Red Hair's Daughter

New Feelings

"See, Ace! I told you she'd come!" Luffy said, pulling a still blushing Aisuru in to the room. Apparently Zoro had found his way here while Aisuru met Aoi. A man who looked similar to Luffy turned his head. He grinned over at them.

"Yup, I see that. You were right, Luffy. She is a cutie." He said.

"Luffy told his brother I'm cute?" Aisuru thought. Ace grinned at her.

"I'm Ace, Luffy's older brother. The blonde about to get his ass kicked beside me is Sabo, my little brother." Ace said. The blonde, Sabo, smacked Ace in the back of the head.

"I'm only three months younger than you!" He said. Ace grinned.

"Baaabyyyy brooootherr!" He said.

"I'm half an inch taller!" Sabo said.

"Sabo! Say hi to Ai-chan!" Luffy said with a pout. Sabo looked up and smiled at Aisuru. The girl was stunned to see a burn scar marking his left eye.

"Hello, Aisuru. You really are as cute as Luffy said." Sabo said with a polite nod of his head.

"H-Hi." Aisuru said softly.

"He has burns, too. Why?" She thought.

"Come on, Ai-chan! Let's play!" Luffy said, dragging her over to the computers on the other side. As Luffy sat down to play the game, Aisuru stared in confusion. Sabo noticed this.

"Have you ever played before, Aisuru?" He asked. Aisuru shook her head.

"No." She said softly.

"Come here! I'll teach you!" Luffy said, patting his leg, motioning Aisuru to sit in his lap. Aisuru felt her gut clentch at the thought. If she sat in his lap, surely he'd feel her scars through their shirts, right?

"It's okay, Aisuru. Luffy is good at this game." Ace reassured. Aisuru nodded. Slowly and cautiously of her back touching Luffy's chest, Aisuru sat on Luffy's lap.

As soon as she was seated, he pulled her all the way back, making her gasp as her back hit his chest.

"Have you really never played Prop Hunt before, Ai-chan?" Luffy asked. Aisuru shook her head.

"My mom's husband made video games in the house forbidden when I lived with them. I've never really played anything." She said softly.

"Surely he feels the scars." She thought. Zoro came and sat down at the empty computer to be the fourth player on even teams. Luffy helped Aisuru on the first few rounds, placing his hands on hers to instruct her.

"His hands are so soft." She thought. As they played more, Aisuru slowly forgot about Luffy feeling her scars and relaxed against him.

"Aisuru, are you sure you have never played before? You're really good at this." Ace said.

"Yeah, she's killed me every round." Zoro said.

"That's just because you suck at directions and stay out in the open." Sabo said... as Aisuru shot him.

"What?! How?!" He asked.

"You were a can sitting between two filing cabinets..." she said. Luffy laughed at his brother's misfortune.

"You're amazing, Ai-chan!" He said, hugging her and nuzzling her neck. Her heart beat picked up a bit when he did. Ace's phone began to ring. He sighed and his shoulders dropped.

"Alright, tag me out." Ace said and stood up, pulling his phone from his pocket. Aisuru giggled when she saw that his phone case was Stitch from Lilo & Stitch. Ace smiled at her and left the room to take his call. Aisuru slid over in to his chair and took over for him.

After a while, Sabo traded out with Ki and Aisuru decided to take a small break and traded out with Sanji.

"Hey, Aisuru, think you could help me with setting everyone up with some food? The kitchen is just this way." Sabo asked. Aisuru nodded and followed him to the kitchen. Sabo pulled a bunch of cupcakes out from under a towel that was sitting on the oven

"Ah, good, they're cool. There are some cans of frosting in the cupboard cover there." He said, walking over to a drawer and grabbing two spread knives.

"Hey, Sabo... can I ask you something?" Aisuru asked softly as she grabbed the frosting.

"Let me guess, it's about the scar on my eye?" He asked. She froze. Was he sensitive about his scars, too?

"U-uh." She said. He smiled at her kindly.

"Don't worry, it's alright. I get asked a lot. Let me guess, you want to know how I got such a bad burn on my face, right?" He asked. Aisuru nodded.

"Well... I was about ten years old. I followed a stray cat that was injured in to an old, worn down abandoned house, trying to bandage its paw. Well, I apparently had invoked the wrath of that gang, The Celestial Dragons, and they decided to light the entire place on fire while I was inside. I got burned up pretty badly, but I was able to save the cat." He said. Aisuru gawked at the man. He risked his life and got horribly burned on his face and who knows where else, for a cat?

"You really like animals, don't you?" She asked. Sabo nodded.

"Yeah. They're just so innocent and free. In fact, I had a pet hampster growing up. I named him Mr. Fuzzers." Sabo said. Aisuru giggled.

"That's so cute!" She said. He grinned at her as they frosted the cupcakes.

"So, who made these? Was it you?" Aisuru asked. Sabo laughed.

"God no, I'm a Federal Agent. I can't cook or bake. Aoi made these." Sabo said.

"Aoi made these?" Aisuru asked Sabo nodded.

"She likes cooking, she likes modeling, she likes Acting, but she loves baking. Whenever she's between movies, every day we come home she's made a cake, cupcakes, cookies, brownies, all sorts of sweets." He said. Aisuru smiled. Sabo picked up a tray of finished cupcakes.

"I'll take these out to the guys and be back to help you finish up." Sabo said. Aisuru smiled at him.

"Thank you." She said. Sabo left and Aisuru returned to the cupcakes. She heard the door open and looked up and saw Luffy entering.

"H-Hi, Luffy." She said softly. He grinned at her.

"Hi, Ai-chan!" He said in his usual chipper voice. A look crossed his eyes and he stepped closer to her, intensely looking at her face. Her heart beat faster.

"Is everything okay?" She asked softly. Luffy raised his hand to her cheek gently, sending her heart wild. He ran his thumb across her cheek, causing her heart to thrash against her ribs. He pulled his hand away with a grin, showing it to her to show a bit of frosting on his thumb.

"When did that get there?!"

"You had frosting on your cheek!" He said with a chuckle. Aisuru's heart calmed a bit.

"O-oh. Thanks for getting it for me." She said.

"Sure!" He said happily, grabbing a cupcake then running back to the other room.

As soon as he was out of the room, Aisuru rested her hand over her heart.

"What's this feeling?" She thought.