Behind Blue Eyes

Chapter 5: Following The Rules

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1st Year, 18 NOV

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By the time Ace woke up the next morning, (feeling more well-rested than he'd had in a week) Kagome and Marco were both gone. There was food laid out on the bedside table again, just like when he came to from his narcoleptic attack in the infirmary.

Ace doesn't touch it.

Another day full of assassination attempts and damaging the Moby went by.

But at least, Kagome was happy to note, Portgas wasn't stubborn enough to starve himself this time. Thatch reported that the rookie had come into the kitchens several times during the day and ate enough food fit for ten men. So the regular meals and the healing sessions – that was two rules followed. The other rules… not so much.

Kagome glanced at the clock. It was past midnight now, and Portgas still hadn't shown up for bed.

She then looked to Marco. The man was at by his desk, going through his mountain of paperwork again. As if feeling the weight of her gaze on him, he paused in his reading and turned to face her.

Their eyes met in a silent communication for a few seconds and in unison, the two sighed with exasperation.

Marco quietly shuffled his papers into a neat pile before standing up. He stretched, feeling the bones in his back pop from being hunched over the desk for too long.

"He's hiding in the boiler room," Kagome told him helpfully from her place by the bed.

The man didn't reply as he strode out the door.

Fifteen minutes later Marco returned, this time with Portgas in tow.

The rookie was silent and majorly pissed off, yes, but also strangely compliant. He wasn't being dragged or anything, like Kagome expected him to be, but instead willingly followed after the phoenix into the room. Kagome didn't understand why until she noticed the large forming on Portgas' forehead, along with the various other bruises on his torso, most likely caused from crashing into something with great force.

She sighed. "Really Marco?"

"I warned him, yoi," the man replied lazily. "He didn't listen."

"You whacked him because he didn't listen?" Her tone was full of disapproval.

"No, I kicked him because he tried to throw a fireball at my head when my back was turned, yoi."

"Isn't that a bit much?" Kagome asked with a sympathetic wince.

As a doctor who healed people in times of battle, she'd seen first-hand the kind of damage Marco could inflict on his enemies with his haki-infused kicks. Even Jozu in his diamond form wasn't completely immune to them. And now, from how the phoenix sounded when he answered, Kagome knew that he hadn't held back on strength for the rookie.

"Well, then he shouldn't have tried to throw that fireball at me, yoi."

"It's not like it could have harmed you, you know," she stated dryly, and stood up to retrieve her waterskin. With Marco's regenerative abilities, the burns would have been healed in a matter of seconds.

"Maybe. But I can't regenerate hair, and I have no desire to go bald, yoi," the man said, going back to his desk again.

Ah. So that was explained why Marco got so harsh with Portgas. If there were one part of his appearance the phoenix had to be vain about, it was his hair. Everyone aboard knew that if they damaged even one blonde lock, it was equivalent to signing their own death warrant.

Portgas was sitting on his bed when Kagome approached him. She made sure to do it in a slow and gentle way, like how one would behave when one went near a wild and possibly rabid animal. She could practically sense the anger rolling off of him like a tsunami, and although he hadn't looked at her yet, he glared at Marco like he wanted to kill the man in the worst way possible.

She knew that she had to be more delicate around him than usual.

Kagome uncorked her waterskin, gathered the water to her hand and pressed it lightly to his forehead. Portgas still let out a hiss of pain though, and his gaze swivelled to her angrily.

"Watch what you're fucking do—" he growled, before stopping abruptly.

His eyes widened and a prominent blush quickly formed on his freckled cheeks. Kagome noted, with a small measure of amusement, how mortified Portgas seemed to be as he stared at her chest. Or more specifically, at her bare breasts. Kagome generally didn't wear a bra under her shirt when she went to sleep because she found them much too uncomfortable as she always slept on her side, cuddled up with Marco.

Well, Kagome wasn't too bothered by Portgas staring at her like that.

From the time she was six years old, he had raised her alongside his sons who would eventually grow up to take on the names of Ryuuou and Maou. Growing up in such close proximity with the two boys had made Kagome a bit of a tomboy herself. Plus with her current occupation as a pirate, well, let's just say being ashamed about nudity wasn't really in her blood anymore.

"Hold still," she told him softly, and the water started to glow. She wasn't so mean as to tease him about his embarrassment.

Her actions seemed to be the thing that snapped Portgas out of his trance. The rookie hurriedly averted his eyes, choosing to stare somewhere off to the side, where the wall was.

He didn't say anything more or look back to her as she healed him, and it was a long while before his blush faded away.

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1st Year, 21 NOV

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Kagome stood away from all of the chaos currently going on. She surveyed the scene before her with a calm eye, entirely focused on locating anyone from the crew that was injured.

The Whitebeard Pirates were fighting against a hoard of marines on the main deck of the Moby. There was also fighting happening on the decks of the four other marine ships (with Jozu, Thatch, Vista and Haruta's divisions leading the assaults) but this was where the majority of the battle was taking place.

The woman pursed her lips as a man from Kingdew's division threw someone overboard.

It was rare for them to encounter the Navy in their path. The World Government generally ordered marine vessels to avoid the Whitebeard Pirates at all costs because it was known that they would be decimated, no matter how big their fleet was or how strong they were.

Whitebeard's crew was always stronger.

If the Whitebeard Pirates were ever attacked, it was usually by upstart pirates and/or their crews because they'd somehow gotten it into their heads that they had what it took to kill Edward Newgate. Like Portgas, they were quickly beaten out of that notion, but unlike Portgas, they were never taken aboard or asked to be Whitebeard's newest son before.

Kagome averted her gaze from the fighting (not wanting to see a marine get stabbed through the stomach by a man from Curiel's division) and glanced up, sensing a familiar presence.

She spotted Portgas standing on the level above the main deck, with his elbows resting casually on the railing.

He was watching the battle going on with an almost bored look on his face.

The rookie really had to be one of the most stubborn people Kagome had ever known. Each night, he bullheadedly refused to return to the room even after midnight, and each night Marco had to be the one who always went out and dragged him back. Kagome had offered to fetch Portgas in his stead before, but the man always turned her down.

"You're doing a lot more healing than you're used to, so you need the extra rest, yoi."

That was what the phoenix told her every time she volunteered. While Kagome did believe his reasoning, she could also see that Marco took pleasure in using excessive force to bring Portgas back. It was most probably payback because the rookie tried to throw a fireball at his head.

Portgas had no idea what kind of landmine he'd stepped on by trying to harm Marco's hair.

Kagome was still watching him, so she noticed the exact moment his eyebrows furrowed as he stared at the battle. The nonchalant boredom had faded away, replaced with something like… concern? His hands, still resting on the rail, twitched once before relaxing. Portgas looked like he was holding himself back (with some effort) from doing something.

Kagome whipped around, senses on high alert, just in time to see a member from Rakuyo's division get stabbed in the back by a marine some distance away. The man collapsed to the ground and the enemy raised his blade for a killing strike.

No one else on the crew had noticed their fallen brother.

Shit!

Kagome took off running. She uncorked her waterskin as she moved and took control of the liquid inside. She willed with all of her being for the water launch out of there in an attack, to stop the marine from killing that man.

But it was no use. The water would not obey. It refused to.

"Kagome," his voice suddenly resonated in her head, sounding so tired and so bittersweet. "My little bird. You are going to become such a beautiful, powerful, pirate someday. I only regret that I will not live long enough to see it…"

Kagome clenched her hands into fists.

He was wrong. Marco was wrong. They were both so, so wrong. Kagome wasn't a powerful pirate. She was a weak one. Pathetic. She was so goddamned weak. Because she couldn't fight anymore. She couldn't use her powers to fight anymore.

His death had robbed her of the ability to do so.

Kagome charged at the marine, preparing to draw her sword. Before she could reach him however, a form enveloped in blue fire zoomed past her and launched a flying kick at the enemy.

She heard multiple bones cracking from the impact and the man ploughed through the side railing of the Moby and went overboard.

Now that the threat was taken care of, Marco, in the glory of his hybrid form, kneeled beside his fallen brother. His normally lazy expression was changed to one of worry as he examined the injured man. Kagome approached them and sank to her knees. She placed her hand briefly over his in thanks for his timely arrival.

"I've got this," she told him softly, and Marco nodded his head in acknowledgment.

Then she focused her attention on the incapacitated crewmember. Fortunately, he was still conscious and while his wounds were serious, they weren't at that life threatening stage yet. Not if she started treating him now.

"Don't move," she instructed him firmly. "Just stay like that."

"G-got it, Kagome-san…"

The woman carefully channelled the liquid out of her waterskin and pressed it gently to his stab wound. It started to glow with the power of her healing and slowly, but surely, the wound started closing. Kagome continued to remain at the injured man's side while Marco stood vigil over the both of them, making sure that there weren't any marines who took advantage of her distraction.

When the man's condition was finally stabilised, Kagome allowed herself to briefly glance up at Portgas.

Their eyes met across the deck. Blues and greys. Portgas' facial expression was carefully blank, but Kagome could sense the myriad of emotions swirling inside of him.

Anger, shame, regret, stubbornness, consternation, pride, and relief.

He had seen the marine sneaking up on that man. He could have done something to help, could have prevented him from getting hurt, and almost had, if the twitching of his fingers were anything to go by.

But he hadn't. He just let that man get cut down.

If Portgas hadn't been warring with himself over his decision to not help that man, Kagome didn't know whether she would have ever been able to look him in the eyes again.

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1st Year, 27 NOV

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Portgas was finally following the rules that Kagome and Marco set for him without prompting.

Whenever he got hurt, he would let Kagome heal him without resisting. If he were hungry, he would go directly to the kitchens and eat as much as he wanted. (Thatch was now moaning how at quickly their supplies were dwindling.) During the daytime, he would try extremely hard to take Whitebeard's head and at night, he would turn up for bed.

But, being the spiteful and stubborn person that he was, Portgas made sure to only show up a minute after midnight. And every time he appeared for bed, his expression broadcasted how badly he wanted to murder them in their sleep.

Kagome and Marco still considered it a vast improvement from before.

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1st Year, 4 DEC

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"Hey Portgas, can I ask you something?"

Kagome was in the middle of healing a nasty cut on Portgas' back, from when the rookie had collided painfully with the staircase by one of Whitebeard's haki-infused punches.

The two of them had been enjoying a companionable silence until then, before Kagome chose to break it.

She couldn't see his face, but knew that he was wary. "… What is it?"

"Well…" Kagome took a moment to think of the most diplomatic way to phrase her question.

This was something that she had noticed about Portgas right from the start, but she had never voiced it out loud before. Because she knew that if she did, there was a high chance of pissing him off and undoing the cooperation that he was currently showing them. In the end though, she decided that there was no tactful way to go about it. She would have to be blunt.

"You try to kill Jiji over and over again every day, but why? What are you trying to accomplish?"

Portgas tensed, and he turned his head so that he could look her right in the eyes. There was fire in that gaze, so much fire, and for a brief moment Kagome couldn't help but think it was fitting that he was the current fire Logia devil fruit user.

"I keep on trying to kill that shitty old geezer's because I want to claim the title of the strongest fucking pirate in the whole fucking world. I'm going to become the next Pirate King and there won't be a man, woman or child on this earth that won't know my fucking name," he stated, his voice full of quiet confidence.

But Kagome could tell that there was something more to his words that he wasn't telling her. It was something very important that dominated his entire being. A secret of sorts.

"You don't mean it," she replied, and watched as his eyes widened at her declaration.

What she said was completely true though. While Portgas' outer appearance exuded a confidence and surety to his words, it wasn't the same for his inner self. Kagome had always been good at reading people, at seeing deeply into their souls and understanding them. So that was why, from the very beginning, she always knew that Portgas wasn't fully putting his heart into his attempts to kill Whitebeard.

"Who are you trying to convince with those words? Me, or yourself?"

Kagome watched as his face started to flush a deep red with anger. She knew that if she kept on speaking, he would blow up on her. But she wouldn't stop. This, she felt, this was something that really needed to be said.

"You lack conviction. And until you find it within yourself, until you really want it, then you will never succeed in killing Jiji."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Portgas finally roared, getting to his feet and wheeling to face her. Kagome didn't flinch from his expression. She just met his glare head on. The rookie was panting hard from the sheer force of his anger, while his fists were unclenching and clenching. He looked like he was controlling himself from striking her.

"YOU DON'T KNOW FUCK ALL ABOUT ME, SO YOU CAN JUST TAKE YOUR FUCKING HIGH AND MIGHTY OPINIONS, SHOVE IT UP YOUR FUCKING LILY-WHITE ASS AND FUCK OFF!" he spat, and stormed off before Kagome could finish healing him.

She did not follow.

As midnight came and went that very same day, Portgas didn't return to the room again.

Kagome sensed that he was hiding in a supply closet near the bottom levels of the ship, and told Marco so. The phoenix sighed once in exasperation, before getting up and going to fetch the wayward rookie.

When the two men returned, Portgas headed straight for his own bed, resolutely ignoring Kagome's presence.

Kagome wondered if her forcing him to confront his innermost self like that had been such a wise decision. Because after all, no one liked to be told that the very foundation they had built their lives on wasn't as stable as they thought it was.

Portgas didn't speak to her or look at her for the rest of the night.

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End Chapter

Hello my lovelies!

So, in this chapter you'll probably figure out by now who Ryuuou and Maou are. They're the sons of Kagome's him. Just to remind you all again, Ryuuou means 'Dragon King' and Maou means 'Demon King'. Make a guess! Who are they? :D

And we also see why Kagome doesn't fight anymore. She can't. The death of he-who-must-not-be-named affected her on such a deep level that it's put a psychological block on her mind. So she's unable to use her abilities to form any attacks. Healing, manipulating water currents and controlling water in general, sure. But no attacks.

No worries though, she'll overcome it eventually, thanks to our foul-mouthed grumpy fire user. XD

Thank you so much for all the reviews for last chapter! 9! Whoohoo! That's the most I've gotten in a while! *throws confetti*

Don't forget to review!

~Jumpingbeans480