Disclaimer: It is not mine.

The Night Market

I hurried through the streets heedless of the water that crept into my sandals soaking my almost numb feet. The wicker basket rubbed my forearm uncomfortably and I was sure that I'd still have red marks on my arms in the morning. None of that was important. Right now, the only thing that was important was getting this basket to that tree. Naturally, the tree was on the other end of town from my home. The offering had to be delivered precisely at midnight, which is why I ran through the dark night time.

As I ran, I counted the things I was lucky for. There were three days still to the dark moon and I would never had dared to make this journey then. Everyone knew that the night of the dark moon was also the eve of the Night Markets. No one with an ounce of sense would be caught out of doors on that night- not if they valued their lives. Luckily, the market was a few days away, so I still had time to save my sister.

I supposed it was also lucky that our parents had business out of town this weekend. The business was so important that even when they'd gotten word that my sister had come down with a terrible fever, they still couldn't get away. But that was for the best. If they had come home, there was no way they would let me out at this time of night. They definitely would not let me go to the place I was heading toward right now.

My watch read eleven-thirty. Quickly, I picked up my pace splashing more mud from the puddles up my legs as I went. Ugh! Everything was riding on my doing this properly. How had it come to this? Why didn't my sister recognize the boy for what he was when she saw him? I'm sure I would have, but then again, my sister was always a bit stupid around boys. The problem came with being beautiful.

My sister was a charming and clever girl with long flowing hair the color of the blazing sunset. She had a figure that made the boy's mouths water. They would follow her around like puppy dogs looking for a scrap of meat, and she would order them about flirting just to get her way. I always told her it was unseemly, but there was no arguing with Nami. She would tug on my short blond hair and say, "You worry too much, Maggie." My sister, like all seventeen-year-old girls, knew everything.

For a moment, I stumbled in my run, but I didn't have time for delays so I pressed on.

Maybe I was two years younger than her, but at least I listened to Robin's stories carefully enough to know the dangers of baiting elves. Robin was a kind woman shrouded in mystery, and she served as our full-time tutor and our caretaker when our parents had to leave town. I enjoyed all of Robin's stories. She was unafraid to study the history most people had turned their back on, and I was always eager to learn more. Nami of course didn't care for those sorts of studies. My sister was all math and numbers. Graphing and mapping were her subjects, as well as weather and science; Nami didn't have time for fairy tales.

And because my sister didn't care for the stories,she had fallen prey to one of the elves! Everyone knew that elf men were very keen on young human women. And if one fell in love with you, he'd try to abduct you and keep you for himself! If he failed to catch you, he would put a bewitchment of a powerful sort on you! Under such a curse, you'd burn as hotly as the elf's passions until either you died or he lost interest.

Poor Nami had gotten too close to one of the elves and he, just like all the boys in the village, had fallen wildly in love with her. Now, Nami had a fever the likes of which we had never seen before! Even the good Doctor Chopper's medicine had failed to work. Robin and I simply looked at each other and recounted Nami's tale and knew she had an encounter with an elf. Until the elf decided to take off his curse, no medicine would heal my sister.

So Robin and I decided to take matters into our own hands. We had made an offering basket and I would deliver it to him precisely at midnight. I wasn't worried about coming down with the same affliction as my sister, for no elf that pined for her would settle with me. It was Nami who had gotten the beauty in our family. My raggedy blond hair and slighter figure did not make me nearly as stunning as her. When they were being nice, people called me conventional; when they thought I wasn't listening they called me plain. No elf infatuated with Nami would want me. Plus, I was wearing the little bone cross protection charm Robin had given me around my neck.

Finally, I came to the tree. In the daylight it would look innocent enough, but under the midnight moon, I saw the mikan tree for what it was: a fairy portal. Just looking at the tree, my pulse quickened and my spine tingled. Eleven fifty-nine, it was time.

Walking up to the little tree, I lay my basket beneath it and waited. The boy moved so swiftly and silently that I never even noticed him approach. One moment I had been kneeling beneath the tree and the next I was face to face with a strange boy in a straw hat. At first glance he seemed ordinary enough; he was even dressed in the same manner as the village boys wearing cut off jeans and an open vest. But then he smiled and his face took on an unnatural touch that immediately warned you he was one of the Uncanny.

A tremble took me as he laughed and my head started to grow fuzzy. "Shi shi shi!" his laugh rang out and it seemed to come from all around him. "Is all that for me?"

Remembering my purpose, I straightened up and stammered out, "Y-yes. It's an offering. I want you to release my sister from your curse."

For an elongated moment he eyed me carefully and it felt to me that my blood ran cold under his gaze. Then he spoke with a ha, "Is it freely given or does it come with that clause?"

My pounding heart distracted me while I attempted to remember everything Robin had said about the elves. Did I want to trap him into releasing my sister, or would that anger him? Was it an offering if it wasn't freely given? What was the right answer? What would happen if I got it wrong?

Almost too quickly, I said, "Gift! It's a gift!" As soon as I said it, a feeling a dread went through me and I knew I had gotten the answer wrong. Now, I could only pray for the creature's mercy!

"Wah Hoo!" he shouted smacking his lips hungrily, "MEAT!" And then he set about devouring the offering. I watched as he stuffed piece after piece of meat in his too-wide mouth. As I watched him, I took in his strange features from the small scar under his left eye to the unruly hair that stuck out at odd angles from beneath his hat. Eventually, he noticed my staring at him and he looked up at me inquisitively. "Uhh... what?" he asked in a tone that would have seemed rude coming from anyone else, but from him it simply sounded confused.

Of course it caught me off guard, so I blinked a few times trying to rearrange my thoughts. "My sister," I said at length, "Will you take off her curse?"

The boy thought about it for a moment and he scratched his head under his straw hat. "No," he said shortly and I thought he was going to go back to his gluttonous feast, but instead he plucked a small mikan from the tree behind him and touched it to his parted lips. The next thing he did happened so quickly that I couldn't even follow it, or maybe I simply didn't have an eye for magic. In an instant, he had pressed the mikan into my palm. "For you, I have this. Anyone who tastes this fruit will love you instantly."

I stared at the undersized mikan that wasn't quite the size of my small palm as tears stung my eyes. "But my sister! My sister is dying! Please, I'd much rather you healed her!"

The boy stood and shrugged, "A gift for a gift, that is all I can offer."

I don't know what possessed me to do it, but I shoved both my fists as hard as I could into his strong, wiry chest before I turned and ran home. For the entire run back to my house all I could think about was the wicked smirk he wore as I left.

When I got home, Robin was waiting up for me with a dry towel and a warm cup of coco. "Did you find him, Margaret? The elf man?" she asked curiously.

"Useless!" I cried pushing past her and running down the hall to my room. "He was completely useless!"

I didn't realize until I had collapsed on my bed in a fit of tears that I was still holding the small mikan. In my anger, I pulled open my night table drawer and threw the blasted thing inside. Damn the mikan and damn the man! I cried endlessly that night. I couldn't even recall later at what point I fell into my disturbed sleep.

In the morning I didn't wake up until well after breakfast. My vision was slightly blurry from all the crying I had done the night before, but I splashed water on my face and did my best to get ready. When I had finally made myself presentable, I crept down the hall to my sister's room.

My heart constricted as I looked at my sister lying unconscious on her bed, breathing heavily. Nami's usually pale cheeks were flushed and her body was covered in a thin layer of sweat. On the night table next to her bed there was a rag and a bowl of cool water, so I dipped the rag into the bowl letting the icy water cover my hand before ringing the towel out and wiping my sister's brow.

"I'm sorry," I whispered to her. "I'm sorry, Nami. I didn't save you. But I won't give up yet! I promise you, I will get that elf to remove the curse!"

Presently, Robin entered the room to join us, and I recounted last nights adventure with all the bitterness it had left in me. When I had finished, the older woman was looking at me with a calm, reserved expression and had her hands crossed over her chest protectively- I knew she'd had a run in with elves when she was younger and that was why she couldn't go near them now. "Oh well, Little Flower," she said using her pet name for me. When I was still too small to even write my name she had told me I was named after a flower and called me Flower. I like it because Flower was easier to spell than Marguerite. Of course, my parents called me Margaret and my sister called me Maggie. But I think I still liked Flower best.

Robin was still looking at me and said softly, "You tried your best. Now we will just hope that the elf's passions run out soon. Do not go to the elf again. Seeing an elf once and surviving is lucky enough. Do not tempt your fate, least your parents come home to find no healthy daughters."

Though they were spoken gently and were meant as a kind warning, her words chilled me to the bone. This was mostly because even then I knew that I would not leave that elf alone until he had removed his curse from my sister.

That evening, Robin and I sat up tending to my sister until well into the night. When my caretaker's eyes started to close, I kissed her cheek and told her I was going to bed. I did go to my bedroom to get the little bone-charm necklace Robin had given me, but then I went straight for the back door of the house. It was already after ten, so I didn't have much time.

I went to our shed out back and tore open the doors in a frenzy. I would find what I needed and I would make that stupid elf see reason! That night I was angry. I was angry at my sister for taking one of the elf's mikans. I was angry at the elf for cursing my sister. I was angry at myself for being too stupid around the elf to get him to remove the curse and I was angry at Robin for not being able to save my sister despite the vast amount of knowledge she possessed.

At some point I understood why I had to be the one to seek the elf last night. As an innocent I was supposed to appeal to him with my naive charm and sweet child-like features. But I was never the charming one- that was Nami. And look where all her charm got her! No, cunning and wiles were not for me. I was practical, strong, and hard working. I would make that elf see reason the only way I knew how.

There it was! I had found it! My father's machete hung up on a rusty nail and I took it down in a satisfied manner. The large knife was heavy in my hand and reached out longer than even my small arm. Holding the tool, I felt its power within me. "Let's see which of us laughs tonight elf!" I thought. And then I hurried as fast as my little feet could fly down to the path and to where I knew the enchanted mikan tree would be waiting for me.

Despite the speed at which I ran, it still took me over an hour to get to the little tree, but eventually I stood facing tree and gripping my machete. My eyes narrowed in anger or hatred, I didn't care which. I would cut down the tree once and for all! Raising the machete high above my head I brought it down with all my strength. The long knife slipped slightly so instead of chopping off a branch the way my father did, it merely scored the bark.

Almost instantly, a stinging pain tore through my hand. Ah! Looking down I noticed that my machete was covered in blood, my blood. My hand must have slipped from the handle to the blade because my left palm had been sliced open. Damn it! I was unpracticed with the machete and had barely managed to cut the evil tree with two good hands. How would I fare with an injured palm?

Well, I would just have to make do. The tree had to come down. My sister had to get better. I raised the machete up high again and this time when I tensed my muscles to bring it down, the blade flew from my hands and landed with a soft thwack in the dirt behind me.

Spinning around wildly to find my lost machete, I came face to face with the elf boy! He was perched on the handle of my knife, which seemed to bear him with no complaint. I knew enough about physics to know that the machete should have collapsed under his weight. That it didn't buckle under his weight merely proved further that this boy was trouble.

"Shi shi shi!" he laughed as he stared at me from under the brim of his straw hat. "Don't you know it's bad luck to cut down an elf's tree, Little Flower?"

My heart pounded violently against my rib cage as he used Robin's pet name for me- the one she had used for me today. Had the elf followed me? Had he heard Robin call me this? Or did he have some twisted access to my memories? Shaking my head to rid it of thoughts of his trickery, I called out, "I don't care if it's bad luck! I will cut it down if you don't release my sister from your curse! I don't care what you do to me!"

For a moment he regarded me curiously and scratched his dark hair under his hat. Then with a great leap he bounded down from his perch and landed easily just inches in front of me. "Not me," he said simply, "the tree. The tree has magic to make things even."

And before I had the chance to even figure out what he would do, he had caught up my left hand in his larger one and held it up for both of us to see. The skin on the back of my hand where he held it seared at his light grip, but it didn't hurt. I had no time to ponder the paradox of his touch or the strange feeling it left within me. My head swam now more than ever, and I was having trouble following the direction of his words.

"A cut on the tree," he informed me, "Is a cut on your body."

Staring at my bleeding palm in his hand I finally understood. My hand had not slipped on the machete earlier. I had received the same injury that I had given to the tree! It was lucky then that I hadn't sliced of a branch; I would have lost an arm or maybe even a leg! If I had chopped down the tree completely...death? A sickening feeling took me and my breathing came too quickly. I had to gasp to catch my breath. Tears pricked at my eyes again as my hope had been lost as easily as my machete. "My sister!" I pleaded, "Please! My sister!

But he simply said one word, "No."

Dizzy with my fury and helplessness, a great sob escaped my throat shaking my whole body with its force.

In front of me the boy laughed, "You are funny when you are angry." As he said it, his eyes swept over me and his too-large mouth turned up in a wide grin. Before I knew what was happening, he did something so outrageous that the mere action turned my insides to ice. He brought my left hand up to his mouth and licked the blood from my palm.

The shock and horror must have shown on my face because he laughed forcefully after that and said, "You don't taste angry. You taste sweet."

Fear filled me and I ran! It seemed to me that his laugh followed me all the way home. Heedless of the sleeping inhabitants in my house, I threw myself inside and slammed the door shut behind me.

It was only a few moments before Robin came into the hall eyeing my warily. "You went to see the elf again," she said flatly. I had gone against her better judgment and against her warnings, and yet she looked at me without a trace of anger. I wanted her to be angry with me. I wanted her to rage and scream at me the way Nami would if she had been awake. But Robin simply accepted the fact and left me to wallow in the weight of my own gilt.

Nodding, I told her the story of how I went to chop down his tree- Robin did look appalled at this- and what had happened to me then. I held up my hand to show her the deep cut on my palm and was amazeded! My palm was as pale and unmarred as it had been when I set out this evening. There was not even a rusty line of dirt from where I'd gripped the old machete. My heart had sped to an uncomfortable pace again, "I don't understand," I said as I grasped at the straws of my memory.

"What else happened with the elf-boy?" Robin asked me gently.

With a sigh I relayed the rest of the events. At the end Robin gave me a knowing smirk and said, "Well then I think it is obvious what happened." Then she turned from me and headed back to my sister's room. "This time observe my warning. Don't seek the elf out again."

I shook my head. I wouldn't seek the elf ever again. Tonight had spooked me too much. Besides, I already had a different plan to save my sister. It was a few more days before I realized exactly what had been so obvious to Robin that night.

The next day, I was as good as gold and better. I stayed by my sister's bedside all day tending to her and helping Robin. That night I stayed in my bed not traveling out anywhere. But I did make my plans for the next evening, the night of the dark moon. If the elf would not release my sister from his spell, I would buy a potion for her at the Night Market!

On the night of the dark moon I was ready. I had listened to Robin's stories and reviewed them over and over in my head. I knew what I was up against and I knew how to prepare myself. Over my golden hair, I wore a long purple veil. Robin had warned me that my hair would fetch a pretty price at the market since it was the color of the sun and would thus retain the sun's radiance. That would make it a powerful potion ingredient for eternal-youth potions. Purple was also a color that was supposed to provide some protection from the mysterious creatures of the Night Market.

My necklace with the bone cross, I pulled out and tried to decide what to do with it. If I hung it around my neck, I would never be allowed into the market. Yet, I dare not go without it. I balled up the chain and slipped my little talisman into my mouth between my tongue and my cheek; here it was concealed but would still protect me from their faerie trickery.

The last object I needed was something to barter with. Gold was not popular at the Night Market, instead they prized objects that were close to you. The more value something had to the holder, the more useful it was for as an ingredient or for an enchantment. It had to be something truly important-somehow they could tell. Reluctantly, I pulled down a small blue glass bird off my dresser. It was a gift from my Nana for my birthday when I was small. Nana had died before my next birthday. When she gave me the bird, she told me it was because one day I would learn to spread my wings and fly. The little bird meant more to me than any other figurine, jewel or trinket, but I would trade it away in an instant if it meant my sister would be healthy again.

Slipping the little bird into my pocket, I steeled my nerves and headed for the Night Market. My feet were less certain this time as I was traveling not to the little mikan tree, but to cemetery. The closer I drew to the graveyard, the more ghastly creatures I ran into. When a nicely dressed skeleton came up to walk beside me, I did not start- such things were expected when you went to the Night Market. But when the skeleton looked up from his teacup, fixed his empty eye sockets one me and said in a low, quiet voice, "Ah! Excuse me Miss, but would you kindly show me your panties?" I ran faster than I knew my feet could move!

I ran all the way to the graveyard and didn't stop until I ran smack into the hard chest of the blue haired guard. It wasn't until I pushed myself away from him that I realized his chest was hard because the skin was covering metal. What sort of place had I come to?

The large man pushed up a pair of sunglasses that he'd been wearing despite the late hour and looked at me with eyes that I'm certain saw straight through me. My pulse raced before he pointed his large thumb behind his even larger shoulder and said cryptically, "On you go, Girlie! But watch out."

I tried to steady my breath as I walked past the metal man into the graveyard, into the Night Market. Never in my fifteen years had I seen such a strange assortment of characters, and all of them were selling some sort of magic objects or selling some trick. There were quite a few performers around too. On my left, a blue haired man made a great show of detaching all his body parts and putting them back together. One of his disembodied hands came to rest on my shoulder as he leered at me and said, "How about you come with me and I show you the flashy way the act ends?" His thin eyebrows wagged as his smile widened under his large read nose.

I quickened my pace to get away from the laughing man, but that only brought me toward stranger creatures. Here a masked man with a long nose was selling flesh-eating plants; this he demonstrated by feeding mice to a seedling. Over there, a loud strangely dressed man was doing impersonations by changing his face into the faces of the people around him.

Finally, I ran into a man who seemed almost normal. From the sign on his stand, the one-eyed swords man was selling his skills. I stopped short and wondered if he knew where I could find the potion-man. The green haired man eyed me with his one green eye and asked, "There someone you need me to cut down with these cursed blades? The price isn't cheap I promise."

For a moment I thought about the man with the straw hat, but I wasn't ready to add murder to my list of recent guilt. Just as I was about to speak, another voice came from the next stand over.

"Be nicer to ladies you shitty swordsman!" Then I saw the tall blond man with the strange curling eyebrows. He swooped around his own stand to take my hand. "Hello, Lady. Can I interest you in something delicious? Candy? Chocolate? Cake? For a lady as beautiful as you, it's free of charge."

Quickly, I snatched my hand back. There were two things wrong with his statement. First, everything in the Night Market had a price, and second he had called me beautiful.

When the strange swordsman laughed I knew I had made the right choice. "Clever girl!" the man said appraising me with his one eye. The cook looked quite put-out, but the other man paid him no mind and simply continued talking. "What are you looking for? Maybe we can help."

"Potions," I said quickly. Both men pointed in opposite directions. I was more inclined to listen to the swordsman than the cook so I started in that direction.

"Stop!" the blond man called out lighting up a cigarette, "That way will get you lost. Don't listen to this shitty bastard about directions. He can't tell his ass from his elbow. Listening to him will get you off course surer than not."

I looked to the swordsman for a counter argument, but he simply shrugged and said, "It's true."

With a sigh, I walked in the direction indicated by the cook. Hopefully, I would come to the potion man soon enough. I found him eventually, a big man with a thin scar bisecting his otherwise devilishly handsome face. His dark hair was slicked back and when he spoke his suave conceit and charm were evident in his smooth voice. "Anything I can interest you in today?" he asked and I could feel his eyes grazing over me and lingering on my veil.

"Please," I started, "I need a potion to save my sister from an elf's curse!"

But he looked at me oddly and then said, "Come, I can't understand a thing you say. Haven't you been taught not to speak with your mouth full?"

Again, I tried to speak, more clearly this time, "Please, I need a potion to remove an elf's curse."

But the big man shook his head. "I don't understand. Come back when you are interested enough to speak with an empty mouth."

Frustrated, I spit my charm out into my open hand and looked up to state my request a third time, but the man was grinning evilly. In a second my veil was snatched off and a large cold hook had wound round the back of my neck and pulled me too close to the man. "Ah," the man whispered his breath hot against my face, "I did hope you weren't as smart as your precautions suggested." He looked at me lecherously and I gave a startled cry of fright.

The man only needed my mouth to be opened just a bit to pour a potion down my throat, so he found his advantage in my scream. Instantly, my vision blurred and all around me the market started to spin. My limbs began to feel weighted as if they had been filled with lead. I could hear the man's wicked laughter as he let me go and I tried to regain my balance, but my heavy arms and legs made it impossible. "You'll make a fine harvest of ingredients!" the man shouted as I stumbled.

I could barely breathe, and I tried to call out. Wasn't there anyone around who noticed my plight? Anyone around who could help? But the denizens of the Night Market continued their dark transactions not noticing or not caring about my jeopardy. Eventually, the pain of the potion brought me to my knees and I regretted that I ever thought I could do this. By now my vision was so far gone that I barely saw the blur of the straw hat as it passed by me.

I could hardly hear, but I noticed that the laughter ceased and was replaced by the sound of the wind being knocked out of a large pair of lungs. With my fuzzy eyes, I tried to focus as the straw-hat boy punched the potion man. By now I was on all fours with my breaths coming in ragged gasps.

Soon the potion man had been tumbled back onto his own workbench with his potions spilling all over him. Then the lean strong arms of the straw-hat boy encircled me and carried me away.

I don't know how long we ran, but eventually, I was laid down in the soft dirt and something cold was pressed to my lips. Figuring myself dead anyhow, I allowed the cool liquid to enter my mouth and proceed down my throat. Immediately, my breathing came easier and my eyes started to focus. Only after my vision returned did I realize that my head was lying on the lap of the elf boy. His face was obscured by the brim of his hat, but I was almost certain I saw tears there. When my shaky limbs had recovered enough to bear myweight, I sat up and faced myself to the boy. By now I was thoroughly perplexed. Nothing I knew about elves suggested that they would ever save a human. "Straw Hat Boy, why did you save me?"

"Luffy," he said and that only furthered my confusion.

"What?" I asked not knowing what a luffy was or what it had to do with letting me live or die.

"My name," he answered, "Luffy is my name."

Oh. That made sense then. I rephrased my question, "Why did you save me, Luffy? Even after I tried to cut down your tree?"

The boy looked up and met my eyes under his straw hat, "Because that man would have hurt you."

The quick beating of my heart was insistent and gave me hope that maybe I could reason with him still to save my sister. "If you saved me, then why not her? If you love my sister, release her from your curse!"

Now it was the elf-boy's turn to look confused. "Love you sister?" He laughed. "Shi shi shi! Why would you think I love your sister?"

I shook my head trying to straighten my thoughts. "You mean you don't? I thought elves cursed women they fell in love with who spurned them."

"Nah!" Luffy said pushing his arm away, "I cursed your sister to teach her a lesson about stealing from me."

Maybe the case wasn't as hopeless as I thought. "She's learned her lesson I promise! She won't steal from you again. I'll make sure of it! Will you please take your curse off her?" I begged this time pleading with my eyes wondering if the little glass bird in my pocket would be enough of a gift to ask this of him.

But his answer was still a firm, "No."

Frustrated beyond belief I punched both my fists against the ground. "Why ever not?"

He smiled simply as if my sister's life didn't hang in the balance. "Because you come to visit me when she's sick."

Words won't explain properly the shock I felt at this statement. "Me? You want to see me?"

"Yeah," he grinned, "I like you. You're different."

I don't know why, but I blushed at his simple words. And still, they empowered me and made me bold. I realized then that the bone-cross talisman was still clutched in my hand, and I began to think of a plan. I pushed myself up onto my feet and the elf boy copied my behavior. "I will still visit you," I said, "I will even promise!"

But this did not satisfy my odd companion, "I can't be sure that you will. This way I know you will visit me."

I pursed my lips into a slight pout, annoyed that he had not simply accepted my words, "Then I won't visit you anymore until my sister is better!"

"Yes, you will," he said plainly, and both of us knew his words were true. We both knew my affection for my sister would drive me to him over and over again.

Hesitantly, I stepped toward him. "Please," I said softly continuing my steps until our bodies were almost touching. The straw-hat boy's eyes went wide, but he did not back away from me. I took this as a good sign, and despite everything I had been taught about elves, I let my left hand trail up his arm to his shoulder. My right hand still tightly clasped my little talisman. "My sister means the world to me."

I leaned in slowly toward him and was surprised to find that my companion's breathing seemed to be coming in low irregular puffs just like mine was. I closed my eyes and I knew the elf-boy did the same. That was when I slipped my necklace around his neck.

"Waaaaaahhhhh!" he wailed. "Take it off! Take it off!" But I didn't. The boy flailed about hysterically shouting out for me to take it off. "Please! I'll do anything!"

"I'll take it off once you release the curse you put on my sister!" I shouted back at him.

"Ahhhh!" he shouted and I hardened myself against his screams- this was for Nami, I reminded myself. "Alright, alright! I remove the curse! By morning she will be completely healed!"

Now satisfied, I put my arms around his thin shoulders and slipped the necklace off. "Thank you," I said as sweetly as I could manage. And so as not to anger the elf further I pulled the blue glass bird from my pocket. "And I have a gift for your trouble."

One of Luffy's hands rubbed at his neck while the other accepted my token and held it up. Looking through it's translucent body, he smiled. He had calmed down quite a bit and he said in a serious voice, "You love this very much. It hurts you to let it go."

I nodded, "Yes, but it is a small price to pay to keep my sister safe."

The boy studied me for a long moment, before he said, "Thank you, for something so precious. Perhaps if I use it to this end, it will please you." Then he brought the little bird to his lips and whispered some secret into its ear. I watched amazed as the small figurine began to move and it wings lifted from its side testing their span before it rose up into the air as a real, proper bird. Its plumage was the deepest and most brilliant blue I had ever seen. As it circled around in the air, my grandmother's words flowed through me. My little bird had grown wings and flown just like Nana wanted for me. Eventually the bird swooped down and settled on the elf's small mikan tree. I knew that would be her home forevermore.

Turning back to the elf, I smiled. "Thank you," I whispered not sure how to convey what the sight had meant to me.

Luffy grinned back at me and laughed, "Shi shi shi!" After a moment, with a hand on the back of his neck he added sheepishly, "You know before you put that necklace on me, I thought you were about to kiss me."

This time I laughed, but I looked at him and realized that the two of us had gotten quite close to each other again- there were barely two inches between us now. Unconsciously my tongue darted out to moisten my lips.

"You know," my unlikely friend began hopefully, "there is still time for that."

The only answer I gave him was to lean closer and touch my lips to his. In the first instant of our kiss, he didn't kiss me back, but instead smiled against my lips. Then suddenly his arms were around me and his lips were moving against mine with more passion that I thought possible. His hands pulled me closer and I wasn't afraid of him. In fact, I wanted more of his delightful kisses.

We stayed like that for quite sometime and by the time we parted, the early lights of dawn were breaking through the sky. Still, I did not have the power to leave him. But he smiled his large loopy smile and whispered to me, "You did promise that you will still come visit me."

"Yes, of course!" I replied just before his lips captured mine again. Then I pulled away slightly and said, "If I don't leave now, I will never get home before everyone wakes up!"

His lips were resolutely on mine again and I did nothing to deter them. "If," he began to speak through his sweet kisses, "you stay... I ... will... get you home... before breakfast."

Giggling into his lips I let my kisses show my agreement. An hour later, he lifted me onto his back and carried me home more swiftly that I have ever traveled before. We returned to my house before too much time had passed and he set me down on my front walk and stood behind me. His hands came to encircle my waist and he asked, "Will you come tonight?"

Laughing, I leaned back against his shoulder. "I have to sleep sometime, you know."

I could feel his grin as he said, "Tomorrow then, Little Flower." And he kissed me again before he completely disappeared.

In a flurry of feeling, I walked up the stone path to my house. It shames me to say that in the excitement of our early morning kisses, I had forgotten my concern for my sister. Imagine my shock when I opened the door to face a healthy and fiercely beautiful Nami who began to shout at me. "Maggie! Where have you been? We woke up to find you missing! We had no idea if you were kidnapped or ran away or..."

But I was in too good a mood to be chastised. I silenced my sister by running up and throwing my arms around her. "Nami!" I cried, "We were so worried!"

Robin entered the hallway and gave me a look that I think meant she guessed most of what had happened the night before. "Why don't you go wash up for breakfast?" the older woman suggested.

Nodding, I headed to my own room to get ready for breakfast. When I was almost done I remembered the enchanted mikan that was in my drawer. For a moment I wondered what to do with it. Then suddenly, I knew what I was supposed to do with it! I peeled off the skin and ate the fruit myself with a smile.

Author's note: I fell in love with this fairy tale when I first read it only just recently. Unlike the other tales in this collection, this one is not of European descent but from the Philippians. And yay for more LuMar. :D I played with her name a bit, I hope you don't mind. I'm glad I got this one up in under fifteen pages since last chapter was so long. I've got the next tale in mind already too! And the next chapter of Memory is going to get its last edit and be posted soon.

Thank you for reading! Please leave me some love! I'm a little stuck on Usopp's fairy tale. It won't be Pinocchio and it won't be the Boy Who Cried Wolf. I have an intro, but I am wondering just which fairy tale to do for him. I have an idea, but I'm not crazy about it yet so I'm open to suggestions. Hmm... any ideas?