Walking along through the forest with his arms behind his head, Ranma idly glanced back at the supposedly dead miko following quietly in his wake. "You following me for a reason?"
Carefully choosing her words, knowing he was potentially as easy to offend as Inu Yasha, yet unfamiliar to her, she hesitantly answered, "Yes. I am...curious. Have I offended you?".
Absently responding, Ranma tilted his body back slightly to where he was almost bending over backwards to look at her. "Nah, you're kinda nice so far. Mhmm, you being dead and all, you're not gonna try and suck out my soul or turn into a monster or beat me over the head with a boulder are you?"
Having a little difficulty with his rough speech, one odd thought lodged itself in Kikiyo's mind. "The first two concerns I can understand, but why would I hit you with a boulder?"
Musing it over, Ranma took a moment to think about it. "I suppose 'cause my first fiancee was kinda like that sometimes. First day we met, she walked in on me while I was taking a bath, then went and pulled a stone lantern out of the garden screaming 'bout drownin' me in the tub. Guess I'm just used to a buncha violent girls."
Blinking slightly, Kikiyo found her curiosity to be well rewarded. "The future must be very strange indeed. Did you intend to say you had more than one girl you were betrothed to?"
Idly scratching his cheek, the martial artist absently responded, "Ah sure, the old man went around engaging me to girls left and right, stealing dowries, and some of them were pretty pathetic. Then I had the crazy ones like Shampoo that believes 'cause I defeated her in her village in China she had to hunt me down and kill me. Then I go and protect someone from her and end up defeating her again and she's saying we're married 'cause I defeated her. No offense or nuthin' but girls are just weird."
Wondering what kind of world the future was, the priestess absently agreed with him. "Well yes, that does seem rather strange."
Nodding happily that someone was politely listening to him, Ranma continued on for a bit, quite content with the company. After a little more wandering in a relatively straight line, he posed a question to his companion. "Say, you know your way around here?"
Glad that her companion had cooled down, the priestess amiably replied, "Of course, I grew up in the village and protected it for many years. There will be a stream up ahead and the bridge for crossing it further left of this course."
Idly puzzling out her intricate speech, Ranma figured she meant there was a bridge nearby, not that he needed one to hop a stream. He was instead wondering what to do with himself. "Eh well, I was think'n of where ta go. I mean I guess I should find a hidden village of shinobi, I'd probably fit in there and find a lot of interesting stuff."
Absently looking at the trees as he passed them he considered a new course. "Of course if I keep wandering around I'll probably find trouble. With my luck I'll piss off some kami or something. Maybe I could try finding a nice one like Amaterasu?"
"Mhmm yeah, I know about a lot of magical artifacts too, maybe I can find some fun ones in this time. Maybe even find something that'll be useful. Better yet I could just swing by China or visit temples here and look for a cure to my curse."
Hearing that, Kikiyo decided it was important enough to interrupt his monologue to question him about it. "Excuse me, but a curse? Perhaps I could be of assistance?"
Blinking in surprise, Ranma turned and considered the miko once again. "Ah yeah, forgot about that. Got it in China from this place called Jusenkyou, fall into a spring and get a curse from it. I turn into a girl with cold water and hot water turns me back into a guy. Kind of annoying."
Frowning to herself, Kikiyo didn't like the prospect of being unable to help with an issue so close to her heart. "I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar with the magic of foreign lands, but there are several methods to try. I believe I can guide you to likely purification sites."
Nodding happily Ranma once again continued on his merry way. With this being the past with lots of mystic types going strong, getting a cure sounded better than his chances back in his time were. "Cool, and I was just thinking of swinging by China and kicking Herb's ancestors' collective butts so hard he'd feel it. With my luck though if I went to Jusenkyou I'd run into young Cologne and she'd try and marry me or something."
Finally finding the stream she had been talking about, Ranma realized why she had spoke of the bridge. Although it wasn't very wide, it was just as deep with steep crumbling earthen banks. Not wanting to make a detour, he idly hopped across it, only to turn around and find the miko waiting on the other side with an odd look on her face.
Realizing his companion probably couldn't jump that far in traditional kimono and hakama, he hopped back across to her side. Then bending down and placing one arm behind her knees, he carefully picked her up. Gently cradling her in his arms he took a moment to shift her weight so he could test her weight and get the jump perfect. After that the hop across the stream was so gentle as to be anticlimactic, allowing him to set the miko down.
She surprised him in turn by not only taking the treatment casually, but bowing forward slightly and thanking him. "Why thank you, that was most gentlemanly."
Ranma in turn ran his hand through his bangs nervously. "Hehe, you're welcome. Man, wasn't expecting that, don't think anyone's ever thanked me and meant it. Usually when I help a girl she gets all upset or goes crazy about it."
Feeling a slight fluttering of her own when she realized the young man looked cute when he was flustered, Kikiyo made a mental note to be polite with him. "Well, I suppose I'm just different from the women of your time."
Hearing that statement got Ranma to thinking, comparing her with all the women he'd known. They came up sorely lacking in comparison, as Kikiyo was close to his ideal version of a girl, gentle, strong, polite and caring. The fact that she was dead didn't really bother him either. Of course with his luck it'd go wrong, but he was going to enjoy the moment at least. "Ah yeah, definitely. How 'bout you lead for now and we'll go at your pace?"
Bowing her head gracefully in acceptance, the shrine maiden murmured, "Yes, of course," surprising Ranma with the polite deferential tone of her voice.
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(Posted Thu, 06 Jul 2006 02:12)
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