Blackbeard; The Legend

Forgiveness

In her room, Akahana drew out a piece of parchment and a bottle of ink, dipping a quill in the black liquid. 

"Hm." She stared at the blank paper, tapping her foot. "What to write, what to write..." She pressed the tip of the quill on the paper. "Dear, Mr. Takahiro? No, too informal. Mr. Kujaku?" She scribbled it down. "I have some news about your overall health, and it is of utmost importance that you come see me outside so that I can tell you that I'm sorry for humiliating you, and I want to apologize-" Akahana paused, realizing what she wrote. She sighed, and crumpled the paper up. "Please see me outside so that I can privately discuss it with you." She murmured as she finished jotting the words down on a new piece of paper. She signed it with the boar's name in the cursive, before sealing it shut.

Quietly, she snuck out of her room, and crept to Ryota's room, softly knocking on his door. In an instant, he opened it, and together, the two silently made their way to Takhiro's room. Akahana gulped, before slipping the letter underneath the door and quickly knocking. Swiftly, the two ran up to the deck, where the nighttime breeze gently chilled Akahana's bones. She hid behind the main mast, while Ryota hid himself near the entrance up to the deck, his entire body pressed against the wall. Soon enough, Akahana could hear a door opening from below deck, and soon enough, she could hear footsteps walking up the stairs. 

"Hello?" Takahiro called out. "Mr. Boartholomew? You said you wanted to talk urgently about something?" Akahana took a deep breath, before stepping out of her hiding place. 

"Hel-" She started, but when seeing her, Takahiro immediately turned around to run, but stopped when seeing Ryota blocking his path. "Hey, wait! I just want to talk!" 

"I don't have anything to say." Takahiro tried darting past Ryota, but the fox stuck out a leg and the peacock tripped.

"Hey!" Takahiro tried getting up, but Ryota firmly placed his foot down on his cloak. "Let go!"

"Not if you're gonna run." Ryota replied. "Besides, I bet you wouldn't want your fancy clothing to get ripped now, would it?" Takahiro growled, and he reached into the folds of his clothes.

"Enough!" Akahana shouted. "Ryota, let him go."

"He's just gonna run away." Ryota argued.

"I will not!" Takahiro exclaimed.

"I just want to talk to you." Akahana said.

"If you do that, then will you leave me alone?' Takahiro asked. She nodded, and after a few moments, he groaned and nodded. "Alright. Now let me go." Ryota scoffed and took his foot off. "So then, what do you want to talk about?" He asked Akahana as he dusted himself off. "

Akahana took a deep breath before responding. "I want to apologize."

"What?" Takahiro was surprised, and fumbled for words. "Why are you apologizing to me?"

"I didn't mean to humiliate you out there." She continued. "You were scared. And I was too, if I'm being honest." She took a step forward. "You don't need to feel ashamed."

"Are you crazy?!" Takahiro blurted. "I'm not ashamed...I just..." He looked away, flabbergasted. 

"What are you then?" Akahana asked. taking another step. 

Takahiro looked away. "A coward." He whispered. 

"What?" 

"A coward." Takahiro repeated. "While all of you were fighting, I was just...standing there. Doing nothing." He continued, his voice cracking. "People could've died- you could've died!" He said, his eyes tearing up. "So you shouldn't be the one apologizing." He murmured. "There, now you got it out of me." Takahiro glared at Akahana, tears streaming down his face. "Now leave me alone." He said, his voice full of resent. Akahana hesitated, before she walked up to Takahiro and enveloped him in a hug. "W-wh-" Takahiro stuttered, taken aback by the embrace.