By the Quiet Shore [Yumi]

With a cool breeze from the ocean winds the red headed "sailor", if you could even call the captain of a catboat that, sat aboard her one man vessel twiddling a matchstick between her teeth, flicking at the end in her mouth with her tongue as she lay back, board out of her mind and just quietly watching the sky and the clouds drift by, sometimes spotting shapes and pretending it's something rude just to make herself giggle. It was a simple pleasure, but it got her through the hours.



With a quiet sigh she would eventually lift her head up, darting back and forth for a sign of land, just anything that would let her know she could sit back and truly relax for a day or two. Since she left her home island she hadn't even landed at another shore, despite her telescope spottin a few rocky formations her navigation skills left much to be desired. Heck, she even had a map, the only issue was it was for a whole other sea! Ugh, she knew she should of prepared before going on the run! Why didn't she! It was stupid! Heck she knew her family probably would have gave her more aid if she had the common sense to stick around. They were sailors for years before she was even born, heck, they were a family known for sailing!

"Ugh...guess some things just don't get passed on through genes." Finally bringing her spyglass to her eye the girl had a quick check around, making sure even her keen eyes hadn't missed anything. "Nothing starboard..." Turning her gaze to the other side of the ship, she had a quick scan. At first glance she was going to declare another failure, but upon closer inspection, a small, green spec seemed to be off in the distance...

"HAH! I knew I had to hit something sooner or later!" Jumping up, Yumi rocked the ship with the sudden action. staggering to steady herself, and it. "Okay, don't wanna kill myself so close to salvation." With a nervous smile while she put herself back at ease, Yumi began to adjust the rudder and mast of the ship as she needed to, the winds taking her towards the island in the distance. Before long she would have been in view of anyone on the island itself, and soon enough, her ship would make it to the shore, an excited red head hopping off and tying her boat to a strong log along the shore, not noticing the other red head along the beach.

"Okay, food supplies running low, first things first. Check the forest for anything I can ea-AH!"

Yumi jumped as a shot rang out and the sand kicked up around her. Looking up the shoreline a red headed man seemed to be walking towards her, gun in hand and switching to a shorter barreled weapon as he glared into her eyes, keeping her at gun point. Yumi had her own guns, sure, but she wasn't practiced in the art of a quick draw. Gazing back, a little scared by the intimidating bare chested man, she rose her arms, high above her pistols. With proof he had a long range pistol she had little chance to run so what else could she do but tell the truth.

"Look...sir." SHe bowed her head, trying to show respect. "I was lost out on sea, I just made it here by chance. Right now, I just wanna get some food, maybe set up a camp in the forest, and I'll be gone by morning. I don't want to cause an issue." She looked into those red eyes with her own honey ones, showing slight worry, but at the same time, a tiny bit of excitement seemed to strangely shine through.

Alright, the red head believed her. This was a start she supposed. Slowly she would begin to feel at ease, her hands lowering down. She found it a bit off that after only hearing her own words he was brave enough to turn his back to her. Did he not see the two guns on her belt? No matter. It just gave her the edge should things turn sour. Her hands rested on her belt, close to her guns. "Yeah. Can never be too careful can ya?~" She seemed a little disappointed to hear there wasn't even any fruit or berries on the island, but then again, she had better eyes then most. Perhaps she could find something he couldn't. It was always a better alternative to fishing, that was an art she really didn't have the patience for...ironically she preferred to snipe animals, which required far more patience.

"Well if you really don't mind me staying I guess I'll set up camp and-" Yumi halted in her steps as she walked back towards her boat, on the way to grab the simple camping set up she had packed with her in case she couldn't find a place to stay on any of the islands she came across. Oddly enough the same guy who wanted her to leave was suddenly offering to help her set up for the night, even taking up the job she wanted to do least. "Oh er...if you're sure I guess." If she knew about her  Kuja heritage she woulda sworn this was her natural charm at work. Of course she hadn't a clue, so she just thought the other red head was going a bit cookoo staying on the island so long. Picking up her camping stuff, she headed back into the forest.

"I'll be back when I'm setup!"

Heading deeper into the forest minute after minute, Yumi found a nice little clearing to set up. Enough room for a campfire and her tent. A few quick stamps with some pegs and a long stick to stand it up and her shelter was ready. She had no idea what the nameless man was doing for his own shelter though. Heck, she wasn't even sure why she cared, she had more important things to focus on. Climbing a nearby tree , she pulled her satchel off her shoulders, revealing some neatly packaged metallic parts to some larger contraption. Slowly she put it together, piece by piece, clicks and clacks sounding the locking of each part of the larger weapon, soon forming a rather impressive rifle. Giving a quick look down the scope, it seemed to all be in working order. 

A good sniping point. A rifle. What more could a girl want?

Glancing down the scope towards the shore she'd smile with a gentle giggle, watching the nameless man hunt fish, every now and then his hair popping up with the rest of his bare torso...she had to admit, it was a nice view, tilting her head as if to make sure her scope was really showing her reality. "Hot damn...There was no guy like THAT back home..." Quickly shaking some thoughts from her head, she turned her gaze back to the forest floor, looking around for any animals that may be hiding in the undergrowth. Not finding anything, she decided to use an old trick her dad taught her, pulling out one of her dual shot flintlocks and aiming into the sky. BANG! Shot fired. The fluttering of wings suddenly sounded out through the forest and Yumi was quick to snap back to her rifle, darting between the birds that tried to fly for safety and shooting down one, not caring to watch it fall and quickly reloading her rifle, darting back to the flock and taking down a second. She made sure to check where they landed, hopping down off her branch and rushing off to catch her kills.

Before long, she was back at her camp, waiting for the red head to find her as she plucked the birds with a pile of firewood ready for the night.

Yumi seemed to shoot a bright smile in the way of the other red head as his jumps between fallen trees and rocks indicated his approach. Already she had managed to pluck all the feathers off of one of the birds, and was now onto the second, leaning back on a nice little assortment of rocks. It wasn't the comfiest of lounges, but right now it worked for her. With sharp pulls of her hands and feathers pinched between her fingers and thumb, she went about plucking the bird, not even needing to look and instead glancing over to the red head opposite her, smiling as she counted the three fish he had caught out in the sea. She'd be eating better than she had even with her supplies from leaving home. 

With the two sitting in silence for a moment, the gun toter carving the insides out of his fish, Yumi suddenly realized she had no way around that. She didn't exactly wanna eat chicken guts herself, but she also felt things may not be buddy buddy enough between them to ask the other supposed pirate to do it. Maybe if she just asked for his knife she could...what on earth was he doing with those rocks? To Yumi this seemed like a clever little trick. Her own idea for cooking was to put them on a stick and roast them like marshmallows...but perhaps that wasn't the best idea, seeing as the only twigs she had were covered in mud.

With time passing and the fish beginning to cook, she was about to work up the courage to ask to borrow the knife when the pirate introduced himself...she smiled, but she wasn't sure why. Maybe she just felt good that he was being nice enough to talk to her, maybe it was that she liked his name. Cuddling her knees close, her smile grew as she spoke. "Yumi." She grabbed her plucked birds by the neck, tossing them to Bunji accross the fire. "Mind gutting these? You seem to have a better hand on this than I do." Her eyes trailed to the cooking fish, as if pointing out the proof. "As for why I'm here, did you see my ship? I am have no maps, no compass, and no way to tell if I'm even in East blue anymore. I was LUCKY to end up here, even luckier to find someone who knew survival cooking." She gave a genuine smile, the closest she could give to a thank you without sounding weird, thanking a stranger for being somewhere he just so happened to be. "How about you? You sound like you've been here a while."

Heh, lost, those were probably the only words to describe her. She found it just a tiny bit irritating that Bunji was restating the list of things she herself had just counted off, but the tone he carried it with didn't make it sound like he was belittling her. In fact he seemed more like he was thinking of a way to help, but maybe that was just her. As he spoke her honey eyes trailed down to the food, giving it but a glance where most people would stare longingly. Her eyes instead locked on the campfire, cuddling her knees in tighter. She wondered about her home and the huge burning lighthouse at it's center. Was it still burning? Had the pirates come back? She could only hope not, afterall she did shoot their captain before getting told to run away. Maybe they'd be safe now...maybe.

"Oh yes you are still in East blue."

"Huh?" The red head lifted her face up from the fire, not quite grasping what was being said until her mind seemed to go back over the words she'd heard but just seemed to ignore as she was watching the fire before her. "Oh yeah...heh, can't exactly cross the blues anyway, what with the grand line and red line dividing them." She gave a quiet chuckle, slowly warming back up the the conversation and stretching out her legs, getting comfy once more as she listened to the rest of this pirates words. At first, she wanted to joke that he was lost too, but as he went on it sounded more like he was aiming for this place. Maybe just aiming for anywhere off the beaten path, aiming to get lost. It was an inciting thought, making her wonder why he needed to be secluded.

She may have asked, should she be smart enough to find the words, but once again something came up, and food was placed out before her, nicely laid out on a banana leaf as a makeshift plate. Another thing she would have never thought of. With a quick "Thank you" Both to Bun and her luck of finding the one island with a cook, she took the leaf, looking over the well cooked fish. She chuckled quietly, finding it nearly amusing how rock cooked fish could look as good as the stuff she made herself at home. She wanted to try it quick, just to get it down her and fill her stomache, going in to grab it between her fingers, pulling away as it felt a tad hot. Still, she would not give, diving in again and making sure not to hold it too long, blowing cooling breaths on it and throwing it into her mouth....A shudder ran down her spine. Boy did she miss cooked food. Before long she had the banana leaf held to her face, pinching each chunk and throwing it into her mouth, wiping her lips with the back of her arm. She was starving, no time to be ladylike.

"You're damn right it's good!~" She eyed her birds, almost ready to serve as she lay the banana leaf beside her. "I best get some of that though, hopefully my bullets didn't leave any parts behind." Resting back on her rocks, Yumi happily patted her stomache. Pleasant company, good food....rock hard abs to stare at as she tilted her head, her red ponytail falling behind her...yep, what more could a girl want. "So er...why the seclusion...?" She looked up, guessing it may have something to do with the wounds on his body, they seemed somewhat recent. Of course, she was too nervous to ask directly, and expected a sarcastc question about why she was getting lost in return.

As Bun went for his bird Yumi lifted her own off the rock, making softly noises as it stung her fingers to keep it in her hands, that kinda heat where you know it doesn't hurt but you also shouldn't keep hold of it much longer. With the juicy looking bird now on her leaf she waved her hand, letting the cool, chilling air get them back to normal temperatures before digging in, ripping chunks of meet from the bird and plopping them between her lips. She wasn't even sure by now if she was actually hungry or just so desperate to taste cooked food. Whatever the reason, she hardly cared. She was hardly ladylike back home so why start now.

Even as she ate, she made time to look up between chunks to listen to what the red head had to say. She admitted, only to herself mind, that she had no clue what he was going on about. Something about losing his way, this being the place it all started...it befuddled her but she did pick up one thing. He'd leave when he had his mind set straight, or at least that's how she saw it. She was somewhat glad to hear he wouldn't stay here forever. As nice as it was for her to have a chef on a deserted island, she assumed it wouldn't be the nicest of lives for him to keep up unless he was planning to open a place like that floating restaurant soon. 

"Well I'm going to be heading off tomorrow myself." She brought up another chunk to her lips, flinging it into her mouth and humming happily as it landed on her tongue, giving a pleasant hum before swallowing it down, already toying with the meat to get another chunk as she looked up to the red head and spoke. "I wanna see the world like my parents did, so I'll be looking for a good crew to join and set sail with." With another piece flung between her lips, a lightbulb went off, swallowing quickly so she could get her words out. "Hey! Maybe if we meet again and you're looking for a crew, I can put in a word with my captain. He'd be happy for someone with experience." It was a small remark, but it may have drawn attention to the wounds on the red. She was curious to know what they were from, but still too nervous to ask directly.

Whether she got a response or not, it would seem Bunji was off with more plans to make their time on the island a more cozy one. He'd be gone for a short while mentioning something about her having good timing. She wasn't entirely sure, she was too focused on ripping the last strands of leap off this meat, soon leaving bare chicken bones before her and a very satisfied red head rubbing her tummy, laying back on her cozily arranged rocks, and only glancing up as she spotted Bunji returning, the soft cracking of twigs beneath his feet and the light trickles of rain began to drip down from the sky snapped her to attention, watching with intrigue as he set up his own shelter, seeming to not have a tent of his own. She gave a soft chuckle as he seemed to get comfy, eyeing his chicken and hoped he didn't let it go to waist.

"Where am I from?" The question wasn't entirely out there, but she hardly expected it. She wondered if he'd even know it though. "Kasai island...it's a small place and the islands only large enough to hold about 20 buildings, including the metal works, but it was a lovely place to call home." With her food finished, she pulled in her knees, trying to get comfy as she gazed up at the storm brewing, feeling a few more droplets tease her skin. "There's this huge lighthouse on the center of the island... supposedly we're famous for having the biggest in east blue.~ Heck if it weren't for that, my family wouldn't have survived their last sea voyage." Her eyes seemed to wonder for a moment, lost in space, like she was recalling a tale she had been told, and told herself, countless times over. Soon enough though she snapped back to reality, glancing over towards the red head.

"How about you? You said you're going back where you started but something tells me you weren't born here, so what's your story?"

Yumi was a little dissapointed to hear Bunji seem to avoid her joking offer of her and him maybe being part of the same crew one day, but she guessed that was up to him. Afterall she couldn't force the guy to change his mind. What she could do however was get under cover. The clouds above were slowly letting more and more droplets, each bigger than the last, fall down to the forest of the island. Before she got drenched the red head had the common sense to scoot back under her tent, sitting on the clothe she'd brought with her to make sure she slept at least somewhat well. Just as she wiggled comfily into her new spot, a question about her parents caught her ears, earning a delightful chuckle. "Oh my parents were nothing special. My whole family use to be travellers. Up to 10 generations back, not one member of my family was born on land. We were all sea births. Guess it's just in the Tasukai birt to want a life of exploring new lands on the open sea!~"

With the rain slowly starting to come down Yumi was glad she used a strong branch to keep her tent up, otherwise she'd be drenched now. She did however start piling rocks around her tend, making sure no water ran in and soaked her clothes while she slept. For now it was only a light drizzle, but you could never be too careful. As she worked on her defenses, she found it curious that Bun didn't want to name his home, but if it was really such a small place, perhaps she wouldn't have heard of it anyway. With naught but a shrug the thought was gone with the wind and her attention came to the next question.

"Well...I planned to make it to shell town, find the docs, get aboard a ship as a cabin girl maybe. Maybe something better if the right opportunity strikes. I dunno. By now I'd be happy finding an island with a town let alone one with a busy dock." Laying her head back she sighed, hands behind her head ready for the night to draw in, talking in a sleepy tone as her body, filled and fueled, began to shut down. "How's about you...any plans once you find your way?"