ZoSan: The Flower

Chapter 28 - Sanji

He had a good start on dinner when Chopper walked in with a small cart of medical supplies.

"Hey Sanji. I need to do a quick checkup on you, just to make sure that there are no signs of the flower spores in you."

"Why? Is Zoro okay? Has his condition worsened?" Sanji set his knife down, trying to disguise his racing heart. Zoro had seemed fine, even with his injury from before. But this was also the guy who took Luffy's substantial damage and said that nothing happened. Had the kiss not bought him enough extra time?

"He's fine," Chopper responded, holding up a hand to calm Sanji. "He's got another checkup tomorrow just to be sure, and I can't say any more than that right now, but you can ask him after. This is just a precaution to make sure it doesn't act like a contagion. He told me - under duress and doctor-patient confidentiality - that you had kissed, so I want to be thorough."

"Oh. Then can it wait? I'm cooking right now," Sanji turned back to the cutting board to hide his embarrassment at panicking.

"You're always cooking. And I was hoping to do it yesterday, but you went to bed early. This will only take a few minutes, I promise." Chopper patted the bench at the counter and Sanji sat with a sigh after turning off anything that might burn too quickly.

"Roll up your sleeve, please? Gonna get a blood sample."

Sanji complied, getting it past his elbow with practiced efficiency. Chopper cleaned the injection site and quickly poked the needle into Sanji's elbow. The blood filled the attached vial, and Chopper removed the needle and quickly bandaged the spot.

"And now vest off."

"Shirt too?"

"No, just the vest. Have you had any chest pain? "

"Some, but I think it's just guilt." Sanji removed the requested garment and felt the chill of metal as Chopper placed a stethoscope over the shirt, to listen to his heart and lungs. Chopper seemed satisfied with whatever he heard, because the stethoscope went back on the cart, only for Chopper to pick up the biggest item on the cart, the scanner. Chopper ran it slowly in front of Sanji's chest and it generated an image.

Once the image was complete, Chopper announced that he was finished. "I want to finish the test on the blood sample, but so far it looks like you're clear. Please come to me if you have any pain. If it does spread to you, I want as much notice as possible so we can examine the options. If I find you trying to push through it like Zoro originally did, I'll sic Luffy on you."

"Yeah, yeah, doc. Can I finish getting dinner ready now?" Sanji asked with a gentle smile as he donned his vest again. It was hard to be mad at Chopper when he was just doing his due diligence.

"I do have a few questions, if that's okay, but nothing that would further interrupt your dinner preparations."

"That's fine, then. Shoot."

"Zoro mentioned that you were timing his coughing spells on the way back?"

"Yeah." Sanji kept his hands busy, chopping and grinding and grating. "When I first got there, he wasn't even making it ten minutes between them. He seemed to be struggling to breathe. Every motion looked like it hurt him."

"And after the kiss?"

"There seemed to be an almost immediate result." Sanji was making a concentrated effort to be detached, clinical. The blush on his face betrayed that effort. "He was still weak, but breathing easier, able to laugh without coughing. The spaces between the coughing fits started expanding. Thirty minutes, fifty, an hour and ten, two hours."

"So not consistent intervals," Chopper noted as he wrote in his notebook.

Sanji shook his head. "But constantly growing. It was almost three and half hours without one when we reached the ship."

"Any other symptoms that you noticed improved?"

"No, but I didn't really know what to look for."

Chopper nodded, and hesitated. "Last question: Please describe what you feel for Zoro. Or at least what you felt up to kissing him."

"Why the hell do you need to know that?!" Sanji's face was now doubly red, and anyone other than Chopper and maybe the ladies would've been subjected to a long rant of even angrier words with a lot of objections to the implication.

"Be-because I need to find a cure for it regardless of what happens with Zoro, so I need to get as much information as possible about the condition and anything that makes it ease!" The reindeer responded, tears starting to form in his eyes. "And the literature available on it seems to indicate it's tied to emotional conditions, so your emotional state may be a factor I'll need to consider!"

Sanji looked at him for a long, long minute. "Fine," he almost growled the word as he lit a cigarette. "But you repeat any of this to anyone, including Luffy but especially Zoro, and I might rethink my position on fileting, marinating, and grilling you, capiche?"

Chopper nodded from the end of the counter where he had tried to hide. It was almost enough to make Sanji drop his tough-guy act. Chopper rarely did his reversed attempted-hide maneuver these days. Sanji had almost forgotten how goofy it looked. Of course the cook had zero intention of ever actually cooking his friend, even if Chopper might someday spill something embarrassing, but it was good to know that he could still inspire fear if needed.

With a deep drag on the cigarette, Sanji finally answered the question. "Going there, I was... scared. Scared of losing my friend. And angry at myself for not seeing, not asking. Then I got to him, and at first he was frighteningly still. Then he opened his eyes and was talking to me and it was equal parts worry and relief." His hands went back to their work, almost on autopilot, stirring and flipping and garnishing.

"Then he confessed to me and...asked me to kiss him...I dunno. I was flattered, I guess. I wanted to save him."

"Wanted to save him, why?" The little doctor had found his confidence again, it seemed.

Sanji gave a pan of sauteing vegetables a firm shake, knocking any pieces that stuck loose with a spoon. "... because I couldn't imagine this crew without him, and I didn't want to."

Chopper didn't respond.

But someone else did, in a tired drawl edged with a hint of teasing. "My ears are burning. You talking about me, cook?"

Sanji froze. Then he slowly dragged his gaze to the door, where of course the swordsman was standing with a smirk. A smirk that made Sanji's heart skip a beat. "How long have you been there?"

"About three seconds. Don't get your undies in a twist, I wasn't spying. Came to get some booze."

Sanji stomped to the liquor cabinet, grabbed a bottle, and threw it at Zoro, who caught it easily. "There. Now get outta my kitchen."

"Why the pissy attitude? Something wrong?"

Yes, something's wrong! Sanji's mind screamed. I'm developing feelings for you, and then being forced to talk about them and then you walk in while I'm talking! And I'm down to my last pack of cigarettes with no other outlet!

But out loud he just tersely said, "I'm busy. Unless you want to explain to Luffy why dinner is going to be late?"

Sanji could feel Zoro stare at him for a long minute. Not a glare, just a soft gaze, like he was trying to see into him. When Sanji didn't even glance at him, Zoro turned and left.

"Don't be so harsh with him, Sanji." Sanji had forgotten that Chopper was still in the room until the reindeer spoke. "He's trying. It's all new for him, too, you know."

"I know." Sanji's voice broke on the words. "I know, but it's so stressful. And I shouldn't take it out on him, but that was how we dealt and now everything's different." He stamped out the end of his cigarette in an ashtray, then immediately lit a new one. "Why do things have to change?"