Death can't have her

Some revelations finally revealed

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or anything related to it except for my OC and unrelated plots in this. I also do not own any pictures.

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As she breathed in Law's antiseptic and minty scent in the crook of his neck while Law ran his finger's through her hair, Shiki began to calm down, the action soothing her to the point of that her heart wasn't in a frenzy about her friend anymore. However, she still wanted to see how she was doing with her own eyes by Reika's side.

Just as she loosened her grip on him with the intention of seeing Reika, Law stopped running his fingers through her hair and leaned back.

"Tell me, what is your relation to Tenma-ya." he demanded, staring down at her with a frown.

Shiki blinked, "Tenma...?" she repeated, leaning back while slipping on her shirt over her bandaged chest, "Did you see him?" she questioned, sliding her legs off the edge of the bed and getting up, Law following up as well.

He nodded, standing tall in front of him with his arms crossed, "He appeared before us just hours before your return." he stated, eyes narrowing at her.

Nodding, Shiki turned to face him but inside, she was itching to go to her friend, "... Acquaintances... maybe...." she said, unsure as she mumbled the last bit to herself. She had never really thought of him but just someone Reika really hated. She wouldn't say they were enemies though. He has helped her out in a more sadistic round about way...

Raising a brow at her unsure tone and inwardly frowned, staring into both her eyes.  

When she looked up at Law's no-nonsense face, Shiki carefully and properly figure out her relationship with Tenma as Law waited for her to explain her story.

As she remembered all her encounters with the Curse user, she slowly opened her mouth to speak, "He is... in a way, an unwanted... contractor..."

"Unwanted contractor?" he repeated with a questioning tone.

She nodded, "When we met, he suddenly gave me a curse just for the heck of it, saying that it'll be good entertainment for him-"

He cut her off with a forceful demanding tone, "What do you mean, 'curse'?" eyes hardened, his jaw set.

She blinked, looking up at him, "Tenma ate the Noroi Noroi no mi, he's a Curse user." she clarified. 

At the sudden news, Law's eyes widened as Shiki explained about the five petal marking covering her left hip that he previously thought was a tattoo, she also explained about the second one on her left arm that had been sliced off before and everything up till this point.

The time till her death was unknown.

Constrained anger darkened Law's face, his hand gripping the sleeves on his arms, "When were you going to tell this important piece of information?" he nearly growled, holding back from yelling at her, he instead shot her a cold, intensive glare.

Shiki just stared at Law with an impassive look, "Until you asked." she bluntly said, causing Law's anger to snap. Thinking that she was done and said what she needed, she turned her way towards the exit, only for her to be harshly yanked back.

Yanking her forward by the front of her shirt, Law flared a fierce glare at her, pulling her face so close to his that their nose were almost touching, "And how will I know if you never tell me." he seethed, his voice slightly rising and cold.

Despite feeling his anger, Shiki was unfazed by this, "While I would have told you about the mark if you had pointed it out while examining me, I don't openly advertise the curse." she narrowed her eyes as his grip on her tightened to the point that his knuckles was turning white, she noticed this with a glance, "Besides," placing her hand on his, she gently pried the hand off but he did not budge so she left it there with her hand on top of his, "there really is no point if I told you this, I've never intended to stay on board with everyone, the only reason why I stayed here for this long was because Reika wanted me to enjoy a social life." if she was going to die, there was no point in building a relationship with everyone, the more distance she put with the Heart Pirates, the easier it'll be when she'll be gone.

A heavy silence fell on the room with Shiki's intention echoing through Law's mind.

The grip on her shirt loosened and Shiki took this chance to gently pried his lifeless hand to let go, his eyes shadowed by the rim of his hat, "Don't joke with me." he hissed lowly without lifting his head, "As your Captain, you should have told me about this yourself!" his voice rising in the end, strained in rage. He was breathing heavily in the end.

Smoothing out the crease on her shirt that was made from his grip, Shiki paused and stared at him. His tense posture, his shoulders trembling in anger, breathing heavy.

Shiki frowned as she took this in, knowing that she was the one to cause this, however, what she said was the truth. 

Lifting towards his still form on her tip-toes, closing in just near his ear, Shiki waited to see if he would push her away, when he didn't, she saw this as a sign to continue, "Would it matter?" she questioned, her tone soft and gentle, something Law didn't expect, "If I had told you, would you go hunt down Tenma just as Reika did?" before Law could even get one word out of his mouth, she continued, "Would you abandon your goals just so you could break my curse?" she let out a disapproving sigh at that, shaking her head at the ridiculous notion, she wasn't going to let her problem interfere with his plans, "You met Tenma. He comes and goes whenever he feels like it so there would be no point in looking for him, he always appear unexpectedly. So forget about it." she whispered, lightly bumping her head to his shoulder.

Hearing no response from him, Shiki closed her eyes, deciding that she should leave him be for a while and in the mean time, she could finally go visit Reika. 

But not before bringing her arms up, (lifting her left hand without letting it show that she was having trouble with it now of all times) and wrapping them around him in a hug, squeezing the unresponsive man closer, "Once again, thank you for saving Reika." she nuzzled the side of his head, hoping it'll somewhat cheer him up before letting go and leaving the pirate captain all by himself with his thoughts.

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As she paced towards the infirmary, she slowed down as an uncomfortable feeling burned in her chest. Coming to a stop, she tried lifting her left hand before switching to her right when it became hard to control. With her right hand placed over her squeezing-like heart, she rubbed at it, trying to soothe it, however, the action only made it worst as a cough was making its way through her throat. 

Letting out one small cough, another one shot out and before she knew it, her chest was racking out with harsh coughs. Shiki covered her mouth when a particularly hard one racked through her body, feeling saliva coating to her palm, she leaned back and stared blankly at her saliva mixed with drops of red sticking in the middle of her palm.

Blinking at the specks of blood dotting her skin, she wiped it at her black shirt and proceeded her pace towards her friend, wanting to see her breathing.

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Yo! So my week was okay, finished my assignments early so that I would have time to write, it's a bit late, but at least not that late.

So this shines a bit more about Shiki's character, why I don't write her interaction with any other characters of the Heart Pirates that much (or maybe due to my laziness and bad writing skills lol), hope this chapter answers some questions but if it doesn't, feel free to asks questions and I'll try to incorporate the answers in the next chapters!

If that doesn't work, I'll just answer them myself!

Lol, hope you enjoyed this!