The Silver Haired Pirate

Chapter 36

Akimitsu Higashi liked to think he wasn't directionally challenged. He liked to believe that he's always known where everything was. But looking back on it now, he wasn't really ever alone.

Even back in his old village there would always be someone to approach him and walk with him to his desired location.

So it truly is hard to tell if he is directionally challenged or not. But the current situation brought to light that he, with some reluctance and doubt, is.

He and the others had gone and traded in the gold for money, the others decided that they'd go to the shipwright place right after, so they began walking in that direction.

Aki got distracted by the smell of sweets and told Nami that he'd walk over to a bakery to get some food and that they could just go on ahead. Nami, albeit reluctantly, agreed and continued on her way with the other two following like lost puppies.

Aki had begun to head over to the bakery but soon got lost in thought, and when he was pulled out of thought, he found himself somewhere unknown.

What he thought would be some bakery ended up being someone's house. Or at least that's where he ended up. In front of a house.

Aki sighed to himself before turning around and walking away. He didn't remeber how he exactly got here, but he'd ask around.

Everyone in water 7 seemed to really adore the shipwright community so finding directions to them shouldn't be too hard.

Aki walked for a few more moments, smiling at the children who pointed at him, and then stopped when he thought he sensed something familiar.

No, someone familiar.

"Higashi?"

He was right.

Aki turned around and faced whoever called his name. To say he was surprised, was an understatement. His eyes (after opening) widened.

The smiling face that greeted him was one he hadn't seen in ages. The little boy who would follow him and beg to be taught was now taller, much taller. The little boy who ranted on and on about wanting to become a marine was now carrying logs of wood on his shoulder as though they were feathers.

The boys once long vibrant red hair was now short and looked as tough it'd tickle his neck. The boys mismatched eyes stayed the same, though they were no longer doe and large and instead sharp and calculating.

The floppy dog ears that sat on his head were larger too, but the same vibrant red. The tail that wagged uncontrollably behind him the same.

The smile on his face was the same. 

It never seemed to change.

"Kazan?" Aki whispered.

The smile got so large it was forced to turn into a grin, a grin that was so large it seemed to split 'Kazan's' face in half. A grin that could rival even Monkey D. Luffy's.

"It is you!" Kazan shouted.

All of this belonged to Aiuchi Kazan, (meaning inner love,  fiery volcano) someone Aki hadn't seen since he was living on the streets.

The little boy used to follow him around and shout about his dreams. He was the only person who would approach Aki, until he met Law of course.

Kazan approached him and carefully set the lumber down before he accidentally hit someone across the face with it. Aki fully turned to face him, the thought of finding the shipyard buried underneath heavy layers of joy and nostalgia.

"It's been so long since I've seen you!" Kazan, ever the excited one, exclaimed. Aki could only nod, still amazed at how Kazan had grown, and how he hadn't grown as well.

"Yes, I see you're still the same as before. Still high on energy and constantly smiling."

Kazan beamed. It wasn't praise but Kazan took anything remotely positive Aki said and turned it into it, praise. Kazan loved to be praised and if the Akimitsu Higashi praised him, he figured he could drop dead.

Yes Kazan had fallen in love with Akimitsu Higashi, sadly. He didn't regret getting to know the man. He just regretted falling in love with him. With someone so beautiful, someone so annoyingly perfect. Someone nobody could ever reach.

But he couldn't help it. Growing up next to someone who could make even the most beautiful flowers seem dull made it near impossible for him not to fall in love. And Aki was kind, oh so kind. Always generous and willing to listen.

He's always been that way. 

"Man, it's crazy seeing you here after all this time! What've you been up to?" Kazan asked now leaning up against the lumber. Even after several years passing, Akimitsu Higashi still looked beautiful. The beauty mark under his sea green eyes, eyes that Aki was keeping open, an action that made Kazan's heart skip a beat.

Kazan knew Aki was born with eyelids touching, but he also knew that Aki could open them whenever he wanted, they just automatically sealed back together. And Kazan knew Aki could see perfectly well with his eyes closed, but he knew Aki could see clearly, actual bodies, people, details, with his eyes open.

So having the Akimitsu Higashi staring at him with his jewel like eyes was a gift. 

Kazan was fucked. 

Even after all these years of tricking himself into thinking he was straight, no woman he'd ever been with could even come close to Akimitsu Higashi. He figured he could forget about the little boy that would hold his hand when he was scared or gave him his food instead of eating it himself. 

He figured it would be easy, that Akimitsu Higashi would be dead and therefore loving him would be... odd? Or strange? Now his own thoughts were beginning to confuse him.

"I've been sailing." Aki said, softly. Softly, softly. His voice still sounded like honey, far more matured and deeper, but still, like melted gold unable to solidify. Like the color of the world when the sun first appears behind the horizon, that golden tint. That sweet, sweet-

Kazan licked his lips.

"Sailing? I never took you for the kind to go out onto open water like that. Aren't you a fox or something?" Kazan pointed to Aki's ear, his grin now replaced with a smirk.

Aki glared at Kazan, though there was no venom nor any true bad intention behind it, just a playful glare.

But-oh the way his eyes twinkled and glowed made Kazan's stomach do flips. The way his pink lips twitched as though hiding a smirk.

"Yes, sailing. And it's been quite the adventure. What about you?" Aki tilted his head to the side, "What have you been doing?"

Kazan grinned, again, at the question.

"I'm a shipwright!"