Pirate vs. Ninja (for Verity)

[Chase Firebrand]

The pirate sheathed his sword and threw his hands up in frustration. "Come, my pajama'd foe, let us drink to my demise." A demise which would not occur. Firebrand's eyes gleamed orange flame as he led the way back to his cabin. The ninja star he had retrieved from his now throbbing leg had been in his leather-gloved hands long enough for him to coat with a fine powder, a poison strong enough to kill the kracken itself and more than enough for a man.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Plot-devidedly enough, the pirate had forgotten that ninjas also wore gloves, and so picking up his shiruken had done nothing. Dare followed Firebrand, tucking away his wakizashi, since he still had yet to make more than a flesh wound. He kept his nunchucka out, however, and any pirate who rose from the floorboards long enough to so much as ogle him found a wooden handle imprinted on his forehead and a nice long nap ahead.

[Chase Firebrand]

By the time they reached his cabin, the captain had realized that the poison had not taken effect. He frowned in displeasure. This meant that he would actually have to share his precious rum with a man who had made yet another bloodstain on his knee-high boots. "Come in," he said, waving the shadow through the door. "Light a candle, will you? I want to make sure you don't put your feet on my desk."

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare lit a candle, as per his foe's request. After all, the man had but a few minutes left to live and he was an honorable ninja. It seemed reasonable. Dare bypassed the chairs and went straight for the captain's bed. "Do you even use this?" he asked. The sheets were far too clean for a pirate to have slept in, let alone enjoyed the results of raping and pillaging.

[Chase Firebrand]

Firebrand arched a jaded brow at the shadowy spot on his bed that he could still not see since ninjas are that good. "As I said before, Lady Grace left with her own crew, and my other pirates are well below my standards. I was a week or so away from going ashore to the nearest port and stealing a new wench or three. They tire out so easily, you see, what with my wenching skills."

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

The ninja nodded sagely and accepted a glass of rum. "The life of a ninja is solitary as well. Do you know how many people don't even read the captions? They're perfectly happy simply watching the front of my mask as though they'll see my lips move if they look hard enough." He eyed the glass, wondering how he would take a drink through the black cloth draped over his mouth.

[Chase Firebrand]

Firebrand took the rest of the bottle, tipping it up to drink. The ship-made rotgut burned down his throat, the alcohol content enough to make an elephant keel over. However, as a pirate he had a distinct advantage. He drank five bottles per night and enjoyed every one. "Take your mask down and drink," he said. "Or are you a coward after all?"

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare glared at the pirate. So, he could read not only captions, but thoughts as well? He screwed his eyes closed and fixed an image firmly in his mind of Lady Annabelle and Madame Lucretia scorning him in his own bed. Then he pulled down his mask and drank. It tasted horrible, but who was he to refuse such hospitality? The pirate could live another five minutes or so.

Then the rotgut hit his stomach and began to spread through his veins. It was a worse poison than that which tainted his shiruken! He dropped the empty glass, which shattered to the floor, and pulled out his wakizashi with shaking hands. He could do nothing less than perform ritual suicide now, saving his honor. He would die at his own hands before those of a pirate!

[Chase Firebrand]

Firebrand's smirk was now a wolfish grin. He set down his bottle and strode across the room with slow, measured steps, heeled boots clicking like a countdown to the ninja's demise. He could see the man now, with his wide mouth open and likely gasping its last breaths. He pulled the sword from the ninja's hand and tossed it aside. "You won't be needing that," he said. "You are drunk off your arse, not dying." He untied his scabbard, sash and belt, then began to unbutton his long jacket.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare lay back, then tried to move off the bed. One weakened hand rose to pull his mask back into place. Drunk. It was ridiculous! Who had ever heard of a drunken ninja? He shuffled, but only got as far as hanging his head backwards off the side of the bed before he was too tired to move again. "勝つことができない" he whispered, "すべての証拠にもかかわらず反対に。"

____________________________

勝つことができない
You can not win.

すべての証拠にもかかわらず反対に。
Despite all evidence to the contrary.

[Chase Firebrand]

Firebrand dropped to his knees beside the bed, his face level with that of the now upside-down ninja. "I still see you," he said. He pulled off one of his gloves and set it aside, then reached for the ninja's mask. He only pushed aside the piece over that wide mouth, slowly reavealing lips, but hiding half the man's face. It felt like a scene out of a movie as he leaned forward to bring their lips together. A costumed man upside-down. It was so familiar. He kissed the ninja, ready to begin pillaging some booty.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

The ninja was not so easily defeated. He was drunk, yes, but on his lips he wore traces of iocane powder. One taste was enough to kill, and he had spent the last few years building up an immunity to iocane powder. He may be drunk, but the alcohol would pass through his body in a matter of hours. He would escape the ship with nothing more than a bloodied shiruken and a headache.

[Chase Firebrand]

The pirate had his kiss, but was unable to rape or pillage from his deathbed. It seemed that the ninja's brother had been avenged after all.