Her eyes opened to meet the shine of white light. Letting out a muffled mumble, she sat herself up.

She felt gritty.

Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Nami peered around the room, blinking furiously and shaking her head at what she saw.

"Why do I feel so crappy?"

She muttered, running a hand over the side of her face, and she slid her fingers to tuck hair behind an ear when she felt agonising pain soak through her head. She winced, her cringing brow making the pain even worse, and scrambled to get out from her tangle of sheets. She noticed there was glitter all over the bed, and looking at herself, saw she was still wearing the red dress for the dinner dance.

Nami slipped her feet into the slippers below before shuffling over to Vivi's dresser. Her shoulder was pulsing dull pain through her back. She lowered herself to look into the mirror, and let out a small groan.

A large bruise was a vivid purple at her temple, and her right shoulder had a slightly swollen lump of blue. She remembered now; she had been attempting escape when she was hit across the shoulder. The last thing she remembered was someone calling her name before being hit with metal. The severe flash of pain before bashing into the wall were her last sensations before blacking out. She had never blacked out before, but she thought it sucked. It felt positively ick.

She carefully brought her fingertips to the bruise at her head, feeling pain pulsate through her brain even at the lightest touch, when she heard a door swing open. Turning, Nami saw Vivi stepping out of the bathroom, towelling her face. She glanced at Nami, then dropped her towel.

"Nami! When did you wake up?"

She exclaimed, rushing over to her.

"Just now,"

Nami said, then noticed a long streak of open skin at Vivi's upper arm that was starting to grow red.

"Your arm! Vivi, how did you get that?!"

"Uhm, it's nothing... just a scratch from a plate, that's all... Why are we talking about me?? What happened to you!?"

Nami saw Vivi glaring at her shoulder, and sighed.

"I got caught trying to escape, and I got beat up pretty badly, I guess. Did you lug me all the way up here? What happened? Did the police come?"

"Yeah, they did."

Vivi said, nodding, and she sat on her bed. Nami settled herself next to her.

"But they came after all the motorcyclists ran away. All that remained were the tire-tracks they made all over the auditorium floor."

Nami grimaced.

"Great... so you people found me after, huh? How embarrassing."

Vivi shook her head, her eyes oddly bright.

"No, Nami. Sandy White brought you up."

Nami bolted upright.

"What?!"

"It's not that big a deal,"

Vivi started hesitantly, when Nami shook her head vigorously.

"Don't you understand, Vivi? You know I don't like-- no, you know I hate him!! He's so-- so stuck up!! I bet he went prattling on that he 'saved' me--"

"Nami, you're the one who doesn't understand!!"

Vivi yelled, and Nami realised she had been shouting herself. She looked at Vivi defiantly, and Vivi continued, though more quietly,

"He really did save you. He went all out, beating up all the bad guys the moment I told him you went behind the curtains. He's really strong, you know - he beat up nearly twenty of those maniacs within a minute."

Nami rolled her eyes.

"Great. Now he's macho man."

Vivi looked at Nami strangely before continuing,

"He told me what those terrible people did to you, and said he was sorry he didn't save you any earlier. He carried you up, and only left when your colour was a bit more healthier."

Nami felt her chest contract painfully, and covered her cringe with a clearing of her throat, anguish filling her - almost burning her.

There was definitely something wrong between her and blonde, and she didn't know why, but it hurt. It hurt a lot. She didn't want to even think about him 'saving' her, let alone 'care' for her. She hid her pain with a glazed look.

Nami was very good at covering up what she really felt. She could conjure up words she didn't really mean very quickly, her tone and her attitude automatic in locking her character into what she was saying. Not even close friends could know what Nami really thought when she made a quick opinion up on the spot to cover up what she truly felt.

But, although she would never admit it out loud, sometimes, Nami wanted to drop down her mask of painlessness and speak out what she felt. But she didn't want to admit she was going through trouble. She had a deep streak of independance in her that refused to let out any weaknesses.

But really, all it required to get Nami to open up a bit was to prod her a little.

Though it was a subconcious desire, she truly wanted people to want to know her. She wanted people to care and talk to her, and try to find out what she really felt. She wanted them to realise she wasn't saying what she actually thought. But she absolutely hated the idea of speaking out herself.

Unfortunately, the people listening needed to see her fumble or give a sign that she wasn't telling the complete truth.

Unfortunate because when Nami lied about her thoughts, they spilled out uncontrollably. Her mind did not betray her feelings of regret or shock at even her words, and showed an impassive expression.

No one could ever think about Nami thinking something else other than what she was saying. People thought she was outspoken and honest with her opinion. They thought she was truly intending to lavish when compliments poured out, or hurt when brazen comments lashed out. They could never figure out that she wasn't saying what they thought she was saying.

Because she was too good at hiding what she felt.

Too good.

"He was probably trying to hit on you, Vivi,"

Nami said nonchalantly, and Vivi's jaw dropped open in surprise.

Nami had on some sort of twisted smirk as she kicked her legs out, leaning back onto the bedspread.

"He was just using me to get to you, Vi. It worked, didn't it?"

There was a long, awkward silence, Vivi staring at the orange-haired girl as she looked at the ceiling with mild interest, as though the light interested her more than the subject at hand. Nami carefully avoided eye-contact.

"He's always trying to hit on girls, isn't he? Tch, using his 'I am a model' identity - it's sad. I guess I should feel sorry for you that you're on his next target list."

Suddenly, Vivi stood up abruptly, and stalked off towards her closet. Nami raised her eyebrows, trailing her gaze to Vivi's back.

"Where're you going?"

"I'm leaving."

She blinked.

"But we don't have any classes today."

"I can't really stand much more of you, to tell you the truth."

Nami had never heard irritation in Vivi's voice. She even more surprised when she saw Vivi tie her hair back in such a way her bangs were slicked back. Nami knew for a fact that Vivi never tied her hair like that unless she was *really* pissed.

"Is something wrong?"

Nami asked. Vivi turned, her eyes cold and glaring.

"I think you know what's wrong."

Vivi retorted. Nami was too surprised at the icy tone in Vivi's voice to reply. She wasn't given much of a chance to, though.

"Nami, you've never been the one to judge by appearance or rumours. What the hell's wrong with you now? You don't know him at all, do you? I don't know what problem you have with the guy and I don't know what the hell you base your assumptions on, but I know that he likes you a lot. He doesn't deserve to be talked like that from you, of all people, Nami."

"I didn't know you loved him that much."

Nami snapped, but regretted the words even as they spilled out of her mouth. She looked at the wall across her stubbornly while Vivi stared at her incredulously.

Letting out her breath, Vivi turned, setting a hand on the doorknob. She paused.

"This is ridiculous,"

Vivi muttered,

"I don't see why he was so worried about you, even after you rejected him back at the dance. Not when you can get so bitchy just talking about him."

Without waiting for a reply, Vivi pulled the door open, swept through, and shut the door with a snap. Nami collapsed onto her back on Vivi's bed, squeezing her eyes shut to block out the bright white light filtering through the windows. She pressed the cool skin of her arm to her eyelids, and let out a slow sigh.

This was the first argument she and Vivi had ever gone through ever since they had met as room-mates. She had never seen Vivi get so mad - in fact, she didn't remember Vivi getting mad at anything or anyone... and she was mad at *her*.

"Did I do something that stupid?"

Nami murmured softly. She was startled to feel tears of resentment welling.

"Don't cry, Nami, that's just stupid,"

She mumbled, but annoyingly enough a tear managed to sneak its way out of the corner of her eye to wet her wrist. The disgustingly cheerful chirping of the birds and insects outside ceased quite suddenly to a silence.

"Hurray..."

Nami mumbled.

"..I'm never going to cry again. I'll do it alone..."

Nami blinked behind her arm, another tear trickling down her cheek at the action.

"Huh?"

Nothing happened. She closed her eyes again, wondering what she had just heard, when it happened again.

"...Bellemere-san..."

She heard sounds of sobbing... of herself sobbing.

"...But you have to see my map!! You have to see...."

Behind her shut lids, Nami saw the faint outline of... a cross?

"GO AWAY!! You don't even know what's going on!! Just go!! Just... go..."

Hysterical crying and wracking sobs followed the enraged words.

"...H-help me... Lu-..."

Nami's eyes flew open as she realised she was hearing actual words, seeing actual images, when the chirping and humming of the birds and insects outside were brought back to full force to her ears.

She sat back up, looking around alarmedly, and saw nothing different. Yet something was different.

What was this feeling like...?

Nami tried to recall where she had last felt so strange. It was... yes, that was it. She remembered now - she had felt like this with Usopp, when he had told her about Arlong... she felt her fingers curl into a fist just at the memory of the name. Surprised, she tried to get the strength out of her fingers, but they refused to relax.

She had also felt like this while dancing with Sanji, now that she thought about it. That was right - she had nearly forgotten about that... Why had she called him that? She had no clue... but it seemed so right with him. Again, her chest felt like it was being tightly drawn around with a drawstring just at the remembrance of his blissful eyes at the time they had been dancing together, his blond strands of hair loosely brushing against his forehead while he grinned a goofy grin. She shook her head sharply, but only felt the pain intensify.

Nami began to wonder if he really did like her, and if he really did not deserve all the words she hadn't even meant anyway, then gave herself mental slap for even thinking about it.




Zoro bit into a hashbrown Sanji had just handed him, an eyebrow quirking.

"I don't really get you,"

He mumbled through a mouthful of his breakfast. Sanji rolled his eyes, sitting down on the edge of his mattress with a slice of toast in his hand.

"Come on,"

Sanji said with a frown,

"Don't you have to admit that-- that there's something weird going on? There's some strange stuff between me and a lot of things, but you and me in particular..."

Zoro shook his head, taking another bite.

"You have got to be kidding,"

Sanji said exasperatedly, slathering his toast with butter with a bit more vigor than necessary,

"You mean you never thought anything was wrong between us?"

"Well, I know you hate me..."

"And vice-versa, but that's not the point. I mean -- don't you-- don't you feel like--"

Sanji waved his arm around, trying to get the right expression as Zoro finished his hashbrown and reached for another,

"Like-- we've met somewhere before?!"

There was a short silence as Zoro blinked, Sanji looking at him expectantly. Then he returned to his hashbrown.

"Not really."

"Not really?!!"

Sanji yelped, nearly dropping his toast. Zoro raised his eyebrows again.

"What are you getting at?"

He asked. Sanji chewed his toast thoughtfully.

Since the first time he had met the green-head, Sanji had felt a jolt of queer recognition. He was sure he had never met Zoro in his life - if they had met as kids, the familiarity he felt between himself and Zoro didn't match the sort of childish memories he had. But something was there.

It was weird how he and Zoro got so easily agitated with each other even though they had barely known each other for a week.

It was weird when he had been repeating 'I'll kill you some day' and had felt something fill him, though it had emptied almost immediately.

It was weird that Zoro had known he could cook even though he had never told Zoro he could.

It was really, really weird.

"How did you know I could cook?"

Sanji said suddenly. Zoro shrugged.

"I guess you told me."

"I never did. I would never and will never tell anyone I had just met three days ago about me liking to cook."

Zoro furrowed his brow. He thought about it for a minute.

"Well?"

Sanji prompted.

"...I guess I don't know how I know. I just... know. You know,"

Zoro said, finally getting a little serious but confusing Sanji with his prevalent use of 'know',

"I guess you're right. That is a little weird."

"See?! I told you!"

Sanji exclaimed, waving his toast about. Zoro picked up the fifth and last hashbrown from the plate on the dormitory's sidetable.

"Did I ever meet you before?"

He asked.

"You idiot, that's what I just asked you. But to answer the question, I can't recall any meeting."

Zoro took a good, long look at Sanji's face, squinting a little. Sanji looked taken back.

"What?!"

"If I stare at your face for long enough, I might remember something."

Zoro explained.

"Should've expected nothing more from your standard,"

Sanji commented, rolling his eyes. Zoro's eye twitched, but he returned to his breakfast without retorting.

"I don't really know why,"

Zoro said after a minute of eating with no talk,

"So don't ask. But for some really crazy reason, I seem to recall you having a curl at the end of your eyebrows. Did you shave it off or something?"

Sanji stared at Zoro as though the green-head had just asked him if he wanted to attach another nose to his face.

"Hell, no,"

The model said, crinkling his nose,

"What gave you that idea?"

"I told you that I don't really know why,"

Zoro replied, getting up and stretching,

"And I told you not to ask. Dumbass pretty-boy."

A nerve twitched dangerously on Sanji's head.

"And I told you not to call me that, cabbage-head."

"Pretty-boy."

"Cabbage-head."

"Dumb blonde."

"Dense cabbage."

"Stupid cook."

"Stupid swordsman!"

"Dumbass bastard!!"

"....!!"

Sanji had his mouth open, but he couldn't seem to find a retort quick enough. He consented to gritting his teeth and glaring at Zoro.

He felt frustration grow in him as a slightly smug smile tugged at Zoro's mouth. The green-head pulled the dorm door open, gave an annoying wave before he slammed it shut behind him, leaving Sanji to simmer on his bed.

"ARGH!!"

He kicked his bedpost angrily, not noticing the wall it was against cracking and splintering as he collapsed on his bed.

Then he blinked.

Swordsman?




He groaned as he picked himself up, his hands groping about the gravel until they found his glasses.

"Stupid @#$%ing laces,"

He grumbled, shoving the glasses on with a hand roughly before starting to tie up his shoelaces. People passing gasped and whispered at the young boy fumbling at his sneakers disgruntledly. His eyes snapped up, the lenses flashing.

"What are you staring at?!"

He yelled. People quickly turned their heads away from the small boy and walked past. He grumbled a litle more. As he glared at some more passerbys, his eyes were suddenly drawn to a newspaper article tucked under someone's arm. He crawled over and grabbed it, quickly, startling the poor man half to death as he pored over the images and words with sparkling eyes.

"This is it!!"

He exclaimed.

"Uh... kid, that's mine,"

The man said timidly. The boy blinked before graciously handing it back to the man.

"Thank you," Said the boy with a sweet smile. Whistling, the little boy scampered off, his scarlet jumper a red blue within the crowds.




Usopp exited the Melinda Charity house just as his cell phone vibrated in his pocket.

He pulled it out and yawned before he answered.

"Hello?"

"Feeling up to a brunch?"

Usopp blinked.

"Well, I haven't had breakfast yet. So sure, why not?"

"Could we meet at my uni at around ten-thirty?"

He checked his watch. 10:10, and he was fifteen minutes away from the university.

"Okay, Nami, I'll be right over,"

Usopp said, then slid the mobile phone into his bag. He could tell from the tone in Nami's voice something was troubling her. He sighed.

A lot of things had been going on lately... Perhaps this would be a good time to tell her about the dream he had had lately about her past, he mused, and about him meeting with Kaya...

Deep in thought as he walked, he accidentally bumped straight into someone.

"Sorry,"

Usopp apologised, rubbing his long nose, when he stopped, his eyes widening.

"It's okay,"

Said the guy dismissively.

He was probably around Usopp's age, what with his height and build. He was wearing a black vest that was unbuttoned and a friendly, loose grin. As he ran a hand through his tousled hair, something un-indentifiable clicked in Usopp. The person gave a small nod before continuing on his way, tucking his hands into his jeans.

Usopp stared after the guy, blinking in confusion.

The guy was... strangely...

Familiar.

Then he realised he was still standing and blocking some of the pavement, and quickly side-tracked to a lamp-post. He craned his neck to see him again, but the guy's head was lost amongst the mob of pedestrians on the pavement.

"It can't be..."

Usopp said out loud, his confusion plain on his face.

He continued to stand there for quite a while, passing people wondering what the he was doing with his mouth open in the middle of a sidewalk.





A/N: Hmmm. I got a terrible writer's block around here but I managed to pull through it. Thanks so much for your reviews and your support!! I truly appreciate it!! ^^* Hmmm. Well, I hope this chapter will have some people happy. ^^;; Thanks again... oh, and one note - the 'volley of insults' was *supposed to be* stupid... ^^;;;



::note:: One of my friends reads this fic, and one day on MSN, he asked me, 'Whatsup?' I told him I was typing up another chapter for 'Reborn', and he told me he hadn't read it in quite a while, and as I had been in a middle of a really bad crisis in the fic (I feared it was getting really bad... ;;) I told him 'Don't bother... it's really bad, and it's been awful lately, and blah and blah...' Then he told me, '-.- You know I will anyways'....
I found that really sweet. ^^* *awwwwww*... Thanks, 'nukie'... that inspired me.
(I just had to share this with you peeps.)