[Ranma/SM][FanFic] The Phoenix Prince Saga Book 2, Part 5, Chapter 2
Linda Ward
'That... that... insufferable BOY!' a mildly enraged Akai
thought to herself as she sat on a bench in a grotto that would have
been like any other, except for one simple fact. This was the grotto
where He had kidnapped her sister!
'How dare he be such a ... a...'
'*charming gentleman?*'
'A charming gentleman?! Wait a second...'
'*come on, admit it! He's a charming gentleman! He didn't
have to ask you out on a date.*'
'This is not a date!'
'*Right. And tomorrow you're going to be proclaimed Queen
Galaxia's heiress. Give it up, you like him!*'
'I do not!'
'*Okay. Then explain what you're doing out here waiting for
him in the grotto where he told you to wait wearing _that_ of all
things?*'
That was a beautiful Jovian styled dress made from a positively
delicious silver fabric drenched in liquid sapphires. It molded to her
body heat, thanks to the sapphires. Which meant that absolutely no
visible straps or buttons or even ties could be seen on the sheath-like
dress that ran from the tops of her breasts down to her ankles, with a
long slit up the entire length of the skirt from hip to ankle to allow
for a natural stride to be affected. A strip of the same material of
the dress curved itself around her throat to serve as a choker and
light slippers adorned her feet.
'So I like dressing up! It's not like I can most of the
time... that doesn't mean I like him!'
'*Fine. Okay. You don't like him. Then why don't you explain
why you accepted his invitation in the first place then.*'
'...'
'*See! I was right! You do like him!*'
"I do not!" Akai finally yelled, hopping to her feet in her
indignation.
"You know, I did hope that we had managed to get past that
stage earlier." A deep, ironic voice came from the area of the path
into the grotto.
Shima stepped fully into the light with an appreciative look
on his rugged features. A long black cloak draped itself over his
brilliantly scarlet tunic and gold hose. Martian royal colors, but
also the colors most associated with the Phoenix he served. Knee-high
leather boots covered his legs. Brightly polished gold shields upon
his knees finished the off the mirror-polished black boots. His
intricately wrought gold and steel bracers graced his forearms and
his wild black hair was held back with an inimitable silver and gold
band that combined the simplicity of a circlet with the regality of a
crown. Upon his breast the crest of his lord was embroidered with gold
thread. His infamous sword hung, as always, upon his left hip in its
special sheath. His long qui draped once down over his right shoulder
than back up over his left in one long loop.
As he finally emerged fully into the dim earthlight, he bowed
deeply and gracefully to his royal date.
"You look lovely, Akai-chan." His voice was slightly husky as
he gently brushed the back of her hand with his lips before
straightening.
Akai was silent, both in thought and in word. In matching
silence, Shima held out his arms in open invitation. As she stepped
into his embrace with more than a little trepidation, his powerful
arms closed about her again. She gasped slightly with the sudden
onrush of emotion that she had before only thought of as a once in a
lifetime experience. The only other time she had felt quite as she did
was when the same muscular arms caught her sudden plummet as now
wrapped her in a gentle, but secure embrace.
As the pair rose into the sky on the broad wings of flame that
sprouted from Shima's back at his command, Akai realized that she felt
completely and utterly safe and secure. In fact, she would put the
feeling of safety that she now felt against any other feeling that
she had ever felt. During the entire time it took to reach the small
restaurant that was their destination, she never once doubted that
Shima would never allow her to fall from his genial embrace.
**********
The food was decent and the music was amenable, but the real
highlight of the evening as far as Akai thought was the easy
conversation. For some reason that she could not readily explain, there
in that small out of the way restaurant where no one knew who they were
or any of their past, they were able to start over again from the
beginning. Suddenly, their unfortunate meeting no longer existed. The
fierce arguments were no more important to them then the doings of the
castle maids' random catfights, and seemed just as trivial at that
moment.
To Akai's complete and utter surprise, she discovered that
Shima and herself actually had quite a bit in common. Besides the fact
that they were both generally feared across the Realm, that is. Akai
learned of Shima's life as a young Prince of Mars who wanted nothing
more to be allowed to study his books instead of fight. Shima unearthed
Akai's life on Mercury as a wild young firebrand of a warrioress
instead of the calm and demure Princess of Mercury that she was
supposed to be. It was as if they had been switched at birth.
As the night wore on and the stars slowly faded from the
night, the pair talked and laughed like old friends. Instead of soaring
back on the night winds, the duo walked back to their respective homes
in the castle still deep in either conversation or contemplation. Akai
found herself actually enjoying herself in a manner which she had
never expected when she had accepted Shima's invitation. Shima, for
his part, was slowly falling into a deeper and deeper contemplation as
he found himself thinking of the younger girl in a manner that was
rapidly beginning to disturb his restful state of mind.
A light giggle alerted him to the presence of another young
girl, though he ignored the intrusion and just continued on their walk
without comment to the hidden Minanoai. Akai too noticed that Minanoai
was hiding near them, but as Shima was obviously ignoring her, she, for
once, followed his example and kept walking.
Later, when a cold breeze blew across her bare shoulders and
caused her to shiver, she started slightly as a fold of Shima's cloak
and his muscular arm suddenly wrapped themselves around her and tugged
her closer to him. She darted a glance upwards to his face to see if
he was teasing her, but saw only contemplation written there. With a
slightly shocked smile on her face, she realized that he was completely
unaware of his actions. But she didn't push him away, so his arm and
cloak remained around her until they reached her door and he bid her
good night in the early hours of the morning.
**********
Akai hissed as she smashed another brick into oblivion. She
simply could not, would not, accept that that crude excuse for an
Earthian Diplomat had actually said that to her of all people! She
didn't really know what was worse. The fact that it had been said, or
the fact that Shima had been standing not even five feet away and
hadn't reacted at all! She screamed in muted rage as she destroyed
another set of bricks.
She didn't know how to react with Shima. One moment, he was
nice and sweet, the next, cold and distant. It was enough to drive a
poor girl mad! And then their was that girl of his! That wild girl!
As if it wasn't bad enough that she had to follow Shima around
all the time, she was constantly flinging herself at the younger
members of the staffs. And they weren't even royalty! She was going
around flirting with the servants! She had Shima, what else could she
possibly want?
'*Akai-chan, you are jealous.*' Came the voice of discontent
which sounded so suspiciously like Shima.
'I am not!' came the automatic argument in response.
'*Why bother arguing? You know you're jealous, otherwise you
wouldn't be so out and out right furious at that poor girl.*'
'You don't have to watch her throwing herself at everyone
else then going home with Shima!'
'*And why do you even care what she does or doesn't do? Hmm?*'
'Shima is my friend! I don't want to see him hurt!'
'*And why do you think she'll hurt Shima?*'
'Because... cause... Because she goes flirting with everyone
and then he just takes her home with him!'
'*Did you ever think that maybe he doesn't care?*'
"Why wouldn't he care??"
Dead silence came in reply as she realized that she had spoken
aloud again. She turned towards the door with a slow sort of dread, a
rather mortified expression on her face. Sure enough, Shima was
standing there in the doorway apparently heading in to do some
practicing, judging by his clothing. His face was curiously blank as
she turned towards him, then when she finally faced him completely,
one of his uniquely feathery eyebrows rose curiously.
He stepped towards her from the doorway, casually glancing
around at the destruction surrounding them. His torso was bare except
for his bracers and his legs were encased in his black velvet pants.
His black sash was wrapped securely around his waist and his feet
rested securely in his black slippers. His qui was wrapped about his
neck multiple times. Finally he stopped before her and looked her
over.
She wore a simple Martian sparring tunic and hose in white. Or
at least he assumed it was white as all he could really see was the
white dust covering her. White slippers incased her feet and a simple
band tied her hair back out of her eyes.
"Talking to yourself again, I see." He spoke suddenly,
breaking the rather awkward silence that had fallen between them. He
paused for a moment, allowing her to fume, before continuing. "I
thought you'd be in here. I wanted to talk to you."
"So that's why you're in here. I'd never seen you practicing
in here before." Akai, with great effort, slowly allowed her anger to
fade away into the air around them.
"That's because I don't. I practice in my room."
"So why are you here now?"
"It was a good excuse." He shrugged. "I don't know. Like I
said, I wanted to talk to you."
"So why didn't you just go to my rooms?"
His brows drew together in frustration. "Because I didn't want
anyone to know I was talking to you!"
"Why not?! Is there something wrong with me that you can't
talk to me?!" Akai snarled right back, her all too familiar anger
beginning to surge up within her again.
"No!" His hand chopped downwards in a negative gesture.
"Then why?!"
"Because if anyone finds out that we're friends something bad
could happen!"
"So, it's a bad thing that we're friends is it! I see now!"
"Will you just shut up for a moment and let me talk, dammit!?"
Akai suddenly fell silent in shock.
"Thank you." He slumped against a nearby pillar and let out a
heartfelt sigh. "Listen, Akai, we're friends. You know. I know. And at
least Minanoai does, but the other girls might know too. And they don't
care. Ok?"
She nodded slightly.
"Well, guess what, not everyone thinks like them. In fact,
it's much more likely that they'd hate and fear us even more than they
already do if they thought we were actually friends and not fighting
all the time."
"Why?"
"Think about, Akai. We're both strong and fast and have very
infamous tempers. Either one of us might blow up at someone at
anytime. The thing is, it's very unlikely that both of us would blow
up at the same person at the same time! That's because we are seen as
being so busy fighting with each other that we don't see what's going
on around us. Ok so far?"
She nodded again, concentration furrowing her brow.
"Ok. Well, I noticed that not to long after our dinner people
were acting more and more nervous around us. I put two and two together
and got five in this case. While both of us noticed that we were much,
much calmer since becoming friends, everyone else was under the
impression that we were on the verge of becoming even more violent
and our apparent truce was scaring the hell out of them. Ok?"
Again the nod.
"Which is why I picked that fight with you not to long
after. By fighting, we put people back at ease. They stopped being so
careful around us. Which is what we not only want, but need if we're
to be effective guards of the Realms."
"So, you're saying that this way we can watch everyone, right?"
"Right. But we must keep up the illusion of us being at war
with each other if we want it to work. Which is what I wanted to talk
to you about."
"Huh? I don't understand." Akai looked puzzled, but the
information was getting through.
"I've noticed that you have a very strict style of fighting.
It's all by the book."
"What do you expect?! I learned from books!"
"I know. I was just going to offer to help you get past that,
but if you don't want to..." he trailed off.
"Of course I want to get past that!" she interjected
stridently.
"Well, then, that's what we'll do. First, no more blocks."
"What?!"
"They're impairing your growth. You'll spar with me in here
at least once a week. And during our fights out on the plains." He
suddenly grinned at her startled expression. "Just wait! We'll make
a warrior of you yet!"
**********
"What am I going to do?" Akai softly whispered to herself as
she sat on the edge of her bed in the rooms she shared with her
sister.
Amilia came in and sat down next to her. "What is wrong,
Akai-chan?"
Akai looked over to her sister with eyes swollen and red
from tears. "Ami-chan?"
"Oh, Akai..." Amilia whispered as she wrapped her arms
around the sobbing girl.
"I don't know what to do, Ami..."
"It is alright, Akai. Just tell me what is wrong...."
"Shima-san..." was all that a curious Amilia could make out
from the muffled sobs that emerged from her whimpering sibling.
"Shima-san? What could Shima-san have done to put you in such
a state, Akai?" Amilia asked, reaching down to raise her slightly
younger sister's face up. Akai just stared at her with a the face
of a heartbroken child. "Oh my, Akai. You have not hurt him with
your tirades have you?!" she gasped.
Akai shook her head furiously. "No! I would never, _never_
hurt him if I could help it!"
"Then what is it?!"
"I... I... Oh, Ami, I'm afraid!"
"Afraid? Of Shima-san?" Amilia was puzzled by this sudden turn
of events.
"Not of Shima-san so much as... as... Ami, sometimes I
feel.. I feel so .. so.. so _lost_ when he's not here! And I don't
know why!"
Amilia smiled slightly as a sudden insight of what could
possibly be wrong with her twin sister dawned upon her. "I see.
Akai? Why do you not simply tell him that you love him?"
"Love him!?" Akai cried, scrambling backwards away from her
sister. "I-I don't ... don't..." her voice died away as she slowly
turned away to stare down at the ground again. "Love him? Do I? I
don't know. Oh, Ami, I'm so confused."
"Akai. I can only tell you what I know. And I know that
despite all of your many arguments and squabbles about whatever
little thing may strike you, Shima-san does care about you in his
own way." Amilia smiled reassuringly at Akai. "Maybe no one thinks
that I am of much use around her with my nose always in a book, but
I pay attention. I watch and I learn what is going on by how people
react to things."
Akai nodded slowly as if to agree.
"Do you remember the accident some time back? The one out in
Kethrow Hall across the Sea of Serenity?"
Again, Akai nodded, though an expression of puzzlement was
growing steadily upon her features.
"Well, you would not have known, since you were the one
stuck under all that rock, but Shima was there. He just showed up
in a gout of flames right on the edge of the collapse bellowing for
you." Amilia smiled in recollection. "He had teleported himself all
the way, despite how much energy it cost him to do that. Then he
personally lead the team that ended up extracting you. And you
know why he did all that?"
Akai shook her head, confused.
"He did that all because he heard that you had been at
the Hall when it collapsed. He was worried about you."
"He.. he would have done that for any of the girls. It
couldn't have been just me. Kina and Minanoai were there too."
"Yes. Kina was there and so was Minanoai. I was there too,
though I did not get caught in the collapse, if you will remember.
But, I was able to watch him. It was you he was calling for when he
showed up. And Kina and Minanoai were carried out by the other men
on the team, but he insisted on carrying you out by himself, despite
his obvious exhaustion. So, Akai, I would say that Shima-san does
care for you in some way."
Akai's eyes once again shimmered with tears as she threw her
arms around her sister and hugged her with every ounce of strength
available to her. Which left Amilia very squashed feeling but happy
for her sister.
"I'm going to find him! I'm going to find him and talk to
him, I swear!" Akai shouted as she leapt from the bed and raced for
the door. At the door she paused and glanced back over her shoulder
with a twinkle in her eye that had been missing for sometime. "And
Akai? You did miss one thing. Our fights? They're not real. They
haven't been for a long time." Then she was gone out the door,
leaving a very confused Amilia behind.
--
Look not for me in bright of day
Look not in dark of night
I am but a solitary figment
Alone created of your mind.
-
Siobhan Recca
The Cybernetic Ninja