tampered | LOG; completed

When; Saturday, February 17th
Rating; PG?
Characters; Naoto [

naoto_two] and Rob Lucci [

gtfoplzkthnx]
Summary; Before she can move out completely, Naoto still has to pick up some things at her old apartment.
Log;
The best word to describe Lucci's state of mind right now was numb. No, that was a lie. Numb plus anger. Numb plus confusion. But most of all, numb plus hate. It used to be his everyday mood, but since he had met Naoto, that had changed. Thinking about those damnable pirates had been easier, more casual and not constantly in a way that involved tons of blood. Yet, just the day before he had felt that hate crashing into him like a train; now mostly aimed at the Ohara bitch and Roronoa.

Despite the fact that he was an emotional mess, that little girl Nell was doing a good job at cheering him up, even though he disliked children at default. But Nell wasn't a whiny brat, actually very smart and cunning -- traits that immediately made Lucci like someone a lot more if they possessed them. It was the reason why he didn't mind that he was growing fond of the kid; anything that would distract his mind now was welcome.

But, Nell had gone out; to Jyabura maybe, and Lucci found himself putting the last few things in boxes while wondering when Nell would return -- the zoo sounded nice at this point. Still, he had to wait for Naoto to get all the junk out of his apartment; for he sure as hell wasn't going to do it himself. If she was done, then so was he.

He was dead-set on clearing everything out that even had a tiniest fraction to do with her -- going as far as crouching under the bed to to search for clothes and digging his way through notes, pictures, small things in drawers that immediately had to face their fate in the trashcan. The last thing he wanted was coming across something, anything in his apartment later that would remind him of her. Lucci was cleansing his whole stay in the City of Naoto's presence and it hurt like hell.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It was strange to be walking into Building 9 again, to be down the hall and standing in front of the door marked Apartment 7. Naoto smoothed down the front of her shirt, noting with a frown it was the same one she wore on that day not too long ago, then lowered one hand to the sword at her side. She always carried two now, rarely leaving them at home unless she was certain she wouldn't be harmed if she went out. She wasn't so certain today.

Sighing to calm her nerves, Naoto raised a hand and knocked on the door. She had to face Lucci eventually, even if it was just to take her things and go. She just hoped it wouldn't take long. She had promised to take Nill shopping for room decorations later, anyway, and couldn't spend too much time elsewhere.

Lucci heard the knock just as he was putting the last boxes on top of each other with an annoyed sigh. Oh, great. Showtime. He really wasn't ready yet to talk to her, let alone look at her; but, as he told himself, it was for the best and he wouldn't have to deal with her anymore after this. If he wanted. And that was exactly the problem, since he had no idea if he wanted that or not.

Reluctantly he walked up to the door and opened it, looking at a too familiar face. "I just finished packing," he stated flatly, not wanting to waste any unnecessary words on her.

Naoto's eyes lowered to the floor at his detached tone, but at least he wasn't trying to kill her. "Thank you," she offered quietly, walking past him to collect her things.

It was almost alien, walking into a place you had lived for a few months and knowing you were probably never going to set foot in it again. Everything was so familiar; if Naoto were blindfolded she bet she could still find her away around and not bump into things. But there was also something different, something off about everything. It was... emptier.

The woman spied the small stack of boxes in the middle of the room and approached them. It wasn't much, really, and she decided she wouldn't need to take any more trips here to move her things.

Without closing the door, Lucci watched Naoto walk through the apartment like it was the most normal thing in the world; and that stung. It stung that she walked -- walked, for Christ's sake, what was wrong with him -- as if she had simply come back from the store or maybe from visiting someone. It was too familiar and he wanted it to stop. Her guilt-trip wasn't very helpful either; Lucci would have preferred it if she'd yelled, laughed, anything but this faked guilt when she was leaving him.

He didn't want to talk to her, he really didn't -- but something felt so natural about the situation that he just couldn't help it. "I assume you'll be living with the pirates now," he said rather than asked, because he was fairly sure that his assumptions were exactly the case.

The situation was eerie. It was like everything was silent around them, making Lucci's words sound louder than they really were.

"I'm not," Naoto replied, bending down to pick up the boxes. "A little girl from my world arrived a week or so ago, and she'll be living with me." She trusted Lucci not to hurt Nill, but she wasn't sure to what extent anymore. She had to make sure, and so, standing and turning to face him, she added, "I would really appreciate it if you didn't bother Nill. She's young and mute, and she's had a bad life, so... I know you won't acknowledge my request if I asked you not to bother the pirates, but just... not Nill. Please."

"Attacking young girls without a solid reason is what a pirate would do," he said calmly, actually a lot calmer than he felt. He was completely contradicting his own feelings with those words, as the one thing he wanted to very badly right now was just kill Naoto and be done with it. See his own hands around that pretty neck of hers that had been touched by Roronoa's filthy lips. He'd do it gently though; no messy, painful death for her. Never.

Lucci had to look away from her to drive those thoughts out of his head, attempting to think about something that didn't involve Naoto; a rather hard task when she was standing in the same room. "I hope you'll find living with her enjoyable," he managed to say, surprised by how... nice that sounded for his standards. Situations like these were just too damn awkward for him to act normal.

She could help the tightening of her grip on the boxes. "Maybe that's true for the majority of pirates," she managed to say, her brow furrowing slightly, "but my friends wouldn't hurt innocents." She told herself she would protect her friends from Lucci. If that meant standing up for them when he badmouthed them, then so be it.

Naoto didn't want to spend any more time than necessary in that apartment. She slowly approached the main door - approached him because he was standing beside it - and offered an "I will, thank you," to his last comment. At least he was polite enough.

"And I'm sure of that," he said; and he was. The Strawhat had proven that he was a good leader and a good person in general during their fight, so Lucci was pretty sure that Monkey D. Luffy wasn't someone who liked bloodshed. Unlike him. Such irony.

He still didn't look at her as she came closer; he was actually afraid that he'd do something rather... unpleasant if he would. His feelings confused him very much at that, as he normally didn't see any problem in killing anyone who pissed him off. But this was so different, he didn't want to kill her and yet he did; it was devouring him on the inside. He needed to say something; apologies, last words? Was that appropriate in a situation like this? He didn't know.

"Th-" Oh goddamn it, everything but that. "Thanks for the happy memories."

She froze in the doorway.

Thank you for the happy memories. Is that what he'd really said? Those were the last words she expected out of his mouth, the very words she didn't want to hear because it would break her heart all over again.

Smiling sadly, with tears threatening to well in her eyes, Naoto looked up at him, at his averted face. Very tentatively, she reached out and gently squeezed his hand. "No. Thank you." It lingered there for a moment, and then she drew away. "Take care of yourself. If you ever need anything, you can ask me. I still - " She paused, unsure if she should say it. "I still care for you."

Before anything else could happen - before he could attack her, before tears could fall - she bowed her head slightly, whispered a goodbye, and started down the hallway.

LOG; completed

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