Ranma slowly came to feeling worse than usual, though she was laying an in a fairly comfortable bed. Rolling over onto her back brought the sensation of her breasts sliding under her silk shirt into focus in contrast with her otherwise sore and feverish body.
As if her day wasn't bad enough, a dimly recognized male voice spoke up with concern. "Ah, my fair lady, how do you feel?"
Frowning as yet another random guy decided she was the love of his life, Ranma pulled up her left sleeve to check a scratch on her upper arm. The scratch itself was an angry red while the surrounding area was a mottled pink. "Looks like Kodachi developed a new poison. Kinda feels like a neurotoxin or one of those types that melts your internal organs."
The magical prince paled at the thought and went from concerned to worry verging on frantic. "Poisoned? You mean you're dying? I'll call a healer right away."
His attempt to get up from his seat at the edge of the bed and leave was stopped immediately as the red-head grasped his sleeve with a strength a sickly person shouldn't possess. "Nah, don't bother, it's already burning out of my system. This sort of thing happens to me all the time."
The prince remained hovering in the near sitting position, apparently unbelieving of what her words meant. "Happens all the time? Being poisoned? Is someone trying to harm you?"
Tugging on his sleeve to get him sitting back down, Ranma shook her head. "People try to kill me or hurt me all the time. It's no big deal. I'm tough, I can take it, so stop worrying about it."
Sitting back down, the young man frowned thoughtfully at the weakened red-head. "Perhaps, but that doesn't make it right. Why would someone try to harm you?"
This brought a wry grin to the red-head as she found the question amusing. "As if they need a reason. Speaking of reasons, why am I here? I'm guessing this is your place?"
The topic changing, the prince smiled and attempted to bring the delicate hand that was grasping his sleeve to his face for a kiss. "Ah, after that brutish girl showed her true nature, how could I leave you there after you were so kind as to warn me? Truly you are a marvelous woman to be so strong and yet so kind."
Smiling weakly, Ranma gently pulled her hand back before he could kiss it. This guy seemed to be like Prince Heron, strange but nice. All things considered she didn't want to reveal she was really a guy because it would embarrass both of them at this point. Best to take care of this quietly and she had thought of some alternate approaches after dealing with Prince Heron. "Sorry, but nothing can happen between us."
Somewhat startled by the blunt refusal, the prince pulled back slightly while moving her grasped hand down to rest upon the covers. "Nothing? You seem so sure when you say that. Is there no way that I might prove myself to you?"
Sighing, Ranma decided to try a novel tact of using what bits of the truth that applied. "It's not personal, but I only like girls. I've been raised to be a martial artist since I could walk, and I was raised as a boy to boot. So my personal honor and family honor are at stake too. If I were to be 'unmanly' I would have to commit seppuku to restore honor."
Prepared for many things, the prince visibly had trouble swallowing that as he trembled at the magnitude of strangeness that he was hearing. "Surely you jest? To do such a thing... unthinkable. I could protect you from them."
Shaking her head, Ranma decided to nip it in the bud before he went off on a Kuno-type tangent. "No, I really do like girls. The idea of this, well, would you like it if some random guy declared you his princess and wanted to dress you up like a girl and have you act like a princess?"
Seeing him shudder at the thought, Ranma decided to go easy on the guy by lightening things up. "Hey, if you're really determined, I know a way to turn you into a girl. Don't think you really want to go through bra shopping or other feminine horrors though."
Pausing a moment to see let recover, the red-head used the continuing silence to finish her verbal parrying. "Look, you're a nice guy. We can be friends, and I can help you find a girl of your own. Shouldn't be too hard to find a girl that'd be happy here."
Thrown for a wild roller coaster ride, the prince considered her intently.
See other episodes by Valor Phoenix
(Posted Sat, 24 May 2008 08:59)
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