HOME | DD

Description
You crawled out of bed to the sound of someone pounding on your door. You yawned and stretched as you stumbled half asleep across your living room. ' I wonder who's butt i'm going to kick for waking me up this early' you thought as you opened the door. It was so dark and so early still fog rolled in, not to mention you couldn't even see who was there. " Ok, whoever is there i can't see you, so come on in" you slurred sleepily. You walked away from the door as Usopp came in. Your shoulders drooped just a bit, because you'd been hoping it was Law. Apparently it showed, Usopp frowned " if your not feeling well i can come back another time" he answered sounding concerned. You chuckled "I'm fine, just tired, getting up at the butt crack of dawn will do that to a person" you said yawning. He smirked at that " Well i just couldn't wait to show you my new bow" he rumbled excitedly.

  That brightened your mood " your done with it finally?" you asked cheerfully. He nodded giving you a huge grin. " Yup want to see it?" he asked. You nodded enthusiastically " Heck yes! Where is it?" you asked glancing around, expecting to see it propped against the wall. He chuckled " I didn't bring it with me" You pouted at that making him chuckle again " Why not!" you whined playfully. " Because i figured you'd want to get dressed first. Or would you rather go sit in a tree in forty degree weather in your pj's?" He asked cocking an eyebrow at you. Your eyes lit up " we're going hunting!?" you asked your voice rising in pitch a bit. He laughed " yes why else would i be doing here this early?" he asked. You looked over at him smiling guiltily " I honestly thought you were Law, or at least i was hoping you were Law.." you trailed off thinking of your best friend and the fact that he seemed to be mad at you. Usopp noticed your frown " Where is he? i thought he pretty much lived on your couch?" he asked. You gave him a sad smile " I think he's mad at me" you mumbled. Usopp patted your arm " I'm sure he'll be ok, why don't you go get your gear on. I bet a little hunting will take your mind off of him" he rumbled. You nodded as you started toward your room, maybe it would.

  You were pretty excited about going hunting and seeing Usopps new bow. He made all his own weapons, granted he only used the bow and slingshot but it was pretty awesome still. He was also your favorite hunting buddy, Law was your best friend and normally who you enjoyed spending most of your time with, but Usopp was the only one you'd go hunting with. He is a master, well compared to you anyways. He was teaching you how to use a bow, it was pretty difficult but you did ok with it. Now the slingshot was a different story, Usopp had tried at one point to teach you how to use it, but eventually he'd given up. It was like Usopp and swords, which is normally what you preferred to use. He couldn't swing a sword to save his life, just like you couldn't figure out how to use a slingshot to save your life. He kept telling you once you learned the bow and arrow, the slingshot would be a breeze. Some how you had your doubts though. You pulled the last bit of hunting garb into place and stopped to study yourself in a mirror. Your eyes lingered on your necklace, you wondered if you should leave it home so you wouldn't loose it. You decided against it, instead tucking it into your shirt.

You walked back to the living room where Usopp had taken a seat on the couch. You smiled at him as you started for the kitchen " You'll have to wait a minute until i have my coffee" you said over your shoulder. " Fine with me" you heard him answer as you walked in to the kitchen to began making your coffee. As soon as it was done you walked back to the living room with two cups of brown goodness. Usopp stood taking his thanking you before sitting back down. You sat beside him sipping on your coffee, because no one took drinks of coffee unless they didn't like having taste buds. The two of you sat in silence for a minute while you woke up.

You were just finishing the last drops of coffee when Usopp cleared his throat. Which normally meant he had something he wanted to say, but didn't feel comfortable saying it. " Go ahead and say it" you said giving him a soft smile. He blushed a bit " Well actually its a question" he replied. " Ok ask away" you said sitting your empty cup down on the table. " Not that its any of my business or anything but, what were you and Law fighting about that made him mad?" he asked. You frowned at that not really wanting to think of him right now. " We didn't have a fight, actually it's the opposite of that" you murmured staring off into space. " So you had a non fight?" Usopp asked clearly confused by what you meant. you rolled your eyes " No, We weren't fighting at all, we were playing around like we always do. He chased me across Cora's shop, i fell, he caught me and ended up on the floor with me sitting on top of him." You explained every now and then shooting glances at Usopp to make sure he was still listening. He'd nod his head every time to let you know he was indeed still listening.

" You know how Law teases me all the time?" you asked. " Yeah" Usopp answered so you continued. " So i was teasing him the same way he teases me all the time and he got really serious" You stopped there not wanting to tell Usopp that you and Law had almost kissed. "What happened after that?" Usopp asked. " Cora came in and Law left" You replied with a sigh as the memory replayed in your mind. When your mind came back from Lala land Usopp was giving you a thoughtful look. " What?" you asked. He smiled kindly at you clearing his throat again. " ____" he said carefully. You arched an eyebrow at that. " What?" you asked again. He glanced around once before giving you a smile " Have you ever considered the possibility that Law might like you... as in more than just friends" He rumbled. You blushed, you had considered that, you'd considered it to be completely pointless to think that way because it would never happen. " No, i doubt he does " you mumbled looking away from Usopp. He gave you a strange look " Well i don't doubt it, i think he does. and that's why he's avoiding you" He rumbled. Your eyes lit up a bit, then you blushed. " Do you like him as more than friends?" He asked catching you off guard. You huffed getting tired of his questions " who are you The Love Dr? are we going hunting or not?" you grumbled as you got up and went out the front door. Usopp chuckled " That answers good enough for me" he rumbled following you out the door

You walked silently in the pre dawn mist to Usopps house, which wasn't that far from yours. By the time you got there, even though it wasn't that far, your fingers and nose were freezing. You were suddenly thankful that Usopp had made you change clothes, you would definitely have frozen other wise. Usopp unlocked his front door and let the two of you into his living room. You sighed in relief as warmth began to return to your body. You stood in the living room waiting on Usopp to return with his bow, so you could get started. A minute passed as you waited, you glanced around the living room. Nothing had changed since you were kids, even the furniture was the same. You remembered the three of you, You Usopp and Law all sitting in a circle as kids talking about the latest rumors. You always got the best rumors from Usopp, you always had a suspicion that he was exaggerating most of the time. But you still enjoyed hearing his stories, you smiled fondly at the memories as Usopp came back in bow and quiver in hand. He smiled at the happy expression on your face " what's that look for? i never see you that happy unless your around Law" he rumbled making you blush. you frowned a bit but ended up smiling anyways since it was true. " i was just remembering how we used to sit and tell stories, you, me and Law" you replied with a slight smile.

   He smiled too as he remembered, " yeah, those were good times, Hey we still have fun right? Might not be the same as then but we still hang out" he rumbled. You nodded in agreement, Indeed you did still hang out but admittedly you missed the older days. When the worst thing you had to worry about was getting locked out of the house because you stayed too long at Usopps. Back when you never had to worry about Law getting weird because you touched him. He treated you like one of the guys, wrestling with you and thought you were just as tough. These days, he wouldn't let you defend yourself, because he was worried you'd get hurt. And suddenly whenever you wrestled him and accidentally got in a compromising position he couldn't just laugh it off and get over it. You sighed wishing things were less complicated. You hadn't realized you'd been staring into space until Usopp cleared his throat. " Whenever your done thinking about Law I'm ready to go" he chuckled smirking at your blush. You narrowed your eyes at him " You think your funny pal, but your so not" you grumbled starting for the door. He grinned at that, noting that you hadn't denied thinking of Law. He wasn't blind, he knew you had feelings for Law, even if you refused to admit it. Yet like a good friend, he let you deny it, not once pushing you to admit it.

The two of you started across the field, the sun was nearly up now. You frowned into the sunrise, you'd spent more time at Usopps then you wanted too. Now you both were having to hurry to get to a good spot before all the deer left the woods for the shelter of their thickets. Twigs snapped as you and Usopp walked quickly thru the forest, you glanced around searching for a good tree to sit in. You smiled as your eyes landed on a promising spot, you tapped on Usopps shoulder pointing to the tree when he looked up. He grinned at your choice of tree's, it was a big tree with two forks in it, one on either side. " Nice tree choice" he mused as he started for the tree. You smiled triumphantly as you followed behind him. You waited until Usopp was up in the tree before you began to climb up. Once you climbed into your side of the tree and got into a comfortable spot you sat quietly. This was the worst part about going hunting, not that you minded it being quiet. On the contrary you actually enjoyed the silence quite a bit. What you didn't like was having to sit so still for so long, you sighed as you were getting restless already. You heard Usopp sigh from beside you " sorry" you whispered getting still. ' This is going to be fun, full of caffeine and having to sit still' you thought as you stared into the currently empty forest clearing.

It had been an hour since you and Usopp had parked it in the tree, and honestly all you wanted to do was get down and stretch your legs. You were just about to voice your opinion when you heard something snap a twig. You held your breathe waiting patiently as you watched the clearing in front of you. You shot a glance at Usopp to make sure he'd heard it too. He had his bow at the ready, an arrow already knocked. You sighed glad you weren't just hearing things as you glanced back to the clearing. A bush rustled and more twigs snapped as something indeed was coming into the clearing. It however was not a deer as you had hoped. You watched curiously as three strange men walked slowly into the clearly, all dressed in strange clothes. Usopp put his bow down to his side and sat back as the two of you observed the men. They seemed to be looking for someone, or something.

" Looks like someone has been here recently" one of the men whispered as he bent observing a track in the soft earth. You held your breath again, for some reason you had a gut feeling that was telling you not to let these men know you were here. The man ran his hand briefly over the track before he did the strangest thing. He leaned forward and sniffed the ground as if he was scenting like a dog. " It was her, she's been here recently" the man growled in a low voice. At that the other two grew excited, until they received a glare from the first man. " Be silent she might still be here, We want to maintain the element of surprise" he growled scanning the forest around him. You held perfectly still hoping he wouldn't see you or Usopp. Silently the man stood and sniffed the air around him. You silently thanked the gods that there wasn't any wind this morning. He sighed as he started out of the clearing motioning for the other two men to follow. " I will find you Princess, and i will take you back to The Dark Master" He rumbled darkly as he glanced once more around the clearing. You panicked slightly as his eyes landed on your tree. You held your breath, not daring to move. Finally he left the clearing to continue looking for the " Princess" elsewhere. You silently wondered who the princess was, you felt sorry for her whoever she was.

As soon as you were sure they were gone you let out a huge breath that you'd been holding. "What the hell was that about?" Usopp asked quietly, still cautious of how close by the men still might be. You shrugged your shoulders " Beats me but i feel sorry for whoever the princess is, that guy gave me the creeps" you murmured shifting in your spot in the tree. He nodded in agreement then cleared his throat. "So i guess the question is do you want to stay and try to hunt or go home and come back another day?" Usopp asked giving you a serious look. You sighed, you'd honestly wanted to see his bow in action but you were afraid those men would come back. "Yeah i guess we should go back and tell uncle Cora about the men" you grumbled not happy about it. Usopp gave you an apologetic smile "we'll come back in a day or two" he promised. You sighed giving him a quick nod of understanding before proceeding to climb down from the tree.

"I hope we don't run into those guys" you muttered glancing around to make sure you weren't being followed. You'd been walking back for a while now, it was making your worry. Mostly because you didn't remember going that far into the forest to begin with. Usopp glanced around chuckling nervously " i hate to say it, but i think we are lost" he admitted blushing slightly. You sighed putting your head in your hand " how did we get lost in the forest we've been in a hundred times?" You asked in an exasperated tone. He shook his head sadly " I have no idea" he mumbled rubbing the back of his neck. Up ahead of you there was a hill, you sped up getting an idea. " I wonder how much we can see from that hill? " you wondered out loud. Usopp shrugged following after you quickly, the two of you topped the hill to find a surprise. Yes you could see which way you needed to go but you could also see the men from earlier. You hit the dirt and motioned for Usopp to do the same about the time the man who seemed to be the leader turned his head in your direction.

He didn't seem to have seen you but still you kept extra still. He stared up at your hill for a minute longer before he slowly turned back. Suddenly a huge breeze came thru, ripping thru the valley below. You watched in horror as the mans head snapped back up and he sniffed hard in your direction. His two partners turned to him both giving him curious glances. "What is it?" One asked. The leader sniffed the air once more and what he said next sent chills to your core. "She's here" he rumbled giving the other two a wickedly nasty grin. The other two chuckled darkly "great where is she?" They both asked. The leader grinned that wicked grin again and stared straight up the hill to where you and Usopp were hiding. "There" he growled pointing right at you. "Oh hell does he mean me? " you asked beginning to freak out as the three men started up the hill. Usopp blanched and began to back down the hill until he noticed you weren't behind him. He ran back up the hill grabbed your hand and ran back down dragging you along with him. " What the heck are you doing? Gonna go talk to them?"" He grumbled as he ran still holding your hand.

You tugged your hand away, trying to glance over your should. The men weren't too far behind you, and they were closing in on you. Your wind pipe was beginning to constrict, both because you were out of breath and your were scared senseless. You ran a minute longer before you looked behind you again. You didn't see the root that was in front of you, so you tripped and went flying across the ground. Usopp didn't seem to notice as he kept on running leaving you alone with the fast approaching men. You hurriedly got up and began to run, just to fall down again, hard this time. Your head hitting a rock that protruded from the ground. Your vision blurred and your head swam as you struggled to get back to your feet. You heard the men approaching and knew they were almost on top of you. You were going to die, there's no way you could defend yourself in this state.

Suddenly from no where there was someone standing over you. You could barely see them thru your blurry eyes, tho you could tell that they had a cloak on, pulled low over their face. That same familiar deep scary voice you recognized as belonging to the " demon man" floated across the clearing between you and the men. "Leave the girl alone or none of you will live to tell your master of finding her" he growled. You shivered as you knew his threats weren't empty, you struggled for a moment to sit up more. He flicked a gaze back at you " stay still young princess , i will take care of these three in no time, so hang tight" he growled in the same terrifying voice. Yet it sounded slightly softer, as if he were trying to comfort you. Then you realized what he had called you. Your eyebrow shot up, which you instantly regretted as it shot a searing pain thru your head. You hissed a bit reaching your hand up to your head. 'Princess? What the hell is he talking about?' You thought as the light dimmed and you slowly lost consciousness.

Description
You crawled out of bed to the sound of someone pounding on your door. You yawned and stretched as you stumbled half asleep across your living room. ' I wonder who's butt i'm going to kick for waking me up this early' you thought as you opened the door. It was so dark and so early still fog rolled in, not to mention you couldn't even see who was there. " Ok, whoever is there i can't see you, so come on in" you slurred sleepily. You walked away from the door as Usopp came in. Your shoulders drooped just a bit, because you'd been hoping it was Law. Apparently it showed, Usopp frowned " if your not feeling well i can come back another time" he answered sounding concerned. You chuckled "I'm fine, just tired, getting up at the butt crack of dawn will do that to a person" you said yawning. He smirked at that " Well i just couldn't wait to show you my new bow" he rumbled excitedly.

  That brightened your mood " your done with it finally?" you asked cheerfully. He nodded giving you a huge grin. " Yup want to see it?" he asked. You nodded enthusiastically " Heck yes! Where is it?" you asked glancing around, expecting to see it propped against the wall. He chuckled " I didn't bring it with me" You pouted at that making him chuckle again " Why not!" you whined playfully. " Because i figured you'd want to get dressed first. Or would you rather go sit in a tree in forty degree weather in your pj's?" He asked cocking an eyebrow at you. Your eyes lit up " we're going hunting!?" you asked your voice rising in pitch a bit. He laughed " yes why else would i be doing here this early?" he asked. You looked over at him smiling guiltily " I honestly thought you were Law, or at least i was hoping you were Law.." you trailed off thinking of your best friend and the fact that he seemed to be mad at you. Usopp noticed your frown " Where is he? i thought he pretty much lived on your couch?" he asked. You gave him a sad smile " I think he's mad at me" you mumbled. Usopp patted your arm " I'm sure he'll be ok, why don't you go get your gear on. I bet a little hunting will take your mind off of him" he rumbled. You nodded as you started toward your room, maybe it would.

  You were pretty excited about going hunting and seeing Usopps new bow. He made all his own weapons, granted he only used the bow and slingshot but it was pretty awesome still. He was also your favorite hunting buddy, Law was your best friend and normally who you enjoyed spending most of your time with, but Usopp was the only one you'd go hunting with. He is a master, well compared to you anyways. He was teaching you how to use a bow, it was pretty difficult but you did ok with it. Now the slingshot was a different story, Usopp had tried at one point to teach you how to use it, but eventually he'd given up. It was like Usopp and swords, which is normally what you preferred to use. He couldn't swing a sword to save his life, just like you couldn't figure out how to use a slingshot to save your life. He kept telling you once you learned the bow and arrow, the slingshot would be a breeze. Some how you had your doubts though. You pulled the last bit of hunting garb into place and stopped to study yourself in a mirror. Your eyes lingered on your necklace, you wondered if you should leave it home so you wouldn't loose it. You decided against it, instead tucking it into your shirt.

You walked back to the living room where Usopp had taken a seat on the couch. You smiled at him as you started for the kitchen " You'll have to wait a minute until i have my coffee" you said over your shoulder. " Fine with me" you heard him answer as you walked in to the kitchen to began making your coffee. As soon as it was done you walked back to the living room with two cups of brown goodness. Usopp stood taking his thanking you before sitting back down. You sat beside him sipping on your coffee, because no one took drinks of coffee unless they didn't like having taste buds. The two of you sat in silence for a minute while you woke up.

You were just finishing the last drops of coffee when Usopp cleared his throat. Which normally meant he had something he wanted to say, but didn't feel comfortable saying it. " Go ahead and say it" you said giving him a soft smile. He blushed a bit " Well actually its a question" he replied. " Ok ask away" you said sitting your empty cup down on the table. " Not that its any of my business or anything but, what were you and Law fighting about that made him mad?" he asked. You frowned at that not really wanting to think of him right now. " We didn't have a fight, actually it's the opposite of that" you murmured staring off into space. " So you had a non fight?" Usopp asked clearly confused by what you meant. you rolled your eyes " No, We weren't fighting at all, we were playing around like we always do. He chased me across Cora's shop, i fell, he caught me and ended up on the floor with me sitting on top of him." You explained every now and then shooting glances at Usopp to make sure he was still listening. He'd nod his head every time to let you know he was indeed still listening.

" You know how Law teases me all the time?" you asked. " Yeah" Usopp answered so you continued. " So i was teasing him the same way he teases me all the time and he got really serious" You stopped there not wanting to tell Usopp that you and Law had almost kissed. "What happened after that?" Usopp asked. " Cora came in and Law left" You replied with a sigh as the memory replayed in your mind. When your mind came back from Lala land Usopp was giving you a thoughtful look. " What?" you asked. He smiled kindly at you clearing his throat again. " ____" he said carefully. You arched an eyebrow at that. " What?" you asked again. He glanced around once before giving you a smile " Have you ever considered the possibility that Law might like you... as in more than just friends" He rumbled. You blushed, you had considered that, you'd considered it to be completely pointless to think that way because it would never happen. " No, i doubt he does " you mumbled looking away from Usopp. He gave you a strange look " Well i don't doubt it, i think he does. and that's why he's avoiding you" He rumbled. Your eyes lit up a bit, then you blushed. " Do you like him as more than friends?" He asked catching you off guard. You huffed getting tired of his questions " who are you The Love Dr? are we going hunting or not?" you grumbled as you got up and went out the front door. Usopp chuckled " That answers good enough for me" he rumbled following you out the door

You walked silently in the pre dawn mist to Usopps house, which wasn't that far from yours. By the time you got there, even though it wasn't that far, your fingers and nose were freezing. You were suddenly thankful that Usopp had made you change clothes, you would definitely have frozen other wise. Usopp unlocked his front door and let the two of you into his living room. You sighed in relief as warmth began to return to your body. You stood in the living room waiting on Usopp to return with his bow, so you could get started. A minute passed as you waited, you glanced around the living room. Nothing had changed since you were kids, even the furniture was the same. You remembered the three of you, You Usopp and Law all sitting in a circle as kids talking about the latest rumors. You always got the best rumors from Usopp, you always had a suspicion that he was exaggerating most of the time. But you still enjoyed hearing his stories, you smiled fondly at the memories as Usopp came back in bow and quiver in hand. He smiled at the happy expression on your face " what's that look for? i never see you that happy unless your around Law" he rumbled making you blush. you frowned a bit but ended up smiling anyways since it was true. " i was just remembering how we used to sit and tell stories, you, me and Law" you replied with a slight smile.

   He smiled too as he remembered, " yeah, those were good times, Hey we still have fun right? Might not be the same as then but we still hang out" he rumbled. You nodded in agreement, Indeed you did still hang out but admittedly you missed the older days. When the worst thing you had to worry about was getting locked out of the house because you stayed too long at Usopps. Back when you never had to worry about Law getting weird because you touched him. He treated you like one of the guys, wrestling with you and thought you were just as tough. These days, he wouldn't let you defend yourself, because he was worried you'd get hurt. And suddenly whenever you wrestled him and accidentally got in a compromising position he couldn't just laugh it off and get over it. You sighed wishing things were less complicated. You hadn't realized you'd been staring into space until Usopp cleared his throat. " Whenever your done thinking about Law I'm ready to go" he chuckled smirking at your blush. You narrowed your eyes at him " You think your funny pal, but your so not" you grumbled starting for the door. He grinned at that, noting that you hadn't denied thinking of Law. He wasn't blind, he knew you had feelings for Law, even if you refused to admit it. Yet like a good friend, he let you deny it, not once pushing you to admit it.

The two of you started across the field, the sun was nearly up now. You frowned into the sunrise, you'd spent more time at Usopps then you wanted too. Now you both were having to hurry to get to a good spot before all the deer left the woods for the shelter of their thickets. Twigs snapped as you and Usopp walked quickly thru the forest, you glanced around searching for a good tree to sit in. You smiled as your eyes landed on a promising spot, you tapped on Usopps shoulder pointing to the tree when he looked up. He grinned at your choice of tree's, it was a big tree with two forks in it, one on either side. " Nice tree choice" he mused as he started for the tree. You smiled triumphantly as you followed behind him. You waited until Usopp was up in the tree before you began to climb up. Once you climbed into your side of the tree and got into a comfortable spot you sat quietly. This was the worst part about going hunting, not that you minded it being quiet. On the contrary you actually enjoyed the silence quite a bit. What you didn't like was having to sit so still for so long, you sighed as you were getting restless already. You heard Usopp sigh from beside you " sorry" you whispered getting still. ' This is going to be fun, full of caffeine and having to sit still' you thought as you stared into the currently empty forest clearing.

It had been an hour since you and Usopp had parked it in the tree, and honestly all you wanted to do was get down and stretch your legs. You were just about to voice your opinion when you heard something snap a twig. You held your breathe waiting patiently as you watched the clearing in front of you. You shot a glance at Usopp to make sure he'd heard it too. He had his bow at the ready, an arrow already knocked. You sighed glad you weren't just hearing things as you glanced back to the clearing. A bush rustled and more twigs snapped as something indeed was coming into the clearing. It however was not a deer as you had hoped. You watched curiously as three strange men walked slowly into the clearly, all dressed in strange clothes. Usopp put his bow down to his side and sat back as the two of you observed the men. They seemed to be looking for someone, or something.

" Looks like someone has been here recently" one of the men whispered as he bent observing a track in the soft earth. You held your breath again, for some reason you had a gut feeling that was telling you not to let these men know you were here. The man ran his hand briefly over the track before he did the strangest thing. He leaned forward and sniffed the ground as if he was scenting like a dog. " It was her, she's been here recently" the man growled in a low voice. At that the other two grew excited, until they received a glare from the first man. " Be silent she might still be here, We want to maintain the element of surprise" he growled scanning the forest around him. You held perfectly still hoping he wouldn't see you or Usopp. Silently the man stood and sniffed the air around him. You silently thanked the gods that there wasn't any wind this morning. He sighed as he started out of the clearing motioning for the other two men to follow. " I will find you Princess, and i will take you back to The Dark Master" He rumbled darkly as he glanced once more around the clearing. You panicked slightly as his eyes landed on your tree. You held your breath, not daring to move. Finally he left the clearing to continue looking for the " Princess" elsewhere. You silently wondered who the princess was, you felt sorry for her whoever she was.

As soon as you were sure they were gone you let out a huge breath that you'd been holding. "What the hell was that about?" Usopp asked quietly, still cautious of how close by the men still might be. You shrugged your shoulders " Beats me but i feel sorry for whoever the princess is, that guy gave me the creeps" you murmured shifting in your spot in the tree. He nodded in agreement then cleared his throat. "So i guess the question is do you want to stay and try to hunt or go home and come back another day?" Usopp asked giving you a serious look. You sighed, you'd honestly wanted to see his bow in action but you were afraid those men would come back. "Yeah i guess we should go back and tell uncle Cora about the men" you grumbled not happy about it. Usopp gave you an apologetic smile "we'll come back in a day or two" he promised. You sighed giving him a quick nod of understanding before proceeding to climb down from the tree.

"I hope we don't run into those guys" you muttered glancing around to make sure you weren't being followed. You'd been walking back for a while now, it was making your worry. Mostly because you didn't remember going that far into the forest to begin with. Usopp glanced around chuckling nervously " i hate to say it, but i think we are lost" he admitted blushing slightly. You sighed putting your head in your hand " how did we get lost in the forest we've been in a hundred times?" You asked in an exasperated tone. He shook his head sadly " I have no idea" he mumbled rubbing the back of his neck. Up ahead of you there was a hill, you sped up getting an idea. " I wonder how much we can see from that hill? " you wondered out loud. Usopp shrugged following after you quickly, the two of you topped the hill to find a surprise. Yes you could see which way you needed to go but you could also see the men from earlier. You hit the dirt and motioned for Usopp to do the same about the time the man who seemed to be the leader turned his head in your direction.

He didn't seem to have seen you but still you kept extra still. He stared up at your hill for a minute longer before he slowly turned back. Suddenly a huge breeze came thru, ripping thru the valley below. You watched in horror as the mans head snapped back up and he sniffed hard in your direction. His two partners turned to him both giving him curious glances. "What is it?" One asked. The leader sniffed the air once more and what he said next sent chills to your core. "She's here" he rumbled giving the other two a wickedly nasty grin. The other two chuckled darkly "great where is she?" They both asked. The leader grinned that wicked grin again and stared straight up the hill to where you and Usopp were hiding. "There" he growled pointing right at you. "Oh hell does he mean me? " you asked beginning to freak out as the three men started up the hill. Usopp blanched and began to back down the hill until he noticed you weren't behind him. He ran back up the hill grabbed your hand and ran back down dragging you along with him. " What the heck are you doing? Gonna go talk to them?"" He grumbled as he ran still holding your hand.

You tugged your hand away, trying to glance over your should. The men weren't too far behind you, and they were closing in on you. Your wind pipe was beginning to constrict, both because you were out of breath and your were scared senseless. You ran a minute longer before you looked behind you again. You didn't see the root that was in front of you, so you tripped and went flying across the ground. Usopp didn't seem to notice as he kept on running leaving you alone with the fast approaching men. You hurriedly got up and began to run, just to fall down again, hard this time. Your head hitting a rock that protruded from the ground. Your vision blurred and your head swam as you struggled to get back to your feet. You heard the men approaching and knew they were almost on top of you. You were going to die, there's no way you could defend yourself in this state.

Suddenly from no where there was someone standing over you. You could barely see them thru your blurry eyes, tho you could tell that they had a cloak on, pulled low over their face. That same familiar deep scary voice you recognized as belonging to the " demon man" floated across the clearing between you and the men. "Leave the girl alone or none of you will live to tell your master of finding her" he growled. You shivered as you knew his threats weren't empty, you struggled for a moment to sit up more. He flicked a gaze back at you " stay still young princess , i will take care of these three in no time, so hang tight" he growled in the same terrifying voice. Yet it sounded slightly softer, as if he were trying to comfort you. Then you realized what he had called you. Your eyebrow shot up, which you instantly regretted as it shot a searing pain thru your head. You hissed a bit reaching your hand up to your head. 'Princess? What the hell is he talking about?' You thought as the light dimmed and you slowly lost consciousness.