Ryoga ached all over. For a guy with his stamina, that was saying a lot. Though it could also be said that Kalia packed a harder punch than most. She'd admit to being somewhat impressed by his fortitude. To say she'd blasted him the way that she did, he'd held up amazingly well. Minus light charring and a couple of bruises, he seemed relatively untouched.
Anyway, seems she'd overeacted. The boy had only been checking on her. In fact, she'd been surprised to learn that he had carried her after their fight with the Bugrom. And what she thought was a prison turned out to be a tent; apparently some sort of shelter humans used for sleeping outdoors. It was still pretty flimsy though.
No wonder they were so weak.
Morning found Ryoga tending the fire again. Above it were several fish skewered on the end of a wooden stake. At least, he hoped that's what the were.
By now, he had come to accept that wherever this was, it wasn't Earth. It was the only explaination he could come up with and, frankly, the only one that made sense. Of course, that still didn't answer how he'd wound up here. Ryoga was used to getting lost in strange places, but this a new one even for him.
Kalia sat across from him, indian style with her hands in her lap. She hadn't said much since they'd bumped into each other. Judging from her looks, he'd say she was about fifteen. Then again... that definitely was not a fifteen year old's body. Truth be told, Kalia was old enough to be his great grandmother roughly one hundred eleven times removed!
"So" he began, while stoking the fire a bit, "got a name? Mine's Ryoga Hibiki."
"I'm Kalia." she said simply.
"Kalia, huh? Nice name." It was a lame response, he knew, but he'd never been good with girls. They made him nervous.
"You think so?" he heard her say in what souded like genuine surprise. Looking up, he found her staring at him with wide eyes. It took awhile for him to realize she was waiting for an answer. So he settled with: "Yeah." wanting to kick himself for sounding so stupid. To his relief, she seemed satisfied with that and smiled.
Ryoga managed a nervous grin then went back to tending the fire. The fish were just about done. Removing them from the fire, he took the stake and broke it in two, handing one to her. She stared at the fish on the end of it and blinked, pointing toward herself as if to say "Me?"
"Go on." he said, offering it to her.
This was a bit awkward. Kalia had never eaten before. She didn't need to. But he seemed intent on feeding her, which is when it dawned on her that he didn't realize she wasn't human. She supposed she could at least try, given what he'd done.
She took it and sniffed, inhaling the smokey aroma. Then bit. She half expected it to be bland, provided she was capable of discerning tastes. Oddly enough... she was. She said nothing of it, however, and continued eating.
Ryoga seemed happy with that and dug into his own.
___________________________________________________________________
Ukyo wasn't sure how long she'd been walking. Her feet were killing her. Plus she was starving. If she'd have known she was going to wind up whisked off somewhere she didn't know, she'd have packed a lunch or something. And all her cooking supplies were back at the resturuant.
Lost. Alone in the middle of nowhere. And all because of some stupid mirror. she thought miserably. People oughta keep things like that locked up.
She wondered if anyone even knew she was missing. Not like they could find me if they did. she realized. I mean, how were they supposed to find a place they didn't know exsisted?
Something passed overhead. Whatever it was, it was fast, causing the trees to lean forward in the resulting aftertow and her long rich hair to come undone from its braid. Blades of grass whipped past before slowly fluttering back to the forest floor.
"What was that?" she wondered, looking in the direction it had gone. She could still hear it faintly in the distance. Some sort of airplane perhaps? Wait a sec. If it really *was* a plane then there's people. And that means.... An excited gasp escaped her lips.
"I'm saved!!!"
Already turned in the direction it'd gone, Ukyo began running.
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(Posted Sun, 25 Feb 2007 00:38)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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