Ranma just nodded to this as he got a look of deep thought on his face. “Jetta, I think we should… aw, hell, I think I should've at least tried to become a better tamer. I mean, I can't bear to think about losing you, or any of the other girls, knowing what I do now a 'bout how they treat y'all in the rest of the world…" He sighed deeply, his head drooping. "I completely sucked out there. I'm just such a failure." He sighed again, closing his eyes.
Only to open them again as Jetta started to shake him by the shoulders. "You've got to snap out of this slump, Ranma! Please, you can't just give up, not now! You're the best thing that has ever happened to me, and to the others!" She had stopped shaking him, and was looking straight down into his eyes. "Ranma, you're the best thing that has ever happened to this world, damnit!" She hugged him, mashing him into her bosom. "We all love you so much… can't you see that?" She pushed him out of her bosom and looked down into his eyes again. "I can, without a doubt, say that any of us will at the drop of a pokeball do anything for you! Not just because you are our master, but because you are so much more than that! You're our friend, our lover, our protector… and to many, if not all of us, you are a savior!" Tears welled up in her eyes again. "Ranma, we all love you so much. Please, don't throw it all away. We need you." Two tears fell to the mattress. She wanted to be strong, but she couldn't help it.
Ranma's hand went up to caress Jetta's cheek. "Jetta… thank you." He smiled, and lightly kissed her on the lips. "I know that you all love me, and I love you all more than anything. I'm sorry for losing hope." He stood up, some of the old Ranma showing through. "I'm Ranma Saotome! I don't give up, I fight until I win, damnit! Because I'm the best!" He placed his hands on his hips and let out a maniacal laugh.
Across Jetta's temple a big sweatdrop rolled. Master can get a little out of hand sometimes, she mused, scratching her cheek and smiling a bit. Then she yawned, covering her mouth politely.
Ranma, now feeling much better, looked at Jetta. "You must still be tired. Maybe you should get a little rest? I'll go and take care of healing Grave and Sheila, and see if they're ok." When she started to protest, he placed a finger on her lips to silence her. "Id'll alright, Jetta. You get some more sleep. I'm gonna take care of everything."
Nodding, Jetta closed her eyes as she allowed her master to put her back into her pokeball. She'd talk to him later about this 'improvement' thing, he could count on it.
Smiling, Ranma left the room quietly, heading to the front desk. He would have never been so open with his feelings back in Nerima, not with mallet-sama-swinging Akane, mercenary-girl Nibiki, pig-boy Ryoga, Pops, Shampoo… well, maybe, just maybe, to Kasumi… but she would just get worried. Ukyou would've probably tried to console him by trying to have her way with him. Damn, he thought, looking back at the old him. I never noticed how Ukyou acted the entire time? I really was clueless! "Excuse me?" he waved at the NurseJoy behind the desk.
She looked up from the romance novel she was reading. Him again? Damn, when did he get here, didn't hear him, she thought. Then she frowned slightly. And right at the good part too, she sighed, putting on the typical Joy smile as she addressed the young tamer. "Hello, Mister Sextome. What can I do for you this morning?"
Ranma pulled the two pokeballs containing the two injured felines and handed them to the Nurse. "Could you heal these two, please? They just took a nasty beating." He sighed at that. He really had to apologize to them soon, and keep them from trying to kill themselves in self-guilt.
"Here you go, have a nice day." The NurseJoy said, handing him his pokeballs and going right back to reading. He may have deprived her of the young Joy, Momoko, but she'd be damned if he deprived her of her romance novel! She really wanted to see what Raul was going to do with that innocent young Megami he had caught!
Ranma walked back to his room and as soon as he could let out the two kitties. After an second's pause he was bracketed by the two's cries of "I'm sorry master" and "I'm a bad pokegirl" and everything else along those lines. He calmly sat down on the bed and held up his hands to silence them. "Girls, please… have I ever tried to hurt you or punish you before?" He waited for them to shake their heads no, and patted the bed to each side of him. As soon as they sat down he put an arm around each one's shoulders. "Girls, I'm not angry at you."
Sheila frowned. "But we failed you, master! We couldn't even last a second in battle!" Her eyes got all big and anime-style as tears formed in them.
Grave mimicked Sheila's moves. "We're bad pokegirls and we don't deserve to be treated nicely, we deserve to be punished!"
Ranma sighed. He knew this would happen… it somehow always did. "Kitties, I'm not going to hurt you. It wasn't your fault at all. It was mine. I was so irresponsible to just put you up against a gym leader without knowing what I was in for. My stupidity got you both hurt, and if Mr. Vash wasn't as nice as he was, I might've lost one of the girls, even one of you." He tightened his grip on the girls comfortingly. "I'm sorry. I'm the one that failed, not you." He sighed again.
His two cat-girls nuzzled him, purring. "Don't say that, master." Grave said, putting her arms around him. "We'll try harder next time, master." Sheila said as she nuzzled his shoulder and licked his chin.
Ramna smiled. He knew this would happen, somehow, too.
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(Posted Fri, 18 Aug 2006 07:40)
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