Shinobi Train
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Chapter 10:
~Stowaway~
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Fan Art:
A very special thanks to LonelyAssassin and Scion
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Author's note:
There's some things I don't like about this chapter, it goes a little too fast in a few places, but at least it hits the critical points of the story that I wanted it to, so that's good. ^_^
Enjoy, and don't forget, I always like to leave Easter eggs for you guys to find. xd
Enjoy, and don't forget, I always like to leave Easter eggs for you guys to find. xd
Chapter 10:
~Stowaway~
“That’s not how ya’ do it, boy!” A crewman said, grabbing the mop out of Zane’s hands. “Put your back into it, lad! Like this!”
Brailen was on the other side and smirked when he saw the man showing him. Since they had been caught lollygagging earlier, they were first up to swab the deck after the hustle and bustle of setting sail.
“Okay, I got it,” Zane replied.
“You’ve got a lot to learn, I see. Ya’ say ‘aye, mate’, not ‘I got it’. Aye?” The man said, handing him back the mop, “And when someone gives ya’ an order, ya’ say ‘aye, aye’. Aye?”
“Aye, mate!” Zane was starting to like this, in a way he felt at home here already; it was how his dad treated him at times.
After they finished it was lunch time, and the crew took turns eating so as not to leave the ship unmanned. The beast tamers went last because they hadn’t been working as hard. Zane and Brailen went below and found the kitchens easy enough. The cook seemed almost as big as the captain himself and was the only person who’d been on this ship as long.
He wasn’t quite what the teen expected a ship’s cook to be like. His fingernails were practically black from the dirt collected in them, his skin wasn’t exactly clean either, and his clothes gave the captain’s a run for their money in raggedness. His hair was red like Zane’s and his beard was long and tied in a knot below the chin. An Emperor Tamarin monkey swung about on the ceiling then landed on the cooks shoulder; it’s long, white mustache was also tied in a similar fashion. Obviously this man was a trainer too.
“Trent, good to see you, old man. Still serving up that slop, eh?”
“Brailen, ya’ scallywag, still haven’t learned any manners.”
“Not that you ever had any.” He gestured at the teen to come over. “This is my cousin, Zane. Zane, this is Seawater…every meal he fixes tastes like the ocean itself.”
“You still eat it, don’t ya’?”
“That’s because we don’t have a choice.”
“Don’t mind him, the name’s Trent.” The man said, leaning over and presenting his hand. “These ungrateful sons a bitches call me Seawater ‘cause I use a little salt. Take my advice and stay as far away from this sod as you can manage.” He said, nodding in Brailen’s direction.
“Your notion of little is something very different from mine.” Brailen said, rolling his eyes.
“Well, I’m…sure it tastes just fine.” Zane said, not really knowing what to say to all this.
“Brailen, this kid ain’t got no balls. Ya’ sure he’s related?” He asked, letting go after the handshake. “I just insulted your kin, lad, and you gonna’ just take that?”
“Well…” he was caught in a conundrum and hesitated, not knowing what to do. “That’s just my way of…saying it probably tastes like shit.”
Zane instantly realized that might not have been the right thing to say. The whole room turned quiet and Trent’s face darkened. He didn’t know if he was getting smaller or if the cook was getting taller. It was like everyone’s eyes were focused on him now, and a lump started growing in his stomach.
“You wanna’ die today, boy?” The man asked in a low growl.
The teen swallowed what felt like a rock the size of his fist in a gulp of sheer fear at what would come next. A short moment passed where he was completely ready for just about anything.
“Bahahaha!” The man burst out in a booming laugh. “I’m just f**kin’ with ya’.”
He turned around, grabbed a couple plates, and set them on the counter in front of them. “Here ya’ go, enjoy.”
The other trainers chuckled a little, but the newbies were almost as scared as Zane was in that moment. Brailen was holding back his smile and playing along just for the affect, but after the release he was grinning ear to ear. The next person in line was still wary though.
They took a seat and dug into the food. Zane was hungry enough that even that episode didn’t put off his appetite. The meal was salty indeed, but Brailen had exaggerated it. He noticed that a couple girls kept looking over from time to time. He figured they were either talking about how pathetic he was or admiring his handsome cousin. Neither was making him feel any better. He even noticed the twins in the corner were snickering about something; him most likely.
“Don’t worry, you’re new here, it will take some time to get used to, and people are going to be rippin’ on you.” Brailen told him. “You should have been here when I first met Seawater. Trust me when I say he went easy on you just now. It’s just initiation, but you’ll be the target of more since everyone here has heard something about you.”
“I really thought I had pissed him off.” Zane said, stabbing a carrot and a piece of meat with his fork.
“Nah, he only gets mad if you insult his monkey.”
“He’s a tamer, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, and you don’t want to be around when he transforms it. I saw it once at full size, and let me tell you…that’s scary.” Brailen told him. “Only other time I’ve seen something more terrifying is when that cat you unleashed went rampaging through Wolfegate. I was a few miles away and suddenly heard something that chilled me to the bone. Whew, let’s not revisit that again.”
“Hey, boys, hope this seat isn’t taken.” Layla said as she walked over, shoved a chair away from the table and sat down in it somewhat provocatively next to Brailen. “Oh, don’t stop talking on my account.”
“Layla, didn’t recognize you with your clothes on. Where’s your posse of giggling girls?” He said.
“Oh, right here.”
Two of the young ladies sat down on either side of Zane and the third sat on the end of the small table. He was about to swallow his last bite when they did so, but since he was now touching shoulders with them it became difficult to finish and he nearly choked on it.
“Awww, what’s wrong, baby? You feelin’ sick?” Layla asked in a teasing way.
“I see you’ve acclimated them already.” Brailen noted sarcastically.
She reached over and rubbed his leg, “What’s the matter, don’t want anyone to have some fun?” Her seductive voice was starting to irritate the hell out of Brailen.
“I know what you’re trying to do, Layla, and it isn’t going to work.” He told her, putting on more severity.
“We’re not trying to do anything, just have a friendly lunch with a couple gentlemen.” She said, still putting it on.
Zane looked at the girl on his left, who immediately turned and met his eyes, which made him look back at his plate again. He pushed his food around a little, but was too nervous to take a bite.
“Well, it seems your friend here can destroy a town and stomach it, but can’t handle eating with a few ladies…” She said, moving her hand further up Brailen’s leg.
The girls giggled and Zane blushed as he tried eating.
Brailen grabbed Layla’s wrist firmly, pulling her hand off him, “I strongly suggest you leave, wench, and take your sluts with you.” His voice suddenly changing to a tone that said he meant business.
“Fine. Have it your way.” she said, dropping the promiscuous attitude and yanking her arm away. “Come on, girls.”
The three left with her in a huff, offended by what he said, but he caught one by the arm as she was standing up. “You’d do well to distance yourself from her.” She didn’t seem to care though, and followed anyway.
“You have a history with Layla…don’t you?” Zane said, going back to his food.
“Doesn’t matter, it’s over now, as you can see.”
“She doesn’t think so…”
“Zane, you’ll find that some people just can’t let things go.”
“But what happened, there must be a story there somewhere.”
Brailen let out a sigh, “I wanted a family and she wanted adventure. That’s all there is to it, now eat up.”
“Hey, which one of you landlubbers brought this creature on board?!” Trent barked as his monkey hung from a drying rack and started screeching at something.
Zane glanced over, then figured it wasn’t any of his business and didn’t want to get involved, so kept his head down. Seawater reached down and caught something that was scurrying around in his kitchen. He held up a cat and showed it to everyone else who was looking to see.
“Well? Anybody? Speak up already!” He waited while they had a good look at it. “A stowaway, huh? I know what to do this. If it’s not claimed by dinner time I’ll have me some kitten stew.”
That grabbed Zane’s attention, but he stood up just as a fury of white started attacking the cook. It scratched up his arm pretty good and managed to lunge at his face. Between the monkey carrying on, the cat’s battle cry and Trent’s yelling, the kitchen was practically exploding. The teen rushed over to see if he could stop it, but there was too much commotion.
Finally the cook managed to fling it off him then pulled out his cleaver. He put his boot on the little devil’s midsection to hold it down then began swinging for its neck. Zane hopped the counter and kicked the man’s arm just in time, smashing it against a cabinet which knocked the blade out of his hand.
“What in the hell do ya’ think yer’ doing, lad?!”
“Sir, that’s my cat.”
“Well why didn’t ya’ say so in the first place?!” He asked, picking his foot up off it.
“My apologies, it won’t happen again.” Zane said, grabbing the kitten.
“See that it don’t! Damn that smarts.” His face and arm were covered in blood. “Since that’s your animal, you’ll be scrubbin’ the dishes, ya’ hear?!”
“Aye, aye.”
It was perfectly calm once Zane touched him; it jumped up to perch on his shoulder and purr in his ear. Brailen had stood up and walked over, but was now more interested in the cat than what had happened.
“Scrappy little f**ker, ain’t he?” Seawater said, wiping off some of the blood. “Now get back there and start washing. Brailen, make sure he does a good job. I have to go clean up. Damned cat…”
“Aye,” Brailen acknowledged.
As they both worked on the dishes, he kept looking at the cat as it happily sat on his cousin. “That’s the same one…isn’t it…”
Zane didn’t say anything, he knew Brailen wouldn’t understand and try to get rid of it or something. For a while they worked away in silence, but there was a growing tension between the two. Both had something to say about this, and neither knew how to approach it.
“Remember what happed before?” Brailen finally said.
“Like I could forget…”
“Imagine if that happened here, on this ship.”
“It wasn’t the cat’s fault. I turned it all by myself.”
“That may be true, but do you think it’s wise to be around any animal right now?”
“What do you mean? Ships full of animals.”
“You know what I mean. Besides, once you’ve turned a creature, it’s twice as easy the next time. You could do it accidently in fact.”
“I’m not giving up this cat, okay?” Zane was starting to get frustrated with this whole conversation.
“Why do you care so much? It’s just one stupid animal, it’s not like you’ve trained it or anything.”
“Look, I’m keeping it, alright? There something about him.”
“Like what exactly? Name one thing that’s special about it.”
“It’s just… since that night I’ve been seeing it every so often, like it keeps coming back to me. I don’t know what it is, but something is special. Also, I think it…it…never mind, you wouldn’t believe me anyway.”
“No, go ahead and say it. I’ll be the judge on whether or not I believe you.”
“Damn, you’re gonna’ think I’m crazy or somethin’.” Zane stopped washing for a moment. “I think it spoke to me.”
That got Brailen’s attention, “Spoke to you? How, in what way.”
“Just forget it. I knew you wouldn’t believe me.”
“Zane, how did it speak to you? At least tell me what you heard.”
“It was like it was in my head. I’m not even sure if I imagined it or not. Don’t even know what it said either, just a word that didn’t make any sense…complete gibberish.”
“Look, can we at least keep it in a cage for now?”
There was no answer, though Zane couldn’t deny that it was better safe than sorry. They went quiet again, but Brailen took note of what he was saying. The rest of the day passed quickly enough, with so many tasks to be done everyone was kept busy. For now Brailen left him alone about the kitten, there was no sense in pushing the matter, and since he was there to stop anything that happened anyway, he figured that was enough security for the moment.
After dinner things calmed down a lot, and it wasn’t long before a night shift took over and most of the crew were either fast asleep or taking a moment to relax in one way or another. A handful of sailors were gathered around a woman playing her fiddle up on deck. Zane took a seat on some steps nearby to listen for a while. The music was enchanting out in the moonlight, and she swayed to and fro as she played. He could see the galleons that followed, and their oil lamps sent light dancing silently across the water.
This moment made him really think of home for the first time since they left port.
Habanero French fries
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Yeah, I could imagine him feeling just like that. xd
Hmm, ...I wonder what Braillen was thinking when Zane said the cat spoke to him...xd
so he finally gets to keep the cat :zonder:
