I don't own anything but my ideas.

Acute Intermittent Porphyria

Zoro dug his fingernails deeper into his hair, the heel of his palm pressing into his eyeball so hard he was starting to see small pink bursts behind his eyelids, and the bottle in his hand was now crumpled and leaking all down his sleeve from the pressure. Beside him, Usopp swallowed heavily and shifted another inch away from him on the picnic table bench.

"I think it's time for him to realize is all I'm saying," she tugged on her cropped hair innocently, shrugging as if she'd been sucked into the conversation unwillingly and was only participating out of politeness. Zoro twitched again and the spots started flashing yellow and white. If she said one more fucking word…

"Ace," Usopp said flatly.

"It's long overdue, I'm really baffled as to why this hasn't happened sooner."

"Ace D. Portgas."

"Is there something you're implying, Usopp?"

"Wha' amou' my bwover?!" Luffy shouted over Nami's shoulder, spewing food everywhere until she slapped him and sent him tumbling back harshly onto the ground where the food was launched back down his throat and he immediately grabbed his neck and started gasping for air.

"Nami!" Usopp shrieked.

"You got something else to say, long nose?" Nami turned, pinning him with one of her Nami stares and Usopp shrank back into the table.

Zoro blinked down with his one remaining good eye from his perch atop the picnic table at the ground where Luffy was still floundering frantically across the grass, slowly turning blue. He closed his eyes, counting down from five one last time before sliding his foot casually off of the table. He waited until Luffy flailed closer to him and then slammed his boot down on Luffy's middle the next time the kid was in range. Bread, cheese, and meat erupted from Luffy's throat, raining down on Zoro's boot, and he grimaced as Luffy hacked on the ground.

"You know just as well as the rest of us that the only reason Ace would go for the redheaded harpy in the school is because he'd use you for gambling tips," Zoro snapped in Nami's direction, settling himself on top of the table again. He placed his arms behind his head, getting as comfortable as he possibly could as Nami glared, smirking to himself triumphantly when she finally looked away in disgust. There were just some childish things it seemed he wouldn't grow out of any time soon. Eh, he was only fifteen; he had time before he really had to. Zoro's smirk fell. Three more years worth. Of high school. Ugh. He'd tried to get Law to let him drop out early. Kid really didn't care either way, but Zoro had never seen Law laugh that hard before.

"Ace D. Portgas and I would be the power couple—"

"High school isn't politics!" he snarled over her self-absorbed spiel.

"Teachers, friends, upperclassmen, lowerclassmen—the only person that would have a problem with it would be you, Zoro." She was speaking quietly through her teeth, trying to be as intimidating as possible, and Zoro couldn't stop another smirk at the fact that—still—only Usopp was shaking.

"And, you know, Ace," he replied easily.

"Go to hell."

"Fine, go ask him out," Zoro closed his eyes and leaned back, shifting slightly to the left to even out the heat from the sunspot he was in. Witch. "He's got his eye on that senior."

"I have way more going for me then Laki—!"

Zoro groaned, tuning out and back into his sunspot as steam started pouring out of her ears. He blinked at the sudden vibration in his back pocket and leaned to the side to dig his phone out from under him. The little screen lit up and dimmed down on every vibration, illuminating the words "Surgeon of Death"—what Law had deemed a "charming nickname" from his coworkers. It was based on his risk-taking on the patients' behalf and how often he took on cases no other doctor would because of the possibility of patient death. The man was crazy; there was no other explanation.

Law never called him. Zoro flicked the phone open and held it to his ear. "Yeah?"

-I need you to go to Killer's school.-

Zoro froze. "What happened?"

-I don't really know, to be honest. The nurse called me instead of the ambulance this time though, which is good, but she sounded unnerved, which isn't horribly reassuring. I'm still another town over; the hospital sent me for a consult last minute and I forgot to tell Eustass so he went to pick up some scrap metal from a junkyard about an hour away. I don't want to tell her I can't make it and have her actually call the hospital—I can't be there to change the paperwork again.-

When Killer entered school, Law created him a diagnosis of "acute intermittent porphyria." Law had explained it to Zoro once and didn't bother explaining again because the disease was so complicated. It didn't give them a perfect excuse not to have Killer sent to the hospital because of one of his "attacks", but the diagnosis gave Law and Kid enough leg room to claim "family and therapist requests based on therapy treatments in order to lead a normal life" and work with the nurse. Killer wasn't in therapy at all, but saying he was helped Law in convincing the nurse to contact him when dealing with an attack instead of the hospital. The first time he'd had an attack at school, the nurse had followed protocol and called an ambulance, forcing Law to break in and alter all of the paperwork and put a couple marks on his reputation with bribery in order to cover all of Killer's tracks. It had also sparked a five-hour "discussion" about when the nurse felt an ambulance should be called as opposed to when Law felt an ambulance should be called. Law had won in the end, but not without what Zoro was sure were a few shady tactics. The man was too good at deception. Also, Kid had been standing threateningly outside the door, which Zoro was sure helped a great deal.

Law had also managed to convince her that because Killer was so young, being exposed to blood brought on anxiety, which meant that it might not always be an actual attack and she therefore couldn't keep any treatments in her office and had to consult Law or Kid before anything was done. The reason she couldn't keep any treatments in her office was because Killer—and probably Zoro—would be taken into custody the second she saw what they were giving him. What they hadn't told her was that seeing blood only brought on the attacks half of the time because the other half he wasn't hungry enough to be affected. When Zoro had reached high-school age he'd been added to the list of people able to handle Killer's attacks.

"All right," Zoro grabbed his backpack and slid off of the table. "I'm going over now."

-Are you sure you know the way?-

"Shut up."

-I'm being entirely serious.-

"Yes, I know the way! I've gone enough times now, it's just a straight line!"

-The fact that the directions are the simplest set you'll ever need to get anywhere hasn't stopped you from getting lost before.-

"Did you need something else?"

-Do you want to take him home?-

"He probably won't want to stay at school after everything. Especially with that damn nurse."

-I'll call you out for the rest of the day then. Call me if she gives you any more problems.-

"I can handle her," Zoro growled before closing the phone and throwing it into his bag. The last time he'd tried to handle the nurse without Law, it had resulted in a screaming match with Zoro freaking out because the treatment was congealing in his bag and Killer was practically seizing in panic on the exam room table as his attack set in.

"Where are you going?" Usopp called after him. His eyes screamed "Don't leave me alone with her!" but the long-nose didn't dare say it out loud. He didn't have as much faith as Zoro at his ability to handle an irate Nami.

"Killer's sick," Zoro called over his shoulder as he started jogging for the front gate. "I'll see you tomorrow." Stupid long-nose had to learn to stand up for himself anyways.

He made himself take full steps the entire way out of the schoolyard; deliberate steps where one sole was always touching the ground. Nothing was wrong. The second he was around the fence though and out of sight, he took off as fast as he could, feet pounding against the pavement as he sprinted across the road to the shortcut through the apartment buildings separating their schools. They were lucky the buildings were only three blocks apart. He had to get there before the nurse gave up on them and called am ambulance.

Zoro bounded up the front stairs, leaning incessantly on the doorbell until the lock on the door clacked loudly and he yanked it open, dashing down the hallway to the nurse's office. He heard someone in the main office yell for him to sign in but ignored it, making sure they saw him go into the nurse's. He was pretty sure they would recognize his hair, but he didn't need the police called on him on top of this.

Zoro skidded to a stop in front of the doorway, glaring at the nurse as she put the phone to her ear, stopping only when she saw him. She made a face, but hung the phone up anyways.

"Law told you he's fine to wait," Zoro snapped, marching into the room. "The attacks can manifest for a week."

"Ki—hmm," she closed her eyes and took a breath before continuing and Zoro's lips pinched together tightly. She had never liked the name, even though Law had told her that it came from his abusive biological parents. "Killer is eight years old. He is not old enough to be handling this on his own and your father has been very specific about how I am not to treat him. When your parents are not here, he needs medical treatment, and if I have no options I am required to call emergency care."

Still not my parents. Zoro felt his expression growing darker. She knew, and he knew that she said things like that deliberately. "Yeah, carting him off to a hospital filled with sick patients and people he doesn't know poking him and prodding him and trying to force a useless treatment on him is a much better solution," Zoro growled, fishing around in his backpack for the small cooler as he walked past her. "You're right, Law must know fuck all about what he's talking about. You know, what with being the youngest and best surgeon in the whole hospital that people fly across the country to see."

That had done it. The nurse crossed her arms tightly but said nothing else. If she'd kept going, Zoro would have insulted her job next, but that could wait until next time.

When he had the pack in his hand, liquid sloshing around inside, he pushed open the door to the exam room. She made to follow him but he slipped inside without opening the door farther than he needed and slammed it in her face with a curt smile and a quick, "He doesn't want to see you, thanks for all your help," ignoring her indignant squawk as he did.

Zoro turned to the table behind him, looking up to the shaking little boy perched on top. Killer's thick hair obscured his eyes, but Zoro knew they were pinched shut by the way he was gripping the table and how tightly his teeth were clenched. His breath was coming in uneven bursts, thrown off by the jarring shivers that were wracking his body. His head was tilted to the side and faced away from his right knee, where a band-aid was covering what was probably a skinned knee. Covered or not though, Zoro knew that Killer could still smell it, even through the overwhelming stench of rubbing alcohol in the room.

"You ok?" Zoro asked, laying a hand on Killer's shoulder and bending down to try and get a response. Killer only clenched his teeth tighter.

Damn it. Zoro unzipped the cooler and pulled out a water bottle filled to the top with a thick, red liquid. He was supposed to eat after school today too.

"Chabo…" Killer choked out, breath wheezing in the back of his throat, "Chabo tripped… too."

"Too much blood, huh?" Zoro muttered, shaking the bottle. Killer nodded, and then sucked in a sharp breath through his nose at the sound of the liquid, finally looking up but not relaxing in the slightest.

"Go slow," Zoro said gently, waiting until Killer nodded to open the bottle, but the second the salty smell hit the air Killer lunged, hands snapping around the plastic and yanking it towards him. Zoro braced his feet, expecting the reaction, and held the bottle back long enough for Killer to drink enough of the liquid so it wouldn't spill down his front. Or so he didn't tear through the bottle again; clean up wouldn't be easy here. The nurse, Zoro assumed, was pretty good at spotting an abnormal amount of blood for two people with no severe wounds.

Killer tipped the bottle back as the blood drained quickly from the bottle. He was gasping for breath but unwilling to stop drinking. Zoro moved to the chair at the side of the bed and got comfortable until Killer had drunk the whole thing. He made a mental note to talk to Law again about Killer eating in the morning on the days he was supposed to so this didn't happen again. Or just eating more often. Normally Killer was nauseous after eating, which made eating in the morning bad and eating too often worse, but the nurse got more antsy and annoyed every time someone had to come to handle one of Killer's attacks. Understandably, she didn't like not being able to help with one of the student's very debilitating diseases, but it didn't make keeping Killer safe any easier.

Killer was four the first time Zoro had ever found himself in a situation like this. He was just starting preschool and Zoro was ready to enter his last year of elementary school. Killer had gotten hurt on the playground—just the same as today. As a four year old though, and a biter if the scars on Zoro's arm said anything, self-control was basically nonexistent.

Zoro watched Killer finally take the bottle away from his lips, gasping for air and clutching at the flimsy plastic for comfort as he started to relax, blood rushing through his system and fangs shrinking back so they were no longer visible poking out from his lips. Killer's canines and bottom fangs (some number of tooth Law was always telling him and he never bothered to remember) would always be longer than normal, as Law had explained. Sharper and longer top fangs meant deeper puncture wounds in the vein: more blood. Longer bottom fangs meant a tighter hold on the victim: less struggling and chances of getting away. Law had explained this to Zoro after he and Killer had returned home that day.

-oOo-

Zoro watched four-year-old Killer and his playmate skid across the pavement during wrestling and shrugged off the injury. Killer had had worse. But before he could even turn back to his friends, a violent shrieking had him whipping around to find Killer on top of the other kid, ripping at his clothes and hair and making the child scream like his life were in danger. Zoro was up in seconds and sprinting across the playground to get there before the teachers could. Law and Kid were under enough scrutiny as it was, being gruff, overworked, unmarried, gay parents who were barely old enough to legally have Killer, let alone Zoro, and Zoro himself had a history of violence and suspensions from school. If Killer was a rough child and couldn't play nice, it just provided more incentive to call a social worker.

Zoro reached their sides first and grabbed Killer's hand like Kid used to in order to keep him from breaking things, pulling him off of the other kid. Instead of fighting back though, Killer turned his neck an impossible amount of degrees in the blink of an eye and sunk his teeth into Zoro's arm. Deep into Zoro's arm.

Zoro yelped, trying frantically to yank his arm out of Killer's impossible hold, and then the kid started sucking. Zoro whirled to the sound of the closest teacher's voice and heaved Killer into his chest—still attached to his arm—and dragged him toward the building entrance. He raced down the hallway and to the bathroom, threw the lock on the door and did a quick sweep of the floor to make sure no one was in any of the stalls before dropping Killer unceremoniously. Killer let go from the shock of gravity and landed heavily, letting out a soft wail before he seemed to realize what was happening and looked up to meet Zoro's aghast expression. Neither moved for a full minute, and then tears began leaking out from under the thick bangs.

"I-I'm sorry…!" he said quickly in his tiny voice. "I… I was just… I didn't want to eat this morning so Dad said I could eat when I got home, but I got so hungry…!"

Zoro blinked, swallowing heavily as he looked from the blood dripping down Killer's chin to the gaping holes in his forearm steadily oozing blood.

"What. The fuck. Is going on."

Killer sniffled heavily, bottom lip quivering and another drop of blood dripped down his chin. "It smelled so good," he said pitifully, tears flowing freely now and Zoro caved in an instant, dropping to his knees and holding the top of Killer's head to keep him still as he swiped his sleeve across the blood and the tears on Killer's face.

"Easy, Killer," he murmured as the smaller boy started to sob, scrubbing at his eyes with the backs of his wrists like he used to when he was a baby. Zoro pulled Killer into his lap and held him tightly, fear of getting bitten again drowned out by the little brother he'd grown so protective of that was easily more scared of himself than Zoro was of him. "Easy, Killer, I'm alright, you didn't hurt me."

Zoro sat quietly, running his fingers through Killer's hair as the small boy's sobs quieted down, connecting the dots slowly in his mind. No doubt Law had been called by now. And if Killer had hurt that other kid the administration wouldn't be happy. Especially not if the bite marks looked like… like…

His eyes flicked back to the arc-shaped set of holes dotting his arm.

…Like fangs.

"We should go wait in the nurse's office until Law or Kid get here," he said finally and Killer nodded after a moment, moving to stand up and giving his eyes one final scrub to free his face of liquids. Zoro sat on the ground for a moment, looking up at the tiny downturned lips.

"Was… that kid bleeding before? Did he cut himself when you were playing?"

"…I don't know," Killer murmured, pulling his hands inside his sleeves and holding them into his chest.

"Did you bite him?"

A much longer pause this time before speaking. "I wanted to."

"But you didn't."

"…I… I don't think so. I don't remember."

"…Are you going to be ok if we go to the nurse's and he's there and he's still bleeding?"

Killer's lip started quivering again and he hugged himself tighter. Zoro swallowed again and moved to his knees in front of Killer.

"…Do… you want some of my blood before we go?"

What the hell was he doing?

"And then you can eat for real at home."

He sounded insane. He sounded literally insane. This situation was insane. He was insane. What the hell was he doing?!

Killer looked up at him from behind a thick curtain of blond hair where Zoro knew his eyes were wide open in shock. He pulled his sleeve out of the way anyways and watched as Killer shuddered visibly, gaze now locked on the thick, red liquid pooling in the puncture wound.

"It's ok," he said gently. "You won't hurt me."

Killer managed to pull his eyes away for one second to verify that Zoro was telling the truth before he grabbed the older boy's arm and stuck the bite mark back into his mouth. Zoro winced as Killer's teeth—fangs?—found the same holes, cutting messily through the surrounding flesh, and then his tongue began moving rhythmically against Zoro's skin, blood rushing with the weirdest sensation as it was pulled through his veins.

He let Killer drink for a couple of seconds until it really started to unnerve him, and then he pulled back on his arm, pushing on Killer's shoulder with his other arm when he didn't let go right away. He wasn't really sure how fast Killer was drinking or how much he could give him before it became a problem. Zoro packed the area with paper towel and tied it with one of his shoestrings before hiding it under his sleeve again while Killer waited, and then took the boy's hand and led him out of the bathroom.

"Just wait until they get here," he whispered and Killer nodded, sticking as close to Zoro's side as he could without tripping as he tried to keep up with the older boy's pace. Zoro knocked on the nurse's open door and the scrawny, crow-like woman turned from where she was placing a bandage on the skinned knee of Chabo. Her eyes popped and she reassured him she would be right back before shuffling over to Killer and pulling him into her office. She hoisted him up onto the other examining table and began poking him and pulling at his clothes in various places.

"You were fighting?" she asked roughly and Killer shifted uncomfortably, looking over to Zoro for support and Zoro appeared at his side almost immediately, pulling Killer into a loose hug as the nurse looked him over. She looked like she was about to make Zoro leave but the expression he gave her and his tightened hold made her reconsider and she went back to her examination.

"We were just playing," Killer said almost inaudibly before turning to Chabo. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it."

The other boy nodded and quietly returned, "It's ok. You only pulled my hair a little bit." Killer looked forlornly away anyways. A quick glance over to Chabo told Zoro that Killer didn't seem to have actually done any harm, but he knew that wouldn't help Killer feel better.

"Well," the nurse concluded finally, "your father is on his way, so just hang tight here until he comes. You don't look injured at all, so nothing wrong there."

At that, Zoro glanced down to make sure blood wasn't soaking through to his sleeve, tucking it behind his leg when he noticed a tiny spot that would soon bleed into a big and very noticeable one.

"You doing ok?" Zoro said under his breath after she had gone back to the first boy and Killer nodded, refusing to look up. Zoro jostled him playfully and poked his side, making him squirm and crack a small smile as he fought off Zoro's finger. "Quite a first day, huh?" Killer nodded again.

A flaming head of red hair partially wrapped in an equally red bandana appeared suddenly in the doorway, and before Kid could even glare at the nurse or find a comfortable position in which to lean against the doorframe in a flippant manner, Killer had practically flown off of the table and wrapped himself around one of Kid's legs, burying his face in the older man's ripped and grease-stained jeans. Zoro slid off the table and went to join them after a moment, wondering offhandedly if Killer's quick reflexes had anything to do with…

"You coming home too?" Kid looked up at him, bent over in order to hold Killer close to him, rubbing a large hand over his tiny back. The nurse gave him a disapproving look over the glasses on her nose but it didn't come close to deterring him. The only time Zoro had ever seen Kid scared was when Law was in danger—even he and Killer didn't invoke that kind of reaction in the psycho.

"Yeah," Zoro nodded blandly, still holding his arm out of the nurse's view. Kid eyed the strange position for a moment before turning to face her, expression just as blasé as ever.

Oh yeah, he was going home. This was a conversation that should have happened years ago. Zoro clenched his fist, still astounded that neither Law nor Lid had ever bothered to mention this, when a sharp pain in his forearm reminded him why he was so angry and he relaxed his hand.

"Mr. Kid," the nurse began. It was obvious by her expression that this particular twenty two year old was not someone she was a fan of dealing with, especially when his child with a severe disease was involved in a physical altercation with another child whose parents weren't present. "I'm sure principal—"

"Trafalgar still has that meeting with you tomorrow, right?" Kid interrupted gruffly, picking Killer up and settling him on his hip. Killer looked so small and frail against Kid's huge frame, and the fact that he had buried his face in Kid's neck to hide didn't help convince Zoro that Killer could keep a handle on himself. He was so close to Kid's jugular… but he'd done that so many times before and never had a problem. Zoro let out a huff and stored the questions for the ride home and the yelling for the apartment so he wouldn't scare Killer.

"I—what? Oh—uh, well yes, I believe so—"

"He's better with explaining the acu-interrupting porphire or whatever—"

"Acute intermittent porphyria—"

"Yeah that, so I'm just going to leave the conversations for you and him tomorrow if that's alright with you," Kid gave her a clipped smile before turning on his heel and walking out, leaving her with no time to change her mind about the situation. Zoro wasted no time in dashing after him. They were ten feet down the hallway before Kid yelled over his shoulder, "Have the kid's parents call me if they're all up in arms about their precious offspring!" and then Kid shoved open the front doors and marched toward the car without bothering to sign him or Killer out early.

They were silent as Zoro and waited for Kid to get Killer situated in his car seat, silent as they left the parking lot, silent for half of the ride home before Kid suddenly muttered, "Do you have homework?"

Zoro answered that he'd get it tomorrow and Kid grunted. They didn't speak the rest of the ride home, up the stairs of the apartment building, or even as the two of them watched Killer dash into the apartment once the door was unlocked and pull open the fridge, unearthing a bottle of thick, red liquid from beneath some bags of kale and other greens in the fridge that only Law went near when it was dinner time. And Killer, apparently, when Zoro wasn't around. Zoro waited until Killer had finished the entire bottle and placed it on the table, finding a seat heavily at the kitchen table and panting from drinking the whole thing in one breath, then he crossed his arms and faced Kid.

"So," he snarled, anger bleeding out stronger than he had anticipated. He was twelve for Christ's fucking sake, not an oblivious kid anymore. He'd had a right to know, especially if he had to be defending Killer in the future. What if the nurse or a teacher had gotten hold of Killer and he'd bitten them and started drinking their blood? What the fuck were they thinking not telling him about this?!

Kid took a deep breath and let it all out in a huff, shuffling a hand through his wild hair before he shrugged. "Traf's really better explaining this stuff. I called him on the way to the school; he wants us to wait until he gets home—"

"Nope," Zoro cut him off easily, yanking back his sleeve and tearing the makeshift and now blood-soaked bandage off of his arm to expose the bite mark. "Now. Or, you know, three years ago, but I guess that's beside the point now." Kid just made a face as he looked at the deep arc of puncture wounds, resigning himself to answer all of Zoro's questions and crossed his arms, slouching back against the wall.

"…It's acute intermittent porphyria," he said finally. "Or, at least, that's what all of the paperwork says. It's the best thing to explain his symptoms—the irrationality, the mood swings, the aggression, the stomach pains when he's hungry, the hysteria, the—"

"The drinking blood?" Zoro snapped, and Killer sunk lower in his chair.

Kid paused again before chuckling to himself, followed by a bored yawn. "Well," he looked up to finally meet Zoro's eyes, ""vampire" looks weird on medical records."

All of the air rushed out of Zoro's lungs. Even though he'd been expecting it—as much as one could expect an explanation as preposterous as that—it still sounded absurd to hear it in the real world. Go figure.

There was still a part of him waiting for Kid to burst out laughing at how easily he bought the ruse. There was still a part of him waiting for Killer to interject like he'd started to recently and tell Kid to stop lying because Law said so and he'd be mad. There was a part of him that really wanted to sit down before he fell down, but he couldn't quite seem to get his body to move.

"Acute intermittent porphyria is much more realistic, and much less likely to get him taken away from us for insanity and believing our child is a mythical creature. Or blowing the whistles on him for escaping from the research facility. The porphyria crap actually does cover drinking blood and we can claim delusions if he ever attacks someone else again. People that had the actual disease centuries ago used to drink blood, like natural instinct or whatever, to get rid of their symptoms. If he seizes, it's covered, if he "hallucinates"," Kid made air quotes with his fingers, "covered, temperature spikes or drops, covered. It's really impressive that the disease covers it so well. And it's not really well-known and symptoms vary anyways from person to person so no one will be nitpicking his symptoms."

Zoro stood stupidly for another minute with his mouth hanging open before edging his way slowly into a seat next to Killer.

"…The hospital you found him at—"

"We don't know how they discovered it. He may have bitten a parent or a nurse and started drinking, he may have had symptoms similar to another vampire, but there were no records on that or his parents. We don't know how he got like this or if he was born like this or if his parents were too or if they're dead or alive or being experimented on or what."

"…So they could be… vampires… too…" Zoro mouthed dumbly, still unable to wrap his head around the concept. He was still waiting for Kid to start mocking him for believing it. One look at Killer's ashamed face though told him that such a turn in the conversation wasn't about to take place any time soon.

"Can we just wait until Traf comes home?" Kid asked after a minute, still uneasy discussing the subject. They'd been hiding it for so long after all, and really well too, considering that Zoro was twelve now and had been actually living with the three of them for three years. Blood in the fridge that had to come from someone, keeping Killer from drinking even as a baby, keeping him well fed enough that he wouldn't drink even if he did bite someone, inventing paperwork and medical history to cover their tracks, faking the entire adoption process, probably finding alibies in the adoption industry if it was ever called into question…

"What… about food?" Zoro made a face, looking up at Kid's reluctant expression. Killer had been eating normal food (human food?) with them for years—

"He still eats food. He needs the energy. His blood just deteriorates and he needs to replace it in order to stay alive. Traf was thinking he might be half vampire and the food would come from the human side. From whatever tests Traf ran, the blood it only works half as well as it should so he still needs food."

Kid waited another minute for Zoro to continue, but when he didn't Kid tried again, "…But he understands this a hell of a lot more than I do… I just drive the getaway cars and occasionally show up to look intimidating."

Zoro nodded finally, making Kid's shoulders slump as he let out a relieved breath.

"I'm gonna go… take Killer…" Zoro stood up slowly, turning to look at the messy mop of blond hair half hiding under the table, "…play outside until Law comes home."

"Good, I need to finish some things anyways," Kid nodded and Zoro took Killer's hand, helping him off of the chair he was just barely too short for and around Kid. They were almost out the door before Kid suddenly called Zoro from the kitchen.

"Just…" Kid looked away uneasily and ran a hand over the back of his neck as Zoro waited for him to finish. "What you did today was really helpful. Probably kept a full investigation from happening… I'm going to talk to Traf when he gets home about what other options we have… but it would be great if you were able to help like that again."

Zoro blinked back at him with owl eyes, glanced down at the boy that barely reached his elbow, and nodded with an easy grin. He pulled Killer into a one-armed hug and Killer smiled for the first time that afternoon.

"Can we play tag?" Killer interjected suddenly, looking up at him with the happiest expression on his face.

"Hell yeah we can."

-oOo-