Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to Oda Eiichiro.
A/N: Waaa it's been, like, a month since I updated. Gomen gomen hontou ni gomen! I've just been in so much of mess. Dealing with death of close ones is hard. Besides, I've been so far out of my comfort zone. I miss home. Anyway, to make up for the sluggish updates, this chapter is fairly long. Read on!
Drifting
Night gave way to dawn as she continued to stare at the faraway hazy horizon. Daybreak might be able to give her some relief. Relief… seemed like a far off feeling. Sprawled across from her, Ace snored softly, his expression telling of a sound, dreamy sleep. He mumbled something unintelligible and tossed impatiently, giving her a start as the boat rocked. As she stared at his peaceful, oblivious face, she found herself wondering what kind of a dream it could be. Slowly, cautiously, she crawled to his side and peered at his face closely. She envied the freckles he had on his cheeks and nose. Since childhood she had had a rather pale color to her cheeks that made her look sickly at times and had always imagined having healthy freckles accentuating her plain skin.
"My meat—" he yelled suddenly, grabbing her hand and sitting bolt upright as if something compelling had jerked him out of his blissful dream. She yelped and landed hard on her butt trying to back off. For a second, he looked like he was about to bite off her hand. Whatever dream he'd been having about meat, she suddenly felt inimical.
"Ehh? Ah… gomen gomen," he grinned sheepishly releasing her hand.
"You almost gave me a heart attack," she grumbled. "What kind of a dream was it anyway…"
"Hahaha it was a feast… or something like that," he said. "Man, I'm so hungry right now I could almost eat anything."
She looked at him quizzically as if hunger was so irrational a thing that it had never occurred to her. Her stomach growled rather audibly again and he smirked a little as if to say 'told you.'
"I thought I had something in my little backpack—" she started to reach behind her back and then stopped short. The backpack in question was something she'd carried around with her everywhere she went. It was so inseparable that it had almost become a part of her dress code. But of course it must still be waiting for her behind the counter at the bar. She groaned. "Oh God. My precious, precious backpack."
Again she started to ball herself up on the floor as a preemptive measure for the grief and frustration that was flooding back.
"Backpack… You mean this?" he raised a rather old-looking beat up backpack and then without a word started rifling through its contents like it was his own.
"Where—how did you get that?" she stumbled over to him. "And hey, don't go groping around other people's personal belongings. Give that back to me—"
"Ah, this will do," he pulled out an apple and almost stuffed it into his mouth. "And… I'll take this too."
"Give that back—" she said, finally grabbing the bag from him and hugging it to herself after he'd taken a loaf of bread from it. "How'd you get this?"
"Hmm?" he looked at her, attention averted from the food. "Ah… the bar owner—that scary ossan… well he kind of dumped this on my table and glared at me, telling me to quit dozing and get his girl back. The glare really sent a shiver down my spine though. He said this was very important to you and you'd be upset otherwise so I grabbed it and dashed out. He even threw a spatula at me, see, I have a little bump on my head."
"Samuel… he's scary alright," she said, almost grinning. The backpack had evidently eased her nerves a bit. Slipping a hand inside the bag, she drew out a little black diary from it. On the cover was engraved the name Garcia A. Xanthippe. He looked over at it, chewing his bread hungrily.
"Xanthippe, huh?" he said. "That your name? Strange…"
"Nobody calls me that," she snapped. She'd always been sensitive about the weirdness of her name. Her mother had been too much of a spontaneous person. "They call me Xena."
"Well then, Xena-chan—"
"Drop the 'chan'," she said. Because everyone called her that, it reminded her of her village and made her yearning more desperate.
"Eh? But it sounds cute…" he said. "Xe~na~chan."
As if to undermine all of that, her stomach growled again. Very audibly. She finally pulled out some bread and started chewing on it, unconcerned by the fact that sooner or later she'd throw up all of it anyway. So long as she was stuck in the sea, starving and drowning were equally nasty options of death.
They finished the last bits of food in silence. Now that her stomach was satisfied, she felt just a little better although the churning still made her queasy. She decided keeping herself distracted was a good option but she looked up only to find him dozing off like he'd never been more at home. She thought how wonderful it was for those who felt so at ease in the sea. She'd almost drowned in it when she was five and her mother had tried to teach her how to swim. She'd noticed it almost a little too late. That childhood trauma had left her almost phobic of sea, much to the disappointment of her mother. For her father…
She let the thought trail off there. Bringing up things of that sort wasn't about to help them get away from this mess.
The sun was now a glowing disc of orange just over the horizon. It was distinctly signaling an unbearably hot day as it continued its journey up and up in the sky. She twisted her hair up in a knot, wincing as her fingers caught in the impossible coarse tangles. The salt, the wind had all made it a complete frizzy mess on her head and as if that wasn't bad enough, the dye was fading off, leaving streaks of red in the midst of dark brown. With a watchful eye on him, she slowly slipped out of the coat and put her clothes back on which were however uncomfortably stiff thanks to the sea water but at least a little bit cooler.
Her sight, inevitably settled on the horizon again. The sea. In all directions. It just stretched on and on and on till it mingled with the azure sky and they couldn't be told apart from each other. A blend appearing to be so in harmony yet so different and far apart.
It isn't fair. She found herself thinking as her muscles relaxed. She was starting to get used to the rocking however her hand still clutched the boat edge to the point of being numb. And soon the heat, the discomfort of the sea… it was all starting to fade into fuzzy feelings that weren't all that hostile.
She was back in the village. Four years old again. Holding hands with her mother, walking along the sandy beaches. Her mother going on and on about how lovely the sea was and how she'd love for the both of them to go on their own little adventure. Demo demo, Xena, she was saying, you'd have to learn how to swim before that. And she was just nodding enthusiastically, her eyes shiny with fantasies of an adventure to some far, far off magical place. The enthusiasm of that day… how it had faded from memory over the years, she did not know. But there, wadding into the shallow waters off the shore, the little Xena wasn't even slightly terrified of the sea.
Far away, a ship sailing by hooted.
With a start, she sat up, blinking her eyes in shock and surprise. Ace sat opposite to her apparently just aroused from his slumber and staring at her as if she'd just returned from the dead.
"You…" he said. "You looked so still and peaceful, I thought you'd passed onto the other world."
"Don't be stupid," she said, blushing slightly. "I wasn't dead… just dead tired."
Another hoot sounded over there little spat and her eyes darted towards the horizon. She wasn't dreaming. Far, far away, leaving a hazy trail of smoke, a ship was sailing off.
"Hey," she shouted in desperation. Obviously there was no way the sound would reach the huge vessel. She waved like crazy. Then shouted again, aware of her useless, crazy endeavors.
"Firefist," she glanced at him shortly then continued staring and waving, as if it would disappear the moment she took her eyes off it. "Start a fire. They'll notice."
"Xena-chan," he shook his head. "It's broad daylight. They won't see the fire. We need something that'd produce smoke."
"Then set the boat on fire, maybe," she said.
"Are you crazy?"
"I am! There's no other way."
"You do know neither of us can swim…?"
"We could be rescued by then…"
"Could."
She turned to face him this time, her eyes clear brown pools. Activity was giving her some sense of being. Her desperation was far livelier than her hopelessness a while back. Something clicked inside his head. The idea wasn't a genius one but worth a try.
"I could try throwing a column of fire," he said. "It might not travel very far away considering it's all water around here. But it might just be enough to catch attention…"
He looked at her in confusion. Her eyes were so fixated on the ship that she didn't move, didn't respond. She mightn't have even heard him. Or maybe she was already unsure of the idea.
"Hey," he said, tapping her shoulder. "Xena-chan?"
"It's…" she finally said in a low voice, looking at him, a little bit of the old sadness seeping back in her darkening eyes. "It's a marine ship, Firefist."
"So what?" he said, unconcerned.
"So what?" she raised her voice just a little. "So they're going to arrest you. You're a pirate."
"Seriously are you worrying about that right now?" he said, grinning like it was no issue at all. "I can always find ways to escape. And they'll have food and sake on the ship. And they'll take you back home. What's more, you might even get the bounty on my head."
"Stop joking, Firefist," she yelled. His ideas were crazy, yes. One, she did not trust marines one bit. Not after they'd literally plundered her village a year back. Two, even if she detested this idiot of a pirate, he'd saved her life and had been with her through this mess, equally aware—if not more—of the dangers they might lose their lives to. He was a sort of companion. She grudgingly admitted the fact. Even if he was so confident that he'd escape, she wasn't just about to sell him off for an insane bounty just because she could. Her book did not permit that however selfish she could get. Crossing her arms in front of her in determination, she sat down with a thump, letting the boat rock enough for him to lose balance and hastily sit back down.
"Look, this might be an only chance," he said, a little concerned. "You don't have much food. And you might even get caught up in a storm. Who knows how weird the weather here at Grand Line is."
"Don't talk like I'm the only one who's gonna be in that mess," she said grumpily. "You're also in the same position."
"Yeah well, I'll live," he said with a shrug.
"Firefist," she said, shaking her head. "Are you just dumb or you don't really care?"
"I believe," he said. "I'm not ready to die just yet."
"Neither am I," she said, almost too quietly. "If I die before you get me back to my village, I'll make sure I turn into a ghost and haunt you for the rest of your life."
"Sure," he laughed. "Though it's hard to see how you could haunt anyone."
"Shut up," she grumbled halfheartedly. "Promise me."
"It's a promise then," he said earnestly.
She held out her little finger and he stared at it quizzically.
"What?" he asked.
"That's…" she looked away, making a childish pout face, a little embarrassed. "That's how you make a promise. We shake our pinky fingers."
"I see," he said, laughing out loud as they shook on it.
The ship was now just a dot on the faraway horizon. Even if she changed her mind now, it would be no use. Seeing it disappear was making her heart sink every second. She covered her ears with her hands again and balled up in her corner. It wasn't like she was going to bawl again like she'd been doing all this time. She was getting just a little comfortable. The idea only terrified her further for some reason.
"You'll get awful cramps if you stay like that all the time," he commented. "Don't you feel uneasy?"
"I don't really care," she mumbled. "This way is just a little comforting. I don't have to look at the sea and the churning and rocking affects me less."
"The sea doesn't really make you as sick as it makes you hysterical," he noted, squatting down next to where she lay balled up like a kitten. "What is it about sea that frightens you so much?"
"Everything," she muttered without looking up.
"You're not really scared of the sea," he said. "You just think you are."
"It's one and the same thing."
"No, it's not," he said. "Come on, I'll show you. Stand up."
"No, no it's crazy. I might tip over and fall," she shook her head though following his gesture, she stretched out of the fetal position and took the hand he offered.
"You won't. And if you do, I'll save you like earlier," he said, standing up and pulling at her but she stayed put in her spot. "Xena-chan, just for one moment, imagine this boat isn't a boat at all. Say if it is a boat, it's on dry land. Now close your eyes and just stand up. You can hold onto me if you can't balance."
"I totally can," she said and as if just to prove that she could, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and hauled herself up, however drawing a little assurance from the warmth of his hand around hers.
"Good," he said. "Now just step here."
He tugged at her, then turned her around, then prodded her forward a little and then hooked his arm around hers from behind and stopped her from taking another step forward. She found that keeping her legs a bit apart provided the ideal position for balancing and the balls and heels of her feet could very easily absorb any shocks the rocking caused while she stood upright. It was an easy trick. Never before had she been so aware of her body and how it was so perfectly designed for balance. All her clumsiness forgotten, she unclenched her fists and stretched one hand in front of her, fingers reaching out, feeling the spray and the wind.
She was four again. Standing at the shore, letting the smell of the sea, the feel of the salty wind against her cheeks wash away all her sorrows. She'd done it so often back then. How could she have forgotten how good it felt. How it eased out her anxieties at the time (which now appeared to be such trivial childish insecurities). It was a moment of exhilaration she hadn't felt for ages.
It was hard keeping her eyes shut any further. As her eyelids fluttered open, she found herself standing at the edge of the boat. Ace was leaning back to maintain the equilibrium just enough. The sea was lapping inches away from her feet. In a panic, she stepped back, tripping over his foot and falling as the boat shook violently. She landed with a thud which was surprisingly softer compared to how she was anticipating.
"Ow," he groaned. "You're heavy."
"Shut up," she said, turning her head to see she was almost sitting on top of him. That must've hurt. "I'm not fat."
"Not fat," he nodded as she rolled off of him. "But heavy."
"Gee, thanks a bunch," she growled, sarcasm laced in her voice.
"Quite the sour one, aren't you?" he grinned.
"You can't blame me," she scowled in response. The next second, she was shaking with laughter. She didn't know if it was the shock after the panic or just the relief of being alive or the way he grinned at her childish responses. Suddenly, all she wanted to do was laugh till her stomach couldn't take it anymore.
"That was crazy, Firefist," she said after a while. "Were you planning to throw me off board?"
"I couldn't have," he said, earnestly. "You would've come back to haunt me."
"Right," she laughed again. Drifting like this was still scary. But for the moment, she just wanted to laugh it off if that were going to be her last.
A/N: A little rushed out it seems -.- gomen'nasai. I'm definitely, definitely posting the next chapter sooner this time. It's a promise. Next chapter gets a bit of action *thumbs up* *fake smile*
And let me just thank AnimeFreakzoid911, BeanieBaby96, Bob the Delicious Cupcake, Cheerfullion95, Ghostunderasheet, Rukia5783, SNicole25, WarriorsSoul7, Aennlou, Hazel Nightshadow, Lilliee-chan and wolfscry248 for adding this story to their favorites/alerts. It makes me really happy.
Thank you for the motivation.
Please leave a review so I can keep up the progress.
