Two Hearts

The Tease

"Hey, Bepo?" Aisuru stood over the bear's shoulders in the brightly lit room. He had sea charts hung haphazardly on the walls, and strewn about the table. Some of them looked rather tidy, but the vast majority were probably only legible to the navigator.

Bepo frowned in concentration, carefully plotting the lines of their immediate surroundings. "Huh?"

"What's the next island?"

"Prith."

Aisuru nodded. "Yeah, I thought so. Hey Bepo, do you need some help organizing in here?" She waited for a few minutes, looking around and wondering where she would even start. Bepo gave her no answer, so she sighed and left the room. She was careful to close the door softly, so she didn't mess him up (again).

She gingerly made her way down to the operating room, where she knew Law was helping Iruka and a few others with their techniques. She paused at the base of the stairs, scowling at the horrible sterile whiteness of it all. Finally, Aisuru took the last step and knocked lightly on the closed door.

"Hahh?" Came the disgruntled voice of her captain.

She leaned against the door, feeling a little light headed. It had been two weeks since she had been on this level, but an eternity wouldn't be long enough. "I gotta favor t'ask ya~!" she tried to sound cute and childish.

"Later. I'm busy now."

"Promise?" She left the lilt in her voice.

"Later."

Aisuru was content to leave it at that, but apparently her odd behaviour hadn't gone unnoticed. Law seemed to realize who he was talking to as she turned to leave. The door opened behind her.

"Aisuru-ya? What are you doing down here?"

She could feel his curious, and somewhat annoyed, gaze on her back. She spun around, a wobbly smile plastered on her face. "Just wanted to see ya~!"

He frowned behind the white operating mask, gloved hands held at his chest. "Here?" He pressed. Behind him, the group was still working on their project. It seemed to be an experiment involving two types of fish. They were still alive, flopping occasionally through their no doubt heavy sedation. The fishy smell crawled up her nose.

"Uh, well," She laughed nervously, taking a step back, "Later is fine. I mean, that's what you said, sooo..."

He sighed, shaking his head slightly. "Go see Ikkaku-ya. We'll talk about your favor somewhere else."

Aisuru took another step back. Then she whipped around and sprinted back up the stairs. She doubled over outside the kitchen, staring hard at her feet without seeing them. Her stomach felt... Absent. Her head was in the clouds. There wasn't enough oxygen.

"Oi, lunch isn't-" Ikkaku cut short as she came around the corner. "Hey, hey." She rubbed Aisuru's back. "What's going on, sweetie? Should I call Trafalgar?"

She shook her head. "Law... Knows..." She gulped air, "Sent me... To you." She took immense comfort in the other woman's presence.

"Uh-huh." Ikkaku rolled her eyes, wrapping an arm around Aisuru as she straightened. "Sounds about right."

Aisuru patted Ikkaku's arm. "It's fine." She was finally able to breath right. "I needed to ask him a favor. I went downstairs. I didn't think I would react like that, I mean, I spent so much time there recently and-"

Ikkaku hugged her tightly, cutting off her tirade. "It's okay, Aisuru. Everyone knows what happened to you. No one thinks less of you, okay?"

"Law-"