Author's Note: Welcome! I have decided to post some of my older fiction in hopes a stray comment, fave or review would spark an interest in writing more of the story. Please enjoy, and I'd be honored to receive a comment, fave or review C:
Zoro was lost. Again.
He hated to admit it to himself, but it was the truth. He kept up hope that a landmark he recognized might be right around the next corner, but he'd been wandering for at least an hour on the cold, slushy streets of the island they had landed on the day before.
He peeked around the corner of the building he just passed, but seeing only an alleyway, turned to leave. A crashing sound and a few angry cat-yowls made him turn back. A garbage can had been knocked over, and behind it several alley cats were fighting with a small kitten. The kitten was mostly covered in blood, but still struggled against the vicious alley cats. Zoro knew he had to return to the ship soon, but couldn't seem to tear himself away from the alley. The kitten's fight was soon over, for one of the alley cats clamped its jaws around the kitten's throat in what would be the finishing blow. Zoro had seen enough.
"Hey! SCRAM!", he yelled, rushing toward the cats. The loud noise startled the alley cats, who turned tail and ran, the kitten being dropped in the process. Zoro walked over to the kitten and looked it over. It was bleeding from many bite wounds, and its fur was matted with blood in different stages of drying almost everywhere. One eye was almost swollen shut, and as Zoro reached out to touch it, it let out a pathetic-sounding mew.
'I should take him to Chopper. Patching up cuts is no different for a cat than a man, right?', Zoro thought, moving to scoop up the injured kitten. He didn't expect a set of small, sharp kitten-fangs to get embedded in his hand.
"AGH! Damn cat!", Zoro yelled, pulling his hand back with a hiss. Apparently this kitten still had some fight left in him. 'Why couldn't this be easy?', he thought with a sigh. He waited a few more seconds, hoping to catch the kitten off guard, then shot his hand out, grabbing the kitten by the scruff of the neck. The kitten tried to attack, but twist as he might, he couldn't seem to sink his teeth or claws into Zoro's hand. Finally, the cold and the blood loss from the new injuries caught up with the kitten, and it stilled. Zoro left the alleyway, trying to find the ship once again.
A few minutes after he started walking, the kitten started mewing pitifully. He noticed the townspeople were giving him dirty looks. 'Why? It's not like they know we're pirates, so...' His eyes wandered to the bloody, shivering kitten he had by the scruff of the neck. 'Oh.' He brought the kitten up to eye level, and prayed that it would at least get the gist of what he was about to say.
"I'm gonna carry you in my coat, now, cuz it's cold. But you better be good or it'll be scruff-of-the-neck until we get back to the ship, okay?", Zoro said sternly. The kitten merely stared at him, and gave a heart-wrenching mew. Zoro sighed and moved to unzip his coat. 'That's what I get for thinking a cat might understand me...' He remembered the small pocket that just happened to be on the inside of his coat. It had seemed useless at the time, but it was the only coat Nami was willing to let him buy, so he didn't question it. He carefully slid the kitten into the coat pocket, trying not to bump any of its injuries. The kitten protested weakly, but didn't try to resist. Zoro zipped his coat up just enough that the kitten's head was pressed against his chest, but not so far as to smother it with the jacket.
Zoro continued to wander, looking for any signs of the ship and the crew. After half an hour, he finally found the inn where they had eaten dinner. Jumping onto the balcony that held outdoor tables, he was able to spot the ship and immediately took off in the right direction.
When Zoro reached the ship, Chopper was not aboard. He had gone with Sanji for one last shopping run before they left the island.
"ZORO!" This was all Zoro heard before he was tackled to the ground by Luffy. He barely managed to shield the kitten from the impact of Luffy's body.
"Watch what you're doing, you idiot!"
"But Zoro's back!", Luffy said with a grin.
"You've got to be more careful! You could have killed it.", Zoro scolded, unzipping his coat to reveal the now-dazed kitten in the top pocket.
"KITTY!", Luffy said, launching his hands at it.
"No!", Zoro yelled, slapping Luffy's hands away.
"But I wanna plaaayyy...", Luffy whined.
"He's injured- we have to ask Chopper to take a look at him. See the blood?", Zoro said, pointing at the kitten's fur.
"Oh.", Luffy said. Zoro headed toward the men's bunks, which should be nice and warm.
"I'll tell Chopper when he gets here!", Luffy yells to Zoro. Zoro nods slightly and enters the bunks, closing the door with a thunk. He takes his coat off and sets it on the couch, then grabs a pillow and a blanket. He lays down on the couch and pulls the blanket over himself, then carefully moves the kitten so it's huddled in his arms, and pulls the blanket over them both with his teeth. He can feel the kitten snuggling into his arms, then breathing slowly and evenly as it drifts off to sleep. He drifts off to sleep as well.
"WHERE IS IT?! You should've come and got me- this could be really bad!", Chopper yells as he enters the men's bunks, waking up both Zoro and the kitten. "What did you do with it?!"
"Calm down, he's right here.",Zoro said, moving the blanket out of the way.
"AAGH! He's BLEEDING!", Chopper yelled, pulling bandages out of the medical kit he brought with him into the bunks. "Luffy, bring me a wet washcloth- we need to see how bad the damage is!", Chopper yelled. When one was brought, he tried to wipe down the injured kitten, but was stopped by a set of small kitten-teeth that dug in like needles to the hand holding the washcloth.
"Aa-agh...",Chopper cried, tears forming in the corner of his eyes. "..So mean...", Chopper sniffled and withdrew his hand when the kitten released him.
"Let me try.", Zoro said, taking the washcloth from Chopper. With a warning of "Be gentle!" to the small feline, he started carefully wiping the blood and grime off, being especially careful where he knew it had been bitten. He managed to clean almost all of the blood off, and when Chopper went to bandage the wounds, the kitten let him off with a warning hiss.
Zoro considered getting the kitten something to eat, but then thought better of it. The kitten looked so tired- it was almost fully asleep- and because of its injuries, the best thing to do was probably to let it sleep.