Chapter 4: Are we good?
"It's me."
Zoro's baritone rang from outside the charting room." Can I come in?"
Nami stiffened in her chair. She wanted to shout at the door to tell him to get lost, but then she remembered they were still in no-talking phase. So she bit her lower lip tightly and hoped he would go away before long if no answer was offered.
"I'll take that as a yes then." Contrary to what she had expected, the door opened. His green head popped in.
"Are you crying?" He asked sounding serious.
"Wha-DON'T FLATTER YOURSELF!" Nami's anger was reignited in an instant. She picked up her pen from the table and threw it at him. "Why should I be crying? F-for you? Who the hell do you think you are?"
Zoro tilted his head to easily dodge her pen attack.
"So we're talking." A Slight smirk crawled on his face.
Shoot. Nami immediately compressed her lips.
"You know, you hair looks funny when you are all worked up." He pointed out matter-of-factly.
"My hair's fine! And I'm not angry!" She yelled, her fingers exploring the surface of charting table trying to find something hard or sharp to throw at him. "Stop making it sound like you are capable of irritating me when you are not!"
"Scream louder. That's almost convincing." He teased as he walked up to her. His gaze fell upon the table.
"So…you were destroying my face." he said, picking up her little piece of doodle and giving it a closer look. His eyebrow quirked in a slightly amused manner.
Nami almost bit her tongue in embarrassment. She had to admit that this might not be the most mature thing she had done for a while, but-
"Oh you deserved it." she muttered.
Zoro was trying hard to maintain a stern face and he almost succeeded in doing so as he suppressed a chuckle from escaping his lips. To be honest, he was rather disappointed when Nami walked away from their confrontation earlier. Okay maybe it wasn't really mature of him to have tried to provoke her into a verbal fight like that, but the way she turned around and left him hanging there? That was just rude!
And this-this is certainly better. He thought to himself.
"Can I borrow one of these?" He asked, picking up another piece of paper from her table.
"No. These are very expensive and for my mapping use only. I'm gonna charge you 3,000 belis if you don't put that down, NOW." she threatened.
"Put it on my tab then." He already owed her more belis than he cared to remember and he never really planned on paying off his debt. He shrugged and showed her his other hand. "And this?" He was holding that pen she had thrown to him.
Nami just snorted as a reply. She then watched as he wrote down "Nami" on that piece of paper and handed it back to her. "There."
"Oh good." She said sarcastically, "You actually made a list of self-centered bitch."
He sighed. He should've seen that one backfiring. "You know it's not that."
"Then what is it?"
"It's…uh, my list." He swallowed a lump in his throat before continuing. "-of the woman I wish to sleep with."
Nami blinked. Was this…his unique way of saying he's sorry?
For a second Zoro was sure this was the most embarrassing moment in his entire life. But he was wrong; things could get more embarrassing-
"That was soooo flattering, Zoro~ Lucky me! "Nami exclaimed in a melodramatic tone, sarcasm written all over her delicate features. "oh wait, did you just steal Sanji kun's move-right after you made fun of him this morning?"
Yes he did. He was not proud of it either, but he didn't know what else to do–he might be a master of fighting with swords, or training with unbelievably heavy barbells,but when it came to women, he was so green that he had no other choice but to learn from that flirtatious love-cook-now that he had realized that, he was really ashamed of himself for doing so. Zoro put a hand onto his forehead to cover the blood vessels popping there." Don't make this harder than it already is, Nami. I'm trying here."
"Try harder." She didn't budge.
"…fine." He grunted through clenched teeth. "Look, sometimes I said things I didn't mean to and if any of those upset you-"
"Do specify." She demanded. Apparently she enjoyed watching him squirm.
The swordsman exhaled deeply in defeat. "I'm SORRY, okay? I'm sorry for calling you a bitch..."
"and for being a jerk?" She offered.
"...and for being a jerk." He repeated in a low voice, looking like he was ready to kill someone though. "So? Are we good now?"
Nami thought about this for a minute.
"Yeah…I guess." she said, giving a shrug." Apology accepted."
Zoro exhaled heavily, this time in relief. Damn, women are troublesome. He leaned over a little and pressed a swift kiss on her temple. "Then I'll see you tomorrow night on my watch, like we said before, all right?"
Nami didn't give an answer to that. She watched him leaving the room, looking relieved and almost equally exhausted while mumbling something under his breath.
It felt weird. She had thought she would feel better after squeezing that apology out of him; it would feel like she was winning-like every other time she'd won, but it didn't.
It just felt…not right. There was still some place unfulfilling in her chest. She couldn't figure out what exactly was the cause of it, but she didn't like it one bit.
0000000
"Ne, Ussop~ you know how sometimes I get all angry over nothing?" Nami absently said to her friend as they sat on the floor of Franky's Factory working on her weapon together.
"What? What did I do to you?" Ussop asked slightly panicked.
"It's not you!" She elbowed him," It's…never mind, just get this: I feel …this rush of anger rising within me, but I can't put it into words. I don't even know why I'm feeling this way."
"This isn't your period talking, is it?" Ussop glanced at her warily.
"No~~!"
"Hmm…" Ussop thought for another moment. "Is it because we made fun of you and Zoro? Nami, I swear it was just a harmless joke!" he raised both of his hands into the air emphasizing his point." In fact, I never think there'll be anything going on between you and Zoro like EVER!"
"Why? I'm not good enough for a muscle head like him? "Nami questioned. When Ussop put it in this way, it felt a little offensive.
"No this's not what I meant, Nami. I mean Zoro is all macho and crude and single-minded while you are …well, you. You are kinda like a princess on our ship. You need a guy who knows how to pamper you, to spoil you, to woo you with all these compliments and gifts-expensive gifts, like…like Sanji!"
"Sanji kun?" Nami wrinkled her nose, not too thrilled at Ussop's conclusion. "But I don't have any feelings for him."
"Woh hold on a sec Nami-are you saying that you actually have feelings for Zoro?" Ussop was surprised.
"OF COURSE NOT!" Nami's defense mechanism was provoked in a second. "Why would I have feelings for that…that stupid green head! He only annoys me! If that's the feeling you're talking about , then YES!"
"I'm just saying. Don't take your anger out on me… "Ussop shuddered visibly." Look, I'm glad you don't have any feelings for Zoro, okay? I care about you as a friend, Nami. I don't want you to get hurt."
Unfortunately, Ussop's "friend" statement only got him a punch on the shoulder. Nami was not at all pleased, let alone touched-
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean? Why would I get hurt- I mean hypothetically, if Zoro and I were together? Why wouldn't he be the one to get hurt? I could be a heartbreaker, you know! "
"Don't get me wrong, Nami; Zoro is a good guy. And I like him A LOT. But…" Ussop scratched his chin, trying to find some suitable words to make his point clear. "-but he's not like me or Sanji, you know what I mean? We care about this stuff. All this girl and relationship stuff…okay maybe not so much to Sanji, but it does mean a lot to me. I'm willing to sacrifice anything to make Kaya happy, even my dreams if I have to. But Zoro…I guess he is just too manly to give a damn to these kind of lovey-dovey things."
"You mean heartless."
"No. I mean manly." Ussop insisted.
Nami frowned as she pondered Ussop's words. There was that anger again, bubbling inside her chest, making her feel not only agitated, but somehow sad.
"I could really use some anger management right now."
She murmured under her breath as she excused herself from Franky's Factory, leaving a confused Ussop behind.
Author's Note: Another chapter with things going nowhere, do you hate it? Well I hate it. My borrowed puppets don't listen to me. They said or did things I didn't plan for them. But I guess this happens to people who don't have a plan while writing-I mean me, no offense to you guys if you happen to do the same thing~
I might keep on doodling for another pointless chapter or two, or I might just leave it there until I find a clue on how to carry on the storyline. I know this sounds a little irresponsible, but who isn't?
Anyway, don't hate me~If you must hate me, do it secretly~
So, read & review? No? Okay...
Minami