My first update this holiday break! Took me long enough huh? I promise I won't delay the chapters this long ever again! I feel reeeally bad about making you guys wait for an update, especially cause this ones so short D: Thank you for sticking with this story (and me -.-;)
Chapter 3 - Mine Alone
Zoro carried Sanji out of the bathroom and into the bedroom, placing the kitten on his bed while he strode over to his closet to pick out new clothes for a long day of work, but for the time being, boxers and an undershirt would do just fine.
"Well, Sanji. Let's go get breakfast." Zoro carried Sanji downstairs and into the living room, instantly getting mauled by a hungry lab puppy.
"Oi Luffy! Chill, I'm about to make breakfast." Luffy started whimpering and let out a few dissatisfied and, what could only be described as whiney, barks.
"You aren't starving to death. Go wake up the others and tell them that breakfast will be ready in about half an hour." Luffy whined again, and, reluctantly, returned to the living room with his tail dragging behind him. Zoro put Sanji on the ground and started towards the kitchen, but was soon being followed by the clingy feline.
"Sanji, why don't you go make friends with the other guys huh?"
"Zowro…ou..me." Zoro looked down at Sanji, confused. Sanji knit his brow, trying to figure out how to explain the dream he'd had.
"What do you mean Sanji?"
"Sa-si know…" Sanji flexed and extended his paws with frustration. He wanted to tell Zoro about the dream he'd had, but he couldn't make the right sounds. 'Maybe the others can help me.' And with that thought in mind, Sanji ran off to join the other pets in the living room, leaving behind a very confused Zoro.
Sanji peeked into the living room, like an actor checking the audience before going out on stage. Sanji withdrew and then walked into the living room, only to be knocked back on his ass by a black blur.
"I'm huuuu~ungryyyy!" A weepy-eyed Luffy had him pinned to the floor, whining and complaining about his empty stomach.
"Geh-ou-ee." Sanji had meant to say 'get off of me,' but it came out as more of an unintelligible groan.
"Luffy! Get off! You're three times his size!" Nami stood up and pulled the puppy away by the ear.
"Kitten-kun, come sit by me." Sanji got up, shook his head, and trotted over to Robin, sitting down in front of her. "Can't you speak?" Sanji shook his head, no. "Well then, I suppose its time for you to learn how then." Nami intervened, hopping over from where she had been scolding Luffy and repositioned herself on the floor in front of Sanji.
"Try saying your name." She encouraged. Sanji looked up at her blankly. "Can you say 'Sanji'?"
"Sah…Sah-si."
"San-ji." Nami repeated.
"Sah-nn-zi."
"No no, San-ji." Nami made the 'j' sound. And Sanji repeated it, incorrectly.
"Oh dear, this may take a while." Sanji stared up at her, eyes big and clueless.
30 minutes later
Zoro scooped the food into separate bowls and placed them on the floor. He cupped his hand around his mouth and was about to call out to the gang, but found no need for that for he was soon joined by all of the animals, sans Usopp and Chopper as they were still in their cages. Luffy had been the first to enter, his nose leading him to his big plastic bowl filled with an American breakfast of ham, eggs, sausage, bacon, and toast.
Zoro left the four to eat while he went to feed Usopp and Chopper individually. He had learned long ago not to let these two out of their cages during mealtime. The first time—and the only time—he had made that stupid mistake had ended with Luffy practically swallowing Usopp and Chopper whole.
He fed the two and closed their cages, returning to the kitchen to find it bare of any food, including his own.
"Luffy!" Luffy was sitting happily on the floor, looking innocent as always.
"Nani, Zoro?" He said, licking his chops.
"You ate my breakfast!"
Luffy whined, "But it was gonna get co~old!" Which, to the average ear, would have just sounded like a series whimpers and whines.
"No it wasn't!" Zoro sighed and put the empty dishes in the sink for later. He glanced at the clock: 5:52 am.
"I should get ready for work…" Zoro sighed and trudged upstairs to get his black slacks, royal blue button down shirt, and black leather belt. Sanji had witnessed the entire exchange, slightly angered at the selfish pup. Zoro had spent a decent amount of time making them breakfast and the ungrateful mutt ate it all. Sanji walked up to Luffy and extended his claws and made contact. Sanji sniffed huffily when Luffy starting whining about a sore bum.
Sanji walked over to the wooden chair and climbed up the rungs that held the legs together. He sat on the seat, trying to figure out where to go from there. 'This may be harder than I thought, but it'll be worth it.'
After Zoro had shaved, brushed his teeth, and dressed, he came downstairs to a sloppily prepared breakfast with a tired looking kitten collapsed next to it. Zoro was, though not without tremendous surprise, touched by what Sanji had done for him. It wasn't much and there were hairs here and there, but none of the other pets had done anything of the sort for him in the past. Zoro patted the little kitten's head and started to pick out the hairs, but was interrupted by the vibration of his cell phone.
"Hello?" Zoro smiled at the familiar voice. He picked Sanji up and placed him on the floor. The caller commented on the time and questioned why he was up so early, to which Zoro responded with an explanation of yesterday's and last night's events. Zoro took the food, now hair free, upstairs and into his bedroom where he sat on the bed and continued to speak to the unidentified caller, outside of the pets hearing range.
Sanji skillfully maneuvered his way off the counter, returned to the living room, and walked over to Robin, upset by the interruption of Zoro's praise towards his hard efforts. "Who?" Sanji asked. Robin had managed to teach him how to ask simple questions as well as simple answers, but that was as far as they got after Sanji was finally able to pronounce his name.
"Probably a man from Zoro's work." Robin answered, yawing and laying her head down, ready for a morning nap.
"Don't be silly Robin, why would he be so excited about some guy from work. It was obviously his boyfriend again."
'Boyfriend.' The word made Sanji angry.
"I don't like him…he gives off a bad aura." Luffy commented, keeping a good distance away from Sanji and his sharp claws.
"Yeah! I don't like him either!" Chopper agreed from his perch in the cage.
"You guys are just saying that cause you're jealous of the attention Zoro gives him." Nami commented, as she lay down on the pet bed only to be accompanied by a much calmer Luffy a few moments later.
"I have nothing to be jealous of." Luffy said seriously, licking the side of Nami's face several times before rubbing noses with her.
"Hmm…" Was all she said in reply, but not without a slight smile.
Usopp snickered behind one of his paws before looking down at Sanji through the wiring of his cage. "Don't worry, Ben is a good guy." Sanji stared up at Usopp, not recognizing the name of whom he was talking about. "Ben Tomaselli is Zoro's boyfriend."
Sanji could feel his fur start to puff up with annoyance. Even though Sanji had only been with him for about 12 hours, Zoro was his and no one else's. Who was this 'boyfriend' that the others spoke of. Robin noticed Sanji's change in demeanor and smiled knowingly down at him. 'If only he remembered like the rest of us do.'
The door to the upstairs bedroom squeaked open and Zoro ran down the stairs, a small, happy smile was etched into his face as he grabbed his coat off of the rack. "Alright gang, I'm headed out for today. Behave yourselves." He walked over and gave each of the pets a brief display of special attention, lingering a little longer when he was with Sanji. Sanji looked up at Zoro with big sad eyes, feeling completely betrayed. Zoro, picking up on this, smiled sadly and patted Sanji's head, then turned to leave for a full day of work. 'But what if he does remember.' Robin thought, placing her chin on her paws and sighing thoughtfully.
Zoro raced off to work. He always had to leave early because the building never seemed to be in the same place so he had to allow extra time to find it. Once he finally found his building, he went up to the door and showed his ID to the person at the door before entering.
"Welcome back, Roronoa-kun." The young secretary greeted from behind her giant desk.
"Thank you Namahara-san." Zoro was about to ask her a question when he was attacked from behind, his ribs being crushed and the wind getting knocked out of him.
"I missed you." The attacker released his prey only to recapture it from the front. The slightly larger man placed his hands on Zoro's shoulders and placed a small kiss on his brow.
"Ben!"
Author's Note
Bring in the OC!
WHOOHOO! FINALLY! It's "only" been a couple months since I updated, but MAN it feels good to be back! Now that I've gotten back in the swing of things, you'll be sure to see a lot more from me! Hooray! I promise that updates will become more regular and chapters will be longer! Thank you sooo much for sticking with this story and more importantly, being patient with me.
Love you all!
-PD