Mark of the Idiot

"For fuck's sake, stupid cat, just come with me! You need a doctor!"

Elly hissed with alarm and fought harder, but her strength was waning. Wrestling with Zoro was like fighting a solid steel wall. He waited until she grew limp with exhaustion and carried her out of the room he had tracked her into.

"Please listen to me," she begged as he held her up to his chest with both arms. She was too distraught to realize she was being treated in a far better manner than he normally carried women and struggled weakly. "I need to rest, that's all. You - you're making it worse." Admitting this caused her to blush a dark shade of pink, and she stammered shyly. "Oh my god, y - you ... you're making it worse."

He ignored her with a snort and pushed onward until he the bristling of ship's masts sticking up in the distance grew larger. The dock was nearby, a lucky break since it served as a homing beacon for him. Elly's heart sank when she saw this was true.

"Great. The one time you don't get lost. My freaking luck."

"I don't get lost," he grunted, offended.

"Sure."

His scent, a mixture of steel and strong ship's soap, lulled her into a state near sleep. When he reached the ship she was close to passing out from his close proximity and her own weakness to it.

He set her down in the infirmary with the air of a man with a job well done.

"Uhhhh." The little doctor's nose wrinkled as he sniffed the air. "Did she say she needed a doctor?"

'Course she didn't." Zoro scratched his chest, yawning with boredom. "I'm gonna go nap."

"Ohhh, no you're not!" Chopper leaped with amazing speed to block his exit. "Listen, you hafta take her back right away!"

"Huh?"

He sighed. "I gave her something to keep her asleep but it's not gonna last. Get her away from here, quick!"

"Isn't she sick?" His face paled and he jerked back. "Is she contagious?!"

"She's in heat!"

"Yeah, she's hot. I thought it was a fever."

Chopped smacked himself in the head with a hoof. "No, you moron! Animal heat."

"She's a cat, right."

"Mating heat!" He snarled, furious at the man for not understanding. "Like sex! Geez!"

The big man's face paled further and then suddenly bloomed with color across his nose. "The fuck did you say?!"

"She was trying to stay away from us. I think, deep down, she knew who caused it."

"Hurk." He recalled what she had gasped earlier and his face went several shades redder.

"Look, you can't stay here. Please. Sanji'd go crazy and she would probably get super embarrassed if I had to explain this to - to everyone!"

"Wait!" His expression grew panicky as she was transferred to his arms again. "What do I do?!"

"She'll tell you. Just get out, quick!"

He ran the fastest he could back to her hotel room and deposited her back onto the bed.

"Okay, there. Now what?"

"Thanks. Now go back to the ship."

"No way." He crossed his arms stubbornly.

"Please go away. You can't help." She laid her head down but after several minutes without a sound she knew he was still there. Elly opened one eye and stared wearily at the big man. "Okay. You have three options."

Zoro sat on the edge of the bed to listen. "Yeah?"

"One, nothing. Leave me alone." She sighed and leveled the full weight of her glare at him. "I recommend that, by the way. I don't want charity. Because the other two options are marking or mounting."

"Ehh..?"

"You stay with me and bite my neck to keep me in check, or we have sex. Both require a lot of attention and honestly, I would prefer being mated to someone that loves me."

He choked.

Elly turned around in the bed, biting her lip to try and hold back her tears. The agony of her need was pretty desperate, and her hormones were a mess. She curled her tail around her and wept as quietly as she could when she heard the door close behind him.

She was tired and her loins were on fire. With Zoro gone, she lay in pain, wondering when she would be able to move on her own. Her condition had been made worse by his scent and contact, a factor she had tried to avoid. Of course the big idiot had found her, and of course she now knew he didn't care for her. She would have preferred to have the faint hope that maybe, some day...

The door creaked. She gasped, immediately concerned that a stranger was invading her space in her condition.

Surprisingly, it was the swordsman.

He rushed forward and yanked the sheet she was covering herself with off. "You okay?"

"No I'm not okay! Why'd you come back?!"

"I had to get stuff!" He tossed a bag beside her. "Little idiot, have you been bawling this entire time?"

She laid her ears back in anger. "Don't call me an idiot, stupid!" The bag spilled its contents a little as she shifted on the bed, and she glanced down. What was sitting innocently next to her caused her throat to tighten. She pointed wordlessly at the pile of brightly colored condom packets, the question obvious in her eyes.

"I picked number three, okay?!" He thrust his lower lip out in a pout, face burning. "It was hard enough getting all that when I didn't know what anything was. You'd better help."

"You can't just pick three! I told you, I'd rather not be thrown a pity f -" She clutched at her lower belly and fell over half way through her tirade. "Sh - shhhit..."

He was there in a second, his strong hands picking her up to prop her on the cushions at the head of the bed. "What do I do?"

"Get ... away ..."

He snorted angrily and pressed her down on her back, crawling on top and using his knees to stop her weak squirming. "Cut. That. Out. You need me, I'm not going anywhere. Now what the hell do I do?!"

Elly was speechless. He was pinning her down on the bed, a sack of condoms nearby that he had bought with obvious intent. She started to shake, realizing she was seconds away from losing control.

On his part, he recognized that she wasn't coherent and took matters quite literally into his own hands. Her body was more than willing and soft against his, clinging to him tightly when he made firmer contact.

"What do you need?"

She glared at him, a look that spoke volumes.

"Stupid cat. I know 'what' to do," he snorted. "What I don't know is if you need anything different."

"No, just you. Everywhere." She struggled to convey her extreme desires but could barely speak. He chuckled when her hands grasped the sash that tied his robe together and tugged feebly at it.

"You want this gone?" Raising up on his knees, he untied it and tossed it aside. "There. Now what, huh? Oh." His cheeks burned when she boldly thrust a hand inside the green cloth.

Good god, he was hard everywhere. Elly gave up on trying to restrain herself as she hungrily groped him. She had tried so many times but the handsome fool just didn't listen to reason.

Fine, then! She was going to enjoy what was normally a sad, painful cycle of misery and she wasn't holding back. Her hands dipped lower.

"Ughh...! No. Stop that." He grasped her wrist and firmly but gently lifted it away. "Look, kit, you want that - you're gonna have to not set me off before I can get inside you."

She whined, desperate.

"I get it now, okay? I'm hurrying." Clothing began to pile up on the floor as he hurriedly yanked it off. "Can you get your own - shit. Okay."

She was pulling her last piece off as he spoke. His brown eye widened as he saw her nude for the first time. Her body was very pale, especially in contrast to his tan skin.

He had seen women without clothing before. Nami shed hers frequently to stun men, and as a result he thought he had gotten used to the female body. And yet, hers was different, not only in shape and size but because he wanted to see it. She was letting him see it, not to earn money or anything, but because she wanted him.

His body's reaction was immediate and just a little painful. He swore softly as he broke the first condom in his haste, then took a deep breath and tried once more.

"Hurry..."

"Heh," he huffed laughter as he got into position above her. "Wanted me to get out. Now can't wait for me to get in."

She glared at him and then cried out as he moved forward, thrusting carefully at first. Her arms flung around him and she begged for him to move faster and faster until he was keeping a steady pace.

"Next time," he panted as he moved, "we can have more fun. We skipped ... a lot of stuff."

"Yes," she moaned. "Yes, please..."

"Need more?" He stared down at her with the most evil grin she had ever seen on his face. His hips continued to move, a relentless, firm hammering that burned away the ache into the most delicious friction.

Her tongue lolled out of her mouth wantonly as she panted, scrabbling for purchase on his surging back. "Yes," she moaned. "Yesss. More. All of Zoro. All..." She paused.

All?

"Okay, cat?"

"Tell me you love me," she suddenly pleaded. "I need to - I want to hear it at least once."

Zoro's movement faltered to a stop. "What the hell?!"

"I know, just lie! It's okay, it's n - not okay but it's okay..."

"I'm not going to lie to you," he told her angrily.

Elly wept harder but managed to nod. "Sorry," she moaned.

"Stupid," he snarled under his breath as he picked up the pace again. "How can you be so stupid?" His eye met hers and he realized what he sounded like when he saw her agonized expression. "Sh -shit! I didn't mean it that way!"

"It's okay." She had her eyes closed in grim pleasure. His body was giving her what she needed, but she had been foolish to ask even for him to pretend to give her the rest. There were, oddly, no tears. She was far too heartbroken for that.

She was startled out of her melancholy when he doubled his efforts, perhaps even tripled them. Gasping, barely able to catch her breath, she stared at him in amazed shock.

"You fucking idiot! I don't - !" Each word was punctuated with a deep, angled thrust that caused her to scream with pleasure, "Need! To! Lie!"

"What's happening?!"

"I love you!"

"Oh my god! Zoro!"

"WHAT?!"

"I'm - I'm coming, you idiot!" She threw herself forward, arms and legs around him. "Don't stop! Give me everything!"

"Yeah," he agreed. "Everything."