Runaway

As Kokoro the elderly mermaid led the Straw-Hats through the driving rain to where she claimed there was a Sea Train, Fox swayed alongside Zoro, who had wrapped an arm around her waist when she had leaned a little too far over the parapet to watch the waves and was yet to let go again. As she swayed she hummed, a wild tune that raced up and down the scale in and out of the human hearing range in time with the beat of the Aqua Laguna. Mermaids were a peaceful and secretive race, but they were by no means weak: some of her kindred were likely dancing in the currents below the surface, rejoicing in the strength of the sea. Chopper was watching her nervously from the corner of his eye, twitching when she hit the deep base notes that made her bones hum and were almost inaudible; Fox ignored him. Her attention was partly caught by the passion and power of the sea, but mostly caught up in the feel of Zoro's fingers idly caressing the bare skin just above her right hip between the lower edge of her torn tank top and the top of her trousers. It was slowly driving her crazy and he was doing it on purpose, despite the seriousness of the situation.

To pay him back she wrapped her left arm loosely around the back of his neck and gently ran her fingertips up the side of his throat. The faint growl by her ear and the thrill of heat that tickled her perception through the connection they shared told her she'd succeeded.

"Don't," he warned her lowly. "Not now."

Fox smiled sweetly at him, letting the tinted glasses slide down her wet nose so she could really look him in the eye. "Does that mean you will play with me later?" she inquired, knowing that right now her eyes were mostly black with a fine golden rind around the pupil.

Zoro gave her a predatory look that promised all kinds of deliciously dangerous things. "Play?" he repeated roughly. "This is a game to you?"

Fox smirked. "All is fair in love and war," she whispered in his ear, so close her lips brushed his skin, "and this is both."

The swordsman's heated stare and hungry smile indicated he was perfectly willing to play by those rules and his fingers dug into her flesh for an instant as they entered the warehouse the train was in. "Afterwards then," he agreed.

Fox stayed snuggled into Zoro's side as Iceberg revealed he had already got the train running and warned them that the train didn't have any way of stopping. When Nami showed up with masses of meat and sake to help Luffy and Zoro recover the white-haired assassin simply moved around so she was leaning against her swordsman's back, arms clasped around his chest and forehead slumped on his shoulder as they sat in the train carriage waiting for the engine to be ready to leave.

Then the Franky Family showed up, wanting to join them; Luffy agreed they could, but the dismantlers claimed to have their own transportation and said they would hitch onto the back of the train once it was moving. Fox didn't mention the three people hiding in the coal bunker; they weren't dangerous and she recognised them.

The train moved. Fox sung happily as the wheels started moving and the carriage rattled.

"The runaway train went down the track and she blew…"

Zoro couldn't help smiling as the train went airborne as it left the tunnel, Fox now seated across his lap with her face pressed against his neck, dozing lightly. She had taken off her sodden coat and hat and hung them over the corner of the bench to dry a little and her tank top had five wide tears in it over her stomach where Lucci had tried to use his Shigan on her. Zoro wanted to know how the hell she'd managed to get away without a scratch from a move that strong, but it would have to wait until after they had Robin back. As it was her soaked and torn clothing left very little of her upper body to the imagination and the way she was sprawled over him gave the swordsman a very good view down her front if he tilted his head just so. Part of his brain was remembering how she'd looked at the baths in Alabasta and he was making steady inroads on the alcohol Nami had brought in an attempt to keep his mind on the coming fight.

"Urgent message from the control Room!" blared out over the speakers. "We will be latching onto the rail soon and that means our speed will increase considerably! Please brace yourselves so you'll only receive minor injuries!"

"So we'll get hurt no matter what?" Nami said incredulously.

Fox sat up, stretched backwards like a cat –widening the tears in her top as she did so– then grabbed Zoro's belt and gently dragged him down off the bench to the floor of the carriage, kneeling over his legs and gripping the edge of the seat that was now behind his shoulders.

"Hold on tight," she warned him, her smile very fey. Zoro had a moment to wonder if she knew something he didn't, then the sudden acceleration threw them both sideways away from the bench towards the far end of the carriage, where they landed in a tangled heap next to the door and just below the harpoons keeping the Franky Family's carriage attached to the train. As they were launched into the air Zoro had grabbed onto Fox' middle, meaning that when they landed he found himself sprawled on top of her, his face planted firmly in her chest. Trying to get off in a hurry was a total failure as his legs were caught up in hers as well, so the attempted retreat simply made him overbalance and he dragged them both to the ground again, her now tangled on top of him in an equally suggestive manner.

Zoro blushed as Fox' eyes laughed at him even as she made a show of reluctantly getting off him, feeling his instinctive reaction had been rather foolish. Fox didn't mind being manhandled by him, she never had, and now they were seriously involved with each-other it followed she would mind even less. However he had been thinking about the upcoming fight rather than Fox when they were thrown across the room and had been caught off-guard.

"How about we try that again in private sometime," she murmured with a grin as the doors at both ends of the carriage opened and people streamed in, fleeing the acceleration and complaining about injuries. Once everyone was seated in a rough circle, Fox kneeling behind Zoro with her chest flush against his back, the swordsman took stock of their company.

"Wait a minute," he said, frowning, "there are some suspicious-looking people in here." He was referring to the three Gallery-La shipwrights who had appeared from somewhere. Zoro however tuned out the Paulie's impassioned rant about getting revenge for Iceberg and the Franky Family's response, more concerned about Fox' now deeper and more even breathing. Had she fallen asleep?

"Luffy?" he asked, interrupting his captain as the rubberman started a speech, "is Fox asleep?"

Luffy froze, turned and came to kneel in front of Zoro to peer at the woman's face. "She's asleep," he confirmed seriously, wide eyes a little nervous. He then turned to face the rest of the company:

"Everyone be quiet now; she's scary when you wake her up."

Luffy then proceeded to bring all present together with a moving and impassioned but very quiet speech about what they were going to do and Zoro was once more reassured that his captain really could do anything so long as he was determined enough. However first they had to get past the Aqua Laguna.

"Zoro?" Luffy asked once the Franky Family had climbed out onto the train to fire at the wave, "Can you get out without waking her up?"

The swordsman shifted slightly on the spot; testing Fox' grip on his chest. "Doubtful; I can try to talk her into letting me go, though." He twisted around, lifting an arm over her head so he could look her in the face. Taking a deep breath, he ignored the ringing of the Den Den Mushi, the howling storm, everything except the relaxed, peaceful face now cradled in his hands. "Fox?" he murmured.

She didn't stir. Zoro kissed her, wondering as he did so how she could possibly taste like Sea King meat when he knew she never ate the stuff. The kiss made her stir, bringing her closer to reality but not really awake yet.

"Let go of me, please Fox?" he murmured gently against her lips, not rushing her. Haste was fatal.

She made a faintly inquiring noise.

"The captain needs me for something, Fox. Please let go; I'll be back as soon as I can."

The noise this time was distinctly unhappy, but she let go of him. Zoro lowered her carefully to the floor, pressed another kiss to her lips and hurried out of the carriage window, turning to glare at the few remaining people:

"Don't you dare to wake her."

He returned a few minutes later, having helped break through the Aqua Laguna alongside Luffy, and carefully pulled his girlfriend onto his lap as Nami handed their captain the Den Den Mushi: it seemed Sanji had finally bothered to call. Fox leaned into him, still completely out of it and far less subtle about seeking skin contact than when awake. Zoro ignored the feeling of her nibbling on his neck –it wasn't the first time she'd done that– and kept a firm hold of her hands as he listened to the chef report what was happening on the other train.

The Straw-Hats made sure they kept their voices reasonably low throughout the conversation, despite Sanji's refusal to put off trying to rescue Robin until the rest of the crew was there. No matter how much Zoro wanted to lay into the cook for being reckless, waking Fox really wasn't worth it. When the conversation ended Zoro leant back against the cabin wall and groaned; he closed his eyes, gritted his teeth and counted slowly to ten. Fox had made her way up his neck and was now sucking on his earlobe. It was torture, pure and simple.

There was a choked sound from across the cabin: Zoro glanced over and saw Chopper in his human form with a hand firmly over Paulie's mouth. He shipwright looked outraged about something.

"Look, I know you're a prude," Nami said in quiet exasperation, "but if you wake her up we won't be in any state to rescue anyone. She'll flatten all of us in an instant, except possibly Luffy and Zoro."

Said swordsman had lost one of Fox' hands, which had slipped up under the front of his sodden shirt and was resting over his heart. "Are there any dry clothes we can change into?" he asked abruptly, now very aware that his Fox was also wearing a soaking wet and torn top and that the only thing preserving her anonymity was a sodden bandanna, the pair of tinted lenses having fallen off her face not long after she drifted off. "Fox needs a new shirt."