Koji sat silently, tearing at the skin around his finger nails nervously as Kaede paced the length of the room.
"I wonder, are you genuinely trying to help or are you mentally challenged? I don't remember dropping you on your head as a child!" She hissed, pausing only briefly to shoot daggers at her younger brother. The years she had spent ensuring their anonymity, the walls she had built around her family to keep them safe would soon come crashing down if Koji saw fit to tell random pirates their life story.
"Listen, the kid's been stuck on this boat for years without a soul to talk to. Cut him some slack." Ace piped up from the sake cabinet, his tone harsh. Kaede was usually a think before you act kind of woman, being captain of the ship. This time however, her emotions overruled her thoughts as she flung her small frame across the room, her fist connecting with Ace's jaw. Shocked, Ace stumbled backwards, catching himself on the windowsill before coming to stand inches from her face, flames engulfing each of his hands.
"You don't intimidate me, Fire Fist." Kaede told him, not faltering as she narrowed her eyes at him. "You piss me off though." She brought her knee up hard between Ace's legs, smirking as he fell to the floor, groaning in pain. 'It's probably been a while since anyone hit him like that' Kaede thought, allowing a smug smile to creep upon her face as she watched the cocky man go down 'Thank god for Armament haki.'
"You're a psychopath." Ace choked out, still holding himself on the floor.
"You're not even supposed to be here." Kaede shot back at him before turning on her brother who immediately covered his valuables with one hand whilst holding the other up in mock surrender. Kaede suppressed a laugh but couldn't contain her amusement as she raised a brow at Koji.
"You may explain." She told him, rolling her eyes. Kaede was still mad but she could never be serious with Koji for long, he had the ability to melt her frozen façade in a second flat.
"I just thought that maybe Ace could help us. He's world renowned, knows The Grand Line and New World and everyone knows him."
"That's the problem Koji, where Ace goes the navy goes and we've spent too long building our life to have it fall apart now." Kaede met his kind eyes, hoping to find understanding but was met with sadness that caused a lump to grow in her throat. She knew what he was going to say and she knew he was right.
"What life? This isn't living Kaede. We simply exist, hoping but never trying for anything better." His head hung low, Koji spoke quietly. Kaede stood in her place, lost for words as guilt seemed to wrap its ugly hands around her throat. She wished she could give them more, her little brother and sister, her children, the very reason she chose to live all those years ago. Resting a shaking hand on her forehead, Kaede choked back tears.
"This is the only option we have for survival, Koji. Aren't you tired of fighting with the world? I know I am. I'm tired of fighting for my right to live."
"So, you'd rather just sit stagnant on this ship the rest of your life? That's bullshit!" Kaede looked up to see Ace standing over them, arms crossed over his chest, determination burning in his dark eyes. "There's not a soul born to this world that doesn't deserve to live." Kaede met Ace's gaze and for a fleeting moment caught a glimpse of the passion that burned so brightly behind his words.
Koji was right, and what was worse was Ace was right also. Kaede hated that. Not only because she was being proved wrong but, also because this was proof, she could have done more by her siblings. Kaede was barely aware of Koji watching her in her peripheral vision, her mind and eyes fixed on Ace as she searched his face for any give away that he couldn't be trusted. After a few minutes, Ace's lips curled ever so slightly, a lopsided smile that almost took Kaede's breath away. With freckles dusted across his flawless face he looked young and care free rather than like a pirate feared throughout the seas.
"Uhm…" Koji, cleared his throat from beside her, eyebrows raised, amusement clear on his face as she turned to look at him.
"Yes?" Kaede questioned, a little annoyed. She'd been perfectly content appreciating the pirate in front of her. It was a nice distraction from the predicament she currently found herself in and she welcomed it. Ace had moved to stand beside Koji, an arrogant smirk had replaced the kind, boyish grin that had graced his features just moments ago. Kaede hated that smirk.
,"Let me help you." Ace offered sincerely, placing a hand on Koji's shoulder. Kaede hadn't needed help since she was saved from the celestial dragons all those years ago and it pained her to accept it now. Rather than agree, she walked away grabbing herself some sake from the beaten table top, tore at the cork aggressively and gulped down the entire bottle as the two boys watched her, mouths agape.
Ignoring their presence, Kaede slid down in her seat, allowing the warm leather to envelope her. Her usually cool exterior had faltered for the first time in years and she was sure that the conflicted emotions, fighting for dominance inside her mind were reflected in her features.
"Kaede –"
"Just… get me another drink." Grasping the bottle, she avoided the gaze and overwhelming concern in Koji's big green eyes. Taking a little more time with this bottle, Kaede sipped it slowly breathing a sigh of relief at the familiar burn that took hold of her throat. She knew that soon her troubles would be far enough away that she could ignore them until the false security of alcohol left her system. Vaguely aware of someone watching her, Kaede looked up expecting to meet the worried face of her sibling but instead found a grinning black-haired boy seated in the space beside her, not a trace of the harshly spoken man he'd been a mere ten minutes ago.
"Never took you for a drinker." He commented, his own bottle extended as if to toast hers.
"Because you know nothing about me." She retorted, gulping it greedily as she had the first. Distracted for a moment, Kaede watched Ace from the corner of her eye, smirking around the bottle top. He watched intently as a stray drop of liquid slid down the pale skin of her neck, eyes growing dark as it graced the curve of her breast Satisfaction overpowered all of her senses now, the feeling of despair a faint memory as the sake took hold.
Pulling her long chocolate locks into a pile on top of her head, a mischievous grin brought her petite features to life as she gave a determined smile.
"First man to fall makes breakfast." She announced, hoisting her drink into the air. Ace's bottle joined hers, eager to accept the challenge she had brought forward.
Looking to Koji expectantly, Kaede pleaded silently with him, eyebrows raised, and a small frown on her face as he ignored her, clearly still concerned by her actions. He shot a disappointed look at Ace for encouraging her unhealthy coping mechanism.
"Please?" Kaede finally huffed out, annoyed he had forced the word from her. Unfolding his arms, the younger boy lazily lifted his bottle and cheered sarcastically.
"Just do me a solid, Ace and don't ever look at my sister like that in my presence again." Koji grimaced, face twisted in disgust. Kaede, struggling to contain her laughter as Ace choked on his drink, covered her mouth, eyes darting between the pair. She was enjoying this more than she cared to admit. Ace's light freckles disappeared into pink cheeks – that he had insisted was the alcohols doing later on – as he tried to collect himself.
"Tell us how you escaped Impel Down?" Koji almost begged, not wanting to dwell on the current subject and cause for the drinking. Ace didn't hesitate and before they knew it, Koji and Kaede were thrown into the story of how the infamous brother duo risked it all for one another. Mesmerized by the tale, Kaede caught herself laughing along as Ace did, gasping in reaction to the harsh actions of the navy and, by the end shedding tears. Tears for a grandfather mourning the loss of a grandson he couldn't have helped, fallen warriors that had come in the hundreds to Ace's aid and paid with their lives. Tears for the brothers who cared more about each other than themselves.
~
Ace stumbled along the swaying ship, the storm still billowing strongly outside. Almost losing his footing he cursed under his breath as a sleeping Kaede stirred restlessly in his arms. The rocking of ship and the almost lethal amounts of sake he'd ingested put him in a compromising position as he tried to blow a stray hair from his face, huffing at it angrily.
Kaede had fallen sleep first, succumbing to the alcohol and mental exhaustion he had no doubt she was suffering. Koji had followed suit shortly after but not before dropping his sleeping sister into Ace's arms with strict instructions to take her to her room and then leave. Ace rolled his eyes now as he replayed the exchange. Of course he was going to leave, what did Koji take him for? Then again, he had caught him red handed, shamelessly ogling his sister. 'I'm only human.' He defended silently.
Movement brought his attention back to the dead weight that was Kaede, snoring quietly in his arms. Her face was tucked tightly into his chest, her hair that had fallen lose, tickling his skin. She was without a doubt one of the most perfect beings he'd ever seen. When she was sleeping at least. Her consciousness brought with it a world of pain for Ace, or so it would seem. Punched, kneed in the groin, verbally abused and emotionally manipulated by this tiny human and no more than twelve hours had passed since they'd met.
And yet here he was, carrying her as gently as he possibly could to her room as she slept soundly in his strong arms. He couldn't deny that he was curious about her and her past, what it could have possibly been like for her and her younger siblings to be alone in this cruel world with no one but each other to lean on.
Eye lashes fluttering delicately, Kaede mumbled something incoherent, trying to brush her hair away from her face, bringing it to full view. Ace let himself gaze at her for a moment, taking in all she had to offer in the way of beauty. Her eyes, he knew were large pools of honey, liquid gold that could so easily be fallen into. Freckles darker than Ace's dashed over the bridge of her small nose, spreading out across her defined cheek bones as some strayed lower, to reside just above her perfect lips.