Disclaimer: First Chapter
Story Start!

All was calm.

Other than 6 Skeleton Crews that they encountered and sank into the ocean, they hadn't encountered much trouble at all. It was relatively smooth sailing overall, and as much as it was annoying for her, Melusine had to admit that Chloe seemed stronger after she did what she did. All was calm, as Melusine looked up into the darkness, staring at the wood ceiling above her head.

The ocean was calm.

Melusine felt a sense of unease.

'... Does he even need the other servants... am I not more than enough to take care of all the other Masters?' Melusine couldn't help but think as she heard the soft breathing of some of the servants sleeping around her. The only two servants that she wanted to kill were Chloe and Shuten for different reasons, but she couldn't stop herself from wondering if the others were even needed at all.

Well, she guessed having Anne and Mary to steer the ship and navigate using the stars was a good thing, since she didn't know how to sail or navigate.

It was nice that Beni-Enma could cook amazingly delicious meals for them with the supplies they had, since she didn't know if she could really cook that well.

Atalanta was a loyal, devoted servant as well who packed good hunting skills and a keen sense of hearing AND smell, so she was good for the crew.

'I'm not smart... and I don't have any real skills, other than being strong...' Melusine wondered to herself. She sat up in her hammack, and she looked towards Shuten, who was indeed awake and currently humming a song to herself. Shuten seemed to always be enjoying herself to some degree. Melusine looked over at Tamamo as well, who was asleep, but she seemed so content with herself.

In the kitchen, on the other side of the ship, the light of a fire was on in the stone part of the kitchen, showing that Beni-Enma had already started all of the preparations for breakfast in the morning. It was still 5 hours away from the sun's light hit them, but Beni rarely slept during the night.

Melusine stood up and walked away.

She walked right up the stairs, and opened the wooden doors, and there she saw the night sky above her. There were countless stars and colors in the black sky above, and as beautiful as it was, it didn't make her feel any better as she closed the trapdoor behind her. The salty air around them didn't ease her heart either.

She hated the salty air.

The ship was sailing, meaning Anne and Mary must have forgotten to drop the anchor before falling asleep. It would be the first time that they had forgotten, and she didn't know how to do it. It didn't seem like there was anything around for them to hit, and according to the map it would be 2 days before they came across any land. She saw no harm in allowing the ship to keep sailing until somebody woke up.

Somebody smarter than her.

"I'm... the strongest, right?" Melusine asked herself, and she moved to the railing and looked over the side. The stars were reflected in the water, but that wasn't the only thing that was reflected. In the salted waters below, Melusine could see an unclear reflection of herself as well. "Is strength..."

She was beautiful, according to everyone but herself.

She saw her reflection as nothing but ugly, and her strength was her only redeeming quality. She wasn't like Beni-Enma, who raised morale with her amazing cooking. She wasn't useful like Tamamo, who healed others and enhanced the ship. She wasn't like Anne and Mary, who had been so far some of the most useful servants. She hadn't been the key to figuring out the mystery of the 7 Ocean Beasts like Chloe, or having reduced her Master's stress sexually like the girl either. She wasn't even like Shuten, who everyone could take their frustrations out on for not doing anything. She wasn't even pitiful like Van Gogh, who everyone treated with fine care, so that she didn't mentally suffer.

Everyone was weak compared to her, but in many ways they were all so much more useful than she was.

All she had was strength.

Her master was the most amazing.

The way he took the weak into his care, the way he protected his enemy Hinata and her servants was something special. He might pretend to be cold and calculative, but when the assassin servant was dying due to the poison of the creatures, he had the servant swiftly put down, and then even made an excuse for why it needed to be done. Her Master tricked even himself into trying to believe he was cold hearted.

"You're ugly, a failure of a being... your only redeeming quality is your strength. You need to work harder, be more useful to him... you need to prove to him that you're useful." Melusine told her reflection. All she had was strength, and it was all that she was good for. She had a Master now, and she wanted to do everything she could for him.

He was her everything.

His presense allowed her to keep her 'beautiful' form as it was, and allowed her to stay as sane as she was. All she had was strength, and she lacked other skills that would make her feel like she had any use at all. Even Ishtar was diplomatic to a certain extent, with Naruto sending her off to the Amazon Island ahead of them to try and make some sort of peace.

The wind shifted.

Melusine got a whiff of him, and she turned her head sharply when she noticed that Naruto was standing at the wheel of the ship. She quickly wiped the tears from her eyes, but she noticed that he glanced at her and looked up towards the sky. He didn't say anything at all about what she had been saying, and what she had been doing towards her reflection.

His scent was kindness.

The kindness he showed by saying nothing, and not exposing her humiliation. Melusine smiled and felt a warmth in her chest grow, just the realization that he was with her in sight. She quickly walked towards him, and up the stairs that led her to his side once more.

"I would think you would be asleep Master... are you not tired?"

"Can't sleep... and tonight has a clear sky, it's pretty to look at. Sometimes, it's nice to just enjoy it in silence, don't you think?" Naruto asked her.

"... I don't like it... the sky... or the silence. It makes me feel... small." Melusine couldn't say she was a fan of being alone in general, but the vast sea of stars above them only made her feel smaller and more alone when she looked at it. She looked at Naruto, and saw his eyes reflected the stars in them.

It was breath-taking for her.

There was want, desire, and peace in his eyes.

"I'm just one small person in this vast universe, so I'm going to make my mark. I'm going to make my name a name that everyone will know and remember. I love the sky, because it reminds me of just how small and insignifigant I really am... it reminds me of what I strive for." Naruto didn't agree with Melusine one bit about not liking the feeling of being small.

Melusine looked up at the stars.

She didn't understand it, and she didn't understand him. She didn't get him or why the sky making him feel small seemed to make him happy. She still smiled at him when she looked away from the stars, and back into the stars reflected into his eyes.

"Master..."

"I'm going to be somebody that people want to be like. Just like the heroes and leaders who came before me, I want people to follow in my footsteps and say I want to be just like Naruto. I want people to use me in their lives, to help them move forward. I want to build a kingdom, a great and legendary society where people can laugh and smile." Naruto spoke with more passion.

She slid up closer to him.

She crossed an arm in front of her, and she leaned up against his arm as she grabbed his sleeve. She could feel the warmth of his body against her own, and the heat of his passion throbbed in her heart. When he spoke, he spoke with full confidence that he would make his dreams a reality. He words were brimming with emotion, and it made her believe in him. She wanted to be there for him, and give him everything that she could.

"All I have is strength, but... it's yours. Use me however you want. I want to see your dream succeed." Melusine smiled.

All she had was strength, but when she was with her Master, she didn't mind. It would be nice if she had something that set her apart like the others, a skill or desire that made her useful in other ways. She was the strongest there was, and all things were below her in the food chain for sure.

"No Melusine."

"Master."

"I want you to use me... put your dreams, your worries, and your fears on my shoulders. I promise you that I will carry all of it on my shoulders, so stand by my side. I will show you the world I want to make for everyone... and you're part of everyone."

Melusine was stumped for words.

His words hit her.

"You, Melusine, are a part of the everyone I want to make smile and laugh. Whenever you feel sad, or lonely, or angry... come to me, and I will do my best to make you smile. You're not just my servant, you're my comrade... you are precious to me. You are my Melusine, and to me, nothing could ever replace you." Naruto continued, and he never looked at her.

Melusine abandoned ALL pretense that she was cool, and just wrapped her arms around him. She smiled and hugged him without saying another word. She squeezed him, and if he had any trouble breathing he didn't say it. She felt a warmth, and a closeness to Naruto in that moment that no words could do justice.

Then again, words failed her.

Melusine actually did open her mouth to talk, but the lump in her throat refused to allow a sound to escape. She wanted to thank him for saying what she needed to hear.

Anyone could say those words.

If anyone else had told her what Naruto told her, it wouldn't mean as much to her. When HE said it though, she could hear it in his voice. He meant every single word he said down to his soul. His words were spoken like an oath that he would never willingly break. She could hear the sincerity with every syllable, which to her, made his words all the more touching.

'... I'm precious to him, even if the only good thing about me is my strength... even if I'm useless in other things... I'm his precious Melusine.' Melusine closed her eyes, no longer seeing the sky that made her feel small. She could no longer smell the salt water that disgusted her to her core, smelling only Naruto as she buried her nose into him.

Naruto made her feel big.

Where the sky made her feel small and alone, Naruto made her feel big and secure. When she was with him, he gave off the warmth of safety and love. Just words from him could ease her burden. Melusine could fly, she had the power to float, but it was only when she was with Naruto that she could feel like she was taken off her feet. She always felt like the weight on her shoulders was smaller when he was there.

He lifted her up, her spirits and her burdens.

The lonely part of her soul was filled with him.

Naruto placed a free hand on her back, not her head, and he didn't rub her back. He just rested it there, softly, so that she could soak in his touch.

"So... how does the sky make you feel now?" Naruto asked her with a cheeky grin.

"I still don't like the stars... but I don't need to look up at the stars." Melusine looked at his passionate eyes for the real stars. The stars might be beautiful, but the stars in his eyes were 100 times more so now.

Naruto smiled a goofy smile at her.

Naruto looked at a black mass in the distance out of the corner of his eye. He raised an eyebrow and looked at it properly, since according to the map they weren't anywhere close to an island. The only reason he could see it, was because the island was the spot on the ocean that didn't reflect the stars at all.

'I'll circle around it until morning once I get closer... an unmarked island, where there should be no island. This smells like an island that nobody has visited and lived to tell the tail.' Naruto could only imagine that an island that was unmapped was either undiscovered, or it was an island that nobody saw and made it out alive. Naruto stayed silent about his worries though, because Melusine was taking him in.

He didn't want to ruin the moment.

Naruto would avoid the island until the other servants woke up, and once they did and everyone had eaten, they would check the island out.

"Master... if I do good work, can I get a reward... like what the... girl got?" Melusine didn't want to ruin the mood.

She felt safe.

She felt safe and emotionally fulfilled at the moment, and his attention to her and her emotions was like an aphrodisiac to her. The kindness, the strength, the love and care that he showed, it made her feel want towards him. Not a want born from jealousy like before, where she wanted to mark him with her scent to erase the archer girl's scent... but now she wanted him, because she just wanted him to be with her, in her, around her.

She wanted his scent, on and in her.

Not just his scent.

He made her feel relaxed and safe, and her body... she wanted to make him feel fulfilled and loved. She wouldn't belittle her feelings by just saying that her body was simply reacting to him.

She wanted this.

She wanted him.

"You're my precious servant, a comrade. It doesn't need to be a reward Melusine. If you need this, I'll do it for you. Just not tonight... tonight, lets just... take a moment and appreciate the moment." Naruto was going to put his cares and worries to the side for now. "And for what it's worth, I'm sorry for neglecting you..."

"Don't be."

"Hmmm?"

"You're not just my Master... Van Gogh needed you too... and... the girl... I feel sad, and lonely, and jealous when you're with those other women... but..." Melusine didn't know what to say after that. She didn't know what to say, because her feelings were still a little bit of a mess. "... I... don't remember those feelings." Melusine knew that she felt all of those feelings, but when she was with Naruto, alone like she was now... the feelings that she felt even 30 minutes ago seemed like they were a forgotten dream.

Naruto let go of her and the wheel.

He grabbed her waist with both hands, before he lifted her up and hugged her.

"... Will this do for now?" Naruto asked her as he squeezed her tight.

She smiled and hugged him back.

"It will do just fine."

A hug didn't seem like much, but there was nothing else in the world that she wanted more than to just be in his arms.

She wished it would last forever.

Chapter End!
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