Thank you to the reviewers: camocase09, guest reviewer, and I-heartDire!
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A few things about this chapter:
1. AFAIK, in the series, Kuina's last name is never mentioned, so I gave her Zoro's last name
2. Since Zoro is intelligent, I figured he'd like Rush (the rock band), since their songs are well written and make you think
3. Zoro strikes me as someone who'd listen to older music, as I'd touched on in Chapter 2
4. Credit goes to pingo1387 for at least trying to help me with the video part. I know the majority of it is horribly glossed over, but I haven't done a home video in a long time, and don't use my laptop camera to make vids either. At least I haven't yet
5. As far as my description of the van goes, I think this is how the ones that transport power wheelchairs are made
After Luffy put his things away in his locker, he reluctantly reported to Administrator Hina's office for his day's assignments. He wondered whether or not Kuina was here, and if so, had she already talked to Hina?
He knocked quietly, even though the door was open.
"Luffy, come in and close the door," Administrator Hina asked of him. Luffy did as he was told. "Please sit down. I need to talk to you." He nervously sat down.
She got straight to the point. "Roronoa Kuina-san has talked to me about extending your employment here at Hanamizuki Nursing Home, mainly to help care for her brother Roronoa Zoro in her absence." Administrator Hine leaned over her desk, lacing her fingers. "As I'm sure you've noticed, Zoro is completely dependent on others to help him in day-to-day things. He'll need to be fed breakfast everyday, along with lunch if Kuina cannot make it here. You'll wake him in the mornings, and help get him dressed. Here," she said, going into her desk and pulling out a sheet of paper, handing it to him. "That is the list of things he needs done, and when they'll need to be done."
It wasn't until Luffy looked the list over, that he finally realized just how dependent a quadriplegic was for everything. There was absolutely nothing Zoro could do for himself. This made Luffy feel bad for the green-haired man, and angry at the drunk driver who was the cause of Zoro having to live his life as a quadriplegic.
"Kuina wanted to make sure you understood exactly what you needed to do," Hina told him. "She wants to make sure you'll be able to do what will be required of you, should you accept this job."
"I accept," Luffy said without missing a beat. "Zoro's my friend. I'll do whatever I need to do for him."
"That's good," Administrator Hina said as she leaned back in her chair again. "To tell the truth, I knew you two would get along once you got to know each other. Anyway, Zoro isn't feeling well today, so he'll need for you to take extra special care of him. It shouldn't be too hard. Just make sure he gets his medicine, some food into him, plenty of fluids, and plenty of rest."
Luffy knocked quietly on Zoro's door, hearing Kuina beckon him in. Zoro's bed was adjusted so that he was sitting upright. He was covered up with his blanket to his chest, and was wearing an oversized, off-white, comfortable-looking hoodie with the hood pulled up over his head. There was a cloth barbeque bib fastened around his neck and there were pillows tucked around him. Kuina sat next to the bed with what looked to be a small bowl of rice porridge in one hand and a spoon in the other, trying to coax the young man to eat.
"Don't want anymore, Kuina..." Zoro turned his head.
"You've barely had three bites," Kuina gently but sternly reminded him. "You have to eat more. Hi Luffy," she said as he walked over to the green-haired man's bed.
"Hi Kuina," he said. Then, "Zoro!~" He hugged the green-haired man, despite the fact that he could catch his cold.
Zoro smiled weakly, "Hey."
"You feeling any better than you were yesterday?" Luffy asked.
Zoro had been about to say, 'Not really', but he didn't want to make Luffy worry, so he said, "A little."
"That's good!" Luffy exclaimed as he squeezed Zoro again.
Kuina smiled at the two guys. "Tell you what. Let me finish feeding him, then you can hug him all you want, okay?"
Luffy nodded as he backed away from Zoro. "Okay!"
She turned back to Zoro. "I know you want to lie back down. Let's finish this, and you can lie down and I'll tuck you in, okay?" Kuina cajoled as she brought the spoon to Zoro's mouth again.
Zoro didn't know what she meant by 'let's', since he was the one being forced to eat something he could barely stomach.
"Come on, Zoro," Kuina prodded in her gentle manner. "I know you don't like the taste of it, but it's hot, it'll make you feel better."
Just then, Luffy had an idea. He raised his hands and cheered, "Come on, Zoro, you can do it!"
Despite Zoro's best efforts, a smile formed on his face. "Okay, okay, I'll eat."
"Yay!"
Kuina chuckled as she placed the spoon into Zoro's open mouth. "Cheer him on Luffy!"
Between Luffy and Kuina, they got Zoro fed, his face cleaned, and his medicine taken. Kuina was about to adjust his bed so that he could lie down again, but he told her that he wanted to stay sitting up for a while, to talk to Luffy.
"I need to go to work now, Zoro," she said pulling up his railing, then gathering her things. "I'll be back later."
Zoro nodded, as she gave him a goodbye kiss on his forehead. "See you at lunch time, love you!" she said.
"Love you too," he said as he watched her leave. When the door was closed, he turned to Luffy. "So what do you want to do now? I've got a TV and DVD player, and the radio and some CDs, that's about it. Sorry there's not much to do."
"Let's be pirates then!" Luffy exclaimed happily throwing his fists in the air.
Zoro cocked his head and wrinkled his nose. "Pirates? How old are you?"
"Old enough to be a pirate!" Luffy said without skipping a beat.
Zoro chuckled, "Aren't pirates bad guys though? I'd rather be a sword-weilding bounty hunter."
"Pirates are adventurers!" Luffy explained happily. "They're free and have lots of fun adventures on the open seas! Besides, you can be my sword-wielding first mate!"
"Well, when you put it like that, being a pirate does sound like fun," Zoro began. "But where's our pirate ship?" He asked, not realizing he was starting to get into Luffy's imagination. An explosive sneeze erupted just then, and his nose began to run. He tried to sniff it back up.
Luffy grabbed a couple of tissues and wiped Zoro's nose, allowing him to blow it. "You're sitting in it," Luffy told him as if it should be obvious. He went to toss the tissues and wash his hands.
"My bed? My bed can't be a pirate ship!" Zoro objected.
"Sure it can!"
"It's a bed!" Zoro pointed out. "Besides, how am I gonna have an adventure when I can't even get out of the ship?"
"Hmm..." Luffy said thinking. "We could have adventures on the ship!" He said as he moved a chair until it was against the side of Zoro's bed.
"That'll work," Zoro muttered, when he'd thought about it. The medication induced drowsiness hit him then, and he yawned deeply.
"That medicine got you sleepy?" Luffy asked, surprised.
Zoro nodded, yawning again.
Luffy grabbed the bed control. "You wanna lie down?"
Zoro shook his head. He knew how badly Luffy wanted to play pirates with him. "Nah, s'kay... Can still play with you..."
"But if you're sleepy..." Luffy said concerned as Zoro's eye drifted closed, then he shook his head to try to wake himself back up again. He fought to stay awake for a good while, but ultimately lost the battle. Luffy slowly let down the head of the bed until Zoro was lying down on his back. He rolled over the green-haired man until he was on his side, then Luffy covered him up to his neck with his yellow blanket. He slipped the oxygen mask over Zoro's face, then turned on his radio, finding it on the same station it was turned to the night before.
Luffy peered into a somewhat sizable bin of CDs that was situated on the table behind the player. He flipped through them, being surprised at some of the bands and artists he'd found. He found a lot of American Classic Rock bands, but also bands like Rush, Aerosmith, and U2 who were still making music today. He must really like Rush, Luffy mused, because their CDs outnumbered the Aerosmith and U2 CDs combined. There was a lot of 80's pop music sprinkled in as well, American, British, and... Japanese. This really surprised Luffy. He didn't think Zoro listened to any Japanese music despite being Japanese himself.
He flipped through a few more until he came to what looked like a homemade CD. The booklet inside had a glued on photo of a nice loooking blond man whose left eye was hidden by the fringe of his long bangs. His visible eyebrow curled into a spiral at the outer end. There were little flowers drawn in marker surrounding the photo, and at the top, the words 'For Zoro From Sanji. I (Heart) U' were written in metalic gold glitter. The heart was done in red glitter. There was also a tiny heart drawn on the i in Sanji's name. The whole jewel case smelled faintly of cigarette smoke, and something else Luffy couldn't put his finger on.
So this must be Sanji, Luffy thought, as he gazed at the photo. He was as nice looking as Zoro, though Zoro looked to be more of the bodybuilding, martial arts type, and Sanji more of the... well... not bodybuilding, martial arts type.
Luffy smiled. So this was the man who'd stolen Zoro's heart, and made him so happy while he'd been alive. The chef who could make anything you could ever dream up, as Zoro had told him. The man who'd had so much potential.
So much potential.
Wasted.
Gone down the drain.
All because some dickhead loser decided to go on some kind of drinking binge that day, and get in the car, ruining the lives of two wonderful young people.
Luffy shook his head, realizing he was still holding the CD. He flipped it over to the back. More marker drawn flowers, and a few hearts interspersed. And in the middle of it all, a neatly handwritten love song list that consisted of about 16 songs with "Love", or "Together", or "Forever" somewhere in their titles. Sanji had apparently intended for him and Zoro to be together forever. Hell, that was even one of the song titles, "Together Forever".
He hoped that that drunk driver was, right now, a wallowing heap of misery because of what he'd done.
Luffy wanted to look inside the CD case, but didn't want to intrude anymore on what was obviously something very important, and very private of Zoro's. If Zoro wanted him to know more about it, he'd tell him. He slowly, carefully slipped the CD back into it's slot and continued to flip through the others.
He came upon another homemade CD, but this one was different. The booklet had green grass colored in crayon on the cover along with a dark blue sky, a yellow moon, and lots of stars. An up-close photo of Zoro as a child, taken while he was in a futon asleep, was pasted into the middle of the picture. The title read simply, 'Zoro' in a child's hand writing. He smiled as he flipped to the back and read the titles of about twelve children's bedtime songs and lullabyes written in a more adult handwriting. Apparently, Kuina and her father had put this together for Zoro when he was a child.
This time he did open the jewel case and gently took the CD off it's grip. It was decorated with a label full of stars and a moon like the cover was. After a bit of thought, he opened the player, and placed the CD in. Flipping the radio to CD mode, he waited for the total track count and CD time to come up, then he pressed play.
A wonderful, soothing melody quietly filled the air in the room, and Zoro's body seemed to further relax. Sleeping in his hoodie, he looked innocent and almost as childlike as he had in the picture on the CD booklet.
Luffy gazed at Zoro's nearly perfect skin. Except for the vertical scar that sliced through the area where his eye had been, there were no blemishes on his face. Even the scar was smooth and flat, no stitch marks or jagged edges. The scar under Luffy's own eye, by comparison, had stitch marks.
Luffy stroked Zoro's cheek, then slipped his hand under his hood, being surprised at the softness of Zoro's hair. It was like a sheet of satin. And that pretty light-green color went all the way down to the root which suggested that it was natural and not colored.
Luffy's heart ached for Zoro. He wished Zoro wanted him as a boyfriend, but the green-haired man was still recovering from the loss of Sanji to be able to love another man this quickly. Besides, Luffy didn't really feel worthy of someone as great as Zoro. He sighed as he removed his hand.
Luffy's eyes drifted toward the DVDs in the cabinet they were housed in. He went over and opened up the glass doors, peering inside. Most of the DVDs were either movies or box sets of retro TV shows, some Japanese, some American.
What caught his attention though, were the home videos. There were quite a few in the selection, but the one that stood out to him was one labeled simply, 'Sanji'. He slid it out of the cabinet, gazing at the cover. Many smiling photos of the blond man were carefully glued onto the case in a neat collage.
Whether to open the DVD and play it or not warred inside Luffy's mind. Part of him didn't want to intrude on something that might be private of Zoro's, but then, Luffy wanted to hear Sanji's voice; see what Sanji was like, even if only for a few minutes. Eventually, the part of him that wanted to know what Sanji was like, won out. He opened the case, carefully pulling out the DVD.
Turning on the tv, he opened the player's drawer and inserted the DVD. When the drawer retracted the disc, he waited until it read the disc, then he pressed play.
"Is this thing on?" Luffy heard a voice sound up close in the darkness, then the screen brightened as none other than Sanji himself appeared on the screen.
He was wearing a pair of pressed dark blue jeans and a cream-colored fooler shirt with long cherry red sleeves. There was a picture of a takoyaki on the front of it.
"Um... What should I do?" The blond asked someone off-camera.
"I dunno, sing or dance? Something," The voice, which Luffy recognized as Zoro's, directed.
"If I'm gonna sing, you gotta join me, Marimo!" Sanji said, taking a cigarette out of his back pocket and lighting it.
"No way!"
"Then I'm not doing it." The blond huffed, as he blew out a stream of smoke.
"Okay, okay." The camera steadied as it was apparently mounted onto a tripod, then, to Luffy's shock, a much healthier-looking, two eyed Zoro appeared from behind the camera. His hair was slightly shorter and spikier than it was now, and he sported a plain white tank top under a short sleeved blue zip-up hoodie with lighter blue swirly patterns. He strode over to where Sanji was standing. "Fine, what song do you want to do?"
"I'll let you pick," Sanji said, taking aanother puff.
Luffy watched as Zoro went over to a nearby player, placing a CD in and pressing play. A familiar Queen tune filtered out of the speakers.
"Don't Stop Me Now, by Queen?" Sanji inquired. "You really like the Classics, don't you?"
"Yeah, I do," Zoro answered, smirking in Sanji's face. "You got a problem with that?"
"No," Sanji pulled Zoro in for a tender, but heated kiss, tangling fingers in Zoro's hair. After a moment, he pulled away again, gazing at Zoro hungrily. "Not a damn one."
Zoro licked his lips; his eyelids opening slowly. He'd said something then that Luffy missed because he was too busy thinking of how much he'd like to capture Zoro's lips like that.
The rest of the video consisted mostly of the two guys doing random music videos together and parkour (which Zoro had been better at than Sanji). There had even been a birthday party filmed which, going by the date in the video, looked to be the last one Sanji had celebrated before his untimely death.
Watching the video gave Luffy a good idea of of Sanji's personality. In some ways, he was a lot like Zoro, but in lots of other ways, he couldn't have been more different. He realized that the insults they sometimes hurled at each other were more terms of endearment rather than actual insults meant to hurt.
Eventually, he came to a part where only Sanji was onscreen. Luffy turned it up.
"Hey Marimo," the blond began. "I know we had our differences in the beginning, but... I'm really happy that I got to know you. I don't mean to sound sappy, but you're the best thing to ever happen to my life... so don't you ever forget how much I love you, Shithead." The last part had been said with obvious affection for Zoro.
Just then, Luffy heard, "I love you too, Sanji... Sanji?" It was Zoro calling out to Sanji from his bed. Luffy stopped the DVD, going over to Zoro, just in time to see his friend open a drowsy, but expectant eye.
In his foggy, cold medication-induced haze, Zoro stared at Luffy, drowsily blinking in confusion for a moment, as if only just realizing where he was. Once his mind cleared and he woke up more, the realization that he was in the nursing home and that Sanji was no longer alive, hadn't been alive for months... hit him hard.
A pain lanced through Luffy's heart as Zoro tried and failed to hold back an anguished sob. "I... I really thought he was here with me..."
"I'm sorry Zoro," Luffy apologized sincerely. "I was watching one of your home movies... I wanted to see what Sanji was like... I didn't mean to make you cry, I'm sorry!" He grabbed some tissues to wipe Zoro's face.
Zoro had been dreaming that Sanji was in the hospital, injured, but alive. He'd dreamt that he'd been in Sanji's room, and that they had been talking. To wake up to this cruel reality was nothing short of heartbreaking.
Luffy gently wiped the tears from Zoro's face, removing his oxygen mask and allowing him to blow his nose. He then got up to wet a washcloth with warm water. He brought it back over to his friend. "I'm really sorry Zoro," Luffy said as he lovingly swabbed Zoro's face.
"'S'okay..." Zoro murmured. "You didn't know..."
"Yeah, but I shouldn't have looked at the DVD without your permission, at least," Luffy said as he finished cleaning Zoro's face. He folded the cloth neatly and placed it on a nearby table.
Zoro took another deep, shaky breath. "It's alright. I was the one who invited you to watch DVDs before I fell asleep."
"I could have watched a movie or something though," Luffy insisted. "Not gone through your personal stuff."
"How were you supposed to know what not to watch?" Zoro inquired looking up at Luffy. "Don't worry about it." He offered a drowsy smile. "You still want to play priates?"
"Actually, if you don't mind, I'd like to know a little more about Sanji," Luffy surprised Zoro by asking. "He said that you and he had had your differences in the beginning."
Zoro sighed. Then, "Here, help me sit up."
Luffy did as he was told, rolling Zoro onto his back. Then he grabbed the control and pressed the button on it to elevate Zoro's head. He pulled and tucked the blanket around Zoro so that he was covered up to his chest again, but his arms were free.
Zoro paused, before beginning. "Sanji and I didn't hit it off when we first met. In fact, we... well, we didn't hate each other, but there was definitely a tension between us. Kuina would tell you that I was more the aloof, quiet and brooding type, whereas he was more engaging and outgoing."
"Sanji loved the ladies. He was a real ladies man. I liked him, and thought he was really cute but incredibly annoying, swooning for the ladies and going on. Little did I know that he liked me back. Not that he showed it for the longest time though."
"At first our friendship was tentative at best, then we grew to become best friends. It was at that point that he reluctantly told me that while he did like women, he wasn't into them sexually, which surprised me. After a little more prodding, I found out that not only was he into men, he liked my type in particular. Still, while he didn't want to ruin our friendship, he wanted there to be no pretenses between us either."
"This made me so happy! The guy I liked, liked me back! I surprised him by telling him how I felt about him. It wasn't long after that that we became a couple."
"At first, Sanji's Dad was a bit uncomfortable with the idea of his son dating another boy. But he warmed up to me quickly enough. Then I found out that it wasn't him dating another boy he'd had problems with, it was just that he just didn't want Sanji to get hurt. But I loved Sanji! And he loved me. There was no way I would have hurt him."
"Wow..." Luffy marvelled, leaing on the railings of Zoro's bed. "I think I would have liked to meet Sanji!"
"Well, he was one of those people who was aggressive when you first met him, especially if you were another guy," Zoro told him. "Then when he got to know you, and you him, that's when you saw much more to him than just the aggressive side. I thought then, as I do now, that the aggression was a front to protect himself."
"What about the ladies man thing?" Luffy asked.
"I think he did genuinely love the ladies, but like I said, he wasn't interested sexually."
"So how old were you two when you met each other?" Luffy asked, handging onto Zoro's every word.
"He was sixteen, I was fifteen, gonna be sixteen that November."
"You guys were barely out of middle school!" Luffy exclaimed wide-eyed.
"Yeah," Zoro chuckled. "We didn't start dating until our second year of highschool though, if that makes any difference. Anyway, he was originally from France, but his Dad moved him here to Japan when he was little. Sanji was a European guy who knew more Japanese than French." Zoro smiled at the memory.
A happy grin spread over Luffy's face. "That sounds cool, to speak two languages!"
"I know, right? Sanji's French was kind of choppy at best though, so he didn't bother to teach me any. Said we could take a language class when we got to Europe." Zoro's face took on a longing, wistful look.
Luffy didn't want Zoro to start feeling sad again, so he asked, "How were you so good at parkour? That was the best I've seen."
"Oh parkour!" Zoro smiled again, oblivious to having his unhappy thoughts derailed. "I've always been athletic, so I was good at that. Sanji was a chef, so his skills were culinary."
"I'm not really great at parkour either," Luffy said, grinning widely.
Just then, a knock sounded on the door, and they turned as Kuina entered. "Hi Boys!"
"Hi Kuina!" Luffy greeted happily.
"Hey Kuina. Is it lunchtime already?" Zoro asked, looking at the clock near his bed. "Damn! It is!"
"You had a long nap, didn't you?" She said, coming over and ruffling Zoro's hair.
"Stop that," he said, shaking his hair out. "So what's for lunch today?"
"You get to choose," she said elusively, beaming happily.
Zoro looked confused for a second. "Huh? What do you mean?"
"What I mean, Little Brother, is..." she began as she pulled down the railings on Zoro's bed. "They let me off work early, so I'm taking you out to eat."
Luffy grinned as he helped Kuina get Zoro into his chair. He was happy that Zoro was getting to leave the nursing home, at least for a while. "Hope you have fun Zoro! Wish I could go with you."
"What are you talking about?" Kuina asked. "You're coming with us. I'll need help with Zoro, and I'm sure he'd like you to come along anyway."
Luffy was delighted, until he remembered that he had only 700 beri on him. "I can't. I don't have much money."
"Don't worry about it," she said, waving a hand in dismissal. "It'll be my treat. Call it a little compensation. I appreciate what you're doing for Zoro."
Luffy grinned wide. "Sugee!"
They dressed Zoro in jeans, a pair of black and white sneakers, and a thick red jacket went over his hoodie.
"I've already checked you out so we can go once you're situated," Kuina said as she strapped Zoro into his chair and placed a face mask over his nose and mouth.
"What's the latest we have to have him back?" Luffy asked as he pulled the hood back over Zoro's head.
"No later than 8," Kuina said, packing the barbeque bib in her purse.
"What do they think I am, a library book?" Zoro asked as Luffy began tying the strings on his hoodie. "Don't tie those, they make it hard to move my head."
"The weather forecast says it's 50 degrees now, and it's supposed to drop down to the lower 40's toward early evening," Kuina informed him. "You're already sick. I don't want you getting sicker."
"With all the cold meds I've had, I feel great now," Zoro lied. He still felt a little under the weather, but not as bad as he had yesterday and this morning.
"Still, you need to stay warm. You're not feeling as great as you're letting on," Kuina gently said, knowing her brother. "Plus, your face is still slightly flushed."
"Do you think we should be taking him out then?" Luffy asked, concerned. "Since he's still sick."
Zoro shot him a look that clearly said, 'I don't wanna stay here'.
"You may be right..." she said as she walked over to the door, opening it. "But he doesn't get to get out and go anywhere often. So on the days I get off early, or have a whole day off, I try to take him places and do things with him."
Luffy felt it was great that Kuina wanted to stay involved in her little brother's life. There were so many elderly people here who had been just unceremoniously dumped into this home, never to hear from the rest of their family again.
"Anyway," she continued. "Let's get going, shall we?"
"So where would you like to eat, Zoro?" Kuina asked as she pulled her van out of the nursing home parking lot into the street.
"Somewhere that serves seafood would be nice," he said as he gazed out of the window at the overcast grey sky. "Or sukiyaki."
"I've never seen a van like this before," Luffy remarked as he turned his head to peer into the back where Zoro sat. The van had two seats in the front where he and Kuina sat, and a large area in the back where Zoro's power wheelchair was clamped down immobilized for his safety.
"Yeah, I got it shortly after we'd learned the extent of Zoro's injuries. I knew he wouldn't be able to ride in the car anymore, so I traded that in for this," she explained. "Not exactly the classiest ride, but it gets us to where we want to go." She beamed cheerfully.
"It's classy enough," Zoro spoke up from the back. "I like it."
"Yeah, me too," Luffy said, grinning back. "It's really cool!"
"Thanks," she said, as she turned onto the highway. "Okay Zoro, let me know where you want to go so I know what exit to turn off on."
Please read & review if you like the fic so far! (^_^)