~A~

It's been a few days since Rory agreed to stay on the ship with us for a while. She and guys who poke fun at her have come to an agreement. Their game has been modified to be more suited to her liking, so she's not so annoyed anymore. She still gets plenty fired up though, so its still fun to watch. I've even joined in a few times.

In fact, I'm playing right now. "You're too slow!" I stuck my tongue out at her.

She growled and tried to hit with a wooden staff. I dodged even though it would go right through me. See, one of the rules is if she touches us with anything, we're out for the day. It's kind of like a game of tag, only Rory will always be 'it'.

"Get back here, you flame-head!" Rory shouted.

"Gotta catch me, pipsqueak!" I gibed. I ran before she could even blink. I could hear that she was after me in a flash. I gotta say, since she's been on this ship she's gotten faster. Not quite fast enough to keep up with me though. I lost her pretty easily.

I chuckled and looked around to make sure the coast was clear before I relaxed and leaned against the railings outside.

"Having fun?" Marco asked.

"Yeah! You should try it." I said.

"Nah, she's got enough people getting under her skin." Marco replied.

"Suit yourself." I shrugged. Then I spotted Rory round a corner to come this way and I ducked behind a stack of barrels.

"I saw you Ace!" Rory said.

I peeked out and saw her standing ten feet away with her arms crossed. "...What, you're not gonna try to catch me over here?" I asked.

"Uh, no." she said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"...Why?" I asked suspiciously.

"Because those are gunpowder barrels." Rory replied. By that moment, the old man had decided to come out and sit in his favorite seat on the deck.

"So?"

"I don't trust that a fire man is so close to that much gunpowder."

"Well it's not like I'm gonna set it off..." I said. I scratched my neck.

"I don't know, fire is pretty dangerous." She looked at me slyly.

I narrowed my eyes. "Are you saying I can't control it?" I came out from behind the barrels and took two steps closer.

"Well...Yes. I'm not sure your peanut brain can handle it." Rory replied.

I started walking closer. "Why you...!" What's gotten into her?

Then she lightly punched me in the chest when I was close enough. "Tag. You're out."

My shoulders slumped and I blinked. The old man laughed. I see. She was baiting me. And I fell for it. "You clever little..." I poked her in the side and said, "Nice job."

She jerked away and giggled when I poked her. She covered her mouth and I grinned. "Well, look at that, she's ticklish!" I poked her again and she stepped away.

"Q-quit it!" she giggled involuntarily. I took a step closer to close the gap she created and poked her again. "Stop!" she giggled and stepped away again. I stepped closer, poked again, and earned another protest. She started walking backwards quicker and quicker while I just followed, until she turned and ran. "Quit it!" I laughed and ran after her.

I didn't see this part, but the old man and Marco looked at each other and shared an amused smirk.

~R~

"No! Leave me alone!" I squealed. I laughed a little and ran as fast as my legs could carry me. I almost made it to the other end of the ship, but I wasn't fast enough. Ace grabbed my waist and pulled gently, causing me to stop abruptly. I stumbled backwards and he started tickling me when he caught me. I erupted in a fit of laughter.

I tried struggling, but it was a feeble attempt. Ace was too strong. Or maybe the laughing threw me off. Either way, I struggled, and that made us lose our footing. We fell onto a pile of ropes and fishing nets. The landing was soft, but naturally we ended up tangled. We each tugged at the nets, and looked at each other. We laughed.

"Oops." I giggled.

"Its okay." Ace chuckled.

It took a few minutes, but we managed to untangle ourselves.

Ace and I looked at each other and laughed again. Then we heard a crack of thunder and looked up at the sky. Its been cloudy all day, so everyone knew it would rain eventually. "Come on, let's go get something to eat." Ace said.

"Sounds good to me!" I replied. We headed inside. We got ourselves a generous amount of food and then sat with Marco and Thatch. I had settled for a truce the day I decided to stick around a while. We actually get along pretty well, when he's not teasing me.

"So, I heard Rory-chan's ticklish?" Thatch said playfully. He experimentally poked me in the side.

I squeaked and elbowed him. "Safe zone! The dining room is a safe zone! No playing while I'm eating!" I said with my mouth full.

Thatch chuckled. "Alright, alright!" he said.

I took another bite of food and flashed him an 'I'm watching you' look. That only seemed to amuse him.

After that we started chatting and joking around. At some point though, the deserts came out so I was more focused on that. I stopped listening to the conversation when I started eating the apple pie. A whole apple pie. Not just a slice. It looks like the boys had the same idea, but they didn't stop at just one whole pie. They had several.

I smiled. Looks like I won't be winning any eating competitions on this ship.