Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ A Star to Steer By ❯ Chapter 2

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

“I have wondered,” Farfarello said, “if your blood is as pretty as the rest of you.” He leaped, spinning as he did. Yohji lost sight of his blade, but Ran met it with a crash. Farfarello bounced back, grinning.

“Such a lovely big...sword...you have, Ran.” He scooped a sword from a barrel near him, and flung the knife at Yohji’s feet. “Hold onto that for later, sweetheart.”

Never vomit with a gag in your mouth, Yohji reminded himself as Farfarello settled into a swordsman’s stance. Ran stood sideways, both hands on his sword. The man on Yohji’s left tried to find someone to take his bet that “Farfie” would carve Ran into shark-bait, but didn’t find anyone who would bet on the redhead.

Farfarello charged. Ran thrust at his chest, his foe twisted aside, his sword reached–Yohji bit his lip, or tried. No, no, no...

Ran spun, shoving as he did. Farfarello ran straight into the mast.

Yohji jumped up and down, the best he could do for applause. He’d won, Ran had–!

Farfarello was getting up. Slowly, and weirdly, like a puppet drawn by its strings, but the man was standing. He half-turned, looking at Ran with one golden eye.

“Pretty stars,” he said, and leaped.

A quick flurry of blows, and the two parted again. Both were bleeding, but Yohji was the only one panting. A red slice welled on Farfarello’s cheek, but he didn’t seem to notice. He was too excited by the blood staining Ran’s sleeve. He ran a finger up his blade, stuck it in his mouth.

“Even better than a wine-soaked Frenchman.” He paced to the side, Ran moved too, keeping his distance. Yohji craned his neck, watching for the first twitch of another attack.

“Give it up,” the man on Yohji’s right muttered in his ear. “Rather Ran won meself, but Farf’s the one you’ll bleed for tonight.” He sighed. “Poor lad.”

“Then help me!” Yohji wanted to say, but of course he couldn’t. The combatants clashed again, parted again. Met again, only this time Farfarello slapped aside Ran’s blade with a leather-gloved hand, and his sword dove in. Ran twisted, the blade sliced air not an inch behind his back as his own sword returned, somehow wrapped around and yanked, Farfarello’s sword went flying–Yohji blinked. He knew that move. He’d never mastered it, never managed to do more than get his hands whacked till they stung, but he had seen the bind-and-twist maneuver Ran had just used before. The redhead was no hack-and-slash self-taught–he’d been trained.

Who trained a pirate to fight?

Duh, Kudou, they weren’t born pirates. Were they?

Mama, where do little pirates come from?

God help him, he was losing his mind already. Wake up, Kudou, Farfarello was disarmed, Ran had won–

The one-eyed man simply bounced back and snatched another sword, engaged again. God, this could go on forever, Yohji was still the only one panting. Though that could be a good thing, even if Farfarello won eventually he’d be too tired to do anything–

Bad idea, Kudou. There was always tomorrow. God please, let Ran win. If he had to wake up in someone else’s bed tomorrow... Hey, leave out the ropes and the gag–okay, make them a little less tight–and he’d have gone to Ran’s bed on his own.

Okay, thinking such things while praying was probably counter-productive.

Maybe his grace was right, and there was something fundamentally wrong with Yohji. Other men would not look at Ran, still not panting, but starting to sweat, causing his clothes to cling better, and think what Yohji was thinking, every time he managed to forget Farfarello for an instant–

No one but Yohji could manage to forget that man for an instant. Which pretty much proved–well, Farfarello wanted Ran too. And so did the captain, obviously, and half the ship had been quarreling over first chance at Yohji’s ass before the captain made it a single-combat challenge, so it wasn’t that unusual.

Great. So only men like this wanted to touch other men like that.

Well, Ran wasn’t like the rest of them, and he was fighting for Yohji. And Yohji couldn’t help what he thought when he watched Ran move, more perfect and graceful than any dancer ever seen onstage, with an edge of danger that grew as Ran showed himself an excellent swordsman. Violet eyes clear and determined, cheeks flushed, lower lip caught in white teeth–

If Farfarello would just go down, Yohji was more than ready to move on to what came next. God wouldn’t mind, surely He’d created such beauty intending that it should be appreciated in every way possible?

Nice rationalization, Yohji. His tutor would have been proud.

Besides, it wasn’t like he was going to have a choice. He’d fought as a man should and been beaten for it, now he was tied up, couldn’t even protest with the damned gag in his mouth...
Even better rationalization. It wasn’t as hard as he’d thought, this logic thing.

Farfarello wasn’t getting tired, but he was losing patience. It showed in his technique. Never careful to begin with, now he pressed Ran hard, and the breaks between exchanges were only long enough to get his sword into position. He charged and bounced and leaped about the deck, trying to get past Ran’s defenses, but the redhead simply met him from whatever direction he came. Yohji was starting to wonder why Ran didn’t just end it and kill the man, if that was the only way to put him down. It didn’t look like anyone would mind, except those who were betting on him.

Now there were takers, pirates betting precious gold on Ran winning. Yohji would have too, though he knew it could still turn in an instant. Farfarello did sometimes get through, Ran was bleeding in several places. Farfarello was far worse, not to mention he’d been run into the mast and disarmed, but he was a man possessed, and Yohji had never taken that phrase seriously before–

Ran was losing patience too, he moved to meet Farfarello’s next charge. The one-eyed man slapped at his blade, Ran turned it–and Farfarello caught it. Blood gushed, he grinned, his sword slashed. Yohji gurgled a prayer. Ran let go, grabbed, yanked, dropped and kicked, landing on his back and sending Farfarello flying over his head. Into the mast again. But the bastard got right up, dropped Ran’s sword and charged back with a delighted howl.

The sword barrel was behind him, far from Ran.

Yohji dropped to one knee, the other leg straight in front of him. Farfarello sailed over the rail and into the ocean with a satisfying splash.

Silence fell on the deck, everyone stared at Yohji. He gave his best attempt at the smile that always got him past his mother’s anger, and shrugged.

“Man overboard! Douse sail, hard a-starboard!” The captain was in the crowd now, sailors leaped to obey him. He laughed and thumped Yohji’s shoulder. “Can’t say I blame ye for that one, lad. Here now!” He picked up Ran, who was glaring at Yohji, and handed him his sword. “A fine fight, my boy! Go on, then, take your prize before that crazy bastard comes back for more.”

Ran took the sword and wiped it, sheathed it and dusted himself off, then finally took the end of Yohji’s rope from the laughing pirate holding it. Still glaring at Yohji, and did he ever have a forceful glare!

The captain chuckled and jammed the hat on Ran’s head and moved off, yelling for someone to toss that freak a rope before he poked holes in the ship, climbing aboard on his own.

“I didn’t need your help,” Ran said to Yohji.

“Well, pardon me for having a stake in the matter,” Yohji thought loudly. Since Ran had made no move to remove the gag.

“Lower a boat!” someone shouted. “Farfie got us dinner!”