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The door to Sabo's room was open, which made Koala worried that she had just missed him. She knew that everyone was going to say goodbye to the group going to Marijoa at the port before they left, but she wanted to give Sabo a more private goodbye. This mission would be different than any other they had taken on, and although she believed that they would come back, some small part of her couldn't help but be worried.
"You're not at the port with everyone else." Sabo's voice came from his room, and as she got closer to the door she saw that he was still there, lacing up his shoes.
"How'd you know it was me?" She asked as she leaned against the doorframe, heart beating loudly in her chest. He was still there, that was good, it meant she could still give him the goodbye she wanted.
He chuckled, "I could recognize the sound of your heels from anywhere." Placing both hands on his knees, he pushed himself up from the bed. "Is there something wrong? Am I late?"
"Nope." She responded, pushing herself off of the doorframe and crossing the short distance to where he was. "I just...." She trailed off, then looked down and away from his curious eyes. She felt so dumb, getting embarrassed over something as simple as this, she'd worked through her plan dozens of times, what she would say, how he might respond, she'd had a plan for everything. But now, in the moment, she could feel her cheeks getting warmer and warmer and couldn't figure out why.
"Were you wanting to walk down to the port together?" Sabo asked, stepping closer to her and closing the distance between them.
"Yes, but also..." She sucked up all the courage she could muster to look back up at him. He was looking down at her with a look of concern, brows furrowed and gray eyes full of worry. She couldn't help herself, and with one hand she reached up and cupped his cheek, "I wanted to give you a gift to say goodbye before you left."
Worry turned to surprise, then to humor. "Did you forget that we're packing light, I can't--"
Before he could say anything else, she reached up on her tippy toes to give him a kiss. His lips were surprisingly soft, and hot. He'd always been the type of person who had a higher body temperature than everyone else, but ever since getting his brothers' fruit he'd been hot to the touch.
But she didn't mind. If anything, Koala enjoyed it.
And given his reaction, Sabo didn't seem to mind the kiss. Before she could pull away, one hand wrapped itself around her midsection, pulling her closer while the other went to the nape of her neck, fingers threading through her hair as he responded to her gentle kiss with his own, his lips hungrily devouring her own. Pressed against his body, Koala could feel for the first time the heat from the flames that his body was now made of, and she wanted more.
But her lungs needed oxygen, and too soon for her own desire, she pulled away from the kiss, gasping for air while Sabo chuckled, licking his lips,
"Was that your gift to me?"
"Uh-huh." She nodded, cheeks bright red, "Was it a good enough kiss to make you want to come back for more?"
A look of surprise crossed Sabo's face, "Was that your goal? To give me something to come back to?"
"Something like that." She said, straightening up his cravat so that no one would notice, "Did it work?"
"Hmm." He still had his arm around her waist, and pulled her closer again, giving her lips a quick peck, "It definitely gave me more reasons to make it back alive."
"Good. Then let's get going before people begin to wonder where we are."