A promise to kill

His sharpshooter

Kid working me to the bone is an understatement. It didn't matter that I was a girl, it didn't matter that I was new, It didn't matter that I was more used to a sword, he wanted me on a gun, so he worked me on a gun. I should have expected it from how he first left me to shoot in the rain so many months ago. I should have know he's not a humane teacher. Regardless of his spartan training, he knew what he was teaching, he knew what he was talking about, proof being that I am getting better. Developing muscles in the right places, my once pale skin getting a kiss from the sun just like the rest of the crew, Thin white scars starting to decorate my once seemingly flawless skin. My eyes becoming trained to follow almost any sort of movement even out the corner of my eye. My senses getting sharper, my reflexes faster. Uncaring of my wellbeing, some days I went to bed bloody and bruised but never without a newfound strength. Up before the sun would rise and down when the moon was already high on her throne. On many occasions, I didn't make it to my hammock under the deck and prompted to find a spot to curl up under the sky.
    Finally Kid was satisfied with my skill, enough to let me have a day off and let me sleep the day away. No one woke me until we were a days time away from landing.
    " Lady. We need to start preparing to dock. Go jump in the shower and meet us in the galley." Heat let me know before heading out which means that he's hearded everyone away from the showers, hence, it's my time to shower. Heat, from the very beginning has been sensitive on my behalf about the fact that I am a woman. For example, always making sure I had a spot between him and Wire so the others can't get to me or even just simple things like making sure I'm ok during my monthly. Not shy about it either and his excuses being the fact that he was raised by women, though I am grateful. Wire on the other hand doesn't seem to care at all and completely ignored the fact that I'm a female. For example he will strip down to skin right beside me without blinking twice and would nonchalantly walk-in during my shower time because he forgot something, then walk out as if i weren't there. Strange for a man yes, but quite interesting. Something along the lines of, 'Ain't my type, no point seeing you as a girl.'
Thus I finish showering without a worry and find myself walking to the galley to meet with the rest of everyone but just as I get there, the crew is already leaving.
    " I'm sorry, I didn't realize there was a meeting. I would have gotten ready faster." I explain myself but they don't seem to care whether I was there or not. Most of them just don't even look my way before Kid waves me over.
    "Tell me what you want Lady. On island, we'll be heading to the slave house . You wanna be in our group or stay behind on the ship. This is one time I'll give you a choice in respect to your past." He sat back in his chair with his arms thrown over the back casually. His stare was unrelenting, unforgiving, as if the answer to my question meant more than the question it's self. It wasn't just Kid who stared me down, they all did, as if I were a complete stranger, as if I couldn't be trusted, as if I were an enemy. So no, it wasn't respect. Kid didn't ask me out of respect, he was testing me about something, perhaps proving something to himself and the rest of the crew.
    " Of course I'll go. I'm your sharp shooter, what would you do without me." I find myself smirking, unlike the person I had known myself to be, I felt myself smirking and maybe it was simply a smile but I imagined myself mirroring Kid's devilish grin.
    " That's right Lady. You're my sharpshooter. You better damn well remember it." It was as if the suspicion had dissolved and he pulled me on his lap and suddenly I felt small. I realized I am small.
    " What do you think. Feel like having a bit of fun?" He says this all the while grinning like a mad man. All is silent as he, Killer walks up to me and slightly pulls down the collar of my shirt, exposing my slave brand.
    " He means covering this up. It'll be dangerous for you to be walking around with this, even if it is covered. So we were thinking bout replacing it with our secondary jolly Rodger, though that's because that's the only thing Wire can tattoo decently." He shows me a piece of paper with a circle smily face and a glasgow smile. " Of course I can add little bits of what every you want." Wire adds and he pulls out from under the table, gear for what I assume to be the tattoo.
    " Thank you. That's fine." As soon as I say this, he's already setting a a makeshift station and motioning for me to sit down. Not in the least bit embarrassed or shy, he starts removing the very shirt i wore which resulted in Heat clearing his throat to catch his attention. Wire grinned.
" If you don't wanna see our dear Lady Layla in her undergarment, look away." He doesn't even look away as he says this and goes on to place the stencil directly over my scar. He then looks up at me with a bit of a sadistic smirk and all i can wonder is, why.
" You wanna sit or lay back. I recommend laying back. Tattoos can hurt like a bitch." And so I take his word for it and lay back on the hard surface of the table and he get's right to apply the ink to his gun. I'd thought perhaps everyone would leave but they sat still, not exactly watching me be sitting beside the table, talking amongst them selves.
The sensation of having a small needle repeatedly pierce my skin was a strange feeling. It didn't hurt the way you'd expect it to but but hurt none the less. I couldn't feel the vibration against my collar bone, all the way in my toes and I could feel the pain of the needle even in my finger tips. It's as if the needle is reaching through my brain map and sending shock waves throughout my body. Yet, it wasn't the kind of pain that had me gasping for breath and wincing with every moment.
As this large man worked, I was surprised at how he was able to work on such a small little thing with his big hands. I stared at him and I could tell how much focus he was using for this little project. His eyes didn't even falter as he spoke.
" If you keep staring, I'll get embarrassed." Is all he says completely serious, forcing me to look away and meeting face to face with the massacre solider. He takes my tense hand in his, gently as if I would break any moment. 
" I'd take away your pain if I could." He brushed the hair away from my face with his one free hand, taking a seat beside us. As I stared at his masked face, I could a almost see his blue eyes, soft blue, like the blue of where the sea meets the sky.
" If you keep staring into each other's eyes, I'll barf." Wire once again says this with all seriousness before sitting back to examine his work.
" I'm about done. What do you think?" He helps me sit up and holds up a sort of makeshift mirror so that i can take a look at his handy work. The lines were bold and smooth, the black was even. Overall if I ignored my bright red, irritated skin,it looked as if a sticker had been plastered onto my body.
"It's nice but too simple no? Don't you want a little flare or some shit? Some flower and fire and all that crap?" Kid's sense of style? Is kind of warped but i understood what he meant. It was on the plane side. Especially for a pirate tattoo but I smiled.
"Maybe I'll have Wire add to to in one day but for now, I think it looks pretty good. I don't have any more to say than that I'm a Kid Pirate." I just touch the tender skin and I feel the protruding lines of the tattoo.
" Now you're ready to go out as my, sharpshooter, Lady." Kid grins and as if the gods were planning this all along, we hear one of the men yelling from above at the sight of land.