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Yumichika left right after the incident through the back door. He didn't say much, besides telling both of the two not to work themselves too hard and giving Ikkaku a thank you.

A day of slightly easier work followed once Yumichika had left. Doing something nice for the man seemed to make Ikkaku tops in the old lady's book, and although he wasn't sure why, he wasn't going to complain about it.

"I'll see you tomorrow, watch out for my troublemaker."

"That sounds like a real pain in the ass, is that why you didn't make me work too hard today?" Ikkaku joked as he walked out. The main road was a quick walk through the alley, then only a ten minute stroll to his temporary home. He loved how the streets were empty nearly when the sun began to fall, making his trip easy.

"Get that bastard!" The familiar gravely voice from before barked. From around the corner Yumichika jetted out and dashed toward Ikkaku, although he wasn't much paying attention to where he was going. He hadn't even saw his friend yet.

"Yumichika, what the hell-"

The man ran into Ikkaku before he could finish.

"Dammit. Ikkaku, get up. They aren't going to be happy with you after the fiasco at Granny's shop," Yumichika jumped up effortlessly and pulled Ikkaku up with him, starting to run,

"Yumichika?" Ikkaku asked as he started to run. The gorilla came out from behind the alleyway where his prey was running from. A mob of his friends followed close behind.

"Long story. We have to lose these guys!"

"Lose them?"

"Unless you want to fight them with me," Yumichika teased and ran into a thin alley, jerking Ikkaku's arm so he would follow.

The idea was almost appealing if they weren't in such a bad place for fight back. Maybe in a more open area he would've called Yumichika's bluff and actually went through with it, but at the time it was a suicide attempt. "Fuck no!" Ikkaku replied and kept up with his friend as best as he could. "These guys don't know where your place is yet, do they?"

"Nah, I've been stringing them along all day. They've got not the slightest notion."

"Idiot, you're going to get yourself killed."

Before the thugs chasing them even reached the alleyway Yumichika had chosen, he found a thinner path yet that Ikkaku could only just make himself fit. Once they'd gotten inside, the beautiful man smiled as he put his index finger to his lips in a silent effort to ask his friend to be quiet. They inched their way through as they heard the thundering footsteps of the mob run by, and ended up on the main street they'd been on before taking the first alley.

"I think it's about time to go home, huh?" Yumichika asked rhetorically.

"Are you trying to get me killed?"

"Of course not," he answered. "If that's what I wanted I would've killed you in your sleep already."

"Very funny," Ikkaku grumbled.

"I'm serious, if I had wanted to kill you, you'd no longer be alive," Yumichika insisted. "But I have something interesting to say about the person who I was being chased by."

"What's that? And please, keep anything weird that may mentally scar me out of the conversation."

"He's a pirate. Those thugs chasing us were his rag-tag crew," Yumichika said with a smile. "I wonder why all pirates seem so brutish. They say the ocean is relaxing and beautiful, but those who live on it drink like there's no tomorrow, fuck everything with a pulse and are some of the most violent people I've ever met – fetish freaks, too."

Ikkaku blushed. "I said keep that shit to yourself!"

Yumichika in turn laughed. "I couldn't help it, your reactions are priceless."

"Tch. Where are we going, anyways?"

"Well, permitting we stay out of sight from those brutes, we'll be heading home."

Ikkaku thought the idea was good. He only hoped not to run into the brutes again.

"Oh, I just had a thought!"

"I'm sure that's new for you, but you shouldn't announce it so loudly."

Yumichika smiled, ignoring the poor com back. "Are you too tired to do anything?"

Ikkaku raised an eyebrow. He wasn't sure where this was going, but it wasn't positive. "Meaning what by anything?"

"Fun."

Ikkaku wondered what exactly the other man's idea of fun was before he dared to say anything.

When he didn't answer, Yumichika tugged on his arm and lead them to the docks. "You need a boat, don't you?"

"You're insane."

"Let's take that gorilla's boat!"

"Let's?"

Yumichika nodded. "I know a little cove, not too far from here. We'll take it there and he'll be none the wiser, it'll be hidden and you can leave. You don't like it here anyways, right?"

That was just the opposite of how it really was. "What makes you say that?"

"You said so before, just come on. It's kind of big but it's nicer than something you could buy with a lousy amount of money from working for Granny," the man urged and tugged on Ikkaku's arm.

"I really don't feel like fighting guards," was Ikkaku's lame excuse. Of course he wanted to fight, now that he wasn't running. But at the same time, he didn't want to leave so soon.

"I'll handle it."

And with that, he started climbing the ladder onto the boat, and Ikkaku was pretty sure it was too late to turn around. He reluctantly grabbed the rope ladder and started climbing.

"I 'hought you'd be here!" The gorilla was on the deck.

Yumichika pulled his friend up and frowned. "This is an ugly situation."

"I'd say so."

"Let's push them off deck."

"You're crazy! What the hell is wrong with you?"

His friend pouted and glanced at the brutish crew. "I think we can take them, you have your sword and I have some twin knives."

"You..." Ikkaku shook his head. "You're fucking insane!"

"Hey, what're you two lookin' at each other and talkin' like that for?" The obvious captain of the ship asked in his raspy gravely voice, more than likely caused from drinking and smoking for years without knowing any restraint.

Ikkaku glared at him. He was tired from a long day of search and running around after the beauty, but Ikkaku had a lot of his day interspersed with breaks and Yumichika hadn't broken a sweat, either. The crew was tired as well as enraged. They probably could win this fight.

"You know this is still fucking crazy," Ikkaku said, drawing his blade.

"If you say so, Ikkaku," Yumichika said with a wide smile, letting his knives fall into his hands from his sleeves as if he were putting on a show.

"What? You're honestly gonna try to fight my crew?" The man was laughing hysterically. "There's no way two little guppies could possibly-"

"You know, I think it's strange," Yumichika interrupted, not much caring to hear the rest of the others taunt. "You're very big, yet you hide behind a mob of skinny, underfed ruffians that couldn't hold their own against a common merchant."

"What'd you say?" The gorilla asked, face going red with both embarrassment and rage.

"Only that you are obviously a coward. You don't have anything what so ever going for you, you're ugly," the brute's face was red and you could almost see the veins popping out of his forehead. "You have no taste in anything, you live on a filthy ship, and maybe the most important of all, you're weak."

Both captain and crew were riled up and angry. Ikkaku noticed that it was all deliberate, Yumichika was making his enemies so mad they could hardly see straight to make an easier job of cutting them down.

"You're," Ikkaku shook his head. "You're still bat shit crazy, but at least you're kinda smart."

"Why thank you, I'm guessing I should take such a thing as a complement," Yumichika answered and got ready for the crew to launch at them. "How about it, I take right, you take left?"

"Who takes the big guy?" Ikkaku asked grinning. He was anxious to cut open as many as he could now. Having reservations against fighting just wasn't his thing, he'd stay whether or not he got the ship.

"You, if you want him. I don't want to get my hands dirty fighting such an unrefined brute."

"Fine. You take whoever I leave over from getting to that bastard."

"Whatever works," Yumichika replied with a shrug.

The crew let out their battle cries and charged.

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Are pirates deaf? I only ask because the ocean is supposed to make subtle white noise that relaxes people... Pirates are violent thieves. I'm missing part of the equation, maybe? Great, homework. I'm out of school and I'm giving myself work.