Brass Skies vol 2 (Draft)

Hired Gun part 23

Once they were outside, Asuka turned to Clarabelle and bowed slightly, trying not to drop the items she carried. "Domo Arigato. The boots are lovely," she said softly, but with a slight tone of anger and bitterness that caught Clarabelle off guard and made her feel off balance. "Where shall we go next?"

"There's a shop a bit further up the street I want to go to," Clarabelle answered nodding in the direction. "I don't remember the name, but I'll tell you when I see it."

Without another word, Asuka took off at a brisk pace. Clarabelle hurried to catch up. She attempted to get Asuka to talk to her but the younger woman just brushed her off.

Finally, Clarabelle had enough. She pulled Asuka into the entrance to an alleyway. She waited until no one was in earshot then turned to face Asuka. "Why are you so mad at me?"

"I do not want to be in debt to anyone," Asuka's voice as she replied was cold, detached.

"But you're not, its payment for all you've done for me, and for the lessons you promised me," Clarabelle explained.

"It still leaves me indebted. If something were to happen to prevent me from giving you those lessons, I would still owe you."

Clarabelle rolled her eyes. "I don't care about money," she hissed. "My family had loads of it growing up, Jessie and I gave it up to be with Robert, but now we have enough that between Robert, Jessie, and me, we could probably afford to build a whole damn town if we pooled all our resources. In fact we already have started building one. Taking care of my friends is more important to me than a few coins!"

"You believe we are friends, but maybe I do not wish to be," Asuka countered.

Clarabelle's eyes widened and grew watery as her mouth dropped. It took her a couple of tries but she finally managed to ask, "Why not?"

"People leave. They die," Asuka's voice was so devoid of emotion it paradoxically managed to convey a feeling anyway. "That is particularly true for soldiers, mercenaries, and most likely pirates as well. It is better to have no ties, no debts."

"What happened to you," Clarabelle asked softly, sadly.

"That is not your business," Asuka replied. "I do not wish to discuss it." With that she turned away.

For the remainder of the trip, Clarabelle sensed a barrier between them that no matter how hard she tried, she could not breach. Even when she eventually convinced Asuka to talk more than just answering questions, When they finally reached the ship, and Asuka pushed her load off on a member of the crew, making excuses to leave, Clarabelle's heart felt a little heavy and confused.

After she had overseen the reception and acceptance of the delivers from the stores, and taken everything except Asuka's boots to their intended recipients and was treated to the grateful smiles and squeals of delight, she felt somewhat better.

Still later that night when she stepped into cabin she shared with her sister and several of the girls, her sister took one look at her and pulled her over to sit on the edge of the bunk. As soon as Clarabelle felt Jezebel's arm around her shoulder pulling her close, Clarabelle gave in to the inevitable. Before Jezebel could even ask her what was wrong, Clarabelle was sobbing into her sister's shoulder.

***

The next morning, the Robert's Revenge left port. With the battered Hell's Valkyrie delivered to safely, several dozen mercenaries hired, and provisions and ammunition now over-stocked, the pirate ship hustled to catch up with the Dancing Yasmine and Sword of Phobos. The entire crew was looking forward to reuniting with their sisters-in-arms so that together they could extract a blood-toll from the heartless British.

As Peters sat down to breakfast in the mess, he noticed that Asuka had company in the form of a dark skinned woman. Since they seemed to be having a discussion, he picked a spot at the far end of the table.

The unfamiliar woman noticed. "Is there a reason, you don't want to sit with us?" she challenged in a tone that was just a little too friendly, while her eyes were anything but.

Raising an eyebrow, Peters shrugged. "I usually sit with Asuka if I see she's alone. Since the two of you seem to be having a pleasant conversation, I didn't want to intrude," he smiled. "It's good to see Asuka making friends."

"Oh, honey, no one should have to eat alone. Slide on over here," the woman's tone was now genuinely friendly. "I was just answering questions about my weapon. It's not like we were discussing anything important or secret. The more the merrier."

"Is it okay with you, Asuka?" The liaison turned his attention to the other half of the pair.

"Hai, it is fine, Peters-baka," came the indifferent reply. Asuka never even looked up from her plate."

As soon as Peters slid down next to Asuka, the other woman held out her hand. "I'm Anna. What's your name, honey?"

"Call me Peters. Everyone else does."

"Nice to meet you, Peters, my name is Anna," the woman smiled. "So as I was telling Asuka, the Idea for my staff came from this banker I knew who had a cane with a blade on it. I liked the idea, and since I had learned to fight with staves and spears from my grandfather I decided I wanted to see if I could have a weapon that could be both. As it was, I found a man in Charleston that was willing to try."

For several minutes Anna visibly enjoyed talking about the trial and error process of designing the prototypes of her weapon and adapting her knowledge to become proficient with it, pausing frequently to answer questions. Peters found the conversation interesting, but what he really enjoyed was watching Asuka come out of her shell briefly.

Exactly how brief a period turned out to be only a few minutes, because as soon as Clarabelle came into the mess and headed to grab her food, Asuka's cold demeanor returned. Instantly, Asuka's eyes dulled and her voice lost any warmth. "Pardon my rudeness, but I must go," the young woman interjected, interrupting Anna's answer to one of her questions.

Before either of her companions could respond, the woman got up and swiftly left the mess, leaving her dishes and two very bewildered people.

Clarabelle sighed sadly as she slid into the table. "I see she's still angry." Peters turned his attention to her, but she waved him off. "Don't worry about it," she brushed him off.

Mustering a small smile she asked "How is everyone this morning?"

Yes, yes, it's sappy filler today, but more action is coming very soon, I promise.  Anyways, PLEASE leave me some comments people, and if you like my writing even a little, please vote!  Thank you.