[A/N- Kenshin, this chapter is for you, considering you're the only person reviewing it anymore. But that's okay, we can see Alinnya and Jack through sex, sweat, lunacy and loot all by ourselves. Right? Right!]

"No, no, no, no!" They stopped mid- deck, Alinnya's sword just brushing at the curve of Josh's neck. She spun it away in one hand, her fingers twisting elegantly over the hilt as she stepped back. "It's like this."

She spun then, one sword under, the other over, slicing in neat circles of parry and thrust. She stopped, reading his face for an understanding. There wasn't one.

"Set the left one down," she sighed, tossing the extra sword over to the side, and gesturing for him to do the same. "Now, pull that move on me, single sword."

He rushed her, slashing, but missed his mark completely and she sidestepped him quickly, her eyebrows raised in concern. Jack, holding the helm, laughed heartily. They'd been two weeks at sea, and after the first incident, the crew had largely left her alone, and her lessons with Josh had been a helpful deterrent. Josh was a marvelous seaman, true, but he barely knew which end of a gun to shoot from, and his swordsmanship was shoddy at best. Not that Jack could blame the lad- for all his fifteen years, he was marvelous at what he did. That's why he was second mate. Though after the first lesson he'd wondered how long Alinnya's patience would last.

"It's in the wrist, mate," he called across the deck. "Quit flailing your arms so."

"Why don't you try it, then?" Josh shot, frustrated.

"Because I," Jack looped the helm and walked toward the pair, "am already quite versed. Though maybe a demonstration is in order."

He and Alinnya locked eyes for a moment, as she swished the cutlass in lazy circles by her side. To say things had been cold between them was an understatement. She came to bed late every night, and rose early every morning, taking shifts purposely to be out of his hair and out of his way. They hadn't spoken really, since the incident, and his only proof she was sharing no one else's bed was in that he felt her come and go every night. Why this state of affairs bothered him so, he wasn't sure.

He stepped back, unsheathing his own sword and holding it out in guard. She responded, with a delicate clack of metal to metal. He swiped, she parried, though catching a little too close to the hilt for his tastes. He pulled down, and she spun her arm, his thrust to jar her completely worthless.
"Nice trick," he commented, and she didn't respond, slinging the blade in his direction. He moved to parry, but she was already gone, and the niceties were over.

They spun around, left and right, feet changing with the air of excessive practice, and blades slinging with an air of improvisation. She kept flinging tricks and tidbits his way, and he kept meeting them, sometimes barely. Finally, comfortable with her style, he threw her a trick of his own.

She dropped to her back as the sword slung hard, a blow that she could not have parried to save her soul. She used a foot to spin herself around, parrying the downward blow he sent her way, forced to brace the flat of the blade with her arm. He moved to stab, and she rolled, swiping at his feet, which caught him just enough off balance to allow her back to her feet. They continued, and continued, for a good twenty minutes or so, until Jack was sweating and she was beginning to wear down. She didn't parry half as much as she dodged. Their swords caught, and they pushed against each other, their noses a breath and a sliver of steel away from each other.

"Any more tricks up your sleeve, love?" he smiled at her as she stared him down, breathing hard. He used his wrist to pull their swords down, kissing her demandingly on the mouth before letting go, smiling idiotically. "There's mine."

She dropped the sword and in one fluid motion, smacked him hard across the cheek, sending him reeling. "I win," she gasped, choking on her laughter. He tackled her, pinning her to the deck, and did a far more thorough job of kissing her. Josh raised his eyebrows. My, what a lesson he was getting!