Heart Fire Burns Brighter
Important Author's Note: GREAT NEWS! I found a Beta-reader for this story! (More like she found me!). This kind, patient and very knowledgeable angel is called BetterWithThree101 and has already started working. This is the first published betaed chapter, but not the last. It will soon be followed by many more. We will prioritize the new updates, while replacing the old chapters slowly, as we manage to fix them. I hope you readers like the changes, and THANK YOU BetterWithThree101 for your WONDERFUL work!
Chapter 10
As the girls are helping style my hair with a little braid across the top, Chopper asks to come in to redo the splint on my leg and to carry me to the dining room.
His surprise at my cleaned self is very amusing. 'I suppose taking all the dirt away must make me look very different'.
When we enter the room, the rest of the crew are already there. As Chopper gently puts me in a chair, I can't help but stifle a snigger. 'Doesn't matter where, men are always quicker than women in getting cleaned and dressed, especially if there is food involved.'
Their reactions to the changes in me are similarly amusing, especially Sanji's swooning, but I am also embarrassed and confused by their apparent approval. 'My dress might be beautiful, my hair might be brushed, and I might be clean, but my body is still emaciated, riddled with scars, with a splint on my leg. I don't think I look beautiful as their eyes say I do.'
Thankfully, Madam Terracota chooses that moment to come to me with a plate of soup. I think it looks delicious until…
"Here is some very nutritious chicken broth for you, my dear. This will help you regain your strength. I hope you enjoy it." She says kindly. 'Oh.'
'What am I going to do now?' I look around at the others, all enjoying the abundant meal, that was overflowing with dishes of all kinds. I turn back to my plate. Even though I take hold of my spoon, I know I won't be able to force myself to put any of it into my mouth. I sigh. 'I can't eat this. It is very disrespectful, and I am awfully hungry, but I really am not able to eat this, not since…'
"Sage-san! Why aren't you eating?" Seated across the table from me, Luffy's loud question brings everyone's attention to my troubles. 'What am I going to do? I can't be so ungrateful after they have been so kind, but...' I gaze at Luffy's questioning eyes. He even stopped eating. 'I can't lie to them.'
"I… I… I am terribly sorry I am being so… so disrespectful and ungrateful, but I… but I can't eat this. I don't… I don't eat meat.*" The silence after that is unnerving. "I am really sorry, I…"
"No, no, no! That is quite alright, dear! I am sorry I never thought to ask. Here, we also have some vegetable soup. It is a little heavier than the broth, but should be fine. Please." Madam Terracota is very forgiving, seemingly not insulted at all by my disrespect. By their encouraging nodding, I guess the others do not mind it either.
The soup smells delicious, and I don't stop myself from tasting it. I close my eyes to savor the taste of the first hot food I've had in months. I take another spoonful, and another, and another, but I know from experience that I shouldn't eat too much, too fast. Not after so long without eating anything. Therefore, I slow down, and look around. I almost drop my spoon. The crew are all looking at me with warm, glad smiles as they witness my simple delight with the food.
Even though a dark blush stains my cheeks, I can't help but smile back. The warm feeling in my chest is not just because of the soup, I am sure of it. I can see clearly their bright souls in those smiles, and it is everything that I didn't dare let myself hope for. I couldn't be more thankful.
And then… A truly delighted grin appears in my face.
And then the cake arrives, and I really couldn't be more thankful.
Sanji can guess exactly how Sage-san is feeling right now. Witnessing her closed eyes, her tight hold on the spoon and her small smile of pleasure as she savors her first taste of the soup, is like a trip to the past, to when he was just a boy who nearly starved to death. That first taste of life after the hunger, after the despair, is like heaven. There won't ever be a better tasting food than that first, lifesaving one.
Her smile when she looks up at us, with a face red from self-consciousness, and eyes shining in happiness, almost makes his body melt. However, that is nothing compared to the look of pure, unadulterated, joy he spies as soon as Terracota-san places the cake in front of her.
Sage-san doesn't even move or blink for a whole minute as she just stares at the single tier strawberry cake. She only snaps out of it when a hand appears in her line of vision and is slapped away from the precious food.
"Don't you dare touch that cake, Monkey D. Luffy. I made that cake especially for Sage-san." Terracota-san very heatedly scolds our captain.
"But I just…" Luffy tries to reason, but the pirate cook has had enough and hits him on the head, to shut him up.
"Just eat your meat and leave Sage-san's cake alone!" Sanji warns him.
He turns to Sage-san again, in time to see a serious gaze be replaced by a small, sad, grateful smile.
Her hand reaches slowly for a plate and the serving knife. She cuts it carefully into a big slice. As she puts it onto the plate, Sanji can see her tongue lick her upper lip hungrily. 'I wouldn't be surprised if that is the first sweet thing she has eaten in a long time.' He muses sadly.
'What?! What is she doing?!' He couldn't believe it! 'Why?!'
She extends her plate wielding hand unhesitantly towards Luffy, a somber look on her face. The captain stares solemnly at her only for a second, searching for something in her eyes. He must have found it, for he accepts the cake with a huge grin. "Thank you, Sage-san!"
'I'm missing something here', he thinks, staring wonderingly at Luffy's expression and Sage's answering grin. It is so big, Sanji is certain it must hurt her cheeks.
"Sage-san! You don't have to share your cake with that bottom-less barrel we call captain!" Is Nami-san's gentle reprimand.
The girl in question looks up from where she was carefully cutting another piece of the cake.
She laughs pleasantly before answering, a knowledgeable glint in her eyes that speaks of old experiences.
"Nami-san, you don't understand. The greatest joy of one like me, who hasn't owned anything in a long time, is to share something you like with someone you care about." Her smile is blinding as she looks at all of us. "You might think I am losing something by giving him a piece of my cake, but I am actually gaining so much more. So much that my heart is nearly bursting with gladness. I haven't had something to share or someone to share it with in a long time. I would happily give away all the cake if any of you asked me."
She puts the newly cut piece into a plate, and offers it up. "Who else wants a piece?"
Most of us have watery eyes or small wondering smiles as we gaze at this incredible woman. After suffering unbelievably for so long, been deprived of the most basic things a human needs, she is still kind, caring and forgiving.
Not one of us can deny a piece of cake after that.
After the emotional moment and the delicious cake, Chopper notices how Sage-san starts to slow down, both in eating and in moving. 'She's getting tired again.' Even though she only consumed a plate of soup and a slice of cake,her body must not be used to dealing with that much food.
When she leans back in her chair to observe us, her eyes half-lidded, he knows she needs to go back to bed.
Getting up and transforming into his Heavy Weight form, he gently lifts her from her chair. She doesn't even resist, grabbing hold of his clothes and leaning her head into his chest. The others are observing quietly, as it appears she is planning to sleep right there, in the doctor's arms.
Chopper gazes down at her face, a small embarrassed blush colors his cheeks when he notices her contented smile as she snuggles against him. 'What a puzzling woman.' Her actions towards him and the crew are very bewildering.
'Did it happen to her as it happened to me?'
He remembers well, the fear, the anger, the absolute distrust towards the human race. He was so badly treated by them, to the point of almost dying. And after The Doctor died, his feelings only escalated, with Dr. Kureha being the sole human excluded from them.
All that changed when Luffy appeared. His unfailing determination, ironclad ideals and most of all, his easy acceptance of every part of Chopper's being, unleashed in him a complete reassessment of himself. 'I am not a monster'. That, more than anything else, convinced him to accept the captain's offer. To agree to be part of something and come to care about someone again was a painful decision, but entirely worth it, he has come to realize.
'Was it like that for her? Did Luffy also change everything for her?'
After being tortured and imprisoned, he imagined she would hate all other humans, especially men or Devil Fruit users. Instead, she trusts us to help her, to carry her, to touch her, and has only kind and patient words to say.
'That's not entirely true, is it?' He remembers now, how she cautiously observed the guards in the dining room. Their movements, their weapons. How she flinched away from the passing server.
He had no doubts that Sage-san was severely traumatized by her captivity. He realizes she will be healing from the psychological damage long after her body is fully healed. Which only makes her trust in them, however small and fragile, very confusing.
'She trusts us.' He thinks, as he lays her limp body on the bed. Her pale face, unworried and serene in sleep.
'We'll just have to show her we are worth of that trust.'
*More will be explained about the reason for this in later (a lot later) chapters.
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Thanks to Gilgamesh The King of Heroes, Opinr, The BlackSeaReaper, darkworkangel, 917brat, PokemonNarutoLover and Kuraihikaru for reviewing.
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