Parenting the Right Way

The Inevitable Split

Katakuri sat Luffy down at the table, and the boy looked curious. "Luffy, I know what happened with you and Zoro. About the times you're hungry and he knows it. It's happened a few times since then, but you stopped, right?"

"Yeah! I didn't drink anymore, I was a good boy."

"That's good." But it was too late by now. "But when you drank from him, a link was formed between the two of you. Given the fact that werewolves and vampires aren't usually pairs or friendly with one another, this only happened twice, recorded. If you two are in the same immediate area, he will know when you are thirsty, and will have the urge to give you some of his blood. It is still his choice to say no, but there is that link, now.

"On his side of things, midnight has become hard for you to sleep through, right? You wake up at midnight every night, and have lately been having a tummy ache at the time. That's you sympathizing with his condition. Since midnight is very painful for werewolves, and Zoro wakes up then, you feel that, too. Both of you have a link to the other." Luffy just stared at him in confusion.

"I don't understand."

"By Zoro giving you his blood, you have a new bond, like the friendship."

"But he's my friend!"

"He is. But things have changed a bit." Luffy panicked and told Katakuri to call Zoro. "I've planned a sit down talk with him and his father about this. They both should know, too." Luffy nodded, and looked troubled. While he was pouty, the phone rang, and Katakuri saw it was from Zoro's dad. He immediately got nervous, but answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Um, Katakuri-san? Is Luffy okay?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I don't know, I felt worried all of the sudden..."

"Luffy is just fine, and will see you tomorrow. Don't worry," Katakuri said kindly. Zoro was relieved, and easily got off the phone. The father was not angry at the boy, because he had no idea this would happen. He was just trying to help his friend out. But now they had to deal with this as best as they could.

The five year old was quiet all day, looking distracted and distant until he wanted to go to the park. So they did, they went to the nearest park with a playground. When they arrived to the play structure, Luffy started playing on the bars, going as fast as he could from one end to the other, beaming happily. He was glad Luffy didn't truly hate himself for his condition. The way Zoro didn't seem to hate himself. Well, that may just have not been seen by Luffy before. At school, Zoro was having a hard time making friends. The kid was awkward at best and abrasive at worst. He spoke his mind, mostly unashamedly.

When Luffy was supposed to talk to Coby, he cancelled, not in the mood to see someone who disliked him for such thing, and would never want to hear about what he and Zoro did, and what came from it. So he was nervous and quiet, but Katakuri made sure to show him he wasn't angry with him.

So he just played with him, and even had Oven come over for a barbeque to try and cheer him up, which distracted Luffy very easily. Food and fun was the cure for much of his bouts of sadness and extreme pouts. When he went to bed, he drank some tea before, even if he could have an accident during the night.

He chose sleeping over wetting the pull ups. Zoro didn't think he was bad for it all, and didn't shame him one bit. Neither did Coby, though. So that was good. Katakuri stayed up later and had a list of things to say and how to say them. He felt that Zoro's father would be understanding, but there was still a specific way he wanted to present the information he'd researched the hell out of for hours the night before.

It had really only happened a few times. It didn't work this way for regular people or all people who were fed off of by vampires - willingly or not - would have this connection. This would probably not happen to anyone else Luffy encountered or ended up drinking from. Zoro was special. Katakuri hoped he'd take the news okay.