X blinked again as he stared up at Elle's tear-stained face. Why in the world was she crying? She had been happily choking the life out of him a moment ago.
"X?" Elle whispered, reaching out tentively to touch his face. Now that he was awake, she didn't know what to say, what to do. She had tried to kill him, had almost killed him. What could she say that would make up for that? She started to sob harder and turned away from him. She felt terrible!
"Is it safe to set up?" X asked, speaking loudly to be heard over Elle's sobbing. "Are you planning to finish me off?"
"How can you joke?" Elle murmured. "I almost killed you. I thought I killed you!" She whirled to face him. "Don't laugh!"
"Alright," X murmured. He really didn't like the look in her eyes. "Elle, are you alright?"
She slowly nodded, wondering why in the world he would care if she was alright after what she just did. "I'm sorry," she whispered, knowing that that wasn't nearly good enough after what she had done. She turned away again, unable to face him.
"Could I ask why you tried to kill me?" X asked as he tentively reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. He knew that he should be very angry at her but for some strange reason, he wasn't. He was more shocked than angry.
"I was naked and then you said you were just doing what the book told you and I thought...." Elle couldn't go on. She felt so bad about what she had suspected.
"Well, the first aid book did say to loosen constrictive clothing. I didn't want you to get sick because I didn't follow the instructions right," X told her as he reached out, carefully wrapping his arms around her and pulling her back against him. He really wished she would stop crying. It was terribly annoying. "So, what was in that other book that bothered you so much?"
"X, the Kama Sutra is a sex manual," Elle murmured.
"What?" X gasped in shock at this news. "And you thought that I was doing something from that book when...." Well at least he understood why she had tried to kill him now. He turned a paler shade of green as he thought about it.