Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own it.

Chapter 21: A Gun Is Nothing to Play With

Opening her eyes, the first thing she saw was his sleeping face. Black tresses disorderly hanging over his closed eyes, he seemed like a little boy with all those freckles and his slightly gaping mouth, and she smiled. She almost wanted to wake him with a kiss on the nose, it was too tempting, but on the other hand … she would feel like a goddamn lovestruck girlie in doing so.

And besides, she couldn't even move in the position they currently were in, because lying half on top of her while she was on her back, with his arm slumped over her shoulder and somehow cradling her, he almost smothered her while sleeping.

But somehow, she didn't care. She would have called his position 'protective', were it not for the fact that he was just sleeping and couldn't control his actions a bit. If he were awake, he probably would scramble away on all fours. That mental image made her grin, and she decided to enjoy the silence a bit more. And the unbelievable not-being-thrown-away-through-half-the-desert feeling.

Blinking up at the sky, she noticed that the sun hadn't even gone up – which would account for the lack of heat, at least if the temperature in general was concerned. Where she lay, though, it was pretty warm. Dazzlingly warm, to be exact. In fact, Ace's body heat lulled her like a blanket, like the rare times when she had slept in a real bed and had the comfort of turning around one last time, snuggling deeply into her blanket. Now Ace was her blanket, and she would have loved wrapping herself up in him – but, obviously and as he was a man and not a piece of cloth, that, unfortunately, was impossible.

Sighing comfortably, she closed her eyes again and tilted her head more to the left, where he was. Pulling his cloak a bit over herself, she dozed off to a light sleep.

When the sun rose, however, all the comfort was gone away, and she couldn't even pretend to be asleep, because it blinded her through her eyelids. She scowled and turned to the side, her stirring only making Ace clutching her even more to him. She tried, she really tried to enjoy being held. When she went home with somebody in the night and woke up like this in the morning, she normally got claustrophobia, and got up to take a shower or just leave. This wasn't as bad, but still, she couldn't breathe. She knew he was strong and usually she was okay with it, but the way he held her was just too tight to breathe anymore.

"Wake up, cowboy," she said quietly (and out of breath), putting her hand on his clothed back and patting it lightly. When he didn't bother at all, she increased the patting. "Wake up, idiot, you're crushing me!"

His reaction to this was a groan deep in his throat, and he nuzzled his face further down to her collarbone. She sighed, feeling a bit panicky for the lack of air. "Do you really want me to kick you away like you always do with me?"

"Mmh?" he uttered and blinked a few times. By now, she had also noticed the return of his special morning problem – it was pressing against her thigh. Now she had to be extra careful with him.

"Hey," she said, smiled at him (he just looked so damn cute when he was sleeping or looked sleepy) and shoved him vigorously, but gently nonetheless, off her.

"Ngh …" he sighed, rolling onto the side while protecting his eyes from the sunlight. She rolled with him as he still held her around her shoulder. "Why this?" he mumbled, his voice raspy.

Yami chuckled and patted his shoulder. "I got scared. I couldn't breathe with you lying all over me."

"Huh?" he asked and raised his head, blinking at her as if realising who she was for the first time. "Uh, sorry," he managed to utter before falling back into the sand, yawning.

Yami grimaced. "Brush your teeth before you yawn."

He scowled with his eyes closed, and she couldn't help smiling. He still seemed half asleep. "And before you fully get to your senses, cowboy," she told him, "Don't panic now. I know about your morning wood."

This, however, managed to wake him up. "What?" he gasped and opened his eyes again, focusing on her face before looking down on himself. Oh yeah, she was right. He knew he should do something … like … moving … or … throwing her away …

Yami looked at him expectantly, finally bringing a hand up to settle on his cheek. "It's okay. Just let me stand up and everything'll be okay."

He looked back at her and blinked, distracted. Her eyes … there was something with her eyes. Had he never noticed how incredibly blue they were? Azure like the sky, like the ocean on a summer day … "How can one have so blue eyes?" he mused. Aloud.

She grinned, and those bright eyes immediately shot sparks, nice little sparks to tickle him. "I don't know, ask my parents," she said, then closed her mouth and frowned over what she herself had just said.

"What about your parents?" he asked quietly, but she just started unwinding his arms around her, succeeding only because he noticed it and let her go. She sat up and stretched. "Huh … another bright hot day in the bright hot damn desert," she yawned without coming back to the topic. Or to him.

As she stood up to get her brush from her rucksack she had left at the campfire, he sat up too, scratching his head and looking after her rather dumbfounded. He watched her brushing her hair before shaking his head violently to get the last bit of doziness out of it. He didn't even know why he felt so damn dazed, waking up next to her. It had been like this for two days already, but all of a sudden, he seemed to realise … well, her.

She had smelled like … he couldn't put his finger on it. Like something very, very delicious. And for a moment, that moment between waking and sleeping, he had really enjoyed having that nice-smelling person next to him.

He grabbed his head and sighed. He must have a sunstroke, thinking such bullshit.

Slowly, the rest of their group was awaking. He heard his brother yell at the cook, who yelled back "Stop yelling, you'll wake my precious ladies!", and finally, they woke everyone up who had been still asleep at the beginning of their dispute. Nami showed up and punished them both with a punch on the heads, Vivi chuckled her typical hand-on-her-mouth princess chuckle, Zoro growled something and Chopper and Usopp did their best to evade their orange-haired nakama to not come under fire.

And Yami … well, Yami sat a bit off, her brush still in hand but forgotten as she watched them.

Ace cocked his head a bit as he tried to figure out what she was thinking. It was not all too hard for him. She looked like she enjoyed the scene, smiling as she did, and a bit dreamily, which enchanted her facial features in a positive way. She seemed as if she wanted to be a part of the scene but did not interfere; it seemed like she was far off in some way. Like she wanted nothing more than being a part of this funny nonsense, yet she did not move. Happy but sad, in a way.

He knew very well how she felt. Observing his little brother's crew, he always felt like this, too. Like he wanted to be a part of this crap. In his case, he knew it was only because he was alone and hadn't seen his own crew for quite a time. In hers … well, what? Did she have a crew, too? A crew she loved and to which she wanted to return? But if she had and if she did, why didn't she just go back but chose to follow him instead? Or did she want to follow Luffy, because since he had been on Luffy's ship, that could be her purpose just as well? What were her purposes? And what about her parents, now?

Ace felt like having one thousand questions and no answer in sight. Letting out a sigh, he finally turned around and roamed his rucksack for the water bottle.

Sanji created them a truly royal breakfast out of their captured goods, and Yami didn't think that even Vivi had ever tasted something so delicious. But as it always seemed, it wasn't enough for the Straw-hats, let alone their captain. He started complaining by banging his spoon against the brass plate in his hand, Usopp quickly adopting his captain's opinion, and soon they had the cook all over them. Zoro was incorporated, too, as Luffy stole a piece of meat from his plate, and grabbed the corners of his captain's mouth, tearing them apart. As he was of rubber, it only irritated him.

"Always the same with those kids," Vivi frowned as the three girls sat on a rock further away from the silly-acting boys.

"I can't even look at it," Nami sighed her agreement, her eyes indeed glued to her plate.

Yami chuckled. "They're cute!"

Both girls raised their eyebrows at her for such an odd comment. "Just look at Ace," Vivi pointed at the young man sitting further up on another rock. He had just finished eating. "He's cleaning his cutlery and plate …"

"He's really cute … not as childish as our little silly-asses." They both sighed in unison, and Yami bit back her laughter. They sounded like lovey-dovey girlies. And cute … well, with his cloak currently off and placed on the rock next to him, every other description occurred to Yami … other than 'cute'.

"He's so different from Luffy … he's making such a well-bred impression, one can't even believe that his bounty's one of the highest in the world," Nami went on, and Vivi's eyes grew wide as saucers as she enquired about the fire user's bounty, sounding as astounded as can be.

Yami just smirked, knowing her own bounty was almost as high as the cowboy's. He knew that, too, and she knew that he really didn't like that. Men like him couldn't stand being surpassed, not even close. They were born as captains themselves; a wonder he had joined another man's crew.

"Uh, Nami," Yami interrupted them with a grin, "If he's so much better than Luffy, then why don't you take him instead?"

This comment brought the wrath of an utterly embarrassed navigator down on her, but she evaded her hand as the younger girl wanted to seize her by the collar, jumping from the rock onto another one. "Bleh!" she grinned and stuck her tongue out.

"You're just as childish as them!" Nami growled and jumped off the rock herself, ignoring Vivi's quizzical look.

After they had put the fire down and Nami settled the quarrel between Luffy and Zoro (by punching them), they wanted to continue their way. However, suddenly a drumstick decided that it was time to fly away, and of course (as Yami supposed him to have a sixth sense for meat matters), Luffy noticed and raced after it, jumping from rock to rock in his pursue. "My haunch!"

Yami looked bewildered after the boy and thought about a whisper she believed to have heard, then grabbed her rucksack, transformed and rushed after him. However, when confused Luffy had lost sight of his precious meat, Yami was a little further on. From the corner of her eye, she saw Ace also following the mysterious flying drumstick, which finally disappeared behind a large rock.

The girl re-appeared next to Ace, almost startling him to death. "Damn, crazy girl! Did you have to do this?" he hissed and scowled at her.

"Shh, it's someone talking," she replied and put a hand on his mouth, concentrating on the whispers from behind the rock before jumping up it. Ace followed her, still frowning.

Behind the rock sat two little boys, hungrily sharing Luffy's (or was it Zoro's?) drumstick. From their talking, the two pirates were able to understand that they were from the badlands … and were rather starving.

"So you little meat thieves are from the badlands, yeah?" Ace said, leaning over the edge of the rock they sat on.

Of course the two boys received the shock of their lives, but the older one quickly recovered, pulling his shivering companion behind his back as if to protect him. "Who are you, stranger?" he questioned rather aggressively, and from behind the other boy's back, the smaller one also felt brave. "We won't give the yummy meat back!" he declared in a small squeaky voice.

Yami grinned – until the older boy pulled a gun from behind his back. "One movement and you'll be dead!" he declared.

The girl cocked her brows and looked at the young man beside her, who looked back in a rather amused manner. "Shishi," he laughed, "Take this away or I'll pee myself, sonny." He was not a bit impressed by the gun, and why should he? Yami doubted that it was loaded with seastone bullets, and until that was the case, it could harm neither of them. But still, the fact that a little boy pointed a gun at them alarmed her. And besides … she didn't like displaying her abilities.

"Did you try it? Does it really spit bullets out?" the smaller boy asked, obviously as frightened as his wannabe sharpshooter friend, whose hands shivered so hard the gun rattled in his grip.

"How do I know?" he replied, his voice trembling. "I never held something like this!"

"Easy, boy," Yami tried to calm him down – with the result that he now pointed the gun at her. She saw his little finger pulling the trigger and readied herself … perhaps one second, or two, or …

He fired in exactly that moment the younger one threw himself on his arms, but it was too late. The bullet was already in motion, flying high-speed towards Yami, who flinched at the sound. Yes, she knew it could do her no harm, but it was a simple reflex.

However, with a speed that amazed even her, Ace took up a stone and stroke forcefully at the nearing bullet, effectively smashing it against a rock before it could even come close to the baffled shadow girl.

"Little boys better not play with such dangerous things," he growled, his smirk completely vanished. She couldn't see his face, but she knew he was shooting sparks at the boys right now. And she could easily imagine how frightening he would look when angry. Really angry.

He stood up, towering over the boys who started to shiver. They thought they were sunk now … Well, let's see. "A gun is nothing to play with." It sounded more like a threat than an advice, growling through gritted teeth like he was, but he seemed to hold back from what he really wanted to say. Those were children after all, even if one of them had tried just now to actually shoot them.

Yami blinked up at him, still puzzled. He had saved her from the shot, even if he knew she could just have evaded it. What about that, now?

"He repelled the bullet with a stone!" The boys were staring in awe – and fear. "Whoa! I've never seen somebody who can do such great things!"

Yami half-smiled. They admired him. Of course they did. Even if they almost died with fear.

"Huh? Where do those two come from, now?" she heard a voice from behind, and Usopp looked over the rock on which they still sat and stood. The others were coming, too.

Now the larger of the two boys threw the gun away and hurried over to Ace, blinking up at him with his innocent eyes. There was also determination. "You," he addressed the young man who still frowned down at him. "May I ask you something?"

Ace crossed his arms in front of his chest, but finally nodded. Those were children, after all.

"I really wanna find a dangerous and clever villain! If you catch him for me, I'll pay you one million beli!" The boy seemed resolute, and Yami wondered what he might have to do with this "villain". Did he destroy his family? Was that the reason why he and the other boy – his younger brother perhaps – were out here all alone? She couldn't help but feel a bit of compassion for the two.

"One million beli?" Nami's voice came from behind, and Yami almost rolled her eyes. Of course that was all the orange-haired girl had heard.

"Uhh … y'know … uhh … I can't pay you directly …" the boy said and lowered his head, only to clench his little hands to fists and stare up at the cowboy again. "But I swear, you'll get it when I've grown up!" Now he roamed about in his pockets and dug a pretty much tattered photograph up, which he held out for Ace to see. "Can you find him? This man?"

On the photograph was a man with a hay fork, dark sunglasses, a moustache and a heart tattoo on his high forehead. He grinned kind of mischievously, which really didn't make him look like a harmless farmer.

Ace frowned down at the boy with the picture, then sent a glance to Yami who still sat on the rock next to him. She looked up at him questioningly. "What do you say?" he asked, sitting down as well.

"Me?" she asked in surprise.

"Yeah, you. You're the one they tried to kill, so it's up to you," he muttered, narrowing his eyes at the boy who almost teared up.

"Please! I'll do everything …"

"Ask the lady, kiddo. The lady you almost shot." A general gasp from behind told them the others had also heard.

"I didn't mean it …"

"Then you shouldn't have aimed at her!" Ace snarled, and the boy shut his mouth in less than one second, staring at Yami with tear-filled eyes.

"Please, Miss! I'm sorry!"

She cocked her head and looked at the boy, then put her hand on Ace's arm. "It's okay," she said with a soft smile. "Nothing happened. They're a long way from home, and they're stressed. I understand that. We could just as well help them." She couldn't help but feel a blast of sympathy for the cowboy at that moment. She still didn't get over him smashing the bullet for her, but thought that she would have enough time for thinking about that later. She smiled at him. "Let's do it."

Ace looked at her for a few more moments, then nodded. He directed his gaze back to the boys before bending down and taking the picture.

Yami said nothing as she watched him take the photograph. No, she just didn't get over it.

Author's note: I hate it when I close my eyes and the sun blinds me through it. I hate it. It's like you see red.

Anyway, did you like it? For those of you who've seen the anime, yes, I changed his reaction towards the kids shooting him away from the Ace-typical coolness to anger. I can imagine quite well his reaction would be like this, because they didn't shoot him but her and he's developing feelings for her … he just didn't notice yet (Aww, come. I'm not spoiling, that is so predictable.). So he wants to protect her, and anger is only natural here.

Coming up:

"Isn't that great, Ace? A fight! Now you can come into your own!" Luffy exclaimed happily. – Ace's "glorious" fight …

"What …" Ace began, but was cut off by a gunshot. – a gunshot in the night … no, not exactly.

"Come," he told her, and she could hear the smile in his voice. He took her by the arm and helped her up, supporting her from the side when she swayed. – knight in shining armour?