The next morning, I woke up and dressed in my man's clothes. Instead of wearing my hair up though, I let it fall down to my waist. It was pretty tangled but I couldn't brush it because it's curly and would frizz out. I also put some kohl on my eyes, making them pop, and went out on deck.

I could feel the eyes of the crew following me as I walked up to Sparrow.

"What am I doing today?" I asked him.

"Err…" He looked at my body for so long that I waved a hand in his face. He shook himself back to reality and shouted, "Gibbs!"

The aging man who said I was bad luck the day before came up to us. "Aye?" he said.

"Show Kia the ropes… literally."

"Aye, Captain." He faced me. "This way, miss."

I followed him around for the next few hours and he showed me how to do everything from tying knots to steering the ship. I found out that he was actually a pretty nice guy, once you got past the first impression. Throughout all this time, I got plenty more stares.

When it was finally time for lunch, I was so hungry I could have eaten a horse. (Not that I would have wanted to). I hadn't eaten since the morning before, and I was curious to see what the food was like on the ship.

The second I walked into the room where everyone ate, I nearly threw up. The smell was repulsive. I had noticed it earlier; they all had the same salty smell of the sea. But now, mixed with a lot of B.O. it was disgusting. I sat down next to Gibbs, feeling much less hungry than before.

I faced him. "When was the last time any of you had a bath?"

"…" He paused to think about it. "What month be it?"

I groaned. Just then, a man in a chef's outfit carrying a huge bowl of soup walked through a door that probably led to the kitchen. He set it on the large wooden table and we each got bowls. It was beef stew with celery and carrot. And it was delicious. I had never been the greatest cook, so I had a lot of admiration for those who were.

For the rest of the day Gibbs showed me all there was to sailing. Of course, he couldn't show me certain things, like what to do if it's raining or we're in a storm at night; those skills would come with experience. I was thankful for it. There was already so much to learn that by the end, I felt like my head might have exploded from all of the information I had to remember.

Later that night, after dinner, the men sat around and drank rum. To their surprise, I drank with them. But I only had two drinks. Many years before then I had made a promise to myself to never abuse alcohol, but I still had it every once in a while. After all, it had been a long, hard day.

Even though I stopped at two drinks, the men went on to have three even four. A couple of them passed out from having so much to drink. They were all laughing and talking very loudly. I joined in most of the laughter but my heart wasn't exactly in it. I could tell Sparrow was staring at me, even without looking up. I got up to go to bed, and he followed me.

I could practically feel his breath on my neck as I walked to my room. I stepped in, turned around to close the door, and there he stood.

"Might I have a word?" he asked.

"I guess," I said reluctantly.

He sat on my bed. "We're sailing now."

"I noticed."

"We could come across another ship at anytime."

"So?"

"Can you or can you not fight?"

"With a sword?"

"With anything."

"I'm pretty good with my fists. And I've got a deadly aim. But as for swords…" I didn't want to say it, but I wasn't the greatest fencer. The only real fight I'd been in, I had lost. Although I practiced plenty, it didn't do much good with no one to fight against. "With swords, I haven't that much experience."

"Then you'll need lessons."

I stared at him, puzzled. He raised a single eyebrow at me. I realized what he was asking. "Would you…?"

"You want to be trained by the best, right?"

I smiled. "Thank you."

"Wow, luv. I think that might be the first time you've shown any gratefulness at all."

I didn't meet his eye. "So when do these "lessons" start?"

"How about right now?"

"Okay…" He stood up, drew his sword and pointed it at me. Hesitantly, I brought out my own and challenged him.

"No," said Sparrow in exasperation. "You're doing it wrong. Hold your sword like this… and put your feet like this…" He showed me how to hold the sword with a firm, but loose grip so I could swing it around with ease. Positioning my feet about shoulder-widths apart, he then slowly jabbed to the right. He demonstrated how to stop a simple attack with a simple block. Once I had learned how to do that much, we fought for real… mostly. Sparrow went really easy on me. Once I had managed to master the basics, he started teaching me more complicated attacks and blocks. By the end of the hour I was sweating profusely.

"Are we… done yet?" I gasped.

"I think you've done well for tonight." He was barely out of breath. I lay on the bed, breathing heavily. "How much experience did you have?"

"I was only in one fight and I didn't win. After that, I tried to practice, but I was never taught how to fight correctly so it didn't do much good."

"What happened?"

"I fought and I lost. That's all there is to it." I said. I could tell he wanted to know more, but I didn't continue.

"You're very frustrating, luv."

I turned and stared him right in the eye. "We all have our secrets. You have yours and I have mine. Perhaps someday we might share these secrets, but until then, we'll keep them to ourselves."

"Aye. We do." He was lost in thought and I was lost in his dark, handsome face. As I realized this, I quickly turned away and swore at myself. Why did I keep doing this? I knew his reputation; he was a womanizer. Any move he tried to pull on me was no doubt filled with bad intentions. And if I did give in, he would just throw me away once he was through. Even if he didn't decide to do that, he would die soon anyways. They always did.

I stared off into space and vaguely wondered how long it would take for everything to fall to pieces this time. Sparrow was staring at me. And when I stared back at him, he did nothing. He didn't stop looking. "What?" I asked.

Suddenly, he reached in and kissed me, gently. At first he surprised me so much I couldn't move. For a second, I let him kiss me—kissed him back a little too—but then I resisted and pulled away.

"What was that all about?" I asked, slightly mad. But I couldn't help a faint blush reach my cheeks.

"Couldn't resist myself, luv." (Can't you imagine him saying that)! He smiled slightly, showing his gold teeth.

"I have to go to bed now," I said, rather hurriedly. "I'd like you to leave now."

"Oh, but it's nighttime. And this room is so warm… and cozy." He scooted closer to me.

"Leave. Now." I said in a raised voice.

With a sigh, he got up and was about to walk out the door when he looked back at me. "If you get lonely… I'm right down the hall."

"I wouldn't go to your room in a million years, Sparrow." I said in a cold voice.

"Call me Jack."

"Sparrow."

"Jack."

"Sparrow."

He heaved a great sigh. "I'll be seeing you in the morning."

I fixed my eyes on the ceiling until I could no longer hear his receding footsteps. I kept staring there until I dozed off to sleep.