Author's Note: AHOY FAITHFUL READERS/ REVIEWERS! PLEASE LOOK AT MY PROFILE, THERE IS A SPECIAL NOTE FOR YOU RIGHT AT THE TOP!!

Disclaimer: One Piece I don't own, Hoshi and plotline I do

Chapter Five: Human or Monster?

Hoshi decided on the second option. She punched him in the face. "You IDIOT!" she roared. "What the hell did you do to get yourself landed in here!?"

"Worried about me?" he asked. "I'm touched. Especially after the whole 'if you don't get out of here, I'm going to kill you' act last night."

She froze. Zoro's face grew serious. "Hoshi, tell me the truth and don't lie to me. Did you really come back here because you felt like it, or because you were worried about us?"

Hoshi looked away. She couldn't meet his eyes, not after all the things she had said before…

"Luffy still believes in you," Zoro said, sensing her indecision. "We all do."

Hoshi's eyes flickered. "Idiots," she muttered, not looking at him but at a corner of the room. "That's part of the reason why I left… you all are so stupid and conceited."

Zoro grinned in relief. Hoshi had just answered his question, even if she didn't know it. He stood and put his hands on her shoulders. "Aren't we?

Hoshi squeezed her eyes shut, trembling. "You don't have to carry all this yourself you know," Zoro stated. "We can help… it's what nakama are for."

"I can't," she whispered. "You guys aren't involved in this."

Zoro smiled. "Well I don't know about the others, but where I'm concerned, I think I'm already involved." He shook the chains on his wrists a little to prove his point.

She looked away. "Hmph. Like I should care," she huffed. It would have been a rather convincing statement had her voice not cracked in the middle.

Zoro shook her slightly. "Don't carry this by yourself when you don't need to, you idiot!"

"Shut up!" Hoshi snapped. "It's none of your buisiness!"

"Yes it is, if it means I get tied up and put into a cell!" Zoro snapped back.

She refused to answer. A bubble of guilt rose inside her chest and started to swell. Why was he even still talking to her, like they were still nakama? How could he even stand the sight of her? She didn't deserve it. She had hurt him and the crew so badly… She had done everything she thought that she could to make the crew hate her… to stay away and forget about her… a burst of their smiling faces erupted in her mind, and a cry of pain almost made its way out of her lungs. It clawed at her throat, but she bit her lip and refused to let it out. She could NOT return there, not if she wanted them to live…

"Hoshi…" Zoro narrowed his eyes. "Why are you pushing us away?"

Against her will, Hoshi started to tremble under his hands. A strangled whisper forced its way out of her throat. "I… I don't…"

Hoshi faltered before her defenses gave away completely and she broke. She stepped into his embrace and cried with all the pain and stress she had been suffering against his chest. "I don't want to see you get killed," she sobbed. "I can't go through that pain… not again! Too many times…" At this, her voice closed, and she just trembled against Zoro as tears rolled down her cheeks.

He wrapped his arms comfortingly around her. "It's alright," he murmured into her hair, pulling her close. He wished he could just take away all of her pain and make it disappear so she would stop trembling. But all he could do for now was hold her tight and let her know that he was there.

After a few minutes, Hoshi pulled back. "Sorry," she said. "I got your shirt wet."

Zoro tenderly wiped her remaining tears away with his thumb. "That's okay," he said, smiling. She hesitantly gave him a watery smile and his widened. "That's better. You look better with a smile on your face." Suddenly, he blushed. "I mean... um, well I didn't mean it like that…"

Hoshi's smile widened. "That's okay," she murmured, cutting him off. She wrapped her arms under his shoulders and pulled him close, leaning her forehead against his neck. It gave her comfort, feeling his solid warmth in her arms. She felt as though an enormous weight had just been lifted from her shoulders. Zoro, at least, didn't hate her for what she had said before…

Zoro hesitated this time, but he still responded in kind, wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

"I… I want to come back to you guys," she whispered. "I hate it here. I'm not a person anymore… I'm just an 'it' again. A damn, worthless, replaceable 'it'."

Anger flared inside Zoro. "Who the hell told you that you were replaceable?!" he demanded.

Hoshi didn't answer.

"If you're stupid enough to believe crap like that, I'm going to loose all respect for you," he threatened.

She grinned a little. "At least I'm not worthless where you guys stand," she murmured gratefully.

"Then leave," Zoro said. "There's no reason for you to stay here."

Hoshi shook her head. "I… I can't. They're all counting on me…"

Zoro tightened his grip. "Who?"

Hoshi was quiet and she didn't answer for a moment, before she leaned up and whispered something in his ear. His eyes widened, and he pulled back, staring at her. "Are you sure about that?!"

Hoshi nodded. "I've given them the wrong impression by coming back here… I have to take responsibility."

"You really are an idiot. Do you have a plan?" Zoro demanded. "What are you going to do? Fly them all over the ocean?"

"I'll think of something!" Hoshi insisted. "The people of the villages are really open and accepting… they might…"

"That's ridiculous," Zoro snapped. "You'd have to destroy this place first, or they'll just all be toted back in a week."

Hoshi's eyes darkened. "Heh… that's on my 'to do' list anyways."

Zoro forced Hoshi to meet his gaze. "Want our help?"

Hoshi's eyes widened, and she shook her head. "No!" She suddenly covered her mouth. "I… I didn't mean it like that… but this is just something I have to do myself." She looked at him pleadingly. "Tell me you understand."

He grinned. "I understand… I'm just going to have a hell of a time convincing Luffy not to tear the place down himself. He wanted to do that when we came to get you last night."

Hoshi winced and said, "Well THAT would have caused a few problems now, wouldn't it?"

Zoro grinned. He pulled her a little closer. "Don't hurt yourself. You're already burned up a bit. What've they been doing to you here?!"

She leaned her forehead against his with a slight bump. "I thought you hadn't noticed that."

"Yeah right. Tell me."

She shrugged. "They're scientists. They run tests. Nothing bi- ouch!"

Zoro took his finger off one of her burns. "That's not a fire burn," he said. "What the hell happened?!"

Hoshi pulled away. "It's fine. I'm used to it."

He grabbed her arm and forced her to meet his gaze. "You can't stay here," he told her. "It's going to kill you eventually."

"I don't plan to," Hoshi assured him. "Don't worry, staying here's always been the last thing I want to do." Her eyes darkened. "It's this place I hate."

Instinctively, Zoro pulled her close and quickly grabbed the back of her head, closing the distance between their lips in a flash. Hoshi gasped in surprise, but then relaxed with a sigh, melting into his arms and kissing him back. He wrapped his arm protectively around her and pulled her closer. Breaking for air, he tenderly kissed her forehead. She let him, then she tucked her head snugly under his chin.

They stood like that for a while, feeling their hearts beat against one another. No words were said. None needed to be said.

Neither of them were aware of the small fish-eye cameras in every corner of the room.

They heard footsteps in the hall and quickly sprung apart as the door handle turned. Zoro quickly sat back down on the bench and Hoshi crossed her arms. The poor man who opened the door received the 'death-by-staring' treatment. He hurridly stepped backwards, and the boss poked his head inside the door. "Are you done?"

"Let him go, NOW," Hoshi demanded. "You gave me your word."

The boss sighed. "I suppose I did… though it makes my heart break to part with a potential 70,000,000 Beli to support our research he-"

Hoshi glared at him. "Don't make that scary face," he said, amused. He turned to the men on either side of him. "Release him, and escort him to the door."

"What about my katana?" Zoro asked as the men unlocked his chains.

The boss grinned. "I think I'll give them back to you once our doors have been shut behind you, Roranora Zoro. I'm not stupid enough to arm you while you are still in our facilities."

"Fair enough," Zoro agreed.

As he was led away down the hall, he turned his head and looked at Hoshi. She met his gaze, her eyes determined. He grinned.

Hoshi watched him leave with a pang. If things didn't go right, it would be quite possible that she would be killed and this was the last time she was ever going to see him. The thought made her heart clench, and she gritted her teeth. I'm not going to die here, she vowed. Not in this damn hellhole. I need to make amends with everyone. And Zoro…

"Back you your testing now, 413," the boss barked. "I believe your next one will test your flexibility."

She winced. Considering what she knew about the machines here… that wasn't going to be any fun.

"Hey, come and take a look at this."

"What is it now?"

"It's the video of 413 from this morning."

"So?"

"… just come and watch it. I've just got to say, after watching this, suddenly I feel uneasy for some reas-"

"Ah, you're just being a wuss."

"No, seriously. You have to see this."

"Jeez Zoro, how'd you get lost in the damn FOREST?" Usopp demanded. "Your note said you went for a walk in TOWN."

The crew had found Zoro wandering around in the forest. He had been put outside the lab and told which way to go back to town… and he had gotten lost.

Zoro got a stress mark on his head. He refused to answer. For some reason, he felt like he shouldn't tell the crew that he had been taken inside the lab… unless some talk of going back before Hoshi had finished what she said she was going to do came up.

"Something's wrong with this forest," Chopper shivered. "It's so… sad," he said, for the lack of a better word.

"I agree with Isha-san," Robin spoke up unexpectedly. "Not that it's really sad, but I feel like we're being watched."

"I've just got a bad feeling," Usopp said, looking around nervously. "It's like a horror movie. The hero's just walking in the strange and spooky forest, when SUDDENLY the monster comes out and fatally wounds him, and he stumbles back to town where he gets better then comes back out then gets killed by the monster." A strange little thought bubble popped out of Usopp's head, acting out the scene as he said it. (Strangely, the hero looked somewhat like Usopp…)

"Baka," Sanji sighed, sucking on his cigarette. "This ain't a movie. If people get fatally wounded, they die. The idiot hero would have been dead the first time around." The scene in the thought bubble suddenly rewound and played the hero dying the first time.

"DON'T SAY THAT!" Usopp and Chopper yelled. The thought bubble disappeared.

Nami shivered and looked around. "Now that you guys mention it… it feels cold. Let's get out of here as soon as possible."

Luffy looked around at all of them, a slightly baffled look on his face. "What're you talking about?"

"Nothing," they all replied.

"Look!" Chopper said, pointing. "It's the town!" And so it was… the town was barely visible through a gap in the trees.

"Yosh. Everyone!" Nami called, demanding attention. "Listen up. I think the best thing we can do with today is to restock the ship. Tonight, we'll talk about what we're going to do about Hoshi. Think about it while you're out today, and gather information too if you can."

The crew agreed to this, and everyone went their separate directions.

Hoshi collapsed onto her cot, her body sore and aching. The flexibility machine hadn't done her any good.

Through all the tests, there was one thing that made a sharp needle of anguish slice through her body. A new scientist who didn't quite know his way around yet had opened the door to the wrong room. Wheeling her in, he had called out for his companions, but no one had answered. Confused, he had turned on the lights…

… to a roar of protest from the experiments that were being held in there.

Remembering it, Hoshi shuddered. The sound had been… hell. A person running a nail down a chalkboard would have been sweet music to her ears at that moment. The tortured cries of a those beings with deformed or malfunctioning voice boxes, accompanied by the rattling of cage doors…

"Let us out!!"

"I… I'm dying in here…!"

"Damn whitecoat, let us OUT!"

The absolute worst part was out of the nine, they were all children, kids, probably six or seven. And one was only an infant, not knowing what was happening to her except that it was bad. They had been screaming, crying, begging, raging... Pure anguish, pain beyond anything imaginable…

Breathing hard, Hoshi stared at the ceiling. Brings back memories, she thought bitterly, clutching the tattoo on her shoulder and digging her nails in. Her eyes hardened. She had told Zoro… She was the only one who could save them, the only one who cared that they were human while the shitty whitecoats all looked down on them as monsters. They would all die if she couldn't get them out, and they hadn't even done anything wrong! They were just KIDS!

Tonight, Hoshi vowed.

"This… this can't be…"

"Do you get it?! We haven't been messing around with an animal like we thought! She's a-"

"No, don't say it. There has to be some sort of rational explanation for this…"

"Have you forgotten?! We're scientists! We deal with truth, and the truth is-"

"If we say that's true, then all the beings we've ever created… and killed… the very point of our entire rsearch… what does that make us!?"

"…"

"Exactly."