~You Belong To Me~

{Chapter 9}

"Here she is!" I turned to where the voice shouted from. 

Alfred ran towards me wide-eyed, I set the broom to the side cracking my fingers. I had finally finished sweeping and felt proud of the clean deck. 

"Look! This is Kiku he's the one I wanted to show you last time!" I glanced to the side at the boy who stood by Alfred. 

His dark brown eyes stared at me curiously, he was slim and had short raven-black hair framing down to his ears. He was probably about the same age if not a little older than Leon, I hadn't seen him once during my stay here. 

"Hello," His polite and soft voice caught me by surprise, everyone here was loud and very expressive but he seemed well-mannered which was refreshing. 

"Hello, it's nice to meet you Kiku." He wore a more uniform-like attire firmly pressed and well-kept. 

Probably the second best-dressed person here, He didn't seem like someone Arthur held special since I hadn't met him up until now. I frowned only now realizing how quiet it had gotten, I was too deep in thought to even realize how awkward it had gotten. Neither of us spoke past greetings, I was too busy inspecting his attire to continue the conversation and he seemed too timid to continue it so it had now become uncomfortably quiet. 

"Ah well, I should probably get going it was nice meeting you." He bowed his head slightly stopping himself before just leaving. 

I watched him walk away, He seemed nice but it would probably take longer for us to get along. Not like I would be here long enough for that to happen, Alfred jumped on me hugging my waist stopping my thoughts from continuing. 

"Have you finished your chores, there's something I'd like to show you!" I smiled, ruffling his hair. 

"What is it? It better not be another strange artifact again." The last time he had something to show me was some strange stone they had stolen from a foreign land with words engraved on it. 

It was probably cursed considering the strange dizzy feeling we both felt as soon as we touched it, Alfred grinned apologetically remembering the time as well before shaking his head. 

"It's way better! Follow me!" He quickly ran up the steps leading to the steering wheel before climbing the large ropes leading to the crow's nest. 

I followed along climbing up with him, He jumped up after finally reaching the crow's nest. Turning back to offer me a hand, I took it standing up. It was very high, and yet it felt as though I could reach the sky if it were only a little higher. 

"Isn't it amazing! It's called the crow's nest, it's what we use to look for land, obstacles, or approaching ships and it makes everyone down there look tiny!" He pointed down at the crew which walked around. 

I leaned on the rails, turning to stare at the direction the ship was heading. The wind blew slightly harder this high, making our hair fly back. Alfred handed me a spyglass, 

"Look over there, you can see the harbor up ahead!" I turned to where he pointed, shutting one eye as I lifted the spyglass to my other eye. 

He was right, as I looked through it the view of the land we were heading towards was quite clear. It's ships docked at the harbor and the structures seemed so close. The Western border was our busiest harbor, and also the most guarded. Anyone could come in so long as they didn't try anything because even the wrong whisper could get you arrested or kicked out.