Out of the Blue
5th July 2008
Series: The Seer
Summary: Unexpected practice targets, more riling of Watanuki, Shizuka and Jason actually seem to understand each other, Shizuka realises there is more going on magically than meets the eye, and discovers a new side to his Master which he'd never expected.
Warnings: I don't know if you'll notice it so I won't say a thing. It will be clearer in later chapters anyway… if you remember. snicker Love to Anyjen and curiousrobin for the alpha and beta reading! So, this marks the end of the Cursed Chest arc. New arc coming soon, let me just finish writing it!

Author Notes and Thanks:

lexxie - Welcome to the readership. Yes, Jason is a complex character but don't worry, he wil be explained.
0928soubi at docomo.ne.jp - Thank you for reviewing chapters as you went. It's great to hear precisely what you like so I know what I'm doing right.
Turtlekid and Golden Rat - Yes, AUs are tricky. To get people to be the same because they are who they are, and yet different because they're now orchestrated by a new writer. Thanks for liking this.
mrawgirl09 - I don't know what you don't get so I can't explain.
katiesquilts - Action coming, just give it time for these two to get to know each other. Shizuka, as you can tell, is already interested but I haven't even explained that yet. I will soon and then there will be answers about Watanuki on that as well.
TenshiGosperu - yes, bonding is happening. I promise to weave them closer and closer through each arc as I go.
Lonewolfe001 - no, being blood bound is a magical term. I'll explain that soon. Mostly, you will see things that result of them having the blood-binding before you get an explanation, but you will understand soon, I promise.
Rysha and Affie - thank you for your support and I'm glad to hear things are going okay, and I offer my sympathies where they are not. Thanks for keeping in touch.
Thank you also to: JellyD, GoddesOfWrath, Paon, Azamiko

"How long is it to Africa, anyway?" Watanuki snapped irritably.

"Well, twelve days is the usual count," Jason drawled then added in a hinting tone, "but if you ever feel the need to hurry things along..."

Watanuki flashed his cousin an irritated look then turned toward the door of his cabin, eyes meeting Shizuka's briefly.

Oh.

Did that mean he would get to see his Master use some power? As incredibly eager as he was to witness the spectacle, Shizuka couldn't bring himself to move forward as Watanuki had tacitly indicated he should. He really wanted to start the morning right.

Thankfully it took only moment, Watanuki pausing to glare over a shoulder at him, "Do you require an engraved invitation to escort me from my own damn cabin out onto the deck of my own damn boat?!"

Lips twitching in amusement, he followed, noticing Jason's much too gleeful grin as he went. They exchanged conspiratorial nods; nothing like sharp words to clear the sleep fog from one's head in the morning, they could agree on that much.

They parted as they exited the cabin, Jason going to warn the main mast-attending crew that Watanuki might be assisting the ship. Shizuka followed Watanuki toward the helm, the crewmen they passed calling morning greetings and they both nodded in reply as they went.

Suddenly from high above at the top of the ship's secondary mast there came a urgent bellow, "Pirates!"

"Pirates!" the crew began to shout, calling to arms. Shizuka pulled Watanuki to one side and out of the way, saw Jason run for the ship's wheel yelling orders as he went.

"Should be fun, they don't seem to recognise us," Sorata grinned, stepping up beside the two. He nodded to the two in greeting then yelled at the preparing men, "All soldiers at the ready! First cast line up! Second cast, prepare!"

Sorata's troop of specially trained men grouped themselves in two rows of arching lines, twelve in all. At Sorata's command, they clasped their hands together and formed the first seal, at the ready. They stood strong, braced to defend the ship from magical attacks.

The rest of the normal crew fell into Jason's jurisdiction and they ran to attend their duties, some braced to steer the ship or attend the booms, others readying the harpoons and other mounted weapons.

"I don't want to waste time with these idiots," Watanuki shouted over the clamour to Jason, who was already braced on one side of the wheel. "I could fill the sails and we'd just get out of here and be done with it. They would never be able to catch us."

"And run from a fight?" Jason yelled the question out, partially to answer his cousin but too loudly to be addressing only his cousin.

Sure enough the men crowed back, "Never!"

Watanuki huffed and turned away from his cousin to march down to the ship's port side to watch the approaching pirate ship. His robes billowed in the wind, brightly coloured as usual and he stood out like a beacon, a bright spot of colour against an otherwise drab morning; Shizuka didn't like it. And sure enough, a single and very normal arrow came whistling through the air. But Watanuki raised a hand and curled before his chest in a hand seal,

"Blaze."

The arrow, many metres away, dissolved into ashes.

Flame would have sufficed, it wasn't necessary to resort to Blaze right away. But then again, the flash of fire had been a bit showier, made more of statement. Though it seemed the pirates were not deterred in the slightest and this time there was a small volley of arrows, perhaps a dozen of them.

They disappeared the same way.

The pirate ship was closer now, enough that Shizuka could hear the Captain and the Arms-man bellowing orders at their men.

Idiots.

He moved closer to stand next to Watanuki, not wanting to risk anything this time around. Extending his senses, he searched the ship for magical presences. Three stood out. Weak ones. He snorted.

"How many?" his Master softly asked.

He replied, "Three."

"You seem amused," Watanuki glanced over at him.

"They're not even half of that fool who cast at you that night we met."

Nodding, the young noble tucked his hands into the sleeves of his robe. "Then can I leave them to you?"

As Shizuka formed the hand-seals, the words slipped past his lips before he could stop them, "Too much for you?"

Those pretty blue eyes flashed up at him and Shizuka noticed Watanuki's hands clenched despite being hidden in his sleeves. "I am not a weakling unable to handle myself," he hissed, colour rising in his cheeks. "In fact, I don't need you! I can handle them myself."

"But I'm already prepared," Shizuka murmured.

Watanuki's startled gaze dropped to his glowing hands, stepping back a half-pace when the monk raised them toward the water. As Shizuka willed it, a serpent formed itself from the water, dripping and menacing, a horrible golem. The crew of The Dancing Dragon gasped in awe as it flexed, and the pirate ship crew... well, the screams were telling enough.

"It's beautiful." So softly did Watanuki whisper it, Shizuka would have been certain he'd imagined it. But he dared a quick glance, and the light of awe in his Master's face said it all.

The pirates began to load their weapons and Shizuka prepared to move the serpent as necessary, stretching out into a full-body stance. As the pirate archers launched their arrows, he gestured and posed and thrust, making the serpent's long and sinuous form arch and bend to be where he needed it, the arrows disappearing into its body when the idiotic attackers fired.

The cannons would be another story.

Shizuka tensed when he heard the sounds of the cannons being rolled, cried out a warning when the hull-ports were flung open to push the chambers out in preparation to fire. He angled the serpent into the cannonballs' trajectory, right where the projectiles would have to pass through it. He knew the water wouldn't stop them but perhaps slow them down enough they wouldn't damage the ship too badly and--

"Ice," Watanuki murmured, distracting Shizuka enough for the monk to notice his hands were being covered by Watanuki's own.

The young Lord leaned forward and reached diagonally across the monk to lay his own hands flat on Shizuka's. Where they touched, a sharp cold radiated along Shizuka's skin and into his bones, and a new glow began to shimmer on Watanuki's hands, joining his own until the light shone brighter together in a new shade of blue Shizuka thought seemed rather familiar. The crackling distracted him from pinning the thought down and Shizuka turned his head to look, his serpent turning less transparent as it wrapped itself around the ship, body slowly forming into ice as it did. Its long body barred the cannon port holes now, Watanuki taking control from him a little to do it. Refocusing, the monk sensed what Watanuki was doing and poured his effort into it as well.

Strangely, it came easier to him to bond magic with Watanuki than it had ever been in the past with others, united in a single purpose and goal, without thought for who was better or could control the golem more efficiently.

The cannon fire did nothing to the serpent, and if the screams were any indication, the pirates' ammunition had bounced back upon them.

The summoned golem wrapped itself over and over the ship, crunched through one of the minor masts and the side railings until finally Shizuka sensed Watanuki felt they had done enough. He accepted the decision and the serpent began to slow down until it no longer moved, poised where he and Watanuki had left it, nothing now but normal ice.

Already the wind carried The Dancing Dragon, the distance between the two vessels widening. The pirates had ceased to be a threat and, laden down by the weight of the ice until it thawed, they would not be going anywhere. They would know better next time than to attack The Dancing Dragon.

Shizuka remained by Watanuki's side, their hands falling, separating. But they remained near to each other as they watched the ship they'd left behind grow smaller in the distance. Mere moments had passed, the wind almost unnaturally strong as it carried their ship quickly away.

Watanuki was probably the reason.

And it was that blue, Shizuka realised, from the glow of their combined magic that perfectly matched his master's eyes.

"How did you get it to turn to ice?" Jason demanded when they turned away from the sight finally ready to face the waiting crew. "That was bloody awesome! I've never seen the like!"

Shizuka wanted answers to similar questions, as well.

Watanuki crossly returned, "You've hardly seen any kind of magic, what would you know?"

A sly light lit up in Jason's eyes and he smiled wickedly, "Well I do happen to know you deprived the crew of a much anticipated battle."

Watanuki protested, "But the ship--"

"Would have been right as rain even had you not done a thing," Jason grinned, "You owe us."

"Owe!" one man cheered, looking far too gleeful.

"Owe!" echoed another. And so forth until the resounding chant of three dozen men had Watanuki flushed and exclaiming,

"Alright, alright!" His shoulders slumped in defeat, "I concede."

The answering triumphant cheer did not make any sense to Shizuka. He glanced at Sorata, who merely grinned widely back. He looked back over at his Master.

Who protested weakly, "But I don't have supplies--"

"We just came from a port," said one man.

"We bought the supplies," explained another.

"There's enough to make all sorts of things!" some one else put in. There were more cheers, some of the crew even stomping their feet in delight.

Watanuki sputtered, "Now how did you--" He cut himself off, a resigned expression coming over his face and sighed. "Never mind."

"Scones!" someone demanded.

"You sissy!" someone shouted back, outraged. More than a few men laughed.

"Cookies!" suggested another.

"Pie!" retorted someone else in a gruff tone. Immediately an argument ensued and the noise was defeaning.

Watanuki turned to fire Jason an accusing glare, "This is all your fault."

Jason didn't seem fazed. He grinned delightedly, shrugged and said in a sing-song voice, "We've been overdue for a while…"

"It's no excuse!" Watanuki hissed. "I am not the ship's cook!" He waved his arms in annoyed agitation, "What was the point of hiring a cook if I still have to do the cooking!"

Shizuka paused. Oh.

"You don't do the cooking, Kim," Jason reasoned, his stupid grin still splitting his face in half. "Just a few treats every now and then."

The monk supposed that if the crew were cheering as they had earlier and arguing now as they were, that perhaps his Master was indeed quite good at cooking. It would be something to look forward to, at any rate.

"You sorry lot better be damn grateful I bother at all with you..." Watanuki grumbled as he turned on his toe and stalked back toward his cabin. With a roll of his eyes he shot over his shoulder, "Let me know once they've battled it out." Following, Shizuka caught him mutter, "Or with any luck, there'll be a fight to the death and I'll only have to feed the last one standing."

Shizuka smiled a little to himself. His Master could be quite funny when he wasn't trying.

And a God in the kitchen.

Shizuka stared at his serving, fork poised before his lips. Slowly, he resumed chewing.

Oh... that was good. But... surely... surely the pie couldn't be that good...? He took another bite.

Again, the sweet crust flaked effortlessly away, the thick sauce of the fruit pie melted by only the heat of his tongue and the flavour seemed to explode in his mouth, tangy with spices and mellowed by a touch of liquor.

It really was that good.

He took another bite.

And another.

"Food is meant to be savoured, you cretin," Watanuki growled as he passed, finished with dishing out the last platter to the end of the enormous mess hall table. The young noble primly tucked himself into the bench seat beside the monk. Shizuka ignored him, and ignored the ruckus of the crew around him as they all but attacked the delicious pie. "Honestly," the Lord grumbled. "They all eat like they've been starved for days."

"But that's because your Lordship's cooking is so delicious," assured one crew member nearby. His surrounding companions agreed through their mouthfuls, making Watanuki cringe at the bad table manners.

Shizuka was tempted to join them just to prod a rise. He elbowed his Master instead. "Oi."

The young noble tensed. "I have a name, you water-weilding freak of nature."

He held out his plate; the serving platter was to Watanuki's other side, closer to the young Lord than to him. "I'd like seconds."

"You eat too fast!" Watanuki accused. But he took the plate anyway and carefully served the monk another slice.

"It's good," Shizuka commented, more to himself than anything else. The second slice tasted, if possible, better than the first.

"Of course it's good," came the indignant hiss from beside him. "I made it! I know how to make pie!" Watanuki huffed, folded his arms and churlishly muttered, "I bet you don't know how to make pie."

"Not as good as this," the monk conceded, more interested in his food than in arguing his skills. "Aren't you having any?"

"No." Watanuki shrugged. "I made it, it's no big deal."

"More for me, then." He ignored the glare that earned him, the thought preoccupied with a new idea, "Do you make traditional food?"

Watanuki's eyes narrowed at him, "What do you mean, traditional?"

"Japanese food. Like home."

"Of course I make Japanese food!" He waved an arm spastically at the others around them, "Half the crew is Japanese, you oblivious dolt. They like food from home." For a moment, his face darkened, guilt flashing so quickly over his face that Shizuka might not have caught it had he not been watching.

"Can you make inarizushi tomorrow?" he asked.

For a moment, Watanuki blinked at him in complete surprise. In the next moment, he had to be thankful for being right handed, continuing to eat and waiting out the storm his question raised, as he reached to plug his ear with his left.

TBC