Pairing: Zoro/Sanji

Rating: PG

Warning: yaoi, language, violence, Major Spoilers for episodes 377-378

Timeline: During episodes 377-379 (end of Thriller Bark arc)

Song Stuck in Head: Bink's Sake – Straw Hat version

~*Oblivion*~

Blunt but stabbing pain tore through his ribs; spots of black and white dotting his vision as that now burning agony coursed through his abdomen, encompassing his entire body in a miserable, jarring spasm.

The air left his lungs with a violent grunt of surprise at the inhuman strength behind the unforeseen attack.

His body spun to the left, a trembling hand slamming down onto the coarse, stained cloth covering a corded shoulder, muscles tense beneath his grasp, as he fought to stay upright. Fingertips curled into the material, short nails digging into the tan flesh beneath, baby blue eyes flashing in disbelief at the shadowed face before him.

He could see out of the corner of his eye as the blunt end of that ominously red and black katana, retreated from his ruined left side, his body beginning to curl in on itself as the pain spread quickly through his limbs, ricocheting off of every bone, muscle, and organ in his body.

Fighting just to catch a full breath of oxygen, he could feel the blood running down his face, the sweat-slicked golden hair flat against his forehead, the flesh giving way beneath his gripping fingers, crimson staining the white fabric beneath his grasp. "W...Why you...!" he managed to moan out, his vision swimming before him as he tried to focus on the statuesque man towering before him, unmoving.

His strength was quickly escaping him, his knees giving way beneath his body, as his hand began to slide from that now wounded shoulder, trailing down past his short sleeve.

His fingertips dragged limply across the tightly toned bicep, digits dipping unconsciously into the curves where the tissues connected, ghosting across the dark sage colored bandana wrapped snugly around those shaking muscles.

Hovering shakily over that pointed elbow, heat pouring against his palm, he could feel his knees hit the rocky ground below, tiny sharp stones cutting into the flesh through his shredded black trousers.

As he felt his heart pounding against his sternum, black beginning to cover the majority of his vision, he wrapped his long, slender fingers tightly around that elbow, his thumb pressing harshly into the tender flesh at the juncture between that forearm and bicep for the last bit of stability he could manage.

He didn't have time to wonder if any of them were going to make it out of this alive, or if the swordsman before him would still be there if they did pull through this, because darkness was pulling at his mind.

Staring up one last time, he met those haunting jade eyes that were calling out a million things at once: anger at his rash decision to jump in front of the swordsman, disbelief at the fact that he was still semi-conscious, apology for his unprecedented attack on his own nakama...

But the last thing Sanji could make out before he fell backward and hit the jagged ground unconscious, was the presence of an underlying hint of fear in those screaming orbs. That was something he had never seen in Zoro..and he hoped he would never have to see again.

Blinking his bleary eyes into a hazy consciousness, pain surged through his body once again, pulling a strangled moan from his raw throat.

He could hear laughter and murmurs around him, all coalescing together in his humming ears; a stray hair from his fringe tickled his nose, sunlight blazing down onto his severely wounded form.

Groaning softly, he blinked away the final remnants of that darkness from his vision, eyes panning around, taking in the sight of his crew-mates in various states of health.

Seeing his captain bouncing about, a laughing ball of energy, as if nothing from the last few days had ever happened...was somehow terribly unsettling. Something isn't right.

Suddenly the memory of his last few moments of consciousness flooded back to him, his stiff body somehow shooting into a sitting position, face franticly searching for the green-haired idiot that had knocked him into oblivion not too long ago.

His eyes froze, widening considerably as they took in the figures of three well-kept katanas lying in a pile not but a few feet from him. His stomach dropped to the floor, panic flooding through his chest. Zoro never went anywhere without those precious weapons. It was almost as if they were parts of him, extensions of his already deadly body. I swear to God... if he's dead I'll kill him.

Pulling himself to his feet as quickly as his aching body would allow, the blonde hurriedly made his way to the swords, hovering over them as if to make sure they were truly there, not some mirage from dehydration or hallucination from his probable concussion.

He quickly jerked his head left and then the right, searching the crowds and the landscape for the man in question when suddenly he gasped, feeling a tug at his chi, almost imperceptible, but there nonetheless. He had never been so thankful for all the time Zoro had spent teaching him how to get in tune with his inner chi, his very life force...and consequently, assisting him in reading other people's energies as well. He never thought he would have to use it like this...So the bastard is alive...good.

Pointing his eyes in the direction of the woods, he grunted softly before taking off at a blind sprint in the general area of the energy pull, his lungs burning from the exertion on his already broken body.

Coming to the end of the stone rubble, he pulled his body forward, sliding haphazardly down the slope that brought him to the lush grass below, dust and rubble filling the air behind him.

Stopping once more, catching what little breath he could, the landscape swimming around his vision, he fought to clear his mind once again, feeling for that pull. As he locked onto it, he darted quickly to his right, sprinting across the lingering rubble. "There's no way he could still be in one piece!"

Dashing with reckless abandon across the field, body protesting and begging for rest, he pushed himself further, "Where is that guy?!"

Abruptly his body froze, skidding to a halt as his head turned to the left, the pull on his chi nearly overwhelming his senses. As his eyes locked onto their target, they widened in disbelief, sapphire irises narrowing down to tiny strips of color against the onyx pupils.

"There he is..." he whispered nearly imperceptibly, taking in the vision of the man standing amongst more grey rocks, arms crossed tightly over broad chest.

The white shirt the blonde had dug his nails into earlier was now in shreds across his shoulders, baring his smooth back to the cook, blood pouring from hundreds of cuts and bruises along the mottled flesh.

Feeling anger bubbling in his gut, he slid down another slope, making his way to the immobile figure, "What the hell do you think you're playing at?! Hey!"

Shoving his hands into his pockets, attempting to make himself look less injured and more intimidating, he spat, breathlessly, "Where'd that Warlord go?"

But, as soon as he made it close enough to the swordsman to take in the full extent of his injuries, he froze, eyes widening immensely, mouth falling open as a soft gasp escaped him, "Holy shit..."

The mint colored hair was stained and matted with crimson blood, coagulating and slipping down his forehead and cheeks, like bleeding tears against his closed lids, sliding down his muscular neck and shoulders, dragging against every dip and curve in his body as it pooled into the basin his crossed arms created against his chest.

Zoro was still as a statue, but his muscles were trembling beneath the blood, sweat, and shredded material. Fear running through the blonde cook, he stuttered in a panicked tone, "What's with all this blood?!"

Getting no reply, he began to tremble himself, arms flailing slightly as he tried to grasp the marimo's attention, "Hey, are you still alive?! Where is that guy?!"

Still receiving no response, he moved closer, his voice rising a few volume levels as he reached hand out to touch that stiff shoulder before him, smearing his fingertips in the still hot blood, "What happened here?!"

Then time stopped, everything slowed to a crawl and all noises and vision around him faded, disappearing into the cosmos as he looked down at the area around them.

Everything: the stones, the grass, the trees, the dirt...all within a twenty foot radius...were coated in a fine spray of blood.

His heart nearly stopped in his chest as he managed to subconsciously whisper out, "Why so much blood...w-what happened?"

He heard a faint grunt from the bushido, those eyes slowly peeling open to half lidded. Jade orbs stared off into the distance, as if seeing through everything else, a swollen vein of exertion popping out of the left temple as the man tried to stay upright with every fiber of his strength left.

"Nothing..." came the gravelly and husky voice of the swordsman who began to sway slightly in front of him, causing him to tighten his grip on the trembling shoulder, "happened!"

Those strangled words twisted around the cook's heart, ripping through his mind with a ravaging sting. "Z-Zoro..."

Suddenly, the swaying stopped and the hulking man before him began to fall forward, but Sanji was faster than that, jumping front of him and catching him by the shoulders, lowering his body gently to the stones below, placing his head heavily in his own lap, "Zoro!"

The man's breathing was heavy, labored and pinched, as he struggled to remain conscious, even if it was just for a few more moments, "S-Sanji..."

The cook's eyes widened at the breathy and pleading quality in the swordsman's voice, reaching a hand down to smear some of the blood off of his face, wiping it up with the coat-sleeve that was still intact.

The man in his arms began to cough violently, his body wracked with pain and tremors as his lungs tried to expel all the blood from themselves. He wheezed heavily against the black fabric of the blonde's trousers, coughing up more blood and staining them crimson.

Sanji's heart clenched in his chest, "Zoro, what the hell happened here? And don't you dare say nothing again. I'll knock you the rest of the way unconscious..."

The man leaned into the lithe fingers that were wiping the blood from his cheeks, as if searching for some amount of comfort, some escape from the agony his body was in. "Zoro, please..."

At those words, the man beneath him stilled, ragged breath now shallow in his chest, eyes sliding shut as he tried to calm his heartbeat, dulling the pain slightly, enough to speak properly, "It doesn't matter..."

Then he dissolved into another coughing fit, body racking violently with the tremors, as Sanji ran a soothing hand through the matted green hair, "Why aren't you dead..."

Zoro smirked softly through his pain, eyes sliding shut, "What, disappointed?"

Sanji didn't notice the hand that slid up his chest until it was too late, bruised fingers knotting in black polyester and yanking his face down into a clumsy, but scorching kiss.

No more words were spoken as the green-haired swordsman fell unconscious...but then again, Sanji didn't really need to hear anymore. As the blonde hoisted the limp man over is back, struggling for a moment before standing and making his way back to the courtyard, he smirked softly, his lips still tingling from the surprisingly affectionate assault, knowing that eventually he would figure it all out.

He took a long drag on his cigarette, nicotine coating every crevice of his lungs as he sat on that wooden crate beside the marimo's mattress in the mansion, watching as the little reindeer worked on his wounds. He watched those small hooves glide effortlessly over the bruised flesh, dancing over bandages and stitches wit practiced ease.

He could make out the beginnings of a conversation as Luffy and Franky filed in, followed by a few others, carrying huge loads of food for the remaining survivors over their shoulders. "This is the first time Zoro's been this badly injured...he was really close to dying."

Sanji could feel the flinch on his brow before he could control it, a deep sadness filling his heart at the memory of Zoro's state in the woods...the sacrifice he had made for him and the rest of the crew. "I just know it...something must have happened to him...while we were unconscious..."

As the voice of the ship's doctor faded out, the blonde took another long drag on his nicotine stick, letting his hand fall to the knee that was propped up on the adjacent crate, his new black pants and turquoise hoodie freshly laundered and fitted to him nicely. He could feel the hollowed out eyes of that skeleton man on him, bearing into him as if he knew something about the cook that he probably shouldn't.

Raising his hand up to his forehead, he adjusted the white bandaged wrap there, untucking his hair from the folds of it, allowing it to fall flat against his head in golden layers. The voice of Robin filled the space around him as she and Usopp made there way to the bedside, "Indeed. It is hard to believe that that man would just leave like that."

The long-nosed sharpshooter beside her answered back quickly, "It's also weird that Luffy is so energetic all of a sudden, isn't it?"

Sanji could feel his chest tighten again, sucking harder on his cigarette as he stared blankly at the floor, trying to conceal any emotions that may be playing behind his eyes, knowing nothing about what the hell had happened and not feeling right about it at all... No one should have to endure what he did in silence...even if he is a big dumb brute that takes up space most of the time...

He drifted off in his thoughts, fingering the medical patch on the side of his face, until an unfamiliar voice broke through the air, "What happened, huh? Actually, I saw it all!"

His head snapped to the side, frowning deeply and locking his startling blue eyes onto the speaker as the boasting continued, another man jumping forward, "I saw it all, too!"

"Yeah, we'll tell you!" the other answered back.

Sanji wasn't going to sit around and deal with any more of this shit right now and, standing from his spot on the crates, dusting his pants off slightly, he stalked casually over to the two clowns, tucking his arms under their shoulders and began dragging them backwards out of the hole in the side of the building, "Hey..." he grunted as he pushed them out.

He could hear Luffy speak his name in question, Robin's 'hmm' of contemplation, and Ussop's puzzled 'huh', but he kept on walking.

Upon exiting the building, he shoved to two men into the sun as they began to protest, "Wait, why? You were pretty cool too, you know! 'Take my life instead of the swordsman's', you know?"

He grunted in frustration, raising a hand to massage the bridge of his nose, taking a seat on one of the larger stones and steeling himself for what was to come, "Shut up! Hurry up and tell me."

Leaning his elbows over his knees, he hung his head slightly, "What happened afterwards...after I fainted, I mean?"

That's when the confessions began, the men recounting the previous days events in graphic detail, "Well, that Warlord had another crazy power, you see! He just put his paw on Straw Hat Luffy, and repelled all of the damage that had been inflicted on him!"

Sanji's eyes widened slightly, not liking the sound of where this was going, "Damage...?" he inquired softly.

"Yeah, like a huge ball of agony! And then..."

"He told the swordsman that if he wished to take his place, then he was going to have to take in all of this ball of pain!" the other man interrupted.

Sanji blinked for a moment as the other continued, "But he said that if someone who was as close to death as Zoro was tried to do this that it would be impossible for him to survive. He would surely die!"

Sanji's eyes popped open wide, letting the words sink in, the smaller of the two brutes continuing the tale, "He gave him just a little tiny ball of it, like a taste of what was to come. He could barely handle it, writhing on the ground in agony as if he was dying! Just touching that tiny bit of it, that swordsman screamed in pain!"

Sanji grasped onto his cigarette, his jaw set firmly and eyes bearing into a tree in the distance as he continued to listen, anger settling into his veins.

"Sorry, but I seriously thought that swordsman was gonna die. So, we actually cried!"

"We cried a lot!" the other chimed in.

Sanji let out a lungful of smoke, gritting his teeth together before sighing in understanding, "I see...Then that's why Luffy is in perfect shape, while Zoro ended up like that...How reckless..."

His memory was flooded with the images of Zoro standing in that little alcove, drenched in his own blood and stone-still in the sunlight, body obviously in agony. He remembered his words, the muttering that nothing had happened and it wasn't important...didn't matter. That jackass...

Letting out another deep stream of nicotine-laced smoke, he hung his head even lower, sighing deeply. Suddenly he was interrupted by the excited chatter of the larger idiot, "All right!! We've gotta tell the rest of the crew this beautiful tale - "

Sanji stiffened and yelled stiffly, "Wait! Don't you go running your mouths off with that stuff!"

The two idiots turned back around, looks of disbelief on their faces, but Sanji continued, "He didn't risk his life so that we'd praise him about it."

Sighed softly, shoulders dropping lower, he snuffed out his cigarette against the stone, "And besides...how do you think Luffy would feel...? If he knew that all the pain he took on himself had gone and hurt his friend?!"

The two men blathered and stuttered for a few moments, struggling clumsily to find something to say, failing miserably. Frustrated as hell, Sanji yelled back, "You still just want to tell the stupid story?!?"

The two men deflated before him, "W-We can't say anything about it, then?"

Sanji stood from his siting position, lighting another cigarette and sticking it between his chapped lips, "As long as everyone is safe, that's all that matters."

Shoving his hands in his pockets, he began to walk off, back towards to mansion, "Well, I'm gonna go eat."

The night air was slightly chilled dancing off of the blankets wrapped around his legs, spreading the stream of smoke from his cigarette around the room. The cold stone pillar behind him was hard and unforgiving, but that was okay, because he wasn't here get comfortable and sleep of the effects of the celebratory party.

No...he was here for a little one-on-one time with the unconscious swordsman, even though he knew he wouldn't be talking back...or probably even hearing a word the cook spoke.

Feeling that cool breeze flick through his hair once more, he slid a hand softly along the mattress beside him, letting his fingers lightly brush against the soft flesh of a broken wrist, careful not to injure it further.

Taking a deep breath, he sighed softly, "You know, that was absolutely crazy what you did back there. You had better be thankful that I made sure those two delinquents didn't go spreading your 'Epic Tale of the Sacrificial Bushido' to everyone in the crew. Can you imagine how upset Luffy would be if he found out you did that after all that he went through to insure that we all got out safely? The guy would be heartbroken..."

He paused to take another drag on his cigarette, leaning his body into the pillar, "But...I am glad you didn't die."

He could feel the hand he was holding the swordsman's with begin to tremble, moisture building behind his eyes as he grew more frustrated, "Why, Zoro, why couldn't you let me do it...? Why do you always have to go and hurt yourself...why can't you let someone else take the pain for once? We're all strong too!!"

But then gasped slightly, realization sinking in as his own words reached his ears, his heart constricting in his chest. He could feel a lone tear track its way down his right cheek, disappearing into the patch beneath it. He felt so stupid...

"Right...I get it. I'm not strong enough...and you knew that."

Tightening his grip slightly on the bandaged wrist below, he thumbed softly over the callused palm, feeling the burns and scrapes littering the flesh there. "I'm...sorry...for getting in your way."

He was about to remove his hand, when suddenly the limp fingers tightened around his own tense ones, stilling his movements and stopping his heart. He gasped softly, more tears springing from his eyes and sliding down his cheeks as he heard a soft moan from the man beside him, "You're...n-never...in the...way."

The broad chested man breathed heavily, filling his lungs and stilling any possible coughing that may have followed with long, hard swallows. "T-Thirsty..."

Pulling out of his stupor and coming to his senses, Sanji fumbled over to the large faucet across the room, filling a cup with the clear fluid and stumbling back over to the mattress, lacking his usual calm finesse in the simple task.

Reaching the incapacitated man, he slowly slid his left hand beneath the green-haired head, lifting it up enough to give him room to swallow comfortably. Raising the cup to the swordsman's cracked lips, he tipped it just enough to allow a small amount of the liquid to pour into waiting mouth below.

As the swordsman slowly imbibed the liquid, Sanji watched in awe at his conscious state, wondering if he was still in pain, his thoughts drifting back to the confessions of the two men earlier, and the torture he had endured for all of their sakes.

As the moss-head finished the drink, Sanji placed it on the small table that held Chopper's medicine's, allowing the bushido's head to rest back on the pillow below. Not able to resist speaking, the blonde muttered softly, covering the marimo with a thin blue blanket, "You're an idiot, you know that...?"

When Zoro didn't say anything, the blonde flopped down onto the foot of mattress, crossing an ankle over his knee and resting his wrists along the bridge his leg created. It was then that Zoro chose to look him in the eye, jade clashing with baby blue as the tension grew around them.

His breath hitched when a frown made its way across the swordsman's brow, and rough and callused hand sliding up to brush fingertips over slick cheeks, damp with forgotten tears that continued to fall. Sanji's reflex was to pull back and turn his face away, but Zoro, even in his sluggish and stiff state, was faster than him, switching his hand to the other cheek and pulling his face back to look at him again.

Those jade eyes widened for a moment, taking in the tears now running freely down Sanji's face, fingers sliding back to bury themselves in the cook's soft hair, tugging him closer, so close that he could hear the blonde's pulse beating harshly in his ears.

The grip softened slightly, and he gently cradled Sanji's cheek in his large palm, guiding his lips to meet his own: chaste and unhurried, lazy and filled with everything that he didn't know how to say at that moment in time.

Tongues slid against one another, but this was not a battle for anything. It was a message from one man to the other, silent but full, and sealed with the promise of something better to come.

Ignoring the pain coursing through his body, Zoro settled his other hand on Sanji's right wrist, pulling the man slowly and carefully to kneel beside him, pulling his face deeper into the kiss and ravishing his mouth with soft and leisurely licks and nips.

"You have to stop doing this...getting hurt...almost dying...scaring me," Sanji whispered against those bruised lips below him, breaking the kiss to pull back and stare at the wounded man beneath him.

They stared at each other, neither willing to break the other's gaze...until Zoro rolled his eyes softly, smirking with the right corner of his lips, sliding his limp fingertips over the patch on the cook's cheek and the bandage wrapped around his head, "I'll stop getting hurt the day you stop pissing me off..."

It was Sanji's turn to roll his eyes in exasperation and humor, laughter dancing behind his drying sapphire eyes, "...which is probably never going to happen."

Zoro smirked slightly, closing his eyes as exhaustion retook him, pulling the tired cook down beside him and throwing the blanket over them both, "Well, I'm glad we can agree on something..."