That night...
Sanji walked into the womens room to check and see if everything was alright. Takono had been acting weird lately, and he was worried. (As he would be... -rolls eyes-)
It was dark, and he could only slightly see something, without being too sure. On one bed, he saw someone, assuming it was her. "Takono-chwan..." He called out softly, trying not to wake anyone up. He softly laid his hand on her shoulder. "Takono-chwan..." After that last call, he wasn't too sure anymore that it was Takono, so he put his other hand on her cheek to turn her head, and he leaned forward to look closer.
The girl opened her eyes, and shreiked, slapping Sanji in the face and on the floor. In that instant, He saw a curl in he hair. It was Deji.
"SANJI, WHAT'RE YOU DO--" He jumped up and covered her mouth with his hands, desperate not to wake anyone up. "Shh! Shhhh!!" He kept shushing her until she was quiet, which took about 2 seconds. "I'm so sorry! I didn't even realize it was you!!" He explained as quietly as he could so she could understand. He took his hands off her mouth.
"But who would you kiss in the middle of the night?"
"Kiss? Oh. You thought I was... Never mind." He sighed. "The reason I came was... I thought you were Takono-chwan." She was confused. "Okay. Did you realize she was acting kind of... weird... lately?"
"Weird like how?" She asked.
"Well... like today, she froze after someone just called her name. Or one day me, her and Nami-san went shopping with her and she froze again after locking eyes with a man in a cloak. Or that she told us she was caught in rough waves and ended up on that island." He told her.
"Well I understand the guy in the cloak because maybe it reminded her of a nightmare or memory of something. But the Denden Mushi? And how would anyone end up being in a sea storm like that?"
He shrugged. "Fell in?"
"Even you know she's not that dumb."
"Might've tripped." He looked down. "But we never know until she tells us herself." Deji nodded.
"Now I'm really tired. Can I go back to sleep now, or do you still want to talk to Takono?"
"It's fine. I'm a little less confused now." He walked out the door, and waved good night. He climbed into his hammock, and tried to sleep. But he kept on thinking...
"...maybe it reminded her of a nightmare or memory of something..."
Memory... He thought... Something must've happened to her... but what...?
The Next Morning...
Takono was late to breakfast. She ran as fast as she could, which wasn't much because she was also tired. It was a fight between hunger and drowziness in her mind. Hunger won.
Nami swallowed her egg piece and asked Takono, "Why didn't you keep sleeping?"
"By the time I wake up..." She yawned in the middle of her sentence. "I end up being hungry."
Zoro stuffed a waffle in his mouth and asked, "Your nod gun sleep in your pa'cake 'gain, are ya?" The pancake muffled his words. She shook her head and sat next to Usopp, Grabbing a bowl, cereal and milk. She had a spoon.
Sanji was at the stove cooking more eggs, but he turned anyway to ask Takono his question. "Takono-chwan, uh...um..." He didn't know what to ask. Takono just stared.
"Uh... did the milk go bad?" Deji sweatdropped. Takono gave him a weird look. "No. Milks fine."
"O-Okay!! Just checking!" He smiled. She just didn't care and continued eating. Deji poked Sanjis shoulder.
"What happened?"
"I don't know what to ask!!"
"Leave it to me. We'll figure it out." She sat back down.
"What happened?" Zoro asked Deji.
"Nothing! I just asked Sanji if he remembered to...uh... um... BUY ME A PUZZLE! Yeah, uh... We had a bet that he couldn't get Nami to date him in one try, and he lost, so he had to buy me whatever I wanted, so I said 'I want a puzzle'!! and I was just wondering where it was!!" She smiled at him. Zoro thought suspiciousley about it, but as long as it came out of Dejis mouth and not the cooks mouth, he was fine with it, so he continued eating.
"Well DUHH! Nami wouldn't just GO! She's a hard-to-get kind of person. Not really anxious to go that easily. Did you do that so he'd get you a puzzle?" She laughed, and stretched her arm out to Deji for a hi-five. She hi fived Takono, playing along.
Sanji looked at the two. She just seems happy. Either she is, or she'd hiding something! I just know it!
Usopp sniffed the air. "Whats that smell?"
Sanji looked at his eggs, and saw them burnt to a crisp. He immediately turned off the stove and sighed. "Wasted eggs."
Luffy grabbed the eggs and swallowed them whole. "Not while I'm around!" Then he stuck out his tongue, running around yelling "HOT! HOTHOTHOTHOT!!" Suta opened a ketchup bottle and completely filled Luffys mouth with ketchup.
"Ahhh..." He smiled.
She did too. "Just like Scooby Doo!"
Chopper poked Namis shoulder and asked, "Are we near an island yet? I have to pick up more medical supplies."
She sighed. "Not for another week." Everyone groaned. They had nothing to do, and they were sure Luffy and Suta might eat all of their food by then.
That day...
Deji walked by Takono, with an idea.
Takono, on the other hand, was laying on her back, staring at clouds. "And that one looks like Chuck Norris, and that one looks like a monkey!!"
"Takono?" Takono flinched. She didn't expect someone to be there, and she was kind of embarassed to be talking to herself like that.
"Yeah?"
"I'm just wondering. What was your past like?"
She blinked. "My past? You mean like when I was little, or before I joined the Mugiwara?"
"Both."
"Oh." She paused. "Well, um... it was..." She thought a little. "Abnormal."
Deji raised an eyebrow. "Abnormal like... how?"
"Well, I had, like, ONE friend and that was it. My sister counted too, but she kept bragging that she was older than me. You know how that is, when little kids want to be older because they think older people are in charge." She smiled. Deji giggled a little.
"Wait, you have a sister?" She nodded.
"She's like me, but a little girlier. Latest-fashion crap, jewelry, a little makeup, obsessed with hair..."
"How old is she?"
"She's like..." Takono thought a little. "6 and a half minutes older than me."
Dejis jaw dropped. "You're a twin?! Thats so cool!" She looked at Deji. "You're not? Isn't Suta your fraternal twin or sumthin'?"
"No, she's my little sister!"
Takono looked up, with her finger on her chin, and told herself silently, "So thats why she looks younger than you..."
"Huh?"
"Nuthin'!!" She looked back at her.
"So are you guys identical, or fraternal?" Deji asked.
"A little of both." She explained, "She LOOKS like me, but her hair color's blue."
"Blue?" She repeated? "Your family certainly... has varietied hair color..." Takono nodded. "Yeahh..."
Deji sighed. She's learned nothing she was looking for. "Anything... else? Like, what were your parents like?"
Takono immediately spun around, facing Deji. "Umm... I really don't know."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I dont... um... They weren't... around..." Takono muttered nervousley.
"What?"
"Uh... COMING LUFFY!!" Takono jumped on her feet and started running.
"He didn't--"
"BEFOREHAND!!" She interrupted, not stopping. That was it! She ran off to tell Sanji. She whizzed by Zoro, who grabbed her arm. "Wheres the fire?"
"Do you know anything about Takono? At all?"
"Yeah." He answered. "She's annoying, whiny, short, hyper, childish, crazy--"
"I mean her past!! Or anything!"
"Well, no--" Then he remembered something. "She told me that her parents weren't around to take care of her."
"You think she was neglected as a child?" Deji asked with a sad tone.
"Well--" He stopped. Maybe she was annoying them because she wanted to take out her frustration that way. "...maybe...I don't know... her parents MUST'VE cared about her at least a little."
"But that doesn't explain something else..."
Zoro raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"She's been acting pretty weird lately. That's what Sanji told me."
"He's just worried about her because she's a little hyper. Not most girls are like that. And since when do you listen to ero-cook?" He asked, not noticing anything.
"Even I noticed it, Zoro." She answered back. He just answered back with an 'Alright, I'll tell cook.' and walked away.
Meanwhile...
Robin was in the womens room, reading a book, when she heard a soft voice call her. "Robin?" She folded her page and looked up at the girl at the door. "Takono? Is something wrong?"
"Mind if I ask you something?" She asked in the same tone, closing the door behind her. Robin smiled. "What's on your mind?" Takono sat next to her on the bed.
"Well... Robin... when you joined the crew, how did you first expect them to act?"
Robin put her closed book aside and turned to face Takono. "Well, I've had a hard time in my childhood, because as you may know, I've been hunted my the marines since I was 8, and in that time, I was taken in by many people to support me to live. Most people tried to turn me in to the marines, some thought I was useless and abandoned me, and some people didn't care and just spat at me. But when I joined the Mugiwara, they were much nicer than I expected. When I met them, I was working with a pirate at Arabasta, Crocodile." Takono dropped her jaw.
"No way..."
Robin nodded. "He betrayed me as well. I was about to die, being crushed in an underground cave, and because no one ever accepted me, I refused to come, but Luffy forced me to escape so I could survive. When I joined, I thought they would neglect me as well, so one day, maybe a month ago, I was kidnapped by the CP9. I gave up and came along to enter death. But to my surprise, the mugiwara risked their lives to protect me. And, at Enies Lobby, we met Franky, the kind hearted cyborg on our ship."
Takono blinked. She couldn't believe it at all.
"Why did you ask?" Robin questioned.
"No reason." She stood up, heading towards the door.
Robin smiled again. "If something is on your mind, you can tell me anytime." Takono stopped for a second, and a couple of tears welled in her eyes. Robins smile faded away. "Is something wrong?"
She immediately wiped her tears away, and happily answered, "Nope! I'm fine! I think I'm gonna go to the kitchen now!!"
She ran to the kitchen, leaving nothing but dust behind her.
Whats going on? And why is she acting so weird? OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CLIFFHANGERRRR!!
No, we're GETTING to the cliffhanger! Not there just yet!! (batman theme) PEACE!
