Title: Takara - Part 3
Author: Emily
Rating: R
Couplings: 1x2, 3x4, possibly others
Warnings: AU, yaoi, romance-ish, pirates (yum!yum!)

Duo rubbed at his cheekbone, scowling at the pain the action caused. He could hear a faint, steady breathing behind him - as if the person was trying to remain unnoticed - and the braided man spun to catch the wrist that hovered over his shoulder. "What the fuck, Yuy? You didn't have enough and now you're coming back for more?" The owner of the hand stepped from the shadows, and Duo saw that it was Trowa, not Heero. He frowned at the taller man, releasing his grip on Barton's wrist.

"You shouldn't provoke 'im if you want to stay on this ship for very long."

"Well he should mind his own damn business!"

Trowa's emerald eyes narrowed into slits. "You should remember that any man on this ship would die for Heero and is waiting for a reason to keelhaul you."

Duo opened his mouth, but his brain wasn't coming up with a good retort as fast as he'd like it to. He shut his mouth, resorting to glaring suddenly at the taller man. 'Cool it, Maxwell. You just need to stay alive long enough until they dock next, and then you can spring to shore. And then somewhere along the line when you're living in a nice little home on a mountain somewhere you can think back and laugh about the times you spent on the Black Wing and almost fell for a story on how the captain would love you...' "Well so far you haven't done a very good job at making me feel welcome," Duo growled. "Since I've gotten here I've been grabbed at, nearly sodomized, and now I'm getting beat up by your beloved Captain."

Trowa's gaze remained unwavering, causing Duo to shrink back a little. If Trowa wasn't the main muscle on the Black Wing, he certainly was in charge of whoever was. "We could toss you overboard right here, right now," Trowa's voice was cold, matching his gaze. "All I need is Heero's order."

"Which won't be given," came Quatre's voice as he hurried across the deck. He grabbed Trowa's upperarm, moving him just out of Duo's hearing range. He could see Quatre's hands waving back and forth and he was speaking hurriedly. Trowa looked back at Duo frequently, getting in a few words now and then. Duo was almost under the impression that Quatre was his chaperone and explaining how the longhaired man didn't know any better. Quatre beamed a sweet smile in Trowa's direction and Duo knew the argument was over. A quick peck on the cheek had Trowa heading in the other direction - discussion over.

Duo let out a sigh of relief. He was convinced Trowa was going to hang him under the crow's nest until he begged for mercy and apologized. The stern expression on Quatre's face when he spun on his heel to face Duo, however, made the knot return in his stomach. The blond man waved a finger at him pointedly. "Are we going to have to teach you manners?"

"Tell your captain to keep his nose in his own business and I can be a real darling," Duo huffed in response, crossing his arms across his chest.

"What you need to understand is this is Heero's ship - not yours. Everything and everyone aboard is Heero's business. He asks a question, you better answer it. And he can tell when you're lying, so don't bother trying."

"Well what the hell do you expect me to do? Apologize and hope I don't have to walk the plank?"

"That would be a good start!" Quatre smirked slightly when Duo's eyes widened. "If you're above apologizing, I'm sure we can go below decks and figure out where we put that plank..." Turquiose eyes looked at Duo questioningly. "What did you say that set him off so much?"

"I..." Duo cleared his throat, feeling a little embarassed and feeling childish about the argument. "I might have made a comment about him, er...being involved with the princess in a not-so chaste manner..."

Quatre looked a little sheepish. "I guess I should have warned you about what sets off Heero... No speaking ill of Princess Relena and really, it's just best to keep her out of every and any conversation. Now, Heero should be in the navigation room. You better hurry before he keeps on fuming and gets even more, well, pissed off."

Duo was too surprised from hearing the curse come out of Quatre's mouth to argue.

oOo

The navigation room was exactly where Duo found Heero. The captain was studying a map and plotting a course with a compass when he entered. Duo sat down in the closest available seat - which happened to be right next to the door he had shut behind him. He waited for Heero to look up before speaking, not wanting to interrupt the captain in case it meant the difference between navigating the ship safely through rocky waters or ending up smashed on a rock in the middle of nowhere.

"I didn't mean to get so touchy. Just a lot of stuff has happened to me since I got here and I really don't like strangers prying into my life." Duo shifted nervously when Heero still didn't say anything. "But I kind of am, if you really need to know. Kind of meaning that in my line of work sometimes I have to act a certain way and do certain things to be convincing as my role, but it was never anything mutual and there was always clothing involved."

"Do you always babble when you're nervous?"

The braided man scoffed. "Why would I be nervous? I'm on a shipful of pirates who might or might not want me dead. Not to mention that I got struck by the captain no more than twenty minutes ago, and I'm still starving to death since dinner got interrupted and I haven't eaten in a while... Yeah, now that you mention it, I guess I do babble a little."

"Dinner did get cut short, didn't it?" Duo watched as Heero grabbed a piece of cloth, dampened it, and moved over to stand in front of the longhaired man. "Maybe we should give it another try." Duo sat mesmerized by the pirate captain's eyes as Heero used the cloth to wipe the blood off Duo's face - blood that he had just drawn within the last hour's events.

There was a knock on the door and one of the female crew members that Duo saw when he boarded entered, carrying a tray containing the meal he had abandoned. She moved aside the map, set it down in the table along with the plates, glasses, and the wine, and bowed her head slightly to Heero before leaving. Duo, noticing the steam rising from the food, realized that it must have been reheated. Heero went back to his seat, and Duo moved his chair so that it was opposite Heero's at the table. At closer inspection, Duo noticed that the fish wasn't missing the parts he had cut out before and that the bottle of wine wasn't uncorked. Heero had the galley's prepare an entirely new meal.

"What happened to the one we had before?" Duo never in his life believed in wasting food and was completely aghast by not only the waste of the perfectly good food they had before, but also the waste of funds that went into creating this new dish.

"I had it sent below deck for the crew to squabble over. Fighting is good for them - helps keep their instincts intact when they have nothing else to do. And letting them fight openly over little things prevents a total war from breaking out amongst the ranks."

Duo, pretending to be interesting as he took a sip of his wine, wondered how the galleys had managed to keep it cold. The colonies were in a humid, tropical climate and there was no way the ship could have enough ice that would stay cold enough for long enough, but at this point Duo was beyond being surprised by anything the Black Wing had to offer. It certainly was more luxurious than anywhere he had ever lived - and even some of the places he had robbed.

"Am I allowed to ask why Trowa is so...protective over you?" Duo asked around a forkful of vegetables.

Heero leaned back in his chair, his gaze giving Duo the shivers - and not necessarily in a bad way. "We met during the war. We were in the same legion and were put together in an instance where I ended up saving his life. He swore that someday he would return the favor and has been loyal to me ever since."

'Which explains why he's so wary of me,' Duo realized. 'That whole dream thing of Quatre's is making him think I could kill Heero, and he wants to be there to stop it at all costs.'

"Which reminds me," Heero stood and opened a door in the back of a room that seemed to open a small storage space instead of another room, "I have something for you." He removed the object, and Duo tried craning his neck but he couldn't get a good glimpse of whatever the captain was holding. "The attack this morning prompted my decision to give you this."

Duo couldn't believe his eyes. 'I insult the guy, and he's giving me presents. Not just any present, either, but a fucking sword!' The metal was cold and lethal, the crossguard and pommel were beautiful, made of ornately decorated strands of gold intertwined. Duo wrapped his right hand around the leather-wrapped grip, the sword seemed like it was suited just for him. The only problem being, as generous as the gift was, he hadn't the slightest idea how to use it. Duo was better with smaller blades - rapiers and knives were his forte. Wielding a longer weapon made him feel clumsy.

"So? Do you like it?"

"I can't accept this," Duo replied, setting the sword down on the table between himself and the perpendicular side of the table.

"I'm not giving it to you to try to get you into my bed; I want you to have it." Heero slid the sword back into its sheath before returning to his dinner. "You said you couldn't afford one, and no one else is going to use this one, so I'm giving it to you."

Duo could feel himself start to blush from the captain's words and his kindness. "I don't exactly know how to use it, though."

"Well, then, I guess I'll have to teach you. Right when you're finished eating we can go out and get you started. I'll have the sails lowered - we'll need to be on the mast, afterall."

'On the mast? What the hell did I just get myself into?'

oOo

Duo had been all gung-ho about learning how to wield his newly possessed blade, but he didn't realize that there would be an audience for his little...lesson. He and Heero and cleared off the uppermost deck to make sure they had enough room, but some crewmembers were watching what they could from below and even above in some cases. The crow's nests and cargo nets suddenly seemed like the popular place to be as Captain Heero Yuy and master thief Duo Maxwell prepared to cross blades - whether it was out of enmity or not didn't seem to matter to the crew.

"Can you dance, Duo?"

He fought the urge to snicker in response. "Something tells me that what someone raised in my social class is completely different than someone from yours."

"I'm not asking if you can do a Minuet - just if you have good foot coordination."

Duo smirked. "I'd think evading soldiers requires some sort of footwork."

Before he could blink, the longhaired man saw Heero moving - and moving rather quickly. Duo barely had time to raise his weapon, holding it in a two-handed grip for extra strength as the pirate's blade bore down on his own. He was reeling from Heero's burst of movement. He hadn't expected the captain to be able to move that quickly so suddenly. Duo was also reeling from the other man's sudden proximity. He hadn't forgotten the lustful kiss just from the other night. He also, however, hadn't forgotten that just mere hours before Heero had struck him with a force that caused him to fall to the floor. And all those eyes watching them right now...

'How many know about Quatre's little vision?' Duo wondered. 'How many of these men are waiting to have their way with me in case I look like I have the slightest of evil intentions towards their captain?'

"You have good reflexes," Heero drew the other man's attention away from his thoughts and back to the cool steel blades crossed between them; his gaze was seductive. "Which is a useful thing to have in more areas that this."

His words caused Duo to falter, and Heero took advantage of his slip to sidestep and attempt another attack. Duo was thrown temporarily out of balance, but got it back in time to block Heero's blade. "When you step," the captain advised, "put your weight on one foot and then cross in the front with the other." He withdrew the sword, sidestepping again to demonstrate. Duo understood Heero's comparison of swordfighting to dancing. Duo also quickly realized that swordfighting wasn't that different from a knife fight - both required speed, agility, and coordination. The only major difference was that a sword was longer than a knife, and it's movements needed to be more calculated. The longhaired man gained some confidence in controlling his new weapon, so he decided to try an offensive attack instead of a defensive.

Duo uncrossed his sword, stepped to his left, and swung the blade in a horizontal arch at shoulder level. Heero seemed a little surprised at Duo's change in gears and had to spin his sword in a half-circle to block the other man's attack.

"You said you didn't know how to wield a sword," Captain Yuy grinned at the other man.

"I pick things up pretty quickly," was Duo's response, retracting the sword for another attack. Duo was starting to feel glad that he had discarded the vest before dinner, feeling that if he still wore it he would have been sweating more profusely and his breathing and movement would have been more restricted.

Duo had to admit that he was sort of enjoying this. On a ship there wasn't very many ways to get some decent exercise, and this was proving to be more strenuous that he would have expected. Duo paused to wipe the sweat off his forehead, the evening slowly getting cooler as the sun got lower in the sky. Some of the crew, losing interest or figuring they had something better to do.

He wasn't sure if he was getting paranoid at this point, but with the crew losing interest and his gained confidence meaning he didn't have to think about every move he made, Duo started to pay attention to other things - said other things being Captain Yuy. The way the other man moved, the way his clothing accentuated his body, and most notably the way Heero watched Duo's every move. Heero stopped his onslaught and stood back, leaving Duo swaying as he caught his balance.

"You're getting distracted," Heero resheathed his sword at his waist belt, brushing chocolate brown locks away from his eyes to fix Duo with his intense gaze. Duo felt his cheeks start to burn, not knowing he had been that obvious. The longhaired man didn't even realize Heero was walking towards him until their faces were merely inches away. Duo lowered his gaze when he felt fingers tracing his cheek and down to his jawline. Adrenaline was running in his blood and he almost forgot how to breathe.

"What's wrong?" Heero murmured, his voice reminiscent of a purr. "Afraid you might like it?"

Duo shivered involuntarily. He couldn't deny it. The whole ordeal had been horribly overwhelming, but there was also something undeniably romantic about the situation. True, he did find Heero attractive, but... 'Aw, fuck, just admit it. You are afraid. This sort of thing just doesn't happen to people. Street rats don't get saved by pirates to find out that the captain of the most infamous pirates currently sailing the seas, a captain who happens to be the runaway son of a lord, was prophesized to either be loved or killed by them. It all seemed like a deranged fairy tale.

"I don't know what to think," Duo replied, hesitantly looking back up but focusing on a point behind the captain instead of at him directly. "It's only been a day and a lot has happened." The part that was the most frightening to him, Duo realized, was the fact that some part of him was attracted to Heero. From what he had seen so far, the man was undeniably charming and kind, despite the stereotypes his...profession might create. "I mean, I thought I knew everything there was to know about pirates, but you don't even have the silly hat."

Heero smiled at that, and Duo had mixed emotions as his heart fluttered. He felt like a little girl with a crush on one hand and like a complete imbecile on the other. "Well, I didn't exactly think a famed con artist would be adorable when he blushed." This, of course, caused Duo's face to burn once more. "Yes, that's the expression." He frowned slightly. "I didn't know I was letting you down by not having a hat."

"It's not a loss - the damn thing would just hide your gorgeous eyes," the longhaired man blurted out, and he hadn't realized that he said it outloud until he got a smirk from Heero.

"Now that's what I like to hear from you," the captain looked like a cat that had just found the cream. A cool breeze assaulted them, and Duo shuddered noticably from the sudden chill. Nights in the tropics always had such a severe contrast to the days. Duo was starting to wish he had worn the vest afterall, the sweat on his skin making him feel colder than he should have. "Come," Heero said in a voice that reminded Duo that the other man was used to ordering people around, "my room will be warmer and there's something I'd like to show you."

Duo nodded in agreement, hoping that his mind was wrong about the potential things that Heero could show him when they were in a much more private location.

End Part 3