It's been awhile since I updated. I'm sorry. But have you guys ever heard of Dengeki Daisy? I'm in love with that and Kaichou wa Maid-Sama! and Faster Than a Kiss, so I would suggest them to any of you!

Disclaimer: I do not own Shugo Chara!

Chapter Three

Mama never taught me how to love;
Daddy never taught me how to feel.

Amu had fought with Ikuto for half the night over the sleeping arrangements. Though he hadn't budged on his position of sharing the bed with her, she had tried to sneak into the thick chair many times, only to be caught against him each time. She'd turned to him in the circle of his arms, gold eyes flashing with anger.

"If you think to make me sleep in the same bed as you, I would prefer for you to sleep on that side while I am on this one." She put the palm of her hand in his face before he could say anything. "And your arguments are both unnecessary and unheeded, for your information."

When she spoke to him like that, he wondered if she would use those fierce little fingernails to claw at him if he were to kiss her. Something about her fuming at him was...sexy. He wanted to just pull her closer and see if he could steal her second kiss as well as her first.

But he'd let her have her wish, watched her as she fell into a fitful sleep just inches away from him. He wanted to reach out and bring her to his chest, but he knew that she would only fight if he were to do that.

Soon, he too was floating into a dreamland he was unused to.

The moment he awoke, however, he was aware that she had disappeared from his bed. An angry growl rose from his throat immediately, his eyes flying open to search the room. Of course, he didn't find her there. Instead, he had to go through the process of searching his entire ship to find out that at some point she had sneaked into the barracks, choosing to sleep there instead.

And that was where he was at now, staring furiously down at a pink-haired princess that was obviously in the middle of a good dream. She had the sweetest smile on her face, was clutching at the sheets with her long, thin fingers as if she didn't want to let go of whatever was there. Lips parted slightly, she would let out tiny little sounds—almost like she was talking to someone—that made him want to groan in response.

But he couldn't help wanting to take that sweet smile from her as jealousy warred within him. Whoever she dreamed about was the luckiest son of a bitch, in Ikuto's mind, and he wasn't about to let that go. He wanted her to dream of him, just as he had her for nearly seven years. He wanted to be the thing on her mind. If she was dreaming about her prince, so help him, Ikuto would rip little Tadase to shreds before she could blink.

Scooping her up in his arms, he ignored her mumbled protest as she started to wake up. As his men walked past the scene, they snickered, murmuring that the girl was definitely in for some serious punishment. He didn't bother to acknowledge them, except for when Utau came stomping up to him.

"Ikuto, do you know the kind of trouble we're in because you took her? She's a damn princess. We could all be hanged over this!" she shouted, trying to keep up with his long strides. It wasn't as if he didn't notice the gleam of jealousy flashing in the depths of her purple eyes, but it wasn't as if he cared, either. She could think all she wanted, but the chances of them getting caught were pretty low. The Monster of the Seas was careful of when and where they ported, and the water was enough to hide them.

"Who is...you! Put me down, put me down!" Amu shrieked, awoken no doubt by Utau's shouting. She squirmed frantically until he finally set her on her feet, taking firm hold of her upper arm. "Let go of me! It is not proper for me to be staying in your rooms! Do you know what that would do to my reputation? I am supposed to marry someone else!"

Yanking the fighting girl closer to his side as he reached his cabin's door, he sliced a blue glare towards his sister, snarling, "I don't care. Make sure no one interrupts me."

With that, he threw Amu into the room and slammed in behind her, sure to lock the door. He stood with his arms crossed over his chest, furious at the combination of waking up without her curled up to him—he had dreamed of that moment—and seeing her so happy about someone else. She stood, glaring at him in return as her breath came out in harsh bursts.

"I am not something that you can just...just...throw around!" she hissed, practically foaming at the mouth. She looked like she was ready to lunge at him, using whatever necessary to get past him.

He hoped that she would come at him. God, if he got her into his arms, hissing and spitting, he didn't know if she'd have any reputation left if she was ever released from his care.

Which she wouldn't be.

Ever.

He's a wolf in disguise,
But I can't stop staring in those evil eyes.

She refused to admit that she was afraid of him, of what he was capable of. She would show him she wasn't the type of damsel to be in distress. Maybe she had to be on this ship, but that didn't mean she was going to let him do with her as he pleased. Even if she lost in the end—something she was not going to let happen—she wouldn't do it without a fight. And his rude, primitive way of carting her around was definitely getting old very, very fast!

Anger flooded through her as he just continued to watch her with that dark look on his face, as if he had a reason to be indignant! She was the one that had been kidnapped, not him! He hadn't been forcibly taken from a place of comfort and brought to live on a pirate's ship for an undetermined amount of time!

Something within her, some long hidden instinct, warned her to stay away. It whispered comfortingly in her ear, telling her what to do.

To run at him, to hit him with her fists, would be futile. She would do nothing more than stoke the rage already pouring from him. To try to get past him would only result in him picking her up again, something she was hoping to avoid. The last thing she wanted was to antagonize him into an act they wouldn't be able to take back.

But she wanted to hurt him. If he wanted to be upset with her, she wanted to give him a damn good reason for it. She wanted him to know that she didn't care.

Without hesitation, she grabbed the heaviest thing within her reach—a beautiful gold goblet that sat on the small table on the opposite side of the room from the bed—and swung it towards him, pointing it at him threateningly. "It was not in the deal that I would be subject to your whims and fancies! Last night, you stole my first kiss and then you expected me to share your bed! You told me that you would not force me into anything. You promised. And, now, I believe our deal is broken." She remembered watching her father deal with men of other kingdoms that had broken the promises set in treaties and laws. Mimicking her memories, she stood up straighter, lifted her chin, and spoke directly into Ikuto's eyes, "I believe that means our deal is a moot point. Release me."

Shock passed over his features for the briefest of moments, quickly replaced by a smirk of mocking rather than acquiescence. "You're out of your mind, Princess, if you think that I would ever really let you go under such flimsy circumstances." He took a step closer to her, the smirk widening when she took a frightened step backwards. "You're frightened of me?" he asked pleasantly just before another dark expression passed over the features of his face. "You should be. I have every intention of keeping you here."

Both furious and fearful at his words, Amu did the only thing she could think to. She threw the goblet at him, putting all the strength she could muster into the attack. She watched with a certain amount of satisfaction as it hit the door directly behind where his head had been, just before he'd ducked.

The feeling was fleeting when she saw the fire that leaped into his eyes.

With a small shriek, she narrowly avoided being caught by his sweeping arms, dodging by jumping to the bed and standing on it, as far from the sides as she could be. "Do not put your hands on me again! I forbid it!" she shouted, wishing, for once, that she was in her room in her parents' castle, guards standing just outside of the door. No one on this ship was on her side, none of them would come to her rescue.

Chuckling arrogantly, he moved to the side of the bed. "You forbid me? Yeah, we'll see where that gets you." He made another swipe for her, only to get his hand kicked away. Annoyance played across his features, his mouth set in a hard line. "Amu, if you don't get down from there, so help me God, we won't leave this bed for days."

She stopped at that, staring at him with wide, frozen eyes. There was no way a captain of a ship could simply stay in his cabin for days, was there? Surely he had to be a part of the ship's maintenance or whatever it was that ships needed on a daily basis. Was this a threat he could really go through with? Or was this just something to scare her?

Believing it was the latter, amber eyes narrowed as she hissed, "As if you could actually do that!"

Before she knew what was happening, he'd grabbed her ankle and yanked her to the bed, quickly straddling her hips and pinning her hands above her heads. Only then did she realize the scene they must make. Both flushed with anger, half-dressed, seeing as she was still in her torn dress and he was in only his trousers. Anyone that might come in would jump to bold conclusions, she was sure, and that frightened her worse than anything else Ikuto could do to her.

Struggling against his hold, she pleaded, "Get off of me! Please! This is not something I want!" She clenched her eyes closed, hoping that if he was going to do it, he would do it fast. She didn't know if she could take the shame that came along with it.

For whatever reason, she could feel that he wasn't moving closer to her. She didn't dare look up at him to make sure, but his weight didn't shift, just kept her easily held down without so much as a flex. It was silent other than her squirming against the bed covers for several moments.

Finally he spoke.

"Jesus Christ," he breathed, "I'm not trying to rape you, damnit! You need to hear what I have to say, whether you like it or not!"

She was shocked, to say the very least. She had never heard of someone—namely a pirate—simply not taking what they wanted. It was strange that he would be the one to do so. Her eyes nervously opened, watching the emotions crossing his face without saying a word.

He was honest, she could see. He wasn't leaning down to take her mouth—as he had the night before—but he still hadn't moved off of her. Rather, he just lifted most of his weight off her.

"If you'd stop throwing things at me for a moment," he said snidely, his lip curling in a snarl, "maybe I could tell you why it was a horrible idea for you to try to spend the night in the barracks with a bunch of pirate men, hmm?" Amu's eyes widened at the way he spoke to her, as if she were a spoiled brat that needed to be taught proper manners. But with their position and his mood, she didn't dare interrupt him. "While I gave you a deal, they did not. And since you have no real standing on this ship like my sister does—seeing as she practically runs the damned thing—they probably wouldn't think twice about doing things you wouldn't enjoy.

"Now, from here on out, you will be staying in here, in my bed, with me, because that's the way this works. If you want to wander around during the day when we're all up and about, you go right on ahead." Ikuto stood, keeping his sapphire eyes locked on her as he continued speaking. "You will wear clothes that Utau or I provide for you, however, seeing as that dress is no longer...let's say 'proper', for lack of a better term. You will eat the food that we give you—all of it—to prevent scurvy and the like. Understood?" Crossing his arms over his chest, he waited impatiently for her to answer.

She blinked at all the new information, slowly sitting up on the bed. She really hadn't thought about how the other men would treat her. Ikuto seemed like the real threat, not his men. But she supposed that she would probably be taken better care of under the captain's watch than his men's. She should have thought about that before sneaking out, she guessed, but that didn't mean that he had the right to carry her around like luggage!

"I am...sorry for not thinking about the...consequences of what I was doing. But!" she added at his astonished look, pointing a stiff finger in his face. "But that does not excuse the fact that you were incredibly rude when you simply ripped me from my comfortable bed to throw me around up here! I think you owe me an apology!"

He merely blinked at her for a moment, as if he had never thought that she had it in her to tell him off so easily. She hadn't stumbled over what to say or anything like that. Instead, she was holding her ground, easily keeping herself from shaking and stammering by imagining how he would try to argue with her. Surely, there was nothing that he could fight with, since she'd apologized and demanded one for herself. She wanted to know what he would do.

Taking her completely off guard, the blue-haired pirate leaned forward, his eyes holding hers as he took her accusatory finger into his mouth. The golden orbs that haunted him grew bigger, her lips parting in disbelief at what he was doing.

But something flared inside her, somewhere that she'd never really paid much attention to. Though she didn't know what she was feeling, she could feel the heat rise to her cheeks, but not in the same way it did when she was embarrassed. And the way his eyes flashed at her...it wasn't helping the situation. Her toes curled against the wood floor, the cool seeping into her feet as she watched the changes coming over his face.

Obviously, she was doing the same because that feline predator was coming out in his eyes. He watched her as he pulled away—so excruciatingly slowly—as if he were reacting to her every move, maneuvering any way that he could to get her backed into a corner. And she wasn't sure if she was frightened or excited. The what ifs of the situation weighed on her.

What if he took another kiss from her?

What if he gently pushed her back to her back, following her down?

What if he just got up, pulled on his shirt with a muffled curse, and stomped out the door?

Well, she got to learn all about the last one. Because that's exactly what he did then, only he threw her an almost...reluctant glance, as if he were being forced to walk away.

The sound of the door quietly closing behind him was more echoing than any slam could have been.

Ain't no shame in a blue collar forty,
Little house, little kids, little small town story.
If you don't ever do anything else for me,
Just do this for me, brother.
Come on home, boy.

"Ikuto?"

He tried not to sigh at Utau's questioning younger-sister tone. Slowly, she was starting to fade away from her dependence on him—he had his first mate to thank for that—but it didn't stop the fact that she was still so over-protective of him that she would probably catch a blade for him.

But he supposed that she had a reason to be wary of him at this point. More and more, he was finding himself at his wits' end. He was biting her head off left and right and that wasn't fair to her. She was just being herself, yet he was getting increasingly stressed over...well, everything.

Father, he thought to himself, forgive me for being rude to Utau. And taking the detour with Amu. I promise, I will get our honor back, even if it kills me. He gently twisted the chain on which the key hung, keeping his eyes focused on the sea.

Knowing better than to give his sister the opportunity to tackle him, he stayed in the same position. "Utau, have you brought Amu clothes to wear? Proper ones, I mean," he added, remembering the garments she'd given the princess after the overboard incident. He could barely stifle a shudder at the image of Amu actually wearing those things. God, he was going to hell for thinking what he was. After how she'd reacted to his teasing, he knew that he was in trouble. How much longer could he keep away from her?

Standing a little straighter, Utau shook out her blonde pigtails, not even trying to hide her disgust towards the younger girl. "I left them outside the door, captain." Good, her backbone had returned. That was a good sign. "I hope they're good enough for her, though, seeing as you've taken one of the most powerful princesses in the world. But, no, no," she said, waving off worries sarcastically, "we're only to be hanged, so whatever she wants, right?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that hers were narrowed, purple glittering with anger. She was plotting, he knew, and he was going to have to keep her away from Amu when they got closer to their next port. Otherwise...he might lose his pinkette.

And when he'd just caught her.

Throwing a dark glare over his shoulder, knowing it would cower some of the meanest convicts, he replied in a low, threatening voice, "I don't require your assistance, sister. I know what I'm doing."

There was a short pause after he turned back.

Then came a soft, barely audible sob. Still, he didn't look at her as he felt her arms wrapping around him from behind. "I'm sorry, Ikuto," she breathed into his back. "I just...I've been watching you destroy yourself over the lock and key. Everything...I don't want you to end up killing yourself over it."

He took a deep breath to speak softly, but she interrupted him quickly. "We can go back to Mother. If we go there, no one will ever find us. Father...made his choices and he's hunted because of it. Please don't do that to yourself," she added on a cry, squeezing him tighter.

Ikuto rubbed where her hands met on his stomach gently, answering sadly, "You know I can't do that, Utau. I need to fix this. I need to bring Father home."

Dampness met his back through the thin shirt he'd hastily thrown on to get away from Amu's temptation. The thought of the pinkette made him want to go back to his room and drag her under the covers.

But his sister made a good point. Someday, all his luck and reputation would run out. Then he would be stuck up a creek without a paddle. Did he really want to risk everyone on the ship that he had come to know? Would he ask them to give up their lives for something that might never happen?

Still, he didn't say a word to his sister as she disengaged herself from him. Nor did he move when Kuukai yelled for him. Everything was falling apart now that he had done the unthinkable. Now, he was going to have to do some fancy footwork to bring them all out alive and get what he wanted.

Everything he wanted.

The songs are, respectively:

How Do You Love Someone by Ashley Tisdale
Monster by Lady Gaga
Homeboy by Eric Church

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Thank you to all my loyal readers; next chapter is going to have a couple shout-outs!