One day, Ace was training with Rina in a clearing near some water. She had insisted on the water location only because if he got out of control she could use that water to put out any fires he may accidentally cause. At one point he lost his footing and was about to fall off a cliff that overlooked a river below them. She had grasped his hand, though she'd had to use her other hand to latch onto a sturdy tree branch. He was grateful she'd caught him and pulled him back up however, something else caught her eye. Ace followed her gaze and spotted what she was looking at, a large wild cat that had been caught in a poacher's trap. "Poor thing, it's injured. I can feel its pain from here," Rina sympathized.

Ace looked to her and asked, "you can feel its pain? Physically?"

She glanced over at him and replied, "each one of us is capable of a lot of different things. We're not just combat specialists."

Ace looked back to the cat and could almost physically feel his heart breaking. The poor proud creature seemed to be hopelessly resigned to his fate. He looked to Rina and asked, "think you could heal it?"

"If I can get close and it stays calm, yes," was the immediate answer. That was all he needed to hear as he began descending down. Being typical Ace he wasn't taking the safer route, he was taking the more direct route. She slapped her open palm to her face and giggled as she shook her head from side to side.

"Right behind you, Captain Hotshot," she mumbled as she followed the path he'd started. Halfway down the rocky terrain her foot slipped. She let out a sharp squeal as she felt her body heading off the difficult trail, but a strong hand grasped her wrist and then she found herself face planted onto muscular chest, her arms around a slender waist. She didn't have to look to know she was squished against the toned young man she had been traveling with for a few short months. What's more she felt the strong arms embracing her, holding her close. Then she heard a husky voice asking, "you alright?"

She slowly nodded her head against his six pack abs. She felt him chuckling as he clapped her back then moved ahead of her and knelt down. She quirked her eyebrow at him before demanding, "what do you think you're doing?"

"Making sure you don't slip again," he answered she heaved a heavy sigh before climbing onto his back. She wrapped her legs around his waist, locking them with her ankles. Her arms were around his neck, and her head resided next to his. He looked to her from the corner of his eye with a grin and reminded her, "don't let go."

Six more well placed paces and they were on solid ground. Rina examined the trap and advised Ace, "I don't have anything to free him from this."

"Stand back," he replied, sending a bit of fire at a key point of the trap. It burned away, allowing them to free the wild cat. Once the trap was removed, Rina examined the cat's injuries an began using the same technique she'd used to heal her arm.

The wild animal looked to her as she did this, Ace reached up and gently scratched the cat's ears. To her surprise, she felt the animal shift its head so it was leaning into Ace's touch. This seemed to delight the man as he gave a light laugh, commenting, "you're just a big house kitty, aren't you?"

"I'm not scooping this cat's sandbox," Rina pointed out. The Spades Captain chuckled at the mental image of someone having to clean up after the massive feline.

After a few moments Rina moved away from the cat and announced, "There. He should be able to make a full recovery."

The massive feline looked to Rina with a soft gaze. She observed him for a moment before smiling broadly and telling him, "silly kitty. You don't have to thank me."

Ace almost put himself in between the two when the wild animal moved closer to Rina's face, but ended up laughing at the face she made when the gigantic, rough tongue slid over her face. He looked to the girl who usually kept her hair half up with a large barrette holding the front sides of her hair back. He knew she took pride in her hair, and went to great lengths to ensure it was properly washed, cared for, and styled. Right now, the front of her hair was all messed up and Rina fought the urge to resemble a storm cloud.

He snickered as he commented, "he likes you!"

"Yeah. Wonderful," was the curt reply as the girl made her way to the body of water, unfastened her barrette and submerged her head into the water. When she pulled her head back out, her hair was soaking wet. He blinked when he watched her flip her wet hair back so the majority of it was behind her head. She stood up and grabbed a red hair tie from her shorts pocket. She gathered her hair and secured it behind her head with the hair tie while he observed her intently.

She raised an eyebrow at him and inquired, "cat got your tongue?"

"Interesting choice of words," Ace remarked with a small chuckle. She scoffed a little and looked to the wild cat, observing its features she announced, "Lynx."

"Nah, I don't like that. We're not naming him Lynx," the pirate Captain objected.

Rina sweat dropped as she corrected him, "that's his species. He's a Felis Lynx in scientific terms."

"Oh. I got ya now," the dark haired man acknowledged. As he gently pet the liberated cat. He glanced to Rina, asking what they should do with him. The shinigami woman shrugged her shoulders, suggesting they head back and see if the lynx follows them, but preferably not taking the direct route this time, unless he wanted to give the Lynx a piggy back too.

Ace jokingly thought about it for a moment before shaking his head 'no'. The two headed back towards the village talking amongst themselves about various things. Ace was tempted to look behind them, but Rina shook her head while calmly stating, "he's following us. He may have given me a big ol' kiss, but I think that was more of a 'thank you' than anything. He likes the heat you give off."

"How could you possibly know that? Don't tell me you can speak with cats now too," Ace remarked. Rina shook her head 'no' and decided to have a little fun as she replied, "oh no, nothing like that. But my one Aunt does live a good portion of her life as a black cat."

At this Ace stopped in his tracks, eyes bulging, his left eyebrow raised and an otherwise dazed expression on his face. Rina giggled gleefully as she commented, "you humans take everything so seriously. Lighten up."

'She's something else… but I gotta admit she keeps life interesting,' Ace thought to himself. He gave his head a shake, and looked back to the Lynx. He'd found out not too long ago that Rina's first language was Japanese. She had learned to speak English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. He was now trying to figure out a name for the Lynx that he'd decided would become the ship's pet, and since Rina was the one who spotted him, he wanted something that linked the Lynx to her. Maybe something Japanese would be a good fit.

He felt eyes on him and turned back to Rina who was observing him before she stated, "your birthday's coming up soon, isn't it?"

Ace grimaced a bit as he pleaded, "don't remind me."

'I'm going to be 18, but that also means—it's been 18 years since my mother died,' he thought to himself. He decided he'd change the subject and see if he could get a different response, "hey, where'd you hide that thing anyway?"

"Somewhere between the heavens and the bottom of the sea," Rina replied. He smirked while thinking to himself, 'yep, same answer as always.'