Minstrel

AN: I own nothing in this story including the songs. Please R&R.

The night was calm as Nami made her way towards her quarters on the Thousand Sunny. She had just reached the door to her room when she heard a single chord striking on a musical instrument. A beautiful voice then came to her ears but the voice was melancholy as it sang. And this is what Nami heard:

"What is it that is happening to me?

What is it that is happening to me?

I cannot tell whether to be glad or be afraid.

What is it that is happening to me?"

Nami walked out onto the deck and looked around. No one could be seen but the music still played on and the singer started singing with different lyrics. Looking up, Nami saw a figure perched on the crow's nest and so she started climbing, the lyrics falling from the heavens to alight in her ears.

"When I was a young man and very well thought of,

I couldn't ask aught that the ladies denied.

I nibbled their hearts like a handful of raisins,

And I never spoke love but I knew that I lied.

"But I said to myself, 'Ah they none of them know

The secret I shelter and savor and save.

I wait for the one who will see through my seeming,

And I'll know when I love by the way I behave.'

"The years drifted over like clouds in the heavens;

The ladies went by me like snow on the wind.

I charmed and cheated, deceived and dissembled,

And I sinned, and I sinned, and I sinned, and I sinned.

"But I said to myself, 'Ah they none of them see

There's part of me pure as the whisk of a wave.

My lady is late, but she'll find I've been faithful,

And I'll know when I love by the way I behave.'

"At last came a lady both knowing and tender,

Saying, 'You're not at all what they take you to be.'

I betrayed her before she had quite finished speaking,

And she swallowed cold poison and jumped in the sea.

"And as I say to myself, when there's time for a word,

As I gracefully grow more debauched and depraved,

'Ah, love may be strong, but a habit is stronger,

And I knew when I loved by the way I behaved.'" As the song finished Nami had finally reached the top and stared wide eyed at the singer. Graceful fingers strummed a guitar that appeared handcrafted and the singers black hair wasn't covered by the usual cap she was so used to seeing. In the moonlight, with his hair down, Usopp looked almost handsome. Brushing that thought out of her head as fast as she could, Nami coughed a little and Usopp turned around, eyes wide.

"N-Nami, what are you doing up here this late?"

"I didn't know you could sing Usopp." Nami said, grinning at him. Usopp, not liking that look in her eyes, backed away. Once his body met the wooden board keeping him from a terrible fall, Usopp sighed heavily.

"Please don't blackmail me…I know it's not manly to sing but it helps me when I'm lonely…"

"Is it about Kaya?" Nami asked. Usopp shook his head.

"There's another and she's becoming all I think about."

"It's not Robin is it?" Nami asked, raising an eyebrow. Usopp blushed but shook his head.

"No…close your eyes." Usopp said, his tone calm, but Nami could see his knees were shaking.

"Alright but if you're trying to prank me, I'll make you pay." Closing her eyes, Nami waited. A slip of paper was pressed to her hand and then Usopp's soft voice sang a few lines into her ear:

"I will love you as long as I can,

However long that may be…"

Opening her eyes, Nami looked at Usopp in shock. Opening the folded slip of paper that had been given to her, Nami discovered it was a picture. The image on the paper was of her resting among her tangerine groves. Her eyes were closed and she looked content and happy. Underneath the picture was a caption reading An Angel in Repose.

"Usopp…" Once his name had left her lips a silence hung in the air between the two nakama. Nami noticed again how handsome Usopp looked at the moment. His hair fell down on either side of his face and she found herself reaching a hand towards his sable locks. Once her pale fingers made contact, she stroked his hair gently, her hand then coming down to cup the right side of his face. He started to speak but Nami put a finger on his lips. She then sat down and patted the spot beside her. "Will you sing again?" Usopp nodded and his fingers started strumming his guitar. His beautiful voice reached Nami's ear for the fourth time that night and Nami knew this song: It was an old duet. She decided to sing along with him and this is what they sang:

"'I am no king, and I am no lord,

And I am no soldier-at-arms,' said he.

'I'm none but a harper, and a very poor harper,

That am come hither to wed with ye.'

"'If you were a lord, you shall be my lord,

And the same if you were a thief,' said she.

'And if you are a harper, you shall be my harper,

For it makes no matter to me, to me,

For it makes no matter to me.'

"'But what if it prove that I am no harper?

That I lied for your love most monstrously?'

"Why, then I'll teach you to play and sing,

For I dearly love a good harp,' said she."

Once the song was finished, Nami laid her head on Usopp's shoulder and the sniper draped a blanket around the both of them. Soon sleep claimed the sniper. Nami then pressed her mouth nearly against his ear and she whispered to him in a soft voice.

"I will love you as long as I can, however long that may be…" The navigator then wrapped her arms around her new lover in a tight hug and kissed him on the cheek. Closing her eyes, Nami laid her head near Usopp's heart, the steady beat lulling her into sleep.