Chapter 1: I don't own One Piece in any way.

ATTENTION!

Hello People! I have decided after a lot of deliberation to make my original story 'Tashigi's Heart' into two stories. I got so many comments that people wanted to read about a romance forming between the two so I decided I'll spit the story. This one will be about Zoro and Tashigi's interests... forming rated M, while the other one will still be very much following canon and telling the story we all love so well from Tashigi's point of view and that will remain a T just to be safe.

Whereas Tashigi's heart was very much in line with the Canon, Hard Lines will start at Punk Hazard and then strongly deviate from the Canon's present course into an AU Story. :D

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So in essence this is 'Tashigi's Heart' part 2 And I'll be calling it Hard Lines.

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Hard Lines: Getting Carried Away

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All I could hear was the sound of snow being stamped on under foot. I just managed to open my eyes, and all I could see were Footprints. My arm right arm felt numb as if it hadn't been used for ages and hands were dangling down infront of me. Why were they dangling?

"Wh-Where am I?" I look down. I was being carried ... over the shoulder ... down someone's back … he has kantana's strapped to his side... Wait. Three...

IT'S ZORO!

"Wh- Wh- Wh- What are you Doing?!" I yelled hitting his back. "No! Stop! This is embarrassing! Put me down!" I felt his arm tighten around my stomach preventing me from falling off. Quick take a breath, don't run out. Woah, he's so strong.

"Shut up! This is no time for that kind of crap!" He spun my body a bit to the side. "Look!"

I glanced in the direction he had pointed me and caught my breath at what I saw. The purple dense cloud was seeping into the room in deathly billows of swirls and curling.

"The deadly gas is flowing into the Biscuit Room!" I shook my head to try and clear my blurry eyesight, but then had to make sure my glasses didn't fall off.

Why are we still in here? "Oh no! It'll fill up B Building in no time!"

"Now you know." Zoro grumbled. "So Shut up! You're causing me a lot of trouble!"

Well if I was causing him trouble why didn't he just put me down then? Why were we still in the Biscuit Room anyway? We had been right by the exit when we had started the Snowy Battle?

Snowy Battle, I looked sideways at my wound inflicted into my right shoulder. "Ah!" He must have already wrapped it up.

"Now, what do you want?!" What did I want? Umm, … hang on, where is he going?

"The Exit isn't that way!"

"What?!" Zoro paused his mighty run and started off in another direction. "You should've told me sooner!"

I tried to focus on relaxing and letting my body enjoy the rest, but I was way to uncomfortable.

What had Zoro been thinking? Why did he even feel the need to save my life in the first place? If I pass out again what would he do? Would he just hand me over to my crew or would he?... My crew! They can't see me like this!

"Put me down before we catch up with my people!" I felt his shoulder tightening and his muscles twitching beneath me.

"Why do you have so much pride!?" Zoro started grumbling. "I can just throw you away if you want!"

Blast it! I hate it how he knows I wouldn't be able to cover as much ground as he would. And my eye sight still isn't focusing on things very well. The world keeps on going in and out of focus. So frustrating and ...

"Ahhh!"

"What now?!"

Wow! I reached out my left hand to touch it. "Is this the legendary sword – Shusui?!"

"Don't touch it!" Zoro shouted. "Shut up and just hold on, you sword geek!"

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Tap tup tap tup tap. Tish tish tish clup. The sound of Zoro's feet hitting the floor of the B building and the three swords at his hip clashing together. His right foot is landing heavier than his left because he's carrying me on his right shoulder and his swords are on his right hip. It was the only thing I could hear in these halls. Other than his footsteps and his swords there was no other sound. We weren't talking. Every time one of us opened our mouths the other would say something mean and sharp. So we had mutually, silently, agreed to continue the rest of the journey in silence, and we both decided this by remaining silent.

My shoulder was still in agony, but Zoro had managed to tie it up tight enough not to become a bother. It was almost too tight, but not enough to cut off circulation to my arm. This tightness was a good thing I didn't feel the pain of it bouncing back and forth across Zoro's back. I held onto his red raw silk scarf that he had around his waist to stop my arms from swinging, and it worked.

He had been running for a little while now with me on his back, and he still didn't sound out of breath, or show any signs of feeling tired. Be he a pirate or not, it was good and very beneficial to have such a man to rely on. A person who will go back for his comrades even if it means putting his own life at risk. I still don't understand why he would choose to come back for me. It's not as if I had ever done anything for him. Zoro is really something quite strange.

I wish he wasn't a pirate, if he had been a marine he would have been really incredible and …

No! There I go respecting him again! Stop it! He's a pirate! Just focus your mind on the here and now. What has been done and what there is yet to do. First there is.. is … ?

His had lifted up my legs to find a better place to hold me.

What is he doing? Is his hand on my … no! Don't even think it. He is simply carrying you, and he saved your life. You can't just go complaining because he's touching an area that you don't like being touched. Oh, my god this is embarrassing.

Okay! New subject! Surely we must be near C building by now, or near the R building. We can't still be... Why has Zoro stopped? I twist my body around to see behind me. Zoro was just staring ahead into the passageway that was filled with...

"It's not this way! Go back, go back!" What is he waiting for?

"It's only gas – how is it outpacing me?!" Zoro complained.

"Because you went the wrong way!" I yelled in frustration. How dense can one man be?

I do hope we can get out of here in time. I would never have thought I would have to be saved by a pirate from such a ridiculous situation. It was just unthinkable.

What did I do to deserve such humiliation?

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I hope you'll enjoy reading this as much as I'll enjoy writing it. Please review.

:D