"Why wouldn't I be?" Ranma asked, shrugging off any concern.
"You don't understand. It isn't the sort of situation that you think it is...."
"Hey, what's not to understand? It's a martial arts match."
"You really don't get it, do you?" the scientist muttered, covering her eyes with one hand.
Although he tried, the pigtailed boy couldn't understand what her problem was. This wasn't his first sparring bout after all, and he wasn't planning on trying anything fancy. All that he wanted to do was to get a quick match in so that he could have the chance to enjoy something that he understood.
Besides, his opponent didn't seem to be all that threatening to begin with. Some of the other girls actually looked tough, but the short haired brunette in front of him was actually clasping her hands in front of herself and ducking her head at the same time. The leggy beauty in the maid uniform didn't show any sign of a 'killer instinct', and wasn't even giving a sign that she wanted to jump into his pants. In fact, from the way that she moved, she seemed to be quite shy, to the point that she became embarrassed when he looked into her eyes.
"So, what's your name?" he asked, grinning as he got into a ready stance.
For a moment, his opponent seemed flustered at being spoken directly to by him, but then she bowed quickly and respectfully as she responded. "I am Saki, Master."
"Good, Saki. Give me a good fight, okay?"
"I'll try...."
"We'll see about that," Ranma drawled... and then proceeded to rush right at her.
There were a few seconds when Saki was too surprised by his sudden presence right next to her to react beyond sputtering incoherently. Blushing furiously, she bent backwards as his face came up bare centimeters from hers, almost so far that she nearly fell over. But then she recovered her footing enough to go on the counterattack, sending hand slashes everywhere he tried to move. Just like knife blades went her hands, slicing through the air with a speed that made small gusts as they went.
But he was able to avoid them all, ducking and weaving so that she only barely got his clothing with her strikes. Even as she advanced on him, moving to anticipate his directions, she could only get where he had been. No matter how much she kept at it, none of the attacks seemed to connect.
"Come on, why don't you try harder?" he asked, snorting as he spoke.
Saki pressed her lips together as she continued to go after him. "I am trying."
"No, you're not."
"But...."
"Stop holding back, would ya?" Ranma groused. "I can tell that ya can do better."
"Well, I could....'
"Then stop playing around, and show me what ya can really do!"
Scowling, the brunette maid was clearly conflicted as to what she had to do, but quickly resigned herself to giving in. Tightening her fist so hard that the fabric of her glove creaked, she threw a sudden punch at him that had the pigtailed boy's eyes widening in surprise. He did manage to avoid it, but that was only the tiniest of margins, as he had turned the blow into a glancing one. That still made it so that he was sent tumbling backwards, falling down to plop to an awkward sitting position. Not that he had much time to dwell on such indignity, as he had to quickly spread his legs to avoid getting hit as she sent another downward punch at him.
When she missed, Ranma wound up looking at the small crater that was now between his knees, and then up at the embarrassed and ashamed looking girl who had made the impact.
"Saki is a Steel Angel type," Lorelei idly commented from the sidelines. "They were designed to look like attractive young girls, but were created to be combat machines dedicated to fighting threats to the people around them. Monsters, enemy armies, and such."
Right about then, Ranma began to remember that looks could be deceiving, though it did seem that Saki wasn't intentionally trying to hurt him. Rather, she was merely getting caught up in the moment, and looking very bothered that she had. Actually, she even looked a bit shamed by her actions, which did make him feel sorry for her. Still, he had to wonder if he'd ever get a handle on this place, while:
(Posted Sun, 25 Oct 2009 07:38)
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