Chapter Three
No Tabi Ni Ikou! [3]
"But we said we'd take the Sword and harness its power for different purposes. To free ourselves - to free the Caribbean - from pirates and corrupt politicians and all sorts of ne'er-do-wells,"
- Jack Sparrow - The Pirates of the Caribbean JACK SPARROW: The Sword of Cortes
"Hey!" They turned to see a boy with blond hair and friendly brown eyes.
"Erm," Ritsu said intelligently.
"Hi there!" he said cheerfully. "My name's Mitskuni!"
"Hello," Haruhi said, feeling that a twelve year old boy couldn't pose much of a threat to them. "I'm Haruhi. This is Ritsu and Tamaki."
"Are you pirates?" he asked curiously, directing his inquiry at Ritsu and Haruhi, seeing as Tamaki looked too much like a nobleman.
"Yeah," Ritsu said casually. "What about you?"
"Merchant sailors," a new voice said from behind them.
They spun around, each reaching for their respective weapons.
A tall man with a nice tan and expressionless face stood watching them carefully, spiky black hair waving slightly in the breeze as he rested a hand on one of his three swords. His black eyes examined them carefully, finally resting on Mitskuni. The small boy beamed at him.
"Hey there Takashi!" he said. "Where've you been?"
"Water," he said, holding up a string of canteens all tied together, moisture dripping off of them.
He untied three and tossed them to the pirate crew.
"Thank you," Haruhi said gratefully. Ritsu nodded his thanks as Tamaki cheered, praising Takashi with thank yous. The silent man nodded in acknowledgement.
"How'd you get on this island?" Ritsu asked, after he satisfied his thirst.
"We were caught in a storm," Mitskuni said, obviously the more talkative of the pair. "Our ship, the Burokun no Tabi (Broken Journey), went down. We think we're the only survivors." He seemed to dim at this. They shared a moment of silence for the lost sea travelers.
"What about you?" Takashi asked.
"We're docked here for water." Haruhi said. Tamaki wisely decided to stay out of the conversation.
"You mean you have a ship?" Mitskuni asked, tipping his head to the side. "Can you take us to port?" Haruhi and Tamaki looked to their captain.
"Why not?" he asked, a gleam in his eye. Haruhi felt this was familar. It was the same look he had when he recruited her for his crew.
"Thanks!" the small blond said said happily.
"So, what's on this island?" Tamaki asked curiously.
"Don't know." the dark haired man said, peering through the tree line.
"You haven't explored this wonderful piece of nature!" Tamaki cried, leaping around the clearing as he spun in ecstatic circles. Everyone stared at him. "It's such a wonderful place filled with all sorts of dangerous, man-eating creatures and poisonus plants and a large run-down palace of epic porportions!"
"Dangerous, man-eating animals?" Ritsu asked, raising an eyebrow. "Please, the only animal I've seen is a harmless litte bird."
"And where do you see a palace?" Haruhi asked shrewdly.
"There!" Tamaki said, pointing a long finger towards a gap in the tree line.
He spoke the truth.
The palace, from what they could see, was rather run down, parts of it crubling under the hot sun. It was a dusty brown, fitting in with the little village around it. Silence blanketed it, the village oddly quiet.
"What in the world is that doing there?" Haruhi asked squinting at it.
"It was probably an island kingdom!" Tamaki cried, jumping in place excitedly. The only female present reached out and smacked him with a slender hand.
"Be quiet," she said shortly, making her way down the slope carefully.
"Where're you going?" Tamaki cried, shaking his head rapidly from side-to-side, watching their ne companions follow his captain and the former barmaid to the palace.
"We're gonna go check the place out," Ritsu said, never turning around. Tamaki yelped and ran after them, tripping on a vine and tumbling into Haruhi. He knocked her to the ground, making her roll down the hill and out of sight.
There was a shriek and a crack.
"Ahhhhh!" her voice came.
"HARUHI!" they cried.
"I'm alright!" she called up, rubbing her arm from where she fell on it. She looked up at them from the drop.
The brunette had rolled off a rotting wall almost completely covered in vines and jungle growth. Tamaki reached the side and looked over at her tearfully.
"I'm so sorry Harhui!" he wailed. The ground beneath him fell away. He screamed and dropped on top of the brunette,. his gold covered head smacking against her own.
"What's wrong with you?" she snapped, shoving him off her legs. "You shouldn't stand on something you know's unsafe!"
"Idiot," Ristu said, walking over to them.
"How did you get down here?" Tamaki cried, staring at the steep wall.
"We took the steps!" Mitskuni said cheerfully. The boy rode on Takashi's shoulders.
"Are we ready to head into the palace or what?" Haruhi asked. She stood up and brushed herself off.
"Lead the way." Ritsu said, moving forward.
Takashi stepped first, leading the parade of sailors into the crumbling city.
Ten minutes later, they wished they never stepped foot in the village.
Skeletons littered the streets, small and large, they covered the walkway. They all paled, stepping carefully so not as to disturb the dead.
"What happened here?" Haruhi asked, subconciously moving closer to her crewmates.
"Freaky," Ritsu said uncomfortably, stepping over a feminine skull. "Whatever went on here was not natural."
"No sickness or battle." Takashi commented, glancing at the walls of the houses.
"If it were a plague, it would have taken time to cause this much death. The healthy would have buried the dead instead of just leaving them in the streets." Ritsu said with a frown.
"There wasn't a battle," Mitskuni said grimly, looking much older than a twelve year old. Haruhi wondered how old he truly was. "If there was there would be blood stains and the houses would be damaged."
"It's like they all just dropped dead." Tamaki whimpered, glancing around uneasily.
"Maybe we'll find some answers there." the red headed pirate said, pointing at the ruined palace.
A/N:
- MinusOne - thanks for the review!
Next Chapter: Our crew heads into the mysterious palace where they find an illusive woman waiting for them. Will they find out what happened to the village, or even get off the island alive?