Title: Splinters

Rating: K+ (for blood; ow-okay, so it's not that big a deal, really)

Characters: Sanji, Nami, Chopper's around, too

Pairings: SaNa-ish (if you want, it can still be seen as nakamaship)

Spoilers: Some specifics from up through Skypeia.

Timeframe: Post-Skypeia, pre-Water 7

Notes: Besides "Gives You Hell," I've been in a SaNa mood lately. Meh. This is just your general "Sanji's hurt and Nami's nice" kind of thing.

Summary: Sometimes a hand to hold is better than any anesthetic.


Splinters

By Dandy Wonderous

Ever since she had met him, Sanji had been there to protect Nami.

Even before she really knew him, back at Arlong Park, he had been willing to fight the mermen for her sake. And he had almost been crushed to death by water pressure, his lungs coming frighteningly close to bursting beyond repair.

Then later, on Drum Island… She may have been unconscious at the time, but she knew later that Sanji had quite literally broken his back to save her and Luffy. And while she had acted like it hadn't bothered her, she had seen his agonized face when Dr. Kureha fixed him up the second time. She knew it had been awful, painful.

And then on the Sky Island… She could barely bring herself to think about that. About she had seen him electrocuted to a burnt crisp of a man not once but twice… About how she had been so sure he was dead the first time, about how the second time he was trying to save her and Usopp without giving even one thought to what would happen to himself. But that was what Sanji did, resolving to give up his own life for others, like he owed everyone in the world this sacrifice for whatever reason.

Now as she stared at him, biting her lip, while he lay on the couch shirtless and bleeding, she knew he had done it once again. True, this new injury was not nearly as bad as some of those others had been, but still…

The bits of broken rail were lodged as horribly large splinters in both his arm and his side. Chopper was examining them worriedly.

"We have to get these out, of course," he muttered, more to himself than for Sanji's benefit.

The storm's gale had broken the Going Merry's railing and it had coming spinning out of control in her direction. He had thrown himself around her, shielding her from the flying wood, and it had ripped into him. She still had his blood on her shirt.

He grinned, wincing slightly but keeping a brave face. "Just grab a big pair of tweezers."

Chopper dug through his supplies for a moment before gasping in surprise. "Oh no! I'm out of anesthetics!"

Nami snapped out of her semi-trance. "What!?! Don't you have any kind of painkillers?"

"It's fine, Nami-san," said Sanji quickly before Chopper got anymore upset. "It's almost time for supper, anyway; I don't need to be groggy while I'm cooking."

"But Sanji-kun," Nami began, but knew it was pointless. No amount of arguing would change the fact that there was nothing to dull the pain, whether he wanted it or not.

"I won't feel any pain with your lovely face watching over me," he told her in typical Sanji fashion. Then his eye clouded slightly. "Unless… You'd rather leave for this part?"

Nami walked over and took his hand, the one on the uninjured arm. "No, I won't leave."

"You don't have to-"

"But I am."

He melted on the couch. "Nami-swan is so beautiful and kind!"

She rolled her eyes. "Don't read too much into it." But it was too late for that; Sanji had collapsed into a "Mellorine" spasm and nothing was going to bring him out of it.

Except…

Chopper freed the first large splinter of wood from his arm and the word trailed off in a slow death on his lips.

The grip on her hand tightened slightly, but not by much. He didn't want to hurt her. She almost laughed at the irony.

Now Chopper was pulling out smaller splinters, and the grip tightened a little more. But it wasn't bad yet, and he was still keeping a nonchalant face that seemed more interested in the fact that she was touching him (and not just to hit him) than in the fact that the reindeer was digging bits of wood out of his arm.

"This one's going to hurt," Chopper warned. It was too deep, and he had to break the skin to get at it.

Air hissed through the cook's clenched teeth and he squeezed on Nami's hand. But as with normal sized splinters, the pain was sharp, shooting, and short, and all there was now was the dull ache from the wounds on his arm.

Chopper got out the smaller bits which were relatively painless and the grip loosened considerably. Once all the wood was gone from his arm Chopper cleaned it and wrapped it, while all the while Sanji stared at Nami's arm, as though afraid that looking at her face would make her leave but looking at their hands would make it dissipate like a hazy dream.

Nami chewed on her lip a little while she watched. She would be squirming like crazy right about now, but Sanji was staying very relaxed, keeping his cool.

And his side… There was less wood there, but one piece had speared him, sticking grotesquely out of his flesh. Chopper had said there was no serious internal damage, but she could see that he was lucky the wood hadn't pierced something vital.

"Nami-san?"

She looked down at him. "What?"

"If you don't want to do this anymore, you can leave."

She sighed. "I already told you, Sanji-kun, I'm staying."

Sanji's eye stayed fixed on her arm. "Are you sure?"

She squeezed his hand a little. "If I wasn't, would I still be here arguing with you?"

He laughed a little. "I guess not." Then he grinned broadly. "Nami-san is too kind to-AAH!" He gasped in pain as Chopper took the distraction to pull the wood from the cook's torso. He gripped her hand so tight both their knuckles turned white. She bit her lip and forced a squeak of discomfort back down her throat.

"Hang in there, Sanji! We're almost done!" The doctor tried to smile in reassurance, but he was too worried to pull it off.

Sanji's eye bored a hole into Nami's arm, nodding and waiting for him to finish. The little splinters left over were nowhere near as painful, and he relaxed his grip on Nami's hand so he wouldn't hurt her anymore.

A few minutes later Chopper smiled and put his instruments down. "There, it's all out." He and Nami helped Sanji into a sitting position so he could wash and dress the wound.

When that was finished, Sanji dropped Nami's hand (with much reluctance) and swung his legs over the side of the couch. "Okay, I better get dinner ready. Thank you, doctor."

"Moron! You thanking me and calling me doctor definitely doesn't make me happy at all!"

The young reindeer then had the tact to leave, going outside the cabin to look for Luffy. Once they were alone, Sanji finally looked up at Nami's face.

"Thank you, Nami-san."

"Well, I owed you that much."

He stared at her. "What? You don't owe me anything, Nami-san."

Again the memories assaulted her: all the times he had been hurt for her sake.

"Idiot," she admonished. Then she gave him a short hug.

"Nami-san is… hugging me? Mellorine!"

She sighed, pulling away again. "Go get supper ready, Sanji-kun."

"Yes, Nami-san! Right away!" And then he hurried away, favoring his injured side but still going on as though nothing had happened.

The navigator watched him go in silence. As someone who loved money more than almost anything else, she hated owing people. But here she was, with a debt to a man that had just gone up thanks to a couple splinters. And it was one she doubted she could ever repay.

The End


A/N: Woo! But I'm not signing off yet; there's more to this SaNa meal!

Reader Review Corner for Singing in the Shower part II!

Krentenbol: I know, I love it when they fight, too! XD Thank you so much!

Kyrstaleyes: I think Sanji would be equally disappointed by not getting to pound Zoro's face in, but… Oh, and I can top that; try playing "forks"; OW! Luckily, I was not dumb enough to participate in that. Oh, and don't tell my friends about the marker thing, or they'll try it… and mark on people on purpose. Thank you!

Three-days-late: Thanks for reading that, btw. Yes, I love Panic! too (actually listening to it right now). And yeah, if he had broken those out Zoro would have gone DOWN!!! Hahaha!

Jfox99: Thank you! And I'm glad you liked Zoro's song choices. I don't listen to them much, but "One Week" is one of my favorite songs.

Glad you guys like this so much! Woot!