tampered | Log; finished

Log; finished

When; December 15th
Rating; PG-13
Characters; Nico Robin & Jyabura
Summary; Both meet again after Jyabura returns from their own world
Log;

If there was any place in that City that didn't completely annoy or disgust him, it was Xanadu. While flowers weren't exactly his passion, the woods were too stuffed with those weird creatures to be a good place to relax and a flower garden with a cherry tree that is constantly in bloom was a nice enough alternative. Good, that weird behaviour of the tree wasn't very calmative either, but so wasn't the whole City. He'll get used to it. Once more.

He was sitting on a bench under the cherry tree and busy freezing to death with his arms crossed to get somehow warm. Cal wasn't at his so called "home" yet and he wasn't in the mood to search for him either. The smell of sea water in the City irritated him, not even to mention a bunch of flying morons in the sky. Surely a curse, he thought. Oh well, good times ahead.

He'd pay a lot to get back to his pathetic little apartment to get some sleep, but a night at the garden would be at least entertaining. How long was he gone? He had the feeling it wasn't too long, at least in this world.

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Robin loved Xanadu. Its soothing sounds, such as the chirping of the birds and the huge cherry tree gave her the feeling that she was home. Well, as far as she knew what "home" felt like. Still, the abnormally large garden reminded her of Ohara and of nights that weren't filled with terrible nightmares. She couldn't quite remember.

And even now, in the blistering cold, she liked to take strolls through the bizarre playground of nature; mostly admiring the giant flowers that bloomed on the strangest places you could imagine.

But this little walk turned out to be a bit different when spotted someone she'd last expected to see in in a place like this. Honestly, she hadn't expected him to be back this soon, but then again, she didn't really mind.

"Well, that's a surprise." she spoke, while approaching the bench and its temporary "owner".

That surely frightened him good, in fact good enough to make him tremor for a second. When was the last time that someone could sneak up to him that close? He couldn't remember if this ever happened, it was his damn job to avoid that. But then it was really hard to smell someone in a garden full of flowers who smelled like a flower by herself. That always confused him. People don't smell like flowers, not even those with horrible perfumes to cover their natural smell... which was nothing less horrible.

He looked up to her with a very unhappy expression, but that was due to the circumstance that he'd freeze to death in that shape very soon (and maybe because she surprised him in that uncomfortable way). How could he forget to bring some warmer clothes with him?! At least some fucking jacket or the like.

"Miss Robin", he answered with a slight smile on his face for a second, "long time no see." He moved over a bit to make her some room on the bench. "At least for me."

His momentary discomfort amused her a whole lot. Robin felt a mocking smile twitch at the corner of her mouth, but she turned it into a kind one before she had a risk of destroying whatever kind of "friendship" they had. She knew how his moods could change oh-so quickly into hostile ones.

"Really now." she said, while gently sitting down next to him, folding her hands on her legs. "It's been only six days since you left."

It was just very weird to sit that close next to her. Not really unpleasant, because he liked all kind of company - except for Lucci's - it was just... really weird. He never knew what she was up to and he didn't like that.

He lifted his eyebrows and gave her an unbelieving look. "You're kidding me..." That City was so bizarre, it all felt funny all of a sudden. He started laughing, honestly amused. "Well, it's been more than three years for me. I lost track in the past few months, maybe it was three and a half, who knows."

For the first time since ages, Robin felt honestly startled. She knew that differences in time were great between worlds, but this was simply preposterous. Six days equaled around three years...? This City and its parallel dimensions were nothing like she had ever encountered before.

"Th-three years?" she uttered wide-eyed. "That's...awfully long."

He didn't know what effect that would have on her and he didn't mean to frighten her. Not at all, and especially not in that special state of her.

"Ah well, it's ok", he answered irritated, "really. I expected something like that. The six days confuse me more." He sighed as he thought that it just could have been the other way around, it gave him stomach aches. But it wasn't, so there was no need to think about that anymore. He was glad that it was the way it was. "I didn't intend to stay away that 'long', but it's not that I had the chance to chose, to begin with", he smirked and wondered about how much he talked to her.

"Anyways, that doesn't matter." He gave her a worried look. "You are alright, are you? Had problems with that cat motherfucker or someone else?"

His casual tone about the whole thing made her feel uneasy. Three years...many things could change in three years. What kind of things in this case, she didn't know, but she wanted to find out. At least his attitude had become a lot more positive; so that was a plus.

"I've only been taking walks and reading and no one bothered me while doing so. So yes, I'm alright." she said, while her eyes scanned him up and down for any injuries. "Are you?"

He sighed once more, relieved. It felt like a knife was pulled out of his chest, because that he didn't know what was happening to her was the worst of all. Still, it made him sceptical that she seemingly didn't tell that bunch of pirates what is up with her. He couldn't come up with a good reason for this.

"I am", he replied. "But I bet this is not your biggest worry concerning my trip to our world."

Hah, so he noticed, she thought with a growing feeling of comfort. She actually liked the fact that he knew that something was bothering her; it reminded her of Luffy, which was a rather strange comparison. I guess I'm an open book, then.

"No, definitely not." she admitted with a hint of a smile. "I merely was wondering about your sudden change of attitude towards me."

He looked confused. He had so damn much time to think about the whole situation, to get a little bit of distance towards it all and, of course, to research, he didn't really notice. It was just logical and he was the rational type of guy anyways.

"Yeah, but 'sudden' is quite relative, don't forget that. After all, it took me three years to change, though I really don't know what could have changed much."

And he was serious about that. He just had the chance to take another angle of view, and that was all. He only noticed that he wouldn't try to pick up a verbal fight with her, it just made no sense whatsoall.

"Then it's probably just me." Robin joked, pleased with the outcome either way. The reason didn't matter as long as this kind of behaviour would keep up for a long time. It wasn't as stressful and it would make things a lot easier for both of them.

She inhaled deeply and sighed while stretching her arms; her day had been long and this sudden interruption only helped increasing her fatigue. Still, she didn't feel like sleeping at all, she preferred talking to him instead of just going home.

"Why aren't you in your apartment?" she asked, suddenly feeling very much like having insignificant small-talk.

"I... I don't have my keys", he admitted embarassed and lifted his band collar to hide his face. "I can't find the guy who keeps them, and I'm too tired to search for him now." Actually he really tried to avoid going to this disgusting warehouse, why in the world would someone chose a place like this to live in?!

"I'll just stay here overnight. My apartment is quite uncomfortable anyways." He only had it to keep his few belongings in there, not really to live in it.

He wondered why she wouldn't try to bother him with questions about his little "trip", but to hell with it. She'll surely do soon enough.

Robin raised her eyebrows with a soft chuckle and looked at him contemplatively; considering if she'd invite him to the Going Merry or not. They'd only have to make sure that Luffy and Sanji wouldn't see him; which wasn't too hard.

"You'll freeze to death if you stay here." she said, blowing out a cloud to emphasize her statement. "You can come with me, if you'd like. A couch is probably more preferable than a stone bench."

It sounded like some thinly-veiled sexual invitation to her. Oh well.

He overheard any eventual sexual innuendo, intentional or not, because doing a single step on a pirate ship was still an absolute no-go. Oh God, only thinking about it made him sick. Some things will never change.

"I'm sorry, but... me on a pirate ship? No way." He got a grim expression to underline what he said, though he felt somewhat sorry to reject her like that. "I wouldn't like watching out for your buddies too", he added, "if they know that you're pregnant or not".

He felt glad that he had a chance to bring up a subject that still bothered him, but guilty on the other side to ruin the calm mood they were in.

She'd anticipated a reaction like that, and it made her smile. Even in the three years he hadn't dealt with the Strawhat pirates he still refused boarding their ship, but she didn't really mind.

"I understand." she said while she got on her feet. "Well, if you change your mind, you know where to find me."

She turned towards him and her expression turned into a more serious one. "And no, I haven't told them yet. I'll do so when I'm ready for it."

With a move of his foot he pulled out a worn out bag from beneath the bench he kept there the whole time and took out a bottle of sake. At least this will warm him up from the inside, because dammit, it was fucking cold.

"I understand your worries, I think...", he said while opening the bottle and taking some sips. "It's just weird that you seem to be afraid of telling them. You had no problems telling me and it was not unrealistic at all that I could have just killed you."

He ran the back of his hand over his mouth and closed the bottle. "Back then", he added quickly.

That probably wasn't very clever to say, but whatever.

((Repost for typo, sorry)

Robin raised an eyebrow at his last statement; it had shattered the civil atmosphere and created a stressed tension between them. Right now, that was the last thing Robin wanted.

"Unlike you, I'm afraid that they wouldn't understand." she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I told you before that they'd probably accept it, but it's the father that they wouldn't understand. I'm afraid that they wouldn't forgive me, even if I know deep down that they surely would."

She sighed and rubbed her eyes for a moment; she was tired and didn't want to talk about this. Not now.

"But that brings me to what has been nagging me ever since. Why didn't you kill me when I told you?"

Her ways of thinking were so incredibly grotesque to him, he just had to laugh. It was really funny.

"Alright, so let me sum that up. You left them intentionally back then, they didn't care at all and crushed the freakin' Tower of Justice into ashes and declared war to the whole world to get you back, though you, well, 'betrayed' them. Sort of..." He couldn't come up with a better word.

"And now you fear they won't 'forgive you' for something you did while being cursed?!" He burst into short but very amused laughter, it was too funny! "You're KIDDING me, ain't ya?! COME ON... That makes no sense at all! The only one they won't forgive will be ME, and that's exactly why I'd prefer to let them know it as soon as possible. I'd like to deal with my problems right now, no need to put it back."

Oh man, that girl. Seriously. He took another sip of sake as he felt getting cold again.

"Why? Well, I won't just take orders from everyone, you know?", he answered her question and chuckled. "But we had the whole 'Can't tame a wolf'-subject already."

"You don't know what's it's like when people you trust turn their backs on you because of the smallest things." she stated calmly, but she was inwardly annoyed with the fact that she even had to explain it. "And even though they're willing to declare war on the world because of me, this is an entirely different matter. It's not comparable."

She closed her eyes and ran a hand through her hair, suddenly fed up with the conversation.

"I really don't want to talk about this right now."

Man, she was really good at pitying herself, hands down. He packed the bottle into the bag, picked it up from the ground, stood up and shook some cherry blossoms from his clothes.

"You're right, I don't know what it's like. But then I never had someone I could trust, to begin with. I only followed orders, basically." He looked around to remember where the warehouse was located. A little chit-chat and drinking with Cal was just the right thing to do now. Even in the filthy warehouse.

"Yeah, you don't want to talk about this at all", he said while stepping towards her and picking up some cherry blossoms from her shoulders recklessly, willingly risking to get bitchslapped or whatever. Like it mattered now.

"Maybe you should think less and feel a little more instead." He put his hands into his pockets and headed where he assumed the warehouse to be. "Well, see you around then."

She was taken aback by his sudden touch, but to her own surprise, she actually enjoyed it. Not many people dared to touch her apart from her nakama, so this was rather new.

"I'll remember that advice." she smiled, while looking at his back thoughtfully. She didn't really get him, but right now that wasn't necessary. She was only glad that the conversation didn't end up in bickering, like last time.

"Take care."

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Log; finished

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