Aisuru's POV

I approached the bar with Luffy where Makino and Dad stood talking. I grinned brightly until I saw their faces.

"What? Was it a bad set?" I asked. Makino and Dad looked at each other, then back to me.

"Aisuru... Hono..." Makino started. I felt Luffy's hand tighten on mine and my heart froze in my chest.

"He's dead." Dad said. I felt tears of relief spring to my eyes. I covered my mouth.

"Ai-chan?!" Luffy asked in a panic.

"I'm... I'm finally free of him..." I cried. Luffy kissed me and I let out a relieved laugh.

"Aisuru... Hope... Your mother is here." Dad said. My head snapped up.

"Mom is-?!" I started.

"She watched your show. She just left." Makino said. With out a second thought, I pulled away from Luffy and ran as fast as I could for the doors. Things didn't end great between me and my Mom. If I was never going to see her again, I don't want her last memory of me to be in a court room where I begged the judge to take me away from her. Mom and I may not get along anymore, but she's still my mother.

I ran out the doors and immediately spotted my mother's long, platinum blonde hair.

"MOM!" I yelled out and ran after her. She turned and I slammed right in to her and hugged her tight.

"Aisuru..." She said softly. I hugged her tight. I felt her arms wrap around me. I sniffed and pulled away. I wiped my eyes and looked up at my Mom. She stared down at me. I immediately felt nervous. It had almost been a full year since I last saw her. The last time we saw each other I said I never wanted to see her again.

"M-mom, I-"

"I'm sorry." She said. I looked up at her. There were tears in her eyes.

"Huh?" I sounded.

"I'm so sorry, sweetie. I've been so horrible to you. I may not have actually raised my hand to you, but I sat on the side and let him hurt you. I watched as he hurt you. That's just as bad, if not worse than doing it myself. I know there is nothing I can do to make it up to you, but I want you know that I'm sorry. And he'll never hurt you again. He's dead." She said. I nodded.

"Dad told me." I said. She stared at me. I sighed.

"Mom... I... I don't..." I couldn't find my words. What was I supposed to say? I felt her hand on my shoulder, the other under my chin. She raised my head so I was looking in her eyes. Tears were running down her cheeks.

"You don't need to say anything, honey." She said. I bit my lip and hugged her again.

"I love you, Mom." I whimpered. She played with my hair.

"I love you, too, baby." She whispered in my ear.

"Come on, let's take a walk and talk. Tell me all about your year." She said. She looked over her shoulder.

"I'll have her home by ten, Shanks." She called.

"Nine thirty, Hope. We're going on a trip tomorrow morning." Dad said.

"She'll be home. I promise." Mom said. We started to walk.

"Ai-chan?" I heard Luffy ask. I smiled at him.

"I'll call you later, Luffy." I said. He came up to me and kissed me.

"Be careful. I love you." He said. I smiled and pecked him on the lips.

"I love you, too." I said. Mom and I began our walk.

Time skip

Mom laughed as I told her about the lake house.

"We all went swimming in the Lake. At one point, Ace swam up to Luffy and yanked his shorts down!" I giggled.

"Oh my goodness!" Mom laughed. I giggled.

"Aoi covered my eyes and yelled at Ace, but it was so much fun!" I said. Mom wiped away the tears of laughter from her cheek.

"I'm glad you're so happy here, Aisuru." She said. I smiled.

"I really am." I said. She giggled.

"You should introduce me to your boyfriend. He sounds like a sweet boy." She said. I smiled brightly.

"He is. He's really protective of me, too. If I ever get a chill while we're at school, he'll put me in his lap and he'll hug me to keep me warm. He'll walk home with me a lot of the time, too. And he loves it when I play violin just for him." I said. Talking about Luffy made my heart warm.

"So.. How do you get along with Makino?" Mom asked. I grinned brightly.

"Makino is the best! She's so sweet and so much fun! She comes over every Friday for movie night, and she lets me lie in her lap. She plays with my hair when I do, too! And when Luffy asks me to school dances she helps me find dresses and helps me get ready for the dances, too! She even helps me pull pranks on Dad!" I babbled happily.

"She does?" She asked. I giggled.

"You should have seen what we did on April Fools day! First, set his alarm so he'd wake up at ten in the morning! Makino tricked him in to thinking that I had a performance that day. I put plastic wrap in the door way of the bathroom so he'd run in to it when he ran in there. And then came the final part!" I started laughing. Mom giggled.

"What did you do?" She asked. I tried to stifle my giggles.

"Makino put a fake pregnancy test in the bathroom." I giggled. Mom covered her mouth as she laughed.

"Oh, that's so mean!" She laughed. I grinned.

"And then, around Christmas, I got the flu. Makino and Dad both took care of me." I said.

"Did you know he's-"

"Planning to propose? Yeah. I helped him find the ring." I said. She smiled and looked at her watch.

"Well, It's nine thirty five. I better get you home before your father has a fit." She said. I giggled.

"What?" She asked.

"Nothing. It's just you were always the one lecturing him on appropriate curfew and now here we are, breaking his curfew." I giggled again. Mom smiled.

"Aisuru, honey..." She said as we approached the door.

"Yeah, mom?" I asked. She sighed.

"It's going to be a while before we see each other again. With Hono dead, many of his subordinates are going to be chasing after me. I'm going to have to drop off the grid for a while. I would tell you to do the same, but... Well, you have plenty of protection here. I know you're safe." She said. She looked around.

"I should go before someone shows up. I love you." She said. I hugged her.

"I love you, too, Mom. Bye." I said. She kissed my forehead the same way she always did when I was a kid. I walked in to the house. Dad was leaning against the doorframe.

"You're late." He said. I smiled.

"Sorry, Daddy." I said. He looked around.

"Where's Hope?" He asked. I hesitated. Should I tell him? He sighed.

"She's running from Hono's subordinates, isn't she?" He asked. I nodded. He walked over to me and hugged me. I cuddled in to his warm chest. I inhaled my father's comforting sent.

"Luffy is waiting for you up stairs. He was worried when you ran out with out a word." Dad said. I hugged Dad tighter.

"Daddy?" I said softly.

"Yes, baby girl?" He asked. My tears fell down my cheeks like rain. He pulled me back to his chest.

"Shh, shh. What's wrong baby?" He asked.

"I'm... I'm finally..." I clutched his shirt. I looked up at him and smiled the happiest smile I've smiled since Luffy told me he loved me the first time.

"I'm finally free of him!" I cried.