I found this little fic hiding in the back of one of my notebooks the other day. I thought I had lost it. I actually first wrote this about a year and a half ago, even before I started posting 'Nami's Returning Nightmare'. Anyway I decided to post it before I lost it again since I am a very unorganized person and can lose things quite easily. hehe

Seeing as it's over a year old please forgive any little mistakes or OOC I might have done while writing this since I was still pretty much a novice with OP fiction at the time.

Disclaimer: blah blah dont own blah blah

Fears- Nami

The members of the Strawhat pirate crew were all enjoying the peaceful afternoon on board the Thousand Sunny as it sailed along the Grand Line. They had just left an autumn island so the air was still a bit cooler but the late afternoon sky was clear and cloudless. In short Nami thought, it was a beautiful day, for once they had left an island peacefully without Marines or angry villagers chasing after them. Or the way Luffy would put it, boring. The weather was perfect and Nami was taking this time to enjoy some relaxation in the sun.

The rest of the crew seemed to have the same idea. Zoro was laying in his favorite spot on deck, next to the mast, lightly napping. Franky was softly strumming his guitar in a nameless little tune as he sat next to the ship's resident skeleton musician. The boney figure of Brook had a cup of tea and was quietly sipping at it while sitting on the grass of the deck. Sanji was heard in the kitchen fixing up some tropical fruit drinks for his lovely ladies. Robin sat across from Nami at the girl's little outdoor table with her nose stuck in a book, naturally. Nami was sitting in her chair also reading, or pretending to read, as she would every so often look up to watch the captain run around the ship with the doctor and sniper. Chopper, Ussop, and Luffy were the only ones who insisted on breaking the peaceful atmosphere. The three youngest of the crew ran around the grassy area of the deck laughing loudly and seemed to be playing a backwards game of tag with Ussop and Chopper trying to catch Luffy.

Robin looked up from her historical volume and smiled when she saw Nami's gaze following the rambunctious captain. A small smile played on the navigator's lips as Luffy finally let Ussop and Chopper gang up on him. "Enjoying the sights Nami-chan?"

"Oh Robin," Nami blushed turning to look at the archeologist, "I was just... I mean..." The red faced navigator hid back behind her book. The blush spread up to Nami's ears as Robin chuckled again.

Sanji twirled out of the kitchen carrying the two fruit drinks over to Nami and Robin. He glared at the three playing. "Oi you idiots," he yelled as he set the drinks on the table, "stop being so loud. You're disturbing my precious Robin-chan and Nami-san." Luffy, Ussop, and Chopper just looked over at the cook and then continued playing.

The chef growled in annoyance. Robin smiled up at the irritated chef. "Don't worry Cook-san I'm not bothered."

Nami reached over for one of the glasses. "This is about as quite as those guys get Sanji-kun. Don't get so worked up." Nami told him taking a sip of the cool drink.

"Yes of course my wonderful Nami-san." Sanji grinned his eyes turning into hearts as he fawned over Nami. Down on deck Zoro scoffed shaking his head at the cook. Luckily Sanji didn't hear the swordsman as he disappeared back into the kitchen.

Nami sighed after Sanji left and closed her book. She couldn't concentrate, her mind kept drifting over to Luffy, though she didn't know why. She had been feeling like this a lot lately mainly when the captain was around. "I'm going to work on some maps." She told Robin standing up from the table and started to head toward the observation room.

"Oi Luffy I'm gettin tired chasing you all over." Ussop panted flopping down on the deck. "Even with Chopper's help catching you is too hard."

Chopper collapsed out of breath next to Ussop. "Yeah Luffy I'm tired. Why don't we play something else?"

Luffy, who wasn't in the least bit worn out, sat down next to his two crewmates. "You guys are tired already?" The black haired teen laughed not realizing the two had been chasing him for the last hour. "Alright then lets play..." He paused and looked around for something else to do. Spotting Nami getting up from her chair an idea popped into his mind. "Let's play rescue the princess."

Chopper sat up and looked over at Luffy. "Rescue the princess? That sounds like fun." The young doctor smiled brightly.

Ussop straightened up too in curiosity. "How do you play that Luffy?"

The rubber boy grinned. "It's easy. I take the princess and hide her. Then you guys gotta try and find her but I can't tell you where she is."

The curly haired sniper then grinned. "Oh I get it." Then something occurred to him and he frowned. "Wait Luffy how are we gonna play 'rescue the princess' without a princess?"

"That's easy too." A mischievous look came onto Luffy's face then as he jumped to his feet again. He stretched his arms to the railing of the upper deck and shot himself over to land directly in front of his navigator. "Nami can be the princess." He called down to the other two.

The orange haired girl blushed at the closeness of her captain. He had practically landed less than a foot in front of her. "Not now Luffy. I need to catch up on my maps." Nami tried to brush past him before he could notice her red face but her protests fell on deaf ears.

Luffy laughed, which should have been Nami's first warning, as he scooped the surprised girl up and over his shoulder. Having a good grip on Nami who had started to struggle he turned down to Chopper and Ussop. "Alright I'm gonna go hide the princess and come back to watch you guys."

"Luffy you moron! Put me down right now!" Nami yelled as she tried to get out of Luffy's iron tight grip. It was wasted effort as the rubber captain wasn't releasing his hold. She could do nothing against the younger boy as he carried her off to the very back of the ship on the uppermost level.

XxXxX

Luffy continued to laugh good naturedly. "Don't worry Nami, this'll be fun." He stopped in front of a small unused storage closet and opened the door.

Nami was finally set back on her feet and could only gape at the small space in front of her. 'Surely Luffy can't be serious?' She felt Luffy's hands on her shoulders pushing her forward. "Wait a minute Luffy, you aren't really putting me here?" The navigator asked pleadingly. Her voice taking on a higher panicked tone as she tried to push back against Luffy's hands.

Unfortunately Luffy was quite insistent and Nami ended up being pushed into the small closet, despite her fighting it. As the door clicked shut the only light available came from the sunlight filtering in through the boards. She heard Luffy's laughter fade away back towards the front of the ship. Nami twisted around in the small space reaching out for the door handle and ready to deal out some major punishment on a certain three idiots. "When I get out of here Luffy I'm gonna... what the hell?" Nami felt around again where the doorknob should be but felt nothing except the smooth wooden planks of the door. Sweat began to form on Nami's forehead, there was no handle on the inside of the door. There was no way for her to get out of this dark confining space. "Luffy?" There was no answer from the boy not that she expected there would be. "Someone, l-let me out of here r-right now!" Nami yelled pounding on the door.

"Ok you guys." Luffy appeared back on the lawn deck with a grin in place. "Now it's up to you to rescue the trapped princess."

The long nosed sharpshooter jumped up with a smile. "Just leave everything to me Chopper. I'll lead us to the princess in no time. Why I've rescued so many damsels in distress that I'm a legend back in East Blue." Ussop struck a heroic pose for the starry eyed reindeer. "You guys just follow me, we'll be done in no time." He walked toward the observation room to start the search with Chopper and a snickering Luffy tagging along behind him.

The panicking navigator frantically beat on the door trying to get the attention of anyone outside. The only problem was Luffy had probably found the absolutely best hiding spot on the ship as no one ever came up here. 'I can't believe that ass. When I get out of here he is so dead.' Sweat dripped down Nami's face and something wet and sticky ran from her hands. Blood, if she had to guess. That was probably why her knuckles hurt at the moment, from the pounding she had given the door. "Ah, dammit!" Nami shouted as she dropped her shaking hands to her sides. Leaning back against the wall Nami shivered and slid down to the floor where she wrapped her arms around her knees and tried to curl in on herself even more.

Being a thief Nami was used to squeezing through small or tight spaces, and they had never bothered her when she was a kid, but since that time small dark enclosed places made her nervous. Now that she was trapped in one... Nami shivered again and tried to ignore the echoing laugh that reverberated through her head. It was a sound that had haunted her for eight years. "No, that's impossible." Nami whispered as she hugged herself tighter. Her heart pounded against her chest and her breath hitched in her throat. "He ca-cant be here." Again the dark laugh seemed to sound all around her and Nami's trembling only got worse. She closed her hands over her ears and clenched her eyes shut against the voice. 'Please go away...'

Luffy laughed along with Chopper as they walked out of the bathroom. So far Nami hadn't been in the observation room, her room, the crow's nest, or the aquarium room. Ussop followed his two giggling crewmates back to the lawn deck, none of his ideas were working out and it was almost dinnertime. As if to confirm this fact Luffy's stomach let out a loud growl as he sat down on the deck.

"Trying to find the princess is making me hungry." Chopper said looking down at his also rumbling stomach.

"Robin-chan. Nami-san. My beautiful goddesses dinner is served." Sanji twirled his way out of the kitchen and over to Robin, his cigarette puffing out smoky little hearts. The archeologist was unsurprisingly still reading but put her book aside and calmly stood as the cook noodled around her. "Oi, you other idiots come eat too." Sanji called to the rest of the crew .

"Yohohoho." Brook laughed putting away his violin that he had been tuning. "It is time to fill my belly with your most excellent food Sanji-san though I have no stomach. Yohohoho."

"Yahoo! Food!" Luffy jumped to his feet and made a beeline for the dining room. The prospect of food driving every other thought from his mind.

He didn't get far as Sanji stuck out a foot and sent the energetic captain sprawling on the deck as he raced past. "Luffy have some manners you rubber ingrate. Ladies come first."

Robin turned to smile down at the younger boy. "Captain-san don't you think it's time to retrieve Nami-chan from her hiding spot? I'm sure she would like to eat as well."

The cook looked over curiously at the older black haired woman. "Hiding spot? What do you mean Robin-chan?"

It was Chopper that answered unknowingly sealing his captain's fate. "We were playing 'rescue the princess' and Nami was the princess so Luffy hid her somewhere and it was our job to find her. Ussop's not very good at finding Nami though."

"You did WHAT to my Nami-san?" Sanji yelled as flames erupted from his body and he delivered a hard kick to the rubber boy's chin sending him crashing into the galley wall.

By now everyone was gathered around to watch the scene between the chef and captain. Zoro smirked standing beside Franky who was worried more about the damage to his ship than to the younger boy. "So that's why I haven't heard her screaming at these blockheads, she's probably someplace where she can't get out. After all they've been playing at this for a good 45 minutes now."

Sanji hauled Luffy to his feet from his dazed position on the floor. "You're going to lead me to Nami-san right now you rubber bastard or I'll make sure you don't eat for a month."

"What'd you kick me for Sanji? It hurt." Luffy whined as the chef shoved him forward to start leading the way. They were followed by Ussop and Chopper who wanted to know where the princess was hidden. Robin was also curious as to where Luffy could have placed the navigator that could detain the girl for so long. Franky and Brook just didn't want to be left out. Zoro was along for the show, wherever Nami had been locked up when Luffy let her out of there it wouldn't be a pretty sight. Zoro grinned, he had no problems watching his other crewmates wind up on the business end of the fiery navigator's fists.

XxXxX

Nami sat in the near darkness her face buried in her knees as tears quietly ran down her cheeks. She didn't feel the gentle swaying of the Thousand Sunny beneath her. She was no longer being mixed up in one of Luffy's stupid games and she wasn't the strong, independent 18 year old. She saw nothing but the heavy wooden door locked tight in front of her and all she felt was the cold stone at her back. She was confined to a tiny space barely big enough to sit down in and she was alone in the dark. Nami was 11 years old again and waiting for Arlong to decide what punishment to dish out this time.

Suddenly the vibrations of many footsteps could be felt through the floor and she heard the sound of voices outside coming closer. A cold feeling ran down Nami's spine fearing yet welcoming the punishment to come, whatever it was, so long as she could get out. "I'm sorry." She mumbled through her tears, not even really knowing what she was saying at this point. Just hoping that whoever it was would hear her and open the door. "I'm sorry." She said louder this time. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I'm sorry..." Nami continued to plead through her tears as the footsteps stopped just in front of the door.

Chopper frowned as the group approached the very back of the ship, he could hear something, like a voice that was very muffled. It could have only been Nami but why did it sound like she was crying? "Can you hear that?" He asked Luffy who was still pouting at being kicked in the head.

Luffy stopped and listened to see if he heard what Chopper was talking about. Everyone else stopped walking also and wondered what Luffy was doing. That's when they all heard the same thing, it was definitely Nami's voice. They couldn't hear what she was saying exactly but it didn't sound good. Frowning Luffy jogged over to the closet door and stopped dead when Nami's pleading tearful apologies could finally be heard clearly. He quickly yanked the door open wide as he stared in shock at the scene in front of him.

At the sudden bright sunlight invading the darkness that had surrounded her Nami flinched back squeezing her eyes shut. "I'm sorry... please let me out." She squeaked in a very un-Nami like way. She sounded absolutely terrified that they would shut the door on her again.

None of the crew could believe what they were seeing. Nami, their bold, hot tempered navigator had been reduced to a sobbing mess. What was going on and why was she the one apologizing? They all watched as Luffy knelt in front of the crying girl with a soft frown on his face, Nami didn't even look at him.

"Nami?" Questioned a worried Chopper, the young pirate had no idea what was going on but then he looked down to notice the blood from Nami's hands. "Ah, Nami, what happened to your hands?" Feeling a soft tap on his hat Chopper looked up to Zoro who was holding the door open for Luffy. Following the swordsman's gaze the little reindeer was shocked to see small splatters of blood on the inside of the door.

"Claustrophobia." Robin said out of the blue. "I've heard of some extreme cases like this where a person had been traumatized by an earlier event in life, mostly during childhood or early adolescence. Afterwards that person's mind would involuntarily bring them back to that traumatizing event whenever they were put into a similar situation." She looked around at the puzzled looks of her crewmates.

Sanji puffed on his cigarette a deep frown etched onto his face. "You're saying that Nami-san is afraid of being locked up in an enclosed place because of something that happened in her childhood?"

Robin nodded. "In short, yes." She looked back down at Nami still curled up around herself.

During the conversation happening above him Luffy slowly reached out his hand toward Nami. A small encouraging smile finding it's way onto his face. "Come on Nami, we aren't playing anymore."

Calming down some Nami finally looked up at Luffy's outstretched hand as if unsure what to do with it. Then slowly her gaze traveled up the boy's arm and her tearful brown eyes locked onto his calm black ones. The tears slowed to a stop under Luffy's steady gaze. Recognition seemed to dawn in her eyes after that. "L-Luffy?" The boy nodded but jerked slightly as Nami threw herself into his chest ignoring his hand entirely and fresh tears slipped past her lashes into the cloth of his vest.

Chopper's blue nosed twitched in curiosity. "Hmm, why haven't I heard of this Closta...Cluster..." The young pirate stumbled over the unknown word.

"Claustrophobia." Robin supplied for him.

The little reindeer nodded. "Yeah, Claustrophobia, do you know if there's a cure for it Robin?" He asked hoping to be able to help his friend.

"I'm sorry Chopper-kun, phobias cannot be cured with simple medication. It is something that goes on in the mind." The archeologist informed the young doctor.

"Ah, well, I think we should start dinner before the ero-cook makes us all eat it cold." Zoro said softly while nudging Ussop and Chopper to get them moving. Sanji only lightly grumbled at the name calling but knew better than to start something now. Franky, Brook, and Robin followed silently after the swordsman leaving Luffy alone to take care of Nami.

Luffy gently tightened his hold around his navigator mentally thanking Zoro for leaving them alone. "It's alright now Nami, you don't have to be afraid, the door isn't locked anymore." Even saying that it took the trembling girl nearly five minutes to calm down enough to slip into an exhausted sleep, comforted by the warm embrace of Luffy's rubbery arms around her. Sighing softly Luffy hesitantly reached out to run his fingertips across the faint trails her tears had made down her cheeks.

Nami frowned and shifted in her sleep. "Don't leave Luffy." She murmured quietly before quieting down again. Luffy's free hand came up to grab onto hers tightly. Surprisingly Nami's frown disappeared as she turned her head into the feel of Luffy's hand that still rested lightly on her cheek.

"I'm not gonna go anywhere Nami. You don't have to be alone anymore." Luffy told the sleeping girl as he carefully brushed some hair from her face.

=O=O=O=

It seems like I pick on Nami a lot in my stories doesnt it? She really is my favorite Strawhat, honestly, her being put down and beaten, ect has nothing to do with it. She is also the one I can most identify with which is why it's easier to write for her. Go figure.

Ah, as far as Nami's fear based hallucination. The mind controls the body, sight, sound, ect. Whatever the mind thinks the body thinks. Sorta like you walking alone on a dark street at night and then seeing or hearing things that arent really there, only for Nami it's intensified. It's really like that too I read some kind of scientific study on phobia once a while ago.