Zoro followed the blonde after a few minutes. The smell of food cooking drifted up the stairs again. When he arrived at the bottom of the stairs, Sanji was cursing softly to himself while reading yet another note. It hadn't taken Sanji long to throw the note onto the table and swiftly make his way back into the kitchen. Sanji had been wearing the pink apron again that Zoro waved off as his girliness.
"What's this note about?" Zoro called out to the chef as he made his way to the table.
"Apparently Zeff and Koshiro went to that god awful place again. Something about free amusement ride tickets and free beer." Sanji had composed himself from earlier by focusing on cooking.
"Do we have to go this time?" Zoro sat down in his usual chair and rested an elbow on the table.
"It didn't say so… so I guess not." Sanji sighed. "I never want to go back there again!"
"Why? Was it because you stuck out like a sore thumb, got drunk, then ended up sleeping in my bed?" Zoro smirked as he harassed the blonde chef.
"No… well, not all… you didn't happen to see half of the couples there, did you?" Sanji poked his head out of the kitchen.
"I wasn't paying attention, why?" Zoro looked at the cook with a raised eyebrow.
"They were all either okama or just plain gay… that's why nobody questioned you when you snuck a table with me…" Sanji explained.
"Really…? I never noticed…" Zoro looked puzzled as Sanji went back to focusing entirely on cooking.
Sanji shifted around the kitchen without his usual grace. The night before was fresh on his mind and was affecting the speed and grace he used while in any kitchen, even bad ones. To anyone else, except for Zeff, it didn't seem like anything was off. Zoro peeked into the kitchen to find Sanji completely engrossed in cooking.
The swordsman slipped past the cooking blonde to get to the dojo. He planned on training a bit before breakfast was completely finished. Zoro slid into the dojo silently before grabbing one of his beloved swords and practicing his swings. It didn't take him long to fall into a good rhythm and lose track of time again.
~!~
Sanji had finished making some eggs, toast, and bacon for breakfast almost five minutes ago. He had stuck the food in the oven on an extremely low temperature to keep it warm. Right now he was just standing by the stove staring off blankly at a wall, his mind kept trying to replay last night in his head without the missing sections with little hope. Sighing in defeat, Sanji walked out to the table with the best smile he could must to try and not let the swordsman know that something was eating at him.
"Oi, marimo… food's rea-" Sanji cut off as he noticed the table was empty. He looked around the immediate area before rolling his eyes and going off to search for Zoro.
~!~
"Damn Marimo! Where the hell did you get lost at now?" Sanji yelled in frustration at not being able to find the green-haired man.
He stalked past all the places the swordsman knew about and even the places he didn't. Sanji had been the whole way out to the road and back looking for the idiot. It had been nearly an hour since he had tried to serve breakfast to find Zoro missing. The cook looked everywhere that he thought Zoro might be. 'Where the hell could that directionally challenged bastard disappear to in five fucking minutes! I have looked every god damn place… everywhere! Where could he-' Sanji's thought process cut off abruptly as he walked right past the dojo and heard a solitary whoosh come from inside.
"Shitty bastard…" Sanji huffed as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it up before walking in.
Zoro had noticed the tapping of shoes and the click of the door. He had been so wrapped up in practicing that he had momentarily forgot about the cook and Zeff. Knowing that Koshiro never walked inside the dojo while he was practicing, Zoro took the person walking in as an intruder who planned on killing him behind his back. The swordsman whipped into the partially opened supply closet without a sound and waited patiently for the intruder to pass his hiding spot. Since he didn't know who the person could be, he drew all three of his swords with a quiet shht sound.
Sanji had unknowingly walked into an awaiting tiger's den. The tiger, Zoro, was ready to pounce any second and Sanji had unwillingly become the protagonist of a horror story. He thought that the dojo sounded eerily quiet compared to what he heard outside and had to chalk it up to Zoro taking a break from training. It took the cook three steps to pass by the unnoticed supply closet.
The moment he passed, there was a slight shifting sound before he was knocked down onto his chest and the sharp blade of a sword was pressed to his throat as someone heavy sat on his back. Sanji didn't even dare to swallow as the sword rested awfully close to his jugular. Zoro took a minute to realize that the person under him didn't mean any harm and it was actually the cook who he had threatened to kill just moments before.
"Sorry…" Zoro muttered as he pulled the sword away from Sanji's throat and stood up.
"What the hell were you thinking? Putting something that fucking sharp to my neck and threatening to hack it off the some wild animal! Don't try to kill me the god damn moment I fucking step into this shitty place!" Sanji roared as he picked himself off the floor and felt his neck to make sure nothing was bleeding.
"It's your own fault for stepping in here. Koshiro should have told you that you shouldn't come in here when I'm training." Zoro had managed to slide two or his three swords back into their saya before the cook turned around.
"Well he didn't! Here I am trying to feed you instead of just feeding only myself and you try to chop off my head! You don't deserve to get anything to eat!" Sanji stomped off back to the house while fuming. Zoro put his swords in the storage room before heading off to the kitchen to eat.
~!~
It had been almost two hours since the accident in the dojo and Sanji still wasn't talking to Zoro. The swordsman was getting frustrated with the silence that seemed to permeate the air whenever the chef would be near him. It was getting so bad that Zoro started doing little things to intimidate and upset the cook. Things like moving the knives, turning off the TV while Sanji was watching a cooking show, removing the pillows from the couch, and even stripping the chef's bed of blankets were just some of the little things Zoro was doing. He was even going far enough to try and use the cook as a footrest if they both ended up sitting near each other. Sanji clenched his jaw shut and put up with everything the swordsman did to piss him off. He was putting up with it as punishment for this morning.
Zoro yawned excessively loud as Sanji sat across the couch. His feet were on the cook's lap and the TV was turned off, the controller in Zoro's lap. Sanji sat there with a blank look in his eyes and the muscles in his jaw tensed. The swordsman knew he was close to snapping just by the way his jaw clenched and unclenched every few seconds. It wasn't even noon yet and he was already making the cook's life hell for being silent.
"When's Koshiro and Zeff supposed to be coming home?" Zoro asked before yawning, he was going to make the cook speak one way or another.
Sanji still stared blankly at the TV like he never heard a thing. This irked Zoro just the right way. He pulled his feet off the chef's lap, Sanji still never noticed, and waltzed up in front of him. He noticed how far off the cook's eyes were and sighed frustration. It was just like Sanji to go off into never-never-land when something happened that he didn't want to be around. The cook had done this several times in his life; the night he lost his parents, the first night when Zeff had adopted him and he didn't want to take the time to know the old man, when Zeff tried to explain that they had to live with one of his old friends for a while, when the principle of the new school had tried asking him about his parents the moment Zeff left the room, and the first night that he had to sleep in this house. It was his way of coping with a bad situation and it worked three-quarters of the time.
"Oi, shit cook, you there?" Zoro waved his hand unenthusiastically in front of Sanji's face to try and snap him out of his trance.
"Hey~" Zoro pushed the chef's shoulder lightly and still didn't get a response.
"Oi~! Sanji~!" The swordsman loomed over the cook like a wild animal stalking its prey. He had unsuccessfully tried to shake Sanji out of his trance a few times and was on the verge of giving up before an idea struck him.
Zoro slid his arms around the cook's midsection and lifted him off the couch. Sanji just let himself be picked up like a ragdoll as he stayed in his own little world. The swordsman smirked devilishly before flopping back down onto the couch in a laying position with the cook against him. This, this, was bound to make him come back out of it.
~!~
In Sanji's own little world, he was cooking in one of the best restaurants there is. He was concentrating hard at what he had to do and moved gracefully around the kitchen and other chefs. Nobody got in his way and he got in nobody else's way. The sounds and smells of the kitchen lulled him into a steady rhythm as he worked his food to perfection.
"Hey~" Someone called out and the cook looked around a bit to see who it was. None of the other chefs seemed to hear it, so Sanji filed it away as his imagination.
"Oi~! Sanji~!" Sanji perked to the sound of his own name and looked around again to see nobody but the other kitchen staff. He finished up his part of the job and jogged out of the kitchen and into the employee's bathroom to check if he was sick or not and to compose himself again. As he reached the mirror, he looked in to see that his reflection wasn't his own.
The mirror mirrored the swordsman's face instead of his own. Backing up in fear and horror, Sanji darted to another mirror to see the exact same thing. Starting to freak out, the chef high-tailed it into the nearest open stall and leaned against the toilet seat. In the water was the same reflection of the tan man's face instead of his own pale face. Sanji paled slightly and flung out or the bathroom to get stuck in a sea of mirrors, all mirroring the swordsman instead of himself. He started to run as fast and as far as he could to get away from the mirrors only to seemingly be followed by the haunting reflection that wasn't himself.
~!~
Zoro watched as the cloudiness in Sanji's eyes seemed to lighten and cloud again. He watched for a few minutes as this happened a few times. After a while, the cloudiness started to dissipate from the ocean blue eyes. Sanji wiggled in his arms a few times like he was trying to run away from something. The swordsman smirked as he saw the cloudiness dissipate completely to leave the clear, blue eyes that he was used to seeing.
"Zo-" Sanji mumbled before his eyes widened and he shoved hard against the swordsman's broad chest to end up on the floor.
"Get the fuck away from me!" The cook winced as he tried to scramble away, only succeeding to back up into the television and smack his back against it hard. He winced again at the rush of pain shooting down his back and from his side.
"He speaks again…" Zoro teased as he propped his head on his elbow playfully. He hadn't noticed the pain that the cook was in yet and Sanji let out a silent sigh of relief.
"Shut up you shitty perverted bastard! What the hell do you think you were fucking doing to me shitty marimo!" Sanji screeched from his spot on the floor. It hurt too much to even try to stand, so he settled for staying on the floor.
"Nothing… I was just bringing you back from wherever the hell you went earlier." Zoro shrugged it off innocently before letting a smirk play across his lips.
"I didn't want to fucking come back to this shitty hell-hole you bastard!" Sanji growled threateningly as he sat on the floor, his hand hovering over the injury on his side. It hurt like a son of a bitch right now.
Zoro sat up and then stood up off of the couch. "You know… nobody ignores me and doesn't get punished for it… no exceptions." He began walking towards the cook with an evil smile.
"Stay the fuck away!" Sanji tried to crawl backwards some more only to be stopped by the wall this time. "Don't fucking come near me!"
"What's wrong? Don't like pain much, do you?" Zoro crouched in front of the cook like he was a little frightened kid before sticking his hand out towards the chef's shoulder.
"Don't fucking touch me!" Sanji tried to cringe away only to wince in pain instead. Moving from in front of the television to up against the wall was taking a toll on his tired body.
Zoro watched in amusement as the cook tried to cringe before that amusement was wiped off his face at the look of pain that passed the cook's features. He watched as Sanji hovered his hand over the wound on his side without touching it. The cook babied the area as he tried to crawl backwards into the corner.
"You know… if it hurts you should probably tell someone." Zoro stayed crouched in his spot on the floor.
"Fuck off shitty stupid marimo! It's not like I want to fucking tell you!" Sanji snarled from the corner. His hand stayed hovering over the spot like he was afraid something would fall out.
"Stay there… I'll call Chopper…" Zoro sighed as he stood and walked to the phone.
"Hell no! I'm not letting some strange brat poke me with strange shit again while I'm still conscious!" Sanji growled as he stood up unsteadily and wobbled towards the swordsman threateningly.
"That won't be a problem, will it?" Zoro grumbled as he watched the cook stagger towards him unsteadily. Sanji was about to take the phone from him when he missed a step and tumbled forwards into Zoro's arms. The swordsman looked down to find Sanji completely out cold. He sighed as the phone beeped and Chopper's voice sizzled through the line.
"Zoro, what's wrong?" Chopper's static voice echoed in his ear.
"It's about that friend I brought over the other day… I need you to come see him again." Zoro carefully shifted Sanji in his arms so that he held the blonde up a bit better and was able to move him if necessary.
"Oh my god! What happened? What's wrong? Did his wound come open?" Chopper yelled through the receiver whole heartedly.
"He passed out from the pain, so can you just come see him instead of freaking out on me?" Zoro heaved a sigh at the doctor's excessive worrying, or at least excessive in his mind.
"I can't right now… I'm at the hospital and am about to go into surgery. I'll be over immediately after I'm finished so that I can check up on him though! Put him in bed, change his bandages if necessary, and get a towel damp with ice water on his temple and remember to change it every so many minutes until I get there. It shouldn't be too long before I finish up here and make it to your house… he is still at your house right?" Chopper instructed.
"Yeah, he's still here… I'll do what you said and try not to get lost while I'm at it." Zoro confirmed before the doctor sighed loudly into the receiver.
"It's sad that I can't do anything about that problem of yours… It'd make life so much easier for all of us." Chopper meant the best but only succeeded in irritating the swordsman.
"Yeah, yeah… by Chopper." Zoro grumbled.
"See you soon, Zoro." Chopper hung up.
Zoro sighed in defeat as he carefully shifted the cook in his arms so that he could carry him to the bedroom. It was good that Zoro actually knew the way to the kitchen and the bedroom so that he could do this with little to no issues. Good thing that he kept a few extra stacks of bandages in his nightstand next to his emergency storage of sake. The swordsman whipped around the house getting a pale of ice water, a towel, and the bandages from his nightstand.
Sanji grumbled and wiggled in his sleep. The pain had gotten to a point where it was uncomfortable and hard to handle, even if you were out cold. Zoro clambered into the room as Sanji shifted uncomfortably. He was starting to sport a small fever due to the pain. It didn't take the swordsman long to soak the towel and ring it out before placing it on Sanji's forehead, over his bangs.
Zoro slid against the side of the bed and began to unbutton Sanji's dress shirt. He didn't understand why the cook had to always wear fancy clothes like suits and stuff. The only time he had seen him without anything fancy on was at the fair, and the clothes were still rather dressy. After Zoro had agonizingly unbuttoned all of the buttons instead of just popping them off, he was sure the cook would pulverize him or poison his food if he did, he checked the bandages.
"Stupid shit cook." Zoro grumbled as he saw the blood soaked bandages. It looked as if Sanji hadn't changed them in days.
It was actually because the cook had pushed himself while cooking and searching for Zoro. Getting knocked down and sat on didn't help, and neither did falling onto the floor unexpectedly. Zoro carefully began to peel the bloodied bandages away. He was glad that he had thought ahead and brought another towel that he could use to sop up the blood and clean the wound with. After wrapping the fresh bandages around the cook's midsection, Sanji began to stir uncomfortably again. His fever had gotten worse while Zoro was working.
~!~
Zoro paced around the kitchen. It had been nearly four hours since Chopper had called and Sanji's condition was worsening every few minutes. His fever skyrocketed into the triple digits and he kept shifting around and groaning in pain. The swordsman had come into the kitchen to wait and be there when Chopper arrived. He paced faster as the minutes ticked by, going back into the room every few minutes to change Sanji's towel. There was the sound of a car door slamming shut and Zoro raced for the door. Just before Chopper could ring the doorbell, Zoro whipped it open.
"I'm sorry I'm late! The patient hit critical in the middle of the operation and we had to wait until he came back down to continue!" Chopper spoke rapidly in fear of the rage that seemed to waft off Zoro in waves.
"You're very late. Sorry just won't cut it, you have to fix this first. While you were waiting for your patient to come off of critical condition, mine hit critical." Zoro growled threateningly as he led Chopper to his bedroom as fast as he could.
"How bad is it?" Chopper asked sheepishly before Zoro opened the door to the bedroom.
"Real bad… he has a fever in the triple digits and he won't stop bleeding and groaning in pain." Zoro gave a quick report as he pushed into the room.
Sanji had been in the middle of shifting and groaning again as the young teen came through the open door. Zoro had come straight to his side and refreshed the ice towel before Chopper could say or do anything. Chopper stood there with wide eyes and fear threatening to bring him to tears. The swordsman had been right. While he was off waiting for a patient to come off of critical condition, the cook had gone into critical condition.
"Zoro… we need to carefully move him to my place now. I don't have anything here with me that I am going to need and all the equipment that will be useful is at my place. Can you carefully pick him up and carry him there while monitoring his breathing, pain, and possibly his heart rate too?" Chopper looked into the swordsman's eyes with a look of fear and urgency.
"I can." Zoro said simply before crouching beside the bed and lifting the cook carefully to his back. Chopper helped the swordsman get Sanji into a comfortable and easy to carry position across his back before Chopper led the way out.
"I was dropped off by a friend, so we'll have to walk to my house. Even though I don't want to move him, we have to get him where the equipment is. Make sure not to jostle him too much or he might drop into a worse critical condition." Chopper opened the door for Zoro before closing it behind him and leading the way to his house at a quick, but not too fast, pace.
"Alright… If something's up I'll let you know." Zoro grumbled as he carefully shifted the cook up his back a bit more.
The two of them had walked in complete silence for a quarter of the way before Sanji stirred from his sleep and looked hazily at the blurry ground. He could feel himself rested on someone's back and was being gently carried across rather uneven ground. A car whizzed past to his left, sending a breeze of chilly air across his back and causing him to shiver. His shirt was open and flittered in the simulated breeze.
"Sanji…" Zoro spoke softly, causing his chest to rumble.
"Mmmnn…" Sanji made a noise to show that he was attentive, even though he wasn't ready to speak.
"I thought you were awake…" The vibrations from Zoro's chest lulled the pain in the blonde's side for the time that it was rumbling. "We're on our way back to Chopper's. The equipment he needs is all there so we had to move you."
"Mhmm…" Sanji acknowledged what the swordsman said half-heartedly.
"Even though you said not to, I still called him…" Zoro teased playfully and received a weak smack on the back of his head. The swordsman smiled at the small gesture, knowing that Sanji was going to be okay if he could still fight with him.
Zoro started humming a random tune when he noticed that the vibrations made the cook relax and eased the pain a bit. Sanji dozed off to sleep as the rumble lulled him. Chopper, who had been walking a few paces ahead, slowed down when he heard the swordsman start humming a tune that they had sang together as kids. He looked at Zoro questioningly as the swordsman gently motioned to the cook.
"Was he awake?" Chopper asked after a few minutes.
Zoro stopped humming just long enough to answer. "Yeah, the vibrations that are caused from my talking was making him less tense, so I started to hum so that it would keep vibrating." Zoro went back to humming right after he finished his sentence, not pausing for even a moment.
"Ah, that's good. Keep it up then!" Chopper cheered the green-haired man on quietly as they made the final stretch before they would reach Chopper's clinic.
~!~
After about ten minutes they finally reached the clinic. Sanji's breathing had slowed and steadied on the way there. Zoro could feel the heat radiating off of the cook against the cold chill of the air as he waited for Chopper to unlock the door. His temperature had actually gone down a bit since they left the house, but not by much. The swordsman kept track of the pounding he felt against his back and the cook's breathing like Chopper had asked, but it was hard when he was still humming.
"Alright, put him in the nearest unit so that I can work right away. I need to grab a few things and then I'll be there." Chopper slipped into his doctor mode instantly and hurried off to his storage room.
Zoro shifted the cook comfortably on his back as he entered the first unit. He strode over to the makeshift bed and gently slid the blonde off of his back and onto the cot. Sanji wiggled a bit in his sleep as he left Zoro's cool back and the soothing rumble. The swordsman placed a hand gently over the cook's temple and checked his temperature. It wasn't surprising to feel just how much heat radiated off of him considering what he had felt in the chilly air on their way here.
"Alright, Zoro, hold out one of his arms and hold it still this time." Chopper whipped into the room holding a few small glass jars of different medicines and some packaged needles.
Zoro pulled one of the cook's arms away from his body and out so that Chopper could inject him with something. Just as the doctor was about to stick him, Sanji opened his eyes to a scene he'd rather not have woken up for.
"No. No. No. No. No. No. No! No needles!" Sanji struggled weakly against the swordsman's iron grip to get away from the small doctor.
"Oh, he's awake Chopper…" Zoro calmly held him there like nothing was wrong.
"I wish he would have stayed asleep… It would make this a hell of a lot easier." Chopper grumbled as he aligned the needle again.
"Fuck no! You're not fucking sticking me with that!" Sanji shrieked as he tried to kick at Zoro. The fever and his injury made it hard to move and halved his strength in return.
"Stop sissy slapping me with your feet shit cook, or I'll tell Chopper to miss the first time." Zoro glared at the blonde with a dead serious expression.
Sanji froze in fear at the thought of being stuck twice by the sharp needle that Chopper was already starting to push into his skin. The cook felt the tell-tale pain throb in his arm and he started to flail around in response while trying to push himself away from the doctor. Zoro heaved a sigh as Chopper pulled the needle out and went to get another one for a different injection.
"Hell no! Not fucking twice!" Sanji pushed against Zoro's grip with all the strength he could muster.
He managed to hit a three-quarter point with one thrust of his legs, pushing Zoro to the floor as well as himself. They landed on different sides of the makeshift bed and Chopper started to yell at Zoro for not holding on tight enough. Sanji slipped on the floor a bit before tripping to his feet and dashing out of the unit with Zoro right behind him. The cook willed himself to go as fast as he could as he dashed through the clinic and onto the streets in seconds. Zoro growled irritatingly at the cook's antics to having to get a shot, like it was a big deal, and thought about how he should have just knocked him back out when Chopper wasn't looking.
"Go the fuck away marimo! There's no way in hell I'm fucking going back to that hell hole!" Sanji cursed as he ran in a random direction.
"Oh yes you are! One way or another!" Zoro growled as he finally caught up to the cook who seemed to be slowing down, not the swordsman speeding up.
Sanji stopped abruptly, sending Zoro stumbling forward. "Zoro… where the hell are we?" The blonde looked around to try and resituate himself and where he might be at.
"How the hell should I know… you were the one running away, didn't you keep track of where you were going?" Zoro regained his composure as he walked up to the blonde.
"Would you fucking keep track of where the fuck you were going if some shitty bastard was fucking chasing you like a damn maniac?" Sanji snarled angrily at the swordsman.
"Well, no… but that doesn't mean you shouldn't!" Zoro pointed an accusing finger at the blonde.
"I know you're fucking directionally challenged, but that doesn't mean place the fucking blame on me, shit head!" Sanji crossed his arms challengingly.
Zoro stepped closer to the blonde and fisted the front of his shirt angrily. "Don't ever blame me for something I never wanted." The swordsman snarled threateningly.
"All because you have a problem with your genes doesn't mean that I can't blame you!" Sanji barked back while he grabbed the swordsman's wrist to keep him from hurting the blonde more. "Now put me the fuck down or-"
Zoro dragged the cook closer to himself so that their chests were touching lightly. "Or what? You'll kick my ass? I wonder how you can do that when you're having trouble staying standing right now."
"Fuck off! I can stand on my own just fine!" Sanji growled defensively.
"So if I let go, you won't fall on your ass?" Zoro quirked an eyebrow teasingly.
"No, I won't shit head!" Sanji fumed angrily as he tried to pull out of the swordsman's grip.
Zoro let go of the cook suddenly and Sanji had to grab the swordsman's shirt so that he wouldn't fall. "I thought you said that you wouldn't fall…" The swordsman teased and the blonde glared back at him.
"Of course I'd fall when you let go so fucking suddenly!" Sanji retorted as he steadied himself.
"You said you wouldn't though…" Zoro teased as he looked off to the side for emphasis on how close they were.
Sanji took notice to their closeness and pushed away from the swordsman immediately. His face turned a bright red as he shoved his hands in his pant pockets and walked away stiffly. Zoro watched the cook walk aimlessly in a random direction. He raised an eyebrow questioningly before slowly following the blonde.
"Where do you think you're going?" Zoro hovered near the cook's back as he caught up.
"Anywhere away from you!" Sanji snarled angrily.
"Aww, I know you liked it~." Zoro teased more.
Sanji didn't reply, but increased his pace instead. The swordsman smirked to himself as he followed obediently. They wandered like this for about an hour or so until they somehow managed to get back to Chopper's. Chopper tapped his foot on the ground angrily as he stood beside the door. As soon as he noticed Chopper, Sanji tried to run away again only to be grabbed forcefully by Zoro.