A stinging pain caused Kiku to wake from his dreamless sleep and twitch as the wounds on his back were in contact of a harsh liquid. When a low, unintended hiss escaped from his lips, a voice spoke up behind him, waking him up fully.
"Sorry there your Highness." A young and polite British accent apologized. Kiku turned his head around (not without some pain from the light wounds his neck and face received earlier) and saw a young teenage man, dressed like the other crew members, with long blonde hair and olive eyes, sit behind him and tended his wounds, "But Captain Kirkland ordered me to treat your wounds. And after this you'll be working with the rest of the crew."
"A-ari-arigato…" Kiku managed to rasp out then hissed when cold water came in contact with his back and that moment he realized his upper body was exposed with the kimono taken off and just hung by his waist. And finally, his limbs were free from the chains and shackles.
The younger man continued to clean his wounds while Kiku observed him; he was gentle with his hands and the older didn't bother to move as so the other could do the job properly.
Hands gripped on the chains while Kiku gritted his teeth trying to hold his hisses and sounds of complaint while the blonde finally tried to get into the deep parts of the wound. Thankfully, he asked Kiku to raise his arms as rolled a white bandage around his body to completely cover his wounds, "There we go. Now change into these clothes and come up to the deck. The rest of the crew's working. We're headed off to an island which is also a trading location between other pirates and merchants." The lad helped him to stand up while Kiku was also assisted by the wall for balance.
"My name is Daniel by the way." He handed over the clothes in which the prince bowed in thanks and took them.
Daniel went up and Kiku started to change into unfamiliar clothing. It was a long sleeve blouse with pants and a belt along with a pair of boots. He carefully took off his kimono, hoping no one would see him; then put on the clothes given to him. After he had worn them, he felt a bit stuffy; these clothes are so different from the ones he wore, and much tighter than his kimono.
He dismissed his thoughts and went up, to see that almost everyone of the crew busying themselves with cleaning and other chores. Then he turned to look for Daniel, who was helping in scrubbing the floors by the poles with Altair.
"Oh, you finally came out!" Daniel waved as Kiku walked over and bowed.
"Thank you again." The Japanese replied with his usual gesture of bowing.
The younger smiled and pulled him over, "You better get started in cleaning, Captain isn't someone who likes his boat dirty."
"Nor patient." Altair added, "Oh yeah, sorry for man-handlin' ya yesterda'. Gotta do me job."
Kiku bowed again with a gentle smile, "It is alright."
Altair nodded, happy that he was forgiven by the prisoner. Then his eyes suddenly changed into a soft expression as he looked at the smaller man kneeling down on the floor to do his first chore as part of the crew, "Ya got pretty beat up e'lier, huh?"
Daniel seconded the motion with a nod and went on to scrubbing the floors, "Maybe scrubbing floors isn't good for you. Anyway, we're almost done with the floor. I think Captain can understand you can't move that much."
"But I am part of the crew, yes? I should do something as part of it."
"His first mate ain't that bad as him. Probably e's tha opposite of that bloke." Altair shrugged as he stretched his muscles and looked at his work, "Okay, this part's finished."
"First mate?" Kiku asked, not quite getting a clear description on the title.
"That's the Captain's right hand; like the assistant captain, but much lower in ranking and maybe even nicer than the captain." Daniel explained, looking up to higher part of the ship, "In our case, that's the guy whom you fought with, Alasdair. He's actually cousins with the Captain."
Kiku followed his gaze and saw Alasdair grinning happily, leaning on the huge wooden stirring wheel while speaking to Arthur, who was bending over to a table, checking the maps and his compass. He himself was replying to Alasdair, smirking a bit as he spoke up too. Both were too far for Kiku to hear, but he did take note that both of them were probably close; and that Arthur actually looked a bit nice. A BIT nice.
"Ya blokes sure tha Sonnet's spick an' span?" Alasdair asked out loud, his accent making the words a bit hard to understand for Kiku. Yet the others seem to hear it fine and replied with huge smiles and a simultaneous "Aye."
Kiku looked at Daniel, "What did he mean by 'Sonnet'?"
Before Daniel could speak up, another crew member answered for him, "That's the ship yer standing in, princey, 'Lord William's Sonnet'."
"Aye. Cap'n Arthur's pride and joy; tha bloke fought ev'ry ship and won with 'er." Another one added.
Altair placed down the cleaning materials and stretched, "She's a lot older than the capt'n; used to be one of tha ships tha royal family uses." Then before Kiku could comment, one of the members that stayed high up in the nets by the sail shouted, "Incoming ship!"
At once, the crew members rushed to their stations and Kiku stood there idly, not knowing what to do. An incoming ship? Are they going to raid it like what they did to their ship? He looked up to the crew member who shouted and saw him looking through a telescope.
"French ship, cap'n!" he reported after inspecting the ship from afar.
Arthur took his own telescope and looked into it; his other hand rose up telling Alasdair to not move the wheel as he inspected the ship himself. True enough he saw a French flag with sails of different colors. He would have suspected it as another ordinary French ship but when he saw two more flags beside the large French one, he sighed and folded his telescope then rubbed his temples, "Fifth time we crossed paths with that frog."
"Should we welcome 'em?" Alasdair chuckled, resting his body on the wheel, "'e's probably 'appy tae see ya, aye?"
"It's not only the frog. He brought his friends along."
"Guess we go' more company lately. Tea time per'aps?"
Arthur ignored his cousin and walked down the stairs then looked at Kiku blankly. The Japanese felt his heart pound faster as his eyes met with the captain's green ones. Then the staring session was interrupted when another ship appeared just beside theirs, tearing Arthur's eyes away from him and grimacing even more at the presence of the ship.
"Mon cher!" a voice familiar to Kiku called out. He knew he had heard that voice before; and it probably came from a certain Frenchman who visited their country a while back.
"Frog." Arthur answered back, tilting his hat a bit as a small greeting.
A tall blue-eyed man with long blonde hair stood in the other ship, with two other men beside him, "Arthur, bonjour! What a coincidence we bumped into each other." The man bowed a bit with a wink and waved.
"Awesome ta see ya again, Artie." The tall albino grinned cockily at Arthur, his arms folded. A small canary perched on his head and snuggled in his white hair, making it look like a white nest.
"Hmph. I feel the opposite way, frog, canary-man."
"Hey, it's awesomecanary-man, British punk. Or you can awesomely call the awesome me by my awesome name instead, it's Gilbert or Gil." The albino man shot.
The blonde one grinned wider, "Glad to see you socializing more with Arthur, Gibert."
"Of course. Francis, you should awesomely realize I'm awesomely spreading my awesomeness to every one to everybody can awesomely experience my awesome awesomeness." Gilbert boasted.
But Arthur wasn't focused nor was he interested in the two men nor did he had any care when his language was being butchered slowly with Gilbert describing everything with the word "awesome". Kiku observed he was stari- no, glaring at the other man beside Francis (in which Kiku finally remembered who he was). He was tan with dark brown hair and green eyes which glared back at him. And the two foreign pirates noticed the tension between them and joined the others in looking at both of them, waiting for something to happen.
"Nice to see you again, Anthony." Arthur smirked darkly.
The other pirate frowned, "My name sounds terrible in your language, Arturo." A ringing realization was brought to the crew as they realized he was Spanish by his accent.
"We share the same opinion."
"How's the queen anyway, punk?"
"None of your business, catholic."
"If you know me, I take that as a compliment." The Spaniard grinned, "And it's "Antonio' not 'Anthony'."
"The same thing with me, Anthony. Hope your Armada's good; I'm glad to kick it ass again." Arthur chuckled.
Antonio grimaced and growled, "You sick son of a bi-"
"Antonio, calm down." Francis shushed his friend and faced Arthur who was grinning wider this time, "It would be nice if you'd stop the topic, mon cher."
"Aye, topic? You mean the time when I sunk 'Armada Victoria?" Arthur snickered.
And with that, Antonio drew his sword and stepped up to the edge while grabbing a rope from their own ship's sail then jumped into the Sonnet. Kiku hid behind a pole and watched them. These were pirates he was looking at. Western pirates. The kami knows what they do with each other. Most probably one of them is fighting.
"Antonio!" Francis shouted while Gilbert leaned with a huge smile on his face and cheered, "Go Toni!"
The Spaniard was to slash Arthur when the other drew his sword quickly and blocked it, "Why the sudden temper?" the Brit cooed mockingly.
Antonio only grimaced and began striking him again.
The two began fighting as the crew of the two ships started cheering. Arthur grinned as Antonio continued to attack him for the reason that he easily provoked the poor bloke's soul.
Antonio was about to deliver a good blow when he was pulled away in the shoulder by Francis, "That is enough, mon cher." It took about a minute for Antonio to arrange his thoughts and sheathed his sword and walked out from the ship and into theirs.
Francis sighed and glared at Arthur, "And you, mon cher, I believe you should stop doing that to Antonio if you don't want the royal court of England to know who you are."
"As if the royal court would listen to you, another pirate like me. A French one specifically." The Brit snorted.
"Privateer, darling; a sailor serving my own country's government and unlike you, a pirate whom your own monarchy tries to get rid of." He hissed then his eyes were caught by Kiku, who was standing by the posts, "Hm, aren't you a familiar face?" he stood up straight and looked at him.
Kiku planned to hide behind the wooden pole but was stopped by the French pirate's laughing, "Oh don't tell me, Arthur, you just kidnapped the prince of Japan?" he watched as the tall man walked towards him, holding his arms out.
"F-F-Francis-san." Kiku stuttered, slightly bowing then was surprised when he was hugged. He knew Westerners were like this, but he did not expect that the French representative who visited their country was the one who would hug him now. His eyes immediately turned to Arthur while being in the long blonde's arms. Arthur was walking towards them, clearly not amused.
"Aye, raided the boat and took him. The other details are none of your business, frog." He pulled Francis away and shoved him almost down to the floor, "No touching him also."
"My, my mon cher, you have taken a liking towards that piece of fine Eastern treasure?" He cooed, "Mind telling me the details?"
"As I've just told you, frog, no." Arthur glared at him, standing protectively in front of Kiku, "Now get off my ship or I'll get you off myself."
Francis shrugged casually and walked pass him and over to Kiku, "Fine then, mon cher." He leaned over to his ear and chuckled, "Even with his temper and attitude, he's such a charming and attractive pirate, non?" he whispered, "But I warn you, mon cher, mermaids are quite the man-stealers."
"W-wha-" a blush lightly painted on Kiku's face as he heard the words and gulped. Then he shook his head and willed away the sudden anxiousness caused by the Frenchman who walked away, still chuckling to himself. Why would he even think that that blasted pirate was attractive? Sure enough he had some looks, but why would he think that he was charming? Just because he had those shining emerald eyes, nice but messy blonde hair, beautiful pale lips and that mesmerizing smile of his and his walk that he- wait, why was he thinking like that to someone who just whipped and chained him to the wall while raiding and leaving nothing for his people to use in going back to Japan? And what the hell with mermaids?
The prince shook his head even more, dismissing his thoughts as he realized he was blushing even more. No, he must feel no infatuation to someone he must muster anger to. He cannot; it was just the opposite of what he should feel. He must not have soft feelings no matter ho-
"What did he tell you?" Arthur's accented voice rang in Kiku's ears and head. Kiku gulped and willed the sudden weird feeling in his stomach and willed the blush creeping on his face away but to no avail. No, he should not feel anything like that to that person; he did not deserve it.
But those opinions were dismissed when his eyes were locked with Arthur's emerald eyes who were staring right into him. Kiku could hear his heart pound in his ears as they looked at each other for what seemed to be hours until Arthur spoke up again.
"Well?" he questioned, confused at the look of the Japanese man. And there Kiku realized that the other pirates had sailed away from his ship; and that the captain was standing close to him, a little bit too close.
"A-a-I..." Kiku gulped and mentally slapped himself for stuttering.
Arthur waited patiently for Kiku to answer properly. He knew the French frog must have said something to Kiku, he was just not sure about what it was. Nevertheless, he still said something useful; he knew it. And deep down inside, he was irritated by the fact that Francis had made him stutter and blush. Now that he thought about it, he knew the frog before? Is it possible that Kiku likes that French wanker?
He shook his head, dismissing those thoughts. No, it wasn't important right now. He needed to know what Francis told Kiku.
"M-mermaids." Kiku finally answered.
"What about mermaids?" Arthur asked further.
The prince shrugged the unfading blush still on his cheeks as he looked away, "I do not know. I c-couldn't hear the other words he said."
"Fine. It's probably his very horrid accent." Arthur nodded and walked over, "Mermaids?" he thought even more, his mind abandoning Kiku for a while.
Kiku sighed in relief and leaned on the mast. That was so close, it was so close that they could kis- kill each other. Yeah, that's the word. Then he slapped his own face, scolding himself for not responding the way he must respond to his captor. This was a disgrace to his country, family and honor. He must take away his life if he would just live in dishonor to his country and tradition. Yes, that is what he should d-
"Ya men free tha sails and prepa' fo' wind! We're headed fo' Island Cove Bay." Alasdair announced, steering the wheel a bit and distracting Kiku from his thoughts. Arthur was with him, standing beside him, looking a bit less serious, "We'll be visiting some old friends there."
At once, Kiku immediately stepped aside for the pirates who had pulled the ropes and freed the sails. He watched them as they shouted at each other and made sure everything was how it should be. Then his gaze was averted to Arthur who was walking down the stairs and standing on the other side of the ship, looking through his telescope.
He summoned up the courage and walked over to him, "Where are we headed?" then a sudden urge came up to him and he continued with a "Captain?" He felt that he should at least recognize him as the captain, or else he would end up in the dungeon again if he didn't.
Arthur's face lit up a bit as a small smirk appeared on it; the way Kiku said it was just adorable and amusing, "Island Cove Bay. Figured it out since the frog said something about mermaids, we must be crossing the mermaids' territory." He explained, leaning on the wood and looking at Kiku, "Glad to hear you finally know my position here."
Kiku tried to compose of himself as he felt his heart pound again. Arthur was giving him the look again; and it was hard to break away from it.
"So your full name's Kiku Honda?" Arthur started again, motioning for him to stand beside him as he faced the waters and the horizon. The prince stepped beside him in obedience but stood straight and firmly, not feeling the urge to lean on the wood, unlike the pirate.
"H-hai." He answered the last question, a bit confused, "How did you know?"
The pirate lifted a brow, "The frog told me before he left." He left out the fact that Francis also said that Kiku was cute; he did not want the prince to fall for that Frenchie, not at all.
"Oh." Kiku swallowed and scolded himself again for not listening earlier. Then another question popped into his head, "What is a mermaid?"
Arthur shrugged, remembering that Kiku was from Japan, the Eastern nation that wasn't that experienced in the Western world (but probably heard some news about it since he knew the Dutch was in good terms with them), "Mermaids are female creatures of the sea. The carving you see in front of the ship? That's what they look like. They can be deadly but it's usually covered by their beautiful appearance and their voice." He explained, his mind drifting off in his thoughts, "Very beautiful indeed."
Did those creatures even exist? From what he knows there are mythical creatures, animals that act and think like people, or a hybrid of both, such as the "mermaid" Arthur was talking about. He wasn't sure if these pirates actually saw these things, or maybe hallucinating from sailing too much.
Then a sudden feeling sparked inside Kiku, a bit of confusion and hatred mixed with each other when he noticed how the pirate spoke of those mermaids so dreamingly. Was he jealous? No, he can't be. He must not feel any jealousy, not at all. So what if he likes somethi- er, someone else? Like he cares anyway. He did not feel any jealousy. Not at all…
"I see you are deeply interested in them." He managed to say, realizing the silence between them. A small smile was forced on his face, just to make sure that Arthur wouldn't notice that he was struggling inside his mind. But it seems that the pirate didn't notice anything at all, in fact, he was suddenly snapped out from his thoughts.
Arthur blinked several times and sighed, "Oh, I guess so. It's not everyday you encounter them. They are very pleasing and great singers too." Then he turned his head away from Kiku, "I'll be checking the maps. We need to get there before sundown." His stern voice explained as he walked away.
Kiku watched him walk away, his chest feeling a bit tighter than usual. After awhile he blamed the wounds he had; it probably affected some of his insides.
"Tol' ya e'd be better later on, yar Highness." Alasdair came from behind and stood in Arthur's place beside Kiku.
"You can just call me 'Kiku'." The prince looked down on the water that passed as the boat moved through it. "I guess so."
"Still, 'e was a bit nice' t' ya than tha othe's. Tha' probably how 'e handles royalty like ya." He commented, scratching his head then noticed the younger man's silence, feeling that he must be thinking about the destination they're going to, "Gotta be ca'ful 'bout Artie wi' mermaids. Still tae young tae realize the' ain't tha' good fo' us men." Then he smirked, "Gotta look afte' tha younge' ones."
With the word "younger", Kiku perked his head up, "How old is Captain Arthur-san?"
Alasdair disregarded the unusual suffix and shrugged, "21 yea's ol'."
"H-he's two years y-younger than me?"
BK123: Hi guys, thanks for reviewing and subscribing to this story and yeah... I'm really sorry if it's crappy, my hiatus in writing fan fics is really going bad, and I tell you, I think this isn't worth reading ;A; anyways, this was inspired by Pirates of the Carribean with some other pirate info sources :3
I'm still apologizing for Alasdair's accent, I have no idea on the rules of how Scottish people pronounce their words. ;A; Review for next chapter, if you want.