Tashigi didn't want to think about the way they'd knocked into each other the previous evening. She'd been completely dazed and so out of it when they'd banged into each other, she hadn't been able to recognise Zoro straight away and felt like a complete idiot for it. She also felt like an idiot for feeling like one in the first place.
Why did she tend to think about him so much? Tashigi slung her bag over her shoulder as she walked out towards the main building, thinking all the while.
Okay, the fact he was practically a genius with swordstyle was a definite magnet. He didn't seem too inclined to yabber on all the time and actually could sense when silences were appreciated. It was a major plus to know that he was generally easy to talk to, and she didn't feel like an awkward duck around the guy - he didn't make her feel like an idiot, for one thing, which was one thing she had grown accustomed to feeling around Smoker.
And out of everything, she respected him. She didn't know what it was... but something enthralled her about him. Perhaps it was his confidence; self-esteem was one department she was sorely lacking in... and Zoro Roronoah wasn't bad-looking at a--
She slammed her head into her locker door with a yelp at herself for thinking impure thoughts and solely concentrated on her locker combination for the next minute or so. However, her mind strayed back to him again, and she remembered their last encounter in front of the lockers...
She turned her head slightly to the left, almost expecting to see him, but saw his locker shut and locked with loads of other students milling about it. Tashigi knew she kept thinking about him - she just had no idea why.
It was after she shut her locker and began to exit the floor when the place began to shift before her eyes, the volume dying down quite suddenly. Tashigi was not surprised. This had been happening ever since she had met Smoker - she kept seeing weird visions of some other life of hers... as a marine. She wondered which vision this was about, when she froze in step, her jaw dropping open.
At the end of a pouring haze of rain battering mercilessly down at the ground, she saw a figure standing quite still. It flickered out, and Tashigi tried to move away - but she saw, behind her, a group of scared townspeople. A young girl clutched her pants leg, soaked to the skin and looking extremely frightened. She was crying.
I'm protecting them,
She realised, and she tried to move herself into a fighting stance-- but too late, fiery eyes engulfed her vision, rain splotching past his dark hair. Lightning flashed, and she saw a yellow streak in his hair illuminate brightly before he raised an arm above her neck - she swung her sword, but he was faster--
A searing pain exploded from her chest, and she felt hot liquid rise up in a boiling gargle up her throat as the scene blotted out with millions of miniscule red stars as she tried in vain to not cry out--
Falling to her knees, hard, onto the concrete floor of the locker floor, Tashigi wheezed in a deep, painful breath, ignoring the stares of people as they walked past her. Bubbly chatter filled the air, footsteps going up and down the stairs, the sun shone brightly through the open windows -- but never had Tashigi, despite the extreme normalcy, felt so alienated from everyone.
What was that?
She thought, shakily trying to catch her breath. Her legs were sprawled beneath her, she realised, and her books were scattered everywhere. She tried to pick herself up, but failed to even stir feeling in her legs. Then she heard a voice that she knew would always make her feel scared.
"If it isn't Raven, our dear little friend."
Jenna said with a smirk, Marie and Karen behind her looking smugly down as Yuina stood a little ways off quietly. Tashigi couldn't find her voice, and simply looked down at her trembling hands, hoping the sun would flash off her lenses and hide the fear in her eyes from the vision.
"Spacing out while fantasising in the corridors again, huh. Typically Raven."
Marie snickered as though Karen had said something really witty, and chortled,
"Probably about Mr. Ruckhill snogging her. It'd be a dream for her really - for anyone to snog her,"
Tashigi flushed a deep red, cursing herself for the involuntary action. She hated it when they spoke of the incident in which, two years ago, her Graphics teacher had sent a confession to her by accident. He'd been sacked after the letter he'd sent had been discovered by Marie and Jenna, who had been going through Tashigi's belongings to find something to blackmail her with.
They'd meant for Raven to get kicked out too, but as she hadn't done anything wrong despite stubbornly not naming who the letter had really been meant for, Tashigi had been left alone. She still hated the whole incident though, and it still made her flush in memory of him embarrassedly explaining his emotional situation to her.
"Sh-shut up ab-about that,"
Tashigi hissed, wanting to kick herself for stuttering. The girls tittered as she tried to pick herself up, but failed to get her muscles to listen to her.
"Awww. Now there's no bodyguard to protect you, eh, Raven?"
Jenna said with a puppy-dog look on her face, and Tashigi wished there weren't so many people trying to pretend they couldn't see her situation. She wanted to snap her chin up and scream at Jenna for all it was worth, but she just couldn't get her body to work. Damn that vision!
Then she felt a sudden coldness at the top of her head before feeling a chilled liquid soak through her hair.
"Whoops,"
Jenna said with a nasty smile, flicking the upturned can away from Tashigi's head as the girls began to hoot with laughter. Tashigi noticed Yuina had disappeared, but wasn't consoled much from the fact as she felt the orange juice run down her neck and trickle past her forehead. Her face burned with humilation, and she finally got her legs to kneel. She slowly began to methodically pick her books up.
Snorting, Marie pressed a high-heel down onto Tashigi's Physics textbook. Tashigi's face was impassive as she unsucessfully tried to pull the book out from Marie's foot. Then Marie let go suddenly so Tashigi pulled with excessive strength and slammed her back against the wall. Their laughter rang in her head dully as she tried to put the books into her bag.
"What's the rush?"
Jenna asked with a smile as she towered over her, but Tashigi grabbed her bag and willed her legs to move. She managed to dart out from beneath Marie's arm and tried to dash off to the other end of the corridor. However, her legs hadn't fully recovered from the frozen feeling the vision had given them, and she crashed to the floor bone-wrackingly without going three steps. Her glasses fell with a clatter somewhere before her. Trying to keep their laughter out of her head, wild panic filled her and she tried to crawl away from the girls.
I hate this! I thought I'd overcome Jenna. I thought it'd stopped!
She thought desperately, squeezing her eyes shut from the pain,
I hate myself! Why did they have to attack when I was feeling weak? Why am I running away? Why?
However, as she felt a hand roughly grab her arm and heard the girls' laughter as she was pulled up to her feet with a violent jerk, she knew she could never win. She just couldn't. Her head bowed low, her eyes flicked open, and she felt hot tears slipping down her cheeks to mingle with the juice.
Was there even a point in running away?
A despair at herself filled her completely as she raised her eyes in utter defeat.
And she met the eyes of Zoro Roronoah, her own eyes widening at the seriously pissed off expression on his face. Then he turned his eyes to the girls, giving them death-glares so intense their high-pitched giggling silenced immediately as they exchanged glances of fear.
"Z--"
She didn't get to even say his name - keeping his grip on her arm, he walked at a quickening pace towards the end of the corridor. She found her voice halfway, but her protests fell on deaf ears.
However, by the time he'd dragged her to the foot of the stairs she'd had enough. She stopped abruptly, forcing them both to stop with a sharp jerk, and bringing back the arm he wasn't holding, Tashigi swung it and slapped him ruthlessly across the face.
"No one asked for your help!"
She snarled angrily, her blurred eyesight without her glasses growing worse as tears started to gather in her eyes. However, even through the sheen of tears she didn't miss his scowl as he let go of her arm and handed her her bag. She snatched it back, feeling like a bratty kid but angered at having to have needed his help, of all people.
Zoro surprised her out of her wits as he slid her glasses back behind her ears, a red mark on his cheek and his scowl coming into sharp focus as her glasses tapped against the bridge of her nose.
"Listen, Copy-cat,"
He said annoyedly,
"I was just irritated because you couldn't get your act together. Got it?"
With that, he gave a childish huff before turning, his hand gripping his bag strap tightly before charging up the stairs two at a time.
Irritated? She wiped her tears away briefly. However, she felt her anger ebb away as she realised she had looked pretty pathetic. It's your fault, you know. The words he'd said to her that night they'd met back in the dinner dance lay fresh in her mind, and she knew now the full impact of the words.
Why had she gotten so mad? Was it from her clinging onto foolish human pride? Did she even have any pride? Shaking her head, Tashigi brushed a sticky lock of hair behind her ear - and was abruptly horrified to find herself flushed. Like the night she'd been blushing furiously as he'd thread ribbon through her dress, she was blushing just as deeply from the light brush of his fingertips past her cheeks when he'd put her glasses on.
Kicking herself mentally, started upstairs herself only after she was completely sure Zoro Roronoah was well upstairs and out of sight.
"How exactly are we planning to get these people together anyway?"
Gin asked. Krieg raised an eyebrow in surprise. He was always surprised whenever Gin asked questions.
"I don't really know. But Waporu said he had someone working on it. His closest assistant - Kent, you saw him, right?"
"Right."
Gin said uneasily. There was a pause.
"Is there something you don't like about the plans for Saturday?"
Krieg prompted suddenly, his eyes narrowed. Gin remained silent.
"Gin? Answer me! Because I assure you, if you are too cowardly for this assignment and you feel it too large for you to handle as vice-captain, I will be sure to pass the position to someone else!"
"It isn't that I'm worried about, captain,"
Gin said quietly, and his eyes never meeting Krieg's, he left the garage without looking back once in response to Krieg's angry calls.
"No,"
Sanji said with a sigh,
"Not tonight, either."
He paused, and realising his manager was eyeing him, said quickly,
"Usopp, I can't keep the conversation up. I'll talk to you next time, but I've gotta shoot now. Bye."
He shut the cell-phone just as he felt someone tap his shoulder behind him. Turning round, Sanji saw the honey-blonde and smiled.
"Kaya, of course. The very vision of sparkling honey."
He lavished, and the girl turned red.
"You're too much, Sandy White,"
She said embarrassedly before smiling. Sanji noticed that the smile looked strangely different. He couldn't place what it was, but something about her made her look a whole lot more prettier today than all the others.
"Uhm, I noticed you were talking to someone called Usopp."
Kaya said uncertainly. Sanji raised an eyebrow.
"You know him? He's an engineer... seventeen. Wears glasses. Has a ridiculously long nose?"
The actress let out an exclamation of delight at the last description.
"Yes! You know Usopp-san?"
Sanji's eyes widened.
"I remember now. The girl Usopp talks about loads. It was Kaya-chan?"
She flushed.
"He... talks about me?"
The model grinned at her.
"All the time."
He confirmed. She blushed pleasantly as they shared a smile. Then he told her,
"You can call me Sanji."
As Tashigi walked, however, something seemed to be nagging the edge of her mind.
Listen, Copy-cat.
'What on earth did he mean by that?'
She wondered. Then stopped short as her eyes widened as she heard a distant echo of her own voice sound in her head. What on earth did he mean by that? She'd thought that exact same thought before. But from where?
She paused on the stairs, frowning at the deja vu and failing to notice that she could not longer hear other students hurrying up to class, nor hear their panicked talk. She was suddenly blinded with bright light that flashed before her eyes before plunging her onto a wide street darkened from torrential skies. She looked around wildly. That vision again?!
But there were no bystanders near her, no little girl at her knees. Instead, there was a small crowd of men in soaked uniforms, and before her she saw the brief outlines of three figures dashing towards her. She recognised one immediately; the glint at his left ear, green hair and the stomach band around his clothes seemed to glow amidst the splattering rain.
Roronoa Zoro!!
The moment the name burst out of her lips, it was as though someone had switched off the mute button - the sound of the rain beating down onto the ground with a haunting howl of the wind behind her filled her ears. She heard the marines nears her let out surprised yells of her name, but ignored them as his figure approached.
So you were Roronoa Zoro - and you are a pirate!
His voice echoed in her head, the memory of his grin flashing in her mind.
Are you going to take this sword too?
Anger flared as she heard a mocking tone in those words now.
You were actually mocking me!! I can't forgive that at all!!!
She heard yells from the figures, and was shocked to see Sandy White. The straw-hat wearing captain between the blonde and Zoro simply looked confused.
What did you do to the lady!!!
Likewise, the swordsman ignored the blonde as he asked nonchalantly,
So you were a marine, huh?
Her determination heightened as her fingers tightened the grip on her sword.
I am taking your 'Wadoichi monyi'.
And, like the night of the dinner dance straight after his amazing move, she saw that exact same grin on his face. The maddeningly confident one.
...go ahead and try it.
Mocking her again! In another flash of lightning, their swords had met with a sharp clang of blades. Thunder rolled in the distance as Zoro told his captain quickly,
Go to the ship first.
Got it.
Then he gave her an irritating smile that measured her.
Heh.
It was an exhalement of some sort of joy as he took in her strength. She bit her lip tightly. She'd seen it already, but now that their swords had met she was assured that he was definitely no ordinary swordsman. It was going to take everything she had.
She took her sword up quickly and they began a furious storm of sword-slashing. Any good swordsman knew that just because you had two swords didn't mean you were stronger than someone with one.
Tashigi knew immediately that Zoro knew it too. His two swords clanged against hers with the same vigor she exerted, but she sensed he was holding back. She slashed still more furiously, angry that even with him not using his traditional three swords, even with him not using any particular technique against her, that he was still winning.
Still, it came a bit of a shock to her when her sword skid off one of his blades as she prepared to slash towards the other, only for him to overpower the skidding and swipe the sword out of her tight grip. Before she could move to grab sliding handle, he had the other blade slammed into the surface to her left, and she realised too late she was backed up right against the wall.
She breathed heavily from her efforts as she realised with impending dread that she had lost. His face was inches away from hers, and she could see his excited eyes clearly. He looked at her triumphantly, and she found the grin had never left his face.
This sword... I can't give it to you. No matter what...!!
Cries of dismay arose from the marines watching, but she wasn't listening to them at all. She waited for him to finish the last blow with the blade he held near her cheek.
But a dismay of her own drenched her far more than the rain when the blade drew back and he resheathed it.
I'm sort of really busy, so we'll stop here. Sorry.
An anger boiled deep in her as it always did when someone looked down upon her just because...!
Why didn't you finish me off?
He did not reply, and her face darkened before she asked quietly with barely contained anger,
Is it... because I am a girl?
He looked at her with a strange expression on his face as she continued,
To look down at me in a swordsfight just because they say females are weaker than males is an absolute insult! You have no idea how hard I've wished that I'd rather have been born as a guy...!!
His face contorted as she felt her anger reach it's peak as she yelled,
I did not choose to hold a sword just for fun!!!
Apparently, Zoro had reached his brink too because he suddenly pointed an accusatory finger at her as he yelled,
I... really don't like you!!! I don't like your very existence!!
This dumbfounded Tashigi for a moment before she blurted out,
What!!?
You know, your face!!! It looks exactly like a dead friend of mine!!
She was temporarily stunned at the irritation in Zoro's voice, and at the extremely strange, strained look in his eye. However, the stunned sensation disappeared when he barreled on,
And you say exactly the same things that person did! Don't imitate her, you Copy-cat!!!
Her jaw dropped open as he held a blade up to her face, as though challenging her.
What!!? How could you say such juvenile...
She gave up trying to express her dumbfounded shock at his incredibly immature attitude, and kicking up her dropped sword she managed to bring her own sword out to cross his threatening blade.
Excuse me!!! I've been living like I do 'till this very day!! I really don't know anything about your friend but I think the one gobsmacked here is me!!!
Tashigi glared at him as she yelled,
Who's imitating who?!!!
What're you going on about!!!
The marines surrounding the two looked utterly confused as the two exchanged death-glares.
Tell me, Roronoa! How do you expect me to react?!
Stop looking like her!!
He yelled at her, then looked startled as she slashed towards him yelling,
Stop being so unreasonable!!
Roronoa Zoro defended himself desperately, but he did not make any offensive moves as she continued to bring her sword down to meet his blades with metallic clangs as she demanded,
What are you trying to tell me?! I can't change the way I look!
She was mortified to realise he had absolutely no intention in fighting her - in fact, he'd lost the will to attack at all!
I was born this way! She shouted angrily, What do you expect me to do?!!
NOTHING!!
He hollered, and with another short and smart slash he had her sword clattering several feet behind her before spinning on his heel and running away.
WAIT JUST A MINUTE!!
She exclaimed frustratedly, but as she attempted to run after she remembered she had no sword, and doing an awkward twist she started to fall down, the raining skies spinning in her vision, the blur of wet uniforms and the howl of the wind dying away --
and Tashigi landed with a dull thud onto the concrete landing at the foot of the stairs. She lay there, stunned for several moments before she felt someone assisting her up at the elbow asking urgently,
"Are you okay? Tashigi?"
She blinked, and sitting herself up met Yuina's concerned green eyes.
"Yuina?"
She said blankly. A little girl popped up behind her, who Tashigi recognised to be Yuina's younger sister.
"Hi,"
The girl said brightly. Yuina looked disapprovingly at Yuko before saying worriedly to Tashigi,
"Are you okay? Do you want to go to the infirmary?"
Though still feeling shaken, Tashigi shook her head as she stood up. Her knees felt weak, but she could still stand herself. Yuina nodded doubtfully, still looking worried. Tashigi would have appreciated Yuina's concern if there weren't so many things clamouring to be acknowledged all at once in her brain.
"You should go get the juice out of your hair."
Yuina said softly.
"...I know. I'll see you around,"
Tashigi said quietly, patting Yuko on the head before turning and heading up the stairs again. She was only vaguely aware of a growing pain from her hip and her elbows - the bruises from the trip down the stairs were the least on her mind. It was after she got out of the bathroom, her face splashed thoroughly with cold water and with no feeling of stickness clinging to her scalp when she brought herself to face the matters begging to be thought about.
Roronoa Zoro.
She realised now exactly who he had been once... like Smoker, he was from the life she had been a marine in. And though she had always thought it was influence from Smoker that caused her to occasionally get extremely strange dreams and visions, she now knew it had to be something else. Zoro knew about it, too - he'd shown that it was so back in the library.
Don't imitate her, you Copy-cat!!!
Listen, Copy-cat.
And he was obviously now aware of who she was. An anger flowed through her veins as his stubbornness to not fight her arose freshly in her mind once more.
'That coward! Who's he to say I can't get my act together?'
Tashigi's eyes flashed - and then she remembered. Right now, he wasn't a pirate. And she wasn't a marine.
She stopped dead in her tracks as her jaw dropped open, her mind comprehending these facts fully before she began to trek upstairs with a new-found vigor. Of course! This meant that now, she could...
Usopp was bored to death. Now that he had hung up with Sanji, there was nothing new to do. The class was going through non-digital clocks again, and he didn't think he could take it.
He made three clocks from his boredom before taking early leave, earning annoyed looks from struggling others as he trooped out of the building quickly. Knowing Kaya was out on some magazine shoot, Usopp rang Zoro and Sanji's dorm up.
Twenty minutes later, he was talking to Luffy before the harbour.
"Know what's up with Nami?"
The sniper asked his captain. Luffy looked out over the sea, which was turning over orange rays of the sunset.
"She'll come around,"
He said,
"But I think it'll take time. She hasn't got a lot of OQ, see."
"EQ."
"Whatever. But I'm not really worried. Kale did sort of say possession of mind can happen as a result of too much nervous breakdowns, though I trust Nami won't give in that easily..."
Usopp sweatdropped.
"Possession of mind?"
"There are supposed to be a lot of floating spirits that never got reincarnated, or died so quickly their spirits just roam the earth. They'd want bodies, I guess."
Usopp shook his head.
"Nami, rejecting complete peace? Maybe in that world, after meeting you, yes. But Nami's different in this world. Everyone's different in this world, Luffy. Actually, the entire world's different."
The engineer narrowed his eyes as he exclaimed to the ocean,
"This world sucks! Not only is it totally corrupted with stupid ambitious things - everything is so freaking ambiguous! And if you get too smart, you become stupid and oblivious to other people's needs. There are too many paradoxes, too much unnecessary complications. And everything is filthy. The air, the ground, the sea. It's all clogged up with our own dirt. It's disgusting here."
Usopp couldn't help also thinking that although Kaya had been pretty untouchable in their previous lives, this place was even worse. People recognised her, exposed false things just for money. The majority of the people on earth knew nothing about the true meanings of dignity, pride and honour. Not even the cynics knew. Were there any cynics back at their world?
He just wanted to cheer the girl up, make her feel better... and know more about her, past her shy exterior. It pleased him to know he knew what made her smile... Leaning against the railings and feeling the salty winds cause his skin tingle, Usopp mumbled into his arms,
"I want to go back. I loved our ship and our world and the stupid weather changes and... I love our crew!"
Luffy nodded vigorously.
"I don't understand anything here!"
He declared as he swung around the railings as though they were monkey bars,
"And I don't even have full control over my body here. I mean, in the other world someone could stretch me even if I didn't want to be stretched, but that at least I knew I'd be sprung back. And you know, I just really hate it here as well. I wanna build snowmen again."
There was a pause as the two listened to the waves crash against the harbour wall.
"I guess it wouldn't be so bad here if you liked electronics."
Usopp said after a moment, as he watched the orange at the sea grow richer in red.
"I guess I could stay here because I have a completely normal body and I can learn how to swim here."
Luffy agreed,
"But you know... no one's a pirate in this world anymore. There's no adventure, is there?"
"Let's go back, Luffy,"
Usopp murmured,
"Not as an escape, but because that's were we belong, right?"
Luffy grinned.
"Of course."
A/N: Wheeee. Another chapter. O_O; Okay...
1. These chapters *are* getting longer. I guess that's the only way to go, though, if I want these guys to get anything done by next Christmas.
2. Should I have an FAQ up? I've been considering it because I have a horrible memory and reviewers tend to ask me questions that I forget to answer in my author notes.
3. Nukinator is sooooo cool. He's the one who helped me translate the Korean version for the scene here between Zoro and Tashigi back in volume 12. My version was way too awkward to even sound English. So... 3 cheers for DA MAN! ;;; Or should I say, for da bunny?
4. I rewrote the whole of 12 so I'm sure some of you will feel it's completely and utterly boring. I'm sorry, I really am. ;_; But I need these excerpts for a later chapter...
5. I had a plan for the next 11 or 12 chapters that I scrapped. I had to - it was going too slowly. But alas! I already said Saturday. We'll see if I can do anything about *that*...
6. Exams, exams, exams. Eeep. =-= I'll try and do as much as I can before I am bombarded with necessary revision.
6.5 So I guess my next update will be pretty soon. Hopefully done by Tuesday, as I have a Mandarin Oral on Monday.
7. God Bless you folks for taking time to read and consider and review. :D I always feel happy when I know I'm entertaining. *cheers*
8. And as always, thanks for bearing with me uptil now. *bows*
note:: If you want an FAQ, please leave a question in your review.