Kodachi was shifting in her seat trying not to be to obvious about it. It really would not do to look as embarrassingly uncomfortable as the Tendo girl sitting next to her who kept squirming around and flinching every time she put some weight on her behind.
It was really unbecoming of her. If she could not stand the mild discomfort in the aftermath Akane simply should not have participated in baiting the stuffy nun. She should endure the slight pains and embrace them as part of the overall experience which Kodachi knew Akane had enjoyed.
The prince who was sitting opposite them would be well aware of what had transpired during their session with the nun and he was bound to judge them by their reactions.
Kodachi tried to project an aura of dignified attrition while maintaining a general air of spirited playfulness.
The prince liked strong-willed girls according to Akane. But on the other hand he seemed to enjoy having his servants dress and act very submissively. This suggested to Kodachi that he liked strong-willed women because he enjoyed making them submit. The game likely was just no fun with girls who did not at least attempt to resist. And Kodachi was trying to get across that here was a girl sitting right across from him that promised to be many nights of highly enjoyable work properly subduing without either breaking easily or being totally unyielding.
Unfortunately for her he mostly had eyes for Akane, who in Kodachi's opinion was not only far less suited for his tastes but also already very much taken by someone else.
Kodachi tried to concentrate on her meal instead of dwelling on the unfairness of the Tendo girl's ability to attract so many men without really appreciating any of them.
The food certainly deserved her extra attention. The Lichtenburger appeared to believe in what the prince called 'hearty' meals. Kodachi had felt her arteries clog up and her wight going up just from looking at dinner. One had to wonder how Mistress Severa or Ashes the maid managed to keep their figures when they ate stuff like that. The prince claimed that it was traditional, healthy and properly balanced between the four food groups: sugar, starch, grease and burnt crunchy bits.
Kodachi only knew that she would have to participate far more actively in Akane's training sessions in the future if she wanted to keep from ballooning, congealing or simply dying of heart-failure. She had to admit though that the stuff did taste good.
She was just in the process of transferring an especially greasy bit into her mouth without touching her veil when she heard it.
Putting down her fork and swallowing hard she looked up. Akane was still busy with her food but the prince had also stopped eating and was looking out the window.
There it was again the familiar sound of a raving lunatic on a futile mission and his whining excuse of a Sancho Pansa trying to steer him from stupidity.
For Kodachi it sounded depressingly like family and home.
"But Master, Kuno," the squires voice could now be heard clearly, "You can't just storm the castle, there are many guards about and they must have seen us. We will be overwhelmed by their numbers."
But the voice of reason or at least enlightened self-preservation had no chance of deterring this knight from his mission.
"Fear not Sasuke their numbers mean nothing," an extremely self-righteous and stupid sounding voice replied before completely abandoning its tentative hold on reality and contiunuing with, " My strength is as the strength of ten, Because my heart is pure. My love is held in that castle and I will free her! How sweet are looks that ladies bend On whom their favours fall! From them I battle till the end, To save from shame and thrall!"
So she had been wrong it was not in fact Don Tatewaki to futilely fight windmills, but Sir Dunderhead come to the Castle of Maidens to destroy the wicked custom. Kodachi had to admit that her brother seeing himself as the Maiden-Kight did make a certain amount of sense. If nothing else he truly was 'A virgin heart in work and will.', but that did not give him the right to spoil everyone's fun.
This Damsel in Distress certainly did not want to be freed and even Akane was likely to prefer continued imprisonment to freedom at the hands of Tatewaki Kuno.
Together with her host and her fellow prisoner Kodachi moved towards the balcony to get a better look at her brothers impending defeat.
With Sasuke in tow he was just entering the courtyard, while the prince's gurds passively looked on from their posts upon the walls and towers.
Was it too much to hope that they were waiting for a signal to employ their crossbows on him?
But before he could be turned into a porcupine by remote acupuncture the lunatic in the courtyard called out a challenge to the lord of the castle.
Next to Kodachi the prince stiffened in affront. He fetched a sword that had hung as a decoration on the wall of the dining room and vaulted over the railing of the balcony to the courtyard below.
This, Kodachi thought, ought to be interesting. It would be a nice opportunity to see the full abilities of the prince and to see her stupid sibling get beaten up even if she only had a plate full of greasy meatloafs instead of the bag of popcorn that the occasion required.
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(Posted Wed, 29 Dec 2004 05:45)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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