Chapter 2

One of the Boys

Motochika wasn't the sort of captain who sat idly by while his men slaved away on his boat. No, in fact he relished being on deck with them, involved in the hard work that was running a pirate ship. However today he found that he was constantly being distracted, he was unusually inattentive and thanks to it he got smacked in the face by a rather large wet rope, right on his forehead, that he had been helping to heave. He had been distracted for one second by a skinny kid running back and forth in a frantic manner. As Motochika sat down on a vacant barrel and tenderly rubbed the spot that had been abused he tried to remember the kid's name. His good eye followed him as he was given orders and shouted a 'Yes, sir!' and ran off again.

'What was it again? Shouta? No. Satsuma? Nope. Shinishi? Close…Shin!' He chuckled to himself as he remembered the kids first day, yesterday. Shin had spent three hours simply peeling potatoes, and once he had finished he had personally sought out Motochika and dragged the pirate captain to the kitchen where he presented a tall pile of perfectly peeled potatoes.

Potatoes had been for lunch, dinner, and breakfast, but the kid had done what he said he would and Motochika would give credit where it was due. Even now the boy was adapting well. As the larger men tried to intimidate him, or teased him, Shin's left eye gave a twitch and he frowned before socking those few offenders in the jaw.

"Anyone else got jokes!?" He had shouted, the kid was funny and full of energy so naturally the men liked him. When Shin got angry though, Motochika noticed just how much he looked like the Mori bastard. Even the eye twitch was nearly the same. Motochika shook his head and stood up to rejoin the men. As it was getting hotter because of midday Motochika followed the example of his men and striped down to just his breeches.

Ren was carrying a bucket full of water carefully trying not to spill a drop when she heard someone call her new name again. She turned around to let another man drink from the bucket, but found herself face to chest with the captain. She nearly plowed into him. Looking up to address him she was suddenly very grateful for the heat, her brother's worship of the flaming ball of fire had its merits now and again, because the redness of her cheeks could be assumed to be the heats fault and not the godlike chest in her line of vision.

"Shin, go ahead and take your shirt off, it's hot enough out here!" Motochika said kindly as he took the wooden cup she silently had offered him. Her face must have given her away because he laughed.

"Don't look so horrified! No one will make fun of your small stature, not if they saw that right hook you threw earlier." He dipped the cup in the water and then drank deeply from it.

"I'd rather not, I…uh…I burn easily! Yeah, I burn." She tried, she really did try to look away from the definition brandishing itself in front of her, but damn it was hard. For a pirate Chosokabe had rather pale skin, and his muscles were works of art that his spear had cultivated along with his years of fighting, and the smaller scars that she had not noticed earlier now screamed for her attention.

"Did you hear me?" He said. Ren snapped to attention and shook her head to rid it of the fuzz that had built up.

"Hey, are you feeling okay? Sun's not getting to ya is it?" His hand moved forwards intent on her shoulder and in a moment of instinct Ren jumped away from it. He looked as surprised as she felt, and for an awkward moment they stared at one another.

"O…kay. You don't have to I guess." He said tossing the cup into the bucket perfectly. Ren dropped her head thought 'BAKA' and gave a quick bow.

"Hai." Thankfully another of her new found comrades hollered for a drink and she dashed off.

"That kids a weird one." Motochika turned to address the man who had come to stand next to him. In fact it was the man who had held Ren over the side of the ship.

"Takahashi, you think so to?" Motochika asked as the two both went back to work.

"I'm just saying boss, he's too small, and have you seen the kid's hands? Like a woman's. Not only that but the way he speaks…almost like…well…" Motochika nodded.

"Like Lord Mori is what you want to say." He finished for the other man.

That night Ren sighed for the seventh time. 'It's only for another day, and this is just a bump in the road, once we make port everything will be back on track.' She thought. She turned over; she had been given a spot on the floor, a pillow and a useless potato sack blanket. During the day it had been almost unbearably hot, but at night it got rather cold so the twinge of red of her cheeks could not be blamed on the sun. She closed her eyes and tried to clear her mind but as soon as she did a certain well defined chest popped into her head and her eyes snapped open. She snapped up as well and smacked her head on the low lying shelf that sat above her.

"OW!" she shouted as she fell back down to the hard wooden floor covering and nursing her head.

"Shut it kid!" someone shouted.

"Yeah, yeah!" she shouted back. She sighed again and stared at the bottom of the shelf with a frown. At first she thought that being around men all day every day for three days was going to be uncomfortable and smelly. While the smelly stuff was true, the trip so far had been fun. The hard work was, well hard but even it was fun. In her brother's court she could never have gotten away with the things she yelled at the men on the ship, it was freeing. Everyone here treated her normaly. She wasn't my lady, or Hime, and while she wasn't Ren either she was happy with just Shin.

'But it's only for one more day.' She thought. She didn't like the idea that she had only just gotten to meet the men, and the infamous captain. The thought of the captain made her cheeks flame again. He was nothing like what her brother had described, sure he was physically intimidating, but he was gentle almost, and he clearly loved his men, and they loved him, the complete opposite of her brother. He laughed and played around and was easy going, and she really wanted to laugh and joke with him.

Meanwhile…

Motonari paced. They had spent all day searching for Ren in all directions, and now he was beginning to think that his sister had the nerve to leave his province and his protection. His oil lamps flickered as he passed them, his feet making shuffling sounds on his tatami floor. His meal sat untouched and his once piping hot tea wasn't even warm anymore. He trampled the mats to his tea cup, picked it up and threw it against the wall.

"Dammit!" The servants that sat outside his room awaiting a command jumped at the sound.

Motonari clenched his hands as they were shaking in anger and he closed his eyes trying to regain his composure. There was an intent knock.

"Enter!" He spat. The screen door slid open and one of the maids knelt but didn't enter the room. She looked up at him and seemed to hesitate.

"Say whatever it is you must, woman." Motonari said his voice calm. She nodded and took a deep breath.

"My Lord, your honorable sister…she mentioned taking a ship to the east." Motonari felt his gaze zero in on the woman's bowing figure and then he felt heat rising up the back of his neck again.

"Is that so? You only just decided to mention this? Tell me do you love my sister?" He walked towards her till he had to look down to see her.

"I…I do, my Lord." She stumbled with her words. He knelt on one knee put a finger under the woman's chin and lifted it up till she had to look in his eyes.

"Do you realize what my enemies would do if they found her? What I would have to do if they did? And yet you say you love her?" Mina shook her head.

"I thought she would have come back by now my Lord." She said fighting off tears. He let her chin fall and stood up again.

"I will find her and when I do, Nobunaga will look like a merciful man!"

Ren sneezed for the third time in a row while she slept.

She had a crush that was it. That was all it was, Motochika was a good looking, strong, and capable leader what woman wouldn't be attracted to that? Ren held onto a rope absentmindedly as the other men worked to pull in the sails, land could already be seen and the tide would take them in. Once again her eyes roamed back over to the captain who was guiding the ship in himself.

'Kind, clever, funny and my hands are burning…wait what?' Ren was pulled from her thoughts as the rope she had been holding now was yanked through her hands at an alarming speed.

"Shin!" one man yelled, and on instinct she grabbed the rope in an attempt to halt the ropes motion. This turned out to be a painful idea as the rope did not stop and she was pulled forwards.

'This is what you get for being so…so…distracted and girly!' she thought as the rope pulled her across the deck and up the mast.

"Let go!" another person yelled, but it was too late if Ren let go now she would tumble to the deck some twenty feet below.

"Are you crazy!?" she shouted back desperately clinging to the rope even though her hands had been rubbed raw.

The men below watched on in half amusement half concern as young Shin dangled in the wind.

"Whose bright idea was it to give the smallest man on the ship the damn rope?" The men all turned to see Motochika glaring up towards Shin.

"Well we can't lower him…Shin! You'll have to drop into the water; we don't have time to lower the sails again!" Motochika hollered. Ren looked down at him as if he were crazy.

"It's too far!" she yelled back.

"Don't be such a girl! I've fallen farther than that, onto the ground!" At this Ren's cheeks colored in embarrassment.

'Well! Excuse me!' She thought.

"Move him over the water." Motochika ordered good naturedly. He shook his head and chuckled as men scrambled to grab hooks. Shin looked absolutely terrified, so it was sort of funny. Once the men had the boy over the water they gave the go for Shin to drop, but the boy was frozen even though everyone could see the strain of holding the rope.

"I…I really don't think I can do this." Shin said. Motochika had been watching from the side rail and shook his head frustrated.

Ren looked at him and tried to convey how frightened she really was to him, but he only cocked an eyebrow and sat on the railing.

"What's the big deal, a quick drop and a splash, look they even have the rope ladder waiting for you, quit belly aching and drop." He said swinging his legs over the side. Ren looked down and immediately had a sense of vertigo. There was a reason she did not go out with her brother on his ships, a reason she had only ever admired them from the docks.

"I can't…." She said quietly the rest of what she was going to say lost on the wind. Motochika lifted a hand to his ear and shook his head as if to convey he hadn't heard her. Ren decided it would be better to swallow her pride for once.

"Captain Chosokabe I cannot swim!" she shouted. The deck went silent and some men even snickered. She had closed her eyes so that maybe she wouldn't have to see the dumbfounded accusing look that she thought he would be wearing.

As Motochika heard this he suddenly felt rather worried for the boy and his one good eye widened.

Just as one man went to capture her rope with a hook Ren's shaking fatigued arms couldn't take it anymore. A numbing sensation ran from her fingers to her shoulders and with a sudden gasp she found herself falling. It really was a quick drop.

Motochika didn't hesitate, it wasn't in his nature. He dove in after Shin the moment the boy let go and closed his eyes for the impact of the water.

Ren struggled to figure out which way to go, her arms still refused to be used and so all she accomplished was to flail. She opened her eyes to look for the surface but quickly shut them again when the sea water stung them. Slowly but surely her lungs began to burn for air.

'Well, this is a stupid way to go. Brother will undoubtedly laugh at me in the afterlife, and I barely got to know the men or Motochika…' Just as her last bubble of air fled from her mouth she felt a strong arm incase her ribs and pull.

Motochika breached the surface and gasped for air, what worried him though was that Shin did not gasp, he didn't even move.

"Rope!" He yelled and in an instant the men had thrown him a rope and were hauling him up. Once again on deck Motochika laid the boy flat and leaned into his chest to listen for a heartbeat. He felt a bit of tension release the firm grip it had on his heart when he found one. Then he began to work on the boys breathing. He pressed down on his chest and then breathed into his mouth. It took three repetitions of this before Shin spat out the water he had swallowed. The men all stood back to give the captain and the boy some room.

Ren coughed and coughed and when she opened her eyes the light nearly blinded her.

"Is this paradise?" she croaked and immediately a chorus of laughter followed. As her eyes adjusted Ren saw a dripping wet Motochika next to her on his knees smiling and laughing at her while the men around them shook with amusement.

"Well I call it paradise, but if you think you're dead, well sorry but you still owe me a few potatoes." Motochika said heartily.

"Can't swim?" Takahashi shouted, tears pooling in his eyes from laughing so hard.

"Didn't you think you should tell someone?" He finished holding his sides. Ren frowned at him.

"I did tell you!" She shouted at him.

"Aye, right as you fell!" At this the laughter was renewed for a good five more minutes.

"Laugh it up." She said darkly laying her head back down to the wooden deck.

"Thank you Captain." She said, only loud enough for Motochika to head.

"When you get some dry clothes on I need to see you in my courters." He said standing up and offering her his hand. Ren suddenly felt her stomach drop and she wondered what he wanted. Takahashi took her to the men's courters and found some smaller clothes for her.

Motochika had one of the men guide the ship into Oshu port and he had retreated to his own courters to change and to contemplate about Shin. The boat had made port and the men had gone off to run amuck in the port town. Motochika was beginning to think that Shin had run off with them when a knock brought him out of his thoughts.

"Come in." He said taking a seat next to his card table. Shin hesitantly opened the door and stuck his head in.

"You wanted to see me?" He asked. Motochika waved the boy over to the chair opposite of himself.

Ren had resolved not to go in, but her plans went out the window the moment she knocked on the door and now she found herself sitting in front of the captain and trying her hardest not to look at him.

"Where did you say you were from Shin?" Motochika asked suddenly as he grabbed a glass decanter from underneath the table. He sat a glass in front of her and himself and poured a generous amount into both glasses, a brown liquid.

"I didn't." She said eyeing the glass.

"Well, how about you tell me now?" Motochika's tone brooked no argument. Ren looked up at him finally and found that he was studying her with a slight frown.

"Well, I'm from…uh…well." She didn't really want to lie to him, but she definitely didn't want him to know who she was.

"Around Shikoku." Is what she decided on, Motochika smirked at her and shook his head. He leaned forwards a bit stared at her.

"Do you think that a man can feel up a woman and not know she's a woman?" He asked lowly before pushing her drink towards her a little more. For a moment Ren sat dumbfounded.

"Probably not." She finally muttered, with her cheeks going red yet again. Motochika nodded.

"Deffinately not." A silence settled between them and Ren knocked back the drink in one go and paid for it when her eyes began to water.

"Let's start over, how about a name? I gave you mine so you give me yours. Your real one." Ren fidgeted in her seat, would he have heard of her? How would he and the men treat her?

"It's Ren." She said with a sigh. Motochika's face remained passively straight. He made no indication that he knew her or not.

"Why did you stow away on my ship?" Ren struggled with herself now, tell him, or don't.

"I'm running away." She said honestly. She looked into his good eye and let the words her mind found flow freely from her mouth.

"I was going to be married off to some Lord I've never met, and so I ran away. I had planned to go to Echigo because I know the Lord there and I thought he could help me." She felt a little bad for leaving out the most important part but she didn't like the idea of Motochika hating her.

Motochika was quiet for a moment and leaned back in his chair.

"Well that explains your speech, and your hands, which speaking of are they alright? Rope burn is pretty painful." He held out one large hand to her and timidly she laid one of hers palm up in it. It was red and blistered; scabs had already formed over the bits of skin that had torn.

His hand was surprisingly warm and as he inspected the damage her insides began to warm as well. Finally he looked back at her.

"So I assume you are a noble woman, if you know Kenshin. You must know that I can't allow you to gallivanting around and causing trouble for unsuspecting peoples such as myself." He gave her a sardonic smile and released her hand. Ren stared at him confused.

"I don't understand." She said her hands falling into her lap out of habit. Motochika stood up and grinned at her.

"Of course I will have to see you safely to Echigo, but first we have to meet with the Dragon of Oshu he owes me some money. We'll get you some proper clothes there." Ren was just about tired of men deciding her paths for her and shot out of her chair.

"That will not be necessary! I am perfectly capable of handling myself. How hard can it be to find Echigo?" Motochika moved in like a shark, and Ren had to crane her neck to look up at him.

"Listen lady, it aint called the warring states for nothing. Besides what if you fall into a puddle? Who will step in and save you from drowning?" Ren felt her left eye twitch and she frowned. Motochika backed off a slight bit and instead of his maniacal grin he only smiled at her in the friendliest way.

"Please Hime, your part of my crew now and I look out for my own. The men will feel the same; hell I wager they'll want a break from the sea." Ren felt the fight in her chest disappear, so she frowned and sat back down.

"Just don't call me Hime. Ever." She said holding her glass out to him for more of his drink.

Later that night Motochika seriously contemplated his sanity, even he didn't know the reason he wanted to help her. Ren had tossed and turned in her bed, now that she had one, and only just realized that Motochika had in fact felt her up and in fact he had been the first man to kiss her.

"If you call it that!" she muttered red faced.

So I always wondered how female characters stayed under the radar for so long, and as you have read Ren did not stay 'hidden' very well. I thought that this was a bit more realistic. So she sort of has lied to Chika, her brother is on a rampage, Masamune is coming up and how will the men react to her little confession? Thanks to everyone who reviewed!