"WOMAN!"

Mai jolted out of her sleep. She had a strange dream about her old home, and Miss Chau and Lien appeared to celebrate another scam and eat hot pot. It was weird, but nice ... and normal.

Then she woke up.

For a moment, she forgot where she was. Her head was spinning and everything was shaking. Then she blinked, cleared her head, and realized it was the ROOM that was shaking, which didn't help at all. A room covered in Hello Kitty posters like it was propaganda.

Mai wondered if Lien got her drunk and then spewed Hello Kitty everywhere for a joke, before the door slammed open and Zico barged in.

"Wake UP, woman!" He barked. 

"Wha --? You ... wait ... oh ..." Mai struggled to piece everything back together.

"Yes, me, dammit! Get your up and moving!"

"Wh ... why?" Mai rubbed her eyes blearily as she staggered up into a standing position, using her stomach muscles and the wall for support.

"I'm pretty sure I told you already, lady. If you're eating my food and sleeping in my room, you're working for it. Now get your down and cook us breakfast!"

Mai scowled darkly at hi, indignation bubbling up immediately. "What? Is it because I'm a WOMAN or something that I have to cook and clean? What am I, your wife? Your servant? I refuse! You're all a bunch of ist pigs!"

"Well, aren't you being one big bundle of gratitude," Zico snorted, peering at himself in the mirror and fixing his hair.

"Why, you ...! Look, I am fine with working to earn my stay here, but why can't I do something like help fight or carry cargo or whatever?"

"Because, in case you don't remember, your ankle is ing broken!!!"

Mai flushed. She instantly felt bad for assuming he was looking down on her when he told her to stay in the kitchen ... although many of the men that lived in her area really WERE like that. "S-so? It's only a sprain, I can still move around --"

"Woman, I am not having this conversation. To be honest, I'd rather have you fight too -- god knows what hell will befall on us all if KYUNG tried to fight -- but your ankle needs to recover and Taeil will have my on a stick if I push you too much. So just get to the goddamn kitchen ..." there was a pause. "And make me a sandwich."

Mai couldn't help but let a small bubble of laughter escape (she didn't even know why it was even that funny), although she instantly tried to flatten it and look pissed off. "Are you TRYING to be a chauvinist, ?"

"No, I am genuinely hungry," Zico retorted back, snickering. "If you can't get there, just yell for someone and they'll help you to the kitchen."

"Why can't you do it?"

"I have more important things to do without steering a chick down a hallway."

Before Mai could snap another thing at him, he disappeared. He definitely was much more amusing now that he wasn't being a total jerkass to her. He was still a weirdo for loving Hello Kitty so much, though.

Mai hobbled outside, feeling like an idiot as she made slowly, jerky movements. The hallway was empty, and Zico had left somewhere else, but Mai could feel the boat's machines humming, and voices and footsteps echoed everywhere. The ship was obviously b with life, even though it seemed like early morning, from what she could tell of the time.

"Mai? You alright?" Jaehyo was there, looking bored and yawning. "Good morning. Wow, it's great to see a girl first thing when I wake up. I don't appreciate having to see a bunch of sweaty, crude men every day."

Mai snorted. "Thanks, I guess. Why is everyone up so early?"

"We're always up at some point, to steer the ship or to keep lookout, or to check the machines. We take night shifts. I'm starving, you think you can make me some food?"

Mai felt like snapping at him too, because dammit, why did they all assume she'd just go and cook something for them, but Jaehyo gazed at her with big doe eyes and a cute pout and even added sugary little "please"s afterwards, so she couldn't help but agree.

"Who normally cooks around here?" Mai asked as Jaehyo, with a very gentlemanly charm, helped her stagger along to the kitchen.

"Uhh, if you mean the only people who can actually COOK, that'd be Taeil and U-Kwon. But Taeil is a freaking monster if you wake him up too early and U-Kwon tends to be a bit creative with his cooking, so we're all really pleased someone else is living with us. Uh, you can cook, right?"

"Yes, I can," Mai said in exasperation. "I've lived on my own my whole life."

"Wow, you're one independent woman." Jaehyo gave her another cheeky, charming grin. "I tip my hat to you, if I was wearing one, my lady."

Mai tried hard not to look flattered, but she was pretty certain her cheeks were red. Usually, the guys tried to flirt with Lien, or Yen Ly if she was ever hanging out with them. She didn't know how to react when a handsome Korean guy suddenly started to compliment her on stupid things.

"Don't be weird," she laughed, trying to shrug her embarrassment off. "Well, I guess I could make you guys something if you really want to ... how long have you been up?"

"Dunno, couple hours. I got P.O out of his night shift and after a while I went to go play around with the machines. I was hoping to find a nearby cruise ship or motorboat to hack with, but there isn't anything in the radar. Boring."

Mai stared. "You hack people's ships for FUN?"

"Yeah, what else can I do around here? If you haven't noticed, I at fighting and I'm kind of a derp."

Mai wondered exactly how blunt can a person be. It was weird for Jaehyo to say he was a derp, though. From what Mai could see, he appeared to be a complete hacking master genius. Maybe she just didn't know him well enough yet. 

They reached the kitchen. Someone who looked like B-Bomb was apparently sleeping, hunched over the table and burying his face in his arms. U-Kwon was sitting there looking sleepy too, but instantly perked up when he saw Mai.

"Mai Darling!" He cried, jumping up and looking like he wanted to tackle-glomp her. Mai backed up a bit and sent a warning glare at him. "Back off, Smiley-boy!"

"Fine, fine," U-Kwon pouted, then perked up again -- like a freaking puppy, Mai noted sourly, which was completely unfair to do when one was trying to hate you. "Are you cooking breakfast, Mai Darling? I'm hungry ..."

"Fine, fine," Mai grumbled, hobbling over to the small fridge. "What do you guys want to eat?"

"Pancakes!"

"Hamburgers!"

"Bacon!"

"Are you guys Korean or what? I want rice."

"Cereal!"

"YOU CAN MAKE YOUR GODDAMN CEREAL ON YOUR OWN!!!"

B-Bomb slowly jolted awake and raised his head sleepily. He turned to stare at Mai without saying a word, which made her increasingly more uncomfortable.

Finally, he said, "I want bacon, please."

"Oh, please, hyung," Jaehyo rolled his eyes. "Don't be like that. We're Korean, let's have something Korean for breakfast."

"Fine, I'll have rice with my bacon."

"Oh, whatever."

Mai snickered as she pulled out ingredients and looked through the cupboards, memorizing where everything was located. The kitchen was surprisingly well-stocked and everything was clean. Mai could only assume Taeil did the cleaning because she sure as hell didn't think Zico was doing it.

As Mai cooked, the door opened and another figure stumbled into the room, yawning uncontrollably with a mouth bigger than a hippopotamus.

"Morning, all!" Kyung said brightly. "And good morning to you, sweet lady!" He bowed exaggeratingly at Mai, who scowled with embarrassment.

"Why are YOU so happy in the morning?" B-Bomb muttered grumpily.

"Seize the day, my friend! You'll see soon enough," Kyung chuckled and made an attempt to sound mysterious. Mai just rolled her eyes. "Skip the bravado, redhead, what do you want to eat for breakfast?"

"Rice!"

"FINALLY!" Jaehyo bellowed. "WE HAVE A KOREAN IN OUR MIDST!"

Mai finally finished everyone's choice selection of food and passed it to them. They immediately took it and began to scarf it down like animals. Mai ate the leftovers and watched over them, half in annoyance, half in amusement. It disturbed her how comfortable she already felt around them. They just had that aura of cheerful energy and acceptance, something Mai wasn't used to in Vietnam. Nobody trusted each other in the backalley sewers.

The door opened just as the first person -- U-Kwon -- was finishing up his breakfast. Zico sauntered in, looking cocky and confident. "Well?" He demanded haughtily at Mai, who raised an eyebrow. "Where's MY breakfast, woman?"

"Watch your mouth," Mai said coolly back. "Here, take it, ."

She threw something at his face. Zico spluttered and held out his hands, watching as the offending piece of food fell forwards.

It was a sandwich.

B-Bomb and U-Kwon were nice enough to help wash the dishes with Mai, although they weren't exactly Mai's favourite choice of company. B-Bomb was as expressive as a brick wall and U-Kwon wouldn't shut up and wouldn't stop staring at her.

"So, uh, what's the plan?" Mai asked awkwardly. "For today."

B-Bomb just shrugged, his face blank as he scrubbed a knife clean. Mai remembered the way he handled a knife before and shivered, edging away from him slowly.

"Dunno," U-Kwon said happily, eyes firmly fixed on Mai -- or her hair. "After we all wake up, Zico and Kyung will probably tell us the plan. Kyung looked mighty pleased, though ... maybe it's something interesting."

"Hope so," B-Bomb added quietly. "It's boring lately." He looked directly at Mai. "You're the most interesting thing that's happened to us in weeks."

Mai felt her skin start to flush and she quickly looked away. "Y-yeah right! You're pirates, you face danger daily. I'm just some chick who got in your way."

U-Kwon glowered at B-Bomb. "See here, you trying to steal Mai Darling away from me? I don't care if you're cool, I'll kick your !"

"Sure," B-Bomb responded dryly. "Mai, do you think you can wake up P.O for us? He should get up soon."

Mai shrugged and hobbled away. She was preeetty certain she knew where the boy's rooms were ... or not.

A few quick tries and she found the large room covered in mattresses and messy blankets. There were only two people in the room -- Taeil and P.O, she assumed, whom were both fast asleep with the covers pulled over their faces.

Mai decided to follow B-Bomb's instructions and first woke up P.O. She made her way towards the mass of long, tangled blonde hair peeking out from a giant blue blanket. She gently nudged him with her foot, although it kinda hurt. "P.O." She coughed awkwardly. "Uh, P.O. Come on, man, get up."

After a few more minutes, P.O groaned and slowly sat up, blinking rapidly and looking out of it.

"Jesus, man, your hair's a bird's nest." Mai found a hairbrush and quickly worked out the tangles, feeling oddly like a mother with her child. "You were at a night shift, right? Jaehyo told me."

"Yeah," P.O mumbled sleepily, clutching what looked to be an weird cylindrical pillow. Mai looked closer and realized it was a strange green stuffed animal.

"What the hell is that?"

"It's Toto," P.O said defensively, drawing the animal closer to him.

Mai couldn't help but giggle. "You sleep with it? At night?"

P.O blushed and clutched the animal even tighter. "N-no!"

"Yeah, yeah, okay. That's cute." Mai ruffled his hair. "C'mon, they want you to wake up. Should we get Taeil too?"

"Nah," P.O said, recovering quickly from his mortification over childish habits, as he gently tucked Toto into his blanket and stood up, stretching. "Taeil hyung wakes up whenever he wants to, and sleeps as long as he wants. Even Zico hyung doesn't try to wake him up."

"Why?"

"Because he goes ape crazy on anyone who tries. Kyungie hyung has the scar to prove it."

Mai stared at the innocent-looking baby face of the candy-loving guy curled up in his bed. "A scar? What, did he stab Kyung or something?"

"Nope. No weapon."

"Jesus Christ ... if he could do that normally, you'd have a war machine on your hands."

"Probably. I'm hungry."

Mai sighed. She could already feel a pattern coming on. "What do you want to eat?"

Zico was clearly excited as, three hours later when Taeil finally woke up, he coralled everyone up onto the deck as a sort of unofficial meeting. 

Mai was just pleased she was allowed to attend and not stuck in that godawful kitchen cooking. Which was basically all she did. It seemed like every so often at random intervals different members of the Block B crew would wander in complaining of starvation.

"Okay, guys, we got a new mission," Zico said with a grin. "Kyung, show 'em."

Kyung nodded and pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. He held it out to Taeil first, who stared at the paper. "Are you serious?"

"Completely."

"What does it say?" The others crowded around, and even Mai couldn't help but lean forwards.

"This, my friends," Zico said dramatically. "Is an official government letter I found on Tuan's ship before leaving."

"Why on earth would Tuan have a government letter?" U-Kwon demanded.

"How should I know? Maybe he nicked it like we did. Anyway, point is, it's a letter to the Vietnamese government from the Japanese about the Fukushima Family, saying they are taking a nice little cruise near the borders of the Vietnamese sea and they should increase protection."

Many of the pirates looked confused, which Mai couldn't help but roll her eyes to. "Is this real, Zico?" She grabbed the letter from Jaehyo and read it.

"Who are the Fukushima?" P.O wondered, looking confused.

Mai looked at Zico -- who didn't look to be in any mood to explain -- and quickly said, "They are this extremely rich and influential family from Japan. Rumours say that their ancestry dates back to emperors and princes. Their current head of the family is Fukushima Ayane, and he's shaken hands with everyone from the Japanese prime minister to the Queen, so they say."

"Damn," U-Kwon whistled. "That's series business. They're royals."

"Well, I wouldn't say blue bloods, but they're pretty damn close. They must be taking a vacation near Vietnam or something. What's your point, Zico?"

Zico was grinning, a maniacal light shining in his eyes. "So, isn't this great luck that WE found this letter before Tuan's goons could relay it back to the mafia?"

Mai immediately caught on. "Zico, no. We all know how the last kidnapping mission turned out. You were stuck with ME."

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Jaehyo said, smiling evilly. 

"This is serious stuff," Taeil mumbled, looking nervous. "Zico, if we mess up like we did with Mai, it won't just be a diamond we lose. We'll probably lose our heads and everything else attached. These are rich, powerful people!"

Zico snorted. "And when you strip away their stupid titles and statuses and , they're just kids from the slums, just like us. Look, the letter says the entire family will be there. That includes their daughter, Tomoyo. She's only sixteen, according to all those stupid Japanese gossip magazines, and all she does is party and spoil herself all day, every day. She'll assume she's perfectly safe on a boat with her family. If we pull this off, we'll be RICH."

"That's what you said when we tried to steal the diamonds," Taeil said in exasperation. "And look where that got us! No offense, Mai."

"None taken." Mai looked at Zico. "Are you sure you can handle this?"

He turned to stare hard back at her. "I'm mothering Zico and I am a badass. In case you forgot, woman, I already have a price on my head. What's the biggie if I add a little more to the sum?" He turned back to the others. "We won't let a smart chickie screw with us this time, boys. Because THIS time, we have the little chick to help us. Whaddya say?"

"I'm in, obviously," Kyung immediately said with a grin.

"Count me in, too!" U-Kwon said with a bright smile.

B-Bomb nodded, a smirk flashing across his features.

"Sounds fun, let's do it!" P.O cheered.

"Leave the hacking to me," Jaehyo added.

Taeil paused, before sighing and saying, "Oh, alright ..." as he fished in his pocket for a lollipop.

Everyone turned to Mai, who felt uncomfortable. "W-what? What are you all staring at?"

"You in or not?" Zico demanded.

"I ... I'm part of this?"

"Of course you are, woman! You in?"

Mai's head reeled. She wasn't part of their crew! She was just their maid of all work, their chef, their hostage. She wasn't a PIRATE! And for god's sakes, she didn't want to get arrested or killed for attempting to kidnap someone from one of Asia's most influential families.

Too much adventure for her. Too much danger, too much adrenaline-pumping and pain and money ...

"Let's do this."

The boys whooped and cheered as they immediately rushed about, readying weapons, making plans, and fixing the ship. Mai grinned and felt her heart leap a bit.

Hell, who was she fooling? It didn't matter whether she was a pirate or a scammer, a crewmate or a thief. She was in it for the danger and the thrills, and she was definitely not going to get another chance like this anytime soon.