Do you want me to live?

When they came back to the cabin with a lot of food, they saw Dadan standing in the entryway.

She didn't say anything while she accepted the food and sent them inside.

"Oi, Dadan. This is Sabo, he's going to live with us starting today."

Ace said, storming inside.

Luffy happily ran after him while yelling "He's staying here, hehe~" as Akane gave a curt, "I'm back."

Sabo followed Ace and Luffy back inside, while Dadan was rubbing her head.

"They keep increasing." Dadan muttered.

Akane pretended she didn't hear Dadan.

What followed would best be described as a battlefield.

Meat was flying through the air as they all fought for food.

Akane could see Ace and four other bandits tugging on the same piece of meat.

Hurrying to eat something too, Akane managed to secure enough, while she sat down near the wall, away from all the fighting.

The fighting went on for a while, until Dadan grabbed them by the scruff and threw them towards the bath.

"When they come out, you can take a bath next."

Dadan understood that Akane didn't want to bathe with the boys.

She might be young, but she knew about the distance she should keep from boys.

She still remembered when she last took a bath with Shanks nii-sama.

He was scolding her; because she was old enough to do it on her own and that there should be a certain distance between boys and girls.

To be honest, Akane still didn't know why he wouldn't bathe with her.

It wasn't like they were strangers and Shanks was her brother, so there shouldn't be a problem.

When the boys still hadn't left the bathroom and Akane had fallen asleep in front of it, Dadan had barged in, only to find the three boys already in dreamland.

Yelling at the boys to wake up, they began to dry themselves of and when they entered their bedroom, they again fell asleep almost immediately.

Gently waking up Akane, Dadan bathed together with her and went to bed.

Akane slept together with the three boys, meanwhile managing to avoid their tossing.

When she woke up in the morning, she noticed she was in her half-beast form, while the three boys were tightly hugging her tails.

No matter how much she tried, she couldn't wake them up.

Luffy was even drooling on her tail, while Ace was stroking it.

Though when she looked closer, she noticed that Ace was awake.

"C-can you p-please stop? It's really uncomfortable."

Akane tried again to wriggle her way out of their grasp, without success.

"But you said I could do it, if I held back."

Ace looked at her with a mischievous grin.

"Please let go."

Akane was almost begging, as the strange feeling of anxiety was creeping up her spine.

"Hmm, I don't know?"

Ace began to pat it more vigorously, making the strange feeling increase.

Akane finally couldn't take it anymore.

"I told you to STOP!"

With a poof and a cloud of smoke, her body disappeared, while in her place was a small golden nine-tailed fox.

Before Ace could recover from his surprise, the fox disappeared from his sight, as it was fleeing.

"W-wait!"

Ace stumbled to get up, only to fall on top Sabo and Luffy who woke up with a grunt.

"Ace, what are you doing?"

Sabo grunted as he pushed Ace off of him.

"Ah, I need to find her."

Ace absentmindedly said, running out of the room.

"Eh? Ace?"

Sabo, not understanding the situation, chased after Ace followed by Luffy.

"Ace! Where are you going?"

Sabo yelled, trying his best to keep up with him.

"I'm chasing Akane. I went a bit too far."

Ace scratched his head, refusing to look at Sabo.

"Then what happened?"

"Well, I petted her too much, followed by her turning into a fox and fleeing."

Sabo looked at Ace as if he was some kind of idiot.

"Don't look at me like that. Don't come if you don't want to help."

Ace sprinted harder and shook Sabo off.

Sabo sighed as he looked for another trail of her.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Akane was currently sitting in the middle of a grassland filled with flowers.

She was huffing and puffing while her cheeks inflated in a cute way, indignant at the boys' behaviour.

Even though she finally got some friends, even though she wouldn't be alone anymore.

They really pissed her off.

While in that state of mind, she was even more pissed at herself.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't turn back.

She lay down on the grass, finally giving up after trying it again and again.

Though her rest was only for a little while.

"There you are!"

Ace having already found her, picked her up in his arms.

"I'm sorry."

Ace looked away after having said it.

Akane still puffed her cheeks in indignation, but also forgave him.

"It's just nice to finally find some people who like me."

Ace whispered.

"But I like you really much. It's painful to be alone. It's suffocating to be alone all the time. I think Luffy and Sabo think so too. I heard from grandpa that Luffy only has him, while he isn't here most of the time."

Akane said, her voice higher than usual.

"Really? So...you need me?"

Akane nodded.

"So you want me to… live?"

Akane nodded again.

"Why would you ask that? Of course I want you to live. You're already my new brother, Ace."

Ace looked away, but Akane could still see the smile on his face.

"So, why are you still like this?"

Ace said as he looked at her.

She shook her head.

"I don't know. I can't turn back at the moment."

Ace gave another sly smile.

"Then can I pet you again? This time I'll hold back, I promise."

Akane looked dubiously at Ace, but gave a small nod while turning her head away from his smirking face.

"Not the tails and not the ears."

Was all she said.

Ace smirk got bigger as he started to pat her head, carefull to avoid her ears.

Sabo and Luffy caught up and started to laugh at her when they got to know of her situation.

"So, I thought we should do some combat training. Ninety matches a day, thirty for each person. But I guess we'll start when Akane can turn back."

Sabo said while laughing, eventually starting to pet her too after receiving a stern reminder of where not to touch.