AN: One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda!
Hey! Once again, this is ridiculously late! At least it's the final chapter? I've been pretty ill again, so if you don't mind, I'm going to do random updates for a while. There's something I have to do next Monday and that might change this decision, but this will mean I might not update for a few weeks at a time. I am genuinely sorry about this, but I hope you understand.
So, review responses!
megaME-chwaaan~, hehe, if I've done this right, the cry corner might be needed! XD 'All' questions should be answered in this final chapter! XD
yandericaverncastlethehedgehog, I am very sorry if I spelled your name wrong! XD I struggle with spelling and that is one long name you have! XD Thanks for reviewing, but I'll not tell you if you get your wish in this final chapter! XD Hope you enjoy it! XD
Robin Roronoa-swaaan~, I hope this isn't a disappointment! It'll have to happen some time! ;P We really do need to sit down and have a proper chat again! It's been far too long! I do know it's 100% my fault...:( I'll have to start getting life back into order! :P
Ok, so it's finally time for the last chapter of Her Two Year Regret! Hope you enjoy it! ^_^
Chapter Six – Ending the Games
"I never meant to hurt you, Zoro." Robin began, silently pleading with him to stay as he continued to glare at her. "Life isn't some sort of fairy tale; you're life doesn't just suddenly fix itself. That was what felt like was happening to me, but I knew it was too good to be true. I was sure I didn't deserve to be happy. Then there was this adorable, kind boy who'd taken the time to learn to understand me, who'd tried to be there for me and look after me, telling me that he loved me."
"So you decided to see how far you could push things." He spat as he stood up from his chair with his plate and mug.
"No! That isn't what happened! Zoro, you know that's not true!" Robin exclaimed as she joined him by the sink with her dishes. "You just wanted to hold me and protect me because you loved me and I just got caught up in it...When I woke up...I panicked."
"Yeah, great. You panicked and I spent the next year trying to work out what the fuck was wrong with me!" He snapped, rounding on her. "Not only did I fall in love with my damn teacher, said teacher decided that having fucking sex with me was a fun idea! Then she threw the whole 'a relationship with me would never last' in my face!"
"Zoro-"
"You grabbed your damn clothes and ran, Robin! You physically ran from my fucking bedroom, minutes after waking up next to me and suddenly telling me it was 'all a huge mistake' and that 'a relationship with me would never last'!" He yelled back at her before she could say anymore, his suddenly intimidating mass causing her to subconsciously step back. "...and now you're running again...Why do I never learn...?" He sighed in obvious frustration as he moved to walk around her.
"Zoro, wait..." She replied softly, taking hold of his sleeve. "Why did you come here? I very much doubt it was to apologise on Nami's behalf or to look after me."
"Huh? Oh, shit! Law! Yeah...Why did you tell him about Sanji? He's freaking out." Zoro explained, his shoulders giving a slight shrug as he finished.
"Ah, so he is the jealous type." Robin hummed, wondering if she should ask her other questions. It would be rude to ask if that was why he disliked her so much. "Zoro, how do you remember your last year of school?"
"I don't know..." He replied awkwardly, suddenly avoiding her gaze.
"Zoro." She frowned, narrowing her eyes at him.
"Fine..." He sighed, dropping back onto his chair. "When I look back now, it kinda seems like you were trying to seduce me...but I know you and that doesn't seem right."
"In what ways did I seem to seduce you?" Robin continued quietly, taking a seat next to him.
"I- Well...I don't know...This just seems weird..." He frowned, his cheeks starting to change colour.
"Perhaps we should call Law over? He certainly seems to have an interesting take on your last year of high school." Robin suggested lightly, watching him carefully as he suddenly tensed. "So far I'd say you have a 'thing' for older people. Perhaps you should tell that to Law? Then he'd only have everyone over twenty-one to worry about? Or perhaps it is maturity and insight you like? Knowledge?"
"I told you, I don't know how I 'work'." Zoro grunted, staring pointedly at the table. "Until that morning, there wasn't anything that I didn't like about you...I genuinely loved you for you, even though you had flaws. Your flaws just add to your character."
Robin paused, completely unable to respond. What could she say to him? Here he was, being so perfect and caring towards her, saying that word again...and this time, he was the one that was already taken. It just wasn't fair! She should have just stayed with Zoro that morning. She'd been a fool to let him go. Now he was with some jealous guy who'd twisted all his memories of her. His boyfriend had even threatened to have her arrested. How was Law any different to her? He was just a couple of years younger, but how could he claim that she'd done terrible things to Zoro? Law had apparently 'sliced him up'! Even if he had gotten Zoro talking again, who could say what methods he'd used?
"Zoro...what do you think happened the first time you met me? Not what you know, but think?" Robin urged, a horrible sense of foreboding coming over her.
"This is going to sound really stupid and childish..." He mumbled, turning his eyes away from her direction completely before starting. "You tried to humiliate me, teased me and laughed at me...but what I believe is that you were genuinely concerned about me as a teacher...then you challenged me to prove myself as more than just a bunch of muscles like everyone thought. You did tell me to call you 'Robin', but that's normal for teachers and sixth years to call each other by first names."
"What you believe is what I remember." Robin reassured, a dark feeling churning in her stomach. "What about the second?"
"Right...You continued to bully me...then used my pencil falling off of my table as an excuse to try to seduce me for fun." He nodded slowly, confusion beginning to show on his face. "That doesn't sound right...? You wouldn't...Back then, weren't you just trying to push me? You know, encouraging me to work? And then you actually just picked up my pencil to be helpful, right?" He continued, his words beginning to pick up speed.
"Back then, I admit, you were rather adorable for a mature student, but I wasn't interested in you like that at all." She mused, her gut clenching as she began to see how much damage had been done. "How about that time when we went home together?"
"You intentionally put on a dress in 'my colours' to draw me in, kept dropping hints, subconsciously tricking me into following you, then guilt-tripped me with the shitty-boyfriend routine...You tried to seduce me by walking onto the bus first and even invited me back to yours with the cover of 'homework'. You put images into my head and flirted with me..." He replied, clearly having to think about what he was supposed to say. If it had been a real memory, he should have been able to recall it easily. Could he pick out some truth from the web he'd been spun? "Back then...I think- I think I was just starting to want to get to know you. I don't know about the dress...but I think I took it as a sign that you wanted to get to know me better too? I think I might have started playing with the ideas that Ero-cook liked throwing around about 'finding someone'...I wasn't sure what that really meant..."
"If you are the way you think you are, having Sanji around perhaps confused things greatly for you? You wanted to get to know me, but Sanji was suggesting sexual things, so you wanted to try to think about things 'that way' because that was 'normal'." She stated, watching Zoro as he began to slowly nod.
"But you really were just talking about homework, weren't you? If you hadn't been, then you'd have been suggesting some weird threesome stuff with your boyfriend and I'm fairly sure I'd have to be female for that to work out." Zoro mused, managing to force a quiet chuckle from her. "The images were just the whole Sanji's magazines thing, wasn't it?" He frowned, his cheeks darkening.
"Most likely." Robin nodded, still smiling at him.
"What about the blood pressure thing? You said I was cute? I've never really known what to think about that?" He frowned, narrowing his eyes suspiciously at her.
"Oh, for a big, muscular boy, you were very cute and I did learn to take great pleasure in embarrassing you." She laughed, reaching across to push some of his hair back up off of his forehead. "You're still adorable, but I wouldn't say 'cute' describes you anymore." She smiled, searching his dark eyes. "You've become very handsome, Zoro-san."
"Ehem, well, I...but you weren't flirting?" He coughed, a nice rose colour stretching between his ears.
"No, Zoro-san...not yet...You were still just one of my sixth years, even if you were adorable and I was becoming rather fond of you." She replied, taking her hand back and wrapping it around her mug.
"When...When did you start feeling anything for me...or was it always just in my head?" He frowned, watching as she stared at her empty mug.
"Ah...well, over the Christmas holidays, I began to actually miss you...I doubt I felt more than a fondness for you. When I saw that you were still being awkward around me after your prelim, I started to wonder if you had a crush on me." She hummed, running her thumb over the rim of the mug. "I decided to ask some...interesting questions and you certainly seemed to feel something. How much of 'something', I don't know. I doubt you know anymore, if you ever knew at all." She smiled softly across at him. "I'm afraid I was a little out of line while testing out my theory...Did you keep watching? Or did you actually switch off the light and go to bed?"
"I, em-"
"Anyway," she moved to continue, already knowing the answer from his sudden increased awkwardness, "you were certainly 'my hero' when you took me home so I could get changed and then gave me a lift into school. You were utterly adorable when you caught a glimpse up my dress...I was almost happy...You were too good to be true when you suddenly realised you were staring, fufufufu."
"I-I was staring!?" Zoro yelped, his entire face becoming a beautiful shade of pink.
"Yes, Zoro-san." She mused, shaking her head at him – he hadn't even realised! "I rather enjoyed our journey to school and you took me on some interesting detours...It almost seemed as if you were driving around so that we could spend more time together. I know it was just because of your lack of sense of direction, but that is just even more endearing."
"Great, so I'm adorable and do endearing shit." Zoro grunted, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"But, I believe, the moment that I fell in love with you was when you rushed into the classroom and wrapped me up in your arms. You truly wanted to comfort me and protect me, which is something I haven't known in years." She finished softly, leaning closer to him as his eyes widened in surprise at her words. "When Koshiro-"
Robin was cut off as Zoro pulled her against him, startling her. She wrapped her arms around him and smiled into the material of his dark green jacket. His hand began stroking her hair gently while the other gripped her waist tightly. Warm air tickled over her collarbone where his nose pressed into her neck. She turned her head to kiss his neck – the only available skin to her. She felt a snort of warm air pass over her and pulled back slightly, trying to look at him.
"Why did you run?" He murmured as he looked back at her from less than two inches away.
"I was scared, Zoro-san...I didn't know what to do with 'love'...I never meant to hurt you..." She whispered back, pressing her forehead against his. "When I finally realised I couldn't just walk away from you, you'd gone...I didn't know where you were, so I decided to go through with the wedding...I tried to tell myself that I had just been a crush..."
"You haven't been 'just a crush' for a long time." He soothed, his lips creeping towards hers slowly as his eyes flicked downwards.
"What about Law?" She frowned, pulling back slightly as she remembered his 'partner'.
"Shit! Em, fuck! Law..." He groaned, falling back in his chair.
"You are planning to buy a house with him." She stated, watching in amusement as he groaned even louder and covered his eyes. "Although, I'm not sure why you didn't try to talk him into staying? You didn't seem particularly keen to leave your friends."
Robin watched as Zoro sat staring back at her as if she'd become some alien being. He could hardly accuse her of not being human considering he had seen every inch of her body. In fact, he had touched every inch of it and bitten or licked most of it. For someone so reserved, once she had let him loose, he had taken every available option. It could have been the alcohol, the adrenaline, or perhaps it was just the euphoria of sex? She had certainly enjoyed it and, she had to agree, he certainly wasn't a boy when they'd finished.
"Give me five- No, ten minutes," he nodded as he suddenly stood up, "I have to go talk something out, but then I'll be back."
"Zoro-"
"Robin, we've already wasted two years and, as much as Law helped, I haven't been myself." He returned, cutting her short. "Hell, I even let him talk me into abandoning my friends for his stupid jealousy without putting up a fight. I ain't going anywhere!"
"Zoro-"
"Robin, the quicker I leave, the faster I can get back here." He grinned, leaning forward to kiss her briefly with intense passion. "I'm just going to go tell Law that if he can't deal with me having friends, he can go fuck himself. I'm not saying that I've completely forgiven you, but I ain't moving anywhere. Just give me ten minutes and I'll be back, promise. I don't know if this will become anything, but I haven't managed to forget you after two years, so how's moving away going to help?"
"Zoro-kun, you will still need the front door key." Robin rushed out before he could stop her again.
"Oh, right..." He muttered awkwardly, taking the key from her as she held it up, before a smirk spread back across his lips. "I love you, Robin."
"I love you too, Zoro-kun."
Yonde kurete arigatō, min'na!
