Hey, all! I guess I wasn't missed very much, after all. Oh, well. Maybe I can get some new fans, then. .

Last chapter, Captain Jun ordered Sora to take a mysterious key and his friends Kairi and Riku safely off the attacked Valiant. He followed her orders and now Kairi, Riku, and Sora have taken the abandoned pirate's ship and are sailing toward King Mickey's Castle. They are in high hopes that the King will know something about the mysterious key…

Disclaimer: I no own them, you no sue me. Savvy?

Chapter 2: Sleeping Flower

The trio wasn't very good at sailing. Often, the ship would lose wind and Riku and Sora would climb up into the shrouds and spreaders, up the masts and down the booms. On one such occasion, Sora had just finished tying off the stay sail when another detached further up the boom. He sighed and shouted back to Riku.

"No wonder Tiddler had so much trouble being the boatswain! This thing falls apart every three seconds!"

"I don't think that's it," Riku said, hanging upside down from the bowsprit just ahead of him. "I think the pirates had a neglectful boatswain, too."

Sora laughed. "That might be." He glanced ahead of Riku, beyond the end of the flying jib, beyond the bowsprit. "Hey…it's land! Look, look! Land, Riku!"

"You know what to do, then!" Riku said, laughing at his excited companion. "Yo, Kairi! Kairi! Listen to this!"

Sora grinned and shouted to the sails: "Land, ho!"

Sure enough, there on the horizon was the faint outline of a small island. They had probably been within sight of it for hours, not noticing it while they'd fixed each sail along the bowsprit properly. Riku and Sora slid down the bowsprit where Kairi was waiting.

"We did it!" Kairi shouted. "Now all we have to do is anchor her, gather some supplies, and then set sail again for another island. It shouldn't be too hard."

They dropped anchor and waited for an hour or so to make certain that the ship wouldn't drift while they were away. Once assured of that, they debated leaving one of them behind to guard the ship—but decided against it. There were only three of them, after all.

Using their own dinghy, which had fit remarkably well to the pirate's ship, the trio rowed ashore and set about gathering water, food for the short trip over. They also gathered some lumber and a bit of gumtack from the trees. Whatever they could get for free, they would. The gumtack would prevent leaks in the ship, and there were probably quite a few of those already.

It took barely a few hours to gather all they needed. Sora and company were just about to head back out when a strange girl fell from the trees. She was wearing odd clothes, made of a material none of them had ever seen before. She had very short, curly, honey-gold colored hair that curled around her face.

And she was, absurdly enough, fast asleep.

"I wonder who she is? I didn't see another ship. She must have been marooned here," Kairi said, shivering slightly at the thought.

"Whoever she is, she can't have been here too long," Sora said. "I mean, look at her. Her clothes aren't even worn out, even a little. They look as though the tailor barely finished sewing them!"

Just then, the trio heard several voices shouting. "Sakura! Sakura, where are you?"

"Moko-chan is worried! What if we don't find Sakura-chan?"

Sora and Riku exchanged glances. Kairi, however, called out: "Hello! We have a girl here!"

Sora and Riku weren't sure whether to hush her or shout themselves. They were saved the choice when two men and a boy their age, and a small white puffball appeared through the thickets. They were wearing the same strange clothes as the girl who was asleep at their feet. The white puffball shouted.

"Hurray! Hurray! Mokona found Sakura-chan!"

"No, you didn't," said a tall, dark, and frankly scary-looking man. He hit the white puffball over the head.

"Thank you for finding her," said a young man, about the same age as the trio and the sleeping girl. He had messy, sandy-brown colored hair, a few shades lighter than Sora's, and amber eyes. "We are grateful to you. Could you please tell us where we are?"

"An almost-uncharted deserted island in the middle of the Atlantic," Riku said dryly.

The four members of the other party seemed startled by this information, but said nothing about how they'd ended up on the island. Sora drew his own conclusions—they'd been drugged and marooned, and probably separated to cause further punishment. At least they all seemed okay.

"Listen. We need crew, and you guys probably want off this island, right?" Sora said, thinking fast. "We're headed for King Mickey's Castle, on the Isle of Disney. If you want to join the passage that far, we'll be glad to have you."

Kairi glanced between Sora and Riku, uncertain of what to say. It was obvious the way Riku was looking at Sora that he didn't agree with allowing these people aboard their ship. She wasn't too keen on the black-haired man, either, but the others seemed to be perfectly safe. The last person in the other's group was also a man, but seemed the complete opposite of the black-haired, red-eyed man. He had pale brownish-blond hair and crystal-clear blue eyes—the color of the sea, unlike Sora's royal blues.

Kairi made up her mind. "Of course. You should come with us. After all, you never know when you'll get another ship out here. And at least on the Isle of Disney, you'll have a chance to find another home—or wherever."

"Mokona likes the red-haired girl!" The white fluffball shouted, leaping onto Kairi's head and hugging her neck half-way round with tiny round paws. "Wants to stay with her!"

The quiet one with light hair laughed. "Moko-chan, you should ask her first before jumping on her."

Kairi laughed. "Um…no, it's okay." She reached up and shook the white fluffball's paw, smiling lightly. "I'm Kairi."

"Mokona Modoki is my name! But you can call me Mokona!" Kairi laughed at the little thing's loud voice and energy.

"Like I said, I'm Kairi," she said, glancing up at the remaining three. "This is Sora, and Riku."

"I'm Syaoran. This is Fai-san and Kurogane-san. And Princess Sakura is our sleeping friend." He was still knelt down on the dirt of the forest floor with her, cradling her gently in his arms. Kairi could see the devotion in his eyes. It was obvious that he loved her—but apparent that something was wrong. She could see it in all of them.

"We're looking for something," Syaoran continued. "That's why we're here."

"We are, too, sort of," Sora said. "Come on. Let's get back to the ship. We'll need more supplies, though, since we've got eight mouths instead of three now."

Sora led the way back to the ship with half of Kairi's supplies, Syaoran carrying Sakura, and Riku carrying his share and the other half of Kairi's. Kairi stayed behind with Fai, Mokona, and Kurogane to retrieve more supplies. Once Syaoran and Sakura were on board the ship, Sora and Riku would come back to help carry the rest of the supplies back to the ship.

Once all supplies, persons, and fluffballs were back aboard the ship, Riku, Sora, and Kurogane weighed the anchor and they were off again. Fai climbed up the shrouds to help unfurl the sails. They caught a good wind and the ship was sailing at last. The tiny island that had been their small haven for such a short amount of time was soon far behind them.

Leaving the group of seven (minus the slumbering Sakura) to conversation.

"This is actually the pirates' ship," Kairi explained about the odd stains around the deck. She turned the rudder slightly to catch a bit more of the drift. "They killed all others aboard our ship, the Valiant, and abandoned this one in favor of ours. We managed to hide and then take it after they'd left."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Syaoran said honestly. Sora smiled, and found himself glad that he had invited them aboard. "Are you going after the pirates that killed them?"

"No!" Kairi shouted, turning eyes toward her. "I-I mean…no. That's not our goal." She studied the other group, and knew somehow that they wouldn't tell anyone about anything they had to say. She had a feeling that they knew a lot less about her world and way of life than they let on. "We're looking for something…we're not quite sure where it is, or why it's there. Our Captain died giving us a clue to it, so it must be important."

Fai hugged her with one arm. "Anything worth dying for is a thing worth living for."

"She gave it to me," Sora said. He could hear Riku grumbling softly, and knew that he didn't agree with telling these strangers about the key. "It's a key. To something. We don't know what to, or why Captain Jun had it, or why…anything, really."

"Then why are you looking for whatever it is?" Kurogane asked.

Sora thought for a minute. "I don't know, really. It's just…something asked me to. Inside. I dunno how to describe it. You just gotta feel it to know what I'm talking about."

Kairi nodded. "It's the same thing I felt, about telling you guys what it was we were doing. Like it's…destiny."

Fai chuckled softly. "Mokona, do you suppose this could have anything to do with Sakura-chan's feather?"

Mokona hummed slightly. "I feel the power coming from that key. It's possible. Yes."

"Sorry…but feather?" Riku leaned over a taut rope.

Syaoran dissolved into the explanation, with intermittent points from Kurogane and Fai both. How they were looking for Sakura's feathers, which were her memories. They were also quite powerful, and had made remarkable things happen. Like made a man appear alive, power whole city blocks (whatever that meant), and cause whirlwinds. The trio were mesmerized by the idea.

"So you think the key Captain Jun gave Sora might be the key that leads to Sakura's feather, then?" Riku asked. He wasn't too against the group of five now that he knew what was up with them, and why they were so strange.

"I think it is, yes," Fai said. "Mokona's senses never lie. I like going with my instincts on this particular chase."

"Then you should stick with us," Sora said. "We'll help you find Sakura's feather. Count on it!"

With that, they had to "adjourn" their meeting, because a sudden gale whipped the fore staysail from bowsprit.

CHAPTER END

The introduction of the Tsubasa cast was an idea that my brother had when I was making up this pirate's tale. I wanted something the key would go to that wouldn't seem too obvious to most people. So now we know what the key goes to—now how do we get there? Next time! King Mickey reveals that not all is as it seems…

Wondering what all these weird sailing terms are? Let me direct your attention to the site where I gained all of my pertinent information from— me lads and ladies! Just for your information, the ship they are aboard is called a schooner, which is basically a ship used during the age of the pirates—here about 16th century. But since I've got some artistic licenses, not everything is gonna be so 16th, if ya know what I mean. And remember! It's a SHIP, not a BOAT. Boats go ON ships, and ships sink boats!