-Willow-
The day festival had been quite fun, even with Ace and I being the oldest ones who weren't parents, volunteers or actual children. I think we had the most fun with the games and junk food and acting ten years younger than our actual ages.
And even as I walked home unaccompanied by Ace the smile still quivered on my lips, making me feel quite ridiculous.
But butterflies fluttered in my stomach at the thought of going to the night festival. As excited as I was to go I was also equally scared and nervous.
I knew that Ace was strong- he had thought it a brilliant idea to try and wrestle a sea king one day- and that he could protect me if need be. But last time I had gone with the person I trusted that very trust had been betrayed.
But if Ace wanted to do something like what happened a few years ago then he'd have already done it . . . right? He could easily have his way and I had even less of a chance to escape then I had last time. Or maybe he was trying to build up my trust before he made his move like Masa had.
With a frown and a firm shake of my head I muttered the word 'no' and tried to argue with myself, that I would be safe with Ace and that the only good time he wanted to show me was partying. Most likely to prove that not all celebrations were bad, nightmarish or like the last time I had gone to the night festival.
To waste time I decided to take a long hot shower. But in the end I only ended up wasting an hour and that was because the water had run from scorching hot to ice cold. So that meant that I still had the or so part of the hour or so to kill. So I towel dried my hair, brushed it out until it was straight and then decided to braid it. Since my hands were busy and my mind empty I began to wonder exactly what Ace was doing. And why he wasn't killing the next few hours with me before night had completely fallen, the nighttime festival had been set up and we headed back into town. Not that he had to do so but it was kind of what I had expected him to do.
Unfortunately I finished braiding my hair without interruption so I decided to sketch. But first I had to overcome a stubborn creativity block.
Suddenly my door burst open and in rushed Ace who had startled me with the sudden loud noise and his even louder voice.
Finally. I thought setting aside the half complete sketch and pencil and then standing. He smiled at me and I asked, "Ready to go?"
"I am but you're not." And with those baffling words something silky was pushed into my arms.
Holding the thing out and examining it I looked between the garment and Ace several times before asking, "Wh-what is this? Where'd you e-even get it?" Seriously where had Ace gotten such a thing? I hope he hadn't stolen it or raided somebodies closet for it.
Ace only laughed though and said, "It's a dress silly." He said those words in a 'duh' tone of voice. 'What else would it be?' was the unspoken but not so well hidden question in his voice.
"Why?" I wasn't stupid; I could plainly see that what I was holding was a traditional kimono with short sleeves, a sash tied around the middle and a skirt that looked rather short. I wondered why I was holding it or why Ace had shoved it into my arms and why the heck he was smiling so widely at me.
"Because you told me that you had nothing to wear and this is a formal event. And that's a formal . . . ish . . . dress. Besides Cole won't miss it at all. She'd rather torch it. Trust me."
"I. . . I do." I muttered. If I didn't trust Ace to some degree then I wouldn't be prepared to go to the second half of the light festival with him. That thought eased my mind a little bit.
"Good." He said grabbing my shoulders and twisting me around before walking me towards my room. Once at the doorway he pushed me in and said, "Come on, hurry up and change woman." Then after closing the door he decided to talk through it saying, "I see that you did something to your hair. Would it be for the festival? Or for me?"
"K-kind of." I answered not verifying which reason, as I undressed and slipped on the relatively short kimono. It was a light shade of orange with firework like design on it and a plain black sash that I easily tied myself behind my back. After tying it I slipped on my white flats and opened the door.
"Ready?" He asked even though I had been ready the moment he had flown into my house via the front door unlike some pirates that I knew.
I tried to tug down the skirt of the pretty kimono so that it covered more of my legs. "Y-yeah I think so." I managed. Why couldn't this Cole person give Ace leggings to go with this? Or had Ace stolen it from their closet? He had said that they wouldn't miss it.
"Nervous?" He questioned grabbing my wrists. I had a feeling that the moment that I said that I was indeed quite nervous was the moment that we were out of here.
Bruises encircled both of my wrists from Ace so enthusiastically dragging me everywhere and the night festival would be no different than this entire week and the day festival had been. I didn't want to admit that I was nervous, at least not aloud and not to Ace but I did with a smile and a slight nod.
Ace smiled and slung his arm around my shoulders- an action that I had grown accustomed to.- and said, "There's no need to worry I'll protect you." At that moment he sounded a lot like Luffy. "But you still know how to throw that uppercut that I showed you right?"
I nodded.
"Alright then let's go!" And with those words Ace's arm dropped from around my shoulders, his fingertips brushed down my arm and to my wrist before they easily encircled it and I was dragged away. Ace was walking at a quick and brisk pace. "And you remember how to throw a good hook as well right?" I nodded again and that was the end of that.
We talked along the way to the city, keeping at the quick pace until we broke through the line of trees.
"What do you want to do first?" Ace asked when we reached the beginning of the main street.
It was lined with vendors and stalls selling all kinds of things. Now lit lanterns hung front the tops above them and some people even carried lanterns on rods over the heads of the people in the thick crowd. Laughter, chatter and, shouting of sales men and people advertising things filled our ears. The smell of food and things that were being cooked filled our nostrils.
"Games. But no cheating." I said to him simply because these kinds of games were no fun if you cheated plus there was no gain if you did so. I didn't say that because he had cheated during the few games that were old enough for us to want to play during the day festival but because he was a pirate and I had watched him cheat plenty of scary looking men out of their money when learning the trade this week. And he always did it with a smile.
"Ok." He agreed with a wide smile. Well that was easy enough.
So for a while we enjoyed ourselves. We played several fun games like darts and strength testers. There was a dunking booth, food eating contests- which ace participated in but ended up losing because of his sleeping attack thing. There were many different kinds of psychics and a few fortune readers. We played several kinds of tossing games and luck testers. We also played some fishing and balance games as well. We won lots of prizes and tickets to other vendors for snacks or a few beli off.
Ace was so lucky and strong- he even broke a few of the test your strength things. He was quite amusing with great balance and he had a good arm as well.
As for me I was horrible at just about everything we played unless he stood behind me and assisted me. But the assistance only came after trying to explain how I was supposed to do something and then demonstrating how I should do something in order to actually succeed . . . or to simply not fail as miserably as I had the first time. Half of the time- no more than that- when it was my turn he was doubled over, if not literally rolling on the ground laughing at my lousy attempts to beat him or even win the game.
When he saw that I was getting rather frustrated he'd somber up enough to stand up and with a straight face tell me that he wouldn't laugh at me again and then proceed to help me only to do the exact same thing at the next game. Several times he'd pause whatever he was doing and ask me if I was having fun or if I was enjoying myself yet. Usually when he did that I just rolled my eyes and refused to answer.
Currently though we were enjoying something or other on a stick and were just meandering around talking and laughing when something caught his attention and without warning my wrist was tightly gripped and I was dragged over to a stage with bare chested tanned males and scantily dressed women in grass skirts juggling and breathing fire.
Ace pushed our way up to the front and stood there with this huge smile on his face before letting go of my wrist and hoisting himself up onto the stage and efficiently ruining their routine as he began doing his thing with an even larger than before smile and a body that had become the flame that he was playing with so happily.
I managed to tear my eyes off of him long enough to look around at the crowd surrounding me. They were mesmerized at the sight before them, oohing and ahhing on occasion. Every move he made had them transfixed with mouths agape.
Unfortunately for me the crowd around me wasn't the only ones who were guilty of being transfixed and mesmerized, their eyes weren't the only ones following his every movement with rapt attention. I was just as guilty of this as they were. Or rather I was until I heard that familiar loud and obnoxious laughter to my left.
Turning to look I saw a familiar head of blonde hair that was loosely tied back.
At the sight of him my blood froze and my heart began going crazy. Rage, disgust and pure hatred that would shame my parents engulfed me. But I couldn't move, not an inch closer nor an inch away. Despite those strong emotions there was one that dominated the rage and the hate and that was pure undiluted terror.
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A/N: I'm truly sorry that's all I managed to get today. Hopefully the next chapter will be longer Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism all of that is welcome and greatly appreciated.