With New Eyes [Closed]

So it was that the rumors were true and Suzie had not set out to jest. Some distance away, Kara could see the small grouping of women following ‘inconspicuously’ in Percy’s wake, every so often the flutter of their gazes leading to his back. The more lionhearted amongst them dared to walk a little faster, to pass by him and continue on rosy cheeked and hoping and not wishing that he’d noticed.

Kara could barely keep in the chuckles straining to form in her chest, and before long, the devil of mischief was in her gaze. She advanced to join in with the throng of admirers. It just so happened that day that she was dressed to her best casual couture, years of fashion awareness placing a word in. The only thing off about the obvious vacation air she sported was the fact that her claymore was to her back, an item she would never leave out into public without.

Even so, she played it cool, doing her part as did the others, walking up closer as if on a path intending to pass him. Except she didn’t. Once reached, Percy (as she had called him throughout the years whether he liked it or not) would feel the hand slipping obviously along his back, fingers doing a little light dance up his spine. The moment he would react, however, the woman would dash low by his side. She rounded him by the direction he didn’t turn, appearing in front of him with the happy grin of a Cheshire cat and a glint in her eyes. That day, she had purposefully omitted to wear her signature lilac perfume, but the nonconventional greeting could be tell tale enough.

“Long time no see, stranger,” she greeted, accounting for the years they had hardly ever exchanged postcards, save for the tips he gave and the thank yous she sent back, mostly her fault. After leaving the marines two and a half years ago to deal in her own way with David’s loss, it had been hard for her to even consider returning to Marineford. Most of the pirates she caught and could bring back alive, she delivered to the closest stationed marines, making meetings with one Swan Dive to be missed.

But she never forgot them, not for one moment, and that deep truth softened her gaze as her smile became warm and subtle. Kara watched his eyes and considered the small changes dealt to them by time.

“How’s life been treating you?”