Hailey stood outside the sea-king hotel, cheeks and eyes still heavily layered with makeup and her face felt heavy...her hair was stiffly sprayed after a less then pleasant time with a photographer. It was not really the best photographer in the city he wanted them to call him Mr. 3… The freak with the strange haircut... who wears the number three on the top of his head... he was really silly. Hailey giggled at the thought on how exited he had been when she posed for pictured with him. He said that she was a beautiful when she looked miserable… she thought that it was a little scary in the end. But at least mother was proud that she took good in front of the camera…
She sighed, there were butterflies forming on her belly. She was really looking forward to meeting with Ace… the fireman…
She thought about him a lot, it was really scary. She could barely concentrate at the classes. Miss Robin, her new teacher, had been really nice to her, but she had a little quality that made her motivated in the early classes but then when her mind travelled to the day before, her mind was lost. Both his voice and face was stuck in her mind, and there was nothing to do about it. She had read about this before in books, she had thought about i for long time to day. If what she was feeling now was what she read about in her books, she was in big trouble…
The fact that she wasn't obeying the straight order her father had said, when she told him about the school day she had and how much she liked the man who going to be her new body guard, he had strictly ordered on no boy trouble. And she had agreed that under no circumstances would she go out on a date with any boy in the school, or man for that matter, without his approval… and she had really agreed to it. It was fair, she relied on her father and he relied on her… or at least that's what she thought was true…
Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted by something. An engine noise coming to her. Or at least the hotel, her heart started to beat faster when it came closer, it could be Ace. Suddenly her face automatically lit up and a little a sneaky little smile came over her mouth…
It was a car… that was strange, Ace travelled by motorcycle. This was a gorgeous Mercedes Benz cls, that a brand new car looked fabulous. It drew up close to the door and made its way to her she took a few steps back when she felt it getting to close. Still it stopped and Hailey's heart pounded in her heart to think that he was coming, that this was him… but all she saw was a silhouette of a man, and when she tried to take a closer look… she saw it was not Ace.
Her heart stopped beating so fast and only started to beat hard out of disappointment. The person scrolled down the window to the front seat to reveal the man that came to talk to her right after the fire! Luccy…
"now what is nice girl like you doing waiting out in the cold like this?" he smirked and opened the door, to Hailey he felt like an uninvited guest… like that animal in his calm looking eyes would come and jump at her at any moment…
"It's nice out here… and I'm waiting for Ace, I assume you know him" as soon as she dropped the word Ace of her tongue, Luccy's face went darker.
"Yes I do…" he straightened his back and walked up the stepped to her "but I would advise you to not get to close to the man…"
"Really why?"
"He's more dangerous than you could imagine…" Luccy said in a toneless voice and stopped about tree steppes below her.
"Huh?" hailey couldn't think about anything to say… it was hard to wrap her finger around this… Ace couldn't be dangerous… there was no way he could hurt her, he was there to protect her...
"I think you might be mistaken…"
"Oh no mistakes miss…" he said and reached into his pocket. "Take it from someone who knows…" he pulled out a small, rolled up piece of paper…
"I will take your advice and choose to ignore it… but please take the thanks from the bottom of my heart." She said and smiled a soft a smile, trying not to sound too rude… although she wanted to, she wanted him to go away. She didn't want him to talk like that about Ace…
"Hmm…" he hummed and didn't look satisfied… she felt her insides toil together. She swallowed and hesitantly she reached too take his hand…
With a sudden move he pulled her hand to his lips and kissed the soft back of her hand…she thought she would hate it… but she didn't. She felt her face burn up and her heart start to fire missiles… she thought this was never going to end; she just wasn't sure at all if she liked this or not she was not sure at all!
Then he placed the rolled up piece of paper into her hand and closed it… then he smiled a smile that made the missiles in her heart vanish…
"if Ace turns out to be the dickhead that he is to you… then just call…" he whispered and turned around, leaving a stunned hailey holding on to the piece of paper like it was deadly grenade…she swallowed and thought about it… Luccy tried to wipe the smile of his face, it was sneaky how much innocence would be washed away after this would be done…he glared at the corner, there was an engine noise coming. That would be Ace alright… then this would be fun, although the time they spent talking was far less then pleasant every time they met. Which, thank the heavens, didn't happen a lot. They had to hold back every time to not try and kill each other every time…
"Wait a minute!" hailey shouted after him, Luccy smiled.
"Yes Miss Cross" he soothed and tilted his head to glance back at her…
"How can I trust you? We just met… and I don't think I can do this…" she thought about her father… he would be furious…
"You'll see…" he said and stepped back into his car, soon he drove away. Leaving hailey stunned and even a little scared. Could he protect her…from Ace? What would he have to do with hurting her? There was no reason for that… she was getting a little worked up. Maybe she should just stay inside it was getting a little cold out here… but then a happiness stroke!
Ace came around the corner and drove on, what she could only assume was maximum speed, up to the hotel. But as he drove he had to pass the car and Luccy's smirk came to welcome him. His blood started to boil in his veins. What had he done? It could be that he had been talking to the little princess and filling her head with nonsense, he would not have it! When the car was gone around the corner Ace sped up and drove up to her as fast as she could, if he had gotten to her then that will be the last thing that Luccy will ever do!
Hailey smiled sweetly as Ace pulled of the helmet, even though there was no sun then the weather was warm, and under the helmet and the leather coat was pretty hot. So as the hot shiny face appeared form under the cover, Hailey's face went over the hill. He was so gorgeous; he could be model for sure. The really sweaty Ace stroked over his fore head and brushed the hairs out of his face.
"Hey." He just said hailey smiled and slightly nodded her head to bow,
"Good evening." She greeted shyly.
"So how are you…?"
"Good."
Ace took a little pause to take the better look at her, her face looked a little like it was photoshopped, and so did her hair. But overall she did look good, like cut out people magazine. He didn't even know what to say…
"Are you okay? You seem a bit distracted…"
"Haa, yeah no I'm okay." He grinned. "So are we going…?" he turned to the side to tell her to go first
"Yes absolutely" she said and walked past him still she couldn't help but to blush a little, now he could be a bit of a gentleman… man, his perks just come and come again. He was just like a prince, just like in her books…
"So here," he threw a helmet her way when they were at the motorcycle; "even if it will ruin your hair" he joked
"heh, Its just hair… you know I've never ridden one of these before…" she said and lightly stroked over the seat, "is it safe to have two sitting on here?"
'Hmm…I don't think I know how to deal with that…' he thought and smiled slightly at her, "it's totally safe, I'll make sure that you're safe…" Hailey smiled at the statement. See he was just the best, he would never hurt her. That Luccy had to be wrong, she felt as if she could trust him.
In the window of the hotel, standing in the largest window of the king sweat Hailey's mother lady Emily Cross watched her daughter ride on the back of the motorcycle with some delinquent boy that claimed to be her protector. Emily closed her eyes and sighed with disappointment. That Nami lady had to be more capable to pick a body guard for her daughter than that… and if not she would find one for her little daughter. For that one just was not going to cut it… still there was one thing that bugged her for a moment… who was that other man, the one that came on the brand new car, the one that had such a daring move as to be so forward with her little girl… she wanted to know who he was also, to tell him to stay away…
Although when she thought about it, that was a weary good looking car… she hadn't been in this city for a while but she knew that not everybody had a car like that, could it be that the man was some sort of important person… it could be that he was the son of one of the important diplomats that were in this city… well not likely, being too far away from him she couldn't even see his face so who knew who he could be…?
Now for the more important subject… when her daughter would be coming home and she could tell that amateur of a body guard to shove it…
"Dear…" Mr. Cross stood in the door and held a letter. For the far his wife could see that the letter what hand written.
"What is it?"
"You should read this; this is what you've been waiting for…"
"What?" she ran over to her husband and snatched the letter from his hands.
To Cross residence…
After I read your letter then the idea of simply talking to you daughter was out of the question, if you want to make the deal with me then you make sure that she will spend time with me before the time comes that we seal the deal…
The letter was written in an excellent writing hand and the little letters were all exceptionally grand. Just as the man whom they sent the letter before to…
"Is this…" Mrs. Cross asked carefully
"It is weary much so…" he said and smiled behind the mustache…
"Finally…"
"and these came with…" he said and showed two pieces of paper… they were tickets to the grand meeting of the seven most influential lords of the world… as the couple stared at the invitation that had just been given to their daughter… as they started to plan everything they needed to do before she would go to the event. But as they planned there assistant came to their door and asked for permission to enter…
"Yes yes what ever do you want?"
"The deed to you brand new house just came delivered…" the young man said and left the deed enveloped on the desk…
In the meantime then Hailey was having the time of her life riding in back… true the first time then she had been a little scared, she had expected him to go on galloping onto the streets and riding like a mad man. But he had been fun to be in the back of the bike with him… she laughed and let the wind come over her face and let she felt so free there, it was wonderful how exciting it was!
She started laughing and the loosened the hold she had on Ace, like to feel how it was to let go a little. Ace felt her grip loosen a little and he glanced back to her and smiled,
"Don't let go of me, it's safer to hold on" he shouted at her. She immediately went back to holding tightly around his waist; she pressed her chest onto his back and rested her cheek on his forearm. She couldn't stop smiling, just as the world rushed by fast and furious. This was the time of her life…
But another pair of eyes was staring after the two of them, Luccy's car was driving slowly after them lightly tracing there way just to see where they were going. He would not want to ruin her one day of freedom. One day and they would be it for her, at least for now…
xXXXx
Hailey was as happy as one could be… they had taken a stop in the middle to get ice cream… she was overjoyed about the sweet. Ace was really surprised about the response that he got when he handed her the ice cream cone… she practically hugged him… then while driving up to where she wanted to go. A museum up on the expensive part of town Angel Island… that part of town was a place that Ace didn't really visit much…for the little he knew about the overly clean place in the grand line was that it was filled with hippies… at least that's what he thought about it. he knew that Luffy had a friend up there, so that he didn't really say what he thought about the issue… while hailey had the time of her life in the museum, she had a guide and a crew of people that followed her to try and get her to make some kind of a deposit to the museum while Ace stayed close to her, he didn't really pay attention to the boring history lessons that the guide was giving her…
After the museum then a little while he drove her to the park where there was a sight of many statues placed in a labyrinth that reached about as high as Ace's knees … Hailey talked for hours about each statue, she said that the artist that made them was from Italy and that he made them as to compose the alliance of good and evil inside mankind… then was the moment that Ace started to pay attention just a little bit, and then when she started to talk about the artwork and the little details on the statues he lost interest again. He just nodded along and said positive things every other time…
After that they when away from Angel Island and when to another place on town, called Upper yard. Where a garden was, upper yard was … there in the middle of the town was a house where the mayor of the smaller state was a man that hailey stopped by to talk to, Enel was his name. He lived in a house on top in the grand garden, he had told them when showing the little couple around that this place had been his heavens and he was the god, Hailey smiled a laughed. She was way too innocent to think that he could be a bad guy… Enel was a pretty damn charming guy; hailey had an incredible time being showed around by the older man. The fireman had a little nudge in the back of his head to keep close to her, just to make sure that the overly proud and friendly man didn't get to close to the princess.
The last stop of the day was at Luffy's place… god they were happy, being on the go all day really makes you tired… and the fact that they weren't going to the most relaxing place in the grand line was all the better…
"Hello!" hailey shouted happily when Nami opened the door. Ace just smiled and left her be…
"Oh hi there Hailey, Ace." She greeted absent minded and let them in…
"Hailey-Chan!"Sanji shouted from the living room… came flying over the living room and made an attempt to hug her. But just before Ace sent an elbow in his stomach. Sanji fell to the ground holding his stomach. While Hailey, oblivious to what just happened, bent down and asked him if he had tripped…
"Oh Hailey-Chan…" he started, but the fiery glare he felt on his back was warning her to not say anything…
"What were you up to today?" chopper came in the door with a large book in his arms
"Ooh Ace took me to the most wonderful places…" she said and sat down besides Luffy "I had no idea that this city was so incredibly beautiful" she nearly squealed
"Yeah I figured that you would have fun at that" Ace said, he leaned his elbows on the back of the couch, he was proud of himself that the first time had gone this great… for her…
"Excuse me, I'm gonna go powder my nose…" when she left the room and they thought the time was better.
"So what did you really think?" Luffy asked and pouted…
"It was exhausting!" Ace shouted, he jumped over thee couch and slumped in the empty space next to Luffy… "She went on and on and on about the art and culture that was all over the place I mean that sheer volume was like the loudest and most passionate I've ever seen someone talk about art…" he took a pause to see that everyone was listening to him… Even Usopp hap paused his game to look behind at the man…
"What?"
"Do you like spending time with her?" Usopp asked with a smile to one side…
"Yeah…"
"It's funny to see you complaining about something while smiling like that…" Robin said from the side of the armchair, she was sitting on the arm rest while the patched up Franky was in the chair. His arm was had bandages all over them since the fire… robin gently stroked his head and acted like a nurse around him. The least thing she felt she could do… inside she felt a little guilty that she wasn't there when the fire happened; she felt that she could've been helpful to Franky. He just shook his head and said that he a perfectly super job without any help, Robin just smiled and nodded along…
Ace froze for a moment he hadn't even notice that he was smiling… he was not the slightest annoyed. Not even the littlest amount, he didn't really enjoy the art part in particular but he did like the sound of her voice while he talked to her…
"Who said I was complaining…?" Ace tried to relax the muscles in his face but that was little hard to do considering that he didn't see any reason to stop…
"Hey guys look at that sunset… it is so beautiful…" Hailey said quietly as she stepped out of the bath room, no one felt the need to argue with her…