Luck

Characters: Ikkaku, Heart Pirates. Rating: K. Warnings: none

Sometimes, life just wasn't fair.

Everyone had their off days, for sure, but as Ikkaku groaned and cursed, she swore that no-one had had a worse day than this (tragic pasts notwithstanding).

The first thing was her own fault, she could admit that. Leaving clothes tossed carelessly on the floor when she went to bed the previous evening because she was too lazy to hang them up out of the way had been an accident waiting to happen, and happen it did as they tangled around her feet when she got up, leaving her to crash to the ground in a tangle of clothes.

She couldn't just keep her embarrassment to herself, of course. Summoned by the sound, it was mere seconds before someone was knocking on her door, asking if she was okay. One was joined by another, and then another, and she threw her hairbrush at the door, followed by whatever else she could get her hands on, in an attempt to shoo them away. Apparently several things hitting her door did nothing to reassure her nakama, and after a moment the handle turned hesitantly, Uni's voice asking if he could come in.

"No!" she shrieked, disentangling herself from the chaos and reaching for her hairbrush to tame her hair only to recall using it as a projectile seconds earlier. "I'm fine!" The handle thankfully stopped turning and returned to its previous position, but any pleasure Ikkaku felt at being left alone was quickly dashed when she realised her hairbrush – her only hairbrush – hadn't survived the collision with the heavy door. Her scream of frustration was quickly followed by the sound of running feet and her door burst open.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Shachi asked, his hand leaning heavily on the doorframe as he looked around the room frantically. He realised her state of undress a split second before she did, his cheeks colouring as he hurriedly tried to backpedal out of the room. She lunged for him, grabbing him by the neck of his boiler suit.

"Shachi," she growled, ignoring the fact that she was wearing nothing but the underwear she'd slept in as he babbled apologies. "Fetch me a hairbrush. Now." His babbling stopped and he stared at her for a few seconds in shock before she shoved him out of the room. Caught off balance, he stumbled, and she slammed the door behind him. "I'm waiting!" Footsteps receded hurriedly and she turned her attention to her clothes, picking out something clean to wear and shoving the dirty laundry into a shame pile into the corner to be dealt with later.

There was a tentative knock on the door, and she yanked it open long enough to snatch the hairbrush from Shachi's hand before slamming it in his face again. The brush still had strands of ginger hair ensnarled around the bases of the prongs, but Ikkaku ignored them as she used it to yank her bushy hair into some form of submission. Shachi had wisely fled in the meantime, so she left the brush on her table and headed to the kitchen for some sorely-needed coffee.

She knew Bepo didn't mean to stumble and knock her drink over, but with an already-atrocious morning it took everything she had not to scream at the cowering mink, instead turning her back and swiping another mug of coffee which she drained before making a face. Too sweet for her liking. A tattooed hand grasped at air where the drink had stood and she looked up to see her captain regarding her with an expression somewhere between annoyed and apprehensive.

"Is something wrong, Ikkaku?" he asked, reclaiming his mug and looking somewhat forlorn at the realisation it was empty. The only thing stopping Ikkaku snapping at him like she'd snapped at Uni and Shachi earlier was that he was her captain and she'd already stolen his coffee.

"The concern is appreciated but I'm fine, Captain." Somehow she managed to make it sound a little less like her teeth were grinding together than she'd expected. He looked disbelieving but didn't press, heading back to the coffee pot and leaving her to tear into her breakfast in peace.

She had a stint in the engine room scheduled for that day, and after the way her morning had gone she really should have just cut her losses, traded shifts with someone else and gone to hide in bed for the rest of the day.

"You have got to be kidding me!" she screamed when the Tang's engines decided her hair would make a wonderful addition. Apparently the submarine didn't care that it was still attached to her head as it tangled it around the various components, trapping Ikkaku against the machinery. Of course, in all the chaos that morning she'd forgotten to pick up her knife, which was probably still buried firmly in her door from where she'd thrown it, and she let out another scream of frustration.

Again there was the sound of booted feet running, and for the first time that day Ikkaku found it in her to be thankful that her nakama would always flock to the sound of her screams (or anyone's, really).

Penguin was first to find her, grease splattering his own boiler suit from where he'd been working nearby, and his sticky fingers deftly began to coax her hair to escape from the submarine's grip.

"Just cut it!" she snapped, reaching for where she knew he kept his knife under the breastflap of the boiler suit. A hand grabbed her wrist, leading it back down to her side before Clione joined in with working her hair loose. The gathering didn't stop there and soon half the crew was crowding her, their fingers deft from years working the submarine and all stubbornly refusing to cut her hair.

It took them several minutes, but with a triumphant "ah hah!" from Shachi her hair was free. The boys didn't disperse immediately, and after a moment Clione stepped forwards and gave her a hug.

She didn't react straight away, standing wooden in his hold for several long seconds before caving and wrapping her arms around him in response. Seemingly taking that as a cue, the other boys joined in until there was one huge mass of arms and bodies in the engine room with Ikkaku at the centre.

For the first time that day, Ikkaku found herself smiling. It didn't matter how many stupid things went wrong when she had her nakama.

It's Friday the 13th (or was - it's gone midnight here now). I couldn't resist.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari