Ace didn't think much of the cold that he had felt in the house the further away he got from the place. It would have never crossed his mind that there was actually something paranormal in the house. Mainly because Ace had never seen a ghost, and therefore didn't have any reason to believe that they actually existed.

Ace turned a corner, and headed past several houses, as he made his way to the store to get some groceries, as he had told Law earlier. The older black haired teen paused near the back of the high school, where he spotted a group of teenagers laughing at something that one of the others must have just said. Ace recognized them as other delinquents that managed to only occasionally be caught in the act. Ace's acts just happened to be more flashy and sometimes more dangerous than one of the other teens roughing someone up for their money, or just to assert their dominance over them.

Ace would have continued on his way to the store, when one of the teens voices was loud enough that he could hear it clearly as he passed by.

"...Yeah man, I hear ya. That crazy brat punched me in the gut the last time I tried shakin' him up for money."

"Loser. How could a kid four years younger than you beat you so bad?"

"It wasn't my fault! The bloody kid has a hard punch!"

"Which little loser was it? I can help you out the next time you wanna beat up on him. Or try to, anyway."

"Luffy. You know, Ace's younger brother."

"Ace's brother? I didn't know that pyro freak had a brother. I'll join you next time too. I ain't goin' anywhere near Ace though. Crazy bastard. He lit a trash can on fire a few weeks ago and it singed my back!"

Ace had heard enough, and he veered off course, crossing the lawn and heading right for the other teenagers. It was one thing to threaten to bully his brother, but it was another thing entirely to hear these idiots plan it out in his presence. Ace let slip a warning glare as he eyed the suddenly silent teens, who had finally noticed his approach, and just who he was. Seeing he had made them all quiet, Ace spoke in a low, dangerous tone, "If I ever see any of you dumbasses lay a hand on my brother, I'll make you regret it."

The group of four teens exchanged wary glances with one another, before they started to laugh. The one that had spoken up first spoke for all four of them, "Why the fuck should we listen to you fire boy? You're always skipping school or being kicked out for weeks at a time. You wouldn't even know if we shook up your brother for money, cause you're never around." The teen stepped forward and shoved Ace hard in the chest, sending him back a few steps.

The other teens laughed dutifully at the sight, and the leader of the group grinned confidently, moving forward in anticipation of a fight, "Get lost, loser. I'll do whatever I want, and you can't stop me."

Ace didn't even bother to respond verbally, especially when the fool punched him this time. He caught the other teen's next swing, and swung back with twice the force. Even when the other teens joined in, Ace refused to back down now that the fight was in progress. He wasn't going to run, even if he was outnumbered. He wasn't going to let anyone harass or harm his brother if there was something he could do about it to prevent it from happening.

-x

Law was relieved that the ghost or whatever the hell was in the house happened to be leaving him alone now. Too bad the ghost couldn't have continued to do that in the first place, instead of touching him and biting him. Law lingered in the living room, his throbbing neck distracting him again. Law tentatively ran a finger along it, before he winced faintly and left it alone. Law had found it odd, that after he had cleaned the bite mark and covered it up with a bit of gauze, that his room had still felt a little cooler.

If Law didn't know any better, he could have almost sworn that the ghost or whatever was being moody and glum after being told off. The atmosphere of the house seemed to give off that vibe, especially after he left the master bedroom and had headed downstairs. It was a sensation that Law couldn't come up with a logical explanation for.

But Law's words seemed to have had an effect on whoever had been accosting him, because for the rest of the day, he had nothing paranormal happen again. Not even any cold spots appearing out of the blue in the house.

Law started when he heard the front door open, before he relaxed when he realized that it was only Ace returning from the store. Law frowned at a nearby clock. He'd been gone for hours, and by now school would be done. Had he waited for Luffy to get out of school before getting groceries? Law rose out of the chair he had been curled up on, reading a book, and headed to the front entryway. Law stood there, faintly entertained by the sight of both Ace and Luffy laden with bags of groceries, both teens looking as if they were about to topple over.

Law made the decision then and there to keep his encounter with the invisible person, ghost, whatever, to himself. There was no point in getting Luffy excited at the prospect of a ghost, especially since it seemed to be a horny one. And Law figured that Ace would just laugh it off. To distract himself from thoughts about the touchy ghost, Law took in Ace's beaten up appearance, and spoke, wearing a wry grin, "You sure took a long time getting those groceries."

Ace offered a lopsided smile in return, "There was something that I had to take care of first. It took a little longer than I thought, and I didn't realize the cops were gonna be involved."

Law didn't need to ask Ace what he'd done to get the cops involved. The dark haired doctor figured that he knew what Ace was hinting at. It was rather obvious to Law from the teen's beaten up and slightly bloody appearance that he had gotten into a fight.

Luffy turned to Ace, looking as if he had just remembered something, "Oh, one of the teachers said that he saw you and the other guys fighting. The school said you're going to have two more weeks of suspension for beating people up and setting one of their backpacks on fire."

Ace swore, "I didn't think anyone saw, except for some pedestrians that called the cops." Letting out a sigh, Ace carried the groceries to the kitchen, while Luffy followed after him.

"Did you give those guys a good slugging before you lit things on fire?"

"Of course I did! I'm not going to walk away from a fight!"

Law remained motionless for a moment, before he began to smirk. It seemed that Ace was more of a trouble maker than he had initially thought. At least he hadn't ended up killing anyone, since what he did mainly seemed to be in response to helping other people in trouble. Especially his brother. Law closed his eyes. He, on the other hand, had done such things. He'd killed people before, and that was before he had turned to doing a legit job. Sometimes causing death to another person had bothered him, but other times, the ones that had died had deserved it, and Law had no trouble sleeping at night whatsoever.

There had been a reason behind his decision to become a surgeon after working on and off for Doflamingo over the past few years. He had gotten very skilled at taking people apart in interesting and sometimes disturbing ways, so putting them back together after careful operations was something he had felt suited for. It was a bit different saving lives than ending them, but Law had eventually reached the decision that he had no desire to be put into jail. Doflamingo covered anyone's tracks who worked for him, so Law had no reason to worry that his past would come back to haunt him.

-x

Kidd had watched the exchange between Law and the two teens, before he had turned and wandered off to the master bedroom. Kidd settled on the bed moodily, a scowl implanted on his face as he tried to figure out why in the hell Law had stopped him earlier. The skinny bastard had even had the balls to claim to not know who he, Eustass Kidd, was.

Kidd flopped onto his side, tracing a hand along the sheets absently. Hell, what he had done to his lover had been almost tame, considering some of the things the two of them would get up to. Kidd knew Law liked it when he was more gentle than rough. It made it more exciting to the both of them when one of them didn't know when the other was going to be merciless again.

Kidd closed his eyes. Not for the first time in the past few days did the red head wonder if there had been something that he had done wrong. Something that would make Law do this. To pointedly ignore him, and act like he didn't know who he was. If that was the way Law was going to be, Kidd was going to have to figure out just what was making the doctor act this way. A thought crossed the red head's mind, and despite the fact that he despised the idea, it seemed like a good thing to do for now. Kidd would keep a low profile, though only for a little while, and observe Law, to see if anything obvious was the problem.

If and when he found something, Kidd would try something else to get Law's undivided attention. He knew his lover liked what he had in mind to happen occasionally. He'd try it in a few days, unless Law gave him some kind of sign to aknowledge him, and let him know he'd merely been toying with him. Kidd didn't mind so much if that was the case. He loved it when Law messed around with him this way and played his damn mind games.

But for now, all Kidd could do was keep trying and hope for some kind of acknowledgment, whether it was verbal or not. Kidd still wanted to punish Law for leaving him alone, but Kidd couldn't do that to him right now. Not until Law gave him some sign that he did know who he was.

It wouldn't be as fun to play around with Law and make him writhe and scream otherwise.

Kidd had waited a long time. A few more days was nothing at all.

-x

Several uneventful days passed by, and while paranormal occurrences had still occurred now and then, it wasn't anything like being touched. Law could live with not finding the house keys for a few minutes, or finding his other belongings in different areas of the house. He merely looked around until he found them, and went on with his day. That it only seemed to be happening to the doctor made the dark haired man wonder if the ghost was trying to get a rise out of him. Especially when things repeatedly went missing that he happened to need at certain times during the day (like his keys, his wallet, or his hospital I.D.).

Law refused to acknowledge that the ghost was starting to irritate him, slightly, with the childish acts, but didn't want to do anything about it. Since he had been all but ignoring the presence, it appeared to have been leaving him alone, more or less. Law hadn't felt cold these past few nights, as the room had remained at a level temperature, which Law decided meant that the ghost wasn't hanging around and watching him sleep. Law had, along with the items going missing and the occasional knocking sounds, noticed cold spots here and there as he went from room to room. The cold never lingered for long.

The only time Law felt he could actually relax after his run in the with ghost a few days previously had been when he was at the hospital. He was much calmer and collected at work, and despite the hectic pace that was set, Law found himself far less stressed out there than back at the house. Law had managed to find his I.D. after he had taken care of the bite mark on his neck. It had been down in the cellar for some reason, lying on the ground directly in front of the door that had no handle to open it with. Law presumed that he must have dropped it when he had come to check the furnace the other day. Not that he remembered having it on him at the time, but it made him feel slightly better if he didn't attribute its temporary loss to a ghost.

Law cast a wary look around the immediate area, a small tingling sensation between his shoulder blades. The dark haired man had the uneasy feeling that the ghost might be watching him, from a distance. For whatever reason that might be.

Law began to head up the stairs to the master bedroom, inwardly thinking about how the hospital was a very welcome distraction. The praise he received from his coworkers, and the thanks he received from the family members of a patient he had operated on early in the morning that day had made the ghost issue seem far away. Almost like a bad dream. Only it hadn't been, because Law still has the bite mark, even if it had all but faded by now. Law could only hope that the ghost would soon decide to leave him alone for good, especially if he didn't interact with it.

As Law entered the room, he didn't notice the presence that suddenly appeared to linger just outside the doorway to the bedroom.

Watching.

And waiting.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A/N-

Yes, there will be smut (eventually). I just put the warnings at the top of the first chapter as an FYI for later chapters so people weren't surprised when things start to happen more frequently as the chapters go by. When I write this kind of a fanfic, I kind of feel the need for a sort of storyline to go with to justify putting smut/ect. into it. And things are going to start to escalate even more starting with the next chapter. Cause Kidd does need to get Law's attention before more can happen.

And thanks for the reviews/favs/follows. I was rather hesitant to post this fanfic, since it gets rather fucked up later on. I also didn't think I was going to post so much at once, but I had it, so I posted it. I needed a short break from my other fic anyway.