Hide and Seek

"Come on Ace!" Stop being so mean and count to ten. You couldn't find either of us so you're it again" a girl's voice said from behind him as she continuously poked Ace's shoulder. Luffy nodded in agreement.

"Alright Rika…stop bothering" He covered his eyes and turned to face a tree. Rika was a childhood friend of them. She knew Ace better than anyone. She was found on an abandoned Island by Garp and brought to Dadan only a few weeks after Ace arrived. At first Dadan didn't want anything to do with the baby but in the end she couldn't send her away so she agreed to take care of Rika.

"10…9…8" Ace started to count down. The kids started to run as far as they could, giggling all the way. Rika ran in one direction while Luffy ran into the other. Rika ran so far out she couldn't even hear Ace counting anymore. She finally came to a stop in front of a huge tree, bigger than any tree she had ever seen with a hole at the bottom. A hole fit for the perfect hiding spot. She grinned as she got down on all fours.

"I'll show him. He'll never find me in here" she whispered in case he was somewhere near. She crawled into the hole and made herself comfortable. A few minutes passed and no one found her yet. The girl giggled in silence when she thought about how hard Ace must be looking for her.

'I've got the perfect spot! They will never ever find me. I win!' she thought as she smiled. A few minutes turned into hours and Rika began to worry that her hiding spot may have been a bit too perfect when suddenly she heard two voices.

"I know, I'll jump out and scare them when they walk past here! I already won!' the little girl snickered. The voices came closer and closer until they stopped right in front of the tree where she was hiding.

"Surprise! I win! You're it again Ace!" She yelled as she jumped out from the hole and grinned.

"Hmm, look what we've got here. A little girl. Should we take her with us?" A deep voice asked. The girl opened her eyes only to find two pirates standing in front of her.

"Why not? Bet the Captain would like her. He can always use more little kids to do our dirty work on the ship" the other announced as he smirked. The girl froze with fear. The two guys she though were her friends ended up being pirates. One of them reached out and grabbed her arm. She tried to struggle free of his grip as tears started to roll down her cheeks.

"Help! Ace! Luffy! Someone, please! I'm right here! No more hide and seek! I don't wanna play anymore! Help!" Rika screamed from the bottom of her lungs but without success. She was too deep in the forest for anyone to hear her. She tried her best to free herself until the guy finally had enough and knocked her out.

"Hey idiot! She won't be any good to us if you kill her!" The other one exclaimed.

"Don't worry. She's just unconscious. I didn't kill her" he pointed out as he picked the girl up and threw her over his shoulder. They snickered and were off to their ship, leaving only one of the girl's shoes behind that she dropped.

A few hours later

"Rika! Come out! You win! The game is over!" Ace screamed throughout the forest searching for the girl.

"Oi….Ace, look" Luffy stammered. He was standing beside a huge tree holding something.

"What Luffy? Did you find her?" Ace asked as he ran towards his little brother. His eyes grew wide when he saw what Luffy was holding. At that point both of them knew something wasn't right.

"W…Where is she A...Ace?" Luffy stuttered, crying as he stood there holding Rika's shoe. He looked up at his big brother, worried and confused.

"A…Ace? Is she ok?" Luffy looked back down at the shoe.

"Stop being such a cry baby Luffy! Of course she's ok!" He assured his little brother

'I hope so at least…where did you go?' Ace thought to himself as he looked past the trees and out unto the sea, concerned. He had no clue wheatear she was ok or not, or where she was. He didn't know what to do, or think at that point.

"Let's go home for now Luffy, it's getting late." He added, looking at Luffy.

'I don't need you to go missing too' he thought as he looked down at his little brother.

"What are we going to tell Dadan?" – "Don't worry about it. I'll handle it" Ace answered as they walked back home. After every few steps they took, Ace looked behind him, waiting for her to jump out from behind a bush or something to surprise them, but she never did. He stayed up every night going back out to look for her after Luffy fell asleep. He couldn't help but think about Rika the entire time and what could have happened to her.

For the next ten years Luffy searched the entire Island, top to bottom for Rika and Ace searched neighboring Islands for her without any luck.

"Ace?" Luffy looked at his brother who had just come back home. He had been out all day, searching for his lost friend. Ace looked up at Luffy with a disappointed look on his face and He immediately knew that he had no luck. Ace had always had a bit of a crush on Rika so her going missing really took its toll on him. He looked back down and walked off.

"We will find her." Ace stated as he walked past Luffy. He nodded and smiled, knowing just how much he worried about her. Ten years had passed and he still couldn't forget about her.

"Ace, let's go back home for now. We can go out again tomorrow, ok?" Luffy looked at his brother and smiled. Ace looked up and nodded with a forced smile on his face. The two brothers made their way home, making sure to pass the big tree on the way. They did it so often it turned into a habit for them. Ace was silent the entire way home. Once they arrived he didn't bother eating. He went straight to his bed and laid down, putting his arms behind his head and staring up at the ceiling.

"What's his problem?" Dadan asked as Luffy walked in the door.

"Tomorrow it'll be officially 10 years….Rika's been gone" He stated as he walked to the table and sat down. Dadan looked at Ace, worried about him. He didn't budge. Day turned into night and Ace did not move. Luffy had gone to bed and was fast asleep. Dadan was sitting in the kitchen with another bandit.

"Dadan...did you hear?" the bandit questioned.

"About that pirate group that's been plundering all the surrounding Islands? Yeah, rumors have it that the legendary phoenix is with them. The girl with the tori tori no mi. It won't be long before they come here, and with Ace in this condition, he won't be much help. Not even with his mera mera no mi powers." She pointed out. Suddenly the sound of footsteps coming towards Dadan and the Bandit.

"Don't worry about me. I will defeat this phoenix everyone is talking about if they come here." Ace announced as he walked into the room. Dadan could tell he was still upset and deep in thought by the look on his face.

"Are you ok Ace?" She asked him. He looked at her and nodded.

"Don't worry about it. I can handle her. I'm going back to bed." He announced as he put his hands in his pocket and walked off.

*Boom…Bang* (the next morning)

"What's going on?" Ace jumped out of bed and ran outside. He looked down towards the town and his eyes grew wide. The phoenix pirates had arrived. He ran as fast as he could towards the town. When he arrived, people were in complete panic. Everyone was screaming and running around, trying to get away from the pirates.

"You bastard! I knew I'd find you here!" A girl's voice screamed from behind. Ace turned around and froze, shocked.

"R…Rika…" Ace stuttered. It was the girl he had been searching for the last ten years. Now she was standing right in front of him, within walking distance. The boy started to walk towards her but with every step he took, she backed up. He stopped, confused.

"Rika…I "-"Shut up! I don't wanna hear it!" She screamed as she balled her hands into fists.

"Why did you just leave me Ace? I thought we were friends! Why didn't you come looking for me? Why?!" She screamed at him from the bottom of her lungs, angry. Suddenly her fists were engulfed in blue flames. Ace's eyes grew wide.

"Answer me Ace!" She yelled. The angrier she got the more blue flames engulfed her until they were 5 stories high.

'She's the … phoenix?' He thought to himself, astounded.

"You don't care at all! You probably never did and never will. I bet you were happy when I disappeared!" She blurted out. Ace filled with rage and his fists turned to a bright red flame. The more he thought about her smart remark the madder he got until his flames were 10 times the size of hers.

'You don't care at all…never did…happy when I disappeared…' those words kept ringing through his head the entire time. The girl looked up at him and froze with fear. Her flames started to go away while Ace's just kept growing until finally he busted with anger.

"You don't know a damn thing do you? I've been searching for you for the past 10 years, since the day you went missing! Don't you understand? I couldn't sleep at all! You were and still are the only thing on my mind! Rika…I love you! Do you get it now? Get that through your thick skull!" He shouted, his flames becoming bigger and bigger, burning down a few houses in the process.

"Ace…" The girl fell down to her knees in fear of the flaming guy. Ace opened his eyes and looked down at the girl. He calmed down and the flames started to disappear.

"I'm sorry Rika. I really do care about you, more than you will ever know." He stated as he walked towards the girl. He held his hand out towards her and she grabbed it. The boy pulled her in and hugged her tight.

"I am so sorry. I hope you can forgive me." He pleaded with her. She suddenly felt her cheeks getting wet. She looked up at his face only to find him shedding tears for her.
'He really did care after all'

"You're still it" she pointed out as tears started rolling down her cheeks.

"Huh?" He asked her, confused.

"You didn't find me! I win! You're still it!" she stated. He grinned and wiped the tears off of her face.

"Sorry about that. Guess I'll just have to look harder next time. You had a pretty good hiding spot though!" She wiped the tears from his face and nodded. He grinned and leaned down to kiss her. She stood on her tippy toes and returned the favor.

"I love you Rika, and don't you ever forget it!" He announced.

"And I live you Portgas D Ace" She replied.

"So…what are we going to do about all these pirates, Phoenix?" he smirked as he looked down at her.

"Kick their as of course!" She grinned.

"That's my girl"-"Let's go Fire Fist and kick some ass!"

Within minutes they rid the town of the pirates. The Phoenix and Fire Fist, an unstoppable team in more ways than one. From that day on Rika and Ace were inseparable. No matter how far apart they were, they swore they would always come find one another.

Hide and Seek