A.N. Thanks so much for the reviews! Enjoy my second chapter! ^^
My eyes opened a crack and immediately shut themselves again, blinded by the light streaming through the window on the other side of the room.
Wait…window?
My left hand slowly went up to my face to shield my eyes from the expected onslaught of brightness. I heard a door open and close with footsteps to my far right as I struggled to sit up.
The owner of the footfalls was at my side quickly and held my shoulders as I swayed.
"Careful, you were in pretty rough shape last night."
I started as I recognized the voice as my mysterious savior. My hand stayed on my bandaged head and when I opened my eyes, I couldn't help but stare. He was gorgeous! His golden blonde hair reached the middle of his ears and curled slightly at the ends. It was parted over his right eye, a rich black in color. His skin wasn't pale, but he wasn't exactly tanned, either. His hold on my shoulders was strong and sure; so steady that I was sure I couldn't move an inch even if I wanted to. The last thing I noticed, which I really didn't care about at the moment, but I noticed nonetheless, was that his eyebrows made funny little curly-q's at the end of them.
It took me a while to realize it, but for the same amount of time I was staring at him, he was staring at me and in my eyes.
I blinked once, slowly. "Uh…"
"Oh," his eyes widened as he released me. "Sorry," he said with a repentant and handsome smile. "My name's Sanji."
I opened my mouth to respond with mine, but my mind drew a blank. I closed it again and blinked a few times, touching my head lightly and trying to recall my name.
Sanji looked at me oddly for a few seconds. "You don't remember?"
I racked my brain again and again. I finally shook my head.
He sighed. "We were afraid of that…"
I looked up. "We?" I looked around the room.
It was quite simple. The bed I was in was directly opposite the door and window. There was a small, simple little dresser to my right with a mirror and a small box on it. A bowl was on a stand next to it with a silver pitcher, a bar of soap, and a shaving razor. To my left was a wood desk and a chair with a book and a reading lamp on the desk.
"Where am I?"
Sanji gave a devious smile. "My room."
My eyes widened and I flushed, looking down at myself for the first time. Instead of my camouflage cargo pants and black v-neck shirt I remember wearing, I was only wearing a very long white drop-sleeve shirt. With an "EEP!" I flushed brighter and clutched the sheets to me, staring at him with huge eyes.
Sanji threw back his head, laughing. He could barely stop himself to say anything to me. Eventually he calmed down.
"Don't worry," he said, with a chuckle, "Chef Zeff took care of you. Crap-geezer's too old to do much of anything to anyone anymore."
Wait a minute. Baratie? Sanji? Chef Zeff? Why does that seem familiar?
"What's wrong?"
"Hm?" I blinked, brought back to reality. I must have been staring at him unintentionally because he was looking oddly at me again. "We…" I looked away, out the window at the unending water. "We're on the Baratie?"
"Yeah, how did you know?"
I didn't answer right away but just shook my head. I stared out the window for a bit longer before commenting, "It was on the ship…"
We both jumped when a coarse and loud voice called outside.
"SANJI!! GET OUT HERE!"
Sanji turned towards the door with a scowl. "I'M BUSY, PATTY!!"
"YOU'RE ON DUTY!!"
Sanji sighed with a roll of his eyes. "Sorry, that was Patty. I'm supposed to be serving customers, but I snuck down to see if you were awake yet."
"Why are you a waiter if you're the Sous Chef?" I asked, not looking at him.
"What the--? How did you know that?"
My eyebrows creased in thought as my eyes searched the water for an unseen answer. "…I don't know…"
"NOW, SANJI!!"
He jumped up and snarled, "I'M COMING!" He looked down at me softly. "You're welcome to walk around as soon as you feel ready." He waited a second for a reply before grabbing the box off the dresser, putting it in his pocket, and heading for the door.
"Neen."
Sanji turned around, his hand on the knob. "What?"
"Neen," I repeated, looking at him. "My name's Neen."
I didn't know where it came from, but I was sure I had been called that at some point or another.
Sanji's face broke into a smile. "Okay, Neen." He opened the door, looked out, and then back at me. "Don't look at the other chefs for too long, okay?" He pointed at his head and winked. "You'll hurt yourself again."
I couldn't help but smile and give a little giggle.
He smiled again and headed out, letting the door swing closed behind him.
I watched the door for a little bit before looking out the window. I smiled again. Sanji was wearing a suit, and, boy, did he look good in it.
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