A Taste of True Love

I appreciate the advice from you all. Thank you so very much. I'm still trying to find out who I should pair with who, but your comments have really helped me along. I actually decided to only show Kuno in this story and not Kodachi. To tell the truth, I don't really like Kodachi. Her insane laughter is quite freaky... Did you know that her name means twin swords? Hehe, I learn it from a manga I just read recently. Anyways, read and find out what happens in this fifth chapter of A Taste of True Love!

(oh and most of the descriptions about the made-up characters are in chapter two, including Viveal)

Sea-chan

Disclaimer: I don't own them but I sure can write about them!

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Chapter 5

"Akane, why don't you just send out one of our crewmates?" Salt asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure they'll be happy to help," Pepper added.

Akane shook her head, throwing the last of the things in her ship.

"I can't do that. I'm the best at navigating, meaning I have a better chance at finding them."

"I'll go with you," Dice voluteered.

"Sorry, Dice. Not this time. " Dice frowned. "You have to help the crew get to the Parsh Islands. I'll just catch up with you guys there." She gave him a tight hug. Releasing him, she looked at Salt and Pepper. "You guys mind coming along?"

Grins formed on their faces as they looked at each other.

"Of course not!"

After a series of hugs and sad good-byes, Akane, Salt, and Pepper got onto her small ship. This ship was painted similar to the large ship, yellow. It was quite bigger than the side boats. The white sails were also embroidered with lilies.

Akane looked at her crew.

"Come on, I'll see you guys in a few days." The crew's faces forced on smiles. Akane waved a quick bye.

"Put her down, boys," commanded Dice. Yoe started to slowly turn the crank, lowering the boat. Akane was about to set sail when someone jumped onto the boat behind her. Akane turned around.

"Kin?" She was surprised to see the young man. The crew membered poked out their heads, also quite surprised to see him. "What are you doing here?"

"I'll accompany you guys," he said. Akane seemed stunned. "I'll accompany you guys," he repeated.

Akane grinned widely and gave him a thank you nod. He walked ahead and took hold of the steering wheel. Akane waved once again at her crew.

The shouts of good-byes grew quieter as the small ship headed farther away from the large Tendo ship.

Akane walked to stand by Kin's side.

"It's nice of you to come with me," she told him. "Thank you. Your company will make this trip go quite faster."

A blush rose to Kin's face. He quickly shook his head, trying to get rid of it.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, fine."

"Okay, I'll go check out the map." Kin nodded. Akane walked off in the direction of the twins.

'Chill out,' Kin told himself. 'You ain't getting no good points with this shy act of yours.'

Kin turned around.

"Kane?" Akane lifted her head his way.

"Huh?"

"You're welcome." Kin's heart raced another beat as he saw Akane smile.

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"So your name's Viveal?" Ranma asked again.

Viveal nodded.

"And you're Ranma," she pointed to him. "And you're his sister, Ukyo."

"Yep, you got that right," Ukyo gave her thumps-up.

"You sure you know where we're going?" Ranma asked.

"Sure I do," Vieveal replied. "This boat won't hold us if a storm comes along so we should be heading to the closest shore, which would be Kastera Island. But, that place is full of creeps. The next closest shore would be Hadinde, so we'll go there."

"Um..." Ranma placed his finger on his chin in thought. "And how soon will be get there?"

"Maybe four, five hours."

"It's only morning so why don't we just head off to Umegota, it's not that far away. I heard the villagers there are quite nice."

Viveal shook her head.

"That's not a good idea. The captain, Akane, is the best navigator I know. She can find her way out of the ocean by just using the wind currents. Not many people can do that," Viveal explained. "I'm sure she's gonna follow us. If we can get to the island before she finds us, we could get a faster boat. Her ship, the Lily, can sail almost three times as fast as the Tendo ship. And the large ship-"

"The Tendo can go faster than this side boat," Ranma concluded. "So she'll easily catch up to us."

"Exactly."

"Okay, I agree with Viveal then. We should go to Hadinde," Ukyo commented.

"This Akane sure seems interesting," Ranma said.

Viveal smiled sadly.

"She sure is." 'And I left her for a man I hardly even know.'

"Don't worry," Ranma said confidently. "This time, I won't let her capture me."

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"Kin, head the ship northeast," Akane directed. "Knowing Viveal, I doubt she would go to Kastera. She hates those people too much. She'll be heading towards Hadinde."

"You're sure?" Salt asked her. Akane pondered on the thought.

"Almost positive. We'll catch up with them in maybe about two hours," Akane smirked to herself. "No way they can paddle that fast."

"I'll put up the extra sails," Pepper volunteered.

"Thanks Pepper. I think I'm going to finish my journal entry," Akane said.

She walked below deck to a small room. Akane pulled out the chair from the wooden desk. She reached to her side and pulled out a yellow notebook. A lily was drawn on it with the word 'Kane' written on top of it. Akane have had this journal for as long as she could remember. Whenever she felt depressed or something went wrong, she confined it her notebook.

Akane pulled out a feather and placed the tip in a bottle of ink. Her hand started writing and soon time passed by.

"Kane!" Akane snapped herself away from her writing. She looked out the window. The sea was rumpling and rain was falling hard.

'Damn, I lost track of time.' She closed her journal and quickly stuffed it in her waist. Akane ran onto deck.

"Akane, a storm's coming!" Salt yelled.

"I've noticed! Pepper have we seen Viveal and prisoners' boat yet?"

"We had them just a second ago, but this strong wind made our ship lose them," Pepper answered, putting his arm in front of him to block out some wind.

"Salt, put down two of the side sails!"

"Yes sir!"

"Kin, steer the ship east!" Akane commanded. She placed her hand on her forehead. "We're gonna have to take a stop on Kastera."

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Author's note: I hope that I didn't make this chapter too short. In the next chapter, Akane and her companions reach Kastera. Who will they meet? What's gonna happen? All in the next chapter! (For those who are Akane&Ranma fans, don't worry, a chapter just about them will come up soon!)