-the beauty below
ch.2
the admiral woke up that night. his head hurt and his clothes were soaked with sweat. he cursed himself for still being able to feel fear. his past still haunted his nights. the horrid people in this world made him the way he was today, horrid too. he was still afraid of pirates. he thought back to when he was 17 and pirates ravaged his seaside village and had kidnapped him. he was the captains personal slave. wherever the captain went he followed a chain had been shckled around his neck like he was a dog. when finally those pirates had been arrested and he was rescued he made a vow to get his revenge on th pirate world. that was how he became admiral.
he got out of his bed and walked down to the fish hold. usually it had fish rotting away in it, but it was quiet se he went down there often. when he opened the door he saw moonlight filling the room in what looked like waves. shadows were casted by the movement of the water in the tank. most of the tank was in the lowest hull of the ship, and to keep it from spilling he had never seen it like this before so he sat in his red velvet sound of the water moving and sloshing was enough to lull him back to sleep, but just as he closed his eyes he hear a voice say, "do you sleep down here often?" he opened his eyes to see the black haired boy's arms folded over the top of the tank. his gorgeous face was placed ever so delictely on top of his arms. the admiral didn't answer, just stared. the boy waited, but decided he wasn't getting an answer anytime soon so he asked a different one.
"whats your name mister?" he said. the moonlight glitted off his face making his eyes glow an aquamarine color rather than his usual coblt. he tilted his hea and waited for an answer, not really expecting one though.
"my name is shizuka doumeki." he said soflty as if a curse would fall upon them if anyone else heard them. he closed his eyes again thinking the boy would just laugh or insult him, but instead he answered, " thats nice i guess...now i can call you by something. if i have to stay here i should at least know my captors name right?" he sighed and tilted his head away from te light so that only one of his eyes were the light blue casted by the moon.
"whats yours then?" asked admeral Doumeki. the boy looked at him adn sighed, "i don't have master took my name away so i couldn't break away from her. i wanted a wish granted so i had to help her, but i felt her work was too much, so she took my name. you know...if you help a mermaid you get a wish granted...any wish you want, no matter what it is...but sometimes it costs you something important, like a name..." Doumeki took all this in before saying, "would you like a name?" and for the first time that night the boy lifted his head.
"yeah...that would be nice."and then he layed his back down on his arms.
"then i'll call you Watanuki...Kimihiro Watanuki. how does that sound?" the boy closed his eyes and answered with a," whatever." and sank beneith the water, and sank under the lower hull, moonlight csting bright colors off of his tail and onto Doumeki's face. once more doumeki fell back into sleep.
the nap was short ended and the admiral was awoke by the sound of swords clashing and the expolsions from cannons. immeadiatley he was on his feet and running to the deck of his ship.
the night sky was clouded by the deep grey of smoke from the flameon his hull. his crew ran amok, fighting and defending his ship. he ran about, sword drawn and yelling orders to his crew. he looked up to see what or who was plauging him and deadpaned. it was those blasted pirates again! he raced toward the comming onslaught and branished his sword out in front of him. metal hit fle`sh of an unpreared enemy.
the world one level below the main deck was a little different. Watanuki swam contentedly around in his warm pool of water, not knowing of the wretched ruckus abouve. the pirates ran down the stairs and only then did he feel the vibrations frothing down into the depths of his tank. he swam forward to the edge and peered out into the area where he last saw the admiral. he furrowed his dark brows at the thought of the arrogant man, and abandoned his wonderings of the vibrations that disturbed his water filled confinment. he stopped thinking about the admiral when a blur of red, black, and plaid came into his vison. he turned his head onlt to see a young man, not as young as the admiral, but young none the less. he wore a red rust colored hat, a black shirt, and a pair of plaid paints. his clothing were accented with a rapier and beads all over, and his eyes held the slightest tint of surprise, but the rest held want. watanuki swam away from the glass and down into the hullwhen the young man began to walk towards him.