The Intership
“I apologize, but I think I lost it for a second there.” Atlantis giggled with a faux smile pulled up on her face. “Can you repeat yourself?”
Smoker smirked at her from across his desk as he leaned back lighting another cigar, “I got you an internship with an admiral.”
Atlantis blinked her eyes rapidly before allowing her smile to drop in disgust as she stood up. “What the fuck.”
Smoker released an amused huff as he exhaled smoke in her direction so it covered his vision of her outrages expression. “It’ll be good for you.”
“Which one?” Atlantis grunted as she crossed her arms, “Because if it’s Akainu I will only be satisfied when one of us is dead.”
“My my,” A voice spoke up from behind her, causing her to jolt and turn to stare at the man who had just entered the room. “What did Akainu do to you to gain a reaction like that?”
“Fucking Kuzan,” Atlantis turned back to tilt her flabbergasted face at Smoker before shaking her head. “Really? What am I gonna learn from the marines resident slacker? How to fall asleep faster?”
“I can't teach anyone skills that powerful,” Kuzan lazily chuckled as he leaned against the door. “Let's go little girl, I’ve got things to do.”
“Why?” Atlantis didn't bother to acknowledge Kuzan as she addressed her mentor.
“He trained me at a point in my life, I figured I’d have my apprentice do the same.” Smoker shrugged before nodding to where Kuzan was scrunching his eyebrows to stare at her expectantly, “I hope to hear good things.”
“Ha. Better hope I live,” Atlantis muttered as she grabbed her jacket and bag to stand before the man.
Kuzan ran his eyes over her in assessment before narrowing his eyes on the rings she wore, “No jewelry.”
“I don’t wear jewelry,” Atlantis twitched, bringing her other hand up to throw her hair over her shoulder. She kept eye contact with the man before he finally shrugged his shoulders .
“Whatever.”
___
Kuzan rang the little bell on his bike again in amusement as Atlantis turned her head to glare at him from her seat in his basket.
“If you ring that bell one more damn time, I am going to drown you.” Altanits huffed as she turned to glare out at the open sea in annoyance while Kuzan lazily smiled, turning his attention towards the wide open sea.
“My bells to keep us safe,” Kuzan commently slowly as he reached for the bell once more.
“Your bell.” Atlantis bit out as she grabbed ahold of the bell before he could ring it, “Is about to get you killed.”
___
Atlantis praised the ground as she finally reached grass, falling onto it to rub her face on it. “I will never take you for granted again.”
Kuzan walked past her with a side eye before deciding to ignore her as he made his way into the marine base they stopped on. He ignored the questions and looks as he made his way to his temporary office, only stopping at the door for Atlantis to catch up before closing it behind them both.
Immediately upon doing so he relaxed onto the floor, pulling an eye mask out of his back pocket to recline and hum as he drifted off.
Atlantis stood staring at him with a blank expression before turning towards the open door on the other side of the office. Creeping towards it slowly she made her way into a tiny garden on the other side.
“Oooh. Who’d have thought,” Atlantis murmured as she took in the very well taken care of garden, stopping at a hammock to climb into with a giggle. The hammock was obviously meant for someone of much larger stature than her but it dwarfed her size making her feel like a child again.
As she rolled over into a comfortable position she looked up and gasped as she realized the tree above her, “Sakuras.”
She found herself in a daze as she stared at the freshly bloomed flowers before her face dropped as she saw the first petal fall.
A tree meant to highlight the impermanence of life, or mortality. Fast to bloom, fast to die.
She reached her hand up to catch the petal only for a breeze to blow it from her grasp causing her to shout as she fell from the hammock in an attempt to chase after it.
As she sat up rubbing her face, she could only watch as it escaped her.
The little petal blew hard through the winds and far from her sight. Once it was no longer in her sight it kept running before it was caught by a quick and curious hand with death written upon it.
“A sakura petal,” the man hummed questioningly from the opposite side of the island. “Interesting.”
The man turned from the direction he had been staring at, letting the petal go from his hands to fly high into the sky, watching it for a moment before moving in towards the small village. He pulled his hat down over his face as he walked past the marines watching them cautiously from the corner of his eyes. “Damn it. I just need to get that damn herb and I can get as far from this island as possible.”