Family
Neo softly hummed to herself as her eyes continued to land curiously on the captain. Like always he was sitting beside her near the warm fire with his hat down over his eyes. And he was holding so still this time. She couldn't tell if he was awake or asleep. With as relaxed as his body was, she assumed that he was sleeping. Over the passed couple of days, she couldn't help but noticed that he was sleeping a lot more during the day. Glancing around at the crew, she wondered if they noticed it as well.
"Something wrong, Neo?" Shachi inquired.
"No, nothing's wrong." Neo turned her eyes to him. She twitched when he gave her a smirk that told her he wasn't buying it. "Well, it's jus-" She cut her own voice off and looked at the sky.
Shachi followed her gaze to the graying skies above. "What is it?"
"There's a storm coming." Neo pushed herself up to her feet. Before anything else could be said, the wind picked up in a hurry. It was strong enough to knock her off her balance. A startled squeak rushed out of her as she snapped her eyes shut, expecting to hit the ground instead of the soft yet strong, body tensing, hands that she landed into.
"Looks like we're going to have to work more on your balance and sneak attacks." Law's voice was filled with humor when he spoke.
"S-sorry." Neo peaked up at him. Her cheeks burned at the sight of his smirk and twinkling eyes. "I'm going to have to work on sensing the weather changes, too."
"True," Law said, keeping a hold on her. "But, I've already told you, there hasn't been much weather changing since we got to this island. There's plenty of time to work on that later when the weather is more favorable for such training."
"Yes sir." Neo nodded. She expected him to release her. He didn't. He continued to hold her and inspect her with his eyes. While he held her, she noticed something different about him. But she couldn't figure out exactly what it was. She then felt her chest get tight. She opened her mouth to say something, but her voice seemed to have disappeared. She flinched when he noticed and smirked harder at her inability to speak.
Another gust of wind blew Law's hat off. With striking speed, Neo's right hand automatically shot out and grabbed his hat.
He tilted his head. "Hm, I never expected you to have such fast reflexes."
"I-I just did it." She looked down at his hat. The soft fabric against her skin suggested that he took very good care of it. "I didn't think about it at all."
"Your instincts and reflexes are developing," Law explained. "This is a very good sign."
"Really?" Neo inquired, her eyes roaming over his face.
Law lightly nodded, not breaking his eye contact on her. He remained quiet when he noticed Neo was looking him over for something. He figured out what she was looking for, the reason to why he had been napping a lot lately. He slipped his hat out of her fingers and placed it on her head. Teasing gently, he said, "And why are you staring at me like that, little girl?"
"N-nothing." Neo swallowed. "You just…there's something different about you."
Law tilted his head. "What do you mean?"
"I'm not sure," Neo replied, continuing to run her concern eyes over his features. He remained patient and quiet as she raised her hand and lightly touched her fingertips to the corner of his eye. She softly dragged her fingers up to his hair. His eyelids closed halfway as she continued to lightly move her fingers through his wild mane. His eyes fell half closed like he was falling into a trance by her touch.
"Are you two going to sit there and flirt all day with a storm coming?"
Both Neo and Law flinched when the world around them came back into focus. It was Shachi who spoke. He, along with his crewmates, but for Penguin who had disappeared into the sub a while ago, was snickering at the couple getting lost in their own little world.
"Flirt?" Neo asked softly. No one heard her over the howling wind and a boom of thunder in the distance.
Law frowned as he helped Neo lift off of him. "Grab everything and get on the sub all ready. Neo, you come with me."
"Aye aye, Captain!" The crew chuckled.
Standing up, Law grumbled to himself as he took Neo's hand and led her back to the sub. Once close enough, he warped them onto the deck, and they walked in together. Just as they stepped inside of the door, he released her hand and disappeared up to the medical bay. Neo watched him go before turning and watching the crew rushed around to gather up their blankets and stuff before rushing onto the sub. They made it just before the skies opened and the rain poured down. From the open door she could feel the warm rain misting on her skin before Bepo pulled the door closed. Thunder boomed outside, muffled by the door. Though she couldn't see it she could feel the lightning racing through the sky. The waves started rocking the sub, causing them to stumble a bit.
"That was close. We almost got drenched," Conner said. "Good thing you sensed it, Neo."
"So what kind of storm are we in for?" Archer questioned. All of their eyes looked to Neo for the answer.
"Oh, um." Neo concentrated on the weather outside. "I don't think it's going to be a very bad one. It seems to have calmed down already. I think it's just one of those types of storms that quickly show up then disappear."
"A pop up storm," Penguin informed her as he rejoined them from wherever he was.
She nodded. "Hey, Penguin?"
"What is it?"
"What does flirt mean?" Neo slightly pouted when the entire crew snickered again. "What? What did I say?"
"Nothing." Penguin cleared his throat. "Why do you asked?"
"Well, Shachi said the captain and I were flirt before we came in here." Neo looked at Shachi, as did Penguin. Shachi was wearing a huge grin on his face.
"Shachi!" Penguin tried to scold. He couldn't. His own bright smile wouldn't allow it. They just loved her innocence too much.
"What's so funny?" Neo asked with her lips still pulled down in a pout. "I don't understand."
"Oh!" Shachi squealed excitingly. He put his arms around her and rubbing his cheek on hers. His hair tickled her cheek, making her giggle. "Your innocence is just too cute!"
"What do you mean?" Neo asked again. "What was so funny before?"
"It's not important right now. And the correct wording would be, 'The captain and I were flirting'," Penguin corrected her as he patted her head. She frowned at his lack of answering her question. "Don't worry about it."
Law's throat clearing made them jump.
Neo turned her eyes to the tall man beside her while the boys took a few steps away from them.
"Neo, I want you to take a shower now," Law said.
"Yes, sir." Neo tossed one last look at the crew before walking towards the stairs to carry out her order. She disappeared down the stairs, not hearing what Law had to say to his crew, if anything.
Law shot his crew a disapproving glare before following after her. He met her halfway down the stairs. "Also, I believe your shoulder is healed enough," he said casually. "If you don't want to wear the sling, you don't have to. You really need to start working it a little bit now."
"Oh, okay." Neo looked down at the sling. Her shoulder wasn't hurt as much. Hopefully it would stop all together soon.
When they finally reached the door to his room, Law opened it for her and allowed her to go inside first. He flipped on the lights. He watched her carefully while she rushed to grab her a clean pair of clothes before hurrying into the bathroom. He was about to sitting down at his desk when she walked back over to him. "Is something wrong?"
"Uh, I forgot to give you your hat back." Neo held out his hat to him.
"Right." Law took his hat back from her. He didn't immediately put it on though. He looked at it then looked at her. She was studying him again. He placed his hat on his head then placed his hand on her head with a light chuckle. "You better get your shower done. Do you need help removing your shirt?"
"No, sir. I think I can take it off myself," Neo said. "It doesn't hurt as much as it did before."
"All right then." Law kept his eyes on her as she walked back over to his bathroom. She gave him another glance before closing the door. Once she had the door closed, he sat down at his desk, crossed his arms, lowered his chin, and closed his eyes with a relaxing sigh while ignoring the slight pain flickering through his shoulder.
…
Neo winced lightly when she took her shirt off. While her injury was healing, it still hurt some when she moved her arm in certain directions. She thought about Law's words on having to not wear the sling if she didn't want to. It was limiting to her in what she could do. She wanted it to be gone. She finished disrobing then climbed in the shower. Letting her eyes drift closed, she enjoyed the hot water rushing over her body for a minute before reaching for the shampoo.
Neo winced again when she reached up to ring the water out of her hair before stepping out of the shower. She grabbed her clothes, which consisted of a pair of jeans and a shirt where the body was white while the neck and shoulders were a dark blue, and slipped them on before stepping out of the bathroom. She tilted her head when her eyes landed on Law. He had his feet propped up on his desk, his arms crossed, and his hat down low over his eyes.
She didn't say anything. She just walked over to his bed and sat down. She grabbed her brush from his nightstand and ran it through her damp hair. While stroking her blue locks with the bristles, her eyes kept going to the man in the room. He hadn't moved since she came out of the shower.
Once she was done with her hair, she rolled the brush in her fingers before putting it down. She then stood up and walked over to him. "Captain?"
She bent over to peak under his hat when he didn't answer or move. He was asleep. She pulled back from him completely clueless on what to do now.
"Lami…stop that. You're going to get hurt."
"Lami?" Neo tilted her head when the captain spoke in his sleep. The name was unfamiliar to her. No one by that name was on the sub. She looked over to his door, wondering if she should go get someone. But she didn't. Instead she found herself turning back around and reached for him again. Just as her fingers were about to touch his shoulder, his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. She tensed and squeaked. "I'm sorry."
"Neo?" Law questioned. She looked at him. He seemed dazed. He released her hand and rubbed his face. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to grab you like that. You just startled me."
"I'm sorry," Neo repeated, ducking her head. "I…I didn't mean to."
"Don't be. It was my fault." Law stood up and shoved his hands in his pocket. He paused when he noticed Neo rubbing her hands on her arms. "Are you cold?"
"A little bit," Neo replied honestly.
Law walked over to his closet. He pulled out one of his dark blue hoodies then handed it to her. "Do you need help putting it on?"
"No, sir. Um, thank you," Neo said, pressing the hoodie to her chest.
"Don't mention it." Law waved his hand. He grabbed his sword and headed for the door. "I don't want you to get sick. Since it's raining right now, why don't you work on your reading and writing for a while?"
"Yes, sir." Neo slipped the hoodie over her head. She paused when his scent engulfed her nose. Her chest tightened, her heart fluttered. She flinched when she noticed he was watching her from over his shoulder with a playful smirk. She pushed her arms into the sleeves and followed after him. "Would it be all right if I got a snack before starting?"
"Of course it's fine." Law nodded. "I have some things I need to take care of. Remain in the sub until we all go back to the island."
"Yes, sir, I will." Neo nodded.
Law watched her enter into the galley before walking away from her.
…
Neo grabbed herself what was becoming her favorite snack, some cheese, crackers, and a cup of lightly sweeten tea, before making her way to the rec. room. No one was there. She figured the crew was busy with orders so she pulled her supplies from the bookshelf and settled at the table to start writing.
After a while, she got bored with doing that exercise. She finished off her tea then grabbed herself a book before curling up in the corner of the couch. A few minutes after that, Archer had wandered into the room. She glanced up momentary before looking back at her book. He sat down near her and placed his arms on the back of the couch. He tilted his head and noticed she was wearing Law's hoodie. "Wearing the captain's clothes again, huh?"
"Is that a bad thing?" Neo pulled her eyes from her book with a slightly worried expression. "I was cold. He told me to wear it so I wouldn't get sick."
"No, it's not a bad thing." He chuckled. "It's a good thing."
"How so?" She tilted her head with curious eyes.
"It's kinda hard to explain. But, trust me, it's a very good thing," he said.
When he didn't say anything else, Neo let her eyes dropped down to her book. She read for about thirty minutes more before noticing he had pulled out a letter and was reading it with a frown on his lips.
"Is something wrong?" she inquired.
"Sort of," Archer replied with a sigh. "I got this letter a while back from a friend of mine I happened to run into. My sister is planning on marrying this jerk. It's got my family all upset."
"Oh," Neo said, not knowing what else she should say. "Are you going home?"
"Naw." He folded up the letter and shoved it back into his pocket. "There's no point. My sister has always been head strong."
"Head strong?" Neo asked.
"Determined to have her way," Archer explained. "It won't matter who tells her that that guy she's wanting to marry is a jerk, she'll do it anyway."
"I see. Would you tell me more about your family?" Neo asked.
Archer gave her a curious look. He was slightly stunned she was talking so openly with him. He knew he shouldn't have been surprised. She had been more open with them since they started training with her.
"Oh, well, I don't really know that much about everyone's families. I'm just…curious. Is that all right?" Neo said.
"Sure it's all right." Archer smiled then thought about his family. "Let's see…where would be a good place to start?"
Neo closed her book and pulled her feet up on the couch. She waited patiently for him to start talking.
"Well…I guess I could start with my parents," Archer said. "They are very nice. They did everything they could to provide us with a good home. We didn't have much, but we had what we needed to survive. They own a garden and sell their produce to the islanders. My dad was also interested in submarines. He learned how to fix them. He taught me how to fix them as well, but I prefer driving them. That's why you find me often in the control room. The captain took an interest in my submarine skills and here I am."
"I see." Neo thought back to the few times she had wandered into the control room. He was always in there. "So how many sisters do you have?"
"Well, I have three sisters and two brothers," Archer said. "My sisters are older than me and my brothers are younger than me."
"Did they want to be pirates, too?" Neo asked.
"No, they have normal jobs," Archer said before chuckling. "I ended up the black sheep of the family."
"Black sheep?" Neo asked.
"It means I'm the odd one out," Archer said. "My other siblings got normal jobs like farming, sewing, one's a dentist, and one of my sister teaches piano. I was the only one who was fascinated by pirates. When the captain offered me a place on his crew, I jumped on it fast."
…
"Hm?" Penguin blinked when he heard the some crewmates laughing from the rec. room. He walked over and stepped inside the room to find some fellow crewmates sitting around with Neo. One was sitting on the couch with her, while one was sitting in one of the chairs and two were sitting on the floor. They all were laughing at the mental picture their crewmate was supplying with his story. Even Neo had a soft bell chiming chuckle on her lips.
Conner was the one who was speaking. He was sitting backwards in the chair and had his arms resting over the back of it. "We weren't suppose to be playing rough in the house. Man, our dad was so furious about us breaking our great aunt's priceless tea urn that he ordered me and my brother outside to pick out a stick for our whooping. So we spend the next two hours outside picking up sticks and whacking each other with it to see which one would hurt less."
Penguin leaned against the frame of the door. He crossed his arms and listened with a smile. He's heard this story a couple times before. It always made him chuckle.
"Eventually, we took our dad the smallest stick we could fine," Conner said.
"So what happened?" Neo asked.
"Nothing. We were so bruised up that our dad didn't carry through with his punishment," he replied. "He just threatened us to never play rough in the house again and let us go."
"That's hilarious! I just love this story!" A crewmate laughed.
"Yeah! It never gets old!"
"You seem to always have been the rough type," Neo said.
"I guess so," Conner said. "My grandpa was a retired pirate. He never made a name for himself, but that didn't stop him from doing anything that he wanted. And he was sure to pass hard lessons down to my brother and me. He was also the one who encouraged me to become an engineer. It kept me busy and out of trouble a lot of the time."
"Having fun, I see," Penguin said, making his presence known. He walked over and looked at Neo.
"They're telling me about their families." Neo smiled.
"I see." Penguin nodded. He eyed the hoodie she was wearing. His crewmates caught the stare and snickered.
"Captain told her to wear it." One of them answered Penguin's silent question.
"I was cold. He doesn't want me to get sick," Neo added.
"Uh huh." Penguin nodded with a smile.
"Why don't you join us, Pen?" Archer asked. He shifted over to give him more space to sit beside Neo.
Penguin walked over and gladly sat down beside her.
"What about the captain's family?" Neo suddenly asked. The crew froze before exchanging looks. "What? What's wrong? Doesn't the captain talk about his family?"
"Not really," one of the crewmates on the floor replied. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked at Penguin.
"The captain doesn't really like to talk about his family," Penguin said carefully.
"Then you don't know anything about his family?" Neo asked.
"Well, sort of," they all mumbled and shifted nervously.
She looked at them, unsure of why the atmosphere in the room changed.
"Neo, if you really want to know about the captain's family, it would be best if you asked him directly," Penguin said, regaining her attention. "We know about the captain's past, but he doesn't want us spreading it around."
"Oh. I see." Neo let her eyes dropped to her book. She fingered the book cover then the hoodie.
Penguin spoke up again when he noticed worry etching on her expression. "What's wrong, Neo? You seem concerned about something."
"It's about the captain." She brought her eyes back up to him and continued talking. "He seems different somehow. I'm not sure how. But after I got done with my shower he was sleeping and mumbled someone's name…Lami, I think it was. When I reached for him he woke up and grabbed my wrist. He doesn't seem like himself. Is he getting sick?"
"Not at all." Penguin's smile became bright again. "He's just worried about you."
"Why?" she asked.
"He's worried those mercenaries will come back and try to take you away from him again," Penguin answered honestly. "He's just losing sleep over it by staying up at nights to watch over you."
"He's staying up to watch me sleep? But why? They're gone, aren't they?" Her eyebrows turned up.
"Of course they are, sweetie. We made sure to take care of that. They're never going to hurt you again." Penguin patted her knee as the crew nodded in agreement. They all knew what Penguin said was only half the truth. They couldn't tell her the full reason Law was losing sleep over her. Their captain would kill him if they did. "Look, just stay close to him for now. And don't wander off at any time. He'll be fine after he gets a good night's sleep."
"Really?"
"Yes." Penguin nodded. When he noticed she still wasn't sure about it, he tried something different. "How about this? After the rain passes, ask the captain to take you on a walk along the beach when we go back outside."
"What will that do?" she asked.
"The fresh air will clear his head. Then he'll get a good night's sleep," a crewmate said. "It'll also help for you to spend some time alone with him."
"If you all think it will help." Neo looked around at them.
"It will definitely help him." Shachi's voice interjected as he appeared in the room. "Especially since you're the one who's going to ask him to walk with you."
Neo huffed when the men exchanged chuckles again. She felt so frustrated with herself and her lack of understanding why the crew kept chuckling like this. After a few minutes of laughing, the crew settled back down and started to tell Neo family stories again.
…
Two and a half hours later the sub finally stopped rocking as the storm disappeared. It had apparently developed from more than just a pop up storm. With enough family stories haven been told, they got up and wandered out of the rec. room. Making it back to the main floor they found some other crewmates had already opened the door and were back outside. Soon after that Law had joined them on the deck and they too went back to the beach.
"Great," Conner said while he picked up a piece of wet wood. "This is going to take forever to dry."
"Always the pessimistic," Archer said.
"Shut up!" Conner snapped.
"You're forgetting we have a master at controlling the elements," Archer said, placing his hand on Neo's shoulder.
Neo tensed at his touch and swallowed. Her eyes locked down on the piece of wood in Conner's hand.
"Let's see if you can dry out this area and our firewood," Law said.
"Yes, sir." Neo nodded as she summoned her water crystals. Hovering them close to the ground and the wood they started glowing. The glow spread down to her targets. Lifting the glow up all of the moisture from them had gathered into the glow. The crew cheered and clapped. She shifted with a small smile then summoned a fire crystal to relight their fire while dumping the collected moisture away from their campsite. The fire crackled to life, warming their skin from the cool air left by the rain.
"Good job, Neo," Law praised her. He took a few steps away from her and looked around at the dry ground with a satisfied look in his eyes.
Neo watched him quietly before her eyes drifted between Shachi and Penguin, who suddenly appeared at her sides.
"Go on, Neo," Shachi and Penguin quietly cheered while elbowing her. "Ask him."
"What are you two up to?" Bepo asked.
"Shh!" Penguin and Shachi pressed their fingers to their lips.
"I'm sorry." Bepo bowed his head.
The two frowned at the bear. "Stop doing that!"
"Sorry," Bepo repeated.
Shachi and Penguin just sighed and turned back to Neo. "Just ask him already."
"Um…okay," Neo mumbled softly. She was unsure about this, but walked over to Law anyway. "C-Captain?"
"Yes?" Law asked.
"Will you, please, take me on a walk along the beach?" She collapsed her hands behind her back and lowered her eyes, feeling self conscious.
Law raised an eyebrow at her. When the crew snickered, Law shot them a suspicious glare.
"You don't have to if you don't want to. I was just thinking th-"
"Very well." Law turned away from the fire and took a couple steps. He paused to cast a glance back at her over his shoulder then started walking again. "Let's go."
"Okay." Neo rushed to catch up to him, leaving the snickering crew behind. She slowed her pace when she was finally by his side again.
The noise of the crew and fire had faded away from them as they made their way down the beach. The only sounds they could hear now were the swooshing of the waves and the crunching of Law's boots on the sand. Neo was looking out at the ocean as they walked along when Law looked over at her. "Neo?"
"Yes, Captain?"
"We're going to be leaving this island soon."
Neo pulled her eyes back to him at that point.
"We really need to get back on the sea. I believe you've gained enough control over your crystals to move on from here and train in the sub. Are you going be all right with that?"
"Yes, sir. I'm still with you and the crew so I'll be fine." Neo smiled, collapsing her hands behind her back again.
Law returned the smile and was satisfied with her answer.
Soon after that Neo stopped walking and looked out at the rising moon hovering over the water. The sky was partly cloudy still but the moon was bright and stars were starting to peak out from behind the cloud cover.
Law paused a few seconds after she did. He watched her quietly as she lifted her eyes to the star filled sky.
"I never noticed before that there were so many stars up there. I guess I was too busy being scared to even bother looking up. They're very beautiful," Neo said.
Law felt a twinge of satisfaction that she was opening up to them more now. She was making so much progress with them. As he stared at her, he couldn't stop his eyes from wandering over her body. She was still wearing his hoodie so it hid her figure well since his clothes were so big on her. His hoodie basically fit her as a dress. It caused his heart to flutter wildly still. The moon rose a little higher and reflected off her body, almost giving her a magical glow. He lightly flinched when he noticed she had turned around and was staring at him. "Is something wrong?"
"No…I was just wondering...if it's all right, I'd like to ask you something." Neo's voice was almost a whisper.
"What is it?" Law inquired.
"Who's…" Neo paused and chewed on her bottom lip before speaking again. "Who's Lami? Is she family to you?"
Law's eyes widened. He narrowed his eyebrows and frowned. "Who…how do you know that name?"
Neo shifted uncomfortably under his intense gaze. "Y-you said it back on the sub. You were asleep when I got out of the shower."
Law's hat fell over his eyes. He turned his back to her, his jaw clenching.
Neo's shoulders slumped at the same time her eyes dropped to the ground. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you angry. You just said it…and the crew was talking about their families…I was just…I'm sorry, Captain."
"Lami…" When Neo brought her eyes back up, Law had already turned back around. His eyes were soft and sad. "She was…my younger sister."
"Was?" Neo asked carefully.
Law nodded then proceeded to tell her the full story about his family and what happened in his hometown. "I was born and raised in a place called Flevance with my parents and sister. The people there were mining a substance called White Lead for the government that was poisonous. My sister had advanced stages of it and was dying slowly. My parents were doctors. They were doing everything they could to help but didn't have the proper medication to really do anything. Neighboring countries falsely believed that the disease was contagious. It wasn't. Eventually, the government had my home destroyed and killed everyone but for me. I managed to escape, but lost my family."
Sadness settled into her chest as she waited patient for him to finish speaking. "The crew said they knew about this. Do they know everything?"
"They sort of know about it," Law replied. "They know I'm from the White Town of Flevance, but I've never talked to them much about my family. I've never really talked to anyone about them. It's not exactly an easy thing for me to discuss."
Law lowered his eyes a bit and thought about his words. His mind buzzed with the shock about how open he felt towards her with his past. He wanted to tell her everything but knew she wasn't mentally ready to know everything that he has done in his life. He would hold on to that for a later time when she would be more ready for it.
"Oh…I'm sorry. That must have been so hard for you to deal with." Neo dropped her eyes to the sand, poking her toes into it.
Even though Neo lowered her eyes to the ground at that point, Law could easily tell she really wanted to say something else. Without her noticing, he walked closer to her. He lifted her chin up so her eyes would meet his. He suppressed a smirk when he felt her tense at his touch. "Speak to me, Neo. I know there's something else you want to say. I don't want you to keep quiet when there's something on your mind."
"I'm sorry...it's just…"
"You can tell me."
"I just…I don't know. I guess it's just…you got a chance to know your family. You and the crew know your families. You…you know where you're from. I don't know anything about my family or myself. I probably will never know where I came from or anything about my family. Did my family even want me? Why did they leave me? Why do I have these crystals? Why did everyone I met always hate me for them? I don't understand why this happened." Neo's eyes started to tear up. Before long the tears poured over her eyelids. She rubbed her eyes, trying to stop them. She couldn't do it. "I don't understand why I don't have a family. I don't understand any of this. I don't understand…I don't…I don't…"
"I know you don't understand. I'm sorry I don't have any answers for you." Law sighed. He placed his hand behind her head and brought her forehead into his chest. She tensed at being so close to him, but didn't stop crying or pull away. He went to speak again but stopped when he felt and sensed her move. Much to his surprised, she raised her arms and wrapped them around his waist without hesitating. She was actually hugging him. He gently curled his fingers in her tresses and tilted his chin down to where his nose met her hair. He breathed in the soft, sweet scent of her hair, unintentionally becoming intoxicated. Hmm…Bepo was right. She does smell very sweet.
Her soft sobs broke him of his trance. His face grew warm. Stupid idiot! What are you doing?! You shouldn't be thinking of her like that even if you do have feelings for her! Now's not the time for this! Pull away from her! The only thing he managed to do was pull his face away from her hair. He wanted to completely pull away from her, but his body wouldn't listen to him. Instead, he stroked her hair and let her cry for a few minutes before speaking up again. "Hush now. It's all right. You might not know who your family was, but you know who your family is now."
"What?" Neo pulled away from his chest. She looked up at him.
He smiled softly at her before reach up and brushing away her tears. "We're your family now." Law's voice was low and gentle. Even though he had brushed all her tears away, he continued to move his thumb over her soft skin.
"You're my…"
"Family." Law nodded. "The crew, Penguin, Shachi, Bepo, all of them…they think of you as their little sister. And they love you very much."
"They do?"
Law nodded again.
"Even you?"
Law's heart thumped rapidly against his chest. He tried hard to work his brain on figuring out what she was asking exactly instead of following what his body wanted to do. Did she want to know if he thought of her as a little sister? Or did she want to know if he loved her? Unfortunately, his brain wouldn't cooperate at the moment and his body won the battle. His brain shorted out as he rested his sword on his shoulder so he could cup her face with both hands and started to slowly lean in towards her.
"Wh-what are you doing?" Neo stuttered, her cheeks flushing.
He suddenly froze when she spoke. He regained his senses and found he was leaning in so close to her. He locked his eyes onto hers and studied her blue eyes. Her sweet...innocent…trusting…confused...scared eyes.
"Nothing." Law brushed his thumbs over her cheeks one last time before finally pulling back from her. He shoved one hand into his pocket and reclaimed his sword with the other while turning sideways to her before walking off. "Let's continue our walk now."
Neo lightly nodded and followed after him. A few seconds later, she reached up and pinched a hold of his sleeve.
Law didn't say anything as he looked at her from the corner of his eyes. He could easily tell she was feeling vulnerable at the moment. He had unintentionally pushed her into feeling this way. So he patiently let her cling to him like always. He was expecting her to ask him again if she was like a little sister to him. But she didn't. He was very glad she didn't. He knew the answer to that question, but wouldn't have been able to answer it without having to explain to her why he didn't see her as a little sister. And he knew she wasn't ready to hear the truth. She wouldn't understand it right now. He could wait for the right moment. He could wait until she was ready to hear the truth about how he really felt about her.
