Category: Mild Romantic Fluff, Hurt and Comfort

Characters: Nami, Ace, Sabo

Requested By: Better Known as Aaliyah (FanFiction)

Nami inhaled deeply threw her nose as she leaned herself against the creaky, barely-held-together boards of the ramshackle cabin that she and her companions were currently huddled in, nursing their wounds from their newest venture- the arduous and catastrophic spat with Donquixote Doflamingo in the kingdom of Dressrosa. Most of their adventures usually ended up concluding with some monumental battle or another, but to Nami, this had been one of their closest calls yet. After deposing the tyrant and restoring Rebecca's family to the throne, the crew had retreated to a safehouse of Sabo's within the country for a bit of rest before they were to reunite with the remainder of their comrades. It was deep into the night, and the rest of them were asleep, but it evaded Nami; it often was this way directly following a conflict. She simply could not dissipate all that nervous energy and adrenaline as quickly as they, and so she would wait until they slipped into their slumber before slipping out to be with the stars and her thoughts. As a chill wind blew across the ground, rustling the grass and Nami's hair before skipping coldly across her skin leaving goosebumps in its wake; she drew her knees to her chest and hugged them with a slight shiver, but since she had not a hint of drowsiness in her, she remained huddled against the structure.

"You'll catch cold like that." Nami jerked up, startled, at the sudden address, and as she looked to see who had spoken, her vision was eclipsed as a cloak of black fabric was unceremoniously flung into her face. She wrestled it with a moment, her frustrated and confused curses muffled by the folds of the clothing, before she was able to pry it free from her tangled strands of tangerine hair and pull it from her head. Sabo was standing beside her with a smirk on his lips and his hands on his hips, and Nami's eyes widened slightly as she was struck by a sudden sense of dejà vu.

"You'll catch cold like that," a low voice purred in her head, and it brought a mild blush to her cheeks. As she clutched the cloak to her chest, not bothering to put it on for the ghosts of her past dancing before her eyes, Sabo frowned deeply and squatted down in front of her with his head tilted slightly. "Nami? You're making a weird face. Do you not want it?"

"Oh! N-no, thank you very much," she stammered quickly and drew the cloak around her shoulders. She then smiled sheepishly at him. "You just… Reminded me a little of your brother."

"Luffy?"

"No, Ace." At her answer, his eyebrows shot up his forehead, and he then grinned awkwardly and scratched his head. Nami knew it must be a sore subject for him, as it was for Luffy, and she flushed darkly when she realized how tactless she had been. "Sabo, I'm so-"

"No, it's okay," he sighed with a magnanimous smile and a wave of his hand. Then, he exhaled slightly and plopped down on his behind next to her, his knees drawn up on either side of himself with his arms slung lazily over them. "It's not like we can avoid talking about him forever. I was just a little shocked that you had met him before, Nami."

"Mhmm, we met him when we were an island called Alabasta. Funny enough, we were kind of overthrowing a government there, too," she joked weakly, crossing her arms atop her knees to rest her chin on them with a rueful smile. "… I wish… I had gotten to know him better," she whispered quietly, and closed her eyes.

~Two Years Ago, in the Kingdom of Alabasta~

"You'll catch cold like that." Nami glanced up with a slight haze of pink in her cheeks as she was suddenly addressed, and was greeted by the bulky silhouette of Portgas D. Ace against the backdrop of the starry night sky and the pale moonlight. Nami was currently huddled against the wall of the canyon that they had decided to shelter in during the night, near the entrance looking upon the desert for any sign of monstrous creature or otherwise enemy that would disturb the rest of her sleeping crewmates; it was within sight of their camp, where her crew mates were strewn about in their sleeping bags, but too far to feel the gentle warmth of the flickering fire that burned at their center. Nami, though dressed in the Alabastan robes at Vivi's behest, was not immune to the night chill, and the man had apparently taken notice. "Can't sleep?" he smiled as he sat cross-legged beside her, and Nami jumped slightly as his arm suddenly burst into roaring red flame without warning. Though she was startled thoroughly, the warmth pouring off the Flame-Flame Fruit user obliterated the desert cold, and so she did not insist that he stifle it.

"No, I'm on watch," she answered simply before casting her gaze out at the sandy desert. Truth be told, she could not sleep; the stress of saving Vivi's country was admittedly getting to her, and so she did as she often did and sought comfort from the solitude of the night and its celestial brilliance above. "… What about you? Can you not sleep?"

"Nah, I get kinda restless sometimes," he grinned lightly at her, and if he had not been radiating flames, he would have been radiating sunshine, with how bright and pure his smile was. Though Nami had been in a somewhat melancholy mood before, she found herself uplifted at his presence; for the past few days that they had been traveling together, she had found that she rather liked him. He was a lot like Luffy- magnetic, boisterous, arguably a bit daft, but capable and strong. There was something different about him, though, that made Nami comfortable around him, though she wasn't sure what that was. With a small smile, she laid her arms on her knees and her head atop them, gazing up at him instead of the night sky like she normally would.

"Is it because you're leaving tomorrow?" Nami was not a fool; she had studied Vivi's maps of the desert, and she knew that soon they would be approaching a major outlet to the ocean. Ace had found no sign of Blackbeard here, and though Luffy was his little brother, he was unlikely to abandon his search for the murderer to jump into their grand plan to stop Crocodile and save Vivi's home. Ace's face turned a shade of pink, and he looked away shyly while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Eh, it's that obvious, is it?"

"Not to most of the airheads over there, but it is to me. You don't want to have to tell Luffy that you're leaving," she assumed, and assumed right, because he nodded with a small smile.

"Yeah… As much as I would like to stick around and see how much he's grown… I have to find Blackbeard. He can't get away with what he's done." His voice, normally upbeat, had a grim edge to it. His eyes burned like his arms as he stared out into the bleak, unforgiving desert. He then gave her a lop-sided smile. "I'm not terribly upset about it, though. I know we'll meet again somewhere down the line. We gotta decide whose gonna be King of the Pirates, after all- him or Whitebeard."

"Sorry, it's gonna be Luffy," she responded without hesitation.

"You sure have a lot of faith in him, don't you?" he snorted in laughter, leaning back against the coarse stone with wiggling eyebrows. She smirked playfully back at him before looking back at where her captain was snoring, fast asleep.

"Yeah. He's a handful sometimes and makes a lot of rash decisions, but I always know he's gonna pull through and keep his word. He always does what he thinks is right and beats down any obstacles that get in the way of it. That's the kind of guy he is… And he's just the kind of guy I can't help but follow," she mused quietly. All of them, her rambunctious captain included, gave her plenty of headaches, but she couldn't deny that it was a lot of fun, too. She had grown stronger than she ever thought possible, and had met amazing people, like Vivi and Ace. "I owe Luffy a lot," she smiled up at him. "He gave me my dreams back, and so I'm gonna make sure his comes true."

"That's too bad," he sighed woefully, and she blinked up at him in confusion, having not expected such an answer. He cracked his eye open to look at her, and the smoldering gaze that burned in his dark eyes set her heart a-thumping. What's that look…? "I was hoping I could convince you to come with me, Nami." Once more thrown by his wild comment, she just stared blankly at him with her face afire and the gears whirring wildly in her mind. Nami wasn't totally oblivious to what he was implying, but it was so outrageous; they had known each other for only such a short time, and that wasn't nearly enough to form some kind of romantic attachment, right? Despite her attempts to convince herself of that, her heart was tugging slightly, inclined to agree in some fit of lunacy. She turned her head away as her face burned like the heat of the desert sun, and half-expected him to begin laughing as if it were some cruel joke- but he didn't. "I'm sorry, was that too forward? Are you mad at me now?" he laughed.

"A bit sudden," she admitted quietly, still refusing to look at him, "but I'm not mad…" Her arm was burning too, cast in the warm flames of Ace's body, and that lunatic part of her wanted to scooch forward to bathe herself in that heat. She couldn't, though. "I can't go with you. No matter what, I'm loyal to Luffy. Everything else comes second… everything." Her voice sounded hollow as she spoke the words. She had not known how much she wanted it until he had hinted at it, dangled the bait in front of her hands with her close enough to grasp it. She couldn't, no matter how much she wanted to; it was a phantasm, a desert mirage.

"You're not dating him, are you?" he asked with a sudden gasp, and she whipped around to glare at him with her hair bristling like a cat's fur.

"Of course not, you idiot!" she hissed through gritted teeth. She then realized that that had been the joke, as he was holding his stomach while he hit the sand with his palm and laughed uncontrollably.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, that was in bad taste," he giggled as she puffed out her cheeks to stare angrily up at him. As his snickers died down, he exhaled deeply before leaning his cheek in his hand and looking down at her again with that same blistering heat burning deep in his eyes, but this time Nami did not have the strength to look away; she just let it blast over her, consume her, leaving her aching and wanting. "I'm glad that Luffy has people like you to look out for him… But that really is too bad." Nami hadn't noticed his face drawing ever closer as he spoke, until it was virtually on top of hers, but by then it was too late; she was utterly helpless as he tilted his head to press his lips against hers, softly, lightly, but not without feeling. Under the intense heat of his body and the emotions writhing inside of her, Nami melted; without thinking, she reached out a trembling hand to press it against Ace's chest, simultaneously trying to push him away and keep herself anchored to him. As she squeezed her eyes shut, her face contorting slightly into the visage of misery because she knew she shouldn't be doing this, because no matter what they had to go their separate ways and it would only be miserable for the both of them if they entertained this ludicrous idea of them, tears spilled out of her eyes and down her cheeks. She felt Ace's hand brush over the skin of her cheeks, sending the crystalline tears fluttering into the desert sand, and she so longed to reach up and grasp that hand and hold it forever.

Then he was gone, like a desert sandstorm, leaving Nami's heart destroyed and yet reborn in its wake. When she opened her eyes, though her vision was blurred by tears, she saw his silhouetted form tromping back across the canyon floor towards the camp, his shoulders drawn up and his hands in his pockets against the cold wind that was blowing through the canyon; beside Nami was a little pile of burning brush, but that was not the only thing that kept her warm that night.

~Present Day, Kingdom of Dressrosa~

"Nami?" Her head shot up as Sabo's timid voice ripped her from her memories, and for a second she was unfocused. She felt something brush over her left cheek, and she turned to see that Sabo was very hesitantly drawing his gloved hand over her face to catch the tears that had spilled from her eyes. He had a complicated expression, probably expecting her to get mad; instead, she exhaled deeply and smiled sweetly at him.

"Thank you, Sabo… Sorry. I just got lost in the past," she murmured as she straightened up and wiped at her eyes with the backs of her hands. His hand fell back to his side and he gave her a bashful smile in return.

"No problem. I hate seeing pretty girls cry." Nami laughed at the unabashed compliment and ducked her head down, her tangerine hair falling into her face. Sabo was too nice to ask about what Nami was crying about, but had at least a few more active neurons than his brother sleeping inside and was able to figure out what had the woman so despondent. She heard him mutter something incomprehensible under his breath and then stiffly scoot closer to her, so that their arms were just barely brushing. When she looked up at him, he flushed pink and hurriedly waved his hands. "I-it's not like that, I just, I don't want you to be sad, you know? I feel bad because I made you remember something sad, it's kinda my fault. Erm, I'm sorry, am I making you uncomfortable? I'll move back-" he spluttered bashfully.

"No, you're fine. Thanks- and it's not your fault, really. It was bound to happen one of these days… Truthfully, I'm glad someone's here with me." He relaxed into a puddle of mush beside her, flopping back against the outer wall of the shack with a relieved grin. "Besides… Even if it's sad now, it's still a memory, and it's important," she added as she tipped her head back to gaze up at the brilliant landscape of glittering stars stretching above. "Happy memories, sad memories, scary memories… All of them have the people I care about, and I want to keep all of them close to my heart forever. So, thank you for not letting me forget, Sabo."

"Ehehehe, you're welcome, Nami…" AS he chuckled awkwardly next to her, Nami slipped out of the cloak, folded it up neatly, and handed it back to him. "Oh? But it's still so cold out here, Nami. Will you be okay?" he asked with wide eyes as he took it back. She smiled serenely as she shook her head.

"No… I'm all warmed up now. I'll be just fine." He respectfully left her to her devices and bade her a goodnight, disappearing back into the cabin to rejoin the rest of the sleeping crew. Nami remained bound by her insomnia, joined only by the heavens above, but she was now shielded from the cold by the gentle ghost of Ace sitting beside her, and the wind carried the echo of his laugh away into the stars…