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Title: These Familiar Streets
Pairing: Zoro X Sanji, Smoker X Ace, Luffy X Nami
Setting: Modern day, Kyoto
Rating: M
Chapter: 4
Summary: After almost three years in Tokyo, Sanji now returns to Kyoto to fight in that war again. Problem is, now he also has to face the lover and the life he left behind.
Thanks to: My beta unseen_daydream
Dedication: To one of my biggest fans, maggie_inside Happy birthday my dear Pucko~
"Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange." Inception
Chapter 4
Blunt nails scrapping his skin, curses mumbled in his ear in an almost seducing way, slow, rhythmic movements. The feeling of being squeezed tightly by a wet heat, being pulled closer by arms far weaker than his, but still holding great strength for a regular human, it makes his head spin. Yet he doesn't do what Sanji wants him to.
"Move faster, you shitty idiot." The low and velvet rasp of a smoker's voice in his ear, he bits back a groan, it felt too good to end it right now. "Fuck." Another curse, the hands gripping at his shoulders harder, hips pressing against his even more eagerly.
Mind reeling, he presses his lips to the junction between shoulder and neck, sucking to create a mark, so that this would remain even after the night has ended. But then despair grips a hold of him as it all starts to slip away, panic wells up inside of him the more the fire burns his senses. The salty taste of the pale skin beneath him, the heavy scent of their mixed sweat, it all seems to become duller and duller to him.
The sound of the blond man's moans became distant, he floats away from it and it doesn't matter how much he fights against the dark, it still swallows him up, pulls him away. Something was weighing him down, drowning him in this cold and lonely darkness even thought he tries to make it go away with all his strength.
"-own! Calm down, Zoro!"
He snaps his eyes open, his breath comes ragged from his lips as his chest heaves up and down while he presses Luffy down beneath the quilt. The younger boy tries to fight him off, but the Byakko has too much power in him and he is captured beneath the heavy fabric with his lungs starting to scream for oxygen. Ace pulls at the green haired male's shoulders, trying to remove him from his little brother.
It takes his brain some seconds to wake up, to shake of the dullness the dream left him in, before he can pull back his hands and let the younger boy up from his prison. He stares in shock at his own slightly shaking hands, he should have gotten over these dreams by now.
"Zoro, you idiot! That hurt!" The sound of Luffy's voice brings him back to the present, out of whatever maze his mind had gotten caught in, so that he can retort back.
"Then don't jump me while I'm asleep!" He grabs a pillow and throws it, hard, at the raven who just starts to grin his silly grin and scratches the back of his head before the projectile hits him straight in the face. It has always been like this, the kid has no sense of respect at all, just barging into people's lives and homes without so much as asking.
"Sorry for my idiotic brother, but please don't strangle him." Ace whacks his hand at the back of his partner's head, scolding the younger male. "And I told you not to, Luffy!"
"Eh, but I just wanted to wake him! And I thought he wouldn't hit me like you do."
"Don't jump people just 'cause you feel like it!" Both men yell at him then, fangs replacing their usual teeth. Then, Zoro sighs and finds his usual morning wood gone, thanks to the sudden fight. He shoves the younger boy out of his bed and onto the floor, before standing up and rolling his shoulders so that they pop and cracking his neck to the side. The memory of the dream still lingers in his mind, but he can't let it show outwardly, that would be against his principles and person.
"Yosh, now that you're up I'll go grab some snacks!"
"Oi!" But before he has a chance to grab him, Luffy is out of the room and on his way to the fridge. Knowing defeat when he meets it, he looks at the older Portgas to ask for help.
"OK, I'll make sure he doesn't eat everything."
"And that doesn't mean that you can eat everything either." Grabbing a hold of the other's neckline, he tugs at the cloth to prove his point, menace oozing of him like a bad aura as he almost chokes his partner too. Then, as he lets go and turns to his wardrobe instead, the other leaves the room just a little bit frightened.
He opens the doors swiftly, pulling out a t-shirt and a pair of socks along with new underwear. His pyjama pants goes off, along with his briefs, which goes into the bed again and the laundry bin respectively. On goes the fresh underwear, socks, and trousers from where he left them yesterday on the chair and he pulls a shirt over his head. Then he realises which one it is, a dark blue one with a red "patched" star on the front with the word Crimin written beneath it, from the Criminal brand. It's one of the shirts Sanji bought him on a date, since he thought the swordsman needed some new clothes, a spring day when the sun shone and the plum trees blossomed.
Another pang of pain hits him in the gut like a fist, it coils in his veins and chokes his throat so that he almost feels like taking support from the shelves before him so that he won't fall over. But instead, he forces it out of the way, clenches his jaws and shuts the doors to the wardrobe before walking out into the hallway, turning left and entering the main section of the apartment.
His strides are determined and fast, nothing in his posture, except a small throbbing at his right temple, reveals that inside he is just starting to stand again. Since every time he gets up, something pulls him back down again, he is used to the struggle now.
At the table, the brothers have put out bread, butter, cheese, instant noodles, the rise boiler and almost everything they could find in the refrigerator. Even the meat he was supposed to have for dinner tonight.
"Oi, that's m-!" Ace's raised hand stops him from saying anything further, as the raven speaks in his mobile phone.
"Sorry Marco, could you repeat that? I didn't hear you."
The green haired male frowns, then snatches the meat and vegetables away from the table and ignores Luffy's whines. As he walks into the kitchen with the food in his arms, he can hear the older Portgas ask short questions into the speaker while his little brother is probably stuffing his mouth with sandwiches. He opens the refrigerator and puts everything back in, wondering what the Suzakus are talking about that takes such concentration.
Well back, he can see on his partner's face that whatever it was, it wasn't good news. But he keeps quiet, waits for the other to tell him and in the meantime, he grabs some bread and cheese, beginning his breakfast. As he takes the first bite, Ace speaks up.
"Apparently the Deserters have made a new move, now another account has been hacked and emptied in just a couple of hours. Luckily, it was one of the smaller ones."
He grunts around his food, the closest he can get to an answer now, before he swallows down the food.
"So you guys are still tight?" He nods against the younger man, who seems completely unmoved by the revelation and discussion as he just keeps eating. His brother pours himself some tea, which he sips on as he answers.
"Yeah, we live on a diff-" With a snore, he suddenly dips his nose and upper lip in the boiling hot liquid when his narcolepsy kicks in. But in the next second, he wakes up with a yelp, causing Luffy to laugh to his hearts content.
Ace curses and tries to rub the hot tea away as a red feather pattern glow on the burned parts of the skin, his magic healing the sudden injury. Zoro can't keep from chuckling a little at the scene, his partner's illness quite often puts him in hilarious situations as he usually gets the attacks while he's eating, resulting in many shocked looks and soiled clothes. It is also what keeps him from becoming a fire fighter, as the system is very doubtful to letting him graduate with such a disease. But knowing the Ace, he knows that now that the raven has fulfilled his mission, nothing can stop him from getting a "regular job".
"As I was going to say we live - and stop laughing Luffy!- on a different account, so we're still tight."
Zoro nods and pours himself some tea, thoughts of the Deserters becoming a welcomed distraction from the memories of his dream as he watches the brothers fight over a bowl of rice. Times like this, it was quite hard to think that they were sons to one of the most prominent of the Deserters and apprentices to two of Suzaku's mightiest men. Then again, their Emperor was famous for being the greatest in all of history in taking in apprentices and making them successful Captains, making his kind the currently strongest of them all, putting even their greatest rivals Seiryuu behind in war power.
He snatches the bowls from beneath the others' noses, they are so into the quarrel that they don't even notice as they pull at each others' hair and throws fists all over the place. Hopefully they will leave the apartment intact. Hopefully.
As he picks up his chopsticks to start eating, he keeps thinking about the status of the war. Suzaku are the leading ones, with both manpower and skill even if their finances are starting to run low because of the Deserters' attacks and their great numbers. Seiryuu are close behind, but since Krieg took over as the stand-in Emperor, the Shogun, they have started to fall behind their enemies, it is surprising that the Smiling Emperor lets him be.
Then, the two 'Serving Clans' Byakko and Genbu are at a tie, both of them being surpassed by the Dragon and Phoenix but at the exact same level of tactic and manpower. Which wasn't that surprising since their magic was basically cancelling each other, one wielding pure raw power but little defence and the other being granted skin hard as steel but little to non actual strength. But the fact of their equality was something Mihawk has little trouble admitting, since he has great respect for Genbu's Empress. Still, the memory of his swords finally being able to cut though the turtle's carapace was sweet as honey in Zoro's mind, the knowledge of him belonging to the top of his peoples' elite tasting like fine sake.
"By the way, Zoro!" The sound of Luffy's voice pulls him back to the present, to the kitchen where the Portgas brothers have finally stopped arguing as they found out that the food was already gone. Instead, Ace gets some more rice into two new bowls, which he pours soy over.
"Hm?"
"We're going to watch all the 'Bleach' films at Friday, you wanna come?"
The goofy smile on the younger boy's face doesn't match with the strength the swordsman knows he possess, he has seen him crash walls in one single hit, but the thought of watching Ichigo and the gang kicking around actually seems quite alluring. Zoro had seen the third film, and it had been really good, and another distraction to get him away from his memories was always welcome.
"Sure, why not?"
"Yahoo!" The conversation goes on about Shinigamis and Zanpakutos, laughs and jokes and silly fights over whether Ichigo or Kenpachi is the coolest fighter, as life, like the mixture of pain and fun it is, carries on.
~(TFS)~
"Oi Sanji, get out of the kitchen!"
"Tch, as if any of the customers would like your shitty cooking."
"What? You wanna repeat that, you cheeky brat?"
"Sure, as soon as I'm done with this salad." Sanji grins around his cigarette, he's actually missed his casual fights with the cooks in Baratie. Some of the new ones look at him with curious and worried eyes, as if they can smell his inner tumult and fear his familiarity in the big kitchen, three years of absence and the blond still can make tempura with his eyes closed. He scrapes the sliced vegetable from the cutting board down into the metal bowl using his carver, carefully so that he doesn't spill anything.
"Bloody kid, can't you at least wait 'til you're an employee?"
"There's no use Carne, he's impossible!" Patty waves his hand in resignation as he turns back to his own preparations, ignoring the gleeful smile on the blond's lips and trying to suppress his own smile. Damn he has missed that pest!
"One veggie-sukiyaki for four persons!"
"Got cha!"
There are loud noises, shouts and people running around and fighting over the best ingredients, but the restaurant is still going strong even if Zeff has left it. In this tradition-bound city, he managed to start a restaurant which served dishes from all over the world, with high class service and cooks, all the while leading the Seiryuu in the war. That, among other things, was the reason to why Sanji respected his Master so much.
The scent of mirin* and soya fills his nostrils along with the crisp scent of vegetables and the pungent one of meat being pan-fried, scents he loves. Even though he can't ignore how the stench of blood and sweat, of steel which has cut through bones in a sweep excites him, makes his heart beat faster. Nope, he is just like his old man, lives for both feeding people and defeating his enemies. Enemies who might as well be visiting the restaurant at this very moment.
That on the other hand, the fact that he is unable to see if someone is an ally or someone who will cut him up if they ever meet in the darkness, is something he hates. Couldn't their oh-so-awesome Gods have provided them with something that would make them able to tell each other apart? But nooo, they have to run around like blind chickens in the daylight, only to hunt at night beneath the stars.
"Sanji-kun!" The voice of one of his oldest friends plasters a friendly smile on his face, where a sour grimace had been, as he turns around and waves to her.
"Nami-chwan!" She cruises forward though the big room, avoiding hot pans and chopping chefs on her way over to the blonde. There, in the back of the kitchen, they smile and hug lightly, but very awkwardly. He can't forget the fact that he once thought of asking her to bear his children, nor the time he tried to make love to her and failed.
"How have you been, Sanji-kun?"
"Perfectly fine! And you, my dear mellorine?"
"Oh, Nojiko has been a pain in the ass, but I won't let her get to me."
"That's good to hear!" He could see in the way she moves, that she isn't there to just chitchat with him, damn, she never was. For her, everything had to give some sort of income, otherwise she doesn't care for it one bit. And that drive was one of the reasons to why he adored her.
And after a couple of minutes consisting of meaningless chatter, she finally gets down to it.
"Sanji-kun, I have a favour to ask of you."
"Of course! But what kind of favour are we talking about?" A slight shiver of fright finds its way down his spine, cold dread coiling inside of his stomach as he hears the tune she's using. A low, whispering and sugar-coated one, one she uses to get exactly what she wants. The slight pink colour on her cheeks escapes him, is dismissed as the heat from the stoves making her a little warm.
"Well, you see... I have this friend."
"Yes?" Please Seiryuu, please don't let her ask me to go out with one of her friends! Or act as someone's stand in-boyfriend!
"... He has invited me to an animé-marathon of some sort, but I don't know anyone there but him, and barely him. So could you please come with me as company?"
A wave of relief washes over him, before wonder takes its place and starts gnawing at his mind. A male friend she barely knew? Was this, this blushing, woman before him the Nami he knew? The one who could kill a Byakko with a sweep of her naginata and make any man follow her to the end of the world with just a glance?
"Su-sure! As long as I'm not on duty that day, I'll accompany you, Nami-chwan!"
"You will! Oh thank you Sanji-kun, I knew I could trust you." She beams against him, her smile so bright he has to smile too. And somewhere inside of him realisation falls into place, even if she's very forward and driven, she is like any other woman when she falls in love. A little shy and very, very charming. So as they talk more about the details, like how she met that "friend" (at the convenience store first, of all places, and later on at the subway) and when the marathon would take place, he feels genuine happiness well up inside.
"By the way Sanji! How's Gin doing? I heard he got pretty beat up some time ago." The loud voice from Patty cuts their private talk off, but as he stands before them and continues with a look of cruel satisfaction on his face, the blond feels frustration swirl inside. Like worms, it ate its way though his chest. "I bet Krieg is furious now! His beloved apprentice beaten by the Demon!"
"Yeah, but he's fine now, thank you very much. Don't go talking shit behind wounded people's backs!"
"Woo, easy there! You of all people shouldn't go all hypocrite now, you almost broke the entire room when you got to know that Krieg was the one replacing Zeff!"
"Both of you, calm down! They can hear you!" The hiss from Carne makes them lower their voices, but Sanji can't help but continue, the anger hard inside. Gin is his friend, even if he hates the man's Master. And the mention of Zoro doesn't make his mind any lighter either.
"'Cause he's a shit for brains and can't do a shit right, that's why! The old man is the only good leader our kind has had in centuries, he cares about his warriors in spite of o-"
Before he can finish that one sentence, he clamps his mouth shut. The others, realising who it is he is referring to, drop the subject like a venomous snake. It doesn't matter if there is almost no one from Seiryuu here who is loyal to Krieg, openly admitting anarchy was not something any of them were keen of doing.
Mumbling something about a need to smoke, Sanji pulls up his hood and briskly walks towards and out of the door, faking that he pulls up his pack of cigarettes from his pocket. But as the doors falls close behind him, he leans against it and brings the hem of the hoodie's sleeves up to his nose. Inhaling deep, he once again regrets those years he spent in Tokyo.
Not only did he reject the one person who had ever made him feel alive every moment he breathed, but he had also been forced to spend time with him. The very thought of that grin made him cringe, the memory of cold hands ruffling his hair in fake-affection making his stomach turn over.
"You shitty asshole, I miss you." The whisper falls softly from his lips, before the wind rips it from him and carries it away, far away into the sky. The cherry blossoms are soon to be blooming, but in Sanji's heart there has been no spring to be seen in a long time.
~(TFS)~
*cough* Well, I have really good reason for not updating! Drum Island, aka my computer, has been reclaimed by Wapol, aka been in for malfunctions. But now it's back and healthy! And I feel that I was lucky that it was just Chapter 4 which took time, since smut is a good way to make up for absence ^w^
I really hope you enjoyed it and are looking forward to the next chapter~
Pairing: Zoro X Sanji, Smoker X Ace, Luffy X Nami
Setting: Modern day, Kyoto
Rating: M
Chapter: 4
Summary: After almost three years in Tokyo, Sanji now returns to Kyoto to fight in that war again. Problem is, now he also has to face the lover and the life he left behind.
Thanks to: My beta unseen_daydream
Dedication: To one of my biggest fans, maggie_inside Happy birthday my dear Pucko~
"Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange." Inception
Chapter 4
Blunt nails scrapping his skin, curses mumbled in his ear in an almost seducing way, slow, rhythmic movements. The feeling of being squeezed tightly by a wet heat, being pulled closer by arms far weaker than his, but still holding great strength for a regular human, it makes his head spin. Yet he doesn't do what Sanji wants him to.
"Move faster, you shitty idiot." The low and velvet rasp of a smoker's voice in his ear, he bits back a groan, it felt too good to end it right now. "Fuck." Another curse, the hands gripping at his shoulders harder, hips pressing against his even more eagerly.
Mind reeling, he presses his lips to the junction between shoulder and neck, sucking to create a mark, so that this would remain even after the night has ended. But then despair grips a hold of him as it all starts to slip away, panic wells up inside of him the more the fire burns his senses. The salty taste of the pale skin beneath him, the heavy scent of their mixed sweat, it all seems to become duller and duller to him.
The sound of the blond man's moans became distant, he floats away from it and it doesn't matter how much he fights against the dark, it still swallows him up, pulls him away. Something was weighing him down, drowning him in this cold and lonely darkness even thought he tries to make it go away with all his strength.
"-own! Calm down, Zoro!"
He snaps his eyes open, his breath comes ragged from his lips as his chest heaves up and down while he presses Luffy down beneath the quilt. The younger boy tries to fight him off, but the Byakko has too much power in him and he is captured beneath the heavy fabric with his lungs starting to scream for oxygen. Ace pulls at the green haired male's shoulders, trying to remove him from his little brother.
It takes his brain some seconds to wake up, to shake of the dullness the dream left him in, before he can pull back his hands and let the younger boy up from his prison. He stares in shock at his own slightly shaking hands, he should have gotten over these dreams by now.
"Zoro, you idiot! That hurt!" The sound of Luffy's voice brings him back to the present, out of whatever maze his mind had gotten caught in, so that he can retort back.
"Then don't jump me while I'm asleep!" He grabs a pillow and throws it, hard, at the raven who just starts to grin his silly grin and scratches the back of his head before the projectile hits him straight in the face. It has always been like this, the kid has no sense of respect at all, just barging into people's lives and homes without so much as asking.
"Sorry for my idiotic brother, but please don't strangle him." Ace whacks his hand at the back of his partner's head, scolding the younger male. "And I told you not to, Luffy!"
"Eh, but I just wanted to wake him! And I thought he wouldn't hit me like you do."
"Don't jump people just 'cause you feel like it!" Both men yell at him then, fangs replacing their usual teeth. Then, Zoro sighs and finds his usual morning wood gone, thanks to the sudden fight. He shoves the younger boy out of his bed and onto the floor, before standing up and rolling his shoulders so that they pop and cracking his neck to the side. The memory of the dream still lingers in his mind, but he can't let it show outwardly, that would be against his principles and person.
"Yosh, now that you're up I'll go grab some snacks!"
"Oi!" But before he has a chance to grab him, Luffy is out of the room and on his way to the fridge. Knowing defeat when he meets it, he looks at the older Portgas to ask for help.
"OK, I'll make sure he doesn't eat everything."
"And that doesn't mean that you can eat everything either." Grabbing a hold of the other's neckline, he tugs at the cloth to prove his point, menace oozing of him like a bad aura as he almost chokes his partner too. Then, as he lets go and turns to his wardrobe instead, the other leaves the room just a little bit frightened.
He opens the doors swiftly, pulling out a t-shirt and a pair of socks along with new underwear. His pyjama pants goes off, along with his briefs, which goes into the bed again and the laundry bin respectively. On goes the fresh underwear, socks, and trousers from where he left them yesterday on the chair and he pulls a shirt over his head. Then he realises which one it is, a dark blue one with a red "patched" star on the front with the word Crimin written beneath it, from the Criminal brand. It's one of the shirts Sanji bought him on a date, since he thought the swordsman needed some new clothes, a spring day when the sun shone and the plum trees blossomed.
Another pang of pain hits him in the gut like a fist, it coils in his veins and chokes his throat so that he almost feels like taking support from the shelves before him so that he won't fall over. But instead, he forces it out of the way, clenches his jaws and shuts the doors to the wardrobe before walking out into the hallway, turning left and entering the main section of the apartment.
His strides are determined and fast, nothing in his posture, except a small throbbing at his right temple, reveals that inside he is just starting to stand again. Since every time he gets up, something pulls him back down again, he is used to the struggle now.
At the table, the brothers have put out bread, butter, cheese, instant noodles, the rise boiler and almost everything they could find in the refrigerator. Even the meat he was supposed to have for dinner tonight.
"Oi, that's m-!" Ace's raised hand stops him from saying anything further, as the raven speaks in his mobile phone.
"Sorry Marco, could you repeat that? I didn't hear you."
The green haired male frowns, then snatches the meat and vegetables away from the table and ignores Luffy's whines. As he walks into the kitchen with the food in his arms, he can hear the older Portgas ask short questions into the speaker while his little brother is probably stuffing his mouth with sandwiches. He opens the refrigerator and puts everything back in, wondering what the Suzakus are talking about that takes such concentration.
Well back, he can see on his partner's face that whatever it was, it wasn't good news. But he keeps quiet, waits for the other to tell him and in the meantime, he grabs some bread and cheese, beginning his breakfast. As he takes the first bite, Ace speaks up.
"Apparently the Deserters have made a new move, now another account has been hacked and emptied in just a couple of hours. Luckily, it was one of the smaller ones."
He grunts around his food, the closest he can get to an answer now, before he swallows down the food.
"So you guys are still tight?" He nods against the younger man, who seems completely unmoved by the revelation and discussion as he just keeps eating. His brother pours himself some tea, which he sips on as he answers.
"Yeah, we live on a diff-" With a snore, he suddenly dips his nose and upper lip in the boiling hot liquid when his narcolepsy kicks in. But in the next second, he wakes up with a yelp, causing Luffy to laugh to his hearts content.
Ace curses and tries to rub the hot tea away as a red feather pattern glow on the burned parts of the skin, his magic healing the sudden injury. Zoro can't keep from chuckling a little at the scene, his partner's illness quite often puts him in hilarious situations as he usually gets the attacks while he's eating, resulting in many shocked looks and soiled clothes. It is also what keeps him from becoming a fire fighter, as the system is very doubtful to letting him graduate with such a disease. But knowing the Ace, he knows that now that the raven has fulfilled his mission, nothing can stop him from getting a "regular job".
"As I was going to say we live - and stop laughing Luffy!- on a different account, so we're still tight."
Zoro nods and pours himself some tea, thoughts of the Deserters becoming a welcomed distraction from the memories of his dream as he watches the brothers fight over a bowl of rice. Times like this, it was quite hard to think that they were sons to one of the most prominent of the Deserters and apprentices to two of Suzaku's mightiest men. Then again, their Emperor was famous for being the greatest in all of history in taking in apprentices and making them successful Captains, making his kind the currently strongest of them all, putting even their greatest rivals Seiryuu behind in war power.
He snatches the bowls from beneath the others' noses, they are so into the quarrel that they don't even notice as they pull at each others' hair and throws fists all over the place. Hopefully they will leave the apartment intact. Hopefully.
As he picks up his chopsticks to start eating, he keeps thinking about the status of the war. Suzaku are the leading ones, with both manpower and skill even if their finances are starting to run low because of the Deserters' attacks and their great numbers. Seiryuu are close behind, but since Krieg took over as the stand-in Emperor, the Shogun, they have started to fall behind their enemies, it is surprising that the Smiling Emperor lets him be.
Then, the two 'Serving Clans' Byakko and Genbu are at a tie, both of them being surpassed by the Dragon and Phoenix but at the exact same level of tactic and manpower. Which wasn't that surprising since their magic was basically cancelling each other, one wielding pure raw power but little defence and the other being granted skin hard as steel but little to non actual strength. But the fact of their equality was something Mihawk has little trouble admitting, since he has great respect for Genbu's Empress. Still, the memory of his swords finally being able to cut though the turtle's carapace was sweet as honey in Zoro's mind, the knowledge of him belonging to the top of his peoples' elite tasting like fine sake.
"By the way, Zoro!" The sound of Luffy's voice pulls him back to the present, to the kitchen where the Portgas brothers have finally stopped arguing as they found out that the food was already gone. Instead, Ace gets some more rice into two new bowls, which he pours soy over.
"Hm?"
"We're going to watch all the 'Bleach' films at Friday, you wanna come?"
The goofy smile on the younger boy's face doesn't match with the strength the swordsman knows he possess, he has seen him crash walls in one single hit, but the thought of watching Ichigo and the gang kicking around actually seems quite alluring. Zoro had seen the third film, and it had been really good, and another distraction to get him away from his memories was always welcome.
"Sure, why not?"
"Yahoo!" The conversation goes on about Shinigamis and Zanpakutos, laughs and jokes and silly fights over whether Ichigo or Kenpachi is the coolest fighter, as life, like the mixture of pain and fun it is, carries on.
~(TFS)~
"Oi Sanji, get out of the kitchen!"
"Tch, as if any of the customers would like your shitty cooking."
"What? You wanna repeat that, you cheeky brat?"
"Sure, as soon as I'm done with this salad." Sanji grins around his cigarette, he's actually missed his casual fights with the cooks in Baratie. Some of the new ones look at him with curious and worried eyes, as if they can smell his inner tumult and fear his familiarity in the big kitchen, three years of absence and the blond still can make tempura with his eyes closed. He scrapes the sliced vegetable from the cutting board down into the metal bowl using his carver, carefully so that he doesn't spill anything.
"Bloody kid, can't you at least wait 'til you're an employee?"
"There's no use Carne, he's impossible!" Patty waves his hand in resignation as he turns back to his own preparations, ignoring the gleeful smile on the blond's lips and trying to suppress his own smile. Damn he has missed that pest!
"One veggie-sukiyaki for four persons!"
"Got cha!"
There are loud noises, shouts and people running around and fighting over the best ingredients, but the restaurant is still going strong even if Zeff has left it. In this tradition-bound city, he managed to start a restaurant which served dishes from all over the world, with high class service and cooks, all the while leading the Seiryuu in the war. That, among other things, was the reason to why Sanji respected his Master so much.
The scent of mirin* and soya fills his nostrils along with the crisp scent of vegetables and the pungent one of meat being pan-fried, scents he loves. Even though he can't ignore how the stench of blood and sweat, of steel which has cut through bones in a sweep excites him, makes his heart beat faster. Nope, he is just like his old man, lives for both feeding people and defeating his enemies. Enemies who might as well be visiting the restaurant at this very moment.
That on the other hand, the fact that he is unable to see if someone is an ally or someone who will cut him up if they ever meet in the darkness, is something he hates. Couldn't their oh-so-awesome Gods have provided them with something that would make them able to tell each other apart? But nooo, they have to run around like blind chickens in the daylight, only to hunt at night beneath the stars.
"Sanji-kun!" The voice of one of his oldest friends plasters a friendly smile on his face, where a sour grimace had been, as he turns around and waves to her.
"Nami-chwan!" She cruises forward though the big room, avoiding hot pans and chopping chefs on her way over to the blonde. There, in the back of the kitchen, they smile and hug lightly, but very awkwardly. He can't forget the fact that he once thought of asking her to bear his children, nor the time he tried to make love to her and failed.
"How have you been, Sanji-kun?"
"Perfectly fine! And you, my dear mellorine?"
"Oh, Nojiko has been a pain in the ass, but I won't let her get to me."
"That's good to hear!" He could see in the way she moves, that she isn't there to just chitchat with him, damn, she never was. For her, everything had to give some sort of income, otherwise she doesn't care for it one bit. And that drive was one of the reasons to why he adored her.
And after a couple of minutes consisting of meaningless chatter, she finally gets down to it.
"Sanji-kun, I have a favour to ask of you."
"Of course! But what kind of favour are we talking about?" A slight shiver of fright finds its way down his spine, cold dread coiling inside of his stomach as he hears the tune she's using. A low, whispering and sugar-coated one, one she uses to get exactly what she wants. The slight pink colour on her cheeks escapes him, is dismissed as the heat from the stoves making her a little warm.
"Well, you see... I have this friend."
"Yes?" Please Seiryuu, please don't let her ask me to go out with one of her friends! Or act as someone's stand in-boyfriend!
"... He has invited me to an animé-marathon of some sort, but I don't know anyone there but him, and barely him. So could you please come with me as company?"
A wave of relief washes over him, before wonder takes its place and starts gnawing at his mind. A male friend she barely knew? Was this, this blushing, woman before him the Nami he knew? The one who could kill a Byakko with a sweep of her naginata and make any man follow her to the end of the world with just a glance?
"Su-sure! As long as I'm not on duty that day, I'll accompany you, Nami-chwan!"
"You will! Oh thank you Sanji-kun, I knew I could trust you." She beams against him, her smile so bright he has to smile too. And somewhere inside of him realisation falls into place, even if she's very forward and driven, she is like any other woman when she falls in love. A little shy and very, very charming. So as they talk more about the details, like how she met that "friend" (at the convenience store first, of all places, and later on at the subway) and when the marathon would take place, he feels genuine happiness well up inside.
"By the way Sanji! How's Gin doing? I heard he got pretty beat up some time ago." The loud voice from Patty cuts their private talk off, but as he stands before them and continues with a look of cruel satisfaction on his face, the blond feels frustration swirl inside. Like worms, it ate its way though his chest. "I bet Krieg is furious now! His beloved apprentice beaten by the Demon!"
"Yeah, but he's fine now, thank you very much. Don't go talking shit behind wounded people's backs!"
"Woo, easy there! You of all people shouldn't go all hypocrite now, you almost broke the entire room when you got to know that Krieg was the one replacing Zeff!"
"Both of you, calm down! They can hear you!" The hiss from Carne makes them lower their voices, but Sanji can't help but continue, the anger hard inside. Gin is his friend, even if he hates the man's Master. And the mention of Zoro doesn't make his mind any lighter either.
"'Cause he's a shit for brains and can't do a shit right, that's why! The old man is the only good leader our kind has had in centuries, he cares about his warriors in spite of o-"
Before he can finish that one sentence, he clamps his mouth shut. The others, realising who it is he is referring to, drop the subject like a venomous snake. It doesn't matter if there is almost no one from Seiryuu here who is loyal to Krieg, openly admitting anarchy was not something any of them were keen of doing.
Mumbling something about a need to smoke, Sanji pulls up his hood and briskly walks towards and out of the door, faking that he pulls up his pack of cigarettes from his pocket. But as the doors falls close behind him, he leans against it and brings the hem of the hoodie's sleeves up to his nose. Inhaling deep, he once again regrets those years he spent in Tokyo.
Not only did he reject the one person who had ever made him feel alive every moment he breathed, but he had also been forced to spend time with him. The very thought of that grin made him cringe, the memory of cold hands ruffling his hair in fake-affection making his stomach turn over.
"You shitty asshole, I miss you." The whisper falls softly from his lips, before the wind rips it from him and carries it away, far away into the sky. The cherry blossoms are soon to be blooming, but in Sanji's heart there has been no spring to be seen in a long time.
~(TFS)~
*cough* Well, I have really good reason for not updating! Drum Island, aka my computer, has been reclaimed by Wapol, aka been in for malfunctions. But now it's back and healthy! And I feel that I was lucky that it was just Chapter 4 which took time, since smut is a good way to make up for absence ^w^
I really hope you enjoyed it and are looking forward to the next chapter~