I'm quite hurt. I thought people would review my story if I begged enough, so I waited and waited for that fifth review. It never came. Now my grief may overflow into the story, and the chance for lemon scenes (even though mine suck) could go down. I'm that sensitive! In the future, please review if you read. Even if you just whack your hands on the keyboard and end up with something like ip4pnviqvlkngja, it'll be enough to boost my self-esteem (now perilously low) and get me to write more and slightly happier chapters. Damn, that was a freaking long author's note.

Chapter Five

Sanji woke in the middle of the night to find he was naked and alone. He got out of bed to dress, feeling rather hurt that the marimo bastard hadn't stayed. Sanji pulled the light blue pajamas over his arms. Why had he asked Zoro to stay anyway? Was he actually in love? Damn. He was confused, tired, and his ass had defiantly felt better. Sanji decided to head out to the deck to have a smoke. Ignoring the pain as best he could, he grabbed his cigarettes and his lighter and headed out.

The grass coated deck of the Thousand Sunny felt welcome on his tired bare feet. Sanji walked over to a wall, leaned up against it and lit up a smoke. He let the calming sensation of the nicotine wash through out his body as he withdrew into his thoughts. To be or not to be in denial was the question. He by now had realized the love he had for the shitty swordsman; he needed to decide whether to embrace his feelings, or reject them for the sake of reputation. But before he even could think of the answers to those, there was one other thing he couldn't understand. When had his hatred of Zoro transformed into love? Sanji inhaled another relaxing breath laced with nicotine. The answer: never.

Sanji came to the conclusion in a feat of subconscious thought he would have never thought possible. Never? That made perfect sense. Never did not mean that he was not currently in love with Zoro, but rather always had been. Well, maybe it hadn't been love at first sight, but counting only the time he actually knew (kind of) the man, his love had been there. Festering beneath the surface at all times, the love it seemed had erupted from Zoro's rescue of Sanji's near lost dream. Zoro's fight with Mihawk, and willingness to die rather than lose possibility for his dream showed how much a dream could mean to someone. A dream, a true dream was not to be lost half heartedly. Up until finding that the old fart had nearly died to save Sanji's life, he had lived for his dream just as Zoro had. Zoro had revived Sanji's dream, and there was no way to repay that, Sanji guessed his debt had ended up as love.

Yes, the swordsman pissed him off to no end, but Sanji had never once genuinely hated the other man. Sanji knew that his love had built up too much for him to try to ignore it now. Denial, while safe, was not a real option. Zoro had to be told the truth, and whatever came from that would come. Sanji's tempest of thought settled slightly at the epiphany. He smiled and sauntered back to bed to fall asleep, smile still covering his face.

Sanji woke later that day at his usual time, still sore, still tired, but content despite it all. Today he would finally be free of his conscience's nagging. Today he would reveal to Zoro what he had only recently revealed to himself. He was scared, that was to be expected, but he was also determined. If he didn't do this today, he may never get the courage up to try again. Zoro probably didn't love him in return, but whatever the result, this had to be dealt with. Firstly, however, he had to prepare breakfast.

Sanji felt as though he were walking on air as he went about his morning ritual. He took his shower, brushed his teeth, and perfectly prepared omelets for his crew mates.

"Nami-swan, Robin-chwan, the breakfast of love is prepared!" Sanji cried, and then in an undertone added "The rest of you louts can come too, I guess." As usual, the child-like men sprinted towards the door and began to shovel food in their mouths while Nami and Robin came casually. Sanji held the door for them and seated them as was his custom (usually he tried to grope something as he pushed the chairs back in), and it was not until the hearts in his eyes had receded did he realized the lack of grass at the table.

"Where's the shithead?" Sanji asked.

"Swordsman-san was napping, and said he would come when he was hungry." Robin replied as Sanji served her a heart shaped omelet.

"That bastard!" Sanji growled, "He could have slept all night. Whatever, it doesn't mean he's getting out of doing the dishes."

"Sanji, seconds!" Luffy called, holding out his plate expectantly.

"Get it yourself!" Sanji yelled back, "Make sure to leave at least one for the marimo." Sanji added when he saw Luffy stacking more and more food on his plate from the communal platter at the center of the table.

"Luffy! I want more too! Don't hog them all!" Usopp whined

"Yeah!" Chopper and Franky agreed. Sanji ignored the ensuing carnage, and decided it was safer just to rescue a plateful. He scooped up an omelet and ducked as Usopp soared over his head. Nami and Robin watched with some interest, giggling occasionally at the absurd skirmish over the plentiful food, and Sanji escaped to deliver the swordsman his food, hoping that the "treasure wood" would hold in this brawl.

Sanji had to search for the other man, when he discovered Zoro was not in his cabin. After checking the crow's nest, every corner of the deck, and even the bathroom, Sanji finally stumbled (literally) over a leg emerging from Nami's mikan grove. Upon further inspection Sanji verified that the leg belonged to Zoro, who was snoring peacefully against the trunk of one of the trees. How had Robin spotted the man amidst such perfect camouflage anyway? Sanji set the food down and reached out to shake the man awake.

"Oi, Marimo. I brought you some breakfast." Zoro opened his eyes slightly and saw the proffered plate. He blinked a couple of times and sat up a little straighter before responding.

"Why'd you have to wake me up ero-cook? I thought I told Robin to tell you that I'd come when I was hungry." Zoro had only a slight tinge of anger on his voice, so Sanji knew he didn't have to justify himself, but he did anyway.

"It's not like there's an unlimited supply, baka, and Luffy was there. Does that explain properly?" Sanji finished, feeling that this may be the best time to say what he needed to say. He thought he was ready for this, but talking to the man face to face had drained him of his courage.

"Oh. Yeah, that makes sense" Zoro responded, then yawned. It was now or most likely never.

"Zoro?" Sanji asked.

"Hn?" Zoro tried to respond with mouth full of egg.

"Thanks for staying last night. It meant a lot." Sanji said, hoping Zoro would understand what he was getting at, and staring to turn slightly pink. Zoro swallowed, and responded:

"It's a part of sex right? Some guys want it, some don't." Zoro waved a hand dismissively and took another bite of his breakfast. Sanji was more than a little set back by the curt words. Was Zoro really that dumb? He thought it would be fairly obvious that he felt for the man after saying that. God! You just couldn't be at all subtle with this man.

"You're so fucking stupid!" Sanji chuckled, "I was trying to imply more than just that." Zoro looked confused. "Look", Sanji sighed "what I'm trying to tell you is that I think I lo-"

The door to the galley blasted open and interrupted Sanji. Luffy, Chopper, Usopp, and Franky all flew out followed by an irate Nami dripping with orange juice.

"This outfit cost ten thousand beli! It was my favorite, and your stupid little war just ruined it!" Nami was screaming with narrowed eyes, "You're all charged 10,000 beli to compensate!"

"But I thought that was the price of the entire outfit!" Usopp wailed, "Shouldn't we each just be charged 2,500?"

"The additional 7,500 is for emotional pain and suffering." Nami explained matter-of-factly, and all four gaped at her; Chopper had tears welling up in his eyes. Sanji and Zoro rolled their eyes in unison as they viewed the scene, before heading down to try and help sort it out. Why?! Why did this have to happen right now?! He was actually succeeding in forcing himself to convey his emotions, and then this had to happen. Fuck! Why the hell did he have to live on this dysfunctional ship?

Alright. This chapter was really boring and it came out crappy. I have about five more chapters brainstormed, so it would be a shame if I didn't get the reviews to write them. I'll go back down to four, but there are at least 8 people who have this alerted, so please just review. Please? It would mean a lot to me, and then I could include the lemon I have set up in either the next chapter or the one after. Don't you people want to know where the relationship will go?! Again, I need at least four reviews before I start writing chapter 6, but I really want five or six. Oh, and if you want me to stop writing, you should tell me that too. Wow, another really freaking huge author's note.