Lbh: Wow, I got reviews! Cool! Thank you to all who reviewed! I know who you are and you know who you are. Because of your positive feedback, I managed to get another chapter up quickly. That, and I had this one mostly done when I posted the last chapter.
Oh well.
Chaos: purr… Lil bishi hunter does not own One Piece or Thumbelina. If she did not disclaimer last chapter, she apologizes and hopes this suffices.
Psycho bunny: Im the plot bunny. Cool, eh? Anyway, I say ON WITH THE STORY!
Flowers in Winter
Chapter 2
Smoker could only stare as the eyes of the small man fell close and a snore escaped his lips. This seemed to wake the cop from his daze, so Smoker started shaking him, glaring half heartedly. "Oi. Wake up."
The man continued to sleep on, oblivious to the shaking until Smoker lost his patience. "OI! STOP SLEEPING!" To which the young man yelled and the piece of chicken he had been holding dropped back into the carton.
He glared at smoker, "Oi, what's your problem, Old Man?" Smoker twitched at the indirect jab at his hair, before turning the munchkin over so he was sitting in his palm. Smoker looked at him for a few seconds before the young man turned around and jumped back onto the table and started eating again.
Smoker finally found his voice, "Why are you eating my food? Who are you? Where the fuck did you come from? STOP EATING MY FOOD!" He ended with a yell, irritated as the small being continued to eat.
At the yell, the black-haired being turned and looked at Smoker. "To answer all your questions, in order, I'm eating your food because I'm starving. I apologize to take without asking but I didn't know it was yours at the time. I don't know who I am, I was just born. I came from that flower over there." He pointed over at the flower, rolling his eyes as if this were the most obvious thing In the world.
The cop blinked a couple of times before standing up and walking over to the phone. He silently dialed a number, waiting a few seconds before saying, "Yes, Is Tashigi there?... Yes… No, it's her partner… Fine, just get her!"
He growled into the phone, making the little man on the table smile before curiosity made him jump off the table and run over to Smoker's pants leg. The young man tugged on the material before starting to climb.
Smoker started talking into the phone again, "Tashigi, I'm taking off of work for a week… Because I said so… I don't care what Hina-No I- wait- STOP INTTERUPTING ME! No, I don't care what Hina thinks. She can shove those cases up her ass for all I care. No, I am not taking off of work just to piss her off. And No, I won't tell you the real reason. Just tell that damned woman I won't be in… Yes… Thank you. Bye." Smoker dropped the phone into its cradle before stomping over to the couch and lying down.
The young man had reached the belt line by this time, but when smoker had flopped down on the couch, his grip on the cop's pants had been torn loose and he had bounced onto his stomach.
Smoker grunted and looked down, seeing the black haired addition to his apartment sitting on his stomach, looking back at him. The brat opened his mouth, "What's a Hina?"
Smoker paused for a moment, then shook his head, "My boss. She is a devil woman who rules the office with an iron fist (1)."
"So she is a bad woman?" The young man cocked his head, a curious gleam in his eyes.
Smoker thought for a second before responding. "Well… not really. Just a pain in the ass." Inwardly, his thoughts were of just how he could cover up the fact that he was hallucinating from said pain in the ass.
Said hallucination started moving around over the slippery black material of Smoker's muscle shirt. Smoker was jarred out of his thoughts and he grunted once more. The young man looked at Smoker before moving once more. When smoker snorted, the black-haired man smirked. Smoker glared at him, "If you do, I swear to god, you will not-" but he was interrupted by his own peals of laughter as the young man tickled him.
"HAHAHA! STOP! I CAN'T- HAHA BREATH!"
The young man smirked, "Not unless you let me live here with you and eat some of that food!"
"YOU DIRTY LITTLE-HAHAHA- PIRATE! HAHAHAA- FINE!" The 'dirty little pirate' stopped, smirking as Smoker glared at him. After he caught his breath, Smoker looked at the young man, picking him up and shaking him a little.
He didn't like that. "Oi! What the fuck!? Put me down!" Smoker did so and smirked, "Payback's a bitch." Inwardly, he was wondering if this was real, or if it was actually possible to hold a hallucination… The young man slid off Smoker's stomach and onto the floor, looking around for the way back to the food. His attention was caught by a book that was halfway open and lying on the ground. His destination changed towards the new object he had not seen before and he was once again curious of his new surroundings. He jumped on top of the open text, looking through it a little before calling to the cop, "Oi! Old Man!"
Said old man looked down at him, once more having been thrown from his musings. "What do you want now, brat? Can't you get up on the table so you can eat more?"
The little man shook his head and looked at the book once more. "Could you please read this to me?" His voice was quiet, but smoker heard it anyway. He got up and picked up the book, the young man with it, and sat back down on the couch. "Well, If you want to read this, you need a bit of a back ground of the storyline. See, a young boy, named Monkey D. Luffy, had always dreamed of being an outlaw. So once he was old enough, he set out in a dingy into the ocean equipped with nothing more than a paddle and the powers he got from a fruit he ate as a young boy. His boat is swallowed up by a whirlpool and he is brought to a pirate's lair. After defeating the pirate hag, Alvida, he and his new friend Coby made their way to a marine base. Once there, Luffy fights the marines and gains a member to his pirate crew, Zoro, the pirate hunter-"
"What?! But that doesn't make sense!" The young man interrupted. "If he was a pirate hunter, why would he join a pirate?"
"I guess because Zoro thought that Luffy would lead him too his dream. And because Luffy was holding his special swords hostage and he had no other choice. Anyway, they travel together and come across a navigator named Nami, a sharpshooter named Ussop, and a chef named Sanji before they reach the grand line." Smoker didn't really want to go over every little detail that went on in the book, so he skimmed over most of it. That is, until he got to the most recent part of the story, the Alabasta part. "Then, just as Luffy was going to be in the Marine captain's clutches, a large flame appeared out of no where, stopping the rush of smoke. It was Portages again, this time to save his little brother. Smoke and Fire clashed and when it was all over, only the marine remained. That's as far as I got. Do you want to continue reading?" Smoker looked over at his shoulder, where the boy had perched and realized that the brat had fallen asleep. Again. Smoker shook his head before book marking he page and setting it down.
The young man sat up and tugged on Smoker's hair. When Smoker turned, the young man smiled, "I have decided what my name is going to be."
Smoker just looked at him, waiting for him to continue.
"My name is Portages D. Ace."
(1)- Hahahaha, pun. And yes, it was totally intended.
Yes, I do realize that this chapter is kinda short, sorry. I wanted to end it there because I have a couple of ideas I want to use and need to decide how I'm going to do it for future chapters. They may not be up for a while, but I promise, they will be up!
