New Life

Title: New Life: Chapter 13
Author: Genuinelie(s)
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine.

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Chapter Thirteen
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It was one year, four months and five days since the Going Merry had set sail when Sanji was woken late in the morning by sultry fingers running through his hair.

He was mostly still asleep, processing only the warm palm he pressed his face into greedily.

The fingers paused, then continued. Gently stroking, comforting, constant.

The dream was still fresh in his mind. The sensations brought peace, and for a moment he believed it was real. He felt a feeling he hadn't felt in a long while. Joy. Happiness. He mumbled sleepily, lips brushing against the palm, "Zoro."

The hand stopped its movement as though startled.

The soft-spoken woman's voice that came from the foot of his bed shattered the moment. "Ah," was the throaty sigh, a touch of revealation in the word. "I see."

Panic, accompanied by a long fall back into reality.

Sanji's eyes shot open as he scrambled up against the headboard. There were two of them in the room then. There was no way the woman could reach his head, and be speaking by his feet.

And he had locked the door, as he always did. So how did -

His eyes focused. He was still dreaming. Hallucinating. Out of them all -

"Sanji," the woman was murmuring. The hand, impossibly, was back in his hair. Caressing him gently. Trying to calm him. "It's going to be okay."

The breath stopped in his throat. He froze.

The hand by his head disappeared.

"Robin." He choked.

Nico Robin smiled at him, sitting on a chair by the door. Still locked. Outside he could hear panicked shouts, knocking as his help tried to kick his door down.

"OI!" He shouted, never taking his eyes off of the woman in front of him. "OI! Stand down, or you're all going on permanent leave!"

"But Sanji!" He recognized the voice of his head chef Yusef shout. "She could be dangerous! We couldn't stop her! I have no idea how she - "

"Fool!" Sanji shouted back. "Don't you know who this is? Of course she's dangerous! Leave us alone!"

Silence accompanied his words.

"Now!" He shouted.

He heard the men pause. A moment later dejected-sounding thuds echoed down the stairs.

The small smile never left Robin's lips.

"You've changed," she said.

But Sanji wasn't looking at her anymore. He was looking at the white sword laying on her lap, above gracefully crossed legs.

"Wadou." He said.

The smile on her face widened, imperceptible to anyone except her former nakama. "The storm gave it to us." She said.

"You didn't wait?" Sanji gasped. It wasn't the season of the break in the perpetual storm on the edge of All Blue. Which meant -

His chest seized. She could have -

He scrambled out of bed and tackled her unceremoniously. Something he never would have dreamed to do before, but now, after -

How long had it been? Three years? Five?

He clutched the taller woman to him, and she melted gratifyingly in his arms. Something she never would have done before.

She placed the sword on the chair and clutched him to her. A third hand ghosted over the back of his head. A moment later, embarrassed, he pulled back, not meeting her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Robin - " he started.

She pulled his chin up with that third hand. She smiled, genuine. "I've missed you, too, Sanji."

He nodded. His eyes trailed back to the sword on the chair.

"Yes," Robin said, "I was wondering about that."

"Hn." Sanji agreed, not quite ready to answer her question. He had managed not to think about him or them in months. At least not while he was awake.

But he supposed that nothing could stay buried for long, not on the Grand Line. Least of all the past.

So he merely said to her, "I would like to hear your story as well. Give me a moment to dress, and I'll cook you some breakfast."

She laughed musically. "Lunch by this time, Sanji."

"I guess I was asleep for too long," Sanji mused.

Robin's eyes darkened, and for a moment Sanji believed she was talking about more than bed rest. "I think you were, too."

She unlocked the door and paused. "I'll wait for you below," she said.

She left the sword on his chair.

*****

The reunited nakama ate their lunch in silence, waiting until the last bite was gone until they spoke more than niceties. What each had to say was too important for the distraction of eating.

His staff hovered by the edges of the room, watching them warily and muttering balefully. Most of the customers in the room had since recognized Robin, perhaps from the wanted posters still in abundance, and were also watching them surreptitiously. Sanji ignored both groups, focused on the woman in front of him.

"It was delicious, Sanji." Robin said. "I believe the best you've ever made." She wiped off her lips although there was nothing on them as far as Sanji could see. She smiled, looking around the room. "Your restaurant is everything I thought it would be."

"Thank you, Robin." Sanji said. Her words meant more to him than all the praise he had received until that point, bringing up a sharp pride. He grinned at her and spread his arms. "My dream," he said. It was the first real sense of satisfaction he had felt since opening the Three Swords.

She inclined her head.

Without preamble, she continued, "I found what I was looking for. Several things. Then I lost them." She met his eyes. There was no new sadness in them, only a glimmer in them very similar to the peace Sanji had seen in Zoro's, once. "It is for the best. I wasn't meant to have what I was seeking."

Sanji didn't ask her any questions. There was something about the woman that demanded that she be allowed to keep her secrets.

Sanji was equally as nervous. He told her about finding Zoro's haramaki, about finding Zoro alive after all of it. He told her that Zoro had given him the map that had led them to All Blue. He skipped what didn't need to be said, and told her about the storm.

Simple and concise. The words were devoid of emotion, his voice flat. He hadn't felt anything about it since the Merry had left.

Hadn't felt much of anything else, either.

A smooth hand gripped his own that were folded before him on the table. He felt a slight tremble run through the cool fingers.

Robin's eyes were wide and wet. "I heard that Zoro had left our crew to find Mihawk, and I heard that he had won. I even heard that he was sailing with the Straw Hats again. With you." She sighed, and her usual expression fell back into place, deep and sad like the ocean itself. Calm, absorbing the hurt like she absorbed all of it dealt to her in her life. "I hadn't heard that he died," she said softly. "I lost news of you, only hearing recently about this restaurant." She managed to smile. "The name caught my interest."

Sanji refused to acknowledge the moisture he felt on his face.

"Sanji," she said, almost brusquely, letting go of his hand, "would you mind so much if I -"

"Stay." He demanded before she could finish. "Please."

She smiled then, large and real. "I can't cook for you, or -"

Sanji shook his head vigorously. "All you need to do, Robin, is stay here with me for a while. You don't have to do anything."

She nodded, accepting his answer. "I can promise no more than a year," she said.

But Sanji had stopped listening. "Yusef! Golstep! Prepare one of the guest rooms for Ms. Nico! One with a view! Lazy sops," he added, almost as an afterthought.

And with his words, he felt a piece of himself return.

*****

He hung Zoro's sword Wadou above his bed, although he knew that it would bring the restaurant even more fame than it already had if he were to display the great Roronoa's weapon publicly.

But the restaurant didn't need it, and Sanji felt possessive of the katana. Robin didn't say anything about it, although he saw her watching him through his open door one day, a thoughtful expression on her face. She had caught him staring at the sword with what he knew was stark longing.

She didn't mention the incident afterwords, but the next day he found Zoro's wanted poster, framed and hanging underneath.

Sanji didn't say anything about it, but the next day he went into town and bought her the rarest book he could find.

*****

Months passed, and Robin fell into her place in the restaurant. She entertained customers with lore and stories, and performed "magic" with her devil's fruit powers. Soon Sanji's restaurant was more popular than it had been before, with tales of his new performer spreading down the Grand Line faster than a trail of fire.

Sanji, for his part, found it impossible to return to swooning foolishly over his nakama. Not like he had before. There was too much truth between them now, and what had been an act fell too flat without an audience. They talked rarely, but every night they would sit on the deck before returning to their separate rooms, Sanji sprawled against her legs, as Robin read from a particularly interesting and rare book she had discovered on the nearby island. With the amount of shipwrecks and pirates who lived in the town, the place was a literal treasure trove, and the archaeologist found more than enough to keep her occupied.

They would sit like that, with Sanji listening raptly to Robin's soothing voice, until the sun set and the colors shrank from the horizon.

He had never understood Robin before, even when he was enraptured with her on the crew of the Going Merry.

But every so often, he caught a reflection of himself in her eyes. A reflection of the year that had passed in solitude, and sometimes a reflection of what had come before.

He had never understood Robin before, and now he almost wished he didn't.

*****