Rag Doll, Chapter 10

Okay guys, the ball's really starting to roll now! I'm feelin' good again, so let's plow on through!

Rose's POV

As I ran to my room, the thoughts of what I just told Blade kept running through my head. Why did I blurt all of that out?! What was I thinking?!

"What is he thinking?" I asked myself.

When I got back into my room, I practically slammed the door closed, then leaned against it and thought. Had I really just explained my doll to Blade, a complete stranger to me up until yesterday, (and even then still rather unknown to me) when I wouldn't even explain the significance of it to my friends for almost ten years?!

"What's happening to me?" I asked in my mind. Looking at my doll, I said

"What do you think? What's wrong with me?"

Was I really doing this to myself? How did this even happen? All I wanted was a drink of water, which I never got, but when I saw him in there already, I just froze up. Then when he looked at me, my heart rate tripled. Really, it was amazing my heart hadn't exploded that entire time. When I had told my story, though, he seemed genuinely interested. The only time I had told that story to someone else, a friend I used to have but ended contact with after that event, just laughed at me, saying I was being ridiculous and a child. I almost hit her for that.

And then, there was that last comment I made.

"If I ever do have children." That was the last thing he heard me say before I so rudely ran away. Oh my Arceus, why, why, WHY did I have to say that?! What did he think of me?

I took a deep breath and thought reassuringly

"Okay, okay, maybe I'm making too big a deal out of this. That's a harmless comment, right?"

"Who knows," a little voice said back to me "He might have taken that as desperation. Maybe he sees you as a sort of whore now."

"No, no, no! Blade isn't like that!"

"How do you know, ya only met the guy yesterday, and you were hardly riveting."

"That doesn't matter; he isn't that kind of guy!"

"Again, how do you know? Maybe all these years he's been supporting the slums he's had an ulterior motive, maybe getting whatever girls he wants, eh? After all, he is a guy, and we all know that guys only have one thing on their minds. Who's to say that you aren't part of this ulterior plot for a harem, hmm?"

Tired of arguing with myself, I stood up and said aloud

"I do, and I'm going to prove that Blade is a good guy with none of that on his mind. Maybe, he's just looking for a friend, a companion with whom he can trust."

"And if he wants more?" the little voice asked me. My resolve didn't waver as I thought

"First I have to prove that."

With that thought, I left my rag doll on the dresser and went to the kitchen for the water that I needed five minutes ago. As I drank, I noticed that Blade wasn't in the house anymore. I walked to a window in the living room and looked outside. I could see him carefully climbing the apple tree just inside the fence line.

"So, he likes climbing trees too?"

I loved that apple tree; it had an amazing view of the surrounding area, although it was mostly forest. Still, the air was fresh and cool up high, and you always attained a sense of peace up there. My father walked in through the door, making me jump a few feet in the air, which he easily noticed.

"Hello Rose. Have a nice chat with Blade?" he asked me, smiling widely. I looked at my feet shyly and asked

"What did he tell you?" Still smiling, my father replied

"Well, he told me how he went to get a drink in the kitchen, feeling good about the ease that the aqueduct would provide us for getting water, when he noticed you in the kitchen with your rag doll. Then he said how you were spouting out your story very suddenly, and then just ran away. I must say, you left quite an impression on him when you seemed to express the desire for children of your own."

He was watching me closely, seeing how I would react.

"Did…did he really hear me… desiring to have children?" He hesitated for a second, then said

"Not quite. He told me personally that what he saw was more of a desire for close companionship, a relationship if you will, and possibly children in the future. He didn't say anything definite on that point."

I inwardly sighed in relief. So he didn't blow everything out of proportion. If anything, he sugarcoated it a bit. Well, that was fine. No doubt I could use a bit of sugarcoating in this case. Maybe things will work out after all. I want to talk with him, but maybe not tonight. It is getting a bit late, and it would probably be a bit sudden.

"Tomorrow." I thought, looking at him out the window again.

"Rose?" my father addressed me.

Jolting back into reality, I said goodnight to my father, then headed off for bed. I still felt distinctly uncomfortable with recent events. When I got back to my room, I looked for a moment at the rag doll on my dresser, then grabbed it and went for a comfortable sleep.

Blade's POV

When I awoke the next morning, I was still in the tree. Jake had offered me his and Jane's room to use during my stay here. I flat-out refused to do that. And I felt as if I would be uncomfortable in their house, so I insisted on sleeping outside, preferably in their tree inside of their fence. Jake and I couldn't come to a compromise, so we decided to have a battle-bet over it. If he won, I would sleep on the couch. If I won, I could sleep in the tree.

I managed to win, but he gave me a real run for my money. The only reason I won was because of a well-placed Shadow Cut. He had to admit defeat after that, but he was still adamant on at least using the couch. I won him over, so my night was peaceful.

I descended the tree and began my morning routine. I typically do a hundred push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups before I eat breakfast. I have been doing this since I vowed to help the citizens of the slums that fateful day. I wanted to become really strong so I could defend the people if they met a threat they couldn't handle. Considering their numbers and closeness, though, the chances of this happening are unlikely. But I still wanted to train.

I was just about finished with my pull-ups, the sun was beginning to rise (I guess I didn't mention I get up before even the Spearows and Pidgeys do) when I heard the front door open. When I looked to investigate, I saw Rose standing in the doorway, looking at me with her hand on the knob, about to close the door. In her left hand she held a small basket, the purpose of which I could not clearly define. As we looked at each other, she gathered up her nerve and said

"Good morning, Blade."

"Good morning, Rose" I replied.

"What are you doing up so early in the morning?" she asked me. Chuckling, I released my grip on the branch I was using and dropped to the ground. When I landed I answered her question.

"Well, I was actually up earlier doing my morning routine. I have been training in this manner for close to seven years now."

"Seven years…" Rose mumbled to herself.

"Wasn't that around the time you started helping the people of the slums?" Surprised, I looked at her and said

"Yes. How did you figure that out?" Blushing, she replied

"Well, that was when I had become best friends with Joy, who was dating another friend of mine, Jasper. He has connections with a lot of people, so he knew that we were receiving help from a high class person, though I hadn't imagined that it was someone who could have been my age at the time. I was really confused when word got around that you were a Kirlia who would give large amounts of money away and not ask anything in return. Why did you do that anyway?"

My mood darkened, and I responded

"Well, the day after I 'officially' visited the slums, I was curious about the daily routines of the people. So I snuck off and spent the day with them. I told my parents excitedly about what I had found out, that the peoples of the slums were actually very nice and hospitable. They screamed at me for fifteen minutes about how I 'wasn't supposed to associate with the trash and the dirt, I was better than that'. Then they told me to take a bath to get all of that 'filth' off of me. As I bathed, I swore that I would help the slums so that everyone wouldn't talk like that anymore about them. I also vowed to train myself so I could defend the slums if I had to. I started out doing twenty-five push-, sit-, and pull-ups every day. It wasn't easy, but eventually I could do it, so I moved up to fifty, then seventy-five, and recently I moved up to one hundred. Next, I'm going to move up to a hundred-twenty-five."

Rose seemed the most impressed with my training routine.

"So, you push yourself like that every morning, and have been for the past seven years?" I nodded, then asked

"What do you do every morning? It doesn't look like this is an irregular thing for you to do. Why do you carry that basket?" She looked down at her hand, momentarily forgetting she had it.

"Oh, this? I use this to pick some vegetables out of the garden, if there are any. Then I take a big bucket and fetch some water a few times to water the garden and refill the sink."

"About how many trips does this take you?" I asked her. She stared sheepishly down at her feet and said

"About five." I simply couldn't believe it. This poor girl, for the last… hell, I didn't know how long she's been doing this! Well, I couldn't let this happen anymore, not while I was around.

"Let me help you bring the water back from the river" I offered. She looked up very suddenly, seemingly stricken.

"Oh, no, I couldn't ask you to do that" she said quickly.

"Well, you didn't ask; I volunteered, and you can't worm me out of this, so don't try." She stared at my face, obviously looking for signs of misgivings, but I was absolutely certain that I was going to help her, whether she liked it or not.

"Well, okay, if you insist. There's a second bucket that we can take, but we'll have to wash it out. And I don't want to hear any whining, understand?" I bowed and said

"You have my word, madam."

Soon after, Rose picked what vegetables were ripe from her own little garden which she told me she had been tending since she was six. She placed them in the kitchen of the house, then went around back and brought out a medium-sized bucket and handed it to me, which I took without a word. Then we set off in the woods at an easy pace, talking about this and that, and eventually getting into our pasts.

It took about forty-five minutes to reach the river that most of the slum got their water from. I was going to see it at some point so I knew what I would be up against, and what I saw did not daunt me at all.

It was a good sized river, almost eight feet wide. I couldn't see where it led, but it looked like it flowed not too fast, but enough so that the design of the aqueduct could be simple and easy to build. I breathed a sigh of relief which Rose mistook for something else.

"Yes, it's beautiful, isn't it?" I looked around the rest of the forest, and I could see greenery for a good distance, but I couldn't tell exactly how far.

"Yes," I told her "It's magnificent. Up in the higher districts, we don't really have this luxury. Most everything of the greenery was torn down to make room for our buildings, which are gaudy in my opinion. I much prefer the tranquility of Mother Nature, that for which Celebi has given us, and I thank Arceus every day that I was born here."

Rose looked at me in confusion.

"But I thought you said you hated where you lived?"

"And I do. But if I didn't live there, I might not have the resources to do what I am now, nor the wherewithal to do it. So, that is one thing I thank my parents for. Because of their biased ideals, I became determined to make the lives of all the lower district peoples better."

With that, I began to wash out the bucket Rose had given me. When it was clean, we both filled our buckets. Mine was bigger than hers, but because of my intense training, I could easily lift it. Still, I did notice the weight of the water, and although it was no great strain on me, I wondered how Rose could do it. She was not particularly muscular, so how she made five trips like this was beyond me. However, she surprised me when her eyes began glowing blue: Psychic.

She lifted the bucket in front of her and turned, then began to walk down the path back to her house. Now I understood a bit more. She must have gone through the same level of intensity I had, but with her mind instead of her body. Her success made me wonder just how powerful she really was.

After about ten minutes, though, she stopped and nearly lost her water. I noticed in time and managed to grab the bucket from midair before it spilled its contents. I looked over at her and realized she was very pale, so I set down the buckets and gently took her arm. I led her over to a flat rock and sat her down on it.

"What's wrong, did you get hurt?" I asked her. She shook her head and was suddenly panting as if she had been running for an hour.

"No… but… the psychic… takes a …heavy toll… on your… mind… and if… you don't take… a break… every now… and again… it can… be very… tiring."

"Why didn't you say anything sooner? I would have gladly stopped if I had known. How does this routine work for you?" She finally regained her breath, but she was still very weak. But she told me

"Well, when I go to get the water, I walk for about five minutes, and then break for five minutes. I used this process for almost seven years, though in the beginning I had to alternate with dragging the bucket around." I thought for a second, then asked her

"But why didn't you get your father to help you? Surely he would have been willing to do this with you." Rose shook her head and replied

"No, daddy has already done so much for me and my family. Plus, I want to let him seep in. He deserves it. I think of this as my way of repaying him for all he's done." My frustration was rising was rising quickly.

"And do you think your father would be happy if you sacrificed yourself to merely get some water?"

"Well, I wasn't prepared to go so long without a break, but I didn't want to be the one to suggest it." I slapped my face with my right hand, exasperated.

"Great, it's my fault. I taxed her too much, and now she's paying the price." Sighing, I said

"Well, you should have told me. Alright, get on my back." She looked at me in surprise.

"What?" she asked

"Get on my back. You can't make it home in your condition, and I certainly don't want you to carry any more water today, so get on my back."

I turned around and squatted, then waited. Finally, she seemed to accept my argument, because I soon felt her weight on me. I stood, thinking she was either very light or I was overpowered. Probably both, actually. Then I walked over to the buckets and picked them both up and we were on our way.

While I was walking, Rose asked me

"Blade, why are you doing this?" Confused, I asked

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you helping me this way? Why are you taking both buckets and carrying me at the same time? Surely this is wearing down on you!" Chuckling, I said

"No, not really. Remember, I said I had trained for seven years in that special manner, getting stronger and stronger every time. In fact, I was about to start my new regimen tomorrow."

Rose was shocked in amazement. I dumped the loads of the buckets onto the garden like Rose had directed me, and then made my way back to the woods for more.

Okay, I think I'm going to end the chapter here. If you have noticed, this chapter is longer than any chapter I have written so far. I have been talking with GalladeFenrir44, the brilliant author of The Blade and The Embrace, and he's told me that my chapters might need a bit more length, so I'm trying that out, and I admit, I've managed to get a lot of stuff in here. More than I would have with how I normally put down. So, read and review, if you please, and tell me what you think.