Title: ARR! (#007)
Author: Blue and Red
Characters/Pairings: Mild Momo/Echizen, Tezuka/Echizen… hell, A-lot-of-people/Echizen; other misc. pairings hinted at.
Word count: 2450
Summary: In which Echizen doesn't really win at everything.
Author's notes (Red): Sorry for the lack of updates… We meant to post this like a month ago, but real life and college kicked in. On top of that, there were all kinds of shiny distractions that came in the form of Rikkai... To make up for it, here's a relatively long chapter for you to sink your teeth into! Plenty of action, and we don't mean the swashbuckling kind. XD

"This is so unfair!" Echizen didn't even flinch as Momoshiro shouted again. He had developed immunity after the spiky-haired pirate's tenth outburst. "Bad enough I've got to stay back and guard the ship, so why doesn't that baka Mamushi have to too?" Echizen just continued to pet Karupin; the brown and white cat seemed to be depressed by the absence of the hissing crew member and had loudly demanded attention form his next favourite pirate. "Argh! And you're too damn underage for… Never mind."

That sounded different from Momoshiro's usual ranting and disturbingly like a challenge. Echizen looked up, his interest piqued. "Too underage for what?"

"None of your business, Ochibi!" Momoshiro may have violently ruffled his hair, but Echizen still saw the reddening of his cheeks.

"Momo-senpai, you and Kaidoh-senpai really have a love-hate relationship, don't you?" Echizen smirked evilly and watched the crimson hue spread all the way to Momoshiro's hairline.

"Ahhh! Shut up, baka Ochibi! You don't know what you're talking about!"

"You're awful flustered, Momo-senpai."

"I'm not flustered!"

"Then what am I underage for?"

Momoshiro glared daggers at the cabin boy. "Drinking games, aright?"

Drinking games, eh? Echizen smirked and made for the hold. "Mada mada dane, Momo-senpai."

An hour and a half later, Echizen slapped another straight flush on the table and smirked as Momoshiro downed the rest of his rum with a groan. Blinking blearily, the spiky-haired pirate scowled at the cabin boy in the smoky lamp light.

"You're cheating, dammit. Even Kaidoh never beatsh me this badd…"

Echizen was unrepentant as he took a tiny sip of his own drink – watered-down rum, a concession to his age Momoshiro had insisted on. Thus far, Echizen was only on his second mug, and he was in a much less inebriated state than his older friend. "Maybe you just suck at cards, Momo-senpai."

"Speaking of sucking…" Momoshiro contemplated his empty mug somberly. "Why way do you swing? Y'know, do boys or girls take your fanshy?"

Echizen blinked like a frog swallowing a large mouthful. "I'm only fifteen, Momo-senpai." Standing, Momoshiro leaned over the table until his face was inches from the cabin boy's, his alcohol-drenched breath heavy and overpowering in the other's nose. A hand rose and Echizen might have flinched; it looked like it was aiming for his lips in an altogether too-intimate gesture. But whether because of the alcohol in his own system or because it was Momo-senpai, Echizen didn't move.

"So you are… What a pity." Then the hand ruffled his hair affectionately and Momoshiro slumped over the table. Echizen sat there for a few moments with Momoshiro's head practically in his lap before he managed to snap out of his daze.

"Momo-senpai? Momoshiro?" He received a snore in reply. Echizen made a half-hearted stab at moving Momoshiro to his hammock but gave up when the pirate nearly put him in a headlock for trying to pull him off the table – all the while never ceasing his deep snores. In the end, Echizen settled for chucking a blanket over the pirate and clearing the table of the debris of their game.

He was washing their mugs in the galley when Karupin, who had been his shadow all evening, gave a loud "MREOW" and took off like a shot. By the time Echizen followed the cat out onto the deck, Karupin was vanishing into the dark around the pier, headed for town. Echizen took two seconds to decide that nobody would be stupid enough to voluntarily board a pirate ship, making Momoshiro and Seigaku safe in her berth before following suit.

Earlier on, Inui-senpai told him that Seigaku frequented this particular part on a regular basis because no one asked any questions. The pirate crew was already pretty familiar with the town, so it was likely that Karupin knew this place too. Echizen concluded that Karupin had to be heading to where Kaidoh and the rest were, and figured that it wouldn't hurt much to keep the ship's cat in his sight.

After all, curiosity killed the cat, not humans… Right?

Echizen found himself jogging through a twisting maze of dingy alleyways, but it wasn't long before a dazzling array of lights lit up the street. He slowed to a halt, blinking. "Gaudy" was the first word that came into his mind when he saw the building that Karupin ran into. Bright pink lanterns graced the façade of the suspicious-looking mansion, and there were a bunch of men hanging about outside.

"Kid, aren't you a little too young to for this kind of fun?" a nervy-looking chap said to Echizen, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.

Echizen shrugged. "I'm old enough to have an idea of what's inside." Thanks, Oyaji, he thought, not in the least bit grateful.

The young man's eyes slid over him in an interested manner and started to say something, but Echizen ignored him in favour of walking into the building. He was soon, however, stopped by another guy. Except that this one looked a lot bigger and tougher. A guard.

"What 'yer doin' here?" he grunted.

"Looking for a couple of my companions. Uh, my cat just ran in."

"Hm? A new crew member for Seigaku? You're the youngest yet." The guard patted his head and winked at him. "Go on in, then. You're pretty cute… Watch out for the girls."

He didn't expect it to be so easy, especially since he was underage and looked like it. Maybe other people also thought of Seigaku as a bunch of nutcases which could be why the bouncer had let him in with no qualms whatsoever. Then again, he did give some sort of warning…

"Wah This one's cute!"

Something, or rather someone, glomped Echizen out of the blue. The low, ambient lighting in the place made it rather difficult to make out the features of his attacker, but from the soft body pressing into his back, it was easy to infer that it was a female. A well-formed one, at that.

He tried to wriggle out of the woman's vice-like grip. "Let me go! I'm only here to look for one of my friends." The faces of Seigaku's crew ran through his head. They all seemed a little too gay to frequent any bordello, so he took a stab with the most heterosexual of the lot. "Um, Taka-san."

She twittered. "That big, strong guy? He's with Yuuki-chan now. Better see him quickly before her son arrives. He's very fierce."

Echizen highly doubted anyone could scare this girl would really be any threat to him, but if it sped up his mission… "Right. Could you take me to them?"

The female figure spun him around and crushed him in an embrace. With his face right in her cleavage and her soft arms around him, Echizen felt like he was drowning in gelatin.

"Oh, aren't you cute! Why don't you stay with me? I know all sorts a sweet little boy like you might enjoy!" And much to his horror, Echizen found himself being whisked away in the arms of the voluptuous woman. He would have hit her if he knew where to amongst the whirlwind of frills, lace and bare skin. Unfortunately he was having a hard enough time keeping himself from being smothered to figure that out. A curtain drew back and Echizen found his ears assaulted by shrill female squeals.

"Omigosh! He's so cute!"

"Where did you find such a darling little boy?"

"Aw, he's got such soft skin."

"Can we keep him?"

The poor cabin boy tried not to pass out from the fog of perfume settling over him. He'd been set down on some poofy manner of furniture and found himself ringed by women in various stages of undress. As a particularly matronly woman pinched his cheeks and clutch his head to her bare bosom, he felt the last shreds of heterosexuality slipping away…

"Excuse me—"

"—my turn to hug him!"

"I have to--"

"Aiee! So cute! I wonder if he's old enough to enjoy female company properly yet?"

"!"

High-pitched shrieks rang out as Echizen broke free of the witches' circle, not caring where his hands fell as he pushed the feminine monstrosities away. A large, skirted figure appeared seemingly out of nowhere, blocking off the door. There was no dodging her so Echizen did the only sensible thing to do with freedom beckoning so tantalizingly close. He dove down between her legs and wriggled under her skirt. The woman shrieked and fell but the cabin boy was moving so fast he was free before she landed, so fast he couldn't stop himself from running into a welcomingly masculine chest.

"Hoi! What're you doing here, Ochibi? Aren't you—"

"A little too young to be here, yes. Kikumaru-senpai, save me!" It was a mark of how terrified the poor boy was that he ducked behind the sailsmaster with the plea for help.

"Hoi, hoi. What did you do, Ochi—"

"There he is!"

­­Eiji looked from Echizen hiding behind him, to the horde of angry female escorts and remembered that Tezuka might be more than a little mad if they had to change cabin boys again. Wishing Oishi was with him, Eiji put on his best smile and prepared to deflect the mob.

"Ladies, ladies! It's Ochibi's first time here. Please don't frighten him! And," he added dramatically, "he's not yet sixteen."

"Eh?"

"But he's just too adorable!"

"Maybe he needs a real woman to—"

"No." Echizen flatly cut off the cries of his little harem. "Come on, Kikumaru-senpai. I want to go back to the ship."

"You heard the kiddo." Eiji flashed an apologetic grin to the bevy of beautiful women. "He's had his fill of fun for the night."

A collective "Aw" rose from them.

But Echizen was already sprinting out of the building.

"Can you walk me back to the ship, Kikumaru-senpai?"

Eiji sighed. "Okay."

They strolled in silence for a while, but the bundle of energy that was Kikumaru Eiji couldn't resist asking his junior a few questions.

"Nyaa, Ochibi, so what were you doing back there?"

"Momo-senpai passed out, and Karupin ran off the ship."

"Eh? Did he try to make you play drinking games?"

Echizen stared. "How did you guess?"

"Because that guy can't keep is alcohol in, much as he inhales the rest of the food," Kikumaru explained. "And I don't know how, but Kaidoh conditioned Karupin to tell him whenever Momo passes out so he can laugh at Momo about it."

"…"

"And you haven't told me why all those girls were chasing after you! You're so lucky, Ochibi."

"I didn't ask for it. They pounced on me."

Eiji wagged a finger, "No need to be shy. But…" A contemplative look came into his eyes. "I don't think Tezuka-senchou will be too happy about this."

What was Kikumaru talking about? However, before Echizen could probe further, the sailsmaster exclaimed, "Hey, we're at the ship already!" Ruffling Echizen's hair, he said, "I'll be going now. Oishi will get worried — you know how he's like. Don't burn down the ship!"

Echizen watched the redhead walk away, a bounce in his step. The cabin boy scowled. Him? Burn down the ship? What did they think he was? It wasn't like he was Momo-senpai who got drunk and passed out, making the ship's cat run off to that creepy Mamushi… Sighing, Echizen trudged up the gangplank. He was tired and it was late. Time to bolt down the door and get some sleep…

"—that adorable?"

"Shhh, don't wake him up. Tezuka-senchou says he and Momo get to sleep in since they stayed behind last night."

"Nyaa, Kaidoh. Looks like you have a rival for Karupin's affections!"

"F-shuu!"

Fuji watched as some of the crew clustered around Echizen, who was sleeping under the stairs with his blanket half off and the ship's cat draped across his midriff. Even as Oishi arranged the blankets more neatly over the lumbering cabin boy, Fuji had to notice the boy's location was most strategic. The steps sheltered him from the elements and ensured that anyone trying to steal the ship or her cargo would have to walk directly overhead, waking him up. The only obvious flaw was that Echizen had not taken his own body's need into account. Alcohol combined with his still-healing wound had knocked the boy out for the count and even Tezuka had admitted that he looked adorable. Only to Fuji, though. And only under the unspoken threat of the pain of death if he shared that with the rest of the crew. Speaking of their captain…

"Fuji, my quarters."

The tensai's eyes opened a fraction as he closed the door to the cabin behind him. Tezuka got right down to business.

"Last night you spoke to Jirou. What did he say?"

"You mean in between falling asleep in his drink?" Tezuka shot him a warning look and Fuji relented; Tezuka was always a little short on matters concerning Hyoutei. "Atobe is calling all ships back to berth."

If Tezuka was annoyed at having his next destination dictated to him, he didn't show it. "What for?"

"Jirou wouldn't say. I'm under the distinct impression Atobe didn't trust him to keep the secret and so didn't tell him."

Tezuka's lip quirked; nobody in their right mind expected to be able to keep secrets from Seigaku's tensai for very long. "Very well. Anything else of interest?"

"Our little cabin boy's quite the ladies man. Did Oishi tell you?"

"Yes."

Fuji smiled sunnily. "Don't frown so, Tezuka. Your face might freeze that way."

He wanted to object to that of course, but that would be immature and he would be falling for Fuji's bait. In the end, Tezuka settled upon, "He's not yet ready for that kind of entertainment."

"Oh, you wouldn't know, Tezuka. Echizen's quite worldly – he seems rather well-traveled, for one."

Now he knew for sure that Fuji was trying to draw him into something. What exactly, he didn't know, because no one fully understood the prodigy Fuji Syuusuke. One thing that was common knowledge, however, was Fuji's manipulative streak. Tezuka refused to respond to the other's comment.

Before the awkwardness of their conversation could set in properly, a sharp knock was heard.

"Tezuka?" Oishi. "Are we getting ready to go?"

"Aye." Tezuka stood up, and said to Fuji, "Get the crew organized. And… move Echizen into someplace more comfortable. I don't want his injury taking a turn of the worse, not when he's almost recovered." Unconsciously, his right hand strayed to his elbow.

Fuji gave Tezuka an understanding look as he saluted him. "Aye, senchou."