Author's Notes: THANK YOU FOR ALL THOSE WHO ENCOURAGED THIS STORY!!! By both reading and writing reviews! I really enjoy writing for you guys! THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!!!

Also, I would like to dedicate this story to K and M!!! (A special love story, for a special loving couple!!!)

XXXXX

Story 1: Part 3: The Little Mer-Sanji

Hovering over the sleeping man, the cook watched as the swordsman's chest quietly rose and fell with each breath of air.

"Kill him with this, and you will be free. You can return home to us..."

The green haired man looked so quiet and peaceful, his face reflecting a gentle quality that the blonde had seldom seen when it was awake and scowling at him. Leaning in, the cook gently kissed those lips that he had waited so long to feel upon his own.

So warm and soft.

The swordsman's breath caught for a moment, and the Sanji froze. If he was going to decide it had to be now.

Pulling away, the blonde man brought the dagger up and above the sleeping man's heart.

"You can return home to us..."

The cook started to bring the blade down, but stopped short of his target.

"I can't do it," Sanji finally thought to himself. "I can't live if he dies...I won't want to live if he dies..."

Closing his eyes, the cook didn't notice when the green-eyes fluttered open to see the dagger still suspended above him.

"OI!" The angry voice exclaimed as the swordsman struck out, sending the cook sailing across the room. In one swift movement the muscular swordsman was out of his hammock, swords drawn and ready to defend himself.

Still clutching the dagger in his hand, the cook slowly stood up and ran in the direction of the swordsman.

Ready to strike down his approaching attacker, the swordsman was left without an opponent when the blonde ran past where he stood, and out of the men's quarters door.

"Oi, where are you going?" Yelled the swordsman as he charged after the fleeing cook.

XXXXX

Running to the ship's rail, the blonde flung the dagger far into the night.

"Is it done?" Called a voice from the waves below.

"Oi!"

The cook heard the swordsman a second before a hand grabbed his shoulder, spinning him around.

"Sanji?!" The voice in the waves shouted.

Looking over the side of the ship, green-eyes settled on the man with the dark-curled eyebrows below bobbing up and down in the water.

Sad brown eyes glanced from the swordsman to the blonde, before diving below the water, a bluish-purple tail appearing and disappear a second later as the merman vanished under the ocean's surface.

"What the hell is going on?" Growled Zoro as he seized the blonde's wrist, increasing the pressure when the cook did not answer. Sanji felt the pain of the swordsman's tightening hold, which was only exceeded by the pain that was growing deep within his chest.

Reaching out with his free hand, the blonde gently held the back of Zoro's head and leaned in, kissing the stunned swordsman on the lips.

Angrily pulling away, green eyes flaring, the swordsman's expression turned from fury to confusion as he watched the blonde's eyes welling up with tears.

"I couldn't kill you, so I can't go home." Words filled with sadness and regret fell from the cook's soft lips, as the tears finally slipped down his cheeks. "And I can't stay here any longer..."

Looking up at the moon, the blonde knew that time was running short.

Blue-eye returning back to the green-orbs that and lured him away from the ocean so long ago, the cook watched as the swordsman's gaze turned from him to the ocean below. A long torturous silence growing between the two...

Finally, the swordsman's gaze returned to the cook, as he finally spoke. "I always thought it was a dream."

Sanji's breath hitched in his throat. "Does he remember...?"

"Long ago, after Kuina died...I traveled on a ship..."

"Please remember..."

"I was training on the deck..."

"Please..."

"And, I hit my head and fell in the water..."

"...hurry..."

"The sailors said that I had imagined it..."

The cook could feel the night air beginning to grow colder, and the ocean's water seemed to turn a darker shade of inky black.

"But I saw a face..."

Sanji could feel his breath growing shorter as overhead the moon moved slowly into it's final position.

"A boy...about my age...with golden hair...and a blu--..." The swordsman stopped speaking as his eyes widened. "It was YOU..." he finally whispered.

"He remembers..." The blonde smiled gently as he felt an icy grip begin to take his body.

For a moment the two stood absolutely still, staring into each other's eyes. Then with a sad sigh, the blue-eye closed as it's owner's body started to collapse.

"Sanji!" Yelled the swordsman as he caught the falling man, lowering him gently to the floor. Leaning the blonde's body against his chest, the swordsman cradled the cook in his arms.

His breaths growing more and more infrequent, the blonde struggled to take in each painful gulp of air.

With the lid of his blue-eye half open, the cook reached up and touched the swordsman's cheek. "I...love..." But lacking any more breath, the final word couldn't escape his lips as the cook's hand fell back down to his side.

"No..." The word was barely uttered from the green-haired man. Then gripping onto the blonde, the swordsman grew angry and shouted, "Don't you go!...Don't you leave me now, you Kuso-Kokku!...I thought you weren't real...so, I never looked...because I never thought..." For the first time, since that day when he grieved for his childhood friend, Zoro felt his tears falling down his face. "You can't go," the swordsman whispered into the ear of the body in his arms, as tears fell onto the peaceful face below. "Because I love you...I've always loved you..."

XXXXX

Fate is seldom kind and never fair.

And love sometimes comes along too late, missing it's intended...by a few hours, minutes, and even seconds.

While Zoro had always been a man of few words, those words echoed in his mind over and over again as he watched the foamy froth on the sea rising and falling.

Years had come and gone, and the swordsman had seen both friends and foes fall. However, only twice had the pain been so overwhelming that he had openly wept.

And now, he stood at the rail, alone in his thoughts...

A pair of arms gently wrapped themselves around the swordsman's waist, as a head softly came to rest on his shoulder.

"What are you thinking about, Marimo?" Were the whispered words in Zoro's ear.

An uncharacteristic smile spread across the swordsman's face as he reached up to rub the other man's golden hair. Turning around to face the man that he had once thought could only be a figment of his imagination, green-eyes and blue connected and locked.

"How much I love you..." Answered the swordsman, as he returned the blonde's hug. "Happy Birthday..."

Fate is seldom kind and never fair...

But love is always eternal.

XXXXX

Author's Notes: You guys don't know how hard I had to fight NOT to give this story a traditional ending...

Sanji: Oi! It may have been better...for both of us...

Zoro: (glaring at KS, holding the handle of one of his sheathed katana)

KS: Um...okay...lemme see...I'm outta here!!! MAHALO and ALOHA to all you READERS and REVIEWERS!!! THANK YOU!!!