Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, but Kyra is my idea.

Three days after his rather impromptu departure from Fishman Island, the Surgeon of Death strides into his galley amidst shouts and the smell of blood to see Kyra sitting on Neil's broad chest, beating the ever-loving shit out of him.

Rather than intervening, Trafalgar Law takes the time to do a diagnosis.

The cook's face now resembles something that has been put through a meat grinder: several of his teeth appear to be missing (jaw wired shut); the bone of his left cheek is poking through the skin (surgery, then facial cast); his nose is obviously shattered (full facial cast). Neil's shirt is soaked in scarlet, which could indicate a punctured lung, and that's if he's lucky. Law wonders what exactly the man did, to finally piss his magician off enough to deserve this.

The kitchen is a disaster zone. It looks to the captain as though his cabinets have all spontaneously vomited their contents again, minus the breakable dishes this time. The rest of the crew is alternating between cowering on the other side of the table for cover and shouting at Kyra to stop before she kills the cook. Bepo is nowhere to be seen, and Jambarl is standing by the door leading in the direction of the hatch, tree-trunk arms folded across an equally massive chest as he calmly watches the slip of a girl pulverize her own crewmate with her bare hands. The very implements which, as Law notices when he catches her by the wrist in the midst of another swing, have been laid open to the bone at the knuckles. Kyra doesn't even seem to notice; she whirls on her captain with a hair-raising snarl and throws a punch at him too. It misses, probably due to her awkward position combined with her blinding fury. Law yanks her off of his sobbing cook and wraps one arm around her, pinning both her arms to her sides and her back to his chest.

"Get the fuck off me!" the enraged magician screams, fighting wildly in an attempt to get back to her victim. "I'll kill him! I'll kill him! I'll rip his fucking vocal cords out with my teeth!"

"Jambarl!" the Dark Doctor barks at his strongest subordinate. The gargantuan figure immediately strides over, taking Kyra from his captain and tucking her furiously shrieking form under one arm as though she weighs nothing more than a wet rag. Law is quick to crouch next to his cook, pulling a scalpel out of a pocket and cutting away the ruined shirt so he can get a better look at the damage. He is surprised to see nothing less than a fork stabbed almost all the way into Neil's chest, to the right of his heart and so deep only a sliver of the fork's handle is still visible.

Damn. If she did that with only her bare hands as well, then Kyra possesses very good upper body strength.

"Sachi, Penguin. Get him to the infirmary now."

The two friends are instantly there, scooping the battered cook up and hustling from the room without a word. The rest of the crew is tentatively emerging from behind cover, everyone giving Jambarl and his shouting cargo a wide berth. Law sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger. This is not the way he expected to spend his morning - he would have preferred a quiet breakfast and subtle teasing of his magician instead of barely stopping her from killing one of his men.

"Jambarl, take her to her room and then wait outside the door until I get there. The rest of you start cleaning up this mess. Where is Bepo?"

"Ate his fish and went up on deck 'fore the fight started, Captain," Haru mutters, eyeing the still struggling sorceress with a strange expression on his face as the quiet giant exits the room with the girl in tow.

"What caused it?"

The lead mechanic shrugs. "Dunno, Captain. I weren't payin' no attention 'til that girl stuck a fork in Neil for whatever reason. Might want ta ask Sachi er Penguin."

Law gives a curt nod in acknowledgement of this piece of advice before leaving the galley. He goes straight to the infirmary where he finds the aforementioned pair standing off to the side engaged in reading a crumpled newspaper while Neil occupies one of the infirmary cots and is currently cursing Kyra to hell and back as loud as he can with his injuries. In a rare fit of irritation, the doctor slams the infirmary door shut behind him with unnecessary force. Neil immediately falls silent, eyeing his captain with a mix of fear and trepidation. Law ignores him, marching over to the cabinets closest to the other men and gathering the supplies necessary to begin treatment.

"What happened?" he demands from the pair in his most deadly quiet voice. Sachi immediately jumps to explain, yanking the newspaper out of Penguin's loose grip and waving it through the air.

"Got a newspaper from one of the gulls today, Captain, and Kyra was looking through it while she fixed breakfast. Neil came in and started acting like an ass again, grabbed the paper away from her and flipped through it like she wasn't even there. She just ignored him until he started laughing and showed me and Penguin the new bounties. Kyra's got one too, Captain."

At this Sachi hands the paper to Law, who opens it and leafs through until he comes across his magician's picture. He is unsure when the photo was taken until he sees the background and realizes it must be from Marineford. She is... Law runs a finger over the face of the newsprint, his grey eyes cataloging every facet of her image. She is glorious. Her magic is whipping around her, raising her curly hair into a crazy halo. Her usually blue eyes are darkest black, glaring in the photographer's direction with an arm buried to the elbow in a man's chest. Her face is flecked with blood, as are her clothes.

Demon Witch Kyra. Bounty of 60,000,000 beri. Wanted alive.

"Kyra got real upset when Neil showed her the bounty," Sachi is saying. "He laughed at her and was making fun of her, saying she must've screwed somebody real high on the food chain to convince 'em to give her that high a bounty right off. She didn't go nuts on him, though, until he made a shitty comment about her mom."

This last has Law tearing his eyes from the bounty poster to look at his men. Both of them nod in tandem, assuring him that yes, he heard that right.

"It was real low, Captain," Penguin states gruffly, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his boiler suit and his eyes hidden by the brim of his hat. "You just don't say shit like that about somebody's mama unless you wanna get into a fight. Dirty thing to do, if you ask me."

"What did he say?"

They glance at one another, and it is Sachi who answers. "He said that maybe he was wrong, maybe Kyra's mom hates her so much that she screwed somebody in the World Government to make sure Kyra's bounty was real high like that. He started asking what Kyra's mom looked like, asking if she thought her mom would be a good lay, and said he hoped she had bigger... uh, bigger, uh assets than Kyra does 'cause she's too small for his tastes. Then he kinda grabbed Kyra's butt and told her... uh, he said he'd..." Sachi trails off, his face beet-red and looking extremely uncomfortable.

Law is not in the mood to let the poor man off the hook. "What did he say?"

"He said... he said he'd let Kyra watch while he fucked her mom, so she could learn how he likes his women and be assured he'd make a real good whore out of her mom. He said once he was done with her mom, Kyra would get a turn too if she wanted. Said he was sure she'd be just fine after he'd gotten his fill of her big-breasted, big-assed mom. That was when Kyra turned around and stabbed him with a fork. Then she was all over him, took him to the floor and just started wailin' on him." Sachi and Penguin both look somewhat nauseated, whether because of what their cook said or the aftermath is unclear.

Law however is not disturbed in the least. Instead, he is furious. Making a supreme effort and managing to reign in his temper, he very calmly begins replacing everything he has gathered to treat Neil's wounds. The two men next to him watch curiously.

"Uh, Captain...?" Sachi's tongue fails him before he can finish.

Penguin completes his sentence. "What are you doing?"

Without answering the question, the Dark Doctor strides to the occupied bed in his infirmary, pulling a scalpel back out of his pocket as he goes. His tattooed fingers are soon clamped around Neil's throat, choking the battered man and preventing him from moving. Looking directly into Neil's eyes, Law slips the scalpel proficiently into his chest and slices downward, cutting him open from collarbone to his groin area.

Blood sprays everywhere, hitting the Surgeon of Death and soaking his face and front as Neil screams in agony. Not bothered in the least, Law jerks the scalpel free and levels it at the dying man as he begins gurgling on his own blood.

"I will ask our magician if she will consent to healing you," the pirate captain informs his dying cook in a cold voice. "If she refuses, then you are going to die. I told you several times not to bother Kyra, Neil. You should have listened." He then glances over at the two witnesses to this deadly discipline. "Sachi, Penguin, stay here and watch him until I get back. Don't try to help him."

Not that he thinks they would make the attempt, but now Neil will realize nobody else will save him. They both nod weakly, looking rather green around the gills as their blood-soaked leader exits his domain.

Law says nothing to Jambarl as the big man steps aside so that he can enter Kyra's room. Once inside, his eyes scan the chamber in search of the girl, spotting her in the same corner where she had been cuddling with Bepo the other day. This time, her satchel is beside her and the little gold necklace is clutched tightly in one bloody and shaking fist, her knuckles newly healed and tears dripping from her face as she stares unseeingly ahead of her. As he watches, Kyra reaches up and irritably scrubs at her cheeks with a fist like a child. Law steps around the bed to stand in front of her, noticing when her eyes focus on him and the way they widen in shock at the blood that drenches his frame.

"What the fuck happened to you?" she blurts out. The surgeon only takes two more steps and to crouch down on his haunches before her.

"Can you cook?"

The question, coming seemingly from nowhere, is obviously confusing to her. "Uh, yeah?" Then after a second, "You realize you're covered in blood, right?"

"Would you be willing to heal Mr. Neil?"

The girl's confusion vanishes to be instantly replaced with rage. "Fuck him! If the bastard can't handle a little pain then he needs to learn to keep his fucking mouth shut! No I'm not going to heal the fucker! Not even if you ordered me to, so don't bother trying, Law! He deserves what he got!"

Kyra uses a sleeve to roughly wipe more tears from her face, sniffling angrily and glaring all the while. "My mother is not a whore! She's a better person than that fucker could ever hope to be! And she doesn't h-hate me, I d-don't care what he said, she d-doesn't! You should've j-just - just let me kill him! I hate that f-fucking bastard for what he s-said, I hate him!"

Law nods in understanding. "Very well. I'll go see if he's still alive then, and inform him you refuse to help him if he is."

Kyra, who buried her face in her hands as soon as she finished speaking, snaps her head back up at once. "What do you mean 'still alive'? I didn't use any magic on that bastard!"

"I'm aware of that," Law replies nonchalantly, rising back to his feet and casually placing his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "But I doubt my cook can survive the treatment I performed on him, and as we have both refused to assist him I doubt he'll last much longer."

His magician gawks at him with a flabbergasted look on her face. "WHAT? You did that to your own man? Why?"

"He undercooked the beans last night," Law supplies with a completely straight face. The slender pirate pauses to enjoy the look on her face before rising to head out the door and shutting it behind him.

Rather than continuing on his way, though, the Dark Doctor takes up position right outside. He leans back against a wall and crosses his arms, pulling his hat down low over his eyes as a sign he does not wish to be disturbed. Jambarl studies his captain but does not say a word. The two of them wait in companionable silence.

A few seconds later, the door opens and Kyra comes trooping out. Law lifts the brim of his hat to study her as she stomps by.

"I'll heal your stupid cook if he's alive. If he's dead he can fucking stay that way. I don't owe him shit, and no way am I sullying myself with his soul." Kyra looks disgusted at the very thought, as though talking about something slimy and gross. Perhaps in her way of thinking, she is. Law does not respond as he follows her down the hall.

Sachi and Penguin are right where he left them, staring at Neil in sick fascination. They both glance over when Law and Kyra enter the room.

"Does this mean she said yes?" Penguin asks.

The doctor answers with a question of his own. "Is he still alive?"

"Yup."

Kyra glances in Law's direction. "Then I'll heal the prick. Mostly. I'm leaving his ugly face the way I made it. I think he looks better now anyway. If you two want to scram, feel free to tell all your buddies that should anyone so much as look at me wrong I'll do the same to them. Beat it."

Sachi and Penguin are quick to scramble out the door - but not before the both of them give Kyra tight hugs. Law smiles at the shocked look on her face, as though she can't believe they just did that. He wonders for a moment if she's going to yell something at their retreating backs, but all she does is close the infirmary door and step up to stand beside the weakly sobbing cook. Her feet, always bare, land in a puddle of the man's blood; the surgeon watches as her toes curl slightly one time as she leans over their victim.

"Isn't this fitting?" she breathes in Neil's face. "Law cut you open like the pig you are, and now the only one who can save your ass is me. Do you want me to save you? Do you want me to fix you so you don't die?"

Neil gurgles something, coughing wetly and unintentionally spitting a little blood in Kyra's face. The girl calmly wipes it away with a sleeve before glancing once more in the Dark Doctor's direction.

"You want to watch this time?" she asks nonchalantly, as though her healing someone on the brink of death is as common as breathing. Law grins.

"Love to."

His magician's eyes immediately glow black, a white aura surrounding one hand. She turns back to Neil, puts her face down near his so that their noses are almost touching. Her other palm is placed on his protruding cheekbone, causing him to moan pitifully when she presses down.

"I'm going to fix you up, bastard," Law hears her whisper. "I'm going to heal everything except your face, because you deserve to have your ass kicked for what you said to me about my mother. I'm going to save your worthless life, and you get to live knowing that the only reason you didn't bleed to death is 'cause I'm really fucking nice."

And so saying Kyra lays her glowing hand upon Neil, just above the start of the slit from Law's scalpel. The pirate moves to stand opposite her so that he has a good view of what's going on, and what he sees is fascinating. He watches as Neil's body begins to heal from the inside out, the severed tissues of muscle rebuilding themselves quickly and effectively. The entire process is over in a mere ten minutes, rather than the several hours it took for Kyra to heal and resurrect Fire Fist Ace. Law assumes this is due to the differences in the severity of the wounds, the time that elapsed before healing each, and possibly the fact that Fire Fist Ace had been dead. He says nothing, merely watches Neil's miraculous recovery until all that is left to show that the Surgeon of Death split him open from sternum to groin is a long, angry purple scar. Next to it is a small pink scar that marks the point where the lethal silverware pierced the cook; the fork itself disintegrated during the healing.

Kyra steps back. "He should be fine, Captain. Everything's good except the face, and I reset his nose and his cheek. Want to give him a checkup or whatever?"

Law shakes his head. "I'll trust that you know what you're doing. You may leave, Neil."

"One sec."

Neil lets out a high-pitched yelp as a cord of black magic wraps tightly around his neck. He glances fearfully from the cold expression on Kyra's face to his captain. Said captain makes no move to help him; he wants to see what Kyra plans to do now.

"Now you better listen to me real hard, pal, because this is the last warning I'm going to give you ever. No more chances - you piss me off again, you're dead. So don't forget what I say when I tell you that if you ever dare even consider saying a single thing about my mother, if you even ponder to yourself whether she was right or left handed or whether she likes sushi or fruit or what color her fucking hair is - you die. I left a little magic in you, cooky. If you ever sully my mother with your thoughts again, my magic will sense it, and it'll eat you alive from the inside out until there's nothing left. It'll be slow and painful and you'll be begging me to put you out of your misery. It'll make what Law just did to you look like a fairytale princess birthday party. Got it?"

Neil makes an effort to speak. "Y-yes."

"Good."

Law watches with a tiny grin as the cord of magic disappears. Neil immediately swings his feet over the side of the bed and stands, only wobbling slightly before bolting to the door and wrenching it open so that he might flee. As soon as he is out of hearing range, Kyra meets Law's gaze and shrugs.

"Okay, so maybe I didn't really leave any magic in him, and it won't really eat him from the inside out. But he doesn't know that. And no, you do not look like a fairytale princess. Too much blood, not enough cleavage."

The Dark Doctor can't help but smirk at that. "I should hope not."

His magician walks over and puts her hand out, stopping just before she would be touching the blood-soaked fabric over his chest. "Is any of that yours? I can heal you if you need it."

Law shakes his head. Kyra withdraws her hand slightly and waves it sharply in between them; in an instant his hoodie is once again spotless, the semi-dried blood on his face and neck gone as well. Eyebrow raised, Law removes his furry hat and gives it a critical once over, pleased to find no hint of scarlet in the white. Grinning once more, he puts it back on and moves so that he can sling an arm around Kyra's waist.

"Let's go, my magician. I never got my breakfast thanks to your little temper tantrum, and I would like to rectify that."

A rude noise comes in response. "What do you need me for? Don't you know how to cook?"

"I am a pirate and a surgeon, my dear magician, not a housewife. Why should I bother when you can do it for me?"

"What a great excuse to get around saying that you can't cook worth shit..." Something seems to dawn on her then. "Hey, wait a minute, you asshole, are you implying I'm your fucking housewife? Fuck you! If this is the part where you pull out some frilly pink apron, I swear I'll stuff it up your ass!"

Oh, how Law does so enjoy teasing his magician.

It is very, very late, and Kyra is sitting alone on the deck of Law's sub. She is curled in a ball with her hands wrapped around her knees and her chin resting atop them, and she is sobbing like she hasn't in ages. The necklace her mother gave her for her tenth birthday, part of a pair whose sister piece remains with her parent, is clenched tightly in one fist as she weeps.

Kyra has not seen her mother's face in anything other than dreams or nightmares in over a decade.

Demon Witch. That's exactly what the people of her village used to call her as a child. Figures that bitch called Fate would rig the story of Kyra's life so that the Navy and World Government would choose that as her epithet. Figures she has to deal with all the bad memories associated with that damn name. It's no wonder she had that fucking nightmare tonight. All the villagers had been screaming 'Demon Witch' when she escaped the island all those many years ago by accident right in the middle of a punishment. The only one who ever called her by her name back then was her mother. Her mother, who had been screaming her name while being held back by two of the shaman's goons, forced to watch as her twelve-year-old daughter's flesh was shredded. Her mother, whom she left on that fucking island when her magic flared up mid-whip and transported her out of there for the first time ever. Her mother, who she hasn't seen in over a decade.

Yeah, all things considered, that prick of a cook made a huge mistake showing her that stupid bounty poster right before starting in on her like that. He's really lucky she's so fucking nice.

Kyra sniffs, rubbing the back of a hand under her eyes in a useless attempt to wipe away her tears. She needs to get herself under control soon. She's been up here for a while now, and there's always a chance that some night owl will pop up to the deck for some fresh air and find her. That would be absolutely humiliating, especially if she is found by -

"Having a rough night?"

...Why, gods? Seriously, why?

She should probably be used to this by now. It's already been proven countless times over that Trafalgar Law exists solely for the purpose of embarrassing, harassing, or scaring the shit out of her at every available opportunity. Kyra would swear the man spends more than half his time thinking up inventive ways to annoy her.

Caught, Kyra merely shifts so that her face is buried in the tops of her knees. This way she will not have to look at him when he sits down beside her. Because obviously he's going to come over here; leaving her alone to bawl her eyes out in private would be the polite thing to do, and Law doesn't do genuine politeness. If something gentile comes out of his mouth it's a safe bet it's an insult or a threat. Sure enough, after a few seconds the mage feels a warm body press into her side as the shirtless pirate makes himself comfortable. Kyra grips her legs tighter, pressing her face harder into her knees and praying to the gods who hate her that the man will just sit there quietly. Praying that he won't try to engage her in conversation or ask her personal, awkward questions.

"Why are you crying? Tell me what you dreamt about."

Maybe she should try using reverse psychology on these damn gods... Heap the shit on me, you fuckers!

"And why," she rasps, throat sore from crying, "would I do that, you asshole? Dreams are personal. Why the hell would I talk to you about them?"

"Who else would you talk to about them?"

How freaking hard-headed is this guy? "Nobody. They're personal, meaning they're nobody else's fucking business."

A warm hand gently cards itself into her hair, stroking at her scalp in a soothing manner. Kyra stiffens, growling at the intimacy hinted at in such a gesture; as though anybody but her mother has a right to act so familiar with her. Law doesn't seem to feel threatened, as he does not remove his hand or let up. The sorceress tries to shield, pissed when nothing happens. Her stupid magic was practically jumping to get out of her earlier so it could maim that fucking cook, but now that she wants to use it, it's gone on holiday. Wonderful.

"Will you stop that?" Kyra snarls, yanking her head sideways in a failed bid to get away from the pirate's hand. He merely makes a fist, exerting slightly uncomfortable pressure on her roots as he does so.

"Does it make you uncomfortable?" Law inquires, a definite smirk in his voice.

"It's something my mother used to do," she blurts out without thinking. "You're ruining the memories, so get your hands out of my freakin' hair."

There is a long pause in which nothing happens. Kyra lifts her head and glances tiredly at her captain, wincing at the thoughtful look on his face. Shit, why did she tell him that? Finally Law slowly removes his fingers, letting them trail down and around to Kyra's hand where it grips the fabric of her pajama pants in a white-knuckled fist. His tattooed appendages easily pry hers loose, trapping it in his grip and bringing it to rest in his lap.

Well, at least it's not her head in his fucking lap. Kyra's too tired to fight him anyway. She hasn't slept worth shit since seeing him at Fishman Island. Sometimes she hears his voice whispering to her during the day; sometimes those spectral hands he employs will brush her skin. At night she dreams of the labs, the experiments, the chemicals and needles. Tonight she saw her mother there, strapped to that cold little table while toxin after toxin was pumped into her veins until she died, screaming for Kyra to help her.

The sorceress envies the hell out of the bastards on her crew, who can sleep whenever they want without fear of the demons in their memories coming out to torture them.

"What is this?"

Law's voice - and the less-than-pleased tone he's using - snaps her out of her thoughts. Looking over, she sees that he has taken her necklace from her hand and is holding it before his face, examining it in the weak moonlight. Momentarily panicking at the thought that he might drop it or lose it (or worse, refuse to give it back), Kyra's free hand darts out and snatches it from him. Immediately she brings it close to her chest, holding the tiny treasure against her heart.

"It's mine!" she snaps defensively, speaking without thinking. "My mother gave it to me! Don't you dare try to take it away, I'll kill you if you do!"

The smirk that graces the Dark Doctor's face is weirdly smug. "Ah, a gift from your mother. My apologies."

Kyra eyes him suspiciously, trying to subtly remove her ensnared fingers from his grasp. The grip merely tightens slightly as the smirk turns sharp.

"Don't run off just yet, Kyra. If you refuse to talk about your dreams, then why don't you tell me a little more about the gentleman we ran into at Fishman Island. Perhaps you can explain why someone with powers such as yours didn't simply kill the man instead of running away? You did dump my ship and crew in the New World without warning - I would have been very unhappy if that had turned out poorly." His voice is perfectly polite, but as Kyra reflected earlier, all that means is that he's either being sarcastic or threatening. Possibly both.

He wants her to talk about Merrick. How can she do that when just the thought of him has the breath catching in her lungs and the acid in her stomach roiling? As though reading her thoughts, Law begins sweeping his calloused thumb across the back of her trapped hand, rubbing circles in it in what might be an attempt to calm her. Oddly enough, it works; Kyra exhales a gusty sigh as her stomach settles, her mouth opening and closing as she tries to find the words.

"Who is he?" Law asks softly.

"Merrick," the mage immediately replies, his name jumping off her tongue before she even realizes what the question was. Maybe this won't be so hard if Law just keeps asking her questions. She can answer specific questions about Merrick, right?

"The scar on your neck?"

"His autograph. His signature."

"When did that happen?"

"The first day." Kyra's mouth is dry as a desert. She has to swallow before she can speak again. "I was twelve."

"The first day of what?"

"The experiments."

Law's grip tightens again. "How did you end up in these experiments?"

"Sengoku." The name is spat with revulsion; she wishes she had something to drink to wash out the foul taste it leaves in her mouth. "The goat-fucking, lying bastard gave me to them. He said he'd help me. He said he'd get me back to my mother. Instead he sold me away to be a fucking lab rat. All for the 'safety of the world'."

"Sengoku the Buddha? Fleet Admiral Sengoku of the Navy gave you to this man?"

"Yes."

There is a long pause. Kyra does not look over at her captain, does not move her gaze from the endless blackness of the nighttime sea before her. If she doesn't look at him, maybe this will be easier. Maybe she won't think so much about what she's telling him. Maybe she should allow him to just get her drunk off her ass again, since being wasted seems to make her alarmingly chatty.

"What did this Merrick person do to you?"

"Everything," Kyra breathes, hand clenching around her necklace. "Stabbed me. Injected hundreds of different poisons into my body. Burned me. Poured acid on me. Made me drink acid. Made me drink chemical mixtures. Performed surgical procedures on me while I was totally aware."

"Did he ever rape you?"

Kyra shudders at the mere thought. "No. He told me once we'd try that when he decided I was old enough."

"Why didn't your magic ever kill him?"

"...I don't know. I tried. Gods, I tried so many times. Nothing ever happened to him worse than some broken bones. I killed his assistants, visiting Navy personnel, tons of other people while I was locked up there, but I couldn't kill him. He's not like normal humans. He has some kind of ability; he used to talk to me in my mind while he tortured me, so I could hear him over my screams. He found me at Marineford, communicated telepathically with me again for the first time since I escaped. He's been... whispering to me ever since. I hear his voice all the time." Kyra's voice cracks during this last statement, and she has to take a couple of deep breaths to calm herself.

"Why haven't you told me?"

Kyra scowls darkly. "And what the hell were you going to do about it, Law? Give me a partial lobotomy in the hopes that if you managed to chop out the right part of my brain his voice would go away? There was no reason to tell you when you can't do jack-shit about it."

Law is quiet for a long time, and she makes no attempt to break the silence. She doesn't want to tell him anything else. He has the gist of her years in the labs, that should be good enough. She wipes her face on her sleeve and stares dully out at the ocean, wishing more than ever for the wonderful oblivion of a dreamless sleep.

"Has Bepo not let you sleep on him lately?"

At this seemingly random question, Kyra turns her head and regards her sadistic captain in confusion. "No. Just that one time when you found us. Why?"

"From what Bepo said and from my own observations, you seem to sleep better when you are not alone," Law muses, those ice-chip eyes of his glinting strangely as they roam over her face. "Very well, then. You'll sleep with me tonight. Let's go."

...

WHAT?

"WHAT?" Kyra practically screeches once her brain processes what her captian has just decided. By this time Law has already pulled her to her feet and is dragging her across the deck in the direction of the hatch.

"You're obviously exhausted. You need sleep, you sleep better when you have company, and Bepo is already down for the night. So instead you will be sleeping with me. In my room, of course; my bed is more comfortable than yours." All of this is stated in a calm, bland tone. He might as well be commenting on the weather, for all the interest he shows in the conversation. Lucky him - Kyra's having a freakin' panic attack.

"I'm not sleeping with you! Let go, you crazy bastard!" She tries to pry her wrist free of the pirate's iron grasp to no avail, dragging her feet as Law pulls her in the direction of their rooms. She tries to shield, or teleport, anything to get away from this man; nothing happens. Shit, now what?

Go with him. His. Protect you. Sleep.

Oh, how absolutely fucking perfect. Her stupid love-sick magic's going to start that shit again. Is it really so naive as to think that a guy like Law is capable of sleeping in the same bed as a woman and keeping his paws to himself at the same time?

Not hurt you. Protect you. He is ours and you are his. Sleep beside him and know peace.

And just why exactly can't she be so lucky as to know peace while sleeping safe in her own fucking bed, with two doors and a lot of blankets between herself and this man?

Need him. Alone too long. Need him.

It is times such as these that make Kyra truly despise that stupid little voice. Because it's obviously the voice's fault when she finds herself in Trafalgar Law's bed despite her vocal and physical protests, her back to him and one of his arms thrown around her hips so that his hand rests on her stomach. She tries to put more space between herself and the body behind her. In response his arm tightens around her, drawing her towards him until her spine is pressed snugly to his chest.

"Go to sleep, my magician. You have nothing to be afraid of. Just relax and trust me."

Trust him? Ha, that's a laugh. The last time she made the mistake of trusting a man she got put in the labs, and how the hell does he expect her to relax with his warm hand on her stomach and his warm body behind her and his warm breath tickling her -

Kyra is asleep before the thought can be completed.

A/N: Please review. Beta'd by Tomas the Betrayer.