February 5, 2012

I finally updated, yes I did. =)

Warm Me Up - Chapter 7:

For You

.

"Uh…" Her head leaned against his chest, arms limp on his, legs bent behind her. "Nami?"

She drew deep, slow breaths. Luffy, knees still bent down, didn't move, but continued to observe his navigator's face, pale, yes, but more color was returning. Her forehead still had that small crease.

Everything she had said didn't make much sense in that slow brain of his, so he decided to just ignore it. The straw hat had been hanging on the back of his neck from its tiny piece of string. Now, he grabbed it with his right hand and pulled it on top of his matted hair.

The fire flickered, moving the two shadows across the cavern walls. He sat quietly with her half lying on the floor, half propped up against him.

"Mm..mff." Nami stirred, and when she opened her eyes, on the left she saw an unfocused part of red, and the rest were the rocky walls.

Oh, it's Luffy. That idiot, he made me lose all my energy from yelling at him.

Leaning against him felt very comfortable, so she stayed like that for a few more minutes. When she tried to sit up, she struggled to slip out of Luffy's firm grasp, and she finally looked up to order him to let go.

His head was drooped to the side, and a big bubble was coming out of his nose. He breathed through his mouth, but his snore was quiet.

Once again, Nami couldn't help but notice the wounds on his face. He was scratched up badly, and dried blood was visible. She sat stunned for a brief moment, then continued to struggle out of Luffy's grasp.

When she finally got out, she faced him, sitting with her legs bent beneath her, in a kneeling position. He drooped down, face towards the ground, arms at his sides. He was tired—no argument needed for that. Nami pulled him by the fire and lay him down. She spotted the bowl Luffy tried to make and examined it.

Well, it was quite sloppy, but it'll work. She took it and went outside of the cave. The wind was blowing, causing the snow to drift and make the place not visible. She was still weak, and the coldness was not helping. Quickly, Nami scooped up some snow and brought it back inside, near the fire.

She sat opposite of Luffy, whose snore grew louder. She stirred the snow to try to melt it faster. Back and forth, she glanced at Luffy's wounds—on his arms, hands, legs, feet, face, chest, everywhere—and at the melting snow.

She tried her best to block out all other thoughts that were not of what she was doing: Melt the snow. Melt the snow. The least I can do now is to clean his wounds. The least I can do…keep going.

His snores continued. Nami used the little strength she had left to stir the snow. The warmth from the fire helped, and water was beginning to form. Pushing herself up, Nami stood unsteadily. The snow melted faster over the fire.

As she set the bowl down, Nami glanced at Luffy once again. He looked older, more mature, more strained.

There was a quick ripping sound, and Nami noted that she would be even colder now. She dipped the cloth in the warming water, and knelt beside her captain. He was cold; she grabbed his hand.

She tried to clean every wound visible on his scarred body. The whole time, Luffy's snores resonated against the cave's walls.

"NAMI-SWANNNN!" Sanji was in a panic.

"LUFFY!" Usopp shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Hmph." Zoro leaned against the railing.

"Hah! Aren't you worried about them!" Chopper couldn't contain his disbelief.

"Yohohohoho! I wonder where they are!" To tell the truth, Brooks was never serious.

"Maybe they've gone to see Davy Jones." Robin, always thinking of the negative.

"ROBIN!"

"Robin-chwan!"

"A-hm-hm."

The crew wasn't in much of a panic, no. Zoro leaned on the side of Thousand Sunny-Go, Robin and Brook stood to the side of the crowd, Franky steered the ship, Sanji was the usual stupid love-sick cook, and, well, Usopp and Chopper were crying their eyes out.

"That captain is always such a nuisance."

Usopp and Chopper's heads snapped towards the first mate. "How could you say that! Do you not care about Luffy! Don't you know that he can't swim!" They continued to hold on to each other. "You have no heart! You bastard!" Their wails filled the air again.

The said "heartless bastard" sighed. "Luffy's not an idiot. No, wait, maybe he is. But he's not dumb enough to let himself die so easily. Trust in his animal instincts."

"Marimo! I don't give a damn about that moron, but we've gotta find Nami-swan! I'll be her knight and save her from danger!"

"Franky, do you remember where it is?" Zoro couldn't care less about what the ero-cook's fantasies were.

"Aa, I think so!"

" 'kay."

Silence…the crew didn't know what to say in such a situation. Their captain was gone, possibly on the winter island now, but this time, he wasn't the one to blast himself off.

"I wonder if it's inhabited."

"Robin! How can you be so calm?" Chopper wailed.

She chuckled, and patted the doctor's back. "Don't worry, we'll find them. Come on, let's watch Sunny-Go get closer to the island."

Chopper was speechless, admiring Robin's sophistication. "U-uuoh!" His hind paws were audible as he skipped after Robin to the side of the ship.

Although the crew believed in their captain's abilities, they couldn't help but worry for his and their navigator's safety. What if something did happen and they didn't arrive in time to protect him? A crew must never fail his captain, and vice versa.

His eyelids lifted open, and he could smell mikans. Something heavy was against his left arm—Nami. She stirred, and glanced up at him. His shadow was on her, putting her face in the dark. They couldn't find words to speak, so a pair of black eyes met a pair that was vivid orange.

"Nami, are you okay?"

She pushed herself up into a sitting position, briefly rubbing sleep from her eyes. Her head hurt, her skin felt utterly uncomfortable, and—and...

"Yeah, I'm fine."

She heard no reply; after realizing, she stopped her hand's motion and peered up at Luffy. He stared intently down at her, an expression in his eyes she was not used to seeing.

Was that concern?

Worry?

No, those emotions never applied to the happy-go-lucky captain of hers.

"What is it?" she tried to snap, but it came out much differently than she had intended.

Luffy didn't reply this time, either, and a sense of dread began forming itself in the pits of Nami's stomach. What was wrong?

He lifted his arm, scarred, bruised, bloodied, and caressed her cheek.

Shocked, Nami didn't know how to respond, only instinctively leaning in to the hand.

"Nami…"

Her eyelids slid shut, thinking maybe, just maybe, this wasn't too bad.

Her eyes flew open once she felt something press against her forehead, and she almost screamed in surprise when Luffy's face was dangerously close to hers.

He had pressed his forehead to hers, and she could feel puffs of his warm breath on her skin whenever he exhaled.

"Are you sick?" His voice was soft, gentle.

"No…no, I'm fine."

She felt his lips spread into a smile, his contagious, radiant smile that she could never resist.

"I'm glad…" His fingers wrapped around her chin, and he pulled back as his hand tilted her face up.

"I'm glad," he repeated, and leaned in; his mouth brushed against hers. It was hesitant, curious, experimental.

Only when Nami didn't flinch away did Luffy deepen the kiss, pulling Nami closer to him, breathing in her scent.

Their kiss tasted of melted snow and morning breath, mixed with a tinge of blood.

None of that mattered; they were together, they will always stay together, and they will find a way back.

.

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Sorry it took me more than a year to update this story; I do love it, I'm telling you. It's just so hard to keep it going! Thank you for sticking with me, and I'm very sorry.

To be continued...?