ok so I lied...I did not finish the other series yet. I'm working on it. It just so happens I have three characters nagging the hell out of me right now so I figured I'd appease them while I figure out what's going on with the others. Be warned. This is a very long chapter and there's only sex at the end...it's just how it worked that way. Enjoy!
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Kaiden stared; filled with exasperated bewilderment. Sitting at the center of HIS ship's cargo, was his baby brother Jace wearing the very same school uniform he had seen him off in just weeks before. Both pairs of crimson eyes met, ones with amusement, the others with pissed off aggravation. It didn't take a genius to figure out which was which.
"You want to tell me why you are here instead of back at uncle Hawk's school Jace?" Kaiden said with an angry twitch at his lips. The 34 year old man had no patience for foolish teenagers.
Jace looked over at his eldest brother with nothing less then hero worship. His brother was a tall man; not that he was short either, with their fathers jet black hair and "sunny deposition". Aside from the Vestari crimson eyes and the Katsuri tails, the two brothers didn't look much alike. Where his brother was dark with "sharp" edges, Jace was much "softer" in experiences. His own hair was a shoulder length dark brown, and his physical form was much thinner then Kaiden's. He was after all, only 19.
"That's no way to treat blood, brother." He said with a grin.
"Jace...I will repeat myself, WHY are you here?" Kaiden asked.
"I never thought of myself as the book type." Jace said.
Kaiden ran a hand through his short hair and face. "Do you know what mother will do to me if she finds out you snuck aboard my ship instead of going back to school? God, never mind mother, the old man will kill me!" He threw his hands up into the air and paced in circles on the deck. His own small crew had been standing behind their captain, forcing themselves not to laugh. The youngest brother was EXACTALLY like the eldest.
"Oh come on Kai, it's not like they can do anything from where they are. Their to busy with Emma's, Henna's, and Arul's kid's now. Our sister's and brother have done well to occupy their time." Jace grinned. Their family has become a small army, apparently bent on single-handedly restoring the Vestari clan themselves. It was overwhelming just having a family dinner. Not that either brother didn't enjoy it.
"Oh yeah, that's what you'd like me to think. What do you think, I was born yesterday?" He glared at the boy.
"Well what are you going to do? Take me back? We're thousands of miles away from the school and even further away from home. Are you going to turn back around and forsake a new job?" Jace asked, knowing full well what the answer would be. Kaiden was much like their father when he was younger. He took on odd and impossible jobs, just like Aiden had, for clients from all around. Even the foreign lands in which Jace had only recently learned of on the other side of the sea.
"Fuck...Damn it all to hell! Fine, but your working your ass off, you hear me? I am going to make you wish you never set foot outside the academy." Kaiden glared. Jace grinned in triumph and jumped to his feet.
"Well don't just stand there! Get on the ship you lily-livers! We've got a job to do!" Kaiden yelled out and the other men ran on board, each with a job and purpose. An elderly man with a graying bearded and sparkling blue eyes held out a hand for their newest member.
"Welcome aboard me boy." He said with a grin. "Me name's Hamish, I be yer brother's first mate. Been with the Cap'n since he been about yer age."
"Ham I need those coordinates!" Kaiden yelled.
"Oh, best be off then me boy, Cap'ns all cranky now. Hamish winked and went over to the helm.
"Jace, go to the kitchen's. You want on board so badly, your going to work for it. Tell Nate, you're his new kitchen boy!"
"Wait. A kitchen..." Before Jace could say anything Kaiden through his hand up and pointed to the kitchens with an angry glare. Sighing, he turned and walked to the kitchen.
Inside the kitchen, a young man in his mid-twenty's smoked a cigarette while chopping vegetables. The man was the same height as Jace, with a long white scar running across his otherwise handsome face. His unkempt brown hair was held back with a white bandana.
"Um...are you Nate?"
"Do you see anyone else in this kitchen?" The man asked with a slightly raspy voice. His eyes looked up at Jace. One eye was brown, the other a hazel green. "I take it you're from the Cap'ns family then?"
"Uhhh yeah...I'm Jace. I was told to come here." He said while holding out his hand. Nate didn't bother shaking it." Their's a barrel of potato's back there. Start peeling." Nate went back to chopping. Sighing, he rolled up his sleeves and went to work.
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After several months of peeling potatoes and chopping onions for a very unsociable cook he was ready to snap. Why the hell couldn't the man keep a conversation going? He was grumbling to himself while leaning on the wooden railing. The moon was full and the sea water was calm.
"If you start complaining, I'll ditch you at the nearest port and send you back home." Kaiden said next to him.
"Then what will I say to mother when I failed to see you married."
Kaiden nearly chocked on his own breath. "What the hell did you say? Oh god...don't tell me she sent you out here her self?"
"How else do you think I got her to agree? Do you really think I would have survived once she found out I ran away from school herself? The only promise I could make to get her to agree was seeing that you were making grandkids like the rest of them."
"...I should have just thrown you into the dungeon." He stated.
"Oh come on, you've been out at sea since you were my age. Are you saying you haven't met anyone out here?"
"Maybe I just like getting laid."
"Well I swore I wouldn't go home till I saw you in a suit so it looks like your stuck with me forever with that attitude." Jace grinned.
"Well this is going to be a really fun job..." Kaiden said sarcastically.
"What's the job anyways?"
"We were hired to investigate some unusual events occurring in a kingdom to the west. Some Human King has found himself in a pickle."
"A King? Do you get jobs from royalty often?" He asked his brother.
"Hell no! and I like it that way. This particular job interested me because an old friend is involved."
Before Kaiden could go further Hamish shouted.
"Cap'n it's the Burnin Reaper!" Hamish shouted and pointed to the other side of the ship. Emerging from the sea's fog, an angry pirate ship burst into sight, from it's mast blew a flag with a burning skull and scythe.
"Oh damn it not again! Wake everyone up Ham, we don't have time to play right now!" He called back as he ran to take the helm.
"Wait, what?" Hamish didn't stop but ran to the crew's cabin.
"The Captain's woman finally caught up to him. " Nate said from beside Jace.
"Oh crap!" Jace jumped up from surprise.
Nate just looked at him with a bored expression and continued. "Back when the Captain first attained this ship he ran into a particular Lady pirate. Being the fool that he was, he decided to pursue her. Something went wrong and she's been after his head ever since." Nate lit a cigarette and took position at a cannon. When the moment came, he would use it like a master. Jace pulled a whip he had found in storage and tied it around his waist. He didn't know how to fight from a distance by ship but he knew how to handle himself if they boarded.
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Behind the helm of the ship Kaiden used all of his navigating skills to put more wind in the sails and get them out of the Reaper's sight. Every time he saw that ship his mind would wander back. What he wouldn't give to have had enough time to fix things with that woman.
10 years ago in the port town of Karees...
It had been only two months since he became captain of the "Crossline" and he was just barely managing to get the hang of things. His new crew were all old friends of his, and aside from finding someone to handle that brat Nate in the kitchen's he didn't really have any complaints.
He sat at an old shit-hole of a bar waiting for a client when SHE walked in. Even during all of his traveling he had never seen anyone like her before. She was a tall woman, with a slender figure and a very nice behind. Her very-long hair was as crimson as his eyes. A blue bandanna covered her head. She looked in his direction and he blinked. Warm chocolate eyes. He felt his mixed blood begin to boil inside of himself. He needed to know this woman immediately.
He was about to get up when the red head swiftly pulled out a blade and held it up to another man's thought. He had not noticed earlier, but behind the woman, two very nasty looking men were ginning. Oh fuck...she was a pirate.
"I have had enough of your games, Glesh. Hand it over." She spit at the grungy man at the tip of her blade.
"Come on Lacreshia! It was just business!" the man appeared to be pleading but Kaiden caught several unfriendly sorts ready to move.
"Is that so? Well then this is business as well Glesh. I haven't been a captain of blood-thirsty bastards for nothing after all."
"That's to bad Lacreshia...It seems I'll miss doing business with you." With that the cretin gave a signal and the three of them where surrounded. "Kill the bitch!"
Kaiden stepped in just as one of them passed him and knocked him out.
"It's rude to attack a Lady."
"Who the devil are ye?" one of the "Lacreshia's" men asked while fighting back with a blade.
"Someone in need of a good brawl." He winked at the red head and got them out of the tavern. The Lady Pirate's blade was now soaked with the blood of the traitorous merchant.
