Tel Me More
SHOCK! Appearance of plot! Or at least the foreshadowing of it. I'm not confident in this.
I slow once I feel that I have put enough distance between us. Setting Minako on her own feet, I lean slightly to breathe more easily.
"Daijoubu ka?" she peers up at my face.
"What?" I ask, confused.
"Daijoubu ka," she repeats, as if that would make it so much clearer.
"Um, yeah," I say, still uncertain as to what she said.
She nods wisely. "Good."
About to shrug, I look over sharply with the sound in the trees. Damn, had they caught up so quickly?
"Hide, Minako," I whisper, turning to the noise. I can feel her disappear into the cover of the bush while I face…the naked snake chick again. "Oh, not you."
"Me," she hisses, almost pleased.
"Okay, now you asked for it." I pat my pockets for something—anything that would help.
I pull out a piece of gum, a pen, a chain of Starburst wrappers, my key chains, an x-acto knife, and my brass knuckles. I place them on my left hand, for no reason, except that they'd been lost and I am not about to leave them on the forest floor. I look in the other pocket, and find a cap gun. Taking off the red cap, I leave that in my pocket. It may be illegal now, but at distance this may buy me more time.
"Baka," she hisses, sneering at my eight-shot. Only six caps left, if I recall the drive-by capping of the drunken basketball team my friends and I had done.
I raise it, holding it to the side. "Hey, Chief, can I hold it like this? It makes me feel cool."
She goes back, away from me. "What?"
I grin. Simpsons. I keep it up, until she realizes that I won't shoot—then I blow my one shot—pardon the pun—at a 'weapon'.
She grins, more sadistically than I. "You think that I would be afraid of that?"
"That's what I was hoping," I shrug. "Or you'd be afraid of me by sight."
"Sight?" She asks curiously. "I can barely make out your features under that hat. Are you male or female?"
"Hey!" I exclaim, offended. "What do you think?"
I probably shouldn't have, considering the fact it is protecting my head from bashing from unknown sources, but I do it anyway. I pull the strap at my neck loose, and tip the helmet back. "See?"
She draws back in something akin to horror. "Ninen!"
"Who and what now?" I frown in confusion, pulling the helmet back on.
"Ninen!" she says again, holding a hand out in a position I might confuse with surrender, if I didn't know better. She raises her head. "You're not Ninen?"
I shrug. "Maybe, maybe not. You tell me." I smirk as I realize that she could determine my name from that. "Tel me more."
With Chen's theory, I could be Ninen, but I was Tel more. Bad pun, I'm sorry, I'm no hamlet.
"If you're not Ninen…" she trails off, clearly thinking. Then her eyes turn to me, and she grins deadly.
Hissing, she prepares to jump. I wince as I realize how much pain I would be in once she landed on me, squeeze the trigger, and fire.