Heads up, slightly darker than my usual stuff and a very OOC Zoro at the moment. He'll snap out of it soon, though.

Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to Oda

Warnings: Mild Language.

Enjoy!

It was completely dark inside my apartment and I flicked the light switch beside the door. The living area and kitchen were lit up with a harsh fluorescent light, and my heart jumped just a little when I realized my couch was void of any annoying, loud-mouthed morons. I looked down and spotted Zoro's shoes beside the coat rack. Where was that idiot?

The kitchen, situated on the other side of the living room, had a small sliding door with the white vertical blinds nearly constantly closed over it. I eyed it suspiciously. Surely he wouldn't be that stupid?

I kicked off my shoes and strode over to the other door, pushing the blinds aside and throwing it open. The building in which I lived was a one-story square of apartments surrounding a community lawn in the middle. Each back door was met with the tenant's own personal slab of cement that served as a patio before melting into the grass. It was here that I found the moss-brained psycho, standing on the patio under the cold rain with nothing protecting the skin of his upper body but the thin t-shirt he had been wearing earlier.

"Roronoa!" I gasped. "What the hell are you doing?" When he didn't even turn to look at me I stepped out onto the patio and wrapped my arms around his middle. He wasn't huge but he was build like a brick wall and I had to press my face into his back and tighten my grip to get him to move, yanking him forcefully into the kitchen before closing the door. "What's the matter with you?" I snapped, moving around to face him. "What-" I stopped immediately when I saw the expression in his eyes. It was like looking into two empty voids.

Zoro raised his face to mine for a fraction of a second before turning away again, saying nothing.

I couldn't claim to know the reason behind his odd behavior, but it wouldn't matter anyway if he didn't get warm soon. With my hand on his arm I could feel just how cold his skin really was. Had he been out in the rain the entire time, the fool? "Move," I ordered and pushed him toward the hall. He didn't seem to have the will to fight back, which was alarming enough, as he simply followed my directions and stopped in the middle of my tiny bathroom.

I turned the shower on and adjusted it to a decent temperature before taking a folded towel down from the shelf. "Get undressed," I said sharply, "and get in there. The last thing anyone needs is you running a damn fever." Setting the towel on the sink I turned and left the bathroom again. What the hell had he been thinking?

Back in my room I opened the closet and climbed straight to the top, pulling a large cardboard box down from the shelf. I hadn't opened it in years, but there was no way anything of mine was going to fit that muscular mess of a man. Sifting through the contents my fingers managed to close around a bundle of soft material and I pulled the well-worn robe out to shake it off. I wasn't sure how I felt about letting the idiot wear my beloved brother's things but recognized that I didn't have many other choices, at the moment.

"Sorry Ryu," I muttered.

Zoro stayed in the shower so long I was beginning to wonder if he hadn't fallen asleep in there as I paced around in the living room. I had changed into a soft shirt and pair of warm pajama bottoms and dried my hair with a spare towel.

The rain was still coming down strong outside the apartment, loud against the walls and roof as I started my electric water boiler to make tea. There wasn't a chance in hell I was feeding that psychotic weirdo any more alcohol tonight. He had been acting strange enough as it was, I really didn't feel like throwing any fuel on his bizarre mental fire.

I poured myself a cup of brew and sat down at the small table, still pondering over my own motives. Since when did I give a damn what Zoro thought was normal behavior?

Eventually I heard the sound of the water being shut off and a short time later he stepped out into the hall, towel around his waist and his wet clothing balled in one hand. I walked forward and traded them for a long blue bathrobe, hanging his soaked shirt and pants over my dining table chairs.

"Sorry if that robe smell weird," I said, not looking up. I had seen him shirtless enough at the dojo to have mastered the art of not staring at him. Stupid he may be, but he was well built. "It's been in a box for the last four years."

Zoro didn't answer as he shrugged it on over his shoulders and tied it, pulling the towel out from around his waist. He threw the wet towel over the back of the couch and walked around it to lay down. I finally realized that he hadn't said a word since asking to be brought here earlier in the evening. It was beyond strange.

I thought of the cocky, competitive, aggravating guy I had grown used to and almost missed that nearly over-bearing presence when I looked down at the broken man stretched out on my couch. Hesitating for a moment, I finally perched on the arm of the couch by his feet and sighed heavily.

"She's the last link."

The words had been so quiet I almost didn't catch them. "What?"

Zoro rolled over to face the back of the couch. "The last link…Kuina."

I sat very still, the pieces of everything I had seen and heard so far falling neatly into place as my mind worked over the information. Zoro's best friend Kuina had died nearly a decade before; her younger sister, who looked remarkably like her, had grown up with him and had become a kind of replacement, so to speak. And now Tashigi was getting quite serious with this Pell guy. He's afraid, I realized. He thinks he's going to lose her.

Although drinking himself into a stupor and nearly starting a brawl at the docks seemed a little extreme to me, obviously Zoro didn't think so. "Do you love Tashigi?" I asked calmly, doing my best imitation of Robin so as not to startle him.

"She's everything," he answered numbly. I didn't think he even knew who he was talking to anymore. "She's leaving. He's going to take her. She told me this morning."

"How is she everything?" I asked. If I was going to play the part of a subconscious guide, I might as well do it right.

Zoro's eyes closed tightly, his fingers clutching at the robe. "My sister," he muttered. "My last tie…if she leaves…"

So it wasn't romantic, I mused, a little surprised. He was afraid to lose someone he considered to be such close family. It would be the second time, as far as he was concerned. I got up to walk over to the closet beside the front door and removed a large, soft blanket. Returning to the couch I threw it over Zoro and knelt beside him. "Not the last," I said as gently as I could manage. It still came out sharper than I had intended. "There's still you." I stood to leave again when an icy hand closed around my wrist and I looked back down, worried. Why the hell was he still so cold?

"Don't go," Zoro mumbled. I was certain he had in fact forgotten who he was talking to until he spoke again. "Syla…"

"I have to find another blanket," I explained, trying to hide my shock. "You're still freezing." I supposed I could have warmed him myself. If it had been Robin or one of my relatives I would have, but I had drawn a firm line at cuddling with moss-heads. After another moment I managed to free myself from his grip and went in search of more cover.

The only blanket left in the apartment was the one covering my mattress. "Hell no," I scowled. "No way." I didn't care how cold he was, the cave man wasn't sleeping in my bed. On the other hand, if the idiot became severely sick on my watch I would never hear the end of it, whether it was his own stupid fault or not.

I stood in the hallway for a few minutes, trying to decide what to do, before my conscience finally won out over my stubborn pride and I went back into the living room. "Get up," I said reluctantly. "Come with me."

Zoro really looked for all the world as though he would rather stay right where he was as he glared at me with one green eye. Finally he grumbled and rolled himself unsteadily from the couch. "Where?"

"Room," I answered shortly. I picked up the blanket and stalked toward my bedroom.

Zoro froze in the hallway, his reaction delayed by a few seconds. "What?"

"You won't stay warm out here," I said wearily. "Just…don't complain." I shook my head and walked into my room, laying the spare blanket out across my own quilt.

Zoro watched from the doorway. "Where're you sleeping?" he asked slowly.

"Well, I'm sure as hell not sleeping out in the living room without a blanket. The temperature is going to drop tonight because of the storm." I finished smoothing down the blanket and walked to the far side of the bed. It was a full sized mattress, and I was very grateful it wasn't any smaller than that. "Hit the light."

Zoro stayed where he was, staring at the bed as if it might suck him in if he got too close. "Why?" he asked.

I threw back the corner of the blanket and sat down on the mattress. "I have no idea," I admitted. "But you're my cousin's friend, and I know he wont be very impressed with me if you end up with a cold. Besides, you have a match in a week and Tashigi is expecting a challenge."

Zoro had tensed at Tashigi's name but moved his hand to the light switch. The room went dark, the only light coming through the thin curtains from the street lamp outside. I stretched out under the blanket and closed my eyes, concentrating on ignoring the man sliding into bed beside me. Just too weird.

I had known Zoro Roronoa for several years now, first through Luffy and then Tashigi. Since I spent so much time with the two of them, he had been exceedingly difficult to get rid of. I wasn't sure how he had met my cousin, although I assumed it was at the dojo, or why the two of them were such close friends given the stark difference in their personalities. Luffy was just like that, I thought. He could draw almost any kind of person to him with a smile alone, and was incredibly loyal to anyone he considered a friend.

Zoro settled in and sighed, turning on his side with his back to me. "Did you see her?" he asked.

"Yes." There was no need to wonder who he was referring to. "She was worried. You didn't go to practice, did you?"

Zoro didn't answer, shifting to lay on his back. This brought his shoulder within inches of mine and I had to fight down the urge to scoot away. I could smell the faint dust of the robe but it wasn't very strong. Luckily, Ryu had been built a lot like Dragon, so at least it was big enough to cover the broad-shouldered Zoro.

As if reading my thoughts the green ape pulled one hand out from under the blankets and pulled at the collar of the bathrobe. "This was your brother's, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," I admitted. "Couldn't bring myself to throw it away." Why was I talking so freely to this guy? I didn't even like him. He was churlish and obtuse, not to mention cynical, sarcastic and….funny.

I huffed silently, annoyed with myself for admitting it. Yes, he could be almost entertaining. I had also seen him do decent things in the past, and for no other reason than he had wanted to do them. Maybe he wasn't quite the monster I was making him out to be. Maybe.

Zoro sighed again and relaxed into the pillow under his head. I rolled away to stare out the window, lost in thought.

It took a long time to fall asleep that night.

The stabbing light of the sun woke me the next morning. Grumbling, I rolled out of bed and went to the window to pull the blinds down behind the flimsy white curtain. Better. There was still enough light to see in the room and I looked over at Zoro. He was curled on his side, one hand under his head and facing the place I had been laying moments before. He looked…peaceful. The frown that seemed to be a constant fixture while awake was noticeably gone, his face relaxed. Odd.

My interest piqued, I watched him for a few seconds, standing by the window. His green hair and tanned skin were accented by the white pillow beneath his head, mouth slightly open as he slept. The robe had opened a little in the front during the night and the top of the long scar that crossed his chest from his left shoulder down to his right hip was just visible.

Tashigi had told me a long time ago that Zoro had gotten that scar in the same accident that had killed Kuina. He was lucky to have survived, at all. I frowned, gaze moving from the line to the expanse of bronze skin around it, covering the hard muscle he had earned from so many hours spent exercising and practicing in a dojo. My eyes moved up the side of his neck, past his ear and onto silky looking hair. I turned away, still frowning.

I wasn't blind. For all that I denied it out loud I knew he was an attractive man. Nevertheless, he was still Zoro.

I shook my head and left the room, deciding to let him sleep a little longer. With the amount of alcohol he had consumed the night before, there was no doubt he would have a nasty hangover when he woke up. The thought didn't give me near as much pleasure as I had expected it would.

Dragging my feet into the kitchen I started a pot of coffee and walked over to the chairs to inspect the usurper's clothing. His shirt was dry but still smelled like the rain from the storm. I had always liked the smell of rain. Still groggy from having just woken up I lifted the fabric to my nose and inhaled. Under the initial scent there was another, more subtle one.

A scent that shot straight through my subconscious and yanked me back to a night I had spent four years trying to forget. It was dark and terrifying and beyond painful, yet somehow shielded by a strong, protective presence...

It was a week after I had graduated high school. Taking advantage of my new-found freedom I had decided to stay longer than usual with my friends, all of us congratulating ourselves on having survived another year of classes before our summer breaks. In retrospect, the decision was what had probably saved my life.

I could see the lights from all the way down the block, flashing red and blue along the white washed walls of the apartment buildings on either side of my own. It was late and I had just come from Robin's house several blocks away, taking the familiar route my feet knew without any instruction. Curious about the commotion, I sped up to a slow jog to reach the police cars and ambulance surrounding the front of the tall apartment building.

My heart stopped when I saw the broken window, our window, and what looked horribly like a tall body wrapped in a white sheet being transported to the ambulance on a stretcher.

Ryu.

Time slowed and the world grew dark and silent, the only thing I could hear for several moments was the pounding of my own heart. I sprinted the last few steps to reach the stretcher, knowing without a doubt who was under the sheet. "Ryu!"

"No!" One of the officers had lunged forward to stop me before I could pull the sheet away, pinning my arms to my sides. "Please, stay back miss!"

"That's my brother!" I screamed. "Let go! Ryu!"

I have no idea how long I struggled to break free, but soon another pair of arms were around me and I was pulled face-first into a broad shoulder, held in place as my brother's body was taken away. My knees hit the grass and the arms moved with me, strong but not bruising.

I could see the first officer talking to another beside one of the patrol cars, heard voices and chatter that made no sense at all. I felt myself screaming but the sound never reached my own ears. The pain in my chest was expanding, dulling my vision and focus with every second.

I couldn't see who was holding me for those long minutes, my fingers clutching at skin and cloth. One arm held me in place while a long-fingered hand rested against the back of my head to keep my eyes turned away from the scene. I heard a voice speaking lowly, gently, but was unable to process it.

An unfamiliar scent was everywhere, the smell of earth and metal, and I latched onto it like someone drowning.

The next thing I knew the warm body and arms were gone and Dragon was kneeling on the grass beside me. I had never seen my uncle cry before that moment as he picked me up from the ground and took me to his car to sit with Ace.

The next few weeks passed in a blur of unbearable pain and muted voices, punctuated once in awhile by the same scent as before, the one that reminded me of something I couldn't quite grasp. It would be there in the dark when I woke from a nightmare to Luffy's snoring or Ace's drowsy muttering, the same low voice soothing me back to sleep. I had known it wasn't either of my cousins or my uncle, but hadn't been in the frame of mind to question it at the time.

Slowly, step-by-step, I had managed to come back to my senses during the following months and the comforting presence and unique scent of those nights were quickly forgotten.

My memories slammed back into my body and I gasped, backing up until my hip hit the kitchen counter with Zoro's shirt still clutched in my hand. I took a deep breath and realized I was shaking as I stared down at the dark material.

It wasn't possible…was it?