Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, just the story :)
a/n: I've been writing a lot of fics in Nami's POV, so here's one in Zoro's POV. This is set in the Alabasta arc when Nami had just finished fighting Miss Doublefinger and Zoro had finished fighting Mr.1. Enjoy
He could feel her weight dragging him down. Every footstep was a struggle and his muscles burned in effort. Blood was dripping from his chest. His arms. His face. Everywhere.
Above him, she yelled insults, shouting ruthlessly in his ear, and he yelled back, forcing himself on. Sometimes, he truly hated her.
"You're so slow!"
His face twisted in a scowl. She had said she was injured, and indeed, by the look of her bloody foot she had been, but he – he could hardly stand up after his last fight.
Their confrontation with the two Baroque Works assassins had been costly. He had saved Nami from a horrible stabbing by one of them, who had turned out to be his opponent but afterwards he hadn't a clue how Nami survived fighting the other assassin without him.
Sometimes he thought that he underestimated her a little – but then that notion would disappear when she shoved him in another danger to save her sorry butt.
"Shutup!" he roared, pumping his legs through the town,
"Don't shout at an invalid!" retorted Nami, whacking him across the back of the head.
He gritted his teeth angrily. How had it come to this anyway?
He had remembered that Nami had stumbled, limping from one of the alleyways after his fight and that he had felt a wave of relief wash over him from the spot on the ground where he had fainted.
He had caught a glimpse of the same emotion in her face but he could have sworn it was his imagination, as the next thing he knew, she had pulled him to his feet and demanded that he carry her across town due to her mortal wounds. The blood that covered him didn't seem to phase her at all, in fact, he assumed she had become rather used to it by now.
He could have declined, said that she could walk by herself, but he hadn't.
For what reason?
As he ran, the shouts of Nami faded in his ears. What was the reason?
The threat of owing money?
He considered. No…it wasn't because of that.
The danger of being punched by a violent maniac?
No…that he could deal with too…
Muscles pushed forward through the crowd. He had jumped and she had slipped slightly, her arms automatically curling around his neck and shoulders. He could feel her breath tickling the back of his neck and he shivered involuntarily.
The reason was one he couldn't admit.
He enjoyed this intimacy with her – and when the opportunity for closeness rose, he couldn't pass it up. That was the truth. In his mind he had thought that those feelings towards anyone…especially that aggressive navigator, could not be possible.
"I hope those idiots are okay," Nami's voice muttered in his ear. It was one of both irritation but an undertone of anxiety and true concern.
Although the swordsman was battered and bruised, and although he was being abused and aggravated by a red-haired girl he was carrying on his back it was times like these that Zoro felt that connection with Nami – the one he had constantly denied and thought impossible. Of course he would never admit it was the "L" word but…
He answered her, the three dangerous, enormous, unthinkable words echoing from his statement. "Yeah…me too."
Nami had looked at him, a questioning confusion in her brown eyes.
Did she know what he was really saying?
"Stupid," she said softly with a small smile.
Perhaps he'd never know.
a/n: Hmm. I love Nami for being so mean to Zoro XD It makes me laugh. Anyway, R&R to make me feel good. :P