by Iseoie
Chapter One - Found At Last
The ocean swayed and rocked in perfect symphony and perfect arrangement. The salty air was enough to make one sick, and it burrowed into your eyes causing them to spill tears as if someone had placed an onion infront of you. As the large ship plowed through the cruel seas, the dubious wood groaned and creaked, yet all the ships members ignored it as if it were nothing to worry about, this was probably the case.
Raphael stood proudly at the front of the rather elaborate and rich looking ship. He was accompanied by a young woman, of Japanese origin. She had long raven coloured hair that was in a long and high braid, her eyes were a soft emerald colour, and she was dressed in a navy blue female kimono with the sleeves and skirt ripped short. She stood at Raphael’s side, her brow shielded from the sun by her slender, porcelain coloured hand. Her emerald eyes squinted as the view of a small town came inching into place. The ship ground to a halt in the ocean’s untrustworthy waters as it docked, and Raphael and the woman leaped onto creaky wooden flooring of the docks, approaching the busy commotion of the small farming village.
"Now where are those little rats...?" Raphael scanned the area, he waved his hand in frustration, "Oh kill them all Iseoie..." he muttered to the woman at his side.
Iseoie plucked something from the material belt of her kimono it looked like a hilt from a katana. She gripped her hand around it tightly as her gold arm bands glistened in the twilight of the evening. From either end of the hilt huge silver blades shot out, around a metre each way. A grin curled and formed on her pale lips, as she slit her emerald eyes spinning the blade around intently. Busily, she drove herself into the middle of the villagers forcefully knocking down two of them, their faces fell pale as they were rendered unconscious. The bodies curled lifelessly to the floor, and Iseoie grinned. She paused breathing heavily. Her eyes opened and were greeted by an end of a nunchaku to the face. She was cascaded into barrels of seed and wheat, she groaned and climbed to her feet clutching her blade even tighter than before, with sheer rage.
"You...." she spat as she frantically searched for the wielder of the nunchaku. All she could see was a tall, cloaked figure, the only feature visible on the figure was a pair of grinning lips. The figure spun the nunchaku teasingly. Iseoie lunged at the nunchaku wielding nuisance and slammed them to the floor, falling on top of them herself. The hood of the cloak jarred backwards revealing all of the figure’s features. Sleek black hair with a lock falling over the face and deep, brown eyes.
Iseoie was paralysed with shock at the discovery of who it was, who’d attacked her. She remained on top of the man, stupidly dropping her blade, at this the man got up slamming her against a wall, her wrists locked against the wall by his hands, he frowned at her.
"Maxi..." she muttered staring at him.
Maxi raised an eyebrow loosing her ever so slightly. "How do you know my name..." he questioned through gritted teeth, holding her tightly again.
"It’s me, don’t you remember me..?" she pleaded looking deeply at him.
He frowned in confusion squinting his eyes searching her for an answer, he let go of her as it clicked, "Iseoie...." his face fell surprised also. "What the heck are you doing here?!" he insisted as he picked up her blade handing it to her.
She gripped the hilt, and the two steel blades shot back into the hilt. She put it into her belt again, and sighed, "This was a job that involved travel and i had to find you...." she paused, "I knew you weren’t dead...." she muttered trailing off slightly. Maxi grasped her shoulders pulling her right to him, he squeezed her fondly, and then let her go, she smiled weakly, feeling guilty about attacking his village, her reunion was interrupted by the immense shouting of Raphael, "ISEOIE I SAID DESTROY THEM, NOW DO AS I ASK, WOMAN!!" he strode over drawing his sword, the silver glistening in the light, as his eyes burned with hatred for the pirate.
"She belongs to me, you brainless pirate..." Raphael stated grasping Iseoie’s wrist tightly.
"I belong to no one..." Iseoie scowled shoving the hilt of her double edge into Raphael’s nose, forcing him to let her go....She sprinted ahead summoning Maxi to follow. "There’s ships around here right?" she asked frantically as Maxi caught up with her, he nodded pointing to the docks, at the ship Iseoie had arrived on, "That’ll do i guess" she chuckled slightly.
He grinned leaping up onto the ships deck, one of the crew approached as Iseoie arrived also, "Ma’am where’s Raphael?", Iseoie shoved him slightly, "Forget him, we’re leaving NOW got it?", The man stood shakily and saluted making all the necessary steps to move on.
"Where shall we head?" shouted one of the crew. Iseoie was about to answer, but she was interrupted by Maxi, "Venice, go to Venice...!" he shouted back.
Iseoie gave him a blank stare, "Why Venice?".
Maxi looked at her folding his arms, "Because Venice is a big place, if he does follow us there i doubt he’d find us....".
Iseoie nodded slowly and signalled for the crew to set sail. The ship creaked and groaned and soared once more through the ocean. Raphael however had caught up, he stood perched on the tip of the docks, as he thrust his blade to the ground watching the ship plow into the orange horizon, and off to who knows where.
"I’ll get you Iseoie...." he muttered, he noticed a man hobble past, and grabbed him, lifting him up slightly by the scruff of the neck, "Where was that ship heading?" he growled.
The man whimpered and held up his hands defensively, "I don’t rightly know, that is i heard them say something about Venice sir, don’t hurt me...".
Raphael shoved the man to the floor and he scurried away. Raphael stroked his chin, grinning, "Venice ay....I’ll get them..." he muttered. TO BE CONTINUED.......
