Page 16 of Behind the Mask

Kasumi glared.

"I would also recommend certain other activities, but I get the feeling I'd be in a lot of pain."

Kasumi threw the book at him and stalked from the cabin, ignoring the sailors and moving to the railing, standing where he was out of the way and would be left in peace.He watched the ocean, the sky, and let his thoughts wander.To home.To Minoru.To his mask.

He remained there until it grew dark and exhaustion urged him to sleep.Reluctantly he returned to the Captain's quarters.Luther was quietly conversing with his first mate, concluding a couple of minutes later.

Pointedly ignoring him, Kasumi readied himself for bed, laying out his bedroll on the floor close to the door but not where anyone would immediately see him.

"Sleeping on the floor really isn't the best idea.You can use your cabin, you know," Luther said."I'm not going to lock you in or anything."

Kasumi did not reply, merely finished his preparations and then bedded down.

Luther sighed softly, and Kasumi listened to him moving about the cabin.Several minutes later the lamp was snuffed, and he listened to Luther settled into bed.He heard a soft 'good night' but did not respond to it, waiting until he knew Luther was asleep before finally allowing himself to relax.

Five

The shift in the air woke him.

Kasumi didn't move, simply listened to the near-soundless footsteps as someone entered the cabin unbidden and closed the door behind him.

The footsteps hesitated just inside, the intruder obviously taking stock.

He doubted whoever it was could see him; too dark, and Kasumi was not so oblivious he had missed the rumors aboard ship that he was the Captain's lover.Likely the intruder assumed he was in bed with Luther.

As if.

The near-soundless steps resumed, and Kasumi waited.Waited.

The moment the steps were past him, beyond the intruder being able to see him, he reached for one of his knives and threw.

A cry of pain and the scuff as the intruder attempted to turn and flee.

Kasumi stood and lunged, tackling him to the ground even as he heard Luther move, the smell of sulfur as a match was struck.A second later the warm light of a lantern filled the cabin.

"Well, well," Luther said."You work in the galley.I do not believe you've come to give me a nightcap."He knelt and reached around to grasp the dagger lodged in the back of the man's right shoulder—and pushed, making the man gasp and pale with pain."Who are you?"

"Cook's assistant," the man gasped.

Luther twisted the knife a bit."Wrong answer, I think.Stand him up."Moving away, he lit more lamps and went to fetch medical supplies.

Kasumi obeyed, standing and hauling the man with him.Holding his wrists tightly in one hand, he used his other to pull a strip of fabric from one of the pockets on his jacket.Stronger than any rope, near impossible to tear, difficult to cut.Swiftly he bound the man's wrists, then moved him to a chair.

Joining them at the table, Luther deposited the supplies he'd gathered.He didn't move to help the man, however."Who are you?"

The man said nothing.

"We could simply kill you and throw you overboard," Luther said, and his eyes had taken on the hardness Kasumi remembered from the earliest days of his own kidnapping.

Strange.Until now, he hadn't realized just how…not cold those eyes had been of late.Right now they were the color of a winter sky, just as frosty and unappealing.It made him realize now that earlier in the evening, and ever since they'd started cooperating weeks ago, they hadn't been that way at all.

He jerked his thoughts back to where they should be.

"You cannot be working for Jun," Luther said thoughtfully."He knows we'll be after him; a spy would be pointless.So you must be working for someone else.The question is who?"

The man frowned.

Kasumi yanked the dagger out of the man's shoulder, cleaning it before cutting away the fabric of his shirt, laying the wound bare.

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