Hello everyone! Welcome to my SanjiXOC fanfiction. If any of you read my other fanfiction, you will recognize Lithium here again. This is a Modern/College/Soulmate AU. Soul mates cannot see color except very grayed out tones until they find each other. It's like a game of hot and cold as the colors will fade in and out based on proximity.
Also those who have Devil fruit powers or look different are called "supernaturals" in this world and have some other designation to describe what sort you are. For example, Chopper is an Anthro Supernatural, while Brook is a Visual Supernatural. Robin, since she looks normal until she uses her power, is simply called Supernatural.
Anyway, enough chat, on with the story!
It had taken Sanji and Usopp far too long to loft both their beds in their new dorm room, though by the sounds of it, their across-the-hall neighbors were having a harder time of it. If he did not know better due to having met both eariler, he would swear one of them was named "Dammit Luffy".
Sanji stretched after setting up the ladder on Usopp's bunk. He could vault into the bed on his own so it was no trouble for him giving the shorter man the ladder. It was also incentive not to join in on any underage drinking parties. He was not particularly inclined to do so, but the threat of falling out of bed, or being unable to get into it was a good deterrent.
Usopp chuckled while putting up a few posters as the yelling continue to float through their open door.
"Hey this is really difficult. It's making' me hungry!"
"You're no doing anything!"
Sanji stuck his head out the door, watching a green-haired man he knew was Zoro, setting up a bunk by himself, a lanky dark haired guy hanging off it like a monkey, doing absolutely nothing to help his roommate. He shook his head at this and retreated back into his room to finish unpacking.
He had not brought much with him, since he was within a twenty minute drive from home. It was mostly his cookbooks and equipment he would need for culinary classes, aside from the living essentials. He snorted at little at his roommate already decorating his half of the room before his clothes were even put away. Then again, he expected nothing less from the graphic design major.
He and Usopp had met shortly after they received their room assignment and had been regularly hanging out since. That eased the transition for the anxious artist and when came down to it, Sanji was calmer for it as well. Not that nervousness was ever a big issue for him, but knowing he was this much closer to his two greatest goals in life did leave him in a more gittery state than normal.
He set a thick pamphlet on his desk, out of the way but visible. The swirling blue logo emblazoned on it read All Blue Culinary Academy, the most prestigious culinary school the world over, his first and foremost goal. He knew the pamphlet was a brilliant blue, but only because his adoptive father, Zeff, told him it was when the list of requirements had come in the mail.
The world was still washed out grays with the barest hint of color for him. He had yet to find his soulmate. Only the All Blue could trump his desire to find this person, though he knew the academy could never take away the constant dull ache he carried with him as another testament to who was missing.
He glanced over at Usopp setting up a framed picture of him and his lovely soulmate Kaya. Usopp had been one of the lucky ones. He had met Kaya when they were both young and it saved her life. She was ill to begin with and had the worst kind of soulmate pain, constant chronic pain. The combination was killing her. The first time Kaya could even sit up on her own without pain was the day Usopp finally made it past the security guards of her rich home and climbed the tree outside her window.
If he could find his soulmate in even a tenth a romantic way as that, Sanji would be satisfied.
He heaved a sigh as he began to hang up his clothes. There was a great deal of black in his wardrobe, mainly because his limited color sight made coordinating colors difficult. Zeff, a brilliant chef, could plate anything to perfection, yet when it came to colors of anything but food, he was hopeless, despite possessing full color sight. There were a few fashion nightmares in his past that shaped his choice of attire at the present.
He did own a few blue shirts though, as one of the other sou chefs at Baratie, Zeff's restaurant, had been better with color and was kind enough to tell him the color brought out the blue in his eyes. A little smile pulled at his lips at the memory of that particular sou chef. She was a lovely woman, but she moved on to her own restaurant after about a year.
As he hung up his small collection of blue shirts he heard the voice of the RA, Brook, going down the hall. He was a lively older man, though all that was left of him was a skeleton. He was a supernatural of a pretty drastic kind, but he was also well-adjusted to life, unlike so many of like him. The discrimination against those different than human was appalling, but the state was improving every year. Sanji did not doubt the cheerful musician had plenty of stories to tell about darker times.
Brook was chatting with someone, who was replying so softly, he could barely hear them. Sanji decided not to eaves-drop this time, when he heard Brook call the person "my dear". There were ladies in the dorm and far be it from him to be rude to one. Several other voices, some male, some female joined in with Brook's and the soft whispers of the first woman. Sanji smiled and went back to hanging up his shirts.
He dropped the shirt he was about to hang, taking a startled step backward. The fabric was a rich royal blue against the weird multicolored dorm carpet. He picked it up with shaking hands, swearing under his breath, turning it over and over in his hands.
"Sanji, you okay, man?"
Sanji turned to his roommate, suddenly struck by the rich brown tone of his skin and eyes. "Yeah...I...I can see color..."
It took Usopp a moment to register what this meant but when it did, a huge grin spread across his face. "They're here! Go find 'em!"
Sanji started for the door, but turned back to throw the shirt up on the bed. As he did, the colors started fade away again. He practically ran for the door, just in time to see one of the remaining three doors shut and the lock bolt shut. He started down the hall but nearly ran into the large man with blue-dyed hair as he leaped across the hall, grabbing the hands of an elegant dark haired woman.
He stood at the door, watching as his new dorm mates, Franky and Robin, discovered they were soul mates, congratulating them despite the heavy feeling of knowing his soul mate was in the building, but may have just locked themselves in their room.
Surely they saw it too...maybe it wasn't them...
Before he could think about it anymore, Brook reminded them that the required assembly was in ten minutes. Sanji sighed, walking back into his room to change out of his sweaty teeshirt and into the blue shirt he left on his bed. Hopefully he would find his soul mate on the way there and they would appreciate the color when they finally met. They were bound to come out eventually, since the assembly was mandatory.
If it's you behind the door, won't you come out? I've been waiting for you...
Though it was still warm this early in September, Lithium kept her hood tight around her head as she carried her boxes toward the dorm building. She did not have much, but the RA still offered to help her. She accepted help from the skeleton supernatural so her so her former neighbor could get back home. She had been kind enough to take Lithium to campus, but she did not have all day to spend waiting for her to unpack.
"Welcome to the dorm, my dear. You must be Lithium. Everyone else has signed in already." Brook made an expression she assumed was a smile. His expressions were a little harder to read with just the skull to go by, even it if was more flexible than she assumed a human's was.
"Yeah, I'm am." She spoke softly, adjusting the bag on her shoulder. "You must be Brook, the RA, right?"
"That's me!" Brook lifted a few of her boxes, while she picked up the rest and waved to her neighbor.
"It's nice to meet you, Brook." She smiled from inside her hood. "I'm glad to see someone similar to myself is in charge of the dorm. I feel a bit safer."
"Oh, are you a supernatural, dear?" Brook opened the main door for her and she slipped easily under his arm. He was incredibly tall compared to her five foot frame. Most people were tall compared to that, but the skeleton more than exceeded the norm. "What kind?"
She sighed a little, but knowing he was a supernatural made it easier to admit it. "I'm an reverse anthro. Full-body."
Brook had to duck down to enter, but it was clear he was used to based on the ease with which he did it. "Well well, that's a tough one to live with, I'm sure. But you are safe here. I don't tolerate discrimination and harassment here."
They passed the first set of dorm doors as they followed several others down the hall toward her room. She stopped in her tracks, nearly dropping her boxes as her surroundings shifted into rich, deep colors. Her heart hammered in her chest, despite the sudden alleviation of the pain that had been her constant companion. She pushed pas the people in front of her and powered to her room, closing the door and locking it as soon as Brook set her things in the room.
No...no...they can't be here...this can't be happening...I knew this could happen...
Brook called through the closed door. "There will be a mandatory assembly in fifteen minutes, my dear, for all freshman students. It's in the main auditorium. Don't miss it!"
Lithium sat the floor of her room in a corner, pulling her knees to her chest. Why now? Why did I even think living on campus was a good idea?...I could have found some other place when the manager said I couldn't renew my lease...my scholarship would have covered rent...
She closed her eyes and leaned against the cool wall behind her, concentrating on controlling her breathing. With the assembly so soon, she had to figure out how to get out of the room without anyone noticing. She slipped her hood down and let her animal ears flip back up to their natural position. They flicked toward the door, picking up the excited sounds from out in the hall.
Two of her dorm mates were each other's soul mates. She silently congratulated them, but also prayed they would get along well. Not everyone was so lucky. And at least she could rule out two of them as her soul mate.
I wish the best for you...Robin and Franky...
Her gaze left the door and flitted over to the window. "That should work...provided there's no screen..."
Lithium grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulders and headed for the window. There was no screen, so she slipped out of it and ran for the auditorium at top speed.
I can't let them find me...I can't go through what you did...I just can't...Mom...
