A/N: When was the last time I updated this? December? My gosh, I'm sorry for those who actually enjoyed reading this so far. I was just really stuck some point in this. And...I just found no incentive to write...Enjoy...?

The Innocent Prince and the Arrogant Maid Chapter 4: Blooming Relationship

The light winter breeze chilled her arms as she sighed for the umpteenth time that morning. The frozen frost stuck on the grass brushed softly past her bare skin and lingered. She raised her gaze to his clothed back and furrowed her brows.

It was quite early in the morning and Luffy had woken her up, much to her demise, and explained that he wanted to take her somewhere fun. He proceeded to tell her to wear a bathing suit or something she wouldn't mind getting wet and had ignored her complaints completely. This had annoyed her to a large extent and again had to remind herself of the reason for staying there. She highly doubted she would ever find his exuberant personality a normal thing.

They started walking into the forest foliage. She glanced back to the front porch of the house. Nami had already asked why he would leave the front door open, to which she was utterly confused as to why he would in the first place, and was received with the answer of, "Oh, well, Sanji's going to be coming soon, he can close the door when he gets here."

The boy was an enigma to her. Ever since she had started to talk to him. She even found it impossible that someone could be that optomistic. But, because of that, she had learned that Zoro and Sanji had the same schedule as her. Being at the mansion 24/7 after school and having the ability to go home on weekends. A chilling breeze came by and she huffed, her manecured nails digging into her skin in irritation.

Luffy looked behind his shoulder at Nami and chuckled at her expression. He thought the girl was really funny but-

His thoughts were immediately cut short when his foot got snagged on a lone tree branch and he fell flat on his face. He heard Nami chortle as he lifted his bruised face from the ground with a pout. He sat up a bit, spitting dirt from his mouth and sticking his tongue out in disgust.

A hand made its way to his vision and he looked up and grinned. Nami had held her hand out and when she saw his smile, she furrowed her brows lightly and looked away.

"Well, are you gonna take it or not?" she said arrogantly, glancing back to the boy.

He blinked before laughing briefly and finally grabbing her hand. She helped him up and watched as he patted himself off of the dust.

"So where are we going anyway?" she asked, tugging her small towel around her shoulders more securely.

When he finished dusting himself off, he looked up with his usual grin again and held an index finger at his lips.

"Secret." he chuckled.

Nami snorted and laughed sarcastically. "Hahaha, right..."

He turned around, "Ah, we're already close though." he said before walking on ahead.

She blinked before raising an eyebrow and following after him.

As they walked further into the forest, Nami perked at the sound of water. A distant sound of something she couldn't comprehend. It was at the tip of her tongue, what it was, but she just couldn't get it. She was staring at the ground and halted when she had just realized that Luffy had screeched still. Stopping herself right before she could come in contact with his back, she stumbled slightly in surprise and eventually raised a hard glare at his back.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, her hands clenched at her sides. "What was that-?!"

"We're here." he chuckled, interrupting her mid-sentence.

Nami raised an eyebrow again and peeked at what lay in front of them. It was only a thicket of long vines, spreading along a couple of feet. It didn't seem to look like anything special. She had noticed that the sound of the water had disappeared.

"What? It's just vines." she pointed out, pointing to the large brush in front of them.

"Shishishishi." he laughed. "No, that's not it." The ginger haired girl frowned in annoyance. "Then what is it?" she asked, sighing and crossing her arms under her chest.

He said nothing as he walked forward and pushed a handful of the vines away with a hand. To Nami's surprise, he entered what appeared to be a cave. As she continued to gape at how securely the opening of the cave was hid by the vines and how natural it had looked, Luffy looked back to her and grinned.

"Come on." he grinned, letting go of the plantation, causing the natural camoflauge to drape over the entrance. Her lips formed a straight line, debating if she should follow a man she had just met a day before into a cave or follow her gut that was telling her that it was alright. After a few seconds of standing in the chilled air, she sighed in defeat. Her mother had told her to always follow her gut when things came to this.

She tugged her towel closer to her neck and pushed away the vines, stepping into the small, dark cave. She looked up to see Luffy standing in front of her with a smile. They were in a small cavern opening. The dark chamber shaped like a hallway. She could hear the distant sound of water again, only this time, it was stronger. He began to walk, and she followed him. Other than the sound of their footsteps, she could also hear the sounds of water dripping onto the rock floor, echoing slightly in the cavity.

"Ace and I found out about this place."

Nami jumped slightly, startled by the sudden words that cut the thick silence.

"We used to play in the forest all the time when we were kids and we happened to stumble here." He laughed.

She stared at the back of his head in confusion, wondering why he would just tell her that when they met only yesterday. The small silence ensued and she stifled a yawn. They walked on, turning a few times around corners, and as they did, Nami noticed that the sound of the water was starting to get louder. Finally, she realized and her eyes widened slightly.

"Wait, is this place we're going to-"

"Yup! Shishishishi!"

Nami blinked at him and looked over to see that the end of the tunnel was near.

Suddenly, Luffy broke into a sprint.

"Ah! Hey!" she exclaimed.

He looked behind his shoulder at her and chuckled.

She blinked again and watched as he disappeared past the end. "Wait a second!" Nami briefly pondered on what to do, but without thinking, her legs had already begun to run forward. She groaned, "Seriously-!"

Soon enough, she exited the dark cave to a blinding light. She closed her eyes and shielded them with her arms. A few seconds passed and she slowly slid her eyelids open. Her ears were suddenly flooded with the relaxing sound of the water and her eyes widened in shock at the sight before her.

A waterfall. Standing tall, engraved into the earth's surface was a waterfall. It was a beautiful sight. The crystal clear water shone from the light of the sun and she realized and fully acknowledged that this was what they were going to do. They were going to be swimming.

"Surprise!"

Nami turned slowly to see Luffy with an ear splitting grin, his arms gestured to the large clearing. He chuckled, "This is our meeting place. Pretty cool, huh?" The girl nodded in awe and proceeded to scan the area around them. The clearing they were in was like an indentation in the earth's surface and the waterfall stretched from the top of the floor above them to the level they were standing on now. There still wasn't much sunlight, so it felt pretty cold. She saw him from the corner of her eye undressing.

"What are you doing...?" she asked, betraying eyes wandering up and down the muscled chest before her. He threw the discarded shirt across a tree branch. "Swim!" he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. She already knew that much. She wasn't stupid, but as she shamelessly ogled the chiseled male species in front of her, she had noticed that he also lifted the floatie from his hips and placed it among the same branch as the shirt.

"Umm..." mumbled Nami. "Aren't you going to need that?" pointing to the item hanging on the tree. She had roughly guessed that he wasn't a very good swimmer by judging the fact he had gotten a floatie. He seemed to ignore her as he walked over to where the water lapped at the packed soil. It was hard and it didn't look like it would crumble if stomped on. She followed him and observed the clear water that almost touched her sandaled feet.

"Shishishi."

The ginger haired girl glanced at his face and saw a smirk and a little glint in his eyes that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"Hey, Nami," She blinked in confusion as he turned his grin to her direction. "I can't swim."

That was all he gave her before he suddenly ran to the water and catapulted himself to a deeper side of the pool. She heard a splash and her mind went blank. Her eyes were fixated on the spot he had just disappeared to, watching the bubbles pop to the surface.

A small buzz reached her ear and Nami finally snapped out of it. Her eyes widened in complete shock and her heart started to beat faster. A few more seconds and it dawned to her of the situation. All of a sudden, her mind acted on impulse, and she soon found herself submerged in the cold water, her eyes opening to meet the frosty temperature of the pool.

Nami didn't even have an idea to what she was doing, but all she knew was that she couldn't just let a person like him die. Her eyes frantically looked around the clear water and she spotted him. An unmoving figure in the deep expanse. She swiftly swam over to him, her heart beating like crazy, and took him by the shoulders.

She accidentally coughed out her air from his weight and sucked in an unhealthy amount of water. He weighed like an anchor. Despite this, she quickly swam to the surface, as fast as she believed she could swim and broke through the water with a gasp. With the little strength she had left, Nami hauled his coughing body over to flat land and lifted herself out of the water. She too coughed up the water that entered her lungs with chagrin, her throat burning and yearning for water, though not the water she had just swallowed.

Panting, the orange haired girl glared daggers at the figure laying beside her. "What the hell were you thinking?!" He laughed, which caused her to become even more pissed at him, so she bonked him over the head. "Idiot!"

"OWW! That hurt!" he whined, rubbing the spot with a pout.

"That's the point." Nami huffed. "What were you doing anyway? Were you trying to kill yourself?" His pout slipped to a frown as he stuck his tongue out with a pant.

"Of course not!"

"Jeez, why're you so freaking frustrating...!"

She heard him groan and watched as he weakly lifted his trembling body off the ground and sat up. She got up too, pulling her knees up to her chest with gritting teeth, mumbling incoherent insults to said boy who had just tossed himself into a water expanse.

"I knew what I was doing." he claimed. "I'm not an idiot."

Nami scoffed. "That's rich, coming from you." All she received was a small pout, but it was gone just as fast as it had come. He leaned back on his hands with a shrug. "I just wanted to see what you would do." he said, looking at the water. She followed his gaze feeling the warm heat of the sun on their backs. "I get this feeling whenever I'm around people and it just tells me something about them." A small gap of silence ensued. Then, he turned his head to her direction.

"So, I guess you're special to me, huh?"

Nami looked at the grinning boy with a blank expression, the sun projecting at the side of his face seeming to only make his smile even brighter. She didn't know what it was, but something about her view of him changed in that moment as they stared at each other for a while. She then tore her eyes away from his the moment later and scoffed.

She stood up with a smile, her actual, true smile and offered him a hand. "You're such a moron, you know that right?"

He simply stared up at her for a while before breaking to a grin and accepting the offer. "Shishishi! She pulled him up with a smile but blinked when he stumbled and almost crashed into her. Taking her shoulders, he faltered with shaky legs, but laughed.

Her lip twitched up.

"I'm guessing you and water don't mix well."

"Hmm..." he took his hands back and placed one under his chin. "It just makes me feel really weak," he stuck his tongue out. "I never actually learned how to swim, I just sink like an anchor in water."

The ginger haired girl thought about it for a moment before smirking. "How about I teach you how to swim?"

"REALLY?!" His eyes held astonishment in them as he gaped at her. "YOU'RE REALLY GOING TO DO THAT FOR ME?!" he exclaimed.

Nami found his excitement amusing. "Of course."

"Wow. I didn't know you were this kind!"

"But now it's going to cost you." she muttered, teeth grinding at his statement.

Luffy frowned, "Stingy..."

"Now, an extra thousand..!"

"Nami!"

"Three hundred thousand!"

"Nami..! Come on!"

"Four hundred thousand!"

"Nami!"

~(=v=)~

The orange haired teen squeezed the water out of her hair and looked solemnly at her soaked towel. She sighed and whipped around to face the other teen currently in the area.

"Out of all the things you could have gotten wet, why my towel?" she screeched.

The tanned boy looked up from putting his not wet shirt back on. He shrugged. "There wasn't anything else I could use to try to catch the fish."

Nami's face twitched before she went to give him a beating.

"GYAAAGH! NAMI, THAT HURTS!"

"YOU MORONIC, IDIOT, STUPID BLOCKHEAD!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

She huffed and reeled back, tossing her last hope of warmth on her shoulder and leaning down to put her sandals back on. "You better be."

Luffy gave her a lopsided frown and rubbed the back of his head with a small whine. "You sure do hit really hard, for a girl."

"What's that supposed to mean..?" she looked up, her expression seeping venom. That was all it took for him to shut his mouth, beads of sweat running down his forehead.

Nami stood up straight and began to walk towards the small cavern. She looked behind her shoulder. "Well, are you coming or not?"

He blinked before breaking to a wide grin. "Shishishishi!" They entered the cave and Luffy lead the way. Although, right when they came across one of the forked paths, he stopped and she looked over to him to see what was wrong, only to see a perplexed look on his face.

"What's wrong?"

"..."

She raised an eyebrow.

"I...I don't remember the way back..."

Her eyes widened when his sentence was processed in her head.

"YOU WHAT?!"

"Well...Ace and Sabo were always the one to lead the way, so..."

"How careless are you?!" Nami yelled, acknowledging the new name, but it hadn't been important at that moment. He pouted and rubbed his ringing ear. "Then...Then how did you know the way earlier?"

Luffy placed a finger to his forehead and closed his eyes. "Mmmm...Instinct...?"

Another bonk to the head. Though he wasn't complaining this time, well, at least not loudly. He muttered silently, crouching on the floor while rubbing his bruise. Nami groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to remember anything. After a few moments, the angered teen grabbed the boy by his collar and began to drag him to a certain direction.

Though soon enough, they made it out of the cave and she dropped his limp body to the ground. He looked up at her from the ground with a grin.

"Wow, I didn't actually think we could get back," he said, "You're great at navigating, Nami." he chuckled.

She sighed heavily. "We're just lucky I could remember the direction you went, moron."

He stood up. "Yosh!" Suddenly, a loud grumble filled the air and Nami jumped, eyes scanning the area and unconsciously shifting closer to the boy next to her. No more than a split second later, she realized and looked at Luffy.

"Ahahaha, I'm hungry!"

Nami sweatdropped, staring at his stomach. "You ate a huge chunk of meat before we left and you're hungry?"

"Yup!"

"Ugh..."

The two began to stroll through the trees, stepping lightly on the dew moist ground. Suddenly, a chill ran up Nami's spine, and she shivered, rubbing her arms with displeasure. Yes, the sun had risen but the leaves had blocked the sunny rays from reaching the whole ground. Only small yellow splotches could be seen across the grass.

Luffy had slid next to her instead of being in front after noticing her actions. "Cold?"

"Wha...Of course I am!" she hissed. "It's all your fault anyway, getting my clothes wet..." she muttered.

The boy hummed softly, his fingers stroking his chin as if he were thinking. He got an idea and before Nami could even get a say in, he had already taken off his shirt and given it to her. "Here!"

Nami blinked. "What? Wait- no, I'm not taking your shirt."

Luffy blinked too, bewildered. "But you just said it was cold." he was frowning.

The orange haired teen opened her mouth, but she didn't know what to say. Her eyes kept glancing between him and the shirt. Then, she sighed in defeat and took the offer.

"Turn around."

"Yosh!" he swirled on his heel.

Nami took off her wet shirt, placing it against a branch and fitted herself in Luffy's shirt. It felt two or three sizes larger than hers. And of course there was the missing curves, it was a man's shirt after all. She took her wet shirt from the branch then and turned around. He was squatting down on the ground, picking a few mushrooms from the dirt. Raising a thin eyebrow, she asked, "Let's go?"

He turned around, he was stuffing the mushrooms into his pocket, and grinned.

They began walking again and Nami picked at the fabric. It was sticking to her skin, as expected. The shirt hadn't been very helpful with keeping her physically warm but she appreciated it. The silence ensued and Nami looked up to his broad shoulders and back.

"...Thank you."

He turned around and all he did was grin.

A/N: I know I'm late but OMG, G2B HAS ALREADY ENDED. *cries* They didn't even kiss...Okay, all fluffy nakamaship so far! =^v^= Romance and stuff will develop slowly. Just a heads up. Please review, favorite, whateves. Any feedback is appreciated highly!