After the incident of meeting The Rika crew, it's finally time to prepare breakfast. I go below deck and help Thomas with preparing the dining room for the morning's meal when I smell a lung choking aroma. "Thomas, do you smell smoke?" I ask worriedly. He stops his work and looks up, sniffing the air. He gives me a shocked expression.

"What the-? Nathan never burns anything in the kitchen!" Thomas exclaims. We both drop our stuff and I follow Thomas into the kitchen. There we spot Russell and the chef himself scolding Russell.

"You Idiot! I leave the kitchen for minute, then find you here burning up the place!" He yells at Russell as he desperately tries to save the burning food. Russell looks down in embarrassment. I walk over and tap Nathan on the shoulder. "What!" he shouts. I sigh and motion for him to step aside. "What? You think you can save this?" he asks me bluntly. "Fine." He steps aside and leaves the kitchen agitated. Russell gives me a snort of disbelief and walks out the kitchen.

"Miss Sakura?" Thomas questions confused. "What are ya gonna do?" I smile at him and reply,

"Just wait and see." He gives me a worried look and leaves the kitchen. I look at the food and see what could be done about it. Hmmm, looks like the rice, vegetables, and hot dogs are too burned to eat alone, and the eggs are not burned but their in a mixed state, so I can't make sunny-side up eggs. Mmm, Oh, I know! I think of the perfect or at least semi-perfect dish to make. A few minutes later, I walk out the kitchen and see everyone already sitting at the dining table, looking starved.

"What? Gave up on trying to save the food and came here to beg Nathan for help?" Russell smirks at me, and I give him a glare then look at Thomas.

"Thomas, could you help me carry the food out?" I ask, and he smiles.

"Sure!" We go back to the kitchen and Thomas marvels at my handy work. "Wow! Miss Sakura, this looks amazing!" He exclaims and he immediately picks three plates up and walks out. I follow suit after him we both set the food down in front of everyone. Their eyes widen at the presentation, and sit myself down next to Thomas at the end of the table.

"Rice omelet?" Nathan questions. "You made this out of what this idiot made?" I nod my head and watch as everyone stuffs a spoon full of the food in their mouths. I turn to Russell and he looks away, bashful.

"Not bad, for a rookie," he mumbles as I hear Captain laughing on my left.

"Yeah! This is good! Nathan, eat, it's delicious! Right Eduardo?" Captain Morgan chuckles. Wow! is he always happy? I swerve my head to Eduardo, nodding his head once and returning to the food expressionless. Then I look at Nathan, seeing that he had not touched his food. Instead, he looked at it suspiciously.

"What? Ya think I put something in it? Fine, I'll eat it first," I explain as I stuff a spoonful into my mouth. After seeing me swallow, he looks back at his food, and hesitatingly puts some in his mouth. I take a sharp intake of breath, and so does everyone else, as they look at Nathan in anticipation. Well, everyone, except Eduardo. He swallows the food and says,

"Not bad." I sigh in relief and everyone chuckles.

"See, Nathan, she wasn't gonna poison ya," Christopher smiles gently. Nathan says nothing and continues to eat in silence. I glance up at his face and see a hint of a small smile tugging on his lips. Well, at least he likes the food, I think. I smile to myself and continue to eat.

"Hey," I hear Russell speak up. I lift my head and look at him. "Just because ya passed breakfast doesn't mean your off the hook for the rest of the chores." I smile and nod my head.

"I'll do my best," I says and continue with eating.

"Rookies," Russell mumbles. After breakfast, I spend the rest of the day helping every member of the crew. I did the chores with Thomas, helped Christopher separate and identify herbs, Nathan with lunch, and Captain and Russell with nothing. Well, Captain didn't need any help at the moment, and Russell with releasing the sails. So right now I was helping Eduardo in the voyager room. He was looking through the maps, as I stood there waiting for an instruction. Suddenly, he stood up and faced me.

"Clean," was all he said and I looked at him quizzically.

"Huh?" I ask, tilting my head to the side. He sighs in annoyance.

"Clean this room, I'll be up on the helm steering the ship, so you clean the voyager room. I'll be back to check on your progress," he explains and I nod my head in understanding. He nods and heads up deck and I start with the cleaning. After a while, I finally finish the cleaning, and look at the maps sprawled out on the tables. Hmmm, seems like there's only one of the each map. I think for a bit and then grab a few sheets of paper and a pencil. About an hour later, I finish drawing, and put the scrolls of paper inside my small satchel hanging from my waist. Just then, Eduardo comes in and looks at the room carefully. "You really went at that cleaning didn't ya?" he whistles impressed. I smile at the praise I got and was about to walk out the room, when he called me. "Hey." I turn around and face up at him.

"Hm? What is it?" I ask. He raises his hand up and pats my head.

"Ya did good," he says, then walks out the door. What was that all about? I walk out the room and run into Captain, as I was heading to Thomas' room.

"Ya really helped everyone today," he smiles. I smile back and think about my homeland.

"Captain, will we ever sail back to Yamato?" I question. Captain pats my head, and answers,

"Yeah, but right now our ship is going in a certain direction, and I'm not turning back til' I get there." I lower my head in grief. "But don't worry, I'm sure we'll be headed to Yamato once I reach my destination. I smile.

"Wait, what destination is that?" I question. His expression turns serious and he crosses his arms.

"Crystal Island," he says a little too dramatically. "But don't worry yourself about it, goodnight." Captain walks away and I stare at his back for a few moments, then resume walking to Thomas' room. When I open the door, I see Thomas setting up the small mattress I slept on last night. He hears me come in and smiles.

"Hi Miss Sakura, I was just setting up my bed before dinner, so that I don't have to do it later."

"Oh Thomas, you don't plan to sleep on the floor do you?" I ask hurriedly. He looks at me confused.

"Yeah, I plan to sleep on the floor, why?" I shake my head saying,

"You don't have to do that! I can sleep on the floor instead!" He laughs lightly.

"It's ok, I can sleep on the floor, you take the bed Miss Sakura," he gestures to his bed and i sigh.

"But this is your room Thomas, and I'm just a stowaway that became a member of the Sirius over night, you really don't have to," I protest. He smiles at me gently, and I close my mouth.

"It's alright, don't underestimate me, I'm tougher than ya think. I'm part of the Sirius crew after all. You are now too, so don't be afraid to act a little selfish, but thanks for thinking about my welfare," he grins. I look at his face.

"Thomas," I say. He smiles at me.

"Anyway, it's almost dinner, let's go" he says opening the door. I grin and nod my head. We walk out the door and I separate from Thomas, to see if Nathan needed any help in the kitchen. I enter the kitchen, and ask Nathan if he needed any help. He points to a small pile of vegetables and returns back to work. I wash my hands and start chopping and mincing...

Later on, Nathan and I are done preparing tonight's meal, so we bring the plates up on the deck, where we would be eating tonight. Thomas rushes to me as I set down the plates and I can almost see him drooling in front of the food. I laugh quietly to myself.

"Huh, it's the first time ya laughed on this ship, since ya came here," I hear a voice says behind me. I turn around and see Eduardo looking down at me with a expressionless face as usual. That's right, I never imaged myself laughing on this ship. I look around and see everyone smiling, chatting, and having fun. "They're such a rowdy bunch," Eduardo sighs, then smiles. "But they all look after each other." he looks at me with a serious face and pats my head. "Now that you're part of the group, we'll look after ya too." I stare at Eduardo, and smile. He scoffs at my face. "What's with that cocky grin on your face?"

"I'm just happy," I answer honestly, and then Thomas comes up to me smiling.

"Hey Miss Sakura, you otay," he sputters out and I laugh.

"Thomas, you're drunk," I say. He puts on a pouty face and clings to my arm.

"I'm not drunk. I'm juuuuuusst sssoooo fine," he pouts, stretching his words out, while clinging onto my arm tighter. He looks at me with puppy dog eyes and I blush in the process. "Anys-way, what are you up to with Eddy here," he asks hazily.

"Who the heck gave you permission to nickname me like a dog," he mumbles under his breath, looking out into the ocean. Suddenly, Russell jumps up and tackles Eduardo from behind. "Moron, get off a me! I'm not a horse!"

"Aww, come on Eddy cheer up!" he states, looking hazy. "Are ya in a bad mood cuz Sakura go stolen by Thomas, and I ruined the mood?" Russell snickers.

"Idiot, who'd wanna make a move on this kid, anyway get off me! Ya reek of liquor!" Eduardo snaps. Thomas, still clinging to my arm, woos at Eduardo's struggle to get Russell off.

"Woo! Love triangle! Miss Sakura is being fought over by Russell and Eduardo! So hot! Woo!" Thomas hollers. I sigh in embarrassment.

"Thomas, please don't say such embarrassing things," I mutter.

"Woo! Miss Sakura's embarrassed! Happy-happy day!" was Thomas' reply to my pleading. I sigh again and lower my head, not wanting anyone to see my red face.

"Thomas! Shut up!" Eduardo shouts still struggling to get Russell off his back. I hear Christopher, Captain, even Nathan laughing at the scene in front of them. Gosh, this is embarrassing.

"This is great entertainment!" Captain laughs.

"Wow Sakura, never knew you were so popular with men," Christopher chuckles. Christopher, I don't think you get the real concept of what's happening. I sigh and spot Nathan smiling. Ugh, even Nathan.

"Anyway, cheers to Sakura's first day on the Sirius!" Captain toasts.

"Cheers!" Everyone holds up a glass, and takes a sip. And for the rest of the night, we ended up partying all night...

Author's Note:

Hey everyone! Thanks for reading this story! So, what do you think so far? Did you expect Sakura to be sleeping with Thomas in the last chapter? Or did you think it was Eduardo? Haha, anyway, please review and continue to read my fanfic! Tell me if anything is wrong or out of place, like their personalities, they're looks, or anything else, etc. Thanks for the support! Review please! Till next time...

-Suri Sakurazawa