He got me. Again. Damn it! This time, I was pinned up against the rail of the ship. The blade of his sword was held an inch away from my throat. My own was lying harmlessly on the ground, 10 feet away.

"You put too much into it. It's important to have power, but speed is just as important." scolded Sparrow.

I groaned. We had been fencing for the past three hours and I was getting bored and tired. "Do we have to keep doing this?" I sounded like a whiny kid.

Sparrow lowered his blade and sheathed it. "You can have a five minute break."

"Gee, thanks." I said in a sarcastic voice. I went off to get a drink. In the kitchen, I grabbed a glass of water and brought it out on deck. Everyone was crowded around Sparrow.

"Do it! Do it!" they chanted.

"You want me to do it?" he asked, obviously enjoying the attention.

"Yeah!" they shouted.

"Okay!" He grinned at me and winked. I rolled my eyes. "I'll do it."

The crowd parted so that he could do… whatever it is they wanted him to do. He ran a couple yards then did a no-handed cartwheel: an aerial. The crowd cheered. I laughed so much the sip of water I had taken nearly came up.

Sparrow approached me. "What?"

"It's just… not the most exciting move, that's all." Not to mention how badly done it was. His knees were so bent he was almost curled up in a ball, and his hands nearly touched the floor at the end.

"You think you could do better?"

"I bet I can do better," I said cockily.

"How much?"

I thought for a moment. "Three shillings."

"Make it five and it's a bet."

"Deal." His rough, tan and blackened hand shook my own blistered, slightly tanned, and blackish hand. What you don't realize is that when you are constantly working with your hands on a ship, they not only become rough, they get stained a black color. So we shook our weather-beaten hands and it was a deal.

Sparrow went first. He jumped backwards and did a very choppy back handspring. Everyone shouted and cheered.

I scoffed and handed my glasses to him so I wouldn't lose them. I stepped back so I could get a running start.

"Copycat." yelled Sparrow. I ignored him, and did my trick.

I ran a couple paces then sprang off with my feet and landed first on my right hand, and then my left with the left turned into the side of my right. I landed with both feet on the floor. But I wasn't finished just yet. Immediately, I jumped back onto my hands and sprang off of them onto my feet again. I jumped backwards, tucking my knees tightly to my chest, and landed on the balls of my feet.

Altogether, it was a round off, back handspring, back tuck.

The crew was shouting and cheering for me. As I walked back to Sparrow he silently gave me back my glasses. I set them on the bridge of my nose and held out a hand.

"Five shillings please."

He fished around in his pockets and retrieved a leather bag that jingled as he moved it around. Reluctantly, he pulled out five shiny shillings. He hesitated as he held them above my hand. "A deal's a deal," I told him. He dropped the shillings in my hand. "Thank you," I said and walked off, stowing the shillings in my pocket.

"Kia!" called a voice from behind my back. I turned and found myself face to face with Sparrow. "I was wondering…" It pained him to say this, I could tell, "If you could teach me some of those moves."

I considered it. It would be pretty fun to finally be able to teach the teacher.

"Sure," I agreed, "I'll teach you,"

I started with simple things like handstands, cartwheels, bridges, etc… For a normal person, it would be pretty hard to learn. But for Sparrow it was practically impossible. I kept trying to teach him to keep balance, but he always fell over. It was hilarious!

After he finally learned how to do the easy things, he wanted me to teach him how to do a back tuck. I find the best way to practice it is to jump off the ship backwards and try to hit the water with straight legs. He was a bit unwilling to get wet, but was eager to learn how to do the flip so he did it anyways.

He climbed up the side of the ship and I couldn't help but laugh at him. He was dripping water all over the place and the kohl on his eyes was running down his cheeks. He flung his sleeve at me, spraying water onto my face.

"Hey!" I shouted.

He smiled at me. "Couldn't resist meself, luv."

I punched him playfully on the arm… mostly. He mouthed the word 'ow' and tried to punch me back. I blocked it easily. I took my fighting stance: feet spread apart, on my toes, with my hands in fists in front of my face.

"You wanna fight?"

"All right," said Sparrow. He copied my pose, and lunged at me with a fist. I stepped out of the way quickly and grabbed his wrist. I twisted it behind his back. You might be thinking I went a little harsh on him. It's true, I did. But it was payback for the countless times he had defeated me when we were sword fighting.

"Ow," he said out loud this time.

I smiled to myself and released him. He rubbed his wrist.

"Can you teach me how to do that?" he asked.

"Fine," I said in an exasperated voice, but secretly I was ecstatic. I was finally going to get him back.

I taught him how to stand and how to protect his weakest parts. I also showed him how to use other people's weak areas to his advantage. I told him to aim all his blows at the stomach, feet, nose, and in between the legs. Once we had finally finished with all that, we fought.

He lunged a fist at my face. I ducked and swung around a leg to trip him while crouching. He jumped high into the air as my leg passed underneath him. While he was still up in the air I kicked off of my legs, hard, lifted myself into the air, and arched my back. I landed softly on my feet in front of Sparrow and promptly punched him in the stomach. He doubled over and I gave him a hard karate chop on the back. His knees buckled and then finally gave way. He lied on the ground face down. With a groan, he lifted himself up from the floor.

"Well, that went well," he said sarcastically.

"You just didn't recover fast enough. It was a very good jump but you weren't ready for my next move. And, you underestimated me. That's never a smart thing to do." I told him.

"When is this going to end?" said Sparrow with a sigh.

"You wanted to be taught, so I'm teaching you."

"And who taught you?"

"My mom. She was a teacher and she felt it's important to know how to defend you, especially for girls."

"And she learned it…?"

"From a book." He made a face. "Do you read Sparrow?"

"Only if I must."

"You ought to know that you can learn a lot from books."

"Of course, luv. Whatever you say," he said in an amused voice. That pissed me off. It may seem stupid to get upset over something as little as books, but it wasn't that. It was what he said and the way he said it. It made me want to strangle him.

"Come on, let's get on with this," I practically growled at him.

We raised our fists to our faces and balanced on the balls of our feet. Immediately, I swung my leg around in a high kick. I didn't hit him, but he flinched and backed up an inch. Using the momentum from the kick, I spun in a half-circle so that my back was facing him. I stepped backwards and jabbed my elbow into his guts. Clutching his stomach, he bent over slightly. I spun around again and kicked him in the backside. Once again, he lay on the ground, his nose touching the floor.

He got up and wagged a finger at me. "I meant to do that," he said dizzily.

"Of course, Sparrow. Whatever you say," I said coolly.

At that moment he reminded me of a fish. The normally calm and collected Jack Sparrow was at a loss for words. His mouth was open but no sound came out. I turned and walked away. He somehow managed to get a hold of himself and I heard his heavy footsteps following me.

"Listen, Kia. I…" I whirled around and brought my flushed, furious face up to his surprised one.

"No! You listen! I'm sick and tired of you always being so pompous and full of yourself and thinking that you can do anything and get away with it! Well, here's a news flash for you: you can't! Your actions have consequences and…" I stopped. I had realized that I wasn't really talking about Sparrow. I was talking about myself. The fury slowly turned into sorrow. "You'll just end up hurting the people you love." He stared at me curiously. Then he kissed me.

All of the anger that had ebbed away earlier came rushing back and it was twice as bad as before. Furious, I broke the lock between our lips and stepped back. I couldn't decide on something to do to him that would be as bad as his kissing me. So, I punched him in the gut again, this time harder. As I ran to my room, I felt my face grow hot. Stupid Sparrow, I thought to myself.

Jack Sparrow's POV – That night

I couldn't help myself. She was just so cute when she got mad. Her face got all red and her deep green eyes got even darker. And that attitude of hers… nobody had that. None of the women I had ever seduced (or tried to) had acted the way she did. They were just brainless zombies. Kia was a real person. So, I succumbed to the urge and kissed her. So now she hates me, I thought. Even more.

I figured the right to do would be to apologize. Damn, I was never good at that. First I checked her room, but it was empty. After searching everywhere below deck, I nearly smacked myself for not realizing that she was probably above deck. Smart me.

Kia was sitting on the railing, just like the first night she arrived. Her head was titled up to the night sky. Instead of surprising her this time, I made sure to step loudly. She jerked herself back to her senses and looked at me. Her eyes were wide and watery. Without a word, I sat next to her.

Hesitantly, I reached a hand up to her head and stroked her hair. She laid her head on my shoulder.

"Bet you're wondering what I'm doing out here," said Kia.

"Aye, luv."

"Today is… was the day my dad…" she swallowed, "gave me these scars." She motioned to her face. I gently traced the bright red marks. One caressed her cheek in a curve and the other went straight down.

"What happened?"

She took a deep breath. "It all started with his drinking problem…"