A/N: How do I come up with so many names (for all my stories)? Easy! Meanings~ That being said, Hiroko means 'generous/magnanimous child'.

"Why don't you ever hang around Zoro?" Nami asked the brunette girl in front of her. The two girls were currently in their room, the former braiding the latter's hair. "You always make sure," continued Nami, "that you're spending time with each of us, but not with him." The brunette gave a soft, short hum before answering.

"It's not that I don't try," she said. "He's just never receptive of my attempts to interact with him. With the rest of the crew, it's easy, but with him..." she paused. "Do you think that maybe he doesn't like me? Maybe he resents the fact that I joined the crew."

"Never!" Exclaimed Nami as she finished braiding the girl's long hair. When she saw that the ginger had finished, the girl turned around to face her. "Hiroko, you're probably the most likable person on this crew!" Continued Nami. "You're always so nice and helpful and you actually listen to me!" Nami's voice lowered and grew rougher as her eye twitched. "Unlike some people," she growled. Hiroko giggled.

"What do you expect from a bunch of pirates?" She asked the navigator who simply huffed in return. Hiroko's small smile fell as her mind returned to the topic of her crew's first mate. "I feel like he avoids me though. He always seems to be busy whenever I try and talk to him for longer than a minute." Nami cursed under breath.

"He might be avoiding you," Nami told her, "but it's certainly not because he dislikes you. I catch him staring at you all the time."

"That doesn't mean anything," said Hiroko. "That could just mean that he doesn't trust me so he's keeping an eye on me."

"Why would he not trust you? You've proven yourself to be trustworthy several times already."

"I don't know," Hiroko mumbled. Nami sighed.

"You're both idiots." Said the navigator.

"Huh?"

"I'm putting you on night watch with him tonight!"

"Ehh?!" Shouted the brunette with wide eyes. "Wha—."

"You're going to talk to him. You're both going to have a conversation. That means more than three minutes of talking between the two of you!"

"But," Hiroko began, but was quickly silenced by Nami.

"We can't have two people here who don't communicate with each other. So think of this as something you're doing to benefit the crew!" Nami gave her a conniving smile. Hiroko sighed and then nodded her head as she agreed with Nami's request. She internally cursed at the fact that Nami knew her well enough to be able to manipulate her so easily. That night, she figured, was going to be a long and awkward night.

A shirtless Zoro sat on the bench of the ship's crow's nest. He looked out the window while sweat from the workout that he was taking a break from dripped down his torso. His eye scanned the horizon for anything that could be considered a threat as he relished in the rare silence that had settled over the ship—no crazy captain running around and shouting, no furious navigator screaming commands, and, best of all, no idiot cook babbling about his 'lovely ladies'. This was why he liked taking the night watch. The peace—silence and a lack of interruptions—gave him a better environment to train in. But just as he thought that, said peace was interrupted by the sound of something hitting against the metal ladder that led to his room of solace.

He turned his head toward the sound in time to see a head filled with light brown hair pop out of the hole on the floor that was the entrance and exit of the room. He raised an eyebrow after immediately recognizing the person as Hiroko.

"What are you doing here?" He said gruffly as she pulled herself fully into the room.

"Nami said I should accompany you tonight," she told him.

"That's stupid. What's the point of having two people on night watch?" Hiroko shrugged at Zoro's words.

"In case one of us falls asleep?" She suggested.

"I won't," was his curt response. Hiroko sat herself down beside Zoro. She sat directly in front of the window, facing outside, with her arms on top of the back of the bench.

"Anything interesting happen?" She asked him.

"Nope."

Hiroko sighed. This was exactly what she had expected to happen. Since he couldn't just avoid her in this situation, he resorted to keeping the talking to a minimum. Why did she have to be the way that she was, she wondered. Why couldn't she just have refused Nami or lied about doing the night watch?

She said nothing more as Zoro stood up from his seat. She watched him move behind her and start lifting (huge) weights through the reflection of the window. Her eyes lingered on his bare torso before settling on his face, observing every blink and bead of sweat that rolled down his forehead. The longer she stared, the more frustrated she became—she realized that it didn't matter how long she continued to stare or how hard or closely she observed him. In the end, she still couldn't read him. She couldn't tell what was going on in that head of his. She gritted her teeth as she realized that this was probably frustrating her more than it should have, but she couldn't help it.

Unbeknownst to her, the person who she had been observing quietly was trying his hardest to keep his gaze set on the floor. He could feel her eyes on him and it was unnerving because he knew exactly how she was staring at him. He had watched her enough, though he would never admit it, to know that. He knew that she was staring at him with those big, stupid, beautiful eyes of hers in that 'I'm-looking-into-your-soul' way. And he hated that stare because it would make his stomach flutter and his face tint red. While he loved staring at her, he hated whenever she stared at him. Or, rather, he hated the reaction that it caused.

Eventually, his attempt to keep his eye glued to the floor failed. He couldn't help but find his eye drawn to her form, as they often were whenever they were in the same area. His eye trailed up her figure until they met her own through the reflection of the window. Zoro paused. The weight in his hand remained still as the blush that he had been trying to subdue rushed up to his cheeks with a vengeance. He saw her look away when she noticed that she had been caught staring and let out a relieved breath knowing that she had probably not see his blush.

"You don't have to stay," Zoro told her. "I won't tell Nami." A frown formed on Hiroko's face. She wondered if this was his way of politely telling her to leave.

She considered her options—whether she should or should not leave. Leaving did mean no longer being in the room with the man who frustrated her the most. But she knew that Nami, being Nami, would somehow find out if she didn't stay the whole night so Hiroko shook her head at Zoro. He didn't say anything in response. He just moved his gaze away from her and continued to exercise as he had been before.

Hiroko turned around to face him. She leaned her back against the bench and brought her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. She settled her chin on her knees and decided to stare at him again, but this time unashamedly.

"Do you always do this when you have night watch?" Hiroko inquired.

"Mhmm," Zoro responded. Her eye twitched at that.

"Don't you get tired?"

"I take breaks."

"Don't you get bored from exercising all the time?"

"No," he stated. Hiroko found herself gritting her teeth again.

"Do you dislike me?" The question caused Zoro to stop what he was doing. He looked up at her with a raised brow.

"Why would you ask that?" He questioned back.

"You avoid me," she started. "You keep your replies to me short. It's like you're going out of your way to not talk to me."

Zoro felt guilt settle at the pit of his stomach. He had realized that he had been doing that, but he didn't think that it would bother her let alone make her think that he didn't like her. He sighed and dropped the weight onto the floor. How was he supposed to fix this?

"I don't dislike you," he told her.

"Ah. Yea. You're right," Hiroko said in a bittersweet tone. "You actually talk to people you dislike." Her arms tightened around her legs as she spoke and Zoro found himself taken aback by the aggressiveness hidden beneath her voice. "I mean, you exchange more words in ten minutes with Sanji than you do with me in an entire day." Hiroko didn't budge as Zoro sat down next to her.

"That's because that perverted cook doesn't know how to shut up," he retorted with an angry frown on his face. Hiroko sighed. Was he trying to change the subject? "Like earlier today, he should've kept his mouth shut instead of saying what he said to you."

Hiroko let go of her knees and turned toward him. She sat with her legs underneath her, facing his side. She tilted her head to the right as she looked at him.

"But I encouraged him in the first place," she told the green-haired man. Zoro's frown deepened, knowing that there was truth behind her words. He turned his head to look at her

"I don't understand why you keep flirting back with the damn cook."

"Because it's what he needs," she answered. Zoro's brow furrowed in confusion.

"What he needs is to have some sense knocked into him so he can realize when he's flirting with a woman who's way out of his league." Hiroko's eyes widened at his words—was he referring to her? No, she thought. He couldn't be. She shook her head.

"Sanji may be a pervert and he may be a bit too Sanji sometimes, but he is a good man with a lot of love to give, which is often not reciprocated," Hiroko explained. "So what Sanji needs is to have some affection of the same nature sent toward him for once." Zoro scoffed at her words and looked away.

"Sounds to me like you're favoring the curly-browed bastard," he said. Zoro shifted in his seat. How did they end up talking about this, he thought. Now the feelings of resentment that he had held toward the cook prior that day were resurfacing. How had his peaceful night turned into this?

"No," said Hiroko, snapping Zoro out of his angry thoughts. "I'm not favoring him. I try my hardest to give everyone here whatever it is that they need—whether they know that they need it or not. The only exception is you." She paused as Zoro turned to look at her again. The two stared intently at each other for a short moment until she continued.

"I can't read you," she said. "I can't figure out what you need. And it doesn't help that I can't even get a decent conversation out of you."

Zoro looked away from Hiroko as another blush crossed his cheeks. His stomach dropped as he felt embarrassed about avoiding her like a fool as he had been. And at the same time, his heart swelled as he realized that not only did she care for him, but she didn't actually like the cook more than she liked him. They sat in silence for a few minutes—a few awkward, tense minutes—while an unasked question lingered in the air around them: 'What do you need, Zoro?'

"What I need," said Zoro, "is to become the greatest swordsman."

"No," said Hiroko.

"What?"

"That is your dream. That is what you will achieve. That is not what you need."

"Then...what I need is to become stronger. To train more."

"You still don't get it," she said with a sigh.

"Then explain." Hiroko stared down at her hands in silence for some time as she tried to find the right words to say.

"By what you need," she began, "I don't mean your dream or what you need to achieve it. I mean what you need in your life because your dream, no matter how important it is to you, cannot be your life. What I mean is what you need to help you feel better. Not necessarily happy, but better." She looked up from her hands to Zoro's face to make sure that he was following what she was saying. He gave her a small nod, signaling her to continue.

"For example," Hiroko began again, keeping her gaze on Zoro's face, "Usopp wants to become a great warrior, but what he needs in his life isn't to train more or to have someone teach him how to be a better fighter. While those things can help him achieve his dream, what he needs in his life is someone who will show him that there is courage in him and the things that he does. That's what I mean. Nami wants to map the whole world, but what she needs isn't more log or eternal poses. What she needs is someone who can help ease her stress from dealing with this rambunctious crew. Luffy wants to become king of the pirates; what he needs, though, are friends who will remain by his side and share stories and laughs with each other. Are you starting to understand now?"

"Yea," said Zoro. "So then, what is it that you need?" Hiroko averted her eyes from the swordsman and rubbed the back of her neck. "You don't know, do you?" He questioned. She shrugged.

"It can't be helped," she said, defending herself. "I can read other people, but not myself."

Zoro shook his head at her. He placed his left hand on top of her head and looked away as a blush crossed his cheeks. A matching one settled on Hiroko's face as she stared at his profile.

"Let's make a deal," Zoro suggested. "I'll help you figure out what you need if you help me figure out what I need."

"Is 'no-longer-ignoring-me' part of the deal too?" She asked softly.

"It has to be or else this won't work."

"So then I have no choice but to accept this deal." Zoro's lips curved up into a smirk. He turned his head back to Hiroko only to be met with a pout, which made him blush again because he just couldn't ignore how silly and cute it made her appear. Still, he managed to keep the smirk on his face.

"Is it so bad a deal though?" He asked her. He watched her pout disappear as a smile spread across her face.

"No," she replied. "It's just the kinda deal I need right now."