Summary: Tashigi and Zoro spend the night thinking about the politics of their relationship. Oneshot.
Time and time again, he found himself rolling his eyes at her, frowning grimly as she suddenly sat up, clutching a blanket to her small breasts, and reaching blindly in the dark, mumbling about her glasses. He would lay back, arms crossed behind his head, and he'd listen to her whine or stammer, worried about something or another. Sometimes it was something petty, like a pillow she wanted to find, but sometimes it was something much more important. He thought it would be one of those petty nights, but she surprised him when he felt her arm, small and unsure, slip over his chest and mumbled something that caught him completely off-guard.
"They would kill me."
He raised an eyebrow and looked down at her, surprised that she threw this out there for him to know. But he already knew. "Yeah?"
"Mmhmm." Her head was on his chest and he felt her tremble, not like she was afraid, only nervous, and Zoro shifted to slip his fingers in her short hair. So much like Kuina, but then again, she wasn't. He hated it and loved it at the same time.
"They'd kill me too."
"You'd run away."
He paused, looking down at her with a brow raised, annoyed that they were having this conversation in the first place. "And you wouldn't?"
He felt her shake her head, her chin against his chest, and he frowned until he understood. She was a Marine, after all. That was her life, swords were her life, justice was her life. How many times had he laid here in this bed and held her as she babbled on about the wrongs of their unison? How many times had he dared to think that he would change it all, he would be her life? Finally, she'd become more accepting to him, more willing every time she found his arms around her, his big, strong hands on her hips, his lips on her skin. But there would always be her insecurities she voiced after the love-making was over, and Zoro wished he could have just slept.
"I...I wouldn't run away from them."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
He felt her rustle in the dark, and for the second time that night, she surprised him with her quiet voice, whispering by his ear:
"But I wouldn't let them catch us like this either."