A Fairy's Tale (Eustass Kid & OC)

Chapter 16: Taking Precautions

The unflagging resolve in Killer's young mind hadn't wavered the slightest bit in the eighteen years since then. He raised Kid carefully, trained them both, then retreated to the sidelines once he was certain that his charge was strong enough to take on the world that had tried its best to beat him down. When they'd decided at the ages of eighteen and twenty-four to escape that prison of an island and become pirates, Kid had assumed that Killer would become the captain and begrudgingly ceded the position.

One of Killer's fondest memories was the wide, beaming grin of pride that spread over Kid's face when Killer responded with, "You've been my captain since day one."

Then he got punched in the shoulder for being sappy, but it was worth it.

Loklynn was in just as pitiful a state now as Kid had been all those years ago; Killer couldn't help but wonder if she'd have enough grit to find the same inner strength that they had.

Kid just needed a little help in the beginning, after all.

"K-Killer? A little help here?"

He opened his eyes and glanced over his shoulder at the object of his musings. She was shying inward, her knees pulled up to her chest to cover as much of herself as she could as she avoided his hidden gaze. Her nerves were back full force; he might have felt bad for her if she didn't look so damn adorable.

"Alright," he stretched his back with a grunt before turning toward her on his knees. "Turn around, let me check your back; if there's no blood on it already, we'll just move to your hair."

She turned her back on him immediately; he had an inkling her eagerness might have been because it would give her an excuse not to look at him. The notion actually had him amused rather than insulted.

"Hand me the washcloth."

"I was hoping that just splashing water over my shoulders would be enough..." her voice quavered slightly as she blindly held it out behind her for him to take.

"This shouldn't take long. A lot of it washed off naturally, so it's not that bad," he assured her. He wasn't lying; it really wasn't that bad, not bad at all.

Mostly because there was no blood.

Was he being an asshole? Yes. Did he care? Not really.

"O-Okay," Loklynn's demurrment was foiled slightly when the cloth touched her back. He laid his other hand on her shoulder when she tried to lean forward, preventing her from shying away. He really shouldn't have been doing this, but seeing the way his hands engulfed her slender shoulders... yeah, his conscience could wait.

He had mercy on her and kept it down to less than a minute; he might have been enjoying himself, but there was no need to draw it out when she clearly felt differently.

"Turn a bit to the side," he instructed her when he had rinsed her back of all the imaginary blood. "No, don't try to lay back, I brought a pitcher."

"I don't think I've heard any of you say the word 'please' on this ship," she grumbled into her knees as she hugged them to her chest again. "Not once."

Killer huffed out a quiet laugh. "Tilt your head back. Was that a complaint?" He emptied the pitcher over her black hair.

"Just an observation."

"Mm-hm. Pass me that bottle. Please," he emphasized. Ah, there was her smile.

"That one didn't count," Loklynn claimed. Killer's own lips tilted into a grin at both her petulant tone and the way she shuddered as he began to massage the shampoo languidly into her scalp.