Author's Note: I am so awed that my story has reached 50 reviews! Thank you all so much! XD

Tangled

Chapter 6: Strange Dreams and True Feelings

Jump. Thud.

So close…

Jump. Thud.

Was I really that tall when I was a human?

Jump. Thud.

Damned fridge.

"Dartboard brow, what the hell is your problem?"

Startled, Sanji jumped backwards only to crash straight into the wall of the kitchen adjacent to the refrigerator. He cursed under his breath, wincing at the subsequent throb in his tail. He was being way too obvious about all this. When he finally looked up to face Zoro, his eyes met the man's intensely dark ones, which only served to fluster him more. Why did it feel like he had just been caught with a hand – or paw – in the cookie jar or something? This was his kitchen, his refrigerator, though maybe none of that was really his anymore.

Gritting his teeth, Sanji refused to back down, staring back boldly and hoping to some deity out there that the heat in his face didn't actually show. "N-nothing. No problem. I'm totally fine."

Shit. He was acting like a little girl trying to confess to her first childhood love or something. He shuddered, disturbed by the mental image of him as a female.

Wait, why the hell did he have to be the female? If anyone should be the female, it should be Zoro-

He shivered. That was so goddamned disturbing. All of this was. As always, he blamed his scattered and lack of concentration on the fact that he was a dog.

Yeah. Totally.

"You call this nothing? You just smashed into the wall like an idiot."

"It's really nothing," Sanji said, vehemently this time, tail swishing around in agitation. If he had to be truthful, though...

No. He wasn't going to think about it. Just thinking about it made him want to crawl out of his skin.

"You've been acting weird since the night we were on watch duty together. You fell asleep, woke up, freaked out, and pretty much refused to talk to me again," Zoro sighed, face still as impassive as always, taking a seat next to him. "Look, I know we're rivals and all, and we pretty much hate each other's' guts, but you were the one who wanted to keep all of this a secret. Are you that bothered that you have to spend time with me-"

"It's not that. Don't worry about it. It's got nothing to do with you," Sanji said quickly, laughing so heartily that it couldn't possibly be real. He winced at Zoro's raised eyebrow. "I'm serious."

But that was the problem. It had everything to do with him, as unfortunate as that was. And just why the hell did Zoro have to be up at this hour anyway? It was probably somewhere around four in the morning, but that was just his best guess. Telling the time was harder with grayscale vision but he liked to think that he was finally getting used to being a dog.

"Do you think I'm retarded, stupid cook? You've been outright avoiding me for like two weeks now. Hell, you even moved the mat from the crow's nest down to the deck to sleep there instead. What's wrong this time?"

Without answering, Sanji laid down on the ground, feeling emotionally and physically exhausted. He couldn't actually sleep much, but he didn't want anyone to be worried about him, so he stretched out on the deck to pretend. Of course, he knew Zoro was concerned because they were nakama, which was why the situation was so horrifying that he couldn't face the moss ball properly anymore. Sanji tried to put his fingers to his temples out of habit, only succeeding in rubbing his face with a paw like some demented cat. He blatantly ignored the frown forming between Zoro's brows.

"Look, I'm just having some bad dreams and it's just making me all nervous, that's all," Sanji finally admitted. A watered down version of the truth, but it was the truth nonetheless.

"Did you go talk to Chopper? He did tell you that you needed to talk to him if something came up."

Sanji choked. Like he would destroy the poor reindeer's innocent mind so cruelly. "It's nothing medical. Besides, Chopper's always busy. He has more important stuff to take care of-"

"You don't even know what Chopper's feeling right now, do you?" Zoro asked quietly, eyes closing. "Sanji, you barely eat, you don't spend time with anyone, and you're worrying the hell out of the little guy. You're all he's trying to take care of."

A stifling silence filled the room as Sanji couldn't find the right words to say. Damn, sometimes the lump of muscle really hit where it hurt. It wasn't like he didn't know that Chopper was constantly trying to find some sort of solution to this messed up situation, asking him to take one concoction after another in an attempt to reverse the Devil Fruit's effects. And he knew how much it hurt Chopper to experiment on him, since making a mistake could be disastrous. Two weeks of being a dog might have been awful for him, but it might have even been worse for the little reindeer, who now had big, dark bags under his eyes. Yeah, he definitely knew what was going on.

"Oi, Sanji, talk to me."

Hmph. Were they on a first name basis now?

"It's not so easy to say out loud, stupid marimo," Sanji muttered, curling up on the floor and scratching absentmindedly at his ear. "I'm just a little concerned that I'll blurt out something stupid if I'm around them. You know, yell out some insult or other to Luffy, maybe Usopp, or break out in compliments for Nami-san or something. And how much do you expect a dog to eat anyway?"

"More than you do now," Zoro answered flatly, opening one eye to look at him lazily.

"I eat enough. Besides, I never waste food-"

Grumble.

Shit, he had almost forgotten the reason why he was in here in the first place. He hadn't realized how much he had become used to eating alone in the morning. Plus, as a dog, he preferred watching the crew eat and listening to their conversations instead, which meant he often forgot to eat at the designated time. His plate was usually left alone, covered and well-kept, on the ground until he felt like eating, but today he had seen Robin-chan pick his leftovers up to refrigerate it.

Hence the reason he had been jumping around like a maniac at four in the morning, trying hard to make as little noise as possible, to open the damned refrigerator. Turns out he couldn't even reach the handle. He wondered why Robin-chan had to be so kind that she would make it inaccessible.

"You're hungry."

"Shut up," Sanji said, feeling his face flush. "I've been taking care of myself just fine, but today…"

"I'll make you something." Zoro stood up abruptly. He pulled the black, thick, recipe notebook out of the drawer and smirked, immediately getting started on something. "Where do you keep sage and parsley again?"

"Herbs and spices cabinet, second shelf from bottom up, somewhere in the back," Sanji replied, slightly confused. "What are you making?"

Zoro began yanking all sorts of things out of the refrigerator and the pantry in search of ingredients. Sanji sighed at the thought of having to help him put everything back later.

"What are you afraid of?"

Sanji stiffened, taken aback. "Oi, it's not polite answering a question with another question."

After what seemed like an hour of silence, Zoro mumbled, "Would it really be such a bad thing if the crew were to know, I wonder."

Sanji's jaw clenched of its own accord. He glared at the straight postured swordsman's head as if he could burn holes through that thick, green – though to him it was gray now – skull. "You've seen how they treat me now. For the past couple of weeks, I've dealt with smothering, babying, cuddling…which is funny, since they never did that with Chopper and he's much cuter than I am. They make me play fetch and do everything that they think a dog should do. Not that I mind being hugged by Nami-san and Robin-chan…but I don't need Luffy, Usopp, Brook, or Franky to constantly pet me and shit. How do you think they'll treat me knowing that Sanji the cook, their nakama, is stuck in a dog's body?! They'll not only pity me but utterly humiliate me!"

Zoro began pouring something out carefully on to a plate in little clumps so Sanji could take easy bites.

Wait, this smell…

"Tagliatelle with chestnuts and sage…?" His eyes narrowed. "You put something else in there."

"Don't change the subject." Zoro turned around to set the plate down on the ground. Sanji sniffed at it, immediately picking out the scent.

"B-bacon? How the hell did you know that?" Sanji twitched in shock and disbelief. Unless Zoro was an absolute genius in cooking, there would have been no way he would have known, since Sanji hadn't written that suggestion down. He had been too hungry for that.

A slight change in the gray tone of Zoro's cheeks made Sanji choke. Was the idiot blushing?

"Don't change the subject," Zoro repeated, sitting down again. "I'm seriously asking you. Would it bother you that much if they find it funny for a little bit? You might think that you might be made fun of, which is most likely to happen, but they're more than a little worried about you. Wouldn't it be better to let them know you're safe and on this ship, rather than for them to think that you're out there somewhere trying to get back to us?"

"You don't get it, do you?" Sanji took a quick bite of the pasta, not really able to taste much. He only knew that Zoro had, once again, recreated a recipe and made it better effortlessly. He sighed.

There were some things that could be said out loud, but some things just had to be kept to oneself. Sure, he didn't want the crew to poke fun at him or pity him or try to baby him any more than they were already. But that was hardly the real reason.

He had become a dog to protect Zoro. Or perhaps it was better to say it the other way around. In any case, he had tried his best to defend a nakama and he didn't regret it. Even if it was uncomfortable living as a dog and there were a lot of things he wasn't used to, he had easily accepted how the situation had ended up. Two weeks had gone by with no unfortunate incident and he was grateful…

But in his state, he couldn't possibly help any of them out if the Marines or some other pirates were to attack. These two weeks of peace were a rarity, considering how they had quickly come across so many different enemies throughout their "adventure", as Luffy called it. If the crew found out that the little puppy that had joined them temporarily was actually Sanji, they would try to protect him, knowing that he couldn't possibly defend himself. They all had their own battles to fight. Maybe he couldn't help the Straw Hats out like he always did, but he could at least stop himself from getting in the way.

After all, ignorance was bliss. And sometimes it could keep you alive. This was the only way he knew how to help, even if he was hurting them in the process. The lesser of two evils. At least, he wanted to convince himself that he wasn't just being a stubborn ass.

"Oi, Sanji. Snap out of it."

At the voice suddenly intruding into his thoughts, Sanji tripped over his own paw and smashed his face into the pasta. He cursed, the profanity muffled by the noodles. "Whuk".

Zoro laughed, the tension between them dissipating. Sanji growled, standing back up properly. While he had gotten used to living as a dog, the difference in the sense of balance was still a little strange for him. His hind legs were too short in comparison to how long his legs used to be and he had to put more of a strain on his front legs. His arms were by no means weak normally, but he had never had to carry around the bulk of his weight all day on them. Which meant that his paws were often sore by the end of the day as well.

"I didn't know you liked the pasta that much," Zoro chuckled, getting up and pouring a glass of water. He grabbed a bunch of napkins and sat back down, snickering.

"Shut up," Sanji said, managing to flick off most of the noodles with a paw. "A dog uses completely different muscles than humans do, asshole."

"Mmhmm…though by now, I would think you could have figured that all out."

Sanji snarled in warning when Zoro suddenly grabbed him, scrubbing at his face with a wet napkin. He resisted the urge to squirm and protest.

"Ow. Quit trying to rip the fur off my face," Sanji said flatly, not really fighting him despite the fact that he was feeling completely uncomfortable. Involuntarily, he flinched, hating that he constantly let his dreams interfere with reality.

Zoro's hand slowed, rubbing the pasta sauce away more gently and more clinically. "I got that you've got your own reasons for keeping it a secret. I'll just trust that what you're thinking is logical and I won't ask you about it again. Just stop randomly avoiding me or any of the other crewmembers. You're probably worrying them even more because you act like such a lonely dog. Even if you don't like it, just play with them. Especially Luffy."

"Fine, fine," Sanji muttered, hoping he wasn't blushing. Back to that topic, were they? There was really no one he could talk to about those strange-as-fuck dreams he'd been having.

Zoro let go of him and he finished the pasta quickly, slurping it messily and horrifying himself with his awful manners. But anything was fine so long as he didn't have to look at the moss head, even if that meant he had to eat like an animal. Which he supposed he really was now. "Thanks for the food."

"It's your recipe, not mine." Zoro shrugged. "You should try to get some more sleep."

"Speak for yourself," Sanji retorted, trotting out of the kitchen anyway. He wasn't in the mood to help Zoro clean up the mess he always made with the ingredients.

He plopped down on to his usual mat and stared at the graying sky, the black ocean, the fluffy yet rather depressing clouds. The sun shone, but he felt the warmth more than he saw its brightness.

That dream…

[~ * ~]

(A/N: Just so you won't be confused, this ' indicates Sanji's thoughts. " indicates actual conversation)

'Where am I?'

The room was dark. It almost looked like the crow's nest in terms of size, except that there was none of the familiar panoramic view of the ocean or the sky. Just a pitch black, enclosed room. No door. The metal carpet and wooden flooring had been replaced by a soft, plush carpet. He was leaning against the wall, sitting on the floor with his legs stretched out in front of him.

'Wait, what the fuck is going on? Am I dreaming? This better not be one of those dreams…'

He looked down at himself to see that he had turned back into a human. And…he was naked? Why didn't he feel the pain that he had felt when Hideko had turned him into a dog? Did pain not apply when transforming back? He doubted it. He must be dreaming. Besides, he couldn't possibly see himself without light, yet here was, clearly able to observe everything without it.

"Sanji…loosen up. Relax. Trust me."

His eyes widened to see Zoro's face suddenly appear right in front of his, the usually tense, narrowed eyes half-lidded with something that could only be called lust. The soft baritone was more gravelly than usual as he whispered in Sanji's ear, the sound like liquid honey, tempting him to succumb to his seduction. Sanji shuddered, his hips bucking upwards involuntarily.

Seduction?!

"I'll make this enjoyable, don't worry."

'No, no, no! This is SO wrong! Huh? Why can't I talk? What the fuck? My mouth is refusing to cooperate! Zoro, stop! OI!'

He only moaned as Zoro's lips trailed a blazing path from his ear to his chest, tongue darting out to lick, to taste, leaving behind reddish-purple marks as he sucked the tender flesh hard. Zoro continued until skilled mouth found his nipple, teasing, driving him utterly insane, tongue flicking over the hardened tip, teeth nibbling at the sensitive skin. A hand drifted lower, lower, until it hovered near Sanji's erection. He could feel the warmth radiating from Zoro's large hand, and his hips arched, seeking that intense heat, wanting to feel Zoro's skin against his.

"You taste so sweet."

At that, Sanji felt a flush creep into his cheeks. It was obvious that even if he mentally knew what was going on and wanted to stop, the physical urges of his body refused to deny itself the pleasure Zoro was willing to give.

He shuddered.

"Adorable."

He wanted to protest, but Zoro finally stroked his throbbing member, and he whimpered, hands instinctively clutching the short green hair, arms wrapping around the thick neck. Another groan escaped him as Zoro began pumping his member harder, the delicious, sinful friction threatening to overwhelm him. Zoro's touch was indescribable, amazing, utterly...wrong, yet so right. Long fingers wrapped around Sanji's thickness, teasing, clutching, rubbing. And when a nail lightly raked across his length, Sanji trembled with the unbelievable pleasure, releasing another moan.

"Shit, Sanji, you have no idea how sexy you are."

Zoro carefully maneuvered him so he was pinned to the ground by the heavier man's weight. He leaned down, pressing his lips firmly against Sanji's and coaxing them open. Sanji parted his lips and Zoro's tongue immediately delved deeper into his mouth as he took control, establishing dominance, devouring him. Both of the swordsman's hands were occupied, one still tightly gripping Sanji's leaking erection, the other pinching a swollen nipple.

"Come, Sanji."

The hand gripped infinitesimally harder, pumped the slightest bit faster.

"Come, Sanji."

Sanji trembled as he neared that peak. Zoro grinned against his lips.

"Come, Sanji…"

[~ * ~]

"ARGHHH!"

Sanji's eyes flew open as he felt the most awkward thing ever down below in the nether regions. For about the twenty billionth time.

Holy fuck, had he just had that dream, again? How did his unconscious self never know that it was going to happen?

He breathed in and out, calming himself. He must have dozed off on the deck. With what felt like bile in his mouth, Sanji got up and tried to walk off the strange feeling. He'd been having variations of this dream for the last two weeks, almost every time he fell asleep. Was it such a surprise that he didn't want to see Zoro at all? He didn't think so. He shuddered, just thinking about how horrifying all of this was. If this had happened to him when he was a human, he would have probably had a wet dream. Except dogs didn't work that way, and so he was left feeling extremely uncomfortable with no real way to fix his situation. He didn't know how to relieve the pressure, so he often ended up trying a lot of random things until he settled back down.

Actually, what was even more terrifying was that in his dream, he seemed to really like what Zoro did to him, despite the fact that they were both guys and that he loved woman more than pretty much anything else in the world. He had never had these kinds of dreams so intensely before ever. Not even with women. It was eerie how he could remember details that he shouldn't know at all in the first place. And he was talking about his nakama here! The one that insults him, competes with him, fights him, argues with him. His rival.

Which was why it was so shocking. He didn't know how to deal with it. It wasn't like he could really tell Chopper about it, or anyone else for that matter, least of all Zoro himself. He shocked himself with his strange and vivid dreams, so it only seemed logical that he had to figure this one out by himself.

Shit.

Well, maybe it was normal for dogs to want sex all day. After all, dreams reflected subconscious desires, right? Maybe his dog body sought sex but his mind was strong enough to completely suppress these urges when he was fully in control, which meant he had to stay awake. When he was asleep, though…

But why the hell did it have to be Zoro of all people?

That was just too disturbing to think about. He absolutely refused to think about that any further.

"Hey Puppy-Sanji!"

Sanji sighed, turning around and letting himself be petted by none other than Luffy. The idiot captain really had the worst timing ever. But Zoro did say to spend more time with the crew so…

At least the youth effectively fixed his problem. Maybe a distraction from his crazy thoughts would be a good thing.

"You wanna sit with me? Pretty soon, me and Usopp are going to play a game together, since I'm getting bored."

Sanji barked softly, putting in some effort in an attempt to communicate wordlessly. To his surprise, Luffy plopped down on the deck and sighed.

"Puppy-Sanji, to tell you the truth, I'm not feeling too great today. Do you know want to know why?" Luffy murmured quietly. The corners of the wide lips jerked downwards as he stretched out his hand to pet Sanji on the head again. "Even if you don't, I'm going to tell you. Because I can't really talk to anyone very well anyway. And you won't judge me, right? You know…or maybe you don't…I'm normally really excited when we see the next island and I wanna get there as fast as possible and explore, but…this time, things are different. And I hate it, because I brought this on myself."

Luffy's hands were clammy, rubbing his fur the wrong way. And yet, there was something strangely comforting in the terrible stroking. Sanji was utterly perplexed by his behavior, by his uncharacteristic discontent. The captain stayed unnaturally silent, watching him so closely that he could have sworn Luffy was seeing straight through him.

"Why does it feel like you actually understand me?" Luffy mumbled at last. "You must be a very smart dog."

Sanji grinned at that and Luffy chuckled.

"You made me feel much better, Puppy-Sanji. Thanks a lot." The trademark grin on his face again as he shouted, "USOPP! LET'S PLAY!"

Argh, the bastard clearly had no idea how sensitive his ears were. But more than that…

Did the idiot captain actually miss him? Sanji snorted at the ridiculous thought. Like that would ever happen. Luffy obviously missed the fact that he fed him almost unconditionally, since Zoro didn't. But it was a little strange seeing Luffy act this way, more serious than usual and almost genuinely upset.

Maybe Sanji could afford to be selfish and hope that Luffy cared about him as a person, not because of a profession.

"Oi, try to think of the puppy for a second, will you? You're yelling so loud you probably burst both his eardrums," Usopp said wearily, walking towards them. Sanji was grateful for the long nosed man's consideration and chuckled lightly under his breath. "How do you have so much energy in the morning?"

"It's almost lunchtime." Luffy laughed.

"What ever happened to breakfast?"

"Zoro said he had to go work out or he wouldn't cook at all today. Man, he's so strict with the whole three meals a day thing, no snacks," Luffy whined, scratching Sanji behind the ears. "And Franky built Zoro a lock for the refrigerator that I don't know the code for."

"I don't know how to buy groceries." At the deep voice, Sanji flinched. The subject of his unbelievable dream sat down on the deck and leaned his head against his hands on the railings. "I'm just trying to make the food last as long as possible. Plus, it doesn't seem like we're going to arrive at an island any time soon."

Luffy's smile all of a sudden seemed a little too forced. "Hey, Usopp! Why don't we try to paint that large rock thing over there? I'll use my fists and you can shoot paintballs or something."

"Huh? Oh, okay. I'll bring some paint." Usopp ran back to his room to find some.

Zoro sighed. "Luffy-"

"We should have arrived at the next island more than a week ago. I saw it. I told Nami not to go. I told her to change our route. And she agreed with me. I think most of our crew would agree, too. We can't continue our adventure without him," Luffy interrupted, his hat shielding his eyes. "I want him to come back soon. It took us some effort to get Robin back and for Usopp to apologize when they both decided to leave our crew, but Sanji…I think I made the wrong choice. I should never have said to leave. It feels pretty awful. We should have waited there. Nami's trying her best to keep us going in circles so we don't have to go to the island yet. Nothing feels right without him. So we're waiting now."

Sanji's jaw dropped open. Zoro looked at him pointedly, shrugging.

It seemed like the captain really did need him, as a nakama, not just a cook. But why was that? It wasn't like he played around with Luffy or particularly did anything to earn his admiration or spent any personal time with him. Why did Luffy care? Then again, if it was the other way around, it would be just as inexplicable why Sanji considered Luffy to be such a close nakama.

Was he all wrong in thinking that he was alone? He must have been taking his nightmare too seriously. They were all such close friends that they were more like family than anything else. And he had probably just been blind to, at least, the captain's feelings, if not the whole crew's.

A warm feeling spread through his chest and Sanji couldn't stop himself from smiling.

"You see, now, cook? You were never alone," Zoro leaned down to murmur into his ear.

He stiffened involuntarily. Nice, emotional feelings aside, Zoro was too close for comfort. But he had promised not to avoid anyone anymore, so he simply nodded.

"Here's the paint," Usopp said loudly.

"Okay. Let's go!" Luffy dipped a fist into the bucket of paint and shouted, "Gomu gomu no pistol!"

Luffy's arm stretched all the way to the random rock-like structure off in the distance, leaving a large white mark on the thing before his arm began to retract. Already tired due to the lack of breakfast, he sat back down the deck. "I don't feel like doing this anymore."

"Oi, oi, oi." Usopp made a face. "You're being really indecisive these days."

Sanji's eyes widened as Luffy leaned back quickly against the railings. He tried to bark in warning, but it was too late. Luffy's weight shoved his smaller one off the ship as he slipped through the railings, landing hard into the water, faster than he could let out a sound.

[~ * ~]

The water pulled down at his fur, lovingly, agonizingly, harshly. He kicked as hard as he could, but all he saw was the shimmery light gray sun shine against the darker water.

So close, goddammit.

Air…

Weren't golden retrievers supposed to swim well? That meant nothing unless he knew what he was doing, he supposed. He usually kicked in the water, creating enough force to propel himself. But with these short, stumpy legs, he could do little but try to paddle. And that wasn't working very well.

If he were to die here, though, he wouldn't mind. He was unreasonably happy at Luffy's true feelings. Knowing that he was needed…

What strange thoughts. He wouldn't, couldn't, possibly die here. It was just the ocean, the ocean that he loved since he was little.

But he kept sinking.

Would anyone come to save him? Would Zoro?

More strange thoughts.

The light got farther and farther away as he continued falling slowly, despite the furious kicks. Maybe he was making it worse for himself.

Fuck it. If he could swim as a human, why the hell he couldn't he swim as a dog?

A last breath tore out of his lungs as his vision began to blur.

Not enough oxygen.

Suddenly, he saw something like a hand reach out towards him. The last thing he felt was a pair of arms wrapping around him tightly before he passed out.

[~ * ~]

Author's Note: That's right! A handjob…? And only very shortly in his dream too XD Ugh, I hope it wasn't too terribly written. This chapter was kind of difficult to write. By that, I mean really difficult, since it took me like a week to write, which is so much slower than usual! So be kind please, if you decide to leave me a lovely review...Anyway…

My very kind reader Reviews to Master pointed out that time-wise (maybe not chapter-wise) the relationship is moving a tad too fast. As a result, there was a bit of a "time-skip", so I hope you guys weren't too put off by it or anything. It's still going to be somewhat slow paced (though I don't know what to say about this chapter)…so if you're interested in a faster, more intense romance, I suggest you check out my other fic, A Second Chance (shameless self-promotion, I'm sorry T.T)

Seriously though, thanks for reading and reviewing and favoriting and following. I love you all!