A/N: I ran into horrible writer's block on this story, which is why there's been a three-week gap between chapters. I'm sorry! Hopefully I won't run into anymore such blocks... Or none so severe, anyway. Many thanks to Namibean, my constant encourager who's always willing to give suggestions when I'm stuck!

CHAPTER 4

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Diary of Dracule Mihawk, entry #961:

The books on the shelf look slightly different. The ghost girl or Roronoa must've taken a look at the books some time or other. Most likely the girl though. Roronoa doesn't strike me as the reading type. But he did ask me for books today. That was surprising. He must be more bored than I thought.

It is convenient, however. I doubt he would sit down to read anything useful unless he was driven to it. And Roronoa could certainly benefit from a little more substance in his head – substance that is not steel or sake.

Note to self: Keep diary elsewhere.

… … …

Perona blinked at the books Mihawk piled into her arms.

"What's all this for?"

"Roronoa," said Mihawk, "requested that I provide him with reading material on swordsmanship."

Her disbelieving gaze moved from the books to Mihawk. "He asked you for books."

"Yes."

She looked at Mihawk.

He stared back.

A lone cricket chirped somewhere outside.

… … …

When Perona dropped the books on the bedside table, it was Zoro's turn to stare at them in some disbelief.

"Mihawk sent these," she said. She glanced at the now-empty water jug on the table, picked it up and left Zoro with the books.

He hadn't expected Mihawk to give him more than one to read. There had to be at least ten books in that stack. He suddenly wished he hadn't asked Mihawk for something to read.

He picked up the first few books. The Philosophy of Strategy. Fighting Words: The Way of the Blade. The Creation and Care of Swords of All Styles.

Zoro wasn't sure if he found them more interesting or more repelling. Some of them at least sounded interesting. But they also looked awfully wordy. He liked books to be short, succinct and straightforward.

Then his eyes fell upon the fourth book and a slow dread crept up his spine. He glanced down the stack. Three of the books were obviously written in kanji. That was going to be awkward. Did Mihawk expect him to read everything eventually? Because that wasn't going to be possible… The only kanji he could recognise on the book covers were "sword" and "swordsman." He had some awkward explaining to do.

The door clicked open. Zoro hurriedly put two books back on top of the stack and pretended to be absorbed in the table of contents of The Creation and Care of Swords of All Styles. Perona returned, having refilled the jug.

She set the jug down… and didn't leave. Why didn't she leave? Perhaps she was going to mock him again. He looked up defiantly.

"What now?" he demanded.

She was regarding him thoughtfully. Then she tapped a finger on the spine of one of the kanji-titled books in the stack and said, "I can help you with that if you like."

"Huh?"

Perona narrowed her eyes, as though suspecting him of faking a reaction. "Do you want me to teach you to read kanji?"

Zoro couldn't believe his ears. She was offering to teach him how to read? He had definitely not been expecting that. But along with surprise, there was a feeling of… Anger? Embarrassment? Irritation? Irritation. That was it. Somehow, the offer irritated him. He didn't know how to respond. He sensed he ought to feel grateful, but he was overwhelmingly irritated instead. It was such a ridiculous idea.

"You – teach me? Don't be stupid!"

Perona looked affronted. "Well. All you needed to say was 'no, thank you,'" she said, and departed with an angry turn of heel.

He dropped the book and slumped down on the pillows. He knew the tone he had used was uncalled for. But… She'd taken him by surprise! He had never imagined that she would suggest such a thing. Mock him, yes, but offer to help him? Where had that come from?

He half-expected a bunch of her stupid laughing ghosts to descend on him soon, followed by that crippling sense of depression. But none came. That was surprising in itself.

Now that he thought about it, his fears of her continued mockery seemed unfounded. For whatever reason, she'd abruptly ceased to taunt him for his kanji-illiteracy. Had Mihawk found out the root of her mockery somehow and forbidden her from taunting him? But if that was the case, giving him books written in kanji was rather cruel. Zoro gave the books a sidelong look. He didn't think Mihawk was that sort of person, however harsh his training methods might be.

He picked up the book in his lap and put it back on top of the others. Staring hard at the stack, Zoro considered the question: would it really be so bad to learn to read kanji from Perona?

One part of him said that it really wouldn't be that bad; it would be useful to learn to read kanji and here was someone offering to teach him. Another part of him scoffed at the idea – he'd gotten along these nineteen years without needing that particular skill, so why bother now?

The question stayed with him until the next day, when he forgot it temporarily after Mihawk declared that he thought Zoro could get up and take short walks around the castle or the grounds for up to half an hour at a time.

Of course, Zoro had to have assistance, and as Mihawk had no inclination to be his pupil's walking cane or babysitter, it fell to Perona to accompany Zoro on his walks. Even though that was not ideal (and brought their last fiasco of a conversation to mind), it was better than nothing.

The first walk was a joy to Zoro. Walking down the stairs hurt particularly, but he endured it. He noticed Perona watching him carefully and guessed that Mihawk had instructed her to give him a report. It was a little surprising that she had let go of his arm after his first few steps out of the room. Even as he made his way down the stairs, she merely watched and walked – slowly – beside him as he clutched at the railing and hobbled down one step at a time. He felt a grudging appreciation rise. Whether it was her idea or Mihawk's, he couldn't deny that he did prefer to do things on his own, so being allowed and able to do something as simple as walk down the stairs was… Nice. For the longest time, he had been incredibly independent and to have been so helpless over the past five days had been frustrating beyond belief. It felt good to have some measure of independence again – even if he paid for it in aches and pains.

… … …

Perona felt cranky. Mihawk had gone off somewhere again, saying he'd be back in a day or two. She had scurried to the bookcase, eager to see whether he'd updated his diary, but… It wasn't there. It wasn't anywhere on any of the shelves. He had moved it!

She wondered if it was just his habit to keep it in different places or if he'd moved it because he suspected – or knew – that she'd seen it. Either way, he had deprived her of the one thing she had been looking forward to doing as soon as he'd gone.

She went out to the courtyard, stamped her foot on the ground and gave a little scream of frustration.

"What the hell are you screaming about?"

Perona turned. Zoro was leaning heavily against the door jamb.

"Nothing," she said. "Wait. How did you get here?"

"I walked."

"No. You know what I mean! How did you get here without getting lost? Or" – she frowned at him for a moment – "did you mean to go somewhere else?"

He looked a down at his feet and mumbled something.

"I can't hear you."

"I said that I wanted to go out – to the front of the castle."

She gave him a look of bewilderment mixed with exasperation. "Wha-? How can you still lose your way to the front door? You've been here at least three months now!"

"Whatever," growled Zoro. "I'll just take my walk here. Doesn't make a difference."

He hobbled down the step and started down the garden path. Perona made no move to help him. Mihawk had told her to let Zoro do things on his own where possible. Keep an eye on him, but don't coddle him, Mihawk had said. Those instructions had suited her just fine. His disgusted reaction to her offer to teach him to read kanji had been insulting and it still rankled two days later. She had felt bad about making fun of his illiteracy and had tried to make up for it by being nice, and that was what she got. She had half a mind to let him die of his wounds the next time Mihawk beat him up – too bad Mihawk probably wouldn't allow her to do that.

Expressionlessly, she watched him make his way to a bench and seat himself there. He leaned back and stared up at the sky, which – she now noticed – was unusually clear and blue that day. She contemplated dropping a negative hollow or two on him and looked down at her fingers. She hadn't done that in a while, actually.

Zoro spoke up suddenly. "Why didn't you set your depressing ghosts on me that day?"

Perona drew in a sharp breath. He couldn't read minds, could he? She pulled herself together quickly though, and said, "For your information, those are negative hollows. They're not 'depressing ghosts!' And what are you talking about? What day?"

"When Mihawk sent you with the books."

Oh. That day.

"Did you want me to do that? I can oblige any time." She raised a hand and smirked.

"No!" He actually looked alarmed at the prospect. "Don't be stupid. I want to know why you didn't do it then."

She dropped her hand and started to walk away, back towards the castle. "I like to conserve energy for when it's most deserved. Besides," she added, "you were depressed enough already without needing help from my hollows."

She went back up to her room and flopped on the bed. For the umpteenth time, she wondered if Kuma had sent her here for the express purpose of having a laugh at her expense. After all, this long-gone kingdom and this castle did sound like her ideal place – gloomy, dark, and just the right amount of scary. But there were no servants, and it was just herself… And two men who were not at all inclined towards cuteness.

Almost before she knew it, she had drifted off to sleep. When she woke up (from a nice dream in which Kumashi had brought her some strawberry cakes), the sky outside her window was almost black. That meant it was probably time for dinner, and she hadn't made dinner yet, and that idiot Zoro was probably going to be even more annoying because he would be hungry.

She rubbed her bleary eyes and turned – and screamed.

Zoro was standing in her doorway, the half-open door letting the dim light from the corridor stream into her room from behind him. At her scream, he clapped his hands over his ears.

"What are you doing there?" she said.

"I came to wake you up for dinner. But I wouldn't have if I'd known you'd screech like that."

"Can't you knock?" Perona pressed a hand to her heart and took a few deep breaths. The sound of the door opening must have been what woke her up.

"I did," said Zoro. "I knocked several times. Then I opened the door and you woke up and screeched like a bat just out of hell."

She glared at him and got out of bed. "Whatever. I'll go make dinner now. Happy?"

"It's done."

"Huh?"

"I made dinner."

"Why?"

"Oh, just go down and eat already!" He turned around and headed for the dining hall.

She followed him, wondering why he had even bothered. He had never come all the way up to her bedroom before this. Her bedroom was one floor above the dining hall, and that meant that he had not only walked back into the castle from the garden, but also to the kitchen, then to the dining hall one floor above, and up yet another floor to her bedroom. And knowing him, he had probably gotten lost somewhere along the way, which meant he had probably wandered elsewhere too. That was a lot of walking for him to do, even though he was much better now.

Dinner turned out to be rice, something that looked like burnt fish, and beans. Perona sighed. Of course he would use the tinned beans. At least he'd attempted to add some variety with the fish.

They sat down in their usual seats and ate in silence. She was puzzled about his behaviour, but didn't feel like questioning him, so she let it be.

It was a surprise to her when Zoro broke the silence. He coughed and said, "I was thinking..."

There was a pause.

"Wonderful," she muttered sarcastically. "And what were you thinking?"

"That… I probably should learn to read kanji."

Her eyebrows rose.

"That's-if-the-offer-is-still-open," he said in a rush. "You know, you said you could teach me and all that. But only if you want to. It just crossed my mind."

She stared at him and he stared at the corner of the table. So he actually did want to learn to read kanji? And he was asking her to teach him?

"Is this" – she pointed to the food on the table – "your way of buttering me up? Are you trying to be nice so I'll teach you?"

Zoro gripped his fork harder and thumped his hand on the table, making her start. "I'm trying to apologise, damn it!"

"Geez, no need to be violent!" Perona took up another piece of the (very) overcooked fish. "What are you apologising for anyway?" She felt like she needed to be sure that he knew exactly for what he was apologising.

A few seconds passed before he answered, "I was… Not very nice. When you asked if I wanted to learn to read."

Understatement, she thought. She held her tongue, however, and waited for him to go on.

"So, this… This is my apology, okay?" he said rather fiercely.

That was all he would say and Perona figured that was as far as Roronoa Zoro would go in an apology. Better than nothing, however. His overall behaviour made sense now. Typical man – he had to go about it the hard way instead of just saying he was sorry. But then perhaps this way suited him better. He did seem like the "doing" type rather than the talking type.

She let him wait as she chewed her food placidly. When she spoke again, all she said was, "Okay."

"Okay? Okay, what?"

"Okay, apology accepted." She reached for her glass of water, secretly marvelling that he really had put in effort – to bring the food upstairs from the kitchen plus the glasses and the jug of water must have meant at least three trips up and down unless he was able to balance some things on his head as well while he walked. Perona regarded him thoughtfully for a while. "And okay, I'll help you."

Zoro was visibly relieved – his shoulders relaxed, and the hard tension around his eyes disappeared. He continued eating as though nothing had happened. Perona felt a corner of her mouth turn up just a little.

Something was pricking at her conscience though, and after a few more mouthfuls of rice and beans, she finally said, "I'm sorry too."

He looked up. She prodded her plate aimlessly with a spoon, and cast her eyes on the bookcase at the other end of the room.

Amazingly, Zoro seemed to understand. He nodded once. And that was that.

… … …

Upon his return, Mihawk immediately felt the change in atmosphere. It was rather fascinating in a melodramatic sort of way. First, Zoro had looked like the offended party and Perona had gone from smug to looking sulky. Then somehow, things had reversed themselves and it was Perona who gave Zoro the cold shoulder (except when forced to interact due to their nurse/patient status) and Zoro started looking faintly uncomfortable around her. But whatever it had been, it was evidently over as they appeared to be on more friendly terms now – the bitter edge to every interaction had gone.

They were friendly enough that one evening, when he glanced out from an upper window he saw Zoro and Perona out in the courtyard with several books strewn around them. That was extremely unusual in so very many ways. Perona seemed to be showing Zoro something – she was pointing at something in an open book and was looking irritated. Zoro threw up his hands and was snapping back at her. She flicked a finger at his forehead, and it must have hurt because he recoiled with a hand to the spot she had hit.

Entry #970 in his diary read as follows:

Whatever disagreement Roronoa and Perona had appears to have been resolved. They're on speaking terms again, and they're as snappy as ever with each other. They make quite a pair. Perhaps having them around won't be as tiresome as I thought it would be.

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