen to them."

Ren and Toyo exchanged a glance.

"We should probably go talk to Zen." Ren suggested, hopping off the crate she was on and landing on the cobbles below "There's no doubt they've gotten into some trouble by now."

Zen stood up from his crate with a shake of his head "You don't have a lot of faith in them, do you?" He asked. Ren gave him a look. "Alright, alright I see your point." He conceded, motioning for the girl to lead the way to the library where the over silverette of the ship was still currently located. Ren rolled her eyes and started walking, and Toyo followed dutifully behind her. Until she suddenly stopped in front of a random shopping stall covered in books, letting out a squeal of delight as she grabbed it off the table. She whipped around, showing it to the red haired boy behind her.

The title read Feline Friends.

"Buy it for me." The pirate instinctively knew that this was not a request.

Toyo sighed. It would probably be awhile before the managed to get to the library.

"Hey Crow, can I ask you something?" Neither boy was sure how much time had passed since they'd been thrown into the dungeons, but were mostly aware of the fact that the guards seemed to have a pattern of patrolling by their cells. Crow had estimated they'd been there a few hours already, most of which was spent in silence since the pirate was leaving his friend alone so he could think.

The sudden start of a conversation startled him from his half asleep daze, and he gave an audible yawn. "Sure, whatever." He replied, standing up from where he'd sat down earlier to come and sit back down by the bars.

"You never told me, what was it like for you when you were growing up?" Crow could hear it in Seto's voice, unbridled curiosity.

"You're asking about that now?" The pirate asked "Now, while we're imprisoned under the Merchant City plaza for breaking into it?"

"So…?"

Crow let out an annoyed sigh."Please tell me that isn't what you've been thinking about this entire time."

"W-What? Of course not!" Seto grumbled "I just kind of figured it was fair. You know all about me, but I don't know all that much about you…isn't that how love works, when you know someone really well?"

There was a beat of silence.

Crow stared at the form in cell across from him with a look of sheer disbelief. Had Seto really just asked him that? A moment passed, and Crow realized that yes; Seto had just asked him that question. The pirate captain let out a laugh.

"I really forget how naïve you can be sometimes, Seto." Crow grinned, his disbelief slowly diffusing into amusement regarding the situation. "That isn't exactly how love works."

Seto looked at Crow indignantly for a moment –he was not naïve!- "But the people you always see that love each other always know each other well," he insisted "Like, they know what the other person is thinking, and can finish each others sentences."

"That's only part of it Seto, part of it." Crow said "It's way more complicated then that."

"Then explain better!" Seto retorted with a huff.

Crow couldn't help the smirk that came to his face, and idly hoped that Seto wasn't watching his flames that carefully. "It's not something that can be explained," Crow replied easily "It's something you have to experience, something you have to feel." Crow paused and smiled and eerily pleasant smile, one that went unseen in the dark, but could be heard in his voice "I could show you, if you like."

"No." Crow's face fell as his suggestion was shot down immediately. "I still want to know more about you first." Seto said stubbornly.

"You're still going on about that? Crow grumbled dejectedly.

"I'm not going on about it," Seto responded "You told me before you'd tell me, and where we are now we aren't going anywhere." Seto opened his mouth to speak again, but hesitated. Quietly, he said "I want to know more about Crow."

Faintly, off in the distance they both heard the click, click, click of a guard on his patrol. There weren't any windows in the dungeons, but he knew it was starting to get late if the guards were anything to go by. Were they going to be here all night? The pirate sighed, pinching the bride of his nose. "When did you get so stubborn?" He asked.

"When I started spending time with you." The maroon haired boy replied cheekily. Crow had to laugh at that.

"Fine, fine." He finally gave in, sure that in the dim light where Crow couldn't quite see Seto was smiling at the answer "But you have to promise not to interrupt me when I'm telling you, got it?"

"Got it."

Toyo glanced over at the silver haired girl as they walked; humming something to herself as she examined the book the red head had bought her with a smile on her face. Toyo wasn't sure, but he almost thought she only smiled that way when it involved cats. Though, he'd seen her smile at Seto a few times and maybe a few times at Zen. Was that book making her smile, or was it that Toyo had bought it for her…?

Toyo blushed up to his ears. What was he thinking? Of course she was just happy to have gotten the book. That was it.

"You really like cats, huh?" He blurted out he asked, causing Ren to blink and look up at him oddly.

"You hadn't figured that out for yourself already?" She asked dryly. The red head laughed nervously.

"Well, I mean, I kinda already knew that. Seto had said that back in that shop of yours' you had a ton of cats that you really cared about, and you seem really knowledgeable about them." He explained. "I was just kind of wonder why. What's so great about cats?"

The moment the words came out of his mouth, the red head regretted them. Ren stopped walking ad glared at him. He'd struck a nerve.

"For one thing, cats don't ask stupid questions." She said, looking at him. He tried to not let it get to him.

"That cant be it, can it?" He asked with a smile. Ren stared at him silently for a moment.

"You talk too much." Toyo blinked. Ren walked past his stunned form, only turning her head to tell him that they needed to get to the library and to Zen before it got too late.

"I do not!" Toyo yelled, running to catch up to her. Ren laughed, and ran ahead.

The second floor of the library was quiet. Zen, as he had said he would, had been looking throughout the library for things related to the Moon Tribe. He was still confused by it all, by the fact that as it stood, such a place should not exist. Could not exist. But Seto…Seto seemed to be living proof that a place as fantastically described as the Kingdom of the Moon existed.

Most of what the silverette found were stories based on the legends he'd already found about the Moon Tribe. A civilization that had been run from their home, only to be destroyed as they finally found a safe haven. A place that time forgot, surrounded by crystals hidden somewhere beneath the ocean. This was the only constant thing in most stories, from there details differed. Some speculated that the people of the Moon had become the fabled mermaids of many stories. Others said that only the entrance was in the ocean, and that somehow the kingdom stood in another dimension or a self-sustaining bubble. Others theorized that the people of the moon were descendants of the rabbit who lived on the moon, and likewise retained its' features. There were so many different theories that Zen didn't know where to start.

He had so far found absolutely nothing concerning the map beside what he had found already. He had also not found anything regarding multicolored flames in regards to anything. His research into the creatures that Seto had described that Vulture and the young girls from Ribon looked like in this white vision came up with nothing. White vision in general was a search that proved equally fruitless.

Zen was starting to get frustrated. Here he was, at one of the largest libraries over the seven seas, and he could just not find what he was looking for!

The silver haired pirate let his head drop onto the table with a thunk. He let it set there for a few minutes, collecting his thoughts. Maybe he was going about his research the wrong way? Of course there were no solid findings on the Moon Tribe or anything related to them, there were only theories. Should he try more than skimming the stories…? But what would be the point, since they were all just based on the theories?

Zen sighed, lifting his head. He looked around the table before him, covered in star charts and books. He reached over and grabbed a novel from one of the stacks that had accumulated during his research.

"The Inland Sea…?" He muttered, flipping the book open curiously "What was this about again?"

"I had a dream, that a familiar voice was calling me. As I walked along, it spoke to me. Sometimes worried. Sometimes happy. We watched the red sky full of clouds above our new home, caught up in the wind of the season called summer. The little time we spent together shone brilliantly like a light in those darkened days of the past…I know that matter how badly I wish to see you again, that it can never again happen in this world-"

"A world where those who live must continue to live." An unknown, feminine voice cut in "And those who are dead should only continue to stay dead in the cold, hard earth by the inland sea, right?" Zen turned in surprise, and that's when he caught sight of her.

A pale girl with dark hair stood there covered in bandages, only hidden slightly by her large pink coat and her shorts. The eye that wasn't hidden behind her bangs was regarding him. She snapped her fingers to get his attention.

"The Inland Sea, that's what you're reading right?" She asked, wandering over, her bare feet making no noise as they walked across the tiled floor to where Zen was seated.

"How did you know, just from a few lines?" He asked suspiciously, holding the book up.

The girl laughed "Believe me, anyone who's looking for information about the mythic treasure left behind by the fabled Moon Tribe has read every book on this table of yours' enough to have the information memorized." She said, knocking on one of the harder book covers for emphasis.

The silver haired boy looked at her in surprise "You're looking for the treasure?" He asked.

The girl shook her head, moving her bangs to the side of her face, revealing a bright while eye patch "Not at the moment." She answered "The crew I was with left me behind her, the jerks." Her blue eye scanned the table curiously, looking over what Zen had been looking at.

"What's your name, kid?" She asked.

Zen rolled his eyes "Didn't your mom teach you any manners? You first." He replied, stealing one of his captain's favorite lines.

The girl glared at him. "How rude." She gave him a once over "My name's Sai."

Zen stared at her for a moment. "Have we met before?" He asked, his eyes not leaving her one.

"Not that I can think of, I don't think I'd forget a bratty kid like you." She countered with an annoyed tone "So what's your name?"

The silver haired boy shrugged. "Name's Zen."

"Our story today begins," Crow started dramatically "In a small city by the sea called Tourmaline."

In a lavishly decorated room within the King's Plaza, a girl sat with a letter in her hands and a toy chicken on her lap. Her cornflower blue eyes, for the first time in years, were wet with tears.

END CHAPTER

I'm not going to lie, this chapter did NOT come out the way I planned. Also, major apologies for being late, and semi-breaking the promise to bring you two chapters after that wait...I lost the flash drive that had this entire story saved on it so I had to re-write both this chapter and the half of 22 (which is not done, hence apologies) over the weekend. Well, after I played Fragile Dreams in my depression at losing my flash drive, at least...

Anyways! Sorry if this one seemed rushed, I was trying to get it done quickly. I'm getting close to finishing with chapter 22, but please, be patient with me?

Also, side note! For those keeping score at home, chapters 1-12 have been fixed and edited and whatnot. I'll alert you all (whomever is still hanging around, at least) when I finish fixing them all so you can go back and enjoy the story -hopefully- more~

Anyways! I'm done for now, reviews and criticism are well enjoyed~ They both make my day.

Until we meet again!

~Sleepy ;D

Until we meet again!

~Sleepy ;D