The odd irony of that fact was not lost on the pigtailed boy, but then he understood the situation that he was in. She wasn't ugly by any means, as she was quite a pretty girl, but it wasn't about to be causing any real hassles from most perverts for her. Most guys would see her as being a bit too young for that sort of thing, and he had a rather clear response for those who wanted to take liberties with her.
Of course, part of that came from the fact that she was a rather innocent girl in a lot of ways. Her form was almost fragile in some ways, with the promise of growing into a slim beauty when she got older. However, she tended to by shy, blushed a lot, and wasn't all that forward when it came right down to it.
Not that he particularly minded, as he felt pretty protective of her, and not only as a possession. He knew that a lot of guys from the locker rooms that he'd been in would have teased him for his ownership of her, winking and nudging him as they alluded to her attractiveness and his ability to 'raise' her how he wanted. But, for the first time in this life, that he could remember, he had something, and someone that he just wanted to shelter from the bad things in life.
Part of that came from her parents, whom he'd both met, and had heard a lot about. They might have enabled Shinobu to learn how to cook meals that he always looked forward to, but their seeming insistence on their feud with each other tended to annoy him. Here was this gentle girl who looked cute when trying to be strong towards a threat, and they had made it so that, if he hadn't kept her for himself, might have wound up living on the streets. Ending up in that sort of situation marked a person, and he could just imagine what it would be like if he hadn't come into her life.
Instead, she was his slave, even though he treated her more like a little sister than a piece of property. Actually, that was a point of contention between him and his father, as the elder Saotome tended to at least grumble that his 'hovering over the kid' was an unneccessary distraction from the Art. However, Ranma had filed that in with the rest of the junk that his father had told him over the years, and he tended to respond to such talk with the response that those words merited.
Strangely enough, kicking his father in the head seemed satisfying at those moments in time.
He'd made no secret of his caring for her, and had always treated her as he would anything 'precious'. Even teaching her the Art seemed to be a bit too much, but he decided that to build up her strength, and keep her healthy, a little instruction was enough. Any real threats would be dealt with by him, and he didn't think that there was any reasons to have her become some sort of combatant.
In response, she had taken a real shine to him, seeming to come alive in his presence. Her face would grow animated, and she seemed eager to show off for him. Just why she would also get flustered and flushed wasn't something that he understood all that much, but he did know that he would keep his distance when she was bathing.
Otherwise, it was entirely too possible to get into an embarrassing situation at one of those pools, lakes or such that they would use to wash themselves.
In any case, he felt rather good about being able to meet up with her again, and was looking forward to getting back to travelling with her, while:
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(Posted Sun, 11 Mar 2007 07:07)
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