7:33 AM

Trafalgar Law reached for his mug, taking a long draught of the bitter liquid within. He pressed his tongue against the back of his teeth at the unpleasant tepidity but nonetheless drained it down to the dregs. As he replaced the mug to its original position, he watched the trembling of his hand with detached interest.

It was his eighth cup of coffee in as many hours, and the strain was already affecting his body. His thoughts raced as though on fast forward, formulae flashing through his mind, an infinity of possible compounds, experimental laboratory procedures just begging to be written down.

Just a little bit more and he would be finished. Just a little more and he could collect the money, and he would be - well, free certainly wasn't the word. But he would be unchained, and that was one step closer.

He heard the front door of his apartment opening with a whine of unoiled hinges. Thin plastic bags rustled in the kitchen and a familiar voice called, "Law?"

"In here," he replied, not bothering to raise his voice. He stared at the spindly letters and numbers and equations sprawled across the mass of papers in front of him, his quivering pupils morphing them into little black spiders, crawling across the page.

He was so close, so close, just this one thing...

There was a soft sound and light footsteps approached the dim room, illuminated only by the azure glow of his laptop screen. His bedroom door cracked open, and there stood Haruno Sakura, his... childhood friend, he supposed the term was. The light streaming from the hallway window gave her hair a copper burnish, and the edges of his lips tilted downward at the sight.

(He liked the colour red, quite honestly. He loved the sheen of it, on the table, on his fingers, on his scalpels...

But not on her. Never on her.)

"Geez, I'm not even surprised," she sighed, taking in the mess that was his room, and then the mess that was him, slumped in his large black chair.

He hummed in response, furiously clicking the pen in his hand as he pondered over this last conundrum.

"Anything I can help with?"

"Not unless you have a master's degree in biochemistry," he told her blankly.

"Yeah, yeah, 'lowly high school student', 'back off', I get it. Have you eaten yet?"

He shook his head, casting his chaotic hair into further disarray.

"Thought so. You know, you... you should take the day off from school."

"Can't."

"Is there something important today? A project, or a test?"

"No. But I'm fine, I've handled worse. I can deal."

"If you say so… How's onigiri sound? I'll make you some tea, too."

"Fine. Earl gray."

"Mm-hm."

7:48 AM

When Sakura returned, she was laden with a plate of mentaiko onigiri wrapped in dried seaweed, a steaming cup of tea, and a smile.

"Your favourite," she said, placing her burdens on top of what she appropriated to be unimportant rough work.

He grabbed a ball of rice and gave her a twitch of a smile. "Thanks."

"Anytime." She watched him work for a few minutes, noting that his hand was only kept steady enough to write by sheer force of will, and even then, his letters were more illegible than usual. He would write out an entire reaction, stare at it for a moment, and then cross it out furiously, only to start again with different compounds.

When he finally paused to take a sip of the tea she asked, "What are you looking for?"

"I need a neutralising agent for this final procedure, but nothing's working." He sighed and took another sip. Sakura vaguely wondered if he realised that the trembling of his muscles was beginning to calm.

"I see... And you still won't tell me what this is for?"

"Told you Sakura, I can't."

"Yeah, I know. When do you have to finish by, then?"

"About an hour after my classes. So I won't be picking you up today."

Sakura stared at the digital clock across the room as Law choked down another onigiri. He had three classes today and the workshop. That was five hours, and including the thirty minute break between math and the workshop, and then the hour long break between chemistry and physics, he would be at the university for six and a half hours. Classes began at nine for him, so that meant he had to be finished this thing by four-thirty.

It was nearly eight right now, which gave her seventeen minutes to write three quick emails - the workshop was a pass or fail course and Law had dutifully attended all the classes, so that one could be ignored - and Law had seven and a half hours before she would come and wake him up. Surely he could finish up this last part in an hour. Luckily he had said there was nothing important going on in his classes today, so this could be done without guilt.

"Alright," Sakura said, turning to Law. "Finish up that onigiri - no, you can't have the last two, you'll be knocked out too long - and drink up that tea, I have to get going soon."

He blinked drowsily and obeyed, to her delight. Normally Law absolutely despised being ordered about, but when he was sleepy he tended to be very compliant to her directives. She wasn't sure as to the reason why, but it was useful nonetheless.

"Let's get you on to that bed." After a thoughtful pause she added, "And don't kill me when you wake up." She was pretty sure this docility wouldn't carry over when he became alert again but it was worth a try.

Law shuffled over to the bed and allowed her to tuck him in, his dark eyes slowly slipping shut, the shadowed smudges under his eyes made even more pronounced by the addition of his smoky lashes.

She wistfully thought of their shared childhood, when he'd at least grudgingly allowed her to play mother hen despite being two years younger; nowadays, he just waved her off and told her, in the most condescending voice possible, to 'stop nagging me you little brat'.

Sakura pouted at his sleeping form before making her way to his laptop and cracking her knuckles. She had three emails to write to three different professors and she'd have to finish them in just under sixteen minutes.

8:09 AM

Sakura finished the last email with three minutes to spare. She had had to find the names of Law's professors and their contact information with only the memories of offhand comments to guide her, but the job was done, Law was fed and watered - and drugged, but that was a minor detail - and now she could go to school. Out of curiousity Sakura peeked at the paper directly in front of her, wondering what it was that had given Law such a hard time.

When she saw it, she couldn't help but to laugh in surprise. It seemed that after so many years of going above and beyond his peers Law had forgotten the easy stuff. While she wasn't a prodigy like her friend, she was still studying to be a pharmacist. She could at least do this much.

Sakura scribbled a series of reactions on a clean piece of paper and circled the two end products several times so Law wouldn't miss it. She then gathered up the arrangement of cups into a precarious tower on the single plate and took the wobbling mass to Law's kitchen, safely depositing the tableware in the sink and tossing out the remaining rice balls so Law wouldn't accidently eat the things and fall asleep again. Reaching under plastic wrap, she grabbed a rice ball from the plate she'd left on the table.

The rosette then realised that her intellectual detour had made her late and ran out in a frenzy, hand just barely snatching up her book bag on the way.

8:19 AM

"Wait! Hold the door!" Sakura's breaths came in quick pants as she sprinted towards the train, the sight of the closing doors filling her with panic. If she missed this one she'd definitely be late for school, and the head of the Disciplinary Committee would definitely punish her for it.

Rob Lucci-senpai was usually quite pleasant, if a little distant, but his personality underwent a complete one-eighty when he caught someone breaking the rules. Then he was absolutely terrifying, like a leopard ready to strike, sometimes even sending offenders to the ER if they refused to listen. She'd never broken the rules in front of him before so her relationship with him remained cordial: Sakura always made it a point to bow and greet him whenever she saw him. But she'd seen his violent nature firsthand near the start of her first year when a delinquent from Rakuen invaded her classroom in the middle of history and started mucking around, refusing to leave the premises when asked nicely. The president had come and beat the boy into the ground with a vicious grin, thus sparking her almost religious ritual of greeting him every morning when she saw him at the gates and by chance in the halls, armed with the vague hope that he'd spare her life for being polite when the time came. That was how terrifying the sight had been.

So it was with devastated eyes and quickening breaths that she watched the train doors sliding shut.

I'll get a black mark in my student record - I'll be transfered into Impel Down - I'll be beaten to death by Rob-senpai - I'll be -

A black, polished shoe slipped out and inserted itself between the closing doors, stopping them just before they sealed together. A horrific buzzing noise filled the air as the doors slid open again, making Sakura wince and falter in her steps.

"Get on," said a quiet baritone, cutting straight through the racket. Sakura shook off her shock and rushed towards the vehicle, dashing in before the doors could close a second time.

As the bullet train began to speed along the rails, the rosette doubled over and braced her hands against her knees, gasping for breath; she was not a runner, not by any sense of the word.

"Th-thank... you...!" she wheezed. When she saw a shift from the corner of her eye, Sakura finally managed to straighten and peer up at her saviour, who nodded at her in acknowledgment. The movement had been him crossing his arms and leaning back against the closed door.

Long blond hair - longer than her own - fell past the man's waist in messy spikes. A white and blue striped cough mask hid the lower half of his face, while the rest of it was obscured by his thick fringe. He was lean, very tall, and rather well-built if the bared skin under his unbuttoned collar was any indication.

Sakura blinked in surprise at the guy's clothes. The steel coloured tie had been discarded elsewhere and the white dress shirt had been traded in for a black one with polka dots, but without a doubt that was the uniform for the Rakuen sector of the Grand Line.

She studiously ignored his blatant violation of the school uniform policy as she grinned at him. "You go to Paradise? We'll be getting off the same stop, then."

He stared down at her, appraising her slim aquamarine blazer, her plaid navy blue skirt, the golden finishes on her uniform. Or that was what it seemed like, though she couldn't see his eyes to be sure. "You an Enies Lobby?"

"Yup!"

"You sure you want to be talking to me?"

She gave him a curious look. "Why wouldn't I?"

He uncrossed his arms and flipped up the left lapel of his dark blazer to reveal a highly modified version of the Grand Line Senior Academy emblem over his breast, stitched over the original badge.

Sakura gave a small, startled gasp. "A pirate!" In other words, a member of an organized delinquent gang. But then she blinked and squinted at him suspiciously. "Shouldn't you be more... I don't know... bloodthirsty?"

"Don't feel like it," he told her, returning to his preciously casual stance.

"Oh. Um... well... there's not exactly a rule against talking to you, so it shouldn't be a problem." She allowed herself to relax as well. "I think you're the first pirate I've ever talked to. You - you're pretty nice, actually."

"Naïve."

"What's that supposed to mean?" The rosette glared at the general direction of his eyes, but he didn't answer her. She grudgingly let it pass.

"Anyways... I guess a formal introduction wouldn't hurt." She gave him a slight bow of her head. "I'm Haruno Sakura, second year at Enies Lobby. Nice to meet you."

The man did not speak until a few minutes later, when the train finally reached their stop.

"... Killer. Third year. Likewise."

8:32 AM

Despite her best efforts, Sakura only found herself arriving at the gates a full two minutes after the morning bell had rung. Rob Lucci was sometimes known to turn away students who were even a second late so it was with a heavy heart and wide, nervous eyes that she approached the lone sentinel at the front entrance.

"Rob-senpai, g-good morning..."

The Disciplinary Committee president turned towards her with cold, dark eyes and an intense scowl. Sakura immediately lost all of her nerve.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She bowed deeply, the angle of her bend so steep that her plaits nearly touched the ground. Her hands clutched at her skirt. "I won't make excuses! I know I'm late! I should have been here ten minutes ago! I'm so sorry, senpai!"

Please don't murder me! she thought loudly, though she didn't dare say it aloud.

Seconds passed, and the continued silence made Sakura peer up through her bangs in confusion. Rob Lucci-senpai was still frowning but the icy violence in his eyes had abated.

"P-pardon...?"

There was a sigh and Rob Lucci inclined his head towards the school. "Go."

The second year hesitantly straightened up. "Rob-senpai?"

"Before I change my mind."

Realizing what he was doing, a brilliant smile bloomed on Sakura's face. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

"Hurry up."

She wasted no more time and flew through the open gateway, her two braids streaming behind her as she ran.

11:06 AM

Sakura squeaked loudly as her side collided with something broad, warm and very solid. She fell over from the impact, the stack of textbooks in her arms thudding to the ground.

"Ow..." The rosette scrunched her nose and glared up at the perpetrator, only to blink in surprise at the sight of a large hand in front of her face.

"Sorry. You okay?" asked a low, gravelly voice.

"Ah, Smoker-kaichō!" She grabbed onto the hand and let the third year pull her up with his considerable strength. "I was looking for you!"

He growled in displeasure. "Damn. So it was you."

"What do you mean, 'damn'?!"

"You and that Tashigi always hound me down wherever I go. It's a nuisance."

Despite his words, he still bent down to help her gather the fallen objects, collecting most of them before she could. When he stood back up, the majority of the books were in his hands.

She tsked at him and put her free fist to her hip. "If you would just do your job in the first place, Tashigi-chan and I wouldn't have to run all around the school looking for you. I'm the treasurer, not your keeper."

After a brief moment when Sakura tried and failed to glare him into returning her burdens back to her, she gave up and made her way back to the student council office. Used to her nagging, Smoker just grunted and followed.

"Crap, I was going to chase down a pirate today."

"Kaichō! You're the school president, not the disciplinary committee! Skipping meetings is not allowed! Have some responsibility!"

"It's not like I wanted the job," he grumbled. "That bastard Hina... don't even know how she got me on that stage. I still can't see why I won."

"... It was your speech, I think." Reluctantly, she added, "You're really good at those."

"Whatever." The pair reached their destination and Sakura grasped the doorknob before the student council president could attempt to kick it open and broke the door yet again. "Let's just get this over with."

When Sakura and Smoker walked through the entrance, Tashigi jumped to her feet. "You found him!"

"That was much faster than I thought," remarked a first year with long, braided pink hair.

There was a chuckle from the third year representative, seated cross-legged on a collection of spare desks in a corner. He tipped back the edge of his top hat and peered out with a grin. "Why do you think Hina sent her?"

A blue haired girl looked up from the file in front of her and giggled at the commotion, while a similarly coloured third year, who was lazily lounging in his seat, remarked, "Nmaa... it seems that Sakura-kun is as reliable as ever."

"Hina did say it would work." The aforementioned vice-president sat straight-backed in her seat, her long hair falling over her shoulders as she glanced at the new arrivals. "If you blind Haruno and set her loose in the school, she always finds whoever she's looking for. It's a talent."

The youngest male in the room spoke up. "Was there a reason to make Sakura-senpai carry all those books, though? I don't mean to be disrespectful, but wouldn't a blindfold have been better?"

"Nah, it's fine Coby-kun. I think of it as training! Though kaichō did steal most of them in the end..."

Smoker strode over to the large round table in the center of the room and dropped the entire stack of textbooks with a loud bang.

"Now that you've got me here, don't waste my time. I'm starting the meeting. Tashigi, first order of business."

"Yes! The woodworking club has asked for an increase in budget for the third time this month..."

2:37 PM

Trafalgar Law did not wake with a gasp or a startle.

He merely opened his eyes, calmly checked his wristwatch, and assessed the situation.

Even if he left right now, his last class would be halfway done by the time he arrived; there was no point in going anyway, since he didn't need the notes. It wasn't like he wasn't years ahead of the curriculum.

Even so, that Sakura clearly had a death wish. Yes he felt more rested than he had in several weeks, but that did not mean she was at liberty to drug him whenever she liked. Not to mention the way she had so brazenly ordered him around.

He was going to kill her.

Law let out a subdued sigh as he slid his legs off the bed. Rubbing his unkempt stubble with one tattooed hand, the young adult lazily made his way to his desk. After this he would definitely have to shave; a hot shower wouldn't go amiss either.

Slouching into the soft leather of his office chair, Law rolled himself closer to his expansive desk. He grabbed a pen and prepared to immerse himself into a boiling pot of formulae, only to pause at the sight of a paper on top of his laptop.

That hadn't been there before.

Undoubtedly, it was more proof of Sakura's fussing. Already anticipating a series of notes scolding him to 'take better care of yourself!' or whatever, he only gave it cursory glance.

And then a second, when his eyes instinctually recognized that those lines weren't kana, but atomic symbols.

And then a third, when his preoccupied mind realised that yes, those were chemical reactions zigzagging across the page, and yes, that was Sakura's neat, rounded writing rather than his own spindly hand, and yes, that was a continuation of his research and not a forgotten homework assignment.

The girl knew better than to stick her nose in his work, so why...?

Law followed the processes detailed in curly looping letters with his eyes, a finger absentmindedly tracing circles around key parts. Each component was labeled clearly, not a single step skipped or taken for granted. She really didn't do things halfway, that Sakura.

The final products were circled several times.

'HgCl and 2-dimethylamino-2-methyl-1-propanol'

Finding no errors, he leaned back and tapped his lower lip with his pen.

Simple. It wasn't the most efficient, but it would work, he'd give it that. In fact it may be preferable to something more efficient, since it would give the victim time to realize what was happening. Panicked screaming did so amuse Joker.

If it became necessary, he could substitute these compounds with the components for a faster acting agent once he figured out a better way to do this.

Electrolysis... The only reason he hadn't tried those types of reactions was because he didn't want to rely on Joker to get him the equipment when it came time to implement these procedures, wanted to minimize contact with the psychotic man. But really, it wasn't that big of a deal - he could easily 'borrow' some of the university's supplies if his chemistry professor was reluctant to give him access. He didn't necessarily need to contact Joker about this.

Law stood up and stretched. Looked like he had time for that hot shower. If he didn't waste time, he could give this to Vergo and be back in time to meet Sakura at her school.

He smirked.

It would be amusing to make her grovel in front of her classmates.

AN

*mentaiko: spicy cod roe.

*Rakuen: Paradise. (Details will be given later.)

*kaichō: chairman or president (of a society)

*kana: Japanese characters. Think of it as the Japanese alphabet.

The writing style in this chapter is mostly not indicative of my usual style. It's choppy and rushed and I'm not that proud of it, now that I look over it again, but it's already written, and I don't quite have the time to rewrite it. Maybe later.

Did Sakura just drug Law? Yes she did. :D

I've had this thing on my google docs since July, but I didn't want to post it without promise of follow through. Now though, I've pretty much given up hope on ever completing a story and am just posting this anyway. Originally, I wrote it to feature an OC named Enkai Suzume - usually called Suzu - but then two days ago I suddenly had the thought that, huh, this role would actually fit Sakura quite well. So I ended up replacing Suzu for Sakura, since I prefer not to use OCs when I don't need to. I don't think this is going to feature many other Naruto characters; I have specific roles in mind for two specific Naruto females, but as for the rest.. the others may or may not come up as I go, I guess? If I indeed do decide to continue this. I'm pretty sure all the other characters will be One Piece in origin though. For now, I'm just wondering if I should involve special abilities (like devil fruits) or not.