~*~
Chapter Three: The Talk
Hikari didn't remember a thing about the trip back to the ship. She didn't remember climbing up the rope ladder from the lifeboat to the main deck, and she certainly didn't remember being ushered back into the Captain's quarters, where she was currently sitting, mysteriously in her sleeping attire. Not that it was night time just yet, but her body had moved as if on auto-pilot. When she'd returned to the now-familiar chambers, it was what she had just done. Except that she didn't remember doing it.
And now she was alone.
Her mind was spinning. Nothing made sense. It couldn't. He'd said that Takeru was dead. He was the same pirate that took her best friend all those years ago. She saw the mark on his hand; the scar. But it would explain his blue eyes and the colour of his hair. It would explain why, even though she was afraid of him on the surface, she felt strangely comforted by his presence. And it would certainly explain why he had known her name, even though she had not given it to him. Hikaru. That was what she'd said it was. They still called her that, even though they knew she was a girl. But he hadn't ever even used that name once.
But he was a pirate. A thieving, pillaging and horrible pirate. Takeru wasn't any of these things. He was kind and gentle and thoughtful; he was her hope. She realised she had pulled out the familiar pouch, the one that held the remains of the lily flower he'd given to her on that night. It was all she had left of him, besides her memories. Captain Scar was a despicable person. He killed and stole as he pleased, and she'd heard stories of rape in there too. What about all those nights spent in brothels? Hikari shuddered. No, Takeru wouldn't do that. He couldn't. It couldn't be him. Her best friend was not Captain Scar.
They said he was immortal. Scar, not Takeru. She had to believe that this was true. And that Scar did, in fact, remember Takeru. And her friend had talked about her in such a way that even the horrible captain would remember her. The immortal had to have an impeccable memory, right? Takeru must have painted quite the picture of her, if his captor could remember her so well.
Hikari was sitting there with her knees pulled to her chest. Her elbows were resting on top of them, her hands gripping her chestnut hair. She was going insane. She was taking pure legend as truth over the fact that Takeru and the Captain could be the same person.
Once more, the sound of the door opening pulled her from her thoughts. The train wreck that was her mind came to a screeching halt as she looked at him. He had closed the door behind him, and was now leaning against it. He was looking in her direction, though his eyes were far away. He wasn't quite looking at her.
She took the opportunity to study him. The more she looked at him, the more she could see it, and the more the truth came crashing down around her. She tried to stop it, but reality was far more potent than her feeble attempts to keep it at bay. She could see the lines of his face; they were familiar. Sharpened with age and stress, but they were there. The gentle crook of his nose had not changed at all, and when he did not have that smirk on his lips she could almost see that kind and gentle smile he always used to carry. The colour of his hair was the same, just now longer and unruly. Not dirty, just mostly neglected. She could see where he had hacked it off in parts, most likely for practical reasons. His father had liked to keep it quite short…at least, much shorter than this. Maybe it was an act of rebellion.
His eyes though…they had changed drastically. The colour was the same, if not a shade darker. But that only came with age. He was twenty years old now. But there was a look in them that was far more ancient than those two decades. They were sinister and cold, a far cry from the compassionate and hopeful Takeru she had once known. The Takeru she had come to love. She noticed, though, that even this was guise for something else. There was something that ran deeper; something that went into the depths of his soul. Something that told her that her best friend was deep in there somewhere. Not dead, as he'd informed her, but perhaps sleeping. She would later realise what a deep slumber it was.
The silence dragged on, the seconds ticking by in painful lurches. There was no clock to measure the time that passed, and yet somehow she could still count it. Suddenly his eyes returned to the present, locking with hers. Hikari felt her pulse quickening and her body freezing up. She wanted to curl into a ball there on her mat on the floor, much like she had felt the first time their eyes had met in such a way. But, just like that first time, she could not tear her eyes from him.
"Takeru…" she whispered, after a few more moments lulled passed.
His eyes flashed dangerously. She silently wondered when he had last been called by that name.
"Takeru is dead." He said again, though his tone lacked the finality that it had the first time. In this moment she didn't believe him.
"No, he's standing in front of me." She wasn't going to let him go so easily. Not when she had finally found him.
He had averted his gaze, pursing his lips as he seemed to ponder something. Deliberating whether or not to leave, she was sure.
Finally he moved, though he did not go to open the door. Instead, Captain Scar made his way back towards the window. It would be easier to talk if his back was to her.
Her crimson eyes followed him as he walked. He still moved the same, she noticed. He still carried with him the grace of the nobleman that he once was, just with the added cautious stance that a pirate had. As he walked Hikari noted for the first time that he did not speak with the same drawl as the rest of them; his speech was more refined. The pieces were in place, now. There was no doubt about it. Just that feeling in her heart that told her she didn't want this to be true.
"I don't understand." She said, her voice still soft. It wasn't working properly in such conditions.
The Captain paused, then heaved with a sigh. "And you don't need to."
This made her angry. "Oh? So you're telling me that I've come all this way for nothing? That I've risked my life countless times in order to find you? Twice in two days is pretty good, you know. Usually it's more." She was getting braver now. The ire was making her vocal chords work better.
Though she couldn't see it, Takeru closed his eyes. He hadn't wanted things to be like this. She wasn't supposed to follow. She was supposed to grow up and become the beautiful woman he knew she would be. She was supposed to be happy.
"Why didn't you contact us?"
As he turned she could see the annoyance on his face. "I was with a band of deadly pirates, Hikari. The situation isn't exactly conducive to contacting your father, who happens to want each of said pirates dead."
A thrill shot through her as he said her name. "But you're the captain, now. You can do anything." And, judging by the amount of respect he got, it wasn't a new position for him, either.
He had to keep from rolling his eyes. "If my father would not pay the meagre ransom to spare his son's life, do you think he would have spared him if he knew what had really become of him? Somehow I think he would prefer me dead."
"That's not true."
"You know it is."
She had no response to that. Truth be told, he was right. But that still didn't satisfy her.
"And what about me? Didn't you think that I would want to know?"
Takeru looked at her, his own heart fluttering within his chest. He had thought about it more than once. There had been days where it had been almost too much for him to handle. In the beginning, at least, when they'd spared him and then given him his freedom. Freedom on the ship, of course; once bound to the crew, that was it. But he couldn't do that to her. He couldn't put her in that kind of danger. And besides, by the time he had been in a position to contact her at all, he had feared that it was too late. They had been fifteen, the age where many a girl got married. Hikari had a fortune behind her, and she was beautiful. No young man in his right mind would let her live alone for long.
That is, of course, unless her tyrant of an older brother was still as overbearing as he always was. Takeru almost smirked at the thought; Taichi very well may be the reason why Hikari was here now and not married off to some old sop. But the thought of rejection…or even simply hearing that she was married and was going to start a family…it had stayed his hand. The knowledge that she was with another would have been too much for him to bear.
"I thought you'd have found a man of your own. No sense in me being around." A feeble excuse, but it was all he had. And he didn't want to delve into the details.
"Well, obviously I haven't. I…" her words trailed off, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink. Given the fading light from the setting sun, Takeru wasn't sure if it was a genuine blush or just a trick of the light. Maybe he didn't want to know.
Instead, she gritted her teeth. "Not that it seems to have mattered to you. You've got more than enough women to satisfy your…desires. Being so famous, and all."
He didn't know what she was talking about, this 'it' that she had referred to. But he somehow knew that she wasn't going to tell him, and that asking about it would make her angrier than she was already.
"Comes with the job description, I'm afraid. But…" he trailed off, not sure how honest he wanted to be. It had been a while since he'd been Takeru; Captain Scar was easier now, and getting more so as the days went on. This was Hikari, though. "It's mostly just show. I can't bring myself, no matter how much I've done, to throw myself around like that." He'd slipped up, of course. He was only human. But for some reason, being with this woman, this woman with whom he was undoubtedly in love, he didn't want to admit it. In fact, he was rather ashamed of himself for it. It probably didn't help that he was stretching the truth a little; those few times he had slipped up had been more lately than before. He had simply accepted the fact that Takeru was gone, and had almost completely embraced Captain Scar in this manner. He had done so in every other way; why not go for it all? What was sleeping around compared to killing people?
There was something about her, though, something that made him regret even that, if only a little.
Hikari was silent, not sure what she should say. She realised that her love for him had not died, and above all, she had realised that this love had not been fabricated. It was not a mere construction of her mind to compensate for the loss she had suffered. No, it was true and genuine love. And, she feared, this love was unrequited. Captain Scar would have no room in his heart to tie himself down to one woman. And she doubted that even Takeru would have such room for her.
"How is your shoulder?" He finally asked, unwilling to delve into the topic any further, but desperate to break the thick silence.
"Sore." She responded curtly.
"You should rest up for a few days, then. We'll be at sea for a bit. We don't have anywhere to be, for the moment, though that will change soon."
Hikari nodded.
Takeru shifted on the spot, uncertain of what should be done next. This wasn't exactly an easy thing to be dealing with. In being a pirate, one did not have to deal with such emotions. The pirate way was to kill or to run; never to truly face things head on. It was simple and effective. But he couldn't kill Hikari, and something told him that running now would damage things that would turn into something irreparable. And, as much as he knew he should stay away, he didn't want her out of his life.
"How is it possible? How are you Captain Scar? I thought…I thought he was the one that took you." The subject was hard for her to bring up, for a number of reasons. It was painful to remember that day, especially when their reunion had not gone as she'd really hoped for. In truth Hikari hadn't been totally certain of the kind of thing she had expected, but it certainly wasn't this. She also didn't want to seem a lunatic; how could Captain Scar have taken Takeru if Takeru was Captain Scar?
"He was."
Hikari didn't say anything, merely watched him expectantly.
"Captain Scar is immortal." He began, a rueful smile appearing across his face. His eyes had wandered again, and only now returned to the girl's face. "At least, the name is. The name has been around for decades. I am the fourth Captain Scar to grace the seas."
"But…the scar…"
"This one?" He pulled up his right sleeve, revealing more of the thing. It was rather grotesque, and Hikari imagined that it had been a brutal attack. "Not a product of battle. At least, not this one. The original Scar, perhaps. The rest are simply due to…initiation rites. If you take the name, you also take the scar."
Hikari's eyes widened with horror at the thought. He had gotten that thing willingly?
He had understood her silent question, apparently, and shrugged. "S'not so bad. The Doc's pretty good at helping it along. And his brother helps out a bit too, seeing as he knows what it's like."
Hikari then put something together. "The Cook…"
Takeru nodded. "The third Captain Scar. The second was his uncle, and the first his grandfather. Or something like that. I'm the first one not in the family, but he said he couldn't think of anyone better to take the name. No one else was brave enough to endure the rite, at any rate." He made it sound so simple.
"How long have you been…captain?"
"Just passed the two-year mark. On my eighteenth birthday the title was given to me."
April twenty-third. It was the beginning of June, now.
More silence fell. The shadows in the room were growing long; an indication that the sun was preparing itself to dip below the horizon.
"I should tend to the crew. They'll be wondering what's going on if I don't."
Hikari nodded.
As he moved again, more deliberately this time, once more she watched him. He was easier to watch now, and since finding out his true identity, Hikari knew she could not now truly be afraid of him. Yes he could kill with a flick of his sword, but he wouldn't kill her.
"What's going to happen to me?" she asked, suddenly unsure of herself.
Takeru paused as he reached the door, though he didn't turn to her. "You need to heal up, before anything. But once you've bound yourself to this crew, you're here until you die." And with that, Takeru disappeared on the other side of the wooden door.
Falling back onto her mat, Hikari wasn't sure why, but she was almost happy. He wasn't going to deposit her in some strange town. He wasn't even going to try to bring her home. She suspected that it was just due to the pirate code; if he sent her away surely others in the crew would get ideas. But she would take that, if it was all she could get.
Sleep took her more easily than it had in a very long time, and she was left with a feeling of hope, no matter how small it may have been.
~*~
Calmer of the Storm: I hope some of that made sense. I was trying to give an explanation as to why Takeru is so OOC. He's been living on a pirate ship for ten years, after his father abandoned him. And the pirate life is rather seductive, from what I understand (because we all know that I have personal experience with pirates -_-) so that's why. Takeru's in there somewhere, it'll just be a bit before he comes out. If he even comes out at all? Hehe. I don't know. The poor guy's just confused at the moment xD
Let me know what you think!