So Sanji and I are a couple.

No one said anything.

Everyone understood.

There was never an official announcement.

It was hardly even implied.

It just was.

As if it had always been that way.

When I finally let go and let Sanji love me it was the easiest thing in the world to love him back.

It felt so good.

It was if happiness and joy were tangible and you could cuddle up with them like your favorite plushies or wrap yourself in them like your favorite blanket.

Who knew falling in love was so easy and felt this good.

>"Ooh! Ooh! Me! Pick me! I know! Heeheee. I don't wanna say I told you so…"

Then don't. Say it.

It had been a hot summery day.

We're leaving the area around one of the Summer Islands here on the Grand Line.

The sun is setting but the evening was still warm.

I'm at the back of the ship leaning on the railing watching the sun set.

The Grand Line has some of the most beautiful sunsets.

Suddenly I feel something cool against my cheek.

It felt good in the heat.

"Ahh. Sanji kun is that what I think it is?"

"Hai. Nami chan. My 'Tangerine Smoothie of Love' just for you. "

I take the cool glass in my hand and quickly suck up a whole mouthful at once.

"Ah. Nami chan. Careful…"

But it was too late.

The brain freeze had already hit.

"Ittaai"

Ah. But this was so worth it.

So good, so tangy and sweet. And now it seemed to taste even sweeter.

Once the brain freeze subsided I let out satisfied gasping sigh. "Kuso Umeeeh!"

Sanji grins and puts an arm around me to pull me into him. "Darou."

I rest my head on his chest and sip my Smoothie watching the sunset.

When I finish my drink I set down the glass and let myself sink farther into Sanji's cozy comforting security and strength.

God I love this man.

"He is sweet isn't he."

He sure is.

I love him. And he loves me.

Life is good.

But there's still one thing I'm uneasy about…

Ne…do you think I should…

>"Yes I think that would be appropriate."

"Sanji kun?"

"Hai? Nami chan."

"I know…you've already forgiven me but…I've never formally apologized."

"Oh Nami, there's no need for that now…"

"It's the least you deserve."

"Really Nami, you don't have to.

"But I want to. Plus, it'll make me feel better."

"Well, if it'll make you feel better. I'll listen to your apology."

I take a deep breath and let it out.

There was just so much.

Were do I begin?

"Just start with I'm sorry…and it'll go from there."

"I'm sorry Sanji. I'm just so sorry. I… I can't believe how utterly selfish I was.

From the moment this all started…when you…risked your life for me…I…all I could think about was myself.

You were the one that was hurt and I could only think about my pain, how I felt, my feelings.

'Don't do this to me.' 'How could you make me feel this way?' 'I'm uncomfortable' 'I can't function because of you' 'It's all your fault' …

I never once took in consideration your feelings, your pain.

You open up to me and I turn around and use your vulnerability to hurt you.

I did things to you with the intent of hurting you. I…I.."

I was crying again now.

But the warmth and strength of Sanji holding me tight let me stay focused.

"I pushed to the point of breaking you.

And then, I went and dragged your poor dead Mother into it just to inflict more pain.

That was low, even for me…I…I feel so ashamed.

I'm sorry Sanji I'm so sorry."

I cried.

And Sanji just held onto me tightly and let me cry.

I took the comfort and reassurance he offered me.

When I started to calm down Sanji spoke.

"Feel better?"

I nod into his chest

"Thank you for that Nami.

I forgive you."

He stood there a moment holding me before he asks "You want to know why I forgive you?"

"Why?"

Because you're sweet and kind and trusting?

Because you're a foolish hopeless romantic?

"Because I'm guilty of the same thing."

"Hu?" Bit shocked by that.

"I pushed you just as hard Nami.

And I was just as selfish.

All this time I've been in love with you.

You made me feel a way I'd never felt before.

I thought 'if what I felt before was love, then what's this feeling that feels 100 times better?'

Then it hit me.

What I felt before wasn't love at all.

Lust, infatuation, obsession, crazed passion… but not love.

And when I realized I'd found her.

The girl I could love with all of my heart and soul and could never let go.

You were there right in front of me…only…

There was this wall there.

Well I'll be damned if I was going to let some stupid wall stop me.

So I climbed over it.

But there was another, and another.

All these barriers…

And then at the end of those barriers was this big ginormous craggy, jagged rocky beast of a mountain.

I'd worked my ass off tearing down those barriers of yours, scaling that treacherous mountain.

Like hell I was gonna let it stop me.

And I saw the end in sight.

I saw the peek Nami.

It was right there.

All this time, I didn't know how you really felt about me.

I knew we were friends and close ones at that, but I wasn't sure whether or not you saw me more as.

I had a feeling you did.

But there was this big huge line that said 'Cross me and it's over! You fail! And all your hard work would be for not.'

So I had to sit and wait on an ledge for an opening.

And then with the incident it was there.

I knew how you felt.

So I continued up.

But by then you saw me coming.

I had taken you by surprise.

But like hell you where going to go down without a fight.

And I fought back.

I pushed back just as much as you pushed me.

You pulled out all your heavy artillery.

I didn't hold back against you.

Then it came down to one last stand.

And I was the one left standing.

I had you.

You were mine.

And there was no fucking chance I'd let you escape.

I finished you off with one final attack."

>"Wow."

Ya.

"Jezz when you put it that way I don't feel sorry at all." I tease

Sanji laughs. "I know hu?"

Then I laugh. "You really are a sneaky bastard aren't you?"

We both laugh together.

We laugh until it hurts.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"So was it worth it? All of that trial and tribulation?"

"Of course. It's everything I dreamed it would be and more."

We watch the sun set a bit more.

"I really am sorry about your Mother though." I say after a while.

"And I'm sorry I forced you to relive that horrible nightmare."

Sanji sighs "Ya…about that… I'm actually glad you did."

I look up at him surprised. "What! Really? But…it.."

Sanji shakes his head.

"After my mom died she was cremated and we had this lovely wake.

Then I took mom and spread some of her ashes at all the places we went on our dates.

The rest is in a beautiful urn that sits on the mantle of the fireplace in the restaurant.

And above the mantle is this beautiful painting of my mother Dad commissioned a while back for a birthday or anniversary or something.

And then, after that…

No one wanted to talk about it.

Everyone said that she would have wanted us to go on with our lives and not dwell on the past."

"That's all well and good." I sympathized "But you were just a little boy…"

"I know but…there was no one that would talk with me.

Dad had already been taken away and everyone was busy getting on with their lives.

They wanted to forget anything bad had happened in their quaint peaceful little town.

I couldn't stand it.

I had to get away from there it was too hard.

I went to live with my Grandfather, my Dad's Dad, for a while, before I continued my chefs apprenticeship.

But since then I hadn't talked about it.

And after a while I didn't think about it.

That time you found that picture was the first time I'd thought about it in years.

In fact it was the first time in years I'd looked at that picture.

And after that I realized I hadn't come to terms with my Mothers death.

Not talking about it or thinking about it, didn't fix things.

Sure when you forced me to talk about what happened to my Mom you reopened a big painful wound…

But it was a wound that had become infected and started festering.

And the only way to fix a wound that has been ignored and left to fester is to reopen it.

You reopen it and pour tons of disinfectant all over it.

It hurts and stings and is agony but now that's it's cleaned out it can start to heal properly.

I had all of that bottled up inside of me for years.

But I got to vent it all out.

You started out with intention of hurting me, but in spite of it all you actually helped me."

"I'm glad I managed to do something good for you for once."

Sanji turns my face up to him and captures my lips in a kiss.

Soft and sweet.

Loving and passionate.

When our lips part he wraps his arms around me and holds me tight.

I bury my face in his chest as he rests his cheek on my head.

My hands caress his back.

As my fingers trace the contours of his back and shoulders they come across a flaw in the otherwise smooth skin.

I pull out his shirt to gain access to his warm bare skin.

My fingers run themselves over his scar.

The one the bullet had caused.

It was right underneath the bottom corner of his shoulder blade.

The bullet had missed his spine by 3/4 of and inch.

His heart by millimeters.

I squeeze Sanji tighter.

"I was so close to losing you…"

"Oh Nami.

I wasn't going to die.

I wasn't going to die before experiencing true love.

I'd come too far.

I had found the one I could love with all my heart and the hell I was gonna let something like death keep me from you.

You were right there.

I wasn't going to abandon you.

In fact the reason I'm alive right now is mostly because of you.

I felt myself slipping way.

But I hung on because I heard your voice calling me, telling me to hang on.

I felt your warmth as you held me.

'No' I thought. 'I can't leave her behind. I won't.'

Death was there coming for me and I told him 'No! You're not taking me away from her. Not now.'

When I was out I dreamed of you.

I dreamed of your face, your smile. Your voice."

He gave a small laugh.

"I even had this one really weird dream were I the princess and you were the prince and I was under an enchanted sleep and you kissed me to wake me up."

I laugh nervously " 'sthat so?"

He laughs again "Ya. But then it turned into a dream where I was the prince and you were the princess and you were scolding me.

Demanding where your Royal Tangerine Smoothie of Love was."

Another uneasy laugh "That is funny…"

"Then I woke up and your where there by my side…"

Sanji was rocking me now.

And slowly the rocking turned to swaying.

And now we're dancing…

Slowly waltzing around the back deck.

"I love you Nami.

Not even death can keep my away from you.

Even if I were to die, I'd bind my sprit to you and haunt you.

I'd haunt you and never leave your side.

Always watching over you.

Waiting for you until you could join me.

And we'd cross over together."

"That's sweet in a kind of eerie sort of way." I smile

"But it makes me feel a bit better…"

A thought crosses my mind and I stop our dance.

"Nami?"

"I just remembered something."

"Hmm?"

"That one time I went to the Restaurant Celest… I remember someone saying it was haunted."

"Hu?"

"By a beautiful woman with golden hair.

One of the waiters told me the story…

At night people said that they can see her walking around upstairs in the old apartment. And in the evening she could be seen down in the restaurant some times.

The head chef leaves flowers out over night then by morning they will have been made into a beautiful arranging in the front entry way.

He went on to say on Saturdays, people have seen her around places lovers go on dates.

He said that the townspeople call her the guardian angle of lovers and if a couple sees her then their love will last forever.

And if a young girl that's unhappy with her love life sees her, then her luck in love will change and she will be sure to find the love of her life."

I'd thought that Sanji's picture looked familiar…now I remembered…Sanji's mom looked just like that woman I had seen sitting by herself in the back corner booth.

She had looked right at me, and smiled.

When I had blinked she was gone.

"Sanji kun…" I smile "Your mother is haunting Monte Island."

Sanji was lost in a far off look.

"I knew it." he breathed "That one time I went back…when I visited the old place…I knew I felt her there. I knew I'd seen her. She'd spoken to me. She told me that I was growing into a handsome young man like my father…I hadn't been dreaming…"

I went up to kiss away the tear that ran down his cheek and brush the other one away.

Sanji catches my hand and kisses my knuckles.

He smiles lovingly at me and we continue our waltz under the now glowing moonlight.

I rest my head on his chest as we sway to the symphony that plays in our heads.

Love me.

Love me Sanji and never stop.

And I'll love you back ten fold.

With all my heart and soul.

For the rest of eternity.

End

If you liked this story please read the sequel 'Love and Life' now up and being updated