Here's Chapter 2 to As Red as a Rose. Hope you like it!
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With her head swirling, the princess fianlly came-to again, not knowing when it was that she had been knocked out, or had fallen asleep. She slowly opened her eys, but found that the burlap sack was still covering her face. As she tried to movce, she realized that she couldn't move anything but neck and head. Hearing men's voices surroundding her, she stopped her fidgetting, not knowing what to expect, and yet trying to keep an open mind.
The burlap sack was removed suddenly, blinding Leiko temporarily. She had turned her head slightly, trying to hide away from the light, but due to her hands being tied to the main mast, she could not. There was hooting laughter and cheers coming from all around her, causing her head ache to grow bigger as she felt a slow upwards and downwards motion. She slowly opened her eyes and found that she was on s ship, surrounded by male pirates.
"'ey! She's awake!" one cried, causing more cheering from the men.
"Yeah, she's a pretty un' too!" Another saidm grabbing Leiko by the chin and moving her head side to side to get a good look at her.
She moved her head out of his grasp, glaring coldly at them all. "Don't touch me, you filthy sea rat!" She growled, not able to help herself.
One of the reasons why the royal family pretty much hated Leiko was due to her hot temper. She was found doing things that were not so princess like, such as picking fights with boys, beating other people up that enraged her to the point of doing so, and other things. However, she still managed to stay free from any man's grasp.
"Oooh...fiesty. I like that in a woman..." he grabbed her again and forced her to look at him once again, this time so close that she could smell salt.
Nobody noticed the boot steps that had been heading towards the group of men surrounding their captive. The man watched curiously, watching her reactions, and the reactions of his comrades.
Struggling against her bindings, Leiko wanted nothing more but to get away from here and go back home. Even if she was hated, she knew that they would leave her alone. Not like these men, who wanted more thant o just look at her. Another of the men grabbed her chin roughly. Moving her head roughly out of the way, she quickly bit his hand. A completely sour taste flooded her mouth, causing it to go completely dry. The man cried out in pain and surprise, not expecting that of the princess. She quickly let go, desperate to get that salty taste out of her mouth. The man raised a hand to hit her, causing a look of fear to cross the princess's face. Just as he was about to hit her, another hand grabbed his wrist, stopping him.
Whirling around to see who had dared to stop him, the man soon grew pale. "Boss!"
"have you no manners? That is no way to treat a lady." The boss turned bright emerald green eyes onto the princess. "Right?
She didn't reply, but merely stared back at him, surprised to even see someone like him on the seas. He had long, flaming red hair tied in a low pony tail and a red bandana tied onto the top of his head, although not covering everything. It allowed his bangs to hang out. He didn't wear an eye patch, nor did he appear to have any scars on his arms or face. He wore a torn and weathered white sleeveless shirt with a black un-buttoned vest hanging loosely over it. His pants were black and jagged at the bottom, but covering quite a lot nonetheless. He wore heavy black boots that seemed to be highly resilient to damage. A golden hilted sword hung around his slender waist and clattered as he moved about.
He forced the man's arm down and turned back to the princess. Unsheathing his sword, he cut the ropes in a swift motion, releasing her from her bindings. Stumbling forward at the sudden release, Leiko managed to get her footing and turned around, her nerves on edge in case anything happened.
"Calm yourself, for I am not going to hurt you." The man continued, re-sheathing his golden-hilted sword.
Leiko cast him an uneasy look, one that showed that she mistrusted him, not to mention the other pirates aroudn them.
"Where am I? And, who are you?"
"My name is kurama, and these are my men."
A smirk flashed across Leiko's face, but she said nothing, trying to control herself from laughing at the dirty thought that had just flashed in her mind. Kurama noticed, for his eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
"What is on your mind, princess Leiko?"
She suddenly felt flustered as he said her name. it had a certain ring to it when he said it;different from anyone else. Internally shaking her head, she got back on topic.
"How do you know my name?"
"Answer my question first, if you please. We wouldn't want anything happening to you, now would we?" He replied coldly, unsheathing his sword slightly as he glared at her.
Leiko suddenly smirked. "I thought that you had a certain...relationship, with your men. Do you have a problem with what I think, or do I have to censor that too?"
In an instant Kurama had slapped the insolent princess, knocking her to the ground, holding the left side of her gentle face. Holding the left side with her delicate hand, Leiko looked up at the man who had dared to slap her. She flinched when he grabbed the front of her dress and lifted her to her feet. She looked away so that she wouldn't see the anger and hatred she saw in his eyes as he glared at her.
"You dare insult me on my own ship? You are my hostage, so you8 listen to me. Your life depends on my likeness of you, and so far, it has yet to even start the high climb to the top. you'd better do as I say, or your life is forfeit." he tossed her easily to his gang of pirate men. "Tie her back up. We woudn't want her escaping, now would we?" A smirk appeared on his face. "And if we catch her trying to escape, she may as well pay for it with her body."
A series of hoots and jeering erupted from the crew as they roughly pressed her against the main mast and tied her up once more.
"You're not going to get away with this!" Leiko cried, her anger building up from the pit of her stomach.
Kurama walked up to her and got in her face. "Have I not already? No one has come after us, and it has been 3 days now. I'm afraid no one is looking for you, your higness. You'd better get used to that thought." He pulled a knife out of his boot and pressed its cold blade against her thin neck as he got so close she could have kissed him, not that she wanted to. "Or do you have a problem with that as well?"
Leiko turned her head away, not wanting to see within those luminous green eyes. She felt a strange mixture of anger and sadness as she realized that, since they hated her, no one would come after her. she fought back the tears, not wanting to allow the boss to catch her at her weakest. As the feeling to cry overtook her whole body, she felt her tense muscles weaken. Satisfied with his work, Kurama removed the knife from her throat and walked off, shouting orders to the crew.
Leiko stood, her head hung and her eyes closed, tied to the main mast of the ship. her stomach rumbled quietly, waking the sleeping princess from her restless sleep. lifting her head slightly, her now damp and damaged hair matted to her head and hanging in thick layers, she saw the vast sea espanding ahead of her. Sighing heavily, she hung her head once aagain, not knowing what else to do.
'What am I gunna do now? I know I can escape, but I don't want any of those men to even touch me, let alone have their way with me.... And that man...Kurama... He's up to something. A pirate who knows my name is definitely something to worry about...' Her stomach growled yet again, only this time a little louder. She groaned inwardly, although some of the noise escaped her dry lips. 'Shut up, stomach... They won't feed me...'
"Oi! here's your breakfast!" A man shouted above the crashing of the waves against the wooden ship. He brought over a plate of what appeared to be cooked fish. It was probably salmon, or something.
Leiko looked down at her bindings, then at the plate of food with longing. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kurama leaning agaisnt the railing hear the helm of the ship. She turned her head enough so that he could see her glaring at him before she turned back to glare at the man offering her food.
"I'm not going to eat that filth! Besides, even if I wanted to eat it, I couldn't because your boss tied me here!" Her anger had rekindled and was boiling away the traces of hunger she felt.
The man glared at her, then turned to his boss and shrugged before walking away. The anger soon left, leaving her feeling even hungrier than before.
"Oh... Damn it, shut up! There's no way that I'm..."
"Talking to yourself? You are truly amusing."
Leiko looked up to see Kurama standing in front of her, arms crossed with an emotionless expression on his face. Her eyes narrowed as she turned her head away, although she couldn't help but blush as her stomach growled again, louder still, complaining at the lack of food.
"Augh...how I wish I'd eaten before these creeps kidnapped me..." She murmured, mostly to herself than anyone else.
"Eating before getting on a ship at sea could make anyone not used to the sea feel sick."
Leiko turned back to him, her eyes tired, but alert. "I don't have the patience to deal with you... Go play with your men or something, just leave me alone..." She felt herself drifting off and away from the ship, towards a darkness that seemed more welcoming than anything that was currently happening.
Anger flashed on Kurama's face for a moment, but he pushed it meaninglessly aside. Walking forward, he cupped her chin and lifted her face towards his. Studying it for a few minutes, seeing as how she was barely responding anymore, he snapped his fingers, bringing it to attention to a few of his men.
"Bring me some whiskey."
After a few moments, a large well-built man with bronze skin came forward, bringing the bottle of whiskey with him. Getting a good grip on the whiskey jug, Kurama gently lefted Leiko's chin and poured the whiskey into her dry mouth and down her throat. He soon left her be, and soon enough, within a few moments, Leiko was breathing noticeablt once again. She weakly opened her eyes, but the tiredness had finalyl caught up with her, thus causing her to finally get a good sleep.
A few of the men, seeing her body go limp once again, rushed forward sligtly, fearing for her life as much as theirs. Outstretching his arm, Kurama stopped them.
"No, leave her be. She is merely sleeping." He turned back to his men. "Get back to work. My map tells me that there's an island not too far frmo here. we could dock and have our fill of what it has to offer, then we shall set sail for Nacar Island."
"Yes, sir!"
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And that's the end of Chapter 2! Hope you guys liked it! ^_^ Please read review and tell me how you like it! (Again, I do not own anything!)