Strawberry Black Cat: Haaaiiii everyone! I updated soon just like I said I would and it's a longer chapter too!
Firehart: Now here's the real question, are you going to do the same thing this time?
Strawberry Black Cat: I probably will! I'm going to be off from school for at least another 3 days because of all of the snow! So now's it time for the disclaimer!
Firehart: Strawberry Black Cat DOES NOT OWN One Piece!
After Miyuki led the way home while dragging Luffy home the rest of the night passed rather quickly. While Luffy and Ace had spent the rest of the night playing pirates with Nami trying to keep up with them Miyuki had spent the evening washing the bathing suits that Chisetsu had let them borrow. Miyuki knew that only the gods knew what had gotten onto those bathing suits while they were in that pile.
And so…the next day came as the winter sun softly shone through the windows of the house. As always, Miyuki was up first and Luffy was up as soon as the first smells of breakfast started to circulate about the house. Ace would be mere inches behind Luffy and Nami would wake up groggily after hearing all of the noise. The three kids put their bathing suits on and then put their regular clothes overtop of packed their lunches and got the things they would need for the pool ready, since Nami was wearing a cast she put a water-tight rubber glove-like sock into her pack with instructions to the teacher to put it on the cast before Nami got into the water.
The three ran to the school house moments after Miyuki readied everything they needed with a quick "I'm off school!" and instead of replying Miyuki simply sighed as she remembered that she should get ready to live up to her end of the deal that she and Chisetsu made.
The three got to school and they all went to their respective classrooms. When Nami and Luffy got to their classroom they saw that there was a large group of girls gathered around Ayaka saying things like, "It's so nice of you to let us have a swimming lesson in your family's pool Ayaka-sama!" and "Not only is Ayaka-sama rich, she's so nice too!"
Minori and Minoru went over to Luffy and Nami and gave them a greeting as soon as they walked in the door, however they were soon pushed away by Ayaka who ran up to Luffy and immediately told him good morning and how nice it was to see him today. Ayaka's group of followers came over to them as well and ended up pushing Nami away from Luffy. Nami tried pushing back through but it was no use, the group of girls was like an impenetrable wall. Luffy told Ayaka good morning as well and then broke through the wall of girls and went over to Nami, Minori, and Minoru to go play with them until it was time to go to the pool.
By 8:30 everyone that was going to be there for the lesson was there and so Ms. Choko took marked down the few who were absent and put the kids into a line so they could start walking to the pool. The distance they had to walk was about a half a mile, just far enough from town so that it was perfectly peaceful but not as far as that walking into town was a nuisance.
When they got there even Ms. Choko was stunned at how beautifully elegant the estate was. There were perfectly trimmed hedges outlining the round driveway and fountain, flowerbeds lined the estate and the old brick house covered in Ivy that overlooked the ocean. Even the group of girls that followed Ayaka around everywhere were stunned that she lived in such an extravagant place.
Ms. Choko rang the doorbell and a maid that appeared to be about 70 years old opened the door and asked, "Yes? How may I help you?"
"Well, Ayaka-chan's father said that we could use their pool for our swimming lesson today" Ms. Choko answered to the elderly maid
"Ayaka-sama's father said you could use the pool did he?" The maid asked as she appeared to try and remember if that was true or not, suddenly as if a Lightbulb went off in her head she said "Ah, yes! I remember now. Two other ladies came saying that they were chaperones for the swimming lesson earlier today. Please follow me"
The maid led them to a room that held a large swimming pool that was almost as big as Luffy and Nami's house. All of the kid simply stared in awe at the huge amount of water, sure they had seen the ocean before but they had never seen this much water inside a house before. "This is the pool" The maid said "Now I will take you to the rooms that everyone is to change into their bathing suits in, please follow me"
The maid led them down a long hallway and stopped between two doors. "The one on the left is for the girls while the one on the right is for the boys" She said "If there is anything else you need please feel free to call me" The maid finished as she walked back down the hallway and returned to her duties.
"Alright everyone you heard her! Girls go into the room on the right and change into your swimwear while Boys, you go into the one on the right, as soon as you are finished come back here and get into a line!" Ms. Choko said as she led the kids into the appropriate rooms and then went into the girls' changing room to get her bathing suit on as well.
Miyuki had put Nami's bathing suit on her before she left so all Nami had to do was take her regular clothes off and put them into the bag. As soon as she was done she saw that surprisingly, some of the girls that had to put on their bathing suits were already done and were waiting for their friends to get done changing before they went outside to wait for everyone else.
"Just how old is that piece of cloth that you're wearing?" Ayaka asked Nami as she saw her swimsuit
Nami simply shrugged her shoulders, she really didn't have a clue how old the bathing suit was, she guessed that it was about 15 years old. "Hmph" Ayaka scoffed "It's so ugly compared to mine, or anyone else's for that matter"
Nami looked at Ayaka's bathing suit. It was a bright pink bikini with a few blue swirl designs on the chest for an erotic effect. (AN/ She's 6-years-old and I put her in a erotic swimsuit *Laughing*)
. "I can only guess that you can't swim, I mean you can't count, you can't say your alphabet, and you can't even talk" Ayaka said, only a few inches away from Nami "I can do all those things perfectly, maybe your parents abandoned you at sea because your so stupid you can't talk"
Nami simply looked at the ground. Her parents hadn't abandoned her…she didn't remember how she got in a boat in a storm at sea but she just knew she wasn't abandoned…her parents…whoever they were wouldn't be that cruel…would they?
"You don't even have a comeback, you know you were abandoned don't you?" Ayaka said to the orange-headed girl "I feel sorry for poor Luffy-kun and his family, having to take care of such a useless girl"
"Ayaka-chan! Nami!" Ms. Choko called "Are you two just going to stand there talking all day or are you going to come with us and swim?"
Nami heard Ayaka yell that she would be right there and saw her run over. She decided that she should follow, despite not wanting to go to the pool. Ms. Choko made sure that everyone was in the line and led them back towards the pool. "Alright everyone listen!" She called "I'm going to split you all into three groups since we have two chaperones this year!" Ms. Choko pointed to two women sitting in chairs a few feet away. One woman was a very excited looking Chisetsu and in the other chair was Miyuki, who was looking like she was about to kill someone, or more specifically the person sitting next to her.
"Hi Na-chan! Hi Luffy!" Chisetsu called to them as she waved and was jumping in her chair.
Miyuki mumbled something not very nice about Chisetsu while she was still sending an aura of death. Chisetsu not at all caring about the glare she was receiving looked at Miyuki and said "Stop looking at me like that Myuu-chan"
"If you hadn't had forced me to come I wouldn't be looking at you at all…" Miyuki replied with anger coating her words
"Ok! So I'll just say the groups now!" Ms. Choko intervened before a fight started
Ms. Choko began to name the kids in her and Chisetsu's groups and saved Miyuki's group for last. "The kids in Miyuki-san's group are Ayaka-chan, Nami, Luffy, Minori, Minoru, and Ruika" Miyuki said
The six kids made their way over to Miyuki and introduced themselves so Miyuki would know who they were. Luffy asked Miyuki excitedly "Mama, why are you here? Did you come to play in the pool too?"
"No Luffy" Miyuki sighed "To be able to borrow Chisetsu's swimsuit I had to volunteer to be a chaperone"
Miyuki glanced at the 6 kids in her group. Ayaka's swimsuit caught her eye and she stared at it for a moment. "Why the hell are you wearing something like that?" Miyuki asked Ayaka "You're 10 years too young to be wearing something like that and even then it's not appropriate, I didn't even know people made swimsuits like that so small"
Ayaka glared at Miyuki for a fraction of a second before regaining her composure and putting on a cutely innocent face, to top off the facade she asked Miyuki. "Why isn't it appropriate Miyuki-san? Daddy said that she liked it"
Although she appeared to be perfectly innocent Ayaka was thinking something much different. 'I don't like this woman but she's an adult. This sucks, it means I can't get her as easily as I can get Nami…' Ayaka thought
Miyuki ignored the question that Ayaka asked although she had a comment on it. 'Her Dad liked it? What is he? A pedophile?" Miyuki dismissed the thought though after realizing she had more important things to think about. "Alright everyone" Miyuki said "I'm gonna be teaching you how to swim today and you better learn fast because I'm gonna teach you fast. As for rules just follow the rules of any other swimming pool, now get into the water!"
Minori and Minoru jumped in first, Ruika climbed in next, followed by Luffy who also jumped into the chest-deep water, Ayaka followed Luffy although she climbed in like Ruika did, and Nami Just stood a few inches away from the edge of the pool and stared at the edge of the water. "Nami" Miyuki said from in the pool "You have to get in so we can start the lesson, the other groups have already started"
Nami didn't move, she just kept staring at the pool's edge. "Fine, we'll do it the hard way" Miyuki said to her as she went over and picked Nami up to put her in the water.
"N-No!" Nami yelled more than loud enough for everyone in the room to hear as she franticly tried to get back into the tile at the pool's edge.
"What's wrong Nami?" Miyuki asked "The water's not gonna bite, see? Luffy's in the water and he's fine. Don't you want to learn how to swim too?"
"Don't you want to play in the water Nami? It's fun!" Luffy told Nami as he jumped up and down in the water.
Nami looked at Luffy. He wasn't scared? There was always something scary in the water that is out to get you from what she learned…
Flashback!
A little 4-year old Nami was playing in the water until a large fishman suddenly appeared from the water and held her up by the collar of the summer dress she was wearing. The same woman with her face blocked from view appeared and yelled "Put her down right now you damn fish-bastard!" The fishman did as he was told although he threw Nami in the general direction that the woman was in. Nami ran back up to the woman and started to cry. "There, there Nami" The woman said as she stroked Nami's soft, orange hair "I won't let them get you, just remember that the ocean is dangerous as long as they're here alright?"
Nami hesitantly grabbed the edge of the pool and looked at Luffy questioningly. Luffy simply nodded, after being reassured by Luffy, Nami climbed into the water while hanging onto the wall of the pool for dear life. As soon as she was in the pool though her head went under as the water was deeper than she was tall. Miyuki pulled Nami back up as Ayaka mumbled something about Nami.
The rest of the swimming lesson was fairly uneventful. Ayaka could swim the best while Luffy was the worst because, as Ace said, he simply sunk like an Anchor, Nami was a bit better but not much, she needed something to hold onto or she would start panicking and go under.
When the lesson was over everyone went back into the rooms to change back into their regular clothes, after they changed they all went home. When Chisetsu saw Miyuki she was expecting to get a scolding that only Miyuki could give but much to her surprise and delight Miyuki actually thanked her for making her teach kids how to swim. Chisetsu didn't know why she was thanked but was happy regardless.
After thanking Chisetsu Miyuki got Nami and Luffy and started walking home with them. Ace met up with them when they were about halfway home. "What do you guys want for dinner?" Miyuki asked all of them.
Ace and Luffy fell over in surprise before yelling every food in existence, after all, it was rare for Miyuki to ask anyone what they wanted for dinner, much less the two that will eat whatever food that is put in front of them within 5 seconds. "I want the thing that you fixed last night! It was really yummy!" a voice that was just loud enough to hear over Luffy and Ace said.
"Alright Luffy, I'll fix-" Miyuki said before she realized that the voice she heard deffnatly wasn't Luffy or Ace's voice.
Miyuki turned around and much to her surprise found that the speaker was none other than Nami, the girl that she had only seen say one word. "Alright then…I guess we're having omelet with tangerine sauce tonight…" Miyuki said, still stunned at how the girl suddenly spoke after weeks of being silent.
That night Miyuki fixed omelet with tangerine sauce, although it was not what Luffy and Ace had wanted they still ate it just as fast and happily as normal. Nami seemed quite a bit happier that night then Miyuki had ever seen her. 'Perhaps she is happy tonight because she got over her fear of the water?' Miyuki thought 'No…it must be because of something else…otherwise she wouldn't have suddenly started to talk…oh well…she seems to be happy…that's all that matters…' Miyuki decided to let the kids stay up a bit longer than usual since she thought of the day as a special occasion. That night Miyuki went to sleep still trying to figure out why the sudden change in Nami had happened. Little did she know it would be years before she found this out and she would only know for a few minutes…
Strawberry Black Cat: Like it? Hate it? Have suggestions? I'd love to know in a review! (and let me know if someone washes up on a beach in all the snow too!)