Chapter 12

The familiar, homey scent of Bellemere's tangerine grove wafting through the afternoon's cool, crisp air drops a heavy sense of nostalgia atop the aspiring cartographer's heart as she, practically dragging her sandal-ed feet, strolls contentedly between the endless rows of the ripening trees. Her faintly quivering lips curl into a warm smile as she spots two, recognizable woven baskets resting against their house's back-door, filled till the very brim with the vividly-colored, luscious fruits. After letting loose a tranquil breath of air and quickening her pace towards the house, Nami proceeds to run her fingers along the tangerines before finally picking one from the bunch and wiping it briskly against her shirt.

God, she has missed home.

Just as her long-nailed thumb attempts to break into the fruit's skin, a blissfully familiar voice comes ringing out from behind one of the vibrant green bushes.

"Gen-san, you're worrying too much," complains the ever positive voice of Nojiko, though rather weary sounding. Eyes widening with anticipation, Nami whirls around only to see a head of lush turquoise hair flattered by a bright-crimson headband appearing from behind one of the groves, not an instant later getting followed by the square form of Gen; Cocoyashi's mayor, and Nami's precious father figure. At first, the two scarcely acknowledge her, seemingly too busy arguing about an issue she is currently oblivious to. Nevertheless, watching them acting so normally, so casually instantly tells her things are better. And that in itself is enough to drop an entire load off Nami's mind.

Too impatient to stay put while the two occupied persons take their time to acknowledge her presence, she drops one hand to her waist with a heavy scoff while her other hand occupies itself by playfully tossing the tender fruit.

"Do you not understand what I'm saying? Your sister hasn't been in contact with us for more than three weeks, Nojiko!" Gen reproaches, the genuine concern etched into his tone of voice reminding the said sister of just how much she really means to him.

A teasing smile eventually sprouts across Nami's lips when they still fail to realize.

"Gee, just how long are you gonna keep me waiting here?"

Her sister's previously frustrated demeanor melts within a moment of her spinning around and laying eyes on the tired, yet joyful face of her younger sibling.

"Nami…" her voice comes out as a relieved sigh, though not a second later does Gen, brows crossed and steps harsh, stock towards Nami with a rather forced sense of anger - the happiness dancing in his eyes easily gives him away.

"Young lady, do you realize how long it has been since we last heard from you?!" he attempts to chide, his seemingly-fierce clenched fists relaxing and instead embracing Nami in a hug so tight she finds herself compelled to drop the fruit and return it just as sincerely, her face burying itself into his shoulder with a muffled, "I'm home!"

Nojiko, standing patiently in the back, releases the ever-vociferous laugh Nami has missed hearing so much. Realizing Gen won't be letting go of her any time soon, she then spreads one of her arms out and beckons with her hand for Nojiko to join them, to which her older sister happily chuckles before taking a detour around Gen's rather big, glomping figure in attempt to find her cradled sister.

"Ne, Gen-san, make some room," Nojiko demands with a half-hearted glare, finally discovering an empty spot at Nami's side which she then wraps her arms around and regards with gentle squeezes.

"Welcome home, Nami," she whispers tenderly in her younger sister's ear, pressing Nami's eyes to flutter shut in dire attempt not to lose herself in tears.

Even though it lasts for a fleeting moment, her mind, her thoughts and most importantly, her heart, feels nothing but pure, long-awaited peace.

...

"We've moved on from construction work on the houses to work on recreating the stores," explains Gen as he and Nami sit comfortably across one another at the dining room table, waiting in patience for Nojiko to finish whipping up Bellemere's renowned tangerine sauce to top off that evening's mouthwatering dinner; roasted turkey.

Nami, smiling, crosses her legs under the table and nods along with Gen's reports, soon bending down and seizing her travel bag - quite light, considering she'll be staying for the weekend - to unzip it and slip out her envelope of money. She then waits for Nojiko to turn off the heat under the sauce and, with an oven mitt, carry it to the dining table before finally settling down next to her with a happy, yet weary sigh. Closing her eyes, Nami draws in a deep lungful of air to savor the smell of the steaming sauce; her mind can't help but wander wistfully to the bittersweet memory of her precious mother, cigarette dangling loosely from between her toothy grin, calling the both of them in for dinner after a day of rather rebellious -though minor- shoplifting.

"It smells great," she breaths out, flashing her sister a small smile as she carefully pours the three of them some red wine.

"Gotten pretty damn good at making it, if I do say so myself," she chuckles heartily.

Seizing the moment before they begin dinner and start straying off onto other subjects, Nami gently clears her throat to get their full-attention. She then slips out the precious envelope, slides it carefully across the table and tucks it under Gen's perfectly rectangular napkin.

"This should help."

Nojiko hums softly, exchanging a knowing look with the man settled across from her, "...you've been working hard, Nami."

"Which is why we've got something for you as well," whispers Gen, pulling his chair out just enough to reach into his trouser pants and pull out an envelope of his own. With a confused knit of her brows, Nami flashes her older sibling a quizzical glance, to which Nojiko responds with a make-shift innocent shrug.

"What..." Nami falls into a void silence as her fingers tear open the paper, revealing a baffling amount of money. Never has she felt so helplessly confused. Why would they be giving this to her?

"I don't understand..." she finally finds her voice, looking up at the two with a questioning shake of her head.

Letting loose a rather dry chuckle, Gen pushes his chair back in place and regards her with a warm smile, "we knew you wouldn't consider leaving any of the money you're making in that job of yours for your college savings. So we did it for you."

"And don't you even dare try to refuse taking it," Nojiko adds, her voice firm and almost threatening. Nami's teeth find their way over her lower lip, where they gnaw at it and serve as a rather good distraction to the tears now glistening her eyes. Throughout her time away, and despite all the events she has been drowning in, the thought of college -and the deep concern as to how she'll manage to earn enough money for it- has never truly left her mind. The burden that has been quietly weighing her heart instantly lifts. She doesn't attempt to hold back the grateful tears now lingering at the tip of her eyelashes, allowing them to trickle down her cheeks to show how inexpressibly relieved and appreciative she now feels.

Her hands clutch onto the envelope, unconsciously hugging it closer to her tummy.

"Thank you..." she manages to say in a shaky tone of voice.

Nojiko's previously stern expression grows soft, and she reaches with her hand to give her younger sister's arm a gentle, reassuring squeeze.

"No, thank you."

Gen, who has been listening quietly up until then, finally breaks the now touchy-feely environment with a jolly laugh before saying, "the grub's getting cold, girls, so dig in!"

And they do.

Although Sanji's food is, without a shred of doubt, the best Nami has ever had, nothing beats the nostalgic savoring of a familiar child-hood dinner. Their conversations flow nicely, going back and forth between humorous arguments between Gen and Nojiko, and the various and sundry reports on how things have been in the village. Evidently, tomorrow is the time of month that Nojiko goes around handing out baskets of fruit. It'll give Nami the perfect chance to say hello to everyone.

By the time the clock strikes precisely eight thirty eight, Gen excuses himself to head off to his office, claiming that he has last minute preparations to take care of after giving Nami a full ten minute lecture on the importance of contacting them more often, and that he would be more than a little upset if he finds her gone without saying good-bye by the end of this weekend. Nods and playful rolls of her eyes are followed by his speech. His father-side never fails to show itself at the best of times.

This leaves her and Nojiko to clean up after dinner, which Nami finds herself enjoying quite a lot, especially as they gradually fall into a mutual, comfortable silence. When she places the last plate onto the dish rack, her older sister finally breaks the said silence with a statement that the cartographer, up until that moment, didn't realized how deeply she has been dreading.

"You never mentioned that Trafaglar guy."

Nami stops drying her damp hands against her jeans long enough to register her sister's words. She sighs.

Without even realizing it, her mind finally concludes, she has been avoiding the mention of her doctor's name throughout the minor reports she has given about her time away, mentioning only the shallowest of details concerning what has been going on and well, since most of the happenings have involved Law, she ended up barely uttering a word or two. Her face finally falls into a rather flustered frown, her fingers moving to trace up and down the irritatingly long strand of hair always blowing into her eyes.

It's childish, really. She's aware of that. She has always been open with her sister, and for as long as she can remember, they have never hidden a single issue or topic of concern from one another. Yet here she is, struggling to burry the one, the only thing she hasn't said a word to anyone about at the very back of her mind, hiding it from one of the few persons in the world she trusts so completely.

And Nojiko sees right through it.

She raises her thin eyebrows in a knowing manner, nods her head towards the kitchen table before grabbing the half-full bottle of wine and a couple of glasses.

No matter how hard she tries, Nami irritably concludes, she can't avoid this talk. So, with another heavy sigh, accompanied by a small strut in her step, she walks away from the sink to settle down across from her sister and down the red liquid the instant her sister pours it into the glass. Nami complains it's too small to hold the amount of alcohol her body is now in 'dire' need of.

"Nami," Nojiko's soothing voice cuts through her useless complaints, "what's going on?"

Nami's index finger trails around the rim of her glass, the words and explanations of everything that has been going on finally pouring out of her as if that question was the only thing she needed to break down the silly dam in her mind that she has been subconsciously building for so long. Her words halt, however, as she approaches the most recent event. The situation between her and her doctor feels oddly mystical; each time something happens, or more specifically, each time something is so terrifyingly close to happening, she finds her inner strength of holding back, of protecting herself from getting hurt quickly becoming blocked by a feeling that, as much as she hates to it admit to herself, she has never felt towards anyone so strongly before in her life. The unfamiliarity and newness of it all scares hers. Distracts her. Distracts them.

Nami shifts in her seat.

"I'm trusting him...Nojiko, I'm trusting this man," she exclaims incredulously, as if saying the words out-loud are making her realize just how bizarre it truly is, "and for whatever reason, I feel so sure this is...right. Am I being stupid? Reckless? Gullible?"

Nojiko blinks, a tad caught off-guard by her younger sister's inquiry, though not a second later does her face settle into a soft, understanding smile. She leisurely moves her glass of wine around, eyeing the dark liquid as it splashes against the glass walls.

"As much as I'd like to know the answer to your question, Nami, I don't. You've always been independent; no matter the situation and how difficult it is, you have never failed to reach the answer that's best for you. And I'm sure," she says, the mischievous glint in her eyes not going unnoticed by Nami, "that somewhere inside you, you've already reached it."


The weather, Nami and Nojiko discover as they glance cautiously out the kitchen window next morning, is absolute crap.

Uncharacteristically windy. Damp and muddy from the night before's rain. Humid. Grey clouds are blocking the once warmth radiating sun. And most horrifying of it all, the baskets of tangerines that Nojiko worked so hard to pick and clean are now on their sides; the fruits scattered across the wet dirt. And even though she begins by cursing beneath her breath, Nojiko's attitude is, as always, positive.

"Put the bruised ones in the smaller basket," she instructs Nami as they head out with two pairs of battered rain boots and scrappy aprons, "we want the fresh ones for the villagers, and I can use the rest to make more sauce."

It takes them roughly half an hour to collect and rewash the fruit but, by the time they finish, the sun begins to gradually peak from behind the thick clouds; sprouting a pair of smiles across the dirt stained sisters' previously weary faces. After washing themselves up and redressing, they load up a small cart with the heavy baskets and head off. Despite the relatively damp ground, Nami enjoys the mildly cool breeze brushing against her exposed skin. She didn't realize just how much she truly needed this weekend away.

"Eh?! Na-chan, is that really you?" one of Nami's kindest old neighbors, a middle-aged man, exclaims in awe as they enter the village. He fixes his bifocals and grows a blindingly wide grin. "It is! Oh, dear, welcome home!"

"It's good to be home," she replies softly, giggling as Nojiko brushes the man off with a Hai hai, we've got lots to deliver, old man, here's your share. Now don't forget them out like you did last time and let them go bad, you hear? They're precious!

The rest of their day goes by like a passing spring breeze: leaving the cartographer satisfied as she helps her older sister pack up the wagon and woven baskets before excusing herself to go on a walk of her own. It has been far too long since she has visited her mother. And she needs her. She has so much to share with her; so much to tell her, yet her words falter upon an usual silence as she reaches the top of the luscious green hill and settles comfortably across her mother's grave. Her brown eyes droop in a gentle manner as they take in the sight of the turning pinwheel, the air blowing softly against the blades and, as always, not failing to spark a wide smile across her lips. For a while, she stays silent, merely enjoying the time alone with her deceased mother.

She draws in a deep, satisfying breath of the evening's crisp air.

"Bellemere-san," she breathes out, her voice cracking and catching her off-guard. Why is she feeling so unbelievably lost? A swift gust of air blows in her face, compelling her to shut her eyes and wait patiently for it to settle down. Something about it almost feels as if it were her mother replying; answering her with a firm pat of tough love on the back. The thought of it forces Nami to let loose a vociferous laugh. She can almost hear Bellemere pause from picking the summer-grown tangerines and whirl around to look at her daughter and say, lovingly but firmly, "you're strong, Nami. There is absolutely nothing to be afraid of. Now, apron-up and help me pick! Tangerine sauce for dinner!"

Nami's laugh slowly fades out as her usual sense of strength swells up inside of her once again. A small realization creeps upon her mind. It's undoubtedly true: she did feel the need to be alone, to be with her own thoughts for a while but, in reality, she is really doing nothing but run. Run away from a foreign feeling she fears. Run away from him.

The instant this fact truly dawns on her, a sense of great anger at herself lodges itself firmly in the pit of her stomach.

She may be a thief, a sly liar at times, or even a coy flirt when needed.

But she is not a coward.


I was determined not to allow myself to post a chapter under 3000 words but I felt the need to with this one c8. It's a definitely more mellow one, but I also know it felt necessary for Nami's character development in the plot o;. Also, recently I've been craving romance novels, so the more I read them, the more inspired I became to write out the official big moment between Nami and Law. I'm pleased with how it's turning out because GOD even I'M dying to get these two craving idiots together already C'8.
IN ANY CASE, thank you for being so patient with me! HAVE A FANTASTIC WEEKEND ;D!