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¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸ Okashi Shima¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸
¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸Chapter Twelve - Revealed ¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸
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~ Nami ~
She had come back a while ago. It had been quite a long day. She had come back when the rest of the crew was having dinner. She honestly wasn't hungry - not when she had dinner with her new 'friend'. She really didn't know what to call the guy. She certainly couldn't talk with the rest of her crew like she could with Ezekiel. He was cool and down to earth, kind of like the captain, but he wasn't aloof. He was charming, like Sanji, and he knew a good sword from a bad one, like Zoro. It was so weird how each of his characteristics, she had been able to pick out from the various members of her crew.
She smiled sadly. She still hadn't forgotten about the incident that morning. She knew it was wrong of her to go off with some other guy, but she had been really angry. She knew it probably wasn't any of her friends faults, though it made her curious as to why it had happened to begin with. They seemed to fear her touch, which was, honestly a weird fact to grasp. There had been plenty of times where all three of them, in some form or another, had touched her. It didn't seem to bother them then, so why now all of a sudden? What changed?
She just couldn't seem to fathom the reason behind it all. She shook her head. She made her way to the back of the deck to hide from the rest of her crew. She wanted to be alone, but she knew that it probably wouldn't last too long. The peace and quiet would be interrupted by someone making loud noises or something. She closed her eyes when a cool breeze drifted past her to play with her hair. She breathed in deeply and forced herself to relax. Ezekiel had done a wonderful job of somehow managing to get her to forget, if only temporarily, of the events of the morning.
"Nami-san," Sanji's voice called to her, causing her to jump. She hadn't realized she wasn't alone. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."
"It's fine," Nami said with a wave of her hand.
"I wanted to apologize," Sanji said after a short pause. He had been contemplating of what to say to her, but he honestly didn't know how. He was almost positive that she would demand a hundred thousand berries for making her upset or something.
"For what?" Nami asked, though she had a sneaking suspicion she knew what it was.
"For this morning," he said, "I honestly hadn't meant to make you feel the way you had. It wasn't my intention to make you upset." He bowed low at the waist to emphasize how serious he was about this.
She blinked in slight surprise before she placed a gentle hand on his shoulder to get him to stand back up straight. "It's okay, Sanji, I understand," she said with a smile, "I think I kind of over reacted myself. I hadn't meant to go storming off at the time, I was only a little mad at the time. I was planning on going back to you all..but..."
"You were caught by an unknown man," he frowned at her.
"His name is Ezekiel," she said, "I met him at the bar the other night, when you three decided to conspicuously follow me." She emphasized her words with finger quotes and shook her head. "Honestly, I was going to head back to you three, but before I could even protest, he was dragging me off to the nearest ice cream parlor."
Sanji didn't say anything but nodded his understanding. On the inside, he was burning with fire at the fact that this guy, Ezekiel, had stolen his angel right from between his fingers. The man was obviously swift and easy on the eyes. He was quick to please and had easily grabbed Nami's affections. She seemed taken with him, but he'd be damned if he let some unknown character take her away! He was going to that ball at the end of the week - he would tell her then, what he felt. Until, she had to wait for him.
She was beginning to turn away - she looked down about something. What could possibly be on her mind? At a moment's whim, he grabbed her hand, causing her to stop. If he had even a slight chance of something to have with her, he would have to be swifter than Ezekiel. He had to be smoother than him, cooler than him. "Nami-san," he said seriously, "you know if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here for you, as is the rest of the crew." He added the last half of his sentence in pretty quickly. He was nervous that she had caught on to what he had wanted to say.
She looked at him with confusion. She caught the rushed ending, but she didn't want him to know that. He seemed a little nervous, but she played the aloof character well and smoothed it over. "It's alright, Sanji-kun. I know. Thanks, for being there for me, you know?" She gave him the sweetest smile she could manage and he seemed to swoon at that. He nodded and trotted off happily. After a few moments to collect herself, she walked around the corner to head back to her room, but she was pulled straight into a closet and was practically chest-to-chest with...Zoro?
"What the-" Zoro placed a hand on her mouth to make her quiet. "Look, this ain't easy. I didn't know how to say it so I'm just gonna' say it. I'm sorry."
He pulled his hand away slowly to be reassured that she wasn't going to start a screaming match and throttle him for his rough handling of her. "For what?" She asked.
This was, honestly, not what he had been expecting. She was supposed to yell at him and scream at him for being an idiot and for manhandling her and then charge him for all of it. He was NOT expecting a question. "F-For," he cleared his throat for a second, "for the way I acted this morning. I'm sorry."
This was her chance. She had him cornered. She blocked the exit before he could get to the handle pushed him to the back of the closet. "I want to know what's going on with you three," she demanded, "and I want the truth."
He began to sweat. He was really not looking forward to this. He could only hope for a savior of some sort. Unfortunately, he had made sure no one saw them when he went into the closet to begin with. So, of course there would be no one to save him from the inevitable. "Look," Nami placed a gentle hand on his chest. She hadn't meant to, but that's where it landed because of the tight space as well as the darkness - that was her excuse and she was sticking to it. "I'm not exactly a person who holds grudges. Something has changed you, Luffy, and Sanji and I want to know how I can help."
"You can't," Zoro said, suddenly realizing that the other two were going through the same thing as he. Putting two and two together - how he hadn't noticed it before was beyond him. "It's something a woman can't help with."
"I bet you anything I can," Nami retorted without a second thought.
"Fine," Zoro said, "you want to know what's wrong with me? Fine! I've been having these stupid-ass dreams of you and I can't get rid of them! I bet anything it's the same thing with Luffy and that damned cook! Are you happy now? To know that I can't get you out of my head even when I sleep?" He was angry, he couldn't help it. For the past week he's hardly had any sleep. There hadn't been any way he could take a nap without the haunting nightmares either.
"Dreams?" Nami asked, surprised. "That's odd. Is that why you three haven't had a decent night's sleep?"
He was quiet suddenly. He hadn't meant to burst out of nowhere at her. He had only meant to apologize and now...his secret was loose. He had to get out of there. Now. He shoved her to the side fast and she went stumbling into a mop bucket and a broom. She barely managed to catch her balance as Zoro made a hasty retreat to who-knows-where. Nami turned and exited after him, shutting the door behind her and being careful to not stir up any more trouble than what she already had. She made her way across the deck and toward her room.
When she entered her room, Luffy was sitting on her bed, legs crossed and head down, his hat covering his eyes. Nami furrowed her brows as she walked up to him. She tilted his hat back - a snot bubble had formed at his nose. He was pretty much dead to the world right now. He fell over, clearly asleep. Nami shook her head. But just as she turned her back to him, he jumped awake, as if forcing himself to wake up. She turned to him - it must have been those dreams that Zoro was talking about. She wondered why they were all dreaming about her, and she also wondered what these dreams entailed.
"Luffy," Nami said softly, "Zoro told me about the dreams." She wondered how he could take this sentence. She didn't imply who's dreams she was referring to - after all, Zoro was the only one who confessed. She had to assume it was just him, but could it also be the other two as well?
"Zoro told you..." Luffy said, his eyes suddenly tearing up. Nami suddenly frowned, "I'm going to have to give you all my meat money!" He waled.
Nami shook her head. "So you're having these dreams as well?" Nami asked.
Luffy paused in his crying to consider something for a moment. "You mean...Zoro's having them, too?"
Nami nodded, "And I can only assume that Sanji is as well." Nami paused, "Why are you in here, Luffy?"
"I wanted to say sorry for being mean to you this morning," he said, his head lowering and his shoulders slumping, "I didn't mean to. Because of the dreams...they make me feel weird."
"What on earth are in those dreams?" Nami wondered aloud before shaking her head. "I believe...you three have been drugged somehow. I would recommend for you to go to Chopper. He can figure out the source."
Luffy stood when she offered a hand out to help him up. She ushered him out the room with a smile. "Now, if I do recall, there is some left over pie in the kitchen. Why don't you help yourself? Tomorrow, we'll gather up Sanji and Zoro and you three can get checked out by Chopper."
"Okay - wait, how do I get into the fridge?" He asked.
"Simple," Nami said, slipping a key into his vest pocket, "when you're through, make sure you hide that key. Sanji will throw a fit if he finds out I gave it to you."
Luffy grinned and bounded for the kitchen, being careful not to be spotted. Nami shook her head and disappeared into the darkness of her room. She had a lot to think about. The ball was going to be in two days - she wanted someone to talk with, but because she was sure Robin would taunt her and the rest of the crew happened to be males, she wanted to talk with someone outside the ship. Unfortunately, she couldn't quite speak to anyone. Well, other than Ezekiel. She was sure he would listen, but she didn't really want a male's company. Maybe his sister would be a different person. She could talk to her - but then, Ezekiel said she was partially deaf and she didn't quite know a whole lot of sign language.
She plopped onto her bed. Secrets had been revealed tonight, and only two of them knew that she knew about it. She was almost positive that Zoro would inform Sanji of it. And if not him, then Luffy would blab it out without thinking. She closed her eyes and snuggled into her blankets. She might as well try to get some sleep. Goodness knows what will happen come tomorrow morning.
I was reading my reviews and it made me want to write a little more. I thought I would make a short but info-filled chapter. Next chapter, I have something interesting planned, though I'm not quite sure how I'm going to fit it into the story just yet. I'll work on it, promise!
Review please!
