ZoSan: The Flower

Chapter 6 - Zoro

He was dreaming again. He had to be, because the cook was here, on his tiny boat, blond hair practically glowing under the light of a nearly-full moon, and looking at him so tenderly, so sadly, that he felt his heart wrench - unless that was just another pain from the flower.

He shifted slowly to his back, uncurling as he did. Sanji stopped him with a warm hand against his chest when he tried to sit up. "Take it easy. You're not in good shape. Stupid marimo."

Zoro nodded, not having the strength to sarcastically tell the cook how much of the understatement of the century that was. He did gather up a little strength to ask, "Why?"

"Don't you remember the flower?" Sanji asked, a little stupidly. When Zoro just gave a weak glare, Sanji realized his mistake. "Oh. You meant why am I here, when we weren't supposed to... I wanted to, had to, try to bring you back. You belong on the Sunny, with our crew. We need you. Luffy needs you. It doesn't feel right when you aren't there." His shoulders slumped. "Or at least, I, I needed to know, I guess. Why you'd leave without saying goodbye - a real goodbye, I mean, because that shitty excuse for a note doesn't count and you know it. And who's ... to blame for your current state, and why you were so desperate to protect them that you couldn't even tell Luffy and..." Sanji stopped the desperate flow of words suddenly, not knowing what to say.

Zoro had just watched as the blond's sentence had devolved into an almost nervous ramble. He'd been angry a few minutes ago - Zoro had heard it, felt it through the haki he couldn't even spike anymore. But he didn't seem angry now, or disgusted. He didn't even seem aware of the swordsman's love for him, as far as Zoro could tell, but nor had he said anything about Chopper having a cure. So why had he come?

If Zoro told him, how would he react?

Making a decision, Zoro took as deep a breath as the flower in his chest would allow. "Had to protect you idiots, didn't I? Didn't want to see sad faces, or angry ones. Not at the end." One in particular, but he didn't dare go there, not yet. "Wanted to end with smiles."

"Because the person you love is nakama?" Sanji asked, shifting to sit more comfortably. Not that there was much room for comfort with two people on the small boat.

Zoro wished the other hadn't shifted like that. The cook had managed to angle himself so he was backlit by the moon. Which meant Zoro couldn't read Sanji's face from this angle to know the reaction as he nodded slowly.

It took Sanji a minute to speak again. "Is it Luffy?"

Zoro hadn't thought he had enough energy to laugh anymore, but that yanked one roughly out of him. Laughter broke down into coughing, of course - but when he finally turned over and got the white flower out of his throat, there was no blood on it, as if...

As if his body was beginning to heal. To fight back. But Sanji's presence had always made the cough worse before. It couldn't be.... Flopping back on his back, he looked up at Sanji, dark eyes hopeful. "No. He's just... family."

But Sanji hadn't seemed to see the difference in the flower, hadn't shifted out of the moon's backlighting, hadn't moved at all. "If not Luffy, then who?"

Did Zoro imagine it or did Sanji's voice almost break just then? Zoro took another deep breath. His body might be fighting back, but the difference hadn't made the flower disappear, and it was still hard to breathe. Which wasn't helping the near-delirium of having been hungry and thirsty and exposed to the elements all day for three days.

Maybe it was that delirium that took that chance, that moved his hand on top of the curly-brow's that still somehow rested on his chest. He pressed that talented hand into his own chest just a little, letting him feel his heartbeat. Zoro'd wanted to touch the other's skin for so long, and it was as soft beneath his fingers as he always thought it would be. He could feel the blond shudder, just slightly, at his touch.

"Don't try to distract me with your cold hands, idiot. Tell me. Don't, don't you dare die without at least telling me who we can blame it on."

Sanji's voice sounded desperate. Zoro hadn't heard that desperation directed at himself since the cook had found him covered in blood after he'd taken Luffy's damage at Thriller Bark.

Zoro supposed he couldn't exactly say that nothing happened this time. He tilted his head slightly. "If you need someone to blame, wouldn't I be the only one? My feelings are my own fault." Zoro felt more than saw the glare Sanji threw his way at the response.

"Who is it, Zoro?"

Hearing his name on the other's lips nearly broke the emerset. It was such a rare occurrence, and it sounded so... nice. Even when it had been spoken with the same fierce anger that usually preceded their fights.

"They're nakama. Beyond that, does it matter?"

It wasn't the question he wanted to ask the cook. It wasn't what he meant to say. Some part of him wished he had the cook's loquacity, that ability to burst into love poetry whenever he wanted. How else could he explain to the blond that the way the moonlight played in that soft hair made Zoro want to run his fingers through it and then kiss him senseless? That Sanji had somehow become nearly everything he wanted? That the fact that Sanji had come after him already made him feel warmer than he'd felt all day, and now the flower inside him seemed to be slowly relinquishing its hold?

"YES, IT FUCKING MATTERS!" Sanji exploded without moving, without so much as withdrawing his hand. "We, I, don't want to lose you. You snuck up on me somehow, you dipshit marimo! You became important - became my best friend! You are the person I trust most in this crew to have my back. Then you just disappear and Chopper finally tells us that you're dying because you're in love with someone? And you, you can't even die around us, because like always, you're too damn busy protecting everyone!" Wet drops hit Zoro's chest as Sanji's forehead landed too softly on their overlapped hands. "Yes, it matters who you're in love with, you stupid, shitty swordsman! It matters who caused you to lose your dream!"

Those silky locks pooled around Zoro's fingers now, distracting him for a moment. Sanji, crying for him? He hadn't dared to ever hope to get emotions like this out of the other. It took all of his concentration to decide to reply. "Sanji."

The cook sat up at his name — it was such a rare occurrence from the mosshead's mouth.The movement shifted him just enough so Zoro could see his usual single blue eye, still more watery than the cook ever showed him, and curly eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"You. You're who I love."