CHAPTER 14

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Diary of Dracule Mihawk, entry #993:

The girl came down with the Southern Flu. It is unsettling Roronoa even more. He was already looking distracted after we returned from Notson Ear. It's worse now.

Perhaps he has finally become aware of the latent attraction? One wonders. Then again, he does appear to be rather dense, so perhaps not.

… … …

I should have said no, thought Perona. But the offer had been irresistible.

Zoro was at that moment reading to her from a book of short mystery stories. His reading skill had improved a little since she'd begun trying to teach him, but he was definitely a long way from being actually fluent in reading kanji. He still butchered half the words in The Ghouls of the Grand Line and she had taken to scribbling hiragana guides on some pages in pencil to help.

This is not the way to stop having feelings for someone.

Perona was staring up at the ceiling, just listening to him. It was incredibly hard to not feel a flutter in her heart when Zoro was willing to sit there for half an hour every night (and even occasionally some afternoons) and do something as boring as reading aloud from books he didn't like. It wasn't boring to her but she was certain it must be dull for him. She didn't understand why he did it at all. It wasn't at Mihawk's instigation – if that was the case, he would have complained about it every chance he got. Did he feel that badly about her being sick? Possibly. That didn't seem like a very "Zoro" thing to do though.

She heard Zoro stumble over a word.

"'The great detective smiled in- in-'"

Perona closed her eyes and sighed. She removed her hand from its comfy position under the blanket, crooked a finger at Zoro and held out her hand. He gave her the book. She read the sentence and said, "The word is 'indulgent.'"

"Dumb word."

"You can't go around declaring words dumb just because you can't read them." She propped herself up on an elbow, took a pencil from her bedside table and wrote in the pronunciation of the word over the character. As she replaced the pencil on the table, it slipped out of her fingers and fell onto the floor. She let out an involuntary "Ack!" and made a hasty and futile grab for the pencil as it started to roll merrily away and under the bed.

Zoro reacted, sliding off the chair to his knees to grab the pencil before it rolled too far. Perona made the mistake of leaning over at the same moment that he straightened up and the top of his head connected with her nose. She squealed in pain and covered her nose with her hands. Her eyes started to water.

His head is like a rock! (That would explain a few things, I guess…)

"Watch what you're doing!" he grumbled, rubbing his head. "That hurt."

She glared at him. "Your skull is harder than my nose. Which do you think hurts more?"

Her voice was muffled behind her hands but Zoro must have heard her, because he looked at her and said, "Oi. You okay?"

She nodded and waved him away with one hand, keeping the other over her sore nose. "I'm all right."

Before she could wave him away again, he took hold of the hand that was covering her nose and pulled it away. He leaned in a little. Perona almost jerked back automatically. She blinked.

"Looks fine," he said.

"Told you."

Perona didn't know if she wanted him to lean in closer or move away. The former option was distinctly more tantalising than the latter. But even from their current position she could see that Zoro's eyes were a dark, dark brown. She'd never noticed that before. And he still hadn't let go of her wrist. Glancing away, she said, "You've probably flattened my nose but whatever – it's not like I had a great nose to begin with."

"Nothing wrong with it. It's fine the way it is."

"I'm sure you say that to all the girls," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"I don't."

There was something unusual in the way that he said it, and she turned to him with surprise. The moment her eyes met his, the air changed with a frightening swiftness. Everything seemed to go dead silent with suspense. She opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out.

Then as quickly as it had come, the charged atmosphere dissipated. She couldn't tell what had happened, but clearly the moment – or whatever it was – had passed. Zoro released her hand and settled back in his chair, asking if she was done with the book. She nodded, gave it back to him, and resumed her place among the pillows.

"You want me to continue this?" he said. "There's only one more paragraph."

Perona drew the blanket over herself, trying not to feel disappointed. "Sure. Why not?"

… … …

It was difficult to squeeze the reading into his daily routine, which was still filled with various training activities. But Zoro tried to fit it in at least once a day. It did help alleviate his guilt. It was also… Rather nice. After a day of strenuous and challenging work under Mihawk's eye, just sitting there was quite pleasant. Relaxing, even. She didn't tell him his stance was off, or that his movements were crude, or that he was relying too much on brute strength.

Of course, Perona sometimes nagged him when he tripped over simple words, or forgot some characters completely, but he found that he didn't mind it much. Besides, it was better to have her chiding him than to see her curled up on the bed, eyes screwed shut because of a headache that hurt so much she didn't even notice his errors. That had happened once and he had been at such a loss that his head almost started hurting too.

He had missed his crewmates badly then – Chopper would have dosed her with the right medicine. Robin would have been able to read to her. Nami would have been able to fuss over her. Sanji would have whipped up some nutritious but delicious food and fussed over her too (Zoro did not like the idea of Sanji fussing over her). Luffy and Usopp would have cracked stupid jokes and pranced around to distract and cheer her up. Franky would have attempted to build her a more comfortable bed or something. Brook would have played her soothing music. What could he, Roronoa Zoro, do? There was no physical enemy here he could duel and do away with. He could do nothing.

So he accepted her benign scolds. It was preferable to the alternative. But her condition was certainly improving. The headaches and coughing had lessened, and her hands were less shaky now. Part of him wondered vaguely why he hadn't stopped reading to her even though she was much better. Sure, he found it pleasant to just sit there but even that didn't really make sense.

Then there had been that one odd moment after she'd bumped her nose against his head. She'd recoiled from him with a shriek, covered her nose and had been blinking away what looked like tears. He didn't know what had possessed him to pull her hand away and lean in, but he did know that right after that he'd had a sudden, strong desire to kiss her. He hadn't been inclined to do that to anyone in so long that it felt utterly new to him. It was with great effort that he masked his shock and carried on as usual.

Zoro had puzzled over it for a while before he finally went to bed, but he finally decided that it was just the result of the physical situation – pulling her hand away and looking right at her from so close and all that. He hadn't bothered about women since he joined Luffy's crew. There were more important things in life – like becoming the best swordsman in the world. It was probably just a momentary reaction from being near an attractive woman. It was something that ero-cook would do. How stupid. He shrugged it off after that.

He knocked (a habit she had forced into him by way of negative hollows). There was no answer. He opened the door carefully and peeked in.

It looked like she had fallen asleep while reading. She was only half covered by the blanket and her right arm and leg stuck out from under it. The uncovered arm hung over the side of the bed and an open book lay on the floor.

Zoro picked the book up. Perona shifted in her sleep just then, drawing his eye to her. Her hair was spread over the pillows in untidy curls and her eyelids twitched slightly, as if she were dreaming. He noticed that her lashes were unusually long. Was it that way for all women? He didn't pay close attention to women in general. Not even the two who were on the Sunny. Funny, that. He'd never noticed anything in particular about Nami or Robin except that Nami's hair was orange and Robin had really long legs, and that Robin had more tanned skin than Nami. Perona was much fairer than Nami, though. Her skin was almost white. Perhaps it was a side-effect of her Devil's Fruit.

She shifted in her sleep and a stray curl fell over her face. He wanted to reach over and brush it away…

The unusual impulse made him stop and blink stupidly for a second. That was definitely not a normal thought. Maybe it was triggered by some residual guilt.

He realised that he was staring, and turned away to put the book down on the table. A bookmark and several other things slid out as he did. He caught the bookmark just in time to still keep the page it had been marking but the other items – a few sheets of slightly worn paper and a random piece of shiny ribbon that looked like one she'd worn before. Zoro retrieved the papers and the ribbon and started to stuff them back where they came from.

Then a name on one of the sheets of paper caught his eye.

Mihawk?

Curiosity compelled him to look more closely at it. It was written in kanji with several words in the alphabet and many corrections had been made, but it was still legible:

I stood on the white sandy beach, my elegant fingers clasped behind my back while the refreshing sea breeze tugged at my long candy-pink locks, which were bathed in the orange glow from the warm rays of the setting sun. My feet were inches from the gentle waves, reflecting the dying silver-orange sunlight, that lapped at the fine snow-coloured sand which reminded me of miniscule pearls.

"Still here?"

I turned swiftly and smiled when my eyes settled on the tall, dashing man coming up behind me. His footsteps were solid and comforting in their manliness, and his cloak swished around him in a mysterious way.

"Where else would I be?" I said with a sultry smile that could melt any man's heart.

"I don't know," the raven-haired man said. "Off making eyes at Drake, perhaps, or Hawkins."

I felt my lips thin into a line that curved downwards at the ends. A frown creased my brow as a sudden strong gust of the aforementioned salt-tinged sea breeze pushed several unruly strands of hair into my face. The sun was setting quickly now, and the light was fading, changing the sky from a golden papaya shade to a pale lavender colour.

"Don't say stupid things like that," I protested.

"Are they stupid?" Dracule Mihawk turned suddenly to look at me, his piercing ruby orbs gazing searchingly into my own.

I couldn't believe it. Did he really doubt my loyalty and my love? Had he already forgotten that night under the stars? My heart shattered like a glass window hit by a bullet. I couldn't look at him. I felt my eyes filling with salty tears.

"Yes, they are!" I said in a trembling voice. "But if you don't believe me, then… Fine! Don't!"

I started to walk away, but he caught my arm before I was out of range.

"Let me go!" I tried to shake off his hand, but his grip was firm and I failed. Why did Mihawk have to be so strong?

Then I was pulled into a crushing embrace against his virile body.

"Forgive me."

One warm hand rested on my back, and the other caressed my pastel pink tresses. In spite of myself, my hands wrapped around his sturdy waist, and I leaned my head on his rugged chest. Then he lifted my face to his, and he slanted his lips over mine and

Zoro almost threw the paper and the book across the room. What the hell was that? His skin crawled just from reading it. He hurriedly stuffed the paper back where it came from and put the book on the nearest flat surface.

It was in Perona's handwriting. Was she writing some story about Mihawk and – herself? He hadn't understood or been able to read all the words, but he understood enough to get the gist of it. It seemed like one of those over-the-top romances of which women were so fond. Yuck.

But it suggested a new, unsettling idea to him. Was Perona attracted to Mihawk?

… … …

Perona awoke from her nap and realised that her book was no longer in her hand. Blearily, she looked around for it.

It must've fallen on the floor, she thought. But there was no book on the floor.

She rubbed her eyes and frowned. Where could it be? The last thing she wanted was for Mihawk or Zoro to see the book – not because of the book itself (a harmless fantasy horror story called The Fifteenth Moon) but because she had stuffed in the back several pages of her little story of Mihawk and Jewelry Bonney. It was a wacky idea but she'd started writing it out of boredom when the popularity polls had been published. Pairing the most popular Warlord with the most popular Supernova had seemed amusing at the time and she'd actually scribbled about five pages worth of it – the last two of which were in the back of the book. She'd never hear the end of it if Zoro found it. If Mihawk came across it, she might have to leave Kuraigana out of sheer embarrassment. There'd be no explaining it away…

She tossed her blanket aside to see if it was somewhere underneath. No book there. Another survey of the floor showed her the book definitely wasn't on the floor. Then she saw it on the bedside table.

She let out a sigh of relief. She must have put it there automatically and forgotten about it as she fell asleep.

That was possible. She could've placed it there seconds before she drifted off to sleep. She flipped to the back of the book and saw the pieces of paper still stuck there. Perona coughed as she drew them out and unfolded them.

Being sick was no fun, but since it meant she didn't have to do anything around the castle, she might as well amuse herself with writing that story. It was an outlet for her unfortunate crush on Zoro too. After all, if she couldn't have romance in her life, she'd just have to imagine it. She looked around for a pen.

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A/N: Confession: My skin crawls too when I re-read what "Perona" wrote. Can't believe I managed to churn that out. XD

Namibean and I had a good time laughing over this idea when I suggested it maybe two months ago. It was almost too hilarious to not use, and it worked as I was trying to keep the reading theme in the story somehow. ^^ It is my hope that you were entertained too!

To my lovely reviewers: I'm so thankful for your reviews! Sometimes when I feel writing this is a drudge, I re-read the reviews and it helps to feel reassured that there are people who like the story that much.