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31_days2006-11-04 12:55 am
hsiuism.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2006-11-04 12:55 am
[nov. 3rd] [one piece] we can only wait so long
Title: We Can Only Wait So Long
Date/Theme: Nov. 3rd / my pillow won't tell me where he has gone
Series: One Piece
Characters: Kaya, Usopp ("offstage")
Rating: G
Notes: Can be read as gen. or a paired fic, depending on how you take Kaya-Usopp. Also, it's long. Apologies in advance.
Kaya missed him the most when she was in bed. Thankfully, she no longer spent many waking hours in bed.
It was not so long ago (really not even a month ago) that the bed had been Kaya's world: the place where she ate, drank, slept, thought, talked, read, grieved. It'd been lonely and boring, but for some reason, her always-frail body had failed her completely and consigned her to an eiderdown cage. On the days when he came, though, it wasn't so bad. He told her stories that made her laugh, and laughing stirred some memory of running in her feet, so that they longed to touch the ground again; it dislodged the tiny demons of despondancy from her breast and scattered them, making them circle warily before daring to roost again. Yes, on the days when she saw Usopp, there was always the hope of getting better.
Well, now she was better; now he was gone. Now Kaya could walk through town again, reaquainting herself with the active world, but she never found memories of Usopp among the shops and neighbors' parlors. Kaya liked that. It saved her from moping. It was only when she returned to bed in the evenings and emerged from it in the mornings that she recalled snatches of stories and her own laughing protests, and the anxiety of waiting for him to appear; it was strange how a place of illness could hold the best memories of a friend.
Kaya didn't cry into her pillow. She wouldn't stoop to it. Start staining the sheets with salt tears, she reasoned, and you were one step away from clasping roses dramatically to your bosom. Besides, he was somewhere out on the open sea, almost certainly having exciting adventures, and when he came back and asked what she'd done with her time, Kaya didn't want to have to say, "Nothing."
Instead, she threw herself into her studies. It helped that she liked the profession and her mentoring doctor. It cheered her to meet people her own age. None of them were helping her through an illness or saving her life: they were just normal friends. To them, too, Kaya was just a normal friend, a sensible counterweight to heavier, more precious relationships.
Kaya usually ate lunch with one of the village shopgirls. She liked being part of a giggling, gossiping crowd, and it was nice to know she wasn't the only girl waiting for a far-away someone.
"Two lousy letters in six months," Lacey complained one day. "And here I am, writing to him every week! How's that fair?"
"Not very," Kaya admitted. She reflected for a minute before venturing, "Perhaps his unit is out at sea?"
Lacey poked at her meal. "I've thought of that," she said. "But you can still send post back with the newspaper gulls, you know." (Kaya didn't know, and finding out made her feel strangely indignant.) "It's even easier if you're in the Marines," Lacey continued. "They have such a good system. So two letters in six months is simply ridiculous!" She thumped the table for emphasis.
"Usopp hasn't even sent one letter," Kaya said, to make Lacey feel better.
"How terrible." Lacey shook her head in sympathy. "After you gave him that ship and everything."
"Yes." Kaya hesitated. "It's not that he owes me anything," she said slowly, "But it is strange not knowing where he is, and hearing nothing from him. He used to be the only person I saw, practically, besides Klahadore and Merry." Now it was her turn to pick at her food.
Lacey patted her shoulder. "You must cry into your pillow every night," she remarked. "It's what I do most nights, anyway."
Kaya smiled but shook her head. "Isn't it uncomfortable to sleep on a wet pillow?" she teased.
"You bet," Lacey said lightly. Her eyes, though, were sad and brooding and not half as silly as she sounded. "But where else can a girl have a good cry?"
Kaya could see the point. Walking back to the clinic after lunch, she tried to sort out her feelings. Being a sensible girl, she had all sorts of sensible excuses. She couldn't send letters to Usopp because she didn't know where he was. It was probably very difficult for a pirate to get letters through the post. Who was Kaya to risk Usopp and his crew being caught by the Marines? Maybe they were so far from an island that newspaper gulls couldn't reach them. Maybe one couldn't send post from the Grand Line. Goodness knew the newspaper never reported much about that mysterious place.
Still - it would be nice to know that he was somewhere, Kaya thought. She didn't let him go (against her own personal wishes, too!) just so he could drop off the face of the world.
Kaya sighed as she purchased the day's paper from a nearby vendor. She had not realized before that her memory was mixed with expectation; or that, if she was honest with herself, she sometimes went to bed really annoyed. Kaya didn't want to be like Lacey and cry herself to sleep every night, but she was beginning to understand why someone might.
Walking as she read, Kaya casually scanned the headlines. The ocean-going restaurant, Baratie, had fended off a pirate crew but lost its sous-chef to another: the Straw-Hat Pirates. Kaya frowned. She thought she should recognize the name, but couldn't place it. Arlong Park on Cocoyashi Island had been destroyed and the merman crime gang disbanded. Kaya recalled those names only vaguely from school lessons.
A more familiar name caught her eye. 'Straw-Hat' Luffy. Luffy! Why, of course. Kaya remembered the funny hat Luffy wore; he must be the captain of the "Straw-Hat Pirates," then. So he had a Baratie chef now? Kaya read on. "'Straw-Hat' Luffy's crew includes former bounty hunter Roronoa Zoro; a native Cocoyashi citizen as navigator; one of Baratie's famous 'fighting cooks', and a sniper."
Why, so Usopp had been at this Arlong Park -Kaya checked the date- just last week! And at the Baratie before that. Resolutely, Kaya folded the paper and put it in her bag to read later. The articles' details sounded positively gory, and she didn't want anything distracting her from her studies. But already those far-off places and battles took on new meaning as Kaya imagined Usopp (she supposed he was the 'sniper' of the crew) right in the middle of them.
The new bounty posters were pasted on a board outside the clinic. Kaya looked at them with new interest. Sure enough, there was one of Luffy, his toothy smile taking up fully half of the picture. Beyond the smile, though, somewhere in the distance, was a small figure with his back turned. There were the familiar unruly curls, and the too-big overalls, and the thin arms held jauntily akimbo.
Kaya began to laugh. The laughing continued as she walked up the steps to the doctor's clinic. Now, more than ever, she was glad she'd kept her pillow dry.
Date/Theme: Nov. 3rd / my pillow won't tell me where he has gone
Series: One Piece
Characters: Kaya, Usopp ("offstage")
Rating: G
Notes: Can be read as gen. or a paired fic, depending on how you take Kaya-Usopp. Also, it's long. Apologies in advance.
Kaya missed him the most when she was in bed. Thankfully, she no longer spent many waking hours in bed.
It was not so long ago (really not even a month ago) that the bed had been Kaya's world: the place where she ate, drank, slept, thought, talked, read, grieved. It'd been lonely and boring, but for some reason, her always-frail body had failed her completely and consigned her to an eiderdown cage. On the days when he came, though, it wasn't so bad. He told her stories that made her laugh, and laughing stirred some memory of running in her feet, so that they longed to touch the ground again; it dislodged the tiny demons of despondancy from her breast and scattered them, making them circle warily before daring to roost again. Yes, on the days when she saw Usopp, there was always the hope of getting better.
Well, now she was better; now he was gone. Now Kaya could walk through town again, reaquainting herself with the active world, but she never found memories of Usopp among the shops and neighbors' parlors. Kaya liked that. It saved her from moping. It was only when she returned to bed in the evenings and emerged from it in the mornings that she recalled snatches of stories and her own laughing protests, and the anxiety of waiting for him to appear; it was strange how a place of illness could hold the best memories of a friend.
Kaya didn't cry into her pillow. She wouldn't stoop to it. Start staining the sheets with salt tears, she reasoned, and you were one step away from clasping roses dramatically to your bosom. Besides, he was somewhere out on the open sea, almost certainly having exciting adventures, and when he came back and asked what she'd done with her time, Kaya didn't want to have to say, "Nothing."
Instead, she threw herself into her studies. It helped that she liked the profession and her mentoring doctor. It cheered her to meet people her own age. None of them were helping her through an illness or saving her life: they were just normal friends. To them, too, Kaya was just a normal friend, a sensible counterweight to heavier, more precious relationships.
Kaya usually ate lunch with one of the village shopgirls. She liked being part of a giggling, gossiping crowd, and it was nice to know she wasn't the only girl waiting for a far-away someone.
"Two lousy letters in six months," Lacey complained one day. "And here I am, writing to him every week! How's that fair?"
"Not very," Kaya admitted. She reflected for a minute before venturing, "Perhaps his unit is out at sea?"
Lacey poked at her meal. "I've thought of that," she said. "But you can still send post back with the newspaper gulls, you know." (Kaya didn't know, and finding out made her feel strangely indignant.) "It's even easier if you're in the Marines," Lacey continued. "They have such a good system. So two letters in six months is simply ridiculous!" She thumped the table for emphasis.
"Usopp hasn't even sent one letter," Kaya said, to make Lacey feel better.
"How terrible." Lacey shook her head in sympathy. "After you gave him that ship and everything."
"Yes." Kaya hesitated. "It's not that he owes me anything," she said slowly, "But it is strange not knowing where he is, and hearing nothing from him. He used to be the only person I saw, practically, besides Klahadore and Merry." Now it was her turn to pick at her food.
Lacey patted her shoulder. "You must cry into your pillow every night," she remarked. "It's what I do most nights, anyway."
Kaya smiled but shook her head. "Isn't it uncomfortable to sleep on a wet pillow?" she teased.
"You bet," Lacey said lightly. Her eyes, though, were sad and brooding and not half as silly as she sounded. "But where else can a girl have a good cry?"
Kaya could see the point. Walking back to the clinic after lunch, she tried to sort out her feelings. Being a sensible girl, she had all sorts of sensible excuses. She couldn't send letters to Usopp because she didn't know where he was. It was probably very difficult for a pirate to get letters through the post. Who was Kaya to risk Usopp and his crew being caught by the Marines? Maybe they were so far from an island that newspaper gulls couldn't reach them. Maybe one couldn't send post from the Grand Line. Goodness knew the newspaper never reported much about that mysterious place.
Still - it would be nice to know that he was somewhere, Kaya thought. She didn't let him go (against her own personal wishes, too!) just so he could drop off the face of the world.
Kaya sighed as she purchased the day's paper from a nearby vendor. She had not realized before that her memory was mixed with expectation; or that, if she was honest with herself, she sometimes went to bed really annoyed. Kaya didn't want to be like Lacey and cry herself to sleep every night, but she was beginning to understand why someone might.
Walking as she read, Kaya casually scanned the headlines. The ocean-going restaurant, Baratie, had fended off a pirate crew but lost its sous-chef to another: the Straw-Hat Pirates. Kaya frowned. She thought she should recognize the name, but couldn't place it. Arlong Park on Cocoyashi Island had been destroyed and the merman crime gang disbanded. Kaya recalled those names only vaguely from school lessons.
A more familiar name caught her eye. 'Straw-Hat' Luffy. Luffy! Why, of course. Kaya remembered the funny hat Luffy wore; he must be the captain of the "Straw-Hat Pirates," then. So he had a Baratie chef now? Kaya read on. "'Straw-Hat' Luffy's crew includes former bounty hunter Roronoa Zoro; a native Cocoyashi citizen as navigator; one of Baratie's famous 'fighting cooks', and a sniper."
Why, so Usopp had been at this Arlong Park -Kaya checked the date- just last week! And at the Baratie before that. Resolutely, Kaya folded the paper and put it in her bag to read later. The articles' details sounded positively gory, and she didn't want anything distracting her from her studies. But already those far-off places and battles took on new meaning as Kaya imagined Usopp (she supposed he was the 'sniper' of the crew) right in the middle of them.
The new bounty posters were pasted on a board outside the clinic. Kaya looked at them with new interest. Sure enough, there was one of Luffy, his toothy smile taking up fully half of the picture. Beyond the smile, though, somewhere in the distance, was a small figure with his back turned. There were the familiar unruly curls, and the too-big overalls, and the thin arms held jauntily akimbo.
Kaya began to laugh. The laughing continued as she walked up the steps to the doctor's clinic. Now, more than ever, she was glad she'd kept her pillow dry.