Chapter Eight
Black Stars
Pepper found herself avoiding Zoro more and more as the days wore on, also trying to dodge questions from Nami about the sudden changes in their relationship. She didn't want to tell anyone about what had happened in that cave; and she felt terrible about it.
She was Marco's, and she told herself that every day, so why it was that she couldn't find the strength to stop things when Zoro had kissed her? Did she not feel bad enough about it? Was she not in love with Marco anymore? Or maybe, did she feel something towards Zoro? Pepper didn't know. And she didn't want to answer any of the questions.
It was late, two in the morning, and she had woken up again from her usual nightmare; the day she was left behind on the sky island. Sighing and wiping her eyes, she swung her legs over the side of her hammock and plodded out onto deck, looking up at the stunning night sky.
The dark blue backdrop was scattered with small pricks of light that illuminated the grassy deck of the Sunny. Humming contentedly, Pepper walked a little ways across deck, letting the grass worm between her bare toes.
A small noise from behind her made her jump, and turning, she saw Zoro coming up from the men's quarters, yawning loudly.
He stopped when he saw her, and they stood there awkwardly until the swordsman cleared this throat.
"You couldn't sleep either, eh?"
"Apparently not," Pepper said, trying to infuse her voice with its usual playfulness. It didn't quite work.
Zoro stepped forward to face her. "We really need to talk."
"About what," she snapped, wrapping her arms around herself and turning away.
"About what happened in that cave," he said. "And about why we're not talking anymore."
Pepper tried to ignore him, instead focusing on the breeze that was catching her hair and tossing it around.
"Pepper, you can't keep acting like it never happened."
"Well what do you want me to do about it?" she almost yelled. "I'm not the one who started this whole mess!"
"You're blaming me," he said, his temper suddenly flaring up. "For what?"
"For the cave!"
"What? I'm sorry, but I don't really know what came over me."
"Well, that's a problem!"
"Fine, then I won't bother with you in the future!"
"Okay!"
"Okay!"
He turned to storm back into the men's quarters, but stopped at the door, spinning on his heel.
"Damn it," he said, coming back towards her and catching her in a hug. "Why won't you just tell me what's wrong? Do you hate me or something?"
Pepper just stood there, shocked for a moment, before the tears welled up in her eyes and she began to cry onto the swordsman's shoulder, wrapping her arms around him.
"I feel like a traitor!" she gasped out. "A traitor to my crew and a traitor to Marco!"
"Why?"
"I feel like I've let my crew down because…well…I really like being here, more than I ever liked being with the Whitebeard Pirates, and it feels wrong!"
"And Marco?"
She drew back, their arms falling back to their sides, tears still falling from her eyes. "It's not that I don't like you, Zoro," she said. "I do like you. I like you a lot, and it's…it scares me."
"You do like me?" he asked harshly.
Pepper smiled up at him through all the tears and wiped her eyes, taking a deep breath. "No, I just lied to you for the heck of it," she said, the usual bite back in her voice. "Yes, of course I like you."
"Then what's the problem? Why were you so mad?"
"Because Marco —"
"Forget Marco!" Zoro exclaimed suddenly, grasping her hands firmly in his. "Forget the Moby Dick! You're here now, on the Thousand Sunny! You're one of the Straw Hat Pirates now! Please," he said. "Understand that."
Pepper paused for a moment, then bit her lip and nodded. "Alright," she said. "For now."
They both smiled, and leaned towards each other. Their lips met, and for the first time, both of them knew why.
When they broke apart, Zoro hugged Pepper to him, and she nestled close breathing the moist sea air and watching a few gulls fly across the night sky.
"No one can know," she whispered after a short pause.
"What?"
"No one can know we're like this," she said. "We should act like normal crewmates in front of everyone else."
"Why?"
"I don't want them thinking I'm trying to manipulate you, or that I'm betraying Marco or something —"
"Pepper!"
"Please, Zoro?" She looked up at him, her brown eyes pleading. He sighed irritably and scowled.
"Alright, alright. Around everyone else, we're just friends. Happy?"
"Yes," she said, smiling. "Very."
He kissed her again.
A few minutes later, Pepper discovered that sneaking back into the women's quarters was a lot harder than sneaking out of them when she saw Nami sitting on the couch waiting for her, an evil smirk on her face.
