Sword

Chapter 13

"So how much time will you have off?" Zoro asked.

Shoko shrugged. "Not much, at least in the beginning. My 'time off' will be mostly spent training since I skipped so many ranks."

Zoro just nodded.

"Are you going to travel solo now? Or try and work more with Johnny and Yosaku?"

"I'll work with them, probably. I don't tend to travel well on my own," Zoro admitted. To most anyone else, he would try and make excuses for his bad sense of direction, but with Shoko, he had learned to admit he needed her help.

Shoko nodded with a grin. "You better come visit me," she said.

"Yeah, yeah. I will. Even if you are at a stupid Marine base. You should consider yourself lucky, you know. There aren't a lot of things that can make me go to a Marine base for fun."

Shoko rolled her eyes. "Wow, I'm honored. It's a real treat that the great Roronoa Zoro can actually stand to go through the absolute torture of visiting a Marine base just to see me."

Zoro laughed and swirled his drink around in his glass. "I'm glad you understand."

"Mmhmmm," Shoko hummed, leaning on the bar, propping her head up with her hand. There was a moment's pause as she watched him. He seemed to be deep in thought as he looked at his glass.

"Do you remember, probably a year ago," Zoro said into his drink, "there was a conversation we had.... Something about distractions?"

Shoko looked at him out of the corner of her eye and noticed a tiny grin tugging at his lips. She felt a blush rise to her cheeks. I remember that conversation perfectly.

She remembered the way he had kissed her right before this conversation and remembered how they decided not to let their relationship develop into anything that could distract them from their goals.

"I don't know about you," Zoro continued, "but now that we're going to be apart, I'm not thinking I'll be so easily distracted from my goals if we decide to be a little bit less professional with each other?"

Shoko felt her heart skip a beat. She sat up straight again, giving him her full attention. "I think I'm focused enough for that."

"Yeah?" Zoro leaned forward towards her, bringing his face only inches away from hers.

"Mhm," Shoko murmured, closing the distance between them and pressing her lips to his. Zoro pressed his hand behind her head, pulling her in close.

She placed a gentle hand on his jaw, savoring every feeling, every movement. She felt as if she were floating, as if someone was dismantling a pile of bricks that she didn't realize had been weighing her down. For two years, she had wanted to hold him, to touch him, to kiss him, but she had resisted, fearing that he would begin to take over her thoughts and influence her decisions.

I won't give up my dreams for a boy, she had sworn to herself, and so she had shoved her feelings aside for the sake of focusing on the task at hand. But now she knew that Zoro would never be a barrier to her dreams. He pushed her to become better, to become stronger because he wanted her to achieve her dreams just as much as he wanted to achieve his own.

So she kissed him. She basked in his touch as he gently guided his hand down her neck and to the center of her back. Finally, she could allow him to hold her without the fear that she was risking her dreams.

She touched the muscles on his chest and on his arms. She felt his hands on her back. She shifted her lips from his and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. He responded with a kiss on the top of her forehead before pulling her onto his lap, sideways, and resting his head on her shoulder. She leaned her head on top of his.

They stayed there for a moment, or maybe it was several minutes. Shoko just knew that she didn't want to move.

"Zoro?" she said softly without lifting her head.

"Mmhmm?" he hummed from his spot on her shoulder.

"Don't leave me." She paused. "I know we can't always be together. We both have our own paths. But I need you to be part of my life, no matter what."

Zoro pulled his head away, and Shoko cursed herself for not being able to keep her mouth shut.

But I had to say it.

Zoro gave a thoughtful pause before speaking. "I think even if we can't see each other, we'll always be a part of each other."

Shoko looked into his eyes as he smiled back at her. "Good," she said, and planted another kiss on his cheek.

"Good," he agreed, wrapping his arms around her once again and holding her tight against his chest.