Mission 8 "Don't call me grasshopper"

[BEX]

The kiss startled Jack and for a moment he stopped. Then his hand took on a life of its own and drew Momo to himself bringing her face only inches from his own as the crazed look that usual entered his eyes when he was drowning in the joys of battle sparkled in his pupils,

"Yer excuse for not coming with me is your gramps?" he asked with a dead tone in his voice as his grip on her arms tightened to the point where he risked harming her; in the pasts months he had indeed grown stronger thanks to her training, yet now he wanted nothing more than to whisk her away.

Before Momo could answer he kissed her inhaling her scent into his lungs as his hand released her forearm revealing imprints of where the hands had grasped. Soon they were caressing her back, yet Jack himself was not conscious of these actions for his thoughts were muddled with the scent of the woman before him. Impulses throbbed in rhythm with the beat of his heart and he bounced from rage to lust to despair all in the matter of a few beats of the heart. For a brief moment even his heart quieted down and he thought he could feel as they souls melded into one; a romance that now allowed two withered husks bound their pasts to melt into one another becoming a free creature roaming to any place it desired.

Pulling back so that he could look at her eyes Jack licked his lips to catch any reminder of her on them before speaking softly,

"Just come with me...I ain't as strong as half of these dudes out here, but I know I will beat 'em all to death if it was for you..." he whispered.

Just then Fondu, the girl's grandfather came storming through the bushes where the two had hidden away,

"And just what do you think you telling my granddaughter to do?!" he spat harshly at Jack grabbing the surprised pirate by the cuff of his shirt and hoisting him into the air before the young man could react.

"S-screw y-you old man..." he breathed under the strain of the grip while his feet dangled helplessly in the air,

"...ya pretend ya love her when all yer doin' is holdin' her back" he fumed futilely grasping at the man's wrist trying to break his hold upon his shirt.

Fondu's eyes bulged with anger and he released the struggling pirate's shirt allowing him to fall for a brief moment before striking the boy's stomach with a powerful fist sending all the contents of the mean he had splashing across the ground. A dull boom echoed through the small clearing and a few animals peeped out curiously from their homes as to view the scene. Eyes wide open in pain as he clutched his stomach, Jack wavered on his feet for a second and then fell forward twitching as his brain tried to deal with the incoming pain messages that left the boy paralyzed upon the soft grass laying in his own puke,

"Momo! Come with me now!" the old man sternly ordered his granddaughter.

His deep set eyebrows crinkled with passionate anger as he eyed his kin; her decision to love this piece of scum baffled him from the start, but now they spoke of leaving as if it were a matter to be toyed with. He, Fondu would never allow his daughter to shame his dojo nor the name of Karate Island all for the sake of some runt faced street rat,

"...you shall never see this man again...nor he you" he said with a finality that sent chills through the bones of the incapacitated Jack.

[Farris (Kuro)]

Momo was about to say something as in response, it wasn't so much that it was an excuse, but there was a pride for her family's honor she had to consider and Fon du had made that clear to her whenever she even mentioned leaving the island. Her words died as he gripped her though, but not from pain or fear, from a longing to be with him that seemed to overpower any other sensations she might have been having. They kissed and she fully gave herself up to him. Her hands caressing his chest as her tongue entwined with that of the pirates. She knew that all he had to do was marry her, then her grandfather could say nothing. She would be his women, but Fon du made his dislike for jack quiet clear...

The kiss ended and Momo licked her lips to savor the taste of her love as Jack spoke his desires, his feeling that were truly more moving than any of the poems or letters suitors had sent her in the past. Unfortunately this moment was shattered by her grandfather as he tore her beloved from her arms. "Grandfather!" She pleaded with the old man with a bit of surprise before the two spoke and soon Fon du struck Jack, leaving him curled up on the grass. "Jack!" She cried, the frist time the woman had shown any sign of weakness as she moved the stroke her lovers cheek, tears welled in her eyes.

Then came the stern orders from her grandfather. "But Grandfather... Jack-" but the old man took her by the hand ending any argument with a stern look. The strong spirited woman's head bowed in sorrow and defeat. It was clear that this was not the choice she wanted to make. he pulled her away with those final word as she cast one final look at Jack, tears streaming down her face. She mouth simpled words of "I love you." to him before she was half dragged off. Leaving her lover alone, and ending the training they'd shared.

[BEX]

Defeated and alone Jack Dancer lay in the grass despite many commands from his brain telling his body to move as the old man carried the woman that he had fallen in love with away with tears of sadness falling from her cheeks onto the ground. Each droplet of saline water that fell onto the ground was like blessing that the ground received yet the pirate would never be allowed to experience and it twisted his heart inside. Stretching out his hand hopelessly towards his love as his vision began to fade away, the gruff faced young man's face fell into the dirt; he would never see Momo again all because he was too weak. Darkness found him laying in the same spot untouched save for a few squirrels whose deep black eyes seemed to mourn with him, but he was never much for allowing his emotions to show so he hostilely shooed the critters away as he rose to his feet,

"Damn...I've wasted too much f*cking time on this island" he cursed as he wiped away a smudge of dirt that lingered on his forehead.

A strange metallic taste filled his mouth and he wondered if it had been from the blow that the old man had delivered him before he took Momo away.Even thinking about the last words that the girl had mouthed to him made him want to wretch with sadness. Walking away from the spot the pirate stole a small dinghy from the port nearest the old man's dojo slipping away into the sea leaving Momo, Memo, and the strange man that he had met in search of power; power that would allow him to bring the girl he loved out of the land that bound her.