Behind Blue Eyes

*Edited 7 May 2015

Chapter 3: Useless To Run From The Past

.

1st Year, 5 NOV

.

The walk to Whitebeard's room was a short but familiar one.

Kagome had long ago stopped counting exactly how many times she had made this journey. But, if she were to give an estimate, she would say that it would have already been over a thousand times. Back in the day, she would always see Whitebeard for anything. Be it a good thing or bad, big or small, meaningless or meaningful, happy or sad, she would always head over and talk to him about it.

But presently, she had Marco as her primary confidante.

Which meant that she didn't confide in Whitebeard as much as she did in the past anymore. But it wasn't because her relationship with the old man had downgraded. No, it was nothing of the sort. Kagome could even confidently say that their relationship was better than it had ever been. The reason she had stopped telling him about every little thing was because she was being mindful of his failing health. She cared for him too much to want to trouble him with her silly worries or insecurities or guilt.

When Kagome had been in the lowest point of her life two years ago, broken and guilt-ridden beyond comprehension, it had been Whitebeard who had helped her.

He had seen the pain lurking behind her eyes, he had taken her in, he had cared for her and he had ultimately started the healing of her broken soul. (Healing, but never to be whole again.) Basically, Kagome truly was grateful to Whitebeard for everything he had done for her, and she loved him as how one would love a grandfather. (Never a father though. The only father she would ever have would always be…)

Kagome was sure without Whitebeard's help, she probably would have been dead from her grief several years ago. That was how bad things had been for her then.

Kagome arrived at the large door to his room and knocked on it. "Jiji? It's Kagome."

A moment later she heard Whitebeard's rumbling voice, "Come on in."

Kagome opened the door and stepped inside, smiling tenderly at Whitebeard, who was laid out on his bed and hooked up to his daily medication. Her smile got even wider when she noticed Marco standing beside the bed, a newspaper in his hand.

Marco smiled back at her while Whitebeard took a hearty swig from the saké bottle he carried in his hand. Kagome sighed softly and briefly wondered how many bottles the old man had already drank today. Although she disliked Whitebeard drinking so much – the man's health wasn't exactly the greatest, and drinking certainly didn't help it – she kept her silence because of the many times Kagome told Whitebeard to cut down on his drinking, not once did he listen to her.

Even when he's hooked up to all those tubes, the stubborn old man still wants to drink…. she thought with a begrudging fondness.

"Kagome," Whitebeard's voice was warm.

Kagome walked up to him and looked up, staring straight into his eyes. "Afternoon Jiji," her voice was just as warm, and her smile was bright. Whitebeard reached out and patted her head fondly with his oversized finger.

Once he retracted his hand, Kagome said bluntly, "Thatch said you wanted to see me. Is your health acting up again?" She frowned in worry.

"Gurararara, straight to the point as always I see," he noted, and laughed again when Kagome blushed slightly. "Don't worry, my health's fine. I just wanted to talk to you about another matter, but first, lemme finish hearing the news." He then looked at Marco, who nodded and began reading out loud from the newspaper in his hand. It was a daily ritual for Marco to read the news to his captain. It was something he liked to do, and it was mostly him that did it because well, not many of their men could read.

And besides, Marco had already been doing it for a long, long time.

Kagome closed her eyes and listened to the news in silence, letting the soothing timbre of Marco's voice wash over her. She wasn't paying attention to the words so she didn't know what he was talking about. No, she just really loved the sound of his voice; it was deep, it was calming, and in some ways it was her anchor, because it was his voice that had calmed her down during the times when her nightmares got really bad.

"Wait son, repeat that," Whitebeard spoke up, breaking Kagome from her reverie. She opened her eyes and watched the phoenix, curious as to what news was so important or interesting that Whitebeard wanted to hear it again.

"Portgas D. Ace, future Shichibukai?" Marco read the title calmly.

Kagome raised her brow in surprise. Lately, she and the rest of the Whitebeard Pirates had been hearing plenty of news concerning one Hiken no Ace, the infamous super rookie. He was taking the Grandline by storm with his crew, the Spade Pirates, and he currently held the record for the highest bounty a rookie ever received for this year – a 350 million bounty in 10 months of piracy.

But as for the highest bounty record of all time for a rookie… well… let's just say that Ace still had a long way to go.

"Shichibukai huh? Not bad for a newcomer," she mused, mildly impressed. Though she hated the Marines with a passion, even she knew that not just any ordinary pirate was offered the chance to be a Shichibukai.

Marco nodded as his eyes skimmed across the rest of the article, "Yeah, but he refused them, yoi."

Kagome smirked. "Can't say I blame him. When I got the offer, I turned them down too."

She did indeed. The Marines had offered her the position over three years ago, back when Kagome had been quite the infamous rookie herself. In fact, she and another two of her nakama had made such a notorious trio of pirates that the whole world had bestowed a title upon them.

'Sannin no Ou '.

It translated into 'The Three Kings' (with no affiliation to the Dark King Silvers Rayleigh) and they were called that because coincidentally, all three of them had 'Ou' – or 'King' – in their respective nicknames. But, that wasn't the main reason.

No, the main reason had to do with their strength. 'The Three Kings' were – and possibly still are – among the top pirates of the current age.

As proof to that statement…

Remember the highest bounty record of all time a rookie ever attained? Well, about the rookie pirate that set it – he's one of 'The Three Kings'. And although he had set that record more than half a decade ago, until now there was still no rookie able to beat it.

If that wasn't a sign of their strength, then Kagome didn't know what was.

"Hmmm," Marco hummed, "You never mentioned that before, yoi."

She shrugged. "I didn't think that it was important. But like I said, I turned them down. Immediately. There was no way in hell I wanted to work for those bastards…" She muttered the last part in a tone that could be considered petulant.

Marco's mouth quirked up into a little smile at her comment while Whitebeard just laughed.

"Gurararara … that kid would make a fine addition to our family," he commented.

Marco and Kagome exchanged slightly surprised looks. If the chance of being offered the position of Shichibukai was rare, then the chance of Whitebeard showing this kind of interest in a rookie was even rarer.

"I don't think he would be interested Jiji," Kagome replied with a slight tilt of her head. "Pirates these days – especially young pirates – they all want to get famous by their own power, not by riding on another's fame."

"Oh, you're not included in those 'young pirates' Kagome?" Whitebeard asked with an amused smile.

The raven-haired woman shook her head.

"I may be young, but for me becoming a pirate had nothing to do with the fame and power Jiji," she replied with a small smile. It quickly faded however, when she recalled something and she unconsciously fingered the handle of her sword.

At least, it didn't in the beginning…

"Kagome's right," Marco interrupted them with a wry smile, "pirates these days want adventure and riches, yoi. Not many care for family." As he said that, he carefully straightened the newspaper, folded it in half and tucked it under his arm. Then he turned to his father lounging on the bed.

"I'm done for today Oyaji. You want me to go so you and Kagome can talk?" he asked.

Whitebeard shook his head.

"Stay, son," he said simply before turning to Kagome. "On my desk, there's a letter. It's at the top of the pile, the one with the red envelope. I want you to get it first," he instructed. Kagome did as she was told and once she picked it up, she froze in shock.

It was addressed to her.

And that elegant handwriting… Kagome would know it anywhere.

"It arrived for you this morning," Whitebeard told her, his voice as gentle as could be – which wasn't much to be honest.

Marco's eyes widened slightly in concern when he noticed that as the raven-haired girl held the letter her hands were trembling. He started to go to her side, but stopped when he saw his father shake his head. The phoenix squared his jaw in frustration, but nevertheless did as ordered.

"…Is that all you wanted to see me for Jiji?" Kagome finally spoke, albeit softly.

Whitebeard didn't reply, but she picked out the unspoken 'Yes' in his silence. "Then I'll be going now," she said before she turned and left the room. A few moments later, Marco turned to his father.

"It was from the pup."

It wasn't a question, merely a statement.

"Ah…" the old man agreed.

Marco sighed tiredly. "I'll see you later Oyaji," he muttered before leaving the room, in search of a certain blue-eyed beauty. Whitebeard stared at his closed door for a few minutes, a pensive look on his face. Then, he shook his head as if to dispel his thoughts before taking a swig of his sake.

Kids these days… he thought with a rueful sigh.

.

End Chapter

Hello my lovelies!

Okay, so there's even more cryptic information about Kagome's past here. The entirety of it will slowly be revealed over the next few parts. Not chapters. As for the pup that Marco mentioned, well, all I can say is that he's an Inuyasha character.

First mention of Ace here! He'll be appearing in a few more chapters, so stay tuned. :)

~Jumpingbeans480