36 Questions

Disclaimer: As always, I can't claim credit for the wonderful world of One Piece because all characters, places and references are the copyright of the genius Eichiiro Oda, and everything else is simply a figment and work of my imagination.

Summary: "I either bring my dates to the family planning clinic or to the pharmacist to pick out an antidepressant. Take your pick." Trafalgar Law, resident trauma surgeon at Dressrosa Hospital has built his entire career on the precision and accuracy of medical science. Forced to participate in an experiment on the psychology of falling in love, Law has 36 Questions to prove that science will always triumph over heart...or not? Guest starring Haruno Sakura from Naruto. AU Multiple Pairings (to be revealed, but you're welcome to take a crack:))

A/N: I know, I know. I really shouldn't be starting another LawNa project when I still have to finish writing Hostility Wars. I don't normally write AUs but I was inspired reading a very interesting article online about the 36 Questions Phenomenon by Arthur Aron, who conducts a study to see if you can really fall in love with a stranger after only 36 Questions. So go check it out if you have time! I envision this story to be something of a silly, fluffy romcom so hope nobody takes things too seriously!

Chapter 1

"Blood pressure – stable. Heartbeat – normal. Oxygen levels..." he flipped the underside of the report he had just been given, his brow creasing slightly as he scanned through the rest of the figures scrawled onto the chart. "...normal. She appears to be responding to the drugs she has been given and so far, there has been no sign of her body rejecting the transfusion. Overall, patient's condition is stable and is expected to regain consciousness in approximately 24 hours..." Cracking a small smile, he put down the clipboard. "Looks like she's going to make it after all."

The room erupted as doctors, nurses and assistants alike burst into cheers. "Dr. Law, you've done it again!" Penguin pushed down the surgical mask covering the lower half of his face and wiped his brow with a sigh of relief. "You really are a miracle worker," he shook his head, regarding the tall, dark surgeon with a fervent admiration seemingly echoed by everyone else in the room. "No one had given her a hope in hell when they wheeled her into the A&E."

Flashing a rare smile at his right hand man and most trusted assistant, Law ran a hand wearily through his messy, midnight-blue hair. The exhaustion from the gruelling 12 hour surgery had his head pounding with the force of a thousand knives and the floor was starting to sway a little through his tired eyelids. "Penguin, you can go and break the news to her husband. No doubt he will be anxious to know that his 12 hour vigil was not in vain."

"No Doctor, you should be the one to do it," Penguin protested as Bepo, his burly, pale anesthetist nodded eagerly. "After all, you're the one who saved her life." No amount of objections would deter them so Law soon found himself staring blearily into a pair of terrified eyes as he struggled to stifle his enormous yawn. "She's sleeping now – you can go and visit her as soon as they wheel her into the ward."

Today was one of those good days. Today, he didn't have to take a deep breath, count to 50 and say the words no person ever wanted to have to say. Fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, friends, colleagues. Today, he didn't have to watch as the looks of disbelief, pain and anguish flashed through their faces in a kaleidoscope of grief, the bile building up in his throat as he awkwardly stood in the corner of the room; like an intruder on their most private moments of vulnerability. Some even collapsed then and there.

And every tear they shed hardened his heart a little more.

No, today was a good day.

The man grasped Law's arm tightly as he made to head back to his office. He was young, younger than Law himself - no older than 23 or 24; but the overwhelming stress of having his wife's life hang on the balance seemed to have aged him more than a decade overnight. So when Law delivered the good news, the look of pure joy that suddenly lit up his entire face was reminiscent of a kid who had just gotten his dearest wish for Christmas. "Thank you," he bowed his head, his voice cracking as he was overcome with emotion. "I love her so much, I thought she.."

"I will see you again later in the afternoon," Law replied quietly, gently removing the man's hand from around his arm and bolted for the sanctuary of his office. Swinging open the door, the young surgeon collapsed onto his plush armchair and closed his eyes. The spinning in his head had gradually subsided to a dull ache but he was ready to kill for the soft pillows and warmth of his bed, with nothing standing between him and the sweet siren call of sleep for the next few hours. A defeated groan escaped his lips as he remembered that he would still have to check on the young woman he had just operated on later that afternoon. Although she was no longer hovering between life and death, she remained in critical condition and would require close monitoring over the next 48 hours. "Maybe I should transfer to paediatrics," Law muttered aloud.

"You? Working with pooping infants all day?"

He sat bolt upright.

"What're you..." His eyes fell on the petite, pink-haired figure leaning against the doorframe of his office, a playful grin tugging at her lips as she took in his obviously dishevelled appearance. Law knew he must look a mess: his normally pristine white coat creased with prolonged wear, the dark rings circling his cool grey eyes more prominent than ever from his all-nighter shift and his hair was probably sticking up in a million haphazard directions. He sighed openly, letting a touch of sarcasm creep into his voice as he fixed her with a frosty stare. "What're you doing here in my vacation home, Sakura-ya?"

She had changed since the last time he saw her; her cherry blossom hair now cut into a sleek shoulder length bob while the hem of her neat red dress skimmed her knees, displaying her long, slim legs. However, her verdant green eyes held the same impish, teasing sparkle as two years ago when he had been a visiting doctor at Konoha General Hospital. Ignoring his chilly demeanour, Sakura hoisted herself on his desk and tutted playfully, "Is that any way to greet an old friend, Dr. Law?"

The surgeon growled, kneading his temples forcefully as a curious expression briefly flitted across Sakura's face. 'Yes, when you obviously want something from me."

Her smile grew wider and she hopped off the desk, chuckling. The pinkette circled him briefly before stopping behind him. "And are you going to say no?" she whispered, gently combing her fingers through his unruly locks.

Despite his pounding head, Law remained lucid enough to remember that Sakura had always been a bit too good at wringing favours out of him; even as her fingers rubbed soothing circles on his scalp, chasing a little of his headache away. "Cut to the chase before I get Shachi and Penguin to throw you out of my office," he retorted calmly.

Another amused giggle passed through her lips as she made herself comfortable in the patient's chair opposite Law. Dropping all pretences at flirtation, Sakura smiled up at her former colleague. "They've made me a fellow with them now," her smile broadening with genuine joy.

A feeling of distinct pride shot through him even as he continued looking uninterested at her. "Did you really expect nothing less? You were the worst doctor-in-residence at Konoha General after all." In actual fact, Sakura had been the stand-out pupil among her cohort, having counted the Head Medic of the Hospital itself, Dr. Senju Tsunade among her mentors throughout her 3 year residency. Even for the 6 months Law had been there as part of his elective study on alternative surgery methods and advanced poisons and antidotes, he had heard enough rumours about the young trainee from staff and students praising her as the next rising star in the surgical field. There had even been rumours that Tsunade herself was grooming her to be her successor in the future. They had both been assigned a particularly nasty case one day, an emergency patient with multiple trauma wounds from a head-on collision with another vehicle and Law would never admit it, but he didn't think that man would have survived if Sakura hadn't been assisting him that night. Her quick grasp of the issues at hand had seen her be more than capable of dealing with the primary injuries sustained while Law was free to concentrate on the more complex intricacies of the surgery.

"So what did you decide to specialise in?" he leaned back against the chair, relaxing a little as he played with his fountain pen. "General surgery?"

"Not quite," Sakura smiled, giving him a conspiratorial wink. "I decided to major in neuroscience and psychology."

Law arched an eyebrow, still twirling the pen absently in his fingers even as his brow furrowed in surprise.

"I'm still training to be a neurosurgeon," the young woman explained, noting the older doctor's skeptical expression. But I also conduct research in neuroscience and psychology as a side interest...which brings me to the point – I have a favour I would like to ask of you."

"Of course, it's why you're here aren't you," he rolled his eyes. "You're exactly like that money-hungry best friend of yours, its always an eye for an eye..."

A sly grin curled the corner of Sakura's lips at the mention of Nami but she continued, "I've just been awarded my first solo research grant from the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Konoha University. Birth rates in Hi no Kuni have been falling over the last decade and the Daimyo has decreed that something urgently be done to rectify this." Law gave her a sympathetic nod; the Fire Daimyo had garnered an impressive reputation of complete incompetence and sole reliance on his equally incompetent government, he just happened to be lucky the massive amounts of oil revenue they generated every year shielded him from the wrath of his citizens during election time.

Sakura held up her hand. "It gets worse. The brilliant stooges in the Daimyo's Health Ministry think that our smartphone generation don't have the patience or the ability to engage with anyone or anything lasting longer than 140 characters, so one area they've been quite interested in is how to get people, especially of the opposite sex talking and connecting again. There was a rather interesting study done in Mizu last year on the generation of intergender interpersonal closeness which had some pretty incredible results in just one day – and they want me to replicate this study on a larger scale."

Law couldn't help the incredulous snort that escaped him. "So in layman terms, they want a study on how to fall in love?!"

"Well that's not what the entire experiment will be about, but yes that is the general idea."

"That's already been done to death but most importantly, what's the point?" he growled, snorting impatiently again. "Humans fall in love, sh*t happens and then they break up after a whole soap opera once the guy decides he no longer wants to sh*g that girl. Then when that wears off, they stick together because its easier to argue every day then to split your house and bank account down the middle. Oh and not to mention the family dog. And if you're really a neuroscientist you should know that love doesn't exist anyway – it's just a biochemical reaction generated by the interaction between cortisol and oxytocin..."

"As clinically precise and cynical as ever Law," Sakura drawled, interrupting her companion's tirade and earning her another irritated glare from the surgeon. "I presume you found out Baby 5 was only after your kind heart and good looks?"

Predictably, a pang of irritation shot through him at the mention of that last fling with his childhood friend more than 6 months ago. While the sex had been decent, he'd had issues with her constant clinginess and daily assurances that he "needed" her. They had never formally ended things but Law was sure that calling in their other childhood friend, Buffalo to evict his entire collection of spotted hoodies and vinyl records was a sign that something had gone irreparably wrong with their relationship.

His constant double-night shifts probably hadn't helped either.

He crossed his arms and sighed irritably. "I don't have time for women. Plus, I'm not sure I want in to any of your hare-brained ideas..." He winced internally. God, he sounded jaded and tired even to himself. He probably needed to come up with some new excuses as to why he preferred a game of basketball on his couch to that jungle of a dating scene...

"You will, unless you want me to broadcast details of of how you mistook vinegar for cider at your farewell party from Konoha."

Sitting bolt upright, his stony glare was only met with a smug grin from the pinkette. "Come on, Law. I only need one more volunteer. Besides, since you don't believe in love you'll make for a very interesting observation compared to some of my more ahem, enthusiastic subjects."

More silence.

Sakura tried another tack. "Don't you want to help me write my first solo research paper?" she mock-pouted. "It's quite cutting-edge and I do expect there to be some interesting results. And there might be important implications for your social life if my results turn out to be accurate."

"I either bring my dates to the family planning clinic or to the pharmacist to pick out an antidepressant. Take your pick."

She rolled her eyes at his reticent reply. "Has it been that long since your last date or probably lay that you're sounding all bitter and..."

The warning growl he sent her way was returned with an impatient huff of her own. "I can't believe they used to call you Dr. Heart Stealer back at Konoha," she scoffed. "Look, I'll give you a special mention in the paper – so extra points for your CV. Deal?"

With another exaggerated sigh at that hated moniker most of the nurses and female doctors at Konoha General had "gifted" him, Law scrutinised his former colleague's eager face. "I'm jaded, sarcastic and the only person that I'm currently seeing outside of work is my dry cleaner. Do you really want to include me in your sample?" he deadpanned.

"On the contrary, it's exactly why I think you would be perfect for my experiment," Sakura flashed him a sunny smile and ruffled his hair, dodging gracefully as the other doctor clawed half-heartedly at her. "If an eternal cynic like you produces a positive result, then I can probably statistically conclude that the drivel being peddled in this paper is legitimate. Look, even I'm taking part in the research just because I want to see if it actually has any merits."

Against his better judgement, Law found himself harbouring a slight curiosity about the experiment he had just been blackmailed into. "It's not that I don't believe in love," he relented, dropping his arms to his sides. "I just...don't have the emotional capacity to engage in such a potentially messy business."

Her green eyes met his in a challenging smile. "And if you're wrong?"

Law sent a dirty glare down Sakura's way, but she had already swung herself off the chair and out of his office door. "9 o'clock Saturday morning, over at the Psychology Wards. I'll brief you more then. Thanks Law, I love you," she called cheekily.

"At least say you'll buy me a drink this Friday night, you little...!" he sighed, rumpling his hair again as he slowly spun the chair round and round in dizzying circles. What was the worst that could happen? The surgeon scoffed as he reached into his drawers for his emergency stash of whisky. Taking a deep swig, he tried to convince himself that it was all in the name of medical science before he realised that he had just signed away his right to sleep in this weekend to that conniving young woman.

F*ck it. Law stood up, putting on his jacket again and heading out to the only pub nearby he knew was open in the middle of the day. There were times where a cold beer worked better miracles than he ever could and this was one of them.

Glossary:

Hi no Kuni – Land of Fire

Mizu no Kuni – Land of Water

I'm not a medical student so my medical knowledge is patchy at best – whatever you see here is the product of vague Wikipedia searching and stuff I've picked up from my doctor friends. In case you're still confused, doctors-in-training usually have to go through a period of residency, before graduating to become a full-fledged doctor. In some cases, they have to undergo a period of fellowship after their residency if they're planning to specialise in a certain field, like Sakura is.

I'm supposed to be on hiatus due to writing my 20,000 word dissertation due at the end of October so updates may be slow and highly infrequent - depending on whether my fingers still have strength to type but I hope you'll still read and follow this story :)

Also, for anyone who needs a pick-me-up after a bad day, go and listen to Law's character song, Dr. Heart Stealer from the Sabaody Arc CD.