Zoro walked along a river bank that was on a deserted island. He had wandered off, growing bored of De-Ji and Robin's theories on why it was abandoned, along with Sanji trying to order him to gather fruits or vegetables, not to mention every one else goofing off. He had hoped that Franky would have been a good influence, being an adult and all, but no such luck. Not Even Brooke was much help when it came to maturity. Why did Luffy always pick the always optimistic people? He grunted and kicked a rock. It was probably because he was so freaking happy all the time. A cold wind blew by him. It was a fall island, with the air a little more than nippy, making goosebumps stand out on his arms. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something small and white twitch slightly. He whirled around, two of his katana out already. He slashed almost blindly to kill the bugger who dared attack him. A daisy fell onto the browning grass. He rolled his eyes and turned to start walking again, but paused. De-Ji liked daisies. They were her namesake, after all. He picked up the cute flower and turned it over. He didn't know how girls liked these things, but De-Ji only liked a certain few flowers. Shrugging, he held the blossom loosely in between his fingers, twirling it every so often.
After a while of walking some more, it registered in his head that he couldn't hear anybody anymore. They probably had headed back toward the Thousand Sunny. He spun around and started walking a little faster than he had been. He wandered through a little grove of trees, tearing up grass and dirt with his heavy boots. He saw all sorts of plants, even some small berries that looked tasty, but who knew whether they were poisonous or not. He passed them by, rejecting the idea to taste them. He walked by a little patch of blue flowers, almost choking on the strong aroma they gave off. What was with this island's plants? They were random and sometimes unpleasant. Grumbling, he put his hand over his mouth and nose to protect them from the overwhelming sweet smell. He stepped over the flowers and out of the grove. There was the Sunny go! Glad he hadn't gotten lost this time, he walked quickly along to the ship. Sure enough, everybody was walking toward the ship. De-Ji was talking to Robin, but was looking around, like she was missing something. He watched her curiously. Could it be him? He sped up slightly, almost to a trot. De-Ji couldn't hear him due to the soft grass that was padding his footfalls. She frowned, then smiled and turned to Robin again to keep their conversation alive. Zoro sprinted to the back of the group, who was too busy to notice him, and silently followed the rest of the way to the ship.
Once at the ship, Zoro followed De-Ji, silencing his boots' tread on the wood. They made small enough sounds that De-Ji might not notice them in her little world that she was in. Her imagination had taken over reality, and she was imagining where Zoro might. Expressions flitted across her face almost to fast for him to read them. He started walking toward her, but Luffy and Suta ran by, screaming. De-Ji turned around to tease them, and saw Zoro. A sharp intake of breath from relief and joy confirmed that she had seen him. He walked toward her, and she trotted to him, throwing her arms out to glomp him. He slowed down to soften the impact. She collided into him, smothering her face in his shirt. She breathed in deeply, and wrapped her arms around his torso, and her short fingers gripping the cloth on his back. She pulled her face out of his shirt to smile up at him, and then backed off a little. Her smile abated slightly into a grin of contentment. He smiled inwardly. She slowly unbound her arms from around him, then turned around to start heading toward the mast. Her caught her by an arm, and pulled her back to him until she was softly pressed against him. She turned around to look up at him questioningly. An edge of his mouth quirked up. He brought out the slightly disheveled flower from behind his back and placed it gently into her hand. She gazed down at it with a tiny smile with surprise woven into it. She lifted it up to her face, under her minutely freckled nose and inhaled the placid smell, and the smile grew until her lips revealed the pearly whites that were encompassed in her mouth. He rested his head on hers, and slid his face over her hair to temple, then opened his eyes to catch Nami watching them over her maps. Why would she be doing that? Then he noticed a bulge in the paper. It was a camera. She was going to blackmail him or something. De-Ji looked from him to Nami, wondering what was going on. She knew enough that they should leave. Zoro released his loose-fitting grip from around her arm, then walked off. De-Ji watched his graceful stride for a second or two, then followed him, smelling the daisy again. Zoro turned suddenly into a corner. De-Ji ran into him, unable to stop herself from the speed she had adopted to catch up to him. He caught her before she could rebound away from him, and possibly fall over. She exhaled into his shirt, spreading heat over his chest. She looked up at him.
"Now where were we?" She asked playfully, and reached up and traced his face from his left temple to his lips. His angry face softened and lowered to her level. His dark grey eyes studied hers, then flickered to something behind her. His face immediately hardened again, and he straightened just in time for Usopp to run by, yelling for Franky. De-Ji tensed, ready to turn and yell at him, but he hadn't seen them and had kept running. There was no point in yelling now anyway. She lowered her face and grimaced, then stood out of the way so Zoro could find them a new spot. He glared in Usopp's direction, then pushed himself out of the corner. He started walking, keeping his eyes peeled for a new spot. He circled around the ship, stopping when he spotted Franky and Usopp arguing loudly over something. He stopped just before where the ship turned so that they were out of view.
De-Ji walked on, intending to stop behind Zoro and put her arms around him, but he put out an arm for her stop moving. He turned around with a little bit of an evil grin on his face, which soon turned to confusion when he saw her so far away from him. He gestured to her to come closer to him, which she did after a little hesitation.
"Why were you so far behind me?" Zoro whispered to De-Ji. She blinked with a confused expression on her face, then answered quietly,
"I thought you wanted me to. When you put out your arm, I thought you wanted me to stop." Zoro's eyebrow raised, remembering why he had gestured thus.
"I just wanted you to stop before you went into plain view for everyone to see," he informed her in a hushed voice. A grin of understanding of her own stupidity came over her face and she scooted a little closer and grabbed an arm. Her cool fingers around his upper arm made him shudder for a second, then he turned and placed a calloused hand over her cheek, then traced her face upward and into her hair. Her eyelids flitted, and her lips partially opened. She had stopped breathing momentarily. His eyes half-closed and he tipped his head forward to kiss her, but he stopped when shouting came closer. Franky ran by screaming, followed closely by a yelling Usopp. Zoro jumped away from De-Ji as they rounded the corner. De-Ji just barely jumped out of the way in time for them to avoid running her over. Franky was carrying some tools and other objects, and Usopp kept reaching for them. De-JI and Zoro watched them pass by and grumbled. Couldn't they be left alone? It was always so difficult to be alone on such a small ship…
De-Ji sighed, then walked off. Maybe they could find a secluded spot somewhere. She ticked off possible rooms one by one. The kitchen had Sanji in it, The quarters usually had people in them, storage rooms would just be weird, and they sat all day every day in the crow's nest. They needed somewhere new, but where? She shrugged and just looked for somewhere quiet. Nami was in the dining room, chatting with Sanji who was in the kitchen making snacks, So she walked to the women's quarters, and found Robin engulfed in a book. She walked outside and headed to the swing to see Luffy and Suta taking turns jumping off the swing at the highest apex. De-Ji bit her lip and moved on. She didn't even try the sick bay. She found a room that she didn't remember seeing, and so she stepped inside. Brooke had been playing his violin, but stopped and greeted her as soon as the door was fully opened. She grinned and greeted him back, then apologized for interrupting him and shut the door before he could answer and drag her into a full-blown conversation. Then something clicked in her mind. Nami was in the dining room, which meant her map-room was empty. She smiled and turned to Zoro. Zoro tilted his head, curious why she was smiling so bright. Unexpectedly, she grabbed his hand and started running. Zoro grabbed his katana to make sure none fell or something, then started watching where they were going. He usually never went this way, because Nami was usually around here, and he liked to avoid getting hit for some stupid reason that might not even be his fault. He dodged quickly, almost hitting a wall and gave De-Ji a little bit of a dirty look. She screeched to a halt in front of a door, leaving Zoro to stop suddenly. His eyes widened because he knew he couldn't stop in time. They were going to collide! KRASH!
Zoro got up off of De-Ji and asked her if she was ok. She nodded and lightly smacked his chest for punishment. Then she laughed as he rolled off of her. He stood up and fumbled a little with his katana to make sure they were ok too. No damage. De-Ji first pushed herself to her knees, then to her feet and brushed off some dirt off of her denim kapris and baby tee. Then she pushed lightly on Zoro to get him to move back a little, then grabbed the doorknob and turned. She shot a beaming smile at Zoro then pushed the door open.
Maps hung everywhere in the dimly lit room, held up on strings by little wooden clips. They swayed gently in the air as the ship moved on the waves. There was a desk and a chair, and many tools, most of which were unfamiliar to both of them. Zoro flipped on a switch and blinked. The new lights that Franky had installed still shocked him a little by how bright they were sometimes. De-Ji looked around, then shut the door and turned the lock. She couldn't help but smile at the little clicking sound it made as it latched into place. She whirled around and found Zoro right in front of her, his metal and organic scent filled her mind. She licked her lips and looked up at Zoro. He was looking down at her and breathing slowly. His warm breath washed over her face. It smelled like him. His own scent. She breathed it in, wanting to memorize it so she could never forget. Zoro watched her and the almost cool breath that exited those plump red lips that had drove him crazy so many times brushed past his face and through his hair and jingled his earrings. He fought the urge to look down at the floor. Was he floating? He couldn't be. De-Ji now knew what a balloon felt like. Her shoulders lowered, relaxed. She hadn't even known she had been tensed. She raised herself to her tiptoes, but was stopped by a fingertip on her lips that were aching for a kiss. The hand that was connected to the fingers disconnected from her lips, even though her wet lips had stuck a little to the surprisingly soft pads. The hand moved around her head, down past her shoulders, lightly tracing her spine, making it tingle until he got to her waist, and he stopped just above the curve in her upper body, and met his other hand on her back He lifted her slowly until the top of her head started to brush the hanging maps whose ink was drying. He started rocking back and forth. De-Ji enveloped Zoro in her legs and watched him with half-lidded practically glowing green eyes. Zoro's head was raised, watching the sparkle in her eyes. De-Ji blinked slowly, waiting for the right moment. Zoro started swaying back to the right, and De-Ji moved so that their faces could meet. Zoro stopped in his tracks, so to speak, and had to gain his bearings to start kissing her back. Their lips moved against each other, occasionally opening to wet the other's lips so they would slide more easily on each other, or even to explore their mouths, even though they knew each other's teeth like their own. De-Ji's arms laxed around Zoro's shoulders and stretched outward as she leaned against him to be in a more comfortable position. Underneath her, she could feel Zoro's hands and the muscles in his arms clench and unclench as she teased him with her tongue and lips.
A sudden knock at the door interrupted them and made them rip from each other. They both turned to glare at the door when the knock resounded through the room again. They both let out an aggravated sigh at the same time, and Zoro dropped De-Ji, who landed on her feet. Zoro walked over to the door and opened it a crack, and then dodged just in time to avoid the door from ramming into his face.
"GET OUT OF HERE!! NEVER COME IN HERE TO DO THAT EVER AGAIN!!" Nami screamed as she stomped into the room. Anger washed over Zoro's face and he couldn't help but scream back at her,
"WE WEREN'T DOING THAT! WE WERE JUST—" But then he was interrupted by Nami pointing at the doorway and yelling back,
"I DON'T CARE JUST GET OUT!!" De-Ji tiptoed past Nami carefully, and tugged gently at Zoro's shirt to try to get him to leave so he wouldn't horribly maim Nami or something. He glanced down at her with his face still full of rage, then looked back at Nami. He muttered something at her, then started walking out. De-Ji followed closely, even holding onto the green cloth that was swathed around his waist. And so they went back to looking for another new spot that was void of people…