"I'm going to go ask Shaz now, alright? Continue on packing, I should only be there for a minute." Toki nodded, excited that they could finally find out if they get to escape for a week on their own. Trevor had left her standing in front of her door. After they had eaten Trevor had Toki start packing and he came back a little later to report that he was going to go. She hadn't invited him into her room because she had everything strewn about her room so she could pack it and she didn't want him to see the mess. She watched him go and went back to her room.

She looked around at the piles, and smiling she began to pack everything up into her bags. She had taken an inventory on everything she needed multiple times all she had to do was pack it up. Spending a few minutes putting everything into her duffel bag neatly she looked to the other side of her bed to see more piles of things that would certainly not fit into this one bag. She sighed and got on her knees and ducked her head under the bed to grab her second one. They were smaller than the average bag, and it just took one to get her through any trips she might have, but she didn't know what to expect this time around and decided to pack extra.

She got the rest of her necessities into the other bag and smiled contently, wiping her hands on her pants, looking around her room for anything she might have forgotten.

"No, I think I've got everything now, don't I?" She spoke to herself, mumbling and she realized she had extra time on her hands. "I wonder if Trevor has started packing yet. . . Hmm." She left her two bags lying on her bed and ventured out into the hall, headed towards Trevor's room. I don't think he'd mind if I stopped in to help him get started on his packing. Either way it shouldn't matter. She decided as she reached his room and tested the door. She found it unlocked and stepped carefully inside, but before she could even think a small droid sped over to her, whirring and beeping madly. It bumped into her leg once or twice and she realized what it was doing.

"Oh, hey, Zap. It's Tokijin, Trevor's girlfriend, remember? I'm not trying to intrude or anything. . ." She was a little surprised she had managed to remember the bot's name. She had only seen him once before. The droid stopped its attempt to rid her from his territory and seemed to stare up at her for a moment, seeming to take in the sight of her. It beeped once out of defeat and returned to its spot in a corner. She let out a laugh and it whirred angrily, questioning her reasons for laughing. "Oh, nothing. You're just so cute!" She laughed again, but this time didn't get a response from her new little friend.

She stepped farther inside, looking around the space in which Trevor lived, she felt as though she was intruding on his personal space, but she wanted to help him pack since she had not seen a suitcase anywhere. She looked around the room for a suitcase and located one under the bed and pulled it out, dusting it off with her hand before flopping it onto the bed and zipping it open. She looked around, rubbing her hands on her pants nervously before pulling out clothes that she had figured he would need. She got to work, and before long she had a collection of clothes folded, lying about his bed. She didn't want to dig too much around so she cleared a spot among the clothes so she could sit. She sat down on the edge of his bed, still feeling a little like a violator. She didn't quite like intruding on his personal space, and it took a lot to convince herself that she needed to stay put instead of high-tailing it out of there.

But she ended up sitting there for a minute or two so she laid back onto the bed, leaving her feet on the floor, stretching her arms. She let out a content sigh and closed her eyes, taking in the smell of the clothes surrounding her, and without meaning to enjoying it. But she jumped slightly as the sound of the door opening filled her ears and she sat up instantly, looking around innocently.

"Scare you a little bit, thief?" She shook her head as he entered the room, and gave the little droid a light kick.

"Not at all. . . Except a little. I didn't expect you back so soon." She wouldn't have made herself so comfortable if she knew he was going to be back soon. She brushed the hair away from her eyes, staring up at Trevor, waiting to see his reaction to how she had torn apart his room.

"Been packing?" She nodded quickly. He didn't seem upset that she had started for him.

"Yeah. There was a few things I couldn't find, or didn't want to dig through your mess for, so I figured I'd just pack what I could and leave the rest for you." She reached behind to to grab one of the shirts she had disturbed and folded it up neatly and set it in his suitcase.

"Did he let you in?" He nodded to the droid as he glanced around the packing she had started. He didn't seem mad or anything so she felt relaxed now.

"Yeah, he let me in. He objected at first but when I told him who I was he didn't have a problem." She let out a laugh as the droid ran into the wall after being blinded by a pair of Trevor's thrown socks. She de-blinded the droid and folded his socks up again, returning them to his suitcase.

"So what did Shazam say?"

"Well. . ." She saw the disappointed look on his face and instantly felt regret and was saddened. She heard him sigh, and returned her gaze to his eyes as he continued. "We've got a week, let's finish packing and get out of here."

She felt immediately relieved and hit him on the arm for leading her on like that. "You meanie!" She laughed as she stood up and walked slowly to the door before leaning against the wall. "I've got most of your suitcase packed. Is there anything else I need to get?"

"Did you pack a swimming suit? Might be a good idea just in case," he filled her in as she shook her head. Ooo. A swimming suit. Hopefully there's going to be a place to swim. Trevor hadn't clued her in about where they were going but she liked a good surprise and hadn't pestered him about it. She nodded and left the room, giving him a smile before she returned out into the hallway.

She quickly returned to her room and found the swimming suit she had bought on Forman II and tried to decide which of the two duffel bags would be able to hold one more item. She had to pull out some shirts and put in her swimming suit and was replacing the shirts when she heard a knock and footsteps. A figure stood beside her and helped her by pushing down on her shirts so she could get the zipper closed.

"Ah, thank you." Trevor reached over and slung her second bag over his shoulder, she was about to ask what he was going to do with it when he spoke.

"Shall we go?" She looked at him curiously. He hadn't filled her in at all and she had expected to leave in a few hours, maybe, not right now.

"I didn't know we were leaving right now. . ." Ah well, the sooner the better.

"Well, I requested transportation to where we are headed, and the VEN came through with a shuttle they didn't need. We're going to be sent out and dropped off, and luckily for us the trip out to Cordoun isn't very long." She looked at him as they began to make their way to the hanger.

"Cordoun? I've never heard of it. Is it a forest place?" She cringed, silently hoping he wouldn't confirm her fears. He wouldn't bring them to a forest planet again would he?

"Ah, well, I've never been there myself but it's supposed to be amazing. You'll have to wait till we get there to find out what our plans are though." She looked at him curiously, but didn't question him. She was getting more excited with all the little hints he gave her. She switched her bag from one shoulder to the other as they reached the hanger. It smelled pleasant to her, the smell of oil and grease. It was a comforting smell to her, much like the scent of rain. She let herself breathe in deeply as they walked over to the shuttle Trevor pointed out to her and was amazed by the shine of the craft. They're letting us take a shuttle as nice as this one?

"That's our ride. Let's get on board and get out here, I don't want to waste any more time then we have to." Toki smiled, nodding as they ascended up the ramp and took their seats. Toki was taking in her surroundings as the pilot walked over to them, nodding to each of them politely.

"You're the two who are headed to Cordoun?"

"We are." Toki felt Trevor slip his arm around her shoulders as the pilot returned to the cockpit. She listened to the noises of the craft start up and the ramp retracted and then they took off.

"I'm so excited! Are you sure there isn't anything else you can tell me about our destination?" She looked up at him with hopeful eyes as she wrapped her arm around his side and pulled her legs up onto her seat, sitting on them comfortably. Trevor let out a laugh and shook his head.

"No, I already told you I wasn't going to fill you in until we got there."

"Oh. Well I had to try in any case." She pouted jokingly for a second before resting her head on his shoulder.

"Well it won't be a long ride. We'll get there soon enough." He looked down at her, smiling.

"If you say so. Then I'll trust you." Toki was more excited than she realized. The last vacation they had had been on Forman II, and that hadn't gone so well. Plus that had been with the entire squadron. And she had gotten him hurt. Multiple times. In either cause she was just hoping that this wouldn't turn out like every vacation she'd been on and it would be a nice, peaceful week spent with the man she cared deeply for.

Without anything going on, she felt suddenly drained. She didn't know if she had gotten up too early, or had been up too late the night before, but she felt like now would be a very good time for a nap. She let herself yawn and she closed her eyes, burying her face in Trevor's shirt. She felt him run his fingertips gently through her hair and the lights seemed to dim, and she took hold of the offered hand of sleep, and slowly receded into the world of her dreams.

* * *

She was suddenly awakened as a shudder ran through the ship, and she slowly opened her eyes, only to shut them as harsh light penetrated her delicate eyes. She took a deep breath and squinted, only to see Trevor's knee. She sat up, rubbing her face slowly. She must have moved in her sleep. She had been using Trevor's leg as a pillow. She stretched her arms above her head and let out a loud yawn and looked at Trevor. He was still asleep. She hated to wake him up but it seemed to her like they had arrived at their destination.

"Hey Trevor. Time to wake up." She gave him a peck on the cheek as he slowly opened his eyes and she stood up, testing her weak legs before searching for a bathroom. She found it and returned a few minutes later to find Trevor no longer where she had left him. She was about to go into the cockpit when he came out.

"Well, we're here. But it's too late to see anything. It's already dark outside."

"Oh, darn." She was slightly disappointed, but she went over to help Trevor with the bags, this time talking both of hers, letting him handle just his bag this time. But before leaving the shuttle Trevor stared at her for a second before burst out laughing.

She gave him a cross, confused look. "What?"

"You have marks on your cheek from my jeans." She reached up to touch her cheek, and found that it had taken on an odd line-y pattern instead of the usual smoothness.

"Oh, I suppose you're right." Trevor shook his head still smiling.

"Well, the ramp is already down so we can go." Toki nodded and was about to follow Trevor down the ramp before running quickly to the cockpit.

"Thank you!" She said to the pilot with a smile, thankful for his service. He nodded, returning the smile. She then dashed down the ramp to catch up with Trevor but only ran into him at the bottom. She let out a quite 'oof'.

"Heh, you alright?" She nodded and looked up at him, sticking her tongue out at his cocky grin.

"So what's the plan now-" Before she could finish asking Trevor put a finger to his lips, shushing her.

"Listen." She did. At first she wasn't quite sure what she was listening for exactly, but then she heard it. The sound was that of waves crashing against rocks. She also noticed the smell for the first time. The air was crisp, filled with the scent of salt. Her heart beat faster at the familiar smell and noise.

"An ocean?" She gave him a full smile, completely overwhelmed with the thought of seeing an ocean.

"Yup." He smiled back, knowing full well that he had done well with his destination choice.

-----------------------
TECH/SCPO Tokijin/Phoenix Wing/Str Doashim/1FL/VEN/VE (=*A*=) (=*SA*=) [BWC] [VC:B]

"Goodnight to you too." She waved with a grin, closing the door behind her. She leaned against the door, sighing happily, a silly grin plastered to her face. A few second later she heard the sound of body falling against water bed and she giggled quietly. Well Trevor is certainly enjoying his water bed. She walked further inside, looking at luxurious room, afraid to touch it. It seemed like if she touched anything it would lose some of its glory because she couldn't meet the standards of the room. She walked over to the window and stared out onto the view that was Cordoun. She rested her head against the cool glass and inwardly sighed. This was fantastic and she loved being here, and it all made everything worth while being here with Trevor. But she was feeling a little spoiled. She wasn't used to fancy rooms, just to simple cabins on ships, and not a single drop of luxuriant anything anywhere.

She moved away from the window and sat on the bed gingerly, not wanting to upset the water too much. She gave one last look around the room, burning it's image into her memory before she pulled a Trevor and threw herself onto the bed. Ooh. So nice. She buried her face in the lush, fluffy blankets before a bell went off in her head. Oh yeah. Need to get clean, don't I? She forced herself to get off the bed before locating the bathroom in the hotel room, not all surprised at the fancy granite counter top, or the artistic carved marble above the mirror, or the huge sized 'fresher. The bathroom has to match the room. Of course.

Soon after exiting the bathroom she found that the fresh water on Cordoun tasted very, very bad. She figured it was because she wasn't used to it, but she hadn't encountered water before she hadn't liked, but this was a little over the top for her. She soon got on her pajamas which consisted of a t-shirt and sport shorts. She walked over to the window for the second time, running a comb through her hair, she stared out the window. She then opened it a crack, and stuck her ear out the window, listening carefully. There it was. She felt herself smile as the sound of waves crashing against rocks reached her ears. It was so close. She opened the window a little wider and backed up slowly, still facing the window, listening to make sure she could still hear it, she crawled into the slowly, letting herself be enveloped by the blankets. The sound still reached her ears, and it lulled into a dreamless, peaceful sleep.

* * *

She felt the bed suddenly ripple slightly and she opened her eyes slightly to see Trevor sitting on her bed next to her. Oh? Morning already?

"Mmm? Good morning." She felt her smile be covered up by a yawn and she stretched one of her arms out before returning it under the covers which she proceeded to pull up to her face, covering her nose. "You're already dressed and smell like shampoo. What time is it?" She looked around the room. Sunlight was pouring in at full force into her open window.

"It's about eleven. I've been up for a little while now." She felt her face turn to frown, but Trevor couldn't see that.

"Did I miss breakfast?" She grinned stupidly as he laughed.

"I'll go wait in my room and let you get ready. They're still serving brunch, then I figured we could go for a walk along the beach, maybe down to the docks. I stepped outside earlier to try and get an idea of where to head first." She nodded and watched him go. After the door was closed she sunk back into her bed, closing her eyes for a minute. She lie there content until she heard her stomach protest her sloth attitude, grumbling loudly. Alright, I'm up, I'm up. She set her feet on the floor, still sitting on the bed and let out a yawn, accompanied by a stretch. She then stood up, and lumbered slowly to the bathroom to fix up her now dried hair. She figured she would let it hang loose today. If she was lucky there wouldn't be too much of a breeze so she wouldn't be blinded. She then pulled out her outfit for the day, choosing to go with shorts that stopped above her knees, and a light boat neck style short sleeved shirt. She assumed she wasn't going to be able to control herself and she'd walk into the tide, but not go in too deep. She then sat on her bed, pulling on her shoes. It's been so long since I've seen an ocean! I hope breakfast doesn't take too long. She then went into Trevor's room and they made their way down to the lobby.

Trevor seemed to know where he was going, so she just followed him, but the fish tank caught her eye once more and she wandered over to it, but Trevor soon noticed her absence and laughing, he pulled her away from it and led her into the restaurant. They had a buffet style restaurant set up and they set to work filling their plates. Toki's eye was soon caught by a colorful array of fruit and she picked an assortment of the food, piling them carefully onto her plate. She also found warm toast, and put a couple pieces of that on her plate, but not before grabbing a small pack of butter. She saw an interesting looking fruit and questioned about it to the cook, nodding thankfully when he told her what it was, letting out a small laugh. She took a piece for her, and then one for Trevor, but not setting this one on her plate. With a mischievous smile she waited until he was looking the other way before she set it quickly on his plate.

Breakfast went without incident and Toki got Trevor to eat the sea apple she had snuck onto his plate. They let the hotel feeling full and began their walk to the ocean. Trevor slipping his hand in hers as though to keep her from running off ahead of him, which she didn't mind because she would have done.

"It's sooo pretty! And. . . It's purple! That's so weird!" At this point Toki let go of Trevor's hand and ran ahead of him to the ocean, feeling like a child in her joyous wonder. She pulled of her shoes quickly, throwing them off in random directions and stepped into the warm, light purple water. She didn't venture much farther in as the tide came to her. She heard Trevor's voice behind her.

"If I remember right, something in the planet's ground dyes the water purple. Sort of a cool effect, hey? We should put some in a bottle and take it back for Nazgul to keep. I don't think you can drink it though." She nodded, although a inquisitive smile found her lips. I'm pretty sure you can't drink salt water whether it's purple or not. Trevor nodded towards the other side of the beach and Toki grabbed her shoes quickly, not putting them back on on account of her wet, sandy feet.

Something dotting the ocean nearby caught her eye. She looked out over the water in wonder as a boats sped back in forth through the water. She hadn't noticed it before because the water in front of her head her solid attention, but boats where everywhere on this ocean. Some of them were so lovely looking, and her eyes fixed on them as they flew past.

"I wish we could do something like that, but it's probably so expensive. . ." She mumbled quietly to herself, not realizing she was speaking out loud. She was very content with just the hotel being right next to the beach. But Trevor began to raise her curiosity as he lead her over to the dock that was surrounded by boats and she made him stop for a moment so she could put her shoes back on. An empty dock would be a little bit nicer than one filled with boats that block out the view. But they were fabulous looking boats, she had to admit. ". . . I don't see why we have to look at these boats. They are pretty, but it's kind of like teasing me."

"Oh, it's alright." She looked up at him, his eyes searching, for what she couldn't figure out. She shook her head, unable to figure it out and kept walking her destination being the end of the dock, but she couldn't get that far on account that the hand she was holding wouldn't let her go any farther, and then she looked at the smiling Trevor as he pulled her from the main dock onto a smaller one, leading her down this path. This time he seemed to have a destination in mind, but this only left Toki confused. She suddenly felt her hand grasp nothing but air as Trevor let her go and ascended up the ramp onto the boat.

"Get off of there, that's not yours!" She tried to make herself sound playful, but she was slightly worried that an angry yacht owner would come around the bend, shouting at the two to get away from his boat, and she was looking around wildly. But that didn't happen. She looked up at Trevor and squinted slightly. Oh . . . Keys. . . To the yacht?

"I rented this yacht for us to spend the week on. She's beautiful, hey?" She stared at Trevor mouth open and looked up and down the length of the boat. It was a big one, at least by her standards, as she hadn't been around yachts much.

"Well, why are you just standing there? Come on up!" Trevor laughed at her shocked demeanor and waved her aboard. She walked up a small gangway before stepping onto the boat, looking around the deck. It was so much different from looking at it from the side. She simply gave Trevor a look that made him laugh again and she walked around the deck, scoping it out.

She was standing at the bow with her hands on the railing, staring out onto the ocean when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist.

"So do you find it to your liking?" A voice said playfully in her ear. She turned her head to look at him and gave him a light kiss on the lips.

"It's beautiful."

"Well I'm glad you think so. Because whether you like it or not, you're stuck here for the rest of the week." Toki laughed and escaped from Trevor's grasp, walking around to starboard, checking out a small compartment quickly.

"You know, I don't think I'd mind that too much." She looked around once more before questioning, "So when do we set off Captain?"

"Well, check out is at noon, it's about 11:45 now, so we need to hurry back to the hotel so we don't end up paying for another night that we don't stay for." He followed her around as she searched, looking in little compartments and nifty places for holding rope and the like. It was a new thing for her and she felt like a child who had to inspect everything before anything was going to happen.

"Ok, sounds good. Let's head back then." The descended down onto the dock again and didn't take the time like they had going down the beach that they did going up it. They wanted to check out of the hotel quickly. By the time they made it back up to their rooms they had about three minutes to grab everything and scurry down the lobby, both of them laughing as reached the receptionist's desk after Toki ran into Trevor with one of her bags, almost making him topple over.

"Go grab a taxi and I'll check us out." Toki nodded and headed out to the front of the hotel by the street, and hailed for a taxi several times before one finally stopped for her. She was putting her bags in the trunk by the time Trevor came out and he followed suit, throwing his bag in the back as well.

They slipped into the speeder, Toki before Trevor. He told the driver to take them to the dock, and the gruffy man nodded and took off. The ride in the speeder got them there so much faster than walking would have taken, especially with them having three heavy bags. They got out of the taxi as the man dropped them off near the docks and Toki unloaded the trunk as Trevor paid the man. Toki headed towards the docks, a bag slung on each shoulder as Trevor walked behind her, slightly slowed as he had picked up his bag to avoid having to trouble himself by dragging the wheels across the wooden planks.

Trevor let out a laugh as Toki walked right past their branch of the dock in all her excitement and he had to wave her back on course. Oh, whoops. She blushed slightly as she stepped into the yacht.

"If you want to put our bags below deck, I'll get her started." She nodded as Trevor directed her to the stairs and Toki set her bags down hurriedly, not taking any time to look around like she normally would have. She then got Trevor's bag and dragged it down the stairs in haste. She scurried back up to find Trevor in the pilot house.

"Well, once we take off the mooring lines we'll be able to get going." Toki leaned against the doorway, watching Trevor. "How does that sound?" He turned to look at her, smiling.

"Sounds like a plan."

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TECH/SCPO Tokijin/Phoenix Wing/Str Doashim/1FL/VEN/VE (=*A*=) (=*SA*=) [BWC] [VC:B]

The view was amazing. Tokijin sat in awe as she stared at the scene before her. Cordoun's sun was angled just right so that it would hit the ocean in a beautiful sparkle of reflective light. They were far enough away from the beach that they looked like little cottages that fit right into the scenery, adding a soft look to the already delicate scenery. Tokijin sighed happily. She wasn't used to this type of thing. She had never been treated to this sort of luxury before. She had only been given a small number of gifts in the past, but this one by far was the one that topped them all.

A yacht, on an ocean, without a single care in the world. It feels like paradise, and of course one detail makes it all worthwhile. She felt a smile reach her lips and she stole a glance at Trevor, looking away quickly before she met his eyes.

She was still amazed at everything they had crammed into this boat. She hadn't been expecting anything like she had witnessed down below. The ceilings were lower than what she was used to, but that didn't matter for the quality and detail that this beautiful machine held. She shook her head, still unbelieving that this was actually happening to her. But she loved and cherished every minute of it.

"So were we just going to chill today?" She was wondering but she was hoping that maybe they could just hang around the yacht today, getting used to it and what not. The ocean was calling her, but she wasn't going to quite give in yet. She was still wary about the darn thing's color, but water was water, and water is for swimming, so she would swim in it no matter what color it was, but just not now. I wonder if Trevor's one of those swimming type of guys. I've never actually asked, nor have I .

"Yeah, that had been the plan. Why? Do you want to do something today?"

"Oh, no. I was just wondering. I'd just like this to be our do nothing day. Except maybe try my hand at that pool table. I would like to play pool."

"Have you ever played pool before?"

"Oh, sure. Lots of times. . . But you'll have to refresh my memory on how to hold the pool stick thing." Tokijin had never played a game of pool in her life. And to prove her point she held up her hands, like she was holding a rifle to her shoulder, taking aim but cupped her hands like a pool cue was placed in them rather than a deadly gun, and this earned a laugh from Trevor. But the game looked like fun and she never got her chance to play it before. She wondered curiously that when the balls went into the pockets, did they just stay in the respective pockets? Or did they do the cool go-into-the-pool table thing and end up on a side of the table, all lined up neatly in a row. Or did something totally different happen?

"Heh, yeah, we'll play some pool. But you've seriously never played before?" Tokijin shook her head, shrugging slightly.

"Nu-uh. Never had pool back home and it always seemed a little intimidating on the ship to me. I never attempted it." She leaned her head on Trevor's shoulder, subconsciously ending the conversation, not wishing to go into detail about what 'home' had been or continue the topic of how she had missed out on simplicities of life that seemed like a normality to other people.

Now that she thought about it, she couldn't recall ever learning anything of Trevor's past and although in return, Tokijin had shared nothing of her own. She preferred to let the dead bury the dead, and never intentionally got involved in any conversation that would require her to speak of what she had experienced and would have rather soon forgot. She had thought that hell was a place called home at a young age, and refused to let her thoughts wander too far back to her days on Farhen Rina. She would only remember the happy days. Days that weren't plagued with death and suffering. She was happy now. For once she was truly happy. She didn't want the despairing thoughts of her past to ruin that.

She let herself smile and looked up at Trevor, her eyes met his, filled with content and compassion. She moved into a half standing position, one knee still resting on the edge of her chair and Trevor watched her move with curiosity, his arm hanging limp after losing its place of rest on her shoulder. She bent over him and gave him a kiss on the lips, one of her hands found his face and rested it there gingerly as she let out her all her emotion and thankfulness in that single act. She slowly backed away, releasing him from her grasp and her fingertips reluctantly left the warmth of his cheek.

"I'm . . ." She stood up fully, setting both feet on the deck and looked around, ". . .Going to go below deck and find a little something to eat." She left him sitting there and she could feel him watching her as she descended down the stairs. She sighed quietly as she looked around the room. She found herself wandering towards the kitchen area and began a thorough search through all the cabinets, looking at their contents, only to close them in vain and let out a sigh. She wasn't sure why she had ran after kissing him. She had now thoroughly succeeded in confusing herself.

She was wondering if it was because of the thoughts that had ran through her head, seconds before she had moved from her chair. The thoughts of not deserving had returned from earlier. . . Except this time it wasn't about the boat. Her eyes wandered back towards the staircase that led up to the deck. Why did she feel like she didn't deserve his kindness? She looked down at that had felt the warmness of his face and goosebumps ran up her arm. She loved being around him, talking and listening to him, but why did she have this gut-wrenching feeling?

She sighed again, looking around the kitchen. She walked out of it and walked deeper into the belly of the yacht, going down one more floor. It was cooler down here, and she ran her hand along the wall as she walked. She didn't want to be filled with such doubt. She wanted it all to go away. . . This insecurity was taking away from the time they could be spending together. She was selfish in thinking this way. Maybe she wasn't deserving of the love she had received from that man . . . But he was happy, nonetheless. She would be horrible to take that happiness away from him. If what she was made him truly happy, she would not argue with herself about the nature of her being worthy as a human being.

She found herself in the sleeping area. The doors were open and Toki found herself leaning against the door frame of Trevor's room. His suitcase was leaning against his bed and the dim light from the overhead lights gave the room a quite and peaceful look.

"Toki? What are you doing down here?" Toki spun around, not wanting to be seen looking into his quarters and walked over to Trevor who had just come down the stairs and had seen her frame in the dimly lit hallway.

"Oh, nothing. Just contemplating on changing into something lighter or not."

"Oh. Ok." Trevor rose an eyebrow slightly, curious as to why she would want to use up two outfits in one day, but he wasn't about to question the nature of a woman.

"Yeah, let's go up on deck, shall we? It's awful dark down here." She was about to grab one of his hands to lead him back up on deck when the hand she was aiming for moved out of range to turn on the light switch he was standing right next to. He gave her a mischievous smirk as the once dark hallway was immediately filled with a bright, blinding light.

"Ah. . . Right. . ." She grinned sheepishly and finally caught she his hand in hers and started back up the steps with Trevor trailing behind her, chuckling quietly.

Toki let out a small sigh as she let herself fall onto her bed. Am I really that bad at pool? She let out a small laugh and pushed herself off the bed and began to dig around in her duffel bag before pulling out a black tank top and white shorts. Even though they had spent the day doing basically nothing, time had sped by and left her drained. She pulled on her pajamas and began to run a brush through her hair when she heard footsteps. A small mischievous smile found her lips and she tossed the brush back onto her bed. 

She opened her door to see Trevor walk into his own room, leaving the door open behind him. She walked quietly across the hall, waiting for him to get close enough to get to the bed so she wouldn't hurt him. She then ran and jumped onto Trevor, tackling him onto the bed. She had planned her attack carefully so she wouldn't hurt him in case her tackle fell short and he missed the bed. But she had met her mark and she wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face in the back of his neck.

Even before she had met contact with him she was laughing in such a silly manner, but Trevor didn't help when he decided to reach up and tickle her sides, which for Toki was a very ticklish spot. She let out a small cry of surprise surrounded by laughter as she quickly let go and fell onto the bed, covering either of her sides with a hand.

"Having fun?" He turned over to look at her, and she was still giggling. Her hair had gone wild in the process and was now blocking most of her view with streaks of blue and brown. She watched him sit up and knowing it was safe now, sat up herself and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, a small reward for taking her tackle so well. She hadn't realized it but that wouldn't have been something she would have normally done. She would have been afraid of his reaction too much, but it had been the in the spur of the moment and she was glad he was still happily content.

"Absolutely." She settled against him, leaning on him and before she knew it her eyes were starting to droop. "I think it's time we got to bed though, I want to have strength to swim tomorrow. Do you swim?" She had been telling him her thoughts when she remembered that she never really figured that out. She look up at him, still through pieces of unkempt hair and she smiled happily as he nodded.

"I swim, but tomorrow I'm going to try some fishing. The next day we'll both go swimming though, ok? You can test the water tomorrow." Oh, sure. I'll be the test dummy. She would have stuck her tongue out at him but she remembered that was a thought she had kept to herself. She nodded slightly and sat up to give him another kiss. She was leaning against him and had to release him before she would knock him over so she stood up and waved as she walked out his door, bidding him goodnight.

She walked into her own room, closing the door quickly, leaning against it. She put a hand up to her lips, feeling the warmth that still remand there. She let out a small laugh, slightly embarrassed of herself. She shrugged it off quickly and fell on her bed, embracing it's warmth. She then quickly scuttled under the blankets and got comfy. She laid there in the dark, seemingly too excited to sleep. But she could feel the sleep tugging at her eyes, bidding her to close them and surrender herself to her dreams. She touched her lips through a smile one last time, and closed her eyes, sleep taking her almost instantly.

* * *

She let out a loud yawn as a slight light began to fill her room. Tokijin turn to lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling for a few minutes before sitting up. It seemed like she had only been asleep for about fifteen minutes, but nevertheless she felt energized and ready for the new day. She rolled out of bed with thoughts of the ocean quickly filling her head. She dug once more through her duffel bag and pulled out her swimming suit, as well as light clothing. She pulled off her pajamas, quickly donning her swimming suit, then followed up with a light purple t-shirt and light gray shorts and out of habit pulled her hair up into a loose bun.

She walked over to the door, pulled it open slightly and stuck her head out into the hallway, looking it up and down carefully. With no sign of Trevor, she stepped out into the empty hall, goosebumps running up her legs as her bare feet hit the cold floor. She looked down at her feet for a second and forgetting all stealth, went back into her room and pulled on her white flats before venturing out into the hallway again and heading up the stairs, taking them two at a time. She looked around the ship and sniffed once. A delectable smell filled the air, making her empty stomach growl with protest.

She made her way slowly to the kitchen, wondering what she would find. She knew that the smell that filled the salty air couldn't be something simply out of a microwave meal. She reached the kitchen and saw Trevor emptying the contents of a frying pan onto a plate, but he was busy with that task, and didn't notice her enter.

"Oh, something smells good." She wandered over to the kitchen's island, inhaling deeply at the scrumptious smell. She stood on the opposite side of the table, Trevor on the other.

"Heh, it's only bacon and eggs. I was wondering when you were going to get up. I decided to start breakfast and was going to wake you up if you weren't up by the time I was done." He then moved back to the stove to take a second frying pan from the heat and transferred the bacon onto a larger plate. Toki watched him for a minute and then moved around to his side and through a light kiss on the cheek said "Good morning" and went to find herself a cup and some fresh water. When she came back to the island Trevor had then divided up the eggs, pulling out forks for them both.

"Want to eat up on deck? It's nice out this morning." Toki nodded and put her glass next to the sink before taking a plate of eggs in one hand and the silverware in the other while Trevor picked up the remaining eggs and the plate of bacon. He led her up the steps and out onto the deck and quickly picked out a place to sit. Two chairs were separated by a small table, on that they set their food and quickly seated themselves in the chairs. Toki quickly grabbed herself a couple pieces of bacon to start off before digging into the eggs. They ate mostly in silence, but it wasn't because of a lack of conversation topics, but rather they were occupied with eating.

"Hey, what time is it anyway?" Toki asked after swallowing a mouthful of eggs.

"Well, it was almost eleven the last time I checked the clock. I think it might be closer to eleven thirty now." Toki nodded, digesting this small fragment of information. She stared up at the sky, slowly chewing on a piece of bacon. She was looking for any signs on the sun. Noon was mainly the hottest part of the day on any planet, and she had no desire to get extremely burned. The last time she had gone swimming was on her first Nazgul vacation and that had been a while ago, in a lake, which couldn't compare to the ocean. She finished off the last of the eggs and offered the last piece of bacon to Trevor, who declined so she took it herself, sticking it in her mouth before taking Trevor's plate from him, stacking it on her own and grabbing the bacon plate and heading down below deck, careful not to lose the bacon that was hanging freely from her mouth.

She got the plates to the sink and began to clean them. Hrm. . .I need to find a life preserver. She would be going swimming here in a few minutes and she had no intention of leaving the water for a long time and she wanting something to grab onto so she wouldn't have to get back on the yacht only to take a rest. She absentmindedly finished up the dishes and put them to dry, totally ignoring the washing machine that was right next to her at the sink. She ran back up to the deck to find that Trevor had pulled out a fishing pole, and now was getting ready to cast it into the waters.

Toki quickly found the circular life preserver hanging up on the outside of the pilot house and tied the rope that was attached to it to a hook on the side of the yacht and threw it down into the water. She looked over the side and watched it land with a splat and watched it sway on the rock of the waves for a moment before looking around. Trevor was at the bow and Toki was at starboard, close to Trevor. She quickly pulled off her shoes, followed by her purple shirt and ripped off her shorts. She ripped the hair tie out of her hair, letting the strands fall about her face. When Toki had gone shopping she had found herself a royal blue bikini top with matching short-like bottoms, both pieces were adorned with a flower pattern.

"Well, I'm gonna go in now. Hopefully this water won't kill me." Toki said to Trevor as she began to climb up the railing.

"Well, I doubt this place would be a vacation spot if the ocean water killed people." He had ripped his attention away from his fishing pole in time to see Toki reach the top of the railing and dive in. He set it down carefully, leaning it against the railing and walked over to the spot where Toki had dived in, waiting for her to surface.

Toki, meanwhile, felt the wonderful sensation of the water around her. She felt as free as she did while she was flying. Except in this situation she wasn't faced with imminent death. The only thing that was dangerous in this situation was how likely it was she might accidentally drown herself. She didn't want to surface, but only the protests of her lungs made her kick up towards the air.

She let out a gasp as she surfaced and let out a small cough. She had accidentally kept herself down for too long, and she was breathing heavily.

"I was wondering when you were going to come up for air." Trevor let out a nervous laugh, and Toki mentally slapped her forehead. She had to remember Trevor was here and she couldn't scare him with her crazy swimming techniques.

"Sorry, heh." She moved the hair away from her face and just swam in place for a moment looking up at Trevor.

"Well, just be careful. This is an ocean. I don't want to have to go in there and get you." She nodded, and swam away from the boat, understanding his concern. She looked at her surroundings and suddenly remembered she was swimming in a purple ocean. She laughed aloud at this, and took a deep breath before submersing herself once more.

* * *

Toki grabbed onto the life preserver, breathing heavily. She had been swimming against the ocean current for close to what felt like an hour now, and she was tired. Her arms were weary and her legs felt like they were just about to give out. But she was happy. Satisfied and happy. She would figured she would sleep well tonight. She then let go of the life preserver after taking a short break and swam to the stern and climbed up the small metal latter that was located there, heaving herself with the little remaining strength she had to get back onto the boat. She then walked slowly over to starboard and pulled her life preserver back out of the water, untying it from the boat and she wound back up the rope before hanging it back on the pilothouse. She walked back to the stern and located Trevor sitting in a reclined chair, one hand holding onto his fishing pole and the other was draped across his face, presumingly to block out the sun.

Toki let out a small giggle as she realized he had fallen asleep. Toki let out a yawn and eyed the chair next to his. The sun cast it full rays onto this side of the boat, and it looked like a lovely place to take a rest. Tokijin followed suit, sitting down in the chair quickly, reclining back in happily, the sun fell on her full force, drying her off faster than any towel could.

She soon found her eyes growing heavy, and they began to droop as she let out a satisfied sigh, before quickly falling into a dreamless slumber. But before she knew it she was ripped away from her peaceful sleep by a loud noise. She mumbled something and turned from her back onto her side, now facing away from the noise.

"Toki! Tokijin!" Toki realized someone was calling her name. She opened her eyes and looked around, and the thought of how long she had been asleep quickly popped into her head.

"Toki! Wake up! Look at me!" Trevor was kneeling next to her chair and she felt a hand on her arm. She turned over lazily and stared up at his confused face.

"Hi." She let out a drowsy hi, still not fully awake.

"Toki, look at your hand. . ." Toki's eyebrows furrowed at this odd request, but she did as she was told and looked at her hand. At first she was not comprehending what she was seeing. But as the sleep began to wear off the sight in front of her eyes began to hit home. She jumped up and off her chair, and stared down frantically at her body. She was purple! She let out a horrified moan and looked down at herself, trying to get a look her back and her legs. She was still in her swimming suit, and it seemed as though someone had painted her a light purple color when she was asleep. She gave Trevor a horrified look, and he just sat there, still kneeling next to her chair, and then he let out a loud, boisterous laugh.

"Why are you laughing?! I'm PURPLE!" Trevor's laughs continued as he stood up and walked over to her, looking her up and down. At this point her cheeks grew red underneath the purple, as she realized she was still in her swimming suit and he was analyzing her thoroughly.

He stopped laughing long enough to stare at her face. "You know, I don't think you have anything to worry about. Remember when I said some kind of chemical on the ocean floor dyed the water that color?" She nodded. "Well, it must have gotten to you as well." Toki let out a squeak of surprise as Trevor poked her forehead when he said 'you'.

"But. . . But. . . I don't want to be purple. . ." Trevor let out a laugh and shook his head.

"I don't think you have much of a choice at this point. Come on, let's go below deck, ok? We'll get you something to drink." Toki let out an exasperated sigh as Trevor walked towards the stairs, picking up her shirt, shorts and shoes as he passed them. Toki felt rooted in place and only dared to move when Trevor turned around to motion her forward with his shoe-filled hand. Toki let out a moan and followed him down below the deck. Now that she really thought about it, she was indeed, very thirsty.

Tokijin let out a happy yawn as she entered her room. It had been the perfect end to a perfect day, and she hoped tomorrow would be just as good. She stared down at her arms as she walked towards her bed, trying to rub off the purple that was still there, but only succeeded in supplying herself with a distraction so she had time to run into the corner of the bed.

She let out a gasp of pain as the corner bit into her shin and she sat down on the corner of the bed to examine her newly acquired wound, the events of the day whipped from her current train of thought. The small cut glimmered brightly in the dim light, and she winced. That might hurt tomorrow once she got back into the water. It wasn't all that deep but it tingled slightly and she rubbed off the blood with her hand before it got too messy. She looked around for a place to wipe her hand off on, but not finding anywhere she sheepishly wiped it on her shorts, pretending she had done no such thing. It didn't matter much because there was no one else around, but nevertheless she scurried onto the middle of her bed and dove under the covers.

She laid there for a minute staring up at the ceiling before realizing she had forgotten to turn off the lights. She jumped up quickly before hurrying towards the light switch and flicking the switch with a dramatic wave of her arm. She quickly got back under the covers of her cozy bed and sighed happily. She felt like it would take her hours before she would be able to fall asleep, but then the fatigue finally set back in that had been momentarily forgotten and she dozed off into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

She woke up as the morning sun rested gently on her eyelids, calling her from her deep slumber and she answered the call quickly. She blinked a few times before she took a sharp intake of breath and stretched her arms above her head. She sat up slowly, staring around her room incoherently before she realized where she was. She moved sluggishly, pulling her feet over the side of the bed and stood up slowly before stumbling towards her bag. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes with one hand while she dug through one of her bags with the other, trying to think of what she wanted.

She pulled out a shirt and pair of pants and pulled them on quickly before wandering into the bathroom to take a look at her ragged morning appearance in the mirror. She quickly got her hair under control before pulling it up into a messy bun and wandered out into the hallway, glancing into Trevor's room to see if he was there before ascending up the stairs.

She didn't find him in the kitchen this morning but decided to carry on with breakfast by herself. He was probably up on the main deck since he wasn't in his room, nor was he anywhere below deck that she had seen. She walked over to the fridge and began to search through it's contents before she found a couple of those fancy fruits that she had tried and enjoyed back at the hotel. She grabbed the only two that had dwelled in the back of the refrigerator and immediately stuck one of the fuzzy fruits into her mouth, keeping the other safely in her other hand before going up onto the deck.

The sky was slightly cloudy, not quite as sunny as the day before, but nonetheless a lovely day. She looked around the deck before spotting Trevor at the bow, once more donned with his fishing rod. She walked over to him, munching on her breakfast quietly, and sunk into the seat next to him.

“Good morning.” Trevor looked away from his fishing rod, a smile on his face.

“I was wondering when you were going to get up. I decided to try my hand at fishing again today. There might be different fish out earlier in the day. And using the 'special' bait our dinner so thoughtfully donated to my cause might attract even tastier fish.” Toki nodded slowly as he talked. She really couldn't have cared any less about his fishing strategies, but if it made him happy to tell her, she would listen.

“That's cool. Did you have breakfast? Either way, I brought you food.” She held out her hand so Trevor could take the second piece of fruit in his own, and Toki stared at him, studying his features as he sat there with a fishing rod in one hand and a piece of fruit in the other, eating his breakfast contently. He caught her gaze and looked at her with upraised eyebrows.

“What?” He questioned her with a slight hint of humor in his voice, mixed in with pure curiosity.

“How do you do it?”

“How do I do what?”

“How can you get up so early when we're on vacation?” At this Trevor laughed, shaking his head.

“I dunno. It's just a force of habit, I think.” Toki nodded, this time turning her gaze towards the sea. She still wasn't quite fully awake just yet so she sank down into her seat, her legs stretched out before her.

“You know what you have to do today?”

“What?”

“You get to turn purple with me.”

“I do?” Toki nodded sharply as if to say that he had no choice in the matter. He would go swimming with her today. “Alright, if you say so.”

“Yep.” She stood up now after finishing her fruit and held out her hand to take Trevor's finished breakfast in her own and wandered back down to the kitchen to throw away the cores. She'd give Trevor a little more time to fish before she would pull him into the water. For now, she would get ready. Underneath some of her purple skin she had noticed that her normal colored skin was darker than it should have been. She didn't usually tan, so that was a sign she'd need to take a little more time putting on sun screen than she had yesterday.

She went into the bathroom and pulled her swimsuit off the towel rack and pulled it on quickly with a shudder. There was still water on it and it had gone cold; the freezing fabric sent shivers up her spine. She pulled on a t-shirt over the swimsuit just for the sake of covering up, donned her white flats, and grabbed a tube of sun screen before going back on deck.

Trevor was still fishing and she came quietly out from behind him and leaning over his shoulder began to gently tug the fishing pole from his hands. He looked up at her for a second before he realized what she was doing.

“Is it time to go swimming already?” She nodded, still pulling the pole from his resisting hands slowly.

“Come on! Up!” She gave one last pull before he gave up reluctantly and stood up slowly, taking his sweet time as he stretched his arms, while smirking at Toki from the corner of his eyes. She tapped her foot impatiently as he walked slowly across the deck. She set down the fishing pole carefully before scurrying after Trevor, placing her hands on his back and steering him down the stairs and giving him one last shove as he chuckled loudly, making the rest of his trip on his own. She shook her head, laughing quietly herself as she walked back up the stairs and looked around for the small tube of sun  block she had brought up with her. She looked around Trevor's chair and under it, but found no sign of the little tube.

She scratched her head, stumped, sending strands of hair into her eyes. She just had it. . . Ah well. She'd survive. She wandered over to the pilothouse so she could followed the pattern she had started yesterday and found the life preserver and tied it to the side of the boat. She had used it many times yesterday and she felt proud of her smart little plan as it had saved her trips back onto the yacht.

Tokijin leaned against the railing, watching as the life preserver rocked on the gentle waves. Trevor came back up on the deck. Toki didn't tear her gaze away from the ocean. She listened as his footsteps sounded loudly against the hard wood of the surface and neared as he stopped next to her, following her eyes out to sea.

“Well, ready to jump in?” Toki nodded quickly, excitement filling her at the words.

“You go first.” She backed away from the side. She wanted to see Trevor's entrance, and more over all she wanted to make sure he didn't run away if she went first. He nodded, sighing and climbed up the railing on unsteady feet. She made sure to hold in her laugh until he got under by means of a very crude dive. He had basically tripped into the water, or at least that's what it looked like to her.

She laughed as she peeled the t-shirt off her back and followed in after in with a well formed dive, a small smile plastered to her face.

* * *

A couple hours later, Trevor and Toki found themselves sprawled out on the deck chairs, thoroughly tired after a long swim. Both of them were also thoroughly purple. No patch of skin was left un-dyed the light lavender color. Tokijin sighed as she stared at her arms and legs. She was fond of the color on herself, but not taken to this literal sense.

“How long do you think this will take to come off?” Trevor was not pleased with the change. He frowned down at his arms and tried to wipe of the color only to end in futile. His blonde hair had taken on a slight hint of purple, but not as much as his skin. Her hair was too dark to tell that difference. It was a pretty color, but a man might take a different opinion on the whole situation, as Trevor certainly did. Toki let out a small laugh.

“Well, it seemed to almost wear off after I jumped in the 'fresher yesterday. So maybe another day if we don't go swimming again.” Trevor nodded in dismay, surrendering to the fact that he might be purple for another day.

“Well, I'd like to try and get this off. . . I'm gonna head down to the 'fresher.”

“I'll go down too. I need to get the salt out of my hair before it explodes.” Trevor gave her a slightly confused look, not understanding her hair lingo. She laughed, and shook her head and got up off her chair, scooping her t-shirt off the ground as she walked past it, Trevor on her tail.

She wandered down the hall towards her room, Trevor still following her. She glanced over her shoulder and saw him staring down at his arms, moping. She let out a small laugh and waved to him as she turned into her room, yawning loudly as she slowly made her way into the bathroom. Just as she was about to get in, a small row of bottles caught her eye. They sat on a shelf at about eye level, four bottles screamed their purpose in a large black font in Basic. One was shampoo, the other conditioner, and the their bottle said shower gel on it. No doubt these were fancy little products, but it was the fourth bottle that caught her eye. She snatched it off the shelf, wrapped a robe around herself and scurried out of the bathroom. How she had missed it before, she had no idea.

“Hey, Trevor!” Toki stood outside his door, the bottle held excitedly in her closed fist. He answered her call quickly, but the sight of her in a bathrobe brought a look to his face that he quickly rid himself of before she could totally make it out. He himself was still dressed in his swim trunks.  “Oh, I don't know if you had seen this or not, but they give you a bottle of this.” She held up the bottle and Trevor took it, eying it curiously.

On it's label it read: “Wash Away.” And then in smaller print it proclaimed: “The perfect solution to rid your skin of the chemicals in the waters of Cordoun!” It was translated into about three more languages, and the instructions were on the back of the bottle. Toki watched as he turned the bottle over in his hands, reading the words more than once.

“Well, this solves our problem, doesn't it?” He looked up, smiling at her, no doubt thinking of how he would soon be returned to his natural color and he handed the bottle back to her. The excitement from finding this little prize began to wear off and Tokijin suddenly became self-conscious and aware of what she was standing in front of him in. She let out a tiny squeak and turned around to flee to her room, leaving Trevor chuckling quietly in his doorway before returning to the depths of his own room.

Tokijin laughed as she watched her new fish. It was so cool, she couldn't help but keep it. She did want to get it out of the bag though, and she figured she'd do that before bed. She set Blinky down on the kitchen island and began to dig through cupboards, wondering to herself what the fish would eat while she looked.

She succeeded in finding a large enough jar, one that looked like someone could stick fettuccine pasta in upright and still have excess room. It would be big enough for her little fish. She turned back to the island, taking the lid off and setting it down on the counter before she looked at blink, then back to the jar. The problem was that, yes, it was a big enough jar, but she didn't have enough water to fill it. The sea water in the bag would only fill about one eighths of it, and that would confine the space marginally.

She stared up at the ceiling for a minute, contemplating something for a second. She decided she needed to get more water. She quietly made her way back up onto the deck. Trevor was busy in the pilothouse, and Toki didn't want to get caught after he had given her the order to go to bed.

She made her way stealthily along the deck and found a bucket with a rope attached to it she had spotted earlier. She quickly lowered it down over the side of the railing, giving it enough rope so it would fill, rather that sit on the surface. She waited a few seconds, giving it enough time to fill. She couldn't see the ocean in the darkness, but could tell it was full by the way the bucket's weight had increased immensely. She hauled it back over the railing with a much difficulty, and made her way slowly back down below deck, water sloshing over the side of the bucket as she walked awkwardly, the bucket swinging back and forth slowly between her legs like a pendulum.

She reached the island, a noticeable amount of the purplish substance gone from the bucket. She hauled it onto the surface, setting it down slowly, her arms slightly aching from the small trip. Tokijin then continued to dump the water into the jar, slowly so it wouldn't spill up and over the sides. She left a little room at the top for more water and set the bucket on the floor, little water left in it. She then pulled Blinky towards her, working to get the knot undone so she could release her new pet into it's new habitat. She smiled as it changed colors again suddenly, half entranced, but kept working on the tricky knot.

She got it untied and very slowly and carefully, poured the contents of the bag into the jar, Blinky sliding down into the jar with a 'plop'. He swam around, tasting the sides of the jar with his lips and testing the depth of it. She got down to eye level with him and they stared at each other for a moment before he changed from his current sky blue into a deep blood red.

She let out a small giggle and went to clean up, pouring the rest of the sea water down the sink and putting the jar lid back into the cupboards. She moved the bucket next to the stair well; she would return it to its home tomorrow morning. She then let out a yawn and dimmed the kitchen lights, staring at the glowing fish in the semi-darkness, watching as it created a mysterious effect on the room, almost like an awake computer in a dark terminal.

She said goodnight to Blinky and headed back down to her room, donning her pajamas with exaggerated movements, all to slow for her fatigue level, which wasn't at all that high. She had let out a yawn before, but she felt suddenly not tired, but she crawled slowly into bed anyway. Blinky made her think of her old home. She had done things like that back when she was a child, capturing fish and taking them home as her new pet.

But they usually didn't stay alive long as her mother was against having any sort of pet in the house. She shudders as she was reminded of the harsh motives of her mother. She didn't know how many glass jars her mother had broken; in attempt to show her daughter it was not at all ok to bring home wild animals, she would throw the fish's jar out the front door, fish still in it and make Tokijin watch, unable to rescue it. The jar would crash to the ground and shatter into many pieces, the fish lying amongst the broken glass, flopping madly for its life. Then the lovely fish  would die. Toki had learned quickly not to bring home any more animals, no matter how attractive they were to her eye.

She closed her eyes slowly, pulling her legs close to her chest and laid there, wide awake. She had chased away all hope of sleep with the revival of this childhood memory. She turned over onto her side, willing sleep to come, but it would not have her. She sat up quickly, looking around her dark room, unsure of what to do. She then threw the covers off her and tossed her legs over the side of the bed, standing up on unsure legs.

She opened her door slightly, peeking out into the hall. The light was off so Trevor had already gone to bed. She wandered back up into the kitchen and sat herself down on one of the stools at the island. She crossed her arms and rested her chin on them, staring across the island at her new fish. She decided she would let it go before she left. She wasn't going to take it from it's home back to hers where it would surely die. She didn't need another animal dying under her care. Her facial features arranged themselves to the final product that was a small smile. But the small gesture of supposed happiness did not reach her eyes. Her good mood had been ruined by that small moment of reminiscing and she felt slightly empty at the moment.

She stared at the lone fish in the jar, its figure slightly distorted by the bends and curves in the jar's glass. She suddenly sighed, feeling no more tired than she was when she came up here. After a long moment she decided it would be probably a good idea to try and go back to sleep. She got up off her stool and walked slowly down the stairs, dragging her fingertips along the textured walls as she walked. She reached her door and was about to go inside when a sudden thought made her stop.

She looked over her shoulder at the door standing solemnly behind her, almost beckoning her within its depths. She stood there contemplating her next actions. She turned back towards her own room, and thought of the empty bed, no doubt cold by now. She needed to make her move before her nerves turned on her and forced her back to the confines of her own room.

She put a hand on the doorknob and open the door slowly, poking her head inside. His unmoving form didn't stir at the sound of her moments and she made her way inside after closing the door behind her. She walked with deliberate movements, being extremely cautious not to wake him up before she wanted him to.

She stood at the side of his bed, her mind starting to form around the idea that this was a stupid plan, and she made herself speak.

“Trevor?” Her voice was like a whisper on the wind, but nonetheless he stirred slightly, and looked up at her. He looked at her with eyes unseeing; he was still mostly asleep. He let out a mumbled, “hmm?”
“Mind if I. . .If I laid down. . .?” He still seemed to be in an incoherent state of mind, but nodded nonetheless. He moved away from the side of the bed, lifting the covers so she get under them.

Toki sat down on the edge of the bed before pulling her legs under and resting her head on his pillow, and felt his sheeting float down to rest on her. With that small action of releasing the sheets, all her doubt and nervousness seemed to be swept away. He had accepted her into his place of rest, rather than rejecting her like Toki had feared. The fact that he was half asleep might have had something to do with it, but for the moment she was content. She moved closer to him, savoring the warmth he radiated. He then put his arm around her waist, resting it there. Trevor's breathing then slowed pace, and he was asleep. This time a true smile met Toki's lips and she closed her eyes, this time feeling compelled to sleep. 

* * *

Tokijin's eyes shot open. A noise reached her ears that one out on a yacht in the middle of the ocean should hear. She sat up quickly, Trevor's arm sliding off her, he himself still quite asleep. Her eyes darted around the room, searching for any signs of movement.

“Trevor. . .” She spoke quietly without taking her eyes away from their surroundings. “Trevor!” She said a little louder, but only received a muffled moan and he turned onto his side facing away from her. She heard it again, but this time it was closer. Much closer. Fear attacked her senses and she put a hand on Trevor's arm, squeezing it. “Trevor, wake up.” He didn't seem to want to wake up. Toki let out an exasperated moan and shook his shoulder, trying to bring him from his slumber.

“Hmm?” He craned his neck to look up at her, confusion written across his face. But Toki never got to explain her reason for disturbing his sleep. The door was suddenly flung open, a tall, dark figure standing in the thresh hold, something clasped in his hand at his side. Trevor sat up in a rush, suddenly awake, his senses whirring at high speed, while fear continued to consume Tokijin.

“Ge-” Trevor was going to speak, his face contorted in rage, but before that could happen, the figure released the object in his hand and it fell to the floor with a 'clunk' and the door was suddenly pulled shut. Trevor dived to cover Toki, to protect her, but all she could remember was a loud hissing noise, Trevor's weight on top of her, and her eyes going out of focus, turning her world black.

Every bit of anger and sadness Tokijin had felt before had vanished as Trevor released her from his protective grasp. She wished with all her being that he wouldn't release her and stand between her and her impending peril, but rather return to her. But it was not to happen, as Trevor was thrown aside like a rag doll with a single punch right before her eyes, and she was dragged from the room.   

Her heartbeat quickened, pounding loudly in her ears. Her senses heightened as fear overwhelmed her. She realized her fate as the disgusting intentions of this overgrown sicko became known. She struggled with all her might to free herself from his grasp, but his grip only tightened around her arm. His hold shot pain up her arm and tears sprung to the corners of her eyes as she was thrown into another room.

She landed on a bunk, larger than the one in the last room. This room was as equally dim but the oder was more pungent than before; it was burning her nostrils. Her tears had clouded her vision and her throat ached to let out a silenced scream. She felt someone pulling at her, moving her farther onto the bed. She strained to look though her tears to see what was going on. The fat man was now on the bed.

Her eyes widened as rough hands began to pull and rip, thoroughly examining his new prize. A disturbing chuckle of pleasure escaped the man's putrid mouth. She wanted to hurt him. All the fear she had felt turned into pure hate. She hated this man for trying to take the one thing from her that was not his in the first place. She wanted him to feel pain, and she wanted this pain to last for as long as he drew breath.

But through the deep hate that had sprouted. . . She still felt a tinge of that sadness and fear; they would still floated to the surface. Her chest racked with sobs as she tried to block everything out. She wanted to feel nothing. She wanted to be alone. Utterly and completely alone, away from the sadness, the hate, and the fear. Away from the aches and pains this new world had forced her to feel.

One thought raced through her head as she thought of the one thing that would be stolen from her became even more evident. ”Not his. . . Not his!. . .” Suddenly a light was lit in the darkness. And the weight was lifted from her legs, as small weight from her heart; much still remained. She released her knew freedom and snatched up a sheet to cover herself and rolled off the bed to retreat to the corner.

She had no desire to move. She wanted to be alone. But the light wouldn't have it. Suddenly she was picked up from her corner. Someone was carrying her. She didn't care. She kept her eyes clamped shut and the light brightened. Only the sound of steady footsteps met her ears. But then. . .Another door was opened and she was passed out of the strong arms into another set of arms. This pair of hands was more gentle, more loving. But she didn't want to know. She didn't want to care.

She just wanted to die. This impurity that was forced upon her felt like the end of the world, and she didn't want to have to keep living with this defiled and polluted  feeling that weighed heavy on her heart.

But reality would not oblige to her desire. Voices intertwined with a noise that Toki couldn't make out. What was that? It sounded like. . . Screams? Someone was whispering in her ear. The words she couldn't make out, but they were so soothing, so kind. The frantic yells began to quiet themselves.  Who kept making that awful noise? She suddenly became aware, her senses returned to normal as her brain allowed her to feel again. Her chest was heaving up and down and she realized that it was her that was making all those pitiful noises.

She opened her eyes slowly and looked down. She was still in those protective, gentle arms, but she was now wrapped in a sheet like a caterpillar in a cocoon. Someone must have done that after she had ripped the sheet off the bunk. She then forced herself to look up. Trevor was holding her. He looked down at her with eyes of deep regret and pain, and he pulled her as close as she would come. It felt good to be held like this. With love instead of lust. And almost as soon as they had stopped, the tears had started again. She buried herself in Trevor's chest and wrapped her arms around him and didn't let go. She refused to let him go.

He had released her once before, and she wouldn't let him do it to her again This time she would tie herself to him and cry as long as her heart still bore scars.

* * *

In the midst of her tears, Tokijin had somehow managed to drift into a restless, disturbed sleep. It was lined with sobs and deep heartache, but she made it happen somehow. She opened her tired eyes and swallowed to try to sooth the aching pain at the back of her mouth. Only if her heart could be fixed with such a simple action.

She did notice that Trevor still had his arms wrapped around her. She wished that she could return such protective love, but her heart felt empty. It felt wasted and used. Broken and pained, it seemed like she would never feel again.

Though that man had not taken that one special thing from her, it didn't seem like it mattered whether she got away with it or not. He had taken from her every ounce of dignity and respect she had. Did she really deserve to be held in such a loving way? Was she really worth that much? The feelings of ecstasy and hopefulness had been drained away, only to be replaced by self-doubt and hate.

She sat up and moved to kneel, feeling the release of Trevor's hands as he let her go. Shatter. She felt another piece of her heart fall away from the whole and fall onto the cold, hard ground. She moved slowly, crawling listlessly to the corner of the room. Did he not understand that she did want him to hold her? She wanted him to show her that he would keep her as close to his being for as long as he could.

But he was not psychic. Maybe he just was tired of holding her. What if he didn't care as much anymore? ”Why should he? I am dirty and impure. Why should he want me?” She reached her corner and leaned up against the wall, resting her head on the adjacent wall.

“Toki-” His voice was raspy, and drenched with sadness and regret. Where was the love?

“Don't. Don't say my name. Leave me alone.” Her own voice sounded foreign to her. It was unreal the way it sounded when it reached her ears. It was pitiful; a disgrace. Her awful, defiled named shouldn't have to pass his pure lips. She didn't want him to say it. She wanted to be alone now. She moved the sheet so it would cover her shoulders and closed her eyes. Ignoring the world around her, left only to sit and wait for her heart to become whole again. Maybe if she wished hard enough someone would help pick up the pieces and put it back together again. . .Could she ever be happy again? Would her broken mess of a heart ever allow it?

The question resounded over and over again in her head, only the silence there to magnify the sound of her doubt.

Trevor was still sitting on the cot when the smaller of the two pirates returned to the room, this time he was followed by a meticulously dressed man who was carrying something large wrapped up in a sheet. He looked at Trevor with something forming on his lips between a smile and an apologetic look. He came closer and as he did, Trevor could see that it was Tokijin wrapped in the sheet, and she was shaking from violent sobs. Trevor knew right away what had happened and was somewhat relieved. The man who he presumed to be the Captain of the ship had shown up in time and saved Tokijin. He traded her off into Trevor’s arms. He held her tightly and looked up at the man who had brought her back to him.

“My name is Captain Dirk Pitt, and I apologize for us having to meet under such horrible circumstances. I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know that we got to her before Rod had any chance to do anything to her..And you’ll also know that Rod is being..Delt with.” He said, selecting his words carefully. Trevor understood the meaning of the sentence though, the man who had done this was going to be punished or killed. Trevor personally hoped for the latter, but knew he might not have any say in the outcome. If it were the former, he’d have to kill the man himself at some point.

“Thank you, Captain.” Trevor said, any idea for what to say simply escaped him. Here was a man who stole and plundered and acted ruthless for a living but was decent enough to prevent a rape. For some reason Trevor felt himself respecting the man despite what his mind tried to tell him.

“Not a problem. I won’t stand for such things on my boat. I know it won’t be enough to help, but I’m inviting you to dine with me for the rest of your stay on this craft. Jay here will escort you. Despite his bad speech, he is one of my most trusted crew members and one of the most decent of us all. I can promise you won’t be seeing any of Rod anymore though.” Dirk said, his tanned features forming an almost undetectable grin. Trevor dared to venture the question.

“Is he getting killed for this?” Trevor asked, allowing a little more hope into his voice then he meant to. Tokijin was still sobbing in his arms and he held her tighter, hoping she’d be all right.

“Not directly, no. Let me put it this way though. There are plenty of sea creatures that would find even that grease ball appetizing.” The Captain replied. He turned to Jay, the man who had gone to fetch him in the first place. “I want you to stay outside their door and provide them with anything they want to eat or drink. Have their belongings brought to them so they can change. Dinner is at 19:00.” He ordered. With that, he smiled weakly at Trevor again and the two of them left the room. Trevor heard the door lock behind them, but it wasn’t any concern to him. He cradled Tokijin in his arms and began to whisper to her that she’d be all right and how much he loved her. She stopped sobbing for a moment and opened her eyes to look up at him. As she did so the tears returned and she wrapped her arms around him tighter then he could ever remember being hugged. It seemed like an eternity later when hers tears finally slowed and she dozed off, her arms releasing a little bit of their pressure around him.
It seemed like a lot less time until she woke up again. During her nap she had released her grip around him, but that didn’t stop him from releasing his. He wasn’t planning on her going anywhere until she wanted to go somewhere.

Her eyes fluttered open and she sat for a few moments without moving before she squirmed a little bit and pulled away from him, breaking his hug. He wasn’t ready to release her yet, but if she wanted to move away from him he wasn’t going to stop her. She didn’t look at him as she crawled over to one of the corners of the room and leaned against it, sitting and facing him.

“Toki-“ He began, but she cut him off before he could even finish saying her name.

“Don't. Don't say my name. Leave me alone.” She said, her voice coming out croaky from all the crying she had done before. She sniffled her nose and rested her head on her knees. Trevor almost considered doing as she said, but only almost. He stood up and walked across the room to where she was, turning his back against the wall and sliding down into a sitting position. She shifted her legs slightly to give him room but she didn’t look any bit pleased about his decision. She glared over at him but said nothing until he moved to put his arm around her shoulders.

She pushed hard against his chest with both hands, causing him to lose his balance and tip over. He slowly sat back up and looked at her, but she was still glaring at him as if he had done what Rod had done. He sighed, realizing just how long this could go on, but continued to try anyway. He put his arm through the motions quicker this time and managed to set it across her shoulders, holding on tight enough with his hand to not lose his grip on her but not tight enough to cause pain. She pushed at him again but when he didn’t move she took a different approach, bringing her elbow back hard into his ribs. It knocked the wind out of him and he struggled to take a few deep breaths, but didn’t release his grip.

“Just go away, OK?!” She said to him loudly, trying once again to push him away from her. With some difficulty he managed to grab both of her wrists with his other hand and in one swift motion he pinned her arms against her chest and locked his fingers together around her far shoulder.

“No.” He stated. “I’m not going to let you go until you’re ok. When that happens, I might think about letting you go again.” He continued, their blue eyes locking. For a moment he thought he saw her eyes soften, but he couldn’t tell for sure because she closed them immediately and struggled against his arms again, to no avail. A second later he saw a tear slide out of the corner of her eye and roll down her cheek, followed by more. Keeping her eyes closed she slowly leaned over until she was leaning against him.

“I know you love me, but is this what you want?” She sobbed. Trevor was able to detect the slight amount of anger and the huge amount of sadness in her voice. He squeezed her a little tighter, hoping that a single word would be able to convince her.

“Yes.” He didn’t have to say it again, for some reason he lucked out and saying it once seemed to be all that was needed. Immediately her body relaxed and the tears began to flow freely. He was glad to have her no matter what, and was willing to sit there with her for as long as she needed. “We’ll make it, ok?” He asked. She didn’t reply verbally, but he could feel her head nodded against his shoulder. He smiled slightly; he’d won against her feelings of hate. At least, he hoped he had.

They walked down the hallway towards where Jay had shown him to go earlier when he had gone to collect their bags. Captain Pitt had seemed to be right about Jay, as he was very courteous and didn’t seem to be pushy or rude at all. Trevor knew that he was following them down the hallway at a distance, but he didn’t mind. He noticed Tokijin as squeezing his hand extra hard and looked down at her, giving her a kiss on the top of her head and squeezing back.

“The captain seems to be nice enough, hey?” Trevor asked, hoping that she wouldn’t liken the man to Rod. She remained silent for a moment, then looked up and him and smiled.

“He seemed nice enough.” Was all she said, and Trevor didn’t press the matter. She probably was thankful that he had saved her from Rod, but at the same time he wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t want to trust anyone at all. She’d been through some pretty crazy stuff and was actually kind of surprised that he had gotten her to leave their quarters. As they were walking they passed by a noisy dinner hall, but Trevor kept walking when Toks had made a move across him to enter into the room.

“Not there, sweetheart.” Trevor said, guiding her back onto his other side so her didn’t trip over her. “That’s where everyone else is eating. The Captain wanted us to have dinner with him in his own quarters.” He explained and she nodded in understanding. They walked for a little while longer until they reached an elaborate door at the end of the hall, engraved with ‘The Cap’ in stylized letters. Trevor knocked on the door and turned back to look at Jay, who had now come up and stopped behind them.

“Come in!” Came the voice that Trevor recognized to be the Captain’s from behind the door. Trevor looked at Tokijin and shrugged, then opened the door and ushered her inside. They both stood for a second, astonished. They had gone from the innards of some semi-sloppy ship to what appeared to be a room stolen from inside a palace. The floor was tiled nicely and was clean, and it smelled faintly of some fruit that Trevor couldn’t identify. Placed in the center of the floor was a large dining table with legs made out of driftwood, a touch Trevor found himself admiring. Seated at the head of the table was Captain Dirk Pitt, dressed in casual yet stylish clothing. “Have a seat.” He said with a wave of his arm and a grin, motioning to the chairs placed on one side of the table.

Trevor pulled Tokijin’s chair out for her and she sat down, then he took his own seat and placed the napkin provided onto his lap. Captain Pitt looked at them for a moment before relaxing into his chair and starting conversation.

“I hope your quarters are comfortable. I’d have given you better, but I’m afraid that those are as good as they come, next to my own.” He said, and Tokijin nodded slightly. Trevor answered verbally, still holding Tokijin’s hand in his own.

“I’ve had better, but I’m not going to complain, Captain. What’s on the menu for tonight?” Trevor asked, looking down at his bare plate.

“We’re having some freshly caught Curity, a local delicacy. Well, local as in on the planet. I’m sure you’ll love it.” He explained, gesturing with his hands as if to demonstrate the size of the fish. Trevor grinned to himself and Tokijin looked on with a little bit of interest, but still seemed to be trying to draw up into herself. “Oh, and you don’t need to call me Captain. Only the crew need to do that. Feel free to call me Dirk.” He explained, shaking Trevor’s hand as if only having met him for the first time.

“I’m Trevor, this is Tokijin.” Trevor said, shaking Dirk’s hand and then pointing to Toki. Dirk nodded his head quietly and smiled at her, getting a little bit of a grin back in return.

“Is she doing alright?” Dirk asked, a look of concern crossing his face. Tokijin nodded and spoke for the first time since they had sat down.

“I’m not sure yet, but I’ve calmed down. I want to thank you for saving me though. You’re a decent man.” She said, her voice seeming small compared to what it normally was. He shrugged and nodded at a waiter who had peeked in through the door, disappearing just as quickly.

“I do what I can to protect those I capture. If that makes any sort of hypocritical sense. What brings you two out here anyway?” Dirk asked them, beginning to fidget with his napkin. Trevor shrugged and looked at Tokijin, asking her with his eyes if she wanted to answer. She shook her head and Trevor prepared to explain what they were doing.

“Well, we’re Vast Empire pilots, eh? We’d managed to get a week off from work and figured we’d head out here to relax and stuff. Do a little fishing, see the sights, and go for a boat ride. That’s what we were in the middle of when we got ambushed.” Trevor said with a forced smile. Dirk nodded and folded his arms, appearing to have sunk into thought.

“The VE, you say? Don’t they control this system?” Dirk asked, looking back up at Trevor and meeting his eyes. For a moment Trevor felt as if he might have some sort of leverage on the situation, and decided to toss his rank out into the open as well.

“Yeah, we do. I’m the Nazgul Squadron commander, Second Lieutenant. It’s a fairly enjoyable job.” Trevor said, looking up at the door and hoping the food would show up soon. Dirk smiled and pulled a small towel off of a basket filled with bread. Tokijin reached for one lightning quick and Trevor looked at her, causing her to grin sheepishly.

“I guess I’m a little more hungry than I though.” Tokijin replied, shoving a fair bit of the bread into her mouth and chewing hard, doing her best to pay more attention to her bread then to the grinning faces of Trevor and Dirk. Dirk shrugged and set his napkin back down on his plate, finished with playing with it.

“I realize that that’s probably a prodigious position, but I hate to tell you that it’s not going to be enough to make me release you until I’m ready to. You see, as nice as I am and as much as I try to make my guests comfortable, in the end, witnesses aren’t good.” Dirk explained calmly, waving his fork around absentmindedly above his plate. Trevor sighed, but Tokijin choked on the piece of bread she had crammed in her mouth.

“You’re going to kill us?” She squeaked between coughs, Trevor quickly filling a glass with water from a pitcher on the table and pushing it into her hands, which she gulped down quickly to stop the choking. Dirk actually laughed and shook his head, letting his fork fall to his plate with a clatter.

“Absolutely not. I believe in at least giving you a chance. We’ll drop you off on this island we know of, with enough supplies to keep you basically sheltered and with enough food to last you a week. Odds are you’ll flag down a ship or something; my men have searched the island before and never found bodies, so people must escape.” Dirk explained, and it didn’t seem to comfort Trevor or Toki at all. It was at that point that Trevor realized they’d need to escape from the pirate’s boat before they were dumped on the island.

“I see.” Trevor said, taking the news in stride. “And how long until you think you’ll be dropping us off?” He asked, grabbing for his own piece of bread and applying a little butter with a fancy knife from a small glass dish. Somewhere in the back of his mind he felt that he was probably using utensils stolen from one ship or another, but he pushed the thought away and tried to enjoy his bread. Dirk shrugged and poured himself a small amount of water. Taking a sip from it, he seemed to think his reply over a few times before answering.

“Probably in three or four days. I’m not absolutely sure how far away we are from the island, but I assure you your stay will be comfortable in the mean time.” He said after he swallowed his water and set his glass back down. With that, he looked up at the door in time to see the waiter push it open, carrying three trays of a delightful smelling fish. “Ah, look at that. Dinner is served.”

Trevor had a very restless sleep, caused mostly because of his sick stomach. Although the original retching and puking had passed, it was still doing flips inside of him and attempting to heave more of its non-existent contents out of itself. He woke up a few times during the night and felt as if he needed to get up and throw up more, but every time that happened nothing would come out and he’d just heave for a second before his stomach calmed down. Each time he returned to lay down he headed for the cot that Toki was sleeping in, and was reminded that each cot was only big enough for one person.

True, the first time they had slept in the same bed had been interrupted by the pirate invasion, but it had been a big step up for both of them. I wonder how the group will take it when we get back, if we ever get back. Trevor thought to himself once as he got back into his own cot, grimacing at the thought of not getting out of there. I’ll have to start putting together an escape plan tomorrow. Maybe we can get Jay to give us a tour of the ship or something. He thought to himself, but the thoughts didn’t stay long before they were replaced with dreams.

He woke up a few hours later, feeling marginally better. Tokijin had already gotten up and presumably covered him up a little better as the blankets were up tightly around his neck when he woke up. He looked around and spotted her sitting on her bed, quietly drawing on one of her special drawing pads. She didn’t notice him at first, until he made a movement to slide the covers down a little bit and hoist himself up onto one elbow.

“So, what are you drawing?” He asked, smiling across the room at her. She looked up and shrugged, then started twitching the pencil again.

“Not much..Just doodling..Boats..Blinky.” She said, listing off the things she had on her piece of paper. Trevor grinned and got off the bed, then stepped across the room and sat down on the bed next to her. At first she quickly pulled the drawing pad up to her chest, but after a moments hesitation she lowered it to her knees and let Trevor see. He wasn’t sure whether to laugh or not when he saw an undetailed scribble of what he figured was Rod, being stabbed by a bunch of knives. Around the main picture were doodles of boats, one resembling their yacht, and a fish that was sitting inside a jar. “I should probably throw this one out..” She said quietly, leaning against Trevor and tearing the sheet out of the pad.

“If you want to.” He said, watching her crumple it up and throw it across the room, missing the garbage can in the corner by a few inches. He looked down at her a smiled, then gave her a peck on the cheek. “Thanks for all the help last night, you did a great job. Glad to see I picked the right girl.” He told her, getting a smile in return as a red tinge formed on her cheeks. She sighed and set the drawing pad aside, then turned herself to wrap her arms around Trevor. She completed the motion then pulled back a second later, looking up at him with a frown that was conflicting with a smile.

“Maybe take a shower and we’ll see if we can find ourselves some lunch that your stomach can handle?” She said, and Trevor laughed. She was probably right; he was willing to bet he didn’t smell very great. Taking her advice, he grabbed a clean pair of jeans and a dark shirt and headed off towards the bathroom. Shutting the door behind him he stripped off the clothes he had worn the day before and climbed into the ‘fresher. After a short shower, he got back out and dried off, then re-dressed in his clean clothes. As he stepped out the bathroom door, Tokijin leapt at him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “You smell good!” She said loudly, smiling up at him.

“Hm, that gives me the feeling that you didn’t like the way I smelled before.” Trevor replied, looking down at her with a raised eyebrow. She grinned sheepishly and shrugged, then removed her arms from around his neck and went over to his bed to grab him his shoes. She brought them back over to him and went to slip her own shoes on. He sat down on her bunk and put his own shoes on, tying the laces up and looking down at them. When he was done admiring his footwear, Tokijin grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet, then walked over to the door with him. At this point she stopped and pushed him ahead of her.

Ah..She’s still nervous about anything beyond the walls of our little cell thing, I suppose. He thought to himself, noticing the slight change in her confidence when compared to a few moments before. He shrugged and opened the door, leading her by the hand outside. Jay was still stationed outside their door, snoozing in a chair he had propped up against the wall. Trevor considered just heading off without telling Jay, but felt he’d be better off to at least get someone who they knew to lead them around. He walked over to the chair and give it a kick, bringing it back down to all four legs and jarring Jay awake.

“I wasn’ sleepin’! It’s all good!” He said loudly, looking from side to side quickly. Finally he calmed down and glanced up at Trevor and Tokijin, a small smile crossing his face. “Don’ be tellin’ the cap about that. I knew I could trust y’all to not go anywhere without lettin’ me know.” Jay explained, standing up from his chair and shaking Trevor’s hand. “Heard ya got sick last night?”

“Yeah..” Trevor said, putting a hand on his stomach and nodding. Tokijin edged a little bit closer to him and did her best to smile, even if she wasn’t necessarily feeling like smiling. “We were ready to find some breakfast, or lunch, or something. Easy to keep down, that’s all.” Trevor said, and Jay nodded. With a wave of his hand he started off down the hall.

“Yer kinda lucky right now, actually. The mess hall should be empty o’ most of us. We can grab you twos a nice breakfast and if you want I can show you around.” Jay said as they walked down the corridor they had been down the night before. He was leading them back to the mess hall that Tokijin had almost walked into the night before. When they arrived they found it deserted, spare for a pair of female cooks who were chatting about something. Although neither Trevor or Tokijin could see the cooks, Trevor knew Tokijin was wondering how two women could stand to spend their time on this ship with such crude men all around them. It wasn’t until they got within close sight of the kitchens that her thoughts were alleviated.

The two cooks both looked absolutely hideous, one that was gigantic and sported greasy grey hair held back by a hairnet, while the other was short and squat with a large mole on her lumpy nose and a slight female beard. Tokijin squeezed Trevor’s hand and followed Jay into the lineup area. He ordered them some toast and eggs, and Trevor watched as the two ugly cooks made them a high-class meal that definitely didn’t look as if it were suited to pirates. As the three made their way over to a table Tokijin looked down at her plate and then to Jay.

“Do all of you eat food like this all the time?” She asked, prodding at her eggs with a fork as they all sat down. Jay shrugged and bit off a piece of toast, chewing it thoughtfully.

“Yeah, I s’pose so. The chefs, hideous as they may be, both learned their trade from some o’ the five star hotels back on the mainland. Naht the kind of cookin’ yuh’d expect to find on a pirate ship, eh?” He asked as he began munching his toast once more, grinning jokingly at Tokijin. She shrugged and started in on her toast. Trevor glanced wearily at the eggs and slowly tested them, wanting to be sure that his stomach would be able to support them. Finding that it did not object to the nourishment it was being given, he downed the rest of the eggs and the toast as well, then sat back in his chair and patted his stomach.

“I’ll tell you, Jay, You sure know some good places to eat.” Trevor joked, causing Tokijin to smile and Jay to laugh. He nodded and shrugged, then picked up all three trays once the group had finished and took them back over to the kitchen to be cleaned by one of the cooks. While he was up, Trevor turned to Tokijin. “So we’ll get this tour of the ship and then head back to our room and begin planning our escape?” Trevor asked.

Tokijin thought for a minute before nodding and grinning. “Sounds good to me. Oop, careful, he’s coming back.” She said, and then grabbed Trevor’s hand as Jay approached again. He looked back and forth between the two, the grinned his missing tooth grin.

“So, how’s about tha’ tour I mentioned earlier?” He asked, the grin staying on his face.

The gears in Trevor’s head had begun to whir after the tour, and he was beginning to plan how they were going to escape. If they could get out of the room early again like they did that morning, they could sneak past Jay undetected and make their way to the armoury. From there, they could collect a few weapons and some explosives, then rig the boat to blow up once they had gotten a safe distance away in a life boat. The only downside to his plan was he was going to have to get some charts from Dirk’s office that would show them which way to go.

Tokijin had fallen fast asleep with her head on his lap and although he was in no particular rush to go anywhere, he had been wondering why she was so tired all of a sudden. They had done a bit of walking but not to the point where someone would be so tired they’d need to sleep afterwards. Could just be her way of dealing with the stress right now though. Trevor thought to himself as he stroked some of her hair. Even when he was sitting there in captivity aboard a smelly, evil pirate ship, she still managed to melt his heart and put things into a better perspective. As long as she’s around, he thought to himself, I’ll have no reason to let myself get hopeless.

With those final thoughts he agreed to her idea of a nap and leaned back on the bunk, doing his best to find a comfortable position without waking her up. It was a bit of a challenge but he finally found one that was comfortable enough and slowly dozed off to sleep.

What seemed like only a few minutes later, both Tokijin and Trevor woke up to the sound of someone knocking at the door. Tokijin slowly sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, then pulled Trevor up and pointed to the door. He took a second to realize what she was doing, then he got the clue. He stood up and ruffled his hair, then headed towards the door and opened it. Jay was standing outside, carrying two trays full of some sort of meat that Trevor didn’t recognize and a tall glass of some fizzing drink each. Trevor looked curiously at the meet and then back to Jay. “No fish?”

“No fish.” Jay replied with a smile, handing both the trays to Trevor and returning to his post. Trevor set the trays down on a small table that was in the room and shut the door, then returned to Tokijin who had sat down to dig in already. He sat down next to her and couldn’t help but grin when he looked up at her. The cheek that had been resting on his legs was imprinted with denim lines. She looked across at him and caught him smiling, then jabbed him with the dull end of her fork.

“What are you smiling about?” She asked playfully, popping another piece of meat into her mouth and looking at him intently. He shrugged and swallowed the piece of meat he had in his mouth, then told her about the denim marks on her face. “You’re such a goof.” She replied, once again prodding him with her fork. He nodded and took a sip of the fizzy drink; surprised to find it tasted much like the fruit they had had at the hotel before they left. They ate quietly for a few moments before Trevor decided to break the silence and let her in on what his plan was so far.

“See, I figure what we can do is we’ll wake up and catch Jay still sleeping, right? Like we did this morning. Except, it’ll be in the middle of the night.” Trevor added, almost forgetting that part as he began his explanation to Tokijin. She nodded along and continued to eat her lunch, no questions to be asked yet. “From there, we’ll go and raid their armoury, getting our hands on a few blasters and maybe some explosives too. We’ll set the explosives with a timer and put them near the outer bulkhead of the ship, then head up top and get in a row boat.” He paused, waiting to see if she had any questions. She chewed thoughtfully for a moment before swallowing and opening her mouth to speak.

“What will we do once we get in a lifeboat, we don’t know where we’re supposed to go.” She said, pointing out to Trevor the part that he had forgotten to mention.

“Right, about that. I’m going to sneak into Dirk’s office and try to steal some charts that would help us out. We’ll also need to grab a bunch of food and try to run off with that too, we won’t last long without food or fresh water.” Trevor said, pleased that his plan worked so well in theory. Now it’ll just be the part of making all of this work out. He thought to himself, taking another drink of the fruit flavored beverage.

“Sounds not too hard.” Tokijin replied, trying her drink for the first time. “Mmm, that’s good. Tastes just like that fruit stuff we had before. Anyway, how do you plan to sneak into Dirk’s office, doesn’t he sleep in there?” She asked, causing Trevor to realize a small fault in his plan. It was very true that Dirk slept in his office, and this would make stealing any charts a much more difficult part of the plan then he had initially imagined.

“Well, I’ll just have to be really sneaky.” Trevor said, doing his best to cover up the fact that he didn’t really have a plan to sneak into the office. She smiled and nodded, going along with what he told her even if she knew better. She finished off her tray of food and leaned against him, looking up at him.

“So does this mean that Dirk and Jay are going to get blown up with the rest of them?” She asked, doing a particularly good job of hiding the apprehension in her voice. Trevor almost didn’t catch it, but he knew better then to think that she didn’t have a problem with it.

“Well, probably. Why, do you have something for them that makes you want to keep some of these pirates alive?” Trevor asked, looking down at her somewhat seriously. She shot him a glare back and tried to cover for herself.

“No, I was just curious, that’s all.” She said, averting her eyes from his and pressing the side of her face against his arm, trying to make him drop the topic and continue to eat his food.

“You wouldn’t be lying to me, would you, Toki? If you have a reason you think we should at least keep them alive, say so.” Trevor said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and looking down at her.

“Well, I kinda think that since they helped to save me from that bastard Rod, we should at least pay them back a little bit for that. They aren’t all bad, Trev.” She said, looking up at him hopefully. He sighed and remained silent for a moment, then replied.

“I’m sure we can work something out for that. I want to now though, how come you lied about it just there? Have you lied to me before?” He asked, locking her eyes with his. She gulped very minutely, to the point where he didn’t notice, and broke eye contact with him. She shifted her weight on the chair and her mind was racing. Do I tell him? He kind of does deserve to know; after all we’ve been through.. She thought to herself nervously as she felt Trevor pull himself a little closer to her.

Trevor felt a huge mixture of feelings as he slid down onto one of the bunks, watching Tokijin lock herself in the bathroom. He was very confused and a tiny bit angry. At the same time though, he felt relieved to know that she had finally told him the truth. It’s weird, how something so insignificant can be so hugely important at the same time. He thought to himself as he rubbed his hands on his face. She had hidden something important from him, but at the same time he honestly didn’t blame her for having done so. The story behind everything made him see that the name was important to her and he decided that he’d continue to call her Toki.

I guess it’s not really too big of a deal either. The whole time I’ve known her I’ve known her as Toks, no need to change that up now. And if I hadn’t asked, she probably wouldn’t have ever told me, at least not anytime soon, and I woulda just kept on going knowing her as Tokijin. He thought, leaning back against the wall and staring at the door that Tokijin was hiding behind. He considered thinking a little harder on the plan he was forming, but couldn’t seem to bring himself to think about it straight knowing that Toki wasn’t happy with him at the moment.

He sat there for another ten minutes or so before he saw the door of the bathroom crack open slightly and a sliver of light land on the floor. He caught a few wisps of dark hair around the doorframe before it slid open farther and Tokijin’s eyes peered out from behind it. Her face slowly emerged, followed by the rest of her as she opened the door fully and stepped back into the room. Trevor could see that her cheeks and eyes were still slightly red from the tears that had spilled earlier. They both sat silently for a minute, eyes locked before Trevor patted the bunk next to him as an indication for her to take a seat. Her physical response seemed slightly hesitant but slowly her feet put themselves one in front of the other and gracefully lowered herself down next to him, never taking her eyes off his. He had planned to start, but she opened her mouth before he could get any words out.

“I’m sorry, it’s probably something I should have told you before –“ She started, but trailed off as she read Trevor’s eyes, correctly guessing that he had something important he wanted to say.

“You’ve got no reason to be sorry, Tokijin. I think your reasons for hiding it from me are perfectly acceptable.” He smiled, putting his arm around her shoulders and taking one of her hands with his other hand. She seemed almost surprised at the way he was taking the situation, but the look of surprise only flickered on and off of her face for a second. Trevor thought over his words for a second before he spoke again. “See, I’m not too worried about it. For as long as I’ve known you I’ve known you as Tokijin, and I think I’ll continue to call you by that.”

“That’s good, but I still lied to you for quite a long time about it, and I’m not sure how to feel about that.” She said, accepting his embrace and squeezing his hand. Trevor again remained silent for a few moments while he thought about what to tell her. Finally the words came to him.

“I don’t think you should feel an ounce of guilt. Making a guess from your story, it seems to me like you loved Kazic a lot as a friend, and as weird as it is for me to say, I think that you’d definitely be more in love with him then with me.” As he spoke the last words he realized that if it wasn’t for such a tragic event in her life he’d probably never know her, and that thought made him feel incredibly lucky but somewhat guilty at the same time. He shrugged it off and continued to talk. “And I think that in our lives, at some point everyone is going to have someone that they just can’t forget or let go of, and I think that for you Kazic is that person. I think the part of you that can’t let go is part of the reason you use the name Tokijin.”

She opened her mouth to reply but closed it again, words seeming to fail her. Or she’s holding back yelling at me or something. He thought to himself, laughing inwardly but not quite able to keep the smile from his lips. It was contagious, as the edges of Toki’s lips began to twist upward very slowly, the sparkle seeming to return to her eyes as they did so. Trevor began to feel that apparently he had said the right thing as Tokijin drew herself close to him and kissed him on the lips, kissing him for quite a bit longer then she normally would. She pulled away slightly and continued to look him in the eyes.

“I don’t know about you, but I really feel like a nap right now. It’s probably a good idea if we’re going to try to escape later, don’t you think?” She asked, resting her head against his shoulder and breaking the eye contact. Trevor nodded and gave her hand another squeeze before slowly letting go and standing up.

“Will you be all right if I leave you here alone for a little while to go talk to the captain? I want to get a good look around his office to find out where nav stuff is stored and how easy it’d be to get in and out. I’ll make sure that Jay stays outside the door, ok?” He asked, and she looked at him somewhat unsure. Very unsure, actually. Trevor corrected himself as he appraised the look Tokijin gave him.

“If it wasn’t for the fact that it’s life or death, I’d tell you no.” She said, frowning at him. “You can’t take more then 10 minutes, ok? Just ask him if we can get extra pillows for the bunks or something like that, maybe say you want some extra toilet paper or something.” She said, grabbing hold of one of the pillows on the bunk and holding it tightly to her chest.

“I promise I’ll be back in five minutes.” Trevor said, smiling at her with the hopes of giving her a little bit of courage and opening the door. She gave him one last look indicating ‘hurry up and get your ass back here’, then he closed the door behind him and looked around for Jay. He found him sitting is his chair just a few inches away from the doorway, looking up at the taller man and grinning.

“Can I do somthin’ fer ya?” Jay asked, standing up and continuing to grin. Trevor nodded and looked down the hall towards where Captain Dirk’s office was.

“I was wondering if I could talk to the Cap’n for a minute or two.” He said, and Jay nodded, taking the lead without saying another word. As they arrived at the door Jay knocked and Trevor heard the sound of a chair scraping against wooden flooring and then the sound of boots against the same floor. The door ahead of him slid open and Dirk was standing on the other side of it, looking slightly irritated. His expression changed when he saw Trevor though, and quickly ushered him inside.

“I’m glad to see one of our esteemed guests.” Dirk joked, and Trevor shared in a laugh at his own expense. Trevor let his eyes wander as Dirk escorted him over to a chair in front of his desk and insisted he take a seat. “What can I do for you?”

“Well..” Trevor began slowly, glancing all around the room, finally landing his eyes on some charts rolled up on a shelf behind the desk. Thank goodness he hasn’t resorted completely to computer navigational systems. Trevor thought to himself as he began to talk again. “Tokijin and I were wondering if we could get a few more pillows. See, I snore if my head isn’t elevated high enough and it keeps her awake at night, and she has enough trouble falling asleep as it is.” Trevor said, half lying. Tokijin and him hadn’t spent enough time in the same bed for her to know he snored. The part about her having some trouble sleeping was kind of true though.

“Absolutely. I’ll send the order for you guys to get a few extra pillows. They should show up in about an hour. Anything else I can do for you?” Dirk asked, folding his hands and leaning on his desk. Trevor looked around the room but made it appear as if he was racking his mind for anything else they can use. Finally he snapped his head back to face Dirk.

“We could also use some extra toilet paper. The current stuff we have is running low and I’d rather not be in there when it runs out.” Trevor said with a laugh, and Dirk joined him.

“I’m sure I can arrange for that. Anyhow, if that’s all you need, I’ll have Jay take you back to your room..” Dirk said, standing up and nodding at the door. Trevor stood up as well and shook Dirk’s hand, then found his own way to the door. Jay had gone back down to the room at the end of the hall as Trevor had asked, and pretty soon he found himself standing at that very door. He thanked jay once again and let himself back into the room.

Trevor watched Tokijin leave, the door closing silently behind her. Something about the way she looked at him before she left didn’t sit right with him. He walked over to one of the cots and sat down with a heavy sigh. She’s probably just stressed and tired of being stuck in here. I mean, this whole ordeal has been pretty trying on her, far more then it has been on me. She’ll be all right, she’s a tough girl. He thought to himself, drawing the tough part on not only his personal experience with Tokijin, but also from the few things about her past that he did know. She’d been through a lot, and although he had been too, his life seemed a lot easier then hers in comparison.

He let his thoughts consume him for a minute, before beginning on trying to find things to hold water and food. He figured that food would be the easier item to store, seeing as they could try and store the less perishable stuff in their bags, and the other stuff they would et to keep their strength up while on the ship. As for water, Trevor had found a big bottle of shampoo and another of conditioner in his bag, and figured that Tokijin would probably have something similar in hers. If the bottles were emptied out and cleaned, they’d hold enough water to allow them to survive for a few days. If it comes down to it, we could always hope for some sort of light rain storm. That’d give us fresh water to drink. He thought to himself as he grabbed one of the bottles and looked at it. It wouldn’t hold a lot, but it would be enough to sustain them.

If only we had some way to purify the seawater, then this wouldn’t be a problem. I don’t know any way we could use to distill the water though, so we’ll just have to take as much as we can. Hopefully Toki can find something to hold more then these will. He thought as he began to rummage through his bag again. When he came up empty, he turned his search to the rest of the room, reminding himself that although Toks might have something in her bag, it wouldn’t be polite for him to go snooping in there.

The next helpful things he noticed were the blankets. The fact that this was a tropical planet meant that the blankets were very thin, but at the same time they’d work very well as something to keep the sun off during the day. Prop it up with a stick and it’d be like a little tent, and if you propped it up high enough it’d still have airflow so it wouldn’t get exceptionally hot. Then just take it down during the night and use it as a blanket. I wonder if it’s waterproof. He thought to himself as he rubbed his fingers on the material. As he was doing this he began to examine the cot as well. It had metal tubing as a frame and could be easily disassembled, and the fabric seemed to be fairly strong and tightly woven. That could be sail material, or it might even be water proof. If it is, we could use it to catch rainwater, or protect us during a storm.

Nothing else in the room that wasn’t bolted or welded to the floor seemed to be of any use at first glance, although Trevor was sure that at some point over the next night and day he’d find something else of use. As he flopped down on one of the bunks he heard his stomach growl loudly, begging for more food. He shrugged the feeling off and stared up at the ceiling. I’m sure that situations like this are what set me apart from other people. These are the types of things that make me a leader. After all, there are plenty of people who would probably just give in and let themselves succumb to the fate that we’re facing. I’m a pilot though..I face death every time I get into that seat..It’s almost as if the thought of death isn’t so much worrying as it is just another casual idea. Sure, I don’t want to die..But it’s the challenge of being able to cheat death time after time that seems to keep driving me. That and the thought of being able to retire and live life with Toki. He thought to himself, a grin forming on his lips as he let his body relax, imagining himself returning here when he was a bit older, hand in hand with an equally aged Tokijin and calmly strolling the beach.

He was shaken out of his daydreams about half an hour later when he heard the door slide open. Tokijin had come back and was carrying two trays of delicious smelling food. Trevor sat up on the bed and glanced up at her. She didn’t look at him. “I’d been wondering when you’d get back. And you brought some supper too.”

She set the trays down on the little table and sat down, giving him a sideways glance. “Yeah, I helped make it, so you better like it.” She said in a somewhat joking voice, although something else mixed in with it that made her sound extremely stressed. Trevor nodded and got up, strode over to the table and sat down in a chair next to Tokijin. She had already started to eat, although after Trevor glanced at her fork he realized she was more or less just shifting the food around on her plate.

He opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it and put a mouthful of the food into his open mouth. With his free hand he reached down and grabbed hold of the hand she wasn’t using, giving it a bit of a squeeze, hoping that alone would say everything encouraging that he wanted to say. She looked up at him for a moment but didn’t smile. He gave her an encouraging grin in the hopes of drawing one out of her, but couldn’t quite pull it off. She looked back to her food and Trevor quietly sighed in defeat. He’d tried all he could do without opening his mouth and confronting her about it, but secretly he felt that it might be that she wanted to handle whatever was bothering her herself, otherwise she would have told him already. He went back to eating slowly, really enjoying the food that she had brought back.

“You’re a really good cook.” He said, looking at her and smiling. “It tastes wonderful. I hope you got the recipe.” Tokijin looked over at him and nodded, then went back to pushing her food around her plate. It’s going to be a long day..

“Well, I found some stuff we can use to carry water in. Did you by any chance pack yourself some bottles of shampoo, or conditioner, or anything else like that like you did for me?” Trevor asked.