Notes: This story is meant to come after another "heaven and hell." Please go read that one first or this won't make much sense! It follows along the same train of plot, that Kuina is living inside Zoro's sword and she has grown to be the age she would be if she were alive.

This all sounds really confusing, but I hope that in reading some of the emotions and ideas come through. Even though nobody has had a relationship with a dead person (;;) I hope that the awkwardness and uncomfortable feelings come through realistically enough so that it recalls real-life experience...

unspoken: secrets

The second Kuina spied him coming around the path, she felt instantly brighter. Maybe today wasn't such a bad day after all. Something had been bothering her lately, hovering around like a dark cloud on the horizon. Her mood had been tense and she just had a general feeling that something was amiss. Something had changed.

The sky was gray and electricity seemed palpable in the air. The grasses outside waved in all four directions. The wind was picking up, making eerie creaking noises in the eaves. It all added up to making her feel restless and unsettled. Thoughts gnawing at the back of her mind suggested that the answer may lie in feelings she was ignoring. Kuina dutifully pushed those thoughts aside. They were best left alone.

And so all day she had felt lonely and somber, like the weather playing out across her sky.

But Zoro would make it all better.

She watched Zoro as he walked along slowly. Not looking around, his eyes just focused on the steps he was taking and the path directly ahead of him. She smiled. That was Zoro. Not one to bother himself with anything but what was directly at hand.

She waved, and he seemed to see, but didn't respond in kind. His hands in his pockets, his feet shuffled along like he was moving mechanically. She noticed the way he was carrying himself was not his usual manner. She began to feel concerned, but knew that, of course, any expressed concern would only bother him.

He stopped at the porch.

"Zoro," she said, her eyes smiling. "I'm glad to see you."

"Kuina." he nodded.

"I was bored," she said as she motioned for him to sit.

He half-obliged, choosing to lean against the porch rail. "Bored, huh?"

"Yes," she admitted. "I was waiting."

Silence.

Kuina looked down at her hands. It was funny, these conversations. Communication between Zoro and herself rarely required verbal exchange. Both of them were too serious to rely on words for much. And both of them had known each other long enough that they already knew the answers to the usual questions without asking.

How are you? She wondered to herself, looking him over. His clothes seemed a bit dirtier than usual, his hair sticking out in clumps. Faint traces of shadow under his eyes. She judged that he wasn't taking very good care of himself.

Are you worried about something? His jaw muscle twitched momentarily as he seemed to sense her eyes on him. She saw a vein throb in his forehead. His eye darted towards her and then away. Having seen that indeed, her attention was focused on him, the hairs on the back of his neck began to prickle ever-so-slightly.

"Stop that." He leaned his chin in his hand, looking away.

Kuina blinked, her lashes fluttering against her pale cheeks. "Stop what?"

"Stop that. That thing." The muscles of his neck tightened, as they always did when he was annoyed.

"What thing?" She pried at the annoyance, hoping to reveal what lie underneath. It was always this way with Zoro. She had to pick at him, test him, sift him until she got through to the core. Like digging through sand until you reached water.

"Staring. Stop it." he huffed, his eyes staring off into the distance.

She looked over at him, her eyes narrowing. "Make me."

Zoro turned in surprise. "Excuse me?"

She didn't let her gaze waver, even under his glaring eyes. "Just tell me, then."

He folded his arms in a particularly childish manner. "No."

"Why not?" She gave a rueful laugh. "Not like I'm going to tell anybody...!"

"It's not something I can talk about to you."

Kuina took in a quick breath. "What--?" Was there such a thing? She hadn't thought so... before.

Zoro sighed. "Just forget it. It's nothing."

Uncomfortable silence.

Kuina shuffled her feet, straightening her shoulders.

"I said, forget it!" he blustered.

"I didn't say anything." she spoke pointedly, her eyes half-closed.

"I know what you're thinking, though." he grumbled. Her soul was bound to his, hello. Even when she didn't send her thoughts to him, he usually had a good guess. She was transparent, whether she realized it or not.

"Lucky you." She crossed her arms, her tone edgy.

"You don't have to know everything."

She glowered. "But something would be nice."

Zoro fumed, beginning to reach his boiling point. "You don't want to know, okay? Just leave it at that."

"I think I can make my own decisions, thank you."

"Oh?"

"Yes. I don't need some boorish weakling to tell me what I want and don't want." Her tone was scathing.

"Oh yeah?" The edge in his voice rose to match the edge in hers.

"Yes."

"Is that so?" He rose to his feet, glaring down at her.

She stood as well, squaring her shoulders and lifting her proud chin to face him down. "Yes, Roronoa Zoro. That is SO."

"Well, guess what, dammit." His voice softened, looking into her eyes. "That's very convincing..."

His eyes fell to her full, pink lips, his voice barely a breath across them. "But the answer is still no."

"Zoro..." Her eyes began to close slowly, as she felt some strange kind of magnetic pull towards him.

"You can't make me..." he began, then realized what she was doing. He spun away quickly.

Kuina almost stumbled forward, taken by surprise. Instantly she felt her face burn with shame. What had she been thinking?

"I'm sorry!" she bobbed her head in a quick, apologetic bow, the redness of her embarrassment disappearing behind blue-black locks of hair. "I don't know..."

"Just forget it." Zoro's voice was firm, his shoulders tense as he spoke, his back to her. "Just, forget it."

"Yes." She looked down at her feet, wanting to disappear.

"Zoro? Zoro! Wake up!" Distant voices echoed across the sky.

His friends.

"I have to go." Zoro gave her a quick glance in farewell and then hurried away, down the path. He gave her a slight wave over his shoulder before he disappeared from sight.

Kuina sank to sit on the porch, drawing her knees up to hide her face.

What was that? What have I... done?