If I know you guys, which I think I do, I have a feeling you guys are gonna love this chapter ^^
Nami: I’m so glad I could see you again, Yume.
Yume: Me too, Mum.
Yume and her mother stood together at the edge of the dock where the Horizon was tied. The rest of the group was readying the ship for departure.
Nami: You promise you’ll be strong for me and your father?
Yume: Of course.
Nami: That’s my girl.
She took her daughter into a warm embrace and kissed her gently on the top of her head.
Nami: And you’ll be sure to return to your father, right darling?
Yume backed away from her mother and hesitated for a moment, but then gave a sad nod.
Nami: I know you won’t want to, Yume, but it’s what’s best. Just promise me that—
Yume: I’ll go back to him.
Nami: Thank you.
Yume: But promise me you’ll think of how he feels, knowing for sure that you’re never coming back.
She gave a weak smile to her mother and turned toward the Horizon. Her mother just stared blankly.
Yume: Goodbye, mother.
Nami: G-goodbye…
She waved, her smile uneasy and her arm somewhat limp.
Nami: (Daisuke… I’m so sorry…)
Sailor: Your highness. The boat appears to be leaving the island. The three men and three women are all accounted for.
Samuru: And in which direction are they headed?
Sailor: West.
Samuru pondered for a moment, his eyes firmly fixed on the deep blue ocean on which his sister was sailing.
Sailor: Your order, Highness?
Samuru: Start heading east.
Sailor: In the opposite direction? But won’t that…?
Samuru turned and began to walk away from his first mate, who had noticed that his captain didn’t plan on changing his mind.
Samuru: Stand by for further instructions.
Keiji: Boy, it feels good to be back on the ocean again…
He had his hands on the wheel and the ocean air running through his shaggy hair. Akio was in the crow’s nest, as usual, surveying the ocean around him with a long, brass spyglass. Mokoto had just come up from below the deck, a new rope in his hands to replace one that had been damaged in the raid, when the pirates had attacked. The three girls were sitting together on the deck, talking amongst themselves and giggling as they did so.
Takara: Okay…Okay watch Keiji…
The three girls directed their attention to the captain, who was just standing there, minding his own business as he steered the ship through the ocean. And then all of a sudden, his hand seemed to jump off of the wheel and slap him across the face. He looked at his appendage in horror, wondering how such a phenomenon would occur. He of course didn’t slap himself on purpose!
The three girls sat in their little circle, doing their best to suppress their shrill laughter. However, such a task was quite difficult, all knowing the secret that Takara had caused the said “phenomenon” while Keiji still stared at his hand in disbelief. After a few moments of being lost in thought, he turned his gaze to the girls, who still sat there, their cheeks bright red as they carried on with their hilarity.
Keiji: Okay, which one of you guys did it?
He turned over to their little group, his arms folded over his chest and a stone like expression across his face.
Amaya: Does it really matter?
Yume: After all, we need to use something to practice on…
Takara: Yeah, otherwise we won’t be there to save you guys from anything big and bad in the second realm.
Keiji: Well, you guys were a great help back when we were captured by pirates!
Amaya: Well, that was before we had been practicing, now isn’t it?
Takara: Yeah, and besides, you weren’t saving us either!
Yume: Yup. So obviously we need to train so that we can save you guys when you’re in trouble.
Mokoto: Oi. I do believe that you ladies are the ones that’ll need saving.
Amaya: Oh really?
Amaya stood up and took a few steps over to Mokoto, who was currently still trying to fix the rope.
Mokoto: Really.
He didn’t even look up to answer her.
Amaya: I bet that I could beat you in a fight without even trying.
Mokoto: Hmph. I’d like to see that.
Amaya: What, you think I wouldn’t even have a chance.
Mokoto: No.
He turned away from his chore to look her in the eyes when he said:
Mokoto: I know you don’t have a chance.
The four other pairs of eyes set on this conversation grew wide at the sight of tension between the two of them.
Takara: Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!
Mokoto: Shut up, Takara.
He took his gaze off of his new target for a moment to silence the annoyance in his ear.
Takara: Yessir.
With that, he turned back to Amaya, who had never looked away from him.
Mokoto: I do believe that on that one night, at your shack, I didn’t even give you a chance to attack me.
Amaya: You used smoke pellets! That’s cheating!
Mokoto: Fine then. Want a rematch?
Amaya: I’d love one.
He pulled his new sword from its sheath and gripped firmly on its hilt with two hands.
Mokoto: Good. I’ve wanted to try this new baby out on someone.
Amaya pulled a pair of shimmering new daggers from their sheaths on either side of her hips and spun them a few times on her fingers.
Amaya: Same here.
With that, she charged towards him, one dagger knocking his katana out of the way while she aimed the other toward his chest. He took his free hand and slammed her arm out of the way, causing her to step back and swing her knife behind her. This was no little game they were playing.
Mokoto charged her this time, aiming his sword at the girl’s neck, only to get it stopped by a pair of knives, crossed at his blade. She pressed hard against his sword, hoping to knock it backwards and send him into a state of uneasiness for a moment, but he only continued to push harder than she did, making the girl release her block and allowing him to break through and make a small cut on her shoulder.
Yume: Amaya! You okay?
Amaya scoffed arrogantly.
Amaya: Little scratch ain’t gonna hurt me.
She swung her blades back at him viciously, each time only to be dodged.
Mokoto: I’m a little faster than you thought, huh?
Amaya: Shut up.
She swung one last time and nicked his face, just below his eye. He took a pause to reach up and touch the bloody gash, only to just wipe the excess away.
Amaya: Doesn’t feel so great, does it?
Mokoto: You should know.
Amaya: Hmph.
She spun the handle of one knife on her finger and flipped it so that the tip of the blade landed in her hands. With a flip of the wrist, she sent the knife flying towards the hand that held Mokoto’s katana. He was quick to avoid it however, letting the dagger drop the ground behind him.
Mokoto: Missed me.
Amaya: I noticed.
Mokoto: Looks like you’re short one weapon.
Amaya: Not for long.
She held out her empty hand and within seconds, the knife zoomed back into her hand.
Amaya: Forgot I could do that…
She giggled girlishly, then let the knife float back out of her hand and back toward her target. She controlled it with her hand to slit her initials into the exposed part of his chest, just next to his collar bone: a simple A and T. He hissed and grabbed the dagger out of the air.
Mokoto: No fair! You cheated!
Amaya: You never set “no powers” as a rule. Sorry. Your mistake.
She smiled slyly and made a pulling motion towards him, and pulled her knife back towards her through the air. Mokoto didn’t waste another second and made his way back to his opponent and slammed his blade into hers with all the force he could muster up.
Amaya: I’m not gonna let you beat me…
Mokoto: We’ll see about that.
Amaya: I won’t back down…
Mokoto: Hmph.
Suddenly, he took one arm off of his blade, shoved the girl’s arms to the side, ran his fingers through the soft ebony black hair on the back of her head, and brought her face to his in a deep kiss, before she even had a chance to move away.
Yume: Oh my…
Takara: WHOA, BABY!
Amaya’s eyes were open wide at the sight of his face up against hers. She did not think. She did not move. Her brain was completely dead at this point. Where did such an urge come from? Minutes ago, he had her in a bind, their blades tangled and not being able to see a way out without getting stuck again. Now he had her in a different sort of bind. For one, she couldn’t move. For two…
She closed her eyes, dropped her knives to the sides of her, and brought her arms around his neck as the kiss continued between them.
…She was enjoying it.
Keiji: Jeez, Mokoto!
Akio: Heh. Nice one.
And before anything went further, Mokoto winked at his friends from afar. With that, he slowly moved his hand from her head down to her shoulders, then tripped one of the girl’s legs with his own so that she fell to the ground, his arm still around her, only to catch her gently, then let her free fall the rest of the way down to the hard, wooden deck. Her eyes flew open to see the shimmering end of his blade pointed between her eyes.
Amaya: HOW DARE YOU!?!
Mokoto: I win.
Amaya: YOU CHEATED!
Mokoto: You never said it was against the rules. Sorry. Your mistake.
He sneered, re-sheathed his weapon, and walked back to his chore of fixing the old rope. Amaya still laid there on the ground, her eyes still wide from the burning rage of her embarrassing defeat.
Slowly, the day wore on. Keiji continued to steer and navigate, a compass around his neck, the map in one hand, and the boat’s wheel in the other as the Horizon continued to sail. Amaya was in the spare room, pacing and letting out her rage in a fury of statements such as, “HOW DARE HE?!” and “SUCH NERVE!” all of which could be heard by the sailors on the deck. Yume’s eyes spied Mokoto cracking a smile for once, most definitely due to the sound of Amaya’s rage. He was obviously getting some pleasure from it. Akio still stood in the crow’s nest, telescope still fixed to his eye as he gazed to the small island in the distance.
Takara: Hey Akio! Can I see?
Takara called from down below the crow’s nest. Akio peered over the edge of the two-and-a-half foot wide wooden basket to see her smiling as she grabbed onto the rope that led upward. His eyes bugged out at the thought of her coming anywhere near him.
Akio: Uh, sure!
As she reached the top of the rope, he grabbed her hand and helped her into the nest.
Akio: Here, take a look.
She took the brass spyglass out of his hands and placed the lens over her right eye and closed the left.
Takara: I don’t…see…anything.
She moved the glass to the left, then quickly again to the right, seeing only the orange-pink sunset and its reflection in the glassy water.
Akio: Hey, hey. Slow down.
He stood behind her and reached around her body to the spyglass, touching her hands gently and slightly rotated the glass to the left.
Akio: Look really close, now. See anything, yet?
Takara: No…not yet.
He continued to move it, keeping his head right next to hers, breathing ever so calmly into her ear.
Akio: How about there?
Takara: Oh! I see it!
She squeaked with glee at the sight of a small little island a good ten miles away. She lowered the telescope, feeling Akio’s hands slip past her and fall back down to his sides. He sighed in disappointment.
Akio: Oh, yeah. Heh. Pretty cool, huh?
Takara: Yeah! Thanks for letting me look!
Akio kept his gaze on her, hoping to receive some sort of sign of satisfaction from the girl.
Akio: Oh, no…
But before he could even finish his sentence, she had already taken the rope into her hands and was making her way down back to the deck.
Akio: …problem.
He sighed and collapsed the spyglass, knowing that she had no intention of ever becoming intimate with him, let alone was capable of enough brain power to take hints.
Yume made her way over to where Keiji stood, steering the boat. Her long silky curls were blowing in the wind as the Horizon sailed onward towards the island, facing the beautiful sun as it began to sink beneath the sea.
Yume: Well this has been quite an eventful day, don’t you think?
Keiji: Heh. Interesting would be a better adjective. I never thought I’d ever see Mokoto kiss anyone. Of course, he was doing so for some kind of victorious benefit, but still. It was a kiss.
He chuckled and continued to steer.
Yume: Heh. I think Amaya was enjoying it. I’m pretty why she’s so upset now.
Keiji: Amaya? Naw, she couldn’t have been. I don’t think she’s capable of…well…any emotion.
Yume giggled.
Yume: Say what you think. I still could tell that she liked it.
Keiji laughed along with her. Following that, there was a long pause. All that seemed to be able to heard was the sloshing of the waves beneath them, the crying of the gulls above, and the incessant groans and shouts of the upset brunette in the bedroom.
Keiji: Um…Yume…
He began awkwardly, keeping one hand on the steering wheel and scratching his neck with the other. He never turned his head towards her, but just kept looking into the sunset.
Keiji: You know…that night that I…well…In your room…I…
Yume couldn’t help but giggle.
Yume: I know what you’re talking about.
Keiji: Good, good.
He took a pause to sigh, then continued with his inquiry.
Keiji: Well…um…did you enjoy that?
Yume’s eyes grew wide. She hadn’t expected him to approach her with that question! How unexpected!
Yume: I…well…um…you… I’ve never really thought about it before...
She spoke with quick, precise words between quicker, uneasy breaths. Lies. Of course she had thought about it in the past.
Keiji: Oh…I see.
He coughed.
Keiji: (Why did you even do that to yourself, you moron?)
Yume: Um…It’s not like it meant anything… Did it?
The two of them never made eye contact, but just continued to stare into space.
Keiji: No, no. I um…just wanted to see, you know? Personal evaluation. Yeah. That’s it.
More lies. These two are terrible to each other.
Yume: Oh…Yes. Well, in that case: yes. Yes I did enjoy it.
Keiji: (YES!)
He hid his sheer excitement behind a simple smile.
Keiji: Cool. Just wondering.
Yume: Alright then.
She smiled and began to walk down the hallway and into the bathroom, where she drew herself a bath and took a little time to relax and think.
Yume: (It didn’t mean anything, did it?)
She swirled the water back and forth with delicate moves of her fingers.
Yume: (He just did that to direct my attention elsewhere…)
It was beginning to get darker outside, and she could hear some of the Horizon’s passengers making their way to their quarters for bed.
Yume: (And even if it did mean something, well then, why would I care? It’s not like I…well…care for him. After all, he’s just a companion: one of my friends, nothing more.)
Her heart quaked gently as she remembered that night, the two of them together, in the silence of her bedroom, where they had joined at the lips for a sweet, beautiful moment…
Yume: (It didn’t mean anything.)
She shook her head in denial, almost as if to rid the very thought from her brain.
Yume: (But…but why do I feel like if I leave here after the journey is completed, I will be missing out on something amazing?)
-PREVIEW!-
Mikona: Puu! I'm here to help Starlite give a preview for her next chapter!
The crew's made its way to the next island! They're gonna stop there for a little while to pick up some supplies and explore a little bit. But wait! Looks like they might run into some trouble before they leave!
Next time on Beyond the Horizon: "WHAT ARE YOU HITTING ME FOR?"
Mikona can't wait!
Mikona: Puu! I'm here to help Starlite give a preview for her next chapter!
The crew's made its way to the next island! They're gonna stop there for a little while to pick up some supplies and explore a little bit. But wait! Looks like they might run into some trouble before they leave!
Next time on Beyond the Horizon: "WHAT ARE YOU HITTING ME FOR?"
Mikona can't wait!
