Morg: Heyo! I'm just going to jump right in and not waste time with excuses.

Ikuto: Just you saying that is wasting time.

Amu: I was really hoping that maybe you forgot about this story.

Morg: Never!

Ikuto: Good. I want to see the ending.

Amu: I don't.

Morg: Then it's a good thing I don't own you.

Ikuto: Sometimes it is a pity.

Amu: No, it's really not.

~The Eighth Sea~

She didn't have a chance to enjoy the jump she made before she hit the water off the side of the ship. The momentum of the ship dragged Amu for a few yards before she managed to get her bearings and swam for the Navy's ship. The spot she was in was precarious. One wrong wave and she would be crushed by either ship. Debris flew through the air as both ships continued to fire at one another.

Amu ignored all of it. She pushed the danger out of her mind and the screams from above whenever someone was struck. She couldn't let any of it distract her. She just had to trust that the crew knew what they were doing.

The Navy's ship was small and built for speed. That being the case, the rudder was small and easy for Amu to get behind. Getting a good grip to pull herself up to disable it was tricky. Amu had to wait for the perfect wave to lift her high enough. She snagged the chain and held on as the wave receded. Her arms screamed in agony as she held herself in place. Her body was beyond exhausted but she kept pushing herself.

A loud boom sounded from above before everything went still. Amu ignored it like she did the rest as she used the knife she'd carried over to start working on the link that connected the main chain to the rudder. She only had to weaken it. Once it was compromised, the ship would break it when they tried to turn and follow The Lynx.

"Amu! I can see you! I'm here to rescue you! You don't have to be afraid anymore!"

Freezing against the back of the ship, Amu blinked a few times before lifting her head. She expected to see a familiar head of blond hair looking down at her from the deck rail. There wasn't one. Tadase was yelling to her, but he couldn't see her. There was no way.

"What the fuck?" Amu barely whispered the words before she went back to her task.

"Who are you yelling at?"

Listening to Ikuto talk to Tadase like he was an idiot put a smile on Amu's lips.

"I can see her up there! Her pink hair is not hiding her. Amu! Come down!"

Blinking a few more times, Amu let out a snort of laughter as she kept working. Tadase couldn't see her. He could see Ran.

"Who me?!"

"What trickery is this?! Where is Amu!?"

"I don't know who you're talking about. That's not this Amu person you're talking about."

"I know you have her!"

Amu tsked to herself as she listened to Tadase become more and more furious. It was going to be quite the sight to see when he realized that she was there but out of his reach once again. It was no more than he deserved.

Just as her harness was starting to pull tight, Amu finished her task. The chain didn't look damaged, but it would not last through the helmsman trying to turn the ship. That she was sure of.

Waiting for the right sort of wave once again, Amu looked back at her ship to see Rima and Miki watching her without watching her from the back deck. She waved at them before letting herself fall into the ocean. Amu surfaced in time to see Miki turning away and Rima grabbing Amu's rope to start pulling her in.

Amu swam with all that she had left for the ship. She didn't want to get caught in the water. She didn't want to risk someone from the Navy trying to come in after her. For a moment, she thought about swimming around to the other side of the ship, but decided she wouldn't make it due to how tired she was. Being buried alive after the deal with the sirens and now this was really taking a lot out of her. Amu needed a nice long rest.

"Well, as you can see, there isn't anyone named Amu onboard my ship."

Amu couldn't help but laugh as she reached the side of Ikuto's ship. That captain really had a way with words. She wasn't surprised to hear Tadase more pissed than before when he answered.

"I'll sink your ship and kill everyone on board unless you return her to me!"

Amu climbed the rope with shaking arms while Rima pulled her up. Miki returned to help. All Amu could really do was hold on tight. When she was far enough above the waterline that she knew she'd be safe, she looked up at the two girls. "Tell him to go!"

Miki turned her head without letting go of the rope. "Captain!"

Ikuto didn't bother to hide his smirk as he kicked the soldier he'd been holding at sword point over the side of his ship. "As interesting as this has been, I have places to be and things to do. Good day!"

Tadase was left spluttering as Kukai started shouting orders for the sails to be dropped. Utau spun the wheel to take them away from the other ship. Kiseki was screaming for the men on his ship to turn it about. He wasn't about to just let them sail away.

Amu, still dangling from the back of the ship couldn't help but smirk and wave at Tadase and Kiseki as The Lynx passed them by. "See ya later, boys!"

"Amu!"

Amu ignored the other ship even when Tadase raised a pistol and took a shot at her. It missed by several feet. Amu was less than impressed with his aim.

Ikuto heaved the rope with the other two girls to get Amu high enough for him to grab her and pull her safely back onto the deck of his ship. "What did you do?"

"I disabled their rudder. They won't be able to turn. Watch."

Keeping one arm around Amu, because she couldn't stand on her own, Ikuto lifted his head to watch the other ship. Amu had done whatever she'd done correctly. For a moment, it looked as if the other ship was coming around to pursue them. And then something let loose and the entire ship shuddered before drifting off course. The other ship was facing the wrong direction while Ikuto's ship sailed off.

"It'll take them a while to fix it. We shouldn't have to worry for some time."

Ikuto squeezed the pinkette to his side before turning away from the other ship. "I will be really glad if we never see them again."

Amu nodded but didn't say anything. Something told her that that wouldn't be the case. This would not be the last she saw of Tadase. "Who was that with him?"

"That's Hotori Kiseki. He's a high ranking Navy official. He's been after us for a while."

"They must be related somehow."

"Did their equally angry faces give that away?"

Amu laughed at Ikuto's impersonation of their angry faces. She shook her head before turning away from the other ship. It was fading from sight and she didn't want to think about it any longer. "They have the same family name."

"Come on, Amu. You should rest some more. You have to be exhausted."

Nodding, Amu leaned further into Ikuto's hold. "I'm going to be sore for a few days. I really pushed myself while messing with their rudder."

Ikuto scooped Amu up into his arms as he turned from the railing. She made a small sound but otherwise didn't try to fight his hold on her. That alone told him how tired she truly was. "It was a smart move and a dumb one. I'm very glad that you aren't hurt."

Amu didn't notice until Ikuto was placing her on his bed that he'd carried her into his quarters. "What are you doing?"

"You need to rest and my bed is much bigger than the one that you've been sharing with Su. Just sleep here for a while. I don't mind."

Yawning, Amu stretched a bit before relaxing back onto the soft bed. "Fine, but only because I don't think I can stand."

Ikuto chuckled a bit before moving to head back out onto deck. He needed to take stock of the damage and make certain that anyone with an injury was being seen to. They'd mostly just focused on keeping the soldiers off their ship so there shouldn't be too many injuries.

"Ikuto?"

Turning at the door, Ikuto looked back to the girl blinking sleepily at him from his bed. It took all of his restraint to not return to her and hold her in his arms again. "Yes?"

"Do you think it might be time for me to leave? I don't want them to keep chasing you because of me."

Sighing, Ikuto leaned back against his door. He had never said it to Amu, but she was in the crew and wouldn't be going anywhere. "Kiseki would chase us whether you were here or not. Besides, they know you're here. Why would you leave now?"

"I don't want to put you guys into any unnecessary danger."

Chuckling a bit, Ikuto shook his head before looking back at Amu once more. "I don't know if you've noticed, but danger is our way of life."

Amu hummed in amusement and yawned again. "Still. I should go."

Ikuto didn't realize he was crossing the room until he was dropping onto his knees at the side of the bed Amu was lying in. "You're not going anywhere. You're part of this crew now, Amu. I would have mutiny if I allowed you to leave. That and I want you here. Do you want to be here?"

Tired but well aware of what was happening, Amu smiled up at Ikuto before nodding her head. "I feel at home here with all of you. I don't want to be anywhere else."

Ikuto allowed himself to push her hair away from her face. She was still in her wet clothes from being in the water, but all of that could be cleaned up later. Ikuto really didn't mind it. "Good. I don't want you to be anywhere else, either. Sleep now. We'll worry about anything else later."

Amu hummed again before closing her eyes. She was aware that Ikuto stayed by her side for a few more minutes before he got to his feet and moved away once again. "Ikuto?"

"You are supposed to be sleeping."

"Don't stop at anymore islands that you aren't sure about for a while. I don't think we can handle anything else crazy happening right now."

Ikuto was laughing when he exited his cabin a few minutes later. He shook his head before straightening his shoulders and going to check on the rest of the crew. Though she'd been joking, Amu was right. They really couldn't handle any other crazy islands at the moment.

XXX

Amu woke slowly. She wasn't quite sure what pulled her from her sleep. It was dark inside the cabin, meaning that the sun had long set. The boat was rocking gently with the waves as they continued to sail through the night. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Sure, she wasn't in her bed but that wasn't too out of the ordinary.

She wasn't in her bed.

Amu tried to sit up. She knew that she was back in Ikuto's cabin. Waking there after they'd been kidnapped made sense. She remembered sabotaging the Navy's ship and swimming back to The Lynx. She'd been so tired that Ikuto had had to carry her.

While he'd held her in his arms, she hadn't been embarrassed. She'd been too exhausted to be anything but tired. Now, however, she was sure her face was bright red. Not only had he carried her, but he'd put her in his bed.

Amu tried to sit up once more. Then she realized that she couldn't because there was an arm around her waist holding her to the bed.

Slowly, Amu turned. Ikuto's sleeping face was not too far from her. She could make out his relaxed features in the bit of moonlight that shown through the windows. He was in his bed.

Of course, he was in his bed. It was his bed. But he was in his bed with her and he was holding her.

Amu didn't know if it was possible for her face to be any redder than it was. Whether he'd climbed into his bed and held her on purpose or not didn't change the fact that she was snuggling with the captain. Their time in the ground had been different. There hadn't been an option to not be right against him then.

This was an entirely different situation. Amu found herself staring at Ikuto and realizing that she didn't want to move out of his hold. They'd had a bit of rocky start but they were friends now. At least, she thought they were friends now. They helped each other out and didn't fight or argue. If that wasn't friendship then she didn't know what was.

With a quiet sigh, Amu snuggled back down into Ikuto's hold. If he wasn't going to let her go then she wasn't going to fight him. She didn't need for him to wake. She might have been exhausted earlier but he had been, too. And he hadn't been able to just fall into bed and sleep when she had. He deserved his rest.

That was the reason she didn't slip from him hold or his bed. That was the reason that she stayed and slept beside him, in his arms. That was the reason she was telling herself was true.

.

Morg: I had to get some cuteness in there.

Ikuto: I appreciate that.

Amu: I don't.

Morg: I think we've established that you know nothing.

Ikuto: She knows that I'm the love her life.

Amu: I definitely don't know that.

Morg: Denial. So sad.

Ikuto: Don't worry. I'll make sure she knows.

Amu: Stop touching me!

Morg: And with that, I'm leaving! Review and send love!