Warnings: the cross-dressing continues & lots and lots of misunderstandings :)

Chapter 17: for

That's how I stole Heero right from under his father's nose and sailed with him into the sunset. Quite literally... But the story doesn't end here of course, although it wouldn't have been a bad ending at all. There was still a treasure to find and a damsel in distress in need of rescuing. So after our course had been set and the Heavyarms was in pursuit of the fleeing Tallgeese, we reconvened in the captain's cabin for dinner and a much-needed discussion of our future plans.

Admittedly, I was a little late for our meeting, having lingered on deck quite a bit longer than necessary. To be honest, I thoroughly enjoyed being on a ship again, with the wild sea wind in my hair and the waves rolling gently beneath my feet. It wasn't quite spring yet, but it almost felt like spring to me. The sea really was the place where I had always felt most at home.

When I finally joined my friends below deck in Trowa's cabin, they all seemed rather too preoccupied to even notice my entrance. Trowa was seated in his plush, high-backed chair behind the large wooden table in the centre of his room, which was cluttered with sea charts, Quatre's books and pens, steaming pots of food, bottles of rum and all manner of odd trinkets—chess pieces, a stringless violin, tattered playing cards, a tin clock, hair pins and a cracked hand mirror. Quatre was perched on the armrest of Trowa's chair, one arm slung over Trowa's shoulders and absentmindedly playing with a lock of his hair. While the two of them were poring over sea charts, Wufei at the other end of the massive table was completely engrossed in a smaller piece of parchment and fiddling about with his nautical instruments.

I noticed that despite my tardiness I had not been the last one to arrive.

"Where is Heero," I asked, scanning the room for his colourful dress and flouncy scarf.

"He should be here any minute," Quatre replied, without even looking up from his maps, still carding his fingers through Trowa's hair. Interesting…

Sure enough, just as Quatre had said "minute," the cabin door swung open once again and in rushed Heero, in his dress but sans the concealing scarf he had worn on deck during our departure.

His face was… red and slightly damp.

"Did you—wash your face?!"

Heero froze. Scowling, he gathered up his skirts and joined the others at the table.

"I-I didn't mean to imply you're dirty, Heero! I just wanted to get back at your horrible father and give him a piece of my mind! The things he had you do! It was barbarous! And—"

Oh, it was no use. Heero was back to ignoring me.

Dinner was a brief and rather sad affair, hastily consumed and definitely found lacking after the delicious meals we had grown used to over the last winter. Afterwards we all heaved a wistful sigh in remembrance of Quatre's cooking. I had the sneaking suspicion Trowa would soon try to pass Quatre's duties on to myself and Wufei and somehow get him to take over the galley instead. He really was a spoiled bastard.

After the table had been cleared, a thoughtful silence settled over the room. Everyone seemed lost in their own private thoughts for a while, smoking or enjoying a drop of rum. Heero had moved towards the small wood panelled windows and was peering through the sooty glass at the black, foaming sea. I wondered about his thoughts and what he might be looking for in the dark waves. The misty shores of Froog's island had disappeared from sight a long while ago. It suddenly struck me that, as difficult and lonely as his life on the island must had been, it still was the only home he had ever known. Even his father, certainly a callous and greedy man (and if it were true what Heero had told us about the unfortunate fate of his mother then also a cruel, heartless villain)—he still had been, well, family. Standing there in the soft glow of the oil lamps and gazing into near perfect darkness, Heero for all his strength and admirably rational and clever mind suddenly seemed quite small and almost… lost.

"You said Zechs abducted my sister," he said after some time of quiet contemplation.

"Possibly, yes. That's what your father claimed," Trowa replied carefully, steepling his fingers. "Do you have any idea why he would do that?"

Heero nodded and turned around. "He might think she can help him locate the treasure."

Well, that was a surprise!

"Zechs knows about the treasure," Quatre asked what we were all thinking.

"Yes. He's been looking for it all along." Heero moved away from the windows and approached the large, intricately crafted wooden globe sitting next to the curtained alcove that concealed the captain's bed. Sweeping his hand over the polished, gleaming surface, Heero continued: "That's why he kept so close to my father, watching his every move, biding his time until my father would finally feel safe enough to go back to the place where he'd buried the gold all those years ago. But then Zechs made a mistake of his own. I… caught his attention and, realizing that there was no love lost between my father and I, Zechs got it into his head that I should become his spy and betray my father. He asked me to somehow get my farther to reveal his secrets or to snoop around the house until I found his maps. Little did he know that I was the map.

"But I knew that I couldn't trust Zechs. My mother had always been concerned about my tattoo and warned me of the greed it might inspire in men. She advised me to be very cautious, to find someone I could confide in, a man who was honourable and… truthful." He cast a furtive glance in my direction.

I froze with my bottle of rum halfway to my mouth and realized with a mix of awe and disbelief that the man Heero was talking about here had been me! I had been the one his mother had envisioned as his saviour, the man Heero had been patiently waiting for! A second later, I was blushing furiously—I'd never been considered suitable son-in-law material by any mother, not even in my dreams, and truth be told, there was a very good reason for that. I had never been particularly faithful… until I met Heero. Unfortunately, Heero didn't know that; he still thought me to be enamoured with his sister.

"Was Zechs one of your father's accomplices," Quatre asked then. "One of the men your father betrayed?"

Heero shook his head. "No. That would be impossible. He's far too young. He's the son of one of them, a man called Peacecraft."

Looking down at the shiny globe again, he asked softly. "What I don't understand is why Zechs would take my sister. Why would my father, who's never had fond feelings for either of his children, offer you such a generous reward to bring her back to him? And why would you agree to help him?"

I heaved a sigh and duck my head. Already dreading what was to be said next, I took a generous swig from my bottle. This whole mess could only get worse now…

"Relena has a tattoo like you," Quatre went on to explain, completely oblivious to my misery. "Hers shows the geographical coordinates of the island where the gold lies buried while yours is the treasure map itself."

Heero's dark blue eyes widened ever so slightly before narrowing. "I didn't know... She never told me. How did you find out about it?"

Well…

Now was the moment for me to explain myself. I straightened and lifted my lips from the rim of the bottle.

"Duo found it," Wufei muttered. Before I could even open my mouth. "Finally decides to make himself useful and then it's by getting naked with some woman—"

"I-I didn't," I exclaimed indignantly. "Heero, that's not what happened! I was completely drunk the first time around and she—she just took me to her room! And— " I scrambled to my feet and turned beseechingly to Heero. But before I could catch a glimpse of his face, he had turned away and was stepping towards the windows again.

Quatre sighed loudly and looked at me with an odd, soft expression in his blue eyes. "Oh, Duo…"

Now, that had gone very well indeed! I was going to strangle Wufei—I swore it on my long lost ship!

"That is why you agreed to help my father," Heero said now, with a sidelong glance at Trowa. "You plan to get the coordinates from Zechs and stop him from looking for the treasure himself?"

"Yes," Trowa replied honestly.

Heero nodded. Then, after a brief pause, he asked quietly: "What happens to my sister when you find him?"

"Well, we don't even know if Zechs really took her with him," Trowa said calmly. "But I can promise you this— we won't let her get harmed, Heero. You have my word. If we play our cards right, we can rescue Relena and then go find the treasure."

At Trowa's words Heero seemed to relax slightly. "I understand. And I will keep you to your word."

To make matters even worse, Quatre had decided that Heero and I were to share a cabin. Since most of the crew believed Heero to be female and my paramour after my little speech on deck that afternoon, it was only reasonable to keep up the pretence for a little while longer, he argued.

"It's safer for Heero and keeps people from asking questions. One less complication to think about." That's what he'd said.

Less complication, indeed. Who did he think he was fooling with this nonsense? Under any other circumstances I would have been more than happy to share a tiny, intimate cabin with Heero, but with all those ridiculous misunderstandings between us our new living arrangements would be more of a nightmare really.

But as Quatre had somehow gained complete control over our captain's wishes and decisions (and I tried very hard not to think about just how he'd achieved that), Quatre's idea miraculously turned into Trowa's final judgement and that was that.

When I slipped into our cabin that night, deliberately late to give Heero enough time to change and avoid further embarrassment, I was relieved to find him not only already dressed in his ridiculous nightshirt but also curled up in bed. Relena's dress had been neatly placed on a hanger (probably found in the knick-knacks of Trowa's cabin) and was now dangling from a nail conveniently driven into a wooden beam next to the small oil lamp that lit the room. At first I assumed Heero was sleeping. His eyes were closed and his breathing was slow and even. But when I quickly shed my own jacket and was just leaning down to take off my boots, I noticed the tense set of his shoulders. Carefully, I drew closer to his face.

Heero's eyelids twitched traitorously.

"Heero… Are you sleeping?"

There was a long pause. Just when I was beginning to think that he wouldn't answer me, he opened his eyes.

"No."

I smiled to myself. "It's not unusual for people to have troubles falling asleep when they've never been on a ship. A proper ship, I mean. It's always moving." Remembering my thoughts from earlier that evening, I added: "Do you miss your home?"

Heero hesitated, but shook his head. "No…"

Then, after another long pause, he said, very quietly: "My mother was… my home. I haven't been home for a long time."

Oh, Heero.

Something in my chest squeezed painfully at this quiet confession. That was rather strange, indeed. I had never been a particular compassionate person. I mean, I was a pirate. And yet… suddenly I wanted nothing more desperately than to comfort him.

I didn't even know how to properly comfort someone, so I just reached out my hand and lightly touched his shoulder, feeling the warmth of his skin through the threadbare fabric of his nightshirt.

At my touch Heero tensed up like a sea clam. Embarrassed, I quickly withdrew my fingers.

I coughed nervously, turned around and in my eagerness to dim the lamp and go hide under my blankets I accidentally doused the flame completely. The room was suddenly pitch dark.

It was only once I lay on my own bed, staring morosely into the darkness, that the strange desire to comfort Heero returned. Just as strongly.

"Heero," I whispered.

He didn't answer but I could hear quiet movements in the darkness.

"If it's true that your mother is alive, then your home is still somewhere out there. You just have to find it, find her. She's probably been looking for you as well. When all this is over, when we've found Relena and the gold, there'll be no more cruel fathers to keep you locked away from the world or pushy suitors making your life difficult. You'll be free to do whatever your heart desires." Which probably also involved getting far away from me, but what did that matter now? Maybe Heero had really believed me to be the kind of man his mother would have approved of, but, I realized with a heart suddenly heavier than lead, even if I somehow explained the mess with Relena… I was neither honourable nor truthful. And all the love I thought I felt for him was quite pointless and in vain.

"Hn. You're right. I will," Heero answered suddenly, startling me a little. I hadn't expected him to still be listening. "Now you'd better sleep, Duo, or you'll be completely useless tomorrow."

Despite myself, I couldn't supress a smile. That sounded almost civil.

"Good night, Heero."

"Good night."

We kept to our course for almost two weeks, always sailing with full sails to catch up with the Tallgeese as quickly as possible. There were only a couple of islands ahead of us that could be used to stock up on fresh water and food and we were relying on Zechs to eventually drop anchor near one of them to replenish his provisions. Considering the hastiness of his escape he must have left with nothing but the most basic of supplies. It was a simple matter of time now. And with each day that passed uneventfully, our eyes kept straying towards the horizon more and more often.

As the days passed slowly and without incident, so did the nights. Heero and I were still forced to live together in our tiny cabin, which was barely large enough for two narrow beds and a footstool with a wash bowl and pitcher crammed between them, let alone its two inhabitants. It was quite foreseeable that we would bump into each other at every turn, hands and fingers getting tangled up awkwardly, touching without meaning to (or not quite without meaning to). As if that were not bad enough I had to get used to seeing Heero in either his strange but rather endearing nightshirt or Relena's outrageous yet oddly enough not completely unappealing ball gown. I don't think anyone with even an ounce of the passion I felt for Heero could have resisted the temptation. To be perfectly honest, I really didn't know how I did resist it. But for some completely unfathomable reason, I somehow managed to cling to both my good behaviour and my sanity.

While at first I had eagerly looked forward to sunrise and the opportunity to escape the forced intimacy of our cabin, I soon realized that the days brought about their own trials and temptations…

As the only "lady" on the ship, Heero quickly became the centre of attention of the whole crew and I was forced to watch as one love-struck pirate after the other tried to make a pass on him. My eyes followed Heero's pink dress around the deck from morning to evening, quite against my will, as if led by an invisible string. Utterly lovesick myself and cranky from lack of sleep, I cast dark, menacing scowls at whoever dared to even look at Heero but was more often than not blithely ignored.

Then, one bright sunny morning – the air was crisp but held a hint of spring— another pirate had decided to unleash his charm on Heero and on that day I'd had enough!

„Lovely morning, isn't it, my darling," the man chirped and leaned against the rail where Heero had been standing for hours, simply looking at the horizon. I was pleased to notice that he didn't even glance at his admirer.

That didn't stop the man from trying to talk to him, though. "I know, you're already… spoken for, aren't you?" He cast a furtive glance in my direction, but apparently didn't notice my intensified scowling. "Aye, quite spoken for, I see. But—" Leaning in close and lowering his voice, he started to whisper something into Heero's ear.

"Hey," I hollered immediately, from the other side of the deck where I had been speaking to the helmsman, trying very hard to focus on my work and not on Heero. "You, over there! We—need another man up in the crow's nest!"

The man jumped a little in surprise and drew away from Heero. "Aye, right away, Sir. I'm… on my way."

Yet he still seemed to find it quite difficult to tear himself away from Heero. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Now, if you please."

The man sighed and directed one last adoring and lovelorn look at Heero, who remained completely impassive. I almost felt sorry for the guy. Almost.

Reluctantly, the man finally stepped away from Heero. Yet before he went to follow my (rather ridiculous) orders, he lifted a casual hand over Heero's backside and was to all appearances just about to—

Have his hand slapped away by the blade of my sheathed dagger.

"You! Get up into the lookout right now or I'll keelhaul you myself," I growled, breathless with anger and from sprinting across the deck.

The poor sod swallowed, chuckled nervously and scurried away.

I smirked with satisfaction. Now, that's what I'd call "one less complication."

When I turned back to Heero, he looked quite expectedly furious.

"I might be wearing a dress," he hissed quietly, "but I do not need protecting."

"Of course you don't," I hissed back. "You beat up Zechs when he tried to touch you."

Heero looked surprised but also somewhat appeased. He nodded in agreement.

Now it was my turn to draw closer to him and whisper in his ear. "I'm just trying to keep you from punching the man in broad daylight. Or do you want the crew to find out who you really are?"

Heero's eyed narrowed and he seemed about to say something. However, just in that moment the same man I had ordered up into the lookout only a minute ago cried:

"Laaaand Hooo! Laaaand Hooo!"

Everyone stilled and looked up at the two men perched on the platform way up on the main mast. Then our eyes snapped to the horizon.

Indeed, there was a tiny, dark smudge of something!

And as the hours passed, it grew bigger and bigger until we finally saw an island and then a ship, moored in its shallow bay.

It was the Tallgeese.

Only TWO more chapters to go! Can you believe it?! Don't worry if you can't, I have a hard time believing it myself ;)

In the next (second to last!?) chapter: Duo continues to make a muddle of things and Heero reveals his feelings.