Odd Eye (One Piece Fanfic)

-17- Where there's a Baby; there's a pair of Grizzly Cub Eyes.

The dark brown fabric was light and comfortable, and seemed like something so expensive Takara had virtually no business wearing it. 

Takara clicked Leer's collar around the bear's neck, adjusting the strap so it was comfortable-- his hands ran over the emerald at the buckle, then the bear hopped off the man's lap.

Despite the strange girl's requests of staying still, the two left the room behind-- and turned right at the first split in the hallways.

The building was humongous.

The hallways were wide and empty, without a single lamp lit in the cloudy evening. Takara could only barely get by, following the wall and Leer's better vision as they ventured across the darkness in search of anything that looked worthy of a journey.

If this space was just one section of this mansion, Takara couldn't even begin to comprehend how huge this entire place was. Was it as big as a palace? What if he got lost here?

He gulped, fearing he would lose track of the only lit room-- the bedroom he was previously in-- 

"Rar, rao!" Leer piped up.

The young bear pawed at a door to the right-- Takara had to squint to catch sight of what the bear was directing him toward-- the bear stood leaning against the huge door, eager to enter the room and what lay beyond.

Did the bear smell food or something?

Twisting the doorknob, Takara was greeted by a pitch black, abyssal scenery before him. A breeze that came from an open window blew through-- but the room itself was without a single light aglow.

Reaching his hands instinctively to the wall on his left-- then to the right, his hands found a round button-- pressing it by accident, the room burst into lustrous gleam, illuminated by large chandeliers overhead that flared to light above.

Takara sucked in a breath at the sight of what the room contained.

The room was much larger than the bedroom he was previously in. But this room felt much smaller, lined row after row with towering bookshelves that dominated even Takara's height. Each bookshelf was lined with leatherbacks, each coding thick and ancient history in languages Takara couldn't read. 

Leer had scurried off somewhere deep within the library-- knowing he shouldn't wander about like this, Takara approached the bookshelf.

There were a number of windows in the room, but they were covered tightly with heavy curtains that didn't allow a single ray of radiance to enter or escape.

Leer's further in, Takara realized.

At the back of the library, an open door led to a room hidden back. There was no light in there, but the luminosity of the library spilled into it.

One small candle was lit on a table-- and before it, a small piece of pastry sat untouched. A jade jar of ash was adorned with a smoking stick of incense, and the room tanged heavily of perfumed smoke.

Nothing else was in the room. The room was not big, but only one small stool stood firm in the center-- noble and important-- vaguely, Takara realized this was a shrine-- a grave for the dead.

He swallowed, understanding he shouldn't be here.

Leer pranced around the area animatedly, sniffing each edge, probably liking the smell of the incense-- as strange as it sounded, Leer had always loved the smell of human creations-- perfume, gas, money, paint-- and this room seemed to fit his criteria of favourites.

What caught most of Leer's attention, though-- was the little brown muffin before the shrine. It looked fresh and still edible-- in fact, if Takara had a sharper sense of smell, he'd know that Leer could still detect the aromatic fragrance of the baked good.

Leer found himself right before the desk-- and eyed the muffin with eyes of admiration. Looking back at Takara with sparkling begging grizzly cub eyes, Leer's intentions were obvious.

"Leer..." Takara spoke up warningly-- "...No."

Three seconds later Leer had snatched the muffin and was dashing out of the door.

"LEER!!"

  ー  

Although a bit had been munched out of it, Takara returned the muffin to the shrine and crouched on his knees before the grave. He placed Leer beside him-- a bump on his head where Takara had knocked him-- and made the bear lower his head too.

"I'm very sorry," he apologized to the grave.

"Rao," Leer sulked at the side.

"What's with that attitude, ya brat?" Takara reprimanded, "don't forget I'm here because your sorry fluff blew off in the wind!"

"Gao, gawrah!!

Picking up the bear, Tamara left the shrine and headed back to the library. Turning to the windows, it came to him that he hadn't quite put his finger on the infrastructure of this island-- reached for the curtains, he unfurled them and took a look outside.

It was dim, and the rain had settled into a strong drizzle. Beyond the mansion was only a forest as far as he could see, mud washing down the roads and creating a stream from constant rainfall. He was on higher ground-- but beyond that, he saw lights from houses twinkling-- a village or a bigger group of houses were beyond the trees, but he could not see anyone.

With a soft click in the distance, the room was engulfed by sudden darkness-- light from outside shone into the windows, illuminating little of Takara before a hand reached over and pulled the curtains back into place.

"I have been searching for you," this voice belonged to the girl from before-- but this time, she toned her speech lower as if in a ominous intonation-- their was stern stress in her tone, as if she had run her way here-- Takara froze, gulped, and kept silent.

He could not see the girl-- his eyes hadn't yet adjusted to the darkness-- but her firm grip on his hand showed just how much strength she had for a thin young girl.

"My apologies... Leer ran off," Tamara justified himself with a half lie.

The grip softened-- and the girl loosened up.

"No... It is fine," she cast a forlorn glance at the window-- her eyes lowered, as if in deep consternation.

"Gar, gar!!" Leer climbed at her leg, asking for attention, "gao!"

The girl, with hesitation, reached down and cradled the cub in her arms-- she seemed to be anxious, her fingers crossed over the bear's fur as if she worried to let him go. In a way, it resembled how a young child would cradled a teddy bear in their hands when they were afraid.

"Shall we head to the kitchen?"

Takara had only blinked-- but now the girl was smiling. A soft face, gentle and calm, she offered with maternal patience as she met the older male in the eyes.

Takara was looking straight at her-- but he saw nothing in those eyes. It was like Cross' blue eye-- eerie, empty, and hiding so, so much.

She walked out of the library, and Takara followed.