Morg: Heyo! I'm sure everyone has been waiting to see if Amu and Ikuto recognize each other.

Ikuto: I know who Amu is.

Amu: She meant in this story.

Morg: Be patient and have faith! I've never let you down yet, right?

Ikuto: I suppose.

Amu: Well, you don't own us so I'm still happy.

Morg: Low blow, Amu. Low blow.

~The Eighth Sea~

Dressed and ready for whatever sort of work they required her to do, Amu followed Su and Ran as they led her across the deck of the ship. As the wind tossed her hair about, Amu made a mental note to ask Ran for a piece of string or leather to tie her hair back like the other pink-haired girl wore hers. The two girls led her up to where a man with reddish-brown hair stood talking to the girl with the blonde pigtails. She was clearly the sailing mistress considering she was standing at the helm. Whoever this girl was, she controlled the rudder and took them to where they needed to go.

Flipping her long ponytail over her shoulder, Ran squinted up through the bright sun at the first mate. "Kukai, Amu's ready. What are we going to have her do?"

Amu didn't protest how delighted Ran sounded when alerting this guy, Kukai, to the fact that she was ready for hard labor. This was her punishment for stowing aboard and the way for her to escape the ocean and its unforgiving arms. Amu wasn't going to ask for kind treatment when she definitely hadn't earned it. Not only was she imposing, but she was also wearing some of Ran's clothing. Being well aware of her situation, Amu simply bit the inside of her cheek and focused on the rocking of the boat rather than the way Ran spoke about her.

Smiling, Kukai took in the sheepish looking girl before him. Amu was rather small but seemed to carry herself well, especially for being a rich man's fiancé and being on a moving ship. Finding your sea legs was never an easy task, but the pinkette seemed to be just fine as the waves made the ship rock. "First mate, Kukai, at your service. Tell me, Amu, what can you do?"

Glancing at the others around her, Amu noted that only Su's and Kukai's expectant expressions showed that they seemed to think she was capable of something. Ran and the sailing mistress didn't seem to believe that she was good for anything but shark bait. "Before I was… engaged, I worked in the shipyards back in my harbor. I have plenty of experience with repairs and can fix most anything."

The first mate looked pleased, along with Su, though Amu figured that might just be because Su was a happy person in general. Ran and the other girl did not. They looked skeptical more than anything, but their looks of disbelief only made Amu want to prove herself to them more. Gripping the sides of her borrowed pants, Amu swore to herself that she would.

Rubbing the back of his head with one hand, Kukai grinned down at the pink-haired girl. Their ship, while rather impressive, was in need of some help. The crew members that they had doing carpenter's work could only do so much. All of the smaller tasks were handled with ease; it was the larger tasks that they were in need of someone to fix. The ports that they'd been to recently weren't the places for pirates to make repairs. Turning to Ran, the pirate dropped his happy-go-lucky attitude while giving out his orders. "Go and get Rima and Miki."

"Aye!"

Once the other pink-haired girl was on her way, Kukai turned to the girl manning the helm. "Utau, do you need the doc?"

The blonde huffed a few strands of golden hair that had escaped one of her tails before shaking her head at the first mate. "No, I know where we're going."

Chuckling at that, Kukai motioned for Amu and Su to follow him as they left the upper part of the deck. Stopping just beside the mainmast, he motioned upward. "The lower crossbeam is cracked. We haven't been able to do anything to fix it because we haven't had anyone that might know what they're doing look at it. Not many places are willing to fix a ship like ours."

Amu understood what the other meant. The first mate was referring to the fact that they were pirates. The yard that Amu had worked in probably wouldn't have helped them either. Luckily, the girl had started at the bottom and worked her way up through learning how to do the tasks she'd been paid to do. Amu wasn't kidding when she said she could fix anything. "I'll take a look at the yard and see how bad it is. If the crack has been there for a while then you might have to replace the whole beam. If it isn't so bad yet, I can make it last a while longer."

Grinning at the new girl on their boat, Kukai couldn't help but be happy that they had someone to look at their problems even if the girl wasn't supposed to be there. There wasn't much to their stowaway, but she sounded like she knew what she was talking about. Just as the two he'd called for approached them, the first mate gave a firm pat to the mast. "We'll get her fixed up."

Gesturing to the two girls, Kukai introduced them. "This is Rima and this one is Miki. The two of them should be able to tell what all needs fixing. Get it fixed. All the supplies you'll need are down in the hold."

Having heard the commanding voice before, Amu wasn't surprised when Kukai switched so quickly from easy going to hard at work. There was a reason this man was the captain's first mate. Kukai definitely knew what he was doing. "I'll fix what I can."

Miki and Rima exchanged glances before turning to face the stowaway. Ran had said that the girl claimed to have worked in the shipyards of the port they'd just left. Their pink-haired friend hadn't believed the stowaway and had asked that they test the girl. If she proved worthless, then maybe the captain would agree she'd be better set at the bottom of the ocean.

Tossing the bangs that hung over one eye out of her face to see the girl clearly, Miki figured that she and this Amu girl were about the same height and build. Not that being rather short stopped any of the crewmembers from completing their tasks. Rima was even shorter than most but still managed to hold her own. Miki couldn't help but hope that Ran was wrong and this girl could do something. Their ship was falling apart despite the captain telling them not to worry. "Where should we start?"

Huffing, Rima swung her long braid off her shoulder before glaring at the stowaway. There was no way that some rich bride knew what she was doing on a pirate ship. "Why don't we start her off easy and have her fix the stairs in the orlop."

Refusing to let her frown show, Amu bit harder on the inside of her cheek. The orlop was the storage room she'd been hiding in during the night. The stairs that the pirate was talking about had to be the ones that she'd climbed in her large wedding dress and almost died on. No stairs on a pirate's ship or any other ship were an easy fix.

Still, Amu knew what she was doing. There were plenty of instances back in the yards where she'd fixed anything her boss had told her to fix. This wouldn't be any different. Teeth gritted, Amu nodded stiffly to the other two. "Show me the way."

Braid swinging against her back, Rima strutted to the same door that Amu had come out of earlier that day. The stairs that she'd suggested get fixed had been broken for quite a while. None of the crewmembers knew how to fix them, though several had tried, including the blonde leading the way. Getting down to the hold was a risky task that the captain usually assigned to one of the gunners. If the stairs were fixed, anyone could go up and down them without worry. The task wouldn't be easy, but it was one they needed to be done.

Remaining unaffected by the pirates around her was one of the things that Miki prided herself on. Petty fights broke out, ones that Kukai put a stop to rather quickly, amongst their crew, though the blue-haired girl refused to get caught up in them. Just like now. Rima looked as though she were evil incarnate as she pointed out the broken set of stairs to the new girl. The blonde could be cold as ice, though Miki knew that she was extremely loyal to her friends. Until Amu earned that position, Rima was going to be harsh.

"The tools and extra planks of wood are already down there. I'll go get you a lantern so you can see."

Looking down at the stairs to study their build, Amu nodded without really listening to what the blonde was saying. The task in front of her was one she'd done before. Rima had called it easy when they were still on the main deck, but Amu knew better than that. It would be easy for her because she had experience. This task wouldn't be easy for anyone else.

Smirking as she saw some places where it looked as though repairs had been attempted, Amu searched for the easiest way down. After a few minutes, she realized that there was no easiest way down. Sighing, the pinkette lowered herself to the floor where the edge of the hole in the gun deck floor showed the bottom of the stairs.

"What are you doing?"

A bit startled, Amu looked up to find that the other pirate, Miki, was still standing there though Rima had left. "Getting down without dying."

Intrigued, Miki watched as the pinkette kept a hold of the floor while lowering her body over the edge. Just when she thought Amu couldn't handle her weight anymore, the girl let go. "Amu?"

Feeling the familiar rush of a dive run through her body, Amu bent her knees to land almost silently on her bare feet. Boots hadn't been given to her yet, but Amu found that the swabbers kept the deck clean of anything that could harm her. Now that she was back in that blasted storeroom, Amu searched around for the supplies that she'd been told were there. Without looking too much at the statue, Amu found what she needed and re-approached the stairs to find Miki looking down at her from the top. "Found the stuff."

"You just dropped down there."

Shrugging her shoulders, Amu sorted out the boards she'd need and located a saw to help her. The current stair structure was done for. There wasn't much that could be salvaged from it. In fact, Amu was a bit curious to know what had happened to it in the first place. With every board except the two sideboards going from floor to ceiling, each stair was broken or cracked. "What happened?"

Shaking her head to help dispel some of her awe, Miki looked back at the damaged stairs. "Yaya and Pepe happened. It was back when they'd first come aboard and were assigned to be gunners. After dropping several cannonballs down these stairs they got moved to cleaning."

Rubbing her toes against the somewhat clean floor, Amu thought maybe being a swabber was a better task for the two girls and she didn't even know them yet. "How many people have tried to fix these?"

A bit embarrassed by the question, Miki moved back to sit on the floor and watch Amu as she measured the boards and sorted out nails. "A few."

Nodding without really paying much attention to the answer to her question, Amu focused back on her task. The stairs should be an easy fix as long as the support boards hadn't been damaged due to the repairs unskilled hands had tried to make. With all the information she needed, Amu began to rip the old broken steps out. The girl could almost reach all of the stairs. Only the top three remained out of her reach, but it was a start.

To insert the new boards and create a new set of stairs, Amu needed to line up the wooden planks after she cut them to the correct length and nail them in from the outside edge of the support boards. This was how the original steps had been put in and that was how Amu was going to put in the new ones. The few places where extra nail holes were from the horrible repairs would have to be filled with putty and tar, as long as the crew kept some on board.

Focusing on getting the stairs in first, Amu made several support boards to hold each step in place. Once the bottom board of the step was in place, Amu laid a second on top and fastened it down from the sides and the top to give each stair more strength. All while she worked, Miki watched her silently, though Amu didn't mind in the least. If the girl worked as a carpenter on the ship then she should be watching and noting how to do what Amu was doing.

Returning with the lantern, Rima hadn't tried very hard to hurry, the blonde was a bit shocked to find that the stairs that had been deemed unfixable were more than halfway finished. Amu had said she could do it and was definitely doing it. Pulling her braid over her shoulder, Rima huffed as she fingered the woven strands of her hair. She didn't quite like the way Miki looked impressed but stayed long enough to see what Amu was doing before leaving without a word. Nadeshiko definitely needed to hear about this.

Wiping some of the sweat from her brow with the end of the sash around her waist, Amu glared at the lantern that she definitely didn't need. All it was doing was making the orlop warmer than it was. The light from the gun deck was more than enough for Amu to see. "Can you put that out?"

Miki complied without comment. The lantern had been bothering her as well.

Pausing two steps away from where the top three were, Amu climbed her finished steps to rip out the last remaining three. Once they were gone, she continued with her work of building the stairs. The pinkette didn't pause once until she was standing on the gun deck next to an impressed looking pirate. "Finished. I'll collect the old pieces of wood and store what can be saved. Boss always said never to throw out wood. Not even a sliver."

Giving the girl a short nod, Miki climbed to her feet before going in search of the captain. No one was going to believe that the steps were fixed. They could easily access not only the orlop but the hold as well. Maybe having Amu onboard wouldn't be such a bad thing. They still had a week before they'd make it to the next port. There were plenty of other things around the ship that Amu could fix before then, especially since the stairs only took her a couple of hours.

Happy to be working once again, Amu hummed as she put the broken boards off to the side in the storage hold. Since her family had moved to the colonies, Amu had gotten used to hard labor. When Tadase had forced her to stop working in the yards, Amu had felt that each day she spent lazing around was wasted. If there was work to be done and she could fix it then she was sure as hell going to fix it. The first mate had mentioned something wrong with the yard of the mainmast. Amu didn't hesitate to leave the hull of the ship to go check it out. The stowaway would be more than happy to comb the ship from stern to bow in search of anything that she could do to make the ship she was on sailed for a little while longer.

.

Morg: She fixed the stairs!

Ikuto: This was a lame chapter.

Amu: I agree.

Morg: No it wasn't.

Ikuto: You're saying that because it's your story and you wrote it.

Amu: He's got a point.

Morg: It is an important chapter because you're meeting characters along with seeing how Amu fits into the crew. Some of them are going to be quite rude, but they're pirates so it should be expected. Others are going to be her friends. You'll just have to stick around to find out how it works.

Ikuto: Whatever.

Amu: You must have put a lot of work into learning about ships and stuff.

Morg: Worth it!