Flowers

Characters: Shachi, Heart Pirates, Law. Rating: K. Warnings: none

Hindsight, Shachi groaned as he tugged at his hair ineffectually, was twenty-twenty. Worse, this wasn't even a surprise. If he'd stopped to think for a moment, he'd have realised exactly what sort of hell he was setting himself up for and said 'no', tears be damned. But no, he'd naively forgotten how creative his nakama could get, and now he – or rather, his poor hair – was paying the price. He sent a look full of intent Bepo's way, but the Mink carefully avoided his gaze, busying himself by shifting his furry bulk into a better cushion for Law, whose smirk was not improving Shachi's mood any.

"You look so pretty," Ikkaku gushed, her tone completely and intentionally over the top as she clasped her hands together in the picture of classic delighted femininity that the sole woman in the Heart Pirates only used when she was teasing. Shachi glowered at her, but her grin never faltered.

"Take them out," he growled. "Now." There was laughter from behind him and someone pinched his cheek, their fingers darting back just in time to avoid a vicious bite as Shachi's teeth closed with an audible clack.

"But they suit you so well," Penguin, the total and utter traitor, grinned. He had Shachi's hat in his hands, preventing Shachi from stuffing it on his head and hiding his nakama's handywork.

The worst thing was that Shachi didn't even know which of his nakama was responsible. He'd made the major mistake of falling asleep on deck, and by the time he'd awoken, the damage was done. From Penguin's face, he suspected his best friend had played a major part in it. The fact that he seemed to be the designated 'keeper of Shachi's hat' was not helping any airs of innocence he was attempting to pull.

It had started with a girl. Didn't so many things start with a girl? A young girl with a too-bright grin and huge hopeful eyes calling "onii-san" so enthusiastically that Shachi just had to stop and see what the fuss was all about.

It had been a spring island, nature out in full bloom and beautiful for it. They'd kept their heads down, paying for everything they took instead of stealing it, up until the other crew arrived. The upstart punks began terrorising the village, which the Heart Pirates largely turned a blind eye to (despite the pasts of some of the crew, they weren't heroic enough to jump in and rescue every unhappy town – if they fell into that trap, they'd never escape it). What had caught their attention was when they'd also become targets, the rival captain jeering at them, their 'silly' jolly roger, 'ridiculous' ship and 'twig of a captain'.

Needless to say, there was now one less pirate crew on the Grand Line.

The unintended side effect was the gratitude of the villagers, who had insisted that they take gifts as a reward (Law had tried to decline until he caught sight of a book on local medicine. Needless to say, the Polar Tang's library had gained a new addition). Shachi's reward, apparently, came in the form of a young girl clutching a flower crown and giving such big hopeful eyes that, in a moment of incredible stupidity he very quickly regretted, he squatted down to her level and let her take off his hat to place it on his head.

The moment his nakama saw, he became a laughing stock. Not cruelly so, but comments flew his way about how 'adorable' it was and how they'd never known he liked flowers so much.

And now… this.

His nakama had got creative. There was no flower crown perched delicately on top of his hair, like the little girl had done. Oh, no. Several small flowers had been braided into his hair – badly. His hair, usually free flowing when not confined by his hat, was snarled and knotted around the stems of what were probably once pretty flowers, but now looked incredibly sorry for themselves. Shachi's ineffectual tugging only succeeded in tangling them up more, to his nakama's amusement as he cursed at them.

"Shachi," Law's voice cut through his ranting several minutes after it began, instantly catching everyone's attention. Shachi, his fingers caught thoroughly in his hair, looked over to where he was still sat against Bepo. The smirk was still on his face, but it was fond, and a single tattooed finger gestured for him to sit in front of his captain.

Having nothing left to lose, he wrangled his fingers free of the restrictive ginger strands and obeyed, surprised when Law directed him to sit with his back to him. Confident fingers began to work at his hair with the surety of a surgeon's hands as they carded through knots patiently. Every so often, Shachi felt another stem plucked free of his hair, and sent a satisfied grin at his pouting nakama, who complained about Captain's ruining the fun.

Sometimes Law's fingers took a break, but Shachi was willing to wait patiently if it meant he got the flowers out without pulling out his hair in the process. His nakama started sniggering again after a while, and he glowered at them. It wasn't like any of them had offered to help, and they'd made enough to a mess of his hair that he couldn't do it himself, so if his captain was the only one willing to have mercy on his poor hair then he'd take it. He spared a thought for just how gently Law's fingers seemed to be handling the flowers, but maybe that was the only way to avoid damaging his hair, or something.

It took about ten minutes before he felt Law's fingers carding through his hair smoothly, the locks apparently not just flower-free at last, but also knot free, and he shifted, ready to stand up.

"Wait," Law said, putting a hand on his shoulder. Shachi stilled, puzzled. "I'm not quite done."

He couldn't see it, but he could hear the smirk in the voice, and suddenly the sniggering of his nakama took on a whole other meaning.

"Hey-" he started to protest, moving to squirm away, but Law was faster and he felt something rest on top of his hair.

"There," Law told him, lifting the restraining hand from his shoulder and letting him wriggle away. "Finished."

Shachi scrambled over to the railings, looking into the still water below to see what, exactly, his captain had done under the guise of being helpful. A flower crown once again rested on his head, made up of the very same battered flowers that had been tangled in his hair, and the breaks Law had been taking suddenly made sense.

He wondered where the hell Law learnt to make flower crowns as he sighed and turned to face his nakama, who were all sporting identical grins, Law now included.

"What the hell am I supposed to do with you lot?" he grumbled half-heartedly, before breaking into a grin himself and heading back towards the spot he'd been napping in before they attacked him.

The flower crown stayed put for the rest of the day.

Law might be 24, but he's still a little brat sometimes.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari