Hi all! Another story featuring my favourite VK pairing. Enjoy!

He was the newest addition to the crew of the Seamaster, having cast in his lot with Captain Zero Kiryuu's crew when he signed on the ledger after a quick glance at the names of the other sailors.

"His name's Kaname Kuran, sir," the first mate Tarren told Zero Kiryuu, pointing him out to the silver haired captain with a muscular brown forearm. Kaname was dark haired and very tall, well muscled but not brawny like most other sailors. Oddly enough, his skin was smooth and the colour of milk; milk on his face, milk on his arms, milk on his chest and torso.

Captain Kiryuu eyed him, and snorted disinterestedly.

"He's a lady, but give him no quarter for that. Nobody signs on to relax."

"Aye, sir."

Some sailors immediately took on to Kaname, for they were old and seasoned crew of Zero Kiryuu, and welcomed a fresh face and young voice. They envied his bright eyes, his charisma and zest, remembering that all young man began that way, and that all young men were eventually worn down by routine and mistreatment.

Others took to him in a different way, eyeing his shoulder length hair, thick and wavy like a girl's, his limbs that were hard and lithe yet almost slender beside theirs, his skin with its tight creamy sheen. They marked his body with their gazes, ravished his back when they thought he wasn't looking, and replayed dark fantasies in their minds.

Still others greeted him with the same sullen glare that had grown on their faces, treated him to a permanent scowl and then busied themselves with tasks that had become the sole center of their lives.

Kaname was likeable enough – he attended to chores with the speed and efficiency of an old sailor and the vigour of youth; he asked and got the names of his crewmates. There was Gad the cook, who slammed hard bread and tepid tea in front of them every morning; Tarren and Hern, the first and second mates who gave orders and sneered at the sailors down their crooked brown noses; one-eared Jack, a short, swarthy ape who could pull twice as strongly as other men; Beak, with a mouth shaped like one; Red eye, who roared and bellowed perpetually; there were nine others besides, and all of them had crewed for Captain Kiryuu for years.

"What's he like?" Kaname had asked Beak on his first day. Having polished the masts, reefed the sails and tended to the spars all day, they were now scrubbing the forecastle deck in the blistering afternoon heat.

Beak grunted in reply and wiped sweat from his brow. He knees were too rough and calloused to feel sore from hours of kneeling, his back was used to being bent over this menial task, his skin was black as tar from the sun and would not burn.

All the same, he found the question stupid and annoying.

"Guess I'll find out soon enough," Kaname shrugged. He saw Miles and Keith watching him with one eye, and noted the lecherous gleam beneath their shaggy brows. Kaname turned his back and stretched like a cat, baring his smooth white back and working his defined shoulders. Turning back around, he winked saucily at the both of them.

"Go back to your work, pretty boy," Hern snarled, lumbering up with a belaying pin and whacking Kaname hard.

Kaname backfisted the second officer on the jaw, making him stumble back.

"I wasn't leaving it," he retorted, scowling. Hern regained his footing, and his eyes narrowed ferociously.

"How dare you hit me, boy? The captain will hear of this!" Hern threatened. His lip had split and he licked blood from the corner of his mouth.

"I'm green by your standard, but every seaman worth his salt knows no captain bothers about the petty squabbles of his crew. That said, I suppose you're about as bland as grass, eh?"

Kaname returned to his task, and Hern, wondering whether he had been insulted yet finding nothing to fault at the moment, stalked off, broken lipped and glowering.

"What?" Kaname asked, when he saw Beak shaking his head. The old sailor responded with another question.

"Guess how he got hes name?"

"What...Hern? If you ask me, it's because he looks fit to burst his britches. Tight as a bustier on a whore!" (1)

The last statement provoked gales of laughter from the men around him. Beak chuckled, shaking his head again.

"You've got sugar on yer tongue and butter tha' won't melt in yer mouth, laddie, as me ma used ter say. Min' it don' get yer int' hot soup ... some of 'em aboard here wanna put it to other uses..."

"I'd welcome the challenge. Seems little enough deviation from routine here," Kaname grinned.

"Don' cher go showin' them big words 'round here, now," Finn barked. The handsome helmsman, tall and flaxen haired, jerked his chin in the direction of the captain's quarters. "You be naught but a minnow in shark territory."

"Hern and the first officer?"

"Little enough as makes no difference, pretty boy. Now keep shut that sweet mouth of yers, or Hern will have our hides for laziness!"

Supper was an uproarious affair that first night; Captain Kiryuu had ordered a barrel of rum open for the men as a gesture of goodwill, and the men, minus the captain and his officers, had a fine time amongst themselves, even the most silent ones.

"I gots twelve cuts on me arms – count 'em, twelve! – for every jack I whacked down at the arena at Yeman. Ain't no bugger a match for Miles the Mastiff -" Miles bragged, showing off the bumpy scars on his massive forearms. "- and ain't no woman able ter resis' me neither!"

"Ain't no woman got any need ter try, Miles!" Keith taunted; Miles scowled and the men hooted.

"Imma known an' famoose through ou' theh Ir'sh Sea, I am!" Gad said in his heavily accented voice.

"One whiff of yee underarms and the sleepiest laggards' outta bed, eh?" Jack teased, for the smell of garlic, spices and herbs clung constantly to the cook. Gad ignored him.

"Ain't no town withou' a pretti ladeh tha' dunno my name. Me and me ladies and our kids, they all gonna grow up an' earn gold, silver, jewels -"

"Yer garden of spuds and beets is what gonna grow up, and into that pot-belly o' yours..."

"Wha's it in Captain Kiryuu's crew for ye, young Kuran?" Beak asked, and the others clamoured to hear the newcomer's story.

"Wages!"

"Women!"

"Ale!"

"Our's valuable comp'ny!"

There was a round of laughter and back slapping, which echoed off the wooden walls of the hold.

"Why, adventure, of course! Over the masts, under the spars and between the sheets!" Kaname replied easily to unanimous agreements from the men.

"I knew it! Them eyes an' skin an hair, you be twisted an' a captain's dog through and through!" Red-eye bellowed.

"You knew wrong! I am no sealord's toy – rather, I am skilled with blade and harpoon. I have come aboard the seamaster to spear me a certain silver shark!" Kaname declared.

There was a noisy chorus of disbelief.

"Perish the thought! Gad an' me, we been crewing for Cap'n Kiryuu for nigh eight years – since he was, what, eighteen?"

"-Seventeen-" Gad chimed in.

"-Seventeen, and every jack on board with more than ten years over him...the Cap'n ain't ever let anyone get out of line, he's one with a mouth of iron and words of steel. You be in for a lost cause, Kuran! He an' his brothers, all descended from dukes or earls, honourable an' the like, no ho'es, (2) even..."

Kaname snorted. "They're all the same, and even highborn lords get lonely at sea, eh? Two arms, two legs, a spear...or not, for some unlucky weasels...I've never lost yet!"

"Fine then, boy...how's this? I'll wager yer half my pay of this trip that yer can't win this –" Beak lowered his head and voice for effect, and the others leaned in eagerly.

"- Half of fift'n pounds silver sez yeh can't bed the captain – in his own cabin – before we make ashore in Torido. If yer as good as yer make out to be, take it!"

The contest fell on silenced men with stunned expressions. It was unbelievable, impossible, and utterly ludicrous. The captain was master, ruler, king; nigh untouchable and far above any of them. One word against a sailor from his captain, and the sailor would be ruined for life.

Kaname and Beak stared into each other's eyes, one agape, the other grinning.

"Come on, boy, what sez ye? Give us old weeds a bit o' show, right?" He raised his voice. "Who else wants ter see this upstart taken down a peg or two? Half our silver! No, wait – if he comes back fer more, an' we're there to see, we'll make it two thirds!"

Another silent communion, then –

"Ah, yer wench! Go on, then – I'll cast my lot with Beak! Half or two thirds my share, depending on yeh luck!" Finn growled, breaking into an almost feral grin.

"Count me in!"

"Me too!"

One by one, all the sailors joined in, and they waited for Kaname to accept, knowing that for him to refuse now would name him a coward at most and a liar at best.

He must have been drunk on bravado and exhilaration from the heady ale and the wild salty wind.

That's more than seven times of silver. Just - bed him. Then make him ask for more.

"Deal!" he roared. A fist slammed the table, and he spat on it; after which there was an enthusiastic addition of ale-flavoured saliva from the men onto the table.

"Ah en't clinning tha' up," Gad said, eyeing the disgusting mixture of spit.

"Lor, jes you breathe on it, it'll sour right off, that will –"

Ha! It's definitely not my usual plot...I had several ideas for an AU Kaname/Zero story, because the whole vampire-human thing seems rather overdone. Some which I liked had Kaname and Zero as, respectively,

1. A king and a vassal, in which Zero, the king's lover, betrays Kaname and and has to be excuted for high treason... (unfold the drama) but I thought all the necessary emotions and angst would bog it down and make it too slow. And, it's a common plot.

2. Rival criminal warlords in the Tokyo underworld, with lots of greed, manipulation, corruption...but I lack ingenuity to think of complicated twists and plotlines.

3. A lord and his mercenary, meaning Zero's "in command." It would be interesting, but mercenaries are, well, fighters, so nonstop fighting would make kinda poor fanfare...(get it? fanfiction-fare? ha ha sorry.)

But anyway, yes, those were some ideas I had. Eventually I decided to start on this first, it seemed less "massive", and also I wanted to take Kaname out of his cozy comfortable "pureblood" setting and chuck him into a rather lewd one - for fun!!

I am really, really sorry about the lack of updates, because, because ... School! A pathetic excuse, but this is my last year in high school and I have a major exam. Plus I migrated, so the whole change of school and uprooting thing.. you know.

And, IlonaPixie, in case you're reading this, I'm so sorry about the requested Sephiroth/Vincent fic!! I've been squeezing my brain for ideas and I love that pairing too, but... no light bulbs yet... I'm trying! So sorry!!

Oh, just in case : referring to the story above, (1) "Hern" - Hernia - Rupture of the flesh; "burst his britches/ boots" extremely arrogant, in a bad way. (2) Hoes - slang for whores.

My speech spelling and grammar is not atrocious! I'm trying to emulate the way sailors speak. Do you get the innuendoes? There are quite a few ;D.

Thank you for reading! Any constructive criticisms are welcome, and if you want chapter 2, REVIEW!!

PS : I like my title! Do you? heh!