Clarobell: Sorry guys, but Plushie couldn't leave an author's note today as she's very ill and had to leave early. Review replies will go out tomorrow hopefully and thanks to all who reviewed. Please review again and help our Plushie feel better eh?

--DramaticDifferences--

--Written by Plushie and Clarobell--

Chapter 14: Chores

Silence reigned through the house. It was about six in the morning the next day, and everyone was still asleep. Luffy was asleep in his room, Sanji having put him into bed after Zoro had woken from a nightmare, where he'd slept for the remainder of the day. Nami and Sanji hadn't bothered to wake him again as they figured he probably needed the sleep and wasn't used to being awake for very long. Apparently the same courtesy hadn't been extended to Zoro, as he was asleep on his bedroom floor, curled up on himself. He'd moved there after waking up from his nightmare downstairs and fallen straight back to sleep. Sanji had decided not to try and move him as he was a very light sleeper and would probably wake if he did. Zoro, as he was, could use all the sleep he could get.

A few more minutes passed as the sun rose in the sky, rising later in the morning due to the late time of year. Luffy blinked awake almost automatically, letting his eyes slide open and looking around. Now that he was fully rested from the past few days of stress, he realised he still had yet to do his daily chores. If he didn't want to get a beting, he really should get to that…

Yawning and stretching, he smiled slightly as he realized it was early. He would have an hour or two to do his chores if Nami, Sanji and Zoro got up around the same time as Gramps. Oh, but then again, what if they didn't? What if they got up earlier? Nope, that wouldn't do at all. He'd just have to do his chores extra quick then. Gramps used to be mad at him if he didn't get his chores done on time, so, he had to get things done nice and quick so Zoro didn't get mad.

Getting up, Luffy shook his head a little to get rid of the tiredness before getting up and slipping on his sandals, which Sanji had placed by the bed. He frowned slightly as he realised he'd woken up in the bed again. He could have sworn he'd fallen asleep downstairs... on the floor against Zoro's leg… oh well. He waking up in all sorts of places since he came to stay here, but at least they were all comfy, unlike at Gramps' apartment.

Heading for the doorway, Luffy looked out, both hands disappearing in the folds of another one of Sanji's old shirts. His pants had been doubled up about four times at the bottom as Sanji was much, much higher than he was. Nami had told him he was small because he didn't eat enough. She also said she would get him fed up. He hoped she wasn't teasing like Gramps, because food would be really nice. Maybe he'd even get two or three meals week!

Scratching at his hair and smiling at the still soft feeling, Luffy set his straw hat on his head and then hurried down the stairs, padding so lightly that he couldn't have even woken a mouse. He hurried into the kitchen and set about making breakfast. Upstairs, not having heard a noise at all, Zoro's eyes snapped open due to one of his frequent nightmares. Looking around quickly, he relaxed and heaved a deep breath before yawning. Slowly, he sat up and rubbed at his still tired eyes, before stretching. He heard something pop in his back and looked over his shoulder in a slightly offended way before getting to his feet.

Stretching again, Zoro pulled at his arms and back, going through a well known routine from the orphanage. It was a stretch that allowed him to get rid of all the soreness of sleeping on a cold, hard floor and he had managed to come up with it in those cold rooms at that horrible place. Padding out of the room and then moving silently down the hall, he looked around the door into Luffy's room and blinked when he didn't see any trace of the boy anywhere. Blinking, he moved inside and looked under the bed.

Luffy was busy downstairs though, washing all the clothes that had been dumped there by Nami for Zoro to do that day. There were still clothes in their rooms though. Grabbing the washing out of the machine, he hurried just outside to the small clothesline and hung them up. Trotting back inside again, he padded into the kitchen and after a short look at breakfast to make sure it was doing fine cooking on a low gas, he began sweeping the floor, shifting chairs around as quietly as possible and humming softly to himself as he did so.

Zoro's sharp hearing picked up the sounds of the chairs shifting and he looked up from peering under the bed, thunking his head against the wood and glaring at it angrily before gazing at the stairs as if he could see down them from where he was. His eyes narrowed slightly as he slowly got back to his feet and he listened as he heard another light scraping. His hearing was a lot better than even Sanji and Nami knew, due to the fact that he was always on alert and always straining his hearing to make sure nothing bad was coming. Paranoia really was a pain in the ass.

"What the…?" he muttered before he moved out of his room and to the top of the stairs. What if… And Zoro's mind began to think the worst as he crept to the bottom of the stairs silently and peeked at the kitchen door.

Luffy meanwhile had finished mopping, and now had three plates on the bench. Serving breakfast carefully, he smiled at the neat little piles that he'd made on the plates. Perfect. One for Zoro, one for Nami and one for Sanji. None for him because Gramps didn't like it when he served himself, and he was sure they wouldn't like it either.

"H-hello?" Zoro asked from the base of the stairs nervously.

He couldn't see anyone in there, and the floor was shining brightly. Sanji wasn't normally up this early unless he was going out to check on the restaurant as he often did on random days to keep an eye on the cooks. Who could it be…?

Luffy appeared from the room, causing Zoro to jump and then sigh in relief. He'd been a little worried there for a minute. Handing him a plate, Luffy hurried past to go upstairs. Blinking down at the plate, knife and fork and breakfast that was in his hands, Zoro looked back up the stairs after Luffy. Didn't Sanji normally cook breakfast?

Knocking politely on Nami's door, Luffy waited for an answer, still humming quietly to himself.

"Who is it?" a slightly groggy voice replied softly.

"It's me, Luffy" the dark haired boy grinned, "Can I come in?" Sanji gave a light snore, still dozing. Nami prodded him hard in the head.

"Yeah." she replied. The cook blinked awake and looked around.

"Nng?" he asked intelligently as he yawned and propped himself up on his elbows.

Luffy grinned wider as he opened the door and came in, setting down a plate, knife and fork on Nami's bedside cabinet before moving around to Sanji's side and setting the same thing on the cabinet there as well.

"Good morning!" he said brightly before trotting out again to carry on with his chores, moving down the stairs past a still bamboozled Zoro. Nami looked at the plate of food and blinked.

"Umm…" she noised, very confused at this turn of events. Usually Sanji brought her food... not Luffy. And Zoro had never done anything like this. Not that he was lazy... he just didn't know how to cook and wasn't exactly eager to learn.

"He made… breakfast for me?" Sanji asked, not really sure if that was how the system was supposed to work.

"Apparently so…" Nami replied, taking her plate and setting it on her lap. Sanji smirked and stretched, propping himself up and grabbing his meal, digging in. Potentially, he could get used to this…

Luffy took out the finished second load of washing from the machine, and folded it up, as the others weren't dry and couldn't be taken down yet.

Zoro had sat down on the stairs, sort of lost as to what to do. Luffy was doing all his chores and he was left with food that smelt really good, but he felt guilty that Luffy was doing the things that he was supposed to be doing. He took a tentative bite of his food, hunching his shoulders a little at his insecurity. Really, there was nothing else for him to do right now.

Luffy smiled as he finished folding the laundry and he moved out of the laundry room and paused as he swayed and stumbled a little before blinking and shaking his head a little, raising a hand to it. When it didn't happen again, he smiled and continued on his way, hurrying past Zoro, who had just finished his meal and was gulping the last bit down. Flitting into Zoro's room, Luffy picked up the clothes from the basket in the corner.

"Um… Luffy?" Zoro asked from the stairs. The boy jogged out of Zoro's room.

"Yeah Zoro?" and he was gone into Nami's room. Sanji looked up and blinked in surprise as Luffy picked up yesterdays clothes, and then padded quickly out again. Well… that was something new. He looked at Nami, who shrugged. Both of them were rather surprised by this odd change of events.

"…What are you doing?" Zoro asked as Luffy hurried past him again. This kid was like a damned whirlwind! Moving around the house and sweeping up everything messy or unclean in his path.

"Cleaning." Luffy replied simply from the laundry room. Zoro looked through the banisters at Luffy and tilted his head slightly.

"Why?"

"Cos that's what I'm supposed to do!" Luffy replied, dumping the clothes into the basket, as the third lot he dumped in there before, wasn't finished yet. Grabbing a cloth and spray from under the laundry basin in the echoing room, Luffy trotted back out again, jerking his arms a little so the sleeves would slide back and he could use his hands.

"But…" Zoro began, leaving his plate on the stairs and following Luffy, "You're doing my chores." and he stuck his hands into his pockets. Nami smirked as she saw Luffy trot past, Zoro following him.

"No I'm not." Luffy said as he hurried into his room, "These are my chores…" and he began to clean the surfaces of all the things in the room. Zoro blinked.

"Did you have to do this at…" and he trailed off, hesitating to say 'your grandfather's place?' because he didn't know what sort of reaction Luffy might have.

"At where?" Luffy asked as he finished the surface cleaning and arranged the ornaments and things neatly, and then made the bed. Zoro couldn't believe how fast this kid was doing all of this! It was… amazing really. Luffy switched cleaners, pulling the one he'd put in his back pocket before, out and sticking the one he'd just used, in there. Hurrying to the wall, Luffy began to polish the pictures and any glass surface as he could find.

"Never mind." Zoro replied. Quickly finishing with the mirrors, Luffy trotted out and past Nami and Sanji's room again. Nami laughed as she saw Luffy trotting past happily, and then a slouching Zoro hurrying along behind him. Elbowing Sanji (who was still eating) in the ribs, she quickly pointed.

"Look." She said. Sanji did look up, and smirked.

"He's like a little puppy, isn't he?" he muttered, referring to Zoro and slurring slightly with a mouthful of egg.

"Yeah…" Nami replied, laughing before elbowing the cook again "And don't talk with you're mouth full".

Sanji nodded obediently and glanced up as the two dashed past again. Zoro sure had attached himself to Luffy quickly. The green haired teen was blinking in shock at Luffy's progress in his room, and then hurrying to follow as Luffy fairly ran into Nami and Sanji's room, he paused as he saw the two in bed and looked from Luffy (who was cleaning the window) to them.

"Wow…" Sanji muttered, blinking in amazement.

"…He's doing my chores." Zoro stated, jerking his head at Luffy. Sanji turned to Nami, the boss of the house. Nami shrugged and smirked.

"We'll just have to find more things for you to do then, Zoro." she responded, turning back to watch as Luffy cleaned her mirror. The fact that every occupant of the house was now in her room, didn't seem to bother Nami that morning.

"Actually…" Sanji muttered, blinking as he thought for a moment, "He's doing mine too..."

"Then you can pick the oranges today." she said, smirking slyly at him.

"Nami, do you have a vacuum?" Luffy asked, pausing as he looked around.

"Umm… in the cupboard down the hall, but you don't have to do that Luffy. It's okay, really." Nami assured him.

"Yeah I do…" Luffy replied and jogged out of the room to get the vacuum, sounding perfectly happy. Zoro glanced at Nami and Sanji, who smirked back at him, before hurrying out to catch up to Luffy. Sighing, Nami turned to Sanji.

"I guess he does." and she shrugged.

Sanji chuckled and set his empty plate on the bedside cabinet again. He was kind of surprised. Luffy was a pretty good cook, but then again, he'd probably had to cook for 'Gramps'.

Luffy quickly found the vacuum and then plugged it in, cleaning the carpeted areas upstairs. Zoro leaned against a wall and watched. Vaguely, he wondered when this kid was gonna quit. After finishing with the vacuuming, Luffy put the cleaner away and then hurried back into Sanji and Nami's room, sweeping up the plates and trotting back out of the room, running down the stairs and sweeping Zoro's plate up easily. Zoro trailed after him, jogging down the stairs and moving into the kitchen to see Luffy at the sink, getting the water ready.

"Umm… we have a dishwasher…" Zoro said, not sure if he should even bother telling Luffy about that. The kid had already gotten out the detergent and what not. Luffy paused and turned to him.

"What's that?" Luffy asked, pushing the plug into the sink and then placing the dishes into the water. Sighing, Zoro moved over to the dishwasher and pointed at it.

"It's this." he explained, opening the door and pulling out the tray, "You put the dishes and whatever on this tray and then get these weird soap tablet things," and he pulled out a draw and picked out the box, pulling one out and showing it to Luffy, "and put it with the dishes and then put it back, hit the button and it'll clean the dishes for you." and Zoro bumped his hip against the draw, sliding it shut. Gasping, Luffy stared at it, his eyes sparkling.

"Wow! So cool!" he whispered, almost in reverence. And then he leaned over and stuck his head into the dishwasher so he could look around, "Are there heaps of little men inside that clean the dishes?" Zoro snorted.

"No…" and he paused and blinked, thinking for a moment, "At least… I don't think so…" Nami walked in at that moment, having heard the conversation from outside. She was dressed in her day clothes now and she smirked at the two, moving towards the fridge.

"It's a machine you two. There aren't any men in there." she explained, smirking in their direction. Zoro flushed and frowned.

"I knew that!" he snapped back and then his eyes widened and he bowed his head, muttering a quick apology. Luffy tilted his head and then laughed.

"You're funny, Nami!" he cried. Nami raised an eyebrow. It seemed Luffy was completely back to normal.

Smiling, Nami moved to the fridge, pulling the door open and leaning forward to scan the contents before leaning back as she pulled out the bottle of orange juice and poured herself a glass.

"Thank you. Zoro, can you go and see if the oranges are ready to be picked yet?" she asked. Zoro grumbled an affirmation and brushed past Sanji as the chef stepped into the gleaming kitchen… and gaped at it.

"I don't think I've ever seen it this tidy so early!" he said, amazed.

"Did… I do wrong?" Luffy asked, backing away slightly and looking apprehensive. Nami shook her head at him and set the orange juice on the table before moving over to the boy.

"No, no! Very good!" and she hugged him tightly, raising her eyebrows at Sanji, who blinked out of his stupor and grinned.

"Right! You did a great job kid!" he congratulated him. Luffy giggled at all the attention and praise.

"Thanks, Sanji!"

"No problem, kid." Sanji replied as Zoro walked back in, nodding.

"Yeah, they're ready…" and he glanced at the lounge room he had just walked past, "Umm… TV?" and he smiled a little hopefully. Nami nodded.

"Yeah, go on, Zoro." she replied to him. The green haired teen hurried out and into the lounge room, sitting down and turning the TV on.

"So, I wonder what I'll do with all this free time?" Sanji asked no one in particular as he looked around the kitchen. Luffy moved out of Nami's slack embrace, yawning as he hurried past Zoro, who watched him as he moved past, and then he went outside and took down the now dry washing. All in al he'd been working for around two hours now and his eyes drooped tiredly. He'd never had to pick up after this many people before.

At Gramps' he'd only had to look after himself, and Gramps. While Luffy was taking down the washing, his eyes drooped completely closed for a moment and he gave a little cough before shaking his head and waking himself up again. Meanwhile, Nami was finishing putting the dishes in the dishwasher, and Sanji sauntered over to her, creeping an arm around her waist and smirking.

"All this free time…" he said, innuendo fairly dripping from his voice. Nami raised her eyes and eyebrows at Sanji.

"The oranges need to be picked, Sanji…" she replied cheekily, reaching up to scratch at his chin and dragging him closer for a quick kiss before pulling away and grabbing Zoro's. and now Luffy's diary from the top of the fridge, sitting down with it at the table and reading through it briefly, before grabbing a pencil and beginning to draw up a table for Luffy. Sanji chuckled and shook his head.

"Of course Nami-san." and he walked out of the kitchen, glancing at Zoro who was fidgeting on the lounge chair, before walking out the back, passing Luffy and giving him a short and affectionate scruff of the hair, which Luffy giggled at before hurrying back into the house. Zoro, feeling guilty about not helping, left the chair and looked around for Luffy.

But, when he peered into the laundry room, Luffy was gone. Tilting his head around the corner, he scanned the room thoroughly before scratching at his head and looking around. Luffy had hurried into the kitchen, having finished the washing and the work for now. He yawned tiredly and Nami looked up at him and smiled.

"Nami… um… can I go back to bed for a little while and then do the rest when I wake up?" he asked timidly.

"Sure… are you okay?" she asked, concerned. Luffy yawned and stretched again, colours blinking in front of his eyes for a moment before he sighed and grinned.

"Yep!" and he slowly walked out of the room, his face a little pink tinged, but he dismissed the heat rising under his collar as an after affect of all the work he'd been doing. Zoro moved into the kitchen just as Luffy had gotten to the top of the stairs. He peered into the room and blinked.

"Eh? Where'd he go?" he asked, looking to Nami, who once again looked up from her diary.

"Bed. He was tired." She replied, sounding concerned. Zoro seemed to deflate a little but shrugged and walked in, hands in his pockets. Upstairs, Luffy had managed to make it into Zoro's room. He yawned and curled up on the floor beside the made bed, drifting off almost instantly. Leaning against the counter, was Zoro, watching as Nami ruled up the table in her diary for Luffy.

He knew about the diary, and he knew the table she was drawing up, as she'd explained to him a few months ago, that whenever he had an 'attack' as it were, he was to tell her so she could record it down. It was to help him, and he was sure she was doing the same thing for Luffy. That got Zoro wondering just how bad Luffy could get… and what if Luffy was like him…? Oh… that would be bad.

"Oi, Marimo, you left the tv. Remember to switch it off when you walk out of the room." Sanji said as he walked into the kitchen with a small container full of oranges. Zoro blinked and ran back into the lounge room, turning the tv off and then going back into the kitchen, bowing his head.

"Sorry…" he muttered. Sanji smiled as he placed the oranges in the basket and turned back to Zoro, sticking his own hands in his pockets.

"S'ok." and he looked around, "Where'd the kid go?"

"He said he was tired, so he went to bed." Nami explained, tapping the tip of her pencil against the diary.

"But… he just got up. He ok?" Sanji asked, sounding concerned. Nami looked up and shrugged.

"I'll go check on him!" Zoro volunteered before hurrying out of the room, almost as if he'd been waiting for an excuse just to go and find Luffy. Sanji raised an eyebrow and smirked at Nami, who blinked, unsure what to say. Moving back out of the kitchen again, Sanji made for the orange groves again. Zoro peeked his head into Luffy's room and spotted Luffy lying on the floor, curled up as tight as he could go.

"What are you doing there?" he asked softly, moving into the room and bending down beside Luffy's sleeping form. Zoro picked him up and laid him on the bed, tugging a blanket over him and smiling a little.

"There…" he said and watched Luffy for a moment before moving back out of the room again, leaving the door open. Pausing, Zoro faintly heard Sanji calling out to him and he blinked and listened harder.

"You know, Zoro, some help might be nice?" the chef was saying, hinting at the fact that he wanted Zoro to help him.

"Umm… okay!" Zoro called back, not sure if Sanji even heard him or not, and then he hurried down the stairs, flashing past the kitchen door, and past the bottom of the stairs and out to the orange groves.

Nami was still at the table, studying Zoro's chart and comparing it to Luffy's so everything was just right. Out in the groves, Sanji was just a little way up the line immediately in front of the door, and he smiled as Zoro walked out. Waiting until Zoro was beside him and picking carefully (Nami would skin them alive if anything happened to her oranges, despite Zoro's condition) and placing them in the container he'd grabbed on the way out. Sanji heaved a soft sigh.

"So, what do you think of Luffy then?" he asked, watching the green haired teen out of the corner of his eye. This had been the first proper chance he'd been alone with Zoro in a relaxed environment and had chance enough to talk to him about their new addition to the family. Shrugging, Zoro reached back up into the tree in front of him.

"He's a little kid." he replied. Sanji almost groaned at the blunt answer, but he kept his cool.

"Yeah, I know. What can you tell me about him?" he asked. Zoro blinked, confused.

"What do you mean?" and he paused to look at Sanji for a moment, eyebrows furrowed. Sanji watched Zoro for a second, inspecting him to see if the Marimo was playing dumb as he sometimes did, but, it looked like Zoro was genuinely confused.

"Luffy. We don't really know anything about him." Sanji clarified. Zoro's eyes widened as he looked back to his tree again.

"Well…" Zoro began, flicking a spider off of one of the oranges and picking it, "He seems to want to cover himself up." and he shrugged as the spider dangled from his arm and he shook it to try and get rid of the annoying creature. The spider was bent on getting its revenge though, for it climbed back up it's thread and began to advance along Zoro's arm at a quick pace. Frowning, Zoro flicked it off and the spider flew back into the leaves again, where it scuttled away, knowing it was defeated. Sanji watched all this, confused by what Zoro had said.

"Cover himself up?" he asked, turning back to his tree and hoping there were no spiders there. He hated spiders. Zoro shrugged some more, realizing that Sanji was trying to get him to talk about what Luffy was really like. Well, Zoro had figured that little game out before, and he'd figured it out now, so, he would give the most double talked answer he could. He'd make it so backwards, he couldn't even understand it himself, but then… he'd never been phenomenally smart. Besides, he only knew what they knew about Luffy. It wasn't as if he'd spent loads of time with him before he came to live with them.

"Yeah, he wants to hide behind a smile." and he twitched as he realized, well, that wasn't exactly double talk so he added a vague end to it, "Or something like that." well, that hadn't gone to plan.

"I thought he seemed pretty genuine. Well… most of the time, anyway." Sanji said. Zoro blinked, forgetting that Sanji was actually trying to get information in favour of defending his own ideas. He was very defensive of what he thought and did, and most of the time, if Sanji conflicted him, then Zoro would spill what he actually was thinking.

"Yeah! But you didn't see him at the circus." and then Zoro snapped his mouth shut, his eyes wide as he turned away and focused on the oranges again. After a short moment of silence to let Zoro think he'd gotten away, Sanji raised an eyebrow.

"And? What happened at the circus?" he asked, his tone of voice implying that Zoro had better answer. But the teen had learned that Sanji never actually hurt him when he didn't say anything, and when Sanji had tried to pry information from him in the past, clamming up was the best option. Either that or playing dumb. Playing dumb was always a good way of getting out of things.

"Circus?" Zoro asked, blinking at him and tilting his head a little before turning back to the tree and pulling down another orange. Sanji sighed and scowled, letting his arms drop from the tree so he could put them on his hips.

"If you don't want to talk, just say so, Zoro." he said, a little miffed that Zoro had simply cut off like that. The teen shuffled away from him, not meeting his eyes and moving to another tree to continue picking, obviously faking ignorance. Sanji rolled his eyes and shook his head, grabbing up the container and going back to the kitchen, leaving Zoro in silence. Once Sanji had gone, Zoro looked after him and his green eyes became a little sad before he took a deep breath and continued with what he was doing, despite the fact that his container was overflowing.

---

The oranges had been picked, and after a few more attempts at getting information out of Zoro, Sanji had given up. Zoro was as tight with any information about Luffy, as he was with his own life. This was both amusing, and annoying to Sanji as he wanted to know what he was dealing with, Luffy-wise, but Zoro wasn't offering anything and whenever the cook had said anything about the circus, Zoro's mouth was shut… tight.

Now, Sanji was in the kitchen with Nami as she read over Luffy's table to Sanji, so he could see if she'd forgotten anything. Zoro, after finding that Luffy was still in bed, had retreated back to his room, falling onto the bed, laying there, thinking about everything that had happened with Luffy. The kid was weird, the kid was hyper, and he craved any physical contact that he could get… and Zoro found that the most strange thing about the boy.

Mainly because he didn't understand, why someone would want to be that close to someone that could potentially hurt him (not that he thought Sanji and Nami would). People that could make him cry, or possibly kill him. And Zoro hated the fact that Luffy had chosen him as the clingee. Without even asking, he'd just latched onto Zoro for no reason! Simply because he'd helped the damn kid, but Sanji and Nami had helped too!

Sighing, Zoro rolled over onto his side and brought a hand up to pillow his head on it. He was a little hesitant to admit it, but, he liked having Luffy around. Instead of Nami and Sanji with their sympathy. He loved the two like family, and knew he could never repay them, but he also knew, they could never truly understand what he'd been through. It had been incredibly hard once Zoro had become more self aware. Nami and Sanji didn't have a clue as to how to handle him, and because of that, they'd made mistakes that had ultimately led to very bad situations. Such as, the first time they took Zoro out of the house, they'd taken him to a large… crowded, and very noisy place, a.k.a the shopping centre.

That had led to him being petrified of the entire place, because what had happened to Luffy two days ago, had basically happened to him too. Maybe… that was why he sometimes knew exactly what Luffy was thinking while looking at something that was strange to him, and maybe that was why Zoro found himself wanting to help the boy so badly. Rolling over again, Zoro vaguely heard Luffy talking to Sanji and Nami downstairs. So the kid was awake then. Looking at the clock on his wall his eyes widened. Had he really been lying there thinking for a few hours?

If he strained, he could almost hear what they were saying. They were asking how he was, and Luffy sounded cheerful and happy. Normal. Zoro frowned. Normal. What did that word mean? Incapable of self expression? Average? Ordinary? Was that what normal was, because if that was true than Luffy was anything but. Closing his eyes, Zoro frowned again. Sleep. He wanted to sleep, but, like that was ever going to happen. Every time he closed his eyes, she would pop up and frighten him back into consciousness again. But… it was worth a shot. Maybe this time it would be different?

---

Luffy had awoken a few minutes ago, and he had lain there slowly waking. He waited for a few more seconds before sitting up and peering around the room. He wondered what Gramps was doing; whether he was okay by himself. He knew Gramps was hard on him, but, he probably deserved it. After all, as Gramps had said, he was stupid.

Luffy wriggled his toes over the edge, and smiled at them before feeling a heat rise under his collar again. What was this? He'd been sleeping for a while, so… maybe he was still tired? That meant he needed more sleep. So, was he allowed to? Or did he have more work to do? Deciding he'd better check, Luffy jumped off his bed and hurried down the stairs, stumbling a little but catching the banister so he didn't fall.

"…just wish he wouldn't clam up like that." Sanji was saying as Luffy skidded into the room and looked at them. Nami looked up at him and smiled.

"Have a good sleep?" she inquired. Luffy nodded.

"But… I'm still tired. Can I sleep more?" he asked timidly, thinking that Nami and Sanji might yell at him if he asked it wrong. Sanji blinked and frowned in concern.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Luffy replied, eyes wide as he turned to Sanji, who shrugged.

"Go on Luffy. Do whatever you like." Nami said kindly and the younger teen grinned before hurrying back upstairs.

He was so tired, and his chest hurt a little now too. It was kinda hard to breathe, but Luffy dismissed it as just being the fact that he'd run down the stairs like that. Yeah, that was it. Quickly sneaking a look into Zoro's room, he saw his green haired friend lying with his back to the doorway, all curled up and he smiled. Zoro sure liked to sleep a lot.

Sighing with a soft smile and coughing a little again, Luffy went back into his room and lay down on the bed without thinking and tugging the covers up over him, he let himself drift to sleep.

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Clarobell: Oh, so what's gonna happen next, huh? Huh? You'll just have to review with any questions and maybe we'll give the answer! Thanks again to all who reviewed, and remember, please keep it up. Cheer up our sick Plushie.