Chapter 2: Something to hide

She didn't want to go to this meeting, not without her brother. She didn't even have her sword. Ika had been lost… somewhere. Something to do with her mate. Her pirate mate.

Kahli slowly opened her eyes, blinking hazily as she struggled to remember where she was. Her mind was fuzzy, like blanketed in wool and she realized she was delirious. This meeting had already happened, her brother was long dead, and her sword was in the hands of Helia's Guard. She slapped her cheek to get out of this feverish haze. It took some time to adjust as the room was still a bit dark, only the first light of the day making its way through the wood.

"Fuck," she let out, because she wasn't sick, she was in heat.

And she was alert enough to know that this was very very bad news. Most of the time, she isolated herself during her heats, sometimes taking suppressants when she had important events to attend, but this time she hadn't had the opportunity to take some. Plus it was really early, maybe because she finally met her mate. This guy really was the cause of all her problems. Ok, maybe not all of them -she had had her fair before meeting him- but still.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck…"

What should I do ?

It wasn't like she had much choice. Her left wrist was still handcuffed to a bar of the bed, and even if she managed to escape from this room, she was on a pirate ship in the middle of the ocean. The chances of defeating every member of the crew in this state were… slim. No, her best option was to stay hidden in there and hope that nobody would come at a bad time (and especially not a certain guy with green hair). Her heat usually didn't last long, and her smell was mostly subdued, only noticeable during the first day, not more than a few hours. A few very long hou-

The wood in the corridor creaked and Kahli froze, listening to any sound coming from the outside, her eyes fixed on the light filtering beneath the door, until the shadow of two feet appeared.

Please don't come inside, please don't come inside…

The door slowly opened, and she didn't need the light of the morning flowing in to recognize her mate. She had smelled his scent the moment he had lowered the door handle.

"What," she bit out when he entered, not wanting to appear weaker than usual even though she damn felt weaker.

Zoro arched an eyebrow, looking around, as if searching for a new reason to incriminate her.

"I heard you swear," he said, looking clearly suspicious.

"This happens when you forget you have a handcuff and pull your hand like an idiot," she answered smoothly, but not smooth enough.

The lie had come quite easily, but her tone had been far less casual than she had been hoping for. This, plus her very tense posture… She couldn't help it, her whole body was ready to fight should he come closer. Needless to say, she wasn't surprised when he didn't look convinced.

"You're hiding something," he realized and Kahli's heart started beating faster.

Getting defensive would only confirm his suspicions, so she tried to relax her stance, bringing her knees closer to her and hiding her shaking hand behind.

"Yeah, I'm hiding Gold Roger under my bed, and even the One P-"

She didn't have the time to finish her sentence. When Zoro made a new step closer to her, close enough that he would be able to smell her, she threw a kick at his head with all the strength she was capable of mustering from this position. He caught her ankle and pulled, grabbing her right wrist before she could punch him in the eye and bending it at an awkward angle in her back.

"Where is it?" he demanded, lifting the pillow and then the blanket, but there was nothing underneath.

Where is what, fucker?!

Damn, in terms of swordsmanship, she was positive she had a good chance, but in terms of pure strength…she didn't stand any. Hell, she could barely move her hand, trapped in his grip. Worse, she could even feel her body melting under his touch, the fuck?!

Kahli tensed when the alpha noticed something hard in her pocket, something she had completely forgotten since she woke up in heat.

"What's this?" he asked, his hand fishing the small seal in her pocket, before examining it closely. "Wait, that's not a weapo-"

She didn't let him finish. Taking advantage of the surprise, she rolled on her back and caught his neck with her shin, sending him crashing into the wall head first. She kicked him a few times in the head to be sure (and because it made her a little happy, not gonna lie), and he slumped against the wall.

Now was a good time to panic. Clearly, she couldn't kill everybody on this ship: even if she was strong enough, she was in no condition to fight right now. Maybe she could hide somewhere on the ship, at least until her heat was over… It was not the best solution, but her best solution had flown out of the window the moment her mate had shown up. She couldn't just quietly stay here anymore.

She was in a real nightmare.

Alright, first, the handcuff. Kahli carefully moved toward her mate as muchher tied hand allowed her, eyeing his swords. She reached for the closest one, with a red scabbard, but she hadn't even brushed the handle that she retracted her hand as if she had been burned.

This sword is cursed, she realized with a new dread settling in her stomach, and grabbed the white one with even more hesitation. Luckily this one didn't seem cursed, in fact she even felt happy to be held, and Kahli wondered if a blade as pure as this one was unhappy with her crappy owner. Still checking that Zoro wasn't moving, she swiftly cut her handcuff and got up on her feet, sweeping the seal back in her pocket.

Now what do I do and where do I go?

A worried look toward her mate confirmed that he was still unconscious. She hadn't killed him, had she? No, because she didn't really care about him, but first, she doubted the strawhats would forgive her if he was dead, and secondly, it was said that the death of a fated mate was very painful. Kahli glanced toward the door, and put two fingers to his throat, carefully checking he had a pulse. Turns out he had, and his skin felt warm under her hand. Her fingers lingered a bit too long and a hot flash ran through her entire frame. Clearly, this hadn't been a good idea, she decided, taking a step back as the fever was coming back with much more strength. At this rate, she wouldn't be able to conceal her scent much longer.

Time to make a run for another storage room or something. Maybe she could even sneak between the trees she had seen on the deck. At least the wind might disperse the smell…

"You-" Zoro started calmly, and Kahli jumped so hard she stubbed her toe in a box lying around, "give me Wado back."

Far from granting his request, Kahli stepped back and raised the sword, but Zoro had already drawn his other two katanas. Her head clouded with fever, her only thought was that she couldn't allow this cursed sword to touch her skin. She vaguely realized he was coming at her and reacted way too late. When she came to her senses, the only thing she could do was to give everything into blocking the cursed blade. Even if it meant getting her left shoulder straight into his other sword.

"Hm!" she groaned and Zoro retracted his blade in shock.

"Why did you do that!?"

"Don't touch me with this cursed thing!" she yelled when he stepped forward, and she knew she was losing it, but the fever, the pain, this insufferable yearning, were not bearable anymore.

Her mate had the audacity to look surprised, and spared a glance at his own sword.

"How did you know?"

"I accidentally touched it," she heard herself admit, and she could feel the white katana slip through her fingers. She couldn't think straight. What was she supposed to do again?

"I won't have to use it on you if you surrender nicely," Zoro finally said, but he should know better by now. No way was she going to-

A new hot flash ran through her body and she staggered. Not a lot, but enough for her mate to take the opportunity and send her crashing onto the floor, taking back his sword in the same move. She tried to elbow him in the armpit but he quickly grabbed both wrists and held them in her back, his other hand pressing her head against the floor. This was starting to get repetitive…

"Enough, why are you acting like this?" he hissed, "if you managed to sneak a weapon just give it back now, I won't let you try anything."

So that was what he was afraid of? What he thought she was hiding?

"I'm tired of your crap," he growled and Kahli wanted to protest. She hadn't said a word!

"...I'm not hiding anything," she finally said, because her arm was starting to really throb like this. "Just leave me alone."

"...what was this seal?" he asked, and even if she couldn't see his face, she could hear in his voice the doubt creeping in. "It didn't look li-"

Zoro abruptly stopped in his tracks and Kahli knew what she had feared finally happened.

She felt the exact moment he smelled it. His grip tightened around her wrists, his scent changed. She suddenly became way too aware about how his body was caging her under him. Her heart rose to her throat and she froze when she felt the brush of the tip of a nose on her neck, his breath trailing toward her shoulder… Kahli clenched her fists to hide her shaking fingers, and there was a pause. Suddenly the pressure on her head and wrists vanished, her numb limbs simply falling back in place. She didn't even have the time to lift her head before the door slammed shut, and the smell of her mate was gone, only slightly lingering in the air. It had been over in a matter of seconds.

"Ah…," she whispered onto the wooden floor, letting a few tears slip out her eyes, because she had been so, so, so fucking scared. "...fuck."

All the energy she still had left disappeared. She just wanted to be back home, next to the Queen of Spring. She missed them so much: it had been a while since she felt that vulnerable.

Staying on the floor seemed like a good idea. With her heat spreading more and more through her whole body, just the thought of crawling back to the suffocating bed was making her wince. She only rolled on the side (the uninjured one) to lie on her back, and closed her eyes, slowly bringing a hand just under the cut in her arm. It wasn't that deep, not enough to warrant stitches, but it would bleed everywhere.

Technically, she knew she wasn't chained anymore, but her plan to kill everybody on the ship seemed less and less likely. What was she going to do? Cry them to death? Plus, the most dangerous threat had passed now, so as long as her mate didn't come back, she was hopefully safe.

The problem was, he did come back. Her heart fell when she heard the door creaking open, really really slowly, as if she was hidden behind, ready to attack, and not a mess on the floor, not even daring opening her eyes.

"Oi, are you dead," he asked, maybe even a little worried, and she turned her head away.

"Yes."

She was fighting to even breathe properly with the feeling that her body was slowly boiling. Whatever reason Zoro came back for, she was in no shape to do anything.

"Get up."

Especially not getting up.

"...No."

It really wasn't that she wouldn't, it was that she couldn't, but to be honest it was also a bit satisfying to not go along with whatever he had planned for her. Her eyes flew open when his fingers closed around her ankle. She was dragged on the floor for a couple of inches, and she raised her gaze. He seemed to be expecting a form of protest, but when she didn't give any, he sighed and crouched down, holding her under her waist and knees and lifting her on the bed. It was over before she had the chance to say anything, or she didn't know, stab him or something. She only noticed now that he had another chain in hands, no doubt to replace the one she had cut.

She didn't move when he took one of her ankles and secured it on, and she let her head fall back against the wall. Better than on her wrist, she guessed.

"Why do you have so many chains anyway, sounds a bit fishy to me," she asked, and her voice didn't sound as tired and breathy as she thought it would.

After the initial fear and want triggered in her body by the presence of her mate, she was starting to feel a bit better. It was supposed to feel appeasing, according to her mother.

Zoro huffed and met her gaze.

"You don't know how far the cook will go to keep Luffy away from his pantry," he said, warrily taking her wrist and unlocking the now useless handcuff.

What was that, conversation? Was he trying to reassure her? Because it kind of worked. This plus his calming scent… The heavy cloud had left her mind. Sure there was still this...desire, but as long as she didn't feel safe, her body wouldn't send mating pheromones everywhere. It also helped that Zoro didn't smell one bit of lust. He didn't seem to be what she had feared, but who could blame her? Most alphas would have acted quite differently once smelling her heat.

She watched him as his eyes traveled to her still bleeding shoulder, and he looked at his own arm, searching for something that wasn't there. His gaze roamed around the room, before settling on her, and after a heavy sigh he started removing his shirt.

What. It was easy to blame her heat for the way she stared dumbly at his chest, noting that he was really well-built, until she received the cloth straight in the face.

"Use this to stop the blood," he said, and there was no way this smelly rag was getting anywhere near her injury.

She was going to tell him exactly that, but he was already leaving, and was it her or were the back of his neck and ears a bit red?

"Take your disgusting shirt back !" she yelled and he just flashed a grin before closing the door, the shirt sliding harmlessly on the floor one second later.

o

Zoro waited until he was far enough before running away, stopping only when he was back on the deck, inhaling a deep breath of fresh air and pinching the bridge of his nose. It had been easy enough to ignore the smell of the heat while she was scared, but not so much when she was looking at him like that.

Zoro went back inside to get his weights, snatching an allegedly clean shirt on the way. He needed the exercise.

The thing was, he still didn't trust her not to kill him and everybody on this ship at the first chance, and he was pretty sure she didn't trust him not to harm her. Maybe he hadn't done a stellar job until now, but he had immediately seen that she was fierce and dangerous. He didn't want to take any chances with someone like that aboard. Until now. To see her like this, scared of him, really scared, had been kind of weird. Of course, he knew she had reasons to be afraid from the moment she woke up on this unknown ship, but until now she had always given the impression that she could fight him, fight them, and win.

He didn't know why he had been so relieved when she had found her snark back. To be honest, between the moment he had realized she was alone and not handcuffed anymore, and the one when he had rushed back with this fucking chain, he had fully expected her to try to run. Her smell was strong enough for him to vaguely monitor her position, but when he had found her still lying at the same place he had left her in, his instincts had done something he wasn't sure he approved of. She was still an enemy. She was still dangerous.

The fact that they were mates didn't change anything. She didn't want him and he respected that. She looked like she had a life, he had his own, and they didn't need each other to survive. Conclusion: they were going to drop her on the next island and most likely never see each other again. And he was fine with that.

o

Sanji was giving Robin her tea when she closed her book and declared:

"The omega is in heat."

"Really ?" Sanji asked while putting the teapot down, surprised.

He couldn't smell anything, but you could trust Robin and her nose.

"Oh, so that's what this smell was!" Chopper exclaimed. "Wait, she seems in pain…" he added and sprung on his feet, getting his bag, and Robin and Sanji followed after him.

How he was able to know that with just his nose, Sanji may never know. The smell was much stronger when they arrived in front of her room, and even more so when they opened the door. He just had the time to see her defensive stance before it hit him, and he had to take a few steps on the side to regain control. It was… a bit more than what he was used to. He was vaguely aware of Chopper announcing they should take her to the infirmary and an arm of Robin fishing something -a key maybe?- out of his pocket. He murmured his assent, running a hand over his face. With Robin, Chopper should be safe, and it was better if he recovered a bit before stepping closer to the girl.

The scent slowly disappeared, and his mind cleared enough to notice the small blood stains on the bed.

"What…?" he wondered aloud, and his foot brushed against something on the floor.

He narrowed his eyes in the half-light, glaring at the offensive item, until he recognized it. There at his feet, laid Zoro's shirt.

o

Zoro put his weights down and shrugged his shirt back on. The exercise had done a wonderful job of taking his mind off certain things, and blocking the heady scent. Now back on the deck, taking a deep breath, he was feeling like nothing happened.

"Hey!" he heard from behind him just before getting hit by a shirt straight in his face. Shirt that was, by the way, his. And maybe it was time to wash it.

"You !" the cook roared, walking angrily to him, "What did you do?!" he fumed, and how the hell was he supposed to know what he was talking about?

"What was I supposed to do?" he replied, arching an eyebrow, and the shit-cook looked ready to wrench his neck. He may have spent too much time with Nami lately…

"What were you-! You were supposed to leave her alone!" he exclaimed but surprisingly he didn't try to shake him like a plum tree, instead letting go of his shirt with a bewildered look.

Zoro frowned but didn't add anything. "Her" probably being their prisoner, he couldn't see what he had done wrong. The shit-cook was too enamored with omegas, he couldn't even acknowledge that this one was dangerous.

"I thought you were better than that," the cook said, and the disappointment on his face was new. Zoro could deal with an angry cook, this he knew how, but disappointment? What the fuck?

"I didn't mean to hurt her, okay?" he felt the urge to defend himself instead of just drawing his blades and fighting, "it just happened, and then I couldn't hold back."

Apparently that was not the right thing to say.

"What kind of shitty excuse is that?! Do you e-"

"I didn't want her to touch Wado," Zoro cut him and folded his arms, and this seemed to halt the cook for a few seconds.

"This better not be an analogy for your d-"

"What the hell are you talking about, and why the fuck are you even angry?!" he asked before the cook could finish his sentence, and he could see Usopp peering at them from the crow's nest.

"Okay, let me spell it for you smartass. I went to her room," Sanji started and Zoro refrained asking what for, "smell of heat everywhere, scared young omega, blood on the mattress, AND YOUR FUCKING SHIRT IN THERE! Now, why do you fucking think I am ANGRY?!" the cook yelled in his ear, his (clean) shirt clenched in his fist, and Zoro felt the words sink in. What.

"What, no! I didn't…"

"Explain yourself then, now," the cook threatened with a shake when his voice trailed off.

"Err..," he started, raising his eyes to the sky as if it would give him the way to say it. Instead he saw Usopp staring at him through his goggles. Yeah, no, Zoro thought and looked back at Sanji. "She tried to escape, and I just…you know, …tried to stop her. And she managed to steal Wado, and I grazed her arm by accident so… yeah," he ended miserably, and Sanji let him go, but kept a wary look on his face.

"And the shirt?"

"...There was nothing else to clean the blood."

Sanji stared hard for a few seconds before giving up.

"... you're a piece of work, you know that?"

"Shut up," Zoro mumbled at the same time that the infirmary door opened, letting Nami and Luffy out.

"Aah Zoro! Don't worry we left your Khadija in the good hands of Chopper, she should be fine in no time!" Luffy said, like he should be worried for her.

"You left Chopper alone with her?!"

"Yeah ! Robin insisted that we handcuff her though," and at least one of them had a brain, but the bruise still throbbing on his neck reminded him that it wasn't enough.

"Coming back," he said under his breath, making his way toward the infirmary, while Nami called after him.

"How is it different from you being alone with her?"

"I can take her," he answered above his shoulder, but he wasn't sure Chopper could. Plus, his friend would definitely lower his guard around her.

"In a fight, right?" Nami shouted from the other side of the deck, and Zoro ignored her in favor of opening the door, but this witch couldn't leave him alone for a second.

"In a fight, right?!"

"YES IN A FIGHT!" he shouted and slammed the door shut.

Was it so hard to get that he was just trying to protect the crew? All of them underestimated the girl, and it could cost them their life. That's why he would make sure it didn't happen.

Both Chopper and the girl were staring at him when he turned around, and he realized he must have intruded on a conversation… As long as Chopper wasn't harmed, he didn't care.

The khadija was comfortably propped up against a pillow, a wrist loosely handcuffed to the side of the bed, and a fresh bandage around her shoulder. The cut wasn't so deep that it would need stitches, but of course Chopper would never let an injury go untreated, no matter how small it was.

"Don't mind me," he grumbled before going to sit in a corner, his swords propped against his shoulder. At this distance, he would be able to intervene should something happen, but without getting in the way either.

The girl glanced toward him before redirecting her attention to the small doctor.

"I can't fully suppress it now that it has started, but it will help a lot to reduce its effects."

"How long until it takes effect?" she asked, and she had never talked to him like that… Without defiance. Once again, maybe he didn't give her the occasion.

"The weakness and discomfort should be fading now. As for the smell, it will take a few hours to subside. I can't suppress it completely, but most people shouldn't be able to feel it, maybe with the exception of your mate, I guess," Chopper said, and Zoro didn't miss how her eyes flicked over to where he was sitting, before settling back on her lap. "Zoro, let me get something for your face," he continued, and he nearly jumped at being addressed.

"Huh?" he answered eloquently, but the small doctor was already running toward his vicinity.

With Chopper absent, the silence quickly stretched uncomfortably, neither of them looking away. It was the khadija who snapped first.

"What?"

"I didn't say anything," Zoro replied, and he knew this would piss her off.

"Making sure I don't kill your friend?" she asked, but this time he could see she didn't bear any ill intent, and he relaxed ever so slightly.

"Maybe," he smirked, and the girl narrowed her eyes at him.

"It's not because you're my mate that I owe you anything," she finally declared, daring him to say otherwise, and Zoro didn't know what her problem was.

"And I don't either. If you try to harm my crewmates, I will kill you."

"Glad to see we're on the same page.

"Great."

"Perfect."

They both glared at each other across the room but this time with a glint of respect in the eyes.

To be continued…

End of chapter 2! I wrote only half of the chapter 3 so I don't really know when I will post it but it may take a while sorry… Thank you for reading!