Title: My true self
Genre: Hurt, Comfort
Pairing: Not really any, maybe hint ShanksxOC
Summary: It hurts. The pain isn't stopping. My body is cold. I hear noises in my head. Just a faint light is keeping me warm and safe, but it's getting smaller each day and some day it may vanish and nothing will be here.
A girl, about the age of ten was walking down the most dangerous street of Raftel. Her eyes were crimson red, but they showed no single emotion, just a blank expression. The short white hair of hers were dancing in the wind, matching its rhythm. She wore a dark blue shirt, which was shredded and scratched at some parts like her grey shorts. Even though her clothes are damaged a bit, her shoes were still all right from the beating earlier. Just a few blocks away was the orphanage where she lived. The little girl thought that her caretaker would be lecturing her again because of her recklessness. After she went through the possibilities in her head, she looked up to the sky and held her left hand, which wasn't hurt too badly in the fight, in front of her face, shielding her eyes from the bright sun.
The heat of the summer was unbearable. It was always hot and you can barely keep yourself cool. Everyone in Raftel was wearing shorts and t-shirts or summer dresses. No one would be stupid enough to wear a jacket in that heat. They would surely be burnt to a crisp.
The little girl had reached the orphanage and went in. She heard yelling and cries, but decided to ignore the loud noises. Suddenly a flower pot was thrown to her direction, but she didn't move. It hit the door behind her with a loud crash. Ignoring the yells and thrown things she went upstairs. The stairs were old and made out of wood like the rest of the house. Nobody cared about it, why should someone here? They had a home to live in and that was enough for them. Every step she made the stairs would creak under her weight.
She was at the top of the stairs when a teddy bear was thrown at her face making her nearly fell down the old stairs. A hand grabbed her arm in time when she was about to fall. The person pulled her forward.
"Are you okay Itami?" A concerned voice asked her. It was Shanks, her caretaker. He took care of all the orphans alone, but sometimes a bunch of others would come along with him when he got home from his job. Instead answering his question, she looked behind him and stared at the others. Shanks noticed her star and stood up while letting her arm go. He already knew, talking with her was useless if she didn't want to speak with someone. Itami never liked talking, not even him.
"Hey if it isn't Itami" an orange haired teenager said and went to the silent girl. She patted her head in a greeting way and took her hand.
"You really like her, don't you?" A man with green hair said with a bored look. He wore a white t-shirt and black shorts. A bamboo sword was attached to his belt.
"Of course Nami does. They are both sly, don't you think so Zoro?" A teen exclaimed with a grin on his face. His hair was black and messy. Under his eyes was a scar that was stitched. He wore a red vest with blue shorts. A straw hat was on his head, something that was precious to him.
"Tch. If you two weren't women I would have already punched you." Zoro hissed and glared at Nami, who stuck her tongue out. Itami didn't say anything. She freed herself from the hand that was grabbing her and went to Shanks, who was watching Zoro and Nami getting into an argument.
Something pulled at Shanks shorts and he looked down to see Itami. He smiled at her and picked her up, carrying into her room. She was the only one who was allowed to sleep with Shanks in a room, since she suffered from nightmares.
They were in the bedroom from Itami and Shanks. The room was clean and tidy. The red haired placed the girl gown on the bed and began to change her. He put her in a light white dress which reached just above her knees. After changing, the little girl stood up on the bed and grabbed Shanks head. Both of them looked in the eyes of the other. To his surprise Itami gave him a kiss on cheek and then instantly pushed him out of the room, giving him no chance to say anything. When he was out of the cramped room the door was shut with a loud crash.
His face became a beautiful color of a tuna and you could even see steam coming out of his head. The others noticed his behavior and went to check on him, but when they saw his face they rushed to him and asked him endless question which made him even more embarrassed than he already was.
Itami lay on her stomach on the bed with the pillow at her face. That was the first time in her five years she lived with Shanks, that she showed affection towards him. Even she didn't know what overcame her so suddenly. She would always push him out of the door like a complete stranger, but this time was different. Maybe her advice was at fault; still she couldn't blame her for what happened. It was just an advice for Kami-samas' sake! She should talk to her again for another advice.
A loud "It's none of your business!" was heard from Shanks downstairs along with a crash, which sounded like a table was being destroyed from an angry red haired man, who was pissed from all the question why he blushed furiously when he came out of the room, where he had changed Itami into a night dress. The white haired girl decided to ignore them downstairs and opened the night stander at the right side without looking at it. After searching it in the drawer, she held a black round mirror in her hand. There were no decorations on it nor was it special. Just a plain mirror. Itami looked into the mirror for a while and finally said something.
"Are you there?"
"No I'm not. Of course I am here!" Another voice exclaimed.
The voice came from the mirror Itami was holding in her little hands. The person in the mirror was herself but with little difference. She had brown short hair and brown eyes not like hers that were. They were beautiful and taken care of, but the original Itami didn't mind her messed hair, since it was a pain in the ass to take of it every single day. Shanks would always yell at her for not combing her hair. It pissed her off that she was being scolded because of hair and ignored her caretaker for one full week. The red hair was hurt by her actions and apologized to her for yelling and scolding so much. He just wanted her not being laughed at by other girls because of her messy hair.
"The advice you gave me didn't work…" Itami said with a little pout. The other girl in the mirror snorted and then sighed. She didn't think she would actually kiss him.
"Listen here. You cannot just kiss him on the cheek and push him out of the room you did earlier. Show some emotion if you even have any…" She said with an unsure tone. The brown haired girl wanted her other self to be more self confident and show what she truly feels, but she is very shy and that always leads to misunderstandings. Like the fight with the older boys at the park. The real problem lies in Itami, who cannot show any emotion on her face or even admit feelings for others. So the only option was to do it with physical contact, but it failed.
"There are more things to try. So just follow them, got it?" She said with a stern voice. Itami just nod and asked what she should do.
"First call me OS like I said at the beginning when we met and then talk more to others. That's all."
"…" Itami said nothing in return and laid the mirror on the bed. She could hear some shouts from the black mirror, but ignored it. The white haired girl got up from the bed and walked downstairs, where no one was currently. They were all out with the other orphans. All of them knew if they asked Itami out, she would politely refuse the offer and walk into the bedroom and sleep, instead she talked to her other self.
Suddenly she heard footsteps approaching her. She looked around to hide, but found no place to hide. The footsteps were getting nearer. She ran the stairs up without thinking much about it and ran into the bedroom, closing it silently; not wanting to let the intruder know that someone was here with him in the house. Itami leaned at the door with her ear pressed against it.
Someone spoke with an irritated voice. "Telling me to take care for a little kid while they in the zoo is really pissing me off. Why didn't they take that brat with them?" Then he huffed. He had a deep voice, probably the same age Shanks was. The footsteps abruptly stopped in front of the door she was leaning on.
"Hey brat, are you in there?" She flinched. How did he know that she was in there?
"I heard you go through this room, so open this damn door." Damn old house. Now she had to deal with a stranger. Itami didn't recognize his voice nor could she know if he really was here to babysit her. He could be a thief or a killer.
"If you think I am a thief or something else, you are wrong. Shanks told me to look after you and take you with me somewhere you would like to go. I'm not willingly here, so can you do me a favor and get out?" The person was clearly annoyed. He wasn't trying to hide the fact that he was annoyed by the request from Shanks. Itami said nothing and thought about it. Then she looked at the small bed and went to it. The girl grabbed a pair of glasses and wore it. After that she slowly opened the door to observe the stranger.
He had blond hair in a pineapple style. Lazy eyes looked at the little girl with no interest.
The two of them stared at each other. One of them was hiding behind a door and the other one, standing in front of the old door, doing nothing but staring. Itami slowly stepped out and went to the stairs. Marco followed the girl in silence. They went through the door to the outside. The sun was high up the cloudless sky, shining brightly. The white haired girl tried to ignore the man behind her, but couldn't. Strangely she couldn't turn off the presence behind like she did to other when she wanted to ignore them. It was like the blond guy was preventing it.
"Where are you going?" Marco suddenly asked Itami. She stopped and turned to look at him. He still looked the same, but was sweating a little because of the heat.
"Park" She said, not bothering to form a sentence. One word was enough for humans to understand.
"Park? Why the park? Don't you usually go to the shopping district and wander around?" Little Itami wondered why he knew that she went to the shopping district just to kill some time?
"I saw you sometimes there when I was out to do some errands. You would always ignore people who tried to speak to you. Then go into an alley and do something. I don't know what you do there, but it's pretty dangerous if you come out with several wounds." Marco stated the things he knew from observing her a few times. 'Till now everything was correct, but one thing missed.
"I am not going into alleys without a reason. The people who are speaking to me challenged me to a fight and I agreed. That's all." He raised an eyebrow at that.
"Why would you want to fight guys who are three times taller and eight times stronger than you?" She hesitated to answer the question. Itami never told her reasons for that. Not even Shanks. She sighed and took a deep breath.
"I want to show them that I am not a weak little girl. Those who laughed and made fun of me should just all go to hell. They don't know anything about me." Itami said those words with venom in her voice and Marco could clearly hear it. To her surprise Marco smiled and ruffled her hair like it was normal. The hand retreated after a while from her head.
"You rarely have interaction others, do you?" He said, looking at her with his normal look. A nod was the answer. Silence was then followed.
Marco looked around and realized that they were already in the park walking around. He wanted her to open up to him and others, but that was a difficult task. The little wasn't very social and was shy. He sighed mentally.
To lighten up the mood he changed the subject.
"Do you like ice-cream?" Itami looked at him with a 'are-you-kidding-me-look?', but nod. The blonde pointed at an ice-cream shop not far away from them. Marco told her to search a good place to sit and wait for him. She did what he had told her. After he bought the ice-cream, Marco looked around and spotted Itami, who lay with closed eyes under a Tree. With slow pace the lazy man walked to her with one ice-cream in each hand.
"Wake up, chibi brat. Your ice is going to melt." One of her eyes opened, looking at Marco with no interest. Then it closed again. The white haired girl opened her eyes. She didn't see her babysitter for today when she opened her eyes.
"I'm here." A voice on her left side said. She looked to her left. An ice-cream was shoved into her mouth. It was cold and wet. Itami grabbed the wafer and took it away from her mouth.
Marco expected her to be angry and shout at him, but it never came. Instead of running amok, she sat straight and ate the rest of the ice. He sighed in defeat.
"That brat is stubborn and won't show any weakness to anyone. Even lightning the mood up didn't help at all." Marco thought to himself "and I have to be the babysitter for today." Another sigh escaped his lips. A weight was placed on his shoulder. He looked at his right shoulder to see Itami asleep.
"It's just 2pm. The other said that they would come to the orphanage late at night. A little wouldn't hurt" The blond man thought and slowly fell asleep.
"…up" A voice was calling him, but he didn't listen and ignored the voice. The voice was still calling for him and it annoyed him. Suddenly the voice was louder than before.
"Wake up already!" Marco was hit on his headwith a small fist. He instantly woke up and rubbed his abused head.
"Are you awake now?" Itami asked him with an annoyed tone and huffed "It's already 3pm"
The hurt man looked at her with a confused look.
"I still want to eat something properly and buy something" She walked away and went into the direction of the shopping district. Marco stood up and followed her not really willingly.
After eating some salad and noodles they went into a shop. The lazy man looked around the shop while Itami went to the painting section of it and bought pencils and a folder with blank papers in it. They left the shop instantly after she bought her material and decided to return to the orphanage.
"So where did you get the money to buy your things?" Marco asked, but didn't look at the small girl who carried the things in a white bag. At first she said nothing in return. When they were near the orphanage she explained how she got the money.
Marco looked at her surprised when she told him that she drew pictures and sold them to people. The money from selling pictures wasn't enough, so she bet with guys if she could defeat them, they would have to pay her and so she gained her reputation, but it didn't made her to back down from just a little reputation. She wanted to help Shanks by earning some money herself.
"Does the Akagami know about it?" He asked after listening to her story. Marco saw her shaking her head. He understood her feelings, but at least she could have told her caretaker why she was always covered in bruises and wound when she came home.
"When are you going to leave?" Itami asked him. He smiled at her question and asked her if she was that desperate to get rid of him. She just huffed and stuck her tongue out. He chuckled at what she was doing and told her to calm down.
"It seems that you two are getting along" Two heads turned to the source of the other voice, which belonged to Shanks, who seemed very exhausted
"Good that you are back Akagami. That kid here wanted to get rid of me somehow" A kick was delivered to his leg and he winced at the pain. Once again the white haired girl stuck her tongue out at him. On Marcos head popped out a thick vein.
"If you that again, I'm not going to be nice anymore" He said in a low voice, looking down on Itami. Again, a kick was delivered to his leg and little Itami ran up the stairs into her room, while an angry Marco chased her, but couldn't anymore when she in the room. He went down and found Shanks in the kitchen, while the orphans played in big living room, which was almost empty, except for the sofa, old television and some pictures on the wall.
"Can you stay here for a bit? I want to know what you two were doing when I was with the kids in the zoo" Marco went into the kitchen and sat on a chair near from the red head. A sigh was heard from the red haired man. He cleaned his hand with a towel and took a seat opposite from Marco.
"Did Itami tell you something? Something that I don't know?" Shanks hands were folded and placed his head on it. His sad eyes looked straight into Marcos eyes, whose were disinterested. Marco thought about how to answer the questions and came to a solution.
"She told me nothing" Shanks closed his eyes before opening them again just to see Itami at the doorframe of the kitchen. The blonde man noticed that the caretaker wasn't looking at him anymore and turned around. Itami wore a dark blue pajama with little stars decorated on it. Marco had to resist a laugh, because she looked absolutely ridiculous.
"Can't you sleep Itami?" She shook her head.
"How about drinking milk and then go to bed?" Shanks suggested with a little smile on his face. The little girl said nothing in return, just staring at her caretaker.
The blond man didn't like the tension between them and interrupted it with a loud cough. Both heads turned to look at him. Now he had their attention.
"How about that brat stays the night in my apartment?" Shanks raised an eyebrow at the suggestion, but smiled afterwards. Itamis face remained blank. She didn't really want to stay the night in his apartment.
"That's a good idea. Itami will surely enjoy your accompany." Shanks said with a big grin on his face.
Sadist, was Itamis only thought. She knew him too well. He loved to tease her, but he still cared for a deeply.
"Then it's settled" Marco said quickly and left with a protesting white haired girl.
"Why did you suggest that?" She asked after some minutes of walking. The apartment was still far away and it would take 30 minutes to get there at least. Marco had his eyes on the road while walking.
"What do you mean?" He asked. He was still lazy ass after all, Itami thought inwardly.
"Don't you hate me?" that question caught him off guard. He didn't expect her to be that blunt. He scratched his head, thinking. Marco didn't know how to reply to her question. He didn't hate her nor did he like her that much.
"I don't really now, but I can tell you this", He said with a smile to reassure her," I don't hate you."
Itamis eyes widen, but grew to the original size again. A blush crept on her face with a hint of embarrassment. She looked down, so that Marco couldn't see her blush. The words made her happy and still she couldn't accept his friendliness even if she wants to. Marco noticed her failing attempt to cover her red face. He grinned to himself. He finally made her open up a bit even though It's small.
The big problem now was that she still pushes people away from her. That would be difficult to handle.