Hello everyone... Sorry for not being... updating lately. Finals are comming up and I got some projects that have to be done by a certain day, which are done now. Thank goodness. Anyway, this is for LaughingLivingDead, sorry for the belated gift. And Enjoy.

Stray Love

The timesquare clock showed that it was nearly nine in the evening as rain poured down and the winds blew hard that it made the trees bend slightly.

A storm like this late at night, no one would want to be stuck outside of. But there was a lone figure battling the wind and rain down the barely lit sidewalk alongside closed stores. This figure is that of a man of his early adult year of twenty-one, a muscular yet balanced frame under the now soaked coat, and shows that he has an element beaten tan as he found an alley and found some relief from the wind.

"Shit… I should've left early like that bitch said. This is just crazy." He said as he took off the coat's hood to reveal green, slightly combed back hair and one eye open while the other was permanently closed with a scar serving as a seal. "Looks like I have to wait it out for a while…" He sighed as he checked around himself to see what the damage was on his personal items.

Once he found that, though most of the stuff is as soaked as he was, at least his phone worked. When he thought the rain let up a bit, he was about to leave when he heard a crash behind him. He was in a fighting stance before seeing that it was just a cat knocking over a trashcan. "Damn cat…" He said when he saw something amiss.

The cat was black, all black, but this cat was limping and there were droplets of blood coming down to the wet pavement.

"Oi…" He said as he bent down and held out his hand. "What's the matter? You don't look well."

The cat looked up, revealing large brown eyes, and slowly went up to the man's hand and lightly and weakly nuzzled it.

"So you trust people…" He said as he carefully picked up the cat, only to feel the warm blood on his hand, making the small feline mewl in pain. "Damn… Have to get you to a vet, but I don't know where the nearest one is…" He held the cat close to his chest and placed the coat flaps over. "Hang in there… I'm going to take you someplace safe, okay?" He heard another weak mewl before braving the wind and rain once more.

XxX

Sometime later, he made to an apartment complex and knocked on one door with the number twenty-four on it. The door opened to a young man of seventeen in a lab coat, soft light brown hair, doe brown eyes, and was wearing a pink fuzzy hat. "Zoro?"

"Sorry to bother you Chopper, but I need your help on something."

"What is it?"

Zoro revealed the injured cat, which looks like it's not going to make it.

"Oh no! Where's the doctor!"

"At this point Chopper, you are."

"Oh right, come on in." He said as he cleared the table of the vials and other scientific containers, took out a medic kit and shooed Zoro back for space as he worked.

Zoro leaned back onto a wall as he watched the barely adult, and no-doubt unlicensed doctor, work on the small cat he found in the alley. He would've let the cat die in the alley, but he wasn't heartless. Why he brought the cat with him was strange even to him, but he figured it was because the cat was having a worse day than he was at the time and didn't want the other to suffer longer than it did.

He was lost in his thoughts for an hour before Chopper announced that he was done. "How is it?"

"He'll be fine, but he'll need a ton of rest and can't move for some time. Did you find him like this?"

"Yeah, why?"

"He suffered a knife cut on the chest area. Whoever done this has done it before."

"Animal cruelty?"

"Most likely. And this is a black cat…"

"Symbol for bad luck when crossing its path… So some superstitious cult nut then?"

"I wouldn't know, but he's lucky that you found him. If he continued like this through the night, he would've died sometime in the early morning."

Zoro looked at the now sleeping cat and sighed. "It's also a stray, no collar or anything…"

"Why did you bring him here then?"

He shrugged. "I thought I had a crappy day and then saw him almost at death's door. I may not be an easy person to get along with at work, but I'll be damned to let a suffering animal with a serious injury to just up and die."

"You're a good person, Zoro."

Zoro didn't comment as he looked at the cat again. "Do you mind keeping him in your care for awhile?"

"I don't mind, he can't be moved for awhile anyway. Don't want to risk his stitches to come loose and have the wound open up again."

"Right. Would you let me know if he's better?"

"Sure thing, Zoro."

"Sorry for any inconvenience."

"No, none whatsoever. I was reading and didn't see the time before you came in."

"You got that doctorate's test coming up, right?"

"It's an examination, but yeah it's still important."

"It's still hard to believe you're a college student in the medical field at your age."

"I know, but that's what happens when you're a gifted kid with two equally gifted but crazy parents."

Zoro smiled and nodded. "I know your mother is, definitely."

Chopper giggled as he found a small towel to go over the cat. "He's a bit malnourished as well…"

"I better get to bed then. I'll check on him tomorrow after work."

"Okay."

And with that, Zoro left the young man and cat alone.

XxX

It only took two weeks for the cat to be well enough to go from one room to the next.

"Are you going to be his owner then?" Asked his roommate, a woman of thirty with raven hair that went down her back, dark olive skin, and startling light blue eyes

"I can't really be his owner if I don't give him a name, right?"

"I suppose." She said as she looked at the black cat and smiled. "He's quite cute."

The cat purred as he seemed to settle to the new room immediately. He has a bandage around his upper torso, but looked at the green haired man with interest and trust.

"I think he likes you."

"I saved his life, there's nothing more to that."

"You shouldn't brush things like that off so easily. You may have a friend for a long time here."

"Robin, for the love of sanity, stop sounding like a philology book."

She giggled as she petted the feline. "At least the landlord won't chew you out for having a cat."

"I'm more of a dog person, but I just don't have the time or money to care for one, as you well know."

"I know, I know. But I know there are some cats that share a few dog-like qualities. If you're lucky, maybe this one is one of them."

"I wouldn't get my hopes up. Most cats are drama kings and queens by a certain age."

She simply giggled as she continued to pet the cat. "Whatever you say, Zoro-kun."

Zoro sighed as he sat down and looked at the paperwork before him.

"I better get to work then, I'll see you later." She said as she left the room, leaving Zoro and the cat alone.

Zoro was looking at one paper when he felt something snuggle up against him and looked to see the cat was now curled up beside him. "You weren't supposed to move for a while…" He said, but the cat was now contently sleeping. He shook his head and looked at the papers.

XxX

Soon it was a month since Zoro found the cat and the bandages were finally off, leaving an 'X'-cross scar on the chest. He still couldn't come up with a name for the cat, and he wasn't planning on kicking it out, seeing that the cat was more puppy-like than he had expected. He was able to teach it to fetch with the bouncy ball he had lying around for some time and come when he tells him to.

Later on the same day, Zoro was sleeping and Robin was working late. He suddenly woke up when he sensed something was off. He looked at the pillow next to his and saw the cat wasn't curled up where he usually is. 'Did he go off to do something?' He thought when he heard some pots crash. 'The hell?' He got out to investigate what was going on in the apartment.

He found the source to be the kitchen and from what his dark adjusted eye could see is a human form on the floor. He turned on the light to see the cat there. He blinked and rubbed his eyes. "Must be tired…" He whispered to himself as he picked up the pans and placed them back to where they belong before picking up the cat. "Just what were you doing in here? Huh?" Which was responded with a simple mewl and headed back to the room, where he closed the door. He stopped and looked at the door. 'Didn't I close the door earlier too? Maybe I forgot and left it open?' He thought as he sighed. "I really need to get some sleep." He placed the cat on one side of the bed while he got onto his and said his good night to the other.

XxX

The next morning, he wakes up from the sound of his alarm, turns it off, and gets up. He opened his only working eye and saw something that wasn't supposed to be there. For one thing, there wasn't supposed to be a naked young man sitting on his lap and seemed to be waiting for him to say something. Another thing was the same young man had black cat ears and tail similar to the cat's as well as the 'X'-cross scar on his chest. And the last thing he looked for was that the mentioned cat was nowhere to be found before looking at the stranger once more. "Who the hell are you and how did you get into my room?"

The young man laughed as he leaned back, which the other had to look away from seeing anything that was below the waist. "I'm Luffy. You brought me here, remember?"

"If I brought a kid here, I would've remembered."

"Na? I'm not a kid, I'm a cat. Man! I've wanted to talk to you for a long time now, Zoro-sama."

"-Sama?" He said as he shook his head. "Look, Luffy, I don't know how you got in here or why you're here. But you have to get some clothes on and go home."

Luffy tilted his head to the side. "But this is my home, and you're my master. You're the one who picked me up in the alley when that man did this to me." He said as he pointed to the scar. "You brought me to Chopper to fix me up and then brought me to your domain."

Zoro wasn't sure how to make of this. "You really that cat I picked up?"

"Yeah, who else can I be?"

"A lot of cats don't turn into human beings overnight."

"Oh no, of course not, that would waste a lot of our energy if we kept doing that every day."

"Huh?"

Luffy smiled. "Most cats forget how to do this, but some of us are able to appear human for safety reasons. And thanks to the popular nekogirl/guy thing, we're able to stroll through the streets without hiding our ears and tail."

"Why would you want to do that?"

"To talk to our masters of course, how else?"

"Okay… You want to tell me something while you're like this?"

Luffy nodded. "I wanted to tell you my name, tell you thank you so much for saving me and giving me a home, and this!" He said as he went up to the other quickly and kissed the man before the man had a chance to react. "I love you, Zoro-sama." He said as he turned back into a cat.

Zoro didn't know how to process this as he looked down at the black cat before him and sighed. "Let's get a few things straight here before you change into a human again. One, do not call me master or anything of the sort. Secondly, you don't just up and kiss people like that without permission. And lastly, let me know when you're going to do that again, I don't like surprises that much."

Luffy mewled as he tilted his head to the side before curling up to the other's lap and purred.

'This is something to get used to…' He thought as he sighed.

XxX

A year later after that, Zoro opened the last box to his new apartment as Luffy, in human form, was helping out by taking out some things from the boxes. "Need help?"

Luffy shook his head. "Nope, I got it. But this is going to be a while to get used to this new smell. The old apartment had a lot of your scent."

"Most places start off with smelling different." Zoro explained. "It won't take long before this place starts smelling like what you're used to."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"That's good!"

"Let's take a break, you must be hungry by now."

"Yeah!" Luffy cheered as both went into the kitchen, where a cooler was there and Zoro opened up to bring out a container with chicken in it.

"Here Luffy, don't eat all of it, most of this would have to last a week before we start shopping."

"Why?"

"Because my paycheck hasn't come in yet, therefore we can't spend a thing before we're fully settled."

"Oh, okay." Luffy said as he ate his chicken before leaving the rest alone.

XxX

A month into the new apartment, Zoro was noticing a change in Luffy's behavior in both cat and human forms. He waited until the other was able to be in human form before he could sit the other down to talk. "Is there something going on, Luffy?"

Luffy looked at the other as he was uncharacteristically sulking. "Just something that all of us go through…"

"And that is…?"

Luffy looked at the other from the corner of his eyes. "The Heat Period."

"Oh…" He said as he saw the other curl up a bit more. "Anything I can do to help? Or is it something that I should back away from?"

"There's nothing much you can do. So it's best to stay away from me for a while."

"Okay then…" He said, but he didn't move from where he was as he saw the other curled up tightly before deciding to make something.

This went on for a few days and he noticed that the other hasn't changed back into a cat. "Luffy… Is there a reason why you're not going back into your cat form?"

"No reason… Just like this form better…"

"Doesn't that tax you though?"

"Yeah… But I don't want to go to my cat form just yet. I like it like this…"

"Okay…" Zoro said as he placed a hand on the other's head, which made the other sigh in content. He kept petting the other's head until the other fell asleep. 'That looks like a good idea.' He thought as he settled to take a nap as well, after he placed a blanket over the other and laid on the couch.

When he woke up, he saw the other staring down at him. "Luffy?" He said tiredly before the other leaned down and kissed him, but it wasn't like last time the other kissed him. He felt the other was hesitant but passionate in the kiss as he didn't make any sudden movements as the other deepened the kiss, a bit hungrily. He placed a hand on the other's back, petting motion as he felt the other shiver. 'So that's why…' He thought as he returned the kiss, a bit hesitant but seeming to guide the other to slow down and just savor what's happening.

Luffy wasn't able to hold it any longer as he wrapped his arms around the man's neck, bringing them closer.

Zoro wrapped around the other's waist while he had one hand continuing to stroke the other's back as he felt the other's "problem" pressing on his abdomen. 'Looks like I'm going to fix that as well, huh?' He thought as he flipped them over as he used one hand to keep the other down and the other cupping the "problem" and rubbing it, sending the other to moans. He kept this up until he felt the pants the other wore were wet from the cum and separated from their kiss. "Are you okay?"

Luffy nodded, panting from the kiss and from being spent.

Zoro stared at the other and gently touched one of the black cat ears, before he saw the other turn back into a cat, fast asleep. "You do realize this is pretty wrong." He said, but the other was too deep in slumber land to register. He sighed and sat down beside the cat. "If only you were human permanently…" He started to feel sleepy once again and slept on the couch once more.

XxX

The next morning, he was greeted with the other kissing him like the first time he saw the other in his human form, but this time he saw the other didn't have the ears or tail. "Luffy? What happened to your ears?"

"You made me human permanently."

"Huh?"

"You must've said something, because now I'm human!" Luffy said happily. "I promise Zoro, I'll do my best to be your partner to the very end!" He hugged the man, who didn't know what to make of this.

'Looks like I'm going to have to talk to Robin. I'm going to owe her big time for this…' He thought, knowing the other was going to need a security system up and a few other things a person has to know. 'At least now it won't seem like I'm doing it with a cat…'

I hope you guys enjoyed this and have a great day.