Well, since winter break is getting closer to ending, I'm gonna go a little farther ahead in the timeline of the fic, hope you don't mind.
Robin: I don't think they would mind.
Any reviews?
Robin: A few. (picks one up) From dalia76, and from the first chapter…
Oh, well, I'm glad you liked my version of a vampire fic with the OP characters. I hope I don't disappoint.
Robin: (picks up another) From yoaifan124…
(giggles) Yeah, I wasn't too sure of the idea at first, but I really liked it and since they're right across from the girl's school, what's a girl to do in a school? That, and I wanted all the yoai fangirls (and guys) out there to be a part of it, to that part is to them!
Robin: That was nice of you.
I'm not sure about that, but hey, they're slightly unaccredited.
Robin: (giggles and grabs last one) From Kami-san…
Kyuubi's missing? Hmm… That's a bit concerning… Now that you mention it, I haven't seen Zoro come out of the kitchen…
Robin: And it's been really quiet too…
Well! Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
No sleep…
No sleep until I'm done with finding the answer
Won't stop…
Won't stop before I find a cure for this cancer
Sometimes…
I feel like going down I'm so disconnected
Somehow…
I know that I am haunted to be wanted
) I've been watching
I've been waiting
In the shadows
For my time
I've been searching
I've been living
For tomorrows
All my life (
In the shadows…
In the shadows…
They say
That I must learn to kill before I can feel safe
But I…
I rather kill myself then turn into their slave
Sometimes…
I feel that I should go and play with the thunder
Somehow…
I just don't wanna stay and wait for a wonder
)(
Lately, I've been walking,
Walking in circles
Watching, waiting for something
Feel me, touch me, heal me
Come take me higher…
)(
I've been watching…
I've been waiting…
I've been searching…
I've been living for tomorrows…
In the shadows…
In the shadows…
I've been waiting! – The Rasmus
Chapter 26: Valentine Between Friends Pt.1
January came and went and it was February in the city. There was snow still lingering on the ground as couples were seen a lot more often. Shops decked their display cases with pink, red and white colors, hearts and cupid cut outs were almost in every corner of the cases
Out in the cemetery, Zoro and Luffy were visiting Kuina.
"Wow… the girls are absolutely crazy." She said to Luffy while he was showing her the magazine from last month when they came back.
"Yeah, Zoro's planning to kill any of the girls that he could catch with a camera."
"I don't' blame him." She said.
"She doesn't blame you Zoro." Luffy informed, making the other grin.
"But you guys do look good in this picture." She said.
"Huh? Which one?"
Zoro watched as Luffy talked to his childhood rival, friend, and a bit like an older sister. He wished he could see and talk to her like his best friend could, but he's okay with this arrangement.
"Oi! Zoro! Kuina like this picture of us!" He held up the page where both were having hot chocolate in the park, with the snow angel that the teen made not too far behind them.
'Not bad pictures…' He admitted. "I guess it's not too bad…"
"It was taken by a girl named Vivi."
"Do I look like I care?"
Luffy just laughed as he flipped through more pages.
"Oi! Luffy!" Kuina said. "It's almost Valentine's Day."
"Yeah…" He said with a bit of confusion.
"Aren't you going to do something special for Zoro?"
"Na? For Zoro?"
"Baka! Don't repeat what I said!"
"What the hell?"
Zoro looked at the teen and wondered what the heck was going on.
"Don't you know what Valentine's Day is?"
"Sure I do, it's a day that dates back to, I think it was either Ancient Rome or Greek, and the general wanted his men to not feel like they have someone to go back to, so he made his soldiers not to marry. But that didn't suit well with his soldiers and got married in secret. And the guy that marries the couple is related to the word Valentine. Today it's a day not only for couples, but for people you really care about and give them small gifts that show that you mean the world to them." He said when he seemed to answer the earlier question. "Oh! That's what you mean by doing something special for Zoro!"
Kuina just stared at him, as if she has lost hope in explaining. "Forget it…" She said.
"Na? What's wrong Kuina?"
"Nevermind!"
Luffy was at a lost and looked at Zoro. "Zoro, Kuina's mad at me and I don't know what to do!"
"Well… Judging from what you were talking about Valentine's Day, which I don't really understand because she never once took interested in it like normal girls would."
"Shut up!"
"She told you to be quiet."
"I figured. Anyway, you seemed to nail it, but I'm guessing she's looking more than just small stuff."
"Huh? So I have to do more than just what people would usually get for their friends?"
"How should I know? I never liked the day."
"Well, when I was a kid, we only gave each other small gifts, even if it's just a really cool looking leaf."
Zoro chuckled. "Well, I don't know what she's talking about, but whatever you do for Valentine's Day is probably better than some of those sweet crap they keep preaching in the stores."
Luffy chuckled as Kuina sighed.
'Morons… I can't believe he's not seeing it!'
"Kuina still isn't happy."
"Would you shut up!"
"She's mad at me again."
"Just leave her alone… Do female ghosts still have the time of the month?"
"Huh? What's that?"
"YOU'RE SO GLAD I'M A GHOST! OTHERWISE YOU'RE DEAD!!"
"Now she's pissed at you."
"Wished I could've seen that."
Luffy looked between the fuming ghost girl and his best friend. "Why didn't you say so."
"Huh?"
"Though I have to ask Nami though…"
"What are you talking about?"
"There's this pendant that Nami has that could allow you to see and talk to ghosts."
"Sounds useful, but anything from that cousin of yours can't be that good."
"No it's good, but you would have to pay her to use it."
Zoro sighed. "Exactly." He looked at his watch and got up from the wet stone path. "We better head back."
"Yeah, it's about that time huh? Well! It was nice talking to you Kuina!"
"I don't know, since you're the only one who can see and talk to me. But come again anyway, it does get boring around here."
Luffy giggled as he and the swordsman headed out. "See ya!"
In the city, it's usually crowded with couples and gloomy singles, or some just too busy to notice the season. However
Luffy grabbed Zoro's arm, since the crowd of people has the tendency of separating without meaning to.
Zoro was more than used to the teen's closeness by now and ignored the strange looks people show. 'What? Ever seen two close friends be physically close?' He would usually think while giving out a glare to anyone who gave them a nasty look, or just recently gave anyone who looked suggestive.
"I hate this city!" He announced as he and Luffy were having lunch in his apartment.
"How come?" Luffy asked, not at all surprised at the random announcement.
"I don't know… Too many people, tight spaces, heavy atmosphere, stupid assholes around every corner… Just to name a few…"
"Well, I have to agree with you on those things. But I like the city because there are a lot of things going on and you never know who you'll bump into."
"Or who you save from being road kill…" He added with a smile. "Thanks Luffy."
"Huh? For what?"
He shook his head. "Nothing…" He sighed. "I just want to get away from this place, just for a day. No people to bother, no running around seeing unfamiliar faces judging you, and somewhere peaceful. I've noticed that I haven't mediated in awhile. It's hard to do that in a city, ya know?"
Luffy looked concerned and was thinking of a suggestion when the phone rang. "I'll get that, Ace said that he would call sometime." He said as he went into the kitchen. "Moshi moshi! Roronoa-Monkey residence!"
Zoro shook his head on the title. 'Well, he did officially move in and I do consider him my roommate.' He thought when he heard the door knock. "I'll get that." He said as he went up to the door and opened it to see Smoker there. "Well this is new." He said.
"Shut it, Roronoa." Smoker gruffed and looked ahead of the man before him, expecting something to happen.
"If you're looking for Ace, he's not here. In fact, he moved back to help out his family on something, some dig or something." He slightly lied, since he didn't know what to call the search for 'Dawn'. 'Where have you been for the past month? Waiting for him to jump through the door?' He added that thought.
Smoker was silent, looking uncomfortable standing there. "Damn it, I forgot what I wanted from here. Probably doesn't matter." He was about to move away, but his neighbor was more observant than he thought.
"You got a pen and paper on you?"
"Nani?"
"I'll give you the address, if you want."
Smoker didn't say anything as he got out a ticketing paper.
While Zoro was talking with Smoker
Luffy answered the phone and listened to some guy jabbering away about going to a spa up in Kyoto for free if he answered the question. He was going to decline when the man jabbered about the historic value of the natural hot springs and that people, for hundreds of years went up to be replenished from their journeys. He wanted to decline the offer when the man mentioned about samurais.
"What about samurais?"
"That they go up there to mediate and revive their energies that were spent from battle. You could say they were healed spiritually!" Said the man on the phone.
Luffy didn't really trust these phone raffles, but he wanted to make his friend happy as well. "Okay… But if this turns out to be a scam, I'm kicking your ass."
"I understand sir, now the question… What is the name of the god of wind in Rome?"
"Huh? There's four gods of wind and Rome copied from the Greeks! But if you want the names, I'll give you all of them! The one for the North is Boreas in Greek, Aquilo for Rome. South is Notus in Greek, Auster in Rome. West is Zephyr in Greek, Favonius in Rome. And East is Eurus for both Greek and Rome."
"… I would accept Eurus, but those are correct… Not many people know that…"
"Then they're stupid! So, did I win, or do I have to find and kick your ass for wasting my time…"
"No no, you won all right! You will be getting a call to make it official."
"We recently got caller ID, so I could find your number, get your name and find you if this is some kind of crap."
"I assure you sir, it isn't."
"Okay, bye." He hung up by the time Zoro came in.
"Who was that?"
"Some guy asking a dumb question. Who was at the door?"
"Smoker, he wanted to ask something."
By that time the phone rang and Luffy answered. "Moshi moshi, Roronoa-Monkey residence…"
"CONGRATULATIONS! You won a trip for the Valentine's Day get away up in our natural hot spring spa up in Kyoto's mountains!" He blinked as he listened for the name of the spa before hanging up.
"What was that about?"
He looked at his friend with a blank look. "I won a spa trip for two for one of Kyoto's natural hot spring spots."
"Huh?! Say what?!"
I dreamed that I was missing
You were so scared
But no one else would listen
Cause no one else cared…
After my dreaming
I woke with this fear
What am I leaving
When I'm done here
So if you're asking me
I want you to know…
)When my time comes
Forget the wrong that I've done
Help me leave behind some
Reason to be missed
Don't resent me
And when you're feeling empty
Keep me in your memory
Leave out all the rest…
Leave out all the rest…(
Don't be afraid
I've taken my beating
I've share what I made
I'm strong on the surface…
Not all the way through
I've never been perfect
But neither have you…
So if you're asking me
I want you to know…
)(
))Forgetting all the hurt inside
You've learned to hide so well
Pretending someone else
Can come and save me from myself
I can't be who you are…((
)(
))((
I can't be who you are… - Linkin Park
Okay! Before any of you guys ask, I noticed that Luffy has a bit of an interest in Greek and Roman history that also blends in with his liking of bug collecting. If you seen the episode where the crew were trying to find a South bird, Luffy comes across a beetle and starts talking about Atlas and Hercules, and I thought, why not? And that's how it came to be. Well! I'll see you in the next chapter!