Chapter 8
Nobody Wants to be Lonely
(Christina Aguilera feat. Ricky Martin)
The door flung open and the young male sprinted into the large office.
"Sir," he panted and bent over to place his hands on his knees while trying to catch his breath.
"Stop barging into my office unannounced, you piece of shit!" the older male growled from his seat where he sat watching the monitors covering the wall behind his desk.
The younger male flinched at his boss' displeased tone.
"My apologies, sir." the youngster said meekly before rising to his full length. "The ship is read-"
"I can see that from here." the older growled irritably. "What else?"
"You requested the elite. There's only one of them available for departure at this moment."
"Who?" the older retorted and spun his chair around, but not fully.
"B-Bartholomew Kuma, sir."
The older male remained quiet for a short moment before inclining his head in a nod of approval. "Splendid. Join him."
"Sir?" the youngster questioned in a surprised tone while his eyes widened in shock.
"I am tired of your face. Leave."
"I-I don't-"
"Are you deaf, shitface?" the elder growled again.
"No, sir."
"Then go."
The young male nodded once more and headed for the door before stopping dead in his tracks. "Sir?" he started as another question popped into his young mind, and he turned his face to peer at his superior.
"Get out!"
"H-hai!"
Zoro had dozed off sometime during the night with his arms wrapped securely around the pinkette. Her minor breakdown had subsided to a dull ache in her chest and she had spent most of the darkest hours of the night just listening to the soft snores of the swordsman as he slept soundly next to her. She could not fathom why she had reacted the way she had by the thought of him leaving. He was nothing but her patient after all. But then again, doctor-patient relations created a special bond between two people; a bond of unconditional trust and faith in the other person. Perhaps she wasn't ready to break that bond just yet, even though she knew she would have to eventually.
She picked at the plate before her with her chopsticks. Sanji had been cooking them breakfast and while it both smelled and looked delicious, she couldn't get herself to taste it.
"What is she doing?" she heard the sniper whisper loudly across the table.
"Huh, who?" his captain mumbled almost uncomprehendingly with his mouth stuffed with food, which muffled anything he uttered.
"Don't speak with your mouth full in front of women, idiot." the chef grumbled sourly before stealing a glance at the pinkette. "Macaron-chwan, would you like something else to fill that subtle stomach of yours~?"
"O-oi! Watch it, shitty lovecook!" Zoro growled from his seat and sent the blonde a menacing glare. Now knowing the perverted nature of the blonde, Zoro's mind immediately deciphered Sanji's question as something that was in no way related to food.
"What did you say, marimo?!" the cook challenged while meeting the swordsman's gaze with a fiery one of his own.
"Sanji-kun," the navigator chimed in and raised her empty glass. "Can I have one more of these, please?"
Sanji's cheeks turned into a light shade of pink as the navigator finally acknowledged his existence, and he hurried over to her side, gracefully taking her empty glass into his hand. "Anything for you, Mellorine~" he wailed in a sing-song voice before dancing out of the dining room.
Nami faked a smile as she watched him leave before eyeing the pinkette through her lashes. "Someone might clean that plate of yours if you don't eat up soon."
Just as the words left her mouth, a long arm stretched across the table towards Sakura's plate and swiftly emptied it. Sakura stared in utter horror at Luffy when his arm retracted to its normal length with a snapping sound.
Nami smirked deviously at her end of the table. "That's what I was trying to warn you about."
Sakura ignored the taunts of the redhead and furrowed her brows in confusion while peering at the male who had just finished the last of her breakfast. "What are you?"
Luffy's dark eyes shot to Sakura's and he pointed at himself with his thumb while grinning cheerfully. "I'm a rubberman!"
Sakura cocked a brow. "A what?"
"I ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi and became a rubberman." the dark-haired boy retorted proudly.
"Gomu Gomu…" Sakura began slowly until the redhead cut her off.
"It's a devil fruit," Nami stated matter-of-factly. "Have you spent your entire life living under a rock or what?"
Sakura regarded the captain of the crew while clenching her fist around the left chopstick in irritation at the way Nami was currently speaking to her. 'A devil fruit user,' she thought to herself. 'That means he's dangerous.' The chopstick snapped into two which caused Sakura to glare down at the two pieces she was now holding in her hand. She placed them onto her empty plate and pushed her chair back, slowly rising from her seat and heading towards the door. She needed to get away from them. She had been warned about devil fruit users and their powers before leaving home. If she was going to do something right during her stay on the island, keeping away from these pirates would be it, and as much as she hated to admit it, that included the green-haired swordsman.
A hand shot out and grasped onto her wrist which stilled her movement while a jolt of electricity pleasantly coursed through her system. At the same time, the door leading to the dining room creaked as it slowly opened, showing off a set of horns with a pink hat resting comfortably in between them as their owner peeked carefully into the room. Sakura turned to face the owner of the hand and found her pale wrist resting casually in the clasp of Zoro's tan one. She bit her lip uncertainly, slowly letting her gaze travel up the muscular arm and shoulder until she finally met his gaze. Zoro bore a stoic look on his face, yet his eyes spoke volumes of nothing but affection and what she assumed was worry.
"S-sakura," Chopper called quietly with his squeaky voice from the door. "Doctorine says you are needed."
She made a halfhearted try at tugging her wrist free from his grasp while noticing the smalltalk around the table had suddenly died down.
"W-what is he doing?" Usopp voiced his thoughts in a failed whisper.
"Mellorine~!" the door to the kitchen swung open then and Sanji reemerged into the dining room with a new drink for Nami. "What the hell are you doing, crappy swordsman?!"
"Tch," Zoro loosened his grip around the pinkette and shot the chef an annoyed look. "Shut it, swirly brows!"
Sakura took that moment to escape with Chopper. She turned to steal one last glance at the swordsman, whom was currently shooting daggers at the blonde, before she closed the door to the dining room. 'If looks could kill…' she mused to herself. They were definitely worse than her old team mates.
Chopper lead her through the castle until they ended up in front of a large wooden door.
"They are too many," he stated and pushed the door open with his paws. "Doctorine could use an extra hand."
"Of course." Sakura nodded in understanding and entered the room after the tanuki.
The room was filled with hospital beds. Most of them were occupied by sick people whereas others stood empty. Pained groans and the panicked voices of relatives flooded through the room, and Sakura inwardly flinched at the thick and heavy atmosphere that hung over them. Dr. Kureha was standing in front of a queue of people, quickly giving them a once-over before directing them to where she wanted them to wait.
"Sakura, I need you to stitch that man up." she barked her order while pointing at a largely built male resting on one of the beds.
Sakura wasted no time and hurried over to the man. A bloodstained white robe hung over the edge of his bed and she immediately recognized it as one the Marines wore.
"My name is Sakura and I will be treating you today." she began out of habit while giving the man a ghost of a smile.
The man glared at her, his mouth set in a firm line. "I don't need help from a fucking girl. Give me the doctor!" he spat before wincing in pain as his bloodied midsection protested against his attempt at sitting up.
Sakura went closer to assist the male. "I am a doctor. You need to lay down."
"I don't take orders. I give them." he replied heatedly and shot her a look of disapproval.
Sakura suppressed her rising anger. She was tired of being looked down at. She was tired of being underestimated. She was tired of always being looked over when things really mattered. She was an aspiring doctor: one who knew exactly what she was doing when it counted. She was skilled and dependable, and she would stitch his wound up whether he liked it or not.
"You can either lay the fuck down and let me stitch you up or bleed to death. It's your call." she growled when he shook her hand off a second time.
He took his time sizing her up before giving in to his hurting body and laid back down.
"Thank you." she seethed through gritted teeth and brought out her favorite scissors from her medical pouch and cut through the bandages wrapped around his waist. "What happened to you?" she inquired when seeing the open wound on the left side of his stomach.
"Tch, Strawhat Luffy is what happened."
She shot him a look of surprise and placed a gauze onto the wound, giving light pressure to it while fishing up a needle and her roll of surgical suture from the pouch.
"Strawhat Luffy?" she questioned innocently. "Who is that?" Gathering intelligence was part of being a ninja after all, and the more she knew about her enemy, the better she could avoid him, or so she hoped.
The male growled in annoyance and turned his head to face the wall. "A dead man once I get my hands on him."
"Sakura!" Dr. Kureha yelled from across the room. "Less smalltalk, more work."
"H-hai!"
Zoro walked aimlessly through one of the dimly lit corridors deep inside of the castle. Somehow he couldn't seem to get Sakura out of his mind, no matter how hard he tried. She had been acting weird since his crew mates had shown up and he didn't understand why. The Strawhat pirates were still strangers to him. He knew he belonged with them -they had told him so, and he had remembered random sequences from aboard a ship with a sheep figurehead, yet he couldn't understand why he had agreed to join such an odd crew in the first place.
The stupid lovecook was the one who irked him the most with his constant name calling and swooning over whatever woman was around, especially when it was directed at his Sakura.
Nami seemed pissed most of the time and he chose to ignore her for the most part. He did not trust her one bit, and he disliked how she always seemed to interrupt the chef and him whenever they fell into another pointless argument which the chef would clearly lose anyway.
The sniper cowered whenever he laid his eyes on him and always came up with excuses not to be near him. He was an unreliable asset and would probably not stick around when or if things got ugly.
Luffy was too carefree for his own good and not suited to be their captain. He was too oblivious to the things happening around him and too naive to understand what was going on. But even so, Zoro found himself having too much respect for the rubberman to leave his crew, and he guessed the reason for that was something he had yet to discover within himself.
His mind went back to the pinkette whom he technically owed his life to. Had it not been for her, he probably would have died out in the snow. She was avoiding him, he had come to realize, and that annoyed him. Her avoiding him also made it difficult for him to uncover who she really was. She was no ordinary doctor -he knew that. She was hiding something and he wanted to know what it was. He did not know why that was so important to him. Nor did he know why she even mattered at all. According to his crew mates, his biggest dream was to become the greatest swordsman in the world. Therefore he shouldn't let some wonderful, pink-haired woman come in between him and his biggest dream. Giving into her would make him weak. Yet she refused to leave his mind. This was unexplored territory for him - something he was sure he had never experienced before and if he had to admit it, it actually frightened him.
He entered through a wooden door to his right and found himself standing in an empty room. Deciding to get some training done and to let off some steam, he leaned his swords against the nearest wall before he flipped himself over onto his hands and started doing push-ups while practicing his balance at the same time. Strength and stamina were beneficial for a swordsman, and by exercising he would further his limits and hopefully get stronger in the process.
Regarding Sakura, he would figure out a way to keep her close; even if his sanity depended on it.
He sat quietly on deck with his hands resting a couple of inches behind his hips and with his head tilted slightly backwards while gazing up at the obsidian sky. Stars were scattered over the black sky like fireflies in a dark forest, creating constellations which he found himself admiring deeply.
This was the first time he had left the island, and the first time he had been ordered to do something other than deliver the intelligence gathered at the facility. He had been brought to the island as a young child -an act of bribery by his parents to keep their home island from getting destroyed by the marines. His current boss had been reluctant at first, stating he did not need a stupid brat jeopardizing his work, and had therefore ended up secluding the young boy in an unused part of the underground building during his first eight years of existence. He had watched from afar how the scientists always seemed to work on weapons and robots designed by his boss. The technology was far too complicated for his mind to understand, yet he had felt interested enough to try and create something of his own by using stolen blueprints of his boss' earlier works.
The project had failed miserably, yet the act itself caught the old man's attention and he had been moved to the intel-gathering section of the building where his keen eye for detail had been well put to use. However, staring at diagrams and various radars had not been satisfying enough, until he a couple of years later had discovered the chakra user currently residing somewhere between the East and South blue.
At 22 years of age, he smiled towards the sky in satisfaction at how things had turned out. If his parents were still alive, he was sure they were proud of him.
"Aphia," a deep voice called from behind him. "That's your name, right?"
"Yes." the youngster replied in a steady voice.
"There is a storm coming. You should go inside."
"I'll be there in a minute." Aphia retorted and continued watching the stars.
The slender man behind him muttered to himself as he made his way back down the shack he had emerged from. The brat wouldn't know what hit him until it was too late if he stayed too long up on deck, but he wasn't his responsibility so he left the youngster to himself and helped aiding the rest of the crew with the preparations to withstand the oncoming storm.
"So," the navigator began and glanced at her crew.
They were currently residing in the room the three males had been appointed. Sanji stood by the window, looking out over the white landscape while Usopp was resting in his bed. Luffy was snacking on a ham sandwich he had managed to steal from the kitchen while a rare, thoughtful expression clad his features.
Sanji and Usopp looked at Nami, curious to hear what was going on in her mind.
"We found Zoro," she continued. "Yet we have no ship and can't leave this island. Sanji and I asked around in the village in hope of finding a shipwright, but there is none."
The men remained silent, so she went on.
"The Going Merry is gone. My treasure is somewhere on the bottom of the sea in the freezing water around the island. We can't buy a new ship, so what do we do?"
"We steal one." the sniper spoke up from his bed, sounding unusually calm and serious.
"We can't steal a ship, idiot." Sanji growled and lit the cigarette in between his lips. "How about asking one of the fishermen for a ride to the next island?"
"I doubt anyone will do that for a crew of pirates." Nami muttered and picked at her fingernails.
Usopp rose to a sitting position. "So we will steal one. Nami, you should be able to do that. You are a thief, after all."
The redhead shot him an angry glare which had the sniper cowering in fear and apologizing for what he had just said.
"Luffy?" she questioned and turned to face the captain whom had been quiet during the conversation. He was the one who called the shots in the end.
His thoughtful expression had turned to a distant one as he stared at a spot on the wall in front of him.
"Luffy!" Nami said a little louder. He jumped by the sound of her voice and turned his head to look at her. "What should we do?"
He raised one of his hands and stuck a finger in his nose. "About what?"
"You weren't even listening?!" Usopp and Sanji yelled in unison.
The rubberman grinned sheepishly with his finger still in his nose. "Sorry."
Nami pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes.
"Idiot." she mumbled.
'402, 403, 404, 405' Zoro counted inwardly as he did one armed push-ups on the stone floor in the room he had found earlier.
His sweater had been thrown into one of the corners since he had found it to be in the way as it had kept falling down over his face the moment he started his workout. Sweat glistened over his toned body while beads of sweat trickled down his temples as he continued pushing himself to the limit.
He had been forced to start over twice already because of a certain pink-haired doctor popping into his mind. The image of her bedazzling smile and soft curves had distracted him from counting, so he had punished himself for slipping up by redoing his set of push-ups. His current goal was 500 which would make it a total of 2000 with 1000 push-ups per each arm. His biceps and triceps were aching from the strain he had put them through and he found he liked how it actually made him feel alive. Once he was done with his workout session, he picked his shirt up from the floor and headed out the door.
After a couple of wrong turns, he finally made it to the floor where his, Sakura's and the rest of the Strawhat Pirates' rooms were. He headed to the bathroom to take a shower and quickly stripped out of his sweatpants before going to stand under the spray of cold water. The palm of his hands rested against the white tile in front of him and he closed his eyes while shuddering as the cold enveloped his heated body.
Water dripped from his hair, sliding down the curves of his face before falling onto the blue stones that covered the floor and disappeared down the drain. He sighed audibly as Sakura entered his mind once again. Those emerald green eyes of hers burned through him, straight into his soul and he clenched his fist in frustration. Why was she avoiding him? Had he done something wrong? Had he misinterpreted her true intentions from the start?
The image of her uncertain and horrified expression when he had grasped her wrist earlier that day came back to haunt him. Maybe he was trying too hard to get close to her and was in fact scaring her off instead? Maybe he should let her be for now.
A loud knock on the door made his head snap up to glare at the shower curtain.
"Are you done? There are more than you on this floor who need to use the bathroom." a muffled voice stated from the other side of the door.
"Tch," Zoro furrowed his brows in irritation. Sanji was getting on his nerves. He twisted the knob a bit to let warm water mix with the cold and let out a quiet sigh of relief once it started warming up his freezing frame. His fists clenched tighter together as another thought popped into his mind. What if Sakura found the chef more appealing than him? He shook his head at the thought. No. How could anyone find that shitty cook of any interest?
He turned the water off after the blonde banged on the door once more and quickly dried himself off before wrapping the towel around his hips and stepped out onto the cold stone floor. 'I'll give her some space.' he told himself and unlocked the door.
Sanji leaned against the door frame as Zoro made his way out of the bathroom.
"Took you long enough, Marimo."
"Shut it." he growled and headed to his room.
Sakura busied herself with the never ending masses of patients that piled into the castle for the next two days. Treating their wounds helped keeping her mind off the swordsman, but once she was alone in her room, she succumbed to the emptiness his absence caused her. She hadn't seen Zoro since the morning she had found out about Luffy's devil fruit abilities, and the rest of the pirates had avoided walking around the castle now that the Marines were being treated. Apparently their and some of the villager's wounds had been caused by a fight between the pirates and the Marines, and she had often wondered just how strong the lean Strawhat captain really was since he was still up and running without any visible injuries. Were the rest of his crew as powerful as him?
"Sakura?" Chopper called from her side, causing her to jump as he startled her. "You're ruining the herbs if you keep grinding them like that."
Sakura looked down at the candle lit table to where she was currently crushing a mix of herbs in a marbled mortar and abruptly loosened the iron grip she had around the pestle.
"Sorry." she apologized while offering the reindeer a small smile.
She had learned a day prior that the small tanuki was in fact a doctor himself, and a rather good one at that. His main specialization was creating and counteracting drugs and ointments by using herbs, vegetables, fruits and roots, and he firmly believed there was a cure for any disease. So the ninja had asked him to teach her some of the things he knew. Furthering her knowledge was why she had been sent on this mission after all.
Dr. Kureha had even ordered Sakura to take a break from the people in need after noticing the paleness of the pinkette and how her hands trembled while she tried sewing up a slashed arm. The woman had also ordered her to grab something to eat and Sakura had shamefully taken the woman's advice. Her appetite had been gone for the past couple of days, so she had been living off the stack of soldier pills she always carried in her medical pouch. While they gave her the energy to keep going for a couple of more hours, they lacked the nutritions needed to keep her alert and strong. She was tired, both physically and mentally and she knew lack of both sleep and food was the underlaying factor for that while the reason behind it all was nothing else than her longing for the swordsman.
He had stopped coming to her room during the past two nights, and while she was thankful for that, she also felt more lonely and hurting than she had in a long time. In fact, the last time she had felt this empty had been when Sasuke left the village.
"Redo it." Chopper ordered with his squeaky voice and watched the woman nod her head before picking the mortar up and emptying its content in the nearby trash bin.
She had swooned after Saskue for years: always seeking his approval and acknowledgment, but he was always so focused on getting stronger in hopes of being able to kill his brother that he never noticed her. She did not understand at the time that in order for him to actually see her, she would have to become stronger too. But before she got the chance to make a difference for herself, he had left.
Placing another set of herbs in the mortar, she started crushing them more carefully while Chopper supervised.
She was sure she would end up alone in the end. The life of a ninja did not give much room for relationships. In order for something to work out, she would probably have to settle with someone who shared her lifestyle. But out of the ninjas in her village, no one had caught her eye. She wasn't even sure how she would deal with the constant missions both she and her partner would get sent out on. There was always a risk of dying, of being ambushed, and while she had already seen that happen to some of the older generations, she was sure being the one mourning over a lost loved one would hinder ones careerer. Ninjas needed to be the best they could be. They needed to stay focused no matter what.
A soft paw suddenly came into view as it rested atop of her hand. She stilled her movement and looked quizzically at the doctor.
"You need to focus." he told her while his large, round, black eyes stared into her emerald ones. "The grainy substance is what keeps it together."
She sighed, frustrated with herself, and went to empty the mortar once more.
"You can do this, Sakura." the tanuki said truthfully. "I know you can."
She gave a lopsided smile and set the mortar down onto the table before softly placing her hands on his soft cheeks and leaned down to leave a chaste kiss on his furry forehead.
"You're too cute." she smiled and emptied another stash of herbs into the marbled mortar while Chopper swayed delightfully from side to side.
"Complimenting me won't make me happy, bastard!" he squealed cheerfully and heard the pinkette laugh heartily.
"You know," he continued in a more serious tone. "That's the first time I've heard you laugh since you got here."
She shot him a curious look which turned into one of contemplation. "You're probably right. We'll have to change that."
"W-what are y-you doing?!" Chopper cried out in fear when Sakura suddenly picked him up by his paws and started spinning them around in a circle.
She laughed in response and closed her eyes, willing all the heavy thoughts away from her tired mind. Chopper squealed in delight at the fast speed they were spinning and closed his eyes as well.
"What are you two doing?!" Dr. Kureha's voice suddenly boomed from the doorway.
Sakura stopped dead in her tracks and blushed scarlet at getting caught.
"Get back to work. Chopper, come with me. We have a situation."
Sakura let the furry doctor back down onto the floor, watching him hurry after his master. He turned to face the pinkette with an apologetic look on his face which Sakura responded to by sticking her tongue out playfully which had Chopper smiling immediately. He was too cute.
Once she was alone in the room she turned her attention to the herbs again. Chopper had faith in her and she would not let him down. As she crushed the mixture of fresh leafs, her mind went to Zoro once again. She missed the way he looked at her, missed the way he smiled when they were alone. She missed hearing his voice and missed breathing in his unique scent. She missed his touch and the way he would cuddle with her when they went to bed. But most of all, she missed how genuinely happy she felt when he was around.
Sasuke never made her feel happy, she realized. He always told her she was never good enough for him. She was a nuisance. She was annoying. She was weak. And while Zoro hadn't told her the opposite, she knew deep down that he truly cared. She had seen it in his eyes. She had felt it in the way he touched her. Hell, he had even apologized for something as stupid as jealousy, which was something she knew Sasuke would never do.
Why were ninjas and pirates enemies? She had never truly heard the story behind it. Pirates were dangerous. Well, so were ninjas. Pirates were unreliable. Ninjas were too. There were enough traitors and missing nins around to last them a lifetime. Pirates were thieves. Ninjas stole things all the time: scrolls and various high-value objects that were either seen as a threat or a treasure depending on whatever village one derived from. When it came down to it, pirates weren't that much different from her kind. So why the hostility towards one another?
She looked down at the grainy paste she had created with the crushed leafs and smiled. She had done it. Chopper would be proud of her. If it wasn't for him, she never would have gotten it right. Scraping the paste into a small container, she then set it on the table and went to rinse out the mortar.
She deserved to be happy, she thought to herself as she walked down the dark corridor to get something to eat. It was late, probably after midnight already considering the position of the moon up in the obsidian-colored sky, and she hadn't eaten since Kureha had ordered her to. Maybe she should talk to Zoro while she still had the chance. They would probably be leaving soon anyway. She stopped abruptly, her eyes widening while her heart constricted painfully in her chest. What if they had already left? What if she had been too indecisive and was too late. What if her only chance to tell him how she really felt was gone with the wind?
What did she feel? Fondness? Lust? …love?
She turned on her heel and sprinted through the dark corridor. The fastest way to their sleeping quarters was the opposite direction from the one she had intended to take. Food would have to wait. She had to make sure he was still here. She needed to let him know.
"Captain," Aphia called as he made his way towards the captain of the ship. "There was a hit on the radar."
"Yes?" the bearded man questioned as he hovered over a map.
"The machine is not responding as fast out at sea, but we have pinpointed the location now."
The captain looked up, grey eyes acknowledging the boy their boss had thrown aboard. The youngster had been useless so far with no experience nor knowledge about the ship. His companion, the infamous Bartholomew Kuma, had locked himself up in his cubicle since they had departed from the island and the captain was thankful for that. The Shichibukai was scary and someone the captain did not want aboard the ship for longer than necessary. The pacifista had the whole crew on edge and they were all waiting for the day this mission was done and over with.
"I'm waiting." the captain raised a brow. Really, this boy was useless.
"Oh, right. The target is currently residing on Drum Island." Aphia filled in and offered a smile.
The captain looked down at the map once more and tapped a finger over Drum Island. It would take them at least two weeks to get there if they traveled in full speed. Give or take a day or two.
"Excellent."
Aphia leaned over the map as well until he sensed the agitation wafting from the captain.
"Don't you have someplace to be?"
Aphia grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "Ah, I was hoping I could take a break for a while. Get some air, perhaps lend a hand-"
"No."
The youngster's grin faltered.
"Don't just stand there. Go!" the captain barked and shooed the newcomer away with a wave of his hand. What God did he ever piss off to get punished by a moron like this?
Sakura stopped outside of Zoro's door and took a moment to catch her breath. Her emotions were raging uncontrollably within her. She was scared, close to tears, excited, hopeful and scared again. She bit her lip, knocked on the door and waited. Was he angry with her? Asleep? Would he be happy to see her? Would he let her in even though she had been avoiding him for days?
The feeling of despair rose within her after about a minute of waiting. Why wasn't he opening the door? She lowered her head and looked down at her feet before trying again, this time knocking harder than the first time.
A shaky breath left her lips as she waited again, this time unable to keep her tears at bay. Had he truly left?
"Zoro?" she called out quietly and bit her quivering lip.
No reply.
She would have heard his snores if he was sleeping, but the room was dead silent from what she could hear.
"Please open the door," she begged and bowed her head as tears streamed down her cheeks. "Please. I'm sorry."
"Sakura?" a voice called from somewhere to her left. "What did that shitty asshole do?!"
Sakura snapped her head to where the voice came from and quickly wiped away her tears with the sleeves of her shirt. "Sa-sanji!"
The chef came to stand in front of her with a worried and pissed off expression on his face. "What did he do?" he pushed and latched his hand carefully around her wrist, slowly removing her hand from her face. "I'll kill him."
Sakura looked down at her feet while tears of both joy and sadness escaped her puffy eyes. They were still on the island. Sanji grasped her chin with his free hand and tilted her head up.
"What did that idiot say to make these tears stain your beautiful face?" the blonde questioned softly while gazing into her emerald green eyes.
Sakura was at a loss for words. He was supposed to be her enemy, yet he seemed genuinely worried about her being. His thumb wiped at the track of tears that slid down the curve of her cheek and she stared at him in amazement, completely bewildered by the act itself.
Her bottom lip quivered again and she quickly wrapped her arms around the blonde's midsection before her mind had the time to register what she was doing. She cried into his chest while he wrapped an arm securely around her sobbing form while softly brushing his hand over her hair.
"The hell?!" another voice boomed from Sakura's left again and she quickly let go of Sanji and stared at the man the voice belonged to.
"Z-zoro…"
He looked pissed off and dangerously sexy with his hateful glare aimed at them, katana in one hand, ready to deliver a deathly blow at any second, and with a bottle of sake in the other.
Sanji glared back with as much ferocity as the swordsman and wrapped an arm protectively around Sakura.
"Stay away, shithead." Sanji growled as he tightened his grip around the pinkette.
"Fuck off, swirly brows." Zoro shot back and took a step closer. "I'll fucking kill you."
"Zoro," Sakura began and shook Sanji's hand off of her shoulder before taking a step towards Zoro.
"Not now, woman."
Sakura's breath got caught in her throat at those words and she stared at him with a hurtful look in her eyes.
"Get out of the way, Sakura-chwan." Sanji commanded darkly from behind her. "I don't want you to get hurt."
"No." she said firmly while clenching her fists. "Sanji, please leave."
"I will cut your limbs off if you move." Zoro growled with his eyes set firmly on the chef, watching his every move like a hunter stalking their prey.
"Get out of the way, Sakura." Sanji repeated. "He hurt you. I will deal with this."
Zoro's gaze flickered to Sakura's for a moment before returning to glare at Sanji again. "What is he talking about?"
"Tch, acting dumb to get out of trouble is low, even for you, scumbag." the blonde seethed through gritted teeth.
Sakura took another step towards Zoro. He shot her another look, this time with a hint of confusion hidden in his deep, black eyes.
"What is he talking about?"
Sakura turned to tell Sanji to leave once more and noticed he was nowhere to be seen. A shadow fell over her and she looked up just in time to see the blonde coursing through the air with an aura of rage surrounding his form.
"I hope you'll burn in hell!" Sanji growled as he somersaulted through the air with one leg outstretched in front of him while the other one was shooting forward in what Sakura assumed would be one hell of a kick.
Snapping her gaze to her lover, she saw him readying himself for the oncoming attack by crouching down and starting to swing his katana.
"Ittoryu-"
"Stop it!" she screamed and did the only thing she could think of. Sakura directed chakra to her feet and rushed to stand in front of Zoro when Sanji's foot came coursing through the air with such speed and force she was sure she would die the instant it would connect with her jaw.
"What the..?!" Sanji exclaimed in a panicked voice when realizing the pinkette was blocking his target. He did not hurt women, no matter the situation.
Zoro snaked the arm holding the bottle of sake around Sakura's waist and jumped back a couple of feet, still holding onto her while throwing his other arm out in front of them both to shield her from Sanji's attack. 'How the hell did she move that fast?'
Sanji twisted mid-air, used the nearest wall for leverage and landed a foot away from the couple.
"Sakura?" the blonde started in a calm voice. "Are you insane?! I could have killed you!" he panicked.
Sakura turned in Zoro's grasp, ignoring the blonde for now. "I'm sorry. It was a mistake-"
Zoro glared at Sanji before shifting his gaze to the aspiring doctor. So he had been right about them after all. They had been creeping behind his back.
"You weren't there-"
He sheathed his sword. He didn't want to hear it, whatever excuse she may have.
"I'm sor-" she brought her hand up and slapped him in the face. "Are you even listening?!"
It stung. His whole cheek stung from the impact. Glaring down at the pinkette, he saw a look of fury flicker through her eyes.
"What?" he growled. She had no right to slap him.
"What's going on?" Luffy questioned from a bit behind Zoro.
"Nothing." the chef and the swordsman seethed in unison.
"Well then, I'll go back to bed. See you tomorrow!" their captain stated cheerfully and went back into his room.
Sakura stared in awe at the closed door. Luffy was more dense than she had given him credit for. "Sanji?"
"Yes, my love?~"
Zoro's eye twitched irritably. They were making him sick.
"Will you give us a second, please?" Sakura requested while keeping her eyes locked with Zoro's.
"Are you sure?" he hesitated while eyeing them both.
"Yes."
Sanji nodded once and walked past them them, heading for the bedroom.
"We're leaving at daybreak," Zoro called after the chef. "It would be a shame if you overslept." he continued tauntingly.
Sakura felt her heart shattering to pieces at those words. The moment she had been dreading for the past couple of days had finally caught up with them.
"What?" she whispered. She had taken too long. Her indecisiveness about the man before her had hindered her from spending much needed time with him.
"Wouldn't count on it, marimo." Sanji retorted mockingly before disappearing into the room he shared with Luffy and Usopp.
Warm, salty tears slid down her cheeks again. Zoro eyed her warily, unsure of what to do. Sakura bit down on her lip. If this was their last night together she needed to let him know how she felt. She owed that to herself.
Standing on her tiptoes, she planted a soft, sad kiss onto his lips while leaning against his chest for support. He didn't respond. Dark brows furrowed in confusion. Was he wrong about them or was she into them both? He had to know.
"Sakura," his voice was muffled by her lips, his hands went to grasp around her wrists and he carefully peeled them off of his chest.
"Please," she pleaded, eyelids fluttering open to reveal a pair of dark, blank, emerald green eyes while he held onto her. "I need this."
"Why?" his voice was barely above a whisper. It hurt. Seeing him with the stupid lovechef hurt.
A blush crept over her cheeks and she lowered her gaze while standing back down on the soles of her feet. Telling him the truth could either bare or break. Was she ready to risk it all?
"Because," she paused and bit her lip uncertainly before raising her head once more. "Because all I can think about is how much I miss you." she continued in a quiet voice. "And if this is your last night here, I want to spend it with you."
He let go of her wrists and took a step back, still holding the bottle of sake in his hand. It wasn't good enough.
"Why?" he asked again.
"Because," she whispered. "Because I… love you."
She couldn't look him in the eye -couldn't get herself to look at him at all. He was quiet. Too quiet. She shouldn't have said anything. He clearly didn't feel the same way and she realized she had just made a fool out of herself.
He was shocked and confused. Her actions these past couple of days had told him the opposite of what she was telling him right now. Why had she kept this from him? Why hadn't she told him sooner?
"I'm sorry, I'll go." she sniffled and attempted to walk past him to the security of her room until his hand grasped onto her wrist once more.
"Why…?" he wasn't sure what he was asking. He had so many questions but didn't know how to voice them.
She pressed her lips tightly together and kept her eyes locked on a random spot on the floor while heat was spreading from where he held his fingers around her wrist. "I didn't want this to happen." she stated quietly. "I didn't intend to fall for you."
He remained quiet.
"When I found you, I just wanted to help you. And once I got to know you, or parts of you, I realized you were everything I wanted in a man. And then I tried pushing everything away because we can't be together."
"Why can't we?"
She bit her lip again. "I can't tell you that."
"Why?"
A short, despaired laugh left her lips. "Is that all you can say?" she questioned humorlessly.
"Sakura," he sighed.
"Please, don't."
Seeing her like this broke his heart. She looked so vulnerable. He was surprised she managed to hold herself together as well as she was.
"What about that shitty cook?" he needed to know.
"Sanji?" she questioned and shot him a confused look. "What about him?"
A delicate brow rose above his eye. "Weren't you two…" he trailed off.
"I thought you left. I thought I was too late. Then he showed up and thought you had hurt me, that the reason I cried…" it dawned on her by then. "He comforted me and then you showed up. There's nothing going on between him and me."
"Ah…"
He slid his thumb over the inside of her wrist and looked down at the floor, mimicking her action from earlier. So he had been wrong about them. And she had stayed away because they couldn't be together. He would be leaving in a couple of hours and she would remain on the island. She had laid it all out there, her feelings, her thoughts, everything.
"What are you thinking?" she questioned carefully.
"I'm an idiot."
She smirked at that. "That's what I've been saying all along."
A lopsided smile clad his lips by her statement.
"Tch, witch." his black eyes went to hers once again and this time she met them full on.
"Idiot."
He tugged at her wrist and snaked an arm around her waist before leaning his forehead against hers. "I'm your idiot."
The tip of her nose brushed against his when she leaned in closer, emerald eyes staring lovingly into his black ones. "What does that make me?"
"My witch." he said with a hint of possessiveness and sealed it with a soft, loving kiss.
Dawn arrived a couple of hours later. Sakura laid halfway across Zoro with one leg draped over his thighs. Her cheek rested on top of his chest while he had one arm wrapped securely around her naked form. Her pink hair covered most of his right shoulder and her breaths came out in warm, steady waves over the upper part of his chest. She was caressing his soft skin with her fingertips, carefully trailing them along the long scar that clad his torso. He was snoring softly partly underneath her form, eyes closed, lips slightly parted. She listened to the steady beating of his heart, feeling more and more sad as the warm rays of the sun reached further and further up the leg that had escaped the purple blanket that messily covered them both.
She wasn't ready to let him go, but she knew she had to. The Marines were after them, coming closer and closer every day. They were already in the castle, currently recovering from their fight and they were getting better. She had seen to that herself.
Calloused fingers slid along the curve of her hip, slowly making their way down the dip of her waist before descending over her hip again. She shivered under his touch while a feeling of heat spread through her system. She lifted her head to observe him and realized he was still asleep. A sad smile appeared on her lips as she laid her head back down onto his toned chest. 'If only we had more time.'
Two knocks sounded from the door before said door opened up. Sakura yelped in surprise and pushed the swordsman off the bed while scrambling to cover herself with the blanket.
"The hell?!" he questioned hoarsely from his current position on the floor, not at all happy about the brutal wake up.
"Sakura," Dr. Kureha began as she entered the pinkette's room. "Oh, good. You're awake."
The ninja pushed a pillow discreetly off the bed as an act to give Zoro something to cover himself with while he hid from the old hag, as he so gracefully called her.
"Get dressed, we have a situation." the elderly continued while eyeing the flustered girl. "Bring the swordsman too."
Zoro peeked up from the floor with his green hair in a total mess while Sakura's blush deepened.
"Seriously, you two are worse than rabbits." the doctor added before stomping back into the hall.
Sakura turned to face her lover with an apologetic look on her face. "I'm sorry, I panicked."
He shook it off with a swift wave of his hand and reached for his discarded clothes. Sakura went to find her own and quickly tugged them on before hurriedly brushing her fingers through her hair. She headed for the door but was pulled into a solid chest by two strong arms before she reached it. A quiet moan left her lips when he nuzzled his face in the crook of her neck from behind and planted a trail of heated kisses over the exposed skin. She turned in his arms and slid her hands up his chest as he pulled her closer by circling his arms around her waist. He captured her lips with his, sliding one hand over her clothed back while she entangled her fingers in his untamed hair.
Voices came from the hall which caused him to leave one last heartfelt kiss on her lips before slowly pulling away. It was time.
They headed to their right and was just about to pass Luffy's room when Sanji peeked his head out the doorway.
"Good morning, Sakura-chwan~!" the chef greeted cheerfully when laying his eyes on Sakura.
"Good moning," Sakura replied with less enthusiasm than she had intended.
Sanji's blue eyes went to Zoro and his previously cheerful expression turned into a grim one in less than a second. "Took you long enough, Marimo."
Zoro pushed the blonde out of the way as he made his way into the rest of the crew's bedroom. "Shut it, swirly brows."
The Strawhats were all seated around the round table in the middle of the room and Sakura realized she felt oddly misplaced in a room full of pirates. Dr. Kureha came to meet the pinkette and motioned for her to follow her outside. Shutting the door behind them, the older woman eyed the ninja with a serious look.
"I'm going to ask you something and I need you to be one hundred percent honest with me."
Sakura's brows furrowed in confusion. "Okay?"
"Have you been using chakra while staying on this island?"
Sakura's eyes widened at the sudden question. "What?"
"Have you been using chakra during your stay here?" the doctor questioned again.
Hanging her head in shame, Sakura nodded her head yes and heard the woman before her sigh deeply.
"You're in trouble, Sakura."
The pinkette lifted her gaze. "I didn't know what else to do. He was dying and I needed to heal him." she defended.
"I'm not the one to be afraid of." the woman said quietly. "The Marines are fleeing this island, Sakura. Do you know why?"
Sakura cocked a brow. "No?"
"There's a man, a scientist, he experiments on people -mainly devil fruit users. He has sent someone to capture you."
"W-what?"
"You need to leave. You need to get as far away from here as possible. That man is dangerous. God knows what he would do to you if he got his hands on you and your abilities."
Sakura was shocked. Someone was after her? They tracked her down? How?
"I need you to go with the Strawhat pirates. They can keep you safe, at least for a while."
Sakura took a step back. "You want me to go with them?" she questioned disbelievingly while inclining her head in the direction of the door. "Me, with pirates? What about my training?"
"Chopper will go too. He will take over from here."
"I don't understand."
The woman sighed again. "I promised Tsunade I would keep you safe, and right now, going with them is the only way I can keep my promise to her."
"Who is after me?" Sakura inquired.
"Dr. Vegapunk."
"And he's dangerous?"
"Very." Kureha retorted and opened the door to the bedroom again. She stepped into the dimly lit room with Sakura trailing behind. Locking her eyes with Luffy's the woman spoke up again. "I said I would lend you my ship on one condition."
Luffy's ears perked up at that. "Ah, you did."
"Sakura is temporarily joining your crew and I need you to keep her safe."
"S-s-s-safe?" Usopp stammered. "From w-who?"
"It does not matter."
The captain glanced at Sakura, almost as if he was sizing her up. "Okay." he agreed with a toothy grin.
"You can't let random people join our crew just like that!" Nami growled while shooting her captain a look of disapproval.
Luffy stared at her as if she was dumb. "Of course I can. I'm the captain!"
Sakura bit her lip uncertainly while shyly meeting Zoro's heated gaze. He nodded his head in approval with a wicked grin on his lips. His captain wasn't so bad after all.