Steal My Heart and Leave Me Breathless =Trafalgar Law=

)( Chapter Eleven )(

“Hime-chan?” Shachi whispered as he snuck down to the brig to bring the possibly famished girl something to eat. He peered into the dim cell and spotted her delicate frame strewn across an uncomfortable looking cot. It was more like a metal table that folded out of the wall.

                The petite figure didn’t move.

                Clearing his throat, he gave it another attempt raising his voice a little, “Hime-chan, are you hungry?” He asked plainly.

                Nothing.

                Panic began to settle in, what if something was wrong? “Hime-chan?!”

                The girl was completely unresponsive.

                “CAPTAIN!” Shachi called in a panic as he fumbled with the cell door only to realize that Law was the only one capable of opening it.

                A built in speaker on the side of the wall buzzed and the captain’s cool irritated voice growled from within, “Shachi, do you have any idea what time it is?”

                Shachi turned and pressed the button to respond, “Something is wrong with hime-ch-… the prisoner.”

                There was a long pause and for a moment Shachi worried his captain had decided to ignore his pleas and go back to sleep. After another few seconds a pale blue dome of light stretched down to the lower level and the cold calculating captain of the Heart Pirates appeared looking somewhat dishelved and weary as if instead of sleeping he’d been tossing and turning most of the night.

                Shachi scrambled to hide the tray of food in his hands, “I was just doing a nightly check.” He covered quickly.

                Law rolled his steel grey eyes and peered inside the cell. “Miss Princess?” He called smoothly.

                Nothing.

                “She hasn’t moved.” Shachi pointed and Law noticed worry lines etched into the young man’s face.

                “This better not be a trick, Miss Princess, I’m not amused.” Law grumbled as he teleported inside.

                As he drew closer he could hear the sounds of her labored breathing. He stopped at her bedside and swore under his breath. Her skin was lifelessly pale, her cheeks flushed with fever and a thin layer of sweat clung to her brow. Dark sickly purplish black circles formed beneath her eyelids making her usually angelic features appear gaunt and ghoulish. Cautiously he knelt beside the girl and delicately placed a hand to her forehead. Cursing loudly he pulled away from her with a hiss as her skin scorched his hand. She was literally burning up.

                “Damn.” He swore softly before swinging the practically lifeless girl into his arms.

                “What’s wrong, is hime-chan going to be okay?” Shachi asked worried as Law phased through the cell and quickly carried the girl in the direction of the sickbay.

                “I don’t know.” Law grumbled as Shachi not so gracefully stumbled after him in haste. He looked down to the panting girl in his arms. Her fever had been worse than he’d ever imagined. It was well over 104, by now her internal organs had to be overheating. If he didn’t get her fever down quick she’d likely die. But what caused the fever? Was she sick, or was it an infection? He never should have believed in her silly folk remedy. Her ankle was probably infected.

                “Is she sick?” Shachi pestered him more.

                “I don’t know!” Law snapped before covering swiftly, “Go fill a tub with cold water for me.”

                Shachi raced off without further question realizing it was in order to aid the unresponsive fairy like girl. “Aye, Aye captain.”

                Now that he finally had a chance to think, Law set the girl on an examination table and quickly covered her in cooling blankets hoping to get her body temperature and overall fever to drop. He placed a small mechanical monitoring device on one of her slender fingers and swore loudly as it registered her body temperature.

                107.2.

 Her body should be shutting itself down; her internal organs should all be frying.

The cooling blankets weren’t working fast enough. Where the hell was Shachi?

“Captain, I’ve got the cold bath ready.” Shachi’s voice boomed over the loud speaker ringing through all the halls of the vessel.

“Moron.” Law muttered to himself before sweeping the feverish girl into his arms and teleporting his way to the crew’s shared bathhouse.

He found Shachi shoveling blocks of ice into the pool sized traditional Japanese hot spring style bath and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. This was why it had been taking him so long, rather than fill a small tub with cold water he decided to sabotage the bath for the whole crew. Law shot his subordinate a glare as he realized he’d have to wade into the frigid water with the girl now.

“What is this for?” Shachi asked curiously as he watched his captain kick off his shoes and step to the edge of the bath.

Law ignored his subordinate and dipped his foot into the water. A chill shot down his spine, the water was freezing! He braced himself and jumped in. Gently he lowered the feverish girl into the chilled water. She didn’t even stir. Not a single muscle twitched.

“Wake up.” Law shook the lifeless girl slightly as he lifted her out of the icy water.

“What’s going on?” Bepo yawned from the doorway as he and the rest of the crew piled in yawning and rubbing sleep from their eyes. Apparently Shachi’s message had woken the whole crew.

“Something’s wrong with hime-chan.” Shachi filled everyone in as Law lowered her into the water once more hoping the freezing water would lower her body temperature.

“Hime-chan?!” The crew panicked.

“Damn it! Wake up!” Law snapped as he raised her out of the water again and checked her pulse. It was fading away.

“C-captain, hime-chan is bleeding.” Bepo pointed and Law looked to a thin pink streak in the water.

His gaze lingered to her drenched dress as it clung to her delicate frame and he spotted blood seeping into the soaked material around her knee. Gently he laid her on the ledge of the bath and gingerly jumped out shivering from the frigid water. Carefully he pulled up the hem of her dress to reveal a hasty bandage wrapped around her kneecap. After removing the makeshift bandage he grimaced as he looked to her wound. The surrounding skin was inflamed, the wound itself was raw, pink, bloody and had yellowish white pus seeping out of it. It was infected.

“I thought you were supposed to be a healer.” Law scolded between chattering teeth before setting to work, now that he knew what the cause of it all was, he could fix it. “Someone get me a scalpel.” He ordered as a small pale blue dome of light encased him and the unconscious girl.