"Mouda felt his eyes race over her skin and she swallowed dryly, rattled." —A Country Girl's Pirate, chapter fifteen.

—There's a little voice in the back of his head telling him that her naked body would be enough to make any man loose control.

Lust

Ace's bedroom door slammed shut, its hinges rattling from the unnecessary force he had used against it. This was the second door he had closed in such a manner- the first being the door to his mother's room.

Earlier in the day, the pirate had been wondering why he had decided to assign the country girl to that room. She could have slept in the guest room- even Luffy's would have been fine. But for some reason, his feet had led him to the one he hadn't been considering at all.

Was it because it had been occupied by a woman? Did it somehow suit the girl in a way that the other rooms didn't? Was she supposed to feel more at home there? If anything, the layer of dust on the floor and unwrinkled bedding had made Mouda uncomfortable.

Was it because of the sweet, adoring tone that she had used when welcoming him home? It had been an absurd gesture from someone who hadn't even set foot inside the house before then. Mouda had whined that she had been trying to cheer him up- and she might have, just a little- but it couldn't have been what prompted him to offer her that particular room to sleep in.

It wasn't until evening that Ace figured it out.

He had returned from Party's Bar some time before nine, just barely on the edge of intoxication. Makino had been consistent in refilling his sake cup, and while he could have kept going, the sky had gotten dark and Mouda had left a few hours earlier. The pirate hadn't really been worried or anything. Fuchsia was a peaceful town, so even if the girl had been out strolling instead of staying inside the odds that something would happen to her were low. Mouda was sort of his guest, though, so he had an obligation to make sure she didn't become bored enough to want to wander around outside too much.

Stepping into his house for the second time in over three years, Ace gave his head a small scratch before making his way towards the hallway where the master bedroom was situated. Thinking about things for a moment, he noted that she very well might have gone to bed. Being a farmer, the girl was apparently used to going to sleep early and waking up even earlier. If Mouda happened to still be awake, though, it would be nice of him to pay her a visit.

As the door to his mother's room entered Ace's field of vision, his footsteps unconsciously slowed and a prickling sensation raced over his skin. After she had died, the man had always been persistent in avoiding the unoccupied space. He didn't like stepping inside the room, looking at its interior, touching the doorknob or even the closed door.

With a hesitance that he decided was uncharacteristic of him, Ace urged himself forward, his footfalls heavy and unsmooth. So caught up in his determination to reach his destination, the pirate forgot about common courtesy and grabbed the door's handle. One would usually knock to announce their presence, but tonight seemed like the acceptation as he twisted the doorknob and pushed, the door opening swiftly.

It took Ace exactly one second to confirm that Mouda was indeed still awake. Two more seconds were spent viewing her shockingly naked body, and in less than a fraction of that time the man threw the door to a close.

He heard himself let out a few angry swears and an unreasonable demand for her to lock the door, starting to storm away from the room she was occupying.

It was wrong of him to be yelling at her when he hadn't even knocked- he knew that, even though his feet were still pounding on the floorboards. Guilt swelled inside of him, only to be tainted by a lustful heat that he couldn't control. The man could easily reopen the door and step past the threshold, apologize to the girl for his behavior and tell her how attractive she was with wet hair, kiss her, toss aside the shirt in her hands and warm her damp, shivering body with his own…

Ace was fairly serious about going through with the idea, already beginning to turn himself around. Then the pirate froze, his dark gaze sliding over the thin span of wood that separated him from the country girl. That door. That room.

His dead mother's room.

Ace recoiled, disgusted with his readiness. How could he even think of doing something in such a place? He'd be defiling everything! The bed, the floor, the air.

Memories.

So as Ace forced his own door shut, he understood the reason behind offering that bedroom to the blonde and none of the others.

He hated going near that room. If Mouda was inside of it, then that would decrease the desire to go near her. As much as he didn't want to admit it, Ace didn't have as strong a hold on his emotions as he would like- impulsiveness obviously ran in the family. The pirate had been able to keep himself in check so far, but even he couldn't be sure of what he would do if they were going to be all alone in the same house.

So he put her inside the one room in the house that he didn't like to approach. What a great failsafe that had been.

Clenching his fist tightly, Ace struck the wall closest to him. Frustration had become like an array of wires inside of his gut, demanding to be loosened. If left alone, they would undoubtedly snap. He would snap. But this wasn't the sort of frustration that a simple punch to the wall could cure- the unbearable tightening of his shorts was proof enough for that.

It had been a while, sure, but having reacted so quickly to a mere glimpse at Mouda's naked body made him just a tiny bit irritated. Was two seconds of that image really all it took? Her figure was not that good!

…And now some idiot part of him seemed to be trying to convince Ace that this was all her fault.

Closing his eyes, he silently scolded himself while trying to ignore how his hardened member strained against its confines. Her curves might not have been so impressive by some standards, but they were definitely good enough for him. Delicate, supple curves with beads of water trailing over every inch.

"Oh, god…"

With an agonizingly slow intake of air, Ace kept his eyes shut tight and allowed his free hand move downwards.

This was one of the worst things to be doing under the circumstances. Ace had been outright ignoring the girl's proclamations of love for him, and now he was using his fantasy recollection of the naked fifteen year old to fulfill his needs. He wasn't a good man in many senses of the word, but he really would become a terrible person at this rate.

Ace pressed his forehead to the wall next to where his fist still remained, paint hissing as it came into contact with the unnatural heat of the man's skin. The sporadic flickering of light behind his eyelids dissipated as erotic images of the girl continued to form. Strands of wet platinum had been clinging the edges of her breasts, droplets falling from her hair and across her exposed flesh.

The sound of his zipper being undone found its way into the man's ears, the metallic noise causing impatience to claw heatedly at his insides.

Mouda's thighs were pale, as if the sun had never touched them. Until tonight, the looks of men couldn't have had any more luck then it had. The span of white leading to the juncture between her legs knew of no one's touch but her own. Ace shoved the material of his shorts aside, baring skin that was as tan as the rest of him.

He had expected himself to hesitate for a moment, despite how his erection throbbed in the open air. He thought he might find some reason to stop himself or at least reconsider, but all that entered his mind were words of encouragement.

Anyone would lose control over something like this, wouldn't they? But this way, at least she would remain untouched. This was a lesser evil compared to what the man might do if he didn't satisfy himself right here and now.

Fingers curling tightly around his length, Ace felt himself step a little closer to being a worthless person, and Mouda was a country girl like always.

With the recent events in the manga, I can't say I was really in the mood to write this, but it was planned as a part of the timeline so I didn't feel capable of editing my way out of it any more than I already have. I had originally planned to have a little flashback conversation with Makino in here too, just for some more depth, but it became too difficult to work in so I decided that I'd cover it next time.

I don't have too much else to say about this chapter. Instead, I'll use this space to address other things.

Something that has been bothering me lately is anonymous reviews. I don't mind them in the least, but when someone asks me questions or brings up concerns that they might want answers for, they always seem to forget that I can't reply without an e-mail to send my reply to. I'm not fond of replying to reviews in my ANs because it's simply too public for my tastes. So, in short, if you are an anonymous reviewer who wants me to reply to your reviews, please give me your e-mail or consider getting an account.

Secondly, I am so unsatisfied with Ace's death. Now my story has become more AU than ever. But you know that's what happens when Mouda's not around to break Ace out of jail. He DIES. Personally, I think Oda could have done a better job with his death. Ace's recklessness seemed very OOC, especially with LUFFY telling him to run away. I'll tell you right now, I didn't cry at all. The whole thing felt very contrived and I couldn't bring myself to feel sad…just disappointed.

Anyways. I hope you enjoyed this chapter of FAPV and are looking to the next chapter of ACGP!