"Come on." Ace's voice made Sora look up from the counter.
"What're you doing up so early? And come on what?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Her apron was slung around her waist again and she was making drinks and delivering orders to customers. It was just before lunch; she recalled Ace saying that if it wasn't lunch, it was too early, but here he was, dressed and standing in front of her.
"We're going out," he announced as though she was supposed to have known that.
"I'm working," she laughed, shaking her head. "I haven't worked a day since you guys came."
"Let's keep up the trend. Come on," Ace urged again, coming around to the side of the counter. Sora backed away, shaking her head and giggling.
"Stop it, I have to work," she said, but Ace kept moving toward her, grinning as he closed the distance between them. "Ace!" she laughed when she reached the end of the bar. He trapped her between his arms, flashing a smile. "Are you kidnapping me?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at the face in front of her.
"That's a really harsh term," Ace mused, reaching behind her to untie the apron. Sora rolled her eyes and tried to slap his hand away. He shrugged it off, finishing untying it and added, "I prefer to call it surprise adoption."
"Adoption? Oh, so you're my daddy now?" she teased.
"Sora, that's really kinky. You shouldn't call me daddy in public, that's strictly our bedroom talk" Ace said very loudly, making sure that people around them heard. Sora gasped and slapped his arm, making a face at him.
"That is not even-"
"You don't have to be in denial," Ace shrugged, speaking loudly again. "You know you want me. We can just go upstairs if you'd rather do that," he teased with a wink, earning him another hit in the shoulder from Sora. The male customers around her just chuckled, and Ace noticed the slightest of color tinting her cheeks. "Come on, small boobs, let's go out."
Sora rolled her eyes at the nickname. Ace pulled the black apron up over her head. "Are you going to stay here and trap me or did you have anything planned?"
"If I lift my arms, you're not going to run away, right?" Ace asked, grinning.
"Never thought about that 'til you said it," Sora told him, laughing.
Ace lifted his arms for a moment and slammed them down again, as Sora did make a move to try and run. She made a noise as his forearm caught her and she laughed, trying to pry Ace's fingers off the counter. "You're not going to be able to do that," he told her, laughing.
"Oh?" Sora gave up on trying to break Ace's grip. Instead she wrapped her arms around his neck and raised her leg so she could press her body against his. Her skin was cool against Ace's own flesh, and she ran a hand down his neck, placing it on his chest. Ace struggled to maintain steady breathing as she lifted her lips to his ears. "Oh, daddy," she whispered seductively, and Ace faltered at the feel of her breath on his ear, saying that of all phrases. Sora grinned and punched Ace in the stomach, making the younger man keel over, clutching his abdomen and Sora slipped away from him, giggling as she reached the other end of the bar. "Man, you are too easy."
"Cheap shot," Ace groaned, following after her. His stomach still hurt. She had punched him pretty hard. "That was pretty hot though. You sure you don't want to go upstairs?" he teased, and Sora smacked his arm playfully.
"I can't leave," Sora told him again, picking up another apron. "I can't leave Eiichi with the bar again."
"I already asked him," Ace informed her. "He said it was fine, now come on before I literally pick you up and take you out of here."
"No, I can't, I feel bad. What about Kohaku?"
"With Oyaji today. Stop making excuses," Ace said, making a face at her as he moved towards her again. In one swift motion he scooped her up and tossed her over his shoulder.
"Noooo," she cried, pounding his back. But Ace was unfazed, heading towards the door.
"Too bad, small boobs," Ace said, glancing back at her. "Say bye to the bar for today!" Ace called, waving to the rest of the customers at the bar, who were chuckling, waving as Sora and Ace left the bar.
"Where are you taking me?" she asked Ace as he glanced around.
"Far away," he said airily. "Dark alleys, secluded areas, where people normally take their victims that have been surprise-adopted."
"Shut up," she laughed, accepting the fact that Ace was not going to let her go. "Where are we going, studly?"
"Hiking," Ace told her, not moving from his spot.
"Hiking?" she repeated, not sure she heard correctly. "At least let me pack some stuff. I'm not even dressed for hiking." She looked down at Ace who was wearing a pair of black dockside shoes and was without any bag of some sort. "You aren't either!"
"More fun that way," Ace shrugged. He looked from side to side again. "Where's the trail?"
"Let me go in and change."
"You're just going to run away. Tell me where the trail is."
"Ace!" Sora cried, squirming about again under Ace's tight grip.
"Small boobs!" Ace called back, teasing her, his grip not easing up. He turned left and began walking through the town, still carrying the woman. He asked a random person in the street. "Hi, do you know where this woman," he spun around to show the person Sora's face, "goes hiking? I heard she goes there with the blonde first division captain, Marco the Phoenix?"
The woman nodded. "Oh, yes, the path is that way," she said, pointing north. "Outskirts of town and straight up that mountain."
Ace grinned and nodded. "Thanks a lot, ma'am. Have a great day!"
The woman laughed a little. "You, too," she said before walking away.
"Alright, small boobs, I'm pretty buff and everything, but I don't know if I can carry you up a mountain," Ace told Sora. "You gonna cooperate this time or am I going to have to punch you in the face?"
Sora giggled. "I don't know. You can let me go but I might run away. Do you trust me?"
"Yes," Ace answered without hesitating. The answer took Sora by surprise and she found herself speechless. What was up with this man always answering questions she meant to be rhetorical? Ace let Sora go, placing her down on her feet, not prepping his body to chase after her if she did run away. Sora found herself frozen to the earth, although every fiber in her body screamed at her to turn the other way and run. Why wasn't she running? Why couldn't she just pick up her foot and run?
Ace smiled gently at Sora, as though providing an explanation. "Come on, Sora, let's go," he told her, turning his back and heading towards the outskirts of the town.
"I...have to feed the fish," Sora said, trying one last excuse.
Ace didn't even bother to look back and just waved. "Did it already. Come on."
As though being pulled by a magnet, Sora felt herself moving. Not moving away from this man, but moving towards him, gravitating to him.
Ace felt a presence by his side and glanced down ever so slightly to see Sora walking beside him. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and squeezed her body against his in a sideward walking hug. "Thanks," he said, glad that she decided to come along. Sure, Ace acted confident but the truth was that he was scared out of his mind. It had nearly been a week and yet the young man found himself thinking about Sora quite often. No woman ever had that effect on him before. Ace needed to pretend like he didn't care whether or not she came with him places when he asked; he needed to pretend like he didn't care that she so easily dropped everything to spar with Marco the other day; pretend like he didn't hang on to her every word and glance.
"You know this is our last hang out," Sora said, smiling up at Ace.
"What?"
She giggled. "You said dinner and hiking, and since we're going hiking today, that's all, you know. It ends today. No more interrupting me and kidnapping me from work," she told him.
"Ah, but after today, you would have such a fantastic time with me that you're going to be begging for me to steal you away from work," Ace said, tapping her nose.
"Doubt it," Sora teased, yawning teasingly as though she were already bored.
"We shall see," Ace said, ruffling her hair.
They walked more, reaching the end of the town and heading into the mountain, chatting about various things, ranging from the weather to the spar yesterday with Marco. "I was seriously impressed," he told her, his hands in his pockets.
Sora slapped his shoulder playfully. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I don't know, I mean you're cute and your nickname was 'fuurin', you're the windchimes. I didn't expect that much strength," he said, and Sora hit him again, laughing. "I mean I can feel your haki and everything and I mean you're a very confident woman, but I was surprised to see that you actually have the physical strength to back it up."
"Thanks, I guess," Sora scoffed.
"Are you a Logia?" Ace asked, poking her shoulder as though expecting his finger to go through her body the way objects normally passed through Logia-type fruit users.
Sora shook her head. "Paramecia."
Ace raised an eyebrow. "Wind's not an element?"
"I'm sure there is a Logia-type wind fruit. Mine is just the paramecia type, I don't know," Sora said, shrugging. "I don't care what kind of fruit user I am because this power has allowed me to protect people and I couldn't be more grateful. You know?" she looked up at Ace for confirmation.
The younger man nodded, completely understanding. "Yeah. So, what, you can make a wind body?"
"Ah, it's more like, controlling and creating wind," Sora shrugged. She noticed that there was still an inkling of confusion splayed across Ace's features. She stopped walking. "Like, okay, try and punch me. As hard as you possibly can," she told Ace, opening her arms and welcoming Ace's fist.
Ace shook his head immediately. "Yeah, I was just joking when I said I hit girls," he said.
Sora laughed. "Come on, as hard as you can. It won't hurt," she promised.
Ace raised both his eyebrows. "So you're saying my punches are weak," Ace clarified.
"Yup," she answered without hesitation, grinning like a child. Ace noticed that she seemed to know that he couldn't turn down a challenge. And she was right. He felt a prickling in his chest with her simple one-worded answer and knew now that he couldn't back down, even if it meant hitting a girl.
Ace cocked back his fist and it enveloped in flames before he thrust it forward with all his might. There was an explosion of wind and he felt the flames on his hand disappear and as it moved in slow motion and Sora gently caught his fist as though he had merely flicked it at her. Ace remembered seeing her do something similar to Jozu when he had punched her.
Sora smiled, letting go of his hand. "Felt it? I used the air resistance to slow down your hand," she said, starting to walk again.
"That's an insane amount of wind then," Ace commented. From the way the wind had felt against his muscles, it was like he had just thrown a punch in water.
Sora nodded. "Compressed air. I'm not as great as, say, Kuma Bartholemew at compressing air," she said, referring to the Shichibukai. "Like, I can't make bombs. But here," she said, and flung her arm out in a sweeping motion, and Ace felt another burst of wind and watched as a nearby bush was sliced clean in half. Leaves burst outward, flying around as though on a battlefield. She smiled at Ace's wide eyes, laughing because he had just seen her use this attack yesterday. "Besides, I like blades better anyway."
"Kaze Kaze's pretty awesome," Ace said honestly.
"Thanks," Sora said happily, actually sounding glad that Ace acknowledged her strength as something admirable. "Your Mera Mera is pretty neato-burrito, too. If I could have any fruit, it'd actually be yours."
Ace grinned. "Thanks, small boobs. My fruit is the best in all the land; I can see why you'd envy me."
"Okay, too cocky, I like Marco's fruit better," she teased, shoving Ace playfully. Ace just laughed, letting her know that he had been kidding in the first place.
Ace noticed that they were now walking uphill through dirt. Sora was carrying her slippers in her hand now. "Should I carry mine too?" Ace asked, gesturing down to his docksides that were gathering mud.
Sora laughed. " I guess." She glanced at his shoes and raised her eyebrows. "You sure those aren't women's shoes anyway?"
"What?" Ace asked, examining his feet. What was wrong with them? He had worn this style of shoes since he was a kid – if he weren't wearing his boots.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I have a pair of ballerina flats that looks something like that," she teased, and Ace rolled his eyes, mumbling under his breath. Sora poked him. "See, told you we should have gone back. Coulda changed shoes."
"I'm a man, we venture the world barefoot," Ace said, kicking off his shoes and carrying them also. Sora just giggled, shaking her head. Ace shielded his face from the sun. "Shoulda probably brought my hat," he said, chuckling, receiving an eye roll from Sora.
"A man is afraid of a little sun?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow. "When I come with Marco, we hike naked."
"Yeah, bad joke," Ace told her, shoving her grinning face. "What's up with those Marco jokes anyway? What if he hears about them?"
"Well, making you jealous is fun," Sora shrugged as though this should have been common knowledge. "And I don't care, Marco knows that we're just friends now."
Ace's eyes narrowed. "Now?" he asked, catching the word.
"Did I say now? I meant always," Sora rephrased, making a face at Ace.
"You dated Marco?"
"No," Sora said, shaking her head.
"You have a child together!" Ace exclaimed, his eyes widening. Sora burst out laughing but Ace continued with the joke. "Oh, shit, that's why Kohaku is blonde isn't it? Damn, that little kid lied to me about being your brother!"
Sora just laughed some more and pushed him. "Oh, shut up. Kohaku's not my son."
"So what about you and Marco, then?" Ace asked, persistent.
"Nothing," Sora insisted.
"Don't lie to me, woman!"
Sora giggled. "Fine, if you must know, back when I first got on the Moby Dick, I…may have had a tiny, not really, sort of big crush on Marco," she said, shrugging as though this information was not a big deal.
Ace pointed a finger. "I knew it! I knew all those jokes had some truth to them. Oh, God, you guys had sex, huh? Damn, I'm a disrespectful son of a bitch," Ace groaned, sighing and rubbing the bridge of his nose as he totally blew everything out of proportion. Sora couldn't even tell if he was joking or not.
Sora shook her head and shoved him slightly to get his attention. "No! We didn't have sex! He's like, way older than me, so back then it was only a crush. He was the first person to talk to me and make friends with me and I used to think he was so cool. I was sixteen, and he was this, you know, hot shot phoenix pirate, so yeah, I kinda liked him then," she said with another shrug. "But that's all."
Ace kept his eyes squinted, as though he didn't believe her. Sora laughed, pushing the younger man again. "Stop looking at me like that!"
"I'm going to be extremely depressed if you're lying," Ace warned her, his eyes still little slits in his face. She could see his lips quivering a bit as he tried not to laugh.
"Not lying," Sora said, holding both her hands up to show him that her fingers weren't crossed. "I told Marco about this like, years ago, after the fact. We laughed about it, ha, ha, and we're best friends now. Stop getting your panties in a bunch."
"Prove you're over him," Ace challenged, glancing down at her.
"What?" Sora scoffed. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"You're over your little crush, okay. Go on a date with me. A real date, not an oh-I'll-decide-then date, a real date. I'll pretend to pick you up and everything," Ace offered, grinning.
Sora smiled wryly. "Is that the best possible pick up move you got? No dice, studly."
Ace frowned. "Oh, come on!"
"The last time I listened to your 'come on', you kidnapped me and forced me to go on a hike," Sora snapped back, taking Ace off guard. He backed off a little, and Sora just walked ahead of him, not bothering to look back to see if he was following her.
Ace caught up with her again, trying to make eye contact. "Sora? Sora, are you okay?"
"Yeah," she scoffed, shaking her head.
"Was it something I said?" Ace asked, not knowing what he could have possibly said to suddenly outrage her. He hated having her direct negative energy towards him. It happened the night they met ramen, too. She had decided he had done something wrong when Ace hadn't even known what he did wrong.
"Whatever."
Ace moved in front of her and grabbed her shoulders, stopping her in her tracks. She immediately averted her eyes. "Hey, what did I do?"
Her voice was monotone. "Nothing, forget about it."
"Stop," Ace said, raising his voice and unconsciously shaking her once as though this were going to shake out the bad mood. Sora glanced up, her blue eyes clashing with his brown ones. And everything seemed to melt away. The trees, the ground, the sky – everything. All she was left with were his eyes. "I'm sorry if I said something that upset you," he said, his voice stern and serious. "I'm not going to ask what it was, but please stop being mad at me when I don't even know what I did. I'm trying so hard to understand you and, I don't know, it just sucks when stuff like this happens and I'm left in the dark not knowing why. If you're gonna be mad at me then at least tell me why. If not, then stop being mad."
Ace was completely serious. He didn't want this woman being in a bad mood when he was around her. The only thing he wanted to see on her face was a smile and if he couldn't even do that, then what was even the point of talking to her?
Then, she smiled ever so slightly and Ace knew that the storm had passed. "Okay, fine," she exhaled, and Ace could hear the light tone of her voice. He also knew that because she agreed to stop being angry, it also meant that she wasn't going explain why she had been in the first place. A part of him had actually been hoping for her to talk, but for now, he was glad that she was happy again.
"Good," Ace said, releasing her and starting up the trail again. Sora was at his side as though nothing had ever happened. Ace was about to say something, but he stopped for a moment, putting his hands out as though signaling for the world to stop with him.
"What're you doing?" the woman asked, looking back at him.
"Don't you hear that?" Ace turned back to her, and put a hand over his ear.
"Hear what?"
"Waterfall," he said. Sora was surprised. He had actually heard it.
She smiled. "Yeah, there is a waterfall up here, but it's not on the trail—"
"Screw the trail," Ace said immediately, grinning like a child. "It's a waterfall, Sora! A waterfall!"
"It's like you've never seen one before," she teased, rolling her eyes.
"Not since I was a kid," Ace told her, deviating from the dirt trail into the trees, moving towards the sound. He felt the ground getting steeper and he realized that they were already pretty high up the mountain, and were sliding back down.
"Ace," Sora called behind him, and he paused for a moment to allow her to catch up.
"You're so slow," he told her, excitement lacing his voice. He grabbed her hand. "Come on!"
Sora flinched at his touch and instinctively whipped her hand back out of his grasp. Ace didn't even mention it and just kept moving. "Where are you even going?" Sora called, falling behind again.
"Waterfall, small boobs. Didn't you hear me talking about it?" Ace called back, laughing.
"But we're already off from the path," Sora said, worry tainting her voice.
"We're pirates! We live off from the path!"
Ace knew Sora didn't have anything to say to that, but he could still hear her following behind him. He pushed leaves out of the way, not caring about the fact that dirt covered nearly half his calves from him sliding around and falling over rocks and logs. He just wanted to see the damn waterfall.
"Oh, shit," Ace cursed, immediately halting in his tracks. He had nearly fallen off the mountain, reaching a gorge where a crisp waterfall poured into a clear pond below. The porous rocks were tough against his feet and Ace remembered to look back to make sure Sora didn't fly off the cliff.
He could hear her swearing as she tried to catch up and she stumbled onto the cliff, where Ace held his arm out to steady her balance. "How awesome is this?" he said in awe, glancing around him. Everything seemed brighter here; the trees were greener, the sky was bluer, the birds sang louder – even the dirt felt softer. Ace's eyes were pulled to the waterfall, hearing the crashing sound of it against the rocks as it cascaded into the pond that leaded to a shallow river seeming to flow down the mountain.
"I'm gonna jump," Ace announced, pulling his shirt up over his body. He glanced around and tossed both his shoes and his shirt down below, the items landed completely askew on the rocks below.
"What? We're at least fifty feet in the air," Sora told him.
Ace stepped back, rolling his shoulder blades. "I know. It's gonna be awesome."
"Ace, don't jump," Sora told him.
"I don't even remember the last time I've ever jumped into anything," he told her as though trying to sound philosophical. "Gonna do it now, though!" he called and ran as fast as he could, leaping off the edge of the cliff.
"Ace!" Sora called, watching him drop fifty feet into the pool of water, a huge splash following. He didn't surface right away. How deep was this pool? "Ace, you shit, you can't swim, you know! I can't swim either! You're gonna drown, and I can't save you," she called down when he didn't come up. She waited three more seconds. "Ace! Ace, you—"
At that moment, Ace burst up from the pond, treading water as he wiped his face. He grinned up at Sora. "It's not sea water, you idiot," he laughed. "Moving water live rivers and waterfalls don't affect us. The ocean doesn't go up the mountain and into a waterfall. It's rainwater or something. Have you never seen a waterfall before?"
"Have you?" she shot back, rolling her eyes.
"Jump!" Ace called, waving his arm for her to come in the water.
"No way," Sora said immediately. "I'll meet you down there in twenty minutes. Swim around in circles for me, studly," she told him and shifted her feet so that she could travel down and around the mountain to try and find him.
"No dice!" Ace called up at her, grinning at her scowl at the fact that he used her line. "Is the great Fuurin afraid of heights?"
"Shut up," Sora yelled back. "I'm not going in there. I don't even have a bathing suit."
"Just take off your shirt."
"I'm wearing a bra."
"That's the same as a bathing suit right?" Sora couldn't say anything back and Ace knew he had won yet again. "Now come on, small boobs. Let me see some small boobs!"
Sora laughed, shaking her head. "Never!"
"Jump," Ace urged. "Jump, you stubborn woman!"
"If I said I was afraid of heights would you shut up?"
"No, because you said yesterday you like flying so that's impossible. Jump. No powers," he added, already predicting her next words.
So instead, she just said, "What will make you shut up?"
"If you jump."
"Not going to happen."
"Come on," Ace persisted. "Live a little, Sora! Jump! I am right here, ready to catch you."
Sora rolled her eyes. "You can't catch me if I fall fifty feet."
"Oh, my God," Ace groaned. "If you don't jump right this second, I'm going to go back up there and punch your face. Now jump, you annoying woman."
"What if I die?"
Ace laughed. "You won't die. I just did it."
"But you're an idiot."
"Jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump," Ace chanted, slurring his words together faster and faster.
"Shut up!" Sora cried, laughing. She walked around in a tiny circle, shaking her head and laughing at the same time. "Oh, my God," she mumbled to herself, half-laughing, half-hysterical.
Sora turned to leave, but then she heard his voice. "I'm right here, Sora. Trust me, you'll be okay," he said. And for some reason, Sora, who had been arguing with Ace for the past five minutes about jumping, believed him.
Ace looked up, trying to see Sora on the cliff. He couldn't see her at all; the ridge was too high. He wondered if she had left and was walking down like she said when suddenly he saw her tiny figure fly off the edge of the cliff, plummeting towards the water. She was screaming and swearing and Ace laughed as she hit the water, shielding himself from her splash.
She surfaced immediately, her teeth chattering and her arms crossed over her chest. "Holy crap," she breathed, lifting a hand to wipe her hair out of her face. "This water is freezing."
"Come here," Ace said, holding both his arms out to her. She swam towards him and he wrapped his arms around her. Instantly, Sora was filled with warmth. She was still shaking, so the man wrapped his arms around her tighter, his body rumbling a little with laughter. "Not so bad, right?" Sora could feel the vibration of his voice against her body. It sent chills down her spine.
"Terrifying," she said into his chest.
"Nah," he laughed, and pulled away for a moment to cup his hands around her face. It was a good thing that Sora's body was slightly warm from Ace's body heat; otherwise he would have felt the blood rush to her cheeks as he stared into her eyes. "You're a brave girl and I'm so proud of you," he said, his voice genuine. His words could have sounded demeaning, like he was speaking to a child, but Sora didn't hear and condescendence in his voice. And all the worry left her system. "We can kiss now, right?"
Sora pushed him away, laughing.
"Aw, that was totally a kiss moment. You ruined it," Ace teased, swimming after her.
Sora scoffed, swimming backwards towards the waterfall and away from Ace. "Oh, my God, have you ever even been in a 'kiss moment'? That was not even close to it."
"For your information, I have been in tons of kiss moments," Ace replied as a matter of fact, following her.
"With how many girls in how many different beds?"
"That's a trick question."
Sora laughed, raising both her eyebrows. "Oh, that many?"
"Don't answer her, Ace, it's a trick," he said aloud to himself, causing Sora to laugh.
She ducked under the waterfall, feeling the water pound her body as she crossed the veil to the inside of a small cave on the other side. The sound of the waterfall was louder here, echoing off all the walls of the jagged cave. Ace appeared at her side, a look of awe on his face as he glanced all around him.
"This is cool," he told Sora, finding a rock that jutted out. He could sit on it comfortably with the tips of his shoulders bobbing out of the water. "So, you've been here before?"
"Tons of times. I used to have sex with Marco here," Sora said nonchalantly, and then shielded her face when Ace splashed water at her. She laughed and splashed some back. "Kidding. Yeah, I've been here before but I've never jumped into the water like that."
"First time for everything," Ace shrugged. He caught her wrist and pulled her to him gently, half afraid that she was going to flee like how she had practically ripped her hand out of his grasp when he tried to lead her here in the first place. But to his surprise, she let him pull her along until they were enveloped in an embrace again.
Ace noticed. He noticed the curves of her chest and her waist, the smoothness of the lines defining her collarbones. He noticed the way her hair fell into her heart shaped face, the way the blue of the water reflected into her bright azure eyes. He noticed the feel of her flesh, cold against his own, her full lips, her thin fingers winding around the back of his head through his shaggy hair.
She lowered her face so that her lips were right below his earlobe. He struggled again to maintain even breathing as she whispered, "Now this is a first kiss moment."
Ace moved his hands to capture her face and slowly, ever so slowly, brought his own lips closer to hers, a strong, overwhelming urge to know how they would feel pressed against each other, synchronizing—
Sora splashed water in his face, completely shattering the moment. Ace could have sworn he even heard the sound of glass flying everywhere as he felt water on his face instead of Sora's lips. Ace wiped the water away but when he looked up again, Sora had fled to the opposite side of the cave, giggling.
"Twice in one day? Really?" Ace sighed, running a hand through his wet hair.
She laughed, splashing water at him again. "You are just too easy, studly."
"That's no excuse to be a cock tease, Sora," he said as though scolding her.
She rolled her eyes at his tone. "What are you now, my dad?"
Ace looked as her as though this were something she were supposed to know. "Come on, Sora, we went over this. You called me daddy this morning in front of a whole bar. I'm pretty sure we have established that I'm your daddy."
Sora flicked water at him, giggling. "Think of it as revenge for making me jump from that cliff."
"Okay, what you just did was way worse than what I suggested for you to do," Ace argued, pinning his arms on both sides of her, his hands pressing against the rough rocks.
"Whatever!" she cried, shoving his chest and staring at him incredulously. "You made me fall fifty feet."
"You didn't kiss me," Ace shot back, raising his eyebrows. "That's way worse; it's a lose-lose for both parties."
Sora scoffed. "How is that a lose-lose?"
"'Cause I know you wanted to kiss me."
Sora pretended like the breath in her chest hadn't caught. "Completely wrong."
"We can try it again," Ace suggested, closing the distance between them so that his face was right in front of her.
Sora could feel his breath and his body heat crushing her own presence. It was those damn freckles. And he was so close, so close she could see every single one, so obvious, like big bright stars standing out in the night sky. She felt her body naturally surrendering. He reminded her so much of—
Sora pressed her palms against his chest and shoved him as hard as she could. Ace seemed surprised, seeming alarmed from her sudden violence. "Ow," Ace complained, making a face at her. "What was that for?"
Don't be angry if you can't explain, Sora reminded herself, and instead just smiled at the man. "Never going to kiss you," she told him.
"One day, you will be begging me to kiss you," Ace challenged teasingly, following Sora as she crossed the waterfall again.
She made her way to the rocky shore and pulled herself out of the water. Ace did his best not to look when she pulled off the shirt she had been wearing, as she had jumped into the water with it. It was soaking and he could see right through it when she was in the water. Her taking it off was a different story, however.
"Stop looking at me," Sora teased, catching him.
"I'm just wondering how it's even possible for a girl to have such small boobs. It's like they're not even there," Ace joked back, covering up the fact that his eyes had been drinking in the sight of this woman in her underwear.
"Stop," she pretended to complain, grabbing her chest. "They're not that tiny!"
"It's okay, boobs," Ace said, climbing on to the rocks next to her. He looked down as though he were talking to Sora's chest. "Maybe one day you'll both grow big and strong and please many a man."
Sora shoved Ace back into the water. He broke the surface, laughing. Sora rolled her eyes, wringing out her shirt. "Did you want to go to the top, or frolic around here?" she asked.
"Whatever you want to do," Ace shrugged, floating around in the water. It had been so long since he actually was able to be in a body of water without sinking straight to the bottom.
"I asked you first."
Ace returned to the rocks, resting his arms on the shore to keep him afloat. "As long as you keep that shirt off, I'll follow you to the ends of the earth." Sora dunked his head under the water and Ace burst up again, laughing. He pulled himself out of the pool, Sora's eyes briefly flicking over the way his muscles flexed as he did so, before returning her attention to her shirt. "We can head back up the mountain."
Ace held his hand out, and lifted Sora off the ground. The woman took her hand back immediately, but gently this time, and Ace didn't seem to mind. He picked up his shoes and shirt from their places on the rocks near the pool and started back for the forest.
He stopped, however, noticing a granite headstone near where his tank top had landed. Sora was already starting for the path again, and looked back to see Ace looking down at the headstone.
"Takamune Kenjiro," Ace read the gold characters aloud. He could have sworn he heard that name somewhere before. He just couldn't put a finger on where and why.
"Ace," Sora said, standing at his side. She swallowed a lump in her throat. This was why she didn't want to come here; why she had tried to lead Ace away from this place. She had come so close to leaving without seeing the grave that reminded her of everything she had lost. "Let's go."
"There's a grave here," Ace said, gesturing at the headstone. He put his hands together and bowed his head. He closed his eyes, saying a prayer in his head to honor the dead. Sora's chest panged at the sight of Ace being so polite to a grave belonging to someone he didn't even know.
"Ace," Sora said quietly, tugging him again. "Let's go."
"Hold on," Ace said, and disappeared for a moment. Sora just stood frozen, her feet glued to the rocks, her eyes drawn to the name in gold characters that she had read hundreds of times, as though hoping they would disappear and that person would not be under the earth, and instead, be at her side once more. Takamune Kenjiro. Every time his name was repeated, it was like a slap in the face, reminding her of why she had quit being a pirate, reminding her of why she had given up her dreams.
It seemed like eternity, but Ace returned, holding a couple flowers in his hand. "Did you pick those?" Sora asked, numb.
Ace nodded, placing them at the foot of the grave. "It's disrespectful if we just leave, right?" He bowed his head again.
Sora had trouble breathing. But she still managed to say quietly, "Thank you, Ace."
"Hmm?" he opened his eyes and looked down at her, for the first time noticing that she was shaking ever so slightly, keeping her gaze low and averting her eyes away from the headstone. He opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it again. Maybe another time.
Instead, he put an arm around her, leaning his head against hers for a moment. "Yeah, don't worry about it," he said, and then released her. He was worried – she had been so happy and then there was another mood swing. It was worse than the time he had seen her nostalgia, looking out into the sea; this wasn't the same level of a little nostalgia of missing the ocean. This expression on her face now, it was heartache – unbearable, shattering heartache. In this moment she was completely broken, crumbled, shrunken. Ace didn't know what to do. How could he make her smile again?
She looked up at him as though asking the same thing. The best Ace could think of was just to smile, hiding the fact that he was genuinely concerned, finally believing Michio and Marco when they had said it had been a while since Sora had been happy. Had she been this way for four years? Even the thought made Ace feel an emptiness in his chest. He never wanted to see her this way ever again.
"Wanna head up?" he asked, breaking the silence.
She nodded. Ace put his arm around her shoulder again, leading her away from the grave. Sora didn't look back.