A loud yell caused Senjo to sit up bolt right. Her emerald eyes darted about, scanning for that horrid man. But the shout hadn't come from a drunkard; it was from the docks. Senjo looked around her. She was still in that alleyway. As she noticed that her bag was lying beside her, she let out a relieved sigh. As least she hadn't been robbed of her provisions as well as her virginity. She suddenly despised all men. They were thieving bastards. All of them. Save for Nicholas. She wished that she had never decided to leave him. But there was nothing she could do now. She would go on this trip for him. She picked up her back, but winced. Senjo looked down at her wrists and saw them to be red. She cursed underneath her breath as she stood. Grabbing her things, she ran to the docks. Only one ship remained. Once again, she cursed her luck and board the vessel. It was a magnificent ship; much better than some she had been on before. But one thing was certain: it was neither a whaling ship not a fishing ship. But Senjo honestly didn't care. She hadn't even taken notice to the name of the ship.

She found her way down to the galley and sat down atop one of the wooden tables. She placed her face in her hands and let the silent tears stream from her eyes. How could she have let that happen last night? Why couldn't she stop the man? After a few moments of shivering sobs, Senjo wiped the tears try and looked up at the little patch of blue sky that was visible from the inside of the galley.

"I swear by the constant sun that I shall never look at another man other than Nicholas. And I will be the greatest fighter any man on the open sea has seen," she vowed.

As her words faded into the silent morning, the stamp of boots could be heard on the dock. Senjo strained to listen to the footsteps. As they grew closer, she started to panic. Where to hide?

As if answering the question for her, Senjo's emerald eyes fell upon a large barrel. She threw the lid open, tossed her things in, and hopped in herself. Safely placing the lid back into place, she noticed the barrel bottom was scattered with potatoes. Senjo smiled to herself. Well, at least she wouldn't go hungry. She glanced down and spotted the rip in her pants from the previous night. She glared and pulled the bag toward her. As she looked through the sack for a needle and some thread, Senjo started to think of all the terrible ways she could kill the man if their paths ever crossed again. When she started to sew, voices sounded from the deck. Senjo's interests were suddenly sparked as she heard a woman's voice yelling orders to the crew.

Finishing the last stitch, she slipped the needle and thread away and leaned the back of her head on the side of the barrel. As she closed her eyes, Senjo once again wished that she hadn't told Nicholas that she was going to be leaving. Slowly, she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

As she awoke, Senjo's stomach gave a hungry grumble. She yawned and grabbed for a potato. After brushing off some dirt, she crunched into the raw vegetable. The potato was pretty good, thought she would've liked it better if there were some salt to be had.

As she was about to finish the last bit, the lid flew open. Senjo squinted against the sudden brightness, but her vision soon adjusted. Standing before her was a rather tall Asian woman and bright blonde man. The woman had to be less than year older than Senjo and the man seemed to be two years ahead of the Asian woman.

Popping the last bit of potato into her mouth, Senjo looked up at the pair with a hint of fear in her eyes.

"Hey Maggie. Looks like we have another potato fancier," the man laughed.

Senjo smiled nervously up at them.

But the woman glared down at her. "You. Come with me. Mitchie, gather the crew," she said as she kicked Senjo's barrel to the floor.

The blonde man nodded. "Aye Captain." His almost white hair shimmered as he walked up to the deck.

Senjo stood and grabbed her back, dusting off some dirt.

"Follow me." The Asian roughly grabbed her arm and led her up the stairs onto the deck.

Senjo squinted her emerald eyes as the sun beat down on her. She glanced around and spotted a large group of men starting to gather. She could even see the bright blonde man among the crowd.

The captain dragged her to the upper deck and tossed her to the wooden floor. "Who was on watch while we were in port?" she bellowed, her sharp brown eyes scanning the crew.

Senjo winced slightly as she sat up. She rubbed her elbow, as it had hit the hard deck after the woman had thrown her.

"I was." A tall man stepped out from the cluster of crew members, smiling proudly. "Drew at your service my fair la-"

"You will refer to me as Captain. Captain Maggie Blackheart," she said, rolling her eyes.

The tall man nodded. "Yes, but I was on watch all ni-"

"While you were out buying cheap whores, Mr. Bilge, we received a stowaway!" Maggie yelled, glaring at him.

Senjo stifled a laugh as she heard the man's nickname.

"What'd she do?" someone shouted out.

The captain looked at her crew. "What'd she do?" she repeated. "Thanks to her, we'll barely have enough potatoes to boil in a tankard!"

There was a large intake of breath from he crew as they gaped at Senjo.

"We can always stop and get some more," the blonde man bellowed back to the captain.

"Mitchie, I know. But that's not the point! She's a stowaway!" Maggie said.

He walked forward from the crowd. "She can be crew. I could teach her."

Maggie rolled her eyes. "How can we trust her? She could be a spy for the Navy."

"Do you honestly think the Navy would employ a woman?" Mitchie asked very confidently.

There was a murmur of talk floating around the crew. Maggie looked at her men and let out an irritated sigh.

"Fine! All in favor of keeping this urchin, say 'Aye'."

There was fairly loud "aye" from the men. Maggie nodded and called Mitchie forward. She pulled Senjo to her feet and thrust the white-haired girl to the cook.

"She's all yours. But she better be the best damned crew member I've ever seen." And with that, Maggie stormed off to her quarters.

Mitchie smiled at Senjo, holding out a hand. "Welcome aboard the Siren, Miss..."

"Senjo Kitsune," she replied flatly as she looked down at his hand.

Mitchie pulled back his hand, obviously embarrassed. "Well, I'll try and help you fit into the pirate life."

"PIRATE?!" Senjo yelped out.

Mitchie clapped his hand to his forehead. "We better take you to the Captain..."