Disclaimer: I … *sniff* … do not own *sniff* One Piece … *sniff*

Chapter 5: Caring/Loving

It had been almost one week since Nami had started acting all crazy. One week of being all ignored, shouted at or being glanced at scornfully. One whole week. And there was one thing of which he was absolutely sure: He couldn't take it anymore. He didn't know why she did that, because despite of once trying to steal her food, he had done nothing wrong.

There had been this moment when they had reached that new island. She had gone off the ship in a flash and not even looked back to make sure that Robin followed her. She hadn't looked at him or the others, and slowly he recognised the feeling inside him: it hurt like hell.

One week. He had given her time, exhausting his patience, more time than enough. Perhaps she would explain things to him now, for he felt like he deserved a reward for his unusual endurance. And there was only one possible reward.

It was evening now, exactly seven days after the day she had ended up in the infirmary. She attended the meals but didn't look at anybody, and as time went by, the others got used to it and chattered around like always, ignoring her and not casting her bewildered glances anymore. Even he himself started acting normal again, stealing food and stuff, but he couldn't become accustomed to this strange behaviour of hers. No, definitely not. She was his nakama, his friend, and it seemed like she had a huge problem with him. Not knowing what it was nagged at him more than he showed. Of course it could be solved easily, but after the attempt to winkle it out of her that first day on the lower deck, he didn't dare asking her once more – for fear that she gave him this scornful glance again and hurt him deeply with it. That was the reason he had given her enough time to calm down. Enough time. And today he would settle things once and for all.

Dinnertime. Of course Sanji didn't have to call for him; he was there already, dancing around the cook with Usopp and Chopper in pleasant anticipation. Brook sat in the dining room, laughing at them and drinking tea out of his personal tea cup, and Sanji seemed annoyed as usual.

"Stop that, you idiots!", he muttered around his cigarette. "It's almost ready, go call the others and STOP THAT, you're distracting me!" With his leg dangerously lifted, he shooed them out of the kitchen.

"DINNER'S READY!", they shouted out of the dining room's door. Robin closed her book, Zoro put his weights aside, Franky appeared in the door to the hull, only Nami was nowhere to be seen.

"Nami's not here", Usopp stated nervously. "Perhaps she didn't hear us?"

Luffy shrugged, which caused Usopp to look at him with narrowed eyes.

"I won't go for her, she's scary at the moment", Chopper said and the bare thought made him hide behind Luffy's legs (the wrong way). "Luffy, go take her …"

"No."

The two of them looked at him, incredulous about how firm he sounded. As his hat concealed his eyes, he looked a bit angry with his arms crossed in front of his open vest.

"I'll get her, don't worry", Robin smiled from below. Apparently she had picked up on their little conversation. Now she cast their captain a quick and uninterpretable glance before she went to the women's rooms.

Luffy shrugged again and turned around to sit somewhere at the table. Last week he had done his best to avoid Nami, to sit as far away from her as possible because he felt like she wanted that, but as she didn't seem to approach him so soon, it was all the same to him now. He had taken an indifferent attitude involuntarily. Of course he still wanted to know what was wrong with her, and he still wanted to confront her today, but now he was almost angry at her.

He took a seat and noticed that Chopper sat down next to him and Usopp next to Chopper because of his tendency of stealing food from his neighbours, so the chair on his left remained spare. Zoro came in and sat opposite him, next to Brook, and Franky took Zoro's other side, so there were only three chairs left: one between Brook and Usopp, and two between Franky and himself.

Sanji came in and served their food, then sat down on one of the two chairs left, the one next to Franky.

"Wait for the ladies!", he growled when they wanted to start eating, and everybody groaned in unison. Zoro muttered something under his breath, it sounded like "stupid ero-cook, as if they'd do the same for you", and Sanji snarled at him to stop bad-mouthing his lovely ladies.

Then the door opened, and Robin entered the room, Nami in tow. She had the situation overviewed in less than one second, again casting a quick glance upon Luffy, then she smiled and walked towards the spare seat between Brook and Usopp.

Nami stood in the doorway, and her expression went to 'panic mode' immediately. She sent Robin a pleading look, but the older woman pretended not to notice as she sat down between the skeleton and the sharpshooter.

"Sit down already, we wanna eat!", Zoro growled and looked at her impatiently. Nami took it as a challenge and seemed to quickly snap out of her fear. Not looking at Luffy, she hissed something at Zoro and slumped at the place between Sanji and Luffy (which caused Sanji to compliment her all over). Luffy, on the other hand, made a slight pout and huffed ungraciously, which caused Nami to look at him, bewildered at the sound. As Luffy just remained silent, she huffed in turn and turned away from him.

"Oh, I'm sorry you have to abide my presence today!", he blurted out involuntarily without even looking at her, then clenched his teeth and stared furiously at his filled plate. Nami winced in her seat and dropped her fork halfway to her mouth. Everybody stared at Luffy in shock, everybody but Robin, of course. Robin looked rather thoughtful, but said nothing.

They saw Nami gulping, but to everybody's surprise, she kept silent while Luffy just turned to his plate – and the others', too. He saw her picking up her fork again out of the corner of his eye while Sanji scolded him for being so rude to his precious Nami-swan.

He couldn't care less. Precious or not, she was the one acting all silly, and from now on, he would show her how much. He wouldn't take it anymore, and this evening he was going to ask her. But until that point, he would change the rules of her stupid Let's-Avoid-Luffy game. It was Luffy-Doesn't-Leave-It-At-That-Anymore game now, his game. Even if he felt deep inside that it wasn't just a game, and this thought scared him deeply, for she was precious to him, too.

The whole time during dinner, he could feel her sitting next to him. He could even smell her, a soft scent of tangerines and soap that tickled his nostrils, but he tried to ignore it as well as he could. He even tried to send her waves of anger to let her feel how much her silly behaviour affected him. He wanted her to feel the same, to feel ignored and scolded at … but somehow, he couldn't. He was angry with her, but seeing her so shocked as this made him feel a bit guilty. Were that tears in her eyes, or was it just the light?

Oh, come on, he chided at himself while picking a chicken drumstick from Usopp's plate, which almost earned him a fork in the hand. She's not that innocent this time.

Save that one moment of losing control by Luffy, dinner went on as usual – meaning Nami being silent, Usopp, Chopper and Brook chattering, Robin smiling and chuckling, Zoro silently munching his food, Franky laughing about Luffy's attempts to steal food (until he came to his own plate) and Sanji variously shouting at Luffy, wooing at Nami and Robin and serving new plates of food. Leave aside Nami's silence, it was almost funny that evening, and Luffy allowed himself to enjoy it, no matter if his neighbour didn't seem to at all. After all, she deserved a little punishment.

After dinner, he agreed with his younger mates and Brook to play hide and seek, giving Nami even more time. But after that, he decided, she wouldn't run from him once more. This time he'd get an answer, a satisfying answer at that.

Chopper won the game, as usual. His delicate scenting ability was almost unbeatable, no matter how fancy Usopp's hiding places were, and only Brook without any respiratory glands had a chance to trick him. Luffy high fived the little reindeer, then went off to look for Nami. He would settle things now, he'd decided that, and he wouldn't allow her any excuses. He wanted an answer.

Robin was reading a book in her beach chair, but as he looked at the chair next to her, he found it empty. Scratching his head, he looked around, as suddenly a hand plopped out of the floor right in front of him. He frowned at it, a bit confused, but as it pointed to a remote corner of the lower deck, he understood.

"Thanks", he mumbled and saw Robin smile into her book. Usopp and Chopper were running around the upper deck now while Brook was in the library composing a new piece of music for his violin. Zoro was nowhere to be seen, but he assumed that he was in the crow's nest/observation room, training. Sanji was still in the kitchen, washing the dishes, and Franky helped him out.

As Luffy went in the direction the finger pointed, he saw Nami standing at the railing in the corner, looking out to the sea with her arms crossed in front of her. He stopped for a second, hesitating, then went on deciding not to call her before he'd reached her – for fear she would escape or something. When he was right behind her, she turned around as if she'd heard or felt something, and as she saw him, she froze on the spot with her eyes going wide and her mouth gaping a bit. This whole horrified expression, he'd seen it before and he was so goddamn sick of it.

"Nami", he said in a low voice and saw something like remembrance in her eyes. He wondered for a split second but decided to disregard it. This wouldn't be easy and he didn't know why exactly he thought that, but he could feel him breaking out in cold sweat. This was Nami, his navigator and his nakama, why did he fear that dialogue? There was nothing to fear about, absolutely nothing, she would tell him her problem and everything was okay.

But he couldn't dismiss the thought that she didn't like him anymore. Why else should she avoid and ignore him for a whole week? And that hurt.

Now she tried to go away, casually saying: "Hey Luffy, sorry but I have to …"

He didn't let her go with that. Instead, he shot out his rubber arms to the railing on her left and right side.

Nami shrieked in panic as she found herself trapped like an animal in a Luffy cage. "Luffy, what …", she began, but he interrupted her as he stepped closer, his arms at a normal length now and their bodies almost touching.

"Nami, I'll ask you again. What is your problem?"

She winced at the harshness in his voice and the closeness, but he had done enough to give her space and he didn't care.

"What is your problem?", he repeated, his eyes shadowed by his straw hat. "What's the matter, why are you acting all crazy, and what is your problem with me?"

As she didn't answer but just stared at him in shock, her back arching to get away from him, he continued. "I let you alone the whole week, but now I want an answer. So tell me. What's your problem, and what have I done to deserve this frightened look on your face every time I'm around? What, Nami, what?"

His voice was getting louder with every word he said, and in the background he noticed Robin standing up and implying to the others to go somewhere else. He thanked her for that silently.

He watched curiously as Nami's face went from 'panic mode' to another … despair.

"What's wrong Nami, tell me and I'll make it right …" The words were out before he could think them over. This was not the angry tirade he'd wanted to give her, but with one look into her eyes, he forgot his whole anger and just wanted to pull her into his arms and hold her tight until it, whatever it was, was over.

She shook her head and, for the first time, looked him straight into the eyes. "Luffy, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to … I never meant to hurt you."

He waited a few moments for an explanation, head cocked to the left, until he guessed: "But?"

She smiled now. Sadly yet, but she smiled. "But I did, and I am so sorry for that."

"So why did you?", he asked, confused now.

"I … I just couldn't help it! It was this goddamn dream that started it all over …", she blurted out, then slapped her hand in front of her mouth.

"Dream?", Luffy asked bewildered. "What dream, and what has it to do with me?"

She sighed and shook her head. She knew when it was over. She had to tell him now. It was getting too much. "That dream I had one week ago. It was about you …" She blushed.

"And …?", he asked calmly. This was making him so confused. What had he to do with some stupid dream of hers?

"You and I, we …" She blushed even more. He kept quiet until she continued by herself, glad that she was telling him now. "We did things that people do when …" She took a deep breath. "When they're in love."

"In love?" Luffy jerked back and took his arms with him. What the hell was she talking about? All that because of a dream in which they were in love?

She smiled sadly. "Yes. Those things, you know, it's like kissing, only much more intimate and stuff, and it was so embarrassing I couldn't look at you anymore."

Okay, that was the thing with avoiding him and not looking at him, and he was so glad it was only something as banal as a dream. But that didn't explain why she was so angry at him.

"And why were you so upset about me?", he asked quietly, somehow fearing her answer, but he didn't know why.

Nami took her hands up to cover her face, crimson now. She remained silent for almost a minute, thinking about what to say, while he was getting nervous. What if she just said that he was stupid and a freak and that she couldn't help herself but be angry at him? He was not stupid, even if he had to admit that he acted like that sometimes … okay, most of the time. But he didn't want her to call him stupid or something like that.

She took another deep breath but left her hands where they were. "Luffy, I … I don't know how to say that."

"Then try", he said calmly and withstood the urge to take her into his arms. She looked so fragile now, so small …

She peered out at him from between her fingers. "Umm, I … I think … that dream … made me realise something, and I don't know how to deal with that. I tried to suppress it but I found out that I can't."

"You know you can tell me everything?", he said, completely confused now with his hands dangling useless by his sides, but he instinctive knew that what was about to come was not so easy to cope with.

"I think I … I …" Her fingers in her face writhed as if to try to scratch her skin off. Without thinking about it, he took her wrists and drew her hands away from her face as soft as he could. She stared at him wide-eyed, gasped, and then she let it out.

"I think I love you."

This time it was him who looked wide-eyed at her. Out of all she could have said, this was the most unexpected thing ever. He would have never … never …

His expression went blank as his mind refused to work on.

"Lu-Luffy?", she asked timidly. "Are … are you alright?"

He could only stare at her, completely baffled by her odd confession.

"Luffy!", she said, louder now, and she sounded a bit anxious. He snapped out of his blankness and shook his head fiercely. "What?"

"Are you alright?", she repeated, and he saw tears gathering in her eyes.

"I … dunno." He noticed that he still held her hands. It should be a comforting gesture, but now …

"How do you know that?", he asked out of nowhere.

"Know what?", she asked back and blushed furiously.

"You know what I mean. You said it two minutes ago." He was determined now, at least he felt like it. "How can you be sure?"

Nami shrugged and looked away, more than embarrassed. "I don't know. It's just like that. I know it. You've been in my head the whole time. I couldn't concentrate. I couldn't act normal anymore. And this all made me so confused that I got angry and … I'm sorry, Luffy. I didn't want to drag you into all that. I'll leave you alone now, and please forget about this, I'm sure I can handle it now." With that she turned around and took her hands from him. But she had only made two steps when she heard his voice holding her back.

"Wait."

She stopped abruptly. Puzzled, she turned her head to him and tried to read his face. He seemed sincere and honest and … she couldn't really point it out.

"I don't know much about love. I know I loved – love – my brother, I love Shanks and I love you all because you're my nakama, and perhaps I also love my gramps … in some twisted and strange way. But this kind of love is different, isn't it?", he asked calmly, then looked at her as if he wanted her approval.

She nodded in utter confusion.

He tried hard to not get it out wrong. "I don't know that kind of love because I'd never had it. But if it means that the other person is stuck in your head and you can't concentrate on anything and …", he reflected what she'd said, "not acting normal and feeling all messed up and", he added by himself, "being incredibly sad when the other person is gruff and dismissing to you, then …" He paused for one second. Now he knew how she'd felt …

"… then I think I love you too."

That was the moment her legs gave in, and she fell to the floor. He was at her side immediately. "Are you alright?", he asked worriedly, unaware of the fact that she had asked him exactly the same only minutes ago.

"Yes", she whispered softly, and as she looked up at him, tears streamed down her cheeks and her body trembling all over. "I just … didn't expect that."

He smiled at her and was glad when she smiled back. Then he gave in to the urge he had felt for the whole time and caught her in his arms. He smelled her scent again, stronger now, and inhaled deeply as she put her arms around him, returning his embrace, still shaking. Her tears soaked through the fabric of his vest as she couldn't prevent herself from crying, but it was okay because he knew those weren't bad tears. It was tears of relief and joy. Good tears.

"I want to kiss you …", she whispered in his ear. He winced, but decided to try it. "Okay."

He let her go until he could look her in the eyes, their faces only inches away. He saw her closing her eyes, and as he had never kissed before, he did the same and trusted her to do the right thing.

As their lips met, he went stiff, but not because it was strange. It was indeed a bit odd to him, odd but very … delicious. Her lips tasted like the sweetest thing he'd ever come across.

He decided to like it.

They parted and Nami smiled at him ever so softly. "How was it like?", she asked calmly, but he could hear the suppressed enjoyment from her shivering voice.

"Great", he smiled back. She chuckled and pecked him softly on his lips.

Yeah, it was great. It was wonderful. And it was all his.

"Nami?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you show me what we did in your dream?"

"SHUT UP!"

Author's note: Yes, that was it, almost twice as much as the other chappies! Thank you very much for your reviews, they always cause a warm feeling deep inside of me ;-)

And I hope you liked it! I enjoyed writing angry Luffy. I like Luffy being angry. He's scary when he is.