The blonde smiled wickedly while the redhead behind her was trying to refuse her request. But despite those attempts the blonde grabbed her slender wrist and pulled her within close proximity, far within the boundaries of her personal space. The woman easily adapted, sandwiching the small blonde between hers and the redheads bodies.

Having two dance partners was nothing new to Kate and despite Kidd's attempts to make the woman to leave, to prevent her from joining; Kate knew that Kidd liked it. And since Kidd had been so nice to her lately Kate decided to treat him as best as she could in such a crowded public place. She leaned into the dark haired woman and loud enough for her, but not Kidd, to hear said, "Kiss me." From her understanding guys really liked girl on girl action and why would Kidd be exempt from that category?

The woman obliged, tongue, touching and all. Her skin was a pretty flawless bronze color and her eyes a greyish color. Kate smiled into the kiss, even as a nice guy she could tell that Kidd liked the sight of them kissing. Pulling away the dark haired woman said, "My name is Vasara."

"How rude of me to shove my tongue down your throat before properly introducing myself." The blonde gasped. "I'm Kate." She offered an apologetic smile that was returned by the woman. After that there wasn't much talking. And for awhile the three of them danced together occasionally switching positions.

Before Vasara could act she needed to know one- no two things first. "So what does the redhead mean to you?" she asked casually.

"He's my captain with benefits. That and I love him." Maybe if she said that to him before he got the chance to kill her he wouldn't- who the hell was she kidding? Kidd was going to kill her with or without her confessing her love to him or really sincere apologies, or telling him how much she preferred usual Kidd over nice Kidd.

"And what are you to him?" She inquired.

Kate found the questions the stranger was asking her kind of weird but went with it not seeing the harm in answering. After all what was the chance of seeing this woman ever again? Kate just shrugged and answered, "First mates younger sister . . . and maybe something more?" She shrugged once again. She couldn't say for sure whether or not Kidd returned the feelings or not but after the potion wore off she was as good as dead. "I don't know to be honest."

"Would you like to find out?" Vasara asked in a slow and tempting voice.

"Sure, why not?" The blonde smiled and willingly let her begin leading her away, only for the redhead to wrap his arms around the blonde and ask with narrowed eyes,

"Where are you two going?" He didn't look ready to give Kate up, which made her smile.

Kate twisted around in his arms and pecked him on the lips saying, "You can start worrying when I'm not back in ten minutes." Kate hadn't the slightest clue how the woman named Vasara planned on testing how much she meant to Kidd but surely it wouldn't take more than ten minutes, right?

Kidd scowled at the both of them. He wasn't finding another partner and he didn't exactly want to stop dancing, not yet at least. But he let her go muttering about how he'd be getting a drink and would wait for her at the bar.

After assuring Kidd that she would in fact be back Kate let the woman lead her out the front door, which surprised Kate. The metal door clicked shut, shutting out the noise and heat of the club and the people inside it. It was fairly quiet outside and the stars shone brightly. Kate wondered when it had even turned night as she stopped short even as Vasara continued walking towards the wall of blue and white. Quickly she slid into a fighting position before she was asked, "Are you ready to see just how much you mean to him?" Her tone was no longer sweet but instead hard and strict despite the soft smile still on her lips.

"Of course. But that'll have to wait a few." Now Kate wished that she had told Kidd to start worrying after five minutes. Against armed marines that were surrounding the entire club and appeared ready for a fight Kate knew that she could only hold out for a certain amount of time and ten minutes was far too long to fend them all off on her own. But despite the odds being against her and the fact that she was outnumbered she whispered the word 'go' which she said as she threw her first punch. That seemed to set everything into motion. Kate had decided to put up one hell of a fight and they weren't taking her, not if she could help it at least. She was also counting down the minutes till Kidd might step out and come to her aid and counting up the moments that she managed to last against the seemingly endless tide of marines.

They were surrounding her, crowding her, giving her no room to kick or flip and when one went down or fell back thirty- that was an exaggeration- replaced that single marine.

Ultimately failing in his search for both Kate and the woman who Kate had warmed up to as quickly as was expected with her, Kidd stepped outside for a breather and decided that if she hadn't already left she'd have to eventually go out the door, right?

Wrong. He thought with a curse upon finding his jacket lying trampled on the ground. His jacket lacked a body, lacked Kate. And looking around he saw that the street was nearly deserted, only a few people meandered around, some stumbling drunks but none of them looked as though they had taken or harmed Kate. Kidd let out another curse wondering why the hell he had even let Kate go with that woman or why he hadn't just tagged along with them.

No, Kidd knew why he had let her go. It was because despite everything, despite Kate's knack for trouble, despite it all, it was because for some unknown reason Kidd had believed that when she said that she'd be back in ten minutes that she'd actually be back in ten. Which Kidd now realized was a huge stupid mistake. He shouldn't make a habit out of trusting her or allowing her to go off with random strangers. He thought to himself before picking up his jacket and beginning the search.

Usually the sound of a building crashing and the sight of dust rising wouldn't startle Killer. But the particular time the sound and sight managed to do so. At first Killer was confused, he had more or less been told to set up a date that both his captain and little sister would enjoy and he had done exactly that. They were supposed to enjoy their favorite meals at a restaurant and then go dancing- something he knew that Kate loved and Kidd had seemed to like last time they had been dragged to a club. There was no room for building destroying in those plans, so why the hell were buildings being destroyed?

Eating and talking with a short walk and dancing, could the couple not even do those simple few things peacefully or had the potion worn off? Was it possible that the marines that controlled the island had found them and decided to attack? With that last thought Killer cursed and raced off the ship in case they needed his help or something. Not that his captain and his sister were incapable fighters but he needed to see what was wrong, to know if they needed his help or not.

But when he found his captain there were no swarms of marines, no violence or blood. There was also no his captain and his sister, just his captain, who was emerging from the ruins of a building. He also noticed that Kidd was wearing his jacket- which he distinctively remembered Kate wearing.

"Captain?" Killer cautiously asked ducking as something was flung at him, missing him by mere inches.

When Kidd realized that the voice belonged to his first mate Kidd muttered an apology. He wasn't having any luck finding Kate and it was odd enough that the marines hadn't overwhelmed them by now. And that made Kidd suspicious but he was too preoccupied with finding Kate that the thought didn't click with the circumstance.

"Is anything the matter?" Killer asked. It wasn't natural for Kidd to be worried, let alone appear worried, which meant that the potion was still in effect.

"No." He grumbled looking around with a frown.

"Where is Kate?" Killer asked wondering exactly why Kidd had his jacket and why he was missing Kate.

"I kind of lost track of her."

"And that's why you're tearing up the city?" It made since and Kidd- poisoned or not- would tear up an entire island if he wanted to find somebody hard enough.

"Precisely."

"Shouldn't we search the marine base?" It was more than likely that she was there, being held in a cell or being beaten.

Kidd shook his head no and said, "Haven't seen a single one of them today." Killer nodded and went along with his captain. He searched- but did not destroy- the streets, buildings and alleyways for his sister. But eventually he convinced Kidd to go back to the ship, to wait and see if Kate would show up and if she didn't that they'd turn the marine base upside down searching for Kate within its walls.

Both men were dubious that she'd show up within the duration of the night and both men were worried out of their minds.

Kate sat there in a cell, the keys out of reach but in sight. It wasn't fair! She had tried to escape several times and several times freedom had been so close she could have tasted it. The first time she had been tossed into a windowless, unfurnished room. She had easily picked the lock and was out of there the moment she thought that the marines were gone. However a few wrong turns and a run in with the wrong person and she was tossed into a pitch black room and she was robbed of her sense of sight for the second time that day so she couldn't use her resources but she had still gotten out though looking back she couldn't figure out how she had done it. Once out of the dark room Kate had stripped a marine and after dressing in his clothing walked around searching for the entrance undetected. Well she ended up literally running into a marine, the hat had fallen off and they had recognized her as the Kidd Princess Kate and despite her efforts to deny it she was then thrown into a cell with a small rectangular window.

When she was the first building do down she had blasted out the window with haki she didn't have the slightest understanding of and knew how to control even less. After blowing it out she had tried to climb through. That task took a lot of scrambling, falling and several curses. But finally she made it through with deep cuts but despite the blood she decided to run, she could bandage herself later when she got to the ship or something. Unfortunately it was the sound of shattering glass that had alerted the marines and though they had failed to pull her back into the cold hard cell they didn't fail in catch her outside and dragging her back into the base and this time throwing her into a windowless cell.

It sucked. The bare, cold walls, hard floor and infirmary looking bed reminded her of her old room. She was bleeding, tired and couldn't figure out how the hell to get out of this one and no matter how much she tried that haki wasn't working. So Kate just walked to the back of the cell, leaned her back against the wall before sliding into a sitting position with her knees drawn up and her chin resting on the tops of her knees.

BOOM!

The impact of whatever that had been could be faintly felt from under her. Kate also felt herself smile as she muttered the word 'five'. This was the fifth tremor she had felt, meaning that Kidd had taken out another something or other. She wished that she could just scream, 'I'm right here!' so that he'd stop searching in vain and stop wasting his time, so that he'd hurry up and come bust her out, or at least get someone to grab the keys that were once again out of her reach but in plain sight. She had already tried sweet talking a number of marines but eventually they stopped guarding her for some reason.

Unlike last time she had been kidnapped she hadn't been given the promise that if she were to hold tight then she'd be saved, that she wouldn't have to lift a finger to get saved, that she didn't have to save herself. This time neither Killer nor Kidd had the slightest clue as to where she was, or what had happened to her.

As it had turned out Vasara was a marine or sorts- Kate couldn't remember her exact position or title- but she was going to sue her to get not only her head but also Killers and Kidd's heads also. The woman planned on taking down the entire crew of Kidd Pirates, every last one of them and of course she'd rake in their bounties after purging the world of another powerful and threatening pirate crew. And to think that Kate had kissed that woman! That was one kiss and wonderful dance with a pleasant to be around Kidd that she'd never get back and that sucked even more than being in a cell with its keys just in sight. Not only that but, the woman had lured her away with the empty promise of seeing how much she meant to Kidd, which shouldn't matter to her as long as Killer was a Kidd pirate. Despite her feelings for Kidd if Killer left the Kidd Pirates then she'd follow, he was the whole reason she hadn't already left. She wanted to be with her bit brother again after three rather lonely years.

She had given up on rattling the bars and shouting god only knows what or trying to seduce any marines into giving her the keys and when the tremors stopped she stopped counting and ended up dozing in and out of consciousness. Once during her stay she woke up with hot silent tears rolling down her cheeks but for the life of her she couldn't remember the reason for them as she wiped them away with the back of her hand. She didn't know what time it was or why no one had come to her pathetic rescue or exactly how long she had been in the cell but she was proud that she hadn't spent all of her time feeling sorry for herself and had formulated several plans of escape- none of which she could execute- plans that would make both Killer and Kidd proud of her. Killer would have been proud of the plans that she had come up with and Kidd would have been proud of the amount of violence she was willing to use to get back home.

But once she had wiped her tears her eyelids began drooping farther and farther closed until she had once again dozed off.

Kidd had spent all night doing one of two things. He was either pacing or thinking of what he'd do to not only the marines but also the city and the entire island once he safely got Kate back. It wasn't a matter of if, not when. Because she was going to be his, he wasn't going to let the marines have her.

It was quite unusual for the redheaded Captain Kidd to be awake, let alone on the deck before the sun had risen, or had begun its ascent into the sky, but not for the Kidd Pirate's first mate to be up. But both men had been awake, worrying and talking all night and by time the sun had risen they had both fallen asleep because of boredom and a way to pass the time. Killer was resting against the rail of the ship, still standing and Kidd was sitting in his throne in a fashion similar to the way he had found Kate sleeping in it several times. So when a female's voice crackled through the island it jerked both captain and first mate out of their unconscious states of mind with a start. Killer noted how the sun had just about risen to its peak, making it about noon or so.

The voice was cheerful and Killer noticed how Kidd's expression became fierce and how he had risen out of his throne, he noticed how Kidd was intently listening to the echoing announcement. "The execution of the infamous Kidd Princess Kate will take place in precisely 30 minutes." The voice paused and by time it started up again Kidd had ordered all of the crew above deck. When the voice came on again it was sneering directly at them. "Tick tock Mr. Eustass Kidd, Kill and the rest of the Kidd Pirates, you princess is about to be executed like true royalty."

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A/N: I promise 'nice' Kidd isn't going to be around much longer.

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