Courting the River Maid (Collection)

The Ball's In Your Court

By: LadyRainStarDragon

Miyazaki owns Spirited Away. All I have are aspirations and original characters.

Another waiting window in 'R.N.D.' that wouldn't leave me alone.

Ping.

Pong.

Ping.

Pong.

BlowingWind and Ryu had been playing a friendly game of ping pong for the last ten minutes. Back and forth went the little round ball, dragging Lin's eyes with it. Other than the sounds of the game, the room was filled with silence. The old man, whom Sen referred to as 'grandfather' was meditating in one corner, Haku doing the same in an opposite corner. How either could actually meditate with the infuriating sound she could not fathom.

She smelled it then, the extreme tension had just wafted over to her from the dragon, and he looked a little uncomfortable on a closer inspection. It seemed that he was failing at what he was trying to do.

"They're still at it?"

Turning to the door way, Lin saw what was distracting her friend. Her scent was heavy, and as she stood there in white pajamas with her hair still damp from her shower, Lin barely hid her smirk. No wonder he had been uncomfortable, her body was announcing fertility. She could have fun with that.

"Yup. Neither one wants to lose. They just keep hitting the ball back and forth, neither getting anywhere. So, what have you been doing since the bath house?"

"School, environmental activism, growing up. Nothing unusual."

Lin got to see both males wince at how blasé she made the normal course of childhood passing sound.

"What? No boyfriend?"

"Ew. Why would I want one of those?"

BlowingWind choked on her laughter as she hit the ball back into Ryu's court.

"Hey! I heard that laughter Wind! What was that supposed to mean?"

"Well, why would any girl in their right mind want a boyfriend? Nothing but trouble."

Smack!

Whack!

Smack!

Whack!

"Lin. Not everyone is like you."

"What's the matter Haku? Why wouldn't she want one?"

"Men are disgusting, dirty pigs with one thing on their mind."

Ryu couldn't help but laugh at how ruffled Kohaku sounded as he spoke. Did he not consider himself a man? Even better, he had just incriminated himself of the base thoughts of . . . procreation. Of course, the laughter made him mess up his shot. The ball took a convenient detour through the air, sailing in a lovely arc only to manage to go down Sen's pajama top and lodge in her bra.

"Ha! I win Ryu!"

Chihiro looked down in shock. She had been hit by powerballs in the face during their matches, had tea splashed on her when they landed in her cup, and fallen on stray balls that rolled under her feet at the wrong time, but this was a first. What was the worst part was that Haku had seen the undignified incident. Sen was completely and totally mortified. What must he think?

Haku was a little shocked, a little worried that it hurt, and a lot embarrassed. Of course, his mind was also now somewhere he had been trying to keep it from now as well, what with the location of the lodging.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I'll . . . be right back."

Lin leaned back, her personal mission going very nicely. There was plenty of time till they got the river flowing again, and she was going to get back at Haku for whatever he had done to her that day after he had played with the wolf pack.

"Best 5 of 9!"

"You're never going to beat me at this rate. Besides, thanks to your clumsiness, Chihiro's got the ball."

"Yes, she does."

Kohaku stood and drifted outside, leaving Lin to rub her nose in thought while the other three looked at each other to find out what they had missed. The tension between the miko and kami could be cut with a katana it was so thick, and Lin decided that she was going to make certain a bit of it was cut by the time she had to go back to the onsen.

onsen - bath house

Rain's Replies:

Jojo - I so wanted him to leave the imps too, but he surprised me. Ah well, if he had, they would have just bred like roaches and reinfested the whole community all over again. So it was mercy out of preserving his miko.

Fan - Thanks.

NitenGale - It was in 'Rivers Keep Flowing.'

Alaina - Ok! I'm updating. Put the potato masher down and back away slow-like. ;)

Jaded image - Thanks. There is a reason that Chihiro has put up such thick blinders though.