WARNINGS: YOAI (boyXboy) Shanks X Luffy, and wide age differences between people in a relationship.
Don't like, don't read. You've been warned.
'…' what they are thinking
"…" what they are saying
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.
Author's Note: Wow, Chapter 10 already! Looks like a good half way mark. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. ;)
Being a Girl
Chapter 10: Chance Meeting, Again
-------------
It was almost dark as Shanks walked down the silent pathway. They had just landed on the island, Love Reborn, and usually he'd be in the local bar with his crew, drinking heavily, but he needed to clear his thoughts of a certain someone. "Luffy." He looked up at the dark sky, noting how it was only dark on the island, but not around it. The clouds above were heavy and black; sure signs that it would rain soon. Continuing to walk slowly along the curving path, he grew further and further away from the town. Along either side of him were huge trees. They were the thickness of his body and the height of a giant. It was also extremely muddy, even on the path. There were various puddles everywhere, and looking in front of him, this scenery seemed to go on and on. It stretched as far as Shanks could see, which really wasn't that far because the path curved and vision of it was blocked by the enormous trees. Shanks looked down and felt between his figures the cloak he was wearing. Apparently, if he took it off or revealed his face from the darkness of the hood, something bad would happen. The girl who 'needed a ride to the island' had said that different things could happen to people that took it off. When asked what kind of things, she blushed and said that she was uncomfortable talking about it. The material of the cloak, Shanks noted, would resist most of the rain. It would be ok if he got caught in some bad weather. Which was probably going happen, because he was planning on seeing were this strange path lead too. It didn't seem like it, but curiosity often got the best of him. He might have even taken off the cloak to see what would happen if not for the townspeople who had pleaded him, for his own sake, not too. When he asked them what would happen, they said it could be many things. One of them was death.
A raindrop fell on Shanks' uncovered hand, snapping him out of his thoughts. He hadn't been paying attention to where he was going, and when he looked up he saw that he was only a few feet away from a certain couple.
It was two people who seemed only aware of each other, dressed in yellow cloaks with their hoods pushed back, faces uncovered, and kissing passionately. One had jet-black hair, one had seaweed-green hair. The younger one who, to Shanks' horror, he recognized.
"Luffy!"
The boy who had been leaning against a tree, arms wrapped around a certain swordsman's neck, quickly broke away from his deep kiss when he recognized his name and the voice of the one calling it.
"S-Shanks."
Eying the other man, Zoro moved himself closer to Luffy. With his body he pressed the boy securely against the tree.
Shanks looked at Luffy's surprised face, thankful his own expression was covered by his hood. "Luffy," he said the boy's name again, "Wh-What…?" Shanks couldn't find any words that sounded right. He had been the one who broke up with Luffy, so he shouldn't care whether the boy was with someone else. But he did, a lot.
"Shanks," Luffy hid his face under Zoro's shoulder, "I-I like someone else now." The young captain then lifted his head to look at Shanks with a cold expression. "I don't need you anymore."
Shanks just stood there. Something must have been wrong with Luffy. He had said the night before that he would still come back to give him his hat. Now he was saying he didn't need him. Something must have happened. Maybe it was that man standing between himself and Luffy? Shanks didn't want to think about it. Without a word he walked past the two lovers.
He stared at the ground passing below him as his steps grew faster and faster until he was practically running. Shanks never ran away from anything, but this was different. He couldn't do anything in this situation, because the fact was that Luffy moved on and he didn't. He had let Luffy go, and now someone else had taken him away. He had no place in Luffy's choice, so he just walked away from it all.
Shanks' heart pounded, 'Something as small as seeing him with someone else… really… hurts.' He cursed himself. 'I'm so stupid! Luffy must have felt this way when I told him I didn't love him. …I really hurt him… And I can only understand once he told me the same thing.' Shanks clenched his teeth, taking long strides forward. 'If only I could go back in time… to tell Luffy that I really do love him.' For once he messed up, badly. For once, he regretted his actions. All he felt now was weakness and heartbreak.
"Ouch!"
Shanks looked up to see he had run into someone. A person wearing a yellow cloak, who had fallen from the slight impact into a puddle.
"Sorry" Shanks said, stretching a hand out for the other to grab.
"Nah, it's ok," The stranger laughed as they took the hand and stood back up. "I wasn't really watching where I was going."
"Neither was I." From his voice and hands, Shanks could guess it was a skinny man in his early thirties. Around his age, but a tad shorter in height.
"What were you thinking about?"
Shanks looked at the man, 'What a friendly guy.' "That love really isn't my thing."
"Wow, you too?!"
"Huh?"
"My friend told me he liked me, but I don't feel the same way."
'This guy… He really is open person.' Shanks' sweat dropped, 'To tell a stranger that a guy hit on him… He kind of reminds me of Luffy.' Really, after what just happened, he shouldn't want to talk with anyone. This guy just gave him a strange feeling. He didn't like the fact he reminded him of Luffy, but his pirate instincts were telling him something, he just couldn't understand what. "At least," Shanks said casually, "You have someone."
"…" The man was silent for a second before he asked, "Want to walk with me?"
"…Sure," Shanks wondered why he was agreeing.
"Yosh!" The stranger started to walk the way Shanks had come from.
"Lets go the other way." He didn't want to see Luffy kissing that other man again.
"Eh? No way!"
"Why not?" questioned Shanks.
The stranger looked at the ground, "That's the direction my friend is… the one who said he liked me… I don't think I can go back there right after leaving."
Shanks looked at him, "Well, I'm in a similar boat."
"Eh? Someone said they liked you?" The man grinned, his white teeth clearly visible from under his hood.
"No… More like I got dumped." Shanks really didn't get why he would say this to a stranger. Sure, he was also a friendly person, but not one to tell his more darker feelings to someone he just met.
"What happened?" The voice was serious and honesty caring.
Shanks blinked, 'His personality changes like the wind.' And for some reason that struck a nerve in Shanks. Perhaps, because as they kept talking he reminded Shanks more and more of Luffy. The boy who he loved, but would never again have a chance with. "If you want to know so badly, I…" Shanks suddenly let out all of his pent up frustration, "I TOLD SOMEONE I LOVE THAT I DIDN'T LOVE HIM, AND NOW THAT HE'S WITH SOMEONE ELSE I FEEL LIKE I CAN'T GO ON WITHOUT HIM!"
Instead of being surprised the stranger stepped forward and shouted back, "THEM MAYBE YOU SHOULD TELL HIM THAT!" His voice lowered, "Your lucky, you can still do something... I can't do anything… a person I don't love says they love me, and the person I love turned me down!"
"Then maybe…" Shanks hated himself for being so angry all the time, but with all these emotions dying to get out, he couldn't stay his usual, relaxed self. "THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULD GO BACK TO THEM AND TALK ABOUT IT!"
"THERE'S NOTHING TO TALK ABOUT!" The two were almost at each others throats, teeth clenched and heads mentally clashing.
"WELL IT'S THE SAME WITH ME!"
Suddenly a roar of thunder was heard and it began to rain.
"NO IT'S NOT!" The man shouted, "I DON'T GET WHY YOU'D TELL SOMEONE YOU LOVE THAT YOU DON'T LOVE THEM, BUT YOU CAN STILL SAY YOU DO!"
"...No I can't. Now they've found someone else… And what about you!? Why don't YOU go back to that person who said they didn't like you?!"
"Because… HE DOESN'T!"
"THEN MAKE HIM!"
"I CAN'T!" The man fisted the front of Shanks' shirt, and Shanks grabbed the man's extended arm with his only hand. To Shanks' surprise, the man was stronger than he looked. A rough shove and they ended up flying backwards and skidding across on their shoulders.
The two men wrestled, rolling off the sidewalk and into the mud.
'That's… strange…' Shanks briefly thought, but brushed it away as the other man pinned him to the ground, looking ready to strangle him.
Their was no way Shanks could loose, but the thought that he may get a black eye wasn't pleasing. So he pulled down roughly on the man's arm, causing him to loose his balance and fall forward. Their foreheads banged together and they glared at each other, noses only inches apart.
It started to pour as lightning struck and the wind blew. A powerful gust almost knocked the top man over, but instead both men's cloaks blew out and their hoods flew back. A long flash of lighting illuminated their faces, and each could see who the other really was. For what seemed like an eternity, they stared dumbstruck at each other. Raven hair and wide eyes looked at red hair and an equally shocked expression.
"S-Shanks?" The top man said in a quiet voice.
"Luffy!?" Shanks exclaimed. Out of all of his years of sailing, he'd never had something like this happen. As soon as the boy's hood blew off, he seemed to have shrunk and reversed back to his young age.
"Shanks--How?--What you said before…?" Luffy's head was spinning. "Why are you here?--When you were talking about someone you love was it…?" The poor boy couldn't get his thoughts straight.
"What about you?" Shanks said staring intensely at Luffy, who was still unconsciously pinning him to the muddy ground. "You were with that other man, so how could you have come from the other direction?"
"Other man? What are you talking about?"
Another flash of lightning lit up the dark sky as Shanks and Luffy froze before giving a quick shudder. All of a sudden it felt as if a light feather were being brushed against every part of their skin. Then, as if ghost hands were creeping into them.
"Mmmf!" In a impulse, both men closed their eyes and pushed their heads forward, lips smashing together. Shanks wrapped his arm around Luffy's back, pulling the boy down until his chest was resting on the older man's warm body. Luffy in turn tangled his figures into Shanks' fire-red hair. They sank deeper into the mud as the rain continued pouring down.
Neither cared that they were soaking wet and practically submerged in mud. All they could think about was each other. Shanks pushed vigorously against Luffy's lips. Each of them feeling an urge to completely drown themselves in the other.
A few feet away two groups of cloaked people had come over and now stood still as stone, mouths agape at the scene the two captains were making.
On one side; Nami, Zoro, Robin, and Sanji.
On the other side; Tanya, Ben, Yasopp, and Lucky.
"Their definitely possessed," said Tanya, "I thought I told Shanks not to take his hood off."
Ben smoked his cigar, calmly looking at the two, "I guess this works out. But is this what you didn't want to say, that happens when you reveal your face?"
"Kind of… There are usually two main outcomes."
"Whatever it may be, we should get them off each other." Ben mused as he watched the two start to take each other's shirts off.
"You can't!" The group looked on the other side of the two captains to see a yellow cloaked girl with a camera, "I haven't taken a good picture yet!" She huffed, "It's too dark."
The taller woman standing next to her clucked. To the left of her was a man silently smoking a cigarette. Next to him was a man with three swords who was making a strange gurgling noise as he wobbled back and forth at the sight of the two men making out. Poor sap couldn't handle it.
'Luffy…' Zoro could barely look at his captain being held by the strange red-haired man, 'Is this who you were talking about?' Painfully, Zoro looked at that two, remembering how Luffy turned him down when he kissed him. 'He ran off the ship looking so hurt… but I guess this guy…'
Everyone watched as Zoro snapped out of his shocked mode and walked over to the kissing men. He grabbed Luffy around the waist and hulled him off the other man, much to the two's displeasure. Luffy struggled to get out of Zoro's grip until the swordsman managed to pull Luffy's hood back on. As soon as the young boy's face was covered his eyes drooped and he fell fast asleep.
Shanks on the other hand was stopped from going after Luffy by Ben, who quickly pulled the possessed man's hood back on.
"Luffy?" Shanks rubbed his head, "What happened?"
Everyone blinked at Shanks as the question struck them, 'What exactly did happen?' Everyone knew certain details, but not the whole story.
"Where to start..." Tanya wondered aloud as she scratched her cheek. She knew the most about the island, but also had a few questions to ask about how the two ended up back together.
Nami sighed as she put her camera away, upset that she didn't get a good picture, "How about we all first get out of the rain? Our ship isn't too far away from here."
--------
Author's Note: Gosh, that part where the two were shouting must have been the hardest thing I've ever had to write. I wanted Shanks and 'the stranger' to get into a fight, but however I wrote it, it seemed OOC for both Shanks and Luffy. -.-;
If you're nice you'll review and tell me how I did. :)
In the next chapter: All the blank parts of the story are pieced together by Shanks and the others while Luffy sleeps away. But how does the young captain react when he wakes up? Find out in the informative Chapter 11.