"Oi Ace! Stop, will you?!" Marco shouted through the hall, displeased with the fact that Ace sped up as he was coming closer.

"Fuck off!" Ace retorted in return, turning the corner only to realize it was a dead end. He cursed under his breath as his friend caught up with him, turning to him with a glare. Marco sighed, approaching him calmly, unlike Ace who wanted nothing more than to run past or even over him.

"Ace, listen. We need to clear this, it's weird to say this, but I miss my idiot friend."

"Why should I?! Soon enough the whole school will know about this!"

Ace's comments sometimes had the tendency to piss him off, this had to be one of them. That he could even think that's what he would do; telling everyone about it. He'd think he would know him better by now, they were or at least used to be close friends. Then again Ace said the stupidest of things when angry. "Who do you think I am? Your best friend. I'm not someone to spread a rumour, especially not about you."

"The best friend title died the moment we got to bed together! How can I believe anything of that?!" Ace hissed, turning to walk away. Marco grabbed his friend's wrist, pulling him back harshly to face each other again and ordering him to listen to what he had to say before leaving, the very least he could do for him. All he got in return however was a fist coming dangerously close to his face, which he managed to stop easily.

"I've liked you for a long time, okay?! But I never said anything. I know you would have reacted like this." He tried to reason. Another punch sent flying his way, which he just managed to dodge. "Ace!"

"That's creepy." He answered simply, too upset to think about the blonde's feelings in this case. And of course this hit Marco's feeling quite hard, but he tried his best to ignore it as Ace trailed off on about how much he hated him and just how much of an asshole, fucked up pineapple-head, ugly chicken, he was being, and so on.

Marco sighed, not that he hadn't heard most of these things from him before. "I regret what I did, alright?! Forgive me. You dating someone was upsetting to me, I didn't know what I was doing." Ace only gave him a glare in return, not wanting to listen or try to understand at all, all the while struggling against Marco's grip on his wrists. "Have you really lost all trust in me? I see you're happy with Luffy and I'll stop trying to come between you two. But I don't want to lose you as a friend."

"Bullshit!" It seemed no matter what he said at this point, Ace wouldn't hear. "You will just tell everyone! You've always been so hung up on my reputation. It would be no surprise." He ended the sentence with a 'tsk' and turned his head away to avoid looking into his eyes. Sometimes trying to explain things to Ace was like telling a plant to fly, or a rock for that matter.

"Fine, I'll make a condition."

Ace looked back in wonder, confused to what Marco was going on about all of a sudden.

"I won't tell anyone, if you follow it. Would that make you trust me?"

Ace frowned, but nodded. "What?"

"Let me kiss you. And no one will hear anything about it."

The freckled teen's eyes widened at the blunt request, taking a moment of hesitation before nodding slightly. "Only once."

"Deal." He closed his eyes, preparing himself for what was to happen next. Ace could feel Marco's hands lightly taking his own, feeling his friend's breath on his lips before pressing against his own. He flinched a bit, taking a small step back, resulting in the blonde holding his hands tighter. He felt uneasy, but with this he felt he could trust him better. One thing was ruining his reputation with dating a guy, something he didn't care for at all. But spreading a rumour about that he slept with his friend, while dating someone else, that didn't sound too good. Not in his book anyway. Especially cause it was no denying it.

He heard footsteps approaching, pulling away hastily to check who it might be. The last person on Earth he wanted to see in this case; his one and only boyfriend.

Don't tell him he just saw that.

Luffy turned away before he could open his mouth to speak, starting to run out of the building, much to Ace's horror.

"Luffy!" He cried, pushing Marco off of him, hurrying after the running figure. Turning the next corner, there was no Luffy to be seen. Shit.

Now this was messing up, last time this happened they didn't talk for months. He couldn't take that again. But at this rate there was no telling where he could be finding himself, even then. It's not like he went somewhere as simple as home. Didn't he consider Ace's place as home? Probably not any longer. Perhaps he went to another friend of his.

"Not this again." He muttered, sinking down against a locker and hiding his face in his hands. He could hear the footsteps of Marco closing in on him only to stop beside his figure. He could imagine Marco's worried face at this point, 'cause he better be worried! Ashamed and regretting, altogether. He felt the anger suddenly boil inside of him, the urge to scream at anyone and everything, but especially...

Especially the one fucking this up in the first place.

"I hate you! You know that?!" Ace stood up to face the blonde. "I HATE YOU!" He cried, the echo in the hall making his voice sound twice as loud. "You always fuck this up!"

Marco wanted to deny it, knowing Ace was just losing to his temper, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to disagree. This time, it really was all his fault. He was shocked however as Ace finished his sentence, mumbling something that was supposed to be inaudible to them both, but he managed to understand it anyhow:

"Not really, but..." He was staring at the ground, look of pure frustration and sadness. This didn't help Marco's regret, he really wished to hug him right there, but who knows, with his luck Luffy could have thought about coming back and then run off again at the terrible sight. Not to mention Ace would most likely try to murder him from such an act. "I just want to get him back. Enough of this." He added. Marco could see his friend's eyes tearing up, which, if anything, felt worse to him than any of the past events. He couldn't recall seeing such a face on him, unless he was wasted beyond sense. And even then, it never felt this heartbreaking to watch. Perhaps because he was the reason behind that frown.

"We'll get him back, don't worry." He tried to reassure, daring to touch the top of the freckled teen's head, petting it lightly. "Let's go look for him, alright?"

"I'm not worrying!" Ace tried to deny uselessly, nodding slightly, all the while trying his best at keeping the tears back.

Luffy's eyes began to water, the scene from only moments earlier replaying in his mind over and over, like it was trying to find another solution from the constant repeat of it than the cruel reality of Ace really cheating on him. He couldn't see another reason for it, Ace had definitely kissed that pineapple back. This heartache felt worse than from before. Love was always so complicated, wasn't it? At least from what it had been teaching him the past months. He felt like an idiot, he probably should have taken the hint yesterday.

But he still felt like he could trust Ace, even now... Why?

He couldn't put his fingers on the cause at all. Was this a part of falling a love too? He didn't get it at all. Confusing stuff...

He was sitting by the school field, not far from the school, but enough not to be spotted by the one person he didn't wish to speak to at all at that very moment. He hugged his legs tightly into his chest, trying his best not to cry out from the pain, sobbing as quietly as possible into his knees. He felt like dying, or just disappearing, just anything but that.

What in the world was Ace doing with Marco?!

Weren't they just friends or had he been wrong all this time? Had his doubt been right from the start?

"Are you troubled? You seem so." A sudden voice came out of nowhere. He peered up from his knees, to see a woman standing close to him. She sat down, staring intently at him, although no emotion was shown. Luffy felt very uncomfortable. Did he know her?

"W-Who are you?" His voice was failing him, still trembling violently from the sadness that had just hit him.

"Boyfriend troubles?" Was all she answered him with. It was bright outside so he had no troubles seeing her. Yet he couldn't recall ever seeing someone with such a pale skin colour. Was she alright like that? She had scars covering her cheeks... Arms and legs too, it seemed, as she was wearing only a small dark dress, a matching pair of high heels and an orange fur wrapped around her neck. She looked like she hadn't eaten for weeks either.

"I saw... my boyfriend kissing someone else." He didn't even question why she cared or why she was assuming he wasn't straight in the first place. It didn't matter too much. He sniffled, another river of tears following suit down his cheeks.

"Victoria Cindry." She said all of a sudden. Luffy glanced at her through his blurry vision granted by the tears. She didn't have the decency to look at him it appeared; she was staring into thin air as if she was speaking to herself. But no one else was around so he could only guess it was to him. He gave a small 'hm?' in response, trying to let her know he wasn't following. "Cindry-chan if you must." She continued, no emotion evident in her face, still keeping the same monotone voice.

She looked and spoke like some zombie, or a robot... He couldn't decide which. It crossed his mind of asking, but he thought against it after having small lectures from Ace about how this was most likely considered rude. Didn't see how it could be, but this woman gave him shivers through his whole body at just the look of her. She truly looked like she was an undead at the very least. "Those damned boyfriends!" She suddenly yelled, throwing a silver plate at the ground hard enough for it to break. Luffy flinched and moved aside in confusion. He couldn't recall that she was carrying those a minute ago, and why break it!?

Cindry's gaze returned to one without emotion. "They're nothing but heartbreakers. Just give up on him, he'll do you nothing good. You think you love them, they're nice to you, but then they cheat and leave... you should kill him." Luffy sweatdropped at the last statement. Kill him? That was a little too much, wasn't it? And from the sounds of it, this woman had a strong hate for being in relationships with guys. She was weird.

"I can't kill Ace, I love him." He sighed and stared back at the ground. He still loved Ace, unfortunately for him. If only he could forget about him. If it was just that easy.

"Break all the bones in his body so he can't leave you." She continued with the strange suggestions. Why was she even telling him this? She sounded like she was mentally disturbed, in many ways. She broke another plate in her fury, startling Luffy once again. "Or rape him."

This hit a nerve to Luffy. He stood up and turned to look at her. "Why would I want to do that to someone I love?! And don't talk about rape, it's nothing but pain!" and this he knew from experience.

The woman didn't answer, not even giving a nod, nor did she look at him. It was as though he wasn't there to her at all, yet she still bothered to talk to him. Or did she? Was she only talking to herself? "Uhm... where did you come from?" He tried to ask, never seen her or a person that looked remotely like her at all. This at least caught her attention enough to tilt her head in his direction.

"Dropping by."

Luffy nodded. Though he didn't really understand.

"Though I believe I've lost my way."

"Where do you live?"

"My car is over there." She nodded her head towards the street, where a black car was placed. He didn't really understand how that could be considered getting lost, but he decided not to question it. He offered to guide her there without a moment of hesitation, he held out his hand for her to take, and she easily got up and followed him there.

He couldn't help but take note of how unbelievably cold her hands were.

"So this is it?" Luffy dared to smile, hurrying to walk away, preferably just go back to sobbing somewhere. It wasn't till the back-door slammed shut in front of his eyes after he was pushed into the trunk of her car he realized that wasn't going to happen any time soon. "What's going on?"

"I'm just following Shiki's orders." He could hear her voice from the front of the car.

What kind of luck did he have to be kidnapped twice?! The mention of Shiki gave shivers down his back, after what he had heard the day before, this wasn't a good sign. He had been feeling safe with Ace, but without him... He hadn't had the time to even think about this since he took off running. This wasn't promising at all. He tried to kick the door open, but to no avail, he felt like screaming, just anything that would annoy this woman enough to throw him out of there and give up on it. In his dreams.

"I will check this way, you go that way."

Marco had said to him, leaving through the right exit of the school, while he was supposed to search left. Although up to this point they had no signs of him or any who had even seen Luffy leaving. He punched a locker in his anger, using the same arm to wipe away the tears threatening to fall at the corners of his eyes. What was he even supposed to say to Luffy when he found him? There's no way he would believe such a simple explanation. And even so, he would still blame him.

The school bell rang as he began to walk again. He noticed one of Luffy's friends walking along side another girl with sky blue hair. He walked over to them, immediately making them peer up in curiosity. "Have you seen Luffy?" He pondered.

"Last time I saw him he went to look for you." Nami must have noticed Ace's troubled face, frowning at the sight. "What happened?"

"It's nothing. I'll find him and explain things to him." He hurried away before this woman got any more clue on what he had done, knowing just how overprotective she was of her friend. He found Marco again just as quickly, judging by the same frustrated look on his, that they weren't much closer to finding him.

"No sign of Lu?"

"Not even the school's roof."

"Maybe he went home to your place?" Ace shook his head at the suggestion. Why would he want to go back to his house, when it only reminded him of the person he loathed?