Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.

Author's note: I wrote as fast as I could to keep my promise. Dear Yasa-chan, I hope you'll enjoy this and get better fast.

Chapter 36: Partners

Yami sighed as she stepped out of the healer's house into the chilly night. Her treatment had taken longer than she had expected – heck, finding a damn healer at this hour had taken ages – and she hadn't gotten away without several stitches and bandages. And a pitch-black eye, by the way, but of course not from the healer but Dai, the bastard.

The wound at her shoulder had made the old woman cry out loud, but of course she hadn't answered to her inquiries as to where she had it from. "Just fought with a pirate who wanted me to kill somebody since I'm the Lady of the Shadows" – ha, ha.

As a result, the majority of her upper body was wrapped in layers of white bandaging material like a Christmas present – that thought made her grin as she remembered cowboy and how he might react, should she tell him exactly that.

But no, she wouldn't show him, and she wouldn't tell him. He wasn't supposed to know such things. Dai wouldn't come after them (or so she hoped), and the thing had been over before he could ever notice it. She just didn't want him to know. As to the excuse for her little escapade, she'd simply say he had annoyed her and she had been so angry that she had just decided to spend the next day without him.

It wasn't even a lie - she had been angry, after all. The only thing she hadn't done because of her anger was writing a letter that explained where she was, and why (she would've just imagined another reason in that case).

Now, after having grabbed something to eat at a meat stall, she was on her way to the little barn where she had left Dai. To be honest, she was a bit scared. She didn't know whether he was still there or in that strange … universe-thingy where she had last seen him.

For all she knew, he could've long since freed himself, hiding somewhere and waiting for her to arrive. That was why she flinched at every noise she heard, and cursed at the crickets for chirping so damn loud.

When she found his body as she had left it, she was relieved, to say the least. But it was incredibly creepy, and she still didn't know how long this condition would last – or how to undo it, for that matter. She left as soon as she was assured that he wasn't 'back' yet.

After covering the huge bruise on her cheek with lots of make-up and re-applying the obligatory lipstick, she went to the harbour that was quite deserted at this hour, and spotting a long wooden pier, sat down at the end. Drawing her black cloak, which she had taken on her way here, around her shoulders with the one arm that didn't hurt at every movement, she took a long breath.

And waited for the flame at the horizon.

Ace crossed his arms in front of his chest. He was already giving it his all, plus he had set the sails of his raft, but he couldn't possibly go any faster. He couldn't do anything against his desire to arrive at Lilac Island as soon as possible – it just came.

He had to make sure that all this wasn't just a bad joke. Because after all his wasted-ness over her departure, after all his worrying and stuff, he had a hard time believing that she was really waiting for him. That he hadn't lost her for good, as he had thought just twenty-four hours ago.

At the same time, he scolded himself for his disgusting patheticness. He just wasn't the type of guy who did stuff like this – but there was no denying that he was doing that stuff right now. Perhaps he should change his self-perception, because that stuff was happening more often lastly.

He closed his eyes and sighed stoically. Really, that girl was robbing him of his sanity.

As he couldn't see a thing in this pitch-black darkness and his fire only illuminated the area around him, he was relying solely on the log pose. Thus, he was a bit relieved at seeing lights in the distance – and his assumption was proved correct when he perceived the whole island.

He could feel his heartbeat in his throat – calm down, baka! What are you, stupid? – as his raft drew closer towards the small piece of land, powered by himself and going faster with every passing second.

He saw the lone figure sitting on the pier when he wasn't even one hundred metres away, and his nervousness became almost too high to bear.

His raft stopped as he let the fire die out, only a few metres in front of the pier. His eyes sought her face, and even in the darkness, he could tell that she was smiling.

Without saying a word, he took the rope of his raft and threw it for her to catch, which she did with one hand. Hopping onto the pier then, after having grabbed his rucksack, he was finally standing right before her.

Her smile, her whole expression seemed mysterious in the diffused lighting, and he was tempted to ignite just a small flame – which he didn't do. He cursed his heart for beating so annoyingly fast.

"Hey cowboy," she said calmly, still smiling up at him.

A fight erupted within Ace's mind. One part of him wanted to slap her into the face, and it was further incited by her casual greeting, which made him incredibly aggressive. Another part wanted to take her into his arms and not let her go ever again – an urge he wanted to fight just because. And yet another part of him just wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake her so hard that her bones would be dancing jive inside her body.

However, in the end he did none of those.

"Don't you 'hey cowboy' me, brat," he growled and gave her an indignant glare. Walking past her, he flicked over his shoulder, "And could you moor the raft. I'm hungry."

He heard a giggle from behind, which made him huff. He walked slowly until the end of the pier, giving her enough time to fasten the rope. When she didn't catch up with him, however, he turned, ready to grouse at her – only to find her kneeling on the wooden planks, bent over the edge, and fiddling around with the rope, trying to tie it into a knot with just her right hand while her left remained under her cloak.

"What are you doing?" he asked bewilderedly.

"Uh, I'd rather you'd give me a hand," she said, turning her head half in his direction.

"If this is one of your tricks I'll –" he started to grumble but held it when he noticed her strained face. Returning to the end of the pier, he knelt down next to her, grabbing the rope out of her hands and tying it into a proper knot in no time. "There," he muttered. "Now what's so difficult about it?" He stood up and, after one second of consideration, held his hand out for her to take. Which she did, surprisingly enough.

More surprising, however, was the flashing of white under her cloak which he could see even in the dark, and which looked suspiciously like …

He took the front of her cloak and pulled it aside before she could protest, revealing bandages, bandages, and even more bandages. "What the …!" he exclaimed incredulously.

Immediately overcoming her surprise, Yami tugged the cloth out of his hand and closed her cloak, an expression in-between a frown and uneasiness upon her face. And, at a closer look, wasn't that one hell of a bruise on her cheek?

"What the hell happened to you?" he asked vehemently and tried to get the cloak open again, which she refused by holding it tightly.

"Ehe, ahm, would you believe me if I said I tripped?" she asked with a laugh he knew was faked, and gave him a grin. "I, uh, tripped. Really hard." Then, without looking him in the eyes, she pushed her way past him.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me!" he hissed, holding her back with one hand grabbing her shoulder, which made her flinch and cry out faintly.

"It's true!" she tried to convince him, shoving his hand off. "I tripped, stumbled, and fell down a whole staircase!"

He was stunned. By the way she blatantly tried to lie her way out of this. Which made him even more curious, of course. "Yeeeaaah. And that staircase was just accidentally riddled with razor blades." Going after her, who had started to speed up her pace, he snorted. "Stop fucking around and tell me what's happened. Oh, and by the way, you could also tell me what made you jump onto a ship and go for this island yesterday."

"I was angry at you," was her only answer.

Under normal circumstances, he would've believed it. But now that his suspicions were awakened, he didn't. "Yeah, tell that to somebody who's actually believing your crap."

She stopped and whirled around. "And if I just don't want to tell you?" He could see that she was getting angry now herself, but he couldn't care less. Catching up to her in two large steps, he planted himself in front of her.

"How do you see this relationship?" he asked, more calm now, and indicated at her and him. The surprise in her eyes gave him a certain satisfaction. "Do you think you can just do what you want? Because then I won't play along with you anymore. You insisted on following me even though I didn't agree, which was annoying. But just when I started to get used to it you decided to show me how independent you are. Well, fine by me. But next time you pull such a thing, I'll quit, and that's it with the two of us."

"Are you trying to break up with me, cowboy?" she asked in feigned playfulness, but he could see the uncertainty in her eyes. It was written all over her face.

"Take this seriously," he said insistently and took her by the shoulders as gently as he could. "Because I do. But it'll only work if we're having the same attitude towards it. We can't run around on the Grand Line without ever relying on each other, got it? We can either be travelling together, or not. But do it properly, either way."

When she just frowned up at him, he bored his eyes into hers. "We're partners, aren't we?"

Her mouth formed a cute little 'o' at his words, and her militant façade faltered. "Partners?" she repeated quietly.

Ace shrugged. "Well, at least, that's what I think." He observed her for a moment. "Don't you?"

He could hear his own heartbeat at the moment she needed to answer. He hadn't planned his little speech, surely not, but the words had sprung from his mouth like water from a well. And he really meant them. If she wouldn't change her stubborn attitude, she'd be rid of him faster than she could say 'nani?'. It didn't matter that he had fallen in love with her, because like this, she would hurt him more than he would by leaving. Moreover, if he left, the pain would subside one day and he would be free again, without having to ask himself constantly why he was acting so un-Ace-like around her, without being … bound up with her.

Nevertheless, he was glad as she took a deep breath and said, "O…kay. Partners, then."

"And no more ego trips?" he demanded vehemently.

"No more ego trips," she confirmed, giving him a little smile.

"Fine then," he said coolly, when in reality he wanted to sigh with relief. "So, will you now tell me what's with this?" He tugged her cloak open again and indicated at the bandages all around her upper body.

"If I have to …" she sighed.

"You have to," he said firmly and nodded. "And no more lies. But first let's go eat something. Are there any bars open at this time?"

She grinned and grabbed his wrist, leading him off into a nearby street. "I knew you'd ask that. By pure chance I've come across a certain bar where you can get warm meals all around the clock …"

"By pure chance. Of course," he snorted but couldn't help grinning himself. "I'm generous today, so it's my treat."

She gave him an amused glance. "Oh? So it's a date?"

He rolled his eyes in response. "Are you an idiot?"

"Cowboy's taking me on a date! Yay!" she squealed, completely ignoring him.

"Shut up or I'll regret almost having missed you," he growled but was soon enough betrayed by his own treacherous grin. This was familiar ground, this was how it should be, how it had always been. Heart-warmingly annoying.

"You missed me? Awww!" she cooed.

Yup, heart-warmingly annoying … with extra stress on 'annoying'.

The bar Yami had found was near the harbour, which was one of the criteria it had to fulfil in order to put her at ease. She had developed a certain paranoia since the fight, whirling around at every noise just to find that it was either the wind, a leaf, or an animal – but certainly not Dai. If it were up to her she'd just jumped onto the raft and told him to get away from here, but that would've involved too much explaining.

Explaining which, ironically, she would have to do now.

"Can you promise me something?" she spoke as they had reached the bar.

"What?" Ace asked, curiously raising his brows.

"That we'll get away from here as soon as we're finished eating."

His bewildered gaze already told her all she had to know. It would be a whole damn lot of explaining …

"Why?"

"Because it's not safe here," she said and opened the door. Cigarette-soaked air and gloomy lights greeted them – just perfect for the occasion, Yami thought sarcastically.

"Would you mind explaining?" Ace asked her when they had taken their seats opposite each other, and the patron had taken their orders.

"Yeah, well," Yami started, scratching her head with the healthy hand. "There's some guy here I'd rather not meet again. I've detained him for the moment, but I don't know how long that'll last."

"Once again and from the beginning, please," Ace requested, raising his brows. She could tell that his patience was pretty much worn off. In fact, he had arrived here one hour earlier than she had expected. If he had put such a strain on himself, it was hardly surprising that he was exhausted now, at least a bit.

Yami tiredly rubbed her face with her right hand. She really didn't know where to begin. Well, she could begin with that day, but she surely wouldn't, not here and not now. Or she could begin with the double loss of her crew and Kujo, but she wouldn't do that either. So how could she make a long story short without either revealing too much and irritating him, thus giving him the feeling that she didn't quite tell him everything? She really liked having a partner, more than she'd admit. When he had said it she had been so astonished that she almost had had to pick her jaw off the floor. But she liked it, she really did. She should try to take him seriously, as a partner.

"Okay, okay," she muttered, closing her eyes. "It was half a year ago. I was searching a crew to join because it's boring being all alone for long, and he offered me to accept me as a member of his, since he was the captain. They were quite successful as pirates, which was what tempted silly me. I was happy at first, since they seemed nice. They included me despite being a newbie, gave me parts of the loot, laughed with me, and so on. I was really happy. I almost wanted to show them my powers, which I don't do very often." She smiled sadly at the memory. "However, that happiness didn't last long. He found out about my powers himself as I was being careless for one moment there, and also found out that I don't want it to be known. Therefore, he blackmailed me …" She interrupted herself as the patron came and brought their meals.

"He blackmailed you," Ace reminded her when the man had vanished into the kitchen, while at the same time impaling a piece of meat with his fork.

Yami nodded, taking a sip of her sake. "He blackmailed me … into killing somebody. Or at least, that's what he wanted." She paused, thinking about how to make it clear to him without riling him up, if that was possible at all.

"Oh? And, did you do it?" he asked curiously mid-chew.

"Well, you tell me," she said slowly, eyeing him tensely.

"Hm? How should I … know …" He trailed off slowly as it dawned on him. His eyes went wide in realisation, and he pointed his fork at himself. "Don't tell me …"

Yami shrugged uneasily. "Yup. It's you."

"What the …!" Ace exclaimed, jumping to his feet so suddenly that he almost knocked down the table as well as his chair.

"Calm down," Yami hastened to say as she caught several stares from people around them. "I never really considered it, you know."

"I can't believe it!" he shouted incredulously, staring at her. "All this time you were just after my head?"

"Didn't you listen? I said I never really considered it, and would you please sit down, you're drawing attention!" she hissed. "Do you want to hear the story or not?"

Ace hmph-ed. "As if you could kill me off, brat," he muttered but finally sat down again, his arms crossed in front of his broad chest, glaring indignantly. "I'm waiting for an explanation," he growled.

"Don't play the sorehead, cowboy. He forced me, and I searched for you to uphold the impression that I'd be willing to accomplish his task. I had to, or else he'd leak it out and everything would be over."

"Sorehead? What'd you say if I'd get the job of killing you, huh?" he muttered on but seemed a bit more appeased now.

"Yeah, whatever," Yami waved it off. "He told me to kill you, and I followed you for him to think I'd be considering it, which I never did. I knew you after all, right? And he didn't know that."

"Yeah," Ace mumbled, still pouting slightly.

"So I appointed a meeting with him to tell him my final answer, and well, that's all there is to it," she concluded, shrugging again. "We met today, I told him No, then he wanted to kill me and that's it."

Ace stared at her with his mouth gaping. "Kill you? I thought he wanted you for his crew!"

"Yeah, he's quite the bastard. What he doesn't get, nobody else should. I didn't kill him, however. He's in a barn outside the village and somehow … absent, but I don't know how long that'll last, so I want to get away from here as soon as possible. Do you understand now?" she asked and gave him an intent gaze.

"Why didn't you run away? Or wait for me? Or, for that matter, take me with you, damn it!"

Yami sunk back on her chair. She was so tired that she could have slept right now, but that would probably only make him angrier. "I thought I could just finish him off easily, then collect you again, and I wouldn't have to tell you all this."

"But why not?" he insisted. "Why do all this on your own, when I could've helped you?"

Yami's flat hand hit the tabletop, and she almost had him flinching there. Leaning forward, she bored her eyes into his. "Because that's who I am, because I always do everything on my own, because I'm independent, because I thought I could do it all alone. Which I could, mind you. I'm here, after all." She paused for a moment, before quietly adding, "And because he was after you too, and he's the kind of bastard who strangles people in their sleep, and that I didn't want to risk." In a way, she had been fighting for him, too. It was only a bit embarrassing to admit now …

Ace frowned. He opened his mouth to reply, but seemed to change his mind. Instead, he sighed. "Jeez," he muttered. "Just don't do things like that anymore, okay? You actually had me worried."

Yami's strained expression slowly changed into a soft smile. "I'm sorry."

"You'd better be," he said earnestly, and she had to avert her eyes so as not to follow that sudden, weird and creepy urge of feelings and start to cry right there.

After a short pause, Ace cleared his throat. "What did he do to you that requires so many bandages?" he asked, trying to sound casual. "And your face doesn't look well either."

Yami's hand jerked to her injury, and she laughed uneasily. "Ah, well … that was actually my own dagger."

His brows flew upwards. "Don't tell me."

"Yeah … he caught it and stabbed me with my own dagger. Somehow it's pathetic."

"Damn right it is."

"Shut up, baka cowboy," she said, but the happy grin on her face belied her words.

Coming up:

"Why you …!" he shouted but soon landed on his hands and knees, weakened by the seawater. – New joke: two Devil Fruit users playing with water …

Damn, he knows me, Yami thought and pouted. When did he learn that? – Yup yup! Ace is definitely able to learn.

"Cowboy, are you okay?" She looked at him worriedly, and at first he didn't react. His head was bent down, and when he lifted it slowly, he was staring at her hand on his arm as if he had never seen such a thing. – I was looking forward to writing this for so long already. I hope, no, I know you'll enjoy this …