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Night Vigil

by WishingforaZoroplushie

Chapter 3: Survival and Secrets

Well if this wasn't the strangest thing that Zoro had ever encountered. A vampire boy, lying on the couch in front of him, bleeding over the floral seat covers. Not that he liked the floral decorations, but, they had been the only ones that had fit his couch. He frowned, eyes set upon the small, thin chest breathing slowly in and out in front of him. Didn't Vampires not have to breathe?

Zoro sighed and leaned back into the kitchen chair. This kid was so weird. Strange. Not threatening at all like all the other vampires, and not very… well, dangerous looking at all. His face was slightly pale, but other than that, you would mistake him for a normal human being. Wouldn't look twice at the kid. Luffy made a weak sound and his eyes fluttered open, before coming to rest on Zoro.

"Ha!" and he sat up and looked around, "Hiya Zoro!" and he grinned. Zoro raised an eyebrow.

"Hi yourself." and then Zoro went on the offensive, as per usual, "The hell you doing scaring the shit outta me like that!?" Luffy blinked, not expecting that.

"Huh? What'd I do?"

"You fainted!" Zoro growled and crossed his arms, slinging one leg over the other and letting his toe tap impatiently. Luffy tilted his head.

"Did I?" and he laughed before grinning sheepishly, "Guess I forgot." Zoro sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He let his anger dissapate and then raised an eyebrow at the kid.

"Are you okay?" he muttered, sounding almost like he was feeling shy while asking the question. Luffy grinned widely.

"I feel fine!" he replied. Zoro raised an eyebrow, "Oh, what time is it? Nami said I'm supposed to be home by three in the morning." and he twitched nervously. Zoro blinked and glanced at the window which was shaded by some heavy blankets. The swordsman knew enough about Vampires to know that they burned in the sun. And quite often died.

"Umm… it's seven." he replied. Luffy blinked a minute before yelling and grabbing at his head and muttering wildly to himself.

"Nami's going to kill me! Shanks is going to kill me!"

"Umm…" and Zoro waved a hand in the air signalling for Luffy to stop, "Aren't you already dead?" Luffy stopped then and there and turned to him with an expressionless face… before grinning like the fool he was.

"Yeah! But, Vampires can die again. It's not uncommon. We bleed to death." and he nodded, hair going everywhere as he did so. Zoro raised an eyebrow before standing.

"Well, if you don't sit still, you're going to bleed to death now." and he walked out into the kitchen.

"Bleed?" and he looked down to see the scratches Kuro had made, "Na Zoro!" and he jumped off the couch, hurrying after the older man… or, younger. Seeing as Luffy was at least 40 by human years. That was beside the point though! When he found the swordsman again, Zoro was pulling out a few bandages from a small first aid kit. Luffy blinked as he wandered over.

"What're those for?" he asked. Zoro raised an eyebrow at him.

"You."

"Oh. Will they hurt?"

"Haven't you ever been bandaged before?"

"Ummm…" and Luffy had to think for a second before a small look of confusion passed across his face before he shook his head, "Can't remember." he muttered. Zoro sighed.

"No, it won't hurt. Now go and sit down." and he went back to looking through the contents of the kit. Luffy didn't leave though. He just stood there, watching interestedly as Zoro pulled various things out of the kit and placed them on the counter beside him. Luffy picked interestedly at a small syringe before spotting the needle and hissing suddenly.

Memories flashed through his mind and he took off, running back out into the lounge room and jumping behind the couch. Zoro blinked at the syringe before grabbing the kit (sans the syringe) and moving after the boy. He paused as he heard Luffy breathing in low hisses from behind the couch.

"Ah… Luffy? You okay?" Zoro asked as he peeked over the edge. Luffy blinked up at him, his teeth long and his eyes wide and glowing. If the light from the bulb above him, hadn't of been shining right on Luffy's face, the boy would have looked positively terrifying… but Zoro didn't think that Luffy was dangerous in any way. He didn't seem to have any thoughts about touching his neck. No thoughts of drinking his blood. Or at least, he hoped Luffy didn't. Backing away just a little, he sighed.

"Look, I don't know why you don't like the needle, but, I assure you I'm not going to use it in any shape or form. Ok?" and this served to calm Luffy at least a little. The boy stood from behind the chair, his teeth returning to their original length and his eyes turning back to normal.

"What was that about?" Zoro asked. Luffy blinked at him before grinning.

"What?"

"That. The whole…" and he made a short hissing noise. Luffy paused and his face fell slightly.

"Just… something I've been made to do a few times. You see Zoro," and he smiled brightly, "I'm not like other Vampires. I don't like blood. I don't like the thought of drinking blood. And I certainly don't like actually doing it." and he sighed a little sadly, "So, because a Vampire can't survive without having some sort of blood, I was often made to have injections of it." and Luffy turned away, rubbing his arm before grinning brightly.

"But, it's okay now! I don't have to do any of that anymore! All I have to do, is eat raw meat once every few days, and I'm okay!" Zoro blinked. That didn't sound like… something he would do. But then, he wasn't in Luffy's situation. Moving Luffy around and making him sit on the chair, Zoro began working at Luffy's wounds. First cleaning them with a warm, wet cloth and then wrapping the bandages around. Luffy watched him the whole time.

"Hey, Luffy. Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah!"

"Why is it that Vampire's need blood to survive?"

"Umm… I'm not really sure. Elder Shanks said it's because of the fact that we're dead. And to continue moving like we do, and living like we do, we need blood in our veins. Or something. Cos, our heart stops working and stops pumping blood through, so we need some sort of life sus- sutsen- grr, sustenance." and he grinned proudly. Zoro blinked. So that… that actually made sense. Finishing Luffy's bandages with a short flourish, he sighed.

"So… what do you do during the day?" he asked, "Usually. I mean, you can't go out, can you?"

"No. We sleep! But… for some reason, I can't sleep here." and he looked around.

"Umm, do you… do you sleep upside down or something?" Zoro asked, smiling a little sheepishly. Luffy blinked back at him before laughing loudly.

"I'm not a bat Zoro! I sleep lying down!" and he laughed some more before blinking tiredly and trying to stifle a yawn. Zoro raised an eyebrow. Luffy grinned.

"Because of our low tolerance of the sun, young vampires have to sleep during the day." he explained. Zoro nodded. So that explained it. Wait… young vampires? Did that mean there were old ones too? Had to be. And wasn't the legend that vampires could live forever? Or at least until they were really really old. Luffy began to slide sideways, his eyes hazy.

"Luffy, how old are you?" Zoro asked. Luffy sat up again, and shook his head before pausing. A long silence rang through the room, while Luffy's face slowly became more and more thoughtful.

"I…" he began, "Well… I've been a vampire for forty years you see. And… when you become a vampire, you don't remember much about your human life." and he grinned. Zoro blinked. Well… that sort of made sense too. If you died and then had an afterlife, you wouldn't really want to remember the reason you died, and then everything else gets erased with that.

"I do remember… my Dad was really rich. And I had a… brother. Yeah! I had a brother!" and Luffy grinned at him excitedly. Zoro, despite his attitude and impassive face, really began to feel sorry for this kid. Not allowed to go out in the day, when Luffy seemed to like the sun more than the moon. Couldn't remember his own family. Forty years as a vampire.

And the kid only looked… what? Seventeen maybe. Yeah, that'd be about right. Sighing, he turned back to find Luffy fast asleep, his head lolling forward and dark hair falling over his face. Zoro shook his head and gently pushed Luffy sideways so he fell onto the soft couch.

"You really are weird, you know that?" Zoro muttered before moving towards his office. A computer was always handy. If he could work the damn thing.

---

"What? Where am I?" Sanji muttered vaguely as he looked around. The place was dark. As dark as… well, a cellar. A basement. A tomb. Oh god. Was he dead!? His breathing began to pick up, small wisps of vapour coming from his mouth with each short pant. This place scared him, and he didn't know why. He wasn't easily scared by nature, in fact, he prided himself on being pretty damn fear less actually, but right now. This dark. This cold. Then something loomed in front of him. He knew that face.

"You don't need to breathe." a soft voice said, caressing his ears and making him feel drowsy. That voice… so musical. So wonderful. A spell. But wait… why not breathe? He needed to breathe to live.

"You need not do anything to live anymore because you are not alive." another voice said. This one was female as well, but it was deeper, older and more… mysterious he supposed. Sanji was becoming so afraid it wasn't funny.

"W-what's going on?" he asked wildly and shakily.

"Shhh." that musical tone returned, a slim delicate hand reaching from the shadows to gently run through his hair and then lift and come back to gently caress his cheek, "Calm."

"I-I can't see." Sanji whispered, calming slightly.

"Yes you can, you just haven't adjusted to your new sight yet. Close your eyes, count to ten, and then open them slowly and believe that there is light in front of you." the mysterious voice again. Sanji became wary, but, he did as he was told… letting his lids drift closed and then counting, before slowly… ever so slowly, opening them again. Light flooded his vision, and he saw a flash of a beautiful face before his lids slammed shut of their own accord.

"Slower." mysterious whispered. Sanji tried again, opening his eyes small tiny bit, by small tiny bit until light began to filter through and finally, he could see properly.

"See Elder Robin. I told you he would be alright." that was the musical tone he had heard, only now, it bore a little bit of smugness, "Pay up."

"Oh alright. Geeze Nami, you really know how to stiff a guy." another voice, male this time, commented in return to Nami's demand. Slowly, the shapes came into focus and the first thing he laid eyes on, was a beautiful woman. She looked familiar. Very… familiar. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"And what are you looking at?" she asked with a smirk.

"B-beautiful." he muttered. That damn stutter. It just wouldn't go away.

"I sure am." the woman winked back, a hand on her hip. Sanji smiled.

"Your name my lovely?" he asked.

"Nami." she replied lightly.

"Nami-san. How beautiful." and then he had to pause. That name sounded… familiar once again. Sanji felt weird though. Like when… you know something's out of place but you just can't figure out what. You just have no idea but it's on the tip of your tongue.

"Let's see if this has been correctly done." Robin murmured, sweeping over to what seemed to be a cupboard and then opening it to reveal a shaft of sunlight. Sanji, without even thinking he was going to do it, jumped from the stool and hissed, running into a corner. Robin quickly shut the small door as Nami had a similar reaction. The man standing to the side smirked.

"You know, he's pretty lively this one, isn't he?" he asked, looking from Robin to Nami and back. The two women ignored him and the man threw his hands into the air and walked out.

"Always ignored." Nami smirked at Robin, who chuckled lightly.

"What the hell was that?" Sanji suddenly asked, staring at his hands and running his tongue lightly over the two points that were his canine teeth. Nami smiled, looked at Robin who nodded gently. Hurrying forward, Nami gently took Sanji's cheek before tilting her head and smiling.

"You're a vampire." she said. Sanji blinked back at her, unbelieving that such ridiculous words could come from such a beautiful mouth.

"I'm a what?" he asked softly, voice tremulous with laughter. Nami sighed.

"Why do they always… okay, here." and she lifted a Compaq and opened the lid, showing the reflection to Sanji.

"… there's nothing there." he muttered. Nami nodded.

"Exactly. Makes it hell to do my makeup." she growled, looking at Robin who smiled softly back at her, almost agreeing. Sanji blinked again before raising a hand to touch at his hair, his eyes, his nose and his mouth.

"Luffy's not back!" the red haired man yelled as he ran back in, cape billowing. He seemed to be on the verge of a panic. Robin turned to him, her own eyes full of worry but she hid it well.

"Elder Shanks, he may have gotten into a fight with a Fairy and then had to take shelter for the day." she rationalized. Shanks shook his head, red hair going everywhere.

"Kuro isn't back either." he explained. If Luffy missing had been bad, this sparked a full panic. Nami slapped a hand over her mouth and hurried to Robin's side, who frowned angrily.

"You don't think…" Nami began, watching Shanks carefully. The man shook his head again.

"I don't know Nami. He doesn't like Luffy true, but, he doesn't like those Fairies either. And he knows we need all the people we can get. Kuro's bad, but he's not stupid." Shanks replied. Sanji watched all of this from afar, keeping himself well pushed into his safe little corner, with hormones raging… eyes flashing, blurred memories. Food. Teeth. Ripping. Blood. He grabbed at his head, holding it tightly as he crouched on the floor.

"Nami. Get over there and make sure he eats before something bad happens." Shanks ordered. Nami briefly glared at him before turning to Sanji again.

"Oh shit." Nami cursed, turning and seeing Sanji crouched in the corner. Gently taking him by the arm, Nami began leading him towards the group's own underground blood bank. When they had exited, and Shanks and Robin were left alone, the two glanced at each other.

"Our little captain-san is fine… but, I can only hope that the new one will not be as… dangerous." Robin said, her voice dropping an octave with every word she spoke. Shanks shook his head.

"As long as Luffy can control his hunger... until the day's out... he should be fine." Shanks replied. Robin nodded, "I hope..."

---

"Zoro?" a soft voice called from the lounge room. Zoro watched the computer as it downloaded a page for a second, before standing and moving out to see what the boy wanted. Luffy was sitting up on the couch, rubbing blearily at his eyes. When he saw Zoro, he yawned and made to get up. But the swordsman instantly noticed something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong. Whereas before, Zoro had felt alright around Luffy, now… oh now. Never in his life had he experienced such a terrifying fear. Luffy looked at him like he was strange, tilting his head and blinking in a confused fashion. Zoro took a step back, frowning.

"Luffy, I don't know what it is but, don't come any closer." Zoro warned. Luffy's smile turned feral, his eyes widened and a dark, dark red gleam came to them. Glowing softly and then intensifying until Zoro found it hard to look away. This had been what Kuro had done last night, and now Luffy was doing it.

"Ah!" Luffy yelled, shaking his head and clutching at it. He took a deep breath and then looked up at Zoro, face normal again, "I need food. Sorry Zoro." and he smiled. Zoro shook his head and let out a long sigh of relief. That had been damn close.

"No problem. What do you want?"

"Meat!" the boy cried, running after him. Even though Zoro still felt that fear, he could tell that Luffy was going to be okay now. He didn't know why, he just did. Pulling out some steak… or something. What the hell was that? Zoro looked closely at the expiration date. Well, whatever it was, didn't go out of date until the next week so, it must have been okay. Luffy waited at the table, drooling gallons of saliva while he waited. What was Zoro doing? Pulling out that pan. Turning on a stove. He was a vampire! He didn't like human blood, but, animal blood was okay.

"Zoroooo! Don't cook my meat! I'm a vampire!" Luffy cried. Zoro blinked and looked down at the tray in his hands before laughing a little nervously.

"Right." and he put it on the table. Instantly, Luffy's teeth elongated and Zoro had to look away. That was just too freaky to behold. Ignoring the sounds behind him, Zoro moved back to the computer in the other room. While Luffy had been asleep, Zoro had taken the liberty of covering every window in the house with heavy blankets. Kind, thoughtful… and so out of character for Zoro.

He had no idea what had made him do it, but, he didn't really want this kid to die… again. He seemed to have a bad enough life or afterlife, as it was. He had barely sat down at the computer, when Luffy bounced in. Grinning widely, Luffy flopped into a lounge chair at the side of the room. He swiped his tongue over his teeth and let out a satisfied hum before looking towards his new friend. Once again, he swiped his tongue over his teeth, removing the last of the blood from them and leaving them sparkling clean.

"Na Zoro, you're so nice for a human! All the others tried to kill me!" he said. Zoro shrugged, feeling a little embarrassed by it all, but not saying anything, "And they didn't feed me. Or bandage me, or anything! Just… left me."

"Hey Luffy," Zoro interrupted, swivelling on his chair to watch the vampire boy interestedly. Luffy paused and tilted his head, waiting, "Before... when you went all weird. What was that?"

"Weird?"

"Yeah. Your eyes glowed, and your teeth went long. You looked about ready to kill me."

"When?"

"Before!"

"Did I?"

"Oh forget it!" and Zoro turned back to the computer, scowling as hard as he could. If this kid didn't want to answer his questions, then screw the little bastard. He would find out about Luffy, and then he would get rid of him. He was a pain in Zoro's ass right now, and it was a pain he really didn't need. Knock, knock, knock. Luffy looked up and grinned.

"Hey, hey Zoro! I think someone's at the door! Ha!" and Luffy grinned widely and excitedly at him, almost acting a little sarcastic... no... he was acting sarcastic. The little bastard! Zoro rolled his eyes and then made for the front of the house, leaving Luffy to the computer. Upon reaching the wooden, black painted door, he peered out the small spy hole and saw a blue haired woman standing outside. Vivi. Opening the door the tiniest slit, light flooded in and it made Zoro wince, having gotten used to the darkness of his home.

"What?" he growled. Vivi smiled.

"I was wondering, Zoro, have you seen Sanji?" she asked. Zoro blinked.

"No…"

"Oh. Well, Chef Zeff hasn't seen him, and though he's being very gruff about it, I think he's worried. I was just wondering if you had seen him."

"No, not since I saw him with Nami two days ago."

"Nami? Zoro, you saw Nami?" Vivi asked. She suddenly sounded breathless. Zoro blinked.

"At midnight the other night. She wanted to meet Sanji for some reason."

"Oh." and she nodded a little distractedly before peering in, "Why is it all dark in there?"

"No reason. I just like it dark."

"Oh. Well, Zoro, if you hear about Sanji then, please tell me." and she waved and turned down the path. That led out of his front yard. So, Sanji was missing huh? That certainly was strange.

"Hello!" and suddenly Luffy's face was in his. Zoro yelled, and jumped back in surprise, groping at his hip for his swords out of instinct. Luffy laughed uproariously and jumped down from the roof.

"How did you get up there?" Zoro asked.

"I don't know. Just did. So, she's looking for Sanji huh? She won't find him." and he hummed merrily as he made his way after Zoro and down the hall. Zoro blinked and turned into the computer room once more.

"What do you mean by that? You know where cheese head is?"

"Yep! Sure do! He's at home, with Nami and Usopp and Elder Robin and Elder Shanks! He'll be converted by now too!" and he flopped back into the chair again.

"Converted?"

"Yep!" and then he blinked before biting his lip, "Oh no. Nami said never to tell anyone about that." and he thumped a fist gently against his head, "Stupid."

"… Ookaaay... besides the fact that Sanji has been 'converted', is this you?" and he pointed at the computer. Luffy hopped over and then stopped stock still, staring at the picture on the screen, and the news clipping that went along with it.

'April 21st this month, a young boy disappeared around the Fushia area. Only seventeen, Monkey D Luffy has simply vanished into thin air and his caretaker, Miss Makino, reports that she hasn't heard anything of him since he left earlier that night. Investigators have been looking around the forest for a body, while also scouring the lakes and local rivers and estuaries. Monkey D, is nowhere to be found. We regret the loss of yet another young boy in this area, after it was discovered that his older brother, Portgas D Ace, was reported missing a year before Luffy's disappearance. God help us all in this horrible, horrible war.'

Luffy blinked at the page, his eyes becoming slightly unfocused and glazed. It seemed Luffy was remembering, or thinking, or overwhelmed about this. Zoro waited patiently, not wanting to press matters. Instead, he studied the picture. It was Luffy alright, grinning and holding the tattered straw hat to his head. Standing behind him, was a woman with a bandana covering her black hair, and a young man who looked similar to Luffy but with sleepily narrowed eyes, and freckles covering his cheeks and nose. Finally, Luffy seemed to come out of his trance and blinked at the picture again.

"Dragon… He's not there... he left..." he murmured before grinning, "I remember him! Ha! But, only little bits."

"Better than nothing." Zoro commented. Luffy nodded eagerly. He had something about his and Ace's father to go on now. Something… he could look for if he ever wanted to find him. But he really didn't... he had no reason to. His father was probably dead by now anyway. Sighing a little, Luffy turned to his friend who was yawning widely.

"Hey Zoro, do you have a family?" Luffy asked with a small smile. Zoro paused for a moment, a few small flashes of a shadow of a memory, trailing into his mind before he frowned.

"No. I'm an orphan." and he stalked out. Luffy pouted and then turned back to the computer, staring at the glowing screen for a while, and studying his brother's visage. Zoro stopped in the lounge room, and clenched his fists for a moment before letting out a long sigh. Why was he so embarrassed about being an orphan? It wasn't uncommon these days, in the middle of this war.

"Stupid..." He muttered. He didn't like the war... and he didn't like the Fairies, nor the damn Vampires. Luffy was so civilised for a vampire, and it unnerved Zoro at the same time as making him incredibly curious. He had so many questions about the reasons for Vampires being the way they were. But... he wasn't going to pry. He just wasn't that sort of person. Frowning a little, Zoro pushed the thoughts of being an orphan to the back of his mind and then moved to the kitchen to see the whole table was clear... the meat was gone, the tray was empty... and there were marks on the table that suggested Luffy had licked it clean. Sticking his tongue out in disgust, Zoro walked in to get a cloth and clean the table. Vampires...

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Poor Zoro. XD