Can I just say that this chapter took me forever... but I promise it is TOTALLY worth every second of my determination! I'm so excited for you to read it that I'm not even going to bother with a long update! Now goooooo:
Taiski: Oh yea! Get da party started! "YO HO HO HO!"
Totong: You know Sanji is totally jealous! But I feel like he's happy because Zoro finally admitted his feelings even if he didn't do it while she was conscious.
Fanboy316: Yes, thank goodness they survived indeed! I'm glad you liked the kiss as well! I thought that would be a nice touch to add in.
Little Ai: Ahhhh, your review made me smileeeee~ "Baka! You can't make me happy no matter how much you compliment me~!" And yes, why is Zoro sooooo stubborn to confess his feelings, Gah! And I'm so happy you liked the tender kiss he gave her.
DinoZilla: Kimi and Zoro sitting in a tree… K-I-S-S-I-N- *Cut in half by a sword*
Chocolatluver4ever: Dawwwww thank you, and hope this update is what you are looking for!
-yesiamweird
"LET'S DIG IN!"
The sound of a hundred hungry mouths woofing down Sanji's cooking at the banquet tables echoed throughout the room. Lola's gang of pirates were certainly a loud and thankful bunch as they scarfed the food down.
Of course, no crew in the world could be entirely as loud as the Strawhats; Kimi learned very quickly that when the Strawhat Pirates threw a party, they went full throttle of the fun. So much so, that Franky had pushed away his arguments against the skeleton and began to dance with Brook on the table while they sang together.
Meanwhile, Chopper, Nami, and Kimi quietly sat aside Zoro as they quietly observed the others. They ate their meals with little conversation to respect the swordsman's resting.
"They haven't even toasted yet and they've gone nuts…" Chopper muttered while holding a piece of strawberry cake in his fork. "But yet, he's still sleeping despite all the noise!" The reindeer spoke through his large mouthful of dessert.
Nami nodded, "He's a man who can sleep through anything, after all… Right Kimi?" The navigator looked to the woman alongside of her. After a few moments of not responding, Nami gently placed her palm on Kimi's shoulder.
Needless to say, Kimiko was startled by the other woman's touch. "Huh? Oh what?"
"You okay?" Nami asked in concern but unfortunately the scientist didn't have time to answer before a large barrel was placed in-between the two. "Luffy?"
"It's for Zoro!" The captain giggled and then hovered the large barrel just above his face. "Drink up!"
"Knock it OFF!" Springing into action, Nami didn't dare to hesitate in her attack of the rubber man. "What the hell!? Zoro loves this stuff!" Luffy screamed back.
"What kind of theory is that!?" Chopper screeched. Kimiko smiled briefly looking back at her foolish captain, but her grin faded and a frown took its place as she sunk into her chair looking at Zoro once again. "No good, huh? Then how 'bout meat?" Luffy did not want to give up at any cost.
"Yosh, yosh, just having your sentiment will be enough!" Chopper retaliated back. "Yes, just your sentiment." Nami slyly added.
It was then that the sound of music stopped the group from arguing and instead turned it to the back corner of the banquet room. "Oh? So there's a piano in this room?" Luffy smiled at Brook's boney fingers playing the keys.
However, Kimi reluctantly couldn't find it in her shattered state to listen or smile at Franky or Usopp dancing to the music. Instead, her blue eyes focused pass Zoro's sleeping face and to the memory of the whole ordeal.
"Zoro… you idiot… I was supposed to die. Not you! Please… please wake up soon…" Her fingernails gently dug into the skin of her legs as she attempted to hold back her tears from running down her cheeks.
With Brook's impromptu performance, Luffy ran off to join the show while Nami headed over to chat with Lola and the others. "Kimi?" Chopper's voice squeaked. Moving only her eyes to look across Zoro's body and to the brown furry one, Kimi stared at him. "Um, well, do you want some more to eat? I was going to get some more cake."
She shook her head, still with a frown and then rolled her eyes back down to the swordsman.
"You know, one of the oldest tricks in making someone heal faster is making yourself believe the person can do so." Chopper smiled clutching his plate. "I believe Zoro will wake up and be better than ever. Now you have to do the same."
The wisdom of the little reindeer tugged Kimi's lips into a slight smirk. She nodded with a sigh, "You're absolutely right, Chopper, thank you… do you mind getting me a piece of cake as well?"
"Of course! You should know complimenting me will not get me to like you, bastard~!" He started to dance oddly. Just as he dropped to the ground to walk towards the table with food, the piano began to ring into a new song.
The melody flooded the banquet room into a grand opening, not only catching everyone's attention, but also causing a smile on everyone's lips. It was an old pirate tune that just about everyone had heard.
But this version was being sung by a great musician, and a newly added Strawhat Pirate at that:
"YO HO HO HO, YO HO HO HO! YO HO HO HO, YO HO HO HO! YO HO HO HO, YO HO HO HO!
Going to deliver Binks' Sake!
Following the sea breeze! Riding on the waves!
Far across the salty depths! The merry evening sun!
The birds sing as they draw circles in the sky!"
And suddenly… for Kimiko, at least, everything seemed to be at peace.
Everyone was dancing, laughing, cheering, drinking, and singing along with one another. It only made her upset that Zoro couldn't do the same.
Not wanting to kill the good vibe pulsating over her from the song, Kimi stood to her feet with her empty glass in her hand. With the help of her clone, (since she was still too weak to do any sort of physical activity) she poured a glass of ale straight from out of the barrel into her cup. When it was full, she turned back to her chair next to Zoro and lifted her glass in the air just before sitting.
"This one is for you… Just like Chopper said…" In one whole brave attempt, Kimi gulped down the drink in four big sips. The golden ale gathered at the side of her lips, but she was quick to wipe the droplets away before making a mess. With one final smile, Kimi nodded to the sleeping form of Zoro and then turned to the rest of the group dancing like drunks.
"YO HO HO HO, YO HO HO HO! YO HO HO HO…!"
Kimi felt a nudge digging into the right side of her stomach. She opened her eyes half expecting Chopper to be the culprit insisting that she needed to take more medicine, but she was painfully wrong. Instead the nudging came from Nami, who had been sleeping, along with Kimi, and watching over Zoro's body after the party.
"What is it, Nami-san?" Kimi rubbed her eyes lifting her chest off of the bed Zoro laid on. Instead of answering right away, Nami placed her index finger over her lips. "It's Zoro. He's up!" she whispered.
Turning her head abruptly, Kimi noticed Zoro hadn't been lying stationary as he was for the past two days. She looked back and forth for the green haired swordsman around the banquet room but only noticed the drunken pirates sleeping in strange positions around the area.
Nami sweat dropped while gently slapping her nakama, "Kimi you twit, he's out on the balcony." She physically turned her blue-haired head to the front and pointed to Zoro leaning against the balcony ledge through the window doors.
"Oh," Kimi whispered looking down at her palms in her lap shyly, "I'm glad he's up now-" Nami hit her side again. "OW!" Kimi whisper-yelled sitting up and pouting to the red head.
"Go and talk to him! Ask him what happened or if he's hungry or something." She whispered and looked back to make sure he didn't hear the two.
"B-But why? It's not like it matters that I should talk to him specifically…you could have asked him or-" Kimi asked again crossing her arms. Nami sighed; obviously Kimi wasn't getting the hint.
"Are you really going to use that as an excuse? Come on Kimi, don't you see it!? The way you to stare at another… you two are always together… the way he talks to you and he even protected you all during our fight with Oz!" Nami tried to convince her. "He likes you Kimi! And you like him back! Don't deny it any longer. That's why you have to go talk to him now while everyone else is sleeping."
"But-"
The navigator strictly pointed a finger at her crewmate, as a disciplining mother would do to tell a child to go to their room. "Go talk to him!" She waved Kimi away and then quickly laid her head back on the bed pretending she had never gotten up.
Sighing heavily, Kimi made her way out of the wooden chair and dragged her feet towards the balcony door. "Could it really be? Could the infamous Roronoa Zoro really like me? No, how could he? I am pathetic and an awful excuse for a pirate."
He had even told her she was a weakling when they were handcuffed together during the Enis Lobby fight. Then again… the two were handcuffed to one another… the thought of them being tied to each other had never re-crossed her mind, until now…
Quickly shaking her head, Kimi went back to degrading her fighting skills. It almost seemed like every fight she'd ever gone through with the Strawhats, she always needed to be saved from the situation. But then again, Kimiko was supposed to be the lonely scientist of the group. That's why she was chosen… not for her fighting skills.
Recalling all the times Zoro had saved her caused a spark in her intellectual brain. "I…I guess…it could be?" She thought aloud specifically remembering the way Zoro looked at her just before passing out from Luffy's pain. The memory made the hair on her arms stand up.
He looked so… so… so worried about her.
As her fingertips graced the handle of the door, she quickly pushed it aside and shut it silently behind. Zoro didn't budge an inch from the position he had been in, so Kimi softly cleared her throat to announce her presence.
Instead he kept looking out at the sky, the wind brushing through his thin green hair and his earrings ringing like small wind chimes. With a heavy sigh and carefully tiptoed footsteps, she made her way next to him on the left while leaning over the balcony with arms crossed. "What are you so intent on looking at?" She asked noticing the blank stare in his eyes. It looked as if he was looking pass everything in sight and thinking about something rampaging in his brain.
Zoro sighed and looked down at Kimi. She was looking at him with such a confused face that he couldn't help but smile at her. Zoro had learned she was definitely a black-and-white type of person who stand to be perplexed.
Noticing his sly grin, Kimi pouted at the green-haired swordsman. "What's that look for?"
"Nothing." He laughed and looked back up. This time towards the stars.
"Well then, tell me this. Why are you out here and what in the world are you looking at?" She got straight to the point, being forced to talk to him and all. Zoro looked back at her and his smile left his face. "I came out here to look at Orion... That's it." He looked back out now raising his chin a bit further.
Kimi hesitated her breathing. "O-Orion?" She blinked remembering the night she told him the tale about Orion the hunter in the night sky. "…y-you remember?" She whispered so softly so he would hear.
"I remember everything…"
The remaining oxygen escaped her lungs in the next instant. The groups of stars known as Orion were very dear to her because stars and constellations was her very last lesson of science class that she learned from a real school…
"Um, d-do you need anything? Medicine? Food?" She faked a yawn trying to play off her shock.
"Yea, I need you to tell me something." Zoro stated icily to turn to face her. "What did you mean when you told Kuma you could beat him?" Something in Zoro's face told Kimi that he didn't trust her. He gave that look to Robin often before all of the CP9 stuff went down and now she was receiving this evil death glare.
"Zoro, I-I can't…I couldn't let him hurt Luffy. I was bluffing to try to get him to leave." She paused but knew that answer wasn't enough for the concerned man. "You see, my older sister worked on the pacifists. I don't know much about them but I knew Kuma would be weary of my sister's name so I assumed he would think the same about me."
Zoro took all of this in. He knew that she had a sister, but Kimi didn't really talk about her and when asked she would changed the subject quickly. He sighed, "So you were bluffing?"
She nodded and attempted to keep her blush hidden by how close Zoro kept inching closer to her. Although she had seen him with no shirt on many times before, now it was a whole different story. "Yes, I was lying. Now, do you need anything?" She asked again.
Zoro went to shake his head no, but as soon as he strained his neck to turn, a muscle spasm ruptured through his body. With nowhere to go but down, he quickly attempted to catch himself on the balcony railing. However, the railing had morphed into something warm and soft and …fleshy?
Looking to the side, both he and Kimi widened their eyes at his hand cupped overtop of her black-gloved hand.
"A-Are you, o-okay?" Kimi gasped feeling his other strong arm around her waist for more support. Her cheeks were completely flushed by their position, and it was a good thing Zoro didn't comprehend exactly where the top of his head was now…
Well, until he actually did realize where his head had fallen…
The infamous pirate had been in-between Kimiko's breasts. The weight almost forced her green tank top down with his forehead.
He could literally hear her heartbeat pounding against his temple while two soft plump mountains of flesh caressed his cheeks. Waiting to rid himself of this extremely awkward (yet pleasant) confrontation, Zoro quickly pulled his body away from hers by taking two footsteps backwards. "I-I-I uh… 'm sorry." He rubbed his neck in embarrassment, but just then another spasm occurred. He winced at the pain but kept standing up this time leaning over the balcony instead.
"Zoro, are you alright?" Kimi reached out at his left arm rubbed it with her thumb. He opened his eyes after the pain disappeared and to his pleasure watched Kimi staring back at him. "Please Zoro, let's go back inside and lay down."
Zoro would kill for a chance to just lay down in silence with Kimi for one night. He knew that she was just talking about him lying back down but still, he just wanted to have her in his arms for one night. "No, I'm fine." He announced and turned back to look at the stars.
Kimi sighed with a light smile, "Well then, since you asked me a question I guess it's only fair for me to ask one." She took to her spot alongside of him by the balcony railing. Before questioning him, she took a gulp of dry spit with hesitation, "What happened after I passed out?"
Zoro knew she was being serious now. Before she was just playing along but now, now this was a severe question and it needed to be answered in a way that she wouldn't be worried about her choice of taking the hit from Kuma before. "I took your place."
Kimi gasped. "Zoro, why would-"
"You would have died if you took it all." He looked back at her with a stern glare, "I couldn't let that happen."
Kimi stared at the swordsman in shock. That pain that erupted through her body was only a fraction of the real deal. How on earth could Luffy even be alive!? "Zoro…you shouldn't have. I-I…"
"Don't worry about it." He smiled softly looking at Kimi's concerned and yet, precious face. She was beautiful to him, perfect in that moment and finally the temptation was too much to bear. After kissing her lifeless lips once before, now he craved the reaction of life he regretted never tasting.
Removing the part of his brain telling him to halt, he snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her into his bandaged chest carefully.
"Zoro, what-?"
He stopped her by pressing his index finger over her smooth soft lips. "Just trust me okay?"
Kimi didn't know what to think, Zoro had just pulled her to his half naked body and told her to trust him like he was about to test her or something. Her arms trembled as she snaked her hands up his chest and around his neck. She clenched her eyes closed in the hopes that this would end without Nami giving her lip about it.
"Kimi…" Zoro whispered out. She opened her eyes at the sight of her name and stared at Zoro's strong intent face. His left hand traveled to the back of her neck and he fumbled through the sagging strands of her light blue hair not tucked neatly into her bun.
Before Kimi had time to respond Zoro pulled her to his lips, a little bit forcefully at first, and then softened to deepen the kiss. After a minute or so, Zoro disconnected his lips from hers causing a small pecking noise from the separation.
She still had her eyes closed but as she opened them she began to smile. "Zoro, you don't know what you're doing. Chopper has you so hyped up on meds that you're basically high right now."
Zoro smiled back, "That may be true, but it also may be that I know you think I'm on meds, so I can just do what I want instead."
Kimi's smile faded and instead the blush from earlier returned. "Zoro…I-I'll pretend I didn't hear that." Pushing a strand of hair out of her eyesight, Kimi shrugged. "We should go in, it's getting really late and you need to rest."
Zoro nodded and obediently followed her towards the castle. The graceful way she walked and the click of her shoes against the pavement were so relaxing to the swordsman. She had an internal rhythm in her body that only a fool could miss. He sighed enjoying the moment and then realized he desperately wanted to kiss her again.
"Zoro? Are you okay?" Kimi looked back at Zoro staring at the floor. He snapped out of his thought looking deep into her blue eyes. "Yes." The injured swordsman ignored the waves of pain cascading through his muscles and bones and walked over to Kimi to snake his arm around her waist once again. His other hand held her chin captive in his complete grasp.
The heat of the blush on Kimi's cheeks seemed to increase the internal temperature through her core. There was no denying the fact that she wanted this feeling more than anything but a certain navigator was just on the other side of the room was bound to give her hell for this. "Zoro, stop. Nami is watching…" She whispered.
"I really don't give a shit." He kissed her again this time being forceful as he pulled her close not allowing her to move an inch from his grasp.
In the middle of their kiss, Zoro suddenly felt dizzy. Maybe it was true that he was so hyped on meds that he didn't know what he was doing. But kissing her felt good to him, it was even better than all the booze in the world. As he pulled away his lips once again, he rested his forehead against hers while holding the her soft blue hair in his strong calloused hand.
Kimi adored the sensation of him holding her tightly in his arms but knowing how much damage his body was in forced her to wiggle her way out carefully. When he didn't want to let go, she responded by kissing his lips back in surprise. She giggled after pulling away her lips from his, "Don't leave your mouth open like that. You'll catch flies."
He continued to stare at her with a tint of blush rising on his cheeks… and then suddenly, started to fall limp with his eyes rolling in the back of his head and closing. "Whoa! Hey, don't fall asleep just yet. Come on Mr. Greatest-swordsman-in-the-world…" She lifted his arm around her neck and held his side up and walked him back inside.
Nami ran up and grabbed his other arm helping the scientist carry the sleeping swordsman back to the bed. Nami just smiled and winked at Kimi, "I told you!" She whispered triumphantly. "What did I say? I told you he liked you, and that kiss was the proof!" She smirked.
"Nami, You didn't hear him, he's completely out of his mind. All the meds Chopper put him on; of course he would do something crazy like kiss me…" She denied the wonderful feeling he gave her as they kissed.
Nami wasn't being fooled, but for once she was too tired to argue anymore. "Yea okay. Well if that kiss of yours wasn't enough proof, I don't know what is!" She rested her head again against the bed in a confident smirk.
Rolling her eyes, Kimi didn't even bother to defend her actions. Looking one last time at Zoro, she noticed how much happier he looked than when he was first laying on the bed in pain.
She looked at his body one last time examining all of the damage he had taken for her from Kuma. "Thank you…" She mouthed to him and then laid her head on the bed next to Zoro's head.
She opened her eyes looking down at his outreached hand and smiled. "Maybe…hopefully…" She thought to herself reaching her gloved hand to his and then grabbed it. "Maybe one day you'll want to hold my hand for real and not accidentally stubble upon it. Until then, I'll hold yours…" She turned her head to see the swordsman's face and smiled at the slight curving of his lips. "Sleep well, Roronoa Zoro…"
Zoro walked up towards the skeleton. Brook seemed to be lost in his own world while playing his violin exquisitely. As much as he didn't want to disturb him, the swordsman's heavy footsteps caused Brook to cease as the steps neared his position.
Brook looked back at the lonely man and silently stared at him. Despite all the bandages, Zoro continued to look his usual intimidating statue. Without a word, the green-haired man took the black-sheathed sword in his hand and stuffed it into the dirt until it stuck out halfway into the air and sat crossed-legged in front of it.
"Oh my, you surprised me!" Brook cheerfully commented. "Are you doing better now?"
"Yeah. Just overslept a bit."
Pointing to the sword placed into the ground, Brook commented once again. "And that is…?"
"A dead katana, Yubashiri. Please, let me have a memorial for it as well." Zoro then closed his eyes and then clapped his hands together in a praying position. As much as he proclaimed to not believe in God, he did believe in the power of prayer in the case of a fallen comrade.
Even though Brook continued to stay silent, Zoro could tell that the skeleton was watching him carefully.
"Uh…"
Looking up from his prayer, Zoro hummed back. "Hmm?"
"Ah, no… nothing…" Brook looked away and then opened his large mouth back, almost as if he were smiling. "Oh that's right. I've officially joined this crew."
"Heh." Zoro crossed his arms in a confident smirk. "I see… sorry to hear about your bad luck."
"Eh?"
Not fully understanding what Brook was getting himself into, Zoro smiled back. "This is one hell of a crew." As soon as Brook understood the swordsman's joke, he laughed in his usual obnoxious tone. "So it seems, and because of that, I'll try my hardest until death does me in! Oh yea, I'm dead already!"
Nodding to admire Brook's laugh, Zoro looked back to the Rumbar Pirates grave Usopp and Franky had built for their newest crewmate's previous Nakama. It was quite exquisite if he had to admit, in the least. "We should get going. We need to set sail soon."
"Oh, yes!" Brook stood and followed suit with Zoro by his side. As soon as the two made their way to the dock, Luffy cheered to announce their sail back to the sea.
Jumping away from Kimiko's grasp, Chopper proceeded to yell at the swordsman walking towards the ladder leading to the ship. "Zoro! You took off your bandages again didn't you?!"
"Yea, they're hard to move with, ya know." He nonchalantly responded passing through the crowd.
Kimi giggled watching the small reindeer practically boil from the rage of Zoro's disobedience. "They are there to make sure you don't move!" He pulled out a handful of bandages and then bolted towards the green-haired man forcing his medical procedure once again.
"Hold still!"
"No! Let go!"
"Idiot! You are still hurt!"
"No I'm not!"
Walking up to her side, Robin giggled alongside of Kimi as the two watched Chopper force his way onto Zoro. "He is most stubborn, correct Miss Scientist?"
"Without a doubt." She nodded, "We should probably start to head onto the Sunny." Kimi offered and the two walked over to the ladder and climbed. As soon as the two made their way onto the deck, they leaned over the edge to hear the parting comments of Lola's crew from their own.
"You sure you guys wanna leave? You should stay for a few more days and party!" One of Lola's pirates stated.
"NO! We can't because we are headed to Fishmen Island!" Luffy grinned. "I can't wait~! There's gonna be some interestin' guys there!"
"Some beautiful mermaids as well!" Sanji grinned with a heart in his one eye. "I can't wait to play with them!"
Kimiko seemed to gleam with interest. "I too cannot wait to analyze the Mermaids! Perhaps there is a way I could analyze them and the fishmen culture for experiments. Of course, without harming any of them!"
"Sounds exciting doesn't it?" Robin smiled back. Kimi nodded and then waved to tell her she was headed in the other direction. "I'm going to my lab to situated myself quickly before we set sail. I'll be right back."
"Of course." Robin smiled as the scientist walked off in the direction of her room.
As she walked through the hallways and made it to the door of her personal room, Kimi sought to change into a less non-revealing shirt. Of course Robin and Nami would pick out a teeny-tiny tank top for Kimiko to wear to accent her breasts. Rolling her eyes at her reflection, Kimi removed the tank and then examined her bandages wrapped around her stomach that pushed her breasts up as if she were wearing a bra.
Unwrapping her bandages carefully, she touched the small bruises and cuts that were wrapped. Luckily, they had faded due to Chopper's skills, but that didn't mean they were healed completely.
Searching for a bra and a tee-shirt in her trunk of clothing, Kimi placed the articles of clothing onto her body and then took one final look at her reflection. The cut on her head would remain bandaged to trick Chopper that she had kept them on… unlike Zoro.
Speaking of Zoro… she sighed remembering his awakening this morning. Despite their kiss the night before, he did not make eye contact with her at all during the day. It seemed as if her original theory of him being on too much medication had been true.
He didn't really think of her romantically like that…
Frowning at herself, she turned to face the door and walked back through the hall to the deck. Just in the nick of time to see the sails of the Sunny being swung down into position.
"Set sail!" Luffy demanded and the Sunny took off between the Teeth Gate of Thriller Bark. The shadows that passed by the gate grew a smile on all the crew's faces and quickly the Strawhats proceeded to wave goodbye to Lola and her crew.
When Thriller Bark was no longer seen in sight, the crew took to their usual spots on the Sunny. Kimi was lucky enough to gain a spot on the swing while Usopp and Chopper sat on the ledge to fish. Brook took to playing his violin in the middle of the grassy deck.
"Luffy?" Nami questioned. "Are you sure it's okay to not go after Ace?"
Not knowing whom Nami was speaking of, Kimi turned her head in response. Luffy smiled, "It's fine! Don't worry about it! Even if he were in some kind of pinch, he wouldn't want me to worry about him. He hates being made to look weak!"
Still not knowing whom this Ace person was, Kimi chose to ignore the questioning and instead pay attention to Sanji walking over to each one of the crew and handing them a glass of ale.
"Besides, if we went to help him, he'd just get pissed off." Luffy concluded. As Sanji walked over to Kimiko, he made sure to give her a sly wink before handing over her glass mug and then continued to give the others their own. "Oh yea, Zoro! You've been sleeping this whole time so ya missed out!" Luffy added before the ale-loving swordsman could take a sip.
"In that case let's redo this!" Usopp cheered while waving everyone to stand and join in the center of the Sunny. "In celebration of our new nakama, Musician Brook, joining the crew!"
With each one of the Strawhat Pirates raising their glasses together, they all cheered with a giant smile, "KANPAI!"
"Are you sure you do not want my help, Sanji-san?" Kimi asked sweetly while handing him the last of the dishes. Once again they had a celebration and drinks to rejoice their newest crewmate since Zoro had missed out. Being one of the last ones still awake, Kimi had offered to help clean for Sanji.
"Of course not, Kimi-swan. You should be resting anyways, beautiful princess." He replied with a smile. The scientist only shook, "Pirates never rest, Sanji-san." Her tone was lighthearted, but caused a serious face on the blonde cook.
"Yes…" He turned to look at her still while scrubbing the dish in his hand. "Kimiko, why did you think it was acceptable to sacrifice your life in the face of the Shichibukai?"
She sighed and then shook her head softly not uttering a word out of embarrassment for her actions.
"I know what happened after you attacked me… I guess I'm lucky that Marimo cares about you too much. Then again, that baka put himself at risk just as much."
Looking up from her feet, Kimi frowned. "Wait. You know what happened?" He nodded, "Yea some of Lola's guys watched the whole thing. Even Marimo's – gah… - even that Marimo's violation of a kiss!"
"Kiss?!" Kimi blushed thinking someone other than Nami had seen their kissing on the balcony last night.
"Yea, he didn't tell you?" She shook her head. "Well, it's not my place to say it… but he kiss ya before giving up himself according to these guys." Placing the dish into the sink, Sanji grabbed another. "He must really like you… if you ask me."
Kimi tried to hide her grin by turning her head to the side. "So he does like me then…" Her shoulders instantly rose towards her ears in a bashful statue. "Oh… well I didn't know that but uh-"
"You should go to bed, Kimi-swan… but let me just say, if Marimo ever dares to hurt you, I swear it'll be the end of him." The cook smiled charmingly back at her.
Kimi nodded hesitantly, "I'll be sure to remember that. Goodnight, Sanji-san."
"Night Beautiful Princess~!"
Rolling her eyes, Kimiko shut the door behind her and proceeded to walk over to the edge of the ship to think for a moment before heading off to bed.
The roar of the ocean waves calmed the scientist in a way she hadn't known was possible. It was one of the many things she loves about being out at sea as a pirate.
The slight ocean breeze.
The hum of the ship.
The waves crashing on the boat.
The many creatures sounding in the distance…
The noises of the ocean were like ecstasy for the rampaging thoughts of the scientist. She felt at a state of mediation while resting her elbows on the railing of the ship.
Then suddenly, a large warm hand snaked its way around her waist and pulled her to a half rotation.
A warm kiss embraced her surprised reaction and suddenly Kimiko melted into the hug. Her black-gloved hands roaming the strong back muscles of the sturdy swordsman. As the two pulled away for a gasp of oxygen, Kimi couldn't help but smirk at Zoro.
"What is that look for?" He eyed her reaction carefully.
Kimi turned back to face the railing as he took a spot to her side. "Oh, just Sanji telling me about what really happened when I passed out." The look in his eyebrows read that he wasn't exactly sure what she meant. "Oh you know, the Romeo and Juliet moment?"
Then suddenly, Zoro seemed to understand exactly what she meant. "The bastard… how the hell-"
Kimi's giggle stopped him from attacking the kitchen. "You realize Chopper is going to be mad that you keep taking off your bandages?"
Zoro lowered his tense state and gave her a nonchalant shrug. "He'll get over it." The two allowed silence to fall between them as they watched the rolling waves crash into the ship and throughout the rest of the sea. "Hey." Zoro muttered after a minute or two.
"Yes Zoro?"
"Look." He pointed to the stars in the direction of the constellation Kimi (and he) was so fond of. She smiled back at him and then suddenly her smile stretched into a yawn. "You should go to sleep."
"So says the man that's slept for two days…"
"Exactly." He shrugged. "I don't need to sleep now. Don't make me drag you in there."
Kimi rolled her eyes, "Chopper would notice if I had any more bruising when he checks on me in the morning." Instead of commenting back, Zoro pulled her chin to meet his own and lightly placed the other on her hip. He stared into her eyes for a moment before nodding. "You look tired… Go to sleep." And lifted the bottom of her chin for their lips to meet into a quick kiss once more.
:)
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