I'm alive and I have a computer back at my house again so updates are in your future… maybe, I have a second language class this semester and it's killing my brain sooooo updates are not frequent in your future. Thanks for the reviews and Usui is back as of this chapter.

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Misaki adjusted the black jacket that rested over her white button up for the eighth time in front of the mirror. When she reached up to adjust her hair her mother gave a snort of laughter.

"You're such a girl," her mother cackled gleefully.

"Stop enjoying this and help me," Misaki growled as she brushed invisible dirt off her sleek black pants.

"You look fine; you're only going to qualify for special training," her mother dismissed with a small wave of her hand.

"Only?" Misaki asked incredulously as her mother picked a belt up off the couch and looped it through her pants.

"I wish you didn't end up with such a pretty feminine figure," her mother growled quietly, expertly changing the subject.

Trying to be a guy was hard, they were stronger naturally, their voices were deeper, and they just knew how to be a guy better than she did. Misaki counted herself lucky that Shoichiro, being a feminine boy, was her supposed brother and people were able to brush off the multiple times she had screwed up as just being part of the family. In order to keep up she had to train hard to build muscles boys had naturally and constantly shout at the top of her lungs over the ocean where no one could hear her to make her voice hoarse and thus, deeper. Last year she had been selected to try to become a member of the royal army, it was a great honor and a great way to once again become close to her family; it was also risky.

"Mom, why didn't Shoichiro get the letter? I would rather him go away than Misaki," Ruri complained loudly.

"Did you do your chores?" their mother asked with a serious look at her youngest child. Rather than answer Ruri ran off as fast as her legs would allow. "Is it still illegal to kill your noncompliant children?" Misaki heard her mother mutter quietly under her breath and chose not to respond.

"Shoichiro will be walking with you, make sure he feels like a boy and doesn't get hurt alright?" her mother asked in a slightly louder voice.

"Of course," Misaki responded, wincing slightly when she received a light bop on her head.

"No more of that formal talk, the proper response is 'whatever', 'sure', or 'but mom~', do you understand?"

"Of course."

WHAP!

"Do. You. Understand."

"Whatever."

"Good girl," her mother praised with a grin as she grabbed her upper arm and dragged her out of the room and to her waiting brother outside. "Keep out of trouble, if someone jumps you aim for the gut of between the legs, don't eat berries you find on the road, if you find money on the road spend it immediately so that it can't be traced back to you… did I forget anything?" their mother rattled off giving them a questioning look.

"No ma'am," Mesaki responded.

"I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU DON'T DROP THAT RIGHT NOW,"

"Bye mom," Shoichiro called as he grabbed Misaki's arm and dragged her down the road at a sprinting pace.

After they crossed two city limit signs Shoichiro slowed down to a walk.

"We could have been killed," Shoichiro stated after a few minutes of walking.

"Is that why we ran? No wonder you didn't get the letter of acceptance," Misaki joked lightly.

"I don't want a letter of acceptance, I want Ruri to accept me as her older brother," Shoichiro complained throwing his arms around Misaki's shoulders and letting out a small heartrending wail of agony.

Misaki's eyes narrowed as the path in front of them slimmed into a forest trail surrounded by thick underbrush on both sides.

"Is there another way around?" she asked.

"No, but with your skills and my ability to sprint we should be fine," Shoichiro affirmed with a small nod.

Nothing happened for a few minutes down the trail until the path went from dust to rock and movement became slightly more restricted. Misaki was honestly expecting an attack from either the trees or underbrush so she was more than slightly surprised when a rock fifteen feet from them moved and a man jumped out of the hole it was hiding from eyesight.

"Give us your money and turn back so we won't have to kill you," he stated. Why were lines like that so unoriginal, did all the thieves go to a boarding school where there was a textbook to memorize with lines like that or were they all just that stupid? Letting her knees unlock Misaki fell into a slight crouch and tensed her muscles for an attack. Around her ten men emerged from seemingly nowhere. None of them were very buff or attractive and most of them had scraggly beards and bloodshot eyes, they were however, to her surprise, coordinated with their strike patterns. Misaki was able to beat them with ease but hesitated before walking away from their unconscious forms.

Bending down she lifted the back of one man's shirt and paled at the small jar pouring out skulls instead of water burned into his back. She knew that symbol only instead of a slightly fat older man it had been on a semi attractive blonde male with green eyes.

"Mesaki?" Shoichiro asked quietly. Mesaki jumped as if shocked and yanked her hand away from the offending symbol.

"Did you say something?" she asked quickly as she stood and started putting as much distance between herself and what that symbol represented.

"Ah, I said we should get going…slow down," Shoichiro called as he ran after her and tried to match her long and quick stride.

"Why would we slow down if we need to get going?" Mesaki asked as she kept her pace.

"Because…we don't want you exhausted before you get to the camp," Shoichiro said in a slightly winded tone.

'Why would pirates be this far inland?' Mesaki asked herself silently as she exited the forest clearing and got her answer, the training camp was completely on fire and standing in the middle of the chaos was a blonde haired and green eyed man on a horse.

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