Hello! Thank you for reading again! This chapter is significantly longer than the others because I'm working on my length… I mean I hate it when people update and it's really short you know? So let me know about the length, I mean it's not huge… I hope it is okay? Cause I also don't want it to drag on… :D Well I hope you enjoy!
Chapter Six
Nothing changed between the two of them, or so it seemed to most people. There had been change, a lot of it. Hancock was forced to rely on Zoro to keep her secret and he would, he had enough honour to not break a promise. This created something between them that was hard to explain, they weren't friends, and definitely not lovers. However they didn't hate each other either. Zoro had seen Hancock's rare vulnerable side and decided she wasn't such a bitch after all. They didn't really talk though, things pretty much stayed the same, the only interaction they did have was those brief moments after Hancock's dance and before his lesson of swordsmanship. They would exchange brief words of "How are you?" and "Good luck".
Still even with that slight change, there relationship did no better than before. There were times they wanted to kill each other. Their attitudes were just too different from each other. Of course Zoro knew this would probably change if she would open up to him but she chose not to. Zoro was still very much in the dark about her problems but he had some form of an idea though nothing close to the truth. She became even more cautious about her back and no longer changed out in the open, she permanently used the stalls. Still even with that she stayed behind and watched the other lesson always watching but never saying anything. It became normal and the guys in the dojo liked having her there. Each felt that she was eyeing them up and that they had a chance.
After they had been released from the bathroom, no one asked what had happened. Zoro had looked a little too pissed off to approach and Hancock had run the second the door opened still wearing her dance clothes. She had chosen not to change.
On this day everything seemed normal again. No one had noticed the change in Zoro's and Hancock's attitudes towards each other, which was not a surprise seeing as the chance was very minimal. They never spoke in the halls, the dojo being the only place words were exchanged, never about the secret though. That subject was never brought up.
Zoro scaled the halls frowning at the group of people crowding his classroom. He met up with Ace and gave him a questioning twitch of the eyebrow but Ace just shrugged in confusion. He didn't know what was going on either.
After elbowing his way into the classroom Zoro noticed the brawl that had gotten out right away. Between two people he didn't know or care to learn the names of. Zoro readjusted the bandanna on his head and took a seat at the back avoiding the fight but not making it obvious. He could always hold his own against any fight but he didn't want to join in on a useless one. Zoro would stand up for what he believes in but never fight unnecessarily. Ace took his usual seat next to Zoro and watched the fight intently saying nothing.
Words were exchanged around the room and Zoro was able to pick up bits and pieces to what the fight was about. Like he would have thought, it was about girls. Which girl it was about shouldn't have surprised him as much as it did though.
"I heard this is about which one gets to fuck Hancock," someone said from across the room with obvious mockery in his voice.
Zoro gritted his teeth. A couple of days ago he probably wouldn't have cared. Heck he still believed he didn't care. Zoro didn't get up. They were arguing about something stupid. A woman shouldn't make men crazy like this woman seemed to do, but the work fuck… just wasn't right, it made it so primal sounding and disgusting.
"I need to train more and stop caring" Zoro whispered quietly to himself. He would keep the woman's secret but that was all he owed her. He didn't owe her anything more like 'standing up for her honour,' she was strong enough to do it herself and really he didn't even need to protect her from other people finding out.
There was one thing however that still bugged Zoro, he knew the answer since it had become obvious but it was hard to believe. If Hancock had never allowed anyone to see her back then… she had not had sex with anyone in school… which means she wasn't the slut he had believed her to be? Zoro knew that this was probably the case but it was also possible she just didn't take her shirt off. Considering how careful she was with changing and everything, it probably wasn't the latter.
On the other side of campus, Hancock spent her time like usual, going to lessons and talking with her friends. Hancock never really considered any of the people she knew as her friends. No one really knew her. Even her sisters were in the dark about a lot of her deep dark secrets. Hancock preferred keeping her distance, if she got too close, then she would want to tell them her secret. Something she could never do.
There were a small group of girls that were always crowded around Hancock if she wasn't on search for her sisters or Luffy… but that didn't really happen anymore. They were all nice enough but Hancock suspected their friendship based mostly on her beauty but she was used to that, also because she was unapproachable and the girls were the type to want to keep it that way for themselves and Hancock.
They treated Hancock as if a queen, calling her Snake Empress. She didn't mind really but that ban on boys was a little… unnecessary, her stepfather already made that ban anyway.
Things were being said around Hancock, she wasn't really listening but on queue she smiled warmly at the girls surrounding her. The small blond girl named Margaret blushed at the sight of her smile, all oblivious to the fact that it was forced. Hancock couldn't imagine the last time her smile had been genuine.
Hancock made her way to class, her little group in tow. They all sat together or actually they all sat with Hancock keen on being with the most beautiful woman in the school.
Hancock was eager to get to class because across the hall she caught a glimpse of the famous straw hat that belonged to a man she was yet to get over. With him stood the red haired girl with that obnoxious smile that pissed Hancock off to no end. It wasn't fair she thought. She never even had a chance. She needed to give up on boys all together not that her interest was ever that big. Luffy had been a special case. The light in a dark room but besides him all men were pigs. They only ever wanted her for one reason. Luckily Hancock had learned to use it to her advantage, like saving her sisters or cutting the line at Lunch, trivial matters that made life a little easier but also built up her reputation of being unapproachable. Hancock let out a big sigh.
"What's wrong Hancock?" Margaret asked with genuine worry in her eyed. Hancock merely smiled and waved her question away light heartedly with a flick of her fingers.
Zoro was really bored in his lesson. Of course he would be less bored if he actually paid attention but that wasn't an option either. Ace sat next to him and was constantly in a routine of sleeping and being awake. Zoro couldn't tell when he was doing what meaning he had no one to talk to. He could talk to Jack sitting on the other side of him however he was still a little angry with the fact that it was Jack's fault he got into this whole mess with Hancock.
Thus Zoro sat there in silence till the end of the lesson. Once the lesson was complete he darted out of the class room and in the opposite direction of the dojo. He had really thought about it, today he wouldn't watch the dance class, it confused him too much, plus he didn't want Hancock believing she can rely on him more than she should and really could. Thus he made his way to the school gym. He would train. He hadn't done that in a while and he really was getting soft.
Hancock was also relieved to be out of her lesson and immediately made her way to the dojo for her dance. She walked in silence noticing the crowds around her. The men were all watching her with Lust, the women with anger and jealousy. Not everyone noticed her of course, she wasn't that desirable but Hancock did notice one man walking past her in the opposite direction. One green haired guy, wearing a dark green bandana over his always unruly hair, his tight skinny jeans revealing strong thigh muscles with feet stuffed into large black boots. His top was also tightly fit over strong muscles that looked as if they could break anything. He noticed her like she had noticed him, they made eye contact but no words were exchanged.
Hancock continued walking acutely aware of the fact that they had no connection what so ever. She made her way to dance emptying her mind. He wasn't the type of person she could trust her secret with but she had no choice. She changed alone in the cubicle allowing herself to relax before she entered the dojo. The usual crowd was there but Hancock didn't notice them. She felt tense. Something felt wrong. She wasn't sure what was wrong thus she attempted to push it to the back of her mind. At the back of the hall stood a figure Hancock normally would notice right away. A grown man with calloused hands and a sinister grin, watching her with lust filled disgusting eyes. His whole body moved in a way while he watched Hancock that suggested he was the owner of a well-trained dog showing of at a competition.
Hancock did not notice him. She refused to pay attention to her surroundings and gave in to her desires to move. Her desires to move were for herself and not anybody else. He watched her intently as Hancock practiced moves that were ingrained in her body itself. She dragged her feet across the floor and formed a stance as if ready to fight. Her eyes closed, her ears listening for the subtle cues in the song. Her hands hung limp at her side but suddenly without warning they were in action gliding through the air without a destination. They were a part of her yet they looked separate entirely. Hancock sprang into the air and twirled as if a snake, for which she was usually compared to, seducing the audience to her class with her body without intending to. By the end of it Hancock stood catching her breath feeling slightly less uneasy than before. The strange tall man that had been watching her with growing lust had left never to be noticed by the young woman whom had everything to fear had she seen him. Her stepfather had just witnessed something rare that he could exploit for his own benefit. The sick bastard took pride in not just Hancock's physical pain but emotional pain as well.
On the other side of campus was the same green haired guy with the unruly hair training in the school gym. He felt annoyed with himself for letting any one girl take his attention off of what was important. It didn't matter why she got the attention, which was because he hated her or so he thought but was forced to keep her stupid secret. He doubted it was anything all that bad because she was so shallow it was probably only a secret because it would make her "less beautiful".
Zoro groaned angrily out loud and dropped the large dumb bells with a loud thud, scaring off some of the younger people who had started to crowd. He decided it was probably time to make his way across campus. Before moving towards the door Zoro pulled off his top, wiping his forehead with it. He only had to change again in the dojo so he didn't bother putting it back on and merely stuffed the ends of it into his large pockets.
Zoro made it about halfway before hearing the obnoxious voice of the blond cook whom was an acquaintance. He sat in the food education room flirting with a girl he couldn't see. From the colour of the hair he would guess it was Robin. She was laughing loudly with him saying his cooking was nice. Zoro smirked at the next line however. Sanji had said his usual lines of woman being perfect and that he would devote the rest of his life to Robin since Nami was now dating Luffy, she merely giggled again and explained she was dating Franky.
Franky was a nice guy as Zoro could recall. He did engineering at a college nearby but Zoro had seen him once or twice at different parties. It all made sense now since they were dating. Sanji huffed in annoyance and mumbled something about all the good girls being taken.
Zoro made his way further to the dojo feeling better with that little encounter. Sanji was a major pervert but not a bad guy in the end. They always got on each other's nerves when competing but it was good to have a rival. Robin seemed good with Franky. He was crazy though, but most people Zoro knew were crazy, probably himself included.
The dojo was rather empty when he arrived, the guys already gone to change. Hancock was not present. Zoro wasn't entirely sure where she had gone. His questions were quickly answered once he got near the changing rooms. She came out fully clothed and made her way out. Never looking at Zoro or even noticing him there. It pissed Zoro off slightly that she didn't notice him, he knew they weren't on friendly terms but you'd think someone would notice the guy who was keeping a secret for them. Zoro ignored his anger at the stupid bitch and made his way into the changing rooms.
The truth was Hancock did notice Zoro but she didn't let him realize that. In her peripheral vision she watched him as he made his way to the changing room doors. She had noticed the fact that he was shirtless and wasn't disappointed with how sculpted he was. She convinced herself that she didn't notice that however. What she did notice and allowed herself to admit to it was the big scar spanning diagonally from his shoulder down to his hip. It was ragged and didn't seem to have healed nicely. She was curious to how he had gotten it and would have asked if they were on better terms which were sadly not the case. She had to remember that he hated her.
The rest of their days went similar to this. Zoro avoided Hancock like the plague but she didn't really notice since they didn't spend all that much time with each other anyway. Every day she worked harder and harder during dance worrying her fellow students due to the fact that she would wear out eventually. Still Hancock did not notice her watcher that appeared and left at the same time each day. Her stepfather was starting to creep the other audience members out till eventually one rude boy from Zoro's dojo pointed him loudly out and Hancock stood staring at him. The stepfather didn't make a scene but smirked at Hancock's fear filled eyes. He merely clarified that he was a teacher at the school and just came to watch the dance. He was not a teacher at the school; he worked at the hospital as a doctor. He had irregular shifts thus allowing him the time to come visit Hancock's school.
The lesson went by Hancock, she no longer seemed to be able to move and stood still in her spot staring at the floor unmoving until eventually she was ushered to rest at the side of the room. Everyone was convinced it was because she had overworked herself. No one knew the truth. Hancock held her head tightly between her hands.
Okay… take a deep breath
Hancock took a deep breath and exhaled after a few seconds.
This doesn't change anything… I can still dance; it only showed him I was good!
Hancock sat taking deep breaths. So focused on calming herself down so she wouldn't have a panic attack that she didn't notice her stepfather sit down next to her with the same smirk she used against other people plastered on his face. He whispered something so low she had difficulty catching what he had said.
"Very sexy your dancing. I cannot believe you haven't invited me to see it before"
Hancock said nothing and merely stared at the ground. Noticing the padded floor was starting to get old and peel at the sides. His disgusting voice was sending shivers down her spine and it was starting to get harder to keep the panic attack from happening.
With her stepfather's job, Hancock was able to avoid him most of the time since he worked mostly whilst she was home. She couldn't avoid him in the bedroom of course but she had gotten used to that. Seeing him outside the bedroom was scarier than in, she didn't know what he would do, at least he was predictable when all he wanted was her body.
Zoro was making his way towards the dojo noticing the crowd that usually lingered was very small. He enquired a random girl who looked downhearted about it her blond locks falling over her eyes. She told him Hancock wasn't feeling well so the audience left because she had stopped for the rest of the lesson. Zoro shrugged and refused to admit he was slightly curious about Hancock but not entirely worried. She was a big girl; she could take care of herself.
Zoro walked into the dojo, for once not needing to push. The lesson was technically not even over for dance yet. The girls were still dancing in the middle but even Zoro could tell they didn't feel right without Hancock there to lead them. Zoro looked around the room and finally spotted Hancock, whom he expected to be alone which was not the case. Next to her was a man probably in his late thirties talking to her as if they knew each other very well. He didn't recognize the man at all but Hancock did not look like she wanted to be talking to him, in fact she looked like she was going to vomit.
Zoro didn't really care; in fact he had decided to leave it alone however his body moved towards the pair on his own. He had no idea what he was going to say but when Hancock looked up at him with hope he felt he was probably doing the right thing, yet he still had no idea what excuse he would use so instead Hancock spoke.
"Do you need help bringing the dance mats to the gym?" Hancock stammered out to him.
Zoro nodded once curtly and made his way to the dance mats, - which had never been his responsibility, in fact they never cleaned them up because there was a storage closet in the dojo, - with Hancock close on his tail. Hancock said nothing to the strange man and picked up a of couple dance mats, practically sprinting out of the room. They would have to bring them back again in a bit but Zoro was relieved Hancock was able to come up with an excuse so fast.
The two made their way across campus quietly, once out of the view of the dojo, Zoro pulled Hancock into one of the science lecture halls and closed the door behind him. He sat the mats down and sank onto them whilst leaning against the door; he was watching Hancock with un-amused eyes. He didn't mind helping her but now it meant he was going to be late for his own sword fighting lesson, in fact he didn't even know if the guy would leave! He would demand answers; it's the least she owed him.
Hancock stood for a while glaring at Zoro but said nothing. After a while Zoro couldn't take the silence anymore.
"Are you going to tell me who that was?" He demanded more harshly than he had hoped for.
Hancock was shocked at first at how angry he sounded about it.
He didn't have to help me if it was such a burden!
"I do not owe you any information," Hancock said through gritted teeth attempting to keep her anger in check. This was going all wrong! She wanted to thank him for helping her; she wanted to apologize for making him keep her secret.
"If it was so bad for you, leave now and get back to the dojo!" Hancock said in a hoarse angry whisper.
"No! I helped you for a reason!" Zoro said in an angry whisper back glaring at Hancock with cold eyes. He was really starting to question why he ever helped the stupid bitch. He is a nice person, that's why.
"Why did you help me then…?" Hancock asked looking at him with hard eyes. She wasn't sure to believe him.
"Because… well… I don't know! It's just that… You seemed like you needed help and well I don't understand it either! I wasn't planning on helping you… my body just moved on its own… It's just that… I felt that because I am the only one who knew… you know, about your back. I felt that I should help you even if I didn't have to"
Hancock sat down with a giant sigh, thumping against the hard wood floor of the science lecture hall. Zoro said nothing but pulled off his bandana and moved his hand through his hair in an uncomfortable manner. The tension was so thick it was chocking them but both had too much pride. Hancock let out another big sigh, she was tired of playing this game, and she had played it enough with her stepfather, she decided to trust Zoro.
"He is my stepfather" Hancock said after a while.
Zoro said nothing but nodded. It still didn't make sense. If they were so closely related, why did it seem she wanted to get away from him so badly?
"Our relationship is… complicated" Hancock said again after a while and looked up at Zoro.
"Lock the door" She then said turning her back to Zoro. He did as he was told however he was very confused. He watched Hancock suspiciously; he wasn't sure what she was up to. She might attempt to seduce him but he would make it very clear it wouldn't work… or he had hoped it wouldn't work; he wasn't sure in the end.
Hancock dropped her sleeveless sweater on the ground, her shirt soon followed. Zoro's eyes widened in surprise unsure of what to do, her back was still a gruesome sight, and he didn't think he would get used to it however he noticed more scars than before. It had been a couple of weeks since he had found out about her secret. He saw more scabs; he could count seven that seemed to still be trying to heal, pink tender flesh surrounding each scab attempting to heal the broken skin that should never be treated this way. Hancock pulled her hair forward and away from her back giving Zoro an even better view of her canvas. It was worse than he thought, the burn mark taking up most of the space, the scars and scabs overlapping over it.
"You can… touch it if you want" Hancock said through the silence. Zoro was taken back from the sudden speech; let alone what she had said.
Zoro didn't move for a while but eventually his curiosity got the better of him and he shuffled towards her, his face a shade of hot pink. Slowly he lifted his right hand to her back lingering before even touching her, he attempted to be gentle but even the brush of his fingers against one long scar that spanned from one end of her shoulder to her hip diagonally that seemed to mirror his own, sent shivers down her spine. Zoro assumed from pain but it was mostly because this was the first time anyone but her stepfather had touched her back.
"My stepfather did this to me" Hancock said after a while, taking deep breaths attempting to keep her emotions in check. She didn't want to cry in front of him.
Zoro said nothing, he was stunned. It was starting to make sense. Hancock on the other hand said nothing because she was contemplating whether to tell him everything. Zoro assumed this was the case and gave Hancock a reassuring squeeze of the shoulder.
"When I turned old enough, in his eyes… he snuck into my room… and… he…" Hancock started to quietly sob. She didn't need to say it; Zoro understood completely what the bastard had done. Suddenly he saw Hancock in a completely different light. She was no longer the stupid bitch who thought she was better than everyone else. She was now the girl who felt she couldn't get close to anyone because of what she had been through.
"My family doesn't know. If I tell, then he will take my sisters and do it to them as well. He even threatened to kill my mother!" Hancock sobbed pulling her hands up to her face attempting to stop the tears. It was the first time she had said it out loud. It was horrible because it her mind she was reliving it all over again.
Zoro started to feel slightly useless, he felt like he needed to say something to comfort her, promise her it was going to be okay, but was it? He was just one man. How could he help? Plus… if he did help then would it just backfire onto her family?
"These scars… I get whipped during… during…"
Hancock attempted to say the word sex once again but she was unable. The word couldn't escape her lips. She felt if she said it. It made it real, even though it was already very real.
"It started a little while after… he… he did that…"
Hancock let out another sob but forced herself through it. Her tears had stopped falling. She was finally able to slowly get control of her feelings.
"He whips me for every year I have lived on this earth, then he adds some more if he feels like it…"
Zoro said nothing again stunned that the man he saw earlier was the same man who had been able to do these horrible things to Hancock. She was so vulnerable, he had never noticed how badly built up her wall was.
"Luffy, was the first man to never show me any attraction, that is why… I think I fell for him"
Zoro bit his lip. He had forgotten she had a thing for his friend's younger brother. She was so innocent. Even with her having done so much… she was just so innocent. Zoro remembered studying about this in one of his lessons. He wasn't really listening like usual but he remembered the documentary. Women talking about rape and how they felt it wasn't them. They were just watching it happen to someone else, maybe that happened to Hancock?
The silence was deafening and Zoro was starting to feel a little more than uncomfortable with Hancock sitting shirtless in front of him. It wasn't that he was attracted to her right now, that would not exactly be good, but he had to admit she was beautiful even with her past, plus he had to admit his life wasn't all that great either.
"I don't remember my parents" Zoro started deciding to let Hancock know him like she had allowed him.
"They died in a mugging, I don't know what happened. I lived with my sensei Dracule Mihawk for a while and he got me into sword fighting. I left him and decided to live on my own when I hit high school. I've been on my own ever since. I moved out because… well another girl who had been orphaned had moved in. It was just uncomfortable."
Zoro decided not to mention that it was the same girl who she had seen him with at that party about a month ago whom he ended up being with for the night to relieve his… tension.
"Where did you get the scar on your chest?" Hancock asked quietly pulling her shirt over her head and turning towards him. Zoro saw her face was slightly blotchy but other than that you couldn't tell she had been crying. The usual hardened eyes were back which disappointed Zoro since he thought he had finally gotten some insight into the woman but again she was locking everyone out, or was it she was protecting the world? He knew about it already, what else could she protect him from?
"I didn't know you had seen that…?" Zoro asked with a blush he would swear he couldn't produce.
"I notice things," Hancock said with a sly smile. She was starting to feel better because Zoro knew all the disgusting things she had done and yet he didn't run away. If he did find her disgusting, then he did a good job with hiding it.
Without warning Zoro grabbed Hancock's hand gently and put it under Zoro's shirt. Her blush mirroring his but probably even more red.
"You allowed me to touch your scars… so I thought I would return the favour" Zoro said with a cheeky smile.
Hancock roamed the length of Zoro's scar feeling like this was odd. They weren't close enough for this but it was pretty much what she had done with him earlier. The sad truth Hancock realized was that probably after they left this room their relationship would not be like this again…
"It was an accident. I was practicing with my sensei Mihawk and he accidently cut me. Nothing major and exciting" There it was again, that cheeky smile that Hancock couldn't help but find sexy.
Hancock nodded pulling her hand away from Zoro's chest. His chest felt like it was burning where she had touched him which had confused him but he showed no sign to the woman in front of him.
Hancock and Zoro really connected then but what a normal person would expect didn't happen. Hancock had been through so much that it would take her a long time to understand anything. She may have been feeling butterflies in her stomach but she could not understand that it was for Zoro. They were from what they believed were different worlds. They still had a long way to go. Once they chose to leave the room their relationship would go back to what it was before. They understood each other more but that didn't stop them from driving each other up the wall and thinking the other was stuck up.