Pirates of the Skies

Chapter 7

Enter the Otake Family

The man smiled at Omoi and Kai. He had short blond hair that fell to his head like fine spaghetti much like Kai's hair. His hazel eyes looked at the world through horn-rimmed glasses. He had on a blue jacket with four sandy brown buttons buttoned up at the front and brown shoulder pads completed with a pair of grey pants. His jacket mimicked the uniform a sea man in the navy would wear but considering it lacked any official symbols, it remained just that, mimicry.

"Nice to see you're still alive, Kai." He said. "Hello there, my name is Shuji Otake." He said bowing to Omoi who was taken aback by the politeness he showed towards a child such as herself.

"My… my name is Omoi." She said hastily returning the bow.

"This is my big brother." Kai said, gesturing to Shuji.

"You're so impressive, Kai." Shuji said with a mischievous smile on his face. "We leave you in the middle of the ocean and you manage to bring back a girlfriend."

"What?" Kai said outraged. "She's… I mean Omoi's… hey, I don't have a girlfriend!" Kai said his cheeks getting red.

"Awe, you're so cute when you blush and deny your girlfriend." Hazumi said, floating next to Shuji and joining in on the joke.

"Shut up, Hazumi!" Kai shouted.

"Hazumi?" Shuji said to the air beside him, where he thought Hazumi was but actually was not. "It's good to know your also back."

"It's good to be back, Shuji." Hazumi replied, making his voice audible.

"My baby is back!" Kai heard a loud voice say. He looked to the side just in time as a woman knocked Omoi away on her way to hugging him. She wore a red blouse with yellow strings keeping her big bosom in check. A grey ragged skirt that covered her legs except for the slit on one side which showed off her leg. She hugged Kai, shoving his face into her large chest.

"Mom, you're embarrassing me!" Kai said, his voice muffled in the hug.

"Nonsense! A mother could never embarrass her baby boy!" She squealed , lovingly keeping him between her breasts. "Wait, is Hazumi here?"

"I'm here mom."

"Good, come here so that I can embrace you too!" She said, her ginger red hair fluttering around her as she looked left and right for her invisible son.

"I'm actually out of energy, mother." Hazumi said wanting to avoid being squeezed by his mother. "Why don't you give Kai an extra tight squeeze for me."

"What? Hazumi you…" Whatever Kai was about to say was smothered as his mother hugged him again, even tighter.

"Hazumi and I were talking about how Kai here came back with a girlfriend." Shuji said casually and is hands slapped his mouth shut after he realised what he had said and in front of whom.

"What?" Kai's mother said with her black eyes gaining a hint of fire in them. She let go of her son and took a pose like she was charging up. Her hair fluttered straight up in a phantom updraft. "WHICH HEFFER BELIEVES THAT SHE CAN TAKE MY SON'S HEART?!" As she said this a great wind rose from her, threatening to blow everyone around her away. She looked around and saw Omoi standing innocently and fearfully just a few steps away from her. Kai's mother began stomping towards the girl. "So you're the one!"

Kai slid in front of her with her arms wide in a protective stance. "Mom, she's not really my girlfriend!"

"Yeah mom!" Shuji said trying to hold his mother back. "I only meant that she is a girl who happens to be Kai's friend!"

Their mother pushed Kai aside but stopped after Shuji gave his explanation. "Fine, but I've got my eyes on you." She said to Omoi as she retreated, watching her with glaring eyes. "My baby can't have a girlfriend. He's too young." She said hugging him again.

"Come now, Yuki." A mysterious voice said. "Our boy is not too young for anything. He survived on his own didn't he?"

Kai was able to escape from his mother's grasp and look out at the direction of the voice. "Dad!"

Omoi looked on as a lengthened shadow and the stomping of heavy boots signalled Kai's father's arrival. The steps went boon boon as Kai's father came ever so closer. Omoi was anxious to see him. If Kai's mother was this scary, the man who had children with her must be pretty impressive.

A short man stepped out, which secretly disappointed Omoi. He had a short scruffy beard, wore a red pirate like jacket with black pants. He had on a sandy brown pirate hat with a yellow feather nudged at the top. He had a curved blade resting on one side of the hip and a pistol resting in the holster at the other side of his hip. One side of his belt was lined up with bullets ending in a silver tin box attached to his belt.

"Hello son." The pirate said.

"Dad!" Kai said running for him. "Omoi, this is one of the greatest… no, the greatest sky pirate in the seven skies! And isn't he huge?"

Omoi sighed inwardly as she asked herself if he did not see the only reason his father looks huge is because Kai was still hitting puberty and as such he was still shorter than his short dad. The man barely managed to reach half-way to his wife's body. Although in his defence, Yuki was taller than most women and her thicker body made her look bigger. She was not fat, just wel endowed in womanly features.

"Hello, Mr. Otake… Mrs Otake., pleased to meet you all." She said bowing to the two. "My name is Omoi."

"Nice to meet you, Omoi." He greeted her. "Are you planning to join our little crew?"

"Shinji!" Yuki said to her husband. "You can't just ask someone who is not family to join our crew without consulting me!"

"But I didn't ask her to join, I asked her if she was joining." Shinji said quietly but was not heard because Kai spoke up over his voice.

"She's not joining our crew, mom." Kai said. "Omoi has a brother in… uh, where do you have a brother again?"

"Korrean in Balsc City." Omoi said.

"Yeah, her brother is in Korrean in Balsc City. I told her that we could take here to him." Kai said. "So can we?"

"Balsc City all the way in Korrean, huh?" Shinji said rubbing his beard. "It is very much out of our way."

"And Balsc City is close to the Global Affiliate Protection Territories." Shuji said, fixing his glasses onto his face critically.

"So we can't take you to Korrean little girl." Yuki gloated over the much smaller and scared looking girl. "I guess we'll find the nearest orphanage and dump you… I mean enrol you there."

"But it does sound like quite an adventure." Shinji said with a sparkle in his eyes. "Alright! We'll do it! We'll deliver Omoi to Balsc City!"

"What?" Shuji and Yuki said looking at him confused. "What about my argument?" Shuji said quietly at the same time his mother said, "What about the whole out of our way thing?"

Kai on the other hand was very impressed with his father. He fell to his knees where he hugged Shinji's leg in an extreme form of hero worship. "Oh dad, you're so great! No wonder you're the greatest pirate ever!"

Shinji beamed at his son's worship of him.

Yuki groaned. "Fine, I know I can't tell you anything when you get like this." Yuki turned to Omoi once again, intimidating her with her fierce hazel eyes. "I guess you can stay for now, little girl. I'll show you to your sleeping quarters."

Yuki led Omoi around the ship and pointed to her new sleeping quarters. "Here's where you'll sleep."

Omoi was confused at what she pointed to. "But… but that's a barrel."

"Oh what, you're too good for our sleeping quarters?" Yuki said accusingly.

"Uhm no… I just…" Omoi said feeling intimidated.

"And anyways, you have a tiny body, so you'll be able to fit in that barrel and still have room to stretch your arms." Yuki said.

"Awe, mothe, you're not going to do the whole sleep in the barrel thing." Shuji said from behind her.

Yuki looked back at her son feeling a little ashamed. "There's no where else for her!" She defended herself against her son's disappointed expression.

"There's the girls' dorm room" Shuji said being the more sensible one. "It's currently empty so she can sleep there."

"Ugh, fine!" Yuki said leaving her son to lead Omoi to the girl's sleeping dorm room. It was more like a small bedroom with two single beds, one made up with grey sheets and a simple pillow while the other one was bare except for the mattress.

/

Omoi was wandering around the ship after she had taken a bath. It had been a long time since she had taken a nice warm bath unlike her time living on the street where she was forced to bath a half empty water well that had fallen into disuse. She was surprised that the ship had a room with a small old bathtub standing on rusted legs.

After getting dressed, she decided to do a little exploring. It was the first time she had been on a sky ship. She had seen a few of them fly by her little town many times and wondered what it was like to soar in the sky on the magnificent pieces of ingenuity.

She stopped in front of a door. The door was different from all the other doors on the ship. All other doors were made from simple, unremarkable wood but this door was made of fine oak. Its frame was red and there were gold patterns of vines along the sides of the door along with decorative squares carved into its surface. It was the most elegant thing she had seen on the ship.

Before showing her the girls' dorm, Shuji showed her around and explained all the rooms and their functions. There was the storage room that kept all their supplies and the bathtub. The ship also housed a small study, engine room, Shinji's and Yuki's small bedroom and the boys' and girls' dorm rooms. However, Shuji never showed her the room beyond this door, he had not even bothered to make her aware that it existed.

She reached out to the bronze doorknob of the door with the intention of peeking inside. All she wanted was a small peek. Her fingertips were already brushing the warm metal…

"Don't do it."

Omoi jumped with a fright at hearing Hazumi's voice. "Ha-Hazumi?"

"You're not allowed in there." Hazumi said.

Omoi felt unnerved at the tone of his ghostly voice. It held a tense tone and not at all friendly. She involuntarily gulped. "I'm… I'm sorry." Omoi said. There was silence that filled the dark hallway. Was he gone? She wondered to herself.

"I guess it's okay." Hazumi said, his voice now sounding more exhausted than anything else. "Just… don't go in there. Do you want me to lead you to the girls' dorm?" He asked as a silver dot of light shaped like the tip of a finger appeared in mid-air.

"Uh... no, I can find it on my own, thanks." Omoi said as she walked back to her designated sleeping area.

"Good night." Hazumi said as the light disappeared.

"Good night." Omoi said rushing to the girls' dorm. She made a mental note to be careful whenever she was naked now that she remembered that she could not see Hazumi. She did not really think that Hazumi would stoop as low as spying on her at her most vulnerable moments but a girl could never be too safe.

/

Kai came into the boys' dorm room. He felt like he had been away from the room for ages even if that was not really the case. The boys' dorm room had three bunk beds and a desk with two chairs on the other side of the room against the wall. Only one set of the bunk beds had a small nightstand next to it.

He climbed up to the top bunk of one of the beds and threw himself on it, looking up at the low ceiling. It had been a while since he had a decent bath and a soft bed to sleep on. Shuji came in, in his white striped pyjamas. He looked up at his brother lying on the top bunk.

"Its going to take some getting used to, having you back." Shuji said smiling.

"Oh, please." Kai said. "I wasn't gone that long!"

Shuji took off his glasses and placed them on a small night stand next to a bottom bunk bed that was on a bunk bed next to the one Kai was sleeping in. He slithered underneath the sheets and placed his arms under his head. "So did you enjoy yourself?" Shuji asked. "Being away from the family and all."

"It was fun at times but I really missed this place." Kai said turning over to the side. "And anyways, I wasn't away from family. I still had Hazumi with me after all." Kai yawned before closing his eyes. "I am happy to be back though…" he said as he fell deeper into sleep.

Shuji smiled at himself. "I am happy to have you back, brother." He said quietly so not to wake Kai up.