hey all who follow me : ) sorry about the lack of story updates :O i've been crazy obsessed with this thing i'm making. sorry sorry XD i hope this one makes up for it! i WILL update the next chapter soon i promise! please enjoy it!

"My Knight; My Princess"

"The existence of the sea means the existence of pirates."

His golden eyes were glowing wearily…

The shaky sea was tumbling below him, hitting the cast iron walls of the ship.

The sun had sank in the distance but the sky was still bright. Alphonse wondered if this new country would be the same. If so, he'd have some trouble sleeping.

He had felt nauseous all day; probably because of his first time on sea; and because of this horrible taste in his mouth he refused to eat anything the entire day- although all the food that had been brought out looked delicious, the thought of eating it gave a horrid distaste in his mouth.

Looking out onto the horizon he saw nothing but the thin line between the sky and the ocean. Not a single island was in sight, not even Xing could be seen on the opposite side of the ship. Mei was officially out of his field of vision, but it didn't stop him from thinking about her.

Great, now he was sick AND lonely.

Suddenly he felt a great fleeting urge in his stomach as a sharp rice taste rose to his throat. Without thinking, and without knowing what was happening, Alphonse felt his stomach hit up against the railing. His whole world became white as his heavy head practically flew off the side of the boat.

Rinako saw her chance to approach the vulnerable young man. Placing a hand at the bottom of his spine; the only thing keeping him from falling overboard.

"Feeling alright?" she said as she rubbed back and forth.

The poor sick boy slowly lifted himself back onto the deck, his face was pale with a tint of green to it. Bits of vomit remained on the corner of his lips. Rinako winched at the sight of his sickly appearance but shrugged it off anyways.

"He's still attractive on land at least…"

Al's voice wearily drug on, "Oh yes…I'm….excuse me…" in a flash he practically dove of the side of the ship. Only Rinako was keeping him from going swimming.

"Oh my…"

"Blarg…uhck….mmmpuh…"

"Better?"

"No…" he said as he leaned against the railing.

"If you're sick why not lay down? Or have some tea? One of my servants caught a big fish if you….care…" she

He was still leaning over the railing, letting his, ahem, breakfast fall down the side of the boat and into the sea.

Poor fishes.

Oh, poor Alphonse. What wonders this 'ship' had yet for him to explore, and he was stuck puking on the side of it.

Lan Fan didn't seem to have a problem with the sea; she was sitting comfortably on the metal railings that, on the other side, Alphonse was standing behind. She pondered to herself the words her…needy…Master spoke in her ears before they departed only hours ago.

"When you come back I will break you."

I wonder what my master meant by that? He's never been so forward until princess Renci came to the palace to bear his children…

A sharp jab hit her chest; the new food perhaps?

It was more than that. He almost seemed like a needy baby when she was around. Always whining her name like he would die if she didn't come right away. He even made the same eyes. She thought it would be best if she put it out of her head at the moment. However, it wouldn't be a surprise if she thought about it later that night.

As she got up, hopping off the rail to the wooden deck, she heard the most familiar noise. With the sound of someone throwing up, she turned to the direction of it.

All she saw was the backside of a young man turned over on the railing, with the princess beside him rubbing him. Quickly, she skipped to him, not wanting the princess to fill his head with any ideas before she knew everything about her. Although she hadn't known Alphonse for very long, they had still fought side by side.

"Alphonse?"

"Oh…hello Lan Fan…" Alphonse said with a tired expression on his face. Rinako felt a bit threatened by her mask so she backed up and, with a disappointed look, went to her huge guards side.

"Are you sea sick?" she said with a warm tone.

"I suppose…ugh….What about you?" he supported himself on the railing as he put his arm on his stomach, holidng his sides.

"Well I'm used to moving around so…Need some medicine?"

"There's a cure for it?" Lan Fan looked around and then held her hands up in a 'stay right there' motion. He lifted his heavy head to see her conversing with one of the guards. A big burly man with a vest on. He looked down to the wooden floor. As he began to close his eyes, he heard the sound of her footsteps.

"I talked to the princess's guard, he said that ginger would be good since it's the only thing on the ship for it." she said kindly as she pat him on the back.

"Ginger?" he thought about the word for a moment, "Don't Xingese put that in…uh…sushi? ?" he strained on the word as if he never heard it before.

"Well, on the side." she said, pleasantly surprised. "It's better than nothing."

"All right I guess…"

"Need help?" Al felt his hand come around Lan Fans shoulders. He could feel her automail underneath her clothing, reminding him of his brother. Or well, what his brother used to have. They made their way down a dark corridor, sifting through the hallways with Al on her shoulders. As they made their way to the kitchen, Lan spotted a certain princess stalking the hallway past the kitchen door.

"Look…" she pointed to Rinako, who was acting very suspicious. "What's she doing?"

"Are you always so suspicious of people?"

"She came out of nowhere…for all we know, we could be led into a trap."

"Is this because she wants to marry Ling? I mean…the Emperor?" he questioned.

Lan fan thought about it for a moment. That was probably why she was suspicious of her. Because she may have been envious, or probably really was envious. But she knew from experience how horrible envy can make you. It was better to deal with Rinako as if she had stolen something. If she dealt with her as she was a candidate for his hand, then, Alphonse would have to come with her. She knocked on the door quietly, hoping the princess wouldn't hear her. She heard footsteps coming up to the door, but looking back and forth from the princess to the door, she became nervous…then even more nervous when Rinako opened the door on the side of the hallway.

"…I better go follow her."

"Be careful."

"I will. Sorry to leave you like this…" she said as the door opened and a small mousy woman appeared before them. "Ta shengbing cuoguo…"

"Women hui zhaogu ta!" the old woman exclaimed, snapping her fingers- two skinny, young Xingese

"Xie xie."

With that she began walking towards the kitchen entrance.

"Um…after I'm feeling better do you think you could teach me…?" he said, motioning his hands from him to the small woman.

"Jiao?" she peeked at him through her bifocals, at if she was reading a book, her wrinkled mouth open like an 'o', as if she somewhat understood.

"um…Shi…de?" he struggled to make the correct accent. He was pretty sure he was saying the word 'teach'. A word he heard Mei would say several times to her grandmother.

"Ohhoho! Hao Ji Le!"

"Xie xie!" he blushed. Assuming he said the words correctly. The small old woman continued to laugh and clap her hands. Catching her breath, she reached for a book on a wooden box close to the door.

"Here, take…this." she said in the most adorable accent as she handed him a small book with barley legible Amstresian writing on it. 'leanr shing'.

Looking at the paper wound into each other, his face became brighter, "Perfect! A book!" his eyes widened happily and diving into it's pages, the sickness melted away.

Lan fan was happy. At least he seemed to look better. Making her way towards the stairs was an easy journey; the hard part would be not getting caught. She had no idea how good the princesses guards were. If she had to get into a fight, she couldn't count on Alphonse for backup because he was sick. But at the same time she knew she could take Rinako and a guard.

Striding through the thin hallway she made her way down several flights of skinny stairs. The air was musty and dry with a faint warmness resting on Lans' face. Bending on one knee, she crouched behind a large tub. She looked past the side of it… Rinako sat there on the lap of a huge man. He wore the same type of shirt that the princess had, no buttons on it. A 'kimono'. This man was larger than even Shouwei, his broad chest was almost fully visible because he was only wearing a vest. She was acting very kind to him…

"Sweet princess this man you met…Zhu Ling…was he better than me?"

"Ahahaha…we haven't slept together yet my love!" she giggled playfully into his ears.

The word 'yet' made Lan fan cringe.

"So…what's our plan again?"

"I marry that 'Zhu' and slowly take all the treasures in the palace!"

"Thieves? She's a thief? That horrible woman! I've had to be treated like a doormat by a common criminal?"

"Of course…what of this Alphonse?" he said curiously.

"Oh HE. IS. ADORIBLE, anata! He's absolutely adorable! Oh he couldn't compare to you…" she knew she was treading on dangerous waters when she mentioned another man in his presence "He has a sweet, helpful nature…I think we can trick him into helping the crew snatch the treasures in the palace…" she carefully added.

He laughed heartily, "I bet he won't stand a chance against my crew."

"Haven't seen him fight anata, but he shouldn't be a problem against our pirates." she said as she twirled her hair.

"Pirates…? What's a pirate?"

Suddenly, she heard a clang sound behind her, a man with a automail leg was towering over her with a long scimitar pointing at her neck. She jumped in her spot a little, then jumped backwards unknowingly lading in front of Rinako and the large man.

"Hello little rat." the automail man sneered.

"My, my, my, miss servant girl-"

"-only royalty may call me a servant. To you, I'm you're worst nightmare."

Rinako laughed until she realized Lan Fan was being serious. A bit of a cliché sounding phrase, but Lan fan never kid around or made jokes when it came to fighting, when she said something, she meant it.

Lan Fan drew two kunai from her back pouches, holding them up in a fighting stance. The huge man sat Rinako on the next barrel. Standing up, he looked taller than Alphonse's previous shell, except he was dirty and smelled like strong whiskey. He pulled a saif from behind the barrel he was sitting on and flipped it up in the air.

Grabbing it as it fell, he lunged towards Lan Fan, just barley missing her side; she caught him off guard with her metal arm however. Grunting to the man with the automail leg behind her, he grabbed her from behind, holding her arms to her side. As the tall man ran towards her again. She kicked her legs up, back flipping to free herself from the mans grasp and getting him stabbed in the back in the process.

The big man stopped for a moment, throwing the sword from one hand to the other.

"You're not so bad. Care to join my crew?"

"You insult me thief. My only master is my Zhu." she said loyally, while bending down to pick up the wounded mans sword, putting it between her sash in case she needed it.

"Too bad…now you have to die."

"We'll see."

well there you have it! Rinako is a pirate! arrr! lol jkjk...please review! i love to hear opinions! plus...this gives me time to think about the Lan Fan Ling marrying problem...i really want them to get married but at the same time it will be difficult to think of a proper solution to it... btw, how did do with te fight scene?

next chapter: Lan Fan and this big man fight each other. Alphonse learns some Xingese, and if you want to know what they were saying just PM me XD i'll let you know. but pretty much, Lan fan says 'he's sick" and she replys with "we'll take care of him." "teach me" "very good" and what not. and yes, as you guessed it. the new country their traveling to is the equivalent or Japan. XD i figured we already got Germany, Russia, France, Islam, Switzerland *Creta*, Eygipt and China. Japan should be in there too lol. i'm not calling it Tokyo though lol that's too lazy...i think i'll use a city name or something, like Osaka or maybe Nagasaki. perhaps Hagane? :P jk