Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

Start

Ariun was sitting on top of the roof of the hotel they were using for their stay when he found her. She was staring at the island as the light of the full moon embraced the island. She spoke before he could, "It's a beautiful night isn't it?"

He chuckled softly, "It is. Why did you come out here?"

"I'm trying to get a good view of the island before the storm," She replied while lifting up the sketchbook she held in her lap, "It would be crappy if I didn't get the chance to draw it,"

"Will you do this for all the island we go to?" He asked while making his way over to her.

She nodded with a slight smile, "Sure why not. It'll be a good way to document the islands we go to. It'll go right along with the written log I've been keeping."

"Written log?" He looked at her curiously.

She nodded with a slightly sheepish grin, "It helps me remember valuable information. I started keeping one a few years back since it made keeping the information my clients gave me a lot easier," She looked at him and bit her lip, "While I'm slightly absent minded, I'm also forgetful if the information I'm given isn't readily useful to me," He chuckled and she sighed, "Made the people teaching me stuff go a little insane," He expected her to smile only for her to frown, "Not the best thing to happen sometimes."

"Not many fond memories?" She shook her head.

"Some of my teachers were not meant to teach," She grumbled softly much to his amusement, "I had a hard time listening to them for more than a few seconds at a time. The worst one was one of my caretakers," Her lips actually twitched, "Fucker was drunk most of the time,"

"What did he try to teach you?" She giggled softly.

"I can't remember," She shook her head fondly while making his curiosity at who her caretakers were come to the forefront of his mind, "I only remember that every lesson ended with him either having a hangover or passing out after drinking waaaay too much. I think he actually gave me alcohol the last time we saw each other,"

He felt like she was talking about someone special to her...like her own Corasan.

I looked at Law in confusion when he tensed. Before I could question why, he stood up and began walking away. He stopped at the door and said, "Make sure you get some rest tonight."

I frowned as he left me alone on the roof and wondered what the hell had happened. I sighed in irritation, "What the hell stung him in the ass?"

I froze the moment those words left my mouth before groaning. I had been spending too much time with Kuro. I shook my head and turned back to my drawing. Right need to get this done before it storms.

I frowned as Law seemed to ignore me the next day and acted as if I wasn't there. I was surprised to feel a bit of pain from his actions, but I guess that came with the trust I've given him. I ignored his actions and went through the day like nothing was wrong. We had just put the sub in the shelter and were heading back to the hotel when the guys kept me back. I looked at them with a raised eyebrow when Shachi asked, "Ari-chan are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine why?" I had known that the crew had noticed Law's actions, but thought nothing of it.

"Well it just Captain's acting weird and you don't seem to be troubled by it," Penguin answered making me sigh softly.

"Guys I appreciate the concern and Law ignoring me is slightly..." I tried to think of the right word, "Disconcerting,"

"So why act like nothin's wrong?" Buck asked with concern on his face, "Cause that ain't healthy Darlin',"

I shook my head lightly, "Guys much as I want to do something, I don't know Law well enough to do anything," I sighed for the second time in the last ten minutes, "Listen, I'll be fine and everything'll go back to normal," They didn't look convinced, "If I don't know what's wrong with Law, I can't do a thing. I don't know what I said or did to cause this, so doing anything now will just cause a problem. I'd rather not cause trouble."

"Ari-" I raised a hand cutting them off.

"Guys leave it," I noticed the defiant looks on their faces, "Please,"

They looked unconvinced, but nodded. I led the way back to the hotel while somewhat hoping that Law would be back to normal soon.

Law watched his crew enter the hotel with Ariun in the lead. The whole group was looking at Ariun with worry making him wonder if something was wrong. He brushed it off immediatly since she didn't show any outward signs of anything being wrong. He turned back to one of his newly acquired books and began to read it in earnest.

He was walking towards his room when he heard a strangled whimper. Frowning, he looked around the source and found Ariun's door partly open. He was about to continue his walk when thunder boomed and the strangled whimper returned. It was coming from Ariun's room. Frowning, he walked towards the door and pushed it open. He immediatly found himself shocked. Ariun was huddled in the corner of the room and shivering violently. She let out a strangled whimper each time thunder boomed. He moved inside and Ariun looked at him before flinching as lightning lit up the room. He moved towards her and asked, "Ariun-ya are you afraid of thunderstorms?"

Her ears were pressed up against her skull. She nodded with a small murmur of, "Yes," She shivered violently, "I normally room with Maki and Kuro when it storms, but they got drunk."

He frowned down at her and tried to decide what to do when another boom of thunder shook the room. She flinched violently and pressed herself closer to the wall. He frowned a little deeper before sighing and reaching down. He cupped her cheek and she looked up at him with unreadable eyes. He spoke in a calm voice even as thunder boomed and rain splattered against the glass windows, "If you want, you can room with me."

She was quiet for a while before asking, "Why?"

He was trying to figure that out himself, but rather than tell her that, he replied, "Because you are a member of my crew and it's my job as captain to look after you."

He waited for her answer as another peal of thunder reverberated through the air. She answered by reaching out to him. Removing his hand from her cheek, he took her hand in his and pulled her into a standing position. He led her out of the room and towards his own after making sure her room door was shut. He opened the door and Bepo looked up from his bed, "Captain?"

"Ariun-ya is scared of thunderstorms," He explained and the bear nodded while smiling at Ariun, "Ariun lay down,"

He pushed her lightly towards his bed before going over to where he had his clothes stored.

Bepo looked at me as Law went into the bathroom and asked, "Ari-chan why are you afraid of storms?"

I burrowed into the bed as another peal of thunder rang through the air while biting back a whimper. I answered Bepo once it faded, "It reminds me of some bad parts of my past."

Bepo nodded his head with surprise in his eyes making me realize that only Law, Kuro, and Maki knew about my past. I wondered about what I should tell them when I felt the blanket being picked up before a really warm body slid into bed next to me. An arm wrapped itself around my waist and Law murmured, "Sleep."

I nodded my head as Bepo laid down fully and closed his eyes. He was asleep in moments. I closed my eyes and tried to fall asleep, but it wouldn't come. The sound of thunder was too loud. I shivered and turned towards Law. He looked at me as I curled closer to him. I buried my head in his chest and tried to focus on his heart beat like I always did with Maki. I found myself falling asleep as Law's scent filled my nose and the rhythm of his heartbeat soothed my nerves.

Law watched as Ariun fell asleep while curled up against his chest. Unbidden, the image of his little sister doing the same thing came to mind. He grit his teeth and wondered how the hell this woman managed to remind him of two people that he had lost. He was tempted to push her away just to get rid of the mental images and memories she brought, but it was because of those things that he didn't. He promised himself that tomorrow night he would make her sleep with Bepo if Maki and Kuro got drunk. Hell he would make damn sure those idiots didn't get drunk. He settled into sleep as well while trying to ignore how nice it felt to have someone sleep next to him like this.

Law woke up and found Ariun still curled up against him. He stared down at her and had to admit she was kind of cute. He shook that thought away as Bepo woke up and looked at him, "Good morning Captain. Ari-chan awake?"

"Not yet," The bear nodded and got out of bed, "Please go see to it that breakfast will be ready when we get down stairs,"

"Aye Captain," The bear left the room and Law looked back down at Ariun.

She looked strangely vulnerable when she was sleeping. He found himself cupping her cheek and running his thumb across the area where her whiskers were inside of her cheek. He wondered what she would look like if her whiskers were visible. She shivered and moaned softly as his thumb caressed the area making him smirk down at her. He found his eyes drawn to her lips and without thinking leaned down. He pressed his lips to hers and found that her lips were really soft.

When I came to, I wasn't expecting to be warm and feel something touching my cheek. With how Law had acted yesterday, I had been sure he would have left as soon as he woke up. Naturally because of this, I was surprised. My surprise doubled when I felt a gentle pressure against my lips. I tried to figure out what to do, but that choice was taken from me as the pressure was removed. I heard Law's voice against my ear, "Soft and warm."

I felt him release me and leave the bed. I stayed where I was until I heard the bathroom door close. Without much thought, I got up from the bed and left the room with a cherry red face. I entered my room and closed the door behind me before leaning against it. I pressed my fingers to my lips as I realized that I could still feel his there. I tried to figure out what I wanted to do. On the one hand, I wanted to smack him for kissing me while thinking I was asleep. On the other, I wanted to kiss him again and see what happens. On my tail, I wanted to just ignore it since it's unlikely he would actually do it again. Growling softly to myself, I pushed off the door and walked over to where my clothes for the week were stashed. I walked over to the bathroom and entered it while hoping that I would have a better idea of what to do after my shower.

Once showered, I pulled on my clothes and had decided to just ignore it. It's pretty obvious that Law hadn't wanted me to know that he had kissed me, so it's best to ignore it. Hopefully, he won't act so cold today.

End