Alright, I'm starting the new year off by posting on time! Awww thank you all for the lovely reviews and new follow.

I did not get the great pouring in of lists and requests that I thought I would and a thought as to why did occur. Non of you know me and therefor, you don't know that I'll actually carry out my end. So, as a sort of late holiday/new year present, here's what I'm going to do.

The next chapter (12) will be featuring the full moon and the following one (chapter 13) will have my first request. I'm going to leave this offer open from now, until a week after chapter 13 appears.

To YetAnotherGuest: yay, I'm glad you liked it. I shall try to do better next time with a prank. A couple of them teaming up aye, not as much prank coverage but a more concentrated level of terror. Could be interesting.

Yes, the internet has taken a certain level of common curtsey but it has given back much more then it has taken, I think. Without it we would not be chatting right now and the fanfiction on here would never have existed. O.O scary

I knew it! Auto correct really is an evil entity set to take over the world!

Yep, as promised, lots of Ace/Meli in this one.

To Kiara97: I'm happy you are enjoying it so much. Your request shall be making an appearance in chapter 13. I hope I get it right.

It's okay that you forgot about the book guessing, I did keep you pretty busy with lots to read after all.

Terry Pratchett is a pretty good author. An enjoyable read, pokes fun at everything, and a fair bit of philosophy and cultural beliefs and folk tails in it. If anyone is interested in starting to read his works, I'll put up a book order list.

::Snickers:: Yeah, penguin blankets for everyone!

To LadySyndra: Here it is, glad you've been enjoying it.

To mittensx7768: Yes, overprotective brothers are, they're fun to write too.

Lets see, oh yeah, the new music piece I mentioned having out soon. Well, it would have been out in time for new years, but then I got a little uncertain and that led to worry so now I'm kinda sitting on my hands, unsure of what to do. You see, the more I thought about it, the more worried I got over whether this broke any of the sites rules. I've seen a lot of fics with song lyrics and such in (rights properly given) and that's sort of what I have, only I messed around with some of the lyrics and put my own in. So, until I sort this out, I'll be sitting on this snippet.

Warnings/special notes:

Just lots of swearing.

I don't own One Piece, just my oc's, ideas and mistakes.

Chapter 11

When Ace had finally went to bed last night after his failed attempt at Whitebeard and rather odd encounter with a child, he didn't sleep well. He was half tempted to ask what the hell was up with having a kid on board but didn't want to be civil enough to ask. Maybe she had been whisked away like he been and was also stuck here.

Thatch had brought Ace and himself breakfast as Ace refused to go to the galley and eat with everyone else. Just what sort of twisted game were they playing? He was their enemy not some guest, not family. He was still pissed at that, he would never have a father. If they ever found out just who he was, who his so called father had been, they'd toss him overboard.

Thatch was walking alongside Ace heading above deck. Ace already was concerning himself with his next attack on Whitebeard when noise erupted with a fury further down the hall. Snarls, growls, yowling and wild hissing started with a vengeance. Ace shock his head thinking, great as if this crew isn't crazy enough, they have to have some sort of wild animal too. It Sounded like a pretty large beast as well.

Shouts from one individual could just be made out in the din, "knock it off Melisandra, I caught you fairly!" Laughter from others in the hallway rang out. They were used to the display, it was always the same with Meli. There was a scraping noise, as though something had grabbed hold of a table in the hopes of escaping. Beside Ace, Thatch as having his own fit over the unseen spectacle, he called out to the struggling party. "No you didn't, you always cheat!" The growling stopped and another voice, this one higher in pitch agreed saying. "That's right! Marco ambushed me, it's unfair I tell you!"

Ace's mouth dropped open. That voice, it sounded like a child, the same kid he talked to last night. She was making all the noise? There was a scraping noise, followed by a thump, like someone finally loosing their grip on a table. Ace thought, "Just what the hell are you doing to her!?" Then realized he'd said that last bit out loud. Thatch laughed, then told him, "oh, relax will you, it's not as though we're going to torture our little sister."

As Thatch finished two figures turned and came this way down the hall. The larger one, Marco was holding the child upside-down. She was struggling, trying to twist or turn out of his grasp, all the while hissing. Without the blanket, Ace could take notice of the child's features. Such as the tail she had, it was thrashing around wildly, smacking her captor in the face every now and then. Marco moved his head to one side, in a futile attempt to avoid her tail and said. "Will you knock it off, yoi. After the bath you get to see Amnon. You should be getting your brace off today."

Ace looked up at Melisandra's leg, there was a brace on her left leg. He Hadn't noticed that before, unexpected tails can be rather distracting. His brain finally caught up with the conversation between the two as they disappeared around a corner and he thought. All that over a bath? Something in Ace's expression must have given his thoughts away because Thatch replied to his unanswered question. "Melisandra is afraid of water. We've been trying to help her work through that fear but so far it doesn't seem to be working. Oh, and she's a were-neko not a devil fruit user, in case you were wondering." Thatch sighed then, it seemed as though he really cared about her. The pair continued on their way with Ace glaring at everyone that spoke to him.

~~~~~ Page Break ~~~~~

Ace had already made another unsuccessful attempt on Whitebeard and it wasn't even time for lunch yet. He was not in a good mood, not that he had been since his arrival and the bets he could hear being made over how many times they'd have to fish him out of the ocean today did nothing to improve things. As a devil fruit user, he couldn't swim and had to rely on the generosity of others to help him. This only soured his mood further, several times already his ex-crew members were not around and it had been one of the Whitebeard pirates that had to fetch him. Ace hated owing them more then he did.

Ace felt like things couldn't possibly get any worse, even if he failed to defeat Whitebeard yet again today. Ace gave an angry snort at that, it would just be status quo. He still refused to give up but Ace was about to be proven wrong about how bad a day he could have.

A blurred figure was racing all over the deck, dodging siblings and treating the stairs like a leaping platform. Everyone had to do a double take, to make sure that speed Jiru hadn't somehow shrunken in size but no, it was Melisandra. She was shouting and laughing like a maniac, her brace was off and so for the moment were her shoes.

Melisandra raced on to the upper deck, taking the steps in two wild leaps. Her landing was off but Meli recovered with grace, it had been far too long since she could do such things. Melisandra ran past Pops, shouting. "Hi Pops! I'm finally free!" Whitebeard's booming laugh followed after her.

Ace had been ignoring all the shouting and laughter going on. He could care less about what these crazy bastards got up to. If he had been paying attention to what was going on, a small bundle of hyper active were-neko might not have crashed into him. The action was so unexpected it caused Ace to loose his balance, landing on his face.

Melisandra fared no better, she hadn't been expecting someone to be hanging around the bottom of the steps. Melisandra bounced off Ace with the impact, landing on her butt and coming close to crushing her tail. Many siblings nearby broke out in laughter, they had been watching Melisandra's crazy run, pleased to see her enjoying herself. They began to gather a little closer, worried about Ace's reaction but wanting to give things a chance.

When Ace looked around and saw it was Melisandra who ran into him, Ace lost his temper yet again. Things were going bad enough without the interface of snot-nosed brats causing him trouble. Ace leaped to his feet, shouting at Melisandra. "Stupid little brat! Watch where you're going or next time I'll set your tail on fire!" Ace was breathing hard, angry at being made a fool of. He carefully ignored the fact that he'd been doing a fine job of that all on his own.

Ace looked down to see how the kid reacted, hopefully she'd just bugger off and leave him alone. He really didn't want to be bothered. Ace was now wishing he hadn't looked down, had just walked away. The sight before him was not one he could ignore.

Melisandra was still on the deck, looking up at him with her tail clutched closely to her. Her large violet eyes glistened like jewels with unsheathed tears, she looked hurt, wounded. Her puppy-dog eyes, well kitty-cat eyes in her case, were as bad as Luffy's. Neither of them should be able to look like that, extra should be added to their bounties when they get them, for being capable of such a look. It was like kicking a puppy, er well, kitten in this case. Ace sighed, he just couldn't win today. In a quiet voice Melisandra asked. "You wouldn't really set my tail on fire, would you?"

Ace swore to himself, there was no way he could lie to that face. Sighing once more Ace said. "No, I wouldn't." The change over Melisandra was instantaneous. All smiles now, Meli bounced to her feet, declaring. "That means you like me then." Before Ace could react Melisandra tackled him with a hug. Melisandra waited to see what his reaction to the hug would be. When he went a little glassy eyed Melisandra became a little concerned, it was just a hug after all . She was about to ask Ace if he was alright when his eyes closed and he suddenly fell foreword. Melisandra was so surprised that she didn't move out of the way, Ace landed one her, electing a mewl of protest at being squashed by him.

Melisandra's brothers, once they recovered from their shock, were quick to come to her rescue. No one knew what had just happened, someone had been sent to get Amnon. In the meantime, one of Ace's ex-crew members noticed the excitement and came over to see what was going on. He quickly explained to them about the narcolepsy, Melisandra had never heard of such a thing before. So, she had a brother prone to randomly falling asleep. Well, he'd better not get used to the idea of using her as a cushion or else she might use him as a pin cushion.

~~~~~ Page Break ~~~~~

When Ace came to he was back in that dammed cabin the Whitebeard pirates had assigned him and he had company. Marco was seated in a chair near the door, going through some papers. He looked up when Ace stirred, commenting. "While it does allow you to catch up on some rest you might want to try getting some the normal way too." Ace glared at him, saying nothing. Marco continued on unperturbed. "Melisandra seems to like you, despite the fact that you landed on her." Marco saw something flash by in Ace's expression so he added. "She's fine. Not much could get to her today after getting the brace off."

Ace decided to let some of his curiosity out and asked, "Why has she been wearing it?" Marco smiled to himself, thinking, ah so he likes her too does he. Marco felt relieved on two levels at that. He wouldn't have to worry as much about Melisandra's safety and she might help get Ace to accept the invitation to join the family. Marco answered, "Because Melisandra was bitten by a poisonous snake some time ago. It caused a lot of damage." Marco decided to tell Ace Melisandra's entire back-story. Everyone else knew it and it could only help to get Ace to like her even more.

By the time Marco had finished Ace was astonished at everything Melisandra had been through. A lot of her experiences struck a chord within Ace, so similar to his own experience. Marco decided to take his leave and let Ace think about things. Ace sat alone in this room, lost in the thoughts swirling in his head. For once when Thatch came with lunch, Ace said he'd go to the galley and eat it. Thatch was so stunned he didn't say a word all the way there.

Whatever Ace was expecting to see when entering the galley this was not it. It looked like mini wars were going on all over the place. Shouts and laughter broke out here and there, constantly. He spotted Melisandra eating with several others, Marco and Izo were the only ones there he knew by name. Melisandra was seated next to a fishmen, her arms waving around wildly as she talked about something and the fishmen was smiling, something Ace had never seen before.

This was apparently their destination, when they were closer Thatch called out to them. "Look who decided to come out of his cave!" Everyone at the table looked their way at the outburst, people from other tables also looked over equally amazed. No one had thought they'd see the day with the way things had been going, that Ace would ever join them in the galley. Ace was still Ace, glaring at everyone, un-talkitive as ever but he was there.

By some sort of unspoken agreement, no one pressured Ace into making conversation. Melisandra smiled at him and said hello but no more. She could tell it was taking a lot just for him to be here. If anything the volume in the galley increased as everyone tried not to pay too much attention to Ace's appearance. Ace in turn was trying very hard to ignore the presence of Whitebeard, Ace hadn't thought he'd be in here eating with everyone else but the captain seemed to be enjoying the company of the others. Not that Ace was paying attention or anything. Surprisingly, Ace didn't make another attempt on Whitebeard during lunch but that was just a temporary break ending quickly after lunch was finished. The only thing it resulted in was another hole, this time in the galley wall.

~~~~~ Page Break ~~~~~

It was a little while after lunch when Ace made yet another attempt and was sent flying yet again, this time landing on the deck at least. Melisandra had seen enough, this was just damn stupidity with all the breaks off and she'd had enough of holding her tongue and keeping quite about it. She marched off in the direction of Ace's flight path.

As soon as she saw Ace, Melisandra began yelling at him. "Just what the fuck is your damn problem! Have you got your head so far up your ass that you can't see any more? You certainly can't hear, or you might have noticed that we actually care, that we really want you to join the family! Just what is so bad about having family that you despise it so, would it really be so bad to have people who let you be who you are!? Would it really be so bad to have people who gave a flying fuck about you!? Honestly I think all that fire you have, must have fried most of your brain cells!"

The Whitebeard pirates were standing around in stunned silence at Melisandra's rant, all except Thatch and Haruta. They were leaning on each other for support, laughing wildly but because of the height difference it didn't last long. Soon, they were sprawled out on the deck, still laughing. Once Ace got over his surprise, he was up and yelling back. "What's my problem!? What's your fucking problem!? You might be okay with getting kidnapped but I sure as hell ain't! What sort of fucked up shit is this, trying to make a family member out of someone you kidnapped!?" Melisandra shot back. "Pops offered you a new start in life, a home, family! Would you really rather be dead? I feel sorry for the last two brain cells you have, they must have to bang themselves together pretty hard to come up with this shit!"

If it were anyone else, Marco would have let the argument go. It would have been amusing under different circumstances but he wanted to pull Melisandra away before she worked Ace up any further. He was surprised Ace hadn't blown up already. Marco walked up and grabbing Melisandra by the back of her shirt said. "Okay Meli, you're said your fair share. Time to stop now." Melisandra hissed and sputtered. "What!? But he's-." Marco cut her off. "Yes, yes I'm sure he is but so are you right now." Marco continued walking away with her.

Ace glared at the retreating pair. He didn't have to take that from a stupid little brat. Ace turned and without another word stormed off to the cabin he'd been assigned. It was collectively agreed upon that this was going to happen sooner or later, it just came as a bit of a surprise that it was Melisandra who said it and boy did she ever say it. Luckily for Melisandra Izo missed her performance or there might have been more words.

~~~~~ Page Break ~~~~~~

It was late at night, the second night watch had just taken up their duty. Melisandra was up like always but this time with a heavy heart. While she stood by everything she said to Ace that afternoon, Melisandra felt she shouldn't have said it to him. Things were tricky enough with Ace and now she felt as though she only made them worse, maybe as bad as when he first came aboard, if not worse.

He refused to eat dinner in the galley. My fault. All my fault, if I'd just kept quite then Ace would still be coming to eat with them. Melisandra thought and her regret of this was made worse by the fact that he'd refused to come out all day, not even an attack on Pops was made.

Melisandra was surprised to see Ace leaning against the deck railing. She stopped moving, unsure if she should go to him but then she thought. No, if I can start something, I can damn well finish it too. Melisandra started walking again, this time she let her toe claws out to click against the deck so as not to appear to be trying to sneak up on him.

Ace looked her direction then went back to looking ahead of him. Melisandra didn't blame him but she sat down near him anyway, facing the ocean. She looked up at the stars, they had it easy Melisandra felt. Well, better start before Ace gets annoyed and leaves so Melisandra said. "I'm sorry about this afternoon. I should have held my temper better, I shouldn't have said those things that you."

Silence fell for some time before Ace spoke. "Well, I'll tell you what. If you don't hold my temper against me, I'll let yours go too and we'll call it even." Melisandra smiled, saying. "It's a deal." This time the silence that fell was a comfortable one but after a while Ace thought of something to ask. "Just what are you doing up anyway?" Melisandra kicked her heels against the side of the ship, she said. "I can't sleep the whole night through. I always get up in the middle of the night and wander around a bit before going back to sleep. Why are you up?"

Ace grinned and turned to face out over the ocean too. "I'm up at odd hours because of the narcolepsy. Can't get to sleep when I should be sometimes but it looks as though I'll have company now." Melisandra nodded. They stayed that way a while longer before heading their separate ways for bed.

~~~~~ Page Break ~~~~~

The next morning everyone woke up to a surprising sight and for once it didn't involve Ace, not directly at least. Someone had put up signs at the bottom of the bottom stair case's leading to the upper deck. They read: Beware of the Flying Were-neko.

Everyone found this quite amusing, even Ace, against his will felt his lips twitch in an attempt to smile. Melisandra took notice of that, it as the only reason she was not annoyed with the appearance of the signs. She also knew who put them up. While they had swiped a bottle of Izo's perfume in an attempt to cover their scent, Thatch had neglected to keep the perfume from getting onto him. Oh, he'd changed clothes but that wasn't enough to get rid of the scent from the point of view of Melisandra's nose. Melisandra was a little miffed at the slight headache sniffing about the perfume gave her.

Ace's concealed amusement was crushed as soon as the teasing started, Melisandra too had her fair share. It only stopped when Ace threatened to roast the next person who said anything and Melisandra said she'd use the lot of them as a landing strip next time. Melisandra had to give Thatch some credit, it was a good prank. She was also impressed with the way he gave nothing away, even his scent wasn't far enough off the mark to be suspicious but that could be because he does this so much. It's a good thing for Thatch that he did not, Izo was pretty upset about his half empty bottle of perfume.

Melisandra was looking forward to getting back at Thatch but she didn't have any idea's. Well, there was a good chance Ace or even Izo might want to help. Maybe one of them will have an idea, she was still new to the idea of pranks but they were a lot of fun. Surely, they would think so too and it would be good for Ace if she could convince him.

~~~~~ Page Break ~~~~~

Much to Melisandra's relief and delight, Ace showed up in the galley for breakfast. It seemed that their talk last night had put things back the way they were. She was in an extra good mood today, a lot of that had to do with the full moon tomorrow. Melisandra wished is it going to be tonight, she felt like she was going to explode from excitement before tomorrow got here. Melisandra was also very nervous, her brothers and sisters had never seen Melisandra in her shifted form. Most had never even seen a were-neko before her, Ace included. She'd asked last night before going to bed.

In the middle of breakfast, Vista came over to give Melisandra a scratch behind the ears, saying. "Big night tomorrow, aye Meli." Melisandra grinned, all the wile purring. Izo noticed Ace's curious look and said. "Tomorrow's a full moon, the first one Melisandra will be able to shift for since joining us." Thatch laughed adding. "Yeah, Meli's going to be bouncing abound like a loose cannon today so, watch out." Ace glared but nodded anyway. He was a bit puzzled by what they meant by shift. It seemed a big deal to the kid anyway. Maybe one of his ex-crew had found out by now, none of them had ever seen a were-neko before either.

Marco gave Melisandra a pat on the head, gaining her attention before asking. "Do you need anything for tomorrow?" Melisandra tilted her head to one side before replying. "Just leave the galley door open a crack. It's not a very paw-friendly doorknob. I already told Izo I'd shift in his room before joining everyone in the galley." Marco nodded his head in understanding. While everyone was curious about how the shifting was done, they'd respect her privacy. Perhaps later, when she felt comfortable, Meli would let them watch her shift.

True to Thatch's prediction Melisandra was going around like a loose cannon or perhaps just a cannonball. She tried to keep out of everyone's way, she really did but not even Pop's stories could keep her still today. On the upside, Ace had only made one attempt on Whitebeard today, so far at least.

By dinner time Melisanda was still energetic but by then nearly everyone else had caught her cannonball bug. After all the edible food was finished, a food fight with the biscuits that were left in the oven too long ensued. At first it was everyone for themselves but they quickly formed two sides and overturned some tables for cover. Ace, who was in the middle of things when they started, now found himself next to Melisandra, chucking biscuits at a bunch of other pirates. Some of whom were his ex-crew members. Ace thought, these guys are insane but in this case, maybe sanity is overrated.

Things turned into a stale-mate at that point and a fun end began to look unlikely. That was until Thatch shouted "Charge!" Melasandra and the others joined the charge, led by Thatch with glee, even Ace went with it. Things did not prove to be easy for them, Izo was almost as accurate with the biscuits as he was with his pistols. Whitebeard's laugh echoed around the galley, as he watched his children enjoy themselves. He was pleased to see that Ace had joined in and even Marco, who normally wouldn't be interested in such games, was swinging Melisandra around.

Whitebeard chuckled to himself. Apparently, Melisandra was being held as "ransom" for extra dessert. This brought a lot of laughs but more dessert was promised and Ace, for once after hearing Whitebeard's laughter did no feel any urge or need to attack. He found that against all the odds, he was having a good time, surrounded by people that were once his enemy.